"Shit, who is that woman?!"
"It doesn't matter, kill them both!"
Different screams came from different places. Several people were disturbed by the fact that this crazy woman had attacked in such a way, giving Elliot a chance to defend himself. Because of this, different people jumped towards them, including the previous tanks who felt mocked by someone so weak.
Elliot and Jenna suddenly found themselves back-to-back.
"Why did you attack them? You could have run away, and no one would have noticed."
"Do you consider me scum, just like the traitors?"
"...No."
"That's your answer. I still have morals."
"Morals this time could mean your death."
"Do you think I'm stupid?"
"Yes."
"Hehe. Just consider this a favor you owe me later. Besides, I couldn't run away."
"Why?"
"There are three more groups surrounding this place."
Elliot's eyes widened, then he frowned.
'Three more... There are more than five groups here,' he thought, amazed by the number. "Clark family, you are powerful and capable."
He couldn't say anything else because there were too many people—at least 40, but there were already 40 in front of him, so there must have been more than 55. There were too many.
He took a deep breath. He closed his eyes for a moment, and when he opened them, the tanks were in front of him.
Suddenly, they had found themselves in such a desperate situation where death was the most certain thing awaiting them.
Where would they flee to, in a Rank D dungeon, surrounded by Rank D dungeons and even possible Rank C dungeons?
There was nowhere to run, but he certainly wasn't going to give up.
Seeing the tanks attacking him, he smiled.
"I just awakened and am just beginning to enjoy this beautiful feeling... I'm afraid you've caught me at a bad time. I don't want to die, but if I must, you'll all go with me."
He gripped his sword and leaped toward them. The sword flashed as it struck the enormous armor worn by two of the four remaining tanks.
Immediately, the sword's attribute activated and pierced the armor with force.
"Mages!"
Several spells shot out from different directions, targeting Elliot. In addition, healing mages tried to heal the tanks' deep wounds. Everyone wanted to engulf him in a sea of bloody attacks.
He looked at those spells and smiled coldly.
"You want my flesh and blood? Come and get it, you bastard."
'Raise all stats.'
Suddenly, his system activated, and many stats shot up at once...
He had saved up 13 points from before. Unfortunately, he didn't earn any while traveling on this little adventure, but they were enough.
His strength went from 25 to 31.
His resistance from 13 to 16.
His agility from 20 to 22.
And his senses from 9 to 11.
It was a significant increase that made him realize the weaknesses of some of the fighters who were also attacking him, while at the same time finding a way to defend himself against so much magic.
He had been on top of two of the tanks he had attacked, but suddenly, he let himself fall backward. Just when they thought he was going to hit the ground, he turned around and grabbed the ground with his hands to kick one of the shields upward with his feet.
The shield slipped from its bearer's hands and remained powerful, protecting Elliot from so many fire spells.
'Many Soul Mages. I fear they have spent tens of millions to hire them this time.' Elliot smiled.
How wonderful it would feel to make them lose so much money.
A second was enough for him to create an opening in the attack, allowing Jenna to move at high speed and attack the fighters coming from behind.
Their combined attacks paid off, killing two of them. But that's when they realized the kind of danger they were in.
"They all have too much resistance..." Jenna exclaimed.
'Maybe I'll have to use my class...' Her mind worked quickly to find a solution.
Elliot frowned when he realized they had unusually high resistance.
'They're the Clark family's resistance squad... This is more than I expected.'
That's when he realized.
It wasn't that he had been found by accident; the guild itself had revealed he was here. Basically, the Broken Leaf Guild was allied with the Clark family.
"Bastards."
Unfortunately, he had realized it too late, and of all things, right in the middle of a battle against 40 people who were just as strong or stronger than he was.
He could do nothing but be forced to take several attacks that sent him rolling across the ground.
Jenna managed to dodge an attack, but she was forced to fly backward, and the veil she wore on her face to avoid trouble fell to the ground.
That made several men finally realize this woman was spectacular, and some recognized her.
"She's that woman from before who rejected us."
"Is that her?"
"Damn, I've never been rejected before. I'm sure it was her."
"We're allowed to move around as we please in these trials, so..."
"Hehe, you're right..."
Whispers echoed throughout the room as the hideous faces of these bastards were painted with extreme lust.
A few women were in their group, but they were far inferior to this woman in terms of beauty. Besides, many of them had already tried the women in their group.
Why would they want to keep trying old meat when they had fresh meat right before them?
All of this caused the atmosphere to change suddenly. Even though Jenna couldn't hear what they were saying because they were whispering very quietly, she could understand what was happening just by looking at their eyes.
Elliot got up from the ground and came to her side.
"We have to run," she said.
Elliot nodded. "There are too many of them, and they're surrounding us. I think it would be a good idea to move deeper into the depths, but... There might be Rank C dungeons."
"What scares you more? Intelligent human traitors or irrational monsters who only think about eating us and not raping us?" Jenna asked suddenly.
Elliot was silent and understood what she meant.
"Don't worry," he said and looked ahead once more. "No one's going to touch you today."
Those words she spoke struck a horrible chord in his heart, suddenly changing his gaze and aura. He would never let that happen to someone who was trying to protect him again.
He had sworn that to himself once, and that oath was above everything else, including his beliefs. It was the oath of a man who craved power and finally had it.
If he didn't keep his own oath, where would his way of thinking be? Where would the mentality of a man be? What he wanted to achieve would crumble into inhuman stupidity, leading him to ruin; it would become an inner demon impossible to overcome.
That's why he was going to keep his oath.
Jenna was surprised by his sudden change, but she smiled.
"We won't make it in time to deliver the Orcs' heads, but that's the attitude I like."
Although Elliot wanted to reply that they should deliver other kinds of heads, he was forced to defend himself from a strange attack that came from behind.
"What?"
It was only for a moment, but the attack managed to hit his arm, and a dagger with a strange yellow poison pierced him. It would have pierced his heart if he hadn't moved at the last moment.
"Stealth? Here? Impossible!" He struck toward where the shadow was appearing, trying to reach it and kill it on the spot. He couldn't let someone with stealth be around; that ability was too dangerous, but his hand was slow to respond.
"It's yellow snake venom..."
His body suddenly trembled. A deadly poison had struck him. And to spread so quickly despite his current strength, it must have been incredibly concentrated.