The battle went on, and with every second that passed, the hope of the party plunged even lower, their chances of survival becoming almost nil and nearly impossible.

Their only line of defence and attack at the moment was the golem Davison had summoned with the very last bit of strength and aether points he possessed, before collapsing onto the ground, gasping as he struggled to catch his breath.

The golem mage tilted his blurred vision toward Clarissa's direction, where she could be seen crying desperately over an unconscious Marlon.

He then shifted his gaze to Emma, who had fainted from extreme exhaustion, her body guarded by a golem. After that, he looked at the triplets, who were also being guarded, yet were in a far worse state, their bodies badly wounded and stained with blood.

Seeing their conditions, Davison slowly shut his eyes and gave up.

Time passed.

He felt the links connecting him to his golems severing one after another, each break clearly indicating that another one had been destroyed.

Soon, only four remained out of the dozens he had summoned.

"It is over."

He reached his conclusion.

Each one of them was going to die.

He had already accepted his fate.

Thus, he braced himself, waiting for the final pain of death to take over his body so that he could finally rest eternally.

It was then—

WHOOSH!

A powerful gust of wind suddenly engulfed him, sending chills straight down his spine. Before he could even determine what had caused such an abrupt change, the entire hall turned eerily silent.

The cries of the monsters ended.

All movements ceased.

Even the links connecting him to his remaining golems vanished completely.

And most of all, he could no longer hear Clarissa's cries.

"Is… this death?"

He wondered, his eyes still tightly shut.

Was death really this painless? Just a gust of wind, and everything was over?

If he had known it would be this way, he would have accepted its embrace much earlier instead of struggling so desperately.

Believing he was dead, he began to wonder where his afterlife was.

So he opened his eyes.

"Huh?"

He was puzzled.

The place around him remained the same. The ancient walls still stood firm, and the faint illuminations from the torches greeted his vision.

"I am still here?"

He muttered in confusion as he slowly lifted his head and scanned his surroundings, suspecting that the afterlife was playing a cruel trick on him.

He took a quick look around, and his eyes widened.

Hundreds of fresh corpses had joined the previous heaps.

Strangely, he did not recall killing them, nor did he remember seeing anyone else do so.

They were the same monsters that had threatened their lives and ultimately overwhelmed them.

And now, all of them were dead, their wounds fresh and unmistakable.

As he continued scanning the area, he spotted Clarissa, her eyes fixed on a certain direction. Following her gaze, he turned his head toward it.

There stood a massive heap of corpses, towering nearly a dozen feet high.

And atop that enormous mound was a lone figure -- one he never expected to see again -- adorned in battered clothes, yet possessing a fresh and sharp presence that sent chills down his spine.

"Marlon!"

Unable to hold back the emotions welling up within him, Davison cried out, a single tear slipping down his cheek.

The others were alerted as well, even Emma, who had been unconscious moments ago.

They all spotted Marlon, and just like Davison, emotions overwhelmed them in ways they could not properly explain.

Even Chike and Ramson, gangsters trained to suppress their emotions, shed tears of relief and joy.

"Boss!"

"Marlon!"

They called his name one after another, their voices loud and filled with reverence, as one would call out to a hero.

But Marlon ignored them completely, distracted by his own discoveries.

He stared down at his feet.

The feather boots were still there.

"But that speed just now…"

He knew it definitely hadn't come from the boots he was wearing.

It was far faster than anything he had witnessed earlier.

As confusion settled in, the notification he had missed before blacking out resurfaced.

[ You've consumed an Index-1 True Core. ]

[ You've obtained the following:

x1 True Memory Fragment

250,000 EXP

250 Agility Points

25 Free Stat Points ]

That explained everything.

The strange memory he witnessed, and the supernatural boost in agility.

Apparently, all of it came from the strange object the system had named a True Core.

"A True Core?"

He repeated the name softly, searching through his memories.

"There has never been a mention of one before."

He had read countless textbooks and even studied various online resources about the loot obtainable from danger-zones and there had never been any mention of such an item.

"Could it be that I am the first person to ever obtain one?"

He wondered.

However, there was no way to confirm it for now. He would have to ask Crimson or Axel Storm after the mission was over.

Speaking of the mission, he closed his system and turned his attention to his surroundings.

Thanks to his A-rank Eclipse Vision, even though the hall was dim due to the massive heaps of corpses partially blocking the light, he could see as clearly as if it were daytime.

He examined the battlefield, then checked on the condition of his comrades.

That was when he noticed Bola was missing.

Looking more carefully, he spotted bones and torn flesh that resembled what had once been a human body.

He let out a deep breath.

Another casualty had occurred while he was unconscious.

"Just how much time passed?"

He climbed down from the heap of corpses, ignoring the many eyes fixed on him as he walked toward Clarissa, who appeared far more worn out than the others.

He could only imagine what she had witnessed to end up in such a fragile state.

He squatted beside her, spoke briefly to ensure she was still alright, then handed her a aether potion.

After that, he checked on the triplets, as well as Davison and Emma.

Their conditions were no better.

He handed each of them healing potions, this time without asking for anything in return.

Once he finished, he drank an aether potion himself to replenish his reserves, then summoned his clones.

He intended to wipe out the remaining waves and clear this danger-zone as quickly as possible.

The questions swirling in his mind demanded answers.

And surely, the ancient hall had no shortage of monsters to provide them.

Wave after wave, Marlon and his clones cleared the challenges with swift and decisive movements.

How much time passed was unknown, but by the end of it, the number of monsters he had slain were in thousands, the massive hall almost almost filled to the brim with corpse.

But the danger-zone was still not over.

He knew it.

And as if confirming his thoughts.

[ Boss arrives in 3600 seconds, prepare ]

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