Chapter 587 Time to Lose the Extras
"Thanks."
Evan bit into the strawberry with a delightful expression on his face, about to continue savouring its taste when Kaylas's voice rang out.
[Master.]
"Huh?"
[Did you forget we're in a race?]
"…"
Kalya gave him a mischievous smile as lighting tendrils snaked across her arms and legs. A similar phenomenon happened to Evan with his golden aura, with him tossing the half-eaten strawberry into his inventory.
In the next second, the two of them zoomed off into the distance, leaving behind Greed who had just picked his weapon back up.
"Oh no, you don't."
The man stretched out his hand and sucked the agility out of the monsters who fled the area due to the bowling explosion, before kicking off the ground and chasing after the other two.
The trio's race continued, with them making a few stops to butcher some monsters and Evan finally taking the time to eat the rest of his giant strawberry.
At around Floor 70, they stopped attacking anything, ignoring all monsters and focusing on reaching the bottom of the dungeon as fast as possible.
Upon reaching Floor 90, they began encountering Demonic Hand Ninth Division members, and without hesitation, they wiped out all the platoons they found.
At first, he had Pride and Eliza lead the others down other routes, but as they approached the 95th floor, Evan decided they had to lose those S-rankers.
"They'd be useful against the Demonic Hand members though, so why don't we lose them around the 98th floor?"
Greed made this suggestion as they sensed the auras of the 29 S rankers fast approaching.
"I have not explained the Demonic Hand's existence to them.
I can tell them that these are the guys who set up the barrier and caused the Dungeon to break artificially, but that's gonna leave them with a lot of questions.
Even though their presence at the bottom of the dungeon during this time is VERY suspicious; these are the same people I had to show the Akashic Page to, just so I could convince them about the World Isolation Barrier."
The young hero made his stance with his words, and Kayla only heaved a sigh whilst shaking her head.
[So, do we toss them into a Monster Room somewhere or not?]
They were currently within one of the 'No Monster Zones' that the Demonic Hand platoon they wiped out had established, so they didn't worry about having to suddenly deal with a randomly appearing Level 490 monster.
"I suggest we toss them into a monster room on the 98th floor."
Greed once again put out his suggestion, and from Evan's facial expression, it could be seen he really didn't fancy this one.
"They're not stupid, so they know someone obviously put up the World Isolation Barrier around the city. If we tell them that the Demonic Hand are that 'someone' then it'd justify why we're killing them.
If they want, they can also capture some of their members. That does not really matter since they would not be facing the Boss with us."
Silence pervaded the area around the three of them after Greed spoke, one that persisted until Eliza and Pride arrived with the rest of the Adventurer/Mercenary/Mage/Soldier entourage.
"What's the hold-up?"
Evan transmitted the contents of their conversation to Pride when she asked and after understanding the situation, she offered her opinion.
'I'm with my brother on this. If we have to fight through Demonic Hand Platoons with 50 members each, we'd burn ourselves out.'
'…'
The boy remained silent, glancing at the S-Ranker group before sighing and suggesting.
'The Demonic Hand would unconditionally attack any people who come into this area right now, so we'd just let them get attacked. They'd definitely retaliate so we'd have them kill off the Demonic Hand through that retaliation.'
His idea was passed to all the others whilst Eliza kept the sound out with a small barrier.
No one had any objections to it, so Evan took out the artifact he had said was the one to let him find his way around the dungeon and looked at it, tinkering with a few things before holding it up in front of him.
The boy inclined it so they could see the compass display pointing to the direction he was about to move in.
"We're on the right track."
He tossed it back into his inventory after his little 'show', before dashing forward along with Greed and Kayla.
The others trailed behind; a bit suspicious of whatever the group had discussed that needed them to block out the sound.
But they didn't have any time to pay it much mind as they entered the 95th floor right after, encountering a Company of Demonic Hand Senior members close to the entrance.
Before any of them could even say anything, the Demonic Hand members and their contracted demons attacked them without hesitation. Some even fused after sensing the strength of the S rankers and charged at them with swords drawn.
The S rankers, naturally did not sit back and let themselves be hit, retaliating with fury just as Evan had predicted and showing just why they were 'S' rankers.
They bulldozed the entire company of Level 300s in minutes, but this came with the added side effect of bringing some of them dangerously close to Level 450.
For those close to that level, they agreed to make sure not to deliver the last blow to any opponents, reducing the exp they get upon the opponent's death.
They encountered larger Demonic Hand groups on the floors that followed, and they did well to avoid any that were higher than what they could handle at the moment.
There was one group where Evan had landed in the middle of them, and with fracture active, he and Kayla punched the ground where the spirit's Electroflame bloomed.
Evan then proceeded to use his favourite Ice Spell: Ice Nova, on the members who had been disoriented and disarrayed by the sudden strike.
With such methods, the group made their way to Floor 98, where Evan decided it was time they left the S rankers behind.
He sent his plan to the spirits and Pride using his connection with them, purposely leaving Eliza out of the loop because he wanted her genuine reaction to what he planned to do.
A few minutes after they entered Floor 98, Evan kept on using the compass-like artifact to make a show of checking for the path.
As they ventured forth, the corridor gradually opened up into a vast, circular clearing, its dimensions vast and its boundaries concealed in darkness.
"Hmm… something's off."
Eliza was the first to notice something wrong, stopping her movements and looking around the clearing while sending out a wave of ether from her body.
Immediately after, her expression paled rapidly, something the S rankers who had turned towards her after hearing her earlier words all noticed.
Without hesitation, they got into battle-ready positions, a decision that proved to be correct after a horde of frenzied monsters suddenly emerged from the darkness around them.
Battle cries filled the air as they swiftly formed a defensive line and clashed with the army in a fierce confrontation, the entire area was soon awash in spells, arrows and blades.
All of them were experienced dungeon divers, so it did not take them long to figure out that they had entered a monster room.
Monster rooms came in all forms, and from what they could see, this was the type that locked its target in only after a certain period of time had passed and not immediately.
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