Adventure World Online (AWO) Chapter 324 324: Blood That Lifts the Curse

At first, the angels were flying around, teasing and circling him playfully, which made Lycanth increasingly irritated. Eventually, he leapt and grabbed one angel by the neck. His claws dug into her flesh, making her scream out loud. He yanked her down and slamd her violently to the ground. And before anyone could react, he opened his jaws wide and sank his fangs deep into the neck of the unlucky angel.

"No, Lycanth. What have you done!"

Siegfried shouted loudly in shock. The young man was deeply shaken, realizing that his pet could no longer be controlled.

Lycanth drank the angel's blood ravenously, until her body turned pale and colorless. He stood up and began to howl continuously. Siegfried could only stand there stunned, helpless, as he watched Lycanth begin to transform—he was turning into a human!

...

A long ti ago, there was once a king. He lived in a lost city in the middle of the desert. It was said that he had a twisted taste—he enjoyed eating human flesh, especially the flesh of children. One day, he welcod a visit from the Great God of the Heavens. The king ordered a feast of the finest food to be prepared in joyous celebration. But the finest food of this depraved king was, unsurprisingly, based on his own tastes. When the Great God arrived, he was welcod with rare and exquisite wine, said to be unmatched anywhere else in the vast desert. It seed the king had pleased the god. After so conversation, the king invited the Great God to the banquet table.

The carefully selected delicacies, prepared by the best chef in the city, appeared to impress the Great God even further. But then, his eyes caught on a particular dish at the center of the table. It was large and clearly ant to be the highlight of the feast, but it was covered with a lid, so the Great God could not see what was inside.

The king invited the god to sit and personally introduced the special dish. When the lid was lifted, the Great God recoiled in surprise. On the large platter at the center of the table lay a naked child's body, decorated with fresh vegetables and seasoned sauce. The king explained that this was his favorite dish—tender child at with spicy sauce, perfectly paired with wine and this was sothing he could never stop eating until there was nothing left but bones.

The Great God thought it was a cruel joke. But the king proved his sincerity by grabbing the child's arm and chewing on it delightfully before the god's very eyes. Red blood—or perhaps sauce—dripped from the corners of his mouth. He even offered the other arm to the Great God, who instead beca furious, denouncing the king as a depraved monarch with the demonic tastes. The Great God pointed at the king's body and cursed him in a thunderous voice, condemning the wicked soul to the deepest pits of hell. Suddenly, the flesh-eating king's body transford into a beast of the night.

The king beca a werewolf. He raged and rampaged without restraint. And not only was the king cursed, but his entire royal bloodline shared in the punishnt. They destroyed the city in blind fury. The people fled in terror. Soon, the entire city was abandoned. No one dared approach it again due to the rumors of the curse and the werewolves.

Despite countless attempts to lift the curse, none were ever successful. The only thing the cursed king ever learned was that the pure blood of a noble soul could cleanse the curse for both himself and his children. But unfortunately, such a thing was not easily found. Angels were not beings one could just encounter in this world. And he could never reach the realm where the gods resided. After millennia of waiting in despair and hatred, he had finally tasted the pure blood of a noble soul.

The angel's pale body lay still, her eyes wide open in fear. Her neck had a deep, gaping wound. Her windpipe and major arteries had been torn to shreds. Lycanth looked down at his body. His claws had turned into fingers. His ankles and legs, once twisted and deford by the curse, beca the legs of a normal human. The elongated face and mouth full of fangs were gone. Lycanth had beco fully human. Though his body was naked—clad only in boxer shorts printed with cartoon puppies covering his private parts—it did nothing to excite him compared to the overwhelming feeling of finally being human again…

"Lycanth, the pet under the ownership of player Siegfried, has drunk the pure blood of one possessing a noble soul. As a result, the werewolf curse has changed status. Lycanth can now exist in either human form or werewolf form at will."

From a curse, it had beco a blessing from the demon. Now that Lycanth could transform at will, Siegfried did not know which part he should be more shocked by—Lycanth turning into a human, or Lycanth standing in front of a dozen angels wearing nothing but a single pair of underwear. The young man rummaged through his bag for a spare outfit and hurried to give it to Lycanth to wear.

The angels all fell silent, struck with fear. A wicked creature had stolen the pure soul of one of their own. The horrifying scene still haunted their eyes. Wherever Lycanth walked, the angels would move in the opposite direction and huddle together in fearful clumps.

Siegfried felt pity for the angels and thought it best to take Lycanth away. He asked for the way out of the angelic domain, which they pointed out without hesitation. The master of a demon must be a demon too—even if he did not look dangerous, the angels had already judged Siegfried to be just as vile as his pet.

The thick fog vanished. Chang Long was so startled she nearly fell from the tree branch. Everyone was surprised to find themselves suddenly atop a massive tree, several dozen ters above the ground. In the distance, there was a tall waterfall surrounded by birds and flowers. It looked as beautiful as a painting. On the next tree over, there was a wooden platform, and at the center of it was a large tub filled with water. Chang Long was deeply curious—who could have built a platform this high up in a tree and gone to the trouble of hauling up a tub and filling it with water?

The sound of birdsong echoed again. It was a lodious sound that Chang Long had never heard before, as if soone were singing a song from the heavens. She tried to look for the source of the sound but saw no sign of any living creature in the area besides her own group.

"It's so beautiful. Did you hear that?"

Chang Long turned and asked her companions. They all nodded in agreent, especially Brownie, whose face was visibly entranced.

"Shall we wait and see, master? I, too, wish to know who owns that beautiful voice."

Kitsune communicated telepathically with Chang Long.

"Sure, let's."

Chang Long agreed. She herself was eager to see the one behind the enchanting song—to know what kind of being could produce such a sound.

Not long after Chang Long's group began secretly watching, the owner of the bewitching song appeared. Wide wings flapped gently. Its form resembled a giant peacock—graceful and awe-inspiring. It sang as it flew in circles above Chang Long's group. At first, she thought it must have spotted them and planned to swoop down and eat them for a al. But instead, it flew down to bathe in the tub on the platform in the next tree.

"Wind-eating bird! Look, it's happily singing while bathing."

Chang Long stepped out from hiding, watching the Wind-eating Bird, which the system identified as a beast god, in pure amazent. She walked toward the tip of the branch, as if in a trance, hoping to get a closer and clearer look at it.

The Wind-Eating Bird turned to look at Chang Long with interest. It continued playing in the water and singing its lody, completely unbothered by the appearance of the girl. She smiled and waved at it, and it nodded in acknowledgnt. Chang Long sat down, rested her chin in her hands, and watched the Wind-Eating Bird play in the water. It seed to be quite pleased to have soone watching its concert performance. So it rose, shook the water off its body, and soared into the sky. It let out a cry as if bidding farewell before flying off swiftly into the distance, leaving behind only a single feather it had shed for her.

"Player Chang Long has received a magical item: Wind-Eating Bird Feather x1."

Chang Long smiled and stored the feather into her bag. She had finally encountered her first bird that was actually a real bird—and it was even a beast god. Though she wished she could try riding on its back just once, she believed it would not agree so easily. But if she used the Avian Alliance skill, perhaps it might willingly let her ride.

"My, how wonderful, master. You even got a gift from that giant bird,"

Brownie crawled out from the back of Chang Long's shirt, after having been hiding for a while out of fear that the Wind-Eating Bird might catch and eat him as a snack.

"Oh, that's right—it is wonderful. But still..."

Chang Long smiled, but then she suddenly rembered sothing important.

"What is it, missy?"

Devi-chan materialized and asked.

"Well, right now we're up on the treetop, aren't we? Let's skip the part about how we even got up here for now. What I want to know is: how are we supposed to get down from the treetop—and how do we get out of here too?"

Chang Long replied as she looked down below, clearly a bit nervous.

"Are you crazy or what? You've got wings, rember? Seal the pets and fly around to find a way out."

Devi-chan said with exasperation. Chang Long made a face as if she had just realized and let out a sheepish laugh, which drew hearty laughter from her companions.

"Well then, I'm going to seal you guys now."

Chang Long said. She sealed her pets and ordered her wings to spread. But as soon as she launched herself and soared up into the sky, the pull of sothing unknown dragged her body into the thick clouds above.

Thud!

Chang Long landed on a cold, stone floor. The surrounding area resembled an abandoned castle. Each stone looked ancient, bearing marks of the long passage of ti. But where this place was, it was hard to say. Chang Long glanced left and right with wariness. She stood up, brushed the dust off her body, and looked around. The dim light from the torches on the walls made visibility poor.

Chang Long found herself in a corridor about two ters wide. It stretched far into the darkness, eerie and extrely frightening. Devi-chan and Hisa-chan appeared beside Chang Long. They confird to her that the path ahead showed no signs of any living beings.

With only one route available, Chang Long decided to walk down the path. All throughout the journey, there was no sign of life—no cries, no movent. The damp, stale air made Chang Long feel uncomfortable, but she kept walking without any intention to pause. Eventually, the path ca to halt at a dead end. Everyone seed disappointed that there was neither an exit nor any path forward. Chang Long collapsed weakly to the ground. She would have to rest a bit.

Chang Long unsealed her pets again and used the Horn of Abundance to conjure up food for them to sit and eat together. The pets were all startled to suddenly find themselves in such a haunting, creepy place—especially considering just monts before they had been on a high treetop surrounded by breathtaking scenery.

"What is this place, master? How did we end up sowhere like this?"

Brownie asked anxiously.

"I don't know. As soon as I spread my wings and flew into the sky, I got sucked in here by the wind."

Chang Long replied. She suspected that there might be so kind of mystery in this place, and she would have to unravel it. Otherwise, she might never be able to get out of here.

After sitting and chatting while eating for a while, Chang Long noticed sothing on the ground. There were traces of sothing visible because Kitsune had been wagging his tail back and forth, sweeping away the dirt on the ground, revealing what looked like part of a magic circle. Chang Long pointed it out to the ghosts and the pets. Then everyone began sweeping the dust and dirt off the floor to look for further clues that might be inscribed there—or even on the walls.

Eventually, the image of a full magic circle appeared before Chang Long's eyes. It was just the right radius to fit the walkway. Two inner circular lines, along with a pentagram and ancient characters, made Chang Long think of a magic circle she had seen while activating a skill from the Advanced Eye of Darkness. Although it looked slightly different, it was still quite similar.

"What kind of magic circle is this? These ancient characters are extrely old."

Hisa-chan spoke up. Everyone shook their heads, equally clueless as to what purpose the magic circle inscribed on the ground served. And since no one could read the ancient characters, it made things even more unclear—whether or not this circle held a clue that could help her escape from here.

"Wait a minute. These ancient characters look familiar. That's right! They look similar to the ones engraved on the stone tablets in the Purple Forest."

Chang Long exclaid as the thought struck her. Although the characters in the Purple Forest looked more like claw marks than actual writing, they still bore a strong resemblance.

"In that case, could there be so kind of chanism that makes the characters transform into letters we can read?"

Devi-chan suggested.

"Don't know, but let's look for one."

Chang Long replied. So everyone began searching the area again, in case there was so hidden chanism.

"Master. Look here, there's a tiny hole—just mouse-sized—right here."

Brownie shouted loudly to call Chang Long over. He stood in that very hole, looking excited to have discovered sothing before anyone else. Everyone walked over to Brownie and indeed found him standing in the hole.

"Well done, Brownie. You found it before anyone else."

Chang Long praised. Kitsune and Fluffy Head-chan nodded in agreent, while Flatear snorted dismissively through his nose.

"Oh no, not really, master. You flatter . I'm blushing!"

Brownie twisted his body shyly before leaping onto Chang Long and climbing up to stand on her shoulder.

Chang Long bent down to look at the hole Brownie had found. It looked quite deep and completely dark. She wanted to know whether there were more holes like this elsewhere, so she ordered everyone to search again. They found another hole of the sa kind, about a ter away from the one Brownie had discovered. Everyone sat down and began pondering the possibilities—that this hole might reveal sothing. Perhaps it could open a path to a secret room, or even be a passage forward.