[You have discovered those resurrected by Twisted Power.]
[Report to the Mediator to receive merit points.]
Message windows popped up in front of Evan’s eyes.
But there was no time to check such things right now.
The Twisted Ones were tightening their encirclement, suffocating him.
Evan was racking his brain, searching for a way to escape as he stared at the Twisted Ones.
Meanwhile, Alan questioned Celia as if blaming her for the situation.
“This happened because of you. What are you going to do about it?”
“I’m sorry. I’ll try my best to break through and at least ensure your safety, Young Master.”
Knowing her own mistake, Celia didn’t make excuses and moved to take responsibility.
But Evan, who remained calm, gestured for her to stop.
“No, these guys would have approached us the moment we set foot here anyway. Maybe, even now, the others are in the same situation elsewhere.”
Judging by the pace at which they were moving, it didn’t seem like they had just started moving.
The Twisted Ones were already closing in, and they had simply noticed them quickly.
“First, save about half your strength. Even if we get out of here, there’s no guarantee there won’t be more of them. No, we might even have to escape the entire northern forest.”
As Evan considered every possibility, Celia admired him.
“Understood, Young Master.”
She had simply assumed that escaping this encirclement would be the end.
She felt ashamed of herself.
Evan spoke firmly to everyone.
“From now on, stay sharp.”
Celia and Alan responded briefly, raising their Aura.
“Ugh!”
“…M-My Mana.”
But their bodies, affected by Twisted Power, could not properly control Mana.
Watching them struggle, Evan raised his sword and spoke.
“I’ll take the lead and break through. Follow right behind me. Anyone who falls behind will be left.”
At least Evan, who possessed holy power, had resistance to Twisted Power.
Evan drew up Aura throughout his body.
“Young Master?”
“H-How?”
Seeing Evan form Aura with ease, unlike themselves, Alan and Celia could only stare in surprise.
They tried once more to form Aura just in case, but failed.
“I’ll break through with Young Master! With this Greatsword, I’ll chop them up before they even get close!”
Reynold drew his newly acquired Greatsword from his back.
Evan looked at Reynold and chuckled.
Even without Aura, Reynold had exceptional brute strength to begin with.
“At times like this, he’s more reliable than those two.”
At that, Celia quietly hung her head, and Alan glared at Reynold in frustration.
With that, Evan and Reynold charged ahead.
Huff!
Slash!
Reynold’s massive Greatsword hacked apart the approaching Twisted Ones.
Of course, even when chopped to pieces, the Twisted Ones didn’t die, but with their bodies torn apart, they couldn’t move easily.
Evan also slashed at them with his sword.
Whenever his blade struck a Twisted One, the area burned away.
‘Is it because of holy power?’
Evan’s holy power was inflicting real damage on the Twisted Ones.
“Good! If we break through in one go like this, we’ll be back where we started!”
With Evan’s energetic shout, Reynold bulldozed through with his brute strength.
Alan and Celia, following behind, could only lament their own powerlessness.
They realized firsthand that ordinary attacks did nothing to these grotesque creatures.
Even if they struck, the creatures would just keep coming, unfazed.
Either you had to tear them completely in half with overwhelming force like Reynold—
Or, deliver a fatal blow with some mysterious power like Evan.
So, Evan’s group seemed to be breaking through the encirclement without much trouble.
But then—
Guaaagh! Guuuk!
The Twisted Ones appeared again from all directions.
“Damn! No choice. We keep pushing through!”
As Evan shouted—
Fwoosh!
Suddenly, a flash of light burst above them.
As they looked up, a sphere of light came flying down.
Fwaaah!
The orb exploded in a burst of light, sweeping away the nearby Twisted Ones.
Grrrgh! Guh!
With bizarre screams, the Twisted Ones vanished, and the entire area was bathed in radiant light.
As the light gradually faded, they saw Millia approaching from ahead.
“Everyone! Are you all alright?”
Here, at least, the power of a priest was even more effective.
“Yes.”
Celia, catching her breath, approached Millia as she came closer.
Alan and Reynold looked around in awe at her power.
“She wiped them all out.”
“As expected, the holy power of a high-ranking priest is amazing.”
Evan nodded in agreement.
“Indeed. Thank goodness. That’s a load off our minds.”
Millia swept away the Twisted Ones approaching by unleashing holy magic.
But since they were lost and wandering, it was still dangerous.
The Twisted Ones kept appearing endlessly.
“Something’s off. There were this many, but we didn’t notice? Was there some kind of magic hiding them?”
Celia couldn’t hide her confusion.
She also began to doubt whether they could really escape this place.
Evan listened to her and made a few guesses.
‘The southern part of the forest where we first entered was still relatively normal. But the moment we set foot in the north, their numbers started increasing. And while we wandered, we must have gone even deeper.’
The deeper they went, the more Twisted Ones appeared.
That meant there was likely a source nearby.
Evan heightened his Mana sensitivity to the maximum and tried to sense the surrounding Mana.
***
At that moment—
‘Is it over there?’
Evan sensed a place where Mana was gathering abnormally.
It was hard to find, mixed with Twisted Power, but it was definitely odd.
“That’s it.”
Evan pointed and spoke to Millia.
“Open a path in that direction.”
“Huh?”
“No time for questions! Hurry!”
“Huh? Ah, okay.”
Seeing Evan’s urgency, Millia immediately used holy magic.
Fwaaah!
Light burst from her body, and beams shot forward, clearing a path.
In an instant, the place where the light passed became a corridor, with the Twisted Ones evaporating.
“I’ll go ahead. Save your strength and follow slowly. There’s something over there. We might be able to resolve this.”
Evan announced unilaterally and started running.
He knew that if he hesitated, Celia or Alan would only try to stop him out of concern.
“Y-Young Master!”
“Young Master!”
Celia and Alan’s voices rang out behind him.
Evan ignored them and pressed on.
They’d only get in the way, anyway.
Evan forced his way through, slashing down the creatures and pushing through the undergrowth.
The moment he broke through—
‘…What is this?’
In the middle of a large clearing stood a stone altar, exuding a black aura.
Below it were strange magic circles and traces of rituals.
But Evan had no time to worry about that.
The Twisted Ones nearby noticed him and started to approach.
As he scanned the altar, Evan spotted an old chalice sitting atop it.
‘Found it.’
Black aura and Twisted Power were pouring out of the chalice.
‘So that’s the culprit mentioned in the quest.’
Evan explosively drew up his physical power through Aura.
Breaking through the Twisted villagers, he reached the altar in one burst and reached for the old chalice.
Crackle!
But a black barrier formed around the chalice, sparking violently.
‘A barrier?’
Evan gripped his sword with both hands and struck the barrier with all his strength.
Boom!
A powerful shockwave erupted as the barrier and sword collided.
Evan endured without flinching.
Eventually, cracks began to form in the barrier under the force of his holy power.
Craack!
Boom!
A moment later, the barrier shattered completely.
“Alright, it’s undone.”
Gasping for breath, Evan immediately grabbed the chalice.
At that moment—
[The power that twists all things has vanished.]
Kwooooom!
The ground trembled as powerful waves radiated from Evan’s position.
At the same time, the Twisted Power enveloping the forest and the approaching Twisted Ones vanished as if it had all been a lie.
[The Branch Quest [Cursed Forest] has been completed.]
[Find the Mediator of the world and receive your reward.]
“So it’s over now?”
Evan looked at the chalice in his hand and let out a sigh of relief.
Then he slumped to the ground.
‘All this nonsense happened because of this item? What the hell is this…’
He immediately checked the chalice’s information window.
[Rank: ??]
[Category: Chaos Item.]
[Usage Restriction: Chaos Value 100 or higher.]
[Effect: ??]
[Other: A sacred relic used by a certain cult. Contains the power to twist all things.]
‘A Chaos Item…’
Evan’s expression darkened.
He knew about Chaos Items very well.
They were items used by the corrupted.
Items with the power to destroy the world.
Though their power might be dormant, the more they were used, the more they would devastate and destroy the world.
And those who used them were always targets for Evan to eliminate.
Because anything related to such items always became a quest.
‘Now I understand why it’s a branch quest. If something like this runs rampant, of course it’s a top priority to eliminate it. And aside from that, it means there’s a dangerous person inside this county.’
Evan felt the power of this item keenly.
It was similar to the undead, but gave off an even more dangerous aura.
There might be an even greater power inside it that he didn’t know.
‘Power that twists all things…’
If the undead were simply about corpses, this was a higher concept altogether.
Because the Twisted Ones didn’t feel like mere corpses—they seemed almost alive.
Their expressions were too vivid.
As if souls were trapped within.
‘No, it said it could resurrect the dead. The undead are about using corpses as tools, not true resurrection.’
There was no telling what kind of catastrophe the Twisted Chalice could unleash.
And what caught his eye was the condition for using the Twisted Chalice.
‘Chaos Value 100 or higher. Completely insane. Just how much slaughter would someone have to commit to use this?’
Chaos Value was the opposite of holy power.
It increased through malicious slaughter or intentionally harming the world.
Of course, it also amplified demonic or dark powers.
But for Evan, it was absolutely forbidden.
‘If your Chaos Value gets too high, you can’t use the shop anymore.’
The Mediator had mentioned it before.
If your Chaos Value rises, the system judges you as “corrupted.”
Then you can’t trade anymore.
Evan was doing all this to protect the city.
‘If I can’t use the shop, it’s meaningless.’
He would never use this item.
But he absolutely couldn’t let it fall into anyone else’s hands, either.
‘I’ll have to hand it over to the Mediator for disposal.’
Evan put the Twisted Chalice into his inventory.