Max's words surprised them a little, as they expected him to forget about it. After all, Shamal Clan was a Gold Rank Clan, so nobody wanted to make them their enemies for no big reason.
"Do you have a death wish? The Shamal Clan is known as one of the strongest Gold Rank Clans of Corelhelm Kingdom, so why do you want to make an enemy out of them?" Charlotte asked calmly.
"I have some old things to settle with him," Max said in a low, threatening voice. "He nearly killed me once, well indirectly, but it was him who did that so there is no way I'll let him walk away."
'What? Did this happen in this timeline or the one he came from?' Charlotte was confused, but asked something else, "That's fine then. Are you prepared for their revenge then?"
"They'll come after us anyways," Max said, returning back to them. "Let me tell you how this works. That bastard is spoiled because he's the only young master of the Shamal Clan. He gets everything he wants."
He pointed at Charlotte and said, "And he wanted you. Perhaps, he would not have pursued this matter but we basically ran away from him, and that will make him angry and ashamed. Now, what do you think happens when a spoiled brat doesn't get what he wants and is angry?"
Charlotte's face turned cold and solemn, as she understood his meaning. Even Stelle frowned, already having some plans in her head.
"Yes, he will target us using all his resources then we will counterattack and I'm sure we will have to kill him. That'll trigger their clan to come after us to avenge their young master," Max said and then shrugged. "I'm just speeding up the process."
'It's not like the first time I'm meeting a young master,' Max thought.
[When did he try to kill you? I mean, it hasn't happened yet.]
'It was something I thought of adding and it was canon. I just didn't write it,' Max replied. 'From what you said though I'm sure it happened and I also have some memories of it happening.'
[I see! Then go ahead and settle the scores.]
"I understand all of that but it just means we will have less time to get stronger," Charlotte tried to reason with him and said. "We can wait till we are higher in the Silver Ranks because then we will have enough power to at least survive."
"You don't need to worry about that, I have plans for it too. Besides, I'm just saving ourselves some trouble," Max said as he turned around. "Follow me if you want; otherwise, the exit is there. They probably already defeated the Black Knight so you won't find any undead."
"Big Sis, it's not the first time we're seeing something like this, right?" Stelle scoffed as she took a step forward. "Last time we were too weak, but what about now? Are you still going to cover for us?"
She turned to look at her with a ruthless glint in her eyes, "But I won't stand still this time. Also, we are a Gold Rank Clan too. They can't do anything against us in a short time."
Charlotte stared at her younger sister's back as she followed Max to the exit. It reminded her of the weakness she had felt the last time this happened, the time when she was powerless and nobody stood up for her.
'I won't let the history repeat itself! Even Stelle understands that, so why am I hesitating?' Charlotte clenched her fist and thought.
But she knew the answer already. It was because of her clan, the same clan who almost sold her out for their benefits.
'Screw it! Brown will surely try to join our families and knowing my family....it's better to finish him here.'
Making up her mind, Charlotte also followed Max as they went to one of the exits they had seen before. While walking, they also learned the Phasing Skill.
It was even easier than absorbing the Mana Shards since the Labyrinth System helped in that. It took just a second to learn it.
[Name - Phasing]
[Type - Active Skill]
[Grade - Early-Silver]
[Description - Using a portion of user's mana, it turns selected physical things incorporeal for a moment before returning to normal.]
Max was glad for receiving such a good skill, and best was that it was a Silver Rank Skill that they could use in full potential even on the first two floors.
"You sure wanna do this?" Max asked Charlotte. "We are going to make a Gold Rank Clan our enemy, you know."
"I don't like his face," Charlotte said softly.
Max laughed at that and began to climb the iron ladders to the top. From there, he opened the heavy lid and was assaulted by the familiar smell of the battlefield.
As he climbed out of it, he helped his teammates in getting to the surface and then looked around in wonder.
The battlefield had turned eerily silent, as heaps of bone dust surrounded them. He looked past it towards the only place from where he could hear sounds of people arguing.
"Let's go!"
They went towards the source of the voices, which was close the castle. Dozens of teenagers surrounded a big boulder and near the boulder, two groups were locked in a terrible argument.
Max and others pushed the audience to reach the front and realised that the two groups were of the Amazon Warriors and the Shamal Clan.
Just a few exchanges between them told Max enough to understand the situation. Apparently, other groups had assisted the Amazon Warriors in defeating the Black Knight, in hopes of being compensated by them.
However, when everything was done, Brown came out of their hiding and demanded the loot. Naturally, others backed away as nobody wanted to have a Gold Rank Clan hunting them down.
Sadly for the Shamal Clan, the Amazon Warriors couldn't give two damns about them and their rankings. All they knew was they had worked hard to defeat the Boss and they wouldn't surrender the loot even in their death.
It would hurt their pride to do that.
"Nice! At least I have some backup here."