World's Last Hope-Chapter 47: Talk
"Grandmaster Gryndor!" a woman clad in a white robe called out as she approached the grandmaster.
"I—" she began to speak but suddenly froze, her gaze flickering to the pillars in the cathedral.
"Weren’t there supposed to be thirteen? Why are there only twelve here?" she muttered, confusion evident on her face. Then realization struck her.
"Grandmaster Gryndor... your granddaughter—"
"She has either done the impossible by traversing the death zone with only Olivia and Eric," Gryndor interrupted her, his voice grim, "or she has met her end in there." He clenched his fists tightly.
"This wasn’t supposed to take so long. Everyone believed that liberating a cathedral was a pipe dream, that they would return within a few days," he muttered in frustration.
"But they haven’t returned for a month already... I shouldn’t have let her go. I’m a failure of a grandfather."
"What... what do we do now?" the woman asked, her voice trembling. She didn’t dare meet the menacing gaze of Gryndor.
"We hope," he replied coldly, his tone tinged with regret.
"We hope and pray that she’s alive."
*****
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[Master]
Description: You have taken a step toward achieving a higher state of being.
Positive:
Your body has been permanently altered, making it stronger, faster, and more resilient.
Your relationship with the grandmaster of the cathedral runs deeper than normal. Your pillar has evolved. Level: 2/3
Negative:
Your soul is bound to the cathedral. Should it fall, you will suffer a terrible fate.
-----
"Have you heard about this?" Eric asked, studying the giant pillar that had magically appeared in the cathedral.
"No," Aria replied, placing her hand on the grand pillar. "I didn’t know it could evolve to a higher level. And I definitely didn’t know someone who isn’t originally from this world could officially become a master."
"Not only that, but it says this is the second level," Eric added, his tone puzzled.
"And there’s a third? How in the hell does a person even reach it?"
Aria raised an eyebrow. "You said it evolved because of our connection? I mean, I don’t see how we could take our relationship further than this, honestly."
"Yea, I doubt you could," Olivia interjected, glancing at Aria with frustration.
"Couldn’t you have been quieter the last two days when you were with Eric? Take him, for example. I didn’t hear him once during the entire time you were together."
Aria blushed slightly and coughed awkwardly. "Well, in any case, we’ve liberated the cathedral, and the guardian is dead. I think it’s time we moved toward our next destination."
Olivia smirked. "Yes, that was the deal, wasn’t it? I help you liberate your cathedral, and you two help liberate mine."
They were about to exit when Eric stopped them.
"There’s actually something I want to tell you," he said.
Both Olivia and Aria raised an eyebrow as they turned their gazes toward him.
’I didn’t think it was necessary to tell them before, but... Aria showed me that maybe I can rely on others,’ Eric thought to himself.
"Do you remember when I told you that I went to hell and met the Grim Reaper?"
"Yes, and you were reluctant to mention it again. What about it?" Olivia asked, her brow furrowed.
"Actually... one of my traits changed after that incident," Eric admitted.
Aria immediately noticed the dark expression on Eric’s face and asked cautiously, "Changed how?"
Eric shifted his gaze to his trait screen.
-----
[The Cursed One]
Description: You made a fool of the Grim Reaper twice... You will soon pay the price.
Positive:
Not unfamiliar with death, ERROR creatures will see you as one of their own.
You made a fool of the Grim Reaper twice, ERROR has recognized you.
Negative:
Should the host fail, hell will follow.
Some creatures will feel repulsed by your cursed soul.
Your eyes are crimson, making it impossible to hide that you are a curse-bearer.
Creatures will do anything to devour your soul.
A creature of unfathomable strength has been unleashed with the sole purpose of hunting you. It always knows your location... You cannot hide... You cannot run.
-----
Eric took a deep breath, steeling his resolve. There was a reason he hadn’t told them about this before. Deep down, he feared they might leave him if they learned the truth.
"A creature of unfathomable strength has been unleashed with the sole purpose of hunting me," he finally admitted. "It always knows my location... I can’t hide, and I can’t run."
Shifting his gaze to Aria and Olivia, he held his breath, waiting to see their reactions. Would they abandon him or stick by his side?
To his surprise, their pupils narrowed slightly, but other than that, there wasn’t much of a change.
"Are you sure it says unfathomable strength?" Aria asked, furrowing her brows.
He nodded slightly.
Aria shifted her gaze to Olivia as if silently asking for her opinion.
"Unfathomable strength... it may refer to anything categorized as Grade-6 or higher," Olivia muttered under her breath.
After a moment, she sighed, placing both hands behind her head as she approached the gates of the cathedral.
"Nothing we can do about it now. Let’s go; we’ve spent too much time here," Olivia said.
Aria nodded in agreement and followed her.
Eric was left stunned for a moment, watching them.
"What’s wrong?" Aria asked, noticing he wasn’t following.
"I... just..."
"Did you think we were going to abandon you or something?" Aria asked, her lips curling into a smile.
"Besides, it says it hunts you, so we should be safe... theoretically," Olivia teased with a smirk.
"Oh!" Suddenly, Olivia stopped and turned around. "If there’s something else you haven’t told us—like a trait or anything—now’s the time."
Eric hesitated for a moment before averting his gaze and muttering, "I also seem to have the trait Charmed."
Olivia burst into laughter, while Aria looked away, trying to hide a slight smile.
Not wanting to waste more time, they opened the gates of the cathedral.
Immediately, all of them gasped in awe.
The darkness was gone, and so was the cooled magma. Instead, it was replaced by a beautiful green field.
It seemed that now the corruption was gone, the surrounding field had transformed overnight. There weren’t even any bodies of the thousands of monsters, nor the body of the guardian.
"That’s God’s power, all right," Eric muttered quietly.
"So, where to?" Aria asked, glancing at Olivia.
Olivia extended her arm and pointed in a specific direction. "Right there."
"The cathedral is quite close, so it shouldn’t take us long to reach it."
They began walking forward. Eric shifted his gaze to a window he had commanded to open earlier.
[Shop]
He grinned like a child in a candy store.
Now, he was finally going to see what miracles he could access.
