Chapter 208 - Leader (1)

We were moving slowly, keeping watch in every direction. That had changed a few minutes ago. We had stopped running toward the second floor and begun focusing more on safety.

We had no choice. Fog had filled the entire cave, obscuring our view.

"... I've heard of this. It's dark magic. The kind the dark mages reportedly used during the subjugation campaign."

My heart gave a low, heavy beat.

THUMP!

Even with Raven clearing the fog using wind magic, we could only see about five meters around us. It was difficult to respond to danger in these conditions.

This wasn't a game where everything came down to HP and MP. This was a world where a single mistake could kill you, and there was no "Retry" button.

THUMP!

I had to stay sharp if we were going to make it back alive without losing anyone.

"Mr. Jandel..."

Back then, we had been too weak to protect ourselves. That was why we had lost a companion. We couldn't have survived that crisis otherwise.

But what about this time?

'Right. We're much stronger than we were back then...'

I etched the positives into my mind to keep tension from making my body stiff.

That was when it happened.

"Mr. Jandel!"

"Don't shout."

"Then answer me the first time."

"So what is it?"

Riding on Aynar, Raven asked cautiously, "Is heading to the second floor the right choice?"

"What do you mean?"

"A lot of the royal family's knights came in too. There should be plenty of major clans here as well. Wouldn't it be safer to join them instead?"

It wasn't an unreasonable suggestion. In fact, if we had been near the starting points, I would definitely have chosen that option too.

But in our current situation? Well... it didn't seem like a particularly good choice. There was also one thing I needed to correct.

"Raven, more than half the major clans didn't enter the Labyrinth."

I'd heard that from Fox at the Round Table. Dissatisfied with the royal family, the major clans had begun a mass boycott. Well, a few had apparently backed out after realizing the royal family was putting those clans on a kill list... but there couldn't have been many of them.

"... Of all times."

No, they must have made their move precisely because it was a time like this.

"Avman, which direction?"

"That way."

I kept finding our way, checking the portal's location with Mister Bear. That was another change since the fog had engulfed the cave.

The compass had stopped working.

"... Will we be all right once we find the portal?"

"The second floor won't be safe either. But we just need to reach the fourth."

Sky Tower was an independent floor. Once we reached it, we should be able to return safely to the city despite this war.

That really was our best option right—

"No. I meant, wouldn't they have placed guards at the portal?"

"What do you mean?"

"Exactly what I said. If I were a tactician for Noark, I think I'd start by looking for a way to cut off access to the second floor."

That... was true.

But what were we supposed to do about it? We had to at least try. Thanks to dimensional instability, we were already at the outermost edge.

"If it turns out we can't reach the second floor... what will you do then?"

Unlike her usual self, Raven kept asking me questions. Seeing her like this made me realize she was anxious too.

Well, she probably needed someone to lean on. She wouldn't have much experience with situations like this.

"Then we'll join up with people from the city, like you suggested. There won't be any other way."

I forced myself to speak calmly. I didn't know whether this really was the best approach, but at least one of us had to stay calm.

"If that answers your questions, let's keep moving."

"All right..."

We were making our way toward the second floor as quickly as we could when it happened.

"Finally, other people. Do you know what's going on?"

We encountered a team of explorers: three humans and two Therianthropes. Their equipment was on par with ours, if not better.

Then again, anyone who had made it this far by now couldn't be a lower-floor explorer.

Joining forces would greatly increase our strength. But there was something I had to check first.

"Identification tags first."

Were these bastards trustworthy?

* * *

"They're real."

"Why wouldn't they be?"

As soon as we met, we checked the identification tags engraved on our wrists to confirm that we were all from the city. From there, we naturally began talking.

Normally, we would have gone our separate ways as soon as we checked the tags... but this was clearly an emergency.

"Do you know anything?"

"Not much. Just that Noark is up to something."

"Noark... So it was them after all."

I narrowed my eyes at the other team's leader as he nodded at my words.

"You don't have a mage?"

It was well known that Noark had few ordinary mages.

"As you can see."

But he shrugged without a trace of discomfort.

"Our team focuses on merit score. We have no reason to bring a mage."

Fuck, that actually made sense too.

Mages rarely took part in speedruns. Their slow movement made them dead weight, and they couldn't earn EXP from speedrunning anyway.

So I tried exchanging names first.

"I am Bjorn, son of Jandel."

Just as I had the epithet Little Valcan, if they had a reputation, I might have heard their names.

"Hansen Kelders."

"Hansen?"

"Oh, have you heard of me? Maybe we have a mutual acquaint—"

"I doubt it."

I shook my head. The ominous sound of his name had merely made me flinch; I'd never heard the name itself before.

Then what should I do?

As I considered that, Hansen exchanged whispers with a teammate.

"Little Valcan? Ah! The barbarian from that Floor lord incident!"

Apparently, one of them knew my epithet. Hansen's gaze became a little friendlier.

"So you're famous, it turns out. Why don't we travel together, then? Doesn't seem like either of us should be exploring right now."

Hansen was the first to suggest joining forces.

"Could you give us a moment?"

"A few minutes, sure. I'm not comfortable staying in one place for long."

With Hansen's agreement, I took some time to consult my companions. There was such a thing as collective intelligence, after all. They might have noticed something off that I'd missed.

"I'm not sure, nyah. More people would probably make us safer... Still, Bjorn, I think we should do whatever you decide, nyah."

"I agree with Misha!"

For starters, the melee sisters made it clear they would follow my choice completely.

Mister Bear, on the other hand, was opposed.

"Something's strange. At their level, they ought to have made a name for themselves, but even I've never heard of him. They might not be from the underground city, but they could be plunderers."

That concerned me. Mister Bear had the widest network of any of us.

"Raven, what do you think?"

"I-I don't think there's anything strange about them. So wouldn't it be better to join them? Their identification tags were fine too."

Hmm. Right, so that was her take.

Deep down, I'd been relying on Raven most, but I needed to rethink that. Was it because she'd never experienced anything like this before?

She wasn't thinking as clearly as usual either.

"Forget the identification tags. Judge only the people themselves."

"What? What do you... Oh!"

Raven's mouth fell open as she realized what I meant. With things having reached this point, trusting the tags alone was foolish.

It wasn't impossible that they had managed to make counterfeits.

There were two possibilities. Either they had failed to make counterfeits and launched this operation because they had no other choice, or they had succeeded and made a bold move in reliance on them.

I still didn't know which it was. That meant I had to trust my instincts completely and make a choice, just as I had when playing [Dungeon and Stone], where one death meant game over.

"I-I don't know. Please just decide for us, Mr. Jandel."

Looking confused, Raven left everything to me.

Why was she so shaken?

"Raven, get a grip. You were fine in Sky Tower even with an assassin hiding right beside you."

"Th-that was different. If I make a mistake now, other people will suffer for it."

Ah, so that was it.

I'd learned something new about Raven. Who would have thought she was the type to become indecisive as her responsibilities increased?

Not that I couldn't understand. Someone could die because of my judgment. Overcoming that burden and making a decision could never be easy.

This wasn't a game. It wouldn't end with the death of a single character you'd been leveling.

'Damn it.'

In the end, the decision was mine. Not that there was anything new about that.

'What a headache.'

I sighed and stared at Hansen's group, standing some distance away.

If only they had a mage. Or even an explorer I'd heard of, or belonged to a famous clan. Then it would have been a little easier to trust them.

'But they don't meet a single one of those conditions.'

Unfortunately, I didn't have much time.

"Have you decided?"

"Yes."

At last, I finished weighing my options.

"Sorry to keep you waiting, but I'll have to decline your offer."

My final decision was that there was no need to take an unnecessary gamble.

"Really? That's a shame."

To my surprise, Hansen nodded without showing any offense. He seemed to have already understood the reasoning behind my decision.

"The cautious ones live longest. I hope we get to meet again."

"What will you do?"

"Head to the second floor for now. I don't know if things will be all right there either, but it should be better than here."

"I see. I'll see you in the city if we get the chance."

"What are you waiting for? Let's move."

Our brief conversation ended, and Hansen's group set off first, disappearing into the fog.

Had I made the right choice?

I forced a small chuckle, as if to dispel my doubts and anxiety. When had I ever known the outcome before making a choice?

"We should get going too."

All I could do was believe and keep moving.

* * *

About five minutes after parting with Hansen's group, we found five bodies. They weren't Hansen and his teammates, who had gone ahead.

All their equipment had been stripped away, leaving them naked, but we had no trouble identifying them.

"A knight."

"... A knight?"

"Yes. This tattoo on the back of his neck is the crest of House Terten, the viscount's family."

"Stamping him with the family crest. It's like a brand."

More precisely, it was as if he were an object rather than a person. Was that why it left such a bitter taste in my mouth?

It drove home all too vividly that this was a world where even knights were treated as expendable.

"... Not every noble house does this."

Leaving Raven to her murmured defense, I gathered my thoughts. The bodies of one knight and four soldiers, and no signs of a fight nearby.

That meant only one thing.

"There's a monster out here."

"Yes. Judging by the wounds, they were all killed with a single strike. The wounds are identical, so it doesn't look like multiple attackers were involved either."

An Aura-wielding knight was the ultimate combatant against other people, a blade defending the ruling powers in this world of magic and Abilities.

Yet this one had died without being able to do a thing. Once again, I felt the reality of having stepped into the eye of the storm.

A knight who must have spent his whole life wielding a sword and enjoying immense authority had died like an extra. No, knights were probably still dying even now, just as they had during the campaign against Noark underground a few months ago.

"Time of death?"

"About twenty minutes ago."

Right. So the killer wasn't necessarily right nearby.

That was an encouraging clue, but it was too early to relax. From here on out, anything could happen.

"Those bastards... Are they really planning to start a war?"

Mister Bear muttered with a deep scowl. Seeing the knight's corpse seemed to have made the situation sink in fully.

Well, we hadn't fought anyone yet.

I spoke firmly.

"They're not planning to, Avman."

"..."

"We're already at war."

We were lucky enough to be on the outermost edge. That was why we hadn't experienced its effects firsthand yet.

Though that was only a matter of time now.

"What will you do?"

I couldn't help sighing at Raven's question. I'd lost count of how many times it had happened since we'd come down to the first floor.

Once again, we faced a choice.

"There's nothing in this direction but the portal."

"You don't need to explain. You're saying whoever killed this knight must have gone that way."

The portal to the second floor was the only escape route I had identified. And a monster lay in wait there.

But turning back would leave us in just as grim a situation. The fighting that had begun in the center would soon engulf the entire first floor.

'Fuck. Beasts' Lair or not, we shouldn't have come back down to the first floor.'

I couldn't help regretting it, however hard I tried not to. Who would have thought such a minor choice would land me in this shitshow?

It felt as if this heartless world were testing me.

Make whatever choice you like. But all the responsibility is yours.

Without realizing it, I looked at my companions.

"..."

Misha, Aynar, Raven, Mister Bear. They were looking back at me, as if to say the choice was mine.

"... Let's turn back."

At last, I made my decision. I didn't know who was up ahead. It might even be a member of Orculus. There couldn't be many people this powerful even in Noark.

We were just about to turn around when it happened.

"Ha! You're really just going to turn back?"

A voice came from beyond the fog.

STEP.

Footsteps followed.

WHOOOOSH!

Raven immediately sent out a Gust, clearing the fog. It revealed a lone man. He wore no equipment to speak of, only a simple black outfit.

A skull mask covered his face.

"What kind of barbarian is that timid? Huh?"

My body went rigid at his voice. I'd never heard it before. That much was certain.

And yet...

"Heh."