After the break, several of the Guilds that had lost a lot of members decided to temporarily merge with each other in order to challenge the Sacred Dungeon.
Since Henrietta and Nero had already agreed on merging their guilds together, she politely declined Lux's offer and led Serenity towards the entrance of the Sacred Dungeon.
Eiko was currently perched on top of Iris' head. Lux had a nagging feeling in his guts and felt like something might happen during the blue-haired beauty's dungeon expedition.
So in order to add another layer of protection, he asked the baby Slime to go and protect her Mama from the unforeseen dangers that she might encounter inside the Sacred Dungeon.
"Be careful, okay?" Lux whispered in Iris' ears. "Be extra careful around Nero, too. I feel something off about him."
"Okay," Iris replied before planting a kiss on Lux's cheeks. "Take care as well. I'll see you later."
Lux nodded before sending Iris back to her guild members.
Just as he was about to gather the members of the Rowan Tribe, so they could start challenging the Dungeon, two young men, whom Lux had fought in the competition, approached him.
"What level of difficulty are you planning to challenge?" Einar Mordosk, the Barbarian Prince whom Lux had fought during the Qualifier Matches, asked.
"Hell Mode," Lux replied.
"What a coincidence, we are also challenging Hell Mode," Vall, the Spider Boy, commented. "Do you want to join forces?"
Lux arched an eyebrow as he gazed at the two teenagers that were part of the Four Kings and Five Overlords. He had no doubt that both of them were strong because he had already experienced their strength.
However, he didn't understand why both of them were asking him to collaborate with them in challenging the Hell Mode of the Sacred Dungeon.
"May I ask why the two of you decided to team up with me?" Lux asked. "There are Guilds that have more members than the Rowan Faction. Wouldn't it be better to join them instead?"
"I only recognize strong people," Einar answered. "Since you have already proven your strength, having you watch my back will give me some peace of mind."
"He's right. I also feel the same way," Vall commented. "As long as we can agree to the division of the spoils, I'm sure that we will be able to loot more gains than any of the other factions aiming to challenge the Sacred Dungeon."
Lux glanced at Cai in askance, but the latter simply shrugged. Their main goal was to get the Sacred White Lotus inside the dungeon. If Einar and Vall agreed that their faction would be the one getting the flower, there would be room for cooperation.
"We came here for the Sacred White Lotus," Lux stated. "You can have the majority of the resources we'll gain inside the Dungeon, but this flower must be handed over to us."
"Ah. The Flower that is said to cure the Purple Plague? Sure. I don't mind," Einar casually waved his hand. "It doesn't matter who gets it. The cure will be shared with everyone within the Six Kingdoms after it is made after all."
Vall nodded his head in agreement. "I also don't have a problem with this arrangement. How about this? You get the flower, as well as 20% of the overall spoils in the dungeon. Einar and I will have 40% each. How does that sound?"
"I agree to this condition," Lux replied and extended his hand for a handshake. "Pleasure working with the two of you."
Einar and Vall smiled as they shook the Half-Elf's hand one after the other. No one had been able to clear the Hell Mode of the Dungeon.
In fact, no one fully understood how this mode worked because most challengers were wiped out after just a few minutes of entering it.
They had only heard that the weakest monsters that were inside the dungeon were at least Rank 3, and it was suspected that the Boss Monsters in Hell Mode were either Pseudo-Deimos Ranked or Argonaut Ranked, but either way, they were extremely hard to kill.
Since no one had seen these bosses for themselves, only speculations of their rank served as basis.
However, the teenagers wanted to believe that the one that they would be fighting against was similar to the Adamantite Golem that they had met along the way to the Sacred Dungeon.
Even so, the thought of fighting such a monster was something they wanted to avoid as much as possible.
The Half-Elf glanced at Diablo, who was seated on Nightmare. Right now, Diablo's attack and defense stats had returned to normal because there were no dead monsters nearby.
It seemed that the boost on attack and defense given by the Blood Fervor Skill would disappear after an hour of staying idle or lack of corpses around the Skeleton Rider.
Even so, Lux wasn't worried. If Einar and Vall would indeed work alongside him to challenge the Dungeon, the chances of getting the flower was higher.
After finalizing the division of spoils, the three factions agreed that each of them would be commanding their own troops in battle.
Although this had a con of not being a cohesive unit as a whole, its advantage was flexibility. Each team could execute their attacks and defense, without worrying about the other guild that they were allied with.
—---
< You have Chosen Hell Mode >
—--
The mechanical voice sounded inside Lux's head before his group, as well as the guilds that had joined his party, disappeared from where they stood in front of the entrance of the Dungeon.
By the time they opened their eyes, they found themselves in a spacious hallway, enough for ten of Lux's Rock golems to walk side by side.
Those who had challenged the Hell Dungeon in the past reported that they were teleported in this very same hallway, before facing groups of Rank 4 Monsters that numbered in the dozens, led by an Alpha Monster of the same rank.
This was the reason why most of those who challenged this dungeon hadn't been able to go far. Monsters with that quantity and quality were simply hard to fight with less than thirty members in a party.
The maximum number of people that could enter the Instance Dungeon was a hundred.
Instance Dungeons were special areas, typically a Dungeon that could generate a new copy of the same location for each group, or for a certain number of players that entered the area.
Even if all the members of the expedition were to challenge the Sacred Dungeon at the same time, they would still be sent to different copies of the dungeon, unless they were in the same party.
"Everyone, raise your guard," Einar shouted. "We don't know what lies before us, so make sure to always keep your attention on your surroundings."
Just like their set up on the way to the Dungeon, Einar's group took the lead as the Vanguard, Vall's team served as scouts, while Lux's team served as reinforcements that guarded all sides.
After walking two hundred steps, the ground under their feet trembled.
Lux, who had experienced something similar in the Bronze Crypt, immediately issued commands to his teammates.
"Monsters might come out of the ground," Lux announced. "Everyone, brace yourselves!"
Cai immediately transformed into her Second Form and glanced at the ground under her feet.
As if waiting for that cue, several bony hands rose up to hold onto her hooves, but the Boar was one step ahead of them, and used her tusks to shatter the hands that dared to try to bind her in place.
The other members of the Rowan tribe did the same, but they were still surprised when they found themselves surrounded by hundreds of High-Level Undead that rose up from the ground underneath their feet.
"Do not panic!" Vall ordered his guild members, who had almost broken their formation. "Stand your ground! Protect the healers!"
Not far from them, the Barbarians handled the Skeletons calmly as they smashed their war axes into their bodies, cleaving their body parts.
The Undead were actually very weak, at most Rank 2 Monsters, but instead of being relieved, a frown appeared on Lux's, Vall's, and Einar's faces.
The information they received told them that the weakest monsters in the Hell Mode of the Dungeon were Rank 4 Monsters, so they couldn't help but wonder where these weak monsters were coming from.
As soon as they finished decimating the Undead around them, they heard a hollowed cackling sound, as if someone found their act very funny.
Half a minute later, the bones lying on the ground rose up in the air and combined together, forming a dozen Black Bone Golems.
"Rank 4 Grim Terror Bone Golems," Einar muttered as he held the War Axe firmly in his hand.
Lux, who had a strong connection with the Undead was still feeling wary of the cackling sound he'd heard earlier.
Although the dozen Rank 4 Bone Golems were quite difficult to handle, he was sure that whoever laughed at them earlier, posed a much higher threat than the monsters that were currently towering above their heads.
