The Thunderbird group had finished off the beetle shortly and saw the scene as their jaw dropped on the floor after realizing what the heck was happening.
‘What the fuck?’ Luke’s neck shrank like a turtle as he felt goosebumps rising. ‘That bastard Zoren, who did he mess with?’
Henry, Anton, and Nikki were long dumbfounded and just watched blankly as Almond played around with those two Gold-rank adventurers who were at the same level as them while also beating up Zoren.
From Bronze level 1 to Silver level 30 would net an adventurer 117 unassigned stat points. And then breaking through to Gold rank and reaching level 100 from level 0 would net an additional 300 unassigned stat points.
A total of 417 unassigned stat points.
Not including other bonus stat points one could get from items in Labyrinth and dungeons and from their class perks, these Gold rank level 100 adventurers were far weaker than Almond in terms of stats.
Not to mention that Almond had 200 in Perception and Focus thanks to his Legendary class’s perk, making his Force Field way stronger than theirs.
But if that wasn’t enough, Almond was a sword prodigy who could use it masterfully as a weapon of great versatility, and people who used swords against him were prone to getting seen through by his prodigal way of seeing things as he easily spotted weak spots of Thamus and nullified his sword moves.
He could see through their moves, react faster than them with his Force Field, and easily render their attacks and strategy useless, resulting in this situation of him playing with these two gold level 100 adventurers while he beat up Zoren around like a ragdoll.
“Stop, stop!”
Thamus breathed out as he stopped and shouted, his face red. Fighting and trying hard to hit Almond without any success resulted in him spending more and more stamina, so he was already tired.
He could feel his strikes and moves getting worse and worse as he continued with this futility of fighting Almond, so he snapped and stopped.
Romez was in a similar situation.
But Almond didn’t even look at them as usual. However, he also stopped since he didn’t need to move anymore as he didn’t sense any attacks coming his way.
“Heal him, he just got knocked out with that last slap,” Almond said as he continued to look at Zoren, whose face was totally like a pig with his slaps while his body was aching at all places.
Henry quickly arrived there and used a healing potion on Zoren, pouring it on his body.
Zoren’s eyes opened, but the moment he saw Almond, he screamed and moved back, dragging his ass as if he saw a ghost.
Almond’s eyes glinted deep within as a ghastly, dreamy blade flashed through.
“Zoren, you will never ever trouble anyone again out of malice.”
Zoren’s courage—cut in half thrice. Permanently.
“You will never ever show your ugly and naked desire on people weaker in status and power than you.”
Zoren’s mental fortitude—cut in half thrice. Permanently.
“From now on, you will focus on doing good deeds and helping others. And if you don’t do that…I swear to your god, I will skin you alive.”
Zoren’s Apathy—cut in half thrice. Permanently. This resulted in his empathy growing automatically.
But his fear of Almond also reached new heights.
His mind became a mess as Almond’s words rang inside after the innate attributes of his character were forcefully adjusted. He screamed while grabbing his hair and suddenly lost consciousness right there and then.
*Gulp*
Some of them swallowed hard witnessing this, while some frowned, but all felt a chill crawling down their back.
“Is there a way to contact outside from inside the dungeon?” Almond asked as he turned around to look at Thamus and Romez.
“N-No,” Romez shook his head.
“Then stay here,” Almond narrowed his eyes as he summoned all of his Spirit Wraiths.
“Nikki, Anton, I am going up to play with the boss. Immediately inform me if they try to run out of the dungeon. I’ve commanded my summons to attack them if they try to escape.”
Almond turned to the Thunderbird party below level 100 and said, “Start climbing up. I won’t kill the boss, so you can take the kill and reward.”
The group quickly scurried away and started climbing the tree further.
Almond then turned to Thamus and Romez as he continued.
“I am stopping you from leaving because I don’t want Thunderbird guild’s people storming here,” Almond icily smiled. “I am not confident in fighting against veteran platinum adventurers yet, so things can get ugly with emotions in heat, especially if Zoren’s father gets the news. So don’t you dare run out outside, or I’ll kill you all first, and trust me…I can.”
“My summons here are immortal as long as I am alive. And they might look weak in stats, but they have powerful skills, and some of them won’t go down before killing a few of you.”
“You heard that right, lads,” Dark Pope crackled loudly. “We have a death wish, but the question is, do you?”
*Neighh!!*
Infernal Knight’s horse, Agramon, neighed loudly as flames rose around them in intensity.
“Not all are like you two,” Forest Maid Sylvia rolled her eyes before she turned to Thamus and Rozen, “But my friends are right. You may want to think..umm, thirty times before going against our master’s orders.”
As she spoke, Forest Maid Sylvia rooted herself on the branch, transforming into her Forest Queen form using her S-rank—Forest’s Blessing.
The other spirit wraiths also locked on them, ready to pounce on them.
Even if their stats were weaker, the seven of them still gave an intimidating presence, not to mention that their appearance was already intimidating and scary.
Dead silence ensued. Even Henry forgot what he was going to say, while Nikki and Anton could only look at each other in shock.
‘Who is Almond?’
‘He is Almond…’
‘…’
“We got it!” Thamus said as he deeply breathed and looked at Almond. “We won’t do anything foolish.”
Romez quickly nodded while sweating bullets.