CHAPTER 41: UNDEAD GATE

The next day was a weekend, which meant Ella could stay home to take care of Peter. Silva left the house, but before he could take a few steps away, he spotted a familiar car; it honked at him.

It was the guild master of the area guild branch. Silva let out a tired sigh and crossed the road over to his side.

He opened the door of the front seat and got in. The guild master was seated there, hands on the wheel. He turned on the car and system driving.

"I thought you and I would have something going. Turns out I wasn’t the only one that saw your potential. Lady Elena reached out to me yesterday. She said she had a favor to ask of you, and she wanted me to manage it," Riker said.

’She moves fast, she already has something for me to do,’ Silva thought.

"I don’t know what your deal is with the strongest awakened of the Phoenix guild, but you better be careful with her.

As for what she wanted, there is a D-ranked gate at the edge of town. It’s known as the undead gate. Unusual things have been happening there. The members of the Rising Phoenix in this state have been going missing," Riker said.

"And she wants me to look into it? Why me? It’s not like I know anything about stuff like this, and I’m also not that strong," Silva said.

"No need to be modest. You entered a D-ranked gate alone and came out safe. And I’m very sure you killed a couple of monsters, it showed your strength.

Also, she wants this to be under wraps, and she believes that a cult called the Blood Circle might be the ones behind it," Riker said.

"The Blood Circle? What are they?" he asked.

"A cult. They popped up in Lumis all of a sudden one day. They carry out rituals using awakened that they kidnapped.

As for their motives, I don’t know," he said.

"So you want me to go and find a cult that literally kills awakened? Why not send someone higher up?" he asked.

"Uhm, I don’t know if you know this, but there is a reason rankings exist. Firstly, higher levels bully people in lower levels and also take most of the monsters.

For instance, you who are rank D now can’t go back into an F gate unless on a special mission, which would take a lot of paperwork. And for what needs to be done, we can’t do that.

So there is no way to send a high-level person easily, so why not go first, a very skilled D-rank," he said.

"Fine, fine, whatever, just take me there, I’ll check it out," Silva said.

After minutes of driving, they got to the edge of town and finally came to the gate. There were a lot of people there, but not comparable to the last D-ranked gate he entered.

Riker pulled up across from the gate. "That’s your gate," he said and pointed to it.

Silva nodded and got out of the car. He walked out and headed for the gate without hesitation. Riker watched until he was in completely, then he pulled out a phone and called Elena, but he was sent to voicemail.

"Lady Elena, Silva has gone in. Expect your results soon." He left a message and cut the call before putting in another call.

"He is in the undead gate, and please, for goodness’ sake, this time make sure it works. I need him to rely on you guys, become your party. That way my plan will work.

And also, make sure you don’t use the same appearance as before, that’s very important," Riker said and cut the call.

[.....]

Silva got into the gate, and right away, the rotten smell of flesh reached his nose. The air was heavy, so much that it felt like he was swimming through it.

The inside was dim, but he could still see for the most part. He was standing inside some sort of castle. He felt a little nervous because the last time that he was in a castle, he nearly died.

He looked around, awakened doing what they were doing and getting ready to go. He decided to start heading in.

"Hey, you." Someone called out to him, party of three: a young man with a sword, a girl with two daggers, and a bulky dude with an axe.

The boy walked up to Silva. "Hey, want to party with us? We saw you alone, so we thought we could use another hand," the boy said. He looked like an honest dude around the same age as Silva, with coffee-brown hair and eyes.

"Uhm, sorry, I have something to do in this gate, so I can’t really party up with anyone," Silva said and turned around. There was a disappointed look on the guy’s face.

The bulky dude patted his shoulder. "Don’t let that get you down, some people are just like that," he said.

"Wait, I believe I’ve seen that dude somewhere. Wait, I remember, he was on the news a few days back, the person that helped the academy and took out several orcs.

Tch, I can see why he would want to work alone, he has the strength for it," the girl said.

The guy looked at Silva’s departing back. For some reason, he felt drawn to Silva. He turned away and left with his party.

Silva, on the other hand, put on his gauntlet and cloak as he walked deeper into the gate. After a few minutes of navigation, a skeleton hand tore through the solid ground beneath him and dragged itself out.

Silva was stunned for a few seconds, but he quickly got into a stance, ready to fight.

[You have refused to evolve, evolution will take place in one hour’s time with or without your consent]

A message from the system came. Silva’s eyes widened. "Oh shit."