Pride Online

Chapter 594: The Secret Shop Part IV

The secret shop.

Anyone would be familiar with the name if he was a fan of RPG games. It was a ‘secret’, so that meant it was not normal. And it was not.

There were shops in towns for players. Some were owned by players, and some were of the NPCs. They sold unique stuff from time to time, like if it was a milk shop, there would be so many kinds of milk there.

And those were the traits of normal shops in towns or random shops that popped up anywhere; in front of the dungeons or famous attractions. As for the secret shop, it was located at a secret place where it was hard to reach, as the name stated. And these locations were usually somewhere dangerous, like dungeons.

The more secretive and the harder to find it was, the rarer the items in that shop. Sometimes, it was not something that anyone could buy from any shop or find from any monster. And they were owned by NPCs, which meant you only needed money and you could buy anything for any amount you wanted there.

“AGHHHHH~~!”

The first scream came with the sound of running footsteps.

“Aghh~~! I told you not to touch anything!”

The second voice scolded. The two legs kept running at full speed.

“Hey! You can’t blame me. Who’d have known that a coin on the ground would be considered a treasure, too?!”

The last voice screamed while glancing back with a pale face. Seeing an army of enemies madly rushing towards them, he only screamed louder.

“Hell! Only one gold coin and they’re after me as if I threw shit at the prime minister’s face!”

Right now, the three merchants, who were not at all skilled at fighting, had to run for their lives, even though it was not their intention. It started when Mek decided to pick a gold coin off the floor.

Only that and heaps of skeletons ran at them so madly as if they had been waiting for this for three lifetimes!

Everything would totally be fine if they did not stick their nose in the ‘Ancestor’s Grave’ dungeon.

Since Sarunya told Manoch that she would take him to the secret shop here, he was sure that this was the only way out for the lack of items. If he could reach the secret shop, he would have more than enough of those!

But if he knew that it would be this hard...

...He should have waited for Na and the rest to come back first!

“I told you not to come and you didn’t believe me. Look at this, we’re all merchants. We’re dead meat!”

“Stop whining and run, or you’ll die for real!” Manoch yelled at him.

“We should try to fight them. They don’t look that skilled.”

Mek was the one who suggested. There were so many of them, but they were only skeletons with rusty shields and swords.

“Fight?!” Sarunya screeched before opening the information screen and pushed it to Mek. “I think you should see this and reconsider it, Mr. Mek.”

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Monster Profile

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Name: Skull Warrior

Level: 120

Element: Darkness

Race: Undead

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HP

4,000,000

MP

1,500

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Abilities

Attack 890 Defense 120

Magic Attack 80 Magic Defense 120

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Description

A skeleton who served the late kings. It’s positioned in the Ancestor’s Grave and will hunt anyone who tries to steal the treasure from the dungeon.

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“Level 120, my ass!”

Mek swore. Manoch was not surprised that Mek would do that because it also looked to him that they would be able to get rid of the skeletons in one hit. It turned out that their level was even higher than them. And they came in an army, which, of course, made fighting out of the question!

“Mek, do you still keep that coin with you? Why are they still chasing us?!”

Manoch asked.

“Hey, Ae! I can find that gold coin anywhere, even under a water tank out there, you know? I threw it away a long time ago!”

“It doesn’t matter!” Sarunya said. “Even if you did, you still touched the treasure of the past king. The soldiers will chase us until we die!”

“Sh*t!”

The two boys’ voices harmonized.

Mek really wanted to bite his tongue and die. Before he came here, he actually read a warning in front of it, which read: “Go in and out bare-handedly or you’ll be out with a bare soul.”

Okay, it was pretty clear.

But he did not understand...

He could not even buy a bottle of water with one gold coin. Why were they so possessive? And it was just there on the floor. Would it not be better if he took it and let it be used as it should be? Why was that wrong?!

Okay... He knew that it was only an excuse for someone who picked up money off the floor.

But they did not have to come in an army!!

“We have to split or we’re doomed!” Manoch shouted.

“Hey, are you sure?! This is a big dungeon. What if we get lost?!”

“That’s why I gave you guys the map. Don’t worry. We split, decrease the amount of the skeletons, and find a way to get rid of them, then we reunite.”

“I agree with Mr. Ae!” Sarunya said. “The enemies will be confused when we split. There’re so many alleys to hide in. If you don’t touch anything, you should be fine.”

Hearing that, Mek gritted his teeth and nodded in defeat.

“Fine!”

Manoch smiled. It was at the right time that there were three intersections in front of them. He gave them a signal that he would go left, Sarunya would go straight, and Mek would go right. They nodded.

Manoch’s plan seemed to work because as soon as they split, the skeletons looked puzzled and did not know who to chase. They finally decided to split into three groups and chase all three of them. The amount for each path seemed to be significantly decreased.

Manoch’s path was a narrow tunnel. There were barely torches at the side. He was in the dark, yet he could still hear the skeletons coming for him.

“Damn it. How long have I not been so frustrated in a dungeon?!”

He knew that complaining would not help, so he kept moving at his full speed. Seeing that light at the end of the path, he beamed. He felt happy that at least the lit path would be a lot better than the path without any place to hide!

“W...Whoaaaa!”

But nothing was like what he thought it would be. As soon as he stepped out to the light, he hit the brakes with all his might. It was not an exit, but a gigantic hole that he could not even see the bottom of.

“S...Shit! A trap hole!”

Manoch screeched. Rubbles at his feet fell down to the pit that was so deep he was not even sure if the rubbles could hit the bottom in one minute. It was lucky for him that his shoes had a special tread that kept him stuck to the ground, or he would have become a good victim in this hell hole by now.

“Almost have to say goodbye to everyone...” The merchant whistled.

Not so long after that, he could hear the running again. The skeletons were still chasing him. He grinned and looked around. There were places he could hide here!

But just to be sure, he had to do something first!

Mix item!

He quickly mixed two items in his hands. He walked out and stood at the exit.

“Hey, come at me, you stupid skeletons!”

His provocation worked. Eight skeletons saw Manoch at the exit and ran even faster towards him. That was all planned. He threw the mixed item on the ground.

The thick black fluid was all over the floor. The unique smell clearly screamed...

Fuel!

The faster you run, especially with bare skeleton feet, the more effective the fuel. Manoch smiled at the sight and quickly ran behind the wall outside. He looked at the eight skeletons sliding into the hole like kids who did not know how to ice-skate. He beamed even wider.

“Serve you right!”