Episode 133 Team Play (3)

The fourth floor of the Sky Tower has a stage-like structure. 

Once a trial is completed, a door opens, and you choose one of three staircases to proceed to the next stage.

There are four types of staircases in total: Courage, Wisdom, Patience, and Destiny.

So far, we have never chosen the staircase of Destiny.

Not only was its occurrence rate less than 5% compared to the other staircases, but the Destiny staircase was filled with too many variables.

There was no need to choose it unless all the three doors led to Destiny.

“Hmm, can’t we just enter from anywhere? Nothing happened the last time. Just the usual monsters appearing, and that was it, Nyah,”

Of course, choosing Destiny doesn’t necessarily mean danger.

As Misha just said, most of the time, choosing Destiny still leads to trials of Courage, Wisdom, or Patience.

“That might have been just your luck, Misha. According to what I’ve read, which trial appears is completely random.”

The problem is that there is a 20% chance that we will encounter a different type of trial than the three staircases.

In the game, there were 32 types in total.

From being sent back to the first floor, encountering level 5 monsters, to suddenly getting trapped in a secret room 

‘Some were terribly hard with meager rewards, and others were outright frustrating.’

Therefore, unless you were hunting for some special rewards, Destiny was a trial best avoided if you were there to hunt.

Well, the situation now was a bit different.

As I was organizing my thoughts, 

“Bjorn, why are you standing still?”

My teammates, who were discussing the way forward, asked for my opinion.

“We’ve all agreed it’s better to just enter anywhere. It would be a shame to waste the remaining time.”

I nodded in agreement, 

“That’s true.”

Late half of the fourth floor.

At our current hunting pace, we could harvest up to 300,000 magic stones in four days. That’s before splitting, on a per-person basis.

Considering most of our time entering the labyrinth was spent moving, each day here significantly impacted our total income.

It made sense to think this way.

‘They have no idea what this means.’

On the fourth floor, three staircases of destiny never appear at the same time.

If it did, it signified one thing: reaching a special stage.

Meaning access to one of three types of hidden fields is now possible.

‘…So it’s a one in three chance.’

I looked at the three doors, pondering which one to choose.

Then, halfway through, I realized something and chuckled.

“Misha.”

“Hmm?”

“Why don’t you choose where we go?”

If I chose, it’s certain what would happen.

****

Misha looked at the other team members as if asking for their opinion.

However, all three simply shrugged their shoulders, indicating their trust in Misha’s choice.

“Nyah, I find this kind of thing stressful…”

Eventually, Misha sighed, glared at me, and approached one of the open doors. The one at the front, relative to the stairs we’d climbed.

“Nyah, Just to let you know, if some weird monster appears suddenly, I don’t know anything about it!”

As Misha laid down her disclaimer, the dwarf chuckled.

“Ha-ha-ha, what’s that supposed to mean? Trying to dodge responsibility?”

“What? You crazy dwarf, Nyah!”

“Hi, Hikurod, stop it. Misha is not comfortable with this…”

The team’s usual bickering, repeating several times a day.

Sighing, I looked sideways, my eyes met with Rotmiller, and we awkwardly smiled, as usual.

“Alright, everyone, how about we stop and just go in?”

Rotmiller took the lead in smoothing the atmosphere, and everyone stopped their chatter and lined up in formation.

Bang!

The door closed, and darkness fell.

A darkness so thick that one couldn’t see an inch in front of them.

A different introduction from any trial before, causing everyone to momentarily panic.

Rotmiller spoke up, offering the most crucial information when faced with an unknown situation.

“There’s no enemy for now.”

The presence or absence of an enemy.

Rotmiller immediately informed his teammates and then cautioned them.

“Stay still. There might be traps.”

After all, he’s an excellent scout.

It must have been a quick judgment.

What he needed to do.

Of course, the dwarf was no different.

“Bjorn, I’ll watch our back, so just focus on the front.”

A serious tone, devoid of any laughter.

As both of their voices echoed simultaneously, the surrounding darkness lifted.

A corridor split into four directions like a maze.

Torches hung on the walls at intervals, creating an eerie atmosphere.

I quickly assessed our surroundings and came to a conclusion.

「You have entered Larkaz’s Maze.」

Larkaz’s Maze.

One of the three hidden fields within the Sky Tower.

Its feature is that even a scout can’t use their abilities here.

And…

「Field Effect – The Guardian of Balance is applied.」

「The stats of the entrants are adjusted evenly.」

The total stats of the characters are redistributed according to the number of people.

“Nyah, What, what is this! Did I choose wrong? Rotmiller!”

Misha looked anxiously at Rotmilner after scanning the surroundings.

But it was impossible for him to have an answer.

“I’m sorry. I have no information about this phenomenon.”

“Me neither. I’ve never heard of an explorer being led to such a place during the Trial of Destiny.”

“Nyah, it’s not dangerous, is it…?”

At Misha’s words, everyone kept silent.

It was a natural response.

Ironically, the most frightening thing for explorers is the unknown.

“…”

A chilling silence settled.

However, that moment didn’t last long.

As if the previous silence was a lie, they began to hurriedly discuss.

“What if we just stay put? There are only four days left, so we could just wait it out.”

“We don’t know anything about this space. If it’s a space similar to a rift…”

“That means even after four days we’ll be stuck here forever!”

Speculations and anxieties poured out.

After all, how could anyone have anticipated falling into such a place on the fourth floor.

“Why don’t we start by checking our condition?”

“Huh?”

“Misha, do you notice anything different?”

I pretended not to know and suggested we first check our condition.

“Nyah, now that you mention it… I feel strangely lighter?”

Misha was unsure.

“Hmm, I don’t really feel any different. Could it be a mistake?”

The dwarf, who had average stats among us, didn’t feel a change, unlike Rotmiller or Dwalki.

“I, too, feel the same. My vitality has significantly increased. At this rate, casting a level six spell doesn’t seem challenging at all. But what’s going on…”

What’s going on is pretty clear.

It’s all been sapped from my muscles.

Even though there were only three essences, they were all ridiculously high in raw stats.

Damn communism.

“How much muscle loss are we talking about…?”

I slammed my heavy mace against the floor to distribute the weight.

Misha was the first to notice my action.

“Bjorn? Are you hurt?”

“My body feels strange. I keep feeling weak.”

“What?”

As Misha approached me with concern…

“There must be some condition to this. It’s not a space where everyone can just become stronger.”

“A condition? What kind of condition would make me weaker and you all stronger? This is unfair!”

I feigned a question to subtly hint at an answer.

As expected, Rotmiller came up with a plausible hypothesis.

Or should I say, it was more than just a hypothesis?

“Perhaps our stats have been mixed among us…”

“Huh? What do you mean by that?”

“It’s not certain yet, so I’ll explain it to you once things are clearer.”

Well, at this rate, they will figure out what this place is without me needing to step in.

I quickly moved on to the next topic.

We were pressed for time, after all.

“So, what do we do now?”

“Bjorn, what do you think?”

“I think we should explore this place and find a way out.”

“Why?”

I answered without a moment’s hesitation.

“If it’s a place unknown to others, that means the rewards could be greater, right?”

“A very explorer-like viewpoint.”

Rotmiller appreciated my perspective, and I proudly shrugged my shoulders.

Regardless of what anyone says, the ultimate goal of an explorer is money, after all.

Actually, this motivated me even more.

“Besides, if we might be trapped here in four days, just sitting around doesn’t feel right, does it?”

“Ha-ha-ha, we are explorers, aren’t we? It would be good to explore our surroundings slowly.”

The idea sparked a faint enthusiasm in the eyes of the anxious trio.

Of course, Dwalki’s words were decisive.

“Ah, ah! It just occurred to me, maybe this place was arranged by the last great sage!”

“What? Are you talking about Gabriellius’s arrangement?”

“Indeed… It’s possible. The appearance of three Stairs of Destiny at once, and all these strange phenomena.”

Gabriellius’s arrangement.

In other words, what I called the ‘hidden piece,’ is what these people refer to it as.

The dwarf exclaimed ambitiously.

“Yes! Since we entered from the 4th floor, there won’t be any absurd monsters appearing!”

With four days left until the labyrinth’s closure, Team Half-ling’s final exploration began.

Larkaz’s Maze.

When I left the choice to Misha, this wasn’t the type of hidden field I had hoped for.

Sure, the final reward is the best among the three but…

‘It’ll be hard to clear within 4 days.’

Due to the nature of a maze field, it takes a long time.

Not only finding the boss but also needing a lot of preparation to defeat it with our power.

So, I decided not to push it too hard.

Contrary to the others’ worries, it’s not a place where you’ll be trapped if you don’t clear it within a certain time…

Not to mention, there are quite attractive rewards scattered throughout the maze even if we don’t clear it.

“Then let’s go.”

We formed our pre-determined formation and officially stepped into the maze.

“It seems we can keep going.”

I led the way, with Rotmilner closely following behind to check for traps.

And, of course, the dwarf was at the very back.

After all, monsters don’t just come from the front here.

“Misha, don’t worry. I’ll protect you well from the side.”

“Nyah, What are you saying? I should be the one protecting you.”

“Hehe, then let’s protect each other.”

“…What are you saying?”

Anyways, our team’s main attackers were positioned in the center.

The safest place, ready to support whether the threat came from the front or the back.

[Baaa, Baaa, Baaaaaa!]

About 3 minutes into our exploration, a monster appeared at a crossroads.

It was the first reward of Larkaz’s Maze.

“A monster we haven’t seen before. Be careful, Bjorn.”

Encountering a new monster was like a godsend for us.

[Dungeon and Stone] is a game where even after killing all monsters up to the 4th floor, it’s barely possible to reach level 5.

Isn’t it paradoxical?

You need to consume five 6 or 7 grade essences to hunt comfortably on the 5th floor, but you can’t reach level 5 without going to the 5th floor.

‘No wonder there are no newbies.’

Ah, if you can get to the 5th floor, are you even a newbie?

I dismissed the unnecessary question and gripped my shield with both hands.

It felt odd without my mace…

But with my current strength stats, it was too heavy to swing with one hand, so I had just put it in my backpack.

Best to leave the dealing to the dealers.

[Baaaaaa!]

The monster, hesitating from a distance, suddenly charged at me with a scream.

Simultaneously, Dwalki shouted.

“Ah, I’ve read about it in a book! It’s a Bykundus!”

A level 6 monster, Bykundus.

It’s easier to picture it as a bipedal goat.

Including its splendid horns, it stands about 2.5 meters tall.

And it wielded a giant halberd in both hands.

Bang!

The halberd struck down on my shield, and the heavy weight was transmitted throughout my body.

I was glad I had given up on the mace.

If I had been only using one hand, it would have been difficult to withstand in my current state.

‘Shit.’

Was it because I shared my physical stats with my teammates?

It felt like I was facing a level 5, not a level 5 monster.

Still, there was no difficulty in combat.

[Leor Wuerv Dwalki has cast the Level 8 support magic [Ice Enhancement].」

[Leor Wuerv Dwalki has cast the Level 8 offensive magic [Ice Spear].」

While I fended off the goat’s attack, Dwalki completed his specialized attack magic.

“Bjorn!”

Dwalki called out to me, and I dodged to the side as we had practiced.

This was routine for us.

But what was this?

The size of the ‘Ice Spear’ that whizzed by was different.

The wind pressure it emitted was cool to the skin.

Naturally, the result was also different from usual.

Boom!!

It sounded like a ‘Fireball’ had hit, not an ‘Ice Spear.’

“Huh?”

Misha, who was waiting to follow up, let out a deflated noise.

It made sense.

The Bykundus, a Level 6 monster, had already vanished into light.

「You have defeated Bykundus. EXP +4」

So, my physical stats had drastically decreased, and it all converted into his magic power.

“Is this my magic…?”

Realizing this, I saw Dwalki in a new light.

In this place, he was no longer just a half-ling.

Which means…

‘This could change the game.’

Aiming for a clear might not be a bad idea after all.