The Lord Is Too Overbearing

Thud!

By the time everyone from Hauler landed on the ground, Basil, Whitney, and Cray were already looking around the vicinity. The three students had jumped in earlier than them, so they had arrived on the ground earlier.

They were currently in a room that was around 240 m². The light Basil had shot through his finger had died down, and the place became dark once again.

Surely, it posed no problem to them. While the Knights of Hauler had eyes that had long surpassed the realm of human, the students had their Magic. Therefore, all of them could see just fine.

"This is worse than what you guys have said." Cray shuddered. "I feel something crawling on my skin!"

Steven stepped up, then patted Cray's shoulder. "Hahahaha. Is it your first time visiting a Dungeon? Don't worry Dungeon Bump won't last long."

"Eh? Dungeon Bump?"

"That's the feeling you got whenever you enter a Dungeon," Thompson chimed in. He also looked around, before looking at Whitney. "Well, how do you think we should proceed?"

Whitney hummed. "We are nothing more than your aid. As the party leader, the decision is yours."

Thompson nodded his head, then looked around once again. There were four tunnels in four different direction. He didn't know which one they should walk. Considering how Dungeon was built, there was a quite high possibility one of them was a trap.

"Steve. Which one do you think we should walk?" Thompson threw his eyes to Steven, who was still comforting Cray.

"Hm? Well, we can just go like always." Steven shrugged. "Like always?" Cray asked.

"Yup! We can choose randomly, and expect the chaos!" Steven declared brightly. "Oh! I like the way you think!" Cray became enthusiastic.

While Thompson sighed helplessly, Norman clicked his tongue. "Tsk! There are too many lunatics here. I hope we'll make it out this time."

Sylvia turned to Norman. "Hey! Don't curse us with that word! The last time you said that, we were almost dead!"

Whitney shared a look with Thompson. They realized they were not so different after all. Both had a chaotic team, after all.

When the two of them wanted to calm the situation down, two people opened their mouth in unison.

"We'll be going this way."

Everyone turned their head at the two people, and found they were none other than Basil and Effie. Soon, everyone's face turned awkward. Basil and Effie were pointing toward a different direction. They didn't know which one to choose.

Bias was quickly forming. While the students from Randalvine Magic Institute were leaning toward Basil, the Knights of Hauler were leaning toward Effie.

Thompson noticed this, and frowned. The voting would be unfair as they clearly outnumbered the students. Therefore, he needed to diffuse the situation. Splitting even before the Exploration started would be the last thing he wanted to happen.

Thompson cleared his throat to gain everyone's attention. "Kuhum! Let us check the safety of both tunnels first, before deciding."

Everyone turned to him, and nodded their head. It was better than debating on whether who was right.

"None of theses tunnels are safe. There has never been a safe Dungeon." Effie frowned. "Therefore, I am choosing the less dangerous path for us to walk." She gestured toward the tunnel in front of her.

Basil snorted. "In a dangerous place, there is no less dangerous spot. Anything dangerous risks your life. The direction you are pointing to is indeed 'safer' than the others. However, the path is too complicated."

Basil turned to the left, and Effie turned to the right. They were facing each other, and the other people looked at the two in confusion.

'How did they know which is safer, and which is complicated?!' They were bewildered by the two's stunt.

"I am surprised you can analyze the structure of this Dungeon," Effie said neutrally.

'Yes, we are surprised too!' the others exclaimed in their mind..

"Any Mage with a good control over Earth will be able to do it." Basil pointed toward his eyes, then said, "You, in the other hand, have discerning eyes. Having such an ability as a human is quite rare."

'She does?!' Once again, the others were surprised. They didn't know that tidbit of information.

Effie slightly squirmed in her place, before pointing her hand once again to the left, toward the tunnel she had chosen.

"We should go this way. We can't risk everyone's life for a mere shortcut."

Basil faintly quirked his eyebrow in amusement. All of the tunnels were connected with each other. He had chosen the tunnel on his right because he knew it was where all the tunnels were connected.

The "danger" which Effie had mentioned earlier was the traps. Each tunnels led to one trap, and all of the trap was concentrated on the tunnel he chose. Judging by this alone, the tunnel he chose was indeed dangerous.

However, the tunnel he chose had a straight way. Therefore, the distance they had to walk would be shorter, compared to the roundabout way the tunnel Effie was pointing to had.

Basil faintly smirked. "The greater the danger, the better the reward."

Upon hearing that, everyone's eyes lit up. They got what Basil was referring to.

Human are beings living on profit. They don't care about the risk, as long as the profit worth the risk. With a definite profit lays in front of their eyes, one will risk everything they have to reach that.

Mage and Knight were no different. Although they weren't normal, they were still human. Therefore, their greed of profit was maintained.

"Let's go Basil's way," Steven declared surely. "Life is full of danger. Backing down just because of it will make the life meaningless! Let us go Basil's way." Cray nodded his head seriously.

Steven turned to Cray, and Cray turned to Steven. Their eyes lit up, and they soon held each other's hand.

"Cray!"

"Steven!"

They smiled brightly, before exclaiming in unison, "My mate!"

Whitney turned to Thompson. "Which way should we walk? The decision is yours."

He had seen most of Thompson's party members started changing their mind. Even if Basil would be the one who would lead them later — if they decided to go Basil's way — he needed to stay neutral.

Thompson sighed, then turned to Norman. "Which way do you prefer?" Norman was the most rational member in their party, and Thompson believed in his choice.

"Tsk! It's not our first time facing a danger." Norman gestured his head at Basil. "He will be the one who leads us. So, he will face the danger we will face firsthand."

Thompson nodded, and clapped his hand once to gather everyone's attention. Everyone turned to him, then looked at him in curiosity.

"We will go Basil's way, and he will take the lead." Everyone nodded without a fuss. Thompson turned to Basil. "Can you do it?" Basil merely hummed in confirmation.

Everyone gathered behind Basil. They split themselves in two groups, before lining up. No fuss was made in the process.

"Be careful," Effie muttered.

No one responded, because they knew it wasn't directed at them. Everyone looked to Basil, and waited for his response.

He got none. He merely walked forward as if he didn't even hear Effie in the first place.

Whitney and Thompson were right behind Basil. Although Basil had hinted he had gone to an Exploration before, Whitney couldn't just let Basil lead them without supervision. He was sane enough to not endanger another people's life.

"Be careful where you step," Whitney whispered.

He got no response, but he was sure Basil had heard him. Therefore, he didn't repeat his word.

They kept walking without conversing with each other. They couldn't bother Basil by dispersing his concentration. Pathfinding wasn't an easy task.

Around ten minutes of silent walk, Basil raised his hand. Upon seeing that, Whitney and Thompson quickly instructed the other to stop.

"Halt!"

Whitney approached Basil. "What is it?"

Basil pointed his chin forward, and Whitney looked at the pointed area. There was a 100 meters long trench, which filled with countless of tall and pointy metal spikes.

Luckily, they still had a way to cross it. There were 50 wooden pillars erected in the trench they could step on.

Thompson hummed to himself. At most, there could be only two people crossing the trench in the same time. Furthermore, the surface of the pillars was only enough for one foot to step on.

He turned his head to Whitney. "Do you need our help this time?" Whitney turned to Thompson, and shook his head. "No. We will be fine."

Thompson nodded his head. "Very well. We will go first in case there is a danger ahead." Thompson stepped forward, but Basil stopped him.

"Yes?" He asked in confusion

"I will go first," Basil replied simply.

Before Thompson could open his mouth, Basil shot forward. The wind caused by his launch slapped everyone right in the face, surprising each one of them. None of them had expected Basil going first.

Basil landed on the fifth wooden pillar, then jumped to the right wall of the tunnel. Everyone was panicking as they thought Basil did that because he had lost his balance.

However, they soon changed their mind as steppingstone appeared on the wall. Then, the wall on the left shot needless to the place where Basil had been previously. Undoubtedly, Basil, who was dashing through the steppingstone was unharmed.

Basil jumped down from the steppingstone on the wall to the twenty seventh wooden pillar. He hopped on to seven more, before jumping to the left wall.

The same scene, where steppingstone suddenly appeared, was repeated. Needles were also shot from the right wall to Basil's previous position.

Basil dashed through the steppingstone on the left wall, and he was already close to the other side of the trench. However, he didn't jump there. He jumped above it instead, bewildering the others.

Right before they wanted to shout their worry, Basil miraculously landed on the air. Then, the "other side" they had seen faded, and the "air" they had seen Basil landed on turned to a ground.

Only then did they realize the other side wasn't right in front of their eyes, but three meters above. They had been bewitched, before the knew. Needless to say, they were utterly baffled.

Unaware of the people's feelings, Basil turned his head without turning his back, and glanced at the people from the corner of his eyes.

"Follow my step."

The people, who were looking at him with gaping mouth, could only blink their eyes.