"What are you doing here?" Alex asked in a voice louder than intended.

Hearing him, the woman inside raised her head and looked at him.

The young woman had long, wavy purple-blue hair with braids and bangs falling past her shoulders. Her purple-blue eyes looked like delicate gems, and her skin was flawless ivory.

Like everyone else, she too wore [Newbie Set]

Alex knew the person, as it was the second time he was seeing her, though her eyes seemed less bright – he could never forget her beautiful face.

She was Allura One.

One of the rare characters that had helped original Alex when he was being chased by Hero Andreus Lionel.

However, there was one big problem... she was supposed to appear during the third volume, yet she was before him.

Maybe she was always a student of Solace Academy, and Alex didn’t know.

It was possible, considering most of Alex’s academy life had been about surviving the daily threats and bullying from Marcus and others.

Allura blinked a few times and asked in a husky voice, "Who are you?"

Seeing her like this, Alex’s heart dropped.

During the story, he had considered her to be the awaited female lead, but... BrOne had different plans for her, and her current condition made him remember how he had felt back then.

"Are you listening?" She muttered in a slightly annoyed tone.

Her soft voice pulled him out of his reverie, and he answered, "I am Alex."

Allura frowned. "Alex...? Do you mean Alex Blade?"

Alex nodded and smiled.

"Yes. That’s me."

He stepped closer to the cage and cut the lock with the dagger. Then he pulled the iron gate and offered her a hand. "Let’s get out of here."

Allura glanced at his hand, and instead of taking it, she stepped out of the cage and muttered, "Thanks for your help, but I would have escaped myself."

Alex frowned. "What were you waiting for then?"

Allura brushed her hair to the back and replied while looking at the other Players who were still sitting in their cages.

"Why do you think they are like this?"

"Because they’ve become slaves?" Alex guessed.

Allura sighed. "It’s not because of that. Most of them have just got revived, yet they have no hope... It’s because they have already considered their options while hanging in the darkness for the past three days."

"What they fear isn’t the collar but the inability to remove it. Unlike you or me, they have already given up on their lives. Both as a human and a Player."

Alex fell silent. He stared at the trapped Players for a few moments and said, "Humans are greedy and selfish. So as long as those two values exist, one cannot be hopeless. You just have to remind them of their greed."

A surprised expression appeared on Allura’s face, and she whispered, "I didn’t expect that..."

"Did you say something?" Alex asked, confused.

Allura shook her head and said, "I believe you plan to take over this place?"

Alex shook his head. "No, I was planning to use them as a disturbance to escape from here."

"Heh. Is that so?" Allura’s expression turned mischievous, and she said with a smile, "I don’t like having debt, so I’ll help you escape." 𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

"Hmm? How would you do that?" He asked curiously.

Allura chuckled and walked over to the nearest caged Player. "You don’t have to worry about it."

Allura stopped before the cage and spoke to the Player. Alex was unable to hear what she said, though.

Not even a minute later, the Player stood on his feet and walked out of the cage with a determined expression on his face.

Witnessing the change, Alex blinked in surprise and looked at Allura’s back. "What did she say to him?"

One by one. Allura talked with all of the caged Players, and after about an hour, a total of twenty-four Players stood behind her as though she was their commander and they her army.

Alex didn’t know if he should be happy or scared, but for now, he kept the surprise hidden deep within him.

"That should work," Alex muttered and looked at Allura.

"Time to repay the debt," Allura said with a grin and walked toward the room’s exit.

Heavy steps of her little army resounded throughout the place, and as they neared Alex, they bowed their heads and continued forward after a few moments.

Soon, heavy sounds, shouts, and screams reached Alex.

"W-What is going— Hkk!"

"Slaves have escaped!"

"R-Run!"

Alex blinked and whispered, "What just happened?"

For the next hour, screams and the sound of metal colliding with metal filled the whole building, and once the voices died down, Alex stepped out of the room.

The reason why he hadn’t fought was because of the City Knights, who should now be running behind Allura’s little army.

Each city had guardian knights, and once a player committed a crime against any NPC, they had to be punished within the next twenty-four hours, but if the Player managed to survive, they’d simply be allowed to walk free.

During those twenty-four hours, they weren’t allowed to leave the city, and that was something Alex couldn’t afford for now.

The furniture was trashed, the floor was covered in blood as though a shallow red sea, with the corpses lying in it like islands, while the walls acted as their cage.

However, instead of being disgusted, Alex’s eyes shone with greed because golden screens were floating above the corpses.

He walked over to the nearest corpse and looked at the screen.

[Devour the dead servant (Bronze V) (F)?]

"Yes."

[Monarch’s Gluttony: Host, this constitution has no benefits.]

[Monarch’s Gluttony: Host, the devoured being has no talent.]

[Monarch’s Gluttony: +2 Evo Points, +10 Vitality.]

Alex used the vitality to relieve himself of the fatigue he had harvested from the continuous training and moved to another corpse.

[Monarch’s Gluttony: +2 Evo Points, +10 Vitality.]

[Monarch’s Gluttony: +2 Evo Points, +10 Vitality.]

[Monarch’s Gluttony: +2 Evo Points, +10 Vitality.]

[Monarch’s Gluttony: +5 Evo Points, +50 Vitality.]

[Monarch’s Gluttony...