Aldred walked up to the spiraling stairs along with the others following him from behind. The adventurers that survived the onslaught also walked up the stairs. The vikings survived thanks to their powerful dragon armor.
And he noticed the larger viking who seemed to be the leader was staring at him again. Seriously, what was his problem?
Aldred reached the top of the stairs, and stepped into another platform. The place was still inside a cave; dark and gloomy. He lit up the place with flames for light and ahead of him was another black gate.
"Another gate." Aldred sighed. "Aren't they tired of making these gates?"
Aldred raised his staff, morphed into a gigantic golden hammer and slammed it at the gate with full force. The impact blasted wind and dust in every direction, forcing everyone to protect their eyes.
And yet the gate lay undamaged.
"It's one those unbreakable gate again." Aldred morphed his stick to normal.
"Let's approach it. Maybe we can get some clues to open the gate." Mary and the other girls walked to the gate, inspecting it in detail to find any writings.
Aldred had analyzed every inch of the gate with his godly eyes, but he found nothing.
"Should we wait again?" Mareona said.
"I don't mind waiting," Aldred said. He waved his hand and all the tents, equipments, and supplies appeared.
There were cooking utensils and ingredients too. Since they were already used to waiting, they made themselves some kebabs, burgers, sandwiches, and other types of food.
Aldred wondered what Maverick was eating. He took a peek, and saw they were biting on some sack. It seemed to made out of cow skin, and he noticed blood leaked out from the sack. The bite hole on the sack instantly closed by itself when Maverick pulled out his teeth.
Maybe it was made out of magic?
Maverick noticed Aldred's gaze, and pulled out another sack. "Do you want one?"
"Uhh… sure."
Maverick smiled when Aldred accepted his offer. He wondered how Aldred enjoyed normal food while being a vampire. There were some rare cases where vampires could enjoy human food, but he had never seen one before.
Aldred said he was recently turned into a vampire. Could that be the reason?
Aldred inspected the cow sack and bit into it before sucking in the blood. He widened his eyes at the sweet taste. He expected it to be bitter, but the taste was so good.
"This is good, Maverick. Where did you get this?"
Maverick puffed his chest and proudly smiled. "This blood is obtained from one of my subordinates. She's a virgin Diamond Rank vampire."
Aldred stared at him speechlessly. "Tell me. How many more of these do you have, and is there a chance I can drink it directly from the source?"
Maverick's subordinates looked at each other. They have the expression that said 'Did he just say that?'
On the other hand, their master, Maverick, was coughing to remove the awkward situation. "I have a lot of these, but I don't know if you can directly from the source. If I ask my father, he might let you."
"Seriously? That's great. After we go down this mountain, we will visit your house first."
"Sure…" Maverick was happy that he could bring Aldred to his house, but he was worried how that might turn out. He could only pray that his father was good with words and convinced Aldred to ally with them.
"What are you eating, Aldred?" Mary asked.
"It's a blood sack," Aldred said as he sucked on the sack.
"Does it increase your evolution points?"
Aldred frowned and noticed that he did not earn any evolution points at all. "No, it doesn't. Is it because I need to drink it fresh?"
'So I really have to drink it directly from the source…'
'What an inconvenient. Seems like I really have to visit Maverick's house. To increase evolution points of course, nothing more, nothing less.'
"Aldred, Everyone!" Bartrem called. "The food is done. Grab yourself something to eat!"
The soldiers cheered and grabbed some food with their partner. Joseph was all smiles as his girlfriend fed him. Although he did not have four girlfriends like Jeffery, he was satisfied with one.
While Aldred and his comrades were having the time of their life, the others could only look with hungry stomachs or salty tongues as salt and hard bread was the only thing they had.
The well-off adventurers or rich group could afford better food in their diet. Some powerful group even brought a chef to cook for them.
Aldred summoned Bella. She was a beautiful ice goddess with dress that revealed her beautiful long legs and barely cover her private parts. He held his lusty desire, because that wasn't the reason why he summoned her.
Not this time.
"Bella, can you teach me more about the water element?"
"Do you want to learn more skills?"
"I actually don't want to learn anymore skills, but I think I need something to defend myself. The fight against the Bajaragon scares me. I won in the end, but I cheated for that. So do you have any water skills for protection?"
"This skill is called water shield construction." Bella weaved her fingers in the air, and water moved around her. "This skill is very effective against non-solid attack suck as miasma, acid, and fire, but it is very weak against solid attacks such as swords and spears. There is a solution to this; solidify the water into ice."
The water around Bella crystallize into ice in an instant. She created an ice sword in her hand and stabbed into the ice shield.
The ice sword shattered.
"I am sure you can learn this skill, because unlike lightning, it doesn't need much mastery to create ice from the sub skill of the water element."
Unbeknown to her, Aldred was staring at her with his godly eyes all this time. Ignoring the x-ray vision that saw straight through her clothes and underwear, Aldred closed his eyes and recalled every movement.
Suddenly, Aldred opened a wide stance and moved his hands gracefully in the air. Water formed out of nothing, moved around his body as he danced in place.
He summoned Bajaragon. "Teethless, attack me with your flame."
"Yes, master."
The giant red dragon opened its maw and belched out a large flame breath that heated up the air.
Aldred stared at the flame as it went towards him. He moved the water to wrap around him, and then he was engulfed by the flame breath.
Teethless kept on belching the flame from his mouth for a few seconds before he stopped. The rocks turned into lava. They were bubbling hot.
Mary was looking worried. She did not want Aldred to be injured. When the flame dissipated, Aldred was standing bravely while being protected by the globe of water around him.
A sigh of relief came from Mary and she smiled at Aldred.
[You have learned a new skill 'Water Shield']
[Water Shield]
This skill lets you manipulate water to protect yourself from attacks.
Aldred smiled. "With this skill, I wouldn't be defenseless against powerful attacks. And I can protect the others as well."
Mary, Mareona, Sophia and Mira smiled gratefully.
Mareona walked up to him and rubbed his head jokingly. "Since when did you have us in mind, huh? Where is the usual pervert I know?"
Aldred laughed as they tickled him.
Sophia kissed him. "Thank you, Aldred. Thank you for bringing me with you. If I didn't try to enslave you that day, this moment between us might never exist."
"This is a blessing indeed." Aldred smiled.
One of the adventurer group was eating calmly, but suddenly, their bodies started to glow bright. They were confused, and then they heard the gate creaking.
Dust fell off from its surface, and it opened itself revealing a grand yet empty space. It was like a colosseum but without the seats for audience. It was just a large stage like an arena for battle.
"Should we enter it?" Mary asked.
Aldred looked at the green arrow on the dice. "Not yet. The gate doesn't open for us."
The others seemed to realize that as well, so nobody moved. The shining adventure group felt all eyes were staring on them. They took a deep breath and entered the arena.
The gate closed immediately.
As Aldred wanted to return to his cuddling session, he heard a scream within the gate.
"AHH!"
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