A strange silence seemed to have descended on the first floor; however, from time to time this serenity would be broken by the disappointed cries of one particular goblin.
Even after tearing the bodies of hundreds of regular goblins, Misery had been unable to find what he was searching for.
At this, Zarek could only shake his head. Goblins were low-level creatures to begin with, so how could it be so easy to find the life essence? After all, life essence was something that could allow these regular goblins to evolve and ascend.
After shaking his head, he slowly turned his head toward Alexander in the distance. The fatty's condition was miserable; he looked completely wasted. It would be surprising if the guy could even walk.
Before he could continue thinking, Zarek's train of thought suddenly came to a halt as he noticed one strange thing. Despite the boy's miserable appearance, he looked completely unharmed—there was not even a single wound on his body.
Interesting! Zarek thought with a smile. Suddenly he remembered when he was trying to escape how a strange force had wrapped around his body.
Thinking of all these things, he slowly made his way toward Alexander.
Miseries, who were crying in disappointment, suddenly raised their heads, their eyes filled with coldness landing on Alexander's body.
Immediately, the temperature in the cavern seemed to have plummeted below freezing point, causing Alexander's smile to turn into an expression of cold sweat rolling down his forehead.
He had first-hand witnessed the horrors of these strange creatures. One word from this black-haired young man and they would easily rip him to shreds.
Thinking of his body being torn open by the hands of these miserable wretches, a chill ran down his spine.
Immediately he took a deep breath and tried to get up, albeit feebly. His legs were still shaking.
Without a word, he performed a bow and said in a grateful voice:
"Thank you for saving my life, sir."
Alexander tried to sound extremely sincere, but the anxiety hidden in his words was very evident to see.
While continuing to remain in a bowing position, he continued to wait for Zarek's response, but even after a few minutes there were no words from Zarek's side.
Thinking of something, Alexander's expression turned deathly pale.
"Is he going to kill me?"
This thought couldn't help but occur in his head. After all, the incidents of killing were extremely common in dungeons—after all, inside, the laws of the jungle prevailed.
Even though there was only one ranker in his village, Alexander had still heard about just how ruthless the world of awakeners could really be.
Still, Alexander wasn't going to accept his fate. Although he wasn't a brave person, he wasn't a coward either. After all, he dared to venture inside the sacrificial dungeon alone to change his life.
Determined to survive, Alexander hurriedly retreated. However, just then he saw something which caused his eyes to widen.
Zarek was right in front of him with an indifferent expression on his face. As the face was completely stained with blood, it made Zarek look as if he walked directly out from the pits of hell.
At this time, the aura radiated by Zarek without even realizing was beyond terrifying.
Alexander's body stiffened. His mouth opened and closed several times, but no words came out of his mouth. In the end, while gritting his teeth, he closed his eyes shut, a rising feeling of shame rising in his heart.
The shame of being weak.
If only he was strong enough, he might have been able to save his life.
Why is life so unfair?
Ever since he was young, Alexander had seen countless people succumb to their circumstances, never been able to change their destiny. Although he was afraid of death, he was even more afraid of living an ordinary life like a caged parrot, unable to see the wonders of the world.
Thinking of all these things, tears appeared at the corners of his eyes.
At the time of his death, his heart was filled not with fear but with regret. Only if he had not been an absolute coward, he should have come to the dungeon early to awaken...
Time passed, but the intense pain that Alexander was waiting for never came. Instead, in his ears only reverberated the footsteps that were slowly moving away.
Stunned and relieved, Alexander opened his eyes only to see there was no one in front of him.
Neither was there the black-haired young man nor those terrifying goblins.
"Don't tell me..."
Thinking of something, he turned his head only to see the last misery disappearing inside the large gate, moving to the second floor.
"This...!"
Alexander didn't know what to say. In the end, he once again slumped to the ground.
Complete quietness. Now, except for him, there was no one on the first floor.
For the first time since he entered the dungeon, he was finally safe.
Alexander couldn't complete his thought as he soon fainted, and now there was complete silence.
An unconscious human lay among hundreds of ripped-up bodies of goblins.
...
Meanwhile, on the second floor:
Zarek examined his surroundings with a sharp look in his eyes. Danger could be everywhere—if he let down his guard even for a moment, who knew from where death would strike him?
As for Alexander, he had completely forgotten about him. As for his action of not responding, it wasn't like he didn't want to say anything; rather, he simply couldn't even if he wanted to. The restrictions placed by the dungeon were still in effect.
However, even if the dungeon restrictions weren't there, his reaction might not be any different. If possible, he wanted to avoid interaction with anyone else at all.
That's just how he was. Some might even laugh at his behavior and call him names, but there was nothing he could do except shrug his shoulders.
The miseries following behind him also looked at the surroundings with alertness. Compared with Zarek, they were better at finding hidden enemies as a result of their singular skill: prey sense.
This simple skill helped them find weaker and easy-to-hunt prey. The skill was a double-edged sword—although it could help them find weaker prey, it didn't tell them anything about beings stronger than them.
Zarek, however, was fine with it. He didn't mind suddenly encountering a monster stronger than himself.
Of course, he was just kidding. As there was nothing that he could do about it, so he could accept it.
Meanwhile, as he thought about using the miseries' prey sense skill, he felt a buzzing sensation in his head. Zarek knew what this sensation was—it was mana leaving his body. However, the amount was so little that it was completely negligible.
This stunned him slightly. Usually, the cost of such skills was astounding, sometimes almost costing one-third of total mana in a single activation. Before he could think any further, his perception shifted and a black-and-white picture of his surroundings seemed to have appeared in his head, with green dots surrounding him. Instinctively, Zarek knew these green dots were weaker than him—that he could kill. This wasn't just instinct but something directly transferred to his head by the skill.
"Is this how goblins usually see the world?"
Zarek couldn't stop himself from thinking out loud.