"You fucking idiot," I thought to myself as I watched Frost being led toward the pool where I was awaiting my fate.
Either he was a total idiot, or he was working out some kind of plan.
I badly wanted to believe he had a plan because it gave me the slightest chance, but even a complete fool would say this was total bullshit.
This was textbook blackmail, the kind that literally happened in every final fight between a villain and an MC, where the villain capitalized on the MC's naivety to completely fuck them up.
Well, in those cases, the MC often survived only because of plot armor.
But this was not a movie.
Frost was fucking up his own life.
There was no plot armor to protect him here.
How could he believe that a person who had lied to them about having a registered guild, and was literally using his friend's life as ransom to acquire a mere F rank dungeon core, the same man would be able to share the glory of his success with the two of them.
If he believed that, then my respect for him would have taken a walk.
He would have had to be the world's biggest idiot.
Soon enough, they were standing on the same spot the master had been a while ago.
"Go on. Every second could be a second late for your friend, Mr. Frost."
"The slime will kill me."
But that was not an excuse.
The master used the same liquid he had earlier to release Frost from my restriction, dissolving my layer of slime.
"Not anymore," he said, stepping aside.
Frost looked helpless.
But at the same time, it seemed to dawn on him that he had finally run out of delay tactics.
There was no escaping his fate.
With a final resolve, he took a deep sigh and dipped both his hands into the murky pond.
"That's it. That's what I'm talking about. Now feel around. It should be something smoother. Ignore the pebbles. Look for something smoother and bigger. Something refined."
But Frost did not need to feel around.
He had already found me.
This was it.
This was my end.
He just had to lift.
At that point, another alert popped into my awareness.
You have received a plea of mutual benefit.
Accept.
Deny.
I stared at the words, flabbergasted.
This was the last thing I expected to see.
What was this.
Me being given options.
I literally thought I had run out of all options.
What the fuck did this mean.
Before I could finish processing it, another notification appeared.
A plea of mutual benefit is initiated when an adventurer is at the brink of losing, but also believes he has a bargain against the dungeon.
By accepting, you will be able to communicate with the adventurer who initiated the plea.
Denying it will block all links.
Accept. Fucking accept.
What did I have to lose anyway.
So Frost was initiating a plea.
What the fuck could I possibly offer him.
I was as helpless as he was.
Both of us were doomed here.
As soon as I accepted, Frost's desperate voice echoed inside my head.
"Help. Please, help. I need your help."
I stayed quiet.
Mostly because I did not know how the fuck to respond to him.
"I know you can hear me. Just respond already. We don't have time. Dungeon manuals say I should be able to do this."
Still, I kept my silence.
"It's a fucking plea of mutual benefit, you idiot."
And how the fuck can I help you, I thought.
The thought appeared in Frost's head as clearly as if I had spoken it out loud.
And yet, Master Ogrey had not heard a thing.
Frost looked stricken for a moment.
For a second, I thought he would betray himself.
But he composed himself and quickly let go of me.
Suddenly, he began fumbling again in the pond.
"Can you feel it yet," the master asked impatiently.
"Not yet."
"It's got to be in there somewhere. The corefinder says it should be."
"Well, I'm trying my best," Frost said.
All the while, he passed his hands around me, doing his best to look clueless.
"Well, put your hands further. Matter of fact, step inside," the master said, shoving the boy forward and into the pool.
It was not really deep.
The water barely reached his knees.
Frost did not care about being submerged in the murky pond.
He was buying time for his own life.
Well, and mine.
"How can I help you," I said again, afraid that I had imagined his earlier reaction.
"Well, you could give me some powers for starters. Can you do something. If you save me against him, I shall leave you alone. My friend and I won't claim you."
I stayed quiet for a while.
Now it was my turn to think of a way to trick him.
This was the perfect opening to lie.
Because honestly, I did not think there was anything I could offer him.
What other power did I have.
I had run out of monsters.
Plus, I was actively trying to strangle his friend, even though my slimes were performing pathetically.
His friend's death was literally all I needed to even get options here.
And he was asking me to help him against an E rank.
Something in me failed to come up with the lie.
I pitied the boy.
I did not see any reason to lie to him anyway.
We were both dying here.
The least I could do was be honest.
He was trying to find a way for both of us to survive.
"I'm sorry. I don't have any more energy stones. And I do not have any other means of getting them."
His face looked frustrated and impatient at my answer.
"I'm not fucking talking about stones. I'm talking about you. You can bind your core with me."
"I don't understand."
For the first time, I felt stupid saying those words to a freaking F rank human.
Yes, he was the same rank as me.
But I was a dungeon.
And he was not even a trained adventurer.
"What the actual crap. You don't know core binding. Are you a newborn dungeon or something. You do have a core, right."
"I'm the fucking core."
True as his statement was, I was not having it.
"Exactly."
"How then do you not know about core binding."
I could, of course, ask my system.
But we did not have time.
"This is the point where you speak clearly, adventurer. That is, if you still want to be breathing by the time all this is done."
"Core binding is a form of mana sharing. If you accept my request, I will be able to share your energy for a moment. I will be the dungeon."
Frost sounded almost surreal as he explained the concept.
"And what good will that do to you. I am a dungeon already. Take it from me. It's nothing fancy, kid."
Frost looked adamant.
"You are a mine, but I'm a human. And even though you are weak, once you share your core mana with me, who knows what I might be able to achieve. It is literally our only chance."
"Yeah. The way I see it, it's literally your only chance. I still could kill your friend, you know. I'm halfway there. Actually, more than half."
I tried to sound convincing.
But I knew my slime was doing a terrible job.
The straggler should have been dead by now.
Fifty stones should have been credited already.
"And besides, even if I shared my core mana with you, how am I supposed to trust that you will free me after that. You might as well claim me just like your master wants to. The only difference is that you want me instead of him. And if I'm being honest, I don't care who gets the treasure."
It was a lie.
But it was well delivered.
Frost sounded panicked.
"I swear to you, I will free you. You have my word."
"I don't know you," I said. "So I don't know what your word means."
"And I don't know you either. We just have to trust each other. I'm also a freaking F rank, and I'm untrained in mana assimilation. This could kill me, you know. I'm only offering this because it's my only option. Our only option."
I could sense the honesty in his voice.
And besides, I did not have any more time to figure out whether he was being shady.
It was either I went with his idea, because it was the only idea on the table.
Or I waited for the master to claim the crystal.
And with it, my doom.
"Okay. I accept your offer."