“What are you?! How did you do that?! Are you going to kill us all?!”
The Second Virtue shook not only because of my complete personality change but how casually I had crushed the monsters. Only the Fourth Virtue spoke to me, aside from Joshua.
“How..did you do that?”
I ignored him as I grabbed the Second Virtue’s hand to make him stand up. He tried to shake me off instinctively when I did so.
“Tell me, Joshua. What’s the plan?”
Everyone was watching us now, and even those afar who could not see us started to ask questions.
“Explain to me first how you did that…”
Joshua’s eyes strayed over to the dead monsters again, and he looked white.
“I asked first.”
“No, you seem to have deceived us.”
Joshua took out the file containing my profile from his backpack, which read that all my stats were F classes, I had no skills, and only four insignias. He gave me the file, which I ripped up in front of him. People started talking again, and the mercenary leader approached Joshua at that time. He started speaking to Joshua in German, which I stopped at once.
“Speak in English.”
I had known for a while that he could speak English. The leader seemed angry but could not meet my eyes. He was aware that he and other civilians had become worthless, and the fear was spreading.
The leader ignored me at first, and I simply laid my hand on his shoulder. While he tried to endure my strength, he knelt in front of me after a few seconds.
“Don’t cross the line.” In these types of circumstances, it is far more menacing to not raise your voice, while everyone else is.
“What are you going to do?!”
When Joshua looked around meaningfully, the Awakened, including the Fourth Virtue, pointed their weapons at me.
“Do you think you’re still in a civilised world? This is the wildness, and I will show you what happens when someone raises their hand against me…”
Blue sparks trailed up on my body, and everyone surrounding me took a step back. Only my sparks lit the dungeon, and blue lightning struck a monster’s corpse. The smell of the flesh burning and the sound of the bones ripping filled the air. Those who got bits of charred monster flesh stuck on their bodies were busy slapping them off in revulsion. The Ox Pawn became a small pile of ash, and I focused my sparks now onto my hand, and raised it against Joshua. He shrunk back from the blinding blue light and looked at me. It was then I finally found someone I could praise.
One of them had reinforced his arm with a skill and tried to stab me in the back. However, he was trying to ambush someone who had casually killed seven Pawns, when he could not go against one. Emotions were overwhelming him, as he thought a human being was more vulnerable than a monster. That was his big mistake.
“Ah!”
The guy started shrieking when he touched one of my sparks like he was being burned alive.
“Ahhhh!”
“Stop, please…”
I answered Joshua’s plea.
“You should be the one doing that.”
“W, what?”
“Have your healers, Hoffman and Mueller, tend to him.”
Joshua hurriedly asked the healers to take care of the man who attacked me. While everyone’s expressions were weary, they also could not meet my eyes.
“That guy had the right idea. You should try as hard as you can to take me out. You can’t leave a complete unknown like me alone, you need to remove anything or anyone that can harm the group. What’s stopping you?”
Joshua bit his lip as he knew that no one would try to attack me now. The Fourth Virtue stepped in at that moment.
“Lee, calm down. Tell us why you’re acting like this. Do you have something you want?”
“I want…everyone’s survival. Translate my words to everyone.”
**
[You have invited Joshua into your party.]
[Joshua has entered your party.]
Joshua looked astonished, but you could manage the system without difficulties once you got used to it. I broke up the party and asked Joshua again.
“Try it yourself now.”
[Joshua has invited you to his party.]
[Will you accept?]
Joshua’s surprised response made everyone else want to know what I was teaching him, and the Fourth Virtue seemed to feel the same. However, the one with the Tracker attribute was a step faster than the others. He even started using simple English words, and the way he looked at me said volumes. He obviously understood the new power structure inside the dungeon, and he had the instincts of a born bootlicker. He even tried to ingratiate himself to me in broken English.
The Fourth Virtue’s eyes narrowed like he disapproved of the guy again.
“That’s the way to do it, Joshua, but only five members per party.”
“…Then?”
“Hey, you’re still the leader here, but you’re not MY leader. Treat me with respect if you want to get out of here alive.”
“…All right.”
While he may be clenching his teeth inside, he still knew next to nothing about this dungeon or how the system worked.
“Why did you come into our group?”
“You were the one who recruited me.”
“You deceived us.”
“Think, does it really matter? Questioning me like that is futile. I may just go out alone.”
“We’re all stuck here, and we live together or die together.”
“Completing the quests is not the only way to get out of this dungeon.”
I pointed at a curly-headed hunter nearby.
“Joshua, keep people like this one close. Like in the Godfather.” (EN: Godfather, 1972. Includes the iconic line “Keep your friends close, but your enemies closer.”)
Joshua looked like he did not understand what I was saying.
“You were unable to make your organisation trustworthy or find a way to tell if one of your members was lying.”
“What are you talking about?”
I ripped the curly-headed man’s shirt off, and he stopped shouting and thrashing when I glared at him. Joshua and I both saw the insignia on his chest.
“This is an Escape Insignia, which allows the user to get out of a dungeon without completing the main quest.”
It was then Joshua mercilessly interrogated the curly-haired man in German as he had other two awakened restraining him. I intervened after a few minutes.
“You should cut him some slack because he hasn’t run yet.”
While Joshua would have done so in his usual state, he felt cornered and trapped in the dungeon. However, he did stop like he realised something on hearing my words.
“Is there any other way?”
“There’s something more important to think about.”
“What is it?”
“That we may all die.”
“……”
“It’s no joke. It’s better if we all die here if we have no way to conquer this dungeon and there are no barriers outside. If one of us runs out using an insignia, the dungeon remains open.”
“Then, what happens?”
“Monsters may creep out.”
“How…do you know all this?”
“That’s none of your business.” I reminded him yet again who held all the cards.
“Ah!”
“If you want to get out of here alive, be a leader. Don’t lose yourself in fear. Also, have your teams reorganised and your teams more solid.”
“I will do so, but…”
“But?”
“It seems more practical that you should lead us.”
“I told you not to speak nonsense.”
“……”
“This is your group, Joshua, and listen carefully.”
I pulled Joshua towards me to speak into his ear so no one else would hear us.
“While this is your group, your a$$ is MINE now.”
I felt him flinch.
“Stop resisting. There’s no way out for you. You can bet that I’m right.”
(EN: Yes loyal readers, Sun is indeed Michael Corleone. )