Azimuth: The Elden Throne

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As Dale and Testros ran for their lives in the secret passage...

Somewhere near the Wall, within the dark misty forest…

/Tremble.../

/Tremble.../

"..."

"..."

"..."

/Gulp.../

A group of hooded people could be seen crouching on the ground, holding their breaths as they tried their best to not make any sounds, with one of them looking purple due to lack of air…

However one of the hooded people was making sure that their friend didn't even inhale a single breath of air… Making their expression go red.

The seconds passed, and the person was on the verge of losing their conscience...

"... Okay…" The person said as he removed his hand from his friend's mouth

"HAAAAAAAAA… HAAA… HAaa… Fuck…"

Finally having the chance to breathe, the person took in a deep breath.

It was a girl, presumably young, no less than 18 and no older than 25.

/Thud!/

She hit the floor with her right fist in anger, trying to vent her frustrations… Better that then on the person right next to her.

"Dammit… Why did it appear now, of all times?!" She exclaimed in anger as her eyes closed

'If this continues I...'

But her hooded companions didn't seem that keen on hearing her complain…

"Hold your anger, it has no place here." Said a man with a long black beard, his voice deep, old, but very much wise

He looked back and recounted, making sure everyone was there.

And with a relieved nod, he said:

"This time, the operation was a failure, it happens, we can't win all of them."

"We can't risk our lives while... "That" is on the run."

"... It seems we'll have to report this..." He mumbled to himself as he closed his eyes to think

Everyone seemed disappointed, but some were happier that they were still alive, something that couldn't be taken for granted in this place.

"Most of all, we should be glad we avoided the problem before it noticed us."

"Next time it may not be the case…"

"..."

'This can't be... Dammit!'

But the girl seemed unconvinced, she clenched onto the damp earth beneath her feet holding her tears.

"But Sir! We needed those materials… We can't go back empty-handed…"

However, the man simply shook his head.

"I understand how you feel, but going past the wall was never an easy thing to do."

'Something is severely wrong... Even with all of my years of experience, it was my first time seeing it move outside of its daily schedule...'

With a bit of remorse, he said:

"I've lost many operatives in these missions, not before the wall, neither beyond it, but within it."

"The corrupted remains of what was once the glorious Southern Corps now prowl those very halls…"

He then looked upwards towards the topmost portion of the wall, trying to look beyond the cold and dark stone…

"Traversing it isn't so simple… It did a very good job keeping many things outside of it, but so it does in keeping those things within it."

He turned to face the other 5 hooded people and said:

"You've heard this many times, but the interior of the walls is now a complex ecosystem filled with those abominations."

"Now that 'it' has moved, it is bound to be very chaotic. So we can't just risk it and go for it under these conditions…"

'I wonder... It has trespassed into the forbidden area...'

'Will those two clash?... It could be a chance... Or the start of our doom.'

'Though, it's not like things would get that much worse.'

'Regardless, dying now would only speed things up, I need to make a choice.'

"We may have to stop moving for at least 2 weeks…"

"Sir!" The girl said, desperate

'No... No!'

"I know, I know… There is a reason why you're all here, but remember, you only live once..."

'Although... If they're here it means they already accepted death in the first place...'

'Sigh, I'm sorry, but there isn't much I can do.'

He then looked at the girl as she bit her lips, he let out a sigh and said:

"However… It's true that we need supplies… It'll be extremely dangerous but..."

"When we go back, I'll set up an emergency scavenging Unit, and if you all want I…"

""Count us in.""They said in unison, their expressions varied, but they were all determined to do it

"..."

The man let out a sigh…

'Poor things… I wonder what drove us to this extreme condition...'

'Truly, things are becoming harder and harder… When did it all start going wrong when we survived for so long?'

He started to think of the past.

'Since the current territorial wars began, hunting in the forest has become an impossibility.'

'However, that in itself wouldn't have been a problem, our elite Scavs can easily work around that and use it to their advantage… The monsters were never the problem.'

'But with the appearance of those Outer Wall monsters, the equilibrium of the forest has been broken and our previous tactics have become useless causing the deaths of several operatives…'

'And now, our already extreme conditions have been pushed to the edge due to the lack of capable Scavengers and supplies.'

'To top it all off... Now this...'

"Let's go!" He said as he turned around, walking back into the forest

'We need to move if we want to go back with something...'

As he walked, he continued to think:

'Because of this, many of the citizens are now starving and sick, forcing us to employ unprepared personnel, or simply people so desperate that it's either dying here or a day later…'

He clenched his fists.

'We tried everything, but we can't breach the forest, not walk around it, we're trapped…'

'Dammit… 10 years ago, we were so close to finishing Project 'Burnout', but now… Even its resources have been scrapped just so we can last a bit longer...'

'We're destroying our own future...'

"Sigh..."

'At least it'll take a while till next Winter…'

'But I can't see us lasting through it… At least not all of us…'

…

/Around 10 minutes later…/

Because of their fear and the pressure of the situation, Dale and Testros ran on the underground passage with everything they had, this time, taking considerably less to travel the entire distance.

Since they had already scouted the entire path, there was no need to worry about traps or any inconveniences along the way.

And with their running speed, they arrived at the Sewers within 10 minutes as compared to the full hour it took last time.

Once they arrived, Dale quickly took David out of his waist and once again opened the door of Prosperity.

After he did this, they safely entered the Sewers with their hearts beating fast…

/Thud/

"Phew..."

Dale rested his head on the wall, thinking about his loot…

/Clang/

"..."

While Testros rested his spear on the ground, thinking about the past…

But despite thinking of different things, their expressions were similar... Relief.

In any case, once they were done resting, Testros gave Dale the Thorn and the Sword he took from the chest of the Commander.

There was no reason for him to hold onto them anymore, especially considering their Unique conditions...

One is an old relic that is now chipped and broken, heavy movements may break it even further…

While the other is an unidentified object, and potentially very dangerous, so it was better thrown away inside his pocket space rather than it being in his hands.

So the sooner he took it out of his hands the better.

The reason why he didn't pass it to Dale sooner, was because stopping for even a moment may have been potentially very dangerous...

Even though the creature was long gone, disappearing amidst the silent and cold bricks of the Wall, its presence had been imprinted into them.

...

After a moment of silence, they started moving…

On the way, David reassured Dale that there wouldn't be any consequences of this little event, apart from the faint chance of that creature remembering them next time.

Though that was unlikely as they didn't even meet, it was still possible the creature might be able to remember them through other means.

But Dale found it extremely hard that he would be visiting that place anytime soon…

Whatever that was, it was strong… Very strong.

How strong as compared to what Killed the Commander? That he could not tell.

He wasn't a fool to think that the monsters had gone weaker over the Decades, and he has everything to believe they got stronger.

Perhaps that gigantic monster was the same being that killed the Commander, mutated over many years of growth…

However, it didn't matter to Dale how strong it was right now, as his sole focus was on getting stronger.

Yet, he kept something in the back of his mind…

He would come back there, and one day kill it with his own hands.

He wasn't afraid, no, he couldn't be afraid. Whatever was sealed within the Catacombs was bound to be much stronger than that.

If he can't face it, then he must say goodbye to Resko and his dreams…

After shaking his head and letting out a sigh of relief, the two of them left the Sewers into the Catacombs, and from there to the Church.

"We're here..."

As always, Dale found the place creepy.

A silent and half-broken Church under the quiet moonlight was as eerie as it could get.

[This place needs some furnishing, it's almost worse than the Commander's Office] David said, not wasting an opportunity to joke with his own religion

'...'

Somehow, the little thing seemed to have the knack of saying these minor sacrilegious things, despite being one of the 3 main Holy Icons of the Religion…

Dale ignored his lines and said to Testros:

"I don't think I can sleep properly after what happened, so how about we discuss what happened first?"

"Preferentially… Not here, this place is quite cold…" He said, trying to underlie his discomfort

'Albeit there's a lot I need to understand... I need a time off as my head hurts really bad.'

[Ha!]

[Just say you're scared…~Booo!~... Biggie monster will beat your ass in the night...] David said sarcastically amidst a few laughs

'Just... Shut up.'

[Trying to act tough huh? Who was the person who acted all tense when jumping from the staircase?]

'...'

[It was you! I swear, I thought you were going to scream like a little girl and...]

Dale shut up his brain to whatever David was saying, not willing to listen further... <subtxt> . </subtxt>

"I'm with you, today I won't be able to sleep, there is a lot I want to read… Many questions that need answering…" He said with a thin smile as he cracked his neck

But he couldn't hide his excitement now that things had calmed down.

'Sigh, a lot is happening recently, I can barely keep on with it all…'

'My old bones are far from what they once were… But somehow, I feel energetic and motivated… Must be the hormones in my system…'

'But now... I can finally continue.'

'I won't be able to sleep for a while... I can't.'

After thinking for a moment, Dale led Testros to Illia's house, the sole Inn in the city…

Why the Inn and not the Guild?

Because the Guild was utterly filled with players… While the Inn was still an exclusive place for him and the children to stay at.

Not wanting to deal with this trouble, he simply went to his room.

This had the bonus of once he was done with this, he would put his character to sleep and log off, he was feeling a bit tired mentally and a quick 1-2 hour rest would do just fine to fix it.

But first, he had some things to read and inspect…

So he opened his inventory.

…

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