Jayce remembered a certain conversation he’d had in that hazy blue room very clearly. Though he’d only spent a week in this dungeon, it felt like months to him. Even so, Jayce hadn’t forgotten when Mize talked about what they’d do if they ran into her siblings.

“There’s a chance we’ll come across my siblings while we’re moving through the dungeon. It’s not a high chance, but I still need to prepare for it. Hey, if two of us meet and fight it out, who do you think will benefit the most?”

“It would be your other three siblings, right?”

“Correct.”

Mize grinned and raised her tail. She patted his head and then left it lying on top of him like a bizarre hat.

“There’s no reason to start the deathmatches early, but I don’t necessarily want to leave those guys alone, either. That’s why if we meet one of my siblings, I have two different plans. If we run into Quint or Lors, whose teams are as strong or stronger than mine, we’ll run immediately. You should be particularly careful if this happens. I can’t bring slaves into my bracelet without some preparation and you’re the slowest member of my team.”

‘I don’t like what you’re implying there…’ Jayce thought, swallowing some saliva.

“The more fun plan will happen if we meet Zoe or Liza. My sisters only have a mix of B-Rank and C-Rank slaves. They’re also weaker than me in a direct fight. Routing them would practically guarantee casualties on our side, which is unacceptable. Instead, we’ll strike quickly and kill off their weakest member. Once their team is crippled, they’ll have no chance in the death matches. As long as we can accomplish this without losing any of our team members, it’ll be a huge win.”

“We can’t guess what the situation will be when we run into each other.” Mize continued. “So, everything else will be decided on the fly. The only important thing to remember is that we must quickly kill their weakest team member.”

While Mize cheerfully moved to a new topic, the light in Jayce’s eyes dimmed. He knew he was going to participate in death matches and would have to kill or assist in killing more than just monsters. He also knew just how powerful Mize’s commands were. If she wanted him to kill someone, then he could only become a murderer.

That chilling thought was the real reason he had never forgotten this conversation.

Back in the present, Jayce rushed out from behind the steps leading up to the room’s center platform. He was out of even Seeker’s effective range, but there was nowhere else he could hide in this open room. Mize had been lucky to notice Liza’s approach before the other party, and that gave them a clear advantage. It was only unfortunate that the environment within this fragment wasn’t great for ambushes.

Still, he hadn’t expected Mize to be the one to open the fight. After having her stand on the sidelines all this time, Jayce felt it was surreal to see her actually enter combat. Moreover, even without a class, she could throw her javelin further than Jayce could accurately shoot. Aside from her horns and tail, Mize looked every bit like an ordinary, cute young girl. Jayce couldn’t fathom where she was getting that kind of power from.

With the threat of Mize’s ranged attacks, the enemy team couldn’t retreat easily. Showing their backs to that kind of power would be suicide. Jayce and his teammates took advantage of their hesitation to advance and box them in. Now that he could see Liza’s team clearly in the dim light, Jayce felt things weren’t going to be as easy as Mize said. The enemy’s vanguard was a stubby doll-like creature with extremely tough skin. Its eyes were dim and vacant, but its power and defense were clearly very high. Charging forward with heavy steps, it would be difficult to deal with once it gained momentum.

The three-meter tall doll charged, completely ignoring the possibility that it might be brained by a javelin. Before it reached them, Jayce was forced to pick a spot and toss out all the ‘food’ he kept in his storage. A flesh pile quickly rose up, reaching above his own head. A myriad of bizarre monster parts decorated the pile. Flesh blobs, vines, bloody flower petals, grass with eyeballs and carnivorous mushrooms of all shapes and sizes combined to create a gruesome altar of death. Several centipedes dug into the stinking pile of flesh.

During the past week, the fern-like centipede had grown significantly. Jayce didn’t know exactly what level it was, but its body size and combat effectiveness were worlds apart from when it entered the dungeon. Initially, it had been a thin and long creature with a length of three meters and a height reaching Jayce’s knees. Now, it reminded Jayce a little of the serpent from the retro game, Snake. It was just that this snake was split into several autonomous parts. Five giant ferns sprouted from the flesh pile, each no smaller than the doll. Sub-heads grew out of the fronds. Some immediately detached from their main body and continued rushing forward while others extended to meet the giant doll. Individually, they couldn’t stop the rampaging doll, but it didn’t matter. The ferns attacked as a single body, tying the doll down while grinding dozens of small holes in its flesh.

Of course, the two combatants were Bloodragers, so their battle wouldn’t end quickly.

Jayce ignored the battle of titans since Mize had already given him an order. Albeit a very open one.

“The C-Ranker is that masked humanoid. Kill it. Also, don’t die.”

Mize hadn’t been giving him any orders recently because she didn’t want to inhibit his growth. However, this situation was too important for soft tactics. The only reason Mize hadn’t given him a more direct order was because she was still feeling out her opponent.

Jayce looked forward. He could only see Liza holding her silver-ringed shield and black spear. Hiding behind her was his target, but the other B-Rank slave was nowhere to be seen. Since Mize’s javelin had failed to break through Liza’s guard, Jayce didn’t believe his bullets could do much.

‘Then again, I happen to have a weapon that pierces most defenses.’

Jayce and the feathered dragon stopped about 15 meters from their enemy. He wasn’t sure what Liza’s offensive range was or how Mize was planning on following up. No matter what, Jayce knew it was too dangerous to take the initiative, so he waited carefully to coordinate with his leader’s next move.

“Step forward and die.” Liza hissed.

In the next instant, Jayce lost his ability to breathe. Two golden eyes surrounded by black sclera filled his vision. The center of those pupils quivered and suddenly narrowed into thin, slit-like snake eyes. Those terrifying eyes brought a mountain of pressure down onto Jayce and the feathered dragon. He had an urge to drop to the ground and kneel, but he was paralyzed and couldn’t move an inch.

This mental attack only lasted for a moment before a javelin tore through the oppressive atmosphere. This attack was even heavier than the last one, and it nearly knocked Liza off her feet. A black and gold silhouette charged forward, blasting past Jayce and clashing against Liza’s shield. Mize was holding an obsidian spear that was significantly longer than Liza’s. The wide sleeves of her elegant dress fluttered as she thrust several times in a single second, knocking Liza back even further.

Still, Liza held her ground. Jayce wasn’t sure if a heavyweight wrestler from his world could have kept their grip on that shield through Mize’s strikes. The fact that even children of the black salamander race were this powerful reminded Jayce of what Mize had said about life orders. The difference wasn’t something that could be described in a single sentence. This was Jayce’s first time seeing the gap between himself and a high-order lifeform from the Upper Bound.

Because of Mize’s orders, he was able to toss away any distracting thoughts and focus on his mission. His target was dancing back, trying to stay behind Liza’s shield and out of Mize’s range. The masked humanoid hadn’t made any moves to attack and was purely focused on staying alive. Seeing this, Jayce and the feathered dragon finally took action. The dragon shot its feathers behind the masked humanoid, cutting off his retreat to the nearby corridor. Jayce ignored the target for now and aimed at his protector. He brought out Spirit Nail and fired at Liza.

Partially out of complacency and partially because she was busy with Mize, Liza allowed the nail to collide with her shield. The ethereal projectile passed right through it and vanished into Liza’s body. Liza’s expression quickly changed as she felt the nail’s retardant effects. Jayce’s subsequent shots were dodged with exceptional grace, but that only gave Mize more openings to push her away from their target.

The feathered dragon was the first to close in on the masked humanoid. It skirted around the siblings’ brawl by flying overhead and attacking from behind. The humanoid’s movements were a bit flustered, but his reaction speed was quick. He raised the twin pistols in his hands and fired at the dragon’s head. Jayce’s eyes widened when he saw those weapons. Like his spirit nail, they didn’t resemble any gun that could be found on Earth. The two were mirrors of each other, both short and fat with a six-pointed asterisk-shaped depression at the barrel. They looked like two little drums taped to a gun handle. Bright blueish light flashed as they fired, and a wave of bullets charged out to meet the dragon.

This attack, though visually impressive, had absolutely no effect. The bullets flew straight through the dragon’s head as if they had struck an illusion. The dragon landed in front of the man and its feathers began to glow with all the colors of the rainbow. Blinded, the man leapt back, moving even further from Liza’s protection. The dragon raised a claw to batter him while Jayce switched to Seeker now that he had a clear shot. His hands trembled but his movements never slowed.

Just when Jayce finished lining up his shot, the masked humanoid made a move. He dropped into a combat roll, dodging the dragon’s claws, and quickly turned to fire at Jayce. The range of those shotgun pistols wasn’t enough to hit Jayce accurately, but the sheer number of bullets made Jayce want to jump away.

However, Jayce grit his teeth and stood his ground. Some part of him realized that even if a stray bullet hit him, they would be blocked by his protective barrier. It was more important to take this chance to kill his opponent. Once Jayce thought this, his body could no longer choose any other option. Avoiding the optimal choice would go against his orders.

A dim blue light invaded his pupils as Keen Eye scouted his target’s movements. Jayce held his breath and pulled the trigger. Seeker’s high-caliber bullet rent the air as it sped towards its target. To his surprise, the masked humanoid had started to dodge even before he pulled the trigger. Partially because of the man’s reflexes and partially because Jayce’s aim wasn’t that great, the shot flew wide. At the same time, a couple bullets scraped against Jayce’s barrier. They were glancing hits and didn’t even cause him to stumble.

Jayce and the feathered dragon quickly tried to follow up, but that was when Liza sneered. At some point, the sisters had switched places. Now, Liza’s back was facing Mize’s party while Mize was closer to the wall. Liza’s dress had a few bloody gashes while Mize was completely unharmed, but she was the one looking down on Mize.

“Attacking the weakest link is the obvious choice, but who do you think I’m eager to kill?”

On another end of the battlefield, Liza’s second B-Rank slave appeared out of nowhere. With an unnerving hiss, its body transformed from a perfect mimicry of the stone brick floor to a living entity. The creature looked like a mix between a flatfish and a scorpion with a bladed tail. That tail struck like lightning, severing one of the giant fern’s roots.

Mize grit her teeth. For the centipede, that ‘root’ at the bottom was its head. The worst part was that, out of her terrifying army, only the parent centipede was her slave. If it died, the rest would either die or turn on her. Fortunately, she had kept five large centipedes before the battle started, and Liza had no way of telling which was the true main body. The fern that had just been clipped was only a sub-head that had grown to the same size as its parent.

Unsatisfied with its kill, the flatfish swiftly scuttled towards the next fern. The centipedes reacted, but they were still being tied down by the doll. That doll was fighting a terrifying battle which would certainly end with it slowly being eaten alive, but it continued to struggle against its opponent.

As Mize tried to come to the centipede’s rescue, Liza deftly transitioned out of her defensive stance and forced Mize to stay put. Furious, Mize’s spear thrusts became much more violent. Injuries blossomed across Liza’s body, despite her powerful shield. When Liza looked into her sister’s vertical pupils, she even felt a faint sense of suppression. She also felt dejected. It was absurd that a peer’s glare could actually affect her, who had the same ability. Liza knew she wasn’t a match for her older sister, but she had to persist until that A-Rank slave died.

The instant that flatfish appeared, the feathered dragon had ceased its attacks on the masked humanoid and flown towards the centipede. Jayce, on the other hand, hadn’t received any new orders. Mize probably felt he wouldn’t make it in time or maybe she hadn’t given up on killing the enemy C-Rank. Either way, Jayce had no choice but to focus on his own battle.

Once the pressure from the feathered dragon was lifted, the masked humanoid bolted into the corridor he’d entered from. Helpless, Jayce chased after him. Jayce could guess why the man had suddenly retreated. Liza knew that once the current crisis ended, regardless of whether the centipede died, Mize would take the opportunity to kill her undefended C-Rank slave. Therefore, she ordered him to escape before the battle finished.

Two sets of footsteps echoed through the dim corridor while the frantic fight behind them raged on.