The seconds turned to minutes, and minutes turned to fifteen minutes, but Robert's eyes remained glued to the door. Unblinking and unmoving. His eyes strained, red veins crawled on his white pupils, and the door remained unmoved.
"Stop it," snapped Trixie. "There's nothing we can do but wait our turn." She shook her head, disapproving of her boyfriend's behavior.
But Robert seemed not to hear anything. His whole focus was on the door. Nothing else mattered right now, but the notification popping in the sky, announcing that Scar's group had finally gotten firstblood.
"Well . . . the good thing is Group 1 and 2 already backed out," said Vida eying the groups who were so happy to receive their money before they logged out.
Jack sneered. "Those assholes probably couldn't wait to spend those meager sums." He spat on the ground. "Talk about no class at all."
"The good news is, after Group 3, we are next." Lucia eyed the leader of Group 3, who approached Robert again, persisting about the deal.
Apparently, they were jealous of the other groups getting a thousand bucks, and they wanted to extort Robert nonstop.
"So we have been thinking of lowering our prices. How about five hundred each one of us, and you go first?"
They even lowered their price!
They weren't willing to go home empty-handed, that was for sure.
". . ."
"Four hundred?" The leader of Group 3 bargained again when Scar remained quiet.
". . ."
When he couldn't elicit a response from Robert, the former sighed and said, "Alright, you win. One hundred. Take it or leave it."
"Fuck off!" Robert growled and snapped. "Don't you understand?! It's no longer important if I go first! Scar is already inside the Boss's Room and will probably get firstblood! He always does! What's the use of me going in there before you when I can no longer get firstblood! Huh?!"
Group 3's leader took a step back, raising his hands in the air as he looked at Robert like he had gone crazy. "Chillax, dude. If you don't want. Then fine."
Group 3's leader walked away, but before he did, he turned around and asked again, "Are you sure you don't want to take the offer?"
"Fuck off, asshole! Or I'll thrash you!"
Group 3's leader immediately went back to his group and shook his head in dismay, spreading to his members how Robert was crazy.
Great! Trixie rolled her eyes at the ceiling. Now their guild's reputation was in shambles because of their leader. Her reputation was going to suffer too if Robert kept losing his cool like this.
He was such an embarrassment. Trixie lamented to herself. If not because she needed him to trick Silvia and also put a guild to combat Golden Phoenix, she wouldn't have anything to do with Robert.
However, the guy was her ticket to build a guild like Silvia. Trixie didn't know anything about that stuff while Robert was a pro player and was planning to put up a guild. Plus, he was commissioned by Silvia to help them in the raid.
What more could she ask for?
However, now, looking at the once graceful man, Trixie didn't know what to think anymore.
"Wow. Look at that group full of beauties."
"That man is so lucky to be surrounded by a bunch of pretty chicks."
"I wish I have a harem like that, serving me grapes while massaging my shoulders, *sigh . . . I could die happy."
Robert and his group's attention flung at the newcomers and their eyes rounded in shock when Golden Phoenix entered the hall before the Boss's room, led by none other than Silvia and Ren.
"W-what . . . what are they still doing here?" Trixie couldn't believe her eyes. She thought that Silvia and her group had already forfeited the dungeon. She had already messaged her friends and her inner circles that Silvia had failed the cave.
Trixie bit her nail. No matter. They were first to enter the Boss's room. As long as they got firstblood, then all was good.
At the side, Robert's jaw dropped when he noticed Silvia's group had full HP and MP.
How did that happen?
Just what the hell was going on?!
However, before Robert could say anything else, the door of the Boss's room creaked before it opened with a loud bang, welcoming its new challenger.
. . .
. . .
Silence descended. Thick and heavy.
The hall was eerily quiet. Not a sound was heard, and even everyone's breathing stopped.
Alecia's head tilted to the side with a flower blooming over her head. "Why is everyone so quiet?"
". . ."
". . ."
Everyone was silent because of the absence of the [World Announcement] saying that Black Lion had claimed firstblood.
W-what happened?
Robert didn't know what to think at first. His mind was in a jumble of mess that it just shut down into blankness. He didn't know what to think. The fact that Scar, who had a well-equipped, full HP and MP, with twenty members going inside the Boss's room, was still defeated –– completely blew his mind!
What kind of a dungeon was this?!
Wasn't this supposed to be a newbie cave?!
What the hell was going on?
Robert couldn't wrap his head around what was happening.
And now this.
Silvia's group suddenly appeared out of nowhere with full HP and MP ready to take on anything.
What in the fuck?! Did he miss something?!
"All right, men! It's time to shine!" Group 3 shouted when it was their turn to take the Boss since Group 1 and 2 had already logged out to enjoy their thousand bucks.
"Unless, of course, if you want to pay–"
"Fuck off already!" Robert shouted, and Group 3 throttled into the Boss's Room.
Robert was still having difficulty breathing, and his mind was still a mess. He was hung up on two things, Scar's failure to get firstblood and Silvia's group having full HP and MP.
His brain was all over the place, and his concentration was nowhere to be found.
Only two minutes passed, and the door screeched open once more, asking for a much better challenger.
But Robert wasn't even excited at the turn of events. Even with the Boss's room welcoming them with open panels, he wasn't thrilled in the slightest.
He was horrified!
If Scar, who had a well-equipped balance party, was defeated, what more were they?
Suddenly, Robert had cold feet.
"Robert!" Trixie called. Batting her eyelids and nudging her head at the entrance, "Let's go!"
"Huh?"
Trixie rolled her eyes. "The Boss, idiot. Let's go!"
Before Robert could say another word, Trixie led the others inside the Boss's Room while Robert didn't know what was happening. He was like a walking numb corpse with a full head containing zero brains.
And before the door of the Boss's room completely closed, Robert looked over his shoulder at Silvia's group. The girls just sweetly smiled at him, taunting him, waving their hands like he was going to die.
Fuck it!
Robert regained his bearing a little when they were transported in a different plane of nothing but liquid fire sprouting from the ground, flowing everywhere like a river. Molten rocks and dried magma scattered all over the place, forming little islands.
The place was like a sea of fire where the only respite for their legs were the minuscule numbers of dried magma rock sprinkled throughout the area in the form of small islands. While the sky was dark and even the stars twinkled like molten rocks.
"Be careful of your footing," Vida warned, "one wrong step, and you might suffer from the Burn status."
Not only were they going to fight the Boss in this difficult terrain, but they also had to mind their positioning and footing.
No wonder Scar failed.
The level of these dungeon's difficulty was too much at their current ATP!
Was this really a newbie cave?
Damn it. Robert gritted his teeth. He was trying hard to formulate a strategy. He already had many, but the sudden defeat of Scar took a blow to his confidence.
If Scar couldn't defeat the Boss, how could he?
The war hadn't even begun, but he had already lost!
WhooSsH!
At the sudden gust of wind came the appearance of Vulcan, and contrary to everyone's expectation, the Boss's looked like a giant sphere of dried scorched magma rocks put together to form a big ball with hollow eyes and mouth.
Vulcan looked like a packman.
Everyone really thought that they were going to fight a golem or something.
Vulcan's eyes glowed red, and magma began to flow in its body. Its color then changed to black while lava flowed in all parts of its frame like red glowing crimson veins.
RoOAarR!
At Vulcan's roar, dozens of little Vulcans appeared the size of half a man, floating together beside Vulcan. Their eyes also glowed red. They were cute but menacing like little round devils.
"S-someone! Use a goddamn monocle!" Trixie shouted when everyone was stunned, including Robert.
Lucia regained her wits and gulped. She used a monocle and gasped at Vulcan's information.
