...I'll be damned.

“Heh… Even I think I would have struggled to fight this thing alone.” A bead of sweat trickled down Chen Ling’s nervous face.

“...That was easier than I thought. I figured it would take two minutes to take this thing down. Guess I was wrong,” I heard Laila mumble.

Laila stood on top of the now dead Minotaur, which was riddled with holes all over its body. It only took this woman one minute to kill this beast. I was too appalled to even speak. That fight I witnessed… no. You couldn’t even call it a fight. It was a one-sided beating. The Minotaur stood no chance against this woman’s might. Her speed is ridiculous, even faster than Chen Lings. I think she could go even faster since she obviously wasn’t trying in her battle with The Minotaur. All she needed was her rapier, not even needing to spend a lick of mana.

After hopping off the beast, she made her way toward us.

“Well?” She queried about her battle. I was still in shock, so I had to muster up all my concentration to speak.

“I-“

“Please spar with me in the future!” Chen Ling interrupted. His face was inches away from Laila’s.

“Hah?” Laila recoiled away from the avid man, revolted that he was in her personal space. That action didn’t stop Chen Ling from persisting further.

“You see, I like to fight any foe, be it strong or weak. The exhilaration gets the blood pumping to the point where it's almost intoxicating! The display you so graciously showed against The Minotaur has me thinking that if we were to spar, I would finally be able to soar to new heights!”

Laila was still looking at Chen Ling with a dumbfounded expression.

“You’re really creeping me out here. Back away or else,” she warned. To reinforce her threat, she backed off and pointed her rapier at Chen Ling. He wasn’t bothered by it though as he gave her a wide smile.

“You should really think about it. Don’t you want to find out how you fare against the man who’s ranked fifth in the entire world?”

That comment got Laila interested as she lowered her weapon.

“Ranked fifth? You?” As if she couldn’t believe it. She turned her head toward me, asking the same question.

“What about you over there? What’s your rank?”

“…Twenty.” I was reluctant on answering her, but it doesn’t hurt to gain her trust. I need to bring her back to America at all costs.

“Hm…”

The woman was deep in thought as she held her chin in a thinking pose. After about a minute or two, the woman slightly lifted her head and shot us a series of questions.

“How are these ranks established?”

“They are automatically assigned by the System all superhumans possess. The higher your Stats and masteries, the higher your rank rises,” I answered.

“Is there a noticeable disparity when you’ve reached the top ten? Like for example, those in the top three and considerably stronger than the person ranked fourth?”

…That’s a good question actually. The strongest person I’ve ever met other than Chen Ling was Sam, and he’s ranked tenth.

“I don’t know about the top three but,” Chen Ling spoke. “When I faced off against a person ranked thirteenth, it was a walk in the walk. Does that answer your question?”

“It’s a satisfactory answer,” she waved off. “I have one final question though.”

“…And what would that be?”

“If you had to provide a rough estimate, what rank would I be?”

Oh, so that’s where she was going with this. From what I saw so far, the answer is obvious.

“Well, you’d be-“

“Oh? Someone beat us to the punch,” a strong accent cut in. All three of us turned our heads at the person who spoke.

“How tragic! They killed The Minotaur before we could,” a female voice spoke in a disappointed tone.

“Now now, Iris. The Minotaur wasn’t our main objective anyways.”

Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

A group of six heavily armed persons stood in front of the entryway. Upon looking at their faces, I recognized who they are.

“Are you from the Olympus guild?”

“Hm?” A tall man up front grunted. He seemed to be in his early thirties, with dirty-blonde hair and a face that looked to be in a permanent scowl. The scar that ran down his cheek wasn’t helping his image at all. I assume he’s the leader of this group since he’s taking charge.

“A young Chinese man, a middle-aged guy with a rough face, and a black woman huddled together. Is Murim and The Six Hunters working together?” Scar man wondered out loud.

“Really? That wasn’t included in the information we received from the higher-ups,” the female from before chimed in. She had her dark hair tied into a ponytail. An aquiline nose and her strikingly beautiful eyes made it hard to avert my gaze. This woman could give Camila a run for her money in the looks department.

“True indeed Iris. It doesn’t matter though. We should follow the orders given.” The leader raised a hand and snapped his fingers. Four of them, excluding the leader and presumably his second-in-command, stepped forward, three males and one female all holding swords.

“… What's the meaning of this, Olympus,” I growled.

“No hard feelings Joel, leader of The Six Hunters," the man snickered. "Lex, Paula, Bell, Simon, you know what to do.”

The four of them nodded their heads at their leader's command and brandished their weapons, slowly marching toward us.

“Have they been sent here to kill us?” Chen Ling muttered.

“Looks like it,” I sighed. Although rare, there have been cases where murders do happen inside Dungeons. It’s easy to pit the blame on an unfortunate circumstance while inside such as being killed by monsters or falling into a trap. Officials have no way of separating the truth from the bundle of lies so all they could do was listen to any witnesses present. Basically, you could commit the perfect murder and come out scot-free if you play your cards right.

“Alright then. Clen Ling, you get one half, and I’ll handle the other. We don’t know how much strength they possess. On the count of three, we’ll-“

I felt a gust of air whiz past my cheek. My line of sight was still focused on the four individuals in front of us, but something baffling had happened. In a blink of an eye, the four heads of the opponents we were supposed to fight have been severed at the same time. Their head rolled slowly toward us; their faces were frozen sharing the same cocky smirk they had when they were ordered to kill us. Even till death, they still had no idea what the hell happened.

“W-What the fuck just happened?” The man with the scar trembled with fear. He just witnessed his comrades die in just under a second.

“I-I have no clue, Alexander! One moment they were alive and the next their heads are gone!” The terrified woman squealed.

Was this Chen Ling’s doing? The only person fast enough for none of us to register what just happened would be him since he has [Phantom Steps]. Wait… that’s not right. There is someone faster than Chen Ling…

I cocked my head back and noticed that Laila wasn’t behind us at all. I looked around the vicinity, scanning the place quickly to locate where the woman may have gone.

“A-Alexander,” Iris stuttered. “T-The mission is a bust. Let’s get out of here!”

Without looking back, Iris took a step backward.

“And where do you think you guys are going,” an icy tone whispered from behind them.

The Olympus members jumped away from Laila, scared out of their wits.

“H-Holy shit she’s fast! I didn’t even sense her creeping up from behind!” Alexander quivered. He and Iris quickly unsheathed their weapons with their backs against each other. Alexander was facing Laila while Iris was facing our direction.

“Alexander… things are looking bleak for us. What do we do?”

“I know that! Let me think!” He snapped, his eyes darting around the colosseum like a cornered animal.

Plop!

“…?”

A sea of perplexion washed over the colosseum as everyone stared at Laila. She had just sat her butt on the colosseum grounds, relaxes, with one of her legs raised so she could rest her arm on it. She stared blankly at Alexander and Iris.

“I change my mind. Go ahead and escape. I won’t stop you.”

“As if we’ll believe that bullshit. This is obviously a trap!” Alexander hissed.

“I don’t care what you think. If I were you, I’d leave quickly, or else those two over there will stop you themselves.” Laila nodded at Chen Ling and I. In the distance, I could see an inkling of a smirk on her lips. After careful consideration, it finally hit me what her plan was. Before, she wanted to know if we would be worthless or useful to her. Right now, this will serve as a test to prove her suspicions right or wrong.

“Ah, I get it now. She wants us to fight these two members of Olympus ourselves,” Chen Ling beamed. “I will happily oblige with her whim!”

The battle-loving man held his Dao tightly in his hands while giving Iris a quick smile. Alexander glanced at the woman on the ground, and at us two who were closing in on their position. With no other choice, Alexander turned his body to us and stood side-by-side with Iris.

“Iris, you deal with Joel. I’ll deal with Chen Ling. He’s way out of your league.”

“G-Got it,” she nodded nervously.

Although I don’t want to admit it, he’s a quick one, that leader. Even in this unlucky circumstance, he manages to keep a cool head and issue orders. I peeked at Laila once again, and the woman still hasn’t moved from her spot. Looks like she really is testing us.

“Hey, Chen Ling.”

“Hm?”

“We cannot disappoint her. I think deep down she has high hopes for us.”

“Really? What makes you say that?”

I reached into the Inventory and grabbed my axe. I swung the weapon around, warming myself up for battle.

“Just a gut feeling,” I replied.

From what I know, Olympus is an up-and-coming guild. While they are particularly new, I’ve heard that they are as strong as the top guilds in the entire world. The problem is that we don’t know their skills exactly, so playing it safe is the best option other than running straight i-

“Let the fight begin!” Chen Ling shouted with renewed vigor. Like a speeding bullet, Chen Ling and Alexander were now crossing swords with each other. Alexander and Iris were separated from each other as Chen Ling pushed the man further away with an onslaught of slashes.

That was smart of Chen Ling- do everything you can to split the both of them so they cannot work together.

“Alex!” Iris shouted, her attention now on her leader. I took that chance to rush toward the woman. Swinging my axe in a wide horizontal arc, I aimed directly at the woman’s left arm.

“As if I’d be beaten so easily.” Iris snarled, holding her sword firmly as she blocked my attack.

“I didn’t think so either,” I grimaced. We both stared each other down, waiting for the opponent to make their next move.