The cave where the crystals attached to the walls emitted a bright light was a place I had already been to several times, but today it seemed unknown to me. Well, since two months had passed maybe it was natural.
But the other reason also had to influence.
I looked around and swallowed my disappointment. First of all, unlike usual, there were only three of them. Also, there wasn't as much light as in broad daylight, but the surroundings were dark enough that I needed another flashlight.
«It is not the dark zone».
Simply put, the experience point copying bug was blocked. It meant that it was now impossible to use the phenomenon of dimensional instability to start in front of the portal to the second floor.
«Do you know something?» Pretending not to know, I asked Raven and she carefully made a guess.
«I heard that the palace has recently placed a large commission on the magic tower. I didn't know the details because I've only been away these days... But looking at it now, it could have been a portal stabilization job».
Ugh, so that's really what stopped the bug. Still, Soul Queen had prepared me for it, so I was able to quickly get rid of any lingering feelings. Well, what are you going to do? We had to go classic from now on. We had it easy for several months, right?
«Let's get going».
Looking for a moment at the terrain of the starting point, I quickly took out the compass and looked for directions. That was because the number of people entering this time was not that high. If done right, it would be possible to receive experience points for opening a portal.
«Abman, summon Iron Bear. We're going to move a little faster than usual».
When Mr. Bear took out his summoned beast, Raven naturally climbed on top. «If only Miss Ainar were that soft...»
Oh, these wizards. They only think about setting things up.
«¡Whooom!»
Anyway, while I was running in the lead, Raven and Mr. Bear followed behind me. The formation had Mr. Bear positioned in the rear, as he had a fairly solid body to be a long-range damage dealer. A goblin wasn't much of a threat now, but you still never knew. The most dangerous thing about the labyrinth had always been the people.
Looks like there are no Noark bastards for now...
At first I was nervous as I ran through the cave, but soon my alertness level dropped a notch. We encountered many scouts while accelerating, but most were lower-floor scouts carrying low-ranking equipment. Even that number was small.
Would it be possible to open the portal?
As time passed, hope gradually grew within me, but it was destroyed the moment I reached the beginning of the dark zone.
«It seems there were previous attendees».
A rank 9 mana stone was on the ground along our path. It couldn't be that Missha's team had caught up with her first. Maybe Erwen could, but I never taught Missha and Ainar like that.
«...Why do you pick it up?»
«A rank 9 mana stone is still a mana stone.» Thinking back to the days when I walked this long passage on all fours, I couldn't accept throwing away the mana stone. Back then this little stone of mana was my hope.
«No, I meant I could recover it with magic.»
Oh, it's true.
Did that mean that not a single wizard had passed by here? At this speed I thought it had to be a high-level team.
«Leait.»
Instead of torches, we illuminate the darkness with light magic and continue running. After about forty minutes, a portal appeared. I didn't bet anything, but the portal had already opened, as I expected.
[You have entered the Goblin Forest, on the second floor].
I left the disappointment behind and entered the portal. The promise we made was to wait upstairs no matter who got there first.
«...I also felt this in the cave before, but this feels strange».
«True. Things were so intense then».
The Goblin Forest was where Noark's bastards and Rafdonian's scouts engaged in a bloody battle. The surroundings were quiet and there was no one in sight.
«It looks like Missha's side hasn't arrived yet, so let's wait a bit».
After that we had free time to look around and were able to find traces of people nearby.
«It seems like he's one of the people who came first. But why do you look so carefully?».
«It's bothering me to "TAG1>.
«I've been getting nervous since you said that, Mr. Yandel».
What was this boy saying? «Don't stand still, rest a little. The other team can come at any time».
So everyone took their chair out of the subspace and we sat down. From time to time goblins came from afar, but nothing disturbed our rest. Iron Bear had already taken care of that.
***
«Excuse me...» In a forest bathed in soft moonlight, a woman who looked to be in her early twenties opened her mouth as if to complain. «Now that we are on the second floor and since there is no one around, can't we summon Yongyong?».
«No. At that size, it is sure to leave its mark».
«Come on, Sis. Don't be like that. We're not the only summoners here. Um?»
«Carmilla, enough. Mrs. Rainwales said no».
«Hey sir. Stay quiet.»
«Then stop acting so he can rest easy. What are you so tired of, anyway? You were also sitting on my shoulder the entire first floor».
«Ugh, you smell like a widower, okay? It makes my clothes smell. My nose hurts!»
«...What did you say?» The warrior carrying the woman stopped at the brutal reprimand, but only let out a sigh, as if he were used to it.
«Yeah. What can I tell you?»
«Then don't say anything from the beginning!».
«Carmilla, I understand that you are sensitive these days, but stop behaving like a girl. There are more people here than me».
«Ugh, you and your scolding...». The woman named Carmilla pouted. I wasn't happy with this whole situation. «But why do we still have to carry out our mission, anyway? When everyone has left us behind to escape outside, what's going to change by killing that scout?».
«...I'm sure that side has its own situation. They contacted us a few days ago».
«Oh, right. The call that was cut off in ten seconds after saying what they wanted to say?». Carmilla spoke sarcastically and the goalkeeper frowned.
«They asked us to apologize for that. It is impossible to keep a call for a long time due to the barrier. But since they say they have a way of getting us out, we just have to do our job-»
«How naive. Don't you think it could be a lie?»
«...Then why did you come here, Miss Carmilla? Why not stay in the city?»
«That's right...» Carmilla interrupted herself and bit her lip. How could I say it? He had followed them because he was too afraid of how that woman would react if she made a fuss about not wanting to leave.
What's happening?
Irritated for some reason, she spoke sharply to the goalkeeper again. «Anyway, Nebarce. What happened to the Fallen Scholar? You were the one who was with him until the end».
«I already told you. The Fallen Scholar was talking to him before disappearing somewhere...»
«Everyone stop».
When the woman clearing the path from the front stopped walking, the archer also stopped and fixed his expression. «Amelia, is something wrong?»
«The trap placed near the portal has disappeared».
«It means that someone has gone up to the second floor. Judging by the time it looks like an advanced explorer... It could be that more explorers have entered than we expected.»
«Nebarce, can you think of any equipment?»
«I'm not sure. But it won't be a big clan. They do not move without certainty».
«Ya veo.»
Carmilla interfered in their conversation. «But does it matter who it is? I don't know why I'm so curious».
«...You are definitely not wrong». At his words, Amelia seemed to lose herself in thought before muttering quietly: «But it bothers me for some reason».
«Sorry? What did you say?»
Amelia shook her head. «...It's nothing. Let's move on».
***
«Have you waited long, sir? I'm sorry. It took us a while because we ended up starting in the southern district.»
After waiting about two hours in the forest, Missha's team reached the second floor and we quickly resumed our movement. That was because while we were waiting, more than ten teams had passed.
It is not as empty a house as we thought.
The third floor portal we finally reached was, of course, already open. The same thing happened on the fourth floor, which took us six days to reach.
«But at least now we can eat properly».
Having spent the entire time running without adequate food, we replenished our endurance as we passed the tests. We were a group of six, unlike usual, but the speed was actually slower. That was because the difficulty of the tests increased from six people. It was great that the number of monsters had increased, but in the case of the Test of Wisdom, where you had to go through a maze, it took much longer because the map was even bigger.
I guess the value of race still has an effect. She is definitely better than me at finding her way.
Having received scout training from her sister, Erwen found her way better than I expected. If my guidance was based on experience and knowledge, Erwen found her way by trusting her senses. Its night vision was also much better, so it was possible to detect traps from afar.
«From here on I know even without Mr. Abman. It's this door, right? I can hear the sound waves of mana beyond the door». Erwen had high sensory levels, to the point that she could find the portal that led to the fifth floor even without the innate talent of a guide. She was sure she had no additional auditory statistics tied to her essences.
Is it just innate?
Anyway, when we arrived in front of the fifth floor portal, it was around the beginning of the 19th.
Had we arrived a day later than usual?
If there had been seven of us, it would have taken much longer. From then on, the waiting time itself increased with each test. This was proportional to the number of people. It was not in vain that the great clans divided into teams of five and chose to meet on the fifth floor.
«Aruru, but why don't you gather on the second floor and hunt like us?».
«They have to share someone else's share and the unit price does not work on the lower floors. Also, if you divide a team in two, it is important to have a guide on each side. There are a lot of non-combat scouts on the lower floors, right?».
«¡Hm! Or veo!»
«I already understand it!.. You didn't quite understand it but you still nodded, right?»
«Oh, you're a magician after all!»
«You two, stop fooling around and go to sleep.»
It was time to camp anyway, so we all entered the fifth floor early in the morning after taking a break on the fourth floor, where it was safe.
[You have entered the Great Demon Realm on the fifth floor.]
The fifth floor looked a little different than usual even from the beginning. It was exactly what I expected.
«Nice and quiet ».
There were no longer clans that always arrived first to secure a place and control the hunting grounds.
«Oh! Over there! It's an Istoltos!»
Monsters that you couldn't even see before unless you paid a clan roamed freely in the fields.
«So this place was originally full of so many monsters». Seeing this, Mr. Bear spoke flatly. True, this guy had been active on the fifth floor for a while. As much as he had bad feelings towards a clan, he must have felt strange. «Yandel, what do you think? This situation won't continue, will it?»
«Yes, I probably didn't last long», I replied honestly. Even starting next month, the great clans would probably enter the labyrinth one by one. After some more time, the newly created clans would fill the vacancies again. «So let's stop looking and get going. Opportunities like this don't come easily, after all».
There was a monster that would be difficult to catch if it wasn't today.