Somewhere deep in the dungeon, a fire was burning brightly. Next to the burning flames that could be from the Tartarus sat a man in black armor surrounded by several captains working under him.

As the group talked about pressing issues such as how to ration their current supplies, Gab merely kept his mouth shut while sharpening his two twin axes.

His mood wasn't that great as their casualties on the third floor seemed way higher than expected. Most people ended up getting spawned in small groups on the third floor. In the best-case scenario, they wander aimlessly throughout the caves before reuniting with their fellow comrades in the end.

But unfortunally, most people didn't seem to be that lucky here as they often encounter monsters such as the goblin race. Their hunting tactic consists of using overwhelming numbers to grind down their enemies till they are exhausted before squashing them completely. That's also why most small human groups will not survive an encounter with them.

There isn't much one can do to minimize the casualties except hunting these creatures in groups. Killing them before they can kill another fellow human being was the tactic used by Gab's group till now.

As one might expect, however, fighting such battles with little or no supplies while keeping one's own casualties as low as possible isn't so easy.

The discussion continued for hours till one of his men poked on his shoulder.

"What is?" asked Gab in annoyance as he didn't want to be bothered by anyone at that moment.

The female captain bent to him and whispered: "Luke… he is back, but he is in critical conditions."

Gab's eyes immediately narrowed after hearing misfortune news involving Luke. After sighing loudly, he silently stood up with a stern face before telling her to lead the way.

The girl bought him to a medical tent, and Gab took a deep breath before entering the tent. But what he saw shocked him. It has been a long time since Gab saw Luke and an even longer time since he saw Luke without any armor, and there he laid on the ground, armorless and half-naked.

Luke's body was littered with bruises and burn scars. However, that wasn't the worst thing. Gab could clearly see how Luke's leg got amputated in an unclean way and how fire was used to close the wound. 

Fury filled his heart upon seeing the pitiful state Luke had fallen into. Even though Gab tried to keep his calm, everyone in the room, Rados and Luke, could clearly see how he resembled more of a seething volcano that was about to erupt.

The two, however, choose to stay quiet at Gab's sight, not even uttering a word, and only after Gab calmed himself down did he ask: "What happened to you, and have you seen Evie?"

A tear ran down on Luke's cheek, and with a shaky voice, he stated: "E-Evie is dead."

At this point, Gab's furry almost reached the boiling point, and with a sigh, he sat on the ground before coldly demanding: "Tell me, Luke. What happened to her."

Gab wasn't just furious he was also disappointed that he couldn't save any of his former team comrades.

A tear ran down his cheek as memories and faces of people he lost flashed through his mind.

From his siblings to whom he could never say goodbye, to Alex, the man, who took him under his wings, scolding him whenever he did something stupid, to Evie a stupid but also kind girl, who cared about her teammates, he had lost another comrade today.

What he regretted the most, however, was that now he could never make up for the burned bridges.

Luke continued narrating what happened, from how they aimlessly wandered throughout the caves to how they ended up finding Alex, who immediately attacked their group.

Gab's pupils immediately shrank after finding out about Odebus using his control over Alex's body to hunt fellow humans.

Luke continued narrowing down and stated: "Luz. You and I both know that my time is near and that even if I continued living, I wouldn't be of any use in the fight. That's why you…"

Before Luke could finish his sentence, Gab immediately cut him short by stating coldly: "No. I won't be killing and taking your bone core. I'll be taking care of Odebus with just my blood core."

Seeing Gab's arrogance made Luke angry, and he immediately shouted: "GAB! DO YOU HAVE THE SLIGHTEST IDEA HOW MANY LIVES ARE AT STAKE? EVEN IF YOU DIDN'T KILL ME, I WOULDN'T SURVIVE FOR MORE THAN A WEEK AT MOST."

Gab's eyes were, by now, bloody red, and with gritted teeth, he answered: "Stop expecting me to kill my own friend. I just… I just… can't do it."

Luke used all his strength to stand up and grab Gab bis his collar. Tears began falling onto Gab's face as Luke stated with a quivering voice: "You'll kill me and integrate my bone core. And after killing Odebus, you'll be taking care of my sibling. DO YOU UNDERSTAND IT?"

Gab looked grimly up and asked the question that had been bothering him till now: "Why have you decided to give me your bone core and not your sibling?"

"I would gladly give it to them. But if I gave it to one of my siblings. But the problem is that one of them would be fighting with you against Odebus."

Before Luke could continue, Rados commented shamelessly: "Yo. If Gab doesn't want your bone core, why not give it to me? I would gladly accept it."

But Luke chuckled loudly before narrowing his eyes and coldly stating: Let me tell you one thing. If I can't beat Odebus with the control and fine-tuning I have over the bone core, what makes you think that you, Rados, would handle the fight better than me? You won't even hold a candle."

Gab wanted to refute Luke, but he knew that the latter stood correct. He was the one who would gain the most benefits from the bone core as he was a glass cannon, unlike his counterpart.

Even if Gab had the power of anime and friendship, wait, I meant the power of blood and plot armor Odebus could one-shot him with a clean strike through the heart/head. That was especially the case if Alex used magic spells.

As Gab was continuing to debate himself, Luke, on the other hand, didn't stand idle. He went so far and let a sharp bone spear grow out of his amputated hand.

Realizing what Luke was about to do, Gab tried to stop him, but the latter merely stated with tears: "Gab. Promise me that you will protect my siblings."

Gab replied without hesitation and teary eyes: "I'll."

But Luke's demand shocked Gab.

"Promise me that you will devour my corpse to gain as much power as possible."