“Ugh… this thing’s completely wrecked.”
“Can you at least try to say it more nicely?”
“Well, it's definitely wrecked.”

Ray grumbled as she rummaged through the rubble of the collapsed windmill.

We tried to clear the debris, hoping to find survivors or something valuable, but there was nothing significant.
It seemed that whoever managed this windmill had taken everything and destroyed the place on purpose.

“At least tracking them will be easy.”
“Really?”
“They left a lot of traces. Smell, footprints, you name it.”
“I can barely see anything.”

I glanced at Leif to see if she could spot anything, but she quickly shook her head, understanding my unspoken question.
Her long, bright hair, free of the hood, shimmered as it swayed, carrying a faint, forest-like fragrance.

That scent—it’s surprisingly addictive.
It has a refreshing, almost cleansing quality.

“Leif, stop shaking your head. It’s mixing with the scent.”
“Oh, uh, sorry. Is it that strong?”

Leif hurriedly grabbed a handful of her hair and sniffed it with a scrunched-up nose.

“It smells nice, but oddly intense. What’s with that, anyway? Number 7 doesn’t have that problem, and she’s an elf too.”

Number 7—Elowen Starweaver, the only pure elf among our peers.
Leif, who never seemed too fond of Elowen, gave a strained, awkward laugh.

“Now that you mention it, your scent wasn’t this strong when you wore the hood. Is that thing enchanted?”
“Yes. It’s enchanted to erase traces and maintain temperature and humidity.”

Leif playfully lifted the hood of her robe, clearly proud of its features.

“So, you’ve been wearing that all day. Keeping the good stuff to yourself, huh?”

Ray, feeling indignant, poked Leif’s side.
Leif, unsure whether it tickled or hurt, let out a strange laugh as she fled behind me to escape Ray’s mischievous fingers.

“Ray, that’s enough. We’ve got tracking to do.”
“Yeah, yeah, I know.”

There were no bodies.
That meant the people who had been here were likely taken somewhere.
Our mission had now shifted from a mere investigation to a search-and-rescue.

We moved into formation: Ray in the lead, followed by me, and then Leif.

As our guide, Ray would sometimes crouch to inspect footprints or flare her nostrils to catch a scent.

“Ray.”

When I called her, Ray responded with a hand signal from the ground.
It meant I could speak freely.

“Do you have any idea who these attackers are?”

Ray stood up and answered.

“I’ve got a rough idea. It’s probably bugbears.”
“Bugbears?”

Leif repeated in surprise, and I shared her reaction.

Bugbears are mid-tier predators on the first floor of the Abyss, often considered an advanced version of goblins.
There’s even a theory that they’re related to goblins, though their appearance and stats are more similar to orcs.
Since orcs are considered an intelligent species in this world, bugbears have taken over their role as monsters.

Though they are mid-tier predators, bugbears' true status is slightly higher due to their pack behavior.

A bugbear group can consist of as few as four or five or as many as several dozen, making them formidable foes, even capable of hunting top-tier predators of the first floor on occasion.

For this reason, bugbears are the most common enemies encountered by novice explorers on the first floor—and also the ones they fight and die to the most.

But that’s for novice explorers or those who’ve just been promoted to regular explorers.
Any decent regular wouldn’t have trouble dealing with bugbears.

Even if their numbers made a frontal assault difficult, escaping wouldn’t be hard for an experienced explorer.

“Are you telling me the overseer got taken down by bugbears?”
“I know it sounds weird, but there’s no other trace.”

Following the trail, we soon left the plains and entered a forest.

“A forest…”

Ray’s alertness rose as she carefully scanned the surroundings.

Forests are rare on the first floor of the Abyss, which is mostly composed of rocky terrain.

More importantly, forests on the first floor are often massive traps.

“This isn’t one of those, is it?”

She was referring to the existence of the Carnivorous Symbiotic Forest, a living forest that devours humans.

“If it’s the Carnivorous Symbiotic Forest, it might make sense.”

In this forest, all the trees are connected by a single root system, forming a symbiotic network.
To supplement its nutrients, the forest developed a carnivorous nature, becoming a monstrous entity infused with the mysteries of the Abyss.

Even regular explorers would be doomed if they entered it, and senior explorers might not survive either.
The Carnivorous Symbiotic Forest is one of the deadliest predators on the first floor, comparable to the Chromatic Fiend.

If the overseer got caught by something like that, it would explain a lot.

“Could they have been lured in by the bugbears?”
“Hard to say. The footprints mostly look like they walked in on their own.”

As Ray and I shared our theories, discussing whether this forest was the Carnivorous Symbiotic Forest or not, Leif, who had been walking at the back, suddenly passed us and placed her hand on one of the trees at the edge of the forest.

“Hey, Leif!”

Ray shouted, startled, but Leif calmly pulled up her hood and stepped into the forest.

“It’s fine. It’s just a regular forest. But we should hurry. Something strange is happening inside.”

With those words, Leif strode forward, as if she knew the forest better than Ray did.

Ray and I exchanged glances, then quickly ran after her.

“Hey, wait! I should be leading!”
“Wait up, Leif!”

Meanwhile, Jake, the explorer appointed as the overseer of the Endwind Mill for this exam, was seriously wondering if he was dreaming.
But the stinging pain in his body and the burning sensation from the arrows lodged in his wounds were undeniable proof that this was, in fact, reality.

‘What… is that?’

Reflecting on the situation, none of this made sense.

Jake’s rank was senior explorer.
There was no way he should be in danger on the first floor.

Even if a senior explorer had been out of practice for a long time, it might make sense. But that wasn’t the case for Jake.

Even at nearly forty years old, Jake had never given up on his dreams as an explorer.
He was even preparing for a promotion to expert rank and had recently participated in an expedition to the fourth floor.

For someone like Jake to end up in this state—it was a bizarre situation.

However, when Jake looked at the scene unfolding before him, he realized that perhaps his condition was understandable.

Even when his life was hanging by a thread, Jake’s curiosity didn’t waver.
Whether there was hope or not didn’t matter.

Right before his eyes, one of the Abyss’s mysteries was being peeled back.
As an explorer, one who had chosen this path and profession, he had a duty to witness it.

Jake focused on the present.
He widened his eyes to take in every detail, forcing his fear-frozen mind to awaken and record everything he saw in his memory.

Jake had been captured and taken to the bugbear’s lair deep within the forest, where they were conducting a ritual.

The lair was swarming with around twenty bugbears.
At the center of the group, a rare bugbear shaman chanted, and all the bugbears simultaneously bowed low.

It was worship.

On the altar, receiving the bugbears’ worship, was something that had once been a bugbear.

Whatever had subdued a senior explorer like Jake had once been a bugbear, but now it had completely transformed into something else.

It still had the six fingers and toes typical of bugbears, but if it weren’t for those features and the stumpy tail, no one would have guessed it had ever been a bugbear.

Unlike the average bugbear, which stood around 170 cm tall, this creature towered over 2 meters.
Its muscles were compressed to an extreme degree, bulging with strength even through the fur that covered them.

Its skeletal structure had also changed.
The bugbear’s original frame, suited for occasional quadrupedal movement, had evolved into a more human-like form.

It was evolution.

A rapid, aberrant evolution, happening within a single generation.

This being, which could very well become the king of the bugbears ruling the first floor, was revealing its monumental birth and growth to Jake.

Jake sensed that the ritual was nearing its end.
He had to know.
The bugbears, who had been repeating their bowing motions, all suddenly pressed their foreheads to the ground, and the creature on the altar turned its menacing gaze toward him.

Was this the end?
Was he to be torn apart as a living sacrifice to this creature?
Or perhaps he would be eaten alive.

The subordinates who had been captured with him had either fainted from fear or shut their eyes tight, unable to bear the sight.
Only Jake stared death in the face as it approached him.

‘A fitting death for an explorer.’

He had accepted his fate.

Ever since the moment his abilities had been sealed by the bugbear shaman, his chances of escaping had been nearly zero.

At least he could take solace in being the first to witness one of the Abyss’s unknown mysteries.
Just as Jake steeled himself to face his death with dignity—

SWOOSH—BOOM!

Suddenly, a high-pressure jet of water tore through the bugbear’s lair, obliterating it in an instant.
The once-clear stream turned a vibrant shade of red as it mixed with the blood of the bugbears.

Jake widened his eyes and forced words from his parched throat.

“A rescue team? Already? For them to get here this fast, they must at least be experts…”

Jake’s shocked speculation was immediately and abruptly denied by the appearance of someone he hadn’t anticipated.

“Nope.”

And then the person bluntly stated their purpose:

“I’m just here to pick up the verification token.”