Chapter 21: CH 20 – Again

If any strangers heard Veronica cussing the Willows Party right now, then their ears will definitely fall off. This beautiful lady has a venomous mouth which is vulgar to the extreme. She didn't even leave the dead friend of Horden.

…

As the Silver Wolf Party trio is carefully traversing the forest back towards the Karma City, Harth suddenly frowned—

"We are being followed."

"How many?" Luke asked.

"My skill only detected one, about 200 meters behind."

Luke snorted, "The Willows Party must have sent someone to check if we live or die."

Veronica clenched her teeth, "Die? Their mother will die! Their whole family will die!— This Veronica will live till the day I can dance on their graves, humph!"

Harth put a finger in front of his lips, "Shhh... my mother, keep your voice down, do you want to attract monsters?"

...

Master, we are being followed.

Axel Blaze frowned, How many?

Only one, they are maintaining a 200 meters distance. I think it's someone from the Willows Party. Should I check?

No need to alert them.

Axel Blaze went silent, contemplating something.

After a while he slowed down his speed and increased his distance to almost 500 meters from the Silver Wolf Party. It is the maximum distance Ruby can scan.

What about the person behind us?

They are still following you, 200 meters behind.

Seems like they also have a scouting skill like Harth.

Ah, if it's a scouting skill, then there was a female in the Willows Party with a Radar skill. It lets you pick movements within a certain radius.

What is her Class?

It is Rogue and her job is Thief. Her level is 30.

Axel Blaze rubbed his chin, Hmm... So she is the female version of Harth— By the way, are there any monsters nearby?

Yes, there's a group of Kobolds, 50 meters to your right.

Their level?

Umm... If I Inspect them then it will alert them about our position. You sure?

Axel Blaze hesitated—

Let me know if there's any lone monster.

He increased his speed, closing up the distance between him and the Silver Wolf Party.

...

Harth frowned, "It seems they didn't leave. My skill is detecting them again after an interval of a couple of  minutes."

Luke hummed, "Maybe they have a similar skill to yours which detects movements within a 200 meters radius. They must have stepped back a few meters to check our reactions— Anyways, after hearing Horden, I don't think they will launch a surprise attack on us— Horden wants us to suffer while avoiding getting a Wanted Tag himself."

"Humph! Coward bastard." Veronica twisted her nose and grounded her teeth in anger, "Let me get back to Karma City first, then I will show the whole Willows Party how luxurious death is."

Luke sighed, "Only if we can make it back alive."

Harth also sighed, "I am glad we deposited some of our funds in the World Bank else we would have to start begging after what happened today."

Luke nodded, "Well, it was meant to be our backup in case something like this happens. Now all we need to do is use those savings to get our things back from the Willows Party." 

He chuntered, "Also, skin them alive when we are at it."

Veronica agreed, "It won't be hard hiring some cheap thugs with the current condition of Karma City. That place is all chaotic right now." "By the way, leave that Horden to me. He is my prey."

...

Master, I think— Ah Master, watch out!

"What the—"

...

Harth suddenly stopped.

"What happened?" Luke asked.

"Didn't you hear that shout just now?"

"I did, what about it? There are people fighting all over the forest, so it's nothing special."

"It isn't but that last shout was from our follower."

"The scout sent by the Willows Party? Did they get attacked by some monster?"

Veronica looked worried suddenly, "All the members of the Willows Party are lv 30 and above except their Support Class owners and the porter. The follower they sent must be a Rogue Class and level 30 plus. If he yelled like that after getting attacked by a monster..."

Luke and Harth understand what Veronica wants to say. They won't fret over such monster attacks normally but in their current condition without having any equipment or items on them, they will die nine out of ten times if they engage with any monster closer to their individual levels.

"Let's hurry." Luke suggested in a serious tone as the trio picked up their pace.

...

Far behind them, the real scout from the Willows Party found herself in a dilemma by the sudden disappearance of Axel Blaze.

The Silver Wolf Party was never her objective. Her task from the start was to find out about Axel Blaze and why he was hiding near them when they were hunting the Armored Bears. What is his motive? Is he a friend or a foe?

Why Axel Blaze is following the Silver Wolf Party and his relationship with them was just supposed to be some additional information.

Everything was to be investigated but now, how? The target of investigation has suddenly vanished into thin air.

The scout lady searched here and there in the forest but couldn't find any clues.

...

Sitting up in a dark space where the only source of light is some Luminescent Moss, Axel Blaze made a worrisome face. He started looking here and there with vigilance.

What happened was that while following the Silver Wolf Party, Axel Blaze suddenly fell inside a long— very long tunnel hole hidden beneath some bushes. He slid all the way deep into the earth to an empty space which looks like an underground room.

"Again?" He muttered.

...

Luminescent Moss grows in dark and damp places but unlike normal moss it feeds on mana. The more mana it eats the brighter it glows. This particular moss is also one of the important ingredients used in creating Mana Recovery Potion.

...

A bit different, but this room is quite similar to the first pit Axel Blaze had fallen into where he had to fight for his life against the Bloody Nightmare.

Axel Blaze followed a tunnel path he found near one of the corners. The tunnel also has some Luminescent Moss growing, providing vision.

You have slid down about 500 meters underground. Also, Master, I sense a Card.

"Where?"

About 100 meters below us.

Axel Blaze bent down checking the ground.

"It can be dug but I don't have any proper tools for digging 100 meters. Also, we still don't know what place we are in."

Maybe we can ask the people below.

"There are people here? Why didn't you say that first? Idiot."

I was about to say it, I was just counting their numbers.

"Numbers? Are there so many that you have to take your time to count?"

No, it's just that they are engaged in a battle so it's quite messy with them jumping here and there.

Axel Blaze suddenly realized something, "Ah, don't tell me this is a dungeon."

Looks like a dungeon to me. The tunnel we are in seems to be just one of the many tunnels present here as I can see a few more tunnels to our left and right within a 500 meters radius.

"Well, waiting here won't do us any good and it doesn't seem possible to climb back the hole above. Let's explore."

After walking about 1,500 meters Axel Blaze almost started cursing before Ruby informed him of an intersection 500 meters ahead.

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...

Axel Blaze followed the path to the intersection where he met a few men leaving another tunnel. 

There are about 10 pathways in this intersection all connected to a major pathway which seems to lead outside.

"Hey Brother, which party are you from? Done with the investigation? Did you find any treasures on your path?"

One of the strangers smiled as he walked to Axel Blaze.

Axel Blaze looked behind him with confusion before realizing that the man was talking to him.

He shook his head, "No, I didn't find anything. What about you?"

The man shook his head as well, "No luck."

The man then asked, "Where are the rest of the party members?"

"They..."

As Axel Blaze was thinking about what to say when one of the men pointed at one of the pathways.

"There's the mark, the boss monster has been found, it's in this way, let's hurry else we will miss our opportunity to gain Experience Points and contribution."

The man rushed into the pathway and the rest followed.

The man who was chatting with Axel Blaze seems to have forgotten about his existence as he also dashed into the pathway.

Axel Blaze breathed a sigh of relief and followed with unhurried steps.

...

As Axel Blaze walked through the pathway he could feel the elevation dropping at a steady pace.

It was a winding path which led Axel Blaze to a brightly lit, high ceiling large underground room where 30 people were engaged in a battle with a 100 feet long, purple snake.

"Inspect." Axel Blaze mumbled, hiding in the tunnel path.

Name : Serpent King (Enraged)

Level : 42

Weakness : A dark patch on the hard palate of the mouth.

Axel Blaze's lips twitched, "How is it a weak spot when it is located inside the mouth of a 100 feet long snake?"

He picked up a small rock, used a Strong Arm skill card and shot the rock at the snake. The rock hit the snake's hard purple scales and crumbled without dealing any damage.

"The skin is too hard to deal any damage with my current skills and level, I cannot see it's VIT."

"Can't you do something about this Ruby? Not being able to show their VIT when you can show me their weaknesses is quite absurd."

No Master. Inspect skill can only scan for Character Information. The weakness information I provide you all comes from the system, it is a feature which got added after the system upgrade. Since VIT is not within the Character Information, you will still have to use the old methods to check your opponents VIT.

Axel Blaze sighed, "It is what it is I guess."

...

The party function only works within a 50 meters radius and having a party helps you gain Experience Points from the monsters killed by your party members. It doesn't matter if you have contributed in dealing damage to the monsters or not, even if you are sleeping within the 50 meters radius, you will get your portion of Experience Points.

A stranger will also get a share in Experience Points if they deal damage to the same monster hunted by a party. Their share of Experience Points will be according to the number of people participated in the hunt. It will be calculated with the party members plus the stranger.

This loophole has led to many people leeching off of other people's hard work. Though they can gain free Experience Points just by scratching a monster being hunted by other people and staying within a 50 meters radius, they cannot get any drops. Since the one who hunted the monster ain't gonna share that for sure.

...

Axel Blaze pulled out his sword and joined the battle. Though there are a lot of participants here, free Experience Points are always welcome since with increasing levels, it gets tougher to farm Experience Points.

After sneaking in a hit, Axel Blaze got back to his hiding position. The remaining VIT of the Serpent King is not that high, so he doesn't have to wait too long. He will leave as soon as he gets his share of Experience Points. As for the loot, as I said before, no one's gonna share that with a stranger.

Axel Blaze used the waiting time to search for the Card Case which was surprisingly embedded two feet inside one the walls at a safe spot.

The fight was going behind him as he dug the wall with his sword.

Of course everyone is busy handling the Serpent King so no one noticed Axel Blaze digging.

It was a Card Case with the number 6 on it. Axel Blaze's best finding so far.

...

"Well, 9120 Experience Points are not that bad. With this I have 421,620/435,000 Experience Points."

Axel Blaze checked his Character Information in the Card Binder as he ran towards the supposed exit of the tunnel.

It is a long winding path filled with intersections of hundreds of tunnel pathways and level 15 to level 20 snake monsters which provide Axel Blaze with zero Experience Points due to the level gap.

After running for about 7 to 8 kilometers, Axel Blaze finally saw the tunnel mouth.

"Finally... Just what kind of dungeon is so long? I have never read of such a long dungeon before. The world is really big and filled with the unknown."

He huffed and puffed as he walked out of the tunnel finding two guards sitting outside around a table sipping tea.

One of the guards looked at Axel Blaze and stood up, "How did it go? Did you guys find the boss monster? Did you kill it?" He asked with anticipation.

Axel Blaze nodded while calming his breath.

The guard rejoiced, "At last after raiding the dungeon for 5 months straight it finally got cleared. Now I can return home to my family. It's quite excruciating to guard a dungeon without being allowed to leave the spot other than for bathroom breaks. I have to thank all the participants of this raid."

"Are you the party lead—" 

The man scrutinized Axel Blaze's attire before changing his words.

"Where is your party leader? If I remember correctly, it was a joint raid of three parties. Which party should I pass the government reward to? You guys must have already decided how to share it among yourselves, right? I cannot help you guys with that."

Axel Blaze shrugged, "The leader will be out soon, you can discuss with him. I have important matters to take care of so I will take my leave."

Without waiting for the guard's reply, Axel Blaze scurried out of there.

...

One thing is for sure, he is somewhere inside the Meru Forest but—

"Where the fuck am I now?"

Axel Blaze couldn't find anything which can give him a general idea of his location.

He scratched his head, "I should have asked those guards. Now I cannot go back because those other guys must have left the tunnel by now."

The night is about to fall, which is not an ideal time to spend inside a forest filled with monsters.

Tired, he sat on a large boulder, racking his brain.

At around 11 o'clock at night, a sleepy and haggard Axel Blaze returned to Karma City from the east. The side he never visited before.

...

Axel Blaze yawned, "I really want to sleep in a soft bed right now but I don't have the energy to look for an inn with empty rooms or an available paying guest house."

He sighed, "To the slums we go again."

"What a waste of a day. I failed to level up to 30 and also missed the chance to take revenge on the Silver Wolf Party."

Axel Blaze knocked on the door of the same dilapidated house he has been renting since he arrived at Karma City.

A moment later, the door was slightly opened and two inquiring eyes glanced at Axel Blaze from the crevice. The one who opened the door wasn't the poor beggar but a beautiful lady smeared with dirt—Veronica.

As soon as Axel Blaze noticed the familiar face, his sleepiness flew away as his eyes widened.

Veronica frowned, "Who are you? What do you want?"

A bit lost but happy that she doesn't recognise him at first glimpse. Axel Blaze instantly pulled his cheeks deforming his face and asked while showing his pearly white teeth—

"Am I handsome?"

Veronica slammed the door on his face, "Stupid idiot!"

As soon as she closed the door Axel Blaze vanished like magic.

A moment later the door opened again, a dirty and slightly wounded Luke walked out with Veronica.

"Are you sure it was him?"

"I am not hundred percent sure but he definitely resembles that Axel guy from Kat Town."

Luke clenched his teeth in anger, "That Max guy beat the shit out of me and Harth before taking back the equipment we snatched from his underling. What does he want from us now to send his underling here?"

He grumbled, "People call us a swindler but if we are swindlers then what is that Max guy? He is a fucking devil!" "...Don't tell me he is also behind that Willows Party."

"Fuck!" He stomped his foot in anger before rushing back inside.

Veronica looked around with caution before entering the house and closing the door.

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