Dungeon of Pride, Laplace

A couple of hours ago, 21st floor- a vast forestland.

A group of adventurers climbed up the stairs and arrived before it. The group was none other than the tertiary team of the expedition force, comprising of all the geniuses and newbie adventurers from all the guilds.

Initially, when this group dived inside the dungeon and cleared the floors, it was filled with a vibrant and dominant aura. Yet after reaching the 34th floor, they understood the true dangers of a dungeon. Suffering a disastrous loss inside that mysterious ruin, their egos along with their superiority complex was shattered into pieces.

These young fellows who had lost their fangs, were surrounded by a gloomy and depressed aura. Many of them had bandages and a strong medicinal aura wrapped around them. Those that have lost their arms or limbs were being carried on a stretcher.

Just a glance at them was enough to tell that they had been defeated.

Marcus helping the team of adventurers at the frontline in clearing the floor, looked behind him at those people and sighed.

"Young master Marcus, there is no point in delving into the past and hurting yourself. As your father, the guild leader has said, you must accept the fact that you were defeated and move forward".

"Your future is still right in front of you, so you must not get lost in your past nor must you forget it. Learn from your mistakes, over the challenges and become a better adventurer in the future… Those words of guild leader, you must always remember it".

A warrior spoke as he approached Marcus while exuding an aura of experience.

"Yeah… I know uncle Kain. It's just that every time I think about it, I cannot help but regret that I could have gone about it a different way. I feel responsible for the lives of the brothers I lost down there" Marcus expressed his regret tightly clenching his sword.

Out of the five hundred comrades that he led inside that door only around 100 people managed to survive. And if you counted all the teams that dived there, the numbers that added, didn't even make up one-tenth of their total numbers.

If not because the primary team arrived at the right time, perhaps they might have… Marcus felt his heart tremble at that thought.

"Sigh… young master, you cannot get distracted. We are still inside the dungeon after all. The first thing that we need to do is get out of here and…".

Marcus understood that what Kain was saying was right. They were still inside a dungeon, he could get distracted and brood as much as he wanted once he was out.

"Hm? What's wrong uncle Kain" Seeing Kain halt in his steps all of a sudden, Marcus couldn't help but ask.

But before he could get an answer, several adventurers all releasing a veteran aura, gathered around Kain at this moment. All of these people were high levelled and very strong, if not because they were asked to aid the tertiary team, they would be in the primary unit of the expedition force and exploring the lower floors by now.

"Marcus!" a clear voice of a girl sounded out. Hallie with her two sisters, Tiana and Anna walked over to him. It was not only them, several other geniuses— Kenan Lantz, Tyler Rees, Park Garrett, Gallio Stallard, Levin field and all the others who were assisting in clearing the floor for the injured behind them also gathered around here with their guilds.

"What's going on? Why are all the veterans of our guilds gathering in one place?" Kenan Lantz asked. He and the members of his crimson demolition guild were busy clearing the monsters on the 21st floor when all of a sudden they were brought here by the seniors of their guilds.

The question that Kenan asked was also on the minds of all the others.

"Young master… everyone, get ready. It looks like we have company" Kain who had years of experience under his belt, spoke. The veterans around him got into formation in an extremely coordinated way. Each knew what they must do and what their role was.

Marcus and the other younger members of the twenty guilds also hurriedly followed commands and got ready to engage the enemy.

The atmosphere around the floor which was all normal up until now, suddenly became serious. One could even feel a weird chill in the air.

Time passed, but even after some time, nothing happened.

"Do you think that you are hidden, why don't you come out now?" Kain shouted, his gaze looking straight ahead. There was nothing there but clear grounds in front of him.

Marcus and the other geniuses looked at the direction where Kain and the other veterans were looking; nonetheless, they couldn't even spot anything unusual.

However, how could it be that these veteran adventurers would be duped too? Although they too couldn't see anything abnormal ahead, based on their years of adventuring and their keen instinct, they could tell that danger lied ahead.

Finally, after that provocation from Kain, a footstep sounded out and in front of the shocked gazes of everyone, the space around a couple of meters ahead of them, distorted revealing a beguiling figure wearing a maid outfit.

That appealing face coupled with those destructive curves stole the breath of everyone watching. Peach hair and a gentle looking face that hid her sadistic side, holding two daggers in her two hands, the third eldest of the Valkyrie sisters, was here.

"Hnn~ It seems like those hanging at the edge of level 600 are different than the others. I thought that the normal [Stealth] skill would be enough for you guys. I guess I was wrong" Bea commented, her face didn't hide her condescension.

Kain and the other veteran adventurers of the top twenty guild were somewhat irked at that remark but they knew better than to let their emotions take control. They suppressed their thoughts and looked at the maid with caution.

No matter how beautiful she was, her presence in this dungeon of all places… not to mention erasing her presence to the point that even they had difficulty sensing her told them that they couldn't underestimate this woman.

"Well, I guess you guys can be considered lucky but what about those behind you?".

Just as those words left her mouth, a loud neigh of a demonic horse sounded out and the entire ground started trembling.

RUMBLE… RUMBLE… The adventurers could hear the ground underneath them shudder, making them wonder what was the cause behind it.

To their shock and disbelief, a few seconds after the quake began, hundreds of demonic looking warhorses with flaming bodies and nightmarish looks, appeared from the left side of the forest and galloped towards the injured and the exhausted adventurers that were in the backlines.

"What?!!!" Before anyone could do anything, the galloping warhorses reached the backlines and started a one sided stampede.

These adventurers were already severely injured from the last time, it would be a tall order for them to stop the Bloodthorn Demonic warhorse who had started its charge even if they were in their peak condition much less now.

Many were killed by being stepped underneath those scorching hot hooves or dangled along those thorns becoming a decoration.

[Stampede], one of the powerful inherent skills of the Demonic Bloodthorn Warhorse. After its evolution to disaster class, all its skills, power and stats received a huge boost. Forget about these worn down and defeated adventurers, even the primary unit of the expedition force would have difficulty blocking the [stampede] skill

"This…" Kain exclaimed in shock. The hundreds of demonic warhorses were so near them yet they did not even feel their presence until the last moment they came charging out of the forest.

As all the illusions of the Bloodthorn Demonic Warhose looked extremely real, it was hard to differentiate the real from the fake. To these adventurers, it looked like there were hundreds of demonic horses galloping.

The veterans looked at each other, they only needed a glance to understand what the other party was thinking. Some of them quickly turned around and were about to back the group behind when the Maid that was in front of them, suddenly appeared behind them.

"Now, I can't let you go and back them up. You guys will amuse us for the time being" Bea spoke charmingly. She opened a gate behind her and Emma along with hundreds of Adromedas mk9 poured out of it.

"Those are… the golems from the mysterious ruins. Everyone be careful, these golems possess some unusual weapons" Marcus immediately recognised the war machines that he had fought back inside that door and cautioned everyone.

"Two maids, hundreds of demonic warhorses and those golems huh" Kain and the other adventurers silently activated their skills. They needed to go and back up the group behind them fast but they cannot ignore the threat that was in front of them.

Out of the 5000 strong people in this unit, only around 300 of them were veteran adventurers who can fight against those monsters. The remaining were people from the tertiary team, the newbies and the injured.

There is no way they could be counted upon especially when facing such powerful enemies like those demonic warhorses. Although the golems didn't appear much of a threat to them, the maids on the other hand gave him a bad premonition.

"Young master, I'll leave the tertiary team to you. Can you handle those golems?" Kain turned towards Marcus beside him.

"Of course, leave it to me" the latter nodded his head.

"In that case, we will divide ourselves and block them. I will leave it up to you all to choose your enemies".