Chapter 122 A Shocking Discovery

"What the…" Everyone stood astonished as their thoughts were in a mess. They couldn't believe that someone their age, someone who started with them was strong enough to take them down in one blow.

Awed by the power Ray showed, their determination to get stronger increased by a huge margin as resolve shone in their eyes and they made up their mind to get stronger by any means possible.

"What are you all staring at, isn't there a treasure to search for? Also, get some rest before moving to the next door," Ray said, his smile on his face as he waved his hands and lay on the ground as exhaustion overcame his body.

"I guess I will sleep for a bit," Ray said as his eyelids got droopy and just in a few seconds, he was sleeping without care for anything.

Seeing this, the whole team face-palmed themselves as the magnificent image of Ray went down the gutter.

"Okay guys, let's search for the treasure and then have some rest. I guess he will be snoring for quite some while," Elina sighed as everyone got to work.

Meanwhile,

The dean sat in his office as he got a call,

"Yes Old man, did you find anything suspicious?" The dean asked as he picked up the call.

"Prometheus, the situation is worse than I expected," The old man answered, his hoarse voice serious as the previous carefree attitude was gone.

"What happened, I need all the details," The dean asked, his expression twisted as he realized that the intruders might have solidified their position in society without ever letting their identity get exposed.

With that, the old man started explaining his findings in detail while the dean listened with utmost concentration so as not to miss any crucial point.

"It's very bad, they have fooled us all for such a long time and we didn't even know," The dean wondered out loud, his anger flaring up as the mana around him got unstable and started causing havoc around him.

Controlling his emotions, his mana got stabilized as he asked,

"What do you think should we do?"

"I say you let them be and closely monitor them. This way, we will be able to learn more about their strength and abilities without letting them know about this," the old man said,

"Not a bad idea, but what about those big families? What if someone from their side has defected as well," The dean asked as contemplated how to handle the situation without letting the traitors know.

"It's for you to think. I have done my part, as for those you asked about. Most of them have defected and are no longer serving humanity. I will continue to keep an eye on them and find out more about their leaders and who they report to," The old man said and cut the call, leaving the dean engrossed in thoughts.

Meanwhile,

Within Instance Dungeon,

Nia slowly opened her eyes as she sat up on the ground and assessed the situation around her,

Looking at the surroundings, she saw that almost everyone was healed while Noelle was meditating to recover her mana.

"How much time has it been?" She asked, her voice weak as she continued with her act.

"Oh… you are awake. Welcome to the land of the living, it hasn't been long. Only a couple of hours," Zest said with a slight smile on his face.

Listening to Zest's words, Nia cringed inwardly as she thought in anger,

"As if, you assh*le. I am pretty sure that it was all your plan from the start. Just wait, I will expose you in front of everyone,"

However, she didn't express any of her real emotions on the outside and merely smiled as she stood up and said,

"We have already wasted a lot of time. We will be continuing to the next floor within 10 minutes. Therefore, I want you all to be ready and in your formation when we move,"

Listening to her cold voice and the sternness in her order, everyone felt relieved as this was the Nia they knew of; cold, hard, and emotionless in the face of any danger.

"Yes Captain," They all shouted with vigor and started to prepare themselves for the next floor.

As everyone prepared themselves to clear the next floor, Nia looked at the system notification she received before passing out,

[New Spell Unlocked:- Goddess Of Light's Fury: Light Enhancement]

[Description:- A spell that grants its user a physical boost to all its physical attributes by condensing a light armor that infuses the light element with the body of its caster. This way, not only the defense but the physical strength, agility, and dexterity of the caster are increased by two folds]

Nia smiled as she read the spell's description, she thought,

"Just what I needed for this dungeon. This spell would allow me to deal with those pesky vermin at close range without any issues,

On the other hand,

Noelle also came out of her meditation and looked for Nia. After finding Nia, she walked up to her and spoke,

"Captain, I want to discuss something with you but I am afraid you will scold me," She said as her voice trembled from fear of getting scolded by her idol.

"Don't worry, just speak. I will not scold you," Nia said with a smile as she gestured to Noelle to hurry up.

"Okay, so captain… I want to say that when you were unconscious, Zest acted very strangely, and not only that, but he also acted strangely when we sat down to take a rest before those goblins attacked us out of nowhere," Noelle said with her head down as she waited for Nia to scold her.

"Okay, I will check into it. Also, don't go telling this to anyone else," Nia smiled as she reassured Noelle and warned her not to mention anything to anyone.

"Un" Noelle nodded resolutely and walked back to the rest of the team as she also got ready for the rest of the dungeon.

"Seems like you are not to be trusted at all," Nia thought as she looked over at where Zest stood, interacting with the rest of the team and being as normal as he would.

However, Nia noticed something. She noticed that although Zest laughed and talked with everyone, his expression had a certain fakeness to it.

"Now I am very intrigued about your origins, so much that you have to fake even when having the slightest conversation with someone," Nia thought in curiosity and anger as she wished for someone with such a strong ability as Zest to be on humanity's side and not on the other side.

Little did Nia know, the one she wished to be on humanity's side had already defected to the other side and had sworn allegiance to them.

Meanwhile,

Instance Dungeon (Ray),

"Yawwwnnn", Ray yawned loudly as he stretched his body after waking up from his nap that he took in the middle of the test.

"Best nap ever, I feel so refreshed," Ray thought happily as he felt truly refreshed as if he had slept for the first time in years.

"Hi Ray, are you all right? Do you need any healing?" Aliya walked up to him and asked.

"Hi, and yeah, I am fine. No need for healing," Ray answered, his mind calm and his expression relaxed as he stood up and took a look at his surroundings.

"Did you guys find the treasure chest," Ray looked at Elina and asked,

"Yes, we found a treasure chest but we don't know how to open it," Elina answered as she took out the treasure chest and handed it to Ray for inspection.

Ray held the treasure chest in his hands as he inspected it. The treasure chest had strange markings on it that glowed slightly every second while the whole chest was made of a strange material that felt and looked like obsidian.

"Hmm… it's a unique treasure chest for sure, but to open it, we will need to clear the dungeon first," Ray muttered as he looked at Nia and asked,

"Can I keep it for myself? I might be able to open it after we clear the dungeon,"

"Yeah sure, I was going to hand it to you anyways. After all, it was just because of you that we even got to know that there was treasure hidden on this floor. Not to mention the fact that you defended us from the goblins while we searched for the treasure chest. Therefore, you deserve this treasure chest and it's rightfully yours," Elina said and turned around.

Listening to her words, Ray tilted his head in curiosity as he spoke,

"Thank you for this treasure chest, but I can't accept it just like that. Therefore, I will give you something in return as well,"

"You really don't understand, do you?" Elina turned around and shook her head in disappointment as she asked, "Okay, what is it,"

Seeing her attitude, Ray smiled as he thought of how she was going to act in a few seconds and snapped his fingers. As his fingers snapped, three skill books appeared above his hand as they hovered in the air.

"These are the Curse magic skill books that Sirius, I, and kid received when we defeated the hobgoblins on the first floor. I want you to have these. Also, Sirius and kid have no issue with it as they exchanged these books for something else," Ray spoke as he loomed at Elina's ever-changing facial expression while her eyes sparkled with joy.

"Ahhh… Skill books for my magic. This is so good!" Elina thought in joy as she tiptoed to the skill books and received them.

"Thank you so much, Ray," She thanked him with joy, and just like a little child getting a new toy, she started examining the skill books inside out.

Meanwhile,

Ray stepped forward and spoke as he addressed the whole team,

"Okay guys, it's enough rest for now. Let's move onto the next floor".

....

A/N:- Hello all of you. I hope you all are doing great and enjoying the novels. I look forward to your input so I could make the novel better and improve myself as a writer.

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