When Lux opened his eyes, he found himself staring at the ceiling of a cavern.
A moment later, the face of a baby slime appeared in his vision, and the two looked at each other for a few seconds before a bitter smile appeared on the Half-Elf's face.
"We died, right?"
"Pa!"
After hearing Eiko's confirmation, the Half-Elf sighed before propping himself up in a seating position. This was the first time he died in a Dungeon, and frankly speaking, it wasn't a very nice experience.
Around him, Cai, Keane, Einar, Val, Xander, Henrietta, and Malcolm also started to stir.
"Are you alright, Fei Fei?" Cai asked the teary-eyed golden slime who immediately buried her face in Cai's neck, crying her heart out.
That was the first time Fae Fae witnessed her Master die, so she didn't know what to do. Fortunately, when Cai died, Fei Fei was also teleported out of the Dungeon because she was the Boar's Contracted Beast.
Cai coaxed the baby slime, and told her that it was going to be fine. The Boar then opened its Soul Book and half a minute later, it started to cry as well, making Fei Fei cry louder.
"My 2,000 Stat Points!" Cai wailed. "My one million gold coins! Gone! All gone!"
"Weeiiiiiiiiiii!" Fei Fei also wailed because Cai's raw emotions were affecting her as well.
Upon hearing Cai's words, everyone also opened their Soul Books and found out that they had also lost 2,000 Stat Points and a million gold coins.
The funny thing was that Keane's current gold coin count was in the negative. Meaning, every gold coin he would gain later would automatically disappear as payment for his debt.
Einar, Val, Xander, and Henrietta were also in the same boat. As for Malcolm, he was quite well off, so his gold didn't go in the negative. Even so, the loss of both stats and gold coins made him feel depressed.
After seeing that nothing else was lost after his death, the Half-Elf checked his quest log and saw that its information had now changed.
—----------
< Your Contract with the Ammarian Kingdom is now terminated. >
< From this moment onwards, you and the Ammarian Kingdom would be hostile to each other. >
< 2,000 Stat Points have been deducted from your current stats >
< 1,000,000 Gold Coins have been deducted from your inventory. >
< If you enter the Gate of Conquest again, you will immediately be teleported to the Yelan Army Main Headquarters. >
< If you wish to continue the mission, the "War of Lions", you will need to accept a new quest from the Great Generals of the Yelan Kingdom. >
—----------
'I see, so that was the penalty?' Lux thought as he connected the dots together. 'But I still hadn't accepted the quest to switch sides with the Yelan Army.'
Originally, Lux planned to only accept the quest when he had reached the Yelan Camp, so that he wouldn't be immediately hunted down by the Ammarian Kingdom.
He just didn't expect that the Second in Command of the Ammarian Camp in the Marshlands would appear while he was having a meeting with the members of his Mercenary Group.
After a few minutes had passed, everyone had managed to regain their calmness and think objectively. Just like Lux, they thought that this was the penalty of switching sides to the Yelan Camp, which made sense because the stats and gold coins they lost were exactly the same as the penalty for breaking the contract.
Malcolm confirmed his suspicions as well.
"The Sacred Dungeon is quite different from the other Dungeons we have visited in the past," Malcolm explained. "Usually, when we die in other Dungeons, we will receive a penalty similar to what we have experienced now. There was a time that my rank dropped down to the Apostle Grade after becoming an Initiate because I was killed by a boss during a Dungeon Raid.
"However, this Dungeon is different. Even if we die inside, we won't get a penalty. After discussing this with my Guild Members, we all agreed that this was this Domain's way of compensating those who risked their lives to journey towards the entrance of the Sacred Dungeon.
"Since the trip to reach this place is perilous, and the chance of dying is high, the one who made this Domain probably thought that it would be too unfair if the punishment for failing the Dungeon is too high also. After all, if we were to die on our trip to this place, it would be a permanent one, and there would be no second chances."
After hearing this explanation, Lux, and his friends, who hadn't died inside the Sacred Dungeon before nodded their heads in understanding.
Henrietta only smiled bitterly because she had died inside the dungeon more than once in their attempt to clear it.
After hearing this explanation, Lux gazed at the Gate of Conquest with a solemn expression on his face.
He could still remember the sneer on the Vice-General's face after the latter gave him the killing blow.
'Rankers are truly scary,' Lux mused as he subconsciously rubbed his chest, where the sword had pierced him earlier.
"What now?" Henrietta asked. "Are we going to leave the Dungeon?"
Malcolm bit his lip as he looked at the back of the Half-Elf who was still staring at the Gate of Conquest. He wanted to say that they should just go back, but the image of Emperor Andreas looking at him as if he was a failure made the words he was about to say stuck in his throat.
At that moment, the Half-Elf turned around and looked at Malcolm with a determined look on his face.
"We're going to challenge the Dungeon again," Lux said. "Of course, if you do not wish to go, I will not force anyone. So, who wants to go with me?"
"I will go!" Cai said with the "never say die" attitude. "That bastard. I won't be able to rest easy until I pierce my tusks into his gut!"
"Da Waeeeeee!" Fei Fei also shouted. Clearly, she also wanted to get revenge on the one that killed her Master.
"I'm going too," Keane said calmly, but his gaze carried a sharpness that could cut through steel.
"I won't be able to sleep soundly tonight if I back out now," Einar shrugged. "Besides, we only got the penalty we deserved for breaking the contract. The real battle starts here!"
Xander, Val, and Henrietta all nodded their heads in agreement. Right now, the only thing they wanted to do was to take revenge on the Vice General who killed them without mercy.
"I'm going as well," Malcolm declared as he stared at the Half-Elf with a glare. "You said that all we need to do is win, right? Do you feel the same way? Can we win?"
Lux nodded. "We can."
The Half-Elf then turned around as he walked towards the Gate of Conquest and pressed his right palm over it.
"Let's go back and kill that bastard," Lux stated.
A moment later, all the teenagers disappeared as they stepped into the Gate of Conquest once again with renewed determination and resolve to get their vengeance, not only to the Vice General, but to the entirety of the Ammarian Kingdom.
