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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 31
Chapter Title: The 25th Floor's Madness
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“Right, what are you talking about? Don't tell me, this time, we have to kill that illusion... no. That *person*... to clear this?”
I said nothing. Then, I slowly opened my mouth.
“What if you do?”
At that, the party's expressions varied. I observed Ged's group carefully.
‘Two of them pale or frozen, one resolved, and one unfazed...’
And Helios wore a look of confusion.
“I've stopped the spiders, but I can't hold them for long!”
Haira used a great deal of her power to halt the spiders. Before long, the boss of this floor appeared, visible between the spiders.
“Do we really have to kill a person to finish this?”
I stared into Helios's light violet eyes for a long moment before letting out a soft laugh.
“As if. You really think so?”
“...What?”
“Relax. Not yet, anyway.”
I reached out my hand. A disc appeared behind the boss and instantly exploded.
Boom!
The boss was sent flying and landed at Helios's feet.
“...A scarecrow?”
The charred, mangled remains were not a human corpse. It was a scarecrow, something they were all familiar with.
“Good camouflage, right? These new scarecrows.”
“...”
“B-Big Bro! You mean those things... they're *pretending* to be people?!”
“It's a power you're all familiar with.”
I tapped my own eyes, then glanced at Haira.
“Illusion.”
“...”
“It tricks your eyes into seeing them as people. Once you break the suggestion, they'll look like scarecrows again.”
“B-Big Bro? Then you... even though it looked like a person, you still b-blew it up?”
I tilted my head at Seth's question. Before I could say anything, another voice cut in.
“No.”
It was Helios.
“She's not that kind of person.”
His expression was cold. When he stared at Seth, Seth flinched.
“...Whatever the case, it's over now, right? I'm getting tired enough to collapse. Can I release my Kia?”
The moment the illusion was first broken, all the scarecrows no longer appeared human, but in their original forms.
After that, it was just like fighting the scarecrows from the previous floors, only slightly stronger.
It was a level that Helios and Ged's group could handle.
“Hah... I'm dead.”
All the scarecrows had been defeated, and the spiders no longer appeared.
It was the signal that the floor was cleared.
‘That is, if this were the 24th floor.’
While most of the party sat down, exhausted, I was the only one still standing.
“Huh, Big Bro? Why aren't you sitting and resting like usual? Ah, you didn't use much energy, did you?”
“No.”
I smiled brightly.
“Because it's not over yet.”
* * *
As Mint spoke those strangely ominous words, the ground shook.
‘The ground? No. It’s the wall!’
Helios quickly assessed the situation. The wall was moving.
No, to be precise, one side of the wall was descending.
It was one of the walls that had risen to divide the area when the 25th floor began.
And on the other side were people who, like Helios and Ged's party, had been undergoing the trial of the 25th floor.
“...Are they dead?”
There was one more person standing on that side than on theirs, but five bodies were lying on the ground.
They all looked dead.
“Wh-what the, isn't the 25th floor over? Why... why is only one wall coming down?! Waaah!”
“Just hold on. She said it's not over. Look over there!”
“Big Bro, how can this be...”
In order, Seth, Haira, and Ged showed their bewilderment.
“It's just as I said. It's not over yet.”
Mint shrugged lightly.
“...Don't tell me, are they our new opponents?”
Mint nodded.
“As expected of Helios. You catch on the quickest, don't you?”
Mint's face slowly turned.
The faces in the other section were filled with malice.
‘They have the advantage in numbers. And...’
The look of people who would do anything to survive. It was a look generally worn only by those who had truly done it all.
“Damn.”
Mint clicked her tongue briefly.
“Where are you going?”
Helios urgently grabbed Mint. He had a bad feeling about this.
“Unfortunately, at your current skill level, my dear disciple, this would be too much for you.”
“What? So you're saying you're going to kill them?”
“Yep.”
His grip on Mint's arm tightened.
“Why? Aren't you prepared to kill to survive here?”
“...”
Mint slipped out of Helios's grasp with ease. Helios had only lost his grip for a moment.
But the fleeting sense of loss and emptiness that followed was larger than he'd expected, and the realization startled him.
“I really hate this place.”
Mint did not particularly like the 25th floor.
The reason was obvious.
First, the boss uses an illusion ability to appear wearing a human guise.
And second, after defeating the variants and the boss like on the 24th floor, real people appear.
With these two elements, it was clear what the Tower was encouraging.
The moment Mint moved, the people in the other section began to fall one by one.
“Ked is down!”
“What, what the hell? Where'd she go?”
“Everyone, use your Kia! It was just some scrawny girl! Get her!”
“The muscle types, grab her!”
But the men, screaming with veins bulging in their eyes and necks like demons, collapsed one after another as Mint passed by.
The remaining man's eyes widened as he stared into the darkness.
‘Their companions looked weak! I should take a hostage...’
But just as he had that thought, a powerful blow struck his back, and he couldn't get up again.
Whirr—. The disc that had struck the man returned to Mint.
“Aaargh!”
The last man remaining struggled, desperately trying to flee backward. But his back soon hit a dead-end wall of rock.
“You're the last one.”
“Ugh, what are you? What the hell! This time, this time for sure, I'm going to ascend!”
“Right, right. Make sure you ascend on your next try. You've got the skills for it.”
Mint casually lifted the man, who was much larger than her, by the collar.
Nearby, there was a giant hole in the floor. It was the same spot where swarms of variant spiders had emerged from just a while ago.
Mint's hand, still gripping his collar, extended over the hole. The man struggled desperately above the chasm before finally going limp.
Helios, who was watching the scene, widened his eyes.
“...Is Big Bro really going to end it like that?”
The moment he heard Ged's somber words, Helios instinctively started to run forward.
But his eyes met Mint's, and she gave him a slight smile before letting go.
“...!”
A few seconds passed, and then a familiar broadcast echoed through the vast floor.
[Trial complete. Congratulations, you Stray Dogs. Was your first taste of the 25th floor's madness refreshing?]
A solemn voice, different from the ones on previous floors, rang out.
[For those who have failed, another chance awaits. For those who have succeeded, the next delightful hell awaits. Good luck, Stray Dogs!]
Helios blinked slowly.
‘Another chance for those who have failed?’
What other chance could there be?
They were dead.
Could there be a more contradictory phrase?
Helios didn't even realize when he had left the 25th floor.
When he came to his senses, he was standing on a patch of withered grass, having already passed through the gate.
“I didn't expect Big Bro to step in herself at the end... She was amazing.”
“Yeah, that was, uh, a little surprising.”
“Haha, she was always an incredible person, wasn't she?”
Strangely, while the others seemed a bit uncomfortable with Mint's final actions, none of them appeared as shocked as he was.
He found it bizarre.
“Is everyone... alright with that?”
“Huh? What do you mean, Helios? Ah, you worked hard today too, Captain. We owe you our lives several times over today as well.”
Yes, Ged was saying he'd saved their lives, and yet...
“People... died. Are you okay with that?”
“Hmm?”
To his surprise, everyone in Ged's group stared at him with wide eyes.
“What are you talking about?”
“Haha. No way, Helios, you didn't know? Really?”
“...How could I not know?”
Haira looked around at the group, then slowly raised her hand.
“You've only been with her this whole time. And more importantly, Helios... you don't pay attention to other people.”
“What is that supposed to...”
As the conversation continued, Helios's expression hardened. Ged scratched his neck, looking troubled.
“Helios, you have good eyes, right? Take a look over there.”
Helios slowly turned his head. His eyes soon flew wide open.
Over there, someone was complaining to the person next to him, repeatedly rubbing his own neck with a displeased look on his face.
‘That person is...’
It was the man who had fallen into the hole at Mint's hand.
