"61st floor? What do you mean, 61st floor? That's impossible. No one has ever been to a floor above the 40th, not even the scouts or the Central. Even if this portal led to that floor, for it to be opened here, someone would have had to open it from that floor."
Omar thought as he defended himself against the man's rapid attacks.
Despite the man's aggressiveness, Omar realized that he was still much stronger.
"He's strong, but he's still far below any of the Twelve. He's probably just a Returner who should have been around the 20th floor or so. But how do I explain this situation?"
Omar only defended himself, thinking about how to avoid killing the man and extract information from him.
— If you think you're going to get anything out of me, you're wrong.
The man gripped his dagger more tightly, and a purple glow emerged from his hands.
Omar noticed that he had increased his speed and focused on the fight.
The man tried to strike one of Omar's arteries, while Omar used both daggers to make precise blocks as he moved backward.
The hot air in the area began to bother Omar, so he lowered his hood.
"It must be over 50 degrees here. From a quick look at the surroundings, this seems to be an inhospitable place, some floor focused on volcanoes and an environment far too hot for much life to survive."
Omar realized that his greatest enemy there was the floor itself, not the man in front of him.
Realizing this, he began his counterattack.
Omar infused mana into his feet, making his movements more agile than the man's.
He forced him backward and managed to strike him eight times in different parts of his body, but even so, the white-haired man didn't seem worried or even attempt to retreat.
— Did you come here to die? In exchange for what? Who do you obey?
The man smiled and finally managed to strike Omar in his right leg.
— You fucking lunatic.
Omar used his ability that allowed him to stop time for one second.
He moved behind the man and cut his tendons so that he could no longer move.
The man fell to the ground after stumbling, bleeding heavily.
He rolled over and began striking with his dagger, which Omar dodged while using only one dagger.
— You knew you weren't a match for me, and yet you still came to fight. Why commit suicide?
— I have my reasons.
— There's no reason to throw your life away!
— You wouldn't understand, you piece of trash.
The man began crawling across the ground, moving away from Omar, but Omar swung one of his daggers and severed one of the man's arms.
He screamed, but soon afterward, he began moving again, using only his remaining arm to drag himself across the ground.
— And why are you still fighting for your life, even now?
— And who said I'm fighting for my life?
The man smiled, grabbed his severed arm, and threw it from the top of the hill.
Blood splattered across the rocks, and several screams, growls, and beastly sounds could be heard.
— I see. Your intention was to lure the monsters here. If this really is the 61st floor, I think I'm going to die, so you might as well tell me why you're doing all this.
The man began laughing with an insane expression on his face and his eyes wide open.
— I did my part! I killed a demon! One of the damned ones! My family will be rewarded!
"So someone promised to give something to his family in exchange for killing us? But why me? Was I the target? Or did he simply choose the strongest of the heroes? He could have chosen Sally or Vick, but it makes sense. If he could only take one, he'd take the strongest. But who asked him to do this? The demons? Someone from outside? I need to find out."
— Okay, I understand that you won, but WHO asked you to do this?
— Who? HAHAHAHA, GOD!
— What?
Omar began to grow angry with the man and severed his other arm.
— AAAAAAAAAHHHH! Torturing me won't help you! You're going to be devoured soon!
— I know, you son of a bitch! Just tell me who ordered you!
— I ALREADY TOLD YOU! IT WAS GOD!
At the man's scream, a bird-like beast with long, sharp beaks emerged from beneath the hill and devoured his body, causing blood to spray all over Omar.
The man's head rolled several meters away.
Omar noticed that three of those birds had risen to fight over the corpse.
Two of them battled in the air, pulling at the dead man's body and tearing pieces from it.
A piece of his leg fell near Omar, who was already in a combat stance.
One of the birds swooped down, grabbed the leg, and began devouring it ferociously.
Despite being a bird, it possessed sharp teeth and a muscular body beneath its crimson and gray feathers.
"If these were on a 'normal' floor, these monsters would probably be around level 50, maybe even higher…"
"Should I run? If I run, I might encounter other monsters that are even stronger. But if I stay here, I won't be able to deal with all three of them."
"While they're eating, I'll use my ability to conceal my presence and try to stay hidden behind that rock. They might leave if they're mindless creatures and can't sense anything nearby."
Omar activated his ability and hid behind a steep, jagged rock in the terrain.
"Are they done eating? They seem to be looking for something, but they couldn't sense me here."
Omar remained completely still, using as much of his mana as possible to maintain his ability.
Even though he was only a few meters away from the birds, they couldn't see him. It was as if he were part of the environment itself.
After a few seconds, the birds heard a distant roar that sounded like it came from a bear and moved away from the area.
Omar released his mana and collapsed onto the ground, exhausted, lying on his back.
— I don't think I could have lasted another 30 seconds…
"It's impossible for this to really be the 61st floor. There's no way I can survive here alone. I need to find a way back. If that portal was opened here, that means someone has been here, so it's possible they're still here. But finding someone in this place will be difficult, because the monsters' presences are far too strong. It feels like there are creatures above level 50 everywhere…"
Omar began sweating coldly. Even though he was one of the calmest Returners among the Twelve, in that situation, he felt genuine fear.
Vick and Sally walked for several minutes until they reached a large, round white dome with various aluminum apparatuses and an antenna that looked like one from the real world.
The two observed the place from a distance because they had sensed human presences coming from there.
— How can there be people on this floor besides us and the scouts? Those don't look like scouts, do they?
Vick already wanted to advance and attack, but Sally grabbed her by the arm.
— You want to act like an idiot like Rayner and start attacking without asking questions? At least try to be a little more ladylike. And no, they don't look like scouts.
Sally used an ability that allowed her to sense people's mana cores and realized that the people there were neither Returners nor scouts.
But Sally also noticed that there were monsters inside the dome.
— What the hell…? There are monsters in there too, Vick.
Sally's eyes widened when she realized there were at least ten monsters inside the place.
— What is it? Are there demons?
— No… But there are some monsters in there. At least ten.
— Great! At least we'll have some fun!
— Do you only think about fighting? Tsk, then deal with the monsters while I deal with the humans.
— Nah. You know, Sally, humans can be more monstrous than these creatures.
Sally somehow agreed and went back to observing the dome.
The dome must have been more than 40 meters long, but there were openings in the ceiling, resembling pillars. They had wires and aluminum foil wrapped around them, hanging down to the base and covering some metallic parts that looked similar to pipes.
There was a rectangular opening at the front, but there were no guards or anything. It was completely unprotected, as if no one even existed there.
— It must be another trap. They wouldn't just leave it wide open for us to walk in.
Vick raised a valid point, and Sally agreed, but at that point, it didn't matter whether it was a trap or not.
Before Vick could begin her advance, Sally grabbed her again.
— Wait. Someone's coming out.
The two became uneasy when they saw something familiar.
— Vick… You remember that symbol, right?
Sally pointed toward the symbol on the white shirt of the middle-aged man who had emerged from the dome. It was a black sun with six rays extending from it.
— That…? Is it some kind of toy brand?
Vick began to think.
"Is she really that stupid?"
— No. I'm sure of it. That's the symbol used by the Central.