Chapter 107

[Noah has joined the party]

Hiro led the way. The five were now walking into the forest without arguing with each other.

Hiro hoped that they would continue to get along, at least until they cleared the special quest. He seriously felt that this was the most important thing at the moment.

He looked back on how he felt when the bond of the [Bloodchain Vow] was finally made. The lost magic really piqued his curiosity and interest in having one as well. If only he were a mage.

If the oath was violated, the violator would receive a punishment. When Hiro first found out about it, he couldn’t believe the severity.

Becoming a [prisoner of the darkness] was only a term for receiving an extended punishment.

A player who violated the Bloodchain Vow would receive the punishment of being sent to prison, but not the real one. If dying outside a safe zone prompted a punishment of a 100% EXP reduction and a seven-day ban from logging in, a violator of the Bloodchain Vow would receive a punishment of being confined to the game for seven days. In other words, they wouldn’t be able to log out.

But that wasn’t all. In the seven-day punishment period, the violator would be bound to a slave contract. The player whose contract they violated would be their master, and a 100% EXP reduction would be applied to the violator each day without the chance of gaining additional EXP.

Hiro got goosebumps when he imagined it happening to him. He intended to fulfill his oath.

…

The five walked into the forest, toward the location coordinates of the main forest. On the way, Hiro saw various new monster types and collected their information without having to stop to defeat one of them.

He wanted to focus on finishing one thing this time.

After walking for about fifteen minutes, they finally arrived in front of a black wooden fence.

Hiro had an ominous feeling as he looked at it.

Behind the wooden fence was an extremely dark forest, as if it was always night there. Moreover, despite the chilling wind from that direction, there was also a thick fog that made that side of the forest seem even eerier.

“Are you all ready?”

Because of the tense atmosphere, they only nodded in response without making a sound. The clearest sound they could hear apart from the howling wind was the trembling of Wheelie’s body.

Hiro stretched out his hand and touched the blackened wooden fence in front of him. However, instead of having an item information window pop up in front of him, his skin immediately burned and emitted smoke.

[HP -1000]

“Ouch.” Hiro reflexively pulled his hand and blew it. The surface of his skin had melted and his HP had instantly gone down.

“What happened?” Jacob was confused when he saw what just happened to Hiro.

Hiro had an idea as to what it might be, but he needed to confirm.

“Jacob, try touching that fence.”

Looking at Hiro’s hand that became severely blistered after touching the fence, Jacob quickly lost his will to move in fear of experiencing the same thing. The expression on his face looked as if it was saying, ‘Are you out of your mind? You’re telling me to burn my finger like you?’

“Calm down, you’ll be fine. Trust me.”

Hiro tried to persuade Jacob softly, but Noah suddenly pushed Jacob’s hand to the wooden fence from behind.

Crash!

“What the hell are you doing!?” Jacob reflexively pulled back his hand and cursed at Noah.

“He’s right, your hand is fine. I guess that thing is covered in the holy attribute.” Noah shrugged. He didn’t show a hint of remorse.

Jacob, who also realized this, once again touched the wooden fence slowly to make sure his hand wouldn’t be burnt.

“This is weird,” he mumbled with a perplexed look.

At the same time, Noah, Cara, and Wheelie had also stuck their hands onto the surface of the wooden fence. Nothing painful happened to them.

Hiro’s guess was right. It seemed that that wooden fence was the high priest’s seal mentioned in the quest. Only the holy attribute would be used to seal a product of demons like that dragon.

“Now what?” Noah couldn’t wait.

Hiro took out his Batarang from his inventory and made a shallow cut on his palm until it bled. After that, he passed the Batarang to the others one by one for them to do the same.

“Blood sacrifice.”

They didn’t comment. They believed that Hiro did the right thing.

After painfully injuring their own hands, they dripped the blood onto the wooden fence’s surface together.

Ding!

[Demon blood]

[Dragon blood]

[Beast blood]

[Elf blood]

[Dwarf blood]

[Blood sacrifice has been made]

[Removing the holy seal]

Crack!

Crack!

Crash!

The wooden fence that extended to who-knew-where suddenly cracked and broke into shards of shining crystal.

Ding!

[Seal has been removed]

“Let’s go!”

Hiro continued to walk toward the dark area. He then glanced at Noah, sending a signal that the mage immediately understood.

Noah walked next to Hiro and ignited a fire on both of his palms.

[Fire Torches]

Now that they were ready, they finally entered the dark side of the forest. However, just after walking 10 steps, hundreds of bats suddenly came at them from every direction.

Screech!

Splat! [HP -100]

Splat! [HP -100]

Splat! [HP -100]

“Put out the fire, it’s attracting their attention.” Cara pulled Noah’s arm from behind, instantly causing the fire torches on his palms to disappear and plunging them back into darkness.

The atmosphere became quiet once again, and the bats no longer attacked them with their wind slash-like claws.

Hiro activated his [Demon’s Eyes] to see what normal eyes couldn’t. The moment he did, he immediately saw a strange trail of blood on the ground.

The blood trail went deeper into the forest.

With his Demon’s Eyes, the blood trail that he previously couldn’t see now faintly emitted light, like a glow-in-the-dark that was left there to show them the way.

“Stick together and follow me.”

Hiro continued to walk with his red eyes glowing. The others moved closer as they walked, afraid of being separated.

Cara held Wheelie’s hand like a mother holding her daughter’s hand. Meanwhile, Jacob held on to Hiro’s Night Ocean Cloak.

The deeper they went into the forest, the more difficult Hiro found it to breathe. It was as if the oxygen in the area was dwindling despite the numerous giant trees there.

At that moment, the group heard a loud snore.

Zzzzzz—

A little tense, Hiro sped up his pace to head toward the source of the sound.

Ding!

[New monster information has been unlocked]

[Level 51. (Boss) Hell Dragon]

[Race: Demon/Dragon]

Even though the name of the peacefully sleeping dragon gave a terrible impression, the sleeping dragon’s form successfully hypnotized everyone in the party.

Like a light in the terrifying dark forest, the dragon was beautiful with its pearly white skin. Even the way it slept was elegant, folding its legs in front of it as a pillow with its two giant wings tightly closed.

“She’s really a princess.” Jacob couldn’t hide his sparkling eyes. At this moment, he looked just like someone who fell in love at first sight.