Chapter 806 Competitors
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'It can't be that we'll cross paths with the hero's team like this, right?' Emilia thought with a frown. 'If we do… I can't tell how things will go.'
Cynthia just hummed in agreement, though she didn't believe her partner's fears would come true.
After all, Emilia's soul was far too attractive for most mortals to be able to resist, and its effect could almost be considered hypnotic when she was deliberately trying to seduce someone. Combined with her already attractive appearance, very few could look her in the eyes and not be mesmerized.
Moreover, when inside Arcadia, the 'exposure' of most mortals to this effect would only be further amplified, and even the dungeon's 'boss' was no exception. After all, no matter what kind of shell the 'world will' armed it with, its thought process still ran based off of a mortal somewhere deep down inside, though its 'source' may only think of it as a dream.
With so many 'debuffs' stacked on top of its attributes of greed and lust, Cynthia didn't believe that the dungeon boss would be able to resist trying to obtain Emilia as soon as possible. And unless there was no way to avoid it, he would never allow them to cross paths with another team.
After all, even if they didn't have any conflicts, every team inside the dungeon could be considered 'competitors'. Though it was possible for them to reach an agreement to cooperate in the short term, how could the dungeon boss of the 'Goblin's Den' have such optimistic thoughts?
Not to mention, no matter how confident he was in his own strength, the boss probably wouldn't want two teams to come at him together.
And just as Cynthia expected, after cautiously advancing for a while, the Crimson Witches soon discovered that they were separated from the 'other side' by a thick dungeon wall.
The sounds of conflict were still going strong, but Danielle didn't hesitate for a moment before signaling for her team to keep moving forward silently.
Emilia wasn't sure if the other party was unable to hear them or detect their presence through the wall, or if they just mistook her team for more monster reinforcements coming their way, but the combat on the other side didn't seem to break its rhythm, and there were no calls for them to help or stop.
After they were far enough away that they could no longer hear the sounds of the conflict, Danielle couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. "Fortunately, we didn't run into the other party."
Robin blinked in confusion. "Would it be bad if we met them?"
The drill-haired girl hummed. "Of course. Didn't you listen to the announcement before? The other party was probably 'Radiant Light'!"
Everyone but Crystal seemed to instantly realize what she meant, and while most of them were convinced, Sylvia was not.
"There's no need for us to be so scared or avoid them on purpose though, is there?"
Her attitude was clearly much 'softer' on Danielle than it had been, which was apparent by the fact that she listened to her 'orders' without making a fuss earlier. However, the conflict in their 'ideology' still remained the same.
Danielle snorted. "Even if you don't keep up with their news, you should know just how strong their team is. Each and every member is either a renowned or respected expert, or exceptionally skilled in their respective field."
Seeing Sylvia furrow her brows in displeasure, the drill-haired girl sighed. "I know our level is higher than theirs, and you might want to 'prove yourself' because of… that. But… what do you think is more important now? Proving yourself to Darryl, or…"
She didn't complete her words, but the yellow-eyed heroine obviously understood, and most of the unwillingness in her mind was immediately cleared.
Although it was unlikely that she would 'lose', if she really ended up making Emilia sad by being the one to 'ruin' their dungeon conquest, Sylvia didn't think it would be worth it at all.
She'd waited so many years for the chance to prove herself, so what did a few more months or years matter? As long as she believed in herself and kept working hard, Sylvia didn't believe that she would lose.
Their conversation should have left at least Crystal and Emilia confused, but much to both Danielle and Sylvia's relief, the two didn't seem to pay the matter much attention.
Emilia only tilted her head with a smile. "That Darryl guy must be really impressive for even Sylvia to want to prove herself to him, right? I can't wait to meet him one day!"
Alarm bells immediately went off in both Sylvia and Danielle's minds, and they couldn't help but shake their heads in unison.
"No way!"
"Absolutely not!"
The crimson-haired elf blinked in surprise, making the two of them finally realize that they probably shouldn't have mentioned the matter in front of Emilia at all.
With how curious she usually was, it would be no surprise if the girl paid special attention to Darryl because of that matter. And with his usual ability to easily charm girls, it may not be impossible for him to convince Emilia to leave them for him.
After all, while the crimson-haired elf had already become an indispensable and irreplaceable existence in their hearts, they didn't know if that was the case the other way around.
Maybe if someone coaxed her well enough, Emilia wouldn't even miss them much after leaving.
Although they didn't believe Darryl would bother lowering himself to that level, they didn't want to leave this kind of thing to chance.
Unfortunately, what shouldn't have been mentioned had already been said, and they didn't think badmouthing the guy in front of Emilia would have much effect. It might even make her distrust them, or worse, make the little beauty even more curious about Darryl.
The only thing they could do now… was distract her.
"Ahhh, look at the time! We've been chatting so long when we could have been making progress!" Sylvia exclaimed uncharacteristically.
Danielle also nodded. "Right! We've only just managed to get a little ahead of the other party by luck, we can't miss this chance!"
As they expected, Emilia really 'forgot' about the other topic almost instantly, and started focusing on leading them forward happily again. Or at least, that was how it seemed to them.
When Danielle and Sylvia looked at each other, they nodded with the same thought in their mind, without exchanging a single word.
'She should never be allowed to talk to Darryl alone… no, at all!'
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