"There are even more monsters here than on the third floor."
"So the spawn rate really did increase."
Just as Rohan and Hachi noted, the fourth floor was significantly more chaotic than the third. The skittering of Killer Bugs echoed from every shadow, and the sheer number of Ratmen and Slimes had clearly multiplied.
"The fourth floor is going to be a sprint," I said. "We need to rescue them and get out before we're completely swarmed."
"Kieeeek!"
"Damn it, they're already here!"
A horde of Ratmen charged us—at least ten of them. The commotion would only draw more. We had to wipe them out instantly and keep moving.
"Uryaaah!"
Rohan swung his sword in a wide arc, cleaving through the front line of the rat bastards, while Hachi grabbed the survivors and crushed them with his bare hands. They dealt with the initial wave quickly, but there was no time to breathe. More were already closing in, blocking our path.
We had to hold the line until Rohan could carve a way through.
"Porter...!"
"Ugh!"
The monsters lunged at us. There were too many for Rohan and Hachi to intercept alone. The moment I dreaded—the moment I had to fight—had come sooner than expected.
"Rien! Save your mana!"
"Understood...!"
In these narrow corridors, a shortsword was the ideal weapon. If you weren't a master swordsman like Rohan, you needed something short and manageable that wouldn't get stuck in the walls when you swung wildly.
Slash!
I opened the throat of a Ratman lunging at me, then immediately hurled the shortsword. It whistled through the air, impaling a Killer Bug that was about to leap onto Hachi's back.
"Thanks!" Hachi barked.
"Don't mention it!"
I reached into my Aether Pocket, pulled out a hand axe, and buried it deep in the skull of another charging Ratman. Filthy blood and grey matter sprayed across my face. There was no time to wrench the axe free, so I let go and pulled a javelin from the pocket, launching it at a group of Ratmen rushing from the right.
Pwoook!
The javelin skewered two of them instantly. I didn't have the luxury of retrieving it. Seeing a split-second opening, I kicked the dead Ratman off my axe, snatched the weapon back, and used it to parry a Killer Bug's mandibles.
"Get back! Get away from me!"
Behind me, Rien was frantically swinging her club, successfully crushing the heads of two Ratmen. I was doing everything in my power to keep the monsters off her, but the defense wasn't perfect.
"Let's move! Now!" Rohan roared.
"Go!"
Rohan finally broke the line. We sprinted.
"To the right!" Rien shouted.
"They're swarming! Faster!"
We ran in the direction Rien pointed, pushing our lungs to the limit. Suddenly, a piercing shriek echoed through the corridor, signaling we were close.
—Kyaaaah!
It was a human scream. A voice I recognized. The priestess was still alive.
"Erika!" Rien cried out.
It looked like the monsters had breached the room where Rika and Erika were hiding. Monsters were pouring out from both sides of the hallway.
"Damn it! I'll hold the entrance! You two get in there and save them!"
Rohan threw himself into the mass of monsters clogging the doorway, desperate to stop any more from entering the room. Hachi, sensing the gravity of the situation, dove into the fray beside him. While they held the bottleneck, I had to get inside.
"Rien, with me!"
"Right!"
We dodged a flurry of claws and slipped into the room.
"Kyaaaah!"
"Erika!"
Ratmen were lunging at a convulsing Erika and the motionless form of Rika. Erika had clearly snapped; she didn't even register our entrance, her eyes wide and vacant with terror. Rika, on the other hand, looked dead already.
If Rika was gone, I had to at least save Erika. If I didn't act now, those vermin would tear her throat out.
"You rotten bastards!"
If Erika died, our reward would be cut in half. I wasn't about to let my payday die.
I lunged forward, burying my axe in a Ratman's spine. I ripped it out and brought it down again, shattering the creature's skull. Blood fountained everywhere. Realizing the axe was too slow for a crowd, I ditched it and pulled a kitchen knife from my Aether Pocket.
I couldn't believe I was resorting to this. It was just a cheap knife I'd bought to peel fruit.
"Haa... haa... fuck!"
My lungs were burning. My grip was failing, and my muscles were screaming in protest, but I couldn't stop. I had to kill them all.
I drove the kitchen knife into the back of a Ratman clawing at Erika. I gripped the handle in reverse, bracing the pommel with my thumb to keep my hand from slipping onto the blade. An injury now would be a death sentence.
"Kieeeeh!"
The Ratmen bit and scratched at me, their claws tearing through my clothes. Each time they struck, I buried the knife deeper into their vitals or snatched up my axe to deliver a finishing blow. As the burning sensation of Ratman venom began to seep into my veins, I pulled a syringe from my pocket and slammed it into my thigh.
"Guh...!"
It was the same antidote I'd given Rohan. I kept injecting myself to fight off the paralysis, steadily thinning the pack of monsters.
"Haa... haa... haa..."
Finally, the last Ratman clinging to Erika fell. I was drenched in blood and filth, the copper stench so thick I could barely see. I pulled a towel from my pocket, wiped my eyes, and immediately felt my arm give out. The kitchen knife clattered to the floor.
My legs refused to move. I had pushed every muscle past its breaking point. I collapsed, gasping for air.
"Ri-Rien... are you okay...?"
"Ugh... gurgle...!"
"What? Rien!"
While I was focused on Erika, Rien had dropped her club and was convulsing on the floor. A Slime was wrapped firmly around her head. In the chaos, I hadn't noticed her get hit.
Damn it.
She must have been trying to reach Rika and failed to notice the Slime dropping from the ceiling.
"Rien! The core! You have to pull out the core!"
I didn't know if she could hear me, but I screamed anyway. I tried to rush to her, but my legs were shaking so violently it took several seconds just to stand.
"Mmph... glub...!"
"Oh, for God's sake!"
She couldn't find the core. She was just clawing uselessly at the gelatinous mass. Cursing under my breath, I forced my creaking legs to move and lunged at her.
Squelch!
I pinned her down, reached into the translucent mass, grabbed the hard core, and ripped it out.
"Blegh! Cough!"
Rien retched, vomiting up thick slime. I slammed the core onto the stone floor and crushed it under my heel. The Slime instantly liquefied, spilling across the floor.
"Ugh... hack..."
Rien stayed hunched over, dry heaving. In the corner, Erika was curled into a ball, clutching her head and trembling. Rika was indeed dead; the Ratmen had shredded her clothes and mangled her body. It was a nightmare.
"Inside! Did you get them?!" Hachi's voice roared from the hall.
"Yes...!" I managed to yell back.
We had to move. If we stayed any longer, we'd be buried in corpses—ours included.
"Erika. Erika!"
"Haa... h-heee..."
"Erika, snap out of it! Look at me!"
"No, no... please... don't kill me... please..."
"I'm not going to kill you! We're here to save you! Open your eyes and look at me! Snap out of it!"
"Heok...!"
I grabbed her face firmly, forcing her to meet my eyes. Only then did the fog of terror seem to lift.
"Po... Porter?"
"Yes. I'm here. We're moving, right now."
"Is this... is this real? I'm not dead?"
"You're not dead yet, so get up! We have to go, or you will die!"
"Ah... yes. Yes!"
Thank God. As expected of a priestess, her mental fortitude allowed her to recover quickly once the immediate threat was gone. I shoved Rika's body into my Aether Pocket—we couldn't leave her behind—and helped the gasping Rien to her feet.
"Rien! The teleportation stone! Where is it?"
"Ah, right... just a second...!"
Rien pulled out the postcard she'd received from the Young Lady and tore it. Trace Detection activated. This was exactly why I'd told the Young Lady to stay on the surface. Rien's Trait would now track her location, and since she was at the exit, the trail would lead us straight to the teleportation stone.
"Rohan! Hachi! This way!"
Rohan slammed another antidote into his leg and kept clearing the path, while Hachi used a blinding flash of light—a blessing—to paralyze the monsters in the corridor.
"This way! Left at the fork!"
"Run! They're right behind us! Move! Why are you women so slow?!"
"I'll carry them! Just lead the way!"
Hachi scooped up both Erika and Rien, tucking them under his arms like sacks of grain, and sprinted. Rohan, his face pale from the cocktail of antidotes in his system, hacked a path through the front while I brought up the rear, eyes glued to the map.
"There! Down those stairs!"
"Damn this Labyrinth!" Rohan spat.
The teleportation stone was at the bottom. But so was 'that thing.'
"Shit...!"
"Of course. It couldn't be easy."
The White Crocodile. A massive, snow-white predator. It stood directly in front of the stone, jaws agape, as if it had been waiting for us. The Labyrinth really didn't want us to leave. It was throwing the worst possible obstacle at us at the worst possible time.
"Rohan! Can you break through?!"
"No choice! No time to hesitate! You three, hold the stairs!"
Rohan's expression hardened. He pulled a small glass vial from his belt and downed the contents in one gulp.
"Hwaaaah..."
Steam hissed from his skin. His eyes turned bloodshot, and his muscles surged, bulging beneath his armor.
A Berserker's Potion.
Rohan, now fueled by a drug worth ten gold coins a bottle, charged the White Crocodile like a madman. A total combat junkie. I wondered if his liver was made of enchanted steel to survive that stuff.
Hachi followed right behind him. Even with a Berserker's Potion, taking on a floor boss alone was suicide.
"We have to block the stairs!" I yelled.
Rien, Erika, and I were the last line of defense against the horde coming down from above.
"Erika, grab a club! You and I have to kill anything that gets through! Rien, use your magic on the stairs!"
"Okay...! Fireball!"
I had made her save her mana for this exact moment. I had anticipated the Labyrinth's malice. I had prepared for the worst.
"Burn!"
A sphere of flame roared toward the stairs. The Ratmen at the front were incinerated instantly, but more importantly, the stairs themselves erupted into a wall of fire. I had secretly been trailing oil behind us as we ran.
"Ugh... cough!"
"Erika! Swing! They're not dead yet!"
"Ah, aah!"
While Rien maintained the fire, Erika and I had to pick off the monsters desperate enough to leap through the flames.
"Cough! Hack...!"
Actually, it looked like I was on my own. Erika clutched her chest and collapsed. Mana poisoning. Rien, who had undergone Mana Adaptation, was barely holding on, but Erika had hit her limit.
"Kraaaah!"
"Die!"
A roar echoed from behind me. I risked a glance. Rohan had his entire arm buried in the White Crocodile's eye socket. I didn't even want to know how he'd managed that.
The boss was down. Rohan and Hachi had actually killed the White Crocodile.
"They did it! Erika, just a little further! Rien, move!"
It was unbelievable. Two men had taken down a fourth-floor boss. Those two were monsters in human skin. They were definitely going to hit Gold Plate rank after this.
"Go! Go!"
"To the surface!"
We bolted for the teleportation stone. As the fire on the stairs began to flicker out, the horde started pouring down again.
"Jump into the blue gate!"
Rohan, already at the stone, held the portal open. Hachi had already gone through to secure the other side.
"Wait! Ah!"
"Ugh!"
I shoved Rien and Erika into the blue light first, then dove in right after them.
Thud!
"Guh..."
"Ow... my head..."
"Cough... cough..."
We tumbled out onto the third floor. We were safe. Hachi had already cleared the immediate area of any stragglers.
Whirr—!
A moment later, Rohan stepped through. His armor was in tatters, and he looked like he'd been chewed up and spat out. He sank to the floor with a heavy sigh.
"Area's clear," Hachi grunted, his detection skills finally picking up nothing but silence. He sat down heavily beside Rohan.
"We're alive..."
"Heuk... sob... we're alive... Goddess, thank you... thank you..."
Rien stared blankly at the ceiling, her soul seemingly having left her body. Erika was curled up, clutching her rosary and weeping with gratitude.
"Hey. Porter."
"Yeah?"
"You got it, didn't you?" Rohan asked, a tired smirk on his face.
"You saw that?"
"Hard to miss."
"Just pay me the transport fee."
"Deal."
Rohan grinned. He'd seen me shove the White Crocodile's massive corpse into my Aether Pocket before jumping through the gate. Any other party would have had to leave that fortune behind, but thanks to my storage, we'd brought the whole thing back.
I wasn't going to be greedy. Rohan and Hachi had nearly died for that kill. I'd give them the corpse, and I'd take the standard 5 to 10 percent transport fee. Given the price of White Crocodile hide and parts, that fee alone was going to be a small fortune.
"Rien."
"Huh...?"
"You did good. Drink this."
"Heeh... orange juice? Thanks... Porter."
"Don't mention it. Everyone, get some sugar in your systems."
I handed out chilled fruit juice to the group. Rohan and Hachi drained theirs in seconds. Erika, her face a mess of tears and grime, was so overwhelmed that when I offered her a bottle, she just lunged forward and hugged me, sobbing into my chest for a long time.
We weren't out of the Labyrinth yet, but for the first time in hours, we could finally breathe.