Leave The Monster Alone

And he fired the arrow at the coming target which did not miss at all. A lot more came which he dealt with without much problem. Compared to what he had faced before and the fire burning inside, this was child's play.

"Alan, be careful from here on out. I'm getting strong ratings from the surrounding areas" Mark warned the teen who did not seem to find it that difficult to believe. Every territory had their deeper parts where the monsters were unmanageable.

He had expected to hit this area a lot sooner than they had and it was a surprise to him that it had taken such a long time for them to hit this area at all. In fact, the sensor had started its warning sound a long time ago.

"Is there something wrong with the sensor?" Alan could not help but ask since that had thrown his whole rhythm off. The monsters had started to attack as soon as the sensor had started but they could be coming out of their hiding as well.

Since the divine core had a better shell once again, the monsters were free to roam around.

"There is nothing wrong with it. I just set it for the initial area but we are in the inner zone right now" there was an initial area of operation and the inner area where their target was. Mark had marked the alarm to sound as soon as they entered the initial area and not the inner area.

He drove through the monster masses in a messy manner, his vehicle not allowing small monsters to bother them. Anything bigger was being shot down by Alan at a massive speed.

"I see" Alan replied back just as Mark stopped his vehicle. His system had picked up something very nearby but he could not see anything visibly. 

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System warning: Hidden quest activated - Survival mode on (Chain 1)

Parameters: reach the safe point in the next hour to unlock the next mode of the mission. The map and locations will open up once you push start at each base.

Prize: ????

Additional parameters: To be added

Timer: Click to start. 

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It had been ages since this had last happened so it came as a surprise. As soon as Mark had seen this message, he had stopped the car which had jerked Alan to fall down due to shock.

How had he activated this hidden quest? Just by walking into the perimeter?

"What happened? Did you pick up something?" Alan asked as he massaged his head to get rid of the pain. The knocking of his head had been painful for him.

Mark, on the other hand, had to think carefully about this whole thing. This was a dangerous situation he had found himself in right now. If he had been alone he would have taken the chances.

"Oi, answer me" Mark turned toward Alan with an almost blank face and then realised an important fact. Mark was no longer fully human so he was more powerful than even Mark in this scenario.

There was no difference between having Alan and Kuro so he should take this opportunity. He should at least check it out before he rules it out.

"Do you think we should take this chance?" Mark pushed his screen toward Alan who watched it curiously. He had not forwarded the message in the other's system since it was a useless endeavour he did not want to undertake right now.

"We should. We totally should. What if there are great prizes for this? A weapon? Information?" it did occur to Mark that he might have twisted this teen into a paranoid person but he could not help the found feeling he felt over this.

The muted sense of his feeling was what alerted him to something being wrong. Why were his feelings so muted right now? 

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System protocol

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That line reminded him what had happened to him and he was way over his allotted time for the safe muting of his system.

He should probably unmute his feelings and put them back to a normal level before it causes harm to his mental health. His mind was already racing to find the logical arguments in favour of this since his heart did not want to do this.

In the end, his mind won in this situation precisely because of his muted feelings and he opened his system.

The first few seconds felt like he had not even changed any setting. Things were still calm and dull to him. He could still not feel anything at all.

But then they all rushed through him, his feelings blinded him and Mark did not realise he was not breathing at all.

"Take a deep breath in and then out. It's going to be alright Mark" it did not feel like it was going to be alright at all. Mark felt as if he was being pushed along the tides around him in the sea of emotions he could not swim across.

He was sinking and so were his senses. Why had he thought this as a good idea to allow his brain to trick him into bringing his emotions back? They just hurt but it had also made sense at that time.

"Breathe" there was a slap on his chest which brought him out. It stung but it also gave Mark another place to focus his attention toward. It helped him focus away from his emotions.

"You alright? I tried to hold back" Alan freaked out a little at that black look passed his way. For that few seconds, he had really believed Mark to have perished or been taken over. His gaze had held no light at all.

Alan had to brace himself for the worst when he had decided to slap Mark out of his daze but it had worked in the end. Mark was blinking over at him in a slow and dazed manner.

"Thanks, Alan, that helped a lot" what helped a lot? The physical touch or the pain? Or was it the shock of being hit that helped? And help with what?

"I'll tell you more once we go back. Remember to ask me then" this literally translated to - 'this was a topic I don't want to talk about so forget about it.'

"Alright. Your system was buzzing for some time now" Alan warned Mark who immediately turned his attention to his system. It was flashing a soft light that indicated a warning to him.

"Shit, Alan, we need to reach the safe point in the next half an hour. We accidentally started the mission already" how had it started? Who pressed the start? An accident?

It did not matter at this point since they had to reach the destination.

"How long did I zone out for?" Mark asked, his brain picking up the possibility of what had happened.

"Half an hour now. Was it connected to this situation?" half an hour? The timings matched. Since he had given a mental command to accept, his screen which had the start ready might have picked up on it as well and started.

It was lucky of them that Alan had picked up on the vibration and created Mark about this issue. He had no idea if this opportunity was repeatable or a one-time chance. 

He also had no will to find out on his own either. He wanted to just take this chance and clear it as soon as possible. 

This was really the last thing he would actually be able to do with his team before the rebellion started. Rika would have to leave with the base team no matter what and Alan would also like;y chose Luna over him. This was the initial and current plan.

Besides, Mark would have Kuro who was more than enough for him. 

But he had to get his head into the game right now. His mind really liked to bring up unrelated thoughts as a means to distract him but that was not going to work.

"Take a right. Alan, you go forward since you're faster. I will follow" the other did not complain or talk back, he just left Mark in a hurry. Now Mark had to make his way alone into the deeper end.

His hands had a tight grip on the gun and he had to stop them from shaking when he took down the small monsters. It was an easy rotation for him and the ding in his system told him that Alan had reached the point.

Good, that was one problem solved for him. He followed the same pathway to get to the safety point. 

"Do you have the next part?" Alan had not even broken a sweat all this time, his core and new body assisting him in this while Mark had broken out into a sweat a long while back.

"I'll check" Mark opened his system to check. Alan kept an ear out for the intruders in the meantime.

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Hidden quest activated - Survival mode on (Chain 2)

Parameters: Gather three given herbs and reach the second checkpoint. These herbs will help you make the final product.

Prize: ????

Additional parameters: Gather three given herbs. More to be added.

Timer: Click to start. 

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