“Bastard! What have you done to us?” Ray growled as he struggled against the green vines binding his hands and legs. His eyes stared daggers at the smiling middle-aged man with a goatee.

“It’s just my ability Green Vine.” The man touched a cross-shaped scar on his cheeks and smiled. “It will just make you immobile, nothing else.”

“Don’t panic, guys.” A young man behind the middle-aged man in his late teens, holding a long spear, smirked. “The monster we are hunting is a bit special. It likes live baits. After we lure over, you will be free to go.” He wore track pants and a jacket. Below the jacket, he wore a uniquely made white muscle shirt.

“Bastard!!” Ray’s snarled. His eyes looked like they could spat fire at any time. He pulled his hands against the vines, but they were too sturdy. Continuation of the action only resulted in him getting tired.

“This isn’t what we had agreed on. You are breaching the contract. Aren’t you afraid of getting cursed?” A man in his late thirties shouted as he struggled against the vines that trapped him to the pavement of the hallway. Like Ray, he also had his limbs wrapped in green vines, restricting his mobility.

“Haha!!!” The middle-aged man laughed heartily. His one eye looked calm and serene, a sharp contrast to the acts he was performing. Touching the scar lightly, he corrected the man, “I’m not hurting you though. The last monster we faced was a bit too strong. We couldn’t stop it from hurting you two. Therefore, as an apology, I am healing you with my vines.”

“Haha! Yeah! It seems we still lack adequate strength. We couldn’t even protect two porters from getting hurt. Tch! Tch! Shame on us!” It was the third person on the scarred man’s group, a woman in her late forties. Despite her age, she looked pretty and had very few creases on her face. She wore a pair of denim shorts and a pink top with a khaki jacket. On her foot, she wore knee-length boots. To finish her cowboy look, she wore a hat on her head.

Ray’s eyes widened as he understood why they dared to do what they did. Scarlet Agreement could stop friendly fires. If two people who were bound by the contract were to hurt each other, the contract will immediately come into effect. It will quickly immobilize the one who attacked first, while afflicting them with a strange and deadly curse.

Before coming into this dungeon, Ray and others signed their names on one of these contracts. But this man, who seemed to have nefarious thoughts from the beginning, had exploited a loophole.

“That lizardman sneaking into our backline, it was no coincidence, was it?” Ray asked coldly. He suspected, no, he was certain that these guys knowingly let that thing get past their barricade and attack them. “You knowingly let it attack us and cause minor wounds so that you can use the excuse of healing us, right?”

“Correct.” The scarred man smiled in approval while caressing his goatee. His single eye brightened as he gave Ray a once over. “You are a sharp kid. Sadly, you lack potential. If not, I would’ve considered taking you under my wing.” The man shook his head as if it was really a shame that he had to let him die.

“Damn bastard!” Ray growled, but it was buried by a thunderous roar coming from somewhere down the hallway.

Kroar!!

Ray’s heart thumped inside his chest. He turned to look in the direction, only to find a pair of red glowing eyes glaring at him.

“AHh!! What is that!?” Ray turned left to find his fellow porter kneeling on the spot and was struggling violently against the vines. Tears stained his eyes while a strange smell was wafting off him.

“It's here! Get ready guys!” The goatee man shouted, alerting his cronies.

“A, are you going to save us now!?” Ray’s fellow porter looked hopeful as he posed this question to the three raiders. They didn’t answer him, seemingly too busy readying their weapons.

‘Naïve,’ Ray sighed in his heart. His fellow porter was simply grasping for straws at this point.

Ray knew he should struggle and shout in protest. The behavior of the man beside him was considered ‘normal’ in a situation like this. Yet, he couldn’t bring himself to care at this point. He had fully given up on his life and was ready to accept death.

For years, life had been too unfair. It was time for him to rest.

Roar!!

The beast had yet to reveal itself, but its thunderous roar already made them stand on edge. Suddenly, a yellow light flashed in the darkness. Faster than anyone can react, a pale yellow-colored arrow that seemed like it was made from glass stabbed into Ray’s chest.

[You have taken a direct hit to your vital organ]

[-100 HP]

[You are bleeding]

[-100 HP/sec]

[You are poisoned!]

[Higher-order poison detected!]

[You will lose 50 HP/sec for one hour]

[HP: 250/500]

[+5 HP]

[HP: 105/500]

[+5 HP]

[…]

Ray’s system flashed, notifying him of his body condition. He was losing too much HP every second. Intense pain racked his body as he felt like he was burning in fire. The vines around his wrist loosened as they rotted away by the yellow mist coming out of the wound on his chest.

Within a scant few seconds, his 500 points of HP was down to only a few digits.

“You three bastards!!” Ray shouted at the top of his lungs. Now that he was about to die, he decided he shouldn’t go with a whimper. “Even if I die, I will not let you three go.”

The three ‘bastards looked his way as their faces paled. They no longer had looks of mock and disdain. No! it had long been replaced with horror and disbelief.

[HP: 0/500]

Ray showed his middle finger at them before he kneeled on the spot and fell face first. He no longer had the energy to care about them or the suspicious shadow loomed over him. He closed his eyes and waited for the sweet embrace of death.

He could already feel it coming.

[You took a poison arrow to the chest.]

Or so he thought.

Strange windows flashed before his eyes even though he had them closed.

[Your ability ‘???’ activates.]

[You stole +10 STR; +5 AGI; +20 END from your killer]

[You stole ‘Crystalline Poison Arrow’ from your killer]

[Ressurecting to your last check point]

‘Eh!?’