Iron Keep looks as if he just heard a bad joke, "Underestimate? What is there to underestimate?"

Meanwhile, Mucky starts pulling on Trista's hand, "Come on sis, didn't you hear her?"

Trista allows herself to be dragged over, but she stays vigilant the whole time, staring wearily at us. Iron Keep lifts one side of his mouth, smiling derisively at us while Ruth and the Lei couple walk over to join him.

'So even Ruth wants to kill us, huh? She seemed so nice... guess it was all just an act.'

"Hey, I don't want anything to do with this. I won't say anything, so can't you just let me go?"

Green Horn's question wins him everyone's attention. Trista stops in place, glaring at him, though her gaze seems much weaker than it was before. Meanwhile, Iron Keep puts his hand on his chin, seemingly in thought.

After a few seconds, he nods his head, "Yeah, we can do that."

Green Horn's face relaxes, "Thank you. Don't worry, I won't-"

Iron Keep interrupts, "But you know, given the risks involved for us, I'm sure you would agree that we deserve some sort of compensation. That treasure... the horn, you wouldn't mind parting with that, would you?"

Green Horn's eyes widen, "You shameless... what about this?" he holds out his storage device, which is presumably filled with the one thousand spirit stones given by Trista.

Iron Keep grins, "Is that horn worth your life?"

Glaring, Green Horn talks through his teeth, "How can you prove you won't kill me after I give you the horn?"

Iron Keep shrugs, "We can't, can we?"

After several seconds of silence, Green Horn relents, "Fine! Let me through and then I'll give you the horn. I refuse to until then!"

Iron keep smiles and backs away, followed by the Lei couple and Ruth. Green Horn stares wearily at them while slowly walking towards the doorway.

Trista, still watching Green Horn, starts shaking her head. She then grabs Mucky and resumes walking toward us, but this time she's the one pulling him.

Green Horn continues to the next room, still maintaining eye contact with Iron Keep and the rest.

After a couple more steps, Iron Keep stops him, "That's far enough. Toss me the horn and you can go."

I see Green Horn grab his horn, after which he reaches his arm back in order to throw it, but he freezes as a voice rings out behind him.

"Green Horn? And Iron Keep, and... what's going on?"

'Constrictor? What's she doing back here?'

Constrictor looks past Green Horn and Iron Keep, her eyes finally focusing on Trista and Mucky.

"I just... needed to talk to Trista alone for a minute..."

Iron Keep sighs loudly, "It never goes smoothly, does it? Ruth, Lei."

Suddenly Green Horn turns around and starts running, but before he can get far, a flying dagger pierces his back, followed by another in his neck. He trips and falls to the ground, but still tries to get back up while holding his neck. Soon, though, he's back on the ground, now with a third dagger lodged in his head.

"No need, I'll be enough." says Ruth, already following the frightened Constrictor through to the next room.

Iron Keep shouts, "Make sure to get her! If any of them get away, we're going to have the entire Riddith clan chasing us!"

I watch as Ruth chases Constrictor out of sight. Sure I don't really like Constrictor, but somehow this whole situation leaves a bad taste in my mouth. And that's not even considering Green Horn, who I don't even really dislike.

I manage to talk through all pain wracking my body, "Mama, couldn't you have saved him?"

Mama looks at Green Horn's body, then back at me, "He is the one that decided to cut ties with us, leaving us for dead. Should I save someone who has betrayed us?"

"I... I don't know. I guess not. What about Constrictor?"

"Her survival will depend on her own abilities. She should be safe if she can get outside the dungeon where those people are."

"Probably, yeah."

'Are my personal feelings just clouding my judgment? I guess I'm still not comfortable seeing humans die. Well, humans that I know at least.'

"Are you so scared now that you're talking to yourself? Don't worry, you won't need to be afraid for much longer." laughs Iron Keep.

Mama laughs as well, "Now that I have your attention, I would like to ask you a question. How strong do you think I am?"

Iron Keep almost immediately answers, "You're in mid Qi Awakening."

Mama nods her head, "And now?"

As she asks, I sense the amount of qi emanating from her body increase slightly. Iron Keep looks surprised at first, then smiles.

"I'm not sure how you got your hands on a qi concealing ability, but that amount of strength still isn't going to help you."

Mama smiles, "How about now?"

The amount of qi emanating from her body continues to rise, until it's at about the same level as Mucky's.

"You were in Qi Manipulation this whole time? Why didn't you tell anyone?"

I look back at Trista, and although she asked that, she doesn't seem upset. Instead, her eyes seem to be getting brighter by the second, all of the life that was previously gone returning to them.

"We might just have a chance! Lyna, how do you feel? Can you fight?"

I shake my head, "Terrible and no."

Mama giggles, "Do not worry, you just protect Lyna and your brother. I will deal with them."

"I'll admit that I had no idea you were this strong, but there's no way an early Qi Manipulation brat is going to beat me."

Mama looks at Iron Keep, "Did I say I was done?"

As soon as she finishes talking, her qi starts rising again, but this time even faster. Soon her qi is on the same level as Ruth, but it doesn't stop there. As her qi exceeds that of Iron Keep's, I see him take a step backward, eyes widening.

"Late Qi Manipulation... no, she's got to be half a step to Qi Expulsion! No wait, this must be a trick! I've heard of this before!"

I hear Mama whisper, "That will do."

Iron Keep points at Mama, "Lei, attack her!"

"The Riddith siblings are there. Even if it is a trick, they would still be a danger to me."

Iron Keep grits his teeth and takes a step forward, "Fine! Let's both go."

Mama smiles, "I am not lying."

She lifts her hand up, causing a wall of fire to rise up which blocks the only way out of the room. As soon as he sees what she did, Iron Keep's face changes and his body starts glowing bright silver, but instead of continuing forward, he turns around and dashes toward the wall of flame.

As she sees his reaction, Mama smiles, "Your ability will not help you."

Sure enough, Iron Keep slams into the wall of flames and bounces backward, as if what he just hit was a real wall. Iron Keep turns around and looks at Mama, the fear in his eyes obvious.

"You... what do you want? I'll do anything, I-"

His plea is cut short by a ball of fire, which is practically on him as soon as it leaves Mama's hand. He hurriedly reaches his hands, which start glowing even brighter than the rest of his body, out in front of himself.

Boom!

The fireball explodes on impact, lifting him off the ground and slamming him against the wall. The silver aura around his hands all but disappears, but the attack definitely didn't kill him. Rather, he seems like he might even still be conscious.

'Seems like Mama's holding back quite a bit.'

Suddenly, I hear a swishing sound close by. I look sideways just in time to see Mama piercing her hand straight through the male Lei's chest. But even though her hand went through where his heart should be, he reaches his left hand towards her. The hand doesn't get far though, as smoke starts rising up from where Mama stabbed him, causing the left arm to go limp.

At almost the same time, I hear a thud behind me. Craning my neck, I look at the source of the sound to see the female Lei lying on the ground. It looks like she was headed towards Trista and Mucky, but they must have fended her off.

'No, wait...'

At second glance, she doesn't seem to have a single wound on her. She's even crawling away, though she's only using her right arm and leg. For some reason, the entire left side of her body seems to be paralyzed.

Mama looks over at her as well, and proceeds to walk toward her while materializing her halberd in her hand. I can't bring myself to look, and turn my head away as the blade is swung at her neck.

After she's finished with the Lei couple, Mama starts walking toward Iron Keep. He's currently sitting propped up against the wall, but as soon as he sees Mama, he starts trying to stand up. He goes to use his hands to prop himself up, but immediately recoils and winces in pain. As I look at his arms, I find that both of his hands are nearly unrecognizable, and one of his forearms seems to be broken.

Iron Keep starts inching toward the doorway, "Wait, don't kill me. I... I have a family!"

After hearing his words, Mama jerks to a stop. Seeing her reaction, Iron Keep takes the chance to bolt for the other room, which is no longer covered by a wall of fire.

I see Mama clenching her hand that's not holding the halberd as Iron Keep runs out of the room, as if she's hesitating on what to do. Finally, she holds her halberd up like a spear and throws it, all in one swift movement.

My eyes instinctively follow its trajectory as it flies through air, all the way until it pierces Iron Keep's back. It doesn't stop there though, ripping through his body until it comes out of the other side. I watch as he topples forward, silver fog rising out of his body.

I stare in a daze for a couple seconds, then shake my head violently, the corresponding pain waking me up.

'Ouch ouch ouch, still hurts...'

I try not to think too much about what just happened, and instead turn my attention to my body. All of the fog flowing into me, I can't tell if I feel reinvigorated or even more exhausted. Sure it's refilling my qi reserves, but it's also forcibly circulating through my meridians, which are super sore right now!