บท 59: A Life's Worth

Hex Cruxio was a father of two. They were twins whom he named Rexia and Lexis. His wife of eight years was the mother of their baby boy and girl and she was his happiness.

Every time he goes out on a quest or a dungeon raid, Hex Cruxio would always promise his family that he'd return the next day.

And ever since he started his life as an adventurer, he carried a family picture on his breast pocket as a reminder that he had a family to go back to. This was what kept him safe throughout his adventuring days. This was what reminded him that he shouldn't risk his life if it was uncalled for.

Tears streamed down Hex Cruxio's cheeks as he grabbed the picture on his breastpocket. He kissed it and he knelt on the ground and muttered a silent prayer.

Double Dungeons don't let anyone in or out unless it was already conquered. And if that wasn't cruel enough, Double Dungeons actually open again when all the adventurers who attempted to clear it is already dead. It won't open through normal means.

That means, they have two options on their current situation.

One, they could wait it out and die of starvation. Or two, they could head into the next dungeon over and risk their lives in the hopes that they could clear it.

After the silent prayer, Hex steeled his resolve and he stood up. "Everybody, gather around." He called for their undivided attention before clearing his throat.

"I'm not going to say anything cheesy. I'm just going to say that we have two options. And whatever option we choose, we'll go with it. That's why I want you all to listen to what I have to say."

"We're in a Double Dungeon. The next dungeon after this F-Rank Goblin Dungeon is B-Rank at the minimum. We are at Gold Rank so there's no chance that we could clear the next dungeon."

"However, we can't get out of this Dungeon, and there's no help coming for us since they can't come here either." Hex bit his lips before he continued speaking. "That's why I will present two options for us as the Spiderweb Party. One, we wait until our resources are depleted, and then we die a slow and painful death... or we go forward and attempt to clear the next dungeon. In short, do we die as a coward, or do we die as heroes?"

Silence befell the group as they contemplated their leader's words.

"I'm staying here," Erwin let out.

"I'm going if the party leader's going," Natalie said.

"I'm staying," Hex said out of nowhere. "There's a good chance that the adventurers on the other side would find a way to get here... I believe that they'll find a way to save us."

Even though Hex said it, the entire group didn't believe his words at all. Of course, they were replaceable Gold-Rank Adventurers. The guild didn't have the leisure nor the time to rescue them. They'd probably rather wait for them to die and then go inside once the Double Dungeon reopens again.

Or better yet, they might not even try to attempt the Double Dungeon altogether.

There were already three people who were staying, so Sylvia didn't wait for Albrecht's response.

"We're not going to conquer the dungeon?" Albrecht asked so he could confirm that they really won't try to conquer the next dungeon.

Hex nodded his head. "We're going to wait here. We have about five days' worth of provisions."

Albrecht had no idea what they were thinking about. They'd rather wait for their resources to dry out and then die.

Heaving a sigh, Albrecht turned around and walked the opposite way. "Well, I'm not going to sit here and die of starvation." He simply said, waving his hand as he headed towards the next dungeon.

His words were simple, yet it resounded loudly within their soul. However, it still wasn't enough to convince them to go with him.

"Are you crazy? You're going to die out there. If you wait here with us, you'll have a chance to live." Erwin asked, he was the first one to stand up.

"Do you think the guild would spare any effort in trying to rescue Gold Rank Adventurers?" Albrecht asked. It was certainly possible, but he couldn't imagine the guild going through all that just to rescue Gold Ranks.

"Yes, we've signed up with the Rilegarthe Guild. I'm sure we can put our trust in them." Hex let out.

Albrecht clicked his tongue. He knew that the Rilegarthe Guild couldn't care less. He was part of the Heroes of Relics and even they didn't spare any effort to let him, much less convince him to stay.

That's why he was all the more convinced that the Rilegarthe Guild would leave Hex and his party to die.

Without saying another word, Albrecht turned around, heading towards the opening that led to the next dungeon. Since he receives information from the System, he more or less knew what to expect on the other side of the opening.

"Don't put your lives on other people's hands. I only recently learned that cold truth." Albrecht casually said. He didn't mean anything by it.

Waving his hand, Albrecht continued walking towards the next dungeon.

Then he stopped short and walked back to the group.

Without saying anything, he dropped the five sacks filled with goblin ears, and he also dropped the corpse of the Goblin King. "Just in case I don't return alive," He let out.

Now that that was out of the way, Albrecht headed back to the next dungeon.

GRAB!

Everyone gasped when they noticed that one of them ran towards Albrecht. It was none other than the expressionless Sylvia Heartcross.

Grabbing Albrecht by the edge of his sleeves, she looked up at him with renewed determination. "You'll need a healer. I'm coming with you." She volunteered.

This time, she was the one who walked forward, leading the way while she tugged at Albrecht's hand