World's Last Hope-Chapter 73: Mission Accomplished

Olivia took a second to calm herself down.

Getting up, she gazed at Eric as she asked, "Now what?"

"Not sure," he admitted with a sigh as he stood.

Olivia massaged her eyebrows, as she was lost in thought.

’If I am not mistaken, Aria should soon arrive with a horde of monsters at her tail. Is the thing I’m supposed to do... kill Aria?’ she wondered.

’But if things go on like this, it would take thousands of memories to complete the cleansing of the cathedral. Isn’t there a better way?’ she asked herself as her gaze shifted toward the large hole that led to the cathedral.

’Isn’t that thing down there as well?’

Shifting her gaze to Eric, she suggested, "How about reaching and entering the hole?"

Shifting his gaze to the hole, Eric scratched his chin. "Do you want to fight that thing?"

"Considering everything, it may be the answer to how we can cleanse it quickly."

"That may be true... well, it’s not like this is reality, so I doubt we can suffer any major damage here," he nodded in agreement.

Not wasting time, both of them dashed toward the hole. Aria would sooner or later appear with colossal monsters behind her tail, so it wasn’t smart to waste time.

Olivia steeled her resolve as she jumped, Eric not far behind her.

Thanks to his body that shined like a star, unlike last time, the cave was illuminated instantly.

Olivia’s eyes immediately focused on the being that had terrorized them before.

She summoned her sword, getting ready for a fight, but surprisingly, the creature didn’t move. It seemed as if it was frozen, staring solely at Eric.

’It can’t be... is it scared?’ Olivia wondered as her gaze shifted from the creature to Eric.

Eric, seemingly noticing that the monster was scared of him, decided to do the only thing that made sense—to him, and him alone.

He ran straight toward the creature.

In response, the being screamed in fear, taking a few steps back in horror.

Olivia was about to say something, staring at the bizarre scene before her, but suddenly she felt her body stand on edge. Her gaze shifted to the cathedral standing in the middle of the cave.

"I’m already inside it... so what would happen if I enter it again, within the memory?" she muttered as she took a few hesitant steps forward.

Placing her hand on the gates, she took a deep breath and slowly opened them.

As she entered, she couldn’t help but gasp in surprise. This feeling—it was hard to explain—but suddenly, something changed in her.

It was like she had grown stronger, much stronger.

*****

Not having much to do, Aria sat on the ground close to Eric, staring at his unconscious body while waiting to see if Olivia would be successful in winning against the corruption.

Aria stayed close to Eric not because she enjoyed looking at him, but simply because the corruption seemed to keep some distance away from him—almost as if it was scared. At least, that was how she justified her actions.

"It has been about a day..." she muttered. There were a lot of questions she had.

How was Olivia doing with the memories? Was she experiencing the same kind of challenge to cleanse the cathedral, or was there some other challenge?

Had Olivia and Eric managed to meet? Or had Eric even managed to enter the fight with the corruption?

"A lot of questions, no answers..." she sighed. It was an unpleasant experience to wait for the results.

Trying to keep her bored mind occupied, Aria poked Eric’s cheek.

The next moment, she was startled as he opened his eyes.

"What happened?" she asked, not shifting her gaze from him.

"I’m not sure... last time when I entered, I didn’t have memories, so how would I know now?" he replied as he sat up.

"If you’re here, doesn’t that mean we’ve failed? Or has Olivia succeeded?"

Her question was soon answered as the corruption around began to turn to ash.

Eric hadn’t experienced anything like this before, so he was startled for a moment.

"Holy shit, this scared me!" He glanced at Aria and asked,

"What is happening?"

"The corruption... it’s dying..." she replied.

The cathedral shook as a violent roar echoed from the other side of the gates.

"Is this the manifestation of the corruption? Was that... its dying roar?"

The door leading to the pool suddenly opened, and a woman slowly came into view.

Purple eyes, raven-black hair, and black armor—it was Olivia.

But she had changed. Somehow, she looked even more deadly, even more alluring... she had become a Grandmaster.

"I think I did it!" she proclaimed with a smile.

Aria hurriedly rushed in to hug her friend. "Congrats!"

Eric couldn’t help but smile as he watched the two girls. He let out a long sigh of relief as he dropped onto the cold floor of the cathedral.

Countless memories of the horrors they faced flashed through his mind—the two beings he had encountered that earned him his fearless trait, the dark sea, the dragons, his meeting with the Grim Reaper, the tower, the first guardian, how he led enemies to it, how he soared through the sky, his terrifying nights alone with the colossal spiders. It was, indeed, a lot for just a few months of travel time.

Finally, after so much struggling, their mission was done.

They would finally be heading into the city, where they could rest.

Where they would finally feel safe.

*****

A creature of unknown strength was slowly walking. With each step, it drew closer to its target, its speed increasing, even if only by a tiny margin.

Around it, there was no enemy in sight, as everything alive—or dead—was too scared to challenge or even stay in the way of the formidable entity.

That entity had been born with a single purpose, a purpose it would fulfill no matter what.

It had to hunt the cursed one.

It had to hunt Eric.