The young man looked at Shane in slight astonishment as he halted his steps.

"You know me?"

Shane just nodded his head and answered nonchalantly.

"Milan Myer, right? Didn't you post the forum thread on PrimWeb to warn everyone about this cave?"

Milan felt that something was wrong when he heard what Shane had said

"You...entered the underwater cave despite knowing how dangerous it is? Maybe it's not me who has gone insane…"

Instead of feeling offended, Shane smiled as he shrugged his shoulders

"There is only a tiny difference between being a genius and crazy, thus, I might be a little bit insane."

Suddenly, he got an idea, thinking that Milan knew everything about the underwater cave and his smile turned sly.

When Milan saw this he felt uncomfortable, only to hear Shane giving him the ray of hope he had been looking for a long time.

"If you lead me to the underwater cave hall where the large masses of Syldalyr sand have been carried by the ocean's water flow, I'll grant you freedom. I can take you outside the underwater cave!"

This was something Milan hadn't expected to hear because everyone who had ignored his well-meant advice on his forum thread had just entered the underwater cave.

He was the last to have survived because he knew what kinds of beasts lived in which direction. One could say that he knew the underwater cave better than everyone else.

Milan had lived there for 20 years after all!

Shane was aware of this fact and he could also tell that there had been other groups that should have entered the underwater cave too!

However, nobody had walked out of the cave alive to date and the government was thinking about destroying the cavern entrance.

Yet, in the end, they didn't do so because it was everyone's own decision whether they would enter the underwater cave or not!

It was unknown how many humans had died in the underwater cave, but from Milan's expression that wavered somewhere between hope and ridicule, Shane could tell that many had given Milan the same hope he did.

"I don't really care if you believe me or not, but I have a certain way to take everyone except me outside.

As for me, I'll either use the funds gained through the Syldalyr sand to take me outside or use a different tactic that should work.

You'll have to decide whether to hold on to the ray of hope or not. If you help us, the only benefit we get is that our time won't be wasted!"

Shane and the others didn't need to rely on Milan, because they could venture through the whole underwater cave without anyone's help.

The only advantage was that they would save several days of their precious time if Milan would guide them.

This was also Shane's reason to offer Milan the opportunity to leave.

Adding the fact that Shane had only found out about the Syldalyr sand within the underwater cave through Milan's thread, he had to thank him either way.

As such, he might as well bring him out of the underwater cave!

Milan was still not sure what to think about Shane and the others who seemed to listen to the weakest member of their group unconditionally.

This told Milan that there was something else about Shane he was missing out.

There was not much for him to lose anymore, thus, he accepted Shane's offer before he introduced himself to everyone.

"My name is Milan Myer and I'm...38 years old, Adventurer and researcher!"

It was obvious that he was much older than the rest, otherwise, he wouldn't have been left alone in the underwater cave for 20 years.

However, what astonished the others and even Shane a little bit was the fact that Milan had been able to retain his sanity despite being cut off from human contact for so long!!

At least, that was how it looked like and Shane had yet to find a sign indicating the opposite!

It didn't take long for everyone to get to know each other and the relationship between Milan and the others was simple.

They would help each other in order to achieve their respective goal!

As such, after everyone had rested for a few hours, the trip through the underwater cave continued.

Fortunately, everything had changed, now that they had Milan leading them.

He was confident in his ability to lead the others and it took less than five hours until they found themselves standing in front of a large cave hall.

"We have to be careful here! There are over a dozen peak-Awakened stage beasts called Elemental Champion crabs!

Their strength was at par with an Expert with a mana purity between 65% and 75%..I think?"

Shane just nodded his head, however, instead of being careful, he told everyone to distance themselves from him and prepare for an ambush.

At the same time, Shane summoned Cosmo, while Umbra remained inside the Hidden Paradise.

Milan was confused when he saw a small silver furred fox with a golden streamlike stripe on his back appear on Shane's shoulder.

However, even weirder was the fact that he was approaching the cave hall's center without bothering about the possible dangers.

Nobody seems to care about what Shane was doing, and the only movements Milan could see were the Archers preparing their bow and arrows.

At the same time, the others entered a stance with which they could rush ahead at a moment's notice.

It looked like they were waiting for a sign or something to happen, and Milan, who didn't want the group to overestimate their own capabilities and die, wanted to hold Shane back.

Yet, before he could do so, Kylia grasped Milan's shoulder as she said,

"Stop that. We know that you want to leave the underwater cave, but don't even think of disturbing our plan!"

Since the day before, Kylia's mindset had changed drastically though she felt that there was still something missing.

She had yet to figure out how exactly her mindset should be to help the others as well as possible!

It was obvious that Milan was about to distract everyone and she found that it was her task to prevent him from creating a ruckus.

In the end, she did well, and when Milan had halted in his tracks, he could only perceive that Shane had entered the hall's center.

There had yet to come a beast which was a good sign when Shane's mana absorption skyrocketed!

The entire existing mana in the surrounding area was being absorbed and it didn't take long before the whole cavern hall was devoid of mana.

This woke up every single beast in the large hall, and it didn't take long until they found the culprit!

While several dozen beasts had begun to charge at him, Shane just smiled as lifted his hand.

Yet, nobody was doing anything and everyone was just staring at Shane, waiting impatiently.

Several dozen Elemental Champion crabs appeared out of nowhere and manifested all kinds of long-range attacks. They utilized their affinity and shot at Shane, who stood calmly in the center of the cave hall.

He didn't move a single inch even though hundreds of icicles, fireballs, wind blades, earth spikes, and many more attacks were being shot towards him at a terrifying velocity.

Instead of being scared, he just smiled as he moved his open hand, and folded one finger!

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