5th Floor (3)

The Zone 1 Boss's strength was around the Level 20s.

The Zone 2 Boss's strength was said to be around the Level 40s.

Then perhaps the Zone 3 Boss's strength would be around the Level 60s... It was a natural assumption to make.

If that was the case, wouldn't I be able to hunt it down easily enough on my own?

Though I wouldn't know for sure until I faced it myself.

Naturally, other people besides me would also be aiming for the Zone 3 Boss's First Clear Reward.

People like the Public Order Captain Alex, or Wang Kai—those Top-tier Climbers.

Of course, I was confident too.

Confident that if I slipped in among the people and fought the Zone 3 Boss together, I would secure the highest contribution.

But I couldn't do that.

So, if possible, I planned to face the boss alone. If possible, that is.

Since the Zone 3 Boss had never appeared before, no one knew where in Zone 3 it would spawn.

So in the end, whoever found the boss first would come down to luck.

What if I was too late and other people killed the boss first?

It would be a shame, but it couldn't be helped.

Or, what if a situation arose where I had to subjugate the Zone 3 Boss together with other people?

In that case, well... I figured I'd just pull up my hood and fight alongside them.

I couldn't just give up the First Clear Reward just because I didn't want to expose my appearance to others.

Well, I'd think about it when the time came.

For now, filling up the Zone 3 Boss Gauge completely was the priority.

\[Zone 3 (90.9%)\]

Currently, the Zone 3 Boss Gauge was at about 91 percent.

I couldn't know exactly how long it would take to fill the remaining 9 percent.

Still, listening to what people were saying, it seemed like it would take about another month at the current rate...

The reason the gauge filled much slower than in Zone 1 was because the monsters were that much stronger.

Didn't they say that monsters up to the Level 30s appeared in Zone 3?

That meant a Climber had to be at least in their mid-to-late Level 20s to hunt in Zone 3, and I figured that level of strength would put them in the top 1 percent on the 5th Floor.

So I planned to pitch in a little starting now.

Having entered the forest of Zone 1, I summoned Flee and climbed onto its back.

"Let's go, Flee."

Flee began to sprint like the wind toward the Outer Zone.

In an instant, we passed the boundaries of Zone 1 and entered Zone 2.

The Zone Division was immediately obvious because the Field Environment changed as if drawn by a ruler.

Unlike the Dense Forest of Zone 1, Zone 2 was an Arid Land.

I could see Giant Scorpion Monsters and Spider Monsters roaming around. Ugh, gross.

I ignored them and kept riding.

Since the area grew wider the further out into the Outer Zone you went, it took longer to get out of Zone 2 than Zone 1. Still, it didn't take long.

As we crossed into Zone 3, the air grew hot.

The field had now changed into a Lava Zone.

"Oh..."

Lava flowed from the wide cracks in the ground.

From the Rock Mountain visible in the distance, a Lava Waterfall was even cascading down.

I took in the scenery for a moment before dismounting from Flee's back.

From now on, it was Hunting Time.

"Go wild to your heart's content, Flee."

I ordered Flee to kill every monster it saw. And to absolutely never attack a person, nor reveal itself, just in case.

As soon as the command was given, Flee dashed like an arrow toward a Lava Giant walking in the distance.

I set Flee on Auto-hunt, and I hunted on my own.

Spotting a Giant Snake Monster slithering in the distance, I also made my move.

Now then, let's quickly fill up the rest of this gauge.

---

Low-level Climbers or those uninterested in the Boss Raid might not know, but lately, the 5th Floor had an atmosphere akin to the Calm Before the Storm.

The reason was the Zone 3 Boss that would soon appear.

How strong would the Zone 3 Boss be, would the Boss Raid succeed without a hitch, and who would take the First Clear Reward?

It was only natural that the tension between the Public Order Squad and the Black Star Society was escalating.

"It'll be a problem if Wang Kai takes the reward again..."

At the Officer's worried remark, Public Order Captain Alex also let out a small sigh.

"Tell me about it."

"Are you confident?"

"Well. That guy Wang Kai is quite something, after all."

China's Hard Difficulty Record Holder Wang Kai, and America's Hard Difficulty Record Holder Alex.

In the end, it was a battle between the two heads of the Public Order Squad and the Black Star Society. Because one of them would end up taking the Zone 3 First Clear Reward.

If the Zone 3 Boss appeared, it was agreed that the Public Order Squad and the Black Star Society would join forces for the Boss Raid. For now, at least.

It had been the same during the Zone 2 Boss Battle two years ago.

And the result was Wang Kai achieving the highest contribution and claiming the reward.

Currently, the Level Difference between Alex and Wang Kai was 4 levels, meaning a difference of just a single floor.

It wasn't a huge difference, so it wasn't like Alex lacked confidence, but either way, Wang Kai was at a slight advantage.

Alex honestly found this kind of competition highly unreliable.

In a situation where they didn't even know how strong the boss that popped out would be, instead of cooperating to the best of their abilities, they had to keep each other in check...

But it wasn't like they could amicably split the single First Clear Reward, nor could either side meekly give it up, so in the end, this situation was unavoidable.

"I hear Wang Kai has been showing his face on the 5th Floor often lately?"

"Yes. It seems the Black Star Society is pouring their efforts into hunting in Zone 3."

"The gauge is going to fill up eventually anyway, what's the rush..."

Lately, the speed at which the Zone 3 Boss Gauge was filling was also unusual.

It had been around 90%, but it surpassed 95% in less than a week.

...No, even so, wasn't that too fast?

Was Wang Kai deliberately running wild in Zone 3 or something?

"Could it be that Person123 is also hunting in Zone 3 right now?"

"...Person123?"

"It makes sense that he would be aiming for the First Clear Reward too, doesn't it."

At the not entirely unreasonable remark, Alex stroked his chin.

If Person123 had truly entered the 5th Floor, Alex and the Public Order Squad were more than willing to yield the reward to him, the Savior of Humanity. Though the Black Star Society probably wouldn't.

If he became the focal point, it wouldn't be impossible for the Climbers on the 5th Floor to unite as one, but he seemed to have absolutely no intention of showing himself to others...

"Anyway, I'm curious. Just how strong is Person123? What do you think?"

It was now an open secret that Nightmare Difficulty gave a reward of 10 levels per floor.

The Officer replied.

"Looking at the difficulty of the Branch Towers he cleared, he wouldn't just be at the Level 40s."

"Do you think he's stronger than me or Wang Kai?"

"That, I don't know either."

Anyway, at this rate, the Zone 3 Boss would appear within a week.

If Wang Kai ended up claiming the reward again, it couldn't be helped, but...

More than that, Alex hoped the boss battle would end safely without many people dying or getting hurt.

---

Looking down Below the Canyon, I saw a massive swarm of Red Snakes.

"Wow, it's a goldmine."

I scattered my Flame Strike and bombarded them indiscriminately.

BOOOOOM!

I blew up about half of them, then went down and finished off the remaining snakes with other Skills.

It had been about a week since I started hunting in earnest in Zone 3.

Whenever I had the time, I entered the 5th Floor and diligently contributed to filling the Boss Gauge.

There were three main types of monsters that appeared in Zone 3.

Lava Giants.

When you broke their bodies, lava splattered out instead of blood, so if you hit them from up close, you could get caught in it.

Red Snakes.

The snakes I just hunted. They were ignorantly huge and had no special abilities, but they were on the faster side.

And finally, Pterosaurs.

Kieeeek—

Speak of the devil, one was flying right over my head, screeching noisily.

They were named Pterosaurs because they just straight-up looked like pterosaurs.

I fired a Flame Strike and shot the pterosaur down.

The Normal Monsters in Zone 3 were at most around the Level 30s.

They posed absolutely no threat to me, so the hunting was progressing smoothly.

However, at first, I had expected some refreshing Group Hunting like in an RPG game...

But cases like just now where monsters were clustered together were rare; mostly they roamed around sparsely in ones or twos, so progress wasn't as rapid as I'd hoped. I really wished the Field's Monster Density was higher.

For reference, I had seen other Climbers too.

Only a couple of times, since the Zone 3 field was so vast. Of course, I just hid with Stealth and passed them by.

Watching them hunt, they all seemed to be having a hard time.

\[Zone 3 (95.1%)\]

The Zone 3 Boss Gauge had now reached over 95 percent.

I figured it would hit 100 percent within a week.

"Ugh, smells like burning."

I walked past the charred corpses of the Red Snakes that had been blown to bits.

Defeated monsters disappeared after a certain amount of time, so to collect their byproducts, you supposedly had to quickly harvest them and take them outside the boundaries of the respective zone.

I heard these Red Snake Scales sold for quite a high price too.

Naturally, I just hunted the monsters and didn't bother collecting the byproducts.

Even if I collected them, where would I sell them? And even if I could sell them, harvesting them one by one was too much of a hassle.

I left the Canyon Terrain and moved to another location.

As I kept moving, I reached the edge of Zone 3 again...

The next zone outside Zone 3, Zone 4, was a Blizzard-swept Ice Zone. The environment changed as if drawn by a ruler.

I couldn't go out into Zone 4 yet. If I tried, I was blocked by a Transparent Barrier.

Because the next zone only opened after defeating the previous zone's boss.

To go out to Zone 4, defeating the Zone 3 Boss was the priority.

"I wonder if even the Zone 4 Boss is possible..."

Lately, I had been wondering if it would be possible to defeat the Zone 3 Boss and then take down the Zone 4 Boss as well.

Since I was always in a position where I had to spec up as much as possible before challenging the next floor.

First, I had to catch the Zone 3 Boss and see.

I continued my hunt, roaming around in search of monsters.

---

Team 3 of the Public Order Squad, who were continuing their hunt in Zone 3, spotted a Red Snake approaching from afar.

"It's a Red Snake! Watch out!"

The squad members skillfully finished their Combat Preparation and faced the Red Snake.

However, the Red Snake was already heavily injured. The hunt ended easily.

"...Looks like someone missed this while hunting? Was it Team 2?"

The squad members, who had been talking while looking at the corpse, turned their gazes.

From the direction the Red Snake had appeared, people were now approaching.

The squad members' expressions quickly stiffened. It was because they were Climbers from the Black Star Society, not the Public Order Squad.

The Black Star Society Climbers who approached also scowled upon seeing the Red Snake's corpse.

"We had that one practically caught... Is it okay for you to just snatch it like this?"

The Team Leader of the Public Order Squad stepped forward and spoke as if it was absurd.

"Don't make me laugh. The ones who let it get away are at fault. Besides, this is our territory, so what are you trying to pull?"

The Public Order Squad in the Eastern Region, and the Black Star Society in the Western Region.

That was the Unspoken Rule maintained to avoid conflict.

Though they hadn't split their territories exactly in half as if drawn by a ruler, this was still clearly the Public Order Squad's Hunting Ground. And now, the other side had encroached upon it.

A Black Star Society Climber sneered and said.

"Our territory? Where is there such a thing? You speak as if we ever agreed on something like that."

"This bastard..."

"Anyway, that's ours, so hand it over and get lost."

"Stop barking nonsense and why don't you guys get lost. If you don't want to die."

The atmosphere turned vicious.

It wasn't like there were absolutely no cases of running into each other like this while hunting.

And every time, they would just engage in a war of nerves and appropriately back off. It had never escalated to Direct Conflict.

However, right now, both the Public Order Squad and the Black Star Society had their nerves on edge as much as possible due to the issue of the Zone 3 Boss...

Like a tautly pulled string suddenly snapping.

"...Aaaagh!"

"Y-You crazy bastards!"

"They attacked first! Kill them!"

In the end, all hell broke loose.