Dungeon of Pride, Laplace

Precious treasures like the spirit orbs wouldn't be left behind in the custody of the ordinary members of the guild. The guild leader and the vice guild leader are most probable to have it with them.

"T-This…" the mouth of the guild leader of the lightning storm guild, twitched. He wanted to outright dismiss that request but given that the requestor was that grey haired man, he hesitated.

"This Sir… the space rings are a very personal thing. It not only contains all our possessions, but also things that are a guild secret" he tried to reason but the grey haired man simply snorted in derision.

"You think that those guild secrets of yours have any meaning to me? Let me guess, guild leader of the Lightning Storm guild. The real reason why you aren't willing to show us the contents of your space ring is because you are afraid that all the misdoings of your guild would come to light along with that item you have stored inside isn't it".

"I don't understand…" the latter tried to feign ignorance.

"Sigh, I see how the demon had played with all of you. You all don't even realise that you have fallen into the trap that the master of this dungeon has laid for all of you".

"You don't need to show us the contents of your ring, just check if you still have that item or not" the grey haired man pointed out.

The guild leader hesitated for a while before gesturing something with his chin. His vice guild leader, Norman nodded his head and checked the spatial pocket of his space ring. The instant that he did, a gobsmacked look plastered on his face.

"What? This… how can this be?".

"What's wrong?" the former asked in doubt.

Norman looked at his guild leader and replied in a stupid manner "It's gone…"…

"What is?"…

"The spirit orbs are gone. It's not there" Norman explained in a panic. He took out all the contents of his space ring and ended up doing exactly like the other party wanted him to; nevertheless, the thing he was searching for, the spirit wasn't among his possessions.

"As I thought so" the grey haired man muttered as he dismissed the light pillars.

"What is going on?" Dalton asked, he was confused as to why the other guild was acting all panicked and disarrayed like that.

The grey haired did not explain and instead took out his transmission conch as he communicated with the parties on the other end of the communication.

"I see… good then, I'm also done over here. Yes, bring all of them to the meeting place" With that said, the grey haired man ended the communication and turned to face the Lightning storm guild.

"Wha-What is going on? How can the spirit orbs just disappear?" the members were utterly confused. "I remember clearly that I kept it in my space ring. There is no way they can just disappear" Norman frantically searched his things hoping that they might be inside or under something.

"The spirit orbs did not disappear, it's still there. Look, those two shiny stones" the grey haired man pointed at the two shiny stones sitting messily amongst the many other things.

"Stop your fighting and come with me, we have an emergency. I'll explain things to you all after everybody has gathered".

Throwing those words behind him, the grey haired man flew away. The two guilds compliantly followed behind, not daring to start another fight on his watch.

In the middle of the valley of the 45th floor, multiple guilds carrying their own crests, could be seen assembling. They each maintained a distance from the other, their eyes flaming with hatred and resentment.

The mood around the surrounding was heavy to the point that one could even smell the gunpowder in the air. The only reason why these guilds haven't started killing each other already is because of a single man that was currently standing at the forefront of all the guilds.

Behind him was some kind of huge cylindrical, mechanical apparatus.

The grey haired man stepped forward, his eyes assessing the remaining number of adventurers that have gathered as he clenched his hands. Out of the four thousand strong primary unit of the expedition force, only a little more than two thousand adventurers survived and gathered here at this place.

This meant that around half of the adventurers died just to reach this point. What's more, the adventurers themselves were to be blamed for their losses. Most of the casualties that the primary unit suffered, were because of the adventurers fighting amongst themselves.

Only a few casualties were incurred due to the monsters.

With them still having a couple more floors to go to reach the floor where the dungeon core was, the present situation where each guild was filled with hatred and murderous intent for another was the worst condition they could be in.

SIGH… feeling the extreme animosity in the air, the grey haired man gave a deep sigh. Although it couldn't be seen because of his mask, but he was at this moment truly and utterly surprised.

His surprise stemmed from the fact that the master of the dungeon who he had dismissed as just a mere demon viscount, would turn out to be such a cunning and scheming fellow.

'I guess all demons are like that in a way or are you trying to prove that you are different? I must say, even I didn't expect you to be able to play these adventurers like a fiddle. Truly, it feels like I have been slapped in the face for the second time by you'.

'I admit that I didn't see this development coming but if you believe that you have won already, then you are severely mistaken' the grey haired man thought internally, his eyes seemed to be reminiscing something.

After a second or two, he snapped back from his thoughts and addressed the crowd.

"Everyone, you must be very confused and angry at what happened with you all on this floor, and you have every right to be. But before you start fighting and throwing accusations at each other let me tell you the truth. You all have been lured into a trap that the master of this dungeon deliberately set up to sow discord within you".

"Just like the time on the 40th floor, he wants you all to fight amongst each other to reduce your strength. I'm sure that some of the perceptive ones have already realised this, but the spirit orbs that you found inside those treasure chest was just a fake. It was a bait that was prepared to blind you and make you commit all kinds of misdeeds".

The crowd that was burning in anger felt like they were doused with a bucket of cold water when they heard those words. Their fury subsided, replaced by the emotions of shock, doubt and suspicions.

The grey haired already knew that they would react like that, hence he addressed the guild leaders next.

"All the guild leaders, can you take out the spirit orbs that you guys collected from those treasure chests".

The seven or so guilds that have gotten their hands on the item, took out the spirit orbs from their ring and presented them in front of the crowd. All the adventurers bobbed their heads and focused their eyes on the items that was in the hands of all the guild leaders.

Surprisingly, all of them were holding a shiny stone. Some had one while others had two; nevertheless, the point was that each of the guild leaders were holding the same item. A

t the same moment, a question arrived inside the heads of all the adventurers.

'Is that the spirit orb?' Although none of them have seen such a precious treasure in their life before, they at least knew that a treasure of that calibre ought to have a unique presence and aura of it.

However, the shiny stones in the hands of all the guild leaders although they looked pretty and all, they had no other uniqueness to them.

What shocked them to the core, was when they used their [Analysis] on it and found that it was really just a shiny looking stone.

Seeing that the crowd was being swayed in the direction that he wanted to, the grey haired man hammered with the question while the iron was still hot.

"Guild leaders can you tell everyone why and where you got the same shiny looking stones from?".

"It was found inside my space ring in place of the spirit orb. The spirit orb that we collected from the treasure chest had disappeared, and this shiny looking stone appeared inside my space ring out of nowhere".

The testimonies of the guild leaders differed a little from each other but the matter of the fact was still that the shiny looking stone appeared in their space in the place where the spirit orb should be.

There was no possibility of it being a lie because all the evidence was basically right in front of their eyes. They really had been duped, all those killing and struggle was for what? The items that they were fighting for, weren't even real in the first place.

As soon as that realisation struck them, the crowd was shaken to their very core, they suddenly felt empty, a hollow feeling engulfed them and they felt like an idiot for falling for the trap. At the same time, a feeling of frustration, irritation, bitterness all those negative feelings emerged within their heart that they did not know what to do with.

The grey haired man observed all of these changes with his eyes that were narrowed in delight. Now that he had influenced the mind of the adventurers, it was time for him to make his final move.