"Now what? Do we just die?" Claude muttered under his breath. It wasn't a sarcastic question, but rather a genuine one. At this rate, he could tell that they really were going to die.
Summoning the Mythical Blood Dragon through a blood sacrifice was one thing. But meeting it in its natural habitat was another. In the first scenario, they'd be able to easily control the Mythical Blood Dragon.
On the other hand, the second scenario dictated that they die a quick and painless death.
"Not really, let's get out of here." Albrecht calmly said as he stood up and dusted himself off.
When he 'undipped' the cylinder from the Lake of Mystical Fire, it wasn't a cylinder anymore. It was in the form of a huge nail— a stake. It glowed a bright orange color and yellow veins pulsed on its surface.
[Item: Mystical Fire Stake (?-Rank)
Obtainment difficulty (?-Rank)
A divine artifact blessed by Fjormir, the Overseer of Fire. In ancient times, it is a direct sign of Fjormir's divine blessing. Also called the Mythic Killer since it could kill dragons, faeries, vampires, elves, etc, with ease. It is a human-exclusive divine artifact]
Satisfied with the results, Albrecht turned towards Anastasia and Claude, completely ignoring the Mythical Blood Dragon which was directly looking at them. "Let's go,"
Anastasia and Claude had no idea what Albrecht was holding. They didn't bother asking him about it though since it seemed to do the trick. The Mythical Blood Dragon held its ground, and it didn't attempt an attack on the group.
"Why isn't it attacking?" Claude asked even though he already knew the answer.
Without saying a word, Albrecht shook the Mystical Fire Stake in front of Claude, and he nodded in response.
The walk back to the Zecian Portal was easy. Once they got there, it was only a matter of time before the Zecian Portal to the Sixth Outerlayer would spawn.
They have fifteen minutes left, so they decided to take a rest.
"How did you know?" Anastasia asked.
She knew that this was the first time that Albrecht got to the Fourth Outerlayer. No human had been here before, that's why she was surprised that Albrecht knew the place like the back of his hand.
"Just a hunch. In any case, let's eat," Albrecht said.
In a minute, Albrecht prepared a fire, and he grabbed a couple of ready-made meal packs from his inventory. He then dipped the meal packs in a cauldron of water and set it on top of the fire. "Since it's hot in here, the water would heat up in no time."
And he was right. It didn't even take two minutes for the meal packs to cook. He handed each of them one. "Here you go,"
Anastasia and Claude gratefully received the meal packs since they were told it was food. They were getting rather famished so any food will do for them.
However, they had no idea how to eat the meal pack.
"Just open it up like you're opening a fruit," Albrecht explained, cutting the top part of the meal pack and exposing its contents. He then put it on his lips and tilted it upwards. "We don't have utensils, so just eat it straight from the pack."
Nodding their heads, the two vampires copied what Albrecht did, and pretty soon, the group was enjoying their meals. "Interesting, how could one meal come from one fruit?" Claude asked.
Albrecht handed him another one. "It's not a fruit. It's a meal encased in a bag. You do know what a bag is, right?" Albrecht teased.
"Of course, we're not savages," Claude returned. He was embarrassed by his previous statement so he just remained quiet while he ate a second helping.
Anastasia was quiet all throughout their meal as well. Obviously, she was enjoying the meal. But in addition to that, she was too anxious about their surroundings that she couldn't bring herself to converse.
—
Although a certain Mythical Blood Dragon was glaring at them with its eyes filled with bloodthirst, the three of them enjoyed their meal. Pretty soon, the Zecian Portal to the Sixth Outerlayer had finally appeared and it was time for them to go.
Albrecht quickly packed up, and he gestured for Anastasia and Claude to step inside the Zecian Portal first.
"Ah! Before I go, here." Albrecht turned around and threw something at the Mythical Blood Dragon.
The Mythical Blood Dragon was surprised at what Albrecht threw at him. Even then, he didn't hesitate to eat it.
It was a Molten Iron Ore— a delicacy for dragons like him.
"And it's even strawberry flavored..." The Mythical Blood Dragon said to himself. Before he could thank Albrecht for the treat, Albrecht had already disappeared.
"His name was Albrecht, right? I will remember him." Letting out an exhale, the Mythical Blood Dragon walked away, retracing his footsteps back to his nest.
— — —
Sixth Outerlayer, Hldrmir's Realm,
Unlike other Outerlayers, the Sixth Outerlayer didn't require someone to clear it by defeating the guardian. Instead, a trial will be placed upon entrance to the outerlayer.
It is up to the adventurers whether to clear it or not. However, if they want to get to the Seventh Outerlayer, they need to clear the trial.
Clearing the trial would grant audience to Hldrmir, the Overseer of Earth. The due reward would then be given to those who cleared the trial.
In other dimensions (according to the information granted by the System), Hldrmir bestowed power to those who cleared his trial. Most of the skills he gave were related to the element of earth.
Also, just like any other overseer, he also had access to other dimensions and knew who were naturally attuned to his element or not.
He had met other versions of certain people, that's why he was aware of what skills to give them and how to best guide them. Of course, they have to clear his trial first in order to obtain this power.
Overseers are not bound to Ground Zero. The outerlayer where they existed is just a mere extension of their dimension. That's why most rules on Ground Zero don't apply to them, and they were also not affiliated with higher beings like the High Elders who existed in the inner layers of Ground Zero.
Hldrmir knew that it would take at least three more years before the first human came to the Sixth Outerlayer. Until then, there was nothing he could do but manage the other dimensions where he also had his own Sixth Outerlayer.
(To easily understand the concept, the dimension where the Overseer existed is the main branch. And the extensions of the Overseer's dimension in the form of outerlayers were scattered around the multiverse, these are the branches the Overseer manage to gain more followers.)
Hldrmir boringly granted skills to adventurers in other dimensions. Since his Outerlayer is on the low end of the spectrum, a lot of adventurers come by to gain power from him.
It had become a habit of his to grant low-leveled skills to the lackluster adventurers.
Fwoooosh~
Today was the usual day of handing out skills and blessings to adventurers who cleared his trial. But to his surprise, a certain dimension caught him off-guard.
He was expecting another three or four years before the first human came to his Sixth Outerlayer. However, the Zecian Portal had warped in shape, and three humans— no, a human and two vampires entered his realm.
"WHAT?! What's happening?!" Hldrmir exclaimed as his eyes almost popped out of their sockets.