Chapter 70 Are You An Ace Card?
For a brief moment, the raid team was stunned and perplexed as Karm appeared to have lost control. The mummy had the upper hand in the fight from the start. However, he could not avoid Harold's arrow. Harold was not a good archer, so catching Karm off guard was unexpected.
Nonetheless, his strange behavior did not happen the second time. Karm fought the same way he had before. He was fast enough to avoid Harold's arrow attack. Even Jim's slashes did not affect him.
"Do you have a lot of magical energy left?" Dianella inquired as she walked away from Karm. Her shoulders were heaving from exhaustion. She realized her attack was pointless when she noticed Karm was unharmed in any way.
Carl glanced at the girl for a moment before responding, "I can support the team for the next hour. The team should be able to defeat Karm in that amount of time. If they don't, then they will have a hard time because my magic energy is already depleted."
Rude words came out of Dianella's mouth after hearing that answer. The danger level in the Forest of Death Dungeon was A+. The raid team needed two hours to complete a high-level dungeon.
Before joining the raid, Dianella had been researching the Forest of Death Dungeon. This dungeon took an hour and thirty minutes, on average to complete.
She might be able to survive without Carl's help, but she had her doubts about the other members. Harold and Bond were newbie hunters who had just got their raid license. They did not have much experience.
"Miss Smith, just concentrate on your fight. Forget about those two people. They asked Jim to take them on the raid this time. Let them pay the price for their arrogance," Carl spoke without looking at the girl standing next to him.
Dianella looked doubtful for a moment. She eventually decided not to think about Harold and Bond's safety. After regaining her stamina, she returned to attack Karm.
Meanwhile, Karm listened to Radmilo's words while avoiding the attacks. He could not swing his ax because his attention was divided.
Radmilo had told Karm about his contracts with Clem and Zivile. It took some time for Karm to believe what he was saying. Moreover, the man claimed to have defeated other strong monsters to make a contract with Zivile.
'You said you could beat the snake monsters on Mount Dandenong Dungeon?' Karm asked, surprised. He and the snake monster were both commanded by the same Prime Mover. Because of that, he knew how strong his friend was.
On the other hand, Radmilo was talking while looking for a comfortable place to lie down. 'Yeah, I defeated that monster. I can do it because I have an effective weapon.'
When Radmilo said that his weapon was effective, Karm could not help but agree. He had felt how strong the man's weapon was before. However, he did not expect the snake monster would lose to him.
Was not that snake monster imprisoned in the most dangerous dungeon? How could Radmilo beat him?
The only logical explanation was that the man was stronger than his opponents. It was strange because a hunter like him had never appeared before.
'Are you an ace card from the Tasmanian Devil guild? I remember the raid team leader this time is from that guild.'
Radmilo arrived at a big tree when he got the question. He then responded while leaning against a tree branch.
'I'm nobody's ace card. I'm just me.'
The answer irritated Karm. He swung his ax and slashed at the raid team members, imagining he was fighting Radmilo. His annoyance grew even more as the raid team managed to evade all of his attacks.
'Then are you a hidden S-rank hunter? Why don't you join the fight with the raid team?'
'Umm... I'm just a dungeon cleaner.'
Karm was so taken aback by the response that he lost control of his ax. He should be able to smack Harold in the head with his ax. However, his attack was missed because Radmilo caught him by surprise.
Jim frowned in surprise because Karm was acting the same strange way he had been a while ago. He did not understand what was going on, but he saw it as a golden opportunity.
"Strike even harder! He's been caught off guard now!"
Jim's instructions made the raid members muster their strengths. Harold hurled more arrows, Bond unleashed five more trolls, and Dianella leaped to attack Karm's head.
As soon as she cast a spell, the fire magic on her knuckles appeared. She smacked her knuckles against Karm's head right away. Her attack caused Karm's head to detach from his mummified body.
However, Karm was able to grow a new head to replace the one Dianella destroyed.
"No way! Isn't that cheating?" Dianella, who had fallen to the ground, cursed angrily. She then teamed up with Jim to attack Karm. But still, the mummy managed to survive all their attacks, since his body could regenerate.
Karm, on the other hand, chose to retreat because Jim and Dianella's attacks became stronger when they fought in groups. While fending off all their attacks, he responded to Radmilo's words that had surprised him.
'Have humans found new ways to joke around? There's no way you're a dungeon cleaner!'
Radmilo burst out laughing. 'I'm not joking. In my world, stories with strong main characters who pretend to be weak are quite popular. Let's just say I'm the main character.'
'Why do you have to pretend to be weak? If I were you, I would brag about my power to the entire world!' Karm responded in surprise, not understanding what Radmilo was thinking.
'You're not me, unfortunately. Being strong means attracting the attention of many people. I don't want to show my power using my true identity.'
Karm did not respond right away. He could read people's minds when he turned them into his undead army. It taught him about the human world.
He was aware of the IRO and the big guilds that were always on the lookout for powerful awakeners. Radmilo appeared to be avoiding IRO right now, since he had no problem being a dungeon cleaner.
'What the IRO did that you don't want them to find you?'
Radmilo smiled, because Karm understood his words quickly. Karm proved to be the smartest undead among the undead monsters, proving Zivile correct.
'I just don't like them. Do you think I'll explain the details to you? If you're curious, come along with me. I need your help. On the other hand, I will help you as well. Do you have any other conditions from your Prime Mover?'
The last question made Karm realize that Zivile had revealed far too much about the Instruments and Prime Movers to Radmilo. He could not understand why Zivile was willing to tell it to a human. However, he knew Zivile was working with Radmilo because he gave her an advantage.
'You want to make a contract with me, right?' Karm asked while slamming Dianella, who was attacking his shoulder.
'I think the answer is obvious. Like I said before, I just need your help. I'm not going to hire you for trivial matters.'
'My Prime Mover provides other conditions if I want to return to my world. He wanted me to make five hundred undead troops. I only have a hundred undead in this dungeon.'
Radmilo thought for a moment before asking, 'Can your undead attack humans outside of the dungeon? If they can, it will only take you a moment to collect five hundred undead.'
'I never tried it because I couldn't get out of the dungeon.'
'Then you should try it. Make a contract with me. If you fail, there's always another option. Isn't it easier to finish the mission outside the dungeon?'
Karm did not respond because he had high self-esteem. He realized his mission could be completed quickly if he made a contract with a human and got out of the dungeon. He was opposed to the plan, however, because he did not want to be helped by humans.
Meanwhile, Radmilo waited for a response while looking at his hands. Tyrone's damage to his hands prevented him from using weapons properly for a while. He had tried various healing potions, but none of them had completely cured him.
"He's really strong," Radmilo grumbled, recalling Tyrone's future being stronger than he was now.
Nonetheless, he did not feel threatened by Tyrone's power. Hector from the Dungeons and Gates Security Council was the one he had to watch out for. He did not know what powers Hector could copy even if he went back in time.
Hector was extremely cautious of those around him. He never revealed his power to anyone, including Tyrone, whom he always supported. As a result, he would become the most feared person at IRO after Tyrone.
'How much time can you give me?'
Karm's voice jolted Radmilo out of his daydream. He closed his eyes as he replied, 'You're smarter than the other monsters. As such, I'll wait for your decision until the raid team manages to overwhelm you. It took them over an hour to beat you back, right?'