The parchment arrived wrapped in violet wax and tied with a raven feather—no sender, no seal, no explanation beyond a few lines scribbled in silver ink that shimmered when tilted toward the candlelight. It didn't come through the guild hall's official quest channel. It was slipped under the door in the dead of night, like a whisper daring to be ignored.
It read simply:
"To the ones who defy odds and attract chaos.The Forbidden Zone stirs. Come if you dare.Coordinates attached. Bring only those you trust."
Naturally, MC took this as a personal invitation from fate. Possibly destiny. Definitely not a trap (he claimed). His eyes sparkled with reckless enthusiasm as he slammed the letter on the table in the guild hall at sunrise, shouting, "We have a secret quest! It's mysterious! It's dangerous! It's—wait for it—forbidden!"
Everyone groaned in unison.
Still, curiosity was a powerful drug. Forbidden Zones were considered unchartable regions warped by unstable System magic. Most were sealed, censored from maps, or surrounded by rumors of ghost towns, broken Systems, and monsters that didn't obey the rules. They were where guilds went to disappear—or make history.
And so, despite everyone's better judgment, they agreed. With caution. And plans. And basic supplies.
MC did not get the memo.
He showed up the next morning dressed like a hybrid between a mad scientist and a steampunk disaster. His outfit had retractable grappling hooks on both wrists, five potions clipped to each side of his belt (half of which he didn't know the function of), a telescope mounted on his shoulder like a parrot, and a giant overengineered backpack that puffed steam and occasionally beeped. No one knew why it beeped. Neither did he.
"Why do you have two maps and a crossbow with four triggers?" Kira asked, half-concerned, half-impressed.
"In case we get lost in time and space," he replied with way too much confidence.
Iris gently took away one of the maps. Lina lit the beeping backpack on fire for "safety reasons." Jax offered to name the contraption "Disaster Child." Kaela was already dragging a reluctant beast to scout ahead, muttering about how none of them would survive without her. Luna stood at the edge of the party, holding her staff with both hands, expression unreadable.
The journey to the Forbidden Zone wasn't marked by monsters or traps, but by an eerie stillness. Birds vanished from the sky. The wind sounded hollow. The trees grew in unnatural shapes—bending toward the path as if eavesdropping. The ground occasionally glitched, shifting like broken pixels in reality. The System interface kept flashing warning messages in red text: "ERROR 104: Restricted Territory. Proceeding voids Guild Insurance."
MC ignored it. Of course.
When they reached the edge of the zone—a cracked, circular valley with a darkened core that pulsed like a heartbeat—they stopped.
Something felt wrong.
And yet, so right.
The kind of wrong that invited foolish heroes forward.
MC took one dramatic step into the Zone… and immediately triggered one of his own traps, launching him twenty feet into the air via a spring-loaded boot mechanism he'd forgotten he'd activated. He landed in a bush. Upside-down. Covered in glitter potion.
"…You literally over-prepared so hard you became your own worst enemy," Kira sighed.
The others pulled him out, laughing or groaning, depending on how often this kind of thing had happened before (hint: too often).
But even amidst the laughter, the tension lingered. The Forbidden Zone had accepted their entry. The System wasn't kicking them out. Which meant the real challenge hadn't started yet.
They didn't know who sent the letter. They didn't know what lay at the heart of this place.
But as they stared into the swirling mist ahead—colors that didn't exist in nature flickering in and out of sight—they knew one thing for sure.
This wasn't a side quest.
This was the beginning of something far more dangerous. And somehow, MC's ridiculous preparations might be the only thing that saves them… or dooms them all.
END OF CHAPTER 56