Entering Apocalypse in Easy-Mode

Clyde looked around him. He saw nothing more in this spacious room.

The black square patterns on the walls gave him a strange feeling of being watched.

It was as if the square pattern was a door that would give rise to strange creatures.

Remembering that the task he had to do was to protect the crystal, Clyde immediately rushed up to the platform and stood next to the crystal.

The crystal was quite big and almost the same height as him.

Floating on a base in the middle of the platform as if supported by invisible hands.

The crystals are pink and clear. Clyde is able to see the reflection of his own face in the crystal.

[ Are you ready to start? ]

A text appeared in front of him suddenly.

"Yes. Let us begin," Clyde answered the question in a flat tone.

The text then just disappears as suddenly as its appearance.

Then the crystal began to glow in a rhythm that looks similar to a heartbeat.

Clyde pulled the Elderglass Sword from its scabbard at his waist and prepared to face the incoming wave of monsters.

About a minute later an alarm sounded. The same alarm sound that signaled the arrival of the BOSS this afternoon.

Then the square pattern on the wall began to move and open one by one in turn.

From it, huge scorpions and spiders crawled out with a screeching sound that made the hair on the back of Clyde's neck shudder.

Clyde even winced at the sight of the larger-than-should-be bugs crawling around.

"Urghh... so disgusting."

[ Wave 1 begins! ]

A notification appears along with a mechanical sound. Marking the start of the Quest that Clyde must complete tonight.

"It's just a bug, right?!"

Clyde grinned as he saw the bugs coming towards him with a disgusting rustling sound.

They are indeed larger than they should be. But that didn't matter much to Clyde.

[ Burning Hand (Lv.10) is activated! ]

*ZWOOOOSSSHHH!!!*

Flames shot from Clyde's hands in all directions. He also rotated his body so that the fire could hit more areas.

In the blink of an eye, Clyde had burned almost all of the insects that had crawled out of the square pattern on the wall.

'This. is weird,' thought Clyde. 'Isn't this too easy?'

Clyde continued to use [Burning Hand] and slash the Elderglass Sword until finally there were no more bugs left.

All this only takes a minute. And the bugs had turned from loathsome monsters into piles of black ashes scattered on the floor.

[ Wave 1 cleared! ]

'This is really weird. Has the difficulty returned to its original state?'

If that were true, then this Quest that should have been C Rank would become a D Rank Quest. Or even lower considering his already high level.

Clyde clicked his tongue in annoyance. 'If I knew this, I should have taken a higher Rank Quest!'

But there was no point regretting now that he was already on this Quest.

'I better finish this quest quickly and then come back. Maybe I still have time to take another Quest.'

[ Wave 2 begins! ]

After that, the black square pattern on the wall is opened again. And this time what appeared was the horde of zombies.

They also came out with crawling movements that were just as disgusting as the bugs earlier.

The zombies immediately lunged at Clyde accompanied by a strange growling sound.

"If indeed the level of difficulty returns to normal, then they are not a problem at all."

Clyde grinned and started slashing at the zombies that came rushing at him.

~~~

On the other hand, a Quest Carrier also came to the motel where Sonya, Asqa, and the Regressors were.

The six of them were already waiting in the hotel lobby with anxious faces.

Finally, after waiting for a long minute, the figure they were waiting for came too.

He was a man with shoulder-length black hair who wore a neat suit.

Black glass covered his eyes even though it was night. And of course, there's an exclamation mark over the guy's head.

"Good evening," the man greeted in his usual oddly cheerful voice. "Do you guys want to take the Quest?"

"Of course," Rodney said. "Give us the list."

The man immediately waved his hand and a list of available quests immediately appeared next to the man.

"So we agreed we'd just take the easy one?" Sonya asked.

Everyone immediately agreed with his words. They'd talked about it before.

And through the same considerations that were running through Clyde's mind, they came to the same decision.

"We will take the available C Rank Quests," Rodney said.

"Very well."

<<<Quest>>>

[ Quest Category: Searching Quest. ]

[ Clear Condition: You must find the five artifact pieces scattered around this area. ]

[ Rank: C ]

[Time: Sunrise. ]

[ Reward: 300 Coins, a C Rank artifact. ]

Everyone in the group seemed to agree. It looks like an easy Quest. Although with a reward that seems also not too big.

But it's better than doing nothing.

"We will take this Quest," Rodney said.

The man nodded. Then he turned and walked out of the motel.

A moment later the man disappeared as he turned a corner.

"Let's go," Rodney said.

"Have you ever done this Quest?" Sonya asked because she saw that the Regressors seemed more relaxed than before.

"We do. This is a fairly easy Quest," Mona replied.

Sonia nodded. She looked at Asqa who still looked worried. That expression seemed to have come naturally to her now.

"Hey, don't worry." Sonya moved closer to her and rubbed her shoulder. "They say it's an easy Quest."

Asqa tried to smile. "Yes."

Sonya feels sorry for Asqa. She was completely powerless alone.

Maybe she even thinks of herself as a burden on this group.

Even though Sonya thinks that Asqa's healing abilities are very great.

Among this group, only she has the ability to heal. Asqa shouldn't have looked worried like that.

They walked out of the motel and started looking for the scattered pieces of artifacts.

~~~