The Blue Sea Party

I set our course to cut straight through the center, so that we would arrive at the Fixed Safe Zone as if by coincidence.

With the matchup in our favor, our pace on the fifteenth floor was actually faster than it had been on the fourteenth. The experience was better here, too.

The entire party hit level 15 before we even reached the Fixed Safe Zone, and I myself had climbed to 16.

"The experience efficiency isn't bad, and we're moving even faster. Shouldn't we... hurry on to the sixteenth floor?"

The sixteenth floor was not simply a matter of the numbers climbing the way they had before. This was a middle-boss floor, that was all. I shook my head at Joo Ha-yeon's suggestion.

"No. If we think about Nam Eun-ju, this floor might actually be better."

"...What?"

Why was Nam Eun-ju coming up all of a sudden? Both Joo Ha-yeon and Nam Eun-ju herself looked puzzled.

"Once we've secured the Safe Zone, if we got here first, I intend to look for the Blue Sea Party. They didn't seem like bad people... I can't just leave them to die."

Joo Ha-yeon and Na-yeon nodded in agreement. Na Seoyun and Nam Eun-ju didn't look particularly opposed either.

"And after that, I plan to have Nam Eun-ju fight those Minotaurs as well."

"...Whaaaat?!"

Nam Eun-ju wasn't merely surprised. She was outright horrified.

"Nam Eun-ju's growth lately has been remarkable."

"That's true. At some point her physical abilities started pulling ahead of mine."

...Well, she'd caught up to me a long time ago, actually.

"Eun-ju unnie has been getting stronger insanely fast."

"I suspect Nam Eun-ju grows quickly in crisis situations. She's already had plenty of experience managing aggro from multiple enemies and holding the line, so this time I want her to try a one-on-one against a powerful opponent."

"I see. That does make a lot of sense."

Nam Eun-ju had virtually no experience facing a strong opponent one-on-one. Sparring with me was about the extent of it, and that didn't really count. No matter how tense she got, there was a limit.

"Th-that can't be..."

Nam Eun-ju looked genuinely terrified. It was understandable. Neither in her life as a modern person nor since entering the Tower had she ever encountered a four-meter-tall monster. The closest she might have come was seeing an elephant in person. Even bears didn't usually reach four meters. The thought of facing a creature like that one-on-one would be enough to freeze anyone with fear, even with the Tower's physical enhancements.

But it was something she would have to do eventually. Nam Eun-ju did not say she couldn't.

After clearing out a Single-Horned Minotaur Phantom that had been blocking the path, we headed for the next cavern—and this time, instead of a monster, a temple appeared.

Area 5-15. The place I had been aiming for.

"...A building?"

"Whoa, oppa. Isn't this that thing? That Greek temple!"

Just as Na Seoyun said, the Temple of Tribulation looked as though it had been modeled after the Parthenon of Greece. What set it apart was that it was as clean and unblemished as a structure only just completed, and that it radiated a mysterious, gently glowing white light. It was nothing like the Forgotten Temple on the second floor, which had been a temple in name only and had resembled a crumbling old church.

"Let's take a look first."

I headed straight inside the Temple of Tribulation. My steps were cautious, but as I already knew, there was nothing in the vicinity that posed any threat.

The moment my foot crossed the threshold, a message window appeared.

"...The Temple of Tribulation?"

When I read the system message aloud, sounding puzzled, the party reacted.

"The Temple of Tribulation?"

"Yes. That's what it says. The Temple of Tribulation."

What I knew about the Temple of Tribulation was simple. Approach the central altar and you were transported to a special space, where you encountered enemies of a similar level to your own. There might be one enemy, or there might be many.

In that false space, dying did not mean death. You were simply expelled the instant you died. The way out ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠was to kill every enemy that appeared on the opposite side. Then, just as with dying, you were banished from the space and received a reward.

The rewards were usually a bit of food and a little money, but if you cleared it more than ten times, your stats would increase. The catch was that it gave absolutely no experience, so your level never went up.

The problem was that even a single clear was no easy feat, and using the Temple of Tribulation drained your stamina to an almost unimaginable degree, making consecutive attempts nearly impossible. On top of that, the more you raised your stats through the Temple, the stronger the enemies that appeared.

They said your stats went up after ten or more clears, but in terms of efficiency, simply hunting monsters and leveling up while developing your stats was several times faster. The efficiency was atrocious, you could say. That was why it was a space used only briefly by those who simply could not take down the Twin-Horned Minotaur Phantoms and needed a way to reach the sixteenth floor.

And so it had become a forgotten space among the trainees...

Until the 2nd Fist King showed up and everything went crazy.

When the 2nd Fist King appeared, and word got out that his stats averaged well over ninety despite his still being only in his mid-teens in level, chaos erupted. He said it himself. He had trained at the Temple of Tribulation.

The Temple of Tribulation had terrible efficiency, but it steadily raised your stats regardless of level. Of course, even that had a ceiling—you couldn't hit 100, they said. Each stat had its own cap, and around 95 a message would start telling you that you couldn't raise it any further. There was a margin of error of about one or two points.

Even ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠so, once you reached a certain point, stat growth would effectively stagnate—but the Temple of Tribulation had none of that. It definitely slowed down, but it felt more like a deceleration than a true stall. In other words, the efficiency was terrible at the start, but the further you went, the more it surpassed even the best possible returns.

For those without talent, whose ceilings sat low, it turned out that charging ahead only meant running into a wall that had been waiting for them all along. The Temple of Tribulation had actually been the far better choice.

Of course.

Monsters like Na Seoyun don't apply.

For the real deal, this was a place they wouldn't even glance at. At best, it was a spot to encounter hard-to-find monsters, pile up some combat experience, and practice new techniques using the fact that you couldn't die. That was still pretty significant, though.

I suggested we put off exploring the Temple of Tribulation for later.

"This can wait. We've got more urgent business. The temple isn't going anywhere if we leave, so let's take care of the other things first."

"Yes. I think that's best too."

And we headed straight for the next cavern. But a message appeared as if it had been waiting, and the party couldn't hide their surprise.

I smirked. Just as I'd expected, the Blue Sea Party hadn't found the fifteenth floor's Fixed Safe Zone.

I pressed Y at once and turned to the party.

"Found it!"

"What?"

"This is the Fixed Safe Zone!"

"...But this is still Area 5?"

"Haha. Looks like not every Fixed Safe Zone is in Area 1-1."

The rest of the party entered the Fixed Safe Zone at once and felt for themselves that I was telling the truth.

"Whoa, so the fifteenth floor is ours too?"

"Yeah. Well, just the Fixed Safe Zone, anyway."

"...We really got lucky. If we hadn't come this way, we would've been searching for nothing."

Joo Ha-yeon gave a slight shiver, as if even imagining it was frightening. Fair enough. If I had to force-march for days hunting a Fixed Safe Zone I didn't even know the location of, I wouldn't want that either.

The zones where trainees were summoned were randomly determined between Areas 1 and 10. But that didn't mean those were the only areas that existed. The areas themselves continued well past Area 10.

I applied the same rules to the fifteenth floor's Fixed Safe Zone as before. Hearing about the Blue Sea Party didn't make me want to change the settings. That could produce the same side effects as the first cycle. If this cycle produced a bunch of side effects too, I might consider changing them—but not now.

Parties arriving at the eleventh floor had been trickling in one by one lately. The upper ranks and the upper-mid ranks were starting to join, one after another. It was a critical period.

Having achieved the goal we'd been aiming for, the party was able to rest for a full day. We'd hit one of our objectives faster than expected, and it was about time for a break.

I spoke to them as they rested.

"Listen while you rest. As it happens, we were lucky enough to secure the Fixed Safe Zone."

Lucky. I packaged the current situation as luck. But from the party's perspective it really was good fortune, so they all nodded in agreement.

"We really were lucky."

"But you were the one who picked the path, oppa. You've got an amazing sense for these things."

"Now that you mention it... almost none of the Party Leader's decisions have ever been wrong."

Nam Eun-ju spoke as if agreeing with Na Seoyun.

"...Well, Shin-hoo has always been uncanny like that."

Na-yeon half-agreed as well. It was true that being a regressor meant I made the right call quite often, but looking at what had happened on the tutorial floors, I hadn't exactly shown nothing but correct decisions... Of course, even those had been intentional, and they'd all worked out in the end.

"Ahem. Anyway, we secured the Fixed Safe Zone earlier than expected. And we found a peculiar temple on top of that. I'd like to look into the temple, but I still want to prioritize rescuing the Blue Sea Party."

Rescue. The party didn't object. They'd have a rough sense of it themselves. Even without looking at a status window the way I did, they could tell those people weren't at a level suited to this place. The increase in mana and physical stats had developed their sense for distinguishing the strong. That said, unless the other party was actually on the same level, that sense wasn't particularly reliable.

"As I said earlier, I agree. The temple is fascinating, but that woman Han Ba-da... it would have been such a waste to lose her."

"She seemed like a good person. I'm in favor too."

"If oppa says we should, then we should."

"I'll follow whatever the Party Leader decides."

Even with a temple they'd never seen before appearing right in front of them, the entire party agreed with my proposal to prioritize rescuing the Blue Sea Party. As expected, my party members were fundamentally kind-hearted.

They had a tendency to put our own first, thanks to my influence, but they still possessed a basic sense of morality. And since they generally prioritized my word even when it came to something less than moral, I didn't consider their being moral a bad thing.

...Na Seoyun seemed like something of an exception. I wouldn't have called her particularly moral. Had being summoned to a place like this at such a sensitive age, and meeting me, left that deep a mark? Or...

Had she always been this way?

Once the most important item of business was settled, what remained were the smaller matters. That we would continue hunting on the fifteenth floor for a while even after rescuing the party. That we would look into the temple. And that even if we saved them, nobody wanted to travel together with that other party.

Save them and then wash our hands of them. The reason was simple: Jin Sang-soo's party.

"The way they looked at us gave me a bad feeling. Like they were plotting something."

"...Honestly, Han Ba-da is a bit better, but the rest of them... not so much. Especially those four men who looked like they were from a different party. I don't like them. ...If you insist we have to go with them, Shin-hoo, I'll endure it, but..."

"No. I have no intention of traveling with them either. I definitely don't want to work with them."

Na-yeon seemed a little uneasy about it, but since the rest of the party was opposed, she didn't say anything further.

My influence had rubbed off on her after all. Kind-hearted, yes—but the moment someone seemed dangerous, she cut them off. Even though those people would have a hard time surviving the fifteenth floor if our party didn't take them in, they still didn't want to travel together. And Na-yeon hadn't objected either. Even if this floor had a favorable matchup, when lives were on the line, nobody wanted to stick with high-risk people. That was only natural.

I thought it had worked out well. Of course, even if we rescued them, the odds of traveling with Han Ba-da's group were low. There was a gap in ability. And no matter how much of a piece of trash Jin Sang-soo was, at this point he'd only been a bit selfish—he wouldn't have committed any outright evil yet. If he had, that righteous brick wall of a woman wouldn't still be traveling with him.

Which meant I didn't think Han Ba-da would abandon Jin Sang-soo's party first. And if you considered experience efficiency, traveling together would be a net negative.

Well, a temporary partnership in the Labyrinth with just the three from Han Ba-da's side wouldn't be so bad... but the odds of that were low. I was reluctant to permanently recruit them—we'd clash over every little thing. That righteous brick wall would be far more useful deployed elsewhere.

The discussion didn't take long. Once the brief talk was over, everyone unwound and settled into a proper rest.

The next day, as we'd discussed, we began searching for the Blue Sea Party.

We combed through ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the areas at high speed. The search was faster than I'd imagined, but we didn't ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠find them in a single day.

Still, as the highest-level party currently in the Tower, we found the Blue Sea Party on the second day of searching, in Area 2.

A thief, battered to pieces, barely able to lift a single sword. Han Ba-da, already looking unconscious. And an archer clutching her, weeping.