Alvaric's life was so relaxed. He went through his daily routine with Ant Bee whom he already considered his child. However, he felt something odd in his life. His heartbeat was 1.5 times faster.
"What's wrong, Master?" Niva saw it. She asked out of worry.
"We're going east tomorrow."
A short answer, but it shocked Niva. She raised her hand a little. She wanted to stop her master, but she held back.
She nodded. "I'll come with you."
Alvaric turned his head. "Of course you have to come. I need a travel companion."
Niva smiled wide.
That day, Alvaric trained very hard. He didn't even go to sleep until past midnight. His defeat by the Giant Sandworm still lingered in his mind. It made him worry that the enemies he would face might be stronger than him.
He and Niva were ready to depart. They stood at the exit of the nest. Behind them, the Ant Bees were waiting.
Alvaric turned around, looking one by one at the Ant Bees standing neatly in a row. They stared at him with their small, round, shining eyes, as if they understood that Alvaric would go on a long journey. They wouldn't see him for quite some time, or maybe even a very long time.
Alvaric took a deep breath, then nodded and smiled at all of them.
"I know you want to come. But this time... stay here."
Some Ant Bees raised their heads, their small bodies shifting restlessly. Some of them were even bigger than Alvaric, and they looked at him seriously.
"I don't know what we'll find in the east. But I don't want any of you to get hurt. This place is safe, and you must protect it until I return."
A small Ant Bee wiggled its antennae, approached and touched Alvaric's hand. It rubbed its head on Alvaric's leg.
"Hey, I'm not leaving forever. I'm just going east to save someone. After that, I'll come back here," Alvaric explained.
He stood up and patted his chest with one hand. "I promise, I will return."
The Ant Bees stayed silent, but their bodies swayed gently, as if to say farewell.
Alvaric turned around, began to walk, and waved his hand. He and Niva left. He didn't dare to look back. Niva only shook her head seeing Alvaric like that.
"Master, at least you should show a smile before actually leaving," Niva scolded.
Alvaric turned around, smiled, and waved his hand. "I promise I'll come back!" he shouted.
Niva almost laughed seeing that. She never expected Alvaric to be this emotional. Just for going briefly to the east. But Niva's smile quickly faded when a bad thought crossed her mind.
She was still worried that they might face enemies far stronger in the underground dungeon to the east.
"Let's hope everything will be alright."
Their journey wasn't too difficult because Niva was there. They could fly and keep moving quickly. Alvaric didn't even spend much stamina because he was always carried in flight. The best decision was to bring Niva along with him.
"Isn't that a forest?" asked Alvaric while pointing in one direction.
Niva squinted her eyes. She saw nothing. "No, Master. That's just a mirage."
"Ah, I see."
That was the tenth time Alvaric saw a mirage. If not for Niva, he would have gone there and started eating sand like before.
Ant Bees had resistance to mirages. Their eyes were sharp, not fooled by light refraction. Their vision had adapted after living in the desert for thousands of years over many generations.
"Isn't that…" Alvaric stopped himself. "Another mirage."
He was annoyed with his own eyes. He kept getting fooled by mirages.
However, Niva turned toward the direction Alvaric had just pointed. She rubbed her eyes, but it didn't disappear. She turned toward that direction.
"Why are you going there?" asked Alvaric. He was confused. "Isn't that just a mirage?"
"No, Master. It's real."
Alvaric was surprised to hear that. They descended and stood in front of a small forest in the middle of the desert. They had been traveling for three days. During that time, they hadn't seen any greenery or the dungeon mentioned by the Giant Sandworm.
"Are you sure it's real?" Alvaric felt uneasy with a small forest in the middle of the desert.
"My eyes don't lie."
Alvaric and Niva walked toward it. They looked cautious. They glanced at each other and nodded afterward. Then they stepped into the island, and suddenly everything went dark. Nothing could be seen. A strange aura surrounded Alvaric.
"Niva, are you there?" shouted Alvaric.
He groped in the darkness. That's when he realized he wasn't in the desert anymore. As he felt around, something slimy and slippery was on his right. He felt to the other side and got the same result. He also felt that the ground below wasn't sand, but ankle-deep water.
Alvaric pulled out his Vappers Dagger. At the same moment, he was attacked from various directions. His blood was sucked by those creatures until he almost fell. Alvaric stabbed the monster clinging to his body. For an hour, he kept attacking blindly. He couldn't see anything except darkness. He relied solely on instinct.
"Damn. This is really annoying." It had been 67 minutes, but the monster hadn't stopped attacking him. He began to run out of stamina. This wasn't good news because if he ran out of stamina, he would die. "I need to find a way."
Tringgg!
[Level up!]
Everything was replenished. What seemed like a disaster to Alvaric now felt like a blessing. He gripped his Vappers Dagger and charged again. He attacked brutally while shouting loudly. The echo made the monsters start to move away slightly.
After 5 hours, the fight still wasn't over. Alvaric drew his Crimson Sword Demon. He raised his hand. At that moment, a blood moon appeared above him. Everything became faintly visible. Alvaric grinned wickedly. He charged forward.
It turned out that the monsters he was fighting were The Bloodmaw. Blood-sucking leech creatures. There weren't just one, but thousands or even more since the walls were also filled with them. For most people, this would be a disaster because The Bloodmaw were terrifying. They could drain your blood until your body dried up into a skeleton. Unfortunately, that wouldn't work on Alvaric because his body constantly regenerated unless he stayed still.
"You will become my XP source," said Alvaric with a terrifying smile.
The Crimson Sword Demon released blood that could pierce enemies. It helped Alvaric kill the monsters faster. He truly went berserk. Especially after seeing his level go up. Alvaric looked like a man possessed by a demon.