Rise Of The Hoarder

[SYSTEM NOTIFICATION]

<Welcome to the Ninety-First Floor>

[Description]

This is a haunted place. Undead and curses loom across every area in this town. Within this expanse of darkness exists the origin of the death that has corrupted all.

Traverse the city and find the origin of the curse.

Remember, the Undead here seek rest from their eternal torment. They have not become this way due to their own free will. Their souls cry out for salvation.

Save these miserable souls.

<Primary Quest>

Find the Origin of this calamity of death and misery. Destroy the source.

<Secondary Quest>

Restore this place to its previous estate and grant the people rest.

<Special Quest>

Do not kill any of the innocent undead in the area._.

[END OF INFORMATION]

‘What the fvck is this?!’

What was with these weird quests?

No, more importantly… what the heck was this place?

Standing before me was a huge town, and we stood at the entrance—me and my deadweight group. I constantly shrouded them in my Purified energy, so even without <Safe Haven>, they were fine.

The entrance seemed to be made of some form of wood—something you would only see in the old age or the west. This gave me that old countryman vibes. Unfortunately, it wasn’t hot and sunny.

Dark clouds filled the sky, and fog shrouded the surrounding area.

While the town’s entrance was standing before us, I could sense multiple undead inside. They were mostly Grade 2—in essence, fodder. Still, there were so many that I nearly heaved a sigh.

If I got things right, then what this Floor expected from me was to simply scour the area in search of the origin of whatever transformed these guys into monsters—without killing any monster that came my way.

I needed to restore these guys’ place to its former glory. I wasn’t exactly certain what vague terms like that meant, but I would try my best.

‘Let’s start with the primary quest first…’

I looked at the party around me, and they were shivering. The chill was too much? Or could they still not resist the fear creeping up on them despite being protected by me?

‘These guys will only slow me down at this rate…’

It was best to just dump them in [Subspace] and continue the mission without them—especially since there would be a lot of walking around from this point onward.

Looking at all of them, they instantly vanished from sight and became locked in my storage space.

[SYSTEM ALERT]

<Quest Has Been Forcefully Stopped>

[Challenger Does Not Meet The Appropriate Requirement]

<You Will Now Be Ejected From Floor Ninety-One>

[5]

“What the fvck? Are you kidding me?!”

[4]

I didn’t think they would still be enforcing this shit. I couldn’t allow myself to be evicted! Not after I had gotten to this point.

[3]

‘Not hereeee!!!’

[2]

Instantly, I summoned the four individuals back from my storage space.

[1]

[SYSTEM UPDATE]

[You Now Meet The Requirement]

<Quest Will Now Resume>

‘Haa… haa… that was close…’

I was definitely not going to mess with the System again. Fortunately, they warned me and didn’t eject me without prior notice. That would have seriously sucked.

“U-uh, Masked Hero… what are we going to do now?” Tia walked up to me and asked.

‘Nothing. Do nothing!’ I wanted to scream at her.

But, she was the one with the crush, apparently. So far, it seemed her infatuation had only gotten worse. I had to tread carefully with this girl.

“We’ll be entering the city now. You all saw the quest, right? We won’t be attacking anyone. Just stick close to me and you’ll be fine.”

The moment the parasites heard this, they seemed to leap for joy. Well, I didn’t really mind since I was simply using them. Plus, our journey together would only be short. Unless…

‘H-hold on… what if…?!’

All four Towers had similar rules—and if I needed a team with me here, I would also need one in the others. Rather than finding new pawns, wasn’t it better to use these old ones instead?

‘Tia likes me, so she won’t refuse. The others might be feeling a little overwhelmed, but if I apply to their greed…’

Well, this wasn’t the time to mention it—maybe later.

It would have been easier if I could just control them to do my bidding, but… I had to restrict myself from doing that.

‘Being an Evil Aligned is such a pain. Urgh!’

The team huddled close to me and I used <Safe Haven> to protect us. It was one of those Skills that relied on Mana to function and didn’t really have much of a Time Limit. There was a cooldown function, though.

My Mana currently recovered more than the Skill required for use, so I could basically use it for free. The More Mana I poured in, the sturdier it got—but, with the level of undead I was seeing, they wouldn’t be posing any serious threats.

‘So, this quest is more about using your head… rather than just brute force, eh? Very well…’

We entered the ghost town—or rather, Undead Town.

It was funny how the large wooden entrance had a name written on it. It was a language I didn’t know, though, so I couldn’t read it.

I could probably try to decipher it, but… that would be a pain.

As one would expect from a place crawling with Undead, I saw several of them converging in our direction. The houses in the town were well made. They didn’t seem to be from Earth, though, since the roofs had crooked shapes and the architecture was weird.

Still, it was safe to say that this was probably a really prosperous village. Emphasis on ‘WAS’.

“GRUUUIIIIIII”

Several undead growled and approached us.

Perhaps they were drawn to the bright pink hue of my barrier… or maybe they could sense living things—either way, the numbers never stopped climbing. As we walked past the square, more came our way and began to block the road path that we were taking.

They weren’t overly violent and dangerous—but these guys remained persistent and disturbed our advancement.

‘If not for this shield, many would have an issue traversing this place without killing any Undead…’

Plus, there was Miasma around, giving them more strength. At this point, I just sighed and watched them claw at the barrier.

‘So, how do I go about this one?’