Free Web NovelChapter 20: The demon empress
"That can’t be right — didn’t I just shoot you three times in the head?" Aria said, stepping back, and for the first time a flicker of genuine fear crossed her eyes.
The arrows obviously couldn’t penetrate Levon’s body, as his constitution was far beyond what those arrows were capable of dealing with.
At this point, normal low-grade weapons simply couldn’t hurt Levon anymore.
Levon looked at Aria carefully, and it all came back to him immediately. He hadn’t expected to run into her this early in the game.
Aria had been one of his guild members in his former life — one of the very few people who had fought for him and alongside him right up until her very last breath.
Aria was strong, resilient, and the kind of person who took absolutely no nonsense. She bowed to no gods and hated being bossed around. Much like Levon back then, she had very big dreams — she wanted to ascend, she wanted to conquer this brutal game.
That was exactly why she had stayed by Levon’s side, following his every lead right until the very end. freeweɓnovel.cѳm
Simply because she truly believed that if anyone could make it out, it would be him.
"Please — if we can settle this, I’ll leave the field immediately and you can take as many poison hibiscus as you want. Let’s just chalk this up as a misunderstanding," Aria said calmly, having already come to the realization that the person standing in front of her was on a completely different level.
She had even started running theories in her head. What if the person in front of her was actually the Shadow Monarch? If so, she would genuinely want to build some kind of alliance — it would not only benefit her but would massively boost her chances of gathering enough system stones and making it out of the starter village alive.
Right now she wasn’t even ranked in the top 10,000 on the system stones leaderboard. She had only managed to gather about 10, while the Shadow Monarch was already sitting at 370.
The gap was already pressure enough.
But that was just wishful thinking. There was no way the legendary Shadow Monarch was standing right in front of her — that just wasn’t even a realistic possibility.
Levon smiled and revealed his name panel.
It might have seemed unusual, but given his current rank and influence in the game, he had hidden his system name from others’ view — he didn’t want to draw too much attention just yet. Eventually he would have to make it known, but this was as good a moment as any.
Aria had been a great friend and ally in his past life. Back then he hadn’t been able to save her because she was far stronger than him — she was the Demon Empress, with the ability to summon creatures and weave intricate spells from the underworld.
Yet even that hadn’t been enough. She had died right there on the battlefield, shielding him like he was someone worth dying for.
But this time he wasn’t going to let that happen. He was going to repay every last shred of her loyalty, and together they were going to make it out alive.
"I’m so sorry — I had no idea it was you. Please forgive my ignorance, I beg of you. I know I may not be of much use to you right now, but I promise I won’t forget this kindness and I’ll do everything in my power to repay you whenever I can," Aria said immediately, dropping to her knees with her head bowed, not even able to look him in the eye.
’It’s him — it’s actually him. Oh my god, what was I thinking... this might actually be my end,’* Aria thought, panic spreading through her entire body as she prayed silently that the Shadow Monarch would spare her just this once.
Just as she knelt there frozen in fear, unsure of what fate had in store for her, she felt a light hand take hold of her arm. Her head shot up immediately as her body tensed.
"Don’t worry — get up. I actually want to be your friend. I admire your courage," Levon said calmly, his voice steady and carrying few emotions, though the ones it did carry were noticeable enough.
Aria froze where she was, barely believing what she was hearing.
Her face immediately flushed red with excitement and embarrassment. She couldn’t believe that the Shadow Monarch himself wanted to be her friend.
"Thank you so very much," Aria said as she stood, keeping her eyes down and fighting to contain her excitement.
"Well, don’t just stand there — we do have some poison hibiscus to harvest," Levon said, and just before he could finish, a system notification appeared.
[You have a friend request from Aria Starlight.]
Levon accepted it without giving it a second thought. freewebnøvel.com
Aria’s face turned an even deeper shade of red.
"Come on, snap out of it — we genuinely have a lot to get done," Levon said, letting a hint of mock exhaustion slip into his voice, hoping it would bring her back to earth.
Aria immediately pulled herself together. She couldn’t let a moment of shyness change the Shadow Monarch’s opinion of her.
"Well, I’ve been here for about five minutes and haven’t found anything useful. Honestly, I’m starting to think there might not even be any poison hibiscus in this area," Aria said, quickly settling back into her usual serious demeanor.
"We can’t really be sure just yet — besides, I do have an idea," Levon said as he moved close to one of the purple hibiscus plants. With his venomous sword, he lightly pricked his hand and let a few drops of blood fall onto the flower. Within minutes the plant had completely withered.
Aria immediately flinched as she watched what unfolded before her.
Just as Levon had suspected — when he cut himself with his venomous sword, the poison in his blood transferred to whatever it touched, causing it to wither. The logic was simple: if he spread his poisoned blood across the entire field of hibiscus, all the ordinary plants would wither away — but the poison hibiscus would survive, since they were already poisonous by nature and fully capable of withstanding it.
"Could you pass me your arrow quiver? I’m going to need it," Levon said calmly, his intention already clear to Aria.
