The temperature inside the cave felt strange. One side was cold, while the other was hot. I kept moving forward until I heard Rem's voice.
"Chief, where are we?" he asked nervously.
I moved quietly and saw the village chief giving Rem a drink. Rem accepted it.
"Drink it, my child. It is a special elixir I brought for you," the chief said, with malicious intent in his eyes.
I immediately realized something was wrong — both with the drink and the village chief. I used Shadow Teleport and instantly grabbed Rem's hand.
"Austin, you are here! I thought you had left," Rem said happily.
"Rem, your mother and uncle are waiting for you outside. Please go to them," I said, taking the drink from his hand and throwing it on the ground.
"Austin, why did you throw it? It was a special elixir from our chief," Rem said sadly.
"It is not suitable for your age," I replied calmly.
"What are you doing here? And how dare you throw my elixir?" the village chief shouted angrily.
"Chief, please calm down. It is a misunderstanding," Rem tried to explain.
But in the next second, the village chief suddenly jumped and tried to attack Rem. I instantly teleported in front of Rem, took out my sword, and stabbed the chief in the heart.
"Chief!" Rem screamed.
Within seconds, the chief's body fell to the ground. Rem ran toward him, but I grabbed his arm. Rem started crying.
"Why did you kill him? I thought we were friends," Rem shouted.
"He is not a normal human. He brought you here for sacrifice," I explained.
Rem started punching me in anger.
Suddenly, a dark tentacle shot forward. I covered Rem, and the tentacle pierced my arm. The village chief stood up again, his body radiating an evil aura. Rem stood in shock.
"Run, Rem, and don't look back," I told him.
He did not want to run, but he understood that he would only become a burden. So he started moving toward the cave entrance.
I opened my inventory and used a healing potion. My arm quickly healed.
"So I was right. You are not a human, but a puppet controlled by the guardian monster," I said.
"No one has ever figured it out. But there is something special about you," he said in a devilish voice, licking my blood from his tentacles.
As soon as he drank my blood, he started vomiting blood and fell to his knees.
"There is something different about your blood. It is far more powerful than these villagers. You are young too. I can sacrifice you to heal myself and finally be free."
Before he could finish speaking, I moved forward and used Shadow Slash. In the next second, his head fell to the ground.
I thought everything was finished.
But then I saw a creature chained in the darkness. Half of the chains were burning with extreme fire, and the other half were frozen in ice. The creature emerged slowly from the shadows. He was badly injured, and the chains were draining his energy.
He looked at the village chief's body and then at me with anger in his eyes.
"Do you know how hard it was for me to possess their chief's body for the last three hundred years?" he said.
"I know. You spread your dark aura around the tribe, which kept monsters away. Every fifteen years, you withdrew your aura so monsters would attack the tribe. Then you forced them to sacrifice a child to restore protection," I replied.
"Yes, you are right. And now I will kill you. Your blood can free me from these chains, and then I will heal myself outside. I will use the bodies of all tribe members for my recovery," he said and started moving toward me.
I used my speed and attacked him. He roared and countered with his tail.
I used Dark Slash, but it did not hurt him.
He punched the ground, and spikes emerged from the earth. I jumped toward him and fired Mana Bullets into his eye. Blood started flowing out.
He roared in pain. All the blood around him gathered and formed a cocoon. A burst of light appeared, and now a human-like figure stood in front of me, holding a sword made of blood.
He rushed toward me.
Our swords clashed. He blocked my attack easily. We stepped back. I used Dark Slash, and he shouted Blood Strike. Both attacks collided, and I heard a cracking sound.
In the next second, my sword shattered into pieces.
He punched me in the chest, sending me flying into the wall. Blood came out of my mouth. He smiled.
"Now I will devour you."
I took out my daggers and activated my Domain. Everything turned dark. Shadows emerged and grabbed him. Spikes pierced his body, and I fired dark mana bullets at him.
I rushed forward and used Shadow Slash with my daggers. One dagger pierced his chest, but he defended himself and struck back. A deep cut appeared on my chest, and I stepped back.
He started licking my blood from his blood sword again. My dagger fell near his feet.
"You are the first after her who has damaged me like this. She could not kill me and trapped me in this cave. Now I can finally be free," he said.
After drinking my blood, he started recovering.
"You are like them. You carry their bloodline. Today is my lucky day."
His power kept increasing.
Suddenly, a dagger pierced his throat.
He looked back. A shadow stood behind him for a moment and then disappeared.
"What was that?" he whispered.
His body fell to the ground.
I leveled up.
Level 39.
When my dagger fell near his feet, I had activated Shadow Control, which allowed a shadow from the target's body to appear and follow my command.
I sat down and drank a healing potion. My body slowly healed. The monster's body started disappearing, but a piece of bone remained. I picked it up.
The cave also began disappearing. The chains of ice and fire transformed into crystals. A crystal appeared — half blue like ice and half orange-red like fire. It was beating like a heart.
I stored it in my inventory.
Soon, the cave disappeared completely, and I was standing on open ground. A door appeared in front of me.
"Mother, he is here!" a boy shouted while running toward me.
It was Rem.
Soon his mother and uncle arrived and thanked me. I told them the whole story and gave them the monster bone.
"Place this bone at the entrance or center of the village. No monster will attack you again," I told them.
I also told them that I had to leave.
I gave Rem a weapon and some elixir bottles. Then I started moving toward the door. As I stepped inside, I saw tears in Rem's eyes.
In the next moment, I disappeared.
I arrived on Floor 22.
There was a battlefield in front of me. Humans and monsters were fighting each other.
A system panel appeared.
Task: Defend humans.
I took out my daggers and started complaining about the system.
"I just fought a battle. I need some rest."
A notification appeared.
Points will be tripled for every monster killed. A special reward will be given.
My eyes filled with greed.
I jumped into the battlefield.
— End of Chapter 11 —
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