Renar couldn't keep his mind at ease when he heard Ronny's hint. He asked warily in a low voice as if his voice had the possibility of getting heard by some unknown stalker:
"Sir Ronny, what do you mean by that? Could you please clarify?
Are we going to get attacked by the Illuminati? But…."
Ronny interrupted Renar before he could complete his statements:
"But we signed a binding contract with them that ensured our safety, right? Yeah, I hate to break it to you, but that won't save us from our upcoming battles."
It was Viper that raised his query this time:
"So are you saying they'd take so much effort to breach contracts with us just to get our goods when the contract itself offers them a cut while avoiding complications?
Sir Ronny, I think the bigger the organization, the more bound by the rules it seems to be. I don't think high-ranked entities would take part in breaching contracts with nobody like us.
What would they gain anyway? The goods that are treasures in our eyes but a pile of waste for them."
Viper seemed to talk less, but when he did, he tried to be on point. Ronny shook his head after hearing his assumption:
"I don't know why you became a cultist if you were all this gullible from the beginning. I'm saying that they don't have to breach the binding contracts with us. That's because they won't target us directly.
The binding contracts only assure us that the Illuminati members won't attack us. But it doesn't cover the involvement of third parties and other squads they have hired to explore the dungeon.
Try to remember. How many people did we see gathered on the first day?"
Renar had dark expressions on his face as he blurted out:
"You mean…"
Ronny nodded and finished up the last piece of grilled meat before confirming Renar's doubts:
"That's right. At least half of them are our enemies now."
Renar looked at Ronny and remembered what the latter had said about them in passing. Gullible cultists! They were indeed gullible cultists to place their bets on a binding contract that had a huge loophole like this.
Only now did he understand why Lady Zee and their group parted ways when they could have just stuck together. Higher-ups at Illuminati have already agreed to exploit the loophole.
Why should they take a cut of rewards when they can just employ rogue rankers to take care of the squads that have won big?"
"That bitch Zee, if I find her…"
Renar spoke softly but the hint of anger he felt for his de-facto team leader of some time ago was unmistakable:
"Haah! What can you do to her even if you find her? She'll squash us like the bug we are if we try to take it out on her.
I'm not trying to take her side, but all of this must have been preordained by the true higher-ups of the Purgatory exploration. Most likely, she doesn't have any say in it."
Viper understood why Ronny was against setting up a camp now. If they stayed at one place for longer than they needed to be, then they would be targeted by the rogue rankers that had been hired to hunt the explorers.
"We better get moving…"
Viper wanted his team to move away from their current position after realizing the dangers they were surrounded by. But Ronny got up, dusted off the snow stuck to his butt, and replied while looking blankly ahead of him:
"Too late. Prepare for battle."
Ronny said and drew out his daggers from his storage. Renar and the rest quickly followed his lead after seeing the seriousness plastered over the former's face.
Ronny wasn't optimistic about running away unscathed from the danger he was soon going to face. He had always known he couldn't count on the Illuminati to have his back. But the kind of pickle he had found himself in was unavoidable. Because he wanted to explore Purgatory at the cost of being backstabbed.
And finally, he received what he was expecting. Sometimes he wondered if merely thinking about the most undesirable outcomes empowers them to be manifested in his life.
"Look what we have here, Jer. Four lost little lambs are begging for their release from this hellish Purgatory. Hahaha! Don't you think we should oblige to their requests?"
A raspy voice rang in the surroundings. It came from the same direction Ronny was looking at– their front. Soon, Renar and the rest could see a lone figure leading a group of three rankers closing in on them.
Ronny held his ground and didn't reply. He maintained his position and deadpan expressions while gripping his hands on the daggers he was holding. That's because the guy who spoke was an E-Rank existence that was just a step away from being called an Adept. He was leading three rankers that were in the solid stage of the F-Rank.
Ronny wasn't acting cautiously because of the team in front of him though. There was one more team of rankers who had blocked their path of retreat.
"Gerish, don't play with our targets. The job is supposed to be nice and clean. Finish what you see in front of you and move on.
These nuisances aren't the only ones we need to take care of, you know."
The voice that came from behind didn't sound as old as the man's voice who was coming from the front. But it contained a certain authority in it that couldn't be questioned by the likes of anyone present there.
'An Adept. Possibly in the liquid stage by the kind of mana signature he is emitting. Fuck. That Zee is indeed a bitch. I'll fucking whoop her ass if I see her again here.'
Ronny gulped and thought to himself as he realized he and his team were being targeted by an Adept.. He had to pay the price for ignoring the tell-tale signs of being backstabbed to gain the rewards.