Aleen followed the two bodyguards’ suggestions and guided the group to the infirmary-like place shown on the map.

The group had to ascend two floors to reach there, but it wasn’t a problem with the help of Aleen. Though they faced some zombies, Aleen dispatched them quickly.

Unfortunately, they didn’t find anything useful there.

Aleen was already expecting something like that, so he wasn’t disappointed. But though the two bodyguards didn’t show it on their expressions, Aleen could feel their disappointment.

Even the college girl seemed a bit disappointed.

With a sigh, Aleen broke the silence and spoke.

“We have to go, there is not much time remaining.”

The others nodded and followed after him.

They descended quickly to the third floor without a problem, but when they reached the stairs towards the second floor, Aya stopped abruptly.

“… Do you hear something strange?” She asked.

The group looked towards her with startled expressions and shook their heads.

“… Are you sure?” She asked again. “I can hear something… It’s like… insects?”

“Meow!” The silver cat, Lily, looked as though it was nodding too.

Aleen frowned deeply. His last experience with insects wasn’t the best.

He pondered for a moment and circulated his mana to enhance his senses.

Initially, he didn’t hear anything; but after a few seconds, his ears finally caught a soft and irritating noise.

It was like insects running.

Many insects running.

Aleen's expression changed almost immediately.

“Run!” He shouted frantically and charged forward without confirming if the others were following after him or not.

In ten seconds, he was already in the lobby, but the irritating noise of insects became louder and louder.

Aleen looked behind him to confirm that the others were following him, but he saw more than just five people and a cat.

A spider-like creature, as big as a bulldog, was crawling on the walls of the stairs.

Though it was spider-like, it was similar only in the number of legs and the shape of its body. Its color, on the other hand, was a revolting red; and its mouth seemed like the jaws of a shark.

It was as if someone fused a spider with an angler fish.

When Aleen saw it, the creature was already jumping towards a member of the group.

It was the injured bodyguard.

The man was still running, ignoring the danger that was about to befall him.

Aleen reacted instantly, and reflexively kicked something that was lying on the ground near him.

Luckily, Aleen was pretty good at football, and the object flew straight to the creature.

The bodyguard instinctively moved aside and looked behind him. When he saw the spider-like creature crushed in the wall, his expression turned frightened.

“Don’t stop!” Aleen shouted. “We must get out of here now!”

The bodyguard stumbled briefly and continued running. A few seconds later, Aleen saw more spiders chasing after them.

“I can see the exit!” The stubble guy shouted excitedly, but then, he felt someone grabbing him by the collar and throwing him behind.

He then saw Aleen slashing with his sword towards the ceiling.

 A spider had jumped from the ventilation duct and attacked them.

Aleen killed it with one slash, but more spiders jumped down immediately after the first.

Aleen dispatched three more in one second, but even more spiders were falling. Aleen counted at least twenty of them.

“Ha!” Behind him, one of the bodyguards used a baton to crush a spider, but Aleen knew that it wasn’t the only spider chasing after them.

The exit had been blocked by the spiders coming from the ventilation duct, and a swarm of spiders was coming from the stairs. At this rate, they were going to be surrounded in around ten seconds.

Aleen went through his options quickly, even activating ‘Dynamic Sight’ only to get more time to think; but he could not think of anything to salvage this situation.

‘Must I leave them behind?’ Aleen could not help but consider it seriously.

But at that moment, he remembered the map that the bodyguards showed him.

However, he wasn’t sure if the passage on the map was safe.

For a moment, he struggled to make a choice.

‘I can escape easily if I use my skill now, but the others…’

If he uses his skill now, he can escape easily, but the others will be devoured by the swarm of spiders.

But if he escaped with the others through the secret passage, and something unexpected happens, then maybe everybody, he included, will end dead.

After all, the danger of this game was level III. That means that there was at least one level three monster inside this game.

And if the level three monster was inside the escape route, then Aleen would be caught between a swarm of spider-like creatures and one level three monster.

By then, his probabilities of surviving would be very small.

‘Dammit! I'm doing more than I supposed to do!’

With an unsightly expression, Aleen shouted to the group. “Follow me!”

He slashed another two spiders with his sword and ran towards a corridor. Aleen was not sure about the exact location of the stairs leading underground, but he had a general idea.

The group ran through the corridors and finally found a door leading to the stairs underground.

Aleen opened the door and hurried the group, before closing it and using one of the batons that the bodyguards brought with them to block the door.

Immediately after it, one spider crashed against the door.

Though the spiders were big, they were nothing much when it comes to strength. To be honest, even one fifteen years old youth could kill one of them easily.

The problem, though, was their number.

There were hundreds, maybe thousands of them; and though they were weaker than the brooders from the last game, for Aleen and the others, they were equally as lethal.

The group continued running, but they could hear the spiders crashing crazily against the door. It seemed as they were not going to rest until destroying it.

The group quickly came across a pair of gigantic doors. Aleen tried to open them, but they were firmly closed.

“Hurry up!” Shouted the college girl. “They are coming!”

“They are closed! I can open them!”

“Dammit dammit!”

“Here!” One of the bodyguards shouted, holding a card in his hand that he found around. “Use it!”

Aleen grabbed the card and searched around the door. He quickly found something that seemed like a scanner and put the card below it.

Immediately, a green light appeared on the scanner-like thing.

‘Access granted’ Aleen heard a voice coming from the door.

The doors began to open slowly, but before the group could celebrate, the door holding the spiders out crashed down.

“Inside! Now!”

The group didn’t hesitate and rushed inside. Aleen entered last and used the card to close the door.

And at that moment, the first spider caught up with them.

The spider rushed crazily towards the door and pounced fiercely towards Aleen, but he killed it easily.

However, more spiders were coming behind it.

“Dammit! Close down quickly!” Aleen screamed at the door, but it continued closing slowly. More spiders rushed inside and Aleen and the others killed them hurriedly.

Finally, the door closed, crushing one last spider.

Aleen and the others sighed in relief and fell seated on the ground.

“It was close…” The stubble guy said with an expression of fear.

Aleen only managed to force a nod.

After panting for a few seconds, he finally stood up and looked to the surroundings.

“Where is it?” He muttered to himself.