Owen rushed through Rochester, enjoying the feeling of the wind whipping through his hair. It was barely a consolation to everything he had just learned from Malik. The guy was a frustrating person to deal with, but he wasn't the worst person. The fact that he hadn't been over bearing about just how much stronger he was, was enough for Owen to at a minimum tolerate him. Now, Owen would be willing to call him a friend, but only if he wasn't so obsessed with keeping secrets.
Racing through the town, he finally spotted Peggy who was talking with Myra in front of their new system made home. It look almost like a house out of the movies that tried to depict the future. It was a lot more simple, but the house was still a uniform white coloring, with some silver metal plates set up in a pattern around the house. It didn't look amazing, but no one had had the time to try and make it look good.
He stopped his run, only a dozen or so meters from the home. Both Peggy and Myra stopped arguing as they both saw him. Owen felt a grin spread on his face as the worry that something had happened was washed away at seeing them both okay. He wasn't able to say anything before Myra pounced on him. He was thrown to the ground as Myra squeezed him tight. "I'm so glad you're okay," She whispered into his ear and he hugged her back tightly. Once they had their moment, Peggy moved in and gave him a hug as well. "Glad to see you're okay, though don't ever scare me like that." She said as the hug turned into her swatting his arm.
"Why'd you pick a fight with that guy anyways?" Peggy asked as Myra moved back in for another hug. Owen gripped her tightly, but answered Peggy. "I didn't, that guy, challenged me to a race to see who could finish a tier 9 gate faster." He said, though it was somewhat muffled. Myra moved back slightly, though still held onto him. "Isn't he more than a hundred levels above you, why would you agree to that?" She asked incredulously and Peggy mirrored the statement.
"Well, he said it was for ownership of Rochester." Both of them looked heated after that, but Owen continued. "the reason I was so beat up, was because he forced me to join him inside of a tier ten gate, then had me beat it by myself, while he watched." He saw anger flare up in Myra's eyes, but he interrupted both of them, before they could speak. "I beat it, but I just spent the last hour talking with him and apparently he isn't the worst." He showed them both the map to emphasize the point and their eyes grew wide.
"That's really all of the gates? How does he have them all mapped?" Peggy asked and Owen shook his head. "I really don't know, the last time I looked at it, the map updated while I was looking at it." Myra interrupted both of them. "So wait, this guy magically appears and is saving the day by letting us know that everyone is in danger? I suppose it is all out of the kindness of his heart, especially since he clearly has time as someone who is level 176?" Myra asked, her tone dripping with sarcasm.
"I know none of it seems believable, but I think we can trust him, even if the guy seems like something's not right." Owen said and the others begrudgingly agreed. "So, what's the plan then?" Peggy asked. "We have already been trying to come up with a plan to leave, but he hadn't mentioned how dire it was." "Yeah, we have been preparing everyone to leave, though no one is happy about it. I have already had several people try quitting the guild, thinking that it is related to the bounty." Myra added.
They spent less than an hour catching up and trying to make plans, before Owen messaged for both Audrey and Mark to meet him back at the guild building. During the light jog back, he once again had to question Malik's motives. He had heard more about their first encounter with Malik and it wasn't too dissimilar to how he had met the man. Though for them, he had threatened them to leave or be forced under his thumb. Unable to come up with any reasoning for why he had taken that approach, he just decided to grill him the next time he saw him.
He met up with both Audrey and Mark who had tired looks on their faces. They both looked like they had run a marathon and a half, but they still gave him their full attention once he started speaking. He started by showing them the map and explaining the situation they were in. "So, yeah, we need to pack up as much as possible and leave within the day. We will have to aim to take residence inside the military base, as long as that isn't too close either."
Mark nodded. "I will message Kenneth to ask him to set aside room. Unless this Malik guy stopped by there as well." Audrey let out an exasperated sigh, interrupting both of them. "I'll head off then." She said waving a hand. Owen didn't process what was happening until she was halfway to the door. "What do you mean you're heading off?" Owen asked a cold anger barely hiding behind his eyes. Audrey started shaking slightly and cautiously moved back towards them. "I was just going to go alert the people." She stammered while not making eye contact. Owen knew that she was aware no one bought that lie. She had been going to ditch at the first sign of real trouble, sadly for her, he wasn't in the mood.
"Your instructions are to gather everyone in front of the guild within the next hour." Owen started and he could tell she was about to interrupt, but he his voice broke through her arguments. "We will send out a separate alert, so that no one will ignore it, but make sure everyone knows how important it is. Actually, before you go do that, look through the guild shop and buy storage bag for each group." Audrey nodded stiffly and moved back towards her desk. Mark looked at Owen warily. "You okay? Your eyes just looked like they were going to melt out of your head." Mark said.
Owen stared at him for a second, "My eyes looked like they were melting?" Mark nodded, "Well melting might be the wrong word, but it looked like they filled up with energy and started to shimmer oddly." "Must not quite be settled since my recovery," Owen answered and moved back towards his room. He messaged Myra to let her know he would be busy for the next hour, before sitting on his bed and dropping into his core space.
Somehow he could immediately tell something was wrong, though nothing looked out of the norm. He ran energy through his constellation, but nothing happened other than the energy flowing through. He still couldn't shake the feeling something was wrong. he4 took a quick look through his skills, but nothing stood out either. He tried activating a couple and it was only when he activated his boosting skill that he realized what was wrong.
As soon as the energy finished its circuit through his constellation and filled his entire body, tiny tears tore their way across his body. He barely held in the scream as his entire body crumpled from the indescribable pain. He wasn't sure how long the pain continued before it stopped out of nowhere. He felt the energy coursing through him run out or was stopped, he couldn't tell as the whole world seemed fuzzed. He heard worried voices around him and only after he felt a healing wave pass over him, was he able to move.
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"What the fuck just happened," He barely managed to squeeze out, just as the last bit of pain was washed from his body. Malik, Peggy, and Myra stood over him, while he was splayed out on the floor. "You tell me what just happened?" Myra cursed and she pointed an accusatory finger at Malik who scoffed. Without him lifting a finger, she was lifted into the air and pushed back several feet.
"I assume you used that new version of your skill?" Malik asked and Owen managed to nod. He was helped to his feet and leaned on the bed as he continued. "Something felt off about my core space after Mark told me he thought that something might be wrong, since it looked like my eyes were leaking energy or melting was how he described it." Owen said. Peggy immediately shot a glance at Malik who shrugged. "I told you previously, it is insane to try and imbue comb at resonance into your body."
"You need body resonance at a minimum now, otherwise every time you use that skill your body is going to start tearing itself apart." He finished and Owen nodded. "I think I already have a fix. Peggy please be ready to heal since I might be wrong." Before she could stop him, he channeled his skill again, but when his body reached out to the four energies, he denied the resonance energy from getting through. His whole body shimmered as tiny waves of power started emanating from his body. Malik and the others just stared for several moments. "Did you just get body resonance or something?" Malik asked.
Owen shook his head. "I just stopped the skill from adding it into the mix." He had immediately felt better after activating the skill and began to slowly stretch out his limbs. Malik shook his head with a wry smile on his face. He left the room and a reenactment of reuniting with them after his injuries the first time took place and Owen begrudgingly explained himself again. Only once Myra seemed fully satisfied, was he released to go finish planning his side of the exodus out of the city. He had forgotten to ask Malik about how long they had, so he messaged him the question.
Malik responded that he was actively clearing gates, but more than a dozen gates would still break in less than 24 hours. He didn't have an exact time, which made Owen nervous, but it was better than he thought. The next several hours were a blur as they had their meeting with everyone that lived in Rochester. Myra quickly explained the situation and the rough plan of them leaving for the military base.
One of the main reason they had invited everyone to take part, was that they were going to be cutting it close and that more than likely they would be attacked while they were escaping towards the base. Unfortunately, despite explaining the issues, there was still push back. The threat of being left behind was still enough to keep most in their place, but several decided to set off on their own. In less than ten hours they had everything they could pack up packed and a large caravan of people starting marching towards the base. Moxius's peoples acted partially as a vanguard, since most human's were still against entering and clearing gates.
It felt unfair, but as the time reached closer towards the end of the time Malik had estimated, people started getting antsy. Only fourteen hours after the twenty four hour estimate, monster screams were heard echoing throughout the surrounding area. Only the guild defenses that were movable, kept everyone from scattering as they both protected, but also kept everyone inside. They continued their frantic march towards the military base and Owen did his best to make sure no one was getting trampled as the group marched forward like a turtle.
Only another hour had managed to pass, before Owen heard screams coming from the back of the caravan. A wave of monsters had started rushing over the hill they had passed less than thirty minutes before and Owen cursed. Jumping out of the formation, his strength easily carried him high into the air, before he landed outside the protections. "MOXIUS, MARK, AND AUDREY, KEEP THEM MARCHING TOWARDS THE BASE." He shouted as Myra and Peggy joined him outside of the protections.
Thomas's group also joined and Owen was relieved to see them. The wave of monsters was staggered in level depending on where he looked. Some of the monsters looked like they had come form tier ones and twos, but more than half of the horde was still in the late level fifties. Thomas's group acted fast and a large barrier was created around the largest section of higher leveled monsters. Owen didn't wait to see their plan and dove in swinging his bastard sword with wild abandon. With a full 150% boost to his stats, he tore through the trapped monsters in seconds.\
He wasn't the only one, Myra was in the center of the horde, constantly beating back larger and larger amounts of enemies. Peggy was like an elemental goddess as her magic ripped through large swathes of monsters. She somehow managed to combine what felt like every affinity, Owen had access to, into a single affinity marble. Though Owen realized it wasn't in the shape of a marble, it was closer to the shape of a doughnut. As it tore through, it created a maelstrom of violent energies.
Despite all of them putting their all into defending their allies retreat, they were eventually forced to fall back, while throwing out attacks. Too many monsters stormed towards them and Owen was almost positive they were numbered in the thousands. What felt like hours passed, as they were continually pushed back towards the military base. Owen felt his energy at the lowest levels it had been at in a while. Myra didn't look like she was in much better condition than he was and their entire group almost collapsed when something caused the monsters to retreat once they were within a mile of the base.
Scanning their group, Owen felt his heart sink, when Thomas's group was missing all but two people. He hadn't even realized people had been left behind and for a short moment, he had hoped he had just missed them running towards the base, but when he made eye contact with Peggy, he saw tears threatening to fall out of the corners of her eyes. "Fuck.." Was all he could say. They had managed to protect so many people, but even with the few losses, Owen felt empty.
The next several days slipped past in a blur and Owen was barely able to keep track of everything that was happening. The guild was able to be reestablished and areas were set up with access to the guild shop as areas were slowly being turned into living areas, but it was all too cramped.
Malik had stopped by several times and on the fourth day met up with Myra for their own personal meeting. Afterwards he had let Owen know that they should be safe for another month. They risked being destroyed by staying so close the where gate breaks were happening. Over the three days they had been in the military base, more gates had continued to spawn, before breaking.
"No, they do have a limited area they can explore. They have to stay within a certain range of a dimensional vein, so this area should be fine for now." Malik said. For the first time, Owen saw what looked like an exhausted expression on his face. "Thanks, we will try not to let anyone get too settled, but who knows, maybe we can build a lasting base here. It would be easier to control hordes from here." Owen said, though it was mostly to himself. Malik raised an eyebrow. "I suppose that could work, but you'll need a broader skill range for something like that."
Owen sighed, but agreed. He had moved from training arc to training arc and while he had gotten a lot stronger, it felt like everything had managed to scale faster than him, leaving him in the dust. he already knew he wasn't and that he was stronger than most, but he still felt weak. Turning to Malik, he said. "Any good news?" Malik shook his head. "No, I haven't seen either of your friends. Lucas should be fine as an inheritor, though your plant friend might be worse for wear. Its hard to say, I couldn't find their tracks after a while."
Owen nodded glumly, it wasn't anything he didn't expect, but he hoped to at least make sure they were okay. "Now, you owe me a favor in return." Malik said, while smiling. "Yeah," Owen answered and stood up, stretched, and threw Malik a questioning look. "Have you heard of the sins?"