Chapter 163: Straight to the battlefield

"Dear…" To say that I had no words to excuse my decision would be quite a fitting description of my current situation. While I was able to make the decision, when it came to defending it right in Ayda's face, it was an entirely different matter altogether. 

"Don't you dear me right now!" Ayda snapped. Her fists tightened as she looked with disbelief at my face. "Do you really think I'm going to let you go to a complete unknown? And alone at that?!" 

Grabbing me by my shoulders, the girl panicked.

"I'm sorry, but even with the time freeze, it's not guaranteed that I will return before it ends." Breathing out, I felt my entire body almost collapsing. Just this moment of arguing with the girl was enough to bring me to an edge. 

In the end, this was a serious testimony to just how much I cared about her.

"So you want me to stay back and hold down the fort while you will risk your life on some otherworldly adventures?!" Snapping once again, tears appeared in Ayda's eyes as she looked at me with desperation. Grasping the cloth of my outfit, she tightened her hands into fists on my chest, only to lower her head in defeat a bit later.

"I'm sorry. It's not that I don't want to take you with me," looking towards the doors that were already set to an unknown destination, I sighed with worry. In reality, though, that was precisely it. 

I didn't want to take Ayda with me. But not for some silly reasons. 

Right now, this girl was the only person, besides me, capable of travelling between worlds. But was that actually the case? What I wished for when striving to complete the quest from that strange god-like being, was to bring her to earth, not to bring her to all the words that my system could offer!

In other words, I was simply too worried about what would happen if she were to try to pass the gate to another world. Without any concrete proof that passing through the gate was possible for her, I would commit genocide if necessary just to keep the girl out of this potential hazard.

"I know. In fact, I only tried to ignore the topic until now…" Shaking her head, Ayda finally got over her fit. Wiping the tears out of her eyes, she raised her head to look at me. Staring down the wells of her blue eyes, I felt an intense feeling of regret. Even though I didn't bother to check my aura, I could tell that it was my genuine emotion, not something sparked by the girl's witchcraft.

But as much as I wanted to not leave her behind, there was no other choice. With all the preparations we made to send me to another world, Jeff was bound to turn vigilant and expect a serious action from my side. 

In other words, if I were to fail to meet the deadline of the time freeze, it would be all up to Ayda to keep the two of us from losing all the power and meaning within the cult.

"Well, in this situation, there is one thing that I actually can do." Stepping a few paces back, Ayda informed before suddenly charging forward. Wrapping her hands behind on back, she pressed her entire body to my chest, sinking in my arms. After a moment of just tightly hugging me, she climbed on the tips of her toes, before reaching for my lips. 

Joined in a kiss, I lost myself in the warmth of her mouth. Feeling her tongue with my own, I instantly lost myself in the taste of her saliva, the smell of her body, the softness of her skin. 

"May you have safe travels." Ending the kiss, Ayda used her hands to climb even higher, only to place a gentle peck on my forehead. "Don't make me wait for long." 

Distancing herself from me, Ayda lowered her head. Not willing to make the parting any worse, I tightened my jaws. 

Right now, I didn't know whether to pity the girl or myself. Because on my end, I would do absolutely everything to return before the time freeze and not make her wait. On the other hand, I had no such pleasure to have the time of the danger just pass without my notice. 

That's why, before my determination would falter, I picked up my backpack before moving towards the doors.

"I will be back." Putting my hand on the door's handle, I turned my head around before uttering this legendary sentence. Even though she wasn't long on earth, Ayda still smiled when she heard those words. 

'I guess it was worth making her watch all those movies.' Thinking to myself, I pushed the doors open.

At first, nothing really changed. Rather than stepping to some kind of word, I appeared in a void passage, filled with nothing but darkness. For several moments, nothing really changed. 

Then, the darkness finally started to give up. 

Waiting patiently for the process to be over, I admired the sight of the world slowly appearing all around me. 

Regretfully, this wasn't a pleasant world.

*Entering Nabakazahar*

*Mission: Recover the sacred core and bring it where it belongs.* 

"Time freeze: Two months*

*Good luck*

Skimming through the system messages, I once again felt the same helplessness that plagued me back in the days when I still strived to save my mother. The helplessness born from those system quests never being straightforward!

What was the sacred core?

Where to look for it?

Where it belongs? Is this another puzzle or a direct order?

The quest description itself wasn't of any help. But rather than thinking about the mission and the chances of obtaining a special power in this world, I had to quickly assess my situation, because the veil of darkness that covered the world ever since I appeared in it, finally started to fade away.

And along with light, the time started flowing as well.

"KILL!"

A demonic shout instantly rang in my right ear. Turning around, I saw a frontline of soldiers stretching for as far as I could see, all charging in my direction. 

Faced with such a situation, I could only curse my luck. If it was a rolling stone or falling tower, I could still try my chances to just escape to the side instead of always staying within the shadow of the danger. But with the crowd of soldiers stretching even further than I could see in both directions, I only had one way to run.

Sadly, this wasn't some kind of elaborate play. Those soldiers weren't charging for nothing. And the only direction that I still hoped to be relatively safe, turned out to be even worse when I turned my head towards it.

"For God's sake, can't you make things easy on me for once?!" Screaming from the bottom of my lungs, I grabbed three barrier stones from my pocket. Not daring to waste a single moment, I instantly activated them, before finally taking my time to look for more of them, crashing around in my backpack.

And then, both waves of military clashed with me right in the middle of the ensuing chaos. 

On one side, humans. Clad in armours of fine craft and swinging weapons of all sorts and types. From what I could see underneath the layer of dead bodies that quickly piled atop my barrier, there were even some mages casting devastation from the distance. 

Overall, if not for the fact of being in the middle of a damned battle, I would most likely adore this typical fantasy setting. Sadly, the other side wasn't as awe-inspiring. 

Because what those humans were fighting with, weren't other humans.

Demons. 

Not strictly in a biblical sense, the creatures on the other end of the battle could be described as everything but sensible. Their limbs stretching in all directions and in great number, each of those hideous creatures looked like a different result of careless exposure to excessive radiation. The only other word that I could use to describe the mountains of meat desperately trying to break my barriers, would be mutants.

Crack…

Puff! 

Turning into dust, the outer barrier stone crumbled in my hand. The first barrier was broken, leaving only two more. And with the speed at which those hideous beasts managed to put more and more stress on it, it would be only a matter of time before I would be properly exposed to danger.

That is if setting up barriers was the only move that I had. 

"Say hello to my little friend!" Snapping one of the belts on my chest, I allowed the assault rifle to roll from my back right to my hands. Raising the barrel towards those mutants, I made sure that another barrier stone was safely lodged between the side of the gun and my finger.

Crack…

Puff! 

The second barrier fell down. I pushed the safety off before placing a finger on the trigger. Grinding my right leg to the ground, I prepared for impact.

Crack…

And I opened the fire!