"Hot wind or steam…anyway, she's gone." Ainen sighed.

"What the fuck are you talking about?"

The two guys from Cradle frowned.

'I need more information.' Ainen quickly challenged one of them.

Three seconds later, both of them vanished.

[ Duel — Ainen vs Richter ]

"Bastard, you a-" Richter bit his tongue as soon as he saw Ainen.

More specifically, he saw the three giant bows above Ainen with gleaming arrows aimed at him.

Sweat tickled down his neck and forehead. He could pierce the heat coming straight at him from those arrows in a controlled manner.

He could feel his death.

"Surrender. Don't waste time, or you will be gone…with the flames."

"I-I surrender."

[ You have won the duel. You can make one command to Richter that he will have to obey via soul contract or face obliteration of his soul. ]

'Damn.'

Ainen and Richter returned to the Island.

But the third guy was already gone.

"He escaped?" Ainen raised his eyebrows.

Turning to Richter, who was on his knees with his head down, Ainen said, "Now then, you are my servant until death, so tell me everything I need to know."

"We are from an organization called Cradle. We are here to invert the Labyrinth so that monsters pour outside into Torion and Belrik Kingdom to kill 10 million people swiftly, which is possible due to this Labyrinth having a 30-day activation period, which indicates it's a top-tier Labyrinth of Tier-3 with the highest difficulty, officially termed as Hell-Scale difficulty."

"The side task is to recruit some people for Cradle if possible."

Ainen frowned. "How many of you are here? What happened outside?"

"There are twenty of us in the Labyrinth. You killed one, so now nineteen remain. Outside are four seniors who have killed everyone upon arrival except for the two Adventurers who are Lord-rank and King-rank, respectively, since they can be used as resources by the organization's alchemists."

"What? Used as resources?"

Lord Black smacked his lips. 'Those who use humans and beastfolks as their experiments or literally use their bodies and magic core to create potions and pills. This practice is banned by the alliances in both continents and is a punishable offense.'

'These motherfucking assholes really want to kill ten million people?' Ainen was appalled.

'I don't think they are joking. They may have killed any Adventurers they encountered here as well.'

"Fucking hell! I have to stop them from inverting this Labyrinth." Ainen clenched his fists.

Richter looked up, his eyes on Ainen. "You can't do anything about it."

'B-Brother is he saying the truth? A lot of people will die?'

'Will Grandma Ruri, Grandpa Peter, and all others in the town we lived in die?'

Ron and Syl were scared upon hearing Richter's words.

"Where are the rest of you?" Ainen asked, his face utterly icy. "That friend of yours must have gone to alert them."

Forced to answer, Richter didn't hesitate to speak. "They are at the center of the Island."

"How many have you killed so far?" Ainen asked and also took out his Cafe before enacting the No-Entry Barrier. He could still make it last for 6 hours before needing to recharge it for 12 hours.

"We couldn't kill the weaklings at the bottom due to this floor's rules, but we killed everyone else we encountered."

A vein popped on Ainen's temple.

"We have captured three people, but if they willingly become members of Cradle, they will suffer a fate worse than death before actual death. Especially the two women. Maybe the guys have already started having fun with them."

A burst of flame enveloped Richter, but unfortunately, everyone was immune to damage while on the island. The only way to hurt and kill others was via the duel. Moreover, he tried to duel Richter again, but there was a countdown of five minutes.

"You pieces of trash," Ainen was feeling angry. "All of you are dead. Don't think about leaving this Labyrinth alive."

"You are not strong enough to stop us." Richter sneered. "Aside from you, everyone else is trash."

"Numbers don't matter here," Ainen coldly grinned. "I will kill each of you one by one in duels."

'Brother Ain, kill them all! Don't let them hurt our town and other places!'

'That's right, brother Ain! Nobody in this labyrinth is stronger than you, humph!'

"It's not about numbers. There are two people you can't kill in a duel." Richter grinned.

'Master? What's going on?'

Saffa arrived on the island, directly inside the barrier, since Ainen had stationed it in a way such that Diana, Naresh, and Hammer would also directly enter the barrier right after landing on the island.

"There are some vile assholes in this Labyrinth, and I have to stop them."

'Master, what happened to your armor set?' Clovelle blinked.

'Why is it melted like this?' Fraisea pawed the armor pieces.

"That…ahem, I mistakenly destroyed them."

'In that case, we will become your armor set again.'

'If you are going to hunt vile creatures, you have to be fully prepared.'

Saffa, Clovelle, and Fraisea, who were already at the peak of Adept and now reached level 200, transformed into the luxurious fur-coat robe set with gloves and boots.

"Thanks, ladies." Ainen smiled. "However, I don't want to hurt you, and I doubt the duel will allow your entry, so stay here."

"Those people are stronger than Diana, Naresh, and Hammer. If they duel, they will be killed, so if anyone comes here, duel them first and kill them."

Ainen turned to the Cafe Window and said, "You two will stay inside, got it?"

Snapping his finger, Ainen summoned the twenty hell-themed monsters.

Since all of the dishes he replaced were of Tier-3, all monsters were at Adept-rank with varying stats, but two of them were at the peak of stats in Adept-rank.

"Ainen? Already camping here?" Diana arrived on the island and was surprised to see the Cafe.

"Who is that?" She noticed a stranger kneeling before Ainen and asked.

"Things are bad, inside and outside." Ainen's face and tone were somber.

"What's up?" Naresh arrived right as Ainen finished speaking.

Hammer was still two steps behind.

Ainen didn't want to wait any longer since three people were still captive.

He was familiar with Dylan, Sofia, and Viena, all three. Although they were not super close, he considered them friends, and he could feel they were looking out for him, even if they were ordered to.

If they could be saved, he didn't want to abandon them.

"Tell them about the situation. Everything you told me and haven't told me yet, tell them."

"Meanwhile, I'll go hunt your people and save mine." Ainen floated up as faint orange sparks flickered around him before he shot out of the barrier.

...

Outside, they got the spotlight of Ainen and watched it all.

"This brat...why does he have Wind Manipulation?" the bald man frowned. "And it was at A-rank at least, the way he used it."

"Didn't he have Fire and Sand only?" The dark-circle woman looked at Lilian and Yelvina.

Lilian and Yelvina looked at each other, shocked.

'I swear I didn't sense even a spec of wind element on him. What's going on?' Yelvina asked.

'I also didn't. Maybe he awakened it?'

"Looks like they also don't know," the bald man looked at he leaderboard and said. "But that power...wasn't that a bit too much? In terms of magic control capacity, it felt like he was the same as Elber."

"That's unsettling, but," the dark-circle woman narrowed her eyes. "Looks like that kid also lost his gear set. His defenses are reduced while Elber and Prisha both have legendary Tier-3 sets."

"I want him alive," the bald man's eyes glinted. "Already have three elemental mastery, and on top of that, two are A-rank and one is S-rank. I haven't heard of any Adept-rank having such an arsenal of powers. This kid is talented."

"Don't worry," the dark-circle woman dismissively waved her hand. "Both Elber and Prisha will recognize his potential and won't kill him. Even if he wants to die, he can't die when facing Prisha's poisons."

Hearing their words, Yelvina and Lilian, who were a bit hopeful after watching Ainen's latest spotlight, felt a wave of depression again.

'Maybe that Prisha girl isn't as impressive? We haven't seen even a single spotlight yet.'

'No…they are telling the truth. They have more confidence in Prisha than Elber, even though Elber got three spotlights already.'

'An innate magic physique…that's a power only those blessed by Arcane at birth can have. Do you know what an elemental innate physique entails?'

'I have no idea.'

'Usually, once you break through from S-rank Elemental Manipulation to SS-rank, your entire lifeform can completely attune to that element, thereby allowing you to transform into an elemental form, awakening an innate physique of that element.'

'But some are born with it like that girl they are talking about.' If it's an elemental innate physique, the user will naturally have a high affinity for that element, and they won't have any strong bottlenecks until they reach S-rank Manipulation. Most importantly…their gateway to SS-rank Manipulation, which enables complete transformation of one's lifeform into elemental, as I said, is not even that hard to break for them.'

'Of course, it requires more than just an innate physique to break through to SS-rank, but compared to others, she will surely have an easier time because her body is already attuned to that element since birth.'

Lilian's eyes trembled. 'And it's poison...'

Yelvina sighed. 'Ainen can counter her, but…she will be a nightmare to deal with. His chances are low.'

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