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Ishan crawled out of the hole and spat out the sand stuck in his mouth. "Pouah! I hate this place. Why did it have to be sand and not solid soil?"

He turned around, pulling an unconscious body out of the hole. It was Alice. The harpy managed to survive the ordeal after Ishan forcefully pulled her with him as he dug a hole to hide. Around them, several other Flame Scarabs emerged from the sand and shook their shells to get rid of the sand.

"D*mn. Harriet really did a blunder but well, what should I have been expecting from her? She let her emotions take over that easily," complained Ishan as he looked at the other Flame Scarabs, busy pulling out the bodies of the unconscious monsters.

They were all flushed red. The fortunate monsters who survived thanks to the Flame Scarabs were all affected by Ivan's and Isa's pheromones. They were all breathing fast and were agitated besides not being conscious of their surroundings.

"No time to lose. We don't know if there are still monsters in the tower who detected us. The other monsters might also come back. D*mn. Leave them behind. Nothing is going to happen to them anyway and they won't be able to help us in this state either," commanded Ishan.

"Squeak!"

"What? Go call the others. We must hurry."

The Flames Scarabs complied and left the monsters grunting on the sand. They arranged themselves in formation behind Ishan as the sand around them began to tremble once again.

Ishan ignored the movements and stepped inside the tower, followed by the other Flame Scarabs. Behind them, the Spiked Armadillos crawled out of their hole, followed by hundreds of Giant Ants and Venomous Spiders.

The eggs of the Mother Spider and the Giant Ant Queen had long hatched. They laid eggs several times afterward and this was the result of careful grooming. Three hundred Level 8 Giant Ants and two hundred Level 14 Venomous Spiders.

Ishan turned around and looked at Eyala, the Mother Spider. "I suppose master was right when saying that we should try to use different paths if possible."

"Are you just going to leave the monsters outside like that?" asked Eyala.

"Yeah. We don't have time to take care of them. Let's hurry up."

The first floor was devoid of monsters. It was a giant open space; at the end of the circular room, Ishan could see the stairs leading up.

The insects and the Armadillos hurriedly crossed the room and went up the stairs. But as soon as he stepped onto the second floor, Ishan's instincts tickled him; he felt something was wrong.

"Woosh!"

Ishan heard something fly next to him and to his surprise, the objected actually curved and wrapped around him. It was a vine. Several green silhouettes appeared in the distance. "Master was right. The only way you might have a chance at winning would be to resort on trickery. You might have deceived Ivan and the others, but you won't get past us!"

The green silhouettes were Nymphs. They spread around the room, activating their spells. Hundreds of vines and thorns emerged from the ground and flew toward the insects.

Ishan was taken aback and cursed. "D*mn. How many monsters does that dungeon have?" He instantly activated his battle form and broke free from the vine's grip. Behind him, the Platinum Armadillo similarly used its battle forms and rushed toward the Nymphs.

However, besides these two, the rest of the monsters were unable to defend against the thorns. They were pierced to death by the Nymph's skill: [Feral Thorns].

The Nymphs were all level 42. They worked together, using the plants to kill the ordinary insects. At the same time, another group of Nymphs focused on Ishan and the Platinum Armadillo.

[Forest Prison]

The vines wrapped around the two Boss Monsters isolating them from the rest of the monsters.

"I am not going to let myself get trapped like Harriet!" exclaimed Ishan. He burst into flames and despite the Platinum Armadillo's fearful squeak, he unleashed his strongest attack.

[Carbonisation]

The vines around him exploded. A gaping hole appeared in front of Ishan but before he could step out of the prison, another layer of vines appeared and quickly patched up the hole. There were twenty Nymphs working together and that number kept increasing as the number of surviving insects dwindled.

Being level 42, the Nymphs had no trouble at all dealing with the insects, especially since they specialized in area of effect spells involving plants.

Ishan cursed and continually cut through the vines with his halberd but he could not keep up with the regeneration rate of the [Forest Prison].

"Squeak!"

"What? Can't you see I am busy?" Ishan angrily glared at the Platinum Armadillo but by doing so, he understood why it was panicking. The [Forest Prison] was slowly shrinking!

"D*mn! I don't want to be crushed to death!"

[Frenzy]

[Hysteria]

Using the two skills, Ishan became more violent than ever. The Nymphs outside felt the change. Their mana was being drained at an alarming rate.

Farsight watched the battle taking place from afar. The Nymphs was his last line of defense. If they failed to stop Ishan, then the Flame Scarab Warrior would be free to roam the dungeon. He needed to stop it no matter what!

"You all focus on stopping that crazy flame scarab. I will deal with the remaining insects myself!" shouted Farsight.

"Oh, essence of magic, flow into me as I become one with the earth! Roots of Magic!" Farsight confidently used [Roots of Magic] and showered the insects with spells. He was not particularly strong but he was more than enough to deal with the fifty remaining insects running around in chaos.

Five more Nymphs joined their comrades and helped restore the [Forest Prison]. One of them took a different approach and used [Paralyzing Spores].

Ishan frowned. With the addition of these Nymphs, he became unable to enlarge the hole anymore. The Platinum Armadillo jumped and scratched the vines, in an attempt to create a different hole. However, it was not very effective.

Ishan cursed. He could feel that the Nymphs used a different spell. His arms and legs were slowly turning more and more sluggish. He was not able to move as quickly as before. 'Fighting twenty-five monsters is really hard. Even for a Boss Monster. How am I supposed to do that?'

He continued to struggle but before long, Ishan and the Platinum Armadillo were both crushed to death.

Upon hearing the cracking of the Flame Scarab Warrior's shell, Farsight let out a sigh of relief. They have successfully dealt with this threat. Now, victory was already within his grasp. He just needed to wait. After all, Ivan had already dealt with his opponent's strongest monster. 'F*ck you, Ivan. You could not stay here and guard the tower.'

...

Iris watched the scene where Ishan and the Platinum Armadillo perished miserably and frowned. She was sitting next to Lord Brann, in an extremely large stadium. The entire stadium was filled with dungeon masters; it seemed like everyone had been willing to pay the 100 thousand DP to watch the first battle between the new generation of dungeon masters.

Iris was naturally rooting for Five. She hoped he would be able to triumph over his enemy but the situation did not look good at all. She did not like what she was hearing. The dungeon masters around her were commenting about the fight and mentoring their students about the mistakes made.

A devil flew above her head, shouting aloud, "This is your last chance to make a bet! The bets will be closing in one minute! Hurry up. If you want a chance to earn big! Check the new odds ratio!"

Iris' face darkened as she heard the devil. The situation has never been in Five's favor. Since the beginning, the odds ratio indicated that Farsight had a much higher chance of winning. Now, the odds were completely leaning against Five. If he somehow managed to win, one could obtain 10 DP for each DP betted.

The screen in front of the dungeon masters only displayed the battles taking place. It did not show the trump cards the two parties might have. Iris' heart sunk when she witnessed Harriet's miserable death but she once again saw hope when Ishan emerged from the sand. However, that last bit of hope was completely crushed when the Flame Scarab Warrior faced Farsight's last line of defense. She did not expect Farsight to have so many monsters. She knew she herself would not have survived that long against Farsight if she was matched against him.

"He is finished," commented Lord Brann next to Iris. The screen changed, once again showing Five and his remaining monsters facing the Encantado.

"Unless he has a secret trump card he never showed before, he is bound to lose. Unfortunately, I doubt he has anything left. Look at his expression. He looks completely lost."

Iris frowned. She knew her mentor was right but she did not want Five to lose! Or else, everything she did to search for him would be for naught. "Mentor. Is there really nothing we can do? Can't we stop the match?"

The dungeon masters around her heard her words and laughed. "Girl. This battle is taking place in a completely different realm. It is impossible for us to go there. Only someone who transcended beyond level 100 can travel through realms."

"Why are you so adamant on saving him? Did you bet all your DP on him? Just forget it. Come and join our alliance. We will help you make up for your loss."

Iris glared at the dungeon masters but that did not stop them from laughing and discussing the situation. They knew they could not be harmed; the stadium they were at was a similar venue to the auction. There, dungeon masters were not allowed to attack each other.

As for Lord Brann, he remained silent which was a clear answer to Iris. She bit her lips and focused her attention back on the screen.

In the corner of her eyes, she saw a few dungeon masters already celebrating. They were the members of the Storm Alliance. She remembered their faces after they came to respectfully greet Lord Brann earlier.

She could not accept the fact that Five was going to be eliminated from the game before her eyes without her being able to do anything. "Mentor. Is there really nothing that can be done?"

Lord Brann sighed. He did not understand why his student was willing to go so far for that man. 'I should not have used the Dream Demon on her. It revived those memories in her when I watched those scenes.'

"It is not so simple. In the past, dungeon battles took place on Zero itself but as people found ways to exploit this, the battles now take place in a different realm. What that dungeon master said is right; only people above level 100 can travel between realms. And as far as I am aware, no dungeon master owns monsters above level 100."

Iris' heart sunk. She was unwilling to accept it. The scene on the screen changed as Ivan and a few monsters joined the Encantado facing the problem of the landmines.

"Mentor. You said it was possible for people to interfere with the dungeon battle in the past. If we cannot do so because of our levels. Can that person do it? If so, I would like to use my wish." Iris wore a severe expression as she turned toward Lord Brann.

The latter was stunned. "Girl. You are willing to use your wish to save that man? Do you know the value of a wish from that person? I gave you one to use in case of emergency; not to save a random person!"

Iris maintained a resolute expression. "I know but I still want to use it now. If not, he will die and what will be the point of me being here? I agreed to become a dungeon master to meet him again and pay him back for everything he did for my family. I never forgot about him and am very grateful for everything."

Lord Brann frowned. He turned his attention on Five on the screen. "Are you sure? If it is him, it should be possible to interfere directly in the battle but it will be your one and only wish."

"I know. Please contact him. I will always remember what you did for me, Mentor."

The old man sighed. "Fine. I promised to not interfere with your life."

Lord Brann grabbed the pendant around his neck with his shaky hands and pulled it out. He gently rubbed the gem at its end and thought, 'I would like to make my second wish as per the contract with signs decades ago. Can you hear me, Cancer?'