Chapter 45: the third party

As the pressure descended, all the ordinary people suffered various types of effects, but Jacob was perfectly fine. Just as people in the camp started to feel the unbearable weight, he released his own pressure like an epicenter. A wave of pressure extended outward, directly canceling out the force from the other side.

​The people in their camps all started to recover; some took deep breaths, while others stood up from the ground almost at the same time. Suddenly, after the pressure was canceled, a crackling sound was heard from the sky. When Jacob looked up, he saw a rapidly descending flame that looked like a meteorite with blue flames. At first, it looked like a faint shadow, but suddenly it became larger and larger.

​The ordinary people did not panic. When they stood up, they continued the activities they were doing, acting like nothing had ever happened. When the ball of light was nearly 100 meters from the ground, it suddenly halted in mid-air. This action caused a shock wave to ripple outward. The shock wave directly hit the people on the ground who had just recovered, making them feel as though they were being hit by an invisible wall. Because they were ordinary people, most of them became unstable and fell to the ground.

​When Jacob saw this, he just shook his head. The giant fireball remained stationary.with carefully observing it, it became clear that it was not a fireball, but a person almost engulfed in a flame-like effect resembling a Super Saiyan power-up. The person descended slowly to the ground. Because his figure was not clearly visible through the aura, he landed, directly dispersed the effect, and returned to normal.

​The person behind the display turned out to be an old man with white hair and a white beard, wearing a neat black suit. The funny thing was that under his suit coat, he was only wearing a white T-shirt without a tie, and instead of formal shoes, he wore sneakers. It was a peculiar scene—an old man dressed in the fashion of a young man.

​Seeing this old man, Jacob did not look surprised. He simply said, "Hey old man, do you always have to be so flashy with your entrances wherever you go?"

​The old man replied with a straight face, without feeling any embarrassment: "You don’t understand little jacob ,That is not showing off; that is just to let everybody know I, the great Caesar, is here. And who told you I am an old man? I am still so young!"

​Jacob just shook his head and said nothing further, knowing this old man never changes and always claims to be at his peak despite being an old fossil. He did not continue the discussion.

​At the same time, five other elderly people who looked like Caesar’s generation appeared one by one. They did not make a flashy entrance like Caesar; instead, they appeared silently among the group of people, completely unnoticed, as if they had just materialized out of thin air. With Jacob included, a total of seven people were now gathered at the very center of the camp.

​Without wasting any time, they returned to their previous room. When Apollo and Alexander saw the figures who had followed Jacob into the room, they stood up. Just as they wanted to say something, Jacob raised his hand to stop them, saying, "You can go to the side and wait for further instructions."

​Apollo and Alexander went to the corner and stood stiffly like wooden puppets, not even daring to breathe loudly in front of the elders. The elders wore different kinds of attire—some in formal suits, others in traditional white robes, and some in covered robes. However, they all shared one distinctive feature: they were old men with white hair and beards. As they stood in the room, even without doing anything, they radiated a heavy pressure. Although it was not suffocating to the point of preventing proper breathing, it was tangible enough to be deeply felt.

​Then, Jacob started to speak. "It is my hope that all my elders are doing fine and great. If you were doing something important after getting my message, you may forgive me for my intrusion. But what I am going to tell you is very important."

​Without saying anything else, he directly played the video he had recorded of Smith and him dividing the spoils. At first, when they saw the footage, they did not comment on anything and just silently watched the video. When it reached the part about the 10 percent enhancement stone, Jacob noticed a slight reaction from the other side, but they quickly composed themselves.

​After the recording ended, silence prevailed. Elder Caesar finally spoke up: "From what we saw, we didn’t find anything special, and I can agree that a 10 percent enhancement stone is rare but it isn’t enough for a Black Code emergency level.so You can go directly to the point. I don’t think you just called us here to show off that little thing."

​Knowing this will be their reaction, Jacob understood that to people infornt of him had seen many things in this world, a 10 percent enhancement stone was not a major matter. Jacob replied, "The items in front of you are not that important, but let me ask you one thing: what if I told you those rewards came from a novice-rank dungeon?"

​Seeing the lack of reaction on the other side, he added, "And what if I told you it was a one-way dungeon that only had a limit of three entries?"

​This time, the other party totally lost their composure. It caused a huge shock among them because they all knew the practical rule of dungeons: effort is rewarded, meaning higher difficulty yields better rewards. A novice-rank dungeon to have those rewards meant the difficulty itself was exceptionally high. To top it off, having only three entries meant only three people had entered that dungeon.

​Seeing their reaction, Jacob decided to throw another bombshell: "What if I told you the team which entered into that dungeon only took five hours, and two among the participants only had silver-titled Queens?"

​This surprised them completely, as they had now lost all their composure. Because the team included two silver-titled queens, the remaining party member must have been the key factor for clearing that dungeon. Recalling the video and remembering Mr. Smith inside it, along with the recent news that their respective families had contracted an honorary guest with a legendary titled Queen, they finally understood. The video was not meant to show off the rewards, but to reveal the person who was the key factor.

​Always quick to jump into the fray, Caesar asked, "So you are telling me this guy Smith was the one who had cleared the dungeon with the help of those two assistants?"

​"For the whole story, you must ask those two guys. They were the ones who entered into the dungeon, and they will give you the full story."

​All the elders immediately turned their gaze toward Apollo and Alexander. That sudden attention made the two subordinates’ blood run cold. Although the pressure was not out of hostility, the focused presence of the elders still weighed heavily on them. Realizing they had been too intense and caused the two young men to become very uncomfortable, the elders restrained themselves.

​Jacob then said, "Okay, now you may continue to tell the elders what happened. Recount everything from the very beginning of entering the dungeon until the end."

​Apollo and Alexander recounted every step from the very beginning when they entered, describing how Velvet directed their combat, how she and Brenda were always on the assault, and even detailing the final fight with the last rartman After they finished recounting everything, the room went silent.