Chapter 36: Underground City
This was an extremely powerful curse!
Not to mention what it meant to have your body functions constantly being weakened, the [Immediate Death Sentence] effect that would be occurring once every 72 hours was already enough to cause panic.
Although the conditions for [Immediate Death Sentence] to activate were very harsh. But what if?
In case this event with a very small probability had occurred, then Roger’s life would end here!
So the moment that he discovered the curse, Roger put aside everything at hand and took it very seriously.
He started reflecting on the source of this curse.
It was common sense that a medium was required to cast a curse.
However, Roger had been busy hunting down the gray dwarves recently, and he had not touched other suspicious things at all.
Therefore, the cursed medium could only be the gray dwarves that he had killed!
“Is it because I have killed too many gray dwarves, so it formed some kind of medium in a sense?”
Roger could vaguely make out the truth.
And when he tried to focus on the dark eyes on the back of his hand, a strange scene loomed in his mind:
The raging flames were burning the flesh of gray dwarves, who were grimacing in pain, one after another;
A gray dwarf with a long beard was kneeling on the ground with his hands held high, and then, it suddenly started dancing an unknown dance;
The dance moves were eerie, like a reptile crawling;
It was muttering some short phrases, which included gray dwarf language, underground common language, and even human common language.
Among the human common language that Roger could understand, the phrases [Father] and [Mother] were repeatedly mentioned.
Finally, the row of gray dwarves was all burned to death.
The dancing gray dwarf took out a gigantic black pen, and after dipping the tip with their ashes, it drew a huge symbol on the ground grandly.
The symbol was just like the black pupil on the back of Roger’s hand.
...
“So the so-called [Blood Curse] is a curse that can only be cast by sacrificing one’s parents or even all blood relatives?”
Seeing this scene, Roger felt a chill running down his spine.
This gray dwarf was way too cruel!
In order to kill Roger, it was willing to first sacrifice its parents?
“Is it the leader who has been hiding in the dark fighting a battle of wits against me?”
Roger felt that this matter was a little tricky.
The tricky point was not the curse itself.
In fact, it was not too difficult for him to undo this curse.
He could solve it simply by leveling up by 9 levels in one go.
Whenever he broke through his existing circle number, the Hermit Ranger profession model would remove all negative effects—including this seemingly invincible blood curse.
But unless he had no other choice, Roger would not easily squander his experience points!
Another way to solve the blood curse was to kill the curse caster who was revealed in the scene.
Ever since this jet-black eye appeared on the back of his hand, he could vaguely sense the direction of the caster.
However, the only problem was that the other party was not in the marshlands, but rather in that underground city which extended in all directions!
This was why Roger found it tricky.
In the past six months, he had long discovered the entrance to the underground city, but he had been reluctant to enter.
The reason was also very simple.
In the marshlands, under the cover of the reeds and fog, it would be nearly impossible for the gray dwarves to catch Roger, who had the ladder cloud leap technique.
But it was a completely different story in the underground city.
This was the territory of the gray dwarves.
So even though he was very greedy for possible martial arts relics, he still restrained his desire to explore the underground city.
Originally, his plan was to kill all the gray dwarves in the marshlands first.
But the appearance of the [Blood Curse] immediately shattered this possibility.
He had to make a choice.
After weighing the choices, he decided to break into the underground city.
If he did not break in, it meant that he had to sacrifice the 9 levels of experience points.
But if he chose to invade the city, at least there was still a possibility for him to keep some of them.
As for whether he could retreat without much injury, Roger still had some confidence in this.
...
After making up his mind to enter the underground city, Roger prepared the adventure materials and equipment as quickly as possible.
To confuse the gray dwarves, he also deliberately went near the outskirts to kill a few monsters before setting off.
After that, he swiftly changed his route and ran all the way to the entrance of the underground city deep in the marshlands.
Opening the secret entrance covered by the reeds, Roger took a deep breath, lowered his body, and slid in.
...
...
The tunnel was narrow and damp, with an indescribable sultriness.
Unlike the underground city that Roger had imagined, the underground passage of the marshlands was also filled with thick water vapor.
Through his dim light vision, he saw many unknown plants growing wildly in the corner.
The majority were all kinds of species of moss.
From time to time, drops of water would seep from above Roger’s head, dripping drop by drop on the brim of his hat, giving him an illusion of walking through a curtain of water.
Just like that, he walked six or seven kilometers diagonally downward, and then, the road ahead suddenly became clear.
Humidity was also gradually decreasing.
Following the perception from the curse, Roger continued on prudently.
When passing a stalagmite forest, he ran into a fight that wasn’t fierce.
It was an adventurer in a thick cloak, and his opponent was a group of patrolling marshlands gray dwarves.
...
The adventurer’s tactics were very fierce, and he killed all the gray dwarves in three or five strikes.
Roger noticed that he was using a scimitar, and his entire body was wrapped in a cloak, and not an inch of his skin was bare.
His hood should have been enchanted. Accordingly, Roger wasn’t able to see his face clearly.
“Huh?”
After killing the gray dwarves, the adventurer also noticed Roger.
Before Roger could speak, the person said coldly, “You’re not a gray dwarf? Then, you are lucky.”
“But you have to listen carefully, no matter who you are, just don’t stop me from killing the gray dwarves.”
“If you want to stop me, I will never show mercy.”
His voice was very strange; it sounded especially deep, but likely as a result of pretense.
“I’m also here to kill the gray dwarves.”
Roger fixedly his eyes on the other party.
At this moment, his heart throbbed a little.
Thereafter, the back of his left hand kept getting hotter.
The two looked at each other for about ten seconds.
In the end, Roger tentatively asked, “You have also been cursed?”
From the throbbing just now, he could clearly sense from the other party that there were traces of blood curse just like himself!
The man was silent for a while, then nodded slightly.
Just as Roger was about to say something, the man suddenly leaped up.
The scimitar in his hand was like lightning, wiping towards Roger’s neck sharply!
Roger dodged his scimitar calmly, and with a backhand, he stabbed out the Green Beetle Sword.
The opponent’s moves were very nimble, and his body’s flexibility was astounding.
Facing the straight stab of the Green Beetle Sword, his upper body tilted to the side and back, avoiding the sword at a very exaggerated angle.
And his body still maintained an excellent balance.
But what he didn’t expect was that Roger’s sword was not directed at his face at all.
At a speed as fast as electricity, the tip of the Green Beetle Sword turned slightly and gently pointed down.
The string holding the adventurer’s hood was sliced off and landed quietly under the action of gravity.
Roger could see his face clearly.
The skin, which appeared dark like the night, was donned with delicate facial features and a pair of eyes exuding shame and anger.
Hidden under this hood was an authentic drow! (Note 1)
Moreover, it was a girl.
The drow girl grabbed the hood on the ground and put it on again.
She put down her weapon.
Those large, pearly eyes stared at Roger for a long time, then said emotionlessly, “If you want to be my companion, you are qualified.”
Roger raised his eyebrows and said nothing.
...
(Note 1: Drow, also known as dark elf.)