"What's going on?" Dylan was confused.

"Well, this is Ainen's barrier. We are kind of already in his Entry-list, as he calls it, so we can pass through this barrier," Diana said.

Hammer laughed. "This barrier means he is camping and cooking. Basically, he isn't finding the hidden rewards anymore, so others have a chance."

"Did you get any so far?" Naresh curiously asked.

"We got one," Jamil answered with a nod. "Pretty hard to find them, but they are worthwhile. Good luck."

"We'll be on our way." Sofia smiled.

…

While things were peaceful on this southeast island and southwest island, the same couldn't be said on the northeast island and northwest island, where the Adventurers of Cradle organization went.

Prisha and the nine people with her were sneakily moving around and silently issuing life and death duels to people while roaming around.

They didn't want to alert others lest they start climbing steps and waste their time, since they couldn't kill anyone while they were climbing.

Outside, Lilian and Yelvina saw the numbers in the leaderboard reducing one by one every few minutes.

"Looks like they finally caught up. But this is still slow." The dark-circle woman of King-rank indifferently spoke. "The second floor must have some annoying mechanisms."

'So far, it's only the people of Torion Kingdom that are dying.' Lilian relayed to Yelvina. 'Do you think they can kill our level 200 Adept-rank party as well?'

'They look confident, which makes me worry.' Yelvina sighed. 'Those twenty Adept-rank brats entered quickly, and I couldn't measure them. Didn't have time nor leisure.'

Well, with two King-rank and two Lord-rank coming in the field at the start, they were already in a precarious situation and trying to send information out, but the Isolation Barrier blocked everything.

"Are you perhaps thinking that your people might be able to kill our Adept-rank squads?" the bald man asked while smiling.

"No chance." The dark-circle woman flatly answered on behalf of Lilian and Yelvin as she looked at them. "Don't bear futile hope."

"Anything can happen," Lilian calmly said.

"According to my analysis, there's 0% chance of your Adept-rank Adventurers stopping our squads." The dark-circle woman said with a flat expression. "Out of those twenty level 200 Adept-rank, eighteen of them have A-rank elemental mastery at the peak, a versatile arsenal of skills, Tier-3 Epic rank armor sets, potions, pills, and two Tier-3 artifacts."

Lilian and Yelvina frowned.

'Eighteen? What about the other two?'

"As for the other two…" the bald man wryly smiled. "They are monsters. Even if just two of them had entered, they could wipe the others out and clear this Labyrinth on their own."

Hearing that, Yelvina and Lilian shook.

No way, right?

What makes them so monstrous?

"You will see them, don't worry. I've told them to share the spotlights they get," the dark-circle woman said.

Just as she finished speaking, one name that made Lilian's eyes turn red vanished from the leaderboard.

"No…"

"Well, it looks like we got the first spotlight." The bald man chuckled. "It's from the boy. His name is Elber."

The spotlight opened up in front of them separately as they saw a duel platform with Elber facing…Andras.

The guy who accompanied Ainen and was one of the five peak Adept-rank.

Adras used a spear and was a master of Water Manipulation at A-rank, and his class was a Warlord, A-rank. He also had an Innate talent that stores power in his muscles, the faster he moves, which he can release when attacking for extra power.

He was fairly powerful and was only below Viena.

As the battle began, Andras's first skill immediately trapped Elbis into a high-pressure water bubble before he hurled his spear around him as it glowed and thrusted it forward, releasing a charging water dragon at breakneck speed towards Elber.

Not one, but two.

Andras observed afterward, remaining cautious and prepared for any move his opponent might make, because despite being trapped, his opponent was utterly calm and indifferent.

'How can he lose after this?' Lilian clenched her fist.

But what happened next caused Lilian and Yelvina's pupils to tremble violently.

A yellow flash. A flicker of lightning.

The water dragons were split at the same time as Andras. Behind him, Elbis quietly sheathed his Katana as both halves of Andras fell on the ground with a thud, creating a pool of blood and gore.

End of the duel.

Lilian's nails dug into her palm.

"This made you quite furious, it seems. Was he close?"

"He was my first apprentice!" Lilian ground her teeth.

"He should have been alive," the bald man suddenly said. "From the previous spotlight of that guy we saw, he was qualified to be a survivalist, and Elber would have given him a chance. However, Elber changed his mind for some reason and killed him."

The bald man shook his head as he saw Lilian's face. "Don't be sad. That's just life."

'S-rank Lightning Manipulation…' Yelvina's jaw clenched. 'And his sword skills are powerful. His class must be related to the sword.'

'Fuck.'

From that one exchange, she knew that Dylan, who was the strongest Adept-rank from her Mistbound Tower inside the Labyrinth, was no match for this Elber guy.

…

"Boss Elber, didn't you want to keep him alive? Why did you kill him?"

Seeing the halved, dead body of Andras that spawned on the island where the duel was issued, the brown-haired guy with a chain as his weapon asked curiously.

"He refused to join Cradle and sign the joining contract, so there was no point in keeping him alive."

"Ah…so if the other four don't accept, we kill them too?"

"All except for that Fire-Manipulation guy who uses tons of bows. Even if he refuses, he can be used as a fertilizer for a resource."

"Eh? Why him?"

"Because he has S-rank Fire Manipulation and A-rank Sand Manipulation. You might lose against him, so don't even challenge him."

"Got it, boss. I'll go continue the hunt."

One by one, other people on the Island, mainly those who were from other smaller Magic Towers and entered the labyrinth by paying fees. Those multiple parties chose this northeast island, sealing their fates earlier than others.

Viena and the other three from Sacred Aurelian had yet to encounter, but they didn't know Andras was already dead.

"Ahhhh!! Found the sexy bitch!"

Viena suddenly heard a shout from behind and frowned as she turned around.

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