After that little episode, Isabella smiles less; however, after Alex told her that he wishes to be friends with her, even rival, Isabella regained a bit of color.
Artemia looked gratefully at Alex; the latter only nodded his head.
The group quickly left the 21st floor and stepped into the 22nd floor; however, to their dismay, they found no monster attacking; this floor looks no different from the first floor, while no monsters came out no matter how long the group waited, Alex detected the existence of a trap, the one once you trigger it would send you into a random floor.
After the group disarmed the trap, they descended toward the next floor, floor 23; here as well, there was only trap, lots of traps, such as flame spurting from the walls, the ground suddenly split opening, lances shooting out from the ceiling.
With Alex and Silveria's help, Artemia and Isabella successfully left for the 24th floor.
The twentieth-fourth floor was a desert, stretching as far as the eyes could see; the temperature was so hot that Alex and the girl's skins started to redden, obviously the visible part of their skins as they armors had a cooling effect.
''Seriously, what with this dungeon? It has sun, forest, mountains, and now desert.''
Isabella said while looking around. As expected, there was nothing but desert.
Looking at the same scenery, Alex asked,
''I heard that there is only one Desert in this world, and it's on the demon race continent.''
''Yes,'' Isabella confirmed his question. However, Artemia corrected them.
''While it true that there a desert on the demon continent, it is not the only desert of Mysthia's world, there's another one, just that people tend to forget about it. The black desert on Arda continent.''
Artemia had a guilty look on her face when she uttered that name, the name of dwarves continent, long lost in that brutal war that wiped out an entire continent.
''I see; thanks for the information. Let's cautiously move forward; I have the feeling that this floor isn't going to be easy. Finally, we might be able to fight some monsters, and I will be-"
''To crush you.'' Artemia finished Alex's words.
Looking at Alex and Artemia still thinking about their bet, Isabella quietly shook her head before reading her weapon.
The group cautiously moved through the desert; for the first hundred meters, nothing happened; however, just when they passed the 150 meters, monsters jumped out from the sands and surrounded them.
It was a black scorpion of 2 meters of height; their stings pointed at the group.
Under normal circumstances, one should be feeling scared being surrounded by more than Ten Black scorpions; however, Alex and Artemia were smiling; for them, these Black scorpions were only XP, nothing more. XP that would help them win the bet.
''Hehehe!"
''Fufufu! The winner shall be decided here.'' Artemia declared.
''I agree.'' Alex nodded his head.
Both wore a confident smile on their face.
Looking at this scene, Isabella twitched the corner of her eye.
At first, those black scorpions were annoyed to be ignored after making such a grand entrance; however, for an unknown reason, they retreated after seeing the smile on Alex's and Artemia's faces; it was the smile of a butcher.
Swoosh!
Zila~
Both Alex and Artemia disappeared simultaneously; the first one poured MP into Sleipnir to increase his speed to a terrific degree while the black lightning covered the latter feet.
Crack!
After crushing a black scorpion by stepping on it after making a high jump, Alex did a backflip using the recoil of impact after crushing that scorpion to deliver a phantom bullet at two black scorpions standing together.
Boom!
Even though after killing two killing black scorpions, the phantom bullet still created a big hole on the ground that caused an explosion.
When Alex looked in Artemia's direction, he found her smiling at him; she had just killed her third black scorpion.
Smiling, Alex tried to move to his next target; the same goes for Artemia; however, before they could, they were forced to jump back as a gigantic water dragon swept through the area, crushing all black scorpions on its passage.
After Isabella's Water dragon eliminated the remaining Black scorpions, Alex and Artemia glared at her; the eyes seemed to convey, 'Do you have a death wish?'
''Oh! Scary~ scary~.''
Even though inwardly scared to the point of trembling, Isabella still smiled at Alex and Artemia.
''Forget it. Next time I will win.'' Alex declared after looking at Isabella then Artemia.
''Same here.'' Artemia declared.
They both are just a tiny bit away from stepping into the next Rank.
Kaboom!
Without warning, a massive earthquake sent Alex's group flying through the air; the three successfully managed to land on the ground.
From the ground, two gigantic snake-like things came out.
Alex and Artemia's eyes turned cold, they shouted at the same time.
''I hate snakes.''
Even though Isabella, who was able to register the two monster's appearances, wanted to correct them, saying it wasn't a snake, but Desert worms stayed silent as the two had already made a move.
''Synthesize''
''Black Devourer.''
Before the two Desert worms could fully emerge from the ground and avenge their subordinates, Alex's super bullet and Artemia black lightning dragon had already entered their bodies.
Half of the emerged bodies were torn to shred, creating a gory rain of organs and blood.
After eliminating what the two thought to be snakes, Alex and Artemia turned to face each other and declared.
''Level 82''
''Level 72, half of my XP bare is filled.''
''I see; I would like to call it a draw, but it's, isn't it. You win. What do you want?"
Unexpectedly Artemia immediately admitted defeat; she acted as if everything was fine. However, Alex could notice that it was not the case; she was gripping her glaives way too hard, proof that she wasn't feeling calm as she portrayed.
''Don't be hasty; you will know when the time comes. By the way, I'm always ready for a challenge; my end goal is to stand at the top, surpass me if you can.''
Alex declared before leaving to collect the body of the monster he killed. His item box was about to be full with so many monster corpses put inside it.
Looking at Alex's back, he seemed close yet far; Artemia smiled; her fighting spirit was ignited.
''I will, Alexander, I will.'' She accepted Alex's challenge.
Isabella, at the side, smiled when she saw Artemia regaining her smile; she was afraid that Artemia would only show a forced smile after losing as she knew Artemia pretty well. Fortunately, Alex had the right words to kept Artemia motivated.
''Thank you.''
Isabella quietly muttered before moving toward the other Desert worm.