The Fifth Floor and a Shakedown

It was not smooth sailing for the Hero's party, but they finally found the chamber leading to the stairs. There they found a pile of monsters, dispatched so expertly.

"Someone broke camp just recently," Jack the thief placed his hand above the ashes. He had been silent ever since Akira ignored his advice back in the trapped corridor.

"H-hunters?" Eleanora asked.

"Should be. There are guards keeping non-hunters out. No civilians are allowed to enter dungeons except those with special permits from the kingdom like us."

"Hmm. Let's press on faster then. We don't want them to get to the sword first, right?" Akira said.

"Yes," Hannah and Eleanora said.

Through the use of his 'Cheat', Akira found out about the future problem facing Calendia. One that would result in a fight between factions which would lead to their defeat to the demons' attack in a year's time. Though what he could see was just glimpses, he found out that the only way to prevent that future was to find the sword of the First King and use it to unify the knights and the people.

However, with the current condition of the factions, he needed to act in secret. Thus, he asked for permission to enter Alabaster Atrium to search for the sword. He was initially rejected by the King, but the Prince and his fiancée persuaded him to relent. Only now he had to take Kaihaku with him as he was someone the King trusted. He once saved the King's life while going incognito and had since been bosom friends.

Akira had dreamed of being a Hero ever since he was little and so without thinking much about it, he left to look for the legendary sword, Grunford. A sword fit for a Hero.

It was his destiny.

It was his everything.

"We must hurry. Otherwise we would fail our mission!"

In the case of Connie's party, as the monsters grew even stronger, she took a more proactive stance. A casual swipe of her claw beheaded an Ogre while another hand held onto a kobold's neck and crushed it. She intentionally let a kobold whiffed its sword and stabbed her delicate fingers to the side of its neck.

Seeing the methods by which she took care of business, Nick and Martell developed a bit of fear of her.

With the enemies eradicated with impunity, Connie wiped her bloodied hand with a cloth. She walked by Illumca and whispered. "Analyze me, Illumca."

The dark elf did as she bid and said. "What do you want to know?"

"My level."

She shook her head with scrunched-up eyebrows. "There is no change. Still 5. And I still cannot read most of your status."

The noble girl had asked her to analyze her before and was rather disappointed that there was still no change. She was interested in skills, and found that she also had some skills, unreadable as they were.

"What is your level right now?"

"18."

"And Martell?"

"He is Level 14. He has the basic skills of a villager. Nothing new there."

Connie rubbed her chin. She was quite looking forward to experiencing a level up, but it seemed that her body now ran a different set of rules.

With nothing else to discuss, Connie clasped her hands behind her back and made her way towards the two men waiting for her an Illumca.

It was about four hours later that they finally arrived at the Fifth floor.

The Fifth floor was an unbelievably large antechamber that could fit the Steelheart's mansion five times over. Here and there were remnants of abandoned campsites, blackened woods and rotted bones.

"Beyond lies the Boss Room."

Connie and others walked up to the other end of the antechamber, their steps echoing in that empty room. On the other side was a pair of massive, crude stone door. When Connie touched it, she knew that it was solid rock.

"Inside this door is where the Hunter Slayer resides," he said with a languid look. "We shouldn't enter the place."

"What? And I was very much looking forward to fighting it."

Martell tilted his head. "Why? I thought we are supposed to get the sword?"

"That is why you need me, we need to - ."

"Stop!"

When they heard that voice, their faces fell and they turned around with dropped shoulders.

"Not them again," Illumca grimaced.

Sure enough, the owner of the voice was the so-called Hero of Calendia. He and the rest of his party were rather battered, with the exception of Sidonai whose clothes were undisturbed

"Greetings, Milady and her entourage," Sidonai gave a very friendly bow with one leg behind another. "I see that you are a formidable party indeed, to survive this place with no victim."

Akira made a face at the bright greeting that Sidonai gave.

The first thing that came to his mind when he arrived was the happiness of having finally made it to the Boss Room. But then that little sliver of joy was replaced by anxiety when he saw that Connie's party made it to the Boss Room first before him. That was why he blurted out the order for them to stop.

He was a red-blooded man and could not deny that he was attracted to the dark elf and the androgynous noble girl. However, though the other party had breathtakingly beautiful girls, the feeling of his justice being ridiculed to such an extent had left him feeling biased against them.

"What is it, Hero?" Connie said with a mocking tone. "Where have you been? We were worried that you might not have make it here."

"H-how did you get here faster than us?!" he said incredulously.

Hannah glared angrily at Connie when she saw her clothes without a wrinkle, a stark contrast to the rest in her party, who was dirty and unkempt from two days in the dungeon. Standing there like an immaculate goddess.

"Hmh. You must be hiding behind the Paladin and the dark elf. There is no other way you could still be so clean."

"How dare you insinuate - !"

Connie placed a hand on Illumca's shoulder to calm her and simply replied with a thin smile. "I did. What of it?"

"Wha - ?" the spear-wielding girl did not expect the blonde noble girl to acknowledge her cowardice so readily and was almost lost for words. "H-how shameless!"

"H-hannah. Look at their bag!"

Kaihaku wrily smiled at the bag filled with Essence Crystal close to bursting. He remembered the pile of corpses they saw before and put two and two together. It was not hard to come to one conclusion.

"Y-you were the ones who defeated the monsters up there?"

"Indeed. And we are about to do the same with Hunter Slayer," Connie said, placing her hand on the stone door. As she did so, the door began to swing open with a loud, ancient sound, sending a cloud of dust down. It stopped after revealing barely enough space for a person to go through.

"…Let's go."

"Wait! We need to go first!" Akira shouted.

"Oh, and why is that?" Connie asked, raising an eyebrow.

"We…we are in a mission to save the kingdom!!"

Connie's party looked at each other before bursting into laughter together. Martell laughed so hard he fell to his knees holding his stomach.

"I am serious!" he shouted in indignation. "I have seen the future through the blessing of the Great Goddess and saw a future that will come to fruition if we do not get the treasure within."

"And what treasure is this?"

The black-haired youth looked apprehensive before squeaking his reply. "It's uh…a secret. It's something very important for the kingdom."

Nick sidled over and whispered to Connie. "The Boss Room is not our destination! Just let him in!"

"Do you think they are also looking for Grunford?" she asked quietly.

"Perhaps so. That is the only thing in my mind that can change Calendia's fate," he mouthed. "But I don't know how he found out about it."

"Is the sword behind the door?"

"No," Nick answered resolutely.

"Ah…I see," she then loudly said to the Hero. "But I have to get something in return, right? After all, I am selling the right to the treasure inside!"

"What do you mean? The honor to help the kingdom is its own reward!" Hannah said angrily.

"But I am not here as a noble, aren't I? Right now in this dungeon, I am a simple hunter. Sakagami Akira! Do you understand the first rule of Dungeon Diving?" Connie asked with a mocking smile.

"First come, first serve," Nick continued.

"What are we doing?" Illumca asked in confusion.

"Milady. It would be a great kindness if you allow us to go first," Kaihaku bowed politely.

"Well, there are two ways that might make me do that," Connie rubbed her chin with a smile. "We can negotiate for compensations, as I said before or you can try to kill us. I'd prefer the former as I am…as you can see, a coward," she said sarcastically with a pointed look.

Hannah then spoke with a voice only loud enough to be heard by her party. "Just let them go first. Let them test the waters. I don't think they'll survive the Hunter Slayer."

"…In your opinion, can they defeat the Hunter Slayer, Master Kaihaku?" Akira confided in the only one who knew the other party.

"I don't know. No one has ever survived the fight. Even I cannot guess the result. All I know is that they are no regular hunters."

"This is stupid. We can just beat them up!" Hannah said out loud.

"No. I want to avoid fighting. It is best that we do not fight needless battle before fighting against the Boss."

"C-can't you just predict the future with your 'Cheat'?" Eleanora made a suggestion for the group.

"When not used in combat, trying to use it actively only gives me glimpses of choices that would change the world's fate. I cannot control its timing…yet."

Jack made a painful grin. "Not such a great cheat, eh?"

"I need more time to master it. But for now, we should ask them what they want in return."

While the two parties were having the argument, Sidonai had chosen to stay away, merely observing them with mild interest.

"What do you want in compensation?"

"Your Item Ring," Connie said simply.

Instinctively, Akira's eyes turned towards the ring on his middle finger. It was the Item Ring bequeathed upon him by the King. Inside was all the supplies he needed for adventuring and some spare weapons and Essence Crystal they scavenged from the monsters.

"I can't do that! This was given to me by the King!"

"You can just ask the king to give you another one."

"Ask me something else."

"I don't want anything else. Just the Item Ring."

"You have fallen so far that you would ask an Item Ring of the Hero of Calendia?!"

"You can just give me hers, then. That things she's wearing on her left forefinger is an Item Ring too, right? My partner said she can feel magic coming from it."

Akira looked at her with a weak smile. "Hannah. Please."

"Why? Why should I give this to her?"

"Please. I'll give you another ring in return."

"There are my stuff inside! Along with the Essence Cystals we got in the dungeon!"

"Please. I'm asking for your help now."

The female knight was cowed by the sincere smile of the Hero and took off her ring. She threw it at Connie with her full power in hopes that it would hit her face. But it was deftly caught be Illumca, who handed it to her beloved.

"Thank you for your patronage," Connie thanked her while putting the ring on her forefinger.

"I have more of those at home. Just take it, you miserable creature!"

"The deal has been made. Please!" Connie signaled her party to step away and let the Hero's party to enter, her expression did not change even after the beration by Hannah.

"Thank you. We'll head on in then," Akira said while giving Hannah a warm smile.

"We all should best be prepared. The Hunter Slayer is not something that can be easily defeated," Kaihaku advised.

"Right!" Eleanora the Mage nodded in agreement.

"Don't worry. I know. As long as we are together, there is nothing to be afraid of," Akira said with gusto. He looked at Hannah, who returned his gaze with an encouraging nod, and Eleanora with a smile.

"That's right," Jack smiled. He felt much better after Akira said those encouraging words.

"This is the first real boss that we will face in the dungeon."

With a prideful grin, the Hero of Calendia strode forward into the large stone door and stepped through the crack. Once they were in, the stone door closed behind them with finality.

Outside the Boss Room, Connie looked sideways at Nick, who had begun kicking away the rubbles that he was sitting on.

"I still don't get why we backed down," Illumca complained.

"What's the use? They are the Hero's party," he replied nonchalantly.

"You know something, don't you?" Martell said darkly. Since their last rest stop, the beastfolk boy's jib had a certain malice inside.

"I noticed that they called it the Hunter Slayer, but no one has ever returned to tell what it actually is," Illumca said with a tilt of her head.

"It's not that no one has ever seen it, it is simply because no one has ever survived meeting it. And why is that? Because it only moves when a certain action is done," he threw away the last of the rocks and continued.

"According to your bastard father, the Hunter Slayer is an A-Rank Monster. An Ancient Stone Golem. The kind of monster that could destroy an army of a thousand veterans by itself."