After killing two kobolds, I killed three more.
Even so, I still didn’t level up.
"Kobold King."
According to the seniors in the Transcendent Gallery, the only kobold-type monster that could pose a real threat to .
Was it inside this dungeon or not?
If it was, I wanted to et ~Nоvеl𝕚ght~ it.
Had my mind gone strange after spending nearly a month in Pandemonium difficulty?
Aside from Laura, a resident of the 9th floor, no one seed particularly sharp in combat.
The only exception was Sun Haoran, the Chinese guy, who showed no hesitation in battle.
The reason I could move more decisively than the others was due to the sheer excellence of the Dragon Slayer Sword and the training with Sparring Golem Mk.2.
I also had the Orc Legion Commander who had pushed to my limits and the Orc Shaman who had given a rough ti to thank for it.
Six hours and thirty-two minutes had passed since entering the dungeon.
I knew the exact amount of ti because the current ti was displayed in the top-right corner of my vision.
Current ti: 6:41.
The seven of us, including , were crouched down, resting.
Because I had consistently stayed at the very back for six hours, only two people saw as strong despite being a 3rd-floor resident.
Misaki and the Chinese woman beside her, Zi Xuan.
At first, I couldn't understand why they were lying around, completely relaxed, without any tension.
A square, golden border surrounded the group.
"A safe zone, huh."
Misaki scratched her head and explained that this was a perfect, inviolable safe zone that occasionally appeared in Easy Mode towers.
All I felt during the gathering was a sense of disconnect.
Would I ever see a safe zone like this while climbing Pandemonium?
04:23:54
Above the safe zone, a tir was displayed.
04:23:53
The ti was steadily decreasing.
It had started at five hours. Now, in 4 hours and 23 minutes, the safe zone we were using would disappear.
Laura was the strongest in terms of combat, but when it ca to communication, Baek Jin-young naturally took the lead.
"It’s a bit early to sleep, but wouldn’t it be better to rest for about four hours and then finish the dungeon all at once?"
Laura nodded.
"Yeah, that sounds good."
Everyone agreed with Baek Jin-young's suggestion.
Misaki approached while I was sitting quietly.
"You don’t have a sleeping bag, do you?"
"No."
"Well, it’s not sothing sold in the 3rd-floor waiting room, after all."
Misaki handed a sleeping bag.
"Here, use this!"
I appreciated the gesture, but...
"Then wouldn’t that an you don’t have a sleeping bag, Misaki?"
Misaki shook her head.
"I do! I have a habit of not throwing away items I put in my inventory... Ah, don’t worry! This one’s brand new! I’ll use my old one."
If I insisted on her using the new one and taking the old one myself, I’d look like a lunatic.
"Thank you."
I quietly accepted the sleeping bag and spread it out.
"Misaki, which difficulty tower are you from?"
She answered right away.
"Easy Mode."
I looked at the person next to her.
"And you, Zi Xuan?"
Zi Xuan spoke in a low voice.
"Easy. You already figured it out, right? She and I are in the sa party."
How could I not notice? They were openly looking out for each other.
Zi Xuan jerked her chin toward Sun Haoran, another Chinese climber.
"Sun Haoran, he's Normal."
Baek Jin-young was also from Normal Mode.
The only one whose difficulty level was unknown was Laura.
I walked toward her.
When I approached, Laura looked above my head instead of at and opened her mouth.
"What do you want, 3rd floor?"
"Which difficulty are you in?"
This translation is the intellectual property of Novelight.
Laura let out a small laugh, as if amused by my direct question.
"Take a guess. Which do you think it is?"
She seed more skilled in combat than Baek Jin-young or Sun Haoran.
But she was still below the level I had imagined for a Hard Mode climber.
"Hard Mode?"
"Yeah."
Laura clicked her tongue.
"Fucking Hard Mode."
She must’ve had a rough ti.
I didn’t feel like offering words of comfort. My life felt harder than hers.
I had plenty of questions.
"What kind of enemy appears on the 8th floor of Hard Mode?"
Laura's body trembled slightly before she slowly answered.
"Orc Grand Warrior."
Oh.
"Did you kill it?"
Laura frowned at my question.
Not just a little—her expression twisted into sothing almost goblin-like.
"Kill it? How the hell was I supposed to do that? I just ran away as much as I could. The goal was to survive."
That was disappointing.
"Before the Grand Warrior, what kind of orcs did you face?"
Laura, seeming unbothered by my questioning, answered without hesitation.
"5th floor, Orc Legion Commander."
The Pioneer from the Transcendent Gallery had also appeared on the 5th floor.
The appearances of Sword of Light and Archmage on the 2nd floor must have been exceptional cases.
"Did you kill the commander?"
Laura slowly shook her head.
"No. That guy only needed to be held off until the knights arrived, so I focused on surviving."
If she had been full of pride, she would have at least said, "I killed the commander myself."
The fact that she naturally spoke about enduring instead of fighting suggested that other Hard Mode players around her had the sa mindset and made the sa choice.
"One guy in my group suggested we kill him, but of course, he got ignored."
That guy whose opinion was ignored—he was right.
In the end, growth only happens when you push yourself against powerful monsters and sohow manage to kill them.
That was the direction of this tower that I had learned, even in just the early floors.
"How many people usually attempt the floor clear?"
Laura answered indifferently.
"For anything above the 5th floor, usually at least six."
So the norm was to have six or more people, yet no one even considered trying to kill the boss.
I had heard that the more party mbers you had, the higher the difficulty scaled, but even with that in mind, they were being way too cautious from my perspective.
Hearing that even the Legion Commander hadn’t been killed, I lost interest in this so-called Hard Mode climber.
I got up and returned to the sleeping bag Misaki had given .
The others, exhausted both physically and ntally, were already sound asleep in their respective sleeping bags.
Seeing them sleep so peacefully, it was clear that they had all experienced safe zones before.
I recalled sothing Sword of Light had written as a side note in the Dragon Slayer Sword manual.
—Training yourself to sleep in a way where you can wake up at any ti is necessary.
—With training, almost nothing is impossible.
I had thought it was nonsense.
But now, I understood.
This was the kind of situation it applied to.
If that kind of training existed, then I should try it now, shouldn’t I?
With that thought, I closed my eyes.
"......."
Yeah, right.
I’d have to ask him to explain how to do it properly later.
This was basically just ditation.
I did need to organize my thoughts.
Ever since I entered the exchange gathering, one question had been circling in my mind.
With the ti I had now, I could finally reach a conclusion about it.
***
The head of the sleeping Misaki next to slowly rose.
"...Ah, good morning."
She muttered drowsily, brushing her ssy hair.
"Yeah."
I hadn’t actually slept at all, but I didn’t want to make her feel awkward.
I ate so jerky and nuts.
It was food I had purchased with coins.
Once this exchange gathering was over and I returned to the floor waiting room, I’d have a proper al.
00:25:34
There were still 25 minutes left on the safe zone tir.
All seven of us had finished preparing to depart.
It wasn’t a long rest, but everyone looked noticeably better than before.
The group started moving.
As before, Jake and Sun Haoran took the lead.
Behind them were Laura and Baek Jin-young.
Ahead of at the rear were Misaki and Zi Xuan.
Just like yesterday, there were no major surprises.
The group wasn’t particularly strong, but there were no major weaknesses either.
The kobolds were killed smoothly.
If there was one thing that wasn’t going smoothly, it was my level—despite killing four more kobolds, I was still stuck at level 12.
A passage consisting of three walls, like a dead-end maze, halted our progress.
"Huh?"
Jake’s voice rang out.
He bent down, then lifted his right hand.
A map was in it.
It was a dungeon map.
But it wasn’t a full map of the dungeon.
It only showed the boss room and the room behind it.
Jake’s voice carried a hint of confusion.
"There’s a hidden boss room? Should we go in?"
Silence followed.
Laura strode over to Jake and snatched the map roughly from his hand.
"The difficulty matters."
She checked the number of stars marked under the hidden boss room.
【★★★★★】
"Tsk."
Laura clicked her tongue.
"...I’ll clear the normal boss room and then leave the exchange gathering."
I already knew from the Transcendent Gallery seniors that there was a hidden boss room in the exchange dungeon.
Unlike normal boss rooms, hidden boss rooms revealed their difficulty rating in advance, allowing climbers to choose whether to enter.
Five stars ant that the chances of clearing it at the 10th-floor exchange were extrely low.
Baek Jin-young approached Laura.
"Oh, can I take a look too?"
The others gathered around to see the map as well.
Baek Jin-young scratched his head.
"Hmm... Five stars is pretty brutal."
I felt like I should at least take a look inside, even if I had to go alone.
This hidden boss room.
For now, though, the imdiate task was the normal boss room.
"Let’s do a quick check on our equipnt before we go in."
At Laura’s command, everyone checked their weapons.
Rumble—!
Then, Jake pushed open the boss room door.
[BOSS MONSTER]
[Kobold Champion]
Kobold Champion.
Definitely the biggest fur-covered lizard I’d seen so far.
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