Carl frowned.

"Relax, man. Take a proper rest — you just escaped the brink of death. Don't waste all my effort saving you."

Ramos was finally able to see everything clearly. His expression grew a bit bewildered when he realized his savior was Carl.

He nodded and rested for a moment. Then he looked up, his voice filled with gratitude.

"I'm honored to meet you, Lord Carl and Lady Wynne… my saviors."

Carl clicked his tongue, annoyed.

"Drop the formality. Get to the point — or did you already forget what you said before?"

Ramos snapped back to his senses, his face turning serious as he knelt on the ground, speaking urgently:

"I beg you… please, save my prince."

However, from Ramos's voice, Carl could feel hesitation — as if even he didn't have much hope left in the ones saving him.

Carl rubbed his chin.

"Tell me everything."

Ramos quickly explained what his group had gone through since they set foot in this land.

At first, they had thought this place was just a regular monster lair like any ordinary dungeon. Carl could understand that. But unfortunately for all the students, this dungeon was far beyond what they could handle — death could come at any moment. Especially if they approached the monster's lair without preparation or proper caution… death would catch up to them very soon.

In this case, the prince's group seemed to have rushed straight into the monster's lair without even thinking about the consequences.

From what he heard, Ramos was clearly hiding something — that explained why parts of his story didn't make sense. Damn, was that really the attitude he should show to the guy who saved his life?

Fine. Carl would deal with that later, but he hoped this bastard wouldn't hold any resentment afterward.

Overall, Prince's group had encountered a bunch of goblins… but not the ordinary kind. These goblins were freakishly strong and well-organized — almost like a raw military force with multiple units. Not something a group of students should ever face.

Makes sense.

Charging straight into the monsters' nest like that… It was hard to believe they were still alive. Honestly, they might already be dead somewhere near the mountain.

"Alright, I get the full picture." Carl nodded, glancing over at Wynne. Yet she only responded with a seductive smile.

Carl's lips twitched in irritation. He had hoped she'd share some opinion, but it seemed she would simply follow his decision without a second thought — like his right hand in this moment.

Carl let out a deep breath and stared coldly at Ramos.

"Okay, we'll save the prince — but on one condition. It's a trade."

The first time, Ramous's face creased with anger after hearing that.

"W-What?... Are you serious? Lord Carl?"

Carl shook his head and clicked his tongue as he looked at Ramous's irritated face. He was finally showing his true face.

Carl knew this guy only kept up little politeness because Carl had saved him — the real reason was Wynne's presence; only she could save princes.

To him, Carl was nothing but trash and Carl couldn't help him save the princes.

Carl shrugged his shoulders lightly.

"Are you deaf? I said: "make a deal or nothing, then."

Ramous gritted his teeth in annoyance, but in this situation he could do nothing, especially after just recovering a bit. He turned his eyes toward Wynne, hoping she might say something, but she just looked at him with cold eyes, showing her thought like Carl.

A few seconds later, Ramos finally spoke up. Yet, it was hard to hide his murderous intention toward Carl.

"What do you want?"

Carl smiled.

"I know you've hidden some important detail in your tale. Despite the fact that I don't know what it is — I want to hear it."

Ramous grimaced and said, "Are you crazy? What the hell do you mean? All I told you is true."

Carl waved a hand and smiled.

"Nah, nah. I don't care if your tale is true or false. I'm just announcing it to you first and giving you a single chance?"

A tinge of menace appeared in his eyes.

"One more thing — I really, really hate someone who cowardly bites me from behind."

Instantly, Carl moved his fingers, making a complex motion at a rapid speed. At the same time, a deafening scream rang out.

Ramous writhed on the ground, clutching his right stumped arm while the severed hand still tightly gripped the knife. He then looked at Carl with unbelievable and horrified eyes due to the fact that all he heard from rumor seemed wrong.

Carl sighed as gazing at Ramos, That bastard had intended to sneak-attack him from the start.

"Why does everyone always hate me?" Carl smiled and asked Wynne. "Can you extract his information?"

Wynne nodded quietly.

"That's what I mean too. And one more thing—your skill is really impressive~~."

Carl shook his head.

"You flatter me."

She giggled, hiding her smile behind her hand, then turned to Ramos and began using her power on him.

Watching her, Carl pressed his fingers against his forehead in upset.

Honestly, he had no idea what her real purpose was since the moment she decided to follow him into this dungeon. He suspected she must have pulled some strings with the academy's manager just to join his team in the first place.

Even if she truly was his former fiancée, he didn't know a damn thing about her. She was strong — way stronger than him. So why did she cling to trash like him? And everything she said before… about loving him… was that real? Or was she just interested in his sudden change in the academy?

He had no clue… She was like an old fox — Carl couldn't read a single thought from that expression on her face.

Still… deep down, he could tell she didn't have any bad intentions toward him.

"Maybe she'll get bored of me in the future, like any other teenager. They're all the same — they like new toys and throw them away once they're bored. And me? I'll just ignore her."

After many minutes, both of them finally got what they wanted from the start. It turned out Ramos had been hiding something really, really important. The prince's group had stolen a key from the monster's lair — a key to open the hidden boss of the dungeon.

And even worse, that hidden boss was actually the final boss of the dungeon, which meant this place had an extremely high difficulty level, not like normal dungeons.

But the harder the challenge, the greater the reward.

If they helped the prince in time, there was a chance Carl could get the key. But once the prince's group died, he assumed the key would just reset to its original spot back in the lair.

That was bad news. Just Carl and Wynne alone… they couldn't pull off a miracle like sneaking into a mountain and stealing a key, unlike the prince's party.

Should Carl help them?… He doubted the prince would just hand him the key even if Carl saved his life.

"I need more info. We have no idea what kind of hidden boss this is, so it's not crucial yet who's holding the key."

Wynne nodded.

"Yep, we should help them, but it's not going to be easy… From what he said about the monsters, there might even be commander-class goblins. I can hold them back if they won't have any military backup from behind."

"Not only that. Even if our plan works, then what? After the prince's group breaks through the encirclement, we'll be the next prey."

Carl nodded, agreeing with Wynne's point. Neither of them wanted to risk their lives for the prince's party. But if they let this chance slip, they might never be able to clear this dungeon.

Right now, Carl had two options:

First — save only the prince, the one holding the key, and abandon the others. With the Invisibility Cloak, he could get himself, prince and Wynne out together.

It wasn't a bad choice. They could force the prince to hand over the key afterward.

But Carl hesitated.

Second — the hidden boss might be the strongest monster here, and he definitely had an army backing him. In a normal dungeon, Carl would instantly choose the first option. But now… letting students die for nothing feels wasteful. They might be a backup for killing the hidden boss after that.

Damn it. All of this was because he didn't have enough information about the hidden boss.

He didn't want to save the prince and get nothing after risking his life.

"Whatever happens…"

Carl turned to Wynne.

"Listen to my plan first."

After ten minutes of discussion, Carl devoured Ramos's dragon soul without letting Wynne realize his intention. And then, Carl and Wynne rushed toward the northern side of the forest, where the prince was surrounded by monsters.

They had decided to save the prince — and depending on what happened next, they would make their next move.

Soon, both of them had already approached the location where the prince's group was breaking through the encirclement.

Carl nodded, gesturing to Wynne, and then they split up, following the plan they made earlier.

Wynne would handle the commander. Meanwhile, Carl would deal with the rest of the goblins.

Carl swiftly formed wings behind him and leaned forward, dashing ahead while scanning the monsters blocking the path.

"Damn. If I survive this mess, I swear I'm taking something from that prince for risking my life like this."

Ramos' information wasn't wrong — just lacking. The monsters were far more numerous than Carl expected.

He could see dozens of steel-armed goblins perched on the tall tree branches, leaping from one to another like the trees were their playground. They relentlessly fired arrows at the students, who were escaping in pure panic and fear.

It was bad. Really bad. How did they even manage to survive in a situation like this, especially with their morale shattered?

Carl glanced to his right — another group was clashing with those goblin swordsmen.

Huh? They split their forces to engage the fighters while the core students fled like cowards? He didn't get it. But either way, their strategy was stupid and pointless.

If he were the commander, he'd come up with a better plan to break through the encirclement. Or at the very least, he wouldn't choose such a suicidal tactic.

"Stupid."

Carl scanned the archer goblins. Yeah, they would be his next targets. Taking down the ranger first was always the better choice.

He flew up through the forest canopy and activated his [Flame Breath] skill, blasting the archer goblins from behind.

The blazing roar surged forward, aiming straight at them. However, the monsters noticed the sneak attack and quickly dodged, leaping to other branches.

What monsters. They were totally different from those dumb goblins he had fought before.

"As expected." Carl smirked, watching them from below the trees. Well, that first strike was just bait anyway.

With a quick series of hand motions, Carl yanked his mana threads down hard. A sharp, deadly web formed midair and swept across the branches, knocking several goblins off the trees.

Seeing some archer goblins falling, Carl clicked his tongue in disappointment. He originally hoped the threads would slice them clean in half — but even reinforcing them with a dozen more strands wouldn't be enough to cut through their flesh.

Still, he had successfully disrupted their one-sided hunt on the students.

He blinked out of sight, activating his invisibility cloak again, lurking around the nearby trees. And from time to time, he would reappear and launch sneak attacks. It was working — he not only killed a few more archers, but also kept messing up their assault.

[System]: You have slain a Goblin Acher.

You have received 10x Monster Card

…

[System]: You have slain a Goblin Acher.

You have received 10x Monster Card

…

[System]: You have slain a Goblin Acher.

You have received 10x Monster Card

"Well, they're smarter than I expected." Carl looked around, assessing the remaining goblin archers. They finally realized their situation — not seeing the enemy was a serious problem. If they kept firing at students blindly, the result would show up soon enough.

The goblin archers eventually gave up on chasing their prey. But that didn't mean things were over. They'd definitely go back to support the swordsman goblins — and if that happened, those students were doomed.

Carl rushed in another direction. Next, he'd back up the students who were still holding out against the swordsman goblins' crushing advance.

One minute later.

Carl stood on a thick tree branch, scanning the bloody battlefield below. He searched for the group's leader before taking his next action.

The goblin horde surged across the field, completely overwhelming the students. Meanwhile, the students were wasting their mana, throwing out flame breath for nothing. Well… not totally nothing. From what Carl saw, their flame breaths were only buying time for the one person standing in the center of their formation. He was probably activating some kind of skill or artifact.

"But, that might be their last move…"

Carl frowned as his eyes locked onto the swordsman goblin standing coldly behind its subordinates.

Just from its expression and the way its body signaled commands, Carl knew exactly what it was planning.

"This is bad."

Just a blink of eyes, the swordsman goblins threw a dozen of makeshift liquor flasks into the student's

Then.

Boom!

An explosion happened, not only that, the smoke of poison spread through the battlefield. Countless yells echoed loudly. Even some students left the formation to fly up, but that unlucky guy quickly was stabbed by a spear from nowhere, spinning him on the ground.

Carl grimaced and without thinking and flew up, directing to the swordsman goblin who looked like the leader of a bunch of goblins.

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