Chapter 153 [Event] [Enigma Red Dungeon] [14] Another Enemy



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[43th FLOOR]

"Do you wish to fail the exam?" A mocking voice asked. 

"N-No…please…" A young girl on the ground pleaded to the other young man who was looking down at him arrogantly.

"I have to give you credits. You guys had the guts to fight back against us." The young man, Loid Stormdila laughed as he glanced at the nine groaning classmates of his promotion on the ground. 

"..." The miserable girl just clenched her fists in frustration. 

They knew that the exam was going to be tough but that's why they decided to not attack any groups and just get the 30 Disaster Beasts. Of course, if they had to fight absolutely  they would but never would she have thought that she'd bump into one of the strongest groups.

Loid Stormdila was there looking down at her with a smirk. The youngest brother of the famed genius, Miranda who was in Second Year. He was also the son of a Monarch.

Behind her was Tyler, a commoner freak, who was checking on her injured mates.

Next to Loid was a blue haired handsome man. Though he didn't say anything, he had that disgusted expression at Loid's method. It was David Seaven. 

Loid, David and Tyler ended up in the same group and were obviously extremely strong. From the beginning they stood no chances against them.

The girl knew it but the fact was that they weren't beaten by Loid, Tyler and David. Not by their teammates either. 

Behind Loid and David was a surreal sight.

More than thirty students were there. They were other groups but they were following Loid as if he was their leader. They were the ones who fought them while Loid was enjoying as a bystander.

She couldn't understand what was happening.

Why were they following him? And why were they under his orders?

It was an important exam today!

Eventually they lost and Loid explained what he wanted from them.

"I want you to come under my orders. Work for me to beat all the other groups and you will get your Disaster Beast." Loid said. "But if you refuse, we will beat you and tie you here and believe me you will not pass the exam."

"You should accept. Let's not waste time here," David said, already tired of their recent group hunt. One and a half days of the three days' time of the exam had already passed and they were still on the 43th floor. 

"..." The girl hesitated. She glanced at their teammates behind and eventually gave up. "Fine. We will follow you…" She didn't like Loid's despicable plan at all but she didn't have choices if they wanted to succeed in the exam.

"Nice decision. You can go treat your friends." Loid said and walked off.

"How long are we going to wander around like that, Loid?" David asked angrily. 

The first time he heard Loid's plan, he immediately rejected it. It was too much of a hassle to look for groups, beat them and take them in their 'army' but Loid convinced him after several heated discussions. 

Loid was someone very prideful about his strength and capability but he wasn't stupid. He knew that among all the Groups, they weren't in the Top 3 in strength. 

For him, Alfred's group was the strongest one. Alfred was extremely strong, Layla as well. Eric was there and finally Edward. Loid was of course there in the fight between Edward and Ronald as he was the one disturbing Edward at the last moment resulting in the latter's defeat. Anyway, he was very cautious of them.

Following them closely was Aurora's group. Aurora was the strongest girl of their promotion, she was on a par with Alfred. Carla, Ronald and Thomas were with her too. 

The last group he feared was John Tarmias' group. John was as strong as Alfred and Jayden, the commoner had already proven to be strong enough to beat Thomas Greenvern. Elona and Milleia in his group weren't helping either.

In other words, if he met any of these groups, they were doomed with their current strength. Loid, Tyler and David who were the strongest of their group had a high probability of loss against them. That's why he chose to gather other groups under him and use them as meat shields. That way it would be also easier to fight and defeat Disaster Beasts and they would have just to rush until the 50th floor.

"Don't worry, it's over now." Loid reassured David with a smile. "Now we just have to rush. If we meet any of those guys, we will beat them and make them fail."

"Except His Highness and the Princess." David added. He didn't want Aurora to lose nor the Prince who was the future King of the Kingdom of Celesta. They shouldn't play such tricks against the Royals that they were supposed to protect in the future.

"I know," Loid clicked his tongue. Alfred was his friend and Aurora was Alfred's sister and the princess. The only thing he wanted was to humiliate a few guys. Namely, John, Ronald and—Edward obviously. 

"What about him? Do you think he will fight his friends?" David asked, pointing at Tyler. He was among the three strongest commoners with Milleia and Jaydena and also close friends with them, including Edward from what they know.

"He might be stupid but he is strong. He will do it," Loid just said that. 

"What about Simon," David asked nonetheless since Simon wasn't to be underestimated.

Loid shrugged his shoulders. "Simon and Lyra can't do anything alone against us. They are not a threat."

"Right."

****

"How are you, Simon?" A voice echoed in an empty room. 

Only two people were there, sitting on chairs facing each other or more like, only the adult was facing the child who had his head lowered.

"..." The young ten year old child didn't react. His red eyes were devoid of any emotions. He looked broken.

"..." The man who asked, Thomen Falkrona, looked at Simon. He couldn't help but overlap Simon's current expression with Edward's one three years ago when Oryanna Falkrona died.  Even though Edward was much worse.

"Do you recognize me, Simon?" Thomen patted Simon's head.

Simon looked up and widened his eyes. He recognized Thomen. He saw plenty of times his father spoke with Thomen. 

"I'm your father's close friend."

Hearing those words, tears flowed out from Simon's eyes.

"I wish to adopt you. What do you think Simon?" Thomen asked with a slight smile. "You will have a new family. A younger sister and a younger brother."

"..." Simon stared at the reached out and at Thomen's face. After a minute, he grasped the hand and nodded. "P-Please."

Thomen nodded and left but his expression soon shifted into a mix of sadness and resignation.

****

"SIMON!!!!" A loud and anxious scream came out from Lyra's mouth. She couldn't even move. The thick dark brown sand was protecting her but also preventing her from any movements. Even her voice was muffled.

She could only see the horror in front of her. 

On the ground was Simon's body laying on a lake of blood. His right arm was cut off and a spike protruded out from his chest. He wasn't moving at all.

In front of him was 'Carlos' who seemed to be in trance while moving his arms in a weird way. He wasn't even looking at Simon laying below him on the ground.

Lyra screamed on the top of her lungs. Her voice turned hoarse because of the tears and anxiousness but it was useless.

It was a nightmare for her.

She thought Carlos wouldn't haunt her anymore and just when she thought of having found someone-

"No!" Lyra shouted and her body shone in bright blue. WIth sheer will, she managed to grasp her wand and channeled a huge amount of mana. Slowly a bubble of water started covering her body dampening the sand. 

She was awakening.

"Ahhhh!" Fortunately or not, Simon's sand started to lose in sturdiness. After a long minute, the sand exploded into a rain of mud and Lyra got out. Without waiting, she gathered a tremendous amount of mana and pointed her wand at Carlos. "Waterfall!"

Carlos looked ahead and a torrent of water fell down like a meteor on him.

-BOOOM!

Water sputtered out like from a geyser wetting everything on fifty meters radius. 

"S-Simon!" Lyra turned Simon's body around and gasped seeing his condition. She checked his heartbeat and…none.

"N-No…!" Lyra couldn't accept that. She took out several vials from her space ring and forced them inside Simon's mouth but the latter didn't even twitch.

He was dead.

"L-Ly-Ly-ra…"

"!" Lyra felt goosebumps all over her body hearing Carlos' voice behind her. There were several holes in his body but a dark substance entered the holes and covered the mortal wounds.

She tried to summon a wall of water but Carlos' spiky hand was already on the way to slice off her neck at a frightening speed.

-BOOOOOOM!

Suddenly Carlos' body inflated like a balloon and exploded into pieces of flesh and blood in front of Lyra's horrified expression.

"The slaves of the Iris Project...they have also joined today's party I see." Someone chuckled.

"Wha…!"

She couldn't even let out a breath that another man stood in front of her. She didn't even sense him appearing. He was strong. Unbelievably stronger than Carlos Dugary, that they had fought until now.  Lyra didn't even dare to keep her eyes on him. Her breathing was ragged and it became difficult for her to stay awake. Her awakening was the only reason she could still think.

"Death is not the end of everything." The man spoke and approached them.

Lyra covered Simon's body in a protective manner but the ground below Simon changed to sand and brought Simon in front of the man forcefully. Lyra tried to attack but her hands were tied by the ground.

"This is…!"

The man ignored Lyra and knelt down before Simon. Taking out a vial containing a golden liquid, he made Simon drink it. 

Lyra looked dumbfounded as Simon's face recovered colors and soon enough he opened his eyes. With his blurry vision, Simon tried to make out the face in front of me but it seemed like a hallucination from him.

"Simon!" 

Hearing Lyra's voice, Simon opened his eyes wide and raised his body. "L-Lyra-"

Just when he was about to run, hug Lyra, a stabbing sound rang and blood sputtered out.

"...!" Simon froze. His gaze lowered to Lyra's stomach. Her brown leather armor slowly turned red.

"C-Cough!" Lyra spat blood and fell on the ground, revealing the man behind her. It was the same man who saved him.

Now, Simon could get a good look at him. Brown hair and blue hair and he had a similar face as his father.

"It's been a long time, Simon." The man smiled while waving his bloodied sword without caring about the dying girl on the ground.

Simon was completely frozen.

He was lost and his brain couldn't process all the information.

His eyes rolled over and he fell on the ground unconscious.

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