"Hmp. Men." Rosa snorted, and with a flick of her finger, a weird item appeared in her hand.

"Do you know what this is," she asked and licked her lips, "This is a Mermaid\'s tune. One little word from this baby, and all of you will drop dead into your nightmares. No spells nor skills can get you out from dreamland as long as this item is playing."

It must be one of the items she acquired in the dungeon. Ryu thought.

Whoosh!

A streak of shadow zoomed on Rosa, and Ryu quickly blocked it, but the woman was faster. A torrent of water flung the man who attempted to make a fast one on her.

The man was sent flying and crashed hard against a wall while waves of water cage Rosa inside its defensive barrier.

"Don\'t even try to pull that trick on me. My spells are faster than all of you combined," said Rosa with a smirk.

Ryu thought that she was bluffing, and so were the others.

"Care to find out?" Rosa put her finger on the small lever of the jukebox and said, "This is your last chance to take my offer. If nobody wanted it, then I\'ll play this tune and leave."

Her nose wrinkled as she smiled. "I\'m easy to deal with. If you don\'t want to take my offer, then I\'ll just go."

"Wait!" a man stopped Rosa before she could pull the lever.

He stepped forward and paused just ten meters from her, and said with a serious face, "I\'ll take your offer."

"What?" another protested, "If we work together–!"

"Shut up," the man barked, "it\'s my choice. I don\'t want to risk my life here. If there\'s an opportunity to advance without losing my life, then I\'ll gladly take it."

Rosa nodded. "Smart move."

"Heh. Coward," the others barked. But not before long, more and more stepped forward and accepted Rosa\'s bargain.

"Glad that you use your brains rather than your brawns." Rosa beamed, and then her face turned serious. "But don\'t try anything funny because I am not the woman to be mess with. You won\'t like it when I\'m mad."

The others visibly trembled when the air felt cold, and it was hard to breathe.

Everyone sensed that Rosa wasn\'t joking, and they felt a bit of her power. She wasn\'t like them or anyone they met. Her power was immense and hard to grasp, even with their rank.

Who was she? They wondered.

"Alright, now." Rosa clapped her hands to get the others\' attention. "Line up everyone and present your treasures for me to choose. Your item must be to my liking. If not. . ."

Rosa purposely hung her sentence and beamed. "Well. .. let\'s just say that I only deal with those who are worth my time."

The others frowned. Her beautiful face was a contrast against her personality.

At the side, both Ryu and Fifi sighed in surrender.

Eventually, some experts bleed their hearts out after their items were \'given\' to Rosa, but that changed when they bested the statue and exited the door. Though their hearts lamented that the secret was as simple as that. If only they have enough patience brains to observe more.

But it was done. They already performed a seal of promise not to divulge the secret to anyone so Rosa could capitalize on the trick.

The others who still felt reserved about the idea couldn\'t help but be lured by the secret as well, and they all had no choice but to bargain with the shrewd woman.

"What about the treasure chest?" Ryu asked when it was just him, Rosa, and Fifi left in the dungeon. Rosa was about to challenge the statue, which baffled Ryu. was she going to give up the treasure chest?

Rosa just smirked. "I already got a lot from those mercs. No need to risk our lives on a treasure chest."

That didn\'t sound like her. Ryu mused to himself. But he wasn\'t about to complain. Less sacrificing himself in dangers and being her cannon fodder, the better.

After their ninth dungeon, the group made their way to their tenth dungeon, and once more, they were given an option to continue or go back to the surface.

Like before, some experts chose to exit the place while a small portion remained. It was said that the deeper dungeons were more perilous than the previous ones, and these scared a lot of mercenaries after they tasted the numerous life-threatening puzzles.

They\'d rather face beasts that solve puzzles where they\'d died without knowing what happened. At least with beasts and monsters, they had the chance to flee for their life.

Ryu swept the room they were in but still no sign of Seraphina, even Cathy. He was beginning to worry for Seraphina, but Rosa brushed the scowl on his face with a flip of her hand.

"We\'ll take an hour\'s break and resume to the next dungeon."

"Don\'t you want to sleep first?" Ryu asked. He didn\'t know how many days they had spent on the dungeon, but he knew that Rosa barely got any sleep.

"No need." Rosa went to an empty corner and closed her eyes.

Ryu had to wonder where she got her stamina from. Was taking an hour\'s sleep enough for a human? He wondered.

"Is she going to be okay?" Ryu asked Fifi.

Fifi shrugged. "I think so. Master is always like that. When she sets her mind into something, she won\'t rest until she gets it."

"What kind of god-tier item she\'s looking for?"

"I don\'t know. It could be anything as long as it is a god tier."

Ryu tilted his head. He wondered if his items were God tier. If he showed it to her, would she give Ferris then?

It was worth the try.

Ryu approached Rosa, and before he could open his mouth, Rosa stopped him.

"I\'m not interested, halfbreed."

Ryu groaned and went back to Fifi\'s side while the latter awkwardly laughed.

"Forget it, Ryu. My master wouldn\'t change her mind whatever you do."

"I noticed," Ryu grumbled under his breath.

In the end, there were still about twenty experts who proceeded onwards. Ryu flexed his neck and stretched his muscles as they entered their next dungeon.

What stumbled upon them in the eleventh dungeon was the same puzzles but this time. .. it was worse. They had to work together.

They came together upon a perfectly ordinary-looking room, and when the doors closed and locked, the floor started to tilt. Everyone\'s reflexes were fast, and they immediately broke apart to even the floor, keeping themselves from slipping into whatever was waiting for them from below.

But the key to the next dungeon was hook at the center of the floor, and any slight movement would cause a tilt in the floor. They were even-numbered, and they must work together to keep the balance and reach the key.

It wasn\'t that hard considering if all worked together. The tricky part was that some attempted to move faster, thinking their speed was enough to land them on the center and grabbed the keys before the floor tilted. But even just the slightest movement from the other side caused the floor to flip. It was a good thing that they realized it sooner and went back to their side of the floor.

The trick to coming out from there alive was working together. One of each group moved to the center simultaneously and grabbed the key to insert it in the door, which was found just in the middle of the room.

Eventually, they all passed and moved to the twelfth dungeon. As soon as they entered, the door disappeared, and they found themselves in a freezing land with no exit in sight.

It was a first that they were transported into an actual landscape and not just in a room.

They didn\'t know what to expect, but soon, the freezing particles in the air stuck to their skin and slowed them down. Any spells or skills couldn\'t remove it. Adding challenge to the trick, growls of beasts and monsters were fast approaching.

"Run!"

Without hesitating, Ryu grabbed Rosa and dashed it while Fifi entered her bottle to hide. With the particles sticking to her skin, she would just slow them down.

"Run faster halfbreed," Rosa ordered when she took a peek behind Ryu\'s shoulder and found that the monsters and beast were gaining speed in their direction.

Those who were a little slower were all toppled and eaten to the ground while the freezing particles continued to stick on their skin, drastically slowing them down until all of them were covered with ice, and they turned into popsicles for the monsters to feast.

Ryu was feeling that effect too. If it weren\'t for some of his beast\'s power released from the seal, he wouldn\'t be able to make it towards the portal just ahead.

When they reached their thirteenth dungeon, they were barely five of them from their original number of twenty. If Ryu were a little slower and didn\'t have his beast\'s power, he would have surely died with Rosa.

Rosa\'s face was pale as well. The dungeon\'s level of difficulty was slowly sinking on her. They didn\'t even have the time to search for the treasure chest! And with some of the dungeons restricting her skills, she was powerless –– good as any ordinary mortal.

----

A/N

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