Destroying My Own World

Mykel and his team were staring at the others who were cheering at something. They were curious as to what it was until Lazarus mentioned something about a gift from the system. At that moment, Elena and the others looked at each other because they didn’t get any of it after they cleared the floor inside the portal in Montana.

They decided to pretend that they also got a gift from the system, and after listening to each one of them, the gift varied from each other. Some got extra status points, some got a new skill, some got an item, and some gained a sponsorship.

"So, what? Does that mean we are unwanted by the system and Gods as well now? I mean I’m fine if the Gods didn’t care about us, but even the system is discriminating us is a bit too much," Rozan said quietly.

"Looks like it. That’s really a bad business if they treat a customer like this, but we are going to fuck it all up anyway, so it should make our action justified, kind of?" Sven asked as he looked down and kicked the rocks around. "So what are we going to do now? We can’t level up anymore since the system is fucked up," Sven asked Mykel.

"We need to find the artifacts. They should be around here somewhere," Mykel answered as he looked around. "They might get buried under the rocks, so pay attention to your surroundings," Mykel pointed out.

Mykel and his team spread around the vast field of rocks, and it made Magnus Lazarus notice them. They were confused about why they all walked further away, but then they remembered the remaining members of the Winter Guild. They both then ordered everyone to do a clean sweep around the area to find a body or more.

After an hour of searching, the acid rain poured over the land again and it forced them to take cover. Mykel and his team weren’t bothered by it and kept searching for bodies. Rozan was flying and looked from the sky with Gerrard since Gerrard’s eyes were the best out of everyone.

"There’s something shiny over there," Gerrard said as he pointed at the distance near the rock mountain.

Gerrard whistled so loudly that it echoed throughout the whole land, and then he pointed at the direction where he found something shiny. Mykel and the others immediately went that way as Lazarus and the others could only watch and stayed there.

"This isn’t just shiny, this is a mass graveyard," Rozan said as he looked at the armor, weapons, accessories, and artifacts scattered around. "There are skeletons inside the armors as well. Looks like they died a painful death since there’s not a single boulder for them to take cover," Rozan continued and looked around.

"They were trying to reach the mountain, but it was too late," Nagy said and looked at the distance between the first to the last skeletons. "But these people are the ones that just came in. There are only eleven bodies here," Nagy pointed out.

"Yeah, the original group is behind this mountain. It looks like they died fighting that giant golem since it’s not that far from where the giant golem came," Gerrard answered.

After they took the artifacts, they went beyond the mountain so quickly that it only took them a minute. They saw a sea of treasure at the base of the mountain, and they could sense strong magic coming from there.

Lazarus and the others hurriedly followed Mykel as soon as the acid rain stopped. But they were too far away that it might have taken them a while before Mykel could collect all the artifacts. They were worried that Mykel would take advantage of the situation and take all the artifacts for himself.

"These belong to those guys earlier," Magnus said as he kept walking. "Mykel didn’t take anything from them it seems," Magnus pointed out.

"He took the artifacts. You can tell which one is normal equipment or artifact, and none of them are here," Lazarus said. "Let’s hurry up and meet up with Mykel and his team," Lazarus continued and started running toward the mountain.

Before they could even walk past the mountain, Mykel and his team had come back. They met near the peak of the mountain, and then before Lazarus could say anything, Gunnar, Sven, and Vince threw three big wraps made of clothes. When one of them hit a rock, the cloth was torn open and everyone could see the artifacts inside and scattered around.

"It’s up to you whether you bring them all back to Germany or take them for yourself," Mykel said. "Nobody will know, and nobody will judge you if you take them. The only ones who know are us," Mykel continued.

"I would take some of them if I were you. There are so many good artifacts in there," Aurea said as she crossed her arms.

Lazarus really wanted to get some of them after he looked at the effects of the artifacts, but Zeus and all the Olympians were watching him. Although Zeus didn’t tell him to not take the artifacts, the pressure was there, but to his surprise, Magnus took a lot of them for himself.

"What are you doing?!" Lazarus asked.

"The God I serve told me to take them. They’re a spoil of war, and I’m allowed to take as many as I want," Magnus answered with a smirk.

As soon as Magnus said that, Zeus told Lazarus to take them just like Odin did. With that being said, all the artifacts were gone and had been shared with everyone except Mykel and his team. Although they were happy, they had an unknown feeling of fear that someone or something would come after them if they used artifacts that didn’t belong to them.

"Your faces are telling me that you’re feeling guilty and scared. You’re all afraid that the Gods that own those artifacts will come to get them from you? Don’t be ridiculous. What can they do? Kill you? If that’s the case your God will prevent that from happening. Don’t think too much about it," Aurea said as she looked at all of them.

Both Zeus and Odin gave their responses through notification to Lazarus and Magnus. They both agreed with what Aurea told them, and they would fight those Gods who dated to touch their favorites. That made both of them a bit terrified of Aurea because the way she thought, it was similar to a God.

"Since we are done here, let’s head back before. We are quite far from the portal and who knows when the acid rain will come again," Mykel said as he walked down the mountain.

Everyone left the portal, and people were standing near the portal with the soldiers trying to prevent them from going further. People were cheering for them and the reporters were pointing their microphones at Mykel and the others as they walked.

"Mister Lazarus! Did you find the Winter Guild members and hundreds of Awakeners inside?" The reporter asked. All the reporters went quiet because they wanted to hear his answer.

"We found them," Lazarus answered as he nodded his head. "We realized what made them unable to come back. We will give you the statement after we take a short rest because everyone is exhausted," Lazarus continued and then left.

Mykel was watching Lazarus giving his statement about what had happened inside the portal. They had agreed on hiding the fact that they took the artifacts from the public. Lazarus also stated that it was impossible to bring dead bodies back knowing how hazardous the place was.

The media believed Lazarus and there was no reason to not believe him since there were a lot of injured Awakeners and proved his words. Lazarus rejoined with the others, and he was more exhausted from answering questions than when he was inside the portal.

"It’s over, what are you going to do now?" Magnus asked Mykel.

"China, maybe. I’m going to meet Zhang and help him clear the portal there with Ren and Jeong," Mykel answered.

"I see. Good luck over there," Magnus said.

"Alright, I’ll see you guys later," Mykel said and left with his team.

"I thought we were going to France since that Anzel guy is there with Gea?" Jeanne asked.

"I don’t want to take the risk before the system is back, and I believe something is protecting him and preventing me from seeing him," Mykel answered. "We are going to make a detour and visit Russia first. I have some business there," Mykel continued.