Azekiel grabbed the apple as well, but he didn't eat it, despite being extremely hungry.
The System had already warned him that this place was the Domain of Soul Demon. And if he wasn't wrong, the old man before him was the Soul Demon that the system warned him about.
He wasn't sure if these apples were poisoned or not, but he didn't want to leave that to chance. His safety was in his own hands. Fortunately, he could also see that Lia and Raphael didn't eat either. They were also sensible enough.
"Why aren't any of you eating?" The Soul Demon asked, seemingly not understanding why they didn't eat. "Do you not trust this old man?"
"It's not that we don't trust you. We are just not hungry at the moment. We will save these apples for the future." Azekiel kept the apple in his pocket, giving a swift excuse.
The other two gave the same excuse, keeping the apple for later.
The old man chuckled. "It's fine. If you don't want to eat now, I won't force you. Come, my house isn't too far from here."
He once again took the lead, gesturing for everyone to follow him.
This time, Azekiel didn't stop. He followed the man, keeping his pace low to give him as much time to understand the situation as he could. Unfortunately, he couldn't talk with Raphael since he wasn't sure if the Soul Demon could hear their conversation. It was better not to take the risk.
The town had many people who could be seen on the street, busy with their work. Some were doing pottery outside their homes; others were cleaning the streets, and some were creating decorations at their doorsteps. It appeared somewhat like preparation for some festival was being done.
Along the way, the people of this town glanced at them. There was only one thing strange about that glance. Everyone only glanced once and not again, which was weird. At least one person should've taken a second glance or looked for longer, which wasn't the case. It was like there was some rule where they could only glance once.
Another thing of interest was the eyes of these people. They all looked like ordinary people, yet their eyes appeared somewhat blank. Raphael also noticed the same weirdness in the surroundings.
This prompted him to be even more alert. This world... This place... It wasn't ordinary. Azekiel's life was at risk there. In fact, when the old man appeared behind Azekiel like a ghost last time, he was in a perfect position to kill him, and no one would've been able to stop him. It was their good luck that the old man didn't kill them right away.
Still, that didn't mean he wasn't dangerous. Raphael was even more alert, keeping an eye on all the surroundings as if he was in a Warzone. One good thing about all this was that he could touch things once again in this town. That meant he could also fight here without the need to be summoned. That was the only silver lining in this entire situation for him.
This time, Azekiel didn't stop while walking. He didn't want to attract the same unnecessary attention again.
Instead of stopping, he interacted with his system while walking. The same screen was still open, telling him that he had accepted the task.
The accidental acceptance was a bit irritating, but there was nothing that he could do anymore. Moreover, it wasn't as if he was completely disappointed with this. No matter what, this was still a hidden quest that was certainly going to give him a good reward if he could finish it.
Even though it was accidental, now that he accepted this quest, the description of the quest became visible to him.
He tapped on the description. He didn't stop walking at all. Fortunately, the system screen was semi-transparent, which allowed him to keep an eye ahead as well. Through the semi-transparent screen, he noticed the old man gazing back at him ever so often.
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Hidden Quest:
You have entered the Domain of the Soul Demon, known for his ruthless conquests in the War of Gods. Kill the corrupted Soul Demon and retrieve the key to Castle of Infinity to finish the quest.
Time Limit: Five Hours
Rewards: Storage Ring
Reward: Key of Castle of Infinity
Caution: Your Life is in Danger. Please tread carefully. The boundaries of the town have been sealed by the Soul Demon. You can't leave without finishing the Quest.
***********************************
'As expected, this place was dangerous. Soul Demon who fought against Gods... It won't be easy to take him down. But even if I do take him down, I need to find the key as well.'
He had no idea what the key of Castle of Infinity did, but if the hidden task asked him to find it and used it as a reward, that meant something was special about the key. It was the reward of a Hidden Quest, after all... And a dangerous Hidden Quest, not an easy one.
The rewards of a quest were supposed to be in sync with the danger level of the quests. If the quest was to kill someone so dangerous, then the reward was probably better than anything he had received so far.
Moreover, what really attracted his attention was the other reward: the Storage Ring. If his guess was right, it was a ring that could be used to store things. In essence, he could carry food in the ring, not having to worry about it at all.
He wanted to finish this quest at any cost to get the ring and the other rewards.
He closed the screen, tapping the shoulder of Raphael.
Raphael glanced back at Azekiel.
Azekiel didn't say anything to Raphael. Instead, he only talked to Raphael through gestures.
He tapped the book in his hands twice before pointing at the Soul Demon when he wasn't looking back, signifying that he was going to get the Soul Demon to open the book.
His mission was to kill the Soul Demon, who was really powerful, but he also had some special tricks he could use, especially the Curse of the Book. If he could have the Soul Demon open the book, the curse was going to work on him.
Azekiel didn't know what the curse on the book was, but it was better than nothing. And who knew, it could even kill the Soul Demon right away. But it wasn't that easy.
He had already seen how perceptive the Soul Demon was. It wasn't easy to get him to open the book without arousing suspicions.
[Warning: Your Hunger is reaching the threshold. Please eat something to avoid backlash]
Another notification appeared out of nowhere.
