PIT. PAT. PIT. PAT. PIT. PAT
The sounds of footsteps come closer and closer towards them. The sound of each footstep is firm yet calm. It was as if the owner was walking around naturally without fear of the darkness. They could feel their heart pumping faster as the sound of the footsteps came closer.
Thought it was most likely a player like them, the calmness of each step made them think twice after all even they had panicked for a bit and made a run for it when they saw the ray of light from the distance but the owner of these footsteps were still calm at this moment even when the ray of light was just before him he didn't even have any reaction. This left this group of players to heightened their vigilance.
The moment the light had fallen on the face of the man who just arrived on the scene, almost everyone had reacted when they saw him. He is quite an infamous player. It was Han Ya who had just left the Hell of Oil Cauldron.
It's him. It's him. Player Han!
Why is he alone? Where are Player An and Player Hei?
They might be separated. Maybe their layers were completely apart from each other unlike ours.
Don't they have any props that keep them together? I mean Player Hei has a patron, doesn't he?
Quit talking nonsense. If we have his help we can cross the bridge with minimum injuries.
While the hidden team was talking to each other from the corner while hidden in the eyes of the other players. Han ya instead could see clearly in the darkness. He is an undead being who was born in the abyss. Nothing is more calming for him but this kind of darkness.
Han Ya murmured, "This place is a huge cave. But there is still sky outside."
[My Lord this is the Hell of Wrongful deaths. There are lots of evil and fierce spirits in this place that love to eat humans. The life above and below that stone bridge.]
Han Ya's eyes observed the surroundings of the bridge. Unlike the naked eye of an ordinary human player, he can see more things clearly. In his eyes, he could see more than hundreds of malevolent ghosts crawling at the ceiling and at the cliff with glowing scarlet eyes and fangs. Some of them have blood-soaked teeth as they just recently ate a human female player.
"Their number is close to thousands. Even with my bloodline and weapon, it would be a bit hard for me to block all angles. If they knew they couldn't defeat me on the bridge they might pull me off of it."
[Lord has an aura of an undead general. Even for a few seconds, you should be able to activate your domain even in your human form.]
Han Ya asked, "How long would it last?"
[15 seconds at most]
"It should be enough. But I need help in the first half of the stone bridge. Are there any players around?"
[There are five players. They are currently invisible thanks to the talisman they've used. They seem to recognize you, My Lord.]
Han Ya slightly frowned when he heard about his manager's words. When Manager Tian said that the other players recognized him, he thought he knew him as the Undead Knight instead. As one of the strongest Boss NPC in Abyssal World, he had too many enemies, especially human players.
Seeing the sudden change of his player's expression Manager Tian knew this big boss had misunderstood.
[My Lord when I say they recognized you I'm talking about you in Player Han Ya's form. The Lord's original appearance and current vessel look completely different. As long as the lord did fight the same way as the former you, especially the black mist, no one would recognize the lord. You are a human now.]
Han Ya, "…"
It took a while for the effects of the invisible talisman to end. When the group of five appeared out of nowhere, Han Ya reacted as coolly as if he didn't care. His deadpan expression remained on his face as he looked at them.
The uncle who was the leader of this group had raised his hand in surrender in front of Han Ya as he walked towards him.
Please don't attack me. I'm just a middle-aged man as well as a player who leads this small team of mine. My name is Sid. That is my Wife, Carmel. The two young men are Sol and Lune. The little girl is Meiling. Nice to meet you, Player Han.
Han Ya stared at them calmly yet the depth of his eyes had no emotions.
"How did you know me?" asked Han Ya.
Sol answered as he had the friendliest attitude towards Han Ya. They looked like someone of the same age. The mid-twenties.
"Livestream of the Haunted Asylum. We watched you there. Together with Player An and Player Hei." said Sol.
Han Ya said, "I see. But aren't teammates supposed to split when entering the punishment world? How come you guys are together already?"
"This… We bought a soul chain to keep us together. It is a prop that puts our souls in one place during transfer. It was a bit expensive. 10,000 gold coins for each chain but it can be used as long as players sign a contract. Did you guys not buy it?" asked Uncle Sid.
[AH! There is that prop. By Soul, Chains are under the weapons category. We only checked through the binding section. But most of it is useless in this game mode.] said Manager Tian surprised.
Aunty Carmel wore a gentle smile as she approached her husband and stood beside him. The other three followed and stood behind the adults.
Aunt Car said, "Binding Props were all rejected in the Punishment world. So those props would be useless here. But it should be useful in other worlds."
"So it was like that. No wonder your group had split too far from each other. The rejection of Binding props would amplify the distance between teammates. It's not surprising that you are alone." said Lune.
The young girl Meiling stayed silent as always though her face looked cold and unfriendly. She tried to hide behind the two young men and peek from behind. She could feel that Han Ya is a dangerous person. He is too powerful.
Meiling whispered to Aunt Carmel, 'He is too strong. Very powerful.'
Uncle Sid asked, "Are you in a hurry because of Player An? Is he still blind?"
"No longer blind. But he is alone, and needs to make sure he is safe. I need to find him as soon as possible. As for Sir Hei, he would definitely not wait for us. He must be going through layers to play around. Either he is playing or looking for his husband." said Han Ya.
Aunt Carmel spoke, "That stone bridge is dangerous. We've seen a player get eaten alive by the red ghosts."
"I know. I can see them. There are almost thousands of them." said Han Ya as he peeked towards the stone bridge.
His words made the rest shiver in fear. How many is a thousand? There are only 6 of them including player Han Ya.
Uncle Sid turned pale-faced with what he heard. He thought there would only be a hundred ghosts but a thousand is too much. Their number is not enough for it.
Tsk!
Han Ya clicked his tongue when he saw their frightened faces. He knew that he shouldn't have said the exact number of evil spirits in this place. Now there is no way he could ask them to cooperate to cross the bridge with him.
"I want to cross the bridge. If you can cooperate with me that's better. If not, it is also good. How about it?" asked Han Ya.
There is a short silence in the area. Aunt Carmel and the rest are looking at Uncle Sid to make the decision.
Uncle Sid asked, "I want to ask a few questions. I will give you an answer after that. Is it okay?"
"Go ahead," said Han Ya.
Uncle Sid said, "Have you awakened a Bloodline? If you do what it is? I had awakened a pure human bloodline which is only a common bloodline. But my current job is a dual profession, Magic Swordsman."
"I awakened the Undead Bloodline," answered Han Ya.
Lune exclaimed, "Impossible! Aren't you a newbie how can you afford a bloodline crystal! Even the ordinary grade is already 100,000 gold coins. Would Player Hei's patron allow him to buy for his teammates?"
"Our bloodline crystal is a special reward for killing all monsters and ghosts including the mid and high-level bosses in Haunted Asylum. All three of us were provided with an ordinary awakening stone. It seems to be something the Black widow had sent for her with the completion of the RPG game, Haunted Asylum." explained Han Ya.
Uncle Sid spoke, "Black Widow is a ranker. She can afford three ordinary grade bloodline crystals but why would she give it to you guys.?"
"She got possessed in our last game. We helped her wake up from it," said Han Ya nonchalantly as if what he mentioned is not that important.
Sol said, "It must be a hidden boss dark type. But there are four of you. How come she ended up getting possessed instead of you newbies?"
"How would I know?" said Han Ya.
It was Manager Tian who explained in the end.
[You know that the hidden boss targets the weakest in the group. It should have been Player An but the hidden boss can't approach him because Player Hei is beside him. I do not see the outcome of Player Hei getting possessed. His strength is undeniable if you meet him yourself you would understand what I mean. As for my lord, dark type attacks are ineffective. He is born with Dark Physique even before he awakened his bloodline as Undead. So Player Black Widow becomes the safest target plus since she herself didn't expect it. The possession becomes successful in the end.]
Uncle Sid was stunned as he looked at Han Ya.
"You have a dark physique? Does that mean the Holy element can hurt you?" he asked.
[Of course not! He is a human born. The vessel itself is a creation of light even if the insides are that of darkness. At most he would feel a bit weakened or feel like puking.]
Sol looked at Han Ya a bit pitiful. "It's alright. Just avoid getting hurt fatally. You can still drink healing potions or buy healing orbs instead. Just avoid the church." He could imagine Han Ya vomiting upon entering a church. Like a demon who runs under the light of holiness. Just thinking about it made him chilly.
Shivers~
Han Ya growl at him, "I rarely get wounded okay? My bloodline is Undead. I have fast regeneration!"
HAHAHAHA~
Sol and others laugh at Han Ya when seeing his reaction when the word church is mentioned. Han Ya's expression was distorted when he heard the word church. He is naturally an undead. Sacred lands like churches and temples are his bane. In his original form, he would definitely turn to ashes in that kind of place. Little by little, what the former undead monster didn't notice, he is slowly becoming more human-like. Though there is still some whispering in his mind to hate humans, he is now able to bear being with them for a long period.
After having a nice laugh Uncle Sid passed two communication conches to Han Ya.
"Kid, use this. Just write the name of the one you wanted to call on the shell. It is consumable. It's called a communication prop. It could allow you to temporarily get in contact with the owner of the name you had written on the shell. The call would connect you mentally. You can check on your teammates. 5 minutes call duration." said Uncle Sid.
Han Ya honesty said, "I don't have gold coins. I've used it all up with those useless binding props."
"Just use it, child. You are worried about that child called An Yuan right? It's a small gift from us." said Aunt Carmel with a gentle smile. She knew that despite Han Ya's expressionless face he is quite a good child.
Sol hooked his shoulder and said, "Just use it to check on your beloved. You are worried about An Yuan right?"
"His right, dude. Anyone with eyes could see you fancy him. Now everyone in Abyssal City knows you like An Yuan," said Lune teasing Han Ya.
Han Ya who wasn't used to getting teased struggled as he pushed the two annoying twins. He had a red face resembling that of a tomato.
"Argh! Shut up!" said Han Ya.
HAHAHAHA~
Everyone looks happy seeing his reaction. It could only mean that Han Ya is not only a powerful newbie player, but he is also an honest man as well
Han Ya bellowed with red cheeks, "Stop, teasing me!"
[My lord you don't look scary with that red face instead you look adorable~]
Hahahaha~
"I'm going to rip off your wings!" said Han Ya to his manager.
[B-Boss… I'm just joking… AH~ save me~ Gui Gui~]
He flew away trying to escape from Han Ya who was chasing after him like a madman.
"Manager Gui is not here. He is with A'Yuan!"
[QAQ…QAQ…QAQ… Wuwu~ That's right.]
HAHAHAHA~
Everyone continues laughing at the antics of this player and manager pair. Uncle Sid and the rest felt that Han Ya is indeed a good child but only Meiling who can feel the presence of the others that Han Ya is not an ordinary being but one who is born in darkness not much different from those red ghosts in this layer. She silently observes him from the corner. Not speaking a word, just quietly looking without making a sound.
She murmured silently, "He is not even human."
