He was deep in the enemy lines, and that meant he must have witnessed something big going on, something related to the enemy and the races I saved before at the same time.

A wild and crazy thought popped in my mind. And as it was a very gloomy and bad one, I didn’t dare to take it any serious at all.

Or I hoped I’d be wrong, totally wrong, and my hunch this time would be proven wrong.

But what she said next shattered such fragile hope, as she confirmed the bad news.

That jerk claims that the enemy has built giant bubbles, and inside lots of the races we rescued before are trapped inside

Trapped? All of them? How come…?!!

He didn’t get lots of intel yet, but he believes it’s not the actions of the enemies. After all, they couldn’t get any access into these bubbles, and the races inside can’t get out

Give me a minute… I felt this was some **ty and weird situation to be honest. “Hey, you, higher up big shot, what’s going on here? What’s happening to the races I rescued?”

It’s just as you heard! The races are all separated from their worlds, trapped inside huge bubbles

“Why is that happening? I already saved them!!! Who did this? And why?”

I was this close from cursing out loud this damn higher up and other higher ups for their incompetence! I paid a hefty price to save all of these, and also suffered hellishly for them to be saved, and for me to gain part of them as agreed.

Well, it’s partially our doing

“What the heck?!! Have you lost your mind or what?!!”

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“I don’t get it… Isn’t it supposed to be the final prize of the golden quest? Did things change or what?”

Things didn’t change! The races surviving this will be in the list of rewards of the golden quest. But it seems you forgot about something, the golden quest didn’t end yet! It’s still going! And even if it got little addition thanks to the worlds and apocalypse thing added to it, it’s still the golden quest. And it’s not over!

“I… I’m really at a loss here…” I was frank with him, this was some bull**! I didn’t get any of what he just explained. And to be honest, it felt like what he said added more puzzlement and confusion to me, not helping at all!

It’s like this, the enemy tried to snatch these races in the middle of the merge. As a hurried countermeasure, we just did our best and entrapped them in these bubbles, with the choice made for them to decide which side they’ll join in this battle

“This… But they are all entrapped inside the enemy lands!”

This… We couldn’t solve this problem at that time. The enemy already paid the price to move all of them away from any place you can reach, and kept them inside their lands

“For what? They are already inside these bubbles! And are these bubbles safe? Can they withstand the attacks from the enemy? Why didn’t you tell me about this earlier? Huh?”

One question at a time, we got our hands busy here, so we didn’t get enough time to inform you about anything

“Bull**! You are just covering up for something big, something bad, something against our prior agreement!”

Our agreement states that you’ll get the rewards once you save all the races. And dude, they aren’t saved yet, and the golden quest isn’t over! Don’t blame us for this, we just tried to save what we can in response to what these enemies already schemed and planned for!

“In my eyes, you are all incompetent! The enemy is always one if not more steps ahead of you! And since the start of all this sh*t, you are always in the defensive and passive position, always taking the second step, never taking the initiative!”

That’s because those damn fiends are the ones controlling the entire thing! Do you think we are doing this on purpose? Do you think we got the choice? Come on! If we got even a say in any of this, we’ll surely have made things better and more favourable for you and others!

“Humph! Excuses!” I was really enraged by these higher ups. They failed, failed to keep their part of the bargain. And right now their failure placed more pressure on my shoulders.

Things aren’t that bad actually. These bubbles are protected by the same rules this entire place runs on! The enemy can’t break through these, and the only way to open these bubbles and release the races inside is by letting them accept joining one side!

“Which is my side, right? What would happen if they did? Will the bubble get released and the races will be open for the enemies to kill?”

Well… We can’t change the universe alone

“Bull**!” I knew that he was trying to get a way out of this, “you just left them out there, in the middle of the enemy ranks and top forces. Do you expect me to go all the way there, care and protect these races and secure their departure away from the enemy’s deep territories? Bull**! I dare to challenge you to come here personally and show me how capable you are to do such a thing!”

This dude… All these dudes… They reminded me of those arrogant and useless bosses in the old human world work system. They always sat in their high seats, enjoyed comfortable situations, and just demanded the impossible from their employees every single day without even feeling shame!

I couldn’t get it. Why the heck all this happened?