Lake of Mystical Fire

After taking one last glance at the village, Albrecht stepped inside the Zecian Portal.

He knew exactly what to expect in the Fourth Outerlayer. It is a barren land littered with volcanoes and molten lava. Thanks to the Robe of Comfortable Temperature, he didn't feel hot, not in the least bit. As for Anastasia and Claude, they easily enveloped themselves with Zecian Aura, and it regulated their body temperature without difficulty.

"Wow... I wonder if I could do that as well." Albrecht said to himself, rubbing his chin. Once again, he opened his status but it still looked the same.

Some skills were added to his skill list, but his level remained the same— level 1— and his stats were still locked. It frustrated him to no end, but the System didn't bother explaining anything to him.

"System, why am I still level 1? I already defeated a handful of monsters and beasts... I even went head to head with a guardian." Albrecht jerked his thumb at Claude.

[User's level is too low]

[Level up to know more]

"What the—" Albrecht almost screamed in annoyance. If the System was there with him, he'd have given it a slap in the face.

The other Albrechts recorded in the System didn't have any experience like this so Albrecht couldn't ask any questions and be given an answer.

It's as if the System was playing tricks on him.

From a distance, a roar was heard, and Albrecht felt the shivers run up and down his spine. He knew exactly what the Guardian of the Fourth Outerlayer was.

Anastasia and Claude were familiar with it as well. After all, it was the very beast that they were trying to summon back when they were still in the Second Outerlayer.

"The Mythical Blood Dragon... what is it doing here?" Claude asked himself, perplexed.

"Isn't it obvious? This place is its home. Either we defeat it or we steer clear of its path..." Albrecht continued, picking up the pace as he did so. "Or we can just avoid it."

Albrecht still had his two key items in his inventory. These were the ones he obtained from the Whitelock's Treasury.

Even then, he prayed that he wouldn't have to use these items.

The distant roar of the Mythical Blood Dragon could be heard. Albrecht and the two vampires sneakily pressed on.

There was no way they could take on the Mythical Blood Dragon. If they were seen by it, they were as good as dead.

"The Zecian Portal that leads to the Sixth Outerlayer changes from time to time," Albrecht explained based on the System info. "At first, it was thought to be random spawns... but as it turned out, there's a pattern to the Sixth Outerlayer spawn patterns."

"In an hour, it would appear right beside the Zecian Portal that leads to the Fourth Outerlayer." Albrecht continued.

This left Anastasia and Claude confused. If it would appear beside the other Zecian Portal, then why did they move away from it?

Seeing their expressions of bewilderment, Albrecht continued explaining. "We have to get something first. Once we have that, we can freely move around the Fourth Outerlayer."

Albrecht left his explanation as general as possible since he didn't want them to know what he was going to get in the Fourth Outerlayer.

If he was successful, then they'd basically have a free pass on both the Fourth and Sixth Outerlayer. Albrecht didn't want to miss out on such a deal!

"But we just have to wait, right? Why do we need to go out and risk being caught by—" Claude started complaining.

"Shh!" Anastasia interrupted her brother.. "Just trust Albrecht on this one, big brother!" She hissed.

Anastasia then grabbed the hems of Albrecht's shirt as he continued walking. Claude couldn't believe that his younger sister had taken a liking to a human.

"All right... where do we need to go?"

"We're almost there."

A sigh left Claude's mouth, but he didn't complain anymore. The three of them continued their journey with Albrecht taking the lead.

—

Half an hour later, they finally arrived where Albrecht was supposed to be.

The Lake of Mystical Fire.

It was a fiery lake filled with molten lava and is said to contain treasures untold— or so, that's what the legends said.

In truth, the Lake of Mystical Fire is just a lake made of molten lava. However, it had certain properties that could fuse with a certain metal, creating a legendary weapon.

No one knows what kind of metal it was, but Albrecht was aware that a certain item in the Whitelock Treasury contained that unknown metal.

Without thinking twice, Albrecht grabbed a cylindrical item in his inventory.

[Item: Cylinder ??? (???)— a cylinder. No one knows its uses.]

He then wrapped his hand with the Robe of Comfortable Temperature and dipped the cylinder into the lake.

Shhshhshhsh~

A sizzling sound was heard far and wide, attracting the attention of the Mythical Blood Dragon.

Krhaahghhk~

A roar was heard from afar, but Albrecht paid it no mind. He continued dipping the cylinder into the lava lake.

"Albrecht! What are you doing?!" Claude grabbed him by the shoulder. "The Mythical Blood Dragon is coming! We have to get out of here!"

"Relax, give me a couple more seconds." Albrecht assured him.

The sizzling continued, and with it, a chorus of roars was heard as it echoed all around them. The Mythical Blood Dragon had sensed their presence, and it was coming after them!

Anastasia cowered behind Albrecht, hugging him from behind since she felt the safest that way. Claude had the same inkling, but he'd rather die than hug another man.

"Almost there." Albrecht continued as a smile appeared on his face.

"Yeah, right, we're almost there as well... we're almost going to die." Claude shakily said.

From a distance they saw a huge figure closing in on them, zipping through the air like a huge meteor.

And then it fell right on the other side of the Lake of Mystical Fire.

A strong tremor was felt, and the ground cracked due to the weight of the monster.

Albrecht looked up, and he could've sworn that he locked eyes with the Mythical Blood Dragon. Anastasia and Claude had the same sentiment as they nervously swallowed their saliva.

"Now what? Do we just die?" Claude muttered under his breath.