Chương 46: The Self-Proclaimed King

"Kill him," Victor ordered. Everyone present was shocked to the core by the blatant order to kill someone. They were all stuck in this strange place; instead of working together to find a way to escape death, this arrogant brat was ordering people around to kill whoever opposed him.

"Mr. Victor Pleasence, do you think this is your firm, where you can order whatever you want? Open your eyes and see the truth," the woman who spoke previously cried out upon hearing Victor casually order a kid to be killed.

"If you do not want to cooperate with everyone, you can go and do whatever you want. Do not order the people here around. If that is what you want, then everyone will be dead before this place can even kill us," she continued, with furious anger on her face.

"You bitch, who do you think you are? Do you think this place is your firm, allowing you to yell at people? Open your eyes and look at where you are. Here, in this place, I am the one who gives orders, and everyone must follow them obediently. If you question my authority, everyone will be slaughtered like chickens," Victor declared. After hearing the youth speak about killing them, everyone involuntarily took a step backward as dread permeated their hearts.

Since they were all Utility Awakeners, they did not possess any innate abilities that could be used to fight. Hence, they had to obey those who possessed strength, even in the outside world. One did not even have to mention this place. Similar to the others, Arthur was shocked by the sudden dictatorship declaration. However, judging by this conversation between the lady and the young man, Arthur felt they knew each other.

Coming out of his thoughts, he could fight this group, but there would definitely be lethal damage on their side. Because there was a total of seven people in the Victor's group, at least three of them must have a [Theta] standard core layer. Considering his and his Skeletons' strength, and considering the others who could fight with him, there would be three people with a [Delta] standard core layer on his side. Arthur guessed they would not fare very well. If they were to fight, there would be losses.

If he had two Master level Skeletons, he would have handled this issue easily.

"Now, Van, get all the food over here. As a leader, I am the one who will distribute it," Victor ordered the middle-aged man waiting for the confirmation to kill Arthur. After hearing this, Van put down the broadsword. With glee on his face, he picked up the whole package and carried it to the group. Arthur did not say anything. He felt waiting would yield a better result instead of opposing the dictator. He wanted to see what and how this place functions.

Then, he may have to act accordingly, instead of acting prematurely and putting other lives on the line.

"Okay, everyone, hand over your Awakening Sigils. I will distribute the work based on your Class," Victor ordered as he chewed on dried meat.

"I think we cannot win if we fight, so we have to do whatever he asks," Arthur muttered to Susanne and his group. The others who stood near also heard and nodded their heads, agreeing with Arthur's decision. This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author's work. With that decision, everyone handed over their sigils to a lady named Joanna, who strangely had a guitar hung on her. What kind of affinity did a guitar have? Arthur was confused by it.

"Van, look at this. We have a few big names here," Victor said in a surprising tone.

"We have Persoff, Gielgud, Raymond, and finally, Winters," he said, separating the four sigils. Arthur knew Gielgud was Susanne's family name. But for the rest, he did not have any idea. In fact, he was not aware of any other family names from the party. These issues were very minute for Arthur. What his inner mind was currently going through was how he was going to escape from this trial.

He could, however, easily finish this trial within an hour if only he held contract payments for the Great Grandmaster status Skeleton workers. Every labyrinth would have different standard monsters. With his current Skeletons, he could reach three labyrinths, but after that, his Skeletons would not fare well; they would get destroyed. He had very limited time, only two weeks. With no day to waste, he had only 11 days to complete his System Quest; otherwise, he would become blind.

He needed to escape this trial within 8 days, and with the remaining three days, he would search for the Night Crystal. It seemed impossible to defeat the Omega standard monster within 8 days. The more he thought about the time period, the more agitated he became. How was he going to achieve this?

"Carroll Persoff, Susanne Gielgud, Nickolas Raymond, Renata Winters," Victor called out the four names. To Arthur's surprise, Nickolas also belonged to a big family—Raymond—which he had no prior knowledge about.

"Renowned figures, please come to this side. You know what, Ms. Casey Merriman, you also please come over here. Even though you guys considered your firm to be equal to mine, we never entertained that silly thought anyway. But since you are a considerably big figure in this place, I should treat you well compared to the commoners," Victor said, calling out the lady who had bravely spoken against him before.

"You five will act as team leaders. You will all report to my subordinates," Victor pointed to the six people standing behind him.

"Next, let's see what other interesting things we have here. Oh, how could we forget our paladin? Step forward, noble Arthur Purchase," Victor called out Arthur's name.

"Very brave of you, kid. Let's see… mmm, a Skeleton Summoner Class. A very strange Class. What do your Skeletons do?" Victor asked. What did his Skeletons do? His Skeletons could do whatever their profession dictated, but what should he say to this dictator? Should he give an honest answer about their professions, or should he provide a vague response?

"They can do all sorts of mundane jobs like cleaning, digging, fighting, and so on…" Arthur said.

"Well, that is disappointing, since all these people can do the exact same things like cleaning and digging. And fighting… well, fighting is not so sure," Victor pointed at the group of Utility Class Awakeners. Victor's gaze then drifted toward the three Skeletons standing beside Arthur. Currently, he had summoned only three: Coburn, Dolph, and Bathory.

"What Core layer do your Skeletons hold?" he asked.

"My Skeletons do not absorb Cores, so I suppose they do not possess any Core layer," Arthur said, purposely omitting any mention of their Professional Status information.

"Well, that is disappointing. Since these two wield weapons, you are in charge of meat. I want you to go out, hunt monsters, and collect meat for food," Victor instructed.

"Charlton Flynn, Laurene Aldredge, and Daniel Pearl, you three will be on the hunting team," Victor announced.

"You will all report to Ms. Susanne Gielgud." Soon, everyone received their designations and their reporting team leaders. Arthur's hunting team consisted of Charlton, the man with the sword affinity; Daniel, the middle-aged man who had requested water earlier; and Laurene, a young woman in her mid-twenties. The inauguration of this new kingdom within the Maw continued for a while before it finally concluded. Afterward, Arthur's hunting team was ordered to head outside the safe zone to hunt monsters.

Arthur and his team walked out into the open field.