Chapter 268 Options

Vincent sighed as he heard the voice of a man warning them.

Though he expected this, he still felt a bit troubled as this group suddenly withdrew their weapons.

He already assumed that this group just finished killing their targeted golem. They are just resting for a while before they would summon one again.

Since the golem can only be summoned after sacrificing two Magic Beast Cores, they weren't too worried about getting ambushed so their reactions were quite understandable.

"We're not here to hunt the golems. We don't have Magic Beast Cores with us. We're planning to head deep inside this path."

Vincent immediately said.

From the seven mana fluctuations he just felt, he was able to tell that there were four Master Magicians and three Magic Knights.

The man who spoke is a Magic Knight and Vincent assumed that he was the leader of this group as well.

"Hmm? You're a member of the Black Tower? Blue Emblem?" The leader suddenly noticed Vincent's clothing and emblem.

Since his Tower Robe has a shade of maroon, this Magic Knight failed to quickly recognize Vincent's identity.

"That's correct. I'm Vincent. I just recently received my status as a member with a Blue Emblem."

The leader hesitated as he looked at his group. Just like what Vincent guessed, these people were only Hunters and weren't members of the tower.

Since they're willing to spend so much for acquiring the flower, Vincent couldn't help but wonder about the profit they're making from selling these.

"I'm sorry for my actions just now. Sir Vincent. I'm Laurin, I'm the leader of the Fatal Spirit Hunter Group. I would like to let you pass us but I can't."

Laurin said but his voice was calm this time. He even decided to just sheathe his sword showing his resolve not to fight.

"Oh? You can't let us pass? Can you tell me the reason?" Vincent didn't get mad and calmly asked as he held Rem who was about to confront them.

Although using force would make this a lot easier, Vincent felt that it would be too hasty considering their group intends to harvest a cure for the people affected by the plague.

"It's dangerous… We don't care if you die inside. However, if you wake up those crawling creatures ahead, we will be in danger as well."

"Hmm? What kind of creature is ahead of us? I've seen the information about this dungeon and even the Commander outside told me that the strongest creature here is the armored Lycan. It's not even a living one but something like a puppet. If you're afraid of that, you don't have to worry, I can deal with it."

"Hmph! It may be the strongest creature in terms of strength but the most troublesome to deal with are those bugs… Unlike the golems and the armored Lycan, those bugs can move from cavern to cavern."

Vincent's eyes lit up after hearing this. So it was like that. He just ignored the information about the bugs but there is indeed a piece of information about it. However, those bugs can be easily dealt with by the fire. Although he can't use Elemental Mana Art, he already prepared a Magic Tool that can create a trick similar to a flamethrower.

"So those bugs can actually freely move around the dungeon? Anyway, I have a way to deal with them so don't worry." Vincent said.

However, Laurin was still not convinced as he continued to explain.

"It's not the simple, Sir Vincent. Those bugs have just eaten the Golem that we've killed. It means that for a while, they will be resistant to fire. However, it also means that they needed to sleep to digest that steel-like golem. If you bother the Lycan, they will wake up without fully digesting the golem… It would be difficult to deal with them…"

Vincent finally understood their concern. That was indeed a valid reason to stop his group. If a fire, which is known to be their weakness, is no longer usable against them, it would indeed be a disaster for them.

"Tara, is there another way?" Vincent asked silently as they stood at the entrance of the cavern.

"There is another secret passage behind that luminescent stone…" Tara softly replied copying Vincent.

"Oh? A passage undiscovered all these years?!" Vincent was excited.

Currently, this cavern only has five sources of light. Because of that, the place wasn't that bright compared to the other caverns. With that said, it was obvious that the people would make sure not to destroy them while searching for a secret passage.

'Now… How do we open this secret tunnel with this group watching us.' Vincent mused for a moment as he was unsure whether is fine to just let them know about their discovery of a secret passage.

"Ehem… How long will you guys be staying here?" Vincent asked after not getting anywhere.

"We still have six cores with us… We can still kill the golem three more times. We needed four hours of rest in every battle so it would take some time… Well, each battle also takes about an hour to finish…"

"That long?!" Vincent couldn't believe that they have to take an hour to kill the golem! He wasn't too surprised about the long rest since they needed time to recover their mana as well.

'But, why does it take so much time to kill the golem?' Vincent was confused.

Based on what he knows, it shouldn't be that strong… Vincent grumbled at this thought.

Perhaps the information he has was already too old and the dungeon already evolved?

'Should I just help them?' Vincent had this thought since there was no way he would wait for so long. He also does not wish to reveal the secret passage to them.

"Hmph! An hour isn't that long. Golems do not get tired unlike us. It also doesn't feel pain. The only method to defeat them is to let them consume all the energy inside their core. Ugh, aren't you aware of these basic things… Sir?" Laurin explained treating Vincent like an idiot but still recalled to call him sir since he's a Blue Emblem member.

Vincent didn't take offense to this as he announced his plans.

"I'm planning to thoroughly explore this place and I might wake up the bugs... Before you react, I'm telling you now that I can give you two options."

Vincent took a deep breath as he wanted to ensure that they were listening. Noticing that they were silent and waiting, he continued… "First, summon the golem now and I'll kill it for you to make things faster. The second option is that I'll force you to leave this cavern. In any case, there is still another place here where you can hunt the golem."