Galaxy's First Ruler

Chapter 188: Second Contact

" ARISE!!!"

The two-syllable word rippled around Aldrich.

There were many dead beings whom Aldrich had analyzed well enough to bring them back to reality. But one man was too close and personal to him. Aldrich knew everything about him, his strengths and weaknesses. He also knew what his goals were and for what he truly cared for. And the most wonderful thing about this man was that he had not died only once, but thrice.

The space didn't fluctuate, nor was there any sound. It was as if the word itself was a mirage that kept vanishing with every passing moment. A man in a tattered black jacket and jeans materialized in front of Aldrich. He had rough black hair, and there was an eerie black mask on his face. Through the eyeholes of the mask, his ordinary black eyes brimmed out with unimaginable intelligence.

This person was the Masked Menace, Aldrich Guo.

Aldrich had brought himself to life just before he had died the first time. As they approached each other, the white-haired Aldrich realized he was taller than his previous self. The undead Aldrich took off his mask, but unlike El Cid's undead, his eyes weren't hollow. For a moment, both Aldrich stared at each other when an evil smile came on their face and they both let out a deep laugh.

Hahahaha!

The white-haired Aldrich took the hornless Oldest Change from undead Aldrich and put it on his face. But in the next moment, it vanished and again appeared in undead Aldrich's hand. It seemed to Aldrich that the constraint of equipped Items was still valid even for his undead. From the other side, affected by the strange laughing voice, Sha came running towards both Aldrich.

Her mouth opened wide as she kept turning her head from one Aldrich to the other. But soon her gobsmacked expression turned into a big smile as she shouted.

"What better than one Daddy

Two Daddies."

Aldrich couldn't help but let out a wry smile. He picked up the Count Mana Core, which wasn't a part of rewards and hence didn't get subjected to a penalty. As he neared Sha and held her hand, he said.

"Let's go. We are done here."

Aldrich pulled her towards the portal, but Sha didn't seem to like this gesture. She jerked her hand out of Aldrich's grip and pouted.

"We not leaving any Daddy behind."

Sha snapped her head back, but the black-haired Aldrich had already vanished. Aldrich grabbed her face and squeezed her plump cheeks.

"Come on."

"This Daddy mean."

Sha's entire body folded unto herself and turned into the Sealed Devil's Oldest Change. Aldrich extended his hand towards the pillar and it came flying to him. He tried to put it into FIR but the entire ring vibrated as if it would collapse in the next moment.

Sigh!

Aldrich let out a sigh and put the pole-like pillar on his shoulder. Giving the decimated Plaza and the vast paintings in the sky the last look, Aldrich took a step into the portal.

*

Aldrich stepped out of the portal and expanded his Divine Sense out.

All around him, there were countless bodies cut in many pieces, and the entire ground was covered in blood. The low moans of a few Dreamers that haunted the Dungeon's surroundings before Aldrich had gone in, had also vanished. Aldrich made sure that all the Penalties had got lifted for good, and soon, a notification appeared in front of him.

[

Dreamers can request to be teleported to their original location

Time Left: 3 minutes

]

As he saw the time limit given by RECORD, Aldrich felt curious about the time left for his next Random-Dungeon.

"RECORD."

[

Record of Aldrich

Time Left: 4 months

]

"Hmm, so it's the same for all the Dreamers."

Aldrich had already found out that the time given to the Baron and Viscount Ranked Dreamers was just too far apart from each other. And with every subsequent Rank, this gap would only increase.

Keeping the 3-minute countdown in his mind, Aldrich crouched down and felt the wetness of the blood on the ground.

"Around a couple of hours. There is not much time difference."

Aldrich nodded to himself and made sure that the data he had read in the last week was correct or not. This lack of time difference didn't relate to the fact that he was out of Barren Earth. But as stated in the books, with an increase in Dreamers Ranks, the time in the Dungeons would keep becoming the same as outside.

Aldrich stood up and turned his head to stare at the colossal El Cid statue. The red heinous light around it kept turning to a dull, muddy yellow. And on the statue, he could see countless tiny cracks, but they were getting sealed by seconds.

"Huh! Let's try out again next time."

Aldrich scoffed and smirked at the Statue but only he knew what he was referring to. He was about to call out to RECORD to teleport him when Sha shouted in his mind.

"DADDY HE ALIVE!!!"

Even before Aldrich could ask who Sha was speaking of, the mask on his face flew off by itself and turned into Sha. For the first time, there was a wave of slight anger in his eyes as he saw Sha running in a particular direction. And a curse escaped his mouth.

"Fuck puberty!"

Sniff! Sniff!!!

Aldrich followed Sha and arrived at the open ground some hundreds of meters away from the Dungeon. There, Sha was crouching down, and he could hear her damp, crying voice. But even after using his Perception, he couldn't tell what was going on. As a guess surfaced in his mind, Aldrich towered above the Shadow Homunculus and saw the creature sprawled onto the ground.

It was the same kitten-like creature to which Aldrich had given two drops of his most valuable potion.

The claws of its paws were digging deep into rocky earth, and there was a tiny trace of life in its six eyes. Its wings kept flapping, pushing him forward ever so slightly. Aldrich could even see it gritting its teeth as the creature put strength in its legs and crawled as if it was climbing an enormous mountain.

As Sha and Aldrich approached the creature, it lifted its head to look at them. Aldrich's eyes became wide as he felt an extremely powerful emotion coming out of the creature, which he hadn't felt the last time.

"This Such a strong will to live"