Chapter 58
Chapter 58
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Translator: crow
Chapter Title: Floor 6 (1)
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Time passed as the sun set, and taverns began opening one by one.
My appointment with Beth was drawing near, so I left my lodging and headed toward the bustling streets.
I went around various shops, buying as much food as I could carry.
If it were just me, I could swiftly return from the dungeon using a Designated Return Scroll.
But ordinary deep-dungeon explorers end up sleeping in the dungeon for at least a day or more.
Ascending and descending floors eats up a ton of time, so it's only natural.
Today, since I was forming a party with Beth, I couldn't count on a Designated Return Scroll, so I prepared thoroughly.
I headed to Beth's lodging.
"You're here."
"Yes."
She was fully geared up, waving at me.
"Is this your first party?"
A party.
It wasn't exactly my first.
"No."
"Good. Then you can make it to the 5th floor boss room on your own?"
"Yes."
I gave that answer and glanced around.
But aside from Beth, there was no one else in sight.
She noticed my look.
"Ah. The others are at Lockhart."
"I see."
Lockhart Merchant House.
The massive conglomerate sponsoring Beth's guild.
Her party members were all guildmates, and they all seemed to be at the Lockhart Merchant House.
No wonder she'd invited me.
"Then let's head out right away. Come straight down to the 5th floor—no joining up with anyone midway."
In dungeons, passing through a gate drops you in a random location among many possible spots.
That changes the deeper you go, though.
On the 5th floor, which counts as the deep layers, there are four exits.
The 6th has three.
"Once you hit the 6th floor, wait there. I'll handle the shuffle."
"Understood."
From the 5th floor on, monster numbers drop, but fighting solo gets extremely tough.
So it's crucial to gather as many people as possible in the same spot when crossing gates.
There's a trick for that.
Gate shuffling.
You keep entering and exiting the gate until you land in the same spot as your party.
When descending to the next floor from a boss room, everyone spawns in one random location.
But if you go back up through the exit behind it, you always end up back in the boss room.
They use that mechanic: have the priest and a fighter drop together, then those two go out separate exits to pick up the waiting party members.
Deep-layer gates wear down your mental strength with each crossing, though.
Usually, the priest with the strongest mind handles the up-and-down shuffling until they rendezvous.
"You know where the safe zone is?"
"Yes."
In the dungeon's deep layers, the safe zone is a must-find.
You can't use return scrolls down there, so a secure rest spot is essential.
But it has a somewhat fixed spot, so it's fine to say I know.
"Good. Then let's go."
We were just about to head to the dungeon with Beth when—
Rumble—
A massive quake emanated from near the dungeon at the city's heart.
The earthquake, shaking everything like the ground was splitting open, naturally subsided with the arrival of four figures radiating enormous presence.
"We pay respects to the Labyrinth Lords."
A knight's shout rang out.
Labyrinth Lords. They'd returned.
They usually only emerge from the dungeon when undead appear, but this time they came out early.
What happened... I could tell just from the vibrations spreading from the dungeon.
'...Floor 9. They've reached it.'
They'd finally beaten the 8th floor boss and made it to the 9th.
Beth and I waited at a distance, watching the Labyrinth Lords pass.
That's when.
"...?"
My eyes met one of the passing Labyrinth Lords.
It was far away, but the gaze was unmistakable.
I quickly bowed my head in response.
"......"
Dawn Guild Master Sia.
She stared my way for a moment before vanishing without a trace.
"Scary stuff. Is that thing even human?"
Beth tossed out a playful remark, staring in the direction Sia had gone.
"She is human."
At least, for now.
Once the Lords had passed, we entered the dungeon.
"See you on the 5th."
Beth crossed the gate first, and I followed her into the dungeon.
I hurried up through the floors and soon reached the 5th.
I headed toward the boss room.
Scritch-scritch.
The sound of Whispering Shellbugs I'd not heard in a while.
Their numbers had exploded, spilling out beyond the room.
Scritch-scritch-scritch.
Countless Whispering Shellbugs were clawing at each other.
More precisely... they were devouring one another.
When their population booms and space runs tight, they act like that.
"Want to clear them out?"
A full infestation like this... perfect for testing new magic.
Whispering Shellbugs grow stronger the more they cluster.
With them overflowing the room, this was the most dangerous state among all monsters on the 5th floor, elites aside.
I raised my staff and drew in mana.
A pitch-black sphere formed at the staff's tip.
It grew larger as it devoured mana.
Hum—
It ballooned into a massive sphere in an instant, shooting forward.
Black Hole, its power limit lifted upon reaching 4th circle.
It touched the room entrance swarming with shellbugs.
Rumble—
Expanding once more, the Black Hole sucked in the surrounding Whispering Shellbugs at terrifying speed.
They sensed it and tried merging to resist like last time.
But the mass of millions fused together offered no resistance, vanishing inside without a trace.
Whooo—
The shellbugs inside the room went berserk at the Black Hole blocking the single entrance.
No escape possible.
"About half left?"
When the Black Hole ended, half of the black bugs filling the room remained.
They swarmed together in perfect unison, trying to merge into one mass.
I unleashed Hellfire to incinerate them all.
【Rank: Hero】
Spews endless flames forward. Devours lower-circle fire magic.
Fierce flames roared from the staff tip, setting the room ablaze.
The clustered bugs burned from the outer shellbugs inward.
As a Hellfire-ignited shellbug flowed into the center during merging, the whole mass soon went up.
It didn't take long for all the shellbugs to turn to ash.
Pop—!
With the Whispering Shellbugs dead, their egg sacs burst, spilling mana stones.
This room held twice the usual swarm.
Even a normal swarm could've been cleared with just Black Hole.
I swept up the mana stones with my staff and headed to the 5th floor boss room.
"Why so late?"
"Ran into monsters."
Beth was already there when I arrived.
Rogue class speed is hard to match.
Unless using a Designated Return Scroll to cut travel time.
"Just wait quietly once we're in."
"Got it."
We crossed the gate together.
A faint headache hit as my vision shook violently.
When I came to... everything was bathed in red light.
Writhing flesh coiled around the walls, constricting the dungeon like a vise.
"Hoo."
Looking at it made me a bit nauseous.
I waited for Beth as instructed.
It wasn't long before.
Hum—
The gate behind rippled, and Beth appeared.
"You okay?"
"Yeah. Took five tries."
She shrugged it off and drew up her mana.
She pulled a black hide from thin air, draping it over herself like a cloak of shadow.
Her original position vanished without a trace, and she reappeared beside me.
"Stealth?"
"Not that amateur stuff."
I tried peering through True Sight, but saw nothing.
Shadow Assimilation.
She hides in the shadows while making the shadows take her form.
"Let's move."
With prep done, Beth took point.
I followed behind.
Gurgle.
The flesh coating the dungeon interior writhed in response to our movement.
Flesh slapping flesh pounded my ears.
Soon after.
Splort—
A lump of haphazardly stitched flesh appeared ahead.
Headless, dripping blood, shambling along.
But it sensed us and charged straight at me.
At the same time, an old man's silhouette emerged behind the flesh lump.
It wore what looked like pale skin... but upon spotting us, it shed it, revealing hundreds of eyeballs wriggling inside.
All those eyes fixed on me at once.
"......"
Like being flung before a great being, terror flooded my body.
My whole form froze.
Thud! Thud!
While the Gazer stared, the headless flesh lump closed in.
It raised a massive arm, bringing down a guillotine-like blade.
That's when.
"Hey. Move."
Boom—!
The flesh lump blocked the Gazer's view, letting me dodge.
I surged mana and unleashed Fission Ray.
【Rank: Legend】
Condenses light that decomposes all it touches. The condensed light splits into five prongs.
Five rays pierced the thing's body; it splatted to the floor.
The headless flesh lump had three hearts inside—my strike pierced them all.
I turned to the Gazer.
Crunch—
Beth's dagger shredded its central, largest eye.
It pursued her to its last breath.
But no illusion could block her movements.
Eyes closing, the Gazer spat mana stones from its punctured sockets, dissolving into black smoke.
【Stitched Flesh defeated.】
Experience gained.
【Gazer defeated.】
Experience gained.
"Hurt?"
"No."
"Yeah?"
Beth seemed to wipe Gazer blood off on thin air with her dagger.
I couldn't see her, but I'd gauged it from the illusion's moves.
"Not a bad combo."
Beth's illusion nodded in satisfaction.
We pressed deeper into the 6th floor.
Best not to stop until we reach the safe zone.