"What will it be this time?"

Renar asked after observing the surroundings around him. The squad was on the second floor of the underground dungeon.

It wasn't much different from the first one in appearance. The members were situated in the middle of an underground space that was hundreds of meters long and wide. The roof was so high that one could barely see a series of big and small stalactites hanging over them.

"This time we are preparing to fight humans. Well, I call them humans, but they are just apparitions based on some previous rankers, I guess. You'll soon see what I'm talking about."

She explained to the group and looked a few meters away from where they stood. As soon as she had finished explaining, a mana fluctuation was felt in the surrounding.

Using the array and the dungeon's mechanism, a battle ring-like structure was formed. Soon everyone came to know what Lady Zee was talking about.

Six faceless apparitions had appeared on the other side of the battle ring. They looked human apart from the almost non-existent facial features. Instead of eyes, nose, and mouth, it was just plain-looking skin. Additionally, they wore generic adventurer's gear.

"Damn, these guys are spooky. What are we supposed to do now? Fight straightaway?"

Jules asked while looking at the opponents that had appeared. Lady Zee shook her head in denial before responding:

"This time, it won't be a total team effort. The rules should be listed right about now."

Lady Zee finished speaking. And as soon as she did, a spectral list of rules appeared right over the battle ring, allowing the squad members to understand how the second-floor test was going to unfold.

As per the rules, each team would send one member to battle as an individual. The loser would be eliminated while the winner had two options. They could choose to battle another opponent or could quit after their battle was over. Either way, they can't enter the battle ring again.

A team that can exhaust other teams' members first wins the round. The rewards will multiply by twice if the victorious team completes the round with two of its members remaining. The reward would be tripled if the winning team had three members remaining in their team.

"Hold on a minute, if we lose this round, do we take a rematch or start from the beginning?"

Renar asked after reading the rules. Lady Zee laughed aloud at Renar's doubt:

"If we lose the round, we are kicked out of the dungeon then and there. There are no do-overs in this place. Not until we wait for another year. In case you don't know, purgatory can't be accessed all year round.

It only opens for a month every year, around this time of the year. For the rest of the time, it remains sealed. And no matter what we do, we can't get inside. Plus, we can't stay in purgatory forever. If we are alive by the time the purgatory is going to be closed, then we'll be thrown out of the place using space magic, no matter how much we try to oppose it."

Lady Zee said this and looked at her squad members. Her gaze made everyone realize how serious the whole situation was. The members waited quietly for Lady Zee to give her instructions:

"Alright. Now that you understand the rule, we'll decide the order in which we can send our members for the fight.

We can keep things simple to gain maximum benefits. We'll send the one with the highest rating first. That would be you, Ronny. And the member with the lowest rating would go last. That way, the member with the highest ratings would have the chance to fight multiple opponents should they choose to do so.

Ronny, try to clear at least two opponents. Jules will do the same. It would be enough for Renar to just win his battle. I'm expecting the novices to lose. So your and Jules' extra opponents should balance things out.

This way, I'll come to know how much I would have to invest to make our squad win this round. There are a few spells I'd rather not use if I can help it, you see.

Ronny, enter the battle ring. Your opponent will soon follow suit."

Lady Zee laid the order in which her squad would send its members for their battle. As per instructions, Ronny would be first, Jules would be second, and Renar would enter the third. The fourth and fifth places were reserved for Viper and Belar respectively. Lady Zee would enter the battle ring last.

Ronny nodded at Lady Zee and walked towards the battle ring. As soon as he entered the ring, an apparition followed his lead and did the same. Only after entering the ring could Ronny sense the ranking status of the opponent he was going to battle with.

His opponent, like him, was in the E-Rank. Although unlike Ronny, who was at the liquid core stage of E-Rank, the apparition was at a solid stage.

"*Sigh. There are no easy pies here."

Ronny shook his hands and took out his daggers. Too bad he couldn't use any of the awesome rewards he had received for clearing the first floor.

'If clearing the first floor gives you this much wealth, I wonder what else can be obtained after someone clears the second floor.

I would want to defeat at least three opponents and increase the multiplier behind the rewards on my own as well. But let's not get ahead of ourselves and jinx this thing.'

Ronny gripped his weapon hard as he observed the spectral counter that had appeared over the battle ring counting down the start of his first battle:

3

2

1

0

Ronny and his opponent bolted towards each other as soon as the counter hit zero. Ronny executed his first combo to welcome the apparition with a bang:

'Blitz Bolt

Blitz Steps

Sedated Perception

Stunning Speed

Fire Snakes.'

This was the maximum number of spells Ronny could support by sending his mana circuits into hyperdrive. He wanted to save his stamina in the long run as he wanted to take care of three opponents.