“No, I haven’t seen anything like that,” Carlos said, obviously lying.
I concealed the relief I felt when Hellman didn’t seem to notice the lie. Carlos knew about Epsilon and my near-death experience, and I was immensely grateful that he had chosen not to reveal that fact.
Carlos’s concealment might be of little use, however, because my name and class were listed on Hellman’s [Friend List]. Clearly, he had not checked it yet. Otherwise, he would have noticed the “Eldritch” qualifier in my class name and brought it up to me.
“All right,” Hellman said with no surprise in his voice. “If you see something, send me a message over the System. While I’m at it, I might as well provide an incentive.”
The horned humanoid paused for a moment, and a notification appeared in front of me.
[NEW LIMITED-TIME QUEST (24 HOURS): MONSTER HUNT]
[FIND THE STAR CHILD AND HELP HELLMAN SLAY IT: +10,000 EXP]
NEW LIMITED-TIME QUEST (24 HOURS): MONSTER HUNT FIND THE STAR CHILD AND HELP HELLMAN SLAY IT: +10,000 EXP
That was a lot of EXP. It would probably be enough to get me to level 10. If the target of the monster hunt wasn’t presently residing in my skull, I would be very tempted to take Hellman up on his offer and start searching for the Star Child.
“The Elders are getting better at this with every iteration, so I can’t be sure how evolved the Star Child is at this point,” Hellman said with a sigh. “If all the Vanguard Agents are able to put down the Star Children today, this iteration will start with a huge advantage.”
“That’s good,” I said, concealing my fear and holding out my phone, which had been set to the camera app. “I’m ready to start the recording.”
“Great! That thing records light in addition to sound waves, right?”
“Uh, yes.”
“Good, good. I’ll make sure to mention my physical appearance in my speech. Tell me when you start recording.”
“Go.”
“Be not afraid of my appearance, for I am your ally,” Hellman said to the camera. “As you can see, I am not a Human. I am a member of the Nephilim tribe and a representative of the Coalition of Light. We are here to help you in your hour of need. You see, you are presently being attacked by our enemy: the Conquering Horde. To survive this initial assault, listen to the Revelation System and gain enough power to defend yourself. Once you’re strong enough to reliably fend off the lower-level monsters currently attacking your cities, you will need to flee to the [Towns] my comrades are currently setting up before the higher-level monsters show up.”
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In a muted flash of light, a long rolled-up map appeared in Hellman’s hand. He unfurled the map and held it out to the camera. I was slightly concerned that the fidelity of my phone wouldn’t be sufficient to capture the map’s details, so I stepped forward to see the map more clearly.
The large piece of paper held in Hellman’s hands was an altered world map that was distinct from any map I had previously seen. It was clearly a map of the world, but the coasts were gone, and a new continent sat in the center of the Atlantic. On the map, the east coast was gone, Florida was entirely underwater, the Gulf of Mexico had expanded to include most of the area around the southern Mississippi river, and half of California was gone.
Two dozen circles, each about sixty miles in diameter, marked the remaining landmasses, and a single black “x” was placed a few hundred miles away from each of those circles. Chapel Hill was located in the center of one of those circles, and a black x had been marked a few miles to the north of Charlotte.
“Twenty-four [Greater Dungeons] will appear in the centers of these circles on your planet in twenty-two hours. Any Human caught within sixty-two miles of a [Greater Dungeon] will almost certainly die. You will be able to find everything you need at the [Towns] marked with an ‘x.’”
Hellman scratched his chin awkwardly as he broached the next topic. “There is one last thing you’ll have to do to not die. Our ship, Genesis, will land in one of your oceans soon. We’re doing this as carefully as possible, but the displaced water will cause your sea levels to rise by about two hundred feet. To survive, you will have to flee from the coasts. You have less than three days before this map becomes an accurate representation of your coastline.”
Carlos swore loudly. “You can’t do that! More than half of our population lives near the coast!”
“Not for long. Look, this is the only chance Humans have to survive at all. Without our help, all Humans will die off. We know because this has happened thirty-three times before. No one, not the Naskals, not the Nephilim, not the Alba, has been able to beat the Conquering Horde once they arrive. We might be able to win this time, but we’ll all need to work together and make unthinkable sacrifices if we’re going to have a chance.”
Hellman snapped his map closed and gestured with his fingers toward his neck, making the universal sign to cut the recording. I ended the recording and pointed my phone down to make sure everything was saved to my phone.
Hellman returned the map to his [Inventory] and said, “Is the recording off?”
“Yeah,” I said, returning the phone to my pocket to confirm that I was no longer recording.
Hellman sat down on a large nearby rock and said, “You’re right, Slader. It is bullshit, but I’m here as a representative of the Coalition of Light. I gotta toe the party line. The same thing happened to the Nephilim tribe three thousand years ago. Millions of my people were killed by the Alba when they landed that big rock from their homeworld in the middle of our ocean. They did it to win a battle that we lost anyway.”
Carlos asked, “If you hate them, then why do you still work for them?”
With a self-effacing laugh, Hellman said, “Who else am I gonna work for? The Conquering Horde? They’d kill me immediately. No, the Coalition of Light is the only game in town. Now, Vinzadir. You’re an Alchemist. Do you think you could make me a Sarcophagus Ship to help me get back to Genesis?”