Dark Warlock in the Apocalypse

Suddenly, the lighting changed, and Justin squinted his eyes, shielding his vision from the blinding light. From all around, he heard faint groans, as others were similarly affected. It took several seconds before their eyes adjusted, and they could finally see the interior of the temple.

"...A door?" Justin muttered.

Inside the temple, there was another door. No, more precisely, there were ten large passages, each with its own massive door, just as grand as the main entrance. Justin approached one of the doors to inspect it.

However, Damian rushed over, blocking his way in a panic. "W-wait! You can't just open that door right now!"

"I wasn't planning to. Relax, I'm just taking a look," Justin replied, brushing off Damian's concerns.

"Oh, I see," Damian sighed in relief and stepped back.

Did he really think I'm that reckless? Justin thought to himself. Contrary to appearances, I do tend to be pretty cautious when it comes to making moves.

"Rachel, Nathan, Zachary, follow me," Justin called to his subordinates.

"Yes, my lord."

"Understood."

"Such insolence. They're not even consulting .." a follower muttered under his breath.

"Shh, be quiet!" another hushed him.

Justin ignored the murmuring from Elias and his followers as he approached the ten passageways. He examined one of the paths and, as expected, found evidence that someone had passed through—the floor showed signs of being scraped.

"Someone's been here before us."

"What!? Who could have...?"

"One of the seven remaining leaders, most likely. It's nothing surprising, given how leisurely we prepared ourselves," Justin pointed out, causing Zachary to flinch.

It was true that they had spent three days carefully preparing for a safe journey and had taken a full week to arrive here. They hadn't rushed and had been conserving their energy as much as possible. If someone had immediately thrown themselves into the quest after receiving it, it wasn't strange that they arrived ahead of them.

"Hmm, that's true," Zachary admitted after thinking it over.

"For now, everyone spread out and examine each passage. Check the ground near the base of the door. If you see scrape marks, it means someone has already entered," Justin instructed.

"Got it. But... the distance between them is pretty far," Rachel noted, looking at the wide space between the doors with tired eyes. The temple was so large that the gaps between the doors were like the size of a sports field.

After about 30 minutes of checking the doors, the group returned to Justin to report their findings.

"There were scrape marks on the third and fourth doors."

"I'm not great at spotting details, but it's clear those two have been opened," Zachary confirmed.

"That makes three doors in total if we count the one I saw," Justin concluded, rubbing his chin thoughtfully.

Three other groups had arrived before them and had already begun their quests. But Justin didn't feel like they were at a disadvantage. In contrast to the early stages, now it wasn't necessarily beneficial to start too early. Jumping in without the ability to handle what lay ahead would only lead to ruin. What mattered was not just getting in first but being able to manage everything successfully.

'In that sense, this ruins exploration quest seems particularly dangerous,' Justin thought.

The ruins were gigantic, as if built by giants. Each passageway would likely be the size of two or three hunting grounds. That meant they were probably filled with dangerous traps, powerful monsters, and a whole host of challenges. And Justin didn't believe this was just a gut feeling. Experience new stories on My Virtual Library Empire

'The system has been increasing the difficulty lately. In the past, there were penalties for those who didn't act quickly, but now it seems like those who rush in without preparation are being punished.'

This had been especially clear during the third wave. While the system scaled the difficulty based on one's strength, it had been life-threatening. Without Life Link, Justin wasn't sure how they would have survived.

Unless they were as lucky as Justin or found a loophole in the system, like Damian had, others would have been trapped with no way out.

And then Justin had a sudden realization.

'Wait a minute, Damian?'

He remembered what Grayson had said. Damian had survived the third wave through cooperation. At the time, Justin thought it was because he had found a way to exploit the system, but what if the cooperation itself had been part of the system's design?

'It might just be speculation, but if I'm right...'

The ambiguous wording of the quest, the number of doors matching the number of leaders, and the condition that only one could be chosen... Justin's expression hardened as he glanced at the ten doors before turning away.

'Finally, I'm free,' Elias thought with a sigh of relief as he looked at the ten doors inside the temple. If the number of doors matched the number of leaders, it meant they would have to split up. That made sense. The difficulty seemed daunting, but it was far better than traveling with that maniac.

Up until a moment ago, Elias had been smiling. But now...

"You want us all to enter the same door together?" Justin's proposal wiped the smile off Elias's face in an instant.

Elias's cheeks twitched as Justin nodded. "That's right. There's no need to split up."

"Wait a minute. Is that even allowed?" Elias asked, bewildered.

"Why wouldn't it be?" Justin replied.

"Look at the quest description. It says to choose a door, but it doesn't say anything about picking the same one."

"...."

Elias had been about to call it nonsense but stopped himself. He checked the quest description again, and Justin was right. There was no rule that prohibited choosing the same door. Each of the ten doors was large enough to easily accommodate over a hundred people.

But was it really possible?

Damian also looked skeptical, glancing at Justin with a hesitant expression. "Isn't it possible they didn't write it because it's so obvious we're supposed to split up?"

"Then we'll find out. If it's a trick, the system will block us."

"And if it's not a trick?"

"Then we'll take the test together," Justin answered.

"Hmm..." Damian groaned as he lowered his head, deep in thought.

Justin smirked, guessing what was on Damian's mind. "What's wrong? Worried about how we'll divide the treasure?"

Damian flinched at Justin's sharp observation, but after a moment, he sighed and nodded.

"I am a leader. No matter how close our alliance is, I have to prioritize the interests of those under me over yours."

"And?"

"I can't let my people go through all this hardship only for someone else to benefit," Damian said firmly, his eyes meeting Justin's with resolve. It seemed he was no longer willing to sugarcoat his concerns, especially since he was far weaker and had to worry about losing everything at the end.

"Do I really seem that bad to you?" Justin asked.

"At the very least, you don't seem like someone who would hesitate when evil is necessary," Damian replied.

"Tsk," Justin clicked his tongue at the surprisingly accurate assessment. As expected from the leader of a large territory, even though he had a soft side, his ability to read the situation was sharp.

When Justin remained silent, Damian pressed further.

"The reason I initially formed an alliance was that I thought this quest would be a public competition of sorts. But if the rewards are clearly divided, there's no need to maintain a dangerous alliance."

"That's true... as long as you live to claim your share," Justin replied with a sly grin.

"...!" Damian flinched and instinctively stepped back, his posture becoming defensive as though he were ready to draw his sword at any moment.

Justin tilted his head, confused by Damian's sudden change in attitude. He had merely been offering a warning—why did Damian suddenly look so tense?

"Hey, what's with the—"

"Please, spare me! I'll follow along! Just let me live!" Elias interrupted, trembling as he finally caught up to the conversation.

It was only then that Justin realized the misunderstanding. Did they both think he had just threatened to kill them?

"I'm not threatening you! I didn't mean it like that!" Justin protested.

"...."

Even after the explanation, Damian continued to look at Justin with suspicion in his eyes.

Come on, I'm really not trying to kill anyone right now, Justin thought, letting out a sigh. He decided to clarify his earlier point to Damian.

"I wasn't implying that I'm going to do something. I was talking about the monster wave we dealt with. Do you remember how that went?"

"The monster wave?"

"The third wave. I heard you handled it cleverly," Justin said, nodding toward him.

Damian's eyes narrowed as he pieced together the situation. He had anticipated that Justin knew something about it, but hearing it confirmed from someone else's mouth was different. His expression tightened.

"That's true. Although, to be precise, it wasn't me but a trusted friend who handled it," Damian admitted.

"It doesn't matter who did it. What's important here is how it was handled."

"What do you mean?" Damian asked, confused.

"As far as I know, there was no mention in the third wave of cooperating with others. The system only said to defend your own territory," Justin pointed out.

"...!"

At that, Damian's expression changed. He seemed to grasp the direction of Justin's thoughts.

"In my experience, the system doesn't just hit you once and let it go. If it sets up a trap, it'll hit you two or three times with similar ones until you figure out what it's trying to test."

"...."

"This is just speculation, but we only faced a cooperation trap once during the third wave. Do you really think the system would be satisfied with that one time?" Justin asked.

Probably not. Anyone who tried to handle this quest alone would likely run into serious trouble, the kind that would hurt them badly. As if to say, 'Haven't you learned your lesson from the third wave?'

Damian seemed to reach the same conclusion, his face becoming more serious as he closed his eyes for a moment.

"There's certainly some logic to what you're saying. But then what about the treasure?" Damian asked cautiously.

"We'll split it fairly. I swear," Justin answered with confidence.

"That's just an empty promise," Damian scoffed.

"There's no way to prove it, so what can I do?" Justin replied nonchalantly.

Damian gave a bitter smile but seemed to accept it. "Fair enough. I'll trust you, then."

"Don't worry. I always handle these things fairly," Justin assured him.

"Excuse me, but what exactly are you two talking about?" Elias, who had been standing off to the side like a background character, suddenly cut into the conversation.

Justin chuckled and turned to Elias. "You? Just shut up and follow along."

"...."

"Alright, let's go explain the plan to our men. If we suddenly tell them we're all going to enter the same door, it'll probably confuse them," Justin said.

As he finished speaking, a curious thought crossed his mind. How exactly had Elias managed to survive the monster wave? Had he sacrificed his own followers to get through?

Curious, Justin asked Elias, who immediately waved his hands in panic.

"No, of course not! I may be a leader, but I would never sacrifice my own followers!"

"Cut the fancy talk. If you didn't slaughter your own citizens, how did you survive?"

"There's a method, of course," Elias replied, puffing up with pride as if he were about to share a clever trick.

"Right after the second wave, I launched a surprise attack on a neighboring territory with whom we didn't get along. I took all of their citizens. It wasn't too difficult. While we took some damage in the second wave, it wasn't as bad as theirs."

"And after that?"

"I used their citizens as sacrifices to get through the wave. A leader must protect his own flock, after all," Elias said, his tone proud.

Justin and Damian exchanged a bewildered glance at his brazen response. Elias seemed oblivious to the shift in the atmosphere, continuing with his boast.

"Now that I think about it, how did the two of you survive? From what I heard earlier, it sounds like you came up with something even more clever than I did."

Elias's eyes gleamed with curiosity, eager to pry their secret out of them. Justin and Damian remained silent for a long moment before finally speaking.

"If you ever decide to execute another pioneer, I won't stop you. Especially this guy," Damian muttered, nodding toward Elias.

"That's a good call. Looks like you're finally starting to see the world for what it is," Justin added.

"...!?" Elias's eyes widened in shock.