Reinhart took advantage of the bandits’ panic and increased the pressure of his attacks. His sudden aggressiveness took the brigands by surprise, and when Rog started to shoot arrows again into their midst, casualties began to mount. Even Rimold also took this opportunity to disengage and harass his enemies from afar.

A massacre ensued.

The bandits’ terror developed into a full-blown rout. Those that weren’t cut down right away tried to run towards Rog and back into the labyrinth. The hunter, however, was quick to put them down.

In just about 30 seconds, there were less than ten bandits remaining from the original twenty. Some of them even threw down their weapons and begged for mercy. Reinhart, however, was having none of it. He killed even quicker than Rog, and a large pool of blood had formed in his surroundings.

Red and Allen watched all of this from the side. This wasn’t the first time the young master had seen Reinhart at work, but it didn’t seem to be any easier for him to stomach. Soon enough, there were only five bandits left who were doing their best to fight back once they noticed they weren’t getting any mercy.

“Leave a few of them alive!” Rimold called out.

It wasn’t certain that Reinhart and Rog had heard him. However, the knight used the flat of his blade to knock the few remaining bandits silly, while the hunter shot another one in the leg. When the battle died down, there were only three bandits remaining, who were made to kneel before Reinhart.

One of the survivors begged at the man’s feet. “P-Please don’t kill me!”

“I-I’ll tell you! I’ll tell you everything you want to know!” another bandit said, holding onto his wounds.

Reinhart frowned with an annoyed expression. “Shut up!”

The bandits immediately quieted down.

The knight turned around, looking at Red and Allen. His eyes eventually wandered towards Lemmond’s body.

Reinhart smiled. “So he’s dead, huh? Just like that?”

“Was he someone important?” Red asked.

“He was one of Rickard’s direct subordinates. Opened all 12 veins too." the knight looked at Rog. “Though I suppose he was no match for you, was he?”

“He was a bit troublesome.” the hunter shrugged. “Nothing more.”

Once again, the hunter’s strength was put into perspective for Red. Not even someone with the same amount of open veins was considered a hard challenge for Rog.

‘He’s not the only strong one.’

Red looked back at Reinhart. He had taken over ten bandits by himself, and he had even planned to come here alone to begin with. Did that mean he was confident about taking all those bandits by himself? Even if the man was strong, the boy didn’t think he would have won in that situation.

“W-What are you going to do with them?” Allen asked, pointing at the surviving kneeling bandits. The young master still seemed shaken up by the battle.

“We’re going to interrogate them, of course.” Rimold said, approaching the men.

The bandits’ eyes lit up once they saw the rogue approaching. “H-Hector, you have to spare us ple-”

“Shut up!” Rimold said with an angry expression. “Don’t speak unless I allow you to!”

“Wow, so you really did use Hector’s name as a disguise?” Rog asked, watching the situation with interest.

“That doesn’t matter right now!” the rogue tried to switch topics. “Now, I have some questions for the three of you!”

The bandits all seemed eager to obey his instructions.

“Who else came here to the dungeon with you?” Rimold asked.

“W-We don’t really know…” the first bandit shook his head. “This trip wasn’t really planned.”

The second bandit was also eager to add information in. “We just received instructions from Rickard to go deeper into the tunnel and before we knew it we ended up in this maze.”

“I-I heard Lemmond use a talisman to talk with Rickard before we went in!” the third bandit added. “They said that almost all bandits in the tunnel camps were also going to go deeper in!”

“And how many bandits was that?” Reinhart asked, barging into the conversation.

“I-I’m not sure.” the brigand shook his head. “We never got to know much about the other camps…”

Everyone in the group glanced at Rimold, looking for confirmation.

“That’s probably true.” the rogue nodded. “I never even got so much as a map of the tunnel network, either. Rickard was very careful with that information.”

“And what about Rickard?” Red asked. “Is he here?”

“D-Definitely!” the first bandit had a confident expression. “I mean, Lemmond told us we were supposed to meet with him in here!”

Red recalled the fluctuation he felt while he was stuck in the illusion. It belonged to someone in the Lesser Ring Realm, so it would fit that it might have been Rickard the boy had sensed.

“Did you meet with anyone else while you were in these tunnels?” Rimold followed up with another question.

The second bandit nodded. “Some of our companions t-that you… That you killed came from a different group that we met in the maze.”

“That’s it?” the rogue frowned. “Did you not meet with anyone else?”

“N-No one at all! We’re telling the truth!”

Rimold had an expression of suspicion. However, when he looked over at the two other bandits, they also seemed to corroborate with their companion.

“Did you not see two women?” Allen interjected. “One has a huge saber, and the other looks like a monk!”

The bandits shook their heads.

“If they had met those two, they wouldn’t be standing here, alive.” Rog said, scratching his beard.

The young master, however, looked disappointed at this revelation.

“What about zombies?” Red asked. “Did you see any zombies?”

He had not forgotten the fact the necromancer had marched underground with an army of undead at his back, either.

Once more, though, the bandits seemed clueless as to what he was referring.

Reinhart, however, looked shocked at Red’s question. “There are zombies here too?”

The boy didn’t see a reason to hide this from him, and nodded. “The necromancer brought a small army of zombies with him to the underground. He’s probably also in this trial.”

The knight’s expression worsened at that revelation. However, he also seemed confused. “If he brought an army of zombies, shouldn’t we be meeting them everywhere?”

Red shrugged. “This labyrinth makes little sense. Maybe it could be much bigger than we think.”

Reinhart nodded in understanding. He looked back at the bandits. “What about your imperial allies? What can you tell me about them?”

“W-We don’t know anything about them either.” the first bandits shook his head. “There were whispers around the camp about it, but Rickard never said anything. When we asked Lemmond, he just told us they were here to help us recover our home.”

“Really?” Reinhart frowned. “Aren’t the imperials the ones who took your home in the first place?”

“W-We were against it in the beginning too… But then they showed these underground networks to us and also gave us talismans and other equipment. W-We achieved more with their help in one month than we did in a year on our own.”

‘The imperials revealed this underground network to them?’

This revelation came as a shock to Red. Could it have been the imperials who build these tunnels in the first place? However, if that was the case, did that mean they were also the ones who built the inheritance trial, too? That didn’t seem to make any sense.

‘Or perhaps they were digging to find this trial in the first place…’

That theory, however, had its own problems. Didn’t the Empire hate cultivators? Why would they go after the inheritance of a cultivator? Were they just here for its resources?

Reinhart’s voice interrupted Red’s thoughts.

“Is this all you know?” the knight asked, the frown on his face deepening.

“T-This is all, I swear!” the first bandit nodded. “Rickard and Lemmond kept those things to themselves… We know nothing else!”

“Well, unfortunately Lemmond is dead, isn’t he?” Reinhart scoffed and looked back at Rimold and Rog. “I suppose this is all I wanted to ask. What about you?”

Neither of them responded. Although these bandits might have some information about their operation on the surface, that wasn’t relevant to their situation right now. In the end, they had provided very little useful information for the group.

“I have another question.” Red interjected.

“Go ahead, then.” Reinhart waved his hand at the boy.

“Why did you all run back towards the tunnel?”

“W-What do you mean by that?” the second bandit didn’t seem to understand his question.

“These doors.” Red pointed at the large doors around the room. “Three of them are open and they seem to lead somewhere else, too. Yet, when you were running away, you all ran back towards the tunnel and directly at the man with the bow and arrow. Why?”

“T-This…” the brigand hesitated. “W-We can’t enter those doors.”

“What do you mean?” Red frowned.

“There are invisible barriers. We tried hitting them and doing everything else, but nothing seemed to work… The other doors would not open either. You can try them yourself! I’m not lying!”

“… There’s no need.” Red shook his head. “I believe you.”

The bandit seemed relieved at his words.

"Is that all you wanted to ask?” Reinhart asked.

Red nodded. There was obviously more he wanted to ask, but these bandits had already proven they did not know much about the situation either.

Rimold sighed. “Well then, we should-”

Before the rogue could finish speaking, Reinhart’s sword swung down. Rimold dove back out of instinct, and Rog also raised his bow towards the knight. Reinhart’s target, however, had been none of them.

Three thuds were heard as the bandits’ corpses hit the ground in quick succession. Their heads had been separated from their bodies by a single swing of the knight’s weapon. Blood began pooling around Reinhart’s feet.

“You…” Rimold stared at the man in horror. “What did you…”

“What?” Reinhart seemed confused. “Did you just plan on letting them leave here alive?”

“That’s not what I…”

“Look.” the knight pointed at the corpses. “These people are the enemy, right? They tried to kill us and probably committed a lot of crimes on the surface, too. Isn’t this just the kind of ending they deserve?”

Rimold didn’t know how to respond.

Red also noticed Allen had begun trembling by his side. The young master didn’t speak up, however, too shocked at the scene.

“You’re right about that.” Rog nodded. “But that wasn’t your decision alone to make.”

“Look, I just expedited the process, alright?” Reinhart shrugged. “You would have eventually killed them, too.”

“Next time, ask first.” Rog insisted and pointed his bow at the man. “Now, go back to the other side of the room.”

“Really?” the knight frowned. “We’re still doing this? After fighting side-by-side?”

The hunter stared at him with a steely gaze. Reinhart just sighed and threw his hands up, following the man’s instructions.

Rog looked over at Red and the others. “Search the bandits. See if you can find anything useful.”

Red and Rimold nodded, while Allen seemed far more reluctant. Red, however, just did the work for two people.

By the end of their search, they had found plenty of things. This included a map of the underground network, a bunch of communication talismans, and two ornamental boxes. These boxes in specific looked similar to the ones they had gotten as rewards for clearing a monster chamber.

Once they had gathered in the middle of the room, Rimold opened them up after checking for traps. Inside the first one, they saw an ordinary yellowish root that seemed to emit a surprising amount of Spiritual Energy.

“Spiritual plant.” Rog said. He looked over at Red. “Do you recognize it?”

The boy shook his head. He hadn’t focused much on plants during his research.

They stored the plant and left it for later assessment. Then they opened the other box. Inside this one, they found another talisman. This item, however, seemed to differ greatly from the talismans they found on the bandits. Even the slip was of a higher quality.

“I suppose no one recognizes this either, right?” Rog asked.

No one responded, confirming his suspicions.

The hunter sighed in frustration. “I suppose we’ll need to wait for Goulth to confirm it.”

“What about my share?” Reinhart asked from the other side of the room.

“What, do you want us to cut the talisman in half?”

“I suppose that wouldn’t work, would it?” the knight shook his head.

Once they were done assessing the bandit’s belongings, the group walked over to the six doors.

Reinhart looked up at the gates. “So… What do we do now?”