Chester makes a quick glance at each of us. I'm fully on board with following him for my own selfish reasons, but I'm unsure exactly what my teammates think of him.
"I'll accept your help, but I will have a few questions for you once we make it out of here."
I give him a nod, he returns one. Then, I shift my gaze to my teammates to see their reactions. To my surprise, most of them are hardly paying attention to our deal at all.
They're all more worried about getting out of here and thankful to Abby for restoring their horrendous injuries.
Fisher stands up, looking a lot better but still as pale as a ghost. He's the first to speak.
"Let him lead the way. If this is our only clue, then so be it. Now that these cuffs are off, we can actually think straight and defend ourselves. Maybe our gear is locked up in that office too."
I examine all of them more closely, realizing their item boxes and magic items are all mostly stripped from their bodies. A few rings and pendants remain, but their weapons have all been confiscated.
My sword and dagger are kept in my dimensional storage, so I didn't think much of my replica item box being stolen from me. The contents of these storage pouches are much more valuable to them.
"Here. These should be enough for now. "
I take out a few higher-level long swords and daggers from various High-Grade C-Class dungeons for them to arm themselves in the meantime.
Arie and Abby seem to agree with Fisher's earlier statement, they look ready for war. I'm not quite sure what they've been through over the last few days, but I get the feeling they're looking for revenge. Each of them takes a pair of silver daggers, unfortunately I don't have a bow for the archer.
Maria stays close to my side and nods while picking up a long silver sword from my loot pile.
"It's alright for me. Whatever is fastest. I just want to save my training mentor."
Thankfully her cheerful attitude remains.
Fisher finds a long sword that suits him and I place the rest of the gear back into my storage. We all walk through the metal door and out into the hall.
I shift my appearance back to the blond-haired woman who tortured me. If we'll be facing the boss, I might as well get some information out of him if possible. He's expecting number 5 to report, so it would be an immediate red flag if anyone but her shows up.
I take the lead while scanning the floors above. The old man quickly follows on my left while Maria stays close to my right.
Abby, Fisher, and Arie trail behind in a triangle formation.
There are a lot more enemies that pop up on my radar. Dozens in fact, just on the floor above us.
The odd thing that sticks out to me is that there are only 2 of any considerable fighting status. One is on this floor, and another is two floors above. Various level 50 to 200 workers are scattered across the upper 3 floors.
It doesn't make much sense to have guards at such a low level when one Elite would do the trick and probably cost much less to manage. However, who am I to judge the inner workings of an enemy organization?
It takes less than 30 seconds before the guard at the end of the hall shows his face. With tan skin and short black hair, a muscular grunt pulls out a white glowing dagger. He's level 365 and has the build of a man who weighs twice as much as me.
Using appraisal, I find he has a wind-summoning skill and carries a bonded blade.
The silver pin labeled "003" shines on his shirt collar.
As we turn the winding corner, the man stares us down with anger and surprise in his eyes. He begins to swing his glowing white weapon immediately to stop us from approaching.
He yells.
"Number 5 what are you doing bringing the prisoners here? If they make it up to the next floor we'll be in big trouble. Have you gone mad-"
I cut him off.
By propelling a single mana-imbued fragment of stone, a hole in the man's forehead materializes before he can even warn us not to come closer. The grunt falls to the floor in a pool of his own blood.
It seems there are actually some highly skilled hunters working here. I haven't met a wind summoner before, but our meeting didn't last too long. It's a shame that dagger is worthless, once bonded with another human it's not like anyone else can use it.
I speak up to my teammates while collecting his pin.
"We have to be very careful moving forward. There are dozens of guards up above us."
I grit my teeth.
'They're low leveled, but they still may know too much. It's best we take care of all of them."
Before stepping onto the stairs, Chester interjects.
"As far as I know, the only ones who are in on this operation are the numbered guards with pins. I doubt those innocents know you even exist. The next floors are much different than the ones you escaped from below."
I tighten my gaze, not fully grasping his statement. I see the wisps of green energy shine from my Lie Detector skill all the same. He knows something we don't, but I'm still not going to trust these words blindly.
"I'll see for myself."
We walk up the stairs and the sound of a moving crowd, conversations, and even laughter start to fill my ears.
This set of stairs is painted white and has newly installed handrails attached to the walls on both sides. There's a bright bulb at the top of the stairs that lights up the area more luminous than I've witnessed in days.
Once the 6 of us get to the top of the second flight, a shiny silver double door waits for us to open it. It has a series of mana-imbued locks that would keep almost anyone below Elite status out from the other side.
I mutter to myself.
"This doesn't make sense. Why would the Boss have his room so close to the surface and neglect the floors below?"
Footsteps are walking by and the presence of weak E and D-Class magical items is much more apparent now.
Chester replies in a hushed tone.
"The floors above are even more concealed than the floors below. Hiding in plain sight is what these crooks do best."
I raise an eyebrow but am more focused on the passing hunters on the other side of this door.
When old ones leave new ones keep coming. Some go upstairs while others come down from higher floors. Half of the hunters on this floor are just standing still. None have the shielding artifacts or any identifiable features I can pinpoint.
They're all just low-level grunts.
Letting out a sigh, I come to the conclusion that I won't find a moment free to make my way through the door without being noticed. I slice through the locks with a thin strand of manipulated mana and let the door slowly swing open.
Chester speaks again while I do.
"Welcome to the bottom floor of the unofficial Solaran Black Market."
The voices, moving magic items, and abundance of low-level hunters finally begin to make sense. We all walk out onto the floor and it opens up much wider than the corridors below.
Turning to my left and right, I see a few vendors with mana crystals, potions, and low-class gear lining the walls every few dozen meters. They have small wooden stands and bright-colored blankets on the floor with their best-selling items on top to attract customers. The floor is made of hard concrete, but the lighting systems are more modern making it brighter up here.
There's enough room for all of us to walk side by side if we wanted, it's far less cramped than the dungeon-like environment below us. There's a curved nature to this floor structure. Based on the mana signatures of people moving around, it feels like a massive circular loop. Like any good shopping center, the customer can wander around and look at the selections forever.
It's similar to the underground market in the Vice Region's Capital, just much smaller and less populated.
A team of men in red robes walk by and point their heads to the floor to avoid eye contact. Everyone here would rather not be seen. They aren't guards, they're just citizens in the market.
Chester points to the left as each one of us walks out from the silver double door.
"The fastest path to the second floor is this way. That's where we'll find the Boss."
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