Twelve and thirteen were exactly as eleven had been. Frozen over. Not a single Demonic Beast in sight. As his team moved towards the passageway to fourteen, Damion began to think the few Demonic Beasts they had encountered in ten were not ones that were missed, but were the first Demonic Beasts the labyrinth had repopulated.
“Press on to fourteen then,” Mage Sooter said when they reached the passageway.
“Fourteen and fifteen are a bit different than the other C Rank floors,” Mage Grier spoke up. “Not only are they larger, but I also doubt they can freeze them like they have here.”
“What makes them different?” Knight Macmillan asked.
“Volcanoes. Fourteen only has one, but the whole floor is in the caldera of a volcano and there is quite a bit of lava. Fifteen has five volcanoes, each larger than the one in fourteen.”
“No point in waiting about,” Damion said approaching the passageway. “Let’s go.”
The team followed Damion into the passageway and a mont later they appeared on the fourteenth floor. The first thing they all noticed was the heat. The prior C Rank floors had been hot, but here the heat was oppressive. Damion looked to his Ice Sword, the blade was not lting, but he could feel a trickle of mana flowing into the sword to maintain it.
Damion looked to mages Blythe and Kripke to check how they were fairing. Being below C Rank, those two would be affected by the heat of this floor more than the rest of the team. Neither of them looked to be showing that they were under more stress, but Damion had no way to know how long that was going to be true.
The next part of the fourteenth floor that Damion noticed were the Demonic Beasts. Unlike the previous floors, that had been thoroughly cleared, this floor was brimming with activity.
“Stay close,” Damion said when he noticed the first Demonic Beast erging from a pool of lava. It was a Lava Scutalus. The Demonic Beast looked like a ter long snail and lted the rock it traveled across, leaving a small trail of molten rock behind it. “Macmillan, look after Blythe and Kripke. Sooter, hang back with them as well, your fire won’t be much use in here.”
“Right,” Damion’s teammates responded as they received his orders.
A quick Ice Shard ended the Lava Scutalus and Mage Kripke collected the Demonic Beast in his personal spatial storage as they continued on. Damion hardly walked three ters before another Lava Scutalus erged from the lava pool; this ti it was Mage Grier that took the snail-like Demonic Beast out.
“Keep an eye out for veins of Fire Iron,” Damion said as he cast another Ice Shard at a Demonic Beast.
“I’ve been keeping an eye out,” Mage Sooter said in response to Damion’s request. “I’ve seen so signs that ore was dug out, but no deposits for us to collect.”
More and more Demonic Beasts appeared and were killed by Damion and Mage Grier. So far most of the Demonic Beasts they encountered were E and D Ranks. Being a C Rank floor ant there were few C Rank Demonic Beasts, so Damion did not have much hope in being able to complete the next step for his Kill C Rank Ferocious Beasts or Demonic Beasts quest.
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When they were about halfway through the fourteenth floor the number of Demonic Beasts they were encountering suddenly dropped off. Mage Grier and Mage Sooter both urged them to increase the pace. They both argued that the absence of Demonic Beasts here was a sign they should move on to the fifteenth floor. There, the team were sure to be able to have a sizeable area to hunt.
In the end, Damion relented to their argunts. No point in staying on fourteen if there was nothing left to fight. The team quickened their pace and arrived at the entrance to the fifteenth floor in short order. This ti, Damion insisted they rest for a few minutes before going through the passageway. He did not want their E Rank Spatial mage running out of mana and not being able to store their loot.
When the team finally entered the fifteenth floor, Damion was surprised to find a large number of people hanging around the safe area. With True Sight, he could see most of these people were C and D Rank with a few E Rankers mixed in with the various groups. From what he could tell, there were six teams sitting here in the safe area, even though Damion could see Demonic Beasts off in the distance.
“Why are all of you staying by the passageway back?” Damion asked a C Rank that looked to be in charge of his particular group.
“You saw those other floors right,” the man said. “The sa team that cleared ten through fourteen is working on fifteen and they won’t let anyone through. They say they’ll teach a lesson to anyone who dares step out of the safe area before they get to sixteen.”
“They can’t monopolize the floors. Besides, if we all head out, there is no way they can deal with everyone here. They are bluffing,” Mage Sooter scoffed.
“I agree.” “ too.” Knight Macmillan and Mage Grier said quickly.
Damion was of course of the sa opinion, but he did not know the strength of the group out there. Obviously, it was the group with the Ice mage. If the group was only C Ranks that was fine, he was sure they could hold their own, but if the group had a B Rank mage, which would make sense given the state they left the other floors in, Damion doubted his team’s chances.
“If your team wants to take its chances, go ahead,” the C Rank said. “But don’t expect any of the teams here to join in.”
“Where is the entrance to sixteen?” Damion asked. If the teams here did not want to help, he hoped he could lead his team straight to sixteen and not have to worry about the team that was bullying everyone else.
“You want to go to sixteen?”
“Might as well. We can get ahead of that team and if they show up on sixteen we can head back down here.”
“Well, that might work,” the C Rank said. “The passageway is located in the center of the largest caldera. You’ll have to brave the lake of lava to get to the middle, but I’m sure your team will do fine.”
“Thanks,” Damion told the man before turning to his team. “Let’s go. No point sitting around here.”
Damion led his team away from the safe area. They each half expected to be attacked by the bully team as soon as they stepped out of the safe area. However, no attack ca, and the team continued on.
As they made their way to largest of the volcanoes, Damion and his team killed any Demonic Beasts that crossed their path. However, since they wanted to reach the sixteenth floor before the bully team, they did not stray from the quickest path to go after other Demonic Beasts. Damion felt a bit odd at leaving Demonic Beasts behind, especially when he could see they were D and E Rank, to him it felt like leaving money on the sidewalk.
When his team reached the rim of the largest volcano, Damion looked out into the caldera and saw that it was clear of Demonic Beasts. Besides the lack of Demonic Beasts, there were no signs of the bully team. Either they had cleared the area and moved to another area of fifteen, or they took the passageway to sixteen. This left Damion’s team with a decision to make.
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