"What the hell?" Aster watched Ash play with a coin with astonished eyes.

"Wha- How-" The man beside Aster just lay on the floor, watching Ash with scared and confused eyes. 'Did I just offend a monster?'

"Here." Ash reluctantly flipped the coin one last time before throwing it at Aster.

"Oh." Aster caught the coin, still confused about the situation. "What happened?"

"That coin is pretty fun. What's its name?" Ash chuckled.

"Gold Pile," Aster replied. "Now answer, what happened?"

"The coin measures luck and misfortune. If you flip the coin and get a lucky guess, it will pile up that luck. Basically, you can multiply your luck the more lucky you get by using the coin." Ash started explaining.

"But there's a catch. The luckier you were, the more misfortune you will suffer afterward." He laughed. "Fun, no?"

"So you had the luck of five flips. Alright, but how did you defeat that tarantula?" Aster asked.

"Actually, it's not luck that you get after flipping the coin," Ash said with a grin.

"It's whatever you wish for."

As Ash said those words, the man beside Aster narrowed his eyes.

"By the way, let's deal with this guy first. He seems like trouble." Ash pointed at the man beside Aster. "Your name is Dragas, right?"

Dragas didn't answer. He only glared at Ash.

"I see. Uncooperative." Ash maintained his grin. "Aster, got any suggestions about him?"

"Yes." Aster looked at Dragas. "He seemed awfully ready to prove his capabilities this morning, so how about we fulfill his wish?"

"Sounds fun. I like it." Ash said. "How will we do that, though?"

"Simple." Aster grinned as well. "Let him lead the way to the boss arena."

"Good idea." Ash showed him a thumbs up.

"Huh?" Dragas looked at the duo as if he were looking at madmans.

Which, in a way, he was.

"I am just a normal survivor! You can't expect me to lead the way for explorers!" Dragas shouted.

"Oh, but we can," Aster said with a smile. "What are you even doing here? You have a lot to explain."

Dragas showed fear when he heard Aster's words. "Alright, I'll lead the way, just... I'll lead the way."

"He doesn't want to tell us what happened. It's someone really scary." Ash whispered in Aster's ears.

"Yeah." Aster nodded.

"Dragas, let's make a deal." Aster seriously said. "You spill the beans, and not only will Asher and I let you leave, we will even protect you from that person."

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"What person?" Dragas acted, but Ash and Aster weren't buying it.

"We know that there's a traitor among us, Dragas." Ash chuckled. "We also know that there's no way a normal survivor could have ventured so far into the temple without any injuries."

"I-" Dragas showed a hesitant expression, but after another round of urging, he spilled the beans.

"It's Boar, Nyle, and Cecil." He said. "The three of them decided to go to the first boss's arena and check what happened."

"Without us?" Aster narrowed his eyes. "Do they suspect us?"

"I don't know." Dragas shook his head.

"Alright." Aster nodded.

Then, he suddenly dashed and kicked Dragas in the stomach.

Cough.

Dragas coughed saliva, holding his stomach and glaring at Aster. "I told you everything I know! You promised you would let me go!"

"Yes." Aster nodded. "I never said I'll let you go scot-free, though."

"Damn you." Dragas cursed, but he couldn't do anything. Aster beat him up, venting his frustrations.

The last few days in the temple were really frustrating.

The traitor, the urgency, the dark side of the humans inside it, and the boss fight.

All that, plus the corrupting power of the temple, served to make Aster really frustrated.

And this beating had allowed him to vent them.

At least to some point.

After beating him up, Aster shooed Dragas away. "We just went through the leftmost path, so it shouldn't be as dangerous. Go back."

Afterward, Aster and Ash decided to speed up and reach the boss arena faster.

It didn't take them long to reach the huge hole that led to the boss's arena.

"Do we jump?" Ash asked as he eyed the darkness inside the hole.

"We don't." Aster looked at the hole with a weird gaze. "Let's proceed downward slowly."

"Alright." Ash nodded.

Aster didn't want to take any risks. Who knew if the traitor had set up a trap for them. Because of that, he wanted to slowly descend.

And his decision had proven to be the right one.

After arduous minutes of descending, Aster and Ash didn't feel any water. All they saw was a hole that led even deeper.

'This feels like a hole for an elevator, and the boss arena is one of the floors? Did this world have elevators thousands of years back?' Aster observed his surroundings.

Jumping, he rolled inside the boss's arena. Then, he walked around carefully with his candle.

Ash followed closely behind him. "See anything?"

"Except for a few secret passages, I don't see anything," Aster said. "Not even remains of the boss's corpse."

"No, I sense something." Aster suddenly sensed mana in the distance. It was faint and was getting even fainted, but he could still sense it.

Approaching it, he took a good look at it.

It was Boar's corpse.

"Dammit."

"Oh..."

Aster and Ash looked at the corpse. They couldn't believe it.

Stomping the floor, Aster started raging.

"Calm down. The temple is affecting you again." Ash patted Aster on the shoulder.

"Thanks." Aster nodded, taking deep breaths.

"I'll take a look around it. You go walk around and see if you can sense any more corpses." Ash said to Aster with a small smile.

"Why are you smiling?" Aster narrowed his eyes.

"Ah, sorry." Ash scratched his head. "It's just... when I see something so interesting, I can't help but find this fun. Even if my life is on the line."

Aster felt wary of Ash. Nodding, he decided to keep one eye on Ash while he went around and explored the arena.

It took Aster a few minutes to make sure that nothing was in the arena. Once he returned back, he saw Ash shaking his head.

"He is 100% dead. There are no clues on who the traitor is either." Ash said.

"But I did notice something. It hadn't been long since he died, and since we didn't see the traitor returning, there are only several possibilities."

"The traitor is here." Aster coldly said. "But that's impossible. I made sure to check the arena."

"Well, not impossible, but let's take it as if it is. Then, the second possibility would be the traitor going inside one of the passages." Ash smirked.

"So you want us to explore them?" Aster asked.

"Yes. Either we take the risk now, or we risk the traitor dealing with us later." Ash answered.

Aster sighed. "It is what it is."

"Which passageway do you want to go?"

There were four exits out of the boss arena.

One hole upwards led to the survivor's corridor.

Another hole downwards that previously contained water.

And two tunnels in the arena.

"Let's take the left tunnel." Ash pointed towards the left tunnel.

"Alright, we take the right one." Aster grinned, entering the right tunnel.

"Why?" Ash looked betrayed.

"Remember Gold Pile's side-effect? It's possible that the left tunnel is what your five flips of misfortune are leading you towards." Aster replied.

"Oh, you are a genius." Ash nodded.

As the two of them entered the right tunnel, they embarked on the last real exploration of the temple in a long time.