Chapter 11: The First Inheritance and a Dangerous Game

With little effort, the demonic beings activated the magic array and found themselves transported into the abandoned temple.

Though the outside world had long since fallen to ruin, the interior of the temple remained as pristine and clean as if worshipers had been there just yesterday. Time itself seemed to have stopped in this place.

They had only arrived at the outermost part of the temple. The demons clearly knew something, moving with great caution, not daring to touch anything inside.

Song Ze stared at the scene before him, slightly awestruck. If anyone else had come, they might have been completely bewildered. But having played this game countless times, familiar with every twist of plot and setting, for Song Ze, everything before him was merely the manifestation of his memories.

This temple did not belong to any of the current gods. It was the temple of an ancient deity, who, during the fierce battles between demons and other races, sacrificed himself to seal the demon realm away from the continent, allowing the other races to recover and thrive.

But as time passed, he was gradually forgotten by all. This seemed to be a deliberate result of the actions of the current gods.

To achieve the true ending, the most important requirement was to obtain all the inheritances of this ancient god. It was the hardest part of the game; the rest was relatively easy.

Song Ze’s previous failure, ending up with the harem ending, made him suspect he had missed something. Perhaps it was related to this inheritance.

Thinking of how he had died suddenly before ever completing the true ending, a fire burned in Song Ze’s heart. He wished he could stay up for days and nights on end to finally achieve that true ending!

“What are you doing? Hurry up and move.” Fein couldn’t help but sneer at Song Ze. “Gawking at a temple like you’ve never seen anything. How unsophisticated.”

Song Ze immediately turned to look at him, his blue eyes seeming tinged with a hint of grievance. Fein’s eyelid twitched; he had a bad feeling.

The next second, Song Ze sidled up to Andreya, who was looking around with interest, and said cautiously, “Master… that lord over there keeps glaring at me as if he wants to kill me. If we run into danger, will he just throw me out?”

“You!” Fein nearly roared in anger. One of his subordinates said coldly, “Lord Fein would never do such a thing.”

“Exactly. Our Lord Fein is not so despicable.”

But Fein couldn’t say a word, because he had indeed been thinking exactly that. This human had caused them so much trouble along the way—why not take some interest? Letting him die here would be too merciful!

The next moment, Fein felt an icy gaze sweep over him. His body trembled. Looking into Andreya’s red eyes, which still seemed to hold a hint of a smile, a sense of crisis suddenly surged in Fein’s heart.

He knew well that Lord Andreya’s temperament was extremely capricious. If he actually let that human fall into danger, it would be like injuring the lord’s pet, showing outright disrespect. That crime would warrant immediate execution, and no one would dare say a word!

And Lord had undoubtedly seen through his thoughts. If he tried to hide it any longer…

Survival instinct made Fein blurt out without hesitation: “I would never do such a thing!” He glared coldly at Song Ze, as if furious, but forced himself to continue: “I swear before the gods, if I cause any harm to this human within this temple, may I die a miserable death!”

Song Ze was stunned. He hadn’t expected Fein to make such a heavy oath so readily.

He had no idea that this was simply the man’s desperate survival instinct—if he didn’t handle it well, he might end up dead on the spot.

“Good.” Andreya smiled, directly taking Song Ze’s hand as if holding a beloved toy. “Then let’s continue.”

Fein and his subordinates breathed a sigh of relief. He shot another hateful glance at Song Ze, thinking that once they left the temple, he would tear the human limb from limb.

****

The journey went fairly smoothly after that. Andreya and his group were well-prepared, using various means to avoid the numerous restrictions within the temple.

Where passage was truly impossible, they broke through with magic. After all, eons had passed, and the temple’s restrictions had weakened considerably.

But even weakened, they were still lethal to Song Ze. Plus, he intended to play the part of a meek, innocent type before the demon princess. So he clung to Andreya, secretly searching for the location of the teleportation array.

As for the inheritance, Song Ze didn’t think much about it.

In truth, each divine inheritance came with conditions. The first was extremely simple; the later ones grew increasingly difficult. Song Ze had never even completed the last one in the game. But this first inheritance was a piece of cake.

It only required being human and reaching the deepest part of the temple. That was enough. The first inheritance didn’t grant much power; it was more like getting a registration ticket. The real inheritance lay in other temples.

As he was thinking, a cold wind suddenly blew from behind. Then something icy touched his shoulder.

Song Ze instinctively turned his head. In the dark corridor, he vaguely saw a pair of glowing red eyes—then it lunged at him!

“Help! QAQ!!” Song Ze was so scared he hugged the person in front of him tightly, trembling violently. He was terrified of things like this!

“Don’t be afraid.” Andreya’s tone was playful, leaning close to whisper in Song Ze’s ear, “That’s just my doppelgänger.”

“W-what? It’s not a ghost…?” Song Ze opened his eyes and saw a cute black cat leap onto his shoulder, nuzzling affectionately against his cheek.

“I saw you lost in thought and wanted to give you a scare,” Andreya said. “Very amusing… You scare so easily. How did you ever make it to the Dark Forest?”

Song Ze felt weak. Internally cursing, he maintained a docile tone: “It was required by the academy, so I came.”

He had originally thought he could come here and have a harem! Who knew Aliel would turn out to be a man, and the demon princess was utterly unapproachable.

Just then, a cry of alarm from Fein came from ahead.

The group hurriedly walked through the dark corridor, and suddenly the view opened up. Before them lay a garden, filled with abundant blooming roses, bursting with vitality. And in the center of the garden stood a statue of a god. Its face was indistinct, but it radiated powerful divine energy.

As soon as Song Ze entered, he felt power surging into his body, forming a scorching pattern on his back—the mark of having received the inheritance.

Time to leave! Almost there!

The others were still marveling at the statue’s power, even after being forgotten by most. To obtain this god’s inheritance—what immense strength it would grant!

“Where are you going?”

Andreya’s voice suddenly startled the others.

They turned to see Song Ze, who had already moved some distance away.

“I knew this human was trouble!” Fein snarled, itching to kill Song Ze on the spot. But the garden was filled with restrictions—one wrong step could be fatal. And he had sworn an oath. For now, he had no way to deal with Song Ze.

“I have to go.”

Song Ze said directly, then dashed toward a nearby flower bed. To the demons, this looked like suicide.

Andreya reached out toward him, saying softly, “It’s dangerous here. Wouldn’t it be better to come back to my side?”

“Sorry.” Despite the gentle words, Song Ze felt a chill run down his spine, and he ran even faster.

Then, to the shock of the demons, Song Ze expertly navigated around the restrictions—he had memorized the in-game map perfectly.

If he remembered correctly, there was a teleportation array in this flower bed that led to the outside world. Once he stepped into its range, as an inheritor, he could teleport away!

Just as Song Ze stepped into the array, an icy chill struck from behind.

Without turning back, he stepped inside.

Before teleporting, he could clearly see the demons’ shocked, angry, and murderous gazes. But before his eyes could find Andreya, his vision was engulfed in light, blinding him.

“You betrayed me?”

A soft voice seemed to pierce through the power, sounding as if it whispered right behind Song Ze’s ear.

Song Ze’s body stiffened. A cold sensation seeped into him, and the power within him began to leak away.

“Those who have deceived me…” The voice was intimate, yet cold and lingering, entwining around the person ahead. “I will never let them go.”

When Song Ze’s body was at its most rigid, the teleportation force finally enveloped him, freeing him from that chilling, terrifying atmosphere.

****

When the teleportation light faded, the atmosphere in the garden was frigid.

Fein and the others dared not speak, afraid of provoking Lord Andreya’s bad mood.

But when one of them tremblingly looked up, they saw the beautiful black-haired youth smiling. His red eyes even held a hint of excitement.

“L-Lord?” The man hesitated. “Aren’t… aren’t you angry?”

“I’m not angry.” Andreya said calmly. “On the contrary, I’m quite happy.”

“I’ve found such an amusing toy.” He reached out and plucked a blooming rose from the flower bed. Ignoring the blood dripping from his finger pricked by a thorn, he brought the flower to his face, gently closed his eyes, and murmured with a smile: “Disobedient pets must be punished.”

****

…

The destination of the teleportation seemed to be a forest near the camp.

Song Ze was thrown onto the grass, finally able to breathe a sigh of relief. No matter what, he had escaped from the demon princess! And her affection for him would probably plummet—killing two birds with one stone.

But exhausted, Song Ze couldn’t move at all. He lay on the ground, hoping some kind soul would come to rescue him.

[Congratulations, host, on completing the main mission: Explore the depths of the Dark Forest and find the temple ruins.]

[Andreya’s affection +30, current affection 55. Side mission completed.]

[Two side missions completed. A new function is available for the host to choose.]

[Due to receiving the divine inheritance, host level upgraded to 25.]

“What?” Song Ze’s expression changed drastically upon hearing the system voice. He almost thought he had misheard. “Andreya’s affection increased?!”

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