Chapter 22
From the elves’ point of view, they had suffered quite a heavy sacrifice.
But there was no reason for the other races to sympathize with them.
If they did not want to sacrifice spirits, then each faction could simply prepare however many sacrifices were required on their own.
And the other three races were more than willing to do that.
Even so, the elves had chosen spirits as sacrifices because, in the end, it was simply the most efficient method.
“We cannot force promising young people to shoulder such sins. Let this old man, who does not have long left to live, take that role instead.”
That was Nuadilen’s position.
And no one could argue against it.
As soon as they arrived on the lower floor, Yohan separated from the others and began searching for the remains.
He used exactly the same method he had used on the first floor.
However, the monster core showed no reaction whatsoever.
It simply continued spinning.
While the first floor had contained no fewer than six settlements, the second floor had only one.
And even that was a tiny settlement with barely fifty residents.
Unlike the survivors on the first floor, who had secured a relatively large safe zone thanks to the blessing dwelling within the remains, the survivors of the second floor stubbornly endured each day inside monster territory.
Danforce tried to persuade some of them to descend together with the expedition.
However, the weres and elves strongly opposed the idea.
“What are we supposed to do with people whose only skill is hiding?”
“Our expedition teams can coordinate among ourselves, but those people probably cannot even work properly with each other.”
And so, they spent less than an hour on the second floor before immediately heading down.
The same process repeated on the third floor.
No matter where he opened his eyes after descending, Yohan would tear apart nearby monsters and use them to search for traces of the remains.
Once he confirmed that there were none, everyone would head together toward the Thorn Divine Tree at the center.
Each time, Uel Ferda had to summon six spirits—twice the number required on the first floor—and offer them as sacrifices.
[Were we just too lucky on the first floor?]
“This is what's normal.”
And now, they were on the fourth floor.
Caw—
Caaaw—
The moment they entered, they were greeted by the familiar yet unfamiliar sight of a vast forest.
Far in the distance stood the radiant Thorn Divine Tree.
Beneath its branches stretched countless coniferous trees, covering the land like children gathered around their parent.
Dark clouds filled the sky, allowing almost no light to reach the ground.
The deep teal scenery looked even darker beneath the gloomy sky.
Then that unpleasant cry echoed once again.
Caw—
Caaaw—
A flock of airborne monsters flew across the vast sky as though the entire place belonged to them.
Fortunately, their gazes were fixed straight ahead.
Even so, the expedition members on the ground were extremely tense.
“...Check your camouflage carefully. If that flock notices us, things will become a huge pain.”
Following Danforce’s orders, the imperial expedition put on the camouflage clothing they had brought.
The dwarf soldiers attached branches and leaves to different parts of their bodies and covered their heads with cloth mixed in shades of green and brown.
The elf expedition cast a wide-area refraction spell over their position.
Lastly, at their general’s signal, the were expedition members transformed into more animal-like forms.
And then—
Yohan did none of those things.
He simply strode straight toward the center.
“Wait for us, Senior Yohan!”
Dexter tried to follow him without reading the situation, only for Danforce and Frank to grab him at the same time.
“Hey.”
“Where do you think you're going?”
“What...? We should follow him too!”
“Just stay here.”
At Danforce’s words, Dexter looked around.
“Huh...?”
The dwarves, elves, and weres had not moved even a single step from their positions.
“We can move around without getting caught by the flying monsters, but if the ground monsters notice us, we'll definitely have to fight.”
“Exactly! That's why we should help him!”
“Help him? With what? Who the hell are you supposed to be to help that man?”
Seeing that Dexter still did not understand, Rodur stepped in to explain.
“He needs monster cores to search for the remains. On the second and third floors, he could use monsters we happened to kill while moving. But if we cause a disturbance here, we'll attract the flying monsters too.”
“...Ah.”
“That's why he's taking the burden alone. No matter how many monsters gather, that man won't die.”
Only after hearing Rodur’s explanation did Dexter finally close his mouth and return to the formation.
Nuadilen and Kalkerak then announced their respective departure times.
“We leave in thirty minutes.”
“We'll leave in forty. We'll take the route opposite the elves.”
While the others reorganized their plans, Yohan openly began drawing the monsters' attention.
A mist created from his own blood rose past the tops of the tall trees and entered the vision of the airborne monsters.
The entire flock immediately turned their eyes downward.
Caaaaw!
Caaaaaaaaaw!
The monsters' cries resembled those of crows, but metallic screeches were mixed into them, and their voices frequently cracked.
The ground monsters, reacting to the calls of their own kind, also began approaching Yohan one after another.
Watching them gather, Yohan gave a faint smile.
“Your complete lack of learning ability is what makes you charming.”
The blood mist that had been scattered around to attract attention instantly gathered back around Yohan.
One monster drooled as it charged toward its prey.
A spear of blood pierced straight through it, killing it instantly.
Yohan then took the strangely colored blood spilling from its body, turned it into weapons, and fired them to both sides.
Kieeeek?!
To the monsters, the moment one of their own was brutally killed became an opportunity.
Each feather on their widely spread wings was sharpened like a blade.
One airborne monster dove vertically from the sky.
Just before smashing into the ground, it changed its trajectory and swung its wings directly at Yohan.
Thud!
Part of the wing stabbed into Yohan’s skin.
He did not care in the slightest.
Instead, he reached out and grabbed the monster’s two fragile legs.
Caw!
Caaaaw!
Yohan's mana, filled with murderous intent, pierced through the monster’s skin and reached its heart.
At that moment, every drop of blood inside the creature came completely under Yohan's control.
The monster violently twisted its wings and barely escaped his grasp before returning to its flock.
And then—
The blood inside its body went berserk under extreme compression and exploded.
Its steel-like feathers scattered through the air and pierced dozens of its own kind gathered nearby.
Thud.
Thump.
Splash.
Splatter.
Yohan picked up one of the monster corpses that had fallen near him and roughly tore into its chest.
The monsters hesitated, twitching nervously instead of immediately rushing forward.
Yohan glared at them.
There was a strange liveliness in his eyes.
Meanwhile—
While Yohan was slaughtering hundreds of monsters on the other side of the forest, the remaining three groups managed to reach the center without any major confrontation.
The Thorn Divine Tree rose high into the sky, its branches spreading across the entire forest.
It greeted them with a trunk far larger than anything they had seen on the previous three floors.
“Thanks to him, we reached the Divine Tree comfortably. I assume we don't need to worry about the sacrifices, Nuadilen Westport?”
“And you should not forget your role on the eighth floor, the tenth floor, and in the underground city. We both know this already. Betrayal only delays the conquest.”
“Of course. I swear it on the name of Divineheart.”
While the elves prepared their spirit summoning ritual to enter the trunk, Danforce had Dexter check how far away Yohan was.
“Hmm...”
“He should have started moving by now. Don't you think?”
“Uh... For now, he's not anywhere within a three-kilometer radius!”
“You're sure?”
“Yes. Senior Yohan stands out so much that there's no way I'd miss him if he were nearby.”
“...How long are you planning to keep calling him ‘Senior’?”
The dwarf soldiers used their naturally small bodies to dig underground and check whether any monsters were approaching.
Some of the were expedition members climbed trees to observe the movement of the airborne monsters and reported back every ten minutes.
“No problems so far, General.”
“It seems the Mad Savior has drawn enough attention away from us.”
“Good. Well done.”
With the spirit summoning nearly complete, Nuadilen gathered Albern, Kalkerak, Danforce, and even Belvar together.
Representatives from every race were now present.
They had gathered to discuss the conquest plan for floors five through eight.
“As everyone knows, the monsters of the Dark Forest are small fry. Even in large numbers, they're only troublesome. But the floors below will be different. Starting from the fifth floor, we'll enter the Downcave.”
The Downcave.
A bizarre field where the entire floor consisted of one enormous cave.
The monsters living there came in many different kinds, each with different traits.
Every species required a different method of dealing with it.
“In particular, there's always a lake at the far end of the cave. If the fifth floor begins inside a cave, then there's a high chance the sixth floor will begin in the sea. In that case, the entrance to the seventh floor will probably be somewhere inside a sea cave.”
As Nuadilen skillfully drew a diagram using a pointed wooden stick, Belvar gestured toward it.
“...If we fall into the middle of the sea like in that drawing, is there any chance of finding land where we can stay?”
This time, Albern answered.
“It changes every time, but the probability is low. The chance of land being nearby is even lower. During my fourth expedition, there happened to be a small island within a twelve-kilometer radius.”
“I see...”
“They call it the Downcave, but there's still a decent chance we'll end up fighting marine monsters in the middle of the ocean.”
Nuadilen then presented the two strategies they had prepared.
“Sapiens, dwarves, and elves are not races that can easily breathe underwater. The weres probably don't have many aquatic beastmen either.”
“We have four.”
“Hmm. Then we absolutely need a way for everyone else to breathe underwater.”
The first method was mass fish transformation.
Magic would create gills inside the body, allowing the target to breathe through both the mouth and gills.
“If we're talking purely about breathing, there's no method more reliable than this. However, it has the weakness of making you vulnerable to poison.”
The second method was oxygen bubbles.
Magic would create a bubble filled with oxygen, allowing someone inside it to breathe.
“It can block poison released into the water, but the bubble breaks easily. It's especially vulnerable to harpoon fish, which can be found almost everywhere in the dungeon's seas.”
After explaining that much, Nuadilen looked around at everyone.
“That is Uel Ferda's opinion. If anyone has another solution prepared, speak now.”
They continued exchanging opinions for roughly fifteen minutes.
Unfortunately, no one offered a method better than the previous two.
Belvar's suggestion of summoning Armored Beard Whales was actually quite good.
However, only three people among their entire force could perform that summoning, so the idea was naturally rejected.
“Then we'll use fish transformation and oxygen bubbles depending on the situation. If anyone isn't familiar with the spells, come find us. We don't have much time, so we'll have to take shortcuts with the training, but it'll still help.”
Once the discussion ended, everyone dispersed back to their respective groups.
The moment Danforce returned to his formation, Dexter came rushing over, saying that he had found Senior Yohan.
Exactly thirty-three minutes had passed since they had arrived at the center of the forest.
By the time Yohan rejoined the alliance, all the discussions had already finished.
“That's everything... Do you have any other opinions?”
“Not really. Let's do it that way.”
“...Hmm. We've finished the summoning, so all that's left is opening the entrance. Let's go.”
Monster blood and bodily fluids covered Yohan from head to toe, giving off an indescribably terrible stench.
Of course they did.
He had actively used not only his own blood but also monster blood during the battle.
And to search for the remains, he had personally ripped apart their flesh to find their cores.
Even the highly experienced Nuadilen barely managed to keep his expression under control.
Needless to say, the others were having an even harder time.
Several expedition members who had been about to welcome Yohan back abruptly stopped in their tracks.
The weres had already moved far away from him.
Naturally, Yohan paid no attention to any of those reactions.
He simply looked ahead.
A massive vine emerging from the trunk of the Thorn Divine Tree was absorbing the life energy of the summoned spirits.
Once the absorption was complete, the trunk began vibrating and formed a gap similar to the ones they had seen before.
Having lost all its energy, the spirit slowly turned into dust and disappeared.
While the elves briefly lowered their heads in mourning, everyone else quickly entered the trunk.
Danforce let out a relieved sigh as he watched the elves follow behind them.
“They're surprisingly willing to become sacrifices. I know elves and spirits are close, but... more than ten of them have already died.”
Belvar, who had been listening nearby, stroked the corner of his mouth and joined the conversation.
“There's a good chance that was part of the contract from the beginning. Something like, ‘Up to a certain number of spirits may be sacrificed to enter the dungeon. The price will be paid by the caster of the summoning spell.’ Or perhaps by all the mages acting as the medium. Something along those lines.”
“I see...”
“Spirits are intelligent beings as well. They probably want liberation and peace too. And naturally, they'd trust elves more than other races.”
“Then maybe we can solve this floor the same way? Sacrifice another six spirits or so?”
Yohan, who had entered ahead of them, answered from the distance.
“...I don't think that'll work this time.”
“Hmm?”
His gaze was fixed on the far end of the trunk—the main body of the Divine Tree itself.
There, where the trunk rising from the roots split into dozens of enormous branches, something was breathing heavily.
It was impossible to tell whether it was a tree...
Or a giant.
