The next day.
Amkena ran them through the daily dungeons once each, then sent Party 2, led by Edith, to the 4th floor. Afterwards, Amkena tried to send our Party 1, now down to three members, to the 6th floor, but the dungeon wouldn't open.
[Warning! Re-entry into this dungeon is impossible.]
'See? I told you not to look away.'
Once a stream activates, dungeons belonging to it cannot be re-entered. It might not be impossible with a special skill, but at this point, it was.
Jenna scratched the back of her head and muttered, "Why aren't we getting any orders?"
"Just wait," I said.
After mulling it over for a moment, Amkena made a decision.
[Main Dungeon, Current Challenge Floor: 7th Floor.]
[The gate will open in 10 seconds. Prepare yourselves!]
"It's the 7th floor. Get ready."
"Boss, our numbers are down from yesterday, but..." Aaron trailed off.
"It's enough."
Our levels were too high for the 4th floor; the experience gain would be minimal.
We couldn't enter the 5th floor; boss stages also couldn't be re-entered.
The 6th floor was blocked, as we saw. The only options left for the Master were to send us back or challenge the 7th floor.
I'd wanted to test the Berserk skill I used last time, and now a suitable stage had presented itself. Light enveloped the dimensional rift, and we were summoned to an unfamiliar location.
'The field is a plain. But... it's a bit different.'
Swoooosh.
On the plain where we stood, thick sheets of rain were falling. The rain poured down relentlessly, soaking us to the bone.
Jenna made a fuss, shaking her head. "What is this?!"
"Nice and cool, isn't it?" I retorted.
I drew my sword from its sheath. Raindrops scattered along the arc of its movement.
The enemies were ahead.
[Floor 7.]
[Mission Type - Subjugation]
[Objective - Annihilate all enemies!]
[Goblin Lv.8 x 13]
Amidst the fierce downpour, red eyes glowed.
Large goblins, armed with armor and weapons, let out monstrous screams. Aaron, his expression full of confidence, thrust his spear forward.
"This is fortunate, Boss! We should be able to handle this many!"
We quickly formed up. Party 1 consisted of three members: a swordsman, a spearman, and an archer. A perfect composition for close, mid, and long range. We'd practiced formations until we were sick of it.
I took the lead, Aaron the middle, and Jenna, having nocked an arrow, took the rear.
"Kieeeeaaah!"
The goblins also took positions. Depending on their weapons, they moved to the rear or the front lines.
Under the pouring rain, we and the enemies faced off in two opposing groups.
No words were needed. The battle began with shots fired by archers from both sides as the signal. I knocked aside a bolt aimed at Jenna with my shield. Jenna dropped low, almost touching the ground, and fired an arrow.
A direct shot at an enemy with a shield risks being blocked, so she aimed low. The arrow pierced the leg of a goblin in the front.
Taking advantage of the distraction, my sword and Aaron's spear claimed its life.
'Activate.'
As I smashed my shield into the face of a snarling goblin, sending it flying, I recalled that sensation.
['Han (★)' has entered a Berserk state!]
My sword shattered the goblin's shield and cleaved the creature in half from the head down. Blood mixed with raindrops splattered everywhere.
Slaughtering, massacring.
A sense of elation surged within me. Goblins were hacked apart with every swing of my sword. I tasted blood in my mouth. The rain seeping through the gaps in my armor couldn't cool my body.
Before I knew it, I was standing amidst a pile of goblin corpses.
Only one enemy remained. It held a broken sword. Jenna aimed her bow at the goblin.
I raised a hand to stop her. "Wait, don't shoot!"
"Why? I'm soaked and want to get back quickly."
The battle was almost over. Now was the time to examine this stage. Given that the previous mission was exploration, there was a high probability this mission was also part of a linked quest. I scanned the surroundings.
Noteworthy point one: It's raining.
Two: There's a river flowing.
"Kiaaak!"
The goblin, waving its broken sword up and down, charged at me. I smashed my shield into the side of its face.
"Kyak!"
Stepping past the creature sprawled awkwardly on the ground, I approached the riverbank.
Roaaaar.
The river crossing the plain had become a raging torrent due to the rainwater and was overflowing its banks. It was clearly impossible to cross. One misstep resulting in a fall would mean being instantly swept away and drowned.
I moved closer to the river's edge.
'Did a dam break or something?'
Near the bank, I saw the debris of collapsed stone and earth. Aside from that, scanning the surroundings revealed nothing else remarkable. I plunged my sword into the fallen goblin's back.
As I finished it off, a sound like the shaking of the earth faintly trembled the ground.
[Stage Clear!]
['Aaron (★)' leveled up!]
[Reward – 10,000G, Iron Ore (C) x 2, Leather (C) x 1]
[MVP - 'Han (★)']
We returned through the dimensional rift.
Perhaps being drenched counted as something to be restored, as the rainwater on us had completely dried. Jenna squinted and shook her red hair.
After the tremors signaling the floor's ascent subsided, we emerged into the square.
In the square, Edith and her party members were gathered by the fountain, talking. It looked like they were debriefing their previous battle. Jenna waved.
"Unni!"
"Ah, you guys are back too," Edith replied.
"Oppa, are we done for the day? Can I go now?" Jenna asked me.
"Do as you please."
"Yay!"
I turned to Aaron. "What about you? It's getting late."
"I plan to go to the training ground," he said.
"Don't overdo it. You'll wreck your body."
I walked towards the dormitory. I didn't intend to just collapse and sleep upon returning. Just like with the 6th floor, I needed to record the information gathered this time. Preparing for battle wasn't solely about endless training; that wasn't always the best approach.
I entered the dormitory through the door in the square. Glancing back briefly, I saw the Summoning Hall's door was open.
"..."
I came back out. Aaron was just grabbing his spear, about to enter the training ground.
"Aaron, hold on."
"Yes? What is it, Boss?"
I looked up. The sky was shimmering with iridescent light.
Shortly after, an interface popped up.
[If there's something you desire, pay for it right now!]
[Moebius supports the Master's choice!]
[You have selected the 'Newbie Potential Double Package!']
[Package Contents – 5,000 Gems, 100,000 Gold]
[All this for only 90,000 Won!]
[This amount will be added to next month's mobile phone bill. Do you really wish to proceed with the payment?]
[Yes (Selected) / No]
It was Amkena's third cash purchase.
[Payment complete!]
[Items have been delivered via Mail. Please check!]
Jenna was whispering something conspiratorially with Edith.
"So, you know, when Oppa talks in his sleep, he says..."
"Jenna!" I interrupted.
"Huh? You haven't left yet?"
"Stop talking nonsense. Go get the lots from my room. They should be on the table. The ones we drew from last time."
"What a pain..." Jenna muttered.
Jenna grumbled as she headed into the dormitory.
Edith asked, "What's going on?"
"Looks like newcomers are arriving. Ones who already know things, like you."
'I figured she'd summon.'
Now that the parties were split into three members each, replenishing the numbers was the natural next step. However, in the current situation, there weren't any suitable talents readily available to add to the parties. Although a few guys were training hard in the grounds, they needed time to grow.
In that case, summoning was the only option.
'There might be people who've never spent money on the game, but there's no one who's only spent money once.'
I chuckled, recalling the well-known saying from the official fan cafe. Besides, Amkena probably learned a lesson from the previous incident: You can't just recklessly splurge on paid summons.
Although I was the cause.
Anyway, even paid summoning has its principles and methods. Just pulling constantly like in other games simply because you have a lot of gems guarantees a 100% loss. In 'Pick Me Up', one mustn't forget that each hero has unique characteristics and individuality.
'Slowly. And a little at a time.'
[Master, initiating Premium Summon! You have selected 2 consecutive Premium Summons. A total of 1,000 Gems will be consumed. Do you wish to summon?]
[Yes (Selected) / No]
With two, Edith and I could each take one.
It seemed Amkena finally understood an efficient way to summon.
[Master, initiating Premium Summon. Let's see which hero appears!]
[Click, Whirrrr]
[Clang!]
[Rare!]
[Master 'Amkena' has acquired Hero 'Roderick (★★★)'!]
[Rare!]
[Master 'Amkena' has acquired Hero 'Iolka (★★★)'!]
A bright light shone from the Summoning Hall.
The gazes of everyone present, including myself, focused on the entrance.
After a short while, a man and a woman emerged one by one from the Summoning Hall.
It was a man wearing chainmail with a spear strapped to his back, and a young woman in a gorgeous dress.
'Why is she dressed like that?'
"Who are you people?" the man in armor asked, looking back at us.
He was a middle-aged man with sparse white hair, but the physique revealed beneath the armor was sturdy.
"We'll get to that later," I replied. "Do you remember why you came here?"
"Hmm..." The man frowned, thinking deeply. The woman stood at the threshold of the Summoning Hall, tilting her head with a confused expression.
The Summoning Hall door slammed shut, pushing the woman. "Oh!" Thump. The woman let out a shrill cry and fell onto the square.
"Oppa, I brought the lots... Oh? New people have arrived. What are your names?" Jenna said, arriving just then.
"Roderick Sajan," the man answered.
"What's that unni doing lying down over there?" Jenna asked me, pointing.
"Don't worry about it. She'll get up on her own," I said.
"Who are you people?" Roderick asked again. "This is the second time I'm asking."
"I'm Han. This is Edith."
I asked Roderick about the circumstances of his arrival. As expected, he couldn't remember how he got here. He said he was working as a city guard in a large metropolis, and when he came to his senses, he was here. He also mentioned a strange sense of obligation kept surfacing. "Like I'm supposed to do something. It's like hypnosis."
Next, I asked what he knew about the waiting room. Roderick was aware of core concepts like the Master, summoning, and synthesis. However, he didn't know about concepts like levels or skills. This was the same as Edith.
At this point, the characteristics of 3-star heroes seemed established. There probably wasn't even a need to ask the woman.
I briefly explained the waiting room and the rules here, just as I had done for Edith.
"So I have to fight unknown enemies in this place?" Roderick muttered in a dejected voice.
The other newcomer, the woman, still hadn't gotten up from the floor.
'Is she a dud?'
On very rare occasions, a high-grade hero who isn't worth their rank is summoned. Colloquially speaking, it's like getting hit with extremely bad luck.
Unable to watch any longer, Aaron went over and helped the woman up.
The woman stood up unsteadily. "Thank you. I felt a bit dizzy."
"It's nothing," Aaron replied.
Edith muttered, audible only to me, "She's nobility."
"Nobility?"
"You learn to tell after being a mercenary for a long time. She looks like a naive young lady. How did she end up here?"
'Come to think of it, everyone except me is from Taonia.'
Anyway, it was time for the draft. Perhaps the Master knew too, as the two hadn't been assigned to parties yet.
"Two lots," I announced. "Draw red, you get the man. Draw blue, you get the woman. Any objections?"
"None," Edith said.
"Jenna. Bring the lots over here."
"Yes, coming... Whoops!"
Jenna stumbled, catching her foot on a protruding part of the square floor. She quickly shifted her feet to regain balance. In the process, the tube of lots she held jostled up and down.
'Right is red. Left is blue.'
I could check the status window, but I didn't want to cheat in a situation like this. Even without looking, it was clear who to pick: the experienced guard with a long career versus the naive noble lady.
Edith's gaze was also fixed on the right lot. Like me, she'd figured out the order of the lots.
"Okay, here we go!" Jenna placed the tube down between Edith and me.
Even if the sub-party's current strength lags behind ours, I had no intention of going easy on them.
'I'll pick the right one. Adding Roderick, the spear user, would solidly reinforce the mid-line.'
And at that very moment—
Fwoosh.
Flames erupted from the woman's hand.
Like lightning, both my hand and Edith's shot towards the left lot, overlapping.