Destroying My Own World

Chapter 13: Shrouded In Mystery.

Anzel watched the news with everyone in the bunker, and they were amazed by the footage of Mykel and his team killing the Gatekeeper. He admired Mykel and his ability to kill one of the strongest demons that existed on Earth. He wanted to meet him in person and hunt the demons with him, but knowing where he was, he could only wait patiently.

"Anzel, do you know anything about that? That weird-looking symbol on the ground?" Anderson asked.

The reason why Anderson asked that question was that Anzel realized the demons they fought were similar in the novel. Anzel knew the imps\' and ghouls\' weaknesses that helped them survive and live another day. He used his knowledge from the novel to deal with the demons, and how to handle the situation they were in.

"No, that thing is new to me. That Minotaurus isn\'t in the novel as well," Anzel answered as he shook his head. "Anyway, I\'m going to my room and get some rest..." Anzel said that he was mentally exhausted after dealing with an endless army of demons and how terrifying the battlefield was.

"Don\'t push yourself too hard, and whatever happened up there, it was nobody\'s fault," Anderson said as he looked at Anzel leaving the hall.

Anzel locked the door and went to his wardrobe, but he saw a notification on his laptop. He was curious because he left a comment on the forum and was hoping anyone who knew the novel would reply to his comment. Seeing there was a notification made him nervous because he had been waiting for a week, but not a single user replied to his comment.

[Anon7182: I know this novel. If you want to know the ending, it\'s not recommended, so I suggest you read another novel. The novel should have been deleted a long time ago, but it looks like the author has decided to delete it now.]

"What? Did he not know what\'s happening right now? Or perhaps he\'s an overseas user and that\'s why he doesn\'t know about Mykel and his characters that are in our world?" Anzel talked to himself as he typed and replied to the comment.

[Anon4229: I\'m not asking about the ending, but there\'s something I would love to discuss with you. Can I have your email or anything so we can chat more privately?]

It didn\'t take long until his comment got another reply.

[Anon7182: Here is fine, this place is dead anyway so there won\'t be any spam or anything like that. You can imagine like at least 80% of these users are already dead, and I hope they have found peace up there]

"Yeah, I guess you\'re right," Anzel said.

[Anon4229: Then, I want you to check this news link and I want you to see if I\'m crazy or not...]

Anzel waited for a reply after he sent the news link about Mykel\'s team and the names of people on his team. He wanted to know if he wasn\'t the only one who thought it was just a coincidence because it drove him crazy.

He waited five minutes, ten minutes, half an hour, an hour until he fell asleep in his chair waiting for a reply. He got awoken by the sound of breaking news on the TV, and he immediately checked if the person had replied to his comment.

[Anon7182: I\'m sorry for the late reply. I have Awakened! Also, those guys are the characters from the novel, right?! The one from The Towers of Demon!]

Anzel was more surprised about the person who had Awakened, but he got his priority straight. He then asked about the person he was chatting with and got a name, Gea Lupin. Turned out it was a woman, and she was French.

[Anon7182: I\'ll DM you and give you my number. Let\'s talk more privately]

Anzel got Gea\'s number and added her to his contact list so they could talk or chat whenever they wanted. They both started to talk about the novel, Mykel, and the current situation they were in that somehow resembled the story in the novel.

Anzel spent the whole night talking with Gea, and finally, he collected his courage to ask about the skill she got.

[You want to know my skill? Well, I guess it\'s fine if it\'s you. It\'s called Sixth Virtue: Purity, and it gives me Purification Shield that prevents me from dying. It also gives me high resistance against all kinds of ailments. In the last part, it says that the higher the level of the skill, it will give me more benefits]

"What? Does she have a similar skill to mine? What\'s this Virtue series skills?" Anzel asked as he looked at the message on his phone. "Now that I think about it, she experienced something similar to mine. She suddenly awakened after she found out the truth. What\'s going on here?" Anzel rubbed his head as he stared blankly at the wall.

Anzel said his skill and asked Gea about it, but then a notification screen appeared in front of him.

[A being shrouded in mystery is curious about it as well]

[A being shrouded in mystery wants you to solve the mystery. The being will reward you plentifully if you solve it]

Anzel looked at the notification and got a chill down his spine because he never thought having someone or something listening to everything he said would be that creepy. He tried to calm down and cleared his throat as he thought to himself to get used to it.

"What kind of reward?" Anzel asked.

[A being shrouded in mystery has connections with all the Gods. The being can get you anything you want]

"Who are you? Are you, not Gods? Are you not part of the Sponsor?" Anzel asked with a confused look.

[A being shrouded in mystery is smiling and doesn\'t want to answer]

"If you\'re one or not, you warned me back then that I shouldn\'t reveal anything about Mykel and the character of his novel. Why is that? If you warned me then that means you know something. Can you tell me what\'s going on right now? Is there a connection between the demons and Mykel?" Anzel asked and looked around.

[A being shrouded in mystery is giving you a sign]

Anzel heard screeching and crackling sounds on the wall that were unpleasant to his ears. He looked around to find out where the sounds were coming from, and then he saw a carving on the wall with numbers and symbols.

"What\'s that?" Anzel asked and walked toward it.

While Anzel was staring at the numbers and symbols on the wall, he heard someone knock on his door. He opened it up and Anderson was standing at the door with a cup of coffee in his hand.

"Perfect timing, can you check what this thing is, Sarge?" Anzel asked as he waved at Anderson.

Anderson walked inside and saw the numbers and the symbols. He hummed immediately as soon as he saw everything. "Can I borrow your laptop?" Anderson asked.

"Yeah, sure," Anzel answered as he nodded his head.

Anderson typed the numbers and the symbols in between the numbers. Anzel had just realized those numbers and symbols were a coordinate. When Anderson entered the coordinate, it pointed at Kokelv, Norway.

"That\'s like at the other side of the earth..." Anzel said.

"Yeah, so what this is all about?" Anderson asked.

[The being shrouded in mystery shushes you to keep it a secret between the being and you]

[The being shrouded in mystery awaits your arrival]

"It\'s nothing," Anzel smiled as he shook his head.

Anderson raised his eyebrows and brushed it off as he gave the coffee to Anzel. He then looked at the news and bumped his shoulder at Anzel to get his attention.

"Look Anzel," Anderson said.

(Beijing, China)

Thousands of Awakeners were gathered in the middle of the city with dozens of helicopters and tanks deployed at the center of the city. They were all staring at something anxiously, and it was the symbols that appeared from the Gatekeeper\'s dead body.

"General, Mister President is on the phone," A man said to the General with a satellite phone in his hand.

"Mister President," The general said.

"What\'s the situation over there?" The president asked.

"We can\'t confirm what\'s actually happened, but when we arrived, the Minotaurus is already dead and nobody knows who did it. We speculate that the Minotaurus killed himself," The general answered.

"I see, so it\'s the same..." The president said.

"It\'s the same, Sir?" The general asked with his eyebrows furrowed.

"All the Minotaurus all over the world also died mysteriously. We have agreed to secure the area where the Minotaurus\' dead body is, so keep an eye on it and tell me if something happens," The president said.

"Yes, Mister President," The general hung up the phone and looked at the Minotaurus\'s body which was slowly melting and decaying.