Wallace and Butler Mendez faced Mage Marcus, who stood frozen like a statue, his face pale and his body shaking uncontrollably.
The sight sent a chill down Wallace's spine, as there was something undeniably eerie about witnessing such fear.
Mage Marcus muttered under his breath, his voice trembling with each repetition, "I died... I died... I died..."
The words sounded like a rat who was trapped in a flood, filled with a haunting desperation.
Wallace couldn't help but interject, a faint smile appearing on his lips. "You're not dead, Mage. Just look at your hands, feel your pulse. You're very much alive," he said, hoping to inject some reason into the situation.
But Mage Marcus vehemently denied Wallace's reassurances, his voice filled with terror.
"No!" he shouted, his eyes wide with horror.
"I was definitely killed! I can vividly remember the moment I was walking through the thick jungle, searching for rare spices and tools. Suddenly, something came down on me, landing right on my face and making my vision all dark. In the darkness, I could sense it putting something on my throat, rendering me completely helpless!"
Wallace nodded solemnly, his expression serious. "Ah, so you encountered a facehugger," he casually remarked, as if discussing a mundane topic.
Mage Marcus was astonished, his voice still tinged with absentmindedness. "facehuggers?" he asked, struggling to process the information.
With casual ease, Wallace replied, "Yes, those creatures that approached you and forced something very hard down your throat... those would be facehuggers."
Mage Marcus refused to let go of his curiosity, his voice filled with a mixture of bewilderment and apprehension when Wallace told him that. "But how do you know about these things?" he inquired.
After Mage Marcus asked the question, a mischievous grin appeared on Wallace's face as he casually raised his teacup for a sip.
He looked calm and confident as he locked eyes with Mage Marcus, fully aware of the bombshell he was about to reveal.
"Sure, I own that dungeon," he replied, his voice tinged with amusement.
The words rattled the space in the air, full of surprise.
In that brief moment, Mage Marcus's face lost color and turned red with shock and disbelief when Wallace said that.
"What?" he managed to say, his voice trembling.
The heaviness of the reality hit him like a powerful wave, and his mind scrambled to make sense of the memories. Despite the flood of recollections, he couldn't bring himself to accept it.
"No way! Everything I experienced felt so real, so uncomfortable, so humiliating and so hateful!!"
As Mage Marcus tried to come to terms with the truth, familiar vivid images flashed in his mind.
He remembered the suffocating grip of the creature's face, an indescribable horror that clung to him relentlessly. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't rid himself of the feeling, as if his body resisted any attempt to let it go.
The memory of that invasive intrusion, a solid, very hard object forced into his mouth and down through his throat, wounded his pride and left a lasting mark of humiliation as a man.
It was a sensation that echoed deep within his very soul, a haunting reminder of his powerlessness in the presence of this mysterious creature that humiliated him.
"I was supposed to die, destined to suffer in the depths of that awful humiliation," Mage Marcus muttered to himself, his eyes still filled with despair.
Suddenly, he blinked, each movement slow and intentional.
"I should be dead," he whispered, his voice filled with disbelief.
Another blink followed, and his eyes slowly widened. "Wait, how am I still alive?" he exclaimed, his words hanging in the air.
As a Noble and a skilled user of Mana like Wallace, Marcus knew that the 'Enhancement Dungeon' was meant to take their lives, devouring their souls and the remains of their magic crystals.
Yet here he stood, confused, breathing, standing tall, talking, and questioning his own existence.
Before him stood Wallace, his loyal butler, and the quiet, terrified soldiers. Marcus couldn't help but speak his thoughts aloud, the words escaping his lips.
"How am I alive?"
Watching Marcus's bewildered state, Wallace found himself unsure as well. The truth was, he didn't quite know either. But to him, it was all part of perhaps his golden finger, his very own golden cheat that might set him apart from other Noble dungeons, despite its high cost.
So, Marcus being alive and breathing now despite dying inside the game is maybe one of the things that sets Wallace dungeon apart from other Noble dungeons.
"Well, that's why it's so expensive, it is built like that," Wallace casually explained, a hint of amusement flickering in his eyes. "My dungeon doesn't aim to take lives; instead, it inflicts psychological terror that leaves a lasting impact on your soul so next time you visit, you'll have to be more prepared and have stronger mental fortitude."
Marcus stared hard at Wallace, stunned by the revelation Wallace said to him. "What? A dungeon that doesn't kill? I've never heard of such a thing," he exclaimed.
Even the most powerful emperors and noble kings boasted dungeons that claimed the lives of their champions.
So how could Wallace's dungeon defy this convention?
The realization dawned on Marcus, and he couldn't help but voice his suspicions. "If it doesn't kill, does that mean you are...?" he trailed off, his thoughts drifting towards the implications.
After all, the nature of an 'Enhancement Dungeon' was a reflection of its owner's character. If the owner was kind-hearted, the dungeon would restrain its cruel tendencies. But if the owner was cruel, the dungeon would revel in brutality.
However, Wallace's dungeon seemed to defy these expectations, leaving Marcus to understand the true nature of this new young Baron of the territory—a sadistic man with a kind heart, greedy for Magic Crystals but also a great leader.
In the tense silence, a sudden noise broke the stillness, startling Wallace, Mage Marcus, Butler Mendez, and the trembling soldiers out of their worried thoughts.
They all turned their heads at once, wide-eyed with a mix of astonishment and curiosity.
And there, stepping out from the darkness, were the Mana Knights—Rederic, Alistair, Cedric, Eldric, Gideon, Ivander, and Jasper. Each of their faces showed clear signs of humiliation and suffering, mirroring what Mage Marcus had endured before.
Rederic's usually proud expression was marked with deep lines of tiredness, as if his energy had been drained. Alistair's once vibrant eyes lost their shine and held a haunted look, reflecting the terrifying ordeal he had gone through.
Cedric's strong jaw twitches uncontrollably, revealing the inner turmoil he fought to suppress. Eldric's normally cheerful smile was replaced by a pained grimace, suggesting the scars, both visible and hidden, that weighed on his soul.
Gideon, Ivander, and Jasper, known as the 'loyalty trio' with strong spirits, seemed broken, their faces etched with a sorrow that seemed to emanate from the depths of their being.
In this eerie scene, their collective anguish spoke volumes, silently telling a story of the suffering they went through inside the game.
Somehow, the air seemed to be charged with unspoken questions as Wallace, Mage Marcus, Butler Mendez and the terrified soldiers with Wallace and Butler Mendez all realized—the Mana Knights, too, had fallen victim to what Wallace said, the facehuggers.