“GUARRRKKKK!!!” The Grade 3 Demon let out a deafening cry.
It had neared the end of its life, so this was the only resistance it could cut up as a last-ditch struggle to survive.
Unfortunately for the beast…
>SWISH!<
>SWOOOSHH!<
>BOOOOMMM!!!<
… Its adversaries didn’t give it any room to fight with what little strength it had left.
Right there and then… the monster died.
‘It was stronger than them individually, but by working together, even mere insects can take down a massive giant… how unfair is that?’ I thought to myself as I observed the scene.
After deliberating internally, I had decided to simply watch how the fight would play out. Somehow the group managed to win, but I wasn’t fazed.
It wasn’t really a loss.
“Huff… huff…”
“Arh! I’m beat!”
“That was a bit tough…”
The Rankers all fell to the ground and sat in exhaustion.
Clearly, they needed a break after exerting themselves so much. A total number of forty-one of them were journeying together… that was quite a surprise.
“I wonder…”
My mumble was loud enough for one of them—most likely a Thief—to notice. He swiftly moved his head and glanced in my direction.
It wasn’t like I was trying to hide, so I didn’t bother concealing myself. Once the man’s eyes met mine, I stepped forward and revealed myself to the group.
“Someone else was here?”
“Who?”
“That guy… is he—?”
“Who the hell? How long has he been standing there?”
“That thing behind him… what the heck is it?”
“He must be a Tamer…”
Multiple comments were made, but I ignored their murmurs and closed our distance.
Since they were mostly tired, all the members of the group were unmotivated to fight. However, they must have seen the Level and Stats of my Golem, because they all sprang to their feet and readied themselves before I completely reached them.
‘Oh, please…’ I nearly rolled my eyes.
While I didn’t particularly dislike acts of caution toward me, this time was a bit excessive. They were all glaring murderously at me.
“Oi, who are you?”
“How long have you been there?”
“He must have been waiting for us to be exhausted… then he would attack us with that thing…”
“Who is he? I can’t see his System Introduction. Don’t tell me… is his Level…?!”
“That’s not possible, right? It’s probably the effect of an item—probably that mask…”
They made speculations, but I completely ignored them regardless.
‘At times like this, you have to wait for the perfect moment!’
“Excuse me, sir. Can you state your business?”
Once I heard the voice, I stopped dead in my tracks.
Standing before me was a woman. She had blond hair, and her physique wasn’t bad either. Judging her age, she could be in her early thirties, though she was plenty attractive.
Her gaze was sharp, and the grip on her blade was strong as well. However, unlike the others who had unsheathed their weapons, and were emitting intense bloodlust, she seemed more collected.
Her hand was on her sheathed blade, but she had a cool expression.
‘Looks like I found the one in charge.’
Answering everyone else would reduce my prestige. To handle this sort of matter, commanding an interaction with the head of a group was the best route to take.
“I am simply a challenger of the Tower, just like you. Since you all seemed to be busy, I waited for you to be done with your business before interrupting.”
The lady—Vivian Mayers, from her System Introduction—sighed a bit and looked around, signaling the group to lower their guard. Her guard also seemed to lessen since I answered her question.
‘Does she have a truth-seeking skill? That would make sense…’
Perhaps she belonged to the Scholar Job?
In any case, I was glad to have received some degree of their trust. I wasn’t out of the woods yet, though.
‘It’s not like any Low-level Skill will be able to accurately see through my lies, but… I should avoid speaking any direct lies.’
Yes, that would be for the best.
“You just watched as we fought that thing, and you expect to climb the Tower after we cleared this place? Heh, what a freeloader.” One dunce spoke from among the group.
‘What a bother…’
It seemed I had been too lenient with these people. Sometimes, a person needed to speak out a bit.
“Stop that Garfield. If he had interfered in the fight, he would have gotten some of the Reward. I’m sure none of you would want that, right?”
Vivian’s words shut the mouth of the lousy fellow—lucky for him.
“It seems you all here are Rankers. I’m curious as to how there are so many of you working together.”
My question was—of course—directed at Vivian. She seemed like the one with the most common sense.
Usually, most Rankers had their respective Parties, and it was rare to see them working together like this. This begged the question—why?
“We plan on clearing the Floors ourselves. That’s why we decided to band together as Rankers.”
I understood their logic.
Adding other Party Members would only serve as dead weight in their quest to ascend.
Still, wasn’t this a conflict of interest? I mean… the Rewards would be evenly spread among the Rankers—competitors!
‘Do they really want that?’
While it indeed made more sense to conquer the Tower this way, human nature made a lot of people terribly shortsighted. They would rather have little to themselves than share plentiful with others.
There was no way forty-one of the most powerful Gifteds simply decided to work together from the good of their heart and in the spirit of comradeship. There had to be a catch.
“I see… in that case… can I join your group?”
My question raised lots of flags among the people present.
Even Vivian—who was composed just moments ago—became uncomfortable.
“Ahh, I don’t know. We’d like to discuss this with one another first…”
I cocked my head to the side in order to act oblivious.
“We don’t doubt your strength, so don’t worry about it. It’s just something we need to agree on as a team.” Vivian gave me a quick reply.
“Is that so? Fine, then…”
‘Bullshit! You idiots are so predictable. Hehehehe…’
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