The atmosphere inside the dungeon grew increasingly tense. The students trapped within finally witnessed firsthand just how terrifying a secret realm in riot state could be. A thick bloody mist spread through the air like wildfire, igniting the rage of every wild monster nearby.
Moments ago, these surviving students were still able to handle the rock element creatures individually. As long as they didn't attract too many at once, they could protect themselves. But now, after being baptized by the blood-red fog, the monsters' eyes gleamed with madness—as though they had consumed some sort of infernal stimulant.
The hunters had become the hunted. The students who once stalked wild monsters now found themselves being chased down and torn apart by those very beasts.
Among them was Leo, who had also encountered several other students while trying to survive.
When Leo was a child, his favorite pastime was reading brutal, blood-filled comics. Maybe that's why, even now, he never ignored someone in need. Whenever he saw other students struggling, he would lend a hand—not out of friendship, but simply because it was the right thing to do.
But as time passed and the number of brown rock elementals around him multiplied, even Leo started to feel his strength waning.
The biggest problem was their rocky bodies. These creatures were practically made of stone, meaning his usual blood-siphon skill was useless. He had no choice but to fight while constantly drinking potions, which completely disrupted his battle rhythm.
Thankfully, thanks to Ethan's earlier guidance, Leo had learned to be smarter and more strategic. He had stocked up on plenty of healing potions and emergency supplies before entering the dungeon.
Still, the endless combat was taking its toll. His muscles ached, his bones throbbed, and his internal organs felt as though they'd been smashed repeatedly. Yet the number of monsters didn't seem to decrease at all—in fact, they were increasing, threatening to overwhelm him.
Just when he thought things couldn't get worse, fate decided to mock him. He ran into the same group of students he had helped before.
Due to the riot state of the secret realm, the special teleportation scrolls had stopped working. Those students, desperate to escape, had been running for their lives with a mob of wild monsters chasing them. When they saw Leo, their eyes lit up as if they had found salvation.
Except, salvation came in the form of betrayal.
Without hesitation, they led the monsters straight toward him.
"Are you kidding me?!" Leo shouted as he saw them dragging dozens of enraged creatures right to his position.
The moment the beasts locked onto Leo, those same "grateful" students turned tail and ran for their lives.
Leo clenched his jaw, fury boiling in his chest. "You damn cowards! Revenge for kindness, huh? If I survive this, I'll make sure you regret it!"
But despite his anger, Leo didn't give up. He gritted his teeth, chugged another potion, and kept fighting.
Even though he wasn't sure if Ethan still remembered their bet, Leo was determined to take this challenge seriously.
Then, suddenly, he felt a familiar rush of energy surging through his body—he had leveled up.
Level 25!
Without wasting a second, Leo swapped into the dark-gold equipment set he had been saving for this very moment.
The transformation was instant. His combat power more than doubled, breaking through the 200-point mark.
Surrounded by a sea of roaring brown rock elementals, Leo took a deep breath, his eyes burning with fighting spirit.
"Alright, you stone freaks," he yelled, "come at me! Either I kill every last one of you today, or you kill me!"
With a mighty roar, he activated all the special effects of his equipment.
Suddenly, in the midst of the bloody fog, a burst of golden light illuminated the battlefield.
Leo swung his new dark-gold broadsword, and with each slash, golden arcs of energy tore through the enemy ranks. The air cracked with power as one of the massive rock elementals was cleaved clean in half.
Though the weapon didn't completely annihilate the horde, Leo couldn't help laughing out loud. "Handsome!" he shouted to himself, grinning from ear to ear.
For the first time, he finally had a long-range attack skill.
"Tsk, too bad Ethan isn't here to see this!" he muttered, half-amused and half-exhausted.
After half an hour of intense fighting, Leo stood panting atop a hill made from the corpses of fallen monsters. The battlefield around him was quiet for the first time in ages. He dropped to one knee, trying to catch his breath.
But then—BOOM. BOOM. BOOM.
Heavy footsteps thundered through the earth. Out of the mist emerged a brand-new type of wild monster, far larger and stronger than anything he had faced before.
Leo's eyes widened. "Oh crap."
Without hesitation, he turned off all his equipment's glowing effects and started running for his life.
"Nope. Not doing this again. Never pretending to be cool ever again!" he yelled as he sprinted through the fog.
While escaping, he stumbled upon the same group of students who had earlier sacrificed him. Now, they were huddled together in a corner, barely surviving.
Leo smirked. "Don't blame me. Karma's just quick today."
He paused, then frowned. "Wait, is that the right expression? Eh, doesn't matter."
He wasn't in any position to help them anyway.
He had tried attacking one of the new monsters earlier—while he could break their defenses, it drained his stamina alarmingly fast. After thirty minutes of nonstop combat, even lifting his sword was painful.
"I'm not dying here because of exhaustion," he muttered. "Run first, heroics later."
Ten minutes passed, and Leo was still running. The monsters behind him refused to give up. The ground shook with every step they took.
"Why are you still chasing me?!" he shouted in disbelief.
Panting heavily, he pulled out his City Return Scroll, the last hope of any adventurer. "Screw this. I'm done running!"
He activated the scroll—
CRACK!
The parchment crumbled into energy dust and vanished.
"What the—?!" Leo stared at his empty hands. "A counterfeit?! Seriously?!"
Panic surged through him. His last escape route was gone. But somehow, the terror re-ignited his survival instinct. His exhausted legs suddenly felt like they'd been injected with adrenaline, and he started running even faster than before.
As he sprinted, his boot crushed something soft beneath him. He looked down—and froze.
A mangled human body.
His stomach dropped. "That's… a student."
The realization hit him like ice water. The scroll hadn't been fake—the entire secret realm was malfunctioning. The teleportation system was broken. No one could escape.
"Great," he said bitterly. "Next time, I'm bringing stamina potions—lots of them."
Seeing that there was no other way, Leo finally stopped running. His lungs burned, his body screamed, but his spirit refused to yield. "Fine. If I'm dying, I'm taking some of you with me!"
He turned to face the horde of monsters closing in.
And then, suddenly—
A figure appeared in front of him.
A blur of motion, graceful and confident. It was Lily Winters.
Her speed was incredible, far surpassing that of the wild monsters. She sliced through them effortlessly as she landed between Leo and the horde.
Leo blinked in disbelief. "Lily?"
When Lily saw him, her first instinct was to turn around and leave. She knew how dire the situation was—saving others now meant risking her own life. Logically, self-preservation was the only smart choice.
But as she prepared to retreat, she remembered the favor she owed Ethan.
If she couldn't help Ethan directly, she could at least help Leo, Ethan's friend. Maybe that would balance the scales.
Her eyes hardened with resolve. She dashed forward again, shouting, "Hey! I'll distract them—run while you can!"
Leo froze for a second, stubborn pride bubbling up inside him. "How can I let a woman save me? I'm a man—"
"Shut up," Lily interrupted. "They can't catch me anyway. I owe Ethan a favor, and by saving you, I'll be even. Now GO!"
The moment he heard Ethan's name, Leo didn't argue further. He immediately turned around and bolted, waving a hand behind him.
"I said it earlier—thank you, sister-in-law!" he yelled over his shoulder as he disappeared into the fog.
Lily's jaw dropped. "Sister-in-law?!" she muttered, momentarily stunned.
But before she could respond, another wave of monsters surged toward her, forcing her to refocus.
Leo, meanwhile, kept running with a grin, muttering to himself, "Man, Ethan's gonna kill me if he hears that…"
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