Dungeon of Pride, Laplace

"[Furious Will]" Manuel activated his augmentation skill, increasing his strength and agility. He turned his body around and threw a kick.

BAM… the kick connected with Donte's abdomen and sent him crashing into a tree.

"W-What's going on?" the commotion of the fight immediately alerted the group as all eyes focused on the two leaders.

"Dammit… Manuel, have you lost your mind?" Donte was absolutely furious now. This has gone beyond what he could endure.

"I have been thinking… since the moment we left the tent. Why is it that your disciple survived and my son ended up dying inside those mysterious ruins when they were in the same team? It's not like their strength is much far apart. I did my investigation and after thinking for so long I can only think of one possibility. Your disciple killed my son".

Manuel didn't stop his attack there, after sending Donte away with a kick, he followed up with mana imbued sword slashes.

SHIING… the sword slash cut the mist and the trees around cleanly before disappearing into the mist. Though the person it was meant to target easily dodged it.

[Shadow Emergence] the shadow underneath Manuel moved and Donte appeared behind him. [Twin Slash] two daggers danced in Donte's hands and a skilful attack that utilised the blind area of one's opponent, their back to dish out an attack. The attack connected and sent Manuel forward.

"Snap out of it will ya? Do you even know what you are doing?" Donte spat in anger. The action of Manuel reflected his guild, if he didn't stop soon their two guilds would get entangled.

"Hahaha… I know what I'm doing, my mind cannot be any more clear. Donte your guild too have suffered losses inside those ruins; however, it was nothing as serious as mine where the entire team was wiped out".

"But you did lose a lot of geniuses. I was thinking why you weren't that affected, why is that you are staying silent? Until I realised that you do not care in the first place. Your guild has two worthy successors so it doesn't hurt you much if one of them dies in the dungeon. isn't that so Donte?".

"What foolish things are you saying? Have you gone insane?" Donte's eyes opened wide when he saw the bluish aura surrounding Manuel like armour.

[Mana Armour], using a powerful technique such as this, the man was completely serious.

"Guild leader.. we are coming to help" the members from the Phantom Light Guild immediately jumped into action, they were just about to interfere when..

"You fools look around you" Donte shouted.

These members turned only to realise that the adventurers of the Baskerville guild who had been travelling with them all this time were suddenly eying them with a different light. Each of the members of the Baskerville guild had drawn their weapons, some blood had already been drawn.

The members of the phantom light guild had already suffered some casualties. This caused the small sparks flying in the air between the two guilds, to turn into a blazing fire. There was no turning back now.

"You bastard do you realise what you have done?" Donte's face turned ugly. Seven of their members had died, these members were just ordinary members but a part of the primary team with great potential and strength. Losing them was like stabbing the guild itself.

Some bloodlust finally leaked out of Donte.

"Kehehe… yeah, that's the look I wanted to see. That's what I have been waiting for but this much pain isn't enough to make you realise how I'm currently feeling. Perhaps you will understand once you lose your entire team".

Manuel's eyes were no longer looking clearly, they were masked with some twisted emotions that had completely taken over his mind.

Donte did not reply, the situation was already gone beyond the point where it can be resolved by talking. If there was anything left now, that was to fight. He couldn't just allow this madman to do as he likes.

Donte took a deep breath, mana started pouring out of his body and covered him in a layer of armour just like Manuel. However, in his case, it was much more sleek and suited for agile movements.

"All members of the phantom light guild listen up, the Baskerville guild is no longer our ally. You are free to engage them in combat, do not allow them to kill you. Boone, Hassel contact the other teams, tell them that the Baskerville has gone insane".

Donte handed out one order after another. The two people named Donte and Hassel who were called out, immediately took out their transmission conch. However, when they tried to send a message it failed.

"What?! We are unable to send a message" his subordinates reported in panic.

Dante turned his eyes towards Manuel who smiling in a silly way. There was no need to even ask, the Baskerville guild had done something to jam the transmission.

"You!!"…

"Donte how long have we known each other, do you think I would do something without any preparation?" Manuel spread his hand, and took out a huge horn made of ivory from his space ring.

At that moment, a subordinate from the Baskerville guild ran up to him and reported "Guild master all preparation for the song of demise have been completed, the members are in formation".

"Good, now all that is left is for me to play the horn" Manuel laughed, his hands caressing the horn.

"That is… Horn of Voranius. You even brought the treasure of your guild out?" Donte's eyes trembled when they observed the ancient looking thing that was on Manuel's hand.

"EVERYONE COVER YOUR EARS, DO NOT GROUP TOGETHER" Donte hurriedly shouted; however, before his voice could reach them, the horn was blown a deep basso profundo sound rang out across the land.

The sound was so loud that it could be heard from any part of the floor.

"What's going on, what is that sound?" many teams who were busily hunting the Epsiloths, stopped their action the moment they heard the sound.

In one part of the floor, the members of the Savannah beast guild who were teamed up with the mage guild, stopped at a place to take some rest when the horn was blown. The leaders of the two guilds who had years of experience under their belt, turned their heads towards the direction of the sound, their eyes displaying their inner shock.

"That sound…" Brutus murmured.

"It should be from the Baskerville Guild's Horn of Voranius" the one to answer him was Florence, the vice guild master of the mage guild. Since Karina was leading the secondary unit, Florence was tasked with leading the primary team.

Hearing her words, Brutus recalled something that had happened on the 34th floor two days near their tent. The conversation that the guild master of the Baskerville guild had with his son.

Brutus hurriedly stood up and said, "Let's go, I have a bad feeling about this".

----

The mist was completely cleared for hundreds of meters of area, and the place it hid, the jungle could be clearly seen.

The 40th floor was a vast lush green jungle that spanned more than fifty kilometres. However, at this moment, a part of the jungle was no longer lush green as all the leaves had fallen off from the trees and the small plants and bushes were scattered apart.

Bodies of adventurers belonging to the phantom light guild could be seen fallen messily on the ground with their eyes rolled back inside their heads. Their bodies twitched irregularly showing that they were still alive.

The Horn of Voranius was used, and only the people remaining standing, were the people from the Baskerville guild who erected an unusual formation around them.

"Huff… Huff… the song of demise takes a lot out of the user. Dammit, my mana pool is almost empty and I'm momentarily unable to move my body" A trace of blood leaked out from his ears.

The Horn of Voranius was a double edged sword, it might be powerful but it even hurts its user.

"You bastard!!" Suddenly, a shadow appeared behind Manuel like a ghost. That figure was none other than Donte whose entire body was injured and covered in blood from taking the full brunt of the song from up close.

The moment he appeared, he slashed forward with his dagger which was glowing with a devastating light. Clearly, Donte had superimposed multiple skills on top of each other. Not only that…

"Ability Conferment- [Greater Slash], [Greater Damage], [Blood Fester]… [Single Strike Death]".

Multiple abilities were also conferred on the sword. Ability Conferment is a rare ancient skill that allows one to bestow abilities to their attacks. That is to say, the [Single Strike Death] attack that Donte dished out, was not only powered by his multiple augmenting skills, but it was also bestowed multiple abilities that made the attack even more deadly.

Manuel was unable to move as a result of the backlash from using the song of demise.

"Guild master... be careful" Just when the attack was about to connect with him, he felt a fierce blow from the side that pushed him away from the trajectory of the attack.

The vice guild master of his guild, after sensing the danger had rushed towards him at full speed and pushed him away from the danger. However, in doing so it was him who was in the trajectory of the attack.

CHIII… blood sprayed, the attack [Single Strike Death] which Donte dished out with the intention of killing Manuel, easily bisected the vice guild master of the Baskerville guild in half as his body limply fell on the ground in pieces.