No one, especially Alator, had any intention of answering these words. Their warrior pride, which had been elevated by massacre upon massacre since the moment they stepped onto the lands of the Mercenaries' Lodge, was in a worse state than ever before with a few days of lessons.
They had neither fully experienced the carnage on the Wild Swamp nor had they been in an actual war until the last few days. The Orc Military Academy wasn't treating them like they treated their compatriots they took their name from, and they weren't in danger of perishing to gain an ability only a few people could learn.
The Orc Empire practically wrapped their greatest allies and battle partners, who added power to their power, in cotton wool. They didn't withhold from their friends who wanted to use magic for offensive purposes the same opportunities they provided for druids who wanted to develop themselves in defense and support.
Beside what they learned during training, there were many lessons they couldn't get, and the Blood God was like a meticulous teacher going over the subjects that had been left incomplete in the last few days. She was bitterly reminding them that the destruction they created since entering enemy lands was thanks to her presence. It was because the Blood God practically danced in the midst of chaos, or even became the chaos itself, that they could comfortably stand inside their magic circles.
"Do you think I haven't noticed that you haven't faced the troubles brought by the fate you chose, and inwardly developed a feeling of contempt towards your compatriots who chose the path your ancestors walked?
Shortly, I will shatter that shapeless rock and the path leading to the Reward Dungeon will be revealed. I hope when you enter you realize that you are actually far behind your other compatriots; at least they have abilities to protect themselves, whereas you have no option other than attacking.
Ask yourselves this, what is my difference from any energy weapon? If you can find even one answer, there's no need for you to enter, but if no matter how hard you push nothing comes to your mind, accept that you are inferior to your compatriots who will give at least three different answers to this question."
Doing what she said as soon as she finished her words, Nafız destroyed the rock standing alone in the middle of nowhere, never to exist again, with a single whip strike. Now, in the place where it used to stand, a magic circle two paces wide stood, and along with its appearance, screams began to be heard from where the bone piles were. It was unknown whether they were suffering or striving to warn Nafız and the Elemental Ten, but even though they got a little further away every second, their cries didn't cease.
"I guarantee you won't suffer any harm if you wait here, but if you are brave enough to face what your choice brings, be my guest and go ahead!"
For the first time since they set foot on the continent, the Blood God stepped back and gave priority to the others, and Alator, staggering into the magic circle amidst the gazes of his nine subordinates, intended to fill her void. When the leader of the Elemental Ten made his move, his deputy Siomha, and then the whole team followed him; despite everything they experienced in a short time, they were fast, as if shouting that their courage wasn't broken.
"Well then, we're on a ride to nowhere!"
Finally, the Blood God stepped into the magic circle and, a breath later, had the chance to open her eyes accompanied by sweet scents. The screams of the bone army were replaced by the chirping of birds, the fog reducing visibility to less than a pace by the iodine-laden air coming from the sea.
"I guess there is no one else here but me, right? How weird to know this used to be a dungeon on the Hell Realm, whereas the four hosted by the Other Realm had managed to push me to my limits!"
Taking off her leather armors starting from her shoes, when only her green skin remained on her, Nafız let herself into the turquoise-blue waters in a single move. She had never been able to do this after watching a world-famous director's shark movies that traumatized a generation, but right now, despite the waters covering half her face, she could lie on her back.
The surface of the sea was like a sheet; the sun was planting small kisses on the exposed parts of her face, and Nafız was peaceful enough to want these moments to last forever. Unfortunately, every good thing had to have an end, the metallic voice that entered her life when she died in the metrobus accident was trying to abrade her ears again.
"No impure part has been detected in the soul of the dungeon conqueror. The Confrontation Dungeon will not be able to give a reward, but this crystal-clear soul will have the right to revisit the dungeon whenever it wants.
Now make your choice; when do you want to leave the Confrontation Dungeon?"
Nafız, purified with Berkut's legacy, had nothing to take from here. She had obtained the chance to return and try again for a mishap she might experience in the future, and the dungeon was telling her she could leave immediately if she wished.
Was such an amazing place the reason why the bones belonging to hundreds of people and at least as many consciousness remnants at its entrance were in that state? Nafız was knowledgeable enough about dungeons to know this appearance was special to her, and she was making her choice based on her experiences.
"I want to stay here until the last second of the time given for the trial!"
Who knows when she would get such an opportunity again? The unbearable lightness of taking a vacation in a dungeon where she didn't experience the danger of dying or failing caused her to rise a handspan above the surface of the water.
If the members of the Elemental Ten saw her in this state, they might consider committing suicide, but their current reality didn't even allow them this chance. The dungeons of the Hell Realm hosted a grand confrontation the person experienced with their inner world, and for the druids who hadn't even experienced the dungeons in their own homelands yet, the situation was much graver.
They needed a huge motivation not only to abandon the path of war their ancestors followed for centuries but also their principles of living. It was certain this motivation wasn't external; somewhere inside them, they must have had an abnormality, which didn't exist in other druids, providing them the courage to commit such audacity.
It was obvious that even if they knew its existence like their own names, they hadn't been able to show the courage to face it up to today. Otherwise, instead of Alator, that person should have led the Elemental Ten because a person who has found themselves once no longer has anything to lose on this earth. And the one who has understood the human within themselves once, understands all humans.
In order to lead, a person first needed to gather the parts within themselves possessing different characters, thoughts, even appearances, and ensure they followed their core being, and this was what the druids who were members of the Elemental Ten were trying to do.
In the area where each dungeon conqueror was, different scenes caught the eye; while some struggled under the blessing of calmness, even if not as much as Nafız, some were sweating in another battlefield, but their only common point was that the environment was shaped according to the element they had mastery over.
The druid walking on the boundless plain where there was nothing but snow and the one fighting wolves inside the forest formed by trees made of ice were taking the same test.
The one in the labyrinth where earth walls were high enough to block the sunlight and the one looking for the exit were using the same element, as well as the one trying to cross the hand-wide bridge while evading earth spears coming from all four sides.
The druid chattering his teeth while bathed in the lava of the fire-spewing volcano and his friend trying to find his way in the dark thanks to the fire he would create had received the same training up to today.
For the first time, they were taking a test according to their core beings, and all of them were considered to be managing the situation somehow, if we don't count the Deputy Leader of the Elemental Ten, Siomha, and Leader Alator.