Chapter 19
Even after killing two kobolds, I killed three more kobolds.
But even so, I didn't level up.
‘The Kobold King.’
According to the seniors in the Transcendent Gallery, it was the only monster among the kobolds that could pose a threat to me.
I wondered whether that bastard was somewhere inside this dungeon.
If it was, I found myself wanting to meet it.
Had spending nearly a month in the Pandemonium-difficulty Tower made me lose my mind?
Aside from Laura, the resident of Floor 9, no one seemed to have particularly impressive combat instincts.
At least, the Chinese player Sun Haoran showed no hesitation when dealing with the monsters.
The reason I could move more nimbly than them was the excellence of the Dragon-Slaying Sword itself, along with the Sparring Golem Mk. 2.
The Orc Legion Commander who had driven me to the brink and the Orc Shaman who had given me such a hard time deserved some credit as well.
Six hours and thirty-two minutes had passed since we entered the dungeon.
The reason I knew exactly how much time had passed was that the current time was displayed precisely at the far upper-right corner of my field of vision.
Current time: 6:41.
All seven of us, myself included, were crouched down and resting.
Because I had deliberately stayed at the very back for six hours, only two people thought I was strong for a Floor 3 resident.
They were Misaki and the Chinese woman beside her, Zixuan.
At first, I couldn't understand why everyone was sprawled around resting without the slightest tension.
A square golden border enclosed us.
‘They said this was a safe zone.’
Misaki scratched her head and explained that it was a perfectly safe area that occasionally existed in Easy-difficulty Towers.
The only impression I had formed during the Exchange Gathering was one of dissonance.
Would I ever get to see a safe zone like this while climbing Pandemonium?
04 : 23 : 54
A timer floated above the safe zone.
04 : 23 : 53
The time kept decreasing.
It had started at five hours. In other words, the safe zone the group was using would disappear four hours and twenty-three minutes from now.
Laura, the German woman, was the leader in terms of combat power, but Baek Jin-young could be considered the leader when it came to communication.
“It’s early to go to sleep, but wouldn’t it be better to sleep for about four hours now and then finish the dungeon altogether?”
Laura nodded.
“Uh, that sounds good.”
Everyone agreed with Baek Jin-young.
Misaki approached me as I sat quietly.
“You don’t have a sleeping bag, do you?”
“No.”
“They don’t sell those in a Floor 3 waiting room.”
Misaki held out a sleeping bag to me.
“Use it!”
I appreciated the offer, but…
“Then doesn’t that mean you don’t have a sleeping bag, Misaki?”
Misaki shook her head from side to side.
“I do! I have a habit of not throwing away things once I’ve put them in my Inventory… Ah, don’t worry! That’s a new sleeping bag! I’ll use the old one.”
I should have told Misaki to use the new one, since it was better. If I said I would use the old sleeping bag, I would look like a lunatic in my own way.
“Thank you.”
I obediently accepted the sleeping bag and spread it out.
“Which difficulty Tower are you from, Misaki?”
Misaki answered my question immediately.
“Easy difficulty.”
I looked at the spot beside Misaki.
“What about you, Ms. Zixuan?”
Zixuan spoke quietly.
“Easy. You noticed that she and I are in the same party.”
It would have been impossible not to notice. The two of them were openly looking after each other.
Zixuan pointed with her chin at Sun Haoran, who was Chinese like her.
“Sun Haoran, that guy, is Normal.”
Baek Jin-young was on Normal difficulty as well.
Now Laura was the only one whose difficulty I didn't know.
I walked toward Laura.
As I approached, Laura looked at the space above my head rather than at me and opened her mouth.
“What is it, Floor 3?”
“Which difficulty are you from?”
Laura let out a hollow laugh, apparently incredulous that I would ask so directly.
“Guess. What difficulty do you think I’m from?”
She seemed more talented in combat than Baek Jin-young or Sun Haoran, who were from Normal difficulty.
However, she was below the level I had imagined for a Hard-difficulty climber.
“Hard?”
“Yeah.”
Laura clicked her tongue.
“Damn Hard.”
It must have been quite grueling.
I didn't feel like offering her any consolation. My own life seemed a little tougher.
I had more than enough questions to ask.
“What appears on Floor 8 of Hard difficulty?”
Laura suddenly shuddered at my question, then slowly opened her mouth.
“An Orc Great Warrior.”
Oh.
“Did you kill it?”
Laura furrowed her brow at my question.
She didn't merely frown; she looked like a goblin with an extremely sour expression.
“Kill it…? How could I kill that bastard? I just ran away as much as possible. All I had to do was survive until the time ran out.”
That was very disappointing.
“Before the Orc Great Warrior, what kind of orc-type monster appeared?”
Laura didn't seem to mind me continuing to ask questions about her, so she answered readily.
“Floor 5, an Orc Legion Commander.”
The Pioneer of the Transcendent Gallery had said that one appeared on Floor 5 as well.
It seemed that Light’s Sword and the Great Mage, who appeared on Floor 2, were unusual cases.
“Did you kill the Legion Commander?”
At my question, Laura slowly shook her head.
“That one also only required us to hold out until the knights arrived, so I focused on enduring.”
If she had been brimming with swagger, she might still have answered that she had killed the Legion Commander.
Judging from how naturally she spoke of holding out, the other Hard-difficulty players around Laura seemed to have thought the same way and made similar choices.
“There was one guy among the people who tackled the floor with me who said we should kill it, but naturally, his opinion was dismissed.”
The guy whose opinion had been dismissed was right.
Ultimately, when you pushed against a powerful monster and somehow killed it, the possibility of growth opened up. That was the direction this Tower had revealed to me through the mere process of going through Floor 2.
“How many people usually attempt a floor?”
Laura answered listlessly.
“If it’s Floor 5 or higher, obviously at least six, usually.”
So the accepted wisdom was not to try killing them, even with the usual six or more people.
I had heard that the difficulty rose progressively as the party grew larger, but by my standards, they still seemed far too cautious.
Since she hadn't even killed the Legion Commander, my interest in the Hard-difficulty climber before me faded.
I got to my feet and returned to the sleeping bag Misaki had given me.
The others seemed to have been worn down by physical and mental fatigue, because they had fallen sound asleep inside their respective sleeping bags.
Seeing everyone sleep so peacefully, it seemed that they had all experienced safe zones at least once before.
I recalled something Light’s Sword had written in the appendix to the Dragon-Slaying Sword.
-It is also necessary to practice sleeping in a way that lets you wake at any time.
-With training, almost nothing is impossible.
I had wondered what kind of bullshit that was.
So this was what it was for.
I could try that training now, couldn't I?
I thought that as I closed my eyes.
“……”
As if that was going to work.
I would have to ask Light’s Sword to explain the method in detail later.
It was essentially meditation.
I did need to organize my thoughts.
Ever since entering the Exchange Gathering, one question had continued to circle through my mind.
Thanks to being given enough time, I was able to reach a complete conclusion about it.
* * *
Misaki, who had been sleeping soundly in the sleeping bag beside mine, slowly raised her head.
“…Ah, did you sleep well?”
Misaki quietly asked as she smoothed down her tousled hair.
“Yes.”
I hadn't slept at all, but I didn't want to embarrass her.
I ate jerky and nuts.
They were provisions I had bought with coins.
After finishing the Exchange Gathering and returning to the floor waiting room, I ought to have a good meal.
00 : 25 : 34
There were still twenty-five minutes left on the safe zone's timer.
All seven of us, myself included, had finished preparing to set out.
It hadn't been a particularly long sleep, but everyone looked considerably better than before.
The group set off.
As yesterday, Jake and Sun Haoran took the lead.
Laura and Baek Jin-young followed behind them.
Misaki and Zixuan were in front of me at the very back.
As yesterday, no major variable arose.
They weren't particularly strong, but none of them had any glaring weaknesses either.
The kobolds died one after another without trouble.
If I had to name anything that didn't go smoothly, it was my level, which was still stuck at 12 even after killing four more kobolds.
A place made up of three walls, like a dead end in a maze, brought the group to a halt.
“Huh?”
I heard Jake's voice. After bending down and straightening up, Jake held a map in his right hand.
It wasn't a map depicting the overall structure of the dungeon.
It was a map depicting the boss room and a room behind it.
There was a questioning note in Jake's voice.
“It says there’s a hidden boss room. Are we going in?”
A brief silence followed.
Laura, the German, strode over to Jake and roughly snatched the map away.
“The difficulty matters.”
Laura checked the number of stars written below the hidden boss room.
【 ★★★★★ 】
“Tch.”
Laura clicked her tongue after seeing the difficulty.
“…I’ll go only as far as the regular boss room for now, then leave the Exchange Gathering.”
I knew from the seniors' advice that there was a chance for a hidden boss room to appear in an Exchange Gathering dungeon.
Unlike regular boss rooms, its difficulty was announced in advance, and we could choose whether or not to attempt it.
Five stars meant that the chance of clearing it during a ten-floor Exchange Gathering was extremely low.
Baek Jin-young approached Laura.
“Oh, can I see it too?”
The rest of the group gathered around to look at the map as well.
Baek Jin-young scratched his head.
“Hmm…five stars does make it pretty damn hard.”
If possible, I thought I should go in even if I had to do it alone.
Into the place called the hidden boss room.
In any case, the thing immediately before us was the boss room.
“Let’s make a few preparations, then go in.”
At Laura's command, everyone checked their respective equipment.
Rumble—!
Then Jake flung open the boss room door.
[BOSS MONSTER]
[Kobold champion]
Kobold Champion.
It certainly looked like the largest of the furry lizards I had killed so far.