The Young Master in the Shadows

Chapter 350: So quickly!

“That was the last batch…” Victor said as soon as he returned to his temporary base and handed Lily a list then collapsed on his foldable chair while Lin hurried to wipe the sweat off his forehead. “I think those are enough for now!” he added.

“Are you sure you want to include some of those tribesmen?” Lily asked as she looked at the book to her side and began striking out the names of the ones who refused Victor’s offer. “I don’t like them or their stupid beliefs at all!”

“I didn’t include any of them…” Victor said. “All those men refused my offer, screaming something about the moon god’s wrath!”

“Then what about those three… FLY OPFER, BEATLE OPFER and HORNET OPFER….”

“Those are women… Tribes women! They disguised themselves as men and entered this dungeon in an attempt to escape their miserable lives!” he said, feeling a little sorry for the girls who grew up in a tribe following a demonic doctrine of using women only as breeding material.

“And they fell into your hands!” Lily said.

“I promised to help them find a better life…”

“Working for you for an eternity?”

“It is a life…. And this emperor is not a bad boss!” Victor said. “I gave them storage rings with money and escape talismans so that they would be able to escape their tribes once they returned!” Victor said.

“Regardless… All that is left is the scions…” Lily said, sighing. Why are all men perverts?

“I already fixed most of them earlier, and I am not sure if any more is feasible… The only one left is Rain, who I didn’t get a chance to play any trick on yet…” Victor said. “Too bad, that guy is not on the battlefield, the demons had transported him to a cage in the central control chamber…”

“What? Why?” Lin asked in surprise.

“I already told you, he has a curse that makes demons want to eat him and get stronger… I think they are waiting until they get some new body before devouring him!” Victor said.

“Oh… Will he be ok?” Lin asked, making Victor slap her butt. “Ahhh!” she exclaimed.

“I am hurt… My little Lin is concerned about some other guy!” he said.

“I am not! I am just curious!” she pouted as she rubbed her butt. He was getting better at this.

“He will be fine…” Victor said, “Someone who has a lord’s blessing will not die easily!” he explained.

“What lordʼs blessing?” Lily, who was reviewing the new slavesʼ names on the documents, turned to him and asked.

“The death lord…” Victor said.

“WHAT! AND YOU ARE TELLING ME THIS NOW!” Lily exclaimed as she stood up in shock.

“Is it important? Perhaps… You know something about him…” Victor asked, looking at her warily. He was about to discuss those things before, but the moon dungeon’s appearance forced him to cut his meeting with the girls short.

Lily frowned, looking at Lin who was watching their exchange curiously before sighing.

“When I met Rain earlier I didn’t recognise him… But now that you told me about his blessing, coupled with him being one of Tulip’s companions I realized his identity!”

“What?” Victor asked curiously.

“Have you perhaps heard of the Deathly Lake incident? “ she asked as Lin frowned and looked at her. She had the feeling that both of them were hiding something from her.

“Isn’t it where 150 young men from all the prestigious families in the empire died?” Victor asked. “What does it have to do with Rain?”

“The guy who killed them although his identity is a mystery, all evidence points that he used some forbidden death skill to kill everyone there and then ran away!” Lily explained. “A skill that only those who have the despicable Death lord’s blessing can execute without dying!”

“You believe that guy is Rain?”

“It all fits…” Lily said, making Victor frown and then nod.

“Then we need to be wary around him…” Victor said.

“Did you read Tulipʼs fate? Was he mentioned?” Lily suddenly asked as Lin, who had a million questions, listened carefully.

“Yup… He and seven others are meant to marry Tulip!” Victor said with a helpless smile, spanking Lin’s butt. She knew that it meant that he would explain things later.

“Damn… My sister is a bitch!” Lily exclaimed. “She must be the one who helped hide him after she ran away… No wonder no one was able to find him!” she added to herself.

“This leaves a very important question… “ Victor said. “Why the fuck is everyone after Tulip…” he had to ask. Sure, Tulip was pretty, very pretty. But her personality, especially after the reckoning, was worse than a dogshit stuck to your shoe on a humid day…

“You mean you don’t know?” Lily exclaimed.

“No…” he shook his head.

“Tulip must have a lord’s blessing by now…” Lily said.

“Oh, about that… She has the Void Lordʼs Greater Blessing!” Victor nodded. “Rain also has a blessing… is it important? Isn’t it a function to grant the player some of the giving lordʼs skills?”

“It indicates other things depending on its ranking Lesser or Greater…” Lily said. “While a lesser blessing usually means that the blessing receiver is an agent for the Lord or being tested by him, a Greater blessing is reserved for special individuals like students of kin,” she said.

“Then… in Tulip’s case…” Victor asked as Lin, who understood nothing of what they talked about, looked at Lily.

“The Void lord is Tulip’s Master!” Lily said directly, “And from what I heard, she plans to make Tulip’s the lord after her. I think she is very sick for some reason and is about to die… Tulip is her chosen heir!”

“Oh… OHHHHHHHH!” Victor exclaimed… This explains many things.

“What is a lord?” Lin suddenly asked.

“Think of it like a very powerful otherworldly overlord… “ Lin said. “They seem to have very little interest in fighting for hegemony, so no one really knows what they are after… But it is usually better not to get involved with them!” she said

“Oh…” Lin frowned, then nodded.

“Then we have a couple of problems…” Victor said.

“What? Did you make Tulip pregnant?” Lily asked sarcastically, earning herself a slap to the butt.

“Not exactly…. I made her my blood slave….”

“WHAT!” Lily exclaimed again.

“I couldn’t help it… The chance was there, and if I didnʼt at least try I would not be able to sleep!” he said. “I was planning to control her the same way I did with Tom, but I know it is wrong now, so to avoid being discovered I will only use it to monitor her….”

“I will teach you how to sleep, you pervert peeping bastard!” Lily attacked Victor intending to bite this sleazy bastard again, but he quickly held it off. He was still stronger than her!

“You put your blood in her fruit right?” Lin asked slowly as she watched them play with some jealousy. She had to confess, the chemistry between those two was perfect!

“Yup…” he nodded.

“Then both of you think the same way… Lily also did something to Rain’s fruit…” Lin explained.

“What?” Victor asked, making Lily who was futilely shooting Lin some glares to stop talking, quickly stepped back trying to escape but it was too late, he grabbed her and pulled her on his lap then slapped her butt. “What did you do to him?” he asked.

“Just a little something…” she blushed and looked away earning herself another slap.

“Ahhh…”

“What?” he asked again. Feeling a little jealous.

“It’s a secret…” she puffed her cheeks making Victor frown. “It has to do with my family…” she added reluctantly.

“...” Victor sighed. “Just make sure to be careful…” he said as he let go. He knew he couldn’t fully control Lily or know all her secrets. But he didn’t like that.

“Um…” she said as she stood up before her butt received a third slap.

“AHHH… WHY?” she asked.

“I felt like it…” he said, pouting and making her glare at him then smile after realizing he was jealous.

“What other problems do we have?” she finally asked. “Your reaction earlier must have not been only about Tulip!”

“It is about this girl I met earlier…” he pointed at a name on the list with an asterisk next to it.

“Tear Bloodking?” Lily asked. The name didn’t ring any bells.

“Yup… This girl has the Blood Lord’s greater blessing!” Victor said in a worried voice. “And she entered this place knowing fully well it is a Bastion! She must be after something!”

“What?” Lily raised one eyebrow.

“I have a vague idea… But this is within my plan… “ he said with a nervous smile, he was not really sure, but he had to do this.“ I might get a very nice Lord after my ass after this…” he added, making Lily frown as she looked at him worriedly.

…

; ; LEVEL FINISHED!
Tulip sighed in relief as she looked at the field where only 15 players survived. Some of them were either very strong while others had some good luck like Rea and Harper who only managed to survive by staying at her side, and Liam, who had some good defense and used the huge shield given by Vic to protect himself as he ran away, making attacking him a waste of time!

“Where is that bastard Rain?” Tulip asked Rea as she looked around, searching not only for Rain but also for Vic… Both of them were nowhere to be seen.

“I don’t know… He was injured when he entered this place…” she said worriedly as Harper who was beside her looked around, searching for Victor to no avail. “Do you think something happened to him?” Rea asked worriedly.

“Nah… That guy is still alive…” Tulip said. She had secretly left a mark on Rain, so if he died she would know. She was more concerned with Vic. The mark she left on him had disappeared… Could he be dead? No! She needs to kill that bastard with her own hands!

; ; CONGRATULATIONS!
GREAT POWER IS YOURS!

Moments later the notification appeared as she felt some power surround her body.

The world shifted around her and the next moment she appeared floating in the air in a strange room that was composed of many concentric lakes filled with a blood liquid that she knew was blood!

Around her appeared hundreds of players who were feeling lost. They were the ones who died on the battlefield prior!

; ;
FIRST REWARD

A CHANCE TO BATH IN THE SACRED BLOOD POOL

EFFECTS :

ENHANCE BLOODLINE

PURIFY BLOODLINE

GRANTS STRENGTH!

CURES AILMENTS

BEAUTIFY SKIN

INCREASE LIFESPAN

ENHANCE ENDURANCE

THE CLOSER TO THE CENTRAL POND THE GREATER THE EFFECT!

PLAYER TULIP

STAIRS TEST > 55000 POINTS

FOREST SCORE > 12000 POINTS

PLAYERS KILLED 49 > 49000 POINTS

JADE TABLET = 3 > 300000 POINTS

RESULT

412000

FIRST PLACE!

CONGRATULATIONS!

Tulip frowned as she felt a strange power slowly pull her toward the blood pond where numerous platforms suddenly rose from inside like pillars.

Her hunch was telling her that there was something dangerous in here, yet somehow that everything will be alright.

She didn’t resist as she fell right on top of one of the pillars! The same happened to the other players who were pulled to their respective positions based on their scores. They all looked around in anticipation as the blood below them started to boil, turning into streams that began to climb the pillars toward them.

; ; BATH IN GLORY!
The notification said…Then it happened.

Suddenly there was the sound of battle and screaming. Something was yelling but the sound was muffled. The players quickly stood up and began to look around searching for the origin when there was an explosion!

From above the hallʼs roof suddenly exploded. Debris fell everywhere creating chaos and forcing the players to quickly leave their pillars to find shelter as the pools stopped boiling.

Moments later, something fell from above like a shooting star into the central blood pool making a huge splash wave and rocking the ground under the playersʼ feet.

Poor Tulip who was beside it fell directly into the pool before she could do anything.

Everyone looked warily and watched as the smoke from the falling debris cleared.

There, a bandaged young man was kneeling on top and inserting his sword into the body of a giant rabbit, pushing it into the pit created by their fall and using it as a cushion.

“𐌙ዐ𐌵 Ꮤጎ𐌋ረ ጋ𐌉ቹ ል ፏ𐌐፱𐌄ነꝊጮ𐌄 𐌃ቹ𐌀ፕ𐋅 𐋅፱𐌌ል𐌍!” the rabbit screamed in a strange disturbing high pitched language as it struggled to push the young man away.

“You are not the first demon to tell me that…” the bandaged guy who was none other than Rain said with his signature sarcastic tone as he cut the rabbit’s head then turned and used the sword again to cut into the empty air behind him where another huge humanoid rabbit holding an ax materialized and attacked.

The sword met the ax and sparks flew as the rabbit was forced to step back and then look angrily at Rain and the dead rabbits at his feet.

“𐋅ዐᏔ 𐌃ጎ𐌃 𐌙ዐ𐌵 𐌄ነ𐌂ል𐌓ቹ ሃꝊ፱𐌐 𐌂ልᏵቹ ⶴ𐌵ጮ𐌀ክ?” It yelled as it inspected Rain.

“Easy… This thing is not unkillable… so with enough strikes, it had to die!” Rain said, throwing something at the Rabbit who grabbed it and then frowned. It was the cage of the lock they used to imprison Rain in. It was broken in a strange way and wrapped inside its hole was a piece of paper… No, it was a talisman…

The huge rabbit wanted to throw it away but it was too late!

BOOM!

One rabbit exploded.

It was not pretty…

“Death takes us all in the end…” Rain said with a sigh.

; ; WARNING!
PLAYER RAIN CLEAVER HAD DECIDED TO TAKE ALL THE REWARDS FOR HIMSELF!

HE KILLED THE SUPERVISOR AND PLANS TO RUIN THE

WHOEVER KILLS HIM WILL BE REWARDED HANDSOMELY!

A sudden notification suddenly sounded making all the players frown then start to attack Rain… Not all of them, just about 10% did. The ones who had tribal-looking clothes.

The rest of the players just stood and watched with complex looks in their eyes.

Tulip, who stood up from the pool as blood dripped from her hair, knew what she needed to do. She quickly hurried toward Rain and began to help him fend off the attackers. Rea and Harper also hurried to help her but she shot them a glare forcing them to stay away, they were too weak for such a battle...

“TULIP!” Rain cried. “Did you change your hairstyle?” he had to ask as he looked at her now bloody red sagging hair.

“Fuck you!” Tulip cursed. “What happened?” she asked as she cut the throat of a menacing-looking man.

“Those idiot demons tried to entrap me wanting to eat me… This entire place is a trap!” he said. “The pools contain demon souls, they planned to force them inside the playersʼ bodies!” he said. “Thankfully, I managed to escape and stop the ceremony in time!” he said as he killed another man. Those men stood no chance at all.

“Good…”Tulip nodded, as she struck to the side but her sword found no one… The man who was there seemed to have retreated!

In fact, in this simple exchange, 10 men died leaving about 15 tribal men who stopped attacking and looked back after noticing that half of them had died and that they were the only ones in this offense. The rest of the players in the back were just watching the show with a strange look in their eyes.

“TROW wRW !” one man shouted to the other players. Meaning that they need help.

The players ignored him… Some just looked away embracingly while others made some middle finger sign that the tribal men didn’t understand.

They felt strange… What was going on?

; ; WARNING!
ANY PLAYER WHO DOES NOT ATTACK RAIN WILL BE CONSIDERED HIS ACCOMPLICE!

The system threw another notification.

It was completely ignored by the players.

; ;
YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!

THIS IS YOUR LAST CHANCE!

The system flashed.

The players frowned but did nothing.

Nothing happened.

“What is going on?” one player asked.

“Who knows…” another replied, “But his highness was right!”

“Definitely!” another said.

Listening to them, Tulip felt strange. ‘His Highness?’. Could they mean Vic?

She wanted to ask but she couldn’t as suddenly out of nowhere a lot of black smoke started to fill the room. It took mere seconds to reform into the shape of a huge black ominous looking demonic Rabbit that had 5 eyes and three ears… No sorry, that central one was a spiral horn… A rabbit can only have two ears.

It just floated in midair for a few seconds before it fell right in front of Rain and right on top of the tribal men, killing them all in seconds as their bodies disintegrated… Their flesh and bones turned into smoke and merged with the demon making it twice as large.

It wanted to absorb the other players too, but strangely enough, it couldn’t!

“HOW DID YOU DO IT!” the demon rabbit asked angrily as black flames sprung from his eyes. “HOW? WHY IS IT NOT WORKING!” it shouted.

“Easy!” Rain said as he took out a glass cub from his pants. “I just took out this thing… You should have placed more protection around it!” he said naively thinking that by taking this, he was stopping the demons’ plan.

“THE SHARD!” the demon howled. Then attacked by breathing sharp needles at everyone.

Thankfully, Rain was ready for it. As for Tulip, she quickly caught the sword Rain threw at her and began to use it for defense.

“Artifacts work now?” she asked in surprise.

“This Shard thing must have been the one disabling the use of weapons!” he said.

“Oh!” she nodded as she noticed how much this shard looked like the one the demon, the nutcracker, took from Rea’s temple. She decided to investigate this later as she hurried and hurried the demon rabbitʼs attack. That thing seemed to have summoned a myriad of swords that came to life on their own and began to attack Rain and Tulip.

“Everyone watch out!” Rain shouted warning the players, but it was for nothing, looking back he noticed that the players were all fine as from somewhere all of them got huge wooden shields and used them to build a barricade!

WTF?

“SERVANTS! COME EAT!” the demon howled, making Rain cures and preparing himself. When he was locked before he saw those rabbits. They were very troublesome.

The only reason he could escape this quickly was that they seemed to have been called somewhere.

Rain waited nervously, thinking of a strategy to kill those things… No one came.

“SERVANTS!” the demon shouted again…. Still, nothing happened. No servants appeared.

“WHAT DID YOU DO TO MY SERVANTS?” the demon asked angrily. “HOW DID YOU DEFEAT THEM! THEY ARE UNKILLABLE IN THE CAULDRON!” he asked in shock.

“... I have no idea…” Rain said looking around, making sure that this was not a trick.

“𐌙ዐ𐌵 Ꮤጎ𐌋ረ የ𐌀ሃ!” The demon howled and began to attack with everything it had, and slowly step by step with the help of Tulip, Rain began to push the demon back.

It frowned.

The flying swords that it was using to attack seemed to have decreased by half without it noticing…

HOW?

“NO!” it howled as it collected the swords for one last attack but they all fell to the ground seconds later… didn’t have a chance to wonder why the demon souls who controlled the swords stopped responding as suddenly it gasped as it looked back.

Behind it, Tulip was pushing a long hairpin inside of its buddy, directly into its heart.

She slowly took the hairpin out then whipped it with a handkerchief as she walked slowly returning toward Rain, not bothering to look at the demon who began to disintegrate.

“You could have done that from the start!” Rain complained as he fell to the ground and watched the demon disintegrate.

“I only had one shot… I had to make sure that no others were coming…” she said as suddenly she paused there was a strange feeling flowing into her body.

; ;
CONGRATS ON FINISHING THE MOON TRIAL!

ENJOY THESE FREE ATTRIBUTES AS A GIFT FROM THE EMPEROR!

EVERYONE WILL GET :

+1 AUTHORITY

+5 STRENGTH

+5 AGILITY

+5 INTELLIGENCE

+1 LUCK

+1 CHARM

REMEMBER… SOONER OR LATER, THE EMPEROR WILL COME TO COLLECT HIS DEBTS.

STAY SAFE UNTIL THEN!

A sudden notification alerted Tulip as she felt her status climb up and the world began to wrap around her.

In the next moment, she was ejected outside of the moon dungeon and returned to the abandoned dungeon she was in with Rea and Rain who began to look around in shock.

“Did we finish just like that?” Rain asked in shock. This was too fast! “What happened?” he asked as we watched Tulip grab her trusty umbrella and storage ring that appeared next to her. She lost them inside but as branded items, they would always appear next to their master when exiting the negative space.

“This felt strange… Who was the emperor the notification mentioned?” Rea asked.

“It was probably that bastard…” Tulip frowned as she quickly reached for her pocket and took a small silver storage ring, she opened it and inside of it, there was only one letter.

DEAR JUICY (TURNIP VON CRONE)

THIS EMPEROR COULDNʼT TELL YOU MANY THINGS INSIDE, FEARING THAT YOU WILL DISTRUST ME OR THAT THE DEMONS WHO WERE LISTENING IN MIGHT FIGURE SOMETHING OUT!

THIS EMPEROR BELONGS TO AN ORGANIZATION THAT IS BUILT TO FIGHT DEMONS EVERYWHERE AND AS YOU HAVE SEEN THE MOON DUNGEON IS A DEMONIC TRAP!

THANKFULLY EVERYTHING WAS WITHIN THIS HONORABLE ONE’S CALCULATIONS AND YOU SHOULD HAVE ARRIVED OUTSIDE SAFELY!

NOW THAT YOU ARE OUT, I HAVE SOME INFO TO TELL YOU.

FIRST IT IS ABOUT THE NUTCRACKER, A DEMON WHO CROSSED INTO OUR REALM A FEW MONTHS AGO.

BE CAREFUL AND STOP TRYING TO FIND IT… THAT THING ALREADY KILLED 17 OF OUR FINEST MEN. YOU ARE NOT IT’S OPPONENT!

SECONDLY, IT IS ABOUT THE DEMONS

IT HAD BEEN NOTED THAT IN A MONTH THEY WILL BE HOLDING A TRIP ON A CRUISE SHIP THE THREE-HORNED DRAGON, IT IS IN THE SOUTHERN SEA NEAR YOUR GRANDFATHER’S PALACE.

IT IS DEFINITELY A TRAP TO SELECT PEOPLE FOR POSSESSION, SO BE CAREFUL!

FINALLY, YOUR MOTHER PRINCESS CATALEYA WAS POISONED. IT IS MOST LIKELY HER BROTHER-IN-LAW, THE PATRIARCH OF THE VON CRONE FAMILY!

THE POISON IS CALLED THE WIDOWS VENGEANCE!

IT WILL MAKE YOUR MOTHER NOT ONLY LOSE HER ABILITY TO GIVE BIRTH, BUT ALSO POISON ANY MAN WHO SLEEPS WITH HER MAKING HIM IMPOTENT!

IT HAS NO CURE ONCE IT WAS ACTIVATED!

THANKFULLY THE POISON WILL NOT BE ACTIVATED UNTIL YOUR MOTHER BANGS YOUR FATHER WHICH WILL HAPPEN IN LESS THAN SIX MONTHS AFTER YOUR LOST SISTER GOES BACK TO THE VON CRONE FAMILY!

YOU HAVE TO HURRY AND FIND THE MATERIALS TO THE CURE. THEY ARE RARE!

HERE IS THE WAY TO CURE IT!

.

.

.

.

IF YOU NEED TO CONTACT THIS EMPEROR,

WRITE A MASSAGE THEN SEND IT TO.

24 TROP STREET, BALTA CITY, POND DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC.

I WILL SEND SOMEONE TO GET IT.

FAITHFULLY YOURS,

THE ONE AND ONLY EMPEROR OF THE WORLD

VIC VOLT

“MY NAME IS FUCKING TULIP!” she yelled as angry after reading the letter, startling both Rea and Rain.