Alex and his group spent their second night on the 21st floor. Unlike the previous floors, this one was a mix of forest and mountain.
''Morning, Alex.''
''Morning, Artemia.'' Alex greeted Artemia back; there was a towel around his neck.
''I've found that every morning you do that thing,'' Artemia remarked.
While wiping away the sweat on his face, Alex asked, ''What thing?"
''You know what I'm talking about. I'm talking about your morning workout. Especially that thing you do consisting of going up and down. I have never seen nor heard about such exercise. Maybe it's something from your world.'' Artemia explained while looking at Alex remove his drenched top; she must say Alex had great muscles; she almost had the impulse to run her fingers over them, she quickly shook her head to discard such a thought.
Obvious of what was going through Artemia's head, Alex put on a new top.
''You are right; these set of workouts are from my world.'' He confirmed Artemia's words before starting looking for Isabella; having not found her, he asked.
''By the way, where is Isabella?"
''Ah! She went to on the other side of this mountain to take a bath.'' Artemia explained as she sat on a chair she summoned.
Doing the same, Alex asked, ''I see. What is the plan? How are you planning to deal with that skeleton?"
Artemia stayed silent for a moment before saying, ''We will use the next floors to get stronger quickly. If I can reach middle Rank 9 before we reach that bastard floor, I will have a chance dealing with him.''
Alex didn't say anything after hearing Artemia's plan; he looked at her with an amused grin on his face.
''What with that grin? Are you surprised that I could also curse someone?" Artemia asked, annoyed.
''No, I haven't said anything. Don't jump to conclusions on your own.'' Alex replied with a smile.
''Hmph! Say what you want.'' Artemia harrumphed.
Alex couldn't help but chuckle; he found her current behavior cute; it was different from her usual self where she acts dignified all times. Well, now wasn't the time to be thinking about these things; they had something more urgent to do.
''We will do as you said. Soon I will reach the next Rank; you better work hard, or else I will surpass in no time.'' Alex told Artemia with a provocative smile.
Although she wasn't surprised by the fact that Alex was almost reaching the next Rank after all the monsters he killed, what he said at the end, Artemia couldn't let it pass.
Wearing a provocative smile, in turn, Artemia declared, ''Try me if you can. Shall we make a bet?"
''Oh? What kind of bet?" Alex immediately asked as he was interested in the bet; his eyes were shining gold.
〖Master, master, master〗
Suddenly, Silveria called out to him, annoyed as he could guess what she wanted; Alex was forced to respond to her; if not, she won't stop bugging him.
'Yeah, Sil, what it is?'
〖Fufufu! Master, I shall help you, ask for her hand, I mean to tell her that if you win, she will become yours-〗
'Shut up, you lecherous spirit. I knew nothing good would come out of that mouth of yours; you should have said to aim for a great treasure such as Sleipnir.' Alex admonished Silveria.
'So, in your eyes, Sleipnir is more important than Artemia? If she knew this, Artemia would cry tears of blood.' Silveria almost said; however, she didn't say anything and stayed silent.
Pleased with Silveria's reaction, Alex waited for Artemia to announce what kind of bet they would be making.
''I'm currently Level 79,'' Artemia announced.
''Level 69.'' Alex also disclosed his level.
''Great, the bet I'm talking about is the first to reach the next Rank first can ask the loser anything. Nothing perverse, though.''
''Good for me. Let's start immediately.'' Alex said and stood up, ready to go on a killing spree.
''Calm down, will you? The current you is quite scary.'' Artemia tried to stop Alex, whose eyes were literally burning; it was like the eyes of a hungry treasurer hunter; it was terrifying, she felt goosebumps rise all over her body; for a moment, Artemia felt like she was going to become broke if Alex wins.
''My bad, I was overexcited. Let's wait for Isabella.''
Alex sat back and said.
''I thought you'd have asked how that thing knew about my goal, but you didn't,'' Artemia said after staring into those green and blue eyes.
''Well, obviously I was curious, but you know people don't have one thing in mind. I am busy think about my problems, so I forgot. Now that you bring the matter up, I want to hear it.'' Alex said.
''There must be a traitor among us, one of our comrades that fought alongside us six.''
''Why not among you six?" Alex couldn't help but ask this.
However, Artemia shook her head to dismiss that idea.
''Apart from us three still alive, the others have really died, so I doubt they would be the traitor. Not everyone was lucky to come back to life after death; let's not forget that you first must possess that artifact we got. I talked about luck previously because it takes a lot of luck for the artifact to trigger after its wearer lost their life.''
''I see; you spoke like you have done some experiment to come to this conclusion,'' Alex said and observed Artemia's reaction.
''Well, forget what I have said,'' Alex said after seeing Artemia not offering any response.
''At the moment, I don't know who the traitor is, but I will find out, and once I do, I will kill him/her.'' Artemia declared while emitting killing intent; her killing intent was so dense that it almost twisted reality.
This made Alex question how many people this smiling goddess had killed. A question he dared not to voice out as he believes it would do him no good.
Silveria, on the other side, chuckled; no matter how many people or monsters Artemia might have killed, she could never surpass the siblings even when they were alive; let's not even talk about now.
''What's up with this atmosphere?"
Isabella, who just came back, asked this as she could feel the heavy atmosphere in the air.
''Nothing, Alex and I, have just make a bet,'' Artemia explained; because Isabella wasn't privy to the fact that she was a reincarnated human goddess, Artemia saw no need to tell her about the fact that a traitor is on the enemy side.
''A bet between your highness and Alexander? I want to know.'' Curious, Isabella asked, and Artemia told her about their bet.