Dungeon of Pride, Laplace

'I cannot live a single day without you' you say but doesn't it go both ways? How dumb can you be to use your life to save mine?... Lisa thought as she looked at the man who was desperate to save her.

BANG… Chuck couldn't deflect the [Electro Bolt] in time and it squarely hit him on his back. His whole body shuddered for a moment and his wounds kept getting worse but he still hugged her lithe body and didn't let go.

At this moment, the determination flashing in his eyes was so bright that it burned like magma.

Two more spells came targeting Lisa, but none of them were even able to touch her as Chuck use his body to shield her from everything. The enemies knew that he was trying to protect the woman in his embrace and hence deliberately targeted her.

Another spell took shape but before the mage could cast the spell, he was cut down in half by a swing of Chuck's sword.

Turning around he was about to charge out again, that was when he realized that he was being followed by five assassins who kept chasing him even when he interweaved around the forest and tried to shook them off.

Seeing them fight so hard even while knowing that it was all a wasted effort, Laris was maddened to the point of being insane. Not only did these people not give up, but even while knowing that they would die, they were trying their best to stall for time to allow Chuck Remington to get out of here.

"Do you really think you can get away?" Laris barked and immediately tried to bolt towards the distant Chuck but was held off by one of the level 289 [Swordmaster] from the Sea god's guild.

"Where are you running to? Your opponent shall be me" the heavily injured swordmaster blocked his path and declared.

Laris noticed that the man was smiling and knew that he was going to die soon and so wanted to make the most out of it.

[Heavy Cross Slash] the swordmaster roared and came charging at him with a wide swing.

Clicking his tongue, Laris swiftly deflected the attack with his blades and counterattacked with his own. He looked at Dale who was enjoying slaughtering the members from the Sea God's guild and couldn't help but shout "What are you doing Dale? We can't let Chuck escape out of the forest".

Dale flashed a brutal smile as he wiped the blood that spilled into his face and said "Relax he won't be able to get out of here. None of them will… I have already sent five assassins to follow after him. they will be able to stall him before we arrive".

'Tch, taking it so easy' Laris inwardly cursed as he blocked another attack from the swordmaster.

"This is getting annoying… give me your space rings and ill make sure you die a painless death" he stretched one of his hands and gestured. Laris wanted their space rings because there was a possibility that they have harvested the spirit orbs from the Forest Spring Spirits and kept them into their space rings just like him.

These spirit orbs are priceless treasures, and as long as there is even a small possibility, he couldn't let them get away with their space rings.

The swordmaster seemed as if deliberating something before smiling in ridicule "Since you are so interested, why don't you try and take this space ring from me?". He flashed the space ring in front of Laris before gulping it down.

It wasn't only him but all the surviving members of the Sea God's guild did the same after seeing how much importance Laris was giving to snatch their space rings. Their only salvation now was for their leader to get away from here and to achieve that, they were willing to do anything. And knowing that the enemy was after their space rings, what better way to stall for more time than to gulp it down.

"Y-you bastard…" Laris finally had enough after watching them gulp their space ring down. Drawing the lightning magic from his [C] tier Twin blades, he bolted towards the swordmaster at an insane speed, and before the adventurer could even react, Laris beheaded him.

His [Dual Wielder] was a rare class among the warriors and after reaching level 300, he was fortunate enough to obtain this class.

The [Dual Wielder] class compensated him for his lack of defence and other stats by marginally increasing his offence. Along with his [C] tier Twin Blades, he can dish outbursts of attack that can deal heavy damage.

Just when Laris bent down to cut apart the body and take the space ring out, Dale remarked "Their motive is to delay us by gulping down the space rings. We can take their space rings after we finish off Chuck Remington".

Laris nodded and immediately discarded what he was doing and ran towards the place where the five assassins were stalling Chuck. Wrapped in lightning, he instantly covered most of the distance and arrived at the scene to find three of the assassins dead and the remaining two injured.

"Don't think that you can run away" Utilizing his lightning speed, Laris dished out a fury of attacks but all of them were easily deflected by Chuck.

Right when he was about to dish out another attack, the ground started trembling and his centre of gravity became unstable before a kick came sweeping towards his abdomen.

BANG… Laris was blown back far away and smashed into the surrounding trees. Using this opening, Chuck still embracing Lisa wanted to retreat but was cut off by Dale who arrived just in time.

Seeing that Laris was sent crawling onto the ground, Dale mocked him a little "Hahaha, Laris the battle hasn't even started and you have already tasted the dirt".

Splitting a clout of blood, Laris stood back again and glared at Chuck whose body was riddled with injuries, and hurriedly said "Shut up Dale, this guy is no pushover. He is a level 359 [Gaurdian Knight]… you better be careful or else you would be the one ending up defeated".

"I don't need you to remind me that" saying that Dale looked back at one of the [Wizard] that was following behind him.

The [Wizard] quickly took out a broken whistle from under his robe and quickly blew on it. A resonant sound that of an eagle screeching rang out across the forest before a creature came sweeping down from the clouds above.

Looking at the creature swiftly diving down, Chuck and Lisa were both stunned. Why wouldn't they be? After all, the creature that appeared was one of the chimaeras that managed to escape from them previously. They thought that it was one of the minions of the demon residing within the dungeon.

Looking at the Falcon Wing Bull-Ox who like a puppet obediently followed every command of the [Wizard] behind Dale, he finally realized they had fallen into a trap laid elaborately for them.

Chuck couldn't understand why would someone go to such lengths when they didn't even have any prior enmity nor any grudge. Little did he know that the trap was laid out for the demon residing inside the dungeon.

But all of this changed after the demon took the Forest Spring Spirit away from the village forcing Laris and Dale to modify the plan.

Looking at the wound-ridden body of Chuck Remington who was still staring at them with the eyes of a tiger, Dale sneered and said "Why don't you give up willingly? Why make it harder for yourself? With those injuries, it's a miracle that you are still conscious. I know you are strong but with those injuries, you are not going anywhere".

Seeing that his words had no effect, he simply shrugged his shoulders. To be honest, Dale much preferred his cornered prey to struggle till their last breath and his excitement only doubled seeing that his opponent was none other than the famous Chuck Remington from the city of Mountmend.

"Give us your space rings and I can let both of you die together or else…" Laris glanced at Lisa who was being hugged tightly by Chuck and threatened.

When he was threatened like that, Chuck became even more enraged and glared at them as if telling him he would end anyone that dared to come forward.

"What is it that you so desperately want from our space ring that even compelled you to commit a massacre?" Chuck roared, his eyes blazing with hatred.