"Let's go further.... We're the strongest. There's nothing to fear."
Oda went and grabbed Victor's shoulder. "Don't push it on our first day. We agreed on the 50th!"
"Heck, I remember our original goal being to stop at 30th but we still made it here."
"You have an immortality spell while I have the hottest flames. The Strongest Man and The Strongest Woman are among us too. We are the War Potentials...when they tell our tales...it should be the most impressive thing ever."
"Kids should read about our deeds in the future, about how the world's greatest heroes journeyed to the 100th floor on their first day of exploration."
THUD!
Victor's face was met with a sudden punch to the face by Oda.
"Snap out of it. You're making the tower's easy difficulty get to your head."
"I said this already but, here it is again.....THIS ISN"T OUR HOME TURF!" Oda yelled.
His words fell on deaf ears. Ericka walked up to Victor, grabbing hold of his left hand.
"I'm with Victor on this one. I'm still not satisfied. I just know I will enjoy myself if I go just a bit further."
Oda looked over at Utar, hoping he'd be a voice of reason alongside him.
Utar caved under the intense stares suddenly heading his way.
"Sorry Oda, but I really see no reason to worry. We have you with us, so we can't die unless you choose to abandon us."
And with that final vote, everyone went along with Victor's change of plans.
Oda sighed, having no choice but to join them on continued exploration. As much as he hated it, leaving the other three potential saviors of humanity inside of the Tower left a bad taste in his mouth. Especially considering that his spell reduces all risks and stakes in this unknown location.
"Relax Oda, tell you what. Once we're back home, I'll treat you to some of my girlfriend's pancakes. How about that?" Victor tried cheering Oda up.
Oda forced a smile on, "Hahaha... Selene can't cook to save her life. I'll pass."
"Heh, I bet if Isaac was here, you wouldn't be this nervous."
"Well duh, because he's smart. I can't say the same for the rest of you."
"That's mean.... I'll have you know that my girl is progressively learning better techniques each passing day. And everyone here is plenty smart." Victor shot back, receiving the closest thing to damage since he arrived in the Tower.
Ericka and Victor took the front, engaging in upcoming monster attacks while Utar directed the group movements by predicting surprise attacks. Oda kept his immortality spell on hold, ensuring not to waste it on small fries.
.....
Hours later, around sunset outside of the spiral, many adventurers awaited the return of the rookies.
Many people knew today was the day of Victor's party first day of exploration, and thought it was caused by celebration. As the sun went down slowly, many adventurers began to wonder, "Why haven't they come out yet?"
Most adventurers tend to not make night reach them, in the Tower.
Only a select few parties were brave enough to do that, and why was that?
There are a specific set of creatures that appear in floors higher than 50, only at night-time, during a full moon. Tonight was going to be a full moon no less.
This was one of the few occurrences spotting a Vampire on the mid to high floor increases by up to forty percent. Vampires were man-eating monsters that resembled that of a human, but with fangs, paler skin and crimson red eyes. These monsters do not seem to have respawn times after death either, they simply die permanently.
In the Guild books, the threat level assigned to a vampire is Level ???, suggesting that the number of adventurers was not a determining factor in conquering this formidable entity. It was one of the few monsters known to humanity, that could not be gauged.
Most humans cower in fear, with only one man ever beating a vampire living to tell the tale. A legendary figure of the Fong Familia, Wei Fong.
Unfortunately for Victor's party, they had the misfortune of bumping into not one vampire, but four. Victor and the others hid behind a boulder, closely watching the vampires near a hot spring close to the staircase leading to the 80th floor.
"Vampires huh." Victor whispered.
Oda sighed, "Four of them, what shitty luck."
Ericka gripped her blades, preparing to strike at a moment's notice.
"Whenever you're ready, I'll kill em swiftly."
Utar concentrated while the others whispered. "Strange, many monster spot us here but they aren't giving away our location. They aren't even approaching us. And I have a feeling it's not because they know they'd lose. It's those guys in the spring...the fear they exude emits a strong stench in the air, repelling them away."
Victor made his decision. "That's good news for us. We don't know how strong vampires truly are, so here's the plan. We will not make this a 1 on 1, but a 4 on 4. We work best as a party, don't forget that. I'm looking at you, Ericka..."
"Me?" Ericka said surprised.
"Yes, your time spent in Arcland really ruined your teamplay as of late. Your tendency to love 1 on 1 should be thrown away against these guys."
Victor then shot Oda with a confident smirk, while Oda gave him a cold glare in response.
"After we beat these four, we'll start heading back. Killing four vampires is far more impressive than arriving on the 100th floor."
Oda shrugs off his words, annoyed by them. "I've gotten used to your bullshit by now."
After all the planning was over, an unfamiliar voice spoke, one that sounded far too close for comfort.
"You four finished strategizing?" the voice asked.
All eyes looked up, where the voice originated and to everyone's surprise. One of the vampires, butt-naked, was just relaxing inside of the hot spring up ahead, now standing up on top of the boulder Victor's group hid behind.