After leaving the dungeon, Elliot ran toward the city after confirming that he couldn't re-enter a dungeon.
As part of the usual procedure, he returned to the place where he had purchased the Entry Pass—both to report that he had safely walked out of the dungeon and also to sell the items he had collected.
This was where the Association made its cut. By allowing the Awakened individuals to enter dungeons at a low cost, they profited by earning 20% of everything an Awakened got inside it. Luckily, Elliot had no trouble hiding the Spellbook he had acquired—the drop rate was even lower than he had expected, and no one asked anything about it.
Because the monster corpses he brought back weren't complete, their value dropped significantly. Even so, he still made a total profit of $10,600.
After the Association took its 20%, he walked away with $8,480.
'For winning that much in such a short time… that is a substantial amount of money,' he thought. A chill ran down his spine as he realized something. 'If this is what the Association pays, how much are the Guilds offering?'
For a moment, his imagination ran wild, and he couldn't help but tremble at the thought—each member of a Guild must be filthy rich. Not only did they sign contracts worth millions, but they also raked in massive profits every time they hunted low-level beasts.
He finally understood the saying: The Association gives you political power, but the Guilds give you real power.
Even so, he didn't have time to dwell on these fantasies. His thoughts were focused elsewhere, specifically on his stats.
Seeing that his stats were getting close to 20 points, the urge to hit that milestone as soon as possible gnawed at him.
"If I can make it into the Tournament of the Stars, my chance at revenge will come that much sooner. But to do that, I need to reach the Awakened Rank first."
With that goal in mind, he bought several things from the Association shop—potions and some supplies, the essentials he would need to push himself further.
"If I can kill 500 of those rats, I'm sure I will gain enough stat points. Let's get this over with," he thought.
Ideally, he would have preferred to tackle an E-Rank Dungeon. But he knew that such dungeons were a rarity in the city. There were only two that the Association controlled, the rest belonged to the guilds. And having just exited one of the Association's dungeons, he knew they wouldn't allow him to access the other one so soon. He needed to look for alternatives.
And among all the alternatives available, the rat dungeon was the only one he could realistically take on. He had no choice but to do it.
So, after healing himself for a while with some expensive potions, he set out to hunt again.
_____
Just as he reached the vicinity of the rat dungeon, he frowned as his ears caught a scream.
"Agh, help!"
The scream echoed repeatedly, prompting him to run toward the source of the voice. It wasn't far from him, and he could already sense several rats swarming someone.
When he arrived, his brow furrowed. 'What's a normal person doing out here? And why are the rats attacking someone outside the dungeon, too?'
_____
'Shit, those bastards from the Association. What the hell are they doing? Why is there no protection here anymore?' Joferth seethed as a pack of rats closed in on him, ready to slash him apart.
He had come here since he was supposed to meet with some Association representatives—a standard business for a city guild's liaison. But he had never faced any danger before. After all, the Association was responsible for protecting the dungeons that belonged to them.
Powerful Awakened personnel were always stationed near the critical zones to guard the people and prevent the beasts from breaking out.
But here? At the meeting place, there was not a soul in sight!
No guards. No Awakened, No Association staff. Not even a lone misfit!
Joferth felt like he had walked straight into a trap.
In the end, he was just a civilian, and he could do nothing.
He was just an ordinary person who worked for a guild. Although his Guild had numerous powerful people capable of dealing with these things without breaking a sweat, unfortunately, he was not one of them.
When one of the rats lunged at him, he froze in terror. His back was already touching the wall, and there was no room for him to move.
He turned his face away instinctively, bracing himself for his imminent end.
'…'
Seconds passed, but death didn't come.
Instead, the next thing he heard was a strange explosion just above his head—a sharp, concussive blast. He opened his eyes in shock, just in time to see a young man tearing through all the rats, attacking him with effortless precision.
The rats looked like ants in front of him.
Each of them had their heads obliterated or sliced clean in half by what looked like… a strange table knife?
Joferth could only stare, stunned.
But when he saw the face of his savior, he felt that it was somewhat familiar.
'He must be a famous Awakened One!' Joferth took a deep breath and wondered.
When he realized he was safe, he quickly got to his feet.
"Mr. Awakened One, thank you so much for saving me."
He even bowed to show his gratitude, but after waiting for a few seconds, he received no response.
After another moment of silence, Joferth straightened up, intending to introduce himself. But then…
"Did he leave?" he muttered in disbelief and scanned around. But to his shock, he saw nothing—there was no trace of the mysterious man, not even the corpses of the rats he had killed.
"What the hell?"
He might have thought it had all been an illusion if it weren't for the deep gashes on the walls and the floor. But the evidence was still there—everything, except for that Awakened stranger.
The mark where the knife had first struck the wall was also there.
"Sigh… the Awakened ones are always so damn weird." He shook his head with a helpless sigh.
Still, the fact that he was safe meant a lot. He made a mental note not to forget the face he had seen a few moments ago and would look up that person once he returned to the guild—he had to thank the man properly. That man was his savior, even if everything that happened was so fleeting that he almost thought it was an illusion.
Now that he was out of danger, he took a few moments to catch his breath, but the calm quickly gave way to rage.
"So, you really set me up… damn you all. Wait and let me see what you will do after I inform the Guild Master."
Without another word, he turned and ran back to the city. He had a lot to talk about with the Guild Master, and there was no way he was sticking around here any longer. If another rat showed up, he would surely be dead, with no one to save him.
_____
Meanwhile, after saving that ordinary person who seemed pitiful to him, Elliot dashed deeper into the dungeon to prevent more rats from escaping and attacking him.
'Strange… the protection on this side doesn't seem to work. I'll have to clear out this area to keep the civilians safe.'
An enthusiastic and slightly sinister grin crept on his face, instinctively frightening a few rats, but Elliot didn't care. He dove into the hunt, his summoned rat at his side, and together they enjoyed themselves as they brought chaos and carnage in the calm night.