Chapter 12: Aria

The woman looked back and saw her dress was on fire. She simply waved her hand in the air, and the fire was extinguished. She then looked at Zach and asked, “Where were we?”

“Uhh… I was asking you to send me back to the entry of the dungeon?” Zach was being as humble and calm as he could. He didn’t know who the woman was, but he knew that she was strong. Her presence was domineering, and Zach didn’t want to mess with her, especially when he only had 1 HP left.

“Right.” The woman nodded and walked forward to Zach. “Tell me, mortal. How did you get in here?”

“As I said, I was trying to exit the dungeon, but somehow I ended up here,” Zach replied and shrugged his shoulders. “If you can just send me back, I will be on my way.”

“Hmm~” the woman hummed in amusement. “So it’s really true that the petty gods trapped the mortals in this… game or whatever you call it.”

“But then again, I was never fond of you mortals, so I don’t really care,” She sneered. “I was simply here to confirm it for myself, but I couldn’t enter the game for some reason. So I had to create my own sacred dimension.”

Zach pondered for a while after hearing what the woman said. He first assumed that the woman was an NPC designed to guide the players somewhere or simply a bonus floor. But after listening to the woman and the way she was talking, Zach was certain that she wasn’t an NPC or a player.

“Who are you?” Zach couldn’t help but ask the woman. He was curious why someone would want to enter a game that was basically a one-way ticket.

“Who am I? A mortal like you isn’t allowed to know my name,” the woman uttered in a haughty manner. She then placed her hand on Zach’s shoulder and dropped him to his knees. “And how dare you look me in the eyes. I am Aria, the incarnation of death and destruction.”

‘I did not ask for your name,’ Zach uttered inwardly. ‘She is strong. Her hand was so heavy, and I don’t think she is joking about being an incarnation of death and destruction.’

Zach was in a dire state, but that didn’t stop him from being ‘Zach’. He stood up straight against Aria’s will and gazed her into the eyes. He did the very thing Aria warned him not to do.

“You…” Aria gritted her teeth and tried to crush Zach using her hand, but Zach jumped backward and made some distance between them. “You mortal!” she yelled.

“Don’t you know it’s not nice to touch people without their permission?” Zach remarked. He then looked into Aria’s eyes again and said with a smirk on his face: “And my name is Zach, you… monster!”

Aria’s face twitched as though it was about to explode in rage and anger. “What did you just call me? A monster? Do I look like a monster to you?!” she yelled.

“Well…” Zach shrugged his shoulders and replied, “You did introduce yourself as an incarnation of death and destruction, so yeah, you are a monster.”

Aria pointed her finger at the long pointy rock behind Zach and said, “How could you call the cute and beautiful me, a monster?”

“And you are a narcissist too. Great,” Zach commented.

“Enough!” The rock behind Zach shattered, and lava came out of the magma.

Zach ran to the other side but made sure not to stand near any of the rocks.

“Running won’t help you, you little rat!” Aria kept pointing her gaze at the rocks and shattered them while Zach kept running and dodging.

“First, you came into my sacred space. Then you disrespected me. And now you called me a monster?!” Aria yelled as she controlled the lava on the floor. “You are so dead, you mortal.”

“You are wrong. Everything you said is incorrect,” Zach asserted as he jumped and dodged around. “I didn’t come here on my wish. I never disrespected you. And as for calling you a monster…” Zach glanced around him and saw the destruction. “Yes, you are a monster.”

“You even broke through my illusion. Who are you, mortal?”

Zach stopped moving and looked at Aria with a frowned face. He furrowed his brows and asked, “You showed me that illusion?”

“Anyone who dares to enter my sacred place gets lost in the illusion and eventually dies. But you…” Aria glared at Zach and uttered, “You somehow managed to break through that illusion. I could only see one hour of your memories during the time you were trapped in my illusion.”

‘She managed to read one hour of my memories within less than a minute?!’ Zach exclaimed inwardly.

“You must have some kind of protection spell cast on you. Otherwise, it’s impossible to…” Aria stopped and looked at Zach with a curious look on her face. “Who was that man in your illusion?”

“….” Zach didn’t answer.

“A brother? Maybe a friend? Perhaps, a son. But…” Aria inspected Zach from head to toe and shook her head. “You don’t look old enough to have a son that old, although I wouldn’t be surprised if humankind has degraded that low.”

After a brief pause, Aria muttered, “Father.” She saw Zach reacting to the word father and said with a smirk on her face: “I see. He was your father. If you are reacting like this, then he should most probably be dead. That’s how you mortals are. You don’t care about what you have, but when you lose them, you realize their value.”

She laughed out loud and continued, “You should be thankful to me. I showed you the illusion you wanted. I reunited you with your father, whom you are never going to see again. Now be a good—”

Aria was interrupted by a strong punch on her face. Zach punched her so hard that she bounced on the ground a couple of times and collided with the long rock that shattered on impact. However, her body was unscathed.

“Unbelievable! How could a mere mortal inflict pain on me?” She slowly stood up with a bewildered look on her face and glared at Zach with murderous intent. “I take back what I said.”

Her eyes shined red crimson as the lava around Zach began aggravating. “I will reunite you with your father. But first, I will give you the most painful death possible.”

****

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