"Hey! What the fuck are you doing with my prey?" a tall young man named Paisley shouted as he stepped closer to Carl.
Carl snapped out of his thoughts, glanced at Paisley, and just shrugged his shoulders.
"I just thought you needed my help. It looked to me like that monster almost killed you."
Carl, of course, didn't want to explain anything about his system. Even if he did, he doubted they'd believe a single word from him.
They would only say he was nothing more than some spoiled heir—just a liar or a psycho. Because of that, he chose to say something that sounded more convincing.
In truth, Carl had simply provoked the candidates for his own unsettling reasons.
"Are you blind? I almost finished it off if it wasn't for you!" Paisley yelled, about to lash out in revenge. But Wilbur, standing nearby, quickly stopped the tall young man's reckless move.
Wilbur tried to keep his voice as polite as he could, which allowed him to settle the tall guy further.
"Everyone, this isn't the place for another fight! We need rest and a meal before continuing our journey."
Then he raised his voice a little more firmly:
"If we waste more time in this basement, we might never get out of here."
It was clear Wilbur's words had weight—they struck right at their survival. Everyone here was smart enough to know what had to be prioritized.
Even someone as hot-headed and stubborn as Paisley. He clenched his teeth, forcing down his rage.
"Fine!"
Once Wilbur noticed the group had calmed down, he let out a long breath and continued.
"Everyone! We should talk. I have a big announcement."
But first, they needed time to rest after fighting the monster. So they set up camp in the basement and cooked a meal, planning to discuss things after three hours.
Watching the aftermath of both monsters and dead humans, Carl only clicked his tongue in slight regret that the dragon souls from the dead candidates should have belonged to him.
The rest of the surviving candidates barely showed any emotion—like they had already seen death countless times before. In this world, that was understandable.
Eventually, they sat around the campfire and turned to their leader.
"Tsk! I don't like this. I look like one of his underlings."
Despite hating all that, Carl still sat nearby and listened carefully.
Wilbur nodded, seeing that everyone seemed ready to hear him out.
"First! We need to find a phantom guide. It'll help us escape from here without taking damage. There are reasons, but for now, that's all I can say to everyone."
He added:
"This basement looks like something I read about when I was a child, from an ancient scroll."
He sighed, a bit of guilt showing on his face as he tossed a stick into the campfire.
"Unfortunately, I realized that this basement was too late… The last time I read it was when I was a kid. That's a long time ago, you know."
Some candidates nodded, trying to ease Wilbur's guilt. Anyway, what mattered was that he still remembered it now. That was more important than anything, even if some of their partners had died because of Wilbur's absent-mindedness—whether it was intentional or not.
But those actions only disgusted Carl. Why couldn't they just tell the truth instead of acting like hypocrites?
Carl didn't believe Wilbur's story at all, but he decided to judge it later, after hearing everything—even if it turned out to be complete nonsense.
"A phantom guide! If we find that creature, we can get out of here without facing any monsters. But… I can't remember all the details from the scroll, so I'll need our help. We'll split up and search for it. It could be anywhere in this basement."
"I can give us some hints." Wilbur went on to describe the phantom guide's traits.
"It only exists in a safe area of the basement, so no one has to worry about monsters. But its speed is insane—it can even vanish anytime. That's why we have to split up and search in every direction. After a day of searching, we'll meet back here."
He gave everyone one last look before shouting to fire them up:
"Is everyone clear on that?"
Then they all scattered in one direction. Most of them barely showed a hint of doubt—except Carl.
Carl grumbled.
"What crap… I can't believe they all just obey him like a bunch of dogs. Maybe it's because there's nothing else to do."
Ting!
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
[Main Quest]:
– Destroy Arcadia Academy.
– Rewards: A short date with me and a tongue kiss from your wife if you complete the quest flawlessly.
[Side Quest]:
– Clear your first dungeon.
– Reward: Dimensional Slash Skill
– Find the phantom guide first.
Reward: ?????
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
"Huh? So that damn lizard was telling the truth," Carl muttered, scratching his chin a few times while staring at the system screen.
"Whatever! I'll never change my mind for you."
Carl stepped forward, starting the system's mission.
''Of course, I do system's mission not your order, Fucking lizard.''
He moved through the hallway, then another. After that, he rushed down the basement stairs. There were some traps, of course, but such little ones could never get in Carl's way.
"The atmosphere down here is creepy as hell…" Carl clicked his tongue as he strolled along the dusty floor alone.
Right now, he looked more like an adventurer than a candidate who was supposed to clear the dungeon to reach the Academy.
An hour later.
"So bored… My wife, I want…"
In an instant, his [Dragon Sense] picked up something ahead. He caught the stench of a corpse, dead for maybe three weeks.
"But we've only been in this dungeon for less than five days?" Carl frowned.
"I should check it out."
He crept along the basement wall, stepping lightly toward the source.
The stench grew stronger and stronger, so foul that Carl had to cover his nose.
"Damn! I'll eliminate that corpse the second I see it."
Finally, he found what he was looking for.
"Holy shit!" Carl's face twisted when he saw piles of corpses stacked behind a massive cage at the end of the basement.
The rotten stench smothered the place. Staring at the scene, Carl frowned, his brain racing—was something strange happening here?
A monster?
A death trap?
A treasure?Or something else…