The Portal's Leap
Ha, this is insane. I wanted to pass through the next floor without any trouble or fanfare, but did I accidentally make a wish on a monkey's paw or something? Dropping me right in front of the portal to the fourth floor?
‘Should I call this good luck or bad? This is tricky.’
Chaos says, “Since things have turned out this way, let’s think positively.”
I had secretly hoped that once we reached the third floor, I could gauge just how much stronger we had become compared to when we first fell into the labyrinth. But the moment we arrived, there were no monsters in sight. The goblin village had already been brutally cleared, and a portal glowed nearby. It looked like we were about to skip the third floor entirely.
Schring.
“Everyone, combat ready! Who are you? How did you barge in without any warning?”
The adventurer in front of me—a swordsman who seemed to be the party’s vanguard—radiated clear hostility and wariness. Not wanting to waste energy on unnecessary conflict, I quickly waved my hands and spoke up.
“Don’t misunderstand. I took the portal in the swamp zone on the second floor and ended up here. I have no intentions, so please lower your sword.”
“Eek!”
Just as I finished speaking, I caught Yeriel as she tumbled to the side. Tap.
“Success again. …Huh?”
Lumia, who had landed safely and was looking around, turned toward us with wide eyes.
“You saw that, right? That’s how we fell here.”
Clack.
“Seeing it myself, I have no choice but to believe it. I’ve heard such cases are extremely rare. I apologize for pointing my sword at you.”
The swordsman sheathed his blade and bowed his head. It was only natural—if another adventurer suddenly appeared right after a battle, anyone would go on guard. ‘If anything, it’s strange how polite he’s being.’
“It’s fine. I’m not petty enough to nitpick something so reasonable.”
I shrugged and pointed behind me with my thumb.
“We’ll stay out of your way, so go ahead and finish farming.”
“Right. Thanks. …Alright, it was nothing serious, so everyone relax! This side’s handled, so let’s finish farming and move on!”
The swordsman also looked relieved that no fight had broken out.
“Eh?”
“…?”
Leading Yeriel and Lumia, whose faces were full of question marks, I stepped back. All the monsters in the village seemed to have been eliminated. Even if something was hiding, with that experienced party right in front of us, nothing would dare attack.
“Aren, what’s going on right now?”
“No matter how many times I rub my eyes, those are clearly an escape portal and a floor portal. Don’t tell me we can skip the third floor entirely?”
The moment we put some distance between us, the two whispered urgently.
“Yeah. You’re right. It seems we landed right on top of one of the portals.”
Taking the escape portal now felt wrong no matter how I thought about it. Haah. They said the fourth floor was similar to the third, so maybe heading straight to the next floor was the right call?
While the other party farmed the corpses, I rubbed my face in frustration and began discussing it with the girls.
“What should we do? We have to choose right now—go to the fourth floor or return to the city.”
Given time, monsters would respawn in the village, including chieftain-level hobgoblins. If we were unlucky, there was even a slim chance of a mutant like the purple Cicero appearing. ‘That would mean another tough fight right after the full serpent. We should avoid that if possible.’
So while the other party was clearing the village for us, we needed to decide without delay. Advance or retreat. One or the other.
Yeriel, fidgeting with her index fingers pressed together, spoke first.
“Um, I think it’s fine to keep going. You know our highest record is only the third floor, right?”
That was true on paper, but in reality only Yeriel had reached the third floor. I had been dropped on the third floor thanks to the misfortune of the Mixed Dragon Core, skipping the first and second entirely. Lumia, meanwhile, had been unable to leave the first floor because of her curse.
“Adventurers need skill first and foremost, but records and achievements are just as important, or so I’ve heard.”
Yeriel smiled gently as she spoke.
“If you two are okay with it, how about we raise our record a little higher this time? We’re still far from being mid-floor adventurers, but let’s climb one floor at a time!”
‘I’m realizing it again, but compared to when we first met, Yeriel has changed a lot… and for the better.’
Hearing her confident words, I found myself leaning toward advancing as well. Though, now that I thought about it—when entering the Great Labyrinth and taking a portal to the next floor, should we say we were going “up” or “down”? I kept saying “up” because the numbers increased, but wasn’t it more common to say you were going “down” the deeper you went into a labyrinth or dungeon?
‘Well, it doesn’t matter right now. I’ll just think of it as going up for convenience and match whatever other people say.’
While I was idly stroking my chin over such a pointless thought, Lumia looked straight at me and spoke.
“I’ll do whatever you decide, Aren. You’re the leader who keeps the party together and guides us, and you’re always the one working the hardest out of the three of us.”
“That’s right! I’m grateful you’re asking for our opinions, but if you want to go back and rest, we should all return together and aim for the next labyrinth run.”
Yeriel agreed with Lumia.
…Yeah. I had wanted this labyrinth run to be a direct success up to the third floor, overwriting the awkward memory of our first return. But suddenly skipping an entire floor—especially the third—made it feel like we had used some kind of cheat. After struggling so hard through the first and second floors, this sudden leap almost gave me cognitive dissonance. ‘Just taking the easy win would be the simplest, but…’
“Let’s go to the fourth floor. This time we’ll clear up to the fourth and return feeling refreshed.”
“Okay!”
Nod.
By the time we finished talking, the other adventurers had apparently finished farming and were disappearing one by one into the portal.
“They’re all gone. Alright, shall we head in too?”
Before the monsters could respawn, we hurried toward the portal. Vwoom—
“Hoo.”
The fourth floor. From what I had heard, it was similar to the third, but with more monster types, more traps, and even more complex terrain. A slight turn of my head revealed dense foliage and lush greenery all around us.
‘Once again, unknown territory. Stay calm.’
Tap. Thud.
“Wow, I think I’m finally getting used to this!”
“Shh. I get that you’re excited, but keep your voice down.”
“Ah, right. I’ll be careful. Heh, thanks, Lumia.”
Yeriel had finally succeeded in landing after exiting the floor portal’s disorienting effect, and Lumia quickly calmed her down before she could get too loud. It was good to see the two of them getting along.
‘First, I need to figure out where we are and decide on a route…’
I opened the map and looked around, but everything was green and there were no distinctive landmarks, making it hard to get my bearings.
“Lumia, any presences nearby?”
“…At least for now, I don’t sense anything. We’re safe for the moment.”
“Good. Then wait here a bit. I need to climb a tree and get a rough idea of our location.”
“Huh? If that’s all, I can do it. Leave the tree climbing to me.”
Oh, right. She was a beastkin. I handed Lumia the map and compass. She tucked them away and scaled a large nearby tree in one swift motion.
“Whoa, she’s so fast. She just went whoosh whoosh whoosh!”
“Yeah. She’s got good technique.”
Was it thanks to her beastkin sensory traits? At that level, it was more skill than raw agility. Even though my agility stat was five stages higher than hers, I doubted I could climb like that.
Tap.
A moment later, Lumia came down and approached me.
“Here, look at the map.”
She spread out the map and traced a circle with dark mana on her fingertip.
“The area is full of grass and giant trees. From up there I could see a small mountain nearby, a large cave a little farther away, and a big village to the south… I think we’re roughly around here.”
“Good work. Thanks to you, I have an idea which way we should go.”
“Did I do well?”
“Of course you did!”
When I praised her with a thumbs-up, Lumia looked embarrassed.
‘So we landed in the giant tree zone of the forest area. No wonder the trees were so dense.’
The portals would be inside the villages located in each cardinal direction, as usual. The problem was that the villages here were clearly larger than those on the third floor. More importantly—the cave? The map showed nothing about any cave in this area. That meant it was likely a random event location that appeared anew each time the labyrinth opened, similar to the Transcendent’s Altar on the second floor.
‘If it’s a cave, we might be able to clear the monsters inside and get some kind of reward.’
Since we had already confirmed the village’s location, we might as well check out the cave first. I shared my thoughts with the girls.
“You’re right. If there’s a chance to farm, we should go take a look. Grandpa also said that in the labyrinth, creating a gap between yourself and other adventurers is the fastest way to grow.”
“Let’s go! I don’t know what we’ll find, but it’s a little exciting, isn’t it?”
“Yeah. We’ll go to the cave, beat up any monsters if they’re there, and if not, we can use it as a place to rest for the day. Alright, shall we move out?”
The joy of discovering hidden or randomly appearing places in the labyrinth and obtaining something that helped you grow—that was probably one of the reasons adventurers kept returning. Of course, money and success came first.
Map in hand, I took the lead and headed toward the cave marked nearby.
“It’s huge. Really huge!”
Just as Yeriel said, the cave entrance was enormous. As we approached, a cold, eerie aura slowly seeped out from inside. Lumia rubbed her arms as if she had gotten chills and spoke.
“I can feel an energy related to darkness, different from dark magic. It’s not that strong, but we should be careful.”
We had come here drawn by the mysterious presence not marked on the map, but… ‘No. Let’s put aside any hesitation. This is the fourth floor. As long as it’s not some transcendent or god throwing around unreasonable nonsense, whatever’s in there should be manageable.’
Chaos cheers that you can overcome any crisis.
Retreating because the aura here felt ominous would be fine. But what if other adventurers discovered this place and managed to reach the end and obtain something? We would have thrown away a chance to grow, and that would sting. I couldn’t let that happen.
“Let’s go in. If we hadn’t known about it, that would be one thing, but now that we’ve come this far knowing the cave exists, we have to check it out.”
Fwoosh!
After exchanging glances with the two of them, I slowly took out a torch, lit it, and stepped into the cave.