Chapter 10 - Paradise Lost 2 (1/2)

Seo Changseop denied as he waved his hands from side to side. Hong Yuri and the rest of their party’s expression was the same.

‘Then let’s get started.’

Woohyuk walked ahead as he loosened up his muscles, casually activating the Hunter’s Totem As he came right up to the Paradise Tree.

‘This should be enough.’

After all he was about to solo the strongest Boss monsters in all of the Forest, so he definitely couldn’t hold back.

‘I should end it as soon as possible.’

Woohyuk dashed forward and began to climb the body of the Queen Star Serpent. He moved so quickly that Hong Yuri even lost sight of him a few times.

Tssss!

Sensing Woohyuk’s body heat upon it, The Queen Star Serpent hissed menacingly as it released countless spheres of light which circled its body.

Woohyuk had to constantly be dodging the attacks as he made his way to the top of the Paradise Tree

‘I’ll have to try this again.’

Woohyuk looked down from the top as he sighed. Back then he had been completely unable to penetrate the scales of the Queen Star Serpent, and had struggled quite a bit to come up with a solution. The only thing that had worked was to repeatedly stab the same area. In fact, he would jump off from the top of the tree and use the downward momentum to increase his damage.

‘My health should be sufficient.’

He also didn’t use The Vampiric dagger when they had hunted as a party in order to not impede the growth of his Spirit stat.

As long as he didn’t make any big blunders, nothing should go wrong. Woohyuk took a deep breath, before jumping down from the top of the tree. Plunging towards the Queen Star Serpent which had by now left the tree and was down on the ground.

* * *

‘What a crazy guy.’

Seo Changseop stared at Woohyuk, left speechless.

Dozens of times he repeated the action of dropping from the top of the tree, all the while avoiding any incoming Light spheres from the Serpent as he plunged the Black Machete on to a specific point of the Queen Star Serpent’s head.

A single miscalculation and he’d be falling down to his death, and yet he had fearlessly repeated his actions without any hesitation.

‘Is it the concept of focusing all of one’s strength on a single point.’

It almost felt like he was attacking with an awl.

Although it appeared almost suicidal, it was indeed effective as the Queen Star Serpent’s scales were soon penetrated.

‘Is this even possible?’

He had been planning to escape if Woohyuk were to fail and the large snake retaliated against them.

Seo Changseop exchanged a glance with his party members. Shortly after the Queen Star Serpent’s corpse hit the ground with a loud thud, causing a cloud of dust to rise up in the area.

The sound of footsteps rang out, and as a black figure appeared within the cloud of dust, Seo and his party quickly surrounded him.

“Are you wondering why I left you guys alive?”

“...”

“You let us live?”

Hearing Woohyuk speak, everyone stared at him.

”You must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil; for in the day that you eat of it, you will surely die.”

It was a famous passage from the book of Genesis.

Seo Changseop raised his Black Machete and exclaimed.

“What did you just do?”

“Look above your heads.”

The party members looked at each other and took a step back in surprise.

There was a red marker floating above each of their heads.

“What is this…?”

“You are all sinners, and you have been marked for the evil deeds you’ve committed.”

Betraying one’s comrades or breaking promises was forbidden within Paradise lost.

It was the Creator’s way of saying that unconditional survival was the purpose of this game.

Swoosh!

Swooosh!

Woohyuk swiftly swung his Black Machete, severing the heads of those closest to him. Caught off guard, Seo Changseop quickly ordered his party to attack, but due to the heavy cloud of dust, it was difficult to keep track of Woohyuk.

“Shit….”

Seeing the red markers disappear one by one, Seo Changseop felt the fear of death creeping up on him.

‘He must be exhausted.’

Woohyuk must have suffered considerable damage at the hands of the Queen Star Serpent. At the very least his Stamina should have been depleted, leading to an impairment in judgement and dull movements.

And yet, the inconceivable was occurring right before him. In a state of panic, Seo Changseop didn’t even notice Woohyuk sneak up behind him.

Puah!

“kuluk”

He looked down to see a Vampiric dagger penetrate through his stomach, as Seo Changseop puked a large amount of dark red blood. At death’s door, he turned around to meet Woohyuk’s gaze.

“By killing those that have been marked, I can absorb 10% of your stats. In that sense, you guys are pretty good prey.”

He’s the Devil, there was no way the guy was even human. From the very beginning he wasn’t someone that they could deal with.

Seo Changseop closed his eyes for the very last time, as the Vampiric dagger continued to suck his blood.

“Isn’t it about time you come out?”

As Woohyuk finished speaking, Hong Yuri stepped out from behind a tree.

She had no red marker above her head.

“Woo, Woohyuk, I….”

Hong Yuri stammered as she tried to come up with an excuse, but considering the situation it wasn’t something that was easily resolved.

“I will ask you just a single question.”

Woohyuk continued as he walked towards her.

“Why is it that I should spare you?”

Her face became extremely pale.

“Well...you will become marked if you kill me.”

“That’s nothing, the mark will disappear as soon as I leave this place.”

“If you take me with you, I will definitely be of use to you. I can use some magic, and know how to cook a little. If you get lonely, you can use me for some fun. From this moment I am all yours be it my mind or body, so please spare me, please ....”

Hong Yuri grabbed onto Woohyuk’s leg as she pleaded for her life while weeping.

Woohyuk looked down as he spoke.

“Does that mean you are willing to do anything for me?”

“That’s right, I abandoned Seo Changseop because of you. Please trust me, I can quickly pick up anything I focus on.”

She had good intuition. She knew that Seo Changseop had no chance of besting him, so deliberately hid herself as the battle began.

Woohyuk nodded back and helped her to her feet.

“Follow me, I have something to show you.”

“Okay…”

Taking Woohyuk’s hand, she used her remaining free hand to wipe her tears. Her heart kept beating rapidly as she had yet to calm down.

“Would you consider becoming a vampire?”

“Va... vampire!?”

Hong Yuri’s voice trembled in response.

In her mind appeared an image of a fair skinned blonde man.

“Your stats would suffer a 30% debuff during the daytime, but during the night they would be increased by 30% instead. There isn’t much of a downside because you are still able to go out into the sunlight, but you would be weak to Holy magic.

“Would I develop fangs? Transform into a bat?”

“There wouldn’t be any major changes to your appearance. The fangs are a matter of course, whereas any transformation would become possible depending on your growth.”

Woohyuk tapped a engraved rune upon the Paradise tree and a passage to a hidden room appeared. He walked inside and then returned holding a bronze cup.

[Lilith’s Unholy Chalice]

It was a perfect fit for a woman who employed a honey trap to ensnare the hearts of men.

“The official title is that of Blood Queen. It is a hidden class and is also unique. It is only available to women as they can raise their own army of vampires and stand as their ruler.

“The Blood Queen….”

“Of course I’m not forcing this on you, and this is only a suggestion.”