Alarmed

"Brother!" Nimel's expression changed drastically, and she instinctively tried to play a card.

But Teresa did not even look. She sidestepped and thrust out her sword.

Squelch!

The warrior stared at the greatsword piercing his neck and opened his mouth.

As for Teresa?

The warrior's sword was lodged in her left shoulder. It had already cut through her armor, and blood seeped from her shoulder.

Teresa ignored the warrior she had killed, pulled back her sword, and continued fighting.

The priests hurriedly cast healing spells on Teresa, but her bones had been injured by that strike. Priests of such a low rank could not heal her; she would need to leave this place to fully recover.

"Wait, maybe he just did it by accident!" Seeing this, one of the warrior's classmates felt that Teresa had killed him too rashly. She could clearly have deflected that sword, which would only have injured Caroso a little, rather than having Teresa risk serious injury to kill someone.

"Children, this is a battlefield, not a school." Teresa turned back and gave him a cold look. "If something like that can be forgiven, then when someone accidentally misses and hits you later, I will not intervene either."

"I told him he could entrust his back to me. Even if I die, I will not let even the slightest harm come to his back!"

Feeling several ill-intentioned gazes around him, the classmate shrank back.

Caroso did not look back and continued fighting the cultists.

Teresa acted as though nothing had happened and returned to Caroso's side. The two resumed their seamless cooperation, clearing out the cultists.

Those who had wanted to make a move against Caroso now began to hesitate.

The moment they acted, Teresa or her subordinates would kill them!

Seeing Teresa like this, the people from the other two nations became even more spirited, more united, and more trusting of the young woman.

[Holy shit, what kind of coordination is this?]

[As expected of Sister Lei. If she says you can entrust your back to her, then you can.]

[Sister Lei is mighty and domineering!]

[Waaaah, Sister Lei protecting Baby Caro looks so beautiful.]

[What is going on? I suddenly want to ship another CP.]

Ten minutes later, the battle finally ended.

Caroso planted his sword in the ground, still maintaining the lowest possible mana output.

Other things could be used up, but this sword had to be maintained at all times. It was Caroso's greatest reliance.

"Why did you come out from there?" Seeing Caroso resting, Teresa walked over to him and casually tossed him a blue potion.

"This is a mana recovery potion?" Caroso froze. "I remember this kind of thing can't be brought in."

"It can't. I found it here. Dare to drink it?" Teresa said casually.

"You can't drink things from here carelessly." Caroso casually tossed the bottle back.

Teresa caught it and smiled. "Fine, then don't drink it. Help him recover some mana instead."

Two priests stepped forward, each throwing out a card.

[Name: Mana Regeneration]

[Category: Spell]

[Star Level: 2]

[Grade: Blue Rare]

[Class Restriction: Priest]

[Description: Restores a small amount of mana. If you are not stupid, you should know who to use it on to maximize its effect.]

Caroso felt a large amount of mana return to him and could not help but sigh in relief.

Two cards appeared in his hand: Hand of Greed.

The two cards vanished, and four more cards appeared in Caroso's hand. One was Silence is Golden, while two were Frenzy.

"Why are you using mana again?" Teresa said helplessly. "Another priest."

Another priest stepped forward and restored some of Caroso's mana.

"All right, that's enough." Caroso got to his feet.

"Now can you tell us what you experienced down there?" Teresa asked, her eyes blazing.

Nimel was curious as well. She had only just made contact with Caroso before the cultists interrupted them, so she could only proceed according to the usual strategy.

In the previously empty room, she had been the first to wake up, then she rescued several companions.

After fighting her way out of the room, she encountered Teresa, who had arrived with a team, and they temporarily joined forces.

"At the very beginning, I directly defeated that cultist, changed into his clothes, and infiltrated them," Caroso said.

"You dared to make a move right from the start? You've got guts!" Teresa looked astonished. "Weren't you afraid something would go wrong?"

"Mm." Caroso did not mention the card-guessing game.

"I know quite a few people who acted at the very beginning, but they all died." Teresa said calmly, "You're the only one who survived."

"Because I'm strong." Caroso was not modest.

"Ha, true enough. You have the strength for it!" Teresa patted Caroso on the shoulder. "You're no worse than me."

"What happened after that?"

"After that, I found a diary..."

Very quickly, Caroso shared the information he had encountered below. He did not go into every detail, only the important points—especially that the Underworld Flower was alive, could control poison men, and excelled at mental attacks.

Conquering a dungeon, especially a large one like this, depended on numbers. At the third tier, the gap between individuals was not yet overwhelmingly obvious, and individual heroism was heavily limited.

"Mm, so this Underworld Flower is the key?" Teresa rubbed her chin. "Is the master of this dungeon the Underworld Flower, or that dean?"

"You'll have to judge that for yourself. I'm going to find the Underworld Flower," Caroso said. "For now, it seems the Underworld Flower is an additional route. Whether it is good or bad, we will only know after seeing it."

"You mean you're splitting up with me?" Teresa looked surprised. "Come to think of it, your surname is Kolia. You are..."

"My father is Osiris Kolia."

"Then you should know the importance of teamwork, shouldn't you?" Teresa frowned.

"You should also know that me being in your team may not be a good thing." Caroso said seriously, "Someone wants to make a move against me in this dungeon. If they attack me, they may disrupt your formation."

"Without me, if you simply lead them, your combat strength will be greater."

"I can keep them under control." Teresa gave a dashing smile. "The people I lead are all soldiers. They obey orders absolutely, and when they strike, they show no mercy!"

Ordinary academy students found it difficult to kill people, even if they could freely kill those cultists in this dungeon. In their eyes, the ones they killed were merely monsters.

Even if their opponents were human, they were humanoid monsters.

Killing someone familiar and killing a monster carried entirely different psychological burdens.

But Teresa's people could kill without hesitation.

"Mm, I know," Caroso said. "If trouble can be avoided, it should be avoided."

"But..."

[Dammit, do you have any idea what you've done?!]

At that moment, words appeared before everyone's eyes.

They were familiar with these words. They were the same ones they had seen when they first entered.

[Someone among you has discovered something extraordinary and has alarmed the master of this laboratory!]

[He had intended to slowly play games with you, but you violated the rules of the game he set!]

[You could have left no survivors, found him before he realized how strong you were, and stopped him.]

[But now, things are different!]

[He knows everything. You will face the true power of this laboratory!]

The corpses of those gray-robed and black-robed people gradually sank into the ground, leaving behind only their clothes, just like what Caroso had seen in the illusion!