Chapter 91 The Old Geezer Has Been Swayed By Power
――Lady Eva explained the entire conversation she had with Kirke's clan leader.
After leaving the clan leader's place, Lady Eva gathered the main members of the clan, including Io, Garon, and Glen, to discuss the matter. She came to my house today to talk about it.
By the way, the reason she didn't come to discuss it yesterday was because she was worried about Fiona's health.
However, even after hearing the story, the clan leader didn't reveal their true intentions for disbanding the clan, not even to Lady Eva, who is their daughter and the top candidate to succeed as the next clan leader.
"But I can imagine the general idea."
Lady Eva said.
"What do you mean?"
"They're trying to keep outsiders away and resolve the issue on their own. There's no other reason for doing so except to hide something."
"Hiding something, you say..."
Fiona murmured, glancing at Io and the others.
She seemed hesitant to speak up in front of everyone. I had told Lady Eva about the suspicious activities of the Caduceus family.
Lady Eva nodded, understanding.
"Don't worry. I've already told Io and the others."
"――So, you're saying that the Caduceus family, or one of the Four Great Families, is the mastermind behind this and wants to hide it...?"
"Yes, that's right."
If the Caduceus family, one of the [Four Great Families of the Seals], were to become criminals and break the seal of [God's Remains], it would be a betrayal of the world.
The impact would be enormous.
It's possible that surrounding countries would intervene, trying to take control of [God's Remains Labyrinth] or its management. Leaving the management of [God's Remains] to the [Four Great Families of the Seals] alone would be too dangerous, so they might suggest joint management with multiple countries.
That would surely lead to conflict, and might even escalate into a war involving Necronia and its surrounding 3 countries or more.
――Or rather, this has already happened many times in the past, so...
There might be other reasons, but this alone is enough to try to hide it.
"Well, I understand why they want to disband the clan..."
I said, opening my mouth.
In the first place, that's how it is.
"Is there a problem if the clan gets disbanded?"
"Hmm, Mr. Aaron... what do you mean by that?"
I replied to Lady Eva, who tilted her head.
"We've already set up a teleportation circle, and with a certain number of people, I think we can clear the 46th floor and beyond. Do we really need to stick to the form of the Labyrinth Conquest Team or a clan?"
As for support, as long as our Storage Rings aren't confiscated, there's no problem. And we already have the combat power to deal with monsters, so...
...Well, I don't plan on using [God's Descent] on Fiona, but even without that, it's fine. Even if the 50th floor's guardian is a monster like Nord or a false angel, I think we can handle it with just Fiona, Io, Garon, and the others from the ≪Iron Wall Alliance≫ and ≪Glen Squad≫. And there are also Calum and the others from ≪Balmung≫, and Claire and the others from ≪Flames of Dominance≫. I don't think there's a monster we can't defeat with this lineup.
Even against an opponent with incredible regenerative abilities, now that I can use [Absolute Death Prison], we can defeat them much more easily than before.
"That's true."
Glen agreed.
Glen looked at me and Fiona with a meaningful gaze, saying,
"Honestly, even if it's just Master Gale and Lady Fiona, I think we can move forward without any problems. Anyone would say that after seeing that battle."
That battle refers to the fight against the false angel.
Glen's words made Io and I exchange glances, and we almost simultaneously opened our mouths.
""No, that's not possible.""
"Huh?"
I'll explain it to Glen, who's looking disappointed.
"That's right, I said that if we have a certain number of people, we don't need to stick to a clan-like formation. It's fine if we take our time, but if we want to clear the labyrinth quickly, we'll need a decent number of people who can explore beyond the 46th floor."
"Huh? Is that so? But we've been making good progress up to the 46th floor, haven't we?"
"That's because those floors were already cleared."
Already cleared floors――that means the floors that have already been explored.
On already cleared floors, the route to the next floor is already known. Except for the pioneers who first cleared those floors, everyone else can proceed without getting lost.
On the other hand, unexplored floors are a different story.
As we've seen from the Snowfield Floor and the Dragon Mountain Floor from the 41st floor onwards, the labyrinth basically gets bigger as you go deeper.
So, it's not hard to imagine how vast the 46th floor's Sky Floor is.
"But isn't that weird? Master Gale has already reached the 47th floor, right? Before the Great Outbreak happened. That means you cleared the 46th floor at an incredible pace, doesn't it?"
What Glen said is true.
To be exact, I reached the 47th floor before I was taken to Hellem Wilderness. It was when I found and defeated the Wind Elemental Treant on the 46th floor... or was it when Logan and the others went missing and we were searching for them?
Well, it's all the same story.
I went down to the 47th floor and came back. The exploration period was less than 10 days.
But that's because—
"The 46th floor was already cleared."
The route to the next floor was already recorded.
"Huh? No way, that's weird, right? But I heard that Mr. Io and the others hadn't cleared the 46th floor?"
"That's right, we haven't cleared it."
Io nods in response to Glen's question.
Io and the others were originally a 6-person party, but 3 of his companions lost their lives in the Ignitor battle. That's why he hasn't explored much of the 46th floor, and they've only been down there once.
And until the team, ≪Labyrinth Conquest Team≫, reached the 46th layer, no one else had cleared the 45th floor. At least, that's what it seemed.
But――Io replied.
"The floors after 46... the Sky floor is thought to be a fixed floor unaffected by the ≪Great Transition≫."
Not just [God's Remains Labyrinth], but many labyrinths undergo a phenomenon called "transition" at regular intervals.
This phenomenon completely changes the internal structure of the labyrinth, the types of monsters that appear, and everything else, replacing them with new ones. At this time, even the teleportation circles we set up are confirmed to be lost.
――However, it's known that the influence of this transition is weaker in the deeper floors.
While the deletion of teleportation circles and such isn't completely unaffected, the environment, structure, and monsters of the floor can become fixed.
That's exactly what happened with the "Sky floor", and a few explorers had reached the 47th floor in the distant past.
So, the guild had a route to conquer the 46th floor recorded――but there were still many unclear points besides the route to the next floor.
That's why the existence of the ≪Wind Elemental Treant≫ wasn't recorded in the remaining exploration logs. It seems that the pioneers took a route close to the shortest path and didn't encounter the ≪Wind Elemental Treant≫.
Anyway.
After the last ≪Great Transition≫, when we set up the teleportation circle for the first time, the "Sky floor" was already named. It wasn't named by Io or Logan based on its appearance, but it was already named. There are also various remnants, such as the names of monsters that don't exist on the surface, like Angel Excia.
I explained that much, took a deep breath, and Io continued.
"But, there's no information on conquering floors 47 and above. From here on, it's completely trial and error. And... it's not like I need to explain how tough it is to conquer an unexplored floor, right?"
It's been nearly 80 years since the last ≪Great Transition≫, when people set up a teleportation circle on the 46th floor.
But, if you look at it historically, that's actually a really fast pace of conquest.
"Hmm... I see. So, you're saying we need to use a human wave tactic to break through before the enemy achieves their goal?"
I nodded in response to Glen's words and added.
"Yeah, we especially need scouts with exceptional Jobs."
Of course, we do have some scout Jobs among our current clan members, but there's only one person with that Job in Glen's squad. Even if we add the new explorers we're planning to recruit, it's still not enough.
Originally, we were counting on Ail to take the lead, but Ail is gone, and the other scouts were killed in an ambush by Judas's group.
This severe lack of scouts is also due to the fact that scout Jobs are rare and valuable in the explorer community.
It's not that scout Jobs are hard to find or anything; it's just that there's too much demand for them, so headhunting never ends.
The ones who were active during the "Great Outbreak," taking down Unique Individuals and monitoring the Nord, were people hired by the explorer guild, not actual explorers.
That's why scout Jobs tend to be snatched up by big organizations like the explorer guild, other guilds, the Council, and the Four Great Families of the Seals.
As a result, the explorer community has always been short-handed when it comes to scouts.
The Scout Jobs are already restricted in their roles in the higher tiers, and their combat abilities tend to be lower compared to other combat Jobs. That's why it's relatively safer and more stable to find another line of work instead of working as an explorer, and one can earn more too.
But, well, it's not a problem.
I've got a plan for the Scouts.
"Let's ask the Guild Leader to lend us the Scouts employed by the Guild."
That'll solve everything.
As you can see from our activities in the 36th floor and above, the Scouts in the explorer Guild are highly skilled individuals with exceptional abilities.
Of course, they haven't cleared the 45th floor yet, but that's not a big deal. The problem is that we still need to defeat the Ignitor in the volcano, but I think I can take it down alone now.
The unexplored tiers――we can gather information on the fixed tiers that don't lose their value even after the changes. The Guild Leader won't refuse that.
Besides, the Guild Leader owes me a big favor related to the "Great Outbreak". This is a good chance to return that favor a bit.
That's what I thought, but...
"Sorry, Aaron."
Io said with a sarcastic smile.
"The old geezer has been swayed by power."
――and that's it.
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