Chapter 35
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 35
Chapter Title: 4th Floor - Lv. 325 Barbaroi (4)
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I gathered the bats together and pierced them clean through.
I had no idea why the vampire's scattered bat-form parts hadn't been banished along with the bat state.
Back in my gaming days, bat transformation was just a movement and evasion tool.
It didn't allow for the kind of diverse applications it did now.
The dead bats melted into blood and flowed toward their master, wriggling desperately.
But soon enough, they lost their strength and reverted to their original form.
A red cape, split open like wings.
It was a bizarre shape for any human to wear—and practically unusable, too.
Equipment with a strict race restriction.
In terms of grade, it had to be around Legendary.
Originally, it wasn't something you could acquire in item form, so even I didn't know much about it.
Once I became a vampire, I could probably flash this cape and pass myself off as a clan master.
"I really have nothing to say but thanks."
Of course, I couldn't let any of that slip in front of the Night Crow folks.
I couldn't become a vampire on this floor anyway.
Sir Dusbern barely managed to prop himself up and lean against the wall.
Blood kept pouring from where his arms had vanished.
Blood dripped from the corner of his mouth, too.
"At least there's time to leave some last words."
Why was this uncle gearing up for his final moments so gloomily?
The rest of his squad was in the same heavy mood.
Only the mage was stealing glances between me and them.
Jeez, why were they making it so hard to speak up?
"Boss!"
A hulking figure came running over alongside the Hunter.
Perfect timing, fortunately.
Sir Dusbern's eyes shifted toward our youngest, who was shouting, and then to the vial clutched in her hand.
It reminded me of my own gaze back on the 2nd floor.
A wry smile crept across Sir Dusbern's face.
"Ah, I never even thought of that."
"You cleared out all the monsters in that direction yesterday, didn't you, sir? I ran full tilt to fetch this one."
"I'm afraid I'm nothing but a burden."
"We'll call it even for saving our hides yesterday."
I couldn't just let him die here.
He'd make for a solid ally on other floors.
The Sword Master watched the arm regeneration with fascination.
"I can kind of see why those stuffy old nobles let themselves get bitten by vampires."
The Sword Master rummaged in his pocket and pulled out a pendant engraved with a crow in relief.
"If we cross paths somewhere else down the line, show them this."
"That's a precious item."
I'd figured he wouldn't hand it over.
Night Crow one-time free pass.
My heart leaped, but I took it with a straight face, all solemn-like.
The healing spring water was a straight-up game healing potion—but it didn't restore stamina.
Sir Dusbern glanced at the pool of his own blood on the floor, shook his head ruefully, and shifted to lie down elsewhere.
"Think I'll rest up a bit."
What a laid-back guy.
He flopped down without a care and started snoring away.
The mage approached.
"No joke."
His boyish face was at odds with that gruff tone.
I leaned in and whispered so no one else would hear.
"Senior?"
"Heh, caught me."
"Not human, huh."
"Couldn't snag a human card, so my hundred years ticked out as a fairy. Bit of magic on the ears, and no one can tell."
Exiles who hunkered down on even floors became Labyrinth Residents once their century was up.
The layer's spatial limits vanished.
They truly became inhabitants of that place and time.
"That way of talking—is it a roleplay thing?"
"Nah, just how a seventy-year-old geezer like me sounds."
"Oof..."
Card-induced race changes could tweak your age bracket, but this was pushing it.
Well, anyone might crave a taste of youth.
Best not to pry.
Instead, I made another pitch.
"Ever thought about diving back into the labyrinth?"
Competent mage. Would make a great party member for a good long while.
"Grown fond of this spot."
Figured as much. Otherwise he'd be off farming somewhere, not running with a crew like this.
"Plus I owe that guy one."
One of the squad members draped a cape over the snoring Sir Dusbern.
They all pretended otherwise, but damn if they weren't good people.
"Never was much of a challenger myself. Just wandered till the century passed. But you? Proper challenger."
Was that a flicker of regret in his eyes?
A fairy with a seriously long lifespan.
Even after those hundred years, who knew how much time had flowed since.
The gaze of an old man looking back on his life.
Like army days, an exile's life turned to fond memories in hindsight.
"But that thing... don't tell me."
He was eyeing the cape in my hand.
The guy who'd clocked the Akasha's Eye as an Abyss relic on sight.
A real veteran, for all his humility—must've challenged this place plenty.
"Barbaroi's authority."
"Hm. And there was a way to steal it?"
His gaze grew distant.
"Haha, sounds like it wrecked you bad back in the day."
"Don't remind me. We went in with a full ten-man party, prepped to the teeth—and still wiped. You have no idea how nasty it gets against humans."
"Lucky it was a martial artist matchup."
"Short-range classes are the worst."
The mage nodded along.
"With that in hand, you're either turning vampire or recruiting one to raise up."
"Count on you later."
"Can't do much about the rest of the squad hating vampires' guts. But if we meet, I'll play dumb."
He winked. Kinda corny given who he really was inside.
But on that teenage boy face? Worked better than expected.
"We're connected now—bound to meet on some other layer. Oh, and keep the old exile bit under wraps. No one knows. Good luck out there."
The mage waved as he turned and walked off.
Come on, gramps, no need to flex. I was hoping for one more free meal before heading down.
Old exiles had a way of turning out like that.
Rest was crucial.
We threw a low-key feast at camp right up until evening that day.
The air was humid, the smells weren't great—but nothing dangerous lurked around the campsite anymore.
Sir Dusbern graciously provided a high-grade deer-fur sleeping bag.
It belonged to one of his squad, but no one was gonna argue with their squad leader offering up his own.
No one seemed bummed about it, either.
We got resupplied with all sorts of goods, too.
"Never can tell what awaits on those stairs down. Heat would be manageable, but if it's northern snowfields... risky."
"Aw, sir, I don't even know where to put myself."
"Not just me—you saved the lives of everyone in the nearby cities. No need to hold back."
The Hunter, who'd barely touched his drink yesterday, was chugging away today.
He belted out songs with the Girl, and with everyone else sloshed, no one stepped in to stop them.
When Sir Dusbern wedged himself in and started waving his arms around, I had to look away.
The goddess, who'd passed out late and woken up groggy, started wheedling for booze too.
After a quick apology, I offered up some food as tribute.
She was a chaos goddess—evil god tier—which made me hesitate a bit, but the others didn't bat an eye.
The booze, though? Regret city. A sloshed goddess was just... awkward.
「Hey! You jerk! Back in my day, I snagged a clan master!」
‘Chaos, no more booze from here on out.’
「You little shit!」
‘Weren't you underage?’
「You're such a sly bastard... I'm gonna cry! Gonna cry!」
‘Sigh, just a little then.’
「Hee hee hee hee.」
[The Goddess of Chaos cheers vigorously.]
She was so plastered the messages came through unfiltered.
One more problem cropped up.
"Uhihihi! Heheheh! Uuuuncle! Hee hee!"
I shot the mage a glare, but she just made a heart with her fingers and winked back.
"How could you get a kid drunk?"
"Kid? Back home, that's marriageable age."
"Not from an Earth world, then?"
"World that never knew science. Heh heh."
Couldn't argue with cultural differences.
Still, both hailed from modern Earth-style worlds, so ethically? Super awkward.
Exiles parted ways unpredictably, so best make it a done deal quick—that kinda nonsense started flying.
This was why old folks were...
Took a long, long talk to convince the mage to respect our culture.
Luckily, the Girl remembered nothing the next day.
Leave it be—she'd be mortified.
No real comparison group on the 2nd floor.
3rd floor had no native NPCs to begin with. Odd floors were exile-only turf.
Only on reaching the 4th did a proper comparison emerge.
Hero units were just encounter bonuses—ignore 'em.
More scenario than difficulty spike.
Fairy village's world tree sapling. Greenskin unit led by great shaman-tier.
2nd floor averaged level 20-30. Hidden boss griffon around 70.
Faction war buffs pushed the orc commander to great shaman—level 100-ish.
Fairy village probably similar.
On a normal even floor, that'd show up around the 15th at earliest.
What about the 4th?
Undead—lower-tier stuff overall—clocked in around 30. Vampires, the stage's main monsters, felt a notch over 50.
Ballpark from skillsets and fight styles, but spot-on I'd bet.
Boss was a lord-class vampire.
No clan master buffs? Average under 300.
Named like Barbaroi? Over 300 for sure.
If a griffon-style hidden boss lurked on 4th? Level just shy of 200.
But hidden bosses weren't usually humanoid.
Less NPC, more straight-up monster.
No brains, just raw physical spec beasts from birth.
Face-level stats mattered less—that's what made 'em hidden.
By that logic, was the Girl a monster too?
Then the next even floor—6th, where the theme fully shifts.
Could make some guesses about what'd spawn there.
Average levels near 100. Bosses over 400.
Pre-kingdom stretches shortened as difficulty ramped to hard.
Still, you'd hit kingdom before blatant level-1000+ main bosses.
If the tutorial dragged longer? Post-kingdom might actually be a breeze.
This run had me pondering all sorts.
The stairs down to the 5th loaded forever.
Layers that are multiples of 5 come right before a theme change. Greater trials and rewards than before await. Prepare for a powerful boss battle!
Says all that, but honestly? Seemed easier than the 4th.
Figured the Girl's influence didn't touch odd floors.
The real terror was the 10th—even boss floor.
Headache. Think on it later.
More nagging: what Provence had mentioned.
Blanche was down there, right?
Boss floors packed gimmicks galore.
Odd boss floors being exile turf meant solo often impossible.
Blanche wouldn't be party'ed up anywhere.
She'd descended pretty late to lower floors.
3rd floor occupiers had clogged things up, so few exiles trickled in after.
Even factoring other channels, no occupation attempts meant light traffic to the 5th.
If they were hanging fire without enough bodies...
"Ooh! People at last!"
"Senior, you're late."
A bunch of exiles who'd been waiting erupted in cheers.
One party were acquaintances.
"Arrows do the trick?"
"Made it a breeze."
The female archer bragged she'd barely loosed any.
Normal 4th floor? Expected.
Our party couldn't speedrun even pushing it.
Guess the numbers shortage really had 'em stalled.
Lets count heads.
Parties aside—how many solos?
"We make enough to go?"
"Yeah, we were holding out figuring you'd show."
One short still.
"Any solo dry-looking woman in a suit?"
"Our mage clocked her. Fixed NPC Blanche? She's here."
"Fuck me."
The female archer gave an uncertain smile, like she hadn't clocked her.
Wouldn't if you hadn't met.
What a total bitch.
Even the goddess sighed.
「Blanche, ahahaha! Kekekeuk. 5th floor boss rush, huh? Ahahaha. Bet you're thrilled, deputy high priest. I'd off myself. Kekekeuk.」
Nah, she was just having a ball.
‘Chaos, if I suicide, you're coming too.’
「Aw, I trust my believer. Trust ya. You got this! Go goddess!」