Ch.2727. Harem Party

A night had passed.

“You’re awake.”

For some reason, Shiro was standing in front of the camp.

It seemed like she had been staring blankly, but I wonder why.

“Ah, I’m sorry. Were you waiting for me to wake up?”

I thought she might have been too timid to wake me.

“Sort of, something like that.”

Shiro said as she approached the campfire and sat down.

The fire must have gone out during the early morning. Did she light it by herself?

“I should have woken up earlier. I’m sorry for sleeping in.”

“…No. You don’t need to be. You could have slept even longer.”

“?”

It was a puzzling response, but that wasn’t important right now.

“Anyway, let’s go to the 4th floor as we discussed at dawn.”

It would be too risky for just the two of us to hunt monsters on the 5th floor.

The arm part of my breastplate was somewhat damaged, and Shiro still needed to obtain the rest of her Source from the 4th floor.

For the time being, we needed to continue hunting on the 4th floor to acquire Sources.

“Let’s get going.”

“Okay.”

After quickly organizing our belongings, we headed back down the entrance of the 5th floor.

***

The 4th floor is the Labyrinth of Cancer.

It starts with a large landmass surrounding a huge lake. The structure allows you to reach the 5th floor by climbing the tall snowy mountain at the end of the lake.

“…It’s a bit cold.”

At the top of the snowy mountain where snow was falling.

Shiro was cupping her hands to her mouth, blowing warm breath into them.

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah. I can manage.”

Despite the actual temperature being relatively warm compared to the heavy snowfall obscuring our vision, it still seemed to feel cold to Shiro.

She was sensitive to cold when we were walking last time too. Must be her constitution.

‘This could be a bit dangerous.’

With that thought, I boldly handed Shiro a cold resistance scroll.

Normally, this would be a section you’d just endure and pass through, but since Shiro was feeling so cold, it seemed appropriate to use it.

“…There’s no need to use a scroll.”

“No, Shiro. I’m feeling a bit cold too, and it’s dangerous to stay in cold places for too long. Let’s use scrolls until we at least get a feel for the place.”

Shiro showed a contemplative expression for a moment before finally tearing the scroll.

‘Now I have two left.’

In the Crystal Cave, it would last about a day, but for this level of cold, the scroll should last three days.

Here, the main concept is limited visibility rather than temperature. The duration difference was quite significant.

It should be enough to last until the Labyrinth closes.

“Adel, thank you.”

As I was walking with these thoughts, Shiro expressed her gratitude.

“You’re welcome, it’s nothing.”

Once we pass through here, we won’t need cold resistance for quite a while. Since I couldn’t sell them anywhere, they were essentially dead inventory.

If using such scrolls increased our survival rate, we should definitely use them.

“Now then, let’s hunt some Yetis.”

The Source she needed to obtain was 4th grade, the Yeti’s Source.

It can be combined with the Kobold Archer’s Source in the 5th floor Hidden Dungeon.

Even without active abilities, it dramatically increases ice-related and agility attributes.

Yeti Sources are popular even among ordinary adventurers, and with their low spawn rate, they’re difficult to hunt…

“Follow me.”

“Okay.”

I had memorized the Yeti spawn points.

…

“Look, there’s a Yeti.”

After walking through the snow field for 20 minutes.

After encountering Frost Wolf packs 2-3 times, we finally came across a massive white figure.

Yetis spawn up to 7 at a time, and they have fixed spawn points.

This means if you go to that location right after killing one, there’s a high chance another Yeti will be there.

“I’ll go ahead first.”

Yetis are mid-tier 4th grade monsters.

If I had encountered one in the past, I would have had to run for my life with barely a chance of survival, but now I was completely different.

Having completed two 3rd grade Sources through synthesis, I could now handle them comfortably on my own.

-Kuuung!

When the creature stomped the ground, it felt like the entire area shook.

First-timers hunting Yetis would lose their balance at this point, but knowing this already, I continued charging toward it without stopping.

As the distance closed, the Yeti swung its fist, and I activated:

‘Instantaneous Hardening.’

I hardened my shield and collided directly with it.

-Kaaang!

A heavy reverberation.

Despite the size difference being nearly triple, only the creature was pushed back.

“Kuaaak-!”

The beast staggered backward, losing its balance.

“Shiro!”

As if waiting for this moment, a fire spell struck the Yeti directly.

That alone had already accumulated significant damage, but the burst damage phase wasn’t over yet.

The hardening lasted for 2 seconds, and I was still approaching after pushing it back.

I struck the creature’s leg forcefully with my shield.

-Pook!

Unfortunately, hardening equipment only doubled strike damage, so it didn’t penetrate to the bone.

“Kraaaak!”

The Yeti screamed and swung its fist.

I tried to block with my shield and approach again—

-Kaaang!

This time, the heavy impact was fully transmitted.

‘Even blocking with a shield, it’s still pretty strong.’

Indeed, mid-tier 4th grade monsters weren’t to be taken lightly.

Anyway, after exchanging a few more blows, the battle ended in less than a minute.

“Phew.”

After all that struggle, a 4th grade mana stone the size of my pinky finger dropped.

Even within the same grade, stronger monsters are valued more, but ultimately they all look similar.

‘This feels kind of shitty.’

This strange feeling after battle was a chronic disease of explorers.

“Adel, aren’t you cold?”

Shiro approached quickly and asked.

Could it be that she came quickly because she was worried I might be cold outside the scroll’s range?

“I was a bit cold, but thanks to you coming quickly, my body is already warming up.”

“I see.”

She nodded gently.

I was about to move on to the next spawn point when,

“Adel.”

Shiro spoke again.

“Yes, Shiro?”

“You seem to have gotten much stronger. It was impressive.”

When she said that with such an expressionless face, it strangely felt like she was being sarcastic.

Well, that definitely wasn’t her intention.

“Thank you.”

“Mm.”

Her face seemed to flush red somehow.

Whatever the case, we hurried toward the next spawn point.

***

It had been 9 hours since we started hunting Yetis.

We had killed nearly 20 Yetis so far. It seemed we were killing about one every 30 minutes.

“It’s getting close to nighttime, and our stamina is running low, so shall we head down soon?”

“Okay.”

What we gained from today’s hunt was 17 4th grade mana stones.

If we had done regular hunting, we would have earned much more money,

but the time for caring about small amounts of money had long passed.

‘Once we get Shiro’s Source, we should head straight to the 5th floor Hidden Dungeon.’

While the lower floors were about finding direction, the 5th floor was a growth stage where you filled in key elements one by one.

The middle floors had a lot of growth elements.

As I was imagining the happy days ahead on my own,

“Sorry.”

Shiro spoke in a slightly lowered voice.

‘What’s this about?’

I couldn’t think of anything she needed to apologize to me for.

Could she be thinking she wasn’t helpful in today’s battles?

While I was making various guesses, Shiro continued.

“I feel like I’ve wasted your day. I’m sorry.”

“What? Wasted? This is something we have to do to get your Source, Shiro.”

It’s just that things have been going well so far, but Sources aren’t actually that easy to obtain.

I was prepared to spend about half of the summer’s first cycle even after this Labyrinth ended.

“You don’t really need to do this. Since you’re stronger than me, it would be more convenient for you to find other party members.”

“…”

So that’s what Shiro was thinking.

‘Maybe I took too much for granted.’

Typically, adventurers change parties every season, that is, at the end of every 3 cycles.

If they’ve absorbed Sources and become stronger in the meantime, it’s natural, and people would twist themselves in all sorts of ways to transfer to better parties.

Nobody criticizes or finds this strange.

The Labyrinth is, cruelly, a calculating place.

“Shiro.”

In her eyes, I must seem like a strange person.

Giving up the Kobold Archer’s Source, agreeing to form a party on that condition, risking my life to save her, and still wanting to maintain the party even after becoming much stronger than her.

Because I promised to stay together forever?

The Labyrinth was too cold to put forward such a reason.

However,

“I like you, Shiro.”

It wasn’t in a strange way.

Just, simply.

“I empathize with you as a human being, and I respect you as someone living the same life. That’s why I like you. I like you as a person, Shiro.”

“…”

“Of course, that’s not the only reason I’m with you.”

It was an extremely emotional and infinitely rational judgment.

“I need you, Shiro. It’s just hard to explain exactly why, so please just know that I need you.”

I smiled at her.

Not a momentary smile for pretense or consideration, but a genuine smile I showed her from the heart.

Shiro looked at my expression and shortly replied.

“I understand.”

Through the swirling white snow, I could see her purple eyes.

After that, we descended the mountain without much further conversation.

***

There were many fish-people in the lake area at the foot of the snowy mountain.

Mermen, Fish Heads, Mermaids, and so on.

They would pop out about once every few minutes as we walked near the water.

Well, they were only lower-tier 4th grade monsters, so we dealt with them instantly.

“Let’s set up at the 4th floor base camp.”

It would be convenient to go back and forth from the 5th floor, but unlike the route down from the 5th floor, there was a boss monster on the route going back up.

It was most convenient to travel to and from the 4th floor base camp, even if it was a bit of a distance.

We reached the base camp area at the top of a hill, and as usual, we headed for a corner.

Setting up a campfire and 2 camps.

‘This is nice.’

Unlike the stuffy 5th floor, this place was more open and comfortable.

You could see the lake below the hill, and the sky was so clear.

“Sorry, but I’m going to sleep first. I’m a bit tired.”

“Yes, Shiro.”

Shiro lay down in the camp first.

She seemed particularly tired today.

‘I think I’ll just sleep too.’

It was a bit tiring to wander around the snowy mountain all day with poor visibility.

I entered the camp, laid out the blanket, and lay down.

The 4th floor was so full of large guild explorers that there was no need to take turns keeping watch.

As I was about to fall into a comfortable sleep…

“…I’ve said it many times, but Hagen is mine.”

“Haa. You’re making a big deal just because I hugged him? You’ve become really sensitive, haven’t you?”

I could hear two women arguing quietly.

Normally, it would be a level of noise I could ignore, but somehow the voices sounded familiar, so I kept focusing.

“Berry. Hagen doesn’t like you very much.”

…The Hagendaz party?

Their name was so unique that I couldn’t forget it.

Isn’t this the party with that crazy benefactor who gave away a Slime Source?

‘But they were a party I saw on the 2nd floor.’

Why would they be on the 4th floor?

Such questions made me listen more carefully, and,

“What are you saying? In the bedroom, I’ve sent Hagen more times than you…”

…What the hell?

I realized something was off about the conversation, but it was already too late.

“What? Berry, do you think you can measure love by something like that?”

“For your information, I’ve kissed him more too.”

“You forced those! I-I never do anything if Hagen doesn’t want it.”

“Right. So that’s the extent of your relationship.”

Damn.

It wasn’t Hagendaz, it was just a harem party.