《These Familiars Are Strange》


 Chapter 1 Familiar summoning

    "Number 56.""9th Class Low Grade Familiar."


    "Number 75."


    "4th Class Medium Grade Familiar."


    "Number 88."


    "1st Class Medium Grade Familiar!"


    "There''s actually a 1st Class Medium Grade! I never thought that someone would have this kind of talent!"


    "Right? Especially since this is the lowest of the low high school. We''re not even in the top ten thousand ranking in the world and we''re still able to get someone with a 1st Class Medium Grade Familiar!"


    "She really must be talented! She must be destined for great things in the future!"


    "I wonder if I could get her number¡­"


    "Ha, stop dreaming! Someone like you who can''t even summon a 9th Class Medium Grade Familiar? You won''t even get the chance to talk to her."


    "Someone can at least dream, right?"


    As the chatter rang out all around me, I wasn''t in any mood to hear it.


    That was because at this moment, my heart was beating out of my chest¡­


    It was going to be my turn soon to summon a familiar.


    This was the moment that everyone had been waiting for, including me.


    In this world, if one didn''t get a powerful familiar, they wouldn''t be able to reach any kind of powerful position. After all, this was a world where one''s power determined what kind of treatment they received.


    It all started when the first gates opened and the monsters invaded the world.


    It was a disaster where more than half of the world''s population had been killed.


    With the way that the situation developed, it really seemed like it was only a matter of time before the monsters completely wiped out the human race.


    That was until the first summoners appeared.


    They had awakened a power that allowed them to tap into the worlds that the monsters came from, allowing them to pull those monsters to Earth and taming them to become their familiars.


    No one knew where this power came from, but it was a power that allowed humans to fight back against the gates that appeared and the monsters that appeared in their world.


    With the power of the familiars, humanity was able to push back the monsters and reclaim their lands.


    Now, two hundred years after that, humans had built a society around summoners and those that were able to tame powerful familiars. That was because only those with powerful familiars were able to protect the human race.


    When high schoolers reached the end of their education, they would have the chance to go through the summoning ceremony that would allow them to summon a familiar for themselves.


    Though there were chances to summon other familiars in the future, this was the one chance that everyone had. Those other chances were hard to come by since it took a lot of resources to perform a summoning in the first place.


    For most people, this was their only chance.


    That included me, a person who came from a normal four person family that didn''t have anything.


    Both of my parents and my older brother only had normal familiars, so I was the last hope for our family to increase our status.


    "Lin Fan."


    I snapped out of my thoughts the moment that I heard my name being called and went forward towards the summoning platform.


    As I moved forward, there were many people that turned in my direction.


    "Is that him?"


    "Right, that''s the top scorer."


    "I wonder what kind of familiar he will summon?"


    I just acted like I ignored them all as I continued towards the summoning platform, but it was a lie that I was calm. I could feel my heart beating fast and I could feel the worry filling my stomach as I walked forward.


    Even if I was the top student at school, that didn''t mean that I would be able to summon a powerful familiar.


    As I headed to the summoning platform, there was someone that called out my name.


    I turned to look in that direction and found a bright smile pointed at me.


    Seeing this smile erased some of the worry that filled me.


    The one that was giving me this bright smile was Long Tang Tang, my childhood friend.


    Our families were close since we had similar backgrounds, so the two of us had grown up together.


    "I''m waiting to see what kind of powerful familiar you''ll summon." She said with that bright smile on her face.


    A trace of bitterness appeared on my face, but I still said, "Well, we''ll see."


    "You won''t do badly, you''re the top scorer in our entire grade. If you can''t summon a good one, then no one can." She said with the same bright smile.


    I didn''t feel as optimistic as her, but with her cheering me on like this, I really couldn''t keep feeling down about myself.


    So I gave her a firm nod before heading towards the summoning platform.


    But as I turned back to walk forward, I didn''t miss the person who was glaring at me.


    Wang Teng, he was someone from our class as well, but he wasn''t a friend. In fact, he was the class bully who suppressed everyone else with his strong body.


    It was only me that he wasn''t able to suppress since I was just as strong as him. No, I was actually stronger than him since I took the training seriously and worked hard to achieve what I had. S~ea??h the Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    He was someone who just relied on his natural physique¡­


    Well, he was also someone who had a rich father that bought him supplements to increase his strength.


    As for why he was glaring at me¡­everyone in class knew about his feelings for Long Tang Tang. It was just that she wasn''t interested in someone who bullied others like Wang Teng did.


    Once I reached the summoning platform, the instructor looked at me with a smile as he asked, "Are you ready?"


    It wasn''t just the instructor who looked at me favourably, the rest of the staff all looked at me like this.


    They knew that I was the top scorer, so they were all expectant about my results. At the same time, they wanted to build a good relationship with me since they thought that I would be someone important in the future.


    Otherwise, would they have allowed me to stop and talk to Long Tang Tang like that?


    No one else got the same privilege.


    Seeing the look on my face, the instructor said with the same smile, "Don''t be so nervous, it''s all just routine. You''ll do fine."


    The others all nodded in agreement to this.


    I did feel a bit better seeing them like this, so I gave a simple nod in response before heading to the spot in the center of the summoning platform.


    Taking a deep breath, I started up the summoning platform.


    Thirty seconds later¡­


    "How could this be? This is¡­"

 Chapter 2 Strange status

    "9th Class Low Grade Familiar."The instructor and all of the staff members were stunned when they saw the familiar that appeared.


    I was also standing there in a daze looking at the bat that had appeared in front of me.


    This bat looked around a bit before turning to look at me.


    The moment that bat''s eyes fell onto me, they immediately opened wide and lit up.


    This bat looked like it was filled with joy when it saw me before coming forward to rub its head against me.


    But I really couldn''t react to this since I was still in a daze over what the instructor said.


    The entire area was filled with silence as everyone was stunned when the results were announced.


    After a long silence, the instructor finally came back to his senses.


    With a sigh, the instructor said, "It isn''t just his parents, even his big brother only awakened a trash familiar. It seems like talent really was decided from birth, talent isn''t something that can be changed¡­"


    It was like a dagger was stabbed into my heart when I heard this.


    Without a single care for what I thought, the instructor continued with another sigh, "It seems like I really backed the wrong boat here. I wonder if I can still find someone else to become a mentor to¡­"


    Another dagger right to the heart.


    I looked around at the staff, but it didn''t seem like any of them were looking in my direction. All of them seemed to have turned to take care of their own matters, as if they were working hard.


    But in my heart, I knew that they were doing this to avoid interacting with me.


    Just like the instructor, they were treating me completely differently now.


    Only, what was I supposed to do about this?


    Eventually, the instructor turned to look at me. The look on his face was completely different than before, he even narrowed his eyes to look at me as he said, "What are you still doing here? Why aren''t you getting out of the way already? There''s still other people that need to go through the summoning ceremony."


    A bitter smile appeared on my face when I heard this, but I still had to say, "The status for my familiar. I still need the status page."


    The instructor looked like he wasn''t interested in this at all, but he still pulled out a piece of paper that he threw over at me before saying, "Get out of the way already."


    With a sigh, I caught the paper and walked off the summoning platform. Sear?h the N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    When I did, I heard the whispers coming from all around me.


    "Wasn''t he supposed to be the top scorer?"


    "It''s just scores, how could it compare to actual talent? He''s nothing more than a fake."


    "Ha, ha, and to think that I actually had a crush on him. Now I can see the truth."


    I just ignored all of them since I had already been prepared for this scenario, but it would be a lie to say that their words weren''t like daggers that pierced my heart.


    At this point, there was nothing that I could do other than finishing my mandatory education and then finding a job that was suited to my abilities.


    But of course, I couldn''t blame it on my familiar.


    It was summoned because of my abilities, so it was just a representation of what I was capable of.


    With a sigh, I looked at the status sheet that was printed out.


    I didn''t know what I was expecting, but it was as disappointing as I thought it would be.


    Echo Bat


    Level: 1


    Exp: 0


    Strength: 5


    Vitality: 5


    Intelligence: 10


    Dexterity: 13


    Skills: Echolocation


    This was a familiar that was only useful for scouting areas, it didn''t have any other uses.


    However, when I looked at it closely, I could see that the Echolocation was only useful up to twenty meters. That was far from being enough to be useful¡­so it seemed like the only skill that this bat familiar of mine had wasn''t of any use.


    With a sigh, I slowly turned to look at the bat familiar that was still hugging me and rubbing its head up against me.


    There was a part of me that didn''t know what to do with this bat familiar, but it wasn''t as if I could just abandon it¡­


    But all of a sudden, there was this blue screen that suddenly appeared in front of me as I looked at my familiar.


    I was surprised to find that it was a status screen.


    Statuses were supposed to be special information that could only be discovered by those that had an appraisal skill, or used a special appraisal item. That was why I had insisted on getting the status for my familiar from the instructor earlier in hopes that this familiar of mine would have some kind of secret.


    But now¡­


    "Echo Hypnosis? What is that?" I softly said to myself in a shocked voice.


    The status that appeared in front of my face was completely different from the one that I had gotten from the instructor.


    This status screen had the same stats as the sheet of paper, but there was an extra skill that wasn''t on the sheet of paper.


    It was a skill that I had never heard of before even with all of studying on different kinds of familiars.


    There was a part of me that wanted to turn back and ask the instructor, but I didn''t get the chance to do so.


    There was a large commotion that suddenly caught everyone''s attention.


    "1st Class High Grade Familiar!"


    This loud announcement filled the entire area and everyone immediately turned to look in the direction that it came from.


    There even seemed to be some kind of blue glow coming from the summoning platform that it came from.


    Standing in the middle of the summoning platform was someone that I recognized.


    Long Tang Tang.

 Chapter 3 Watch yourself

    As she stood there in the center of the summoning platform, she looked like some kind of fairy that had descended to Earth.There were even a few changes that came about her as she stood there.


    She was a beautiful girl in the first place, but it seemed like she was becoming even more beautiful with the way that her skin became more fair. At the same time, the pigtails that were on the side of her head had turned blue along with her pupils. S~ea??h the N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    It seemed that the power that she unleashed was so great that it had physically changed her.


    Though her figure seemed to remain the same¡­


    It seemed that she was still a bit flat¡­


    At her side was a white lynx that wrapped around her body as if it was protecting her from anything that would harm her.


    Not that anyone would dare come close to her with the amount of mana that this lynx was releasing.


    This was an aura that was befitting of a 1st Class High Grade Familiar.


    Long Tang Tang just stood there looking down at her lynx for a bit before reaching out to rub the lynx on the head. In response, the lynx rubbed up against her hand as if it was enjoying the comfort that came from her touch.


    The two of them just remained there like that for a bit before Long Tang Tang suddenly looked up.


    She looked around the room until her eyes fell onto me.


    When her eyes fell onto me, there was a bright smile that appeared on her face and she raised her hand to wave at me as she said, "Lin Fan, do you see this? My little lynx is the most powerful in the world!"


    Her voice was loud enough that I was able to hear it, so naturally everyone around also heard her.


    The moment that they heard her, all of them immediately turned to look at me with eyes that were filled with disdain and envy.


    I couldn''t say anything in response to this, all I could do was reveal a bitter smile.


    Seeing that I didn''t say anything, Long Tang Tang had the lynx let her go and she started coming off the summoning platform.


    With her brilliant display, there were many people that wanted to talk to her, but she just ignored them all. Well, all of them except for the instructor that came forward to give her the status sheet for her lynx.


    But she didn''t even bother looking at that instructor as she just took that sheet from her hands.


    When she came over to my side, she looked at me with a slightly concerned look as she asked, "What''s wrong? Why are you so quiet?"


    Once again, all I could do was look at her with a bitter smile since I didn''t know how to respond.


    It was hard to tell her what had happened, but that didn''t mean that others wouldn''t tell her.


    "Don''t you see that bat by his side? That''s his familiar."


    "Right, it''s a 9th Class Low Grade Familiar, the lowest of the low."


    "You shouldn''t hang out with someone like that. You should stay with people that are at the same level as¡­"


    The last person didn''t get to finish their words as they suddenly felt a pressure come over them. It was as if there was someone that was pushing them into the ground with the way that the pressure fell on them, making them unable to say anything else.


    As for who was releasing this pressure¡­


    Long Tang Tang had her eyes narrowed as she looked at this person, but that also caused the lynx to let out a low growl as it looked at this person.


    The one that spoke could only fall to the ground as their legs gave out from under them.


    The others that had spoken couldn''t help taking a step back when they saw this.


    Long Tang Tang didn''t bother with them as she turned back to me and reached a hand out before saying, "Let''s go, there''s no need to care about them."


    I was surprised by her reaction, but then I slowly revealed a smile as well and took her hand.


    Long Tang Tang didn''t seem like she cared about anyone else as she led me away from this place, but as we were walking away¡­


    "1st Class Middle Grade Familiar!"


    This wasn''t considered high, but it was considered higher than most of the other familiars that had been awakened.


    Only Long Tang Tang and one other had awakened familiars that were at the same level or higher. As such, the one that awakened this familiar received plenty of attention from the others.


    It was just that it wasn''t a good thing for me that this person awakened such a high grade familiar.


    It was Wang Teng who was standing there with a gorilla behind him.


    There was a smug smile on his face as he looked at his gorilla, but then he started looking around the room as if he wanted to brag to someone.


    The moment that his eyes fell onto me, they immediately narrowed.


    It wasn''t because he was looking at me that he reacted like this, it was because he saw Long Tang Tang holding my hand and pulling me away.


    The moment that he saw this, his eyes immediately filled with envy.


    It was just that he didn''t seem like he was willing to do anything while Long Tang Tang was watching.


    Especially after one of his lackeys went forward and whispered something in his ear.


    His eyes went to look at the lynx that was following Long Tang Tang around and they narrowed for a bit before he revealed a look of appreciation.


    The way that he looked at her was as if he was appreciating his property.


    Only after looking at Long Tang Tang like this for a bit, he turned to look at me and he whispered something.


    It wasn''t hard to guess what he whispered.


    "You better watch yourself."

 Chapter 4 Training session

    "Anyone looking for team members for the training mission?""I''m a captain and I''m looking for some strong members!"


    "We need some scouts and healers over here!"


    There were all kinds of voices ringing out as we stood in front of the dungeon entrance.


    Only I couldn''t feel as relaxed as everyone else.


    The reason that we were here was because this was the mandatory trip that the school took after the summoning ceremony. It was to let those that had newly summoned familiars get used to fighting with their familiars.


    In this world, there was no guarantee that one wouldn''t encounter a monster even though the monster problem had been controlled by past summoners.


    But this place was rather safe since it was an E Rank dungeon.


    It only contained monsters that weren''t that strong.


    Well, they also weren''t that weak either since it wouldn''t be an experience if they were too weak.


    Though deaths weren''t common, deaths were still expected from time to time.


    That was the kind of world this was.


    The main reason that I couldn''t feel relaxed was because I had been chosen as one of the team captains for this trip into the dungeon.


    The way that this training session was set up was that there were team captains that were chosen and they would be free to form whatever teams they wanted. The reason for this was that the team captains were those that had high ranking familiars, which would help reduce the number of casualties.


    With the powerful team captains supporting the teams, there would be less danger.


    Which was strange that I was chosen as a team captain since my familiar was one of the weakest ones out there.


    But it wasn''t hard to figure out what had happened. sea??h th§× N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    When the teams were announced, I noticed the look that the instructor gave Wang Teng.


    Even when Long Tang Tang complained, the instructor just simply said, "These were the team captains that were chosen by the school. We took into account that he had high scores in the past, which would mean that he knows how to look after himself. That will help reduce the number of casualties."


    The excuse that he gave was very systematic and logical, but it was clearly full of BS.


    Still, there was nothing that could be done since it was something that the school decided.


    So even now, I was alone as we stood in front of the dungeon entrance.


    "Are you sure that you don''t want to come with my team? We don''t need to care about their rules, I''ll take responsibility."


    Long Tang Tang had tried convincing me to go with her, but I shook my head in response.


    Even if I was a man that had summoned the lowest grade familiar, I was still someone that had the pride of a man. At the same time, I knew that it would be impossible for them to even let us do something like that.


    In the end, Long Tang Tang''s team was filled with people that had also summoned low grade familiars.


    The school sent them to her team and she was someone that couldn''t just abandon people, so she accepted them and decided to carry them through this dungeon.


    In the distance, I could also see Wang Teng looking over at me from time to time.


    His team was made of his lackeys and Xia Xue, the second most beautiful girl in our grade. She was someone who went after men with power and once in the past, she had wanted to latch onto me before.


    But now¡­it seemed that she had changed targets.


    The way that Wang Teng looked at me, it was clear what he was doing.


    He was targeting me.


    It seemed that this trip into the dungeon wouldn''t be smooth, but I was a person that had been the top scorer. I was someone who knew how to take care of myself in the dungeon.


    I was pulled out of my thoughts by the voice that came from the gate.


    "Everyone, get ready to enter the dungeon."


    The ones that were administering this were the same instructors and staff members that had been in charge of the summoning ceremony.


    They made us go into the gate one by one, so I was stuck there waiting for everyone else to enter first.


    When it was my turn to enter the gate, I was the only one that was left outside.


    Still, I went forward to claim my supply pack.


    "There''s nothing left for you."


    The one that said this was the same instructor for our class who had been trying to suck up to Wang Teng.


    I knew as soon as he said this that he was doing this on purpose.


    Wang Teng most likely already had him in his pockets, which was why he wasn''t scared to act this way even though it was against the rules of the school.


    It seemed that they really wanted me to die.


    Looking around, I saw that no one else said a thing.


    It seemed that there wouldn''t be a single person standing up for me since I had the lowest grade familiar.


    I couldn''t say anything, but that didn''t mean that I would forget this.


    Gritting my teeth, I just simply said, "Move out of the way and let me in then."


    The instructor didn''t say anything as he gave a simple nod and moved aside as if he was gesturing to the dungeon entrance.


    I didn''t think that they would actually do anything to the dungeon entrance since this was something that was regulated by the school. It seemed that I had completely underestimated how far they were willing to go.


    Right before I could step through, I felt someone pushing me from behind.


    As I fell into the dungeon gate, I turned back to see that it was the instructor who pushed me.


    There was an evil smile on his face as he pushed me forward.


    I had really underestimated how far these people were willing to go.

 Chapter 5 Test

    I fell face first into the dungeon.That was how I entered my first dungeon.


    When I came back to my senses, I couldn''t help revealing a bitter smile as I said to myself, "It seems like they really want to kill me¡­"


    Shaking my head, I gave a sigh before revealing a firm look.


    The first thing that I had to do now was figure out where I was.


    Since this was a training dungeon, it meant that this was a dungeon that was fully under control of the school. They were able to control where each person that was sent into the dungeon would end up.


    Normally, they would send people into the zones where the F Rank Monsters were, but it was clear that this wasn''t that place.


    Judging by the bones that were on the ground around me, it seemed like this was the location of much higher ranked monsters.


    An E Ranked Dungeon would have monsters ranging from D Rank to F Rank, so if I had to guess¡­


    This was most likely the territory of some kind of D Rank Monster. Sear?h the n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    That was where I would send someone if I wanted to kill them.


    Once I saw what my surroundings were like, I focused on the paths that were in front of me.


    There were three different paths for me to go and it seemed like all of them led to the same place. It was just a good thing that there was this light in this dungeon even though this was clearly a cave that lit up the entire place, which was why I could see everything.


    After looking at the three paths in silence for a bit, I shook my head and said with a bitter laugh, "Does it even matter which path I take?"


    After all, I hadn''t even received a map for this dungeon in the first place, so I wouldn''t know where I was.


    The only thing that I could do now was pick one path and stick to it.


    All I could do was hope that one of these paths led to a place with other people or an exit.


    So I chose the one on the right.


    It wasn''t that there was something special about this path, it was just that this was the path that was closest to me.


    I was about to head down this path, but¡­


    "Grrr¡­"


    There was this low growling that came from in front of me.


    I deeply knitted my brows the moment that I heard this since I knew what this sound was.


    I had studied the known monsters in this dungeon before coming here, so I knew that this was the sound of the D Rank Gale Wolves. As I had expected, I had been sent into the territory of a D Rank Monster.


    The problem was how to get out of this place.


    There was no path backwards and there were only these three paths in front of me, but the growling was coming from all three of these paths. No matter how one looked at it, it seemed that I was trapped here¡­


    Since there was this growling coming from all three tunnels, it wasn''t as if I could just go down any of them. Being trapped in the tunnels with the Gale Wolves was certainly more dangerous than being in this open space.


    At least in this open space, I would have room to move around and fight against the Gale Wolves if it was necessary.


    It was just that it didn''t seem like I would be able to fight against the Gale Wolves.


    These were D Rank Monsters and I was someone who had a 9th Class Low Grade Familiar. My familiar was even a bat familiar that didn''t seem to have any combat capabilities.


    That was except for¡­


    I couldn''t help thinking of the extra skills that only I could see in my familiar''s status screen.


    "If I''m about to die, then there''s nothing to lose." A bitter smile appeared on my face as I said this, "I might as well test it and see if it works."


    With that, I summoned the Echo Bat out of the Familiar Space.


    This was the space that was engraved on each summoner when they summoned their first familiar. It was a space that familiars could go into so that they wouldn''t have to follow summoners around outside.


    After all, there were some familiars that were really big.


    When the Echo Bat came out, it came up and pressed itself against me like before. It was rubbing its face against me like it was happy to see me again, even though we had just seen each other not that long ago.


    I shook my head with another bitter smile before saying, "Not now, enemies are coming."


    When the Echo Bat heard this, it immediately stopped doing what it was doing and flew up onto my shoulder. It opened up its wings and pushed its head forward while opening its mouth, as if it was releasing something.


    Though I couldn''t hear what it was releasing, I knew what it was doing.


    It was using its echolocation to scout out the area.


    Not long after, it pointed in the direction of one of the tunnels.


    Seeing the Echo Bat like this made the bitter smile on my face fill with more bitterness.


    That was because I could already see the Gale Wolf that was heading in my direction.


    The Echo Bat only had a twenty meter range to its echolocation and by that point, I would be able to see the Gale Wolves approaching already. There was no point to it using its echolocation at all once that happened.


    But I didn''t discourage it as I said, "Can you use that other skill of yours?"


    The Echo Bat gave a nod before looking at me as if it was waiting for an order.


    Seeing this, I decided to take a chance and test it out.


    I turned to look at the Gale Wolves that were slowly approaching me, looking at me as if they were looking at easy prey.


    Then all of a sudden, I said, "Freeze."


    At that, the Echo Bat opened its mouth again and released another cry.


    The moment that this was released, all of the Gale Wolves that had been approaching me suddenly froze.

 Chapter 6 Subduing

    The Gale Wolves that froze had shocked looks on their faces as they looked at me.The looks on their faces made it seem as if they couldn''t understand what was happening.


    That was because all of them had suddenly frozen in place.


    A few looks of struggle appeared on the faces of some of the Gale Wolves. It seemed like they were trying to break free of whatever was holding them in place, but they just weren''t able to do it.


    I looked at them with a surprised look too.


    Even though I had a few expectations, this was far beyond what I had imagined.


    After all, these Gale Wolves were certainly much stronger than the things that I had tested the Echo Bat''s additional ability on.


    The Gale Wolves were D Rank Monsters, while the things that I had tested on were the normal animals that were in the park near my house. It was hard to compare the two of them since there was a large difference in power between them.


    But it didn''t seem to matter as the Echo Bat''s ability seemed to work on the Gale Wolves.


    However, that was just the beginning¡­


    After looking at the Gale Wolves for a bit, a determined look appeared on my face.


    Since I had already come this far, the only thing that I could do was take this to the end.


    "Submit." I said in a calm voice before the Echo Bat released another silent cry.


    The moment that the Gale Wolves heard this silent cry, there was this strange look that appeared on their faces. With the way that their faces relaxed, it was almost as if they were being numbed by something.


    Their expressions just dulled, but they also turned to look at me with these relaxed expressions.


    After a moment of silence, the expressions of the Gale Wolves suddenly became much friendlier.


    There were even a few of them that barked at me, which was completely different from the way that they treated me before. Instead of growling at me in an aggressive and hostile manner, they were barking at me as if I was part of their pack.


    I didn''t let them go yet and slowly walked forward towards the Gale Wolves that were still frozen there.


    Seeing me approach, the eyes of the Gale Wolves lit up and they barked even more as if they wanted to play with me.


    I could see the same look as the neighbourhood dogs when they saw someone that they wanted to play with on the faces of the Gale Wolves. In a way, it almost seemed like they were large dogs, rather than powerful wolf monsters.


    I walked over to the one that was closest to me and then slowly reached out my hand towards the Gale Wolf''s head. Seeing my hand coming closer, the Gale Wolf didn''t resist at all as it waited for me to reach out to it.


    Well, it wasn''t as if it didn''t do anything at all.


    It actually tried reaching its head forward a bit even though it was still frozen, as if it wanted to press its snout up against my hand.


    I reached out and patted the Gale Wolf on its head. With the way that it rubbed up against me slightly, to the best of its ability even though it was frozen, it seemed like it enjoyed it.


    I looked at the other Gale Wolves and it didn''t seem like they were planning on fighting back, so I said, "Release."


    The moment that I said this, all of the Gale Wolves had surprised looks on their faces.


    Then the next moment, they ran towards me.


    They didn''t attack me when they reached me, they just pressed their snouts up against me and rubbed up against me as if they wanted me to pat them on the head as well. But since there were so many of them and they were quite big, there wasn''t enough space for all of them to stand by my side.


    This caused a bit of friction between them and it even seemed like they were about to start fighting for my affection.


    A bitter smile appeared on my face when I saw them acting like this.


    With the way that they were acting now, it really didn''t seem like they were the same monsters that had wanted to attack me not that long ago.


    "Calm down, there''s no need to fight." I said to calm them down.


    The Gale Wolves seemed to care very much about what I said as they immediately stopped fighting with each other and turned to look at me as if they were waiting for an order.


    The way that they all looked at me was as if they were large dogs, even though they were powerful wolves.


    This made me feel even more bitter when I saw them like this, but I didn''t have time to think too much about this.


    "Grr¡­"


    There were still these growling sounds that were coming from in front of me.


    Even if I had subdued this one group of Gale Wolves, that didn''t mean that I had subdued all of them. There were still other Gale Wolves that were coming through the tunnels to attack me.


    However, there was no fear on my face even though I recognized this fact.


    After all, it didn''t seem like they posed any threat to me.


    I looked at the Gale Wolves that I had already subdued and said, "Go and meet them. Stall them for me and I''ll bring them into our family."


    The Gale Wolves didn''t immediately understand what I said, but the Echo Bat gave another cry and they all nodded before running into the tunnels, leaving me behind.


    I shook my head with a faint smile as I watched them head down the tunnel, but I quickly followed after them. S§×ar?h the N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    ¡­


    I looked at my watch and found that half an hour had passed.


    Then I looked up at all of the Gale Wolves that were standing in this space in front of me.


    The first group that I had tamed only had around twenty Gale Wolves.


    Now there was a large pack of over two hundred Gale Wolves standing in front of me.


    The way that they acted was as if they were a large pack of dogs, waiting for my affection.


    "Isn''t this power a bit too broken?" I couldn''t help saying to myself.

 Chapter 7 Kill him

    After another moment of looking at the Gale Wolves that were gathered in front of me with this strange look, I gathered my emotions and focused once more.Even if I was now safe because I controlled this group of Gale Wolves, that didn''t mean that this matter was over just yet.


    Even if I could make my way through this dungeon safely with the help of these Gale Wolves, there was still something else that I had to take care of before leaving this dungeon.


    It didn''t have anything to do with the monsters in the dungeon.


    It had to do with the humans that came into this dungeon.


    I knew that there was someone that wouldn''t give up until they saw an end to this matter.


    So I would give them an ending.


    With his personality, he was certain to come looking for me after sending me into this trap. He would want to personally see my corpse and stand over it to brag before ending this matter.


    "I need you to help me find someone." I said to the Gale Wolves through the Echo Bat.


    As soon as I said this, all of them came to attention as if they were waiting for me to give them an order.


    After a few words, they spread out and headed down the tunnels that they came from.


    ¡­


    "Are you sure that this is the place?" One of the lackeys asked in a worried voice.


    "What are you scared of? With me here, do you think that anything could happen?" Wang Teng said in a confident voice.


    "Of course not." Xia Xue said in a coquettish voice before coming forward to grab Wang Teng''s arm. While holding Wang Teng''s arm like this, she pressed her large breasts up against him so that they wrapped around his arm.


    There was a satisfied look that appeared on Wang Teng''s face when he felt her pressing up against him like this.


    He knew exactly what she was doing and it filled him with satisfaction when he saw her like this.


    It made him feel the way that he felt he deserved to be treated.


    He even felt good seeing the slightly worried and envious looks that were on the faces of the lackeys.


    But in the end, he knew that he couldn''t just enjoy this forever since they were in the dungeon.


    "Stop messing around and go find him already! I already told you, this is the place that I arranged for him to be sent. With him distracting the monsters, all we have to do is find his corpse." Wang Teng roared at his lackeys.


    Even though the lackeys still seemed worried, they split up as Wang Teng had ordered them to.


    It didn''t take long before one of them ran back to say, "I found him!"


    A smile crept onto Wang Teng''s face when he heard this before he said, "Where is his corpse?"


    There was an awkward look that appeared on the lackey''s face when he heard this. After hesitating a bit as if he wasn''t certain if he should say it or not, the lackey still said, "I found him, but he''s not a corpse. It seems like the monsters have left him alone and he''s just sitting there as if he''s waiting things out."


    Wang Teng slightly knitted his brows when he heard this. sea??h th§× ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    What the lackey meant by this was that since this was a training session, they had twelve hours in this dungeon. Once the twelve hours passed, there was a device that would automatically bring them out of the dungeon if they were still alive.


    Wang Teng was displeased that Lin Fan had been able to avoid the monsters and had even found a safe place to wait this out.


    "That damn instructor. I told him to send him right into the center of the monsters and he sent him into a safe area. I''ll take care of him when I get back." Wang Teng said under his breath.


    "Take me to him." Wang Teng ordered the lackey.


    The lackey quickly nodded before leading the way.


    Along the way, the other lackeys met up with Wang Teng''s group and they all headed to where Lin Fan was.


    From a distance, they could see Lin Fan sitting on a rock in a corner of the dungeon.


    With how there weren''t any monsters here, it really seemed like this was some kind of safe area that didn''t contain any monsters at all.


    Wang Teng had a deep frown on his face seeing this, but then he said, "Go and kill him."


    The lackeys were shocked to hear this.


    They might be lackeys for Wang Teng, but they were also normal students that had never killed anyone before.


    So for Wang Teng to order them to kill Lin Fan, it really was hard for them¡­


    "I''ll give you triple if you kill him." Wang Teng simply said without a single care in his voice.


    But it was different for the lackeys.


    The main reason they followed Wang Teng was for his money. Even now, he was paying them to follow him into the dungeon.


    Triple that amount¡­was not a small amount. Especially since they came from middle class families.


    With this money, they would be able to have a step up in life¡­


    Gritting their teeths, the lackeys eventually found their motivation and moved forward silently with their weapons raised.


    The frown slowly disappeared from Wang Teng''s face and there was a faint smile that appeared as he watched them approach Lin Fan from behind.


    He had long wanted to see Lin Fan''s death, but he hadn''t been able to do anything to him because the school had been protecting him. But now that he had awakened a low grade familiar and the school stopped protecting him, it was his chance.


    "She''ll be mine." Wang Teng said under his breath.


    Xia Xue was a bit displeased when she heard this, but she didn''t dare show it on her face.


    The lackeys came closer and closer until they were almost right behind him.


    There was still a moment of hesitation from them as they stood there, but it seemed like they found their determination as they gripped their weapons and raised them up as if they were about to attack.


    Only right before they could attack¡­


    "Awoo!"


    There was this howl that caught them off guard and all of them stopped.


    "Freeze."


    This word rang out through the air and they found that they weren''t able to move at all.


    Right after that, the same voice spoke again.


    "I''ve been waiting for you."

 Chapter 8 What are you doing?

    "What are you doing? Kill him!" Wang Teng ignored the words that I said as he directly called for his lackeys to attack me.Unfortunately, those lackeys weren''t able to move at all.


    The moment that they heard my Echo Bat''s sonar, they became frozen on the spot.


    There were looks of shock that were on their faces, but there were also traces of struggle coming from their faces. It seemed that they were trying to break free of the force that was holding them in place like this.


    It was just too bad that it wasn''t working at all.


    No matter how hard they tried to break free, they found that they weren''t able to move a single muscle.


    They weren''t even able to move their mouths to make a sound.


    As they realized this, there was a trace of fear that appeared in their eyes.


    Just what kind of power was this that was able to freeze them completely like this?


    During this time, Wang Teng didn''t notice any of this and just continued shouting at the lackeys to do something.


    The more that he shouted, the angrier he became when he saw that those lackeys didn''t do a single thing.


    Only no matter what he did, the lackeys didn''t move at all. It was as if they didn''t hear him at all with the way that they ignored him.


    I had been slowly observing all of this because I noticed something.


    It seemed that there was a certain range to the Echo Bat''s sonar. Once they were a certain distance away, the Echo Bat''s sonar didn''t seem to work.


    That was why Wang Teng was still able to wave his hand and shout at the top of his lungs like this.


    However, I got tired of listening to him once I had a good judge of the effective distance.


    "Keep going." I said to the Echo Bat as I started walking forward. The Echo Bat on my shoulder gave a nod with its mouth still open as I walked forward.


    After a few steps, Wang Teng suddenly stopped shouting at his lackeys. The moment that he stopped, I also stopped moving.


    Narrowing my eyes, I took a closer look at the distance between us.


    It seemed that this was the max range of the Echo Bar''s sonar. It also didn''t seem like the effects weakened, it was all or nothing when it came to the power of the Echo Bat''s sonar.


    While I was observing this range, Wang Teng''s expression changed quite a bit.


    There was rage at first, but eventually there was confusion and even a trace of fear that appeared in his eyes.


    He had no idea what was happening, but he just wasn''t able to move a single inch no matter how he tried.


    Finally, I broke the silence by asking, "Why are you doing this?" Sear?h the N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Even though I already knew the answer, I still wanted to hear it from him.


    Though after a moment of silence, I realized something and said, "Speak."


    After the Echo Bat made another silent sound, Wang Teng found that his mouth was able to move again. Though the rest of his body wasn''t able to move, he found that his mouth was at least able to move.


    The moment that he found that he could speak¡­


    "What do you think you''re doing? Do you know who you''re messing with?" Wang Teng roared in a voice filled with rage.


    He had no intention of answering my question at all.


    Though he wasn''t a complete fool and could tell that I was the one that had caused this phenomenon.


    It was just that he couldn''t lose his arrogance at all.


    I narrowed my eyes to look at him before slowing moving towards him.


    Wang Teng also narrowed his eyes to look at me. He continued roaring at me at first, but seeing that I was getting closer and closer, his voice started to fade away.


    It was almost as if he was running out of steam with the way that his voice slowly lost its power.


    Finally, Wang Teng took a deep breath and asked, "What are you doing?"


    "What do you think I''m doing?" I asked back at him, almost in a taunting voice.


    "You!"


    "Pa!"


    That was all that Wang Teng was able to say before there was a pain that came from his face.


    A look of shock appeared on Wang Teng''s face, as if he couldn''t believe what just happened.


    As he slowly turned back to look at me, he also slowly said, "What did you just do?"


    "Pa!"


    That was the answer to his question.


    I didn''t say a single word as I directly slapped him across the other cheek.


    There was no hesitation at all in my action as I slapped him with as much strength as I had.


    I had to admit that it felt good to slap Wang Teng across his face, but now wasn''t the time to be enjoying this.


    "I don''t think that you understand the situation that you''re in. I''m the one asking the questions and the only thing that you can do now is answer my questions." I said in a cold voice.


    A chill ran down Wang Teng''s spine, but it seemed that these words actually had the opposite effect.


    There was a look of anger that appeared on Wang Teng''s face after he heard this.


    It seemed that he was someone whose pride just wouldn''t allow him to back down even in the situation that he was in.


    So instead of backing down, he said, "You dare say that to¡­"


    It was just too bad for him that I wasn''t playing around either.


    "Pa!"


    "You¡­"


    "Pa!"


    "Stop¡­"


    "Pa!"


    "I¡­"


    "Pa!"


    "Oh wait, you might have actually been trying to answer just now. What were you about to say?"


    "I won''t let you get away¡­"


    "Pa!"


    "It seemed that I was expecting too much from you."


    "Pa!"


    "I didn''t even say anything!"


    "Pa!"


    "You did that time."


    Just like this, it was a cycle of non answers and slaps.


    It reached the point where my hands actually hurt from slapping him across the face.

 Chapter 9 What makes you think…

    Wang Teng''s face had become swollen from being slapped like this.As his face became more and more swollen, Wang Teng finally learned not to say anything.


    Or it was better to say that it became hard for him to say anything since his face was swollen.


    Seeing that he didn''t say anything else, I just rubbed my hands together to help them recover a bit after slapping him across the face like this. I didn''t care about the way that he looked at me like he wanted to take revenge.


    Eventually, Wang Teng slowly said, "You should know why I did that. If you didn''t get close to her, then none of this would have happened."


    "I know, but what makes you think that she belonged to you in the first place?"


    "Ha, everything in this world is mine for the taking! That is the right of the rich and powerful!" Wang Teng recovered his vigor a bit, but all that earned him was another slap across the face.


    Shaking my head, I said with a sigh, "It really seems like you don''t learn at all. You should know what kind of situation you''re in and you''re still acting like this. It seems like even in the end, you''ll never learn."


    "You¡­" Wang Teng was about to say something, but then he realized that there was something wrong with the words that he heard.


    There was a slow look of recognition as he started processing these words before saying, "You¡­you wouldn''t dare. If you dare, then you''ll know what will happen to you."


    I just looked at him with a smile as I said, "What makes you think that I wouldn''t dare? Don''t you already know what kind of place we''re in? This is the kind of place where people go missing all the time."


    Turning around to look at the lackeys that were still frozen and then looking at Xia Xue, I said, "If you were to go missing here, do you really think that anyone would think anything of it?"


    "They''ll come for our corpses and it''ll be exposed that you were the one that killed us. When that time comes, you won''t be able to escape the consequences."


    To my surprise, it was actually Xia Xue who said this.


    Wang Teng was caught off guard at first, but then he quickly said with a nod, "That''s right! If you dare, they''ll find out right away based on the condition of our corpses! My father won''t let this matter rest if you dare do anything!"


    I just ignored him as I looked at Xia Xue with narrowed eyes.


    I hadn''t thought much of her since she acted like a girl who only cared about using her beauty to trap powerful men, but it seemed that I had underestimated her.


    It seemed that there was a brain inside of that pretty head, it was just that she chose to hide it normally to fool men that she wanted to use.


    After looking at her like this for a bit which made Xia Xue look away from me, I turned back to Wang Teng with a smile on my face as I said, "Who said that I would do anything to you? There''s no need for me to dirty my hands."


    With a snap of my fingers, there were several large figures that appeared around us.


    These figures were on all four limbs, unlike humans.


    When they saw these figures, Wang Teng''s group was caught off guard by them.


    Even though they had already heard the howls from these Gale Wolves earlier which was what stopped the lackeys, they had actually completely forgotten about them.


    After the Gale Wolves appeared, it took a while for them to process what was happening, but the moment that they did¡­


    "You traitor! You have betrayed mankind!"


    That was what Wang Teng said as soon as he came back to his senses.


    He didn''t even think about his own position as he said this, that was just how shocked he was to see the Gale Wolves following my orders.


    With a shake of my head and a faint smile, I said, "Why do you think that? Just because they''re following my orders, does that mean that I''m working with the monsters?"


    "What else could it mean?" Wang Teng said without hesitation.


    I didn''t bother answering this as I simply gave a shrug and said, "Does that really matter to you at this point?"


    Wang Teng trembled when he heard this before slowly looking at the Gale Wolves.


    His eyes filled with fear before he looked back at me as if he was meeting me for the first time. With the way that he looked at me, it was as if he didn''t even recognize who I was.


    That was just how much this situation confused him.


    He just couldn''t figure out what had caused this change in me.


    It was simply because I wouldn''t take it anymore.


    There were many things that I had to take in the past because of my position, but no longer.


    With this power of mine, I would do what I would have to do to become stronger. I wouldn''t let anyone push me around anymore.


    Especially if that person had plans to kill me in the first place. sea??h th§× N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    If they come for my life, then they should at least leave theirs if they fail.


    "I promise that I won''t say anything about this as long as you let me go. You can have the rest, just let me go." Wang Teng sounded completely defeated when he said this.


    It was as if there wasn''t a single part of the arrogant young master from before as he said this.


    It was as if all he cared about was his own life.


    The lackeys had shocked looks on their faces, but they couldn''t say anything since they were still frozen.


    As for Xia Xue, she was just too shocked to say anything.


    "If you spare me, I''ll get my father to give you¡­"


    "Not interested."


    With a snap of my fingers, the Gale Wolves jumped at Wang Teng and his lackeys.

 Chapter 10 A bit different

    "Ah!"There were screams of pain that rang out when the fangs of the Gale Wolves came down, along with the spurting of blood.


    However, there was one voice that was missing from this group.


    Not everyone in Wang Teng''s group was screaming in pain from being bitten by the Gale Wolves.


    That was because there was one person that hadn''t been bitten.


    That person''s eyes were wide open since they had been close enough to see Wang Teng''s body being bitten into by the Gale Wolves that jumped at him. They had even been close enough to have the blood spurting out from Wang Teng splash onto their face.


    It was just that they had been completely frozen and couldn''t reach up to wipe off that blood.


    They could only look on with eyes filled with shock and fear as the Gale Wolves started ripping Wang Teng''s body apart.


    Screams of pain continued for a while until all of a sudden.


    "That''s enough. Be silent."


    The Echo Bat opened its mouth and then all of the screams of pain disappeared.


    Even though their mouths were still open and it seemed like they wanted to scream in pain, there was no sound that actually came out of their mouths. It was as if there was something that had cut their vocal chords and stopped them from making any sound at all.


    It didn''t matter how they tried, there was just nothing that came out.


    I just ignored all of this as I moved towards that one person that had been spared.


    As I approached, her gaze turned to me with confusion and fear in her eyes.


    She didn''t know what was happening, but she was scared of what I would do to her.


    "Your ending will be a bit different from theirs." I said in a casual voice.


    The look of fear didn''t disappear from Xia Xue''s eyes as she kept looking at me. Rather, her eyes seemed to fill with even more fear when she heard what I said.


    There was a tremble that filled her body, but she wasn''t able to move since she was still frozen in place.


    She wasn''t even able to say a single thing because of the command that I gave earlier.


    "You can speak. Tell me your final words."


    As soon as I said this, Xia Xue said, "Please don''t kill me, I can do whatever you want as long as you spare my life."


    I could see that she was struggling to move her body while she said this.


    Whether this was to try to appeal to me or to try and run away, I wouldn''t know.


    Of course, I wasn''t interested in what she was planning to do either.


    I already had an idea of what I wanted from her, so all that was left was to give the orders.


    "Is that so? I''m a bit disappointed since I thought that you would be smarter than that. In that case, I won''t hold back then." I said with a faint smile.


    Xia Xue trembled again when she heard this before she said, "No, no, don''t come closer. Don''t touch me!"


    Her voice was filled with struggle, but it was just too bad that she wasn''t able to do anything to back this up.


    At the same time, her eyes seemed to dim as I said a few words to her.


    It was as if they were losing their light.


    It was as if she was losing her consciousness with the way that they dimmed.


    ¡­


    "What is happening?" Xia Xue said as she felt herself fall.


    This was a very strange sensation since it wasn''t her body that was falling, but rather her consciousness.


    It was as if she was sinking deeper and deeper into her mind.


    As she fell, she could see that there was a screen above her that seemed to be connected to the outside world.


    That was the only thing that she could see that was related to the outside world.


    In the center of that screen was a terrifying face that had a smile on it.


    She tried screaming, but she found that there was no reaction from that person as she screamed her lungs out. It didn''t even seem like that person heard her screaming¡­


    All that person said was, "Goodbye forever."


    ¡­


    "Attacked! We were attacked!"


    As soon as this voice rang out, everyone''s attention was drawn over.


    The moment that they turned to look in that direction, they found Xia Xue running out of the entrance of the dungeon.


    Her appearance was completely different from when she entered the dungeon.


    She was covered in cuts and her clothes were disheveled, which made a few people reveal awkward looks when they saw her body.


    But that was the least of their concern since it was clear that she had been attacked by something.


    The instructors and staff members immediately came over with a medical team.


    The instructor for her class grabbed her and said, "What happened? Calm down and tell us what happened."


    Though he said it as if he was calm, there was a trace of agitation that was in his voice.


    After all, he knew that Xia Xue was a part of Wang Teng''s group.


    For Xia Xue to come out of the dungeon alone like this, it meant that something must have happened to Wang Teng''s group.


    The instructor had been planning to hug Wang Teng''s thighs, or rather the thighs of his rich father.


    If something were to happen to Wang Teng¡­


    No, he couldn''t let that happen.


    Which was why he gripped Xia Xue by the shoulder and shook her before saying, "Calm down and tell me what happened."


    There was even more agitation in his voice as he said this.


    However, this shaking did put Xia Xue in a daze and she looked up at the instructor before saying, "They''re dead, all of them are dead."


    "Huh?"


    The instructor and the staff members were all shocked when they heard this. S~ea??h the Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

 Chapter 11 Accusations

    "They''re actually dead."The moment that the strike team made this report, the instructors and staff members had ugly looks on their faces.


    It wasn''t just the instructor of the class that Wang Teng''s group was from that had an ugly look on his face.


    All of them knew what kind of influence Wang Teng''s father had and wanted to get closer to Wang Teng after he awakened his familiar.


    Now that Wang Teng was dead, they naturally knew what the consequences of letting him die in this beginner dungeon was.


    Even if there was a liability waiver that absolved the school from taking responsibility, that was only when normal people died. When someone from a rich family died, it was certain that their family would want to get to the bottom of this.


    With that ugly look on his face, the instructor asked the captain of the strike team, "What happened? How did they die?"


    The strike team shook his head and gave a sigh before saying, "It''s a monster attack, what else could it be? Their bodies were ripped apart by the teeth of some kind of wolf monster. It was quite amazing that the girl was able to escape in the first place."


    The instructor''s expression became even uglier before he turned to look at Xia Xue who was getting patched up by the medical team.


    Now that she was calmer, he immediately said, "What happened in the dungeon?"


    The tone that he used was completely different from before.


    Before, he still had hope that she was wrong and that Wang Teng was alive.


    But now¡­


    If he didn''t find a way to explain this, then there was no doubt that he would be blamed for this and this instructor definitely couldn''t take the blame for this¡­


    Xia Xue slowly looked up at the instructor when he asked this.


    The look on her face was as if she was remembering what had happened.


    She slowly said, "We were heading deeper into the dungeon to find stronger monsters to fight, but then¡­"


    A look of trauma slowly appeared on her face as her voice became more and more distraught. Sear?h the ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "All of a sudden, we were surrounded by them¡­"


    "Ah! No! Save me!"


    She raised her hand to cover her head as if she was afraid of some kind of unseen enemy.


    The instructor wanted to grab her, but the medical staff pushed him away from Xia Xue with a frown on his face.


    When the instructor saw the medical staff step forward, he didn''t dare push this issue.


    This dungeon expedition was a cooperation between the academy and the Summoner Association, but everyone knew that the Summoner Association had a much higher status than their low grade academy.


    The medical staff and the strike team that were deployed were people that he didn''t dare mess with since they had the backing of the Summoner Association.


    It was just that he was stressed because of the way that things turned out.


    There were no straws at all for him to grasp at.


    No matter how he looked at it, it really seemed that he was at a dead end¡­


    "It was Lin Fan, it had to be him! He must have been the one that killed Wang Teng! There was a grudge between them!"


    At this point, the instructor was desperate that he was even throwing out random accusations.


    But the staff members slowly nodded in agreement.


    It wasn''t that they actually agreed with him, they were just as desperate as him.


    The strike team and medical staff narrowed their eyes when they heard this, but it didn''t seem like they believed him.


    To their surprise, Xia Xue suddenly said, "Before we went in, I heard Wang Teng and our instructor talking about something in private. Perhaps that''s related to what happened."


    "No, please don''t hurt me!"


    After saying this one coherent thing, she suddenly went back to cowering from unseen enemies.


    The captain of the strike team looked at the instructor when he heard this.


    The instructor had a very awkward look on his face as he cursed Xia Xue under his breath.


    If she were to say something like this, there was no mistake that doubt would be cast on him. He really wanted to say something to get her to fix this misunderstanding, but there was nothing that could be said as Xia Xue was lost in her mental state.


    As this was happening, the entrance to the dungeon opened and someone came out.


    It was the one that the instructor had just brought up.


    It was Lin Fan.


    The moment that the instructor saw Lin Fan walk out, he immediately pointed his finger at him and shouted, "It''s him! It must be him!"


    The strike team captain looked over at Lin Fan before pulling out a tablet to look through something.


    After looking through the tablet, he narrowed his eyes to look at the instructor to say, "You''re saying that someone with a 9th Class Low Grade Familiar was able to take out this group? It''s even amazing that he was able to survive this dungeon at all."


    The instructor knew that with the way that the strike team captain said this, it seemed absurd, but this was his only chance.


    "It must be him, I know it!"


    The strike team captain narrowed his eyes, but he still went over to Lin Fan and asked, "What happened in the dungeon?"


    Lin Fan revealed a surprised look before asking, "I just went in and out without even killing a monster. What could have happened in there?"


    The strike team captain didn''t say anything as he just looked at Lin Fan with those narrowed eyes, but Lin Fan looked back at him with a confused look.


    After a long silence, the strike team captain suddenly said, "Wang Teng and his group are dead."


    "Wang Teng is dead?" Lin Fan said in a shocked voice.


    The strike team captain slowly nodded before saying, "If you know anything about this¡­"


    The way that he left his words hanging made it clear what he was implying.

 Chapter 12 What they deserve (1)

    I had already expected this scene when I walked out of the dungeon, but it really seemed like it was much worse than I expected.Of course, it wasn''t hard to tell why this was the case.


    It was easy to see that there was someone who was trying to create a bigger scene than was necessary.


    He was doing all of this just to save himself.


    Only when facing someone that had prepared everything, it was hard for him to find any footing at all.


    Slowly shaking my head, I said, "I don''t know anything about this. It was hard enough for me to survive the dungeon in the first place, so of course I don''t know anything about this."


    There was a confused look that appeared on the strike team captain''s face when he heard this before he asked, "What do you mean by this?"


    With a sigh, I said, "I don''t know what happened, but the place that I was sent to in the dungeon was the territory of the D Rank Gale Wolves. It was hard enough finding a place to hide, so I didn''t even have time to think about anything else."


    The strike team captain immediately knitted his brows when he heard this before turning back to look at the instructor.


    The moment that his gaze fell onto the instructor, there was a chill that ran down the instructor''s spine.


    He knew exactly what I was talking about, but if he was to admit it¡­


    So the only thing that the instructor could do was lie.


    He could only deny everything and use his status to put pressure on me.


    "He''s lying. How could he have been sent to a place like that and survived when he only has a 9th Class Low Grade Familiar? It''s clear that he''s trying to make an alibi for himself."


    The instructor pointed at me as he said this at the top of his lungs.


    The strike team captain didn''t look at me, rather he narrowed his eyes to look at the instructor.


    After a moment of silence, the strike team captain slowly asked, "Is that so?"


    The instructor couldn''t help feeling that there was something wrong about the way that the strike team captain said this.


    But even if there seemed to be something wrong, he couldn''t just remain idle now.


    If he were to remain silent, there was no doubt that it would all be over for him.


    "I''m certain of it!" The instructor said in a voice filled with determination.


    The strike team captain narrowed his eyes once more before walking over to the terminal that was set up. This was the device that was linked up to the entrance of the dungeon that allowed them to control the dungeon itself.


    After pressing a few keys, there was a record that appeared.


    To others that didn''t know what this was, they didn''t have any reactions.


    But to the instructor and the staff members that knew what it meant¡­


    "No, this is fake!" The instructor shouted the moment that he saw this, but the strike team captain just ignored him as he went over to Lin Fan.


    Raising his hand to put on my shoulder, he said, "I''m sorry for your suffering. We will make sure that he gets what he deserves."


    A confused look appeared on my face as I asked while pointing at the terminal, "What is that?"


    The strike team captain looked over at the instructor and said, "It''s the records of usage for the dungeon entrance. It shows exactly who sent who where."


    As soon as I heard this, I understood what happened.


    There were records proving that the instructor had tempered with the gate and had sent me to a different place from the others.


    With that, it was easy to prove that the instructor was responsible for whatever happened.


    Based on the expression on the faces of the instructor and the other staff members, it didn''t seem like any of them knew about this. It seemed that only those from the Summoner Association knew about these records.


    Of course, these records never would have been accessed if it wasn''t for the fact that this turned out to be much bigger than it had actually been.


    If it wasn''t for the fact that Wang Teng''s group had died, then no one would have known about what the instructor did.


    That was just how the world worked¡­


    These small things were ignored unless they were brought into the light.


    "I, I, I didn''t do anything! I was just doing what he asked me to do!" The instructor finally admitted the truth.


    Now that even the Summoner Association was involved in this matter, there was no way that the instructor was able to hide this any longer.


    At this point, if he kept trying to hide it, then he would be punished much worse than he might be if he just told the truth.


    The strike team leader didn''t seem like he was interested in hearing what the instructor had to say. Judging by the look on his face, it seemed that he thought that all the instructor could do was lie.


    But he still listened to him as he wanted to see what he had to say.


    It was just that before the instructor could say anything, there were others that came out of the dungeon.


    Seeing the others come out, the staff members went over to help them.


    Especially since none of them wanted to get involved with the instructor that was being interrogated.


    It was as if they wanted to be as far away from this as they could.


    I didn''t think that it had anything to do with me until I heard the sounds of running from behind me.


    Then when I turned around, I saw a slender figure running over before jumping at me.


    I had to quickly raise my hand to catch her before she slammed right into me, but the force that she jumped at was still too much for me that it made me stumble back a bit.


    The only thing I heard was¡­


    "Are you hurt?"


    S§×ar?h the N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

 Chapter 13 What they deserve (2)

    I wasn''t able to react right away as I slowly looked down to see Long Tang Tang looking at me with a concerned look.The way that she looked at me, it was as if she was trying to see if there was any part of me that was injured.


    A warm feeling filled my heart when I saw this before I slowly said, "No, I''m fine. Nothing happened to me while I was in the dungeon, I just hid for a while before finding my way out."


    She didn''t seem convinced as she continued looking at every part of me.


    It was only when she confirmed that there was nothing wrong with me that she finally stopped looking at my body. She looked up at me first before looking around to ask, "What happened here?"


    I gave a simple explanation of what happened in response.


    After hearing my explanation, Long Tang Tang turned to look at the instructor who was just standing there under the gaze of the strike team leader.


    The instructor had been looking at her the entire time, as if there was something that he wanted to say. The only reason that he didn''t say anything was because the strike team leader had stopped him from interrupting the two of us.


    Once he saw that Long Tang Tang turned over to look at him, he immediately went forward to fall to his knees. As he stayed on his knees, it seemed like he wanted to grab her leg to beg.


    It was just that Long Tang Tang took a step back, which made the strike team leader stop the instructor from approaching her.


    Since he couldn''t grab her, he put his head to the ground and said, "Tang Tang, please tell these people about how good of an instructor I''ve been. Please tell them about all of the times that I''ve helped you and everything that I''ve taught you."


    At this point, he knew that he would be considered guilty. Sear?h the N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    So the only thing that he could do was try to get as many people vouching for him as possible.


    Long Tang Tang was one of those important people that he wanted to vouch for him.


    Since she was someone that had awakened a 1st Class High Grade Familiar, there was no doubt that she would be highly regarded by the Summoner Association and the various governments.


    As long as he set himself up as the mentor of such a person, then there was no doubt that his punishment would be reduced out of respect for Long Tang Tang.


    It was just that¡­


    The only thing that met his pleading were cold eyes.


    Long Tang Tang didn''t even seem to care about the plea that he made to her.


    There was a long silence that lingered in the air after the instructor made his plea, as he waited for Long Tang Tang''s response.


    Finally, Long Tang Tang said, "Is there nothing else that you have to say?"


    The instructor slowly looked up to see Long Tang Tang coldly looking down at him.


    As he looked at her, there was a confused look that appeared in his eyes. He didn''t actually dare show this confused look on his face.


    It was clear that he had no idea what she was talking about.


    Long Tang Tang didn''t seem like she was going to say anything at first, but seeing that he didn''t say anything, she said, ""Are you really that dumb that you can''t understand what situation you''re currently in?"


    The instructor was completely caught off guard when he heard this.


    He never thought that Long Tang Tang would say something like this to him.


    But he just couldn''t remain silent since there wasn''t much time left for him.


    So the only thing that he could do was shake his head and say, "I really don''t know."


    Long Tang Tang turned to me and said, "Isn''t he the one that you''re supposed to apologize to?"


    The instructor''s expression turned a bit ugly for a second when he heard this.


    The look that flashed on his face seemed like he really didn''t want to do this.


    This instructor seemed like someone who took pride in having a status higher than others by being an instructor. He was someone who enjoyed the feeling of power, regardless of how little power he actually had.


    So when he was told to apologize to someone who he saw as beneath him, there was a strong sense of unwillingness that filled him.


    In the end, the instructor revealed a calm look and said to me, "I apologize for trying to harm you. You should know that I only did it because I was told to. You should know what kind of person Wang Teng is and how he gets what he wants."


    The way that he said this was anything but an apology.


    It was as if he was just stating facts rather than being regretful of what happened.


    I narrowed my eyes to look at the instructor before giving a simple nod.


    The instructor had a trace of surprise in his eyes before suddenly revealing a smile and saying, "You get what I¡­"


    I didn''t even bother listening to the rest of what he said as I suddenly turned around and started moving away with Long Tang Tang.


    She looked at me with a confused look, but I simply said, "We don''t need to worry about this person, he will get what he deserves."


    She was surprised to hear this, but then she gave a simple nod in response.


    On the other hand, the instructor had a very ugly look on his face when he heard this and it looked like he wanted to curse at me, but he held himself back.


    He knew that if he wanted to get out of this alive¡­he had to remain calm.


    It was just too bad that neither of us were interested in him at all.


    "What happened to my son!?"


    This voice suddenly rang out that sent a chill down the instructor''s spine.

 Chapter 14 In an alley

    As I was heading home, I couldn''t help letting out a long sigh.It really was a long day after everything that happened.


    In the end, the instructor didn''t get a chance to explain as Wang Teng''s father demanded that he be arrested and punished for what happened to his son.


    At the same time, Wang Teng''s father demanded that all of the monsters that harmed his son be hunted down for what they did.


    There was a part of me that felt sorry for the Gale Wolves that had helped me take care of this, but I didn''t do anything to help them. It was the same reason why I didn''t defeat the boss of this dungeon.


    It would have drawn too much attention to me.


    Since I had remained lowkey, Wang Teng''s father ignored me after finding out that I had a 9th Class Low Grade Familiar. He didn''t think that I was capable of harming his son with the tools at my disposal and he wasn''t interested in dealing with me.


    Though I did know that he would want to deal with me when the time came.


    But when that time came, I would certainly be strong enough to take care of that.


    After all, I knew what kind of power my familiars had and the best way to become stronger. I could see hope for my future after seeing the Echo Bat in action, I just needed time to develop.


    Even though I was tired, there were many different plans that were running through my mind as I thought about what to do after graduation.


    But before I reached my house, I was suddenly stopped by someone.


    This person caught me off guard since I didn''t expect to see them waiting for me like this, but as soon as they saw me¡­


    "You''re finally here! I''ve been waiting for you!"


    After saying this, she immediately ran over and grabbed my arm, holding onto it as if we were some kind of couple.


    Since we were in the middle of the street, there were a few people that looked over when she did this.


    However, they only looked over to show that they were envious of this.


    They were like single dogs that had just been fed dog food with the way that they looked over and they didn''t seem like they wanted to keep eating this dog food.


    So they all quickly left the area instead of watching any further.


    I was relieved that everyone left instead of making a commotion, but this wasn''t the place to stay.


    While she was holding me, I walked over to an alley and then pulled my arm away.


    Xia Xue looked disappointed when she saw me pull my arm away and wanted to grab me again, but I just stepped forward and raised an arm to pin her against the wall of the alley.


    Xia Xue looked surprised at first before saying with a teasing voice, "Did you bring me to a secluded place just to do that? I never thought that you were that kind of person."


    Then reaching a hand up, she touched the part of her shirt that was on her shoulder and brought it down a bit to show her skin, as if she was trying to entice someone.


    With the same teasing smile on her face, she said, "If you want to do it here, then¡­"


    "Enough of that." I didn''t let her finish her teasing as I directly cut her off. Then after a pause, I continued by saying, "I already told you not to contact me after what happened today."


    At this, Xia Xue pouted her lips and said, "I missed you. Also, I saw the way that you were with that Long Tang Tang, so I couldn''t help feeling jealous."


    There was a trace of bitterness that filled me when I heard this, but I didn''t say anything in response.


    That was because I was the one that had caused her to act this way in the first place.


    After taking care of Wang Teng and his lackeys, I had the Echo Bat put a special kind of hypnosis into Xia Xue. This was a kind of hypnosis that wouldn''t break once she was away from the Echo Bat, this was a permanent kind of hypnosis.


    What I did was make her think that she was in love with me.


    That was why she had helped me earlier when we came out of the dungeon.


    But now¡­


    There was a problem if she was seen with me.


    If people were to notice the relationship between us, there was no doubt that someone might get suspicious.


    If it attracted the attention of Wang Teng''s father¡­


    So I still had to be firm with her.


    "I told you before, do not contact me. I will contact you if I need something."


    Xia Xue once again pouted her lips, but she didn''t argue this time.


    With a sigh, I said in a stern voice, "You did good, but make sure that you don''t slip up in the future."


    Xia Xue slowly gave a nod before asking, "What about my reward? Won''t you give me one since I did good?"


    There was an awkward look on my face when I heard this.


    But eventually I said, "You''ll get one when you deserve it. You''re one of the ones that put me in danger in the first place, so it isn''t as if I''ve forgotten that."


    Xia Xue lowered her head when she heard this before softly saying, "I''ve already apologized and made up for that."


    "You''ll have to do a lot more in the future for me." I said in a firm voice.


    Xia Xue slowly nodded in agreement, but then she looked back up and said, "Then next time, will you give me a reward?"


    I looked at her in silence for a bit before giving a nod.


    It still wasn''t the time to throw her away yet.


    Xia Xue had her uses, so it was better to use her for now. Sear?h the n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    But the most important thing was¡­


    She had information that would be dangerous to me, so I had to keep her at my side until I got rid of her.


    Until then, I couldn''t let her go.

 Chapter 15 Come with me

    After another week passed, the time for graduation was getting closer.Everyone that had gone through the summoning ceremony was now being offered positions in large guilds or they were being recruited to higher institutions of learning.


    Those higher institutions of learning were run by the government and one would be guaranteed a good job once they graduated from those higher institutions. S~ea??h the Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    It was just that this didn''t have anything to do with me.


    The only offers that I got were from the lower ranked guilds, but the reason for that was that they wanted to recruit me as cheap labour. They just wanted someone to help them run errands or in a worst case scenario, be a human shield for them.


    I was well aware of this since I had seen the cases on the news and had heard about this from my parents through their workplaces, so I naturally knew that these offers couldn''t be trusted.


    It was just that without these offers, there wasn''t a real future for me.


    Or at least that was what one would think.


    I had already figured out my next move, I was just waiting to graduate to take that final step.


    But before that happened¡­


    "Can I talk to you alone?" Long Tang Tang suddenly came over to my desk and asked me this.


    I was surprised to hear her inviting me to talk alone like this.


    In fact, it had been a while since I had even seen her.


    She had just shown up all of a sudden this morning and called me out to talk.


    I knew that she was busy with all the recruiting people that had wanted to talk to her.


    She was someone who had summoned a 1st Class Top Grade Familiar, she was someone that everyone wanted to recruit. So it was no wonder that she was so busy with all those recruiting people.


    They would all give her the best conditions that would bring her out of her current situation.


    But I still followed her since I wanted to know what Long Tang Tang wanted to talk about.


    The look on her face made it seem that she had something serious to talk about.


    She brought me to the back of the school and when we were alone, she suddenly turned around to say, "I''ve accepted an invitation to the Sacred Academy."


    I was surprised to hear her say this, but I wasn''t surprised that she chose that place in the end.


    The Sacred Academy was the best place for development.


    It was the place where our country focused all of its resources to develop those that would defend our country in the future. So it was the place that had the best resources, resources that even the top guilds wouldn''t be able to match.


    It took me a moment to come back to my senses, but then I gave a nod to show that I understood and said, "It is the best place for you. I hope that you''ll remember me in the future."


    There was a trace of bitterness that appeared in my smile as I said this.


    After all, it was impossible for me to follow her.


    Long Tang Tang seemed like she wasn''t happy with this response as she bit her lip and looked right at me. It was almost as if she was asking if there was anything else that I wanted to say with the way that she looked at me.


    I was a bit confused why she would do this, but there was also a part of me that knew.


    Only, I couldn''t bring her down.


    Seeing that I wasn''t going to say anything, Long Tang Tang finally couldn''t take it anymore and said, "I''ve talked to them about you."


    "What?" I was completely caught off guard by this.


    What would there be for her to talk about with them regarding me?


    Long Tang Tang didn''t respond right away as she just looked at me with this strange look.


    Then after a moment of silence, she said, "I told them that if they want to accept me, they have to prepare a spot for you as well. It took a while, but they finally agreed to let you in as an exception."


    "What?!" I said in a completely shocked voice.


    Long Tang Tang slowly nodded as if she was confirming this, but the way that she looked at me was as if she was waiting for my response.


    I didn''t say anything as I knitted my brows and I looked at Long Tang Tang.


    She also didn''t say anything as she looked right back into my eyes and waited.


    I didn''t know what to say to this¡­


    Then as if she could see the change in my eyes, Long Tang Tang suddenly said, "This is a big chance for you. If you go to the Sacred Academy, I''m sure that you''ll be able to find a way to rise up. You''re a smart and strong person, I know you''ll be able to find a way."


    The way that she said this was almost as if she was trying her best to persuade me, but it just didn''t work at all for me.


    If I really didn''t have anything, then I might have been persuaded by this.


    But I had something that I could rely on to rise up on my own, so I didn''t want to ride her coattails.


    The main thing was that I didn''t want to drag Long Tang Tang down.


    If I were to actually accept this and go with her, there was no doubt that she and I would both receive a lot of backlash and suppression because of it. It was fine if I suffered alone, but if it made her suffer too¡­


    I couldn''t do that to her.


    "Please, come with me."


    In the end, it was as if she gave up trying to be logical and directly appealed to my emotions.


    But¡­


    "I can''t." I said with a shake of my head.

 Chapter 16 Ill come for you

    "Why?"When she said this, it felt like there was a dagger that was being stabbed in my heart.


    That was because the voice that she said this in was filled with endless sadness.


    It was as if she had been betrayed by the person that she saw as the one closest to her, which was why she just couldn''t hold herself back anymore.


    There were even tears that appeared in Long Tang Tang''s eyes as she said this.


    I quickly reached out, but she moved back to avoid my hand.


    With a sigh, I said, "I know that this is a large opportunity and I know why you''re doing this, but I just can''t accept it." Then I quickly added, "It''s not because I can''t accept your feelings, it''s just that my pride won''t allow me to accept it."


    "What does your pride matter? You should already know that this is how this world is." Long Tang Tang once again tried to persuade me, though it was much more forceful than before.


    It seemed that she had completely lost control of herself at this point.


    I once again stepped forward with my arms reaching out and she didn''t step away this time.


    "Perhaps that is true, but I have a way to overcome it and I want to give it a try. Not just for my sake, but also yours."


    As Long Tang Tang heard this, there was a tremble that came from her.


    Then she slowly looked up at me and said, "I don''t care about that."


    "But I do." I said as soon as her voice fell.


    Then with a firm look on my face, I said, "You and I both don''t want me to be known as that person that relied on you to get into the Sacred Academy, right?"


    She lowered her head once more and moved forward to put her head up against my chest before saying, "But I want you to be with me."


    This time, I didn''t say anything.


    This time, I hesitated for a second before reaching my arms out around her and holding her tightly.


    With a deep breath, I said, "I have a way of becoming stronger, but I just need time."


    Slowly, Long Tang Tang looked up at me when she heard this. As she looked up, I could see the look of doubt that was in her eyes, but I wasn''t surprised by that.


    I would have had the same look if I heard the same thing.


    There was another moment of hesitation from me before I said, "I have a secret that I need to tell you. I hope that you will keep this secret for me."


    Long Tang Tang slightly knitted her brows when she heard this, but then she gave a slow nod.


    With that, I told her my secret.


    When it was over, she asked, "Are you sure of this?"


    I just gave a simple nod in response.


    Long Tang Tang fell silent with a thoughtful look on her face, as if she was thinking about what I told her.


    Eventually, she looked up and said, "Alright, if that''s the case, then I''ll believe you."


    As I was about to say something, she suddenly asked, "But what are you planning to do if you don''t want to go to the Sacred Academy."


    "I have an idea." I said in a sort of mysterious way, as if I was trying to hide it from her.


    Since I didn''t say anything, Long Tang Tang understood what I meant by this and didn''t ask any further.


    Instead, she lowered her head and said with a blush on her face, "Then how long will you keep me waiting? You should know that a beautiful girl like me will be chased after by a bunch of people and I won''t be young forever."


    A faint smile appeared on my lips when I heard this before I said, "A year. I promise that in a year, I''ll come for you."


    She looked up at me with a surprised look, but then she lowered her head again and gave a nod.


    When I looked at her closely, I could see that there was a blush that went all the way to her ears.


    I might have thought of us like this before, but I had never thought of going this far since both of us had been concerned about our future. But now that she had taken the first step, it was only right that as a man, I should¡­


    Taking a deep breath, I raised a hand to her chin and lifted her head up.


    A surprised look appeared on Long Tang Tang''s face, as well as the blush growing darker.


    Seeing her like this, my heart couldn''t help beating faster and faster.


    But after taking another deep breath, I leaned in and placed a kiss on her forehead.


    A kiss on the lips was a bit too much for me after all.


    There was a trace of disappointment that appeared on Long Tang Tang''s eyes when she felt this, though her face did turn even more red after I placed that kiss on her forehead.


    I turned my face away as a hot feeling filled my cheeks as well before I said in a soft voice, "I''ll leave the rest for next time."


    Though I didn''t look at her, she still said in a soft voice, "Un." sea??h th§× novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    That was the promise that we made with each other.


    As a man, this was the least that I should do.


    As a man, I didn''t feel like I deserved to be with her if at least I didn''t do this much.


    I wanted to be able to stand by her side with my head held up high.


    So this was what I had to do or else I would never be able to raise my head.


    There was a determined feeling that filled my heart as I was even more certain of what my future path would be.

 Chapter 17 Explorer

    There were some glares that came from others when we came back, but I just acted like I didn''t see anything.After all, Long Tang Tang''s eyes had been a bit red when we came back.


    That was from when she had tears in her eyes after I had rejected her.


    As the number one beauty in our class, it was only natural that she had her admirers in class and there were many people that were angry with me. They all thought that I was the one that made her cry.


    Still, the rest of the day went as normal.


    It was only when we were heading home that I was feeling a bit nervous.


    That was because it was finally time to talk to my parents about what I wanted to do in the future.


    I had avoided talking about this the entire time since I had wanted to avoid it, but I couldn''t do that anymore.


    I had to at least tell them what I had decided.


    When I got home, it was quite loud inside.


    That was because all three members of my family were here in our tiny apartment.


    It seemed that all three of them had the day off today.


    Since my parents and my older brother had all awakened weak familiars, they had never gotten the chance to rise up in this world. Currently, all three of them worked as harvesters for a decent sized butchering company.


    This was a company that butchered monsters that were brought in from different sources and they carved them up for useful resources.


    Though the monsters were invaders in our world, they actually had their uses.


    The main use was a clean source of energy through their cores that generated far more power than even the most high tech generators. Core energy had gone to replace most of the energy sources that had been used before.


    So in terms of low skill jobs, this paid the most.


    But it was still a low skill job, so it wasn''t as if it paid that much.


    When I came into the living room, I saw my parents and big brother watching TV together which was what was creating all this noise.


    When they saw me come in, they waved their hand at me to come and join them.


    Only¡­


    "I have something that I want to talk to you all about." I said this in a serious voice.


    When they heard this, they all turned to look at me with surprised looks.


    My father turned off the TV and said with a serious look of his own, "Alright, sit down and talk."


    It was them on the sofa while I sat in a chair in front of them.


    With the way that we were sitting, it was almost as if I was the one that was being interrogated by them.


    But after a moment of silence, my father said, "I''ve already talked to Brother Wang at the job site, you can come in on Monday to get used to the workplace and then sign the contract."


    My mother and big brother both nodded in agreement as if they had already expected this.


    However, since he had brought it up, I used this as a jumping off point.


    "I don''t want to work as a harvester."


    All three of them were caught off guard when I suddenly said this.


    "Xiao Fan, you can''t act like¡­" My mother started to speak, but I cut her off. S§×arch* The n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "I want to become an explorer."


    This time, there were looks of shock that appeared on their faces.


    That was because what I had said was just too shocking.


    Explorers, they were a different path for one to take.


    It was just that this path really was a path that one wouldn''t take unless they had no choice. This path was a path of ridicule and death for most, with only the top 1% reaching the peak.


    This wasn''t the kind of path that parents wanted their child to walk.


    As for what explorers were¡­


    They were simply put¡­adventurers.


    They were the equivalence of adventurers in any fantasy world.


    In this world, those that had powerful familiars would be registered as official summoners by the governments and Summoner Association.


    However, those without powerful familiars would have to take their own path if they wanted to carve a way for themselves.


    That was where the Explorer Association came in.


    There were too many dungeons and monsters that invaded their world, so it wasn''t as if the official summoners could clear out everything. The smaller ones needed people to clear them and it was passed on to the explorers.


    They were freelancers that cleared out dungeons on behalf of the governments.


    Though there were also some rumours that the Explorer Association was created to get rid of some of those with weaker familiars.


    There was only a small percentage of the population that awoke powerful familiars and there were many that didn''t. Those that didn''t were a drain on resources as there weren''t enough jobs and resources for them.


    So there were rumours that Explorer Association was created to kill off some of those with weaker familiars.


    With the added rate of death that came with being an explorer, it wasn''t as if these rumours were baseless.


    But no one has been able to prove anything so far.


    "You can''t do that. You know how dangerous being an explorer is and with your weak familiar¡­" My mother started complaining right away and it seemed like my big brother supported her in this.


    However, I wasn''t the one that cut her off.


    Rather, it was my father who suddenly cut her off by raising his hand and saying, "Are you certain of this?"


    There was a serious gaze in his eyes as he said this.


    I looked right back at him and gave a nod with a serious look on my face.


    After a moment of silence, he said, "Alright, you have the best judge of your own future. We''ll support you regardless of what you choose."


    Though my mother and big brother didn''t seem happy about this, they remained silent in the end.


    With a simple nod, I said, "I won''t regret this choice."

 Chapter 18 Explorer Association

    There were many people going in and out of the building that was in front of me.Even though the Explorer Association had its bad rep, it didn''t seem like it deterred people from signing up as an explorer.


    It seemed that there were many people that were willing to risk their lives even though they knew the risks that were associated with being an explorer.


    It seemed that there were plenty of people that were willing to take a chance to rise up in society.


    After all, there were some explorers that had obtained wealth and fame after clearing some of the larger dungeons.


    Even though they had weaker familiars, they were considered powerful because of the ways that they used their familiars.


    That included me.


    But of course, I had something to rely on.


    When I walked in, there was a wave of sound that hit me in the face.


    It came from all the different people that were inside of this building.


    They were scattered all over this main hall, but it wasn''t hard to tell what they were doing since most of them were standing around a large circular board that was in the center of the hall.


    There were pieces of paper that were pinned to this circular board which people took off from time to time.


    Looking closely, I could see that they were descriptions of dungeons.


    Normally, this kind of stuff would be done on some kind of computer, but¡­it seemed that the Explorer Association was going for a different vibe. It really felt like an adventurer''s guild from a fantasy world instead¡­


    Though I knew that was just because they didn''t want to waste resources on the explorers.


    After looking around the main hall, I went over to one of the desks and said, "I want to sign up as an explorer."


    The receptionist that was behind the desk didn''t even bother looking at me as she pulled out a piece of paper that she slapped onto the desk. sea??h th§× N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    I had an awkward look on my face as I waited for her, but she didn''t even look in my direction.


    It was as if she didn''t care what I did with the way that she kept tapping away at the computer in front of her.


    It seemed that even the staff of the Explorer Association didn''t care about its people.


    In the end, I just awkwardly took the sheet of paper that she placed down and one of the pens that were at the side. I found a place to sit down before starting to fill out the piece of paper.


    However, I found that there wasn''t much to actually fill out on this piece of paper.


    It was a very simple form to fill out and it didn''t take long for me to finish.


    The form was just asking for some basic information, it didn''t even bother asking for what my familiar was.


    It only wanted to know how to identify me¡­


    It seemed that the hurdle for becoming an explorer really was low¡­


    Perhaps it was because those rumours were true¡­


    After filling out the form, I went back to the same receptionist and said, "I''m done with the form."


    Once again, she didn''t bother looking at me as she took the form. She didn''t even bother looking at the form as she inserted it into some kind of machine.


    After some humming sounds from the machine, there was a card that came out.


    The receptionist picked it up and then tossed it over to me.


    Then she finally said her first words to me.


    Pointing at the large circular board in the center, she said, "Take a mission and then bring it back for registry."


    Even though she talked to me, it didn''t seem like she cared about getting a response.


    With a bitter smile, I gave a simple nod before turning to head over to the large circular board.


    There were many people that were gathered around the board and there were staff members that put more pieces of paper on the board from time to time. However, it didn''t seem like people were that interested in taking some of the pieces of paper that were there.


    Looking at the ones that were left, I realized why this was the case.


    D Rank Dungeon - Aqua Palace.


    D Rank Dungeon - Sky Prison.


    C Rank Dungeon - Eternal Tomb.


    These were clearly too dangerous for people like us, so it was a surprise that they were here in the first place.


    As for the others, they were dungeons that were F Rank Dungeons.


    These were dungeons that had absolutely terrible loot. Even if the monsters that were in these dungeons were weak, they just weren''t worth the time to clear out at all.


    But this was my first dungeon and I wanted to test a few things, so I reached out and grabbed one of the pieces of paper that was for a F Rank Dungeon.


    This dungeon was called Slime Hole, so there was no need to even read it to know what kind of monsters were here.


    Still, it was a good starting point.


    As I took this piece of paper, I could hear some laughter from around me.


    I knew right away that the people around me were laughing at me for taking this F Rank Dungeon request in the first place. However, I just didn''t care about what they thought at all.


    I just went right back to the same receptionist as before and handed her the piece of paper.


    When she saw this, she finally looked right at me.


    I was surprised and a bit confused why she looked at me like this.


    Finally, she said, "It seems like you know your limits. There are a bunch of rookies that come in and overestimate themselves. In this business, you have to know what your limits are and don''t push yourself too far or else¡­it''ll be too late to regret it when you''re dead. I hope that you will remember that."


    I was even more surprised to hear this, but the look in her eyes¡­


    It was clear that she had some stories to tell.


    After a pause, I said with a simple nod, "I know."


    "That''s good." She said with a faint smile before turning back to process my request.

 Chapter 19 Slimes

    With the document from the Explorer Association, I was able to easily make my way into the dungeon.There was only a single person who was guarding this dungeon, which went to show just how little they cared about this dungeon. Or it could even be said that this was a show of just how little danger there was here.


    When the guard saw the document that I had, he just waved his hand for me to go in on my own.


    Even though the Explorer Association seemed a bit hands off, I had to admit that the influence that they had wasn''t small.


    With the document from the Explorer Association, I had been able to get free transport and was allowed to enter the dungeon without a single word. That was just how much power the governments had already given the Explorer Association.


    After entering the dungeon, there was a strange look that appeared on my face.


    That was because this place didn''t seem like a dungeon at all.


    As far as the eye could see, there was just grass and open sky. It seemed like a wide open field rather than what a dungeon would feel like.


    But this was the dungeon that I chose.


    This was the Slime Hole.


    As if to prove that this was the right place, there was a slime that suddenly jumped out of nowhere.


    I had no idea where it came from, it was almost as if it had suddenly popped out of the ground with the way that it had appeared like this.


    Even though I knew that this slime was a monster, I couldn''t help finding this little slime a bit cute.


    It was a small round ball of liquid that was just bouncing up and down, it almost looked harmless with the appearance that it had.


    Of course, I knew better than that.


    It even seemed like the slime wanted to prove that it was dangerous, so it suddenly shot out a stream of liquid at me.


    I immediately dodged out of the way and couldn''t help letting out a sigh of relief when I saw the reaction that the liquid had when it touched the ground. There was smoke that started coming up from the grass that had been drenched in that liquid.


    That was because this liquid was actually acid.


    Even though the slimes seemed harmless, they were actually balls that were filled with acid. It was to the point where even the surface of these slimes would be covered in acid.


    Just touching them would result in severe burns.


    So I knew better than to let my guard down.


    "Stop it."


    The moment that I said this, the Echo Bat that had been flying over me suddenly opened its mouth and let out a silent screech.


    Then once this screech was released, the slime suddenly froze in place.


    As I watched this happen, there was a part of me that wondered¡­


    "What does it use to hear the sound?"


    The slime was nothing more than a sack of liquid with a core in the center, so it didn''t seem like there was anything that it could use to hear the sound.


    Was it vibrations through the liquid that brought the sound to the core where it processed it?


    As this thought passed through my mind, there were more slimes that appeared around me.


    They had appeared in the same way as the first slime, they had all suddenly come out of the ground.


    This time, I didn''t even need to give an order to the Echo Bat for it to stop them in place as soon as they appeared.


    Just like this, I stood there surrounded by slimes that were frozen in place.


    Slowly, I came back to my senses and said, "Control them."


    The Echo Bat just gave another screech and then the slimes suddenly surrounded me. Though they didn''t come close enough that they would touch me, they just bounced up and down in place around me as if they were happy to see me.


    I didn''t reach out to touch them either since I knew the dangers of touching the slimes, but I couldn''t help feeling that they were cute with the way that they bounced around me.


    While this was all happening, there were more slimes that appeared outside of the circle of slimes that were around me.


    They didn''t seem to approach when they found that I was already surrounded by slimes.


    It seemed that slimes did have their own circle where they respected boundaries, they didn''t steal prey from each other. S~ea??h the Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    I didn''t do anything at first, but once there were enough slimes gathered¡­


    "Attack." I said in a simple voice which made the Echo Bat let out another screech.


    This time, the slimes that were being controlled by the Echo Bat reacted completely differently.


    They suddenly started shaking and then jumped away from me. They were targeting the other slimes that had appeared afterwards, sending out sprays of acid at them.


    The slimes that got hit with the sprays of acid didn''t take much damage, but they were stunned by the fact that they were attacked by other slimes. The slimes that were under the control of my Echo Bat jumped down on the other slimes and crushed their cores.


    Once their cores were destroyed, the slimes deflated and popped like balloons.


    Destroying the core was the only way to destroy the slimes.


    Watching this, I said, "Keep a few by my side to protect us. Let the rest sweep through the slimes that come."


    The Echo Bat gave a simple nod before giving another screech.


    If it was anyone else, they would certainly have problems facing these slimes at once. But for me, I didn''t have to lift a single finger to kill these slimes.


    All I had to do was let them kill each other and watch the chaos happen.


    All that was left was for me to pick up the loot that dropped.

 Chapter 20 Slime King

    There was plenty of loot that dropped, the only problem was that none of them was anything good.The way that dungeons worked was that after a monster was killed, the corpse of the monster would disappear after a certain amount of time and would be replaced with loot.


    This loot would be related to the type of monster that was killed.


    So in this case, the loot that was dropped by the slimes were small magic cores that all monsters dropped and what seemed to be bottles of acid.


    These bottles of acid were made from the acid that came from the slimes, so they were quite corrosive. It was just that this kind of acid could be synthesized in other places, so there was no large market for this acid.


    It was sold for a cheap price since it was a product that had plenty of alternatives.


    Still, money was money.


    After thinking about it, I said, "Get some of them to start carrying the loot over as well."


    The Echo Bat once again gave a nod before letting out a screech.


    Some of the slimes immediately reacted and started picking up the cores and bottles of acid that were on the ground. They were able to bring it over without a problem, it was just that I couldn''t take it directly from them.


    So they had to create a pile in front of me for me to pick up the loot.


    It took no time at all for me to fill up the bag that I had brought.


    It even took no time at all for me to fill up the back up bags that I brought.


    I didn''t think that there would be this many monsters here, but it seemed that this Slime Hole dungeon had been ignored for a while, so there were too many slimes to count here.


    Even if I continued to kill these slimes, there really was no way for me to bring all of the loot back with me.


    After filling up all of the bags that I brought with me, I just looked at the pile of loot that was still in front of me before saying, "Alright, you can bring them¡­"


    Before I could finish telling the Echo Bat to bring all the slime back, I felt something coming from under me.


    It was a tremble.


    The ground itself seemed to be shaking under me, as if there was something big that was coming.


    All of a sudden, there was a large mass that suddenly came out of the ground in front of me.


    It was so large that it sent several of the slimes that were already there flying, but it was a good thing that these slimes were all slimes that I controlled. So it was easy for me to get these slimes to harmlessly fall beside me instead of falling onto me.


    I also took several steps back since this large mass was just too big.


    When the large mass finished seeping out of the ground, it revealed its true appearance.


    It was a slime, but it wasn''t just any slime.


    This was a slime that was far bigger than any of the slimes that had appeared thus far.


    This was a slime that was clearly on a higher level than all of the other slimes.


    This was a King Slime.


    It was the boss of this dungeon.


    I didn''t think that I had killed enough slimes that it would summon the boss monster of this dungeon, but thinking about it¡­it seemed like that I had indeed killed quite a few slimes.


    The proof of that was the pile of loot that was on the ground near me.


    After this King Slime appeared, it didn''t seem like it was going to do anything.


    It just stood there as if it was in a daze.


    It just stood there as if it was waiting to be activated.


    It really seemed like the King Slime wasn''t planning on doing anything.


    When I saw this, there was a part of me that thought about just leaving the King Slime alone.


    But that thought didn''t last long as the King Slime suddenly moved.


    It trembled once before squishing its body together.


    The way that the King Slime did this, it was almost as if it was compressing its body to do something.


    The response came soon after.


    Once it finished compressing, the King Slime released that compression and flew into the air.


    It suddenly jumped up and it just as suddenly came down.


    The King Slime was planning on crushing me with this slam.


    I quickly dodged out of the way while saying, "Attack."


    As soon as this order was given, the slimes that had been idle suddenly started attacking the King Slime from different angles. They didn''t hold back at all as they rained down acid splashes at the King Slime. S~ea??h the n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Unfortunately, it didn''t seem like any of those splashes of acid did anything to the King Slime.


    Then there were some slimes that jumped and body slammed the King Slime after it landed, but they just bounced right off the King Slime''s body.


    It didn''t seem like the King Slime took any damage with the way that they harmlessly bounced off the King Slime''s body.


    It really didn''t seem like the slimes were able to do anything to the King Slime.


    "As expected of the dungeon boss." I said to myself before giving another order to the Echo Bat.


    The King Slime ignored the slimes that were attacking it and seemed to focus only on me. It compressed itself once more and jumped up to slam down on me again, but I quickly dodged out of the way once more.


    Using the slimes, I was able to slow down the King Slime a bit and dodge out of the way of the King Slime''s attacks.


    That was until¡­


    I suddenly dodged out of the way and the King Slime fell down into the hole that was where I was standing.

 Chapter 21 Summoning Scroll

    This hole had been hidden by a layer of dirt above it, but the weight of the King Slime had caused that layer of dirt to collapse and reveal the hole.The King Slime wasn''t able to do a single thing as it fell down into the hole.


    Even though it trembled as if it was trying to stop itself, it just couldn''t do anything since it didn''t have any limbs to grab the sides of the hole to stop itself.


    As for where this hole came from.


    At the bottom of this hole were quite a few smaller holes that seemed to be leading out.


    These were holes that had been dug out by the slimes that I had sent down into the ground. They had been digging this hole with their acid the entire time I had been leading the King Slime around.


    The reason for this hole was¡­


    The King Slime continued to fall, but it also seemed to compact itself as if it was bracing for the impact. It was almost as if it wasn''t worried even though it was falling right into the hole.


    After all, the King Slime had a soft body that should have been able to impact the fall.


    If it wasn''t for the fact that there was something at the bottom of the hole.


    This was a very sharp spike that was sticking out from the center of the hole. This was clearly not a natural spike, but something that had been created. S~ea??h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    It was made from the acid of the slimes that had melted the rock around the spike until it formed this sharp spike.


    This spike was positioned right under the King Slime, right under the core of the King Slime.


    So if the King Slime fell on it, it would stab right into the core of the King Slime.


    There was a moment where the King Slime seemed to slow down when it hit the spike, but it wasn''t enough to save the King Slime. The spike was sharp and it fell fast enough that the spike pierced through its skin.


    That spike pierced right through to the core of the King Slime and shattered it.


    Once the core of the King Slime was shattered, it popped like a balloon and filled the hole with acid.


    Just like that, the King Slime was killed.


    I looked down into the hole that was filled with acid and there was a bitter smile that appeared on my face.


    "How am I supposed to get the loot like this?" That was the only thought that passed through my mind as I looked down into the hole.


    But it turned out that it didn''t matter.


    The dungeon actually took care of the acid that was at the bottom of the hole and made it disappear. Once that pool of acid disappeared, there were a few items that appeared in its place.


    The hole was quite deep, so I wasn''t able to clearly see what these items were.


    It didn''t take long for the slimes to go down into the hole and bring these items out.


    It was another core and another bottle of acid, but these seemed different compared to the ones that came from the normal slimes.


    The core was much bigger than the ones that the normal slimes dropped.


    The bottle of acid was also a different colour, which probably meant that the contents were different.


    If I had to guess, I would assume that this meant that the acid was stronger than the one that the normal slimes dropped.


    These two items weren''t that interesting to me since they were just normal loot.


    What caught my attention was the other two items that had been dropped.


    One of them was a dagger that I had to pick up carefully since I could tell that there was a strange colour to the blade of the dagger.


    It was as if there was something that was coating this blade, which meant that I shouldn''t touch it directly.


    The other thing was what seemed to be a scroll.


    I didn''t know what this scroll was, but anything that dropped as a scroll in a dungeon was certainly some kind of magic item.


    A magic item was completely different from the normal items that dropped.


    Magic items were special items that had very special effects.


    Just finding a single one would be more than enough for a person to earn enough to not do anything else their entire life¡­Well that was as long as the magic item had an effect that was special enough to warrant that much money.


    But I didn''t know what this scroll was capable of since it hadn''t been appraised yet.


    Any item that came from the dungeon had to be appraised before it could be used since there was no telling what kind of effect it would have.


    So before appraising it, I didn''t dare try using this scroll.


    Or that would have been the case if it wasn''t for the fact that there was a popup that appeared when I held this scroll in my hand. As I looked at it, there was this window that contained information on the scroll that appeared in front of my face.


    Summoning Scroll


    Allows the user to summon a familiar once.


    It was a very simple description of what the item was, but this description was more than enough to shock me.


    After all, this was a very special item if the window was correct.


    Technically, people could summon as many familiars as they wanted, but the method that was commonly used required one to use mana to summon familiars. If someone tried summoning more than one familiar with this method, then they would be drained of their mana and die.


    That was why there was only one summoning chance given to each person when they graduated.


    But this Summoning Scroll was different.


    This Summoning Scroll was a magic item that allowed one to summon a familiar without using one''s mana.


    Which meant that it was a chance to freely summon another familiar without any risks.


    This was a power that people would kill for.

 Chapter 22 Looter

    Even though the window in front of me was telling me that this thing was a Summoning Scroll, I didn''t use it right away.There was a part of me that was hesitating since I had no idea if this window could be trusted.


    The only problem was that a Summoning Scroll was just too much temptation.


    There was nothing wrong with my Echo Bat, but for some reason, it showed up as a 9th Class Low Grade Familiar. In this society where one was judged on the level of their familiars, this was a disadvantage to me.


    If I could get another familiar, a higher ranked familiar¡­


    But then again, it wasn''t as if the Summoning Scroll was a guarantee that one would be able to summon a higher grade familiar.


    The Summoning Scroll just gave the opportunity, the grade of the familiar summoned was still dependent on the person using the Summoning Scroll.


    So it was completely possible that another low grade familiar was summoned¡­


    As I was agonizing over this decision, the Echo Bat suddenly came over to my side and landed on my shoulder. It looked down at the scroll that was in my hand for a bit before leaning down towards it.


    When I saw the Echo Bat leaning down, I was pulled out of my thoughts and said, "What are you¡­"


    Before I could finish what I was going to say, the Echo Bat had already grabbed the Summoning Scroll with its hand and started to pull.


    "Wait, don''t do that¡­"


    Once again, before I could stop it, the Echo Bat had already ripped the Summoning Scroll.


    There was a glow that came from the pieces of the Summoning Scroll after it was ripped before they turned into light completely. These bits of light fell to the ground in front of me and seemed to create some kind of swirling pool of light.


    Seeing this, it was impossible for me to not understand what was happening.


    I looked at the Echo Bat with a bitter smile, but then I revealed a serious look.


    The Echo Bat didn''t do anything wrong, it just made up for the lack of courage that I had.


    In a situation like this, I shouldn''t have been hesitant in the first place.


    So I turned back to the swirling pool of light on the ground and waited to see what my second familiar would be.


    It seemed a bit slow compared to my first summoning ceremony, but this was different since it was the summoning that was being done by the Summoning Scroll.


    I had never used a Summoning Scroll before, so it wasn''t as if I would know what the process would be like.


    That was until I heard a voice come from the swirling pool of light.


    "Jiu, jiu."


    It was a strange voice, but it was clear that this was the voice of some kind of animal. This was most likely the voice of my next familiar, but it didn''t seem like it was powerful¡­


    "Tch."


    I was even more surprised to hear my Echo Bat suddenly click its tongue before flying down to the swirling pool of light. Before I could stop it, the Echo Bat reached out into the swirling pool of light and seemed to grab something.


    When it pulled this thing out, I saw that it was a pure white rabbit that had been pulled out like it had been pulled out of a magician''s hat.


    The pure white rabbit was nervously looking around while making soft sounds.


    These soft sounds were like the cries that I heard before, but they weren''t as loud as before.


    It seemed that the pure white rabbit was terrified of its new surroundings.


    That was until it saw me.


    The moment that this pure white rabbit saw me, it was as if it saw its best friend¡­No, it was as if it saw its parent as it started waving its limbs like it wanted to come to my side.


    The Echo Bat seemed to give a sigh before walking over with the pure white rabbit and putting it in front of me.


    The moment that the Echo Bat dropped the pure white rabbit, it ran over to me and grabbed my leg.


    I looked down at the pure white rabbit with a strange look on my face.


    After all, seeing the pure white rabbit act like this was really strange since it was a rabbit hugging me like a human would. It almost seemed like it would fall down with the shaky way that it was standing on its two back legs.


    But that strange look on my face became even more strange.


    That was because there was a screen that popped out as I looked at the pure white rabbit.


    It was the same screen that had popped out when I looked at the Echo Bat.


    It was another status screen.


    Scavenger Rabbit


    Level: 1


    Exp: 0


    Strength: 5


    Vitality: 4


    Intelligence: 12


    Dexterity: 30


    Skills: Sneak, Rabbit Dash, Looter


    The skills that this Scavenger Rabbit had, none of them were suited for fighting.


    With its personality and the skills that it had, it seemed that this was a familiar that specializes in running away.


    There was no doubt that if this Scavenger Rabbit was measured, it would be the same as the Echo Bat.


    It would be regarded as a 9th Class Low Grade Familiar.


    It seemed that this was all that I was capable of¡­ S~ea??h the n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    But there was one thing that did catch my attention.


    It was the special skill that it seemed to have that was similar to the one that the Echo Bat had.


    "Looter? What is this?" I couldn''t help muttering to myself.


    As if it was responding to me, the Scavenger Rabbit stopped hugging my leg and went over to one of the slime corpses that were around. This slime corpse had been left there by one of the slimes that I controlled and it was about to turn into loot.


    That was until the Scavenger Rabbit laid its hands on it and started to dig at it as if it was trying to pull something out of the slime corpse.


    Eventually, there was something that was pulled out.

 Chapter 23 Golden hands…paws

    The Scavenger Rabbit turned around with a proud look on its face and held up the item that it was holding in its hands.When I looked at it closely, I found that it was a ring.


    At the same time, because I was looking at it closely, there was a window that popped up.


    Storage Ring


    Has a storage space of 10 cubic meters.


    There was a smile that appeared on my face when I read this.


    I didn''t think that the perfect item had come at just the right time.


    But the more that I thought about it, the more that I realized that the Scavenger Rabbit really had a broken ability just like the Echo Bat.


    It seemed that as long as I allowed it to get my loot, there would be no lack of treasures in the future. After all, it was able to get a treasure like this Storage Ring from just the simple slime.


    If I were to let it loot even stronger monsters, there was no telling what it would be able to find.


    As this thought passed through my mind, my eyes lit up as I looked back at the Scavenger Rabbit.


    As if it could tell what I was thinking, another proud look appeared on the face of the Scavenger Rabbit and it put its arms at its waist before puffing out its chest. The way that it stood there was as if it was saying¡­


    "Praise me!"


    The Echo Bat didn''t seem like it was happy seeing the Scavenger Rabbit act this way, so it suddenly came forward and kicked the Scavenger Rabbit from behind. The Scavenger Rabbit had been completely focused on posturing, so it didn''t notice this kick at all.


    It was sent flying forward until it landed right in front of one of the slimes.


    When it stood up again, the Scavenger Rabbit looked up with an angry look at first, but it quickly revealed a fearful look when it saw the slime standing there in front of it. It reverted to the same appearance that it had when it first appeared.


    It seemed that if it wasn''t doing what it was good at, it had the personality of a coward.


    Only when it was doing something that it was confident in would it show that confident appearance.


    So this Scavenger Rabbit really wasn''t reliable.


    After all, the slime that was standing in front of the Scavenger Rabbit was one of the ones that was being controlled by me.


    It wasn''t as if this slime would do anything to the Scavenger Rabbit in the first place.


    But this Scavenger Rabbit''s personality made it afraid of everything.


    That was why it was afraid of this slime even though it just stood there.


    It took a while for the Scavenger Rabbit to realize that the slime wouldn''t do anything to it and once it realized this, it acted as if it was embarrassed. It turned to look at the Echo Bat and then started to posture as if it was complaining to it.


    However, the Echo Bat just raised one of its hands as if it was threatening the Scavenger Rabbit which made the Scavenger Rabbit immediately back down.


    I shook my head with a bitter smile before saying, "Alright, stop fighting. We''ll all be partners in the future, so there''s no need to fight like this."


    The two of them just looked at each other before turning away from each other and coming to my side separately.


    The Echo Bat landed on my left shoulder while the Scavenger Rabbit looked up at me like it wanted to be picked up from my right side after seeing the Echo Bat land on my shoulder like this.


    However, I didn''t pick it up as I pointed forward towards another slime corpse and asked, "Can you do it again?"


    The Scavenger Rabbit followed my finger to look in the direction that I was pointing in.


    When it saw the slime corpse there, its eyes lit up and it gave a nod before jumping over.


    The Scavenger Rabbit did the same thing as before and it didn''t take long before it dug out another item.


    This time, the item was a bit familiar.


    It was a dagger, but I had found one of these daggers before.


    It was the same dagger that the King Slime had dropped earlier.


    My eyes lit up the moment that I saw this.


    This Scavenger Rabbit, it really had golden hands¡­No, this Scavenger Rabbit had golden paws.


    It was able to find loot that was supposed to drop from a boss from one of the normal monsters.


    If it was able to use its Looter Skill on the boss, then there was no telling what kind of loot it would be able to find.


    As well, this was just a simple F Rank Dungeon.


    If I were to go to higher ranked dungeons¡­


    I could already smell all of the money that I would be able to make from this.


    As long as I had this Scavenger Rabbit, then there was no doubt that I would become rich.


    Not just rich, but also powerful.


    After all, these items were also powerful magic items that could be used to increase my own power.


    There might be times where I wouldn''t be able to use the Echo Bat''s powers, but it was different if I used the magic items.


    The magic items would allow me to become stronger even if my familiars were considered low rank familiars.


    I already thought that I would be able to rise up with the Echo Bat, but it was different with the Scavenger Rabbit added in as well.


    Though there was a part of me that wondered where these familiars of mine came from¡­


    The appraisal hadn''t been able to find the hidden skills of my Echo Bat and I doubt that the appraisal would be able to find the hidden skills of the Scavenger Rabbit.


    Also, there was the fact that there were appraisal screens that appeared from time to time when I looked at things.


    I couldn''t help looking down at my own hands and saying, "Do I have some kind of hidden power?" S§×arch* The nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

 Chapter 24 Completing the mission

    In the end, I had the Scavenger Rabbit go through a few more slimes to see if it could find a few more treasures. S§×ar?h the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.However, it didn''t seem like it was able to find anything that was on the same level as the Summoning Scroll.


    All it was able to find were some smaller items that were like the dagger, but these were still magic items. It wasn''t as if I looked down on magic items since they were still rare enough to cause a large stir.


    Though after getting the Summoning Scroll, there was a part of me that still felt disappointed.


    There was also a part of me that wanted to stay and see if I could fight another King Slime, but I decided against that in the end.


    The mission that I had taken this time was just to clear out a few slimes from this Slime Hole.


    With the amount of slimes that I''ve killed, I''ve already far exceeded the quota.


    If I were to keep going, there was no doubt that people might become suspicious. The guard outside might even assume that I had died in here and might have reported it.


    I didn''t want to attract any attention yet since I was still growing my power, so it was best to lay low for now.


    As such, I left the dungeon after picking up the loot from a few more slimes.


    It was a good thing that the Scavenger Rabbit had found the Storage Ring or else it would have been hard for me to take all of these things out with me. I made sure to hide the expensive stuff in the Storage Ring while keeping the less expensive stuff in the bag that I brought.


    When I came out, the guard was standing there with his phone in hand.


    When he saw me, there was a surprised look that appeared on his face before he said, "You''re still alive?"


    A bitter smile appeared on my face when I heard this, but I didn''t say anything.


    I just gave a simple nod in response.


    There was an awkward moment of silence that was interrupted by a muffled voice from the other end of the call.


    The guard reacted to this and raised the phone to his ear to say, "Actually, never mind. He just came out, so it''s fine now."


    There was a moment where it seemed like he was being scolded based on the expression on his face, but then the guard put the phone away.


    He turned back to me and said, "If you''re still alive, why didn''t you come out sooner?"


    Though he was complaining, I could tell that it wasn''t just that.


    From the traces of the conversation that I heard, it seemed that he had reported that I was lost in the dungeon and wanted someone to come save me. Even though his words were sharp, there was concern deep down.


    So I just said with a smile, "I''m sorry, I lost track of time taking down the slimes inside."


    The guard revealed a surprised look as he asked, "You didn''t have any trouble with the slimes?"


    After all, he could see that this person didn''t seem like he was injured at all.


    The guard had seen the file on Lin Fan when he registered to enter the dungeon, so he knew what kind of familiar he had. He didn''t believe that someone like that would be able to easily take down the slimes.


    I pulled out my bag and opened it up to show him my loot.


    That was the best proof that I could give.


    Another surprised look appeared on the guard''s face before he suddenly revealed a smile and said, "It seems like I''ve completely misjudged you. It really goes to show that one can''t judge a book by its cover."


    With a pat on my shoulder, he headed back to his position before saying, "I''m looking forward to seeing how far you get."


    As he walked back, I gave him a slight bow while saying, "Thank you."


    ¡­


    When I arrived back at the Explorer''s Association, I went right to the same receptionist as before.


    Since I hadn''t taken that long in the dungeon, she was still on duty.


    Though she was surprised when she saw me.


    I pulled out my bag and opened it up to show her the loot that I brought back.


    This was a bag filled with magic cores and bottles of acid, so the receptionist was completely taken aback.


    I would have brought less, but I really didn''t know how many slimes I was supposed to take out for the mission to be considered complete. The mission paper had only said to clear out the Slime Hole, it didn''t say by how much.


    That went to show how little faith they had in explorers in the first place.


    "Did you really get all of this from the Slime Hole?" The receptionist asked when she came back to her senses.


    With a calm nod, I said, "That''s right."


    She was looking at me as I said this, but I looked into her eyes without any fear.


    Then all of a sudden, she revealed a smile before saying, "Good, very good. It seems like I wasn''t wrong about you."


    A faint smile appeared on my lips.


    It seemed that everyone that I met had this misconception of me, but it wasn''t as if I could blame them.


    Once she was done with her confirmation, the receptionist handed me a card and said, "This is the account that we''ve set up to pay you. You''re free to take the money when you want and put it into your own private account."


    I was surprised to hear this before looking at her with a confused look.


    I already had a private account, it should have been linked to my profile.


    Seeing this, the receptionist said with a wink, "This is a special bonus."


    After that, she put a piece of paper on the desk for me.


    I saw that it was a list showing the benefits of the account that she just made for me. It was an account that was much better than the account that I currently had, whether it was in terms of interest or credit limit.


    It was indeed a special bonus since I could see that no one else was getting this kind of treatment.


    So I just thanked her and took the card.


    Seeing that I wasn''t leaving, the receptionist asked, "What are you planning to do now? You can just head home if you have nothing else you want."


    "I want to go into another dungeon." I said before putting a piece of paper on the table.

 Chapter 25 Mist Forest

    The receptionist knitted her brows when she heard this.She narrowed her eyes to look at me before saying in a voice that had a trace of concern in it, "Are you sure about that? You just went into a dungeon, you don''t have to risk your life like this. There should be more than enough money in that account for you to live on for a while."


    She was right about that.


    I had seen the summary of the account that she showed me earlier and it was already more than what my parents made in a month.


    Being an explorer certainly was lucrative, but one had to remember that this was a job that risked one''s life. This kind of wealth was earned at the risk of one''s life.


    However, it was the only way that some people would be able to rise up in this world.


    I had already made up my mind, so I said, "I know, but the Slime Hole was easy, which is why I want to test myself in another dungeon. I won''t take things too far, I''ll just take an E Rank Dungeon."


    The receptionist narrowed her eyes to look at me, but I didn''t turn away as I looked right back at her.


    After a while, she slowly gave a nod.


    Though it was clear that there was a worried look that was in her eyes.


    Even though she had no reason to be worried about me, she was worried about me. That just went to show what kind of person she was and I couldn''t help being a bit touched.


    But the receptionist could also see that I was perfectly fine after the Slime Hole.


    I didn''t even have a single scratch on me, which just went to show that I wasn''t lying about how it had been easy for me.


    So instead of saying anything else, she looked at the piece of paper that I put on the table and started putting the information into the computer in front of her.


    When she was done, she handed me the documents I needed without saying a word.


    Though she did turn away as if she was sending me off.


    So with a trace of bitterness in my smile, I said, "Thank you."


    Then without waiting, I turned around to leave.


    After he left, the receptionist turned back around to look in the direction that he headed off in and said with a sigh, "Kids like that are always the ones that get in trouble...But I hope that he''ll be fine."


    ¡­


    "Are you sure that you want to go in?"


    The guard at the entrance of the dungeon asked me after taking my documents.


    I just gave a simple nod in response.


    He raised a brow to look at me before turning to the other guards.


    They had the same look as they looked at me.


    It seemed that all of them were surprised to see that I was here.


    It wasn''t as if I didn''t understand why they acted this way.


    Since they had the documents from the Explorer Association, that meant that they had my information. That meant that they also knew what kind of familiar I had, which was why they were worried about me heading into this dungeon.


    The dungeon that I had chosen was an E Rank Dungeon known as the Mist Forest.


    It was another open field dungeon, but this one was a misty forest that was filled with many different beast type monsters. This was one of those dungeons that gave corpses as loot, which was what my parents and other workers like my parents worked on.


    Seeing that I wouldn''t back down even though they questioned me like this, they had no choice but to let me into the dungeon in the end.


    Though I did hear them whispering a few things.


    "It seems like the rumours about the Explorer Association are true."


    "Right, they were just sending those with low grade familiars to their deaths to cut the population."


    "My son''s around his age¡­" S§×arch* The N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    I knew that they did all this because they were worried about me, but I didn''t say anything.


    After all, the best way to prove them wrong was to come back with loot from this dungeon.


    So without any further hesitation, I walked right through the gate of the dungeon and all of the sounds around me disappeared.


    When I came back to my senses, I saw that I was now in the middle of a clearing that was surrounded by forest. Behind me was a portal that was the exit to the dungeon that I had just come out of.


    After looking around for a bit, I just headed off in a random direction.


    It wasn''t as if there was anything that I could gain from standing here and time was precious, so I was looking for something to kill. I was looking for any kind of monster to take down to get some loot.


    It didn''t take long before I heard a sound from in front of me.


    "Ao!"


    It was the howling of wolves.


    I was familiar with this sound because of the time that I had spent with the Gale Wolves.


    So I knew that these were wolf monsters that were either in a fight or they were gathered in a pack.


    Regardless of what it was, this was perfect for me.


    After heading in that direction for a bit, I found what it was.


    It was a pack of wolves that were currently hunting down a deer.


    The deer was running towards me with the pack of wolves chasing after it and when that deer saw me, it ran even faster at me.


    A faint smile appeared on my lips when I saw this since I knew exactly what the deer was planning.


    It was just that I wasn''t planning on letting this deer use me.


    When they came closer, I suddenly said, "Freeze."


    The Echo Bat on my shoulder suddenly let out a screech.

 Chapter 26 Summoning Flute

    It was as if the entire world froze with the way that they all stopped moving.Though when one looked closely, they could still see that the leaves of the tree around this area were still fluttering in the wind.


    It was just the deer and the wolves chasing the deer that were frozen in place.


    There was one wolf that had been in the middle of jumping who fell down on its face and was in a very awkward position, but the rest of them were just frozen there while in the middle of running.


    There were confused and terrified looks on the faces of all these monsters, but I didn''t care as I started heading towards the wolves.


    I took a close look at them and recognized them as v Fanged Wolves.


    These were the lower evolution of the Gale Wolves and were considered E Rank Monsters.


    They were the lowest grade monsters that were available to hunt in this dungeon.


    So I didn''t hesitate to pull out a dagger as I approached these wolves. This was the same dagger that I had gotten from the King Slime, which was a magic item.


    A magic item was much sharper than normal items, so I was certain that this would be able to pierce the hide of the Fanged Wolves.


    As for why I was killing it instead of the Echo Bat, that was because I also needed to become stronger.


    The other way to grow stronger in this world was to kill monsters and absorb their mana. Though that was a method that was only available to those that had a high capacity for mana in the first place.


    I was one of those people, which was why it was strange that I had summoned the lowest grade familiar¡­


    But that wasn''t important.


    I knew that I couldn''t only rely on the power of the Echo Bat, I had to become stronger as well.


    So I had to kill these Fanged Wolves and become stronger as well.


    The Fanged Wolves looked at me with aggressive looks as I approached them, as if they would attack me at any moment. It was just that they weren''t able to move at all since they were frozen in place.


    Even if they wanted to attack me, there was nothing that they could do.


    I wasn''t afraid of them at all since I knew that they wouldn''t be able to break free of my Echo Bat''s hypnosis.


    So I raised the dagger and plunged it right into the neck of the closest Fanged Wolf.


    There was a spurt of blood that came out and splashed me since I wasn''t careful, but this was the first monster that I was killing on my own. I realized my mistake and quickly stepped away, but it was already too late since I was half soaked in the Fanged Wolf''s blood.


    A bitter smile appeared on my face as I headed towards the next Fanged Wolf.


    The way that the Fanged Wolves looked at me completely changed once I killed the first of their companions. Now there were looks of absolute terror that were cast in my direction as I approached them.


    I didn''t care as I continued stabbing each of the Fanged Wolves in the neck.


    It was inevitable that some blood splashed in my direction, but I didn''t care as much since my clothes were already soaked with the blood of the Fanged Wolves.


    Once they had been taken care of, I turned my attention to the deer.


    This deer was also a monster, but it was at a lower level than the Fanged Wolves.


    Still, loot was loot.


    As I approached, I found that there was a weird smell coming from the deer.


    When I looked behind it, I found that there was a pile of what seemed to be brown droppings on the ground.


    It seemed that the deer hadn''t been able to hold it in and had lost control of its bowels from the fear.


    But that also let me learn something new.


    It seemed that not everything could be stopped with the Echo Bat''s hypnosis. S~ea??h the Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    If the instincts were strong enough, they could still break free and do these involuntary things.


    I looked at the deer with pity and put it out of its misery.


    After that, I summoned out the Scavenger Rabbit who had the same reaction as when it saw the slimes for the first time. It only calmed down when it saw that the Fanged Wolves were dead.


    It had even seemed afraid of the deer.


    Shaking my head, I said with a sigh, "Go and use your ability on it."


    The Scavenger Rabbit gave a nod before jumping onto the corpse of a Fanged Wolf.


    After digging around for a bit, the Scavenger Rabbit turned around and raised its hands to present something to me.


    When I saw what it was, I was surprised by what it was.


    It was a finely carved flute that was in the shape of a wolf.


    I didn''t understand what this thing was until a screen suddenly popped up.


    Summoning Flute (Fanged Wolf)


    Will summon two Fanged Wolves to fight by the user''s side when it is blown. The wolves will last for an hour and can be summoned twice a day.


    A Summoning Flute?


    This was an item that could go for an astronomical sum.


    After all, for people that had low grade familiars, this was the only way that they would be able to get a familiar to fight with. For those rich people with family members that had low grade familiars, they would spare no expenses to get these for them.


    But I would never sell this thing.


    I looked back up at the Scavenger Rabbit and said, "You really are my lucky charm."


    The Scavenger Rabbit showed a proud look and wanted to go back to digging through the other corpses, but I stopped it by saying, "Wait."


    It turned back to look at me with a confused look, but I just said, "Wait for a bit."


    Not long after, the dungeon''s auto loot system kicked in and the corpses turned into loot.

 Chapter 27 A sudden surprise

    The loot for this dungeon was monster corpses that could be taken out and butchered.These monster corpses had valuable materials that could be sold for a decent amount, which was why this kind of corpse was something that people liked to farm.


    After all, the other dungeons would just straight drop loot.


    A dungeon that dropped corpses would make them much more money since there was more materials that could be gotten from a complete corpse. It all depended on how well the butchering of the corpse was done.


    But that wasn''t the reason why I waited for the dungeon''s loot system to kick in.


    Rather, there was something that I wanted to test.


    After the Fanged Wolf''s corpse dropped, I stopped holding back the Scavenger Rabbit.


    I turned to the Scavenger Rabbit and asked, "Can you still use your ability on this corpse?"


    The Scavenger Rabbit looked at the Fanged Wolf corpse on the ground and there was a momentary pause from it before it slowly gave a nod.


    Seeing this, I pointed at the Fanged Wolf''s corpse before saying, "Alright, go ahead then."


    The Scavenger Rabbit gave a nod before moving over to the Fanged Wolf''s corpse and started digging around in it. It didn''t take long for the Scavenger Rabbit to finish what it was doing, but it didn''t turn around to show me what it had found this time.


    Instead, it just stood over the pile of items that the Fanged Wolf corpse had suddenly turned into and waved its hand for me to come over to take a look.


    I didn''t need to walk over to see what it had looted since it was a large pile.


    Since my parents worked in the harvesting business, it could be said that I had been trained to recognize materials to a certain extent. But that was because they had been worried that I wouldn''t be able to summon a good familiar and would end up working with them anyway.


    Though it didn''t exactly happen that way.


    Still, the knowledge that they gave me was useful.


    I could recognize that the Fanged Wolf had turned into a pile of materials that would have been the same as if it had been butchered. However, the quality of the material was something else.


    I picked up the pelt and looked at it carefully before saying to myself, "This looks like it was perfectly skinned from the Fanged Wolf¡­" S~ea??h the N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    I looked carefully at the rest of the materials and saw that they were of the same quality.


    It seemed that the Scavenger Rabbit''s Looter ability allowed it to get the perfect loot from this Fanged Wolf corpse, but there was something different about this.


    It was that there wasn''t a single other item that was dropped because of its Looter ability.


    It seemed that it was only materials from the Fanged Wolf that dropped.


    In a way, it could be said that this was the perfect harvest, but compared to the loot that it usually got when it used its Looter skill, it was a bit of a let down.


    Once the Fanged Wolf''s were turned into corpse drops from the dungeon''s loot system, it seemed that they no longer contained any good items.


    As for how I knew that, it was because I didn''t get a single special item after letting the Scavenger Rabbit loot through the rest of the Fanged Wolf corpses. It seemed that there were only materials that could be gained from the Fanged Wolves once they had been turned into corpses by the dungeon''s loot system.


    It was unknown what caused this, but then again, it wasn''t as if I fully understood how the Scavenger Rabbit''s Looter ability worked in the first place.


    At the very least, it seemed that all of the materials that the Scavenger Rabbit obtained were of the highest quality and would sell for a decent amount. It wasn''t as if I had suffered that big of a loss testing this with these Fanged Wolf corpses.


    Not to mention, it wasn''t as if I couldn''t find more Fanged Wolf corpses.


    The Fanged Wolves were the weakest monsters in this dungeon in the first place, there were still elite monsters and bosses to look forward to. This was just the beginning of my dungeon run.


    After it had finished looting all of the Fanged Wolves, the Scavenger Rabbit came over to me and stuck its chest out as if it was saying, "Aren''t you proud of me? Don''t you see how much I''ve done? Can''t you see how great I am?"


    The Echo Bat on the other hand didn''t seem to like this, so it flew off my shoulder and flew right at the Scavenger Rabbit with one foot stuck out. It came in with a flying kick at the Scavenger Rabbit.


    However, the Scavenger Rabbit had learned its lesson and dodged out of the way in time.


    It was used to using its abilities now, especially its high agility, so it was used to dodging out of the way of the Echo Bat''s attack.


    But dodging out of the way just made the Echo Bat more angry.


    It didn''t help that the Scavenger Rabbit had turned around and slapped its butt as if it was taunting the Echo Bat.


    The two of them seemed like they were about to fight even more, but I stepped in before that could happen to stop them.


    I didn''t care if they did this outside of the dungeon since it seemed like this was how they bonded, but this wasn''t the right time for that. We needed to not fight each other while we were in the dungeon since anything could happen at any time.


    It was just that before I could stop the two of them from fighting.


    "Ah! Save me!" There was a scream that came from the distance.


    This was the voice of a woman and it seemed like she was in some kind of trouble.


    It seemed that there was no lack of sudden surprises in this dungeon.

 Chapter 28 Predator and prey

    I didn''t react right away after hearing this voice.There was a trace of hesitation that filled me when I thought about what I should do, but in the end¡­


    I had the Scavenger Rabbit go away since it wouldn''t be able to help in a fight and went in the direction of the scream with the Echo Bat on my shoulder.


    But after taking a few steps, I realized my mistake and pulled out the Summoning Flute to call out the two Fanged Wolves. I got onto the back of one of them and had the other scout ahead to see if it could find the source of the screams.


    It didn''t take long for them to find it.


    These Fanged Wolves were predators that hunted prey all over this Mist Forest, so they were good at tracking.


    It was especially easy with all of the clues that were being left behind as those people chased after the person they were chasing. They didn''t seem to hold back at all as I could see bits of broken trees left behind in a trail of destruction.


    It seemed that they were confident that nothing would be able to stop them and they didn''t seem to care that anyone could see their trail of destruction.


    It really made me curious who these people were.


    Since they left behind this trail of destruction, I had the Fanged Wolves follow them until we caught up. We were much faster than them since I was riding on the Fanged Wolves and they were on foot.


    But it also seemed like they were holding back for a reason when I saw the ones that were chasing.


    The way that they attacked, it was almost as if they were playing with their prey.


    They seemed even happy about the way that they were acting as the predator.


    It made me think of the way that Wang Teng had acted back then and I couldn''t help feeling disdain for these people.


    These were the kinds of people that I disliked the most.


    In that case¡­


    I didn''t make a move right away as I watched them since I wanted to make sure that I didn''t miss out on any of them. There was the chance that they might have someone hiding in the shadows protecting them, so I wanted to make sure that I didn''t miss any of them.


    The most important thing was my own life if I were to do this.


    But during this time, it seemed that the ones that were doing the hunting were losing their patience. It seemed like they were done having their fun and they were planning on ending it all.


    After confirming that there was no one else around, I started making my forward towards these people.


    I positioned myself so I was right behind them.


    When the hunters lost their patience, they started spreading out to contain the amount of space that the one being hunted could run in. With them surrounding their prey like this, there was nowhere left for that girl being chased to run and in no time at all, she was trapped by them in a clearing.


    With the way that they surrounded the clearing, it didn''t seem like there was a way for her to escape.


    Since she was trapped, the only thing that this girl could do was face the leader of the hunters.


    "Yu Xiang, why are you doing this? We agreed that we would work together to clear this dungeon and now you turn on me like this?" The girl said in an accusatory voice.


    "Ha, ha, ha, that''s what you get for trusting people too easily. You should already know that with your status, there are people that want to hurt you. If you come into our hands, just give up and become our pay." The one called Yu Xiang said while laughing.


    The girl who was in the center of the clearing deeply knitted her brows before asking, "Then at the very least, before you kill me, can you tell me who it was?"


    Yu Xiang didn''t say anything as he just looked at her with a smile on his face.


    With the way that he looked at her, it seemed like he wasn''t fooled at all by the way that she said this.


    It was clear that he could tell that she hadn''t given up yet.


    The girl furrowed her brows even more before saying, "Then don''t blame me for this!"


    She pulled out a red glowing gem that she raised above her, but it only glowed once before turning dim. The girl had a dazed look on her face as she looked at this gem before turning to look at Yu Xiang.


    Yu Xiang had the same smile on his face as he looked at her.


    Seeing her look in his direction, Yu Xiang said, "What''s wrong? Is your trump card not working? What do you think is wrong with it?"


    The girl once again gave a deep frown upon hearing this before saying in a heavy voice, "What did you do?"


    Once again, Yu Xiang didn''t answer this question and instead taunted her by saying, "What''s wrong? Do you not have anything else?"


    The girl didn''t say anything in response as she just looked at him with the same deep frown on her face.


    Yu Xiang saw that she had no tricks up her sleeves, so with a confident smile, he said, "If we chose to hunt you, do you think that we really wouldn''t have prepared anything? Just give up and let yourself be taken out. We''ll give you a painless death if you don''t struggle."


    The girl had an unwilling look on her face, as well as a trace of regret. S~ea??h the N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    It was as if she regretted trusting this group.


    When he saw that she wasn''t going to do anything else, Yu Xiang raised his hand and said, "Alright, finish her¡­"


    Before he could finish, there were two large Fanged Wolves that appeared out of nowhere and chomped down on the two standing beside him.


    In one move, he had turned from predator to prey.

 Chapter 29 True silence

    The two that had been bitten by the Fanged Wolves went easy since they didn''t even get to feel the pain as they were ripped in half.Even if they were wearing armour, it didn''t seem to help at all when the Fanged Wolves bit into them.


    That was because the sharp fangs of the Fanged Wolves had gone in between the gaps of their armour. It perfectly bit into the parts of their armour that were designed to have gaps to allow flexible movement.


    Normally, monsters wouldn''t be able to accurately bite into the gaps of the armour like this since they were designed in a way that was hard to spot. The monsters without intelligence wouldn''t be able to figure this out.


    However, the Fanged Wolves aimed for the gaps as if they knew exactly where it was.


    The sharp fangs of the Fanged Wolves dug deep into the gaps of the armour and ripped these two in half.


    Yu Xiang had been in shock at the fact that his two subordinates had been ripped in half by wolves like this, but he quickly came back to his senses and immediately jumped away from the Fanged Wolves.


    His sharp reaction from his time diving into the dungeons had allowed him to quickly come back to his senses before they could make another move.


    It was just that these Fanged Wolves were nothing more than a distraction in the first place.


    After he landed, he found that there was something strange happening to his body.


    It was as if there was some kind of strange force that was preventing him from moving.


    He didn''t know where this force came from, but he couldn''t break free of it no matter how he tried. It just locked him in place, standing there staring at the Fanged Wolves that were still biting on his companions. S~ea??h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Yu Xiang didn''t know what was happening, but there was a trace of fear that appeared in his eyes.


    He recognized the dangerous situation that he was currently in, so his brain was turning to find a way out of this. It was just that he had no idea what was happening in the first place, so it wasn''t as if he could think of a way out of this.


    There was a long silence before he said¡­


    "Mmm?"


    Yu Xiang found that he wasn''t even able to open his mouth to speak, all he could do was make this sound. It seemed that whatever the force was, it didn''t even allow him to open his mouth to say anything.


    All he could do was struggle meaninglessly against the force that was holding him in place.


    While he was doing this, he could hear sounds coming from around him.


    It was coming from the trees that were around the clearing.


    These were where he had assigned his people for the ambush.


    From the sounds that were coming from around him, it seemed like all of the people that he had assigned to the surrounding area were being taken down.


    Just who was it that was doing this?


    Was it someone who had been sent to protect their target?


    No, if that was the case, why would they wait so long to help?


    It had to be something else¡­Only Yu Xiang had no idea what it was.


    After a while, the final sound rang out.


    Yu Xiang knew that this was the last person that he had assigned since he had been counting the sounds that had been coming from around him.


    It seemed that whoever it was had already found all of his people and had taken them all out without a problem.


    Yu Xiang was about to struggle once more when he suddenly saw the Fanged Wolves start to move.


    The Fanged Wolves had been standing there without doing a single thing the entire time, as if they had been waiting for orders. Now that they had suddenly started to move¡­


    "Mmm, mmm, mmm!" Yu Xiang shouted in an attempt to try to talk to the person that was causing all of this, but it didn''t seem like that person was willing to talk to him.


    That was until Yu Xiang suddenly found that¡­


    "I don''t want to die!"


    He suddenly found that his mouth was released and he was able to speak again.


    But even if that was the case, he found that his body couldn''t move.


    Yu Xiang wasn''t a fool, he knew that there was something that this person wanted from him for him to be able to speak again.


    "What do you want? Why are you doing this? Who are you?" Yu Xiang didn''t hold back at all with the questions even though he knew that it was impossible to get an answer to these questions.


    He was just asking them to show that he was willing to cooperate.


    But there was a cold voice that asked, "Why are you doing this?"


    Yu Xiang was confused when he heard this since he thought that whoever had saved the girl was related to her. However, since they were asking this question, it really seemed like they weren''t related to her at all.


    If that was the case, then why would they save her?


    "We received a commission to do this. If you want, we can give you a part of that commission." Then after a pause, he added, "As long as you let me live, I''ll give you everything that I have."


    Yu Xiang wasn''t a fool, he knew exactly who was in control of this situation.


    That person was the one that dictated everything, so he could take anything that he wanted.


    So it was better to offer everything for his life.


    It was just that¡­


    "Ah¡­" A soft cry of pain came from Yu Xiang before he looked down to see that there was a sword in his throat.


    "Your death is the best way to ensure true silence. There was no way that you would have survived this."

 Chapter 30 Iris

    Yu Xiang''s eyes were wide open in shock as he fell forward.It was as if he couldn''t believe that he had died in the end.


    This was the same for all of the others as none of them had expected to be killed like this.


    All of them thought that this would be a simple job, but it turned out to be anything but that.


    After stabbing Yu Xiang in the back of the neck like this, I just pulled the dagger that I was holding back and calmly shook the blood off the dagger. Without even blinking an eye, I put the dagger back into the Storage Ring.


    I didn''t bother looking at Yu Xiang''s corpse as I turned to look at the girl who was sitting in the center of the clearing.


    She had her hands at her chest, almost as if she was guarding herself.


    The look on her face made it clear that she was afraid of me, or rather she was afraid of what I just did.


    I wouldn''t blame her since I would be scared too in her situation.


    So with a simple nod to her, I turned around to leave.


    There was a dazed look that appeared on the girl''s face before she suddenly sat up and said, "Wait, don''t go."


    When she said this, I suddenly stopped and turned around to look at her again.


    The girl just looked at me in a dazed manner again, as if she didn''t know what to say. There was still a trace of fear that was on her face, but that was only normal since she didn''t know what this situation was.


    During this, I got a good look at the girl.


    She was a girl with blonde hair and blue eyes, showing that she was a foreigner. However, she really was a beautiful girl with her long lush blonde hair, piercing blue eyes, and fair skin.


    If she was just standing out in public, one would imagine that she was a model.


    At the same time, when her hands came to her chest¡­it really accentuated it and she wasn''t small at all.


    It was completely different from my childhood friend, Long Tang Tang.


    After a moment of silence, I said, "Are you alright?"


    The girl was a bit surprised to hear me ask this, but then she slowly shook her head before saying, "My legs are completely out of energy and I can''t stand up at all."


    I gave a simple nod before stepping forward slowly. While doing so, I said, "I''m going to approach you now, is that alright?"


    The girl looked at me silently for a bit before slowly giving a nod.


    When I came over, I reached my hand out for her to take.


    The girl hesitantly reached her hand out, but she took my hand in the end and I helped her stand up.


    At the same time, one of the Fanged Wolves came over since I gave them a signal. I helped her over to the Fanged Wolf and helped her get on the back of the Fanged Wolf before saying, "We need to leave this place first."


    The girl slowly gave a nod again.


    With that, I got on the back of the other Fanged Wolf and we left this clearing that still had all the corpses in it behind.


    After traveling for a bit, I stopped by a cave that the Fanged Wolves found. S§×ar?h the N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    This cave had a small creek and pond in front of it, so this was the perfect place to rest.


    I helped the girl down from the Fanged Wolf and then over to the cave before getting some water for her from the pond.


    Only after she had some water and calmed down did she let out a sigh of relief.


    It was the kind of relief that one would have when they realized that they had just escaped death.


    Even though she let out this sigh, I didn''t say anything as I waited for her to recover.


    After a while, the girl finally calmed down again and she turned to look at me to ask, "Who are you?"


    I had expected this since that was certainly the first question that she would have in this situation.


    With a calm look on my face, I said, "Would you believe me if I said that I''m someone that was just passing by and heard that you were in danger?"


    The girl immediately knitted her brows as I expected, but I just looked back at her with a calm look on my face.


    After another silence, she raised a brow and asked, "Are you really not someone that my father sent to watch over me?"


    "Your father?" I asked in a confused voice.


    I didn''t know anything about this girl, so naturally I didn''t know anything about her father either. So even if she asked if I was sent by her father, it wasn''t as if there was anything that I could say to that.


    She looked even more surprised to hear this and then she narrowed her eyes to look at me as if she was scrutinizing me, but there was nothing that I had to hide from her since I was telling the truth.


    There was another long silence that hung in the air before she finally stopped looking at me like she was scrutinizing me. She lowered her head and said in what seemed to be a shy voice, "Thank you for saving me."


    I gave a simple nod in response.


    "What is your name?" She said while looking up slightly, as if she was feeling shy.


    "Lin Fan."


    I had no reason to hide my name from her since I had helped her. I didn''t think that she was the kind of person that would pay kindness with a dagger to the back.


    "Lin Fan." She seemed to repeat under her breath before suddenly saying, "My name is Iris, but you can call me Wei Wei, that''s my nickname."


    As she said this, there was a smile that appeared on her face that seemed like the sun was rising that completely caught me off guard.


    She was already beautiful when she didn''t have any expressions, but when she suddenly revealed a smile like this¡­

 Chapter 31 Taboo

    It took a while longer to settle Iris, but eventually she closed her eyes and took a small nap to regain her energy.Running for so long had tired her out, so it was only natural that when the ropes of her tension snapped, the exhaustion that followed hit her right in the face.


    She found it hard to resist it and the only reason she didn''t fall asleep right away was because we were still in the dangerous dungeon.


    But in the end, she was able to calm down and fall asleep while being guarded by the Fanged Wolves.


    These weren''t the same Fanged Wolves that I had summoned, but rather Fanged Wolves that I controlled with the Echo Bat. Even if I wanted to leave the Fanged Wolves that I summoned behind, I couldn''t do that since there was a time limit.


    They would have disappeared by the time that she woke up, so I had the Echo Bat get a few Fanged Wolves to protect her.


    Taking one of the Fanged Wolves, I headed off in a certain direction.


    I told Iris that I was going to scout out the area before leaving, but that wasn''t what I was planning to do at all. Rather, the Fanged Wolves had already scouted out the area and made sure that it was safe.


    In the first place, the area around the cave was the territory of the Fanged Wolves, so it wasn''t as if there was anything else there. The Fanged Wolves marked their territory and made sure that they didn''t let anyone else into their territory, so there was no need to worry.


    The direction that I was heading in was the same clearing as before.


    I didn''t know if the things that I wanted were still there, but I still wanted to give it a try.


    When I arrived at the clearing, I found that the things I wanted were still there.


    It didn''t seem like anything had touched the things that were in this clearing as it was all still in the state that I left it.


    Including the corpses that were on the ground.


    These corpses were the reason why I had come back here in the first place.


    I walked over to Yu Xiang''s corpse in the center of the clearing and stood over it, looking down at him with a strange look on my face.


    It wasn''t that I was regretting what I had done, rather there was a trace of hesitation that was on my face as if I was hesitating over something.


    But in the end, I still called out the Scavenger Rabbit.


    What I was about to do was considered a taboo, but it was something that could be done since this place was a dungeon. In the dungeon, even humans were considered things that could have loot.


    With the ability of the Scavenger Rabbit¡­


    Before that though¡­


    I turned to look at the Scavenger Rabbit and asked, "Can you use your ability on him?"


    The Scavenger Rabbit didn''t reply right away as it looked at Yu Xiang''s corpse on the ground. It looked at his corpse for a bit before suddenly giving a nod to show that it was able to do this.


    I still hesitated a bit after seeing the Scavenger Rabbit agree, but then I said with a nod, "Alright, do it then."


    The Scavenger Rabbit gave a nod before jumping out of my hand to land on Yu Xiang''s corpse.


    It didn''t seem to have any hesitation as it suddenly reached its hand deep into Yu Xiang''s body. It seemed that Yu Xiang''s corpse had no resistance at all as the Scavenger Rabbit dug into it, splashing blood all over the place.


    It was different from the corpses of the monsters that didn''t seem to have any blood when the Scavenger Rabbit dug into it. S§×ar?h the N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Part of me was interested in this since I was curious what the difference between human corpses and monster corpses was in this dungeon.


    The bigger part of me was just disgusted seeing Yu Xiang''s corpse being dug into like this.


    Even if I had made up my mind to loot his corpse and the corpses of the subordinates that followed him, it was still hard seeing his corpse being treated like this.


    I was a human after all, so it was hard for me to watch when a human corpse was being torn into like this.


    It also made me worry a bit about the Scavenger Rabbit that it was able to do this kind of thing without any hesitation at all. Even though it was a coward, it seemed strangely numb to things like this¡­


    After a while, the Scavenger Rabbit turned around as if it was finished.


    It was just that when it did, I was shocked by its appearance.


    It was completely covered in red blood and there were bits of Yu Xiang''s flesh that were hanging off the Scavenger Rabbit. The way that it was plastered in these bits from Yu Xiang really created a terrifying scene¡­


    It was hard not to be shocked by its appearance, but the Scavenger Rabbit didn''t seem to mind its appearance at all as it wanted to offer what it was holding to me.


    Before that, I brought out some tissues and some water from the Storage Ring to help the Scavenger Rabbit clean up.


    Even if it was terrifying, it was still my familiar.


    So at least I should care about it if it was dirty like this.


    I used the tissue for a general wipe down before washing the Scavenger Rabbit with the water. When I used the water, I could see that the Scavenger Rabbit didn''t seem to like this.


    It was only because I was the one washing it that it was staying still.


    Only after it was all washed up did I take a look at the thing that it was offering me.


    "A bead?" I asked in a confused voice.

 Chapter 32 Skill Orbs

    It was a small bead that was in the hands of the Scavenger Rabbit that it raised up for me to see.There seemed to be this faint glow coming from this bead, but it wasn''t strong enough that it was hard to look at.


    This bead seemed completely normal if one ignored the faint glow that it had.


    It didn''t seem like any of the other items that the Scavenger Rabbit had found before, but I knew that anything that the Scavenger Rabbit found with its skill wouldn''t be a normal thing.


    Since it was dug out by the Scavenger Rabbit, it had to be something special.


    The only thing that I was waiting for was the notification to pop up.


    This certainly wasn''t something that I could appraise outside of the dungeon since it was something that was obtained by performing the taboo.


    But it didn''t seem like the notification was about to pop up which made me a bit anxious.


    That was until I focused hard on the bead and it finally popped up.


    Skill Orb (Boost Strength)


    Grants the Boost Strength skill when used.


    Boost Strength


    Increases the user''s strength by up to 5 times, depending on how much mana the user uses when activating the skill.


    "Skill orb?" I couldn''t help saying in a confused voice.


    That was because I had never heard of this kind of thing before.


    Even though I had studied quite a bit and had learned all kinds of different things, I had never heard of an item like this before. But the fact that it was actually able to give a skill meant that there was no doubt that this item was a very valuable one.


    Skills weren''t things that humans could acquire, skills were only things that familiars could acquire through hard work and training.


    So something that would be able to give a skill was without a doubt something that broke the balance of this world.


    At the same time¡­


    "Is this something that can be used by humans or is it only used by familiars?" I couldn''t help asking myself this.


    I had never seen such a thing, so it was only natural that I would ask such a question¡­


    There was a part of me that really wanted to check this, but I held myself back in the end.


    In this situation, it really felt like the first one would be a waste since there should be a limit to how many skills a person could have. If I were to use this, wouldn''t that mean that I would be wasting the potential slots that I had to learn skills?


    Though in the first place, I didn''t know if the potential slots were even something that existed.


    So before using this Skill Orb, I wanted to see if there were other options.


    As such, I had the Scavenger Rabbit¡­


    "Go and use your skills on the other corpses." I said to the Scavenger Rabbit who just immediately jumped to another nearby corpse.


    While it was doing this, I had the Echo Bat control the Fanged Wolf to drag the other corpses that I had left in the shadow of the trees over. These were also corpses that could be looted, so I would be able to get more Skill Orbs from these corpses hopefully.


    If I could, then there was the chance that I might be able to get a good skill.


    So I waited for the Scavenger Rabbit to finish off looting all of these corpses.


    It was just a pity that I was disappointed with what it found in the end.


    The Scavenger Rabbit dug through all of the corpses and all of them gave Skill Orbs, it was just that the skills that were pulled out were skills that weren''t that powerful.


    These were skills that were considered support skills.


    Sharp Eyes, Wind Walking, Hide Presence.


    These were all skills that would be used with other abilities to have the greatest effect, but I didn''t have these other abilities in the first place. If I were to take all of these skills, then there was no doubt that I would be relegated to being some kind of support in parties.


    At the same time, there really weren''t any attackers in our current party.


    If we were all support characters, then it really wouldn''t work.


    We needed some kind of attack power or else we wouldn''t be able to defeat powerful enemies even if we could restrain them.


    So I wanted some kind of attack ability.


    In the end, the only one that was considered an attack ability was the first Skill Orb that the Scavenger Rabbit obtained from Yu Xiang''s corpse.


    "If it''s this one¡­" I said to myself in a resigned voice.


    But even though I sounded resigned, I took the Skill Orb in my hand and used it on myself.


    I didn''t know how to use it at first, but then I found that all I had to do was crush the orb.


    The moment that the orb was crushed, there was this flow of light that entered my body and filled it with this strange kind of power. It was a kind of power that almost felt like there was something warm flowing into me.


    It turned out that this Skill Orb could be used on humans as well.


    Once the warm flow of energy disappeared, I couldn''t really tell what was different about me. S~ea??h the N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    But I walked over to one of the trees nearby and put my hand up against it while trying to focus on something vague inside of me.


    As I did, I felt this flow of power coming from within and then I pushed against the tree in front of me.


    "Krrack!"


    There was this loud sound that came in front of me and I saw that the tree was being pulled out of the ground as I pushed against it. It was actually being pulled out by the roots, that was just how hard I was pushing against it.


    I suddenly pulled back my hand and looked at it with a shocked expression.


    "Did I really do that?" I couldn''t help saying to myself as I looked at my hand.

 Chapter 33 Teaming up

    It took a while for me to come back to my senses, but there was a faint smile that appeared on my lips as I looked at my hands.It seemed that this power that I obtained was quite the powerful one if I was able to push down a tree this easily.


    In the future, it should be easier for me to take down any enemies that I face.


    Though I had to remember that this wasn''t something that I could show to others that easily.


    As for the rest of the Skill Orbs¡­


    After thinking about it, I put most of the Skill Orbs away since I still had no idea if there was a limit to how many Skill Orbs I could use. Without knowing that first, I didn''t want to fill up all of the possible slots that I could have with skills that weren''t as strong.


    But there were a few orbs that I gave to the Scavenger Rabbit and the Echo Bat.


    These were Skill Orbs that worked too perfectly with the abilities of the Scavenger Rabbit and the Echo Bat, so I had to give these Skill Orbs to them. S~ea??h the N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The Scavenger Rabbit and Echo Bat were surprised by the new powers that they obtained, but they quickly adapted to it and were amazed by the new skills that they obtained.


    There was no doubt that all of us had become stronger because of these Skill Orbs.


    As for what remained of the corpses that had been looted¡­I just left them there to be decomposed by the dungeon. It was hard enough to look at them, so it was even harder for me to even approach them, let alone bury them.


    I just reminded myself that they were bad people to begin with, which was why they deserved whatever they got.


    When I came back, I found that Iris had woken up and was walking around the area.


    When she saw me come back on the Fanged Wolf, she quickly came over and asked, "Did you find anything dangerous?"


    There was a worried look on her face, but it didn''t seem like she was that worried about what I had found. The way that she looked at me was as if she was worried about me.


    It took me a moment to realize why she was looking at me like this.


    If something happened to me, there was no telling what would happen to her.


    I wasn''t that foolish to believe that she would trust me that much since we had just met.


    I shook my head before saying, "There''s nothing in the surrounding area, so I took a look at some of the other areas before coming back. I found some interesting things, so I''ll be heading in that direction. I''ll have one of the Fanged Wolves bring you back to the entrance so you can leave the dungeon."


    I didn''t really want her following me since someone following me around and learning about my abilities was not something that I wanted.


    So it was better to send her back on her own before heading deeper into this dungeon.


    My goal was to take down the dungeon boss after all.


    But to my surprise, Iris shook her head before saying, "I can''t leave just yet. There''s still something that I have to do in this dungeon."


    Before I could say anything else, she suddenly looked at me with a determined look and said, "You''re a strong person with strange abilities, but you''re not a bad person. I want to hire you to help me."


    I was certainly caught off guard since I didn''t expect her to say something like this, but I quickly shook my head to reject her.


    I really didn''t want her to come with me after all.


    Iris bit her lips at first when she saw this, but then she once again spoke before I could say anything, "I''ll pay you."


    I didn''t reject her right away this time as I raised a brow to look at her.


    The way that I looked at her was as if I was asking her what she was talking about.


    Iris naturally understood this, so she took out a black card and said, "This is what I was going to pay Yu Xiang and his group. This card has five million in it. As long as you help me with what I want to do in this dungeon, I''ll give this card to you."


    My eyes opened wide when I heard this.


    I had to admit that I was a bit tempted by this.


    After all, what I had earned in the Slime Hole earlier was more than what my parents made, but it wasn''t even a drop in the bucket compared to the amount that she was offering me.


    I knew that I could get a lot of money if I sold the things that the Scavenger Rabbit got with its special ability, I also knew that I would attract a lot of attention if I were to do that.


    The moment that I attracted this attention, there was no doubt that some powerful people would set their eyes on me.


    There was a limit to how much I could handle and drawing too much attention too early was not good, especially since I didn''t have a powerful backer. I needed time to develop my power, so I didn''t want to attract any attention right now.


    That made it hard to earn a lot of money.


    That was why I was tempted when I saw this card.


    After a moment of silence, I asked, "What are you requesting from me?"


    Iris wasn''t surprised to hear this. She just simply said, "I wanted to come into this dungeon to prove to my parents that I wasn''t a weak little girl. I want to take down a few of the elite monsters of this dungeon and bring it back to show my parents."


    Then after a pause, she added, "I''m not a fool, I know that I''m no match for the boss, so I won''t ask for that."


    I slowly gave a nod.


    If it was just that, then I should be able to handle it with the Fanged Wolves.


    In that case¡­


    "Alright, I''ll accept your proposal." I said in a slow voice.


    Iris immediately revealed a smile and wanted to come forward to shake my hand, but I raised a hand to stop her before saying, "Of course, you''ll listen to me while we''re in the dungeon. I won''t put myself in danger just to help you, I hope that you understand that."


    Iris nodded without any hesitation since she knew that this was the basis of any cooperation in the dungeon, especially since they had only known each other for this short period of time.


    With that, I reached my hand out to shake her hand and said, "To a happy cooperation."


    She nodded once more before saying with a bright smile, "To a happy cooperation."


    I couldn''t help being a bit stunned when I saw that smile on her face.


    If she had used this weapon in the first place¡­


    Well, I wasn''t that easy to sway anyway. It wasn''t as if I was just doing this because I felt sympathy for her story.


    She was able to pull out five million like it was nothing, there was no doubt that there was someone powerful behind her.


    If I could latch onto her leg and find a backer¡­


    That would be killing two birds with one stone.

 Chapter 34 Kong Gorilla

    Once Iris was ready, I had the Fanged Wolves take us to the territory of one of the Elite Monsters that they found.I had some of the Fanged Wolves scout out the area while I was looting the corpses of Yu Xiang''s group, which is why I knew about this Elite Monster.


    It turned out that even though Iris had come into this dungeon looking for an Elite Monster, she didn''t have any information about this dungeon at all. It seemed that she had been relying on Yu Xiang''s group for everything, which was why she had hired them.


    Though in the end, all that resulted in was her being betrayed.


    While we were heading to the territory of the Elite Monster, I couldn''t help asking, "Do you know why they chose to betray you?"


    Iris didn''t say anything at first as if she was lost in thought, but she eventually shook her head and said, "There''s too many reasons why, so I can''t tell. I''ll have someone look into it when I get back."


    I didn''t ask anything else after this, but it did tell me something about her and her family.


    For there to be so many reasons, it seemed that her background really wasn''t shallow that there were so many culprits.


    I really couldn''t help wondering just who was behind her¡­


    But for now, there was something else to focus on.


    Once we reached the edge of the territory of the Elite Monster, the Fanged Wolves gave us a signal to show that we were getting close.


    After that, they suddenly started moving in a different pattern.


    They were moving with their bodies low as if they were stalking something.


    It was the order that I gave them before we arrived in this place, I wanted them to sneak into the territory of the Elite Monster to see if we could take care of them in an ambush.


    As we snuck forward, I heard Iris say, "I''ve never seen this kind of precise control before. Just what kind of familiar is this?"


    A trace of bitterness filled me after hearing this.


    If I were to tell her the truth, I was sure that she would find it hard to believe.


    With the Fanged Wolves leading the way, we soon found a clearing that was in the middle of the forest. However, this time, it wasn''t an empty clearing. This time, it seemed like there was some kind of crude village that was in this clearing.


    There were huts that were made of sticks and leaves that were in this clearing.


    And walking among these huts were some gorillas who were the ones that had created this village.


    Naturally, these gorillas were monsters as well.


    These gorillas were known as Power Gorillas and they were E Rank Monsters just like the Fanged Wolves, but they wouldn''t gather like this for no reason. Even if gorillas had higher intelligence than normal monsters, they were still monsters that wouldn''t gather together for no reason. S§×arch* The n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The only reason they gathered together was because there was a leader that brought them all together.


    That leader was the Elite Monster that we were looking for.


    That Elite Monster was known as the Kong Gorilla, a higher evolution of the Power Gorilla and a D Rank Monster.


    After approaching this village of gorillas, we didn''t attack right away as we watched the village from behind the brushes. We were looking for the Kong Gorilla since we didn''t want to waste our energy with the Power Gorillas.


    It was just that it didn''t seem like the Kong Gorilla was in the village.


    After a while, Iris asked, "Are you sure that it''s here?"


    I said with a slow nod, "The Fanged Wolves followed the scent here, so they''re sure that it''s here. It''s just that it doesn''t seem to currently be in the camp¡­"


    No matter how we looked around, it didn''t seem like the Kong Gorilla was here.


    It seemed like the Power Gorillas were the only ones that were here.


    But that didn''t make sense since the Power Gorillas wouldn''t gather unless there was something holding them together. Just the fact that they were still in this village meant that there should be a Kong Gorilla nearby leading them.


    Where was this Kong Gorilla.


    There was a part of me that was wondering if we should just leave, but I decided against it in the end.


    The Kong Gorilla had been chosen not because it was the closest, but also the easiest one to take down. If it wasn''t this Kong Gorilla, then it would be another Elite Monster that we would have to take down.


    And the other Elite Monsters were anything but easy to take down.


    So it was best if we could take down this Kong Gorilla.


    Only¡­where was it?


    "Snap."


    The moment that the sound of this branch snapping was heard, we immediately turned in the direction of the sound.


    It was coming from above us.


    "Ook." That was the only sound that we heard before large rocks started falling from above.


    We could see the one that was throwing it.


    It was a gorilla that was bigger than all of the other gorillas in the village.


    This was clearly the Elite Monster, the Kong Gorilla.


    Only how did it get the jump on us when we were the ones that should have snuck up on it?


    The other question that was on my mind was¡­


    "Just how are you able to climb up there without making a sound when you''re so big in the first place?"


    This was the bitter complaint that I wanted to make when I saw the Kong Gorilla.


    It really was just too big to be balancing on the branch like that.


    The Kong Gorilla seemed like a monster that used brute strength, but to also have this kind of agility just simply wasn''t fair.


    But it didn''t matter if I wanted to complain about it since it was already attacking us.

 Chapter 35 Amazing control

    With the speed of the Fanged Wolves, it wasn''t a problem for us to dodge these rocks that were thrown down at us.But the holes that were created in the ground where we had been before showed just how strong this Kong Gorilla was.


    It hadn''t held back at all when tossing these stones.


    It was clear that this Kong Gorilla wanted us dead.


    The real problem wasn''t the fact that the Kong Gorilla had noticed us, the real problem was that the other Power Gorillas also noticed us because of the sound that the rocks made when they slammed into the ground.


    As a result, it didn''t take long before they all came at us as if they wanted to surround us.


    I deeply knitted my brows after seeing this, but then I said, "You can take care of the Kong Gorilla on your own, right?"


    Iris was surprised to hear me ask this question, but she quickly gave a nod.


    As soon as I saw this, I said, "Then you take care of it, I''ll take care of these Power Gorillas."


    Iris was once again caught off guard, but she gave another quick nod before summoning out her familiar.


    Her familiar was a hawk that seemed to have electricity running through its feathers.


    After summoning this familiar, she also pulled out a sword that didn''t seem that big. It seemed like it was made to perfectly fit her height and her size, it seemed like a weapon that was made just for her. S§×arch* The NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Once she pulled out this weapon, there was a streak of lightning that came from the hawk that was flying above her that seemed to flow through the sword. It was as if the lightning from the hawk was powering the sword with the way that it flowed through the sword.


    It was clear that Iris and her familiar weren''t weak.


    It was hard to imagine just who was behind her with the power that she demonstrated.


    Since the Fanged Wolf under her had already been bound to her command, she was able to get it to run around the Kong Gorilla.


    The Kong Gorilla had already jumped down to the ground and had picked up rocks to throw at Iris. It was just that with the speed of the Fanged Wolf that she was on, she was able to avoid all of the rocks that were thrown at her.


    It seemed like she was a natural with the way that she dodged all of these rocks.


    It was hard to imagine that someone like her had been caught by Xiang Yu and the others, but I didn''t think too much about it. I had only taken care of Xiang Yu''s group because I had caught them by surprise.


    If I had to fight them¡­


    Instead of thinking about that, I turned my attention to the Power Gorillas that were approaching.


    They grouped up and came at me at the same time, creating what seemed to be a wave of gorillas charging.


    This certainly would have been a terrifying scene for anyone else, but I didn''t feel any fear facing them. That was because I knew that it would take a single command from me to take down all of these Power Gorillas.


    It would only take a single command to make them all freeze, so there was no danger facing them.


    But instead of using the power of the Echo Bat like this, I chose to use the power of the Echo Bat in a different way.


    "Scatter."


    As soon as I gave this order, the Fanged Wolves that were being controlled suddenly split off from the pack. They all headed off in different directions, but they were heading towards the Power Gorilla.


    Even though they split off like this, the Power Gorillas didn''t seem to react as they continued charging forward.


    It seemed like they just wanted to get to the Kong Gorilla to help it, they didn''t seem to care about any other distractions.


    It seemed that the Kong Gorilla was the linchpin of this group and they couldn''t do anything without it.


    So they were trying to group up with it before they attacked us.


    Still, this just made it easier for me.


    While the Power Gorillas were charging forward, I suddenly gave an order.


    "Trim the fat."


    With that, the Fanged Wolves started picking off Power Gorillas that were at the edges of their group. Even though they were in a large group, that didn''t mean that everyone was as safe as the ones in the middle.


    The ones that were at the edges were vulnerable to attacks since they were more isolated.


    The Fanged Wolves were predators that hunted down different animals, so they had experience picking off these weak links of a pack.


    It wasn''t that the Power Gorillas were weaker since they were E Rank Monster just like the Fanged Wolves. It was just that since they were in a large group, the momentum of the group didn''t allow the Power Gorillas being picked off to fight as they normally would.


    They were being carried by the momentum of the pack and couldn''t fight properly.


    That was why the Fanged Wolves were able to easily pick off several of the Power Gorillas.


    Sensing the disturbance at the edges of their pack, the Power Gorillas slowed down their pace and seemed like they wanted to attack the Fanged Wolves.


    The moment that they did, the Fanged Wolves disappeared and ran off in the opposite direction of the Kong Gorilla.


    The Power Gorillas didn''t seem to know what to do when this happened, so they turned back to run to the Kong Gorilla again.


    Only the moment that they did, the Fanged Wolves started picking them off again.


    It seemed that as long as their attention wasn''t on them, the Fanged Wolves would attack them once more.


    The Power Gorillas had to keep turning around to defend against the Fanged Wolves, but that didn''t matter as more and more of them were being picked off.


    "Such amazing control." Iris said as she sneaked a peek back to see what Lin Fan was doing.


    She had already seen his amazing ability to control monsters, but to this extent was unexpected.


    This really was at a level that she had never heard of before¡­


    "I should tell my mom and dad about this. It would be a waste to let someone like this go unnoticed¡­"


    Then after a moment of silence, she added, "Plus, he saved me¡­so I should repay him. Only what do I repay him with?..."

 Chapter 36 Power Bracelet

    Iris shook her head to throw out these thoughts since she was starting to think about something that she shouldn''t be thinking.Her thoughts had started falling into the category of being excessive.


    After all, she had started thinking about how there were some people that repaid those that saved them with their bodies¡­


    Sure he was a handsome young man, but still¡­they barely knew each other¡­


    So she turned her attention back to the Kong Gorilla that was in front of her.


    It was her task now to take care of this Kong Gorilla.


    Lin Fan had set everything up to give her this chance, so that was the only way that she could repay him.


    Especially since he was going to all that trouble of keeping the Power Gorillas away.


    "I''ll take you down and prove them wrong!" Iris suddenly shouted as she charged at the Kong Gorilla.


    There was a trace of a bitter smile that appeared on my lips when I heard this.


    It seemed like there was some kind of backstory that she hadn''t told me that was hidden there. But there had to be a reason that she didn''t tell me this backstory, so I focused on the Power Gorillas in front of me.


    With the Fanged Wolves picking them off like this, the pack of Power Gorillas had completely stopped. Even though they wanted to rush over to help the Kong Gorilla, they just couldn''t do anything against the Fanged Wolves.


    That was because the Fanged Wolves had another advantage compared to the Power Gorillas.


    The Power Gorillas just didn''t have the intelligence to work together properly.


    Even if they wanted to work together, there was only so much that they could do when they were crowded together like this.


    As for the Fanged Wolves, they were working together to hunt single targets.


    When it was two on one and in conditions where the one couldn''t fight properly, it was a complete massacre. The Power Gorillas could only watch as more and more of their group was being hunted by the Fanged Wolves.


    But at the same time, there were a few Fanged Wolves that were also picking up the corpses of the Power Gorillas.


    Once the prey was hunted down, there would be some Fanged Wolves that would drag the corpses away from the main group.


    As for where those corpses were dragged over to¡­It was naturally where I was standing.


    After they were dragged over, I had the Scavenger Rabbit dig through their corpses for loot. But before having the Scavenger Rabbit dig for loot, I always made sure to look over at Iris to see if she was still busy fighting the Kong Gorilla.


    This was a power that I didn''t want her to know about, so I only did it while she was distracted by the Kong Gorilla.


    The Power Gorillas still had good loot, so I wasn''t about to give those up.


    Especially when I saw the bracelet that dropped.


    Power Bracelet


    Increases the user''s strength by 10 and can double the user''s power for five minutes when activated.


    For a normal person that would only have around 10 strength in the first place, this meant that it would make it so they would be twice as strong as normal people. Then doubling that again would make them four times as strong, even if it was temporary.


    But this thing was even better for me since I had the Boost Strength skill.


    My power could already increase by 5 times with that skill, so that would mean I would have ten times the strength of a normal person with just the passive boost from the Power Bracelet.


    Then if it was doubled¡­


    I couldn''t help wondering just how strong I would be with all of this combined¡­


    It seemed like these Power Gorillas really had some amazing loot. S§×ar?h the N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    I couldn''t help looking at the Kong Gorilla with a tempted look after seeing this Power Bracelet.


    But I also noticed that Iris seemed to be struggling against the Kong Gorilla.


    Earlier, it seemed like she had everything under control, but now it seemed like she was being pushed back by the Kong Gorilla. That was because the Kong Gorilla seemed to have suddenly gained a burst of power.


    Its fur had even turned red to show that it had suddenly gained this power.


    With the state that it was in, it seemed like it was giving a last ditch effort to fight back.


    After thinking about it, I had the Fanged Wolf under me charge forward.


    I hadn''t planned on interfering with her fight against the Kong Gorilla, but now there was something that I wanted to test.


    "Oh no!" Iris suddenly shouted as she realized that she had fallen for the Kong Gorilla''s trap. She couldn''t move out of the way in time to dodge the boulder that was flying right at her, it seemed like she would either have to take the hit from the boulder or get hit by the Kong Gorilla''s fist.


    Or that was what she had expected until she saw someone appear in front of her.


    "Boom!"


    With a single punch, he shattered the boulder.


    Then he jumped off his Fanged Wolf and landed in front of the charging Kong Gorilla before matching punches with that Kong Gorilla.


    No, it seemed like the Kong Gorilla was even being pushed back by his punches.


    That just went to show just how much power was behind each of those punches.


    A look of shock appeared on the Kong Gorilla''s face as it couldn''t believe that there was a human, a skinny looking human that could actually match its power like this. It had never met a human like this before, so it couldn''t help feeling afraid.


    The Kong Gorilla stepped back and looked like it wanted to run, but that human suddenly came forward and grabbed its hands, locking it in place.


    Even if it wanted to run, it found that it couldn''t pull away at all.


    "Do it now!" I shouted at Iris who had been watching in a daze.

 Chapter 37 Painful loss

    Iris snapped back to attention when she heard me calling to her.Though there was a look on her face that seemed like she had questions for me, she put aside those questions for now as she raised her sword and gathered the lightning from her familiar.


    It seemed like she was going to use a final attack.


    The Kong Gorilla was an intelligent Elite Monster, so naturally it was able to tell that Iris was charging up some kind of final attack.


    It knew that it had to get out of here before she finished charging that final attack or else it might be the end of it.


    The only problem was that Iris wasn''t the only threat to it.


    No matter how the Kong Gorilla tried pulling away, it found that it wasn''t able to break free of the grasp of the other human that was holding it in place. It seemed that no matter how much strength it used, it just wasn''t enough.


    Just what was this human that had this kind of strength?


    The Kong Gorilla could tell that its death was near, which was why it became more desperate.


    The look in its eyes became even more feral and it seemed like the red to its fur was increasing in intensity. It seemed that it was becoming more and more wild with the way that it was slowly changing.


    It seemed that the Kong Gorilla was about to burn all of its life essence in a last ditch effort to escape.


    But what it didn''t know was that this was what I had been waiting for.


    I had already tested it before on the King Slime, but there was a certain amount of resistance to the Echo Bat''s hypnosis the higher the grade of the monster. A Boss Monster would have a high resistance while an Elite Monster would have a small resistance to the hypnosis. Sear?h the N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Unless it was weakened, it wouldn''t fall for the effects.


    Now that the Kong Gorilla was willingly weakening its mind by using this final buff to increase its strength, that also meant that¡­


    The Kong Gorilla suddenly stopped moving as if it was frozen in place.


    Its eyes trembled the moment that this happened, showing that this wasn''t something that the Kong Gorilla was in control of. It was something that had suddenly happened which had completely caught the Kong Gorilla off guard.


    In fact, the Kong Gorilla had a trace of fear in its eyes.


    It recognized that if it couldn''t move, the only thing that it could wait for was death.


    And naturally, it was afraid of death.


    The Kong Gorilla looked around even though it was frozen, as if it was trying to find the thing that was freezing it in place. It was desperately searching for a way to break free of this restriction so that it could do anything.


    But there was more and more fear and despair that filled its eyes as it realized that there was nothing that it could do.


    No matter how hard it tried searching for the thing that froze it, it wasn''t able to find a single thing.


    It was as if this thing was completely hidden in sight.


    "Get down!" Iris suddenly shouted when her sword was covered in electricity.


    She had finished charging her attack and it seemed like she was ready to release it.


    The moment that I heard this, I lowered my head and leaned in a bit, pulling the Kong Gorilla forward. This put it in the perfect position so that she would be able to cut off its head in a single slash.


    "Thunderclap Slash!" Iris shouted as she swung her sword out, creating a beam of light.


    Though it looked like a beam of light, it wasn''t actually that.


    It was a sword slash that consisted of pure electricity that flew out when she slashed out in front of her.


    The Kong Gorilla only had a look of despair in its eyes as it realized that there was nothing left for it to do.


    The only thing that it could do was accept its fate, accept its death.


    But how could it be willing to accept something like that?


    The last thing that the Kong Gorilla saw wasn''t the slash that cut off its head, but rather a smile.


    When the Kong Gorilla looked down at the human who was restraining it, it found that there was a smile on the face of that human.


    "It was you!" The Kong Gorilla shouted as its last words, it was just that the only thing that it actually said was¡­


    "Ook!"


    Naturally the humans weren''t able to understand this, so Iris had no idea what the Kong Gorilla was talking about.


    The Kong Gorilla''s head was taken off by this electric slash from Iris and flipped twice in the air before landing on the ground. This head rolled a bit before coming to a stop.


    The eyes of the Kong Gorilla were wide open like it couldn''t accept the situation that it had fallen in.


    But there was nothing that the Kong Gorilla could do.


    After the head flew off, I let go of the Kong Gorilla''s hand and released the hypnosis, causing the Kong Gorilla''s body to fall to the ground with a large thud.


    This was the corpse of an Elite Monster, so there was no doubt that there would be great loot to get from this corpse. The only thing was that I wasn''t able to obtain this loot.


    When I made that deal with Iris, I had promised that I would give her the corpse as a trophy to show her parents.


    So I could only watch with regret as the dungeon''s loot system turned the corpse of the Kong Gorilla into drop, which was the corpse of the Kong Gorilla since that was what this dungeon dropped.


    My heart couldn''t help twisting from the suffering that came from this painful loss.


    If only I had been able to have the Scavenger Rabbit use its ability on the Kong Gorilla¡­

 Chapter 38 Youre not coming

    Still, I had promised that I would give the corpse of the Kong Gorilla to Iris and I had already taken her money.Even if it pained my heart to lose the loot from this one Kong Gorilla, I would keep my promise.


    But that didn''t mean that the loot from the Power Gorillas was missed.


    While we had been fighting the Kong Gorilla, the Fanged Wolves had already taken down the Power Wolves with the Echo Bat''s directions. At the same time, the Scavenger Rabbit had already used its ability on all of the Power Gorillas that were there.


    There were a few that escaped, but that was only natural since the Kong Gorilla had been defeated and what was binding them was gone.


    "I can''t believe it, I really took it down." Iris walked over and looked at the corpse of the Kong Gorilla with a surprised look on her face.


    The way that she acted was as if she didn''t even believe that she had the power to take down the Kong Gorilla.


    Though thinking about it, she might not have had the power to take down the Kong Gorilla on her own. If it wasn''t for my help distracting it while it was charging up its power and the speed of the Fanged Wolf, then it would have been hard for her to defeat the Kong Gorilla.


    Even without me, she had tried to rely on Yu Xiang''s group to help her take down the Kong Gorilla, or rather any Elite Monster in this place.


    So it was true that she couldn''t have taken this Kong Gorilla down alone.


    Still, I didn''t say anything to pop her bubble and bring her back to reality.


    That was because I used this gap to have the Scavenger Rabbit bring over everything that it had gotten from the Power Gorillas and put them in my Storage Ring.


    Only after it was done, I gave a cough and said, "It''s not safe to stay here for too long. Let''s get out of here."


    These words pulled Iris back to her senses and she raised her hand towards the Kong Gorilla.


    I knew exactly what she was doing since I could see the ring that was on her finger.


    It was a Storage Ring that was just like the one that I had, but when she used it to store the Kong Gorilla corpse, I could tell that it was different. The mana that was centered around that Storage Ring of hers was much greater than mine.


    So there was no doubt that this Storage Ring had a much bigger storage capacity than the ring that I had.


    Storage Rings weren''t things that were easy to obtain in the first place, not to mention something of this size.


    There was even less doubt in my mind that Iris was from some kind of important family.


    In the future, having a relationship with her wasn''t a bad thing.


    It was just a worry about whether I would be able to build a relationship with her family as well.


    After all, large families like that weren''t close in the first place.


    So there was no telling if I would be able to get on their good side with just Iris alone.


    The talent that she showed¡­wasn''t that great.


    So she might not be in that high of a position when it came to her family in the first place.


    Still, it was better than nothing and in the first place, I was someone that didn''t have anything to my name.


    So I would grasp anything that I could get my hands on.


    After running away on the backs of the Fanged Wolves for a while, we arrived in a place that was rather quiet. It was rare to find a place like this, so we took this chance to catch our breaths.


    The moment that we stopped, Iris suddenly came forward with a wide smile and said, "I can''t believe that we just did that!"


    As she ran over, there was something that made me do a double take.


    During the fight with the Kong Gorilla, it seemed that it had actually caused a tear in her clothes which made them loose. The tight fitting clothes that she wore for exploring the dungeon were now loose, especially around the chest area.


    So when she ran over, there were two large things bouncing up and down.


    I didn''t think that they were that big even though I knew that they were big, but the way that they bounced now really made it hard to concentrate.


    But it didn''t seem like Iris noticed at all as she came forward to hug me.


    It was even worse when she hugged me like this since she pressed her body up against mine when she hugged me. With how loose her clothes were, I could feel the softness that came from her chest.


    Even if I had a strong mind, I couldn''t help myself since I was still a man¡­


    I couldn''t help feeling a bit dazed feeling her press up against me like this.


    I didn''t even hear what she was saying and it seemed like she had a lot to say.


    Eventually, I gave a cough to calm myself down before moving myself away from her and saying, "Miss Iris, this isn''t appropriate."


    Iris puffed her cheeks and said, "Wei Wei, call me Wei Wei."


    I was caught off guard once more, but it didn''t seem like she was going to back down on this¡­ S§×arch* The NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "Wei Wei, please calm down."


    She gave a nod, but then she finally realized what I was looking at and she couldn''t help covering up her chest with her hands in an embarrassed manner. But it didn''t seem like she was going to blame me¡­


    After taking a moment to fix her clothes and calm down, Iris turned back around and asked, "What are your plans now? We''ve already gotten the Elite Monster that I needed to get, so should we head back?"


    I simply and calmly shook my head before saying, "No, I''m heading deeper into the dungeon."


    Then before she could say anything else, I added, "You''re not coming with me."

 Chapter 39 Stalked

    Iris looked like she was very unhappy with what I said, but I just gave her a simple reminder."I already previously said that I had business in this dungeon, so I wouldn''t be leaving that soon. Now that you''ve finished your business, I''m free to finish my business, right?"


    Then before she could say anything else, I added, "This is my private business, so I hope that you will respect that."


    Iris bit her lip after hearing this.


    It was clear that she wanted to say something else, but she didn''t say it.


    She seemed like she was holding back because she cared about my opinion.


    It seemed that I had made a good impression that she cared about my opinion.


    It was just that I still had to stop her from following me.


    I couldn''t use any of my real powers if she followed me, so there was no way that she would be able to follow me.


    There was a moment of silence as neither of us said a thing.


    It could even be said that we were staring each other down at this moment, as if neither of us would back down.


    But in the end, Iris had no choice but to back down.


    In the first place, she was the one that had forced herself onto him by offering to pay him for his services. In the first place, she was the one that shouldn''t have even been here in the first place.


    If it wasn''t for everything that Lin Fan had done for her, then she might have died at the hands of Yu Xiang''s group.


    So asking for more was hard for her¡­


    But she also didn''t want to leave him on his own.


    Simply put, she was worried about him.


    In the end, Iris said with a sigh, "There''s a safe zone near the entrance of the dungeon, I''ll go there and wait. When you''re done with your matter, come and find me there."


    I was surprised by her request.


    Seeing the surprised look on my face, Iris added, "I still need to repay you properly for saving me, so I''ll bring you to see my family after this."


    There was a mixed feeling that filled me when I heard this.


    There was a part of me that wanted to meet her family since I wanted them as my backer, but there was a part of me that didn''t want to meet them at the same time. After all, I knew nothing about her parents and what kind of people they were.


    Based on the clues that I picked up from Iris, it didn''t seem like she would be that high of a position in her family¡­


    Still in the end, I slowly gave a nod.


    I had nothing right now, so it was better to take this risk.


    If it didn''t work out, then I would just avoid her family in the future.


    It wasn''t as if they would care about a small person like me.


    Iris looked moved when she saw this and she suddenly came forward again, not noticing that her makeshift patchwork wasn''t that great which caused her chest to bounce a few more times.


    I gave a gulp as she hugged me again.


    It wasn''t because of this that I agreed, it definitely wasn''t because of this¡­


    That''s what I told myself.


    "I''ll be waiting for you no matter what. You better come back safely." She whispered in a voice that was still loud enough for me to hear.


    That snapped me out of my daze, but there were complicated feelings that filled me.


    I rarely heard anyone worry about me like this, so I really didn''t know what to do at first.


    But eventually, I raised my hand and patted her on the head before saying, "Don''t worry, I don''t plan on risking my life. I''ll be back soon."


    "You better." She said in a slightly angry voice before lowering her head.


    That awkward hug lasted a few seconds longer before Iris finally let go and got on the back of the Fanged Wolf I gave her. It seemed like the two of them had even bonded with the way that the Fanged Wolf followed her orders, so it didn''t seem like it would be a problem for her to control the Fanged Wolf even if she was away from my Echo Bat.


    Though I was sure that she would leave this Fanged Wolf behind since it was a dungeon monster and wouldn''t be able to leave the dungeon in the first place.


    After she was gone, I turned back to look forward before riding my Fanged Wolf away as well.


    There were other Elite Monsters and even the Boss Monster for me to take down after all.


    But before taking down the Boss Monster, I wanted to take down a few more Elite Monsters since I wasn''t certain if I would be able to defeat the Boss Monster or not. sea??h th§× n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    With some more loot from the Elite Monsters, I should be able to fight the Boss Monster easily.


    The Fanged Wolves had already found the location of several Elite Monsters, so I just let them take the lead.


    After a while, the Fanged Wolf that I was riding on suddenly gave a low bark.


    When I heard this, I immediately raised my guard and surveyed the surrounding area.


    That was because I had the Fanged Wolf tell me when we entered the territory of the Elite Monster, which was what that bark was for.


    But even though I raised my guard, it didn''t seem like there was anything here.


    It seemed more abandoned than the territory of the Kong Gorilla that we were in before.


    It was just that I could sense that there was something out there.


    The feeling that this place gave me, it was as if I was being stalked by something¡­


    Only I had no idea what it was that was out there.


    That was until the Echo Bat suddenly tapped me on the shoulder.

 Chapter 40 Vine Serpent (1)

    "What is it?" I asked in a soft voice.The Echo Bat leaned in and used one of its wings to cover its other hand. Once hidden, that other hand pointed in a direction behind us.


    I didn''t look, but I gave a silent order to the Fanged Wolves to see if they could find anything while pretending to move forward.


    But in the end, they weren''t able to find a single thing.


    Even with their refined senses, they weren''t able to find a single trace of the thing that was stalking us.


    It seemed that whatever it was that was following us was quite skilled at hiding themselves.


    "Is there really no way of getting them to show themselves?" I couldn''t help saying to myself in a frustrated voice.


    I had already laid the trap, but it didn''t seem like they were planning to bite it at all. It seemed that whatever was stalking us was quite cautious that it didn''t want to make a move unless it was certain that it would be able to win.


    This was the kind of enemy that was the hardest to deal with since it was hard to bring them out of hiding.


    It didn''t seem like we would be able to lure them out with the way that things were going¡­


    That was when I made a decision.


    This was the kind of enemy that wouldn''t come out unless they were certain of their chances of victory, so I would give them that. If they were patient, then I would make it seem like they had won.


    After all, those that thought that they won would always let their guards down at the last second.


    That was the opening that I was looking for.


    "Find some traps." I said to the Fanged Wolves.


    It seemed like there was a bit of hesitation from the Fanged Wolves when they heard this, but they still followed my orders in the end. It wasn''t strange that they were hesitant since it didn''t seem like a sane thing to do.


    But this was my determination.


    Since this was the territory of the Elite Monster, it wasn''t as if it was completely empty.


    Unlike the Kong Gorilla that gathered other monsters together to live as a group, this Elite Monster was one that lived alone.


    So there wasn''t much in this territory, but there were still some things that it set up to keep itself safe.


    Such as traps for those that made their way into its territory.


    This was a cunning type of monster, so it was only natural that there would be traps.


    Once the Fanged Wolves found the trap, I got off the Fanged Wolf that I was sitting on and walked towards the trap. S§×ar?h the N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    This didn''t seem suspicious at all because the trap was actually in the middle of a clearing. This was the perfect place for a rest, so those that didn''t know about it would approach it thinking that it was safe.


    It was an apple tree that was right in the middle of this clearing that seemed oh so inviting.


    After walking over, I could already see what the trap that had been prepared was.


    There were snakes that were hiding among the branches of the apple tree that would attack whoever approached the moment that they reached out for the apples. The apples were enticing since they were special apples that were filled with mana, which made them taste even better than normal apples.


    At the same time, since they were filled with mana, they were elixirs that could make one stronger.


    So I reached up for an apple without any hesitation.


    As soon as I did, the snakes that were hiding in the branches suddenly came out of hiding and snapped their open jaws at me. They bit right into my arm and seemed to poison me before fleeing back into the tree.


    After being bitten by the snake, I stumbled a bit and placed one hand on the tree to lean against it to stabilize myself.


    The snake was a poisonous snake, so this was the natural reaction that came from being bitten.


    But I pushed through it and waved my hand at the Fanged Wolves to come over. I stumbled over to the Fanged Wolves and tried to get on their backs so they could carry me away.


    In the middle of this, there was something else that suddenly appeared.


    It was another snake, but this was a snake that was much bigger than the other snakes that had appeared from the branches of the tree earlier. This was a large python that seemed to blend in with the leaves around it, but it was visible now because it opened its mouth to sink its teeth into me.


    Only right before it was able to snap its jaws together to bite into me, the large python suddenly trembled and froze for a second.


    That second was all that I needed.


    I stopped pretending that I was dizzy and slashed out at the python with the dagger in my hand.


    The python wasn''t able to pull away since it had been temporarily frozen, but it was still able to shift itself a bit so it didn''t get cut too deeply by the dagger. It still bled a bit from being sliced in the underbelly.


    This python immediately pulled away, but it was already too late.


    The damage had already been done.


    After the python realized that it had failed, it started moving back to the leaves as if it wanted to blend back into the leaves of the apple tree. It was just that it wasn''t able to do so as it was attacked from two different directions.


    One was the Fanged Wolves who were now able to locate the python based on the scent from the blood flowing from the wound that I inflicted on it.


    The other was from the snakes that had been hiding in the tree previously that had bitten me.


    They came out of hiding and wrapped around the python to prevent it from running away.

 Chapter 41 Vine Serpent (2)

    The python looked like it was enraged by the fact that it had been betrayed by these snakes.And it was justly outraged by this since these snakes were snakes that it had raised.


    These snakes were ordinary F Ranked Monsters that should have been at the very bottom of the food chain in this dungeon. However, because of the python raising them, they had a place to stay and plenty of food to eat.


    It was just that the python didn''t have time to deal with these snakes.


    There was the more pressing issue of the Fanged Wolves coming at them.


    The snakes tried to hold the python, but the python was much stronger than the snakes since it was an Elite Monster. They were only able to get in its way a bit, but not enough to stop its movement.


    It moved away from the Fanged Wolves right before the attacks of the Fanged Wolves reached it.


    Or at least it would have if it wasn''t for the fact that its body suddenly froze once more.


    It was only a temporary freeze, but it was enough for the Fanged Wolves to close the gap and slash at the python.


    The python was able to twist at the last second to avoid a fatal wound, but this wound wasn''t that small either. That was because the Fanged Wolves knew exactly where to attack, they slashed right at the open wound that Lin Fan had caused before.


    That made it even worse, reaching the point where it was bleeding heavily now.


    It seemed like if the python didn''t take the time to stop this bleeding, it would bleed out and die.


    But there was no time for that as more and more attacks came at it.


    The most annoying thing was that there was this strange force that kept freezing it at the most crucial moment.


    The freezing effect never lasted more than a few seconds, but that was enough to throw the python off balance and take hits that it shouldn''t have taken.


    If it wasn''t for the fact that the python had thick scales in the first place, it wouldn''t have even lasted this long. Sear?h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "HISS!" The python angrily hissed as it was being suppressed by these attacks, but it didn''t scare the Fanged Wolves or the Leaf Snakes at all.


    They just continued to attack the python without any fear at all.


    It was almost as if they didn''t feel fear at all.


    If the python could have spoken, it certainly would have said, "What is wrong with you?!"


    Or it might have even asked, "What is wrong with my pressure that they''re just ignoring it like this?"


    While this was happening, I was just standing there watching it all happen.


    I didn''t go in to help the Fanged Wolves or the Leaf Snakes, but that was because I knew that there was no need for me to help them.


    After watching the python for a bit, I was able to recognize what it was.


    A Vine Serpent, a D Ranked Monster.


    This Vine Serpent wasn''t considered one of the powerful D Ranked Monsters, but it was certainly considered one of the craftier ones. That was because this Vine Serpent had a natural ability to blend into nature and hide itself.


    Instead of being a D Ranked Monster that focused on brute force, this was one that focused on stealth.


    This was the perfect assassin.


    "If it wasn''t for the fact that I had the Echo Bat, then I never would have found this thing." I couldn''t help saying to myself.


    After all, it was only because of the Echo Bat''s hypnosis that I was able to make it let its guard down when it thought it won.


    Elite Monsters were resistant to the power of the Echo Bat, but it was only resistant to it. It didn''t mean that it didn''t have any effect at all on them.


    That was what was causing those moments where the Vine Serpent was freezing from time to time. The Echo Bat was using its hypnosis on it, even if it only lasted for a few seconds.


    Those few seconds created crucial opportunities to attack the Vine Serpent.


    At the same time, it also allowed the Fanged Wolves to avoid the attacks of the Vine Serpent.


    It wasn''t as if the Vine Serpent didn''t try fighting back against the Fanged Wolves.


    The Vine Serpent was a D Ranked Monster while the Fanged Wolves were E Ranked Monsters. Even if the Vine Serpent was a D Ranked Monster that was focused on stealth, the gaps between ranks weren''t that easily closed.


    So all of the stats of the Vine Serpent were much greater than the Fanged Wolves.


    In a fair fight, the Fanged Wolves wouldn''t stand a chance.


    It was just that before the Vine Serpent could attack the Fanged Wolves, my Echo Bat would always freeze it so it couldn''t strike that blow. The Fanged Wolves were able to use that gap to get away from the Vine Serpent before its attack struck.


    The Vine Serpent looked more and more frustrated by all of this, but it also seemed to realize that it was in a dangerous and desperate situation.


    The problem was that the Vine Serpent couldn''t find a way out of this.


    After a few more minutes, there was a large gash that was on the underside of the Vine Serpent.


    This was caused by my dagger and the repeated attacks of the Fanged Wolves.


    The Vine Serpent was also completely covered in its own blood from splashing it around while fighting with this large open wound.


    It looked like it was completely exhausted and that was because it was.


    It had lost too much blood and it couldn''t keep itself straight any longer.


    The Vine Serpent gave one last frustrated hiss at the fact that it had been taken out like this.


    That hiss was filled with the unwillingness to die like this.


    Only it had no other choice.

 Chapter 42 Vine Whip

    Even after the Vine Serpent dropped to the ground, I didn''t move towards it.Instead, I had the Fanged Wolves and the Leaf Snakes attack the Vine Serpent a few more times to make sure that it was really dead.


    By the end of it, with the wound that had been afflicted on the Vine Serpent previously, it was completely ripped in half. There was no way that it would be able to survive after it had been ripped in half like this.


    Or at least that I was what I thought¡­


    It wouldn''t become a zombie and jump up to bite me, right?


    So instead of approaching it myself, I actually sent the Scavenger Rabbit forward.


    "Go and use your ability on it." I said to the Scavenger Rabbit as I pointed at the corpse of the Vine Serpent.


    The Scavenger Rabbit looked scared at first when it saw the Vine Serpent''s corpse, but then it started moving forward as if it wasn''t afraid of it once it saw that it was just lying there.


    The Scavenger Rabbit really was the best way of determining if something was dangerous or not with how cowardly it was.


    If there was any danger, the Scavenger Rabbit would have started running right away.


    But since the Scavenger Rabbit was able to approach the Vine Serpent normally, it seemed like it was alright. It seemed like the Vine Serpent was really dead with how the Scavenger Rabbit was acting.


    Though I didn''t let my guard down until the Scavenger Rabbit was done.


    Once the Scavenger Rabbit reached the corpse of the Vine Serpent, it did the same thing as before. It just started digging right into the corpse of the Vine Serpent without hesitation as if it was looking for loot.


    With the look on its face, it was almost as if it was enjoying itself.


    This was the first Elite Monster that I had let the Scavenger Rabbit use its ability on, so it was only natural that it was excited about this.


    At the same time, I couldn''t help feeling my heart ache at the loss that I had suffered earlier by giving that Kong Gorilla corpse to Iris.


    Still, there was no point in regretting it now.


    It seemed like it took the Scavenger Rabbit longer than usual to dig through the corpse of the Vine Serpent.


    Seeing this, I couldn''t help feeling a bit expectant.


    In the end, I wasn''t disappointed.


    When the Scavenger Rabbit was done, it turned around and showed me the item that it dug out.


    Or I should say that it showed me the items that it dug out since it dug out more than a single one from the Vine Serpent''s corpse.


    It almost seemed a bit much for the Scavenger Rabbit to hold in its hands, but it proudly held them up for me to look at.


    I took one of the things that the Scavenger Rabbit offered me and looked at it closely.


    It was the one that attracted me the most, which was why I chose this one to pick up, even though I had no idea what this thing was.


    It was a whip that seemed to be made of some kind of vine.


    Vine Whip


    A durable and flexible whip made of vines. Has the ability to create thorns using the user''s mana to deal damage to targets that it''s used on.


    A trace of a bitter smile appeared on my face again when I saw this.


    I didn''t expect it, but there it was again.


    I didn''t know what it was that was triggering this, but this notification appeared from time to time whenever I picked up items that the Scavenger Rabbit obtained for me.


    As far as I knew, I didn''t have an Appraisal Skill, so how was this happening?


    It didn''t seem to make sense at all¡­


    Though I had to admit that it was quite the useful skill since it allowed me to see what kind of abilities these items that the Scavenger Rabbit got for me had. S~ea??h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    But it really confused me since I had no idea where this was coming from and if it could even be trusted.


    What if one day¡­this appraisal gave me the wrong information and that caused my death?


    Things that couldn''t be explained were not reliable and if they weren''t reliable, I shouldn''t be using them¡­


    Only it was very useful¡­


    Could it be that I have some kind of appraisal skill that''s hidden just like with the familiars that I summoned?


    No, in the first place, humans didn''t have skills. They could only borrow the power of their familiars and nothing else. If humans had skills in the first place, then there wouldn''t be a need for familiars.


    Wait, what about the Boost Strength skill that I got from the Skill Orb?


    What was that supposed to be?


    There were so many different questions that filled my mind as I tried to figure out what this was.


    But in the end¡­


    "There''s no point in thinking too much about this." I said to myself with a sigh before throwing out all these thoughts.


    I was in a dangerous dungeon right now, it wasn''t the time to get distracted by this.


    I looked at the other two items that the Scavenger Rabbit presented to me and the same thing happened where appraisals appeared.


    The three items that it got seemed to be from the same set as they all had the word ''vine'' in their names. As well, all three of these items seemed like powerful items based on the description that they had.


    The loot from an Elite Monster really is different from the loot of normal monsters.


    If only I had been able to get the loot from the Kong Gorilla as well¡­


    With a sigh, I looked forward and got on the back of one of the Fanged Wolves.


    There was no point in regretting it now, the only thing left was to keep hunting and get as much loot as I could.


    So I headed off to find my next target.

 Chapter 43 Cicada, mantis, oriole (1)

    "This is where the Boss Monster is." I said to myself in a heavy voice that was filled with conviction.After clearing out a few of the Elite Monsters, it was finally time for me to fight the Boss Monster.


    With the loot that came from clearing out those Elite Monsters, I felt much more confident in taking down the Boss Monster.


    Before, I was only 50% confident in taking down the Boss Monster. Now, I was 99% confident that I would be able to take it down without a problem.


    The only reason I didn''t say that I was 100% confident was because there were all kinds of things that could go wrong while fighting the Boss Monster. I didn''t want to be too cocky and let my guard down.


    In a dungeon, one always had to prepare for any and all possibilities.


    But since I was here and the Boss Monster was in front of me.


    "Tap."


    Before I could enter the area where the Boss Monster was, the Echo Bat stopped me by tapping me on the shoulder.


    I was surprised by this, but I trusted the Echo Bat.


    It had saved me quite a few times, so it was worthy of my trust.


    The Echo Bat leaned in and gestured a few times with one hand while covering it up with the other hand.


    "Is that so?" I asked the Echo Bat and it gave a simple nod in response.


    "In that case, I guess we should put on a play." I said with a faint devious smile.


    ¡­


    "Are you sure that he''s going in? It seems like he''s hesitating." Tie Gang asked in a slow and heavy voice.


    "I''m sure of it. I''ve been watching him for a while now and he''s clearly heading for the Boss Monster." Xiang Chun said with a firm nod.


    Tie Gang didn''t say anything in response, but the others came to Xiang Chun''s defense.


    "Boss, when has little sister Xiang ever been wrong about this kind of thing?"


    "Right, we just have to wait for him to weaken the Boss Monster and then we''ll take care of both of them."


    "It''ll be easy, we''ve done this many times before."


    Even though everyone seemed to be supporting Xiang Chun, Tie Gang still had a frown on his face.


    It wasn''t that he didn''t trust his team, it was just that he had a bad feeling about this.


    He didn''t know why he had a bad feeling about this, but it was a strong bad feeling. For someone like Tie Gang who trusted his feelings in most things that he did, this was a large red flag.


    It was just that when everyone seemed to be in favour of this plan, it was hard for him to stop them.


    For a group of vultures like them who specialized in picking off scraps from others, this was a very normal thing for them to do.


    But he couldn''t shake that bad feeling that he had¡­


    In the end, Tie Gang gave a slow nod, but he still said, "If anything seems off, we''re running right away."


    The others nodded in agreement to this.


    He was still their boss, so he had a certain amount of prestige among them and they would listen to his orders.


    After coming to this decision, Tie Gang didn''t waste any time in changing his mood.


    He went from worried to serious as he started giving orders to his men.


    "I want a complete net of the entire area so he can''t escape."


    "Make sure that we have full sight of the fight between him and the Boss Monster."


    "Also, make sure that we''re able to take him down with a single blow or else we''ll miss our chance."


    The others quickly followed his order and started setting up around the Boss Monster arena. The way that they moved showed that they were very familiar with what Tie Gang was telling them to do.


    It showed that they had done this many times before.


    Xiang Chun, the one that had led them here used her charm to get the others to help her, but from time to time, she looked at Tie Gang with a serious look.


    The way that she looked at him was as if she was unhappy with the way that he led their group.


    It seemed like she wanted more from this¡­


    "Has he started fighting the Boss Monster yet?" Tie Gang asked the scouts that were watching. sea??h th§× N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    When he didn''t get a reply, Tie Gang asked this again in a more serious voice.


    It was only then that the scouts came back to their senses and said, "I''ve never seen someone fight a Boss Monster like this before¡­The way that he''s tamed all of these monsters to fight the Boss Monster for him, how is that even fair?"


    Tie Gang couldn''t help feeling confused when he heard this, so he came forward to take a look.


    When he saw what was happening in the Boss Arena, he too was caught off guard.


    That was because this was a sight that he had never seen before.


    They had already seen that this person they were stalking had Fanged Wolves at his command since he had been traveling with this pack of Fanged Wolves, but he never expected him to be able to tame other monsters as well.


    There were snakes, monkeys, armadillos, and even what seemed to be rats that were running all around the Boss Monster.


    For some reason, the Boss Monster wasn''t able to take down the monsters that ran around it.


    Whenever the Boss Monster wanted to use some kind of powerful attack to take care of the monsters that ran around it, it was as if it suddenly froze.


    It was as if there was something that suddenly stopped its movement.


    It was only for a second, but it was enough for the monsters to evade the attacks.


    At the same time, the continued attacks of the monsters were slowly wearing down the Boss Monster.


    "Just what kind of ability does he have?" Tie Gang couldn''t help asking in a shocked voice.

 Chapter 44 Cicada, mantis, oriole (2)

    The way that this person commanded the different monsters, it wasn''t something that Tie Gang had ever seen before.It wasn''t even something that Tie Gang had heard of before and Tie Gang was someone with quite a bit of experience.


    He had done quite a few things in his time as the leader of this group.


    He had also done quite a few things before his time as the leader of this group.


    He could be considered quite the veteran in matters regarding familiars.


    But even then, Tie Gang had never seen or heard of something like this before.


    He really couldn''t stop the bad feeling from filling him.


    There was a part of him that strongly told him to stop this now and avoid this person¡­but it was already too late for that. His people were already in position and it didn''t seem like they would listen to him if he told them to retreat.


    Tie Gang didn''t even need to think about it to know that it was because of Xiang Chun.


    So in the end, he had no choice but to go through with this matter.


    But that was on his own terms.


    When he came back to his senses, Tie Gang said to the others, "No one makes a move until I give an order." In a colder and more serious voice, he added, "I''m serious about this. We''ll all die if you make a move before I tell you to." sea??h th§× Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The others were shocked to hear this, but they slowly nodded in agreement.


    After all, it was rare for them to see Tie Gang act like this.


    He was not someone that would act this way unless it was absolutely necessary.


    So they knew that it wasn''t the time to act up.


    Tie Gang was the leader that had led them through many dangerous situations, so there was a level of trust that he had built up with his subordinates.


    After giving this order, Tie Gang focused his mind and paid attention to every move that Lin Fan was making.


    The way that he was watching him was as if he was trying to find every little thing that he could about Lin Fan.


    But Lin Fan didn''t seem to notice that he was being watched.


    It seemed that Lin Fan was completely focused on fighting the Boss Monster.


    The Boss Monster of this dungeon was a deer monster called the Thunder Deer.


    During this time, the Thunder Deer had only been using physical attacks against the monsters that Lin Fan controlled to attack it. It didn''t seem to do anything that lived up to its name as a Thunder Deer.


    Because it only used physical attacks, Lin Fan was able to wear it down with the monsters that he controlled to the point where it was covered in wounds.


    It seemed like it was very injured by the time that its horns suddenly lit up.


    There was electricity that ran through the horns of the Thunder Deer all of a sudden.


    It was as if this Boss Monster had reached its second phase.


    Once the electricity filled the horns of the Thunder Deer, it lived up to its name as the Thunder Deer. There was a moment where it gathered the power inside of its horns before it suddenly released that power, shooting it at the monsters that were around it.


    Different from the physical attacks that it used, since this was an attack that used mana, it couldn''t be frozen like before. The lightning that the Thunder Deer released suddenly streaked out and hit three of the monsters that were around it.


    It would have hit more if not for the fast reactions of the monsters that allowed them to dodge out of the way in time.


    But the three that were hit were pierced by the bolts of lightning and fell to the ground while still smoking.


    That was more than enough to show the power of these bolts of lightning that the Thunder Deer shot out.


    The Thunder Deer seemed to recover some of its power when it killed these three monsters.


    It gathered even more of its electricity and it started shooting the bolts of lightning out indiscriminately. It was as if the Thunder Deer just wanted to take out as many enemies as possible at this point.


    There were several more monsters that were hit by these bolts of lightning and were turned into smoking corpses, but that didn''t stop the others from attacking the Thunder Deer.


    It was as if the monsters felt no fear from the might of the Thunder Deer''s lightning bolts.


    This just didn''t make any sense for the Thunder Deer who lived in a world where power meant everything.


    Those that were weaker should have naturally feared it and wouldn''t have dared to attack it like this.


    So it just couldn''t understand why they were grouping up against it.


    But during this, Lin Fan suddenly showed signs of exhaustion.


    It was a sudden change, but it seemed like he was running out of energy.


    The moment that Tie Gang saw this, his expression changed.


    It was as if he saw his opportunity.


    But he didn''t push forward right away, he just continued watching Lin Fan fight.


    After seeing Lin Fan becoming more and more exhausted, he finally gave the order to his men.


    "Move forward and surround him. I want him dead first before we take down the Boss Monster." Tie Gang said in a serious voice.


    His subordinates were surprised by this since normally their plan was to split in half to take down the target and the Boss Monster at the same time. But now it seemed like their boss was going against his own rules to attack the target first.


    While they were confused by this, they didn''t complain since they knew that this wasn''t the time for that.


    But as they approached, Tie Gang couldn''t help feeling the bad feeling fill him again.


    "Just what is this feeling?"

 Chapter 45 Cicada, mantis, oriole (3)

    Once Tie Gang gave the order, his men started moving.They surrounded the area to make sure that there wouldn''t be a single way for Lin Fan to escape before closing in on him.


    Of course, they made sure that they were hidden so that Lin Fan had no idea that they were there.


    Once they were in position, they jumped out with their weapons and surrounded him. S~ea??h the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    It was just that¡­


    "So you''re finally here." A faint smile crept onto my lips when I saw them appear in front of me.


    The moment that he saw this, Tie Gang knew that the bad feeling that he had wasn''t for nothing. It seemed that this person had known that they were here the entire time and had been just waiting for them to attack.


    He could see that even the exhausted state that he had been in was nothing more than an act.


    Only for his men, it didn''t seem like they noticed this.


    When Tie Gang''s men saw this, they just thought that I was acting tough, which was why¡­


    "Ha, you were expecting us? Then we''re here now!"


    "That''s right, what are you going to do now?"


    "Hand over everything and we might leave you with a complete corpse!"


    I didn''t bother saying anything else to these people since there was nothing left for me to say.


    It had even taken them longer than I thought to fall into the trap that I had set for them.


    I thought that they would attack as soon as they saw that I started acting like I was running out of energy, but they actually didn'' make a move. They had waited until the very end to make their move.


    "Retreat!" Tie Gang suddenly shouted, cutting his men off.


    Without even waiting to see if they were running or not, Tie Gang had already turned to run.


    Seeing this surprised Tie Gang''s men and they weren''t able to react in time because of this.


    "It turns out that they had someone capable leading them." I couldn''t help thinking to myself as I watched Tie Gang turn and run.


    The only problem for them now was that it was already too late.


    They were already trapped in my area, so there was nowhere for them to run.


    "Freeze." I suddenly said out loud.


    The moment that I said this, all of Tie Gang''s men and even Tie Gang froze.


    There were looks of shock and confusion that appeared on their faces as they couldn''t understand what was happening, but I didn''t care at all about this as I turned to walk away.


    I walked in the direction that Tie Gang was frozen in and when I passed him, I looked at him to say, "You should have followed your instincts when you could have. In the end, you wanted to be the mantis stalking the cicada, but it''s too bad that you were unaware of the oriole behind you."


    Tie Gang revealed a bitter look in his eyes, but he found that he wasn''t able to say anything as there was something that was freezing his mouth from moving.


    I didn''t care at all about this as I continued walking away.


    During this time, there were less and less monsters that were focused on fighting with the Thunder Deer. The monsters that had been fighting the Thunder Deer were slowly withdrawing away from the area where the Thunder Deer was.


    The Thunder Deer was confused about this at first, but then it realized that there was something else that had appeared around it.


    The moment that Tie Gang and his men saw this, they immediately understood what was going to happen.


    The Thunder Deer had enraged eyes as it looked at them.


    It was as if it was saying¡­


    "How dare you ambush me like this?!"


    The electricity gathered on the horns of the Thunder Deer and soon there were bolts of lightning that were released at Tie Gang''s group.


    But right before the bolts of lightning were released, they found that the thing that had been freezing them in place disappeared. They found that they were able to move again, which allowed them to dodge out of the way in time.


    Though one of them wasn''t lucky enough to dodge in time and was hit by the lightning right in the chest.


    All that was left was a smoking corpse with a burnt hole in the middle of his chest.


    As soon as they found that they were able to move, there was no hesitation at all that came from Tie Gang and his men as they turned to scatter like rats.


    But after taking a few steps, Tie Gang suddenly came to a stop as he realized something.


    Why would that person suddenly release them like this instead of letting the Thunder Deer execute them while they were frozen?


    It didn''t make sense at all.


    His answer came when a few of his men suddenly froze.


    Once they got a certain distance from the Thunder Deer, they found that they were frozen again.


    There was something that suddenly came over them that prevented them from running away.


    The Thunder Deer in the center of this area didn''t miss this.


    During the time that they had been running away, the Thunder Deer had been shooting its lightning bolts at Tie Gang''s group.


    There were some that weren''t lucky enough to avoid the lightning bolts that were thrown at them.


    They were turned into charred corpses just like the first ones that were hit with these lightning bolts.


    There was no resistance at all as they were pierced right through by the bolts of lightning.


    There was even less resistance from the ones that were frozen when they got too far away.


    "So it seems like he''s only giving us one choice." Tie Gang couldn''t help saying to himself in a bitter voice.


    His instinct was correct, Lin Fan had allowed them to move for one reason.


    They either had to fight the Thunder Deer and take it down or they would die here.

 Chapter 46 Serve you like a dog

    There were some of Tie Gang''s men that didn''t seem to believe that what happened to the ones that were ahead of them would happen to them.They went to the same place as the ones that froze and were struck by the bolts of lightning.


    It was just too bad that they were wrong about this.


    As soon as they arrived in the same place, the same thing happened where there was a strange force that suddenly froze them.


    They had no idea where this strange force was coming from, all they knew was that they weren''t able to move a single muscle when that strange force bound them. It was as if they had suddenly fallen into ice and their entire bodies were frozen.


    They weren''t even able to make a single sound as they were struck by the same bolts of lightning.


    The Thunder Deer didn''t miss this chance at all as it shot its bolts of lightning right at these people that were frozen in place.


    Once the bolts of lightning hit them, they were turned into charred corpses just like the others.


    They didn''t get the chance to make a single sound since even their mouths were frozen.


    All that happened was that they dropped to the ground with a thud.


    Tie Gang had a look of fear appear in his eyes when he saw all of this.


    His mind was racing as he tried to figure out a way to escape this place, but he just couldn''t think of a single thing. After all, he had completely fallen into the trap of the other side and it didn''t seem like there was anything that he could do.


    It seemed like this would be the place that he died¡­


    The only good thing was that his men were in a panic and they were all scattering in different directions. With them running like this, they attracted the attention of the Thunder Deer away from him.


    So instead of paying attention to him, the Thunder Deer were attacking his men instead.


    The other thing that he noticed was Xiang Chun.


    She had followed them here and now she was panicking just like the rest, but she used a different strategy to try and survive.


    Instead of running, she was trying to get others to become shields for her and protect her from the Thunder Deer.


    Only they all ignored her since they couldn''t care less about her at this point.


    It was a bit of schadenfreude to see her being put in this situation, but he didn''t let himself be distracted by this.


    The most important thing now was trying to figure out a way to get out of this place.


    After a long time of thinking, a bitter smile appeared on Tie Gang''s face.


    That was because he had finally thought of a way to survive, but it meant that he would have to put himself in danger to do it. However, it wasn''t as if he would be able to survive in this place for much longer if he didn''t do it.


    After all, more and more of his men were being taken down.


    Even Xiang Chun was already dead, turned into a charred corpse that didn''t resemble her previous appearance at all.


    All that beauty was useless now that she was dead.


    Taking a deep breath, Tie Gang stepped forward and raised his voice to say, "I surrender! I''ll become your dog as long as you spare me!"


    There was silence that followed after he said this.


    Even the Thunder Deer stopped attacking as it was caught off guard by the words that suddenly came from Tie Gang.


    After coming back to its senses, it didn''t attack Tie Gang right away since it thought that Tie Gang was playing a trick on it.


    However, Tie Gang couldn''t help feeling anxious since there was no response at all.


    After a long silence, Tie Gang couldn''t take it anymore and said, "I have experience and plenty of money that I can give you! I''ll give you everything that belongs to me and serve you loyally! There''s no better offer than this!" sea??h th§× Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Tie Gang was doing all that he could to convince Lin Fan to spare him, but the more that he said, the more despair that he felt.


    That was because there was nothing happening at all.


    It didn''t seem like Lin Fan was willing to listen to him at all with how he was staying silent.


    Tie Gang was feeling more and more desperate since the longer the silence, the more unlikely that he would be able to strike a deal.


    At the same time¡­


    The Thunder Deer hadn''t done anything because it thought that Tie Gang was trying to trick it, but now it lost its patience. It reared its head and gathered electricity in its horns, preparing to fire off bolts of lightning again.


    The few remaining members of Tie Gang''s men immediately moved away when they saw this.


    Tie Gang also didn''t miss this, but he steeled himself and prepared to dodge out of the way.


    He was preparing to take it head on because he wanted to show what he was capable of. He wanted to give a demonstration of just what value he would be able to bring to Lin Fan if he accepted him.


    Only before he could dodge out of the way¡­


    "Roar!"


    With a roar, the Thunder Deer released this attack.


    This bolt of lightning was much stronger than any that the Thunder Deer released before.


    It seemed that it hadn''t completely lost its patience.


    The Thunder Deer was smart enough to use this powerful attack just in case Tie Gang was planning something.


    Tie Gang gritted his teeth and prepared to dodge out of the way.


    Only¡­


    The lightning bolt pierced right into Tie Gang''s chest.


    He hadn''t been able to move since there was the same strange power that froze him in place.


    As he fell backward with the burnt hole in his chest, there was only regret in Tie Gang''s eyes.


    He should have listened to that bad feeling.

 Chapter 47 Lot of loot

    After Tie Gang was killed, there was nothing else that his men could do.Tie Gang was the strongest among them and even he couldn''t do anything against the Thunder Deer. Or it was better to say that he couldn''t do anything against the person that was attacking them from the dark.


    That meant that none of them would be able to do anything against that person.


    At the same time, they knew that they couldn''t run away from this place since they had seen what happened to those that had tried running away.


    The conclusion that they came to was trying to kill the Thunder Deer before anything else happened.


    What they were aiming for was to take down the Thunder Deer and hopefully find loot that would help them out of this situation.


    The Thunder Deer was already weakened, so it would fall from one good blow.


    Only before any of them could land that final fatal blow¡­


    "Damn! Why am I frozen!"


    That was the last thing that they thought to themselves as they tried to attack the Thunder Deer.


    Then they were hit with a bolt of lightning right through the chest and they were unable to block this as they were turned into charred corpses.


    Once the rest of Tie Gang''s group was taken care of, the Thunder Deer looked like it was relieved. It thought that it had finally driven off all those people that had invaded its territory and that it would be able to recover from its wounds.


    It was just too bad that it didn''t notice a certain someone taking something out of his inventory.


    I had been watching all of this from afar, hiding in one of the trees.


    I made sure that I wasn''t far enough that the Echo Bat''s hypnosis wouldn''t reach them, but I also made sure that no one was able to see me.


    Now that Tie Gang''s group had been taken care of, the only thing left was taking down this Thunder Deer.


    It was possible for me to take down this Thunder Deer with the monsters that I still had control over, but it would take a while.


    After the large commotion that had been made by Tie Gang''s group, I wanted to end this as soon as possible so that no one would be able to show up and take advantage of anything.


    So that was why I pulled out this special item.


    This was one of the three items that the Scavenger Rabbit had gotten from the Vine Serpent.


    I didn''t want to use it because this was an item that was a one time use item, but it was a powerful one since it was a one time use item.


    Vine Thorn.


    One Time Use Item.


    A powerful thorn created from the fangs of the Vine Serpent. Has a powerful piercing effect, but can only be used once since it will shatter from its own power after being used. Sear?h the N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    I had gotten four of these, one for each of the fangs of the Vine Serpent.


    Each one used would mean one less item in the future, but sometimes it was better to use things rather than hoarding them. I was the kind of person that used consumables in video games when it was necessary instead of saving them for the final boss.


    After all, if you saved them until the end, you might not get a chance to use it.


    Especially if you lose your life before you can use it.


    Taking one of the Vine Thorns in my hand, I made sure that the Thunder Deer stopped moving before taking aim.


    Since this had a powerful piercing effect, there was only one target for me.


    It was the Thunder Deer''s neck.


    I wanted to pierce right through its neck and separate it from the rest of its body in one single attack.


    The Thunder Deer stopped moving to catch its breath and that was the moment that I made my move.


    I raised the Vine Thorn over my head carefully before taking a deep breath.


    Then letting that breath out, I used all of the power that I had to throw the Vine Thorn at the Thunder Deer.


    My training in the past with different weapons paid off as my throw was perfect. It was aimed right at the Thunder Deer''s neck, about to hit it from the side.


    The Thunder Deer had sharp senses since it was a Boss Monster and quickly turned in the direction of the Vine Thorn.


    When it did, it immediately recognized the danger and did the same thing as before where it gathered electricity in its horns to shoot out a bolt of lightning. Only when the bolt of lightning hit the Vine Thorn, it was ripped apart like it was nothing but paper.


    The bolt of lightning just couldn''t stand up to the piercing power of the Vine Thorn.


    The Thunder Deer was shocked, but it was already too late for it to shoot another bolt of lightning. So the only thing that the Thunder Deer could do was try to dodge out of the way.


    Only, how could I let that happen?


    Since it was weakened from all the fighting, the hypnosis of the Echo Bat had a greater effect on the Thunder Deer. The Thunder Deer was frozen in place and could only watch as the Vine Thorn pierced its neck.


    There was no resistance at all and the Thunder Deer didn''t feel any pain as its neck was ripped apart.


    The Thunder Deer''s eyes were still wide open in shock when its head fell to the ground.


    The rest of its body dropped a few seconds later and blood poured out from its neck, where its head had been previously.


    I was a bit surprised since I didn''t expect this kind of power, but I also gave a satisfied nod in the end.


    It really was worth it to use the Vine Thorn.


    Jumping out of the tree, I looked around the area with an excited look.


    There was a lot of loot for me to pick up.

 Chapter 48 Thunder Crown

    Now that everything had settled, it was time to clean up the battlefield before anyone else came.That meant that it was time for the Scavenger Rabbit to show its abilities.


    The Scavenger Rabbit acted the same way as before when it appeared, but it soon revealed an excited look when it saw the corpse of the Thunder Deer.


    It was actually more excited than it had ever been before when it saw the Thunder Deer.


    That just went to show how precious the corpse of the Thunder Deer was.


    As expected of a Boss Monster.


    I didn''t stop the Scavenger Rabbit from running over to the Thunder Deer since that was the most important thing for it right now. The other corpses could wait, it would be a disaster if the Thunder Deer corpse were to be processed by the dungeon.


    The loot from a Boss Monster would be anything but normal.


    After digging around in the corpse of the Thunder Deer for a bit, there was a loud sound that suddenly rang out.


    It was the sound of lightning ringing out.


    There was even a faint glow that came from the corpse of the Thunder Deer.


    I was filled with excitement when I saw this, but I waited for the Scavenger Rabbit since it didn''t seem like it was done yet.


    After a while, the Scavenger Rabbit finally turned around and showed me the things in his hand.


    There were only two items this time, but these were amazing items.


    Gem of Thunder


    Grade: A


    A gem filled with thunder energy. Can be embedded into items to imbue them with the power of thunder or can be used to nurture thunder beasts.


    This first item was just a disposable thunder attributed item, but it was an A Grade item.


    Something like this was an item that couldn''t be bought with just money, it was something that depended on a person''s luck to obtain.


    The fact that a D Grade Boss Monster was able to drop an A Grade Item was certainly shocking.


    But thinking about it, it seemed to make sense.


    It was all because of the ability of the Scavenger Rabbit.


    If it wasn''t for the Scavenger Rabbit, such a thing would never have happened.


    The Scavenger Rabbit really was my lucky star.


    Thunder Crown


    A crown condensing the natural thunder energy of a Thunder Deer. It can be used to create lightning bolts to attack with.


    "An elemental artifact." I couldn''t help saying in a soft stunned voice.


    It was actually an elemental artifact¡­


    This was completely different from any other items that the Scavenger Rabbit had gotten before.


    After all, it was at a completely different level.


    An elemental artifact as the name suggested was an artifact that could control the elements, but these artifacts were rare. Artifacts would normally just allow the user to gather mana to make themselves stronger, but to actually condense elemental energy, a large amount of mana was necessary.


    That was why elemental artifacts were on a completely different level.


    In the time before gates opened, being able to control elements meant that one was on the same level as the gods. sea??h th§× N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    That was just how powerful elemental artifacts were.


    Not to mention that this Thunder Crown was a rare thunder attributed artifact.


    Even among elemental artifacts, the thunder attribute was a rare one.


    It was considered the most powerful and volatile out of all the elements, which was why it was rare in the first place.


    Most elemental artifacts of the thunder attribute wouldn''t survive in the first place since they would break under their own power.


    The ones that did all had amazing abilities.


    And this Thunder Crown in front of me was one of them.


    When I came back to my senses, I couldn''t help picking up the Scavenger Rabbit and happily hugging it as I said, "My lucky star!"


    The Scavenger Rabbit looked surprised by this sudden hug from me, but it quickly started hugging my back when it came back to its senses. At the same time, it looked at the Echo Bat with a smug look on its face as if it was showing off.


    The Echo Bat looked displeased with this, but it didn''t do anything since the Scavenger Rabbit was currently in my arms.


    The Scavenger Rabbit took advantage of this and even started puffing out its chest like it was showing off.


    That was when I let it go and the Echo Bat sent a flying kick at it.


    There was a look of betrayal that was cast in my direction by the Scavenger Rabbit, but I pretended that I didn''t see it.


    After all, it was a lie to say that I didn''t do it on purpose.


    I didn''t want to see the Scavenger Rabbit become overly prideful, so I was using the Echo Bat to cut it down to size.


    After this little interaction between them, I pointed at the other corpses and said, "Go and loot them as well."


    The Scavenger Rabbit looked at me one more time with the betrayed look, but it still nodded and bounced over to where the other corpses were before digging through them.


    It was just that it was digging in the corpses of humans again, so it became dirty once more when it was splashed by their blood.


    The Scavenger Rabbit didn''t seem to care about this at all as it continued digging through the corpses of Tie Gang and his men.


    From time to time, it brought over Skill Orbs for me, but there really wasn''t anything that caught my attention.


    All of the Skill Orbs that it brought over were nothing more than normal Skill Orbs.


    The only one that was able to get my attention was the one from Tie Gang himself.


    Weapon Mastery


    Grants the user the ability to use all weapons to a proficient level.


    He had a decent skill, though it wasn''t considered the best.


    Still, it was a good thing to have in the future, which was why I decided to absorb this Skill Orb.


    At the end, the Scavenger Rabbit brought another Skill Orb over that caught my attention.


    Pleasure Techniques.


    There was no need to look at the description to know what this skill was, it was just that I couldn''t believe that there was someone who actually had a skill like this.


    Without even thinking about it, I tossed this Pleasure Techniques skill into my Storage Ring and tried to push it out of my mind.


    This kind of skill was something that shouldn''t see the day of light¡­


    Though¡­in the future, maybe it was worth learning?


    I couldn''t help thinking of Tang Tang when this thought crossed my mind, especially when she had pulled me aside that day and pressed herself against me. The smell and the feel of that moment was something that I remembered even until now¡­


    "No, no, this isn''t the time to think about that." I said with a shake of my head.


    Looking around again, it didn''t seem like there was anything else left for me to do in this dungeon.


    That meant that it was time to head back.


    There was still someone that I had to meet.

 Chapter 49 To kill or not to kill

    With the speed of the Fanged Wolves, it didn''t take any time at all for me to reach the safe zone that Iris had mentioned.Only I didn''t bring the Fanged Wolves with me into the safe zone.


    This safe zone was a place that had other people as well, so I didn''t want them to know about my abilities.


    It was just that to my surprise, she had brought her Fanged Wolf here as well.


    It created a pressure on the others that they didn''t dare approach her.


    The moment that I walked into the safe zone, Iris'' eyes immediately turned in my direction and she started running over.


    This attracted the attention of the other people resting in the safe zone.


    A beautiful woman would always be the center of attention after all.


    But there was a bitter smile on my face since I didn''t want to draw this attention.


    It was just that there was nothing that I could do.


    After running over, she jumped at me with all her force, so I had no choice but to catch her in my arms. As I caught her in my arms, I could feel the soft feeling coming from in front of me that made a blush appear on my face again.


    Only it didn''t seem like Iris cared about this as she pressed herself up against me and softly said, "You''re back."


    With a small nod, I said, "I''m back like I said."


    There was a moment of silence that lingered in the air before she slowly looked up at me with a smile and gave a nod.


    That just made things even more awkward for me.


    At the same time, the situation was made even worse by everyone looking in our direction.


    The way that they looked at me¡­


    It wasn''t hard to guess what they were thinking as I held Iris in my arms.


    After she came back to her senses, Iris realized her mistake and she moved out of my arms with a blush on her cheeks.


    A trace of bitterness filled me seeing her like this as I wanted to complain.


    "Do you really have to add more fuel into the fire like this?"


    After all, I could see the way that the others were looking over at us.


    It really made us the center of attention in this safe zone.


    With a cough, I said, "Shall we leave the dungeon then?"


    Iris quickly gave a nod as if she found a way to relieve the awkwardness of the situation before giving a whistle.


    The Fanged Wolf that I left her came over to her side and went down to let her get on its back. It seemed that during the time that I hadn''t been with her, she had gotten even closer to the Fanged Wolf.


    It really made me wonder what would happen once we left the dungeon.


    After all, it was impossible to take the Fanged Wolf out with us.


    After getting on the back of the Fanged Wolf, she looked at me with a surprised look and asked, "Where''s your Fanged Wolf?"


    With an awkward smile, I said, "It wouldn''t be good for me to bring it into the safe zone with me, so it''s waiting outside for me."


    Iris thought about it and thought that what I said made sense, so she gave a simple nod in response.


    But then she did something that sent a chill down my spine.


    "Get on. Let''s go together." She reached her hand out towards me as if she wanted to pull me onto her Fanged Wolf.


    I could feel the various envious glares that were piercing into my back, but I forced myself to remain calm as I said, "I''m fine, I''ll just walk."


    She looked like she had something to say, but she held herself back in the end as she simply said, "Alright." Though based on the look that was on Iris'' face, it seemed like she was disappointed.


    The two of us quickly left the safe zone after that.


    I had my guard up as we left since there was no telling if anyone would try something, but it seemed that the Fanged Wolf was enough to scare them off. S§×ar?h the N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The people that were in this safe zone were people that only explored the outer areas of the dungeon in the first place. They were people that weren''t strong enough to fight against the Elite Monster, let alone the Boss Monster.


    So it wasn''t as if they would take the risk of fighting someone that could control a Fanged Wolf.


    After leaving the safe zone, the rest of the monsters appeared.


    There was a surprised look that appeared on Iris'' face when she saw all of the monsters that were under my command. She slowly turned to look at me with this surprised look, but I didn''t say anything as I just looked at them.


    This was when I had to come to a decision.


    It was whether to kill them or not to kill them.


    These monsters that I had tamed were still monsters of the dungeon, so they couldn''t be taken out with us.


    But since they were also monsters of the dungeon, that meant that there was loot that they would drop if I were to kill them.


    It was just that with everything that we had gone through, it felt a bit wrong to kill them¡­


    In the end, the deciding factor was Iris.


    She suddenly came forward to pet the Fanged Wolf that she bonded with on the head and said, "It''s time for you to go home."


    It was clear that she knew exactly what I was thinking, which was why she was letting the Fanged Wolf go before I did anything.


    But this also helped me remember something.


    Those that harmed me, I would take revenge against tenfold.


    But those that helped me¡­


    It would be wrong to pay kindness with violence.


    At least I didn''t want to be that kind of person.


    "Go on, go back to your homes." I said with a wave of my hand, releasing the previous hypnosis on them.


    Iris looked at me with a smile before turning to wave at the monsters that were leaving.


    As I watched them leave, I gave a small nod.


    I came to the decision that no matter what happened, I shouldn''t lose my true self.


    I shouldn''t do anything that I would be ashamed of.


    That''s what it meant to wield this power.

 Chapter 50 Powerful bodyguards

    Once they were given the order, most of the monsters scattered without any hesitation.It was only the Fanged Wolves that seemed to hang around a bit as if they wanted to stay with me.


    These Fanged Wolves were the first monsters that I tamed and the ones that I relied on the most.


    In the end, they were the ones that became the most attached to me.


    However, I just couldn''t bring them out of the dungeon with me.


    No matter how strange my powers were, they weren''t able to break the rules of the dungeons that were set by a being that no one knew the limits of.


    So the only thing that I could do was pet them on the head and give them another order.


    "Develop yourselves in this dungeon and make sure that you aren''t caught by the humans. There might be a time that I might need your powers again."


    The Fanged Wolves revealed serious looks after hearing this order.


    After looking at me for a bit, they gave firm nods before heading back into the dungeon.


    Seeing them go like this, I couldn''t help feeling a bit guilty.


    I didn''t know if there would be a time where I might need their help again or if I would ever come back to this dungeon since I had already cleared it. But at least this would give them some kind of hope to cling onto and try to survive.


    But I didn''t have much hope since these Fanged Wolves were only E Ranked Monsters in the first place.


    As I watched them leave, I couldn''t help thinking of the Gale Wolves from the first dungeon that I had gone into.


    In the end, Wang Teng''s father had used his money to call for powerful summoners to take care of the Gale Wolves that had killed his son. So it was unlikely they had survived even though I told them to gather their power like I did with the Fanged Wolves.


    I hoped that the Fanged Wolves would survive.


    In a sense, it was my way of apologizing to the Gale Wolves that I harmed.


    Once all of the monsters were gone, I turned back to Iris and said, "Shall we leave the dungeon then?"


    She turned to look at me and gave a nod.


    She had also been looking in the direction of the Fanged Wolves as they left since the one that she had gotten close to was with the rest of the Fanged Wolves.


    The two of us left the dungeon like this, but the moment that we came out.


    "Young miss!"


    When I turned in the direction of this voice, I saw that there were several men in black suits with sunglasses running over. They didn''t even look at me, all of their attention was on Iris alone.


    As soon as they came over, they came in between me and her.


    Or rather, they just completely surrounded her.


    Part of it was so that they could make sure that she wasn''t injured at all.


    The other part was to make sure that no one would be able to approach her.


    Iris immediately revealed a displeased look when she saw these people acting like this, but she didn''t say anything as they surrounded her.


    "Young miss, are you alright?"


    One of the bodyguards came forward and based on their figure in their suit, as well as their voice, it seemed to be a woman.


    She put her hands on Iris'' shoulder and started looking at her carefully.


    Iris gave a simple nod as she said, "I''m fine."


    The bodyguard didn''t seem to listen to her as she continued looking at Iris carefully to make sure that there wasn''t a single scratch on her.


    Iris had already made sure to clean up after the fight, so there wasn''t anything wrong with her. Even the clothes that had ripped had already been swapped out, so no one could see a single thing.


    When she finally finished, she turned to look at me. Sear?h the ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    I couldn''t see her eyes because of the sunglasses, but based on the way that she looked in my direction, it seemed that she had hostility towards me.


    But that wasn''t the only thing.


    It seemed like the other bodyguards were thinking the same thing as this female bodyguard as they were also looking at me.


    Judging by the aura that they released, none of them were weak.


    Or at least they weren''t weaker than the Thunder Deer that I fought in the dungeon.


    That meant that all of them were at least C Rank or higher¡­


    Just how was Iris that she was able to have all of these powerful bodyguards?


    No, it didn''t matter who she was.


    Right now, all that mattered was leaving this place.


    Since they were showing me hostility, it didn''t seem like things would go the way that I wanted.


    In that case¡­


    With a cough, I said, "I''ll be leaving first then."


    After that, I turned to leave without another word.


    Only before I could, Iris suddenly pushed through her bodyguards and came over to grab my arm to stop me from moving.


    None of the bodyguards had expected her to suddenly do something like this, which was why they weren''t able to react in time. But once they came back to their senses and realized what she did, they immediately stepped forward as if they wanted to solve this problem.


    It was just that they didn''t get the chance to do anything as Iris spoke first.


    "He''s the one that saved me in the dungeon. If you dare do anything to him, then I won''t forgive you." Iris said in a firm voice.


    All of the bodyguards were shocked to hear this.


    The dropped chins that they had were more than enough to show just how affected they were by her words.


    At the same time, it seemed like they didn''t know where to go from there.


    That created an awkward silence that filled the air.

 Chapter 51 Ifrit District

    There was no one that said a single thing since they didn''t know how to resolve this matter.As long as Iris didn''t stand down, it wasn''t as if the bodyguards could do anything.


    I made sure to take special note of this since I didn''t think that Iris'' status in her family was that great in the first place based on the power that I saw. But the fact that the bodyguards went along with her this much made it seem like I was wrong.


    It seemed that they showed a fair amount of consideration towards Iris.


    After observing for a bit, I broke the silence with a cough and said, "You''re making it hard on them by acting like this. It''s not as if they were being rude, they were just trying to protect you. You have to think about their feelings too."


    Iris looked a bit deflated when she heard this, almost as if she was disappointed that her attempt to protect me resulted in this.


    At the same time, the bodyguards looked at me with strange looks.


    It was as if they couldn''t believe that Iris would actually back down because of my words.


    The way that they looked at me made me feel a bit awkward, but I still said with another cough, "I''ll come and see you another time. It''s not as if we won''t ever meet again, right?"


    This time, Iris didn''t seem to back down as easily as she grabbed my arm again and said, "No, you''re the one that helped me, so I have to repay you. That''s what my parents taught me and I won''t go against it."


    The way that she said this was as if she wouldn''t back down no matter what, putting me in a very awkward situation.


    To my surprise, it was the female bodyguard who said, "Young miss, the master just called and said that he wishes to meet with him as well, so we''re to bring him back with us."


    Iris'' eyes lit up when she heard this, but I couldn''t feel the same thing.


    After all, there was something strange about the way that the female bodyguard said this¡­


    I couldn''t tell exactly what it was, but there was something strange about the way that she said this.


    Especially when she said the word ''him''.


    But after weighing the pros and cons, I said with a sigh, "Alright, I''ll go with you."


    Iris'' eyes lit up even more when she heard this before she pulled me forward with a smile on her face.


    The others didn''t stop her this time, they just formed a blockade around us as if they were protecting us from something.


    That included me who they should have seen as an eyesore.


    When we left the area around the dungeon entrance, I understood why they did this.


    There were some people that seemed to be hanging around as if they were just doing nothing, but I could tell that they were actually looking for something. Or it was better to say that they were looking for someone¡­


    As for who that person could be, there was only one possibility.


    There was only one person that was being surrounded by bodyguards like this.


    The ones that were hanging around were most likely reporters that were trying to get a scoop, but they weren''t able to get a single thing since the bodyguards were here to stop them.


    Only that just made me wonder who Iris was even more.


    I didn''t get a chance to ask this question as we were brought over to a fleet of cars.


    These were black tinted cars that seemed like they were there to protect someone and in the center of this fleet was a single stretch limo that was clearly where someone who would be protected would sit.


    However, it wasn''t as if there was no protection on the limo either.


    If one wanted to destroy that limo, they would need to bring some heavy firepower.


    After all, from the mana fluctuations that it released, it was clear that it was heavily reinforced with not just normal materials. It was most likely something that was reinforced with special materials from the dungeons.


    This was a car that wouldn''t even be dented if it was hit by a rocket launcher.


    I was planning on sitting in one of the guard cars, but I was dragged over to the limo by Iris.


    Seeing how none of the bodyguards stopped her, I had no choice but to sit in the limo with her.


    Instead of trying to convince her otherwise, I just started looking out the window to see where we were heading.


    During this, she started offering me all kinds of different things that were in the limo. This limo was fully stocked with everything that one might expect from it, such as imported water and fancy snacks.


    It didn''t seem like it was lacking at all.


    For Iris to have this kind of limo pick her up, it really seemed like I had been wrong about her status in her family¡­


    I was even more surprised when I saw where we were heading.


    It was a place that anyone from this city would recognize since it was a very special place.


    It was special because it was one of the four special districts of the city that normal people wouldn''t have access to.


    It was the Ifrit District, named after the great spirit of fire.


    These four special districts all had their own functions and the Ifrit District was the place where all of the important summoners lived. This was the place with the greatest defenses, so the most powerful and richest people lived in this place.


    Naturally someone like me had never been to this place before.


    Just what family did Iris come from?


    There were guards at the edge of the Ifrit District, but none of them stopped the cars.


    They even saluted when they saw the cars, showing that they recognized the family that these cars belonged to. S§×arch* The N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Based on the way that we headed deeper in, it seemed like we were heading into the depths of the Ifrit District.

 Chapter 52 World Summoner

    Once one went far enough into the Ifrit District, the entire surrounding area changed.Unlike the rest of the Ifrit District, this place was where the truly powerful and rich lived. This was a place that had more buildings than it did have people living here.


    That was why it had become much less crowded once we arrived in this part of the Ifrit District.


    But the buildings all around us became even more luxurious.


    It reached the point where I even started doubting whether they were pieces of art rather than buildings.


    After driving for a bit longer, the cars finally stopped in front of one of the residences. Though to call it a residence was a bit of a stretch with how big and wide it really was.


    It was a bunch of buildings together, each other which could have been called a mansion.


    That was more than enough to show just how rich and powerful Iris'' family was.


    She didn''t seem surprised at all, rather it seemed like she was happy to be home and happy to see me like this. So Iris just casually opened the door and grabbed my hand before saying, "Come, let''s go and see my parents."


    A trace of bitterness appeared on my face when I heard this.


    I wanted some time to prepare my heart, but she really wasn''t given me that chance at all.


    But it didn''t seem like she wanted to give me that chance at all.


    At the same time, it didn''t seem like the bodyguards were planning on stopping her at all. Though they did glare at the fact that Iris was pulling me along by my hand, as if they weren''t happy to see this.


    With Iris leading the way, we quickly arrived in the hall of the main building.


    After bursting in through the door, she said without any hesitation, "Dad, mom, where are you?"


    "We''re in the living room." A voice came from the living room.


    Iris didn''t seem to react to these words since she was used to hearing them, but the moment that I heard them¡­


    It was as if I was being hit by some kind of wall with the power that came from those words.


    They were much stronger than normal words, just words alone were enough to put pressure on me.


    That was more than enough to show me how powerful the person inside of the room was.


    It made me anxious to go in, but it didn''t seem like Iris was the same.


    Since she wasn''t affected at all, there was no hesitation in her movements as she pulled me into the living room. I didn''t resist since I was still dazed by the pressure of these words, so I was just dragged along with a hint of bitterness on my face.


    When we came into the living room, I saw two people sitting on the couch.


    These two were clearly Iris'' mother and father, but I was more stunned by who the two of them were rather than their appearances.


    That was because they were people that were considered famous, so one look was already enough for me to tell who they were.


    These two were World Summoners, that was why they were famous.


    As for what World Summoners were¡­


    The Summoner Association ranked summoners between S and F Ranked based on the amount of power that their familiars could demonstrate, but that wasn''t the limit of the rankings.


    There was a rank that was above S Rank that was only reserved for a select few.


    World Summoner.


    Those that were given the title of World Summoner were known as the strongest in the world and those that protected the world itself, which was why they were given the title of World Summoner.


    Now there were two of them in front of me.


    The Overlord of Flames and the Queen of Ice.


    That was the title of these two.


    But their real names were Huo Fan Tian and Alexandra Petrov.


    It seemed that Iris got her appearance from her foreign mother rather than her father, but there were a few traces of her father in her appearance.


    As I stood there stunned by these two, Iris let go of my hand and went forward to where the two of them were sitting. Without any hesitation, she jumped onto the couch with them and went to hug her mother, the Queen of Ice.


    A smile cracked on the cold face of the Queen of Ice, the one that was said to never smile.


    It seemed that nothing could stop a mother''s love. sea??h th§× ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The three of them seemed to be talking about something, but I really couldn''t hear anything since I was just too shocked by what was happening in front of me.


    Only it didn''t seem like I was allowed to remain silent as they turned their attention to me.


    I didn''t know why they were turning their attention to me, but they all looked at me at the same time which snapped me out of my daze.


    "So you''re the one that saved my daughter?"


    I was completely caught off guard by this that I couldn''t help slowly giving a nod in a dazed manner.


    But before the Overlord of Flames could say anything else, Iris cut him off by saying, "Dad, what did I say about being nice?"


    One might never think that someone would dare talk to the Overlord of Flames like this, but it was different for Iris.


    She was his daughter, so she dared to talk to him like this.


    At the same time, since she was his beloved daughter, the Overlord of Flames didn''t dare go against her words.


    With an awkward smile, Huo Fan Tian said, "Honey, I know, I''m just asking him a simple question. I''m not being mean at all."


    Iris glared at her dad as if she didn''t trust him before moving away from her parents and walking over to stand by my side.


    That created a very awkward silence that filled the air.

 Chapter 53 Favour

    I broke that silence with a cough before saying, "I was just passing by and was lucky enough to help your daughter. It''s not that big of a deal.""You think that the life of my daughter is worth so little?" Huo Fan Tian said in a heavy voice that made me take a step back.


    This heavy voice sent a chill down my spine, but I forced myself not to take another step back when I heard this.


    Iris came forward and said, "Dad, what did I say?"


    Huo Fan Tian took back his aura when he heard this, but he still looked at me with narrowed eyes as if he wasn''t happy with what I said.


    I gave another cough to calm myself down before saying, "That''s now what I meant at all. I was just saying that she is someone strong and she would have been fine even without my help."


    Iris looked like she wanted to say something, but I raised a hand to stop her from saying what she wanted to say.


    Huo Fan Tian narrowed his eyes once more when he heard this, but it didn''t seem like he had the same hostility as before.


    A moment of tense silence lingered in the air before he said, "Alright, I understand what kind of person you are now."


    His voice suddenly changed into a serious one as he asked, "What do you want in return? Since you''ve saved my daughter, it''s only natural that I give you something in return. Tell me what you want and if I can get it for you, I''ll get it for you."


    It was my turn to slightly knit my brows when I heard this.


    The way that he said it was as if he was accusing me of only helping Iris because I wanted something from her.


    Later on, it could be said that I helped her because I wanted something from her.


    But when I saved her, I wasn''t thinking that much.


    So I was a bit insulted by him saying this.


    Even if I was nothing compared to the World Summoner, the Overlord of Flames, Huo Fan Tian, I still at least had my pride to a certain extent.


    "Thank you for inviting me here today. I promise that I won''t ever bother you again in the future." With a nod, I turned around to leave to the surprise of everyone else in the room.


    If that was what they thought of me, it was better not to receive anything.


    In the first place, my plan was to slowly build up my power and I was certain that I would be able to build up enough power with the special abilities of my familiars.


    It was only a matter of time now.


    "Stop." Before I could take more than a few steps, Huo Fan Tian spoke in a voice filled with power once more.


    It pressed down on me, but I didn''t stop as I continued to leave.


    Perhaps this might offend him, but he didn''t want me here in the first place.


    So it wouldn''t matter later on if he didn''t want anything to do with me.


    Seeing that I didn''t stop, Iris suddenly came forward and stood in front of me with her arms raised as if she wouldn''t move out of the way.


    I shook my head before saying, "This is for the best."


    Before I could do anything else, there was a cold voice that rang out. S§×arch* The N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "Alright, that''s enough of that. I think that you''ve postured enough as her dad, now you''re just making us look bad."


    When this voice spoke, the tension in the room suddenly disappeared and everyone''s attention fell onto the one that spoke.


    It was Iris'' mother who had been silently watching the entire time.


    There were different expressions that people used to look at her, but the one that had the strongest expression came from Huo Fan Tian.


    Though it didn''t seem like Alexandra cared at all that he looked at her like he had been betrayed.


    Instead, she said, "Because of you, we''ve already come across as ungrateful people, so that''s enough out of you honey."


    Huo Fan Tian really didn''t know what to say when he heard this.


    So the only thing that he could do was close his mouth and sit there with a disappointed look.


    Alexandra didn''t care as she turned to look at me.


    I had turned around as well, so I could see that she was looking at me. It was just that I couldn''t see through the calm and collected expression on her face at all.


    All of a sudden, she gave a slight bow of the head as she said, "Thank you for saving our daughter. I know that my husband has been rude, but I hope that you understand that this is just his way of showing concern for our daughter. I hope that you will not have the wrong impression of us."


    I didn''t know how to feel about this when she said it with this kind of calm look on her face, but at the very least¡­I could hear her out.


    Seeing that I wasn''t saying anything, Alexandra continued by saying, "Regardless of what happened, it is still a fact that you saved our daughter and we should repay you for this. That is why I want to give you something. There''s no need for you to name a price, you can just take this as a reward for helping our daughter."


    She waved her hand and pulled out a piece of paper out of nowhere.


    Then without another wave of her hand, that piece of paper floated over until it was just floating there in front of me.


    I couldn''t read it since it had been turning while floating, but I could see what was on the very top of this piece of paper.


    It was a seal that I was familiar with.


    It was a seal that said ''Sacred''.


    I knew that this was the seal of the Sacred Academy.

 Chapter 54 Guest

    Once it was floating there in front of me, I was able to read what it said.It was an admission notice for the Sacred Academy.


    There was no name on it, but everything else was already filled out.


    That meant that as long as I put my name on it, I would most likely receive a spot into the Sacred Academy.


    Perhaps others couldn''t do something like this, but I wouldn''t put it past World Summoners to be able to have this kind of authority.


    It was just that¡­


    As I looked at this admission notice, there was a strange look that appeared on my face.


    But when Iris saw it, her eyes lit up.


    That was because she had also enrolled in the Sacred Academy this year and would be attending in the new semester. If Lin Fan were to enroll in the Sacred Academy as well, then that would mean that they would be able to see each other more in the future.


    Iris turned to look at her mother and Alexandra revealed a faint smile to show that this was her plan as well.


    But after revealing that faint smile, Alexandra looked back at Lin Fan.


    She could tell that there was something off about the expression on his face.


    If it was anyone else, they would have been thrilled for this chance to be admitted into the Sacred Academy. After all, that was the best place for anyone to learn and the place that received the most resources.


    Only when it came to Lin Fan, it didn''t seem like he was interested.


    After a long silence, I said with a shake of my head, "Thank you for this, but I can''t accept this."


    Alexandra slightly knitted her brows when she heard this while Iris looked disappointed.


    As for Huo Fan Tian, there was a faint smile that appeared on his lips.


    He naturally knew what his wife was planning, so he was happy to see Lin Fan give up this chance.


    After a moment of silence, Alexandra asked, "Why? Isn''t this the best for you? This is our gift for saving our daughter, so are you looking down on us?" S§×ar?h the n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    I just calmly shook my head as I replied, "This is a personal matter for me, that is why I can''t accept this gift."


    Alexandra raised a brow at this, but she didn''t say anything in response.


    I could tell from the way that she looked at me that she was trying to figure out what I meant by this, but I didn''t say anything as I stood there with a calm look on my face.


    In the end, Alexandra waved her hand and pulled back the admission notice before saying, "Alright, even if you don''t want this, we still have to give you something for saving our daughter."


    She brought her hand to stroke her chin as if she was thinking about something.


    Then she suddenly waved her hand again and pulled out another thing out of thin air.


    This time, she pulled out what seemed to be a token.


    On the token was the word ''Huo'' which showed that this was a token that represented the Huo Family that Huo Fan Tian was from.


    With another wave of her hand, that token came over to me.


    This time, I didn''t hesitate to take it even though I didn''t know what this token was.


    Alexandra explained, "This is a token that represents the guests of our Huo Family. As long as you have that, you can ask for help from any of our subsidiaries and it will help you solve some problems that you might have with the authorities. You shouldn''t underestimate the kind of authority that our Huo Family has."


    I was certainly surprised since I didn''t expect this token to be for this, but she was right that it was useful to me.


    But if I were to take this¡­


    "What you need now is time to develop yourself and this will give you that. I know that you''re worried about being tied to our Huo Family, but that''s just a token that shows that you are a friend of the Huo Family. You don''t have to worry since it''s something that we give out to quite a few people." Alexandra said with a faint smile.


    A strange look appeared on my face when I heard this.


    After all, everything that she said addressed the concerns that I had about this token.


    It was almost as if she could read my mind with the way that she said this.


    So naturally I couldn''t help feeling strange about this.


    But looking at it from an objective point of view, I knew that she was right.


    All of the things that she said were exactly what I wanted, so it really seemed like there was nothing wrong with accepting this token.


    As if she could see my hesitation, Alexandra added, "This is our bottom line. If you don''t accept this, then I''ll take it as you looking down on us."


    The way that she said this was almost as if she was threatening me, but I knew that she was saying this for my sake.


    So in the end, I said with an awkward smile, "Alright, I''ll accept this token."


    A faint smile reappeared on Alexandra''s lips before she said, "Good, then let''s leave this matter here. I''m sure that you have other things to do, so we''ll have one of our drivers send you back."


    I was once again surprised, but I gave a slow nod in response since this was indeed what I wanted.


    Though judging by the look on Iris'' face, it didn''t seem like she agreed with her mother.


    Still, one of the bodyguards from before came in and led me out of the room.


    It seemed like this matter was over, so I let out an internal sigh of relief.


    Only it wasn''t over yet.


    "You''re wondering why I let him go that easily?" Alexandra said to Iris with a smile on her face.

 Chapter 55 Disciple

    Iris had a trace of unhappiness on her face when she heard this and she gave a slow nod in response.Alexandra didn''t seem to mind this as she said, "Well, sometimes if you push too hard, you''ll push them away. It''s clear that he has his secrets and he doesn''t want to expose them, so naturally we can''t push him too hard."


    Iris slowly gave another nod, but it still seemed like she wasn''t happy with this.


    Alexandra just continued with the same smile, "Besides, there are other ways to get closer to him."


    The unhappy look on Iris'' face disappeared when she heard this and her eyes lit up as if she was filled with excitement before she came over to Alexandra''s side to ask, "What is it?"


    But before Alexandra could even respond, Huo Fan Tian who had been silent the entire time suddenly said, "Why are you so interested in that kid in the first place? It''s best if we never see him again."


    The unhappy look appeared on Iris'' face once more when she heard this before she turned to glare at her father.


    Others might not be able to scare Huo Fan Tian with the power and status that he wielded, but in front of Iris¡­he was nothing more than a father who couldn''t do anything in front of his daughter.


    Alexandra was the one that helped him by saying, "That''s because you don''t know anything about him. You were so busy with acting like a protective father that you just ignored the reports that they sent over about him."


    Huo Fan Tian was surprised to hear this before taking out his phone and looking at something.


    He couldn''t help slightly knitting his brows as he read what was on it.


    Iris also couldn''t help looking at the phone with a curious look, but she was more interested in what her mother had to say.


    "Is this true?" Huo Fan Tian asked when he finished reading.


    Alexandra just gave a simple nod before saying, "Do you not trust our own intelligence network?"


    Huo Fan Tian knitted his brows even more, but he didn''t say anything else.


    The look on his face was as if he was thinking about something.


    Alexandra didn''t care about this as she turned back to Iris to say, "Don''t you have something to show us?"


    A surprised and confused look appeared on Iris'' face at first as she didn''t know what she was talking about. Then a look of understanding replaced that look as she turned to look at the center of this living room.


    With a wave of her hand, there was a corpse that appeared out of thin air that landed on the ground. sea??h th§× NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    This was a large monster corpse, but her mother and father weren''t surprised to see this corpse.


    They had seen plenty of large monster corpses in their time, so they wouldn''t be surprised by something like this.


    Not to mention that they had already read the reports from their intelligence network, so they were already expecting this.


    Huo Fan Tian gave a nod before saying in a proud voice, "A Kong Gorilla, not bad. As expected of my daughter."


    He looked like he wanted to exchange a few words of praise with Iris, but it didn''t seem like she cared about his opinion at all. She was just looking at her mother, waiting to see what she would have to say.


    There was a bitter smile that appeared on Huo Fan Tian''s face when he saw this.


    "Is this the only one?" Alexandra asked Iris to Iris'' surprise.


    Iris took a moment to gather herself as she tried to figure out what her mother meant by this, but she eventually gave a slow nod in response while still having a confused look on her face.


    Alexandra slightly knitted her brows before asking, "Are you sure?"


    Iris was even more confused, but she still gave a nod before asking, "Mom, what do you mean by that?"


    Alexandra gave a sigh before saying, "If this was the only one that he helped you with, then that means that he took care of the rest of the Elite Monsters and even the Boss Monster all by himself."


    A shocked look appeared on Iris'' face, but Alexandra didn''t explain anything as she just passed Iris her phone that had the reports on them.


    When Iris read them, there was a strange look that appeared on her face.


    It was one part surprise and one part pride.


    It was almost as if she already saw Lin Fan as hers, which was why she was proud of him for accomplishing something like this.


    Alexandra didn''t say anything else to Iris as she turned back to Huo Fan Tian to say, "Do you see what I mean now? This is the kind of talent that just can''t be ignored. If he''s strong enough to defeat all of these Elite Monsters and even the Boss Monster, it must mean that he must be very strong. Only based on his public records, he shouldn''t have this kind of strength since he only summoned a Ninth Grade Low Class Familiar. That means¡­"


    "He has some kind of secret talent." Huo Fan Tian finished her words for her.


    Alexandra gave a nod without saying anything else.


    The two of them silently sat there as if they were thinking about something.


    Iris had looked up from the phone and was looking at the two of them with anxious looks.


    She could tell that what they were thinking about was related to Lin Fan, which was why she was worried.


    After a long silence, Huo Fan Tian finally looked back up at Alexandra and asked, "Are you thinking about taking him as a disciple?"


    Alexandra didn''t react at first when Huo Fan Tian said this, but she eventually looked up too to give a nod in response.


    Huo Fan Tian was a bit surprised by her answer, but he also seemed like he could understand what she was thinking.


    Alexandra turned back to Iris to say, "Sweetie, there''s something that we need you to do."

 Chapter 56 Become an Explorer

    Iris was caught off guard by her mother''s sudden words, but then she asked in a hesitant voice, "What is it?""Become an Explorer." Alexandra said with a faint smile.


    Iris was even more confused when she heard this, but she wasn''t the one that responded.


    Rather, it was Huo Fan Tian who suddenly stood up and said, "No! How could we let our daughter become an Explor¡­"


    Before he could finish though, he was hit in the head by an icicle.


    The icicle didn''t do any damage to him as it started melting the moment that the tip of the icicle made contact with Huo Fan Tian''s head, but there was momentum to make him sit back down.


    At the same time, Huo Fan Tian didn''t fight back since he knew who it was that had hit him in the head with an icicle.


    It was Alexandra who had one finger raised and pointed at him.


    A bitter smile appeared on Huo Fan Tian''s face as he sat back down, but then he still revealed a look like he was completely opposed to this.


    Iris didn''t seem to care about how her father felt about this matter, she just asked her mother, "Mom, what do you mean by becoming an Explorer?"


    Alexandra calmly explained, "You know that you''ll be heading to the Sacred Academy when the new semester starts, but you won''t be spending all your time in the Sacred Academy since it''s a place that encourages free development. That''s why I want you to become an Explorer in your free time."


    Iris still seemed confused as she asked, "Aren''t there better things to do with that free time than becoming an Explorer?"


    "He''s an Explorer as well." Alexandra said with a sly smile.


    Iris was once again caught off guard, but then she quickly picked up the phone and took a close look at the information on Lin Fan.


    When she read that he just became an Explorer today, she couldn''t help being surprised.


    But she quickly understood what her mother meant by this and said, "Then I''ll just become an Explorer full time. That way, I can join him in the dungeons whenever I want and we''ll be able to get closer."


    "No!" Huo Fan Tian broke his silence to chime in, but all that happened was that he was met with another icicle.


    However, it seemed that Alexandra also disagreed with this as she said, "No, you have to still go to school properly. It''s the Sacred Academy, so it''s not as if you can just quit whenever you want, it''ll have an effect on your future if you were to drop out."


    "But I just want to go with him." Iris said with pouted lips.


    "Ha." Alexandra gave a long sigh before saying, "It seems that once you have love, you really don''t need to care about anything else. Even your parents are forgotten by you."


    Iris'' face immediately turned red, but she still came over to Alexandra''s side and grabbed her arm before saying, "Mom, it''s not like that at all."


    Though she said this, it also seemed like there was a small part of her that agreed with what Alexandra said and she was a bit resistant to denying it.


    Alexandra patted Iris on the head before saying, "Alright, I know." Then in a more serious voice, she said, "But you really shouldn''t come on too strong. You should know that coming on too strong might drive him away."


    Iris was a bit surprised, but she slowly nodded in agreement.


    Alexandra patted her on the head again before saying, "Don''t worry, you''ll be able to see him plenty as long as you become an Explorer. I''m sure that you''ll be able to move him with your efforts."


    "Really?" Iris'' eyes lit up when she asked this.


    Alexandra said with a nod, "Of course, there''s no one that won''t love my lovely daughter."


    But then she slightly knitted her brows as she said, "But you should remember how he reacted when I tried to give him that admission notice for the Sacred Academy. It seems that he has some kind of attachment to that place, so he''ll most likely head there in the future."


    Iris'' eyes lit up even more when she heard this as she started daydreaming, "We''ll be able to walk around campus together and then work together when we dive into dungeons."


    Alexandra shook her head seeing her daughter like this before snapping her fingers in front of Iris'' face to draw her attention back to say, "But it also seems like there''s something personal for him at the Sacred Academy. From the reports that I received, it seemed that he was quite close to a girl that enrolled there for the new semester. I think you might have some competition."


    Iris'' expression immediately fell when she heard this, while it seemed like Huo Fan Tian was filled with joy.


    Alexandra shook her head once more before saying with a faint smile, "Are you the type that gives up that easily?"


    Iris'' expression slowly returned to normal before a determined look appeared on her face. With a strong shake of the head, she said, "Of course not. I won''t back down now just because of a bit of a setback."


    Alexandra patted her head again with the same smile as she said, "As expected of my daughter."


    But that didn''t last as her expression became serious again, "But you''ll have to do this when the new semester starts. For now, there''s something else that we have to do first, even if you don''t want to do it."


    "We''re going back there?" Iris slowly asked this question.


    Alexandra said with a nod, "We have to go back there at least once since they are family."


    "But all they''ll do is try to set up an engagement for me." Iris immediately complained.


    Alexandra said with another nod, "Even if they do, we won''t agree to it. But they are still your father''s family."


    Iris turned to glare at Huo Fan Tian who looked even more awkward, but in the end she said, "Alright, I''ll go back with you." S§×arch* The Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

 Chapter 57 Eating out

    After leaving the manor, the bodyguard led me to a different car from before.It was only natural that we would leave in a different car since the one from before was the one that was prepared for Iris. I shouldn''t have been in that limo in the first place, it was only because she dragged me along that I sat in that limo.


    Now I was leaving in one of the bodyguard cars that had surrounded the limo.


    Though this car was considered a luxurious one that was beyond my means of acquiring as well.


    This car was a luxury car and it had been specially made with powerful materials from the dungeon, which made it much stronger than normal cars.


    It was a luxury bodyguard''s car.


    I was going to sit up front with the bodyguard, but he actually opened the door to the back seat for me, so I could only sit in the back.


    When he started driving, I said, "Take me to the Explorer Association, I still have to turn in my mission."


    The bodyguard didn''t say anything, he didn''t even seem like he heard me as he continued driving, but I didn''t say anything else.


    If he didn''t want to listen to me, it didn''t matter if I said it again.


    So I just started looking out the window at the Ifrit District around me.


    This place wasn''t a place that any normal people would be able to enter, so it was unlikely that I would ever be able to enter this place again until I made a name for myself.


    I wanted to take in the views of this place while I could.


    "One day, when I become stronger, I will bring my family to live in this place."


    This was a silent vow that I made to myself.


    After driving for a bit, we left the Ifrit District and the bodyguard took me to the Explorer Association.


    It seemed that he did hear me, it was just that he didn''t give me any acknowledgement at all.


    He still opened the door for me when we stopped, which made me reveal a bitter smile since we were creating a scene.


    I wanted to enter the Explorer Association as soon as possible, but he grabbed me by the shoulder and said, "I''m the one assigned to watch over you now that you''re a guest of the Huo Family. If you need anything, you can call me at this number."


    Though he said this, it didn''t seem like he wanted to say this.


    It almost seemed like he was still unhappy with me because of what happened with Iris.


    Still, I took the piece of paper that he gave me and said with a nod, "Alright."


    The bodyguard didn''t seem to mind as he let me go and went back into the car without a word.


    I put the piece of paper away, but there was a part of me that was determined to never call this number.


    Once I stepped into the Explorer Association, I found that the same receptionist was still there.


    With how bored she was, it was as if she had been here for a while.


    It was almost as if she had been waiting for something or someone this whole time.


    When she saw me, that was proof that she had been waiting.


    Without a single word, she tapped on the desk in front of her as if she wanted me to take out the things that I wanted to turn in.


    I had taken down some of the normal monsters and gotten some drops, so I put them on the desk. But then after thinking about it, I also took some of the drops from the Elite Monsters that weren''t as valuable as a form of compensation.


    After all, I felt bad that she had been waiting here all this time for me.


    "It seems like you''ve made quite the killing in the dungeon." The receptionist said in a flat voice.


    All I could do was awkwardly scratch the back of my head and smile.


    She gave a sigh before taking it all and then showing me a balance for my bank account. After showing me this, she added, "The things from the Elite Monsters are too valuable to sell as they are, so they''ll be auctioned off. The money should be added into your account in about a week, look forward to it."


    My eyes lit up when I heard this and I quickly nodded to show I understood.


    As I was about to go find something else to do, the receptionist suddenly stopped me and said, "You''ve done enough for one day, it''s already getting dark. Go home already."


    My excitement faded a bit when I heard this, but I knew that she was right.


    As I was heading out, I heard something else from behind me.


    "My name is An Xue Yun, come find me next time when you''re here. I''ll be your personal receptionist."


    I turned back, but I found that she was already gone after she said this.


    So I walked out of the Explorer Association with an awkward smile.


    After coming home, I found my parents and my older brother relaxing as usual.


    Since it wasn''t that late, it didn''t seem like they had dinner yet.


    I couldn''t help thinking of how close Iris was with her family and how it''s been a while since we''ve done anything as a family.


    At the same time, I wanted to show them how I was doing as an Explorer since they must be worried.


    When I walked in, I said, "Let''s go out to eat, my treat."


    They were surprised to hear this, but their tones quickly changed when they saw the bank statement that I showed them.


    "As expected of my son." My father said while slapping me on the back.


    However, my mother and older brother seemed more worried about this.


    "You''re not hurt, are you?"


    They knew how dangerous being an Explorer was, so they were naturally worried about me.


    They only calmed down when I showed them that I was perfectly fine, but it seemed that they were still a bit worried about what I would do in the future. S§×ar?h the ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "I only go into the weak dungeons, so you don''t have to worry about me."


    I at least wanted to give them a bit of comfort so they didn''t worry about me.


    In the end, they just accepted that this was the path that I chose and we all headed out to dinner.


    The feeling of having a supporting family was not something that could be bought.


    It was also something that warmed my heart.

 Chapter 58 Bring your kid to work

    When I woke up the next morning, the reality of my situation hit me.After a night''s rest, I was able to process all of the crazy things that happened last night.


    I had wanted to keep a low profile, but¡­


    I had actually found a connection with two World Summoners.


    They weren''t people that could be met that easily, so the reality of how crazy this all was hit me hard.


    "I really need to do a better job of keeping a low profile¡­I still need time to develop myself, so I can''t let myself be caught that easily."


    After coming to this decision, I stood up and prepared to take the rest of the day off.


    It wasn''t as if I was lacking in money and I needed time to sort through the loot that I obtained yesterday.


    Only when I came out, I suddenly felt that I had something to do.


    Now that I had gotten some power, I should use a bit of that to help my family.


    I can''t just think about myself, I should also try to make the situation of my family a bit better.


    That was when I came up with the idea to¡­


    "Dad, can I come to work with you today?"


    My father was surprised to hear this, but he took it in a completely different way.


    "Are you backing down on your decision now that you''ve had some time to think about it?" He said with slightly knitted brows. There was also a trace of disappointment in his eyes, but it seemed like he understood what I was ''thinking''.


    Only this was a misunderstanding.


    "No, I might need some people to help me dismantle monster corpses in the future, so I thought that it would be a good chance to build some connections before then. I don''t know many people, but at least I know you, right?" I added a cheeky smile at the end to really sell it. Sear?h the N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "Ha, ha, ha, you''re a good son indeed. If you do bring in business for us, then it''ll help your mother, your brother, and I. Alright, you can come to work with me today, I''ll be sure to introduce you to everyone." My father said with a few more slaps to my back.


    I shook my head with a smile, but I didn''t say anything else since I had achieved my goal.


    At least he wasn''t suspicious of why I was really going to his company.


    The two of us set off alone since my mother and brother had the day off today.


    That was part of the reason why I chose to go with my father alone.


    The company that my parents and brother worked for was quite the big company that did many processing jobs for different Summoners and Explorers, so it was considered quite the stable job.


    With his skills, my father was even the leader of his own team, so it wasn''t as if he was in a bad position at work.


    Only I felt that I could make it better.


    As soon as we arrived, everyone started greeting my father.


    They didn''t do it because they were forced to, they all seemed like they genuinely liked and respected my father. Even those that weren''t on the same team as him came out of their way to talk to him.


    Only before I could talk to anyone, they had an order come in.


    It was an order to dismantle a Black Viper, a D Rank Monster, so they quickly went to the special dismantling chamber.


    This was only used when it was a special monster that needed to be dismantled and the Black Viper was one of those special monsters. Otherwise, it would have been dismantled out in the open like the rest of the monsters.


    The Black Viper was a monster that was highly venomous, which was why it had to be done in that special dismantling chamber.


    As I watched my father and his team dismantle the Black Viper, I had to admit that they were very skilled. It was the reason why they had been chosen to dismantle the Black Viper in the first place.


    "Is it your first time seeing your dad at work?" A few of the people watching with me asked me this question before going on to give their own stories about my father.


    "He really is the most skilled person here, it''s just a pity that his familiar¡­"


    That was the general gist of the stories that they told me.


    Most of them felt that it was a pity that he hadn''t been able to summon a proper familiar to rise up in this world.


    Still that was enough for me to see just how well liked my father was at his company.


    When he was done with the dismantling, he came out with his team and started introducing me to them, though I already knew most of them. Since they were his team that followed my father for many years now, I had seen them before at our house.


    It was just that I''ve never had a chance to properly talk to them before this.


    "Thank you all for taking care of my father all these years." I said with a bow of my head.


    "Ha, ha, you''ve got a polite son, team leader."


    "Right, he''s not like you at all."


    My father shook his fist at his team members, but he didn''t actually seem that angry.


    He even seemed like he was proud as they praised me.


    After a while, I broke this happy mood by saying, "I came today not just to meet everyone, but also because I need some help from you all."


    My father was surprised to hear this before saying, "Ah Fan, is there something else you need?"


    With a nod, I said, "I want to talk to one of the managers if I can. I have some things that I want to show them and need their help with."


    My father slightly knitted his brows, but he eventually nodded in agreement before turning around and waving his hand for me to follow him.

 Chapter 59 A bit of business

    "Boss Qian, do you have a moment?" My father called out to someone that was standing around with a clipboard in hand.When that person heard him, he turned around with a smile and said, "Brother Lin, why are you being so serious? Is there a need for you to talk to me that way?"


    My father revealed a smile as well before saying, "My son is here with me today, so I thought that I should address you properly."


    "Come now, there''s no need for that."


    After Boss Qian said this, he turned to look at me to say, "Nephew, since you''re Brother Lin''s son, then you''re family. There''s no need for you to address me that seriously, you can just call me uncle."


    "Actually, Boss Qian, my son wanted to talk to you about some business." My father said in a more serious voice.


    Boss Qian was surprised to hear this, but then he said in the same casual voice, "Alright, tell me what you need."


    The way that he said this was as if he could already guess what I wanted to say.


    Though I could also tell that his thoughts weren''t correct.


    After all, he was looking at me with a trace of pity as if he thought that I was worthy of this pity.


    With a cough to calm myself, I said, "Boss Qian, I have some monster corpses that I need dismantled. I was hoping that your workshop would be able to help me with this problem."


    Boss Qian was surprised to hear this, but then he said with a smile, "Of course, that''s the business that we''re in. As long as you don''t mind us taking a fee, we''ll be happy to dismantle the monster corpses for you."


    With a wave of his hand, Boss Qian said, "Come with me. I''ll take you to a place where you can show us the product."


    I followed him with a simple nod.


    Boss Qian brought us over to a room that had some large tables on them before saying, "You can just drop them on here and let us take a look at them."


    This was a room that was filled with tools as well, so it was a place that was used for dismantling monsters.


    Only it was surprising to me that he would bring me to a place like this.


    After all, I was someone who didn''t have any fame at all, so he didn''t know what kind of monster corpses I would even be bringing.


    I might even be wasting his time if I brought trash corpses.


    But I could tell that he only did this because of his respect for my father, which rolled over to me.


    In that case, I should show something that was worthy of this respect.


    I walked over to the table and with a wave of my hand, I brought out a large wolf corpse.


    The moment that this wolf corpse appeared, both Boss Qian and my father were caught off guard. They had never expected me to take out a large wolf corpse like this, especially one that was in this condition. Sear?h the N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Since they worked in a dismantling company, they naturally knew what this wolf corpse was.


    "Fanged Wolf!" Boss Qian said in a surprised voice.


    During this, my father slowly turned to me with a strange look.


    This dismantling company that they worked for was one that only took care of dismantling for lower grade monster corpses. The higher grade monster corpses were sent to a specialized dismantler that would take care of it.


    The highest grade corpse that they usually dealt with were D Rank Monster Corpses.


    So for me to take out an E Rank Monster Corpse like this was certainly surprising.


    They didn''t expect me to take out something like this.


    After giving them a moment to come back to their senses, I said with a cough, "Boss Qian, will you be able to take care of this Fanged Wolf corpse for me?"


    Boss Qian turned back to look at me with a surprised look before revealing a wide smile to say, "Of course, of course, it''s not a problem at all. For a large company like ours, we can naturally take care of this. We can even help you sell off the parts that we get from the corpse for a small fee."


    I just gave a simple nod before saying, "Alright, I''ll trust you to take care of this matter for me. Only¡­"


    I walked over to the other dismantling tables and said, "It''s not just one corpse that I need you to dismantle for me."


    With a wave of my hand, there were several other Fanged Wolf corpses that appeared.


    "I hope that you''ll be able to take care of all of these for me."


    Boss Qian''s eyes lit up when he saw this.


    Fanged Wolf corpses weren''t that rare, but they weren''t that common either.


    If he were able to process these, then there was no doubt that he would be able to get a good commission for himself.


    But what Boss Qian cared about the most was¡­the young man that took out these Fanged Wolf corpses.


    What was more important was if he could sign a contract with this young man that could provide this kind of high quality Fanged Wolf corpse. If he could, then he could ensure that there would be a steady supply of these monster corpses in the future.


    With a firm nod, Boss Qian said, "No problem at all. We can handle all of this for you. I''ll even lower the fee since you''re bringing in bulk business for us."


    I gave a grateful nod before saying, "Thank you Uncle Qian."


    Boss Qian''s eyes lit up again as he patted me on the shoulder to say, "Nephew, there''s no need to thank me. We''re all family here."


    I could see that he was hesitating about something, so I brought it up for him, "In the future, if I need someone to help me dismantle monster corpses, can I bring them here?"

 Chapter 60 Take care of my family

    Boss Qian''s eyes lit up even more brightly than it had been before and he took a deep breath as if his heart stopped.With a wide smile, he said, "Nephew, of course you can bring them here any time. You''re Brother Lin''s son, so we''ll be sure to take care of you. If you want, you can even sign a contract with our company so that you don''t have to worry about anything. We''ll be sure to give you the lowest fees."


    I could see the look on my father''s face when he heard this.


    But before he could say anything, I said, "I was thinking about that as well, but before that, I was hoping that I could discuss something with you."


    Boss Qian slightly knitted his brows, but that expression quickly disappeared from his face as he said with a smile, "Nephew, you can discuss anything you want with me."


    With a smile, I said, "Well, it''s a very simple matter. I''m more than happy to continue bringing more business here since it''s where my family works. I just hope that you''ll help me take care of my family a bit in the future."


    A trace of surprise appeared in Boss Qian''s eyes.


    He wasn''t a fool, he could naturally tell what I was suggesting to him.


    That made it easier for me as he said, "Nephew, your parents and brother are some of the best employees in our company. It''s only natural that we look after them, we would be lost without them."


    I gave a simple nod without promising anything.


    At this, Boss Qian turned to my father and said, "Brother Lin, there''s a new opening for team leader. I think that your son might be the one for that position."


    My father wasn''t surprised to hear this, but he didn''t react as much as he gave a simple nod in response.


    Boss Qian turned back to me to say, "Nephew, shall we get the signing out of the way? It''ll be easier in the future if we finish signing these contracts now."


    I didn''t say anything at first as I looked at my father, but seeing that he didn''t say anything either, I gave a simple nod.


    Boss Qian''s eyes lit up before he said, "Give me a minute, I''ll go and prepare the contracts right away."


    With that, he ran out of the room.


    When it was just the two of us, my father turned to me to ask, "Are you pushing yourself?"


    "No, it''s very simple for me to do things like this." I said while looking right into his eyes.


    His expression didn''t seem to change when he heard this as he continued looking at me with the same look in his eyes. After a while, he said, "I want you to know that no one in this family expects you to sacrifice yourself for them."


    With a simple nod, I replied, "I won''t. I''ll do what I think I need to do, but I won''t risk my life since I know there''s people that are important to me waiting for me."


    My father didn''t say anything else, he just gave a simple nod in response.


    After that, there was only silence that lingered in the room until Boss Qian came back again with the contracts.


    "Nephew, these are all the contracts that you have to sign for the long term cooperation with our company." Boss Qian said in a respectful voice after bringing the pieces of paper in.


    I couldn''t help being surprised since the tone of his voice was different from before.


    The respect that was in his voice hadn''t been there previously.


    It was almost as if he had encountered something during the time that he was away that made him change his attitude.


    I didn''t look at the contracts at first as I asked Boss Qian, "Uncle Qian, is everything alright? You seem a bit shaken." S§×arch* The N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Sweat appeared on his forehead, but he quickly wiped it off before saying, "Nephew, it''s nothing. I just ran a bit too fast earlier that I''m a bit out of breath."


    I raised a brow to show that I didn''t believe him, but he didn''t say anything else in the end.


    So all I could do was look at the contracts that were placed in front of me.


    I was once again surprised when I read the content of the contracts since they were completely different from what I expected. The amount that was offered was much greater than I thought I would get and at the same time¡­


    There was no minimum time length to the contract.


    I was allowed to break the contract whenever I wanted.


    I thought that I would have to sign for a certain period of time, but it turned out that this wasn''t the case.


    Only that just made me even more suspicious.


    It really seemed like something was off, but I couldn''t find anything strange about the contract. It really seemed like this was nothing more than a normal contract¡­


    After looking it over several times, I decided to sign the contract since there was nothing wrong with it that I could find.


    "Uncle Qian, thank you for everything." I said after signing the contract.


    Boss Qian quickly bowed his head to me as he said, "No, no, nephew, it''s an honour for us to have you as a client."


    I raised a brow again to show that I was confused, but he didn''t say anything else.


    In the end, I left the room with my father so that he could go back to work.


    When Boss Qian was alone in the room, he said, "How is Old Lin''s son connected to the Huo Family?"


    When Boss Qian went to get the contracts, he naturally ran a background check on Lin Fan just in case.


    When he did, he was shocked to find that there was a special order from the Huo Family to take care of him when they could.


    Since this dismantling company was a subsidiary of the Huo Family, Boss Qian naturally heeded this order and offered the best possible contract to Lin Fan.


    Only¡­he really couldn''t understand how Lin Fan was connected to the Huo Family¡­

 Chapter 61 Underwater dungeon

    Once the matter at the dismantling company was settled, there was nothing stopping me from heading back to the Explorer Association to find a new dungeon.Right now, the most important thing was diving into the dungeons and getting more loot. S~ea??h the N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The more monsters that I took down, the more loot I would get.


    The more loot that I got, the stronger I would become.


    So I was actually quite excited about diving into another dungeon.


    But of course, the most important thing was finding a dungeon that was suitable for me.


    Or that would have been the case if it wasn''t for¡­


    "You''re back, I was waiting for you."


    When I arrived at the Explorer Association, I didn''t even need to go look for her. An Xue Yun was already waiting for me at the receptionist desk, looking like she was already tired of waiting for me.


    I didn''t know why she was already here or how she knew that I was coming, but I had no choice since she already called out to me. She was even waving her hand at me to come over to her.


    I doubt any of the other receptionists would see me if I were to ignore her since they all pretended like they didn''t see what was happening with An Xue Yun.


    So the only thing that I could do was walk over to the desk that An Xue Yun was behind.


    "How did you know that I was coming?" That was the first thing that I said when I came over.


    "The Explorer Association has more power than you think." An Xue Yun casually said before putting a piece of paper on the table and saying, "This is the next dungeon that I''ve chosen for you."


    I looked down and saw that this commission was for a D Rank Dungeon.


    This was an underwater dungeon known as the Fishmen Hole.


    Just based on that, it wasn''t hard to guess what kind of place this was.


    However, I didn''t understand why she wanted me to go to this place.


    As if An Xue Yun could see through the look on my face, she said, "You''ve only been to dungeons on land, so you''ve only seen what dungeons on land can be like. But if you want to become stronger, you have to adapt to all kinds of terrain. There''s no telling what you''ll face in the future, so it''s best if you start getting used to these terrains early."


    I couldn''t deny what she was saying, but it still felt like it was too early for this.


    After all, I didn''t even have a single artifact or skill that was related to going underwater. If I were to go right now, there was no doubt that it would be hard for me.


    So I didn''t feel like going into an underwater dungeon was the right move for me.


    Once again, as if she could see through the look on my face, An Xue Yun said, "This is a special dungeon that I picked out for you. This is the perfect dungeon for the current you right now. As long as you go through this dungeon, I guarantee that you''ll be much stronger than before."


    The way that she said this was as if she was certain of this, but I couldn''t help showing my doubt.


    Only she was the only one that had believed in me and had done all those things for me¡­


    If I were to reject her now, it would certainly be bad for our relationship.


    Having a personal receptionist definitely wasn''t a bad thing, so I didn''t want to ruin our relationship.


    So I said, "Alright, register me for that dungeon."


    "Good choice." An Xue Yun said with a smile before taking back the piece of paper to help me register for the dungeon.


    While she was doing this, I couldn''t help asking, "Do you have anything that I can use to help me breathe underwater? I don''t have anything right now, so I hope that you can give me some kind of gear."


    "You don''t need it." An Xue Yun calmly said without even looking up from her computer.


    I looked at her with one raised brow, but it didn''t seem like she noticed me with the way that she continued putting information into the computer.


    After a while, she turned back to put something on the table. I recognized this as the pass for the registered mission, so I reached out to take it.


    But before I could, she slapped another piece of paper down in front of me.


    I looked at it and saw that it was a booking for a private driver.


    When I saw this, I looked up at her with one brow raised.


    An Xue Yun just said with a smile, "It''s one of the perks of having a personal receptionist. We can call these to take you to the dungeons that you have chosen, it''s all paid for by the Explorer Association."


    I couldn''t help revealing a look of appreciation when I heard this.


    It seemed that I had made the right choice going along with An Xue Yun.


    Even though this perk didn''t seem that big, I knew that this wasn''t the only perk that they would offer. I knew that there would be more perks if I let An Xue Yun be my personal receptionist.


    There was nothing wrong with taking these perks since they would help me in the future.


    Taking both of these, I still asked one more time, "Are you sure that the Explorer Association doesn''t have any gear for me?"


    An Xue Yun just waved her hand with a smile as she said, "Go on, the driver is already waiting for you. Go quickly and come back quickly or else you''ll have to spend a night in the dungeon."


    A trace of bitterness appeared on my face when I heard this, but I didn''t say anything as I took the two pieces of paper and headed out of the Explorer Association.


    For now, I would trust the plans that An Xue Yun had arranged for me.

 Chapter 62 Fishmen Hole

    Having a private driver really was a luxurious experience.It was different from when the bodyguard drove me home from Iris'' house.


    This car was here for me, rather than being for someone else. So all of the amenities that came with the car were for me.


    The car itself wasn''t as big as Iris'' limo, but it wasn''t a small car either.


    I was given water and snacks as soon as I sat down and then the driver took me to my destination without any words. It was as if he wouldn''t talk to me unless I talked to him first.


    It wasn''t that he didn''t want to talk to me, but rather that he respected my boundaries.


    But in the end, I ended up talking to him.


    I learned from the driver that he was someone that was employed by the Explorer Association and was only called out on special occasions. The fact that he had been called out for me meant that I was someone special to the Explorer Association.


    He also told me about the times that he drove for several other Explorers that were now famous and regarded as powerful individuals. It was as if he was proud that he had driven for those people.


    He even showed me the autographs that he got from those famous Explorers.


    When we arrived at our destination, he actually took out a signboard and asked me to give him a signature as well. In his words, it was for when I became famous in the future.


    "My name is Mo Yun, I hope that I''ll see you again." The driver said as he drove off.


    I just waved my hand with a strange smile on my face.


    Though the driver had acted a bit strangely in the end, it wasn''t as if I disliked it.


    It was just that it was strange giving an autograph for the first time.


    I definitely didn''t expect that I would be giving an autograph this soon.


    Once the driver left, I turned to see where he dropped me off.


    It was a place that was beside the river that our city was next to and there was a tunnel that seemed to be leading under the river.


    There were people that were going in and out of the tunnel, but I didn''t go in right away as I took a closer look at the river.


    The tunnel was leading into the river, which meant that the entrance of the dungeon was under the river.


    Looking at it, I could see that there was this light that seemed to come from the center of the river. It was a large portal that was right under the surface of the water, but it seemed like the portal was actually keeping the water back.


    After looking at it for a bit, I entered the tunnel myself.


    This was a tunnel that was made of glass, so I could see under the water all around me. There were fishes that were still swimming around, though some of the fishes seemed strange.


    These were fishes that were mutated by the mana that came out of the dungeon entrance.


    They weren''t monsters, but they weren''t normal fishes either.


    It didn''t take long for me to reach the entrance of the dungeon.


    The tunnel actually led below the dungeon, so there was a set of stairs that led up to the dungeon entrance at the end of the tunnel.


    Naturally there were also guards that were here to stop unwanted people from entering the dungeon.


    With the piece of paper that An Xue Yun gave me, I easily made my way past the guards and reached the entrance of the dungeon.


    A part of me was still anxious as I looked up at the entrance.


    The entrance was above me, so I was supposed to jump into it.


    But I couldn''t help thinking about the name and the nature of the dungeon, which made me hesitate.


    "What are you waiting for? Stop holding up the line and go in already." Someone shouted from behind me.


    A bitter smile appeared on my face, but I still jumped up into the entrance of the dungeon.


    When I jumped in, the sensation that I had expected didn''t hit me in the face.


    I had been fully expecting to get covered in water, but I found that this wasn''t the case. I was completely dry when I made it to the other side of the dungeon entrance.


    I even landed on my feet and was able to look around myself.


    I found that this place wasn''t as filled with water as I thought it would be, rather this place seemed like some kind of underwater ruins.


    It was strangely bright in this place, so I was able to see everything around me.


    I didn''t get much time to look around me as someone bumped into me from behind.


    "What are you doing standing at the entrance like this?"


    It was the same voice as the person who had told me to go in already.


    I had an awkward look on my face as I apologized to this person and moved out of the way.


    When we moved out of the way, the next person came in.


    The portal was one that was in the ground and those that jumped through the dungeon entrance would shoot up before landing on the ground.


    The next person that came in looked at me with a strange look since I was staring at them, but he went to the person that shouted at me earlier and the two of them headed off.


    I could hear a few whispers, but I acted like I didn''t hear them saying anything about me.


    It just made me feel even more embarrassed when I saw them like this.


    After taking a deep breath and calming myself down, I started heading deeper into the dungeon.


    There were many different routes for me to take, so I just picked one of them at random. Sear?h the N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

 Chapter 63 Half fish?

    Walking down this corridor for a bit, it didn''t take long for me to encounter a monster.It was just a single monster that seemed to be wandering around the corridors of the dungeon, but this wasn''t a monster to be looked down on.


    Since this was a D Rank Dungeon, this meant that the ones that were wandering around were at least D Rank.


    And this one was one that had a strange appearance.


    It looked like a human when it was walking around on two feet like this, but looking closely, one could tell from its appearance that it wasn''t human. There was half of this monster that was half fish.


    This was a Sahuagin. Sear?h the ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Since this was an underwater dungeon, it was only expected that there would be aquatic monsters like this Sahuagin.


    Once we approached each other, the Sahuagin didn''t waste any time in charging at me.


    However, it froze when it was halfway to me.


    That was because there was the Echo Bat that was on my shoulder with its mouth open.


    As soon as I moved away from the entrance of the dungeon, I had already called out the Echo Bat.


    After freezing, the Sahuagin had a look of confusion and fear on its face, as if it couldn''t understand what was happening. However, it did realize that it was in a very bad situation since it was just standing there doing nothing in front of an enemy.


    There was some trembling that came from the Sahuagin as if it was trying to break free of whatever was holding it in place, but it just wasn''t able to do anything.


    This Sahuagin was a D Rank Monster that was on the same level as the Elite Monsters from the last dungeon, but the Echo Bat was still able to freeze it completely with its hypnosis.


    The first part of this was because this Sahuagin was just a normal monster, so it wasn''t buffed by the dungeon like Elite Monsters were.


    The second part of this was because the Echo Bat had become much stronger than before.


    Since we had already cleared out an E Rank Dungeon, the Echo Bat had gained quite a few levels and was much stronger than before.


    Echo Bat


    Level: 16


    Exp: 300


    Strength: 21


    Vitality: 21


    Intelligence: 90


    Dexterity: 77


    The increase in its intelligence had raised its mental will, which made it easier for it to impose its hypnosis on stronger monsters.


    Which included this Sahuagin.


    I didn''t finish off this Sahuagin right away since I was waiting to see if there were any other Sahuagins that would come and help this one, but it seemed like it was just on patrol alone.


    Since that was the case¡­


    I took out the dagger from the Slime King and slit the throat of the Sahuagin in one swift motion.


    This dagger from the Slime King had really been useful. The sharpness that it possessed was something else, it was able to cut through most monsters that I face with ease.


    Once the Sahuagin fell, I called out the Scavenger Rabbit to start digging as per usual.


    Since this was a D Rank Monster, I couldn''t help feeling a bit excited about the loot that it would drop.


    But in the end, I was a bit disappointed.


    I had the expectation that it would drop the same items as the Elite Monsters that were at the same rank, but there was a reason why those were Elite Monsters and this Sahuagin was just a regular monster.


    Even if it was the Scavenger Rabbit using its skill on it, all the Sahuagin dropped were normal loots like Slimy Fluid, Sahuagin Skin, and such.


    The only special piece of loot was¡­an iron trident.


    This was the weapon that the Sahuagin had been using, but it wasn''t that special either. It was just a weapon that was much stronger and sharper than a normal iron trident.


    Even if I was a bit disappointed in these drops, I understood that this was what the limits of a normal monster were.


    So instead of thinking too much about this, I continued down the passage to find even more monsters.


    But there was something strange about them that I couldn''t help thinking about.


    From the loot that they dropped, I was able to tell what kind of monsters they were.


    At first, I thought that there would only be Sahuagins in this dungeon, but that wasn''t the case.


    The first monster that I encountered was a Sahuagin, but the next one was a Fishman as the name of the dungeon suggested. The third one I encountered was a Merman, but this one was clearly different since there was a distinct separation between the top and bottom halves of the Merman unlike the Fishman and the Sahuagin.


    Both the Fishman and the Sahuagin were a hybrid of fish and man which made them seem too similar to tell apart.


    In short, it was strange how all of them were half fish, but they were called many different names.


    Why was there a need to give them different names like this?


    But it didn''t seem like the dungeon system cared as it gave them all different names like this.


    I really felt that it was strange and couldn''t help being stuck on this for a while, but the fact that I could get stuck on this was a good thing.


    After all, it meant that the monsters that were in this dungeon were just too weak for me to struggle against.


    I easily breezed my way through the dungeon until I noticed that something was different.


    It wasn''t that the monsters had changed, it was just that there seemed to be more of them.


    At the same time, the walls around me seemed to have changed as well.


    It seemed that the walls were made of some different kind of material, as well as being designed in a different manner.


    As if there was something special about this place.

 Chapter 64 Fishman Priest

    I didn''t dare let my guard down here, so I sent a few of the Sahuagins that I had tamed to go forward to scout this area. S~ea??h the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.Or I would have if not for the fact that they already seemed like they knew what this place was.


    "A temple?" I asked in a confused voice when I slowly understood what the Sahuagins were trying to say with their crude drawings.


    The Sahuagins nodded in affirmation when they heard this.


    I turned to look at the Fishmen and Mermen as well, but it seemed that all of them had the same information as the Sahuagin.


    Though I had no idea what this temple was for.


    After thinking about it, I decided to send the Sahuagins forward still to see if they could lure out whatever was inside of this temple.


    Since there was this temple, I was certain that there must be something good here. It should be one of the Elite Monsters of this dungeon that was inside of this temple.


    The loot from the Elite Monsters was always worth it.


    It was just that¡­


    When the Sahuagins approached the temple that they mentioned before, it seemed that there were Fishmen that came out to stop them. The Fishmen pointed their tridents at the Sahuagin, as if they wouldn''t allow them to get any closer.


    It was as if there was some kind of discrimination between the Fishmen and Sahuagins, even with how similar they looked to each other.


    Since the Sahuagins couldn''t approach and were even chased away, I sent the Fishmen forward this time.


    When the Fishmen approached, they still weren''t allowed to enter the temple though they were treated more kindly than the Sahuagins.


    It was interesting to see that there was this kind of discrimination between monsters.


    Even though they looked almost exactly the same, the Fishmen actually treated the Sahuagins as lesser beings¡­


    But that was for later.


    The Fishmen seemed like they were talking to the Fishmen that were guarding the temple when the Fishmen stopped them. It seemed that there was some kind of society inside of this dungeon with the way that they interacted with each other.


    Eventually, the Fishmen that were guarding the temple allowed the Fishmen that I sent to enter the temple.


    It seemed that what they said had convinced these Fishmen guards to allow them to enter.


    I couldn''t help slightly knitting my brows since I had no idea what the Fishmen I sent were doing inside of that temple. I had only given them a simple task of drawing out the Elite Monster that was inside of the temple, but I had no idea what they would actually do.


    After all, they were out of sight during this time.


    The hypnosis wasn''t something that was omnipotent, there were ways to break through the Echo Bat''s hypnosis.


    But in the end, it seemed that I had been worried for nothing.


    "Boom!"


    There was this large explosion that rang out before the front of the temple suddenly collapsed. It didn''t collapse inward as if there was something that destroyed it from the inside, but rather it collapsed outward as if it had been hit with some kind of large force.


    After the wall was shattered, there were some Fishmen that ran through and some Fishmen that were thrown through the walls.


    The moment that I saw this, I knew exactly what these Fishmen were.


    They were the ones that I had sent into the temple to find the Elite Monster.


    The fact that they were running out now and were even being thrown must mean that they had found what they were looking for.


    It didn''t take long for a Fishman that was bigger than the rest to come out of the temple.


    This Fishman wasn''t just bigger than the other Fishmen, it was also wearing clothes that were different. The other Fishmen just wore some simple clothes, but this one was completely wrapped from head to toe.


    The clothes that it wore made this Fishman seem like some kind of priest.


    No, it wasn''t just some kind of priest, it was a real priest.


    A Fishman Priest that was holding a proper staff.


    The other eye catching thing about this Fishman Priest was the fact that there was a bright red stain on its clothes.


    There was only one thing that this bright red stain could be.


    It was the blood of the Fishman Priest.


    It seemed that the Fishmen that I sent in were quite bold that they even used this method to draw the Fishman Priest out.


    As soon as the Fishman Priest appeared, the Fishmen guards that had been stunned made their move as they realized what happened.


    However, they didn''t get a chance to do anything as they suddenly froze.


    There were dazed looks that appeared on their faces as they froze before they suddenly came back to their senses. When they came back to their senses, they pointed their spears forward again.


    Only this time, they were pointing the spears at the Fishman Priest.


    The Fishman Priest couldn''t help stopping when it saw that its guards were now pointing their weapons at it.


    After a moment of silence, the Fishman Priest raised its staff to point at them before shouting something. It was just that the Fishmen guards didn''t seem to care about what the Fishman Priest was saying to them.


    In the end, the Fishman Priest started chanting something in a deep voice and there was a light that appeared around its staff.


    When it finished, the light shot out at the Fishmen guards that were around it.


    Half of them suddenly froze as if they were affected by something, while the other half just kept pointing their spears at the Fishman Priest.


    When the light faded, the ones that froze turned back around and started fighting with the Fishmen guards that had betrayed the Fishman Priest.


    It seemed that the spell that the Fishman Priest used had somehow broken the Echo Bat''s hypnosis.

 Chapter 65 Desperation?

    After the Fishman Priest used his spell to break the hypnosis of the Echo Bat, it became a free for all fight.The ones that had broken free were attacking the ones that were hypnotized.


    Since they were being attacked, it wasn''t as if they could just ignore these attacks. The only thing that they could do was fight back against the Fishmen guards that were attacking them.


    Only it didn''t seem like the Fishman Priest was going to remain idle while the Fishmen guards fought with each other.


    The Fishman Priest raised his staff again and there was another light that appeared around it before this light was sent to the Fishmen guards that were freed of the Echo Bat''s control.


    As soon as this light wrapped around the Fishmen guards, they started to overwhelm their hypnotized comrades.


    It seemed that this Fishman Priest had the ability to buff its comrades, but this was expected from someone that had a priest job.


    It seemed that it not only made the Fishmen guards stronger, but also much faster than before. It made it so that the Fishmen guards that weren''t buffed found it hard to keep up with the Fishmen guards that were.


    I slightly knitted my brows when I saw this, but I also had a card to play here.


    "Charge them." I said to the Echo Bat before it sent the other monsters that we had under our control forward.


    The Fishman Priest and Fishmen guards were caught off guard by this swarm of monsters that suddenly appeared, but they did what they could to fight back against them.


    Each of the Fishmen guards were surrounded by two or three different monsters, but it didn''t seem like they had a problem fighting against them. It seemed like they were able to fend off the attacks and even attack back even when surrounded like this.


    But at the very least, the Fishmen guards were occupied enough that the Fishman Priest was exposed.


    The Fishmen that I sent into the temple previously surrounded the Fishman Priest, but the FIshman Priest didn''t seem to panic at all.


    Instead, it just raised its staff and there was a barrier that appeared around itself.


    The Fishman Priest didn''t seem interested in fighting the Fishmen around it at all, it seemed like it was only interested in providing support to the Fishmen guards.


    After creating this barrier, the Fishman Priest raised his staff again and there was another white light that appeared around it.


    This time, the white light that appeared around the Fishmen guards healed the wounds that they suffered from the fight. They were only small wounds, but it did recover a bit of their stamina as well.


    It seemed that when it came to a long term fight, it would be us that would be at a disadvantage.


    That was just how it was having a healer compared to not having a healer.


    The side with the healer would be able to fight continuously without a problem while the side without a healer would eventually get worn down.


    So the only thing that I could do was¡­


    I took out a crown that I placed on my head and started focusing on it while saying, "Clear the path for me."


    The Echo Bat gave a nod before giving the order for the monsters to clear the way.


    The Fishman Priest was surprised to see the monsters attacking the Fishmen guards fiercely like this, but that was all that it felt.


    The Fishman Priest didn''t even seem surprised that the monsters were doing this.


    After all, in the eyes of the Fishman Priest, it felt that this was their only choice.


    It was clear that they were desperate, which was why they were attacking like this.


    All the Fishman Priest did was raise its staff and release the same buffs and healing spells as before.


    It didn''t seem worried at all.


    It was just too bad that the Fishman Priest didn''t notice that there was a line that was being created between me and it.


    Once the monsters had pushed all of the Fishmen guards out of the way, there was electricity that appeared around the crown on my head.


    This electricity gathered for a while before suddenly being shot out as a single bolt of lightning.


    The barrier of the Fishman Priest just couldn''t resist the power of this bolt of lightning and shattered as soon as it made contact. However, the bolt of lightning didn''t stop there as it continued until it hit the Fishman Priest.


    The Fishman Priest trembled twice and was charred from being hit with the bolt of lightning before dropping to the ground.


    I was surprised since I didn''t think that the bolt of lightning would be this powerful, but there was no denying the power that it had since it killed the Fishman Priest in one shot.


    After the Fishman Priest was finished off by the Thunder Crown, the rest of the Fishmen guards just couldn''t fight back against the wave of monsters around them. The moment that the buffs ran out, they were completely overwhelmed by the enemies attacking them.


    However, I didn''t let them kill off these Fishmen guards.


    Instead, I had them restrain them and bring them over.


    The Fishman Priest had used some kind of spell to break the hypnosis that the Echo Bat put on them, so I wanted to see if the hypnosis would still work on them. sea??h th§× N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    It turned out that after a while, it did.


    The immunity that the spell gave these Fishmen guards was just temporary and it disappeared after a while just like the buffs. Though it didn''t fade as quickly as the other buffs.


    It really made me wonder what kind of buff the Fishman Priest gave them¡­


    At least it made me aware of the fact that the hypnosis could be broken.


    After testing this, I went over to the corpse of the Fishman Priest with the Scavenger Rabbit and had it start digging in that corpse.


    In no time at all, the Scavenger Rabbit turned around with loot in its hands.

 Chapter 66 Quest Dungeon

    The loot from an Elite Monster really was on a different level.There were four items that the Scavenger Rabbit got from the Fishman Priest.


    The one that attracted my attention first was naturally the staff that the Fishman Priest used before.


    Sacred Fishman Staff.


    That was the name of the staff, but that wasn''t the important thing.


    The important thing was what kind of item it was.


    Heal, buff, and cleanse.


    These were the abilities of this staff.


    I finally understood how the Fishman Priest had broken the hypnosis that my Echo Bat used. It was the cleanse spell that the Fishman Priest used to break the hypnosis, but I never thought that the hypnosis would be considered a status effect to be cleansed.


    I thought that it was a status effect, I thought that it was more of a contest of wills.


    But when it came to the system that resembled a game, I guess that was just how it was classified.


    After admiring the staff a bit longer, I put it away.


    In the future, this staff would find a lot of use in my hands. Especially when I could control the monsters with the Echo Bat''s power.


    It would mean having a powerful army in the future.


    The second thing that caught my attention was a scroll.


    The reason it caught my attention was the strange glow that was around it, but I was even more shocked when I saw the description of the item.


    Sacred Fishman God Scroll


    Break this scroll to draw on the power of the Fishman God once.


    It was a simple description, but just this simple description alone was already shocking enough.


    Did god really exist?


    Though it was only the god of the Fishmen, it was still something that was powerful to be considered a god. S§×ar?h the N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    It didn''t give any information on what kind of effect this scroll would have once it was broken, it just said that it would draw on the power of the Fishman God once when it was broken.


    So I had to question it¡­


    "Would this scroll even work for me since I''m not a Fishman? This is a scroll that borrows the power of the god of the Fishmen, would it even work for a human?"


    There was a part of me that was even worried that the Fishman God would attack me since I was the one that killed one of his priests.


    It really didn''t seem like something that could be relied on¡­


    Still, in a worst case scenario, this was certainly a powerful item to use.


    It would be one of those things that could be used as a way to take down the enemy with me.


    The third item was a coat, but it wasn''t the coat of the priest. Rather, it was a slick looking trench coat that seemed to have water flowing on its surface.


    Looking closely at it, I could see that this was just the texture of the material that it was made of and not actual water, but it still looked quite cool.


    This was the thing that I lacked at this moment.


    I had plenty of offensive options, but what I was lacking was armour. I didn''t get any armour at all in the last dungeon, so my defenses were a bit weak right now.


    It wasn''t just the fact that this Falling Rain Coat looked really cool.


    Though I could see the way that the Echo Bat and the Scavenger Rabbit looked at me when I was testing it. It was one of the few times that they agreed on something¡­


    The fourth and final item was actually the most important thing.


    I thought that it would be the most useless thing since it looked like it was nothing special. It was just a scrap of paper that didn''t even have a special glow around it.


    It was so normal that I was confused why this thing had even dropped from an Elite Monster like the Fishman Priest.


    That was until I saw the popup that came from it.


    It wasn''t the regular popup that I saw from special items that I looked at, this was a popup that was a completely different shade. But I knew what this popup was since I had heard of it before.


    "Quest Dungeon¡­" I couldn''t help muttering when I saw this popup.


    The Quest Dungeon that I was talking about was a special and rare kind of dungeon that appeared once in a while.


    As for what was special about this dungeon¡­


    It was that there were quest items that could drop in these dungeons.


    The quest items were used to create a quest that a person would have to finish that was usually related to the dungeon.


    As for why a person would want to finish this quest¡­


    It was naturally for the large reward that would follow after completing the quest.


    The Quest Dungeons gave some of the best rewards that one could imagine, which was why there were people that would sell everything that they had just for a chance to do one of these Quest Dungeons.


    It was almost a guarantee that they would get their money back.


    Though whether they were strong enough to complete it or not was a completely different question.


    Piece of the Underwater King''s Orders 1/4.


    It seemed that there were three more pieces to find before I would be able to start the quest, but I wasn''t worried as long as I had the Scavenger Rabbit. It would only be a matter of time as long as I had the Scavenger Rabbit''s golden paws.


    Though I couldn''t help being a bit worried about the name of this item.


    Underwater King.


    A king was without a doubt a Boss Monster, but a King Boss Monster was different.


    These were Boss Monsters that were stronger than normal Boss Monsters.


    Not to mention that it wasn''t the Fishman King and was the Underwater King¡­


    It really seemed like this would be a dangerous quest¡­


    But I could always not do it if I felt that I was in danger.


    With how fast I was growing, it wouldn''t be too late to do this later.


    Though I did wonder about something.


    "Did she know that this was a Quest Dungeon? Was that why An Xue Yun sent me here?" I couldn''t help asking myself in a confused voice.

 Chapter 67 Another cry for help

    After coming back from my thoughts, I put away the items that the Scavenger Rabbit got from the Fishman Priest and focused on what was ahead of me. S~ea??h the ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.Since I had found a piece of this quest, it was only natural that I would have to find the rest of the other pieces.


    It would be a waste to let it go now.


    As for where I would get the other pieces of this order, it was naturally from the other Elite Monsters of this dungeon.


    I was certain that as long as I could find them, I would be able to get the quest items from looting the Elite Monsters. The golden paw of the Scavenger Rabbit was not something to be looked down on.


    The only thing now was finding those Elite Monsters.


    The solution that I came up with was to ask the Fishman guards that had once protected the Fishman Priest.


    Since they followed the Fishman Priest, they should have some idea of where the different Elite Monsters were.


    As expected, they really did know.


    It took a while to get this information from them since it was hard to communicate without words, but I was able to get a few of them to lead the way to the next Elite Monster.


    I didn''t have any hesitation in following them since there was nothing to lose from following them.


    Even if I didn''t follow them, all that would happen is that I would wander around this dungeon on my own. So at the very least, it was better to follow them to see if they would lead me to somewhere good.


    Following the lead of these Fishman guards, I eventually reached a place that seemed different from the rest of the dungeon.


    This place was clearly different since the walls that were around me were different from before.


    It seemed that this place was a different district of this dungeon from the place that I was in before.


    It really seemed like there would be an Elite Monster here.


    But before I could find that Elite Monster, I heard a voice call out.


    "Help! Please help me!"


    I couldn''t help slightly knitting my brows when I heard this voice, but eventually I started heading in that direction.


    I didn''t know who was calling for help, but I wanted to see what kind of person it was that would call for help in a dungeon like this.


    It wasn''t that I was planning on saving them, it was just that I wanted to see if they were a good person or not.


    Unfortunately for me, I was a good person¡­


    When I saw the fatty being chased by the Fishmen, I couldn''t help giving a sigh.


    This fatty didn''t seem like he would pose any threat to me with the way that he was running from the Fishmen, so I couldn''t help feeling sorry for him.


    In the end, I had a few of my Fishmen go forward and beat these Fishmen up before having the Echo Bat tame them.


    The fatty had stopped running when he saw the Fishmen under my control running over. After all, when the Fishmen under my control appeared, they came from in front of him while the other Fishmen were behind him.


    With the way that they were arranged around him, he had been completely surrounded.


    The fatty had a look on his face almost as if he had accepted his death, which didn''t disappear even when the Fishmen under my control saved him.


    When it was over, the fatty just stood there in a daze as if he accepted the death that was about to come.


    So I just went over and slapped him in the face to bring him back to his senses.


    "What''s going on?" The fatty rubbed the cheek that I slapped as he said this in a daze.


    "Are you alright?" I asked him in a simple voice.


    The fatty looked at me with a surprised look as if he didn''t expect to see me here before suddenly breaking out in tears to say, "I never thought that someone would save me!" After that, he fell to his knees and grabbed my legs before saying, "Thank you! Thank you for saving me!"


    There was a look of disgust that appeared on my face when he did this.


    That was because when he broke out in tears, the look on his fat face really was¡­ugly.


    I couldn''t help wanting to take a step back, but he was faster than me as he grabbed my legs before I could even move. So all I could do was pat him on the head and comfort him by saying, "Alright, alright, that''s enough of that. A man shouldn''t cry that easily."


    The fatty didn''t seem to care as he continued to cry while saying, "I really thought that I was dead!"


    It took a while for the fatty to calm down, but he eventually calmed down and stopped crying.


    When he did, I distracted him by asking, "What happened?"


    The fatty had a very awkward look on his face as he explained his situation.


    It turned out that he was an Explorer just like me and he had come here with a group that he was working with. Only when they had been surrounded by the Fishmen, he had been used as bait while the others escaped.


    In the end, he thought that he was dead until I came to save him.


    I didn''t say anything when he finished his story, I didn''t even look at him with a look of pity since this kind of story was just too common.


    There were many that died like this when they became Explorers, that was just a part of the danger of being one.


    It wasn''t as if I could pity everyone that was an Explorer.


    So after I finished listening to his story, I waved my hand at him and said, "Be careful going back to the entrance."


    I turned to leave, but the fatty jumped at me and grabbed my legs again as he said, "Please let me come with you!"

 Chapter 68 Vow

    I immediately revealed a deep frown when I heard this.Without any hesitation, I raised my foot to kick at the fatty as if I wanted to chase him away. Only it was a bit hard to do so since the fatty was grabbing my leg, so I had to use my strength to pull myself away from him in the end.


    After kicking at him, I said, "I have no time to babysit you. I don''t bring dead weight around."


    The fatty looked sad for a moment, but he didn''t refute it since he knew the difference between us.


    But then he suddenly gritted his teeth to say, "Please, I''ll do anything. I need to earn some money, no matter what. I''ll even be your slave if you just bring me with you."


    I was surprised by the offer that the fatty made me.


    It certainly wasn''t what I had expected him to say, especially since he didn''t know anything about me. The only thing that he knew about me was the power to tame the monsters that I had shown, but beyond that¡­he didn''t know a single thing about me.


    So to make this kind of offer.


    What if I was the kind of person that used him as bait for monsters?


    No, that was his previous party.


    I wasn''t as bad as them.


    As I was thinking about a way to reject the fatty, I couldn''t help feeling a bit curious about the determined look that he had.


    This wasn''t the kind of determination that one could have without a reason.


    So there was something that was giving him this kind of determination and I was a bit curious what it was. Enjoy exclusive adventures from My Virtual Library Empire


    After thinking about it, I asked, "Why are you so determined to follow me? What if I don''t give you anything in the end and just use you."


    The fatty was surprised to hear this before he said with the same determined look, "You''re not someone like that. I know since you were kind enough to rescue me. But even if you do, then I can''t do anything about it since I''m the one that asked to follow you."


    A helpless smile appeared on my face when I heard this before I couldn''t help shaking my head.


    It really seemed like he just wouldn''t give up unless I let him follow me.


    But I was curious why he was like this.


    "What is your motivation? What is driving you?" I asked all of a sudden without answering his question.


    The fatty was once again surprised by this question and it seemed like he was hesitating when it came to answering it.


    In response to this, I just said, "If you''re not willing to tell me, then there''s nothing that I can do. I gave you a chance and you''re the one that didn''t take it, so you can''t blame me."


    Then I even turned around as if I was about to leave to really sell it.


    That put enough pressure on the fatty that he finally spoke.


    "I want money to help my little sister. She needs money for her hospital bills." He said in a soft voice that really didn''t fit his figure.


    I stopped moving when I heard this.


    It was a good thing that I had my back to the fatty since there was a complicated look on my face after he said this.


    After a moment of silence, I finally asked, "How far are you willing to go?"


    The fatty looked surprised again, but then he said with a determined look, "I''ll even sell my soul if I have to." S§×arch* The N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "Very good." I suddenly turned around with a serious look on my face and said, "Then that is what you''ll have to do."


    The fatty was once again surprised, but he quickly recovered and nodded in agreement.


    When he said this, I went forward so that I was right in front of him and said, "Make a vow that you''ll never betray me or reveal any of my secrets. If you break this vow, then your heart will burst."


    A strange look appeared on the face of the fatty after I said this. That look on his face was as if he didn''t believe what I said, as if he didn''t believe that I had the power to do such a thing.


    But in the end, he repeated what I said and made this vow.


    What the fatty didn''t notice was that the Echo Bat opened its mouth when he repeated this vow.


    Once he was done, the fatty asked, "Is that all?"


    With a nod, I said, "Go on, repeat after me. His power is¡­"


    With a look of doubt on his face, the fatty said, "His power¡­"


    He didn''t even get to finish as he suddenly clutched his chest. A shocked and terrified look appeared on his face when he clutched at his chest.


    That was because his heart had actually started to hurt when he said this.


    Eventually he looked at me with a fearful look on his face.


    I just simply explained, "Like I said, it''s a vow that will make your heart burst if you break it. I just gave you a simple taste of what the vow can do, so be careful in the future."


    The look of fear didn''t disappear from his face, it became even stronger.


    But eventually, the fatty just gave a nod to show that he understood.


    So instead of making it worse for him, I asked, "Nine to one, that''s how we''ll share the loot that we get from this dungeon and any future dungeons. From now on you''ll follow me, understand?"


    The fatty nodded to show that he understood again before saying, "Boss, I''ll follow you wherever from now on."


    Shaking my head with a faint smile, I asked him, "What''s your name?"


    "Wang Rong."


    "Wang?" I repeated while narrowing my eyes.


    Wang Rong looked surprised when he heard this, but he slowly nodded to confirm this.


    After looking at him for a bit, I shook my head and threw out that thought.


    Wang was a common name and if he really was related to him, then he wouldn''t be in this kind of situation.


    "Alright, let''s go then." I said as I turned to head forward, but then I remembered something as well, "My name is Lin Fan."


    Wang Rong followed me with a quick nod.

 Chapter 69 Turtle

    As we headed deeper into the dungeon, I suddenly thought of something.Even though I agreed to take Wang Rong with me, I didn''t actually know what he was capable of.


    For him to take the path of becoming an Explorer and then to be abandoned by his teammates¡­it was very likely that his familiar wasn''t that strong.


    But I had already taken him under my wings, so I would at least try to see what I could use him for.


    "What is your familiar?" I asked all of a sudden.


    Wang Rong was surprised to hear this before revealing an awkward look. After hesitating for a moment, he directly called out his familiar for me to see.


    "A turtle?" I asked him as I stared at the small familiar he presented in his hand.


    With a nod, Wang Rong explained, "My familiar is a Rock Turtle. It has the ability to strengthen its defenses. When I use it to fight, it allows me to make my skin as hard as rocks."


    Then with a bitter smile, he said, "Though when I make my skin harder, it also becomes harder to move since it loses its flexibility."


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    "So you''re sacrificing your agility for defense?" I asked in response.


    Wang Rong slowly nodded with the same bitter smile.


    Thinking about it, it made sense how Wang Rong was able to survive after being chased by the Fishmen for so long.


    It seemed that he used this ability to increase his defense to survive the whole time. But there was something that I still wanted to confirm since I didn''t know the full extent of his powers.


    "You can control when to strengthen your skin, right? Is there an amount of time that is required for you to use the power of your familiar or is it instant?"


    Wang Rong was surprised by this question before his eyes suddenly lit up and he said in an excited voice, "Boss, I never thought that you would figure it out so quickly! That''s right, I can change from that state in an instant. There is a few seconds that it takes to change into the state, but my defenses will increase from the moment that I activate that power."


    I gave a simple nod since this was what I expected.


    The only problem was that it just wasn''t strong enough and he didn''t change fast enough that he would be able to use this ability in combat.


    In short, he was nothing more than a turtle just like his familiar.


    Though in a sense, his abilities were better than a turtle since he didn''t have to crawl into a shell each time. He was at least able to keep moving when he put up his defenses.


    That meant that I did have a use for Wang Rong.


    But there was also a part of me that wondered if I could make him stronger.


    After all, if he was stronger, then he would be even more useful to me.


    The only problem with making him stronger was revealing a few more of my secrets and these were secrets that would be dangerous to reveal too much of.


    If too many people knew about this, then my life would be in danger as the only person that could create these things¡­


    But still, I decided that it was better to make him stronger for now since he''ll be more useful.


    When people noticed, it would already be too late.


    "Take this." I pulled out an orb and tossed it to Wang Rong.


    Wang Rong was surprised that I suddenly tossed something to him, but he was able to catch it in the end. It was even a bit impressive how fast he moved for his size in the end. S§×arch* The N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    It seemed that even if he was a bit chubby, he still took good care of his body and had good physical capabilities.


    That would make it even easier to use him for what I was planning to use him for.


    After catching the orb that I tossed him, Wang Rong asked in a confused voice, "Boss, what is this?"


    "Crush it and you''ll find out." I said in a calm voice.


    Wang Rong looked at me with an even more confused look when he heard this, but I didn''t say anything as I looked at him as if I was just waiting for him to crush the orb that I tossed him.


    Wang Rong once again hesitated a bit, but that was to be expected from anyone in his situation.


    In the end, he revealed another determined look as he crushed the orb that he held in his hand.


    The moment that the orb was crushed, there was a faint light that appeared around him.


    I didn''t see this appear around me before when I used the other Skill Orbs, but it was interesting to see that it was happening around other people. If someone had watched me, they would have seen the same thing happening to me.


    Once the light faded, Wang Rong looked at me with a shocked look as he said, "There''s this strange power that''s filling me."


    I just gave a simple nod before saying, "Use that power and let''s see how much of it you can draw on."


    Wang Rong''s expression became strange when he heard this, but he slowly nodded before closing his eyes like he was focusing on something.


    In no time at all, there was this faint green light that appeared around him. At the same time, it was as if there was some kind of wind that was blowing through his hair.


    With a single step, Wang Rong moved several meters away.


    He came to a stop and looked down at his hands in shock.


    But while he was dazed, I said, "Use the power of your familiar as well."


    Wang Rong looked at me with a surprised look before quickly following my instructions.


    He didn''t move as far as he did before, but he was able to move normally even though he was using the power of his familiar.


    I gave a satisfied nod when I saw this.


    It seemed that giving him the Move As Wind Skill Orb really was useful.


    Wang Rong turned around again and fell to his knees before bowing his head to say, "Boss, I can never repay you for this favour!"


    I just shook my head with a faint smile before going forward to pat him on the shoulder, "Work hard for me." Then with the same smile, I added, "I''m sure that you''ll come to regret those words soon."


    Wang Rong quickly shook his head to deny this before saying, "I''ll never regret these words."


    It was only later that Wang Rong really came to regret those words, but he didn''t know that right now. Right now, he was filled with excitement since he knew that he had just overcome his fatal weakness.


    As long as he was able to move normally, then he would be able to use the power of his familiar to the full extent.


    Powerful defense wasn''t just used for defending.


    If one punched a steel wall, they would be the one that would get hurt.

 Chapter 70 Fishman Knight

    After giving Wang Rong the Skill Orb, I finally started moving faster.With Wang Rong''s power, it should be even easier to deal with the Elite Monster in front of us.


    Though I was certain that he didn''t know what I was planning to do.


    After letting the Fishmen lead for a bit, we finally arrived at the place where the Elite Monster was.


    This was different from the temple that the Fishman Priest was in.


    This place almost seemed like a castle with the way that it was built.


    It was clear that this would not be an easy place to break into, let alone bring out the Elite Monster.


    But to my surprise, the Fishmen seemed like they were eager to do it.


    It was almost as if they were confident that they would be able to lure out the Elite Monster that was inside of this castle.


    It was especially true for those Fishman guards that once protected the Fishman Priest.


    With the way that they acted, it was as if they were filled with confidence.


    I didn''t get why they were filled with this confidence, but since they were¡­it was worth it to give them a chance.


    The Fishmen approached the castle and the same thing happened where there were other Fishmen that came out to stop them. Only this time, the Fishmen actually seemed like they were armed with proper weapons and armour.


    They stopped the Fishmen that approached the castle and seemed to be keeping them out, but then they suddenly let them pass.


    It was like before where the Fishmen that I controlled said something to the guards and then they were allowed to pass.


    As for what they said, I had no idea.


    In the end, the Fishmen smoothly entered the castle and disappeared from sight.


    I just patiently waited for something to happen, but it didn''t seem like Wang Rong was able to wait as patiently.


    After a few minutes passed, he couldn''t help asking, "Boss, what do we do¡­"


    Before he could finish, there was a sound that came from the castle.


    It wasn''t the same explosion that came from the castle as the sound rang out.


    Rather, it was the gates of the castle opening and a group coming out of the castle.


    It seemed to be the Fishmen that I sent into the castle previously along with another group. At the center of the other group was a Fishman that was completely in armour and even had a large sword on its back.


    This armoured Fishman was clearly the leader of the group.


    At the same time, it was clear that it was the Elite Monster that I was looking for.


    Wang Rong deeply knitted his brows after seeing the Fishmen lead this armoured Fishman out.


    In a heavy voice, he asked, "Boss, what do we do now?"


    I didn''t say anything as I waited to see what the Fishmen I controlled would do.


    They didn''t disappoint me as all of a sudden, they stabbed the armoured Fishman from behind. One of them was even able to stab through the gaps in the armour to actually injure the Armoured Fishman.


    As soon as this happened, the situation exploded.


    The armoured Fishman pushed through its wounds and grabbed the large sword on his back to slash out in front of it.


    The Fishmen under my control knew that this would happen, so there was no hesitation at all as they moved away from the armoured Fishman after stabbing him. They had already cleared the area, so that none of them were in the path of his sword.


    As soon as I saw this, I grabbed Wang Rong and lifted him off the ground to his shock.


    "Boss, what are you¡­"


    He didn''t get to finish those words as I already tossed him at the Fishmen guards while saying, "Go and distract them with your abilities. The rest of the monsters will follow you."


    Wang Rong looked like he didn''t know whether to laugh or cry when he heard this, but he still followed my orders and called out his familiar.


    After he called out his familiar, he seemed to be sinking as if he was growing heavier while flying. When he landed, Wang Rong didn''t stop at all as he charged right into the lines of the Fishmen guards.


    They were taken aback by Wang Rong charging in like this, but they were able to come back to their senses as they swung their tridents at him. They were using the range that they had to push Wang Rong away to create more space for them to fight in.


    Only there were ''tink'' sounds that rang out when their tridents hit Wang Rong. sea??h th§× n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    It was the sound of metal clashing against each other.


    Wang Rong wasn''t even pushed back by the swings of the Fishmen guards.


    At first, he looked surprised that he wasn''t hurt at all and then there was a look of confidence that appeared on his face.


    With a single step, Wang Rong started pushing back against the Fishmen guards.


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    With how hard his body had become, he was even able to snap the tridents that were swung at him.


    After pushing forward, the Fishmen guards just weren''t able to do a single thing against him as they couldn''t break his defenses. At the same time, the rock hard fists that Wang Rong punched out with were more than enough to defeat these Fishmen guards.


    He was shocked and elated by the fact that his power had grown this much.


    I was feeling the same thing.


    After all, I had no idea just how strong Wang Rong would be even if I solved his mobility problem. But with the way that he was fighting, it was almost as if he had gained wings all of a sudden.


    The shackles really had been released from Wang Rong and now he was a monster in his own right.


    But that wasn''t important right now.


    I turned my attention back to the Fishman Knight that was swinging its sword around.


    Unless I took care of it, this wouldn''t end.

 Chapter 71 Completely charred

    Since it was a Fishman, it should have the same weakness as the Fishman Priest.That was why I took out the Thunder Crown once more.


    At the same time, I gave the order to the Echo Bat which it passed on to the monsters that had charged out after Wang Rong flew forward.


    The only one that wasn''t pushing the Fishman guards back after a certain point was just Wang Rong.


    It seemed like he was completely lost in the power that he had gained.


    It seemed that he just wanted to use this power as much as possible.


    He even turned to look at the Fishman Knight as if he wanted to fight it as well.


    Seeing him like this, I couldn''t help shaking my head with a bitter smile.


    In the end, I had the Sahuagins and Mermen pull Wang Rong away.


    It was only because they were different that he hesitated in attacking them, which gave them the opening to pull him away from the Fishman guards that he was attacking. Though it did take a few extra Sahuagins and Mermen to pull him away with how heavy he was.


    It seemed that he had really increased his weight with the ability of his familiar.


    After pulling him away, the path had been cleared.


    The Fishman Knight actually didn''t notice any of this since it was still focused on attacking the Fishmen that I sent to distract it.


    It seemed that its intelligence was lower than that of the Fishman Priest with how easily it was baited.


    After charging it, I released the bolt of lightning that quickly hit the Fishman Knight right in the chest when it had turned around to see what the sound was.


    When it was hit in the chest, the electricity of the bolt of lightning quickly ran through the Fishman Knight.


    It seemed like there was no resistance at all as it coursed through the body of the Fishman Knight.


    Though I could tell that it wasn''t just because the Fishman Knight was weak against the power of electricity.


    I could see that it was because of something else that it coursed through the body of the Fishman Knight that easily.


    After a few seconds, I figured it out.


    It was the armour.


    The armour that the Fishman Knight was wearing was actually channeling the electricity through its body, letting it run through it without any resistance. It seemed like it was even helping the electricity run through its body even more intensely. S§×arch* The N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    If the Fishman Knight hadn''t been wearing the armour, then it might have been better off¡­


    This was definitely something that I didn''t expect, but it wasn''t as if this was a bad thing.


    When it was over, all that was left was a charred body.


    It was a terrifying sight to see the Fishman Knight be charred like this, but there was nothing that anyone could do about it. The Fishman guards didn''t even have a chance to help the Fishman Knight.


    Once the Fishman Knight was finished off, I did the same thing as before where I had the Echo Bat take control of the Fishman guards.


    But as I did this, I couldn''t help thinking of something¡­


    "Couldn''t I have done this from the beginning?"


    I had completely forgotten about this since the Fishman Priest had been able to dispel the hypnosis, so I had just assumed that it wouldn''t work. But that wasn''t the case since the Fishman Knight wouldn''t have the same ability as the Fishman Priest in the first place.


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    It most likely would have worked if I just used the hypnosis on the Fishman guards.


    But it was too late to regret it now.


    So instead of regretting it, I just had the Echo Bat use its hypnosis skill on the Fishman guards and stop them from doing anything else.


    Once they were hypnotized, they put down their weapons and the fighting stopped.


    There was what seemed to be a disappointed expression on Wang Rong''s face, as if he still wanted to keep fighting against them.


    It seemed that he had gotten addicted to the feeling of being able to wield all that power.


    It was as if he didn''t want to give up that feeling.


    However, he had no choice but to give up that feeling since it was over.


    I even had the Sahuagin and Mermen restrain him just in case.


    I never thought that someone like him would have this kind of personality.


    Though thinking about it, I could understand where he was coming from.


    In the beginning, he was someone who had been suppressed all this time because he had a familiar that was considered worthless. Now that he had gained his wings, he wanted to ride the wind.


    I could understand because I had once been in the same position as him.


    But right now, it wasn''t the time for him to lose control like this.


    I would have to see if I could curb him in the future or else it might be a problem.


    For now, the most important thing was taking care of the Fishman Knight that had been taken down.


    Though there was still a problem.


    I looked at Wang Rong with a bit of hesitation.


    When he saw me looking at him like this, he asked in a strange tone, "Boss, what''s wrong?"


    After a moment of pause, I said, "Turn around for a bit, there''s something that I have to do."


    "Eh?" Wang Rong looked surprised and a bit disappointed when he heard this, but I didn''t say anything else as I waited for him to leave.


    So in the end, Wang Rong could only walk away with a confused and even more disappointed look.


    But this was the one thing that I couldn''t show anyone else yet.


    Once I was sure that Wang Rong was gone, I called out the Scavenger Rabbit and let it dig into the Fishman Knight.


    In no time at all, it showed me the loot.

 Chapter 72 For me?

    My eyes lit up when I saw the loot, but that wasn''t the only loot that was available.There were the corpses of the other Fishman guards, so I had the Scavenger Rabbit dig through them as well before sending it back.


    After sending the Scavenger Rabbit back, I brought Wang Rong over to look at the loot together.


    He had shown how useful he was, so naturally I had to give him something as his boss.


    Though my real intentions were to make him stronger than he currently was.


    He was my meat shield, he needed to become even stronger.


    Of course, it wasn''t as if Wang Rong knew any of this as he just excitedly came over to see what the loot was.


    The moment that he laid his eyes on the loot, there was a shocked look that appeared on his face as he turned to look at me to ask, "All of this? How did we get so much loot from those monsters?"


    It wasn''t strange that Wang Rong was shocked by this.


    After all, it was only because of the ability of the Scavenger Rabbit that all of this loot dropped in the first place.


    It was just that I was a bit surprised by his reaction because I was already used to getting this much loot. I had already completely forgotten what normal loot was like since I had never used the normal looting method.


    It was a good thing to remember this since in the future, it might be necessary to hide it.


    But for now¡­


    I just gave him a wink as I said, "It''s a secret."


    Wang Rong had a strange look on his face, but he didn''t say anything else.


    After all, he already knew that there was something special and strange about this new boss of his.


    If he thought too much about it, it would just hurt his brain.


    So it was better to use his brain on something better.


    The first thing that Wang Rong laid his eyes on was the giant great sword that was in the center of all the loot.


    This was the great sword that the Fishman Knight had been swinging around earlier.


    While he didn''t know what this great sword was, he knew that it wouldn''t be a simple item.


    But the main reason it caught his attention was because it was the perfect weapon for him.


    Now that he was able to fight on the front line, he would be able to cause even more devastation if he had this great sword in his hand. And at the same time, it seemed that he had misunderstood something.


    He thought that Lin Fan was showing him the loot because he wanted him to pick the things that were useful to him.


    So Wang Rong started reaching towards the great sword as he said, "Boss, is this for me?"


    The only response that he got was a slap to the wrist as I said, "Who said that it''s for you?"


    "Eh?" Wang Rong had a confused look on his face when he heard this before he revealed an awkward smile and asked, "Boss, if you''re not letting me use it, are you planning on selling it? I feel that it would be a waste to sell it, I think it''s better if we keep using it."


    "I never said that I was selling it." I said in a simple tone.


    Wang Rong''s expression became even stranger when he heard this before he said, "Then why not give it to me? I think I''m the only one strong enough to use it."


    He reached out for the great sword once more, but his hand was slapped back again.


    I reached out for the great sword as well before grabbing the hilt to say, "Who said that I can''t use it?"


    Then in front of Wang Rong''s eyes filled with shock, I easily lifted up the great sword.


    Even though this great sword was too heavy for most people to lift up, it was easy for me.


    I had more than twenty times the strength that normal people had, so it was like lifting up a toy with how easily I picked it up. Read new chapters at My Virtual Library Empire


    A bitter smile appeared on Wang Rong''s face when he saw this, but there was nothing that he could say. After all, I had used cold hard facts to prove him wrong, so there really wasn''t anything that he could use to refute my words.


    All he could do was look through the other loot for something useful, but it didn''t seem like there was anything that he liked.


    Most of the loot came from the normal Fishmen, so it wasn''t as if they were any good.


    But it also wasn''t as if I would let him take nothing at all, he still needed something.


    "That is for you."


    Wang Rong followed my finger before revealing a strange look to say, "Do I really need that?"


    "That''s all you get." I said in a firm voice that seemed like it didn''t broker any argument.


    So Wang Rong had no choice but to take the thing that I was pointing at.


    It was the armour that the Fishman Knight had been wearing.


    For Wang Rong, who had the ability to strengthen his skin, it didn''t seem like this armour was useful to him.


    But I still said, "What if your familiar runs out of power, what happens then? You should always prepare backups."


    Wang Rong just couldn''t argue this, but I could see the way that he looked at the greatsword.


    With a sigh, I said, "I''ll let you use it from time to time, but I need this for now. If we find something better, then it''s yours."


    Wang Rong''s smile became even more bitter, but he nodded in agreement. S~ea??h the ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Though what he was thinking was¡­


    "Why not just say you''ll give me the new thing we find?"


    Still, he was the boss and Wang Rong was just his subordinate, so there was nothing that Wang Rong could do.

 Chapter 73 What do you want to do?

    With Wang Rong by my side, it was much easier sweeping through the monsters of this dungeon.The longer that we were in this dungeon, the more confident he seemed to become.


    At the same time, it seemed like he was losing interest in showing off with his power. Discover stories at My Virtual Library Empire


    He had his fill of using that power to destroy the monsters, so he was able to calm himself down.


    Once he calmed down, he was able to easily see the position that he had to take. From time to time, he would be in front of the monsters, leading them in a charge. Other times, he would fill the gaps in the line of the monsters.


    In short, he had a sharp intuition that told him exactly where to go when he was needed.


    I was very satisfied with Wang Rong''s performance.


    After all, I had only chosen to take him under my wings because I pitied him, but it turned out that he was actually quite the talented person.


    He just never had the chance to show that talent.


    "Boss, where are we going next?" Wang Rong asked in an excited voice.


    Even though we had been fighting Elite Monsters, it didn''t seem like he was tired at all which was a second trait that I approved of.


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    Before I could finish, we suddenly heard something that cut me off.


    "Help us! Please help us!"


    It was the exact same situation as when I helped Wang Rong.


    The only difference was the reaction that Wang Rong had when he heard this voice.


    The way that he furrowed his brows and narrowed his eyes, it was clear that he recognized the owner of the voice.


    No, with how he reacted, it seemed like he was quite intimate with the owner of this voice. It was as if the owner of the voice was someone that he could never forget.


    I didn''t say anything at first, but then I asked him, "Do you want to take a look? It''s not too late to leave after we see what happened."


    Wang Rong had a complicated look on his face for a while before he slowly gave a nod in response.


    At that, I led the way forward.


    It didn''t take long for us to arrive where the voices were coming from.


    It had been one voice at first, but then there were other voices that also started calling out for help.


    When Wang Rong heard these voices as well, it was clear that he recognized them. It was clear that he knew the people that these voices belonged to.


    At the same time, it seemed to make it harder for him to go forward.


    If it wasn''t for the face that I was leading the way, he might not have even gone towards those voices.


    When we came close, we found the same situation as before.


    It was a group of humans that was currently being attacked by a group of monsters.


    Wang Rong''s expression fell the moment that he saw them and it was as if he had fallen in a daze with the way that he stared at these people.


    "Are they the ones that used you as bait to run away earlier?" I asked him in a calm voice without any emotions, almost as if this wasn''t my problem at all.


    Wang Rong trembled when he heard this and he didn''t say anything, but he gave a nod of affirmation in the end.


    I had already expected this, so I wasn''t surprised at all.


    I just watched these three people fighting the monsters for a bit before asking, "What do you want to do then?"


    Wang Rong slowly looked at me with a surprised look on his face, as if he didn''t understand what I was doing.


    I didn''t say anything as I calmly looked back at him, waiting for him to make a decision.


    Wang Rong just didn''t know what to say as the look on his face became even more complicated.


    But eventually¡­


    "Let''s save them." He said this through gritted teeth, as if he had to fight with himself just to come to this decision.


    I slightly narrowed my eyes to look at him, but then I said with a nod, "Alright, if that''s your choice."


    There was a slightly confused look that was on Wang Rong''s face when he heard this, as if he couldn''t understand why I said this.


    But I didn''t give him a chance to think about it as I suddenly grabbed him by the collar.


    "Wait¡­" Wang Rong tried to say, but he didn''t get a chance to say the rest as I had already picked him up by the back of his collar and was already throwing him.


    All Wang Rong could do was reveal a bitter smile before calling out his familiar.


    As he flew through the air, he hardened himself and started to sink down, but he still reached the three that were trapped by the monsters.


    With the momentum of the throw, he was able to crash right into the monsters, catching them off guard. At the same time, with the power of his defenses, he was able to smash the heads of two monsters that were in his way.


    Without any hesitation, Wang Rong charged at the other monsters that were here.


    They had been surrounded by around a dozen monsters, but that was nothing for Wang Rong who was already used to his new powers.


    With a few punches, the rest of the monsters fell to the ground.


    "Why is it you?" The leader of the group of three said in a shocked voice.


    The other two had similar shocked looks on their faces after he said this.


    Wang Rong turned around with a bitter smile and asked, "Were you not expecting me after what happened?"


    The three of them revealed awkward looks when they heard this, but then the leader said in a natural manner, "It''s a good thing that you''re still alive. We had been searching around for you this entire time."


    It seemed that he was quite shameless as he told this bold faced lie.

 Chapter 74 Test (1)

    Wang Rong just shook his head before saying with a sigh, "Get out of here while you can. You should know what your limits are.""Now hold on, how can you say that? We''re a team, we should be exploring this dungeon together. Not to mention that you''ve been hiding your power this entire time. With this power, we''ll easily clean up the Boss Monster." The leader of the group came forward and wrapped his arm around Wang Rong''s shoulder in a natural manner. sea??h th§× Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    It was as if he still took himself as the boss of Wang Rong.


    Even though just a moment ago, it was Wang Rong who saved his life.


    Wang Rong narrowed his eyes when he heard this, but he didn''t deem it necessary to give an answer to this delusional person.


    He already knew what kind of person he was, but this person was the only one that had allowed him to join their party. So in the end, he still had a trace of gratitude towards this person, even if he did hate him to the bottom of his guts.


    Without a word, Wang Rong turned to leave.


    Only, the other two members of the party didn''t seem to let him.


    These two girls suddenly came forward and stood in front of him as if they were surrounding him. With the party leader who was still holding onto Wang Rong''s shoulder, they did surround him completely.


    "What? Are you trying to leave? When you''re a part of our party?" The party leader''s voice became a bit strange as he said this.


    The girl on the left said, "Brother Wang, where did you get that armour?"


    The girl on the right said, "It really seems like special armour. Don''t you think that it would fit Big Brother Yue?"


    The party leader who was surnamed Yue immediately nodded in agreement to this before saying, "Wang Rong, you should really give me this armour. I think that if I had this armour, we would be able to do much more in this dungeon."


    Wang Rong deeply knitted his brows when he heard this. Stay connected via My Virtual Library Empire


    He never thought that these people would be this shameless¡­


    He had saved them even though they had abandoned him previously and now they were even trying to take his items.


    There really seemed to be no end to their shamelessness¡­


    "I''m not part of your party anymore." Wang Rong said before pushing the party leader''s hand off his shoulder and walking forward.


    When he did this, the two girls couldn''t help taking a step back because they had never felt this kind of aura from Wang Rong before. It was actually strong enough that they could feel pressure coming from him.


    But the party leader didn''t learn his lesson at all.


    The party leader just simply drew his sword and pointed it at Wang Rong as he said, "If you think that you can leave that simply, then you''re mistaken. Don''t you think that you should leave something behind as compensation if you''re going to leave our party?"


    The two girls were surprised by the party leader suddenly doing something like this, but they also pulled out their weapons to point at Wang Rong when they came back to their senses.


    In a matter of seconds, they turned into bandits.


    Wang Rong deeply knitted his brows as he stared at the three of them.


    He didn''t feel any fear even though they had him surrounded and were pointing his weapons at him since they just didn''t pose a threat to him at all. However, it was a big shock for him when the situation changed this suddenly.


    But before anyone else could do anything¡­


    "What is going on here?" The party leader shouted in a shocked voice.


    They had been completely surrounded by monsters. There were even more monsters than there were previously when they had been caught.


    All three of them immediately lost their courage and started to tremble.


    The party leader then turned to Wang Rong to say, "Take care of them! You''re strong enough, you should take care of these monsters!"


    As he said this, it seemed like he was prepared to run off on his own.


    It was just that there was nowhere to go since they were completely surrounded by the monsters that appeared.


    Wang Rong only had a small frown on his face when he saw these monsters.


    It wasn''t that he was worried about them, it was that he recognized them.


    It was hard for him not to recognize these monsters since they were the ones that he had fought beside all this time.


    These were the monsters that Lin Fan controlled.


    Wang Rong just didn''t understand why Lin Fan would make a move now of all time.


    After thinking about it, Wang Rong started moving towards the monsters in front of him.


    The two girls quickly moved out of the way and went over to where the party leader was, as if they were preparing to run away as well.


    It was just that there was nowhere for them to go since there was a wall of monsters behind them.


    The only thing that they could do was¡­


    "Wang Rong, take care of all of them!"


    "Brother Wang, you have to be sure to protect us!"


    "Brother Wang, I''ve always felt that you''re someone special!"


    A bitter look appeared on Wang Rong''s face in the face of the shamelessness of this group.


    One moment they wanted to rob him and the next they were acting like they had done nothing wrong.


    It really made him want to punch them in the face.


    But for now, he held himself back as he walked towards the monsters.


    Then to the shock of the three, he walked right past the monsters without a single punch thrown. The monsters acted as if they didn''t see Wang Rong at all as they let him walk right past them.


    Only before Wang Rong could leave, there was a voice that rang out.


    "Where do you think you''re going?"

 Chapter 75 Test (2)

    Read latest chapters at My Virtual Library EmpireWang Rong had a confused look when he turned in the direction of the voice.


    After a while, Wang Rong asked, "Boss, what do you mean by that?"


    "It''s a very simple question, I just wanted to know where you were going." I said with no expressions on my face.


    The look on Wang Rong''s face became even more confused, but he eventually said, "Let''s just leave this matter be. There''s no need to care about people like them."


    I shook my head and said with a sigh, "It seems that you''re still too naive."


    "Huh?" Wang Rong was even more confused when he heard this.


    Seeing this, I explained, "Do you really think that people like them would just leave matters like this? It''s obvious that they won''t drop this matter here and that will just mean more trouble for us in the future."


    Wang Rong deeply knitted his brows when he heard this.


    When I put it this clearly, it was impossible for him not to understand what I meant by this. However, it didn''t seem like he was able to agree with the implications of what I said that easily.


    It seemed that he still wasn''t that determined yet.


    Still¡­


    "I won''t let that happen, so we will deal with them here and now." I said in a cold voice.


    The three of them had been silent since they were terrified of the monsters that surrounded them, but they couldn''t keep silent any longer when they heard this.


    "What do you mean by that?"


    "You can''t do this to us!"


    "Brother Wang! He''s working with the monsters! You have to take him down now!"


    Even though they were shouting, Wang Rong just completely ignored them as he looked at me. It was as if he was trying to figure out if I was being serious or not, but I just looked back at him with the same cold look on my face.


    After a long pause, Wang Rong asked, "Boss, is it really necessary?"


    "Didn''t you say that you would follow my orders?" I asked back without answering his question.


    Wang Rong had an awkward look on his face.


    There was no doubt that this was his first time doing something like this, so it would be strange if he was able to do this without any hesitation.


    But I didn''t give him the ability to reject this.


    So in the end, Wang Rong said with a sigh, "What do I have to do?"


    "I won''t make it hard on you, there''s no need for you to do it personally."


    "What are you going to do to us?" The leader of the group suddenly cut in with this roar that was hard to ignore.


    Of course, it wasn''t as if I was going to ignore him since it was finally time to address them.


    I just looked at him to say, "There''s people that go missing in the dungeon all the time because they''re attacked by monsters. What do you think will happen if you were to go missing today?"


    A chill ran down the spines of all three of them when they heard this.


    They looked at me as if they were trying to figure out if I was being serious or not, but there was only a cold look on my face as I looked at them.


    "You¡­You can''t do this! We''re both humans, how could you do such a thing?" The leader of the group suddenly asked this in an accusatory voice.


    But even though he said this, I still had a cold look on my face.


    "Please, I''ll give you anything if you let me live!"


    "Just spare me alone, I''ll do whatever you want!"


    The two girls seemed to understand the situation that they were in better than their leader, so they started to beg for their lives.


    One of them just started to beg while the other one started showing off her body.


    When the leader of the group saw this, he couldn''t help revealing an ugly look on his face.


    But it didn''t take long before he started begging for his life as well.


    The three of them really didn''t have any shame at all that they were able to do such a thing without even batting an eye.


    It was clear what kind of people they were, so I wasn''t interested in what they had to say at all.


    With a wave of my hand, the monsters started to surround them once again.


    They wanted to step back, but it wasn''t as if there was anywhere for them to go since they were surrounded by the monsters.


    The only thing that they could do was pull out their weapons to try and fight back while still begging for their lives.


    Only I didn''t pay any attention to them.


    Instead, I turned back to Wang Rong and said, "Hold them in place for the monsters to land the finishing blow."


    A trace of fear appeared on Wang Rong''s face when he heard this.


    It was clear that he didn''t want to follow this order, even if he hated the three of them. S§×ar?h the N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    But I didn''t give him a choice since this was the only way that this would end.


    In the end, Wang Rong''s face slowly filled with determination as he came to a decision.


    Without a word, he turned to head towards the three of them.


    When they saw him coming forward, they all started to beg Wang Rong to save them, but Wang Rong just acted like he didn''t hear them at all.


    I just silently watched all of this since¡­this was my test for Wang Rong.


    There would be things that would be much worse than this in the future, that was just what it took to survive in this world.


    I wanted to know if he would be capable of doing this, which was why I was using this simple matter to test him.


    If he couldn''t do this, then he wasn''t worthy of following me.


    But if he could, then Wang Rong would be the perfect subordinate.

 Chapter 76 Fishman Chief

    When it was over, Wang Rong came back with a heavy look on his face.There were also traces of blood that were on his body, but it didn''t seem like he cared about them as it seemed like he had a lot on his mind.


    When I saw him like this, I took out a towel from my Storage Ring for Wang Rong.


    He was surprised when I tossed it at him, but I just said, "Wipe yourself off."


    Wang Rong didn''t say anything at first, but he still eventually took the towel and wiped the blood off himself. S§×arch* The N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Even then, he didn''t say a single word.


    Though he hadn''t actually dealt the final blow, there was no doubt that he was the one that had caused their deaths.


    So it was only natural that it hung heavy on him.


    But the fact that their corpses were left behind was more than enough to prove his loyalty.


    Since he had proven it, then there was no reason to doubt him.


    It was better to leave him alone to gather his thoughts.


    Not to mention that there was another place that I wanted to go.


    Though when I wanted to head to that place, it seemed like the Fishmen that I asked to lead the way seemed anxious. It was as if they were afraid of whatever was in that place that they didn''t want to go there.


    I knew exactly what was there, which was why I wanted them to lead us there in the first place.


    In the end, they still followed my orders since they were hypnotized even if they seemed afraid.


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    With the Fishmen leading the way, it didn''t take long for us to arrive.


    This was a place that was like the other places where the Elite Monsters resided, but it was also different.


    That was because there wasn''t just a single building that was there, there were several buildings that were placed together. With the way that they were placed, it was almost as if there was some kind of settlement here.


    That was the first sign that there was something different here.


    The second sign was the number of monsters that were gathered around the area.


    It was completely different from the number of monsters that had been gathered around in the area of the Elite Monsters.


    It was like night and day with how many monsters were gathered here.


    That was only natural since this was the place where the Boss Monster of this dungeon was.


    Wang Rong snapped out of his daze when we arrived in this area and came forward to ask, "Boss, are we really doing this?"


    I turned to look at him to ask, "Why do you think that we can''t do this?"


    "It''s a Boss Monster, it''s completely different from the Elite Monsters that we fought before¡­" Wang Rong''s voice trailed off with worry as he said this.


    Anyone would feel the same way if they were in the same situation.


    A Boss Monster was a Boss Monster for a reason.


    However, I didn''t have any fear of the Boss Monster since I had already fought the Thunder Deer before.


    Even if it was a C Rank Boss, I was still confident since I was much stronger than before.


    So I just said, "Don''t worry, just trust me and it''ll all turn out fine."


    Wang Rong still had a trace of doubt on his face, but he eventually nodded in agreement.


    We didn''t head into this monster settlement right away and instead sent a few of the monsters that I controlled in to scout it out first.


    Since this was a monster settlement, it was easier to scout since there were all kinds of monsters here. It wasn''t like before where there were only Fishman guards, there were also Mermen and Sahuagins here as well.


    So I sent a few of each kind in to scout out the entire area, including the area for Mermen and Sahuagins.


    The different monsters actually lived apart from each other and it even seemed like there was some kind of racism between them judging by how they treated each other.


    It seemed that the Fishmen were the upper class citizens while the Mermen and Sahuagins were the lower class citizens.


    It really seemed strange seeing the monsters act like this.


    But it wasn''t as if I was here to think about monster hierarchy.


    Instead, I was keeping my eyes open for the Boss Monster.


    It wasn''t the scouts that I sent that found the Boss Monster in the end, I was the one that found it. Only that was because the Boss Monster was walking through the monster settlement like it was looking for something.


    Or it was better to say that it was looking over the monster settlement as it walked through.


    It seemed like it was actually governing the settlement.


    This Boss Monster seemed like one that had intelligence, which would be a problem.


    Wang Rong could also see this, so he asked, "Boss, are you sure about this?"


    I didn''t say anything as I continued observing the Fishman Chief walking through the settlement.


    The way that it walked through and governed the monsters¡­it really seemed like it had the same biased thoughts as the other Fishmen.


    That gave me an idea of how to take them down.


    There was no need to fight them ourselves, it was better if we could incite a fight between the monsters.


    Though I did feel strange about doing something like this.


    It felt weird that the monsters were like this in the first place.


    "Let''s observe and wait a bit." I said without even turning back to look at Wang Rong.


    Wang Rong let out a sigh of relief when he heard this, but I ignored him still.


    I started observing the monster settlement carefully, looking for gaps in their society that I could exploit.


    The other thing that I was waiting for was for the monsters to let their guards down so I could do what I needed to do.

 Chapter 77 Discourse

    Eventually, the monster settlement started to grow silent.Even though there was no day night cycle since we were in a dungeon, it seemed that the monsters still followed a cycle since they still needed to rest.


    With the watch that I brought, I was able to tell that it was currently night time outside the dungeon.


    It seemed that the monsters matched us humans even if there was no night time in the dungeon itself.


    That meant that there was a period where they let down their guards.


    That was the perfect chance for me to strike.


    When the monsters came back to report, I asked them, "Did you prepare everything?"


    They all nodded to show that everything had been prepared as I ordered them to prepare it.


    Now the only thing that was left was to trigger the traps that I had set and see how it would end.


    I took one last look at the monster settlement before waving my hand at the monsters and saying, "Go and complete your orders."


    They nodded in agreement before heading off.


    In no time at all, there were explosions that came from the monster settlement in front of us.


    These explosions came from different parts of the monster settlement and seemed to have affected the different kinds of monsters. Though there were two races that were more affected than the other race.


    It was the Sahuagins and Mermen who suffered the brunt of these explosions.


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    The buildings that housed the Sahuagins and the Mermen all collapsed under the explosion and it seemed like there was quite a bit of damage.


    There were even what seemed to be children that were brought out of the buildings by the adult monsters. sea??h th§× nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    It seemed that the entire Sahuagin and Merman society were here.


    After the explosions finished and all of the monsters were gathered outside, there was a lull in the action. With the way that they acted, it was as if they were taking a moment to come to terms with what had just happened.


    It was as if they were still processing everything.


    That was when there were a few members that started speaking out.


    I didn''t understand what they were saying, but the reactions from the others made it clear what they were thinking.


    At the same time, the ones that were speaking were the monsters that I had planted in their society.


    They were the moles for me to control the monsters.


    In no time at all, it seemed that all of the Sahuagins and the Mermen had been convinced of something with the way that they pulled out their weapons. The look of hatred on their faces made it clear what they were planning to do.


    In a matter of minutes, there was a wave of monsters that started moving towards the center of the settlement.


    That was where the Fishmen and the Fishman Chief were.


    The Fishmen had also been hit by the explosions, but it wasn''t as bad as the ones that hit the Sahuagins and the Mermen.


    So it didn''t take them long to secure everyone and focus on finding out what happened.


    Only during this, the Sahuagins and the Mermen appeared.


    The Fishmen were confused at first, but that confusion soon disappeared when they saw what the Sahuagins and Mermen did. In no time at all, there was chaos that filled this settlement.


    It was monster against monster as the Sahuagins and the Mermen attacked the Fishmen.


    All the Fishmen could do was defend themselves since they were outnumbered by the two other races.


    But that wasn''t the only problem.


    There were Fishmen that also changed sides and started attacking the other Fishmen.


    The Fishmen that were being attacked just couldn''t understand what was happening, but they didn''t have the time to figure it out since they were completely overwhelmed by these attackers.


    The ones that had changed sides to help the other races were naturally the ones that were being controlled by me.


    I had placed moles in all three races.


    Though there were some that weren''t being controlled by me.


    There were some that actually supported the Sahuagins and Mermen, unlike the rest of the Fishmen. They were a minority, but they still had a decent amount of power, which was why they were willing to fight with them now.


    It had turned into a full blown revolution with the way that things went.


    With the way that things were going, there was no way that the Fishman Chief wouldn''t notice anything.


    It was just that it didn''t seem like there was any reaction from the central building that the Fishman Chief was in.


    That was strange since the Fishman Chief would have certainly come out to quell this rebellion. It had shown that it was a capable leader and that it was a powerful Boss Monster, so why did it do nothing?


    It seemed strange until the door to the structure that the Fishman Chief was in finally opened.


    The Fishman Chief looked like it had just woken up with the way that it walked out.


    Once it came back to its senses, it looked in front of it as if it was still trying to figure out what happened before suddenly pointing its trident forward at the monsters fighting. The way that it stood there, it was as if it was demanding to know what was happening.


    The monsters had stopped fighting when they saw the Fishman Chief come out, but now¡­


    They could see that the Fishman Chief was still groggy from waking up, so they wanted to take advantage of this. The monsters that were fighting for their freedom immediately went forward to attack the Fishman Chief from all directions.


    The Fishmen that were still loyal wanted to stop them, but there were just too many of them.


    The Fishman Chief on the other hand didn''t seem to take them seriously as it casually took the trident with its other hand and swept out with it.


    In one swift move, all of the monsters were pushed back.


    In the end, the Fishman Chief was still the Boss Monster.


    It was on a different level from these normal monsters.

 Chapter 78 A little help

    The monsters that were pushed back weren''t discouraged when they were stopped by the Fishman Chief.Instead, they started using ranged options instead as they threw tridents at the Fishman Chief.


    It was just that this wasn''t useful at all.


    The Fishman Chief was more than capable of stopping these tridents that came at it.


    It didn''t just have power, it also had speed and dexterity.


    It deftly swung its trident around itself and cut down the tridents that were flying at it.


    It seemed like it was no effort at all for the Fishman Chief with the way that it cut down everything flying at it.


    At the same time, the Fishman Chief was even able to step forward as if it wanted to put pressure on them.


    With a single flick, one of the tridents actually went in a specific direction.


    That trident flew out at one of the Sahuagins that had attacked the Fishman Chief.


    The Fishman Chief had been so skilled with its deflection that it had even been able to deflect it to another one of the monsters attacking it.


    If it wasn''t for the Sahuagin beside it stopping that trident with its own trident, there would have been a skewered Sahuagin. Only the force that the trident had been deflected at was too much for the Sahuagin to stop completely, so it lost its grip on its own trident.


    The way that the trident was skewered and bent showed just how strong the Fishman Chief was.


    It wasn''t just a single trident that was skewered and bent like this, it was many others that were skewered and bent in the end.


    The Fishman Chief was skilled enough that it was able to deflect many of the tridents that came flying at it.


    With this one move, it put enough pressure on the monsters that it had turned around the entire situation.


    They were terrified of the power that the Fishman Chief showed and couldn''t help feeling despair over the situation.


    That was the power that a Boss Monster had.


    But the monsters weren''t completely filled with despair in the end.


    There were some that didn''t give up even though it seemed like they were completely outclassed by the Fishman Chief.


    With these individuals encouraging the others, they slowly regained their determination and raised their weapons again.


    The Fishman Chief didn''t miss this and narrowed its eyes when it saw these individuals leading the others. It was as if it could see that these individuals were the ones that it needed to deal with right away.


    With a single step, the Fishman Chief suddenly appeared in front of one of those individuals.


    It was one of the Sahuagins that were hypnotized.


    The Fishman Chief had brought its trident up over its head as if it wanted to crush this Sahuagin in one single sweep.


    But before it could, it suddenly knitted its brows and seemed to freeze for a second as it stopped moving the trident in its hands.


    It was in this same second that there was a faint light that appeared around that Sahuagin that was easy to miss. If one didn''t look carefully at the Sahuagin, they wouldn''t have noticed it.


    Most monsters that were watching this scene were focused on the Fishman Chief.


    It was only the Fishman Chief that noticed this faint light around the Sahuagin. sea??h th§× novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The other thing that the Fishman Chief noticed was that it didn''t seem like this Sahuagin had any fear of it.


    The Sahuagin raised its trident and swept out at the Fishman Chief''s trident. Then to the surprise of not just the Fishman Chief, but also the rest of the monsters, it was actually knocked to the side.


    While the other monsters were being distracted, there were some Fishmen, Sahuagins, and Mermen that came through the crowd to stab the Fishman Chief.


    The Fishman Chief was even more surprised when it saw that these tridents had actually pierced through its skin and it started bleeding.


    "Roar!"


    With this roar, the monsters that had attacked the Fishman Chief were pushed back.


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    It didn''t seem like this roar was just for pushing them back, but rather this roar was a way of venting its frustration.


    It was as if the Fishman Chief was saying, "How dare you insects hurt me!?"


    But there was nothing that the Fishman Chief could do as it was surrounded by these monsters that kept attacking it again and again.


    The worst part was that there was some kind of strange power that kept restraining it when it tried to kill these monsters. That gap that it created and the strange light that seemed to be buffing these monsters were enough to push it back.


    The Fishman Chief just became more and more wounded, while also looking more and more frustrated.


    There was nothing that the other Fishmen could do to help their chief, that was just how overwhelmed they were by these monsters that were attacking them.


    The monsters became even more filled with morale when they saw what was happening to the Fishman Chief.


    From a distance, Wang Rong had a look of shock on his face as he watched all of this.


    "Boss, how are you doing this?"


    I heard him ask from behind me, but I didn''t answer this question as I focused on the battle in front of me.


    Even if it seemed like the Fishman Chief would be going down at this rate, I knew that it wouldn''t be that simple.


    I had the experience with the Thunder Deer, so I knew that there was something special about these Boss Monsters.


    Once they took a certain amount of damage, they would move to their second phase and gain new abilities.


    This Fishman Chief wasn''t different from the Thunder Deer in this aspect.


    Once it was bleeding all over, it was suddenly covered in blue energy.


    The Fishman Chief''s face was filled with rage as it swung its trident around, which caused water to start gathering in the space around the trident.

 Chapter 79 Thanks for this opportunity

    Once it had gathered enough water, it swung its trident forward and sent that water at the monsters attacking it.This water formed a jet of water that crashed into anything that was in its way.


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    The power of this water jet was much greater than anything that the Fishman Chief had shown so far.


    It was strong enough that it swept the monsters off their feet and carried them until they were slammed into a wall.


    After shooting out that jet of water, the Fishman Chief continued to gather water around itself.


    With the way that it was surrounded by this water, it was almost as if it was the ruler of the waves.


    But this wasn''t the only thing that the Fishman Chief did after gathering this water around itself.


    The water that gathered there started to spread around the Fishman Chief, as if it would cover this entire area in water.


    The Fishman Chief was empowered in the water, so it was going to cover this entire area in water. This was the special ability that the Fishman Chief released when it reached stage two.


    But the moment that it did this, there was this strange smile that appeared on my face.


    "Boss, what''s wrong?" Wang Rong asked with a concerned tone when he saw this strange smile, but I didn''t say anything.


    I just slowly pulled out the crown from my Storage Ring and put it on my head.


    Wang Rong had already seen this crown before and knew what it did, so he took a step back.


    However, he still felt that he should ask something, "Boss, what about the ones that you sent down there?"


    Though he felt strange that he was asking something out of concern for the monsters, Wang Rong couldn''t help asking this since they had fought alongside him during this time.


    It would be a bit too cold if he didn''t say anything.


    "What do you mean? They''re not down there anymore." I said in a calm voice without even looking back.


    Wang Rong was surprised to hear this and he went to take a look.


    He had spent enough time with those monsters to tell them apart from the others by now and when he looked closely, he found that it was true. All of them had disappeared from the crowd of monsters down there.


    There wasn''t a single one of them down there.


    "When did you¡­?" Wang Rong asked in a shocked voice.


    I didn''t respond to him as I started gathering electricity in my crown.


    Since the Fishman Chief had set things up for me, I naturally wasn''t going to turn him down.


    During the time that I was gathering my electricity, the Fishman Chief was going on a complete rampage which helped me even more. He started swinging his trident around and there were attacks formed from water that were shot in every direction.


    It really had fine control over the water as there were many precise shapes that it changed the water into.


    Only the Fishman Chief had lost control of itself and was wildly attacking in every direction. Sear?h the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    It didn''t even notice that the ones that had actually been a threat to it were gone.


    As for the other Sahuagins and Mermen, they bore the brunt of these attacks and didn''t have time to realize that the ones that led them were gone.


    Once the Fishman Chief had spread the water out enough, I suddenly shot out the bolt of lightning.


    The Fishman Chief was able to react to it, but the first thought that it had was to raise a wall of water to stop this attack. That might have worked against normal attacks, but this was a bolt of lightning that it was trying to block against.


    The moment that the bolt of lightning hit the wall of water, it suddenly shattered apart and disappeared without a trace.


    But the reason that it disappeared wasn''t because it had been blocked by the wall of water.


    The reason that it had disappeared was because it had been absorbed by the wall of water.


    This wall of water was naturally connected to the large pool that the Fishman Chief had summoned under itself. That meant that the moment that the bolt of lightning was absorbed by the wall of water, the electricity quickly spread through that pool.


    In no time at all, the electricity reached all of the monsters that were currently stuck inside the pool.


    There was the smell of fried fish that filled the air as this electricity spread through this pool.


    In no time at all, all of the Fishmen, Sahuagin, and Mermen were charred black by the power of the bolt of lightning.


    It was only the Fishman Chief who was still standing.


    It had also been charred, but it wasn''t as bad as the others as it had natural resistances as a Boss Monster.


    But with the way that it was leaning on its trident, as if it would fall over at any moment, it really seemed like it was on its last legs.


    The Fishman Chief looked around for where this bolt of lightning came from, but it was already too late as there was another bolt of lightning that was coming at it.


    The only thing that the Fishman Chief could do was raise another wall of water while jumping up into the air.


    The bolt of lightning was absorbed by the wall of water, but that was still a problem since that meant that the water was being charged with this electricity. The others had already been burnt to a crisp by the pool of electrified water, so there was nowhere for this water to go.


    At the same time, the Fishman Chief couldn''t control the water anymore now that it was filled with electricity.


    It could only turn to look at the one that had shot this bolt of lightning at it with a gaze that was filled with grudge.


    "Thank you for this opportunity." I said with a smile to the Fishman Chief.

 Chapter 80 The final piece

    Once the Fishman Chief collapsed, the water started to disappear as well.I had been worried about how to get rid of this electrified water after taking care of the Fishman Chief, but it seemed like there was no need to be worried.


    This water had been created with the mana of the Fishman Chief, so once the Fishman Chief died, that meant that the mana creating the water was cut as well. Without that mana supplying it, it naturally meant that the water would dry out.


    Of course, I didn''t take the risk as I waited for the water to completely dry out.


    Once it was gone, that was when I went over to where the Fishman Chief was.


    As I came forward, the other monsters under my control also came forward with me. Only a few of them came with me towards the Fishman Chief, the rest of them went to gather the corpses of the different monsters that had also been charred by the electricity.


    As for Wang Rong, I had him remain in the same place as before to keep guard so that no one would distract me.


    There had been a bitter smile on his face when he heard this, but he agreed to keep guard in the end.


    The look on his face seemed a bit disappointed that I didn''t trust him enough to let him come, but this was a secret that I just couldn''t let anyone know.


    When I came closer, I could see just how powerful the bolt of lightning was.


    The corpse that the Fishman Chief left behind was more than enough to show that.


    It wasn''t just charred black, it was almost as if it had been cooked from the inside out with the way that the flesh under the charred skin looked.


    Perhaps it tasted good, perhaps it tasted like fish¡­but that wasn''t what was on my mind.


    I quickly summoned out the Scavenger Rabbit as per usual and immediately gave the command for it to start digging around in the corpse of the Fishman Chief.


    Its eyes lit up the same way when it saw the Thunder Deer when the Scavenger Rabbit saw this Fishman Chief. S§×arch* The N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Wasting no time at all, the Scavenger Rabbit started digging through the Fishman Chief.


    And in no time at all, it turned around with loot in its hands.


    There were a few obvious things that came out.


    The most obvious loot was the trident that the Fishman Chief wielded.


    When I looked at it, the same description box appeared.


    Vortex Trident


    Gathers water with the user''s mana and creates different shapes of water to attack with. Gives free control of water based on how much mana is provided to the trident.


    This was the ability that the Fishman Chief had already demonstrated, so this wasn''t something that was surprising to see.


    Instead, I was more surprised by the second item that came out.


    Gem of Water


    Grade: A


    A gem filled with water energy. Can be embedded into items to imbue them with the power of water or can be used to nurture water beasts.


    This was another gem that was just like the one that had come out of the Thunder Deer, but this time it was a water attributed gem. Though that didn''t mean that this gem was a bad thing since it was still a powerful high grade gem.


    The third item that the Scavenger Rabbit handed over was a surprising one.


    Fishman King Scales


    Grade: A


    Powerful scales that come from the king of the Fishmen. Can be crafted into armour.


    Instead of actually giving me armour, it gave me material to create armour with.


    But it seemed that it had increased the grade which was a boon.


    The Fishman Boss Monster that I faced was no doubt just a chief, it didn''t have a crown or anything that would have proved that it was a king. Not to mention that in the first place, this was only a D Rank Dungeon, so it wasn''t as if a king would appear in a place like this.


    King Boss Monsters only generally appeared in B Rank Dungeons or above since most kings would be A Rank Monsters. There were only a few rare weak ones that were B Rank Monsters and there were some very powerful ones that were even S Rank Monsters.


    So it would be impossible for a king to appear in a place like this, unless¡­


    There was a hidden quest.


    Which was what the fourth and final item was related to.


    I had killed a bunch of Elite Monsters, but the only things that dropped from them were normal loot.


    I had only found three of the four pieces that were required for the quest item.


    So I had been worried about not being able to find the last one.


    But this worry seemed unnecessary since the Scavenger Rabbit just handed me the last piece.


    Once I had the last piece, I brought out the other three pieces and immediately put them together.


    With a flash of light, the four pieces came together to form a single thing.


    Looking at this new piece of paper that formed, I could see that it was some kind of map. But it wasn''t just any kind of map, it was a kind of interactive map that showed me exactly where I was and where to go.


    If I followed it, I should arrive in the place where the quest item or even the quest boss.


    I couldn''t feel excited when I saw this, but I also calmed myself down and focused all my attention on this.


    This was a Quest Dungeon, which meant that it was much more dangerous than normal dungeons.


    In any case, there was nothing that could be done until I reached the place that this map was pointing me to.


    So I called Wang Rong over.


    When he wanted to look at the loot, I just waved my hand at him to follow me and started moving.


    "Boss, where are you going?" Wang Rong asked in a confused voice as he followed me.


    "There''s one more stop." I said in a mysterious voice without saying anything else.

 Chapter 81 Large egg

    The two of us made our way through the dungeon while following this map.Wang Rong could see that I was looking at a map as I led the way, so he had a confused and curious look like he wanted to know what the map I was reading was.


    But I just didn''t pay any attention to him as I was focused on leading the way.


    With the map in hand, it was quite easy to find the place that was marked on the map.


    The only strange thing was that¡­it was a wall.


    There was a wall right in front of us that was blocking our way forward.


    Though according to this map, this wasn''t our final destination.


    "Boss, are you alright?" Wang Rong asked in a worried voice, but I didn''t pay any attention to him as I was still focused on the map.


    After a while, I moved over to the wall and tapped on it while placing my ear against it.


    Doing this for a bit, I turned to the Echo Bat on my shoulder and said something before it opened its mouth. After opening its mouth like this for a bit, it turned to me to give a nod of affirmation.


    Seeing this, I knew that my guess was right.


    I started moving all around the wall and started tapping in different places on the wall, as if I was looking for something.


    After a while, there was finally a sound that I wanted to hear that rang out.


    "Click."


    "Clunk." S~ea??h the ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "Kathud."


    After these sounds, the parts of the wall started to move. It was as if it was splitting apart with the way that it was moving and eventually it created an opening for us to walk through.


    "Boss, how did you know that it was here?" Wang Rong asked in a shocked voice.


    I just turned around and said in a casual mysterious voice, "I''m the boss aren''t I? If I didn''t know this, then I wouldn''t be much of a boss."


    There was a bitter smile that appeared on Wang Rong''s face when he heard this, but he knew better than to say anything else.


    After all, he didn''t know what had gotten into Lin Fan, but he had suddenly started giving these strange and infuriating answers. Instead of feeding into it, it was better to just go along with whatever he was doing.


    I didn''t pay attention to Wang Rong as I started moving forward.


    Even though this was a hidden passage, it was still properly lit like the rest of the dungeon, so we were able to see exactly what was here.


    Only it didn''t seem like there was anything here.


    It was the same as the rest of the dungeon where it was just a normal pathway, but there was something off about this place. It was the aura that was coming from in front of us that made this place seem off.


    It was an oppressive aura, as if there was something powerful up ahead.


    As expected of a hidden quest.


    Thinking about it, I suddenly pulled out the Vortex Trident and handed it over to Wang Rong before saying, "If anything happens, create a wall of water in front of us."


    Wang Rong was caught off guard seeing me offer the Vortex Trident to him, but he took it in the end and gave a serious nod.


    Though it was hard to hide the excitement that was in his eyes since he recognized the Vortex Trident.


    He even swung the Vortex Trident around a bit, gathering water around the tip as he swung it.


    I didn''t say anything as he practiced with the Vortex Trident.


    I was just focused on what was in front of us.


    Moving closer, I could tell that the aura that was coming from in front was getting stronger.


    The more that we approached it, the more pressure we could feel from it.


    "Boss¡­" Wang Rong said in a worried voice again.


    I just raised my hand for him to calm down before waving it for him to continue following me.


    I could hear the anxious gulp that came from behind me, but I didn''t say anything as I continued moving forward.


    Finally, we arrived at the end of this hallway.


    It was a small room that was at the end of this hallway and it seemed like there was something big that was there.


    It was also what was the destination that was marked on this map by a red dot.


    The thing that was in the center of this room was a very strange thing that was hard to figure out exactly what it was, but I was able to tell what it was after staring at it for a while.


    An egg.


    It was a large egg.


    It didn''t seem like there was anything else that was in this room, which meant that the pressure that was coming from in front of us was coming from this egg.


    Just what was this egg that it was giving off this kind of pressure?


    No, regardless of what it was, all that mattered was getting rid of it.


    There was no doubt that it was the egg of some kind of powerful monster, so it was better to take care of it than to leave it be.


    I turned back to Wang Rong to say, "Use your water to douse it."


    He looked at me with a confused look, but he still followed my orders and pointed the Vortex Trident at the egg to spray it with water.


    While he was doing this, I pulled out the Thunder Crown.


    Once he had doused it and I had finished gathering electricity, I shot the bolt of lightning at the large egg that was in front of us.


    The electricity from the bolt of lightning dispersed into the water and started frying the outside of the egg. In no time at all, the egg was turned brown and a part of it even cracked because of the lightning.


    Just like this, the hidden quest was finished.


    Only¡­I couldn''t help feeling that it was a bit anticlimactic¡­

 Chapter 82 Dragon fang

    Still regardless of what it was, it was a good thing that it ended like this.It was better than a hard battle after everything that had happened in this dungeon.


    Once the egg cracked, I had Wang Rong cut off his mana to make the electrified water disappear.


    Then before I even asked him, he turned around to move away from the entrance of this room.


    It was as if he had already figured that I would want some time alone with the egg.


    I looked at him with a trace of gratitude before summoning the Scavenger Rabbit out.


    The Scavenger Rabbit acted completely differently when it saw the egg.


    It seemed like it was filled with excitement, but it also seemed like it was scared even though the egg was cracked.


    This was the first time that I had seen this reaction from the Scavenger Rabbit.


    But at the very least, the Scavenger Rabbit confirmed that this egg was destroyed and dead since it was willing to move towards it. If it was still alive, there was no way that the Scavenger Rabbit would have moved towards it.


    Once the Scavenger Rabbit made its way over, it started digging through the remains of the egg even though the look of fear was even stronger on its face.


    Eventually, it turned around with two items for me. Sear?h the N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    One of them was another quest item.


    Underwater King''s Order


    Orders for the Fishman Chief to nurture this egg and make sure that it grows well in this dungeon.


    As expected, this egg was related to the hidden quest of the dungeon. It was just that it hadn''t hatched yet, which was why it was so easy to take care of.


    The second item was much more shocking in comparison.


    Dragon Fang


    Grade: S


    A powerful and sharp fang that comes from a water dragon. Can be crafted into a weapon.


    Dragon.


    Those were peak monsters no matter what kind of world it was, whether it was the real world or the fantasy world. Dragons would always be the apex predators and the top of the food chain.


    They were monsters above monsters that no one dared to fight alone.


    It was hard to imagine that this large egg that was here was actually a dragon.


    It was even harder to imagine what this dungeon would have become if it had actually hatched.


    However, thinking about it¡­it didn''t seem to make sense.


    After all, the dragon egg would have had more than enough time to hatch by now. The dungeons had been here for a long time and if no one had found this place yet, it would only make sense that the dragon egg would have hatched.


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    The only explanation was that someone would have had to come here from time to time to clear out this dragon egg.


    That would mean that someone had already finished this hidden quest before and cleared out the dragon egg before it even hatched.


    And it meant that they must have done it regularly since the dragon egg would respawn after a while since that was just part of the dungeon system.


    The only ones that could do that would be those that knew about the hidden quest.


    So who knew about it?


    The more that I thought about it, the more that I came to the same conclusion.


    "There''s a reason why she sent me to this dungeon, right?" I said to myself in a low voice.


    No matter how I looked at it, it really seemed like An Xue Yun had sent me here on purpose.


    Only did she guess that I would be able to find the hidden quest or did she do something to make sure that I would find it?


    The more that I thought about it, the more that my head hurt.


    At the same time, the more I wanted to try and figure out just who An Xue Yun was¡­Or rather the more that I wanted to know more about the Explorer Association.


    It was just that I didn''t have anywhere near enough information for this and thinking about it too much really didn''t help me.


    In the end, I just said with a sigh, "I guess I''ll talk to her about it."


    With that, I called the Scavenger Rabbit back and put the Dragon Fang and quest item away.


    Once it was all done, I went back to where Wang Rong was and reached out my hand. With the way that I was holding my hand out, it really seemed like I was waiting for him to give me something.


    Wang Rong looked at me with a cautious and confused look.


    While he did this, I could see that he was already moving the Vortex Trident behind himself as if he was trying to hide it from me.


    But it wasn''t that small that he could hide it with his body, even if he was chubby.


    Seeing that I didn''t put my hand down, Wang Rong said, "Boss, you said that you would give me a weapon if we found something better."


    With a nod, I said, "That''s right, I did say that. Only I never said that I would give you this one. I only lent it to you temporarily to use for this one time, I didn''t give it to you to keep."


    Wang Rong looked at me with a sad and bitter look, but I wasn''t moved at all by the way that he looked at me.


    I just gave a cough and gestured with my hand for him to hand it over.


    So in the end, he handed the Vortex Trident back to me.


    I patted him on the shoulder before saying, "Don''t worry, I won''t mistreat you."


    Wang Rong just revealed a bitter smile without saying anything when he heard this.


    I put the Vortex Trident away in my Storage Ring before leading the way again.


    Since even the hidden quest had been cleared, it was time to leave this dungeon.


    I had to say that I was very satisfied with everything that I had gotten from this place.

 Chapter 83 A small miracle (1)

    No one paid any attention to us when we came out of the dungeon since we were two ordinary guys.Unlike before where I had Iris by my side when I came out of the dungeon.


    It seemed that a beautiful girl would always be the center of attention.


    It was just the two of us that came out of the dungeon. The monsters that I had tamed received the same fate as their comrades that I had tamed in the previous dungeon.


    Those that worked hard should deserve a reward and it didn''t feel right to take their lives after everything that happened.


    So I let the monsters return back to the dungeon. Your adventure continues at My Virtual Library Empire


    Though I did give them the order to follow me if anything did happen in the future like with the other monsters.


    While I didn''t know if this would have any use, at least it would make it so that they wouldn''t clash with humans as much. At least, this gave them a chance to survive until we could possibly meet again.


    After leaving the dungeon, the first place that we went to was¡­


    "Boss, are you sure that you want to go there?" Wang Rong asked in a hesitant voice as he slowly led the way.


    With the way that he was leading the way, it really seemed like he didn''t want to bring Lin Fan to where he wanted them to go.


    I didn''t say anything at first as if I was lost in thought, but then I said, "There''s something that I want to try. If it doesn''t work, it doesn''t work. But if it works, then it''ll be considered a little miracle."


    Wang Rong had a confused look on his face when he heard this, but he eventually nodded in agreement.


    Though it was certainly hard for him to accept what I said and I could see that from the look on his face.


    In the end, the two of us took the bus to a hospital.


    When we walked in, we didn''t seem out of place at all.


    It even seemed like the nurses of the hospital recognized Wang Rong and were familiar with him based on how they all greeted him after seeing him.


    Wang Rong respectfully greeted all of the nurses before leading me to a certain room.


    Inside of this room was a little girl who was in bed hooked up to a life monitor. sea??h th§× N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    This little girl was Wang Rong''s little sister, the one that he wanted to make money for since she had an illness since she was young that had kept her in bed like this all this time.


    It took a large amount just to keep her alive, but Wang Rong never gave up.


    He had even thrown himself into dangerous Explorer work just to earn the money to pay her hospital bills.


    When we came in, the little girl was still sleeping.


    I took this time to get a good look at Wang Rong''s little sister.


    It really was hard to believe that the two of them were related¡­


    He was a chubby normal looking man and his little sister was a cute little angel. It really was hard to believe that the two of them were related based on their appearances.


    Wang Rong had a bitter smile as if he could guess what I was thinking, but he didn''t say anything. He just focused on how I would react, as if he was waiting for me to say something.


    But when I didn''t say anything after a long while, Wang Rong couldn''t help looking nervous.


    He couldn''t help asking in the end, "Boss, can you do anything?"


    I didn''t answer as I continued looking at his little sister, but then I suddenly shook my head and said, "I can''t say for sure, let''s wake her up and let me test something."


    Wang Rong slightly knitted his brows as if he was hesitant about this.


    I didn''t say anything since I knew that there was nothing to gain from pushing him on this matter.


    I wanted to wait for him to come to a decision on his own.


    In the end, Wang Rong gave a slow nod and went forward to tap on his little sister''s shoulder.


    Her eyes slowly opened when Wang Rong tapped her on the shoulder like this and she looked up at Wang Rong before asking, "Big brother, you''re back?"


    Wang Rong gave a slow nod before saying with a smile, "I''m back."


    The little girl slowly sat up, but she didn''t seem happy.


    When she sat up, she said, "Are you still doing those dangerous things to earn money for me? I''ve already said that you don''t have to anymore. I know that nothing will change for me, so you don''t have to sacrifice yourself anymore."


    Wang Rong slightly knitted his brows, but then he quickly revealed a smile as he said, "I told you, there''s nothing dangerous about it. You should know how strong your brother is, so there''s nothing that you have to worry about."


    "But¡­" The little girl was about to say something, but Wang Rong cut her off.


    "There''s no buts. You just have to listen to your big brother and get better."


    The little girl had a sad look on her face, but she didn''t say anything else.


    After a long moment of silence, the little girl finally noticed me who was standing in the room with them and asked, "Big brother, this is¡­?"


    Wang Rong had also seemed like he forgot that I was here with the way that he reacted, but then he said in an awkward voice, "Right, Xiao Jing, I forgot to introduce you. This is my new friend and boss, Lin Fan."


    The moment that she heard this, the little girl whose name was Wang Jing immediately knitted her brows while looking at me.


    The way that she looked at me was as if she felt hostility towards me.


    I could guess what she was thinking based on the way that Wang Rong introduced me, so all I could do was say with a smile, "It''s not what you think."

 Chapter 84 A small miracle (2)

    Seeing this, Wang Rong seemed to recognize his mistake, so he quickly spoke up to explain."Xiao Jing, it isn''t what you think. He''s an explorer just like me and he''s been taking care of me. If it wasn''t for him¡­" Wang Rong was about to say something, but then he stopped himself halfway as if he realized that saying this would just make things worse.


    Only Wang Jing didn''t miss this.


    She turned to look at Wang Rong with a worried look as she asked, "Big brother, what happened?"


    Wang Rong revealed an awkward look as he said, "Well, he saved me when I was in a tight spot and suggested that we work together. Though since he''s stronger than me, it''s better to say that I''m following him."


    Wang Jing still had the same worried look on her face, but when she turned to look at me, it didn''t seem like she had the same hostility as before.


    After a moment of silence, she even slowly bowed her head to say, "Thank you for saving my big brother."


    That just made me feel awkward, so I said, "It''s nothing."


    There was an awkward silence that filled the air after this, but Wang Jing was the one that broke the silence by asking, "Then why did you bring him here? Was it just to introduce us?"


    The question that she asked actually hit the nail on the head.


    Wang Rong had a hesitant look on his face at first, but then he said, "There''s something that he wants to try, that''s why he''s here."


    Wang Jing looked at me with a confused look, so I explained, "I want to help cure your illness, that''s why I''m here."


    A shocked look appeared on Wang Jing''s face after she heard this.


    The way that she was looking at me, it was clear that her eyes were filled with disbelief.


    It was clear that she didn''t believe that I was capable of doing what I was saying at all.


    I just calmly said, "I don''t know if it''ll work, but it''s at least better than not doing anything. You should know what kind of condition your body is in, so there''s no need for me to say anything else."


    Wang Jing slightly knitted her brows when she heard this, but she eventually nodded in agreement.


    That was because what I had said was correct.


    She knew her own body better than anyone and she knew that it was getting worse. Even with the treatment that she was getting, it was only a matter of time before her body couldn''t hold out anymore.


    That was why she had calmly asked her brother to give up on her.


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    But in reality, it wasn''t as if she wanted to die.


    Even if she had accepted her situation, it wasn''t as if she had lost all hope in the matter. She was a human, so it was only natural that there was a part of her that wanted to cling to life.


    When it was offered to her like this, she couldn''t help being shaken.


    Wang Rong saw her nodding in agreement, but he didn''t move out of the way yet as he turned to look at me. With a complicated look on his face, he asked, "Boss, how sure of you about this?"


    I looked right into his eyes and after a moment of silence, I honestly said to him, "I can''t guarantee that this will work. I can''t even provide you with a percentage of what success will be."


    Wang Rong deeply knitted his brows when he heard this.


    "All I can say is that it won''t hurt her." I said in a confident voice.


    Wang Rong looked like he was still struggling after hearing this, but he eventually gave a nod and moved out of the way.


    The look on his face was as if he was still skeptical, but he chose to trust Lin Fan in the end.


    However, it didn''t seem like he would calm down until he saw the results.


    I didn''t pay any attention to him as I looked at Wang Jing.


    I walked over to the side of her bed and then pulled out a staff.


    "Boss, this is¡­" Wang Rong''s voice trailed off, but what he was implying was clear.


    I just calmly said, "This is what I''m using to cure her."


    Wang Rong gave a nod, but it seemed that he was more worried than before.


    As I was about to raise it, I saw Wang Jing looking right at me. When she saw me looking at her, she said, "I trust you."


    I was surprised to hear these words from her, but the firm look in her eyes said everything.


    So I just simply gave a nod in response and then focused on controlling the power of the staff.


    This was the Fishman Priest''s staff that I got from the dungeon.


    It had the ability to cure, purify, and buff, so I was hoping that I could use it to cure whatever illness that Wang Jing was suffering from.


    But of course, it was impossible to be certain if this would work or not.


    For one thing, I didn''t even know what Wang Jing''s illness was in the first place.


    If only I was able to use the appraisal on her like I could with all the other things.


    As this thought passed through my mind, I looked up at Wang Jing.


    When I looked up, I was surprised to see something appear.


    It was a notification screen.


    Putting aside all the other information, the most shocking thing was that I was able to see her body''s condition.


    Debuff: Mana corruption (Innate).


    Mana corruption¡­


    That was something that I had heard of before.


    It was an illness that people started suffering from after the opening of the gates.


    There were some people that didn''t have bodies strong enough to withstand all the mana that appeared in this world after the gates opened, which was why they suffered from this. Sear?h the Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    It was something that could be treated, so it wasn''t anything incurable.


    The only thing that I was confused by was why it was considered innate¡­


    No, the other thing that I was confused by was how I was able to see this screen in the first place¡­

 Chapter 85 A small miracle (3)

    It was one thing if I was seeing appraisals from items, but appraisals of humans were a completely different matter.Enjoy new chapters from My Virtual Library Empire S§×arch* The Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    After all, it required a higher tier appraisal skill to appraise human statuses in the first place.


    At the same time, I''ve never heard of anyone being able to appraise things like debuffs before.


    This really was a strange phenomenon that I had no record of at all¡­


    "Is something wrong?" Wang Jing asked in a concerned voice.


    When she asked this, it pulled me out of my daze and I slowly shook my head before saying, "No, it''s nothing."


    Both Wang Rong and Wang Jing looked at me with strange looks, but I just ignored it as I focused on the screen that was in front of me.


    After looking at it for a bit, I decided on what to do.


    Since the appraisal screen was telling me that Wang Jing''s problem was a debuff instead of an actual illness, that meant that the purify function of the staff should work on her.


    Once that was done, all that was left was to cure her to make sure that her body was fine.


    With that plan in mind, I asked, "Are you ready?"


    Wang Jing took a moment to gather herself before giving a firm nod to show that she was ready.


    I gave her a nod back before putting my mana into the staff.


    When the staff started to glow, I could see that there was a trace of worry that appeared in Wang Jing''s eyes. But at the same time, I could see that there were traces of hope that were also in her eyes.


    It seemed that she had a bit of expectation of what was to come.


    I didn''t want to let her down since she trusted me, so I focused on sending more mana to the staff.


    The more mana used, the stronger the spell that the staff cast.


    After gathering my mana for a bit, I directed the light into Wang Jing.


    Wang Jing was surprised to see that she was covered in light like this, but Wang Rong wasn''t surprised.


    That was because he had already seen this happen before.


    Though there was a part of Wang Rong that was confused about what was happening since as far as he knew, the power of this staff should have been just to buff someone and heal flesh wounds.


    He had never seen it be used to cure an illness before¡­


    But this was his only choice, so Wang Rong just waited.


    After the light surrounded Wang Jing for a bit, it suddenly disappeared.


    Wang Jing had a strange look on her face when the light disappeared before asking, "Is that it? Is that all that happened?"


    She didn''t really feel that different after the light disappeared, so she didn''t know if anything had actually happened.


    Wang Rong couldn''t help knitting his brows, but I just said, "It''s not over yet, there''s still one more thing left."


    Wang Jing and Wang Rong had traces of doubt in their eyes when they heard this, but Wang Jing gave a nod of acknowledgement and waited to see what happened next.


    I once again sent my mana into the staff and it lit up again.


    But this time, I had a calm and relaxed look on my face.


    That was because I had already confirmed that the debuff that was on Wang Jing had already been cleansed from her. The screen that popped up when I looked at her had already confirmed this.


    Then the only thing left was to heal her body.


    That was what this second cure spell was for.


    When the light appeared around Wang Jing again, her expression was completely different.


    This time, she could actually feel the changes happening in her body.


    After a while, she looked at me with an amazed expression on her face and a look of hope in her eyes before asking, "Are you done?"


    I calmly gave her a nod before lowering the staff.


    Wang Jing looked back down at her body as if she was amazed by something, but I turned to Wang Rong to say, "Call a doctor and have them check her out. We won''t be sure unless we get the doctor''s opinion."


    Wang Rong also saw how Wang Jing reacted, so he knew that something had changed.


    With a quick nod, Wang Rong immediately ran off to call the doctor.


    ¡­


    "This is amazing, I''ve never seen a patient recover like this before." The doctor and nurse all had looks of shock on their faces as they looked at Wang Jing''s charts.


    Even though they had been skeptical at first, they still performed several tests on Wang Jing at Wang Rong''s insistence.


    When the tests came back, they were shocked by the results.


    After all, not a single one of them had expected this kind of result.


    "How is it, doctor?" Wang Rong asked in an anxious voice.


    Even though the doctor had said that Wang Jing had recovered, that didn''t mean that she was completely healed yet.


    Recovery was a wide spectrum after all.


    The doctor didn''t say anything at first as if he was still stunned by the charts that he was looking at.


    It was only when Wang Rong gave a loud cough that the doctor came back to his senses.


    With an awkward cough, the doctor said, "Yes, yes, based on these results, we can see that she has already basically completely recovered. Her body is a bit weak because of the illness, but that''s to be expected since she''s been bound in bed for that long. We''ll have to do a bit of physical therapy to help her adjust, but she should be able to leave the hospital soon."


    The eyes of Wang Rong and Wang Jing immediately lit up when they heard this.


    Wang Rong couldn''t help turning to look at Wang Jing with an emotional look, a look that Wang Jing reciprocated.


    Then without a word, he went forward and hugged her.


    He hugged her with all the strength that he had, as if he was telling her that it would be alright from now on.

 Chapter 86 A small miracle (4)

    This was a beautiful scene between a brother and sister who had gone through hardship and received a small miracle in the end.But that scene was interrupted by the doctor who gave an awkward cough to cut in.


    After Wang Rong let go of Wang Jing, the doctor had the nurse help Wang Jing with a few things before waving his hand for us to follow him outside.


    Once we were outside, the doctor slightly narrowed his eyes to reveal a serious look before saying, "I want you to be frank with me. Did you do something to help the patient?"


    The two of us were surprised to hear the doctor ask us this.


    Both of us looked at the doctor with confused looks since we didn''t know why he was asking this all of a sudden.


    Seeing us look at him like this, the doctor explained, "We are the ones that are in charge of her health, so it''s only natural that we ask this kind of thing. We want to make sure that we give the best care to our patients."


    Though the way that he said this made it seem like he said this out of concern for Wang Jing, I could see that there was something different behind his words.


    It was something that was a bit more selfish.


    Wang Jing''s case must have been something that had bothered them for a while and since she suddenly became better, it was only natural that they would suspect that we did something.


    If we had some way of curing her, then if they were to use this to cure others¡­


    Seeing that we weren''t saying anything at all, the doctor continued by asking, "Did you feed her something or do something to her?"


    This time, the doctor''s voice was a bit more pushy.


    I slightly knitted my brows before saying, "No, we didn''t give her anything at all."


    Wang Rong could also see through the doctor''s words, so he said, "That''s right, we just saw that she looked better today, which was why I insisted on getting her test."


    The doctor narrowed his eyes even more when he heard this before asking, "Is that so? Are you sure that this is the case?"


    I just calmly said, "I don''t even know what illness she had, so how could I have done something? It''s my first time here."


    The doctor''s eyes relaxed a bit when he heard this since he knew that this was indeed the case, the nurse had told him this earlier.


    Following this, I asked, "What illness did she have before?"


    The doctor didn''t answer right away, but eventually he said in a voice that seemed a bit exasperated, "She had some kind of infection that we had never seen before, which is why we didn''t know how to cure it."


    Infection?


    The appraisal window told me that it was mana corruption, so why was the doctor calling it an infection?


    There was something strange that followed the mana corruption¡­so there might be a chance that it was something special.


    Regardless, it was strange that the doctor didn''t know that it was mana corruption since it should have been a common disease.


    It seemed that there was more than met the eye.


    Seeing that neither of us had anything for him, the doctor eventually said with a sigh, "I''m sorry, I was a bit agitated. This is a case that we''ve been frustrated over for a long time and for the patient to suddenly get better like this, it really is strange. Perhaps she just developed immunity to the infection and got better on her own, or perhaps something else happened. If the tests don''t show us anything, then there''s nothing that we can do."


    The doctor gave a sigh before turning to leave, "I''m sorry I wasted your time. I''ll leave you now."


    Wang Rong looked like he wanted to say something, but I stopped him from stopping the doctor.


    He looked at me with a confused look, but I didn''t say anything or give him a look that explained it.


    I was just waiting for the doctor to leave.


    Once the doctor was gone, I waved for him to follow me since I didn''t trust that the doctor would leave this matter alone that easily.


    When we were outside and in a place that was isolated, I finally turned around to say, "Even if she seems cured right now, there''s a chance that she''ll relapse."


    When Wang Rong heard this, there was a shocked and worried look that immediately appeared on his face.


    He came forward to grab my shoulders before asking, "Boss, is that true?"


    I slowly nodded before saying, "From what I''ve seen, it''s mana corruption. Moreover, it''s an innate weakness to mana, so unless we cure the source, she won''t be completely cured."


    Wang Rong looked like a balloon that was deflated when he heard this.


    However, I quickly added, "But that doesn''t mean that we can''t treat the symptoms. While we can''t cure the source right now, we can at least cure her symptoms and give her a normal life."


    Wang Rong slowly perked up again when he heard this before saying, "Boss, will you really do that?"


    "She''s your family and you''re my subordinate, so it''s what I should do as your boss."


    Then as if I felt that something was missing, I added, "But make sure that you don''t betray me. If you do, then I won''t know what I''ll do."


    Wang Rong didn''t seem to mind that I had threatened him at the end.


    There was a smile on his face as if he was finally understanding me.


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    Then before I could react, he suddenly fell to his knees and bowed his head to say, "Boss, my life is yours. I''ll walk through fire and knives for you. I''ll do whatever you want me to do from now on."


    I was embarrassed seeing him act this way. sea??h th§× nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    After looking around to make sure that no one was around, I lifted him up and said, "Alright, as long as you get it."

 Chapter 87 A few questions

    I left Wang Rong at the hospital since I knew that he wanted to stay with Wang Jing.He had reached a point where he trusted me explicitly, so he didn''t need to come to the Explorer Association with me to make sure that he got his money.


    All I had to do was tell An Xue Yun that I had teamed up with him and to give him the split that I had agreed on with him. This was a common thing with the Explorer Association, so it should be easy for them to split the money.


    Especially since we had our accounts linked to the Explorer Association in the first place.


    It was also a good thing that he wasn''t coming since there were some things that I wanted to talk to An Xue Yun about.


    I had some questions for her about this Fishman Hole.


    When I arrived, I found that she was waiting there just like before.


    She didn''t seem to have anyone that she was dealing with, it was almost as if she was avoiding doing work. But looking closely, I could see that it almost seemed like the others were avoiding her even though her counter was open.


    It really made me feel like there was something about her¡­


    When I came in, An Xue Yun immediately noticed me and waved her hand for me to come over.


    There were a few Explorers that looked at me when they saw this and it felt like they were looking at me with strange looks.


    This didn''t happen the last time since I went up to her on my own, but when she waved at me¡­ S§×ar?h the N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The way that they looked at me almost seemed like they were looking at me with pity¡­


    "You''re back." An Xue Yun said with a smile when I walked over.


    I calmly gave a nod and wanted to say something, but before I could¡­


    She had already jumped out from behind the counter and waved her hand at me to follow her.


    She didn''t give me a chance to say anything with the way that she moved, so I had no choice but to follow me.


    It almost seemed like An Xue Yun was acting completely differently from before¡­


    No, it only felt like she was acting differently since that was the side of her that I was used to.


    I had already seen a bit of this side this morning when she gave me the Fishman Hole commission. I should have known that this was the way that she would act when she saw me again.


    After walking for a bit, we arrived at the place where the appraisal desk was.


    I just pulled out a few things from the dungeon and let the appraiser do what they had to do to value it. It was just that when I pulled these things out, I could see that An Xue Yun was looking at me with a strange look.


    It was almost as if she was expecting me to pull out something else.


    Finally, she asked, "Is that all that you got from this dungeon?"


    The fact that she said this already proved that my hypothesis was correct.


    The fact that she was asking about this meant that she should already know about what was inside of the dungeon that she would be asking this.


    Only I didn''t go along with it as I asked, "Is there something else that I should have found in the dungeon?"


    An Xue Yun narrowed her eyes to look at me before saying, "I just thought that there would be more coming from you."


    "Such as loot from a hidden quest?" I calmly asked her back without answering her question.


    An Xue Yun was surprised to hear this at first, but then she said with a smile, "It seems like I wasn''t wrong about you."


    I gave a sigh before saying, "You could have told me beforehand."


    An Xue Yun just ignored this as she asked, "So did you finish off the quest and get the special reward? I''m sure that you would be able to find it with your abilities."


    "That''s right, I did find it, but I''m not selling them to you. I have things that I need it for, so I''m keeping it for myself." I said without even batting an eyelash.


    Instead of dropping it, An Xue Yun even came forward and moved closer to me to press up against me with her body before saying, "Are you sure that you can''t give us anything?"


    After saying this, she even gave me a wink which caught me off guard.


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    I took a moment to calm down before saying, "I need it for something else."


    "What was it?" An Xue Yun asked with puffed up cheeks.


    She looked at me like she thought that I was being stingy¡­


    "A dragon fang." I said with a sigh in the end.


    I knew that it would be worse if I didn''t say anything, so I just told her what I got.


    "What?" A shocked look appeared on An Xue Yun''s face when she heard this.


    This was my first time being able to shock her like this, so it did feel a bit good.


    It was just a problem that this meant that she started bombarding me with all kinds of questions.


    I should have been the one asking questions, but she turned it around on me.


    The way that she asked questions really made it hard for me to ask anything, so I could only answer her questions for now.


    After a while, I finally had a chance to ask, "Did the Explorer Association know that this was a Quest Dungeon? Was this why you sent me there?"


    An Xue Yun looked at me with a playful smile before asking, "What do you think?"


    An exhausted look appeared on my face before I asked her, "Just who are you?"


    "I''m just a normal receptionist." She said with the same playful smile on her face.


    It was just that it was hard for me to believe her.

 Chapter 88 Sudden alarm

    In the end, there wasn''t a chance for me to ask any other questions.Or it was better to say that I knew that An Xue Yun wouldn''t actually answer any other questions that I had for her.


    Even if there were things that I wanted to learn from her, it was unlikely that she would say anything else.


    So I just didn''t bother asking and instead talked about splitting this reward with Wang Rong.


    "Wang Rong?" An Xue Yun asked in a confused voice before picking up a small tablet on the side and tapping it a few times. After tapping it, she looked down at what she found and slightly knitted her brows.


    When she looked back up, she turned the tablet around to show me what she had and asked, "Is this the one that you''re talking about?"


    I found that she had pulled up Wang Rong''s profile in the Explorer Association''s database, which was what she was currently showing me.


    There was a complicated look that appeared on my face seeing this.


    After all, this should be considered sensitive information that they weren''t supposed to share¡­yet here she was sharing it to me like it was nothing.


    Still, since she was sharing it with me, it wasn''t as if I wasn''t going to take a look.


    Getting more information on Wang Rong wasn''t a bad thing.


    According to this profile, Wang Rong was someone who awakened a 1st Class Low Grade Familiar. It wasn''t considered good, but it wasn''t considered bad either, which was why his defenses were so strong in the first place.


    It was just that the price that he paid for the strong defenses wasn''t really worth it.


    The other thing that I took note of was the fact that Wang Jing was his only relative.


    According to his profile, his parents had been caught in a dungeon break a long time ago and had been killed.


    Maybe that was why he was so desperate to help Wang Jing since she was his only relative left.


    After reading for a bit, I said, "That''s right, he''s the one that I saved in the dungeon and now he''s following me."


    An Xue Yun gave a nod to show that she understood before saying, "What about the other three that were with him? Did you save them as well?"


    I shook my head with a calm look on my face before saying, "I have no idea about the other three. They had abandoned him when they were being chased by monsters, which was how I met him."


    "Is that so?" An Xue Yun slightly knitted her brows.


    I wasn''t worried since it didn''t seem like she doubted me, it was that she wasn''t happy with what I said about the other three in Wang Rong''s group. sea??h th§× NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Explorers were all in the same situation, so those that actually abandoned their comrades were looked down on by the Explorer Association.


    If they didn''t take care of each other, then no one would after all.


    "I''ll look into this matter, you don''t have to worry about anything."


    I gave a nod before telling her how to split the money from the loot between me and Wang Rong.


    When I was done, she looked at me with a strange look.


    I just looked back at her with a calm look on my face as I said, "That was what he agreed to."


    She gave a slow nod, but there was still that same strange look on her face.


    Eventually, An Xue Yun took care of everything.


    She showed me how much the appraiser said that the items that I turned in were worth and then I got a notification on my phone that I received the money for both the loot I sold and finishing the mission.


    With that settled, I turned to leave.


    There was no reason for me to stay here any longer after all.


    An Xue Yun followed behind me and asked, "Are you coming in tomorrow?"


    I had to think about it before slowly shaking my head.


    "Good, you need to rest up after each dungeon. Don''t just be in a rush to throw your life away, take some time to get into top shape before coming back for another dungeon." She said in a voice of approval after seeing this.


    But before either of us could say anything else¡­


    "BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!"


    There was this large alarm that completely caught me off guard.


    I looked at An Xue Yun and found that she was just as surprised by this alarm as I was, but then she deeply knitted her brows as if she was very disturbed by this.


    I raised my voice so that she would hear me and shouted, "What is that alarm!?"


    An Xue Yun didn''t seem to hear me, but I knew that it wasn''t because she didn''t actually hear me. It was that she was deep in thought that she didn''t react to what I was saying.


    After a long period of being frozen there, she suddenly went to the side and grabbed another tablet off a table. This was a table for staff members of the Explorer Association, so this tablet was linked to the Explorer Association''s database.


    When I peeked over her shoulders, I immediately knitted my brows as well.


    Dungeon Break.


    Those were the words that I saw when I peeked over her shoulders.


    A dungeon break hadn''t happened in a long time since most dungeons were cleared out before that could happen in this world filled with summoners with powerful familiars. The only way that a dungeon could even break now was if there was one that was very remote and wasn''t discovered by humans, or if it was¡­a new dungeon that had suddenly appeared.


    I looked further down and immediately narrowed my eyes before turning around to leave.


    As if she could sense the anxiety that was in me, An Xue Yun quickly reached out and grabbed my arm to stop me from leaving. Read new chapters at My Virtual Library Empire


    "What''s wrong?" She asked in a concerned voice.


    I flicked my arm to throw her off and said, "That''s my neighbourhood!"


    Then without even turning back, I ran out of the Explorer Association.

 Chapter 89 Dungeon break (1)

    As soon as I came out of the Explorer Association, the first thing that I did was look around for any form of transportation.Though I knew that the chances were slim, I still had to find a way to get back to my neighbourhood.


    I knew that it would be dangerous, but¡­my mother and brother were still at home.


    If there was a dungeon break in our neighbourhood, there was no doubt that they would be caught up in it¡­


    I just couldn''t leave this matter alone.


    But since there was this large alarm, it meant that the buses and trains to my neighbourhood were completely shut down. At the same time, it wasn''t as if there were any cab drivers that would risk their lives to go near the dungeon break.


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    The last thought that was on my mind was¡­


    "I have to steal a car."


    Only before I was able to do that, there was a car that appeared in front of me.


    Before I even had time to see who it was, the door opened and a voice said, "Get in."


    I was surprised to find that it was Mo Yun and An Xue Yun who were sitting in the car, waiting for me to get in.


    Seeing that I was looking at them with a strange look, An Xue Yun said, "What are you doing? Didn''t you want to get to the dungeon break as soon as possible? If you still want to go there, then get in already."


    I came back to my senses after she said this and went into the door opened for me. Sear?h the N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Before I was even able to sit down properly, Mo Yun had already stepped on the pedal and was speeding through the streets.


    Though when he did, there was a light that appeared on the car that made people get out of our way.


    I was surprised since I recognized what the light on the car was.


    It was the special light was only used in emergencies by those authorized to do so. It was a special light that could only be used in matters of utmost urgency, such as vital dungeon breaks or other matters similar to that.


    It shouldn''t have been something that the Explorer Association could have used¡­


    As if she could guess what I was thinking, An Xue Yun said, "We also have the right to use this if we believe that we have someone that can help in these matters. It''s not a right that most people know about since there aren''t that many people that are qualified to have this right."


    She looked right into my eyes to say, "I believe that you have the qualifications for this right."


    I opened and closed my mouth a few times as I didn''t know what to say, but eventually I just simply said, "Thank you."


    She gave me a nod in response before turning forward again.


    But I could see that the tips of An Xue Yun''s ears were a bit red, almost as if she was embarrassed by this.


    I decided not to say anything since I knew that she was putting her trust in me.


    It wasn''t a good idea to tease the person that put her trust in me.


    Mo Yun on the other hand chose this moment to speak.


    "I''ve never driven to a dungeon break before, so you can say that this is a first for me. I can''t say that I''m not scared, but I''m certainly interested in seeing what this will be like."


    His words were enough to relax the awkward atmosphere that filled the car.


    But I still had to say, "It isn''t as if we''re going there to have fun."


    Mo Yun didn''t mind this at all as he casually said, "Don''t worry, I know. I''ve been doing this for a while now, so I know exactly where to drop you off."


    I gave a simple nod since I wasn''t that familiar with him, but based on our previous interaction, I could tell that he was quite the professional driver. So I would put my trust in him to get me where I needed to go.


    After a few minutes, Mo Yun suddenly stopped the car.


    I already recognized the area that we were in, it was a place that was very close to my neighbourhood.


    After stopping, he pointed at the map and said, "This is as far as I can go, any further and we''ll be in the range of the dungeon break. So this is where you''ll have to get out and go on foot."


    I gave a simple nod in response since I had already been expecting this.


    But before I could leave the car, An Xue Yun suddenly reached out to grab me.


    When I turned around to see what she wanted, I saw that she had an earring for me.


    I was confused as I looked at this thing, but she explained, "This will allow you to remain in contact with us. It''s a special artifact that uses magic to allow for long range communication and tracking."


    Seeing that I was still confused and even a bit wary of this thing, she added, "Did you really think that you would be able to make your way there on your own? If you remain in contact with us, we''ll be able to guide you and provide you with all the latest news from the officials. In a sense, you''ll be working with the Explorer Association officially to help quell this dungeon break."


    I slowly nodded to show that I understood what she meant by this.


    After quickly going through the pros and cons of this, I took the earring and clipped it to my ear.


    "Anything else?" I asked An Xue Yun just in case.


    She shook her head before biting her lip to say, "Be careful."


    I once again gave a simple nod before turning around to open the door and headed out into the streets.

 Chapter 90 Dungeon break (2)

    After leaving the car, I could see some things that looked familiar to me and started making my way towards my house.But after walking away from the car for a bit, I understood why she wanted to guide me.


    It wasn''t just because she was afraid that something would happen as I made my way to my house. It was because she knew that there would be this strange miasma that appeared in the area where the dungeon break happened.


    This was a strange dark mist that filled the air that clearly didn''t seem like it was a good thing.


    Not only did it block vision, it seemed like it was corrupting everything that it came in contact with, leaving behind these black marks.


    If I had to guess, this was most likely residue that came from the monsters and the dungeon.


    With this miasma in the air, it really was easy to lose one''s way.


    "Can you hear me?"


    I suddenly heard this voice in my ear which caught me off guard and then I was a bit confused since I didn''t know what to do, but eventually I just spoke out loud in hopes that it would work.


    "I can hear you."


    "Good. The path that you''re taking should be clear, but watch out just in case."


    A faint smile appeared on my lips when I heard this, but I still said, "Alright, thank you."


    The information that she gave me couldn''t really be considered useful, but at least it meant that I wouldn''t be caught off guard when An Xue Yun suddenly spoke to me while I was fighting.


    I just continued forward slowly, making sure to keep an eye on everything around me.


    But the silence around me made it seem like there wasn''t anything there.


    It was a deafening kind of silence that made it seem like I was the only person in the world.


    Only that didn''t make any sense at all.


    This was a place where there was a dungeon break, so there should have been far more noise than this. There should be all kinds of explosions and different noises coming from all around me as I got closer to the center of the dungeon break.


    I was just surprised and confused by how silent this all was¡­


    That was unless¡­


    "Did the monsters already finish clearing out this area and move to a different place?" A grim and worried look appeared on my face when this thought passed through my mind.


    The more that this place was silent, the more that it felt like this was the case¡­


    After this thought passed through my mind, I couldn''t help moving faster.


    But as I moved faster, there was more noise that was made.


    I even kicked a few stones into the distance which created a chain reaction of rubble falling.


    Once that happened, there was noise that started appearing around me.


    Through the dark mist, there were a few figures that approached me.


    When they came through the mist, I saw what they were.


    They were a group of monsters.


    These were large figures that came out of the dark mist, they were much larger than me at the very least.


    But that wasn''t what caught my attention first.


    The first thing that caught my attention was the blood that was on the end of their clubs.


    These were orcs that were holding clubs that were thicker than me, which was more than enough to show what kind of strength that they possessed. Experience tales at My Virtual Library Empire


    The blood that was on the end of their clubs created a pattern that wasn''t normal.


    The pattern that it had showed that there was something that was smashed by the club, which caused the blood to splatter like this.


    After I recovered from the sight of the blood on the clubs, I noticed that there was something else.


    One of the orcs seemed to be holding something in their other hand.


    It wasn''t anything big, it was actually even considered small and thin compared to the orc.


    Only I narrowed my eyes and deeply knitted my brows the moment that I saw it. sea??h th§× novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    An arm.


    It was a human arm.


    As soon as I saw this, there was no hesitation left in my heart.


    I gave an order to the Echo Bat and there was no resistance at all in the orcs as they were frozen in place.


    In the first place, these orcs were nothing more than E Rank Monsters, so it was easy for the Echo Bat to hypnotize them.


    But I didn''t hypnotize them the same way that I did the other monsters that I encountered.


    There was no mercy in my heart for any of these cruel monsters.


    There was a heavy and serious look on my face as I pulled out the Fishman Knight''s great sword and I walked towards these orcs. But before I could swing this large great sword at the orcs, I suddenly stopped myself.


    I looked at the orcs with a strange look on my face as a thought passed through my mind.


    It wasn''t that I didn''t want to cut down these orcs anymore, it was just that I felt that doing this would give them too easy of death.


    It didn''t feel right to kill the orcs like this, especially with what they''ve done.


    It felt like I should do something that would make them suffer more.


    Many different emotions appeared on my face, but eventually I said with a sigh, "Make them follow."


    The Echo Bat didn''t question my order and just gave a simple command to the orcs.


    When the orcs received this command, they still stood there in a daze, but I knew that they were just waiting for orders.


    So I simply said, "Follow me."


    When they heard this, the orcs moved to where I was and then stood there behind me as they waited for me to move.


    I took one last look at the orcs and said, "Drop the arm."


    The orc that had been holding the arm dropped it on the ground as soon as it heard this.


    Then with a sigh, I said, "Follow."


    Without even looking back at them, I continued on my way.

 Chapter 91 Dungeon break (3)

    After the encounter with the orcs, it didn''t seem like there was anything else that followed.I continued down the same path that I remembered led to my home, but there really wasn''t anything here.


    There were a few traces of blood, but it seemed that most people had been evacuated.


    Well, other than the unfortunate victim of the orcs that I hypnotized.


    There was a part of me that wanted to take their corpses out with me, but right now¡­there was something else that I had to do.


    I had to find my mother and brother before they suffered the same fate.


    It seemed like I was going the right way until¡­


    "Stop, turn to the right and go down that path."


    I slightly knitted my brows when I heard An Xue Yun''s voice in my ear.


    After a pause, I asked, "Why?"


    An Xue Yun didn''t respond right away, but she eventually said, "There are monsters in front of you. It was just reported by another group of rescuers, but they had to avoid it since it seemed like it was a large group."


    "A large group?" I slowly repeated.


    An Xue Yun seemed like she could tell that there was something wrong with the way that I said this, so she asked, "What are you thinking? If you''re thinking about risking your life to take down those orcs, then don''t do it. Don''t you have your own family members to worry about?"


    I slowly knitted my brows when I heard this, but the scene of seeing the orc with the arm in its hand was still on my mind¡­


    After a moment of silence, I said, "This is the fastest way. It''ll be much faster than taking a detour for who knows how long."


    "You''re letting your emotions get ahead of you. Don''t do anything that you''ll regret." An Xue Yun''s voice was still entering my ear, trying to urge me to give up this idea.


    I wanted to take it off with how loud she was, but I resisted that urge in the end.


    I waited for her to finish before saying, "Trust me, I know what I''m doing."


    There was only silence that followed after I said this.


    This silence lasted for a while before An Xue Yun''s voice said, "Fine, just do whatever you want then, see if I care. If you get yourself killed, then you can really only blame yourself! Don''t come crying to me in the afterlife!"


    She sounded angry, but I could tell that there was also worry in her voice.


    She was getting angry at me because I was making her worried, which touched my heart.


    "I promise, I''ll be fine." I said in a confident voice.


    An Xue Yun fell silent once again before saying, "Then hurry up and do what you have to do. We''re still waiting out here for you and it''s dangerous here."


    Once again, I could still hear the worry in her voice, so I said, "I''ll be back soon."


    Right after that, I charged forward in the same direction that I had been going before.


    It didn''t take long for me to see the group of monsters that An Xue Yun mentioned.


    It was another group of orcs, but this time they weren''t alone. This group of orcs was surrounding a building and based on how they were trying to break in, there were most likely people that were trapped inside.


    The buildings of the current world were much stronger than before because of the danger of the monsters and dungeons. At the same time, it was made of materials that hadn''t existed in this world before the dungeons opened. That was why the orcs still hadn''t broken through the door of the building yet. Sear?h the n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    But at this rate, it seemed like they would be able to break through at any time.


    Even the best built buildings weren''t able to remain unbroken under the attacks of the monsters.


    That was why I sent in the orcs under my command.


    When the orcs under my control charged in, they didn''t attract the attention of the orcs that were currently attacking the building. It seemed that the orcs that were attacking the building thought that these orcs were on the same side.


    But that quickly changed when the orcs under my control raised their clubs to hit the orcs attacking the building.


    The orcs that were attacking the building were shocked by this and two of them were actually killed by the clubs that hit them since they had been caught off guard by this attack.


    However, the rest of them immediately turned to face the orcs under my control.


    There were four orcs that were under my control and there were ten orcs that had been attacking the building. Two of them had been taken down in that first attack, so there were still eight of them left that were facing the orcs under my control.


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    In terms of numbers, it really seemed like the orcs under my control were at a disadvantage.


    But in terms of fierceness, it was no contest.


    The orcs that were under my control attacked without any care for their own lives.


    They would trade blows with the orcs in front of them without care for their safety. That caused the orcs that they were facing to take a few steps back as if they were afraid.


    After all, they had never seen this kind of orc before.


    In no time at all, four of the orcs had been taken down and all four of the orcs under my control were still alive. However, it wasn''t as if the fighting didn''t take its toll on the orcs that were under my control.


    Since they had been fighting without a single care for their own lives, they had suffered serious injuries.


    If it wasn''t for the fact that they were under my hypnosis, they would have collapsed already.


    However, I didn''t care about these orcs at all as I gave them another order to attack.


    I just coldly watched as these orcs fought with each other.

 Chapter 92 Dungeon break (4)

    Since they fought without a single care for their own lives, the four seriously injured orcs were able to take down three of the remaining orcs by sacrificing their lives.The last orc that was remaining wasn''t uninjured.


    Since it had been fighting with the other orcs, it was only natural that it had suffered wounds as well.


    This last orc was holding its arm while bleeding from all over its body.


    It would be easy to use the Echo Bat''s hypnosis to take down this orc, but¡­


    I walked forward and pulled out the Fishman Knight''s great sword.


    The orc was surprised to see me walking over, but then it raised its club and roared at me as if it was trying to scare me off. Even though it was doing all of this, I just calmly stepped forward until I was almost right in front of the orc.


    Seeing that I wasn''t backing down, the orc made the first move by stepping forward and bringing its club down at me. However, I just calmly swung the great sword up to meet it.


    The moment that the great sword made contact with the club, there was no resistance at all as the great sword cut right through the club. It was like a hot knife through butter with the way that the great sword cut the club in half.


    However, the great sword didn''t stop after cutting the club in half.


    It continued going up until it reached the orc and it continued cutting like a hot knife through butter.


    The orc''s thick and powerful muscles provided no resistance at all as it was easily cut in half.


    The orc''s eyes were wide open in shock when this happened, but there was nothing that it could do as it had already been cut in half.


    The top half of the orc flipped through the air a few times from the momentum of the swing that I used to cut it. After flipping a few times like this, it suddenly fell to the ground with a large thud and the bottom half of the orc fell over as well from the tremors.


    I stabbed the great sword into the ground and just looked at the orcs that were in front of me.


    I didn''t even bother putting them into my Storage Ring since I didn''t want any part of them.


    The only thing that I was thinking was¡­


    Putting my hands together, I looked at the orcs that I had hypnotized and thought to myself.


    "I hope that you can rest in peace."


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    The reason why I had the orcs without regard for their lives was because I wanted them to die the worst death possible. I wanted them to suffer before they died, it was the smallest punishment that I could give to the orcs for what they did.


    I hoped that this would help the victim of the orc find peace.


    After a moment of silence, I put on the earring again and said, "I''ve taken care of the orcs that were here and have cleared the area. There are people that are trapped here in this part of the dungeon break zone, so can you get someone to come and rescue them?" S~ea??h the N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "No problem." An Xue Yun''s voice quickly came through the earring.


    "Thank you." I said in a grateful voice, but there was no response.


    I didn''t mind since I figured that she was most likely already busy contacting the necessary people to send a rescue team over to this building.


    I thought about leaving, but then just in case those people in the building misunderstood¡­I turned around to face the building and raised my voice to say, "I''ve cleared out the monsters, so you''re safe for now. However, I don''t have the time to escort you out of this place, so you''ll have to wait for a rescue team to come. I''ve already contacted them and they will be here soon, so just wait for them to arrive."


    I was about to turn back and leave after saying this, but there were heads that suddenly popped out of the windows.


    Of course, they didn''t come out to thank me.


    "What do you mean by that?"


    "Right! You''re just abandoning us like this? How can you do something like that?"


    "If you leave now, what will we do if more monsters come here? With all this shouting, there''s no doubt that more monsters are already on their way!"


    "You have to take responsibility for us and protect us until the end!"


    All kinds of selfish words came out of the windows of the building that made me knit my brows.


    I looked at these people and even wondered for a moment if they were worth saving.


    But in the end, I said with a sigh, "I can''t do anything, I''m really busy. I have to go now."


    Without even waiting for them to say anything, I turned around to leave.


    When I did, there were even more complaints and even people cursing at me coming from the building. Only I just ignored all of them as I continued heading down the same path as before.


    But before I got too far, I heard one voice that was different from that rest that made me turn back for one last look.


    Out of a window on the top floor, there was a head that was different from all the rest.


    It was the head of a little girl who seemed to be standing on something just so she could look out the window.


    She was the only one that said something different.


    "Thank you for saving us!" She shouted at me with her hands cupped in front of her mouth.


    Though there were many other voices that drowned her out, I still heard what she said with my increased senses.


    I looked up at her and gave a simple wave with a smile on my face.


    Seeing this, she even waved back at me.


    A bit of warmth filled my heart seeing this.


    At least this world wasn''t completely heartless.

 Chapter 93 Dungeon break (5)

    After leaving that area, I came across several more orcs that I had the Echo Bat take control of.The previous fight had gotten rid of all the orcs under my control, so I needed a few more orcs just in case anything happened.


    It was even quite lucky that I ran into these orcs right after that fight, especially since I hadn''t run into anything earlier.


    But that was also because I was getting closer to the center of the dungeon break. The closer that I got to the center of the dungeon break, the more monsters there were.


    Only I didn''t know at this point.


    The only thing that I was focused on was getting to my house as soon as possible.


    But it turned out that I didn''t need to do that.


    Since there were more and more orcs that appeared, that meant that there were also more people that needed to be rescued.


    Though it was the same thing where I had An Xue Yun call for backup after I took care of the orcs and let the rescuers help these people instead of helping them myself.


    That was until¡­


    "Ah Fan, what are you doing here?"


    The moment that I heard this, the tension in me snapped.


    That was because it was my mother who called out to me.


    I immediately looked around the entire area in an attempt to find her and I finally saw that she was waving at me out of the window of a convenience store.


    I allowed myself a moment to let out a sigh of relief, but then I quickly focused my mind and went over to where she was.


    Only when I went over, that meant that I also brought the orcs over with me.


    "Ah Fan, look out!" My mother shouted before she tried to jump out the window like she wanted to help me, but there were arms that came from behind her that pulled her back in.


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    A faint smile appeared on my lips when I saw this before raising my hand to stop the orcs from following me.


    When they saw this, it wasn''t hard for them to figure out what the situation was.


    Still, I gave an explanation, "They''re with me, I''m controlling them. That''s how I got here in the first place."


    After I said this, the arms that had been holding my mother back stopped pulling her back in and she was able to stand at the window again. Though there was a dazed look that was on her face as she looked at the orcs still. S§×ar?h the N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    I could see that there was also a trace of fear.


    That was normal since humans were afraid of monsters in the first place, they were bigger and stronger than them. As well, the monsters seemed like they were determined to kill as many humans as possible.


    It was only natural to fear monsters.


    While she was dazed, I asked, "Where''s Jun?"


    "I''m here." A head poked out from behind my mother. It was my big brother and he was the one that had been holding my mother back from jumping outside.


    Seeing that they were both fine, I let out another sigh of relief before asking, "What happened? Why are the two of you here?"


    Lin Jun explained, "We were at home, but I wanted to get some snacks and mom wanted to come with me for a magazine, so we came to the convenience store together."


    I didn''t notice it since I had been focused on getting home, but this place was actually the convenience store that was right near our house.


    I had gotten close to home, it was just a few blocks away.


    Seeing that the two of them were fine, I said, "Alright, it''s time to go. I''ll bring you two out of this place."


    After I said this, there were awkward looks that appeared on their faces.


    It was as if there was something that was holding them back from following me.


    "What''s wrong?" I asked while slightly knitting my brows.


    The two of them didn''t say anything at first, but then a voice came from inside, "If you''re worried about us, then you don''t have to be. We''ll take care of ourselves. This young man came for you all, so you can just leave with him."


    When I looked over, I found that it was an old man that walked out of the back room.


    After he walked out, there were several others that also came out.


    If I had to guess, these were most likely the other customers and the employees who worked in this store that had been caught in the dungeon break. There were young and old that were among this group.


    There were even two kids who seemed to be no older than ten who were trapped in here with them.


    As soon as I saw this group, I knew why they were hesitating.


    My mother and big brother were good people by nature, so they were worried about these people that they had been trapped here with. But they also knew how dangerous it would be to ask me to bring these people along with us.


    That was why they were hesitating about leaving with me.


    "They can come with us." I said after a moment of thought.


    I might not have said this before, but now¡­I was strong enough to say this.


    At the same time, the guilt of leaving behind so many people just so I could help the two of them did build up.


    It wasn''t as if I didn''t feel any guilt, it was just that in my mind, the two of them were more important.


    But now that I had found them, there was no reason for me to leave these people behind.


    "Young man, are you sure about this?" The old man asked.


    With a simple nod, I said, "Don''t worry, I''ll keep you all safe and get you out of this place."


    There were looks of doubt that were cast in my direction, but eventually they agreed to come with me.


    They knew what the situation they were in was, so it was better to come with me. If they stayed here any longer, then there was no doubt that they would eventually be found by the monsters.


    If I was able to come all this way, I should be able to bring them out of here.


    That was why they chose to come with me.

 Chapter 94 Dungeon break (6)

    In the end, I led the way while they all followed me.Of course, I had the orcs spread out in a formation so that they would be protected, but it didn''t seem like they were keen to have these orcs around them.


    It seemed that they were afraid to have the orcs around them like this.


    But that could be understood.


    The only one that didn''t seem bothered was the old man that spoke up earlier.


    In fact, it seemed like he was in his element with the way that he walked right beside me. He didn''t seem to be afraid of the fact that we were inside of a dungeon break zone at all or the fact that we were surrounded by monsters.


    The way that he walked was almost as if he was on a stroll in a park or something.


    Was it because this old man had nerves of steel or was it because of something else?


    While we were walking, he even came over to me and asked, "How are you controlling these monsters? I''ve seen many summoners in the past and I''ve seen people with controlling abilities, but I''ve never seen one that has an ability like yours." Sear?h the N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    I slightly knitted my brows when he asked this question, but eventually I said, "This is the ability that my familiar has, I don''t know how it works either."


    The old man narrowed his eyes to look at the Echo Bat on my shoulder before saying, "Is that so? It doesn''t seem that special at all."


    With a simple nod, I said, "That''s what I''ve been told, but it''s my partner."


    As if he approved of this, the old man said, "That''s a good attitude to have. Many people nowadays completely forget that we are who we are because the beasts that we summoned agreed to the first contract. We shouldn''t forget that they are our equals who we have formed a contract with."


    With a sigh, the old man continued by saying, "The kids these days all forget that and take their familiars for granted. It isn''t what it''s like in my days."


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    An awkward smile appeared on my face when I heard the old man complaining like this.


    But it did help to ease the tension that was in our group hearing this old man complain like this.


    The others slowly relaxed as well since they were infected by the old man''s casual mood.


    Not to mention that nothing happened as we made our way out of this place, which allowed them to think that everything would be fine.


    The orcs that came out to attack us were even turned into allies with my ability, but that also drew more attention from the old man who was amazed that I was able to do this.


    It seemed like the old man really had been through a lot with all the stories that he had.


    But it certainly was a boon to have him with us keeping our spirits up.


    That was until¡­


    "Boom!"


    There was a large explosion that came from in front of us.


    I immediately raised my hand for everyone to stop, but they had already stopped.


    That was because they felt the pressure that was coming from in front of them.


    Even if they didn''t want to stop, they would have no choice but to stop when being pressured by whatever was there like this. It was as if the gravity around had suddenly increased, pushing them all into the ground.


    For the younger and older ones, this even made it harder for them to breathe.


    For me who had been through a few dungeons now, I knew exactly what this was.


    This was either an Elite Monster or a Boss Monster that was in front of us.


    But the pressure of this monster was strange¡­it was much stronger than anything that I''ve ever encountered¡­


    It was a monster that was clearly above C Rank, which was what the Fishman Chief was at.


    It might even be an A Rank Monster¡­


    That was far beyond anything that I was able to handle right now.


    Even if I had become stronger, A Rank Monsters were in a completely different category.


    "Roar!"


    With this roar, there were a bunch of orcs that suddenly appeared, but the one that was the most eye catching was a giant one that was in the center of this group of orcs. This was an orc that was much bigger than the rest of the orcs and had a special defining feature.


    There was a crown on the head of this orc.


    There was no doubt that this giant orc was the leader of this group of orcs.


    At the same time, since there was this crown on its head, this orc was most likely an Orc King.


    An Orc King was a monster that was at least B Rank, but there was something different about this one. This Orc King seemed like it was much stronger than the Fishman Chief who was a C Rank Monster.


    If I had to guess, this Orc King was most likely a mutated one that had reached A Rank.


    It really didn''t make sense how there was an A Rank Monster here out of all places¡­but there was no time to wonder how this happened.


    If we stayed here, there was no doubt that we would all be dead.


    So the best idea was to take my mom and brother, while leaving the rest behind¡­


    Only there was a part of me that was hesitating.


    In the end, I just couldn''t do it.


    I couldn''t abandon them.


    I took out the Summoning Flute and called out the two Fanged Wolves before saying to them, "Listen to his and her instructions."


    The Fanged Wolves nodded before moving over to my mother and brother''s side.


    I quickly snapped in front of their faces to pull them out of their daze before saying, "Take the Fanged Wolves and leave with the others. I''ll stay here and hold them back."

 Chapter 95 Dungeon break (7)

    None of them moved after I said this. Sear?h the N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.All they could do was look at me with worried looks on their faces.


    It didn''t seem like they wanted to leave with the way that they were looking at me, but it also didn''t seem like the orcs were planning on leaving us alone.


    With the way that they were looking in our direction and even heading this way, it was clear that they were planning on attacking us.


    "Go now or it''ll be too late!" I said to them in an urgent voice that made them snap back from their daze.


    "I''ll take care of them." The old man suddenly said before helping a few of the kids and the elderly onto the Fanged Wolves.


    With how quickly he moved, it was almost as if he was already used to these kinds of situations. It was almost as if he was moving on muscle memory, rather than acting on the spot.


    But I didn''t stop him since I had already decided to help everyone.


    What he was doing was right since the kids and the elderly would be the ones that would struggle the most to run.


    "Come back safe." My big brother said before turning to grab my mother by the shoulders and pushing her away.


    She just looked at me with a worried look the entire time.


    But with the lead of the old man, it didn''t take long for them to leave this place.


    As I watched them leave, I really couldn''t help wondering just who that old man was that he was able to act in such a way. It was clear that he was acting on experience, as if he had done this kind of thing before¡­


    It seemed like his status really was something special.


    However, there was no time for me to think about this anymore as the orcs were almost on me.


    Only the orcs never actually reached me.


    Right before they could reach me, the orcs suddenly fell into a daze and stopped moving. It was as if there was something that they suddenly saw that made them stop moving.


    Then all of a sudden, the orcs turned around to face the Orc King.


    Before the Orc King could even react to what was happening, the orcs suddenly went around the Orc King and surrounded it. In an instance, the tables had been turned on the Orc King where all of its subordinates were now against it.


    The Orc King''s already ugly face twisted when it saw this before it gave a guttural grunt at the orcs that had turned on it.


    The way that it grunted at them was as if it was cursing them out for betraying it like this.


    However, it didn''t seem like any of them cared about the fact that the Orc King was grunting at them.


    Of course, it wasn''t as if the only thing that the Orc King was doing was grunting at them. Continue your journey on My Virtual Library Empire


    Since it was the king of their species, there was naturally a natural suppression that the Orc King had against orcs that would make them want to instinctively obey its orders. But even then, it didn''t seem like this natural suppression was working on these orcs.


    They just seemed to completely ignore what the Orc King was doing.


    The Orc King tried to force them to obey it a few more times, but it didn''t seem like it was going to work in the end.


    So the Orc King seemed like it was tired of waiting for a response.


    The Orc King seemed like it was fed up with these orcs, so it was abandoning them.


    The Orc King pulled out the large club that was on its back and then in one swift movement, it swung that club around itself.


    The moment that the club made contact with the orcs, it was as if it had smashed into paper.


    Even the muscular bodies and the tough hides of the orcs weren''t able to resist the power of this club. The club just made its way through the bodies of the orcs as if they weren''t there and when it was over, there was a ball of flesh that was thrown at one of the nearby buildings.


    All of the orcs that had been in the path of the club had been cut in half even though the Orc King had hit them with a blunt weapon.


    At the same time, when that ball of flesh hit the building, it caused a large hole that then made the entire building collapse.


    The force behind that ball of flesh and how it had cut the orcs down like that, this was more than enough to show just what kind of power was behind that swing. It was more than enough to show just what kind of power the Orc King possessed.


    In the first place, the orcs were nothing more than E Rank Monsters, even the ones that followed the Orc King were just E Rank Monsters.


    As for the Orc King, it was an A Rank Monster.


    It would have been strange if they could do anything against the Orc King.


    After cutting down all of the orcs around it, the Orc King immediately turned its attention to the remaining orcs that had betrayed it.


    These orcs hadn''t been in the range of its club, but they were still close enough that it could turn its attention to them.


    Or it was better to say that the Orc King turned its rage on them.


    The club that had just fallen was suddenly raised again and it seemed like the Orc King wanted to kill them all with another swing. Only before the Orc King could do that, the orcs that had been surrounding it suddenly turned to run.


    The Orc King seemed to frown when it saw this, but then it started giving chase.


    There was no comparing the speed between them, so it didn''t take long for the Orc King to catch up to it.


    When the club came down, there was an orc meat patty that was created.

 Chapter 96 Dungeon break (8)

    My brows were deeply furrowed and I was tensely biting my lip when I saw this.No matter how I thought about it, it didn''t seem like I would be able to take down this Orc King.


    In fact, with how fast the Orc King was killing the orcs, it didn''t even seem like I would be able to stall it for long.


    Once all of the orcs died, there was no way that I would be able to do anything to the Orc King.


    If I were to fight this Orc King myself, the only thing that would happen is that I would be squashed into a meat patty just like the orc that it smashed previously with its large club.


    Or even the other orcs that it was still currently smashing.


    The Orc King seemed like it had completely lost its temper and was just taking it out on the orcs that were around it. It seemed like it was in full rampage mode and it wouldn''t leave that rampage mode until it was done killing all of the orcs that had once served it.


    The Orc King''s rampage showed that it didn''t actually need any of the orcs.


    It alone was already more than enough with the power that it possessed.


    There was a part of me that really wanted to run after seeing the power that the Orc King possessed since I knew that it would be meaningless to try and fight this Orc King.


    But in the end, I didn''t run since I knew that I still had to buy time.


    There was no way that they could have gotten away that quickly, so I had to buy some more time for them to get away from this dungeon break zone. If I didn''t, then the Orc King would easily find them and kill them all.


    So while watching the Orc King go on a slaughter, I slowly pulled out a staff that I pointed down at them.


    This staff was the staff from the Fishman Priest.


    The reason that I didn''t pull this out sooner was because I had been trying to save my mana.


    I was only using the orcs as a distraction, so I didn''t want to waste my own mana since I needed that for when I escaped from this place. But with the way that the orcs were being taken down, I had no choice but to use my mana to buff them.


    They were just being taken out too quickly¡­


    So with a flash of light from the staff, there was a light that appeared around the remaining orcs that were around the Orc King.


    When this light appeared, the Orc King suddenly stopped rampaging.


    It stood there and looked at the orcs that were covered in this light, as if it was thinking about something. The look of rage that had been on its face had also disappeared and it was just deeply knitting its brows.


    The orcs didn''t waste this opportunity and used their speed to move away even faster from the Orc King.


    After a long moment of silence, the Orc King suddenly charged out at one of the orcs in front of it.


    The difference in speed between them was clear even though the orc had been buffed with the power of the staff. It seemed that the natural difference between the normal orc and the Orc King was just too great for even the buff to negate it.


    The only thing that the orc could do in the end was grab a stone and throw it at the Orc King.


    The Orc King just shattered that stone with a single swing of its hand and the fragments were actually sent right back at the orc, killing it on the spot. But the Orc King wasn''t done just yet.


    All of a sudden, the Orc King suddenly grabbed that orc and started swinging it around as if it was preparing for something.


    Then all of a sudden, the Orc King released its grip on the orc.


    The moment that the Orc King released its grip, that orc flew through the air and slammed into a building.


    But the building that this orc corpse slammed into wasn''t just any building.


    It slammed right into the building that was beside the one that I was hiding behind.


    The orc corpse was smashed to pieces, but it had enough impact that it was able to create a large hole in the building itself. This large hole caused the building structure to falter and in no time, that building collapsed.


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    If it had been a bit more to the side, it would have hit the building that I was hiding behind¡­


    The way that the Orc King was looking over in this direction, it was almost as if it was looking for something.


    "Did it sense me?" I couldn''t help saying under my breath in a tense voice.


    The Orc King just looked in this direction for a bit longer before turning around to charge at another one of the orcs that was nearby.


    When I saw this, I knew that I had to do something, so I had the Echo Bat give an order.


    The orcs that had been running suddenly stopped and they all picked up rubble that they threw at the Orc King from every direction. They didn''t stop after throwing just a single stone, they kept grabbing more and throwing more stones at the Orc King.


    The Orc King didn''t seem bothered at all by the fact that the orcs were throwing stones at it as it kept charging forward.


    When the stones came close, the Orc King just simply swung its club around itself and deflected all of the stones.


    Some of the stones hit other stones and shattered in the air.


    Some of the stones were rebounded back at the orcs and killed them on the spot.


    The Orc King didn''t care as it grabbed the orc in front of it and spun it around a few times above its head before suddenly turning around to face me.


    When it was facing me, it suddenly stopped spinning that orc around and sent it flying right at me.


    "Shit! It does know where I am!" I cursed under my breath. S§×arch* The n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

 Chapter 97 Dungeon break (9)

    I didn''t have time to think too much about it since the orc corpse was already flying at the building that I was hiding behind.The moment that it made contact with the building, the same thing happened where the corpse was smushed into a flesh pancake and then a hole was created in the side of the building.


    There was no resistance at all from the building when it was hit by the orc corpse.


    After the hole was made, it started to collapse just like the other building from before. S~ea??h the Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    When this happened, I had no choice but to pull out a sword while condensing my strength. I wasn''t able to use my full power since I was rushing, but I was able to use quite a bit of power to cut through the falling building in front of me.


    I was able to cut it to pieces that harmlessly fell around me.


    But the problem now was that I was exposed to the Orc King.


    I could see that the Orc King was looking right in my direction.


    I didn''t know how the Orc King found me, that was until I realized that it wasn''t actually looking right at me. But rather, it seemed to be looking at the Storage Ring that was on my hand.


    That was where I stuffed the staff that I used earlier.


    An A Rank Boss Monster was different from any other kind of monster, it had been able to follow the traces of mana that lingered in the air from the spell that I cast. That was how it had found me in the first place.


    As soon as I realized this, I didn''t hesitate to turn and run.


    Since I was discovered, there was just nothing that I could do in this situation.


    If I remained here, all that would be left was my death.


    So the orcs started going crazy and grabbed large items to charge at the Orc King with. Even if the Orc King was strong enough to cut right through them with its club, that didn''t mean that it was able to destroy all of these large items that easily.


    That would buy some time for me.


    Or that was what I thought, but it didn''t turn out to be the case.


    Now that the Orc King had seen me, it seemed that it would no longer fall prey to its rage that easily.


    Instead of swinging its club around to take down the orcs that were around it, it actually swung its club forward and created a gap in front of it. Then with that gap, the Orc King started charging forward without any hesitation.


    There was nothing that the orcs could do to stop it.


    As for what this Orc King was charging at¡­it was naturally me. Your next read is at My Virtual Library Empire


    At the rate that it was moving, it was clear that this Orc King was going to catch up to me. It didn''t seem like I would be able to outrun it and the orcs weren''t able to stop it.


    So the only thing that I could do was pull out a trident.


    As soon as I pulled out the trident, I pointed it at the Orc King.


    When the trident was pointed at the Orc King, there was this ball of water that suddenly gathered at the tip of the trident that almost seemed to have gathered out of thin air.


    That ball of water continued to gather for a bit before suddenly shooting out at the Orc King.


    However, when the ball of water shot out, it wasn''t just a single ball of water that was shot out. It turned into a stream of water that was aimed right at the Orc King, as if it wanted to knock the Orc King out.


    The Orc King didn''t seem fazed at all by this stream of water.


    It just calmly raised the club that was in one hand and smashed it down at the stream of water.


    When the Orc King swung this club down to shatter the stream of water, it didn''t just break the stream of water itself. The force that the Orc King had swung the club down was so much that it actually pushed back the water in the stream.


    There was this explosion of water that happened before the stream of water could hit the Orc King.


    The water was scattered in all directions, except for the one that the Orc King was standing in.


    This water didn''t disappear after being scattered like this.


    It just splashed all around the Orc King and seemed to surround it in a circle.


    The Orc King didn''t seem to care about the jet of water that was coming at it as it was only focused on a single thing. But the Orc King had no choice but to focus on this since it could tell that there was something else that was there.


    It was as if the hairs on the Orc King''s body were standing because of something.


    Even though there was that burst of water that blocked its vision, the Orc King could tell that something was coming.


    That was why the Orc King suddenly jumped up when it was about to reach the water that was around it.


    The moment that it did, there was this sound that rang out.


    "Zzt!"


    Just like the Orc King had predicted, there was something that suddenly came at it.


    There was this bolt of lightning that suddenly hit the water that was around it.


    If the Orc King had continued charging the way that it did, it would have run right into the water that was now electrified. Even with its thick muscles insulating it, it would have been shocked by this water.


    But then the Orc King did something even more shocking.


    It actually jumped forward and landed in the water that was still electrified in front of it.


    But the moment that it made contact with the water, it immediately skipped up and jumped over the line that was around it.


    This kind of dexterity really seemed like it was cheating¡­

 Chapter 98 Dungeon break (10)

    Of course, it wasn''t as if the Orc King completely avoided the electricity that was running through the water.The electricity was just too fast for the Orc King to completely avoid it.


    It ran through the Orc King for a bit before fizzling out.


    The resistance that the Orc King was just too strong for the bit of electricity that ran through it to actually harm it.


    At most, there were just a few singed hairs and nothing else.


    After jumping over the water, the Orc King continued charging at me.


    It seemed that it was determined to take me down or die trying¡­though it was more likely that I would die before the Orc King.


    The Orc King charged forward at me without any hesitation, so the only thing that I could do was gather another ball of water and shoot it out at the Orc King.


    The Orc King saw this and seemed to give a disdainful snort before raising the club in its hand once more.


    But then it seemed like the Orc King noticed something.


    However, it was already too late as the jet of water was already shooting out at the Orc King.


    The only thing that the Orc King could do was raise the club to knock it back like it did before.


    Only before the Orc King could actually do that, the jet of water suddenly went up. It was as if there was something that suddenly pulled the jet of water up and threw it into the air with the way that it went up like this.


    After going up, it was as if there was something that suddenly hit it because the jet of water suddenly started spraying in every direction.


    While this was happening, it seemed that there was a faint light that was running through the water.


    This was the spark of electricity that was running through it from being hit with a bolt of lightning.


    The pillar of water actually covered the Orc King''s field of view, so it wasn''t able to see me shooting the bolt of lightning into the pillar of water.


    That meant that all of the drops of water that were now falling down were filled with electricity. It wasn''t just any kind of electricity, it was electricity that was formed from mana which made it much stronger than normal electricity.


    With the way that the water was falling, there really was nowhere that the Orc King could run. S~ea??h the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    After all, the water was falling down in electrified drops that was just like the rain.


    It was a cage of water droplets that surrounded the Orc King.


    It really seemed like the Orc King wouldn''t have a way of escaping this.


    When I saw the Orc King being trapped by this, I took this chance to escape.


    The whole reason that I did this was to run away from the Orc King, so it was best to use this chance while I could.


    But what I didn''t expect was that¡­


    Splash!


    Zzt!


    With this loud sound, the Orc King crashed right through the cage of water that I had created around it. It was as if the Orc King didn''t care at all about the fact that it was being zapped by the electricity that was inside of the water.


    After all, it was impossible for the Orc King to avoid the electricity this time.


    There was direct contact with the beads of water, so the electricity stored in the beads was able to course right through the Orc King''s body. There was even smoke that started coming from the Orc King after the electricity coursed through it.


    It was clear that it was injured because of it, but it seemed like the Orc King was pushing right on through.


    Its eyes even turned a bit red as it looked at me.


    Anyone could see that it was directing this anger towards me.


    It was as if it really wouldn''t stop unless it killed me¡­


    With the trident, I was able to control the water even if it was already electrified since the electricity also came from me. With that, I made the water droplets change directions so that it would fall down in front of the Orc King.


    It seemed that the Orc King was faster than the water droplets.


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    No matter how I tried to soak the Orc King with the water droplets, it just kept running ahead of them.


    There was no time at all, the Orc King was about to reach me.


    Gritting my teeth, I said, "Stall it if you can."


    Then without a single thought, I drew out all the strength that I had as I swung the trident at the Orc King. While I swung the trident, there was a water blade that formed on the edge of the trident.


    I was using every single card in my deck to try and push back the Orc King.


    Only¡­


    When the trident made contact with the club, it didn''t shatter like one would think.


    Just what is this club made of?


    That was my last thought before I was picked up off the ground by the force of the club and thrown into the air. The Orc King was much stronger than me, even though I had more than forty times the strength of a normal person.


    When I landed, I rolled on the ground a few times before slamming into a wall behind me.


    The wall actually shattered when I slammed into it, showing how much force I had been sent flying with.


    I even spat out a mouthful of blood when I finally came to a stop.


    This was the most serious injury that I had suffered in all my time as an Explorer.


    But there was nothing that I could do¡­


    The Orc King was still approaching, though it was moving slower as if it was certain that I would fall at its hands.


    No, I refuse to die here.


    As this thought passed through my mind, there was one more thing that I thought of.


    "I could try that¡­" I said to myself in a doubtful voice.

 Chapter 99 Dungeon break (11)

    "Ke, ke." Coughing a few times, I slowly stood up.It was just that when I stood up, it was very obvious that I wasn''t in good condition.


    My legs were shaking as I stood up, which showed that I was barely able to hold myself up.


    When the Orc King saw this, it narrowed its eyes to look at me before suddenly moving faster.


    Even though I seemed like I was on my last legs, the Orc King could see the traces of struggle that were in my eyes. The Orc King seemed to recognize that I didn''t give up, which was why it wanted to finish me off as soon as possible.


    But this was also what I wanted to see.


    When the Orc King came closer and closer, I first pulled out the staff to buff myself before pulling out the great sword to wield along with the trident. Others might not be able to wield the two of them together, but the strength that I possessed allowed me to wield one weapon in each hand.


    With these two weapons, I faced the Orc King as if I was prepared for death.


    I could feel the Echo Bat''s claws tensing on my shoulder.


    Earlier I had given it the order to try and stall the Orc King, but that had completely failed.


    The difference in grade was just too big that the Echo Bat wasn''t able to affect the Orc King at all. The Orc King was just too strong for the Echo Bat''s hypnosis to have the slightest effect, so it didn''t even stop for a second even though the Echo Bat used its hypnosis.


    "I''m fine, just go up and watch."


    The Echo Bat''s claw tensed again when it heard this as if it was afraid of something, but eventually it let go and flew up into the air.


    I looked right at the Orc King and prepared for my last stand.


    With a single step, the Orc King suddenly disappeared.


    When it reappeared, it was already right in front of me.


    The speed that the Orc King moved at really could be considered a cheat¡­


    That was the thought that ran through my head before I focused on the Orc King in front of me. With my left hand, I swung the great sword up at it as if I wanted to sweep it away. sea??h th§× NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The Orc King just simply grabbed the great sword with its free hand.


    It didn''t even use the club, it just grabbed the great sword with its bare hand.


    In the end, the great sword wasn''t able to pierce through the thick skin of the Orc King, though it was able to make a mark at least and draw a few drops of blood. But that was it, it was only able to draw a few drops of blood.


    After grabbing the great sword, the Orc King wanted to pull it and me towards it.


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    Only I knew what it was thinking and let go of the great sword right away.


    Instead, I used my other hand to flick the trident and gather up a pillar of water that shot up at the Orc King.


    The Orc King swung the club down at the pillar of water, but it seemed that there wasn''t enough force to stop it. That was because I was using all the mana that I had to create this pillar of water just so the Orc King couldn''t stop it.


    In the end, the pillar of water separated me and the Orc King.


    This would have been the perfect opportunity to run away, but I wasn''t planning on running away.


    I knew that if I did, it wouldn''t take long for the Orc King to catch me.


    So the only thing that I could do was¡­


    Splash!


    With a loud splashing sound, the pillar of water fell down and the Orc King was able to see what was happening.


    But the moment that the pillar of water came down, the Orc King was shocked to find that there was a sharp fang that was coming towards it.


    The worst part of this was that it could feel a sense of danger coming from this sharp fang.


    If it had the time, the Orc King would have dodged out of the way.


    But it just didn''t have the time, so the only thing that the Orc King could do was raise its club to stop it.


    When the club made contact with the fang¡­


    "Crack!"


    The club actually shattered apart and was turned into splinters of wood by the fang.


    The fang continued to pierce towards the Orc King without any impediment at all.


    The Orc King could only use its hand to block the fang, but even then it wasn''t able to stop it as it pierced right through the Orc King''s hand.


    In the end, the Orc King was pierced right through the chest with the fang that was stabbing towards it.


    It reached all the way to the other side of the Orc King and it spat out blood because of this, but the Orc King seemed to refuse to fall. It was still standing even though there was a fang that was piercing through its body.


    The Orc King tried to use its other hand to attack the one that had stabbed it with this fang, but it just wasn''t able to.


    It felt like it was losing all of its strength and not just because it had been stabbed like this.


    That was because there was a poison that was also coating the fang.


    This was a poison that I had gotten from the Vine Serpent, so it wasn''t a weak poison at all.


    It was more than enough to poison this Orc King and stop it from moving.


    The Orc King could only stare in shock as it never thought that the prey that it thought it could easily defeat would actually kill it like this.


    Then the Orc King fell backwards with a large thud.


    But at the same time, I also fell backwards and landed with my back to the ground.

 Chapter 100 Dungeon break (12)

    I just couldn''t move at all as I laid there on the ground."Ke, ke."


    There was blood that came out with the coughs that I gave.


    The injuries that I suffered from the Orc King''s blow was much more serious than I thought.


    At the same time, I was also suffering from mana deficiency.


    It had taken a lot of mana to use both the Thunder Crown and the trident, so I was running low on mana right now.


    In other words, I was screwed. S§×ar?h the N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    I could only helplessly lay there on the ground while I was still surrounded by monsters¡­


    "Is this where I die?"


    That was the last thought that passed through my mind before my eyes started to close and my consciousness started to fade.


    Above me, I could see the Echo Bat flying down with a concerned look on its face.


    And that was the last thing that I saw.


    ¡­


    "He actually won. I never thought that he would win against a mutated Orc King like this." A voice filled with astonishment cut through the air.


    After a moment of silence, the same voice said, "It seemed that he''s much more talented than I thought. Not to mention that his personality isn''t bad at all. He''s not too naive to believe that he can save everyone, but at least he doesn''t abandon those that are in front of him."


    While saying this, there was an amused look that appeared on the face of the one saying this.


    This person was standing atop an apartment building that gave them a view of everything down below.


    From this vantage point, they were able to see everything that was happening down below.


    Including the orcs that were approaching where the person that they were observing was.


    "It seems like some rats are sneaking in. I guess I''ll give him a reward since he did what he could."


    Right after saying this, they raised their hand and gave a snap.


    After that snap, there was a floating sword and a hawk that suddenly appeared. The floating sword floated there over the shoulder of this person while the hawk perched on the other shoulder.


    With another snap, the hawk suddenly raised its wings and wind gathered around it. Experience tales at My Virtual Library Empire


    This wind quickly left the area around the hawk and went over to where the sword was floating in the air. That wind gathered around the sword until it became a whirlwind that completely blocked the sword from sight.


    This whirlwind continued to gather for a bit before it was suddenly released with a single slash of the sword.


    When the sword slashed out, all of the wind that had been gathered disappeared without a trace.


    But in the distance, there were things that were stirring.


    The wind that had been around the sword didn''t just disappear, but rather it had been released into the world. It flew through the air until it reached the target that it was aimed at.


    "Buhi!"


    Cries of pain came from the orcs that had been approaching Lin Fan.


    In an instant, all of the orcs had been hit with this invisible blade of wind that cut them in half. They didn''t even know what happened when they were hit with the blade of wind, they just felt the pain for a second before all sensation was cut off and they died.


    It wasn''t just the orcs that were in this area, it was all of the orcs that were in the surrounding area that were cut in half like this.


    When all of the orcs had been taken care of, this person gave a satisfied nod before saying, "Not bad, it seems that I haven''t lost my touch."


    With one last look at Lin Fan lying there, this person turned and said, "If we''re destined, we''ll meet again. If we do, I might even take you as my disciple."


    Then with a single step, that person disappeared.


    The one that had been standing there wasn''t a straight figure, but rather a bent figure with a hunched back and bent knees with his two hands behind his back.


    The one that had saved Lin Fan just now was the old man who had led everyone away.


    ¡­


    "Where am I?" I asked in a soft voice as I slowly opened my eyes.


    But as I opened my eyes, I found that the light was just too bright and I had to squint to see what was around me.


    It was a white room that didn''t seem to have much, other than a few medical equipment.


    At the same time, I found that I was lying on a bed.


    I slowly adjusted to the light and saw that I was inside of a medical room.


    Only¡­how did I get to this place?


    The last thing that I remember was losing consciousness after taking care of the Orc King and that I was surrounded by orcs that were approaching me.


    It was a death trap no matter how one looked at it, so who saved me?


    While I was trying to figure out what happened, there was a voice that came from the side.


    "You''re awake?"


    I was surprised by this voice and when I looked over, I found that it was someone that I didn''t recognize. But judging by the clothes that she was wearing, it seemed that she was some kind of nurse.


    "Where am I?" I slowly asked this question.


    The nurse didn''t seem to mind as she came over to the side of my bed and started checking a few things while saying, "You''re at the First General Hospital, you were rescued from the dungeon break zone and admitted here."


    "Rescued?" I couldn''t help asking in a confused voice.


    "That''s right, they found you unconscious after the dungeon break was settled. They didn''t think that you were alive, but they did find a pulse, so they brought you here."


    Seeing that I was still confused, the nurse then said, "I''m sure that you''re confused, but I might not be the best person for this. Your friends and family are waiting outside, I''ll send them in to explain."


    I just gave a slow nod in response.

 Chapter 101 Introduced to parents

    The ones that came in were expected and unexpected.The ones that were expected were my family members. It was my mother and big brother, but there was also my father who was with them.


    When I saw that they weren''t hurt, it felt like my heart could finally relax.


    But I could also see the way that they looked at me with worried looks.


    I knew why they were looking at me like this, so I couldn''t help feeling a bit guilty.


    The ones that I didn''t expect were An Xue Yun and the bodyguard from the Huo Family.


    Well, I did expect An Xue Yun a bit since she had come with me to the dungeon break zone.


    The bodyguard from the Huo Family was a complete surprise since I didn''t think he would make contact with me unless I made contact with him first.


    Or at least that was what he said before¡­


    Once they came in and saw that I was alright, my mother said with a stern look, "What were you thinking? You said that you would run away if it got dangerous, do you know how worried we were?"


    I couldn''t help looking down when I heard this since I knew that it was as she said.


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    But in the end, both my brother and father came to support me.


    They helped me out by saying that what I did could be considered heroic since many people had been saved because of me.


    At that, I couldn''t help asking about the others.


    "They all made it out safely, you don''t have to worry about it. With the Fanged Wolves that you sent us, they helped guide us out of the dungeon break zone and meet up with the rescuers." My brother explained before awkwardly adding, "Though it was hard to explain why there were Fanged Wolves with us in the first place."


    I let out a sigh of relief when I heard this.


    But that was caught by my mother and she said, "Next time, do it without risking your life."


    I could hear the worry in her voice, but also a trace of pride which made a faint smile appear on my face.


    After this continued for a bit, I turned to look at An Xue Yun who had been silently standing on the side the entire time and asked, "Were you the ones that saved me?"


    An Xue Yun didn''t answer this question.


    Now that I had talked to her, she came forward and raised a finger to poke me in the chest before saying, "What were you thinking?"


    I was caught off guard by her sudden question, but then I said, "I was doing what I needed to do to save those people."


    "And that just means putting your life in danger?" She tapped my chest a few more times after I said this.


    To my surprise, my mother suddenly said, "That''s right, Xue Yun, you tell him. If you don''t make it clear to him, he''ll never listen to you."


    I was surprised by what my mother said since she said it as if she was already familiar with An Xue Yun. But to my knowledge, it should have been the first time that the two of them met.


    With my mother backing her, An Xue Yun continued to push the matter until I finally said, "I''m sorry, I wasn''t thinking."


    "That''s right, you weren''t thinking. It''s a good thing that it turned out well, but you should know how many people have died in your position in the past. Make sure that you learn to prioritize your own life in the future."


    The only thing that I could do was nod in agreement to this until she was finished with her lecture.


    But then I asked, "Who saved me?"


    They all looked at me with strange looks when they heard this before my brother slowly explained, "We don''t know. When you were found, you were found next to the dead Orc King and all of those orc corpses. They just assumed that you were the one that killed them all and brought you back."


    I slowly shook my head before saying, "No, I wasn''t the one that killed them. I fainted after taking out the Orc King¡­"


    "You took down the Orc King?" They all asked in surprised voices.


    I slowly gave a nod to confirm this.


    It seemed that they hadn''t believed that I had even taken care of the Orc King, which showed that they knew me well.


    Even I found it hard to believe that I had defeated the Orc King.


    In the end, they just shook their heads to show that they didn''t know what happened.


    I figured as much, so I didn''t keep pursuing this matter.


    Instead, there was something else that I wanted to know.


    "How do you know each other?" I asked my mother while looking between her and An Xue Yun.


    My mother just said with a smile, "That''s right, if you hadn''t mentioned it, I would have forgotten." She went over to An Xue Yun''s side and asked, "Why did you never mention this lovely little girl before? Are you embarrassed of her or something?"


    I was completely caught off guard when she said this.


    After all, the way that she said this was almost like what one would say about their son''s girlfriend.


    I couldn''t help slowly looking at An Xue Yun after she said this.


    I thought that with the personality she had, she would be able to easily keep her cool and play it off, but it turned out that this wasn''t the case.


    There was a blush that was on An Xue Yun''s face after my mother said this.


    With a cough, I awkwardly said, "Mom, it''s not like that. Please stop making it worse."


    She looked at me with narrowed eyes and then at An Xue Yun before turning back to say with a sigh, "You should know that I''m not young anymore and all the neighbours are starting to have grandchildren. I just want to know when it''s my turn."


    With another awkward cough, I said, "Shouldn''t you ask my big brother first?"


    At that, she turned to look at my big brother and nodded in agreement before saying, "That''s right, Jun''er, when are you going to find a nice girl for yourself?"


    An awkward smile appeared on Lin Jun''s face before he gave an awkward laugh, "Ha, ha, ha."


    It was awkward, but at least it helped relieve the tension of the situation. S~ea??h the N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

 Chapter 102 Digging in secret

    After they made sure that I was fine, they finally left the room and let me recover.An Xue Yun added that if she saw me in the Explorer Association over the next week, she would personally send me back to the hospital. She even said that she would make sure to have the guards be on the lookout for me.


    It was almost as if I was being banned from the Explorer Association, though I knew that this was just her way of showing care.


    After all, the injuries that I had suffered were already all healed up. S~ea??h the ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    They had been serious, but the doctors were surprised to find that my body healed much faster than others. In just the three days that I''ve been unconscious, I already made a full recovery.


    It was certainly surprising to hear that I was out for three days, but it was better than hearing that there was something wrong with me.


    Though I also had to wonder why I healed so quickly.


    When they were gone, I turned my attention to the one that was left in the room.


    It was the bodyguard from the Huo Family.


    He had been standing in the corner and seemed to blend into the background, so everyone just forgot about him even though he came in with them. Even when they left, they didn''t seem to remember him, which was why he was the only one left in the room.


    It was clear that he had been properly trained and was skilled in this that he was able to remain undetected.


    When they were all gone, I asked, "So, what do you need from me?"


    The bodyguard walked over and said, "I don''t need anything from you, I just have a few things to tell you."


    I was surprised to hear this, but I slowly gave a nod to show that I was listening.


    The bodyguard just continued, "The corpses of the Orc King and the orcs that were found around you have already been stored for you. You''re free to do what you want with them, I''ll guide you there when you want to take them away."


    I was once again surprised by this before asking, "Why are you getting involved in this matter?"


    The bodyguard gave a sigh before saying, "When the young miss heard what happened, it was either do this or do what we could to stop her from running over."


    A faint smile appeared on my lips when I heard this as I could imagine what the bodyguards had to go through with Iris.


    Nonetheless, that didn''t mean that I wasn''t grateful for their help.


    "Tell her thank you for everything that she''s done."


    The bodyguard gave a simple nod before saying, "You should know that it was the young miss that prepared this private room for you as well."


    Another smile appeared on my lips when I heard this as I looked at the bodyguard with a strange look.


    He just calmly looked back at me while saying, "I thought that you should know."


    I didn''t respond to this, instead I got up and said, "Take me to where the corpses are stored. I want to take a look at them."


    The bodyguard raised a brow and he didn''t do anything as he stood there.


    "I''m already cleared by the doctor, he said that there''s nothing wrong with me. You heard it too, right?"


    Seeing that the bodyguard wasn''t doing anything, I added, "It''s boring being confined to the bed, so I want to take a little walk."


    In the end, the bodyguard slowly nodded before leading the way out.


    I quickly threw on a jacket and some pants before following the bodyguard out.


    When I came out into the hallway, I realized just how much of a privilege it was to have a private room like this.


    There were many different people that were out in the hallway even though it had been three days since the incident. Many of them were injured to varying degrees and it seemed that they were being crowded into the rooms.


    The dungeon break was a large incident, so there were many people that had been injured during that event.


    There just wasn''t enough room for everyone.


    The bodyguard just led the way without a single pause and brought me to the entrance of the hospital. He had me wait for a bit while he went to get his car and then we drove off away from the hospital.


    It was a good thing that no one recognized me or else I certainly would have been in trouble.


    Though we didn''t drive that far in the end. Find more chapters on My Virtual Library Empire


    The hospital that I was at was the closest hospital to where the incident had happened, which was why it was the place where most of the casualties were brought. That meant that the hospital was also close to the place where the corpses were being stored.


    It was a place that seemed like some kind of official building with many guards standing around it.


    When we came up, they stopped us and were about to turn us away until the bodyguard took out a card for the guards.


    When they saw the card, they just completely changed their attitude and let us in.


    It was most likely some kind of card that showed that we were related to the Huo Family.


    The prestige of a World Summoner definitely wasn''t something to look down on.


    After entering the building, the bodyguard quickly led me to a large door. Behind that large door were the corpses of the Orc King and the orcs.


    The orcs were piled on the side while the Orc King was placed in the center of this room.


    It made it seem like the Orc King corpse was the main prize while the rest were just decorations.


    After thinking about it, I asked, "Can you get them to turn off the cameras in this room? I don''t want them to see what I''m about to do."


    The bodyguard was surprised to hear this and he looked at me with one brow raised, but he nodded in the end and walked out to fulfil this request.


    Though just in case, I also made sure to put some paper over the lens of each of the cameras in this room with the help of the Echo Bat.


    When it was done, I turned to the Orc King and called out the Scavenger Rabbit.

 Chapter 103 Third familiar

    There was a part of me that was skeptical about this since the Orc King was a monster that had broken free of the dungeon.Without the influence of the dungeon system, it was unknown if it would even drop anything good.


    But this was an A Rank Monster, so I was willing to take that risk.


    I didn''t believe that an A Rank Monster would give anything bad.


    Though there was the matter of the Scavenger Rabbit being afraid of the Orc King''s corpse even though it was already dead.


    I didn''t know if that was a good sign or not, but it was certainly a sign that there was something special about the Orc King''s corpse.


    At the very least, it shouldn''t give me anything bad.


    It took a moment to calm the Scavenger Rabbit down, but then it went forward to start digging through the Orc King''s corpse.


    There was also a trace of excitement that was on the Scavenger Rabbit''s face when it did this that showed that it was likely that something good would come from the Orc King.


    After a while, the Scavenger Rabbit turned around to show me what it looted.


    I didn''t really feel anything until I saw something familiar that the Scavenger Rabbit was holding.


    I had to take it and put it up in front of my face for a closer look before I was able to figure out just what this thing was.


    It was another Summoning Scroll.


    Even after the dungeons that I cleared, I had never found another one of these¡­


    The last one had given me the Scavenger Rabbit, so I couldn''t help wondering just what this one would give me.


    There was no doubt in my mind that I would be using this thing.


    I was just worried that I would summon another familiar that was strange¡­


    But even if the familiars that I summoned were strange, there was no doubting the power that they had.


    If it wasn''t for the Echo Bat and the Scavenger Rabbit, I certainly never would have reached the point that I was currently at.


    It was all because of them that I had been able to gather all of these powers and items for myself.


    So even if this Summoning Scroll gave me another strange familiar, I would accept it.


    Taking a deep breath, I finally calmed myself down and then took the Summoning Scroll in both hands.


    In one single movement, I ripped the scroll in half and activated it.


    When the scroll was ripped apart, it turned into bits of light that fell to the ground.


    It was just like before where the light seemed to form a swirl of light that seemed to be summoning something.


    But there was one thing that was different compared to before.


    The swirl of light in front of me was much more intense than the one that had appeared when I summoned the Scavenger Rabbit.


    "It seems like the result will be different this time." I couldn''t help saying to myself with a trace of excitement.


    Perhaps I''ll finally be able to summon a familiar that was higher than 9th Class Low Grade.


    But in the end, the swirl of light seemed to calm down and the familiar that was summoned was revealed.


    The moment that I saw that familiar, there was a bitter smile that appeared on my face.


    That was because in the center of the swirl of light was a little white kitten that seemed to be sleeping.


    It didn''t seem to have a single care in the world as it slept there on the ground, even though it had just been summoned.


    I didn''t know what to do at first, but that didn''t matter since the Scavenger Rabbit was already moving over to the little white kitten. The way that it moved seemed like it was swaggering towards the little white kitten.


    After coming over, the Scavenger Rabbit tapped on the little white kitten''s side a few times which woke it up.


    As the little white kitten woke up, the Scavenger Rabbit took a stance as if it was trying to show off. It was just waiting for the little white kitten to see it so that it could show its superiority.


    But when the little white kitten woke up, it looked at the Scavenger Rabbit with an annoyed look and just scratched its face with its claws.


    The Scavenger Rabbit was completely caught off guard by the little white kitten that it wasn''t able to react in time, but it wouldn''t have mattered. The little white kitten was actually faster than the Scavenger Rabbit, so it wouldn''t have been able to dodge in time.


    After being scratched like this, the Scavenger Rabbit immediately turned around to look at me with an aggrieved look.


    It seemed like it wanted to complain about the little white kitten, but I wasn''t in the mood to care about that.


    That was because the little white kitten had also noticed me.


    It slowly got up while looking at me and then walked over to my side.


    After coming over, it circled me twice before¡­rubbing its head up against my leg.


    The Scavenger Rabbit looked even more aggrieved seeing this and it came over to stomp its foot on the ground as if it was still angry.


    I just shook my head with a faint smile seeing this.


    The Echo Bat also flew out of the summoning space and then slapped the Scavenger Rabbit on the head before looking at the little white kitten with an approving look.


    The little white kitten treated the Echo Bat differently.


    It seemed to be impressed by the Echo Bat, so it treated it with respect. Stay tuned for updates on My Virtual Library Empire


    The way that the little white kitten approached the Echo Bat was almost like it wanted to take the Echo Bat as a big brother.


    The Echo Bat gave another nod of approval before patting the little white kitten on the head.


    The Scavenger Rabbit just looked aggrieved the entire time. S§×ar?h the n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    I shook my head with a faint smile seeing them act this way.

 Chapter 104 Not a kitten

    After amusing myself with the antics of these three familiars of mine, I focused my attention on the little white kitten.This little white kitten was the third familiar of mine, so I wanted to see what kind of abilities that it would have.


    But to do that¡­


    The little white kitten looked confused at the fact that I was staring at it intensely.


    "Mew." As it made this sound, it even seemed like it was a bit afraid of me because of the way that I was looking at it.


    But I didn''t stop even though it seemed a bit afraid.


    Instead, I just focused my attention on it, waiting for something to appear.


    Finally, the thing that I had been waiting to appear showed itself.


    Once it showed itself, I immediately looked carefully at the status of the little white kitten that appeared.


    But the moment that I saw this status, I was surprised to find that this little white kitten wasn''t actually a kitten.


    Astral White Tiger


    Level: 1


    Exp: 0


    Strength: 20


    Vitality: 30


    Intelligence: 100


    Dexterity: 50


    Skills: Elemental Control


    This little white kitten was actually a white tiger, but it certainly didn''t look like one.


    Even if it was a child, would a white tiger cub look like a cute little fluff ball like this one did?


    It just didn''t seem like it fit the description of a white tiger at all¡­


    But since this was what the appraisal skill was calling it, then it should be a white tiger.


    The second shocking thing about this white tiger cub were the stats that it had.


    When I summoned the Echo Bat, the stats that it possessed only added up to a little over 30.


    But this Astral White Tiger actually had a combined stat of 200.


    That was close to six times the starting stats of the Echo Bat¡­


    Just what kind of monster was this little Astral White Tiger?


    Finally, there was the Elemental Control skill that this Astral White Tiger possessed.


    For the life of me, I couldn''t figure out what kind of skill this Elemental Control skill was.


    It certainly sounded powerful, but it really was hard to imagine what it was capable of. Not to mention that with the stats that the Astral White Tiger possessed, it shouldn''t be something weak.


    But that wasn''t a problem since we were in an isolated space right now.


    This was actually the best place for the Astral White Tiger to demonstrate its ability.


    After seeing the status of the Astral White Tiger, I suddenly reached out to pick it up off the ground and held it in my hand to take a closer look at it.


    The Astral White Tiger seemed surprised to be picked up like this, but then it turned to a look of relish on its face. The main reason for this was because it looked at the Scavenger Rabbit on the ground with a gloating look on its face.


    The Scavenger Rabbit''s chin dropped after seeing me pick up the Astral White Tiger like this. Then it came forward and reached its arms up as if it wanted me to pick it up as well.


    However, I just ignored it as I said to the Astral White Tiger, "Show me what your skill is."


    The Astral White Tiger looked surprised by this again, but then it revealed a confident look as it raised its small head to give a high pitched roar. It really was the roar of a little kitten rather than a white tiger¡­ S~ea??h the N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    But after the Astral White Tiger gave this roar, there was a light that appeared in front of me.


    It was a small thing at first, but then it became a ball of flames.


    After this ball of flames was formed, the Astral White Tiger turned its head around to give me a look as if it was bragging. It was as if it was waiting to receive praise from me with the way that it looked at me.


    But looking at the small ball of flames that it summoned, it was hard for me to actually praise it.


    After all, the ball of flames that it summoned was¡­


    Small.


    It wasn''t even at the level that a Low Grade Familiar would summon, it was at the same level as a 9th Class Low Grade Familiar.


    So I really couldn''t praise it.


    Seeing the strange disappointed look on my face, the Astral White Tiger looked crushed.


    It was as if it couldn''t believe that I wasn''t amazed by the ball of flames that it summoned.


    Then gritting its teeth, the Astral White Tiger turned around and gave another mew¡­roar and then there were more balls that formed.


    It was a ball of water, a ball of dirt, a ball of wind, a ball of lightning, and many others.


    It seemed that the Astral White Tiger didn''t have a problem generating all of these different balls of elements.


    The only problem was that the balls that it summoned were all the same as the ball of fire that it summoned before. All of them were just too small to seem like they would be able to do anything.


    Though it was certainly amazing to see that the Astral White Tiger was able to control all these different elements.


    Perhaps it would become stronger in the future, but right now, it didn''t seem like it would be able to help.


    But that at least showed the potential that the Astral White Tiger did have.


    When the Astral White Tiger turned around again with the same proud look, it was once again disappointed when it saw the reaction that I had.


    The Astral White Tiger almost seemed crushed by this, but the Echo Bat flew up and patted it on its head to show that it was fine.


    The Scavenger Rabbit on the other hand¡­


    It was pointing and laughing at the Astral White Tiger as if it was taunting it.


    That resulted in the Astral White Tiger dropping the ball of water on the Scavenger Rabbit which completely soaked it.


    That just caused another fight between the Astral White Tiger and the Scavenger Rabbit.

 Chapter 105 New Explorer

    A week later, I returned to the Explorer Association.I was cleared from the hospital much sooner, but the moment that I left the hospital, I received a threatening call from An Xue Yun.


    She said that if I didn''t take the rest of the week off to recuperate, she would show me how angry she could really be.


    I didn''t know what An Xue Yun''s true identity was, but I had already seen plenty of what she could do. So I figured that it was better not to piss her off or else it might be a bit troublesome.


    But now that a week has passed, I just couldn''t remain idle.


    The previous dungeon break had already shown me how weak I am still.


    If it wasn''t for the lucky dragon fang and poison from the Vine Serpent that I got, then I wouldn''t have been able to take down the Orc King. The Orc King showed me just how outclassed I was when compared to A Rank Monsters.


    The only way for me to become stronger was to dive into the dungeons and find new items to make myself stronger.


    The only way to dive into the dungeons was through the Explorer Association.


    So I was back to the Explorer Association.


    "Boss, are you alright? You can rest a bit longer if you want." Wang Rong said when he met me at the entrance of the Explorer Association.


    Since I was going into a dungeon, I naturally called Wang Rong and brought him along as well.


    In the future, he would be my tank, so he had to become stronger as well.


    I just calmly shook my head and said, "I''m fine. Let''s go and find a dungeon to explore."


    Wang Rong still had a worried look on his face, but he eventually nodded in agreement and followed behind me.


    But then as if he remembered something, he took something out of his bag and handed it over to me.


    I raised a brow to look at him when he did and he said, "This is breakfast from my little sister. She says that you have to take care of yourself."


    As he said this, there was a trace of a bitter smile that appeared on his lips.


    I looked at it for a bit before asking in a strange voice, "Is there only one portion?"


    Wang Rong could hear the strange tone in my voice, so he said, "It''s fine, I already had breakfast before heading out, so you can have this."


    I raised a brow again before shaking my head to say, "No, I''m fine."


    Wang Rong slightly knitted his brows when he saw this before saying, "Boss, are you saying that you won''t take my little sister''s handmade breakfast?"


    There was a slightly aggressive tone to his voice when he said this that surprised me, but I just calmly said, "I''ve already had breakfast, so I can''t eat it even if I took it."


    "Oh." Wang Rong said in a surprised voice before slowly nodding and putting the breakfast back into his bag. Under his breath, I heard him say, "I tried, little sister. He''s the one that doesn''t want it."


    A trace of bitterness filled me when I heard this as I had a vague idea of what he was talking about.


    It was just that I didn''t think that I made that kind of impression on Wang Jing in the short period that I met her¡­


    Pretending like I didn''t hear anything, I went over to the receptionist desk where An Xue Yun was. But the moment that I came over, I was surprised to find that there was someone already there.


    This person just stood there by An Xue Yun''s desk, looking around as if they were looking for someone.


    When they saw the two of us walking over, their eyes immediately lit up.


    Though the direction that they were looking in was more directed towards me rather than towards Wang Rong.


    "Lin Fan, you''re finally here! I heard that you were coming here today, so I came to see you!" She said while waving her hand at me.


    I immediately recognized who she was since she had made a deep impression on me the last time that we met.


    It was Iris. S§×arch* The N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "What are you doing here?" I asked in a confused voice.


    She pouted her lips when I asked her this before saying, "You didn''t even tell me that you were coming here. I had to find out from the bodyguards that you were coming this morning."


    A bitter smile appeared on my lips before I asked, "Shouldn''t you be at school right now?"


    The new school year had just started, so Iris should be at the Sacred Academy right now.


    It didn''t make sense that she would run to a place like this.


    "You''re surprised, aren''t you?" Iris said with a teasing smile which instantly made many people take a step back.


    Even I was a bit dazed when I saw her smiling at me like this.


    But I still gave a slight nod in response.


    "Well, it''s because I''m here to do some extracurricular activity. I became an Explorer to go into the dungeons for experience, so that''s why I''m allowed to come here." After saying this, she thought for a bit before adding, "Not to mention that the Sacred Academy is a pretty hands off school, so they allow their students to pursue their interests."


    I was stunned when I heard this since this was clearly not what I expected.


    Being an Explorer was not something that was particularly looked fondly on, so someone that was the daughter of two World Explorers shouldn''t have come to a place like this.


    But here she was standing in front of me.


    I really didn''t know how to react.


    Seeing the stunned look on my face, Iris'' smile became wider before she said, "Alright, let''s not stand around any longer. Since I''m here, let''s go into a dungeon together."


    "Ke." There was a cough that came from the receptionist desk.

 Chapter 106 Rival (1)

    I turned to see that it was An Xue Yun who gave this cough, though I already expected as much.After she gave this cough, she continued by saying, "While you do have some strong references, I want to make it clear that you are a new Explorer. Those references that you have aren''t enough for us to upgrade your rank that easily, so you won''t be able to take the same request as them. After all, their ranks are much higher than yours."


    The smile on Iris'' face slowly faded when she heard this and she turned around to look at An Xue Yun.


    An Xue Yun didn''t seem to mind that Iris was looking in her direction as she looked right back at her.


    The two of them just stared at each other in silence for a bit before Iris finally said, "Then you''re saying that I''m not allowed to go to the same dungeon as him?"


    An Xue Yun didn''t say anything at first, but then she said, "That is if they agree to take you into their party and register this mission together. Of course, they have no reason to do that since you''re at a lower rank than them in the first place."


    The implications of her words were clear and that made Iris knit her brows slightly.


    The two of them just stared at each other for a bit like this which created a tense atmosphere.


    Eventually, Iris turned to look at me and said, "Is it alright for me to join your party?"


    I was surprised to hear this since I didn''t think that she would ask me this calmly.


    However, before I could answer, An Xue Yun said, "There''s no need for you to accept, you should know that. There is a rule that higher ranked people don''t have to take lower ranked people into the dungeons with them."


    The rule that she was referring to was a different rule than what she was describing.


    After all, the Explorer Association didn''t limit Explorers from taking dungeons since it went against what they had been established for.


    The rule that she was referring to was one that didn''t allow higher ranked Explorers to bring lower ranked Explorers into dungeons with them unless they had explicit approval from the lower ranked Explorer.


    It was a rule that was created to protect the lower ranked Explorers.


    It was so that higher ranked Explorers couldn''t trick lower ranked Explorers into going with them into higher ranked dungeons that were dangerous for them.


    It was also to prevent higher ranked Explorers from doing anything to lower ranked Explorers, such as robbing them or even worse.


    But the way that An Xue Yun said this was almost as if she was turning the rule around.


    I really didn''t know how to feel about this.


    In the end though, I said, "It''s fine, she can come with us."


    I knew that it was more trouble to reject Iris than it was to take her with us.


    Not to mention, she had shown her strength before and I was curious about how much stronger she had become. She was the daughter of two World Summoners, so even if she seemed weak before, she shouldn''t be weak forever¡­


    An Xue Yun almost seemed disappointed when she heard what I said, but she eventually gave a nod to show that she acknowledged this.


    Iris didn''t say anything either as she just turned to look at An Xue Yun with a smile.


    The way that she smiled at her was almost as if she was saying¡­that she was victorious.


    An Xue Yun slightly knitted her brows, but that quickly disappeared as she turned back to say to me with a smile, "Right, thank auntie for me for the recipe that she sent last night. I tried it and it really was delicious."


    "Huh?" I was surprised to hear this before saying, "You''ve been texting my mom?"


    "That''s right, we exchanged numbers at the hospital that day and we''ve been texting for a while." Though she was looking at me when she said this, it really seemed like she was saying this for someone else.


    And there was someone that reacted to these words.


    Iris deeply knitted her brows after hearing this as if she wasn''t happy with what An Xue Yun said.


    But in the end, she relaxed her brows and said, "We should go and find a dungeon to go into before it gets too late. We don''t have all day to spend chatting here with this employee."


    She was about to grab my hand to pull me away to the board, but An Xue Yun interrupted by saying, "I''ve already got one for him right here. There''s no need for you to go anywhere." S~ea??h the N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Iris turned to look at An Xue Yun with narrowed eyes before saying, "Who knows if the dungeon you chose is any good. It''s better if we take a look for ourselves."


    She wanted to pull me away as she said this, but I didn''t follow her.


    Instead, I said, "Actually, I trust An Xue Yun''s choice."


    How could I not?


    The last one that An Xue Yun gave me was a Quest Dungeon¡­


    There''s no telling what she would give me this time.


    Iris turned around to look at me as if she had been betrayed, but then she turned back to look at An Xue Yun to say, "What is the dungeon that you''ve found?"


    An Xue Yun didn''t do anything when Iris asked her this, almost as if she didn''t hear her.


    This made Iris look like she was even more annoyed with her.


    I didn''t say anything while this was happening since I could already guess what was happening.


    But of course, it was better for me if I didn''t engage¡­


    "Boss, how do you know her?" Wang Rong asked in a low voice while this was happening.


    I didn''t get a chance to answer as someone cut in all of a sudden.


    "Iris, this is where you were!"

 Chapter 107 Rival (2)

    When we looked in the direction of this voice, there was a handsome red haired young man walking over.This red haired young man didn''t seem to have eyes for anyone except for Iris with the way that he was looking right at her.


    But it didn''t seem like she had eyes for him as she had turned away from him and even seemed to be hiding herself from him. It was as if she was doing her best to avoid getting his attention.


    Even though he clearly already saw her.


    After walking over, he said, "Iris, what are you doing here? Didn''t we say that we would hang out today? I found a nice dungeon for us to clear."


    After he said this, there was a group that walked over to stand behind him.


    This group was clearly the lackeys of this red haired young man. sea??h th§× n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Iris acted like she didn''t hear him at first, but it didn''t seem like the red haired young man was giving up. He kept talking to her even though she didn''t respond to him, so she had no choice but to finally say something.


    Especially since she snuck a peek at a certain someone.


    It was as if she was worried that they would misunderstand.


    "Who said that I had plans with you? It was just you asking me out, but I told you that I was busy." She said in a snappy voice, cutting the red haired young man off.


    Even though she was being curt with him, it didn''t seem like he minded the tone that she took with him at all.


    With the same smile on his face, he said, "But what would you do instead? This is the Explorer Association, this is a place for lower ranked people who don''t deserve to associate with people like us."


    The red haired young man didn''t lower his voice at all, so everyone that was around us heard what he said.


    The moment that they did, they immediately knitted their brows and looked at the red haired young man.


    Even though he had become the center of attention, he just ignored them all as he continued to look at Iris.


    As for his lackeys, they moved around him and looked at the Explorers that were glaring in their direction. The looks on their faces was almost as if they were daring them to do something.


    But the Explorers didn''t do anything in the end.


    Even if they were unhappy with the words that the red haired young man said, they weren''t fools.


    They could see the gear that he was wearing, they knew that the stuff that he had wasn''t normal.


    It was clear that this red haired young man didn''t have a weak backing.


    There was nothing to gain from stirring up trouble with him.


    There was a trace of worry that appeared on Iris'' face when she heard this and she snuck another peek in my direction, but I had a calm look on my face as if I didn''t care about what the red haired young man said.


    This time, the red haired young man didn''t miss this look from her. Experience new stories on My Virtual Library Empire


    This time, the red haired young man turned to look at me.


    With the way that he looked at me, it was almost as if he was seeing me for the first time even though he passed by me when he came over to talk to Iris.


    He just didn''t seem to care about me until this moment.


    "Who are you?" The red haired young man asked in a voice that had a trace of hostility in it.


    I calmly looked at him for a few seconds before turning back to An Xue Yun to say, "What do you have for us?"


    The red haired young man immediately revealed an annoyed look and came forward as if he wanted to grab me, but Iris was the one that came forward to stand between him and me.


    With an angry look she said, "Stop following me around already. I told you that I''m not interested in associating with you."


    The red haired young man''s face twisted the moment that he heard this.


    It was almost as if he was being consumed with rage because of Iris'' response.


    Only he didn''t seem to take that rage out on her. Instead, he turned to look at me and raised his hand to point at me while preparing to say something.


    But before he could, there was a group that came over.


    This group was dressed in a uniform that was similar to the one that An Xue Yun, though their uniforms seemed more suited for fighting than for doing paperwork.


    After they came over, they looked at An Xue Yun and asked, "What''s the problem?"


    She didn''t answer them and instead looked at the red haired young man to say, "I don''t know where you come from, but in this place, there are rules. You should know that this isn''t a place for you to cause trouble."


    After she said this, this group went over to surround the red haired young man''s group.


    The red haired young man looked like he was even angrier before saying, "Do you know who I am? Do you think that your Explorer Association will get away with this?"


    An Xue Yun didn''t show any fear when she heard this and just said, "Show our guests to the door. If these are the manners that they have, then there''s no need to hear anything else."


    The Explorer Association guards nodded in agreement before reaching out towards the red haired young man''s group.


    They tried to fight back, but they found that they weren''t able to do a single thing.


    It was as if there was something that was stopping them from summoning their familiars.


    The guards made quick work of the red haired young man''s group and tossed them out of the Explorer Association.


    When it was over, An Xue Yun turned over to look at me with a smile and said, "Now, let''s talk about the mission that I have for you."

 Chapter 108 Rival (3)

    I raised a brow to look at An Xue Yun before asking, "Is it alright to do that?"She shook her head with a faint smile before saying, "Aren''t you looking down on the Explorer Association too much by asking that question? You should know that there are big backers behind us."


    I slowly nodded before saying, "Yes, but¡­"


    As I said this, I turned to look at Iris who was standing there with an awkward look on her face.


    When she saw me looking at her, she hesitated a bit before saying, "He''s the son of the Tide City governor."


    I slightly knitted my brows when I heard this.


    While I didn''t know exactly who the Tide City''s governor was, I knew that to become a governor, one had to become an A Rank Summoner first.


    While an A Rank Summoner wasn''t that strong compared to a World Summoner, it was still someone that was considered an expert in our world. He was someone that could influence the government since he was one of their governors.


    But to my surprise, it didn''t seem like An Xue Yun was worried at all.


    Seeing the way that I looked at her, she said, "It''s just a single governor and it''s not even the governor himself, it''s the son. Do you really think that the Explorer Association really is that weak?"


    Then after a pause, she added, "But you should look after yourself in the future. The look on his face made it clear that he wouldn''t drop this matter that easily."


    I slowly nodded in agreement before turning to look at Iris.


    Seeing me look at her, she said, "I''ll tell my parents about this. Since you''re a guest of the Huo Family, then this is the least that we should do."


    I gave another slow nod of agreement, but the look in my eyes told a different story.


    While I wouldn''t pursue this matter, if he were to pursue it¡­I had no reason to show mercy.


    Once that distraction was over, An Xue Yun started exploring the mission that she picked out for us.


    It was a C Rank Dungeon.


    The last dungeon that she had gotten me was the Fishmen Hole which was a D Rank Dungeon and now she was bringing it up a notch by giving me a C Rank Dungeon.


    It was almost as if An Xue Yun was slowly planning my path for me.


    It wasn''t as if I had anything against this, the only question that I had for her was¡­


    "Is there anything special about this dungeon?"


    There was just a mysterious smile that appeared on her lips when An Xue Yun heard this.


    She didn''t actually say anything in response to this, she just looked at me as if I should know the answer to this.


    The Fishmen Hole had turned out to be a Quest Dungeon, so what about this one.


    I took a closer look at the posting for this dungeon and I couldn''t find anything special about this.


    This was another open field dungeon that led to a forest, but this one was much more dangerous than the one that I went to before. This one was actually filled with monsters that were no weaker than D Rank.


    That was the same rank as the Thunder Deer that I fought in the other dungeon.


    Of course, they weren''t as strong since they weren''t Boss Monsters, but they weren''t that weak either.


    In a place like this, it didn''t seem like there was anything special.


    In the end, I just took the mission and said, "Alright, we''ll go to this place then."


    "I''ll give Mo Yun a call, just wait a bit." An Xue Yun said before turning around to pick up a phone.


    I gave a nod before turning to say something to Wang Rong. Sear?h the N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    During this time, Iris went over to the counter as if she wanted to talk to An Xue Yun alone.


    I noticed this and didn''t say anything.


    Though the way that Wang Rong gestured with his eyes didn''t help.


    I just simply said to him, "It''s better not to get involved."


    He looked at me with a strange look, but he nodded in agreement in the end.


    ¡­


    "Thank you for helping earlier." Iris suddenly said after a long moment of silence.


    An Xue Yun had been about to make the call when she heard this.


    She lowered the phone a bit to look at Iris before saying, "They were causing trouble for the Explorer Association and it''s my job. There''s no need to thank me." Experience tales at My Virtual Library Empire


    Iris didn''t say anything in response at first, but then she suddenly said, "Still, that doesn''t mean that I''m going to give up."


    This time, An Xue Yun had a slightly surprised look in her eyes.


    After a pause, she said, "I don''t know what you mean."


    Iris gave a simple nod before saying, "It just means that I''m already in the lead if you''re not willing to admit it."


    Without waiting for An Xue Yun''s response, she turned to leave.


    An Xue Yun also didn''t say anything, but there was a strange look that appeared in her eyes.


    It was almost as if she didn''t know what she wanted either with that look in her eyes.


    In the end, An Xue Yun just went back to make that call.


    ¡­


    "What was that about?" Wang Rong asked Iris when she came back.


    He had been trying to hold it in, but he couldn''t help saying something when he saw the look on Iris'' face.


    Though in reality, he was actually asking for someone else¡­


    "It''s nothing. I just had a few things that I wanted to get off my chest." Iris said with narrowed eyes directed at Wang Rong.


    Wang Rong couldn''t help feeling pressured seeing this, so he just gave a simple nod and turned around.


    I just ignored all of this as I followed my own advice.


    Getting involved would be more trouble than it was worth.

 Chapter 109 Death Forest

    It didn''t take long for Mo Yun to show up at the entrance of the Explorer Association.When he arrived, he came in and ushered us over to his car.


    Though from the corner of my eye, I could see that there were others that followed us.


    It seemed that after what happened, Iris had received quite a few new bodyguards.


    But before I could be worried about what was happening, I received a text.


    "We''re not going to follow you in. You''ll have to keep the young miss safe."


    This was the text that I received from the bodyguard that acted as my contact with the Huo Family.


    I was surprised to receive this text, but it didn''t feel like it was some kind of trick.


    After all, if it was, why would they bother texting me like this?


    It really felt strange that they were doing this, but there was no time to think about it.


    With Mo Yun''s fast driving, it took us no time at all to arrive at the dungeon that we were heading to today.


    During this time, Wang Rong and Iris chatted quite a bit with Mo Yun. He was someone that I acknowledged as being charismatic, so it was only natural that he was able to tame the two of them as well.


    When we arrived, he looked at me to say, "I never thought that you would be rising this quickly. I truly look forward to seeing what you become in the future."


    With a smile and a nod, I said, "Please look forward to it."


    He was certainly someone that I wanted as a friend in the future.


    I remembered how he drove me to the dungeon zone, a dangerous thing that others wouldn''t have done. This was a favour that I would never forget and hoped that I would have a chance to repay in the future.


    This time, there were far less people that were gathered around the entrance of the dungeon.


    The last dungeon that I went to was a D Rank Dungeon, it was also known as a median dungeon.


    The rank that most Summoners and Explorers were at was the D Rank.


    That meant that this was the median level for them.


    That was why most Summoners and Explorers either went to D Rank or E Rank Dungeons. Those were the places where they would be able to make the most profit without risking their lives too much.


    C Rank Dungeons were much more dangerous and it was unlikely that they would be able to earn much from entering a C Rank Dungeon.


    That was why most people just avoided the C Rank Dungeon and favoured the D or E Rank Dungeons.


    With less people gathered around, it was much easier for us to enter the dungeon.


    But since there were less people around, that meant that more people took notice of who entered the dungeon. That included someone who took a photo of Lin Fan''s group and sent it somewhere.


    ¡­


    "So it''s the Death Forest! We''re going after them!"


    The red haired young man still hadn''t given up.


    The net of people that he deployed had worked and he found the dungeon that Iris had gone to.


    But the look on his face almost seemed like he wanted to kill someone.


    "If he disappears in the dungeon, then no one can say anything." A fierce and terrifying smile appeared on his lips.


    ¡­


    When we entered the dungeon, the first thing that hit us was the stench of this place.


    It was the smell of decay since this was a dungeon that was filled with undead monsters.


    As the name suggested, this was a dungeon that was filled with death energy which meant that the monsters that filled this place were a bunch of undead. Find your next adventure on My Virtual Library Empire


    At the very least, there weren''t any undead that were at the entrance of the dungeon.


    But after coming in, I could see the worried look that was on Iris'' face.


    "Is everything alright? If there''s something wrong, then you can leave first and we''ll come get you when we''re done here."


    She slowly shook her head before saying, "I''m fine, I''m fine, I''m fine."


    I might have believed her if she didn''t say it three times¡­No, even if she didn''t say this three times, it was hard to believe her with the way that she was acting.


    It was clear that she was on guard against something.


    "Clack."


    "Eek!" Iris screamed as she jumped towards me and grabbed me.


    I couldn''t help falling into a daze when this happened since¡­I was hit head on by her airbags.


    She wasn''t hiding her figure, so they hit me right in the face¡­


    But it didn''t seem like she had time to notice this as she was hiding her face in my chest, as if she was afraid of seeing whatever made that noise.


    In the end, it was Wang Rong who awkwardly said, "It''s just some bones scattered on the side." He said this while pointing at the pile of bones that had collapsed beside the entrance.


    With awkward coughs, Iris and I separated from each other.


    After another awkward moment of silence, Iris slowly said, "I might not be as fine as I said I was. I might¡­now this is just a hypothetical, but I might be afraid of the undead¡­"


    Bitter smiles appeared on the faces of Wang Rong and me.


    If you were afraid of the undead, why did you come with us in the first place?


    But it wasn''t as if we didn''t have an answer for that.


    Still, it was already too late to fix this, so we could only bring her along with us.


    Raising my arm, I said with a sigh, "Then stay close."


    While I didn''t feel comfortable like that, it was better than her running around and causing more trouble.


    Iris'' eyes lit up when she saw this and she quickly grabbed my arm with a happy look on her face.


    It was as if she suddenly overcame her fear.


    It made the bitter smiles on our faces become even more bitter.


    Still like this, we headed off into the forest. sea??h th§× N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

 Chapter 110 Make or break

    After walking for a bit, we encountered our first monster.These monsters were just walking around in a daze, as if they didn''t have any thoughts at all.


    That was because they didn''t.


    These were a bunch of zombies that were walking around aimlessly. It seemed like they were searching for something and they weren''t at the same time.


    It didn''t seem like it would be hard to take care of these zombies, so Wang Rong wanted to step up and show his worth.


    But I just raised a hand to stop him before saying, "Wait, let me try something."


    Wang Rong raised a brow to look at me to show his doubt, but he stepped back in the end to let me do what I wanted.


    I just calmly summoned out the Echo Bat.


    When it appeared, it landed on my shoulder and looked in front to see what was around us. But it suddenly stopped when it saw Iris holding onto my arm from the side.


    The Echo Bat narrowed its eyes to look at her, almost as if it seemed displeased that it was holding onto me like this.


    With a bitter smile, I said, "Just leave her be for now. Take care of them like you usually do."


    The Echo Bat slowly gave a nod before looking back at the zombies in front of us and opening its mouth. Though no sound came out, I knew exactly what it was doing and waited for the result.


    In the end, the zombies suddenly stopped moving.


    They just stood there as if they were dazed and then slowly turned to walk in our direction.


    When Wang Rong saw this, he looked like he was getting ready to charge them.


    But he stopped when I raised my hand to stop him.


    Wang Rong looked at me with a worried look like he thought that I wasn''t thinking clearly, but I still didn''t let him charge at the zombies.


    The zombies just slowly made their way over until they were right in front of us.


    Wang Rong still took a step forward as if he was ready to sacrifice himself to stop these zombies if needed, but it wasn''t necessary in the end.


    That was because the zombies suddenly fell to one knee and bowed their heads to me.


    It was as if they were taking me as their leader with the way that they bowed to me.


    Wang Rong had a shocked look on his face as he slowly turned to look at me and asked, "Boss, this is¡­"


    "What do you think this is?" I said back to him in a calm voice.


    Though I had a calm voice, I actually let out a secret sigh of relief since this was something that I had been worried about.


    Even if the Echo Bat''s Hypnosis was able to control the normal monsters, there was no telling if it would be able to control the undead. After all, the undead were undead creatures, so there was no thought in their minds in the first place.


    To control them was like trying to control nothing at all since there was nothing there in their minds to take control of.


    I had been worried that if the Echo Bat''s Hypnosis didn''t work, then that would mean that my greatest weapon would be useless.


    When the time came, I wouldn''t be able to rely on just the items that I had obtained alone to take care of the monsters of this dungeon.


    Especially a Boss Monster.


    So the fact that I was able to control the undead was a good sign.


    It was the make or break thing that would determine if we could clear this dungeon.


    After confirming this, the only thing that was left was to see what they could do.


    These zombies were considered E Rank Monsters, so they should be at the same level as the Fanged Wolves.


    Only it was hard to see how they could compare unless I saw them in action. Find your next adventure on My Virtual Library Empire


    With a wave of my hand, I said, "Let''s go."


    The zombies followed behind me without a single word while it took Wang Rong and Iris some time to come back to their senses. But eventually they followed after me just like the zombies.


    Only Iris didn''t seem to be staying as close to me as before. S~ea??h the nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    It seemed that she was keeping her distance to a certain extent since she didn''t want to get too close to the zombies.


    After a while, we ran into a group of skeletons walking around.


    This was another one of the E Rank Monsters that wandered around in this dungeon.


    The moment that we saw this group of skeletons, I said to the zombies, "Go."


    As soon as they received this order, there was no hesitation that came from them as they charged at the skeletons.


    Well, it wasn''t exactly right to say that they charged at the skeletons as it was more of a slow job at the skeletons. That was just the lack of speed that these zombies had.


    Since there was this difference in speed, the skeletons were able to notice these zombies approaching them. Though they noticed, it didn''t seem like they were planning on doing anything.


    After all, they were all undead in the same dungeon, so it wasn''t as if they had any reason to suspect that the zombies would do anything to them.


    But that was when they were suddenly blindsided by the zombies that attacked them.


    They suddenly swung their arms out at the skeletons when they got close and knocked two of them apart.


    The rest of the skeletons immediately moved away from the zombies, using their speed to create that gap before pulling out their bone weapons.


    While the skeletons didn''t seem to know why the zombies were attacking them, they didn''t hold back in fighting back against them.


    Or they wouldn''t have if not for the fact that they suddenly stopped moving.


    It wasn''t just the skeletons that stopped moving, it was also the zombies that stopped moving.


    All of them fell under the Echo Bat''s control.

 Chapter 111 Skeleton Knight

    "Take me to your leaders." I said to the skeletons and zombies that were under my control.They looked at me for a few seconds as if they were processing what I said, but then they turned around and started leading the way.


    With these skeletons and zombies leading the way, we went deeper into the forest. sea??h th§× N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    After walking for a bit, I suddenly called for a stop.


    That was because there was something in this part of the forest.


    All of the trees that had been around us were nothing more than withered trees that seemed to be drained of all life by whatever was here. However, even if they were withered trees, that didn''t mean that they were weak in the first place.


    This was a dungeon, there was nothing that was weak in this place.


    These withered trees still had the same strength as iron even with how brittle they looked.


    So the fact that something was able to cut it so cleanly showed that whatever had passed through here wasn''t normal. Read new chapters at My Virtual Library Empire


    That meant that we were in the right place.


    This was most likely the territory of one of the Elite Monsters of this dungeon.


    So I raised my hand and had everyone stop.


    Before charging into the territory of this Elite Monster, it was a good idea to come up with some kind of plan to deal with this Elite Monster.


    After all, there was no telling what would be waiting for us.


    During this time, Wang Rong went over to one of the withered trees that had fallen down and picked up the one of the logs that had been cut out of the trunk of the withered tree.


    Holding this in his hand for a bit, he suddenly punched that log.


    When his fist made contact, there was a cracking sound before the log from the withered tree shattered to pieces.


    Wang Rong''s brows relaxed a bit and he let out a sigh of relief when he saw this.


    I also let out a secret sigh of relief when I saw this.


    The one thing that I was worried about was that Wang Rong''s defenses wouldn''t be strong enough, but it seemed that this wasn''t necessary. Wang Rong''s defenses were stronger than the withered trees, so he should be able to tank the attacks of the Elite Monster.


    With this knowledge, I was much more confident in taking down the Elite Monster.


    Without this tank, it might have been a bit hard to take care of the Elite Monster.


    After this, I turned to look at Iris and asked, "Can you attack from range?"


    The last time that we fought together, she had summoned her familiar out to charge her sword with lightning. However, even if she did get stronger, I didn''t think that she would be strong enough to face this Elite Monster in close combat.


    That was why I wanted to know if she had any long range attacks.


    Iris was surprised to hear me ask this, but even though the look in her eyes showed that she understood why I asked this, she gave a nod before calling out her familiar.


    That hawk landed on her arm and then gathered electricity around itself before finally releasing it as a thunderbolt.


    I couldn''t help slightly knitting my brows seeing this since it seemed a bit weaker than the attack that she used previously against the Kong Gorilla.


    With an awkward look, Iris said, "I''m not used to controlling the power of my familiar without a conduit."


    "A conduit?" I repeated slowly before taking out a crown to hold in front of me.


    Iris looked at the crown with a confused look at first, but she still took it and put it on her head.


    When she put it on her head, it was as if she could sense something.


    The look on her face slowly changed before she looked at me with a shocked look to ask, "This thing is¡­"


    I gave a simple nod as I could understand what she was implying even though her voice drifted off.


    Without another word, Iris had the hawk land on the crown and release electricity.


    At the same time, the crown started releasing electricity and that combined with the electricity of the crown.


    In no time at all, they released a bolt of electricity that was far stronger than anything that they released previously. I had to admit that it was even stronger than the lightning bolts that I released when I used the Thunder Crown.


    There was even an excited look on Iris'' face when she shot out this bolt of electricity. It was as if she had discovered a whole new world with the help of this Thunder Crown.


    Though I had to admit that it seemed like the Thunder Crown was made for her.


    Leaving her to get used to this new Thunder Crown, I took out the Summoning Flute and called out the Fanged Wolves.


    I planned to use the Fanged Wolves to help scout out the area and find the Elite Monster.


    Leaving the two of them in the same place, I headed off on the back of the Fanged Wolves.


    With the help of the Fanged Wolves, I was able to find the Elite Monster in no time. Though it really seemed like the Fanged Wolves were suffering as they searched for the Elite Monster.


    With the look on their faces, it seemed like they really didn''t like the smell of this Death Forest.


    But it would be strange if they did.


    This was a forest that was filled with death and decay, so it was only natural that there was a bad smell here.


    Still, the Fanged Wolves worked hard and brought me to clearing in the forest.


    Judging by the trees that had fallen, this place wasn''t a natural clearing.


    It seemed that what was in the center had cut down all the trees to create this clearing.


    And in the center of this clearing was a skeleton covered in bone armour with a bone sword.


    It was a Skeleton Knight.

 Chapter 112 Lichs Seal

    It wasn''t unexpected to see a Skeleton Knight here since this was a place that was filled with undead.It was just strange to see a Skeleton Knight with this kind of power.


    Though thinking about it, it wasn''t as if I had a good idea of what kind of power a Skeleton Knight should have in the first place.


    After all, it wasn''t as if I had ever seen a Skeleton Knight before.


    So this might just be the normal level of power for a Skeleton Knight.


    But thinking about it too much wouldn''t help me here.


    Instead, it was better to look around this area and see if there was anything in this area that could be used against the Skeleton Knight.


    After looking around, I turned the Fanged Wolves around and headed back to where the others were.


    "Did you find anything?" That was the first thing that Wang Rong asked when I came back.


    I quickly explained to them the things that I found and my plan for dealing with the Skeleton Knight.


    After explaining this, I turned to Iris to ask, "Are you ready?"


    She looked a bit nervous when I asked her this, but she eventually gave a firm nod to confirm that she was ready.


    So with that, we headed to where the Skeleton Knight was.


    Only we didn''t bring any of the monsters that had been tamed with us.


    In this case, there was no need to use a trick since it would be easier for us to take care of the Skeleton Knight all on our own.


    This Skeleton Knight didn''t have any lackeys, or if it did, they had already been turned into bones by the Skeleton Knight''s blade. It seemed that it was quite fond of testing the sharpness of its blade.


    That was what the bones scattered among the fallen trees on the ground were.


    Once we were here, I turned to Iris once more to ask, "Are you ready?"


    She took a moment to take a deep breath before patting the hawk on the Thunder Crown to say, "We''re ready."


    I gave a nod to her and then raised the trident in my hand.


    When I did, there was water that gathered at the tip of it before it suddenly flew into the sky.


    The water that was in the sky didn''t completely disappear, it just took the form of a cloud. sea??h th§× n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    This cloud became bigger and bigger before it was sent over to where the Skeleton Knight was.


    When it was sent over, the Skeleton Knight naturally noticed it was well and looked up to see rain falling down on it. It wasn''t just any rain, but rather a torrential downpour that fell onto the Skeleton Knight. Enjoy new adventures from My Virtual Library Empire


    It was so heavy that it would have been hard for any normal human to see anything, but the Skeleton Knight was different since it wasn''t a human in the first place.


    But the Skeleton Knight still seemed confused since it didn''t understand why there was rain in the first place.


    It took a while for the Skeleton Knight to realize that this was a trick, but it was already too late at that point. The rain had fallen for a while now and the area around the Skeleton Knight was soaked.


    With another flick of the trident, the water suddenly came up and gathered around the Skeleton Knight. It didn''t take any time for it to form a large cage of water around the Skeleton Knight.


    With this cage of water around it, the Skeleton Knight was suspended into the air and trapped there.


    Though it was trapped, it seemed like the Skeleton Knight was still able to move as it started raising its sword.


    But before it could, there was a bolt of lightning that suddenly hit the ball of water.


    The moment that this bolt of lightning hit the ball of water, the bolt of lightning suddenly disappeared. But it was clear that the electricity from the bolt of lightning entered the ball of water as it started zapping the Skeleton Knight.


    Only even with that, the Skeleton Knight swung its sword out nat where the bolt of lightning came from.


    That flying slash only hit the tree that was there.


    It didn''t even cut through the tree as it was just an air slash that was sent out in haste.


    But it wouldn''t have hit anything since Iris was moving around on the back of a Fanged Wolf.


    It was already expected that the Skeleton Knight would fight back, so naturally she would have to remain on the move to avoid being counterattacked by the Skeleton Knight.


    At the same time, the water cage wasn''t destroyed by the Skeleton Knight''s slashes since it was a fluid thing that could reform with each slash. Even if the slash displaced the water temporarily, there was more than enough water to replace the water that had been displaced.


    Just like this, the Skeleton Knight was completely fried until it stopped moving.


    Even then, we shot more bolts of lightning at the ball of water just to be certain.


    When it was over, the Skeleton Knight''s unmoving bones fell to the ground.


    That was when Iris came back over to where we were.


    I had already discussed it with the two of them, so I made my way over to the bones all on my own.


    When I reached it, I called out the Scavenger Rabbit while hiding it with my body.


    The Scavenger Rabbit seemed like it would panic, only I had expected this and grabbed it to stop it from making any sound.


    I only let go when it calmed down and it went over to dig through the bones.


    In no time at all, the Scavenger Rabbit turned around to show me the items that it had gotten.


    The first thing that I saw was a surprising one.


    Lich''s Seal


    A seal placed on a summon by a lich to keep track of it.

 Chapter 113 Boss, is this for me?

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    A lich¡­


    It was one of those famous monsters that one heard stories about.


    In short, it was one of those monsters that could be considered a disaster since it was a monster that could create even more monsters. Every person that fell at the hands of the lich could become another monster.


    That was why whenever a lich appeared, a disaster zone would be declared and everyone would be evacuated.


    There were few people that lived to tell the tale after fighting a lich.


    And it seemed that there was a lich in this dungeon.


    Was it the boss of the dungeon?


    If it was, then this dungeon wouldn''t just be considered a C Rank Dungeon, would it?


    It felt like it was leading up to something and I couldn''t help feeling worried about this, but in the end¡­there was nothing that I could do about it now.


    I was already here, so it wasn''t as if I would run away.


    If I couldn''t beat the lich, then at least I could still run away.


    That was the thought that passed through my mind before I started looking at the other items that the Scavenger Rabbit presented me.


    The other items were more expected from the Skeleton Knight.


    It was a set of bone armour and a bone sword.


    I didn''t need them to be appraised to know what kind of power these two items had.


    Just rapping on it with my hand was already more than enough to show how strong these two items were.


    After I finished examining the items, I turned around to wave for Wang Rong and Iris to come over.


    Though before turning around, I made sure to slip the Lich''s Seal away.


    It wouldn''t be good to show this thing to the two of them.


    Making them worried would just harm us rather than help us.


    Once they came over, I could see the way that Wang Rong was looking at the items that I was holding.


    So I just casually handed him¡­the armour.


    "Boss, is this for me?" Wang Rong asked in a strange voice that seemed to have a trace of disappointment.


    I could see the way that he was looking at the sword that I was still holding, as if he wanted it as well.


    But I didn''t hand it to him.


    There was something else that I was planning on giving him.


    With a nod, I said, "That and something else."


    With a wave of my hand, there was a large sword that suddenly appeared in front of me.


    When Wang Rong saw this, his eyes opened wide since he recognized it.


    It was the great sword that he had wanted previously, but I had taken for myself.


    Now that I had found a better sword, it was only natural that I would pass this great sword down to him. If he became stronger with the great sword, then that would be good for our group.


    But there was another trace of disappointment in Wang Rong''s eyes when he saw this great sword.


    He looked at the bone sword in my hand with a longing look before picking up that great sword.


    When he did, there was a bitter smile that appeared on his face since he could feel just how heavy this great sword was.


    While he was able to wield it, it was definitely hard for him to swing it around.


    It would be better if he took the lighter bone sword.


    But it didn''t seem like I was going to let him take it.


    Seeing the way that he looked at me, I just said, "Go on, swing it around a bit and see how it feels."


    When he heard this, the bitter smile on his face became more bitter.


    Wang Rong wasn''t a fool, he could clearly hear the teasing tone that was in my voice as I said this.


    But still, I just waited for him to swing that sword around.


    After swinging it around for a bit and getting a feel for it, it seemed like Wang Rong was getting used to the weight of the great sword. At least it seemed that he was swinging it much more smoothly compared to before.


    So I said, "Why don''t you put on your armour as well and test it all together."


    Wang Rong''s face had another bitter smile appear on it when he heard this.


    He looked at me as if he was asking me to let him off, but I just looked at him with a smile as if I was just waiting for him to do it.


    In the end, it was Iris who spoke up to help Wang Rong.


    "Shouldn''t we leave this place? There might be other monsters that show up soon since the Skeleton Knight is dead."


    With a nod of agreement, I said, "You''re right, we should go."


    If it was before, I wouldn''t have done something like tease Wang Rong like this.


    If it was before, I would have been completely focused on clearing the dungeon as soon as possible and getting as much loot out of this place.


    It was certainly different now since it even felt a bit fun exploring the dungeon with them.


    I could tell that I was slowly opening up to the two of them and feeling more relaxed around them.


    Perhaps this might be a bad thing in some cases since it made people sloppy, but I didn''t feel that it was a bad thing in this case since it felt like we were working better than before.


    There was a sense of trust that was hard to describe between us¡­ S~ea??h the Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Or perhaps it was just good to be able to trust people with some of my secrets.


    In short, it felt good to have the two of them with me in this dungeon.


    "Alright, let''s go before the Fanged Wolves disappear." I said before getting on the back of one of the Fanged Wolves.


    Iris got on the same one as me while Wang Rong was left with the other one for himself.


    We headed back to where we left the undead.

 Chapter 114 Enemies meet on a narrow path

    With the undead leading the way, we were heading to the next Elite Monster of this dungeon.


    But this place was much bigger than the other dungeons that we had been in before and there was nothing that we could use to move fast.


    It was different in the other forest dungeon since there were Fanged Wolves that I had tamed to bring me around. Sear?h the ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    As for the Fishmen Hole, it wasn''t as big and wide as this forest.


    So it really did take a while to reach the next Elite Monster.


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    But we didn''t get there without encountering something along the way.


    "Fight back! Stop running!"


    "Help, young master!"


    The moment that we heard these voices, we immediately knitted our brows.


    That was because these voices were voices that we recognized as soon as we heard them.


    These were the voices of the one that had provoked me before.


    It was the voice of the red haired young master that had followed Iris to the Explorer Association previously.


    It seemed that enemies really did meet on a narrow path.


    Though in reality, I knew that it wasn''t that simple.


    The fact that this red haired young master suddenly showed up in the exact same dungeon that we were in made it clear that this was intentional. If I had to guess, it was very likely that he followed us all the way here.


    That just meant that he wasn''t willing to drop the matter from before.


    If he wasn''t willing to drop that matter, then there was only one way to classify him.


    An enemy.


    As for all of the people that had been classified as my enemy, one could ask them how that turned out in the afterlife.


    But there was still a bit of hesitation that filled me because of this.


    I turned to look at Iris and said, "What do you think we should do about them?"


    Iris was surprised to hear this, but then she deeply knitted her brows without saying anything.


    The look on her face showed that she was struggling to come up with an answer, even though she knew in her heart what should be done.


    As for the reason why she was struggling, it was because of the status that this red haired young master had.


    Both his status as a student of the Sacred Academy and the son of the Tide City governor warranted one to be cautious around him. So it was worse when there was someone with both these statuses.


    In the end, she slowly said, "Is it possible to teach him a lesson and let him leave?"


    "No." I said with a firm shake of my head.


    "Then can we avoid him?" She slowly asked again.


    "No." Once again, it was said with a firm shake of my head.


    Since he had the mind to chase after us like this, there was no doubt that he already had bad intentions towards us. Or rather, it was better to say that he had bad intentions towards me.


    I didn''t think that I had done anything that would provoke him to go this far, but it seemed that I had been wrong.


    I was fine with admitting that I was wrong, as long as I cleaned up after my mistake.


    That meant making him disappear from this world.


    Seeing that I was firm in this decision, Iris couldn''t help deeply knitting her brows.


    It wasn''t that she was angry, it was just that she really didn''t know what to do in this situation.


    After all, there was no doubt that if he were to die, there would be a big mess.


    She didn''t want to get Lin Fan involved in this¡­


    But it seemed like he wasn''t planning on backing down¡­


    There really didn''t seem like anything that she could do at this point.


    "I''ll make it look like an accident." I said all of a sudden when I saw the look on her face.


    Iris'' expression changed several times before she finally gave a slow nod, but the way that she looked at Lin Fan had completely changed.


    It wasn''t as if she was disappointed in him, it was just that she felt that this side of him was one that she didn''t know. It wasn''t that she was scared of him either, it was just that she felt like she was a bit useless since she was the one that had implicated him.


    Since she agreed, that meant that there was nothing else to hold back.


    In that case, it was time to make sure these people disappeared.


    With the Echo Bat on my shoulder, I said, "Surround them."


    The Echo Bat immediately understood the order and started moving the undead that followed me.


    During our journey through the forest, we had also bumped into several more groups of the undead wandering around. Since we had bumped into them, there was no reason in letting them go.


    It was best if I was used them as my puppets instead.


    And now, I was using them to help me clean out some trash.


    Trash that couldn''t even face a few undead that surrounded them.


    Even though they acted tough, it didn''t seem like they were that strong.


    That just made me wonder how the red haired young master had been able to get into the Sacred Academy in the first place.


    It didn''t seem like he was skilled enough to get in with the way that he panicked as he fought the undead.


    It seemed that nepotism really was important in this case.


    But that just meant that this would be easy.


    With the control of the Echo Bat, the undead quickly surrounded the group.


    The only thing left now was how to kill them.


    Should it be done quick and simple or should I make them suffer a bit.


    After thinking about it, I decided that it was best if I ended it quickly.


    After all, there was no telling what could suddenly happen.


    If someone were to see something, it wouldn''t be an accident anymore.

 Chapter 115 Ripped apart

    "What''s going on? Where did all of these undead suddenly come from?" The red haired young master master shouted when they were surrounded by the undead.


    The lackeys seemed like they were even panicking even more than the red haired young master as they didn''t even seem to try and protect him. With the way that they were moving, it was as if they were trying to find ways to escape on their own.


    It was just that it wasn''t that easy.


    That was because the undead around them moved in strange ways that were hard to predict.


    It even seemed like the undead were moving in a way that made it seem like they were working together.


    They didn''t believe that the brainless undead would actually be able to work together like this.


    Only wherever they tried to go, the undead would move there first and block them.


    It really seemed like they wouldn''t be able to break through the blockade of this undead.


    After a while, the red haired young master finally couldn''t take it anymore and pulled out a sword.


    But this wasn''t just any sword.


    This was a special sword that was releasing mana fluctuations which showed that it was a special magic weapon.


    The eyes of the lackeys all lit up when they saw this, but the red haired young master didn''t care about what they thought. He just brought the sword forward and pointed it at the undead in front of him.


    As he did, there were flames that appeared around this special sword.


    It seemed that this magic weapon was a fire elemental weapon.


    This magic sword was actually a life saving treasure that the Tide City''s governor had given his son as a last resort, so if it wasn''t used now, would there be a better time to use it?


    After the flames appeared, the red haired young master gathered them around the blade before swinging forward.


    It was just that the way that he used this magic weapon was too simple.


    It seemed that he wasn''t trained on how to use this magic weapon, it had just been given to him to protect his life.


    So when he used it, he could only draw on the power of this magic weapon alone and couldn''t add anything to it.


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    Even if the power of the magic weapon was great, when the one that used it didn''t have any idea of how to use it properly, naturally it wasn''t as powerful as it could be.


    In the end, the red haired young master wasn''t able to hit any of the undead that were surrounding it. All of the undead moved out of the way before the red haired young master could actually hit them, so they avoided all the flames that came at them.


    But that meant that a path had been created for the red haired young master.


    Even though he had swung his sword to kill the undead and failed, that didn''t mean that he had failed completely. With the flames from the magic weapon, he was actually able to create a path of escape.


    Without any hesitation, the red haired young master immediately started running for that path.


    He even waved the hand with the sword in it to create flames behind him.


    The lackeys were shocked to find that these flames actually cut them off from the path of escape.


    It seemed that the young master was actually throwing them away just so he could escape on his own.


    He was using them as bait for the undead!


    Looks of betrayal appeared on the faces of the lackeys, but it wasn''t as if there was anything that they could do about this. The flames from the magic weapon were just too strong for them to break through.


    The only thing that they could do was try to find another way to escape, but was there another way to escape?


    No, the undead had them completely surrounded and backed them up against the wall of flames.


    It seemed that this was the end for them.


    The only thing that they could do was curse the red haired young master who betrayed them like this.


    But the red haired young master had a happy smile on his face since he could see his path of escape.


    Only before he could actually escape, there was a ball of fire that came flying at him.


    He was barely able to react in time and swing the sword up to create flames to block these balls of flames.


    What he didn''t notice was that the undead around him had already come closer and surrounded him. They grabbed at his arms and soon had him bound between them, not allowing him to move at all.


    "Let me go!" The red haired young master roared out, but he found that he just wasn''t able to break free at all.


    That was when flames suddenly started appearing around him.


    These weren''t the flames that came from his sword, but rather the flames that came from the salamander that was hiding inside of his hood. This was his familiar, one that had the ability to control flames.


    It was just that when the flames appeared, there were balls of water that hit him and put out those flames. S~ea??h the N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The red haired young master''s final sight were the skeletons that held staves and were hiding among the rest of the undead. These were the skeletal wizards that had fired those spells at him.


    It seemed that they had been waiting for just the right moment to cast these spells.


    It seemed that everything had been planned against him.


    How could the undead move like this?


    That was the last thought that the red haired young master had before he felt pain coming from all over his body.


    The undead were using their strength to pull his body apart.


    First it was his limbs, then it was the parts that were connected to his midriff, and soon even his face was ripped apart.


    To the very last moment, he was filled with pain.

 Chapter 116 To the grave

    When it was all over, there were only bits and pieces of the red haired young master and his lackeys that were left behind.


    It wasn''t just the red haired young master that had been ripped to pieces like this, it was also his lackeys that had received the same treatment.


    Their corpses were left the same way to make it seem like they had been killed by the monsters in the dungeon.


    Of course, it wasn''t necessary for them to be taken care of like this.


    It was possible to kill them simply without any pain at all.


    But it was better this way since it allowed me to vent a bit of my anger.


    I didn''t want to cause any trouble, but this red haired young master chose to come after me. He even went as far as chasing after me in this dungeon, so it was clear what he wanted to do.


    As such, I couldn''t show mercy to him.


    Showing mercy to this kind of enemy was just hurting myself.


    After it was done, we walked over to see what remained of the red haired young master and his lackeys. At the same time, I was planning on collecting the things that they had dropped.


    It wasn''t that I was after the stuff that they had, but rather because I needed it to create an alibi.


    Even if the magic weapon that the red haired young master had was an enticing item, I knew that it would be too much trouble keeping it for myself. It would be nothing more than a trouble magnet if I were to keep it on my person.


    After all, it was the best evidence that I had been the one that killed the red haired young master and his lackeys.


    So instead of keeping it with me, I was planning on giving it to one of the skeletons and releasing it back into the dungeon.


    If someone killed the skeleton and took the magic sword, then that would be the best proof that the red haired young master was killed in the dungeon.


    As we stood there, Iris had a strange look on her face.


    Eventually, she asked, "Was that really the only way to have done it?"


    It seemed that she had been disturbed with the way that things turned out. It seemed that she wasn''t very supportive of the method that I chose to take care of the red haired young master.


    But even if that was the case¡­


    "I did what I had to do. I have no regrets over what I did." I said with a serious look on my face.


    It wasn''t that I was just saying this for her sake. S§×ar?h the N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    I was very serious about this.


    To me, someone that gave me kindness would be repaid and someone that came at me with hostility would receive hostility in return.


    There was no bending that rule.


    This was a part of me that I needed her to accept if she wanted to keep following me around, or else there would be conflict in the future.


    With everything that had happened between us and how it got the Huo Family involved, it was best to make this clear as soon as possible.


    There was a tense moment of silence that lingered in the air before Iris slowly gave a nod of agreement.


    It seemed like there was still something that she was struggling with based on the look on her face, but she seemed to also push this down as she agreed with me.


    I understand how she felt, so I added, "It isn''t as if I''ll do this every time. As long as they don''t go too far, I won''t do anything to them." Narrowing my eyes to reveal a cold look, I added, "I won''t ever let anyone that comes after my life go."


    As I said this, I couldn''t help thinking of Wang Teng¡­


    That was my first time, so it was a memory that would live with me forever.


    However, it was also the reason why I was so firm in this decision.


    Iris gave another nod before turning away from the corpses that were on the ground.


    I didn''t say anything else about this as I also turned away. Experience tales with My Virtual Library Empire


    I had already picked up the things from the ground, so all that was left was scattering the things that belonged to the red haired young master and his lackeys to the undead that were under my control.


    I needed to send them off to the different corners of this dungeon.


    I needed the people that were clearing this dungeon to find the items left behind by the red haired young master and his lackeys to report them in after all.


    When it was done, I turned back to Wang Rong and Iris to say in a serious voice, "This is a matter that we need to take to our graves. We can never speak of this to another soul."


    The two of them also had serious looks on their faces as they took one last look at the corpses on the ground. After taking that look, they nodded in agreement.


    They weren''t fools, they knew the trouble that would come with admitting to killing the son of the Tide City''s governor.


    They knew that this wasn''t worth whatever fame it would bring.


    Especially for Iris who had to worry about the prestige of the Huo Family and her own status as a student of the Sacred Academy.


    Though it was also that she was afraid of implicating Lin Fan.


    Though this matter did put a bit of a strain on their relationship, it wasn''t as if it was enough to change her feelings about the man in front of me.


    So she would do what she could to keep this secret.


    Wang Rong just knew that it would be dangerous for all of them to admit this, so he would keep this secret.


    Once that was done, we headed off towards the next Elite Monster.

 Chapter 117 Flesh Golem

    Just like this, we traveled in silence.


    Everyone seemed to be lost in their own thoughts about what had just happened back there.


    But in the end, that silence was broken when the skeletons and zombies suddenly stopped. Experience exclusive tales on My Virtual Library Empire


    The moment that they stopped, we all snapped out of our daze and focused on what was in front of us.


    That was because we knew the reason why these undead suddenly stopped like this.


    It meant that we had arrived at our destination.


    This time, I didn''t pull out the Summoning Flute.


    That was because the Summoning Flute was something that could only be used twice a day and I had already used it, so using it again would mean that I wouldn''t be able to use it for the rest of the day.


    I wanted to keep this Summoning Flute ready just in case something happened.


    If we needed to run, the speed of the Fanged Wolves was useful.


    So I just went forward alone to scout it out.


    Iris and Wang Rong seemed to want to come with me, but I stopped them in the end.


    With a serious voice, they had no choice but to listen to me.


    When I came closer, I found that there was a powerful aura coming from in front of me.


    This was certainly an aura that was much stronger than the Skeleton Knight from before. It seemed that whatever was here was a stronger Elite Monster than the Skeleton Knight.


    But it turned out that this wasn''t the case.


    That was because what was in front of me was a Flesh Golem.


    As soon as I saw it, I was able to tell what it was right away.


    This was a very easily distinguishable monster, especially with the appearance that it had.


    It really was something that was hard to mistake.


    This was a Flesh Golem, a creature that was created by a lich using the corpses of many different creatures. Dark magic was infused into the corpses of the different creatures and then all of those corpses were brought into a single mass, which is what the Flesh Golem was.


    Because it was a mass that was made up of all these different corpses, it had bits of different creatures that made up its body. That meant that it was just a disgusting mass of deceased flesh smushed together.


    For the faint of heart, it really was hard to look at.


    The thing about this Flesh Golem was that it was just standing there in the center of the forest. There wasn''t anything that was around this Flesh Golem as it stood there, though I didn''t let my guard down around it.


    But looking at the Flesh Golem, I couldn''t help thinking of a weird thought.


    The way that it stood there was just like a NPC in some kind of game.


    Thinking back on the Skeleton Knight, it had done something similar as it just stood there in the middle of the clearing.


    It seemed that none of the Elite Monsters in this dungeon were sentient enough that they were moving on their own. Or was it because they had been sent to guard something?


    Was there something important here to the lich that created the Flesh Golem?


    That just made me wonder if there was something hidden in the place where the Skeleton Knight had been previously.


    But after a few seconds, I shook those thoughts out of my mind. It wasn''t the time to think about it right now, right now was the time to take care of this Flesh Golem.


    Since this Flesh Golem wasn''t moving from where it was guarding, that meant that this should be easy to deal with.


    I wouldn''t even have to personally do anything.


    So I went back to bring everyone over.


    "Eh?" Wang Rong had a surprised look when he heard my plan before revealing an awkward look.


    I knew what he was thinking, so I just patted him on the shoulder and said, "Don''t worry, you''ll get your turn."


    He looked back at me and then gave a determined nod before turning back to look at the Flesh Golem.


    Iris didn''t have a problem with this plan at all, so I gave the order to the Echo Bat.


    Once the Echo Bat gave its order, the undead started moving towards the Flesh Golem.


    There were enough undead that the Flesh Golem was completely surrounded from every angle.


    But like the undead from before, the Flesh Golem didn''t seem to react to the appearance of these undead. It was as if it didn''t think that these undead were actually here to harm it.


    So the undead were able to completely surround the Flesh Golem without any problems.


    Then in one fell swoop, all of them attacked the Flesh Golem at the same time.


    That was when the Flesh Golem finally reacted.


    The specialty of the Flesh Golem was its durability, which meant that even though it had been hit with all of these attacks, it hadn''t actually been injured that much. There were many parts of its body that could be considered disposable and these were the parts that the undead had hit.


    The parts that had been hit were all discarded by the Flesh Golem and then it started to shake.


    At this, I immediately gave the order for the undead to move away. S§×ar?h the nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    But the Flesh Golem was faster as it shot out spikes made of bones from itself.


    These spikes made of bones weren''t spikes that were made of a single bone, but rather spikes that were made of many different bones compressed together. It was most likely the bones of the corpses that it was made from.


    Most of the undead were able to get out of the way in time, but there were two that were hit with the spikes head on and a large hole was created in them.


    After these holes were created, the undead seemed like they weren''t able to reform.


    They had taken too much damage from these bone spikes.


    That just went to show how much power was in each of these bone spikes.


    As expected of a C Rank Monster.

 Chapter 118 Golem Core

    Even if the Flesh Golem had power behind its attacks, it didn''t matter since it lacked the speed to use it properly.


    As the undead were moving away from the Flesh Golem, there were fireballs that suddenly rained down on the Flesh Golem. Sear?h the Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    This time, the Flesh Golem wasn''t able to resist the attacks like it had done with the attacks of the undead.


    This time, the Flesh Golem suffered some heavy damage that caused it to drop several large pieces of itself.


    That was because the flames weren''t that easy to put out.


    Once the flames fell onto the Flesh Golem, they kept burning away at the undead flesh of the Flesh Golem. The Flesh Golem had to even drop pieces of itself that weren''t burnt just to stop the flames from spreading.


    Because of that, the Flesh Golem had become much smaller than before.


    The Flesh Golem was the exact opposite of the Skeleton Knight in that it had strong defenses, but it lacked the mobility that the Skeleton Knight had.


    That was why this kind of attack was very effective on the Flesh Golem.


    Even if it had the power to take down all of these undead, it just wasn''t able to utilize that power fully since these bone spikes weren''t hitting. Discover more stories at My Virtual Library Empire


    It was even harder once it became smaller.


    So just like this, the undead were able to bait the Flesh Golem around until it was completely burnt away by the fireballs of the skeletal magicians.


    All that was left was a pile of burning flesh after the core of the golem was destroyed.


    This really seemed like it was too easy that I couldn''t help feeling that there had to be something else here. Otherwise, it really didn''t seem like it was a proper fight with an Elite Monster.


    However, there was nothing else that happened after the Flesh Golem''s core was destroyed, so it really seemed like this was the end.


    I didn''t want the Flesh Golem to be turned into loot by the system since that wasn''t a good thing for me, so I came out of my hiding spot and moved towards the Flesh Golem remains.


    While this was happening, I could see that Wang Rong and Iris were looking at me with a strange look.


    I didn''t need to ask to know what they were thinking since I was thinking the same thing.


    The way that the fight with the Flesh Golem went almost seemed like it was too easy.


    The way that it went made it feel like we were bullying it.


    But at the same time, it was almost as if I was the real necromancer controlling undead instead of the lich controlled Flesh Golem.


    The strongest power that a lich had was its ability to create an endless army of soldiers as long as it still had mana. It would be able to raise the dead again and again to attack the living, completely outnumbering the enemies that it faced.


    But this Flesh Golem didn''t have that.


    Normally, a Flesh Golem like this would be surrounded by different undead that would provide support to the Flesh Golem. They would restrain the enemy for the Flesh Golem to take down.


    So a Flesh Golem without an army was nothing more than a large target.


    Once I came over to the Flesh Golem, I summoned out the Scavenger Rabbit again.


    This time, it didn''t seem like the Scavenger Rabbit was afraid of the Flesh Golem.


    Even though the Flesh Golem had been reduced to a pile of burning flesh, it was still a fact that it was a powerful C Rank Monster. This should have been enough to make the Scavenger Rabbit scared¡­


    Was it because the Scavenger Rabbit was getting stronger that it was less afraid or was it because of something else?


    It had to be because of something else since I knew what kind of personality the Scavenger Rabbit had.


    It wasn''t something that would change that easily.


    So what was different about this Flesh Golem?


    The Scavenger Rabbit wasn''t idle while I was lost in thought about what had changed with the Scavenger Rabbit.


    It went forward to where the pile of burning flesh was and started to dig into it just like with any other monster that it looted.


    It didn''t even seem like the fact that the remains of the Flesh Golem was burning affected the Scavenger Rabbit. The Scavenger Rabbit just dug into the remains of the Flesh Golem without even being burnt by the burning flesh.


    When it was over, it turned around and raised its hands up towards me to show what it had gotten.


    But the moment that it turned around, I could see that there was a disappointed look that was on the Scavenger Rabbit''s face. It was almost as if it was disappointed with the things that it had gotten from the Flesh Golem.


    There were a total of three things that it had gotten from the Flesh Golem in the end.


    The first one was a round object that I recognized right away.


    After all, this was the thing that the undead had destroyed when they took down the Flesh Golem. It was the thing that was the very center of what the Flesh Golem was, the thing that gave the Flesh Golem life.


    Even now, there were pieces of this thing that were scattered around on the floor in front of me where the Flesh Golem''s burning remains were.


    So it confused me why there was a second one that was a second one that was in the hand of the Scavenger Rabbit.


    Golem Core


    Grade: A


    A magic core that can be used to create a golem.


    It was a simple description, but the key thing was the grade of this item.


    The Flesh Golem was only a C Rank Monster, but somehow it had dropped an A Grade Core.


    It seemed that the Scavenger Rabbit''s golden paws worked again to turn a C Grade Golem Core into an A Grade Golem Core.

 Chapter 119 Strange pillar

    An A Grade Golem Core was completely different from a C Grade Golem Core.


    The grades of the golem core were especially important.


    After all, they decided what grade the golem created could reach.


    While there were other deciding factors on what grade a golem would become, the most important factor was the grade of the core.


    If the grade of the core was too lacking, then there was no way for the golem to be strong.


    Only if the grade of the core was at the level that was needed would a strong golem be created.


    So that meant that this A Grade Golem Core meant that there was the chance for an A Rank Golem to be created. But of course, it wasn''t as if the golem core alone was all that decided whether an A Rank Golem would be created or not.


    There were also other deciding factors such as the materials used and the power of the one that created the golem.


    All that the A Grade Golem Core meant was a possibility of an A Rank Golem being created.


    Even then, this was still a treasure.


    It was just that this was the only treasure that came out of the Flesh Golem.


    The rest of the items that the Scavenger Rabbit held up were disappointing compared to the A Grade Golem Core.


    The first one was another lich''s seal.


    It seemed like all of this was just pointing at the fact that this dungeon was the domain of a lich and the final Boss Monster of this dungeon would be a lich.


    But even then, it wasn''t as if I was scared.


    There was a reason why An Xue Yun had arranged for me to come to this dungeon in the first place, so I''m sure that she must have already considered the matter of the lich.


    The other item was a finger bone.


    When I looked at it, I just couldn''t find anything special about this finger bone.


    It also didn''t trigger the appraisal skill that I had, so it didn''t seem like there was anything special about this finger bone.


    I could understand why the Scavenger Rabbit had looked disappointed.


    I would have felt the same way comparing this to the items that the Skeleton Knight dropped.


    But still, it wasn''t as if I would throw these things away.


    After looking at it for a bit, I turned around with the finger bone and the Golem Core in hand. The lich''s seal was once again sealed inside of my Storage Ring since I didn''t want to alert the other two.


    Seeing that I turned around, Wang Rong and Iris also came over.


    When they came over, they had the same reaction as I did.


    They were disappointed by the items that I was holding.


    Though judging by the way that Iris looked at the Golem Core, it seemed that she recognized what it was. She even seemed like she had an idea of what grade this Golem Core was at.


    As expected of the daughter of two World Summoners.


    The things that she experienced certainly were different from the things that normal people have experienced.


    So it was only natural that she would have more knowledge compared to normal people.


    This time, there wasn''t anything that either of them wanted.


    After all, there was nothing that they could do with these things even if they were to take them. In their hands, these things were nothing more than useless trinkets that they wouldn''t be able to do anything with.


    But they couldn''t help looking at the finger bone with a strange look.


    After a moment of silence, Wang Rong asked, "Boss, what is this thing?"


    I just looked at him with a bitter smile before asking, "How would I know?"


    Wang Rong also revealed a faint smile before nodding in agreement.


    Since none of us knew what this finger bone was, it wasn''t as if we could do anything with it.


    That was why I tossed it into my Storage Ring.


    Since there was nothing that could be done here, the two of them looked at me as if they were asking if we should leave this place.


    But I had other plans.


    "Search this area."


    The two of them were confused when they heard me give this order, but they could also see that I was sending the undead off to search this area. So in the end, they had no choice but to start searching as well even though they had no idea what they were searching for.


    It didn''t seem like they were able to find anything in the end until one of the undead suddenly dug up something.


    As soon as this undead dug this thing up, everyone came over with knitted brows.


    That was because they could feel the dark energy that was coming from the thing that had been dug up.


    Whatever this thing was, it was clear that it wasn''t normal.


    We immediately gathered around it, though Wang Rong moved himself a bit forward compared to the rest of us. The way that he stood in front was as if he was ready to use his body to shield us if something happened. S§×arch* The N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


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    But there was nothing that happened after this thing was dug out of the ground.


    Looking at it, we saw that it was a pillar that was placed under the ground.


    There were some strange marks to this pillar, but other than that, it didn''t really seem like there was anything special about this thing. Well, other than the large amount of dark energy that it was releasing.


    I ignored the questioning gaze that the other two looked at me with as I focused on the dark pillar.


    However, the thing that I was hoping would pop up never came up in the end.


    It seemed that whatever this thing was, it wasn''t going to trigger it.


    So the real question was whether I should destroy this thing or not.

 Chapter 120 Not a lich

    "Let''s leave this thing here for now."


    That was the decision that I came to in the end.


    Iris and Wang Rong looked at me silently for a few seconds before nodding in agreement.


    They understood why I wasn''t touching this strange pillar filled with dark energy.


    After all, there was no telling what this thing was.


    If I were to destroy it without that information, it was very likely that I would have provoked something that I didn''t want to provoke.


    Since we''re in the dungeon, it was best not to poke hornet nests right now.


    It was better to see what else was in the dungeon before taking care of this thing.


    That was why we headed off to take care of the rest of the Elite Monsters.


    The Elite Monsters of this dungeon were quite easy to take care of since all of them were just like the Skeleton Knight and the Flesh Golem. They were all stationary like NPCs as they stood there in the place.


    As for the reason for that¡­it was the same reason why the Flesh Golem was standing there in place.


    After searching around for a bit in the area that the Elite Monsters were stationed in, we would always find one of the strange pillars from before.


    At the same time, it seemed like the pillar was always a set distance away from the Elite Monster.


    That just went to show that the Elite Monster had been standing there in place for no other reason than to protect these strange pillars.


    The one confusing thing was still why those Elite Monsters were standing there guarding the strange pillars and what purpose those strange pillars served.


    Did they serve some kind of special purpose?


    That was the thought that was on my mind until Iris said something.


    "It seems like they''re set up in some kind of formation¡­"


    As soon as she said this, I turned to see that she was holding a piece of paper and a pen in her hand. On that piece of paper there seemed to be some scribbles, but looking closely at it, I was able to see that she had drawn some kind of map.


    She had been jotting down the path that we had taken, as well as the layout of the pillars that we had discovered.


    Based on the drawing that she made, it really seemed like the pillars were laid out in a way that seemed to be surrounding a center point. With the lines that she drew, it showed that there was indeed some kind of formation that was being laid out by the pillars.


    Though we had no idea what kind of formation this was.


    "Let''s see what''s at the center of this."


    Though I said this, I already had a guess as to what was in the center of this formation.


    It was most likely the lich that was the boss of this dungeon.


    This formation was most likely some kind of formation that the lich had set up to achieve some kind of goal. As for what that goal was, it was most likely related to the dark energy that was inside of these strange pillars. Continue your saga on My Virtual Library Empire


    "It must be trying to strengthen itself, right?"


    That was the thought that passed through my mind after thinking about what the strange pillars were for.


    My guess was that the lich was using the formation of the pillars to gather the dark energy that was necessary for it to evolve even further.


    Even if the lich was already considered a powerful monster, that didn''t mean that it was the most powerful form of undead yet. There were still Elder Liches and Lich Kings that were above the lich.


    So it would only make sense that it would use this formation to try and make itself stronger.


    But it seemed that my guess was wrong.


    That was because when we arrived at the center point of the formation, we found that there wasn''t a lich.


    "Death Knight."


    Iris and I said the same thing at the same time when we saw the monster that was standing in the middle of this clearing.


    But it wasn''t the only thing that was in this clearing.


    There were marks that were on the ground and they seemed to be surrounding the Death Knight. S§×arch* The N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    So our guesses were correct that there was some kind of formation that was here, it was just that my guess was wrong that there would be a lich here.


    Only that still didn''t explain why the lich that had created all of these undead would create this kind of formation for this Death Knight.


    What was it trying to do?


    After staring for a bit, Iris suddenly said, "It seems like a kind of magic array that''s used to gather and condense energy."


    Wang Rong and I both looked at her with surprised looks.


    With an awkward smile, Iris said, "I''ve picked up a few things from the things that my parents taught me."


    Wang Rong still looked confused as he didn''t know who Iris'' parents were, but I just gave an understanding nod since I knew.


    With two World Summoners as parents, it was only expected that she would have this kind of knowledge base.


    "So the magic array is gathering energy for the Death Knight?" I asked her.


    With a nod, Iris said, "That''s right. It seems like it''s set up in a way where it forces that energy that it gathers into the Death Knight itself."


    "But for what reason?" I asked in response.


    This time, Iris shook her head to show that she didn''t know.


    I didn''t blame her since I knew that it wasn''t her fault.


    So I just turned back to look at the Death Knight with slightly knitted brows.


    After a while, I said, "Let''s go back."


    The two of them were surprised to hear this, but they agreed with me since they also had a bad feeling about this Death Knight.


    However, I wasn''t going back as if I was leaving the dungeon.


    I was heading to where the last Elite Monster we took down was.

 Chapter 121 Cut off

    An hour later, we arrived back at where the Death Knight was.


    The Death Knight was still standing in the same place as before, it didn''t seem like it even noticed that someone was nearby.


    It just seemed like it was standing there in the center of the magic array, taking in the energy that was being provided by the magic array.


    Though it didn''t really seem like the Death Knight was actually doing anything with the energy that it was absorbing.


    With the way that the energy seemed to disappear, it was almost as if this energy was just being poured into an endless container. But of course, it was impossible that the lich that set up this magic array would just let all of that energy go to waste.


    There was no doubt that there was something that this energy was being used for.


    But that didn''t matter.


    All that mattered now was how to take down this Death Knight.


    And the key to that wouldn''t lay with us, but rather with the undead that I left at each of the strange pillars that we found.


    We were just waiting for them to make a move.


    "Boss, are you sure that they''ll be able to do what you ordered them to do? They''re undead monsters without any intelligence, so there''s no telling if they''ve wandered off or not." Wang Rong said this in a worried voice.


    But the moment that he did, there was a change that happened with the magic array that the Death Knight was standing in the middle of.


    As soon as he saw this change, there was an awkward look that appeared on his face.


    Of course, even though he had been proven wrong, I didn''t hold it against him.


    I just teased him with a smile, "Well, I guess you were wrong."


    Wang Rong didn''t back down from this as he gave a simple nod in response before planning to go forward.


    It seemed that he was planning on being the main tank for this fight.


    But before he could I stopped him.


    "Let the undead do it. There''s no telling what kind of abilities this Death Knight has, so it''s better to let the undead test them first."


    Wang Rong slightly knitted his brows when he heard this.


    The one habit that Wang Rong had was that he took the monsters that I tamed as his allies in any dungeon that we entered.


    It was what happened in the Fishmen Hole and even now he seemed to take these undead as allies, looking like he was worried about them.


    But since I was the one that gave him the order, he followed that order.


    With a single cry from the Echo Bat, the undead started moving forward to surround the Death Knight. When the undead came out of the forest to surround the Death Knight, it didn''t seem like there was a reaction that came from it.


    It was as if the Death Knight was still focused on the magic array.


    But after a while, the Death Knight seemed to stir.


    It wasn''t that the Death Knight cared about the undead that were approaching it, but rather the Death Knight was focused on the magic array that was on the ground.


    The way that the Death Knight looked at the magic array was as if it could tell that there was something off about it. It was as if the Death Knight could tell that the flow of energy had been cut off.


    That was what we had been waiting for.


    I had posted undead at the different pillars that we found and had them destroy those pillars at a set time, which was why it happened all of a sudden.


    The hardest part was honestly timing it all.


    After all, it took time to get to each of the pillars and then time to get back.


    So the hardest part was timing the order to destroy the pillars that I gave the undead so that they would all be destroyed at the same time.


    There was no need to destroy them all at the same time, but it was best that they were destroyed at the same time.


    That way, it wouldn''t give the enemy any chance to do anything else.


    It wouldn''t give them the chance to turn on any backup plans or anything else.


    If it wasn''t for Iris keeping track with her map and even calculating the time that it took to get to each place, it really would have been impossible. I had to admit that she really was something else with the way that she kept track of everything.


    It really made me want to take her along for all future dungeon dives, but I knew that wasn''t possible since she was still a student. Read exclusive chapters at My Virtual Library Empire


    She would be busy with the Sacred Academy, even if they gave her freedom.


    What I could offer her was power gained from fighting monsters and getting items from the defeated monsters. Even if the items were buffed because of the skill of the Scavenger Rabbit¡­


    The other side was the Sacred Academy.


    It was the place where all of the nation''s resources were gathered. Sear?h the Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    There was no comparison at all.


    As the Death Knight was focused on the magic array under it, the undead pulled out their weapons and prepared themselves for¡­


    "Roar!"


    All of a sudden, the undead around the Death Knight swung their weapons and their claws at the Death Knight. The way that they attacked completely surrounded the Death Knight, giving it no space to escape at all.


    Only the Death Knight didn''t seem afraid.


    It even was in a bit of a daze at the magic array that was on the ground still before it suddenly pulled out its sword.


    One single sweep was all that it took to block these attacks and send the undead flying away.


    There were even some undead that were cut in half because of the Death Knight''s sword swing.


    Then it looked at the undead with flickering flame eyes as if it was saying¡­


    "What do you think you''re doing?"


    "Boom!"

 Chapter 122 Booming voice

    As the Death Knight had been glaring at the undead around it, it was suddenly hit with a fireball that came out of nowhere.


    Then after that, there were several more fireballs that hit the Death Knight at the same time.


    These fireballs all came from different directions, so they bombarded the Death Knight from all around it.


    The Death Knight seemed like it had been completely caught off guard by these fireballs. It didn''t raise its sword to block the fireballs that came afterwards, so it was hit head on with these fireballs.


    However, it was better to say that it wasn''t able to do that.


    It had found that it had suddenly froze.


    It was as if there was something that was restraining it with the way that it couldn''t move its arm.


    So in the end, all that the Death Knight could do was let those fireballs hit it.


    The rest of the undead moved away from the Death Knight after the fireballs hit it. They used this one moment to create distance with the Death Knight so that it couldn''t effectively use its sword like it had done before.


    When the flames and smoke settled, the Death Knight was revealed.


    Other than a few singed spots on its armour, there wasn''t much damage that was dealt to it.


    It was only natural that this would be the case since there was a big difference in level between the ones that attacked it and the Death Knight.


    The skeleton magicians were only D Rank Monsters after all. Even if their fireballs looked scary, it wasn''t as if it was that powerful that it could ignore the natural difference in power between these two.


    Once the smoke cleared, the Death Knight didn''t hesitate to charge forward at the zombie that was in front of it.


    While it didn''t know what was happening, it knew that it had to take care of the enemies that had attacked it as soon as possible. Which was why the Death Knight was planning on taking down all of the enemies that it could see.


    But right before it could swing that sword that belonged to it, it wasn''t able to move its arm.


    It was as if there was something that was restraining it.


    That gave the opening for the zombie to move out of the way, even with its slow speed.


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    The Death Knights slash just went forward and created a cut on the tree in front of it, which went to show how powerful this slash was.


    Again and again, the Death Knight tried to slash at the undead that were around it.


    Again and again, it seemed as if there was something that was stopping the Death Knight from actually slashing out.


    It was a very strange feeling and it seemed like the Death Knight was becoming frustrated with the way that it was being restrained. The blue flames in its eye sockets shook as if it was enraged.


    In the end, the only thing that the Death Knight could do was adapt.


    It found that even if it couldn''t move its sword arm, it was still able to move its other limbs. It seemed that whatever that force was that was restraining it, it was only able to stop a single limb.


    So the Death Knight just kicked out at the undead that were trying to dodge out of the way of its attack.


    Even if the Death Knight was a strong B Rank Monster, it wasn''t able to show its full strength when it was being restrained like this.


    So even if there were some bones that broke or some parts of its flesh that were ripped off, the undead were able to continue avoiding the Death Knights attacks while also hitting it with their attacks.


    From time to time, there were also fireballs that rained down on the Death Knight.


    The armour of the Death Knight was covered in burn marks from all of the different fireballs that it had been hit with. At the same time, there were a few scratches that had been made in its armour.


    The weapons that the undead hit it with eventually did something.


    It seemed that the Death Knight was being weakened by all of these attacks that were hitting it.


    But at the same time, it looked like it was getting annoyed.


    With the way that it looked at the undead that were around it, it really seemed like it was looking at a bunch of flies that were annoying it.


    This was an accurate description of this since with the power difference between them, the undead really could be considered flies compared to the Death Knight. But in this case, the flies were actually able to take down this Death Knight.


    It was like a bunch of ants taking down an elephant.


    The Death Knight''s eyes flickered as if it was about to use some kind of special attack.


    But before that could happen, there was a¡­


    "Crack! Kachow!"


    There was a large burn mark that appeared on the chest of the Death Knight as it was sent flying by the bolt of lightning that suddenly hit it.


    This time, the Death Knight didn''t get up that easily.


    This time, it seemed that the Death Knight had actually been hurt by the bolt of lightning that hit it in the chest.


    It seemed that the Death Knight was really on its last legs with the way that it shakily stood up. sea??h th§× n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    But once again, before it could use a large attack, there was someone that stopped it.


    This time it was Wang Rong who charged forward with the large sword and forced the Death Knight to block his attack.


    With Wang Rong holding it in place like this, there was another bolt of lightning that hit the Death Knight right in the chest.


    "Who dares to hurt my Death Knight? Who dares to ruin my carefully laid out plans?!"


    There was a powerful voice that roared out when that last bolt of lightning hit the Death Knight''s chest.


    It was a voice filled with rage.

 Chapter 123 Hidden Boss

    Though this voice seemed powerful, it wasn''t as if just the voice alone would do anything.


    The only thing that it did was catch us off guard temporarily.


    But in the end, the Death Knight was still taken care of and collapsed into a pile of dust and bones.


    After that first roar, the voice seemed to have disappeared.


    However, when the Death Knight collapsed, the voice once again said, "How dare you destroy my Death Knight? Not only that, you destroyed the magic array that I''ve set up to turn it into a Dullahan! I will never forgive you!"


    Dullahan?


    So it turned out that this was the reason why the lich had set up that magic array in the first place.


    It turned out that it wanted to gather the natural dark energy inside of this dungeon to amplify the power of the Death Knight, allowing it to evolve into a Dullahan.


    A Dullahan was a genuine A Rank Monster, so if the Death Knight had been able to evolve into a Dullahan, this dungeon would have turned into a B Rank Dungeon.


    It had been heard that a dungeon would suddenly mutate and gain ranks, but no one really knew how it happened.


    It felt like we were getting a glimpse into the backend of how the dungeons worked.


    But of course, that just went on to raise even more questions. Discover stories with My Virtual Library Empire


    Namely, where did these intelligent monsters come from and if they had this kind of intelligence, why did they let themselves be trapped in these dungeons?


    It really didn''t seem to make any sense¡­


    There was another moment of silence that followed before the ground itself seemed to shake.


    After shaking for a bit, there was a rumbling sound that came from the distance.


    Whatever that sound was, it was most likely related to the anger that the lich released.


    When it was done, it seemed like there was something that appeared in front of us.


    We could feel the dark energy that was coming from it.


    "If you dare, come and face me. If not, then I''ll take down your puny world when I leave this place."


    After this, there was only silence that followed.


    It seemed that the lich didn''t care about whether we attacked it or not, it was just giving this choice to us.


    That meant one thing¡­


    This dungeon had a natural Hidden Boss.


    Natural Hidden Bosses were different from Quest Hidden Bosses.


    That was because they were much stronger than any Hidden Boss that could come from a quest. A natural Hidden Boss was one that was already generated by the dungeon and came with the dungeon, it wasn''t something that needed to gain power over time like a Quest Hidden Boss.


    With all the signs that had been given, it was clear that the Hidden Boss of the dungeon was a lich.


    Though they didn''t see all of the signs that I had, Wang Rong and Iris seemed to have figured this out as they looked at me with worried looks.


    I just calmly said, "We can take a look. There''s no need for us to actually fight it, right?"


    The two of them still had worried looks on their faces, but they slowly nodded in agreement.


    So we started moving in the direction that the dark energy was coming from.


    It didn''t take long for us to arrive at an opening in the ground.


    This opening was in a place that was filled with rocks and seemed to have a staircase in it that led into the ground.


    With things as they were, it was clear that this was the opening that would lead to the Hidden Boss''s chamber.


    But since they were closer to this opening, they could feel how intense the dark energy coming from it was. It was much stronger than the aura that the Death Knight had, which meant that this lich was clearly stronger.


    For me who had experienced the dungeon break before, I felt that it was a bit familiar.


    It was on the same level as the Orc King that I faced before.


    That meant that there was no doubt that this lich that was hiding inside of this place was an A Rank Monster.


    An A Rank Monster¡­


    There was a part of me that wanted to fight this lich, but I also knew that it would be seeking death to be doing such a thing.


    "If only there was a way to go in and have a look at it without being put in danger¡­Maybe I could figure out a way to take it down¡­" I couldn''t help muttering to myself. S§×ar?h the Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    I really did want to try my hand at taking down this lich¡­


    But in the end, I decided against it since it wasn''t worth risking our lives for it.


    Or that was what I was thinking until Iris said, "I might have a way."


    I looked up to see that she was standing right beside me and she had been looking at me with thought filled eyes the entire time. It almost scared me a little the way that she looked at me.


    But I still asked, "What do you mean by that?"


    Iris didn''t answer at first as she raised her hand. Then with a wave of that hand, there was something that appeared.


    It was a strange thing that seemed to be some kind of cube, but it didn''t take long for this thing to transform into some kind of little car. At the same time, she took out what seemed to be a tablet.


    Tapping something on the little car, there was an image that appeared on the tablet.


    This was enough to show what this thing was and the demonstration that she gave was something that surprised us.


    Normal cameras didn''t work in the dungeon because of the interference from the natural mana that was in the dungeon.


    A camera that would work in the dungeon was a very special thing that would be made from very special material.


    So of course such a camera wouldn''t be cheap.


    As expected of the daughter of two World Summoners.

 Chapter 124 Missing hand

    Iris smoothly controlled the camera to enter the passage in front of us.


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    We gathered around her to look at the tablet and we were able to see everything that was down there.


    Even though there was no light, it seemed that this camera was able to see in the dark as we were able to see all the different things that were hiding in this passage. It was better than if we used a torch to light our way forward.


    As expected of equipment that two World Summoners bought for their daughter.


    As the camera continued down the hall, it didn''t seem like there was anything special about this place.


    With the way that things were laid out, it really seemed like this was nothing more than a normal cave.


    But eventually there was an opening that appeared in front of the camera.


    This seemed to be the end of the passage and there seemed to be some kind of light coming from this opening.


    It was clear that there was something waiting at the end of the passage.


    So Iris slowly moved the camera over to the opening that was in front of the camera.


    It was a bit bright, so the camera had to take some time to adjust to the light of this opening, but eventually it was able to adjust to the light of the room and reveal what was inside.


    It was definitely what we had expected to see.


    That was because the lair of this lich was actually a library.


    It was a place that was filled with books and at the center of it was a desk that a cloaked figure was sitting at.


    With the way that the cloaked figure was sitting there, it seemed that it was completely lost in whatever it was focused on. However, one could see from the holes in the cloak that there was no flesh under the cloak.


    This figure was nothing more than bones.


    This was the lich of the dungeon, the Hidden Boss that had to be defeated.


    It seemed that the lich wasn''t interested in anything around it, it didn''t even seem like the lich noticed that camera that had suddenly appeared in its territory like this.


    Of course, we made sure to watch carefully just in case the lich did anything, but it didn''t seem like anything was going to happen.


    The lich just seemed like it was focused on whatever it was looking at.


    "What do we do now?" Iris asked after watching the lich for a bit.


    Wang Rong also looked at me with an inquisitive look when she said this.


    I could tell that the two of them wanted to leave this place since they couldn''t find a way to take down this lich.


    However, I wasn''t as impatient as them as I continued observing the lich.


    I just didn''t want to give up that easily. I wanted to see if I could kill this A Rank Monster.


    It didn''t seem like I was going to find anything special about this lich until I noticed that there was something off about one of its hands.


    It was the fact that it was missing a hand.


    From time to time, the lich would raise one of its skeletal hands to turn the pages of the book that was in front of it. When it did, it would always raise the same hand and would never move the other hand.


    It was only when it shifted its cloak a bit that I was able to see it.


    It was actually missing its other hand.


    When I saw this, I couldn''t help thinking about something that I had gotten from the Elite Monsters earlier.


    I took out the pieces that we got from them and looked at it closely. S§×arch* The N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Iris and Wang Rong were confused about what I was doing, but I just ignored them as I focused on the items that I had taken out.


    After looking at it closely for a bit, I brought two bones close to each other and they actually snapped together. With the way that they snapped together, it was as if there was some kind of strange force that actually brought them together.


    But the moment that they did, the three of us couldn''t help slightly knitting our brows.


    It was faint at first, but we realized that there was this aura that was coming from these two bones that had snapped together.


    The most surprising thing was that the aura coming from these bones was similar to the one that was coming from the passage in front of us. That meant that this was similar to the aura that the lich was releasing.


    "Is this really the hand of the lich?" I couldn''t help silently asking myself.


    I could see that Iris and Wang Rong were looking at me as if they were asking the same thing, but there was no answer that I could give them.


    However, I could tell that this hand was important or else it wouldn''t have appeared in this place.


    So after snapping those first two bones together, I started snapping more and more of those bones together. With the way that they were scattered, it was almost like I was doing some kind of jigsaw puzzle since it didn''t seem like they were standard shape.


    At the same time, it wasn''t as if I was an expert on bones in the hand that I would be able to pick out the right ones right away.


    But as more and more pieces snapped together, it started taking the shape of a hand and it became easier to find pieces that would snap into the hand that I had already formed.


    It was like how it was easy to do the edges of a jigsaw puzzle first.


    At the same time, it seemed like the aura of the hand was getting stronger¡­


    "It just moved."


    As I was putting the hand together, Iris suddenly said this that made me turn to look at the tablet she was holding.

 Chapter 125 A bit too easy…

    Since I had been focused on forming the hand, Iris had gone back to the tablet to keep an eye on the lich just in case it did anything.


    It hadn''t moved at first, but then it suddenly made a move.


    It was only a small move, but any movement from the lich was important.


    Especially since this small movement was actually quite the significant one.


    When I looked at the tablet, I found that the lich had slightly turned its head.


    It was as if the lich had noticed something¡­


    As soon as that happened, I stopped putting more pieces together and waited to see what the lich would do.


    After a while, it seemed like the lich lost interest in whatever it had noticed, but that didn''t mean that I let my guard down. The fact that the lich noticed something like this was a clear sign that putting this hand together was something that the lich cared about.


    Not to mention that there was this aura that came from the hand that was similar to the lich''s¡­and the lich was missing a hand.


    It was obvious that this hand was related to the lich in some way.


    "What is the range on that camera? How far can you go before you lose control of it?" I suddenly turned to ask Iris this question.


    She was surprised to hear this, but then she quickly said, "We can go to the ends of the world and I would still be able to control it."


    I was surprised by this answer, but I quickly said with a nod, "Alright, we''re changing locations. We''re going to get as far away from this place as possible."


    It was a good thing that they picked things up fast.


    From my reaction and the reaction that the lich showed earlier, they could already guess what I was thinking.


    In no time at all, we packed up and started heading away from the dungeon.


    But from time to time, we stopped to set up a few traps with the undead along the way.


    Only when we were far away from the passage did I say, "Make sure to keep a close eye on the lich and follow it if it moves. Tell me right away if something happens."


    Iris gave a quick nod before focusing on the tablet.


    At the same time, I turned my attention back on the skeletal hand that I was putting together.


    I started finding different pieces that would connect to the hand that I had already created, but I didn''t put them together just yet. With my experience, I knew how close it had to be for the force to pull them together.


    So I made sure to keep them just separated enough that they wouldn''t automatically connect like before.


    Once I had gathered enough of them, I turned to look at Iris to see if she was ready before suddenly bringing them all together.


    As soon as they came together, the same force as before pulled the bones towards the hand that had already formed and in no time at all, the hand was complete¡­or it was almost complete if not for the single last piece that I purposefully held back.


    That was because I wanted to see what the reaction from the lich would be if I completed this hand.


    The moment that all of those pieces came together, the aura of the skeletal hand became much stronger than before. When it became stronger like this, it was easy to feel the aura that came from this hand.


    It was clear that this hand was the missing hand from the lich since it gave off the same feeling as the lich.


    But what I was more interested in was the reaction of the lich.


    As expected, the lich reacted the moment that the hand was close to completion.


    It immediately stopped reading the book that it had been reading and stood up to look in the direction behind it. It was as if it had sensed something with the way that it suddenly stood up like this.


    After standing there in a daze for a bit, it suddenly started to move.


    It didn''t walk, but rather floated off the ground.


    The way that it moved didn''t seem fast at first, but then it started picking up speed as it moved further away from the library.


    Iris had to push the camera to keep up with the lich which made a bit of sound, but it didn''t seem like the lich cared at all about the camera as it was only focused on a single thing.


    With the way that it was staring forward, it was as if this one thing was the only thing that was on its mind.


    I didn''t hesitate after seeing this.


    Rather, it just confirmed what I had already been thinking and that just made it easier for me.


    So taking that last piece, I snapped it onto the hand. Sear?h the n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    As soon as this last piece snapped in, the way that the lich moved changed. It was getting further and further away from the camera, while moving faster and faster.


    It seemed that the lich was sensing something that was dangerous to it, which was why it was in a rush.


    As it was getting further and further from the camera, it seemed like the camera would lose it.


    But right before it did get away, we heard something through the camera.


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    "How did they find my core?"


    As expected, this hand formed from the bones that had come from the Elite Monsters of the dungeon was the core of the lich.


    The core of a lich was what kept the lich alive.


    It was the thing that condensed all of the mana of the lich.


    It was what kept them in this mortal plane.


    So I quickly snapped the last piece into place and waved my hand at Wang Rong to come help me.


    With the two of us working together, we were able to shatter the hand.


    It almost seemed a bit too easy¡­

 Chapter 126 Book of the Dead

    "Ah! How did you find it!?"


    Even though we had gone far away from the lich, we were still able to hear the voice of the lich after we crushed the core.


    It was filled with unwillingness and anger, as well as bits of helplessness.


    Since the lich''s core had been destroyed, there really was nothing that could be done by the lich.


    With Iris guiding the camera, she was able to find where the lich died.


    When she found this, I quickly led our group back over to where the lich was.


    Even if we had encountered no one else other than the red haired young master''s group, that didn''t mean that there weren''t any other people in this place.


    We couldn''t let them get to where the lich died first.


    So I took out the Summoning Flute and used my last summon of the day.


    It was all about reaching the lich first.


    With the speed of the Fanged Wolves, we easily reached the lich before anyone else showed up.


    At the same time, I also recalled the undead that were positioned in between us and the lich so that they came to protect us while we checked the lich''s corpse. They formed a wall along with Iris and Wang Rong that stopped anyone from getting close to the lich''s corpse. sea??h th§× Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    During this time, I went alone to the lich''s corpse and called out the Scavenger Rabbit.


    This time, the Scavenger Rabbit finally revealed a terrified and excited look.


    Even when it had been shown the Death Knight, it seemed like it was bored with the Death Knight.


    That was because the items that came from the Death Knight weren''t that good either.


    But this time, it seemed that there was something to look forward to based on the Scavenger Rabbit''s reaction. Though it would be strange if it wasn''t something good since this lich was an A Rank Monster in the first place.


    The Scavenger Rabbit took a while, but then it didn''t hesitate to start digging through the bones and robes of the lich.


    Once it saw that the lich wouldn''t be moving, it didn''t have any hesitation.


    At the very least, the Scavenger Rabbit was dedicated to doing its job.


    Once it finished digging, it turned around with an excited look on its face as it showed off the items that it had gotten.


    One of these items was very eye-catching and a bit terrifying to look at.


    That was because this was a staff that was made of bones.


    It was made of several bones that were connected to each other by some strange kind of binding. At the very top of the staff was a skeletal hand that seemed to be holding some kind of dark orb.


    This dark orb was even releasing this kind of dark energy without anyone activating it, showing that it wasn''t a normal orb.


    It was similar to the feeling that came from the lich previously.


    The other two items were a robe and a book that didn''t seem as eye-catching as this bone staff.


    But that didn''t mean that this robe and book were weak.


    They were also giving off the same feeling as the lich.


    The robe was the same one that the lich wore previously, so it wasn''t strange that there was this aura coming from it. It should be some kind of magic item that had a special effect, though I had no idea what that effect was.


    The book on the other hand seemed to be more special than the robe.


    When I looked at it, there was a description that suddenly appeared.


    Book of the Dead


    Can be used to summon undead with mana.


    That was the basic description of it and there was a further description that went into detail of the limits of this Book of the Dead, but even then it was still a very good item.


    The main thing was that it helped make up for one of my weaknesses.


    I was powerful if there were monsters around that I could manipulate, but if there was ever a situation where I wouldn''t be able to manipulate monsters¡­Well, that would basically cut my power by more than half.


    I wouldn''t be able to do the same thing as before without any monsters to control.


    That was why it was a good thing that I obtained this Book of the Dead.


    It was An Xue Yun who arranged for me to come to this dungeon¡­


    It seemed that she really was planning out a path for me, making sure that I would be able to make up for any weaknesses that I had.


    I really didn''t know how to feel about it since I had no idea why she was doing all of this for me¡­


    But that didn''t mean that I wasn''t grateful for it.


    She was using the secrets of the Explorer Association to help me.


    I''m sure that she would be in trouble if this was discovered by the higher ups of the Explorer Association.


    Once the loot had been secured, I let Iris and Wang Rong take their pick of the remaining items.


    But¡­


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    "It''s better if you take them." Iris said without even looking at them.


    Wang Rong nodded in agreement after taking a look at the staff and the robe.


    To be honest, even if he wanted them, he would still offer them to his boss first.


    But then again, these things weren''t that useful to him, so there was no meaning to him taking them in the first place.


    They had reached a point where they could freely exchange equipment when needed, so it wasn''t as if he couldn''t borrow it when he needed them.


    So he thought that it was better if his boss held them for now.


    I didn''t argue with them and quickly put the items away with a nod before saying, "Let''s get out of here then. There''s nothing left for us here."


    Both of them nodded in agreement.

 Chapter 127 Did you really think…

    After putting the items away, we headed to the entrance of the dungeon.


    With the way that we didn''t meet a single person, it was almost as if there was no one else that was in this dungeon.


    It really felt a bit strange, but it could be understood since this was a C Rank Dungeon that had far less people in the first place. At the same time, this was a dungeon that was much bigger than any that we''ve been in before, so they must be quite spread out.


    I didn''t think much of it until¡­


    When we came out of the dungeon, it seemed like there was a large crowd that was gathered outside.


    This large crowd wasn''t a group of normal people, but rather a group that seemed like they were soldiers with the way that they were dressed.


    With the way that they stood there, it was as if they were completely blocking off the entrance to this dungeon and not allowing anyone to enter.


    I could see that there were some people that had been pushed away by these soldiers, stopping them from even approaching the dungeon.


    I recognized a few of these people as the ones that had been around the dungeon when we entered. They were people that had most likely entered the dungeon at the same time as us.


    Only why were they being kept away?


    When the soldiers noticed us appear from the entrance of the dungeon, there was a group of them that immediately came forward.


    They had their weapons raised as if they were ready to attack at any moment, but they didn''t do anything more than that. All they did was raise this strange thing in their hands to point at us as if they were testing something. Read the latest on My Virtual Library Empire


    "What''s going on here?" I asked the soldiers, but they just completely ignored me as they went on with their test.


    I couldn''t help deeply knitting my brows since I didn''t want to cause a commotion, but there was a bad feeling that filled me.


    "Beep, beep, beep!"


    There was this loud beeping sound that came from the device that the soldiers were using on us.


    The moment that this beeping sound rang out, the soldiers looked like they had been caught off guard. They looked like they couldn''t believe that this beeping sound was coming from this device.


    But then they immediately revealed deep frowns as they looked up at us.


    At the same time, the attention of the soldiers that were blocking the dungeon entrance were all brought onto us.


    It was as if there was something that they wanted from us, or something that they wanted to take from us. After all, all of them suddenly raised their weapons and pointed it at us as if they were about to attack.


    Seeing this, I knew that this wasn''t a good place to be¡­


    "Charge." I said in a soft voice that only Wang Rong could hear.


    He was caught off guard to hear this, but then he summoned out his familiar and boosted himself before charging at the soldiers in front of us.


    The soldiers were caught off guard by Wang Rong''s sudden charge, but they didn''t panic. With the way that they looked at him, it was as if they didn''t believe that they wouldn''t be able to stop him.


    But in the end¡­


    All of them were knocked aside by the force of Wang Rong''s charge.


    There wasn''t a single one of them that was able to stand for a second in face of Wang Rong''s charge. It was as if they were nothing more than bowling pins that had been scattered by the ball.


    The soldiers immediately reacted after seeing the way that Wang Rong knocked their comrades aside.


    They didn''t panic and instead moved in a way that put them in a certain formation.


    Just based on this, it was clear that they were well trained.


    Then after they moved into this formation, they summoned out their familiars and it made it even more clear that they were well trained. After all, the ones that had familiars with similar powers were all grouped together.


    This gave them even more power as they pooled their mana together.


    It really seemed like a terrifying formation.


    Only they didn''t get the chance to show off the power that they had.


    Before they could show off their power, there was a booming voice that rang out. sea??h th§× N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "Did you really think that you would get away with it?"


    The way that this voice rang out was as if it came from the heavens themselves as it echoed through the air.


    Then before Wang Rong could react, there was something that suddenly came down that hit him right in the sword that he was about to swing out.


    This force carried him off the ground and sent him flying backwards. He flew several meters before finally landing on the ground in front of me and Iris.


    We immediately looked down to see if he was alright.


    I had to admit that Wang Rong''s familiar''s ability really was broken, or at least it was broken in terms of his defense. Even though he had been hit with the full force of this attack, his defenses had stopped him from suffering heavy injuries.


    Part of this was because of his reactions that allowed him to raise his defenses to the max before being hit and part of it was because of the great sword that I gave him. That great sword was strong enough that it didn''t crack under the force of this attack.


    After this attack, the clouds in the sky seemed to part as someone floated down from above.


    The ability to fly, that was the sign of an A Rank Summoner.


    They were able to break free from the tethers of the mortal plane with their powerful mana.


    That meant that the person flying down as an A Rank Summoner at the very least.


    But judging by the look on Iris'' face, it wasn''t that simple.

 Chapter 128 Give me some face (1)

    After floating down from the sky, that person landed right in front of us, standing between us and the soldiers.


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    The soldiers didn''t seem to be scared of this person at all, they even seemed like they were excited to see him.


    That was because he was the one that led them in the first place.


    He was the one that had deployed them to a place like this.


    Once he landed, that person immediately looked at the three of us before saying, "It seems like you do have some skills after all. To be able to block one of my attacks, even if it''s a casual one, isn''t that easy to do."


    Then his face twisted as he said, "Even so, the fact remains that you will all die here."


    "Governor Nangong, do you really think that this is an appropriate thing to do?" Iris asked as soon as this person said this.


    From how she addressed him, my guesses had been confirmed.


    Though I was still confused how he knew¡­


    I had taken all precautions to make sure that no one would know about what we had done and yet he had been able to see through it all to find out that his son was dead.


    Of course this person in front of us was the Tide City''s Governor.


    The father of the son that we had killed in the dungeon.


    "Appropriate? You''re the ones that killed my son and you''re asking me if this is appropriate?" Governor Nangong said in an enraged voice before saying, "I could never bear to lay a single hand on that boy after his mother passed and you killed him? Do you think that this is appropriate?"


    It was as if he had completely lost himself in his rage.


    "Do you have proof that we''ve done anything to him?" Iris said in a calm voice.


    Though her voice was calm, I could see that there was a slight tremble in her eyes which gave everything away.


    If I could see this, it was only natural that Governor Nangong would be able to see it.


    I was grateful that she was willing to go this far for me, but it also didn''t help that she was so bad at lying.


    But her words did solve one of the questions that had been nagging at me.


    "You think that I don''t have any proof? You think that you can use this flimsy excuse to protect yourself?" Governor Nangong roared at us before taking out what seemed to be a flashlight.


    But for him to take out this thing at a point like this, there was no doubt that this wasn''t a normal flashlight.


    After taking it out, he turned it on and pointed it at the three of us.


    It didn''t seem like there was anything that happened when he turned it on as there wasn''t even a beam of light that came out from the flashlight. With the way that he pointed at us, it didn''t seem like it was going to do anything.


    That was until there was this faint glow that seemed to appear.


    Looking down, I saw that there were small patches of light that came from our bodies.


    I didn''t know where these came from, but it was clear what had caused these small patches of light.


    "All this proof and you want to say that you didn''t do it? Who do you think you''re fooling?" Governor Nangong roared as he pointed the flashlight at us.


    Then he went on to explain what these things were as if he wanted to hit it home that he had caught us.


    It turned out that what these glowing patches were was a powder known as Life Seeking Powder. It was a powder that was invisible unless filtered under a special light that human eyes couldn''t see which was why it seemed like that flashlight wasn''t releasing any light at all.


    This powder was something that Governor Nangong had prepared for his son that would explode in the area around his son if his son ever died. The release of which was linked to the life and death of his son, so that was why it was known as Life Seeking Powder.


    At the same time, there was a special item that was linked to his son that would tell him immediately if his son died.


    When he was done explaining, I couldn''t help revealing a bitter smile as I thought, "If you''ve prepared all of this for the death of your son, couldn''t you have prepared a few more things to keep your son alive?"


    Though I didn''t say that out loud even if I thought it.


    When he was done, it seemed that he had vented his anger a bit and was a bit more calm.


    But that didn''t mean that he was about to let us go.


    Now that he had calmed down, it seemed that he was finally ready to finish us off.


    I wouldn''t let that happen, but it really was hard for us to stop this Governor Nangong.


    An A Rank Summoner was different from an A Rank Monster. sea??h th§× ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    A Rank Summoners were stronger than a single A Rank Monster since they were summoners in the end. They had familiars to fight with, so it was a matter of ganging up against the A Rank Monster.


    Not to mention that we weren''t able to defeat an A Rank Monster anyway.


    If it wasn''t for the fact that we had gotten lucky with finding the core of the lich, it never would have happened.


    So this seemed like it would be the end.


    But even then, I didn''t want to give up.


    Or it could be said that I didn''t want to die.


    I could see that it was the same for Wang Rong and Iris, so the two of them prepared to fight as well.


    With the salamander on his shoulder, it really looked like Governor Nangong was a god of fire.


    It was completely different from the feeling that his son gave off.


    But there was no fight in the end.


    "How about you give me some face and end matters here?"

 Chapter 129 Give me some face (2)

    When Governor Nangong heard this voice, he couldn''t help revealing a frown.


    It wasn''t that he recognized this voice, it was just that he could feel the pressure coming from this voice when it rang out. Find adventures on My Virtual Library Empire


    This voice was projected in a similar way to how he had projected his own voice earlier. And since it was projected in a similar way, that meant that Governor Nangong was able to tell just how much power was behind this voice.


    This was a power that wasn''t beneath his own.


    In fact, this was a power that even surpassed his own.


    That was why he had this concerned look on his face.


    "Who are you?" Governor Nangong asked in a slow voice after a long moment of silence.


    As soon as they heard this, the soldiers all revealed surprised looks.


    That was because they knew what kind of personality Governor Nangong had, so they knew that he was not someone that compromised on things that easily. The fact that he actually backed down to ask this¡­was more than enough to show that the other side wasn''t a normal person.


    Then before anyone could react, the soldiers that had been surrounding the area suddenly parted.


    There was a single path that opened up in the line of soldiers.


    They didn''t even know what moved them. By the time that they reacted, they found that they had been moved out of the way by some force that they couldn''t control.


    Once they had been moved out of the way like this, there was a single figure that walked through this path.


    This slightly bent figure became the center of attention. S§×ar?h the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The one that had the strongest reaction from seeing this figure wasn''t Governor Nangong, but rather me because the moment that I saw this person¡­


    "Why is it him?" That was the first thing that I thought when I saw this person.


    "Sir, who are you? Why are you getting involved in this matter?" Governor Nangong said in a cautious voice that was completely different from the way that he spoke before.


    "I''m no one special, I''m just hoping that you''ll give me a bit of face and let them go for now. After all, I want one of them as my disciple." The old man who appeared said before turning to look at me.


    I was surprised to see him looking at me like this.


    This old man¡­was the old man that had been with my mother and brother when they had gotten caught in the dungeon break.


    He was the one that had been able to keep calm and guide everyone out of the dungeon break zone. He was the one that I had thought had a deep back story, but it seemed that I had underestimated just how deep that back story was¡­


    A very displeased look appeared on Governor Nangong''s face when he heard this.


    After all, it wasn''t just about giving this old man a bit of face.


    It was about letting the one that murdered his son go.


    This was his precious son, the only thing that he had left after his wife died.


    So how could he let this matter go that easily?


    The old man could see the look that was on Governor Nangong''s face, so he said, "Take one attack from me. If you can''t, then just drop this matter for now."


    Governor Nangong still looked displeased when he heard this, but he slowly nodded in agreement.


    After all, he had no idea just how strong this old man really was.


    He could tell that this old man wasn''t inferior to him, but he couldn''t get a full grasp of just how strong this old man was.


    If he could use this one move to judge the old man, then he would be able to figure out if he should go all out against him or not.


    The old man naturally could see the look that was on Governor Nangong''s face, so he raised his hand and created a sword of wind while giving a sigh.


    Governor Nangong couldn''t help slightly knitting his brows when he saw this.


    There was a part of him that seemed to recognize this sword of wind, though he wasn''t certain where he recognized it from. It almost seemed like some kind of memory that was deep inside of him.


    It was this kind of vague memory that made a deep impression on him.


    But it was already too late for him to think anything else since the old man had already finished gathering his attack.


    Governor Nangong didn''t waste time either as he gathered his flames in front of himself to create a wall of flames that would protect him.


    Since it was a wall of flames, one would think that it would have the advantage against wind since wind was what enhanced flames. One thought that the wall of flames would swallow the blade of wind, making it even stronger.


    But this old man''s wind slash was different from the wind slashes of normal people.


    That was because his mana was much more condensed than normal people''s.


    The way that he slashed out and the slash that he released all looked like he was just casually swinging his sword, but Governor Nangong who faced the pressure of this knew that it was anything but normal.


    After all he was in the face of the terrifying pressure that the wind slash was putting on him.


    "This¡­" That was all Governor Nangong was able to say before the wall of flames was scattered.


    Even the mana that he had been gathering to reinforce the wall of flames was scattered with just a single gust of wind from the wind slash.


    When it was over, Governor Nangong was still standing there, but there was now a faint line of blood that was on his neck.


    That showed that if the old man wanted, he could have taken Governor Nangong''s head with just that one slash.


    "Zephyr Blade Mu Gong?" Governor Nangong slowly said in a shocked voice.

 Chapter 130 Give me some face (3)

    Though he said it as if he was saying it to himself, it was loud enough that everyone was able to hear him.


    And the moment that they heard him, shocked looks appeared on everyone''s face.


    That was because there wasn''t a single person who didn''t know this name.


    Living in this country, there wasn''t a single person who didn''t know that name because it was a name that was taught in the history books.


    This was a person that went even beyond the realm of a World Summoner.


    This was one of the World Guardians.


    There were only ten of these World Guardians in the entire world and they were the ones that had pioneered the path to the current human world. They were the ones that cleared the dungeons that appeared and gave humans the structure that created the current balance.


    So it was only natural that each of them would possess power that would match their status as World Guardians.


    This man known as the Zephyr Blade was someone who could control the wind as if he was controlling his own fingertips.


    With that power, it was easy for him to destroy Governor Nangong''s flames as he was only an A Ranker.


    As for me, I certainly never expected this old man to be someone like this.


    But that also made me even more confused¡­


    "Why is this old man doing all this for me? Is it just because he wants to take me as a disciple? But I don''t think that there''s anything special about me that he would do all this¡­"


    After a moment of silence, Mu Gong said with a sigh, "Ha, it seems like you were able to recognize me in the end even though I tried hiding it. Then since that''s the case, I hope that you will back down today and give me some face. I promise that I will remember it in the future if you do this for me."


    The latter half of his words filled with a domineering tone that made it seem like he was certain that Governor Nangong would back down.


    But that wasn''t strange since he had a status that justified him being this domineering.


    There was no one that could fight him, so it wasn''t as if there was anyone that could actually stop him.


    However, it wasn''t as if Governor Nangong wanted to give up on this matter that easily. Explore stories on My Virtual Library Empire


    His son was dead and now he was even being forced to let the one who killed his son go. This was not something that he was able to accept that easily, so he didn''t want to let things end like this.


    With gritted teeth, Governor Nangong said, "You won''t be able to protect him forever. Even if I back down today, it''s not as if you can always be there to protect him. Eventually, I will have my revenge."


    Mu Gong wasn''t offended when he heard this, rather there was a faint smile that appeared on his face.


    With that smile on his face, he looked at Governor Nangong to say, "Who said that I would protect him forever? This isn''t something that neither of us would want in the first place."


    Governor Nangong was surprised to hear this before looking at Mu Gong with a strange look.


    Seeing Governor Nangong looking at him like this, Mu Gong turned to look at me to say, "You''ll finish this with your own hands, right?"


    I was caught off guard by this.


    There was a part of me that wanted to say to finish off Governor Nangong now, but there was a bigger part of me that¡­


    "I''ll take revenge with my own hands."


    Mu Gong gave a nod of approval before saying, "There you have it. I trust that he''ll become strong enough that you''ll regret everything that happened today."


    Governor Nangong''s face turned ugly when he heard this.


    In his entire life, he had never been insulted like this before.


    But the problem was that Mu Gong was still here, so it wasn''t as if there was anything that he could do.


    Even if he wanted to kill Lin Fan''s group, he wouldn''t be able to do it since Mu Gong was still here.


    So in the end, Governor Nangong had no choice but to grit his teeth and say, "How long?"


    Mu Gong didn''t say anything as he turned to look at me again.


    I didn''t say anything either as a look of thought appeared on my face.


    How long?


    My first thought was a month since I had seen how strong I had become during this time. It had only been a few weeks and I was already at the point where I was able to fight B Rank Monsters.


    If the Echo Bat grew a bit more and the Scavenger Rabbit gave me a few more things, then it would only be a matter of time before I was able to reach A Rank.


    But that was too reckless.


    Even if I had a feeling that this was possible, there were all kinds of things that could happen.


    So it was better to say¡­


    "Six months, if you give me six months, I''ll take this revenge myself." I said in a serious voice.


    Governor Nangong immediately narrowed his eyes to look at me, as if he was applying pressure on me.


    This pressure only lasted a second before disappearing.


    I could see that Mu Gong was helping me take this pressure, which was why it disappeared all of a sudden like this. sea??h th§× NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    After another tense moment of silence, Governor Nangong slowly said with a nod, "Six months then. Just wash your necks and wait."


    He didn''t even bother waiting for an answer as he waved his hand at his soldiers and they turned to leave.


    In just a few minutes, all of the soldiers disappeared along with Governor Nangong.


    If one hadn''t seen them, they wouldn''t have believed that they were just here.

 Chapter 131 Choosing a master (1)

    There was a deathly silence that hung in the air once Governor Nangong and his army were gone.


    That was because none of us dared to move.


    The three of us were all staring at Mu Gong, waiting for him to do anything.


    But Mu Gong didn''t do anything as he kept staring in the direction that Governor Nangong and his soldiers went off in.


    With the way that he stared in that direction, it was almost as if he was seeing something that we weren''t seeing.


    Though after a while, he turned back to look at us.


    Or specifically, he turned to look at me.


    When he was looking at me, he said, "Come, let''s go."


    The three of us all had confused looks on our faces when we heard this.


    I slowly asked him, "Where are we going?"


    "Where else? I''m sure that there are people that are worried about you because of what happened. If I don''t let them see their precious daughter, I''m sure that they''ll come charging in soon." Mu Gong said with a faint smile.


    When I heard this, there was a bitter smile that appeared on my face as I slowly looked at Iris.


    She had an embarrassed look after hearing this.


    As for Wang Rong, he really didn''t know much about Iris, so he didn''t understand what Mu Gong was referring to.


    Mu Gong didn''t give us time to think too much about it as with a wave of his hand, we were picked up off the ground. It felt like there was something invisible that was lifting us off the ground.


    With his moniker, this was most likely a gust of wind that was currently holding us up.


    But even though he looked like a weak old man, he was anything but weak. At the same time, it seemed that he was someone who very much liked speed.


    It was too fast even for young people like us.


    "Don''t you enjoy the feeling of the wind running through your hair like this?" Mu Gong said while flying through the air.


    Only none of us were able to say anything since we were being hit with the wall of wind coming at us. It was just too much wind that none of us were able to move a single muscle.


    It even seemed like we were about to be knocked out by the wind.


    It was just a good thing that the dungeon wasn''t far from the Ifrit District where Iris lived, so it didn''t take long for us to arrive.


    The Ifrit District was a district where the rich and powerful lived, so naturally there were many guards that were in this place. Even the air would be patrolled by powerful guards that would stop any intruders.


    But there wasn''t a single guard that appeared when Mu Gong arrived in the space above the Ifrit District.


    This was a form of respect and at the same time, it was a form of fear.


    Since they protected the rich, it was only natural that they would also have the best equipment that would tell them how strong Mu Gong really was. They would be able to tell that he was one of the World Guardians and they wouldn''t dare to stop him.


    That was just the respect that one received once they reached a certain point.


    When we arrived, that was when he finally slowed down and we were able to talk again.


    Though we didn''t really have the mind to say anything as¡­


    "Huff, huff, huff."


    All three of us were bent over while panting, trying to catch our breaths.


    The wind pressure from the flight just now was so much that it even made it hard to breathe. So we were actually quite winded from being hit in the face with the wind like this.


    But during this time, there were people that came over to where we were.


    They were people that we recognized.


    It was Iris'' mother and father.


    When they walked over, the first thing that they did was come over to Iris'' side to make sure that she was alright.


    The two of them seemed just like normal parents.


    But then again, it wasn''t strange that they would be like normal parents.


    Even if they were World Summoners, that didn''t mean that they weren''t normal parents.


    So it wasn''t strange that they were worried about her when they heard that their daughter was in danger.


    After a few minutes of this, they invited us in. S§×ar?h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Though judging by the way that they looked at Mu Gong, it seemed like they were even a bit afraid of him. Even as World Summoners, they weren''t able to compare to this World Guardian.


    That was how different their titles were.


    After sitting down in the same living room, Mu Gong was the one that spoke first as he said, "You have to make a decision now."


    I was surprised by this since he was looking at me when he said this.


    With the way that he looked at me as he said this, it really seemed like there was some kind of important decision that I would have to make. It was just that I didn''t really understand what he meant by this.


    After all, I didn''t even know what he was referring to.


    Seeing this, Mu Gong didn''t answer my doubts as he turned to look at Alexandra to say, "You want to take him in as a disciple as well, right? Well, I''m interested in taking him in as my disciple, so he''ll have to decide which one of us he will follow."


    As soon as she heard this, Alexandra couldn''t help knitting her brows.


    It was as if she was unhappy that she had been exposed like this.


    But I was more surprised since I didn''t know that they had this plan at all. Continue your adventure with My Virtual Library Empire


    Now there were these two different options that were laid out in front of me and it seemed that I had to make a decision¡­

 Chapter 132 Choosing a master (2)

    However, it didn''t seem like there were only two options that I was given. S§×arch* The novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "There''s a guest outside that wants to meet with you."


    Before I could give an answer, there was someone that suddenly came in to report this.


    Based on the clothes that they were wearing, they should have been some kind of butler for Iris'' parents.


    Everyone looked at the butler with different expressions, but the one that mattered were the expressions on the faces of Mu Gong and the Huo Couple.


    It seemed that the three of them were displeased with what the butler had reported.


    Only they didn''t get the chance to say anything either.


    "So you''re saying that I''m not welcome here?"


    When they heard this, everyone looked in the direction that the voice came from.


    There were two people that suddenly walked through the door and entered the room. There was one figure that was familiar and another figure that wasn''t familiar since we had never met this person before.


    The one that was familiar though was An Xue Yun.


    She looked at me when she came in, ignoring both Mu Gong and the Huo Couple.


    When she saw me standing there, she came over without any hesitation and started looking at me carefully. The way that she looked at me was as if she was checking to see if everything was alright with me.


    When she was done, she asked, "Are you alright?"


    I just calmly replied, "I''m fine."


    Though my attention was on the other person that had come with An Xue Yun.


    When that person saw An Xue Yun coming over to where I was and looking over me like this, it seemed that they didn''t seem happy about this. They had narrowed their eyes to look at me, but they didn''t do anything other than that.


    While I didn''t know who this person was, I could feel the aura that was coming from them.


    It was an aura that wasn''t weaker than the Huo Couple''s¡­


    So that meant that this person wasn''t a normal person.


    After a moment of silence, Alexandra said, "Do you really think that you should be barging into people''s home like this?"


    The person that came with An Xue Yun said, "It''s not as if you were going to invite me in."


    "That''s right. You don''t have anything to do with what''s happening here, so how could you barge in like this?" Alexandra said in a cold voice.


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    "I don''t have anything to do with what''s happening here? How could you say that when he''s a part of my Explorer Association? Since he''s a part of my Explorer Association, it''s only natural that I''m involved in this matter as well."


    "Does every Explorer have something to do with the Explorer Association?" Alexandra countered.


    "He''s the one that my daughter chose, so naturally he''s related to my Explorer Association. I''m sure you already know all of the benefits that she''s given to him, right?"


    This time Alexandra didn''t refute this person.


    But who did he mean when he said daughter?


    "He''s my dad, An Long. He''s also a World Summoner that started out as an Explorer and the current president of the Explorer Association." An Xue Yun explained without any prompting when she saw the confused look on my face.


    I slowly looked at An Xue Yun with a surprised look.


    I had already expected that she had a high status in the Explorer Association, but this was much higher than I thought. She was actually the daughter of the president, but she was still working as a receptionist¡­


    But the others at the Explorer Association seemed to just go along with what An Xue Yun wanted, so it wasn''t as if being a receptionist was a bad thing for her.


    It really made it hard to have a proper reaction.


    Mu Gong took this chance to say, "Even if he''s related to the Explorer Association, it isn''t as if he would be an Explorer forever. Someone with his talent is destined for great things."


    An Long gritted his teeth before saying, "Even if I respect you, you can''t just talk about my Explorer Association like that."


    "Am I wrong?" Mu Gong asked without any hesitation.


    This time, An Long didn''t say anything since there was nothing that he could say to refute this.


    After a long silence, An Long said, "But that doesn''t mean that I don''t have a right to be here, right? I can at least say what I want to say."


    Mu Gong didn''t respond at first, but he eventually nodded in agreement.


    That was because he also couldn''t refute what An Long said.


    An Long turned back to me to say, "Putting my personal feelings aside¡­" He said this while peeking at An Xue Yun. When he turned back to me, he had a serious look on his face as he continued, "I have seen the report on the things that you''ve done and I have to admit that you are indeed talented. As the president, I have the right to give you extra privileges. But at the same time, as a World Summoner, I think that you have the talent to become my disciple. I want to take you as a disciple and raise you to run the Explorer Association in the future."


    Though he didn''t say it, it seemed like he was looking at An Xue Yun while saying this as if she was involved in this.


    An Xue Yun couldn''t help looking a bit embarrassed and turned her head when she saw this.


    So just like this, there was another offer from someone that wanted to become my master.


    There were three of them and all of them were World Summoners.


    Mu Gong was even past the level of a World Summoner and was a World Guardian, one of the strongest people in the world.


    If I had a master like this, it certainly would stop people from looking down on me.


    So I had to make a choice between the three of them.

 Chapter 133 Choosing a master (3)

    One might think that I had to choose from the three of them, but in reality¡­


    This wasn''t what I wanted.


    While there was no doubt of the benefits that I would gain from taking any of them as my master, I just didn''t want to accept a master right now¡­


    If anyone knew what I was thinking, they would have thought that I was crazy.


    A World Summoner was one of the top people in this world and then there was even a World Guardian on top of that.


    If any of them were to announce that they were looking for a disciple, there would be people lined up around the block. There would be squares filled with people that would all want to be their disciples.


    But I was thinking about turning them down.


    As for the reason¡­


    It was simply because I knew that if I were to become their disciples, then if I were to become an expert in the future, all that would happen is that my accomplishments would be credited to them.


    People would say that it was all because of my master that I was able to achieve these things.


    While I normally wouldn''t have minded this since I was someone that would use any method to become stronger, I didn''t want to do it this time.


    There was a promise that I had made to a certain someone and before that promise was fulfilled, I felt like it wouldn''t be right for me to do something like this. I wanted to hold my head up high when I met that person again.


    So for now, I couldn''t take a master.


    After a moment of silence, I looked up with a determined look in my eyes as if my mind had been made up.


    They had all been silently looking at me, waiting for me to make a decision.


    In the end, I said, "I don''t want to take a master right now."


    As soon they heard this, all of them looked at me with slightly knitted brows.


    It wasn''t that they were offended by this, it was just that they were surprised and confused.


    After another moment of silence, Mu Gong asked, "Why?"


    It was one simple word, but it was all that was needed.


    "There''s something that I want to accomplish and before that, I don''t want to take a master. Once I accomplish this, I hope that you will consider me again." I said in an honest voice.


    They looked at me with the same looks on their faces, but eventually Mu Gong said with a nod, "I''m sure that you have your own thoughts, but that doesn''t mean that I''ll give up that easily." Sear?h the N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    This time, it was my turn to slightly knit my brows as I looked at him with a worried look.


    While I didn''t know why this World Guardian was so set on taking me as a disciple, it wasn''t as if I could stop him if he really wanted to do something.


    I had seen the power that he possessed when he pushed back Governor Nangong earlier and I knew that if he were to use it on me, I wouldn''t be able to do a single thing to stop him.


    It would be like a baby going against an adult.


    I would be completely helpless.


    But in the end, it didn''t seem like he was about to use force to make me his disciple.


    Instead, Mu Gong turned to the Huo Couple first and said, "You two, stay out of this."


    As soon as Alexandra heard this, she slightly knitted her brows as if she was displeased with the way that Mu Gong said this.


    But before she could say anything, Mu Gong said, "You''re already pushing your daughter onto him, so there''s no need for you to do anything else to draw him to your side. I''m different since I don''t have a daughter that I can push onto him like this, so back off a bit and let me give him something good."


    Alexandra slightly narrowed her eyes to look at Mu Gong, but she eventually gave a nod of agreement.


    On the other hand, it looked like Huo Fan Tian really wanted to say something about this. However, he wasn''t allowed to say anything as Alexandra had one hand on his thigh and it seemed like there was a trace of pain in his eyes.


    Then to the side, Iris had a deep blush on her face as she turned her face away.


    I had to pretend like I didn''t see any of this.


    I would have to be a fool to not notice these things, but right now¡­I couldn''t afford to be distracted.


    It wasn''t that I didn''t feel anything towards her, it was just¡­ Experience tales with My Virtual Library Empire


    "It''s the same for you." Mu Gong said as he turned to look at An Long.


    An Long had a similar reaction to Huo Fan Tian, but there was nothing stopping him from saying anything. Though in the end, he didn''t say anything as he opted to look at An Xue Yun instead.


    An Xue Yun''s reaction wasn''t as strong as Iris'', but it wasn''t as if she didn''t react at all.


    There was a faint blush that was on her face as she turned away, as if she couldn''t look in this direction.


    Wang Rong took this chance to step forward and whisper, "Boss, you really are popular."


    The only response that I gave him was raising my fist and hitting him in the face.


    Wang Rong wasn''t really hurt by this, but he did back off with a smile on his face.


    Though behind that smile, there seemed to be a bit of a complicated feeling as well.


    "Little sister, it''s better if you just give up." That was what Wang Rong thought to himself.


    Once he finished saying what he wanted to say to the two of them, Mu Gong turned back to me to say, "How about you take out your second familiar for me to see? I''ll give you something good for it."

 Chapter 134 In name disciple

    I was completely caught off guard when Mu Gong said this.


    After all, I never expected him to say something like this.


    At the same time, I couldn''t help wondering which one he was referring to.


    I didn''t just have two familiars, I had three of them.


    Was he referring to the Scavenger Rabbit or the Astral White Tiger?


    While I was thinking about this, Mu Gong suddenly said, "There''s no need to deny it, I can feel the natural elemental energy coming from you. It''s not something that normal people will be able to sense, so there''s no need for you to worry about someone else finding out about it. You would have to have abilities on the same level as me to sense this."


    Since he was talking about elemental energy, it should be referring to¡­


    After a moment of silence, I called out the Astral White Tiger.


    When it appeared, it came out in my hands.


    It wasn''t that I was being cautious and was keeping it close, it was because the Astral White Tiger was asleep when I pulled it out.


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    It even kept sleeping even though I summoned it from the familiar space.


    With the way that it was sleeping, it really didn''t seem like it was about to wake up soon. It seemed like it was even capable of sleeping through the end of the world if it were to happen all of a sudden.


    That was just how deep the Astral White Tiger''s sleeping face looked.


    But it soon woke up and it didn''t wake up naturally. The way that the Astral White Tiger woke up was as if it had been scared by something as it even jumped after waking up.


    The way that it looked at Mu Gong who approached to look at it was as if the Astral White Tiger was afraid of him.


    A faint smile appeared on my face when I saw the Astral White Tiger burying itself in my chest, almost as if it was trying to hide from Mu Gong who was looking at the Astral White Tiger closely.


    From the corner of my eyes, I could see that there were people looking at the Astral White Tiger with strange looks.


    The appearance of Astral White Tiger was that of a little white kitten and it was very cute looking. For girls that liked cute things, it would be hard for them to defend themselves against the looks of this Astral White Tiger.


    After looking at it for a bit, Mu Gong suddenly said while laughing, "Not bad, not bad. As expected of someone that I want to take as my disciple."


    I raised a brow to look at Mu Gong since I had no idea what he was talking about.


    But Mu Gong just seemed like he was very pleased with whatever he saw from the Astral White Tiger. Though the fact that he was laughing like this actually scared the Astral White Tiger even more that it buried itself deeper in my chest.


    When he was finally done laughing, Mu Gong suddenly said, "It''s actually a growth type familiar. Even though it seems like a weak 9th Class Low Grade Familiar right now, as long as it''s able to develop its elemental energy abilities, it will become a much stronger familiar."


    "Growth type?" I asked in a confused voice.


    Other than Mu Gong, I could see that both An Long and the Huo Couple seemed to react to this.


    It seemed like this was a term that they were familiar with and it had a large impact on them.


    Mu Gong gave a simple nod as he explained, "It means that your familiar is the type that will continue to develop its power. I don''t know what the limit of a growth type is since there are different growth types out there, but there''s no doubt that it will grow up to become a powerful familiar if it is allowed to grow."


    I had a few doubts about this because of the appearance of the Astral White Tiger, but thinking about the skills that it had¡­I couldn''t help thinking that Mu Gong was right.


    As if it could sense that it was being looked down on, the Astral White Tiger suddenly took its head out of my chest and stood proudly in my hand. It raised its head up as if it was showing off how powerful it was.


    But it just made it seem cute rather than powerful since this Astral White Tiger was still a child.


    When he finished explaining, Mu Gong suddenly waved his hand and there was this bead that appeared in it.


    The moment that this bead appeared, it seemed like the Astral White Tiger was drawn to it with the way that the Astral White Tiger turned its head to look at the bead. With the way that its eyes were wide open as it looked at the bead, it seemed like it was very drawn to it.


    At the same time, the drool that was coming from its mouth didn''t help its case.


    Mu Gong wasn''t offended when he saw this.


    He even had a smile on his face seeing the reaction of the Astral White Tiger before slowly bringing the bead forward for the Astral White Tiger. S~ea??h the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The Astral White Tiger didn''t hesitate to jump out for it, but I grabbed it before it could take the bead with its mouth.


    It turned back to look at me with a pitiful look as if it was asking me why I was stopping it, but I was looking at Mu Gong.


    With the same smile, Mu Gong said, "It''s fine, this is my present for you. This is a special bead that''s filled with wind elemental energy. This will help your familiar develop since it has the ability to control wind elemental energy. With this, your familiar will become much stronger than it currently is."


    Then after a few seconds, he felt like he had to add in, "That is after it digests this bead."


    Since he had said all of this, I didn''t hold onto the Astral White Tiger that tightly.


    Though there was a part of me that was hesitating.


    What decided it was the way that Mu Gong looked at me.


    It really didn''t seem like he was planning to hurt me, so I decided to let the Astral White Tiger eat the bead like it wanted to.


    The Astral White Tiger didn''t hesitate to open its mouth and scoop up the bead.


    The moment that it entered its mouth, it started sucking on the wind bead like it was some kind of jawbreaker. But at the same time, I could tell that there was wind elemental energy that seemed to be filling the Astral White Tiger.


    It seemed that Mu Gong had been right about this.


    At the same time, I couldn''t help thinking of the Gem of Thunder that I got previously.


    It''s similar to the bead that Mu Gong gave the Astral White Tiger, so if I were to give to it as well¡­


    After the Astral White Tiger swallowed the bead, Mu Gong suddenly said, "Very good, now I''ve helped you develop a bit. That means that a bond has been formed between us and you''re now my in name disciple."


    "Eh?" I was surprised by what he said, but it didn''t seem like Mu Gong was going to take back what he said.


    Well, an in name disciple wasn''t a bad thing.


    That was what I thought as I looked at the wide smile that was on Mu Gong''s face.

 Chapter 135 Irregular

    After getting what he wanted, Mu Gong just left in a hurry.


    He said that he would contact me in the future if he had something for me before heading off.


    He didn''t even leave a way for me to contact him or for him to contact me¡­


    So there was a bitter smile on my face.


    And since Mu Gong was gone, there was no reason for us to stay here any longer since we were just bothering the Huo Couple.


    In the end, we followed An Long to the Explorer Association.


    Even Iris came along, but it didn''t seem like her parents were against it.


    Once we arrived at the Explorer Association, we didn''t go to the same counter as usual.


    Instead, An Long brought us up to the top floor of the Explorer Association and showed us into an office.


    This office was clearly an important one and there was a name plate that said, "President of the Explorer Association." So it was clear that this was his office that we were in.


    Once we sat down, the first thing that An Long did was¡­


    "Ha¡­"


    He leaned back in the chair that he sat down in and let out a long sigh as if he was completely exhausted. This was completely different from the image that he gave off as the president of the Explorer Association.


    None of us knew what to think about this or what to do.


    It was only An Xue Yun who was still able to act normally. S~ea??h the N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    But this was her father, so she should already be used to any other personalities that he had.


    It almost seemed like he was forcing himself to act the way that he had been acting just for the sake of the Explorer Association.


    It took a few minutes before he finally opened his eyes to look at us who were just awkwardly standing there since we had no idea what to do with An Long like this.


    When he opened his eyes to look at us, the first person that he looked at was¡­me.


    "You, you''re now an Irregular." Discover stories with My Virtual Library Empire


    "Huh?" I said in a confused voice since I didn''t understand what he suddenly said to me. After waiting for so long, the first thing that he said was that he was making me an Irregular.


    Only I had no idea what he meant by Irregular.


    An Xue Yun seemed to expect this, so she explained it to me.


    It turned out that Irregular was a special title in the Explorer Association.


    It was only given to those that deserved it and to be deserving of it, one had to prove that they were indeed an irregular. They had to show their ability that far surpassed all other Explorers, which would net them the title of Irregular.


    After everything that I had done¡­it seemed like I did fit this title.


    Especially since three World Summoners and one World Guardian had been gathered because of me.


    Well, it was more like two World Summoners and one World Guardian.


    It wasn''t as if Iris'' father, Huo Fan Tian had been gathered because of me.


    It was more that he was dragged along by his wife.


    Perhaps I might have wanted this title in the beginning, but now after everything that had happened and all of the attention that I''ve drawn¡­it was better if I didn''t draw as much attention.


    It was better if I just remained lowkey and avoided everyone''s attention.


    So it wouldn''t be good to get this Irregular title¡­


    "I appreciate it, but I think I''m good."


    "Huh? You''re good? Do you even know what you''re saying?" An Long immediately sat up in his chair and pointed his finger at me when he heard this.


    With the way that he looked at me, it seemed that he wasn''t happy that I was rejecting this.


    "Instead of getting another title that would draw people''s attention to me, it would be better for me to just remain lowkey and slowly develop my powers."


    "Who said anything about having you draw attention? That''s the reason why we''re making you an Irregular instead of just directly increasing your rank. The Irregular title is an internal title that is hidden from everyone else, it''s something that only the people of the Explorer Association will know about."


    An Xue Yun added, "It''s also a title that would give you plenty of benefits."


    I turned to look at her as she described the benefits that came from the title.


    When I heard this, I couldn''t help feeling a bit moved by what she said.


    It seemed that the title really wasn''t an empty one, it seemed like the Irregulars got quite a bit from the Explorer Association. Almost as if they were being trained up by the Explorer Association.


    As if she could see what I was thinking, An Xue Yun added, "Those that receive the Irregular title are usually those that are important to the Explorer Association that we try to keep safe."


    She said this with a meaningful look.


    I didn''t say anything as I just looked straight at her, as if I was confirming something.


    When I saw that her expression didn''t change at all, I gave a slight nod.


    An Long seemed even more unhappy with this as he said, "Do you really think that the Irregular title is something that is so easy to obtain? Do you think that we give this title to just anyone? Is it really something that you can get at the market like vegetables?"


    Though he complained, it didn''t seem like he was going to take back this title which made a faint smile appear on my lips.


    I understood what he was planning to do.


    Basically, he was using this as a way to show that the Explorer Association supported me and at the same time, he was building a bond with me just like how Mu Gong had done by making me an in name disciple.


    With the terms that came with it, it really didn''t seem like there was anything bad about it.


    So I just gave a nod as I said, "Alright, I''ll take it."


    An Long gave another displeased snort, but he didn''t say anything this time.


    An Xue Yun just shook her head before going to the side to grab some papers that she wanted An Long to sign.


    The only one that seemed a bit worried about this was Iris who had a nervous look in her eyes.

 Chapter 136 Honoured guest

    The only thing showing that I was an Irregular was a small badge that I received.


    It was a badge that didn''t seem special at all, but they told me that this was the badge showing that I was an Irregular.


    If I showed this badge in any place with the Explorer Association''s influence, it would be recognized and I would receive the benefits that come with this badge.


    But it really was a small badge.


    Once we left the Explorer Association, I was about to address the look that was on Iris'' face when¡­ S~ea??h the ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "Mr Lin, there''s something that I have to discuss with you."


    I was surprised to be called this and I was even more surprised when I saw who it was.


    It was the bodyguard that the Huo Couple had assigned to be my contact when they made me a guest of the Huo Family.


    He was talking to me completely differently compared to before.


    But thinking about it, I realized that it was most likely because Iris was here.


    If he were to talk to me the same way as before, there was no doubt that she would say something. Though when he addressed me like this, I couldn''t help finding it strange since it was too different from usual.


    I didn''t make it hard for him as I just gave a simple nod to show my agreement.


    That bodyguard didn''t waste any time in taking out something from behind his back.


    With how he pulled it out, it really made me wonder where it came from since I had seen him walking over earlier. If he had it hidden behind him, then it certainly would have made it hard for him to walk.


    Or if he had walked like that while hiding this behind him, I had to admire the way that he did it.


    It certainly wasn''t something that anyone would have been able to pull off.


    Especially since the thing that he brought out was this large box that was as big as my chest.


    It really was surprising that he had been able to hide this thing the entire time.


    As for a Storage Ring¡­I knew that it wasn''t that since I would have felt the mana fluctuations of him taking it out of the Storage Ring. Unless there was this kind of Storage Ring that I had never seen before that allowed him to do this.


    Once he took out this box, he held it in both hands in front of him and presented it to me.


    It was a good thing that we had moved away from the entrance of the Explorer Association or else there certainly would have been a lot of attention attracted to us.


    After holding up the box like this, he lifted up the lid and revealed what was inside.


    What was revealed was disappointing compared to everything that he did. It seemed like he had been building up to something special, but the only thing that was inside of this box was a token.


    When I looked at it closely, I found that it was a token that was similar to the one that they had given to me before.


    But there were also a few differences between this token and the one that I received before.


    I looked at the bodyguard with one brow raised after seeing this token since I didn''t understand what the point of presenting this to me was.


    However, he didn''t say anything as he just held it up in front of him.


    With the way that he held it up and waited, it was as if he was just waiting for me to take it.


    So I reached out slowly and took it from the box before lifting it up in front of me to take a close look at it. But I couldn''t tell exactly what this token was or how it was different from the one that they presented me previously.


    After I took it, the bodyguard finally explained, "This is the token of an honoured guest of the Huo Family."


    "Honoured guest?" I asked in a confused voice since it didn''t seem that different from being a guest of the Huo Family.


    The bodyguard said with a nod, "An honoured guest of the Huo Family is different from just a simple guest of the Huo Family. You will receive far more benefits and you will also receive the protection of the Huo Family to a certain extent."


    I couldn''t help being a bit surprised to hear this.


    After all, this was certainly different from just being a guest.


    A guest would receive some courtesy, but the Huo Family would never risk their lives to protect a guest. Rather, it should be the guest that would help protect the Huo Family since they were basically buying them off.


    But now¡­it seemed that they were using this title to give me a certain amount of protection.


    It was just like how Mu Gong had taken me in as his in name disciple or how I was made an Irregular of the Explorer Association.


    This was their way of protecting me.


    A faint smile appeared on my lips when I heard this before I looked up to say, "Please thank them for me."


    "There''s no need to thank them, this is what they should do since you''re with me." Iris stepped forward and said this with a smile on her face.


    The look of worry was completely gone from her face now.


    The reason that she had been worried was because she had seen how the others were trying to get close to Lin Fan, but her parents weren''t doing the same. She was worried that she wouldn''t be able to be as close to him as the others.


    But now that they had taken the initiative, she claimed this credit for herself.


    If the Huo Couple was here, they certainly wouldn''t have known whether to laugh or cry.


    That was the look on the bodyguard''s face when he heard this, but he didn''t say anything since Iris was the young miss. Read latest chapters at My Virtual Library Empire


    Still, I looked at her and said, "Thank you."


    At this, Iris just turned her head in an embarrassed manner, but I heard her soft voice say, "You''re welcome."

 Chapter 137 That crazy old man!

    After what happened, I was even more motivated to become stronger.


    So when the next day came, I was getting ready to head into another dungeon.


    But before that could happen, there was a letter that came for me.


    "Who''s the letter from?" My mother asked when she handed it to me in the morning, but there was nothing that I could say in response. After all, there was no name on it and there was nothing that identified who sent this letter to me.


    That was until a text came.


    It was surprising that someone as old as him was able to text, but it was my in name master who sent this text.


    It was to ask if I received a letter yet.


    Since he was asking about this, it was clear that he was the one that sent this letter to me. Enjoy new tales from My Virtual Library Empire


    I hadn''t even had the time to read what the letter was about when he already sent me this text.


    So I just said, "It''s from someone that I work with."


    My mother raised a brow, but she didn''t ask anything else as she went back to make breakfast.


    When I opened the letter, I couldn''t help cursing, "That crazy old man!"


    Since I wasn''t able to control myself, my voice was a bit loud and my mother poked her head out from the kitchen to ask, "What''s going on? Did something happen?"


    An awkward look appeared on my face before I said, "It''s nothing, I was just reading something and I couldn''t help myself."


    She looked at me with one brow raised as if she didn''t believe me, but I just looked back at her with a poker face. So in the end, she had no choice but to leave matters as they were and head back into the kitchen.


    The moment that she turned around and went back in, I immediately turned my attention back to the letter that was in front of me.


    After a moment of silence, I pulled out my phone and called the number that Mu Gong left me, but all that happened was that I was left on the ringtone. No matter how many times I tried to call him, he just never seemed to pick up.


    "Crazy old man!" I couldn''t help cursing again, but I did it under my breath instead of shouting out loud like I did before.


    Since he wasn''t picking up, there was only one thing that I could do.


    I had to find someone that had information about what was written on this letter.


    After thinking about it, I said, "I''m heading out."


    "Where are you going? Breakfast is almost ready." My mother said from the kitchen.


    "I have some business to take care of." I said before running out without even looking back.


    What I didn''t see was¡­


    "Leave him. That child is old enough to make his own decision, there''s no need for you to stick your nose in his business. Just leave him alone and he''ll be fine." A voice came from the dining room that had a trace of pride in it.


    "Humph, all you know to do is read your newspaper all day." Though she complained, Lin Fan''s mother didn''t say anything else as she went back into the kitchen.


    ¡­ S§×arch* The n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    With the Irregular badge, I would have been able to easily make my way into the Explorer Association to see the president. But that wasn''t what I did, instead I went to see An Xue Yun at the receptionist desk.


    Even if I had this badge, it wasn''t as if I could just barge into the office of the president.


    "Is the president in?" I asked her as soon as I came over.


    An Xue Yun was surprised since she hadn''t been expecting to see me, but she eventually gave a nod in response. Then she came out from behind the desk and seemed to want to lead me over to the stairs, but I stopped her.


    "Wait, there''s someone else coming."


    As soon as my voice fell, someone ran over to where we were.


    When she came over, the first thing that she did was stand between me and An Xue Yun as if she was making sure that there was distance between us.


    Seeing this, An Xue Yun just gave a disdainful snort as if she looked down on this person.


    The moment that Iris saw this, it seemed like she wanted to start a fight with her.


    I just pretended like I didn''t see anything since I didn''t want to get involved. Eventually, they seemed to come back to their senses and just turned away from each other with a snort.


    An Xue Yun also looked at me as if she was questioning why I invited Iris as well, but I ignored her as well.


    With An Xue Yun leading the way, we eventually reached the office of the president.


    "What is¡­" His voice trailed off before he said, "Oh, it''s just you guys. What''s wrong? Weren''t you just here yesterday?"


    He really didn''t have the prestige of a president when he said this. He said it in a way as if he just wanted to slack off.


    That made a bitter smile appear on my lips.


    But An Xue Yun seemed used to this as she stepped forward and slapped his table before saying, "He''s here for a consultation. Act like a proper president for the Explorer Association already."


    A bitter smile appeared on An Long''s face when he heard this.


    It was just like the bitter smile that I had revealed earlier.


    But there was nothing that he could say in response to his daughter.


    All he could do was sit up properly and ask, "So, what is it that you wanted to consult me about?"


    "It''s this."


    After saying this, I took out the letter that I got this morning and placed it on the table in front of him.


    At the top of this letter read "invitation".

 Chapter 138 Hide your identity

    The letter that I received this morning was actually an invitation to a special competition.


    It was one where those that had special talent from all over the country would be chosen to compete against one another.


    This was the kind of competition that wouldn''t be open to the public, it was only those that had a certain level of influence that would be allowed to watch this competition.


    This was without a doubt a competition that would attract a lot of attention.


    Yet this crazy old man was sending me to a place like this¡­


    Wasn''t this basically asking me to expose myself?


    That was why I needed more information about this competition so I could figure out what my next step was. They already knew enough about me that they were already sending this invitation, so I needed to know what to do about them.


    The only ones that could give me information were those that had enough status to know about the competition.


    That was why I came to see An Long.


    At the same time, it was also why I called Iris over since her parents were also World Summoners. They might have also told her something or she could have asked them about this later for me.


    As for Wang Rong¡­


    Well, I could only apologize to him that he didn''t have the status to help me in this matter.


    After seeing this letter, An Long looked at me and asked, "So what''s the matter? Do you want me to give you information on what this competition is about? I''m afraid that even someone like me can''t do something like that."


    I couldn''t help knitting my brows when I heard this as I thought that he was just making fun of me, but it seemed like he was being serious.


    So I said, "You should know that I don''t want to show off, so sending me to this kind of competition¡­"


    An Long slowly gave an understanding nod, but he still asked, "What''s the problem?"


    "Huh?" I was completely caught off guard by him saying this.


    After all, it was impossible that he didn''t see the problem here.


    Stay tuned with My Virtual Library Empire


    So he was either making fun of me or he knew something that I didn''t know.


    It didn''t seem like he was about to say it at first, but then An Xue Yun said, "Why are you trying to act all cool? Just tell us what you know already."


    Another bitter smile appeared on An Long''s face when he heard this as he looked at his daughter like he was saying, "Why can''t you just let me act this way for a bit? I''m your father, why are you treating me like this?"


    But he didn''t say this out loud.


    Instead, he just gave a sigh before turning back to me to say, "You can just participate in the competition while hiding your identity."


    "What?" I immediately said in a surprised voice.


    He just looked at me and gave another sigh before saying, "It''s one of the rules of the competition. This is a special competition that brings in talents from all over the country, so there''s no doubt that there would be grudges between people. That''s why you''re allowed to hide your identity when participating. Though if your method of hiding your identity is broken by others, then there''s nothing that you can do. At the very least, it gives you a chance to compete fairly without anyone targeting you because of past grudges."


    After this long explanation, I started feeling that perhaps this competition that I had been invited to was different from what I thought it was.


    But it wasn''t as if I had been moved yet.


    As if he could see this, An Long added, "The prize for this competition is special since it''s something that comes from the country itself. At the same time, the dungeon that this competition takes place in is special since it has loot that wouldn''t drop from any other dungeon. It''s one that is monopolized by the country, so only those that have permission can enter the dungeon normally. The only other chance to enter this dungeon is during this competition."


    After he finished, he looked at me with a smile that almost seemed like he was trying to entice me.


    The more that he said, the more moved I was.


    It seemed that Mu Gong hadn''t just done this randomly, it seemed that he had actually thought things through before arranging this for me.


    But still, it wasn''t as if I liked having this kind of thing suddenly sprung on me like this. I really would have preferred some kind of warning before this thing suddenly popped onto me.


    After thinking about it, my decision was¡­


    "Do you know how long I have before I respond to this?" S§×arch* The N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "Huh?" This time, it was An Long''s turn to be surprised.


    After all, he thought that after everything that he said, Lin Fan would immediately choose to accept this invitation. But instead, he was now asking how long he had before he had to accept it.


    It even seemed like he was leaning on rejecting this invitation.


    But this was an opportunity for him, so he couldn''t just let him waste it.


    "Are you sure that you''ve thought this through?" An Long asked in a serious voice.


    I didn''t hesitate for a single second as I said with a nod, "That''s right, I want to delay this as long as possible so I can prepare for it. If I don''t feel that I''m ready, then I won''t go."


    After all, this was a competition between elites of the country, so it wasn''t as if it was a place that I would thrive in.


    I didn''t think that I was fully prepared for this, even if it was an opportunity.


    I could see the strange way that An Long looked at me, but I just looked right back at him with the same calm look on my face.


    So he said with a sigh, "Two weeks, you have two weeks to respond. The competition starts in a month."


    I gave a nod before turning to An Xue Yun to say, "Can you find some dungeons for me?"


    An Xue Yun quickly nodded in response before heading out.


    When they left, An Long watched them leave with a strange look on his face.


    In the end, all he could say was¡­


    "This kid is too cautious."

 Chapter 139 Time to train

    "What''s going on, boss? Why did you suddenly drag me out like this?" Wang Rong asked in a shocked voice as he was being pulled by me.


    It was only natural that he would be shocked like this since I had suddenly arrived at his house early in the morning and dragged him out like this.


    He didn''t even have time to process what I told him before being dragged out.


    All he could do was follow me¡­or rather all he could do was be dragged by me to the car.


    "I told you, we''re diving into the dungeons." I said the same thing as before when I went to his house to drag him out.


    "Yes, but you still didn''t explain why." Wang Rong said with a bitter smile on his face.


    "It''s for training. We have to become stronger."


    Wang Rong''s expression turned a bit serious, but he then said, "Boss, I know that there''s the danger from Governor Nangong, but is there a need to rush into this? There''s still plenty of time before the time limit. People need rest too to be as strong as they can be. If you run yourself ragged¡­"


    There were traces of worry that filled his voice when he said this.


    He wasn''t just saying this because he wanted a break, he was actually saying this because he was worried about this boss of his.


    He was worried that he would run himself into the ground like this.


    After all, diving into dungeons wasn''t exactly a safe thing and if he kept wearing himself down like this¡­


    It would only be a matter of time before he cracked under the pressure.


    "Who said that it had anything to do with that?" I suddenly asked back to Wang Rong to his surprise.


    Wang Rong looked at me with eyes wide in shock before slowly asking, "Isn''t that the reason why you dragged me out for this? I thought that we were going into the dungeon because you wanted to become stronger to face him."


    "Do you really think that I only have my eyes on him? My goals are far beyond just defeating him." I said in a firm tone.


    After all, my real goal was to become someone that didn''t have to worry about anything.


    My goal was beyond just being an A Ranker like Governor Nangong.


    My goal was to become a World Guardian in the future.


    Only with power could one do what they wanted in this world and be truly safe.


    That was the goal that I set for myself after meeting Mu Gong.


    I knew that I had to become as strong as him to be truly free in this world.


    After considering everything, I decided that it was best if I took part in this tournament. Sear?h the N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The prizes were just too enticing, along with the fact that we would be entering a dungeon that normally people couldn''t enter. It might just mean some special loot to some people, but it was different for me who had the Scavenger Rabbit.


    With the ability of the Scavenger Rabbit, I might be able to find some things that no one else had ever found in this dungeon.


    That was why I was planning on attending this competition.


    And to do that, I had to make sure that I was as strong as possible.


    Only with this kind of strength would I be able to ensure that I would get a good placement in the competition. Only the best placements would actually get anything good.


    Since I was going to do this, I would be greedy and take the best things for myself.


    After all, that was how I decided to live.


    Eventually Wang Rong settled down when he learned about the competition.


    There was a fire that suddenly burned in his eyes, as if he had found purpose as well.


    After all, Wang Rong wasn''t a meek person either.


    It was just that the circumstances of his life had caused him to be pushed down by others. That didn''t mean that he didn''t have the same feelings of greed as Lin Fan and the feeling of wanting to become stronger to gain more freedom.


    So motivated by this, Wang Rong was determined to follow his boss in his dive in the dungeons.


    It was just that he never would have imagined what kind of mistake this was¡­


    ¡­


    "Are you sure that they''ll be back in time?" An Long looked at the clock with a worried look.


    An Xue Yun didn''t show it on her face, but there was no doubt that she was worried as well.


    During the past two weeks, she had been supporting Lin Fan''s group as they dived into the dungeon. Even though it was only helping them find dungeons and providing them with supplies, she had worked hard.


    But she could see how much harder it was for them to dive into the dungeons like that.


    That was why she was always worried that something had happened to them.


    She had wanted to stop them from diving into the last dungeon, but Lin Fan had insisted on going in even though it was close to the deadline for accepting the invitation. Even now, there was only ten minutes left before the deadline was over.


    An Long was able to find this out because of his status, so they knew exactly when the deadline was. Stay updated with My Virtual Library Empire


    But Lin Fan wasn''t here to accept that invitation.


    The invitation was something that required mana signature confirmation, which meant that they weren''t able to fake the signature for Lin Fan. He had to personally use the machine that they were standing in front of to accept this invitation.


    But he still wasn''t back¡­


    An Long was even thinking about personally going to pick them up, but¡­


    "Where''s the machine?" I said as soon as I came in.


    "Over here." An Xue Yun said while waving at us to come over.


    Almost at the very last second, I confirmed my participation in the competition.

 Chapter 140 How are they?

    Another two weeks passed after that before they gathered in the Explorer Association.


    It was the day before the competition that they gathered.


    For once, I finally stopped our grinding in the dungeons.


    But it wasn''t to give us a chance to rest, rather it was because I wanted to test something.


    "Are you sure that you want to do this?" An Long asked the three standing in front of him.


    "Yes, please don''t hold back." I said in response.


    To the side, both Iris and Wang Rong looked worried when they heard this, but they didn''t run away.


    Or rather, it seemed like they were resigned to their fates as if they understood that running away wouldn''t help them.


    After all, there was a reason why we were inside of this training room.


    It was to test how much we had grown during this period of training. We had dived into the dungeon without stopping for a single month, fighting against all kinds of different monsters and getting all kinds of different loot.


    At the same time¡­it wasn''t just monsters that we fought against.


    In the dungeons, the greed of humans was able to run amok, so there were those that would always let themselves be controlled by their greed. Once they were controlled by their greed, they wouldn''t be able to help themselves and would try to take from those that seemed weaker than them.


    As for us, we seemed quite weak since we were just teenagers exploring the dungeon.


    Even if we equipped ourselves with gear, there were those that didn''t think that we actually knew how to use them and would look down on us. They even thought that they would be able to easily take this gear from us.


    So they would attack us.


    We would never attack people, it was always others attacking us.


    Sometimes having good stuff was a way to draw in trouble.


    But if they wanted trouble with us, they got trouble.


    None of them left the dungeon afterwards and we gained quite a few Skill Orbs because of it.


    That was why I wanted to test our ability against a real World Summoner.


    Seeing that I didn''t back down, An Long gave a nod before summoning his familiar.


    It was surprising to see his familiar since it was something that no one expected.


    It was an actual dragon that was summoned out.


    True to his name, An Long actually had a dragon.


    This dragon didn''t seem like any normal dragon, this was a dragon that seemed to be covered in a layer of darkness that one could almost touch. It was as if it could blend into the darkness with the way that it was surrounded like this.


    This familiar really fit his name¡­


    "Did you change your name to fit this familiar?" I couldn''t help asking him after seeing this dragon.


    A bitter smile appeared on An Long''s face before he said, "I''ve never changed my name, it''s just how things turned out."


    I didn''t say anything else about this before calling out the Astral White Tiger.


    "Let''s do this then."


    An Long gave a nod without saying anything.


    ¡­


    "How are they? Are they ready for tomorrow?" An Xue Yun asked once Lin Fan''s group went home.


    An Long didn''t answer right away as he looked in the direction that they left in.


    It was hard to tell what he was thinking since there was an expressionless look on his face. With the way that he had this expressionless look, it was as if he was trying to hide his real thoughts.


    When An Xue Yun saw this, she felt a bit annoyed since it almost felt like she was being ignored.


    So she raised her foot and kicked her father before saying, "Say something already." Sear?h the N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    A bitter smile appeared on An Long''s face when he fell over from her kick.


    He definitely wouldn''t have allowed anyone else to kick him like this, but since An Xue Yun was his precious daughter, it wasn''t as if he could actually do anything to her.


    At the same time, he didn''t even move out of the way so she wouldn''t hurt herself.


    He just stood there and took the kick from her like that.


    After revealing that bitter smile, he said with a thoughtful look, "They are certainly stronger, but it isn''t as if he revealed everything."


    "Really?" An Xue Yun asked with a surprised look.


    An Long said with a nod, "The other two I could tell did what they could to try and land one hit on me, but it wasn''t the same for him. It was clear that he was holding himself back and only using the amount of power that he wanted to show off. He clearly had more powers that he was hiding from me."


    After a pause, he added, "No, it''s even beyond that. The others were only trying to get a single hit in, but he was calm and relaxed the entire time. With the way that he fought, I could tell that he could land a hit if he really wanted. In fact, he would have even been able to fight evenly against me for a while." Discover stories with My Virtual Library Empire


    "Really?" An Xue Yun asked in a surprised voice.


    There was a complicated look that appeared on An Long''s face as he gave a slow nod.


    Then with a sigh, he said, "It seems that I really shouldn''t have backed down that easily."


    Turning to look at An Xue Yun, he asked, "What do you think about him?"


    A blush appeared on An Xue Yun''s face when she heard what her father said and it didn''t take long before she raised her foot to kick him.


    All An Long could do was take it with a bitter smile on his face.


    When she was done kicking him, he said, "They''ll be fine. Even I can''t tell how strong he really is and if that''s the case, there shouldn''t be anyone that can mess with them."


    Then he added in a softer voice, "I even feel sorry for those that have to go against him."

 Chapter 141 Heirloom

    "Come, sit down and let''s talk."


    I was surprised to hear this the moment that I opened the door. S~ea??h the N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    But I couldn''t help revealing a faint smile after hearing this since I had sort of been expecting it already.


    During the past month, I had been running around in the dungeons most of the time, so I had spent very little time at home. It would be strange if they didn''t think that something was up, but they didn''t actually confront me about this during this time.


    Instead, they chose now to talk to me about this.


    I wonder if they knew that something was up.


    "It''s tomorrow, isn''t it?"


    I was surprised when I heard my father ask me this.


    This certainly wasn''t what I had been expecting to hear since I had been keeping the information about the competition a secret. I had made sure that none of them knew what I had been doing during this time since I didn''t want them to worry.


    That was why they didn''t even know about what had happened with Governor Nangong.


    Seeing the surprised look on my face, the three of them all revealed smiles before my father said, "Did you really think that we wouldn''t be able to figure it out? We''ve known you long enough to know what you''re thinking. With the way that you''ve been running around, for you to suddenly come home like this, it must mean that something is happening tomorrow, right?"


    I looked at the three of them in silence for a moment before also revealing a smile and giving a slight nod.


    At that, my mother suddenly stood up and walked to the kitchen.


    When she came back, she had several dishes prepared.


    These were all of my favourites that she would cook whenever a big occasion happened.


    It seemed that they were prepared and it seemed that they supported me.


    A warm feeling filled my heart when I saw this, but I also felt a trace of pressure. After all, this was what I was trying to protect by becoming as strong as possible, so if I couldn''t do it¡­


    I threw those thoughts out of my mind.


    After all, instead of thinking about what ifs, it was better to think about what was about to come and what I would do to face it.


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    If anything, this made me more determined to see this through to the end.


    My family also knew that since I didn''t want to talk about it, they wouldn''t be able to get anything out of me. So they just wished me luck with whatever I was planning to do and didn''t ask anything else.


    But when dinner was over, my father suddenly waved his hand at me.


    I had a confused look on my face when I came over, but I waited to see what he had for me.


    After I sat down beside him, he reached into his pocket and pulled out something small. It was small enough that he was able to hold it in his hand without revealing anything.


    Then he suddenly opened his hand to show that it was a pocket watch.


    It didn''t seem like anything special, but I couldn''t help slightly knitting my brows when I saw it.


    That was because I could feel the mana fluctuations coming from it.


    It was very faint, but I was able to feel it in the end.


    Only it seemed like I was the only one that was able to sense the mana fluctuations. It seemed that everyone else in my family was just looking at this thing as if it was some kind of normal pocket watch.


    But they also seemed like they recognized this thing and it had a special meaning.


    It was just that for the life of me, I couldn''t remember what this was.


    "Isn''t that our grandfather''s special watch?" My big brother suddenly asked.


    When he asked this, I suddenly remembered what this thing was.


    That''s right, this was our grandfather''s special pocket watch that he said had been in our family for many generations now. It was something that he passed down to my father when he died.


    It was just that he died very early on, so I had forgotten about this.


    But now it seemed like¡­


    "Take it." My father said when he saw me looking at the pocket watch.


    "Are you sure?" I said without taking the watch. After all, I knew how special this thing was to my father, so I was hesitating.


    But there was also a part of me that wanted to take this pocket watch to have a closer look at it.


    I was curious about the traces of mana that were coming from this watch.


    Those mana fluctuations that came from the pocket watch showed that this thing wasn''t normal.


    It showed that this thing was most likely some kind of special magic item.


    That was why I wanted to take a closer look at it.


    "It''s an heirloom that has been passed down for many generations, but it''s also an heirloom that has watched over our family through these generations. I hope that it will protect you as well." My father said in a serious voice.


    I looked at my mother and brother and it seemed like they were thinking the same thing as they looked at me.


    So I slowly took the pocket watch from my father.


    I didn''t even look at it as I put it away in my pocket.


    It wasn''t the time for that.


    At this moment, I forgot about the fact that there were mana fluctuations coming from the pocket watch as I looked at them with a touched look.


    I opened my mouth before closing it.


    Then I said, "I''ll take care of it."


    My father gave a nod before patting me on the shoulder, but he didn''t say anything in response.


    That was because there was no need for words at this moment.


    Words would just cheapen this moment.


    All we needed was each other.

 Chapter 142 Becoming a target

    I snuck out the next morning, but I also knew that they were awake since I could sense them with my heightened senses.


    Still, there was no need for any words.


    The place that I headed to was the Explorer Association since that was the place where I responded, so that was the place where they picked us up.


    "What? You''ve never seen this kind of thing before? It''s a space gate. As long as you step through, you''ll be transported to the place where the competition is being held." An Long explained when the portal appeared in front of us.


    Wang Rong and I couldn''t help being surprised by this since this was our first time seeing something like this.


    We had heard of this thing before, but it certainly wasn''t something that we would have been able to use at our level.


    This was the kind of thing that would be highly restricted by the country and the Summoner Association because of how dangerous it was. This was a power that could allow one to appear wherever they wanted, so it was the perfect tool to use for assassinations.


    It was just a good thing that it wasn''t that easy to open up space gates in the first place, so there were also only a handful of people that could actually use this power.


    An Long and An Xue Yun had both come to see us off, though one received a much worse reception than the other.


    "What? I came all this way to see you off and you''re looking at me like I''m a bother?" An Long said when he saw the way that we looked at him.


    But it wasn''t as if we could help it.


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    After all, he had been at the Explorer Association whenever we came to pick up another dungeon request. It really seemed like he didn''t do any work even though he was the president of the Explorer Association.


    None of us said anything since there was nothing that we could say in this situation.


    In the end, the one that broke the silence was An Xue Yun who raised her foot and kicked out at her father.


    An Long just let himself be kicked to the ground like this by her, even though he was in front of others. It seemed that he cared about her more than he cared about anything else.


    "Stop acting like that already. You already know what you do normally that they look at you like this." An Xue Yun said in a cold voice that made it seem like they weren''t father and daughter at all.


    But An Long didn''t say anything in response.


    He just couldn''t refute this because of the things that he did normally.


    He was someone that liked slacking off after all.


    With that, we turned to face the space gate and prepared to step through.


    But before we did, An Xue Yun''s voice came from behind.


    "Go and win this thing."


    I turned to look at her before giving a firm nod and turning back to walk through the space gate.


    Iris and Wang Rong followed right behind me, but I saw Iris turning to look at An Xue Yun as well.


    I didn''t see what she did, but it wasn''t that hard to guess¡­


    After stepping through the space gate, it felt like the space around us was being warped. It was as if there was something that was bending the space around us, though it didn''t seem like the bending of the space was directly affecting us.


    It didn''t take long before that stopped and the darkness in front of us opened up to reveal a bright light.


    When we stepped out of the spatial passage, we arrived inside of what seemed to be a large hall.


    There were many others that seemed to be in this hall as well and they all seemed to be standing there as if they were waiting for something.


    When we arrived, I could hear them talking.


    It seemed that they were talking about us.


    "What are they wearing?"


    "Do they think that they''re cool or something?"


    "Are they trying to act all mysterious?"


    It seemed that our clothes had attracted everyone''s attention.


    That was because we were wearing dark clothes and masks that covered our faces.


    It was completely because it was functional that we were wearing these outfits.


    It completely hid our appearances and our identities, so that was why it was the best choice.


    It wasn''t because I thought that these clothes were cool or anything that I was wearing them. Even if there were other clothes to choose from, these ones stood out the most because of how practical they were.


    Though¡­they did look cool too¡­


    But the fact that they were a bit over the top when it came to hiding one''s appearance was what drew attention.


    It didn''t take long before the attention of the others in the hall were all drawn towards this group in these outfits.


    At first they were just curious, but then¡­


    "Look at them hiding their appearances like cowards. It''s clear that they aren''t anything special, so they''re trying to stand out."


    "Right, I wonder who even allowed them to come to this competition like this."


    "It''s clear that they''re trying to use appearances to scare people, they''ll be easy to take down."


    In a matter of moments, the opinion of the entire crowd changed and we had become everyone''s target.


    It seemed that they all believed the one idea that we were just trying to scare people with our appearances.


    I was hoping to remain lowkey and do what I needed to do, but it seemed like this wasn''t possible.


    I just hoped that they wouldn''t put us all together in the dungeon.


    If they did¡­with the way that everyone was already targeting us¡­ S~ea??h the Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Well for now, I just acted like I didn''t see anything and I urged the two behind me to look the same with secret signals.


    For now, it was better to act like we weren''t bothered by this.

 Chapter 143 Top contenders

    After we arrived, it seemed like we weren''t the last ones to arrive as there were more space gates that appeared around us.


    Looking around, I could see many others that had been gathered here just like us.


    From the sensation that I got from them, I could tell that while they were strong, they weren''t strong enough that I would have to worry about them. Though that was only if they didn''t team up with each other against us.


    With the way that they looked at us, that was unlikely to happen since they considered us an easy target.


    No one would work together against an easy target.


    That was the one good thing that we had going for us.


    After all, it didn''t seem like anything else was going to go our way.


    That was until a certain team arrived.


    The moment that their space gate opened, everyone turned in their direction.


    That was because the moment that the space gate opened, everyone could sense the mana fluctuations that were coming from that space gate. It was a violent storm of mana that even seemed like it wanted to tear whoever was in front of it apart.


    Some people even thought that this was an attack from the ones that were coming out of the space gate.


    Only the moment that they came out, everyone realized that this wasn''t the case.


    The mana fluctuations that came out of the space gate was just the natural mana that they released. They weren''t doing it on purpose, they were just releasing it naturally and didn''t have any ill intentions.


    One could only blame them for being too strong that they released this kind of mana fluctuations.


    The fact that this was the case was not a good thing for everyone else that was competing in this competition.


    With a team like this, it was clear that there was a large gap between the people here and this team.


    This was a team that was without a doubt a top contender, which was why everyone immediately turned their attention to them.


    I let out a secret sigh of relief when I saw this, but I was also concerned about this team that suddenly appeared. The mana fluctuations that they released also made me worried since they were a team that was strong enough to threaten us.


    In the competition, they would certainly pose a danger to us. Enjoy more content from My Virtual Library Empire


    As she watched me look at this team, Iris suddenly came over and said, "They''re the Fire Gods Team. They''re a famous team from Inferno City."


    I looked at her with a surprised look and found that she had pulled out a tablet for me.


    I looked at the information that she was presenting me and saw that there was quite a lot of information on this Fire Gods Team.


    Seeing the way that I looked at her after this, Iris just said, "I took some time to do a bit of research on the competitors. Since this is a competition for the young and talented, I just found all of the young talents in the country and put them here."


    What she said so naturally was definitely not something that anyone could do.


    After all, I could see that some of the information that she had was definitely not something that could be obtained over the internet. This kind of detailed information was without a doubt something that had to be obtained by someone with specialized skill.


    Only someone like Iris who had two World Summoners as parents could do something like this. S§×arch* The n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Or rather, only someone with access to an intelligence network built up by two World Summoners would be able to do something like this.


    Still, since she had prepared all this, there was no reason to not use it.


    Knowing information about one''s competitors was the best way to get a foot up on them.


    But while we were doing this, there was another space gate that opened.


    The moment that this space gate opened, there was another storm of mana fluctuations that came out of that space gate. This was a storm that wasn''t inferior to the one that appeared when the Fire Gods Team came out.


    It seemed that there was another group that was on the same level as them.


    Though if there wasn''t another group of the same level, then this really wouldn''t have been a competition. It was only because there were people that could fight on the same level that it would be a competition.


    "They''re the Shining Bolts Team. They''re another famous team from Zephyr City." Iris quickly said as she pulled up the information on them on the tablet that she was holding.


    I didn''t even get enough time to finish reading about the Fire Gods Team before she did this.


    In the end, this happened three more times.


    There were three more teams that were at the same level as the Fire Gods Team and the Shining Bolts Team that also appeared.


    They were the Dark Knights Team, the Luminous Knights Team, and the World Tree Team.


    All three of these teams were just as strong as the other two teams, if not a bit stronger. Especially the Dark Knights Team and the Luminous Knights Team.


    Though when those two teams appeared, the first thing that they did was glare at each other.


    It was clear that there was some kind of history between them, but that wasn''t strange since their names were even at odds with each other. So it seemed that they must have some kind of complicated relationship with each other.


    Once all five of these teams appeared, they immediately became the new center of attention.


    I was a bit grateful for the arrival of these teams since it meant that we were no longer the center of attention.


    They were the ones that were the favourites, the top contenders for this competition.


    So of course no one would pay any attention to us who they considered weak.


    But it also wasn''t a good thing that there were so many powerful contenders.


    This would certainly make things harder for us.

 Chapter 144 Drawing lots

    There weren''t many that arrived after these five top contenders arrived.


    It seemed that they had aimed to arrive at a time where they would be able to make the biggest impression. Which was why they arrived right when most people were gathered so they could suppress them with this display of might.


    It really was a smart move if one looked at it from an objective point of view.


    Though being the ones that were being suppressed wasn''t a good feeling.


    But there wasn''t time to think about this since there were other people that arrived.


    Unlike the ones that gathered in the hall, the aura that they released was completely different. They were not a part of the younger generation like the ones that were currently in the hall.


    They were the ones from the older generation, the ones that had set up this competition.


    The moment that they appeared, everyone stopped focusing on the five top contender groups and focused on these elders.


    After all, the reason that they appeared was most likely to announce the start of this competition.


    Even if they were wary of these top contenders, that didn''t mean that they lost sight of their true goal in this competition. They were all focused on the dungeon that they were supposed to enter for this competition.


    Once these organizers appeared, they didn''t waste time as one of them took the lead.


    This person came out to say, "I''m sure that all of you already know what you have been gathered here for, so there''s no need for me to say anything else. You will now enter the special dungeon that we have prepared."


    With a wave of his hand, there were energy fluctuations that came from the center of the room.


    Those that were there quickly moved away from where the fluctuations came from.


    In no time at all, there was a portal that appeared in front of everyone.


    This portal was different from the space gates that had been used to bring them all here, this portal was the entrance of a dungeon. However, everyone could tell that this wasn''t just any normal dungeon with the pressure that was coming from the gate.


    At the same time, they knew that this wasn''t a normal gate.


    Since the dungeon gates first appeared, humans had much more information on the dungeons and how they worked. They were able to use their technology to interfere with the entrances of dungeons. Sear?h the N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Though it did take a lot to actually interfere with the dungeon gates.


    So this was only done on high ranking dungeon gates by powerful people who were authorized to use this kind of technology.


    It would control when the dungeon gate opened and where one was dropped in the dungeon. If one could be dropped right by the boss and the dungeon core, it would mean being able to save quite a bit of energy clearing the dungeon.


    One wouldn''t have to slog through all of the weaker mobs that would be in the way to fight the dungeon boss.


    But in this case, it was being used for something different.


    After the portal appeared, the person in charge waved his hand again and there were pieces of paper that suddenly appeared in the air. These pieces of paper just floated all around this hall without any pattern.


    However, anyone that looked closely at these pieces of paper could see that there were things drawn on them.


    It was hard to tell exactly what was drawn on them since they were floating around like this, but those with sharp eyes were able to see a few things.


    Those that could recognize the lines that were drawn on the pieces of paper could tell that these lines made up something special. They could tell that the lines that were on the paper were actually a part of a map.


    So that meant that each of these pieces of papers most likely represented a part of the dungeon that they were about to enter.


    What they were drawing for was most likely where they would start in the dungeon.


    There wasn''t much information on the dungeon that they were about to enter since this was a strictly controlled dungeon. The only thing that they knew was the name of the dungeon which was Castle in the Sky.


    Based on that name, they knew that it was a very large dungeon that they were entering, so it would be important to have a good starting position.


    So this became a draw of where one would start in the dungeon.


    After all of the pieces of paper appeared, the person in charge said, "Draw the one that you want."


    As soon as his voice fell, there were some people that suddenly flew out to grab at the pieces of paper that were flying around them. Among them was the Fire God Team, one of the top contenders.


    Only the Fire God Team acted differently from everyone else.


    They weren''t just out for a single piece of paper, they were out for multiple pieces of paper. It seemed like they already wanted to start knocking people out of the competition this early.


    But that didn''t happen.


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    As soon as one of their members grabbed a piece of paper, there was something that stopped the rest of them from grabbing anything else. It was a faint layer of light that stopped them from making contact with the rest of the pieces of paper.


    So in the end, they weren''t able to grab more than a single piece of a paper and knock others out.


    The person in charge didn''t say anything about this, but it was clear that this was arranged by them.


    They didn''t allow people to knock each other out until after they were in the dungeon.


    So everyone was able to grab the pieces of paper that they wanted¡­well, not everyone since there were a few people that wanted the same pieces of paper and they were allowed to fight over them.


    As long as one didn''t take it too far, the organizers didn''t interfere.


    As for us, we just grabbed whatever was left in the end.

 Chapter 145 Castle in the Sky

    Along with us, there were two other groups that grabbed their pieces of paper in the end.


    But it was certainly surprising to see who they were.


    It was the Dark Knights Team and the Luminous Knights Team.


    Neither of them seemed to move while the pieces of paper were floating in the air like this. It seemed that neither of them wanted to pick anything and just wanted to take whatever was left.


    So when the three of our teams got our pieces of paper, they both looked at our team that had waited until the end like them.


    The way that they looked at us was as if we had caught their attention.


    The way that they looked at us was as if we had somehow piqued their interest and now they were paying attention to us.


    It was as if they thought that we had waited until the end to pick these pieces of paper because we knew something special. They thought that we were the same as them, which was why we waited until the end.


    But the reality was that we weren''t like that at all.


    I just wanted to wait until the end so we wouldn''t attract any attention.


    I just wanted to be lowkey¡­


    But it was already too late since they had this misconception.


    The only thing that I could do was hope that we didn''t run into each other that early in the dungeon.


    Once everyone received their piece of paper, the person in charge said, "The competition will begin now. You will be free to move however you want in the dungeon, but just remember that we will be judging you on the things that you bring out, as well as who will be able to clear the dungeon."


    Though he was explaining the rules of the competition, there were those that entered the portal before he finished explaining the rules.


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    At the end, he added, "The time limit will be three days starting from when I started this explanation. If you feel that you''ve already gotten enough, then you are free to leave at any moment. If you don''t leave when the time limit is up, the return stones that we''ve embedded into the maps will bring you out when the time limit is up. But that also means that if you lose the maps for some reason, don''t blame us for being trapped in the dungeon."


    It seemed that those that entered the dungeon before he finished his explanation did earn an advantage in terms of having a bit more time, but it really wasn''t that much longer since it was only ten minutes.


    At the same time, it seemed that there was something gained from listening to this explanation.


    "For those that have remained to this point, let me give you a special present. It''s a special hint that will help you in the dungeon."


    The way that the person in charge said this was almost as if they were stalling for time.


    But in the end, they said, "When you''re in the dungeon, you shouldn''t just think about what''s in the castle. You should also try to think about what''s outside the castle."


    As soon as he said this, he pointed to the portal and said, "Now go on, do your best and don''t leave any regrets."


    Right when his voice fell, there was a light that came from the portal.


    Then it was as if there was something that was pulling us as we suddenly started flying towards the portal. It was as if there was some kind of barrier around us that came from the pieces of paper that we got.


    With these barriers, we were thrown right into the portal and we entered the dungeon.


    While entering the dungeon, the pieces of paper still covered us in this barrier that kept us together. However, the other teams that had different barriers around them disappeared from our line of sight.


    It seemed that these pieces of paper had some kind of mechanism that sent people to certain locations.


    When the world seemed to stabilize, the first thing that we did was look around ourselves to make sure that we were alright.


    Since we didn''t enter the dungeon the normal way, that meant that we didn''t get put in a safe zone that was always there by the dungeon entrance. There was the chance that we could be dropped right in the middle of the monsters in this dungeon.


    But that didn''t seem to be the case.


    It seemed that this room that we had been dropped in was a safe area.


    Or at least there weren''t currently any monsters that were here.


    After looking around the room for a bit, I went over to the window that was on the side of the room.


    Looking out the window from here, I could see that there was nothing but sky that was out there. But when I went over to take a look, I could see that it wasn''t that simple out there. sea??h th§× N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    This dungeon was known as the Castle in the Sky and it really was that.


    Looking out the window, I could see that there was some kind of foundation that this castle that we were in was flying on and beyond that, it didn''t seem like there was anything other than sky. As far as the eye could see, it seemed like there was only sky in front of us.


    The clue was to look beyond that castle, but it really didn''t seem like there was anything out there.


    So the only thing that I could think of was the foundation of the castle.


    Was there something in the foundation that this castle was built on?


    After thinking for a bit, I turned to look at the door and said, "Let''s explore for a bit."


    Iris and Wang Rong nodded in agreement before following me to the door.


    It didn''t matter what theories I had right now.


    The only thing that mattered was exploring this place and finding out more about this castle in the sky.

 Chapter 146 Walking armour

    Looking out the door, it seemed that this place really was a normal castle.


    There wasn''t anything out there but a normal corridor.


    This was the kind of corridor that one would find in any normal castle and it even seemed to be a bit desolate because there was nothing that was here in the corridors.


    The corridors seemed like they were completely devoid of any decoration at all. S~ea??h the nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Well, it wasn''t as if they were completely empty either since there were a few things that were there. It was just that none of them seemed to be special and none of them seemed to even have a trace of mana to them.


    This place just seemed like any normal castle.


    But the mana in the air was more than enough to show that this place was still a dungeon.


    After looking around for a bit, I took out the map and asked Iris, "What can you see from this?"


    She was the one that had helped us map out the Death Forest before, so I was hoping to use her ability to see if we could find anything special about this place with the map.


    But in the end, Iris just shook her head to show that she wasn''t able to find anything.


    She could figure out where we were based on the map, but this map was just too simple to give us any meaningful information. At the same time, this map was nothing more than a map of the surrounding area.


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    It wasn''t as if this map was a map of the entire dungeon.


    The information about this area alone wouldn''t be enough to tell us anything about what was in this dungeon.


    So the only thing that we could do was explore this place on our own and see what we could find.


    Coming to this decision, I led the way out of the room that we were in.


    There was nothing that happened when we stepped out of the room.


    With how quiet this place was, it was almost as if this dungeon was completely abandoned. But since it was a dungeon, it was impossible for that to be true.


    Whatever was here seemed to be hiding¡­


    So looking around, it seemed like either side of the corridor was the same. It was even the same on the map, so it didn''t seem to matter which way we went.


    In the end, we just chose one side and started moving forward.


    As we walked down this corridor, there really was an eerie feeling that filled the air.


    It was almost as if there was something here, it was just that we couldn''t tell what it was. It really felt like there was something invisible that was watching us from the dark, we just weren''t able to see them.


    That was until¡­


    "Creak."


    "Did you hear that?" I asked the other two and they nodded, but they had confused looks since they didn''t seem to know what that sound was either.


    "Creak."


    It rang out again, but this time it was much louder than before.


    Looking forward, we could see what it was that made that noise.


    It was a set of armour that was walking towards us.


    But looking at the gaps in the armour, we could see that there wasn''t anything that was inside of the armour. It even seemed like there was some kind of strange energy that was inside of this armour that was making it move.


    It was slowly moving towards us, but the moment that we saw it, it seemed to also see us.


    It paused for a second before suddenly violently jerking and running at us.


    "Let me handle this." I said before calling out the Echo Bat.


    The two of them just nodded and moved back to see what I would do.


    But for once¡­


    Raising my hand, I created an opening to the Storage Ring on my hand.


    When that opening was created, there were a few bones that suddenly fell out.


    After these bones came out, it was as if there was some kind of strange force that lifted them off the ground. They just seemed to float there for a bit before they suddenly came together to form a proper skeleton.


    But it wasn''t the skeleton of a human that was formed.


    Rather, it was the skeleton of a wolf that was formed and it wasn''t just a single one.


    After these skeletons were formed, the bones seemed to have some kind of magic flowing through them as they started to move. There seemed to be this dark glow around the bones.


    After this dark magic flowed through the bones, the skeleton wolves didn''t hesitate to charge at the closest set of living armour.


    The skeletal wolves moved with incredible speed, half of which was because of their natural aerodynamic ability as skeletons and half of it was because they were buffed by dark magic.


    They quickly made their way over to where the living armour was and then clamped their teeth down on the living armour.


    "Crack."


    It wasn''t the armour that cracked, but rather the bones of the skeletal wolves that cracked.


    That just went to show just how thick this set of armour was.


    But even though their bones cracked, the skeletal wolves didn''t give up on attacking the living armour. Since their teeth didn''t work, what they did instead was run around the living armour and slash at them with their claws.


    Their claws actually seemed to be leaving a mark, but that was more because of the dark magic that was around their claws. Rather than actually cutting through the armour, what the dark magic did was corrode the armour away.


    That was why there were black marks that were left on the armour where the claws of the skeletal wolves hit it.


    The problem was that this was taking too long and in the distance, there was the sound of more sets of living armour approaching.


    So I called out another set of bones that formed together.


    This time, it took the form of a skeleton, a human skeleton.

 Chapter 147 No loot

    It wasn''t just a human skeleton alone that was formed, there was also this layer of bone armour that appeared around this human skeleton along with a bone sword.


    Once the human skeleton took form, it pulled out its sword and charged at the living armour.


    The living armour seemed to notice the human skeleton as well, but the problem was that it was being restrained by the skeletal wolves. They were circling around the set of living armour, using their claw attacks to prevent it from moving too far away.


    The living armour did what it could to swing its weapon around to stop the skeletal wolves, but it just wasn''t able to stop them from surrounding it like this.


    It seemed like the living armour also hoped that the other living armour that were still approaching would be able to help it, but it just wasn''t given that chance.


    While it was being distracted by the skeletal wolves, it showed a gap.


    This gap became an opportunity for the skeleton knight to take it down.


    The skeleton knight that was summoned charged forward with its sword raised and there was a similar dark energy that gathered around the sword as it stabbed out.


    This sword proved to be much harder and sharper than the fangs and claws of the skeletal wolves. This sword was able to pierce right through the back of the living armour.


    No, if one looked more closely, they would see that it wasn''t because it was sharp and hard that it was able to pierce the back of the living armour.


    If one looked closely, they would be able to see that there was this strange corrosion that was around the hole that the living armour had been pierced through. It was as if there was something that had eaten through that part of the armour.


    It was just like the black marks that had been left on the living armour when it had been scratched by the claws covered in dark energy.


    The difference between the skeleton knight and the skeletal wolves was that the skeleton knight had concentrated its dark energy into a single point when it stabbed out like this.


    That dark energy had been gathered into the tip of its bone sword, which made it much stronger than the dark energy that the skeletal wolves used. That was what allowed it to eat through this armour like this.


    But that didn''t mean that the set of living armour would go down that easily.


    That set of living armour wasn''t some kind of living creature with vital organs, so it wasn''t as if it would go down just from being stabbed through like this.


    Or that was what one would think, but the living armour had collapsed after being stabbed through the back like this.


    As the set of living armour collapsed, we could see why it had fallen apart.


    There was this orb that had been cut in half, with the bits of it that had been hit by the tip of the sword being corrupted black as well.


    Just one look was enough to tell that this was the core of this set of living armour that powered it to move.


    So once the core was taken out, the living armour didn''t have anything to rely on to move anymore.


    That was why it collapsed all of a sudden like this.


    After taking care of this one set of living armour, the undead quickly made their way to the next set that approached.


    It was a good thing that the living armour had spread out in a way where only one would be fighting at a time. By the time the next set of living armour arrived, the one that had been fighting was already taken care of.


    Just like this, the few skeletons that I summoned were able to take care of them.


    I moved over to the first set of living armour that had been taken out during this.


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    It was fine to leave the control of the skeletons to the Echo Bat. I wanted to have a closer look at the living armour before anything else.


    After coming over, I leaned forward and summoned out the Scavenger Rabbit while hiding it.


    I wasn''t worried that Iris or Wang Rong would see anything since both of them were busy keeping an eye out for any other monsters like I ordered them.


    I wanted to seize this chance to see what I could get from these sets of living armour and to see if there was anything that could help us.


    But it turned out that there was nothing.


    "What do you mean by that?" I asked the Scavenger Rabbit when it refused to dig through the living armour.


    The Scavenger Rabbit shook its head before it gestured with its hands.


    The gestures it gave seemed to be saying¡­


    "What do you mean that there''s no loot?"


    The Scavenger Rabbit shook its head again before revealing what seemed to be a frustrated look. It seemed that even the Scavenger Rabbit didn''t know what was happening, which was why it was frustrated.


    It was the first time that it wasn''t able to use its power.


    Since it had started following me, this was the first time that it had happened and the first time that it couldn''t show off its power. Sear?h the N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    I understood how it felt, so I just patted it on the head and promised that it would have a chance in the future.


    While this was happening, I slowly figured out why the Scavenger Rabbit wasn''t able to loot the set of living armour.


    The time for it to turn into loot had already long passed, but here it still was. It didn''t seem like the dungeon was about to turn it into loot any time soon.


    It seemed like this set of armour was just nothing more than a set of armour.


    "Is it not a monster from the dungeon then?"

 Chapter 148 Controlled toys

    As soon as I came to this theory, I couldn''t help feeling that it hit the nail on the head.


    Looking at the set of living armour in front of me, it seemed even more likely.


    After all, there was even that core that was used to control the set of living armour.


    Was the one that was controlling it watching us through these cores in the sets of living armour?


    If that was the case, did that mean that the one controlling it was one of the competitors or was it something from the dungeon?


    I would have preferred that it was another competitor since it would have been the safer option. Your journey continues with My Virtual Library Empire


    If it was some monster in the dungeon that were controlling these sets of living armour, that meant that the monster was one that had a high intelligence. It meant that it would be able to think at the same level as a human.


    Monsters like those were especially hard to deal with.


    After all, they could come up with plans just like humans and without knowing what they were, it would be hard to find them.


    As expected of the dungeon that was being used for this competition.


    It didn''t seem like there was anything normal in this dungeon.


    With the coordination between the undead, it was easy for them to take care of all the sets of living armour that came at us and there were quite a few of them. After taking care of them for a bit, there was a pile of armour and cores that was scattered on the side.


    The way that they came at us, it didn''t seem like there was any fear in the sets of living armour.


    But eventually they did stop coming. S§×arch* The N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    I didn''t know why they stopped, but my guess was that they ran out.


    There were simply no more sets of living armour to send at us, or at least for now.


    I had been looking at the cores and the sets of armour on the ground during this time, so I was able to find a few things about them.


    As I had thought, these were being used to control these sets of armour.


    It seemed that the core was some kind of mana receiving device that allowed whoever created them to send mana into the sets of armour. That mana filled up the insides of the set of armour, which allowed it to move like this.


    At the same time, the core could be used to manipulate the mana that was inside of the sets of armour to create fine movement.


    Whoever created these cores really knew what they were doing.


    They were able to control so many different sets of armour, it almost was like a child playing with toys.


    So that meant that if we were able to find the one that controlled these sets of living armour, then we would be able to control these sets of living armour as well.


    It was just how were we supposed to find the one controlling them?


    Even if we were to head in the direction that the sets of living armour came from, it wasn''t as if we would be able to find the one controlling them.


    If it was me, I would have hidden myself away while controlling these sets of armour.


    So it would be hard to find the one that was controlling them.


    Or that was what I thought until something asked to be summoned.


    I was surprised to receive this request, but I still let the Astral White Tiger out.


    The moment that it came out, it went over to the pile of wasted armour and cores that were placed on the side. The way that it stood over one of the cores was as if it was looking closely at it.


    Then all of a sudden, the Astral White Tiger turned in the opposite direction.


    It was also the opposite direction of the one that the sets of living armour came from.


    Without any hesitation, the Astral White Tiger took off running in that direction.


    I was caught off guard by the actions of the Astral White Tiger, but then I said with a wave of my hand, "Go, follow it."


    Iris and Wang Rong had also been caught off guard by all of this, but they snapped back to attention when they heard me call out to them.


    For his size, Wang Rong actually moved quite quickly. Though that was because of the second skill that I gave him.


    He could become even stronger as long as he could negate the side effects of his familiar''s ability. So I gave him a second skill that would allow him to move even if he made himself even heavier.


    But when he didn''t make himself heavy, it allowed him to move at a speed that really didn''t fit his physique.


    That was how Wang Rong was able to catch up to the Astral White Tiger without any problem. Then after catching up, he just remained behind the Astral White Tiger, letting it lead the way.


    Though the way that he pulled out his weapon was as if he was ready to protect it if anything happened.


    The Astral White Tiger continued running forward without any hesitation as if it knew exactly where it was going, but this was still a dungeon that we were running through. There was the chance that we would be surrounded by monsters at any time if we rashly went too far.


    It was a good thing that the Astral White Tiger didn''t go that far.


    After turning around three corners, the Astral White Tiger suddenly stopped as if it sensed something.


    Wang Rong moved forward as if he wanted to protect it, but he didn''t get a chance to show off.


    That was because there was this breeze that was gathered around the Astral White Tiger.


    In no time at all, that breeze turned into a gust of wind that formed a blade of wind.


    With a roar from the Astral White Tiger, it sent it at one of the doors in this corridor.

 Chapter 149 Tiny thing

    The moment that the wind blade slammed into the door, there was no resistance at all from the door.


    It was shattered to pieces by the wind blade from the Astral White Tiger.


    I had to admire the power that the Astral White Tiger now possessed.


    After absorbing that bead from Mu Gong, it completely mastered the wind element and could send out wind attacks like this. Though it still had its limits since it was just a cub.


    Other than simple wind blades like this, it had trouble forming the stronger attacks.


    It was only a matter of time before it grew up enough to use the stronger attacks and could visually form them, but it was still a matter of training and time for now. Until it had the time to grow up, it wouldn''t be able to actually use these attacks.


    At the same time¡­I learned something about the Astral White Tiger.


    It was a child, so it was fickle and didn''t actually like training.


    So it was hard enough to get it to the point where it was able to use these attacks in the first place.


    After shattering the door, the Astral White Tiger looked like it wanted to charge in, but I stopped it.


    "Come back."


    As soon as the Astral White Tiger heard this, it looked at the door with a look like it wanted to charge into the room, but it still came back to my side in the end.


    At least I still had a high enough position in the heart of the Astral White Tiger that it still listened to me.


    Wang Rong on the other hand didn''t come back.


    He knew that I wasn''t talking to him, so he just raised his weapon and faced that door as if he was prepared for anything that came out. Stay tuned for updates on My Virtual Library Empire


    And there was something that came out of the door after the dust settled.


    There were two sets of living armour that came out through the smoke and charged at Wang Rong.


    He didn''t panic at all as he just used the power of his familiar to raise his defenses before swinging the great sword in his hand at the sets of living armour. The power that was in this swing picked up those two sets of living armour and threw them through the air until they slammed into the wall behind them.


    Each one hit the wall on both sides of the door.


    Wang Rong had also gotten stronger after carrying that heavy great sword around for a month, so he was able to swing it without a problem.


    While Wang Rong dealt with these two sets of living armour, I summoned out the undead and sent them forward towards the door.


    When the two sets of living armour saw this, they wanted to stop the undead.


    However, they didn''t get a chance since Wang Rong blocked their way.


    With his great sword, there really was no gap for them to exploit to get past him. At the same time, there was no way that they could match the power that he showed with the great sword since he had sent them flying earlier.


    So the sets of living armour could only resign themselves to being sent flying while the undead charged through the door.


    There were sounds of fighting that came from inside of the room, but it didn''t seem like it was that bad. The only thing that came out of the room in the end was a small set of living armour.


    It was half the size of the normal set of living armour and it almost seemed like it was made for a child with how small it was.


    With the way that it moved, it really didn''t seem like any kind of combatant.


    However, even after being thrown out like this, it tried to go back into the room as if it was trying to protect something.


    "Not on my watch." Wang Rong said as he sent the small set of living armour flying just like the other two sets of living armour.


    He didn''t struggle at all with the addition of this extra set of living armour.


    It was as if he could take on several more sets without a single problem.


    There were some more sounds that came from the inside of the room, but it didn''t take long for something else to come out. When this thing came out, the sets of living armour stopped fighting with Wang Rong.


    They froze as if they had suddenly lost contact with the one that controlled them before.


    That was because there was something different that came out with the undead.


    It was completely surrounded by the skeletal wolves and the skeleton knight had its sword pointed at the neck of this small thing.


    It was a humanoid creature, but it was much smaller than any other creature that we had seen previously. It looked like it wasn''t that different from a human, but it was very short compared to one.


    One could say that it was child height, but this thing wasn''t like a child at all.


    There were wrinkles on its face and a large white beard on its chin.


    It was anything but a child based on its appearance.


    "A gnome." I couldn''t help saying out loud when I saw this humanoid creature.


    Gnomes were a strange thing since they were considered a monster and part of the other races.


    Gnomes had also come from the dungeons, but they were a race that humans could actually make contact with unlike the rest of the monsters because of their intelligence. There were even settlements of gnomes that lived on our planet.


    Their specialty was building things with their hands and magic, so it made sense that this gnome was the one that controlled these sets of living armour.


    But it didn''t seem like we would be able to communicate with it.


    The words that came out of the gnome''s mouth were completely different from any language that was from our planet. S~ea??h the N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Even the translator that Iris had didn''t have any effect at all.


    So I just gave a nod to the Echo Bat.

 Chapter 150 Factory

    As soon as I gave that nod to the Echo Bat, it opened its mouth.


    Once the Echo Bat opened its mouth like this, the light seemed to dim from the eyes of the gnome.


    It was as if it was being put into a trance with the way that its eyes seemed to go blank. S~ea??h the N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Once it was in this state, the undead that had been holding the gnome suddenly let go of it and it fell forward.


    Iris and Wang Rong looked like they were on guard against it, but there was no need for them to act this way.


    After the gnome fell forward, it suddenly looked up at me before falling to its knees in front of me. As it kneeled there in front of me, it suddenly bowed its head down to show submission towards me.


    I gave a simple nod before saying, "Rise."


    The gnome stood up once again and just stood there in front of me as if it was waiting for an order.


    During this time, I took a good look at the gnome to see just what kind of appearance it had.


    It was the perfect representation of an old man with the appearance that it had, it was just that he was much shorter than any human. This gnome was only around three feet tall, so he was barely able to reach my waist.


    But I could feel the mana fluctuations that were coming from the gnome.


    Even if it was a small package, it was anything but weak with how much mana it possessed to let out these mana fluctuations. At the same time, it should have been the one that was in control of all those sets of living armour from before.


    After hypnotizing the gnome like this, the first thing that I asked was, "Can you make more of these?"


    As I said that, I pointed at the sets of living armour that were just standing there on the side.


    The gnome looked over to see this and then turned back to nod in response.


    After a moment of hesitation, to which I gave a nod in response, the gnome once again turned around and headed to the room that it had stayed in before this. It seemed like he wanted us to follow him to show us what he had been working on in that room. Enjoy new stories from My Virtual Library Empire


    When we came in, we were surprised by the scale of the room.


    It was much bigger than we thought that it was from the outside.


    This room was also filled with many different things that we just couldn''t see through. Based on the appearance of these things, they seemed to be some kind of machinery, but there were also traces of mana that came from them.


    The best way to describe them would be magical machinery.


    Inside one of the large glass vats of one of the magic machines seemed to be some kind of embryo. It seemed to be growing into a set of armour and it seemed to be growing around one of the cores that was used to control them.


    To the side was also a pile of cores.


    It seemed that if the gnome wanted, it wouldn''t be hard for it to mass produce these living armour. But the fact that there weren''t that many of them there to protect the gnome was enough to show that there was some kind of limitation to this.


    "How long does it take you to produce one set of armour?" I asked the gnome without even looking at him. My eyes were just on the large glass vat that was in front of me.


    The gnome didn''t answer with words, though it wouldn''t have mattered if it did answer with words since I wouldn''t be able to understand it. Instead, the gnome answered with actions by moving over to one of the magic machines on the side.


    He tapped a few things on what seemed to be a panel before it suddenly lit up.


    Once it lit up, there was this light that was injected into the large glass vat.


    After this light was injected into this large glass vat, it seemed that there was something that was providing this large glass vat with what seemed to be some kind of supplement.


    As the light filled the large glass vat, there was a reaction that came from the embryo of the set of armour that was inside of the large glass vat. It was slowly growing in size as more and more armour was being formed.


    It took around five minutes, but there was a full set of armour that was formed in the end.


    Once the full set of armour was formed, the gnome tapped a few more buttons on the tablet and the large glass vat opened up to release the set of living armour.


    The gnome took out something that was similar to the core that was used to create these sets of living armour. However, one could also see by looking closely that this thing wasn''t like the core as well.


    There seemed to be some large differences between this thing and the cores used for the living armour.


    There were mana fluctuations that came from the orb that the gnome was holding and then the set of living armour stood up. It raised one of its hands and saluted the gnome before bowing to me.


    Seeing this, I gave a satisfied nod.


    In total, it only took five minutes to form that set of living armour.


    Though I knew that it would take longer since the one that we formed was already formed to a certain extent before completing it. But it wouldn''t take that much longer to form it.


    "Can you see what the sets of living armour do?"


    The gnome nodded before shaking its head as well.


    Based on that, it seemed that this gnome was able to share some senses with the sets of living armour, but not completely.


    Still that was enough for us since it certainly knew more about this dungeon than we did.


    "I want you to make as many of these sets of living armour as possible." I said without hesitation.


    There was an awkward look that appeared on the gnome''s face when he heard this.

 Chapter 151 Other monsters

    "What is it?" I asked after seeing that awkward look on the gnome''s face.


    The gnome seemed to hesitate to show what was making it feel awkward, but it did it in the end.


    The gnome went over to the machine that had the tablet and opened up a compartment in that machine before reaching in to pull out something for us to look at.


    He held that thing up in front of him for us to see.


    It was a crystal, but it seemed to be completely colourless. It seemed like whatever had been inside of the crystal had been completely drained, which was why it had lost all colour like this.


    But we recognized this crystal.


    This was something that anyone that dived into the dungeon recognized since it was one of the most common things that dropped from the monsters of the dungeon.


    This was a monster core that humans now used as a source of clean energy.


    It seemed that the gnomes had figured out a way to use this monster core as clean energy as well.


    After showing this used up monster core, the gnome went over to the side to open up some kind of compartment. When that compartment was opened up, it showed the monster core stores of the gnome.


    It seemed that there were only so many monster cores that he had.


    Based on everything that the gnome showed us, it seemed that it required the monster core for it to produce one of the sets of living armour and there was a limit to how many it could make.


    With a rough estimate, I could see that there were around ten monster cores that were inside of this compartment. S~ea??h the Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    At the same time, I could see that this thing required a certain level of monster core to work.


    It seemed that only monster cores of a certain size would actually have enough power for this machine.


    But that wasn''t a problem for me.


    That was because in my Storage Ring, there were plenty of monster cores that were at this level. I had been saving them just in case I ever needed money in the future, but if I could use them here to help me with this dungeon.


    Well it would be money well spent.


    With a wave of my hand, there was a pile of monster cores that suddenly appeared.


    There was a shocked look that appeared on the face of the gnome before he came forward to take a look at the monster cores in front of him. He grabbed one and held it up in front of his face as if he was closely examining it.


    After a while, there was an even more shocked look that appeared on the gnome''s face.


    We didn''t understand what he was shocked by, but it seemed that it was related to the monster cores.


    When the gnome came back to his senses, he grabbed the monster cores and moved back to the machine. Dropping that pile of monster cores on the ground, the gnome picked up one and threw it into the compartment that he pulled the monster core out from.


    After throwing that monster core in, he tapped a few times on the tablet before going over to insert a core into the large glass vat.


    Once this was all done, there was nothing left for the gnome to do as the machine ran on its own.


    It was going to create another set of living armour all on its own.


    When it was done, I asked the gnome, "Where did you get these monster cores? Are there other monsters in this place?"


    The gnome quickly nodded before going out into the corridor.


    We followed it out to see him pointing in one of the directions in this hall. After pointing for a bit, he started mimicking some kind of monster.


    It seemed that this was some kind of flying monster with the way that he was flapping his arms.


    Then pointing in the other direction, he brought his hand to his head in the form of horns.


    Though he was clearly trying to show us something, it wasn''t as if we could tell what he was trying to say with charades alone.


    But that didn''t matter.


    "Can you bring us to the other monsters?"


    The gnome was surprised to hear this, but then he ran back inside the room. Before we could follow him back in, he came out with the orb and the two sets of living armour that Wang Rong fought before.


    It seemed that he was planning on guiding us with the sets of living armour.


    After thinking about it, I decided to go along with this.


    With the strength of the Echo Bat''s hypnosis ability, it wouldn''t wear off even if we moved out of range. There shouldn''t be a problem with the gnome even if we moved away.


    And if there was, we could always come back to take it over again.


    Leaving the gnome here to run the factory and create more suits of living armour would allow us to build an army over time. That was as long as the gnome had enough monster cores to keep producing those suits of living armour.


    But before leaving, I also couldn''t help adding, "Are there other gnomes in this place?"


    This time, the gnome seemed to hesitate a bit before answering.


    It was as if he was hesitating to betray the other gnomes of this place.


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    But eventually he gave a nod and pointed in both directions to show that the gnomes were spread out.


    Then came the important question, "Can they control the sets of living armour just like you?"


    This time, the gnome nodded without hesitation.


    A smile appeared on my face when I heard this, but I didn''t ask anything else since there was no need to ask anything else.


    I would take care of this after seeing what kind of other monsters were in this place.


    I couldn''t wait to see the army that I built up.

 Chapter 152 Manta rays

    The sets of living armour didn''t move slowly as they led the way.


    It seemed that they had only been moving slowly before because they had been wandering on their own.


    If the gnome controlled them, they were able to move much faster and more smoothly compared to when we fought them the first time. It seemed that only if they were set to autopilot would they move that slowly.


    But of course, the gnome focused on leading the way and focused on controlling the suits of living armour, so they weren''t clunky at all.


    They really were quite useful.


    I was even wondering if I could take those machines out of this dungeon.


    While I didn''t know if they would still work without the gnome working it, just the fact that I could create an endless army of living armour was already enticing enough.


    No, if that was possible, then wouldn''t they have already brought something out already? Sear?h the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    So there must be something in this dungeon that restricted people from bringing out these machines that made the sets of living armour in the first place.


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    Well, there was plenty of time to figure that out later since it was all in my hands.


    Right now, it was time to find out more information about this dungeon and decide what to do next.


    After following the two sets of living armour for a while, we arrived at a different part of the castle. Though just based on the appearance of this place, it really didn''t seem that different from the rest of the castle.


    It didn''t seem like there would be any special monsters here.


    However, the sets of living armour raised their hands to stop us when we arrived at this place.


    It was as if they were stopping us from going any further, even though it didn''t seem like there was anything there. But it didn''t take long for us to understand why they had us stop.


    "Screech."


    There was this sound that came from above us.


    When we looked up, we saw that there was something that had blended into the ceiling. If we didn''t look at it closely, if it hadn''t made a sound just now, we wouldn''t have been able to notice it.


    But looking at it, there was a strange look that appeared on my face.


    That was because this monster that appeared was a strange one.


    It had an appearance that really was hard to describe just from looking at it from below. When it started moving and revealed more of itself, it became easier to describe just what kind of appearance it had.


    A manta ray.


    It seemed to be some kind of manta ray, but it wasn''t one that swam under the water.


    This was a manta ray that seemed to be able to fly through the air by flapping the skin flaps on its side. These were the skin flaps that would have allowed the manta ray to move through the water by pushing through it, but it seemed like what it was doing now was actually letting the manta ray push through the air.


    There was no doubt that there was some kind of magic that was being used to move the wind under it to let it fly in the air like this.


    It was unknown exactly what kind of magic it was, but the flow of mana showed that it was some kind of elemental magic.


    After making that sound, these manta rays started moving around the area almost as if they had sensed something. They were moving around as if they were trying to find something that had stepped into their territory.


    The only thing that could have done that was us, so they should be looking for us.


    Only I didn''t understand how they would have been able to detect us.


    Since they used wind magic to fly, did that mean that they were sensitive to the movement of the wind?


    If they could, then they most likely would have tracked us with the change in the wind.


    But that didn''t matter since they were now looking for us.


    It seemed that it was inevitable that a fight would break out.


    That was why both the two sets of living armour and Wang Rong moved forward as if they wanted to be the vanguard. They wanted to be the ones that stopped the manta rays from reaching the rest of our group.


    Unfortunately, that wasn''t necessary.


    Unlike the sets of living armour, these manta rays weren''t already being controlled by something else. That meant that I would be able to¡­


    The manta rays suddenly froze in the air as if something happened.


    Wang Rong and the two sets of living armour immediately prepared to charge when they saw this, but I stopped them by saying, "There''s no need."


    Wang Rong turned back to look at me with a surprised and confused look, but I stepped forward and waved my hand at the manta rays flying in the air.


    When they saw this, they suddenly floated down to my side.


    It didn''t take long for them to completely surround me, but I didn''t show a single trace of panic.


    Once they were completely around me, I raised my hand to pet them and they started fighting over who would be the first one to receive this honour.


    In the end, all I could do was shake my head and say, "Now, now, there''s no need to act like this."


    When they heard this, the manta rays calmed down and took turns in letting me pet them.


    I had to admit that it was a strange feeling petting them since they had rough skins, but at least this showed that they were tamed to the point where they could act docile.


    I could see the way that Wang Rong and Iris looked at me with strange looks, but I didn''t answer their doubts. I just said, "Come and have a look at them. We''ll see how we can work with them."

 Chapter 153 Ogres

    After taming the manta rays, we didn''t waste any time.


    Only we didn''t keep heading forward in the same direction.


    Instead, we turned around and started moving in the opposite direction, meaning that we were going back to the same place as before.


    When we came back, all I did was leave the manta rays with the gnome who looked very uncomfortable at being left alone with the manta rays. Only I didn''t care what the gnome thought or how he felt.


    The only thing that mattered was gathering our forces in this dungeon and getting as much information as we could.


    So other than leaving behind the manta rays, I also dropped off another load of monster cores for the gnome to keep producing sets of living armour with.


    With the Scavenger Rabbit''s ability, it was easy for me to get all of these monster cores. At a certain point, they were just taking up space in my Storage Ring.


    If it wasn''t for the fact that I kept them to prepare for the future, I would have already turned them into money.


    After dropping off the manta rays, we headed off in the opposite direction of where we went before.


    This was the direction that the other monster that the gnome told us about was in.


    Once again, it was the sets of living armour that were leading the way, but there were far more of them with us this time. During the time that we had spent going to find the manta rays, the gnome hadn''t stopped churning out those sets of living armour.


    Though it seemed like the gnome had used a method different from the one that he showed us since there were far more than there should have been. It seemed that he was producing more sets of living armour and at a faster rate.


    There were over twenty of them now and we took half of them with me.


    It seemed like the gnome wanted to send everything except two to protect himself with us, but I stopped him from doing that.


    Too many of these sets of living armour following us would just draw attention.


    We didn''t want to draw attention while we were slowly gathering our forces.


    So even half was actually considered a bit too many, but it was safer this way;


    It didn''t take long for us to arrive at the place where the monsters were supposed to be.


    The moment that we arrived, the same thing happened where the sets of living armour raised their hands to stop us from proceeding any further. It seemed like they were planning on setting up a formation with the way that they moved.


    But they didn''t get a chance to show off that formation since there was movement that came from in front of us.


    It didn''t take long for the owner of those sounds to appear.


    There were indeed horns that were on the head of these monsters, but they had an appearance that I just didn''t expect.


    I thought that with the description that the gnome gave us, they would be demons or something similar. But it turned out that it wasn''t anything like that, it didn''t even fit the fantasy style that the gnome and living armour embodied.


    It was an ogre, but it wasn''t the normal kind of ogre that would exist in a magic fantasy world.


    Rather, it was an ogre that had horns and red skin.


    This was the kind of ogre that would appear in Japanese fantasy, instead of medieval fantasy.


    Seeing them, I couldn''t help being a bit dazed.


    After all, it became harder and harder to figure out what this dungeon was with the different pieces of information that I was learning.


    At first I thought that it would be some kind of medieval fantasy dungeon since there were gnomes and living armour.


    The manta ray threw me off a bit since it didn''t exactly fit the theme of magic fantasy, but it was still able to broadly fall under the same categorization.


    Then when these ogres appeared, I was just completely thrown into confusion.


    It didn''t seem like this dungeon had a single theme connecting it, it was as if it was some kind of mish mash dungeon that had a bit of everything¡­


    I still remembered what the organizers had said before we came into the dungeon.


    The one clue that they gave us was related to the Boss Monster of the dungeon and what was necessary to clear it. The one that cleared the dungeon would surely be the first place in this competition.


    So I had to figure out what the clue meant based on the information that I could get from this castle.


    Only I became more and more frustrated as I thought about what this castle was.


    "Roar!"


    That was the sound of the ogre''s roar before it started charging at us and the sound that pulled me out of my thoughts.


    I had to admit that I vented a bit on the ogre since it interrupted me while I was frustrated.


    "That''s enough from you."


    As soon as I said this, the Echo Bat opened its mouth and the ogres froze on the spot.


    The same thing happened where they just stood there in place as if they had fallen into a daze.


    Wang Rong revealed a bitter smile as he slowly brought down the great sword that he had raised above his head. It seemed that he had been prepared to swing this great sword down at the ogres, but he just didn''t get the chance to show off at all.


    Before even reaching him, his enemies completely lost the will to fight.


    I patted him on the shoulder and said, "You''ll get your chance soon. Just wait for it." Explore more stories with My Virtual Library Empire


    He looked at me with a bitter smile at first, but eventually Wang Rong gave a nod in response.


    I didn''t wait for his response as I turned around and waved my hand to say, "Let''s gather back there and figure out what to do next."


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 Chapter 154 First contact

    We wanted to head back and gather ourselves, but it turned out that we didn''t get that chance in the end.


    That was because we could reach where the gnome was, there was someone else that suddenly appeared.


    It wasn''t another monster, but rather a group of humans.


    As soon as we heard them, I raised my hand to stop the sets of living armour and the ogres. We made sure to hide ourselves in one of the corridors on the side so that they didn''t notice us.


    It was a good thing that they were distracted as well since they were chasing a group of living armour as well. It seemed that they were determined to take this group of living armour down with the way that they were chasing it.


    However, it seemed that they weren''t able to catch up to the group of living armour for now.


    It seemed that this group of living armour was running for their lives and the direction that they were running in was the territory of the ogres, so they were running right in the direction that our group came from.


    But there were other corridors and rooms to hide in, so we were able to avoid being detected.


    That was also because the group of humans were so focused on chasing after the group of living armour that they didn''t care about anything else.


    "Boss, what should we do?" Wang Rong asked after seeing that this group was gone.


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    I also hesitated a bit since this was the first group of humans that we met since coming to this place.


    There was a part of me that still wanted to gather more power before facing other people. After all, there was no telling what kind of power they had and if they were invited to this competition, they certainly weren''t weak.


    But another part of me recognized that if we waited too long, they would have time to build up their power in this dungeon as well.


    It was all about a delicate balance of when to go since it depended on when we would have enough strength to face them and when they didn''t have rough power to fight back.


    In the end, I came to the decision¡­


    "Let''s follow them."


    Wang Rong''s eyes lit up when he heard this before he went forward to take the lead, but I stopped him before he could do that.


    Instead of letting Wang Rong take the lead, it was better to have something else lead the way while following this other group.


    I called out a few small rat skeletons that I sent forward after that group.


    I had thought about all different kinds of situations, which was why I had prepared all kinds of different undead for all kinds of different situations.


    These rat skeletons were small undead skeletons that I had created for situations like this. I would be able to scout areas out with these rat skeletons since I would have a general idea of what they found.


    An undead for every situation, that was what I had come up with to solve the problem that I had with the Echo Bat. I was just missing that one bit of flexibility that would make me completely invincible.


    With the rat skeletons leading the way, it didn''t take long for us to arrive at the scene of the fight.


    The sets of living armour had continued to run away from the humans until they suddenly stopped.


    That was because the moment that they stopped, the humans suddenly found themselves surrounded by several more sets of living armour. They had been led by the living armour that they chased into this trap where they were now completely surrounded.


    But even seeing this, they didn''t panic at all.


    "Ha, do they really think that surrounding us will do anything?"


    One of the humans suddenly started laughing seeing this.


    The others didn''t laugh, but the looks of disdain on their faces showed what they were thinking. Even if they didn''t openly look down on the sets of living armour, they still looked down on them.


    Once that person finished laughing, he suddenly revealed a serious look as he summoned his familiar.


    The familiar that he summoned, it was a bit smaller than one imagined for a large man like him.


    It was a small stone golem that didn''t even reach his shin. S§×arch* The NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    But the pressure that the small stone golem released was anything but weak. This was clearly a high grade familiar that he summoned.


    At the same time, the stone golem didn''t remain small for long.


    Once the stone golem came out, the first thing that it did was put both of its hands on the ground and start drawing more stones out from the ground. When the stone golem put its hands down, it was as if it was the master of all stones in this area.


    As the stones gathered, the stone golem started to swell in size.


    It didn''t take long for the stone golem to become several times larger and even then, it didn''t seem like it was going to stop growing. When it finally stopped, the stone golem was over two meters tall and all of its limbs had grown several times in diameter.


    The amount of stone that it drew in clearly wasn''t a small amount, but it didn''t seem like the castle itself was affected by this at all.


    However, that wasn''t the end of this stone golem''s show.


    Once it reached its full size, the stone golem didn''t charge at the sets of living armour that were around them. Instead, it just stood there as if it was waiting for something.


    It was at this time that the large man stepped forward.


    He walked right into the stone golem and the stone golem opened up to allow him to enter it.


    The man walked right into the stone golem and started wearing the stone golem as a suit of armour.


    "Now, let''s begin." The man said with a wicked smile on his face as he looked at the sets of living armour.

 Chapter 155 Little chat

    The living armour did what they could to fight against this man in his stone armour, but there was nothing that they could do against it.


    No matter how they tried to fight back against him, they just weren''t able to scratch the stone armour around him.


    A few of them even chipped their weapons when they tried to attack him.


    It was as if he was made of steel while their weapons were made of stone.


    But it seemed that even the man in the stone armour was surprised by how hard this stone armour was when he said to himself, "This stone¡­Just what kind of stone is this that it''s this hard?"


    It seemed that the stone that this Castle in the Sky was built with was also special.


    Though that should have been something that was expected since this was a special dungeon in the first place.


    With the man in the stone armour leading the way, there was nothing else for the rest of his group to do. The living armour just couldn''t do anything against him, so he was able to knock them all down.


    Though he knocked them down, it didn''t seem like he was able to find a way to break them completely since they kept getting back up.


    That was until one of his teammates suddenly stabbed out at one of the sets of living armour. Well, it wasn''t that person itself that stabbed out at the living armour, it was his familiar that did it.


    It was an owl that seemed to be using its own feathers as arrows.


    I already knew just how strong the defenses of the living armour was, so I knew that this owl wasn''t ordinary that its feathers were able to pierce through.


    It pierced right through the chest of the set of living armour that it was shot at and destroyed the core that was inside. The moment that it destroyed the core, the living armour fell down like a puppet with its strings cut.


    After taking care of that set of living armour, the person with the owl said, "Brother Shi, just keep distracting them and letting them hit you. I''ll take care of them soon."


    The man in the stone armour who was called Brother Shi scowled at this person with the owl as he said, "Little brat, why didn''t you do that sooner? And the rest of you, just watching me fight all on my own, how heartless are you all?"


    They just smiled when they heard this.


    With the way that they fought, it was clear that they felt no pressure at all dealing with these sets of living armour. Read chapters at My Virtual Library Empire


    It seemed like they were even making a game out of it.


    But the strength that they showed made them more than qualified to do this.


    Still, I looked down on them for letting their guards down like this.


    First, they ran through the dungeon without even scouting out the area around them and drew all kinds of attention while chasing after the living armour. That was what allowed them to fall into this trap and be surrounded by the living armour in the first place.


    Though they had the strength to back this carelessness that it didn''t come to bite them in the butt that they were surrounded by these sets of living armour like this.


    The second reason I looked down on them was because they didn''t pay any attention to the surrounding area while they were fighting. S§×arch* The n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    They just focused purely on the living armour and didn''t notice anyone creeping up on them.


    Namely, they didn''t notice that I was right there behind them.


    After taking care of a few sets of living armour, it seemed like they were about to completely wipe them out.


    But before they could¡­


    "Ha, let''s finish¡­"


    Before Brother Shi could finish these words, he suddenly froze on the spot.


    The others didn''t say anything either since all of them froze on the spot along with Brother Shi.


    The living armour seemed confused by this, so they didn''t attack right away. But seeing that Brother Shi didn''t do anything, they started moving forward to attack him.


    Though it didn''t seem to have an effect as their weapons were unable to break through the stone armour that was around him.


    The living armour seemed to slowly learn that to hurt Brother Shi, they had to aim at the parts of his armour that didn''t completely cover him. They had to aim at the gaps in his armour to hurt him.


    But they didn''t get to do that in the end as there were more sets of living armour that came out.


    Brother Shi and his group seemed like they were panicking when they saw this, but they were confused to see the living armour charging at the other living armour. It seemed like some kind of internal conflict between them when they attacked each other.


    At least, it didn''t seem like the living armour were planning on attacking them.


    They were still panicking since they had been frozen on the spot and there was nothing that they could do to break out of whatever was holding them.


    "How about we have a little chat?"


    When they heard this voice, they tried to look behind them, but they couldn''t since their heads were still frozen.


    But the owner of the voice came forward to stand in front of them.


    The moment that they saw the owner of this voice, there were strange looks that appeared in their eyes. However, none of them said a single thing since even their lips wouldn''t move.


    However, their eyes seemed to say¡­


    "Why is it you?"


    I was standing there in front of them with my face covered again.


    We had taken off the outfits when we arrived in the dungeon since they were hard to keep on for long periods of time, but now I was using them for their intended purpose.


    "You''re going to tell me what I want to know, or else."

 Chapter 156 Some valuable information

    There was a tense silence that lingered in the air, but then I realized something.


    "Right, I haven''t allowed you to speak yet." I said to them before giving a nod towards them.


    The moment that I gave this nod, Brother Shi''s group felt that they had regained control of their bodies.


    It wasn''t full control, but they were at least able to control their heads and importantly their mouths again. That meant that they were finally able to speak.


    "Let us go right now if you know what''s good for you." Brother Shi said as soon as he was able to speak.


    The others didn''t say anything as they let Brother Shi represent them, but it was clear by the look on their faces that they were thinking the same thing as him. It was clear that none of them believed that I would actually do anything to them.


    It seemed that they were young masters that just hadn''t seen the reality of the world.


    Then again¡­since they were young masters, they had most likely been protected since they were born and hadn''t needed to experience the reality of the world.


    At the same time, since they were in this competition, they had to be talented people. People that had this kind of talent would naturally rise up above all of their peers, so they never would have been put in this kind of situation.


    It was just too bad for them that they met me today.


    "Pa!"


    A look of shock appeared on Brother Shi''s face after this slapping sound rang out.


    There was also a trace of red that appeared on his face since he was the one that had been slapped.


    Even if he had the stone golem armour around himself, there was a part of the armour where his face was revealed since he wouldn''t be able to see if it was blocked. That meant that it was perfect for me to slap him right in the face through it.


    After a long moment of silence, a look of rage replaced the stunned look that had been on his face as he roared, "How dare you hit me!"


    "Pa!"


    All that followed was another slap to the face.


    It really was interesting since he should have already expected such a thing to happen if he were to act like this, but it didn''t seem like he actually expected it. It seemed like he thought that he still would get his way even though he was being restrained like this.


    These people¡­really didn''t have any survival instinct at all.


    "You! You did it again!" S§×ar?h the N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "Pa!"


    "How dare you¡­"


    "Pa!"


    "I¡­"


    "Pa!"


    "Oh my bad, you were actually trying to say something that time. Go on, what did you want to say?"


    "I won''t let you go¡­" Though Brother Shi said this, it didn''t have the same vigor that he had previously.


    And of course¡­


    "Pa!"


    It was a cycle of shouting and then getting slapped until his face was swollen and his ego was shattered.


    "Please stop hitting me. What do you want?" Brother Shi''s voice seemed much more restrained compared to before.


    It seemed that the beating had taught him something in the end.


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    "Well, tell me everything that you know about this place. We''re both competitors, so naturally I want all the information that you have." I said in a casual tone that almost seemed like I was teasing him.


    The expressions on the faces of Brother Shi and the others turned ugly when they heard this.


    This definitely wasn''t a question that they wanted to answer since it would hurt their chances of getting a good position in this competition.


    When I saw this look on their faces, I didn''t hesitate to pull out the bone sword that I placed at the neck of Brother Shi before saying, "Then we can always talk after your shave. I''m sure you won''t mind if you''re missing a few things by the end of it."


    A chill ran down Brother Shi''s back when he heard this.


    This was the first time that he had actually come this close to death.


    Even if he had been in dangerous situations, it wasn''t as if he had ever been in a situation where he actually would have lost his life.


    Every situation that he had been in was one where he would have been protected by his family if things went wrong.


    So when he felt this kind of threat to his life for the first time¡­


    There was this strange yellow liquid that came out of the bottom of the stone golem.


    I looked down and couldn''t help knitting my brows when I saw this before taking a step back.


    Brother Shi didn''t react to this right away, but when he did¡­his face turned completely red and he didn''t know what to say.


    With a cough, I said, "Just tell me what you know already."


    Brother Shi''s face was still red, but he eventually started talking.


    It was a bit rambly since he was embarrassed and still a bit scared, but he gave up all the information that he knew.


    There was some information that was useful, but most of it wasn''t that useful.


    "So there are a total of five Elite Monsters in this dungeon? Are you sure of that?"


    Brother Shi slowly gave a nod as he said, "I received that information from one of my senior brothers who explored this dungeon in the past."


    I looked at him with narrowed eyes that had a trace of doubt, but eventually I reached forward to grab something.


    "What are you doing?"


    I didn''t respond as I dug through his stone golem armour until I was annoyed by it and said, "Tell your stone golem to release itself."


    "Release." Brother Shi said almost in a trance before saying, "How did you do that?"


    I ignored him as I pulled out a small round thing.


    Seeing me take this from him, Brother Shi said, "What are you¡­"


    Looking at it, I shattered that small round thing before he finished talking.


    As soon as I shattered it, there was a light that appeared around Brother Shi''s group and they disappeared.

 Chapter 157 Master Gnome

    Just like this, they disappeared from the dungeon.


    The small round thing that I crushed was a special thing that they gave us along with the maps that sent us in here.


    Each chip like thing was actually an emergency escape button.


    As long as it was crushed, it would send the team that it was associated with out of the dungeon. It was used as a way to give up on this competition, but also to save one''s life.


    Once it was crushed, it would mean that the team associated with it would be out of the competition.


    For those that had pride, they would rather die than give up. But this thing did give a second option for those that valued their lives more.


    As for why I didn''t just kill them¡­


    None of the people that participated in this competition were normal people. All of them were talented youths that were gathered from all over the country.


    These were people that all had people behind them. Killing them would just mean offending those people behind them, in addition to Governor Nangong that we had already offended.


    But the real deciding factor was the fact that they didn''t know it was me. While there would be ways of finding out if they really wanted to, as long as we didn''t cross the line¡­


    That was why for now, I decided against killing anyone in this dungeon. Just sending them out was more than enough.


    If it ever came to them knowing my true identity though¡­then I might take some more drastic measures.


    After sending Brother Shi''s group out, I didn''t even bother cleaning up the area as we headed back to where the gnome was.


    I had a few questions for the gnome with all the new information that I had gotten from Brother Shi''s group.


    "You know where the other gnomes are, don''t you?" That was the first thing that I asked the gnome.


    The gnome had a surprised look when he heard this and it seemed like he was hesitating to say anything in response¡­but he eventually gave a nod of acknowledgement. S§×ar?h the Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    I wasn''t surprised to hear this since I had already figured this was the case.


    The next question was, "What about the leader of the gnomes? I''m sure that you know where your leader is, right?"


    One of the Elite Monsters that Brother Shi had mentioned before was a higher grade gnome. It was a Master Gnome, the higher evolution of the gnomes that would usually be the leader of a large group.


    Since there were gnomes in this dungeon, it only made sense that there would be a leader of said gnomes.


    The gnome had an even more awkward look on his face when he heard this.


    Instead of just being unwilling to say this, it even seemed like there was something that was pressuring the gnome to stop it from saying this. It seemed like there was some kind of restriction on the gnome regarding the Master Gnome.


    Was it because the Master Gnome was a higher grade than the normal gnome, so there would be bloodline pressure on the gnome about betraying the Master Gnome?


    Regardless of what it was, that didn''t matter to me.


    The only thing that mattered was the information on the Master Gnome.


    So I just waited for the gnome to give me the information that I wanted.


    At the same time, the Echo Bat on my shoulder opened its mouth.


    When that happened, the gnome almost seemed to fall into a trance. It seemed like he wasn''t being affected by the bloodline restriction anymore once it fell into this daze.


    The gnome slowly raised his hand and started giving us the information that we wanted, but it wasn''t that clear since he wasn''t actually able to say anything to us. We had to figure it out based on his hand gestures.


    So instead¡­


    "Just show us the way to the Master Gnome."


    Once the gnome nodded in agreement to this, the Echo Bat closed its mouth. Read new adventures at My Virtual Library Empire


    That was when the gnome slowly came back from his daze.


    Right after coming back from his daze, the gnome''s face twisted as if he was suddenly feeling something. The gnome grabbed his chest and then bent over as if he was being filled with pain.


    We didn''t do anything as we just watched the gnome like this.


    The gnome remained like this for a bit before the pain slowly faded from his body. When that pain slowly faded, the gnome also started to bleed from his mouth and eyes. It was as if there was something that was hurting him from the inside.


    This bleeding only lasted a while before the gnome stabilized itself.


    This really was an interesting phenomenon since I had never seen something like this before.


    I was actually curious how far I could push this gnome, but this wasn''t the time to be thinking that.


    "Bring us to the Master Gnome, but before that¡­I''m sure there are other gnomes along the way, right? Bring us to those other gnomes."


    Before reaching the Master Gnome, I wanted to see if we could gather a few more sets of living armour to follow us. The more gnomes that we had under us, the more sets of living armour we would be able to get.


    An army like this would certainly be helpful, though there was a part of me that wondered if they would actually help against the Master Gnome.


    After all, the gnome seemed to have been affected by the bloodline restriction when it was talking about the Master Gnome.


    What happens if it used its sets of living armour to attack the Master Gnome?


    There was no doubt that the bloodline restriction would be even worse.


    Still, these were disposable pawns for me in the first place.


    I would make the most out of them before discarding them.


    As long as the Master Gnome could be taken down, I didn''t mind sacrificing a few of them.

 Chapter 158 Large gathering

    With the sets of living armour leading the way, there was no need to worry if we were going the right way.


    The only thing that we had to worry about was if there was anyone waiting for us. S§×ar?h the N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    With how many people had come into this dungeon for this competition, as well as how there were only five Elite Monsters in total, there was no doubt that many people would be coming to take care of this Master Gnome.


    That meant that we would have a lot of competition in our way.


    But before that¡­


    It was always harder to subdue something than to destroy something.


    If I were to destroy the sets of living armour that came at us, that would just mean that there would be fewer sets of living armour for me to control. So the only way that this would work was if we subdued them and then controlled the gnome.


    It wouldn''t be a problem to create more sets of living armour since I had more than enough material to do so, it was just that it would take time.


    So instead of making more, it was better to use the ones that were already made.


    Five different gnomes were subdued which increased our living armour army to three digits.


    It really was a sight seeing all of these sets of living armour follow us, but they just made too much noise. So the only thing that could be done was split them up so that it was easier to hide them.


    It was just that as expected, there were many people that were already gathered when we approached where the Master Gnome was.


    They didn''t even bother hiding themselves since it seemed like they were planning on working together.


    There were three groups gathered and they all seemed to be working against each other.


    The group that seemed to have the most supporters was one that was made around the Fire God Team as a core. Since they had one of the top contenders as a core part of their team it was only natural that they felt confident.


    It was to the point where the other two teams both seemed like they were targeting the Fire God Team.


    That was just the pressure that the Fire God Team put on them.


    But of course, we didn''t join any of the teams.


    First, it wasn''t as if there was a need for us to join any of the teams since we already had our own team.


    Second, it was because it was unlikely that they would have accepted us in the first place since we had shown up with a bunch of monsters.


    It would have been strange if they didn''t attack us after seeing us with all of these monsters.


    So it was better for us to watch and see what happened.


    ¡­


    "Big Brother Huang, when do you want to attack the Master Gnome?"


    "Can''t you see all these stragglers hanging around? If we do anything now, they''ll just fly around like a bunch of buzzing flies. There''s no point in fighting against the Master Gnome now."


    "Big Brother Huang, are you worried about them? Should we take care of the flies first then?"


    "Who said that we need to take care of them? All that they want is to take advantage of us to weaken the Master Gnome, why should we do that work for them?"


    "Ah, Big Brother Huang, I understand now. You just don''t want to give them anything. You really are the best."


    This was a conversation between the leader of the Fire God Team and one of the teams that joined them.


    They deliberately made their voice loud enough so that the others could hear what they were saying.


    At the same time, Big Brother Huang, or whose real name was Huang Tuo, was looking at the members of the other two teams. The way that he looked at them was as if he was antagonizing them, it was as if he wanted them to attack them.


    That was the confidence that one should have as one of the top contenders of the competition.


    But at the same time, it was clear that this Fire God Team had something else planned.


    Still, it wasn''t as if the others would fall for the bait that easily. They knew that the Fire God Team must be planning something, so they wouldn''t step into that trap that easily.


    Seeing this, Huang Tuo just ignored them as he narrowed his eyes to look at the Master Gnome.


    Even if he was strong, that didn''t mean that he would be able to take on this Master Gnome alone. Let alone the fact that he could sense that there were other things that were in the area.


    He wanted to use these other groups to test the waters, but if they didn''t take the bait¡­


    The only thing that he could do was¡­


    "Alright, send your people to surround the Master Gnome and spread out. We want to make sure that it won''t be able to escape at all."


    "Eh? Big Brother Huang, doesn''t that spread our forces a bit too thin? What if they attack us while we''re all spread out like this." The way that this person was as if he was afraid of the other two groups.


    That was only natural since it was only the Fire God Team that could suppress the other two groups easily. The ones that teamed up with the Fire God Team were those that weren''t as strong.


    They were hoping for the Fire God Team''s protection and to see if they could do anything behind the scenes.


    So if they didn''t have the protection of the Fire God Team, it wasn''t as if they would be able to deal with the other teams.


    They could stall them, but they were far from being able to match them.


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    Naturally they wanted to use the Fire God Team to protect themselves.


    But it wasn''t as if they could refuse the orders of the Fire God Team since they were the ones that wanted to rely on them.


    So a single glance from Huang Tuo was enough to scare them into spreading out.

 Chapter 159 God of fire

    After spreading out, they weren''t actually attacked by the other two groups.


    Instead, it seemed like the other two groups were just observing them to see what they were doing.


    The teams that chose to stick with the Fire God Team couldn''t help feeling worried when they saw this.


    They thought that there was something happening that they weren''t being attacked. S~ea??h the n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    They had to have something to gain from this to not take this opportunity.


    It was just that they didn''t have that much time to think about it as Huang Tuo gave an order.


    "Surround it and attack from all directions."


    There was a trace of hesitation that came from these teams when they received this order from Huang Tuo, but they had no choice but to follow the order when they felt the pressure that came from him.


    If they didn''t obey him¡­


    Well, there was no backing down now.


    So the only thing that they could do was summon their familiars and draw their weapons, but there wasn''t a single team that actually charged forward to attack the Master Gnome.


    Instead, all of them chose to use long range attacks to attack this Master Gnome.


    The Master Gnome had been standing in the middle of this hall without even moving, which did seem strange. Only no one had been able to figure out what this Master Gnome was doing.


    When the attacks were about to hit the Master Gnome, there was this barrier that suddenly appeared around it.


    At the same time, the Master Gnome''s image seemed to waver.


    It was as if the Master Gnome was never there, it was as if it was some kind of illusion that had been there.


    After wavering like that for a bit, it seemed to fade away until the Master Gnome was gone.


    In the place of the Master Gnome, there were several sets of living armour that appeared. However, these sets of living armour were different from any other that they had encountered before.


    These sets of living armour were much larger and seemed to be made of a stronger material. It seemed like this was a higher grade of living armour compared to the ones that they had faced before.


    After these sets of living armour appeared, they didn''t hesitate as they spread out in all directions.


    It seemed that they were targeting those that had attacked the illusion of the Master Gnome.


    The moment that they saw this, the various teams started to panic and headed in one direction.


    They all headed towards the Fire God Team.


    Huang Tuo slightly knitted his brows when he saw these sets of living armour appear.


    He had already expected something like this to happen, but these sets of living armour were a bit more than he expected which was why he revealed this expression. But even though he had revealed this expression, it didn''t mean that he was actually bothered by this.


    He could sense that aura that the sets of living armour released, so he could tell that they weren''t a threat to him.


    It was just he had been planning on seeing what else the Master Gnome had before making a move. But now that these teams were running towards him, it didn''t seem like he had a choice.


    So with a sigh, Huang Tuo summoned his familiar behind him.


    It was a peacock that appeared.


    The moment that this peacock appeared, it didn''t hesitate at all to open up its feathers and flames started to gather around Huang Tuo.


    These flames completely surrounded him and seemed to form some kind of flame armour as they wrapped around him. It was as if he was a god of fire that had descended to the earth with the way that he controlled the flames.


    After that armour of flames formed around Huang Tuo, he raised his hands in front of him and condensed some of the flames into a sword of flames.


    Once that sword of flames had condensed, Huang Tuo took his first step forward.


    That one step was followed by a swing of his flame sword that released a slash of flames at the set of living armour closest to him.


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    That slash of flames hit the sword of the living armour and pushed it back.


    It wasn''t able to cut right through the living armour, but it also wasn''t destroyed by the living armour. It seemed to carry the living armour off the ground with the force that it had and the living armour was sent flying back at the other sets of living armour.


    The other sets of living armour also raised their weapons to block this flame slash that came at them.


    It took three sets of living armour to finally stop it.


    But that didn''t mean that they had completely stopped it.


    After being in balance for a bit, the flame slash finally disappeared as it was broken by the combined might of the three sets of living armour.


    Only, there was smoke coming from the weapons of these sets of living armour.


    It seemed that the flame had been strong enough that it melted a part of these weapons.


    However, it wasn''t as if this single slash was all that Huang Tuo could do.


    That single slash was only a casual first attack from Huang Tuo that he used as a test of the might of these sets of living armour.


    He released two more flame slashes at the sets of living armour.


    This time, all of them had to work together to block it and there were even two weapons that snapped in half because of this. The flames that Huang Tuo released were just too strong to be stopped by the sets of living armour.


    So in the end, they destroyed the weapons that they used.


    Huang Tuo didn''t seem like he was about to stop.


    As expected of one of the top contenders.


    When he released his power, he really looked like a god of flames.

 Chapter 160 Absolute chaos

    With Huang Tuo leading the way, the sets of living armour were pushed back.


    When they saw this, the other teams started fighting against the sets of living armour as well. Though they mainly used long range attacks so they wouldn''t get in the way of Huang Tuo.


    They were just using these small attacks as a show of support for Huang Tuo, even though their attacks didn''t seem to do anything to the sets of living armour.


    Perhaps if they used their real attacks, they would be able to take down these sets of living armour while working together. But there was almost no way for them to actually hurt the sets of living armour like this.


    Huang Tuo didn''t care as he continued sending out flaming slashes at the sets of living armour.


    But the look on his face was as if he was waiting for something to appear.


    It seemed that he didn''t even care about the sets of living armour that were in front of him, he was waiting for the one that controlled these sets of living armour to show themselves.


    Only it didn''t seem like they were planning to show themselves.


    The sets of living armour were being pushed back further and further under Huang Tuo''s attacks, but even then it didn''t seem like the master behind the sets of living armour was planning to show themselves.


    It seemed like the master of the sets of living armour were planning on abandoning them to their fate.


    Even then, Huang Tuo didn''t actually finish them off.


    Instead of finishing them off, Huang Tuo started to push them in certain directions.


    The group of living armour was split in half by Huang Tuo''s attacks. Half of them were being pushed in one direction while the other half was being pushed in another direction.


    As for where these sets of living armour were being pushed¡­it was naturally where the other two groups watching were.


    It seemed like he was planning on using the living armour to deal with these groups.


    When they saw that the sets of living armour were being pushed towards them, the faces of those two groups turned ugly.


    However, it wasn''t as if there was anything that they could do about this.


    If they were on the receiving end of those flame slashes, it was unlikely that they would be able to block them like the sets of living armour had done. They would have had to use their strongest attacks just to block these casual slashes from Huang Tuo.


    So instead of trying to fight Huang Tuo, they aimed to deal with the sets of living armour.


    It seemed that they were planning on stealing the experience and loot from Huang Tuo.


    But the sets of living armour weren''t that easy to deal with either.


    They had defenses that were strong enough to resist the flame slashes that Huang Tuo released, so they were far from being weak. Even if these two groups ganged up on them, it wasn''t as if they were that easy to take down.


    So right before they could take them down, Huang Tuo released his flame slashes again to take the final hit from them.


    His flame slash cut right through the core of the sets of living armour, causing them to drop to the ground without moving again.


    The two groups looked at him with angry looks, but it seemed like Huang Tuo was just daring them to attack with the way that he looked at them. Even though they were angry, that didn''t mean that they lost their minds to that anger.


    They knew that there was nothing to gain from attacking Huang Tuo.


    At the same time, there were other things that caught their attention instead.


    "Beep, beep, beep."


    Right after the cores of the sets of living armour were cut, there was this strange red glow and beeping sound that came from them.


    "It can''t be¡­" S§×ar?h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The two groups said in disbelief, but the looks on their faces showed that they already had a guess as to what this was.


    So they all started running away as soon as they came back to their senses.


    The beeping didn''t last long before a sudden explosion followed.


    Well, it really wasn''t a sudden explosion as everyone was already expecting it to happen.


    After the explosion, that was when things went from bad to worse as more sets of living armour suddenly appeared. They seemed to come out of nowhere as they suddenly appeared into existence, but those with sharp eyes could see that what had hidden them previously was the same thing that had created the hologram of the Master Gnome.


    It was just that instead of creating an image of them, it was creating an image of something in front of them to hide them.


    At the same time, when one looked closely at the sets of living armour that appeared, they could see that these were completely different from the ones that they faced before.


    The weapons that these new sets of living armour wielded were far greater than the ones that the other sets of living armour wielded.


    Guns.


    These sets of living armour were wielding guns that they pointed at the two groups.


    "Shit."


    That was the only thing that could be said before the sets of living armour opened fire.


    The ones that wielded guns were worlds apart from the ones that wielded simple weapons like swords and spears that they faced before. Even when they raised their shields to block these attacks, they found that their shields just weren''t strong enough to stop the bullets. Continue your adventure with My Virtual Library Empire


    Even the bullets were made of the same hard material that their armour was made from.


    So there were many that found themselves being pierced by these bullets and falling to the ground unconscious. There was no one that was directly killed by these bullets since they were still the elite talents of this country, but there were many that were seriously injured.


    In just one moment, the scene fell into absolute chaos.

 Chapter 161 Even more chaos

    Though there were those that fell, there were also those that seized the chance to fight back. S§×arch* The NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Even if the living armour had guns now, that didn''t mean that these humans fighting them didn''t have a way of fighting back.


    They were all elite talents of the country, so it was only natural that they had their own abilities.


    Even if it meant working together, they didn''t mind as they started fighting back against the sets of living armour that appeared.


    Not to mention that half of the living armour didn''t even pay attention to them.


    It was only half of the living armour that continued fighting with these people after the first volley of bullets.


    The other half all pointed their guns at Huang Tuo.


    They recognized that he was the bigger threat out of the two, so they were putting more resources into dealing with him.


    No, it was actually more than half that aimed their guns at Huang Tuo.


    It was actually about two thirds that turned.


    The pressure was relieved on the others, but that didn''t mean that they went to help Huang Tuo.


    Huang Tuo was the one that gave them the most pressure as well, so it was best if Huang Tuo was taken care of by the living armour. It would be best if they could take each other out.


    Huang Tuo didn''t panic when he saw the living armour pointing their guns at him. If they could expect this, it was only natural that Huang Tuo would have expected this to happen as well.


    So he just simply prepared his sword for the bullets that came.


    When the guns fired, Huang Tuo immediately slashed out at the bullets that came at him.


    Instead of a single flame slash going out, there was a wave of flames that came out this time.


    These flames also seemed to burn even more intensely than the flames from before.


    That was made evident by the fact that the bullets melted the moment that they made contact with the flames.


    The flames from before had only been able to slightly melt the weapons of the living armour, these flames were able to directly melt the bullets and stop them in their tracks.


    It was clear that there was a difference in firepower between the two flames.


    With the wave of flames in front of him, there wasn''t a single thing that these living armour could do to Huang Tuo. All of the bullets that they shot seemed to be destined to be melted with the way that the wave of flames protected him.


    That was when two sets of living armour appeared.


    These two were different from the rest of the living armour that had guns for hands.


    These two had a much larger thing that was attached to their shoulders.


    As soon as they appeared, they pointed the large thing that was on their shoulders at Huang Tuo.


    These were two large cannons.


    "F*ck."


    Even Huang Tuo couldn''t help cursing when he saw these two sets of living armour appear.


    After all, even if he had flames, there was no telling that he would be able to melt the rockets from the cannons. At the same time, the rockets from the cannons would surely explode after making contact with the flames.


    There was no telling how strong the rockets were, so he couldn''t just use the flames that easily.


    The only thing that he could do was¡­


    As soon as the rockets fired, Huang Tuo released another wall of flames.


    It was just that this wall of flames was different from any other flames that he released before. These flames didn''t seem to have the same firepower as even the first set of flames that he released.


    It seemed that these flames were just simple flames.


    But they were still enough to ignite the rockets the moment that they made contact and created a large explosion.


    When the flames from this explosion settled, it revealed that Huang Tuo was gone.


    The sets of living armour turned to see if they could find him, but there was only a wave of flames that hit them from the side.


    Whether it was power or speed, Huang Tuo didn''t seem to lack it as he quickly took down two of the living armour with guns. It seemed that he had really been holding back earlier against the sets of living armour.


    But if one looked closely, they could see that the flame armour around him seemed to shrink a bit.


    It seemed that fighting all this time had taken a bit of a toll on him.


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    It was impossible that doing all of this didn''t drain his stamina to a certain extent and it was impossible for him to continue fighting like this forever. So it seemed that he was indeed running out of stamina with everything that he did.


    Still, it didn''t seem like he was going to weaken that easily as he continued fighting against the living armour.


    He was like a one man wrecking ball as he pushed through all of this living armour in front of him. They just weren''t able to stop him at all as he continued making his way forward.


    Even the ones that had cannons on their shoulders were just being completely outmaneuvered by Huang Tuo.


    Even if they had overwhelming power, it didn''t mean anything if they weren''t able to hit him.


    With Huang Tuo''s speed and his control of the flames, all of the rockets were being intercepted before they could approach him.


    But the reckless use of these flames was making his flame armour smaller.


    "Ah!"


    When these screams rang out, Huang Tuo was shocked to find that there were more sets of living armour that appeared. But it wasn''t just the living armour that appeared, it was also a bunch of flying manta rays and ogres that also appeared.


    They came from a different direction and soon surrounded them, causing even more chaos.

 Chapter 162 Rat

    Huang Tuo narrowed his eyes to look at the new monsters that appeared, but it didn''t seem like there was a trace of panic that was in his eyes.


    That was because there was no need for him to panic.


    He could easily see that these monsters that appeared weren''t that strong in the first place. S§×arch* The N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Even if they had surrounded them, it wasn''t as if they would be able to do much to him.


    As for the others¡­well, he simply didn''t care about them.


    In the first place, he was just using those that flocked around him, so it didn''t matter to him what happened to them. If they fell to the weak monsters that appeared, then that was all that they were worth. Enjoy new tales from My Virtual Library Empire


    However, Huang Tuo soon realized that this wasn''t the case.


    "These monsters¡­they''re too organized¡­"


    While fighting the sets of living armour with guns, Huang Tuo was also paying attention to the monsters that appeared behind them. And when he looked carefully at them, he noticed that they were fighting in formation.


    The three different kinds of monsters were all working together, which made them stronger than normal.


    The ogres used their flames to attack, the manta rays controlled the wind to make the flames stronger, and the living armour finished off anyone that was dazed by the flames.


    The other thing that he noticed was that these monsters didn''t finish anyone off.


    Since they were monsters of the dungeon, one would think that they wouldn''t have any qualms about taking the lives of humans that invaded the dungeon. But this wasn''t the case with these monsters.


    When the ogres and living armour went in to attack, it seemed that they deliberately held back from dealing the final blow. It seemed that they always aimed to injure rather than to kill.


    "A rat, it seems that a rat has slipped in." Huang Tuo muttered to himself when he realized this.


    However, there was also a trace of surprise that was in his eyes after he realized this.


    After all, he never thought that there would be someone that would have the ability to control the monsters.


    Yes, there was someone that was controlling the monsters or else they would be this organized.


    This was the first time that Huang Tuo had actually felt surprised since coming into this dungeon. And it was certainly the first time that Huang Tuo has felt surprised because of another one of the teams.


    In his eyes, the only teams that were qualified to be on the same level as him were the other top contenders. But now it seemed that there was this dark horse team that was hiding in the dark manipulating the monsters.


    "Humph, they don''t even dare show their faces. It doesn''t matter what tricks they play, they won''t be able to do anything."


    Though he said this, he still changed the way that he acted.


    He no longer focused purely on the living armour with guns, he turned his attention to the new monsters that appeared. It wasn''t just the living armour with guns that he had to deal with, he also had to take care of these other monsters as well before they could play any tricks.


    But he found that he actually wasn''t able to do anything to them.


    The manta rays stopped all of his attacks.


    When he used the flames to attack them, the manta rays would summon currents of air to redirect the flames that he sent at them. The currents of air would make the flames stronger, but they also followed those currents of air away from the monsters.


    It wasn''t strong enough to completely divert it, but it was enough to create gaps for the other monsters to dodge out of the way.


    So Huang Tuo just couldn''t take care of them.


    The other reason was because he was diverting flames to dealing with the living armour with guns as well, so his full attention wasn''t on these monsters that intruded afterwards.


    It seemed that unless he gave them his full attention, he wouldn''t be able to take care of them¡­


    In that case, the only thing that he could do was take care of the living armour with guns first.


    Or that would have been the case if not for¡­


    There was this large scale barrier that suddenly appeared around the living armour with guns that stopped his flames. It seemed that no matter how he concentrated the flames, he wasn''t able to penetrate this barrier.


    So Huang Tuo had no choice but to back down temporarily.


    He didn''t make any moves after backing down since he could tell that whatever had created this barrier was about to make a move. Something that could make a barrier that could even stop his flames definitely wasn''t ordinary.


    It seemed that the Master Gnome was finally about to show itself.


    And that was what happened.


    But it was different from the hologram earlier.


    This Master Gnome did have the same physical appearance, but he was covered in all kinds of different equipment. It seemed like he was some kind of cyberpunk warrior with the way that he was equipped with all of this.


    The first thing that the Master Gnome did after appearing was aim the cannon on his hand at the living armour.


    The look on his face seemed to be filled with anger and before he fired that cannon, he seemed to say something. It was just that no one was able to understand what the Master Gnome was saying since there was a language barrier.


    But based on the look on his face, it seemed to be something on the lines of¡­


    "How dare you betray me!"


    The living armour that he pointed the cannon at weren''t the ones with guns, but the ones that came afterwards to attack the different teams of humans.


    But the fact that they were working with the manta rays and ogres showed that they had betrayed the gnomes.


    So that was why the Master Gnome as the leader of the gnomes was filled with rage towards them.

 Chapter 163 Gaps

    The cannon that the Master Gnome raised was a special one since it seemed to be gathering light.


    It didn''t seem like the cannons that the living armour used, it seemed to be some kind of special laser cannon¡­


    After this laser cannon finished gathering its power, the Master Gnome said, "All traitors must die!"


    But before he could fire that laser blast, it was as if something suddenly made him freeze.


    This created a gap for the monsters that he was aiming at to move out of the way in time. The laser that was shot hit the wall of this room and a large explosion appeared before a large hole was revealed in the wall.


    But other than that, it didn''t seem like anything else happened.


    For a laser cannon, it really didn''t seem that impressive.


    Only the Master Gnome didn''t seem to care about this as he looked down at the laser cannon in his hand. It was as if he was trying to figure something out with the way that he looked at the laser cannon.


    Then the Master Gnome suddenly pulled something on the vest that he was wearing.


    When he pulled this cord, there were several large things that appeared from his back. All of them had holes and if one looked closely, they could see that there were rockets inside of these holes.


    It was a portable rocket launcher.


    Unlike the laser cannon that relied on the Master Gnome to aim it, this rocket launcher had guided aim. It wouldn''t turn out the same way as before where the shot would miss because of that momentary gap from the Master Gnome.


    It seemed that the Master Gnome had indeed thought this through.


    But Huang Tuo couldn''t allow the Master Gnome to do this.


    It was fine for the Master Gnome to use the laser cannon since it was something that only affected a small area instead of a large area. But these rockets clearly seemed to be something that would affect a large area.


    And he was included in that large area.


    So if those rockets were used, there was no doubt that he would get caught up in the scope of its attack.


    Naturally, he couldn''t allow such a thing to happen.


    In a few swift moves, the Master Gnome''s rocket launchers were cut down.


    The Master Gnome had wanted to use the rocket launcher against Huang Tuo when he saw him coming at him, but he found that the same thing as before happened. Right before he could press the button to shoot the rockets, there was this freezing sensation that came over him.


    This was the same thing that happened when the Master Gnome tried to fire the laser cannon earlier.


    It wasn''t a natural sensation, so the Master Gnome knew that something had to be causing it. It was just that the Master Gnome didn''t know what that thing was¡­


    Once the Master Gnome lost his rocket launcher, he knew that there was nothing to gain from trying to continue using this method. He knew that it wouldn''t be useful to lose more weapons like this.


    Instead, the Master Gnome suddenly took out something that seemed to be a set of goggles before starting to look around the hall. With the way that it looked around, it really seemed like it was looking for something particular.


    Huang Tuo didn''t attack when he saw this and instead waited as if he wanted to see what the Master Gnome would find.


    After all, there was still the rat hiding behind the scenes.


    But it didn''t seem like the Master Gnome was able to find anything when it suddenly took off those goggles. The look on its face seemed like he wasn''t happy with the fact that he wasn''t able to discover anything.


    It didn''t take long for the Master Gnome to take out even more things.


    It seemed to be some kind of headphone, some kind of glove, and all kinds of different machines.


    It really seemed like the Master Gnome was determined to find whoever or whatever it was trying to find. Explore more at My Virtual Library Empire


    That caused a brief gap in the fighting as the living armour stopped attacking.


    The humans took this chance to move away from the living armour and gather themselves. They also took this chance to heal those that had been injured in the fighting just now.


    But the one that was the most interested in this was Huang Tuo. S§×arch* The n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    It really seemed like he was thinking the same thing as the Master Gnome.


    It seemed like he wanted to find the same thing that the Master Gnome was looking for.


    The problem was that after looking around for a bit like this, the Master Gnome turned to look at Huang Tuo.


    With the way that the Master Gnome looked at Huang Tuo, it didn''t seem normal. The way that the Master Gnome looked at Huang Tuo, it was almost as if the Master Gnome was targeting Huang Tuo.


    Huang Tuo could naturally see this as well, but he was confused why the Master Gnome was looking at him like this.


    After all, it almost seemed like the Master Gnome thought that he was the one that was responsible for whatever happened.


    Huang Tuo just couldn''t understand this since he definitely wasn''t the one that did it, it was the rat that was hiding in the shadows.


    But it didn''t seem like the Master Gnome was planning on letting Huang Tuo go with the way that it looked at him.


    Then all of a sudden, all of the living armour with guns pointed their muzzles as Huang Tuo and opened fire. There wasn''t a trace of hesitation as they fired their weapons at him.


    Huang Tuo naturally wouldn''t let himself be taken down that easily, so he just released his flames once more to deal with them.


    Since there was a break, Huang Tuo''s flames had gotten a bit stronger as he recovered a bit of his stamina.


    But it was another chaotic battle.

 Chapter 164 Made a mistake

    Huang Tuo covered in flames.


    The living armour with guns and the Master Gnome with his special equipment.


    It seemed like the others were just casualties that were caught in this battle with the way that they were stuck in between them.


    They had no choice but to do their best to protect themselves, but it was clear that they wanted to be anywhere else but here.


    The Master Gnome attacked even more fiercely after seeing what he had seen in his scanning equipment.


    Huang Tuo couldn''t help cursing under his breath, but also wondering about what the Master Gnome had seen through that equipment that it was this hellbent on attacking him.


    It didn''t really seem to make any sense¡­


    After all, he certainly wasn''t the one playing tricks¡­


    But regardless of how he felt, there was nothing that he could say to stop the Master Gnome since there was the language barrier in the way. At the same time, it would have been very unlikely that the Master Gnome would have even listened to him.


    Huang Tuo was also one of the ones that wanted to hunt the Master Gnome down.


    Since the Master Gnome wasn''t backing down, that meant that Huang Tuo couldn''t back down either.


    But because of this, he left a gap himself.


    That power of his came from his familiar, the peacock that he summoned.


    However, that peacock didn''t actually follow Huang Tuo into battle.


    Huang Tuo used the flames around him to fight from range, while also charging into close combat range from time to time. The peacock wouldn''t have been able to keep up with Huang Tuo if it were to stay with him.


    So what the peacock did was find a safe spot and provide flames to Huang Tuo.


    It almost seemed like the peacock was relaxing with the way that it stood there.


    It was just that Huang Tuo attracted too much attention that people forgot about the peacock.


    All except for one person.


    I had been carefully observing everything as it happened and I made sure to move the monsters in a way that minimized our casualties. But of course, it wasn''t as if it was possible to completely avoid any casualties at all.


    There were just too many people here and there were too many unknown different factors that it was impossible to predict everything.


    That was why there were casualties no matter how prepared I was.


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    But these were very minor casualties that didn''t really affect the power of the monsters that I controlled.


    During that time, I had also been paying attention to the different familiars that were summoned.


    The main power that a summoner wielded all depended on the kind of familiar that they were able to summon. So those that knew which familiars belonged to which summoner would be able to tell what kind of powers they had.


    At the same time, by observing these familiars carefully, one would be able to figure out the weakness of these familiars.


    Such as the peacock''s weakness.


    It seemed like it was only able to provide flames for Huang Tuo and didn''t seem like it was capable of using those flames for itself. With the way that it hid in the back, it really seemed like it was afraid of fighting.


    In that case¡­while everyone was distracted, didn''t that give me the perfect chance to take down the peacock?


    Haung Tuo really was the one that brought the most pressure on me, so taking care of his familiar would help alleviate some of that pressure.


    That was why I had snuck up behind the peacock and prepared to take it down.


    Only right before I could swing the sword in my hand down at the peacock, it suddenly turned around to look at me and gave a screech.


    Huang Tuo immediately turned around when he saw this, but it didn''t seem like he was panicking even though I was right on top of his peacock. There was even this faint smile that appeared on his face when he saw this as if he was happy to see me do this.


    I quickly learned why he was acting that way as the peacock suddenly burst with flames.


    These flames seemed just as strong as the ones that Huang Tuo used and it seemed like it was directed right at me.


    I had been too hasty, I had made a mistake.


    I thought that the peacock was just a support familiar, but there was no way that was the case. This peacock was capable of fighting, it was just that it had acted like it was a support familiar to draw me out.


    I knew that Huang Tuo was already aware that I was here, but I never thought that he would go this far¡­


    But right now, there was no time to feel regret.


    After all, the flames that the peacock released were right in front of me and if I didn''t figure out a way to deal with them, there was no doubt that I would be burnt to a crisp. I could even feel the heat that was coming from in front of me and this was when it hadn''t even reached me yet.


    There was no need to doubt the power that was behind these flames. sea??h th§× N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The peacock was just as strong as Huang Tuo.


    I pulled out the trident and gathered water in front of me to face these flames, but the water started to evaporate the moment that it appeared in front of me. Even if I wanted to use the water to block it, it just couldn''t resist the heat that was coming from the flames.


    All I did was create water vapour in front of me that also retained the heat of the flames.


    It just made it worse for me.


    As I was preparing to take these flames and use all my defensive options to block it as much as I could, I found that there was something strange happening to the flame.

 Chapter 165 A snack

    The flames that the peacock released seemed to move in a strange manner.


    It was almost as if there was something guiding the flames that the peacock released.


    No, those flames were already being guided by the peacock in the first place, so that was the wrong way to describe it.


    It was as if there was something else that took control of the flames of the peacock as it was no longer surging towards me. It seemed like it was flowing in a strange manner around the peacock instead of following the will of the peacock.


    I could even see the look that was on the face of the peacock that showed that it was struggling.


    Almost as if it was no longer in control of the flames that it released.


    The look on the face of the peacock changed while the flames continued to flow around it like this. The change in the expression that the peacock had showed that it was trying what it could to wrest back control of the flames.


    But no matter how hard the peacock seemingly tried, it didn''t seem like it was able to do anything.


    It tried its best, but its best just wasn''t enough.


    I was very confused about what was happening since it didn''t seem like there was anything that would be able to steal control of these flames from the peacock.


    That was until I noticed that the flames seemed to be flowing towards me.


    When I saw those flames flowing towards me, I immediately raised the trident in my hand again and prepared to gather the water once more to block it. I didn''t know why those flames were coming at me, but it was a fact that they were coming at me.


    I couldn''t let myself just be burnt like this because I was in a daze.


    Or that was what I thought until I realized that the flames weren''t actually coming at me.


    Even though they were flowing in my direction, it didn''t seem like the flames had any intentions to hurt me.


    With the way that they slowly drifted towards me, it even seemed like whatever was controlling the flames was right behind me. Or rather, it seemed like it was right where I was standing.


    I certainly wasn''t the one controlling these flames, so what was it?


    It was only at that moment that I remembered that there was something inside of my shirt.


    I had summoned this thing out earlier because it had insisted on being summoned and it had actually led us to where the gnome controlling the living armour was. But after that, it just went into my shirt to sleep as if it had already completely lost interest in everything.


    Because of what happened, I had also forgotten that this little white thing was in my shirt.


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    The Astral White Tiger''s little white and fluffy head was poking out of the top of my shirt and it was facing the flames that were coming at me. At the same time, the Astral White Tiger''s mouth was open and it seemed to be sucking something in. S§×arch* The Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    With the way that things were, it was clear that the thing the Astral White Tiger was sucking in was the flames that the peacock released.


    But realizing this surprised me.


    I knew that the Astral White Tiger had the Elemental Control ability, but wasn''t this a bit too broken?


    After all, the peacock should be at a higher level than the Astral White Tiger even if it had an imposing name. Even with the Elemental Control ability, the Astral White Tiger shouldn''t be able to seize control of the peacock''s flame that easily.


    The peacock should be at a higher level than the Astral White Tiger and should have flames that were too strong for the Astral White Tiger to suck in like this.


    But the look of ease on the face of the Astral White Tiger''s face showed that it wasn''t struggling at all to absorb the flames of the peacock.


    It was as if it was a snack for the Astral White Tiger with the way that it even seemed to have a smile on its face.


    Eventually, it seemed like the peacock ran out of flames as it stopped releasing these flames to attack us.


    But since it did this, that meant that Huang Tuo also ran out of flames.


    That put Huang Tuo in a dangerous situation, but there was a reason why he was one of the top contenders. Even when he lost the flame armour, there were magic items that he could use to protect himself.


    It seemed that he had lost all interest in the Master Gnome.


    At this moment, it seemed like he was running back to protect his peacock.


    The same peacock who seemed like it wouldn''t be able to protect itself.


    Before I could go forward to land the finishing blow, the Astral White Tiger actually moved before me. Though to actually call it a move was a bit of a stretch.


    "Burp."


    The Astral White Tiger just gave a burp as if it was stuffed after eating the flames of the peacock. But at the same time, it seemed to have a bit of indigestion from swallowing all those flames, so it actually spat out a bit of flames after giving this burp.


    Since the peacock was right in front of us, it was the one that was hit with the flames that the Astral White Tiger let out.


    But since it was flames, the peacock didn''t seem worried.


    It even seemed to take this as a chance since it thought that it would be able to absorb these flames and recover a bit of its power.


    Only the moment that the flames made contact with the peacock¡­


    "Screech!"


    The peacock let out a scream of pain before jumping back to avoid the flames, but it was already too late since the peacock had made contact with the flames.


    There was a large patch of the peacock''s skin that was covered in burns.


    It never would have expected to be burned by flames like this.

 Chapter 166 Support team

    "Back off!"


    After the peacock was burnt by the flames, there was this voice that cut through the air.


    Looking in the direction that it was coming from, it was Huang Tuo who was charging over.


    He was looking right at me and the Astral White Tiger sticking its head out of my shirt.


    It seemed that he would stop at nothing with the way that he was charging over here.


    I didn''t bother fighting him since it wasn''t my goal to fight him.


    I just wanted to deal with him and chase him off. As long as I was able to cause enough losses for him and the Fire God Team, then they would surely back off.


    The Fire God Team was one of the top contenders and they would certainly come in handy when facing the Boss Monster of this dungeon, so it was best if they remained in this place until that time came.


    At the same time, there was nothing to gain from completely offending them,


    Hurting his pride a bit was one thing, but to completely kill his familiar and seriously injure him was different.


    Just a bit of a loss was as far as I could go.


    After Huang Tuo came over, he didn''t hesitate to pick up the peacock.


    As he was picking up the peacock, he also looked in my direction with a strange look in his eyes. It was clear that he was angry because of what I did, but I could see that there was a trace of admiration as well.


    And as he left, a faint voice said, "Well done. Perhaps we''ll be able to work together in the future."


    Without another word, he ran off in the direction of his team.


    Everyone seemed to have forgotten that there were other members of the Fire God Team that were also here since they had been silently standing on the side without doing anything.


    I thought that they were hiding their abilities, but I quickly found out why they were just standing on the side.


    It was because their abilities weren''t for battle, but rather they were a team of supporters.


    Right after Huang Tuo went over, the first member came forward with white flames in hand. He didn''t stop her at all as she used her white flames on the peacock that he was carrying. Discover more stories at My Virtual Library Empire


    The white flames fell onto the burns of the peacock, but it didn''t make them worse.


    Rather, it seemed like it was making those burns disappear.


    These white flames seemed to be some kind of healing power.


    Looking closely, I could see that there was a white moth that perched on her shoulder that was releasing these flames.


    The next member that came forward suddenly pulled out two pieces of chili that he handed over to Huang Tuo and the peacock.


    The two of them bit into them and it seemed like they were more invigorated than before. It didn''t allow them to fully recover their stamina, but it was clear that they had recovered a bit.


    But that wasn''t enough for them to keep fighting.


    So the third and last member of their team came forward with black flames in hand.


    Those black flames weren''t actually destructive flames like one would have thought, but rather these flames were for¡­


    With a wave of his hand, those black flames were released and they formed a veil around the Fire God Team. That veil seemed like a veil of darkness that was separating the Fire God Team from the rest of this place. S~ea??h the nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    It seemed that this was a veil of stealth that completely blocked them from sight.


    There was no doubt that there had to be limitations to this and I quickly found out what it was.


    Even if the black flames could hide them from sight, it wasn''t able to hide them from sound. So even though they disappeared from sight, the Echo Bat was still able to tell exactly where they were with its echolocation.


    It quickly passed this information to me, so I knew that the Fire God Team was retreating.


    I couldn''t help letting out a sigh of relief when I realized this, but I didn''t let my guard relax since there was still something else to deal with.


    There was still the Master Gnome that was waiting for us.


    The Master Gnome had stopped when he saw that Huang Tuo had disengaged.


    He sent the living armour to shoot their bullets at Huang Tuo, but none of those bullets did anything as he had a method to deal with them.


    Then once Huang Tuo disappeared, the Master Gnome seemed to stop.


    He put on his special equipment as if he was searching for Huang Tuo, but he didn''t seem like he was able to find anything.


    With the help of the black flames, Huang Tuo completely disappeared from this place.


    Even with the special equipment that the Master Gnome had, he just wasn''t able to find any trace of Huang Tuo or the Fire God Team.


    In the end, there was just an angry look that was left on the face of the Master Gnome as he came to terms with the fact that Huang Tuo and the Fire God Team got away. The only thing that the Master Gnome could do was turn his attention to the others that were here.


    When they saw the Master Gnome looking in their direction, they didn''t look that happy.


    Huang Tuo and the Fire God Team were the ones that had the highest chance of defeating these living armour and the Master Gnome.


    Without them, this certainly would be harder¡­


    Though it didn''t seem like they were planning on giving up.


    It was just too bad that I didn''t want them here and I was the one that controlled the other monsters that were here.


    So it was quite easy to get the attention of the Master Gnome.


    With the Master Gnome''s attention, it was easy to direct the attacks at these people.

 Chapter 167 Your turn

    The other humans just couldn''t do anything as they were being bombarded by the living armour.


    They wanted to use each other to avoid the guns of the Master Gnome and the living armour, but they just couldn''t do anything since the guns were being directed by the other living armour that appeared.


    Once Huang Tuo disappeared, the aggro of the Master Gnome was brought back to the living armour that I controlled.


    That meant that all of the shots of the living armour with guns and his own weapon were aimed at my living armour who he viewed as traitors. sea??h th§× N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    But it was easy to dodge out of the way and it was easy to have the other competitors take the shots. When they tried to dodge, all they felt was this strange feeling that made them freeze on the spot.


    It wasn''t enough to wipe them out, but it was enough to make them suffer losses and enough to make them leave this place.


    They weren''t going to risk their lives to take down the Master Gnome.


    In no time at all, the area around the Master Gnome was cleared out.


    Once that happened, it was finally time for us to make our move.


    But of course, we had to do it quickly so that no one else would be able to interrupt us.


    "It''s your turn." I said to the two behind me.


    They had been silently watching the entire time and the moment that I gave them this order, they immediately made their move.


    Wang Rong didn''t hesitate to charge forward with his great sword in hand. As he did, the other monsters gathered around him, but they still left some space between him and themselves so they had room to dodge the bullets coming their way.


    However, Wang Rong didn''t even need to dodge these bullets.


    He strengthened his body to the point where he was able to directly block these bullets with his flesh. Though that wasn''t entirely true since there was a layer of armour that was under his clothing.


    This was a thin set of armour that was also powerful, which actually doubled his defenses.


    It was only with this that he was able to resist all of the bullets that came at him.


    However, I could also see that he was wincing from time to time.


    Even if he was able to block these bullets, it didn''t mean that the impact was completely negated. He was still suffering because he had to negate the impact with his physical body alone.


    But Wang Rong pushed right on through and charged at the living armour in front of him.


    Seeing that their bullets couldn''t do anything, the living armour had no choice but to switch to melee weapons. It seemed that they still had melee weapons, it was just that they chose not to use them since the guns were stronger.


    Wang Rong didn''t panic at all when he saw this, instead he just said with a confident smile, "Bring it on."


    While this was happening, there was a streak of lightning that flew over Wang Rong''s head.


    That streak of lightning went right past him and hit one of the living armour with a cannon on its shoulder. It hit the cannon right before it could fire at Wang Rong and there was a large explosion that occurred.


    When the smoke and flames disappeared, it revealed that the muzzle of the cannon had been destroyed by the explosion.


    There was another streak of lightning that flew across the air and hit the other cannon right before it fired.


    With these two cannons out of commission, there was no need for Wang Rong to fear these living armour.


    Instead, the only thing that could threaten him was the laser cannon of the Master Gnome.


    But the Master Gnome hesitated because he didn''t feel that there was a need for him to use that laser cannon against Wang Rong. It was only when he saw that his living armour had been stopped that he raised it.


    However, that was when another streak of lightning came at him.


    The streak of lightning didn''t hit the Master Gnome this time as a barrier appeared around him and then he aimed the laser cannon at where the lightning came from. However, Iris had already long moved out of the way as she had been moving the entire time.


    She didn''t remain idle for a single second as she gathered the lightning energy for the Thunder Crown. She had been riding on the back of one of the skeletal wolves the entire time as she ran around the hall.


    The Master Gnome couldn''t help cursing under his breath when he saw this.


    If it wasn''t for the fact that Huang Tuo had taken down his large scale barrier, then he wouldn''t have been forced into this situation.


    The small barrier was only capable of protecting him for a short period of time.


    Realizing the situation, the Master Gnome pointed the laser cannon at Wang Rong again.


    It was just that it didn''t work in the end since another bolt of lightning came and shorted out the small scale barrier. If it was anything else, then this wouldn''t have happened.


    But it seemed that the lightning was strong enough to short out the barrier that he had around him.


    The Master Gnome had a very ugly look on his face when he saw that this barrier disappeared and he suddenly waved his hand at the living armour around him.


    The living armour went forward while¡­the Master Gnome went backwards.


    It seemed that he was sacrificing the sets of living armour around him to buy time for himself to escape.


    They went forward to stall Wang Rong while he seemed to be running to the opposite side of the hall.


    But before he could take more than two steps, he found that he suddenly couldn''t move.


    The next thing that the Master Gnome saw was another bolt of lightning aimed right at his head. Experience tales at My Virtual Library Empire

 Chapter 168 Armoury

    In the end, there was nothing that the Master Gnome could do.


    He was turned into a burning corpse by the repeated bolts of lightning that came in his direction.


    No matter how he tried, the sets of living armour just weren''t able to protect him.


    So in the end, he was turned into a burning corpse and the living armour fell to the ground motionless.


    After that happened, I immediately sent the monsters under my control to block off the entrances to this hall. I wanted to make sure that not a single person was able to come into this hall while I did my thing.


    I also sent Wang Rong and Iris away.


    They were already used to this, so they just went over with the monsters to watch the door.


    The Scavenger Rabbit did its thing and started digging through the Master Gnome''s burnt corpse.


    Even though it had been burnt to the point where it couldn''t be recognized anymore, that didn''t mean that it didn''t have any loot left. I was also looking forward to seeing what kind of loot would come from this Master Gnome.


    After all, it had used all of those amazing looking equipment just now. If I was able to get something similar out of it, then it definitely would be very good.


    But in the end¡­


    When the Scavenger Rabbit turned around, there were three items that it presented to me.


    The one that caught my attention first was a high tech looking glove.


    The moment that I saw this glove, I immediately thought about the laser cannon that the Master Gnome used earlier. This glove really looked similar to the one that the Master Gnome had been using.


    But in the end, I was disappointed by the appraisal window that showed up.


    Magnetic Glove


    Uses the power of magnetism to pull metallic objects over. The amount of attractive force that is released is dependent on the amount of mana injected into the glove.


    "Dammit, it''s a miss¡­"


    I couldn''t help muttering to myself when I saw the power that this glove had.


    For the first time, I really had to doubt the power of the Scavenger Rabbit''s ability¡­


    After all, it normally got me things that were considered far better than what these monsters should have dropped. But for the first time, it felt like the Scavenger Rabbit had missed when it came to the item that it looted.


    The next item that it showed me was some kind of square thing.


    I didn''t really know what it was until the appraisal window appeared.


    Nanotech Storage Device.


    The nanobots stored inside of this device can be freely shaped into what the user desires it to become. It can take the form of a weapon or armour and the strength of this will depend on the mana injected by the user.


    I didn''t really get what this meant until I took this thing in my hand and started putting some mana into it.


    There was a reaction that came from this square as soon as the mana was injected into it. There were these things that came out of it and took form, but it also didn''t have a form since I didn''t think anything while injecting this mana.


    After seeing these things come out of the square, I thought about forming this material into armour.


    In no time at all, it wrapped around my arm and formed some kind of gauntlet. sea??h th§× n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    At that, I started to understand just what this thing was and I couldn''t help being surprised.


    Then there was a faint smile that appeared on my face.


    Even if the first one had been a miss, it seemed like the second one was a hit.


    After seeing what this square was capable of, I was filled with different ideas on how I could use this thing. It certainly was an item that would require a lot of imagination to use properly, but I had more than enough of that. Find your next read on My Virtual Library Empire


    It even made me think of a movie from the era before the gates opened¡­


    There was a certain superhero that had used nanotechnology to create a mechanical suit of armour around himself. If I was able to do the same thing as that superhero¡­


    Well, I''m sure that manipulating the nanotechnology to do that would take a lot of mana, so it wasn''t something that could be relied on.


    Still, it was interesting to think about.


    The last and final item was¡­


    Key to the armoury.


    There was no special description for this item, it just said that this thing was a key to some sort of armoury.


    The Master Gnome was an Elite Monster that had created all kinds of different machines and commanded all those special sets of living armour, so it wasn''t strange that it would have an armoury to store all of its items.


    That at least made up for the fact that I didn''t get anything special from looting the Master Gnome.


    No, it made up for the disappointment of the first item, the Magnetic Glove.


    It wasn''t the fault of the Nanotech Storage Device, I couldn''t wrong this thing with baseless accusations.


    "Let''s go and see if we can find this armoury." I called out to Wang Rong and Iris after I finished looking at these items.


    "Is that key for an armoury?" Wang Rong asked since he couldn''t appraise these items like I could.


    I just gave a simple nod before heading in the direction that the Master Gnome had been trying to flee in.


    The Master Gnome had chosen to run in that direction, which meant that there had to be something over there that was related to the Master Gnome.


    It took a bit of searching after leaving the hall, but we were able to find the workshop of the Master Gnome.


    It was similar to the workshop of all the gnomes that I had hypnotized, but it also seemed more high tech in comparison.


    But that wasn''t what I was interested in.


    My interest was on the door that was on the other side of this room.

 Chapter 169 Gacha chests

    The reason I was interested in this door was because there was a keyhole that was in this door.


    However, it wasn''t just any keyhole.


    It was one that had a familiar shape.


    It was in the same shape as the key that I got from the Master Gnome.


    So it only made sense if this thing was the armoury that this key was for.


    I walked over to the door and pulled out the key before putting it into the hole for it.


    It was a perfect fit, which showed that it was indeed the armoury that this key was for.


    There was an expectant feeling that filled me as I turned the key, but then I couldn''t help revealing a surprised look when I saw what was inside the armoury.


    It wasn''t what we had expected at all, but it definitely wasn''t a bad thing.


    The things that were inside of the armoury were not actual items, but a bunch of chests. However, none of these chests were normal chests since they were chests in a dungeon.


    These were chests that could be opened for loot.


    Compared to items that could be taken, this was actually the better option of the two. The items in the armoury would only be useful for the dungeon, while the items that came out of these chests would actually be items that could be taken out of the dungeon.


    The items that came from the chest were considered loot, which was why they could be taken out.


    It seemed that this armoury was a special reward for those that took down the Master Gnome.


    Whether it was a normal reward or if it was because of the Scavenger Rabbit, that was unknown. But the fact that there were all these chests in front of us meant that¡­


    A wide smile appeared on my face when I came back to my senses before I turned to Wang Rong and Iris.


    The two of them already knew what I was going to say and it seemed like they understood what I wanted, so they didn''t say anything as they turned around and walked out of the armoury.


    After walking out, they also closed the door behind them so I was the only one left in this place.


    After they closed the door, I called out the Scavenger Rabbit.


    I didn''t make a move for these chests, but rather I left it all to the Scavenger Rabbit.


    That was because I knew that the Scavenger Rabbit would be able to use its magic on these chests.


    The Scavenger Rabbit''s ability wasn''t just limited to corpses, but also chests that were in the dungeon.


    This was something that had been tested in the other dungeons that we went to before. There were also chests that dropped in those dungeons and I had the Scavenger Rabbit open it on a whim.


    When it did, there was a golden light that came from the chest before an amazing item dropped.


    At the same time, the Scavenger Rabbit even dug into the chest to pull out a second item.


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    The Scavenger Rabbit really was a broken familiar as it pulled out the most from every chance to get loot that I had.


    If it wasn''t for the Scavenger Rabbit, I certainly wouldn''t have reached the point that I was currently at.


    So with all these chests in front of me, I was naturally excited about what I would get.


    It was time to do some gacha.


    Only there was this golden paw that was guiding me as I did the gacha.


    The Scavenger Rabbit didn''t hesitate at all to flip open the first chest and then dig into it like it was trying to find something good.


    From the side, I could see that there was a sniper rifle that came out of the chest when the Scavenger Rabbit opened it.


    Then after it dug around in the chest a bit further, there were two glocks that appeared as well.


    After pulling these two glocks out, the Scavenger Rabbit just tossed them aside as if it was disappointed in these two things.


    However, I quickly picked them up and had a closer look at them along with the sniper rifle.


    I had been thinking about trying to find bullets for these things, but I found that there was no need since these weren''t normal guns. These were magic guns that used mana to create bullets, so there was no need for actual bullets.


    As long as one had enough mana, they would be able to fire these guns forever.


    But I also couldn''t help thinking that since these guns could create bullets from mana, what about mana that had an attribute to it. For example, what about lightning attributed mana. S§×arch* The n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    If it was used to create bullets for this gun, would that mean that I would be able to create lightning bullets?


    I wanted to wake the Astral White Tiger up, but I couldn''t do it in the end since it was sleeping peacefully in my shirt. It had fallen asleep after eating the flames of the peacock, so I just let it sleep.


    It wasn''t as if I was in a rush to find this out.


    Not to mention that the Scavenger Rabbit wasn''t done opening up all of the chests.


    In no time at all, there was a pile of guns that was pulled out by the Scavenger Rabbit and each of these guns were like the first guns that it pulled out.


    All of these guns were guns that created bullets with mana.


    As expected of an armoury.


    With the number of guns that were here, it was more than enough to arm an entire army.


    If only I was able to bring the living armour out with me¡­


    But there were the undead as well.


    I could always arm them with these guns, the problem was how to reload them since I didn''t know if the undead had the mana to reload these guns.


    Looking at the pile of guns on the ground, I just shook my head and thought, "I''ll figure it out later."

 Chapter 170 SSR pull

    As the Scavenger Rabbit made its way through the chests, I was slowly feeling a bit disappointed.


    I was amazed by the guns that came out at first, but then it felt like this was just normal.


    These guns would certainly be considered amazing items by anyone else, but I was actually feeling like there was something missing.


    That was just how it was when it came to getting the same thing again and again.


    It was rare when there was only one of them, but it became common once there were a bunch of them.


    That was how it was with these guns.


    They didn''t seem that special anymore and I couldn''t help wanting something more.


    Eventually, there were only three chests left in this armoury.


    Counting them, there had been over fifty chests in this armoury to begin with and all of them had given guns. Even with the golden paws of the Scavenger Rabbit, all of them just gave these guns.


    It almost seemed like¡­


    "Are these the only things that can drop from these chests?"


    If that was the case, then it would make sense this place was called an armoury for a reason. But if these things were really the only things that could drop from these chests¡­


    Well, it would be a bit too disappointing.


    I was waiting to see what the Scavenger Rabbit would draw from these last three chests.


    The first of the three chests¡­


    It was a large thing that had been pulled out and I thought it was a sniper rifle at first, but then I realized that it was even bigger than the sniper rifle that the Scavenger Rabbit pulled out before.


    At the same time, the design of this large thing seemed different from that of the sniper rifle.


    It was clear that this thing wasn''t just a gun.


    It seemed like it was much heavier and stronger than a gun and at the same time, it even seemed a bit familiar.


    After looking at this thing for a while, the description appeared.


    It was a cannon.


    It was just like the cannons that had been mounted to the shoulders of those two sets of living armour.


    Not to mention that this cannon also seemed to be something that could be reloaded with mana just like the guns. This meant that as long as one had enough mana, they would be able to use this cannon for as long as they wanted.


    And in the end, it wasn''t just a single cannon that was pulled out.


    It was two cannons that came out because of the Scavenger Rabbit''s ability.


    Compared to the others, this could be considered a SR pull from these gacha chests.


    Though I was also a bit disappointed that it was only two cannons.


    "There had to be a reason why the Master Gnome only had two sets of those living armour that had cannons on their shoulders. It seemed that he must have been limited by the supply of cannons that he had." I couldn''t help muttering to myself as I looked at these two cannons.


    During this time, the Scavenger Rabbit had already moved onto the next chest, the second to last chest.


    After opening it, there was a bright flash of light before a large thing was pulled out.


    I didn''t know what this thing was at first until the Scavenger Rabbit pulled out the second item as well. Sear?h the N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    It was a large glass vat that was pulled out along with this large console.


    This was a two part item and it was the item that I had been looking forward to finding the most.


    That was because I recognized it once the large glass vat was pulled out. I knew that this was the same thing that the gnomes had been using to create the living armour.


    While it didn''t seem that impressive compared to the set that the Master Gnome had, it even seemed a bit basic compared to what the Master Gnome had, it was still something that I couldn''t help getting excited about.


    This was the one thing that I had wanted to get from this dungeon when I saw it, it was just that I never knew how to get this thing.


    But now¡­


    With this console and the large glass vat, it would be easy for me to create an army of living armour. As long as I had enough monster cores, it would be easy for me to create this army. Stay connected through My Virtual Library Empire


    And it wasn''t hard for me to obtain these monster cores because of the Scavenger Rabbit.


    After thinking for a bit, I couldn''t help wondering, "If it was this easy to get, why did they never get this thing after owning this dungeon all this time."


    The Scavenger Rabbit.


    That was the one conclusion that I came to in the end.


    The Scavenger Rabbit''s golden paw could be considered a cheat and it wasn''t as if everyone would have the same kind of luck. I was most likely the first person that had ever gotten this thing from this dungeon.


    So I quickly put these machines away in my Storage Ring, just in case anyone else might see even though we were already deep in the dungeon. It wasn''t as if anyone could be observing us from this place.


    With this machine, I started thinking about the living armour army that I would be able to create.


    This was even better since I had just gotten a bunch of armaments that I could install in them.


    The Master Gnome was able to do it, so I believed that I would be able to find a way to do it as well, as long as I took the time to work on this.


    This was without a doubt a SSR pull.


    While I was lost in my fantasy like this, the Scavenger Rabbit moved over to the last chest in this place.


    After it opened it, there was an even stronger glow that appeared.


    At the same time¡­


    "This is the real SSR pull."


    That was the only thing that I could say when it showed me what it pulled out of the chest.

 Chapter 171 Different castle

    After putting away everything that I got from this treasury, I went back out to where Wang Rong and Iris were.


    The moment that I stepped out, I just waved my hand at them while saying, "We''re leaving this place."


    They didn''t question me as they followed me away from this place.


    The looks in their eyes showed that they understood why I was in a hurry to leave this place.


    After what happened earlier, there was no doubt that there would be people slowly making their way back to check what was happening in this place. But there was no need for us to face those people, so it was better to leave this place as soon as possible.


    But after leaving that place, I didn''t stop.


    That was because I said to one of the ogres, "Lead us to where your leader is."


    The leader of the ogres would no doubt be one of Elite Monsters that were in this dungeon just like the leader of the gnomes. So I wanted to take a look at this leader of the ogres.


    I didn''t have my doubt that the same situation as before would happen where another one of the top contenders would be there, but I still wanted to take a look.


    Especially since I had no clues about the goal of this dungeon.


    We had received a hint about the location of the Boss Monster, but none of us had been able to figure out just what that hint meant.


    So perhaps it was better to see if anyone else knew anything about this.


    At first, the ogres had the same reaction as the gnome where there was bloodline suppression on them. Even if they wanted to obey my orders, it didn''t seem like they were able to because their bloodline suppressed them from acting freely.


    But in the end, they couldn''t resist the hypnosis of the Echo Bat.


    Even if their bloodlines suppressed them, the hypnosis of the Echo Bat made them fall into a trance before they started leading the way.


    As for why I chose the ogres over the flying manta rays, it was simply because the territory of the ogres was closer to this place than the territory of the manta rays. It would be faster to reach the place where we had come across the ogres.


    Along the way, there were a few sets of living armour and a few ogres that appeared in our path.


    They made perfect additions to our group since we had lost some of our troops during the fight with the Master Gnome.


    No, with the number of ogres and sets of living armour added, we had greater numbers than before.


    At the same time, I had a test with these monsters and it seemed that they were able to reload the guns that I had gotten from the armoury.


    It was harder for the sets of living armour since they had to use the mana of the gnome that controlled them. So there was a limit to how many of the sets of armour could be armed with guns.


    Still, it wasn''t a small amount and it created a good ratio of those with guns and those that fought in close range. It surprisingly made them a very good balanced unit that would be able to fight against anyone that came at them.


    So I chose to only give half of the ogres guns as well since that would make them more effective.


    While this was happening, we seemed to enter a different part of the castle.


    Well, it wasn''t really a different part of the castle since it was still connected to the main castle. It was just that the decor of this place made it seem like it was a completely different castle.


    The corridors that we had been in before were those made of stone bricks that made one think of a medieval castle. But now we were in a place that had wooden floors and tatami doors that made one think of a Japanese castle.


    This place should be the territory of the ogres, but the dungeon really change that drastically just to match one of the types of monsters that lived in it.


    It really didn''t seem to make sense¡­


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    Also, the sudden shift was something strange too.


    It wasn''t a gradual change from the stone walls to the wooden walls, there was one line in between the stone walls and the wooden walls that suddenly changed the decor. It went from western to eastern in an instant that it really seemed strange¡­


    "Just what kind of castle is this?" I could hear Wang Rong muttering under his breath behind me and I couldn''t help agreeing with him.


    It really seemed like this was too sudden of a change.


    The other thing that we noticed was off was the fact that there were less monsters that were wandering around.


    There were still ogres that wandered these hallways, but there were far less than we expected.


    It seemed that there was something that was drawing them away or something that had taken care of them before we arrived.


    And as we expected, there was indeed something that had done that.


    There was another large gathering of people in the place that we were being led to. S§×ar?h the n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    At the center of this large gathering was a large ogre that looked much bigger and scarier than the rest of the ogres. At the same time, there were these flames that seemed to wrap around this ogre like a robe.


    It really seemed like this was an ogre made of flames.


    No, it shouldn''t be right to call this thing an ogre since the mana fluctuations that it released showed that it was a monster that was at a higher level than a normal ogre.


    If I remember correctly, once the ogre passed a certain point, it would evolve into a creature that was known as a Kijin.


    So this thing should be a Kijin instead of an ogre.

 Chapter 172 Much different

    Since there was an Elite Monster here, there was naturally one of the other top contender teams that were also here.


    However, the situation of this place was completely different compared to the area around the Master Gnome.


    Unlike the Fire God Team that wanted to use the different teams that there were as bait for the Master Gnome, the World Tree Team here was actually working with all the different teams that were gathered.


    It didn''t seem like there was any discord between the different teams.


    It really seemed like they were all fully committed to working with one another.


    I couldn''t help slightly knitting my brows when I saw them like this since this wasn''t a good thing for us.


    The last time, we had been able to use the gaps between the different teams to our advantage to create chaos. That was what allowed us to cause that large mess and push the Fire God Team into a corner like that.


    If it wasn''t for that, I''m not certain we would have been able to do anything to the Fire God Team.


    Huang Tuo''s power was not false, it was something that I couldn''t match head on.


    Not to mention, I''m certain that they had hidden some kind of trump card just in case.


    And this World Tree Team was on the same level as the Fire God Team¡­


    "Let''s go and work with them." Find adventures on My Virtual Library Empire


    Wang Rong and Iris were surprised to hear this, but I didn''t give them a chance to say anything as I walked over to the group that was gathered around the World Tree Team.


    When they saw us, they naturally were on guard against us.


    I just raised my hands and said, "We want to work together with you. I''m sure that''s why all of you are gathered like this."


    There were a few people that seemed like they were still on guard, but the leader of the World Tree Team waved their hand at me with a smile before saying, "Let the leader come over and talk with us. We''ll brief you on what we''ve discussed so far."


    I gave a nod to Wang Rong and Iris before heading over to where they were gathered.


    It didn''t seem like they had any hesitation towards us. It seemed like the World Tree Team was willing to accept us without a single problem.


    But that just made me more suspicious.


    After all, the only people that could do something like that were those that had other plans or had overwhelming power that they didn''t need to worry about things like this. Sear?h the N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    I was thinking that it was more the latter than the former.


    The first thing that they did was introduce themselves.


    The leader of the World Tree Team was a beautiful green haired girl with piercing green eyes named Leaf. It was clear that she was a foreigner, but she was also regarded as a talented youth of this country.


    The way that she spoke was as if she truly did trust all the people that were here, even though this shouldn''t be true since everyone here was a competitor.


    Still, she laid out her plan clearly and what they had discussed previously.


    It really didn''t seem like there was anything that she was hiding with the way that she clearly laid out everything that they found so far.


    Was there someone that was really that trusting of others?


    No¡­it really didn''t seem possible.


    Once Leaf finished explaining everything, she asked everyone, "Are you ready? We''ll start our plan now."


    Everyone looked at each other as if there was still some doubt between them, but they eventually nodded in agreement.


    It was clear that everyone thought the same thing as me. It was clear that everyone didn''t seem to trust each other to actually cooperate against the Kijin.


    So they were just going along to see how this would turn out.


    But Leaf didn''t seem to mind as she led the way forward after seeing that everyone nodded in agreement.


    The World Tree Team was actually the ones that would be leading the charge against the Kijin. They didn''t seem like they were planning to use the others as a distraction, but rather they were turning themselves into the distraction.


    As soon as they appeared, the Kijin and the ogres around it immediately turned their attention to them.


    Leaf didn''t panic at all as she suddenly pulled out a shield that seemed to be made of leaves. This was just an artifact and not the power of her familiar, but it was enough to trap all of the ogres that had been around the Kijin.


    In a single second, the ogres were caught by the roots that suddenly appeared out of the ground. These roots were strong enough to actually pierce through the floor of the dungeon, but then again¡­there was only wood flooring here.


    It might have been more impressive if we were still in the part of the castle that was made of stone.


    When the Kijin saw these roots appear, it suddenly gave a roar before flames appeared. These flames roared around the Kijin and it sent these flames forward at these roots.


    The flames didn''t seem to burn the ogres when they made contact, but it was different for the roots.


    Only the roots didn''t burn as fast as one might think they would.


    They were actually able to resist the flames for a while before showing signs of being burnt away by the flames. But the time that they held out for was enough that more roots were able to come out of the ground and support the ones that were being burnt.


    Even if they were being burnt, there were more and more roots that took the place of the ones that were being burnt.


    Everyone just watched in a daze while Leaf''s powers clashed with the flames of the Kijin.


    But then they came back to their senses when she said, "What are you waiting for? Take down the ogres already!"

 Chapter 173 Avatar of flames

    When they heard this, they pulled out their weapons and started moving towards the ogres.


    This time, they didn''t seem to have as much hesitation as before as they worked with each other against the ogres.


    They knew that if they wanted to hunt the Kijin, the most important thing was taking care of these lackeys so they could focus on the Kijin.


    As for who would take the credit for killing the Kijin, they would have to worry about that after.


    But the thing that drove them the most was the fact that Leaf was able to do all of this on her own. There were still other members of the World Tree Team that hadn''t made a move yet, so there was no telling what kind of power they had.


    If just Leaf was this powerful, then there was no need to doubt the power that the others wielded.


    If they were to move, then they would be in danger.


    So it was better to cooperate for now.


    But with the flames around the ogres, it wasn''t as if they could get too close to the ogres. Without even approaching the ogres, they could feel the heat that was coming from the flames that surrounded them.


    The only thing that they could do was use ranged attacks against these ogres.


    However, they found that the flames not only burned away the roots that came out of the ground, they also formed a barrier around the ogres. That meant that all of the attacks that they used against the ogres were stopped by the flames that surrounded them.


    That didn''t mean that it didn''t have an effect as the attacks did weaken the flames and allow the roots to survive.


    Each attack seemed to drain at the power of the flames that surrounded the ogres, giving more space to the roots to wrap around the ogres.


    The Kijin knitted its brows when it saw this before releasing even more flames.


    But even then, it seemed that the Kijin was struggling against all of these attacks that were falling on the ogres. Experience more content on My Virtual Library Empire S§×arch* The N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    If it was just a few people, then the Kijin might be able to do something.


    With all of these people attacking at the same time, the Kijin just could do nothing but use its flames to protect the ogres.


    But since the flames were no longer restraining the roots, that meant that Leaf was able to do a bit more.


    When she raised the shield, the roots started to close around the ogres.


    The ogres did what they could to resist the roots that were closing around them, but it didn''t seem like it was working. It seemed that the roots were just getting tighter and tighter around them, putting more and more pressure on them.


    It seemed like it was only a matter of time before the roots would completely crush these ogres.


    This certainly would be a terrible way to die.


    This tug of war between our side and the monster side continued for a bit longer before finally one of the ogres died. They died because they had been crushed by the root that was wrapped around them.


    As if a chain reaction happened, there were several more ogres that were crushed by these roots.


    And once these roots crushed the ogres, it seemed that the pressure had been relieved on Leaf as she was able to summon more roots to wrap around the ogres. It seemed that she wanted to end things in one single move.


    But the Kijin wouldn''t allow that to happen.


    The Kijin had only been using these flames until now to resist, but it seemed that it was finally fed up with this.


    The flames were suddenly released around the ogres and instead gathered around the Kijin, but that wasn''t the only thing that happened.


    As soon as the flames gathered around the Kijin, there was this powerful aura that appeared.


    This was one that was far greater than the aura that the Kijin released previously.


    The flames soon condensed into a figure, but it wasn''t a real figure.


    It was like a mass of fire with the way that it was shaped.


    Leaf knitted her brows when she saw this and then raised the shield, causing the roots to move. She wanted to close the roots that were around the ogres before the Kijin could finish condensing what it was about to condense.


    Only she knitted her brows even more when she found that the roots released on their own.


    She certainly wasn''t the one that had them release themselves, the only thing that could have done that was if the ogres did something or if the Kijin did something.


    When the roots were released, one could see that there were faint traces of black flames that were on them.


    These black flames were completely different from the flames that the Kijin used previously.


    These flames were clearly on a different level.


    And at the same time, it was clear that these flames didn''t come from the Kijin, but rather from the figure of flames that he condensed.


    Once they had been freed of the roots, the ogres didn''t hesitate to charge forward with their weapons raised. It seemed that the appearance of this figure of flames had emboldened the ogres.


    At the same time, it even seemed to buff them as there were flames that appeared around their weapons.


    "Ifrit''s avatar." Leaf said all of a sudden to the surprise of everyone around her.


    But they didn''t have time to process this as the ogres had already reached them.


    The only thing that they could do was try to fight back against the ogres, but that was hard because of the flames that were around their weapons. When their weapons met the weapons of the ogres, they actually melted under the intense heat of these flames.


    Whatever these flames were, they certainly weren''t normal.


    Perhaps they really were related to Ifrit, the great spirit of fire like Leaf said.

 Chapter 174 Rare and unexpected familiar

    The ones that had their weapons destroyed could only reveal bitter looks on their faces, but it wasn''t as if they were going to go down to ogres.


    Even if the ogres destroyed their weapons, they were still able to fight since these were ogres that they were facing.


    They were the elite talents of the country, so it wasn''t as if they would lose to ogres that easily. At the same time, these ogres were nothing more than mobs that surrounded the Elite Monster, so it wasn''t as if they were that special.


    As long as they didn''t make a mistake, it was easy for them to deal with these ogres.


    But the flames around the weapons of the ogres really did make things hard.


    Those flames were just too powerful for them to touch directly, so they just couldn''t fight the ogres head on.


    The only thing that they could do was fight the ogres with long range attacks that avoided the flames. The flames that the avatar of fire gave only wrapped around the weapons of the ogres, it didn''t completely surround the ogres themselves.


    So there were still parts of the ogres that were still exposed.


    That was what was targeted by the attackers.


    When they were hit with these attacks, they were able to block it with their thick skins to a certain extent. But even then, it wasn''t as if they were able to block all of the different attacks that were sent at them.


    So eventually there were ogres that started to fall.


    But at the same time, the ogres put up a good fight and they were able to injure a few of the humans.


    Then all of a sudden, the avatar of flames seemed like it had been awakened by something as the flames around it suddenly burst outwards. It was as if there was some kind of reaction that was happening inside of the avatar of flames that was increasing its power.


    The flames that had been around it suddenly became much bigger compared to before.


    At the same time, it seemed that the avatar of fire was growing several times bigger compared to before.


    But that avatar of fire didn''t actually make a move against the humans.


    Instead, it suddenly went to where the Kijin was and surrounded it.


    After surrounding the Kijin, it seemed to wrap around the figure of the Kijin and turned into some kind of robe that completely covered the Kijin.


    With this robe of flames around it, it was as if the Kijin had turned into some kind of ruler that controlled flames. With this robe of flames around it, the pressure that the Kijin gave off was far greater than before.


    That put more pressure on the ones that were fighting the ogres since they were the ones that were receiving the brunt of the Kijin''s pressure. S§×ar?h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    When the robe of flames finished gathering around the Kijin, the flames suddenly changed. It gathered around the Kijin as if there was some kind of explosion that was being prepared.


    There were ugly looks that appeared on the faces of the humans when they saw this.


    Even a fool would be able to tell that the Kijin was preparing some kind of powerful attack with the way that it was gathering flames like this.


    Leaf also recognized this, which was why she suddenly summoned out her familiar.


    Even though she had been restraining the ogres, she had never summoned out her familiar and had relied on the power of the artifact that was in her hand.


    It wasn''t that she didn''t want to show the power of her familiar, it was just that her familiar wasn''t actually suited for restraining these ogres like the artifact she used.


    The familiar that she summoned out was a strange one.


    It was a tree that appeared behind Leaf.


    She didn''t have a normal animal familiar like everyone else, but rather she had a rare and unexpected plant familiar.


    There were others that had been recorded to have a plant familiar in the past, but there were few that had been recorded to have become a powerful summoner. That was just how hard it was to have a plant familiar that was strong enough.


    It was a rare kind of familiar and it was one that had strange abilities.


    The moment that Leaf''s tree appeared, there was this green light that came from the leaves of that tree familiar.


    After that green light shined for a bit, there was this layer of green light that appeared around the humans. This layer of green light seemed to be healing them to a certain extent as their wounds started to close.


    No one was able to fully understand what Leaf was doing since the Kijin released its attack.


    Though people tried to dodge out of the way, there were just too many flames that had been released by the Kijin. It was inevitable that there were those that were swallowed by the flames that the Kijin released.


    However, after those flames disappeared, it revealed that they weren''t actually hurt.


    They were standing there with the same layer of green light around them and a dazed look on their faces.


    The dazed look showed that they had no idea what happened since it was clear that they weren''t the ones that had resisted the flames that the Kijin released.


    It didn''t take long for them to realize that it was the green light around them that had protected them from the flames.


    This green energy not only healed them, but also formed a barrier that stopped the flames from reaching them. Find adventures at My Virtual Library Empire


    It seemed that Leaf''s familiar was a support type of familiar that healed and protected, which was why she didn''t summon it until now.


    But that still left a big problem¡­


    Even if they were able to defend against the attacks of the Kijin, that didn''t mean that they had a way of fighting back against it.


    So how were they supposed to defeat it when it powered up like this?

 Chapter 175 Piercing thorn

    Even though the others seemed worried about how they would deal with this Kijin, Leaf wasn''t actually worried.


    Neither were the other members of the World Tree Team.


    They all seemed like they were used to situations like this, so they didn''t make a move.


    That was except for one member of the World Tree Team that stepped forward.


    This one member was the youngest member of the World Tree Team and even seemed like their weakest member with the lack of presence that they had. But they didn''t hesitate as they came over to Leaf''s side.


    After coming over, he summoned his familiar.


    It was a squirrel that appeared on his shoulder.


    This was a tiny little thing that didn''t seem to have any powers at all, but the way that people looked at this squirrel quickly changed.


    That was because they were shocked by what it did next.


    The squirrel suddenly opened its mouth while facing Leaf''s familiar.


    Leaf didn''t stop it at all as it suddenly started to suck in the branches of her familiar.


    With the suction force that it had, it didn''t take long before many of the branches of the tree were sucked into the mouth of the squirrel. While sucking in the branches of Leaf''s tree familiar, the squirrel''s mouth became more and more puffed out.


    It seemed like it had a mouthful of nuts or something with the way that it puffed out its cheeks, but everyone knew that these weren''t nuts.


    These were the branches that it had sucked from Leaf''s tree familiar.


    During all of this, they didn''t seem to care about the way that the Kijin continued to shoot out flames.


    The Kijin had paused for a bit when it saw the green glow and that the squirrel had been called out. It seemed like the Kijin was paying attention to them to make sure that they weren''t doing anything strange.


    But in the end, it seemed like the Kijin lost interest in Leaf and her tree familiar.


    It didn''t even seem to care that the green light around the others was blocking its flames, it just kept releasing flames as if it believed that it would eventually break through.


    And the flames that continued to rain down on the green light eventually did¡­break through.


    Only it wasn''t because of the power of the Kijin.


    It was the fact that the power of Leaf''s tree familiar was being weakened because of the fact that the squirrel was sucking in the branches from the tree familiar. Those branches were ones that had leaves covered in green light.


    So once those branches were sucked in by the squirrel, the green light that surrounded the others actually faded away a bit.


    Everyone looked at Leaf and the member of the World Tree Team with strange looks when they found this happening.


    Why would they do something that would make themselves weaker like this?


    It didn''t seem to make sense at all.


    Only those that were sensitive to mana flow could tell that there was mana gathering around the squirrel. This mana seemed to be gathering inside of the mouth of the squirrel, where all the branches were gathering.


    Once the squirrel was done sucking in the branches, it suddenly turned to look at the Kijin.


    The Kijin had already lost interest in them, so that was why it was focused on sending flames to take down the ones that were fighting its ogre followers. It didn''t notice the squirrel puffing its cheeks out and seemingly gathering something together inside of its mouth.


    The Kijin only reacted when the squirrel suddenly spat something out.


    It could feel the mana that was being released by the squirrel when this thing came out of its mouth.


    The thing in question that had been revealed was a thorn that was made of the branches.


    Or it was better to say that it was a thorn made from the wood of those branches. It was something that was condensed from the wood of the branches, so there were dense mana fluctuations coming from this thorn.


    Once it was shot out, the Kijin immediately gathered its flames to protect itself.


    It recognized the danger of this thorn, so it gathered all the power that it could. Continue your journey at My Virtual Library Empire


    It was just that the thorn wasn''t to be underestimated.


    This thorn of wood was a mass of mana that had been compressed to the point where it had actually become as strong as steel. It wasn''t something that could be that easily destroyed, even if the flames came from Ifrit.


    The thorn was covered in a green light as it flew out and it pierced right through the flames that the Kijin gathered.


    It seemed like it was about to head right for the head of the Kijin, but the Kijin was able to move out of the way at the last second. So instead of piercing the head of the Kijin, it actually pierced the shoulder of the Kijin and sent it flying.


    When the Kijin landed, it didn''t move.


    Many even wondered if the Kijin had died just like that.


    But in the end, the Kijin was able to get up. It was just that the flame robe that it had gathered was already scattered and it looked like it was on its last legs.


    "What a shame it didn''t finish it off."


    That was what many of the humans said when they saw the Kijin like this. S§×ar?h the nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    However, there were many that had eyes filled with greed when they saw this.


    Even if the Kijin hadn''t been killed with this one attack, it was a fact that the Kijin was weakened because of this. So this was a perfect opportunity for them to take the final blow¡­


    Everyone looked at each other as if they were wary of each other. They were all trying to take the last hit of this Kijin for themselves.


    But they didn''t see what I saw.


    At the last moment, the thorn had deviated from its intended path by the slighted margin which allowed the Kijin to dodge.


    The only one that could do that was¡­

 Chapter 176 Scramble

    After the branches were pulled off her tree familiar, the green light that had been around everyone no longer seemed as strong as before.


    It was still there, but it was certainly weaker than before as they could feel the heat coming through now.


    However, it wasn''t as if anyone would actually dare complain about this since they were the ones benefiting from this.


    At the same time, everyone was more focused on one thing now.


    The Kijin was clearly not in good shape as it stood there with just a few flames left around it. The once powerful flame cloak that had been around the Kijin had turned into a few remnant flames that were barely able to cling onto the Kijin.


    It really seemed like a single breeze would be enough to blow the Kijin over.


    As such, there were many that wanted to seize this opportunity for themselves.


    But the moment that they tried to make a move on the Kijin, that was the moment that they would be surrounded by the others. It wasn''t as if anyone would allow them to take the Kijin for themselves.


    That actually gave the Kijin some space to regather some of the flames that had been scattered around it.


    It wasn''t a perfect gathering of these flames, but it was at least able to form a weapon.


    At the same time, the ogres on the side had also been able to move back to the Kijin''s side. They gathered around the Kijin as if they were planning on protecting the Kijin.


    These were the ogres that had been trapped by the bindings of the roots.


    As for how they had escaped the bindings of the roots, it was that those roots suddenly loosened and allowed them to move. If one looked carefully, they would have seen that those roots had loosened on their own.


    But no one really paid attention to the ogres since they were focused on the Kijin.


    In the end, there was someone that couldn''t take it anymore and charged forward.


    It didn''t seem like they were using their brains at all as they charged right at the Kijin.


    The little sparrow on his shoulder became a whirlwind that soon surrounded him as he charged forward. It was a dive in the form of a tornado that was centered right at the Kijin.


    But all that did was cause him to be surrounded in flames when the Kijin waved its sword of flames.


    This wind just went to feed the flames of the Kijin.


    The Kijin''s flames were just too strong for this wind to resist, so it didn''t take long before there was a whirlwind of flames that surrounded that person.


    But the others took advantage of this by charging forward while there was this tornado of flames in the center of this place. The tornado of flames was actually intense enough that it pushed back the ogres, which caused them to scatter.


    It was so intense that the Kijin didn''t seem to have control of it.


    The combination between the two had actually created a disaster for everyone.


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    Though it was also a chance.


    At this point, there was no need to care about one''s image and they were all scrambling to be the one to take down the Kijin.


    There were even people that started attacking each other in an attempt to get to the Kijin first to land the last blow.


    It really seemed like a mad scramble for the final hit on the Kijin.


    What no one noticed was that Leaf and the World Tree Team were watching all of this with smiles on their faces. It was as if they had already predicted all of this happening, but then again¡­it was also because of Leaf and the World Tree Team that this was happening.


    They were the ones that had been manipulating things in the background to reach this conclusion.


    After this commotion erupted, it didn''t seem like anyone was going to back down as they all charged at the Kijin. At this point, it was make or break as they had to take down the Kijin before anyone else could.


    The only one that was still calm was me. Sear?h the nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    I had noticed everything about the World Tree Team from the beginning, so I didn''t fall for the cheap bait.


    I knew that they had something else planned, so it was only a matter of time before they actually put their plan in action.


    Once that happened, there was no doubt that the people rushing forward would regret this.


    Only I couldn''t figure out what they were planning to do or how they were planning to turn this situation around.


    It seemed like it was too much of a mess for them to clean up, even if they were one of the top contenders.


    But in the end, I was wrong about this.


    With the flame tornado and the ogres fighting back, there were quite a few of these other humans that were injured while trying to take the Kijin for themselves. They had to put their lives on the line if they wanted to do something like steal the Elite Monster from one of the top contenders.


    At the same time, they were also looking back at the World Tree Team from time to time to make sure that they weren''t actually doing anything.


    Eventually, there were some people that approached the Kijin.


    It seemed that it was only a matter of time before they took them down.


    But before they could actually hit the Kijin, there was something that happened to the Kijin''s body.


    There were these small movements that came from the Kijin''s skin, almost as if there was something that was moving under its skin. These small things moved around a bit before they suddenly came out of the Kijin''s body.


    It was a bunch of sprouts that suddenly appeared from the Kijin''s body.


    After these sprouts appeared, they quickly blossomed all over the Kijin''s body, but¡­


    "Ah!"

 Chapter 177 What can you do?

    This scream of pain came from the Kijin that had these sprouts blossom from its body.


    The way that the sprouts blossomed, it seemed as if it was draining the vitality of the Kijin just to bloom.


    And in no time at all, it seemed that the final traces of vitality were drained from the Kijin as the traces of flame that had been around it started to fade. At the same time, the Kijin fell face first when those flames disappeared.


    It just collapsed there in front of everyone like that.


    There was no one that was able to react to the Kijin suddenly dying like this.


    At the same time, the looks on their faces seemed like they just couldn''t accept that things ended like this.


    After all, they had been planning on taking down this Kijin for themselves.


    So when it was stolen from them like this, it really was hard for them to accept something like this


    But there really was no time to think about this.


    Right after the Kijin died, the ogres seemed to have lost control of themselves. The moment that they saw that the Kijin that lost them died, they seemed to lose themselves to their rage.


    They no longer cared about their own lives as they attacked the humans that were around them.


    When they were faced with this kind of suicidal attack, the humans had no choice but to fight with the ogres. They were completely surrounded, so many of them were actually injured because the ogres fought without care for their own lives.


    At the end of it, the humans were finally able to push back the ogres.


    But they were very unhappy with how things had turned out.


    As for who it was that they should blame¡­


    They all turned to look at the World Tree Team that had been standing there on the side the entire time. The World Tree Team didn''t do anything to help while they had been fighting the ogres, but they knew that they were the ones that took down the Kijin.


    The World Tree Team used plant based attacks, so it only made sense that these sprouts that killed the Kijin came from them.


    Leaf wasn''t fazed at all when she saw everyone looking at her like this.


    Instead, she just calmly said with a smile on her face, "Everyone, we''ve won!"


    All of them revealed ugly looks on their faces when they heard this.


    While it was true that they had beaten the Kijin, their prize had been taken from them and they had suffered injuries because they had to deal with the ogre. This really was not the kind of ending that they could accept.


    "Then how are we going to split the loot?" One of them suddenly asked this question.


    "Of course we''ll divide it based on achievement. Whoever killed the monster should have the right to the loot that it dropped."


    After saying this, Leaf led the World Tree Team forward.


    The direction that they were heading in was where the corpse of the Kijin still was.


    The Kijin hadn''t changed into loot yet, so that was why no one had tried to steal the things that it dropped.


    And now that Leaf and the World Tree Team were heading over to where the Kijin was after saying this, they were clearly admitting that they were the ones that had taken down the Kijin.


    But in the end, the others had no choice but to move out of the way.


    They could feel the pressure that came from the World Tree Team, it was pressure that was befitting of one of the top contenders. It was not the pressure of someone that they could face, especially since they were injured like this.


    So they just had no choice but to clear the way for them.


    When Leaf and the World Tree Team came over to the corpse of the Kijin, it suddenly turned into loot.


    She leaned down and grabbed the items that the Kijin dropped before turning to face everyone again. With a smile on her face, Leaf calmly said, "It was great working with everyone. I hope that if we have the chance, we can work together again."


    Everyone had ugly looks on their faces when they heard this.


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    There were even some that cursed her under their breath, but there wasn''t anything that they could do against them.


    After all, it wasn''t as if they could beat them and even if they could beat them, would they gain anything from it?


    It would certainly be a hard fought battle if they were to fight them and they would be surrounded by all of these other wolves. The moment that they obtained the loot, they would be jumped on by the others that were still here.


    So what can they do?


    There really wasn''t anything that they could do under these circumstances¡­


    It didn''t take long before the first group turned to leave.


    Since they couldn''t do anything in this situation, the only thing that they could do was make the most of their time and find something else to hunt. If they wasted too much time, then they would fall too far behind to catch up.


    Everyone wanted to take first place in this competition, so they wouldn''t give up that easily. S§×arch* The nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    I also recognized this, so I wanted to leave.


    I had to admit that I was amazed with how Leaf and the World Tree Team controlled this place. It was completely different from Huang Tuo and the Fire God Team that gave me many gaps to exploit.


    There just wasn''t a single gap to exploit here, even if I had deliberately tried to cause trouble with the monsters.


    Leaf would have still been able to easily kill the Kijin with the special ability that she had shown.


    So there was nothing left for me here.


    Or that was what I thought until I heard¡­


    "Can we talk for a bit?"

 Chapter 178 An advance

    This was a voice that I recognized right away since she had already made a big impression on me.


    It was just that I didn''t expect to hear this voice.


    Taking a deep breath to calm down, I turned around to see the face that I was expecting to see.


    It was Leaf and the World Tree Team.


    She was looking at me with a bright smile, but the others behind her didn''t seem to be as friendly. The ones behind her looked at me in a way that made it very clear what they were thinking.


    "Why is she talking to him?"


    That was the same question that I was thinking when I saw Leaf standing behind me like this.


    There was no reason for her to suddenly approach me like this since I hadn''t done anything during this time. I made sure to stay in the back and watch over everything without standing out, so there was no reason for me to attract her attention.


    For her to suddenly approach me like this really didn''t make any sense at all.


    But seeing that I didn''t say anything, she said, "Do you not want to talk to me? Are you busy right now?"


    She even tilted her head as if she was truly confused why I didn''t want to talk to her.


    She was a beautiful girl in the first place and when she acted this way, even I couldn''t help thinking¡­


    "Cute."


    But then I felt a chill coming from behind me.


    I didn''t need to guess to know where that was coming from, so with a cough, I said, "Aren''t we all busy? I think that we''re competitors, so it''s best if we make the best use of our own time."


    As I was about to leave, she suddenly said, "Then how about this? I''ll pay you to have a talk with me."


    Without hesitation, she suddenly took out something and held it up in front of me.


    The moment that this thing appeared, my appraisal ability went off and I saw what this thing was.


    Kijin Mask


    A mask filled with the spirit of the Kijin. Creates a special set of armour that boosts the user''s strength when activated. Time limit is dependent on the amount of mana the user possesses.


    The moment that I saw the description of this item, I was completely caught off guard.


    It wasn''t because of the ability of this item, but rather the identity of this item.


    This was the drop from the Kijin that she must have picked up earlier. Your journey continues at My Virtual Library Empire


    This was one of the things that was needed to report one''s kills later when we all left the dungeon. For her to actually give this thing to me, it was basically her way of saying that she was giving me this Elite Monster.


    Seeing that I just looked at the mask without saying anything, Leaf said, "It''s not just this thing that''s needed to report in. The little things that they gave us record traces of mana, which also helps them keep track of things in this dungeon. It''s not that I''m giving you full credit, but at least we can share that credit."


    The same smile was on her face, but I could see that there was something different in her eyes.


    Even if she had an innocent look to her, it wasn''t as if she was actually that innocent.


    The look in her eyes was more than enough to prove that.


    If she was going to go this far, there really was nothing to lose from hearing her out.


    It wasn''t as if she would suddenly attack us for no reason and even if she did, it wasn''t as if we didn''t have a way to escape. S§×ar?h the nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    So I couldn''t help feeling curious why she was calling me out to talk like this.


    After taking the mask from her, I gave a nod without saying anything, but that was more than enough for her to understand my intentions.


    Leaf led the way to the side with the World Tree Team following her and I led my team to follow her.


    When we arrived in an empty corridor, she suddenly turned around to look at me. However, she didn''t start talking right away as she suddenly summoned out the same tree familiar as before.


    As soon as that tree familiar appeared, there was this layer of green light that appeared around us.


    Both Wang Rong and Iris immediately looked like they were ready to fight their way out of this, but I stopped them by raising my hand. I didn''t even look at them as I stopped them, my eyes were on Leaf the whole time.


    I knew that she wouldn''t call us here just to do something like trapping us.


    There was nothing to gain from this if she were to actually do all of this, all that would happen is that she would lose the mask that she gave me.


    After creating this barrier of faint green light, Leaf said, "It''s just a precaution to make sure that no one eavesdrops on us."


    I gave a simple nod, but I didn''t say anything as I continued looking at her with narrowed eyes and waited for her to speak.


    Leaf didn''t seem to mind the way that I was looking at her as she calmly said, "I''m sure that you''re trying to figure out what I want, so I''ll just tell you. I want to form an alliance between our teams."


    "Huh?"


    It wasn''t just me that was confused, even the other members of the World Tree Team seemed confused when they heard this.


    These were the members of her team that should have known her for a long time and had a good understanding of Leaf, but they were completely taken aback by what she said.


    She didn''t seem to mind any of this at all as she just continued looking at me with the same smile on her face, waiting for my answer.

 Chapter 179 Shaky alliance

    "Why us?" I finally couldn''t help asking after the silence persisted for a while.


    "It''s very simple, it''s because you''re qualified unlike the others." Leaf said with the same friendly smile on her face.


    I couldn''t help raising a brow as I looked at her.


    I really couldn''t read through what she was planning at all and I certainly didn''t understand what she meant by this.


    Leaf could see the way that I was looking at her, so she said, "I''ve been observing you just like you''ve been observing me. I didn''t think much of you at first, but then I could see the way that you were hanging back while everyone charged forward. It was clear that you were able to see through all of the plans that I set for the others, so you''re clearly much smarter than them."


    She leaned in closer to look more closely at me before saying, "You''re smart enough to hide your appearance like this and you clearly have more power than you''re showing. You''re the perfect kind of dark horse for this kind of competition."


    But she still muttered to herself, "It''s strange that I''ve never seen or even heard of you before. Either someone went out of their way to hide you or you''ve just appeared on the scene."


    All of the things that she said completely shattered the innocent look that she had previously.


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    It was clear that Leaf was a highly intelligent person, even if she acted like a girl next door. She was hiding all of that intelligence and cunning under that innocent smile, which made her even more terrifying.


    But I also couldn''t help being impressed by all of the things that she had inferred.


    There were things that she shouldn''t have been able to infer based on what I''ve shown, but the tone that she said it was as if she was certain of her guesses.


    There wasn''t a trace of doubt that was on her mind.


    And the fact that she was willing to say this much already showed the sincerity that she had.


    "What do you want us to do then?" I slowly asked after processing everything that she said.


    She stopped muttering to herself to look up at me with the same smile before saying, "It''s very simple, I want an alliance between our teams. Even if it is a shaky alliance where we can''t actually trust each other, I still want us to have this alliance. I have a feeling that with you on our side, we''ll be able to accomplish something that will be far greater than if we work alone."


    That smile on Leaf''s face became wider as she said, "And I trust my instinct, it''s never led me wrong before."


    I looked right into her eyes, but it didn''t seem like she was backing down at all.


    She looked right back at me with sincerity as she waited for my answer.


    But I still couldn''t make that decision since I couldn''t figure out just what she was planning to do.


    As if she could see something from my eyes, Leaf suddenly said, "I advise you not to underestimate the other teams, especially those two."


    I narrowed my eyes the moment that I heard this.


    There was no need for her to say who she was referring to since there were two teams that already appeared in my mind. Even if they were considered top contenders like this World Tree Team in front of me, I knew that those two were different.


    It felt like they were on a completely different level.


    Seeing the look that appeared in my eyes when she said this, Leaf continued by saying, "You should have felt it already, but those two teams are completely different. They are even on a higher level than us, so we have to think of a way to take the two of them down."


    Her eyes widened as a sparkle appeared as she said, "And I think that special something is your team."


    I really didn''t know what to say, but I could feel the sincerity that was in her voice and eyes. Though I couldn''t help remembering all of the things that she said while also maintaining that innocent appearance from before.


    It was hard to come to a decision, but eventually I said with a nod, "Alright, but there''s a price."


    The members of the World Tree Team deeply knitted their brows when they heard this.


    They had already been unhappy with the situation because of how I acted towards Leaf and now I was even asking for a price.


    If looks could kill, there was no doubt that they would have wanted to kill me here and then.


    But it wasn''t as if looks could kill.


    At the same time, it really seemed like this would be a rocky alliance with the way that they were acting.


    Still, Leaf didn''t care at all as she looked right at me.


    After a moment of silence as if she was thinking about it, she suddenly took out another thing and tossed it at me.


    I was caught off guard by how sudden her actions were, but I was still able to catch the thing that she threw at me in the end. S§×arch* The n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    I looked down to find that it was a red bead, but it wasn''t just any red bead. This was a bead that was releasing powerful mana fluctuations.


    I didn''t even have to use the appraisal on it to know that this was another orb of elemental energy and it was one that was quite concentrated.


    It was most likely another A Grade orb of elemental energy.


    This would certainly help the Astral White Tiger since it had just eaten the flames of the peacock and would help it stabilize its fire elemental energy.


    Since she was willing to go this far¡­


    I reached one hand out to which Leaf tossed the red orb before reaching my other hand out to say, "Alright, let''s work together then."


    Though her team didn''t seem happy about this, Leaf still took my hand and shook it with that same smile on her face.

 Chapter 180 To their own thoughts

    The moment that they disappeared, the same smile disappeared from Leaf''s face.


    She didn''t even turn around as she said, "I know what you''re thinking."


    The other members of the World Tree Team had knitted brows as they watched this other group leave, but they relaxed a bit when they heard what Leaf said.


    As she continued looking in that direction, she continued by saying, "I know what my instincts are telling me and they are telling me that there''s something special about that person."


    The other members of the World Tree Team didn''t say anything at first, but then one of their members stepped forward.


    This was a girl that was also beautiful, but was a bit lacking compared to Leaf. But judging by the way that everyone looked at her, it was clear that she was the vice leader of this group and the one that everyone trusted to represent them.


    After stepping forward, she said, "But was it really necessary to give him that Fire Bead? The mask I understand, but you should know what kind of thing the Fire Bead is. Even if we can''t use the mask, that Fire Bead is something that is very valuable."


    Leaf just turned around with a smile before saying, "I believe that he''s worth that much. Or are you doubting my instincts now?"


    The vice leader quickly shook her head before saying, "I would never doubt your instincts." With a sigh, she added, "Who knows how many times we''ve been saved because of your instincts."


    Biting her lip, she still said, "You''re someone that has a World Tree Sapling Familiar, do you really think that someone like him would be able to do the same thing as you? He only has that small cat with him that can control the wind, it doesn''t seem like he''s on the same level as you."


    Leaf just calmly said, "What if he''s hiding his power?"


    The vice leader still shook her head as she said, "I''ve already checked and it''s clear that he and his familiar don''t have that much mana. No matter how one looks at it, it doesn''t seem like there''s anything special about him."


    For the first time, the smile on Leaf''s face was replaced with a stern look.


    The moment that this stern look appeared, there was a powerful pressure that fell onto the rest of the World Tree Team. Terrified looks appeared on their faces, but they didn''t seem to back down.


    Leaf didn''t care about the way that they reacted as she just calmly said, "I''ve already made up my mind on this matter. You can say what you want, but I''m not going to change his mind."


    The rest of them revealed bitter looks when they heard this, but they knew that her words were final.


    They might be able to say something if she was still willing to play along with them, but the look on her face made it clear that she had lost her patience.


    As the World Tree Team, the team that had been built for her and to follow her, they were naturally the ones that knew her the best. S§×ar?h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    They knew that other than her title of Gentle Flower, there was a title that fit her better.


    "Deadly Rose."


    She might seem beautiful and kind on the surface, but there were thorns that were hidden deep under the surface.


    She was just like her mother, the Guild Master of the Yggdrasil Guild.


    Both of them were decisive and ruthless like that.


    Once Leaf made this decree, it was as if she had lost interest in the others.


    She just turned back around so that they couldn''t see the look on her face.


    That was because this was a look that she really couldn''t show others.


    If anyone saw this, they would have been completely shocked by the look that she was showing.


    They would no longer think of her as the same flower that they had before.


    They would have only thought one thing after seeing her expression.


    Demon.


    In her mind, Leaf was thinking¡­


    "Ah, he really is something special. I bet he''s handsome too under that mask. I really want to possess him. I want to make him mine and then break him down until he''s absolutely loyal to me. Oh, I want him¡­"


    What others didn''t know was that she was someone that wanted


    And she was someone that didn''t give up on something that she wanted.


    ¡­


    "I know what you''re thinking, but it''s better this way. There''s no telling what she would have done and it''s better to have an ally than an enemy."


    I could see the way that the two of them were looking at me, so I just said this with a calm look on my face.


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    After I said this, it didn''t seem like they were going to believe me that easily as they continued staring at me.


    But I just kept staring back at them.


    Eventually, it felt like I had to say something else, so I just said, "It''s clear that she was hiding something. Even if I was to do something, there was no guarantee that we would have been able to do anything to them, right?"


    At this, Wang Rong and Iris finally relented.


    Iris said with a sigh, "I actually know that person."


    I was surprised to hear this since she hadn''t said anything about those five top contenders. I thought that she would be familiar with them as the daughter of two World Summoners, but she had never said anything about this which made it hard to ask her about it.


    "She''s definitely not normal."


    In the end, that was all Iris was willing to say even though I looked at her like I was trying to get more information out of her. However, it didn''t seem like she wanted to say anything else.


    So the only thing that we could do was head to the next Elite Monster.

 Chapter 181 Not one, but two

    The next Elite Monster was the one that I was actually worried about since the one that we were heading to was the one that the flying manta rays represented.


    I had no idea just what the next evolution of these flying manta rays were, but it didn''t seem like it would be anything good.


    If it was just a larger flying manta ray, then it would have been good.


    But it really didn''t feel like that¡­


    The flying manta rays had the same problem as the other monsters where they were restricted by their bloodline, making it hard for them to lead the way. But in the end, there was nothing that could go against the hypnosis of the Echo Bat.


    Before we arrived at the location where the Elite Monster should have been, we could already feel the mana fluctuations coming from that place.


    The powerful mana fluctuations that seemed to be coming from in front of us, it really seemed like whatever was in front of us was filled with power. But not just that, it seemed like it was even stronger than the other Elite Monsters that we faced before.


    Or that would have been the case if not for the fact that¡­


    It wasn''t the Elite Monster that was releasing this powerful mana fluctuation.


    Rather, it was two groups of humans that were releasing these mana fluctuations.


    Though it wasn''t the group itself that was releasing it, but rather the leaders of these two groups.


    As expected, there were also people that had gathered around this place for the Elite Monster, but they didn''t seem like they were planning on attacking the monster just yet.


    That was because they were all gathered around two groups.


    Those two groups were the surprising thing about this place since no one expected both of them to be here. Especially since both of them were not just normal top contenders, they were the ones that even normal top contenders feared.


    It was the Dark Knights Team and the Luminous Knights Team that were staring off against each other.


    Seeing that it was the two of them, I didn''t approach them.


    After all, I still remembered the way that those two teams stared at us when we had been drawing lots.


    I still remembered how they viewed us with interest even though we were a completely unknown team.


    It was better to remain out of the line of sight of these two teams.


    There was no telling what they were planning to do.


    Well, other than the stare off that they were currently having.


    It seemed that most people that arrived at this place moved to one side or another. There were a couple of teams that were standing on the side, watching over the confrontation between the two and not choosing a side, but there really weren''t that many of them.


    It was clear that most teams found it safer to follow one of these two teams.


    But at the same time, it didn''t seem like the Dark Knights Team or the Luminous Knights Team cared about them.


    The only thing that these two teams cared about was each other.


    It was as if only the other party could threaten them.


    There was a very awkward and tense silence that lingered in the air because of this.


    After a long while, there was finally something that broke the silence.


    It was the roar of something that came from above.


    Looking up, I noticed the Elite Monster that guarded this place floating there.


    If it wasn''t for it making a sound, I might have completely forgotten about it since I was so focused on the two top contender teams here.


    But this Elite Monster was a giant shark that was floating there in the sky while being surrounded by other manta rays.


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    There was this green wind that was elemental wind energy that surrounded it, which it seemed to control to fly there in the air.


    Before this, that flying shark had just remained floating there as if it was in some form of sleep mode. It was as if it wouldn''t wake up as long as nothing provoked it to make it wake up.


    But now it just suddenly woke up and gave a roar, causing all of the flying manta rays to also wake up.


    It was unknown what had caused this reaction with the flying shark and the flying manta rays, but since it happened, it wasn''t as if they could remain idle. They had to figure out a way to deal with the monsters that were now coming at them.


    The leaders of the Dark Knights Team and Luminous Knights Team just glared at each other one more time before turning around with snorts.


    After turning around, the two of them immediately drew their swords as familiars appeared behind them.


    The leader of the Dark Knights Team had a bear while the leader of the Luminous Knights Team had a white horse.


    The leader of the Luminous Knight Team was the one that made the first move as he jumped onto the white horse. Then there was a pair of wings that appeared on the sides of the horse, along with a horn on its forehead.


    With these wings, the white horse flew right into the sky to face the oncoming manta rays.


    The bear familiar of the leader of the Dark Knights Team didn''t attack, but rather wrapped itself around the leader of the Dark Knights Team. The moment that it did, it seemed to morph into some kind pelt that wrapped around him.


    In no time at all, there was this transformation where the leader of the Dark Knights Team took the form of a half bear half human creature. S~ea??h the n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    With a single roar, he jumped into the air to face the flying manta rays with sword in hand.


    It was a single slash from both of them.


    Then there were manta rays that dropped to the ground, having been sliced in half.

 Chapter 182 A bit too easy

    A single slash came from their swords, but there were many beams of sword glow that came out from both of their swords.


    This was sword energy that was condensed by their familiars in their swords.


    This was the power of the top two contender teams.


    It really seemed like they had the power to back this title.


    Once these manta rays fell, it seemed like there was a trace of hesitation that came from the rest of the manta rays. Sear?h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Unlike with the rest of the lackeys of Elite Monsters that I''ve seen before, it seemed like these ones actually felt fear. It seemed like the bloodline suppression of the flying shark wasn''t enough to suppress their fear.


    In the end, they still continued charging forward, but there wasn''t a single thing that they could do.


    That was because the rest of the Dark Knights Team and the Luminous Knights Team had given orders to those other teams that wanted to follow them. Even though these were just members of these two teams, they still had enough coercion that they listened to them.


    Many different familiars were summoned out as they charged at the manta rays that were coming down from the sky.


    The leaders of the Dark Knights Team and the Luminous Knights Team just ignored these manta rays.


    With the speed that they moved at, they were able to avoid the attacks and the manta rays themselves. They let them fall down on the other teams, so they would have to fight them instead and focused on the flying giant shark that was in the sky.


    It seemed that they only had this flying giant shark in their eyes after taking down that first group of manta rays.


    It was the same for the flying giant shark.


    After seeing the ease that the two of them took down the manta rays, it seemed to recognize them as the main threats here. It seemed like the flying giant shark could recognize the power that these two possessed, so it was trying to take them out first.


    As it came down, there were many different blades of wind that gathered around it, but none of them were fired out.


    With the way that the flying giant shark just gathered these blades of wind around itself, it was almost as if it was planning to rain these blades of wind down on the two that were coming up at it.


    But in the end, that wasn''t what happened.


    Instead of raining these wind blades down, the flying giant shark instead sent it all around itself. With the way that these wind blades scattered, it seemed that it was trying to create an area filled with these wind blades.


    Even though it charged right at its enemy, the flying giant shark seemed like it was still fighting with its brain rather than with its might.


    Only that didn''t matter when it faced these two.


    The two leaders didn''t seem fazed at all when they saw these wind blades around them, they just kept charging forward at the flying giant shark as if they felt no threat from them.


    The flying giant shark wasn''t just going to let them approach like this, so it gave another roar and the wind blades suddenly changed directions. All of them were focused on the two leaders.


    A single slash from both of them.


    That was all that it took from the two of them to break through this cage of wind blades that had formed around them.


    The flying giant shark seemed like it was caught off guard by the fact that its attacks had been stopped that easily, but it quickly started gathering the wind once more.


    It was just that it wasn''t able to gather that wind fast enough.


    Before the wind could finish gathering, the two leaders had already reached the flying giant shark. The only thing that it could do in response was to create a wall of wind around itself to defend against these attacks.


    But it had no effect against the attacks of the two leaders. The sword energy that they released was just too sharp for the wall of wind to stop.


    These slashes of sword energy cut right through the wall of wind that was generated.


    It even cut right through the skin of the flying giant shark in the end, though the cut didn''t seem that deep. It seemed that the wall of wind had stopped the power of the slashes of sword energy to a certain degree, but it wasn''t enough to negate it.


    Only the wind was completely scattered after these sword slashes cut it apart.


    At the same time, it wasn''t as if the two of them stopped attacking the giant flying shark.


    The attack that they used just now was only a weak one that could be used casually.


    That meant that it was easy for them to continue attacking.


    Even with the flying manta rays coming forward to protect it, the giant flying shark just wasn''t able to break free of the attacks coming at it from the two leaders.


    They seemed like they were playing with it with how easily they trapped it.


    There was nothing that anyone else could do.


    In the end¡­


    "Roar¡­"


    There was one roar that was filled with anger and unwillingness as the giant shark fell to the ground. It seemed like it wanted to struggle, but there just wasn''t anything that it could do in the face of these two.


    Once that giant shark fell to the ground, the rest of the manta rays hesitated for a second before turning to run.


    This was completely different from all of the other Elite Monsters that I encountered.


    There was no indignation or anything after the Elite Monster died, there was just acceptance that they couldn''t beat these two.


    Their survival instincts overcame their loyalty towards the giant shark.


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    That was the only thing that I could think after seeing them take down the giant shark like this.

 Chapter 183 Shaking castle

    There wasn''t a single person that moved after the giant flying shark fell to the ground.


    Normally, this would have been the time when people would have tried to push their luck by stealing the loot that dropped from this Elite Monster.


    Even in the face of power, human greed was something that could push people to do things that they wouldn''t normally do.


    It was just that the power that these two demonstrated was just too far beyond the realm of humans that no one actually dared to make a move. They all knew that the moment that they made this move, they would immediately regret it.


    So the only thing that they could do was silently watch as the two leaders of the group just glared at each other.


    Neither of them actually moved towards the corpse of the giant flying shark.


    It wasn''t that they didn''t care about it since that was the reason why they had come here in the first place.


    But because of what happened, they had killed it at the same time.


    It was two slashes that cut the giant flying shark down in the end and they came from the two leaders of the Dark Knights Team and the Luminous Knights Team. These two attacks had even hit the giant flying shark at the same time, so it was even harder to tell exactly who finished it off.


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    One could even argue that they finished it off at the same time.


    It was just that neither of them seemed to be willing to accept this kind of ending.


    It seemed that they would rather die than accept this ending.


    So they had to come up with some way to decide who was the one that would take credit for killing this Elite Monster.


    It really didn''t seem like they were going to be able to decide at first, but then the giant flying shark''s corpse turned into loot.


    There were two items that dropped in front of them.


    The two of them just looked at the items for a minute before suddenly reaching out at the same time. The two of them both grabbed an item for themselves.


    It was lucky that they didn''t go for the same item.


    Though what it seemed like was that they both went for the item that interested them more. S§×ar?h the N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The two of them seemed to know what these items were even without appraising them, which meant that they were able to choose the one that they wanted without a problem.


    After taking the item that they wanted, they gave each other one last look before turning around with snorts.


    It seemed like neither of them were willing to fight with each other just yet.


    It seemed that both of them were biding their time until the end of this dungeon.


    Seeing this, everyone let out a sigh of relief.


    They had seen the power that these two wielded and if they were to fight here and now, there was no doubt that they would have gotten caught up in it. If they were to get caught up in this¡­being injured was the best case scenario and the worst case scenario was that they would die.


    That was just how bad it was to be caught up in their fight and no one wanted that.


    After the leaders of the two teams turned around, they waved at their companions to follow them.


    There were other teams that wanted to follow them as well, but they were stopped by the glares of the leaders. As soon as these glares fell on them, they had no choice but to back down and stop following them.


    They knew that they hadn''t gotten close enough to actually follow these two teams, so they had no choice in the matter.


    But to everyone''s surprise, both the Dark Knights Team and the Luminous Knights Team stopped once they were a certain distance from each other.


    Both the leaders of the teams suddenly turned in a specific direction.


    I was the one that was the most caught off guard by this since the direction that they were looking in was mine. Both of them suddenly looked at me as if they had noticed that I was there.


    I had been hiding a distance away while watching everything happen.


    I hadn''t even made a move since I knew that there was nothing to gain from making a move against these two. These two were just too strong for me to play any tricks on them and using my full power before the final battle was just exposing myself.


    So why would they suddenly look at me like this?


    I didn''t want any part of them¡­


    But before either of them could say a single thing, there was this trembling that came from under my feet. This trembling didn''t just happen under me, but it happened under everyone.


    It was the entire castle that was trembling all of a sudden.


    Everyone immediately stopped paying attention to me when this tremor came over the castle and they looked around as they tried to find the source of the trembling. But no matter how they looked around, they weren''t able to find a single thing.


    It didn''t seem like the tremors that went through the castle had anything to do with the things that were in this place.


    It seemed that these tremors were related to something completely different.


    After a while, those tremors came to a stop.


    Once they came to a stop, leaders of the Dark Knights Team and the Luminous Knights Team seemed to have realized something and took off in two different directions.


    Though before they left, they turned to look in my direction one more time as if they were still interested in me.


    But they didn''t remain interested for long as they headed off in their separate directions.


    I also didn''t remain here any longer since I wanted to know what those tremors were and to do that, it was to find out more about this dungeon.


    The ones that knew the most about this dungeon were the monsters that lived here and the gnomes seemed to have the most knowledge.


    So that was who I was going to ask.

 Chapter 184 History of the castle

    After leaving the area where the giant flying shark was, I suddenly stopped.


    The other two looked at me, but it didn''t seem like they were surprised that I had suddenly stopped like this.


    They just took a moment to look around before looking back at me as if they were waiting for orders.


    Shaking my head with a smile, I just gave a simple snap.


    The moment that I gave this snap, there were screams of pain that came from the distance. Then following these screams, there were two other teams of humans that came out of hiding.


    These two teams had been following us since we left the area where the giant flying shark was. They thought that they had hidden themselves, but they couldn''t hide from the Echo Bat.


    The Echo Bat''s echolocation was just too sharp for them to hide from.


    Once their position was exposed, it was easy for me to send the monsters under my control after them. They were able to sneak up behind these humans and attack them from behind without a single problem.


    Though just a single unguarded attack wasn''t enough to take them down.


    That was why Wang Rong and Iris went forward.


    "You! You''re working with the monsters?!" They said when they saw us surrounding them with the monsters that attacked from behind them. With the way that we attacked in sync with the monsters, it was clear that we were working together.


    But there was something that had to be corrected.


    "They''re working for me." I said in a cold voice.


    In the end, they didn''t get a chance to say anything as Wang Rong subdued them with a few slaps of his sword.


    We didn''t kill them, but we found the tokens that represented their teams and destroyed them.


    Since they were planning on doing the same to us, there was no reason for us to show them any mercy.


    Once those tokens were crushed, they were transported out of the dungeon and disappeared without a trace.


    Even before they disappeared, we had already started moving.


    There was no reason to pay any attention to these people, there was something more important to take care of.


    It didn''t take us long after that to arrive at where our first gnome was. But we found that it wasn''t just the first gnome, but several other gnomes that were here as well.


    It seemed that they had moved their machines over to where the first gnome was.


    With the way that they set things up, it really seemed like some kind of factory with the way that they were producing sets of living armour.


    This definitely wasn''t what I had told them to do, but I didn''t stop them.


    After all, this seemed like they were producing sets of living armour faster than before.


    I didn''t know what the shaking of the castle was, but it was definitely a sign that something was going to happen. So it was best if we could create a larger army as soon as possible.


    The more soldiers that we had, the better chances we would have in dealing with whatever was about to come.


    The other way of preparing for what was about to come was to get as much information as possible.


    "What do you know about this castle? Tell me everything that you know."


    That was the order that I gave to the gnomes.


    The gnomes were surprised to hear me asking this question and they looked at each other as if they didn''t know what to do at first. But eventually the first gnome that I controlled went over to dig something out of one of the cupboards.


    After pulling this thing out, he held it in front of himself to show us what was written.


    The problem was that it was written in a language that we didn''t recognize at all. So even if the gnome was showing us the book, it wasn''t as if we understood what was written on it.


    Luckily, it seemed that there were some pictures that were on some of the pages.


    It was hard to tell what these pictures were of at first, but eventually we were able to figure it out.


    "So there was only a single castle in the beginning?" I asked after looking at these pictures for a bit.


    The gnome nodded to confirm this.


    "After that, there were different castles that slammed into this castle and merged together? That''s why there are those different kinds of monsters that live in this place?"


    The gnome once again nodded in confirmation.


    So it was as I had expected, this place really was a mish mash of different themes. It was just that the reason for this was different from what I had expected.


    This was an amalgam of many different dungeons that had clashed together with the original Castle in the Sky that was this dungeon. That was why the part of the castle that the ogres lived in was completely different from the part that the gnomes and the manta rays lived in.


    Perhaps that was why this castle had become such a high ranking dungeon in the first place.


    Perhaps it was only because they had combined into one that had allowed this dungeon to gather so much mana in one place to rank up.


    But there was still something that I had to question.


    "What about the original castle? Why was it floating in the sky in the first place? As well, which group of monsters were the ones that lived in that castle?"


    The gnome had a confused look when he heard this.


    He turned the book around and flipped through it a few times, but he seemed like he wasn''t able to find anything. sea??h th§× n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


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    In the end, he looked up at me and just shook his head to show that he didn''t know.


    To a certain extent, I had already expected this.


    This book was most likely something that the gnomes created from their memories, so it wasn''t the memories of everyone that lived in this castle.

 Chapter 185 Ground splitting

    I turned to look at the ogres and the manta rays, but they had far less intelligence than the gnomes.


    So even if I asked them the question, it wasn''t as if they would have an answer for me.


    It wasn''t like they had a book detailing their history like the gnome did.


    But at the very least, this gave me a direction to head in.


    "Can you take me to where the first castle was? I need to see if I can find anything there."


    The gnome gave a nod in response.


    Even the ogres and manta rays seemed to nod in response, as if they could fulfill this order as well.


    It really seemed like all of them knew exactly where this first castle was. S§×ar?h the Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Since that was the case, then I''ll just let them lead me there.


    Or I would have if not for the fact that the castle started shaking again.


    As soon as the tremors came, I immediately gave the order, "Secure yourselves and make sure that you''re not harmed."


    Wang Rong seemed to take this quite seriously as he came in front of me and Iris while lifting up his sword. It seemed that he was prepared to stop whatever would be coming at us because of these tremors.


    It was just that there wasn''t a single thing that came at us in the end.


    The tremors shook the castle, but it didn''t seem like it did anything other than that.


    Or that was what we thought at first until we came out of the room that we were in.


    "Did you strengthen this room?" I asked the first gnome who nodded to confirm this.


    Then I looked at the corridor that was in front of me.


    This corridor was completely filled with cracks.


    It seemed that the shaking of the castle had caused these cracks to form in the walls, roof, and floor of the castle. It didn''t seem like the castle was able to hold up to much more shaking as the cracks seemed quite serious.


    It seemed like it was only a matter of time before the rest of the castle collapsed because of the shaking. Experience tales at My Virtual Library Empire


    While I had no idea what was happening, it was clear that something big was happening in this castle or there wouldn''t be such a large change. It was clear that something was about to happen.


    So before that, it was best to get as much information as possible.


    "Let''s go. We need to hurry." I said to the others before leaving the room.


    But it wasn''t as if I would be able to lead the way since I didn''t know where we were going in the first place.


    At least these words woke up the monsters that had also been dazed because of the scene in the corridor. Once they woke up, they immediately started leading the way.


    With how they tried to outpace each other, it was almost as if they were competing with each other on who could lead the way the best.


    I didn''t mind since this just meant that we would be able to reach our destination sooner.


    As we headed down the corridors, I could see that there were many different cracks that were scattered all around. It really seemed like it was a matter of time before this castle collapsed on itself with how many cracks were around us.


    It really seemed like it wouldn''t take long for whatever was about to happen to happen.


    There even seemed to be less monsters wandering around in the corridors, though that was unknown if it was because of the other teams or because of what was happening in this place.


    But eventually, there seemed to be no monsters at all.


    I looked at the gnomes, ogres, and manta rays, but it didn''t seem like they were surprised by this. It seemed that this was how this place was supposed to be.


    Did that mean that there were no monsters from the first castle?


    Or did it mean that whoever should have been the residents of this place had been chased out by the others, which was why there was no one here anymore.


    It was unknown what the reason was, but it was a fact that this place was completely abandoned.


    It even seemed quite messy compared to the rest of the castle.


    It really seemed like this place had been abandoned for a long time.


    But that was even more strange since the dungeon was a mass of mana that was created by an unknown source. The one thing that was known was that it would always return to a certain state after a while.


    That was why it was strange that this place was so messy and abandoned like this.


    It really didn''t seem to make any sense at all¡­


    At the same time, it didn''t seem like there were any clues here at all.


    Since they had already led us to this place, the monsters suddenly stopped leading the way and waited to see what I would do.


    Then once I was done searching this place, I deeply knitted my brows.


    Every lead that I had turned out to be fruitless, so I was just left even more confused as to what this Castle in the Sky was. It didn''t seem to make any sense that this place would be abandoned like this.


    Then a thought suddenly ran through my mind.


    "What about the reason why this place is flying in the first place? Why would there be a single castle drifting through the air like this for no reason? There wouldn''t be something like this floating there for no reason¡­"


    A trap?


    That was the only conclusion that I could come to at the end of this.


    Looking around, I could see that there weren''t any cracks that were in this place.


    It was only the places where the other monsters were that were filled with cracks.


    "Crap, this might be bad."

 Chapter 186 Shell

    Right after I said this, there was another tremble that shook the castle.


    But this time, it didn''t seem to be as strong.


    Only that was because of the place that we were currently in.


    This castle that was the first castle to be floating was attached to something that caused it to float. And that thing that it was attached to was actually the thing that had created this Castle in the Sky.


    Though why it had done that¡­it was hard to tell.


    The only thing that mattered was that whatever it was that had created this place was the one that was responsible for the tremors that shook the castle.


    If I had to guess, it was most likely the Boss Monster of this dungeon.


    The tremors seemed to be getting stronger and we could hear the sounds of something breaking.


    Looking out the window, we could see that there were bits of the castle that were falling off and floating off into space. From the windows of those parts, I could also see that there were other humans that were trapped and thrown out.


    It seemed that they had been discarded from the main castle.


    But I wasn''t worried about them since everyone that came into this dungeon had received that special item that would send them out. Even if it meant losing all the points that they worked hard for, it was better than losing their lives.


    Right now, the important thing was that whatever formed this Castle in the Sky was casting off the parts that had crashed into its castle.


    It was waking up and would soon take its true form.


    I couldn''t help wondering just what this thing was.


    However, while I was wondering about this, I suddenly saw something appear.


    It was a large thing that seemed to be coming out of the ground.


    It wasn''t that wide and it seemed to stretch out quite far.


    Looking at it carefully, I soon realized that this thing was a head and it didn''t actually seem to be coming out of the ground. It seemed to be rising from the border of the castle, where the edge of the ground that the castle was on was.


    It almost seemed like it was attached to the ground and the castle with the way that it stuck out.


    I had to look carefully at this head for a moment to finally realize what it was. sea??h th§× n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "A¡­turtle head?" I said in a confused voice, almost as if I wasn''t certain of what I was seeing.


    When Wang Rong and Iris heard this, the two of them looked at me with a strange look before carefully looking at the head that was outside the window. It was only after they stared at it for a while that they finally slowly nodded in agreement.


    It took them a while to confirm it, but they could see that it was indeed as I said.


    It was hard to believe, but they could see that it was indeed a turtle head.


    But if that was a turtle head that was sticking out, then did that mean¡­


    I couldn''t help looking at the castle around us with a very strange look, but the pieces of the puzzle were slowly clicking into place.


    This turtle was the real identity of the Castle in the Sky!


    But how could an entire creature be turned into a dungeon like this?


    It really didn''t seem to make any sense at all¡­


    Even though it didn''t make sense, this was the reality of the situation. At the same time, it also raised quite the problem¡­


    If this turtle was the Boss Monster and we had to defeat it, what would happen after it was defeated?


    In a normal dungeon, what would happen is that the Boss Monster would turn into loot and disappear. But the problem was that this turtle was the thing that we were standing on, so it would be a very big problem if it were to disappear all of a sudden.


    So how were we supposed to clear this dungeon in the first place?


    No, it would be impossible for them to send us into a dungeon that would be impossible to clear. So there had to be some kind of way to defeat this giant turtle without everyone falling to their death.


    Well, other than having to use the tokens to escape the dungeon¡­


    While these thoughts ran through my mind, the turtle continued showing its true form. It wasn''t just the head that appeared, it was also the four limbs of the turtle that made an appearance.


    With each limb that appeared, it seemed like more of the castle was being destroyed. Well, other than the main castle which was the shell of the turtle that was attached to the turtle.


    Unless it shed its shell, we weren''t going anywhere.


    Once the turtle revealed itself, it suddenly turned its head to look at the pieces of the castle that had broken off from the main castle.


    When it did, its mouth suddenly opened and it seemed to take a deep breath.


    With this breath, there was this intense suction force that came out. The monsters that were in that part of the castle weren''t able to do anything as they were pulled in.


    Even those summoners that were there found it very hard to resist that suction force. Some of them had no choice as they were pulled out into the air, so they had to destroy their tokens and be sent out of the dungeon.


    The monsters that were pulled into the air weren''t as lucky as they were sucked right into the mouth of the turtle.


    After pulling a bunch of these monsters in, the turtle suddenly closed its mouth and started to chew.


    This made things very clear.


    It explained why the turtle allowed all of those intruders to live on its back like that.


    It had gathered them as food for itself.

 Chapter 187 Cores (1)

    At the same time, it also helped to explain why the turtle had suddenly awakened.


    Since the intruders on its back, the monsters that filled this dungeon had been gathered as food, it naturally reacted to the death of the Elite Monsters.


    Those Elite Monsters could be considered the main course.


    That was why the castle had suddenly shaken when the giant flying shark was killed.


    The ones that died before weren''t enough to alert it, but the death of the third Elite Monster meant that more than half of the Elite Monsters in the dungeon were dead.


    As for the second and third tremors, those came from the other Elite Monsters being slain.


    There were still the Fire God Team and the Shining Bolts Team that were walking around in the dungeon. It wasn''t as if they would remain idle, they would still move against the Elite Monsters that were here.


    They were more than capable of killing those Elite Monsters.


    The turtle head had been chewing for a while, but then it suddenly turned to look at another part of the castle that was flying away.


    The same thing happened where it started taking a deep breath and drew in all of the monsters from that part of the castle.


    Looking at that part, it seemed like it seemed familiar.


    "Clank kacha."


    All of the living armour suddenly collapsed to the ground and a bitter smile appeared on my lips when I saw that.


    I knew it seemed familiar and I had been correct. It had been the place where the gnomes had been. That was the place where their workshop was.


    So now that the gnomes had been sucked up by the turtle, that meant that there was no one left to control these sets of living armour.


    A third of my army collapsed just like this¡­


    But then there was another group that suddenly disappeared from my army.


    It was the flying manta rays that suddenly left our group.


    It was a sudden change that overcame them as their eyes started to glow. There was this blue glow that came over their eyes and completely enveloped it.


    Once that glow completely filled their eyes, the manta rays headed towards the windows. Without any explanation or warning, they flew out those windows towards the turtle head.


    The Echo Bat reacted right away when the manta rays wanted to fly away, but it seemed that it didn''t have an effect. Even though the Echo Bat tried to control the manta rays to stop them, they just completely ignored the Echo Bat.


    This seemed to be some kind of innate suppression on the manta rays, one that was impossible to overcome with hypnosis. Or at least it was impossible for the current level of the Echo Bat.


    I patted the Echo Bat on its head when it looked depressed after failing to control the manta rays to comfort it, but my eyes were still on the manta rays.


    Looking at them closely, I could see that they were flying right at the turtle head. However, it didn''t seem like the manta rays were planning on attacking the turtle head.


    After reaching the turtle head, the manta rays flew around it for a bit before suddenly going towards the next part of the castle that the turtle head turned towards.


    The turtle head didn''t immediately start using the suction force on that part of the castle. Instead, the manta rays were sent out at that part of the castle.


    They flew in through the windows and attacked the humans that were there. It didn''t seem like they cared about the monsters that were there at all, it seemed that they only cared about the humans.


    The turtle seemed to have recognized that the humans were the ones that it couldn''t suck up, so it was sending out these manta rays to deal with the humans ahead of time.


    Once they were dead, it would be easy to suck them up.


    The humans didn''t seem afraid of the manta rays at first, but then they realized that they were completely mistaken about these manta rays.


    It was clear that they had met the manta rays before as they moved in a certain way to deal with the manta rays. But these manta rays moved in a completely different way from what they expected.


    The manta rays seemed like they were far more coordinated than before with the way that they moved.


    It was even more coordinated than the way that they moved when they were under me.


    It was as if there was some kind of innate instinct that was awakened in the manta rays.


    "So they were the originals." I couldn''t help muttering under my breath when I saw this.


    It was even further proved by the shaking of the castle when the giant flying shark had been killed.


    That giant flying shark must have been the guardian of this turtle.


    Even though the manta rays caught them off guard, the manta rays just weren''t able to completely overwhelm the humans. The humans seemed more than capable of repelling the manta rays.


    Seeing this, the turtle suddenly opened its mouth and everyone prepared for the suction force to come out.


    But it never came. sea??h th§× N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Instead, there were a bunch of manta rays that suddenly came out of the mouth of the turtle. These were the same manta rays that had been attacking the humans, but there seemed to be even more of them.


    So in the first place, the manta rays came from the turtle.


    In a sense, they could be considered the turtle''s children.


    But it was more accurate to say that they were a part of the turtle itself. After all, they came right from the insides of the turtle.


    It was more that they were the internal defense system of the turtle.


    They were like its white blood cells that attacked any intruders that attacked the turtle.


    And right now, the target of these white blood cells were the humans.

 Chapter 188 Cores (2)

    Eventually, the humans were completely overwhelmed by the manta rays that were sent out.


    The manta rays that were newly born from the turtle were even stronger than the ones that had attacked before.


    It seemed that the manta rays that had been in the castle before were ones that had lost a lot of their power after being left there for so long.


    The manta rays that were newly born were more than three times stronger than the mantas rays from before.


    After being attacked like this for a while, they just couldn''t take it anymore.


    In the end, there wasn''t a single human that was left in that castle. The manta rays just weren''t strong enough to completely overwhelm them to the point where they were killed.


    So they were able to escape with the tokens.


    Though it seemed that there were many that were unwilling with how blood dropped all over the place.


    They didn''t want to give up that easily as arrogant talented youths of the country.


    Once all of the humans were gone, the manta rays flew back to the turtle head. Once the manta rays were out of the way, the turtle took a deep breath and sucked up the monsters that were in that part of the castle.


    They didn''t even bother resisting when they were sucked up like this. The looks on their faces was as if they had just given up on life as they were sucked up.


    The Elite Monsters were the leaders of these monster races. So the moment that they were lost, the different monster races were like headless chicken.


    They just couldn''t do anything against the overwhelming power wielded by the turtle.


    Once the turtle was done, the manta rays seemed like they had been released. They no longer circled around the head of the circle and moved back to the castle on its back.


    It was hard to tell where they were going, but I had Wang Rong dangle me out the window just so I could see where they were going. I saw that there was a window that seemed to be releasing a glow that the manta rays entered.


    It wasn''t just a single window, it was several different windows that they split up and entered. There were a total of five windows that they entered.


    It really was hard to see this all while being hung out the window, but I was able to find them in the end.


    Each of the windows seemed to be close to the head and the limbs of the turtle.


    Before I even landed on the ground, I was already moving.


    Wang Rong and Iris had surprised looks, but they still followed me when I called for them.


    The place that I was heading towards was the room with the closest glowing window. I wanted to see just what the glowing was coming from.


    Though it was hard to find the room just based on the glowing that we saw outside. Eventually we were able to find that place because of a faint glow coming from the bottom of one of the doors.


    If it wasn''t for that, we might not have actually found the room.


    It really was interesting how tight these doors were that they were able to hide this light.


    It was even more shocking when we opened the door since the glow coming from the object in the center of the room really was intense. It was amazing that the door had been able to keep that glow suppressed.


    But the main thing was the thing that the glow was coming from.


    It was some sort of crystal that seemed to be connected to the ground.


    When one looked at it closely, they could see that there was some kind of energy that was flowing from the ground into that crystal. It seemed that whatever this crystal was, it was taking in energy from the turtle.


    At the same time, there were all these manta rays that were gathered around the crystal.


    As they gathered around the crystal, they seemed to be taking energy from the crystal itself. It was as if this crystal was a source of energy that was powering the manta rays.


    The manta rays didn''t seem to notice us at first, but then they all suddenly turned to look at us.


    The moment that they did, it was if they suddenly noticed that we were standing there by the door. Then right after that, the reaction that they had towards us was one that was filled with hostility.


    It seemed that they recognized us as threats the moment that they saw us, so they immediately started attacking us.


    The manta rays just suddenly gathered their wind energy around them.


    These manta rays weren''t the same ones that I had controlled with the Echo Bat previously, these were newly spawned manta rays that came from the turtle. So they didn''t show a single trace of recognition towards us as they faced us.


    But at the same time, it didn''t seem like the Echo Bat''s hypnosis was of any use at all towards these manta rays. It seemed that they were fully under the control of the turtle with the way that they ignored the Echo Bat.


    Since they were charging at us, there really was no other choice but to send the ogres since they were the only ones that were still under my control.


    "I should have taken control of more of them." A part of me said this with a trace of bitterness deep down.


    The problem was that the ogres were actually weaker than the manta rays now.


    The manta rays had been empowered by the turtle, so they were much stronger than before. Individually, the ogres just couldn''t match the manta rays on their own and were being overpowered by them.


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    But with the support from Wang Rong, Iris, and myself, we were able to take down the manta rays.


    Only that came with a few losses¡­


    However, that didn''t matter at the moment. sea??h th§× N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    For now, the most important thing was seeing what this glowing crystal was.

 Chapter 189 Cores (3)

    We looked at the glowing crystal for a while, trying to figure out just what this thing was.


    But in the end, we weren''t able to figure out a single thing.


    While the crystal itself seemed special because of the glow around it, it didn''t actually seem like this crystal did anything.


    Well, other than seemingly giving power to the manta rays earlier.


    This crystal was without a doubt connected to the turtle in some way with the flow of mana and the reaction that it had with the manta rays. Though it was hard to tell exactly what the connection between this crystal and the turtle was.


    At the very least, that meant that this was a place to start.


    After observing this crystal for a bit, I suddenly pulled out the bone sword and slashed at the crystal.


    I didn''t know if it would work, but I was certainly surprised by what happened.


    It wasn''t that the crystal broke or that the crystal completely resisted the slash. Rather, the slash seemed to go right through the crystal and then the crystal reattached itself.


    It was as if the crystal had been split, but then repaired itself before the damage could become permanent.


    If one didn''t see it with their own eyes, then it would have been hard to believe it.


    By the end, it seemed like there wasn''t anything that had happened to the crystal, even though a sword had just gone through it. It had completely repaired itself and had returned to normal.


    After looking at the crystal for a bit, I suddenly swung the bone sword at it a few more times.


    It was just that every time the bone sword made contact with the crystal, the same thing happened where the sword would go right through it without damaging it. It was clear that I wouldn''t be able to actually cut the sword like this.


    Even when I cut it from the base as if I wanted to separate the crystal from the ground, there was nothing that happened.


    It just repaired itself like all the other times that I slashed this crystal.


    It really didn''t make sense how this crystal was able to repair itself again and again like this, but that didn''t mean that I stopped slashing at it. That was because while I was slashing at the crystal, I was also looking carefully at it to see how it reattached itself each time.


    I was looking carefully at the gap to see what was happening between the two halves of the crystal.


    All I saw was that there was a current of mana to where the split was and then it seemed to grow the part that was cut. This part grew to grab the other half and then reattached itself like nothing happened.


    It was as if it was growing over the parts that were being separated.


    Once I was certain that this was the case, I stopped slashing at the crystal with the bone sword since I knew that there was nothing that I could do with this sword alone.


    Instead, I said, "Burn it."


    As soon as I said this, the ogre all around me suddenly breathed fire at the crystal.


    Since I couldn''t break it with physical force, the only thing that I could do was try to destroy it with something that wasn''t physical. Instead, I was going to burn this crystal to ashes.


    Only before the fire that the ogres breathed out could even reach the crystal, there seemed to be an intense glow that came from it.


    It was hard to keep staring at the crystal when it released this intense glow, but I forced myself to watch as a barrier appeared around the crystal. That barrier promptly stopped all of the flames that approached it, so that not a single spark reached it.


    All of the flames were easily scattered by the barrier that the crystal released.


    Once all of the flames were gone, the barrier disappeared and the crystal returned to normal. Continue your journey on My Virtual Library Empire


    It didn''t seem like there was anything that we could do to destroy this crystal.


    But at the same time, it didn''t seem like there was anything that the crystal could do to attack us. It seemed like the only thing that the crystal could do was defend itself from all attacks.


    "Alright, let''s stop here for now. There are still the others that we have to find." I said as a bad feeling filled me.


    I made sure to look out the window and it seemed like the turtle head was still occupied with something else even though we had attacked this crystal. But when I looked closely, I could see that there was another pack of manta rays that were heading in this direction.


    It seemed like they were rushing over to protect the crystal.


    At the same time, it seemed like there were far more of them than before.


    This might be dangerous to us if we had to fight in this place.


    So I quickly led everyone out of this place and closed the door behind us. After leaving that room, we went to the surrounding rooms and hid there while waiting for the manta rays to come.


    But in the end, it didn''t seem like the manta rays were chasing after us.


    It didn''t even seem like they left the room that the crystal was in.


    From the window, we could see that the manta rays seemed to be staying in that room as if they were guarding the crystal. But after a while, it seemed like they had lost their patience as they left the room again and went back to the turtle head.


    After going back to the turtle head, they went to another part of the castle that had been cast off and started attacking the humans again.


    It seemed that for now, we were safe.


    It was just that we still had no idea what that crystal was¡­ sea??h th§× N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    But after considering it, I said, "Let''s go and find the other rooms for now. We need to see what''s in them."

 Chapter 190 Unexpected and expected allies (1)

    From what I saw outside the window, I was able to figure out the location of the rooms with glowing windows.


    Though it was certainly hard to pinpoint exact locations when being hung out the window like that.


    At least the general locations would show where to go. After that, it was all about looking for the glows from the bottom of the doors.


    With that, we would be able to find the locations of the other crystals.


    But before we could run into that, we actually bumped into something else.


    Since we were moving through the castle, we were covering quite a bit of area.


    I didn''t think that others had come to this place as well, but it turned out that this wasn''t the case as we bumped into another group of humans. It was just a good thing that the Echo Bat found that other group of humans before we actually bumped into them.


    So I was able to hide the ogres from sight before actually bumping into them.


    When we made contact with these people, what we didn''t expect was¡­


    "Are you looking for a way out? Let''s work together then."


    The first thing that they offered was an alliance to find a way out of this place.


    Judging by the looks on their faces and the body language that they had, it seemed like they were quite sincere in this matter. In fact, it even seemed like they were panicking a bit because of how much the situation changed.


    I didn''t answer right away since I didn''t know how useful these people would be, but after thinking about it¡­


    It didn''t really matter if they were useful or not right now.


    Right now, it was just better to have more people come along since there were quite a few of the manta rays. At the same time, more brains would help figure out just what that crystal was.


    Before I could actually agree, a voice suddenly said, "So you''re here as well. We should work together."


    I couldn''t help being surprised since this was a voice that I recognized, which was why I didn''t put up my guard when everyone else did.


    As if they were appearing from the void, there was a familiar face that suddenly appeared out of nowhere. It really seemed like they were being revealed bit by bit with the way that they slowly appeared.


    Once they revealed themselves, everyone slowly lowered their guards as well.


    The other team was because they knew that they wouldn''t be able to do anything against these people. Our team let our guards down a bit since I had already agreed to ally with these people.


    It was Leaf and the World Tree Team that suddenly appeared.


    After appearing, Leaf walked over to me with the same smile on her face as she said, "This has really become a big problem, hasn''t it? Had you been expecting this earlier?"


    She almost said this as if she was teasing me, but I just calmly shook my head.


    At that, she gave a nod before saying, "Well, none of us would have expected something like this. Even those of us that had obtained information about this dungeon previously never would have expected this."


    Then in a more serious voice, Leaf said, "Though that does beggar the question. Since there were those that could bring back information about the dungeon, did that mean that they left before waking up the Boss Monster or did they figure out a way to defeat the Boss Monster." After a pause, she said with another faint smile, "I''m more inclined to believe that it''s the latter since someone must have cleared the dungeon or else there would have been a dungeon break by now. So I guess there must be a way of getting out of here after waking up that turtle."


    I had to agree with the things that she said, but it wasn''t as if I could actually think of an answer to the questions that she posed.


    Seeing that I didn''t say anything, Leaf didn''t seem to mind as she suddenly turned around and said, "Alright, let''s go and meet some people. It''s not as if we can clear this dungeon on our own, right?"


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    I was surprised to hear this, but it wasn''t as if there was anything that I could say as Leaf was already walking away with the World Tree Team. It didn''t seem like she was giving me an opinion on this matter at all.


    The other team looked at us with strange looks since they saw the way that Leaf talked to us.


    Shaking my head and giving a sigh, I said, "Come, let''s go together. You want to work together with us, right?"


    I also didn''t care about what their response was as I followed Leaf and the World Tree Team.


    In the end, all of us headed in the direction that Leaf led us in.


    From time to time, we bumped into the groups that also started to follow us.


    It seemed that there were quite a few teams that had made it to this place and had been scattered around the castle.


    It was surprising that we hadn''t bumped into any of them before this with how many of them there were. There were a few familiar faces since we had encountered them when we were facing the Elite Monsters earlier, but there were more unfamiliar faces.


    After following Leaf for a while, we suddenly arrived in a large hall. sea??h th§× nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    There were already people that were gathered in this large hall and there were still others that were entering the hall at the same time as us. It seemed that anyone that was still in this dungeon was being gathered here.


    At the very center of this hall were four teams that I recognized.


    That was because these were the other four top contender teams.


    It seemed that all of them had made it here in time and even seemed like they were the ones that were gathering people.

 Chapter 191 - 191: Unexpected and expected allies (2)

    When they saw Leaf approach, the other leaders of the top contender teams all turned to look at her.


    But there were some that looked somewhere else after a while.


    One of them was Huang Tuo.


    As for the one that he was looking at¡­it was naturally me.


    In fact, it seemed like he was more interested in me than he was in Leaf and the World Tree Team. It was just that it wasn''t a good thing that he was interested in me, it was because he had hostility towards me that he was looking at me.


    It seemed that he still remembered what happened with the Master Gnome and held a grudge over it. sea??h th§× N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The other two that looked elsewhere were the leaders of the Dark Knights Team and the Luminous Knights Team.


    I was surprised by the two of them staring right at me.


    They had been looking at Leaf and the World Tree Team at first, but then they suddenly turned their gazes to me.


    The way that they looked at me was as if they thought that there was something special about me.


    But there was nothing special about me that I had shown during this time. There was no reason that they should have been looking at me like this¡­


    Since I had attracted the attention of three of these top contenders¡­No, four of the top contenders since I came with Leaf and the World Tree Team, it was only natural that I attracted the attention of the last top contender as well, even though I had no connection to them.


    At the same time, I also attracted the attention of many of the other teams.


    Many of them had confused looks since they had no idea why I was the center of attention like this.


    But eventually all that attention was taken away from me when the leader of the Luminous Knights Team said, "I''m sure that we all know why we''re gathered here."


    The leader of the Dark Knights Team followed up with, "Since we''re here, let''s discuss the terms of our cooperation."


    The way that the two of them spoke was as if this was already something that was set in stone. It was as if no matter what anyone else said, it wouldn''t change their minds or the minds of anyone else.


    In short, they just didn''t care about anyone else''s opinion on the matter.


    But there was no one that objected to this.


    Everyone had seen what had happened and knew that they wouldn''t be able to take on that turtle alone. They had even seen how the other teams had been overwhelmed by the manta rays that the turtle controlled, so they knew that they wouldn''t be able to get out of this alone.


    Now that the five top contenders were even willing to work with them, that gave them more confidence.


    Though absolute loyalty was definitely impossible.


    This was just an alliance of convenience because of the situation that they were in. If someone had the opportunity to steal the kill on the final boss, there was no doubt that they would do it.


    Of course, the top five contender teams also knew this and wouldn''t give them the chance.


    Everyone was just using everyone else.


    Once that was established, it was time to decide what their target would be.


    It wasn''t as if they would be able to directly target the turtle, so they had to find something else to target.


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    The second reason that everyone had been gathered like this was because they wanted to share information. They wanted to see if anyone actually had any information about the turtle and what they had discovered in this castle.


    Only it didn''t seem like anyone knew anything.


    "After coming to this castle, we searched in a few rooms, but we weren''t able to find anything."


    "We were too busy watching the turtle head and the manta rays to find anything else."


    "No matter how we went around this castle, it didn''t seem like there was anything special here."


    It wasn''t hard to tell that they were being sincere about this.


    Even though they had gone through the castle, they actually hadn''t found a single thing.


    I couldn''t help feeling a bit disappointed with all of them since it should have been clear what the target was. But thinking about it, since they weren''t even willing to fight the manta rays and grouped together like this¡­


    It only made sense that they didn''t go check out the glowing rooms even though they should have been able to see it.


    The glowing rooms just attracted too much attention for them to ignore.


    After everyone shared that they had no information, it seemed like things were becoming stagnant. It seemed like this group was nothing more than a headless chicken with how no one offered a lead to follow up on.


    That was until Leaf suddenly nudged me.


    I was surprised to be nudged by her like this and I was even more surprised by the look that she gave me. It was clear by the way that she looked at me that she was implying something.


    At the same time, it seemed like she knew something that I didn''t want her to know¡­


    I thought about how Leaf and the World Tree Team had suddenly appeared out of nowhere like that. There was no one on our team that had been able to sense them approaching, so it could even mean that they had been watching us from the beginning.


    No, with the look that she gave me, it was almost certain that she had been watching since the beginning.


    It was hard to tell exactly when she had started watching, but she had certainly been watching for a while.


    That meant that they should know about the glowing crystal attached to the turtle¡­


    With a sigh, I raised my voice to say, "I have something to share. I actually found something interesting earlier."

 Chapter 192 - 192: Unexpected and expected allies (3)

    When I finished explaining what happened, everyone looked at me with strange looks.


    The greatest emotion that many of them had when they looked at me was doubt.


    It was clear that they didn''t believe what I said.


    Though to be fair, there were a few details that I did leave out.


    Such as me failing to cut through the crystal and the fact that I had the ogres try burning the crystals.


    These were things that they didn''t need to know.


    There was a long silence that hung in the air, but I could see the way that the others were moving. It seemed that they were trying to find some way of refuting what I said and even turning the other top contenders against me.


    The one that they seemed to want to move first was Huang Tuo and the Fire God Team.


    After all, he wasn''t hiding the hostility that he felt towards me at all.


    But before any of them could make their move, the leader of the Luminous Knights Team said, "Alright, that''s where we can start our investigations from then."


    The leader of the Dark Knights Team had an unwilling look in his eyes, but he also nodded in agreement.


    Everyone was shocked to hear this and there were some unwilling looks that appeared on their faces. Some of them seemed like they weren''t willing to go on this wild goose chase.


    However, since the leaders of the Dark Knights Team and the Luminous Knights Team spoke, it was hard for them to actually say anything.


    The only thing that they could do was turn to the only ally that they thought they had in this place. The only one that they could turn to was Huang Tuo and the Fire God Team who seemed to have a grudge against me.


    But they never would have expected¡­


    "It''s the only lead that we have, so there''s nothing that we can do about it."


    Huang Tuo actually spoke up in support of this plan.


    This definitely wasn''t something that anyone expected since they had seen the hostility in Huang Tuo''s eyes as he looked in my direction. They thought that no matter what, he would have done all that he could to oppose this.


    Huang Tuo wasn''t a fool though.


    He could naturally tell what everyone else was thinking and what they wanted him to do, so it was impossible for him to fall for their plans. After all, he had already suffered at the hands of this person that they were trying to set him up against.


    Because of this pit that he fell in previously, Huang Tuo was very aware of the abilities of this person and knew that he wouldn''t make this kind of mistake. He wouldn''t say anything unless he was certain of it.


    So he wouldn''t be the scapegoat that everyone used.


    Once Huang Tuo said this, there was nothing else that anyone could say.


    After all, the only person that they thought that they would be able to rely on to go against this, but it didn''t seem like he was going to say anything.


    Without someone to rely on, they naturally couldn''t say anything about this.


    The only thing that they could do was follow along.


    Once everyone was subdued, the two leaders from the Dark Knights Team and the Luminous Knights Team came over to where we were standing. One might think that they would talk to Leaf, but they just went past her to talk to me.


    "We''ll let you lead the way." The two of them said at the same time before glaring at each other.


    However, they didn''t seem to break out in a fight in the end.


    I was completely caught off guard by this.


    I certainly never expected the two of them to let me lead the way like this.


    The way that they had said this was as if they were treating me as an equal, stepping back to let me take the lead in this matter. But no matter how one thought about it, that shouldn''t be the case.


    That was what the looks on everyone else''s faces said as well.


    None of them could understand or even believe what had happened.


    But since it was the two of them that were saying this¡­


    At the same time, they could see that the Huang Tuo and Leaf both seemed like they were going along with this. The only one that seemed to have an expressionless look on their faces were the Shining Bolts Team.


    They were the only team that I hadn''t had contact with, so I had no idea what kind of team they were.


    With everyone staring at me like this, I had no choice but to lead the way.


    With everyone following me, we eventually reached the same room as before.


    Before we even reached that room, it was as if they no longer needed me as they all went forward towards that door that had a faint glow coming from beneath it.


    It was as if they all wanted to see just what was causing this faint glow to come from behind that door.


    When they opened the door, many of them were surprised to see the crystal that was there.


    However, the crystal wasn''t the only thing that was there.


    There were also manta rays that were in this room that surrounded the crystal.


    With the way that they stayed close to the crystal, it seemed that they were recharging their energy from the crystal. But the moment that they opened the door and went into the room, the manta rays turned to look at the humans that entered.


    They had no choice but to take care of the manta rays, but if one looked closely¡­ sea??h th§× ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    They could see that none of the top contender teams or our team entered the room.


    We had remained behind everyone else and just watched as they fought with the manta rays.

 Chapter 193 - 193: Spatial Dungeon

    Though the manta rays were stronger than before, there were many people that were gathered here.


    With all the abilities of their familiars put together, they were able to take down the manta rays.


    Though there were many people that were also injured because of this since they were fighting the manta rays in this enclosed space. This kind of small space was perfect for the manta rays since they had wind abilities, but it restricted the abilities of the humans.


    So they had suffered fighting them here.


    Once the fight was over, there were bitter looks that were cast in our direction.


    The others realized that the five top contenders and our team never lifted a finger during this fight, so they were feeling bitter towards us. Though it was mainly aimed at our team since it wasn''t as if they could actually aim their bitterness towards the top contender teams.


    So they could only aim it at our team.


    But I didn''t care at all as I was focused on the Luminous Knights Team and the Dark Knights Team.


    During the fighting, they didn''t even look at the manta rays or the humans that were fighting. The only thing that they had been staring at was the crystal that was there in the center of the room.


    It seemed like they were scrutinizing it, but I could tell that there was a trace of recognition in their eyes.


    It seemed that they knew what this crystal was.


    As for the other teams, they didn''t keep looking at us with those bitter looks for long as they turned their attention to the crystal as well.


    "Might as well try something."


    Right after this was said, there was someone that suddenly swung their weapon out at the crystal.


    The same thing happened where the weapon went right through the crystal. It did cut the crystal like my bone sword did, but the crystal just repaired itself like when I cut it with the bone sword.


    "Move aside, let me do it."


    Right after this was said, the one that tried cutting it with their sword was pushed aside and someone with a fox on his shoulder stepped forward. That fox took a deep breath and released a breath of flames at the crystal. S§×ar?h the N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Once again, the same thing happened where the crystal released a barrier.


    Looking closely, I could see that this barrier was weaker than the one that was released to block against the flame breaths of the ogres. It seemed that these people were even weaker than the ogres.


    No¡­it was the combined breaths of the ogres that was stronger.


    After the barrier was deployed, I suddenly turned around and went over to one of the other doors.


    Leaf and the World Tree Team followed me without hesitation after seeing me head to another one of the doors.


    The other top contender teams only followed after a moment of hesitation, but they didn''t go to the same door as me.


    Instead, we all spread out to different rooms around that one room that the crystal was in.


    It didn''t take long for the sounds of fighting to come from that room.


    It was the manta rays that had been drawn back to protect the crystal.


    Only when the sounds of fighting stopped did I head back to that room.


    I saw that there were less people here than before.


    It seemed that some of them crushed their tokens when they saw that they were in danger. They had no choice but to preserve their lives rather than fight for victory.


    The ones that were left had angry looks on their faces and they immediately turned to me when I showed up at the door.


    "Why did you run?" That was what one of them said as they came forward. It seemed that they wanted to grab my collar and wanted to intimidate me while they said this.


    But before I could do anything, Leaf suddenly raised her hand to stop them and said, "You''re the ones that attacked the crystal without a single word and you want to blame others that you were attacked? It really is funny that fools like you were able to even remain this long."


    I was completely taken aback hearing her say something like this.


    This was completely different from the Leaf that I knew.


    As for the World Tree Team, they just had bitter smiles on their faces as if they couldn''t be more familiar with this side of Leaf.


    The person that accused me was taken aback when he heard this as well, but it wasn''t as if he could say anything to her. So instead he turned to look at the other top contender teams.


    Only the Luminous Knights Team and the Dark Knights Team didn''t seem interested in them at all.


    Instead, the leaders of those two teams pushed the others aside and went over to the crystal.


    The two of them just looked at the crystal carefully for a bit before looking at each other. Instead of seeming like they were about to fight or argue, they just gave a nod at the same time as if they were confirming something.


    Then turning around, the leader of the Luminous Knights Team said, "This is a Spatial Dungeon."


    The leader of the Dark Knights Team nodded in agreement to this.


    But everyone else just had confused looks on their faces when they heard this.


    Even I was confused since I had never heard of this kind of dungeon before.


    When I turned to look at Leaf and Iris, I found that they too had the same confused looks as everyone.


    It seemed that even the two of them had never heard of this Spatial Dungeon before.


    The Luminous Knights Team leader seemed to have expected this, so he said, "The Spatial Dungeon is a special kind of dungeon where the final fight with the Boss Monster is hidden in a special space."


    Turning back to the crystal, he said, "You have to destroy these cores to actually open up the special gate to the final fight."

 Chapter 194 - 194: Destroy them all

    There were looks of doubt on the faces of the other people when they heard this.


    The only reason that they didn''t outright reject this idea was because of who was saying it. sea??h th§× nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    These two were the leaders of the Luminous Knights Team and the Dark Knights Team, as well as powerful summoners in their own right. So even if people had their doubts, they didn''t say them out loud.


    It was just that it didn''t seem like these two cared about what the other people said.


    Instead, they turned to look at the top contenders and our team.


    I still didn''t understand why they looked at our team in this special way¡­


    But there wasn''t time to figure that out.


    After looking at us like this for a bit, the leader of the Luminous Knights Team suddenly said, "It seems that these crystals aren''t normal either. They seem like they''re quite hard to destroy since they are imbued with powerful mana. Unless we have special items that have the destruction attribute attached to them, we won''t be able to destroy them that easily."


    It finally made sense why he was looking at us¡­well why he was looking at the top contenders.


    The other teams certainly wouldn''t have something like this, but there was a chance that the top contenders would have a magic item imbued with the destruction attribute.


    Only no one said anything after hearing what the leader of the Luminous Knights Team said.


    It wasn''t just that, they also looked at each other as if they were seeing how the others would react to this.


    In the end, it was the Shining Bolts Team that suddenly spoke.


    The leader of the Shining Bolts Team said, "We have one, so we can take one of the crystals."


    Everyone narrowed their eyes to look at them.


    Even though they were the only ones that volunteered, even though they were the only ones that seemed sincere about cooperating, it didn''t seem like anyone actually trusted them.


    That was because no one actually trusted them.


    Everyone knew that the only reason that they volunteered in the first place was because they had some kind of ulterior motive. So they just looked at them as if they were trying to figure out what their plan was.


    Only the Shining Bolts Team just had a calm look on their faces the entire time.


    After a long silence, Huang Tuo finally said, "I have one too."


    And right after that, Leaf said, "Me too."


    The leaders of the Luminous Knights Team and the Dark Knights Team both gave nods of acknowledgement before saying, "We have one as well."


    With that, it seemed like everything had been set.


    I told them that I had seen a total of five crystals and since all five of them had these destruction attributed magic items, it seemed that this would be enough to take care of all five crystals.


    Now it was just¡­


    "We''ll destroy them at the same time and then convene where the portal appears. Whoever reaches the portal first gets to attack the boss first, but they won''t get exclusive rights. They just get whatever time they have with the boss before everyone else arrives."


    The leader of the Luminous Knights Team once again set the rules for everyone.


    Though it seemed like he was taking charge and taking charge of everyone, something that these top contenders should have hated, they didn''t actually say anything to go against his plan.


    That was because his plan was actually reasonable.


    In this situation, it was actually the best plan that they could come up with.


    Though the leader of the Shining Bolts Team did ask, "How will we find the portal?"


    The leader of the Luminous Knights Team calmly replied, "You''ll be able to feel it since it releases a unique mana fluctuation. It won''t be hard to find it the moment that it appears."


    Then the leader of the Dark Knights Team added, "It''ll most likely appear right in the center of all five crystals. Though it''s not a guarantee, that''s what I''ve found based on experience."


    The eyes of some of the other teams lit up when they heard this before they started sneaking away.


    The look in their eyes and the way that they left this place, it was clear that they didn''t have any good intentions. Only it didn''t seem like any of the top contender teams cared at all about these people.


    With the way that they ignored them, it was as if they didn''t think that they would be able to pose any threat at all.


    It was just the natural arrogance that they had, but it was also a testament of the strength that they had.


    As someone that had seen the strength that they possessed, I had to admit that they were qualified to act this way.


    A short silence lasted for a bit, but seeing that no one else had any other questions, the leader of the Luminous Knights Team said, "Since that''s the case, we should all find our crystal and prepare to destroy it."


    With a wave of his hand, one of his team members went over to the different top contender teams and handed out a piece of paper.


    As they looked at him with surprised and confused looks, the leader of the Luminous Knights Team explained, "This is a way of communicating. What you do to this paper will be reflected on the other pieces of paper regardless of how far we are. Once you find your crystal, burn a hole so we know that you''ve found it. Once all five holes appear, destroy the crystal in thirty seconds."


    Everyone nodded in agreement to this.


    Then before leaving the leader of the Luminous Knights Team looked in our direction to say, "You can have this crystal since you''re the ones that found it in the first place."


    Leaf was the one that nodded in agreement, but I could tell that he was looking at me when he said this.


    Just why was he so interested in me?

 Chapter 195 - 195: Strange mana fluctuation

    Once it was just us, we moved out of the room that the crystal was in.


    I had even seen that the manta rays had been on their way to attack us, it was just that it seemed like there was something that was delaying them which gave us this time to plan things out.


    Once we were out of that room and in one of the separate rooms, all that was left was for the others to find their crystals to destroy.


    It was also this time that Leaf suddenly said, "Are you wondering why they keep staring at you?"


    I was completely caught off guard by her suddenly saying this.


    I couldn''t help narrowing my eyes to stare at her as a strange look appeared in them, but eventually I gave a slow nod.


    With another smile typical for her, Leaf said, "It''s simply because there''s this strange mana fluctuation coming from you."


    "Mana fluctuation?" I repeated in a confused voice.


    Leaf gave a simple nod before saying, "I can only sense it faintly since my mana senses aren''t as good as theirs. However, there is this strange mana fluctuation that is coming from you that is different from anything that I''ve sensed before."


    I just looked at her with an even more confused look after hearing her explanation, but Leaf gave a shrug to show that she didn''t know.


    "I only felt this after seeing them looking intently at you. I actually never noticed this about you before. I was only interested in you because of your actions before, but now you''re even more interesting. I really want to find what kind of secrets you''re hiding from me."


    I was completely taken aback when I heard this from Leaf.


    Even the way that she looked at me was completely different from how she looked at me before.


    And for some reason, I felt a chill running down my spine when I saw her looking at me like this. Your next chapter awaits on My Virtual Library Empire


    I didn''t need to think to know that the way that she looked at me was a bit dangerous, so it was a good thing that she didn''t actually know who I was. She might be able to find out later, but I would just have to ask my backer to hide my information. S§×arch* The N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    He was the one that sent me here, so that was the least that he could do.


    It was just a good thing that there was a hole that suddenly appeared in the paper that drew her attention away from me.


    These holes came in succession as two holes suddenly formed one after another.


    There was no need to guess to know who these holes came from.


    It was definitely the Luminous Knights Team and the Dark Knights Team.


    Now all that was left were the other two teams and we didn''t have to wait long for them.


    Even if they weren''t as powerful as the Luminous Knights Team or the Dark Knights Team, there was a reason why they were still considered top contenders. They still had abilities that were far beyond the normal talented youths that joined this competition.


    They could be considered monsters among talented people.


    Once all four dots, along with the one that we made in the paper in the beginning, were all the page, we headed over to the room with the crystal.


    This time, we actually fought against the manta rays that were here since we were targeting the crystal and there was no time to waste since we only had thirty seconds.


    But it wasn''t as if we had to take down all of the manta rays to begin with.


    The only thing that we had to do was clear a path for Leaf to take care of the crystal.


    This was made even easier since we were working with the World Tree Team to stall these manta rays.


    During this time, Leaf suddenly raised her hand and pulled out what seemed to be a needle. This wasn''t even a big needle, but there was a powerful mana fluctuation that was coming from this needle.


    It was clearly the mana fluctuation of the destruction attribute.


    Then when the time came, Leaf suddenly flicked her hand and sent that needle out.


    The manta rays had all been kept back by our attacks, so there was a clear path to the crystal that was right in front of the needle.


    Before the needle could make contact with the crystal, there was this barrier that appeared around it. This was the same barrier that blocked the energy attacks from earlier.


    It seemed that the crystal recognized the danger that the needle posed, which was why it suddenly released this barrier.


    Only that barrier just wasn''t able to block the needle at all.


    There was a cracking sound like glass shattering that rang out when the needle pierced right through the barrier. Then there was the sound of a rock being split when the needle made contact with the crystal itself.


    The crystal just wasn''t able to put up any resistance at all as cracks suddenly ran through it. These spider web like cracks soon filled the entire crystal before it was shattered to pieces.


    This time, the crystal didn''t restore itself like when it had been cut.


    Looking closely, one could even see traces of black mana on the cracks which was most likely the destruction mana that was in that needle.


    The crystal had been completely shattered just like that.


    Once the crystal shattered, there was only silence that followed as all of the manta rays froze even though they were still being attacked.


    What followed this silence was a booming roar that came from outside.


    This roar was clearly the roar of the turtle that this castle was attached to.


    As soon as this roar rang out, the manta rays also made strange sounds as if they were in agony.


    But no one paid attention to that.


    The only thing that we could pay attention to was the strange mana fluctuation coming from behind us.

 Chapter 196 - 196: Race to the portal

    However, even though we could feel the strange mana fluctuations coming from behind us, we didn''t rush to head in that direction.


    Based on the direction that the mana fluctuation was coming from, it wasn''t hard to tell where it was coming from.


    That hall that we gathered in earlier, that was where it was coming from.


    It seemed that the hall that we chose earlier was actually in the center of the five crystals. But then again, it made sense since that hall was clearly an important place in this castle.


    It should have been the main hall of the castle and the core of this place.


    That''s why it made sense that the portal would appear there as it was the very center of the castle.


    But even figuring out all of that, we weren''t actually in a rush to reach the portal.


    The same couldn''t be said for those that had been watching us take down the manta rays and the crystal. As soon as they saw that the crystal had been destroyed and the strange mana fluctuation appeared, it seemed like it was a race.


    There was no hesitation at all as they all started running in the direction that the strange mana fluctuation was coming from.


    It seemed that all of them wanted to be the first ones that entered the portal.


    It was just that being the early bird didn''t mean that they got the worm in this case. By being the early bird, they would even be turned into the worm themselves as they would be used as bait to see just how strong the final boss of this dungeon was.


    There was no way of telling what the final boss of this dungeon was, so that was why there was no need to rush.


    Rushing would actually put us in a worse situation when it came to facing the final boss of this dungeon. It was better to take our time and find out as much as we could about this place and what the boss was.


    So we just took this chance to take down the manta rays that were charging at us.


    Once they lost their minds like this, it was actually easier to fight them.


    Once they lost their minds, they only knew how to fight by charging forward and didn''t actually have any of the same strategy as before. So it was easy to bait these manta rays into a trap and take them all down.


    When the manta rays were all taken down, I went over to the window to take a look at the turtle head.


    After that roar, that turtle head actually hung down as if it had suddenly lost consciousness and it didn''t really seem like it was moving at all. It really seemed like its mind had been taken somewhere else¡­such as the place where the final boss of the dungeon was.


    In that case, did it mean that the final boss to face would be the turtle?


    At the same time, it seemed that most of the manta rays had disappeared from the air.


    It was unknown where they went, but there wasn''t a single one that was flying around anymore.


    All of this pointed to a hard opponent to face in the special boss room.


    "Shall we go too?" Leaf suddenly asked as she turned away from the window.


    She had been beside me, staring out the window as well, but then she suddenly stopped and turned back to head to the door. It seemed that she had already seen enough, which was why she was planning to head to the portal now.


    Though the way that Leaf walked was almost as if she was taking a stroll through this dungeon instead of heading to a final fight.


    It really seemed like she didn''t have a single care in the world with the way that she acted.


    Shaking my head with a faint smile, I eventually followed her.


    As we headed towards the main hall from before, we could see traces of blood along the way.


    Those traces of blood were clearly from the humans that had been fighting their way to the main hall.


    It seemed that they had suffered quite a bit to make their way to the main hall with the way that the blood was scattered. Then when we approached the main hall, we could hear the sounds of fighting still.


    As we came closer, we saw that there were the other top contender teams that were leisurely walking over as well. It didn''t seem like any of them had a single worry as they watched the ones in the hall fighting. Stay tuned for updates on My Virtual Library Empire


    These were the ones that had run away as soon as the crystals were destroyed.


    They had come to this main hall as soon as the portal appeared since they were racing to be first inside.


    But it seemed like this backfired on them since they had to fight these manta rays that had been guarding the portal.


    It didn''t even seem like the manta rays came from outside, it seemed that the manta rays came from the portal with the way that look was dropped on the ground. The fighting was so intense that they hadn''t even picked up the loot that was there. S~ea??h the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    However, there were some that were missing.


    It seemed that some of them had gotten to the portal.


    Even though the portal was right in front of us, none of us actually made a move towards it.


    Instead, the top contender teams and our team slowly brought out our familiars and our weapons. Instead of charging right for the portal, we actually started attacking the manta rays that were flying around.


    Once they saw that the manta rays were being taken down, the ones that had been fighting the manta rays ran to the portal without hesitation.


    They didn''t care that we were fighting the manta rays for them.


    Nor did they think about what powerful boss was waiting for them inside.


    They had even struggled against the manta rays, what would they do against the boss?

 Chapter 197 - 197: Bloodbath

    Fighting against the manta rays wasn''t that hard since they weren''t any stronger than the ones that we faced before.


    Not to mention that this was a collaborative effort between the five top contenders.


    They had more than enough power to take care of all the manta rays that were in this room.


    Taking advantage of this, the rest of the teams that had been fighting the manta rays that were now freed ran towards the portal and entered it without any hesitation. They didn''t wait for the top contender teams at all.


    They just jumped right into the portal as if they wanted to snatch everything that was inside for themselves.


    However, none of us panicked when we saw this.


    We just waited for a reaction from the portal while taking down the manta rays.


    Only when all of the manta rays were taken care of, there was nothing left for us to do except stare at the portal.


    It didn''t seem like there was anything else that was going to come out of the portal and it didn''t seem like we would be able to see what was happening inside whatever room this portal led to. Experience more tales on My Virtual Library Empire


    So after a moment of silence, the Shining Bolts Team was the one that entered the portal.


    Following that, the Fire God Team also entered the portal.


    It was just the Luminous Knights Team, the Dark Knights Team, and the World Tree Team that didn''t enter.


    The Luminous Knights Team and the Dark Knights Team seemed to be looking for something as they stared at the portal that was in front of them.


    The World Tree Team also seemed to be looking for something, but it was different from the Luminous Knights Team and the Dark Knights Team. That was because instead of looking at the portal, Leaf was looking at me with the same smile on her face.


    The way that she looked at me was as if she was waiting for me to make a move.


    Then behind her were her teammates that were looking at her with bitter smiles, but they still seemed to follow Leaf''s orders and waited.


    Seeing the way that she looked at me, I had no choice but to enter the portal in the end.


    Though there was a part of me that was curious as to what the Luminous Knights Team and the Dark Knights Team were curious about. S§×arch* The Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    After entering the portal, the first thing that hit me was the smell of blood.


    There had been the smell of blood in the air, but it wasn''t as strong as the smell of blood in this place. At the same time, it wasn''t just the blood of humans that was here, it was the blood of something else.


    Looking around, I could see that we seemed to be inside of some kind of strange place. After all, the walls that were around us were red and almost seemed like they were alive¡­


    After looking at it for a bit, I finally realized where we were.


    We were inside some kind of flesh chamber¡­


    "Are we inside of the turtle?" That was the thought that passed through my mind when I saw this and that was confirmed by a thing that was above us.


    "Badump, badump, badump."


    There was this beating thing that was right above us and based on the appearance of this thing, it seemed to be some kind of heart.


    Then that meant that we were most likely inside of the chest of the turtle and this thing was the turtle''s heart.


    Other than this, I noticed that there were a bunch of manta rays that were flying around us. And when I noticed the manta rays, I noticed the other teams that had entered this place before us fighting with those manta rays.


    Other than that¡­there were corpses on the ground.


    These weren''t corpses from the manta rays, but rather human corpses.


    It was surprising to see human corpses since there was something that should have protected them, but it seemed that they didn''t even have a chance to activate that thing. It seemed that they had been caught off guard by whatever had hit them and they didn''t get a chance to block at all.


    They were killed on the spot before they could even react, so they couldn''t crush the token that would have sent them out of the dungeon.


    Just what was it that had caused this kind of bloodbath?


    I suddenly felt something coming from above and when I looked up, I found that there was this long thing that came out of the heart that was above us. But not only that, it seemed that this long thing was coming down at us as if it was about to attack us.


    It seemed that at the end of this thing, there was this mouth that wanted to bite into us.


    This thing certainly was moving fast, but it didn''t seem fast enough to catch someone off guard.


    Wang Rong even moved forward to block this mouth while pulling out the great sword.


    But what he didn''t notice was that there were things that were coming out of the ground that we stood on that grabbed at him. These were tendrils of flesh that came up to grab him.


    This place was the internal chest cavity of the turtle, so it wasn''t strange that there were these tendrils that came out.


    I wanted to go forward to help him, but the tendrils also grabbed me.


    Wang Rong just brace himself when he saw that he was trapped, planning to take this thing coming at him head on.


    But before it could hit him, there was a green barrier that suddenly appeared around him.


    The thing that had been coming at him slammed into the green barrier and was repelled.


    This gave him enough time to rip free from the tendrils grabbing him and move back to where we were.


    As for the one that created this green barrier of light, it was naturally Leaf.

 Chapter 198 - 198: Turtle in a turtle

    She had summoned out her tree familiar to provide that barrier in time.


    I knew that if she hadn''t acted in time, it would have been bad for Wang Rong, so I said, "Thank you."


    With the same smile as usual, she said, "We''re still working together, so of course I would help our allies."


    I was a bit taken aback by this, but I also gave a nod in response.


    I certainly didn''t expect her to say something like this. After all, in the first place, the cooperation that we agreed to was just something that we agreed to to help ourselves.


    I needed her because of her power as one of the five top contenders.


    I had wanted to use her as a form of cover since she was someone that attracted a lot of attention, which would help draw attention away from me.


    But now it seemed that she had been quite sincere in our cooperation that she would even do something like this.


    I thought that she would abandon us now that we had reached the boss, but that didn''t seem to be the case. She was still taking our deal seriously and was still going out of her way to help us¡­


    It really made me feel awkward because of how petty I had been.


    It really made me feel like I was beneath her¡­


    Taking a deep breath to calm myself, I turned back to look up at the heart that was above us.


    After the long thing that came out of the heart had been pushed back, it slowed down a bit before eventually coming to a stop. The way that it remained there was as if it was wary of something, as if it was probing the situation around it.


    That gave us enough time to see what the true appearance of this thing was.


    It seemed to be some kind of head¡­No, it was some kind of turtle head, just like the one that had been seen coming out of the base of the flying castle. It was just that this one seemed to be made of the same kind of flesh that the heart was made of.


    It even seemed like it had been turned inside out because of how red and pink it was.


    It really didn''t seem like a normal kind of creature.


    This turtle head seemed to be made of the same kind of material as the heart.


    That was because it most likely was.


    The heart that was inside of the turtle was actually another turtle¡­


    Thinking about it, this was most likely the reason why the turtle head outside had suddenly dropped like it lost consciousness. It had recognized that there were those that wanted to attack it from the inside, which was why it had suddenly changed its consciousness.


    It brought its consciousness inside and took control of this turtle in its heart.


    This was the final Boss Monster of this dungeon.


    All of the other humans that had been killed had most likely been caught off guard because of the abilities of this heart turtle. It must have created those flesh tendrils to grab at the ones that it attacked and then held them down for the turtle head to finish them off.


    We had seen how sharp those teeth were and we had seen them up close, so there was no mistaking how sharp they were.


    It really was strange seeing a turtle inside of a turtle, but that didn''t mean anything since it was the last thing that had to be taken down before we left this place.


    It wasn''t just me that recognized this, but all the others recognized it as well.


    That was why the Fire God Team and the Shining Bolts Team used us as a distraction while they attacked the heart turtle.


    Only that didn''t work as there were four things that suddenly came out of the heart turtle. These things had been outside previously, but it seemed that they had withdrawn without anyone noticing them.


    Everyone''s attention had been on the head of the heart turtle after all. Sear?h the N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    These four things were the limbs of the heart turtle and they went lashing out when the Fire God Team and the Shining Bolts Team tried attacking it.


    The Fire God Team and the Shining Bolts Team were caught off guard by how powerful the strikes from these limbs were. They actually couldn''t even pierce through the flesh of these limbs with their attacks and had been sent flying back.


    It was completely different from the manta rays that they were able to cut down with a single attack.


    Was it because these limbs were special, that was why they were able to resist these attacks?


    Though in reality, it wasn''t as if these were their final attacks in the first place.


    It seemed like the heart turtle was always aware of this.


    As if it had sensed the danger that it was in, the heart turtle suddenly gave a roar which caused more manta rays to appear. These manta rays actually came right out of the mouth of the heart turtle, showing that they were created by the heart turtle.


    The others panicked when they saw this, but they didn''t get to back away in time.


    The Fire God Team and the Shining Bolts Team completely used them as scapegoats to take the attention of these manta rays.


    "Why you!" That was all they could shout before they were caught up by the manta rays. Your next read is at My Virtual Library Empire


    The heart turtle could have easily seized this chance to take down these human teams, but it didn''t actually seize this chance.


    That was because the eyes of the heart turtle were completely on the Fire God Team and the Shining Bolts Team. As well, it seemed to be keeping an eye on us and the World Tree Team out of the corner of its eyes.


    It recognized the ones that could pose a threat to it and made sure to keep an eye on them.


    It seemed that this Boss Monster wasn''t a fool.

 Chapter 199 - 199: Fusion of light and dark

    After a long silence, the heart turtle finally made its move.


    However, the move that it made was a bit disappointing.


    It was the same move as before where it suddenly released the tendrils of flesh from the ground and tried to grab at all of us. It didn''t seem like it had any other moves with how it was repeating this move again.


    But in the end, it turned out that this was nothing more than a distraction. S§×ar?h the N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The moment that we jumped out of the way to dodge the tendrils of flesh, that was when the flesh turtle made its real move. Experience new stories on My Virtual Library Empire


    It was that there were many different tendrils of flesh that came from all around us.


    It wasn''t just from the floor like before, it came from the walls around us and the ceilings above us. There were even tendrils of flesh that grew out of the other tendrils that came out of the ground.


    With the way that they grew out of each other, it really seemed like there was no end to how far it could reach.


    With the different ways that the tendrils of flesh appeared and how fast they grew, it really seemed like we had underestimated the power of the turtle.


    This was the inside of its body, so it was only natural that it would be able to form all of these tendrils of flesh. In theory, it should be able to control all the parts of its body with ease, so something like this should take no effort at all.


    Once again, Leaf summoned her tree familiar to create a barrier around us that stopped the tendrils of flesh.


    Other than that, it seemed like Huang Tuo was using his flames to create a flaming barrier and the Shining Bolts Team used a web of lightning to cut all the tendrils of flesh that approached.


    All of them were deserving of their title as top contenders as they were able to stop the tendrils of flesh. Only it didn''t seem like the turtle was going to give up that easily as the tendrils of flesh continued to attack.


    But during this time¡­


    "Ha!"


    With these shouts, there were two streaks of light that suddenly cut through the air.


    It was a bright streak of pure white light and a streak of pure black light.


    These two cut right across the surface of the turtle''s heart, right in between the four limbs that poked out of it.


    Only¡­


    "Clink."


    The sound of metal clashing rang out and it didn''t seem like these attacks were able to cut through the surface of the heart''s skin. It seemed like it didn''t leave a mark at all with the way that their attacks just glided across the surface.


    The moment that they saw this, both the leaders of the Luminous Knights Team and the Dark Knights Team deeply knitted their brows.


    But they weren''t idle since they could see the tendrils of flesh that were appearing around them.


    They quickly dodged out of the way while still maintaining eye contact with each other. The way that they looked at each other was as if they were saying things with their eyes rather than their words.


    Eventually the leader of the Luminous Knights Team said, "I guess we have to use that combination, don''t we?"


    The leader of the Dark Knights Team didn''t say anything at first, but he eventually nodded in agreement.


    The moment that he did, the two of them started moving with coordination that they didn''t have before. The way that they dodged the tendrils of flesh around them was almost as if they were moving with the same mind.


    After dodging for a while, the two of them finally came together.


    Standing side by side, they exchanged one look before turning to the heart.


    The tendrils of flesh actually stopped when it saw the two of them together like this. It was as if the heart turtle could tell that something was about to happen, so it seemed like it was also gathering its power into a single attack.


    The dark and light energy that came from their swords suddenly swirled around them to form a vortex of dark and light energy. The two of them seemed to be in sync to the point where they could even breath at the same time.


    This was just the relationship between the two of them.


    Greater the rivals, the more that they understood each other. After all, only by understanding each other could they find a way to defeat the other side.


    But with how deep their rivalry was, it could be said that they knew almost everything about each other.


    That was why they were able to combine their powers so easily like this.


    After the swirling of energy around them, they suddenly burst forward.


    The two of them had their swords pointed forward at the same time, both of them aiming at the heart turtle. It seemed like they were aiming for the head of the heart turtle, but one could see that it wasn''t actually aimed right at the head.


    Rather, it seemed that they were aiming a bit below.


    It seemed like they were planning to hit the same spot as before, the place right in between all four of the heart turtle''s limbs.


    The turtle of course wouldn''t allow them to hit it that easily, so it suddenly swung its limbs down at the two of them to block this. It was just that these limbs weren''t able to catch the two of them.


    With the two swirls of light and dark energy supporting them, they were just too fast for the limbs of the heart turtle to even come close to reaching them.


    After avoiding the limbs swinging down at them, the two of them were able to make it past the limbs and slash at the ''chest'' of the heart turtle.


    For the first time, there was a wound created and blood poured down from the ''chest'' of the heart turtle.

 Chapter 200 - 200: Mixing elements

    However, it didn''t seem like they were able to seriously injure the heart turtle as the skin came together and closed up the wound.


    It seemed that with just this level of attack, they wouldn''t be able to break through that easily.


    Still, it seemed that the leaders of the Luminous Knights Team and the Dark Knights Team had figured something out based on the looks on their faces. It really seemed that they had figured out a way to defeat the heart turtle.


    They turned back to look at the members of their teams and for the first time, they actually moved.


    Normally, it would be these two leaders showing off their powers, but this time it was the entire team that was fighting.


    Well, the entire team other than the two leaders.


    They were fighting to create space for their leaders to do what they were planning to do.


    The leaders of these two teams pulled back and came over to where we were standing.


    At the same time, they waved their hands for the Fire God Team and the Shining Bolts Team to come over as well.


    The Fire God Team and the Shining Bolts Team both seemed wary of the two of them, but they still came over to see what they wanted.


    The fact that they were comfortable enough to have a talk while their teammates were fighting, that just went to show how much trust these two leaders had in their teams. At the same time, it was a demonstration of the power possessed by these two teams that they were actually able to hold off not just the boss, but also the manta rays.


    It even seemed like they were doing this without even breaking a sweat, but one could see from time to time that looks of strain appeared on their faces.


    It didn''t seem like it was completely easy for them to stop them.


    Especially since all of their attacks just seemed to bounce off the defenses of the heart turtle.


    It really didn''t seem like anything that they were doing had an effect on the heart turtle.


    But they at least easily pushed back the manta rays.


    Once everyone was gathered, the leader of the Luminous Knights Team said, "The boss has a special ability that allows it to negate elemental energy."


    "Huh?" All of us were caught off guard by this.


    After all, not a single one of us expected the leader of the Luminous Knights Team to open with this. Sure we expected him to ask us to work with him to take down the heart turtle, but to open with this¡­


    He was basically giving away precious information like this for free.


    It didn''t seem to make sense at all.


    The leader of the Luminous Knights Team didn''t seem bothered at all by our reactions as he continued by saying, "But the limit that it has is one element at a time. It seems to be unable to withstand the attacks of different elements at the same time."


    "That doesn''t seem to be the case. After all, you attacked it with light and dark elements when you were fighting it earlier, but it seemed like it was able to block it. It seemed that it was only the special attack that you used that it couldn''t block." Huang Tuo said with knitted brows.


    The others all nodded in agreement to this, including me.


    After all, it really seemed like it was only because they used a special attack that they were able to penetrate the defenses of the heart turtle.


    But the leader of the Luminous Knights Team just said with a shake of his head, "That wasn''t a special attack, it was just an attack where we combined our powers into one. There''s far stronger attacks at our disposal, it''s just that they aren''t suited to be used here since they take too much time to prepare."


    "You can call them our final attacks." The leader of the Dark Knights Team added at the end of this.


    Everyone looked at him with a strange look when they heard this, but then we turned back to look at the leader of the Luminous Knights Team.


    With a calm look on his face, he said, "So we''ll have to work together to take down this boss. Only if we combine our elemental energy attacks will we be able to take down this boss." sea??h th§× n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The other teams looked at him with strange looks when they heard this.


    It seemed like there was part of them that didn''t seem to believe what the leader of the Luminous Knights Team was saying¡­


    But in the end, it seemed like they had been convinced by him.


    It seemed that at the very least, they were willing to go along with him to try what he had suggested.


    Only I couldn''t help thinking of something else.


    He had mentioned elemental energy and there was one thing that I knew that had abundant elemental energy. It reached the point where it was even able to eat the elemental energy from other things.


    And recently, I had figured out another one of its abilities.


    So it seemed that I would be the perfect choice to fight this heart turtle.


    I still wanted to place first in this competition since there was a prize that I wanted.


    With that thought in mind, I called out the Astral White Tiger.


    Though I didn''t summon it from my familiar space since it was already outside. It was currently still inside of my shirt sleeping, though it was amazing that it had been able to sleep through all of this.


    It seemed like it didn''t have any intention of waking up, even though we were in this dangerous situation. But it did wake up when I poked it in the cheek, though it only seemed to wake up because it was annoyed that I was waking it up like this.


    In the end, I said, "It''s time to work."


    That was when the Astral White Tiger finally chose to wake up.

 Chapter 201 - 201: Master of elements (1)

    Even though it woke up now, the Astral White Tiger still didn''t actually know what the situation around it was since it had been sleeping the entire time.


    Once again, it really was amazing that it had been able to sleep through all of that¡­


    Looking around, the Astral White Tiger''s first response was to look at the heart turtle more carefully.


    Though it seemed like the Astral White Tiger was seriously observing the heart turtle, it didn''t look like it because of its appearance. It was just too cute to be taken seriously while it was observing the heart turtle.


    But I eventually came back from my daze and recognized that the Astral White Tiger was taking this heart turtle seriously.


    This was different from how the Astral White Tiger treated all of the other monsters that it encountered.


    From my observations of the Astral White Tiger, it seemed that it had treated all of the other monsters that we met with disdain. Perhaps as its name suggested, it really was some kind of powerful familiar that could look down on these monsters because of its bloodline.


    Only it was still a child, so it really didn''t have the kind of power that it would have had as an adult.


    Still, for it to treat the heart turtle with caution like this showed that the heart turtle was different.


    This heart turtle seemed to actually be something that could make the Astral White Tiger wary, which meant that it had a bloodline that actually was a match for the Astral White Tiger''s.


    As expected of a Boss Monster in a dungeon like this.


    Once the Astral White Tiger was finished observing the heart turtle, I said, "Can you do what we discussed before?"


    The Astral White Tiger turned away from the heart turtle and turned back to look at me before giving a nod.


    Then after giving this nod, it suddenly jumped out of my shirt and landed on my shoulder.


    After landing on my shoulder, it gave a soft cry which was supposed to be its roar. It was just that the Astral White Tiger hadn''t developed enough to actually give a proper roar and instead it just made the Astral White Tiger look cute.


    But with this cry that it gave, there was a ball of wind that appeared in my hand.


    Before this, we had been training a bit to match the Astral White Tiger''s ability with me. The Astral White Tiger had gotten to the point where it was able to cede control of its elemental energy to me, but it still had to be the one that released this elemental energy in the first place.


    I took a few seconds to get used to the ball of wind that appeared in my hand before saying, "Fire."


    At that, the Astral White Tiger also released a small flame that appeared next to the ball of wind.


    Seeing this, I gave a satisfied nod before turning my attention to the heart turtle.


    The heart turtle had been fighting with the Luminous Knights Team and the Dark Knights Team during this time. Even though it couldn''t be injured by them, it was distracted by them completely.


    At the same time, the others had been preparing for their attack on the heart turtle, so they didn''t notice what I was doing.


    That was until Leaf suddenly turned over when she felt the elemental energy near her.


    "What are you¡­"


    That was all that she was able to say as I raised my hand to point my palm at the heart turtle. The moment that I did this, the ball of wind that had been gathered turned in a jet stream of wind that was aimed at the heart turtle.


    After that jet stream reached halfway, I had the small flame enter the ball of wind at the same time. The moment that this small flame entered the ball of wind, the flames quickly spread through that ball of wind and even the jet of wind.


    In no time at all, there was a jet of flames that were aimed at the heart turtle.


    The heart turtle immediately sensed something was off and even seemed a bit afraid when it saw the jet of flames.


    So the only thing that it could do was use one of its limbs to block this jet of flames.


    The moment that the limb made contact with the jet of flames, there was this scream of pain that came from the heart turtle.


    Anyone with eyes could see the reason why the heart turtle was screaming out in pain like this. Sear?h the n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    That was because they could see that the flesh of the heart turtle was being burned by these flames.


    Even though the flames that Huang Tuo used earlier were more intense than these flames, they hadn''t caused this kind of damage to the heart turtle. It could be clearly seen that there was something special about these flames.


    It was the ball of wind that had been gathered ahead of time.


    Though I had burned the limb of the heart turtle, I couldn''t help looking a bit disappointed since it didn''t feel like it was strong enough. It felt like there could have been more done to the heart turtle with these flames.


    It didn''t feel like this was all that the flames could have done.


    After thinking about it, I said, "Lightning."


    The Astral White Tiger immediately understood and created a bolt of lightning as well that it shot into the jet of flames.


    As soon as the lightning entered the jet of flames as well, the limb that the turtle used to block the attack suddenly darkened even faster. This continued for a bit longer before it suddenly burst apart.


    It was as if it exploded from the inside with the way that it burst like this.


    But the explosion of the limb was enough to scatter the flames and lightning.


    Still, I had a satisfied look on my face seeing this result.

 Chapter 202 - 202: Master of elements (2)

    The limb that burst was soon replaced by another limb, but this time it seemed like the heart turtle was being much smarter about this.


    It seemed like it knew to directly avoid the jet of flames that I shot at it.


    It seemed to realize that it wasn''t able to actually resist the power of this jet of flames, so it had to dodge out of the way to avoid being injured by it.


    But that didn''t mean that it was able to reach me.


    Even though there was a jet of flames that was being shot out, that didn''t mean that I wasn''t able to do anything as the limb approached me.


    There was this barrier of flames and lightning that appeared around me. The moment that the limb slammed into the flames and lightning, it was immediately burned.


    At the same time, the force of the limb''s strike wasn''t strong enough that it was able to penetrate this barrier. It was bounced back by the barrier when it slammed into it.


    There really didn''t seem to be anything that the heart turtle could do to break through.


    However, before it could even think about breaking through this barrier¡­what it had to care about more was the jet of flames that were coming at it.


    What the heart turtle chose to do in the end was send another one of its limbs to block this jet of flames. It seemed that it was using this as a temporary shield while it tried to destroy my barrier.


    It was desperation at this point.


    After all, if it couldn''t break through, then there was nothing that the heart turtle could do against the flames that I was shooting at it.


    Eventually the limb that it was using to block the jet of flames also burst apart like the first one.


    It seemed like the heart turtle was just running out of time and options.


    In the end, the heart turtle did something that no one expected from it.


    The heart turtle actually moved its entire self out of the way.


    No one had expected the heart turtle that had remained stationary the entire time to suddenly move out of the way like this, but it really had no other choice since it couldn''t block the attack that was coming at it.


    If it didn''t do this, then it would have taken a bath of flames.


    It was just that the moment that the heart turtle moved, it revealed something.


    At the very top of the heart turtle, where its shell would have been, there seemed to be something that was connected to the back of the heart turtle. Looking closely, it seemed like a mass of flesh and veins.


    This heart turtle itself was a mass of flesh and veins, but people forgot about that with how hard it was.


    When this connection showed itself, everyone immediately figured out something.


    It wasn''t that the heart turtle didn''t move, it was that the heart turtle couldn''t move that much in the first place.


    In the end, this heart turtle was the heart of the giant floating turtle that the dungeon was built on. In a human, a heart was a very weak thing that would cause a human to die if it was even injured slightly.


    Everyone had forgotten that the heart was the weakness of a living creature with how hard to destroy this heart turtle was.


    But if the heart turtle moved too much, the blood that it pumped through the entire giant turtle would be disrupted.


    So it just couldn''t move that much in the first place.


    Seeing this, I knew what to target and changed up my plans.


    The jet of flames suddenly stopped and it was replaced with blades of wind. There were small balls of fire that accompanied each of these blades of wind, which were used to ignite them when the time came.


    With a flick of my finger, they all flew out in different directions.


    However, that didn''t mean that they were aimed at different targets.


    All of them were aimed at a single target, the mass of flesh that was connected to the back of the heart turtle. It was just that they went off in different directions because I wanted to attack the heart turtle from all different directions.


    The heart turtle could also see these blades of winds coming at it and it knew the danger that these blades of wind posed to it.


    So the heart turtle used its final two remaining limbs as whips to destroy the blades of wind coming at it. It was as if the heart turtle was just sacrificing these two remaining limbs to protect itself.


    But it wasn''t as if these two limbs were enough to completely stop all of these blades of wind that were coming at it.


    There were just too many of them coming at the same time.


    Even if the heart turtle was to cover itself with these limbs, it wouldn''t be able to stop all of them.


    So eventually, there were some blades of wind that hit the connection on its back. Though when it did hit, they suddenly turned into blades of flames.


    The problem was that these blades of flames were just too weak to cause serious damage.


    These blades of flames were different from the jet of flames that I released before.


    The jet of flames was a concentrated mass of flames while these blades of flames were nothing more than small blades that contained a bit of elemental energy. It just wasn''t strong enough to completely cut through this thing, though it was able to burn the surface.


    At this rate, it seemed like it would take a while for the heart turtle to be cut down.


    But I wasn''t satisfied with this. sea??h th§× N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    After all, giving the heart turtle the chance to recover wasn''t a good idea.


    There was also the chance that it might have some kind of final phase if I allowed it to gather itself power.


    So I took out a red orb and said, "You can eat this."

 Chapter 203 - 203: Master of elements (3)

    The Astral White Tiger had been busy releasing all of this elemental energy, but its eyes immediately lit up when it saw the red orb that I pulled out.


    The moment that its eyes fell onto the red orb, it looked like it wanted to eat it already.


    Seeing the way that the Astral White Tiger looked at the red orb, I couldn''t help shaking my head with a bitter smile.


    Though I did understand why it looked like this.


    It was all because this red orb was something that was similar to what it had eaten previously.


    This was the red bead that Leaf had given me earlier, the one that she had gotten from the Kijin. This was the A Rank orb that was filled with fire elemental energy, just like the Thunder Bead that I fed the Astral White Tiger previously.


    I had been holding this thing because it was a drop from one of the elite monsters.


    This was something that needed to be turned in to get points for the competition, so I wasn''t able to feed it to the Astral White Tiger right away.


    But now, it seemed that I had to do it.


    If the Astral White Tiger ate this thing, its flames would become much stronger than they were now and it would be able to cause serious damage to the heart turtle.


    For the sake of defeating the heart turtle faster, I had to give up this Elite Monster drop.


    Though I couldn''t help thinking that it was worth it.


    After all, the drops from the Boss Monster would certainly be worth much more than the drops of an Elite Monster. At the same time, I would be able to get the final blow on the Boss Monster and earn the points there.


    So it was also important that I had the power to instantly finish off the Boss Monster instead of letting anyone seize an opportunity.


    I could see that though the top contender teams were watching me attack the heart turtle, they were also waiting for their chance to make their move.


    Especially Huang Tuo who seemed to be glaring as he looked at me.


    He just wasn''t hiding his hostility towards me at all.


    Once the Astral White Tiger got the go ahead to eat the red bead and it recovered from the happiness that it felt, it went forward to start licking the red bead.


    Three black lines appeared on my forehead when I saw this.


    When it ate the elemental orbs before, the Astral White Tiger just stuffed them into its mouth without a single care. But the time that I wanted it to eat the elemental orb quickly, it seemed to be taking its time.


    It was doing the opposite of what I wanted this time¡­


    The Astral White Tiger''s face was filled with happiness as it licked the orb.


    It wasn''t hard to tell what the Astral White Tiger was thinking when I saw this look on its face. It wanted to make this last as long as possible, so that was why it was slowly licking the red orb.


    It seemed that this child had grown and learned to have patience to savour the items that it wanted to eat.


    But that wasn''t what I needed from it now¡­even if I was happy to see that the Astral White Tiger was growing.


    So without a second thought, I stuffed the red orb into the Astral White Tiger''s mouth.


    It looked up at me with a surprised and a slightly displeased look, but I just said to it in a serious voice, "Swallow."


    The Astral White Tiger was completely caught off guard by this and even seemed a bit afraid when it saw me saying this. It unconsciously gave a gulp because of this and then that red orb disappeared down its throat.


    As soon as the red orb disappeared down its throat, the flames that it released became stronger.


    The heart turtle wasn''t the only one that was shocked by the sudden increase in firepower.


    Everyone else was shocked by this sudden increase in the intensity of the flame as well. After all, they couldn''t understand why this sudden increase had happened.


    Well, everyone except for Huang Tuo who had been on the receiving end of this.


    His face actually looked quite ugly since this reminded him of what happened when he fought with Lin Fan. It reminded him of the way that his peacock familiar had been taken advantage of by that person.


    But it also made him a bit afraid since he had never heard of this kind of ability before. Sear?h the nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    This was a familiar that seemed to keep growing stronger by absorbing different forms of energy and it didn''t seem like there was a limit to how strong it could grow.


    Did that mean that this person''s familiar could grow forever?


    Did that mean that this person had the potential to become a World Summoner? Or even a World Guardian?


    Huang Tuo couldn''t accept this as an ambitious young talent.


    He naturally had his dreams of becoming a World Summoner as well and he naturally couldn''t accept it if he was beneath someone else.


    On the other side, Leaf''s eyes were glowing as she stared at Lin Fan.


    This was the person that she wanted and the more that she saw him sparkle, the more that she wanted him.


    The way that she looked at him was even a bit like she wanted to kidnap him and lock him up¡­


    It was a good thing that no one saw this¡­


    When I felt the flames becoming stronger, I didn''t hesitate to create even more powerful blades of flames and at the same time, I even incorporated the lightning energy into them.


    The heart turtle just wasn''t able to do a single thing as it wrapped itself up in its remaining two limbs, but those were quickly cut off and the stem was revealed.


    With one last large blade of flames, the stem was cut off and the heart turtle fell down onto the ground without moving.

 Chapter 204 - 204: End of the competition (1)

    Once the heart turtle stopped moving, I let out a sigh of relief.


    It seemed that I had been able to take down the Boss Monster without anyone interfering.


    Then as if to confirm that the Boss Monster had been taken down, there was a portal that suddenly appeared in the center of this room.


    This was clearly the way out of this dungeon.


    All of the others had bitter looks on their faces when they saw this portal since it also confirmed for them that this competition was over. There wasn''t anything else that they could do since the Boss Monster had been taken down.


    So eventually, there were some that headed towards the portal.


    There was nothing else that they could do here.


    I didn''t have as easy of a time as the next thing that I had to do was secure my loot.


    The first ones that I turned to look at and raise my guard against were the top contender teams.


    I was surprised to find that there was currently a clash between them.


    It was between the Shining Bolts Team and the World Tree Team.


    The Shining Bolts Team''s leader had summoned out his familiar, which was a hawk and had gathered lightning around himself, as if he had been prepared to attack. But he hadn''t been able to do what he had been planning to do as there was a green barrier that suddenly stopped him.


    That green barrier blocked all of the lightning strikes that he released, no matter how much power he used.


    So in the end, the leader of the Shining Bolts Team couldn''t help revealing a disappointed and angry look at being kept back like this.


    However, Leaf didn''t seem to care about how he felt with the way that she kept the barrier up.


    It was as if she even enjoyed the frustrated look that was on his face with the faint smile that she had. S§×ar?h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    As for the Fire Gods Team, the Luminous Knights Team, and the Dark Knights Team, they had just been standing there silently the entire time.


    Even though it was the Luminous Knights Team and the Dark Knights Team that took the lead in this fight, it didn''t seem like they were unhappy that I had stolen this Boss Monster.


    In fact, they were just looking at me with intrigued looks on their faces.


    As for the Fire Gods Team who I had expected to interfere the most because of the grudge between me and Huang Tuo, he actually hadn''t done a single thing to interfere with me taking down the boss.


    Huang Tuo was just standing there with a strange look on his face as he looked at me.


    Seeing that I was finally looking at them, the leader of the Shining Bolts Team stopped attacking and gave a snort as he said, "It seems that you''ve really degraded yourself that you''re working as a henchman for him. I thought that you would be more special, but that doesn''t seem to be the case with how easily you started working for him."


    His words were aimed at Leaf, but they were also targeting me at the same time.


    "Big words for someone that couldn''t even break my barrier." Leaf was no slouch as she stabbed him with the most effective words.


    The face of the leader of the Shining Bolts Team turned ugly the moment that he heard this.


    He narrowed his eyes to look at Leaf before suddenly turning around with another snort.


    It was almost as if he didn''t want to degrade himself to argue with her, but really he didn''t have anything to say.


    He was completely surprised by the fact that her barrier had been able to stop all of his attacks.


    No matter how he tried, he just hadn''t been able to destroy the green barrier.


    So he wasn''t going to stick around to be insulted like this.


    He wasn''t going to stay here if it just meant that he was going to be embarrassed.


    As for the others, it didn''t seem like they were planning to move.


    Seeing this, I slowly made my way over to where the heart turtle was, but I didn''t pull out the Scavenger Rabbit. With how many people were still watching, it was impossible for me to pull out the Scavenger Rabbit like this.


    I just stood there and stared at all of those that were staring at me.


    Eventually, the leader of the Luminous Knights Team suddenly revealed a smile and said, "It''s yours, we''re not going to steal it from you."


    Right after saying that, he turned to leave.


    The leader of the Dark Knights Team also nodded in agreement and turned to leave without a word.


    The only one that was left standing there was Huang Tuo and the Fire Gods Team.


    He was the only one that just kept staring at me without a single word, but I could tell that there was something strange about the way that he looked at me.


    Seeing that he still wasn''t saying anything, I grabbed the heart turtle and started moving away from the portal. I was going to a different place where I could look at the loot of the heart turtle in peace.


    It was when I started to move that he finally said, "How did you do it?"


    I turned back to look at him with a confused look.


    This was definitely not a question that I had been expecting.


    I just looked at him for a bit before saying, "That was the power of my familiar."


    It didn''t seem like he was satisfied with the answer that I gave him, but it also didn''t seem like Huang Tuo was going to ask anything.


    In the end, he just gave a nod and turned to leave as well.


    Now the only one left was Leaf who was following close behind me.


    She was the only one that I just couldn''t get to leave.

 Chapter 205 - 205: End of the competition (2)

    Unlike the others who had acted with hostility towards me, she was the only one that had sided with me.


    At the same time, she was the one that had stopped the leader of the Shining Bolts Team from attacking me while I was fighting the heart turtle.


    Since she had treated me differently, it wasn''t as if I could treat her the same way as I had treated the others.


    It was just that time was running out¡­


    If she didn''t give me space to bring out the Scavenger Rabbit, then the dungeon would turn the heart turtle into loot on its own.


    The loot that the heart turtle dropped would certainly be good loot, but it just couldn''t compare to the golden paw of the Scavenger Rabbit.


    As if she could sense that there was something off with me, Leaf suddenly asked, "Do you need to use the washroom?"


    A bitter smile appeared on my face when I heard this.


    I knew that I was acting anxious, but there was certainly a better way of putting this than asking if I needed to use the washroom.


    But then again, it really seemed like something that only she would say.


    Whenever she said something, she always said what I wouldn''t expect¡­


    I really couldn''t see through Leaf at all.


    "You want to do something that you don''t want someone to see?" Leaf suddenly asked while I was still trying to figure out what to say.


    When I heard this, I couldn''t help being caught off guard.


    I looked at her with a strange look, but this just made her say with a smile, "Well I can understand if you have something to hide. Everyone has something that they want to hide."


    Without even waiting for me to say anything, she moved away and gave me the space that I needed.


    I didn''t call out the Scavenger Rabbit right away as I just looked at her, but she looked back at me with the same smile on her face.


    In the end, I wasn''t able to see through her at all and could only just call out the Scavenger Rabbit while hiding it with my body.


    "So a third familiar." Leaf whispered to herself.


    She could feel the mana fluctuations coming from in front of her, so it was easy for her to tell that there was another familiar appearing.


    As she said this, there was a strange look that appeared in her eyes again.


    This was the same possessive look that she showed previously.


    Only it seemed like it was stronger than before.


    And it was too bad that Lin Fan didn''t see this since he would have known the danger he was in if he had seen this. If he had seen this, he would have known about what she was thinking towards him. sea??h th§× Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    But instead, he was focused on something else.


    The Scavenger Rabbit was naturally excited when it saw the heart turtle''s corpse. It even seemed like it was about to start jumping with how excited it was.


    In the end, I was able to restrain the Scavenger Rabbit before it actually did that. I just grabbed the Scavenger Rabbit and stopped it from doing anything too crazy.


    Then I brought it forward so that it would be able to dig through the heart turtle, but I made sure to keep my hands on the Scavenger Rabbit since I had no idea what it would actually do.


    If it did anything crazy, then it would be trouble for me.


    After all, there were still others here that were watching over me.


    Though the Scavenger Rabbit was restrained, it didn''t hesitate to dig right through the heart turtle''s corpse.


    In no time at all, it turned around with three items.


    These weren''t big items thankfully, so it was easy for me to hide them. However, the moment that I saw what these items were and the appraisals that popped up, I was certainly caught off guard by what I saw.


    It was definitely not something that I had seen before.


    These were worthy of items that came from the Boss Monster of this dungeon.


    I didn''t show any of these items to anyone as I quickly put them into my Storage Ring and then had the Scavenger Rabbit leave.


    It looked a bit aggrieved that it wasn''t praised for what it had done, but I really couldn''t do anything like that right now. So the only thing that I could do was quickly pet it on its head before sending it off.


    After that, I turned back around to look at Leaf and asked, "Shall we leave then?"


    She raised a brow as she looked at me.


    I could easily tell what she was looking at me like this for, but I didn''t say anything as I waited for her response.


    In the end, she just gave a simple nod as she let me lead the way out.


    There were others that tried sneaking up, but all they got was a vine wrapping around their legs that lifted them up before throwing them away. As they were being thrown away, they looked at me like I was a man that was just being protected by Leaf.


    They looked at me as if they felt that I should be ashamed.


    But I just ignored them all as I walked through the exit portal with Leaf.


    The moment that we came out, we were immediately hit with a bright light.


    Well, it wasn''t that there was a bright light in front of us, it was just that the final boss room was a bit dim, that this light outside was considered bright in comparison and it was hard to adapt to it.


    But once we did, we saw everyone that was waiting there.


    This time, it wasn''t just the contestants that were here.


    There were many adults that were here and each of them had strong auras showing their powers.


    All of them were the ones that backed the teams that had been sent into the dungeon for this competition.

 Chapter 206 - 206: End of the competition (3)

    The moment that we came out, their attention fell onto us.


    With the way that they looked at us, it was clear that they knew who we were.


    At the same time, it seemed that there were quite a few people that were looking at us with not so kind looks. It was almost as if they were looking at us like we owed them money or something.


    But it wasn''t hard to guess why they were looking at us like this.


    Even though there were many adults that were looking in this direction like this, it didn''t seem like Leaf was bothered at all. She just had a calm smile on her face as she faced all of the scrutiny that fell onto her.


    It was different for me since there was no one for me to rely on.


    It was just a good thing that I still had my disguise on or else it certainly would have been hard for me and my group.


    Since there were adults to back them, there were a few people that were filled with courage.


    When they were filled with courage, it gave them the boldness to do something that they shouldn''t have done. Though to say that it was completely because of this courage would be a lie.


    After all, there were other people that had ulterior motives.


    They had already heard about what had happened inside of the dungeon, so it wasn''t as if they wouldn''t know certain things about me and Leaf.


    In that case, they would want to send someone to test us.


    That was why there were a few of the other contestants that were approaching us.


    When they came over, they stood right in front of us and raised their fingers to point at us before raising their voices to accuse us.


    "How dare you steal the Boss Monster that everyone was working together to fight?"


    "Do you think that you can betray everyone and get away with this?"


    "This is a clear violation of the rules and we intend to dispute this matter with the judges."


    Once they raised their voices, even more people turned their attention to us. Some of them seemed to be supporting these people, but it seemed that most people were remaining neutral.


    It seemed like they were more interested in seeing how we would get ourselves out of this situation.


    I didn''t panic when they accused us like this since I already knew what they were planning to do. I just simply narrowed my eyes to look at them, while slowly thinking about what to say.


    Only before I could say anything, Leaf suddenly stepped forward with a faint smile that was filled with confidence before saying, "Aren''t you embarrassed saying something like this?"


    The moment that they heard this, the faces of the accusers turned ugly.


    They had only wanted to provoke a small reaction, so they never expected Leaf to suddenly swing at them like this. There were even traces of confusion in their eyes as they didn''t expect her to actually go this far.


    It didn''t seem to make sense that she would actually say something like this all of a sudden.


    When they came back to their senses, one of them said, "You! Do you think that you can insult us like this? You¡­"


    "You''re the one insulting yourselves with your own words. It really is hard to guess if there''s even the tiniest bit of intelligence in your brains with the way that you''re acting." Leaf didn''t even care about what he was about to say as she cut him off with these words and a sigh. Then when she was done, she spread her hands out and shook her head as if she was really looking at an idiot.


    Their faces turned even uglier when they heard this, but they didn''t have the courage to actually get physical.


    The only thing that they could use were their words.


    So the next thing they did was try to sway the crowd to be on their side.


    "You''re the one that''s acting unscrupulous, betraying everyone like that. When everyone was¡­"


    "It seems that you really are dumb. Why would people work together to fight the Boss Monster when it''s a competition? Do you really think that you could divide the Boss Monster up evenly? You just simply didn''t have the power to take the Boss Monster for yourself and now you''re just angry because of shame. You''re trying to take this anger out on us, which is even more shameful for you." Leaf said in a tone as if she was speaking to an idiot.


    When this was pointed out, there were a few chuckles that came from around them.


    After all, everyone already knew this, only they chose not to say anything because they had been trying to see how they would react. sea??h th§× ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    But now that it was brought out into the open, of course they would make fun of those that were trying to cause trouble.


    Hearing these laughs, their faces turned red with shame and they became angry because of this shame. Without hesitation, they lost control of themselves and pulled out their weapons as if they wanted to start a fight.


    Only it wasn''t as if they could win in a fight.


    In the first place, they had avoided clashing with Leaf directly because they just couldn''t beat her.


    Leaf even seemed confident when she saw them like this, so she pulled out her tree familiar and raised a barrier around herself as if she was ready for a fight.


    But before this clash could happen, there was a powerful aura that appeared.


    It seemed that the parent of one of the accusers was actually taking action.


    He threw away his face to take action on some kids that weren''t even half his age.


    "Do you think that my daughter is that easy to bully?"


    Only the moment that he took action, there was another powerful aura that suppressed him, causing a shocked look to appear on his face.

 Chapter 207 - 207: End of the competition (4)

    The middle aged man that tried to suppress Leaf could only stutter out, "I, I¡­"


    He didn''t get a chance to say anything else as a rose vine suddenly whipped across his face.


    His eyes couldn''t even follow what happened when this rose vine flew out.


    This middle aged man wasn''t weak to begin with.


    He was an A Rank Summoner and he was actually someone that was stronger than Governor Nangong who we met before. Based on his uniform, he was actually someone that seemed to be on active duty and worked to suppress the gates.


    For someone like this to actually be whipped without a chance to say anything¡­


    That just went to show how strong the one controlling the rose vine was.


    "Do you still want to suppress my daughter?" The cold and beautiful voice rang out again, which sent a chill down the spine of the middle aged man.


    After hearing this, he had no choice but to back down since there was nothing that he could do to the owner of this voice. Even if he wanted to do something, he wouldn''t actually be able to fight this person with his level of strength.


    When that person was revealed, everyone recognized who she was.


    "It''s Rose, the leader of the Yggdrasil Guild."


    This person was a famous World Summoner who was on the same level as Iris'' parents.


    No, Iris'' parents mainly worked with the Huo Family that Huo Fan Tian was from. They worked with the company that the Huo Family ran instead of working with a guild.


    A guild was different from a company since it gathered many different summoners under one roof, so it had far more power than a company did with all of these summoners at their disposal.


    At the same time, they would be able to clear far more dungeons than a company would.


    Guilds were places where those that risked their lives in the dungeons gathered after all.


    The Yggdrasil Guild was even more famous because they were a guild that had three World Summoners. They were one of the top ten guilds in the country and one of the top fifty guilds in the world.


    So the power that they had wasn''t something to look down on.


    "Mom!" Leaf said in a happy voice before running over to Rose.


    When she saw Leaf running over, the cold look that had been on Rose''s face disappeared and she happily lifted Leaf up in her arms before saying, "How was it? Was it fun?"


    It was as if she had turned into a completely different person with the way that she reacted to Leaf running over.


    No one could believe that she had just given off that cold chill earlier.


    The scene between the two of them was like a mother and daughter that were very close with one another.


    But those that had seen how they acted earlier knew that this wasn''t the case.


    After the two of them caught up with each other, Leaf brought her mother back over and said, "Mom, this is the one that I found."


    As soon as she heard this, Rose narrowed her eyes to look at me.


    The way that this progressed was almost like a daughter introducing her boyfriend to her parents.


    I really didn''t know what to say when this happened since this wasn''t something that I wanted. This wasn''t something that I had expected at all from Leaf, she was just too hard to read.


    After she introduced me, there was a silence that lingered in the air as Rose just continued looking at me with the same narrowed eyes.


    It really seemed like she was judging me.


    Finally, the silence ended, but it wasn''t any of us that ended that silence.


    Instead, it was someone else who said, "So you want to protect him? Are you that interested in him?"


    Everyone turned to look at the one that spoke and they were once again shocked. S~ea??h the N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    That was because it was another World Summoner that appeared. But it wasn''t just any World Summoner that appeared, it was a World Summoner that was the guild leader of another one of the top ten guilds.


    "Purple Lightning, it''s Zi Jun from Purple Lightning."


    "Then that means the one beside him is Zi Ye¡­"


    As for who they were, it was the Shining Bolts Team and it seemed to be the father of the leader of the Shining Bolts Team.


    When Rose heard this voice, she turned away from me and narrowed her eyes to look at him.


    Zi Jun didn''t seem to mind that she was looking at him like this as he continued by saying, "So, how about it? Do you mind handing him over to me? It seems that your daughter has offended my son a bit, but I''ll let it go if you give him to me."


    Rose didn''t say anything at first, but eventually she took Leaf''s hand and started walking away.


    Leaf was taken aback seeing this before saying, "Mom, what are you doing?"


    But Rose didn''t say anything as she walked to the side.


    She would naturally stand up for her daughter, but it was different for someone that she didn''t know at all. Especially now that her daughter showed interest in this person which left a worse impression for her.


    Compared to someone she didn''t know, it was only natural that she would choose to maintain the relationship with Zi Jun and Purple Lightning.


    They were actually the fifth ranked guild in the country, one rank higher than Yggdrasil since they had four World Summoners.


    Leaf looked disappointed in her mother, but she turned to look at me with an apologetic look.


    I can''t say that I wasn''t disappointed, but I didn''t blame her.


    I knew that this was just how things were.


    At the same time, I also wasn''t worried.


    If everyone had come here, then it was only natural that someone else would be here as well.


    "And who are you to mess with my in name disciple?"


    The voice came right on cue.

 Chapter 208 - 208: End of the competition (5)

    This voice that rang out wasn''t the only thing that happened.


    Right after that voice rang out, there was this whirlwind that appeared around Zi Jun.


    There was a look of panic that appeared in his eyes when he saw this as he could feel the power coming from this whirlwind, but he didn''t remain panicked for long. Instead, there was lightning that appeared around him when he came back to his senses.


    This lightning crashed against each other and formed what seemed to be a net around him.


    Only this net wasn''t to trap him, it was to protect himself.


    It was a net that had been formed to create a barrier around himself to protect him from the wind.


    But that net of lightning didn''t seem like it was sturdy enough.


    With a single snort, that net of lightning was suddenly ripped apart and Zi Jun was sent flying. Before he could even react, he had been thrown into the air and was flying upwards.


    In the end, he was able to stabilize himself before he crashed into the roof above them.


    Though it did come very close with how fast he had flown up, he almost hadn''t been able to stop himself in time.


    Everyone watched in shock when they saw this. Even Rose who was at the same level as Zi Jun couldn''t help slightly knitting her brows since she knew that she wouldn''t be able to resist this wind as well as Zi Jun.


    Perhaps she might not have been able to stop herself in time¡­


    After stabilizing himself, Zi Jun didn''t say anything as he was panting to catch his breath.


    It had taken a decent amount of mana from him to stabilize himself in time like this. It wasn''t just stopping his momentum, but he also had to use his mana to counteract the wind that had been lifting him up.


    That wind hadn''t been easy to break through.


    It was wind that had even broken through his lightning net in the first place, so it wasn''t as if this wind was weak.


    It took him a while to catch his breath, but once he did¡­


    "Who is it?" Zi Jun said in a low threatening voice that also had a trace of fear in it.


    For the first time, he didn''t have the same confidence as before.


    The other side was just too strong for him to have this same kind of confidence.


    "You''re the one that''s bullying my in name disciple and you don''t even know who''s behind him? It seems like you really are a fool."


    Zi Jun deeply knitted his brows when he heard this, but he didn''t say anything as he looked around the hall in an attempt to find this person. It was just that this voice seemed like it was coming from the entire room.


    No matter how he looked around, it didn''t seem like he was able to find where the voice came from.


    In fact, it even seemed as if it was riding on the wind itself.


    In the end, this long silence was broken by the voice on the wind.


    "Well, if I don''t show you who you''re messing with, you''ll just keep causing trouble for him, won''t you? In that case, I''ll teach you that there''s always someone above you."


    Right after this was said, there was a figure that appeared in the middle of the hall.


    This was a hunched over old figure that no one expected to see.


    This figure flew down and landed beside me, but he didn''t look at me as he was still focused on Zi Jun.


    There were many confused looks that were spread out across the room since it didn''t seem like these people recognized who this old man was.


    But there were those that recognized him.


    It was Rose and Zi Jun who had very disturbed looks on their faces when they saw who it was. And based on the fact that they had these disturbed looks, it was clear that they recognized who this person was.


    "So, how about it? Do you still want to go another few rounds?" Mu Gong teased Zi Jun.


    Zi Jun gave a gulp before slowly shaking his head. Sear?h the N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Since he knew who this person was, it was only natural that he wouldn''t do something crazy like this. He knew that what this person did just now was just playing with him and if he were to become serious¡­


    Well, it was unlikely that he would be able to win.


    He might be able to protect his son and escape, but that would be a very hard fought battle for him.


    Mu Gong shook his head as he said, "It seems like you''re smart, that''s disappointing. I was hoping to exercise these old bones."


    A bitter smile appeared on Zi Jun''s face when he heard this before he glared at his son.


    The only reason that he had done this was because of what his son said, but he never mentioned that one of the World Guardians was protecting this kid.


    Zi Ye couldn''t help revealing an aggrieved look since he didn''t know about this situation. He had only wanted to get a bit of revenge on this person, but he never expected him to have this kind of backing.


    When Zi Jun backed down, it was only natural that no one else tried to do anything to us.


    In fact, they were even looking at us with terrified looks.


    Instead of being restrained, I just asked, "Why did it take you so long to come? We could have gotten hurt if you didn''t come earlier."


    Mu Gong revealed a faint smile when he heard this before saying, "Well, I wanted to see what you would do. You''re quite the brave kid, so I wanted to see how far you would go."


    The way that the two of us bickered made others even more terrified when they saw this.


    However, there was someone that had to ask something, "You said that he''s your in name disciple?"

 Chapter 209 - 209: End of the competition (6)

    Both Mu Gong and I turned in the direction of the voice that asked this question.


    Even without turning, I already recognized the voice and knew who was asking this question.


    It was Rose, Leaf''s mother.


    I didn''t say anything as I turned to look at Mu Gong, waiting to hear what answer he would give.


    But the one that he actually gave caught me off guard.


    Not just that, it caught everyone off guard.


    This was an answer that not a single person was able to expect.


    With a chuckle, Mu Gong just said, "I wanted to take him as a disciple, but he told me that he didn''t want to take me as a master. In the end, I had no choice but to use a trick to take him as an in name disciple."


    Looks of shock appeared on both the faces of Zi Jun and Rose, while mildly disturbed looks appeared on the faces of the others. There were also some that were hiding in the shadows still that had looks of shock on their faces.


    The ones that were shocked were those that knew Mu Gong''s true identity, so it was natural that they would be shocked when they heard that someone denied the opportunity to become his disciple.


    They were further shocked when they heard that he had to use tricks to make Lin Fan his in name disciple.


    The others that were slightly disturbed knew that Mu Gong wasn''t normal after the clash with Zi Jun. So they were just shocked that someone like Lin Fan had turned down the offer to be his disciple.


    As for me, I just looked at Mu Gong with a strange look.


    From my understanding of this old man, I knew that he had said this on purpose.


    It even seemed like he had done this because he wanted to tease me.


    After all, he was looking at me with a smile after he said this.


    I really didn''t know what this old man was thinking since all of the things that he did were things that he did randomly without any explanation. I had no idea what his true plans were with the random way that he acted.


    Seeing that he didn''t say anything else, it wasn''t as if there was anything else that they could ask him.


    It was already pushing it a bit to ask this question, but Rose couldn''t help herself.


    And after she received the answer to this question, she couldn''t help feeling like she was filled with regret.


    One side was a World Summoner who was part of a guild that was stronger than hers, but the other side was a World Guardian.


    No matter how one looked at it, it was the World Guardian''s value that was greater.


    That was just how rare they were in the first place and also how much power they wielded.


    It was to the point where the normally strong and calm Rose couldn''t help complaining to herself, "If you have this kind of identity, why would you hide it?"


    If she knew earlier, then she wouldn''t be filled with this kind of regret right now.


    Seeing that no one was going to say anything, Mu Gong suddenly looked up to say, "How long are you guys going to keep hiding like that? Why not come out and declare the winner already?"


    Everyone was pulled back from their daze when they heard this and they looked in the same direction that Mu Gong did.


    After a moment of silence, there were five people that appeared. S§×ar?h the Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    All five of them had awkward looks on their faces as they floated down, but that didn''t stop them from acting like they were still in charge.


    After giving nods of acknowledgement to Mu Gong, the one that was leading the five of them said, "We''ll announce the standings now."


    I couldn''t help being surprised by the way that they acted.


    After all, I immediately recognized who these five were.


    All of them were important people to our country.


    Two of them were World Summoners affiliated with the country, one was the president of the Summoner Association branch in our country, one was the head of the country''s military and a World Summoner himself, and the final one that led this group was the president of the country.


    They were the top people of this country and they still had to show reverence to Mu Gong.


    That just went to show how heavy of a title the title of World Guardian was.


    After they said this, there was a screen that appeared in front of everyone.


    On this screen, there was a list of names and the number of points that they obtained.


    I didn''t even bother looking at the bottom, I just went right to the top.


    Team Mystery.


    That was the name that was at the top of the list and it was the name of our team.


    The points that we had was actually triple the points of the second place team, which just went to show how many points the Boss Monster of the dungeon was worth.


    Right after us were the five top contender teams and it seemed that they were pretty evenly matched since all of them had taken part in the fight against the Elite Monsters.


    In fact, it was surprising that the Fire God Team wasn''t that far behind.


    They must have taken care of one of the other Elite Monsters that I didn''t meet.


    Once the list appeared, it seemed like everyone''s attention had been drawn by it.


    It was only Mu Gong who looked at the five judges that appeared and asked, "When can you bring out the prizes? We want to go as soon as possible."


    Others might not be able to talk to the five of them like this, but he certainly could.


    All they could do was reveal awkward looks and take out the prize in the end.


    With a wave of his hand, the prizes flew over, but they didn''t go to Mu Gong. Rather, they went over to me.


    I just took them awkwardly and put them away without even looking at them since I already knew what they were.


    And after that, Mu Gong waved his hand to create a portal to bring us away.


    He didn''t seem to care at all about what anyone else thought as he brought us away.


    That was because¡­Mu Gong could see the way that they were looking at his in name disciple.


    He wasn''t going to let anyone take Lin Fan from him.

 Chapter 210 - 210: New assignment

    "Well, how was your first time standing out?"


    My face twitched when I heard him say this.


    I looked at Mu Gong who just looked back at me with that same smile on his face and there was an urge to punch him right in the middle of that smile.


    But I held myself back in the end.


    It wouldn''t be good if I were to punch Mu Gong in the face¡­or maybe it would be?


    There was a part of me that even considered it since I knew how eccentric he was, he might even think that it was interesting if someone were to punch him. It might be completely fine since there was no one else in the world that would dare to do it¡­


    But I held myself back in the end.


    After we arrived back at the Explorer Association, we found that An Xue Yun and An Long were there waiting for us. It seemed that they had been waiting for some time now with the way that they were sitting there relaxing.


    Or it might be that they were actually just relaxing and we had interrupted them.


    But that wasn''t the case as An Xue Yun immediately stood up after seeing that we had come back and she came to my side to ask, "You''re back. How did it go?"


    I didn''t answer this question right away as a bitter smile appeared on my face. After all, there wasn''t a single thing that turned out the way that I wanted it to.


    All of the things that I had prepared were useless¡­


    "Do you like this feeling of being helpless?"


    I slowly turned to look at Mu Gong with a strange look after he asked me this.


    I couldn''t figure out what he meant by this, but I knew that he wouldn''t say something like this without a reason.


    Otherwise¡­it seemed a bit too cruel.


    But seeing that he wasn''t saying anything as he continued staring at me, I had no choice but to slowly shake my head.


    At this, a wide smile appeared on Mu Gong''s face before he said, "Good, then it seems that you have learned something from this. Then it seems that all of this was worth it."


    Then the tone of his voice changed as he said, "Then it seems like I can give you your next assignment."


    A confused look appeared on my face after hearing this, but Mu Gong didn''t say anything else about this.


    Instead, he said, "Now you know the difference between a high grade dungeon and low grade dungeon, you will be able to face them without a problem. You''ll know what to expect in the future, so you''ll know what to do when you go into high grade dungeons in the future."


    It really seemed like he was implying something with this¡­


    "What prizes did you get?" An Xue Yun suddenly asked this question which pulled our attention to her.


    Seeing the way that she looked at me, I pulled out the rewards that had been given.


    After looking at them, she said, "Is that really it?" sea??h th§× N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    An Long shook his head with a bitter smile before saying, "Is that not good enough? These are items that are considered quite rare and hard to find for normal people. They are considered rare and hard to find even for me."


    An Xue Yun looked at her father before shaking her head to say, "But it can''t compare to the things that you''ve brought me."


    An Long really didn''t know whether to laugh or cry when he heard this.


    She was his precious daughter, so it was only natural that he would bring her special things. If he didn''t bring those special things back for her, who else was he supposed to bring those special things for?


    But those were still special things that were on the same level as these items.


    And these items were all special A Rank items.


    These were items that even World Summoners would fight over, let alone A Rank Summoners.


    So these things were anything but normal.


    It was just that in my eyes, I didn''t think that they were special at all.


    Neither did Iris since she was another daughter of a World Summoner couple who got special things from them.


    The only one that regarded these things as special was Wang Rong who didn''t have a special background.


    Though I didn''t have a special background, my common sense had been warped because of the Scavenger Rabbit. I was able to get these things quite easily with the Scavenger Rabbit, which was why they weren''t that rare for me.


    But there was one thing that did catch my attention.


    This was the whole reason I had joined the competition in the first place.


    It was a bottle that contained some kind of liquid.


    Familiar Awakening Potion


    That was the name of the item and the function of this item was its ability to give a familiar a second awakening. It was one of the rare items that would allow one''s familiar to increase their grade.


    That was why I was excited about getting it.


    To say that the grade of my familiar wasn''t a complex was considered a lie.


    But now I had the chance to raise the grade of the Echo Bat.


    If the Echo Bat became stronger, then I would be able to hold my head up high when I met Long Tang Tang in the future.


    "Knock, knock."


    While the two of them were having their own argument, they were suddenly interrupted by this knocking on the door.


    An Long deeply knitted his brows.


    After all, he had already told everyone that he had something to take care of and that no one should interrupt him during this time.


    But the door just opened before he could say anything.


    He couldn''t help narrowing his eyes when he saw this person. The look in his eyes made it seem like he recognized this person.


    "I''ve brought it." This person just ignored An Long who this office belonged to and said this to Mu Gong.


    Mu Gong gave a simple nod in response before turning back to look at me to say, "Now, I''ve said that I had another assignment for you. It''s time for you to accept this next assignment."

 Chapter 211 - 211: Abyss

    "Assignment? What assignment?"


    I had wanted to ask this earlier, but he had changed the topic.


    But now that he went back to it, naturally I wanted clarification on what he was talking about.


    However, Mu Gong didn''t say anything as he turned back to the person that just walked into the room.


    Seeing Mu Gong looking at him, that person gave a nod before walking towards me. As they came over, I couldn''t help raising my guard since I had no idea what they were planning to do.


    Only it seemed like I was being too cautious.


    All that happened in the end was that they took out an envelope and handed it over to me.


    I looked at him with a confused look, but that person didn''t seem interested in saying anything as he held the envelope in front of me. I also looked at the envelope, but it didn''t seem like there was anything that was off about this envelope.


    It seemed like a normal large envelope no matter how one looked at it.


    This was the kind of envelope that was usually used to hold some kind of special order or some kind of special certificate. It was much bigger than an envelope that was needed to hold a normal letter.


    So I couldn''t help feeling curious about what was inside.


    When I took it and opened up the envelope, I couldn''t help being taken aback by what I was reading. After all, this was one of the last things that I had expected to see from this envelope.


    After reading it for a bit, I looked at Mu Gong and asked, "Is this real?"


    He just looked at me with a smile as he said, "Of course it''s real. You''re expected next week."


    I couldn''t help deeply knitting my brows when I heard this.


    After all, the thing that Mu Gong had just given me was a recruitment order and it wasn''t just any normal recruitment order. It was one that was only given to elite summoners that met a certain level of power.


    After all, it was for a place where if one didn''t have enough power, they would die at any moment.


    This was an enrollment form for the Abyss Guards.


    As for what the Abyss Guards were, they were a special group that transcended normal borders and didn''t belong to any country. They were a group that wasn''t even controlled by the World Summoner Association.


    That was because the task that was given to them was one that concerned the very survival of the human race.


    That task was to guard the Abyss.


    The Abyss was a dungeon, but it wasn''t any normal dungeon. It was a dungeon that was inside of another dimensional space, one that was isolated from the rest of the world.


    But inside of that space, there were many Abyss Demons.


    The Abyss was the only dungeon of its kind since there was no other dungeon that was even close to the size of the Abyss. At the same time, there was no other dungeon that had the same function as the Abyss. S§×arch* The N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    With how big it was, it was only natural that summoners had been sent inside to explore the Abyss.


    From their findings and the Abyss Demons that were captured, they were able to find out that this Abyss was actually a path for the Abyss Demons to invade their world.


    That was why the Abyss was a unique dungeon.


    There was no other dungeon where the monsters inside would try to invade this world.


    Since these Abyss Demons wanted to invade this world, it was only natural that the humans would send people to stop them. And that was how the Abyss Guards were formed.


    Though nowadays, the Abyss had been stabilized because of the efforts of those before us and those that joined the Abyss Guards were those that were seeking fame.


    The contribution that they obtained from the Abyss Guards could be exchanged for many things. And if they reached a certain rank in the Abyss Guards, this would come with fame in the outside world.


    So that was why the Abyss was a place that people wanted to go to.


    But it wasn''t a place that I wanted to go to.


    As if he could read my mind, "It''s time for you to go and get some experience. This is a place where you''ll be able to develop your fame and experience that darker side of the world."


    I was surprised to hear this.


    After all, I knew exactly what he was talking about.


    I was just surprised that he would actually admit to something like this.


    Since it was a battlefield, it was recognized that people died there all the time.


    One automatically signed a waiver when they joined the Abyss Guards, so there was no one that would investigate deaths in the Abyss.


    That was why it was also a place where people killed each other.


    It was a fact that was known, but never spoken about. It was one of those facts that everyone considered an open secret.


    So for Mu Gong to say this out loud¡­


    But it was a lie to say that I wasn''t tempted because of this.


    It wasn''t because I wanted to learn about the darker side of humans like he mentioned. Both Iris and Wang Rong could attest that I didn''t actually need that since they were both looking at me with strange looks after Mu Gong said this.


    The reason that I was tempted was actually because this was a place where I was able to kill people at will.


    It wasn''t because I was a serial killer that needed to kill people, it was because I wanted more Skill Orbs.


    If I were to kill someone, I would naturally only kill those that deserved to die.


    If they didn''t offend me, I had no reason to provoke anyone.


    So after thinking about it, I nodded in agreement to what Mu Gong said.

 Chapter 212 - 212: Invitation to dinner

    Once I agreed, there was nothing else for us to discuss.


    Mu Gong gave a satisfied nod before leading the person that brought the envelope with him.


    But before they left, that person came over and suddenly said with a smile, "Junior brother, don''t think too much about master''s words. Even if he acts like that, he still cares about you."


    Then without another word, he turned to follow Mu Gong out.


    I didn''t even get a chance to say anything in response to this.


    Especially to the fact that he called me junior brother¡­


    Once they were gone, there was only silence that lingered in the air.


    After all, none of us knew how to react to the thing that Mu Gong suddenly brought up like this.


    I looked back down at the envelope and I found¡­it wasn''t just a single piece of paper that was there. I had only taken that single enrollment form, but it turned out that there were more that were in the envelope as well.


    Taking them out, I saw that they were for Wang Rong and Iris.


    It seemed that he recognized that we were a team and that we needed to go together as a team, so he prepared the enrollment for all three of us together.


    Though how Iris'' parents would react to this¡­


    No, even Wang Rong had the right to choose in this matter.


    Even if I had formed a working contract with him that was like a slave contract, it wasn''t as if I had the right to decide his life and death like this.


    So at the very least, I should have a talk with him about this.


    As such, after pulling these two pieces of paper out, I went over to where Iris and Wang Rong were to hand them over.


    The two of them were surprised to see this, but Iris surprisingly took it without a single word.


    After taking it, she turned around and walked off before saying, "I''m going to make a call."


    I didn''t stop her as I just looked at Wang Rong while still holding his copy and saying, "It''s your decision to make. Even if we have a deal, this is different. This is completely different from the normal dungeons, so I understand if you don''t want to come with me. I won''t blame you if you decide not to come."


    I made sure to say this with the most serious and sincere look.


    This was not something that I wanted to put any pressure on him at all.


    This was something that he had to decide for himself.


    After a short silence, Wang Rong slowly said, "I, I¡­"


    It seemed like he was still struggling with his thoughts and wasn''t able to come to a decision yet. Sear?h the n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    It was only natural that he would struggle like this since it was quite the big decision in the first place.


    I had no intention of forcing him to make a decision yet since there was still plenty of time before I had to head out.


    With a pat on his shoulder and an understanding look, I said, "Take some time to think this over. This is a big decision, it isn''t something that you would want to rush."


    Wang Rong slightly knitted his brows as if he was struggling with something.


    When I saw this, I grabbed his other shoulder and turned him to look right at me to say, "I won''t look down on you if you don''t want to go. This is a very dangerous place and I don''t expect you to follow me in. Not to mention that if you follow me in with half hearted intentions, all that will happen is that you will die and even put me in danger."


    Wang Rong opened and closed his mouth a few times, as if he wanted to say something to refute this. But there were no words that came out of his mouth in the end.


    It was as if he just couldn''t think of the words to refute me.


    Or based on the look in his eyes, even he didn''t believe the words that he would have used to refute this.


    In the end, I just patted him on the shoulder again before saying, "Just take the time to think about it. Discuss it with your little sister and see where your heart is at. I won''t think any less of you if you decide not to go, it is your life and I can''t force you to give it up."


    Well in reality, I could since that was the kind of contract that I signed with him in the first place.


    But after diving into the dungeons with him for a while, I just couldn''t think of him like that¡­


    So I wouldn''t treat Wang Rong like that.


    The loyalty that he showed so far would be repaid.


    After hesitating for a while, Wang Rong finally slowly gave a nod of agreement and fell into a state of deep thought.


    I didn''t say anything to disturb him since I was sure that there was still plenty that he had to think about.


    And while this was happening, Iris came back from whatever she had been doing.


    When she came back, she seemed like she was struggling with something of her own. At the same time, with the way that she kept looking at me, it seemed that this was related to me.


    "What''s wrong?" Finally I couldn''t take the way that she was looking at me, so I asked her this question.


    Iris seemed like she was still hesitating for a bit, but eventually she said, "I talked to my parents about what happened and they said that they want to invite you for dinner."


    "For dinner?" I slowly asked in response.


    Iris gave a slow nod as an answer.


    A strange look appeared on my face.


    I wasn''t a fool, I knew that they wouldn''t be inviting me to dinner like this unless¡­

 Chapter 213 - 213: What are your intentions?

    There was even a car that had been sent to the Explorer Association after Iris told me that I was invited to her house for dinner.


    It seemed that they had no intention of letting me escape at all. S~ea??h the N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    After all, it wasn''t just a single car that was there.


    There was a single car that was waiting, but I could see that there were other cars that were parked all around us. The way that they were parked made it seem like they were ready to come out at any moment.


    And that moment would be the moment that I tried to run away.


    So I had no choice but to get in the car with Iris.


    At the very least, it seemed that they were planning to treat me as a guest since they had sent a luxurious car to pick us up. It was the same car that I had gotten in before with Iris when we had been picked up from the dungeon.


    But there was only silence that lingered in the car while we drove.


    Not even the driver said a single thing as he was focused completely on driving.


    This wasn''t just to me, but also to Iris which was strange.


    She was the young miss, but now she was being treated like she was in trouble.


    Well, it wouldn''t be strange if she actually got in trouble because of me. Or rather because of what Mu Gong did.


    As the daughter of two World Summoners, it wasn''t as if it was required for her to go to a dangerous place like the Abyss Guards. That place was just too dangerous for most young masters and young misses to go.


    Unless they chose to go there, most of them would never go to that place.


    It wasn''t because they weren''t talented enough, it was just that there was no need for them to go.


    But because of what Mu Gong did, she was now expected to go there.


    Since her parents couldn''t actually do anything to Mu Gong, the only thing that they could do was take their anger out on me.


    I just hoped that I was able to withstand this anger.


    It seemed that they wanted to waste no time at all, so they had the car drive on the special roads for Summoners. These were special roads that were supposed to be used for emergencies only, but they were driving on it now.


    Perhaps to the two World Summoners, this was considered an emergency?


    Regardless, it also seemed like an abuse of power¡­


    Well, it wasn''t as if there was anyone that was going to step up and stop World Summoners. That was just the level of prestige and power that they wielded where they were able to do what they wanted without consequences.


    When we arrived in front of the mansion in the Ifrit District, we found that the two of them were actually outside waiting for us.


    Unlike before where they were waiting for us inside the mansion, they actually came out to greet us. However, this wasn''t a good sign, it just meant that they wanted to see us as soon as possible.


    Or it was that they didn''t want me to escape, so they came out personally¡­


    After the car stopped, Iris and I came out to stand in front of them.


    The two of them seemed to act normally, though I could see that Huo Fan Tian was glaring at me a bit more intensely than usual. It seemed that even if they were acting like everything was normal, it wasn''t as if they would be able to hold themselves back as much.


    Still, they invited us into the mansion where dinner had already been prepared.


    Even though I was sure that there were other things that they wanted to discuss, it seemed that they were still holding themselves back during this meal.


    That was until halfway into the meal when Alexandra suddenly said, "So I''ve heard that your next assignment was to head into the Abyss."


    The way that she said it was as if she was casually bringing something up as the next topic to discuss during dinner, but the contents of what she was talking about definitely weren''t casual.


    I couldn''t help giving a gulp when I heard this, almost choking on the food that had been in my mouth.


    If it hadn''t been Iris giving me a glass of water in time, I really would have choked on that bite of food.


    After swallowing with difficulty and coughing for a bit, I asked, "Ke, ke, yes, but where did you hear about this?"


    There was a smile that appeared on Alexandra''s face as she said, "As the parents of one of the ones being sent into the Abyss, don''t you think that we would be informed?"


    An awkward look appeared on my face when I heard this since her words were perfectly reasonable.


    That damn old man¡­


    If it wasn''t for him dragging Iris into this¡­


    But it was too late to curse out the one that called himself my in name master, the only thing that I could do was apologize.


    "I''m sorry about that. It was something that was completely decided by that person, so I couldn''t do anything about this."


    Since it was his fault, it wasn''t as if I would take the blame for him.


    I just threw everything onto Mu Gong and blamed him for it.


    But to my surprise, that smile didn''t disappear from Alexandra''s face. Even though Huo Fan Tian looked at me like he really wanted to teach me a lesson, she had the same smile on his face.


    That just caused an awkward silence to fill the air.


    When she finally broke that silence, Alexandra suddenly asked, "Well, it''s not as if it''s a problem if she wants to go with you."


    It wasn''t just Iris and I that were surprised, even Huo Fan Tian was surprised by this. However, he was stopped from asking any questions by Alexandra raising her hand.


    Instead, she just looked at me and asked, "I just want to know, what are your intentions for my daughter?"

 Chapter 214 - 214: That’s enough for now

    There was only silence that followed after Alexandra asked this.


    Even Huo Fan Tian was completely taken aback by these words from her.


    It seemed like he wasn''t even told anything about this by Alexandra.


    That just made me even more curious what she meant by this.


    But it didn''t seem like there was anything that I could get from her look, it didn''t seem like there were any clues that would help me come up with the right answer.


    After staring at her in silence for a bit, I slowly asked, "I don''t know."


    Alexandra slightly knitted her brows while Huo Fan Tian looked like he wanted to blow up, but Alexandra stopped him by raising her hand.


    At the same time, there was a trace of disappointment that appeared in Iris'' eyes.


    "You should know that I have some things that I have to do. There are things that I have to take care of before I can even think about things like this." Then in a softer voice, I added, "Not to mention that there''s someone else that I''m interested in."


    All of this made Iris look even more disappointed and Huo Fan Tian look even more angry, but Alexandra still held him back with the same look on her face.


    "For now, all I know is that she''s an important member of our team and I recognize that it''s dangerous to go to the Abyss. I completely understand that you would be worried about her going there and understand if you don''t want her to go. All I can say is that she''s important to our team."


    "Just the team and not you personally?" Alexandra asked this question, but her brows slightly unfurled after saying this.


    I hesitated for a moment before slowly nodding in response.


    Though Iris had a disappointed look, there was a trace of hope that appeared in her eyes after hearing this.


    As for Huo Fan Tian, he looked like he really wanted to fight it out with me.


    In the end, Alexandra suddenly revealed a smile as she said, "Alright, you may go now."


    With a clap of her hands, there was a bodyguard that came forward. S§×arch* The ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    This was the same one that had been assigned to make contact with me on behalf of the Huo Family.


    It seemed that I was being dismissed, but I didn''t mind at all.


    I knew that they had things that they needed to discuss as a family, so I just gave a bow and walked off.


    Though before leaving, I couldn''t help taking one last look at Iris.


    It wasn''t a lie when I said that I really didn''t know what my feelings for her were yet. We had been through enough things that I would feel something, but there was someone else who was already in my heart as well.


    Even if I was dense, it wasn''t as if I was a complete fool.


    I could already see how she felt towards me, I just couldn''t give an answer.


    As if he could see what I was thinking, Huo Fan Tian came forward to stand in between me and her so that I couldn''t look at her anymore.


    I just gave an awkward nod before leaving with the bodyguard.


    Once he was gone, Huo Fan Tian finally couldn''t take it anymore as he said, "That''s enough. We''ve gone along with this for too long. It''s clear that he isn''t anything good, so there''s no chance that we''ll allow you to¡­"


    "Dear, be quiet."


    Huo Fan Tian''s words petered out when he heard this.


    He looked at Alexandra like some kind of sad puppy, but it didn''t seem like she cared at all about what he was feeling. Instead, she had her attention on Iris who was just looking past Huo Fan Tian at where he had walked out from.


    "So, what do you think? Do you want to go?"


    Iris'' attention was pulled to her mother when she heard this.


    She opened and closed her mouth, but it seemed like she wasn''t able to come up with the right words to say. It even seemed like she was afraid of her mother to a certain extent that she wasn''t able to speak properly.


    Alexandra didn''t mind this and instead said with a smile, "Just say what you want to say. There''s no need to be afraid, I know what you''re feeling."


    A trace of surprise and confusion appeared in Iris'' eyes when she heard this, but seeing the way that Alexandra looked at her¡­


    "I want to go."


    Huo Fan Tian naturally didn''t stay still when he heard this and immediately slapped his hand on the table.


    This was completely different from anything that he had done before.


    Before this, it seemed like he had been restrained by his wife and didn''t do anything that went too far. But this time, it seemed like he really couldn''t hold back his temper and lost it on the table in front of him.


    Only the table didn''t break under his full force slap.


    That was because there was a layer of ice that stopped his flames.


    Huo Fan Tian narrowed his eyes after seeing this layer of ice before looking up at Alexandra. He just silently looked at her like this for a bit before saying in a tone that he rarely took with his wife, "I don''t agree."


    It was one that was filled with seriousness, one that seemed like he wouldn''t back down no matter what, even if it was his beloved wife.


    "I know, but right now this is already enough for them." Alexandra said something that confused Iris, but it seemed that Huo Fan Tian understood what she was saying as he revealed a strange look.


    Alexandra turned back to Iris to say, "It seems like you really are your father''s daughter. Back then, he chased me into the dungeons just to woo me as well."


    Huo Fan Tian''s face immediately turned red when he heard this.


    Alexandra didn''t care as she continued, "Eventually, he was able to move my heart, but it did take some time. Right now, it seems like you''ve done the same with him, so that''s enough for now."


    Iris'' face also turned red after hearing this explanation.


    Alexandra came forward to take Iris in her arms before saying, "My daughter, go and do what your heart wants. I support you."


    A touched look appeared on Iris'' face as she looked up at her mother before saying, "Mom, thank you. I''ll be careful."


    Huo Fan Tian just stood there with an awkward look on his face, but it also seemed like he couldn''t say anything else.

 Chapter 215 - 215: You have to go

    After Lin Fan and Iris were picked up by her parents'' people, Wang Rong was left there on his own.


    Even An Xue Yun and An Long seemed to have lost interest once Lin Fan was gone, but Wang Rong knew that this was how it was.


    They were only interested in that boss of his in the first place, or else someone like him never would have gotten the chance to meet with the president of the Explorer Association.


    Of course, Wang Rong never felt bad about this since he knew that it was all because of that boss of his that he was where he was now. If it wasn''t for that boss of his giving him this ability, then he would have still been the same person being bullied as before.


    It was all because of Lin Fan that he had been reborn, so he could never be envious or angry towards him.


    He was only filled with gratitude towards him.


    That gratitude in turn became loyalty for Lin Fan, one that allowed Wang Rong to do whatever Lin Fan needed of him.


    But this was not that simple¡­


    While he was willing to fight for Lin Fan, he knew that everything that they had done so far wasn''t that dangerous. Wang Rong knew that Lin Fan always had something up his sleeve that would take care of the situation.


    So even if it seemed like they were in danger, they had never actually been in any danger. S§×arch* The Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    However, the Abyss was different.


    Everyone that was a summoner knew what the Abyss was and how dangerous it was. Even if Wang Rong had full confidence in Lin Fan, that didn''t mean that he would be able to believe that Lin Fan would be able to do something in the Abyss.


    It was the Abyss, the legendary battlefield between humans and Abyss Demons.


    So when faced with this almost certain chance of death, it wasn''t that easy to decide.


    At the same time, Wang Rong was also filled with guilt because of what Lin Fan had said to him.


    Lin Fan told him that there was no need for him to come, but that just made Wang Rong feel even more guilty because of everything that Lin Fan had done for him.


    So after he came back to his senses, there was one place that Wang Rong went to.


    It was where his little sister was.


    Today was the day that she had an appointment at the hospital for a check up.


    Though she had recovered, she was still under observation because of how sudden she had recovered. They wanted to make sure that she didn''t relapse even though she had recovered.


    Though Wang Rong also knew that part of it was because the doctor wanted to check up on his little sister to see how she had recovered. That doctor still wanted to find out because he wanted to use this as his chance to become famous.


    Based on the time, Wang Rong knew that Wang Jing should still be at the hospital, which was why that was the place that he headed to.


    When Wang Jing saw Wang Rong, she was naturally happy to see him, though she was also curious why he was back so early.


    "Big Brother Lin must have swept through everyone else, right?" Wang Jing said with a bright smile on her face.


    Since she had been cured by him, she had taken to calling Lin Fan Big Brother Lin.


    Wang Rong had tried to stop her, but he knew that there was nothing that he could do to stop her with the way that she treated him.


    With a small nod, Wang Rong said, "The boss really swept through everyone else and took first place in the competition." His voice kind of drifted off at the end of this.


    Wang Jing naturally could sense that something was off with her brother, so she asked, "What is it?"


    Wang Rong didn''t even ask how she knew, there was no need with how close these two siblings were.


    After a moment of hesitation, he told her everything.


    "You have to go." Wang Jing said without any hesitation.


    Wang Rong was caught off guard since this was certainly not what he expected to hear.


    When Wang Jing saw Wong Rong looking at her with a confused look, she said, "You should have faith in Big Brother Lin. When has he done anything that he doesn''t have confidence in? Not to mention that both of us owe our lives to him."


    Then in a voice that had a trace of sadness, she said, "Now he''ll think that we don''t believe in him."


    She became even a bit agitated as she punched Wang Rong and said, "It''s all your fault for not agreeing to go right away."


    Wang Rong was still confused and surprised by Wang Jing''s answer, but he said, "How is it that easy to agree? You should know how dangerous that place is and if something happens to me¡­you''ll be all alone."


    "Nothing will happen to you. You''re going with Big Brother Lin." Wang Jing said in a voice that made Wang Rong a bit afraid.


    It almost sounded like she had an unhealthy obsession with Lin Fan with the way that she said this.


    But then Wang Jing said, "With the abilities that Big Brother Lin has, how could you think that something will happen to him? All we have to do is continue following Big Brother Lin and receiving his grace. Without him, where would we be?"


    Wang Rong had a very strange look on his face as he listened to Wang Jing, but eventually that look disappeared from his face.


    The look on his face soon turned into one that seemed like he was convinced by what she said.


    It seemed that Wang Jing''s words had slowly brainwashed Wang Rong into believing the same thing as her.


    It seemed that Wang Jing had turned Wang Rong into Lin Fan''s second fanatic.


    With the first one being her.

 Chapter 216 - 216: Heading into the Abyss (1)

    A week passed and it was time to head to the Abyss.


    The enrollment letter stated that someone would come to the Explorer Association to pick me up, which was why I headed off to the Explorer Association.


    As for my parents and my brother, I just told them that I would be heading to a dungeon for a while.


    It wasn''t exactly a lie, but it wouldn''t be good to tell them the whole truth.


    So a little white lie like this was fine.


    After all, I had no intention of dying and I didn''t feel like I would be in that much danger.


    Others might feel like they would be in danger, but with the things that I had prepared¡­well it would be hard for me to be in danger even if I wanted to be in danger.


    It was just almost impossible for me to put myself in danger.


    When I arrived at the Explorer Association, I was surprised to find that there were two people waiting there for me.


    I was expecting one at most, so seeing both of them completely caught me off guard.


    The one that I expected was Wang Rong. He was someone that had shown his loyalty to me, so I knew that there was a high chance that he would come with me.


    So I wasn''t surprised at all when I saw him and there was even a warm feeling that filled my heart.


    The one that surprised me was Iris.


    Seeing her, I couldn''t help remembering what happened with her and her parents the last time I saw her. I remembered clearly that the interaction didn''t end well, so it didn''t seem likely that she would come.


    The only way that she would come is if¡­


    "Did you run away again?" That was the first thing I asked Iris the moment that I saw her.


    She had an indignant look on her face after hearing this before saying, "Do you really think that I would run away just to go to the Abyss? Even if I did, wouldn''t you think that they would have sent word ahead of time to stop me? So it''s not as if I could go with you if I didn''t have their approval."


    What she said did make sense, it was just that I couldn''t imagine her father Huo Fan Tian giving his permission.


    He was the kind of person that would fight his way through the entire world before giving permission for something like this.


    So for her to receive permission¡­


    Well, there was only one person that Huo Fan Tian couldn''t go against and that was his beloved wife.


    That meant that it was actually Alexandra that gave permission for Iris to come along. S§×arch* The nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    But I also couldn''t understand why she would suddenly give her permission like this.


    After all, what happened last time should have left a bad impression on Alexandra.


    So why would she agree?


    In the end, I wasn''t able to figure anything out and it was confirmed when the representative from the Abyss Guards came. He didn''t say anything when he saw Iris with us, though it was clear by the look in his eyes when he looked at her that he recognized her.


    That meant that he knew exactly who she was and who her parents were.


    For him to accept her joining the Abyss Guards as well, it seemed that they had already sent their approval over.


    "Are you ready?" He asked after taking a look at us.


    I looked at the other two and they nodded to show that they were ready.


    So I turned back to say with a nod, "We''re ready."


    The Abyss Guard representative gave a nod before leading the way outside.


    Before leaving the Explorers Association, An Xue Yun came to see us off.


    An Long would have come as well, but it was hard for him to show himself in public unlike An Xue Yun. As the president of the Explorers Association, he was someone that could be considered quite famous.


    So it wasn''t as if he could go out without people noticing him.


    An Xue Yun gave us the things that he wanted to pass us.


    It was a care package filled with magic items and special elixirs that would help us in the Abyss.


    It seemed that he still cared for us since we were Explorers of the Explorers Association, though thinking about it¡­it wasn''t as if the president was able to take care of every Explorer of the association.


    This was also his determination to keep us at the Explorers Association that made him give us all of this.


    Still, it wasn''t as if I would have bad feelings towards the Explorers Association.


    Both the association and An Xue Yun had helped us quite a bit, so even I personally had good feelings towards both.


    As we left, she looked at us with a worried look as she said, "Take care of yourself."


    I nodded back to her before saying, "We will."


    Even Iris seemed closer to her.


    I didn''t understand women sometimes since they seemed like they had this grudge with each other previously, but now it seemed like they were friends.


    Of course, this wasn''t a bad thing.


    After our goodbyes, the Abyss Guard representative led us off to the main transport station of our city. This was the place where the transport gates were located and a place that was heavily controlled by both the government and the Summoner Association.


    But just a single flash of his token was enough for us to be treated as VIPs.


    That was the prestige that the Abyss Guards had.


    At the same time, we weren''t even brought to the normal transport gates.


    Rather, we were brought to a separate transport gate that was hidden behind some special doors. These were special reinforced doors that were far beyond normal reinforced doors.


    These doors looked like they would even be able to hold back A Rank Monsters.


    It was clear that this was a very special transport gate.

 Chapter 217 - 217: Heading into the Abyss (2)

    When we saw the transport gate, all three of us couldn''t help revealing strange smiles.


    That was because whoever had designed this transport gate had a strange sense of humour.


    They had designed it so that it was a gate that looked like it was the gates of hell.


    Well, it wasn''t as if this was wrong since this should be a gate that led right into the Abyss, where the Abyss Demons lived. But for them to make the transport gate that led there look like this really was a bad joke.


    After seeing the way that we looked at the transport gate, the Abyss Guard representative asked with a teasing smile, "Getting cold feet now?"


    We shook our heads and revealed serious looks once again, but he just said, "No need to be that serious. You''re not in danger yet, this just leads to our base outside of the Abyss. You''ll still have time to get your footing before heading into the Abyss."


    Then without even waiting for us to say anything, he stepped right into the transport gate.


    Looking at Iris and Wang Rong, I just followed him into the transport gate.


    This was a familiar feeling, but there was a powerful feeling that came from the other side as well.


    It was the feeling of danger.


    As expected of a transport gate that led to the Abyss.


    When we came out of the transport gate, we were hit with a wave of sound.


    It certainly wasn''t what we were expecting to see, but then again, it wasn''t as if we knew what to expect from this place.


    Thinking back, the Abyss Guard representative had said that this was the base that was outside of the Abyss. And since it was a base that was placed outside the Abyss, it should be a military base just in case the Abyss ever broke.


    There were all kinds of military machines that were being moved around, such as special magic tanks and vehicles. As well as mounted turrets that were all pointed at the entrance to the Abyss at the center of the camp.


    This was a camp that was clearly made to suppress the Abyss if anything came from it.


    But that wasn''t strange since this was the final line of defense if something ever happened with the Abyss.


    After letting us look around the camp for a bit, the representative from the Abyss Guard called out to us, "Come on, follow me. I''ll bring you to the registration tent to get you enrolled and then you can go pick up your supplies from the supplies tent. After that, you''ll have a day to prepare before you head into the Abyss."


    After a pause, he narrowed his eyes and said in a serious voice, "If you don''t go into the Abyss within a day, that''ll be regarded as desertion and you''ll be labelled as traitors to the human race. I hope that you will remember that and head into the Abyss as soon as possible."


    The way that he said this was almost as if he had some kind of personal experience with this.


    It seemed like something similar had happened to him in the past¡­


    But since we were here, it wasn''t as if we would run away now. We had already made up our mind before coming to this place after all.


    Seeing that we didn''t react at all to this, the Abyss Guard representative gave a nod of approval before saying, "It''s good that you''ve prepared yourself. That''s what''s needed if you''re going to head into the Abyss."


    With that, he turned around and started leading the way again.


    During this time, we were able to take in the sights of the camp. Though there wasn''t really much to see since this was just a military camp in the first place.


    The first surprising thing was how many people were actually here. Only it didn''t seem like everyone that was here was actually a part of the Abyss Guards.


    The Abyss Guards were the more famous group that were here to guard the entrance of the Abyss, as well as head in to clear out the Abyss Demons to prevent a dungeon break.


    However, there were also other people that were stationed here. These were soldiers from the militaries of most countries'' armies in this world.


    They were here just in case anything ever happened, but they weren''t strong enough to actually dive into the Abyss. The best way to describe them was cannon fodder to stop the Abyss Demons if they ever escaped.


    That was why there were so many of these soldiers and supplies that were at this base camp outside the entrance of the Abyss.


    As we walked through the camp, we could see the way that the soldiers were looking at the Abyss Guard representative that was sent to escort us. It was clear that they were filled with respect towards him.


    After all, he was one of the few people that were allowed to enter the Abyss to fight the Abyss Demons.


    In this world, strength was what commanded respect. S§×arch* The N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The other surprising thing was how many members of the Abyss Guards were here.


    One thought that the Abyss Guards was an elite group that only had a few members, but it seemed that this place had quite a few people with the same badge as the representative that came to pick us up.


    But thinking about it, it did make sense since even if they were an elite group, this was a group that had members from all over the world. They didn''t just have a few members from here or there, it was an international group.


    So there were countless people to pick from and bring into the Abyss Guards.


    Everyone had their circumstances, so it only made sense that there were so many people that joined the Abyss Guards.


    It didn''t take long for him to bring us to the registration tent.

 Chapter 218 - 218: Heading into the Abyss (3)

    The process to register didn''t take long since we had already been registered.


    It even seemed like things had been expedited for us because of a special request.


    As expected of Mu Gong, a World Guardian''s prestige really was on a completely different level.


    But even though we had been expedited in terms of registering, that didn''t mean that we would receive a higher rank.


    The badges that they gave us only had a single stripe on them.


    The one that the Abyss Guard representative that came to pick us up had one star and three stripes on it.


    He explained, "Everyone starts at private first class and you slowly move up. Once you obtain five of these stripes, you''ll be able to get a single star to become a sergeant. Two stars means that you will be captain and so on. Once you reach five stars, you''ll become a general of the Abyss Guards, though there aren''t that many people that have reached that level before. Only those that distinguish themselves with astonishing achievements can reach that level."


    So based on this, the representative that came to pick us up was someone who was a sergeant third class.


    And based on the badges that we saw along the way, it seemed that this was a rather high rank since most people here didn''t even have a star on their badge.


    Though we had no idea just how hard it was to obtain contribution points to gain new stripes, it seemed like it was rather hard¡­


    Of course, this was what the sergeant was aiming for based on the way that he looked at us after saying this.


    It was clear that he was using this as an opportunity to teach us this.


    After helping us register, he led us over to the supplies tent.


    This was a tent that was filled with various different weapons, armour, and all kinds of potions. With how filled it was, it was as if this camp was prepared to go to war at any moment.


    Though with the identity of this camp, that was the truth.


    If the Abyss Demon broke free of the Abyss, a war would break out at any moment.


    So it was only natural that they would be stocked up for a war to happen.


    After showing our badges to them, we each received a supply pack.


    This was the standard issue supply pack for new recruits of the Abyss Guards, but that didn''t mean that this pack was lacking. There were many things here that couldn''t be obtained that easily, these were considered quite rare and special items.


    And this was just the standard supply pack given to the Abyss Guards.


    This just went to show how much funding was behind these Abyss Guards.


    Though there was one item that caught my attention.


    This was an item that was a bit different from the others and it wasn''t given to the other two. Both Iris and Wang Rong seemed to have gotten something similar that I didn''t have. Sear?h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    In response to this, the supply officer just gave a simple wink without explaining.


    That was enough to tell that this was a special bonus that had been provided for us. It was most likely the influence that Mu Gong had as a World Guardian that made them give us these special items.


    And each of these special items were perfectly made for all three of us.


    "Now, you''re ready to go in. I''ve already given you everything that you can need, so all that''s left is for you to experience what the Abyss is like."


    In a more serious voice, the sergeant said, "Remember not to underestimate the Abyss or the Abyss Demons. There''s a reason why they have been able to maintain this invasion for so long. Of course, there are also other things to look out for. The Abyss is a place where we can''t observe everything, so hidden in the corners are¡­"


    It was clear what he was implying, but this was something that we already knew about.


    It was also the reason why Mu Gong had sent us here in the first place, it was to give us an experience into the darker side of humans.


    But of course, that was also why I chose to come.


    The ones that tried to do anything to us, there would be no reason to let them go.


    I needed more Skill Orbs after all.


    "Thank you for your warning, sir. We will be sure to keep this in mind." I said in a serious voice, which I thought was befitting of a soldier.


    But when the sergeant heard this, he waved his hand and said, "There''s no need for you to act this stiff around me. I was asked to watch over you by a certain someone, but now I can tell that you kids are good kids, so I''m personally interested in you now."


    Revealing a smile, the sergeant added, "I''m Sun Xiang. In the future, if I''m not around, you can just use my name with the others here. Even though I''m only a sergeant third class, I do have some fame and some prestige among the others here. So they will give me some face and help you out if you have some kind of trouble."


    I was surprised to hear this, though I could tell the real reason that he did this was because of who was behind us.


    Still, there was no reason to reject someone that reached their hand out towards me.


    Rather, this was a good thing.


    The more people that we knew, the better it was.


    Especially if something really did happen.


    "Sir Sun, then I''ll have to ask you to look out for us."


    "What Sir Sun? Just call me older brother. There''s no need for you to act this formal, we''re all brothers and sisters in arms in the Abyss Guard."


    I was caught off guard again by this, but I quickly nodded in agreement.

 Chapter 219 - 219: Scent of blood

    After telling us a few more things, that Sergeant Sun Xiang went off somewhere else.


    The excuse that he gave was that he would leave us to prepare to enter the Abyss, the real reason was that someone was casting him looks from the side. It was clear that this person had some kind of business with Sun Xiang, so he headed off to see what it was.


    I didn''t mind since he had already spent quite a bit of time explaining things to us.


    These things would certainly help us adapt to this camp and would help us in the Abyss when we entered it later.


    After everything that happened, it was already the afternoon.


    We had set out in the morning, but it took some time to get our badge and all the supplies, so it was already the afternoon.


    A smart person would have waited until the next morning to go in, but a smarter person knew that there was no meaning to this.


    This was also something that Sun Xiang had mentioned earlier.


    The Abyss was a special dungeon in a dimensional space that belonged to the Abyss alone, so it was different from other dungeons. There was no concept of day and night inside of the Abyss, so it was very easy to lose track of time there.


    But since it was a place that didn''t have a day and night cycle, it meant that we would have to rest whenever we could. And that was very rare since it was a battlefield inside of the Abyss.


    That was why there were special defensive arrays given to us in our supplies for us to make camp with.


    Only I knew that there was a better way to protect ourselves if something happened.


    Since there was no point in waiting, I turned to Wang Rong and Iris to ask, "Shall we head in then?"


    Both of them hesitated for a second before they both took deep breaths and nodded in agreement.


    I didn''t blame them for acting this way.


    Even though we had already made up our minds when we came to this place, it wasn''t that easy to actually step into the Abyss.


    Stories of the Abyss had been spread far and wide, so everyone already had an idea of what the Abyss was like. This Abyss dungeon was not a place that one could enter and exit that easily.


    But we came with the determination to enter, so we would enter.


    There wasn''t much else to do to prepare since all of the preparations had been made before coming here. All that was left was actually entering the entrance to the Abyss, which was at the center of the camp. sea??h th§× n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    When we arrived at the entrance, the guards there didn''t stop us at all.


    They just took a single look at the badges that we had and moved aside for us to enter. Since these were normal soldiers, they even saluted us as we walked past them.


    There was no hiding the admiration that was in their eyes.


    Even though we only had a single stripe, that didn''t stop them from feeling admiration towards us. That was just the difference between those that were in the Abyss Guards and those that were assigned to guard this place.


    The entrance to the Abyss wasn''t actually that special, it was just a single portal that was like any other dungeon portal that we''ve seen before. It wasn''t even bigger than any of the other portals that we had seen, it was the same size even though this Abyss dungeon was much bigger than any other dungeon that we had been to before.


    The moment that we stepped through the portal and appeared in the dungeon, there was a powerful smell that hit us.


    "Ugh." All three of us couldn''t help twisting our faces when this smell hit us like this.


    After all, this smell was a bit too intense¡­


    This smell was a strong scent of blood.


    Or at least that was the first thing that hit us when we arrived in the Abyss. But after that initial smell of blood, we could smell other things as well.


    It wasn''t just blood, but also the scent of rotting flesh and other things.


    All around us, the ground was red like it was covered in blood and there were corpses that were scattered around. It didn''t seem like anyone was interested in picking them up and it seemed like they had been here for a while with the way that creatures picked at them.


    In a way, it almost seemed deliberate how these corpses had been left here.


    It wasn''t just the corpse of Abyss Demons that were left here, it was also the corpses of humans that were left here.


    Though it was strange that there were these corpses in the first place.


    Or at least the corpses of the Abyss Demon since this was a dungeon. The corpses of the Abyss Demons should have been turned into loot after they were killed.


    It didn''t make sense that they were scattered like this in the first place.


    But after taking in the sights of the Abyss, I said, "Let''s go."


    Wang Rong and Iris both nodded in agreement before quickly following me away from the entrance.


    This place was the place that was most likely the most observed location.


    That meant that it was also the safest and most dangerous place if anything were to happen.


    This was not the place for us if we wanted to achieve anything in this dungeon.


    So we headed off in a random direction.


    We had no idea what was inside of this dungeon since no one had been able to give us a reliable map.


    The supplies officer had told us that because of the changing situation on the battlefield, there were never any good markers in the Abyss. So the only way to find anything was to actually wander around the Abyss and try one''s luck.


    That was why we were currently heading off in this random direction.


    It would all depend on our luck.

 Chapter 220 - 220: First Abyss Demons

    This place didn''t change no matter how far we walked.


    This was a place that seemed to be completely abandoned.


    This was a place that was a perfect representation of what a battlefield should be.


    It was a place that was filled with red sand and many different large rock formations that gave cover as far as the eye could see. If one wasn''t careful, it was easy to be ambushed in a place like this.


    It was possible that an enemy could be hiding behind any of these rocks.


    That was why I had deployed the undead as soon as we started moving, but there hadn''t been any signals from them. sea??h th§× NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    If it wasn''t for the undead, then we wouldn''t be able to move at our current speed.


    The only thing that we would have been able to do is take things slowly as we moved through these rocks.


    But with these undead leading the way, we were able to make our way through without encountering any enemies.


    It reached the point where it seemed strange that there wasn''t anything here at all.


    It was as if there wasn''t a single Abyss Demon in this place.


    Only that didn''t make sense since this Abyss dungeon was the home of the Abyss Demon invaders. They wouldn''t just all disappear all of a sudden like this, so they had to be hiding somewhere.


    But where were they hiding?


    Eventually, we were able to find them.


    It was a group of Abyss Demons that were gathered together, just standing there as if there was nothing better for them to do. With the way that they stood there, it was almost as if they were idle¡­


    But that was strange since this dungeon wasn''t the same as the other dungeons.


    Since this dungeon was used by the Abyss Demons to invade our world, that meant that they were able to maintain a certain level of intelligence. If they didn''t, then it really wouldn''t be invading our world.


    So why were they just standing there like a bunch of NPCs?


    It didn''t seem to make any sense at all¡­


    After looking more closely, we figured out what it was.


    It was a group of people that they were surrounding that made them gather like that. They seemed to have surrounded a group of humans and with the way that they were around them, it seemed like they were about to finish them off.


    I turned around to look at Iris and Wang Rong before telling them what happened.


    After a moment of hesitation, they gave nods to show that they were ready and that they supported me.


    So I had the undead move forward.


    At first, the Abyss Demons didn''t seem to notice the undead around them. But once they came closer, it was hard for the Abyss Demons to ignore the undead.


    "What is this?"


    Though we already knew that the Abyss Demons could speak the same language as us, it was still a bit surprising to hear them actually speak. The voices of the Abyss Demons were a bit harsh too, almost like someone scratching their nails on a chalkboard.


    Though it didn''t seem like that was because of their voice.


    It almost seemed like there was something that was messing with their voices, which made their voices sound like this.


    Though they said this after being caught off guard, it wasn''t as if the undead would stop moving towards them.


    It was just that the undead were moving at a speed that was too slow to actually catch them off guard.


    The Abyss Demons seemed more surprised by the fact that there were undead here more than anything else. It seemed like they didn''t recognize the undead and were seeing them for the first time.


    But that meant that the undead were able to approach the Abyss Demons without a problem.


    It was just that they weren''t exactly strong enough to take down the Abyss Demons that easily.


    Instead of being able to cut through the Abyss Demons with their weapons, all that happened was that the scales on their bodies blocked the bone swords and weapons. It was almost as if the bodies of the Abyss Demons were made of steel with how they easily stopped these weapons.


    So in the end, the undead just weren''t able to do anything to them and all that happened was that the Abyss Demons were pulled out of their dazes.


    "A bunch of bones want to hurt us? We''ll crush you right now!"


    Once they were pulled out of their daze, the Abyss Demons didn''t hold back at all as they started attacking the undead. The undead tried to dodge out of the way, but the Abyss Demons were surprisingly fast even though their bodies were so hard.


    It didn''t seem like they weighed anything with the way that they moved.


    It really was hard to believe that they were this hard and fast at the same time.


    But because the Abyss Demons turned their attention to the undead, that gave a gap for the humans that had been surrounded to make their way out of their blockade.


    They didn''t know what was happening at first, but then they realized that there was a small rat made of bones waving at them. They were a bit hesitant seeing this, but then they followed that small rat made of bones of this place.


    When the Abyss Demons realized what happened, they were filled with rage.


    They started smashing the bones that scattered the ground from the skeletons that they smashed. But even though they smashed the bones, it wasn''t as if it would bring back the humans that escaped.


    "Find them!"


    One of the Abyss Demon said to the others, showing that they were much higher rank than the others.


    But no matter how the Abyss Demons tried looking for the humans, they weren''t able to find them.


    That was because they never noticed the skeletal rats that had been watching them the entire time.

 Chapter 221 - 221: Ungrateful

    After rescuing the humans from the Abyss Demons, we quickly led them to a different place while watching out for the Abyss Demons.


    This was a place that was in the exact opposite direction that the Abyss Demons were searching in.


    Even though they were searching, it didn''t seem like they were confident to split up and search a large area. That and the fact that they saw footprints made them head in one direction.


    The Abyss Demons were surprisingly easy to trick since those footprints didn''t even come from a living person.


    But of course, I made sure to watch over them with the skeletal rats just in case they decided to head back this way. It was dangerous to believe that the enemy would just follow whatever trap one set, it was best to watch over them.


    However, since they were going in a different direction, that meant that we had some time to talk.


    After I told them the situation, the humans that we saved let out a sigh of relief.


    Now that we had some time, I could see that they were around the same age as us, though they were a bit older than us. At the same time, they were wearing the same Abyss Guard badges as us, which meant that they were also members of the Abyss Guards.


    Though they did have more stripes than us, showing that they were higher ranked than us.


    Once we had time, the leader of the group came forward to take my hands before saying, "Thank you for saving us. I really thought that we were done for."


    "Right, if it wasn''t for you, then that really would have been the end of us."


    "I honestly thought that was the end, but to be able to live another day is always a good thing."


    That was the general vibe of the group, but¡­there was always that one person that didn''t do the same thing as the rest of the group. There was always that one person that seemed to be at odds with the rest of the group.


    "If you were going to save us, why didn''t you do it sooner? Because of you, I wasted a bunch of my supplies trying to chase them off. Are you going to compensate me for the items that I wasted?"


    The rest of his group narrowed their eyes to look at this person that said this, but they didn''t say anything to reprimand him.


    It was clear that this person that was acting stuck up was an important member of the group¡­though it didn''t seem like it was because of his power.


    No, it seemed that it was partly because of the power that he had and partly because of his background. With the way that they looked at him, it almost seemed like they were a bit subservient to him.


    I narrowed my eyes to look at this person after hearing what he said.


    This person was a young man with hair that was standing up and eyes that were sharp and narrow. He had the kind of appearance that just demonstrated how arrogant he was and how much he wanted to show off.


    This was not the kind of person that seemed like they would be able to be humble no matter how he acted.


    And since that was the case¡­.


    "Alright, it seems that you''re full of energy then. I wish you good luck." I said in a cold voice before turning around to leave.


    I had helped them because they were members of the Abyss Guards like us, but to be shown this kind of ungrateful response after saving them¡­


    Well, I wasn''t about to let them just walk all over me like this.


    It wasn''t as if there was a need for us to be with anyone else in this Abyss.


    It was better if we were alone since it would give us more options in doing things.


    If we were with someone else, then it would mean that we would have to care about what they wanted and what they needed.


    The arrogant young man who had been complaining suddenly revealed a stunned look while the rest of his group revealed awkward looks.


    They weren''t surprised to see us act this way, but it seemed like there was something else that they were worried about.


    After he came back from his daze, the arrogant young man suddenly twisted his face and said, "Where do you think you''re going? Since you''re here, it''s only natural that you will act as a distraction for me. I am your superior officer, you will listen to my orders."


    There was no hesitation in his voice at all, it was as if he truly believed that everyone in this world should just cater to his every whim. Sear?h the N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    But I didn''t plan on playing with him.


    "Is that so? Then are you going to make me? You''re a private just like us, what makes you think that you''re our superior officer?" I said without any hesitation.


    The face of the arrogant young man twisted again when he heard this before he pointed at his badge to say, "Can''t you see, are you really that blind? I have two stripes, which means that I''m a private second class. So it''s only natural that you should listen to me since my rank is higher than yours."


    "I have no obligation to listen to someone like you. If you really want to push it¡­"


    With a snap of my fingers, there were several bones that came out of the ground around me. When they took shape, they took the form of the same undead as before.


    That was because they were the same undead as before.


    The skeletal rats had also brought those broken bones over and I raised them as undead once more.


    After being raised, the skeletons raised their swords to point at the arrogant young man without any hesitation.


    I knew that for someone like this, words would never get through to him.


    The only thing that would get through to him were actions.

 Chapter 222 - 222: Choose who you follow

    The arrogant young master was surprised by the undead that suddenly appeared, but it didn''t seem like he was afraid of them.


    Though it wasn''t a surprise that he wasn''t afraid of them since these skeletons weren''t that strong in the first place.


    These skeletons were just mobs that had been created to distract the Abyss Demons, so there was no way that they would be that strong.


    So for this arrogant young master who was able to join the Abyss Guards, it was only natural that he wasn''t afraid of them.


    He even revealed a sneer after seeing these skeletons before saying in a taunting voice, "What are you going to do with these? Do you think that you can do anything with just these piles of bones?"


    He was about to raise his hand to do something, but then his hand suddenly froze.


    When his hand froze in the air like this, his expression slowly changed.


    He slowly started to knit his brows before there was a look of struggle that appeared on his face. His hand was trembling while this look of struggle was on his face, showing that he was trying to break free of something.


    Only it didn''t seem like it was working.


    It seemed like this arrogant young master was completely frozen in place.


    No matter how he tried to move, it didn''t seem like his body would listen to him. It was like there was this thing that had wrapped around his body that completely prevented him from doing anything.


    The arrogant young master''s face eventually twisted in anger, though most of that anger came from the shame of being restrained like this.


    And of course, he knew where to direct that anger.


    "What did you do to me?! Let me go this instant!"


    The one that he directed this anger to was naturally me.


    I just calmly looked at him without a trace of fear on my face.


    The more that I looked at him like this, the more that traces of fear filled the eyes of the arrogant young master. The more that I looked at him like this, the more that sweat started breaking out on his forehead.


    Eventually, I raised my hand and gave a snap of my fingers.


    Once that happened, the skeletons that had been silently standing there started moving forward.


    The others from the arrogant young master''s group saw this and wanted to move forward as if they wanted to help him, but I looked at them and shook my head. While I was doing this, Wang Rong and Iris also took out their weapons and took a step forward.


    The other members of the arrogant young master''s group couldn''t help taking a step back when they saw this.


    This group was just too mysterious for them to do anything, not to mention that they had saved them.


    So even if the arrogant young master was a part of their group, they seemed hesitant on saving him.


    In the end, I didn''t bother with them as I said to the arrogant young master, "You should know where we are right now. If I were to make you disappear, then no one would be able to say anything."


    The arrogant young master looked like he was completely shocked to hear this.


    At the same time, there was a tremble that came over him as he felt a chill run down his spine.


    "You¡­you¡­what do you think you''re doing?" The arrogant young master said in a stuttering voice.


    I had no reason to play along with him as I waved my hand and the skeletons pressed their swords right up against his neck. At the same time, they used a bit of pressure so that blood started flowing from his skin.


    The arrogant young master couldn''t help giving a gulp when he felt this, as well as wincing slightly from the pain.


    The fact that he was wincing from this pain went to show that he was quite soft, he was most likely someone that was raised in a family that pampered him. But for him to gain enough power to join the Abyss Guards went to show that he had a strong backing behind him that gave him plenty of resources.


    After scaring him for a bit, I gave another snap and the skeletons suddenly moved away.


    I took a step forward and suddenly kicked the arrogant young man in the stomach. S§×arch* The N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "Oof." That was the sound of the wind being knocked out of him before he slammed into the wall and lost consciousness.


    But before he lost consciousness, he looked up at me with eyes filled with resentment.


    I just said to him, "This is the Abyss, you know what kind of place this is. You should keep your arrogance in check or else you''ll run into someone that you can''t provoke."


    Once the arrogant young master fainted, I looked at the other members of his group.


    When I looked at them, I could see them taking another step back as if they were afraid of me. But I didn''t care as I said with a shake of my head and a sigh, "You should really choose who you follow more carefully in the future. I won''t blame you for what happened, but you should take him and leave before he wakes up."


    They slightly relaxed their guard when they heard this, though they didn''t completely let their guards down.


    With quick steps, they went over to where the arrogant young master had fainted before picking him up. After picking him up, they started heading in a different direction than the direction that the Abyss Demons headed off in.


    But before leaving, the leader of the group turned back to say, "Thank you for saving us."


    I gave a simple nod before waving my hand as if I was dismissing them.


    They didn''t mind this as they left with the arrogant young master between them.


    In no time at all, they disappeared from sight.

 Chapter 223 - 223: Fighting the Abyss Demons

    I turned to look at Iris and said, "Just say what you want to say."


    Though I said this to Iris, I could see that Wang Rong also had something that he wanted to say.


    After a moment of silence, she asked, "Is it really alright to let them go like this?"


    I wasn''t surprised at all to hear this, I had even expected her to ask this.


    But instead of giving a proper answer¡­


    With a surprised look, I asked, "I never thought that you were such a ruthless person that you demand blood that easily."


    Iris looked a bit embarrassed when I said this and she started stammering, "I, it isn''t like that, I just¡­"


    "Ha, ha, ha." I couldn''t help chuckling before saying, "Alright, I know what you''re thinking. There''s no need to be this embarrassed, I know that you''re just being careful."


    Then with a more serious look, I said, "But it isn''t the time to be doing stuff like this. We''re still new to the Abyss Guards and even if we''re in the Abyss, that doesn''t mean that we can do things like this that easily. We have to have a proper reason before we do anything like that."


    After a momentary pause, I added, "There''s no reason to make things hard for those people either. They just chose to follow the wrong person, it isn''t as if they were bad people to begin with."


    Iris knitted her brows slightly after hearing this, but she did nod in agreement.


    Still, it wasn''t hard to guess what she was thinking.


    "I know what kind of person he is, so of course I didn''t leave things up to chance. I know what he''ll try to do, so I already made precautions. I left something on him that will tell me his location at all times, so he won''t be able to try anything even if he wanted to. The moment that he comes after us, I''ll immediately know about it."


    Then narrowing my eyes and revealing a cold look, I said in a cold voice, "If he tries anything¡­Well, there''s no need to be kind next time."


    Iris and Wang Rong finally relaxed after hearing this.


    It was as if they completely forgot about those people with the way that their expression changed.


    Next, they looked at me as if they were asking, "What do we do now?"


    "Let''s go and chase after our targets. Since we came to the Abyss, of course we''re here to take care of the Abyss Demons."


    Both of them nodded in agreement before following me.


    When I led the Abyss Demons away, I had also sent a few skeletal rats to watch over them. So even now, I knew exactly where the Abyss Demons were and could find them at any moment.


    That was where we were currently heading.


    The Abyss Demons even moved slower because they were searching the area for us, which made it easier for us to catch up for them.


    When we arrived, we didn''t engage the Abyss Demons right away and instead took the time to look at these Abyss Demons carefully.


    These Abyss Demons had the normal appearance of a demon with their red skin, red eyes, and horns on their heads. Though some of them seemed to have tails and some of them seemed to have wings.


    It was strange how they differed in appearance when it came to these tails and wings, but that didn''t change the fact that they were Abyss Demons.


    The only other thing that they shared were the scales that covered their bodies.


    These scales were anything but weak as they had stopped the swords of the skeletons previously, but this time¡­I was planning on using something a bit different.


    "Go."


    With this simple order from me, the skeletons that had circled around the Abyss Demons came out and started to approach them.


    The moment that the Abyss Demons saw these skeletons, they immediately sprang into action.


    After all, they had been looking for these skeletons during this time and seeing their targets made them spring into action. There was no hesitation at all from the Abyss Demons as they charged at the skeletons in front of them.


    It seemed like they were planning on crushing these skeletons first and then finding the humans that they were looking for.


    The skeletons didn''t have any fear when they saw the Abyss Demons charging at them.


    That was just how skeletons were, they had no emotions or fear, so they could fight without any hesitation. They just swung their swords at the Abyss Demons that were charging at them, even though they knew that it wouldn''t work. sea??h th§× n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    But before the Abyss Demons could clash with the skeletons, there were loud sounds that rang out through the air.


    The Abyss Demons seemed a bit caught off guard by this, but it was already too late to stop themselves. The only thing that they could do was crush the skeletons before anything else.


    Only they didn''t even manage to make contact with the skeletons in the end.


    The Abyss Demons that had been running forward one moment were suddenly pushed back by something the next moment.


    "Ah!"


    There were screams of pain that rang out while blue blood streaked through the air.


    There wasn''t a single Abyss Demon that wasn''t injured because of whatever these things were that hit them. They were all pushed back by the things that hit them and all had wary looks when they stabilized themselves.


    They held various parts of their bodies, but all of them were bleeding.


    Whatever the thing was that hit them, it had penetrated their armour and had actually hurt them.


    So the Abyss Demons had no choice but to be wary of whatever this thing was hiding in the shadows that had hurt them.


    All of them immediately went back to where they had started and gathered together to form a defensive line.


    But that was the wrong choice as the same loud sound rang out again.

 Chapter 224 - 224: Gunned down

    Once again, they were pushed back by what hit them.


    Even though they had braced themselves to stand their ground, they just weren''t able to stop themselves when they were hit with the force of these things.


    The Abyss Demons gritted their teeth as they started to bleed, but there were traces of confusion in their eyes.


    They had been on guard the entire time and had made sure to watch carefully for whatever it was that came at them, but they just weren''t able to see what it was that hit them.


    Even with them focusing on watching out for it, they just couldn''t see it.


    It was as if this thing that hit them was invisible¡­or it was too small for them to see. S§×ar?h the N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    After being hit by these small things, the Abyss Demons knew that gathering together was the wrong choice. When they gathered like this, all they were doing was creating a larger target for the enemy.


    What they should have done is spread out so that they were harder to hit.


    As such, the Abyss Demons suddenly let down their guards without a single word and started moving in different directions. All of the Abyss Demons were moving away from each other, as if they were avoiding the plague.


    They just didn''t want anyone near them.


    "Not bad." I couldn''t help praising them in my mind.


    They made a quick decision and this decision that they made really was the best one in this situation.


    It was just that even if they made the best decision, it wasn''t as if it was going to end well.


    With a single thought, the skeletons moved closer.


    The skeletons had already been moving forward to surround the Abyss Demons, but this time they moved in to prevent the Abyss Demons from escaping.


    The Abyss Demons knitted their brows when they saw this, but they didn''t panic. After all, they knew that each of them was stronger than these skeletons, so it wasn''t as if they would be hurt from fighting with these skeletons.


    Only they soon realized the mistake that they made.


    Even though the skeletons weren''t strong enough to actually stop them, they were strong enough to stall them for just long enough that they were hit again.


    The skeletons didn''t even swing their swords, they just dived at them to stop them. Without a single care for their own wellbeing, the skeletons jumped at them to be smashed to pieces.


    But since they were skeletons, it wasn''t as if being smashed to pieces meant the end for them. Instead, once their bones fell to the ground, there was this power that drew those bones together and reformed the skeletons once more.


    At the same time, it seemed that there were more bones that were coming out of the ground.


    When one skeleton was smashed, it wasn''t just one skeleton that reformed.


    It was two skeletons that formed after they reformed.


    With the way that they were reforming, it seemed like they were multiplying.


    And it wasn''t just once or twice that they did this, they seemed to continue to multiply when they were smashed apart.


    The Abyss Demons really didn''t know what to do when they saw this.


    After all, they just couldn''t break free of the skeletons when they kept reforming like this and they were being sniped by something in the distance. At the same time, the more skeletons that there were, the more it seemed like they were being pushed back.


    The skeletons worked with each other to hold the Abyss Demons down and with their combined power, they were actually turning the Abyss Demons into targets.


    Eventually, there was the first Abyss Demon that fell to the invisible attacks.


    It wasn''t able to live after a direct shot to the head.


    This shot went right through their eyes and into their brain, causing their eyes to turn dim. Once they had been shot in the head like this, the Abyss Demon crumpled to the ground.


    All of the other Abyss Demons had ugly looks on their faces since they knew that it was just a matter of time before they would face the same fate as that Abyss Demon.


    There were some that started to go crazy once they realized this, as they released all of their energy without any hesitation. It seemed like they were going berserk with the way that they fought, like they were planning on not leaving a single bit of energy left.


    They were planning on fighting to the very end.


    It was just that none of that worked.


    "Ah!" Pained cries of regret rang out when those ones that chose to go berserk were also shot in the head and fell to the ground. They just couldn''t break free and were killed in the end.


    But there were some that were smarter than the others.


    They realized that just going berserk wasn''t the way to do this.


    If they lost control of themselves, then all that would happen is that they would be trapped like the others.


    They had to think of a different way.


    That different way was that they grouped together and combined their power to create a path. They were working together with one another to mow down the skeletons, which actually worked.


    Even with the skeletons working together, their combined power was just too much for the skeletons to withstand.


    Only it still didn''t work.


    "It''s time to test that." I said after seeing the Abyss Demons group up like this.


    Iris and Wang Rong nodded in agreement before turning to look at the set of living armour behind us.


    This was different from the other sets of living armour that were holding guns.


    This one had a large cannon that was mounted on its shoulder.


    And that large cannon was aimed at the group of Abyss Demons that was charging through the skeletons.


    "Fire."


    "Boom!"


    A large explosion fell onto the group of Abyss Demons and their charge was stopped.

 Chapter 225 - 225: Abyss Demon loot

    With that large group cleared out, the others didn''t pose a threat at all.


    It didn''t take long for the rest of the guns that the sets of living armour wielded to bring them all down.


    The guns were just too powerful for these Abyss Demons to resist, even with their strong bodies.


    So in the end, they all fell like the first Abyss Demons that fell under the bullets.


    Of course, I didn''t let my guard down even though it seemed like all of the Abyss Demons had been taken care of. Instead of approaching right away, I had the skeletons take out their swords and poke at the Abyss Demons.


    They kept poking at the Abyss Demons until they were able to draw blood. At the same time, they made sure to poke the necks and heads of the Abyss Demons, making sure that they were finishing them off by poking them in vital areas. S~ea??h the N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Though in the first place, it wasn''t as if I was sure that these were vital areas for the Abyss Demons.


    The Abyss Demons might have the same appearance as humans, but it wasn''t as if it guaranteed that they would have the same weakness.


    Even if they were humanoids, it was possible that they had a completely different body structure.


    But in the end, it didn''t seem like any of them were about to stand up and it was only a matter of time before the dungeon turned their bodies into loot.


    If the first Abyss Demons that I killed were turned into loot, that would certainly be a big loss.


    It was one that I couldn''t allow to happen.


    So I stepped forward while raising a hand for Iris and Wang Rong.


    Since they had been following me for a long time now, they naturally knew what I was signalling to them by raising this hand. The two of them spread out as if they were guarding the surrounding area.


    Once I was alone with the bodies of the Abyss Demons, I called out the Scavenger Rabbit as per usual.


    The skeletons that were nearby had dragged the bodies of the Abyss Demons into a single pile before standing around me as if they were forming a wall. Though they didn''t do it to keep me from escaping, they were doing this to keep me safe.


    At the same time, it was to stop anyone from picking up on what the Scavenger Rabbit was doing.


    Only it didn''t seem like the Scavenger Rabbit was about to do anything special.


    The moment that the Scavenger Rabbit appeared and saw the corpses of the Abyss Demons, it seemed like it was disappointed with them. It really seemed like the Scavenger Rabbit didn''t think that it would find anything good with these corpses.


    But since I had called it out, it still went forward to dig around in the corpses of the Abyss Demons.


    It didn''t take long for the Scavenger Rabbit to find things, but it just tossed them aside as if it was disappointed in them.


    However, even if the Scavenger Rabbit was disappointed in them, that didn''t mean that I felt the same way. The moment that I saw these things, my eyes immediately lit up.


    There was a bunch of equipment that was dropped by the Abyss Demons.


    They weren''t the highest grade of equipment, but they certainly weren''t that bad either.


    They were just strong enough to fill in a few gaps that we currently had.


    Namely, they were strong enough to fill the gaps that Wang Rong had with his set of armour.


    We had gotten a set of armour for Wang Rong, but he was missing things like boots and gauntlets to go with that set. With the gauntlets and boots that came from the Abyss Demons, that certainly would be enough to cover up the gaps that he had.


    After all, we had already seen just how strong the skin of the Abyss Demons was when we fought them earlier.


    Equipment that came from them definitely wouldn''t be weak.


    But that wasn''t the only thing that the Scavenger Rabbit got from the Abyss Demons.


    From the different Abyss Demons, there came wings and tails.


    I looked at them, but it didn''t seem like any description of these things were about to appear. So in the end, I just had no idea what these things were even used for since there was no appraisal of them.


    For now, I would just take these out for later.


    There were also these magic stones that were dropped, but they were different from the normal magic stones that monsters dropped.


    These magic stones were blood red and seemed to contain this strange kind of power that was different from normal magic stones. It seemed like the power that was contained within these magic stones were just too intense to be channeled into anything productive.


    But still, that just went to show how strong the mana that was contained within these magic stones was.


    I''m sure that there was a use for these magic stones if I were to bring them out.


    The only other thing that came out of the Abyss Demons was the scales that had covered their bodies. These scales seemed to come from every single one of the Abyss Demons that the Scavenger Rabbit looted, so it didn''t seem like something special.


    Still, I had to admit that they were quite strong.


    Even when I tried crushing it with all my might, I wasn''t able to bend it in the slightest.


    I even tried using my sword to cut it, but it didn''t seem to leave a dent.


    These scales definitely were strong.


    Packing up all the loot, I had the Scavenger Rabbit head back even though it seemed disappointed with what it had just gotten.


    Before leaving, it looked at me as if it was saying that it would find something better next time.


    I just patted the Scavenger Rabbit on the head before sending it into the familiar storage space.

 Chapter 226 - 226: Higher priority target

    Wang Rong was surprised to receive the equipment, but that didn''t stop him from putting them on right away.


    After receiving them, he happily tested them out since he knew that these were the things that he had been missing.


    On the other side, Iris seemed a bit disappointed that there wasn''t anything for her.


    I just watched the two of them for a bit before saying, "Alright, let''s continue moving."


    That snapped the two of them back to attention and they moved behind me once more.


    The three of us started heading off in a certain direction, but really there wasn''t anything that was guiding us. We were just wandering around in this dungeon, trying to find anything to fight.


    Our jobs as members of the Abyss Guards was to fight the Abyss Demons and clear them out for the safety of the human race.


    So it wasn''t as if there was anything special that we had to do.


    However, I also wasn''t satisfied with just hunting down small Abyss Demons. Sear?h the ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    As we were walking, I tapped the badge that was on my chest which caused a small screen to appear.


    This was one of the special functions of the badge that Abyss Guards received.


    As for what this screen was for¡­


    Name: Lin Fan


    Contribution: 17


    It was two very simple lines that were on the screen, but it was to show the amount of contribution that had been earned as a member of the Abyss Guards.


    It had been hard to explain it, but Sun Xiang had told us the gist of what it was.


    It was our way of tapping into the dungeon system and creating a record that showed the number of Abyss Demons that had been killed. Normal Abyss Demons were only worth one point each and I had killed all seventeen of those Abyss Demons from earlier.


    Though one thing that surprised me was that it had counted even though I controlled the sets of living armour to do it.


    It was hard to understand how the dungeon knew that I was the one controlling the sets of living armour to kill the Abyss Demons, but it just seemed to know.


    Regardless, it was also a relief that it knew since this was something that I had been worried about.


    But seeing the seventeen points that were there, it really felt a bit low.


    To be promoted to private second class, one had to earn a hundred contribution points. Then to be promoted to private third class, one had to earn two hundred contribution points on top of the hundred that they already earned.


    For each class in the private rank, one''s contribution points quota would increase by a hundred each time.


    So to even reach private ninth class, one had to have four thousand and five hundred contribution points.


    After that, it took a thousand points to become a sergeant and the process repeated after that. Though once one reached the sergeant rank, their quota would increase by a thousand points each time.


    That meant to reach sergeant third class, one had to obtain ten thousand and five hundred points.


    To put that in terms of these Abyss Demons, it meant that Sun Xiang had killed ten thousand and five hundred Abyss Demons to become a sergeant third class. But of course, it wasn''t as if he could have done all of that.


    First, he wasn''t that old in the first place, so he wouldn''t have had enough time to take care of that many Abyss Demons.


    Second, it wasn''t as if there were that many Abyss Demons for him to slaughter.


    Those that became generals had to kill millions of Abyss Demons, so it was impossible for them to do that, or else the war with the Abyss Demons would have already ended a long time ago.


    It wasn''t just the lowest rank Abyss Demons that would give points.


    The lowest rank Abyss Demons would only give one point each, but there were stronger Abyss Demons and other Abyss creatures that would give far more points.


    Since I was here, naturally I wanted to raise my rank as high as possible.


    That would be impossible if I relied on killing the lowest rank Abyss Demons.


    There just wasn''t enough time and there weren''t enough of these lowest rank Abyss Demons.


    It seemed that we had to find a higher priority target.


    After thinking this through, I turned to look at Wang Rong and Iris, but I found that both of them were looking at me with determined looks on their faces. It was as if they already knew what I was thinking, so they were showing their approval.


    It seemed that they too had the goal of raising their ranks.


    Though a part of me had to wonder how the point sharing would work in the end¡­but I pushed that part of me down. There was no time to create dissension in our team after all.


    So I said with a firm nod, "Alright, let''s find some of the stronger Abyss Demons. We''re going after the ones that are worth a ton of points."


    The two of them nodded in agreement before Iris asked, "How will we find them though?"


    Wang Rong nodded to show his agreement after hearing this, but I wasn''t worried at all.


    Since I had already come to this conclusion, naturally I had also already figured out the way to find the targets.


    In fact, it was quite the simple solution, it was just that I didn''t think to use this solution previously.


    There was a part of me that was worried about using this power since it was quite easy for this power to create a misunderstanding. But it wasn''t as if it was hard to hide that we were using this.


    After being in this Abyss for a while, I already had an idea of how this place worked.


    In that case¡­


    "Let''s go get some information first." I said with a confident look on my face to the confusion of Iris and Wang Rong.

 Chapter 227 - 227: This looks bad

    The two of them followed me with the same confused look on their faces, but those looks soon disappeared.


    Others might find it hard to find things in this Abyss, but it wasn''t hard for us at all because of the skeletal rats I controlled.


    It really was a good thing that An Xue Yun had helped me choose dungeons that would give items that made up for my shortcomings, or else I definitely would have struggled in this place.


    With the skeletal rats, it didn''t take long for us to find another group of Abyss Demons.


    These Abyss Demons were different from the ones that we encountered previously, both in appearance and what they were doing.


    These Abyss Demons didn''t seem to have the same scales as the Abyss Demons from before, but it didn''t take long for me to realize that they did have scales as well. It was just that these Abyss Demons had a layer of fur that was covering them that covered up their scales.


    It really raised the question of why these Abyss Demons were different from each other.


    They had some features that were the same, but there were features that were different from each other.


    Such as how these Abyss Demons with fur didn''t seem to have any wings or tails either.


    Were they just from different tribes, but they were all generally called Abyss Demons?


    "Boss, what do we do now?"


    Wang Rong''s words pulled me out of these thoughts and I focused once more on how to deal with these Abyss Demons.


    Though I already knew what I wanted to do with them.


    "It''s very simple. We''ll do the same thing that we''ve always done in dungeons." I said with a confident smile on my face.


    But the moment that the two of them heard this, they couldn''t help revealing strange looks.


    After all, they naturally knew what I was referring to and they knew what would happen if someone were to see this.


    It would be very bad if there were people that saw this.


    That was why they started looking around as if they were afraid that we would be caught at any moment.


    I couldn''t help shaking my head with a bitter smile when I saw this before saying, "Do you think that I wouldn''t have considered that already? Before even coming here, I already searched the entire area for humans and there aren''t any at all. You don''t have to worry about this."


    The two of them still seemed worried after I said this, so I added, "I''m also making sure to keep a perimeter up just in case. If anyone approaches, we''ll stop doing what we''re doing right away."


    It was only then that the two of them relaxed a bit, but it was clear that they were still apprehensive about this.


    I just ignored the two of them as I looked at the Echo Bat that was on my shoulder.


    As if it could guess what I was thinking, the Echo Bat opened its mouth.


    It didn''t take long for the Abyss Demons that were in front of us to suddenly fall into a daze. All of their eyes suddenly glazed over and it seemed like they had lost their sparkle with how they stopped moving.


    Before this, the Abyss Demons had been preparing to set up camp, but now they stood there like puppets.


    "Have them come over."


    The Echo Bat gave a nod in response to that order before having the Abyss Demons come over to where we were.


    Though they had strong bodies, it didn''t seem like the Abyss Demons actually had strong minds that they were easily controlled by my Echo Bat. sea??h th§× N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    When they came over, I said, "Make them answer my questions."


    The Echo Bat opened its mouth again before giving a nod to show that they were ready.


    "Why have you come here?"


    All of them suddenly spoke and it was hard to listen to them when they all tried to speak over each other like this. Hearing this, I realized my mistake and quickly said, "Stop."


    Once they stopped, I pointed at one of them and said to the Echo Bat, "Just this one."


    It opened its mouth before nodding once more.


    After that, I once again questioned the one that I had pointed at, "Why have you come here?"


    "Scouting for humans. We need some human blood for a ceremony, so we were sent here to kidnap humans." The Abyss Demon said as if it was in a daze.


    But the answer was shocking enough that all three of us immediately knitted our brows.


    It definitely wasn''t something that we had been expecting to hear¡­


    However, that didn''t exactly mean that this piece of news was bad.


    In fact, it also meant that there was a camp that was nearby where they would be holding the humans that they captured and where they would be holding the ceremony.


    One that could hold this kind of ceremony for the Abyss Demons definitely had to be one of the higher ranked Abyss Demons. In that case, it meant that they would be the target that I was looking for.


    "Where is your camp?"


    The Abyss Demon turned around in a daze before pointing in a direction and saying, "It''s in that direction."


    Then it started moving as if it wanted to lead the way to the camp, but I said, "Stop."


    The moment that my voice fell, the Abyss Demon immediately stopped moving.


    With all this information, I turned to look at Iris and Wang Rong and I saw that both of them had serious looks on their faces. Both of them knew what this information meant, so they were thinking about what to do next.


    But in the end, they both seemed to come to the decision that it was best if we checked that camp out.


    Only before that, there were a few more things that I had to ask the Abyss Demons.


    The more information that we had, the safer this would be after all.


    Though it was impossible for this place to be completely safe since this was the Abyss.

 Chapter 228 - 228: Abyss Demon camp

    With the hypnotized Abyss Demons leading the way, we quickly found the Abyss Demon camp.


    It was just that after finding it, it seemed that the situation was much worse than we thought.


    "There''s so many of them¡­" That was the only thing that we could say when we saw the camp.


    From what the Abyss Demons said, we thought that it would just be a small scale camp. Only that wasn''t the case as there were several hundred Abyss Demons that were in this camp.


    Just with us alone, it seemed like it would be very hard to take down this camp.


    Even if I hypnotized more of the Abyss Demons, there was only so much that could be done. Sear?h the N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    At the same time, there were these strong mana fluctuations that were coming from inside of the camp.


    Even without seeing anything, it was easy to tell that there were some powerful Abyss Demons that were hiding in the camp. These would be the targets that I had come looking for this time.


    But when they were surrounded by Abyss Demons like this, it really was hard to do anything to them.


    At the same time, it wasn''t just a single mana fluctuation that was coming from the camp, but several of them. That meant that there wasn''t just a single one of these high ranked Abyss Demons, but there were several of them that were here.


    The other problem was that there were many hostages that were being held in the camp.


    These hostages were the humans that had been captured by the Abyss Demons.


    They were all currently being held in a cage that was in the center of the camp, which meant that they were in plain sight of everyone in the camp. That also meant that they would be able to see everything that happened in the camp.


    Naturally this made it much harder for me to do anything to this camp.


    Some of the things that I did were things that couldn''t be seen by others.


    If they were to see me working with the Abyss Demons¡­


    Deeply knitting my brows while looking at the Abyss Demon camp, I eventually said, "Split up and see what you can find out about this place. We''ll need information if we want to do anything."


    Iris and Wang Rong nodded in agreement before heading off in different directions.


    Both of them had a few Abyss Demons accompanying them.


    That was the cover that we used.


    If there were any Abyss Demons wandering around, we would pretend to be captives captured by these Abyss Demons. The Abyss Demons in the camp wouldn''t question this since we could already see that there were other humans being dragged in.


    I remained in the same spot, sending the skeletal rats into the camp.


    It was just that the more that I found out about the camp with the skeletal rats, the more that I realized that this camp really would be hard to take down. The camp itself wasn''t even poorly constructed like I thought it would be.


    There was a reason that the Abyss Demons had been able to continue this war with the humans for this long.


    It wasn''t just because of the strength that they possessed, but also the intelligence that they had.


    The camp itself was very well designed and didn''t have a single blind spot to sneak up on. Even if I were to send the Abyss Demons in, they wouldn''t actually be able to do anything since there were divisions in the camp.


    If they caused trouble in one part of the camp, that part of the camp would be cut off from the main camp. While it was the same as abandoning the camp, it was very effective since it would be like cutting off a tail to escape.


    As long as they gave up a single part of the camp, it would be enough to save the rest of the camp.


    The Abyss Demons didn''t have any sympathy for the rest of their companions.


    They really were ruthless enough to sacrifice lives without a trace of hesitation.


    Only that just made it harder to take down this camp.


    When Iris and Wang Rong came back, the look on their faces showed that they didn''t have any luck. It was clear that they hadn''t found anything that could actually help us in taking care of these Abyss Demons.


    I wasn''t surprised to see this since I had already expected this response from them.


    If I couldn''t find anything with the skeletal rats, it was unlikely that they would be able to find anything just by searching the area around the camp.


    Since all three of us didn''t have any ideas of how to deal with this camp, it really seemed like we would have no choice but to give up on this camp.


    However, before we came to that decision¡­


    "This is a command from command central for all those that can receive it."


    All three of us were taken aback to hear this voice.


    When we looked down, we saw that the badges that were on our chests were glowing.


    It was from these badges that this voice came from.


    After thinking about it, we remembered something that Sun Xiang had told us when we received these badges.


    This was one of the special functions of the badges.


    In times of emergency, it would allow central command to connect to those that had these badges inside of the Abyss. It was a special failsafe just in case something important happened.


    To put this kind of function on the badges took a big price and it cost a lot to actually use this function.


    So this was not the kind of thing that was used unless it was important.


    "A fourth grade security risk has been detected and a subjugation team has been sent. All those that are in the area are required to provide support for the subjugation team."

 Chapter 229 - 229: Subjugation team

    Fourth grade security risk¡­


    From what I could remember, in terms of ranks, that meant that this was a situation that involved several B Rank Monsters. There was even the chance that there was an A Rank Monster that was present.


    The only grade that was higher was the fifth grade security risk which would mean several A Rank Monsters and even the chance of S Rank Monster.


    Once a fifth grade security risk was issued, that meant that it was likely that the Abyss Demons were mounting a full invasion.


    But the fourth grade security risk wasn''t something to look down on either.


    Fourth grade security risks usually meant that the Abyss Demons were trying to do something that would cause great harm to the Abyss Guards in the Abyss.


    It seemed that this ritual that they were holding was much more serious than any of us thought.


    Now the only question was¡­


    "Should we go and see what the subjugation team is like, boss?" Wang Rong was the one that broke the silence by asking this.


    Though he asked this, I could tell what he was really asking.


    Iris also looked at me with the same look as Wang Rong as she waited for an answer.


    Both of them knew that if the subjugation team was coming, it meant that there was no time for us to come up with any plans to take care of the Abyss Demons in this camp. At the same time, it didn''t seem likely that we would be able to get any of the higher ranked Abyss Demons.


    Since they were coming with a subjugation team, it meant that we didn''t have to worry about the humans that were trapped in this camp.


    In that case¡­it was better for us to go and search for other high ranking Abyss Demons to take care of.


    I knew the exact same thing that Wang Rong did, but I didn''t want to give up on this Abyss Demon camp that easily either.


    This was a perfect opportunity for us, so to give it up that easily¡­


    But it was a fact that there was a subjugation team that was coming.


    Any team that was called a ''subjugation'' team definitely wouldn''t be that weak.


    It wasn''t as if we would be able to do anything against this subjugation team once they arrived. And if we were to play tricks, then it would be very easy for us to be labeled traitors of the human race.


    After all, it wasn''t hard to misunderstand things when one saw these Abyss Demons.


    There was a long silence that lingered in the air before I finally said, "Let''s go and see the subjugation team. I want to see how strong the subjugation team is before coming to a decision."


    "Won''t they be able to find us if we approach them? They''ll certainly be able to sense our badges in some way, right?" Iris asked this question that made me knit my brows.


    But eventually I said, "That''s just a risk that we''ll have to take. In a worst case scenario, we''ll just go with them and take care of a few Abyss Demons. It''ll just be a waste of time, but there''s nothing really for us to lose."


    The two of them nodded in agreement to this, but it seemed like they still had their misgivings.


    It would be a lie to say that I didn''t have misgivings as well, but I couldn''t show it on my face.


    After coming to this decision, we followed the instructions that had been passed to us through the badge and it didn''t take long for us to meet up with the subjugation team.


    This team really didn''t look like a subjugation team with how few members there were.


    But those that were sensitive enough would be able to sense the mana fluctuations coming from this group.


    They weren''t weaker than the mana fluctuations coming from the Abyss Demon camp.


    In fact, it seemed that they were stronger than the ones that were coming from the camp.


    As soon as we arrived nearby, there was someone that came over to greet us.


    It seemed that it was indeed as Iris had been worried about. S§×arch* The Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    They had been able to detect us as soon as we approached.


    Since that was the case, we had no choice but to go and meet the subjugation team.


    There were only around twenty people that were gathered and there wasn''t a single one of them that was at the same rank as us. All of them had more than a single stripe on their badges.


    The second lowest ranked was someone with five stripes, showing that they were at the rank of private fifth class.


    As for the leader of this group, it was someone who had one star and five stripes, showing that he was someone with the rank of sergeant fifth class.


    When they saw our badges, they looked at us with strange looks.


    It wasn''t hard to figure out what they were thinking.


    The leader actually even said it out loud, "You really are unlucky to get caught up in this on your first trip into the Abyss."


    The others all nodded in agreement when they heard this.


    But in the end, the leader of this subjugation team said, "Don''t worry, you can just stay back and take care of any of the ones trying to run away. We won''t make it hard on our juniors."


    The others once again all nodded in agreement to this.


    It seemed that they were completely different from the arrogant young master that we met before, though that wasn''t strange. It would be more strange if they were actually all like that arrogant young master.


    If that was the case, then the Abyss Guards would have collapsed a long time ago.


    However, if one thought about something, then they would appear.


    Because not long after I compared them to that arrogant young master, the arrogant young master''s group appeared.

 Chapter 230 - 230: Not everyone’s the same

    Since they were part of the Abyss Guards as well, it was only natural that they would receive the same message as everyone else through their badges.


    Though it was surprising that someone like the arrogant young master would actually follow the orders sent through the badge.


    With his personality¡­it seemed more likely that he would hide himself away.


    No, there was another possibility as well, but it didn''t seem as likely unless he was a fool. Only he proved that he was indeed the fool with his actions as soon as he arrived at the temporary camp set up.


    As soon as he arrived at the camp and saw us, he immediately pointed his finger at us and said, "It''s you! How dare you show yourself in front of me again!"


    The loud voice that he spoke in naturally attracted everyone''s attention, but it seemed like they were more watching for fun rather than taking him seriously. With the way that they looked at him, it really seemed like they were looking at some kid throwing a tantrum.


    None of them really cared about what he was saying, they just cared about what he would do next.


    Seeing that I didn''t say anything, the arrogant young master came forward and said, "Everyone, don''t be fooled by this person! They''re clearly traitors to humanity! They use strange abilities that I''ve never seen before!"


    It was certainly interesting that he would say something like this, but it was also a problem if I continued to let him run his mouth like this.


    I wasn''t actually worried about him, but if he were to cause any misunderstandings¡­


    It wasn''t best to allow him to continue saying anything.


    Only I didn''t get a chance to say anything.


    "That''s enough." S~ea??h the n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    This voice wasn''t that loud or that soft, but it somehow clearly rang through everyone''s ears. Everyone was able to hear these words without any impediment and turned in the direction that it came from.


    It was the sergeant who was the leader of this group.


    His eyes were on me and the arrogant young master, but it didn''t seem like he had any ill intentions towards me.


    It seemed that all of his ill intentions were aimed at the arrogant young master.


    Even though he was a bit suppressed because of the voice, the arrogant young master didn''t back down as he said, "You don''t know this, but he¡­"


    "Enough." Once again, the sergeant cut him off.


    With narrowed eyes, the sergeant said, "There''s no time for your silly squabbles right now. There is a security risk that is present that we need to take care of. If you dare cause trouble, then I''ll be sure to report this to headquarters and you''ll be disciplined after this."


    The arrogant young master couldn''t keep up the same arrogance as before when he heard this, but it was clear by the look in his eyes that he wasn''t willing to give this matter up.


    It really seemed like he wanted to keep this going¡­


    Only in the end, he wasn''t able to do anything in the face of the pressure that the sergeant was being put on him.


    After opening and closing his mouth a few times, the arrogant young master finally turned around as if he was done with all of this.


    Though as he was leaving, he didn''t forget to add, "Don''t blame me for not warning you all. You''ll be punished for this when the time comes. I don''t care what happens to any of you."


    However, he also looked at me with narrowed eyes filled with hostility as he walked past.


    It was clear what he was thinking and I also had some thoughts as well.


    I had missed him earlier because I had been preoccupied with the Abyss Demon camp and this gathering. Otherwise, I would have been able to realize that he was coming to this camp as well.


    It was my fault for not noticing him sooner.


    Though it was surprising the reaction that the sergeant had.


    After the arrogant young master left, the sergeant suddenly revealed a smile as he turned to look at me and said, "Don''t worry about him, there are a few like him who come every year. They think that they''re on top of the world, but they eventually learn that this world isn''t about them. You just have to accept that people like them will always be in any place that you go to."


    "Then why did the Abyss Guards accept them?"


    Though it seemed like it was a simple question, there were a few things that I was implying in these words.


    He didn''t seem offended by these implications, it even seemed that he recognized that these implications were real as he said with a sigh, "In the end, the Abyss Guards is still an organization that was created by people. There are people that have different agendas and even if it was created with the goal of suppressing the Abyss, that doesn''t mean that it''s impervious to corruption. There are people that use the Abyss Guards for their own gains. With their connections, they''re able to join the Abyss Guards when they don''t have the proper mentality for it."


    The others nodded in agreement to this.


    Seeing them act this way, it seemed that they weren''t the same as the arrogant young master. It seemed that they were quite deserving of being a part of the Abyss Guards.


    The sergeant continued by saying, "Normally, those people don''t even last a year. He''s one of the new ones that have come this year, but he won''t be the last. You just have to wait for people like that to drop out."


    It seemed that everyone had experience with these kinds of people before.


    It seemed that someone like the arrogant young master was something that was quite usual for the Abyss Guards.


    In that case¡­


    "Anyway, don''t worry about it, noobies. We''ll take care of everything in the camp, just try and get a few contribution points where you can." The sergeant said with a smile on his face.


    The other veterans all agreed with this as they encouraged us with smiles on their faces.


    It seemed that the Abyss Guard really was different from what I thought.

 Chapter 231 - 231: The plan to attack the camp

    The matter with the arrogant young master was only a small disturbance that didn''t disturb the mood of the camp for long.


    After that matter was over, everyone went back to what they were doing.


    After we had arrived at this camp, it really didn''t seem like anything was happening during this time.


    Everyone seemed like they were preparing for a fight, but they didn''t actually go over any plans on attacking the Abyss Demon camp. It seemed like they were delaying what would happen eventually.


    So there were certainly some doubts that were floating around in my mind as I watched them.


    But those doubts were dispelled in the end by¡­


    "Everyone, gather up. It''s time to discuss our plan."


    The sergeant called for everyone to gather together all of a sudden.


    Everyone just came over naturally, so we also went over to see what was happening. Though I couldn''t help feeling that it was strange that he suddenly called for a meeting like this.


    "As all of you know, we''ve waited the allotted time to see if there would be more people that came. However, I''m confident that with the number of people that we''ve gathered, we shouldn''t have a problem taking on that Abyss Demon camp." The sergeant said with a confident smile on his face.


    The way that he said this was almost as if he was saying it for someone specific.


    After all, the rest of the people were just nodding their heads as if they had already expected him to say this.


    The only ones that didn''t act the same way were us and the arrogant young master''s group.


    So it was very clear who he made this explanation for.


    After saying this, he said in a more serious voice, "My name is Yun Tian and I''m the one that has been assigned to take charge of this mission. I hope that all of you will listen to my commands during this time, but I know that it''s impossible for us to cooperate at that level. So the only thing that I can ask for is that you will make the best decision that you can during this time."


    A strange look appeared on my face when I heard this.


    After all that talk, was he really just going to end things like this?


    If that was the case, then there were some serious doubts forming about this operation¡­


    But it was a good thing that this wasn''t the end of it.


    There was more that he had to say.


    "Now that we''ve covered the basics, I''ll go over the plan that has been developed."


    There was a small internal sigh of relief given when I heard this.


    I was surprised when he took out a piece of paper and spread it out. That was because the thing that he took out was a map and it was a much more detailed map than I had expected to see.


    At the same time, I knew that these details that were on the map were correct since I had also done my scouting through the skeletal rats. I was able to personally confirm that these details were all in the right place.


    So it was surprising to me that they were able to scout out this Abyss Demon camp so thoroughly.


    In the end, the plan was very simple.


    It was simple to the point where it seemed like it wasn''t a plan at all.


    That was until one realized that for them to have joined the Abyss Guards, they had to have a certain level of power.


    So this simple plan was actually the best plan that one could come up with.


    Though I still couldn''t help feeling worried.


    It wasn''t that I was worried about myself, it was just that I was worried that something would happen since the plan was so simple.


    Out of consideration for us, Yun Tian had actually arranged the plan so that our team would be on the edge of the action. We wouldn''t actually go too far into the camp, but we were close enough that we would be able to help if anything happened.


    It was basically set up so that we were the reserves if anything happened.


    Even though I had my concerns about his plan, it didn''t seem like anyone else did.


    With the way that they looked at Yun Tian, it even seemed like they were inspired because it was him that had come up with this plan.


    At this, I realized that I didn''t know anything about these people.


    For them to look at Yun Tian like this, he had to have some kind of fame¡­


    No, even without that kind of fame, I could tell that he wasn''t that simple since he had been able to become a sergeant at his age. With his face, it was easy to tell that he was only in his early twenties and he had become a sergeant.


    That went to show just how powerful he was.


    Regardless of how little I knew, at least I was in a position that would allow me to easily pull out if something went wrong.


    So it seemed that there wouldn''t be a problem.


    That was until the arrogant young master suddenly said, "Wait, I have an objection."


    Everyone narrowed their eyes to look at him when he said this. sea??h th§× N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The way that they looked at him made it clear that they weren''t pleased with him suddenly cutting in like this. In fact, it seemed like they thought that he was a kid that clearly didn''t know his place.


    But even then, the arrogant young master didn''t seem to care as he looked right at Yun Tian, waiting for his response.


    After a moment of staring at him as well, Yun Tian finally said, "What is your objection?"


    The arrogant young master said, "I don''t like my position. I feel that I can do much more if I was in a different position."

 Chapter 232 - 232: Strange ability

    It was clear that everyone wasn''t happy with these words that he said and for good reason.


    After all, in their eyes, he was nothing more than a rookie that had just come to the Abyss this year.


    He was someone that was still wet behind the ears and he was complaining about his position. He really didn''t have a right to say anything like this as far as they were concerned as veterans of the Abyss.


    But since Yun Tian didn''t say anything, none of them said anything.


    They just waited to see how he would deal with this arrogant young master.


    Only in the end, they didn''t see what they thought they would see.


    With his arms crossed, Yun Tian narrowed his eyes to look at the arrogant young master before saying, "Alright, what kind of power do you have that you think that you can stand on the front lines. As long as you can convince me of this, I''ll change your position."


    This was certainly the last thing that anyone expected to hear.


    There were many strange looks that were cast in Yun Tian''s direction because he said this, but Yun Tian didn''t seem to care as he kept looking at the arrogant young master while waiting for a response.


    Even the arrogant young master was taken aback when he heard this, so he wasn''t able to respond right away.


    But when he came back to his senses, he didn''t hesitate to summon out his familiar.


    Surprisingly, the arrogant young master didn''t have a familiar that was the same size as his ego. Rather, his familiar was actually quite small for someone with his level of confidence.


    However, it wasn''t as if the size of one''s familiar determined the power that they possessed. S~ea??h the N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Even if a familiar was small, that didn''t mean that it couldn''t be powerful.


    The familiar that this arrogant young master summoned out was actually a moth.


    It was a moth that was around the same size as one''s palm.


    Yun Tian raised a brow after seeing the moth that the arrogant young master summoned out, but he didn''t say anything as he waited for a demonstration.


    Since the arrogant young master was so confident in his own power, he had to have a reason for being this confident. All that was left was seeing what kind of power this moth had.


    The arrogant young master recognized this as well, so he flicked his finger and sent the moth into the air. The moth didn''t really act like it was his familiar, it acted more like it had no choice but to do what it was telling it, almost like a slave.


    But the moment that the moth took flight into the air, it suddenly flapped its wings and released its scales.


    In no time at all, the arrogant young master disappeared from everyone''s sight.


    At the same time, there were different things that appeared all around them.


    These were Abyss Demons that had suddenly appeared and it seemed like they were aggressive. It didn''t take long for the Abyss Demons to suddenly charge at everyone that was here.


    Though I could notice that there were more Abyss Demons coming at me than anyone else.


    "Should I just blow through his smoke and mirrors?" I asked myself before deciding against it.


    Yun Tian was the one that took action in the end by suddenly raising his hand towards the closest Abyss Demon charging at him, but he didn''t attack that Abyss Demon in the end.


    Instead, all he did was give a simple wave of his hand.


    That generated a large gust of air that blew away the Abyss Demon.


    This wasn''t an exaggeration, the Abyss Demon was really blown away as if it was made of dust. But in reality, it wasn''t dust that this Abyss Demon was made of, rather it was made of moth scales.


    It seemed that the scales of the arrogant young master''s moth could create illusions in an isolated area.


    Based on the way that the illusion broke after the scales were scattered, it seemed to be some kind of power that was related to reflecting light to create these illusions.


    It was surprising to see that the arrogant young master would have an ability like this.


    But it was also surprising to see how powerful Yun Tian was. It wasn''t that he was just strong physically, he also had very sharp eyes that he was able to see through the illusion with a single glance.


    He knew exactly what to do to remove the illusion.


    Despite his¡­sloppy and friendly appearance, he was actually quite the sharp person.


    Of course, he never would have been able to become a sergeant of the Abyss Guards if he didn''t have these abilities. This should be considered the bare minimum that he had to become a sergeant.


    After releasing the illusion, Yun Tian gave a slight nod before saying, "Alright, this can be used."


    Turning back to the map, Yun Tian erased a mark that had previously represented where the arrogant young master''s group would have gone and put a new mark down on the map to signify their new position.


    The arrogant young master still didn''t seem that happy about this, but it was at least better than before.


    Even if he wasn''t happy with this, he still knew his limits at the very least.


    After all, even a fool would be able to tell that this was really the best position for him considering the power that he demonstrated. This was a place where he would be safe from the fighting and would be able to support everyone.


    Since he got what he wanted, even if it wasn''t the perfect compromise, it was enough for him for now.


    Everyone seemed to have some misgivings about this, but they also recognized the power of his ability.


    The arrogant young master even let this go to his head as he said, "Everyone will bow before the power of this Jin Long."


    That was the first time that I learned his name.

 Chapter 233 - 233: Already making his move (1)

    Since the plan had been decided, all that was left was to get a good night''s sleep and prepare for the next day.


    With everyone that was here, we didn''t even have to take a night shift on guard.


    The others said that this was the least that they could do as our seniors.


    Since they were offering, it didn''t seem like a good idea to reject their goodwill. It was a good way to build a relationship with these seniors in the Abyss Guards.


    Though I did make sure to post a few undead at the entrance of our camp just in case anything happened.


    As for the arrogant young master, he didn''t seem to care at all about the night shift. He just had his teammates finish pitching the tent before heading in as if it was a natural thing.


    Then when someone pointed it out while we were eating dinner, he just said in an arrogant voice, "I have an important role tomorrow, it''s only natural that I get a proper night''s rest. So how could I do something like be on night guard?"


    Everyone looked at him with disdain when they heard this.


    It was just that Yun Tian didn''t say anything, there was nothing that they could say.


    Though they did look surprised that Yun Tian didn''t say anything about this, only it wasn''t as if they could ask him about this. Even if they knew about Yun Tian, it was actually their first time working with him.


    So it wasn''t as if they were close enough to ask him any questions.


    And those that had come with Yun Tian, the ones that were on his team that were close to him didn''t say anything. They were close enough to Yun Tian that they already knew what he was thinking without asking anything.


    In the end, this question just remained on everyone''s mind.


    When morning came, it was quite the uneventful morning.


    Considering that this was the Abyss, it was strange that not a single thing happened last night. Sear?h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Normally, there would be one or two skirmishes when this many people gathered, but there wasn''t a single thing.


    "They''re all gathering at the camp." Yun Tian said in a heavy voice.


    The way that he said this was as if he was certain of this. This was most likely related to the method that he had used to scout out the camp earlier.


    He had been able to get all that information about the camp, so he must have his own special method to get that information.


    I also confirmed this with the skeletal rats that I had left at the Abyss Demon camp.


    There were many Abyss Demons that had suddenly appeared in the camp overnight, showing that they had been gathering throughout the night. It seemed that they had all been gathering for the ritual that they were about to hold.


    Though it didn''t seem like there were that many powerful Abyss Demons that showed up.


    There were just two new strong mana fluctuations that were coming from the camp, showing that there were only two new high grades that joined.


    "We should take care of them before more of them gather. Is everyone ready?" Yun Tian asked this, but everyone just gave a simple nod. They were already ready yesterday, so they weren''t worried about two new high grade demons showing up.


    With a smile in our direction, Yun Tian said, "Don''t worry, we''ll be able to take care of this."


    Worried?


    Was I worried?


    No, he had mistaken the slightly knitted brows on my face for worry. This expression was because I had been trying to figure out why the Abyss Demons had been gathering, well other than for the ritual.


    But it seemed that he had misunderstood this as some kind of worry from me.


    Well, if he misunderstood, then I might as well let him misunderstand.


    It wasn''t as if there was anything to gain on my part from resolving this misunderstanding.


    Though the one thing that was annoying was the smug look that the arrogant young master had when he looked in my direction. It was clear that he was trying to put me down with this smug look of his, but I just ignored him.


    I could see the traces of annoyance that were in his eyes.


    It was clear that he still held a grudge¡­


    Once he made sure that everyone was ready, Yun Tian didn''t waste any time in saying with a wave of his hand, "Let''s go then."


    With Yun Tian leading the way, we smoothly evaded all of Abyss Demons that had been sent out from the camp. These Abyss Demons seemed to be doing the same thing as yesterday where they were searching for things to bring back to the camp.


    With the way that they looked around, it seemed like they were trying to find more sacrifices for their ritual.


    But for now, it wasn''t time to deal with these Abyss Demons.


    Instead, it was time to deal with the camp that was there.


    Once we arrived in the vicinity of the camp, that was when we suddenly spread out.


    It wasn''t Yun Tian himself that led the way, but rather someone from his team. This was one of his teammates who had his face and head covered in a hood and mask, now showing his true face.


    But this was also the person that had been doing the scouting during this time as explained by Yun Tian.


    With his special power guiding everyone, we all easily made it to the location that we had been assigned.


    This meant that we were sent to the back where the Abyss Demons that leaked out would come.


    But this was also a position where we were able to see the arrogant young master Jin Long and his group.


    From the way that he looked at me, I could tell that he was planning something.

 Chapter 234 - 234: Already making his move (2)

    There was no telling what he was planning to do, though I did have some ideas.


    But even if he was planning something, it wasn''t as if he would actually be able to do anything to me.


    Since I had already seen his skills, I already had a way to handle it.


    If he didn''t do anything, that was fine. But if he actually did do something¡­well, there was no need to show him any mercy, was there?


    So for now, there was no need to pay attention to him since there was nothing to gain from giving him the attention that he wanted.


    Jin Long could see this as well and it seemed to annoy him even more that I was just ignoring him. However, it wasn''t as if he could do anything since the operation was about to start.


    The one that started the operation wasn''t Yun Tian.


    Rather it was several of the others that would start it off.


    They had been spread out in different directions, so they completely surrounded the camp in a way. Though there were many different gaps that were between their formation, that was also done on purpose.


    After all, it wasn''t as if there was a need to make sure that every Abyss Demon was taken care of.


    With how many were gathered in the camp, it would be a problem of wasting stamina to cut down all of the lower ranked Abyss Demons. It would take too much time and effort to make sure that all of the lower ranked Abyss Demons were killed.


    Not to mention that in this Abyss, there were plenty of these lower ranked Abyss Demons in the first place.


    Killing a few of them like this wouldn''t actually be enough to make a dent in the overall power of the Abyss.


    And letting them go wouldn''t hurt the human race either.


    It was the high ranked Abyss Demons that actually mattered.


    That was why they made sure to create a formation that would allow any of them to lock onto one of the high ranked Abyss Demons if they tried to escape. They wouldn''t let a single one of these high ranked Abyss Demons leave this place.


    With the attacks that they released raining down on the camp, it didn''t take long for the Abyss Demons to react.


    The first thing that happened was that a wave of lower ranked Abyss Demons came out, but these Abyss Demons were just no match for the attackers. All they could do was retreat after being hit with a wave of attacks.


    There were also some that snuck through the gaps and started to run.


    It was interesting to note that there wasn''t a single Abyss Demon that came back around to fight the humans. It seemed that they cared more about their own lives than the lives of their comrades. S~ea??h the n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    There wasn''t any camaraderie between them at all.


    After the line of low rank Abyss Demons was broken, there were stronger mana fluctuations that appeared. That was the sign that the higher ranked Abyss Demons were appearing.


    In the places that those mana fluctuations came from, attacks rained down.


    But it seemed that the higher ranked Abyss Demons weren''t pushovers.


    They were able to block those attacks and even send out a few of their own attacks.


    Each of the Abyss Demons seemed to have their own special attribute when they released these attacks, it didn''t seem like there was a single Abyss Demon that was using the same element as another.


    It didn''t seem like the fight was going to end any time soon.


    But because of the fighting between the two sides, the other low rank Abyss Demons started to show doubt. They started to scatter from the camp, moving away to find places that they could hide from the fight.


    There were those that didn''t want to get caught up in the fight, but there were also those that didn''t want to remain here any longer.


    When they saw the power that the two sides clashing had, they knew that they were completely out of place. If they were to remain here, there was no doubt that the only thing waiting for them was death.


    So they were looking for any place to run.


    With the gaps that were left, there were actually many places to run.


    And since the low ranked Abyss Demons were running away, that meant that they were coming towards us. It wasn''t that all of them were coming at us, but there seemed to be a decent amount that were coming this way.


    "Aren''t there just too many of them?" Wang Rong couldn''t help asking when he saw the


    Abyss Demons running at us.


    Though Iris didn''t say anything, the look on her face showed that she was thinking the same thing.


    I was the only one that was calm out of the three of us.


    That was because I had already seen through this trick before.


    For those that were experiencing it for the first or second time, it would be hard to see through since they didn''t know the trick behind it. But once they knew the trick, it was very easy to notice what was there and what wasn''t there.


    As such, I knew exactly what this was.


    On one shoulder was the Echo Bat and hiding inside of my shirt was the Astral White Tiger.


    It was a good thing that the Astral White Tiger was still small enough to hide in my chest or else it would have been hard for me to keep it hidden. It wouldn''t be a good thing for me to expose the existence of the Astral White Tiger to anyone else just yet.


    With the Astral White Tiger and the Echo Bat by my side, I turned to Wang Rong and said, "Go ahead, you can charge forward now."


    A bitter smile appeared on Wang Rong''s face, but he still listened to this order and charged at the Abyss Demons coming at us.

 Chapter 235 - 235: Already making his move (3)

    When Wang Rong charged forward, he naturally went for the Abyss Demon that was the closest to us. S§×arch* The N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    However, I said, "Not that one."


    Wang Rong was surprised to hear this and there was a trace of hesitation in his actions, but he eventually turned and headed towards the second closest one.


    "Not that one either."


    A look like he didn''t know whether to laugh or cry appeared on his face before Wang Rong said, "Just tell me which one already!"


    So I just pointed at one of the Abyss Demons that were there.


    Wang Rong had no hesitation at all when he saw me pointing at one of the Abyss Demons. He just raised his great sword and charged right at the Abyss Demon that I was pointing at.


    But during that time, the Abyss Demons that were closer to him were naturally getting closer as well.


    In no time at all, they were right on him.


    Wang Rong couldn''t help flinching when he saw these Abyss Demons almost on top of him, but then he noticed that there was something strange about these Abyss Demons.


    When he looked closely, it almost seemed like they were flickering¡­


    With the way that they flickered, it was almost as if they didn''t seem real. It was as if they were some kind of illusions that were there.


    This reminded Wang Rong of something.


    And the moment that he thought of this, a determined look appeared in Wang Rong''s eyes almost as if he had come to some kind of decision.


    So even though it looked like these Abyss Demons were about to hit him with their claws, Wang Rong just ignored them as he charged at the one that was pointed out by Lin Fan.


    Though the one thing that he did was strengthen his body just in case.


    When those claws hit Wang Rong¡­they didn''t actually make contact with his body. The claws that the Abyss Demons swiped at Wang Rong with just went right through his body.


    Wang Rong didn''t hesitate for a single second when he saw this happen since he had already expected this. Though he did have to spit something out of his mouth after this Abyss Demon went right through him.


    It was several more Abyss Demons that hit him like this, but there wasn''t a single one that actually hit him.


    All of them seemed to disappear the moment that Wang Rong made contact with them. At the same time, Wang Rong had to spit something out when he ran through them.


    The displeased look that was on his face showed that whatever he was spitting out, it wasn''t a good thing.


    Eventually, Wang Rong reached that one Abyss Demon that was pointed out to him.


    But there was a strange look that appeared on his face when he saw what that Abyss Demon was doing. At first, it seemed like that Abyss Demon was about to brace to take the hit from him.


    Then the Abyss Demon suddenly released its guard and swung its claws at something beside Wang Rong.


    However, there wasn''t a single thing that was beside Wang Rong, so that Abyss Demon just swung at thin air. At the same time, it also created a gap for Wang Rong to exploit, so he didn''t hesitate to swing his sword at the Abyss Demon.


    The Abyss Demon had a look of shock on its face as if it couldn''t believe what happened as Wang Rong cut it down.


    Even if it had thick scales, they weren''t thick enough to stop Wang Rong''s great sword.


    Wang Rong looked back at me and I just pointed at another one of the Abyss Demons that he charged at.


    With the two of us working together like this, we were able to take down many of the Abyss Demons that had been charging at us. Though most of them did disappear on their own when they made contact with Wang Rong.


    It was as if they had never been there in the first place.


    When there were only a few Abyss Demons left, I waved my hand at Wang Rong to come back.


    He didn''t doubt me as he came back to our side, but when he did come back, he asked, "Someone is playing tricks on us?"


    I gave a simple nod in response.


    There was no need to say anything since it was clear that Wang Rong had already figured out who it was that was doing this. And if Wang Rong figured it out, it was only natural that Iris figured it out as well.


    "Peh, peh." Wang Rong spat out a few more times before saying, "The moth scales really do taste terrible. If you run through them, you have no chance of evading them."


    He looked at me and said, "Boss, couldn''t you have used the wind magic to push them away?"


    I shook my head with a faint smile before saying, "I was using the wind magic for something else. Or do you want to fight the Abyss Demons head on without the openings?"


    A smile also appeared on Wang Rong''s face as he slowly shook his head.


    But when that smile disappeared, he slightly knitted his brows to say, "What about him? Do we take care of him now for trying to cause harm to us?"


    I knew who he was referring to, but I shook my head before saying, "Not in front of everyone. He can only play small tricks like this, but they can''t do anything to me. Right now, it''s more important to watch the situation and wait for the boss of the camp to appear. I want to see if we can snipe anything or not."


    Wang Rong and Iris nodded in agreement, but I could see that they were still a bit unhappy.


    To be fair, I was also a bit unhappy.


    It would be strange if I was happy that someone was trying to kill me.


    If he used more than these small tricks¡­


    But then again, I knew that he wouldn''t dare do that in this place.

 Chapter 236 - 236: Strange powers

    Though the others made their move, Yun Tian was still holding back.


    He stood there as if he was waiting for something and it didn''t seem like he would move unless things went terribly wrong.


    Though it wasn''t as if there was a need for him to make a move.


    The others were more than capable of dealing with the high ranked Abyss Demons.


    There was a reason why they were a subjugation team in the first place, it wasn''t as if the people that were on this team were weak.


    Eventually, there were more of the high ranked Abyss Demons that appeared.


    With the way that they appeared in twos, it was as if they were trying to save their strength. It was just that doing that had actually caused them to lose more power as the high ranked Abyss Demons were taken down by the Abyss Guards.


    So they had no choice but to send more high ranked Abyss Demons out.


    Though it didn''t seem to matter how many high ranked Abyss Demon they sent. It seemed that they were overwhelmed no matter how they fought.


    There were even some openings that were created when these high ranked Abyss Demons suddenly swung at thin air. It was as if they were seeing something that no one else was seeing.


    That was the contribution that Jin Long made.


    Other than that, there were quite a few of the lower ranked Abyss Demons that were swinging at things that they couldn''t see. It seemed that they too had been affected by some kind of invisible attack that drew their attention away.


    Though under Jin Long''s breath, he muttered, "Damn, how did he figure it out? How can he see through my illusions?"


    But that was all a sideshow compared to the main power of the Abyss Demon camp.


    With so many of the high ranked Abyss Demons being pushed back like this, it was only natural that there was something that was awakened inside of the camp.


    "You dare to interrupt our sacred ceremony?"


    As soon as this booming voice rang out, everyone suddenly stopped fighting.


    The Abyss Demons drew back to head towards the location that this voice was coming from. The Abyss Guards couldn''t help separating from the Abyss Demons since they could feel the power that came from this voice.


    The owner of this voice was anything but ordinary.


    It was an Abyss Demon that was different from all of the other Abyss Demons.


    First was the size of this Abyss Demon, which was much bigger than the rest of the Abyss Demons.


    Second was the appearance of the Abyss Demon. It had what seemed to be a crown that was on its head, but this crown wasn''t one that seemed to have been made from something.


    It seemed like this crown was fused to the head of the Abyss Demon.


    Looking closely, one could see that it was actually horns that were coming out of the head of the Abyss Demon.


    Third was the amount of mana that the Abyss Demon was releasing.


    Even the other high ranked Abyss Demons weren''t releasing the same amount of mana as this one.


    It was clear that this one was much stronger than any of the other high ranked Abyss Demons. At the same time, it was clear that this Abyss Demon had some kind of special status among the Abyss Demons.


    Only it didn''t seem like anyone from the Abyss Guards were afraid of this Abyss Demon.


    Rather, there were smiles that were on their faces when they saw this Abyss Demon appear.


    That was because they also had someone on their side that would back them up. S~ea??h the N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Seeing that the humans weren''t scared by it, the Abyss Demon seemed like it wanted to make an example of the humans that were in front of it. Only before it could actually do that, there was this strange spatial distortion that appeared in front of it.


    The Abyss Demon found it hard to react to this spatial distortion that appeared, mainly because it had no idea what this spatial distortion even was.


    However, the one thing that the Abyss Demon felt was that this spatial distortion that had appeared in front of it was dangerous. It wasn''t as if the spatial distortion actually did anything to the Abyss Demon, it was just that it gave off this innate sense of danger.


    So the Abyss Demon wanted to move away from the spatial distortion.


    "Do you think that you can get away?"


    As soon as this voice rang out, there were more spatial distortions that appeared. Only this time, the spatial distortions came from behind the Abyss Demon.


    With the way that they appeared, they formed a cage that seemed to trap the Abyss Demon so that there was nowhere for the Abyss Demon to go.


    Well, it wasn''t that the Abyss Demon couldn''t just go right through the spatial distortion, it was just that it was afraid to make contact with the spatial distortions. There was this instinctive feeling that was telling the Abyss Demon not to make contact with the spatial distortion.


    In the end, the Abyss Demon had no choice but to release flames around itself.


    These were flames that were different from any other flames that were seen before. These were flames that were completely black, as if they came from the very depths of hell.


    It was just that these flames couldn''t take the pressure that came from the spatial distortions.


    The pressure that came from the spatial distortions was just too strong for the flames to actually do anything to them. The flames just collapsed in on themselves before suddenly disappearing without a trace.


    It was as if they had been squeezed out of existence with the way that they disappeared.


    That just went to show how much pressure was in the spatial distortions that formed.


    As for how these spatial distortions formed¡­


    It was Yun Tian''s outstretched hand that was creating them.

 Chapter 237 - 237: Doesn’t know his place

    There was this distortion that was around Yun Tian''s hand that was just like the ones that were appearing around the Abyss Demon.


    From time to time, it was shaking as if something was happening to it.


    But when it did shake, there were more spatial distortions that appeared in the air around the Abyss Demon.


    It seemed that each shake was caused by more spatial distortions being formed by Yun Tian.


    There was no sign of Yun Tian''s familiar, which should have been the one that was causing these spatial distortions. And just based on these spatial distortions alone, it was hard to tell just what kind of ability Yun Tian''s familiar had. S§×arch* The N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    But there was no denying the power that Yun Tian''s familiar possessed.


    I had been watching carefully the entire time, trying to see if there was a chance for us to do anything.


    It was just that seeing the power that Yun Tian showed, it didn''t seem like there was a single gap to exploit. Even if there were some ideas, I didn''t think that any of these ideas would be good to put into action.


    It seemed like doing this would just backfire on me¡­


    I could also see that Wang Rong and Iris were thinking the same thing.


    The two of them had also been trying to figure out a way to sneak a few of the Abyss Demons, but they were both convinced by the power that Yun Tian demonstrated with the looks on their faces.


    With a shake of my head and a sigh, I said, "Let''s just forget it. I know what we were planning, but it isn''t worth it. Just consider this a lesson into the depths of the Abyss Guards."


    Both of them nodded in agreement to this.


    Based on the power that Yun Tian demonstrated, it was likely that he was already an A Rank Summoner.


    This was someone who was on the same level as Governor Nangong.


    Though the power that he demonstrated was far greater than what Governor Nangong had demonstrated.


    But that wasn''t strange since one was a governor of a city and the other was a sergeant in the Abyss Guards. As well, he wasn''t just any sergeant, he was one that had been deployed as the leader of a subjugation team.


    That was more than enough to show what kind of prestige he had in the Abyss Guards.


    Right now, I wasn''t certain that I would be able to defeat Governor Nangong even though there was that promise that I made with him. So there was no way that I would be able to defeat Yun Tian who was clearly stronger than him.


    Though there was a part of me that did want to test myself against Yun Tian¡­


    It would give me a good idea of what kind of power an A Rank Summoner would have. It would be helpful to me when I would eventually have to fight Governor Nangong.


    But there was also someone that clearly didn''t want to give up.


    There was another team that had ideas towards the boss of the Abyss Demons.


    "Jin Long, just give it up. You won''t gain anything trying to do this. All you''ll do is make them angry."


    The teammates of the arrogant young master Jin Long tried to convince him against doing something foolish, but the look on his face made it clear that he wasn''t listening.


    Rather it seemed like he was still trying to find an opening to make his move.


    Or it could be said that this was the confidence that he had in himself.


    It didn''t seem like he was going to give up his idea of causing trouble.


    But the others on his team knew that this would just be creating trouble for them rather than creating trouble for Yun Tian.


    With Yun Tian creating more and more spatial distortions, it didn''t seem like there was anywhere for the Abyss Demon to go. It was being pressed more and more in by the spatial until it could barely move.


    There was this layer of black flames that was still around it, but it really didn''t do anything to protect the Abyss Demon.


    With a look of fear, the Abyss Demon looked at Yun Tian and said, "Just what are you?"


    Yun Tian didn''t bother answering as he gestured at the Abyss Demon, as if he was about to finish it off.


    Only the moment that he did, there was this strange thing that happened.


    The spatial distortions that had been around the Abyss Demon suddenly stopped approaching the Abyss Demon. Instead, there was a new spatial distortion that appeared to the right of the Abyss Demon.


    This spatial distortion seemed to be Yun Tian''s finishing move, but it had completely missed.


    Yun Tian couldn''t help knitting his brows when this happened before suddenly giving a snort.


    When he did, it was as if there was something that disappeared from around him.


    If one looked closely, they could see small spatial distortions that were smaller than the ones that he created previously around him.


    Then after that, there was someone that was suddenly knocked to the ground.


    "Ah!"


    Even though he screamed in pain and looked like he was struggling to get up, he just wasn''t able to get up in the end.


    Yun Tian didn''t care at all about the struggle that this person suffered, he just gave a snort as he said, "You really don''t know your place."


    After all, the person that had been knocked to the ground and was being pushed into the ground like this really deserved it.


    Jin Long had let his impulsiveness take over and he had tried to create an illusion to trick Yun Tian to seize the chance to take away the Abyss Demon boss. It was just that he had completely misread the loyalty of his teammates.


    Not a single one of them moved to attack the Abyss Demon after that illusion appeared.


    After that, Yun Tian easily destroyed his illusions and subdued him without letting the boss of the Abyss Demons go.


    It really seemed like Jin Long had been completely outclassed.

 Chapter 238 - 238: Cleaning up (1)

    Yun Tian didn''t seem like he cared at all about Jin Long after punishing him like this.


    Yun Tian''s attention was turned back to the boss Abyss Demon. S§×ar?h the N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    During the time that Yun Tian''s attention had been turned, the flames around the boss Abyss Demon had regained a bit of strength. It seemed that when he diverted some of his power to take care of Jin Long, but now his attention was back on the Abyss Demon.


    And since his attention was back on the Abyss Demon, that meant that there was nowhere to run for the Abyss Demon.


    The same thing happened where the black flames of the Abyss Demon were crushed because of the distortions in space that Yun Tian created.


    It didn''t take long before the Abyss Demon itself was being crushed by the spatial distortions.


    It seemed like the Abyss Demon was being crushed under the weight of the air itself with the way that it was being pressed in like this.


    The Abyss Demon did all that it could to resist the pressure that was coming from around it, but it really couldn''t do anything in the end.


    The Abyss Demon seemed to recognize that it was about to die, so it suddenly said, "Glory to the Abyss God! Even if you kill me, you will never be able to stop us from spreading the glory of the Abyss God! This is only a temporary setback, those that are faithful will rise once more!"


    It was like what a fanatic would say.


    And not only that, it seemed that it was something that resonated with the other Abyss Demons.


    Some of the ones that had been running away suddenly turned around to look at the boss Abyss Demon. Then after a moment of hesitation, they turned back once more to face the Abyss Guards as if they had come to the decision to fight.


    This made it very clear what kind of position the Abyss God had in the hearts of the Abyss Demons.


    The other Abyss Guards didn''t seem that surprised by this, but I certainly was surprised.


    After all, I had never heard of the Abyss God before.


    At the same time, it seemed that Jin Long''s team was also surprised by this which showed that they didn''t know about the Abyss God either. Though they didn''t have much time to worry about this as they were focused on helping Jin Long stand up again.


    It seemed that this was something that one learned about the longer that they remained in the Abyss Guards.


    Well, there was no rush to learn about these things.


    For now, it was time to deal with the Abyss Demons that were around us.


    It was easy for us to deal with the Abyss Demons since they were only the low rank Abyss Demons, though they didn''t really give us much in terms of points and loot.


    Though the boss Abyss Demon struggled, it just wasn''t able to resist the pressure that Yun Tian put on it and eventually was crushed by the pressure. It turned into a meat patty with the way that it was squashed.


    Once it died, Yun Tian released his power around the boss Abyss Demon and started attacking the high ranked Abyss Demons.


    Now was the time to clear out this camp.


    Yun Tian was in full clean up mode as he worked with the others to take care of the remaining Abyss Demons.


    Seeing this, our team pushed up to where the human captives were being held.


    That was the other job that had been given to us.


    Though I wasn''t happy to encounter Jin Long''s team.


    They had been given the same task once the higher ranked Abyss Demons were taken care of.


    But he didn''t dare do anything now.


    It seemed that he was afraid of Yun Tian with the way that Jin Long peeked at Yun Tian from time to time. It seemed that the beating that Yun Tian gave Jin Long was enough to curb him for now.


    Once the rest of the Abyss Demons were cleared out, that was when everyone gathered around us.


    Though before that, they did make sure to grab all the loot that was dropped by the Abyss Demons.


    I made sure to take a close look and I found that it was a pittance compared to what the Scavenger Rabbit got for me.


    The Scavenger Rabbit really did have a golden paw.


    Once everyone gathered, Yun Tian went over to the captives and explained the situation.


    Though they seemed a bit relieved, it was also clear by the way that they were trembling that this had been quite the traumatic experience for them. It couldn''t be helped since this had brought them very close to death.


    There were some of them that had even died from being mistreated by the Abyss Demons.


    When it was over, Yun Tian said to the members of the subjugation team, "Good work everyone. We were able to rescue everyone and take down this camp of Abyss Demons. Headquarters will make sure to give you your rewards when you return to camp, so be sure to report in later on. You''re free to go where you want now since this was an emergency summon, but I hope that you will come with us to escort these captives back."


    I remained silent at first since this wasn''t something that I cared about and wanted to volunteer for, but it wasn''t as if I could be the first one to reject this.


    In the end, it was Jin Long who was the first to reject.


    "Hmph, this was a waste of time." Jin Long didn''t mince his words at all as the arrogant young master that he was as he led his team away.


    Everyone was clearly unhappy with what he said, but there wasn''t a single person that stopped him from leaving.


    In no time at all, Jin Long disappeared from sight.

 Chapter 239 - 239: Cleaning up (2)

    After Jin Long left, there was another period of silence.


    But in the end, there was another group that left as well.


    Unlike Jin Long whose departure left a bad taste in everyone''s mouth, this group was very polite in the way that they left.


    They thanked everyone and apologized to Yun Tian for not being able to help with escorting the captives out. Yun Tian just told them that it wasn''t a problem since they had already helped more than enough.


    With that, they departed.


    After this first group, there were others that also chose to depart.


    Everyone was a part of the Abyss Guards and they had come into this Abyss to fight for fame and power.


    And with the power that they demonstrated in the fight, it was clear that none of them were normal.


    So it wasn''t as if they were the kinds of people that would settle down that easily.


    They were in the Abyss for a reason.


    Of course, Yun Tian understood this and he thanked each of them for responding to the emergency call.


    It wasn''t everyone that left the group though, there were some that remained. Thought that was because they seemed to have other reasons for staying with the group.


    Mostly because it was clear that they had already been planning to head out before joining this subjugation team. So now they were just going with the subjugation team since it would be easier for them to leave the Abyss.


    Though there were also some people that were looking at Yun Tian with certain looks.


    It was clear that they had some intentions towards him.


    It wasn''t that they had any bad intentions, it was just that they wanted to get closer to this powerful sergeant that had taken charge of the subjugation team.


    Yun Tian''s power had left a deep impression on everyone and it was clear that it was only a matter of time before he rose up even higher. So before that, they wanted to get closer to him.


    Building this relationship had no downsides for them.


    However, this wasn''t something that I was interested in.


    I still had other things to do on this first trip of mine in this Abyss.


    We still hadn''t gotten enough points to be promoted yet, so it wasn''t as if we could go back that soon.


    "Thank you for taking care of us during this time. We''ll be heading off as well." I said to Yun Tian as I prepared to lead our team away.


    However, he didn''t let me go as easily as everyone else.


    "Junior, wait a bit. I have something to talk to you about." Yun Tian said to the surprise of everyone, including me.


    I certainly wasn''t expecting him to say something like this and I couldn''t help looking at him with one brow raised, but Yun Tian didn''t say anything as he just waved his hand for me to follow him.


    In the end, I followed him to the side since I was curious what he wanted to say.


    At the same time, I knew it wasn''t as if he was going to harm me in front of everyone.


    When we were alone, Yun Tian suddenly raised his hand and tossed something to me. S~ea??h the ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    I was caught off guard since I didn''t expect this at all, but I was even more surprised when I saw what the thing he tossed to me was.


    I had seen this thing earlier when he took down the boss Abyss Demon.


    It was one of the items that the boss Abyss Demon dropped.


    After realizing this, I looked back up at Yun Tian with one brow raised. However, it didn''t seem like Yun Tian was bothered at all by this and just looked at me with a smile.


    I really couldn''t help feeling even more confused by this, but I extended my hand again to give the item back to him.


    Seeing this, Yun Tian finally broke the silence by raising one hand and saying, "Take it, it''s a gift for my junior."


    I didn''t take it as he told me to and still tried to give it back to him.


    After all, there was no free meal in this world.


    It really felt like he wanted something from me by giving this item to me. So it wasn''t as if I would just take something that was offered to me like this.


    Even a child would know better than to take free candy.


    Seeing that I wasn''t going to take it back, Yun Tian said, "It''s an investment."


    I was even more confused by these words and I just made it clear to him by looking at him with a confused look.


    Yun Tian revealed a faint smile when he saw this before saying, "It''s an investment in you."


    I was still confused, though it was more surprise rather than confusion at this point.


    I didn''t think that there was anything worth investing when it came to me, but it was clear that Yun Tian felt differently about this.


    "I don''t think that''s the best idea." I slowly said as I continued trying to return the item back to him.


    Only Yun Tian narrowed his eyes to say, "You''re not going to take my goodwill?"


    The way that he said this almost made it seem like there was a bit of a threat in his words.


    Once again, I was taken aback by this and it made me hesitate.


    Yun Tian suddenly revealed a smile as he said, "Don''t worry, I won''t do anything to you. I know my instincts are good and I trust my eyes, so I know that there''s something special about you. I''m just investing in you before you make a name for yourself. I don''t have any ill intentions towards you."


    I once again raised my brows when I heard this.


    Yun Tian then continued by saying, "As a gesture of good faith, I''ll even tell you that you should watch out for that person that left earlier."

 Chapter 240 - 240: Cleaning up (3)

    I didn''t say anything as I looked at him with narrowed eyes, but Yun Tian didn''t seem bothered by the way that I looked at him.


    Instead, he just looked right back at me with the same smile on his face as if he was waiting for a response from me.


    Honestly, I wasn''t surprised by what he said.


    After all, I had already figured out the same thing that he had mentioned and had already planned on taking care of it after leaving this group. It was just that I didn''t expect him to be paying attention to this as well.


    This kind of thing seemed like it was too low grade for Yun Tian to care about¡­


    Only it seemed that he did care about it and he cared about it enough that he even warned me of it.


    Though there was a clear reason for why he even cared about this.


    That was what surprised me.


    After looking at him like this for a bit, I asked, "Why are you going this far? What do you have to gain from this?"


    Yun Tian''s smile didn''t disappear as he said, "Like I said before, I think you''re worth that much. I believe in my intuition and when it tells me that you are someone that will be someone important in the future, I trust it. So that is why I''m doing all of this."


    I really didn''t know whether to believe him or not when I heard this, but based on what I had seen so far¡­it didn''t seem like Yun Tian was lying.


    So in the end, I slowly took back the item that he gave me and said, "Then I''ll believe you and accept this."


    Yun Tian gave a simple nod and without saying anything else, he turned to leave as if he was done talking to me. But as he was leaving, I seemed to hear something from him that almost seemed like a whisper.


    "I hope that you''ll trust me enough one day to tell me about the strange wind that you used."


    I was taken aback when I heard this before revealing a look like I didn''t know whether to laugh or cry.


    What he said about his sharp intuition was true, it seemed that he had been able to see through all of my tricks even though I had hidden everything. This sharp intuition was most likely what had allowed him to see through a certain someone''s illusions in the first place.


    So it wasn''t strange if he noticed something else with this sharp intuition.


    I didn''t respond to this since I didn''t know what to feel about Yun Tian still, but even after everything that he did, I didn''t really have a bad feeling about him. Rather, my impression of him was quite good.


    Once that matter was settled, I led Wang Rong and Iris away from the rest of the group. S~ea??h the ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The way that they looked at me made it clear that they wanted to know what I talked to Yun Tian about, but I didn''t say anything as I continued walking.


    Even when we were away from the group, I still didn''t say anything as I continued leading them forward.


    Finally, the two of them couldn''t take it anymore.


    Wang Rong was the one that wanted to step forward and say something, but I raised my hand and stopped him before he could.


    Though the two of them just looked at me with confused looks, I shook my head at them to show that it wasn''t the time to be talking about this right now.


    In the end, the two of them accepted this and followed me without saying anything.


    Though it was clear that they had thoughts on their mind.


    I didn''t mind them as I turned back around and continued walking forward, moving away from the camp at a steady pace. It was almost as if I was taking a casual walk instead of being in a dangerous place like the Abyss.


    The two of them looked at me with strange looks, but they eventually realized that there was something off about our surroundings. When they did, they looked at me as if they wanted to say something to me.


    Only I shook my head once more to stop them.


    I could see from the look in their eyes that they were prepared for anything that happened, but there was nothing for them to worry about since I had already prepared everything.


    Including watching over the one that was causing the things that were happening around us.


    "Now."


    I suddenly said to Wang Rong and Iris before suddenly breaking into a sprint.


    The two of them were caught off guard, but they quickly followed me on instinct alone. That was the kind of trust that they had in me that they were able to follow me even if they were caught off guard like this.


    I started dashing forward in a certain direction, but the space around us also started to change because of this.


    There were many Abyss Demons that appeared out of nowhere, but I didn''t back down when I saw them. Even when they came right at us, I just ran right into them without a single care.


    Though there was a layer of wind that was in front of me that blocked a certain thing from making contact with me.


    When they made contact with me, or rather with that layer of wind, the Abyss Demons just disappeared without a trace.


    I didn''t slow down at all as I continued charging through these Abyss Demons.


    During that time, I also had something out that I was looking at.


    It was this small thing that had a monitor attached to it that was showing a single dot.


    This was one of the items that I had gotten from the Master Gnome''s armoury.


    This was a monitor that was connected to a special tracking chip that I had used on Jin Long.

 Chapter 241 - 241: Cleaning up (4)

    The one that Yun Tian had warned me about was Jin Long.


    The way that Jin Long rushed away from the rest of the group and the way that he looked at me before he left, it made it very clear that he had been planning something.


    And since he was doing that, it was only natural that I would be the one that cleaned him up.


    He had already provoked me not just once, but twice. Since he wouldn''t drop this matter, there was nothing that I could do other than clean up this mess.


    If he wouldn''t let things rest, then I would make him rest.


    I would let him rest forever in the cold hard ground.


    And to do that, I had to reach where Jin Long was first. S§×ar?h the N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The reason why the illusions had suddenly appeared like this was because he was panicking since he could see that we were running through his illusionary space without any impediment.


    His illusions just didn''t have a single effect on us.


    So the only thing that he could do at this point was throw more and more illusions at us in an attempt to stop us from getting any closer. It was just too bad that none of these illusions worked since I already knew the trick behind his power.


    Perhaps it might cause a bit more trouble for us if he were to throw in a few real things into the mix with these illusions, but it seemed that he wasn''t smart enough for that.


    Or it seemed that there were people that were unwilling to go along with him anymore.


    But regardless of what it was, I was on my way to end this once and for all.


    After breaking through the final illusion, the figures of Jin Long and the rest of his group appeared. With the way that they suddenly appeared like this, it was as if they had suddenly appeared out of thin air.


    Though I knew that this was because they had been hiding behind an illusion the entire time.


    Once we came close, I destroyed that illusion and revealed them.


    "How? How could you break through my illusions like that? Just what are you?" Jin Long said in a shocked voice as if he couldn''t believe what had just happened.


    But I didn''t care as I continued charging at them.


    That was when Jin Long''s companions suddenly came forward.


    The leader of Jin Long''s group came forward to stop me, but there wasn''t much that he could do when he was suddenly hit with a sudden gust of wind that pushed him back. When he managed to stabilized himself, he found that Wang Rong was already on top of him with his great sword swinging down.


    It took all that he had to be able to stop Wang Rong from crushing him.


    The other members of Jin Long''s team had been taken aback by a gust of wind as well and when they reacted, they found that there was a net of water around them. They could also see the electricity that was flowing through that net of water.


    If they made a single move, then they would have been shocked by the electricity running through the water.


    And based on the sensation that came from the water, they could tell that this electricity wasn''t weak.


    The only thing that they could do was remain still or else they would be shocked.


    Jin Long was still in disbelief over what happened, but he knew that he couldn''t remain idle or else it would all be over.


    And the move that he made was¡­


    "Distract them for me!" He shouted as he started to disappear.


    He was using the ability of his familiar to hide himself so that he could run away all on his own. It didn''t seem like he cared at all about whether his teammates lived or died.


    But before he could get away, the parts of him that had disappeared reappeared once more. The illusion that had been created by the moth scales were being cancelled out by something.


    This time, Jin Long finally realized what it was.


    It was a gust of wind that was blowing away the moth scales.


    But for that to happen, it meant that the gust of wind had to be stronger than his moth scales. The moth scales that he summoned had a special connection to his moth familiar, so the thing binding it was stronger than what most normal summoners could break.


    Only powerful summoners on the level of Yun Tian could break the bond of the moth scales creating the illusion like this.


    It was just that there was no way to deny it when it was happening in front of him.


    Before he could say anything, Jin Long felt a familiar feeling running through his body. Only this time, it was so strong that he wasn''t even able to move his mouth to make a single sound.


    He was just frozen in place, unable to move at all.


    His eyes filled with fear when he felt this feeling fill his body.


    This was definitely not a feeling that Jin Long had ever felt before.


    I could see this look filling his eyes, but I didn''t bother saying anything to Jin Long.


    Instead, I turned to look at the leader of the group who was being suppressed by Wang Rong and then looked at the others that were trapped in the net of water.


    The leader of the group saw me look at him, so he said, "I''m sorry, I wasn''t able to stop him. I promise that if you let us go, we won''t ever appear in front of you again."


    Only the moment that his voice fell, he found that he couldn''t move his body anymore.


    The rest were the same, they found that they couldn''t move a single muscle, not even to make a single sound.


    "Don''t worry, you won''t appear in front of me again." I said in a calm voice in response to what he said.

 Chapter 242 - 242: Cleaning up (5)

    There was a visible tremble that ran through all of their bodies when they heard this.


    The way that they looked at me showed that they could tell that there was something special about the way that I said this.


    It was that there was a chill that was also in my voice that wasn''t there before.


    It seemed that they recognized the danger that they were in, so there were also traces of fear that appeared in their eyes.


    The way that they struggled, it seemed like they really wanted to say something.


    It was just that I wasn''t interested in listening to what they had to say.


    Three times now.


    They had three different chances to walk away or at least do something, but they chose to remain silent for three times.


    If that was the case, there really wasn''t any reason for me to feel sympathy for them anymore.


    They were the ones that chose to go along with what Jin Long wanted, even if they had shown that they didn''t want to go along. If they couldn''t make this decision, then there was no telling what they would do in the future.


    To be safe, it was best to finish them all off.


    But it wasn''t a good idea for me to personally make a move against them.


    Even having Wang Rong or Iris do it might create complications in the future.


    Luckily, there was another tool that could be used to take care of Jin Long''s group.


    However, it seemed that Jin Long seemed to misunderstand something.


    He was afraid at first since he could see the way that I looked at him and the way that I spoke to him, only the fear that was there in his eyes seemed to slowly recede. It was as if part of that fear was being replaced by confidence.


    It was as if Jin Long had suddenly realized something.


    After a long silence where nothing happened, that confidence seemed to fill Jin Long''s eyes even more.


    The other members of Jin Long''s team also seemed to have realized something and became a bit more confident.


    It was just that they couldn''t be further off from the truth.


    With this confidence filling his eyes, Jin Long started giving us a look like he was expecting us to release him. He thought that we didn''t finish him off because we were afraid of finishing him off.


    Even the members of Jin Long''s group started looking at me in the same way.


    Only I didn''t bother saying anything to them.


    Instead of saying something to them, the best way to solve this issue was to use actions as proof. sea??h th§× NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    This was soon proven by the appearance of the Abyss Demons.


    The moment that these Abyss Demons appeared around us, there were looks of fear that appeared in the eyes of Jin Long''s group again. That was soon followed by looks aimed at me, as if they were telling me to let them go so that they could fight.


    They seemed like they were saying that they would fight together to take care of these Abyss Demons that surrounded us like this.


    Only I didn''t panic at all.


    It wasn''t just me, it was also Wang Rong and Iris that looked calm and collected when we were surrounded by the Abyss Demons.


    Jin Long''s group looked completely confused when they saw this, but they just didn''t have the time to worry about that since the Abyss Demons were approaching.


    It didn''t take long for the Abyss Demons to completely surround us, but I still didn''t do anything.


    At this point, they were glaring at me to do something.


    That was when I suddenly turned to face one of the Abyss Demons and patted it on the shoulder before saying, "I''ll leave it to you."


    In response to this, the Abyss Demon just gave a nod before approaching Jin Long''s group.


    Wang Rong and Iris just followed me without a single word as they walked past the Abyss Demons as well.


    The moment that Jin Long''s group saw this, they immediately understood what was happening. And the moment that they understood, there was fear that filled their eyes.


    They knew that if they didn''t do anything, this was where they would die.


    It was just that there really wasn''t anything that they could do¡­


    The only thing that Jin Long could do was look at Lin Fan as if he was threatening him to let him go. He couldn''t just beg for his life since he knew that it was impossible to work, the only thing that he could rely on was his status and the power that this status gave him.


    As for the others in Jin Long''s group, they could beg.


    That was why they were looking at Lin Fan with looks on their faces as if they were begging him to spare them.


    But the problem was¡­the looks on their faces was as if they thought that they hadn''t done anything wrong.


    It seemed that in the end, they still didn''t have a single trace of regret.


    That was why I suddenly whispered something and the Abyss Demons stopped.


    I ignored Jin Long who looked like there was a trace of hope in his eyes and just looked at the rest of his group.


    In a cold voice, I said, "I already warned you about choosing who you follow carefully and you''re the ones that ignored my warning. Since you chose to ignore it, these are the consequences of your actions."


    Their eyes that had been slightly filled with hope were immediately crushed as they looked like they were complaining.


    But I just shut them down by saying, "You had three chances to show that you''re worth sparing and you wasted all of them. You can only blame yourselves."


    Their eyes once again filled with looks like they were complaining, as if they were saying that they had no choice in the matter.


    Only I didn''t care as I just whispered another thing and the Abyss Demons moved again.


    Even in the end, they couldn''t accept their deaths.

 Chapter 243 - 243: Upgraded versions

    Once it was over, I sent the Abyss Demons away.


    But they didn''t go that far either, they just went far enough that people wouldn''t associate them with us. However, they were still near enough that they would be able to join into any fights that happened.


    After what happened before, I was much more careful about using the Abyss Demons.


    After all, there was no telling who was watching and what kind of misunderstandings could happen.


    At the same time, there was a reason why I had them create this blockade.


    I had something to do that I didn''t want anyone to find out about.


    Wang Rong and Iris also moved away so that I was alone with the corpses of Jin Long''s group. Since they had been with me for a while, they had already gotten used to this and knew what to do.


    I didn''t even need to say anything for them to know when to leave. S~ea??h the n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    At the same time, I knew that they already had an idea of where the Skill Orbs that I gave them came from.


    Once everyone was gone, I called out the Scavenger Rabbit and waited for it to do its thing.


    The Scavenger Rabbit didn''t seem that excited when it saw the corpses of Jin Long''s group. It even seemed like it was showing disdain towards them, as if it wasn''t interested in them at all.


    But it still dug through them since I gave it the order.


    I was already used to this since the Scavenger Rabbit always showed expressions like this when it dug through humans.


    It really seemed like the Scavenger Rabbit couldn''t become excited by humans.


    Or at least this level of humans.


    Would it only be excited by A Rank Summoners, or would it take a S Rank or even a World Rank Summoner to excite it?


    It was hard to tell since there was no precedent, but that was what I thought.


    After it finished digging through the corpses of Jin Long''s group, it was covered in blood and the corpses became unrecognizable. However, it did have Skill Orbs in its paws that it brought over for me.


    I didn''t take them right away as they were covered in blood.


    I took out a rag and some water as per usual and washed off the Scavenger Rabbit before cleaning up the Skill Orbs.


    Only after that did I look at the Skill Orbs.


    When I saw their appraisal, there was a trace of a bitter smile that appeared on my face.


    "Why couldn''t these have shown up earlier?" I said to myself with a hint of bitterness in my voice, but I still called Iris and Wang Rong back.


    There were six Skill Orbs that were dug out of the corpses of Jin Long''s group, but there were only three of them that were worthwhile.


    Two of them were for Iris and Wang Rong, the last one was for me.


    But I didn''t use that Skill Orb right away as I called for Wang Rong and Iris to come back.


    When they came back, I just tossed the Skill Orbs to the two of them.


    Without hesitation, they both crushed the Skill Orbs and absorbed their powers. This was something that they seemed very familiar with with how quickly they crushed the Skill Orbs.


    That was because they were familiar with this.


    Other than the first skills that I gave Wang Rong, I had also given them more skills later on.


    After all, it wasn''t as if there was only one or two people that had provoked us in the dungeons.


    If they come for our lives, it wasn''t our fault for defending ourselves. And once they were finished off, it was only natural to get some Skill Orbs from them since their corpse would just disappear into the dungeon anyway.


    Once they crushed it, Iris asked, "What powers are these?"


    Wang Rong looked at me too as he waited for me to answer.


    Shaking my head with a smile, I explained the two Skill Orbs to them.


    These two Skill Orbs really made me feel a bit bitter since they were upgrades on skills that I had already gotten before.


    The one that I tossed to Wang Rong was called Physical Enhancement.


    It was an ability that would increase one''s overall physical capabilities by over twenty times depending on how much mana was used.


    It wasn''t just a skill that would boost strength like the one that I had, it was overall physical capabilities which meant that all aspects would increase. That included speed, reaction, and such.


    This was without a doubt an improvement on the simple Boost Strength skill that I had.


    For a close range fighter like Wang Rong, this really was the best skill that he could get right now.


    The one that I tossed to Iris was called Mana Lines.


    This was a skill that created connections in one''s mana stream, which would allow them to use mana even more effectively.


    Based on the description that I read, the skill would allow her to use the same amount of power that she was using now for a tenth of the mana. This basically increased her total mana pool by ten times.


    As for me, I had a skill that was similar to this, but it was called Mana Affinity.


    It only allowed me to decrease the cost of my skills by half rather than decreasing it to a tenth, which doubled my mana pool.


    But then again, I had more mana than Iris in the first place, so this just made us even in terms of mana pools.


    I didn''t use these Skill Orbs myself since they would overlap with the ones that I already had, but that didn''t mean that I couldn''t feel bitter about why they didn''t come sooner.


    Still, I gave them to these two without hesitation.


    That was the trust that I had in them.


    But the other reason was the third Skill Orb.


    It wasn''t as if I was losing out on anything since I had the third Skill Orb.

 Chapter 244 - 244: Let’s test it out

    "I''ll handle this." I said to Wang Rong and Iris before stepping forward.


    Both of them just gave a nod to show their agreement and even took a step back as if they were yielding this to me.


    As for what they were yielding, it was a group of Abyss Demons.


    After taking care of Jin Long''s group, I went looking for more Abyss Demons since that was the reason that we were in the Abyss in the first place.


    With the skeletal rats that I controlled, I easily found them.


    Now, there was something that I wanted to test on these Abyss Demons.


    Wang Rong and Iris were aware of this as well, which was why they yielded this group Abyss Demons to me that easily. They were waiting to see the power that I was about to demonstrate.


    After moving into position, I suddenly raised my hand and gave a wave.


    When that happened, the Abyss Demons that were below us suddenly stopped moving. The way that they stopped moving and just stood there in a daze, it was almost as if they were suddenly seeing something that wasn''t there.


    Then all of a sudden, they started roaring at each other.


    "Who are you?"


    "What did you do with my comrades?" Sear?h the ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "Answer or die!"


    All of them shouted at each other, but they also revealed confused looks since they could hear the questions that they were asking. All of them felt that it was strange that these questions were being asked.


    It seemed that they were slowly calming down from the shock that they had suffered and were slowly thinking things through.


    It was just that it wasn''t as if I would allow them to take this time to gather themselves.


    "You! What do you think you''re doing!" One of the Abyss Demons suddenly shouted before swinging its claws out in front of it. With the way that it swung its claws, it was as if it was defending against something.


    There was another Abyss Demon that was right in the path of the claws and was hit by those claws.


    Of course, it was an attack that was made in haste, so it wasn''t as if it had that much power behind it and couldn''t actually hurt the second Abyss Demon.


    But when that second Abyss Demon felt the claws hitting it, it naturally felt threatened and shouted, "You! How dare you sneak attack me!"


    Then after that, it started swinging its claws out as well.


    It was just that the second Abyss Demon didn''t actually swing its claws out at the one that attacked it initially. Instead, it actually swung its claws out in several different directions as if it was trying to attack an enemy that only it could see.


    However, there were Abyss Demons that were standing in those directions.


    That meant that these attacks actually hit even more Abyss Demons and dragged them into this mess as well.


    It didn''t take long for the Abyss Demons to start swinging their claws out at each other.


    Though if one looked at it closely, they would see that the Abyss Demons weren''t actually swinging their claws at each other. It was that they were swinging at things that weren''t there, only there were other Abyss Demons that were in the path of their claws.


    It was because they were in the path that they were hit in the end.


    The Abyss Demons seemed to become even more and more agitated as time passed.


    The looks on their faces seemed like they were getting more frustrated.


    "How do you keep dodging? Get back here!"


    That was the gist of what the Abyss Demons said as they kept swinging their claws at each other.


    It really seemed like they were swinging at enemies that didn''t exist.


    It was as if they were all suffering from some kind of mass delusion.


    That was because they were.


    After a while, it seemed like they were running out of steam and it seemed like they were planning to run. From what I''ve seen previously, I knew that one the Abyss Demons were pushed to a certain extent, they would forget about fighting or their comrades.


    Once they were backed into a corner, the only thing that would be on their minds was trying to figure out how to escape with their lives.


    In the end, the only thing that really mattered to them was their own lives.


    "It seems that this is the only flaw to this ability. It can''t really force them to do something that they don''t want to do. If they value their lives more than anything, then it no longer has an effect." I muttered to myself before nodding to the Echo Bat on my shoulder.


    The Echo Bat just opened its mouth and sent more Abyss Demons in.


    However, these Abyss Demons were different since they were Abyss Demons controlled by me.


    These Abyss Demons moved in and quickly took care of the Abyss Demons that were trapped in the illusions. They just couldn''t react to these attacks that they couldn''t see, so it didn''t take long for the Abyss Demons to be cleaned up.


    Once the Abyss Demons were finished off, I had the Abyss Demons under my control bring them over so I could grab the loot from them.


    Leaving the Scavenger Rabbit to take care of this, I fell into a state of deep thought before suddenly saying with a nod, "It''s not bad, it has its uses and its flaws. This ability will work fine."


    As for what the ability I was talking about was, it was an illusion ability that I had gotten from digging through Jin Long''s corpse.


    The skill was called Illusory Mist, which allowed me to create a mist that would show illusions using light reflections.


    It was a skill that was similar to what Jin Long had, it was just that it used mist instead of moth scales.


    This had to be an adjustment since it wasn''t as if I could produce moth scales.


    But it also seemed like it was a downgraded version from what Jin Long could do.


    I had seen that the mist was quite easy to scatter and if it wasn''t for my control of the mist, the Abyss Demons might have broken out of the illusion quite a few times.


    Still, I was satisfied with this.


    It gave me options for the future.

 Chapter 245 - 245: Dungeon within a dungeon

    Once I finished gathering all of the loot, I said to Wang Rong and Iris, "Let''s keep looking for more Abyss Demons."


    They both nodded in agreement, but it also seemed like there was a bit of expectation on their faces.


    It seemed like the two of them were excited about meeting more Abyss Demons.


    Though I knew how they felt.


    It was the same way that I felt when we encountered these Abyss Demons earlier.


    I had been excited to test out my new skill as well.


    It was similar to how a kid would feel when they got a new toy.


    Only it didn''t seem like it was that easy to find another group of Abyss Demons.


    We weren''t that far from where the camp had been, so that most likely was the reason why there weren''t as many Abyss Demons that were in this area.


    After that camp collapsed, the Abyss Demons had scattered and ran off in all different directions.


    They knew that with the collapse of the camp, it meant that their plans for the ceremony had also failed.


    The only ones that could cause the collapse of the camp like that were the humans and they had to be powerful humans to cause the collapse of the camp like that. They were powerful humans that these normal low rank Abyss Demons just couldn''t do anything against.


    So the only thing that they could do was run.


    But since the Abyss Demons ran, it meant that there wasn''t anything for us to fight.


    All of the Abyss Demons that should have been in this area were gone. It was already lucky enough that we had found that one group of Abyss Demons to take care of.


    They were most likely a straggler group that hadn''t been able to run in time.


    So even after searching for half a day according to our watches, we weren''t able to find any other Abyss Demons.


    "It seems like we really have no choice but to go further out to find enemies to fight." I said with a sigh after stopping for a break.


    Iris and Wang Rong nodded with the same heavy looks on their faces.


    It wasn''t that they were afraid of the Abyss Demons, it was just that going too far from the exit wasn''t a good thing.


    The exit to the dungeon was where the humans had gathered their forces, it was also the place where the Abyss Demons had the weakest influence. That meant that there were far less Abyss Demons here than there would have been deeper in the Abyss.


    There was a reason why the Abyss still existed to this day.


    The Abyss Demons were strong enough that they were able to resist the attacks of the humans and continue their invasion.


    So if we went too deep into the Abyss, there was a chance that we might even encounter Abyss Demons that were at the same level as World Summoners or even World Guardians.


    That was why it was best if we didn''t go too far from the exit.


    Though in reality, it wasn''t as if safety could ever be guaranteed in the Abyss.


    That was just what kind of place the Abyss was.


    While we were thinking about whether to go deeper in the Abyss or not, there was a sound that broke our train of thought.


    It was a sound that came from my chest, but it wasn''t a sound that I made.


    It was a sound that was made by the thing that was sleeping inside of my shirt.


    After making this sound, this thing poked its head out from the inside of my shirt.


    It was the Astral White Tiger that I had been carrying the entire time.


    I had even forgotten about it since we had been focused on finding the Abyss Demons, but now it took the initiative to make itself known by poking its head out like this.


    However, it seemed that it didn''t do this for no reason.


    After poking its head out, the Astral White Tiger started looking around as if it had been attracted by something.


    It didn''t take long for the Astral White Tiger to find what it was looking for and it started using its paws to tell me to go that way. The way that it used one paw to point in a direction while using the other to pat at my neck was a scene that was hard to ignore. S~ea??h the n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Though it was more because it was cute rather than feeling that it was something important.


    After taking a moment to enjoy this, I turned to look at Wang Rong and Iris to ask their opinion.


    But when I did, I found that Iris was already quite close to me.


    She was almost right up against me with the way that she stood there with her face at my chest, looking at the Astral White Tiger.


    I knew that she was just doing this to admire the cuteness of the Astral White Tiger, but it was awkward that she was standing there staring at my chest like this.


    I couldn''t help giving an awkward cough to give her a reminder, which made a blush appear on her face and she took a step back.


    Wang Rong shook his head with a faint smile before saying, "Boss, we''ll follow you. If you think that it''s worth investigating, then we''ll follow you."


    Iris also nodded in agreement to this.


    I gave a nod of appreciation to the two of them before having the Astral White Tiger guide the way forward.


    It didn''t take long for us to find what the Astral White Tiger wanted us to find.


    It was just that when we found it, we couldn''t help being surprised by the notification that popped up.


    "Desert Tyrant''s Oasis."


    This was the name of the dungeon portal that was in front of us.


    This was a dungeon portal that was inside of this Abyss dungeon.


    It was a dungeon within a dungeon.

 Chapter 246 - 246: Hidden Dungeon

    The three of us just stood there in a daze looking at this dungeon portal, but I was snapped out of that daze by the Astral White Tiger.


    Once we came close, it seemed like the Astral White Tiger wanted to jump out of my shirt and run towards the dungeon portal.


    So I had to come back to my senses to grab it to stop it from jumping in.


    As I held it, the Astral White Tiger looked at me with pitiful eyes as if it was asking to be let go, but I didn''t let it go. I held it even tighter since I knew that this kid would like playing tricks.


    After being together for some time, I knew what kind of personality this Astral White Tiger had.


    It was one of those mischievous kids that did what they wanted.


    They were cute, but they were also troublesome if one didn''t pay attention to them.


    So naturally it couldn''t be allowed to do what it wanted or else there would be consequences.


    After thinking for a bit, I finally seemed to remember something that was related to this situation.


    This was in the introduction to the Abyss that Sun Xiang gave us before we entered the Abyss.


    It was a rare case, but he had mentioned it because he had been reminded of it because of a story that he was telling. Otherwise he wouldn''t have included it in the basic introduction to the Abyss that he gave us.


    This was a Hidden Dungeon, but it was different from the Hidden Dungeons that were known outside.


    This Hidden Dungeon was a special instant inside of the Abyss dungeon that one could only encounter if they were lucky. It was effectively a dungeon within a dungeon, but there was something special about it according to Sun Xiang.


    "If you''re ever lucky enough to find one, you''ll know exactly what I mean."


    That was the one thing that I had to complain about since he clearly could have told me what these Hidden Dungeons were, but he chose to act mysterious and keep it a secret.


    However, it didn''t matter since one of these Hidden Dungeons was now in front of me.


    The one thing that Sun Xiang did tell us was that these Hidden Dungeons would provide contribution points if they were cleared, so it wasn''t as if they were completely fruitless. At the same time, there would be special items that would come from the Hidden Dungeons.


    That was why Hidden Dungeons could be considered treasure troves.


    It was just that Hidden Dungeons were also dangerous.


    After thinking this through, I looked at Wang Rong and Iris to get their opinion on this.


    However, I didn''t have to ask a single thing.


    The looks in their eyes already made it clear what they were thinking, it seemed that they were just waiting for me to come to a decision. In a way, they were more decisive than me who was hesitating over this.


    So I gave a simple nod to them before saying, "We''re going in."


    The two of them followed me with nods as well.


    With the Astral White Tiger excitedly bouncing in my arms, we walked into the dungeon portal.


    The moment that we walked through, the first thing that we said was¡­


    "It''s hot!"


    That was actually an understatement since it wasn''t just a normal level of heat that was in this Hidden Dungeon.


    As the name of this Hidden Dungeon suggested, the environment of this place was a desert. It was a land of sand that seemed to stretch as far as the eye could see, so there really seemed like there was no end to it.


    But if it was a land of sand that stretched as far as the eye could see, how were we supposed to leave this place?


    After all, it seemed like there was no exit portal to this dungeon.


    Did that mean that we could only leave this place after we cleared this Hidden Dungeon?


    "First things first¡­" I said to myself before turning to the Echo Bat.


    It knew exactly what I was thinking, so it opened its mouth to release an echo before shaking its head.


    It seemed that at the very least, we were safe for now.


    "Boss, what do we do now?" Wang Rong asked from behind me and it seemed that it wasn''t just him that was lost as Iris had a similar look on her face as she looked at me.


    But even if they asked me this, what was I supposed to say?


    It wasn''t as if I knew where to go either in this endless desert.


    So I just stood there with an awkward look on my face as I didn''t know what to say.


    Only that was when I lost hold of the Astral White Tiger.


    It had been struggling this entire time in my hands and it didn''t seem like it was going to calm down. It was just that I was much stronger than the Astral White Tiger to begin with, so it wasn''t able to get anywhere.


    That was until it suddenly broke free when my attention was split. Sear?h the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The Astral White Tiger fell right to the ground and started to sink into the sand. The excitement that it had seemed to disappear without leaving a single trace as it started panicking while sinking into the sand.


    The sound of that pulled me out of my daze.


    Looking at the Astral White Tiger struggling in the sand like this, I couldn''t help shaking my head with a bitter smile. But in the end, I did pull the Astral White Tiger out of the sand and helped it dust off the sand that was sticking to its fur.


    Other than that, there was something else that I had to ask it.


    "Is there something that you''re attracted to in this place?"


    The Astral White Tiger gave a firm nod before slowly regaining its excitement.


    After thinking about it, I said with a nod, "Lead the way then."

 Chapter 247 - 247: Strange battle

    While I wasn''t certain what it was that had the Astral White Tiger excited, I couldn''t help feeling that there was something there.


    After all, when the Astral White Tiger had been excited last time, it had resulted in it leading us to the Hidden Dungeon.


    Then at least I should have this bit of expectation towards what it was excited by now.


    With the Astral White Tiger leading the way, we quickly left the area that we had been in before. At the same time, with the wind that was naturally in this desert, the footprints behind us just seemed to disappear.


    At this rate, even if we wanted to go back to where we were before, it didn''t seem like we would be able to backtrack.


    It seemed that we could only hope that the Astral White Tiger knew where it was leading us.


    But it did seem like the Astral White Tiger was confident.


    It didn''t just seem confident, but also seemed like there was something that was very attractive to it.


    Though I had no idea what it was.


    However, it didn''t take long to see what it was that was attracting the Astral White Tiger.


    Even before reaching it, we could hear the sounds of fighting coming from in front of us.


    It wasn''t just the sounds of a small skirmish, it sounded like there was an all out war that was happening in front of us. Then when we approached, we saw just what the scale of the fight was.


    The powerful mana fluctuations coming from in front of us was more than enough to show how strong the two sides were.


    Though it was a surprise to see what kind of things were fighting.


    It was an army of Abyss Demons and an army of people that seemed to be made of sand.


    Even without us doing anything, the two sides looked like they wanted to fight to the death.


    It was as if no matter what happened, neither side would back down.


    But there was something strange about the way that they fought.


    Or rather, it was strange the way that the Abyss Demons attacked the people made of sand. The way that this fight played out, it really made it seem like the Abyss Demons were the invaders in this place and they were trying to take this land from the people made from sand.


    Only that was strange since this was a dungeon in the first place.


    This kind of scene shouldn''t have taken place in a dungeon¡­


    The more that we watched them, the stranger all of this felt.


    But at the same time, I could see that there was more and more excitement that appeared on the face of the Astral White Tiger. It seemed that there was something in front of us that really attracted the Astral White Tiger, though I had no idea just what it was.


    After watching for a bit, I decided to move around this area.


    While we could have gotten involved in the fight and I''m certain that we would be able to take down the Abyss Demons and sand people if we wanted to, there was nothing to gain from that.


    Before doing anything to them, it was more important to get information about this place.


    To my surprise, the Astral White Tiger seemed to agree with this.


    I had thought that the Astral White Tiger''s attention had been caught by the Abyss Demon and the sand people, but it seemed like its attention was actually on something that was further in.


    With the way that the Astral White Tiger looked forward, it seemed like it was interested in something that was beyond the sand people.


    I didn''t know if this was a good sign or a bad sign¡­


    With the skeletal rats scouting the way ahead and the illusion ability that I gained from Jin Long, it was easy to make our way past both the Abyss Demons and the sand people.


    But during this time, I also sent some of the skeletal rats into the camps of both the Abyss Demons and the sand people.


    Of course, it wasn''t as if I could control the skeletal rats while we were trying to move past them, so I just gave them a very simple order.


    "Get anything that seems interesting."


    It didn''t take long for us to move past the battle and find a safe place behind the sand people''s camp to observe the battle. It was also during this time that the skeletal rats slowly started coming back with different things that they had scavenged from both of the camps. S§×arch* The N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Though with the simple minds of the undead and the limited strength that they had as small rats, it wasn''t as if they could drag anything big back.


    So giving the order to bring back anything that seemed interesting wasn''t really the best choice.


    There was a mix of random items that were brought back and all of them were just simple items that didn''t have anything special about them. There wasn''t even a single trace of mana in these items, they were all just very normal everyday items.


    It seemed like there wasn''t going to be anything interesting brought back by the skeletal rats with the things that they already brought back.


    Still, it wasn''t as if I could blame them.


    I thought about taking control of the remaining skeletal rats that were out there, but I decided against it.


    The ones that were still out there were most likely the ones that were watching over the Abyss Demons and the sand people, or they were the ones that were already on their way back after finding some things.


    There was no point in giving them more orders since they wouldn''t have the capacity to follow them.


    The only thing that we could do was wait and regroup before going out to find more information.


    Or that was what I thought until one of the skeletal rats came back with something interesting.

 Chapter 248 - 248: Diary

    "This is a book? Is it some kind of history book or a magic book?" I asked as I took the book from the skeletal rat that brought it back.


    Only when I read it, I couldn''t help feeling a bit disappointed.


    It wasn''t a history book or a magic book like I hoped it would be¡­


    "Is this some kind of diary?"


    That was what I discovered when I read the first page.


    Just the fact that it was a diary made it seem unlikely that it would contain any useful information.


    Especially with the way that the first few pages were written.


    "Year 645, 12th Month, Day 11."


    "Breakfast was good this morning. It was eggs and bacon, just the way that I like it."


    The person that wrote this diary didn''t seem to care about recording important events. It seemed that the person that this diary belonged to was someone that just wrote this diary for the sake of writing something, so there weren''t any actual important entries that were in here.


    I really felt like stopping after reading a few pages since it was just the diary of a mundane person that didn''t seem to record anything important.


    But this was the only thing that the skeletal rats brought back that was of any interest and it wasn''t as if there was anything to do while waiting for them to come back.


    So in the end, I continued reading the diary.


    Both Wang Rong and Iris were also attracted by this thing and came to read it over my shoulders.


    But it seemed that both of them were disappointed as well by the content of the diary.


    That was until we reached a certain point in the diary where the tone of the diary completely shifted.


    It went from a casual recount of one''s daily life to a serious entry that involved¡­


    "Year 650, 2nd Month, Day 16."


    "The gates suddenly opened and out poured these strange invaders from another world. They didn''t hesitate to attack our people, sweeping across the lands and causing great destruction in our world. I had no choice but to join the army myself to fight back these invaders. I hope that I will be able to come back alive."


    After that shift in tone, the diary completely changed.


    It was a record of the owner''s time spent fighting against the invaders that poured out of the gate.


    It described how the owner suffered during the war and how many of his comrades he lost during the war.


    At the same time, it became a record of despair as the tone of the diary slowly shifted.


    With the way that the diary was written, it was clear that the civilization that the owner of the diary belonged to suffered in their war against the invaders. It was clear that they just weren''t able to fight back the invaders that came out of the gates and eventually fell to them.


    At the end of the diary, the owner even stated his regret over not being able to do anything to stop the invaders. sea??h th§× n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    At the end of the diary, the owner wrote¡­


    "If you are reading this diary of mine, I hope that you are living in a world where the invaders were driven out. I hope that you won''t have to suffer through the war like we did."


    It was a hopeful message, but it was clear that this was false hope.


    All three of us couldn''t help taking a deep breath after reading these final words.


    We looked at each other with strange looks, but none of us said anything.


    After all, what could we say after reading that depressing diary?


    It was hard for us to even process our thoughts after reading that.


    But it wasn''t as if being silent was the way to go.


    After a long silence, I finally broke it by saying, "It''s clear what happened here, right?"


    The other two nodded in agreement before Wang Rong asked, "But how are we reading this when the Abyss Demons are still fighting those sand people? This is clearly from a time that is beyond what the current situation is like."


    I shook my head before saying, "This is a dungeon, it doesn''t follow rules like this."


    Wang Rong had a confused look on his face, but Iris said, "This dungeon is a separated space created inside of the Abyss. It''s a space that has already been embedded into the Abyss completely."


    Wang Rong still had a confused look on his face at first, but then he slowly seemed to get what we were implying.


    Both Iris and I had already figured out what this place was based on the clues from the diary.


    But as for me, I had something else as well that helped me figure this out.


    I remembered what Sun Xiang told us about the Hidden Dungeons.


    We would know once we saw it for ourselves¡­that was what he said.


    And now that I''ve read this diary, I was slowly starting to understand what he meant by this.


    It took a while for Wang Rong to figure it out, but he eventually said, "Then you''re saying that this Hidden Dungeon is what remains of their world?"


    Both Iris and I slowly nodded in response to this.


    This Hidden Dungeon was most likely what remained of the world that the owner of this diary came from after it was invaded by the Abyss Demons. It was pulled into the Abyss and turned into this Hidden Dungeon where they seemed to be forced to live their lives as monsters in a dungeon.


    When this thought sunk in, it was quite the sobering one.


    After all, the same thing is happening to our world right now.


    If we were to lose to the invasion of the Abyss, did that mean that we would be pulled into the Abyss as a Hidden Dungeon.


    Would we also become helpless people living in a dungeon, waiting for others to kill us for experience?


    It really seemed like a bleak future¡­

 Chapter 249 - 249: Take a side?

    After a long moment of silence as this sunk in, Wang Rong was the one that broke the silence in the end.


    "Is there a point in thinking about this? Even if it''s possible, it isn''t as if it''s going to happen right away. Not to mention that there are all those powerful people back home, so it''s not as if the Abyss Demons will be able to invade that easily."


    He did what he could to raise everyone''s moods and in the end, it worked.


    After all, what he said was correct.


    It wasn''t as if just because this was a possibility meant that it would happen.


    Even if they had failed to stop the invasion of the Abyss Demons, that didn''t mean that we as humans would.


    And the best way to guarantee that was to find out as much as possible about this world that fell to the Abyss Demons. Only by learning as much as possible would we be able to know what to do to prevent the Abyss Demons from succeeding in their invasion. S~ea??h the N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Only with knowledge would we be able to do something against the Abyss Demons.


    "But what''s the move now?" I said with a sigh.


    This time, neither of them said a thing in response.


    That was because neither of them actually had anything that they could say in response.


    The two of them were just as clueless about this place as I was, so it wasn''t as if there was anything that they could actually say.


    I shook my head and gave another sigh when I saw this, but then I said, "For now, should we choose a side?"


    "Huh?" The two of them were both caught off guard by this before revealing confused looks. It was clear that they had no idea what I was talking about when I said this, but I didn''t blame them since I also didn''t have an idea either.


    This was just something that I had said, almost as if it was on a whim.


    Even if I said this, I didn''t really know what I meant by taking a side.


    After all, would it be possible to choose a side in this conflict?


    This was a dungeon and these sand people might be those that had lost to the invasion of the Abyss Demons, but they were now just part of the dungeon.


    It was unknown if they even had enough intelligence that we would be able to cooperate with them.


    And as for the Abyss Demon, it was impossible for us to actually cooperate with them.


    So it was only natural that they were confused by what I said.


    "I know what you''re thinking, but there''s nothing that we''ll gain from just sitting here doing nothing. At the same time, there might be a chance that they might have enough intelligence to actually talk to us. It''s at least worth giving it a try." I didn''t have any confidence on my face as I said this.


    After all, I knew that it was unlikely that this would be the case.


    The two of them naturally had their doubts as well, but it didn''t seem like they were going to say anything to reject what I said.


    It wasn''t that they thought that this would work, it was just that they couldn''t think of a better answer than this.


    So they followed me as I turned back around to look at the sand people.


    Even though it was clear that the Astral White Tiger wanted to push forward, we didn''t go any further as we watched the fight between the sand people and the Abyss Demon. With our position on this sand dune, we were able to see quite a few things.


    With this position, I was able to pick out the camp of the sand people.


    That should be the place where we would be able to find someone to talk to.


    Though it wasn''t as if we could just walk into the camp.


    Instead, we moved to another sand dune that was near the camp of the sand people and I turned to look at the Echo Bat.


    The Echo Bat gave a nod before opening its mouth.


    As soon as the Echo Bat did this, some of the sand people inside of the camp suddenly froze. With the way that they stood there, it was as if they had fallen under some kind of daze.


    Then they started walking out of the camp.


    The direction that they were heading in was the sand dune that we were currently standing on.


    Though these sand people walked out of the camp, it didn''t seem like any of the other sand people were planning on stopping them. It almost seemed like they were trapped in what they were doing with the way that they ignored them.


    After a few minutes, there was a group of sand people that were standing there in a daze in front of us.


    It didn''t seem like they had any awareness at all with the blank looks that were in their eyes. It really seemed like they had been put in some kind of trance with the way that they stood there.


    Though that was because they had been put in a trance.


    I turned to look at Wang Rong and Iris and the two of them nodded before moving away. They moved back enough that they were no longer in sight, but I knew that they were ready to make a move in case something happened.


    "I want to talk to you." I said as I had the Echo Bat release the hypnosis on the sand people.


    They slowly came back to their senses and as they did, they looked at me with a strange look.


    It was as if they were seeing me for the first time, though that was true to a certain extent since they had been mind controlled until now.


    "You''re a visitor from another world?" One of them suddenly asked.


    I gave a slow nod in response to this.


    "Hero from another world, please save us." That was what they all said before suddenly falling to their knees.

 Chapter 250 - 250: Quest with this setting?

    A look of confusion was on my face as I looked at the sand people that were on their knees in front of me.


    I just couldn''t understand what they were doing no matter how I looked at them.


    Them suddenly bowing down like this was certainly the last thing that I expected them to do.


    But that didn''t mean that I let my guard down just because they were acting this way.


    In fact, I raised my guard even more because this seemed like something that one would do to catch someone off guard. The more unexpected an action was, the easier it would be to catch them off guard.


    Only it didn''t seem like the sand people were planning anything with the way that they kept their heads on the ground.


    In the end, I had no choice but to ask, "What do you mean by this? How am I supposed to save you?"


    "Please put our king out of his misery and slay as many of the Abyss Demons as you can."


    This was once again the last thing that I expected to hear¡­or at least the first part was the unexpected part. The latter part was the part that I already expected since the Abyss Demons were the ones that were invading this world.


    It was only natural that they would want to take down the Abyss Demons and take out as many of them as possible.


    But what did their king have to do with this?


    After a moment of confused silence, I slowly asked, "What do you mean by putting your king out of his misery?"


    This time, it was the sand people''s turn to hesitate.


    It wasn''t because they didn''t want to tell me, it seemed that they were hesitating because it was difficult for them to say what they wanted to say. It seemed that they were very emotional about these things.


    Only I really couldn''t relate since I had no idea what they wanted to tell me in the first place.


    After another moment of silence, the same sand person said, "Our king has been corrupted by the powers of the Abyss. He was one the wise ruler of our civilization, but after being corrupted by the power of the Abyss¡­"


    It seemed that he found it hard to continue, so there was another sand person that continued for him, "After he was corrupted by the power of the Abyss, he became a tyrant that trusted no one. He locked himself away in his palace with his army and allowed our civilization to fall to ruin under the attack of the Abyss Demons."


    I couldn''t help slightly knitting my brows when I heard this.


    It was just that I found that there was something off about what these sand people said.


    After all, even if I were to take down the king of the sand people, would that actually help them?


    If one thought about it closely, taking down the main forces of the sand people would just result in them being destroyed by the Abyss Demons. It didn''t seem like this was the right thing to do, it even seemed like this was some kind of trap.


    But the way that they looked at me after saying this was as if they were filled with sincerity.


    The final straw that broke the camel''s back was when there was a notification that appeared in front of my face.


    I was completely caught off guard by this notification, but it seemed that this notification actually confirmed what these sand people were saying. At the same time, it seemed like this was the set quest for this dungeon.


    Without completing this set quest, it didn''t seem like we would be able to leave this Hidden Dungeon.


    So with no other choice, I chose to accept this quest.


    Though there was one question that was on my mind¡­


    "What is with the setting of this quest?"


    Even though I did say anything, as soon as I accepted the quest through the prompt that appeared in front of my face, the sand people reacted.


    They treated me with friendliness and courtesy, insisting that I come with them to their camp so that they could provide me with items that would help me on this quest.


    I didn''t really know what was happening, so I chose to follow them.


    But before following the sand people to their camp, I called out Iris and Wang Rong.


    The two of them didn''t hesitate as they came out since they had received the same notification as me. I could tell that they accepted the quest as well since there was a notification showing how many people accepted the quest, as well as how we were considered one party by the system.


    As such, there was no point in moving separately.


    Though if the sand people did try something, it would be easy for us to escape with the power that we had.


    I was curious just what kind of information they would have for us.


    When we arrived in the camp, the same thing happened where they all started paying their respects to us. It seemed that just by being different from them, by not being sand people, we received respect from them.


    But the way that the system of this Hidden Dungeon had made the setting of this place¡­


    "It''s the otherworld heroes!" S~ea??h the ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "They''re finally here!"


    "They are here to save us from the forces of darkness!"


    With the way that they all said this and looked at us with excited looks on their faces, it really made me think of something else.


    "Was this place designed after some kind of RPG game?"


    Wang Rong was the one that asked the question that was on all of our minds.


    The moment that we walked into the camp, we all had this same thought in our mind.


    This place really was similar to how a hero would enter the first town in any RPG game¡­

 Chapter 251 - 251: Beginner village

    Though it was a camp on the edge of the battlefield, it wasn''t just that alone.


    There were actually children and women that were here. There were even the elderly that were wandering around the camp.


    Rather than looking like a camp that was on the edge of a battlefield, it looked like some kind of village made of tents.


    In the distance, it even seemed like there were people running stalls and selling their wares.


    This really didn''t seem like a place that was right beside a battlefield.


    The sand people that led us into the village suddenly stopped once we were a bit into the village.


    The one that spoke for them suddenly turned around to look at me before saying, "Please help yourself to anything that you need from our village. We hope that it will aid you on your quest in putting our king out of his misery."


    They didn''t say anything else as they suddenly turned around and walked off.


    With the way that they walked off, it really seemed like they were nothing more than NPCs in a game. It seemed that once they fulfilled their roles, they no longer had to stay here.


    But that meant that we had no idea what to do.


    There were sand people that were staring at us, but it didn''t seem like any of them were going to approach us. With the way that they just stood there, it really seemed like all of them were nothing more than NPCs in this dungeon.


    It really was creepy the way that they just stared at us.


    In the end, I said with a sigh, "Let''s see what we can find out from this place."


    The other two nodded in agreement, but it didn''t seem that they were comfortable enough to split up to gather information. Both of them remained behind me as if they were prepared for any traps to suddenly appear.


    But nothing like that happened.


    The sand people just went about their lives while still staring at us from time to time.


    Seeing them go about their lives like this, it really felt surreal given the situation that they were currently in. But it just didn''t seem like any of them were bothered by where they were.


    After a while, I went over to a few of the sand people and asked them a few things.


    Only no matter what I asked them, it seemed like there were only a few things that they were capable of saying. It didn''t seem like they were capable of saying anything other than these few things.


    Normally in games, NPCs would be a source of lore.


    It was just that this wasn''t the case in this village.


    The only thing that they could say to us was them welcoming us to the village, asking us if there was any way that we could help them, and to tell us to save their world.


    It was just like the NPCs that one would encounter in any beginner village in a RPG game¡­


    Eventually, I got tired of talking to the NPCs since there was nothing that we could gain from them. It seemed that no matter how I tried, there was no secret hidden dialogue option.


    Regardless of who we talked to, it seemed that all of them were saying the same thing.


    In that case, the only thing that was left to do was try to get some items from them.


    I didn''t know what kind of items they had, but it was better to have them than to not have them in this case.


    The problem was¡­


    "It''s just five hundred gold."


    The merchant said after I pointed and asked for one of his daggers.


    A bitter smile appeared on my face when I heard this.


    I knew that it would cost money to buy something from him, but I had been hoping that it would be some kind of other form of currency. Or at the very least, he would give us a few things since they had said that they would help us however they could.


    But in the end, it seemed that this place followed a strict system and the system that it followed really was just like how a RPG game would play out.


    In the end, I wasn''t able to get anything from the merchants since I didn''t have any money, but I could guess where I would get that money.


    Other than helping their king pass on, they had also asked me to take care of as many Abyss Demons as possible. In that case, the Abyss Demons should be the mobs in this RPG game, the ones that would give experience and money if they were defeated.


    Though I was also curious if the Abyss Demons would give anything else.


    There was one more place that I was interested in visiting while we were still in the camp of the sand people.


    It was the place that the skeletal rat had found the diary.


    It was one of the tents that was in the housing district of this camp.


    And when we arrived¡­ Sear?h the N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "What can I do for you?" The sand person that I approached asked in the same way that all of the other sand people reacted.


    I just looked at him without saying anything before raising the diary that the skeletal rat brought.


    All during this, I looked at him as I waited for a reaction from him.


    But even though he was looking at his own diary, it didn''t seem like the sand person reacted at all.


    When I looked past his shoulder, I could even see that there was another book that was in the exact same place that the skeletal rat found this diary. At the same time, it looked exactly the same as the diary that I was currently holding.


    Seeing all of this, I couldn''t help feeling disappointed.


    After a moment of silence, I just shook my head and said, "It''s nothing."


    The sand person didn''t even flinch as he gave a nod and returned to what he was doing.

 Chapter 252 - 252: Rampaging in the sand

    "Is that what will happen to us if the Abyss invades Earth?" Wang Rong couldn''t help asking as we walked away from that sand person.


    Iris immediately narrowed her eyes to look at Wang Rong, but he didn''t flinch as he looked at me.


    I didn''t say anything at first, but eventually I said, "We''re not going to let that happen."


    Both Iris and Wang Rong revealed determined looks before nodding in agreement.


    After exiting the camp, it didn''t take us long to arrive at where the sand people were currently fighting the Abyss Demons.


    The camp itself wasn''t that far from the battlefield, which was why it was strange that a camp like that even existed in the first place. But even if we questioned the existence of the camp, it wasn''t as if that would solve anything.


    We couldn''t even understand the meaning of this Hidden Dungeon, even if we had found some clues.


    We just stood on the sand dune, looking down at the sand people and Abyss Demons fighting in the desert in front of us.


    I was about to step forward, but both Wang Rong and Iris stopped me before I could head towards the Abyss Demons. The two of them stood in front of me to stop me from approaching them, but it wasn''t that they were protecting me or the Abyss Demons.


    "You had your turn last time, it''s our turn now." Wang Rong said with a smile.


    Iris didn''t say anything, but she did nod in agreement to this.


    I didn''t say anything either, but there was a trace of a bitter smile that appeared on my face.


    However, I also didn''t refute what they said since it was the truth.


    I had taken that group of Abyss Demons before entering this Hidden Dungeon because I wanted to test my abilities, but now it was indeed their turn to fight the Abyss Demons.


    So I just stood back and let the two of them do what they wanted to do.


    Of course, I also summoned a skeletal wolf for Iris as her transport.


    The two of them didn''t go together, but rather they split up so that they attacked the Abyss Demons from other sides. It seemed that they were planning on fighting separately so that they didn''t get in each other''s ways.


    But I knew that they were doing this so that they could get the Abyss Demons all for themselves.


    It didn''t take long before Wang Rong''s great sword was cutting through the Abyss Demons and Iris was shooting her lightning bolts at them.


    It really didn''t seem like they were struggling, it even seemed too easy for them. It even seemed like the Abyss Demons that were here were easier than the ones that were outside the Hidden Dungeon.


    That was because they didn''t have the same intelligence as the ones outside of the Hidden Dungeon. The Abyss Demons that were in this place almost seemed like puppets with the way that they moved.


    It made sense since these were just mob monsters that were created by the Hidden Dungeon.


    They didn''t cooperate like the Abyss Demons outside would, so it was easy for Wang Rong and Iris to split them up and pick them off.


    I was quite bored watching them and wanted to join in myself, but I held back in the end.


    But then as I was watching, there was something that suddenly popped up in front of my face that completely caught me off guard.


    It was a minimap.


    However, it wasn''t just the minimap alone that caught me off guard, but also the things that were on the minimaps.


    It was a bunch of green and red dots that were there.


    Looking carefully at the green and red dots that were on the minimap, I was able to figure out just what these things represented.


    Naturally there were two green dots that represented Iris and Wang Rong, but I was surprised to find that there were also green dots that represented the sand people that were there in front of me.


    It seemed that whatever system this was, it also recognized the sand people as allies.


    I couldn''t help wondering just where this minimap came from, but I was pulled out of my thoughts when I saw one of the green dots disappear.


    Looking down, I found that it was because one of the sand people had been taken down by the Abyss Demons that surrounded them.


    Even if Iris and Wang Rong were rampaging among the Abyss Demons, that didn''t mean that they had enough power alone to actually stop all of the Abyss Demons. There were just too many Abyss Demons in the first place since this was a large battlefield.


    However, I did just obtain an ability that would allow me to manipulate the battlefield on a large scale basis and I was technically helping our allies by doing this.


    It wasn''t as if I was directly taking part in the battle¡­


    That was the loophole that I used to start fighting the Abyss Demons as well.


    Though I mainly just used illusions to stop the Abyss Demons that were about to hurt the sand people. With the illusions stopping the Abyss Demons, the sand people were able to easily take down the Abyss Demons, though they did seem confused about what happened. S~ea??h the n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    All during this, I made sure to send the skeletal rats to pick up the loot from the Abyss Demons that they killed.


    Just like this, the three of us continued to slaughter the Abyss Demons as the sun continued to set.


    It was only when it became dark that we finally stopped with satisfied looks on our faces.


    Part of killing the Abyss Demons was because of the quest that we received.


    But the bigger part of it was that we had been venting the emotions that we felt.


    The revelation of what this Hidden Dungeon was and what it could mean for our world was quite big¡­


    It wasn''t good to keep those feelings trapped inside.

 Chapter 253 - 253: Completion percentage

    When it was all over, the number of Abyss Demons had been greatly decreased.


    There were still more Abyss Demons in the distance and it seemed like there were more that were appearing out of thin air, but it was far less than what had been here this afternoon.


    At the same time, there were far more sand people that were here since they had also been spawning.


    Seeing them spawn like this, it really sunk in that this was nothing more than a virtual field of the final battle between the sand people of this world and the Abyss Demon when they had been invaded.


    This was nothing more than a game at this point¡­


    It was also the reason why the village was able to exist.


    There were boundaries in a dungeon and since the battle was restricted to this battlefield, it meant that the Abyss Demons would never reach that village. It meant that they really were the safest as long as they remained in the village.


    Though it did seem like things could change in this dungeon.


    After all, there were far more sand people than there were Abyss Demons on the battlefield now.


    With the advantage in numbers that they had, the sand people were able to surround the Abyss Demons and push them back even more. It seemed like the sand people clearly had the upper hand in this battle with the numbers advantage that they had.


    If we continued helping, it seemed like it was only a matter of time before the sand people would be able to completely push back the Abyss Demons.


    Though in this dungeon that had infinitely spawning NPCs, it wasn''t as if this situation would continue forever.


    At the same time, there was nothing to gain from us continuously killing the Abyss Demons.


    We got the loot that we wanted and we had vented our emotions, so that was enough for now.


    What was more important was figuring a way out of this Hidden Dungeon.


    And we already knew what that way was since it was already offered to us when we entered this dungeon. It was the quest that had appeared after we encountered the sand people.


    As such, we should continue deeper into this dungeon to see what else was in this Hidden Dungeon.


    But we were surprised when we came back to the sand people village.


    That was because it had changed from the last time that we had been here. S§×ar?h the nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "It''s bigger, isn''t it?" I asked the two following me.


    Both of them gave sounds of agreement in response.


    The village of tents had clearly gotten much bigger and there seemed to be far more sand people that were wandering around now. At the same time, it wasn''t just women, the elderly, and children that were wandering around the camp now.


    There were far more male adult sand people that were wandering around in the camp.


    It was clear that something had changed during the time that we had been gone.


    When we asked around, we quickly figured out what it was.


    "Because of the changing situation on the battlefield, we were able to return. The tide is completely in our favour now, it''s only a matter of time before the Abyss Demons are completely pushed back."


    "I''m just glad that you''re back, I was so worried about you¡­"


    "Dad, you have to keep your promise. You told me that you would play sandball with me tomorrow."


    The sounds from the happy families came after I asked them what was happening.


    It seemed that we did have an effect on this Hidden Dungeon with what we did on the battlefield. It seemed that this was part of the scenario as there was a notification that appeared.


    Completion percentage: 5%.


    While we weren''t certain what this meant exactly, we did have a clue.


    The quest that we had been given was to put the king of the sand people out of his misery, but there was a second part to that quest. It was to help the sand people kill as many Abyss Demons as we could.


    It seemed that this quest wasn''t just the way to leave this Hidden Dungeon, but also seemed to have an effect on the entire Hidden Dungeon.


    Though we didn''t really believe that doing this would have a permanent effect on the Hidden Dungeon.


    At the very least it seemed like we were able to change the dungeon in some way while also completing our quest.


    So I had a thought¡­


    But before I could say this thought out loud, Wang Rong was the one that said, "What if we kill more of the Abyss Demons?"


    He said what I had been thinking before I could say it.


    I looked at Iris after Wang Rong said this and she nodded in agreement to this.


    So we turned around and headed back to the battlefield.


    I wanted to see if it was possible to completely save the sand people. If there was, then it might provide a clue as to how we could save our own world from the invasion of the Abyss.


    Since we were determined, we didn''t hold back anything.


    I had the Echo Bat controlling the Abyss Demons to fight each other while Wang Rong and Iris wreaked havoc on the lines of the Abyss Demons while having the ones that I controlled cover them.


    Along with the illusion ability that I had, it was easy for us to wipe out the Abyss Demons.


    But the real reason was because there were the sand people there holding back most of the Abyss Demons.


    We certainly wouldn''t have been able to slaughter the Abyss Demons all on our own.


    We just continued slaughtering the Abyss Demons into the night without a single moment of rest and when the sun finally came up, it seemed like the Abyss Demons were done.


    The Abyss Demons had been almost completely wiped out, but there were still some that were spawning and it didn''t seem like it would stop.


    This was just how the dungeon was set up.


    But at least the sand people that spawned were enough to take care of the Abyss Demons that spawned before they could do anything. It was fine to leave the rest to them.


    Only when we came back, we were disappointed¡­

 Chapter 254 - 254: More battlefields

    The sand people village that we visited previously had completely changed.


    It reached the point where they were no longer just setting up tents, they had already started building houses out of wood and stone. It seemed like they had decided to settle in this place.


    At the same time, the population that wandered the streets had almost doubled compared to before.


    There were far more male adult sand people that were walking through these streets.


    It was clear that this was the sign of soldiers coming back from war.


    But even with all of this, we were disappointed to see that the completion percentage had only jumped up to 10%.


    It had gone from 5% to 10%...


    Before this, we had only wiped out a tenth of the Abyss Demons to turn the tides slightly. But this time, we had completely wiped out the rest of the Abyss Demons that were on the battlefield.


    A tenth for 5% and then all of them only for 10%...


    It really didn''t seem to add up¡­


    That was until I figured out what it was.


    After a certain point, it didn''t really matter if we continued to kill the Abyss Demons or not. Even if we didn''t keep killing the Abyss Demons, the scales had been tipped to the point where the sand people would have won regardless.


    Once that point was reached, it was only natural that there wasn''t any more completion percentage that would be added.


    It already reached a point where the conclusion was certain and our actions didn''t influence it anymore.


    Since we had no effect on it, it only made sense that there wouldn''t be more completion score provided to us.


    But even after figuring that out, I was disappointed with this village.


    I thought that after we saved the fate of this village, there would be some kind of reward given to us. It turned out that there was no such reward at all.


    There was no answer to the question that was on our mind, there were no allies that we could recruit to fight in the dungeon with, the only thing that had changed was the items that were for sale.


    The items that had been on sale in the market were still there, but there were better items that were there with them. It seemed that as the village grew bigger, the prosperity of the village increased as well which resulted in these better items.


    Though the price was there.


    Even though we had slaughtered all of those Abyss Demons and I had been picking up the gold coins with the skeletal rats, it just wasn''t enough to buy anything good here. The items that had appeared as the prosperity of the village increased were much more expensive than the items from before.


    The gold coins that we had were far from being enough to pay for it.


    So there was nothing that we could do.


    In the end, we left the village with disappointed feelings as we headed deeper into the Hidden Dungeon.


    This was what we had been planning to do the whole time before we had gotten caught up in the whole completion progress situation.


    I once again let the Astral White Tiger lead the way.


    The Astral White Tiger had been waiting the entire time for me to let it lead again, so it was actually quite anxious at this point. It seemed like it wanted to get to where it was going as soon as possible.


    As if it was afraid that something else would take what it wanted to get.


    But in the end, all that happened was that we arrived at another battlefield.


    This was something that was already expected since we knew what kind of place this Hidden Dungeon was.


    At the same time, it didn''t take long for us to find another village that was near this battlefield. Though it wasn''t really a village this time since it was much bigger than a village.


    It was even bigger than the village was after we had defeated the Abyss Demons.


    It was better to call this place a town rather than a village.


    As for the battlefield, it also involved far more of the sand people and the Abyss Demons.


    Only we didn''t stay.


    This time, I had the Astral White Tiger continue leading the way deeper into this Hidden Dungeon. Sear?h the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    After the experience from before, I knew that there was nothing to gain from fighting the Abyss Demons. What was important now was finding out more information about this Hidden Dungeon.


    There was far more to this Hidden Dungeon than met the eye, so that was the number one thing to do.


    But¡­


    "It''s another battlefield." I said while shaking my head as I watched the scene in front of us.


    Once again, there was another battlefield that was much bigger than the one that we saw previously.


    I looked at the Astral White Tiger and asked, "Do you really know where you''re going?"


    With the way that the Astral White Tiger led us, it was hard to believe that it really knew where it was going.


    It did lead us to places where action was happening, but it didn''t seem to lead us to any meaningful places.


    But the Astral White Tiger didn''t seem dismayed as it pointed forward as if it was gesturing for us to keep going. It seemed like it didn''t lose its excitement as it continued pointing forward.


    So in the end, I had no choice but to keep following its instructions.


    We didn''t know anything about this Hidden Dungeon and it seemed at least there was something here that had the Astral White Tiger''s attention.


    In that case, we should at least see what it was.


    In the end, I couldn''t help being disappointed by the directions of the Astral White Tiger.


    It led us to two more battlefields for five of them in total, each one growing in size until the last one was just too big for us to go around.


    We had to take a full detour to go around it.

 Chapter 255 - 255: Oasis

    At this point, I really was losing my patience with the Astral White Tiger.


    It really didn''t seem like the Astral White Tiger knew what it was doing, but it was still excitedly pointing forward as if it wanted to lead the way.


    I really wanted to toss the Astral White Tiger out with the way that it was acting¡­


    But since it was my familiar, it wasn''t as if I could do that.


    And in the end, Wang Rong and Iris convinced me to keep following it.


    They said that since we had already come this far, it would be a waste to turn back now.


    At the same time, it wasn''t as if there was anything to lose from following the Astral White Tiger''s directions a bit longer. S§×arch* The ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    But I could tell from the look in their eyes that they were also starting to lose faith.


    It didn''t seem like they believed that the Astral White Tiger would be able to find anything meaningful.


    Though I really couldn''t blame them.


    After making that detour past that last battlefield, it seemed like the desert was finally changing. It seemed like there was finally some greenery in the area around us, which showed that there was more life here.


    Was it because there was no fight between the Abyss Demons and the sand people here, or was it because of something else?


    With the way that things looked, it really felt like it was pointing to something else.


    After all, we could tell that the concentration of mana in the air was becoming much greater than before. It seemed like there was something here that was filling the air with mana.


    This kind of concentrated mana wasn''t something that could be achieved that easily.


    Eventually, we arrived at the source of this mana.


    It was an oasis that was in the middle of this desert.


    This almost seemed out of place with all of the things that we''ve seen so far in this Hidden Dungeon. It seemed like a little piece of hidden paradise with the way that it was completely untouched.


    "A mirage?" I couldn''t help saying under my breath before rubbing my eyes to make sure that this oasis was actually there.


    But it was impossible to fake the mana that was in the air.


    And the source of that mana was the water that was in the oasis. It seemed like the water itself was releasing the mana, but one could easily tell that it was something under the water that was doing it.


    It was as if there was some kind of flow of mana that was being pushed into the bottom of this pool of water.


    This place seemed like it was the perfect place to live, but that meant that it also seemed like it was impossible for the sand people and Abyss Demons to ignore this place. There was no doubt that they knew about this place, so why wasn''t there a single sand person or an Abyss Demon that was here?


    It was just too calm in this place that it seemed like some kind of trap.


    We didn''t let our guard down as we stepped closer towards the oasis to take a look.


    As we came closer, I couldn''t help thinking about something else.


    It was the name of the dungeon.


    Desert Tyrant''s Oasis.


    That was the name of the dungeon, so it had to have some kind of significance. However, until now, we just didn''t see an oasis at all.


    "Could it be that this is the place where the boss is hiding?"


    When I made this connection, it was already too late.


    There was something that suddenly appeared in front of us.


    It was a sand person, but it seemed different from the other sand people that we had seen before. It was hard to tell what was different about this sand person at first, but then we realized that there was something off about this sand person.


    It seemed that there was something that was inside of this sand person that seemed to be different.


    At the same time, there was this aura around it that was different from all the sand people that we had met before.


    It was as if there was this kind of sinister feeling to this sand person.


    It wasn''t exactly dangerous, it was just that it seemed dark.


    It was hard to describe exactly what it was, but it definitely wasn''t a good feeling.


    "What are you doing in the private garden of the lord? Are you here to steal from the lord?" The sand person said this before any of us could say anything.


    There was a clear hostile tone to the voice of the sand person that was hard to miss, so it wasn''t hard to guess why it had suddenly appeared like this.


    But the words that it said did confirm what I thought.


    There was a reason why this dungeon was called the Desert Tyrant''s Oasis in the first place. This all lined up with the information that the sand people had given us before, as well as the quest that we had been given.


    We had been asked to take down their king who had been corrupted and to put him out of his misery.


    However, it wasn''t as if a single corrupted king would be able to push back all of the Abyss Demons. It wasn''t as if just a single corrupted king would be enough to protect his territory from the invaders.


    So there had to be other corrupted sand people as well.


    That was the one that was standing in front of us.


    This sand person most likely followed the corrupted king and received some kind of power from it since the aura that it had was much greater than that of the other sand people.


    It was clear that this corrupted sand person held great power.


    Only we didn''t panic in the face of this power.


    Rather, we were even looking forward to facing it.

 Chapter 256 - 256: Corrupted sand person (1)

    When the corrupted sand person saw that we didn''t respond and even seemed like we were preparing for a fight, it didn''t waste any time.


    In the first place, it had already been looking at us with a hostile look and spoke to us in a hostile tone.


    It was impossible for the corrupted sand person to hide the aggression that they had towards us.


    But then again, it really wouldn''t have mattered either since we had unlocked the minimap function.


    It really was hard to miss the large red dot that was on our minimap right where the corrupted sand person was standing.


    Once the corrupted sand person made its move, we didn''t hold back either.


    But the corrupted sand person was still charging forward while we moved to the side. With the way that it was charging forward, it was going right where we had been standing previously.


    It was as if it didn''t see us spread out at all.


    And that was because it really didn''t see us spread out.


    There were illusions that stopped it from seeing us.


    In the eyes of the corrupted sand person, it was still seeing the three figures standing there looking at it.


    Only when the corrupted sand person came close did it have a different reaction.


    The corrupted sand person suddenly brought its arms up and lifted the sand off the ground, forming a shield in front of it as if it was blocking some kind of attack. It was just that this was an attack that only the corrupted sand person could see since it was an illusion.


    After creating that sand shield, it also created several spikes of sand that it thrust into the ground before coming up where we had been standing previously.


    The way that the corrupted sand person was fighting, it was putting on a one person show. S§×arch* The n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    After all, there wasn''t a single enemy that it was actually fighting.


    It was only fighting what it thought it was seeing.


    During this time, we didn''t actually make a move against the corrupted sand person. Rather, we had spread out and we were just standing there watching as the corrupted sand person released its attacks.


    We were carefully watching as the corrupted sand person released these attacks, paying attention to what it could do and the power that these attacks had.


    "It has the same level of power as one of the high rank Abyss Demons, doesn''t it?" I said to Iris and Wang Rong.


    Both of them nodded in agreement without saying anything since they couldn''t let their voices be carried on the wind like mine. Only I could do this because I had the power of the Astral White Tiger.


    Even though this corrupted sand person had the same level of power as one the high rank Abyss Demons, that didn''t mean that we were worried.


    After all, we already possessed enough power to take down one or two of the high rank Abyss Demons in the first place. That was before we had killed Jin Long''s group and gained these new skills.


    With these new skills, it was only natural that we would be even more confident in fighting the corrupted sand person.


    After seeing it fight for a bit and seeing that it didn''t have anything else to show, I gave the signal to Wang Rong.


    Wang Rong gave a nod before charging at the corrupted sand person without a single bit of hesitation.


    The corrupted sand person didn''t notice this until it was too late since it had still been fighting against the illusions that I had been showing it.


    When it finally noticed Wang Rong, it was already too late for the corrupted sand person to actually put up defenses against him.


    Wang Rong''s great sword was already falling down on the corrupted sand person.


    But it didn''t cut through the corrupted sand person in the end.


    Instead, the corrupted sand person channeled the sand of its body into its arms and that caused the arms to swell. It didn''t take long before they became large club like things that it held up to block the great sword.


    Wang Rong used as much power as he could, as well as increasing his weight as much as he could just to make his strike heavier. But in the end, the sword wasn''t able to cut through those club like arms of the corrupted sand person.


    "Seriously?" Wang Rong couldn''t help complaining when he saw this, but he didn''t complain for long.


    After all, the corrupted sand person lifted up its arms and seemed like it wanted to lift Wang Rong off the ground. At the same time, the sand that was under the feet of the corrupted sand person was also moving.


    It was as if it was churning, as if something was about to come out.


    Wang Rong didn''t hesitate to jump back while using all his strength to pull out the great sword, but it didn''t seem like he was able to pull it out of the arms of the corrupted sand person.


    With the way that it was embedded in the arms, it really seemed like it was completely stuck.


    And when Wang Rong looked closely, he could even see that there was this strange black sand that was in the center of the corrupted sand person''s arms.


    "Move!"


    Wang Rong didn''t hesitate to move his body to the side when he heard this and there was a bolt of lightning that went past him.


    That bolt of lightning hit the corrupted sand person in the arm and chest, breaking the great sword free.


    With the heat of the lightning bolt, it actually turned the sand of the corrupted sand person into glass shards. This weakened the arms of the corrupted sand person enough that Wang Rong was able to pull his great sword out.


    But at the same time, it revealed something inside of the corrupted sand person.


    It was this strange black sand that made up the core of the corrupted sand person.

 Chapter 257 - 257: Corrupted sand person (2)

    This was sand that was completely different from any other sand that we''ve seen in this dungeon.


    It was as if there was this kind of dark and demonic energy that was embedded into each grain of sand, which was what gave it this kind of dark colour.


    But at the same time, with the way that it clumped together, it really seemed like that dark energy was condensing the sand that it filled.


    This dark energy was most likely the energy that had corrupted the king of the sand people, as well as the sand people that followed the corrupted king.


    Only what was this dark energy?


    I couldn''t help being very curious about this dark energy since it seemed like it wasn''t something that was natural. It seemed like it was something that had been forced into this corrupted sand person.


    While I didn''t know if this dark energy was natural or not, it was a fact that it was creating these corrupted sand people.


    Once Wang Rong landed, he didn''t hesitate to grab a few rocks that were around us and threw them at the corrupted sand person.


    The corrupted sand person still couldn''t move properly because of the bolt of lightning that hit it. It seemed like it was being stopped by the glass shards that had been formed by the heat of the lightning.


    The corrupted sand person was made entirely of sand, so those glass shards actually stopped the flow of the sand that made up its body. That was why it wasn''t able to move out of the way in time.


    Only it didn''t seem like the rocks had any effect on the corrupted sand person.


    Rather, it seemed like the rocks actually helped the corrupted sand person.


    That was because the moment that the rocks smashed into the corrupted sand person, it actually went right through it. At the same time, the rocks smashed the pieces of glass that seemed to be impeding the corrupted sand person.


    So in a sense, what Wang Rong did actually helped the corrupted sand person.


    A bitter smile appeared on Wang Rong''s face after seeing this before he turned back to say, "Oops."


    I glared at him, but I didn''t say anything. Sear?h the n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Instead, I took out a trident for him and tossed it over for him to use.


    Wang Rong was surprised to see this, but he also immediately figured out why I tossed him at the trident. At the same time, his eyes immediately lit up and he revealed a wide smile as he charged at the corrupted sand person with that trident in hand.


    While he was running, there was water that started forming around the trident in his hand.


    That water gathered until it was a stream of water that he shot out at the corrupted sand person.


    The appearance of this stream of water was the last thing that the corrupted sand person expected, so it wasn''t able to react in time to this. At the same time, even if it had been able to react, it wasn''t as if there was much that the corrupted sand person could have done against this stream of water.


    It was one of the few weaknesses that the corrupted sand person had.


    There was just too much water for the sand to actually do anything against, so the only thing that the corrupted sand person could do was create a wall of sand for protection.


    That wall of sand was only able to hold back the jet of water for a few seconds before it was blown away by the force behind the jet of water.


    Only the corrupted sand person wasn''t behind that sand wall.


    Rather, that corrupted sand person completely disappeared without a trace.


    It seemed that they had disappeared into thin air.


    That was until there was a hand that came out of the ground.


    We were standing in the middle of the desert, so it was only natural that we were surrounded by sand. It was just that we never would have imagined that the corrupted sand person would be able to blend into this sand.


    That hand came up and seemed to be grabbing at Wang Rong''s hand.


    The corrupted sand person recognized the danger that Wang Rong posed with the trident, so it was trying to get that trident away from Wang Rong.


    Wang Rong had been completely caught off guard, so he wasn''t able to gather enough water to stop the corrupted sand person.


    Only before the hand could reach.


    "Out of the way!"


    Wang Rong understood and just created a small layer of water in front of him with the trident.


    The hand of sand didn''t stop as it went right through the layer of water. The thin layer of water wasn''t nearly enough to wash away all of the sand that made up this hand, so it was able to go right through and head towards Wang Rong.


    But there was a streak of lightning that cut through the air.


    This streak of lightning hit the water and immediately started to boil it.


    That heat was passed on to the sand that was in the water and it took no time at all for that sand to turn to glass. Though the glass didn''t seem as pure as before as the water took some of the heat from the lightning.


    After that part of the hand turned to glass, the front half of the hand fell to the ground with a thin plate of glass.


    The rest of the hand tried to go back down, but it was surprised to find that there was a cage of wind that appeared around it. This cage of wind blew away all of the sand that was around the corrupted sand person, exposing it from under the ground.


    "Boss, couldn''t you be more¡­pe, pe¡­gentle?" Wang Rong shouted while spitting out sand.


    Only I didn''t care about his complaints as I just said, "Trap it with water now!"


    Wang Rong already knew this as he had gathered his mana inside of the trident when he recovered from being blasted in the face with sand.


    That was soon followed by another bolt of lightning.

 Chapter 258 - 258: Cactus fruits (1)

    The corrupted sand person did what it could to try and break free of the elemental cages that appeared around it.


    It was just that there was too much water and wind that it wasn''t actually able to do anything.


    Whenever the corrupted sand person tried anything, all that happened was that the water and wind would trap the sand that it tried to raise. All that happened was that the sand that it created would be pulled from its control.


    So all that the corrupted sand person could do in the end was watch as parts of it were turned to glass.


    It wasn''t just the lightning bolts that turned the sand to glass, there were also these flames that appeared.


    These flames when powered up by the wind, the heat was just too much for the sand person to resist. With these flames and lightning bolts, more and more of its body turned to glass until it finally couldn''t hold on any longer.


    We had already seen the way that the sand people could die when we watched them fight the Abyss Demons earlier.


    The sand people had bodies that were completely made of sand and had the ability to regenerate as long as they could continue to absorb sand.


    While it sounded like there was no way that the sand people would be able to die, while it sounded like they would be able to keep healing themselves as long as they were able to absorb the sand, that wasn''t the case.


    There was a limit to how much they could regenerate from absorbing the sand.


    It was just like the human body''s limit to how many times a human''s cells could divide, but it was dependent on something else. It wasn''t that they had cells in the first place that had limited lifespans.


    It was that there was a limit to their vitality.


    Once they ran out of this life energy, they wouldn''t be able to bind the sand to their core any longer.


    So as long as enough of the sand from their bodies were taken away, they would eventually die.


    That was also the case for this corrupted sand person, though it was harder to take away the core of his sand. After all, the core part of the corrupted sand person was hardened with that strange dark energy that made it harder.


    But in the end, sand was just sand.


    Even if it was strengthened by the strange dark energy, that didn''t make it strong enough to resist the lightning and flames.


    So in the end, it was turned to glass just like the rest of the sand.


    The last thing that the corrupted sand person did before it completely fell apart was¡­


    "My king, I''m sorry. I''ve let you down."


    It was a voice that was completely filled with regret as it said this.


    Once the corrupted sand person fell apart, there was nothing else that came from the place where it fell. There was some black sand that was still there, but it didn''t seem to move at all.


    We didn''t let our guards down against this and released even more flames and bolts of lightning against it. But there was no reaction at all from the black sand as it was being turned into black glass.


    It seemed that even when it was turned to glass, the dark energy didn''t dissipate.


    But at the very least, this went to show that this corrupted sand person was completely taken care of.


    I looked at it with a hesitant look for a bit before turning to look at Wang Rong and Iris.


    Only the moment that I turned to look at them, I found that the two of them were already looking somewhere else.


    Once the two of them had been certain that the corrupted sand person had been taken care of, the two of them started exploring around this oasis.


    It seemed that they knew what I wanted to do, so they were giving me the space to do so.


    Shaking my head with a faint smile, I walked over to the black glass and called out the Scavenger Rabbit to let it do its thing.


    While it was digging into the black glass that remained of the corrupted sand person, I also started looking around the oasis. Though I wasn''t able to walk around the oasis like the other two, so I was limited by what I could see.


    The one thing that attracted my attention was the pool of water that was in the center of the oasis.


    This was the place that the flow of mana was coming from.


    I was curious just what this flow of mana was and why there was all this mana coming from the pool.


    But after the Scavenger Rabbit finished digging through the black glass, I didn''t even have time to take a close look at the items that it handed me. Instead, my attention was pulled to something else by Wang Rong.


    "Boss, come and take a look at this!"


    As soon as he said this, I went over to see what it was.


    I saw that Iris was also coming over with a curious look, so the two of us went over together.


    We didn''t really know what to expect at first since there wasn''t anything that was off with the area that seemed like it was special. Only when we came closer, we suddenly came to a stop as we felt something.


    It was this faint feeling at first, but it became stronger when we came closer. S~ea??h the n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    It was this strong feeling of mana in the air, as if there was something that was releasing it.


    However, it wasn''t the pool that was in the center of the oasis that was releasing this mana.


    It was something that was completely different.


    Seeing us look at him, Wang Rong just raised a hand and pointed in a certain direction.


    When we followed the way that he was pointing, we saw that there was a bunch of cacti growing there.

 Chapter 259 - 259: Cactus fruits (2)

    These cacti didn''t seem like they were any different from the cacti that grew outside the dungeon.


    In fact, the cacti that were growing at this oasis even seemed smaller than normal cacti outside of the dungeon.


    But there was something on the cacti that was different from any cacti in the outside world.


    It was this large fruit that was bigger than any cactus fruit that we knew about.


    Though in the first place, it wasn''t as if we were an expert on cactus fruits to begin with. There might be a bigger cactus fruit out there somewhere, but it wasn''t as if we were the expert on this matter to begin with, so it wasn''t as if we could make a judgement.


    Still, this cactus fruit seemed bigger than anything that we''ve heard of before.


    It was so big that the actual part of the cactus that it was growing from was actually smaller than the fruit itself.


    That was just how much nutrients had been gathered in the cactus fruit.


    Though we knew that it wasn''t just nutrients that filled this cactus fruit. It was something more than just the nutrients that were filling this cactus fruit.


    What was inside of this cactus fruit was actually what was causing the mana fluctuations that were in the air.


    This cactus fruit was filled to the brim with mana. It was filled to the point where the cactus fruit would seem like it would burst with a single touch.


    When we felt the mana fluctuations that were coming from this thing, there was already no doubt in our mind that this was some kind of special item that was specific to this dungeon.


    Even without seeing it, we were already expectant about what kind of effects it had.


    And it only made sense since there was a reason why the corrupted king of the sand people would take this oasis for himself. There was a reason why this dungeon should have been known as the Desert Tyrant''s Oasis.


    In the end, Iris and Wang Rong just stood back as they allowed me to move closer to the cactus fruit all on my own.


    When I came closer, I was able to see the description of the cactus fruit.


    It seemed that this was a target for whatever appraisal skill I had.


    Cactus Fruit Bursting With Mana.


    That was the official name that my appraisal skill gave it.


    It was quite the literal name, but it was the perfect name for it since that was exactly what it was. This was a cactus fruit that had been grown absorbing all of the mana that came from the oasis, which was why it was bursting with mana.


    It was a cactus fruit that became the perfect elixir, which was why it was something that the corrupted king of the sand people would want to farm and keep close. To the point that he would even assign one of his powerful subordinates to this place.


    But since it was an item in the dungeon, then that meant that it was possible for us to pick it and take it with us.


    That was what I was about to do when I suddenly thought of something.


    Since it''s an item that''s from the dungeon, then does that mean that if the Scavenger Rabbit were to pick it, there would be a special effect added to it?


    The more that I thought about this, the more likely that it seemed.


    I really wanted to test it out, but¡­


    "Go and do what you want." Wang Rong suddenly said before turning around to leave with Iris.


    The two of them had been with me long enough that they were able to see through my thoughts with a single glance it seemed. S~ea??h the N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    A faint smile appeared on my lips when I saw them acting this way, but I didn''t say anything else as I summoned out the Scavenger Rabbit.


    For the first time, it wasn''t as gruesome when the Scavenger Rabbit picked something.


    The Scavenger Rabbit''s eyes were lit up when it saw the cactus fruits, so I could expect something good.


    It was just that I certainly didn''t expect what the Scavenger Rabbit prepared for me. This thing was just too high level to be described as good alone.


    Perfected Cactus Fruit Filled With Mana.


    That was what the Scavenger Rabbit held out to me after picking the fruit.


    However, the other thing that happened was that the fruit tripled itself when the Scavenger Rabbit picked it. It seemed like the golden paws of the Scavenger Rabbit really were something else that it was able to make something out of thin air.


    The previous Cactus Fruit Bursting With Mana was an elixir that would increase all of one''s stats by one. The new Perfected Cactus Fruit Filled With Mana increased this amount to five for all stats.


    That meant that as long as a normal person had two of these cactus fruits, they would be able to become twice as strong as a normal person.


    With all of the cacti that were in this place, it certainly wouldn''t have just been one or two cactus fruits harvested. With the number of cacti in this place and how the cactus fruits would triple when the Scavenger Rabbit picked them, it seemed like there would at least be a hundred of them.


    But it turned out that I was wrong.


    It was a minimum of three per pull and it turned out that the Scavenger Rabbit could get much more than three. The biggest pull was actually ten fruits just from a single harvest.


    It really seemed like there was no limits to the power of the Scavenger Rabbit''s golden paws.


    As I was grinning like a fool, there were more and more cactus fruits that were appearing.


    But at the same time, it seemed like the wind was picking up.


    I didn''t think too much of it at first, but then¡­


    "Who dares to steal my fruits?"

 Chapter 260 - 260: Sandstorm

    Along with this booming voice, there was sand that was suddenly raised into the air.


    This sand was carried by the wind and completely surrounded this entire oasis.


    It was as if there was something that was keeping it from entering the oasis, but if it wasn''t for that, there was no doubt that this oasis would have been buried in this sand.


    This was a full blown sandstorm that was brewing.


    Only where did this sudden sandstorm come from?


    I was confused that there was this sudden sandstorm that appeared, but I really didn''t have time to think about it since it was clear who this sandstorm was aimed at.


    It had even come right when the Scavenger Rabbit finished picking the last cactus fruit.


    With the way that it suddenly appeared like this, it really seemed like some kind of scripted event. It seemed that whoever controlled this sandstorm had even been waiting for the Scavenger Rabbit to pick that last cactus fruit before sending the sandstorm.


    Only who would do that?


    "He did say that it was his fruit, so there is only one person that would fit that description¡­The Desert Tyrant? The corrupted king of the sand people?" I muttered under my breath as I watched this sandstorm brew around us.


    So were we not supposed to take the cactus fruits?


    It seemed that taking the cactus fruits had triggered some kind of event where the final boss descended down on those that took it.


    It seemed that greed really was the wrong choice here.


    But since the boss had descended, that meant that we had no choice but to fight it.


    In the first place, it wasn''t as if I was afraid of the final boss of this dungeon.


    If we had to fight it now, it just meant that we would have to fight the boss ahead of time.


    So I turned back to where Wang Rong and Iris had gone.


    When I turned around, I found that the two of them were running over to my side.


    Wang Rong even waved his hand and said, "Boss, let''s run!"


    But I didn''t go over to where they were and shook my head at them.


    I couldn''t since the cactus fruits were still there on the ground. The Scavenger Rabbit had tossed them there as if it lost interest in them as it continued to harvest more and I didn''t want to take them all in yet since I wanted to put them away in one batch.


    It seemed that this came to bite me in the butt.


    Seeing this, Wang Rong and Iris came over to the pile of cactus fruits that I was standing over.


    When they came over, they couldn''t help looking at the cactus fruits with a strange look before turning that strange look to me.


    I didn''t say anything when I saw them looking at me like this as I just faced the sandstorm that was around us.


    Seeing this, the two of them stopped looking at me with those looks and did the same thing as me. But it was clear that the two of them had questions for me judging by the look in their eyes.


    There was a part of me that was starting to waver on whether I should share the matter of the Scavenger Rabbit with them.


    If they had known about the Scavenger Rabbit and hadn''t been made to move away, we definitely would have been able to react sooner to the sandstorm.


    Perhaps that would have made it easier for us to take care of the dungeon boss that was responsible for this sandstorm. S§×ar?h the N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The sandstorm didn''t seem to do anything other than surround the oasis during this time. It was as if the one that was controlling the sandstorm was hesitating on whether to make a move.


    The cactus fruits.


    That was the hesitation that the dungeon boss most likely had.


    It didn''t want to destroy the cactus fruits, but there was no doubt that the cactus fruits would be caught in the battle if the dungeon boss did anything now.


    Seeing this, I was thinking about how to take advantage of this.


    But my attention was distracted by the movement that came from my shirt.


    I looked down to see the Astral White Tiger''s head peeking out from the top of my shirt.


    I reached out to grab the Astral White Tiger so that it wouldn''t do anything rash, but it turned out that the Astral White Tiger wasn''t actually planning to do anything. I could see that it had the same excited look as before on its face, but it was directed at something different from what I thought.


    As a familiar that was focused on using magic, I thought that the Astral White Tiger would have been attracted to the mana that was coming from the cactus fruits.


    I had been almost certain that this oasis was the thing that drew the Astral White Tiger.


    But now it seemed like this wasn''t the case.


    It seemed like the Astral White Tiger wasn''t interested in the oasis or the cactus fruits at all. It didn''t even seem like the Astral White Tiger was sparing the cactus fruits a single glance as it was looking right up.


    There wasn''t anything specific that the Astral White Tiger was looking at, it just seemed like it was looking at the sandstorm that had surrounded us.


    After looking at the sandstorm for a bit, the Astral White Tiger suddenly turned to look at me with a look that seemed like it was asking me something.


    I didn''t know what the Astral White Tiger was planning to do, but¡­


    In the end, I gave a nod of approval for the Astral White Tiger since I was curious what it planned to do.


    Once the Astral White Tiger received this approval, it didn''t waste any time as it suddenly looked back up at the sky and opened its mouth.


    And then it took a deep breath.

 Chapter 261 - 261: Eating sand?

    The moment that the Astral White Tiger took this deep breath, there was a suction force that appeared in the air above it.


    However, it didn''t seem like it was sucking up just anything.


    The only thing that the Astral White Tiger seemed to be sucking in was the sand that was around us. It seemed like the Astral White Tiger was eating the sandstorm itself.


    I couldn''t help looking at the Astral White Tiger with a strange look, but I also quickly covered my face with my hands. After all, since the Astral White Tiger was sucking in the sand, that meant that the sand was coming towards me as well.


    But it seemed that I was worried for nothing.


    There seemed to be something that contained the sand that came at us. There was this thing that seemed to restrict the sand, causing it to come in a funnel into the mouth of the Astral White Tiger.


    It seemed that it didn''t let a single grain of sand escape with the way that the suction kept it all in the single cone that ended in the Astral White Tiger''s mouth.


    With the happy look on its face, it really looked like the Astral White Tiger was just eating the sand.


    But when I looked closely, I could see that this wasn''t the case.


    It seemed like once the sand entered the Astral White Tiger''s mouth, it was being turned into energy that was being absorbed by the Astral White Tiger.


    This was just like how it had absorbed the flames of the peacock from before.


    The sand people of this dungeon could be considered elemental creatures since they were made of sand. The attacks that they used were attacks that used elemental energy to control the sand.


    So this sandstorm around us should be one that was made from elemental energy.


    For the Astral White Tiger that had the ability to control and absorb elemental energy, it only made sense that it was able to swallow it like this.


    But with the look of relish that was on the Astral White Tiger''s face, it really seemed like it was eating some kind of high class meal.


    It seemed that the elemental energy inside of this sand was considered high class. It seemed that there was quite a bit of elemental energy that was gathered inside of this sand.


    Though what kind of elemental energy it was, I had no idea.


    Was it earth or was sand a kind of elemental energy?


    Only it seemed like it had quite the effect on the sandstorm that was around us.


    With the Astral White Tiger swallowing the sand around us, it really seemed like the sandstorm posed no threat at all. The sandstorm continued to become weaker and weaker with more and more of the sand being swallowed by the Astral White Tiger.


    In no time at all, it seemed like the sandstorm was about to disappear.


    Only the one that created the sandstorm wasn''t about to let things end that easily.


    "You think that you can stop me with just this?" The same booming voice rang out again before the sandstorm started to pick up again. With the way that the sandstorm raged, it seemed that the hesitation that the dungeon boss felt was gone.


    The shock from seeing its sandstorm being devoured like this must have pushed away the remaining bit of hesitation that the dungeon boss had about attacking.


    At this point, it recognized the Astral White Tiger as a threat, so it didn''t care about the cactus fruits.


    For the first time, there was something that was actually able to suppress its power.


    It was only natural that the dungeon boss would be worried.


    With the sandstorm picking up again, we couldn''t actually do anything against it.


    So instead of facing it, I pulled the Astral White Tiger out of my shirt and raised it up above my head. I was just using the Astral White Tiger as if it was some kind of shield against the sandstorm.


    "Swallow it!" I shouted, but the Astral White Tiger seemed to have a different idea.


    That was because instead of sucking in like it had done previously, the Astral White Tiger seemed to be preparing to spit something out.


    It even looked like it was about to throw up because it wasn''t able to swallow what it had just sucked in. It almost seemed like the Astral White Tiger was having some kind of acid reflux because of the sand.


    But it turned out that this wasn''t the case.


    Instead of spitting it up, it actually shot out the sand that it had swallowed.


    Only this wasn''t the kind of normal way of shooting something out of one''s mouth. It seemed like the Astral White Tiger was manipulating sand with the way that it released it.


    That sand quickly took the form of a dome around us.


    This dome of sand blocked the incoming sandstorm that was about to hit us.


    It seemed that as long as we were in this dome, the sandstorm wouldn''t actually be able to do anything to us. It was as if the sandstorm was being scattered around the dome when it hit the dome.


    That was just how strong this dome of sand was. S§×arch* The N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    After the sandstorm was scattered, the Astral White Tiger started sucking in again.


    The sand of the sandstorm that had been scattered by the dome actually made its way through the dome because of the Astral White Tiger''s breath.


    It went right into the Astral White Tiger''s mouth and it seemed like the Astral White Tiger was enjoying it quite a bit.


    When the Astral White Tiger showed itself, this definitely wasn''t what I had been expecting from it.


    But now that it had demonstrated all of this, I was quite glad that it was here.


    In the end, the Astral White Tiger really was the nemesis of any kind of enemy that used elemental energy.

 Chapter 262 - 262: Next steps

    "You, just what are you?" The booming voice rang out again when the owner of the voice saw that its sandstorm wasn''t working against us.


    There even seemed to be a trace of panic that was in the booming voice when it said this.


    It was only natural that there would be this trace of panic since the Astral White Tiger certainly wasn''t something that the owner of the voice had ever seen before. Even now, I still didn''t understand what the full power of the Astral White Tiger was.


    The only thing that I knew about this familiar of mine was that it was very powerful when it came to manipulating elemental energy.


    Other than that, I really didn''t know much about this Astral White Tiger.


    But right now, that didn''t matter since it was enough for us to stop the enemy that was in front of us.


    Though it seemed that¡­


    "I''ll let you off for now. I can''t even use my full power with this avatar. Come to my castle if you dare and face me there. I will show you thieves what true despair is like."


    Right after the booming voice rang out, the sandstorm seemed to become weaker.


    It seemed like whoever had been controlling the sandstorm was no longer here with the way that the sandstorm weakened. It seemed that they had completely left this place because they no longer had any interest in what was happening here.


    Because of this, there was a disappointed look that appeared on the Astral White Tiger''s face.


    It was almost as if it hadn''t had enough of the sand that the dungeon boss released.


    It seemed like it hadn''t had its fill at a restaurant with the way that it looked.


    The Astral White Tiger even looked at me as if it was asking me to chase after the dungeon boss.


    I couldn''t help shaking my head with a bitter smile when I saw this, but I didn''t follow the dungeon boss.


    After all, we certainly weren''t ready to face it just yet.


    The dungeon boss had said that it couldn''t use its full power because this was just an avatar. This sounded like something that a villain would say just because it wasn''t strong enough, but I knew that this wasn''t the case.


    We had been protected by the dome of sand that the Astral White Tiger released, but we could still feel the mana fluctuations that came from the sandstorm around us.


    That had been more than enough to tell us just how strong the one that was controlling the sandstorm was.


    The mana that the sandstorm had wasn''t that much stronger than the corrupted sand person that we faced before.


    For a dungeon boss to only be at this level¡­it didn''t seem likely. Especially with the kind of reputation that this dungeon boss had. It really was unlikely that it would only be at this level.


    So there was no doubt that it would certainly be stronger if we were to face it.


    While the Astral White Tiger could absorb the sand of the dungeon boss, there was a limit to the level of sand that it could absorb. That was why the Astral White Tiger had formed the dome just now.


    Since I was linked to it through our bond, I could tell that the Astral White Tiger had a trace of panic before receiving the sandstorm. The sandstorm was too strong for the Astral White Tiger to absorb which was why it panicked.


    Though it improvised by using the sand dome to block us, it was still a sign that the Astral White Tiger had limits.


    There was no telling how strong the dungeon boss could be, so it would be risky to charge at it like this.


    In this situation¡­


    "Let''s go back to the battlefields."


    "Huh?" Wang Rong and Iris were both caught off guard when they heard this.


    As for the Astral White Tiger, it just looked at me as if it was saying, "Are you serious?"


    However, I just ignored the Astral White Tiger as I said with a nod, "Let''s go and clear out the Abyss Demons."


    There were strange looks that appeared on the faces of Wang Rong and Iris before they looked at the Astral White Tiger. It was clear what they were implying with the way that they looked at it, but I wasn''t moved at all.


    Instead, I just calmly said, "It''s not strong enough to face the dungeon boss yet."


    The Astral White Tiger looked indignant when it heard this and it even started puffing up its chest as if it was trying to show off how powerful it was, but it didn''t really make it look strong.


    Rather, it just made it look cute rather than strong.


    I shook my head with a faint smile when I saw it like this before bringing it down and patting it on the head to calm it down.


    However, I still said, "You should know that the dungeon boss wasn''t showing its true power just now. There''s no need for us to rush into this, it''s better if we prepare ourselves first."


    Wang Rong and Iris looked at each other before Wang Rong asked, "But boss, how will we find it if we go back now?" S~ea??h the ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    In the distance, we could see the traces of sand disappearing.


    This was the trail of the dungeon boss that was left behind when it left.


    If we didn''t follow it now, it didn''t seem like we would be able to find the lair of the dungeon boss that easily.


    Only I wasn''t worried since there was a tracker in my hand.


    "It knows where to go." I said as I raised the Astral White Tiger up.


    The Astral White Tiger didn''t really know what was happening, but it knew that it was being praised, so it puffed out its chest again.


    Wang Rong and Iris just looked at me with strange looks again, so I explained, "It was following the traces of the dungeon boss earlier, which was why it was leading us in that direction. Just trust me when I say that it knows where to go."


    There were traces of skepticism on their faces, but they eventually nodded in agreement to this.

 Chapter 263 - 263: Wipe them out

    "Are you sure that you want to do this? It''ll take a while to do all of this." Iris said with a strange look on her face as she looked at the scene in front of us.


    Wang Rong didn''t say anything, but it was obvious by the look on his face that he agreed with what Iris said.


    But even with the two of them looking at me like this, I didn''t back down as I said, "This is the best way to clear this dungeon. You just have to trust me on this, I know what I''m doing."


    The two of them still had looks of doubt on their faces, but they didn''t say anything else in the end.


    Instead, they turned to face all of the Abyss Demons and sand people that were in front of us.


    The place that I had brought us was the place where it all began.


    Well, it wasn''t exactly the place where it all began since this was the second battlefield that we found.


    The first one had already been settled, so there was nothing that we could have done if we went over to the first one. Instead, we came to this second one where the fight between the Abyss Demons and sand people were still ongoing.


    It was here that I told the two of them that I wanted to slaughter the Abyss Demons.


    Though they agreed to see this through, both Iris and Wang Rong couldn''t help looking at me with one last look of doubt.


    Wang Rong even asked one more time, "Boss, are you sure about this? It doesn''t seem like doing this will be any help."


    But I just said, "I already said that we''re doing this, are you afraid or something?"


    A faint bitter smile appeared on Wang Rong''s face when he heard this, but he didn''t say anything else as he turned forward once more.


    Since I was even going as far as teasing him like this, the last trace of doubt that was on his mind disappeared. And it wasn''t just him, it was the same for Iris who turned forward again to face the Abyss Demons.


    Both of them dashed forward and jumped into the battle.


    Though it wasn''t as if they jumped right into the battle.


    Instead, they started dancing around the edges of the battle and used their mobility to take down the Abyss Demons while remaining outside of the main fray.


    Even if we were strong, that didn''t mean that we would be able to charge into the main lines of the Abyss Demons without any hesitation. This was a battlefield, there were just too many Abyss Demons in the first place.


    Even if the Abyss Demons didn''t pose a threat, it was a matter of running out of stamina eventually.


    So it was better to rely on the sand people to distract the Abyss Demons and pick them off like this. S§×ar?h the nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    With each Abyss Demon that they took down, it really seemed like Iris and Wang Rong were becoming sharper and sharper. It seemed that they were becoming more and more familiar with the way that the Abyss Demons acted, which made it easier to take them down.


    Though in the first place, these Abyss Demons were nothing more than NPCs to begin with.


    They had a predictable pattern, so it was easy to dodge their attacks and take them down.


    But it still took time since there were just so many of them¡­


    Or at least that was what I had thought at first until I suddenly thought of something.


    I woke the Astral White Tiger that had gone back to napping.


    When it came out, it didn''t seem that excited about being woken up. Then it seemed even less excited about what I wanted it to do.


    Only the Astral White Tiger didn''t have a choice in this matter since I was giving it an order.


    So the Astral White Tiger opened its mouth and spat out the sand once more.


    It was just that the way that the Astral White Tiger did this made it seem like it had no motivation at all. It even looked at me as if it was saying¡­


    "You can do this yourself."


    Since I was the Astral White Tiger''s master, I was actually able to control the Astral White Tiger''s power and use the sand. But the way that the Astral White Tiger did this really filled me with a strange feeling.


    Still, I directed the sand that the Astral White Tiger released to surround the Abyss Demons.


    But by doing this¡­


    "What is happening?" I couldn''t help saying in a surprised voice as I watched the sand people in front of me.


    All of them seemed to have been invigorated by something when the sandstorm appeared. It was as if they were filled with energy and power as they attacked the Abyss Demons in front of them.


    When their attacks landed on the Abyss Demons, they did much more damage than they did before.


    It seemed the sand people had been buffed to the point where they were far stronger than the Abyss Demons individually now.


    "Is there this kind of effect from this sand?" I couldn''t help asking as I looked at the sandstorm that I had raised.


    I knew that this sand was one that was filled with pure elemental energy, but I certainly didn''t expect this kind of effect¡­


    Still, it didn''t seem like a bad thing.


    Since it made the sand people stronger, this meant that it was even easier for us to accomplish our goal.


    I even added in the power of illusions to this and it didn''t take long before the Abyss Demons started falling left and right. It really seemed like it was only a matter of time before all of the Abyss Demons were taken down.


    But that was exactly what I wanted to see.


    After taking down these Abyss Demons, it would be time for¡­

 Chapter 264 - 264: Unexpected results

    "Are you ready?" I asked in a firm voice.


    Wang Rong and Iris both gave strong nods in response to this before facing the castle that was in front of us. S~ea??h the Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    It had been several days since that time that we fought the dungeon boss at the oasis and now we were finally back to take on the final boss of this dungeon. We were here to take down the Desert Tyrant.


    However, we were completely different from before.


    There was this strange energy that we were brimming with as we stood there.


    This wasn''t a form of energy that was natural to our bodies, but rather a form of energy that we accumulated while clearing out this dungeon. It was a kind of energy that was completely different from our normal mana.


    At the same time, it was the kind of thing that we didn''t expect at all.


    After all, this energy that we were brimming with came from slaughtering the Abyss Demons of this dungeon.


    We didn''t really notice it at first since it wasn''t that concentrated to begin with and we didn''t get that much as we didn''t kill that many Abyss Demons. Most of the Abyss Demons that had been killed were killed off by the sand people that we fought with.


    But by the third battlefield, it was hard not to notice this.


    After all, it made our attacks much stronger than they were before.


    It was as if the more that we killed the Abyss Demons in this dungeon, the stronger that we became.


    It was some kind of buff that came from slaughtering the Abyss Demons.


    Because of this, Wang Rong and Iris completely took back the looks of doubt that they cast in my direction. Instead, they both seemed to look at me with gazes of admiration.


    But those looks of admiration actually hurt since they weren''t looks that I actually deserved.


    I knew that they were looking at me because they thought that this increase in power was all part of my plan. They thought that I had already realized that there was this strengthening effect from killing Abyss Demons in this dungeon, which was why I wanted to attack the Abyss Demons.


    However, that naturally wasn''t the case.


    I had no idea that this was a thing, it was just an unexpected pleasant surprise.


    Still, I didn''t say anything about this since it would just make their impressions of me worse. The only thing that I could do was take this credit that I really didn''t deserve.


    By the fourth battlefield, we had already reached a point where we could take down large groups of Abyss Demons on our own.


    Then by the fifth battlefield, we had become one man armies as we charged through the lines of Abyss Demons.


    The strengthening effect that came from the strange energy really was something else.


    But other than that, there were more benefits that came from taking down the Abyss Demons.


    It was the large amount of gold coins that were dropped.


    With all of the Abyss Demons that were on the battlefield, I almost didn''t have enough skeletal rats to pick up all of the gold coins that dropped. But I was able to do it in the end and we were able to use the gold coins to buy quite a few items.


    The first village didn''t offer much, but by the fifth battlefield¡­


    There was an entire city that was there and the items that were offered in the city were just something else.


    There was no doubt that they would be useful in our upcoming battle.


    Now that we were here, the first thing that we had to do was find a way into the castle.


    It wasn''t that there weren''t any ways into the castle.


    even large gates that were right at the very front of the castle that had been lowered for us. It would have been easy for us to take this gate and enter the castle.


    However¡­


    "That''s a trap."


    That was the one thing that all of us agreed on the moment that we saw this gate.


    There was no doubt that this was a trap that was laid by the one that was inside of the castle.


    If we were to actually take this gate, the only thing that would be waiting for us would be an ambush.


    So it was only natural that we had to find another way in.


    Even if the Astral White Tiger wanted to go through the main gates.


    This was time to use one of the items that we brought.


    Thief Eye Drops.


    This was an item that when applied to one''s eyes, it would guide one along a certain hidden path into the place that they were looking to enter.


    This was without a doubt a very useful item, but the one complaint was the short duration of this time.


    It was one that would only last a few minutes and it was very expensive since it was rare, so we didn''t have many of these eye drops.


    But it didn''t take long for us to find another way in.


    It was a way that was buried deep under the sand, but it seemed to be some kind of hidden passage that led right into the castle.


    It was without a doubt a pleasant surprise.


    But before entering this tunnel, I looked at the two of them and asked once again, "Are you two ready?"


    This time, it was different from the way that I asked this previously.


    This time, I asked them with the conviction of if they were ready to die for this.


    Only Wang Rong just said with a smile, "Boss, don''t you get tired of asking this?"


    It wasn''t that he was joking around, it was his way of saying that he had already made up his mind a long time ago.


    I looked at Iris and it seemed that she was thinking the same thing.


    So I led the way forward while feeling a bit embarrassed that I had looked down on them like this.

 Chapter 265 - 265: Desert Tyrant

    The tunnel that we found wasn''t that long at all and when we came out of the tunnel, we found ourselves in some kind of underground storage space.


    It was just that this place seemed like it was completely abandoned.


    Even though it was clearly some kind of underground storage space, there wasn''t actually anything that was stored in this place.


    With how desolate it was, it even seemed like this place had been abandoned for a long time.


    But then again, this was the palace of the dungeon boss.


    The Desert Tyrant that had been corrupted by something and turned into an evil version of himself.


    Even if there were some corrupted sand people that followed him, it wasn''t as if there were servants and such that were in his palace cleaning it. At the same time, it wasn''t as if the dungeon boss would care about something like this.


    So it was only natural that this place would be abandoned.


    With the few flashlights that we pulled out, we were able to quickly find the way out of this room. It was just that we were still underground and there was no telling what was ahead of us.


    It was the kind of place where one should be cautious.


    That was if they didn''t have the same things as us.


    With the skeletal rats, I was able to quickly map out the area that was around us and I even found a set of stairs that would lead us back up to the surface. With these stairs, we made our way above the ground once more.


    Once we came up from the basement, there was no need for the flashlights anymore.


    The windows let in more than enough light that we were able to see everything around us.


    It had been hard to see everything before with just the flashlights, but now it was easy to see that this was indeed a castle.


    The way that the corridors were decorated certainly befit what one would imagine a castle to look like.


    At the same time, the decorations that were here were different from what one would expect in a human castle. There were more things that seemed to be made of sand that it was hard to believe that these things didn''t fall apart.


    But then again, this was the castle of the ruler of a society of people that was made from sand.


    So it also seemed natural that they would have these items that were made of sand.


    The most interesting things in this place were the paintings that were on the wall.


    These paintings were normal paintings from what could be seen, so it showed that the society of the sand people had a certain level of technology. Though from what we had seen from the villages and even cities of the sand people, it was at the level of a medieval society.


    It seemed that their technology was locked at that level. Sear?h the N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Still, these paintings did tell us some things.


    It showed the history of the sand people''s society.


    "They were a normal society that seemed to be developing the same way that our society was developing in the early middle ages. It was just that they were suddenly invaded by the Abyss Demons, which was why they ended up like this." I summarized in a heavy voice to which Iris and Wang Rong nodded in agreement.


    All three of us had strange looks on our faces as we looked at these paintings.


    It really made us think about what kind of effect the Abyss Demons had on this world¡­


    And if it were to happen, what kind of effect the Abyss Demons would have on our world.


    Though if it came to that, we wouldn''t let it happen.


    As we were lost in thought on this matter, the skeletal rats came back with some information.


    They had found the throne room of the Desert Tyrant.


    This was the room that the final boss was in.


    With this piece of news coming in, naturally we weren''t able to remain in the same daze.


    After pulling ourselves out of this daze, we followed the skeletal rats to the throne room.


    We were careful and we didn''t see anything on our way. However, it wasn''t just because we were being careful that we didn''t bump into anything along the way.


    It was rather because there was nothing that was there in this palace.


    It seemed that other than the Desert Tyrant, there wasn''t a single other creature that was in this palace.


    What about the corrupted sand people that served the Desert Tyrant?


    Where were they?


    That was the thought that was on our mind when we made our way to the throne room, but that was quickly forgotten when we arrived.


    The door that we peeked through wasn''t the main door of the throne room, but rather the side door. This was the kind of door that would be used by the king himself to enter the room.


    The only reason that we were able to find this was because of the skeletal rats.


    From this side door, we actually had a good view of the entire throne room.


    It was just that there wasn''t anything in this throne room at all.


    In fact, there was even sand that laid all over the ground in this throne room as if it was abandoned.


    But it wasn''t abandoned.


    Sitting on the throne in the center of the throne room was a sand person that was hard to mistake.


    This sand person was much larger than the other sand people, but it was also made of pure black sand unlike the rest of the sand people. It was even different from the corrupted sand person that we faced before, as it was made completely of this corrupted black sand.


    On the head of this thing was a crown and it seemed to be dressed in fancy clothes.


    There was no doubt that this was the king of the sand people.


    This was the Desert Tyrant.


    The final boss of this Hidden Dungeon.

 Chapter 266 - 266: Isn’t this… (1)

    "What do you think we should do, boss?" Wang Rong asked from behind me, but I didn''t say anything.


    Even if he asked me this, it wasn''t as if I had an answer for him.


    After all, we were all looking at the same thing.


    It wasn''t as if I could see an opening that we could exploit to take down this Desert Tyrant.


    I was seeing the same thing that they were saying.


    Yet because of the trust that they had in me¡­


    It was a form of pressure that I really didn''t want, but it wasn''t as if it was a bad thing that they had this trust in me.


    For now, I just focused on looking at the Desert Tyrant without giving an answer.


    I was just trying to see if I could find a single thing to use to take down this Desert Tyrant easily


    But the fact that it remained idle on the throne wasn''t actually a weakness. It was there because that was the perfect spot for the Desert Tyrant, a spot that basically put it in a position that no one could touch it.


    As such, there really wasn''t anything for the Desert Tyrant to worry about.


    When I realized this, I gave up on thinking that much.


    It wasn''t as if thinking too much about this would actually provide any kind of advantage.


    The only thing that could be done now was just to use the same plan that we had been using this entire time.


    Putting one hand on Wang Rong''s shoulder, I said, "It''ll be up to you to lead the charge."


    A surprised look appeared on Wang Rong''s face when he heard this, but then a bitter smile replaced that look. He just kept looking at me with that bitter smile for a bit, but seeing that I didn''t seem to be joking¡­


    "Alright, leave it to me." Wang Rong said as he prepared his great sword.


    I gave a nod, but I also pulled him back before saying, "Who said that you have to charge out right now? Wait until we''re in position first."


    Wang Rong was once again surprised, but then he remembered something. S~ea??h the N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    It seemed that he had forgotten because it hadn''t been that long since I got that skill.


    With a wave of my hand, I opened the door and started heading into the throne room.


    When I entered the room, it didn''t seem like the Desert Tyrant noticed something.


    This door that we entered from wasn''t that far from the throne, so the Desert Tyrant should have been able to notice us after we entered through that door. But the way that we came in was as if the Desert Tyrant didn''t see a single thing.


    With the way that we came in, it really seemed like the Desert Tyrant was still oblivious to our existence.


    That was because he really didn''t see us.


    Only after we got into position did I give the signal to Wang Rong.


    That was when he charged in through the door that we had already moved away from and drew the attention of the Desert Tyrant.


    It was a slow turn of the head from the Desert Tyrant when Wang Rong burst in through the door. At the same time, the look on the Desert Tyrant''s face didn''t seem like he viewed Wang Rong as a threat at all.


    Rather, it looked like he was looking at Wang Rong like some kind of bug.


    Wang Rong didn''t hesitate at all when he saw the Desert Tyrant acting this way, he just charged right at the Desert Tyrant.


    It was when Wang Rong was halfway across the room that the Desert Tyrant finally made a move.


    The Desert Tyrant just simply raised his hand as if he was about to release some kind of attack. But before the Desert Tyrant could release that attack, Wang Rong had already jumped up into the air and was bringing the great sword down at the Desert Tyrant.


    That was when he finally activated his familiar''s ability, causing him to fall down even faster at the Desert Tyrant.


    This speed of descent caught the Desert Tyrant off guard and he wasn''t able to release his attack in the end. All the Desert Tyrant could do was the same thing as the other corrupted sand person.


    Sand seemed to gather in the arm that he raised until it swelled up into some kind of club.


    He was using his arm to block Wang Rong''s great sword.


    Wang Rong narrowed his eyes when he saw this.


    It was clear that Wang Rong was thinking about what happened before with the other corrupted sand person. The only problem was that it was already too late for him to stop himself.


    The only thing that he could do was carry through with this attack.


    So Wang Rong increased his weight as much as possible.


    He didn''t even care if he hurt himself because of it, he was planning on using everything in this one attack.


    Only Wang Rong wasn''t the only one that was caught off guard by what followed.


    Everyone was caught off guard by the fact that his great sword went right through the arm of the Desert Tyrant.


    It was a very smooth cut that was made.


    The arm fell down to the ground and created a crater in it, which showed just how hard and dense it was.


    But even then, Wang Rong''s great sword had cut right through it.


    There was a moment of silence when Wang Rong landed on the ground, but the Desert Tyrant was the one that reacted first as he raised his other arm to attack. That arm swelled just like the first one and there were even spikes that formed that created a spiked club.


    Wang Rong reacted when he saw this spiked club coming at him, so he swung his sword up at it.


    This time, even without the buff of added weight, he was able to cut through the arm of the Desert Tyrant.

 Chapter 267 - 267: Isn’t this… (2)

    When that second arm of black sand created another crater in the ground, the Desert Tyrant didn''t waste any time in pulling away from Wang Rong.


    The look of confusion that also had a trace of fear in it was more than enough to show that he didn''t understand why these attacks worked in the first place.


    At the same time, it showed that he was being cautious of Wang Rong now.


    No longer did he look at Wang Rong as if he was some kind of bug, now he looked at him as if he was a bug that had a sting.


    In the end, what the Desert Tyrant did was what was expected of him.


    With a wave of his newly generated hand, there was a sandstorm that was raised inside of this room.


    This sandstorm didn''t seem like it was one that was generated to attack. It seemed that this sandstorm was one that was generated to create a barrier that would hide the Desert Tyrant, while also keeping Wang Rong back.


    But it wasn''t Wang Rong who dealt with this sandstorm.


    Rather, it was a small head that peeked out of my shirt that dealt with it.


    It only took a single breath for this small head to take care of this sandstorm.


    With that small breath, it was as if there was some kind of strange thing that captured the sand that made up the sandstorm. It was as if all that sand was bound by something as it was pulled into the mouth of that small head.


    There wasn''t a single grain of sand that was able to escape.


    Just like this, the sandstorm completely disappeared from this room.


    The Desert Tyrant once again had a confused look that had a trace of fear¡­No, it was more than a trace of fear this time. It was clear that the Desert Tyrant just didn''t understand what was happening right now.


    It was just that it didn''t really have the time to think about it.


    After all, it wasn''t as if we would give the Desert Tyrant the time to think about it.


    It wasn''t as if we would give it the time to recover when we''ve caught it off guard like this. S§×ar?h the Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    So we continued by having Iris shoot out a bolt of lightning at the Desert Tyrant.


    This bolt of lightning had nothing impeding it. Not to mention that in the first place, the Desert Tyrant didn''t even know about this bolt of lightning until it was too late.


    He was hit right in the chest by that bolt of lightning.


    The moment that the lightning made contact with the chest of the Desert Tyrant, there was an explosion. Only it wasn''t an explosion in the traditional sense since there were no flames at all.


    There wasn''t even any sand that came from that explosion.


    Rather, it was an explosion of glass that suddenly appeared.


    With that explosion of glass, the Desert Tyrant was also blown away. It was thrown all the way back into the wall of this thrown room, exploding into sand and glass.


    It took a while for the Desert Tyrant to reform itself, but it was clear that the Desert Tyrant looked very haggard after reforming itself like this. It almost looked like the Desert Tyrant was about to drop to the floor at any moment.


    But in the end, the Desert Tyrant was able to hang on and started gathering the sand around itself.


    The sand created this swirling vortex around the Desert Tyrant, almost as if it was preparing some kind of big attack.


    However, it wasn''t as if we were just going to watch the Desert Tyrant as it released this kind of special attack.


    Naturally we would do what we could to stop it.


    So all three of us used attacks to disrupt the Desert Tyrant.


    The Astral White Tiger created a sandstorm that suppressed the Desert Tyrant while also absorbing some of the sand that the Desert Tyrant raised.


    This greatly weakened the powers of the Desert Tyrant, allowing Wang Rong and Iris to land the final blows.


    Wang Rong used his sword to cut off the different limbs of the Desert Tyrant, so there was nothing that it could do.


    Then after that, Iris just shot the bolt of lightning that she had been condensing the entire time into the chest of the Desert Tyrant. When that bolt of lightning hit the chest of the Desert Tyrant, it was different from before.


    This time, the bolt of lightning was much stronger after all.


    So the Desert Tyrant just completely exploded into glass.


    It was as if there wasn''t a trace of sand that was left.


    The Astral White Tiger even looked a bit disappointed when it saw that all of the sand was gone. It looked like it had the food stolen from its mouth with the way that it acted.


    Iris had an awkward look on her face seeing this, but she also prepared another bolt of lightning just in case.


    But it turned out that it wasn''t necessary.


    There was a portal that suddenly appeared in front of us where the throne was.


    As soon as we saw this portal, we knew what it was.


    After all, this was something that we had seen before many times.


    Once the boss was defeated, it was only natural that the portal leading out of the dungeon would appear.


    But it was strange that the dungeon boss was taken down that easily.


    This boss really didn''t fit the name "Desert Tyrant"...


    I looked at Wang Rong and Iris with a strange look before saying, "Wasn''t that a bit too easy?"


    The two of them looked back at me before slowly nodding in agreement.


    There really wasn''t anything else that the two of them could say in response to this.


    "Of course it was easy when you''ve powered up like this. You guys are certainly the only ones that I''ve ever seen clear the dungeon like this."

 Chapter 268 - 268: Perfect clear (1)

    The three of us were caught off guard when we heard this voice before quickly looking around to see what the source of that voice was.


    The moment that we saw it, all three of us deeply knitted our brows.


    Then right after that, the three of us pulled out our weapons and prepared for another fight.


    But when the thing that we pulled out weapons on saw us preparing for a fight, they quickly raised their hands and said, "Stop, I''m not here for a fight."


    Then with a trace of bitterness in their smile, they said, "It isn''t as if I could fight even if I wanted to. Now that I''m in this form, there really isn''t much left that I can do."


    All three of us revealed strange looks when we heard this.


    After all, the one that was saying this was the Desert Tyrant himself.


    It was just that this Desert Tyrant was different from the one that we faced before. This Desert Tyrant didn''t have the same black corruption to it that the dungeon boss did, rather it looked like any other sand person.


    Though this king of the sand people was still bigger than a normal sand person.


    At the same time, there was no hiding the wisdom that was inside of his eyes.


    This was not something that the king of the sand people had when he was still the Desert Tyrant.


    Still¡­


    "Unless you give us a reason to trust you, you have to understand that it''s hard for us to accept that you aren''t here as a hidden boss or something. You have to give us something more than just to ask us to trust you." I said in a sharp voice.


    The king of the sand people revealed a faint smile when he heard this before giving a nod to acknowledge what I said.


    With a wave of his hand, there was something that changed about this room.


    When we finally realized what it was, we noticed that the room had completely changed compared to before.


    It had been restored to the state that one would expect from a throne room.


    But that wasn''t what the king of the sand people wanted us to see.


    Instead, the king of the sand people led us over to some of the paintings that had appeared on the wall behind it. These were paintings that had appeared behind the throne that he had been sitting on before.


    Unlike the paintings that we saw before, it wasn''t really clear what these paintings were depicting.


    Instead of showing a clear picture, it almost seemed like these paintings were blurred on purpose.


    Looking closely, I could even see that there seemed to be some kind of sand filter that was covering the painting that prevented us from actually seeing what was on the paintings.


    "These are?" I asked in an open ended manner, waiting for the king of the sand people to explain.


    "What do you think they could be?" He asked in an almost teasing voice which made me knit my brows.


    Seeing that I wasn''t in the mood to play with him, he finally waved his hand again and one of the paintings cleared.


    The moment that we saw this painting, we knew exactly what this painting was.


    After all, it was hard to mistake the things that were in the painting. Sear?h the Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    It was a large red hole that had these red things coming out of it.


    These red things were humanoids that had different features, but they had one thing in common.


    They were all Abyss Demons.


    Seeing the way that we looked at the painting, the king of the sand people said, "I can see that you''re already familiar with this scene. Has it happened in your world as well?"


    The three of us looked at each other with strange looks before I turned back to shake my head at the king of the sand people.


    This time, he was surprised by this.


    He looked at me with a strange look as if he was trying to figure out if I was being serious or not, but I just looked back at him with that straight look on my face.


    After a moment of silence, he finally said, "Alright, it seems that the situation in your world really is different from mine. In that case, that means that you still have a chance."


    Without even waiting for us to say anything else, he waved his hand and released the filter on another one of the paintings.


    It was the scene of the Abyss Demons attacking the sand people.


    This was a scene that we had already seen when we had been exploring the castle itself, so it wasn''t as if this was something new to us.


    What was new was the fact that the painting seemed to be changing.


    It was as if there was a new scene that was being created in real time.


    It went from the Abyss Demons attacking the sand people to the sand people pushing back the Abyss Demons


    I had a very confused look on my face after seeing this before asking the king of the sand people, "What is happening here? Why is it changing?"


    The king of the sand people looked at me with a smile before saying, "Why else would it be changing like this?"


    My brows deeply knit after hearing this.


    I narrowed my eyes to look at the king of the sand people and it seemed like he was implying something with the way that he looked at me. It was very clear what he was implying, it was just that it seemed a bit hard for us to accept.


    But after a while¡­


    "Is it because of our actions?"


    The king of the sand people gave a simple nod in response before waving his hand to release the filter on the third painting.


    The moment that we saw this, we couldn''t help being taken back by what we saw.

 Chapter 269 - 269: Perfect clear (2)

    It was impossible to mistake what this painting was a painting of.


    After all, there was no way that we would mistake ourselves.


    In the center of this painting, there was us leading the fight against the Abyss Demons.


    With how detailed it was, it was impossible to mistake this for someone else.


    It was the three of us and there were even our familiars added in the paintings.


    It was as if whoever made this painting had been watching everything the entire time.


    Though thinking about it, there was only one person¡­or rather one thing that could have made these paintings in the first place.


    I looked at the king of the sand people with a strange look, but he didn''t say anything as he waved his hand once more. The moment that he did, the sand filter cleared up on the fourth painting.


    This was a painting that showed us helping the sand people rebuild their village.


    The more that I looked at these paintings, the stranger that I felt about this situation.


    It really felt as if we were being controlled by something with the way that the paintings had been arranged. It was almost as if we had been following someone''s plan the entire time¡­


    It was only at this moment that the king of the sand people finally said, "I think that this should be enough proof for you, right?"


    I slowly gave a nod, but I still asked, "Just what is your reason for showing us this?"


    The king of the sand people revealed a faint smile before saying, "Now, what could be my reason for showing you this?"


    I frowned when I heard the teasing tone in his voice before suddenly turning around as if I was preparing to leave.


    The king of the sand people was surprised to see this, but then he quickly said, "Alright, alright, I''ll stop playing around."


    I stopped and turned around, but there was still one brow raised on my face as if I was skeptical of him.


    The king of the sand people knew that he wouldn''t be able to convince me if he kept playing around like this, so he suddenly said, "It''s because you''ve perfectly cleared the dungeon, so this is your reward."


    "Reward?" I repeated in a confused voice.


    With a slight nod, the king of the sand people waved his hand and released all of the sand filters on the paintings.


    With the sand filters gone, we were able to see the full picture that the paintings wanted to show us.


    It seemed that this full picture that was being painted was one that showed the way that this world was saved. However, we knew that the real history of the world wasn''t actually what was being shown here.


    After all, we certainly wouldn''t have appeared in the history of this world.


    I couldn''t help feeling even more confused when I saw the paintings that were in front of us, but I didn''t say anything right away. After all, I knew that the king of the sand people wouldn''t show us these paintings for no reason.


    The fact that he was showing them meant that there had to be a reason why he was showing this to us.


    "It doesn''t seem like this is viable." I said all of a sudden in the end.


    The king of the sand people revealed a faint smile when he heard this before saying, "In the first place, this isn''t the right way to deal with this. What we''re showing you is just one of the ways that the Abyss would try to invade. This is what happened in our world, so you can be sure that it''s possible that they''ll use it in your world."


    I revealed a slight frown when I heard this, but I didn''t deny what he was saying.


    After all, he was right that it was possible.


    It was just that this information¡­didn''t really seem that useful.


    The king of the sand people seemed like he could understand what I was thinking, so he waved his hand and released a ball of sand. This ball of sand floated over to me and remained there in the air in front of me.


    With one brow raised, I looked at the king of the sand people.


    Only when I looked at him, I found that he was already disappearing from sight.


    It seemed that whatever had been manifesting him could no longer support him, so he was disappearing for good now.


    But before he did disappear, he said, "This dungeon was created with the regrets of the people of my world. I hope that you will not have the same regrets as us in the future."


    With that, he disappeared without even giving me a chance to say anything.


    I just looked at the ball of sand that was floating there in front of me, but it didn''t seem like there was anything that was about to pop up. It seemed that whatever this thing was, it wasn''t something that my appraisal ability recognized.


    There wasn''t a single second where I thought that this ball of sand was a normal thing. S§×ar?h the N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    If it was¡­then that would make no sense at all.


    So there had to be something special about this ball of sand.


    I just stared at it for a bit, but then I grabbed it when I felt something coming from my chest.


    It was a good thing that I grabbed it in time or else it would have swallowed that ball of sand.


    The Astral White Tiger looked like it wanted to eat the ball of sand very much with the look in its eyes. It really seemed like it was trying all that it could to get to the ball of sand.


    Since even the Astral White Tiger wanted it, that just went to show how special it was.


    In that case¡­


    Before the Astral White Tiger could do anything, I put it away in my Storage Ring.


    It looked at me as if I was a bully that had taken its candy, but I knew that I couldn''t let the Astral White Tiger eat this thing.


    Instead of dwelling on this, I turned back to the black glass that was on the ground.

 Chapter 270 - 270: Revealing the Scavenger Rabbit

    It was surprising that the black glass was still there on the ground.


    It wasn''t as if it was a short period of time that we had talked for, so there should have been plenty of time for that black glass that was the corpse of the Desert Tyrant to turn into loot.


    In fact, it was strange that it didn''t turn into loot.


    Could it be that it was a boss that couldn''t drop loot?


    Was the loot the thing that the king of the sand people gave me after it was defeated¡­


    No, even if that was the case, it wasn''t as if I could just give up that easily.


    Since it was there, then that meant that I should at least give it a try.


    As such, I went forward towards the black glass and prepared to summon out of the Scavenger Rabbit.


    Seeing this, Iris and Wang Rong came back to their senses.


    The two of them had just been silently watching everything and listening to the conversation that I had with the king of the sand people. But when they saw me heading towards the Desert Tyrant''s remains, their instincts kicked in.


    It was only natural that they knew what I was planning to do, so they were planning on moving away to give me space.


    But before they could, I said, "There''s no need for that anymore. With how much we''ve been through, it''s better that I let you know. At the same time, it''s a waste of time to do all of this each time."


    There were visible looks of surprise that appeared on Iris and Wang Rong''s faces.


    Then they looked at me as if they were asking if I was certain about this.


    Seeing them like this, I just waved my hand and said, "It''s fine, come over here already."


    The two of them still seemed a bit uncertain at first, but they eventually came over to my side.


    Once they received permission, it was hard for them to keep back their curiosity.


    Both Iris and Wang Rong stretched their head forward as if they wanted to see what was happening, but they seemed disappointed when they saw that I wasn''t doing anything at all. S~ea??h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    They didn''t aim this directly at me, but it seemed that they were disappointed to see that I wasn''t doing anything.


    They must have thought that I just had some kind of skill that increased my luck when it came to loot drops.


    I couldn''t help shaking my head with a faint smile when I saw them like this before suddenly calling out the Scavenger Rabbit.


    The moment that the Scavenger Rabbit appeared, there were three shocked looks that appeared.


    Iris and Wang Rong had shocked looks because they didn''t expect to see the Scavenger Rabbit. The Scavenger Rabbit had a shocked look because it didn''t expect to see Iris and Wang Rong.


    The Scavenger Rabbit naturally knew about Iris and Wang Rong, but had never met them face to face since I had been keeping them from meeting. At the same time, it wasn''t as if the Scavenger Rabbit wanted to meet them.


    So the moment that they actually met, the first thing that the Scavenger Rabbit did was hide behind me.


    It didn''t even care about anything else, it just ran right behind my leg and hid itself from Iris and Wang Rong.


    When they recovered from their daze, Iris and Wang Rong looked at me with very strange looks.


    I didn''t need them to say anything since I already knew what these looks were for.


    After all, I had just shown them a third familiar.


    They already knew about the Echo Bat and the Astral White Tiger since I had used these two before, but the Scavenger Rabbit.


    Most people only had a single familiar and it was already rare enough that a person had two familiars.


    But three familiars¡­


    This was something that was so rare that it could be counted by a person.


    It wasn''t so high that it was impossible to count.


    That was why they were shocked.


    I didn''t bother calming them down as I focused on the Scavenger Rabbit.


    There was no telling when the Desert Tyrant''s corpse would be turned to loot by the dungeon, so I needed the Scavenger Rabbit to take care of the looting as soon as possible.


    It just really didn''t seem like it was about to come out.


    That was until it started poking its head out to look at Iris and Wang Rong.


    That was when the two of them looked down at the Scavenger Rabbit as well.


    This scared the Scavenger Rabbit even more, so I raised a hand and waved for the two of them to back away.


    They had strange bitter smiles on their faces when they saw this, but they still backed away like I asked them to do. After backing up a bit, that was when the Scavenger Rabbit poked its head out again.


    I picked up the Scavenger Rabbit after this and brought it over to the Desert Tyrant''s corpse.


    The Scavenger Rabbit didn''t look at the Desert Tyrant''s corpse at first, it continued to look in Iris and Wang Rong''s direction. However, the wary look that was on the Scavenger Rabbit''s face was more than enough to show what it was feeling.


    But eventually, it turned to look at the Desert Tyrant''s corpse when it saw that Iris and Wang Rong weren''t moving.


    Its eyes lit up after seeing the Desert Tyrant''s corpse and it didn''t waste any time in digging into it.


    Iris and Wang Rong had strange looks again before Wang Rong asked, "Boss, this is¡­"


    Before he could say anything else, I raised a hand to stop him and put one finger to my lip as if I was telling him to be quiet.


    Wang Rong and Iris and strange looks, but they fell silent at that.


    But then, there were looks of shock on their faces when they saw what the Scavenger Rabbit did.

 Chapter 271 - 271: The real reason behind the Hidden Dungeons

    "Boss, is this really happening?" Wang Rong rubbed his eyes as he looked at the Scavenger Rabbit.


    I just gave a simple nod before saying, "You can''t tell anyone about this."


    There were bitter smiles that appeared on the faces of Wang Rong and Iris.


    It was as if they were saying, "Even if we wanted to, would anyone believe us if we told them about this?"


    I didn''t say anything else as I took a look at what the Scavenger Rabbit was holding up, but I didn''t bother using any of the items.


    There was no mistaking that these items were definitely powerful and rare items, it was just that these weren''t things that we needed to use right now.


    These were situational items that we could only use when the time came.


    But still, I took one of the items and gave it to the Astral White Tiger.


    It looked like it wasn''t as happy about this, it looked like there was something else that it wanted and this was just a downgrade of that. However, the Astral White Tiger still took this thing in the end and put it in its mouth.


    I shook my head with a faint smile before patting the Astral White Tiger on the head.


    Then turning to Wang Rong and Iris, I asked, "Shall we leave then?"


    The two of them still had bitter smiles on their faces when they looked at me, but they still nodded in agreement.


    Though what Iris did after this did surprise me.


    She walked over to the Scavenger Rabbit, which made it run behind my leg again. However, Iris didn''t give up this time as she took something out from her Storage Ring and held it up in front of her.


    The Scavenger Rabbit slowly peeked its head out from behind my leg when it smelled the thing that Iris was holding.


    It looked at it curiously before slowly coming out from behind my leg.


    Eventually, it moved over to where Iris'' hand was and took the thing from her hand before moving back behind my leg to start chewing on it.


    It took two more carrots for Iris to be able to take the Scavenger Rabbit in her hands.


    The way that the Scavenger Rabbit looked at her was as if it was asking for more carrots.


    Looking at the two of them like this, I really couldn''t help shaking my head with a bitter smile.


    This Scavenger Rabbit, it really didn''t have a sense of danger at all.


    It seemed like it would follow whoever fed it¡­


    Still, this wasn''t the time to teach the Scavenger Rabbit a lesson.


    With a sigh, I led them into the portal that led out of the Hidden Dungeon.


    There was this flash of light and this strange sensation that was different from when we left any other normal dungeon, but we eventually returned to the same place as before.


    This was the entrance to the Desert Tyrant''s Oasis.


    Looking at the portal that led into the Hidden Dungeon, it didn''t seem like anything had changed about it.


    Even though we had perfectly cleared it, it didn''t seem like it was about to disappear.


    "Will it remain until the Abyss itself disappears? Is it because their world was absorbed by the Abyss or is it because they remain to warn as many people as possible?" I couldn''t help muttering to myself under my breath.


    The more that I thought about it, the more that I thought that it was the latter.


    After all, the king of the sand people had said that this was a place that was filled with the regret of his people.


    In a sense, that meant that this was a place that was created with the regrets of the sand people.


    That regret was related to how they let their world be taken over by the Abyss, losing everything that they had in the end. So the only way that they could make up for this regret was trying to help as many people as they could fight against the Abyss.


    Then as long as the Abyss existed, this Hidden Dungeon would exist.


    "Is it the same for the other Hidden Dungeons? He did say that there were more than a single Hidden Dungeon that was in this place."


    The more that I thought about it, the more that I wanted to keep searching for more Hidden Dungeons.


    But there was something else that had to be done first.


    We had spent quite a bit of time in this place already because of the Hidden Dungeon.


    At the same time, we had already earned quite a few contribution points because we cleared the Hidden Dungeon.


    "Should we head back?" I asked Wang Rong and Iris.


    Though we could have stayed in the Abyss longer, it was still a good idea to leave to check on what was happening outside. As well, it was a good idea to raise our ranks since we were still private first class.


    Wang Rong and Iris were both in agreement to this, so we headed back to the entrance of the Abyss.


    With Iris mapping out everything, it was easy for us to find our way back.


    It was just that we found that there were quite a few people that were gathered there.


    It seemed strange that there were so many people that were all gathered at the entrance like this.


    At the same time, we could see their ranks from the badges that they wore.


    At least half of the people that were gathered here were all sergeants.


    At the same time, there were even a few captains that were present.


    There was no doubt that something serious was happening with all of these high ranking officers gathering here.


    But seeing that we were just private first class, they didn''t really engage with us and we left the Abyss without a problem. Sear?h the N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Though what came next did cause a large stir.

 Chapter 272 - 272: Fastest promotion

    The first thing that we did after coming out of the Abyss was report in.


    There was no telling what could have happened, so it was best to report in before anything else.


    When we did, we saw a familiar face at the registration tent which also doubled as the office for this camp.


    "I wasn''t expecting to see you here." That familiar person waved his hand at us as he said this with a smile on his face.


    "I certainly wasn''t expecting you either." I said with a faint smile.


    The one that was there was Yun Tian, the sergeant that led the subjugation team that had been sent to Abyss Demon camp.


    It seemed like he had been taking care of something when he noticed us approaching, but it also seemed like he was more interested in us than what he was taking care of.


    Now that we were out of the Abyss, it wasn''t as if there was anything to lose by being friendly with him. At the same time, he was the one that wanted to befriend us first, so it was only natural that I treated him like this.


    "How was it? Was your first trip fruitful?" Yun Tian asked with a curious tone to his voice.


    I gave a nod before turning to the person behind the desk.


    Instead of telling him, it was easier just to show him.


    The person behind the desk had already heard everything and he had worked here for a while, so he was very familiar with what to do. In fact, this person was the person that had helped us register in the first place and it seemed that he recognized us as well.


    So it seemed that he was also curious about how we did.


    But the moment that he took our badges to help us process our reporting, there was a shocked look that appeared on his face. That look of shock soon turned into a look of disbelief as he looked at the badges closely to make sure that everything was alright.


    Only when he was done, he turned back to look at us with strange looks.


    Yun Tian also noticed this, so he couldn''t help asking, "What''s wrong?"


    The person behind the desk slowly turned to look at Yun Tian before saying, "It''s just that this is the fastest promotion that I''ve ever seen¡­"


    Yun Tian looked even more confused when he heard this before saying, "Let me see."


    If it was someone else, they might not have been allowed to look at this private information. But the person behind the desk knew who Yun Tian was and what kind of reputation he had.


    As such, he allowed him to take a look.


    But the moment that Yun Tian saw the information being displayed, there was a strange look that appeared on his face as well.


    He slowly turned to look at me before asking, "How did you get all these contribution points?"


    I shook my head with a faint smile before saying, "We just did what was necessary. It''s our duty as members of the Abyss Guards."


    Yun Tian narrowed his eyes to look at me after I said this, but then a smile appeared on his face and he shook his head at me. But in the end, Yun Tian didn''t say anything as he turned back to the person behind the desk and said, "It''s fine, this is just how they are. I already knew that they would do something big." S~ea??h the N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The person behind the desk also gave a nod since he knew better than Yun Tian that these things couldn''t be falsified.


    In the end, he finished up the things that had to be taken care of and handed the badges back to us.


    But the moment that we got our badges, it was our turn to be shocked.


    "Why are we sergeants?" I asked in a shocked voice.


    Yun Tian and the person behind the desk looked at me with strange looks when they heard this.


    After a moment of silence, Yun Tian finally asked, "Do you really now know?"


    I shook my head when he asked me this.


    Yun Tian broke out in laughter when he saw this before saying, "You''re definitely the first one that I''ve seen that''s done something like this."


    I looked at him with a strange look before saying, "We only had around three thousand and five hundred contribution points each. It should have only been enough for them to become private seventh grade and for me to become private eighth grade."


    I had made sure to check our contribution points before leaving the Abyss, so I was confused why there were these extra two thousand contribution points that suddenly appeared that pushed all three of us to sergeant.


    Yun Tian looked at me with a strange look when he heard this which made me confused.


    I didn''t think that there was anything strange about what I said after all.


    After looking at me like this for a bit, he finally shook his head and said with another chuckle, "It seems like you really did forget."


    "Forget?" I repeated in a confused voice.


    With another chuckle, Yun Tian said, "The subjugation team. For your part, you received two thousand contribution points. That''s part of the reason why everyone joined in the first place."


    A look of surprise appeared on my face that made Yun Tian say, "It seems like you really don''t know. Well, that''s to be expected since you''re new to the Abyss Guards. It isn''t as if we just force people to do these things."


    So that was how we were pushed to become sergeants¡­


    Well, it wasn''t as if it was a bad thing to get more contribution points, it was just that we would surely attract a lot of attention like this¡­


    Still, it wasn''t as if that was necessarily a bad thing.


    This was also one of the requirements that was necessary to return.


    Only those that were at the sergeant level would be able to freely leave the Abyss Guard camp after all.


    So it could be said that I had already finished the mission that Mu Gong had assigned me.

 Chapter 273 - 273: Big event

    There were a few more things that had to be taken care of since all three of us had become sergeants.


    It was just a few things that the person behind the desk had for us.


    Since we were sergeants now, it was only natural that we would receive extra benefits.


    This was one of the rewards that came with the promotion.


    But at the same time, there were a few things that the person behind the desk had to explain to us.


    As sergeants, it was only natural that we should get extra responsibilities.


    These were responsibilities that matched the new benefits that we received.


    When it was over, Yun Tian walked us out of the tent while asking, "Really, what did you encounter that you obtained all of those contribution points."


    I hesitated for a second before leaning in. Even after leaning in, I made sure to look around to make sure that there weren''t any people listening in on us.


    "We found a Hidden Dungeon."


    Yun Tian raised a brow as he looked at me, as if he was doubting what I said. However, I just looked right back at him with the same calm look on my face.


    Only after that did he suddenly say with a whistle, "Then you really are lucky. Hidden Dungeons certainly can give you quite a bit of contribution points, but they are incredibly rare to find."


    I gave a nod, but it wasn''t as if I really had anything to reference since it was my first time in the Abyss.


    After walking with Yun Tian a bit, I suddenly asked him, "Do you know what''s happening by the entrance? There were a lot of people that were gathered there."


    Yun Tian didn''t answer right away when I asked this question.


    The look on his face was as if he was considering whether he should tell me or not.


    But eventually he said, "It''s because something big happened."


    I raised a brow to look at him after he said this, only it didn''t seem like he was going to say anything else with the way that he looked back at me.


    He just looked at me like this for a bit, as if he was thinking about something else.


    But eventually he waved his hand for us to follow him.


    Yun Tian led us over to one of the tents and then led us to a compartment in that tent.


    Before we entered, he had a chat with someone that was in the main compartment of this tent and that person put a sign on the flap leading to this compartment we were in.


    I could sense that there was some kind of mana that was coming from that sign, which showed that it was a special magic item. Though I really didn''t know what kind of magic item this was.


    Yun Tian didn''t seem worried about this as he sat down on one of the chairs that was in this place and then he gestured to the chairs in front of him.


    I looked at him with one brow raised, but I sat down in the end.


    When I sat down, he suddenly said, "I''m sure that you''ve noticed that my team isn''t with me."


    I slowly gave a nod in response to this, but I had actually assumed that he was just here because he was handling some matter outside of his normal tasks. I had assumed that his team had gone to rest since they had just come back from the subjugation quest.


    But now that he said this, it seemed that there was more than met the eye.


    Yun Tian continued by saying, "They''re all gathered by the entrance as well as everyone else. I just came out here to take care of some supply issues, I was planning to head back in after I was done."


    Once again, I gave a nod. But this time, I asked, "What is so special that everyone''s gathering?"


    Yun Tian paused for a few seconds before saying, "Since you''re new to this, you most likely don''t know about this. It''s an event that happens every so often since it''s something those Abyss Demons do."


    I raised a brow to look at him without saying anything.


    With the way that he was acting, it really seemed like Yun Tian was being mysterious for no reason.


    He paused once more before finally saying, "It''s an invasion force."


    This wasn''t what I had been expecting, but it did make sense.


    There was a reason why the Abyss had manifested as a special dungeon in the first place. It was the place that the Abyss Demons were using to invade our world.


    The only strange thing was how casual Yun Tian had said this.


    Seeing the way that I looked at him, Yun Tian added, "This is something that happens quite often, but we''ve never had a problem before because the Abyss Demons have never been able to overpower our Abyss Guards. It''s just that this time¡­"


    He looked like there was something that he didn''t want to say.


    I couldn''t help knitting my brows when I saw him acting like this.


    In the end, Yun Tian finally said with a sigh, "You''re related to this as well since you were on the subjugation team. It''s the fact that they were trying to kidnap people to hold that ceremony. For them to invade after that ceremony failed, it seems like the Abyss Demons really are planning something."


    I slowly nodded in agreement to this, but it wasn''t as if I really had an idea of what he was saying.


    It wasn''t our first week, but it was our second week in the Abyss Guards.


    We certainly didn''t know as much as Yun Tian did. S§×ar?h the n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    However, it didn''t seem like Yun Tian was interested in explaining as he suddenly said, "Anyway, you don''t have to fight in this battle since you just came back from your first expedition into the Abyss. But if I had to give you some advice as your senior, this is the one that you''ll want to be a part of."

 Chapter 274 - 274: Preparing for a fight against the Abyss Demons

    I couldn''t help narrowing my eyes to look at Yun Tian after he said this.


    However, it didn''t seem like he was going to tell me anything else with the way that he looked right back at all.


    It seemed like this was all that he was willing to say, even though he had just called himself a senior.


    Perhaps there was something else that was at play here, something that was much higher up. He might know something because of his connections, but it made it awkward for him to tell us anything.


    Yun Tian just had that same calm look on his face the entire time, as if he wasn''t bothered by the way that I looked at him. S§×ar?h the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    So in the end, I said with a sigh, "When are you planning to head back in?"


    A faint smile appeared on his face when he heard this before he said, "I was planning on resting tonight before heading back in."


    After a pause that seemed like he was thinking about something, Yun Tian added, "It doesn''t hurt to tell you this. The scouts have been watching the Abyss Demons come in and based on what they''ve seen, they say that it''ll take around a week before the Abyss Demons actually arrive. So we''ll have that long to prepare before the fight begins. As for their numbers¡­"


    His voice trailed off at this as a look of thought appeared on his face.


    It was as if he was debating on whether he should tell me or not, but in the end¡­


    "Well, you''ll know when they report it."


    I guess it was a secret for now that they were only sharing with certain people.


    It wasn''t hard to guess why they were doing this.


    The more people that knew about this, the more likely that it would spread. At the same time, they were most likely trying to keep panic at a minimum by sealing off this information.


    Still, it was information that I would have liked to know.


    But in the end, it wasn''t as if I could force Yun Tian to give me this information.


    If he wasn''t willing to share, there was nothing that I could do about it.


    After telling me a few more things, that was when Yun Tian decided that this conversation was done.


    It wasn''t that it was getting late, it was just that¡­


    "I have a few more things to take care of, so I''ll let you get ready as well. I''ll come and pick you up tomorrow morning and we can head back into the Abyss tomorrow."


    I gave a nod to show that I agreed with this.


    If Yun Tian was willing to do this, then it certainly would help us.


    After all, Yun Tian was someone with connections based on what he had demonstrated just now. It was clear that he was someone that had a lot of information that could be shared.


    As such, it was good to keep him close.


    Once Yun Tian was gone, I looked at Wang Rong and Iris and the three of us had the same idea.


    So we headed to the tent that we had been given.


    As sergeants, we had been given our private tents since that was one of the privileges that sergeants received. However, there was something else that sergeants could also ask for.


    In most cases, sergeants were able to ask for a bigger tent if they were in a group since it would be shared with their group.


    Most sergeants would have a team to support them after all since it was unlikely that they would reach their position alone.


    As such, it was only natural that headquarters would provide a place for the entire team.


    Though we couldn''t help being surprised seeing the tent that we were given.


    We had seen some of the tents that sergeants were given for their teams, so we already had a good idea of what to expect. It was just that the tent that was in front of us was completely different from what we had been expecting.


    It was much bigger than the normal tents given to sergeants and their teams.


    "Is it because all three of us are sergeants?" I couldn''t help slowly asking this.


    Iris and Wang Rong slowly nodded in agreement to this.


    Still, even if we didn''t know why they gave us this large tent, that didn''t change the fact that this was better than the tent that we had been expecting. It wasn''t just much bigger than a normal tent, it also seemed like it was much more well equipped and there was even extra space if we wanted to recruit anyone to our team.


    It really seemed like they were setting us up to succeed, but also¡­it seemed like they wanted to push us to get more people in our group.


    But I really didn''t want anyone that I couldn''t trust with all my heart, so that wouldn''t happen.


    "Let''s split these things and see if we can prepare some stuff for tomorrow."


    That was the first thing that we discussed after reaching our new tent.


    At the same time, I pulled out several things from my Storage Ring that I placed in front of the two of them.


    They looked at me with a surprised look before that became a strange look.


    I could easily see what they were asking when they looked at me with this kind of look, so I just gave a simple nod in response to confirm that it was the Scavenger Rabbit that got me all of this.


    While they had been focused on fighting the Abyss Demons, I had the Scavenger Rabbit do its thing and gathered quite a bit of resources.


    "Well, I''ll take this then and see if they can make anything useful for me." Wang Rong took a few things that would be used to make armour and such.


    Iris took a few random things as well before saying, "I''ll see if they can make any potions or medicines."


    With a nod, I took the rest and said, "Then I''ll take care of the rest."


    With this plan in mind, we split up and headed off in different directions.

 Chapter 275 - 275: Strange tools

    Though I had taken the rest with confidence, I really didn''t know what to do with them.


    There was a reason why neither Iris or Wang Rong took these things.


    It was simply because they wouldn''t know what to do with them either. S~ea??h the N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Unlike the materials that could be made into armour and medicine, these items were just scrap items that couldn''t really be used for much.


    Well, it wasn''t as if they were complete scrap items since they were still rare items. These were items that had an abundance of mana in them, so they weren''t normal items.


    The problem was that they didn''t have a conventional use.


    They were things like eyeballs, tails, and such.


    These things really didn''t work well with armour and if they were used in potions, they would have strange effects.


    So they weren''t things that were used that often.


    Since this was the case, I really didn''t know where I was supposed to go to process these things. With the way that I was wandering around, it almost seemed like I was some kind of lost child wandering around the camp.


    If it wasn''t for the badge that was on my chest showing that I was a member of the Abyss Guards and even a sergeant, then someone certainly would have tried to shoo me away.


    Though I did receive quite a few strange looks.


    After all, it wasn''t as if it was normal to see a sergeant wandering around like this.


    For the other sergeants, they had the connections that they had built up over time.


    It wasn''t the same for me since I hadn''t even been here that long. There just wasn''t the time for me to make these connections because of the fast promotion that I received.


    So I really didn''t know what to do with these items that I was carrying.


    In the end, I didn''t have to do anything.


    "Young man, those are some strange things that you''re holding there."


    I was surprised to hear this and I even had to look around to make sure that whoever was talking was actually talking to me. But eventually I saw that there was a one eyed old man who was waving at me.


    I pointed at myself to make sure that he was even talking to me and he just gruffly waved his hand as if he was telling me to come over.


    There was a moment of hesitation that came over me as I didn''t know what this one eyed old man even wanted, but eventually I went over to see.


    After all, this was the camp of the Abyss Guards.


    It wasn''t as if anyone would be able to infiltrate this place that easily and they wouldn''t do anything crazy.


    This was a place that was considered the frontlines against the Abyss, a place that many people paid attention to. There were plenty of powerful people in this camp at any time.


    After walking over, I couldn''t help being surprised by the things that were inside of this one eyed old man''s tent.


    Most of this surprise came from the fact that I just didn''t recognize the things that were here.


    I tried figuring out what these things were based on context, but I just had no idea what they were. It seemed like they were some kind of tools, but I couldn''t exactly tell what these tools were for.


    Seeing that I was looking at them, the one eyed old man suddenly revealed a smile before saying, "You admiring those tools of mine? They''ve been with me all this time now and I wouldn''t trade them for anything."


    I could only awkwardly give a nod since I had no idea what these things were even for before asking, "Is there something that I can help you with?"


    The one eyed old man gave a nod as if he was showing his appreciation before saying, "Straight to the point, I like that. Alright, I''ll tell you what I called you here for."


    He came over and picked up the eyeball that I had been holding.


    He moved at a speed that caught me off guard, so I wasn''t able to hold onto the eyeball as he took it. But I didn''t reach out to take it back since I could tell that he didn''t mean any harm.


    In fact, it even seemed like he could see something from this eyeball.


    After looking at the eyeball for a bit, the one eyed old man said, "I''ll make something out of this for you. Consider it your lucky day."


    "Huh?" I was completely caught off guard when I heard this, but it didn''t seem like the one eyed old man cared about my reaction. Instead, it seemed like he was already planning on doing what he wanted to do as he reached for his tools.


    Still, when I came back to my senses, I had to ask, "What are you making?"


    The one eyed old man acted like he didn''t hear anything at first as he continued using his tools on the eyeball, but he still spoke when I wanted to say something. It seemed that he did notice the way that I was looking at him as he spoke.


    "Keep it down, I''m trying to focus. This is the most important part right now."


    A very awkward look appeared on my face after hearing this.


    I really wanted to know what the one eyed old man was doing, but it really seemed like he was too focused to even notice anything around him.


    In the end, I was slowly starting to understand what he was doing.


    That was because the thing that he was creating was taking shape.


    The eyeball had been used by the one eyed old man to form some kind of ring.


    It even seemed like the eyeball had been brought back to life with the way that it moved around.


    Eventually it even started to blink.


    I couldn''t help looking at this one eyed old man with a strange look when I saw this.


    Just what kind of strange tools did he use to make this ring?

 Chapter 276 - 276: Strange accessories

    But other than the strange appearance of this ring, there was something else that this ring possessed.


    It was the powerful mana that seemed to be contained within this ring.


    Even standing on the side, I could sense the powerful mana fluctuations that were coming from the ring. It was clear that this ring was anything but normal if they were giving off these kinds of mana fluctuations.


    Only I had no idea what this ring was capable of.


    All I could feel were the mana fluctuations coming from the ring.


    It took a while longer for the one eyed old man to finish the accessory.


    When he was finally finished, he took one good look at the ring before giving a satisfied nod as if he was happy with his work. Only then did he turn back to me and raise the hand with the ring in it as if he was handing it back to me.


    I looked at him with a strange look and didn''t take the ring from him.


    As if he could guess what I was thinking, the one eyed old man said, "It''s free."


    "Huh?" I was caught off guard when I heard him say this.


    The one eyed old man didn''t hesitate to say, "Why do you think I''m helping you make this thing anyway? It''s something that''s covered by the Abyss Guards, so you don''t need to worry about it."


    "Oh¡­" I said as I slowly started to understand what he meant by this.


    I had been so focused on the work of the one eyed old man that I had actually forgotten where we were.


    This was the camp of the Abyss Guards, so everyone that was here had to be related to the Abyss Guards in some way. For the one eyed old man to be here, it meant that he was someone that was hired by the Abyss Guards.


    So it turned out that he was an accessory craftsman for the Abyss Guards, that was why he had been able to turn the eyeball into this ring.


    Only I couldn''t help wondering just who he was.


    To do something like this, he had to have some kind of fame¡­


    It was just that I had never heard of this person before¡­


    It didn''t make sense that someone with his skills would remain, so there had to be a reason why I didn''t know him.


    "Are you going to take it or not?" The one eyed old man interrupted my thoughts and I was pulled back to reality.


    I just looked at the ring that he was holding out for me for a bit before slowly taking it and looking it over.


    Though I was looking over the ring, I still couldn''t figure out what this ring did, so I asked, "What does it do?"


    "Wave it around and you''ll find out." The one eyed old man said with a playful smile.


    "Huh?" I looked at him with a confused look and even thought that he was playing with me, but it didn''t seem like he was going to say anything else.


    So in the end, all I could do was follow his instructions. sea??h th§× N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    I waved the ring around in front of me and waited to see what it did.


    "Flash, flash."


    There were a few flashes of light that came from the ring before¡­


    "Clash! Clunk! Thud!"


    There were these loud sounds that came from in front of me. I had looked away for a second because of the flash that came from the ring, but I turned back to see that there were soldiers that were on the ground.


    Some of them even seemed like they were frozen in place with how they didn''t move.


    It was as if they had been paralyzed by something.


    I slowly looked at the eyeball ring that was on my hand before saying, "It can''t be that¡­"


    "Ha, ha, ha!" My suspicions were confirmed when I heard a laugh coming from behind me.


    I turned to see that it was the one eyed old man who was laughing while looking at where the crash happened.


    With the way that he looked in that direction and was even laughing, it was very clear what happened. He was the cause of this¡­well, I was the cause of it, but he was the one that instigated it by telling me to wave the ring.


    So it seemed that this ring had some kind of paralyzing effect¡­


    But this wasn''t the time to think about that as I had caused quite a mess.


    So the only thing that I could do was go over there and compensate the soldiers that I had inconvenienced with the flashing from the ring.


    They looked at me with glares, but it seemed that they dropped the matter when they saw the Abyss Guard badge that was on my chest.


    Of course, I didn''t want to let things end just like this since it felt wrong, so I took out some things to compensate them with which made them happier to settle this matter here.


    Once that was over, I turned back to say a few things to the one eyed old man, but I found that he had reached his hand out towards me as if he was waiting for me to give him something.


    I just looked at him with a confused look since I had no idea what he wanted.


    Seeing the way that I looked at him, the one eyed old man said with a sigh, "I can sense it, you still have other materials don''t you? Just hand them over and I''ll help you turn them into accessories as well. That will be considered a bit of an apology from me."


    One might have been fooled by him if they hadn''t thought things through.


    I wasn''t one of those people.


    He was being paid for this work by the Abyss Guards, so he would earn money for this. There was nothing that he was losing even though he made it sound like he was the one losing something.


    But in the end, I still handed the materials over.


    It was better to turn these materials into accessories that could be used instead of keeping them.

 Chapter 277 - 277: Making new friends (1)

    The one eyed old man didn''t waste any time in taking those materials and getting to work with his tools.


    With his tools, he was able to quickly turn those materials that I handed him into a bunch of accessories.


    All of them had the same strange aesthetic as the ring, but I could sense the powerful mana fluctuations coming from these accessories as well. That was more than enough to show that these accessories weren''t that weak.


    Plus, there was still the demonstration that I had done with the ring on my mind.


    That had shown that the ring had a powerful ability, so there was no need to doubt that these accessories would also have powerful abilities.


    When he was done, the one eyed old man looked at the accessories that he made with a satisfied look before handing them over.


    Though the one thing that he didn''t do was tell me what these accessories did.


    It seemed that he was determined to let me figure this out on my own.


    However, I still remembered what happened when I tried to figure out what the ring did on my own. I was a bit afraid of using these things the more that he acted like this.


    But in the end, the one eyed old man said, "It''s my job to help you, do you really think that I would make things that would harm you?"


    A bitter smile appeared on my face, but I didn''t say anything.


    Sometimes, when you didn''t have good things to say, it was better not to say anything at all.


    This was one of those cases.


    Seeing that I didn''t say anything, the one eyed old man didn''t bother saying anything else as he just waved his hand at me. With the way that he was waving his hand, it was almost as if he was dismissing me.


    That made the bitter smile on my face fill with even more bitterness.


    But in the end, I still said, "Thanks for this."


    At that, I turned around to leave.


    Though from the small peek backwards that I took, I could see that there was a faint smile that was on the one eyed old man''s face.


    If I obtained more materials in this invasion this time, I could come back and have him make something else for me.


    Though I hoped that he would make something more normal this time.


    After I left though, there was something that happened that I wasn''t aware of.


    "You can come out now." The one eyed old man suddenly spoke out loud, but it didn''t seem like he was saying this to anyone in particular.


    However, after a moment of silence, there was someone that appeared.


    "I never thought that you would pick up your tools again. It''s been a long time since you''ve made anything for us Abyss Guards, I thought that you retired."


    The one eyed old man gave a snort before saying, "There isn''t anything that''s worth my attention. If you can get me something that I''m excited about, then I''ll make something for you."


    "Oh, so what is it about that child that makes you excited? It can''t be the items that he brought, right?"


    The old eyed old man didn''t say anything at first, but then he said, "You should know who he is. That old fool asked us to look after him, didn''t he?"


    The person that appeared didn''t say anything either, but eventually he said with a nod, "But that alone shouldn''t be enough for you to go that far."


    "The things that he brought out were all rare at his level. For him to gather all these things¡­well he''s either very lucky or he''s been working hard."


    The person raised one brow to look at the one eyed old man.


    The one eyed old man didn''t look at him, but he could tell that this person was looking at him. So in the end, he said with a sigh, "You''ve most likely also heard that he had the fastest promotion, right?"


    This time a serious look appeared on that person''s face as he gave a slow nod.


    The one eyed old man continued by saying, "Just consider it a little reward and my way of making sure that he comes back alive. At the same time¡­well, consider it making a new friend. I can tell that he won''t be that simple in the future."


    The person narrowed his eyes when he heard this before turning back in the direction that Lin Fan walked off in. Sear?h the ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    After a moment of silence, he muttered under his breath, "Making a new friend, huh?"


    Though the two of them were talking in the middle of the camp like this, it was as if no one could see them. It was as if everyone just walked past them without hearing a single thing that they were saying.


    With how they were ignored, it was almost as if they were ghosts.


    But how could they do something like this?


    Unless, they were¡­


    The person that appeared all of a sudden, he also had a badge on his chest.


    It was just that there were five stars on that badge.


    ¡­


    After coming back, I had an evil idea.


    "Why don''t you guys try these accessories out? I made them special for you."


    That night, they slept well.


    After all, the accessories had been as I had expected them to be.


    They were things that were powerful, but they were dangerous if not used properly.


    So it was a good thing that I didn''t test those accessories out myself or else I certainly would have suffered quite a bit.


    When morning came¡­


    "Oh, what''s wrong with you guys? It seems like you''re a bit grumpy this morning." Yun Tian asked with one brow raised when he came to pick us up.


    I revealed a faint smile as I said, "Well, it''s just that we slept on the wrong side of the bed."


    Both Iris and Wang Rong glared at me when they heard this.