Chapter 250 - Episode 250: Atraxthes, The Keeper Of Time. (1)
Chapter 250 – Episode 250: Atraxthes, The Keeper Of Time. (1)
We are the first one to clear the 4th stage and if we are the only one here, that means one of the players on each dimension already get caught once. All the players that came with me are cheering because they're the first ones to clear the 4th stage ever, I know that they're happy about it but that also means there's a higher chance that the rest of the players will fail on the 4th stage if they didn't make it in time like us. As I said earlier, the longer they're in there, the easier for Atraxthes to find them since they will lose a lot of good hiding spots.
10 minutes have passed and not a single team appears in the waiting room. 30 minutes have passed, and there's no sign of them as well, and the players that are with me slowly starting to feel worried and concerned about the raid teams. An hour has passed, I'm inside my tent waiting for Ivonna and the others to come and none of them are replying to my messages. The players are walking toward my tent and I can see their shadows from inside the tent, I peek and look at them, one of the players is sitting in front of me.
"What is going on with the rest of the raid team?"
I look at them and shake my head.
"It's as what you think, if they keep getting caught, then they won't be able to leave. They need to work together if they want to pass the 4th stage, and you all have seen what the Keeper of Time is capable of, and if there's no longer a good hiding spot, then one by one they will get caught by him and no matter how many chances they have, it will only prolong their failure. If you're asking me what can we do, we can't do anything about it and we can only hope that a few of them can pass the 4th stage."
One of them is raising his hand.
"Then, what's going to happen if none of them manage to pass the 4th stage?"
I look at him and shrug.
"We will keep moving forward and gather information for the rest of the raid team. You guys don't have to worry about it because there's no notification yet and that's is a good thing."
One of the players tilts her head.
"Why is that?"
I look at the gate.
"If there's a notification that we have the amount of time to enter the 5th stage, then that means the whole raid teams have been wiped out, but since there's no notification about it yet, that means there are still so many raid teams that still in the 4th stage. I suggest you rather than worrying about them, you can use this chance to keep calm and rest, or maybe prepare some food for the players if they managed to pass the 4th stage to congratulate them."
They all nod with understanding and then they start making their tent and putting the food ingredients for them to cook. I smile and get back inside the tent and try to get some rest as well, but there's one problem which is I used my [Reawakening] skill back there and I can't guarantee if we can clear this dungeon because I lose one of my back-up plans.
I hear a commotion out there, I sit up and take a peek, I'm so happy to see Ivonna manage to clear the 4th stage with a few players with her. She looks around and it seems that she's on her own as well or the worst part is that she was with the others but they failed, I guess I just have to wait and hear her report. Ivonna looks at my tent and she smiles happily and immediately runs toward me even though the players are looking at her.
Ivonna waves at me and sits in front of me.
"Hi!"
I'm acting embarrassed and lowering my head.
"H-hi.."
Ivonna immediately remembers that I'm not Trevor, but she still keeps her excitement because she really is happy to see me. Ivonna looks at the players around their tents and then she looks at me with a huge smile.
"You managed to bring a full team here with you?"
I nod and then dozens of players that were with me are joining our conversation, they're all telling Ivonna the story of how I managed to carry them in the 4th stage and how cool I was to toying with Atraxthes on my own. It's like hearing a kid telling a story and using hyperbole in almost every sentence even though it wasn't exactly like that, but that kind of makes me feel proud about myself. Ivonna then tells us that she was also on her own back there and she managed to bring 213 players with her even though she lost more than half of the players but it's better to bring half than fail.
Ivonna is telling her story about the 4th stage, and then one by one we can see another group of players appear. We see Kingstar and Queenstar are walking toward us, and they see both of us near my tent, they're waving at us happily and joining the conversation as well. More and more players are coming to the waiting room, I see Ken, Cho Ahn, and Alessandro among those players, then I see Emma and the others appear in the waiting room as well. In the end, all the Ophiuchus managed to clear the 4th stage but almost lost all their commanders because they sacrificed themselves for their leaders.
We are standing in front of the massive steel door that's 50 meters tall. Kingstar is looking at the gate and then looks at us.
"So this should be the final stage, right? We are going to fight the boss."
Lothair is stretching his arms and moaning with relief.
"Yeah, I think this is it…"
While we are staring at the gate, a notification appears.
[The Fourth stage will be closed in: 30 minutes]
[The chances you have left are no longer needed, instead of removing the chances you have left, you will gain a 10% extra status point for each chance you have left as a buff!]
We are all looking at each other and then we all turn around and look at the players that we have left. There are only 4.000 ish players with us left and even though we know that it's not a lot, it's better than not having them with us. Kingstar gathers all the players and looks at every each one of them.
"We are the only ones who survived the hellish dungeon, but I'm so proud and happy that you all made it here with us. Maybe, if I'm still myself as back then, I would have oppressed you all to become someone that I need, but now, after playing this game for months I realize that it's better to work together because we all want the same thing and put anything else aside. I will thank those players that have sacrificed their time and lives for this dungeon and I will help them out if we manage to clear this dungeon, and if we can't clear this dungeon then we all will be doing this together again until we can beat the sh*t of this boss who made us suffer for a week!"
All the players nod with understanding then Kingstar raises his sword.
"Let's do our best and may the Betelgeuse bless us all!"
Everyone raises their weapons and then we all look at the steel gate is opening so slowly. We enter the room and it's a massive dome with a huge hole in the middle of the ceiling where the sand is falling down. We all look at the creature that's sitting on a gigantic throne, he's wearing a huge crown that's so shiny it can create a reflection, and there's an oval sapphire at the front of the crown. His left hand is holding an hourglass made from gold and his right hand is holding a spear that's made from gold as well that the blade looks like a fan on both ends.
A notification appears in front of my screen.
[The Keeper of Time has been waiting for your arrival, it is time for him to handle the intruders himself!]
[You have entered the Fifth Stage: A Battle Against Time!]
[You have 10 minutes of preparation before the Fifth Stage started]
The monster lifts his head and his eyes are bright red and glowing like a star, a jackal-headed monster with a human body that looks like an Anubis standing up while swinging his spear. He's taller than the silhouette from the 4th stage, and he looks at us with a huge smile on his face.
"I have been waiting for you and this will be the end of your journey!"
[Atraxthes, The Keeper of Time (Sunny)]
[Level: 1500]
[HP: 100.000]
[STA: 3.000.000]
[ATK: 0]
[DEF: 100.000]
[MDEF:100.000]