The Blue Sea Party

I checked the surrounding caverns. There were no Minotaur phantoms. They must have lost consciousness after barely managing to put one down.

"What happened?"

"Please, please, Administrator... I'll do anything. Just save Ba-da. Please save Ba-da. Please..."

The archer looked like she'd half lost her mind. I approached Han Ba-da first and examined her wounds.

They were bad. Seriously bad.

The archer was covered in cuts, but nothing that looked life-threatening.

I turned to the rogue. His injuries were considerably worse. Scattered lacerations were one thing, but the wounds on his thigh and abdomen were sizable. His organs didn't appear to have been hit, but this wasn't the kind of damage you could just leave alone, either. It was a wonder he was even still holding a sword.

"Where are the others?"

I asked the rogue, who at least seemed to still have his wits about him. The archer was still clutching Han Ba-da, murmuring please... please... under her breath.

"...They ran. More precisely, they betrayed us."

"Betrayed you? They'd just die if they ran."

With those four's skill, surviving the 15th floor was impossible.

"...They have a means of escape. And while we never found a Fixed Safe Zone, we did find a one-month Safe Zone."

I see. A means of escape... a reward from the 9th floor dungeon, perhaps?

"When did you get injured?"

"...A few hours ago."

A few hours. They were lucky it hadn't respawned. The Minotaur phantoms would start appearing again soon. Better to clear another cavern and treat them there — or more precisely, just go back the way we'd come. We'd only just finished off a Minotaur in that one.

"...First aid, for now..."

"Here. Take this. If you need anything else, I'll..."

The archer, who'd been babbling the whole time, suddenly thrust something at me.

...This is...

The moment I took it, an information window appeared.

"I-I got it from the 9th floor dungeon. The, the effect is small, but it definitely helps..."

Then the archer rushed on, stumbling over her words.

"O-other than this... money. I can give you money. I-if you need it, I'll do whatever it takes to pay you back, so please, please save Ba-da..."

She was insisting that even if she wasn't much, she was an archer who could pull her own weight — that she'd be of use.

She wasn't wrong. She was an archer with High Potential, after all.

Still, I couldn't figure out why she was this desperate. Had they been friends back on Earth? Either way, I took what she was offering, then spoke to her.

"Understood. I'll help you, so calm down first."

My Heal skill was Rare-grade, but these weren't wounds that would close in a single cast. Han Ba-da's injuries weren't immediately fatal, but left untreated, there was a high chance she'd be dead within a few days. They were more than serious enough.

I used Heal on Han Ba-da, primarily to settle the archer down.

Bright light immediately seeped into Han Ba-da's body, and her wounds closed to a visible degree. Not a full recovery, but enough that she'd heal with sufficient rest. Two more casts would probably finish ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the job, but I stopped there for now.

I spoke with a slightly weary look.

"Her life isn't in danger. We'll continue treatment after we've secured a safe location."

One of my classes was Priest, after all. But ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠unlike Joo Ha-yeon, I couldn't convert mana into holy power, nor had I learned the fundamentals of holy magic theory, so the efficiency was poor. Even I was limited to about three casts. Any more and my mana would bottom out. This wasn't a place to be throwing it around carelessly.

"Ah... ahh... Th-thank you. Thank you so much..."

Seeing the wounds close even a little, the archer looked somewhat more composed than before. Even so, she still wouldn't leave Han Ba-da's side. The fear hadn't fully left her.

"Follow me for now."

I signaled my party to surround the group. It was for escort purposes, but it also served to discourage any foolish ideas. Honestly, they didn't have the energy for that anyway, so it was a needless worry.

I headed toward the cavern where we'd just killed the Minotaur. Respawn times were irregular — as short as an hour or two, or as long as a full day.

We moved caverns to give the archer time to calm down. In the meantime, I treated the rogue as well. The minor wounds, of course, and the injuries to his abdomen and thigh had nearly closed. He'd need to be careful, but he was in fighting condition. A Rare skill was rare for a reason — it earned its keep.

As a result, more than half my mana was gone.

"Thank you. We're in your debt."

I just nodded, making a show of my exhaustion. Part of it was intentional. I figured it would land harder than words.

Once some time had passed and the archer had settled, I called her and the rogue over.

"Thank you for saving us. I'm ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Cho Yeon-eun. I'm an archer, level 13."

"I'm Lee Yoon-hyung. Rogue, level 13."

Both of them seemed to have leveled up on the 15th floor.

Cho Yeon-eun's stats averaged Agility 21, the rest of her physical stats around 19, and mana around 15. Lee Yoon-hyung sat at about 18 across the board, with mana at 14.

Not a level suited for the 15th floor. Cho Yeon-eun was about 14th-floor caliber, and Lee Yoon-hyung should still have been hunting well below that.

That aside...

Neither of them has a Hidden Class.

The Administrators' standards seemed to have gone up. It made sense. After seeing me and Na Seoyun, the next person they looked at was Han Ba-da. Someone like Cho Yeon-eun hadn't caught their eye.

Still, she was a High Potential talent with seven skill slots... they were getting picky. Or maybe there just hadn't been a class they wanted.

It was a contrast to our party, where everyone except Nam Eun-ju had received a Hidden Class.

"You went to the 15th floor first... what happened?"

"...We'd expected the 15th floor to be rough, but we never imagined there'd be nothing but Minotaurs. We thought goblins or orcs would just come out stronger."

The rogue, Lee Yoon-hyung, slowly began to speak.

"When we first encountered a Minotaur, it was an absolute disaster. Jin Sang-soo and the other warriors were all terrified and just tried to run. Han Ba-da basically tanked all the aggro by herself. Yeon-eun and I had to handle all the damage."

He continued, still sounding irritated just thinking about it.

"And then they collected all the loot, saying it was part of the agreement. Food, of course, and even those iron scraps we had no idea what they were for — they scooped it all up. And then in the next cavern, and the one after that, whenever a Minotaur appeared, they basically just sat the fights out. They'd pull aggro occasionally, but they were always more interested in running away."

"...They're fast, so how did they even pull aggro?"

"They'd circle around, throw weapons, and use smoke grenades to escape."

"...Smoke grenades?"

"A reward from the 9th floor dungeon. The place we cleared was called the Forest of Silent Mist. The objective was to reach the ruins at the center... and the reward was ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠smoke grenades. Between the five of us, we got about a hundred. Mine were all taken by those bastards on the 15th floor, so they should still have plenty. Han Ba-da and Yeon-eun, who contributed the most, received other items."

Lee Yoon-hyung said they'd only started pulling even a little aggro after he offered up his own smoke grenades as the price of their cooperation.

So that Cleaner must have been what Cho Yeon-eun received. Judging by the three uses already spent, she'd probably used it once each on herself, Han Ba-da, and Lee Yoon-hyung. The effect would have been negligible. Makes sense — their Potentials were High, High, and Mid-High respectively.

"The zone we dropped into was Zone 3, so we thought we'd get there quickly... but clearing each cavern was just too hard. The matchup was the worst possible. And then we ran into a one-month Safe Zone along the way... Jin Sang-soo's party suggested we give up on the Fixed Safe Zone. Just hold out until Shin-hoo's party arrived. If we hadn't been the ones leading the way — if they hadn't failed to claim the Administrator position because of us — that's probably exactly what would have happened. But then."

Lee Yoon-hyung's voice trembled as he held back his anger.

"While we were barely carving our way through cavern after cavern, Jin Sang-soo's party kept getting more and more passive. They said they were getting nervous because the smoke grenades were running low. In the end Han Ba-da had to push herself even harder... and once the fatigue had built up enough, they showed their true colors."

"They betrayed us!"

Cho Yeon-eun suddenly cut in.

"From behind! They stabbed Ba-da in the back and ran. They said we were going to die before we even reached the Fixed Safe Zone! They told us to just die here! They said if things got dangerous, we were supposed to be the bait — and that they were going to attach themselves to Shin-hoo's party and survive!"

"...They seemed to be after the Administrator rights to the one-month Safe Zone. A month would be more than enough time for your party to make it up here. And since the Safe Zone is in Zone 2, the odds of running into you were high."

Our party was better than theirs and heading for the Fixed Safe Zone, so they were probably planning to join up along the way. Even if they couldn't join mid-route, they figured they'd run into us at least once within a month.

It was a bit of a gamble, but if the Safe Zone was in Zone 2, the odds weren't terrible.

Not that I have any intention of taking them in.

They'd probably seen Han Ba-da's conversation with Joo Ha-yeon on the 14th floor and figured we were suckers just like her.

"You survived the betrayal, though. That's impressive."

"We got lucky. Han Ba-da held on with her life on the line, and I barely managed to aim for a vital spot. If the Minotaur's horn had gone even a little deeper, I'd be dead."

The abdominal wound. That must have been where the Minotaur's horn had gone in.

I had a rough picture of the situation. They'd gotten lucky and survived this fight, but their deaths were essentially a matter of time. The moment a Minotaur respawned, they were dead for certain. If we hadn't shown up as a variable, we probably wouldn't have seen them in this cycle either.

I asked Lee Yoon-hyung and Cho Yeon-eun,

"What do you plan to do now?"

"...If you'll allow it, we'd like to travel with you until we've recovered. We know we'd be a burden. Things are hard right now, but... we'll make sure to repay this debt."

"I'll ask as well, even if it's shameless of me."

Both of them bowed their heads to me.

I pretended to think it over for a moment, then accepted. I'd been inclined to take these three in from the start. They'd be useful, too. Temporary companions until the 20th floor, at least.

"...Fine. We'll provide treatment and food, but there won't be any share of combat loot."

"Yes. Of course. If you need us, we'll help in combat as well."

"No, that's not necessary for now. Focus on recovering."

If they joined us, we could collect these Strange Iron Scraps faster. They'd become extremely valuable materials once we reached the 20th floor, so we needed to gather them faster and in greater quantities. And once someone cleared the 20th floor boss, they wouldn't even drop anymore.

It's unfortunate for Han Ba-da... but this is a good situation for me.

I was planning to use Han Ba-da as an Administrator to keep order in the Labyrinth while I headed above the 20th floor.

Leave it to her for a while, then later have her pass it on to someone trustworthy, and a significant number of trainees wouldn't die pointlessly. The quality of trainees would improve, and we could prevent the kind of situation from the past where garbage seized power in the Labyrinth — and by extension, keep the Upper Floors of the Tower from filling up with trash.

Once I'd roughly recovered my mana, I turned to head toward the Fixed Safe Zone we'd already secured.

Cho Yeon-eun and Lee Yoon-hyung spoke up, looking puzzled.

"That's not the way to Zone 1-1..."

"Ah. We've already secured the Fixed Safe Zone. It was in Zone 5."

"Whaaat?"

Cho Yeon-eun's reaction was dramatic.

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

Wasted all that effort, yeah.

"Even so, making it to Zone 1-1 in that condition would have been impossible. If you'd forced your way through, you'd have been in serious trouble. You should count yourselves lucky you didn't make a reckless choice."

If they'd forced their way through the caverns thinking they just needed to reach Zone 1-1, they would have been chased down by herds of Minotaurs — and since there was no Safe Zone in 1-1, they would have died horribly.

At my words, Cho Yeon-eun and Lee Yoon-hyung hung their heads, looking utterly deflated.