Chapter 1495 1495: A Blooming Flower

Beatrice and Juan were not impressed with the knowledge that there was a single serpent, as the giant creature was still far above their pay grade. After discussing it with each other, the two decided to leave the dungeon.

Rosie, on the other hand, remained, for reasons that Arthur couldn't understand. Yuran and Alan both seemed to feel obliged to come here since Fay helped them kill the Regeneration Golem and made a deadly venture into a peaceful picnic.

The portal leading into the dungeon was the same one used to leave it. Beatrice and Juan said goodbye to the others, shook hands with Fay, and then walked toward the portal.

As they were about to pass through, Arthur turned his head toward the portal. Something was wrong, and he couldn't understand what happened. The two awakeners slammed into the portal as if they were hitting a wall.

"What?" Juan cried out. "What the hell is wrong with this thing?"

The others exchanged worried looks before everyone was gathered around the portal. After some inspection, Rosie concluded that this was a one-way portal.

"I've never heard of such a thing! Dungeons can always be left whenever the user feels like it!" Beatrice cried as her short hair was now sticky with the sweat of nervousness. She turned toward Yuran. "Fix this!"

"How am I to blame?" Yuran said with a shrug. "Our contract ended the moment we obtained the Regeneration Core. Anything beyond that was your own free choice."

Arthur had to agree. The two of them could have returned whenever they wanted, but the loot was too valuable for them to pass on. Furthermore, they wanted to improve their relationship with the White Fangs in hopes of joining them in the future.

Before all hell broke loose and infighting occurred, the White Fairy stepped between them. All eyes landed on her. She seemed to take her time to conjure her statement.

"Infighting will solve nothing. We are all stuck now," she said, and turned toward Arthur. "We have to work together. It seems you are more knowledgeable about this dungeon than I am. Can you help us?"

"I can."

"This has to be a fucking joke," Juan said with a sneer. "We can't rely on a goddamn porter!"

"I'm sure you can, if he's the son of the famous awakener who stole the artifact from Everlasting Stream," Yuran interjected now. "I have been racking my brains to remember where I heard it."

Arthur would have been offended and picked a fight with Yuran for saying that his father stole the artifact if he were three years younger. But he knew that everything the world said about his father was true.

"What can you tell us more about this dungeon?" Fay asked Arthur.

"I think your report has almost everything I know," Arthur said with a shrug. "Almost."

"This brat is pissing me off," Beatrice said. She was clearly having a nervous breakdown about being trapped in one of the most dangerous dungeons in the world.

"Tell us what you know," Fay asked again.

"This serpent is not the last monster we're going to have to face," Arthur said with a grin. "This is merely a pet of the real sin."

"The real… sin?" Alan muttered.

"The Sin of Greed, Amelio. He is the strongest man in the world," Arthur said. "I'm just telling you to brace yourselves. We are trapped here because he wants that."

The crowd looked aghast.

Before any of them could question Arthur, screams echoed from every direction. Hordes of gargoyles approached them from the forest. Their screams seemed to do little to disturb the serpent.

Everyone took their positions, except for Beatrice and Juan, who began slamming their fists into the portal. The White Fangs were prepared for battle, but their party wasn't. Yuran approached Arthur.

"You used me," he said. "You wanted to visit this dungeon and learn the truth about what happened to your father."

"I'm not foolish enough to think I can survive," Arthur said with a snicker, laughing at his previous self for doing just that. "It just so happens that the only job I can get is the one you offered. A foolish, reckless job that would definitely get me killed."

"You look unfazed for a porter," Yuran said with a frown. "And you were the one to invite the White Fangs to join us. Otherwise, we would have left the dungeon after the third floor."

"Are you blaming me?" Arthur said. "The fairy would've never looked at me if it wasn't for your existence, Yuran. I see the way she looks at you. It was a sad attempt to get her attention, but it wasn't why she agreed to join us."

Yuran looked stumped. The change in Arthur's character had left him bewildered, and he could only focus on the battle again as the gargoyles made a dash to break their formation. His gun appeared, and he began to fire it.

Arthur stood to the side and watched them fight. He could feel the blast of magic, the heat of mana, and the tremors from the ground. He wondered how this could be a dream, and if it was, then what was reality itself? Maybe they were all dreaming, or some part of a dream from a great astral being that encompassed existence itself?

Beatrice and Juan cried out when a few gargoyles circled around them. The others couldn't help them, as they had their hands full. Stone limbs fell to the ground mixed with the blood of their comrades.

The White Fangs had six members, and they worked together in perfect harmony. Alan and Rosie integrated themselves into the formation while Yuran stood back and fired with his gun.

Beatrice and Juan were about to die, as the monsters on this floor were far stronger than them. Arthur sighed as he looked at them. If he left them, they would die for certain.

If this was a dream, then he didn't want it to become a nightmare.

Arthur released his spiritual energy and directed it at the gargoyles around the two awakeners, whose backs were stuck to the portal. The spiritual energy swept the monsters, who began screaming and turned toward Arthur.

They screeched as they stared at the young man with glowing white eyes. Fear could be seen in their posture as they lowered their heads and backed away from him.

"Leave," Arthur whispered, and the monsters dared not refuse. They flew away and joined the rest of the group, leaving Beatrice and Juan bloodied and panting.

Juan was staring at Arthur, as if he sensed something from him. Arthur didn't care and turned back to look at the battle. The White Fangs were in a far better state than the two awakeners behind him.

Their formation relied on Fay being the catalyst of their powers. She swapped abilities and stats in such a way that turned the party into a single being rather than separate. She was the ultimate buffer for battles.

From his location, Arthur could actually see the fairy's powers on full display. Her powers encompassed the crowd like a blooming flower. He could see how she swapped abilities between each other by creating golden threads of power between them.

Arthur made sure that he was outside the reach of her ability because he knew it had a spiritual aspect to it. In their fight against Amelio before, she realized that Arthur could be the perfect vessel to pool their abilities, possibly because of his overflowing spiritual energy.

If she realized that here, her opinion of him would become problematic.

Arthur looked at her ability shift the tides. The overwhelming numbers of the monsters seemed to matter little when each member of the party had eight abilities to switch between. Rosie even had an ability to control magic and create spells, a full-fledged mage that was quite versatile.

A shield appeared to protect Alan, who had no such skill. One of the rangers in the White Fangs shot an arrow that turned into three, which was Alan's ability. The combinations were endless.

Arthur stood in awe as he stared at the White Fairy as if he saw her for the first time. This was more than a simple swap of abilities. Fay controlled the battlefield and even triggered the abilities that the users didn't know they had.

The battle ended quickly after the last of the gargoyles was bombarded with attacks. As it fell, everyone collapsed to the ground in exhaustion. Arthur realized that having their abilities triggered without their knowledge had tapped them dry of mana.

"Good work, everyone," Fay said without a single bead of sweat on her pale skin. "Let's push forward after we get some rest. In the meantime, I want to talk to you alone."

Arthur was surprised to see that the last sentence was addressed to him. The White Fairy stared at him intently, and he knew that she sensed his earlier usage of spiritual energy. After all, her ability was spiritual by itself.

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