Chapter 122: The Beginning of The Nightmare on the 27th Floor!
"Something's not right."
After finishing their lunch and repairs, Luke and his companions once again headed towards the lower floors.
However, this time, they walked for a long time, and even after entering the 26th floor, they did not encounter any monsters.
"Stop moving forward!"
Alise furrowed her brows and instructed the mage in her Familia:
"Celty, cast your magic on the water pool in the distance. Don't use too much power; I just want to see the effect."
"Okay, Captain!"
The casting speed of an ordinary mage is slow, but since there were no monsters to interfere, the casting was completed smoothly.
Boom—!
Hiss hiss hiss—!
The magic flames struck the surface of the water, causing a huge splash and the sound of water evaporating as they met.
Something was terribly wrong.
"There's not a single monster in the waters of Water City?"
"How is that possible? Where did all the monsters go?"
As the members of Astraea Familia were puzzled, dense footsteps came from behind.
Numerous adventurers had caught up from behind.
"Look ahead, there seems to be someone!"
"They look like the team from Astraea Familia."
A large group of adventurers stopped in front of Luke and Alise's team.
Alise was surprised to see them.
"Are you... teaming up to conquer the dungeon?"
It was not surprising that she was shocked; she had already seen seven or eight different Familia badges at a glance at the other side.
And the number of adventurers...
Alise looked at the huge team, unable to comprehend how they had managed to agree on cooperation.
"Teaming up? What a joke. Do you think adventurers of this number from different Familias would team up?"
"It's the monsters! The monsters on the floor above have gone totally berserk!"
A middle-aged man, who seemed to be the temporary leader of the large team, stepped forward to explain:
"In the middle floors, starting from the 19th floor, all the monsters, for some reason, started moving desperately to the lower floors."
"All exploring teams of adventurers were attacked. However, a few lucky individuals managed to break through and return to the 18th floor; the rest were driven downwards by the overwhelming number of monsters."
"Our current team is mostly made up of adventurers who were displaced from the middle floors by monsters."
A monster riot! An endless horde of monsters was approaching them.
As the middle-aged man urgently explained the dire situation, Alise was stunned by the horrifying reality of what they were about to face.
"Do you mean an army of monsters is still behind you?"
After hearing the explanation, a look of grave concern settled on her face. If that was the case, wasting time here would be foolish.
"They are not too close behind us. For some reason, monsters on the 25th and 26th floors have disappeared."
"This has helped us move much faster, so we've likely put some distance between us and the monsters. That's why I have time to explain this to you now."
"It's really great to meet you here. Let's move together."
"Although we don't know why monsters on the lower floors have disappeared, this is a great opportunity. There are too many monsters following behind, and forcefully breaking through would surely lead to heavy casualties."
"We should move downwards first, find a suitable place to hide, and wait for the end of this 'abnormality' before returning to the surface."
If what the middle-aged man said was true, then his suggestion was indeed the most prudent course of action.
Without much hesitation, Alise decided to follow their team and move forward.
"Since that's the case, let's get moving..."
"We can't continue moving downwards!"
Before Alise could finish her sentence, she was interrupted by Luke, who was standing on the edge of a cliff looking down at something.
"Immediately reorganize the team, and let's break through to the surface with Astraea Familia at the forefront."
"You bastard, are you seeking death? Don't take us with you if you want to die!"
"Didn't you hear clearly? Behind us is an army of monsters from the 19th to the 24th floor, six floors full of monsters!"
The middle-aged man was angered by Luke's 'nonsensical' order.
Facing that number of monsters, even if they successfully broke through, how many adventurers would survive?
However, Luke was not angry. Being angry was of no use; what was needed now was to think calmly about how to break the situation.
He already knew what was happening.
'The Nightmare on the 27th Floor'
The exceedingly evil trap where only one or two survivors remain.
"Calm down, you haven't had much time to observe your surroundings because of running away."
"Since you have some time now, look down at the situation on the 27th floor, then stop wasting time and quickly reorganize your team to prepare for a quick breakthrough from the rear."
The Water City's three floors were terraced due to the presence of a huge blue waterfall that runs through them, allowing adventurers standing on the cliff edge to see some of the situation on the lower floors.
Perhaps because Luke was a high-level adventurer who could explore the lower floors.
And seeing Alise, representing Astraea Familia, moving towards the cliff after hearing what Luke said, the middle-aged man hesitated for a moment and then took a few steps forward to look at the situation on the 27th floor.
"Hiss—!"
"What the hell! All team members, get ready to break through from the rear immediately!"
"Monsters on the lower floors are all gathered on the 27th floor. This isn't an 'abnormality'; it's a trap!"
Seeing the densely packed monsters on the 27th floor, far exceeding the limit of one floor, the middle-aged man immediately roared at the team behind him.
Whoosh—!
Bang—!
However, at the moment when his team was thrown into chaos by the sudden bad news, four or five small packages flew over their heads and shattered.
Sparkling powder scattered from the broken packages, enveloping the entire team.
"Such a rare opportunity we've found...it would be a shame to let you escape so easily."
A cat-eared adventurer emerged from around the corner, accompanied by genuine 'monsters' attracted by the powder!
"Roar roar roar roar roar roar—!"
Their massive roars made all three floors of Water City tremble, the intense vibration resembling an earthquake.
Boom—!
The lake formed by Great Fall on the 27th floor suddenly exploded, and a huge amount of water shot up to the sky, transforming into a torrential rain that covered all three floors.
A white figure ascended along the hundreds of meters of the huge blue waterfall with an astonishing momentum.
Boom—!
In the blink of an eye, there was another loud noise.
What appeared in front of everyone, as the blue waterfall exploded, was a gigantic two-headed white dragon.
It was the only 'Floor Boss' confirmed so far that violated the rule of Monster Rex guarding a specific area.
The moving floor boss, the two-headed white dragon 'Amphisbaena'!
The cat-eared adventurer from Evilus, now with a twisted smile, said to all the adventurers blocked by the floor boss:
"This time we set a trap with the idea of dying together."
"Today, not a single soul will leave this dungeon alive – that includes us."
By now, everyone understands that Evilus members are a group of real lunatics.
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