Chapter 9 Death Canyon
Jake stared at the ominous ground in front of him. The canyon had a singular path that led inside, but the valley tops were surmountable as well.
Jake had no intention of doing something that dangerous though.
The primary problem with the singular path that led deep into the canyon was that it had vicious scorpions that would tear invaders apart.
Not even level 50 players could charge in there. Only guilds, with their entire force, could try and push into the path and rotate with a proper cycle.
But Jake wouldn\'t have this problem. He took out the paste.
[Use Unknown paste?]
He agreed, and his body immediately smelled all bloody and muddy. The moment he walked into the path, the slight disturbance caused all of the scorpions to arise and look around.
But almost immediately, all the scorpions just looked away, like nothing had happened. They just let Jake pass by.
"The Hollow Knight. I wonder who the hell that is. But where do I find him? The Quest did not have a quest map, so I don\'t have a point that I have to find. I hope he is easy to find." Jake crossed his fingers and continued to walk further along.
The number of scorpions also decreased, but their levels were increasing. The moment that they knew there was an intruder in their midst, Jake would lose his life.
Still, Jake was confident. He was not high leveled. He could easily get back the exp that he would lose, and the Sword of Misery was an item that could not be dropped.
Completing this mission was more important than anything else.
He glanced above. Maybe the Hollow Knight was somewhere up there.
Ting!
Jake felt his sword move all of a sudden. It just flew from its sheath and started flying forward.
Without even hesitating, he gave chase. He could not afford to let this sword get away. After all, it was the only thing that he got after two days of hard work!
The sword stopped in front of a cliff and flew up. Jake had to stop here because there was no way that he could just jump that high.
Looking up, the cliff was at least ten meters high.
"This is not real life. You can just climb it." he willed himself and grabbed the rocks to start climbing the cliff.
Slowly, he gained altitude. Making sure not to fall down, because that would lose him all his HP, he grabbed the top of the cliff and hoisted himself up.
Panting, he looked at the sword that was hovering there. But his expression changed, because behind that sword, was a boot.
Quickly getting on his feet, he looked at the person behind the sword.
Clad in armor from head to toe, the Hollow Knight certainly deserved his name. In the very few openings, there was only darkness. It was like there was nothing in them.
"The sword of misery has taken a long time to reach me. I thought that I would never see it again." the Hollow Knight took the sword like it was his own.
Jake was also confused. Even though it was his own equipment, it had a mind of its own, not even listening to him!
"You are here to inherit it, I presume. The last person was worthy of the sword of misery, but nothing else. Let us see if you shall be worthy, worthy to become the next Knight of Sin!" the Hollow Knight said with a deep voice.
"I shall try my best to finish it. What do I need to do?" Jake nodded.
"The sword of misery is yours now. I will not take it from you any more. You will have this to help you out, so it should be easier. You will be taken to the trial of sin, a place where you can become a true knight of sin. Protect your queen, and you shall be rewarded." the Hollow Knight said.
[Class Change Quest: Protect the Queen
Quest difficulty: SSS
Quest time limit: 10 days
Reward: Class Change to Knight of Sin
Penalty: Death, loss of one level
Accept: Y/N]
"Accept." Jake nodded.
[Bonus Mission: Kill all the enemies of the Queen.
Reward: Unknown
Penalty: No penalty]
Another mission popped up along with it. Jake took quick note of it and nodded.
"When does the quest start?" he asked.
"Now."
Immediately, Jake felt a force that pushed him from where he stood to someplace else entirely. The desert disappeared. He was on a mud road now, with a cliff blocking one side and the forest on the other.
Jake was walking, even though he was not willing it.
On his back, he could feel the Sword of misery resting. And in front of him, behind him, around him, were hundreds of people dressed in white.
None of them were enemies. All of them were walking just like Jake was.
"I am wearing white too. I must have entered another body for this quest. I am so glad that I have the sword with me." he judged his situation and looked around once more.
He was a part of this entourage. It was pretty clear that this was for the queen that he was supposed to protect. But for some reason, there was this nagging feeling that the queen was not the person in the carriage in the middle of this caravan.
"For sure, one of the hand maidens is probably the queen disguised. I need to make sure that there are no casualties at all to be absolutely sure. If this is an SSS rank Quest, there is bound to be a twist. First, am I strong enough to battle the people who come out?" he quickly checked his stats.
His normal body, which was from the game, was just at level 6! That was pitiful, and would not be able to do anything at all!
But this body was not like that. It had many basic and intermediate skills, all of which he knew that he could use.
He glanced at the person next to him. Standing tall and marching properly, this was a well trained guard.
Everyone here was probably around the same level.
"Any moment now." he thought as he glanced at the forest next to them.
Then, he paused for a moment.
"Why did you stop? Keep marching." a voice sternly said from behind, but Jake did not listen to that.
Because he was staring above him, glaring at the top of the cliff. There were huge rocks lying there. Rocks that big just didn\'t lie on cliffs!
"The bandits are going to attack from the top! We can\'t defend unless we retreat to the forest!" he realized.
But before he could do anything, a horn was sounded. The bandits were striking!
"Take the queen and flee into the forest! They are going to attack with rocks on the top!" Jake shouted with the loudest voice that he could.
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