“Shut up, Cyn, seriously, just shut up and read what Tobs just sent us,” having none of his brother’s idiocy, Brance deflected Cyrnik’s attention to the flood of notifications they had both received upon defeating Burt.

– You have killed a level 18 Demi-human (Half Ghoul)-

– Due to the unique identity and the level of the enemy, you have received five times the rewards –

– XP reward has been modified –

– You have leveled up –

– You have obtained 5 STR points –

– You have obtained 5 VIT points-

– You have obtained 5 KIN points-

– Tier 2 Mana Codex located would you like to extract it Y/N –

“Oh shit, free level,” chuckling at the fortune he had gained from this most recent kill, Cynrik looked at Brance happily. Still, when he saw the solemn expression his younger brother was wearing, his eyes jumped back to the open notifications and continued scrolling down.

-WARNING, EMERGENCY CHAIN QUEST –

-Emergency Quest Haylons Shadow (EPIC Chain) –

-Due to the most recent battle with System User Burt Clemsdale, the Hosts have created a severe commotion in the facility. This has alerted the unaware members and leadership of the hidden faction Haylons Shadow to intruders being in their territory.

-The rewards from this quest chain will be lucrative.-

-Failure in any of the quests in the chain will result in the Host’s death.-

-Part 1 A: Collect the children Benny and Gabby Sandford and move to a safe location. (Incomplete)

-Part 1 B: Using your Watcet, inform either Cinyah Jetlensr or Rikard Jetlensr of your current location and situation. (Incomplete)

-Reward – 5000 XP, 10 Skill points, 5 Stat points-

-Time remaining to failure 15 minutes-

Cynriks hands massaged his temples, and he let out a long sigh as he finished reading the final notification about the emergency EPIC quest.

“Fuck…”

“Yeah, fuck,” the two brother’s sat in silence as they collected themselves and digested the new information.

“First things first, save your Stat points; there’s no point in wasting what could potentially be a trump card. While I’m not sure if every one of these quests in the chain will reward us with free points, it’s not a bad idea to hold off for now on spending what we’ve got. I know it will mess up your build, but if you can drop 20 points into AGI in a decisive moment, you’ll be able to shock your opponent and escape.”

” For now, the clock is ticking, luckily killing that moron replenished our Stats, so we are nearly back to full power; the only downside is my ribs are still fractured. But the bright side is that with my VIT and a couple more heal, I should be fully healed quickly.

“The pain isn’t that bad right now, and since my HP is back to full, I’ll be fine; time to go scoop up those brats and get the fuck out of here. My guess is when that clock hits zero, this hotel will turn into a hornet’s nest.”

Standing up and dusting himself off, Cynrik lightly jogged to where Brance had left the two unconscious children. After a quick game of rock paper scissors, Brance was given the task of carrying them both. Even though it had been decided with a game, Cynrik had waved it off as Brance is technically physically stronger since his STR stat was almost double his own. Unwillingly, Brance went along with it and threw Benny over his shoulder while holding Gabby under his right armpit.

With 13:29 left on the mission timer, Cynrik and Brance arrived at the Grand Staircase.

“Ok, two options,” thinking quickly, Cynrik started listing out ideas while taking in his surroundings with Mana Sight active. “We head to a higher floor and try to hide, or we straight up leave,” with rapidly moving eyes, Cynrik was able to see the Mana signatures stiring on every floor of the hotel.

Brance decided for him and took off down the stairs running directly for the front door.

“Alright, leave the Tower of Terror it is,” snorting at his joke Cynrik followed suit and ran down after his brother. However, unlike Brance, who ran in a straight line for the door, Cynrik swerved off and headed for the broken concierge desk.

[May as well make a little distraction to throw them off our tail, you keep goin, I’ll catch up,] Cynrik informed his brother, who at this point was already at the door and about to leave.

Not breaking his stride, Brance acknowledged his brother’s statement before swiftly leaving the old, musty building.

“Hehe, hehe, IVE ALWAYS WANTED TO DO THIS SHIT,” laughing maniacally, two fireballs the size of basketballs manifested above Cynrik’s outstretched palms.

With two swift movements, the destroyed desk was set ablaze, but Cynrik didn’t stop there; spinning around in a circle, he began hurtling fireballs all over the hotel lobby.

Next, he ran over to the remains of the lobbies furniture and started lobbing anything he could pick up in the direction of the basement; by the time he ran out of things to throw, a wooden pile larger than himself had formed in front of the door to the basement.

He had been hoping Brance would leave to begin with since there was absolutely no way that his soft-hearted brother would allow what he was about to do.

With a twisted expression creeping across his face, Cynrik formed two more fireballs and lit the woodpile blocking the basement door on fire before moving to the center of the lobby and raising his arms like a symphony conductor.

His eyes drifted between the notification window that showed the timer and his Stats window as he monitored his MP. Then, taking in a deep breath, Cynrik conjured more than a dozen fireballs and began slinging them in every direction. Each time one of the fireballs connected with something, it would explode and spread.

Unaware of what was happening inside the building, Brance ran full speed away from the hotel. [Where are you? We’ve only got 10 minutes left.] Even though he had already covered the equivalent of five city blocks in only a couple of minutes, he was still within range of Cynrik and thus could still stay in contact with him.

[Coming, where are you?] When he received the message from his brother, Cynrik immediately dashed away from his position, where he was admiring his handy work, and ran out the door.

[Run straight for two blocks, then take a left and continue for three more you’ll find me;] as he spoke, Brance never stopped moving. He knew that the further away he got from the hotel, the better his odds of completing the quest were.

Hearing his little brother’s directions, Cynrik set off at full speed while pulling his Watcet out of his inventory and clasping it onto his right wrist.

It didn’t take long for Cynrik to catch up to Brance, who was still running at full speed. Appearing to materialize out of thin, Cynrik was suddenly running alongside Brance, which startled him greatly. He knew that Cynrik was fast because of his high AGI, but his brother moved like a ghost.

“Sup,” noticing Brance’s startled expression, Cynrik had to hold back from teasing him, “Let’s keep going; I’ve already started booting up my Watcet; it’s still going to take a couple of minutes before I can call our parents, toss me Gabby so you can do the same. Two signals pinging off a tower will make it easier for them to locate us.”

Without even looking at Cynrik, Brance tossed the little girl under his arm in the air and swiftly pulled out and equipt his Watcet before booting it up just like Cynrik had. Then, just as he finished, he reached out in front of him and caught Gabby as if nothing had happened. [Like hell, you and I both know you’re more likely to drop her on the ground and keep running.]

Brance’s reaction caused Cynrik to stumble momentarily and almost fall. [OI, I WOULD NOT, well… ok maybe I woulda tossed her into a pile on the side of the road, at least she’d be considered safe, right?]

[Don’t try to justify your twisted logic, Cynrik. We both know you dislike Gabby and Benny; you only tolerate their existence. That doesn’t mean you’ll go out of your way to help them. In your mind, as long as they’re not in the hotel, they’re safe. But that doesn’t track with Tobs. It isn’t about what either of us thinks; if we don’t receive the prompt that they’re both safe, then we don’t leave them anywhere.] Brance glanced over at Cynrik to see his reaction, only to see, Cynrik wasn’t even paying attention to him and was instead fiddling with his Watcet.

Feeling like someone was watching him, Cyrnik looked up only to see a pissed-off Brance. [Hm? Oh, I’m supposed to respond. Yes, yes, I’m a horrible person who doesn’t give a shit about anything; I know I know—no need to go off about it.]

[FUCK YOU!] Brance shouted into the mind link, startling Cynrik, who once again almost tripped over his own feet.