Ken and his team collected another round of bounty from their last enemies. Overall, they collected plenty of loot, and they all reached at least 30 thousand BP. The spoil was too much beyond their ring storage capacity, and each of them was wearing 5 rings like a group of rappers.
The closer they got to where Ken guessed the last room was, the more frequent the fights became. Nearly every corridor they passed through was stained with blood and littered with bodies. They saw over 300 bodies and added a few dozen more to the count by the time they finally arrived at the last room.
At this part of the labyrinth, nearly everyone had 5,000 BP or more, making them all mass murderers. When the token passed the 3,000 BP threshold, the bloodlust it exuded was too strong to be hidden by fourth-rank formations, rendering ambushes useless.
The only thing that could hide the bloodlust was the labyrinth walls, making the rooms in the corridors popular hiding spots for resting. Everyone opened those cautiously and once the door opened, the presence of the inhabitants would be revealed, so there wasn't much of a surprise effect anymore.
Ken wasn't worried about getting attacked, and the group walked down the corridors confidently. They did not attack first since Ken wasn't interested in others' BP, but they were usually forced to kill most of the people they ran into simply because the other teams were just as confident and did want others' BP.
'Tiara and Alaric are equally strong. I'm somewhat surprised that a core disciple from the 13th-ranked sect is as strong as her peer from the fourth-ranked sect.'
Ken thought to himself as he watched Tiara cut through their enemies' defenses with her saber. Alaric wasn't half bad himself; he handled the spear proficiently as he thrust it, rotated it, and swung it.
During his fight on the volcanic mountain, Ken understood the power of numbers. He was exhausted after killing 10,000 disciples, and despite inventing the Blood Transfusion skill, he'd eventually collapse if he had to fight 1000 more disciples.
If the Four Seasons Sect sent their core disciples as well, he would be in dire straits. Besides, they didn't even attack him together but took turns.
'I can't do everything by myself. It still doesn't mean I need a whole sect full of weaklings under my command, but I need the help of a team. They need to be hypocrites, unscrupulous, or emotionally unstable.'
Ken chose Henry for being a hypocrite, Tiara for being dishonest and manipulative, and eventually Alaric was an emotional mess. Those people wouldn't have problems doing questionable tasks when needed, and he already had a task in mind for Alaric.
As a matter of fact, he already gave the man his instructions last night while the others were sleeping.
'Although Maria is a good subordinate, her foundation is too weak and there's only so much I can do for her with Alchemy.'
He needed people with strong foundations so he can boost them further, instead of people with an unsuccessful past that he needs to mend. Those three had a sturdy cultivation base, and they were powerful even before they met him.
"There's a large group of people ahead and they don't seem to be fighting. There are at least 40 cultivators there, stay alert."
Ken warned his group as he sensed the danger. With his Blood Sense technique, he could locate the tokens much earlier than others.
Soon after, the corridor turned wider, becoming more of a hallway. They recognized this phenomenon; it was the characteristic of the corridors that lead to the last room where the boss resides.
"Why there are so many people waiting here?"
Daisy already assumed the job of the team's spokesperson, so it didn't take her long to ask. The people there looked at each other warily, but there were no fights going on. Weirdly enough, it seemed like they almost lost hope.
"The boss inside is too strong. It's as powerful as a Nascent Soul cultivator, and not just an average one from small sects. It's as strong as an inner disciple in a top sect."
One disciple from the Divine Sword Sect answered, probably because the one who asked came from his sect.
"Can't we beat him with numbers?"
"Maybe we can, but we don't trust each other. If someone took a risk to land a decisive blow on the monster inside, everyone else will use this chance to kill them along with the monster. Since we can't count on others to have our backs, we can't go and fight it."
"I see."
The team exchanged glances, waiting for Ken to decide what to do. Ken just nodded at Daisy, a gesture that meant she should keep asking questions.
"Did anyone try to enter?"
"Yes, they all died except for one. He managed to escape when another team opened the doors to look inside and see how their fight goes."
The same man answered again. He didn't mind giving away this information since it didn't make anything better or worse for him. The doors to the last room could only be opened from the outside, so any team that entered risked being caged with a monster without the ability to run away.
"Where is the man now?"
"Dead, he didn't have the protection of a group. Those guys killed him."
He pointed at a team of evil cultivators, and their leader just smiled and waved.
"How you doing?"
He aimed his words at Tiara as he scrutinized her with his gaze from head to toe and back but was ignored despite the killer move.
Ken looked at the people around him. He understood why they weren't fighting; the moment one team engaged with another, a third team would use it to land sneak attacks and kill them.
"Are you the only teams that reached that far?"
This time Ken spoke since Daisy ran out of questions.
"No, there are other teams, but most of them return to collect BP and talismans from the rooms across the floor. Some believe that if they collect enough fifth-rank talismans, they will be able to defeat the boss with just them. But most talismans here are the Terror Talismans and they don't affect the blood monsters."
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