Chapter 51

A memory flashed in his mind. It was a few weeks after he had come to this world, and just when he had met Rebecca. When he’d gone through his second class advancement, something strange had happened.

The System had taken a few minutes to show him the options which he could progress into. Back then, Rebecca had told him that it was normal, something that would happen once in a while.

Now, Seth wondered if The Abyssal One had been responsible for it or not. Whether it had been influencing the options in some way.

He had always felt like the Abyssal Assassin class was the best one for him. It felt like a perfect fit, but now, he knew that it might just be a class that The Abyssal One wanted the body it would possess to have.

A Class that would allow him to use abyssal mana perfectly.

Am I just going to lose my body to a Void being?

He recalled the Abyssal Horror coming out from the Abyss. It had been a monstrous creature, an Eldritch being that still sent shivers down Seth's spine whenever he thought about it.

Even if he reached Rank 4, he knew that fighting the Abyssal Horror was out of his reach. With the Dark Blade and his abilities, he might be able to do some damage, but it was way stronger than his current self.

Compared to the Horror, The Abyssal One sounded much worse.

If Seven Seals worshipped the being and by the way Noah had talked about it was of any indication, he knew that it would take years before he could stand a chance. Then, how was he going to defend himself?

If such a terrifying creature tried to take over his body, would be able to resist?

Seth had no answer to that, but probably not.

He imagined himself losing his sense of control, the same way he had during his fight with Gideon, but back then, he had a semblance of what was going on. If The Abyssal One truly took over his body, then he would be a prisoner in his own body.

“Seth.”

He would be a puppet of someone who would cause havoc in the whole world. Seth didn't want that, but he didn't know how to deal with the problem at hand.

“Seth, are you listening to me?”

His heart beat faster as he worried over that possibility and—

“Hey, come out of it!”

“Huh?”

He blinked his eyes at Noah who stared down at him. Traces of worry displayed in his eyes and Seth realised that he had gone silent, lost in his thoughts about losing his body to The Abyssal One.

He hadn't even heard Noah calling out to him.

Frowning, he lowered his head, “Sorry, I was just lost in my thoughts. All this is hard for me to process. If I'm already the vessel of The Abyssal One, am I going to slowly lose control of myself? Or will The Seven Seals would try to capture me to do more rituals on me?” He asked, his voice heavy.

Noah took a moment to reply.

“I do think The Seven Seals would come back for you. They are like stubborn children, those bastards,” he said, spitting on the ground in disgust. “As for you being a vessel, I'm here to help with that. If it really came to that, it won't stop with one or two cities getting destroyed. It will be much more and I want to avoid that at all cost.”

“Do you have a way?” he asked, hopeful but Noah shook his head.

“Not currently,” he shrugged his shoulders, then flashed Seth a smile. “We will figure it out as we go. I always do so and there's no option other than that.”

“Okay.” Seth sighed, a little stunned by the response.

He wondered for a second where Noah's confidence came from, but he was the strongest person he knew right now. He had tried to check his level when he had been busy with the cultist and had gotten nothing.

Still, just by his words and how he had dealt with three Rank 4 cultists, it wasn't far-fetched to assume his rank.

“Let's get going for now,” Noah said, helping Seth up from the ground. “It's alright night. We should hurry to reach the gates before the inns close down. I'm hungry and you need to recover.”

“Yeah.”

Seth nodded and they made their way back towards the City. He needed nothing more than a nice, hot dinner and rest. Things looked to be getting complex and he wanted every moment of peace he could get.

The evening sun had already set and nocturnal creatures were coming out of their slumbers.

As they walked, Seth couldn't help but ask, “Do you mind answering a question?”

“What?”

“What is your current rank?”

“Rank 8.”

Noah replied it with a casualness, but Seth was left staring at him in shock.

***

In a chamber lit up by candles, members walked in talking among themselves in hushed whispers. They filled the sacred room and a few of them looked at the arcane symbols drawn in the middle of the room for their ritual.

They were carved with blood of humans and exotic monsters, the surface reflecting the ambient candlelight.

In one of the walls to the left, a painting of an indescribable Eldritch being devouring the world with its jaws stood. Members bowed to it as they made their way inside.

When everyone had gathered inside the chamber, seven individuals walked in dark cloaks that hid their faces, one after another. An air of importance was around them as each of them walked with confidence.

They took positions around the ritualistic symbols in a circle and all the members kneeled on the ground.

“We kneel to the Seven Sages!”

Everyone said in a sync as the whispers died down. One of the members of the Seven Sages raised his hand to gesture for everyone to raise themselves. He took another look before looking straight at the other six.

“We have gotten a report,” he said, his voice sharp and holding a lot of weight. “The hunters we sent to capture the failed vessel hadn't returned. It seemed like someone interfered with our attack and saved the vessel.”

Those words were like a fireball in a lush green forest as whispers emerged again before the man raised his hand, quieting everyone.

“Who was it that interfered?” A feminine voice broke the silence. She was one of the Sages and looked surprised by the man's words. “There should have been a barrier around the forest before the attack. It couldn't fail unless—”

“Noah was the one who interfered, Isabella”

The man cut her off, but no one among the Sages looked shocked. Only a few lower members gritted their teeth. Noah had been a name that everyone in the Seven Seals knew of as he was the single person who had been against them for years.

Many had interfered and died, but he had been like an undying cockroach.

“As always, Noah.” Another Sage spoke, a man with a young voice and short stature. “He seems to have gotten a sniff of our plans. You sure we don't have a rat out here?”

“Raktor, we have talked about it before. There's no rats here.” The man frowned, sending a brief look towards the lower members. “Noah has been fighting with us for years. He was also the reason the summoning failed in the first place before. He might be on the vessel's trail even before us.”

A silence descended upon the chamber. A few whispers emerged, but they soon died down before one of the members standing in front of the painting frowned.

He was the biggest out of all of them and seemed to be holding on to a sword. Below the cloak, his armour glistened as the candlelight bounced off if.

“Are we just going to let Noah ruin our plans again?” He shouted, stomping his feet on the ground. “This is our only chance to summon The Abyssal One and serve under the great being. The vessel might have control over his body right now, but he already has the seeds to be much more. We can't let that wretched Archmage Knight snatch him away from us?”

“How do you propose we go along with it, Killean?” Isabella spoke, giving the man a stare filled with hostility. “Your subordinate had a good chance to capture the vessel, but he got himself killed. What was his name again? Gideon? I heard he was close to you.”

“We also lost out on the money from the operation of The Banished,” Another Sage quipped. “Coins can be recovered later, but they were competent slaves that’ll be harder to replace.”

Hearing the slander against him, Killean gritted his teeth. He glared at the others and the atmosphere soon began to heat up. Though, no one was surprised about it.

The rivalry between the Sages was well known and it was a common sighting on each one of their meetings.

“Gideon died because he wasn't strong enough. He paid the price for not capturing the vessel. To his defence, he had come across him by mere coincidence,” Killean said, giving a nasty glare to Isabella. “If your subordinates are strong enough, why don't you send them against the vessel and Noah. I'm pretty sure you want to prove your loyalty to The Abyssal One.”

“My loyalty to the Great One isn't to be questioned,” she said, her voice raising as a sign of warning. “Unlike your subordinates, mine are strong enough to capture the vessel.”

“Stop!” A voice roared and everyone looked at him. He was a Sage that hadn't spoken till now and there were more than a few surprised faces at him joining the conversation. After all, the man liked his peace until he was disturbed. “The vessel isn't a problem. It's Noah. He's too strong for any of our subordinates to deal with him. Even if we send a whole group after him, he would simply send us the heads back.”

“You overestimate—”

“I don't.” He glared at Isabella who promptly shut her mouth. “Noah is the strongest adventurer in the world, someone who could take down an entire army by himself. He's crafty and far too experienced. You don't know since you haven't seen him in action before, but haven't you heard enough about him? Get down from your high horses before they force you to drown along them.”

No one said anything, but everyone agreed with the man's words. Isabella might disagree with a few things, but she wasn't blind to undermine Noah's attacks against the Seven Seals.

Finally, the man who had started the conversation spoke, “Then, what do you propose, Gabriel?”

Gabriel took a deep breath and lowered his head.

“We need to take our chances right now. I will personally move against Noah and make sure the vessel is in this room as soon as possible.”

When he raised his head, fire seemed to be reflected in his eyes. They were flames of fury, giving him strength and purpose to face even someone like Noah.

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, I don't think anyone would object to it,” he said, taking a look at the Sages who kept mum. “A few of them are cowards who only know how to speak and the others seem to want to take a backseat. I'm the perfect one for this role and I have enough reasons.”

Both Isabella and Keallian seemed like they wanted to object, but they kept silent under the wrathful gaze of Gabriel. Everyone knew what he could do and even someone like Noah, no matter how strong and capable, would have a hard time against him.

“Okay.”

The man said, giving a nod to Gabriel who promptly turned around and left the chambers. After he left, the others started to disperse, wondering if Gabrial was going to be successful in his quest.