Water dripped into the small underground lake in front of Aldred. He looked around and sensed nothing nearby.
Currently, he did not know to which part of the mountain he was teleported. Was he teleported to the bottom? To the top, or was he still in the middle? He couldn't tell.
Aldred picked a random direction and set forth.
"Mary!" He shouted as he walked. "Where are you guys?"
"Stella?!" he shouted again.
His voice boomed and echoed, but there was no reply.
"Seems like the teleportation is random but precise enough to make everyone far away from each other."
As Aldred kept walking, he saw a forge and an anvil sitting on a small cave. An iron chain hung from the ceiling.
Aldred approached to take a look and saw a skeleton leaning on the wall. The skeleton wore a dirty robe, and a hammer laid beside it.
Looking to the side, there was a carving of writings on the wall.
Aldred read:
'There is no escape to this place. I have counted my days here, but I have long lost track. I didn't even know if it was day or night here.'
Below the writing was another message:
'Don't trust anyone. That is my advice. Trust is an impossible thing to have. Kill anyone you see. Kill everything. Even your friends, and your lovers, because they are not who you think they are.'
A sound was heard which made Aldred abruptly turn around in the direction of the noise.
There was nothing. The sound disappeared. Aldred was about to turn around to read the next message until a kobold screamed and charged.
STAB!
Aldred pulled his blade and kicked the creature away.
[+5,250 EXP]
Aldred frowned as he looked in every direction. There was nothing. It was just this one kobold.
In the distance, a familiar figure appeared.
"Mary!"
The figure turned around and ran.
"Why the hell is she running? Mary, wait for me! Where are the others?" Aldred sprinted in her direction.
In the small cave, carved on the wall with blood, a message read out: DO NOT FOLLOW THEM.
...
When Aldred arrived where Mary stood earlier, there was nobody.
"Mary! Where are you?" Aldred frowned. "Did I see it wrong?"
Aldred entered a nearby tunnel where he believed Mary ran.
There was a sound of splashing and giggling.
"Aldred!" Mareona cheerfully waved at him with a smile. "Come here! Swim with us in this pool! It's made out of wine!"
Aldred was wary at first, but after he saw all of his wives and friends swimming in the underground lake, he let out a sigh of relief.
"I thought it would take a while to find you guys." Aldred approached them.
Stella knelt by the lake and scooped the water with a bamboo cup. She smiled and gave it to Aldred. "Have a taste, my sweet handsome man."
Aldred kissed her and took the cup before drinking it. "Ahh… this water tastes like wine. I can't believe it comes from this lake."
The lake was glowing blue from underneath because there were a lot of shining blue rocks at the bottom. It was a beautiful lake, and this small cave they were in was decorated with all kinds of minerals and crystals that let out their own light.
Kiara swam to him and softly held his hand. "Come in, Aldred. Let us swim deeper. There's a lot of beautiful fish down here."
"Kiara, didn't you say that you dislike water?"
"I do, but maybe it's fine to do it once in a while."
Aldred smiled. "Is that so?"
Phantom Doomblade formed in his hand, and it stabbed through Kiara's chest.
[Activating Demonic Bloodline]
[Breaking the illusion]
Space and time shattered, his wives and friends transformed into black goo, and the beautiful lake turned into a disgusting mouth of a creature.
The Phantom Doomblade was piercing through the head of the creature, making it scream and wriggled in pain.
A sharp tentacle came out of the mouth and whipped at Aldred. Summoning his golden shield, Aldred easily blocked the attack.
"Vile demon! I shall banish you back into hell. When you meet my father, tell him you were being a bad boy!"
The Phantom Doomblade moved like lightning and cut off the tentacle. The tentacle fell on the ground, wiggling like a worm on a hot pan.
Aldred swung once again, cutting half of the creature's head.
"I serve those who thirst! You cannot kill me, HUMAN!"
"I can kill whoever I want."
SLASH!
The creature's head popped off and fell to the ground, rolling as it left black goo behind.
[+5,540 EXP]
Aldred looked down and saw a bamboo cup that had black goo inside. "Ughh… did this creature really just make me drink this disgusting thing?"
After killing the creature, Aldred left the cave and looked around once again. He was lost. He did not know where to go, but he had to find his wives.
STOMP!
The ground shook. Aldred looked to the side and saw a naked giant with nothing but a tear-off cloth covering his genitals.
Aldred raised his blade as the giant approached, but he walked past, and then struck the wall with a giant pickaxe.
With each strike, a large part of the wall was removed while many crystals spilled out.
Aldred ignored the giant and walked away. That was until he saw all the crystals were at Epic rank. Not just one, two, three, or four, but dozens if not hundred of them.
"This is… I have struck it rich! But I haven't found the others yet." Aldred sighed as he put all the crystals on the ground inside his divine dimension.
The giant stopped mining and slowly turned to him. It wore a calm expression, but slowly turned into a frown, and then into a rage.
The giant roared, blowing out a powerful wind that ferociously blew his hair, and pushed him by ten inches.
"My bad. Why don't I trade the crystals for something else."
Aldred summoned a Sea Fruit and then threw it at the giant's mouth.
The giant's angry expression slowly turned into calm and then turned into happiness. He slammed the wall again, spilling dozens of crystals like last time, and then signaled for Aldred to pick them up.
Aldred laughed and then put all the crystals in his divine dimension. "Okay, I have to go now. I have to find my wives. After that, I will look for you here."
The giant let out a groan of sadness.
"Don't worry. I will give you a bag of this fruit." Aldred summoned the bag and threw it at the giant.
"See you later!" Aldred waved him goodbye before he sprinted away.
The giant watched Aldred leave and then looked at the tiny, weeny, little bag in his hand. Carefully opening it, the giant smiled when he saw numerous sea fruits inside.
"Thank you, tiny stranger," the giant slowly and hoarsely said.
Aldred heard that from miles away and smiled. "So you can actually talk."
As he ran for an hour or two, a giant statue of a gargoyle stood atop a pedestal.
The eye cracked open, shining in golden light. "Solve this riddle, and your question shall be answered."
A/N:
"Solve this riddle, and your question shall be answered: What walks on two during the day, but wiggles on four during the night?"
Answer below.
Answer: Your mom in my bed.
