The main hall had a pretty spacious design, much bigger than the first one he had explored earlier.

It was also pretty empty.

While the first hall had a strange treasure chest sitting in the middle of it, this one contained a stunningly beautiful woman who was chained firmly to the ground.

The bound woman seemed to be asleep, her eyes closed peacefully. Long strands of silver hair spread across the floor beneath her, shimmering faintly under the light within the hall.

She had the most beautiful face he had ever seen. Her shape was also divine, comparable to Crimson Sterling, who was seductively curvaceous in every sense.

A thin silk robe was draped loosely over her body, revealing everything in a way that made it difficult for even the most righteous man to resist being tempted by her.

Marlon was no different. He felt his libido surge the moment his eyes lingered on her body.

As he was still examining the woman, her eyelashes suddenly fluttered.

Her eyes opened gracefully, and she slowly turned her head toward him, meeting his gaze with her beautiful and delicate eyes.

Her mouth shivered as she muttered the words, "Help me," in a fearful yet beautiful tone.

Marlon could sense the dread in her voice, and for a split second, a heroic instinct kicked in inside him, urging him to go help her immediately.

Fortunately, he stopped himself in time as his mind processed the situation more clearly.

He turned to meet the eyes of the woman, which still held the same expression, only this time it appeared even more convincing than before.

He rethought everything.

First of all, what would a human be doing in a place like this?

Second, why was she bound, and why was she dressed in such a sexy manner that felt out of place?

With those questions and many other minor considerations in mind, it was clearly a trap, most likely a shape-shifting monster.

He even used his inspection skill on her, and the result came back with the following.

[

"The first time, you tricked us with a treasure chest, and this time with a sexy woman in need," Marlon said with a chuckle.

But Marlon was absolute about his speculation and continued speaking.

"I can already think about the plan in your mind when taking this form. The first would be to cause conflict among the hunters who would step in, so they could fight over who would free the 'sexy bound woman,' and the second would be to lure anyone closer and kill them immediately, just like with the chest."

Saying this, he signaled one of his clones, the one standing behind her, to enter stealth mode and quietly approach her.

At the same time, he took a step forward, making sure to keep her gaze locked firmly onto him.

Since he was the owner of the clones, he could see through the one using stealth, and at that moment, it had already closed the distance and lifted its fist into the air.

With Marlon's signal, it used Divine Punch and struck the woman.

Her eyes widened as the unexpected attack connected. The fist went through her body and came out of her chest, the blood quickly staining her clothes and splattering on the ground, forming a pool beneath her.

Opposite of what he expected, the look on her face was that of genuine pain and shock.

Her body collapsed, her eyes still open, staring at the ceiling as they slowly lost their light.

[ You've killed x1 human ]

There were no experience points gained, and the name…

"She was human?"

Marlon was shocked beyond belief.

How was she a human? How did a human get into a portal like this?

Those questions immediately appeared in his mind.

Unlike him, who began processing the entire scenario, his clones simply stood there and stared at him in silence.

But for a split second, Marlon thought he sensed resentment coming from them, causing him to frown slightly.

Before he could try to examine his clones further, the entire cave suddenly warped into dark mist, and in the next second, everything returned to how it was a few minutes ago.

He was standing at the entrance, and his clones had maintained the exact positions he had ordered them to earlier.

And the woman, she was still alive, asleep just as she was when they had first entered.

Sensing his presence, her eyes opened once more, beautiful but filled with dread, and with the same innocently seductive voice, she called out for help again.

This time, Marlon simply stood where he was.

He was not seduced like before. Instead, he was deeply confused.

What was this cave trying to do?

He could already tell that everything seemed to be some sort of hallucination.

If it was, then who was using such power?

"You… free her."

He commanded calmly, his voice steady.

His clones strolled toward her.

She seemed relieved, believing that she was finally going to be free.

Marlon watched silently as the clone reached her and squatted down in front of her.

Then suddenly, the clone clenched its fist and created a gaping hole in the chest of the woman.

Her eyes widened, filled with confusion, betrayal, and fear of death etched clearly on her pretty face as it gradually lost all color.

"What the heck."

He was confused this time.

His clone had disobeyed his order.

How was that even possible?

The clone that had just killed the helpless woman stood up and turned to look directly at Marlon.

Marlon met its gaze, and the clone suddenly displayed a cold grin like a psychopath.

Marlon felt threatened at that moment.

It reminded him strongly of his divine trial when he had been killed by a zombified doppelganger.

His instincts kicked in, and he clenched his fist, ready to slay his own clone if it attacked him.

But as he was preparing himself, the same warp happened again. Everything twisted into dark mist, and seconds later, the scene repeated itself.

The woman was still alive. She was now staring at him and pleading to be freed once more.

"My clones…"

Marlon momentarily ignored her and turned to observe his clones carefully.

This time, they were all looking at him with an empty but intelligent look, the same look he was used to seeing from them.

There was no negative aura radiating from them at all.

And this time, he ordered all of them to save the woman at once.

He kept his eyes peeled on their movements, his body tensed and ready to act should he sense anything odd.

The clones approached the woman. One lifted his fist and broke the thick chains with a simple punch, freeing her.

But just as that was happening, another one clenched its fist and sent a punch flying toward her heart.

Marlon's eyes sparked, and without a single hesitation, he blasted forward, arriving right on time.

He wrapped his fist with divine energy, using Divine Punch to slay his own clone.

The clone was unafraid of death and did not feel pain, so its eyes simply shut as it dispersed into light and vanished completely.

"Thank you…"

The woman who had just been freed thanked him sincerely.

"No pro—"

He smiled as he replied, when the same phenomenon took place and the scene reversed again.

"What the heck."

He was genuinely annoyed now and turned to observe his clones once more.

This time, he noticed that one was missing.

There had been five before. Now there were only four, and there was no single trace of the first one.

"This annoying loop. Just what sort of boss am I going to face that requires such a tremendous challenge to unlock?"

He muttered aloud, frustration clear in his voice.

And then, in a bid to hasten everything and find the boss, he sent his clones to free her together again.

And as he expected, one suddenly attacked, and he acted immediately, killing it.

The scene reversed once more, and now there were only three clones left, with no hint of the other two.

At this point, he was extremely grateful that he did not bring the others along with him.

If he had done that, then he would probably have been forced to kill them as well.

Although he did not expect such a scenario, it seemed his decision had unknowingly been life-saving.

Since his clones were disposable, he did not have a problem killing them one by one.

Several loops later…

All of his clones were gone.

He was now standing alone in the cave with the woman.

"Do not worry. I will free you."

He flashed her a reassuring smile and moved in to help her.

He broke the chains.

Immediately after he did that, the woman who had been bound for God knows how long stood up abruptly and hugged him tightly, weeping profusely.

"Thank you for freeing me."

She cried out emotionally.

Marlon hugged her back, but he remained extremely vigilant, watching her every movement closely.

He let her cry for as long as she wanted, and when she finally settled down, he asked her the needed questions, and she slowly opened up.

She explained how she had been sleeping in her room, and then all of a sudden, a portal opened up and swallowed her whole.

She could not recount the moments after that, only that she found herself bound with chains when she finally woke up.

Hearing her story, Marlon's confusion surged even further.

...

Happy new year everyone

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.