[Bonus chapter] Divide and Conquer (Part 1).

A/N: Hello! this chapter is a thank-you gift for the readers who stay with me even in these hard times (new reader drought, in short). I realized that I should cherish every single reader that I have.

Again, thank you for continuing to read my novel!

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The young prince turned to the Dame.

"How about you, Dame Nora? What would you like as a reward?"

Nora immediately shook her head, "I'm alright, your highness. Please treat my help as payment for saving me."

Deon sighed in relief. He was nervous about making promises that he could potentially break.

"Well then, can you now tell us about the plan, Sir Finn?" Deon asked.

For all the things he demanded, Deon could only hope that Finn's plan was worth his reward.

"It's simple." Finn tented his fingers with a confident expression, "Divide and Conquer."

"Divide… and conquer? That's it?"

Deon was aghast!

He had expected the plan to be a novel strategy that would blow his mind away from the cost of Finn's 'help', but to think his answer was so simple!

"If you think it's easy, then you are gravely mistaken, Sir Deon." Finn wagged his forefinger to the prince, "The plan might be simple, but its execution is highly complicated."

Finn told them his plan in full detail, drawing figures on the ground with a killer ant antenna.

For the next few hours, the group planned and rested, ensuring that they would be at their top forms to confront the daunting task of saving hundreds of people.

By evening, Deon's group moved.

They made their way to the food storage, systematically defeating monsters along the way.

In the last corridor, Deon sprayed pheromone perfume on himself. A thick sour smell permeated his nostril, making him sneeze hard.

His role was—Again—a bait.

Despite knowing that he was a prince, Finn was unapologetic about continuously using him as bait. Finn reasoned that Deon was perfect for the role since he could teleport and among their group, he also possessed the highest agility.

Deon did not know whether to be happy or offended at Finn's nonchalance about his social position.

He was partly happy that Sir Finn still treated him like he always did unlike others who suck up to him, but he was also offended that he was not shown the slightest bit of courtesy.

Either way, since HE was the one asking THEM for help, he could not possibly act like an overprivileged brat.

"I'm going in." He told Finn and Nora who grimly nodded in return.

"Hey, kid. Stay at the entrance. I'll lure them out just as planned and then you wait for my signal to run."

Now that they were left alone, Deon no longer needed to pretend like Mikael didn't exist.

"I understand, Sir Mikael."

Deon dashed to the entrance while Mikael swooped to the ceiling.

Apparently, the five repletes that attacked them earlier had gone back to their dormant state above, returning the false tranquility of the food storage.

"Hmm… who should we save first?" Mikael put a finger to his lips as he floated amidst the suspended prisoners.

Mikael listened to Finn's strategy meeting but he also had plans of his own.

Instead of randomly selecting repletes to lure, Mikael decided to pick the ones that held hostages who passed his screening.

Mikael's selection criteria were simple. –the good and the strong.

He figured those good people would be grateful to them just like Dame Nora and would thus offer their help in sweeping the dungeon while strong people would definitely boost their fighting force.

<Skill: Blessing of the Mist Lvl. 1 is activated.>

Mikael surveyed the food storage, but it was like looking through a tinted glass window. The repletes had an aura of karma of their own which obstructed Mikael's view.

'tsk! Do I really have to check them one-by-one?' Mikael clicked his tongue, but he still proceeded to diligently hunt for prey.

One might ask why Mikael did not kill the repletes on his own, earning all the experience points for himself.

But to Mikael, leveling up was not his current priority.

Achieving a high level did not give Karma points, whereas making Deon grow and changing his image did.

As Deon gets known throughout the land as a hero, Mikael would be able to reap much more good karma and so, killing the repletes by himself was out of the question.

'Bad guy…'

'Hmm… another bad guy…'

'There! Finally! A good one!'

Mikael selected one of the people who had a lighter karmic aura than the rest.

<Skill: Reverse Clairvoyance Lvl.2 (Option 1) is activated.>

"HEY! Ugly, stinky, fat ant! Do you want some food? I know a good place." Mikael taunted the Replete whose antennae twitched in response.

"Fo..od? del..icious… Fo..od?"

"Yeah, Fat a*s. there's delicious food waiting at the entrance. Come on. I'll guide you."

Mikael almost vomited at his act. If the replete was a person, there was no way it would fall for such an obvious trap. Luckily, the ants were simple-minded creatures. Say you'll give them food and they'll follow.

BAM!!

The replete readily dropped to the ground like a grenade.

"Wh..ere…" it asked.

"At the entrance, dummy." Mikael teased the replete like a very unpleasant tour guide, "I just said that a second ago. You must be suffering from short-term memory loss, sir."

The replete crawled at a turtle pace, dragging its enormous belly which left a long furrow across the ground.

"Ugh! Can't you speed up?" Mikael grabbed his head in frustration.

Then as if sniffing aphrodisiac in the air, the replete shivered in excitement!

"FOO..O…OOOD!!!!"

The replete rolled forward with an astonishing speed!

It moved like a triggered ancient rolling boulder trap which made its pathetic crawling seem like a lie.

"FO..OD!!! SM…ELL..DELI..CIOUS..F…OOD!!" madness colored the ant's thoughts.

A slave to its instincts, the monster drooled like a rabid dog at the scent of pheromones off of Deon.

'This bast*rd!'

Mikael swooped beside the rolling ant and shouted at his partner,

"KIIID!! RUUUUUN!!!"

--Chapter end--