Astrid and her team continued to scour the forest area, mapping out the place so they knew what was around them, whether that was monster nests or potential enemies that got dragged into this dungeon as well.

They spent the last two to three hours doing this and only found one monster nest near their current campsite. The nest was filled with orcs ranging from Level eight to Level eleven, which was extremely high and dangerous for Astrid’s team to take on.

Knowing that the nest was so close to the camp, Astrid believed it would be safest to change locations as soon as possible, so they all agreed to do so the next morning. They would’ve done it the moment they got back to the site, but all of Astrid’s people were extremely tired after fighting off the Dire wolves along with a couple of other monster encounters like goblins.

After dealing with them, Astrid and her group decided that it would be best to return to base and recuperate. Then, the next morning, they would back their things and relocate to a new spot.

While walking back, the group was in silence. Not a single member including Astrid said a word while returning to their temporary base. The reason for the silence was from Astrid’s and Dolk’s argument from before. But more than that was them failing to locate a Sub-Boss on this forest island.

Astrid’s plan after she and her team reached level ten was to find a Sub-Boss in this forest and prepare to attack and defeat it, so they could complete the Dungeon Quest and come back to their world. However, this didn’t go as planned since they couldn’t find traces of a single Boss on this floating landmass.

This annoyed and devastated Astrid since she hoped that they could finish this dungeon quest quickly and leave this place. If there wasn’t a boss on this island, that would mean they would be forced to leave and search for one on another completely different landmass, and that was something that Astrid couldn’t afford to do.

She was desperate to get home and fast. Every minute she wasted here only meant more trouble and chaos was happening back home. Her tribe needed her to help them since she was a Captain of the Legion.

More than anything else, she also couldn’t afford to let her brother use her absence as an opportunity to take the Title of Tribal Chief. If he did, then their entire tribe would be destroyed due to his ruthless and apathetic actions.

Then there was Dolk…

Astrid turned and glanced at her childhood friend trailing behind her. Her brows creased into a noticeable frown as she stared at him.

There was something off with Dolk. He should’ve been more supportive of her decision to get home as soon as possible. But now, he was practically against her doing this. After all, he had as much reason to return home as she did, since his family was there too.

It’s not like she believed that he bore any ill intentions, but she also couldn’t shake the feeling that Dolk was acting strangely. His apprehension about her plans and his constant persistence for them to stay in this dungeon for as long as possible.

There was also his recent intimacy with her. Astrid knew about Dolk’s feelings for her since they were young, but she couldn’t return them since her life had been so busy with her goal of becoming Tribal Chief.

That and she wasn’t sure that she shared the same feelings for Dolk like he did for her. Which is why they tried to maintain their friendship as it was. But Dolk was a bit bolder than usual. And that bothered Astrid a bit since it was strange for him to act like that when he knew their current circumstances and never pushed it before.

Again, Astrid didn’t believe that Dolk was planning something sinister, but she also couldn’t shake off the fact that eerie feeling she felt. Her instincts were warning her, and yet she had no idea what it was.

Was it Dolk, or was it something else?

Astrid’s mind was plagued with these thoughts for the entire trip back. It was only when she sat down on her moss bed that she was able to take a minute to collect herself on the matter and figure out what needed to be done.

She needed to set things straight for Dolk. He may not want to return home so soon, but it was different for Astrid. And he needed to know this.

“Dolk,” Astrid called out to her right-hand man while abruptly standing up. “Follow me, now.” Her voice was cold and stern as she walked away from the camp.

Dolk followed after her, lagging behind a little either to give Astrid space or because he was intimidated by her current behavior. Either way, that didn’t stop the dark elf captain from continuing her objective.

The pair walked a little further out of the camp so the other members couldn’t hear them before stopping. Astrid didn’t even turn around to look at Dolk, keeping her back facing him.

“Astrid, listen…” Dolk began but was cut off in an instant.

“You have two choices, Dolk,” She stated coldly, not an ounce of warmth present in her voice. “You can either continue to follow us so we can go back home and protect our Tribe and fulfill our responsibilities as Legions…or you can leave the group.”

Hearing this, Dolk stammered, trying to speak up in a panic. “W-wait, where is this coming from?! W-why are you trying to kick me out?!”

Even though Dolk was bewildered by Astrid’s sudden ultimatum, she didn’t let this deter her and continued with her declaration.

“Our main mission here is to return home as soon as possible. And what you are doing is the opposite of that.”

Dolk walked a little closer to Astrid, his voice becoming less calm by the minute. “L-look, I understand that what I said didn’t align with your goals, but that shouldn’t make you suddenly pick these kinds of options.”

“I’m resorting to this because I cannot allow you to dissuade me on this. All of this started when you mentioned my brother and how the system will provide him the opportunity to become Tribal Chief. After that, you suddenly start talking about staying here for an entire month, when you know for a fact that Kollr will do everything in his power to use the system to his advantage and take over the tribe. Doesn’t that sound a little off to you?”

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Astrid always found it strange how Dolk mentioned Kollr before and warned her about the system giving her brother the necessary power to become stronger than her, thus taking the title of Tribal Chief for himself, only to urge her to waste her time in this dungeon for the next thirty days.

At first, she believed that his goals were mixed up, but that didn’t seem to be the case. Then Astrid had a thought. What if Dolk only mentioned this to discourage her from returning home? But why would he do that? Why would he risk the future of the tribe by keeping Astrid from stopping Kollr?

With these kinds of thoughts plaguing her, the captain decided that she needed to get to the bottom of this. No matter how long it took to get the truth out of Dolk.

“Tell me, Dolk,” She stated, slowly turning around to face her supposed friend. “What is it that you aren’t telling me?”

Astrid’s eyes glowered at Dolk, keeping firm visual contact with him. She could see his face tensing up from where she stood. Guilt and Fear stricken across it. She knew that Dolk was hiding something from her. Something very secretive and important was buried deep within, and this captain was determined to dig it up completely.

“A-Astrid…”

“If the next words that come out your mouth aren’t what I want to hear, then I’ll simply skip the Ultimatum and kick you out altogether,” She said coldly. “So, unless you want to test me, I suggest you start talking. Now."

Instead of running his mouth like she wanted him to, Dolk surprisingly remained silent. His lips closed tightly while he desperately refrained from talking. Astrid was quite bewildered by his behavior, but it was going to take more than just that then to keep her from pursuing this.

“Did my brother put you up to this? Did he say something to you along the lines of ‘try to discourage my sister and you’ll be rewarded’?”

Knowing that Dolk and Kollr were still friends, Astrid couldn’t help but ask such a question, no matter how much she felt disgusted by the idea.

Dolk raised his head in a flash, his eyes stricken with fear. “N-no, that isn’t it!”

“Then what is it? I can tell that my brother’s involve somehow. He’s the only reason why you would do something like this.”

“T-that isn’t true…!”

He was lying…

Astrid knew this thanks to his facial expressions and body language. She could tell that her previous statement regarding her brother was spot-on, but there seemed to be something else going on. But what?

“If it wasn’t a reward that my brother offered then what was it? Did he threaten you? Is he blackmailing you with some kind of secret?”

If Kollr was using one of her own men against her through blackmail, then that would explain his behavior. And if that were the case, then she would do everything in her power to make him pay for doing this to Dolk. However, her instincts were urging her to push more. She seemed close to the truth, but not quite there yet.

“Is he truly blackmailing you, Dolk?” Astrid urged, walking a little closer to her right hand Dark Elf, her face filled with concern with a side of caution.

Dolk nervously looked away, as if ashamed of making eye contact with her. “H-he isn’t threatening me…”

“Then what is it? Just tell me what’s happening and I’ll do whatever I can to help you!”

“A-Astrid…”

“Tell me!”

“He threatened to kill you, alright?!” Unable to remain silent, Dolk simply blurted out his confession through a massive outburst, shouting so loud that it echoed through the forest.

Astrid paused and stood there, dumbfounded by what she just heard. “What?”

“Kollr threatened to kill you, okay?!” He waved his arms around in frustration. “H-he told me a couple of days before the system appeared that if I didn’t try and prevent you from becoming Tribal Chief, he would take matters into his own hands and do it himself. By any means necessary.

“Your brother is getting desperate Astrid. To the point where he was convinced that the only way that he could take the title from you was by wiping you out of the competition altogether. A-at first, I didn’t believe him but then I started to think that he could’ve been telling the truth. He wasn’t the same harmless sibling or friend we once knew. H-he’s become spiteful and greedy, and he was prepared to do anything he could to become Tribal Chief, even if it meant killing one of his siblings.”

Astrid couldn’t find the words to express how she was feeling. She was deeply disturbed by Kollr’s drastic action in pursuit of his goal of becoming Tribal Chief. Even if he didn’t like her, resorting to killing your sister to take the title of Chief seemed way too absurd.

Or maybe it wasn’t, and Astrid was simply deluding herself, believing that although Kollr and her had their differences, they still viewed each other as siblings. When in reality, he no longer considered her family. All that mattered to him; all that he cared about, was to simply become Chief and have the power he needed to do whatever he wanted.

Whether that meant using blackmail or killing the competition.

Astrid clenched her hands into fists, her nails digging into her palm until she bled. This was beyond what she expected to hear from Dolk. She simply thought that Kollr threatened him in some way, but to declare that he would kill his sister just to become Chief? Her brother had hit a new low, even by his standards.

Astrid glanced at Dolk, noticing how frightened and worried he looked. Frightened about the possibility of Kollr telling the truth about killing her, and worried that this situation would further strain their situation.

Seeing this, the dark elf captain unclenched her fists, her palms now smeared with red as it dripped on the ground.

“Thank you for telling me, Dolk,” Astrid said softly. “But you should know that even if Kollr threatened to kill me for the title of Tribal Chief, this gives me an even stronger reason to prevent him from achieving this. Someone like Kollr with such a ruthless mentality to kill his own family should not have the fate of the Tribe’s future in his hand.”

Learning the truth regarding Kollr had now strengthened Astrid’s resolve to become Tribal Chief. More than anything, this only further urged her to continue with her current objective, and that was leaving this Dungeon as soon as possible.

“Astrid,” Dolk whimpered her name, his voice trembling. “I’m begging you…don’t do this.”

He reached out and grasped her hands, holding them tightly, her blood now staining his.

“Kollr is dead serious about killing you for the title. He won’t stop until he achieves his goal, which means he will come after you.”

“I know…,” Her eyes lowered hesitantly before she raised her head to look at Dolk firmly, pupils filled with determination. “But that isn’t going to stop me. Like I said before, Kollr cannot have the Tribe under his command. It will only lead our home and people to ruin.”

“Astrid, please,” Dolk urged, gripping her hands. “Just think about this for one second.”

“I have thought about it,” She said immediately, slowly pulling her hands away from Dolk’s. “And I already made up my mind.”

With their confrontation over, Astrid walked passed Dolk without turning back, returning to the campsite. After walking a couple of steps, she stopped and said this to him: “I understand that you’re afraid, but you have to trust me. I won’t let Kollr have his way. Now, you can believe my word and follow me. Or…you can simply leave. The choice is yours.”

In the end, she still gave Dolk the ultimatum, but not as she initially intended when confronting the dark elf rogue. Without waiting for a reply, Astrid continued walking back to the camp, not even taking a single glance back at him.

Leaving Dolk by himself, the Dark Elf Rogue stood there with his head lowered. He clenched his hands much similar to Astrid, even to the point where his nails dug into his palm, causing him to bleed.

Even then he didn’t stop. His jaw was tightly clenched as a wave of emotions overwhelmed him. Anger, fear, frustration, confusion; they were all boiling inside of Dolk’s being, threatening to burst at a moment’s notice.

Just then, Dolk took a deep breath, calming his nerves while his raging emotions slowly faded away. Leaving only one important feeling instead; Resolution.

“You don’t know what he’s capable of, Astrid,” He muttered to himself, his eyes darkening. “What he has planned. The deal he made with…them. Our home is already gone.” He clenched his hands as his expression turned eerily grim. “And I can’t let you see something like that.”

Dolk raised his head to gaze up at the stars in the void of space. It was then that he realized that he was shown an ultimatum of his own. His expression became neutral as he finally realized what needed to be done, so he could protect the only person who mattered to him.

Even if it meant going against her will to return home.