章 16: Dante the Crafty

Considering there were two hundred participants in the elevator, Niles' thirty-man party should have steadily grown by now. Perhaps, they could even be a hundred-man party at the moment.

No one could blame those newcomers for joining Niles. They were amnesiacs in a foreign and brutal world. They had no better choice in thier hands.

At this point, even someone like Niles was no different from a hero in their eyes. This was as natural as sunrise.

In this situation, the only thing that should be blamed was fate, because Dante was in this month's batch of newcomers, and because of him, they were bound to stay at level one until they had caught up with his party.

"We're done here," Nathaniel said as he came near Dante.

Unknowingly, he was becoming an actual henchman for Dante as time passed. He had completed the first step of becoming one by feeling respect toward Dante in his heart.

Right now, every untouched treasure chest was illuminated by a bone-torch, making them easily visible for the eyes.

Dante didn't even throw a rock toward the chests, because most of the traps in this world were unfair. Not playing with them was the best choice.

Niles' party was so big for him to control all of his party members. What would they do when they see the treasure chests?

It wasn't hard to imagine how tempting a treasure chest could be in this place.

[The Labyrinth of the First] was forcing the participants to become predictable. Due to its cruel nature, sometimes people couldn't stay calm.

Among the party members, there would unquestionably be some participants who would jump on the treasure chests as soon as they discovered them. That was Dante's aim.

Dante was staring at the four 'doors' in front of him, trying to make a choice.

He nodded at Nathaniel, "It seems like thinking is unnecessary. Since I have the highest luck stat in the party, I choose the rightmost door."

As Dante said that, he started to pick up bones from the ground. When he gathered enough, he headed toward the rightmost door and began to place down the bones.

"What are you doing?" Ulfred couldn't help but ask.

"I'm gonna make a giant arrow which is pointing toward the rightmost door," Dante answered with a naughty smile.

"Why? If you do that, Niles' party could follow us. If you are thinking we might be lost in the catacombs, why don't you leave a less eye-catching mark?" Nathaniel questioned his actions as well.

He understood that Dante wanted to cause casualties to Niles' party by illuminating the treasure chests, but why would he want Niles to follow them? It didn't make any sense to Nathaniel.

Dante threw a meaningful glance at him.

'Heh he! It seems like I'm smarter than you!' He thought.

"Niles is a man who has serious anger management problems. Some of his party members will die due to the torches you guys placed. He'll get angry for sure. When he realizes this was our doing, he'll get even angrier. He will want to find us and kill us as soon as possible."

"Yes, I understand that, but why do you trying to anger him even more? You did the same at the entrance, and it didn't end well for us." Nathaniel was still puzzled.

"I'm doing this because Niles and his party is already our enemy. I want them to follow us."

"Seeing this giant arrow after losing his men because of us will be equal to sitting right on his face. He'll think we're taunting him and go crazy for sure. If we're lucky, he might even kill some of his teammates for our stead."

"Remember this. An angry man makes mistakes easier."

"Niles' party will be more crowded next time we saw them. But we don't need to be afraid yet. We have killed every monster that we saw so far. That means all of them will stay at level one until our next encounter. However, if they choose a different path here, that will change."

Dante stood up and looked the faces of his party members.

"We have the advantage now, why should we let this chance go to waste? Allowing them to grow stronger would be foolish at this point."

"Before that happens, we are gonna kill them all. If it is possible, we're gonna use them all first." Dante's voice was as cold as a block of ice.

Naturally, a crowd of weaklings could have many uses in a dungeon. Nathaniel and Ulfred were awareof this fact. However, looking at Dante now, they momentarily felt the same insecurity they have previously felt in their hearts.

Dante was talking about killing so many people as if it was nothing to him.

However, Iona was now looking at him in a different light. She was... impressed maybe? The other three were ignoring her most of the time, so they didn't notice her unusual behavior.

"Get it? Now move your asses and help me!"

With Dante's detailed explanation, it was impossible to not understand. They had to admit, Dante was in another league when it comes to mind games.

"Boss, you are great! I'm proud of myself for being your first henchman!" Nathaniel was an inborn lickspittle.

"Dante, I didn't know you were so cunning," Ulfred added.

"Cunning? No, not at all. These are all the fruits of having 10.4 points intelligence stat. Ha ha ha! I'm just smarter than you!"

"Wha ha ha! You little rascal!"

...

"Quick, tell us, did your chain quest updated?"

The four-people party has been proceeding on the fourth cave for thirty minutes.

They haven't encountered a dangerous situation so far. It seemed like Dante had made a lucky choice.

There were just a few skeletons on this path, one of them had even a few purple lines on its bones, but they were no match for the current Ulfred Orsova.

Just now, he killed a pygmy skeleton and completed the first quest of the chain.

[Quest completed.]

[Quest log updated.]

[Tell an audience about how do you feel when you kill your enemies with your bare hands. The number of listeners should be at least three in order to complete this quest.]

Ulfred's voice, as well as his face, was gradually becoming awkward as he recited the quest text.

What kind of quest was this? Tell... your feelings to an audience?

"Are you kidding with us, old man? It's not funny. Come on, tell us about the new quest you got." Dante didn't believe in him.

"This is the quest," Ulfred said with a dumbfounded expression, also causing dumbfounded expressions to spread on the faces of the rest.

"Pu ha ha ha! Then why don't you tell us about how you feel Ulfred? For some reason, I really want to hear what you would say!" Nathaniel held his tummy with both hands and started to laugh wildly! He was desperately trying to keep his voice down at the same time!

Even Iona was smiling sweetly at a corner!

"Come on old man! We are all ears! Pfft!" Even Dante couldn't hold himself back from laughing. He believed him after looking at his face again.

Ulfred Orsova was an old stoic-faced man, and he was about to speak out the feelings he felt in killing the pygmy skeletons using his bare hands!

"I... I..." Ulfred had a very complicated expression! He started to sweat profusely at the same time!

[You have failed to speak out your feelings. Two chances remained.]

The System was also kicking him from the side! He had no choice now!

Ulfred held his breath and wiped his sweaty forehead with both hands! This was the hardest time in his life! He would rather fight with the dungeon's boss instead of doing this! Alone!

"I... I really like using my hands. I'm... better at using my hands... I... I..."

[Last chance.]

Ulfred's face was entirely red now! He had found himself in this bullsh*t situation. Furthermore, everyone was laughing at him!

He closed his eyes and concentrated. This was his last chance. He couldn't allow himself to fail! This was the damn second quest of a chain quest!