Chapter 112: Second Phase World Quest
Not long after his second passionate ti with Ivy, a notification rang through the air.
It hit without warning, cutting through the quiet of the room like a hot knife through butter.
[The First Phase is now over. The Second Phase will comnce shortly.]
[Prepare to receive your rewards.]
[You have received: 1x Ability Card]
Damon stared at it for a mont. The tir had run out without him noticing, which ant more ti had passed than he’d realised. He hadn’t been paying attention to it, which was unlike him, but considering what he was occupied by, it was hard to bla him.
He turned to his left.
Ivy was already dressed, standing near the window in a long dress with a slit along one side that exposed her long legs. Her crimson eyes were already on him, steady and unreadable in the way they always were when she was thinking through sothing she hadn’t yet decided to say.
The second notification arrived before either of them could speak.
[The Second Phase begins now.]
[Second Phase World Quest — Battle of Three Citadels]
[Type: War]
[Duration: —]
[Objective: All three citadels in your region have been locked in a warzone. Participants registered to a citadel may not leave the warzone. Battle for survival against the other citadels. The quest ends only when the leader of one citadel has been killed. Once the leader of a citadel dies, those registered to it die with them.]
[Reward: ???]
Damon read it twice.
Unlike before, there was no duration or failure condition. The only way to end the quest was to kill the leader of one of the other citadels.
But before he would dwell on that sudden change, sothing else about the quest stole his attention away.
Three citadels.
He had a suspicion there were more citadels out there, their city couldn’t be the only city to have them after all, the world quest had the word ’world’ in it, not the na of their city. He assud the quests must have been locked to specific areas or regions, and this made his suspicion mostly correct.
He also knew the location of the second citadel, but the third? The third was a problem.
But the biggest question of them all was... what were the warzones?
The system clearly implied that there are so boundaries, but how would it enforce them? Would anyone trying to leave simply die, or was there so physical restraint that stops people from leaving?
Realising he had no answers to any of these questions, his gaze moved to Ivy.
She was already looking at him with the particular expression she used when she needed answers she didn’t have, the one that reminded him how much of the system’s logic had belonged to Aya. Her insights, her instincts for how everything worked underneath the surface.
With her gone, that understanding had disappeared with her.
And right now, Damon felt that absence more sharply than he had in a long ti.
"We should head downstairs," Ivy suddenly said. "The people must be panicking, it would be good for them to see their leader."
The statent reminded Damon how good of a leader she had been. Unlike him, who focused on answers and getting things done, she focused on the well-being of their group first. Not the most survival-minded way of living, but very admirable.
Damon nodded. "Let’s go."
***
After a two-minute descent down the spiralling stairs, the two of them arrived at the grand hall where a large mass of people gathered.
Ivy moved to the front of the mass, heading to clear out the unease, while Damon lingered on the sidelines, not feeling up to any big speeches.
Just as Ivy began to speak toward the people, Damon felt a figure shift beside him, her arm locking onto his.
"Where have you been?" Nyla asked with a faint frown on her face.
Damon raised a brow. "What’re you talking about?"
"I ca by your room. I kept banging and banging, but you weren’t there."
Her frown deepened as she awaited his answer.
"I went out to get so air."
In a way, it wasn’t a complete lie. He did go out on a balcony to get so air, then he t Ivy, and things escalated.
Nyla studied him for a good couple of seconds before she let out a relieved sigh.
"I thought you might’ve gone to a rift without ..." Her grip on his arm tightened. "You heard the new quest, right?"
Damon nodded. "Everyone did."
"Then you know why everyone keeps glancing at you, right?"
"What?" Damon frowned. "Nobody is glancing at—"
His words died out as he looked around to see hundreds of eyes steal glances at him.
"You’re the leader of our citadel, so their lives are in your hands."
Nyla’s words settled over him with a weight he hadn’t fully acknowledged until now.
Their lives were in his hands. Not as a concept, not as a responsibility he’d signed up for, as a literal condition of survival. If he died, everyone registered to this citadel died with him.
He looked out across the grand hall. Hundreds of faces, so scared, so determined, glanced toward him as if he could be both their saviour and the person behind their demise.
At the sa ti, Ivy had finished addressing the mass of uneasy people, she had already stepped down from a small podium-like space and began moving toward Damon before she ca to a sudden halt.
A small, almost indistinguishable frown settled on her face as her eyes moved toward Nyla’s grip on Damon’s arm. It was gone as soon as it appeared, the girl’s practised composure coming to play.
Damon barely had the ti to acknowledge the look in her crimson eyes before a voice called out toward him from their right.
"Daamon~"
He turned to see Eve cutting through the crowd in a minidress and a pair of long leather boots, the kind of outfit that had absolutely no business being worn to a war or quest briefing, which was almost certainly the point.
She moved toward him with a purpose he did not understand quite yet.
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