Chapter 70

Chapter 70

Beneath the Second Floor’s Guardian’s Room.

As we opened the “door” and stepped onto the Staircase leading to the lower floor, Persica grumbled.

“This is not something you get used to just because you experience it twice.”

“It will probably be the same the third and fourth times too.”

The sensation of Mana Density rising sharply as we descended the floor and pouring into our bodies was eerie enough to send chills all over.

After descending for quite some time while steadying our shivering bodies, we were finally able to arrive at the entrance to the Third Floor after a full thirty minutes of walking.

RUMBLE……

When the enormous stone gate opened, a gust of wind swept in.

However, this time, there was no cold like the one on the Second Floor.

The entrance was suspended from the ceiling of the Third Floor.

From there, we could see the entire landscape of the Third Floor at a glance.

“Oh.”

“Waaah…….”

It was a vast plain with no end in sight.

The dim world, as if night had fallen upon it, shone mysteriously within a mist that sparkled like stardust.

It was a sight as if the earth had draped itself in a blanket called a nebula.

“So this is the Third Floor…….”

This place was the Third Floor of the Dungeon, the [Nebula Zone].

***

Third Floor, Nebula Zone.

Hidden beneath a thick layer of mist, this place was a land where the entire vast floor was composed of plains.

There were no mountains connected to the ceiling like in the Landscape Realm, nor was there a Lift.

That was because there was no separate public order management here, and the fields were teeming with monsters.

Then how did one reach the ground?

The method was simple.

You just jumped down.

“……Uuugh.”

Persica trembled.

There was a foothold at the entrance to the Third Floor, and if one stepped on it and jumped, a kind of Landing Magic was applied, allowing the body to stop just before colliding with the ground.

The same applied when coming back up. If one stepped on the foothold below and jumped, one could ascend at tremendous speed.

“Are you not going down?”

“W-Wait a moment…… I have a fear of heights…….”

Persica’s eyes were shaking as if an earthquake had struck them.

“A-And we do not know if the Magic was cast properly…….”

“It was cast properly. The Mages checked it over and over.”

“T-There might be monsters do-do-down there!”

“I told you the area around the foothold is a Safe Zone. There is a Barrier around it.”

Even though the Mages and I had checked it countless times, Persica showed no sign of stopping her trembling.

“If you keep this up, I will push you.”

“I will jump! I said I will jump! So wait just a little!”

For saying that, her feet showed no intention of leaving the ground.

I looked at Persica, who had been trembling on the foothold for thirty minutes, and let out a sigh.

‘She will be here all night at this rate.’

It seemed I had no choice but to help her.

I approached Persica and placed my hand on her shoulder.

“Persica. Look at me.”

“H-Huh?”

“Do not look at the ground. Look at me and jump. I will count to three.”

“What…… Uuugh, a-all right.”

She nodded.

She probably thought that jumping while looking at a person would be manageable.

Persica’s eyes held me.

“One…….”

Tap—

“……Huh?”

And at the moment I counted one, I pushed her.

A multitude of emotions flashed through her large eyes as they held my image.

Why. How. You. You bastard—

“Isran, you bastaaaaaaard────!!!!!!”

Aaaaaaaah────…………

That girl had the voice of a general, at least.

I quietly looked down at Persica as she grew farther away with her scream.

It was about time for me to go down as well.

“Um…… Did you not say you would count to three?”

“She would not have gone down even if I had counted to three. I handled it before she could start babbling and resisting.”

“…….”

“Let us go down too.”

Leaving Bernard behind, I stepped onto the foothold, and Hyeollyeo spoke.

[Do you…… have no human heart?]

‘What are you talking about? I helped her because I did not think she could jump.’

Was a centipede discussing the human heart?

I had done it purely out of a good-hearted desire to help.

If not for me, it was no joke to say she might not have gone down until the next morning.

I stepped onto the foothold and immediately jumped down.

FWOOOOOSH────

A fierce gale rushed in along with the acceleration of Free Fall.

It had been thrilling even on a screen, but experiencing it in reality was even more fun.

Was this why people did things like skydiving?

‘I might want to come to the Third Floor often.’

After crossing the Third Floor vertically, I plunged into the thick layer of mist covering the floor.

Dense mist sparkled like stardust.

For a brief moment, my gaze was stolen by that dreamlike scenery, but as the ground rapidly drew closer, my falling body suddenly came to a stop in midair.

“Oh, I arrived.”

So this was what an emergency stop felt like.

It was Magic that reduced one’s falling speed to zero right before crashing into the ground, allowing one to land safely.

When I looked beside me, Persica, who had arrived first, was crouched down and trembling.

“You…… Youuu……!”

Persica staggered toward me and grabbed me by the collar.

Seeing that her eyes were brimming with tears, it seemed she had cried a little.

“You said you would count to three…! To three……!”

“If I had counted to three, you would not have jumped.”

“How would you know that!! I-I really thought I was going to die! I thought I was going to have a heart attack!”

People do not die that easily. I know because I have experienced it.

I peeled Persica off as she grabbed my collar and shook me.

Then, squashing her cheeks with both hands, I said,

“Listen carefully. I helped you.”

“What……? What kind of nonsense is—”

“You said you wanted to move efficiently. For your sake, I swallowed my tears and applied an extreme remedy. Thanks to that, you saved time you might otherwise have wasted pointlessly.”

“What……?”

Question marks floated above Persica’s head.

No, it was not as if I was wrong, was it?

She herself would know best when she might have jumped if she had kept trembling like that.

If she placed a hand over her heart and thought about it, even Persica would realize that I had helped her greatly.

“So stop venting your anger for no reason and pull yourself together.”

“H-Huh……?”

“Are you a bit better now?”

“I-I do not think I am yet…….”

This time, I grabbed Persica by the collar and shook her.

Then, after lightly slapping both her cheeks in turn, Persica’s head spun back and forth, and she rattled.

“How about now?”

“I-I think I am a little better.”

“Good. Let us move.”

Just then, the other Mages also came down.

Unlike the First and Second Floors, this field was unmanaged, so if one stayed in one place, there was nearly a one hundred percent chance of encountering Field Monsters.

Persica walked with stiff, creaking movements.

[She seems broken.]

‘She is fine enough.’

[Madman…….]

What a hurtful thing to say.

There was a reason I was rushing our movement this much.

From the Third Floor of the Dungeon onward, there was no organization that stabilized and managed the field, like the Guard on the First Floor or White Cloud Castle on the Second Floor.

In other words, simply wandering around the field meant encountering countless monsters.

Furthermore, due to the field effect of the [Nebula Zone], strong winds blew all year round, and the thick mist made it difficult to secure visibility.

However, the greatest problem was the “side effect.”

“U-Uuugh…….”

Persica’s complexion turned deathly pale.

Her trembling blue eyes stared at the dense mist in terror.

The side effect of the Third Floor was Panic Disorder.

It induced a mental state of panic and extreme fear, and depending on the person, it could cause Difficulty Breathing, Nervous Weakness, and in severe cases, Trauma or even complete fainting.

The reason I was hurrying was entirely because of the symptoms caused by the Third Floor’s side effect.

‘The longer you stay, the stronger the symptoms become.’

The Third Floor’s side effect had a strong mental aspect, so the longer one was exposed to it, the more the symptoms intensified.

This was especially true for beginners like Persica and me, who had only just descended to the Third Floor.

We had not yet accumulated enough Mana Quantity to overcome the side effect.

—Grrrrrr……

“Tsk, so one came after all.”

At the strange cry, every hair on my body stood on end.

Soon, a monster resembling a large octopus appeared through the stardust-mixed mist.

It was the 3-Star Monster “Gulaka.”

It was a monster similar in appearance to an octopus, moving by swaying countless tentacles, with several eyes and mouths attached haphazardly across its head.

It was one of the most commonly found monsters on the Third Floor.

‘I think that thing’s tentacles were ingredients.’

Its blood was Potion material, its eyes were Magic-Related Materials, and its tentacles were food ingredients. It had more uses than one might expect.

Third Floor monsters were generally like this.

Even the most common ones were at this level, so this was not a floor where income jumped for nothing.

‘Though that only applies under the assumption that you survive.’

I tapped Persica, who was standing in front.

“Persica.”

“H-Huh?”

“Give orders. What are you going to do if the leader is spacing out?”

Orders.

At that word, Persica snapped back to herself.

She bit her pale lips tightly, forced open the eyes she had squeezed shut, and opened her mouth.

“……Isran, frontline. Mages, rear support.”

It was admirable that she was still trying to give orders somehow.

Honestly, what I had said just now was deliberate because her mentality was about to break, and handling that thing alone would not have mattered much to me.

—Kiiiiiik!

The Gulaka, having recognized me, swayed its tentacles threateningly.

I avoided the tentacle that came crashing down and slipped inward.

‘This thing’s weak point is the eyes on its head. Its pattern is down-swing. Left, right, left, left, right.’

There was no particular need to use Secret Art: Ethrana.

I knew this thing’s pattern and timing inside and out.

I knocked its attacks aside moderately, filled all ten Stacks, then leapt lightly and stabbed one of its eyes.

「Counterattack」 activated, and the Gulaka’s body stiffened with a CRACK before slumping down and dying.

“Whew……”

I pulled out my sword and collected the Mana Stone it spat out.

Normally, I would also have collected the Byproducts such as its blood and eyes, but there was no time for that now.

‘I am not free from the side effect either.’

Before I knew it, my hands were slick with sweat.

My breathing had grown rough, my head was ringing, and my chest ached dully.

The Panic Disorder was flaring up.

“Oh, you killed that in one blow.”

“……Let us leave this for now. We need to move quickly.”

“Hm, understood. It is common anyway.”

Bernard and the other Mages were impressed by my skill, but none of them showed any sign of struggling.

Even rotten, they were still residents of the Third Floor.

“Ah, guide us, Bernard. We do not know the geography here.”

“Understood.”

Following Persica’s instruction, Bernard took the lead as our guide.

“Ugh…… Uuugh…….”

Persica, who was hugging herself, trembled with a deathly pale complexion.

Her breathing was rough, her skin was cold, and she could not easily take a step.

I held her hand and walked forward.

“It is all right. It is just mist.”

“My hand…… Do not let go of my hand…….”

“I will not.”

Persica was dripping cold sweat while holding my hand tightly.

The entire field of the Third Floor was as dark as night, and because it was covered in thick mist, visibility was difficult to secure.

In other words, it was an environment where fear was maximized.

‘It is a little difficult for me too right now.’

I was struggling as well.

Even knowing it was simply mist, the fear welling up from the bottom of my chest did not disappear.

The Conellin tea I had drunk in the Landscape Realm was of no use here.

It was not omnipotent either, so once one passed beyond the Second Floor, it had no effect.

I took a deep breath and gripped the sword hilt tightly.

Perhaps because I knew Ishara was always by my side, I felt a little more at ease.

“Seeing you like this, I can really feel that the two of you are still Apprentices.”

Bernard looked surprised.

Perhaps he had thought that since we were good at everything, we would be unaffected even by side effects.

Normally, I would have scolded him somehow, but unfortunately, I had no room for that now.

We forced our way through the raging gusts, cutting down the monsters that appeared from time to time as we hurried across the Third Floor.

As time passed, I felt my mind being gnawed away.

My hands and legs trembled, and by the time even gripping my sword had become difficult.

We were finally able to reach our destination.

“We have arrived.”

At Bernard’s words, I raised my head.

And for that moment, both Persica and I forgot our panic and widened our eyes in pure amazement.

Beyond the mist and gale, I saw an enormous tower rising tall through the darkness of the Third Floor.

“That is…….”

Capella Observatory.

We had successfully reached the sacred land of Mages that we had aimed for.