"Look at you, acting like a big shot," Henrietta, the Guildmaster of Serenity, which represented Barbatos Academy said as she elbowed the Half-Elf''s side yfully. "To think that the sickly caterpir whom Iris loved would emerge into a handsome butterfly. You''ve surely made her proud."


    Lux smiled as he looked at Henrietta, who served as one of Iris'' close confidants in Barbatos Academy.


    He didn''t expect Henrietta to be one of the five members that would represent the Six Kingdoms on this Dungeon expedition.


    "What made youe here?" Lux asked. "Aren''t you supposed to be doing a mission somewhere?"


    Henrietta covered her lips and chuckled before giving Lux the "I knew you''d say that" gaze.


    "The Headmaster told me to keep an eye on you and make sure that you didn''t do anything stupid," Henrietta replied. "Also, I wasn''t present at the tournament, so I didn''t see how awesome you were. This time, show me a bit of that awesomeness, okay?"


    Henrietta gave Lux a yful wink, making the Half-Elf roll his eyes. For him, Henrietta was that Big Sister he never had, always protecting Iris and him from those who said bad things about them.


    "Okay, Sister," Lux replied. "I will show you how awesome I am. Just make sure you don''t fall in love with me, okay?"


    "Fool. Did you forget that I already have a fiance? Even if you are stronger than my man, I will not exchange him for you. Otherwise, Iris would definitely give me a good nagging."


    "Speaking of your fiance, where is Hector?" Lux asked.


    "Managing the Guild in my ce."


    "I already knew that he is going to be a henpecked husband, but hearing it from your own lips confirms my guess."


    The two exchanged several yful jabs at each other while the Half-Elf gave the other representatives of the Six Kingdoms a side-long nce.


    The Prince of the Elves, Enlil Neifion, who had escaped during the tournament in fear of his life, was there to represent the Elves.


    Gilmore Faisal, the young sword prodigy, who had fought against Keane in the tournament, was there to represent the Axton Kingdom.


    Two other teenagers, whom Lux didn''t recognize, were also there to represent the rest of the Six Kingdoms. ording to Henrietta, both of them were also prodigies, who were known in their circle as Brett and Rhett.


    The two of them were twins, and both had short ck hair. The only difference between them was the color of their eyes. Brett had blue eyes, while Rhett had green, allowing others to tell who was who.


    As for the representatives of the Xynnar War Pact and Skystead Alliance, Lux didn''t really care who they were.


    "Let''s go," Lux said. "Remember, follow my orders. Those who don''t want to obey can just solo the Dungeon on their own."


    The Half-Elf, alongside Cai, Keane, Einar, Val, and Xander, ced their hands and hoof on the Gate of the Domain, allowing them and their party members to enter the Domain of the Fallen.


    The people that apanied Lux had all entered the Domain at least once, making them very familiar with their surroundings.


    Everyone knew that the hardest part of the journey was the trek to the entrance of the Sacred Dungeon.


    Several powerful Monsters that were Deimos-Ranked and above wandered in the vicinity, always on the lookout for the flesh and blood of the weaker teenagers, who were starting to be a regr part of their diet.


    Lux, who was paying attention to his Soul Book that was hovering beside him, frowned.


    Right now, his Soul Book was invisible to everyone because the owner of the book had the option to only allow those whom they trusted to see it and keep it hidden from those whom they didn''t trust.


    ''This is bad,'' Lux thought. ''The moment we entered, the monsters positioned themselves to ambush us along the way.''


    While the Half-Elf was deep in thought, Malcolm and his group had started to walk in the direction of the Sacred Dungeon without waiting for Lux''s orders.


    "Aren''t we going to follow them?" Henrietta, who stood beside Lux, asked as she tapped his shoulder.


    "If they want to die so badly then let them die," Lux replied. "I''m not here to babysit them. They''ve been inside this Domain numerous times already, and they still don''t know the basic rule that there is safety in numbers. Maybe they think that the five of them can beat an Argonaut Ranked Beast by themselves."


    After entering the dungeon, Einar, Val, and Xander didn''t move from their spot and waited for Lux to give his orders.


    Although they were the leaders of their own Guilds, they already treated Lux as their temporary leader whenever they entered the Domain of the Fallen.


    The members of the Six Kingdoms, as well as the Xynnar War Pact, also stood by his side. Although they didn''t know what the Half-Elf was waiting for, they had been given strict orders to follow him whether they liked it or not.


    Malcolm, who was leading the representatives of the Skystead Alliance, nced behind him and frowned.


    "What are you all waiting for?" Malcolm asked. "Do you n to stay there for the entire day? Hey, Leader, what''s wrong? Did you suddenly get cold feet?"


    The members of the Skystead Alliance allughed after hearing Malcolm''s words.


    They were already very annoyed by the fact that they had to follow the Half-Elf''s orders, but now that Lux wasn''t moving from his spot, their annoyance turned to irritation.


    "Let''s go," Lux said as he walked in a different direction, stepping away from the established route that those who entered the Domain of the Fallen had always used to head towards the Sacred Dungeon, catching everyone by surprise.


    Cai and Keane followed behind Lux, as did Einar, Val, and Xander.


    They hadplete trust in the Half-Elf, so even though they weren''t sure where he was going, they still followed him due to their previous experiences when they fought alongside him.


    ''This is interesting,'' Henrietta thought as she followed behind Lux.


    She was sent there by the Headmaster of Barbatos Academy to keep an eye on Lux, so she would do as she wasmanded.


    Enlil clicked his tongue, but he also followed behind the Half-Elf despite his innate hate for filthy half-bloods.


    Gilmore also followed, not because he trusted Lux, but because he trusted the judgment of the person whom he deemed as his rival, which was Keane.


    He believed that the mysterious swordsman could make sound decisions, so he decided to follow his hunch and tagged along.


    One by one, the representatives of the different factions followed the Half-Elf, leaving Malcolm and his group staring at them from a distance.


    "Captain, what should we do?" one of Malcolm''s subordinates asked.


    Malcolm narrowed his eyes before making a gesture that they should follow Lux.


    Since they were all wearing artifacts that allowed their superiors to observe what was happening inside the Domain, they couldn''t defy Lux''s orders, or they would be punished if their mission ended early due to their stubbornness.


    As the teenagers took a detour, the Monsters that nned to ambush them remained. They were not aware that the Humans were already heading in a different direction instead of following the path they had always taken whenever they entered the Domain of the Fallen.