Gate of Famine…

“Are you sure this is the Gate of Famine?” Cethus asked. “Why does everything here look so abundant?”

Cethus stared at the wheatfields in front of him that were ready for harvest. In fact, there were already many farmers in the distance, busy cutting the wheat down and tying them in bundles.

In the distance, he also saw a grape orchard, which was also ripe for the picking. He couldn’t understand why something so bountiful would be found inside the Gate of Famine.

“Don’t judge everything by what you see,” Cai commented. “Maybe there is another place here experiencing famine, where we might also find our Quest. Um, what should we do next, Lux?”

The Boar looked behind her, expecting to see the Half-Elf, but what she only saw was Eiko looking around, seemingly confused.

“Pa?” Eiko scanned her surroundings. “Pa!”

The Baby Slime jumped up high and summoned one of her Undead Legion, whom she had created using the Skeleton Generator skill.

Lux and Eiko both had 4 Undead Creatures that had been created using the Skeleton Generator Skill, and all of them had been added to their Undead Army.

The Half-Elf’s Skeleton Generated creatures were now serving under Revon, and all of them were a cut above the rest.

Eiko had four Skeleton Summons.

One of them was Boomer, the Crimson Monkey Kong Skeleton Bombardier.

The other three Skeletons under Eiko’s command had the names Bomber, Bom Bom, and BAM.

Bomber was a Floating Skeleton Bomb that had eyes similar to that of a beholder. It had no other abilities aside from True Strike and Lock On, which allowed it to fly toward its target at a great speed, never missing its target.

Simply put, Bomber was a “suicide bomber”, and its explosive damage was similar to that of a full-powered strike from Lux’s and Eiko’s Grand Bazooka.

Bom Bom, on the other hand, was a moving Skeleton Cannon. It could walk; it could fly; and it could even swim! It had the ability to fire Blast Bombs [EX] and had a very long range, allowing it to hit targets before they could even hit it.

Last but not the least was BAM.

BAM was an interesting Skeleton because he donned the clothes of a martial artist. His ability was similar to Boomer. This meant that his punches and kicks had an explosive side to them, dealing great damage to anything he hit.

Perhaps, the only difference between them was that BAM didn’t have any long-range attacks. He was a pure close combat fighter, whose speed, flexibility, and technique were just as fast and deadly as Lux’s Nightstalker, Ishtar,

Right now, Eiko was perched on top of Bomber, who was hovering twenty meters above ground, providing the Baby Slime a wider view of her surroundings as she searched for her Papa.

“Pa!” Eiko shouted. “Pa!”

Cai, Keane, Gerhart, and Cethus immediately understood that something was wrong.

All of them knew that Lux would never leave Eiko behind, and his disappearance was something that none of them had expected.

“Mumumumu!”

After trying to locate her Papa using their shared connection, Eiko confirmed that the Half-Elf was nowhere near them.

Because of this, she decided to use her skill, Family Bond [EX], allowing her to teleport to where Lux was.

However, before doing so, she made sure to tell Fei Fei about what she was planning to do so that the others wouldn’t be worried about her.

“Wei!” Fei Fei nodded her head in understanding and translated what Eiko was trying to say to Cai.

When the Golden Slime finished relaying Eiko’s message, Cai nodded her head in understanding.

“Eiko said that Lux isn’t near our location, so she will go to where Lux is,” Cai explained. “She added that there is a possibility that Lux isn’t here in the Gate of Famine anymore.”

Cai’s explanation made everyone who had decided to choose Lux as their Temporary Leader inside the dungeon frown.

“He’s not here?” Einar asked. “Then where do you think he is?”

“I have no idea,” Cai replied. “Even Eiko doesn’t know despite the two of them having a very strong connection with each other.”

The Boar then shifted her attention back to the baby Blue Slime and nodded her head.

“Be careful, Eiko,” Cai stated. “Tell Lux that he should send us a message and tell us what’s going on!”

Eiko nodded. “Kay!”

After getting Cai’s approval, the Baby Blue Slime turned into a beam of light that shot toward the heavens. She would go to where her Papa was and make sure that he was safe.

When Eiko was no longer around, Lux’s group fell into an awkward silence.

This silence was broken by Prince Cyrus’ arrogant laughter, who was standing dozens of meters away from them.

“Looks like your leader ran away,” Prince Cyrus gloated. “How about it? Care to join our team? I’m sure that His Excellency, Aur, will permit it.”

Einar and Val glanced at each other as if trying to decide if they should go or not. They had always been with Lux on the expeditions in the Sacred Dungeon, and they didn’t know whether they could trust the Dragonoid, who might just use them as cannon fodder.

“There’s no need for that,” Cethus announced. “Since Lux isn’t here, I will be this group’s temporary leader. I will do my best to help you guys clear this dungeon.”

At first, Cai, Keane, and Gerhart were planning to reject Cethus’ declaration. However, they held back what they were going to say after seeing the message that he had sent through their Guild Chat.

———-

Heaven’s Gate Guild Chat…

“It is important that we keep this team together for the time being,” Cethus stated. “All of you belong to different factions. None of you would recognize a new leader amongst yourselves, so we need someone with enough influence to bind everyone together.

“Everyone saw my exchange with Aur earlier and, because of that, they have a high opinion of me. Regardless of what the three of you think, I am the only one here that has sufficient influence and authority to keep this group together.”

———-

Cai, Keane, and Gerhart weren’t fools. Although they made fun of Cethus a lot, they understood that he was right.

Although they didn’t mind working with just the four of them, having a bigger group would ensure a higher chance of success.

The Dragon Born then looked at the faces of the teenagers that belonged to the Xynnar War Pact and Six Kingdoms with a confident gaze. Giving them some kind of assurance that everything was under control.

Cethus might lack a lot of things, but he never lacked arrogance and confidence. His sharp features also make people slightly intimidated by him, and his race spoke volumes.

(E/N: You make it sound like it’s a good thing.)

Simply put, the Dragon Born had a lot of experience ordering people around because of his position as one of the Royal Guards of the Dragon King.

“If any of you have a problem with me being the leader, then you can leave if you want,” Cethus declared. “But know this, when Lux returns, I will tell him that you didn’t follow my orders and are not qualified to be part of our team.”

Cethus laughed in his heart because he was trying to get back at Lux for everything the Half-Elf had done to him. Now that he could use the red-headed teenager’s name and influence without worrying about the repercussions, the Dragon Born was hell-bent to use it all to his advantage.

———–

Cai: Scum.

Keane: Blackmailer.

Gerhart: Wow! One day, this bastard is going to get stabbed in the back.

———–

The Dragon Born ignored the comments of the three annoying pricks in the Guild Chat and focused his attention on the people in front of him.

Henrietta, Einar, Val, Enil, Jasper, and the representatives of the Six Kingdoms all glanced at each other before reluctantly nodding their heads.

“We will follow you for now,” Henrietta was the first to voice out her opinion. “However, if we don’t deem you worthy, we will go our separate ways.”

“Fair enough,” Cethus replied with his arms crossed over his chest. “Now, let’s spread out and start asking for information. We need to understand the goal of clearing this dungeon and to do that, we need to get a better understanding of our location.

“All of you go in groups according to your factions. Whatever happens, do not engage the enemy. We will all meet up in this location in two hours. Remember, prioritize escaping. We don’t know what kind of dangers we will be facing here.”

The leaders of the temporary alliance all nodded their heads and led their groups in different directions to get a better understanding of the layout of the land.

Cai, Keane, Gerhart, and Cethus also made their move, leaving the members of the Crystal Palace and Skystead Alliance behind.

Aur, who had been feeling that something was off in their surroundings, was currently deep in thought.

He didn’t believe that Lux had escaped or had gone somewhere else right after entering the Sacred Dungeon.

Just like the Half-Elf’s close friends, he saw that the Baby Slime, Eiko, was left behind. Since Lux had protected the Baby Slime from Prince Cyrus, Aur understood that there was simply no way that the Half-Elf would leave his pet behind.

‘Just what is going on here?’ Aur thought as he narrowed his eyes to look in the distance. ‘Although everything seems calm on the surface, I can vaguely sense someone watching us from somewhere.’

It was not only Aur who felt that they were being observed by someone.

Cai, Keane, Gerhart, Cethus, Einar, Val, Henrietta, Jasper, and Enlil had also sensed this presence and had been subtly trying to discern where the gaze on them was coming from.

However, no matter how they tried to pinpoint that person’s location, they couldn’t do it.

The reason for it was simple.

The feeling they were getting was that they were being watched by someone in the sky.

A place that none of them, even with wings on their backs, could ever hope to reach.