The Young Master in the Shadows

Chapter 254: Fateful Trouble?

“Damn you, Alex!” Victor cursed as he sat up. He was currently resting in a 'secured' room after spending 5 hours on the fourth floor which looked very similar to the third with more skeletons and super doors.

He had just finished a quick one-sided battle with a horde of skeletons when the dungeon update notification startled the sh*t out of him.

He didn’t expect that Alex would be able to make trouble here too… No, this was beyond trouble! That S-Ranked monster that was following her was bad news even for him.

Although Victor had no idea what it was, he read about those kinds of creatures before… It was very similar to the demon that the Von Zwei family injected into Rita. But this one had a physical body made out of miasma, which he was not sure if his soul poison would work on.

Wasn’t Alex too unlucky lately? She had been causing one problem after another without rest!

Victor frowned as he suddenly thought about something, and opened Alex's status screen… What if there was something affecting her?

Victor frowned… Her fate was affecting her again now that she was far from him! And other than the fact that Alex had very few skills and was still holding onto her stupid Thunder sect token, there was nothing unusual here…

Could it be a coincidence?

Thinking for a moment he pressed on the destiny list and paid the price of 10 Order points…

Holy what? Phoenix clan….. That was her hidden bloodline…. Ooooooooooooh

Many things began to fit in… no wonder the world hated her guts. The phoenix clan was one of the most powerful otherworldly races that appeared after the Reckoning and established gates to this world. Although he never met any one of them, he read about them.

The Phoenix clan does not keep male descendants as they lack bloodline power. They only accept females. That would probably be the reason why Alex’s father told her to act as a male… But that didn’t explain why her bloodline was locked. This must have been done by her mother, but why? It was obvious… The word ‘Princess’ indicated royal struggles!

It seemed like his bet to keep Alex was spot on! Although she was a little troublesome, if he could tame her, he would be able to control the Phoenix clan from the shadows using the same tactic he planned for the other great powers!

Interesting… What is this? Victor still had many questions after reading the fate list, but what finally caught his eyes was the last entry:

Wasn’t this ID the same one he saw earlier in his fate log? The one that gave his grandmother and Harvey death fates? The one he suspected to belong to the Fate sect!

Why were they targeting Alex with misfortune? NO…

Victor quickly paid another 10 order points to look at Lin’s destiny List…

The same fate existed! What about that idiot Tom?

That was disgusting… it was like diving into the mind of a horny teenager… Tom was a horny teenager!

Anyway, the same GREAT MISFORTUNE fate is also exciting here! Was it applied to him and his followers?

What about Rite?

It was not there…. Who was left? Poe…or Paul… whatever that sick bastard called himself now.

Those were interesting. Poe was definitely using some kind of technique to control his thoughts and disguise them so that the world would not go against him… And he didn't have a birth fate. Does this apply to all demons? What did he mean by 'A happy life’ and ‘Good partners’? Victor knew perfectly. It was happy for him and good for him. Not for the other party!

Anyway, also Poe didn’t have that bad fate… This means that it was not aimed at him!

Victor frowned and sighed, he was sure that if he didn’t have his Fate weaver class, this effect would have been applied to him too.

Lately, he had been wondering whether his actions had alerted the fate sect. Now he had his answer…

This misfortune curse was probably a local area effect, but he was not sure. Ten days ago when this fate was applied coincided with the time just before he left for the auction.

It must be the reason why Alex was doing all that bad sh*t recently, this thing was making her bad fate go on steroids!

Lin who had an F fate rank seemed to have been also badly affected.

Why are they using it here? Did they find out about him? Probably not, but he was definitely on their suspects' list.

They were probably fishing out the variable that was affecting their plans. Anyone who was not affected would definitely be a major suspect!

He must try to be more careful from now on... He might even be able to use those idiots in the wedding... He only needed a scapegoat, and he had one.

No matter what, he must take care of this dungeon first! The wedding must not be delayed!

Victor slowly stood up, he had just noticed that Lin and her group had reached the fourth floor where he was, and it was through a stairway near him. He noticed that because of the corridors she was passing. They didn’t have any doors! He must have been there.

“Lin, I am near you… Tell your group to take a rest….” Victor sent her before quickly hurting in the direction she was in. It was easy to navigate this maze-like structure with his eidetic memory and the map.

…

Tristan causally pretended to be inspecting the murals on the wall as he secretly checked Lin’s ass… She was bending down helping Mr.Gold lie next to a wall. His injury was very severe.

“This place is strange… Look, there are metal hinges on those doorways… It is as if someone took away those doors!” The smart girl who was with them said as she carefully inspected the room and then hung one of the torches she got from the lower floors on the wall.

“All dungeons have unreasonable things… We must be professional and not care about such trivial details…” Tristan said, trying to act knowledgeable… This was his first dungeon raid though.

“Oh….” The girl nodded as she continued to inspect the room.

Her family was very conservative with their daughters. She was raised to be a good wife, and a good wife did not question things, she did not need trivial skills like critical thinking.

“Don’t listen to him… You have to question everything!” Mr.Gold, who was in pain, scolded. He couldn't take his student’s bullshit. “Dungeons have many mysteries, the more you uncover, the easier the boss battle would become! And the better player you would get! Question everything… ah…” He then began to cough blood, causing Lin to quickly hand him a healing pill as Tristan sneered.

“Don’t waste those on me! Those pills can’t cure my injury,” he said. He doesn’t know where those men got that filthy sickle, but it was very poisonous.

“But…” Lin was a little distressed. She knew that Mr.Gold's situation was very critical and he had to be saved fast or he would die!

“You heard the teacher, Lin… We must focus on clearing this place!” Tristan said, earning himself a glare from his teacher. That was rude!

“That is rude…” Lin said as she pouted… Why was Victor taking so long to get here?

“Ah, sorry…. I am just telling the truth…” Tristan said as he scratched his head. Damn, he needed to be more careful with his words. Those aristocratic b*tches were very sensitive… that wouldn't be bad in bed… hehehehe.

“Forget about clearing this dungeon… “ Mr.Gold who was not aware of his student's wild thought’s said, “Now that it has become an S rank, we must focus on survival until the outside assembles a raid… It might take months to get a group of high leveled players together…” Mr. Gold said.

“Would it take that long?” Tristan asked, “I heard that a B-ranked dungeon takes about a month to clear… so an S rank would take about three months?” He was wondering if he stayed here for a couple of months, wouldn’t those girls start to depend on him after this nosy teacher dies?

“Idiot… didn’t you study! A B-ranked dungeon usually takes three months, an A-rank takes about a year… an S rank might take a decade!... ah…” Mr.Gold coughed again…

“Teacher!” the girl hurried to his side.

“I am fine… “ he said as he relaxed.

“I can’t understand how this dungeon changed rank though…” Tristan said, totally unaware that a certain fate was making him show his real selfish persona.

“It happens… Sometimes something evil in the dungeon awakens while the players are inside…or perhaps a seal became undone by some monster,” he said, “This might also happen after the dungeon had been cleared, creating another dungeon and trapping all the excavation workers on site. This happened at least three times before,” he explained.

“WHO IS THERE!” The girl who was with them suddenly yelled startling everyone as she raised her sword… She spotted a shadow walking through the dim doorway.

“It is this young master!” Victor said as he walked out of the shadows. Lin didn’t even blink as she threw herself into her fiance’s embrace and began to kiss his mouth, making her friend blush as Tristan cursed silently.

“Victor… I missed you…” Lin whispered in his ear as she hugged him.

“I know…” he said as he patted her silky hair while inspecting her group.

It cost him 30 order points to discover that they had no interesting fates other than Great Misfortune…

What a piece of sh*t!

What a good girl!

Now he was sure. The misfortune was an area effect. Now, he needed to determine its diameter… That would have to wait until he exits the dungeon.

“We have things to do …” he whispered in Lin's ear as he spanked her butt, She was still hugging him after all. She blushed as she reluctantly let go.

“Damn, I should be the one spanking her… I am the protagonist of this world!.” Tristan thought as he watched angrily as Lin began to rub her butt with a bashful smile… She obviously wanted more!

Victor acted as if he didn’t notice anything. He quickly went to check on Mr.Gold. He was suffering from the same poison affecting Lin, but due to his lower attributes, it was affecting him very badly.

“Was it the Nutcracker?” Victor asked as he checked Mr.Gold with a frown.

“The nutcracker? What’s that?” Mr.Gold asked as he felt gratified seeing the caring look in Victor’s eyes. That’s how students should be!

“It’s a legendary monster. I found it's traces in the dungeon… It attacks only men, but never kills them... Just plays with them! I have seen its Victims… It's ugly…” Victor said with a heavy voice making the girls shiver a little Mr.Gold’s face turned black... This dungeon was more dangerous than he anticipated. They must secure the students.

“It was not that Nutcracker. It was a rogue player, he slashed at my chest with a poisoned sickle,” Mr.Gold said.

“Oh…If it’s just that, i have nothing to fear. Teacher Isabella waned me about those... Let me check!” Victor said as if he was relieved it was not the Nutcracker.

He simply took out a small bottle and dripped a few drops from it on Mr. Gold’s black festering wound. The drops changed color from clear to blackish purple and began to hiss.

“Corpse poison!” Victor said with a frown, making Mr. Gold gasp… He suspected as much but didn't dare to confirm it.

“Check Lin… She was hit too, but she is hiding it,” Mr.Gold quickly said. Unlike his stupid students, knew that Lin was hiding her injured shoulder this entire time. Victor was her fiance after all.

“Show me your injury,” Victor ordered, turning to Lin, who blushed and exposed her jade-like shoulder, where a black cut a little smaller than the one on Mr.Gold appeared.

Victor didn’t care about Tristan who was Licking his lips secretly. He just ran the test again… The result was the same. Corpse poison.

“...” Mr.Gold sighed, if they didn’t exit this dungeon fast and get the help their situation was hopeless… Corpse poison was very tricky to remove, even in a player’s hospital as its survival rate was 7%.

“Thankfully it’s only a corpse poison…” Victor said as he took out another bottle that he had just purchased from the system for a lot of COINs.

“This is the BRILLIANT DEW PILL!” Mr.Gold said as he watched Victor take out two pills. He knew about those! They were the best medicine for corpse poison.

“Yes, I happen to have this… I found it in a dungeon a while ago.” Victor lied as he gave Mr.Gold a pill, then popped one in Lin’s small mouth with his finger which she made sure to lick and suck… What were they teaching this girl?

“You should heal in a few hours… I met teacher Isabella earlier today, she is barricading herself with a few students on the upper floor.” Victor said.

“Oh, that’s a relief. Where are you going?” Mr. Gold asked as he began to feel better… From that moment on, he owed Victor his life.

“I need to go down and clear the dungeon… My cousin Zoe is down there! I must save her…” Victor said chivalry, making the girl who was sitting to the side and looking with envy at Lin blush… Why can’t she get such a cool fiance? It was her fault. She must have not refused when her father wanted to offer her as a concubine for Victor after hearing that he was in her class…. Damn it, she thought she was some perverted young master. Now she knew better. Perverts could be cool!

“I want to go with you…” Lin quickly demanded. Her wound was healing fast… Very fast.

“No, first you have to help Mr. Gold reach the top floor!” Victor scolded.

“But…”

“No butts! You can come to find me after that…. I will wait for you on the fifth floor!” Victor said making her reluctantly nod… He might need her powers. She was the strongest player in this dungeon after all.

“Victor…. Be careful there…” Mr.Gold said knowing perfectly that Victor, as an elite heir of the Von Weise family, had many life-saving treasures.

“Those guys down there are dangerous… They seem to have been here for a long time. And now that this dungeon has become an S rank, things might get dicey at any moment!”

“I understand. But this young young master only fears the Nutcracker!” Victor said as he slowly stood up. “Teacher, do you know why don't those guys roam the upper floors?” he suddenly asked. He felt strange because he encountered none until now. From what he saw, the skeletons became stronger as you went down.

“I am not sure, but if I had to guess, I would say it is because of the food… The upper floors have no food or light. The fifth floor has an artificial sun and some kinds of fruits and mushrooms that can be eaten.” Mr.Gold said.

“I see….” Victor said as turned to leave then stopped to give some parting words. “I want to remind you, make sure to watch out for the Nutcracker… I think he is still around here somewhere,” he said as he gave poor Tristan some last look then walked out.