CHAPTER 26

10 days after entering the dungeon---

1 hour had officially passed in the real world.

Karthikeyan was not sure which to call real , as even though this dungeon was created artificially , it was still technically part of reality and he couldn't still hold his thoughts to what was the "real" world.

Totally 2 members in his squad had died in these last 10 days.

And that too those 2 guys died while raiding the cavalry unit some 8 days ago.

The casualties would have been high if not for the fact that there was a skilled level 11 archer present in the party.

Along with her , 2 more archers took 10 minutes to set up the attack and executed it perfectly.

It was a hard fight as the demons were on average level 9 , the same as the team.

During these 8 days Karthikeyan had killed a total of 15 demons boosting his exp all the way to 10000.

It was high as he had targeted the demons with the highest talent and also the highest experience in regards to age.

Levels didn't necessarily correspond with age and he came to know that when he defeated the same level demon but an older one , he received more exp.

He also had now currencies that amounted to 2000.

Even though with this current rate he could level up 3 levels which was very high and would attract a lot of attention , he was not necessarily satisfied.

He estimated that if he raided the dungeon by himself , he could level up at least 6 levels , more than double his current rate.

Yerilia , the cold woman whose gaze he wanted to avoid earlier was now level 11 herself , 1 level higher than him

He wanted to avoid her presence , as he couldn't for one, trust her and also for the fact that now wasn't the right time to show himself to her.

Probably if situation deemed it , he would show himself later some time.

Even though Yerilia sometimes tried to look up who the other member was when her team mentioned there were 30 members , she couldn't find it no matter what.

Even if she asked others, that part where they mentioned Karthikeyan would completely be muted and she couldn't understand.

Not wanting to be seen as a clown in the eyes of other she decided to just keep quiet and ignore whatever the person was doing to her. It seemed that the person wasn't harming her in any way , so it was ok for now.

The demon who they had captured from the cavalry unit spilled the beans and now information about the demon's attack was more or less was now on their ways.

Using that they moved warily and skilfully and were currently close to the village itself.

Michael and the guys had formulated the plan to infiltrate the village and kill the demons.

But then a situation showed it self.

Michael sat with his legs crossed with Sophia standing on his right and a bulky man standing on the left.

In front of him sat a tall man with broad shoulders in a soldier's uniform.

He was level 13 , a level higher than Michael ,less strong but more sturdier.

Currently they were negotiating the terms as they would raid the village together.

Given that the new estimate was around 3000 demons , they couldn't let loose.

The demons had sheer numbers and could destroy them in seconds.

Out of the 260 members that dived the dungeon , it was estimated that around 30 were dead.

They knew how many members had entered the dungeon as the system showed them the information.

It also included other things like time elapsed and the name of the dungeon and other parameters related to the dungeon.

Given that the dungeon would take 2 months , it was estimated that around 200 members would die if not even higher.

The humans needed to work together and by the time it was the tenth day , they knew that they had to work together and thus the negotiation.

"Yeah..." Michael said while shaking his head "too favourite of yours, can't accept" Michael waved his hands in the air rejecting the man's terms.

The man didn't agitate and stayed calm. He would always take some time before answering or speaking.

"Given that we are a 60 man party , is it not fair we take the most?" said the man

"So what ? your team's on average level 7. Although there are only 4 stats difference between yours and my teams average , its still large which I assume you know"

The man of course knew this. A 4 stats advantage was pretty high , even with what he had observed in his time which he considered itself less.

"Well how about 60 , 40 percent split loot? , thats the lowest I could go."

Contemplating , Michael was silent for sometime. This was a very good deal and this what he was waiting for after Sophia told him he to accept only these terms if they ever come up.

With Sophia nudging by the side , he quickly accepted the terms and quickly signed a mana contract overseen by the system.

Failure of complying varied from contacts to contracts and as for this contract , it was loss of 5 levels for all the team members.

---

"ahhh" a demon shouted in pain.

He was whipped in the back by his supervisor for dosing for one second. He had been in charge of overseeing the defence of the walls and was now punished because of this.

The attack was expected in 10 days time and if successful , they would finish the dungeon in just 30 days time , which was obviously very fast.

The demons' security was not lax and with days passing it became only tighter.

---

The 13th day---

400 demons stood on the other side. Their average level amounting to level 9. They were the 2nd most powerful and also the largest unit out of the estimated 50 units that existed currently.

They were currently on the face off with the humans on the other side who amounted to 100s/ Even though it was not their entire number , they were still potent , especially their 2 commanders.

The messengers sent off on either side proved wasteful as a negotiation couldn't be achieved.

If the demons and humans negotiated and the demons approved , then the humans could actually leave the dungeon without completing it.

In that it could either be tried again , or it would by the system moved to an another dimension.

This was a new dungeon and it had not fought in other spaces of the universe .

Soon the war horns were blown, echoing throughout the plains.

Soon metals crashing each other resounded across the plains.

---

Karthikeyan after killing at least 25 demons was very tired and decided to retreat to the rearguard.

Previously he had mentioned that he was c talent so it was not suspicious that he killed a lot of demons.

"Hey good job out there. I saw you fight , you were awesome. " told the female cleric who was on the rearguard.

She not only was impressed with his fighting style but was also mesmerised by him.

His figure stood at an imposing 6 '2 with somewhat broad shoulders and although was not very muscular was still very toned giving his muscles good shape. He wore a mask that covered his face but looking at his mesmerising purple eyes , she was sure that he was one hell of a handsome man usually the ones only visible on television. Given his vibe , he also appeared to be very young, not older than 20.

Nodding his head , he replied to the cleric who just shied and blushed before smiling gently.

"Which women has the time to smile and blush in the battlefield ?" thought Karthikeyan as he didn't know to why she was smiling and blushing.

It was not that he was dense , it was just because that he didn't necessarily judge people based on their outer self and also by how powerful they were.