Draw

[System prompt: Due to external disturbance, the result of the battle will be voided. The final outcome shall be a draw. The Challenger Gauntlet will be refunded but will have an additional cooldown of one month!]

[System prompt: Both dungeon masters, dungeon cores and all the surviving monsters shall be attributed the 'Absolute Immunity' buff for 10 minutes.]

[System prompt: All the entities of both dungeons will be summoned back to their original location in 10 minutes.]

Five was completely overwhelmed by the events. He went through a rollercoaster of emotions as his monsters were being cruelly slaughtered. Then, an unexpected lifeline appeared; the dungeon core was willing to lend him his power to turn the tides. However, before he was able to do so, the dungeon was suddenly attacked again and the most powerful enemy monster was killed in an instant.

Now, a series of confusing system prompts sounded, not even clarifying the situation.

"What exactly is this external disturbance? Someone is interfering with the battle. I was about to use [Surrender to Madness]. If I was just a second faster, I would have wasted a third of my soul for nothing!"

Five was naturally angered by what was happening; the situation was completely out of control! Although he was about to pay a heavy price, he was also going to earn big by taking over all of the other dungeon master's resources. Who was it that interrupted him and almost cost him a third of his soul?

He glared at the monsters. "What did you do?" He was suspicious of these demons; it was possible they sensed the activation of his skill and went out of their way to stop it.

Isa frowned. She was equally confused by the events. "You treacherous human! Stop pretending! Victory was just within reach! What have you done to stop the battle?"

"You cheated somehow! Be happy that it happened. Lucky bastard!"

Five narrowed his eyes. 'Was I wrong? It was not them? Then who?'

"Tssk! You are the one who should rejoice that the battle was interrupted," grunted Five. He felt completely lost. His eyes inadvertently fell on the dungeon core, floating in the middle of the goblins.

The monsters lowered their eyes, not daring to meet his gaze. They knew they messed up. They took out the dungeon core at the last minute, certain that defeat was unavoidable but they never expected the situation to develop like that.

'These bastards. They are just fence-sitters who will jump on one side as soon as the situation is not in their favor. It was a mistake to invest so much in just one aspect of the dungeon,' thought Five. Just thinking about it caused his blood to boil.

Five stepped toward the goblins but before he could do anything, the giant spike suddenly shook. It then pulled itself out of the dungeon, allowing the sunlight to illuminate Tinyland. The light felt different; it was authentic and gave a feeling of warmth compared to the artificial lighting used by the dungeon.

The giant spike actually drilled a giant hole in each floor. It pierced through ten layers of the supposedly indestructible dungeon material!

"What a pain... You are all so noisy..."

A rasping voice sounded, coming from the surface. It was the first time Five was hearing this voice; it was definitely not Lavenus who never spoke again after the appearance of the giant spike.

"Who are you? Why did you interfere?" asked Five.

The voice answered in exasperation. "You are not even worthy of knowing my identity. If it was not for the three wishes I gave that old bastard, I would not even be here. D*mmit. Because of a fool like you, I will be forced to go into hibernation for a while. Do you know how much energy I wasted in crossing to this realm..."

Five could feel the speaker's annoyance but he himself was not satisfied with the situation. "If you did not want to come, you did not need to! Who told you to interfere with this battle? I had everything under control! Just one more second and they would have all been dead!"

"Fool! Ignorant fool! I have already noticed the skill you were going to cast. Only a fool would give up a portion of his soul for a temporary increase in power. If I did not make a move, you would have fallen in that sly bastard's trap!"

Five was stunned. Was the soul that important? "What? What do you mean?"

"Ignorant. You are the soul. Your body is just a physical shell controlled by your soul. Once you lose more than half of your soul, it is no different from giving your body to someone else. Now, I don't know how much of your soul you were going to give away and you might think that you will only use that skill once, but did you know, your battle was being watched by thousands of dungeon masters."

"Do you really think they will allow such a dangerous and unstable person like you to stay alive if they find out about that ability? The person who was going to receive your soul was smart. He already knew you would be forced to do so again very soon. If it was not for that girl's request, I would not even have acted and in just a few months, you would fall into eternal sleep as your body is taken over by that person."

Five froze. He never expected the soul to be such an important element and neither did he expect his battle to have been watched by all the dungeon masters. Furthermore, a woman asked that person to help him?

Five was unable to process all this new information. His gaze landed on the Core of Madness. The core instantly stopped glowing; it fell back into the arms of the goblin, pretending to have never acted.

'So it was true... Another bastard that is just waiting to betray me... Mad King Lavenus... The monsters inside the dungeon cores are just waiting to take over their dungeon master's body. They watched from the shadows and wait for the perfect opportunity. [Surrender to Madness] was really my one and only chance to reverse the situation...'

Five felt a shiver run down his spine. "Is what you are saying true?"

"Tssk. Don't believe me if you don't want to. You think I have nothing better to do than to come here to forcefully stop the fight? This realm is already rejecting me; I wasted so much I won't even receive any gratitude."

"Honestly. I don't see what the Aries saw in you. I can feel his scent on you. It is faint but I am certain you met Noon at some point. He said he met an interesting dungeon master but in my opinion, you are not worth mentioning. Such a pain. It is the last time I am promising anything to a mortal. The wishes are too complicated."

Five stared at the hole in the ceiling in silence. He did not know what to answer to the speaker's comments. But he had to agree; whoever his savior was, that person did not have any reason to make a move to help him.

He turned toward Isa and the winged men. "I don't know the reason why your dungeon master chose to target me. But tell him this. This battle ended up in a draw but next time will be different. He will have to wait for a month before using the Challenger Gauntlet again but I will be ready and waiting. I won't make the same mistake this time."

Isa sneered. "Empty threats! So what if you will be prepared in one month, you might not even survive until then. Compared to a loner like you, my master belongs to an alliance. With all your trump cards having been exposed and your dungeon in this state, do you really think the other members of the alliance will just let a fat cow like you recover to your peak? Enjoy these few moments of peace! It is only a matter of time before your dungeon will be under siege."

Five frowned but did not answer. The Succubus Dowager was not wrong. His dungeon was now exposed.

Isa smiled faintly and turned around. There was no use bickering with the enemy. She quietly waited for them to be teleported back to Zero.

Five remained silent. A quick look at his interface indicated that he only had to wait for thirty seconds more. He clicked his tongue in annoyance. 'What a horrible way to end this battle.'

[System prompt: Prepare for the teleportation!]

As Five received the system prompt: the rasping voice sounded once again: "Remember to thank that girl. If it was not for her..."

This was the last thing Five heard as he was suddenly blinded by a dazzling white light.