Chapter 125: ck Sun
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The sun rose from the horizon. The dark shade left the sky as the world was bathed in a warm, golden light.
It was a beautiful sight to behold.
However, then something changed.
Around the bottom corner of the sun, a faint ck haze began to form. Slowly spreading across the sun. The sky grew dimmer, and the warm light started to fade away.
ck Sun-it was called.
It onlyes around once a year, during the day of the Gathering.
Across thends of the New World, early woken up citizens turned their gazes over to the sky. Some prayed. Some kneeled. Some wept.
It was believed that during the day of the ck Sun, the Dark God of ckened Hearts would wake up, blink its eyes, and unleash chaos upon the world with its army of ck-hearted creatures.
On Kuro Ind, the mercenaries saw the arrival of the ck Sun. They knew it was time. They raised their weapons, roared towards the sun, and started spreading across the ind, looking for the creatures of the evil god.
...
There was a boulder sitting peacefully at the edge of a cliff, with a roaring river flowing below. It had been there for centuries.
The boulder started trembling. The ground started shaking. It was like an earthquake was about to strike.
Then, the boulder cracked from the middle, like a giant egg hatching. From the cracked boulder emerged a creature unlike any other, his ck hair and eyes resembling those of nightly creatures.
He stood up, not uttering a single word, even though he looked like he could speak if he wanted to.
From behind, he looked like a human. The ck hair cascading down the back of his neck, his naked back exposed, his back muscles rippling with every movement.
He had ck hair and eyes as well, and a paleplexion with smooth skin that seemed almost translucent under the sun. Handsome, very much so, but he didn''t seem to have any emotions.
As he stood there, naked like he was just born, his chest opened up-a hole the size of a brick at the center of it-and inside his body, there was a ck heart, as if it were roasted over a fire.
In the vast world of the New World, Chaosbeings wasn''t the only threat to humanity. Their existence was kept under wraps, under hushed whispers, as even those who knew about them were afraid to speak of them openly.
ckhearts-the creatures created by the Dark God of ckened Hearts.
...
Within the Hot Spring, the warm steam rose up in a thick mist and fell in gentle waves over the rocks.
Adam, with his eyes closed, enjoyed the warm bath. It was an intoxicating feeling-the feeling of bing stronger by just bathing in these magical waters.
Unfortunately, the more he used the hot spring, the less effect it would have.
After a couple of years of using it, the effect it had on King Moriarty was nonexistent.
During the first time using it, the effects were the greatest. Afterwards, the magic of the hot spring was much lesser, almost making no difference, except to make the person feel amazing and refreshed for a short while.
Adam softly opened his eyes and reached out to his trousers on the rocky floor. He took out a timepiece from his pocket and checked the time.
It was time.
''ckhearts must''ve awakened.''
He was aware of the scary truth behind this ind-ckhearts-it was something Sapphira revealed to him.
It wasn''t their strength that he feared, but what they could achieve.
Their only goal was to resurrect their evil god-the Dark God of ckened Hearts-and if they seeded, the world would be plunged into eternal darkness.
Mortal Online had severe consequences for failure.
If mercenaries failed to protect humanity, millions of Originals would die, and the world would be doomed to an eternity of suffering and despair.
The closest thing to that happening was with Loya, The Demoness Who Ate The Sun. She wasn''t exactly the demoness, but just her vassal of destruction.
She created destruction everywhere she went, bathing the world with her mes. She received her name during the height of her destruction when she devoured the sun itself, plunging the world into darkness.
The New World was in darkness for several years. It was cold and deste. Chaosbeings rampaged through thend.
In the end, King Moriarty, with his Imperial Order, managed to restore the sun and kill the demoness. He received the title of hero of humanity.
Those years were never remembered as fondly. A record number of mercenaries died during those years. Some outright just quit, unable to handle the constant bloodshed.
Adam sat on the edge of the hot spring, ready to do the thing he came here to do. It was only possible during the ck Sun.
At the bottom of the hot spring, the round-shaped rocks cracked and got sucked into the swirling vortex below. A strange portal appeared.
Adam pinched his nose, took a deep breath, and submerged himself in the water. The portal''s sucking power was so great that he was instantly pulled towards it.
With no chance to fight back, he was pulled through the portal, vanishing.
The portal vanished as soon as it came, and the round-shaped rocks rolled back into ce, leaving no trace of what had just happened.
A whileter, a person stepped through the vine-covered entrance and stopped by the warm, hot spring. The warm mist fell over her skin like a gentle caress.
Lady Yu crouched and touched the warm water with a smile. She could already feel her skin bing smoother and fairer.
She stood up, kicked her sandals off, and slid the dress off her shoulders; it fluttered to the ground in a whisper of silk.
She waded into the water, feeling the cool liquid envelop her body. She floated there, feeling weightless and serene.
The hot spring was deep, but for some odd reason, it didn''t try to pull her down. She didn''t even have to hold herself up.
With a gentle smile on her face, she closed her eyes and drifted off into a peaceful slumber. Her chest peeked out of the water, too heavy to stay afloat.
...
Thump!
Adam fell from a dark ceiling andnded on the hard ground below. It wasn''t warm anymore. It was cold and damp, and he could feel the chill sinking into his bones.
With a shudder, he took out some of his clothes from his inventory and put them on. It was still cold, but at least it was slightly better than beingpletely naked.
''Where am I?''
He wondered to himself.
Cmity never exined what he saw inside this ce-only that he destroyed the respawn
crystal.
Adam looked around. It was dark, and there was nothing here. It was like he was standing in the middle of a void.
At that moment, the ceilings slightly further away opened up. With a glow of light, something fell and fell to the ground.
After a further moment, Adam realized it was a crystal-the respawn crystal.
''That was easier than I expected.''
Adam drew his sword from his inventory. He slowly approached the crystal, creeping forward
like a shadow.
He arrived at the crystal, his sword raised.
Someone suddenly pped him on the shoulder, the impact sending a shockwave through his
body.
"I don''t recognize you," a dark voice said. "Who are you?"