Lucian ducked, trying to dodge the spell, but before he did anything, the fireball fizzled out into nothingness.

"What!?" Surprised, Michael cast another spell, but it once again crumbled into raw mana.

Seeing this hostility, the goblin warrior quickly moved between the two and raised its sword. It was about to slash the man when Lucian stopped it.

"Halt!!"

Seeing that something was preventing him from attacking, Lucian was a bit relieved about his own safety and the dungeon.

Raising his hand, he looked at Misha and asked, "You can’t attack me in the dungeon. Do I consider this the end of our cooperation?"

Lucian still wasn’t sure whether the prevention of an attack was a one-time thing or if the dungeon would do it infinitely. He told them in a way to appear confident, showing he was still in full control.

Shaking her head, Misha looked at him and quickly grabbed his hand, "Michael, stop."

Confused, Michael wanted to cast the spell one more time, but stopped, feeling the tug from Misha. Looking at her, he asked, "What is going on... I’m sure I passed out from mana exhaustion."

Looking at her, he blinked twice, trying to confirm the reality, "You had died, right?"

Before Misha could say anything, Michael moved and hugged her tightly, his hand wrapping around her shoulder. He wanted to say many things, but not a single word left his mouth.

"I-it’s okay... I’m here." Smiling Misha moved him away from her and began explaining about what had happened.

"I was dead... and so were you. This demon had revived me in order to heal his master... forgive me for being selfish, Michael. I initially didn’t want to revive him..." While speaking, Misha began to shudder as if words had stuck in her throat.

Seeing this, Michael forced a smile and said, "It’s alright."

It wasn’t alright, and deep down, Misha knew that.

She had made a very big mistake... that had the potential to turn into disaster just for her own selfishness and greed. She knew that if someone else were there, they would be the first to eat a fireball to their face.

"Did you help him?" Even though Michael knew the answer, he asked, hoping to be wrong.

Turning her head down, Misha nodded.

Sighing, Michael took a deep breath and asked, "Where are the rest of us?" 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝒆𝒘𝙚𝓫𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

"Just the two of you... There won’t be any more revival until Master is here," Chimming in between their conversation, Lucian gave him the answer.

Hearing this, Michael gritted his teeth but didn’t do anything.

Seeing the tension rising between the two, Misha quickly moved in between and explained the only saving grace for this situation. If that could count as one.

"Adam was wrong, Michael." Saying she paused.

Furrowing his brows, Michael asked, "How?"

"You see, the master of this dungeon isn’t a human, but a human-shaped monster." She explained, pointing her finger in a certain direction.

’What...’ Confused, Michael turned his head and was startled to find the truth.

"Monster..." He muttered under his breath, seeing a golden egg-like shape on the ground.

It was a meter in length, its outer shell made completely out of gold, with ancient markings all over it. They could see it from a distance, but there was an aura around the egg, which incited greed if gotten closer to it.

During an evolution, a monster will develop a hard shell around its body to protect itself from predators during this vulnerable time. The shell’s element is decided by the authority the monster possesses.

Despite the variance in authority, it is almost impossible to destroy the shell unless you are two tiers above the ongoing evolution. If the element is something defensive-based, like metal, stone, or crystal, then it could even require someone three tiers above.

Now that Dhruv is undergoing tier II evolution, someone of at least tier IV is required if they want to harm him.

The reason Michael was a bit revealed is that a human didn’t progress in tier like a monster. They don’t evolve but rather undergo accession. So, an evolution taking place means that the master was a monster.

’Are they misunderstanding something... master is... no was a human? Well, that still makes him human, right?...’ Seeing them relieved like that, Lucian let them have their misunderstanding and continued to listen to their conversation.

He thought he would find some interesting information about the world, but seeing them care for each other and talk in circles made him frown.

’Why are they wasting time doing this... I don’t like them getting all lovie-dovie like that...’ Frowning, he glanced toward the goblin warrior, and coincidentally, the goblin was making that same expression as well.

’Hmm! I’m not the only one who thinks this is weird...’ Smiling, Lucian thought he had found a partner, but he was dead wrong.

While both of them were making faces, he was doing it out of weirdness, while the goblin was doing it because he was jealous. The poor guy just wants a partner of his own as well.

’Tsk! can’t they talk about something that mattered? Should I ask him about the world above... no!! No, I could appear desperate, and he could have the upper hand. Let the master handle these complicated tasks...’

Having nothing to do, he began weaving mana and practiced trying to make his spellcasting as fast as possible. The second felt like eternity, but soon three hours had passed.

Crackk!!

Suddenly, a crack was echoed in the room as everyone’s attention moved to a particular place.

They saw as the eggs cracked apart and a human emerged from inside them. The shell turned into dust, getting absorbed back into his body.

His worry turned into a smile as Lucian found that the wounds were healed. There wasn’t a single scratch mark left on his master’s body. That wasn’t the end of it; the loose skin had turned into hard muscle one could trace with one’s finger.

His body had turned a bit ashen as the hair transformed into pitch black. The height had increased slightly as he now stood at the same height as the goblin warrior.

’Will I grow as well...’ Annoyed by his short height, Lucian couldn’t help but imagine, ’Hah! Still, I could never be as cool as the master.’

Still satisfied with this, he moved closer to him and explained to him about the situation that had transpired after the explosion from the spell.

Nodding his head in approval, Dhruv complimented him about his quick thinking. This put a big fat smile on his lips as Lucian tightened his chest in pride.

Ouch!!

He tightened it soo much that the wound began hurting.

Seeing this, Dhruv bent down and shook his head, patting him on the shoulder he muttered, "You are injured. Go start the evolution..."

He wanted to tell him about the options and what to keep in mind, but seeing him in pain, Dhruv let it go.

’Anyway, he is smart enough...’ Thinking, he turned his head toward the duo and smiled, "Shall we get out of here... you know this place is too dear to me."