[You entered the Pilgrim's Path on the 3rd floor].

In the afternoon of the 9th day, after wandering through the northernmost part of the Land of the Dead for more than a day, we found a portal and got to the 3rd floor.

... Next time, without a scout, I won't set foot here.

I reasoned that if we followed the route to the Land of the Dead, we could reach the 3rd floor together, but still, the lack of a scout was a big disaster. If it were not for the secret following of a group of researchers who happened to pass by, we would be wandering.

"Ugh, I feel uncomfortable when I come here.

Be that as it may, after such difficulties, we arrived at the Black Mouth, which was the starting point on the 3rd floor, when passing through the Land of the Dead. It was a field characterized by shallow streams that flowed in dozens of directions. Well, and the smell of sewage as a bonus.

"Then let's go."

Since there was no reconnaissance, we continued to move northeast using the compass. While we were doing this, we quickly reached a dead end. In other words, now we had to dip our feet into this black river and cross it.

— ... Can't you just carry me?

Click, and let you move comfortably?

— ... Only this time.

"Really?" Wow! Thank you!

I put Mike on my shoulder and crossed the river.

The width of the river was about 5 meters and reached just below the knee. After we crossed carefully so as not to fall, the wet ground continued to lead forward like a road. However, at the moment when I was about to go further, a monster galloped here at the sound of our crossing.

"Geruk!" Geruk! Gel, gel, gel!

" Bjorn, Tam Lyagushatnik.

This rank 8 monster walked on two legs and looked like a frog. He used something like a harpoon as a weapon. Perhaps its small size made it look ridiculous, but because it had high agility, many explorers were caught off guard and died instantly. Their skills were also a bit annoying.

... How infuriating.

These guys were incompatible with me. My mace had enough power to blow off the head of a Death Fiend with a single blow, but it was pointless if it couldn't hit anything.

*Woom!*

The paddling pool jumped again to dodge my mace. I immediately rushed and hit him with my shield, but it did nothing.

[The attack missed because of the [Rotten Slime]].

The shield came into contact with his body, but instead of making a dull sound, the Frogpool only slid off.

"Ghell-ghell!"

Are you having fun?

Bloody hell.

These guys had an absolute adjustment for dodging blunt weapons, so to me, they were cunning enemies, regardless of their rank. However, since Misha was nearby, there were no problems.

"All right!" Get out of the way!

Mike, who had laughed at the way the Frogman mocked me, took out her weapon and began dancing with the sword with zeal.

"Geruk!" "The paddling pool had a significant compensation for dodging even blades, but our swordswoman was of the freezing type.

"Geg?!" "Not only was his thigh cut, but his lower body was also frozen.

*Slap*

The frog bastard who was running around randomly collapsed.

"Misha, wait!"

"Huh?"

"I'll do it myself."

Calling back Misha, who was trying to kill him, I finished him off with my mace.

*Buch!*

Phew, that relieved the tension a bit.

Usually, these bastards were caught with magic, but since the level difference was so large, the battle wasn't that difficult.

"Ghell-Ghell!"

" Hereuk! Hereuk!

Having caught a few more Frogs in this way, we continued to move.

[22:57]

After checking the time, I slowly began to look for a place to camp. This was partly caused by fatigue, but at this point you were also forced to take breaks at set times.

"Bjorn, the water is getting higher.

"I'm already looking for a place, so stop whining.

After exploring the surroundings for about 30 minutes, there was a place to rest. In contrast to the gloomy mouth of the river, the reddish mounds of mud were soft and not wet. By the time we got there, there were already about 30 people here.

The farthest place is already taken, as we are late.

Reluctantly, we settled down by the water, from where the smell of the sewer wafted to us. The soil was not damp, so the water did not reach the very end. While I was drying my wet shoes before laying out the blankets, the water level in the river began to rise rapidly.

[00:00]

It was midnight, so the water did not rise further. This state would last for the next 6 hours, so I put Misha to bed first. Since there were a lot of people around, some teams did not set up a patrol and everyone was resting, but you never know.

Since we even met Hans a few days ago, we should be careful.

I rummaged through my backpack, stuffing my stomach with snacks.

"Hahaha!" Do not lose heart, my friend! They say that big oaks fall from small blows!

"But... As you know, she-...

"For God's sake, don't you see that people are trying to sleep?"

"Ahaha!" Forgive me! I'll be careful!

I heard a familiar voice from afar. Apparently, she hadn't fallen asleep yet, because Mike, still wrapped in the blanket, sat up.

"It's Hikuroda's voice...

Seeing that she thought the same thing, it seems that I heard correctly.

What was this coincidence?

***

Meeting an acquaintance in the labyrinth was not an ordinary thing. Firstly, each floor was incredibly wide, and due to the darkness inside the labyrinth, even if you turned on the lights, the visibility was less than 10 meters. The clan sometimes divided into several teams and climbed the floors, deciding where and when to meet.

To think that it was really them.

Surprisingly, the owner of the voice was indeed a dwarf.

Next to him stood Dvalki and Rothmiller.

"Hikurod?" Is that you?

— ... Misha? Bjorn? A what?! Why are you here!??

"Wow, it's for sure that our team was bound by fate!"

What were the chances of going apart, agreeing on nothing, and accidentally meeting again?

"And what about the request?" Didn't you go to him? What happened?

After a moment of contemplation over the surprising coincidence, Hikurod asked a question.

Well, it must be strange because we entered the maze separately. I told him my prepared excuse.

"Ah, we're done."

"Finished?"

"We had business on the 1st floor. When the labyrinth closed, the client returned to the city.

"Really?"

That must have been reason enough, for the dwarf nodded without hesitation.

Now it was our turn to ask questions.

"Why are you here?" Didn't you say you'd only be on the 2nd floor?

As far as I knew, these three had to perform a simple request in the Rocky Desert. Why were they on the 3rd floor and, oddly enough, in the Black Mouth, connected to the Land of the Dead?

"Ah, it's because the inner core of the Stone Golem fell out earlier than expected. We came to fulfill another request that I had prepared just in case.

His reason also made sense, but I asked why he hadn't told us beforehand if it had been prepared.

"Hahaha!" Then you wouldn't let us!"

Faithfully. The combination of tank, mage, and scout was quite unbalanced. But that wasn't what we were supposed to say, being a combination of a tank and a melee swordsman.

— ... So what kind of request do you have?

"This is again the collection of materials. All we need to do is get the two eyes of the Frog Wizard. Since you're here, would you like to join us?

— How much is the full fee?

- 2 million stones. Of course, if the two of you join, the fee will be divided into exactly 5 equal parts.

A fee of 400,000 stones per person was not bad, and the sale of by-products other than eyeballs would further increase this amount. Of course, since the target was not an ordinary Frogpool, but a Wizard Frog, the question remained whether it would be possible to get paid or not. It depended on luck.

"I'm in.

After the encounter with Hans, I didn't want to go alone, so I agreed. After all, the two of us wouldn't do anything but hunt Frogs anyway. If the request ends earlier, I could suggest that we all go up to the 4th floor together.

"Haha, then sleep." If we continue to talk, I'm afraid we'll be stabbed.

The gazes of the other teams who were trying to rest did not stop, so we stopped chatting and went to rest.

Thanks to this, I will be able to sleep for 5 hours.

This was the advantage of a large number of people. The time on duty was reduced, and the sleep time increased.

***

[06:00]

When the morning of the 10th day came, the depth of the water decreased, and we left the place of rest. Wandering around the area, we focused our attention on hunting.

Having a scout is certainly ideal.

I've felt this over and over again, but being a scout is a position that has improved the quality of life in the maze.

"If we go that way, there will be a river. Come here.

Rothmiller, as if remembering the whole area, led us along the optimal route. Despite wandering for so long, we didn't go through the water more than three times.

"Hmm, another bummer..."

Having defeated one Frog Wizard in 4 hours, we bit our lips. The body disappeared without a trace. This was the flip side of the collection request. If you used [Distortion] magic on a monster, there is a very low chance that you could get its corpse intact, but it will not drop any essence or mana stone.

Phew, I'm already at a loss, thinking about how we're going to mess with this.

As you progressed into the second half of the game, there were more and more things that required monster byproducts: equipment, consumables, and so on.

Best Game Consoles

 

It is the same with the Spiritual Imprint. Until the 5th stage, it could be obtained for money, but after that, you had to collect the ingredients yourself.

... I'd better think about it later. As long as I have money, I can get it on the exchange or entrust it as requests.

In any case, as much as it became easier to move, so did the battles between Rothmiller's arrows, Dvalka's magic and Misha's ice blades.

— ... I wanted to ask, but how did it happen?

Looking at the frozen Frogpool, Rothmiller expressed doubt, but that wasn't a problem either. [Cold Condensation] and [Ice Smash] weren't obvious skills.

"Oh, that?" My Spirit Creature has evolved!

Misha answered naturally, with the answer that I had prepared for her in advance.

"Oh, really?" At this rate, you can move up to Rank 6.

"M-Miss Karlštejn!" Congratulations!

Everyone knew that Mike had signed a contract with an ice spirit creature, so no one doubted it. No, it was quite natural, because they didn't think it was a lie.

Every time I do this, my conscience torments me.

But what could I do? I had to accept it. Such was the fate of those who lived like an evil spirit.

"Rothmiller, the water seems to be rising..." It is ok?

"Don't worry, the safe zone is nearby.

Soon the 10th day came to an end. The water was gradually rising, but thanks to the fact that Rothmiller had memorized the entire surrounding area, we used the time until the very end and after the hunt we went to the camp. The same thing happened for another 2 days, and soon the morning of the 13th day came.

"Uh...

"That's all, isn't it?" Is it over?

"It looks like it.

As soon as we resumed our research, we began hunting for the Sorcerer. The arrow clearly pierced his neck, but the corpse did not disappear.

"With Miss Karlstein here, luck is definitely on our side!"

"Haha, blind guy. As I can see, this is thanks to Bjorn, not Misha. This guy is always lucky.

Ignoring Dvalka and Hikuroda's comments, we received the corpse of the Frog Wizard in just 2 days.

Hmm, it might have been too early to say that it had been obtained.

"Hmm, but what do we do about it?"

"Wait a minute. I use magic.

At first, Dvalki used [Conservation] magic to prevent the corpse from decomposing, but that was all. Not that we could stuff the whole corpse into a bag.

"Misha, since you use a knife, you must be good at such things, right?"

"What are you talking about, dwarf?" I've never done anything like this before! Don't you know how to do it? You've fulfilled the request with the Stone Golem.

"Well... It was just necessary to pull out the core from the Stone Golem...

Even to take eyeballs, and not other by-products, it was necessary to disassemble the body. None of us had experience in this, except for the well-trained worker Rothmiller.

"Make way. I'll do it.

Soon Rothmiller sighed and deftly dismembered the body of the Frog Wizard with a carving knife. Obviously, he has often done this in the past, working as part of a training team.

"As expected, Rothmiller, you're the best!"

"Oh, I... Ugh, I'll stand in another place...

About 30 minutes later, under Rothmiller's able hand, the Sorcerer's body, divided into muscles, blood, bones, and internal organs, was placed in a box.

"And what are we going to do now?" Mike asked.

The Pilgrim's path on the 3rd floor was closed after the 15th day. In other words, there were still 3 days left.

I spoke as if I was waiting for someone to ask.

"The requests seem to have run out, how about we go to the 4th floor?"

"Hmm, that's right... The whole team hasn't gathered for a long time, so it's a pity to finish only on the 3rd floor.

"Rothmiller, what do you say?" Do you think we'll make it to the 4th floor in time?"

Rothmiller closed his eyes as if he needed time. To get through several zones in 3 days and reach the portal in the heart of the Witchwood, it must take time to think.

— It's difficult, but I think it's possible.

It was very exciting. Originally, I only planned to clear the Chasm, kill the monsters, and return to the city.

As expected, things are not going according to plan.

Somehow it turned out that I was heading to the 4th floor.

***

The three-day journey that followed proved to be more difficult than expected. Firstly, the sleep time was drastically reduced, and the rest of the time we spent only moving. We even had to walk at a brisk pace all the way, so that every day the others got more and more tired. However, the goal was still achievable.

[You have entered the special area on the 3rd floor].

[Witchwood Field Effect applied]

This is the 3rd time I've passed through the Witchwood. When I first got here, Misha and I were stuck and going through all kinds of difficulties, but as long as Rothmiller was around, there was nothing to be afraid of.

"That's it, follow me."

Since the last time there was an incident, we tied our bodies with a rope and quickly ran through the forest.

How much time has passed?

There were a little more than 3 hours left before the closing of the 3rd floor.

"You've done well, Rothmiller.

We were standing in front of a huge tower located in the heart of the Witch Forest. In front of a huge door that looked like an entrance was a colorful portal.

"Now, let's come in!"

Just in case, we waited for the color of the portal to change and entered at the same time.

"D-uncle?!" I heard a faint, familiar voice from afar.