Chapter 131: Ambush

Zaid made a quick decision. "Let’s go back to the city. Let’s rest for a few days before heading somewhere else to level up,"

John and Erick nodded.

"There’s still another E-Rank dungeon left for us to explore. Let’s go after we rest," said John.

Zaid nodded. Although deep down he was wondering if he should go... He believed that leveling up right now wouldn’t benefit him at all. In fact, he thought it was completely pointless for him to do so at this moment.

’Although for them, it’s surely crucial...’

In fact, John was practically jumping for joy when he found out that, at his level, he was stronger than almost anyone else.

"But this dungeon had a lot of beasts... Are all the nearby dungeons like this?" Erick asked, curious.

John nodded. "To some extent, yes. This dungeon is one of the largest in the entire kingdom in terms of the number of beasts."

"But more than 500 beasts in a small dungeon inside a huge portal... I don’t even want to imagine what’s further inside,"

"Hehe," John laughed. "You really don’t want to. Some people say it’s scary,"

The three of them walked along quietly, talking. Those two were happy about the increase in power. Zaid wasn’t so happy, and it was so obvious that John and Erick chose to keep their distance, even though they didn’t understand why.

Zaid felt tired and didn’t even know why. He felt an invisible pressure in his head that made him feel heavy...

They had achieved so much on that raid... Erick and John had reached new levels. Valia was improving, but he...

A Level 20 that weighed heavily on him, despite the clear improvements. He had greater energy, but at the same time, less future potential.

’What a strange situation,’

He was close to Level 21, but it made no sense to try to advance now. First, he needed to understand himself, his power, and...

’I’d better choose to stay at this level until the loop resets,’ he thought.

"Do you think we can go into the next dungeon tomorrow or the day after tomorrow?" John asked.

"Maybe?" Erick replied. "We don’t have much else to do besides rest..." they said, glancing sideways at Zaid.

Zaid smiled slightly.

"Let’s wait until we get to the city to talk about that," he replied.

"All right. Anyway, we’ve already killed wolves, guardians, cubs, and even a harpy eagle. I think we’ve got enough!"

As the two of them walked along happily, Zaid stopped.

Erick walked until he bumped into him.

"What’s going on?"

Zaid didn’t answer.

’An ambush, right?’

’I can feel it, too,’ Valia replied mentally, and quickly slipped through his clothes until she reached his shoulder, where she finally emerged.

The road was silent. No merchants, no hunters. There weren’t even any wild animals crossing the road as they sometimes did.

The rocks all around felt strangely silent, which was normal... but peculiar.

Zaid narrowed his eyes.

Then he heard footsteps.

One, two... many footsteps.

"Looks like the rats have finally come out of their burrows."

A man leaped from one of the rocks lining the path and appeared right in the middle of the road.

"Everything okay, kids? My name is Garrick the Executioner," he introduced himself with a mocking chuckle.

Zaid’s group recognized him as the guy they’d faced off against at the hotel... and the one Zaid had seen on the street.

Today he was wearing the same light armor he’d worn that night at the hotel. Same armor, same sword, same black cloak...

The Executioner smiled. "I thought I’d have to go in and look for you."

Several more people appeared around him. Figures leaped from among the trees along the roadside. Others leaped over the rocks, and further back, perched on a small hill, stood a figure of singular beauty.

"Priestess Selene... we saw her when we arrived in the city," John whispered.

Erick gripped his sword tightly. "More than 20... I can’t gauge their strength."

Zaid stood motionless but watchful. "A few Rank Bs... That Priestess is one of them. One is a C, and the others are Es,"

"They brought few troops... They’re underestimating us," Erik gritted his teeth.

However, after swallowing several times, he spoke. "What does this mean?" he asked the other group.

Garrick smiled. "It means you’re surrounded?"

Although his sarcasm annoyed him, Erik spoke again. "Why is the church surrounding us with such strange intentions? I don’t think we have any animosity toward them,"

"We don’t? I think we have a lot of animosity, to tell you the truth..."

John and Erik frowned...

"You think you could just walk into another city, kill one of our men, and walk away scot-free, huh?"

Zaid frowned. "We killed one of your men? I think you’ve really got the wrong group..."

"Take out that token and you’ll find out."

"Token? What token?"

As Garrick spoke, several people jumped into the conversation.

"Don’t play dumb!" one of them shouted.

"We can all sense that you’ve got a nice token stashed away."

"You’ll pay for your crime!"

Zaid felt a certain revulsion toward those idiots who had jumped out—they were strangely repulsive in the way they spoke and moved—but he kept his eyes on Garrick.

"I don’t know what you’re talking about. I insist you’ve got the wrong guy."

"Heh," Garrick pulled a token out of his pocket. The token flashed several times toward Zaid, causing the other token to respond.

’Tsk, they’ve got some nice gadgets, even though they’re inside a dungeon,’ Zaid thought to himself, feeling unlucky.

He suspected they were referring to that token.

And now that it had been marked and discovered, he couldn’t keep hiding it anymore.

"Oh. You mean that... I took it from a criminal—maybe he’d stolen it? I don’t mind giving it back." Zaid tried to play it cool just to avoid a fight... they were too strong.

However, it was in vain. "That was our subordinate, whom you killed... Even other informants were murdered by you. That’s why we’ve come here to die."

Zaid frowned. "He was a criminal."

"So? Does that give you permission to kill him?"

"If he tries to kill me, according to the law, yes."

Garrick burst out laughing.

"Too bad we’re not in Toluria. Around here, we do as I say!"

"Garrick."

Selene’s melodious voice interrupted him.

Garrick looked displeased, but stepped aside.

At some point, that woman had approached without anyone noticing.

Selene was wearing her signature, striking white-and-gold tunic.

Zaid could feel the power emanating from that woman...

It felt strange. He wouldn’t have noticed it before, but today he could sense the enormous difference between them. Perhaps it was more than ten times greater, just in terms of total stats.

"From the first time I saw you, I knew there was something special about you... Show it to me."

Zaid frowned. "Why should I?"

"Out of courtesy?" she replied with a question.

"I don’t need to be polite to you."

"That’s true, but sometimes it’s worth it... You could lose your head just for that."

Zaid looked away and glanced at Garrick. "Judging by the look on your subordinate’s face, I think I’ll lose my head even if I go through with it."

"He won’t do anything without authorization," Selene said.

"If you’d sign an agreement not to kill me..."

"Don’t make me move just for that, kid."

Zaid gave up. It wasn’t a big deal to show it anyway.

It was that little token he’d stolen from the leader of the bandits who’d attacked them.

Selene nodded, staring intently at him. After a few seconds, her eyes grew cold. "Hand it over."

Zaid raised an eyebrow. "That would be a trade. I need something—a resource or something. What are you offering?"

"You stole it—and you dare ask for something in return?"

"Stole? That word sounds awful when I was simply defending myself against a madman who wanted to kill me."

Garrick smiled coldly and drew his gun. "So you admit to killing him."

"Bandits who attack en masse and treacherously naturally deserve to die."

"Not those who are my subordinates."

"If you don’t hand him over..."

"I know they’re not here for any token," Zaid interrupted them, feeling a little annoyed by all this nonsense.

He looked at the men behind Selene, who were currently standing behind the group.

They were hooded and standing completely still.

They weren’t wearing Church robes, but they were powerful. Rank B, at least.

"If you want to kill me, why don’t you send your young masters to do it? Sending your elders... Well, just as you’d expect from the shameful Shawn Family."

One of them raised his head slightly. This movement revealed the insignia on his chest that had been hidden... it was the Shawn Family insignia.

"You have keen observation," one of them acknowledged.

"It was Kael, wasn’t it?" Zaid asked.

"Smarter than they said," he muttered in a cold voice.

Zaid didn’t answer.

Selene spoke up. "Your biggest mistake was getting that token, Zaid Zachary."

Zaid sighed. Who would have thought his loot would end up causing such a hassle?

Garrick drew his sword, as did all his subordinates. "You’d better put up a fight... it’d be boring if this ended so quickly."

"Then come and take it from me—and cut the chatter."

Erick gripped his sword tightly, and John assumed a battle stance.

There were many of them, and several were high-ranking. How were they going to get out of this? None of them knew; all they knew was that they had to fight.

Garrick leaped forward, and his sword struck Zaid with intense fury.

The clang of daggers rang out across the battlefield... it was a sound that made Zaid smile.

"Be careful with that hatred... It could be dangerous for you,"