Two-faced

[Racial Lore Quest - Spectral Vampire (EX)]

Venture on a perilous journey through the lands in search of the Undying Shadow Monk that walked in a thin line between the world of the living and the spectral plane. Gain knowledge of the secret the Undying Shadow Monk has after catching a glimpse of the venue beyond the spectral plane.

Quest Rewards: Mantilla of Shadow and Enlightened Black Sheep title

Blake reads through the Racial Lore Quest for a brief moment and finds that he would need to search for this Undying Shadow Monk. A map can be seen below the interface of the quest, showing the destination that he needs to go to.

It's stated that he needs to venture to a place called Shadow Garden.

Judging from the distance on the map, the place should be quite far from the elven kingdom.

Although he was not expecting any Racial Lore Quest, usually, in the MMORPG games that he played, the Lore Quest was instantly unlocked when he received a new race, it seems the mechanic in the Lunaris game is slightly bit different.

Or maybe it was the EX-grade races that fall under the exception.

Gaining the Racial Lore Quest when he only reached level 50 is insane in Blake's opinion.

'Well, I could try and gain more information about this place later. Since there's no time limit of any sort, then I could take my time and prepare myself' Blake thought and nodded inwardly, he doesn't need to rush.

Unlocking the quest at level 50 means that level 50 is the bare minimum.

If that's the case then the Shadow Garden's weakest mobs were around level 50, and going there right now would only be suicide for him. More powerful mobs definitely lurk there, and he needs to prepare first before going there.

Shaking his head, he then refocuses on the task at hand and dashed away.

Despite managing to kill the strongest Boss Mobs, the other beasts didn't seize their attacks. None of them stopped and keeps on going, there are even some that were still in the forest and tries to block Blake's way.

While he was busy fending the beasts, his attention shifted to the side.

Blake's eyes glowed red before he was surprised when he found a couple of figures approaching, and the foremost figure is the person that he instantly recognized. Her approaching voice also indicates that the figure is indeed who he was thinking.

Poking her head out of the bushes, Angel smiled excitedly when she finds Blake.

"Angel? What are you doing here? It's dangerous!"

"I'm here to stick with you, of course. Aren't you going to leave some for me...?"

Tara and Linthia also followed from behind with soured expressions, the two didn't expect Angel who was scared all this time to suddenly make a run towards the forest in the hope that she would find Blake.

It's clear that the two were annoyed by her, their expressions couldn't hide their bitterness.

"Stop it, Angel. Stop hogging Blake so that you could steal Exp from him. If you want to get stronger, then kill those beasts yourself. Stop being so shameless" Tara said with a cold tone, giving Angel a sharp look.

Upon hearing this, Angel puts on a sad expression and looks down, "I'm sorry..."

"But- But I didn't mean it to be like that, I was just scared... So I thought- I thought" As Angel was stuttering in her sentence and her voice began to shake, Blake quickly intervenes as it seems she was about to cry.

Giving Tara a dry smile, he then said, "I was the one that wanted to help Angel"

"I thought that by helping her increase her level and get strong enough, her fear would be lessened when she will fight lower-level mobs. So don't be too hard on her, she's learning" he added, trying to defend Angel subtly.

Linthia also stepped forward, "It's not okay to be like that, Tara. I'm sure you misunderstand"

Seeing that the two were defending Angel, Tara was at a loss for words.

Although she doesn't know well what Angel looks like from Linthia and Blake's point of view, in her opinion, Angel was only using Blake to increase her level with minimal effort. It was clear to her that Angel is a two-faced woman.

If there's no Blake, she didn't even think of grinding Exp or even try to overcome her fear.

But she was now pointed as the bad one at this moment.

Finding that Linthia is gesturing her to apologize to Angel who is now hiding behind Blake with a saddened expression, Tara could only suck up her annoyance and bowed slightly, "I apologize, Angel. I think I read you too much"

"It's okay, I know that I can be a bother sometime..." Angel replied meekly.

Upon hearing that her apology was accepted, Tara straightens her back again. But she was then surprised when she saw Angel smirking. It was only when she realized that Tara was looking that her smirk instantly disappeared.

Just this alone makes Tara clenched her jaw, she was right all along.

Although she knows the truth, there's no way that these two would believe her without proof.

Thus, she decided to be silent and only kept her eyes open for Angel.

"Okay, follow me. If I engaged in a fight with players, don't come and help me because I need to kill in silence. When I fight the Boss Mob, then you three could help if you want" Blake instructed before he turns to face the direction of the assassin Player again.

Listening to this, the three nodded their heads before following Blake from behind.

While the four of them are dashing through the forest, Linthia couldn't help but ask curiously from the side, "If Players are from your world, shouldn't all of you be at peace and help each other instead...?"

"Does everyone in your world get along?" Blake asked back in return.

Upon hearing this, Linthia went silent as that answers enough for her. "Similar to your world, we also have competition. If a Player die, they would be sent back to my world with the pain of death. But would eventually come back, so killing Players is fine"

Since Tara and Linthia now know about players, explaining to them is quite easy.

Although Blake uses the word competition, it's not exactly like that, he only doesn't want to say that this world is a game for Players, 'It would be bad if I said that, and somehow both of them started hating Players'

In a moment, Blake managed to reach the assassin Player fighting the Bisonorix.

Wanting to alleviate Angel's mood that was pummeled due to the confrontation with Tara earlier, Blake has been injuring the beasts along the way and giving the last hit to Angel so that she could train.

Making her mood is quite easy, she felt a great sense of accomplishment in killing.

It's probably because of the fear that made her like this.

Focusing back on the assassin Player and the Bisonorix, Blake finds the two of them were injured. Of course, the assassin Player is way more injured, the gap in physique between them is too far.

On top of that, the wounds on Bisonorix are nothing more than a few shallow scratches.

Despite being the weakest, it's still a Boss Mob.

Putting his index finger on the center of his lips, signaling to the others to stay silent, Blake draws the Shadow Trinity and waited for his moment patiently. He could take the assassin Player down with one strike like the player he killed earlier.

Roar!!

A soundwave exploded to the surroundings as the Bisonorix cast its Furious Roar skill.

Upon being breezed by the soundwave, the player was influenced.

It was evident since his stance becomes softer unlike before, the soundwave was able to bypass his spirit stats and inflicts damaging effects on him. Following that, the Bisonorix tilts down its head and charged forward.

Boasting its vicious horns, it activates its Gore Assault skill.

Compared to increasing its speed, the effect of the skill was even more evident, the muscles on its legs contracted strongly. On top of that, its entire body also becomes bigger, making its already massive presence scarier.

A powerful imprint on the ground was left when the Bisonorix charged forward.

Knowing that getting hit by this skill would instantly spill his death, the Player activates an enhancement skill as his body glowed with green energy for a brief moment. Following that, he quickly leaped skywards to avoid the attack.

Crash!

Not stopping despite missing, the Bisonorix destroyed the trees that got in its way.

Even though the trees were jutting higher around this area, it didn't manage to stop the Bisonorix, their trunks were utterly ripped before all of them topples over with a loud crashing sound.

Upon seeing this, the player wanted to attack but abruptly stopped.

Sensing something approaching from the back quickly, the Player knows that he was being attacked. It seems his senses were quite strong, and he quickly cast a skill to hide his presence in an instant.

"Smoke Screen!"

Poof!

A cloud of dark smoke exploded, engulfing the area in its darkness.

"Who the hell tries to ambush me? Aren't we supposed to focus on the Beast Horde? I didn't realize that there was someone that wanted to kill me, or is it a Player Killer? But the other Players' game tags are still written in white" the Player mutters to himself.

Despite not knowing the identity of the attacker, he decided to pull back for now.

In a condition such as now when he's quite littered with bruises and wounds, he doesn't think he could fight anymore. All of his HP and MP potions have already been used, his resources have been completely exhausted.

Even then, if he decided to run, he definitely could escape.

Having confidence in his ability to escape, the Player decided to leave this place first.

But he was soon proved to be wrong to think that he could escape when a pair of purple eyes appeared from the midst of the smoke, he saw this and was surprised realizing that it was a figure.

Just before he could avoid the attack, he saw a sharp glint fly across his vision.

Nothing happened for a second before he suddenly started to fall to the ground, and in the process, he saw his own headless stiff body with his own eyes. It was then he realized that his head has been severed.

It happened so fast that he didn't even realize it until it was too late.

"How in the wor- kuahhkk!"

Although the smoke screen might be good enough to block most attackers' vision, it provides no cover for Blake as his eyes could see the blood of his enemies through anything, even physical objects.

Surely, a simple smokescreen is not enough to slow him down.

[Player Moon Despoiler's Infamy Level has been increased!]

[Obtained 83,000 Exp, 411 Gold, and 5x Toxic Smoke Bomb]

[Players Backstabbed: 3/5]

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