Lord of the Karmic Fate

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[Realm Game: Shard Chasing]

° Difficulty: White Realm

° Rank Requirements: None

° Rules: Collect 500 Shards alone or with the help of other participants! However, be wary, the Shard Chasers are close!

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[Rewards]

- 2 random variety Avatar Flask

- 1 Small Piece Artifact Crystal

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Whoosh!

[Shard Chasing begins in 30 seconds!]

Once the warning appeared before both Raven and Old Dan, suddenly purple crystals appeared at the edge of every hallway, each floating about 10 inches above the ground.

Furthermore, Raven was able to see how many other floating crystals were visible behind the closest floating purple crystals, indicating there were more.

"We have to collect 500? Isn't that a lot?" Old Dan asked but when he saw how Raven took out two bottles, one filled with green liquid while the other with black, he looked confused.

"What are you doing?"

While opening both bottles' lids Raven raised a brow and asked "Isn't that obvious? I will drink both of these."

Then, without waiting for a reply he poured both contents of the bottle into his mouth and swallowed them as if they were orange juice.

'Hmm... I have expected something way worse but it seems I was wrong. They taste quite like milk.' Raven thought as he wiped the corner of his mouth and felt how changes happened within his body.

[3...]

[2...]

[1...]

[Realm Game: Shard Chasing has begun!]

[Shard Chasers had been freed!]

"We should get going." Raven threw the bottles in his hand to the side and quickly gestured for Old Dan to follow.

And not even a second later he arrived before the first purple crystal which upon coming into contact with his hand quickly melted into his body.

[Collected Shards: 1]

"It seems it counts our collected shards together." Old Dan exclaimed in front of Raven as he touched another floating crystal and watched how his and Raven's count increased by one.

"Should we split up then? Like that, we can collect 500 way faster than going the same way together." Raven raised a question while running a few meters behind Old Dan and watching as he collected shards after shards.

"I don't know... I think we sh-"

Tremble!

Suddenly, just as Old Dan wished to assert his opinion about the idea of splitting up, a great tremor shook the ground and walls around the two of them, while from the direction they have just come from small explosions started to resound, becoming louder with each passing fraction of a second!

And just a moment later when the commotions and the tremor began, a sight that could easily freeze the blood within anyone's vein emerged at the corner of the hallway, immediately causing Raven's and Old Dan's faces to change.

Right before the two of them, a massive black snake with a size almost as big as a truck was slithering toward them with eyes as crimson as blood while it opened its jaw from time to time, revealing the interior of its black mouth together with two gigantic fangs!

Furthermore, to make its appearance even more bizarre, Raven was able to spot a small red hat on top of the snake's head, one that looked like the hat of a doorman!

"Yeah, on second thought... I think it will be better if we split up." Old Dan then suddenly said, and without waiting for a reply he dashed to the left.

"...You!" Raven was speechless by the shameless act of Old Dan, but as he saw how fast the snake was moving he clenched his teeth and quickly started to run toward the right.

Of course, it was pointless to say that the moment the beast reached the point where it had to decide who it will chase after, without a second thought it continued to hunt after Raven!

'Let's see what you can do!' Raven thought with a calm expression in his heart while watching as the number of collected shards increased by 2 every two to three seconds!

Raven ran through several hallways while also occasionally changing directions, however, not even after running for more than 1 minute without slowing down, he noticed how the snake got further and further away from him until he could no longer see it!

It seemed that the black beast was much slower than the faceless creature from the First Realm Game, which obviously was all thanks to the extra three points of Speed that his Death Runner granted him!

Or at least that was what one would believe after seeing the obvious difference in speed, but Raven thought otherwise.

'Something is not quite right here.' Raven thought in his heart and subconsciously slowed his pace down as he entered a bigger room.

Looking around the room which seemed to be an old but luxurious dining area with hundreds of laid tables surrounded by numerous chairs and a few floating purple crystals over the place, Raven noticed that not counting the passage from where he just came, there were 2 other ways he could decide to go.

[Collected Shards: 73]

After giving a quick glance at the tiny floating magic panel on his side, Raven walked around the place and quickly collected all the 25 shards.

However, even after he has collected all the crystals which resulted in his collected amount of shards to increase over 100, the large snake has yet to catch up with him and there was no sign at all that it was nearby!

This only made the ominous feeling within his chest grow larger as he was quite familiar with this feeling. Just like how it appeared and saved him from dying during the first Realm Game, this time also it appeared and slowly but surely crept its way onto the surface!

Drip... Drip...

As Raven was slowly walking toward one of the entrances on the side which seemingly led the way into the kitchen as through the small circular window Raven was able to see frying pans and kitchen knives, suddenly Raven's steps halted, and lowered his gaze.

Drip... Drip...

'...'

Watching as some kind of liquid fell from above before his feet, Raven's face paled, and slowly raised his head.

And just as he did, a massive face of a white snake appeared above him, its deep ink-black eyes staring straight at him while its forked tongue which was as wide as a human arm kept appearing and disappearing from its mouth.

"Hissss!"

Drip... Drip... Drip... Drip...

Watching as the snake opened its mouth while pulling its head slightly backward, causing huge drops of saliva to fall onto the ground, Raven immediately knew what will happen next, thus without any thinking threw himself to the side.

"HISSS!"

BAM!

A great explosion shook the entirety of the dining area, its ripples sending all the furniture and silverware flying threw the air, from which several hit Raven, some even piercing his arm and legs!

[Vitality: 200 -> 148]

"...Argh! Damn it! This hurts like hell!" pulling out a knife from his right shoulder and a fork from his right upper thigh, a painful grimace swept through Raven's face before it turned back to normal once again.

"I must get out of here right n-"

Pushing himself quickly onto his feet as he saw how the white snake which had a small chef hat on its head shifted its gaze at him after failing to devour him, Raven wished to turn around and dash in the opposite direction when his steps halted abruptly once again.

As for the reason?

It was because unknown when, but at some point in time, the black snake that chased after him now towered over him less than five meters away, staring at him with visible bloodlust in its crimson eyes!

Seven could even see a small upward curve at the corner of its mouth, almost as if it was mocking him!

One behind his back and one in front of him with two out of the three entrances blocked by the massive bodies of each beast!

'I guess this is the time I should try and see what the syringe can do, huh?' Raven wondered as he subconsciously put his hand into his pocket where he put the syringe.

However, it was the very next second before a painful grimace once more appeared on his face, forcing not only him to quickly pull his hand out but also watch as his Vitality dropped by another 8 points!

"Don't tell me..." lowering his gaze to see why all of a sudden a sharp pain pierced his hand, Raven watched how pieces of broken glass covered in droplets of black liquid stood out of his palm!

The relic he has gotten from his throw at the start of the Realm Game, right now, was in numerous pieces in his hand, some of it piercing his skin so much that blood started to flow out of the wounds uncontrollably!

Without any question, the syringe got crushed into pieces the moment he threw himself to the side and fell to the ground, seemingly without any hope for it to get repaired!