Being flustered was one thing, but this was another.
The moment I registered the Bloody Mantis’s roar, I immediately clenched my fist.
[Haze - Martial Shadow]
Black mist rose around my arm.
Clenching my teeth, I drove Black Dragon’s fist into the Bloody Mantis’s abdomen with all my strength.
“SKREEE....”
Perhaps it was because my Synchronization Rate had risen since the second floor.
Back then, it had taken two blows to kill a Bloody Mantis, but fortunately, this one went to join Black Dragon after a single punch.
Hurray! I had won!
I had survived the sudden attack!
It would not have been excessive to throw my arms wide and celebrate.
Naturally, I wanted to do precisely that.
“This is completely ridiculous.”
I might have, had the entire area not been filled with Bloody Mantises.
Without even a moment to celebrate, I threw myself backward.
The instant I moved, a Bloody Mantis’s foreleg struck the spot where I had been standing.
The scythe-like limb sank smoothly into the solid ground.
I drove my fist violently into it.
“SKREEE!”
The foreleg snapped in half.
After shattering it, I quickly looked around.
‘At a rough count, there are more than twenty.’
Creatures that enormous had completely surrounded me.
I forced myself to breathe calmly as I surveyed the area.
‘...This is not a forest.’
Until now, the Verdant Tower had shown me nothing but forests.
This time, however, it was different.
I was inside a dark cave.
And at that moment, the only exit from this space was a black passage beyond the countless Bloody Mantises.
Whether I liked it or not, there was no way back.
That passage was the only way out.
“...So I have to break through all of them.”
SKITTER SKITTER SKITTER!
The Bloody Mantises had already identified me and were closing in.
Escaping through the passage without attracting their attention was practically impossible.
In that case, I had no choice but to defeat them.
I reached out and grabbed the broken foreleg embedded in the ground.
When I pulled with Black Dragon’s right arm, it came free with ease.
I gripped the foreleg tightly in Black Dragon’s right hand and charged forward.
“SKREE!”
The injured Bloody Mantis swung its remaining foreleg at me.
I hurled the broken limb at the space between its eyes.
“Oh.”
The foreleg buried itself in its forehead with remarkable ease.
It was even more effective than I had expected.
After confirming that the Bloody Mantis had collapsed, I reached out and grabbed the rear of its enormous body.
“Hup!”
RUMBLE!
The Bloody Mantis’s corpse smashed against the ground as I swung it around.
Its enormous, solid body collided one after another with the Bloody Mantises charging toward me.
A single impact overturned several of them, leaving them flailing on their backs.
Perhaps their large bodies made it difficult for them to right themselves.
The Bloody Mantises that remained standing did not help their fallen companions.
Instead, they trampled over them and continued advancing toward me.
“Do these things have no sense of camaraderie?”
At least the Orcs had been frightened after watching their companions die.
Clicking my tongue in displeasure, I hurled the corpse I was still holding toward them with all my strength.
“SKREEE?!”
The corpse of one of their own flew toward their heads.
The Bloody Mantises regarded it as nothing more than an obstacle and sliced it apart with perfect precision.
The prey that had been hidden behind it was revealed.
However—
“Skree?”
There was nothing there.
Naturally.
The small prey they had intended to devour was—
“Peekaboo, you bastards.”
—charging toward them while concealed behind the corpse I had thrown.
A grin tugged at the corners of my mouth as I drove my fingers into the abdomen of the Bloody Mantis in the center.
Its exoskeleton could not withstand my sharp claws, and my fingers sank firmly into its body.
The Bloody Mantis raised its forelegs to strike me.
However, before it could attack, I began pumping ‘Haze’ into it through my embedded claws.
“Try enduring this.”
“Sk-Skree... Skree.”
Twitch. Twitch.
The moment the black mist entered its body, the creature stopped moving and began trembling.
As soon as I saw cracks forming across its hardened exoskeleton, I pulled my hand free.
“Whew. Using this much Haze is rather exhausting.”
I had just used more ‘Haze’ than ever before.
This was surprisingly difficult.
I wiped the beads of cold sweat from my forehead and walked past the twitching Bloody Mantis.
The remaining Bloody Mantises charged toward me at great speed.
However, I did not guard against them.
I did not even clench my fist.
Instead, I deactivated ‘Black Dragon.’
Why?
“Cheori, cover your ears.”
“Squeak?”
BOOOOM!
A massive explosion erupted behind me.
I stopped walking as a smile spread across my face.
When I turned around, the sight behind me was nothing short of horrific.
The cave was filled with black mist.
The enormous corpses of the mantises lay scattered throughout it.
[Synchronization Rate 1.7%]
I had more or less expected that result.
I looked at the dead Bloody Mantises with satisfaction.
“Squeak?”
“How did I do it?”
“Squeak, squeak.”
“It was simple.”
Think about it.
There was a hard shell sealed on every side.
I had forced physically tangible black mist inside until the shell was nearly bursting.
Moreover, I could control that mist according to my ‘will.’
‘Although controlling it is not nearly as simple as it sounds....’
What I had done was straightforward.
I filled the Bloody Mantis with enough ‘Haze’ to crack its exoskeleton.
Then I expanded the ‘Haze’ all at once.
That alone turned the Bloody Mantis’s exoskeleton into grenade shrapnel and scattered it in every direction.
“Whew....”
I released a long sigh and dropped heavily onto the ground.
There was no longer anything dangerous in this area.
I should at least be able to catch my breath for a moment.
‘That was more exhausting than I expected.’
This had not been a battle in which I simply swung my fists.
I had fought by manipulating ‘Haze.’
Because I had never used so much ‘Haze’ at once, I had not known.
Using a large amount of it in a single burst was extremely taxing.
Until now, I had never become tired inside the tower.
This was the first time I had experienced physical exhaustion here.
As I sat and caught my breath, Cheori climbed out of my pocket, flicked his tongue, and began crawling somewhere.
I quietly watched the direction he was heading.
“What are you doing?”
“Squeak, squeak.”
Wait here for a moment.
His cries seemed to carry that meaning.
Cheori pulled something from the corpse of a Bloody Mantis and dragged it toward me.
I stared at the blue stone in his mouth, which was about the size of a baseball.
It looked familiar.
That was....
“A Mana Crystal?”
“Squeak!”
“Why? Do not tell me you eat these too?”
Nod.
Cheori silently nodded.
Come to think of it, he had said he was hungry.
I lightly transformed my right hand with Black Dragon and struck the Mana Crystal he had brought over.
“Here. Eat.”
“Squeak!”
MUNCH MUNCH MUNCH.
Cheori happily devoured the shattered Mana Crystal.
I watched him and sank into thought.
‘A Mana Crystal the size of a baseball....’
It would sell for a great deal if I could take it back to Earth.
It was unfortunate that nothing except Cheori could leave the tower with me.
“Should I try it, just in case?”
I had never attempted to take a Mana Crystal outside.
Perhaps it was possible.
I considered it seriously as I watched Cheori finish the Mana Crystal and drag over another one.
“Hmm.”
No.
I should simply let him eat.
Smacking my lips, I shattered the new Mana Crystal Cheori had brought and finally turned my gaze to the side.
The System had been floating there ever since I entered the tower, but I had deliberately ignored it.
Now then, what was the completion condition for this floor?
[5th Floor]
[Escape from the cave.]
It was an extremely simple and straightforward condition.
Escape from the cave.
I pressed my throbbing forehead between my thumb and index finger.
It was so simple and straightforward that I could not see a path forward.
“Sigh....”
It wanted me to escape from here?
I had felt the same way in the Tutorial Tower, but why were fifth floors always like this?
This was not even a maze, so I could not use the trick of breaking through the walls.
I truly had to walk through the cave and find the exit.
Unlike in the Tutorial Tower, I would also have to deal with every monster I encountered along the way.
“...Is this why it said I would not be able to leave after reaching the fifth floor?”
I did not know who had designed this tower, but they were thoroughly malicious.
If this was not a Room of Time and Spirit, what was?
If I wanted to survive inside this cave, I could not afford to waste my stamina like this.
I had thought it was a rather good method, but I would not be able to use it again.
Smacking my lips quietly, I placed the now-full Cheori on my hand and stood.
“Cheori, we are lost again.”
“Squeak?”
“That is what happened.”
Cheori looked as though his entire world had collapsed.
I gazed at him sympathetically and said,
“That means we must find a way out of this cave.”
Cheori slowly nodded, seemingly understanding.
I placed him on my shoulder, left the corpses of the Bloody Mantises behind, and took my first step toward escaping the cave.
***
Three hours had passed since I began moving forward.
“...We came back again.”
I had encountered an Earth Bear along the way.
After fashioning a torch from its hide and fat using Cheori’s flame, I had continued onward until I noticed a mark on the wall and bit my lip.
I had scratched marks into the cave walls with my claws in case I became lost and returned to the same place.
The triangular mark before me indicated that I had already passed through this area.
This was the second time I had seen it.
“I definitely chose a different direction.”
I was standing at a fork in the path.
I had taken the left passage first and eventually returned here, so I had tried the right one.
Yet the right passage had also led me back to the same place.
“What am I supposed to do?”
Was there even an exit?
I looked around with a serious expression.
Judging by the surroundings, I was still near the beginning, yet I had already reached a dead end.
This was troublesome.
“...Should I simply break through it?”
Honestly, that did not seem like a bad idea.
The moment I clenched my fist, intending to strike a random wall, Cheori suddenly leaped down from my shoulder.
After landing, he rapidly crawled toward something.
Thinking that he might be hungry, I slipped a hand into my pocket to take out one of the Mana Stones I had brought.
However, that did not seem to be the case.
“Squeak!”
Cheori abruptly stopped in front of one of the walls and cried out loudly, as though telling me to watch carefully.
I tilted my head and approached him.
“Are you saying there is something beyond this wall?”
“Squeak!”
It looked like an ordinary wall....
Tilting my head, I lightly knocked against it with the back of my hand.
It even felt like an ordinary wall—
“What?”
TONG.
The moment I struck it with Black Dragon’s hardened right hand, a remarkably clear, hollow sound rang out.
Seriously?
Was there truly a passage beyond it?
“No wonder I could not find it.”
Letting out a hollow laugh, I immediately clenched my right fist.
Then I struck the wall with all my strength.
“Ghk, cough.”
A thick cloud of dust rose into the air.
Covering my mouth, I coughed lightly and narrowed my eyes as I looked beyond the wall.
“Well... What is this now?”
A section of wall approximately thirty centimeters thick had been blown away.
Beyond it was a canyon that looked as though it had been carved straight through the rock.
I picked up a fragment of the shattered wall and casually tossed it into the canyon.
“....”
No sound reached me, even after a long time.
How deep was this place?
I released a long sigh and looked toward the opposite side of the canyon in the distance.
Unlike this side, the area there appeared wide and open.
That was probably the correct path.
The distance from here to the far side of the canyon was at least several dozen meters.
There was no chance I could cross it with an ordinary jump.
I sat on the ground and began considering how to get across.
“So that is the only option.”
No matter how hard I thought, I could find only one answer.
Clicking my tongue, I slowly backed away and muttered,
“...I only just promised myself that I would not waste it.”
TAP TAP TAP—THUD!
After taking a running start, I leaped toward the far side of the canyon with all my strength.
‘Haze’ poured continuously from my hand as I flew through the air.