Chương 7: New Virtues
"None of us know why we are here, but we have to go in this dungeon and seek our survival in death's hands!" The black haired youth pointed the entrance with his hand. He was talking in an enthusiastic manner, trying to give courage to the crowd before him.
"The town of Sunfell was the first stop in our journey! You all saw how the people of the town treated us. In their eyes, we weren't worth to a single meal! When we asked them for help and information, curses and violence were their answers!"
By the time Dante's party came near to them, most of the crowd had already had fanatical expressions on their faces.
Dante had to admit. The black-haired youth was a real talker for a one-day-old amnesiac. With his every word, the crowd filled with a little more fighting spirit and courage.
"Even that ugly woman in The Elevator said, the more newcomers die in this place, the better for them. In short, we can't trust anyone! No one will help us! We are on our own in this cruel world! Our only choice is to band together as brothers and sisters!"
'Hey hey! Whom do you call ugly? Your mother is ugly! I made a note of what you said!'
Dante didn't like this guy. He shouldn't have said that!
'So I am getting angry when I hear bad words about the people I like! Sigh... being an amnesiac is tiring. I have a tone of thing to learn about myself.'
Dante sighed from the inside, but at the same time, he was even more enthusiastic about discovering himself.
The smooth talker continued his speech, "Soon, our comrades will make a fire using the knowledge I acquired in the town. It is called 'obtaining fire through friction.'"
The crowd and Dante's party looked at the newcomers who were trying to make a fire.
They were sitting on the ground with dry wooden sticks between their hands. One end of the sticks was on top of the dry leaves, and the newcomers were spinning them as fast as they could.
Clusters of thin smoke were rising from the dry leaves, but there was no fire yet.
Seeing the sweat covered foreheads of the newcomers, Dante sighed again.
'The town's people knew the best way of how to make a fire in the catacombs area. There is no doubt they knew, yet they had said something like this to these guys. They truly want us dead. Sigh... How many more pathetic views will I see today? Though I don't care in the slightest.'
"Before long, we will be able to go in this damned place. We'll kill every monster we come across and cook our hard-earned meat on top of their burning bones!" The spectacled youth seemed like to reach the end of his speech.
"Niles! Niles! Niles!" The crowd had gone crazy as if Niles used a skill on them. They were burning with the desire to fight.
"Oh, I see new comrades!" At this point, Niles had discovered Dante's party. "Come, my friends! Join us for the sake of clearing this baleful dungeon!" As Niles pointed them with his forefinger, the crowd's eyes immediately turned toward them.
"Excuse me, but I would rather go in there with a small party. You don't need to mind us. You are already a big group. Our participation will not make much difference for you." Dante said as he scanned the surroundings with his eyes.
"I assume you are the leader of your small party." Niles didn't give up on them. "It is good to have confidence in yourself, but you shouldn't throw yourself and your friends into danger if there is no need for it. Joining to us is obviously a better decision!"
"Nah, I am fine with my small group," Dante said without looking at them. He was now crouching down on a rock pile that had been rounded down long before from the steep slopes. Occasionally, he was picking up a rock from the pile, staring at it intently for a while and throwing it back to there.
Seeing his behavior and hearing his words, Niles and the crowd of newcomers stared at Dante with furrowed brows. Even Dante's four nameless party members were looking at him with the same expression on their faces. They couldn't understand what he was doing and what he was thinking.
Niles stopped bothering himself with Dante and turned his gaze toward Dante's other party members.
"What about you, friends! Wouldn't it be better to join us instead of following this mad young man? We offer the power of numbers to you!" Niles said to them. All the gazes now glued on them, awaiting their answers.
"Aha! Found them!" At this time, Dante's joy-filled voice was heard.
He was holding three similar, half fist-sized pieces of rocks on his hands.
At first look, they seemed like ordinary grey rocks that could be found everywhere, but on a closer look, they had quite a few glossy-blackish-brown blemishes on them.
Dante immediately put them in his pockets.
If he had a common thought with the town's people, that would be what Mira had said. If most of the newcomers die, it wouldn't be better just for the town's people. It would also be better for the survivors. Fewer newcomers meant, more EXP for the survivors.
According to Mira, the dungeons of the labyrinth couldn't be cleared with just bigger numbers. A small group was better for this job because they could get stronger more quickly. Considering the arrival of a new batch of empty heads at the beginning of next month, Dante had to use every means for a better chance at survival. Even if his choices lead to more death.
As the facts being like this, he chose to not tell the others about the rocks he found. He had even some knowledge about what was inside of the catacombs. Naturally, he wouldn't share it with these guys either.
'It can't be helped. You are all strangers to me, so your deaths mean nothing to me. Hmm... I guess I am a cruel person.'
As he was thinking those lines, all the eyes turned to him again.
"Aha ha! Don't mind me! Now, I shall go inside the catacombs with my party! You don't have anything to say against this, right?" Dante said while looking at Niles with a dumb smile on his face. Then he began walking toward the entrance.
"Naturally, I don't have anything to say, but it seems like your party members have," Niles said. His words caused Dante to stop on halfway.
He looked at Niles and then looked at his party members. "What do you mean?" He said.
Nathaniel seemed struggling about making a decision. Again. Ulfred was looking into Dante's eyes with his usually stoic face. The blond girl was nervously fidgeting as always. However, the other four were already walking toward the crowd.
"We are sorry, Dante. Staying with you would be the most foolish decision at this point. We don't want to die alongside you. You can die by yourself if you want it so much!" Said one of the four.
"Heh!" Niles was the first one who gave a small laugh. The crowd also followed his example and started to laugh at Dante.
"I bet he has zero intelligence points! Aha ha!"
"It seems like this boy still couldn't comprehend the situation we are currently in!"
"There's always someone more stupid in the world, but I had never thought I would see the dumbest one in this place! Ha ha ha! Please move faster and die quicker!"
Similar comments kept coming from the crowd of newcomers.
Dante accepted them all with the same smile on his face. However, there was a dangerous glint in his eyes.
'Keep laughing at me while you still can. If I happen to have the chance of watching your painful deaths, I will laugh at you even harder!'
'Oh... look at little me! I guess I am patient too! My virtues are increasing in numbers!'
Dante turned to the other three, "What about you guys?" He asked with a cold voice.
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