Everything had gone terribly. The barely surviving Resistance Army had great losses, and Sipua had turned against the dungeon and tried to kill me, Lin, and the others from the dungeon who had come to take her back. Hydelcyon had destroyed the magic circle maintaining the underground base knowing that it would kill the people who he once tried to protect. He was trash beyond imagination.

I had not imagined that things would go this way. It was astonishing that Sipua would join the side of the world’s enemy!

Of course, it made sense. In exchange for her and Lodert Hydelcyon’s safety, she must have promised the Book Walkers a Hero’s power. She must have used me as a bargaining chip as well as the others who would come to this empire.

Would the Book Walkers have declined? Would they have captured Sipua instead? Of course not! If they used her as bait, appetizing prey would walk in by themselves! They were undoubtedly satisfied with Sipua’s offer. No one knew whether their alliance would last after the prey had all been eaten, but their current relationship would have been solid.

However, leaving the dungeon to find her love was different from cooperating with a world’s enemy to protect her love. Even if it made sense to do so, neither me, nor Daisy, nor Lin thought that Sipua would have joined hands with the world’s enemy. Even if she resisted us, we thought it would be between us and her. The thought of involving a world’s enemy had been just too absurd!

We could only think that she might have prepared traps using the Resistance Army or the underground terrain. I felt especially suspicious when Daisy read Hydelcyon’s thoughts.

Daisy’s report was completely contrary to his attitude, and the strange sensation I felt when I kicked him made me even more cautious. When I asked Lin out for a drink, I wanted to talk to him about this.

Of course, Lin may have had a hidden life line that I didn’t know about. In any case, Lin was someone who had received a share of the dungeon’s power. After all, he was an administrative guild member who had sacrificed himself for the benefit of explorers. For this reason, I thought to prepare for when he fell in danger. I basically explained to him the power of Caduceus, the power of the white snake to be exact.

The white snake’s power was the opposite of the black snake’s. In other words, it had the power of healing. Its effect was simple, yet powerful. As expected, tricky conditions had to be met in order to use it.

[When used within ten seconds of an ally’s death, you use half of your health to completely revive your ally and boost his ability by 50% for 1 minute.]

The ten second period was indescribably cruel. However, as long as I was close enough to witness an ally’s moment of death, I was able to revive him. Since it was the power to undo death, it was truly worthy of being called a god’s power. The fact that I had earned Hermes’ power was certainly a great fortune.

One of the main reasons I grieved so hard for the succubi who died in the Philippines was that I couldn’t activate Caduceus as I wasn’t next to them. That said, even if I did, deciding on who to save would have been difficult as well. Not to mention, I wouldn’t have been able to carry out today’s plan.

The reason Lin never used his sniper rifle before was also for the world’s enemy. However, he never would have thought the world’s enemy would appear with Sipua.

According to him, the only ones who knew about his sniper rifle were Loretta, Loka, and a few others. In other words, it was the perfect secret weapon. Naturally, compared to his handguns, the sniper rifle held a greater concentration of his power and authority.

A secret was more powerful the more hidden it was, especially in this continent. Lin concealed his secret weapon flawlessly and revealed it at the perfect moment when no one was expecting it. While fighting the world’s enemy, he made his opponent miscalculate his strength and led him to let his guard down.

However, even if he knew he would be revived, would he be able to include his death in his battle plan? Today was the first time I experienced Lin’s true power. He not only was physically powerful, but also equally mentally powerful.

In any case, I revived him just as we planned and immediately activated Overlord to conceal his aura with mine. Lin snorted when I doubted his stealth ability, but everything had to be perfect. When Daisy reactivated the darkness magic at that timing, I cheered because I had become certain that my plan would succeed.

From then, I continued to grab the world’s enemy’s attention and restrained him to aid Lin’s sniping. I acted as if I was fine, but I was secretly trembling at his fierce resistance.

Thankfully, Lin assassinated the world’s enemy before it was too late. Now, only the two great sinners were left in front of us.

“You probably don’t need us to explain what you did wrong, right?” Lin asked lazily.

Sipua begged, “Lin, please don’t kill us!”

“Kuuuk…!” Hydelcyon shrieked.

Despite Lin’s cold tone, Sipua shamelessly beseeched him. On the other hand, Hydelcyon, could only writhe in pain next to her, holding his pierced knee.

He gazed at them with disdain. “Not kill you? That’s all you want?”

“That’s…” Sipua hesitated.

Lin continued mercilessly, “Think back to what I said yesterday. I gave you two the chance to go back to where you belonged. Did I say I’d kill either of you? … And look at what you did today. This piece of trash sacrificed his allies to kill Kang Shin and me. The same people who saved him when he got kicked out of the dungeon! Whereas you… you sold us to the world’s enemy!”

Lin fired his gun again. This time, he hit Hydelcyon’s left arm.

“Kuuuaaak!”

Sipua pleaded, “L-Lodert! Oh, Lodert, no! Lin, please, shoot me instead! Don’t shoot Lodert!”

“Don’t worry, I’ll shoot you too,” Lin retorted without batting an eye and really shot Sipua’s left arm. Sipua didn’t even groan in response, only glaring at Lin.

Lin snapped, “I normally hate bullying others to vent my anger. My style is to kill those who deserve death without dragging it out. But this damned…”

He couldn’t hold his anger back. He cut himself off and aimed his gun at Hydelcyon again. After his gun flashed twice, two holes appeared on Hydelcyon’s right ear and right arm. The man’s shriek filled the air.

“This damned bastard is already marked by someone else. Ah, you’re here?”

“Mhm, just came.”

Daisy appeared in the darkness, and I could clearly see Hydelcyon trembling. Was it because I was using Overlord? The darkness magic could no longer block my vision.

“Daisy Ectradion…”

She said flatly, “72 alive.”

“How did you get so strong!?” Hydelcyon shrieked.

She stared at him, not blinking. “There were 389. Now, only 72 are alive.”

As always, Daisy sounded calm. She was calmly boiling with rage.

She continued in that same emotionless voice, “Last pride, as an explorer, you threw away, for your greed.”

Daisy’s inventory opened. Seeing hundreds of undeads crawling out of it, I felt stifled. They were undead… humans. This was the first time I had seen Daisy wield human undeads. That said, for someone who could turn monsters into the undead, it was obvious that she’d be able to turn humans into undead creatures. Furthermore, those undeads…

Daisy continued, widening her deep scarlet eyes fiercely.

“By the ones you’ve killed, die.”

“No, you can’t kill Lodert!” Sipua shrieked frantically.

Lin shrugged. “No, that trash will certainly die.”

Lin rolled his foot lightly. In an instant, a wall of fire shot up around Sipua. The magic she was trying to cast was canceled. The blazing heat made it hard even for me to breathe. Separated from Sipua, Hydelcyon shot back as he screamed crazily, “Laughable! You think some zombies will be able to kill me!? Sipua, Sipua! Hey, Sipua! I’m about to die! Sipua!”

Sipua screamed crazily, “Lodert, oh Lodert! Lin, please! Please save him, I’ll do anything you say!”

“You will? Sorry, I can’t trust you anymore.”

Lin bit down on his cigarette. Almost as if he was the one controlling the zombies, one of the zombies bit off Hydelcyon’s right arm.

He let out a puff of smoke before he remarked, “And it’s too late.”

“Kuaaaaaak! It hurts, it hurts!!” Hydelcyon screamed and screamed.

Neither Lin nor I batted an eye as we watched the gruesome scene. As for Daisy, after she ordered her zombies to attack Hydelcyon, she was murmuring in an indecipherable tone, “I believed you. You were an explorer, so I believed you.”

“GAHHHHHHHH! No, ugaaak!”

“I shouldn’t have… I shouldn’t have.”

As Hydelcyon’s shrieks got louder, Sipua’s screams also got louder, “No! Lin, please! No!”

“What made you like this? What made you join hands with the world’s enemy who you hated so much!? What made you force me to experience something so dirty?!”

“Kuaaaaak!”

More pieces of Hydelcyon’s flesh were bitten off by the zombies, and he was getting smaller. His eyes held a tiny sliver of life, but they were getting dimmer. Sipua screamed in despair, but Lin wasn’t moved in the slightest.

Lin muttered, “For countless years, I respected you and treated you as an ally and friend. And you made me a fool! We had gathered for the sole purpose of protecting countless worlds, and you spat on our will!”

“Save Lodert!” Sipua begged, her voice hoarse.

“Caduceus’ power has already been used,” I replied instead of Lin. At that moment, Sipua’s screaming stopped. Hydelcyon had already gone silent a while ago.

“Lodert…?” she sobbed.

“…”

“Lodert… Lodert!” She quickly became hysterical.

The wall of fire trapping Sipua disappeared. She shot up and looked around for Hydelcyon. All the zombies that were gathered in one spot ran back. However, there was nothing there. Not even a single fragment of his armor or a single strand of his hair was left.

“Lod…ert.”

Daisy said sadly, “Dragon Horn, burn them. I want to…let them go.”

Lin grumbled, “I told you not to call me Dragon Horn… Tsk.”

Fire ignited the zombies, and in a brief moment, the hundreds of zombies all burned away, not even leaving behind ashes. Seeing that we were the only ones left, Sipua plopped down.

“No… It can’t be…” she wailed weakly.

Lin said flatly, “I agree. No one will believe what happened here, especially what you have done.”

The worst we had assumed was Sipua laying a trap, not a fight with the world’s enemy. One of the five administrative guild masters of the First Dungeon had not only attracted the world’s enemy, but had also trapped us by making an Event Dungeon. I still couldn’t believe it. When I thought about how Loretta would react when she found out, I couldn’t help but sigh.

“Lodert, Lodert…! You killed Lodert, you! There’s… no longer any meaning to life… I don’t want to live,” she sobbed while putting her face into her hands.

Lin looked at her. “If the burden you carried was that heavy… If you hated it so much that you would have rather thrown it all away, I’ll help you go to rest.”

It seemed he had made his decision. Lin held up his gun and aimed it at Sipua.

His voice was devoid of all emotions as he said, “Die, Sipua. From this moment on, I will preserve the dungeon in your place.”

“Wait, Lin,” I interrupted.

“Uh?” He looked at me in confusion.

I looked at Lin. Then, I said, “This punishment would be too light. Just today, hundreds of people lost their lives. Even you died once. After all this, are you really going to bind yourself to the dungeon for her?”

He blinked before he replied mildly,. “… I’m practically bound to the dungeon anyways. Or what, will you take her place? What happened to your desire to rid all worlds of their enemies?”

I halted. His words elicited a deep sense of regret within me. I of course didn’t think that I was the first to have held this wish.

Right… Lin must have also been threatened by his world’s enemy, and he undoubtedly faced numerous challenges while fighting against them. Then, despite his deep hostility and hatred against them, he chose to become part of the dungeon, throwing away his wishes.

As such, I replied resolutely, “Let her carry the burden herself. She has to pay the price for her sins. The only way to do so would be to bind her to the dungeon.”

“You… You’re more cruel and vicious than I thought. But how?” Lin asked.

I shrugged. “The chance of succeeding isn’t high, but I thought I should try this.”

There wasn’t much time before Overlord would end. I could hold on until now because I hadn’t used much of my power, but I had only ten or so seconds left. If I wanted to take advantage of the stat doubling effect of Overlord, I had to hurry.

It went without saying that charm was one of the stats being amplified. Currently, I was confident that I didn’t lose to anyone in the dungeon in terms of charm. That applied to Sipua as well.

I approached her. Her eyes shot towards me with a deadly glare.

She snarled, “Hero, Hero! Damn you to hell! I will never go back to the dungeon! You will be torn to shreds by the world’s enemy and your world will fall to ruin! Remember this. It. Will. Come. True!”

“Lilith’s Temptation.”

I didn’t have the time to listen to her meaningless babble. There was only a 20% chance of it succeeding. If I failed, Lin would have to become the new administrative guild master.

However, my worry was for naught. Almost as if it was the most natural result, the power that left my body dominated her.

[You have used Lilith’s Temptation! You have stolen 50% of the target’s health and magic!”

[The target falls under ‘absolute obedience,’ forever becoming your servant.]

The moment the notification messages rang out, I saw a bone-chilling scene. Sipua had been cursing me out just a moment ago, but her expression had changed completely. Almost as if she had gained an incredible enlightenment, she looked around and examined her body. Then, she located me in the darkness and said as she kowtowed, “Ah, aaaah… My master… P-Please forgive my impudence! Please don’t look at me like that!”

“Kang Shin… You…!” Lin sputtered, his eyes wide.

I sighed. “Damn… This is why I didn’t want to use it.”

Someone who had thrown away everything, including herself, for her love had just discarded her love as if it was an old pair of shoes. Could the person in front of me be considered Sipua? If someone asked me this question, I could only shake my head.

In a different way than Lin had intended, I had killed her.

Lin shook his head as he remarked, “This is… truly a punishment beyond all punishments. Kang Shin, you scary bastard.”

I rubbed my face. “I won’t use this skill ever again. Damn it…”

My gamble had succeeded. From now on, she would continue to protect the dungeon as an administrative guild master along with losing the love of her life and obtaining a new love that would never be reciprocated. That was the greatest punishment I could give her.

A notification fanfare rang out the moment I put her under my commandt. Ironically, the voice belonged to Sipua’s.

[Event Dungeon cleared! You have obtained 10 stat points and 3 skill points!]