Chapter 24: Encounter

We reached the depths of the 20th floor.

Looking around, I couldn’t sense any monsters, unlike on the previous floors.

Only our footsteps echoed in the reigning silence.

“We’ve made it to the 20th floor, but there’s nothing here at all.” I murmured, tilting my head.

“Yeah, we’ve come pretty far into the 20th, a major milestone,” Carnelia muttered, wiping away her sweat.

Fortunately, we’d had almost no real fights on this floor.

We had plenty of stamina and magic power left.

And then—we found the stairs and set foot onto the 21st floor.

The silence was so anticlimactic that we let our guards down a little as we proceeded.

It happened about ten minutes after we had stepped onto the 21st floor.

“Something’s coming!”

Suddenly, Ichinose put her hand on the hilt of her katana, urging us to be on alert.

The tension on her face allowed no openings, and a sharp bloodlust instantly dominated the area.

At her words, all of us braced ourselves.

The taut air was so sharp it felt like it was piercing our skin.

From somewhere, a wet, slimy sound, like something damp dragging itself across the ground, reached our ears.

scccrrrape… slither…

“Hssss… hsssss…”

A sticky-sounding breath vibrated the air, and then it appeared.

Looming out from the side of the wall, it felt like we were watching a giant, jet-black rope slither right out of the stonework.

It was a giant serpent monster, easily five meters long.

Its scales reflected the light with an eerie sheen.

A venomous green liquid dripped from its mouth, which was lined with sharp fangs.

Its tail slammed down on the ground.

THUD

The floor trembled slightly.

The moment the monster’s red eyes stared us down, our bodies froze up, like frogs eyed by a snake.

“I-I’ve read about it in a book… that’s a Nahash…”

Prefa said in a strained voice, her lips trembling.

Her fluffy ears were pressed flat against her head, her terror palpable.

“It’s a monster that was confirmed on the 60th floor… Why is it here…?!”

“The 60th floor?!”

“Wh-why is a monster like that…”

My own voice was trembling.

A monster that shouldn’t have been here was right before our eyes.

Was this the monster Kyle and the others were talking about?

My assessment was too naive… I thought it would be a monster from the 30th floor at worst…!

The Nahash approached us, slowly but surely.

“Let’s retreat!” Carnelia shouted instantly.

Panic and tension showed clearly on her face.

We all agreed with her words and prepared to flee.

“Prefa, cause a diversion with your illusions!”

At my command, Prefa replied with a trembling voice, “Y-Yes.”

“‘First Tier, Astral Mirage’.”

Prefa circulated magic through her body.

A magic circle deployed at her feet, and five illusions modeled after us ran towards the Nahash.

“Now’s our chance!”

I shouted, and we all broke into a run, heading back the way we came.

“…H-Huh…? Wh-Why…?!”

But the Nahash bypassed Prefa’s illusions, accurately pursuing our real position.

“It’s not even looking at them!”

Prefa cried out in a voice full of despair, glancing over her shoulder.

Why…!?

My mind raced as I ran.

Illusion magic fools the five senses, like sight and hearing.

For it to be ineffective means this monster is sensing us by some other method.

I suddenly recalled some knowledge from my past life.

Snakes have an organ that can sense the body heat of their prey.

If that’s the case, then Prefa’s illusions are meaningless.

No matter how we hide our forms, it can pinpoint our location by sensing our body heat.

As we ran, the sound of metal clashing against metal echoed.

We might be attracting more monsters with the noise, but we didn’t have the luxury of caring.

We couldn’t even afford to check the map and had no idea where we currently were.

Up ahead, Elena’s legs got tangled, and she nearly stumbled.

“Elena!”

“I-I’m… okay…!”

Her face was deathly pale, and she was panting raggedly.

Elena, the youngest among us, was nearing the limit of her stamina.

I glanced behind me.

The distance to the Nahash had already closed to about fifteen meters.

At this rate, it was only a matter of time before it caught up.

The Nahash didn’t slow down at all, slithering closer like a hunter stalking its prey.

My heart hammered against my ribs, a warning against the pressure emanating from its massive body.

We can’t escape like this.

And if we can’t escape—we have no choice but to fight it here.

I steeled my resolve.