Chapter 555 Back Together

Hearing the announcement that he had cleared this floor’s trial and seeing the bodies of Lilia and Mrazivý disappearing. All of the unbridled rage Marcus was feeling began to vanish.

He was truly willing to destroy himself in an attempt to destroy this dungeon if it was actually going to take away the people he cared about most.

Of course, a part of him had always been expecting this to just be a test, and that neither Lilia nor Mrazivý were in any danger here.

Still the dungeon had done a good job making it seem like both of them were really here.

Marcus closed his eyes and calmed down a bit now that the terrible situation was no longer in front of him.

Then once he had calmed down, he walked up to the form of the guardian, and said, “Was my answer really correct?”

However, the AI that ran this special dungeon just shrugged its shoulders, and said, “This challenge had no right or wrong answer. It was simply designed to make you see yourself for what you really are when pushed into a no-win situation. Whether you think what you did is right or wrong is what really matters.

“Now your reward for clearing this tenth floor with arrive shortly. Until then please wait here, and then you can move to the checkpoint where you can either continue your challenge or exit the dungeon.”

After saying this the guardian disappeared and Marcus was left alone in the now empty room.

Looking around he could still picture the places where the images of Mrazivý and Lilia had been bound and their heads had been separated off of their body.

Certainly, he knew now that it was all fake, but seeing something like that would leave a scar on anyone’s mind.

Nevertheless, as he sat and thought about it, he understood that this was a learning experience..

He now knew more about himself than he had before and had strengthened his resolve.

‘I just need to get strong enough to make sure that never happens. I need to raise my level and reach my special evolution. Then I will have even more power and can protect them better.’

Sitting on the floor he continued to think about his plans for the immediate future while he waited for the chest that had his reward to appear.

When it finally did, he got up and opened the chest expecting something impressive for how much he had gone through.

Yet as he opened the chest, all that was inside it was a few sheets of paper that were bound together.

Picking them up and skimming through them, he found that each page had an incomplete formation for creating magical items.

‘What the hell is this!? Each one of them is only fifty to thirty percent complete.’

Looking it over Marcus felt robbed that his reward after clearing ten trials, especially the last one that had nearly broken him, was only this.

As they were now, they were all useless even if he could tell that these formations were all very powerful. At least on the same level as the best ones he had learned from Thabon if not better.

Except it really did not matter since they were incomplete.

However, quickly Marcus realized what this stupid dungeon was trying to do.

It wanted him to complete these formations on his own and learn more about how to make his own powerful magical items.

‘Fine, I will see what I can do with these later. For now, I want to see how everyone else is doing.’

Taking his spoils, he headed over to the exit that would lead him out of the floor he was currently on.

As soon as he entered, unlike the other times where he just walked down a set of statis to the next floor, this time he felt the familiar sensation of being warped away.

When his vision came back to himself, he found that he was in a large room that was filled with refreshment and furniture.

Along with these items it also had two teleportation circles on either end. One that would lead to the next floors of the special dungeon and another that would take him back to the entrance.

But what really grabbed his attention was the others that were waiting in the room.

“Mraz!”

Spotting his fiancé sitting on one of the couches in this room, Marcus zipped over to her as fast as he could and picked her up in his embrace.

Seeing her again after what had just happened took a toll off of his mind, as he thought it possible that she was in trouble within the dungeon.

Holding her tightly the sound of her heartbeat and the warmth of her body were an immense comfort.

“Marcus!”

Surprise in her voice, Mrazivý was caught off guard by Marcus’ sudden embrace.

Though as he held her there, she quickly returned the embrace and started crying.

Feeling her tears falling on him and hearing her sobs, Marcus could only imagine that one of her trials had been similar to his own.

The two of them just stood there holding each other for a few minutes while Mrazivý cried, and Marcus patted her head.

“I am so glad you are alright.” Mrazivý said once she had finished sobbing.

Pulling back away from her so that he could see her face, Marcus smiled and said, “I am glad that you are fine as well. I am guessing that we were both put through similar trials.”

Telling Mrazivý what he had to experience, Marcus watched as her face went deathly pale thinking about what would have happened if that situation would have been real.

She was a bit hurt at first that Marcus said he had let her die, but she also felt touched that he was willing to die to avenge her.

“So, you would rather die than have to live without me. It seems that we both made the same choice.” Mrazivý said with misty eyes.

She then told Marcus about her own challenge, where she had to fight him to the death to survive.

Naturally she thought that this might not be real, but the dungeon had made it seem convincing enough to leave some doubt just as it had in Marcus’ challenge.

In the end Mrazivý had decided to let Marcus kill her, since she felt that her life was already his.

“I see, that must have been terribly hard on you. But it is over now, and I promise something like that would never happen. I would destroy myself before I ever truly harmed you.”

After saying this, Marcus moved in to kiss Mrazivý, when he heard the sound of coughing coming from behind him.

He had been so caught up in finding Mrazivý again, that he had failed to register the other presences in the room.

Of course, he had noticed that they were there, but his mind had pretty much written them off and sent them out of the way as his full focus went to his fiancé.

Turning around her saw James sitting not to far away with Fallon next to him.

Along with James and Fallon, in the back of the room Quillon and Aerial were sitting around staring at Marcus and Mrazivý’s public display.

Mrazivý’s face went red as she remembered that so many people were around and had just witnessed that moment she had with Marcus.

Shaking his head and pushing the discomfort out of his mind, Marcus took stock of who all was here.

Certainly, Lilia was not one of them since he would have picked up her presence just the same as Mrazivý’s.

‘So, Lilia, Roxene, Lyra, Blitz, and Aurelia are the only ones that have not made it here.’

Once he had finished taking stock of who all was still missing, he went up to the others and greeted them.

They all then got together and shared their experiences with each other.

It seemed that they all had similar trials, thought tailor made for all of them.

“So, all of our first floors were challenging foes that we could not beat normally. Really this dungeon is just a bit too hard.” James said, lamenting what he had to go through.

A majority of his challenges had been centered around forcing him to get better mana control, with one being an infinite race into the sky that he could not stop until he won.

“Though, the one changed the most is definitely Zareen.” Marcus said as he looked at the golden lioness.

She had gotten quite a bit bigger than when they had entered the dungeon, not to mention her level was now at thirty-eight and she had evolved.

She was no longer just a regular golden lion but had advanced to an epic grade beast called a blazing golden lion.

This gave he a number of fire-based powers as the name suggested, but not only could her flames burn they had a limited healing ability as well.

‘Well, she still hates me judging by the glares I get whenever I talk to her.’ Marcus thought.

Still, he doubted that either of Lilia’s beast companions were going to ever like him after what he had done.

But it really did not matter since they adored Lilia, and his primary goal was for them to help keep her safe.

“So have any of you tired leaving yet?” Marcus asked once they had finished discussing their trials.

Nodding his head, Quillon said, “Yes, I tired. And we can leave and come back if we want. But we cannot advance until everyone is done. The next set of floors have to be challenged in groups.”