It didn’t take a lot of time for Victor to catch up with Sebastian and Evan who were walking slowly as if he was in great pain.

Victor nodded. That’s what he got for touching Hana. Victor didn’t quickly dispel her curse for this very reason… He just made sure not to touch her at all. Even when she thought he tried to hug her, it was an illusion.

Too bad that Evan was a ghoul class player. He has a very high poison resistance. So the poison that was supposed to make him suffer in pain for nine days and nights, only acted about 10%.

Victor quickly ran after them, ignoring the five remaining demonized men who were guarding and searching their surroundings in an impenetrable circle.

Victor knew about those. They were a part of the Von Zwei secret army. They used them just before the reckoning, and they almost succeeded if it were not for some stupid scion whom they angered by mistake… They survived total annihilation though, thanks to their heir’s friendship with a more powerful scion… Someone Victor really wanted to cut into very tiny pieces.

By analyzing those monsters, Many other powers began to develop similar warriors… There was a project financed by some countries too. Victor didn’t expect those to appear this early though.

All of that became irrelevant after the Reckoning. As everyone became a player.

The research didn’t stop but shifted into trying to grant players monster powers, paving the way for bloodlines research.

Victor decided not to kill those for now as he might be able to control them, he just ran to Evan and Sebastian's side and began to walk between them like a close friend. He even began to chit-chat with them. Too bad he couldn’t offer them some of his blood, he had no empty spots for new blood slaves.

…

“Master… Your… Men… Can they be called that? What are they really?” Sebastian asked.

“I already told you, I will explain later… They are men.” Evan scolded lightly.

“That girl. Alpha. I saw her get pierced by one of your… Men’s spike. She seemed poisoned.” Sebastian said.

“That would be better… It means she can’t travel fast.” Evan said with some difficulty.

“What if she has an antidote?” Sebastian asked again.

“What did the man who injured her look like?” Evan asked.

“I don’t know, she cut him in half before I could tell… The spike had a lot of barbs and some black dots.” Sebastian contemplated.

“Oh… That’s Freddy… The poison he has… It is some kind of centipede blood poison… It is slow acting but lethal… We don’t have a cure.” Evan seemed disturbed… He didn’t like poisoned food. ”You should have told me earlier.”

“What! How can you develop a poison without a cure?” Sebastian asked in surprise as he watched Evan take out a round artifact and began to activate it… It was no longer working.

“We didn’t exactly develop it…. We will talk later.” Evan said then paused. He was feeling strange. His survival instincts were telling him to run away as if he was facing an imminent danger coming from all directions. Evan was carefully scanning the area around him for the last five minutes, but he could find nothing wrong.

He was now convinced that this was a hallucination caused by the poison in him. Who the hell poisoned him? Was it that seashell? He knew that restaurant was sketchy….

“Master… are those men loyal… I was thinking… What if they suddenly attacked us with such evil poisons?” Sebastian asked as he walked.

“Don’t worry, They are under my control. We will speak about them later!” Evan touched his ring as he repeated and never spoke ever again after that.

Green goo does not speak.

…

“Master… You are moving too slowly…” Sebastian complained as he looked around. “I am sure that white-haired b*tch is still here somewhere, but why do I feel the forest keeps changing…” He added.

“Weren’t you after that blond girl?” Evan asked in surprise.

“Ah… I forgot to tell you… I mistakenly injured a girl before you caught up. I tried to give her a quick death but she was ungrateful and bit my finger… That b*tch must have stolen my ring then.” He said.

“Your ring? Even so, Sebastian, walk slowly…you must learn to be careful… What if she had allies hidden around” Evan scolded.

“Ah... Sorry. But my ring had many valuables… “ Sebastian said.

“Don’t worry, with my artifact I can easily find her… I got it from those guys at the fate sect. So it can’t be blocked, I just need to change the target, you should have told me before.” Evan said as he took the orb he used to weaken Alpha earlier.

If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

“Ahh… You met with the fate sect too?” Sebastian asked in surprise.

“Oh… So you know about them…” Evan asked.

“Yes… I met one of their disciples once. She helped me escape a certain danger in exchange for a blood promise…” Sebastian said.

“You too!” Evan said in surprise.

“Did you encounter that cold chick too, Master?” Sebastian asked as he looked back.

“No… It was a cold old woman… But she saved my life and taught me a lot of my arts, and in exchange, my mission was to search for a certain treasure in a very dangerous dungeon, then deliver it to its rightful heir.” Evan said.

“Really?” Sebastian was surprised.

“Yes… I found the treasure after nearly losing my life, but I still couldn’t locate the heir… What about your promise? Maybe we could help each other.” Evan said.

“I… I promised that I will fulfill three requests for them in the future… So I still don’t know…” Sebastian said as he continued to walk forward, hiding his face.

“Fool! How can you give them such power over you?” Evan scolded.

“Well, I put some restrictions, of course, their requests can’t go against my principles and would never be to harm me or my allies and loved ones.” Sebastian defended himself… He knew that he made a mistake, but he was still young at that time… And that chick was really hot… and cold.

“You must be careful in the future… They asked me for something similar at first, but I didn’t accept, so they only asked me to locate a player who practices a certain immortal art and give them the artifact I located. They even told me that I am destined to meet him, but I have been searching for 10 years, and still looking.” Evan shook his head with a sigh, he was way more talkative than usual, but Sebastian didn’t mind.

“What immortal art?” Sebastian asked.

“Something called Eternal Martial arts,” Evan answered after some pondering, making Sebastian stop in his tracks and look back again.

“Master… Are you sure?” Evan asked.

“Yes. They said something about that player becoming one of the strongest in the world… Too bad I already made that blood promise, or I would have used it myself…” Evan sighed.

“Master, can I see the artifact?” Sebastian licked his lips.

“No… I can only give it to its true owner.” Evan refused firmly.

“What if I told you that I practice the Eternal Body art… It is the first book of the Eternal martial arts script,” Sebastian whispered.

Evan froze… then signaled with his hand, causing the 4 demonized men who were surrounding them to turn around and move away a little.

“You are not lying to me?” He asked suspiciously.

“I am not,” Sebastian replied as he took out a small dagger artifact that was hidden in his boot and pushed it against his hand. It didn’t pierce through.

“Is this really eternal body art?” Evan hesitated.

“Yes. It allows me to freely make any part of my body very tough, and it also makes me heal faster.” Sebastian said.

“If you can activate it, then it is yours…” Evan said after some pondering.

Sebastian smiled as he watched his master reach for a pouch around his neck and take out a glass bead containing a leaf-shaped flame. He could feel the huge amount of vitality inside of it resonating with his body.

Evan hesitated, then put it in Sebastian’s hand. The bead began to shine in a soft light… Victor was really nervous, but no one saw that.

“Can you bind it?” Evan asked with some skepticism.

“Yes…” Sebastian was not sure… He pricked his finger with the dagger he was already holding… It bled this time, just one drop which fell onto the bead.

Nothing happens.

Evan frowned… Sebastian got nervous and dropped two more drops, but still, nothing happened.

“Sebastian…” Evan was getting angry.

“One-second master…” Sebastian quickly thought… He had never heard of such a treasure before, but the resonance between it and his body meant something…. A bead…. A bead…. A green leaf… A green flame…. Then it struck him… Yes, he knew a way.

“Master… Just watch.” Sebastian said as he cut his finger again and began to draw certain symbols on the bead.

“Those are dungeon symbols…” Evan said,

“Yes… I saw this in a mural in the dungeon where I got my art… A huge green flame and below it was a bead with such symbols…” Sebastian finished drawing, causing the bead to shine and then explode,

BOOOOM

Evan and Sebastian were thrown away by the grenade explosion.

“NO ONE COMES NEAR,” Evan screamed at his men as he stood with some difficulty, he was in a sorry state when he ran to Sebastian’s side.

Sebastian was injured too, but not a lot. Just some scratches and a couple of small cuts here and there.

He was guarding against Evan but did not expect such an explosion from the bead.

“Quickly take this healing pill.” Evan knelt to his side and pushed a healing pill to him, but Sebastian didn’t take it… He shook his head and only wiped the blood off his mouth with his sleeve… Victor cursed.

“I am ok.” He said as he stood up and looked around until he found the bead, still looking the same on the ground, just a little hot… Sebastian licked his injured lip as he headed to pick it up… Victor smiled.

“What happened? Are you sure you know how to activate this…” Evan frowned and asked. Sebastian could hear the impatience in his voice.

“I… I may have made a mistake as I also needed to draw the same symbols on my body.” Sebastian contemplated with a frown. “It should have only dimmed again, not exploded…” He added, then paused and looked at Evan…. Why was he telling him this? He didn’t reveal the entire method because he didn’t entirely trust Evan, and he was right… But why the hell was he telling the truth?

“Now,” Evan said coldly, ordering his men who unknowingly got close because of the explosion. They didn’t hesitate to attack Sebastian who quickly grabbed the bead from the ground and began to run away… He was right, Evan was never his ally. Sebastian only wanted to get his help to find Hana, that’s why he accepted him as a master.

“Where do you think you are going?” Evan asked as he took out a talisman and activated it, making Sebastian go docile as the demonized men attacked him. This was the same talisman Evan used at the auction house to control Sebastian, he bound it to the evil souls inside of him when he saved his life.

The monsters’ teeth and claws that were about to shred Sebastian into pieces suddenly froze in midair, as their owners turned into dust… An amulet that was on Sebastian’s neck shone with a blinding light, turning everything into dust, including the evil spirits that were influencing Sebastian, and Evan who was watching with shocked eyes.

The white light resides, revealing a scorched ground with the phantom of a short girl holding a blue umbrella in the epicenter. She was looking at the now awakened Sebastian.

“Now we are even.” The phantom girl spat as she slowly dissipated. The necklace on his neck broke into pieces at the same time.

Sebastian sighed while shaking his head. That princess is really spicy. But that’s how he liked them.

After using the necklace, he will have to find another way to put her in his debt again, but that’s for another time… He has many ways to scam little girls.

Looking at his hand, a smile slowly appeared on his face then disappeared… His hand was not holding the bead, but a stone.

“NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!” He howled into the night.