The Young Master in the Shadows

Chapter 524: Zink Zed

“GARY! I thought we lost you!” ‘Victor’ yelled as he hurried and hugged ‘Gary’, who stood in front of the mirror adjusting his wedding suit with the help of an old tailor and his curvy female assistant, who clearly had many duties besides her basic role. 

“Eh….” Gary hesitated for a moment, not knowing whether to struggle out of the latter’s arms or not, then decided to go with the flow. “Victor,” he said, recalling the data from the ‘character briefing’ he asked his backer for when he heard this guy wanted to meet him. “Why did you ask to see me urgently? Couldn’t it wait until tomorrow?” he asked as he wondered why this guy requested to meet him this early. It was still about 9 a.m.

“I wanted to ask you about something before I made my report… On the Yacht, I think I saw the perpetrator behind the explosion!” Victor whispered while gesturing to both the tailor and his assistant to leave them alone.

“Oh… Really?” Gary… Or rather, Jim frowned, hearing him. He was still worried sick about Lumia, and this guy was telling him he saw her? “What did sh… he look like?” he asked, almost slipping as he watched the tailor close the door on his way out.

“He was a She… Not in any weird transgender way, but she was really a woman,” Victor, or rather Alpha, who had been playing Victor since yesterday, thanks to him using his Desigis skill through her, said, mimicking Victor’s stupid way of adding useless information. Then, lowering her voice further, she began whispering some more info to Jim, making sure that only he could hear it by secretly using a talsiman. “She wore a mask, so I couldn’t make out her face, but from her body shape, she is definitely a woman, a virgin who is 22 to 24 years old, to be precise. Her three sizes are  34,26,33….  Her chest might be a 30, though, as it might be tightly wrapped. She also had a blond lock of her hair out, so she is either blonde or likes to dye her hair like that… Finally, from the way she moved in the water, probably from the southern Islands! Divar Island, if I were to make a guess…" she added after acting like she was lost in thought for a moment.

Jim was also taken aback, but for a different reason. The info was just too accurate, too precise! “You could tell?” he asked nervously. Could it be that Victor was the one who kidnapped Lumia? Impossible, he read the report, this guy was rescued from the yacht after getting the latrine flipped over him!

Wait… Victor had just hugged him.

Jim naturally took a step backwards and smelled his new wedding suit a bit. Thankfully, there was nothing wrong.

“Of course I could tell, any man can!” Alpha sighed and said, no longer lowering her voice to let the one eavesdropping hear her later words. “Don’t worry, I didn’t tell anyone. If my guess is right, she is one of your old pursuers, right? Probably angry about the wedding and wanted to come and make trouble… The same thing happened in my wedding with that bastard Caspian, no need to be shy!”

“Ah….” Jim hesitated. How the hell did this bastard come to this conclusion? But wasn’t it convenient?

Should he affirm this bastard’s suspension and create a loophole in his cover, or deny it and let him report this…. Damn it! He couldn’t. The information was too specific and would definitely lead to someone identifying Lumia! 

But… What if Lumia was in his hands? Could it be that he was testing him? “Did you catch her?” Jim quickly asked.

“No… I was too preoccupied…” Alpha replied briefly. 

“...” Jim nodded. Yeah, Victor was drowning in shit… He would have no time to catch anyone!

“... So, do you know her? Or should I report it?” Victor asked again. 

“I am not sure… Do you have a photo of her?” Jim, being wary, asked.

“Pal, I only glanced at her once…”

“...” Jim rolled his eyes, not really believing Victor, but just in case, he couldn’t let the information be revealed, at least not before the wedding. He was not going to let anything stop him from taking Gary’s wife’s first night… Not after what those bastards made his sister go through. The poor girl had been locking herself in that hotel room ever since they rescued her. “She might really be an old lover, and she might not be, I can’t be sure yet … Please don’t tell anyone before I investigate a few things myself!” Jim finally said. Gary definitely had many girlfriends… He could easily say later that he made a mistake if confronted! Yeah… Delaying things by saying that he would investigate things would be the best course of action!

“Don’t worry, pal!” Alpha smiled knowingly as he patted Jim’s shoulder repeatedly.

Harvey, who had been eavesdropping from the other room this entire time, wasn't smiling at all…  Let alone the fact that Victor clearly recognized the perpetrator behind the explosion and hid it for him for some reason. This Gary was clearly a fake, as the real one had no girlfriends. April was his first, real one at least, and he had no one else. Harvey was sure of this as he was the one always urging his stupid grandson to go bang a few girls.

This guy was definitely a fake… A fake so convincing that he could fool even him!

Still… Should he make a move now?

Of course not! Pulling the rope too early would definitely startle the snake behind this! And he still wanted to see if Victor’s first brother would manage to get Gary out before the wedding, though it was doubtful… Still…

Harvey felt super annoyed as he wondered what Victor was playing at, hiding information conveniently, then revealing it step by step.

It was like that bastard was planning to control the entire situation to reach some goal, but what?

DAMN IT! 

Harvey didn’t like being played, but he had no choice but to go along for now. He couldn’t force Victor, who was an elite heir in his clan, to reveal anything, but once the wedding started, he would definitely get that fake and squeeze all the info from him, including the identity of his helpers from inside the family!

***

Yulian and Gary followed the old man and his daughter toward the village entrance. Both of them had very strange looks on their faces as the situation was very bizarre.

What awaited them near the large stone gate was 10 young men dressed in leather armor riding what seemed like giant mantises.

Behind them, there was a ‘Herd’ of what looked like sheep-sized white fuzzy worms that were squiggling around inside a fence made of a large rope.

Guarding the village entrance was a group of 20 young men holding long bone spears. As soon as Zer arrived with Anastasia right behind him, they split into two parts and moved to the sides to make way! 

“Old Man, it’s been a while!” the young man in the front said as they approached. “You too, Miss Ana, you grow more beautiful each day!” he added, not forgetting to lick his lips and wink when he looked at Anastasia, not hiding the desire in his eyes.

“Diago, what is the meaning of this! I already said that no Von Zwei would marry my daughter… Do you want me to teach you a lesson as I did three years ago to your damn father?!” Zer began to yell angrily as the warriors from his village glared at the ‘Mantis knights’.

“Don’t give me that rhetoric, old man… I have been waiting for this for years, and now we both know that you can’t stop me!” Diago jumped off his Mantis. “You already did a good job hiding your sickness from us for years, but my men confirmed it last week during the insect surge when you almost got killed by that nine-toothed cockroach that broke through… That curse must have reached its latest stages. Right now, you already have less than two months to live, and can barely use 1% or your power!” he said flatly.

Yulian squinted his eyes, hearing this, and figured many things out. That spider tattoo on Zer and Ana’s faces was a curse?

“Well… It took you long enough to stop being cowards!” the old man sneered coldly. “But even with less than half a percent, I can erase not only your puny family, but your entire Tribe…” the old man spat. His power when unleashing his bloodline was not something those greenhorns could comprehend.

“You will not… Do you think I came here without preparing?!” Diago said as he threw a colorfully knotted rope toward the old man. This one represented an agreement made by many different factions. “The Tribes' alliance had met and decided to stand behind me! I will marry Ana and take your position as the alliance leader! If you dare to stop us, the others will never let your daughter and tribe live peacefully after you cross to the underworld!”

“You… So that’s why you little rats have been active lately!” Zer didn’t even bend to grab the rope on the ground, just glancing at it with disdain. It was he who made this system years ago, and those bastards dare to use it against him. Well, it was not the first time… But this little bastard dared to set eyes on his daughter!

“Come on, old man, let me marry Miss Ana and we will be family, no need for much drama…” Diago replied with a victorious smirk. “In addition to this dowry of 40 Fuzz worms, I will give your daughter a grand wedding…” he paused, pointing to a herd of wiggling, fluffy worms behind him. “Also, when you pass away, I will even make sure to build a grand grave for you, your legacy will live on forever though mine and Ana’s offspring!! I will be even generous enough to call my eldest son Zer!”

“...” Zer sighed, shooting Yulian an apologetic look before turning to face Diago again. “Sorry to tell you this, but you are a bit late…  Ana had already married someone this morning…” he said as he stepped backward and patted Yulian’s back, pushing him a few steps forward.

Hearing the old man’s words, everyone fell silent and turned to look at Yulian, checking him from head to toe as if he were some kind of prostitute.

 “Here’s your chance, boy… Challenge this guy to a fight and prove you are a man… If you don’t, I will be very disappointed!" Zer, ignoring everyone, whispered in the stunned Yulian’s ears. 

“What…” Yulian didn’t get that completely before he turned to face Diago, who took a moment to understand what the old man said. His father-in-law was using this guy to test him!

“...”

“...”

“WHAT? Him?…. Impossible… You must be lying!” Diago pointed angrily.

“He is already my son-in-law, a real Von Krone!” Zer said. “He spent last night with Anastasia to consummate their wedding… Hey, stand up for her a bit at the very least!” he kicked the hesitant Yulian’s calf as he said it. Damn, young men these days.

“Ah… YES... I… “ Yulian stuttered as Ana, who noticed Yulian’s worry, took a step forward, then grabbed his hand with a blush and nodded toward Diago as if to tell him, ‘That’s my husband!’

Seeing her action, Zer could only sigh at his daughter's protective behavior. She already considered Yulian her husband, it seemed. “See….” he turned to Diago and said.

“...Hssssssss…”

Everyone hissed.

“So it is real…”

“Who would have thought…”

“Damn, Diago came to propose, then got Cucked….”

“This is legendary!”

“DAMN! WHO SAID THAT!” Daigo, who finally woke up from his stun and understood what happened, flared after hearing what the people said. The ones who were whispering were not only the villagers, but some of the guys who came with him.

“...” No one replied.

Diago spat, then turned toward Zer. “DO YOU THINK I WILL BELIEVE THAT MISS ANA, WHO HAD VERY HIGH STANDARDS, WOULD CHOOSE SOME GUY WHO CLEARLY DIDN’T PASS LEVEL 50 OVER ME?” he flared. “DID YOU FORCE HER…” 

Yulian frowned. How could this guy tell his level just from glancing? Did he have some kind of treasure? Or was it a skill?

“Love works in strange ways… I couldn’t stop her….” Zer sighed, telling the truth. His daughter made the choice by herself. She had always been headstrong and sacrificial after her mother died, doing everything in her power to try to save his life. “Whether you believe or not, it is not my problem…”

“YOU…” Diago frowned, then looked at Yulian again.

Yulian could only sigh. Why the fuck did he just get thrown into this drama… Well, feeling Ana’s hand holding his, he knew he shouldn’t back down. She was his woman, and he was the one who was supposed to protect her. “Yes, Ana is my wife!” he said, looking back at Diago. “So I advise you to step back and go back to whichever hole you crawled up from!” he added. Although his level was clearly lower than this guy's, he had a few tricks up his sleeve and was confident enough to win any fight.

Ana’s hand squeezed his as she heard him.

“...” Diago frowned, not sure what to do. If he were to back down now, he would have no face left, and his prospects of becoming the Alliance leader would be damaged! “Boy, are you sure you want to challenge me like this?" Diago asked finally, looking at Yulian as if he were a human being for the first time.

“I am the one who should be asking this… Since when do insects talk?” Yulian replied, deciding to start using his Soul Paladine power by angering Diago to weaken his soul. 

“Hssssssssssssssssss….” Everyone gasped. No one dared to make fun of the Von Zwei heirs!

“WHa…” Diago was taken aback. "Who dare...."

“I challenge you to a fight!” Yulian interutped, pressing on and deciding to take on his father-in-law’s challenge.

Zer secretly raised his thumb up. Although Yulian was getting his ass kicked in a few moments, at least he was acting like a man! 

“I ACCEPT…… WHOEVER IS LEFT STANDING WILL BE ANASTASIA'S FUTURE….” Diago yelled his answer, but before he could utter his last words, he was interrupted.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

An explosion sounded high, far above everyone who involuntarily looked up.

Woooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo……….

BAM!

POOOOOOOOOOF….

Before anyone could recognize what just happened, a giant boulder fell from the sky right on top of Diago and the three guys around him who were his strongest bodyguards, squishing them immediately into paste… Well, no one saw the exact process as it happened in a second, and a giant cloud of dust rose right after.

Everyone quickly stepped back, squinting their eyes, firmly covering their mouths with their arms, and pulling out their weapons at the same time.

This included Ana, who took out a golden dagger as she pulled Yulian behind her as if he were some ragdoll, making him realize that her level was way higher than his!

Everyone was ready for some kind of monster to start attacking, as they believed this was some kind of insect surge that usually happened every few months. But strangely enough, nothing happened.

Slowly, the dust cloud began to thin out and reveal a giant silhouette on top of the boulder.

“A…. A giant eight-winged cockroach!" someone yelled in a horrified voice.

“Kyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa…….” A woman screamed, then passed out. She was not alone.

“Men… Prepare to sacrifice yourselves for your loved ones…” someone shouted bravely.

“No… Wait… It is a 12-winged one…. We are doomed…” someone else exclaimed as the dust finally settled down.

Everyone could make out the identity of the thing in front of them. It was really a giant cockroach that had the height of three men and had 6 intertwined pairs of wings on its back. A real 12-winged cockroach that is only rumored to live deep in the maze. This thing was not only very powerful, but also semi-sentient!

"Why is it not moving… Is it dead?” a rookie asked.

“No… Step back!” Zer shouted as he pulled a giant hammer out of thin air and swallowed hard as he was ready to fight. 

The cockroach was not dead, but fully alive and well, as it moved its wings in a slow rhythmic dance and pointed its two huge compound eyes toward everyone as if ready to strike.

He knew that this might be his last fight as the curse was in its latest stages, but at least his daughter would survive!

Just as everyone was waiting to see who would strike first…

“Damn, that fall really hurt my butt… Whoever said cockroaches' backs were comfortable didn’t ride this one!” Finally, someone said, making everyone look up and notice that atop the giant cockroach, a young man with bright red hair and fairy red eyes sat. “Oh… Why is everyone looking at me like this? Did I perhaps fall onto someone or something?” he asked as he bent to look down, but only noticed a puddle of blood seeping from underneath the boulder.

“...”

“Was it someone important?” he asked nervously as he looked up toward the villagers.

No one knew how to reply to that, including Diago's remaining men, who could only swallow whatever words they had and only focused on trying to hide the liquid that was dripping from their pants.

“Identify yourself…” Zer, not knowing what to say, finally spoke after glancing at Yulian and Gary, who shook their heads to tell him that this guy was not their friend.

“Ah, sorry…. Where’s my manner…” the young man slowly stood up on the cockroach’s back, then bowed, nearly falling down before grabbing onto one of the wings. “Let me introduce myself… My name is Zink Zed, the first disciple of the Old Master!... Well, that's according to him, but who knows...”

“…”  Hearing him, Zer frowned as he looked at his daughter, who shook her head with fright. She could see nothing about this guy. Her oracle power didn’t even lock onto him as if he had no fate!

“Those guys should know about me…” As if he noticed everyone’s reaction, he pointed toward Yulian and Gary. “You haven’t met me before, but you know my younger brother, Victor… I was there at your bachelor party to see him when this happened, so in order to save him, I missed my chance to escape!” Zink sighed. “What a mess… Damn it, such bad luck has always followed me ever since I was young. Girls would always stick gum in my hair and pull my pants… Even the teacher would always check on my health and touch all around as if I am some kind of sickly….”

“Victor was the guy you expected to come here with you?” Ignoring that guy’s mumbling, Zer whispered to Gary from behind.

“Yes….” Gary nodded, relaxing a bit as he heard Zink.

“Are you really Victor’s brother?” Yulian asked, interrupting Zink's monologue about his school life, wondering why he didn't have the Von Weise name.

“Not blood related, but we have the same master, you see…  I came here to remove some eavesdropping curse that Master detected on him, it is related to some stupid Lord or something, but master didn’t say it, saying I can’t keep a secret… Seriously, he is the one who can’t keep a secret, mumbling about all those women he banged all the time… I wonder if he was trying to make me jealous when he mentioned those elves, but…“ Zink quickly said, beginning another tale about his master banging two elves.

Zer raised one eyebrow when hearing him. Was this guy just talkative, or did he want them to hear that info on purpose? “Since you are a friend, why don’t you come down then and let’s have a talk…” he said finally. This place was no longer good, with everyone standing there not knowing what to do about this guy or Diago’s remains.

“Ah… Who are you, by the way?” Zink, as if he finally noticed the old man, turned to inspect him and ask. 

“I am Zer Von Trie…”

“Von Trie?” Zink’s eyes twinkled, but for once, he said nothing as he glared at the old man.

“He is my father-in-law!” Yulian interrupted. “He seems to be the alliance head of the surviving players in this maze!” he added.

“What! Your father-in-law!” Zink was taken aback, then secretly glancing at the girl whose hand had never left Yulian’s, “Then this lady is…”

“Yes, things happened, and I got to marry Anastasia!” Yulian said, pulling the girl to his side after noticing Zink’s gaze on her, which had some glint in it.

“AH!” Zink swallowed. This girl was not as weak or frail as she seemed. “ Where are my manners! Congratulations and nice to meet you, sister-in-law… “ Zink quickly bowed again toward her. “It is ok to call you sister-in-law, right, you are Yulian’s wife, and Yulian is Victor’s brother-in-law, and I am Victor’s big brother…. It should work like that, right?”

“...”

“Ouch….” Yulian Yelped as Anastasia pinched his butt. He wanted to tell her that his relationship with Victor, as his brother-in-law, was related to his sister Lily marrying Victor, but this was not the time or place for such things.

“As I said, let’s find another place to speak over a cup of tea!” Zer repeated, feeling the awkward situation as all the villagers began to whisper. Also, Diago's surviving men wanted to check on their friends under the boulder, but didn’t dare to approach that giant cockroach.

“Ah…. Right… sorry, I really appreciate your generosity, but no time, I just contacted Victor, and he told me that little Gary has a wedding to catch, and there seemed to be some imposter who was taking his place in the wedding!” 

“WHAT! And an imposter?” Gary asked as his face turned pale.

“Yeah, no time…” 

“ You can contact the outside, ” Zer asked quickly.

“Yeah, it is my class, it allows me…. Wait, I probably should not say anything about that, or Master would kick my ass…” Zink quickly shut up as if he remembered something. “Now come, hope on…” he said as he sat back down and patted the cockroach’s back. “We should leave quickly and conquer this dungeon. I already cleared most of the road to the boss room, but only someone like Yulian can kill this guy!” Zink said casually. “Or do you guys prefer to stay here….”

“Can you really leave this place?” Yulian asked in shock as Anastasia’s eyes narrowed. She totally believed this guy, as her power indicated that Yulian would be the one who would conquer this place. But she never expected that he would only be needed for the final fight!

“Would I be here if I didn’t? Now come on and stop wasting my time, do you know how many people get to have me help them… If not for Victor begging the master for my help, I would not do a thing. In the past, when that Vic bastard asked, I made him pay 3000 COINs to just help remove the curse on his pet, not even caring about my master’s glares. Oh, and let me tell you about that pet… It is huge, far bigger than little crocky here, it is also very strong, I wonder how Vic tamed him, did he offer him some kind of food or something, or is it a bloodline thing, maybe they have the same ancestor or….”

“WAIT… WAIT…. Are you serious? You reached the boss's room?” Zer stepped forward and interrupted. Although he didn’t want to believe this, as it was way too absurd, he suspected that this guy might really be telling the truth, as Ana’s prophecies rarely go wrong!

“I am always serious… And I need Yulian's power to kill it quickly!” Zink said proudly! “Now come on, my skill’s effect is limited, we have to hurry if you don’t want to wait for another chance when my skill cools down in a month!” he said, patting the cockroach’s back again. That thing was completely docile.

Yulian looked at Gary, hesitating….

“We will all go!” Zer suddenly said, then jumped on the cockroach without waiting. Ana pulled both Yulian and Gary and jumped on top of the giant cockroach, following him.

“So you guys are cumming too… Well, I guess the more the merrier!” he chuckled, then looked toward the still stunned villagers. “Gather your stuff, and tie your loved ones together. This dungeon will end in about an hour, so be ready!” he said as he patted 'little' Crocky, who flew up immediately, heading toward the rough hole in the ceiling.