"Forgive me, Ao." John groveled and started coughing blood while apologizing.

"You don't have to be sorry. It's our fault that we didn't tell you the truth about why our master abandoned us." Ao's sadness was clearly painted on his face as he stared at his old friend's body slowly cracking.

"My soul is breaking any moment." John looked up with tears in his eyes and smiled. "I would like to ask you a favor as my friend and fellow student of master Shuu." he sincerely begged.

"What is it?" Ao quietly whispered. "Please find the pillar before Richard does or else," John stopped for a moment and coughed a great amount of blood. ", this reality that our master cherished will come to an end in the hands of the merciless gods." he stated as he watched himself floating in the air with his body slowly tearing apart.

"Oii, John don't go yet." Ao's tears slowly poured from his eyes. "You said that your going to surpass me. What the hell?! Don't leave the oldman here!"

"My soul belongs to them now. Goodbye, old friend. Send my regards to the vessel." John smiled as Ao watched his soul vanished from sight.

"That's sad." Yuya stared at the sky. "I wonder if god really does exists." he looked at his hand. "Where the hell are you, Shun?"

---

[NOTICE]

SPECIAL QUEST HAS STARTED

[KILL THE SCARLET KNIGHT]

"Scarlet knight huh?" Shun looked up at the notification window. "I see so this is where the Scarlet Lotus is." he looked around and found himself surrounded by black knights with bright red eyes. He was surely standing in the middle of the dungeon, holding a dagger, barefooted and topless. "What the hell is this ridiculous situation."

In one push, he hurriedly leaped and slashed the first black knight he laid eyes on. He quickly make a calculated turn and punched another one behind him, sending the other knights flying along with it.

[NOTICE]

YOU'VE SLAIN A KNIGHT...

[NOTICE]

SKILL [RAGE] IS ACTIVE

+ 6% increase in speed

- 1 mana is being consumed every second.

"I just need to find your weaknesses." Shun grinne and moved swiftly between each knights and slashed them between the armor gaps.

[NOTICE]

YOU'VE SLAIN A KNIGHT...

[NOTICE]

PASSIVE [POISON] HAS BEEN TRIGGERED

-Draining 4% of enemy's HP every second.

Shun continued to jump mercilessly between the knights, stepping on their head causing a little bit of damage. "There we go!" He quickly leaped into the most crowded area of the dungeon. He lifted his dagger and chanted, "Dark cloak!"

[NOTICE]

SKILL [DARK CLOAK] IS ACTIVE

+ 35 magic damage

- 1 mana is being consumed every second

He landed and inhaled deeply and swinged his dagger 180%. "Dark Cloaked: Crescent Slash!" he chanted, wiping out a huge amount of black knights in a single swing.

[NOTICE]

SKILL [DARK CLOAKED: CRESCENT SLASH] HAS BEEN USED

[NOTICE]

YOU'VE SLAIN A KNIGHT...

He looked above his head to check his status indicator.

[Shun Futaro]

Level 44 (hidden from non friendly units)

HP: 11103/12500

MP: 3780/6591

Endurance: 214/440

"My mana is going down faster. I need to cancel one active skill." he looked at himself and realized what he needs to do. "Cancel rage!"

[NOTICE]

SKILL [RAGE] HAS BEEN CANCELLED

He let his guard down for a brief moment and one of the knights didn't miss the chance to strike. They've come come right at him all at once.

"Huh? Feeling confidence about your strength huh." Shun sensed the danger and lifted his rear foot. He rotated his body with a 360 degree kick, causing the all knights to be blown away by the shockwave. "Is there anyone who's stronger than me here?" he spoked. His eyes was filled with boredom.

[NOTICE]

YOU'VE SLAIN A KNIGHT...

[YOU LEVELED UP]

LEVEL 45

"How dare you to enter this sacred palace you lowly creature!"

Shun heard an angry scream coming from away, inside the dungeon.

"What was that? Just now..." Shun slowly turned his head. But the moment he laid eyes onto something, he found himself getting blown away, crashing into something behind him.

"What the... did I hear someone spoke?" Shun shooked his head and slowly got back on his feet. "A monster? or a human?" he confusedly convinced himself that it was a human. But his confusion was cleared out after seeing the creature standing in front of his naked eye. "A red knight?" he then noticed the name written just above it's head.

[SCARLET KNIGHT "ADAM"]

SS RANK

HP: 18000/18000

"An unexplained overwhelming aura, I'm getting chills all over my body." Shunt thought.

"Who are you?" The creature literally spoked for itself, Shun was even more surprised as he is now.

"What... It seriously spoked, is this a dream? Or is it normal for strong monster to behave like this?" Shun took a one last glimpse at the creatures rank.

"Who are you? You're not the king." The creature spoked at him and tilted it's head. "How dare you to step into this place without the king's permission!" The monster screamed to his ears.

"This is ridiculous." Shun chuckled. "Don't screw me, I'm the one who got victimized by the system by forcing this damn quest on me!" Shun shouted and throws a left handed punch that created a deafening sound after his fist hits the creatures armor.

The scarlet knight dropped on its knees and looked up at Shun with burning reddish eye. "You lowly human!" The knight stood on it's feet with all the force on it's leg and throws back a heavy uppercut that Shun wasn't expecting.

Shun's whole body was pushed back from the punch. He felt slightly lightheaded from it but his HP dropped more than he expected.

[Shun Futaro]

Level 45 (hidden from non friendly units)

HP: 10883/13500

MP: 3530/6993

Endurance: 194/450

"That hurts like bitch!" Shun quickly recovered his stance and makes a quick movement to close the distance between them. He thrusted his dagger aiming for the red knight's neck.

"Hmmmmm..."

Shun heard a sharp exhaling sound from inside the armor as he missed his target. "He dodged!" Shun stopped for a moment in surprise as he saw himself getting engulfed by a red aura. "What's this?!" Shun's eyes widened, his chest started to tighten. "What a suffocating amount of mana. I can't move a muscle."

The scarlet knight reached and grabbed Shun's throat, taking his breath away. "You dare to fight against me, me who served the king for years." The red knight screamed in victory.

"Ack!" Shun was struggling to breath and tried to move his body violently. His vision was fading and his body started weakening. "Ba-astard, I'm gann-a kill you!" He lost his consciousness and finally found himself falling in a bottomless pit.

"What the hell is this place? It fells like I've been here before." Shun looked around him from upside down.

"What the... you're here again."

Shun almost got startled by the voice suddenly spoking. The voice seems like coming from all around or inside his head.

"This voice..." Shun widened his eyes and a series of flashbacks played in his head. "That's right, I've been here before. During the Jingu shrine dungeon incident."

"You're dying again?" The voice spoked at him in a mocking manner. "You look pitiful Shun."

"You know me? Just, what are you?" Shun screamed inside his head and his thoughts seems like overflowing inside that place.

"Last time you look even more pathetic. But right now, you still look pathetic of course but much better." The voice jokingly spoked. "Man, you're level was doubled from the last time you came here and still you're dying after fighting a weak opponent."

Shun opened his eyes wider and stared deeper into the darkness. "What the hell are you?!" Shun frozed in shock after seeing something in the darkness.

"Well atleast you can see a part of me now." The voice echoed throughout the darkness.

Shun stared at the paired of glowing eyes staring back at him from the deepest darkness. "The longer you gaze into the abyss, the abyss gazes back." he suddenly blurted out a famous line that came into his mind.

"What the... you're body's temperature is dropping. If we don't hurry you'll die." The voice spoked at Shun.

"What are you gonna do?" Shun uttered.

"Honestly I'm tired of saving such a pathetic person like. But I'm gonna do it anyways, since thing have gotten more interesting earlier."

Shun heard the faint voice before he returned to his senses and found himself standing inside a throne room with an empty throne.

"What the hell?" Shun quickly checked his neck. "I'm alive... huh, what's this?" he looked at his hands releasing some black smokes out of his palm. He already noticed it earlier but it seems like it gotten worse.

"How..."

Shun suddenly heard a faint voice speaking from somewhere. He looked around him and saw giant hole on the wall.

"How can a merely human like you, possess that power?" The scarlet knight keeps on screaming and on its knees. "That power belongs to the dem..."

"What are you screaming for?!" Shun pitifully looked down at the kneeling knight. "I don't give a damn about your king, I'm just want to leave this place. And for my sake could you please stop screaming." Shun raised his voice and pointed his finger at the red armored creature.

[SCARLET KNIGHT "ADAM"]

SS RANK

HP: 6897/18000

"Did it's HP got lower?" Shun murmured. "Must be my imagination." He slowly approached the red knight and positioned himself to his side.

"This is an execution don't move." he lifted his dagger and in one dropped swing, he managed to cut it's neck through the armor's gap.

[NOTICE]

YOU'VE SLAIN THE SCARLET KNIGHT "ADAM"

[BATTLE REWARDS]

• Runestone (legendary)

• Black key

• 350k gold coins

[QUEST REWARDS]

• Scarlet Lotus (legendary)

• Ring of Adam (rare)

• Quick boots (rare)

• Mana potion x3 (common)

[NOTICE]

YOU LEVELED UP...

LEVEL 47

[All reward has been delivered to your inventory]

"This rewards are pretty cool." Shun mumbled. "Sounds like a fine items for a long quest." he murmured as he navigated the status window.

[NOTICE]

DO YOU WANT TO LEAVE?

[Yes]

[No]

"Hell yeah!" Shun uttered after seeing the notification. "But wait I don't wanna come out wearing these." He looked at himself and realized that he's half naked. "Wait don't send me back yet."

"Now that I think about it, that guy mentioned something about a shop in the system." he uttered, remembering a short conversation with Rai. "Open [shop]!" he chanted.

[SHOP]

[Weapons]

[Armors]

[Wardrobes]

[Sheild]

[Boots]

Shun's eyes wandered for a second before he finally decided what equipment he needs. "I need a wardrobe first."

[Wardrobes]

[Magician's robe (500k)]

[T-shirt (3k)]

[Cloak of protection (300k)]

[More...]

"Okay, I'll choose the T-shirt and the cloak of protection since it's more affordable." Shun mumbled. Soon, a pair of clothing fall from above him. He quickly catched and wore it.

[Cloak of protection (equipped)]

Item class: rare

+ 15 damage reduction

(Unique effect)

[Immunity]: When HP drops below 10%, the player will be immune to damage for 5 seconds.

"That was some serious effects but what about the T-shirt?" Shun wondered. "Well I guess it's just a clothing to cover my body." he chuckled. "Now move on to the next step." Shun hurriedly opened his inventory and grabbed some items from it and quickly equipped each item.

[Adam's ring (equipped)]

Item class: rare

+ 18 magic power

[Quick boots (equipped)]

Item class:

+ 2 agility points

(Unique effect)

[Sprint]: When endurance is higher than 50%, the agility will increase by 5 points.

"This items are interesting," Shun mumbled, hand on chin. "But more importantly, this item." He glanced at the item he was holding. The whole point of this quest. The red flower.

[Scarlet Lotus]

Item class: ??

[Effect:] Consuming this red flower will grant you a power up.

"A power up?" Shun stopped and wondered. "Well I guess that doesn't sound that bad." he lifted the item with his finger and position it above his head. He throws his head backwards and open his mouth. He dropped the scarlet lotus inside his mouth and slowly swallowed it down his throat.

Shun felt the flower melting as it slowly came down his throat. "What the... ahack..." he started coughing after accidentally inhaling during the process.

[NOTICE]

YOU'VE COMPLETELY LEARNED THE SKILL [MANA RELEASE: SCARLET SHADOW]

"Huh?" Shun lifted his chin. "So this is the "mana release" thing. I wonder what it does." he doesn't feel any changes, except the irritating sensation down his throat. It's tingling.

[NOTICE]

JOB PROMOTION FROM WIZARD TO HIGH-WIZARD

Do you want to accept the promotion?

[Yes]

[No]

"What's this? A job promotion?" Shun then again was completely clueless. His curiosity hits him har again. "Okay, I'll accept!" he unhesitatingly chanted.

[NOTICE]

YOU'VE BEEN PROMOTED FROM WIZARD TO HIGH-WIZARD

[NOTICE]

YOU'VE UNLOCKED A JOB SPECIFIC SKILL

[SATAN'S EYE]

Rank: ??

Mana requirement: None

Effect: [This eye will enable the user to saw other player's stat, such as magic, physical, mana, and endurance. This skill is always active.]

[Please choose which eye do you want to implant this eye.]

"A job specific skill?" he's atleast slightly getting what's going on. "This is a cool skill," Shun mumbled as he reads the bottom part of the description. "Wait what? Implant. They're going to implant this thing in one of my eyes." Shun was a bit undecided for a second. "Okay I'll do it. Put it in my right eye." He said.

[NOTICE]

THE [SATAN'S EYE] HAS BEEN IMPLANTED]

"Yeah, I know." Shun shooked his head while his right eye is still adjusting from the view. His new eye was red in color and has a strange pattern. His vision was also reddened as if he was a wild animal always looking for prey. "This a great eyesight but I hope I found another eye like this to balance my vision." He looked around to test his new eye.

"Now for the final touch." Shun grabbed the last item he took out from the inventory.

[RUNESTONE]

Class: Rare

[Usage]: Breaking this Runestone will grant you a skill.

"Yeah, if I remembered correctly this is the same stone as the one I got after I fought the raging cheetah." Shun mumbled before hardly squeezing the stone and breaking it.

[NOTICE]

YOU'VE LEARNED A NEW SKILL...