When the transmission finally ended, Lucas found himself standing in the middle of a forest.
It wasn't an ordinary forest—it was ancient, lush, and dense to the point that he couldn't even see the sky above. A heavy canopy of leaves blocked most of the sunlight, allowing only faint specks of golden light to filter down in scattered beams. Those small fragments of brightness made the forest look slightly less oppressive, but the atmosphere remained eerie and suffocating.
Lucas slowly turned in place, scanning his surroundings. The trees here were gigantic, far larger than anything he had ever seen. Some trunks were wider than ten meters in diameter, towering skyward like the pillars of a forgotten world. Standing beside them, he felt as small as an insect—fragile, almost insignificant.
Still, there was one small comfort: no monsters had attacked him yet. The silence, heavy and tense as it was, gave him a brief sense of safety.
Suddenly, a prompt appeared before his eyes, glowing faintly.
[You have entered the Cursed Forest. There are powerful enemies here, please be careful!]
"The Cursed Forest?" Lucas raised his brows. A slight chuckle escaped him. "Well, that doesn't sound promising… Don't tell me everyone who enters here gets saddled with some kind of mysterious curse?"
He quickly pulled up his personal attribute panel, scanning through every section with sharp eyes. To his relief, there was no sign of a debuff, no indicators of a curse clinging to him. Only then did he exhale, his shoulders relaxing slightly.
Because truthfully, if he were cursed right now, he had no easy way to lift it. He didn't have any potion capable of dispelling curses. The only option would have been to unleash his Shura's Blood Fury, a powerful skill that automatically cleared all negative statuses upon activation. But that skill was far too precious to waste casually.
And if the curse turned out to be the persistent type—one that clung back to him as soon as Blood Fury ended—it would become a nightmare to deal with.
Thankfully, it seemed this forest wasn't designed to instantly cripple adventurers. The so-called curse, at least for now, didn't target players who entered.
"Good. Then let's not waste time." Lucas straightened. "The goal is the Secret Realm center."
He opened the map. His position was displayed at the extreme edge of the Secret Realm. The center lay a long distance away, deep within the cursed woodland.
Unlike his previous experiences where he had to hunt monsters to accumulate points, this place was different. Here, the task was simple yet brutal: defeat the final Boss guarding the heart of the Secret Realm. Only then could he hope to clear it and perhaps obtain the legendary Core Holy Stone of the Realm.
It was a race against time. As the first one to discover the entrance, Lucas had a head start. But that lead would mean nothing if he wasted it wandering. Others might stumble into this place at any moment.
With determination flashing in his eyes, he sprinted forward, heading toward the center at full speed.
---
The quiet didn't last long.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Lucas's instincts screamed. His expression hardened as he twisted his body sideways. Arrows whistled past him, slamming into a massive tree behind. The force buried the shafts three inches deep into the thick wood.
"So… finally a monster encounter?" Lucas murmured, but instead of fear, a grin tugged at his lips. He drew his dagger, eyes gleaming. "Perfect. Let's see what you've got."
He dashed toward the direction the arrows had come from, anticipation building. But when the attackers revealed themselves, his confidence faltered.
"Holy hell… what the f*** are those things?"
Emerging from the shadows were several deformed humanoid figures, their bodies twisted grotesquely. Their eyes glowed a bloody red, and each of them carried a crude bow, arrows notched and ready. Their faces were feral, filled with hatred and malice.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
A rain of arrows screamed through the air. Lucas darted between them, his movements sharp and graceful, narrowly avoiding each deadly shot. Then—just as the next volley closed in—his figure vanished, swallowed into the darkness of stealth.
The monsters paused. Their eyes, full of savage intent, suddenly flickered with confusion. Their intelligence seemed pitifully low; they looked around aimlessly, unable to locate him.
That was when Lucas struck.
"The Bite of the Hidden Snake!"
He reappeared directly behind one of the creatures. His dagger flashed, twin arcs of cold steel sinking deep into the monster's neck.
-56,217!
A massive damage number floated up. The strike was amplified by his Delusion-Breaking Eye, a Talent skill that revealed weak points on enemies, further boosting damage when exploited.
But to his surprise, the monster didn't die. It merely staggered, stars spinning above its head, knocked into a stunned state.
"This thing's blood is thick!" Lucas muttered, swinging his dagger again.
-18,000!
Still, the creature remained alive. Frowning, he stabbed once more. Finally, the monster collapsed in a heap, lifeless.
"What the hell? Just how much HP do you freaks have?"
He immediately flung a Detection Scroll at the remaining enemies. Their stats materialized:
Name: Cursed Elf
Level: 56
HP: 80,512
Attack Power: 3,564
Physical Defense: 2,645
Magic Defense: 2,416
Lucas's jaw tightened. "Normal defenses, attack power isn't insane… but HP over eighty thousand? That's basically mini-Boss level for a regular mob!"
Before he could curse further, the others had already loosed another barrage. Arrows sliced through the air, converging from all directions.
Suppressing his shock, Lucas rolled forward and vanished again. He reappeared at another monster's back, dagger thrusting with ruthless precision.
-55,674!
Not as strong as his last strike—no critical hit this time. Gritting his teeth, he unleashed Night Blade Strike, carving through flesh with another devastating blow.
-37,000!
The monster dropped, finally defeated.
Lucas exhaled through clenched teeth. "Yeah… low crit rate's a problem."
This wasn't a fight he could drag out with casual swings. He narrowed his eyes. "Fine. Double Talent effects—let's end this."
Activating Delusion-Breaking Eye again, he marked every weak point glowing across the monsters' twisted bodies. Then he surged forward.
Each precise strike became lethal. One skill, one kill.
In minutes, the last of the deformed archers hit the ground. Their corpses lay scattered, hideous forms finally still.
Lucas straightened, wiping his blade clean. "Hmph. These things… the blood volume's abnormal. This whole Secret Realm feels off."
He drank a mana potion, replenishing his strength, then crouched to search the bodies. As he examined their twisted features, a chill crept down his spine.
Because despite their monstrous appearance—tumors bulging across their bodies, faces distorted into grotesque masks—there were traces still visible. Traces of what they once had been.
"Elves…" Lucas whispered, realization dawning.
The delicate bone structure, the faint outline of long ears… It was faint, but unmistakable. These weren't just random abominations. They were elves—once a race known for beauty and grace, now reduced to cursed monstrosities.
Lucas's eyes darkened. "So that's the curse of this forest."
He stood in silence for a long moment, the whisper of leaves echoing above him. The air felt heavier now, as though unseen eyes were watching from the depths of the cursed woodland.
"Then I'll be ready. Whatever did this to them… it won't stop me."
With a grim expression, Lucas turned and pressed deeper into the forest, the shadows swallowing him once again.
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