C219
Until Belkist returned from the Exploration Dungeon, his place was taken by a hero named Benik from Group 2.
Originally, Edith volunteered as a substitute upon hearing the news of Belkist’s departure, but she was in charge of directing all the heroes except the first group. Unless absolutely necessary, she couldn't be assigned to a mission lightly.
Benik joined Group 2 after clearing the 20th floor, being a Rogue-class hero known for his calm demeanor and cold judgment of the situation. He was recommended by Edith.
At the very least, he would do his part properly.
‘But I don’t think there will be a fight.’
I looked up.
[Floor 47.]
[Mission Type – Exploration]
[Objective – Explore the unknown place!]
The mission objective window appeared before me.
An exploration mission, a type of mission I had encountered several times.
Nothing unusual.
‘So this is reconnaissance?’
It was noon, the sun shining brightly.
Sunlight illuminated the clearing where I was first summoned.
But now it was as dark as night. The branches of a giant tree extending up to a hundred meters above covered the sky. This place, in the heart of the forest, was an environment not much different from night.
“Grruuuh! Graaaaah!”
I looked to my side.
In the darkness of the forest, densely covered with shrubs, monsters were roaring.
Their eyes shone sinisterly. I would probably be fighting them now if there wasn’t an invisible wall between us.
Only exploration.
The monsters outside the wall couldn’t touch the heroes, so the heroes could walk through the inner paths of the field, easily assessing the forces of the enemies they would face in the next mission. It was a traditional mission after a long time.
‘But it doesn’t seem that way at all.’
The fallen leaves under my feet disintegrated.
The leaves scattered on the forest path were black, and the trees dyed in black were twisted grotesquely.
And then…
“Woooooah.”
On the left side of the forest, a monster of unknown identity wandered.
Seeing its body protruding from the trees, its size was at least 30 meters.
It was a large-sized monster.
‘There are many.’
They were hidden throughout the forest.
The dense leaves of the trees rustled everywhere, and the bushes scattered without rest.
As I was watching them, they were also watching me.
I squinted my eyes.
A few hundred meters ahead stood a round object reminiscent of a tall building.
Its shell seemed to pulsate.
The hatching wasn’t far off.
The forest turned into a place of terror in an instant because of that egg.
“You could say all the monsters in Taonier have been mobilized.”
The tall shadows near the egg moved.
Dozens, hundreds of large monsters.
They were eagerly waiting for the arrival of intruders.
In the sky visible between the trees, numerous dots floated.
This time, they were flying monsters.
Known as the nemesis of airships.
How many are there?
I roughly counted the monsters I had seen while passing by.
They weren’t in the tens or hundreds.
They were in the thousands.
Considering those hidden, they could be in the tens of thousands.
‘Too many.’
After surpassing the 45th floor, Taonier had been constantly increasing its strength.
As a result, Taonier could gather a massive force incomparable to others of the same level.
But even so, there were hundreds of people.
<The 50th floor is a turning point. If we win this battle, we should be able to advance easily to the 60th floor. He will have used all his upper-floor strength.>
So said Gugukon.
The prince who could interfere in the mission would have used the monsters from the upper floors.
If we only overcome the 50th floor, the next missions will be a piece of cake.
‘It’s easy to say.’
This means the difficulty of the mission on the 50th floor is unimaginable.
It’s not just about the number of monsters. I remembered the two named monsters that made me struggle so much.
The Beast King and the Saint, heroes of the past. They were likely to appear on the 50th floor as well. Considering the gravity of the situation, even the prince from the 80th floor might show up.
‘We can’t go on like this.’
Even if we had resources, we couldn’t increase our strength with the current account level.
After breaking through the 50th floor and conducting research, we needed to expand our facilities once more to deploy thousands of heroes.
The more I thought about it, the more I regretted the absence of the Asynis Family.
They would have been a great shield for us.
‘They have secluded themselves.’
That’s what Priacis told me after visiting the Asynis Family.
On the 46th floor, Priacis, with our help, managed to escape to the surface and visited the Asynis Family again.
However, the head of the Asynis family, devastated by the loss of his heir, declared that he would no longer be involved in the affairs of the empire and the order. Now, Asynis was practically a non-existent force.
‘Did he say he was sorry?’
I’m not sure how many times I’ve heard that from Priacis.
She said she couldn’t persuade them and showed an expression close to crying.
And now, she and the other members of Group 1 were patrolling the forest’s boundaries.
“Kiiik! Ki ki ki!”
Clang! Clang! Clang!
The Goblins on the forest path bared their teeth at me.
They kept striking their daggers against the invisible wall that separated us.
It was a futile effort, but they didn’t stop. Blue sparks jumped from the wall where the blades hit and then scattered.
“Kaaaak! Kak! Kak!”
[Corrupt Goblin Lv.38] X 31
Their skin, which was a pale green, had darkened.
Grotesque veins protruded all over their bodies.
Level 38. The monsters here were not only numerous but also significantly stronger.
“……Sigh.”
I could only sigh.
With our current strength, we couldn’t face them directly.
The available tactics were to use airships for attraction and maneuvering.
We had to avoid battle as much as possible and use the completed key to quickly eliminate the egg.
It’s easier said than done.
Mobile combat is only effective if you have a proper shield to protect yourself.
‘Is this all we can do?’
Soon, I reached the area limit where I could perform reconnaissance.
I couldn’t go any further due to the invisible wall.
I took one last look at the forest landscape before turning around.
“So, brother, how many are there?”
At the meeting point at the forest boundaries.
Jenna approached me with light steps and asked.
“You can see for yourself. It’s a damn crowd.”
“Really that many?”
“I can’t breathe because of the repulsive smell. The whole forest is full of it.”
Kishasha wrinkled her nose.
Katio, who was inspecting a reconnaissance magic circle in the corner, also spoke.
“Probably, the forces of the order are also inside the forest. If we add up the monsters and the order’s forces, they could be more than ten thousand.”
“Ten thousand? That’s a bit… excessive.”
"I don't know how I ended up here, what a scam." Katio sighed deeply.
Priacis had a gloomy expression and remained silent.
Everyone seemed discouraged.
"What can we do? Any good ideas? They said Asynis changed their mind, maybe they'll help us?"
That would solve the problem.
The Asynis Family hadn't been destroyed, even though their heir and expeditionary force were annihilated.
According to Priacis, they still had considerable strength.
They just weren't willing to help.
"I'm sorry. If only I had persuaded them better..."
Priacis lowered her head.
"It's not your fault. The situation got complicated."
According to Taonier's original scenario, we would have advanced in the mission with the powerful expeditionary force of Asynis.
But everything got complicated when Delphine died on the 45th floor.
I hoped that, by advancing to the next floor, the story would change and Delphine would revive, but that didn't happen.
The story of the elimination of the Asynis contingent remained the same, and Asynis, who had followed Priacis's words but lost their heir, came to distrust her.
"Now it seems like everyone who's willing to fight... are our enemies." Katio turned to me and said.
I nodded.
The organizations affiliated with the empire.
Three of the four great families were enemies from the beginning.
The forces of the imperial guard and the order were also enemies, and Asynis, who had been neutral, had turned against us.
"This is crazy. What are we going to do?" Katio scratched his head in irritation.
"We should stay calm, right? It's not the first time we've faced these kinds of enemies, is it?"
"I suppose, but..."
"We'll find a way if we search carefully. If not, we'll just do it on our own. We've prepared with so much effort, we can't lose now."
"Maybe we should analyze the situation again. Let's see..."
The members of Group 1 were discussing passionately.
I stepped aside and then walked away.
"Where are you going?" Jenna asked.
"To get some air." I replied casually and walked towards the outside of the forest.
There's no point in getting overwhelmed in a cramped place.
On Earth, I also used to take a walk when I got stuck strategizing.
'This is something better.'
The inside of the forest was dark, but the outside was quite nice.
The sun was shining, and the trees and leaves were a vibrant green.
At least it looked like a proper forest.
There were places on the edges of the forest where you could and couldn't go.
I moved forward, pushing aside tree roots and bushes, towards the outside.
There were still no signs that the mission was close to ending. My plan was to move as much as I could from here.
'Are there monsters here too?'
I stopped.
I could feel a faint presence from a distance.
The presence was slowly approaching where I was.
"......"
It wasn't a monster.
I realized that and hid in the undergrowth.
After about five minutes, the owner of the presence revealed themselves.
'Humans.'
Two men were walking along the path.
They moved outside the invisible wall, where I couldn't reach.
They weren't from the order.
They were dressed in well-maintained leather armor and carried weapons at their waists.
The man walking on the left was, at most, a young man in his twenties. He still had a youthful appearance.
The man on the right had a rough face, as if he had been through many hardships.
"Why did we come to a place like this? There's so much to do."
The rough-looking man complained.
His voice and manner of speaking didn't match his face.
"Looks suspicious, right? Like that strange egg brings peace. Who would believe that?"
"It's what the order says. We, the subordinates, can only follow it. And if you really wanted to investigate it, you could have sent your men."
"Subordinates? Who has subordinates? Call them employees."
"Well, we're the subordinates of the elder brother."
"You're ten years older than me!"
The young man and the man continued arguing as they walked along the forest path.
I observed the young man. The rough-looking man called him elder brother.
He had proper body balance and his walking was steady.
'He's quite strong.'
He had definitely undergone prolonged training.
And besides... there was a familiar but strange smell.
Chis.
I looked at my left arm.
A reddish lightning flashed briefly and then disappeared.
'......'
Brown hair tied in a bun.
The cheerful-looking young man looked towards the other side of the forest and said.
"There are a lot of monsters. So many that they can't be counted. It's packed."
"The higher-ups will take care of them, right? Come to think of it, there have been few monster attacks lately. Maybe the lords are gathering these monsters to deal with them all at once. That would be peace, right?"
"Smells like something..."
The young man frowned.
"Do you want to gather the guys for an attack?"
"An attack? How are you going to capture so many? It just looks suspicious, that's all."
"We can capture them! Who's the elder brother? The idol of all mercenaries in Taonier. Conquered the dungeons across the continent in less than ten years... Ha! An achievement no one else has accomplished. That's why I also follow the elder brother. With one word from the elder brother, thousands of mercenaries in Taonier will rise like a swarm."
"Stop the noise."
"Elder brother Yoshu!"
"Don't call me elder brother."
"Then, King of the Mercenaries!"
"Who's the King of the Mercenaries?"
"Who else could be called the King of the Mercenaries if not the elder brother?"
The man chuckled.