"So um… basically, I don't know. Hey Aurelia, more grapes please!"
"...."
We stared silently at Cecil that finally woke up from his coma.
For a long time, we were waiting for answers about what happened to them, but all we heard was I don't know!
He wasn't even taking it seriously! He was just smiling widely in the bed while Aurelia was feeding him.
She was feeling guilty since that incident, so she always stayed behind him and took care of him, but now he was taking advantage of her!
Zorath suddenly smashed his fish in the bed, almost breaking it. "Cecil! Give us the details before I turn you into a half again!"
Cecil flinched before frowning then sighing. "I truly don't know much. I was waiting for Aurelia for a moment, and the second moment my lower body exploded! No fight. No struggle. No last standing. We got overwhelmed! I just knew from you that Ruby died."
After ending his speech, he simply snapped his fingers to make Aurelia continue feeding him, leaving most of us staring in terror.
There were many possibilities. Maybe they landed on a strange trap. Maybe a special monster. Maybe a traitor.
But we had no way to know. We also didn't have any time. Everyone outside was making his own preparations for the last fight. Once everyone got ready we would leave immediately.
Suddenly, I felt my body rise above the ground.
"H-hey!"
"You have to train with your new affinity, so don't resist and follow me." Master Kai said as he made me float using his will.
I gave up and followed him to the edges of the camp.
In our way, we saw Drax surrounded by his team and suspended above golden fire. Long Wei kept laughing while rotating him as if he was cooking an animal.
"...."
"Don't think too much." Master Kai said before moving faster until we reached our destination.
For a whole hour, I kept getting crushed by him, trying to use my soul hands on fighting.
But that wasn't easy. It was hard to focus on 3 of 4 hands at the same time while fighting. My brain wasn't strong enough to bear this, but I was getting used to it slowly.
Progress was still progress. Eventually, I would master it.
After resting for half an hour, a loud voice echoed through the entire camp.
"EVERYONE! GATHER AT THE CAMP'S GATE. IT'S THE TIME TO END THIS!!"
That was Michael. A demon from team 5 that has sound affinity. He kept repeating his speech until everyone reached the camp's gate.
Our numbers kept decreasing gradually since we fell in this place. Currently, there were only 68 challengers including the woman from team 2.
We stood silently as 4 individuals moved forward.
I knew 2 of them personally. They were Braham and Long Wei.
The third person was a tall black demon wearing armor made of glass. He had short, messy red hair and strange eyes that were vibrating with different colors with each step.
He was Michael, the demon with sound affinity.
The fourth was a human girl wearing a white robe and a thin veil that hid her body and face, only revealing her silky golden hair that was flowing to her back.
Even though I didn't know her personally — most people on the humans' domain knew her.
She was Celestina, the current saintess with holy affinity, and a member of team 8.
Well… maybe the former saintess now.
"Ahm." Michael cleared his throat before saying: "What will happen now is simple. 18 people will stay here in the camp. Most of them are who can't fight while the rest would stay to protect them. Everyone else will follow me to the mansion."
Then he pointed at Braham and said: "those 3 will lead us there for a reason. I think you all remember Braham. He will support us mentally so no one would faint from fear the moment we reach there and see those ugly parasites."
Some people chuckled from the last part.
Then he pointed at Celestina. "This girl has the rare holy affinity. Ignoring her great healing, her affinity can grant us great buffs for our bodies, so she definitely deserves to lead us."
We nodded in agreement. Nothing was wrong for now.
Then he pointed at Long Wei, but his face was showing some embarrassment. "That guy just... wants to walk in the front…"
"...."
Long Wei raised his head proudly.
An embarrassing silence followed, broken only by the laughing of some orcs.
"Anyway, ARE YOU READY!!" Michael shouted, raising his hand to the sky.
"YES!" We all answered in unison.
With that, we left 17 individuals in the camp including Aurelia and Paul. And counting the woman from team 2, they became 18.
The next moment, we moved to the forest, hoping that today everything would end.
•••••
"Were they always this big?"
"No… they grew half a meter at least." I answered Cecil quietly, our voices barely whispering.
In only a few hours, we reached the mansion.
Unlike when I moved with Drago, we didn't need to hide. We just kept moving forward and all the monsters fell in our way.
With the buffs from Braham and Celestina and our numbers, it was… too easy.
After reaching the mansion, we surrounded the parasites quietly. Each team was aiming to fight one parasite that was chosen carefully.
Meanwhile team 1 and 7 were there to assist any team in emergencies.
My team stood against the former Alex. He was using 2 spears with stone and ice as his affinities.
I looked at him with my soul eyes and noticed it — he was dead.
That body only had the parasite soul, meanwhile the souls inside the core were possessed by the parasite.
There was no way to save him.
Now we were only waiting for the sign from Michael to atta—!
"ROAAAR!"
Long Wei suddenly roared before rushing towards a parasite with a wide grin, kicking its head with his flaming leg and ruining the plan!
The next moment, 2 different lights covered our bodies. One of them strengthened our minds and the other strengthened our bodies.
All the teams started attacking the parasites at the same moment.
The parasites were confused with the sudden chaos, unable to decide their next move.
Zorath laughed as he threw 2 small axes at Alex, which he blocked easily — but they gave us enough time to get closer.
"Kwakaka!"
Instantly, tenths of spears made of frozen stones materialized behind him before flying towards us.
Zorath turned his aura into metal before using his axe and body to block most of the spears.
Nora was shooting her arrows rapidly at the spears, destroying them in the middle of air.
Just like her, Cecil was firing bone spears and ice arrows to stop them in the air.
And Braham was using his harmony to turn the spears' balance into chaos, making them change direction or explode.
All of a sudden, Master Kai used Zorath's shoulder to jump to the sky. His body and sword got covered with ethereal blue flames before cutting one of the parasite's arms.
"KaKaKa!"
The parasite raised its spears, but before it could hit him, he cut 2 of its legs with a wide slash.
*Thud!*
Losing its balance, the parasite fell in the ground.
Taking the opportunity, I merged with the darkness and appeared above its head.
I covered my sword with flames and pierced its skull, but the red flowers on the eyes entered the body before the impact.
The parasite was still alive.
"Shit!"
The next thing I saw was 3 sharp claws getting closer to my face — but out of nowhere, Drago appeared and cut them with his daggers.
"Target its soul." Drago said before blocking a punch from the parasite.
"Buy me some time!" I shouted before clenching the parasite's soul with my soul hand.
The next moment, I started pulling its soul out of its body.
The parasite kept trying to attack me, but everytime someone would block it for me.
With each passing second, it kept losing the control over a part of its body.
And eventually—
*Thud!*
[You got x2 tentacles gloves]
The parasite died, falling immediately to the ground.
"Haa… haa." I gasped for breath, then looked at what the other teams were doing.
Most of them were done and rushed to the other to help them. After some minutes, everyone was done.
We started gathering in front of the mansion gate. Celestina cast a spell that removed our exhaustion instantly.
We stood in front of the mansion, giving each other nervous looks.
Finally, a demon with 4 arms started moving to the gate.
"I will open it. GET READY!" He shouted before pushing the huge gate.
We all started enhancing our bodies, ready to kill whatever would leave from there—
But what we saw wasn't what we expected…
We all froze in our place. Despair and fear fill all of us.
'Is… is that a joke!'
All that was from a small message.
In the middle of the air where the mansion's gate was, a floating screen held one message.
[Only one team is allowed to enter at a time]