The Summoner's Rebirth: Awaken, Milady

It took everyone around thirty minutes to finish cleaning up the entire dragon's carcass, even with such a large number of people. The dragon's size was huge, and reaching the hard parts had to be assisted with all sorts of equipment, magic, and strength to even be able to be extracted.

However, by the time they were done, the dragon had been practically stripped of its scales, body parts, meats, all that was left were the bones and some internal organs. The other organs were also pillaged, leaving the originally furious dragon in such a sorry and desecrated state after being defeated. The stench and discomforting sight made a lot of people gag and even throw up. Usually, the dissection material wouldn't be this large of a scale, nor would it have smell this badly.

The dragon, however, had a very pungent smell. As if it had already rotted from within. There was a stinging stench coming out of it.

The people obviously wanted to get out of the dungeon as fast as possible because of how tired they were, but they also rejoiced because they could report this incident and climb up their ranks, and even sell the materials for high money. There were ones that made the bare minimum even if they had quite the high ranking in the list because of their lifestyle choice or needs, and this dragon was the same as a treasure chest to those people.

Aria, who had a bad sense of money, combined with Alena, who was as rich as one could be, wasn't affected by this craze and only collected samples of everything to be researched and analyzed at a later time, or to be processed into something good.

"Everything is done. Pretty, right?" Aria came over towards Lichte's side. They were also about to be done with packing up their things. They all looked battered and tired, especially Yan, who had taken the damage of one or two fire breaths. Luckily, the supports that gathered today was enough to retain Yan's condition fit for battle, not letting him die.

There was silence when Aria finished speaking. It made Aria tilt her head in confusion, her smile still intact.

"..Aria, I saw what you were trying to do. You think nobody kept their eyes on you? Well, bad luck, because I watched you most of the time. You were purposefully not using your entire strength, but after Blythe's group came around, you suddenly became fired up and destroyed the dragon. You were doing that on purpose, right? With Alena, too.. The recording and all. I'm not saying that it's sly because I also don't really like them, but people's lives were gone because you didn't let out your maximum capacity, you know?" Reina frowned, as if condemning Aria's actions to be improper.

Aria blinked a few times, before breaking into a fit of small chuckles, evolving into larger laughter.

"Oh, please. I'm not a kind Samaritan, nor do I have to comply with rules or anything except for my own. If you were in my position, you would understand. Anyway, I was fair and didn't disclose my contribution, right? Since you are so smart, then you should've realized that.. the dragon was nowhere near death before I attacked it. I gave my all at the very last end, and you guys dulled the creature down to the point where my blows were able to wipe its life out. It's a fair trade, I suppose. Those deceased people.. I will apologize. I have my own wishes, and I am not obligated to save them all. I'm not a savior, I'm not a hypocrite, and I won't pretend like I am one. Reina, I like you because you have great qualities, but thinking that everyone needs to be saved is the wrong approach. Let's keep everything balanced and we will all have a great time, en?" Aria goofily smiled, as if tens of people did not just die.

"Do I not make sense? Or are you too blind to see past your rose tinted glasses.. To think that I once thought that you were the same as me. Reina, day by day, you are growing to spout more useless stuff. I may have misjudged you." Aria sighed in distress, before letting her eyes dart over to White Fox, who was standing beside Elgin and Yan.

She was covered in blood, and her clothes were far from perfect as there were burns here and there even though she was known for her agility. The dragon's attack range was too great, so even White Fox couldn't avoid the brunt of everything.

"White Fox, congratulations for surviving. Our fight was delayed, but it would be my pleasure to fight against you in a later schedule. I'm sure that you will be able to get my contact, so do call me if you wish to battle. I will be going now, everybody. Thank you for fighting alongside with me.. Good bye for today. I hope that next time, you will change your mind on what I did today, and you won't think that I am a complete piece of shit?" Aria narrowed her eyes softly before turning around and walking towards Alena.

She did not directly cause their deaths, Reina was under the impression that Aria had the power to kill it right away. But to kill the dragon, Aria actually calculated everything, with the help of her own senses and Alena's power, along with her charged up strikes. If it wasn't for the people who died, and the rest who continuously attacked, Aria's power alone wasn't enough.

However, she was too tired to explain to Reina. Besides, Aria was someone who could jump ships very fast. At this rate, mixing with Reina, who had the qualities of a potential savior complex might just hurt her in the future. If Reina turns out to be a dangerous ally, then she wanted to eradicate the relationship before it was too late.

"Alena, let us go. We have to discuss more important things, and I am also tired after was. ting. all. my. po. wer." Aria enunciated her point, pressing hard on the individual syllables.

Blythe's team did not wait until the dragon was gone, but one member of that team stayed, and he was standing in front of the gate. As if waiting for Aria? How perfect.

And indeed, he was waiting. When Aria and Alena came near the gate to leave, the man began to block off her path.

"Watch your back well. You have offended our boss, don't think that you will be able to fare well in the Hunter community. You have picked the wrong enemy. If you don't repent and apologize now, there will be no second chances for you in the future. The boss told me to inform you that she is giving you a chance to join us. Although I don't like you, the boss' words are very powerful, everything she says and plans are correct.. Though, she said that in her career, perhaps only you have made a slight misdirection in her vision." The man conveyed all his words at once, stopping Aria from successfully leaving the dungeon in peace.

Since Aria was in a good mood after obtaining victory and getting to see Cha Seol-hyun's pissed off state, Aria thought that she could entertain this silly man for some time.

"You are publicly threatening others while bearing the name of Blythe now? When everybody hails you guys as valiant heroes who are upright, upholds justice, and are good fellas? That's pretty new, do tell me more." Aria chuckled as she raised a brow at the man, as if trying to challenge him into spilling out more stuff.

However, as opposed to Aria's approach, the man did not speak any further and just left without reacting to her words.

"..Boring. They only know how to bark, but their bites.. Well, I don't know yet, do I?" Aria scoffed. "It's been a long time since I killed humans. Perhaps.. soon, I may be forced to do it again. At that time, my only question is whether or not the System will reward or punish me. I'm hoping it's the former, though.

They quickly left after that, heading towards their base again.

Upon reaching, it was Aria's time to question Alena about three people.

Cha Seol-hyun was a natural dilemma. Reina Alaster would be next, but Aria had already faintly guessed based on how Reina insulted Arin in the training center where Aria fought for the subjugation rights. It had something to do with the Crofts as a whole and not just Alena, most probably. Reina addressed Arin as Aileen, a member of the Crofts.

Last but not least, Stephanie Croft. Alena's own sister, one that she seemed to have a massive hatred on. One that used extensive methods with no hesitation. Marked as cruel and unforgiving towards anything that stood in her way.

Not only that..

There was also the matter of the rewards that her System gave in exchange for having defeated the dragon.

The System's notifications were well received by her, but there were some things that she couldn't decrypt, and thus wanted to seek help from Alena in order to solve it.

"So? Where should we start this from? There are so many topics that we have yet to discuss." Aria spoke, munching on a bag of chips as she smirked. "From the weakest subject.. or the strongest?"

The strongest.

The most important of all.

The dungeon's strange origins. Stephanie Croft's influence on this matter. How she did it, and what Alena knew about all this.

This was the joy of having someone who is Godly at information gathering and possessed a lot of intel.