Red rarely saw such a serious expression on Letia’s face, but before he could fully grasp what she meant, Letia continued speaking.
“Just take it as advice from a former teammate. Believe it or not, the choice is yours.”
After saying that, Letia closed her eyes and let out a huge yawn.
Her tone returned to its usual lazy drawl.
“Hurry up and finish scouting. I want to get back and sleep.”
“Just so you know, there aren’t that many beds in the Scarlet Legion’s camp.”
Since Brian didn’t know their group would come to help, he hadn’t prepared any extra beds at all.
Right now, it was barely enough for everyone, but if Letia joined in, there really wouldn’t be enough.
But even so, Letia still said nonchalantly,
“That’s easy, just squeeze together.”
She opened her eyes as she spoke, looking at Red with a playful smirk on her face.
“What, are you shy? I’m a girl and I’m not even embarrassed—what are you blushing for?”
Before Red could reply, Letia pressed on,
“C’mon, we’re old teammates. Squeezing in together is nothing. Or do you want me to sleep on the floor? Aren’t you worried I’ll crawl over you in the middle of the night, all grumpy and resentful?”
Red’s mouth twitched.
If nothing else, he was certain Letia was perfectly capable of doing something like that!
“Then I’ll just sleep on the floor.”
Honestly, sharing a bed with a girl was pretty tempting, but only if it was a real girl.
If it was with Litt, no matter how embarrassed Red felt, at least he could accept it.
But with Letia…
He was genuinely worried she’d pull down his pants in the middle of the night.
Even though Mason’s talk about ‘ten thousand in one shot’ was probably just Letia making things up, you never know…
Better safe than sorry!
“Sigh…”
Letia spread her hands and said helplessly, “I give you a chance and you don’t even know how to use it. If this were a novel, you’d get roasted for being too wholesome. If you don’t get some practice now, what’ll you do in the real thing—you better not choke then.”
See?
That’s Letia.
With that dirty-old-man attitude, unless she shut up, who could possibly feel anything for her…
Well, whoever did, that’s on them.
After grumbling in his heart for a bit, Red focused on controlling the Blood-Hunting Spiders, carefully exploring every inch of the Blank Area.
He didn’t know how much time had passed, but when Red stood up, having recalled all his Blood-Hunting Spiders, Letia immediately asked,
“Done already? That fast?”
“This area wasn’t that big to begin with…”
Red rubbed his Sun Acupoint.
“Also, were you implying something just now?”
“Nope.”
Letia put on an innocent face, but even so, Red couldn’t help himself—
He angrily rubbed her head.
“Hey! Don’t touch my head! You’ll stunt my growth! You can touch my chest instead!”
Red looked at Letia’s flat figure and couldn’t help but show a look of pity.
“Do you even have a chest?”
“…How can you say something so cold with a body temperature of thirty-six and a half degrees?”
Letia’s face filled with black lines.
“Anyway, what’s wrong with being small? Small is rare, rare means precious! You should know how to cherish it.”
“With your size, what’s the difference between you and a steel plate?”
“There’s a difference! This is me!”
Letia patted her chest, then smacked the Cross strapped to her back.
“This is a steel plate! See? Not the same at all! Ugh, not the same! If you don’t believe me, touch it, it’s really soft!”
As she said that, Letia suddenly waved her hand, a playful look on her face.
“…Though I bet you don’t even dare.”
Watching Letia scramble to argue her point, Red glanced at her chest, then placed his hand on it.
“Huh?”
Letia was just about to say more, but suddenly froze, as if someone had hit pause.
After a while, her head drooped slowly, like a rusty doll.
A large hand rested on her chest, while Red stroked his chin with the air of a scholar in search of truth.
“A request like this—I’ve never seen in my whole life…”
As he spoke, he gently squeezed.
“But you know what, you’re right, it really is soft… Ow!!!”
***
In the center tent of the Scarlet Legion, Tos looked at the bite mark on Red’s face and couldn’t help but ask,
“What happened to your face?”
Red’s expression didn’t change; he was even a bit casual, answering offhandedly,
“Oh, that? I was messing around with a monkey and it bit me.”
At this, Tos and the others all popped up with a string of question marks in their minds.
Where did this Dungeon even have monkeys?
But when they looked past Red to the girl clutching her chest behind him—
“Oh~”
Tos and Mason chimed in at the same time, both drawing out the syllable with a knowing, enlightened tone.
Thankfully, Brian was the serious type.
After a brief moment of surprise, he asked,
“But isn’t this beside the point? Why is a Dawnblade priest here?”
“That’s a long story…”
Red sighed, wiped the bite mark off his face, and then explained everything in full detail.
Only then did the others understand.
“In short, I vouch for her with my own honor—she followed behind us, she’s not from the Black Church.”
Letia raised her eyebrows, a trace of surprise flashing through her heart.
She knew Red would vouch for her, but to speak up for her this much was honestly unexpected.
“All right, the Blank Area’s been completely mapped.”
Red’s voice broke the subtle atmosphere.
He spread out the completed Map on the table, his finger pointing to a few key spots.
“The target Demon is holed up here.”
His fingertip landed on an area marked with a twisted symbol.
“And the Lord’s Nest on the twenty-seventh floor is right here.”
As he spoke, his finger moved parallel, tapping another eye-catching Skull Mark.
“The two are a decent distance apart, with fairly open terrain in between. There are some scattered Obstacles, but the path for luring is clear—it’s definitely doable.”
Red’s tone was calm and confident.
It was clear he’d thought things through, so no one had any objections to his plan.
Brian leaned in, his sharp eyes sweeping back and forth over the Map like a hawk, fingers unconsciously drumming on the stone tabletop.
After a moment, he looked up, a flash of insight in his eyes, and began detailed planning.
“The distance is workable… Tos, I’m putting you in charge of luring the Demon. Take our best men and make sure you get it to the Lord’s Nest with minimal casualties. Remember, focus on harassment—don’t get into a fight with it.”
“No problem, I’m good at that.”
“As for Mason and me, since we’re the strongest attackers in camp right now, once the Demon and the Lord have beaten each other half to death and are exhausted, that’s our cue to finish things.”
“Got it.”
Finally, Brian’s gaze fell on Red and Letia.
“Red, Letia,” he said solemnly, “You two entered from another floor. The challenges here are far above your current level. The core area of this twenty-seventh floor isn’t a battlefield you can easily set foot on right now.”
Red nodded in response.
Of course he understood—a boss fight on the twenty-seventh floor was not something he could interfere in.
“Then we’ll stay at the camp.”
As he spoke, Red once again put his hand on Letia’s head.
“Even if this priest isn’t exactly proper, at least she’s a priest of the Holy Church. She’ll be perfect to help you guys take care of the wounded.”
Can she even heal?