[BONUS]
But . . .
“Hahaha! This is your end, Ren!” Cang Lu barked at Ren. This time, he would make sure that he would kill him to exact his revenge at what happened with Jibblinplip.
Cang Lu and the remaining players from Sleeping Dragon charged at Ren at the same time, with the intent to kill. An opportunity presented itself now that Ren’s movement was restricted.
“This is your end!” Cang Lu’s smile stretched his lips to the limit, and his eyes glinted in malice as they neared Ren.
When their eyes met, Ren’s serious face broke into a smirk.
There and then, Aragon knew that it was a trap. He immediately leaped away from Ren and warned the others.
“Get away!”
However, Aragon’s warning was too late. Sleeping Dragon’s players were already too close to Ren, and they couldn’t stop themselves mid-attack.
Ren activated [Shamanic Ward] and threw [Atomic Dud] in Cang Lu and the others’ way.
A loud blast soon followed.
The air burst into fire, and the ground shook with a force that could be felt in the heart of Arcadia itself.
The statues in the hall collapsed, and a huge cloud of dust rose into the air. It was as if the whole world had been turned upside down.
It felt like the entire world — even the whole universe, seemed to be collapsing in on itself.
Everyone who was at the center of the blast felt as if their bodies were being ripped apart from the inside out. They screamed in pure agony, yet they couldn’t let out even the slightest sound.
Ren himself could feel his insides tearing and ripping away, but the damage he received was only half because of the [Shamanic Ward].
And then everything stopped.
It took Ren several seconds to realize that this wasn’t the end. He wasn’t dead. His body was still intact. There was no pain. No blood. Nothing.
A large hole opened up in the ground where Cang Lu and the others used to stand. A huge pillar of smoke rose from it, and the only player left standing was Ren, with half of his HP gone.
Angelica and Aragon were stunned at the turn of events. The former’s lips trembled, and she burst out laughing when she couldn’t hold it anymore.
“I judged you wrong. I’m sorry, Ren,” Angelica said and wiped her tears. “I never knew that you would even use your girlfriend to wipe out all of our members. If you had transported Evie away, Cang Lu and the others would have split, and you couldn’t have blasted them all with one shot.”
Ren was silent, neither denying nor confirming Angelica’s claims.
Angelica clapped her hands. “I applaud your strategies. I like that you’re willing to sacrifice everyone for your goal. But this is the end,” she said gently with a smiling face.
“All my spells have finished their cooldowns. So this is the end of the line for you.”
Angelica raised her head and looked at Ren under the bridge of her nose, smirking beneath her fingers that gently caressed her lips. “So, how does it feel to lose?”
The words were spoken with a smile, but there was no warmth in them. Angelica laughed, showing her teeth.
Ren didn’t answer. He stood still, staring straight ahead. His eyes were empty.
Angelica knew Ren wouldn’t speak. It fuelled her desire to play with him a little longer. “Oh, look. The door is opening. Lord Bolmont must have finished the magic teleportation device.”
As soon as she finished saying those words, they heard the hinges of the door creaking as it slowly opened.
Ren looked up with a blank expression on his face and spoke with an even voice, “I don’t know what you meant by losing.”
The door opened.
pAn,Da-n0v e1,c
When the door opened, Ragnar, Roz, Sumeri, and Nikolai were seen together with a girl with golden hair, matched with a very beautiful charming face.
Ren chuckled, seeing that Angelica and Aragon couldn’t wrap their heads around what they saw.
“The beauty of siding with the Vampire Lord,” Ren started, “you’ll have access to the whole map, including all of its secret passages.”
Sumeri sighed. “I thought we’re a goner there.”
“Yeah. That Bolmont guy is so strong,” Nikolai seconded. “We almost died there.”
Sumeri grinned and slapped Ragnar and Roz’s back. “Good thing that we have Ragnar and Roz here.”
“Stop smacking me,” said Ragnar with a slight frown on his face.
While Ragnar and the others were busy chatting, Angelica stared at Ren and smiled.
“Looks like it’s our defeat,” she conceded.
“You’re calmer than I had expected you to be.”
Angelica shrugged. “As I said . . . fighting you isn’t our goal.”
She then locked her gaze with Ren and told him with an even voice, “In fact, I’ll let you know something good as a reward for defeating me today.”
“. . .” Ren’s forehead crumpled as Angelica and Aragon’s body slowly turned into pixels.
But before they could disappear completely and turn into just specks of dust, Angelica’s last words rang in Ren’s ears.
“Go to server 10, and maybe . . . you’ll hear more about this world.”
Ragnar and the others went to Ren, and the former asked him, “You sure we should just let them go?”
“. . .” Ren watched as the particles settled before completely disappearing. “It’s fine. We have more pressing matters to attend to.”
Angelica’s last words kept ringing in Ren’s ears. There was something about that woman that made him think about her sentence nonstop.
What did she mean about this world? Ren couldn’t stop thinking about it and felt bothered.
He wanted to go to Server 10 and find out immediately.
Suddenly, hundreds of bats swarmed the place and congregated in a single spot. These bats slowly formed into a figure and soon revealed Dracula’s face.
His dignified appearance was enough to stop everyone from taking a look and revering him. He had a beautiful face and a tall, lean physique that could charm anyone and fill the women’s dream.
That was only until he started howling. Tears covered his face, and he reverted to being the wimpy emo-blood-sucking guy.
And everyone’s dreams were shattered.
“Lucy!” Dracula wailed, and before they could blink, he was beside Lucy, holding her hands.
“My love! My dreams! My Hope! Why did you leave your tower? Why did you go together with that accursed Bolmont guy and those wretched players? Do you really want to leave me that much?”
Lucy harrumphed and looked away with a pout on her lips. “Hmph! Tell that to your new mistress.”
“Mistress?” Dracula blinked in innocence. “But, my love. Those are merely food. They aren’t my mistress. You’re the only one that I love. The others are simply . . . blood reserves.”
Lucy’s grumpy face softened a little, and she peeked at Dracula under her lashes. “Really?”
Dracula nodded his head so fast it would fall off from the speed.
The others who watched couldn’t help but have mixed feelings.
“Can we get out of here?” Ragnar said with crumpling brows.
“Why? They look so cute?” Sumeri chuckled.
“It’s good that they’re making up,” Nikolai chimed in.
“. . .” Roz remained quiet.
As for Ren, he didn’t waste any more time. After they completed the quests and got Dracula’s rewards, he pressed the servers.
Ren’s finger hovered over the tenth server, contemplating what Angelica had said.
He couldn’t help but think that Joker and Angelica were like him, who went back into the past. He might find some clues if he went to the tenth server, just like what she said.
But what if it was only a trap? What if she was just playing with him? Who was Angelica in the first place, and why did she seem to know something that he didn’t?
Without giving himself time to think and change his mind because of his habit of overthinking, Ren pressed the tenth server.
