Chapter 657 Escape!
As an a.s.sociate of Alex, Professor Frances was already used to his antics.
Whether it be his pranks or his mischievousness, Professor Frances had already learned to tolerate it, as she knew that he was usually playing with them.
But today, Professor Frances cannot accept what Alex was doing.
Because what Alex is doing right now… is not just a simple prank.
"̴̭̈́̎͒͠@̷̗͈̠͍̗̝̓̅́͆̏͛͂̒*̴͇̃͂̕ͅ(̸̮͔͕̹̟̙̓̀#̶̞͚̬̼̜̪̲͈̌̌͝@̸͕̞̫̙͇̌́̂̄́̾͊͘)̵͙̞̥̗͌̌́̃͒͋̚̚#̴̦̫͙̭̉̆͑(̴̬̟̿̐̄*̶̫̌@̸͎́)̸̲̫̼͈̟̼̓̊̾͂̾̇͗̂ͅ)̸̢̮̥̗̺̦͓̙́̇͑(̸̨̲̞̹̫̊͛̿̐̃͆̚(̵̢͓̰̬͎̓̃̀̀̈́*̶̠̂̐̆͝)̸̦͚̹͌̏̊̈́̊̇͋(̸̨̬̲̙̗̮̈̿̌͛̐̈́̚͝@̵͚̰̙͚̀͐̅́͠#̵͈̲̜̪̓*̷̰̣̙̟̗͉̪̃̄̈́)̶̻͎͌̏͋̊͐̔̔ͅ(̵̢̼̫͚̋̈́̋̔̎@̶̗̠̰͎̫̀̅͐̓̅̕͜*̵̡͖͕̱͕͖̝̔̌̐́̂͝#̷̥̙̞̩̜̥̏͗͊͒̔̕)̴̼̱̬̮̏͋(̵̖̭͋̈͝*̸̨̟̼̻̤̰̏̈́̂̈́ͅ@̴̝͈̓̂̑͊̕)̴̧͈̟͙̫̯̪͑̂̈̄̈́͐(̶͒̐̈́̿̃̑̃͘͜@̸̨̞̼̼̺͎͙̆́̚͝*̸̱͐̈#̵̣̭͔̙̋͐͐͂̇̎̚͜͠)̵̠̭̼̱̄̍̈͌̕(̶̜̞̥̞͚̙̩̍̐͗̿̾̏̃@̷̟͍̤͉͎͓̊̓̃̍̌"̷̥̳̩͆̈́́̌́̊͝͠
As much as Queen Mother and Professor Frances hated to admit it, what they were seeing on Alex"s behavior right now had confirmed their suspicions.
Alex had been greatly "Corrupted" by the Abyss, and this corruption seemed to reach a level greater than normal.
All of his emotions and thinking were warped by his corruption, making him look like a man who just lives for his desires. All of his words were also tainted by maliciousness at this point, and any hint of kindness from him was already long gone.
Alex…. was just not the same "him" anymore, with all signs of his humanity starting to disappear too.
In short, Alex"s mental process became that of an evil monster, one whose desires and needs knows no bounds.
Such change was enough to turn Alex into a person that Professor Frances loathes, but the fact that he"s powerful enough to harm them just makes things worse!
"Queen Mother… I hate to say this, but I think that the current Alex here is not the Alex that we used to know." Professor Frances uttered in a low voice as she tried to her best to break thorugh her restrictions. "He is already a corrupted being, which means-ugh!"
This action of hers made her grimace, as the very act of moving alone was seemingly restricted by Alex too. Each of her limbs felt like they were on fire, which made the very notion of stretching her body appear impossible.
"Ugh, f**k this! This Alex really-"
"Professor Frances, you don"t need to tell me anything else. I can see what you are pertaining to." Queen Mother was in the same situation as Professor Frances, as such, she could also be seen grimacing on her spot.
But unlike Professor Frances who was panicking, Queen Mother exuded an aura of calmness, one that Professor Frances found hard to fathom.
"But even if Alex is corrupted, I don"t think we should be that worried." Queen Mother said as she let out a sigh, making her sound like an old man who was about to give a sagely advice. "You still have me right here, so we can just brainstorm a way to fix Alex. Surely, we can find a way to fix him now, right?"
"…."
The sheer optimism and hope in Queen Mother"s voice grated on Professor Frances" ears, as the latter knew that what the former was saying was just a pipe dream.
There is no way that the both of them can find a way to fix Alex right now.
How could they even attempt that, when the man himself looks like he wants to kill them?
"Hmph! You"re telling me that we can find a way to help Alex, even when he"s like that? Come on, you know that it"s impossible! Alex is now a "Corrupted" Monster, and there is no way that we can fix that!" Professor Frances sounded as if she wanted to just start getting enraged at everything, a reaction that was apt given their situation.
With Alex"s status today, how could Professor Frances stay calm and justified?
Alex is closer to a monster than a human right now, and he seems to be interested on making Professor Frances and Queen Mother his playthings!
With that kind of hostile intention, there is no way that Professor Frances will even think of healing Alex!
"Queen Mother, helping Alex right now is just a fool"s folly! His soul was also infected by the Abyss, so we can"t do anything for him now…."
Oh, and even if Professor Frances tried healing Alex, that attempt will surely fail, as the professor could feel that Alex"s soul was beyond saving too.
Alex"s soul was already under the grasp of the Abyss , evidenced by the large chunks of dark aura invading the insides of his soul.
It is hard to fathom what this dark aura was, but it was slowly transforming Alex from inside out, bringing him closer and closer to the form of a twisted being
The sight of this dark aura was enough to petrify Professor Frances and it also made her want to remove it in order to save Alex.
But the current Professor Frances knew that she had no power to remove it, as this dark aura was fueled by the Abyss itself.
As such, she can only watch as her companion became more and more foreign every second….
*************
No matter how much optimistic Queen Mother was, the words uttered by the professor made the former realize how hopeless their situation is.
Alex was in no shape to be their proper companion right now, and the severity of his situation leaves no hope for his cure.
But would Queen Mother just really let Alex get ignored like this? Of course not!
As long as Alex is still alive, the chance to heal him still exists, so Queen Mother cannot just abandon him!
"So… does this mean that we can"t do anything for Alex now? I mean nothing at all?" Queen Mother asked, with her face making it obvious that she was still doubting the professor"s advice. "Even if Alex"s soul is like that, there is still a chance that we can heal him, right? We can just…."
"…"
"We can just.."
"…"
"We can just…"
"Hmph, you can"t think of a way to heal Alex as of now, right?"
"Ugh…"
To Queen Mother"s mortification, she realized that she did not discover any method that she can use to help Alex. All the methods that she had has no useful effect against Alex"s corrupted state, and some of them will just make his condition worse.
This discovery was enough to silence her, which gave her companion the opening to further break her down.
"Queen Mother, the current Alex is someone that we have no power to affect. So forget about helping him already." Professor Frances said grimly. "Instead of helping him, the best thing that we can do now is to run away from him."
"What? Run away? But-"
"Listen to me, Queen Mother! Since Alex had been corrupted now, he will not treat us as his allies anymore! He will treat us more like his slaves, and that will not be a good thing for us!"
"But-"
"Do you want us to be treated as his s.e.x slaves? I think Alina "might" be fine with that, but how about us? You"re a lesbian tree, while I am an as.e.xual who does not get turned on by this s.e.xual stuff! Are you happy with that kind of end?"
"!!!"
"Queen Mothers, if we let ourselves get controlled by Alex, it will be game over for our Traveler Team. We will be reduced to mere playthings, while Alex will be forever gone from this world. Do you want that to happen?"
"O-of course I don"t want that to happen! But-"
"In that case, we should escape right now! We still have time before Alex gets fully corrupted!
"…"
***************
Professor Frances was someone who does not like retreating from her enemies, but for this time, she knew that running away is the best option.
The current Alex can be said to be unstoppable, and even if Queen Mother, Professor Frances, and Alina all combined to resist him, there is a chance that they will still be overpowered.
Since things will be like that, then it will be better for them to just leave.
That way, all three of them can preserve their life.
"Of course preserving our life is only one of the reasons why running away from Alex will be the best thing to do now. There are other reasons why we have to leave too…" Professor Frances thought idly to herself as she kept her focus locked on the now-laughing Alex.
"If we manage to escape from Alex, we will finally be able to roam this world and discover many things here. That will be a good scenario for us, and it might even help Alex."
Since this world was a world that seem to have a connection with the True G.o.ds, Professor Frances knew that this world surely has numerous mystical items filled with wonderful abilities.
If Professor Frances and her companions gets free from Alex, they can spend their time looking for these items, in hopes of seeing one that might have the ability to heal him.
This is of course a big "if", but compared to their current state, scouring the whole world for an item that could heal Alex is a much better situation for them…
"Aside from finding an item that can heal Alex, one more benefit of escaping from him is the chance of succeeding on the missions…"
Although Alex"s current state might make him powerful enough to turn the Abyss Realm into a dominant religion, Professor Frances finds it hard to believe that they can win this way.
Even if Alex was powerful, his actions all appear to be rash and irrational, two traits that will make it impossible for him to win at all.
The corrupted Alex just has no organizational skills needed to succeed the Main Mission, and even if he tries doing it, he will just bring disorder and destruction on this world.
At most, Alex can easily kill and destroy the inhabitants of this world. But for him to subjugate countless of residents and make them wors.h.i.+p the Abyss Realm?
He cannot succeed on that, not with the presence of 5 other Traveler Teams…
**************
"So in short, since Alex is bound to face difficulties on the Main Mission, it will be up to us Companions to finish the Main Mission for him. But since Alex is dangerous right now, we can only do the Main Mission while we are separated from him…" All the thinking that Professor Frances did has led to this conclusion, and just like what she expected, this conclusion was enough to pressure her.
"Ugh, I might have a talent on conquering a world using my creations, but for me to spread a religion and make it dominant in a world? I don"t know if I am cut out for that…" Professor Frances whined as she began complaining about what she had to do.
"I don"t even believe in religion, and now I have to spread one? I don"t think that even with Queen Mother and Alina with my side, we could easily succeed in this…"
Of course Professor Frances knew that she had no right to complain, but what else can she do?
Should she just be happy that Alex"s Corrupted state was forcing her out of her comfort zone? Obviously not!
"And then there"s the problem of our escape from Alex. What can we do in order to escape from Alex right now? Is there even any way that we can escape?"