Chapter 345 First round (23)
When the blonde young man saw this, he said with a nod, "We've all come here with the same intentions, so I feel that we can all work together regardless of what may come between us."
Everyone looked at each other.
There were some that looked at their enemies and there were some that looked at their friends.
It was clear that there was a complicated web of relationships between everyone that was here. Discover exclusive tales on empire
But still, it didn't seem like anyone was against cooperating.
On the other hand, I narrowed my eyes to look at this blonde young man who had come forward.
I recognized him since I had seen his file on the device that Alex gave me.
This person's name was Michael Grace and he came from a guild named Deus Mecum.
This name meant "God is with me".
As the name suggested, this was a guild that had been formed by the Vatican and was the central pillar of Christianity in this world filled with dungeons. This was a guild that gathered all those that believed in God and worked to further the spread of Christianity.
In a sense, it was no different from a cult.
Though if one were to call it a cult, they would certainly be put on the enemy list.
The Vatican had stored up quite a bit of power and had even shown some sacred relics before. These sacred relics had all powered up after mana filled Earth from the dungeon breaks, so those sacred relics couldn't be looked down on.
That was how Deus Mecum had become one of the largest guilds.
Though it helped that they were the largest religion before the appearance of the dungeons.
Right now, the reason why everyone went along with Michael was because Deus Mecum liked to portray itself as a neutral guild.
Following the scriptures of their religion, God loved everyone and we were all children of God, so they remained neutral in most matters.
As such, this Michael could be trusted as a neutral party to gather everyone together because of Deus Mecum's prestige.
In fact, they actually hoped that he would help them navigate the complex web of relationships between them with his neutrality.
Seeing that no one said anything still, Michael continued by saying, "For now, how about we all put aside our differences and figure out a way to reach the center of this cave."
After a pause, he added, "I'm sure that the longer we wait, the worse the situation will be for us."
At this, everyone narrowed their eyes to look at the cave.
They hadn't been able to sense it earlier, but they could feel an increasing aura coming from the cave. It was as if there was something inside the cave that was getting stronger and stronger.
While they had no idea just what it was inside the cave that was getting stronger, they knew that this would be bad for them.
Not to mention the boss of this dungeon, just these monsters that came out after they finished powering up would be too hard to fight.
So for now, it was better to take down whatever was in the cave while we still stood a chance.
Of course, it would be a lie to say that there wasn't a trace of greed hidden in this.
To everyone's surprise, I suddenly said, "I agree with this."
They all looked at me, but the ones that glared at me the most were Alex and Julius.
It was as if they were saying, "What are you doing?"
But they moved closer to me as if they were prepared to help me if anything went wrong.
It was just that things didn't go as they thought they would.
After looking at me for a bit, the others turned back to look at Michael and they also started to state their agreement with this. It was as if I had been completely forgotten even though I had been the first one to say something.
When they saw this, Alex and Julius understood what I was doing.
There was no reason for anyone to suspect me, so even if I said something, they wouldn't think anything of it.
Rather, by being the first one to say something, they would think of me as cannon fodder.
That was because I was someone that agreed so easily, there would be no way that I would be anyone powerful if I folded that easily. This would just make them think even less of me and let me completely fly under the radar.
After understanding this, there was even a trace of regret that appeared in the eyes of Alex and Julius.
If they had followed me and had agreed along with me, then they would have been treated the same way as me.
This would greatly help us later on when we went into the cave.
There was a benefit of being underestimated.
It would make your enemies let their guards down and it would make your friends want to protect you.
While they didn't have many friends, there was no doubt that they had many enemies after what had happened with the mutated Salamander.
So for now, it was best to fly under the radar as much as possible.
After everyone agreed to this, Michael suddenly said, "Then we should come up with some kind of plan for this."
With a nod, there were two others that came over to his side before he said, "If everyone is alright with this, I would like to recommend that the three of us have joint command over this mission. We will not force you to follow our orders, but it would at least be helpful for us to have some form of command to coordinate our actions, right?"
The two that he had called up were from guilds in European countries that were close to the Vatican.
It was clear that this was all premeditated, but slowly everyone nodded in agreement.
It was all because of the latter part that he added.
He wouldn't force anyone to follow his command.
That was the only reason why this flimsy alliance was built.