I Own the Multiverse's General Store!
Chapter 98 - A Strange Man Inside of the Night Forest

Chapter 98: Chapter 98 - A Strange Man Inside of the Night Forest

They all ran for their lives in the darkness. They couldn’t see anything as their movements were all based on instinct.

They grabbed each other’s hands and held them tightly to make sure they wouldn’t lose themselves inside the forest. However, Lucius wasn’t sure where they had ended up, but it was not a normal forest by any means.

"Where the fuck are we?!" Lucius shouted as he heard loud footsteps right behind them catching up. "How can we leave this place?!"

Luna, who was right behind them, knew this place very well. "I-It’s the Night Forest... we shouldn’t have entered this place. It’s said that no one has ever managed to come out alive. It’s only a matter of time before we die," she muttered as she was on the verge of a mental breakdown.

Luna had tears forming in the corners of her eyes because she knew of this place’s reputation. However, luckily for her, she was with two very powerful vampires. They were her only chance of coming out of this place alive.

"W-What should we do? I-It’s not leaving us alone!" Luna shouted as she looked behind and could still see those two pointy teeth running at her extremely fast, and it didn’t seem like it was planning on stopping anytime soon.

Lucius realized that running away wouldn’t be a solution forever; he needed to do something before they caught up to him. He needed to act before it was too late.

He stopped in his tracks and held back Alexia as Luna rammed into his body.

"We have no choice but to face it. I think we can win," Lucius muttered under his breath.

Running away would not work. They had no idea where they were going. They had no choice but to kill this creature, and then they could think about what they should do next. The forest was clouded in darkness; they could barely see a few steps before being met with a wall.

Lucius faced the creature and had a good feeling that he could defeat it. He looked into its red, pearly eyes and dashed toward it without wasting another moment. He wound up a punch and hit the large lizard right in the abdomen, making it scream in pain.

"AHHHHH!"

It was a loud cry, and right as it made this cry, leaves and trees all began making similar noises from all around them.

It seemed that the creature had just called for backup, and every creature that had been watching around began to appear as more and more red eyeballs emerged from all around them, circling them.

"Uh... Lucius... get back!" Alexia said, not thinking they would manage to defeat all those creatures.

There were too many to count, and they all looked very hungry for some human meat. It was only a matter of time before they would devour them whole.

’Fuck... what can we do here?’ Lucius thought as his plan had completely failed and made the situation even worse than it was.

Lucius could feel it. He could handle at most three of those creatures at the same time. Alexia could most likely handle two, and Luna could maybe handle one, and that wasn’t even certain. There were at least a dozen of those. They were at a loss for solutions.

The only way they would come out of this unscathed was if someone came out of nowhere and saved them.

Lucius gulped as he watched the monsters approaching them all at once.

Luna had been right. This forest was definitely dangerous, and it made sense that no one had ever come out of it alone.

But then... just as the monsters continued to walk forward, they all stopped at once as, in the darkness, a man with long white hair and red eyes emerged, wearing a bright white dress that almost blinded the three of them.

"What is your reason for visiting the Night Forest?" The voice was mystical and mysterious but devoid of any anger.

Lucius was about to say something, but Alexia did.

"W-We are simply trying to escape as far away as possible. We didn’t enter this place on purpose. If you could let us—"

But before she could even finish her explanation, the man interrupted her. "I’m not interested in your words. I want to hear this man, the King among you."

Lucius frowned. ’He knows that I’m a Vampire King? Who is this man? Where does he come from?’

Lucius tried to gauge his strength with a skill he had recently acquired, but no matter how long he stared, nothing appeared before him. It was as if he was invincible, as if this man were someone out of this world—someone who no one could ever hurt.

"W-Who are you?" Lucius asked with a stutter, scared out of his mind.

For the first time since he had inherited the Multiverse General Store, he was actually scared. There was an actual chance that he would die right here, right now, and lose everything he had built over the past month.

"I’m the one who asks the questions here," the man replied casually. "Why have you entered the forest?"

"It’s as she said; we were running away from a few vampires and entered this forest. That’s all. We didn’t mean to invade this place."

The man slightly nodded. "Mhm. I see..."

"Why do I smell the blood of the King within you?"

Lucius thought he meant something related to his evolution as the Vampire King.

"I-I recently became a Vampire King. That must be it."

However, the man shook his head. "No, that’s not it. It’s more than that. The blood within you is not as simple as just being the king of a race. You have the blood of my deceased master. I can feel it."

Lucius wasn’t sure what to say. He had no idea what this man was even rambling on about.

His master? He had no idea who he was.

The system had also said that he had become a Vampire King. He wasn’t sure what was happening, but this man was clearly crazy and insanely powerful since he had managed to tame all the creatures around him.

"It’s not that I don’t like this conversation, but would it be possible for us to leave this forest?" Lucius took a chance and decided to ask him another question.

The man slightly frowned. "Mhm. Not yet. I need to verify some things before you can leave. Follow me."

The man snapped his fingers, and all the creatures suddenly backed down, leaving only him before them.

Alexia and Luna were even more confused than Lucius, as they had never heard of this individual. This was all very new to them. Nevertheless, they knew that running away wasn’t an option, so they nodded and began following the man before them.

He seemed strangely interested in Lucius, which meant there was a chance for them to escape this place alive.

It took a few minutes of walking, but they finally reached the place where the man... lived?

It was a small cave with a few torches around and a thin bed made out of leaves on the ground. With a glance, it was clear that it had been a very long time since this man had been stuck inside this cave.

"You can sit," he said to the three of them as he snapped his fingers and three seats appeared out of thin air.

"So... what are the things you needed to verify?" Lucius asked with fear, knowing that they were still in danger here. He would only be reassured once they left this forest.

"I need to verify if you are a descendant of my master."

Lucius raised an eyebrow, as he could already tell the man that it wasn’t the case since he was just a normal human who had grown up in a normal family. He doubted that he was the descendant of this man’s master.

"Can you give me your hand?"

Lucius nodded and extended it in his direction as the man immediately began examining his hand with care, observing all the small details.

"Mhm... interesting."

"What is it?" Lucius asked.

"Your hands... they’re similar."

"Can I have a taste of your blood?"

Lucius made a slight cut on the end of his index finger and brought it closer to the man’s mouth, who touched it and licked it off his own finger.

He closed his eyes and enjoyed the taste.

"So good... You definitely have the same blood as him. However, it seems you aren’t related to him, which is strange."

"You talked about me being the King of not only vampires but something more? What do you mean?"

The man started laughing.

"The King of the Multiverse. You have the potential to become the King of the Multiverse just like my master was before he was betrayed a long time ago."

Lucius’s eyes widened at the revelation.

"The King of Multiverse? Is that even possible to achieve?"