Chapter 32.1
Chapter 32.1
“Where are you from?”
“Well…”
He was about to mention the Leon Guild when a woman’s piercing scream ripped through the air. A chill shot down his spine, cutting him off mid-sentence. It was the kind of scream that spoke of imminent death, a final, desperate cry.
Both of them looked in the same direction.
Shade, his demeanor suddenly shifting, turned towards the scream. A dark energy rippled and flowed from his body.
‘What the hell is that?’
Luce, momentarily stunned by the sight, realized he couldn’t lose him. Getting lost in this unfamiliar place was something he absolutely had to avoid.
He hurried after Shade.
Thankfully, he didn’t have to go far. The source of the scream hadn’t been distant.
Shade, walking ahead, stopped abruptly behind a large tree, as if he’d seen something. Luce stopped too. His eyes followed his gaze, widening in disbelief at what he saw.
“Serpiente…?”
It was definitely Serpiente in the clearing within the forest, the only difference being the location—a forest instead of a labyrinth.
Three or four of the glistening scaled creatures were feasting on a dark red carcass, now unrecognizable. And the other two…
“Get away! Get away from me!”
They were slithering towards a woman who had fallen on her backside.
Sobbing, the woman scooted backward, picking up a nearby stone and throwing it. It hit one of the Serpiente’s heads with a dull thud, only enraging the monster.
A cacophony of hisses and shrieks filled the air. The woman was cornered, her back against a tree. She braced herself for the inevitable. Just as the snakes lunged, aiming for her pale skin…
‘Skill: Ghoul – Resurrection of the Dead (Level 1) activated.’
Decaying corpses erupted from the ground, seizing the Serpiente’s legs. The snakes, about to leap, were dragged down with furious roars. What followed was a gruesome feast.
With sickening crunches and cracks, the grotesquely twisted ghouls, their eyeballs oozing, devoured the Serpiente—even the ones that had been enjoying their meal. It took mere minutes for the half-dozen Serpiente to be annihilated.
The sight of predator becoming prey was both bizarre and thrilling.
‘Who the hell is this guy?’
Luce stared at the average-sized man with apprehensive eyes. It was purely coincidental that Adeline and Yoone’s cheerful conversation popped into his head at that moment.
“Really? So, what’s the highest level someone has reached?”
“Someone called Shade2002 is ranked first. I think he’s around level 240 or so.”
Shade2002.
In other words, the strongest player in this insane game world.
‘No way… Oh my god.’ With a groan of realization, Luce clutched his red hair.
‘Damn it. Why do I always get tangled up with these kinds of people?’
Meanwhile, Shade, with a flick of his wrist, banished the ghouls back underground and began walking towards the woman.
The platinum-blonde woman stared up at him, frozen in shock. He had saved her, but the method was so horrific that she seemed unable to express her gratitude. Or perhaps she wasn’t yet convinced he was one of the good guys.
‘Duendel (F-rank) has appeared.’
A message announcing a monster’s appearance popped up above the woman’s head.
Shade chuckled after reading it.
“What? They were just fighting and eating each other? I wasted my effort.”
He spoke as if regretful, but his tone held no actual remorse.
Luce was certain he would have killed all the Serpiente regardless of the woman’s presence.
Before the attack, he had clearly seen hatred in Shade’s eyes. The red glint in his eyes as he watched the Serpiente about to devour the woman held the same intensity as Adeline’s.
“An F-rank won’t even give me any experience points. Just get lost. I’ll let you go if you run away before I change my mind.”
Shade sneered. The woman, still sitting on the ground, stared blankly at him, then at the Serpiente carcasses.
Looking closer, the young woman had unusually pointed ears, tipped with blue, and skin as white as snow. Luce glared at Shade. Looking at such a cute girl, shouldn’t he be saying something else entirely instead of “get lost”?
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