Goosebumps ran through my body.

"Hey, why did everyone shut up?"

That sentence alone, even though we hadn't even fought him properly yet, sent an echo in our eardrums.

*Tudum-Tudum-Tudum!*

The warrior's heart, sensing the enemy, pumped blood non-stop, dispersing oxygen throughout his body. It began to prepare for the worst that could happen before its head.

In the silence that followed, I cautiously turned my gaze to my comrades.

Everyone froze. Probably, they subconsciously felt the same ominous sensation that this guy radiated with his whole body.

"Hello?" The man frowned and spoke again. "Are you really going to just stand?"

Thanks to this, my mind calmed down a little. Time is gold. There was no time to lose a minute or a second, which were now priceless. Therefore, with my ears and eyes open, I met the eyes of the enemy and quickly gathered information that I could have missed.

"Hey, barbarian. Shouldn't you say thank you? You easily defeated him thanks to me."

That person knew about this place, so as soon as he sensed our presence, he immediately ran to the boss's room.

But...

It was too fast.

Arrive at the same time as us when we had the card? This was impossible unless he found the exact path without wandering.

How is this possible?

What is this skill?

I had to find out. Our future plans depended on this.

In retrospect, the answer was in the previous conversation.

"If we hadn't donated another hand, we might not have made it."

To donate a hand.

It was clear whose hand he was talking about. It must have belonged to the unfortunate man behind him.

... It must be a priest of Karui.

That was the luck of misfortune. If he was just looking for his way through his scout abilities, he wouldn't stand a chance.

"I beg you. Please take the object you need and let them go."

The old man I thought was a priest serving an evil god didn't seem to be very cooperative with the leader either.

Had he kidnapped a priest and forced him to change classes? And the person who donated his hand is in a similar situation?

Within three breaths, calmly analyzing the situation, I opened my mouth, but did not have time.

"Well, it doesn't matter. I'm just-... — the leader began.

"I never expected to meet a researcher in a place like this," I said.

"So you're not dumb after all?"

When I broke the silence, the man looked at me with merry eyes. Okay, that bought time.

"Do you happen to know how to get out of here?"

I casually asked what he knew.

The more I look like an amateur, the less vigilant he will be.

"You... Who are you? Suddenly his cold voice rang out.

What the hell? What did I do wrong?

As I pondered this, the man narrowed his eyes.

"Did those sons of turn on the yellow light?" And not green?

Instead of interest or curiosity, there was wariness in his eyes.

Unconsciously, my gaze shifted to the ring on his finger. It looked like a numbered object familiar to me, which I called a traffic light ring, studded with green, red and yellow gems.

No 6111: Destiny Seeker.

If it lit up green, then it meant a positive event. A red light meant a negative event, and a yellow light warned that an ambiguous event was taking place nearby. The ring glowed yellow.

Bloody hell.

So what does it mean to feel a mixture of joy and sadness? If the ring is yellow, then there is at least some chance that I will defeat it. That was good news for me. The bad news was that he figured it out too.

We're screwed.

The only advantage of the weak - to lull the vigilance of the strong - disappeared because of this cursed ring.

"You know what it is, don't you?"

To make matters worse, he even noticed my brief reaction and openly showed his true colors.

*Screeching metal!*

He pulled out a blade of silvery-blue light from his belt. The dwarven blacksmith was the first to react to this blinding light.

"It's the sword from the arch...

Arch is a Class 6 metal, considered almost the most advanced in this world, and capable of gnawing through almost any object.

That's why I'd rather have a large number of enemies. The higher the explorer's floor, the greater the difference in equipment, as well as the rank and number of essences.

He is at least from the 9th floor.

However, I did not turn away and accepted the cruel reality as it is. It wasn't a clan of dozens of people. Assuming that his skills matched the equipment, then he was a strong player who could be active on the 9th floor with five people. In addition, he must have at least eight essences, and they were all above rank 5.

— Barbarian.

At this point, it didn't matter what kind of abilities he had. He was at such a level that he could destroy all five of us without the help of a priest.

"Give me the object you found inside." If you don't want to die.

At that moment, I decided what I had to do to survive. And so I take out the gem I got in the boss's room.

"Oh, you're talking about that?"

Initially, it was Plan G: to refuse everything he asked for and beg for my life.

"So you have it." Now give it to me. Then I will let you live.

—…

I stared at him in silence. As the silence dragged on, my teammates opened their mouths one by one.

— ... We are not against it. Just give it to him. We don't even know what it is for.

— I also agree. Isn't it better to avoid a fight if possible?

It was not even worth listening to them. This jewel was the only reason we were still alive. How could I make a loan deal with a crazy bastard who kidnapped a priest and forced him to convert to an evil god? This was out of the question.

When I opened my mouth carefully, it caught everyone's attention.

The man was also silently watching me. A mischievous, haughty smile played on his lips, which seemed to already know what choice I would make. So I smiled too.

"Damn, I'm hungry!"

— ... A what?

At the moment when the guy was confused by my sudden words, I, without hesitation, put the jewel in my mouth and...

*Swallow!*

I forced myself to swallow it. The esophagus hurt from the strong push of a jewel the size of a tangerine, but come on. This will be resolved in a few seconds.

*Belch!*

There was a belching sound as I fought the urge to vomit. Then everyone came to their senses.

"What does that mean?" The man asked, his eyes sparkling with murderous energy.

"I just wanted to do it!" I answered.

— …

— …

After that, there was a very short silence. The man stared at me, as if trying to figure out what kind of psycho was in front of him. I guess my team members weren't much different from him, but it didn't matter. Doing what was necessary, without paying attention to the opinion of others, was the tradition of the barbarians.

"Barbarian, don't even think about a painless death.

The man pushed off the ground and rushed towards me at a speed that was difficult to correlate to the same indicator as mine.

*Whoosh!*

His long sword pierced my shield without resistance. It was obvious what he was thinking. He was probably going to kill me and gut me to take the gem.

So? What is he going to do?

I applied force to my shield and changed the direction of the piercing blade, towards my stomach.

—…!!!

Perhaps understanding my intention, he hastily put away his sword. He must have known that the strength of the gem I had swallowed was not too great.

"Was that your plan?"

I did not deny it. It was Plan D, which replaced all the plans that I had discarded.

"!

*Belch!*

Sue me. Now I really had no choice but to see it through.

***

The man's eyes continued to roll. He continued to look for a suitable opportunity. If he could cut off my head right away, then all he had to do was cut open my stomach and take it.

But this is without a chance.

I hit my stomach with a fist the size of a watermelon.

*Boom! Boom!*

With every wave of my hand, his eyes flickered. It was clear from his face that he was afraid that the object in my stomach might crack.

"Oh, it's just bloating.

— ... Crazy bastard.

It was a pleasant description.

No one can avoid walking on fallen leaves in the fall. But what about dirt? You can accidentally step on it, but no one does it on purpose.

I stopped beating my stomach. The key to Plan E was not to cross the line. This should be a sufficient warning.

"What do you want?" The man tried to strike up a conversation. Not wanting to provoke me, he had already put his sword in his belt.

yes, so this subject is so important to you?

If I could, I wanted to tease him even more, but I quietly crossed to the other side of the aisle with my comrades and got down to business.

"One day." Just give us one day.

"You're not asking me to let you go?" The man looked at me curiously.

It's not that I didn't understand. Anyone in a similar situation would ask for something like that.

"I don't beg for my life in this way.

To be more precise, I would not do anything meaningless.

"Give me one day."

I realized that this is the maximum that he can give.

"Then I won't do anything cowardly.

"How can I trust you?" The man asked abruptly.

Without hesitation, I revealed my prepared move.

"By the honor of a warrior. We are exhausted from not sleeping for several days. But if you wait even one day, I will fight fairly and justly.

As if I wanted it from the beginning, as if I didn't want to take such a cowardly step from the start.

When I showed my fighting spirit and shot back, the indecisive man quietly asked:

"Do you really think you can win?"

I grinned.

Can I win? Well, I still thought the odds were slim, but so what?

"Is this a reason to give up?"

Without resorting to pretense, I splashed out my sincerity.

The man stared into my face. After a moment's silence, he finally replied in a stubborn voice that left no room for negotiation.

— 12 o'clock. I'll give you 12 hours.

That seemed to be his limit.

"I'll tell you in advance, but don't think that the same trick will work then.

He would have preferred that we give up the object, but in his eyes and expression there was a desire not to let us go. I let out the long sigh that I had been holding back for so long.

[5:40].

I got what I desperately needed: time.

***

We ran through the labyrinth. The formation was somewhat different than usual. Rothmiller and Hikuroda were in the lead, and I followed them in the rear. The reason was simple.

"Indeed, it doesn't look like he's following.

Although Rothmiller said so, we could not know how long he would keep his promise. I had to cover our backs.

"So what do we do now?" Rothmiller asked, leading the way.

It wasn't just him.

"Bjorn... Are we really going to fight?

— It seems to me that this is not the best choice. You've seen it. Your shield was pierced through, as if it were made of mud.

The questions and concerns they were hiding were addressed to me. They had trusted me before, but belatedly they began to worry. However, as of today, democracy is over. There was not enough time to gather everyone's opinions together and convince them of the need for further action.

"Hikurod, Misha, Rothmiller, Dvalki." I called their names and asked for a favor. "In the future, I may say something or give an order that you won't understand. But can you trust me and follow me one last time?

— Of course.

Except for Misha, they did not answer immediately. I waited silently, trusting the image of myself that I had shown them for the past few months.

Hikurod was the first to speak.

"If it wasn't for you in the Blood Citadel, I would have died by now. I'll trust your opinion.

The second was Dvalki.

"Me too. Bjorn, I will believe in the fate of the hero that you possess.

The fate of the hero is the assumption that accompanied my nickname Little Balkan, like a seasoning when it spread throughout the city, as well as what the shaman told me. It was a little strange that Dvalki would tell me this so seriously when he knows me so well. However, in this situation, it was just in time.

The last was Rothmiller.

"When I saw him, I was trembling with fear. There was nothing more I could do. I will believe and follow everything you say.

In his short words, I felt a deep trust. However, Rothmiller continued, not for a moment, immersed in emotion.

"But other than that, I have to tell you something.

"What exactly?"

"If my assumptions are correct, then he is really dangerous.

"Do you have any information about him?"

Rothmiller replied:

"A long time ago, I heard about an explorer who used an arched longsword. Rumor has it that he was cursed by a dragon and his entire body was covered in burns.

So who the hell was it? Unlike me, who only had questions, the trio seemed to already have someone in mind.

"The dragon's curse?" No way...

"Dragon Slayer!" Rothmiller, are you talking about the Dragon Slayer?

"This, this, then it means he's a member of the Orcules...?"

Hearing their insistent cries, I frowned. I still didn't know who the Dragon Slayer was.

But...

Orcules.

This ancient word in this world meant "witch's eyes". I learned about the band with this name from books.

This is a group of madmen who say that their goal is to kill the king.

But they could not be perceived simply as crazy. The fact that they continued to live for decades, committing such insane acts, should testify to the strength of each of them. Even though the royal family had set up a huge bounty, they only managed to get rid of seven.

We are facing a more dangerous bastard than I thought.

In addition to the bitter taste in my mouth, one thought became clear to me:

Fleeing is not the best solution.

"Well, what are we going to do?"

Soon, taking the map from Rothmiller, I determined the destination.

"We're coming here."

There was no place to escape to, at least not this time.