Ronch could show such guts because this was a safety zone.

But the other members started shouting at him.

"Ronch, you also promised."

"That's right, keep your promise!"

"Your sacrifice is by no means light. It is a noble sacrifice."

However, their appeals did nothing to persuade him. His eyes were still burning in anger.

"Noble sacrifice? Don't talk bullshit! If you want to do it, do it, you son of a bitch!"

In the end, the situation became a mess in an instant.

But there were other problems.

Even if the remaining eighty people drew the lot again except for Ronch, there was no guarantee that the person who drew the card marked with the cross would not behave like Ronch.

Since Ronch already showed that he would not keep the promise, the next guy would clearly follow suit.

"Shit! Keep the promise you have made!"

"Ronch, you son of a bitch!"

"Ronch, I'll break your neck if we get out of here."

In the end, they ended up hurling abusive words at Ronch, not me.

No matter how hard they pushed him, it was impossible for them to force him to attack the crystal tower because this was a safety zone.

The atmosphere the next day was very grim.

There was less than a day left to break the crystal tower and escape from here, so they were faced with the worst situation where all of them would die if somebody didn't volunteer.

In the meantime, there was a guy who appealed to me to volunteer.

It was none other than Ronch.

"You are a stranger. You must have come here for compensation. So do me a favor. Write down the names of your family, relatives or your lover here. I will give them one billion or even ten billion golden rings if I get out of here. And I'll protect them for the rest of my life if you want. I can swear it on God!"

"…"

Ronchi knelt before me and begged.

All I could think at that moment was "What an idiot!"

So I ignored him.

Time went by, with each of them checking the others' expressions while hoping that somebody would volunteer.

Watching them, I felt that eighty-one people including me were simply too many. What I meant was they could make the decision more easily if there was only a small number here.

In other words, eighty-one people was too much. With such a large number of people, some of them would think that someone else would sacrifice themselves voluntarily, while others would be confident that they would not be chosen from such a large number.

That's why the situation got messed up like this.

A little later, I stood up and looked around.

I saw Ronch crouching in a corner with his head down, while the others were looking at each other nervously. So, I shouted loudly enough so everyone here could hear me.

"Alright. I will volunteer as long as each of you pays me one billion golden rings, and Ronch here struggling to survive pays me 10 billion golden rings. How about that?"

They began to whisper here and there.

Even though I cut to the chase without any further explanation, they knew what I was saying immediately.

Soon, they began to respond enthusiastically.

"Sure, I will accept it!"

"Me too!"

"Of course, I agree."

Maybe they even thought that even if they made the promise, they would not have to keep it if I died here. And some of them might have even wondered, 'Why do you want to receive golden rings when you will perish here anyway?'

In their minds, they were in reality, which meant I would receive the golden rings only after and not before I destroyed the crystal tower.

But they didn't ask any questions because they were preoccupied with survival.

Even Ronch, who I singled out to pay 10 billion golden rings, remained silent.

So I shouted again, "I'm filming all our interactions now with a Memory Bead that I have actualized in reality. So, you can't deny what you have promised to me. And I want you, Verdi, to promise me that if your men don't give me the promised golden rings, the Novo Guild will offer them instead."

"..."

Verdi remained silent for a moment.

But he finally replied in a low voice as if he had made up his mind.

"Okay. The Novo Guild will pay a total of 89 billion gold rings to you, no matter what. But what is your name?"

"Juyoung Hong. You must definitely remember my name. Your leader Maulama also knows my name."

They would have been stunned if I had introduced myself as Asirante.

But they, including Verdi, didn't take any action when I revealed my original name.

They seemed to have judged that their leader dispatched me here as a mercenary.

Anyway, I signed something like a contract, then turned my gaze to the crystal tower in the center.

Without hesitation, I walked toward the crystal tower.

Committing suicide? Of course, I had no intention of doing so.

Moreover, while the others here might regard this place as hell, it was not hell to me at all. But it was not heaven either. Right now, I was so happy in this world where I could fully show the power of my presence. So, I didn't think about suicide at all.

So much so that I even thought I would kill all the guys here if I had to to survive.

In other words, I knew how to get out of here.

[You currently have the blessings of 'Safeguard No. 3 To Cope With Crisis.'

- Your combat power increases as your health decreases.

- Your combat power increases by 1% for every 10% drop in your health.

-When your maximum health drops below 10%, you will suffer zero damage just once regardless of the attack.

: Cooldown 30 days.]

Until now, this skill has been of little value to me because I had over 30,000 stamina, which was not as great as my Intellect, and excellent armor.

But this was the best skill for me in this situation.

Of course, I had already figured out the solution to this situation two days ago, not now.

But I didn't tell anybody about it because they didn't hide their wishes from the beginning that an outsider like me could be their sacrifice.

Besides, I didn't want to miss the golden chance to make a fortune.

Anyway, I stopped thinking anymore.

I immediately attacked the crystal tower by summoning the Ice Spear.

Bang!

The crystal tower was shattered with one shot.

A message rang right after that.

[You have destroyed the crystal tower.

-Regardless of your physical defense and magic defense, you will suffer damage 100 times your health.]

With that message, my health depleted in an instant.

Since I had never seen my health deplete by that much before, I cleared my throat nervously even though I knew the existence of the blessings of 'Springboard No. 3 To Cope With Crisis.'

When my health dropped to exactly 10%, another message rang.

[You currently possess the blessings of 'Safeguard No. 3 To Cope With Crisis.

-All the damage you suffer after this will be changed to zero only once.

-The skill has a 30-day cooldown.]

So, my health did not drop further from 10%.

"Hahaha!"

At that moment, I could not control my smile.

As a matter of fact, I was still a little worried deep down even if I knew what would happen, for I was in reality and not within the game.