The Quest Is Simply To NTR All The Heroes

Chapter 128: Land of the Soulless

[Night Shades are watching you]

"..."

Kaisen silently watched the creatures he had been searching for weeks.

Ever since day two in this world, he had heard about them.

What started as an optional quest had become his main mission.

The creepiest thing wasn't their pitch-black form; it was the eerie silence and their absolute stillness.

They stared at him in the quiet forest, as unmoving as statues.

"Uh... guys... I'm sure we can— or not, not."

Kaisen was about to strike up a conversation when something red began to ooze from where their palms should be.

It glowed like molten lava, completely covering their hands, much like the darkness shrouding their bodies.

They still didn't move, standing there like eerie mannequins in a haunted store display.

'Damn it. If they could speak, I could've used my charm somehow.'

He dropped his Loathsome Claws to the ground, where they vanished into the sea of leaves.

To any onlookers, it seemed like he had discarded his weapon, but he had just cleverly stored it in his inventory, avoiding suspicion from the eerie creatures.

"Ha, ha... Just dropping that. Not here to make a mess."

He said nervously, raising his hands in a gesture of surrender.

This was his best strategy.

There was no need to fight these guys; he had no clue how strong they were.

Even if they were as tough as Llyod or Alwyn, he could cut through a thousand of them with ease, but that wasn't his goal.

He was here to find his friends, and what better way than to get caught and brought to their prison? It was the perfect plan.

This was the idea he was thinking about in the morning: to get caught by the Night Shades.

By doing so, he hoped to be brought to their prison where they were holding Alice and the others.

But it appears fate had different ideas.

'I suppose, since they are here, they must've also caught Llyod and Maximus. Or, they might have replaced me already.'

That was a sickening thought, but something that could indeed happen.

However, he had given them both instructions in case something like that occurred.

'No time to worry about them now.'

The Night Shades all turned around without uttering a word and began to walk slowly towards the gate.

They didn't even utter any words or beckon him to follow, but the intent was clear, and if there wasn't any intent, he was going to use this chance.

So, without wasting any time, he followed them towards the gate, making sure not to walk too closely to any of the Night Shades in particular, but keeping his eyes peeled to try to understand them.

...

The gate was a magic portal, as he already knew, but what was bizarre was that the moment he walked through the gate, he felt something tugging on his wrist.

It felt like a chain or a rope.

Whoosh~

A moment later, he was on the other side of the portal, but what caught his attention was the red light binding his wrists together like cuffs.

The creatures had never made him wear anything like that before.

They hadn't even acknowledged him at all, but now he was in cuffs.

'This is the same red light that was on their weapons and... their eyes too.'

Strange. Strange, indeed.

He shook his head and looked ahead.

Immediately, his eyes widened, and two words rolled out of his mouth.

"Holy fuck!"

What he saw was nothing but a dark, dull sand land, stretching across the horizon.

Black trees covered everything except a winding path in front of him that ended at a large black castle at the center of the plain.

The sky was gray with a large red blood moon in the center. No clouds were visible. No birds or animals, either.

A desert plain of darkness, stretching endlessly.

'This is... the NightShades' land. And the castle in the distance...'

He didn't have to think further as he suddenly got a system message.

[Castle Soul, Land of the Soulless.]

'What the fuck is that name? Land of the Soulless? Castle Soul?'

The name itself sent shivers down his spine. It was like a warning. A warning that the moment you step into this place, you are doomed.

But Kaisen didn't care about any of those things.

His eyes were stuck on the large castle that looked like a giant, sitting right at the center of the plains like a ruler on its throne.

'Castle Soul...'

He got a feeling that the soulless land was a product of this castle. Seeing all these creatures walking like zombies, he felt he wasn't wrong.

Then the eerie murmuring started—the wheezing, the slow chanting, and the crunch of sand being crushed under the feet of the thousand.

This indeed looked like a place where a boss would reside.

He was getting a very bad vibe from the whole area.

He checked the strength of the thing binding his hands and was relieved that he could actually break it.

'Looks like it's level 50 or 60. Definitely meant to bind players under that level.'

But it was a good thing he was stronger than every player that had stepped into this world.

Nonetheless, he decided to check what was happening first, then decide what he would do next.

He slowly walked forward, along with the lost and mindless people who were also walking towards the castle.

'Map.'

Immediately, his mind map unfurled and a cloudy landmass came into view.

Unlike his previous map of the world, which was vibrant with colors, this new one was filled with dull grays, and cloud-like shapes obscured the details of the land except for the path ahead and the castle itself.

He knew he had to explore the areas to get rid of the cloudiness.

But he wasn't deterred, because now he could see the red dot.

The same red dot he was here for—Alice's—and it was coming from inside the old castle.

'I just want to find them, confront the boss, and return. Man, this shit is getting too dragged out.'

That was the plan. If he could, he didn't want to fight all these humanoid creatures; he just wanted to meet the boss and end this mess once and for all.

He took a deep breath and continued walking, but his eyes kept glancing up for some reason.

It was the blood-red moon.

Something about it made his heart beat faster and his body temperature rise. It was as if the moon was calling to him.

'They must be planning to bring this moon to the mainland. But why?'

That was his question.

Thinking about reasons wasn't a good idea right now. He'd ponder them when the time came.

...

Soon enough, he reached the entrance of the castle.

The huge stone walls loomed high over him, and the dark, gloomy atmosphere made his skin crawl.

The castle wasn't completed at all; rather, it was broken.

There was no roof, and whenever he looked up, only the blood moon was visible.

The sound coming from inside the castle was the same as the noise from a mining field.

'Seems like they are making something.'

He also discovered that Night Shades were a species name or something, with different families.

He saw two fully armored black knights guarding the entrance of the castle. The only thing with color was their eyes, which were blood red.

They didn't even turn to look at him, let alone move an inch from their place. Holding greatswords in their hands, they very much resembled statues.

'Damn! With that bust in the armor, I'm sure that's a woman. Unless... no, no, let's not go there.'

Indeed, these "statues" had noticeable busts for some reason, and being himself, Kaisen couldn't take his eyes off them at all.

He shook his head and muttered to himself, "Focus, Kaisen, focus," as he walked forward, trying to keep his thoughts (and his eyes) in check.

He was sure he would find more like these guys inside the castle, guarding whatever was happening within.

He moved past the first main broken doors and into the open corridor.

The sound became louder. His eyes widened again.

'What the...?'

This place was no castle. It was a damn settlement. Inside, people were working tirelessly.

The Night Shades that escorted him were digging a massive crater in the ground.

"Crater" might not even do it justice—it was enormous, stretching several kilometers wide and deep.

At the center of the crater was a giant sphere, glowing red like a burning fireball.

'That's not a normal thing.'

The red orb was a few kilometers wide, its glow resembling a small sun. It was clearly the focal point of the entire settlement.

'Seems like they are mining whatever that thing is.'

But more than the orb, something else caught his attention—something he very much liked, something that instantly made his little brother stir in his pants.

The people regulating the workers, the ones with whips in their hands ordering the Night Shades around, were...