The Young Master in the Shadows

Chapter 525: One hell of a favor!

“Officer, it’s him!” the girl said, pointing at the mask-wearing sus guy, who just asked her out.

“Hey, you!”

“Damn it!” Axel quickly ran away before that officer could react. “System, why is this happening to me…. Can’t I take off the mask?” he said as he got far enough and hid in a back alley.

REMOVING THE MASK WOULD AUTOMATICALLY FAIL THE MISSION, AS ANY HAREM YOU GET WILL BELONG TO VICTOR AND NOT YOU!

“Can’t it be a normal mask instead of this paper bag?” Axel asked. At the moment, he looked like some sexual predator. Hell, if he were to see himself in the mirror, he would report himself.

THAT WOULD DEFEAT THE POINT! YOUR HAREM MEMBERS SHOULD BE ABLE TO SEE THROUGH YOUR INNER BEAUTY!

“Come on, System, don’t give me that stupid feminist rhetoric that no one buys…. Then can’t I at least drive one of Victor’s cars around?” he asked. That red Firerat would be enough to make half of the chicks in town jump onto his lap regardless of what he was wearing.

YOU SHOULD NOT FLUENT YOUR WEALTH, IF THE GIRL CAN’T SEE THROUGH YOU, SHE IS NOT WORTH ENTERING YOUR HAREM!

THIS SYSTEM IS NOT PICKY, BUT ONE MUST HAVE A BOTTOM LINE!

“Damn it!” Axel cursed. “How am I supposed to make a girl agree to be my girlfriend out of the blue while looking like some pedophile!” he cursed. This was the 12th girl, but no one was going to accept going with him if he kept acting creepy! “Can’t you at least give me that promised shapeshifting mask?”

IT GOES AGAINST SYSTEM POLICY TO GIVE REWARDS WITHOUT COMPLETING MISSIONS. YOU CAN BUY IT FROM THE STORE, IT IS ONLY 9999 SYSTEM COINS!

“Damn it! I only have 10!” Axel cursed again. This was his second mission; in his first one, he was made to go kiss a random girl and get her phone number, which he completed in 30 minutes. With Victor’s handsome and famous face, he only needed to walk into a nearby mall where girls threw themselves at him.

Thanks to that, he managed to unlock the system store where he couldn’t afford anything, even dildos, and he also got one piece of knowledge about his rebirth.

AFTER YOU DIED, YOUR SOUL WAS REFINED INTO A SACRIFICIAL TALISMAN THAT WAS USED BY A SUPREME BEING TO RETURN IN TIME. YOU ARE ONE OF 3!

This info made him very intrigued, so he quickly asked the system for a second mission!

SECOND MISSION: THEY LOVE ME BECAUSE I AM ME!

GO DOWN THE STREET, WITH A PAPER BAG ON YOUR HEAD THEN CONVINCE A GIRL TO BE YOUR GIRLFRIEND!

YOU CAN’T SHOW HER YOUR FACE UNTIL SHE AGREES!

LIMITS: AGE 18 - 79, FEMALE.

MISSION TIME : 3 DAYS

ON SUCCESS: 10 SYSTEM COINS, SHAPESHIFTING MASK, AA,

ON FAILURE: GET YOUR NAME ADDED TO THE SEXUAL PREDATORS LIST!

“System, can’t you make this mission a bit easier?” Axel asked; he really wanted that shapeshifting mask, which would allow him to change to his real face when with his girls. He was really super annoyed having to use Victor’s face for everything.

NO, THIS SYSTEM DOES NOT SUPPORT COWARDS!

DO YOU WANT TO GIVE UP THE MISSION AND SUFFER THE PENALTY?

YES / NO

“Hell no… Let’s try again!” he spat angrily as he noticed a slutty looking girl walking toward him. She seemed to be the kind who would go out with just anyone! “Wait… Would a prostitute work?” he asked the system as he thought of something.

IT DOES, BUT YOU WILL BE THE ONE WHO WILL HAVE TO FIGHT HER PIMP. AND THE MOMENT SHE COCKOLDS YOU, THE SYSTEM WOULD PUNISH YOU!

“You are bullying me, aren’t you…”

THIS SYSTEM IS JUST STATING FACTS… NOW COME ON, THIS ONE SEEMS PROMISING!

“Fine!” Axel silently cursed as he adjusted his mask, got out of his hiding place, and walked toward the girl. If this one failed, he was going directly to get some hooker!

As he walked closer, he couldn’t help checking the girl; she appeared pretty cute with braided hair and a round pair of glasses. If not for her very revealing dress and sloppy makeup, she would be totally his type.

He stopped in front of her, blocking her way.

“Excuse me, miss…” he said.

“Wah…. What a suspicious-looking guy!” the girl exclaimed immediately as she saw him, reaching for the pepper spray in her pocket. “What can I do for you?” she asked nervously.

“Do you want to be my girlfriend?” he asked directly.

“...” She raised one eyebrow as she inspected him from head to toe.

“...”

“Well…”

“...?”

“Sure, but I have 3 conditions!” she said nervously as her eyes darted around, surprising him a bit.

“Ehhhhhhhhhhhhh….. A.. What….” asked, not expecting her to agree.

“First…. You will have to do…. Do that with me tonight, and we will have to film it!”

“What? Film it?” he asked. What kind of a psycho did he encounter?

“Yeah… Like you, walking out like this to get arrested, I have my reasons,” she said as she eyed him again, suspecting that he might have lost some kind of bet and this was his penalty. “I can blur your face if you want, though… You can also keep that mask of yours if you are into that!” she said as she locked eyes with him, as she got more courageous after noticing his well-proportionate abs poking from under the thin shirt he was wearing.

“You are a prostitute!” he asked as he looked around searching for her Pimp.

“Hell no,” she kicked his calf.

“Ouch…” he stepped back.

“I am a business administration student, but it is about the same!” she clarified, as she inspected him again. Others might not be able to tell, but she could. Those clothes he was wearing were all privately tailored, and from their materials, she knew they couldn’t be that cheap. “Look, as I said, I have my reasons!!” she said.

“How old are you?” he asked just to make sure this was not some kind of trap.

“Should be 20 in a few months, don’t worry!” she said, presenting a WHITE UNIVERSITY ID card. Her name was Joana Toras, a sophomore in the Business Administration school.

“Is this some kind of revenge?” he asked, figuring a few things out. He was not stupid.

“I am not asking for your reasons, and you shouldn’t ask about mine… ” She looked away. “Do you have a problem with that?”

“No…”

“Then listen, my other two conditions are that you must appear with me in a future gathering, and come get me from school at least twice!” she said quickly.

“...”

“So? Do we have a deal?” she asked.

“...” What the fuck was wrong with this girl? “System, does this one work…”

IF YOU CAN MAKE HER SCREAM YOUR NAME... YOUR REAL NAME, TONIGHT!

“Eh…. Deal!” he finally said, looking at the girl.

“So, do you want to go to a hotel or prefer that back alley?” she asked quickly.

“Eh…. Can we at least go get some food first?!” he asked as he wondered if this girl was some kind of psychopath. Never mind that, he really needed that mask, so he would even go out with a granny if he needed to!

***

“So after finally subduing Crocky here and killing that army of enemy cockroaches, I was plain shocked as I watched the level up notification flash in front of my eyes. Who could believe that there was a dungeon that would allow players to level up without clearing it!” Zink said as Crocky carried him, Zer, Anastasia, Gary, and Yulian through a strange, narrow space that was clearly inside the Maze’s walls, a place where no player had ever entered.

”You donʼt need to wait for the dungeon to clear before leveling up?” Hearing Zink, Yulian asked as he finally realized what had been bothering him for a while now. ”No wonder that Diago made fun of me...”

”We call such places ancient dungeons; they tend to operate under different rules!” Zer said, not elaborating.

“Since we are talking about levels, I have a question...” Yilian asked. ”How did Diago say that my level is below 50… Did he use some faulty artifact or something… I am level 65, you know!”

“Oh, well, you can tell from the person’s body shape… the system leveling up makes a body more perfect, you must have leveled up really high, really quickly recently, right?” Zer explained, looking at Yulian.

“Yeah…”

“The system doesn’t magically increase one’s power; it takes time to adapt to the level you are still in the process of adjustment… My master described it like a tree growing from the ground, it needs time to gather the needed nutrients... ”Zink interrupted as if he couldnʼt wait to show how knowledgeable he was. ”You can probably speed up the process if you eat highly nutritious food... There is a new kind out lately, some candy bar that was made by those Von Weise...”

”The one that tastes like shit?” Yulian, who remembered the energy bars Lily gave him and told him to eat, said as many things fit into place. No wonder he felt stronger with each passing day.

”Yeah, those! Master said that they are the best thing invented since condoms, one energybar before each intercourse would guarantee you to be as hard as a rock!”

“Oh…” Yulian nodded;

”I was planning to ask Victor for a few, but things happened, and I was dragged here!” Zink sighed.

“Ehm…. Sorry to change the subject, young master Zink, but I can’t help but wonder, did you dig through all of this by yourself?” Zer suddenly asked, as they passed through another crudely made hole. He could no longer contain his curiosity; those things didnʼt seem natural!

“Those? Yeah… Kinda…” Zink nodded as he scratched his head. This time, however, he didn’t elaborate.

“How?” Zer asked as he threw a bone dagger toward one of the walls, and could clearly see the familiar [ERROR, INDESTRUCTABLE] error appear in his vision. For years, he had been trying to find a way to breach those walls.

“Oh… The dungeon has weak points, I just knew where to find them!! That’s all I can say! The last time I told that death lord legal loli about my class, my master was so angry, he spanked my ass for an entire night… I was ashamed to go into a brothel after that for an entire month!” Zink quickly said, dodging the question, but revealing that this power had something to do with his class!

“Death lord?” Zer raised one eyebrow. Wasn’t Death one of the Cardinal Sparks?

Yulian and Gary frowned, hearing them, not understanding what this lord thing meant.

“Ah… Forget I said anything…” Zink, or rather Victor, quickly said as he looked away, as he sighed inwardly. This guy had been trying to appraise him for a while now, but he kept showing him gibberish on the Class field, to make him believe that the problem was with it, not with his Authority!

Being able to survive in this place, Zer was not an easy guy, but by saving him, Victor knew that he would owe a great favor! One that he planned to save for now until he needed it!

He smirked as he remembered his gains today. If they didn’t have a wedding to catch, he might have gained even more!

This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

When he first arrived in this dungeon, he first appeared on the top of that waterfall where some giant silk web caught him and dragged him down below! It happened before he could realize what was going on.

Getting out of that sticky web was very troublesome, and by the time he managed to finally cut it all out, he was already down below that waterfall, in some dry cave, surrounded by some very ugly critter-like creatures that pulled him out of the water.

Thankfully, by that time, he had already activated his disguise, so those things, after searching for a while, could not locate him and decided to vent on the one who pulled the web, by screeching in its face. Victor had no idea what they were talking about, probably deducting some of that poor guyʼs paycheck or something. Anyway, this mess gave him the time to slip away and investigate that hellish dark place unnoticed.

It was like a huge tunnel that spiraled downward! Its walls were filled with cocoons that, to his surprise, had living people inside with strange feeding tubes connected to their mouths and cut-open festering stomachs where he could see some small critters crawling out!

WTF! Was this some kind of breeding ground? He heard of such things existing in other hellish worlds, but not here!

Victor hesitated for a moment, whether to kill those people to save them out of their misery, or help them out, but in the end decided not to touch any of them before collecting enough information!

The first thing he did was to check the Dungeon info, which left him a bit stunned. A maze?

He quickly turned to look up at the Dungeon map that should have appeared in the corner of his vision, but it was not there. Instead, there was an error.

“ERROR, DUE TO DUNGEON RULES, MAP UNAVAILABLE…”

Frowning, he clicked on the reveal map button to the side, and it worked. A complex 3d Map showed up directly after some errors flashed and were suppressed.

Yeah… The Dungeon didn’t have the authority to stop him. His Authority was some very broken kind of cheat. Too bad he didn’t know a lot about the system to fully exploit it yet, but this was only a matter of time…

Anyway, the map revealed how the dungeon’s scope was beyond anything he could have imagined. This was the first time he encountered something like this. Not a dungeon built on the ruins of some ancient civilization or some monster’s lair. But a maze that was using the dungeon’s own properties to operate.

At the moment, he was inside a spiraling cave that seemed to have formed at the bottom of the maze. Probably built by those critters who were all around him, displayed as swarms of endless red dots in the map. In fact, they were so dense that his surroundings were practically red.

Should he kill them and collect all those experience points? The problem was that if he were to start a fight, the cocoons would definitely be harmed in the fight, as those people inside were barely hanging on!

So… What should he choose between gaining experience or being the good guy?

The answer was definitely the latter… Yes, he was a good guy!

Thinking for a moment, he took a pen and paper and began walking around inspecting the people in the cocoons, writing their names and classes one by one while ignoring the critters.

Why? Simply because those guys were still alive and would be free and completely healed once the dungeon was conquered. From their names, he knew that a lot of them belonged to strong powers around the world. He wondered why they ended up like this…

Anyways, those people, once free, would owe him one heck of a favor. He would need to send his loli collectors after them to collect later, so at least he needed their names!

Slowly as he walked, he made his way deeper and deeper into the tunnels, missing not a single one as he floated in the middle of the tunnel to avoid stepping on any critter and alerting the others.

“A Von Zwei, a Von Richter, another Von Richter, a Blood Flint, a Roseflint, a blackfeather, A von Krone, another von Zwei and... Oh, a von Weise… Hang on, buddy! Let’s see… ... Wait,” Victor paused, then stepped closer and inspected his face. This guy was definitely someone he recognized. Not from this life, but from his past one. He came from a branch family and would become one of his father’s close assistants in a few years….

What was this guy doing here? When did he come here….Wait… Could the one outside back then have been a fake?

Victor felt a shiver go down his back, thinking about this.

Could it be that this place was not some random dungeon, but a prison where people got transported to be locked alive before being replaced? So Gary was not the only one… This operation must have been going on for ages, as some of those guys looked old.

He gasped… Could it be that if he hadn’t sent to that other world, he would have been locked up here when Axel was sent to replace him?

He had a million questions…

Pausing for a moment, Victor decided to think about this for later as he continued to check the people. As expected from each family, there were quite a few, including his. Some of them were not that important, but others were like a few elders he knew from his past life who were a part of the Inquisition hall.

It seemed like not only his family but all of the others were far more infiltrated than anyone could have guessed. Once those people were out, it would be a mess!

Well, it would not be his problem, but he didn’t mind helping a bit when he came out by publishing his list to stop the fakes from secretly assassinating those guys… Yeah, he will make them owe him another favor!

Anyways, Victor slowly paused and looked around. Without realizing it, he seemed to have reached the end of the spirally inclining passage. There, in the bottom, where a giant 12-legged spider-like insect queen was laying its eggs.

A QUEEN DAKARA

LEVEL, 399

This thing was strong… He was tempted to kill it, but after thinking for a moment, decided not to, but that didn’t stop him from taking a look at the huge mountain of treasures below it. All kinds of spell books, artifacts, and clothes were thrown there to act as a cushion for it.

Slowly, he began pulling them one by one and replacing them with some cushions from his cauldron.

ERROR: STORAGE ARTIFACTS ARE UNUSABLE…

ERROR…

ERROR…

As he did that, many errors began to fill his vision, but he ignored them. They didn’t affect him the slightest.

Finishing the cleaning after a mere 30 minutes, thanks to his experience in the other world, he gave the entire cave one last look before turning to leave.

But where to go?

He could swim out to reach what seemed like a playersʼ gathering where Yulian and Gary should be. But fighting against that waterfall current would be troublesome, so after looking around for a bit on his map, he quickly found a remote portion of the caves that was adjacent to one of the Maze’s walls.

Heading there while making sure not to alert any critters, he quickly found a part of the wall that didn’t look natural, but was formed by huge slabs of white stone that had strange metallic lines running through it.

WARNING: INDESTRUCTIBLE

He nodded, then tried using the shadowshift to pass through it.

PAM!

The moment his body touched the wall, it rebounded, no system prompt or anything. Just a strange force that pushed him backwards!

Victor frowned as he noticed that the metallic lines seemed to have shimmered a bit, making him quickly realize what was going on here. This thing was the same as the vault he encountered in that library in Ismeralia; whoever made it must have used a material that absorbed magical energy, so skill would naturally fail if someone were to attempt to force his way through!

He sighed, feeling helpless, then slowly took out a golden jackhammer, the one he told Margret to make for him after discovering that digging dungeon walls with pickaxes was a very tiresome business.

This thing was custom-made for dungeons, built out of solid gold that became very hard in dungeons, and running on compressed air that was stored in tanks alleviated the need for a complicated power source that was not guaranteed to work in a dungeon.

Setting it all took about 30 minutes. Victor was not yet familiar with operating it, but once it got started, things went very smoothly as he began to dig through the walls while disguising the noise to make sure no one paid attention to him.

WARNING: INDESTRUCTIBLE

WARNING: INDESTRUCTIBLE

WARNING: INDESTRUCTIBLE

WARNING: INDESTRUCTIBLE

Ignoring the alerts, he worked tirelessly, expecting that getting through each wall would take about an hour, but to his surprise, it only took 5 minutes for the Jackhammer to breach through to the other side!

Victor had to check the dungeon map to make sure he was not mistaken before widening the hole and crossing over to find himself not on the other side of the wall, but inside the narrow wall itself! A place that was completely hidden on the dungeon map!

“Wah….” he gasped as he looked around. The narrow passageway he found himself in was full of all kinds of arrays that he couldn’t understand at all. Who built this place?

Just as he was about to continue exploring…

BOOM!

A four-faced, eight-legged, 8 legged huge, mechanical, silvery monster that barely fit in the narrow space attacked him all of a sudden! Slicing down with a large curved blade.

The blade was right where he should have been standing, then began to rotate its head, allowing each of its faces to have a look around as if searching for something, but it couldn’t find it.

Victor, who jumped up to the side, barely missing the hit, began inspecting it with a frown as the system didn’t display anything about it. Just a WARNING: INDESTRUCTIBLE sign. It was as if it were some kind of automation, not a living being. Since it had no soul, the system didnʼt categorize it as an enemy!

Interesting… This thing’s joints looked very similar to the joints of the toys he once saw in the imperial palace, the ones Zolan made, but far more complicated. Could it be that in his past life, that woman was here? Could it also be that the people here might have managed to escape after the reckoning? He had no idea…

Thinking for a moment, he put his hand on the SENTINEL.

Swoosh.

It was immediately collected into his cauldron.

“Not bad…” he said and then began to make his way up toward the heart of the maze, passing through the insides of the wall and collecting many lost Sentinels who seemed to be aware of his existence somehow, but couldn’t pinpoint his exact location.

He guessed that this had something to do with the Maze’s array, but couldn’t tell exactly how, as he didn’t have the time to study it.

Anyway, Thanks to walking inside the walls, it took him only 4 hours to reach the Maze’s heart. The bossʼs room that had no doors! Yup, this dungeon couldn’t be conquered!

Victor expected the boss to attack him at any moment when he reached that place, but to his surprise, nothing happened, even when he showed himself.

Where was the boss?

It took Victor 15 minutes to find him… Or rather, it. A Jewel that looked like any other decoration in the room, hidden tightly in one of the columns. It was some kind of a if he didn’t have his appraisal skill, he would have missed it!

EONIC’S AGENT

INDESTRUCTIBLE

LEVEL: 1

He was about to kill it and end all of this, but he stopped thinking about something. If this place were really man-made and not natural, it would mean that whoever conquered it might get his name reported to the one behind it…

Would he want that?

Of course not…

He could use a fake name, but he knew more than anyone that some things could still be traced back to him! In fact, thanks to him harming nothing in the dungeon since he got in, his name wouldn’t even appear in the clearing list, so why ruin it?

Thinking for a moment, Victor decided to let Yulian do it! Yeah, he already collected most of the good things here; he should leave some for his best friend! This dungeon would surely make him level up a lot!

So, after making sure to clean any treasures in the room, Victor confirmed Yulian’s position in his map using the latter’s fate that was now connected to him through Lily, then began to dig a way there!

It took him another 4 hours or so to reach his place when he discovered the confrontation going down below, so being the gentleman that he was, he decided to ‘conveniently’ dig that stone to fall right on top of that Von Zwei guy!

***

“So this is the boss room!” Zer said as soon as they reached the heart of the dungeon. And as Victor did before him, he began to look around, confirming that, other than the hole Victor dug, it had no other entrance. “Where is the boss?” he asked as Yulian and Gary also began to look around.

Not meeting any of the Sentinels on the way here was strange enough, but where was the fucking boss?

“...” Before Victor could speak, Ana raised her hand, pointing to the jewel, identifying it almost immediately.

“Then let’s end this!” Zer said, licking his lips in anticipation as he took his hammer and struck the Jewel immediately. He couldn’t wait to get out of this fucking place!

PAM!

Sparks flew as he was pushed back.

ERROR: INDESTRUCTIBLE

“What…” Zer almost cursed out loud.

“You can’t destroy it as it is indestructible, but since the system can see it, it must have a soul, so Yulian here might be able to do it!” Victor, who was watching from the side, said. ”You are a Soul Paladin, right? Thatʼs what Victor told me....”

”I am...” Yulian nodded, feeling a bit annoyed that his class was revealed by this talkative guy.

”Go on then, try it...” Zink said.

”...” Yulian sighed as he slowly approached it…

“...” Before he could touch it, Anastasia caught his hand.

“What?” Yulian asked, then watched as Ana raised one finger toward him, then turned and let her other hand hover over the Jewel while closing her eyes.

The others couldn’t see what she was doing, but Victor watched as strange tentacles, like things weaved out of fate threads spread from her back and began to crawl around the Jewel, untangling a strange web of threads that appeared around it.

So an oracleʼs skill also involved fate threads... Interesting!

It took her 10 minutes to finally open her eyes with an uncertain look, then she began making gestures to her father. It was a kind of sign language.

“Ana is saying that if you conquer this dungeon, you will be wrapped into some great fate… It is not bad, just very troublesome. She is also saying that if you don’t want to do it, Zink has another way!” Zer translated, turning to look at Zink.

“.... I can do it, but my Trickster class will need 72 hours to cool down before I can make a move!” he lied, revealing more fake info. This girl was more dangerous than he expected, but still, there was a limit to what she could see!

Anastasia glared at him. She couldn’t tell if he was lying or telling the truth; she just saw that in case Yulian didn’t kill the boss, Zink would do it, but the way he did it was very blurry in her vision!

Zer also glared at him, minding the word TRICKSTER. He never heard of this class before, but it sounded super troublesome!

“Whatever, I will do it… Whatever fate has in store for me, I am ready!” Yulian finally said after thinking for a bit as he roughed up the girls’ hair. He didnʼt fear hardships, and Gary had a wedding to catch.

Slowly, he raised his hand and touched the jewel, then activated his power, slaying the soul within.

”Keeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee...........”

A scary, screaming sound filled the room, then...

Dungeon Cleared.

Congratulations.

Countdown until Closing,

59. Minutes.

Almost immediately, a screen spread to the top of everyone’s heads.

“AT LAST!” Zer fell to his knees and screamed involuntarily as tears fell from his eyes. It was like an impossible dream coming to reality. “At least I will not be buried in this damn place…” he uttered with a self-deprecating smile.

PAM!

Zer felt someone tap him on the back, then at the next moment, he heard the sound of shattering, and with a flash of light that blinded him, he felt like a great weight was lifted off his shoulders.

“Eh… what…” before he could understand what happened, he turned to the back and noticed that Zink, who just tapped him, walked toward Ana and placed his hand on his back, then she shone with a flash of light before the tattoo on her face shattered and disappeared.

“What… The curse…” Zer uttered in an unbelieving voice.

“This is not for free, it’s a debt, someone will come to collect it one day!” Zink smirked. “Hail the nutcracker, my friend, for he shall guide you beyond this rotten world!” he said, then vanished.

The entire thing took just a moment.

“What….” Yulian and Gary, who were preoccupied with the dungeon clear notification and missed the entire thing, asked as they began to look around.

“...” Zer slowly rose to his legs with a frown and eyed his daughter before looking around the hall. “I see… Then I will wait!” he sighed and said.

“Your curse is gone?” Yulian asked nervously as he also began to look around, but Zink was nowhere to be found. Hell, even Crocky, who should be waiting out of the room, seemed to have vanished at some point.

“Yeah… This is not important for now… Now, let’s talk about a few things that you should do as soon as you leave this place…” Zer said he turned toward his daughter, who had a large smile on her face as her 5-year-old prophecy had all come to fruition!