The Great Demon Realm, the 5th floor, was a place where the team's capabilities gradually diminished and the clan's capabilities increased.

As soon as I stepped on this floor, my heart pounded, and not metaphorically, but in reality.

"Huh?" Bjorn, did you feel it too? It seems that my Soul Greatness has increased!

Ainar immediately made a noise, but it wasn't a level increase, it was just an increase in Soul Force.

[Achievement]

[Conditions: Go up to the 5th floor].

[Reward: Soul Power +20]

If this happens, does it mean that all the achievements I have fulfilled have also increased my performance? It seemed likely, but I couldn't be sure. After all, there is no window of status, and the Power of the Soul is not an indicator that can be touched.

In general, Raven, who liked to explain everything, kindly explained to Einhar, instead of me, and even in an understandable way.

"Calm down, Miss Einar. This is not an increase in the Greatness of the Soul, but a phenomenon called Baptism, a blessing bestowed by the Labyrinth on explorers who have reached this point. This is commonly referred to as Baptism. Magicians, however, think differently.

"Oh, I see! It's even romantic! "Ainar, who loved superstitious things, didn't ask a single question about what mages think.

But Misha had questions.

"Isn't Baptism meaningless for mages who can't absorb essences?"

— No, I don't. Instead, our mana increases. Now that I see it, the volume is quite significant. If I had known about this, I would have listened to my senior colleagues and come here earlier.

Mike hesitated, but for some reason it seemed to me that I knew what she was thinking. Perhaps she remembered Dvalki, who was always short of mana.

"Oh, I've heard that priests receive more Divine Power. And one more thing-...

"Don't you feel anything strange?" I cut her off until the explanations became endless.

"What?" Raven tilted her head, not understanding.

But Mr. Bear, who was often on the 5th floor, nodded in agreement.

"There are a lot of people here. Usually it doesn't happen that way.

Okay, then this is not the norm after all.

I looked around and swallowed hard.

The starting point of the 5th floor of the Great Demon Realm was a safe zone, so this place had always looked like a camp.

But at the moment...

Why are there so many tents?

It was the size of a village.

Moreover, if you look at the flags placed everywhere, more than half of them are researchers belonging to a clan.

What's it? Why did they stop here?

Most of the researchers who used this place as a base were in teams. It was expedient. Clans with a large number of people were camping even in the middle of the 5th floor.

But...

"Bjorn, it seems that everyone is looking at us... It is ok?

The explorers of the 5th floor, those who were experienced enough to belong to the clan, were watching us from afar and whispering among themselves. It couldn't just be because they were cold to newcomers. Really, what does this mean? When I was trying to understand the reason...

"Hey!" The man in the distance waved his hand and quickly walked towards us. "Abman!" It's you, isn't it?

—... Drove?

"Good to see you." I see you've finally changed your mind and found a team?

— It just happened. By the way, are you still there?

"A man has nothing without loyalty, right?" I need a place where I can bury my bones.

Mr. Bear greeted the man, who seemed to be on friendly terms with him. Soon he noticed my gaze and explained:

"Ah, it's Karal Larweger. He used to be my teammate. Until he left me and went to the clan alone.

"Did he leave you?" I begged you to come with me, but you ignored me.

Judging by the fact that Mr. Bear spoke to him in a softer tone than he did to us, they seemed to be quite close. It was good.

"Bjorn, son of Yandel."

— ... Oh, so it's you? He must have heard of my nickname Little Balkan, because his eyes looked intrigued. "I heard it's your first year, but you're already here. I'm starting to feel a little decrepit.

"I was just lucky. But there is one thing I want to ask you.

"I think I know what you're interested in. Do you want to know why we're still here when we should be climbing up?

More precisely, I wondered why everyone was staring at us. But for now, I nodded.

— It's simple. More than half of the people who were supposed to join did not come. The schedule was disrupted in a sense.

Half of them didn't come? How can this be? I intuitively felt the seriousness of the situation.

"Well, I want to ask," Karal began cautiously, and said something completely unexpected. "Did you guys also get attacked on the 4th floor?"

That masked bastard...

It seems that we were not the only ones.

***

After thinking for a second, I honestly replied that we had been attacked. Karal asked a few questions about what had happened, and we answered honestly in order to get the necessary information in exchange.

"So, then you found it with the help of detection magic..."

— It was a purely accidental coincidence. When I first used detection magic, she didn't find anything.

When we told him that the masked attacker had committed suicide when he was discovered, Karal's face became serious.

"Ha, suicide, huh?"

"Do you have any idea who it could be?"

"Only that it was carefully planned. Anyway, thank you for telling me. If I find out anything... I will relay the news through Abman.

Soon after, Karal left to break the news to his clan.

Thus, we had the opportunity to chat.

—... After all, he was not an ordinary looter.

There were more than one masked attackers, and they ambushed the researchers on the 4th floor and above.

Apparently, we were the third team to survive the attack and go upstairs. It's not something I couldn't understand. In the Sky Tower, no one sets up a night watch.

"So we were very lucky...

In fact, even those who survived say they barely managed to get rid of the attacker after the death or severe injury of a teammate. We were the first team to detect him in advance and drive him to suicide. Now I understood the looks turned in our direction. At first, they looked in anticipation of their long-awaited comrades. Then they wondered if we had been attacked.

"Mr. Yandel, is it true that he said that at least 300 people must have died from these ambushes?...

"Well, we'll find out when we get back to town." They may have survived, but remained on the 4th floor because their scout or guide had been killed.

"Oh, yes, that's right...

Of course, my words didn't mean much. It was clear that hundreds of researchers had died, and not the low-level ones who had been hunting on the 1st and 2nd floors, but veteran researchers who had been climbing the Tower for decades.

"Phew...

Although this gigantic coal (floor) was terrible, there was also a sense of relief in it. At least, it wasn't the Dragon Slayer who sent them. I even thought that it might have been an assassin sent by the district chief or the dragon tribe.

"What kind of bastards could have thought of such a dastardly thing?"

At this point, I decided to save my words. Information about the conquest of Noark was not yet generally known.

I think this is a kind of declaration of war.

I was sure that it was the Noark researchers who were responsible for this attack.

After that, the scale of the confrontation will only increase.

The headache was growing. A war will break out between the royal family and Noark. No, in general, it has already begun. But the biggest problem will arise if the conquest fails, and Noark closes the doors and the war drags on.

Then there will be a f*ck. Because the next battlefield after that will undoubtedly be the labyrinth.

Both Noark and Rafdonia need mana stones to sustain the city.

Bloody hell.

Why was I drawn into the game at such a moment? If I had come at least a year earlier, I would have had more time to prepare.

And... And if I hadn't delivered the letter of my grandfather-priest, then there would have been no war?

The thought came to my mind, but I brushed it aside. Why am I to blame?

It's all the fault of that scum, the Dragon Slayer.

Initially, the three religions took a neutral stance to keep the royal family in line. No one forced him to kidnap the high priest and use him as his slave.

"Bjorn?" Mike called to me.

"Oh, I was just thinking about something.

"And what are we going to do now?"

When I finished my thoughts, everyone was looking at me. That's because everyone saw it as an ordinary terrorist attack. Their heads weren't as busy as mine.

— There are no changes in the schedule. We are resuming the expedition.

I soon made up my mind, and Raven cautiously expressed her concern.

"Even if there are such people in the labyrinth?"

"Everything will be fine. There are many clans here. If they have brains, they won't do anything here.

Rather, it was the safest time. Next month, rats can run around the 5th floor. It is possible that the entrance to the labyrinth will be prohibited.

"Now stop thinking about it, let's go make money."

The 5th floor would close after the 30th day, so there was a lot to do before that time. We may even have to take a break for a few months.

***

The structure of the 5th floor was simple. Imagine a flat boulder in the shape of a tray and slides stretching in four directions. The problem was that this hill was divided into dozens of branches, and some of them broke off in the middle or connected to another road.

As we emerged from the starting point, illuminated by a red light like a butcher's shop, we were greeted by the darkness and sultry heat of the labyrinth. Not all of the four roads were like this. It was just typical for the route we chose.

[You entered the special area on the 5th floor].

[Hellfire Gorge Field Effect Applied]]

• The anomalous state of [Flame Mark] is active.

[All consumption indicators are increased by 1.5 times],

[Fire Resistance -30].

All expenditure indicators: Simply put, Soul Force, Mana, Divine Power, and Energy were consumed 1.5 times faster than usual. But it was not bad. Compared to other routes, it was better.

[Arua Raven cast the 8th rank spell [Cold Blood].

As the cold mana seeped into our bloodstream, our hot bodies cooled down. In this state, we slowly continued the expedition. So far, we haven't encountered a single monster, but even just walking was much harder than I expected.

The trail was about 10 meters wide. The darkness of the labyrinth blocked the view, and the abyss radiated intense heat.

"Ainar, stop looking down.

"M-I'm just wondering what's down there...

"I heard that lava was flowing there.

"Lava?" What is this?

"Uh, that's hard to explain..." Raven answered Ainhar's curiosity conscientiously.

Ainar frowned every time she came across a difficult word, but she listened attentively.

In this regard, they were suitable for each other.

For me as a team leader, it was quite a pleasant sight, but I couldn't just stand there and watch.

"Einar, stop bothering Raven and look straight ahead.

"Oh, good!

I tightened my grip on the loosening grip as we descended the slope. There was a fork in the middle, and I took out a notebook to draw a map, ignoring the metric system. I wasn't going to set up a safe zone as a place to camp and just poke around in the neighborhood, but I reasoned that we should be able to go back if something happened. Having reached the third crossroads in this way, I had already seen with my own eyes how magnificent Rothmiller was.

*Bam!*

The earth shook from the explosion.

Soon a swirling pillar of fire swept past us.

*Spray!*

Small embers scattered and fell in front of us, forming a dense figure, a monster whose entire body was covered with blazing fire.

"These are the Ifrits.

"Two rank 5 monsters from the start.

As soon as the battle began, Raven used the magic [Gift of Cold] on us. Ifrits were spirit-type monsters, so they were immune to physical damage.

[Cold damage is added to your weapon].

A frosty glow hung around my mace. I rushed forward in a state of [Gigantization] and slammed it into one of the bastards. The sensation was cold.

*Blow!*

The mace shattered the Troll's shoulder with one blow, but Ifrit did not even move. That's why I hated spirit monsters. Unlike [Modifiability Change] magic, which exchanged physical strength for another attribute of the same class, [Grant of Cold] could only deal additional damage.

— [Izir Feist].

With the help of Raven's rank 6 curse magic [Quick Freeze] and Misha's [Ice Crush] combo, in the end, they took out one bastard while I held on.

[You defeated Ifrit. Experience +5]

Mr. Bear summoned Iron Bear as an assistant, and Einhar just watched what was happening. This was the fate of a physical warrior.

*In here*...

Where Ifrit disappeared, a mana stone fell. Once again, there was no essence.

But instead...

[Your level has increased]

[Soul Power +10]

[The maximum number of essences consumed increased by 1]

I've finally reached Level 5. That would only make sense if there was an essence, but well, okay.

"Kyeekk!

Now there was only one monster left. The fiery beast, having lost its precious comrade, rushed at us with a roar.

At this moment...

— ... Ifrit? A group of five researchers appeared on the other side. It looked like they were heading to a safe zone after hunting.

Where did they learn these doggy manners?

"It will obviously take more than five minutes.

"Phew, I'm tired as hell." Let's just finish him off.

A huge ball of water fell from the sky and wet Ifrit's body. The flames instantly decreased.

— What the h...

Before I could say anything, an arrow pierced Ifrit's head.

*Shaaaa*

The last monster disappeared in the beams of light. When I was convinced of what the bastard had left behind, I sighed heavily.

— ... Essence!

It was a rank 5 monster essence.

Bloody hell.

I was indignant.

Why now?