The whole grassy plain turned solemn; everyone watched as the head of the Ape King exploded into pieces.

"Boom"

At the same time as the huge head of the Ape King scattered all over the place, the rest of its body loudly fell on its knees. Dreidus' sword already disappeared, resulting in the legs of the Ape King being free to move.

Dreidus wore a tired expression as he allowed himself to sit down on the grass. Next to him, the headless body of the Ape King stayed on its knees, looking like a huge statue covered with blood.

Just like that, a beast king has fallen. The ruler of all the apes of the forest was gone forever.

"Roar!"

The Forest Tiger King angrily roared! While the Ape King was his rival, they made a pact for this mission and promised to work together. In the end, the Ape King was dead without fulfilling their promise.

Although the Ape King was dead, the situation for the dungeon was dire. Dreidus was clearly exhausted and Lyra was already bordering death with barely any HP left. The 3 harpies were still healthy but after casting so many [Wind Blades] and the final [Aeroblast], their mana pool was completely depleted.

As for the monsters, only 4 Death Knights were left on this floor! There was still a few skeletons and shades on the second floor but against the Forest Tiger King, they did not represent anything.

The Forest Tiger King was well aware of the situation. Although he only had 60% of his HP, he stared at the remaining monsters with anger, ready to shred them to pieces. Even if he was tired, the strength and agility of the Beast King should not be underestimated but at that moment, a voice rang at his ears.

"I know you can understand me... You are the only one left! Do you really want to fight to death?"

"Master!"

"Master! Go back!"

The harpies quickly flew towards the approaching Five. It was indeed him who just spoke to the Forest Tiger King, warning the beast.

The harpies knew they were the last line of defense! They needed to protect their master at all cost and so, positioned themselves around him like bodyguards.

The Forest Tiger King went on his guard. He indeed perfectly understood Five but he could not speak the human language. "So you are the dungeon master... Trying to scare me? All your minions are already on their death bed! And you will soon be joining them!"

Five looked calmed and confident as he stopped at a reasonable distance from the Forest Tiger King such that he would not be able to instantly kill him. Unfortunately, all Five heard were grunts, howls and a combination of other sounds coming out of the Beast King. He did not know the Beast language and had no way of understanding but at least, he now knew that the Forest Tiger King indeed understood him!

In response, he simply said, "Oh?" with a surprised tone.

The Forest Tiger King suspiciously looked at him. For the first time, he felt some doubt; the way the dungeon master was acting clearly meant that he had something in mind! Could it be that he still had some trump card?

'Impossible! This dungeon was only set up a few weeks ago! This should be all the resources he has accumulated. It is already impressive to have 3 full floors, but could he have more? If he is here, that means the next floor is where the core is but why does he look so confident?' thought the Forest Tiger King.

He was internally debating what to do next. The thought of consuming the dungeon core was alluring! If he really consumed it, he might be able to exponentially improve his strength! But at the same time, he valued his life! What if there really were some unaccounted variables in the equation?

As for Five, he was calmly looking at the Forest Tiger King simply because he really did have something in mind! It was not a trump card; it was just that as the group of beasts was annihilated and the Ape King had been slain, his DP balance naturally shot up.

As a boss monster, the Ape King provided 3 times the amount of DP a normal monster would have produced. Five's DP balance was abnormally high.

His balance now amounted to 400000 DP! Even the death of the Ape King did not explain how he suddenly got that much but now was not the time to think about the source of the DP.

He needed to deal with the crisis first!

"Since you are doubting me, I guess I can show you... I was thinking about saving the DP for the dungeon... But since it is necessary, let me show you!" declared Five.

Under the Forest Tiger King's watch, he quickly pressed the confirmed button on the interface window and learned a new skill! Without waiting he started chanting!

The Forest Tiger King's eyes widened! He immediately understood what was happening! A skill was being used! He needed to interrupt it, or he would really die!

He madly rushed towards Five but the three harpies stood in his way. He could fight the harpies but there was no time, a golden rune was already starting to appear!

Instead, he activated his skill, [Wind Claw]. A transparent claw suddenly appeared right next to Five, threateningly slashing towards his body.

At the same time, the golden rune suddenly shone! The skill was completed! In the background, loud bells suddenly rang!

"Ding Dong Ding Dong!"

The skill Five learned was a high priest's skill, [Heal Bell]. Just like [Aura of Light: Sacred Ground], this skill was also designed to target all the user's allies at the same time! The [Heal Bell] could heal and restore the mana of all the allies who could hear the bells.

Just like [Aura of Light: Sacred Ground], the amount it healed was mediocre compared to other healing spells. But in this situation, it was the best possible skill to use! Five's monsters were not very high leveled, they did not have huge HP bars or Mana Pools!

However, the fact remained that the [Wind Claw] was mercilessly making its way towards Five. As good as healing was, if the target was dead, the healing would be for naught! And with Five's current amount of HP, it would be a miracle if he could survive the Forest Tiger King's skill.

Five finally completed the chanting but he did not have time to celebrate! Even if he wanted to dodge, it would be too late to do so. He could only close his eyes and wait to be sent inside the dungeon core!

At that precise moment, he felt a pair of soft hands press again his body. Surprised, he opened his eyes only to see Angela in front of him; her eyes were closed as she was facing the other way.

The harpies were naturally sensitive to wind magic and as soon as she felt the [Wind Claw] being cast, Angela immediately moved towards Five. She ruthlessly pushed him away from danger as she took his place! She did not aim to be ruthless but in this scenario, there was no time to think! She only thought of protecting her master! As long as he was safe, the rest of the dungeon, including her sisters would also be fine!

Out of the three harpies, Angela was the fastest! Although they were of the same race, the harpies had different characteristics and slightly different stats. Alice had the best strength of the three while Ariel had the highest Intelligence. As for Angela, her forte was Dexterity which not only gave her better reaction times but also a faster movement speed.

Angela closed her eyes and turned her body to minimize the damage. She was scared of the pain but decisively took this course of action!

"Tchac!"

The vicious [Wind Claws] lacerated Angela's side as a trail of blood flew in the air.

"Angela!!"

"Sister!"

The two harpies screamed and rushed to her side. Angela's HP dwindled but fortunately, it stopped at 11 HP!

As she pushed Five away, her body did not take the exact original position of Five's. With the momentum she had, her body continued to move forward and as the [Wind Claw] struck, it was only able to hit her on the side! Thanks to that, although Angela took a lot of damage, it was not enough to kill her.

In the background, the bells were still ringing and almost instantly, the long wounds on the young harpy's body started to close and disappeared without leaving any scars.

Angela's frail body fell straight on Five who quickly reacted by catching her. The young harpy's face was still displaying a painful expression. Tears appeared at the corner of her eyes as her small body trembled. She was visibly still mentally affected and so, Five could only hold her in his arms for the moment.

He angrily stared at the Forest Tiger King who was warily looking at his surroundings.

The Forest Tiger King instinctively knew the effects of the skills and as he expected, the skeleton who was lying next to the Ape King suddenly stood up and started walking towards him. At the same time, the Banshee Queen who moments ago was bordering death also stood up and approached him.

"F*ck! I missed my chance!" The Forest Tiger King cursed in his mind as he took a few steps back. He was confident in dealing with any of them in a duel but if they attacked him as a group, he was not guaranteed to win!

If he was still full HP, he might have fought but with only 60% HP, he was unsure of himself. He could take down a few but, in the end, he had a very high chance of also failing! He valued his own life above everything else. What was the use of obtaining the dungeon core if he was going to die? He was not doing a charity where he would give the dungeon core to the Cobra King.

"F*ck, I should have left when I had the chance!"

Now that he had attacked the dungeon master, he might not have the opportunity to leave again! He gauged the skeleton and the Banshee Queen and knew that they could once again turn into that powerful form. Facing them together would be really bad for him, especially if the harpies and their strange technique were added in the mix.

He was ready to fight to death when to his surprise, the dungeon master looked at him with contempt, "You are still here? Looks like you really want to fight seriously?"

The Forest Tiger King froze, his brain slowly processed what was happening, was he free to go even after he attempted to hurt the dungeon master?

Although it was just a supposition, the Forest Tiger King started to retreat and seeing that nobody was moving to stop him or even attack, he quickly stopped caring and ran at full speed towards the exit. He just wanted to get away from here and save his life.