Ch.166Policy Change

# 166. Change of Direction

The guild members lay motionless like patients on ventilators. They were grateful for clearing the floor, grateful for being alive, and grateful that their limbs were still intact. I kept worrying about Subin’s eyes bleeding profusely at the end, but there was nothing I could do about it now except steel my heart and wait.

While I was tidying their hair and wiping away blood as we waited… someone finally woke up.

“Ugh…”

“Seyeon!”

“Ah, leader…!”

Seyeon was the first to wake up. She responded to my call and tried to sit up abruptly, but felt pain throughout her body and let out a silent scream. Even in that moment, she bit down hard to avoid making noise—so typical of her. I held her hand out of concern, and she gripped mine so tightly I thought it might be crushed.

“Calm down. We’re in the reward room. Everyone’s safe.”

“Ah…”

When I hastily added that, the strength left her hand. As I discreetly withdrew my hand that had nearly been turned to dough (with slight exaggeration), and was comforting her, I began to hear groans from the other guild members.

“Unni!”

“Noona!”

I was grateful that Soyu noona was the second to wake up, though from her perspective, it was unfortunate that she had to start healing the other guild members without getting any rest herself. Yet she didn’t complain once, downing mana potions with a dazed expression. She was truly a saint.

Yuri was the last to wake up. Considering her physical condition, I expected her to be among the first to wake up like Seyeon and pretend she wasn’t in pain, but her condition was actually the most serious.

“Oppa…”

“Hey, Yuri.”

“If I die…”

“Hey now. Is this the mouth that usually speaks such mischief?”

“Mmmmm.”

It hurt my heart to hear her speak so weakly, unlike her usual self, but the fact that she could speak at all was reassuring—it meant she wasn’t going to die.

After several dozen minutes passed, our group transformed from unconscious critical patients to conscious but still bedridden critical patients.

Looking at Subin’s unfocused eyes, I told the guild members about Danya and Subin’s heroic actions. While they expressed admiration, they also glanced at Subin’s eyes with the same concern I felt.

“Sunghyun.”

“Huh?”

“I can’t see, but I can guess what expression you’re making. Don’t make that face. Just think of it as having a temporary blindness debuff.”

“I don’t think I could be that calm if it were me.”

“Better one person going blind than all of us dying, right?”

Right. Eun Subin was being so Subin-like. Telling me to think of it as a blindness debuff, seriously.

“Sunghyun. Don’t worry too much. I’ll find a way to heal Subin’s eyes somehow.”

“See? Even Soyu unni is saying that. With that assurance from our clumsy healer, are you still worried?”

Her expression was so calm that I couldn’t say anything more. Instead of worrying about her eyes—something we couldn’t fix right now—Subin wanted to focus on what lay ahead. I swallowed a sigh and nodded.

“The Magicant story probably ends here. Story-wise, the 6th floor is likely to be Faelm Gorge… The problem is that things started going off track from the 5th floor.”

The early appearance of the hellfire demon Iseratio.

Iseratio itself wasn’t a problem—I’d killed it countless times in the game, so despite the surprise and danger, we managed well.

But the Magicant Tower’s antics, the numerous chimeras, and that giant eyeball monster summoned through forbidden magic… those were unprecedented anomalies that put us in serious danger. We somehow overcame them through our guild members’ raw stats, strong mental fortitude, and luck.

“I don’t know how the events at Magicant will snowball and affect things later. I’m not even sure what caused the anomalies we experienced on this floor. But one thing’s certain—the higher we go, the more dangerous the variables become.”

It would be better if we encountered altered versions of things we’ve experienced before.

If completely new things appear, we might have to risk our lives at every moment.

“Besides, if it’s Faelm Gorge, it’s not even a normal city. We probably won’t be able to rest properly, right?”

“Yeah. The undead waves we experienced in Albrant will seem like child’s play compared to the monster waves that continuously push in as main quests there. Faelm is essentially a forward base and fortress.”

If Magicant was a place to get a taste of what demons are like and how strong they can be, Faelm Gorge was where we’d get seriously entangled with demons.

Faelm Gorge was a natural terrain used by various nations and races to block countless evils flowing from some sealed location. In the game’s lore, it was a dangerous place where quite a few casualties occurred every year.

Sending low-quality troops there wasn’t much help—it led to lax discipline and rapid casualties that lowered morale. Sending excellent troops meant lower mortality rates but bleeding your own forces dry, which was problematic.

It was like pouring water into a bottomless pot, but if they didn’t hold the line, calamity could spread throughout the world. So it was a headache-inducing but extremely important place.

“When we arrive there… forget resting, we might be drafted into battle as soon as we arrive.”

“Even I, who rarely read the story, remember Faelm clearly. It was so cruel and desperate that I shuddered despite knowing my character wouldn’t die.”

“Right. Even without anomalies, Faelm Gorge is that kind of place. And if anomalies occur… I’d rather not imagine it.”

The already gaunt faces of the guild members grew even paler. I wondered if I’d said too much before even reaching the 6th floor, but remembering our recent brush with total annihilation, I felt it wasn’t enough.

“Let’s take it slow.”

“Oppa?”

“We’ll move slowly like tortoises. Our grade? We got an A despite fighting like that. I don’t know the criteria, but I guess we were perfect before and not perfect here. And I’m not confident I can perfectly handle things I don’t know about.”

A?

Sure, it’s a high grade. The rewards aren’t bad either.

But is it as good as an S grade? Obviously not. Besides, we’ve already received the best reward an S grade could offer—our guild members themselves.

It would be disappointing not to get top rewards, but it’s not worth risking our lives for.

“The first-mover advantage only matters if there are other guilds competing with us, and I’m not even sure if there is such an advantage. Plus, we’re constantly earning first-clear titles and achievements, so I don’t think we need to rush.”

If moving quickly suited our strategy, I’d do it, but I meant that I wouldn’t worry about higher grades anymore.

“It’s your role as guild leader to think about and decide that, so I respect it.”

“Me too.”

“Me as well.”

“[When crossing dangerous and unknown places, it’s only natural to proceed cautiously and slowly.]”

The guild members didn’t object to my change in direction. They seemed to have realized the dangers firsthand as well.

The logic that had served us well—aim for high grades to get good rewards to overcome difficulties—had been completely shattered in Floor 5-2.

“Judging by the message windows cluttering my vision, we don’t have much time left here. Regrettably, it’s time to return to the field.”

“What about the rewards?”

Weapons 6, Skills 2.

By majority vote, we chose weapons, and oddly enough, a whip appeared.

With a sigh, I quickly stuffed the crimson whip into my inventory, and with the familiar sensation, we left the reward room.

A narrow, massive, and rugged gorge with few tall trees and numerous sharp cliffs.

Is this what the Grand Canyon in America feels like?

Even seeing it from a distance, it already gave me a sense of awe.

Of course, the problem was that just thinking about walking all the way there made my body ache.

‘No, it’s not just a feeling—it’s real.’

None of us, not a single person, was moving forward. Even Yuri and Arang, who usually rushed ahead faster than anyone to check the surroundings, were clutching their waists and looking around hesitantly.

“We’re in the middle of the road, but…”

Before I could finish speaking, the guild members had already started taking camping equipment out of their inventories and setting it up awkwardly. I let out a laugh at their silent but forceful insistence, then helped them—only to accidentally hit my finger with a hammer.

It hurt so bad I could have cried.

**

“Looking for one tank-class member! Any class as long as it’s tank-oriented!”

“Seeking one DPS and one sorcerer-class!”

After the brief but intense storm of announcements, the previously monotonous daily life of Edenguard had become quite chaotic.

Among them was a man who had been spreading rumors about Veritas every day.

‘I’ve been staying here out of fear until now, but I have this uneasy feeling that I shouldn’t remain here any longer.’

The man gathered his courage and shouted:

“Looking for one healer! Ready to go once you join!”