Chapter 51 : Dreg

"Hah... Hah."

Ragna fell to the ground. He was exhausted from the battle. He didn't think that Crane's group could actually force him to show his blood-related skill.

To think that Crane also possessed such willpower!

"This kind of battle isn't good for both of us. It will be bad if he continues to pester me. I think I should find a way to make peace with him before anyone goes overboard," Ragna murmured.

There was no such thing as an irreconcilable grudge. If both parties found that their battles weren't worth it, they would prefer to make peace instead of continuing their war. If it continued, the only thing that would happen was both parties suffering losses.

Naturally, making peace also had its own complexity. If one side was too weak or meek, the other side would pressure them to cough up some profit. That was the reason why Ragna fought all of them. The first one was to check other party's strength and the second one was to establish his own position!

He wanted to show them that he was no pushover!

Still, the battle was dangerous and it nearly cost him his life. The penalty for dying in the game was a reduction in level and penalties to skill proficiency. At this stage of the game, that kind of penalty was still somewhat bearable but it would continue to be more and more severe in the future.

Also, he felt something strange when he used the Essence Manipulation earlier. He felt like someone was watching him. Furthermore, his soul was also a bit shaken. It was as if the Ancient Blood Master rejected his action of revealing the strength of blood.

"I should be more careful in the future," Ragna shook his head.

After a while, he had finished resting and his health and mana were already full. He decided to continue his journey to the Strange Ruin.

"Wait... what's that?" He found something that glowed in a blue light right at the place where Crane died.

"Don't tell me..." He was having a bad premonition. Nevertheless, he continued to walk toward it. When he arrived, his back instantly broke into a cold sweat.

"Oh shit."

It was the most important part of the Blue Salamander set. The Staff.

...

"A.. Achoo!"

At the outside of Raka's boarding house, a youth could be seen hiding inside a car. He was silently observing the house, especially the room where Raka lived in.

"Wuu... Master is so cruel. To think that he forced me to watch over him until morning," The youth had an amiable look on his face but currently, he was weeping in agony. The youth was obviously, Banu.

"Raka, what kind of trouble have you gotten yourself into. It has been calm for years but you suddenly became strange," Banu sighed. He was concerned and worried about his junior brother. But it wasn't to the point of silently watching him out this late at the night.

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Everything was because of Mr. Romi. He was very protective toward Raka and sometimes.. he became unreasonable because of it.

"Urgh. I know this isn't your fault but it makes me suffer! I think I should be rougher on you. That's the only way to vent my anger Muahaha.. achoo!" Banu sneezed again. Bandung at night was a bit freezing after all.

Actually, the current technology had birthed to a decent heater for everyone to use inside the car. However, even though it was already very efficient, it still cost some energy that Banu was unwilling to waste.

That's just the way he was, a head-strong environmentalist.

"Hrr.. Raka.. Just you wait..."

Obviously, Raka himself was oblivious to the future predicament he would be getting himself into.

...

Back in the forest.

After walking for a few minutes, Ragna finally arrived at the lake beside the Strange Ruin. He washed his face and some parts of his body that were stained by the blood from the previous battle.

Actually, there was no need to clean anything. The system will automatically remove the blood stains after a while. Nevertheless, Ragna still used the opportunity to calm his mind. He needed to get to his prime state before entering the Ruin. It was one of the things he learned from his Uncle. Meditating was the key in achieving great performance.

After calming his mind, he got up and went straight to the Ruin. While heading toward it, he realized something that was a bit strange. The place should be packed with Lizardmen based on his yesterday's experience. However, the current atmosphere was too desolate. There were still some Lizardmen who wandered, but their number was incomparable to yesterday.

It wasn't even close.

The same thing actually happened when he was leading the first batch of Drom's scouts to the place where the Black Wolves were. He couldn't find them anywhere and that was why he decided to use the Deer instead.

'It seems that this place is more mysterious than I thought'

When fighting mobs, they would immediately respawn after the assigned time period passed. It was normal for rare monsters to have a longer respawn time. However, no matter how long it was, it shouldn't exceed one day or instance. They weren't a BOSS, after all.

Ragna shook his head. He was always keen and meticulous. And sometimes it led him to be overly cautious toward everything.

He quickly entered the Ruin. The strange symbols inscribed on the wall reminded him of the Temple where he got the Blood Master's legacy. Even though they were different, the aura of ancientness was similar.

He continued his way toward the center of the Ruin. After touching the tile that served as a key, the symbols on the wall suddenly glowed with a resplendent light.

Whuung!

He watched the scene while maintaining his calm. There were too many strange things that could happen when challenging a mysterious entity. In fact, there was also the possibility that this Ruin was actually a trap.

It was at this moment that Ragna suddenly sensed something!

*Rustle*

"SHIT!"

He quickly turned around and dashed toward the Ruin's entrance. He could see that there was a black shadow that was moving with incredible speed. Because the shadow was already near the entrance, to begin with, Ragna could only catch a glimpse of it

It was a player!

He was actually being followed by someone!

Of course, Ragna didn't have the time to be surprised. He quickly chased after the shadow while chanting for his spell. He needed to catch him/her before he lost the sight of it.

"EARTH WALL!"

Fortunately, he was lucky that his chant was faster than the time it took for the shadow to escape. A huge earthen wall materialized in front of the shadow, blocking its way.

Ragna approached the shadow while silently chanting for another spell. He could see that the person was nowhere near ordinary. To be able to silently follow him without getting noticed, its skill had to be excellent.

The person slowly turned around, revealing its facial feature. It turned out that it was a man.

He was clad in a dark blue cloak similar to Ragna's Shadow Wolf's set. However, it was on a different level. From what Ragna could discern, it was a set exclusive to level 35+ players, the Azure Mantis Set.

If Crane's Blue Salamander's Set could be considered rare, then the Azure Mantis's Set would be a realm higher than it. Only the real elites of a guild could wear it. In fact, its worth was already clear from its level requirement.

The youth had white and long hair, but he tied his hair back so that his eyes could be seen. In his cheek was a black tattoo which further emphasized his terrifying presence. He was the one who spoke to Crane back at the tavern, he was Dreg.

His eyes were cold but strangely there was a hint of playful smile hidden within. Before Ragna could speak to him, he opened his mouth and said.

"Ragna? Shall we fight?"