Chapter 77: [77] Esau’s Suggestion
Ark’s gaze drifted between Esau, Sazan and Thalia. At first, he thought he was the only one they were giving odd looks, but now, he realized they were looking at Olivia the same way.
"...What?"
Sazan suddenly burst out into laughter. But Ark could tell it was a cover to mask his nervousness.
"Are you sure you’re both copper ranks? What are they feeding you rookies these days?"
Esau nodded. "That was very impressive, we didn’t even get to do anything."
As they laughed, Ark couldn’t help but feel completely disgusted.
’Of course you didn’t get to do anything...’ he mused as he stared at the two laughing brothers.
While they did their best to fight off the golems, Sazan and Esau were practicing their auditions to become professional wrestlers.
They were both bronze ranks, and not just bronze ranks... Since they had been players for a long time, they were likely near the peak of their rank, with the rank ascension trial being the only thing holding them back...
Taking out a golem was not easy work, but at the very least, they would have been able to defeat one.
But instead of helping, they pretended to fight hard, while hoping that Ark would make a mistake, making their plan far easier.
Ark already knew that their plan was to kill him, Olivia and maybe Thalia. But he had hoped they were smart enough to wait until they got out of the mess they were in...
Now he knew that they were not even that smart.
’Keep playing your game,’ Ark thought.
Although it would have been easy to simply dispose of them right now, he still hadn’t figured out the cause of the missing players.
And those two idiots were going to help him out whether they liked it or not.
__
[You have leveled up!]
[Level 6 >> Level 7]
[You have received 7 stat points!]
—
’At least some good news...’
Ark smiled as he stared at the screen in front of him. He had been expecting the level up for some time now, so seeing it finally happen felt great.
’Three more levels until level ten!’
Level ten was seen as a major landmark in a player’s journey. It was only after getting to level ten that they were now seen as real players, and not regular newbies.
But it was only until they got to level twenty that they would be allowed to attempt the rank ascension trial.
The rank ascension trials were what separated the extraordinary players from the regular players.
It was also the reason why some players had been stuck at level forty for up to twenty years, while some had gone higher in half that time.
"Try to catch your breaths." Ark glanced at his party. "We will leave in a bit..."
He closed the system tab and began moving from body to body, pretending to closely inspect them, all while he used Dark Harvest to extract their stats.
[Harvest successful! You have successfully received 2 Strength points!]
[Harvest successful! You have successfully received 1 Defence point!]
Sadly, the last golem yielded no results.
"Why do you always do that?" Olivia suddenly asked, eyeing him with suspicion.
"Do what?" Ark stood up and walked up to her.
She glanced at the monster’s corpse. "That thing you do... You always observe the monster we kill, you also did it back in the tutorial..."
’Why does this girl have to be so nosy?’ Ark sighed internally before clearing his throat.
"Of course. A monster’s body can tell you a lot about it, dead or alive." He tried to form the most coherent lie he could.
"From the places it has been, to its terrain... em... even its weakness can be found out by close observation!" He paused briefly.
"Does that make sense..."
"Hmm..." Olivia stared at him for a little longer before shrugging. "I guess that does make a lot of sense."
"Sorry to interrupt." Esau called out from the front. "But I think we have a little problem."
The three members of Rumble were gathered at the part of the room the golem emerged from, each of their faces bearing differing degrees of concern and apprehension.
Once Ark spotted them, he immediately realized just what the problem was. After all, it was right on the wall in front of them.
"Is that a second pathway?" Ark asked as he walked up to them, Olivia following beside him.
Thalia nodded. "I saw it open up immediately after you killed the last golem."
Ark stared at the dark path with apprehension. Normally, he was not the type to follow strange doors whose origin he was unsure of...
This was not an exploration mission, their real goal should have been to get out of the cave as fast as they could.
But...
He glanced at the path at the other side of the room.
’I still don’t have enough information to ascertain what happened to the missing players.’
If this new, strange path could give him some ideas, wasn’t the best course of action to take it?
After a few seconds, he finally said, "We will split up."
"Split up?" Olivia frowned. "That is a classic, 101 things to never do in a horror movie!"
"Why do you think we should split up? Do you really plan on exploring that place?" Esau asked calmly.
"Yes. Who knows, maybe the real exit is here."
Esau gave it some thought before nodding. "I think you’re right, why don’t we do it like this..."
He pointed at Thalia and Sazan. "The two of them will go through the normal route, while the three of us will follow this path."
Sazan was clearly trying to separate Thalia from the group. Was his plan to thin them out one by one?
"Why?" Ark asked.
Esau smiled, revealing rows of triangular teeth. "You both may be strong, but you are still newbies. Thalia and Sazan are more experienced, they can handle themselves."
"And with my help, you both should be fine as well..."
Ark had to hand it to him, he was pretty convincing. But anyone with two eyes would have realized by now that neither Sazan nor Esau had their best interests at heart.
Olivia was the same. She had watched the battle from a distance, she had seen how they both avoided doing anything until the very last moment.
There was something odd about the two of them, something about the adventurers caused her to feel uneasy around them.
Even the way they had tried to save themselves when the wyvern arrived, leaving Thalia behind for dead was odd.
Olivia knew that although Ark had not directly said anything, he didn’t trust them either...
Which was why she was very much surprised when Ark responded.
"Alright, we’ll do it your way."
"What?" Olivia breathed out, but thankfully, her voice was too low for anyone but Ark, who was next to her, to hear.
He stared at her for a few seconds, and although his face was almost always the same, she knew what he was trying to say...
So she listened and kept quiet.
Esau’s smile grew wider. "Thank you for your understanding."
"I guess I’ll see you guys on the other side?" Thalia smiled, waving at them.
Ark nodded. "Whoever finds the exit first will come back to get the others. Just make sure you don’t die..."
"Don’t worry about us, I’ll make sure to take care of Thalia!" Sazan patted her shoulder in a friendly manner, which made her laugh.
The two groups went their separate ways, going deeper into the depths of the dungeon...