The Young Master in the Shadows

Chapter 337: MOON FRUIT

Chapter 337: MOON FRUIT

Victor slowly opened his eyes and sat up, confirming that he crossed to the second level.

“Oh…” Victor squinted his eyes as he stood up, then looked at the lush jungle around him and the same dawn sky from before above… No, its color was a little brighter… just a tiny bit.

He needed to chart things around. So he used his flight skill to start ascending, but as he expected, as soon as he reached a few feet above the height of the treetops he could go no further… It was as if there was an energy barrier above him.

Thankfully, this height he reached was enough for him to try and map the area around him.

The jungle was vast and featureless, stretching in all directions without any visible boundaries or landmarks. In the distance, his vision was obstructed by a thick fog.

He slowly floated downward, realizing that he had to depend on his luck here. It was completely useless to draw a map.

Not really.

He could feel Alex, Lin, and Lily’s approximate locations around him… Alpha was not here. Didn’t she make it in time?

Regardless. Victor, who already decided to act as bait, decided to move in a different direction from his wives. He didn’t want to implicate them.

He quickly took his bag out of his storage space, then put it on his back, and then took a long silver sword and hung it on his belt. It was one of those weapons he got from his ancestor’s hideout.

Although he couldn’t activate its thunder strike effect, it was sharp enough to be used as a normal sword.

After that, he looked casually around then acted as if he chose some random direction and began walking in it while inspecting the trees.

Strangely enough, the system appraisal didn’t work on them. They should be normal trees, but Victor had never seen anything like them before.

Walking around, Although, for 30 straight minutes, there was nothing of interest, Victor kept his vigilance.

When this dungeon opened up in his past lifetime, it was a couple of years before the reckoning and Victor, who was busy picking up trash at that time, had no access to info. Just like others, he was curious about the bloody moon.

It was later, In the royal library that he learned about it after reading a best-seller book called “THE MOON DUNGEON, BETWEEN MYTH AND REALITY! A RECORD OF THE SURVIVORS!”.

According to it, it is estimated that more than 900 players managed to access the dungeon during its opening period after its access method was leaked to the public. Though there are other reports that the real number was higher than that!

Only 99 people were recorded to have returned from the dungeon. All of them suffered from the same symptom. They lost parts of their memories, both from the dungeon and before it. It was estimated they suffered some sort of soul damage.

Many of them seemed to have become better with time, remembering many things gradually. Yet no matter how much time passed, all had a completely blank memory about what happened inside after passing the first level.

Other than that, the only records available were the nightmares that some of the participants suffered during the first few weeks after they returned.

Most of what they screamed about was incomprehensible, yet all seem to say some similar sentences in their nightmares.

FLEE FOR YOUR LIVES, THE RABBITS ARE HERE!

STOP THE RABBITS!

PLEASE NOT THE RABBITS!

SPARE ME, MR. RABBIT!

RABBITS! RUN!

They screamed in their sleep and then woke up shivering without knowing why.

They also seemed to have developed a condition called ‘Leporiphobia’… Victor had never heard of that term before, but it seemed to mean fear of bunnies!

After that, the world slowly forgot about this dungeon, especially with the Reckoning happening a couple of years later.

According to the book author, he went and tried to track all the players who were recorded as Moon dungeon survivors, and to his surprise, not only did they all survive the reckoning, they all began to level up rapidly becoming high members of their respective forces.

The book’s author interviewed some of them, and although they could still not remember what happened, they could tell him that after returning they had all gained some amazing secret skills, and noticed that whenever they leveled up, the chance of gaining an Authority point had increased, and while normal people had an average chance of gaining 7 random attribute points on every level up, they gained 9 to 10!

The author theorized that this was because their souls seemed to have become stronger.

Victor also believed the same back then. It had been proved that a stronger soul did increase the chance of gaining more attributes.

However, now Victor was beginning to have some other thoughts… He had some really bad premonition. He shouldn’t have brought Lily and the girls here with him. This place was evil!

Lin was the slave no one would be able to take him away. Lily, on the other hand, might be in slight danger, but Victor had a hunch about her bloodline and she should be able to survive this.

Zoe was the only one who must be in real danger, but with her scion luck, she would definitely survive.

As for Alex… Victor shook his head after quickly checking on her… she had to go and anger the rabbits. She will live…

Regardless, if all things went south, he doesn’t mind revealing his power and flattening everything to the ground!

Victor sighed and looked up, locating the first golden-colored Moon fruit and activating his appraisal skill where two different appraisals appeared. One fake and one true.

Now he was sure that this place was not good. It was a damn trap! This thing was a kind of soul fruit, as the one he found in the skeleton dungeon... That fruit was given to the elves there by a demon!

He decided to ponder on this later as he quickly began to inspect the area around the tree, acting as if he was both cautious and excited.

From one branch above, something suddenly attacked him, forcing him to dodge to the side.

It was a giant snake that had two heads.

Victor frowned. it was just a normal monster.

Well, as long as it was not a rabbit, he knew what to do. He just stepped back while using his sword to protect his vitals.

The snake didn’t follow with another attack. It just stayed on the branch eyeing him.

Victor pondered on how to get rid of her then shook his head, and turned around exposing his back to it.

It attacked again, but this time Victor, who was ready, used his sword to slay it, displaying his exquisite swordsmanship by cutting it in half. Each head finally got its own body.

Victor made sure that the two parts were dead before he jumped to the tree to grab the moon fruit before suddenly moving to the side. Narrowly dodging an arrow that was aimed at his heart.

He grabbed the fruit with one hand and then used the other to swing on the branch, pulling himself behind the tree’s trunk and looking at his assailants.

It was a burly dark-skinned man holding a crossbow who was standing near a nearby tree. He was eyeing Victor for a while now.

“Drop that fruit and I may spare your life…” the man said in a foreign language while nocking a new arrow in his weapon. Victor could tell that it was poisonous.

“The Emperor doesn’t understand what you are saying…” Victor lied. The man was using a language that was only common in the Western continent.

Victor expected people from all around the planet to appear here so he was not really surprised at all.

“Damn it…. THE FRUIT! DROP THE FRUIT” the man said slowly as if Victor would be able to understand him somehow if he did. He was aiming at the tree, at a small part where Victor’s hand was supposedly exposed.

Victor watched him jump around while pondering how to get rid of him without using his disguise skill.

“You can shout all you want, but this Emperor still can’t understand you…” Victor said casually, as he decided to reveal some more skills, he waited for the man to raise his bow.

“DAMN, IT” the man cursed and stopped talking, realizing that Victor didn't understand him. He wanted to trick him and save an arrow, but it seemed to be useless.

He walked to the side, adjusting his angle as Victor moved his exposed hand slightly then retracted it as if adjusting his grip, forcing him to take a few steps forward.

The man had no idea that Victor was waiting for the man to get close enough.

The man finally found a good angle. He aimed his crossbow and pulled the trigger… nothing happened.

The man looked at the crossbow in his hand, and the arrow didn’t move…. Neither did his finger.

Why was his finger not moving?

He frowned as his head slid down to the ground followed by his headless body.

Victor, who used his new teleportation skill for the first time, appeared behind him and slowly returned the bloodied sword to its sheath.

"Damn it... Why is this inferior skill's range too small?" he lied, the real teleportation maximum range was ten times the one he used.

Teleportation skills were very rare, and whoever is watching him would surely focus on him now. Victor was sure of that as he was appraised three more times.

It seemed his enemies were more than one as he expected... If his guess was correct, this place was meant as some kind of an old body abduction trap, and his enemies are most likely to be demons!

Victor slowly knelt next to the man inspecting him then suddenly remembered something.

He almost forgot!

In the next moment, Victor fell to the ground gasping for breath as if he was out of energy. He must not appear to be too overpowered.

He thought for a moment then slowly took the ‘Moon fruit’ in his shaking hand and ‘ate’ it. Then smiled as he was feeling the energy fill his body as he watched the stupid prompt appear again.

The fake system had no idea this was all an illusion, Victor was, in fact, eating a normal apple. The real fruit was in his storage space.

…

“DAMN IT!” Alex cursed as she ran through the dense jungle, ignoring all the twigs that hit her as she passed by them. “WHY DOES THIS KEEP HAPPENING TO ME?” she asked herself after running for 3 hours straight.

Behind her, there was a fluffy white rabbit following. It had deep red eyes that focused on its target as it leisurely hopped without getting tired.

Calling it a rabbit might be a mistake though. Despite its shape, sound, and smell appearing 100% percent like a rabbit. It was not.

Alex learned that the hard way when she tried to hunt it using her spear. It was a mistake!

The damn monstrosity opened its mouth in a strange manner, revealing a three parts angular jaw that had 10 rows of sharp consecutive spiral teeth that lead to a hole in the end that should be its true mouth. From the center, three sharp flat steel tongues that acted as whips sprung forward at Alex.

She didn’t fear it! She just struck the mouth with the spear, but a second later she realized that this was a mistake, as the spear quickly got sucked inside that mouth and shredded by the tongues. If she didn’t let go in time she would have been eaten too as one of the tongues passed by her face, cutting a few strands of her hair.

At that moment she knew that she should run… And running was the only thing she did for the last hour.

She thought that this place was peaceful after passing the 50th step on the stairs and reaching this level.

“Damn it….” she cursed as she made a left turn and then bumped into something… or rather someone.

She tripped and fell pushing him down.

“AH!” the man screamed from underneath her.

A tall young man, who had tan bronze skin and a handsome face was there, collapsed under her weight as she sat on him. He was looking at her in shock.

“Ah sorry…” Alex said as she stood up in a hurry and looked behind. The rabbit was not there! Did she lose it at some time!

Wait, what direction did she come from? She began to look around frantically.

“Ah…” the man didn’t know what to say as he slowly stood up while keeping his eyes on her. She was the prettiest girl he had ever seen!

“Did you see that damn rabbit?” Alex asked him as she turned to look at him. He was tall and muscular. The black leather jacket he wore made him look domineering. Why was he looking at her like that? Is he an idiot or something?

“No…” he shook his head. “Ah… My name is Roy…” he said, extending his hands and flexing his muscles.

“I didn’t ask about your name!” Alex said frantically. “Where is the rabbit?” she asked again.

“Rabbit?” he asked, “if you are hungry I have some food here!” he said, showing his bright teeth.

Alex didn’t care, she was fanatically looking around searching for that damn rabbit. It was definitely their bidding it’s time!

“Lady… I think you should calm down…” Roy finally said.

“Don’t call me a lady, I am a man…” she said directly. She made sure to wrap her breast tight and tie her hair after arriving here. Was this not enough? She quickly touched her mouth… The mask she was wearing was no longer there, it must have fallen when the rabbit attacked her. “Be careful the rabbit must be nearby!” she quickly said changing the subject.

“Eh?” The young man frowned, not caring about the rabbit. He just kept inspecting Alex for the third time. She was definitely a woman, a hot woman. Was this some kind of a game? “Do you like to act as a man?” he had to ask. She was wearing male clothes.

“Don’t look at me like that! I am a full-fledged man!” Alex repeated with annoyance, patting her crotch twice as she saw those hunks do in movies. She was never going to admit that she was a woman. Not to this stranger anyway! She promised her father!

“Oh…” the man took a step back. He remembered something important. His tribe’s chief, who was one of the few who left the Sacred Village, had told him once about the outside world, where some call themselves the TRANSGENDERS roaming the earth. He also told them that he almost kissed one of them if not for a timely warning from a friend! If the kiss landed, he would have turned into one of those, switching his gender forever!

He warned them not to try to escape the village, or they might really fall into the hands of one of those who hunt handsome men!

“Damn…” Roy said as he took another step back. He didn’t want to be turned into a woman! This damn freak has touched him before… Was he contaminated?

“What’s wrong?” Alex asked fearfully. Thinking that the man saw the rabbit. It was definitely nearby!

“Stay away from me!” the man said as he stepped back again, stepping into some bush behind him… This was a mistake, as the next moment a steel tongue sprung like a snake from behind the bush and penetrated the man’s stomach, it was aiming for his heart, but the man managed to dodge it just in time to save his vitals.

“Damn!” Roy cursed as he took a strange-looking ax that was on its back and hacked at the tongue… The sound of metal striking metal rang, then the ax fell to the ground after getting cut into two pieces

Alex, who saw this, didn't wait and started running in the opposite direction

“Wait!” the man screamed hatefully. “Help!”

But Alex, who saw the thing that began to appear behind the man’s back, could only ignore it and run.

The man struggled and looked back.

An innocent rabbit was standing behind him. Looking at him with empty eyes as if he was inspecting him.

“%%%% %%%%%%% %% % %% %%%...” The rabbit said distastefully, then opened its mouth wide and swallowed the man full.

Alex, who was a few miles away by now, only heard a desperate scream from behind her!

She felt sorry for the man, but she knew that she had to run for her life.

If only she could bump into Victor, he would surely be able to save her as he did in the skeleton dungeon!