Thud—Ambrose shoved several broken bookshelves out of his way. The strange room had a lot of broken furniture, as if it were being used as storage space. He then stepped over the fallen bookshelves and landed on top of something soft.
He glanced down and saw that his boot was crushing the face of the stuffed bunny. Its eyes were red and the size of marbles with mouth stitched into a smile.
“A bunny?” Ambrose crouched and picked it up. He cleaned the dirt off the bunny’s face and looked at its red marble eyes. He turned it around and saw a zipper on its back.
Zip—he pulled down the zipper and saw the bunny’s stuffed innards. There wasn’t anything else. It was just an ordinary stuffed bunny.
He pulled the zipper back up, placed the bunny on top of the last standing bookshelf, and continued walking in the dimly lit room. He wished to have a lantern or torch at this moment, as it took him twice as long to walk than he wanted to.
After pushing himself past the furniture, which blocked the route, and reaching the ceiling, he came across a chamber. 𝒪𝗏𝓛xt.𝗇t
The chamber looked like a small dome with a knee-high platform in the middle. The platform was circle-shaped, and it had ornate carvings with ruby jewels embedded around it on twelve different spots.
“Finally, this must be the place, right?” Ambrose asked the question to himself as he approached the platform. He looked at the ruby jewels and tried removing them from the platform, but to no avail.
Amidst his attempt to retrieve the jewels, the room slightly shook, and an opening appeared in the ceiling. The dust fell, and then an object fell and thudded down on the platform.
Ambrose grabbed his sword and unsheathed it half-way. But then, his expression widened into joy as he saw what the object was. It was a brown treasure chest with a rusting lock!
“This is it!” He climbed up to the platform and crouched in front of the treasure lock. He pulled the rusting key from his pocket and inserted it into the silver lock. To his joy, the lock was unlocked.
He tossed the silver lock away and pocketed the rusting key.
‘The rewards must be miles better than in Crow Cave and the quest rewards from Steel-Armed Gorilla Extermination. It might even give better rewards than World Quest…’
Ambrose swallowed his saliva down his dry throat. He would be lying if he said that he didn’t feel greedy. He doubted any player would be able to look at the treasure chest without feeling any sort of selfish emotion.
‘Should I really steal all the rewards for myself?’ He pondered silently and sat down on the ground with a profound frown. ‘Silver Heart members had prepared for this for a long time, and they sacrificed two days to get here.
‘If they leave empty-handed, it would be tragic.’
He was feeling very split about his emotions. On the one hand, he didn’t want Zahhak to get anything, even if it made him their enemy. On the other hand, if he left any of the rewards behind, they would take them for themselves, leaving nothing for Silver Heart.
‘Well, I don’t really owe anything to them anyway. They treated me like shit when I joined them, even though they probably aren’t bad people. Also, they are Alice’s subordinates…’ Ambrose shook his head and put his hands on the treasure chest, planning to open it.
“Ambrose, Ambrose, what do you think you are doing?”
Ambrose’s eyes turned cold. He turned around, and to his surprise, there were dozens of people gathered in the room. Several of them held torches, lighting up the place significantly.
All party members had arrived at the scene.
Zahhak members had their weapons drawn, and they were coldly looking at Ambrose with murderous intent. Among them, Andromeda and Cerberus stood side-by-side, with their weapons drawn as well.
The Silver Heart members looked stunned and wondered what was going on. Then they saw the treasure chest behind Ambrose and realized what was going on. He was going to steal the rewards!
Leprechaun, along with a dozen other Silver Heart members, hatefully gritted their teeth and pulled their weapons from their inventories. Layla and Teddy stood silently with disbelief in their faces. They didn’t expect Ambrose, of all the people, to be trying to steal all the rewards for himself.
Behind everyone, Serenity stood still with an emotionless expression. Her sword hung loosely on her waist with her fingers wrapped around its hilt.
“Since the moment I unsheathed my sword, we entered combat.” Cerberus said with a grinning face. “Thus, you can’t log off and escape~”
“Ambrose, how dare you be that selfish to want all rewards for yourself!” Leprechaun shouted with rage bubbling in his eyes.
“I told you, you can’t escape…” Andromeda whispered.
Ambrose held on to the treasure chest so tight that his fingers turned red. He looked coldly at everyone who had come for the treasure chest.
“Boss, let’s kill this bastard already.” Arsenal said while holding a longsword in one hand and a sledgehammer in the other. He also seemed to be a dual wielder, but of a different kind, as he used many different weapons. There were even daggers on his hip.
“I have to tuck in my baby girl soon…” Mizuchi sighed and combed his black hair back. “Let’s end him already.”
“Voices! I hear voices!” Rainman shouted and looked at the treasure chest with an obsessive gaze. “It’s coming from there… It’s voice is so sweet!”
“Hahaha, I didn’t expect anyone to be foolish enough to steal from us—Zahhak—does he not know us or what?” AnarchyCat put his gloves on. The gloves were black with sharp claws on the fingers. This was his weapon—claw gloves.
“Mm, Alice’s little toy had gone rogue. How interesting.” RedHeart moved her hair over her ear.
“Hehe, she should have put him on a tighter leash.” SweetieHell said with a gentle smile, but her eyes weren’t smiling. She was holding a long, black spear in her hand.
“W-wait, don’t kill him yet. I will make the voodoo doll quick and curse him!” Glowstar excitedly sat cross-legged on the ground and took out the required items from his inventory to make the cursed voodoo doll.
Bluecore looked at the spiky gray-haired man with clear fear in his face.
“Enough, haha.” Cerberus chuckled and looked straight at the black-haired young man with a look of victory. He was certain that not even the legendary St. Julian would be able to escape this blockade.
“Ambrose, it doesn’t matter if you give up the rewards; we will still kill you and make your life a miserable hell.” Cerberus began walking towards the platform and Ambrose. “Even if you quit the game, you won’t be able to escape the humiliation.
“You don’t make an enemy out of Zahhak and live happily ever after.”
“Hah!” Ambrose suddenly let out a loud laugh. “You take pleasure in scaring others. You want others to fear you, but I can see your lack of self-confidence!”
“Oh?” Cerberus chuckled neutrally, his eyes flashing with anger. “That is your fear speaking. Zahhak’s power isn’t just a physical one; we can make you an enemy to many.”
“I am not afraid of you all.” Ambrose suddenly whispered “Inventory” and pulled something out. It was a small green pearl with a shining surface. “One day, you all will be afraid of me. I fucking swear on my life.”
“Pfft.” Zahhak members laughed as if they had heard the funniest joke in their lives. They had heard many of their victims acting tough before their deaths. After several deaths, they lost their will to fight back.
“That is funny. Real funny.” Cerberus said with a smile. He took a deep breath and wrapped his fingers around both handles of his swords. He approached Ambrose, using his rare dual wielding, which he rarely used against his enemies.
“Heh.” Ambrose chuckled with an ever-growing smirk. “Will you be laughing when you have lost your valuable treasures?”
“Huh?” Zahhak members frowned and looked at the black-haired man. He was surrounded. There wasn’t anywhere he could escape.
“Do you still not realize the position you are in?” Cerberus stepped on the platform, only five meters away from Ambrose. He could already sense the range of attack—he needed a few more steps.
“I do; that’s why I am laughing.” Ambrose revealed the shiny green pearl on his hand. “Activate.”
“What is that?” Cerberus frowned, but then suddenly a small whirlpool appeared around the black-haired young man. It surrounded him while making Ambrose float several centimeters from the ground. He was still desperately clutching on to the treasure chest, not wanting to let go even if it cost him his life.
“He is using the teleportation pearl! Stop him!” A Silver Heart member shouted in shock. He also received the pearl from World Quest. Therefore, he knew it and how it looked when someone activated it, as he had already used his own!
“Cerberus, stop him!” Arsenal screamed.
All Zahhak members looked stunned, and they shot forward, trying to interrupt the teleportation.
“Don’t you fucking dare!” Cerberus screamed and reached out to Ambrose. However, the teleportation was too fast, and the last thing he saw was Ambrose’s smirking face, making his anger erupt inside him.
“Nooo!”
With the final scream, the whirlpool disappeared alongside Ambrose.
Cerberus stopped running and looked blankly at the place where the young man was only moments earlier. There was nothing left.
Even the treasure chest had disappeared…