Chapter 461 - Allies? (Patreon)

“Are round 5 people all weirdos?” Spacewolf attacks me.

The little jerk likes to stay near that mountain of muscles, and as we sit there and plan, he becomes braver and braver. He’s already attacked others like that, and now I’m his target.

Some of his confidence might be bought by his worth as well. He introduces himself as a healer.

I just look at him and don’t bother answering.

“You’re wearing that mask, Savant’s sitting off to the side, and ever since he arrived, he hasn’t said a word. And you haven’t said anything to him either,” the boy continues.

This time I glance at his bodyguard, thinking if I could sneak in some petty attack on the boy.

The tournament winner seems to catch onto my intent and flashes a bright smile, showing his teeth. A clear challenge gleams in his eyes.

For some reason, now I want to do it even more, and as carefully as I can, I start moving my mana towards the annoying boy.

“Spacewolf,” Leticia says in a gentle tone, “there are some people who just don’t need to talk that much. Noname and Savant might become more comfortable with us later and talk a bit, so let’s not be rude, okay?”

Surprisingly, that makes the boy blush a bit, and he looks to the side, away from the young woman.

As if wanting to say something, golden retriever Luna pokes her owner, and Leticia just smiles at her, booping that nose a few times.

Somehow that gentle-looking woman with short black hair takes the role of a placeholder leader. Well, maybe rather someone who tries to make us pursue a single goal.

I decide to ignore the fact that it was me who called them all here, hoping no one will remember.

“Didn’t Noname call us all here? Shouldn’t he explain what this is all about?” Savant’s voice sounds. I don’t even have to turn around to see that he isn’t even looking in our direction.

As the eyes turn to me, I sigh. “It’s simple. There is a place I want to reach on the 1st floor. It’s close to the safe zone where you can ‘checkpoint’. We will move in that direction together, and then I can split from you and you guys can continue to that safe zone. I will even finish most of the lurkers to make them focus on me and time the end of my stay token, so I can escape. So there is no loss for you.”

“What if I want to go to that place as well? It sounds fun,” the bald man asks smugly.

“Then we have no deal. What’s at that place is mine and mine only.”

“And if I pretend to make a deal and still head there when we get near?” he pushes.

“I will fuck you up.”

Leticia jumps in, “Noname, CarrotCake, there is no need to go that far. There are countless lurkers you could fight, and even other Beyonders. There is no need for us from Earth to fight each other.”

“I would like to remind everyone that each of us is wasting their stay tokens because of these two,” from his safe spot further away, probably so he can escape if needed, Savant also throws in some wisdom.

“I agree with Savant,” Derick joins us and then turns to me, “Did you plan to go with Earthlings only? Or do you want to take more people?”

“My plan was going alone, but then I thought it would be better to have a few more people in case I meet a powerful named one.”

“Did you meet any before?”

“Yes, Whitey.”

That seems to catch Derick’s interest, “I have heard of him. Apparently, he is one of the oldest.”

“How does he compare strength-wise to other named lurkers?” I ask.

“Noelle, any idea?” He turns to the woman next to him.

Her voice is quiet and soft, but very soothing, “As far as I remember, his description is a demon with long white hair and kinetic energy. He is one of the oldest, but not the strongest. That’s as much as we know, Mr. Noname.”

“That much is fine, as you said. Big-range kinetic energy field and excellent detection—there is no chance of hiding from him. The place where I want to go is near his territory.”

“How do we know you don’t want to use us as a decoy while you run away or do something else?” curiously, Derick asks me.

“He wouldn’t do that if you didn’t give him a reason,” surprisingly, it’s Savant who says it.

Before I can react to that, Leticia joins in, “Me and Luna also trust what Noname said, and with three tournament winners, I don’t think we need to find more attendees to join. If we rush it, we should be able to reach the safe zone, especially if Noname takes most of the lurkers on him, and we ditch him behind.” She smiles at me and winks.

Leticia then talks to the others playfully, and the entire time as she does, Luna watches me.

I really want to boop that nose.

“Me and Noelle will time our stay tokens so they end sometime not that far off. If the expedition goes well, we will use another one and try to reach the safe zone. But if it goes wrong, we will just leave,” Derick says.

“That sounds like a good idea. How about we do that? Spacewolf, CarrotCake, Savant, what do you think?”

Facing Leticia, Savant nods in agreement, and I would bet that was his plan as well, and his stay token is timed that way.

An amusing thought comes to mind: What if everyone times their tokens that way, they leave, and I alone stay there? I find it hilarious for some reason.

As that extrovert woman drills into the bald man and annoying boy, I stand up and move towards Derick and Noelle. From the way they talk and stand with each other, they seem to be a couple if I had to guess, but it’s not like I’m a relationship expert, so I could easily be wrong.

“What is the mask for?” Derick asks first as I move closer.

“It’s annoying, but I want to hide which crown belongs to me. I had plenty of stuff stored to just cancel it,” I gesture at the crown spinning over my head.

“I can understand that. What about you and Savant, is there any bad blood between you guys? It could drag us down during the expedition.”

Savant doesn’t seem to want to answer, unfortunately, so I have to, “It won’t interfere with the expedition.”

Derick glances at Savant, who nods ever so slightly.

“Fair,” the red-haired man seems satisfied with that. “Want to exchange information, as much as the system allows?”

“Sure, we can do that while moving. The others seem impatient.”

“It seems so.”

So far, Derick seems to be the most reasonable person out of this group. Someone would probably pick Leticia as the candidate for the most normal-looking member, but there is something in me that just can’t accept friendly people.

But Luna seems okay. She’s a good girl.

Would Leticia let me pet her?

***

It doesn’t take much longer, and we head towards the entrance to the 1st dungeon floor. Just seven of us, a much smaller number compared to the twenty from the last expedition.

I don’t trust these people too much; any of them could throw me under the bus if needed, but the same goes for me. Still, there is a little bit of trust, unlike the 1st expedition. All of us are Earthlings, and most of them probably went through a similar experience as I did.

It’s the things that seem to repeat here all over. People searching for attendees from their own planets in the beginning. Later they join guilds where cooperation is required, rewarded, and often guaranteed by high-level contracts.

CarrotCake, the mountain of muscles, seems like a battle maniac. I suspect that he is a Strength attribute enjoyer, but soon I should know for sure.

Spacewolf, that annoying little shit, is CarrotCake’s personal healer. Musclehead gets healing, and the boy can be a little jerk without someone slapping it out of him.

Leticia is probably a hidden evil mastermind or something. Gareth also seemed all friendly until we learned he doesn’t mind wiping out dozens of natives just for scraps of food for his group or someone from Earth.

“Thinking?” Noticing I’m looking at her, Leticia joins and walks by my side, Luna nearby as always. The same as her owner, Luna also watches me.

“Can I pet Luna?”

Leticia skips a step before returning to her normal rhythm, the surprise quickly disappearing, replaced by amusement as she turns to the golden retriever, “What do you think, Luna? Can he?”

Luna seems to be thinking about that, her smart eyes looking between me and her owner before just taking a step towards me, offering her head.

Sorry, Biscuit, I’m a weak man. I even pet Noodle multiple times when you didn’t look, and I’m sure you know that. That also might be one of the reasons why you like to bully the poor snake.

I reach down and carefully pet this smart golden retriever. Her eyes watch me patiently, and her head is bigger than Biscuit’s, and even the feel is different. She lets it go just for a few more seconds before nudging my hand and then returning to her previous position.

“Luna used to be my guide dog,” Leticia says with a smile and starts to pet her. Unlike before, Luna even wags her tail and licks Leticia’s hand.

“Aren’t guide dogs for blind people only?”

The question seems to take Leticia aback, but she smiles softly, “You really don’t have much tact, do you, Noname? Yes, they are usually for blind or visually impaired people, but it’s not the rule.”

We reach the entrance to the first floor and pause. Leticia then continues, “I was blind until the second floor, you know.”

She then leaves to talk with Derick and the muscly man about something, and I watch her go.

Yep, I knew it. She can’t be normal. There’s no way anyone who survived a month on the first floor while blind is normal.

***

Before entering the Beyond’s dungeon, we share as much information as we can—mostly about the first floor.

Then, we step inside.

Welcome to the 1st floor of the First Dungeon!

You may exit the 1st floor in designated safe zones spread across the floor. After reaching a safe zone, you will be able to use the array to teleport there from the Entrance Floor.

1st floor quest: ???

Rewards:

7-day Stay Token

???

We find ourselves in a sickly-looking area. There are a lot of fallen trees, dried-up grass, water so stagnant that it may as well just be poison. A few old buildings made of crumbling stone bricks can be seen in the distance.

There are huge craters and other signs of damage everywhere we look. Crumbled mountains, sprawling fields pocked with craters, and the drooping edges of melted buildings, with their stone facades crumbling to dust.

As before, the rocky ceiling looms above, reminding me that we're deep underground. With it, the gravity increases, pulling more heavily on my mana, drawing it toward something far beneath my feet.

Looking at the power levels of the people here, I’m more confident about this expedition than the one before. I don’t think anyone other than the leader was noticeably stronger than any of us.

I also get rid of the mask made of mana and the fire effect around the crown. The mana signatures and presences of all these people disappearing is weirdly comfortable as we enter that destroyed environment of the first floor.

“Quite handsome. I imagined you differently, Noname. I noticed it even with your mask on—your eyes are beautiful. Heterochromia, right?” Leticia asks.

“Yes,” I answer, my senses shooting into the area. Doing so, I notice that everyone does something similar.

Not wasting time, we get to running in the direction I pointed out, just slightly to the side, to avoid Whitey, whom I will go to see on my own.

Luna runs slightly ahead of us, and even though I can’t sense anything, I’m sure she is scouting as well.

There is not a single presence as far as I can sense.

No presence appears even after thirty minutes.

From the expressions of everyone, it’s something even they consider unusual, and I can sense them stacking skills and various effects around their bodies, senses sharp.

No one speaks anymore, but the bulky man seems to be getting happier.

Despite all our scanning, we detect no presence—not even a trace of mana or anything similar. The place feels devoid of both natural and unnatural life.

***

Another hour passes, and still no enemies appear.

We pass a massive mountain, its side overgrown with unnatural vegetation.

We pass a lake with bubbling light green water.

We pass a city that looks as though something enormous stomped it flat.

And yet, no one attacks us.

***

Next Chapter