The cave where Jim and Bloody Corpse fought collapsed now completely.Joker and others had managed to escape in time, but they were worried about Jim because they were certain that Jim was trapped inside, fighting Bloody Corpse on top of that.More than anyone else, Joker was the one who felt most tense, but at the same time, he was also the one who believed the most that Jim would manage to escape alive.After the rocks stopped falling, Joker began to move the rocks one by one. Ace and others began to do the same thing.“Do you think this is the right thing to do?” Electric Assassin voiced his mind. “What if we managed to open a path and then the person that we find isn’t Jim but Bloody Corpse.”Nobody said anything for a while.“If that happens, then we’ll deal with it at that time,” Scarlet Storm said. “We cannot go to the third floor without Jim if we want to survive there.”“What makes you say that?” Ronny asked. “Is there something on the third floor that targets us?”“I heard t
Many hours later.On the third floor of the beast dungeon.“Why didn’t a single soul return?” Binnie was biting his nails in frustration. She sent many scouts, but none of them returned to tell her exactly what was happening on the second floor, or to be precise, in the destroyed lower half of the dungeon. “What were those tremors we felt? Who was fighting after the floor collapsed? Not knowing anything is freaking annoying. Should I just go and check it myself?”Unable to withstand the tension anymore, she rushed to the stairs that led to the lower floors. The stairs were sealed off by a black fog that would confuse anybody that entered it without permission.Binnie uttered a mantra in ancient tongue, and then the fog parted and gave her way. She was stepping forward, but then she felt the presence of many people climbing the stairs.“Are they returning?” she grinned, as there was no need for her to go to the lower floors now.She waited there patiently.A couple of minutes later, a
Binnie surely wasn’t expecting such words from Jim at all. “Y-You want me to take you to White Maiden? Did I hear you correctly?”“You did,” Jim calmly replied. “I don’t want to spend much time on the third floor, so if it’s possible to go to the next floor, then why waste time here?”“Mm…” Binnie paused for a moment. “I don’t know where you’re getting your confidence from, but White Maiden doesn’t meet anyone unless they catch her eye. But if it’s you, I think she’ll definitely meet you since she loves good-looking men like you.”“Eek,” Doug felt creeped out by her words. “S-She sounds dangerous in a very different way.”“She is much more dangerous than you can even imagine,” Binnie said. “Anyway, before I can do you the favor of taking you White Maiden’s place, you must make me laugh first. Only you. Without taking anybody’s help. Can you do it?”“I’ll try,” Jim said and began to think.[Do you want me to help with the joke?] Joe asked him.“No thanks,” Jim was quick to reply to Joe
“Bear… brain… nice,” the giant uttered with difficulty and then grinned at Jim and others. “You… pay… tax… or… perish.” He started licking his lips as if he was ready to beat them to death and then eat their brains. “Choose.”“How about we choose peace without paying taxes?” Ronny quickly said.“You… chose… death.” The giant immediately swung the club down at them. Everybody jumped back at once.The massive club struck the ground and created a small crater. The spikes on the club, however, burst out and traveled like snakes through the air and caught Doug, Ace, Ronny, and Love Bullet and wrapped around their bodies like vines.Scarlet deflated the spike with her short sword. Electric Assassin was agile enough to dodge it. Joker caught it with his hand.Jim, on the other hand, didn’t move an inch. Still, the spike stopped inches away from him.Doug, Ace, Ronny, and Love Bullet were pulled toward the giant. Scarlet cut the ropes that were binding them.In anger, the giant was about to
Fancy Fatty was someone who did anything as long as it entertained him. Everyone knew that he was rich, but nobody really knew where his money was coming from. Even though he was terrible at gambling and betting, he’d still keep pouring more and more money into bettings, and if anyone were to mock him, he’d have them killed in very many mysterious ways.On top of that, he’d even kill the people who made him lose his bets.Naturally, Fancy Fatty was very happy that Jim reached the third floor because he was planning to get all his lost money back from Jim and then decide on what to do with him.However, Fancy Fatty didn’t come to meet Jim directly.Instead, he went to a secret laboratory with the access card he had. There were more than a dozen workers there, constantly monitoring the progress of different villains on the third floor. They all greeted him pleasantly and spoke very respectfully with him.“Show me the profile of Jim the Hero,” Fancy Fatty told them.This wasn’t the first
Jim followed Doug and so he had to leave the others behind.“What the hell, man?” Ronny looked most disappointed. “I can’t believe that Doug was a spy working for some bastard on the third floor!”“You can never really trust anybody anymore,” Love Bullet opined. “I’m glad he revealed his identity this way, or I think something much worse might have happened.”“To me, it looked like he was being controlled,” Joker voiced his mind. “So let’s not jump to conclusions just yet.”“Controlled in what way?” Skarlet asked.“I have a guess, but it’s a scary thought,” Electric Assassin said.“No one’s going to shit their pants, so speak your mind,” Love Bullet stated.“Let’s say that Doug is not a traitor, but still someone was able to control him from a distance. That means, they might also be able to control us,” Electric Assassin said. “Now, this may sound crazy, but what’s the one thing that we all have in common?”“We are all humans?” Ronny said.“No, that’s not what I’m talking about,” El
Jim was following Doug who avoided the crowds and guided Jim to somewhere deeper into the wilderness and further away from other villains residing on the third floor.Jim understood that much.At some point, Doug entered the cave that had stairs going deeper into the earth. This cave was similar to the cave on the second floor.The metal doors came down from the ceiling of the cave and shut the way behind him.But Jim didn’t panic.He kept following Doug calmly.After walking for more than a mile, he eventually reached a giant door guarded by a robotic serpent that had flaming eyes and poison vapors coming from its mouth.Doug turned his head toward Jim and said, “Fight that serpent. I want to see how you do against it.”“Who are you?” Jim asked.“Do what I say, and you’ll meet me soon,” Doug replied. “Don’t worry about destroying that serpent. We have many more of those in production, so feel free to use your full strength against it.”“My full strength?” Jim calmly uttered. “You tal
Binnie returned to her room which was somewhere hidden deep inside one of the many caves on the third floor.To her surprise, Demon Dwarf was inside her room.“Why the hell are you here?” Binnie frowned. “And how did you get in when you don’t have the digital access?”“That’s not what’s important,” Demon Dwarf said while rolling metal balls around his fingers. “Did you meet Jim the Hero?”Binnie was a little surprised. “Why are you asking about him?”“So you met him. Did you fight him? What’s your impression of him?” Demon Dwarf asked.“It’s very surprising that the Demon Dwarf who isn’t afraid of even the Eight Masters and doesn’t give a shit about anybody in this world now is interested in some random guy,” Binnie smirked.“He’s not a random guy. I taught him for a few hours in the past,” Demon Dwarf reasoned.“That’s not enough for you to personally come here and inquire about him,” Binnie retorted. “Is it because you’re interested in the martial arts he’s learned? What was it? The