A spatial rift opened from the void, in the same place where Asher had awakened when he was sent to this world.
Two figures emerged from it, the first being Asher, with Kira in the back.
Kira was holding an arm-sized knife in his hand, and a powerful spatial aura surrounded the black knife.
"That's a good weapon," Asher said with admiration when he saw the knife's powerful ability.
"It's an effect, sir, and it's not that powerful because you only have a limited number of uses, after which it becomes just a regular combat knife," Kira replied with disappointment, looking at the knife in his hand before returning it to the space storage ring.
"An effect? What is it?" Asher asked calmly and curiously.
Kira was surprised that his master didn't know much, but he remembered that he'd told him before that he'd lost his memory, though he didn't believe him.
'My master doesn't know that I can tell who's telling the truth using one of my skills, but the fact that he doesn't know anything about this world, and he hasn't lied about it, means he has a secret of his own...' Kira thought to himself.
"A relic, sir, is a weapon, potion, or other natural creation, commonly found in dungeons and dungeons. They aren't ranked like regular weapons because their levels depend on the user's level. They're also limited to a few uses, after which they're completely useless." Kira answered Asher's question calmly and respectfully.
'It doesn't matter what secret he's not told me. Then I have no need to know. Or he still doesn't trust me enough to share his secrets, which I understand...' Kira thought. Although he was disappointed to think that perhaps his master, whom he'd been waiting for for years, didn't trust him, he was confident that one day, when their relationship had deepened, he would learn his master's secrets and share them with him.
Asher, on the other hand, nodded in understanding at Kira's explanation, unaware of the thoughts running through his mind. "We have to get out of here, but I can't risk letting you out," Asher said seriously, thinking of how to get Kira out of this place without attracting attention.
There's no way he's not suspicious. Suddenly, he sends someone to a place that's supposed to be his graveyard, but he emerges alive, and on top of that, a Rank 5 man who calls him "sir" is with him. This will definitely make him suspicious and attract attention, and the thing Asher doesn't need most right now is unwanted attention.
"Don't worry, sir. He has a special skill that allows me to transform into a crow and hide in your shadow. I can also blend with his aura so that no one, no matter how powerful, can detect me." Kira spoke with a proud smile.
"He has many useful skills..." That was the only thought that ran through Asher's mind after talking with Kira for a while. 'Coming to think of it, I couldn't discover his bloodline rank, unlike Rose. He also has a skill that allows him to hide his bloodline level...' Asher didn't want to ask Kira this question because he would know that Asher spied on him without his permission, and even though he couldn't do anything to him, Asher was, after all, his master with a contract that forbade him from even thinking about betraying him.
But telling Kira might not like it, and Asher isn't the type to abuse his power over his subordinates no matter what.
"I have a lot of useful skills, my lord. Because I was reducing monsters in that dungeon almost every day, they dropped various useful skill cards, so I learned most of them, and that's why I'm still alive, waiting for you." After seeing his master remain silent for a while, Kira assumed it was because he was confused about where he acquired the skills and decided to tell him how.
"Every day? Did monsters come there every day? How many days have you been there?" Asher was surprised by this statement, as he thought he'd only killed the monsters he'd seen. But he said he killed every day and possessed a great deal of skill, so how many days had he survived among those powerful monsters?
"About 10 years, sir, if memory serves me right," Kira answered calmly, as if it were nothing, just something anyone would do.
"..."
Although Asher didn't yet know how to fight the monsters well or their levels, according to others, they must have been very strong. According to Kira, he'd been in that dungeon for 10 years, which would have meant he was 18 years old. The weakest monsters there were ranked 3, so how had he managed to survive for that long? This puzzled Asher. "I won't lie, sir. It was difficult at first, and I wanted to die. But my bloodline suddenly evolved to a 9-star level, giving me powerful, unique skills that helped me survive. In addition, the dungeon's feature allows me to regenerate my body every time a monster tears me apart. This helped me initially. Over the years, I've grown stronger and stronger as I learn skills and gain experience fighting monsters. I wait for you," Kira said, seeing his master slightly surprised. "I could have left this place long ago when I found this alien knife, but after I remembered that I have no family and no one waiting for me, I stayed here, eagerly awaiting the day we meet again." Kira stated with strange enthusiasm at the end of the sentence. "You were waiting for me there?" Asher ignored the evolution of his bloodline and how he survived, and this time, he was drawn to the fact that he had been saying he'd been waiting for him ever since he'd met him, as if he knew he'd come to that dungeon. "Of course, sir. Didn't I tell you about the vision I had when my bloodline evolved?" "No, you didn't tell me. What kind of vision was this?" The longer Asher stayed with Kira, the more he felt he was learning something new, even though he had been ignorant of everything before. "When my lineage evolved, I had a vision about a strange person called the Dark Lord, the King of Destruction and Ruin. He would come, and I would be his follower, and I would become stronger if I followed him. But I didn't see his face clearly. All I saw in the vision were those strange tattoos on his chest," Kira said proudly as he recalled the vision, which he would never forget, even though he had only seen it once. Asher understood that those strange tattoos meant the runic symbols on his chest. He also believed the reason for the vision was related to his lineage. When he met him, he felt a strange connection to him, just as he had when he first met Lao. This was what made him trust him in the beginning When he met him, he didn't know anything about him yet.
Boom!
As Asher was distracted, he was interrupted by an extremely powerful energy blast from outside the cave.
"There's a Rank 5 fighting in front of the cave, sir. Their enemy is another Rank 5, but they seem to be poisoned, making them unable to use mana freely." Kira explained the situation outside as calmly as possible.
Asher didn't ask how he knew that, expecting it to be one of his skills. But after thinking about his words, a Rank 5 came to mind.
'Rose?' There was a good chance Rose was fighting there, but which side she was on—the poisoned one, or the one in control—Asher didn't know exactly.
He was now in trouble. If he decided to leave without taking Kira with him, and the one in control was his enemy, he'd be in trouble. If he took Kira out, it would be a different kind of problem.
'Although the odds are slim, I must leave without Kira. Rose must stay alive to support my story, but that could lead to my death.' Asher was torn between which option to choose and which would yield excellent results.
After a short period of deep thought, he finally decided what to do.
"Kira, I want you to hide in my shadow with the skill you mentioned, and not allow yourself to be seen no matter what..." Asher said seriously, pausing for a moment before continuing.
"Only leave if you are about to die."
Kira looked at his master for a moment, unsure of what to do. But after all, he was his master, and he wouldn't follow someone who wasn't sure of his decisions.
"As you wish, my lord," he said, his body turning to mist before emerging as a black raven with crimson eyes.
He walked over to Asher's shadow and stepped into it as if it were his own private pool, his aura and presence disappearing completely.
"I just hope I didn't make a mistake..." Asher thought before heading out of the cave. ............
"Goodbye, beautiful young lady. Seeing you so miserable made me--"
"You weakling."
The unknown figure with the strange horn was about to slash Rose with his claws, but a cold voice interrupted him, causing him to stop mid-stride.
The strange horned figure and Rose turned around at the same time upon hearing a familiar voice.
"What? How..."
"Asher?..."
They both cried out in surprise at the same time.
"Die now," Asher said coldly before violently swiping a black knife at the strange horned figure.
"Hahaha, you think this small knife is enough to kill me?" The horned figure mocked Asher's pathetic attempt after grasping the knife with his bare hand, without any indication of an unknown person.
Rose also didn't understand why Asher would do such a pathetic thing, but his appearance here at the crucial moment and his risk to save her stirred something inside her.
'I must use my remaining power to create a loophole for Asher to escape...' She was about to use the few remaining mana she had that hadn't been poisoned to attack the enemy, but a cold, indifferent voice from the side snapped her out of her thoughts.
"When we meet in the future, be assured that I will kill you, your ruler, and all his servants and followers one by one," Asher threatened, a powerful murderous aura emanating from his dark purple eyes.
"What..." The horned man didn't understand what he meant, but after examining the knife in his hand, he noticed that it had strangely begun to crumble into dust.
Before he knew it, a powerful space rift appeared behind him, sending Rose flying away and pulling the horned man inside with a powerful suction force.
Asher smiled coldly, knowing what was happening. The knife was the same one Kira had owned. Asher had borrowed it from him after realizing that its ability was activated when touching the sharp end, sending them flying to a random location.
"You deceitful bastard..." Just as the horned man was about to be swallowed, a purple chain shot out of his hand and headed straight for Asher.
Before Asher could react, the chain had already grabbed him and began pulling him forcefully towards the rift.
'Damn it, my skills aren't working...' The chain had a strange ability that prevented him from using any mana.
"Asher..." Rose screamed at the top of her lungs after seeing Asher being dragged away. She tried to get up and save him, but she fell to the ground due to severe internal injuries, her strength completely drained.
"Damn it, Asher..." she whispered powerlessly. For the first time in her life, she felt so helpless, wanting to save someone but unable to do anything to help them.
Slash!
Just as Asher was about to enter the rift, a dark blue aura arched from above, severing the chain. The rift swallowing the horned man closed, and Asher fell to the ground, gasping for breath. He was about to show Kira, knowing that if he entered that spatial rift, he would never emerge, even though he had Kira.
...
Name: Drakova
Age: Unspecified
Race: Shifter
Level: 570 {Rank 5}
Bloodline: None
Affinity: Void
...
'I don't know what this means, but I'm sure it has something to do with the Void Lord. Also, he's 70 levels above Kira, so he has a good chance of defeating Kira even if she cooperates with him...' Asher thought seriously after being so close to death again.
'The speed of events in such a short period is really tiring, so I really need to rest a little...' He sighed quietly before getting up from the ground.
'Asher, are you okay?' A tired, pained voice snapped him out of his thoughts.
He raised his head slowly to be greeted by four people, of whom he recognized only Rose, who was leaning on the shoulder of a young man who was a stranger to him.
Rose remembered that Asher had lost his memory, so she quickly introduced them to each other.
"Asher, this is Victoria, Alex, and Nira, who saved you. You guys should know that he's Asher Darwin, but he's lost his memory, so he doesn't know any of you right now," Rose explained calmly.
The three were surprised that Asher had lost his memory, but they didn't say anything. They just stared at the young man in front of them, who had already reached Rank 2. People his age hadn't even surpassed Rank 1 yet, and he had surpassed them, even though he was far from home.
Rose Aida was a little surprised to see that he had risen in rank so quickly. When she first met him, he was still Rank 1, and now he was already Rank 2.
Unlike them, Asher didn't care about any of them. He stared at Nira for a moment, then...
"I didn't need your help. I was going to take care of myself," he said calmly and walked away, leaving the four confused by his strange behavior.
"He seems to have lost even his sense of gratitude," Alex said sarcastically. Naira, on the other hand, was staring at him intently. "Let's go with him, guys. He doesn't know which way to go in the city," Rose said piteously.
"What were you two doing here? Were you in a relationship? Come on, tell me," Alex said playfully.
"One more word and I'll freeze your balls off," Rose threatened with an icy expression, causing the others to smile slightly.