Ebony's concerns were unwarranted as the Prime Verglas Kobolds travel in small numbers. Furthermore, the whole floor seemed abandoned and they only faced 4 groups in the 3 days they slowly sped up from time to time. He only saw one other party far away but they decided not to go closer.
They never faced a group bigger than 4 of the Prime Verglas Kobolds and were able to take them down with a little teamwork. Mark surprisingly could only barely keep up with the Kobolds movements. It was clear that he was stronger and faster than before though. Weird.
Even so, his quick thinking and array of runes on his equipment allowed him to handle a kobold one-on-one.
Ebony had the easiest time against Scarlet's copy and vice versa. Hector's copy was extremely balanced and seemed to be the toughest. The fourth version was a javelin-wielding Kobold. It threw javelins made of ice at speeds and power that shook them all. Piercing through Ebony's full powered Layered Ice Carapace and Mallory's barriers, sometimes with a single toss.
At a short range, even Scarlet wouldn't have been able to dodge the javelin throw. When the javelins land they would either explode into a cloudy mist of frost or scatter as sharp fragments. They had to be really wary of those when they were unable to tell which it was. The javelin tosses were too fast for him to sense if there was a difference in the ice mana of each type of javelin.
If they were spotted, they were made to be the priority target. They were always really far away which said a lot about their range and perception.
None of them said anything but the three of them who've been here in the past were thinking the same thing. The javelin tosser was the copy of Tuffock. Perhaps also with a little bit of Ryley with its eyesight, pure power tosses and mana-filled explosive projectiles.
"Stop nudging so close!" Mark yelled in annoyance, albeit in a soft voice. Always a cautious man.
"But you're so warm!" Hector argued.
"Didn't you paste the heated papers Ebony gave you?" Mark forcefully pushed Hector's head away as he was literally hugging Mark to feel his body warmth. Luckily, he had far higher stats compared to an unenhanced Journeyman.
Mark hadn't even levelled once yet as there was just a small number of Prime Verglas Kobolds that were less than 20 levels above him.
"I did! But those only warm the joints and it's kinda wasteful to just paste it all over under my armour. You're warm all day, I'm not draining anything by being close to you. Stingy." Hector struggled to keep himself attached to the walking hot water bottle.
"...Haah. Just stop hugging me already." Mark gave up and sighed.
"Yes sir!" Hector let go but stayed really close. Neither of them noticed Mallory inching closer as well.
Ebony, who was walking with one of his sculptures, had his sculpture turn around and put a finger to its lips to silence them. Threads of mana were sent towards his party members' ears.
"Something's ahead." Ebony transmitted with Mana Vibrations.
They remain silent although he made sure not much vibrations pass through the domic layer of mana he was actively controlling around them so that the noise they make doesn't attract anything or anyone. He was pretty sure only Mallory noticed he was doing it.
"People. And a cool double helix spiral staircase." Ebony reported as the silhouette came into view.
Mark actually got his guard up higher in response. They had to be more wary of people than some Kobolds. Those parties that could be here were not going to be weak. It was odd to Mark that parties treat their party so differently from when he was travelling with other parties. It had to be Scarlet's very presence in the party that deterred antagonistic behaviour. How convenient.
In a few moments, they saw two opposing parties just staring at each other. The tension between them was high but Hector just widened the smile on his face and ran towards one of the parties filled with armoured men.
"Heeey!! Mike!" Hector waved vigorously without care for attracting attention.
"Hmm? Kid! Glad to see you're doing fine!" Michael of Panic Attack, the party that assisted them in getting rid of the small horde of monsters, glanced at the noise and replied heartily. Rather, the party that they assisted and troubled.
The other members of Panic Attack said their 'heys' and 'yoohs' without breaking eye contact with the other party. Until the other party backed down and went around to the other side of the spiral stairs.
'Why the staring contest?' Ebony thought. It was a double helix spiral so each party could take one of the stairs without conflict. From what Ebony could see from a glance, both appeared exactly the same.
Greetings were exchanged but Michael kept an eye on the other party near the foot of the other flight of stairs.
Panic Attack were all above his range of Identify which meant that all of them were at least over level 175 now. If they consistently dived here and with the head start they have over many stronger parties currently, their growth wasn't too surprising.
"What happened to your leader and the stone mage?" Cori, the man who received two holes in his body from a gunshot, asked. They weren't really that angry at them anymore since they were able to get fully healed thanks to the arrival of a healer in Plainston when they left Ordina. To begin with, they almost forgot about these Journeymen.
"...Dead." Ebony replied since neither Hector nor Scarlet was answering.
"I see..." The conversation sort of broke off there. If Hector wasn't here anyway.
He didn't ask 'how've you been' anymore after what Ebony said.
"So what's going on here?" Hector asked something more useful for once.
"Well, we're just taking time to increase our cold resistance." Bilton, the one who got his shoulder blade pierced with his shoulder pad digging into his flesh explained.
"That party just arrived not long before you. For some reason, they insisted on taking this flight of stairs." Rodrig, the man who caught Bilton when he was shot, said.
"Is there a difference?" Mark asked. He was more practical, there had to be an advantage or benefit if it's worth fighting over.
"We didn't think so but their insistence was over the top and we saw no reason to let them ahead of us." Michael answered.
"..." Mark didn't fully trust the man but there was no point pushing for a different answer.
"They stopped us twice when we tried to climb up. It's a miracle a fight hasn't broken out. They're probably worried about their resources, we're just going by with rations sold on the 13th and 18th floor as well. We already finished the Issile meat we had." Michael continued staring at the other party who were watching their every move.
"From the looks of it, the next floor would be the same environment and we have to think about the return trip." Rodrig guessed.
"Is there any other party ahead of you?" Mark asked with honest curiosity.
"Probably not, at most a couple that's been up on the 20th floor. Not sure if any have gone further before being forced to retreat due to the lack of supplies." Rodrig replied.
"Oh yes. Now that I think about it. These Kobolds sure fight like you kids." Michael smirked. It was a compliment since they were taken as models by Ordina.
"I'm sure I don't have to tell you this but don't bite more than you can chew. Well, you kids should be fine though. Can't wait to see you walk out the other side of Ordina's gate." Michael looked upon the party in high regard.
Mostly the three that he knew, the healer clearly wasn't a normal girl either. He didn't think much about Mark the add on. Although there was a high chance he was pretty strong too to be able to keep up with Ebony and the others, not to mention the floor they were on.
"Are you going to wait and stare each other down?" Ebony questioned their intentions.
"...We were just about to start thinking." Michael scratched his head as his entire party either looked up at the sky or down on the ground. These muscle brains clearly had no plans yet.
"We can just go ahead and fight them if they try to stop us. Once we're on the stairs we'll have high ground." Cori suggested it to Michael.
"Hmm…they are higher level than us though. Is it really worth the risk? They have a balanced party with a fire mage and archer that'll be troublesome to deal with if their vanguards are capable." Michael questioned realistically. Panic Attack had little to no ranged capabilities as far as Ebony could tell.
No, Ebony could see a pistol-like gun strapped to Henrick's waist. Henrick was quite the silent man whenever they weren't fighting. Panic Attack's whole set of equipment was clearly upgraded as well. They only looked ragged since they had been in Ordina for more than a month now.
They had an internal discussion before Michael came over to chat with them.
"You guys can take it and decide what you want to do with it. We took about 3 months to get up here, our supplies are low and we see no reason to risk going forward so we'll be leaving here. See you around!" Michael and his party swiftly left with their luggage. With all the clatter, it was likely filled with loot and not food.
'From the other's reaction, they just don't want to associate with us.' Ebony thought. They were within his range of sense when they separated to discuss. Michael hid it well though.
To advance as fast as they did, they must have thoroughly explored Ordina. To take 3 months to get here seems too long but Ebony had to consider that they only walked and would take days or maybe weeks for each floor and also if they were looking for hidden rooms or treasure rooms. 'They are pretty high level though…'
Before they got far, Michael turned back and smiled. "Hey! Bet'cha trying to clear Ordina, we'll be watching if you come out of the other side of the entrance!"
"Race ya kids to be the first out!" Cori yelled before they picked up the pace and left the area.
Till this day, no one has cleared Ordina. Which was to say no one has exited through the exit portal on the top floor which is supposed to link to the other side of the entrance of Ordina.
❅❅❅
"They're coming over." Mark was certain the other party didn't have good intentions. It was obvious that it was gonna happen the moment Panic Attack left.
"Just let them through, it's not like we know what benefits there are to climbing this and we can just go behind them." Ebony said. He didn't think there was any purpose of getting into conflict for some unknown reason. Treasure you didn't know you had was not your treasure at all.
His party was silent. None of them except maybe Mark really cares for some small benefit anyway. Mark was the cautious type and should have no issue with it.
The other party watched the journeymen part for them and was emboldened that even a Xeng made way for them. There was a higher chance that she was just a random masked lady and they didn't associate the mask with Xengs. They never really cared about the ridiculous stories about them anyway and this action made them scoff at their fake fame.
The party didn't need Scarlet's heightened instincts to be able to sense the blatant contempt of the higher-level party of 4 humans and a dwarf. They appeared ragged and frost and tiny cracks could be seen on their equipment. None of their equipment seemed to be runic or enchanted so they were tanking the cold with their bodies, armour and clothing alone.
"If we see you climbing up behind us we'll kick you right down, damn nobles!" The warrior with a dirty spiked mace spat as he passed by.
Scarlet did not like being slighted. All of them could 'hear' her rage and feel the increase in temperature but she didn't move because Ebony looked at her and tilted his head almost cutely the instant her heart started accelerating and that caused her to calm down.
"Let's fly." Ebony said.
Mallory and Ebony did the same thing they did for the previous few floors. They started from the centre of the double spiral stairs. Ebony didn't forget to wave to the party again.
It was honestly refreshing to Scarlet how Ebony doesn't fully understand when someone was trying to be rude or disrespectful but then goes on to show them who's who with actions. The others thought he was doing so on purpose but Scarlet knew that it truly didn't click to him that they were being rude and his waving or the previous "Thank you for the concern." was also said with sincerity.
Scarlet felt weird. If she saw someone like Ebony who backed down and let others have their way all the time, she would have thought that such a person had a weak personality and would be easily taken advantage of. Instead of looking down or disliking it, she could only think that this part of Ebony was…cute. Of course, it was also because she knew he just couldn't be bothered by small issues or other's opinions.
She hated that his perception seemed really high. Every single time her gaze pulled towards him he would immediately gaze back and then do his confused head tilt which she couldn't stop thinking about these days. Well, he also did the same many times and it was so easy to catch with or without Sublime Instincts because he never hides or looks away like she did.
The situation was grave if it got worse as her attention was constantly being stolen. This place is currently beyond what they can handle without their guards up. She slapped both her cheeks to wake herself up but her mask was in the way.
She vigorously shook her head left and right when Ebony's body came to mind for the tenth time today alone.
'What is wrong with me!? Why does that come to mind all the time…? It must be the monster's remaining instincts. It must be their bloodlust. I haven't removed them completely. I need more of his blood… nonono. That's not important, the twin ring necklace! It must be sister Jing's stupid idea.'
A thousand other thoughts were going through Scarlet's head as Ebony was nonchalantly checking out the difference between the two sets of stairs.
There were a little fewer Prime Verglas Kobolds hiding on the stairs that the other party took. Ebony wasn't sure but something about the arrangement of ice mana of the set of stairs they didn't want to take was odd as well. Probably traps of some kind.
15 minutes of slow float later, he also spotted a few scattered pieces of equipment on the stairway the other party was on. Two Prime Verglas Kobolds were fiddling around with it and trying to put the armour on, even helping each other.
"I see." Mark commented.
"See what?" Ebony questioned.
"Probably 1 or more of their party member died here and they were forced to leave without taking the body away. Now they're back to collect the equipment. They were probably in a rush to find new members and then back here in case others took it or the dungeon managed to absorb and distribute it to a treasure chest somewhere." Mark speculated.
'That's all?' Ebony thought that the reason was pretty boring. He clearly didn't understand the value of armour or serviceable weapons and armours on these floors.
They kept going and stepped onto the staircase the moment they were nearing the ceiling. The Kobolds were pretty spaced apart and there weren't many of them so they were unhindered. Even when the Kobolds saw them fly by they only watched and didn't attempt to stop their party.
Ordina was inviting them.
Far below them, the other party was stopped with full force of whatever Ordina had prepared for the intruders. The javelin tossers from their side of the stairs were actually tossing frost-blast javelins at the unlucky party. The stairs weren't broken or even damaged by the Kobold's attacks.
The environment through the hole in the ceiling wasn't as kind.
'Snowstorm again?' Ebony wasn't impressed by the light snowing and cold winds. It was only windy enough to ruffle their hair and some of their clothes so it wasn't that bad. At least for Ebony and Mark.
"Ahh! Why did you kick me?" Hector yelled, almost pitifully as he was kicked away from Mark who was beginning to emit more heat and look more annoyed.
Ebony sounded out before Mark could give a similar reply he had been giving.
"We have a welcoming party around us. Just a tiny group of 20 that isn't trying to hide."
"Obviously more that is hiding." Mark hesitated no further and slammed the butt of his spear that lit the floor aflame.
Mark was not blind, the previous floor's Kobolds were already somewhat beyond the Journeymen's capabilities for one-on-one battles. It was honestly scary how strong they were. Even with the few skill levels, they have gained after the increase in Natural Potential, it would hardly be enough.
He knew Ebony was overwhelmingly disadvantaged here. Ebony's strengths are his unending stamina to wear his opponents down with his magic and although ironic for one so young, his combat experience. Perhaps, pure battle instincts was more accurate than combat experience. His offensive ice magic is pretty much moot with the Kobolds' innate cold resistance and gravity magic a little too weak to affect the Kobolds much.
Mark ranked Ebony at the bottom of the party in terms of current combat strength. He only managed to hold his own due to his skills being pretty optimised as they were probably quite a few of his skills that are compounded together with his Fortifications. That was not rare, especially considering he was a Mana Meister with lots of mana to spare. Ebony would be the most useful against numbers. And also when the opponents were not so resistant to cold.
Scarlet had her overwhelming speed but weakened or not, that is pretty much only helping her barely evade the Kobolds attacks with the level and stat gap. Instead of pure combat instinct like Ebony, she had technique and swordsmanship like Mark had never seen. Fire magic should've been extremely useful here but the Kobolds had used similar ice magic to Ebony to protect themselves from the heat and flames.
Hector was…Mark couldn't wrap his head around the absolute power he had. At his peak, Hector couldn't even last seconds but his strength was sheer physical prowess that smashes anything in his path. He doesn't even need peak enhancement to handle this floor but sadly, he could at most fight one or two at the same time.
Mallory's barriers and healing are amazing support and she can even hold her own in terms of offensive abilities, it was just overshadowed by the current party's ridiculous strength in comparison. With her help, even against their current lineup of enemies, surviving should not be a problem but there's a high risk and chance of injuries.
"I guess I should do my job as your 'bodyguards'."