Ch.4646. Resonance

Adel was finally released after desperately explaining my situation to Shiro.

“I accidentally entered the female knight’s tent, and we just talked for a while and lost track of time.”

I explained everything except that our squad’s female knight was the Imperial Princess, and that I had developed an amazing ability to ignore divine power.

‘Shiro probably wouldn’t mind, but…’

From the Imperial Princess’s perspective, it was a different story.

She didn’t trust Shiro, after all.

“Shiro, I’m sorry for causing a misunderstanding.”

“It’s not that I misunderstood. I know you’re not that kind of person.”

“Then may I ask if there was another reason?”

“…Lately, I’ve been feeling anxious.”

Shiro’s calm eyes looked up at me.

“You seem to have a special ability.”

“What kind of power?”

“…Probably the power to attract other women.”

“What?”

I thought it might be a joke, but there was no further explanation when I waited for one.

Was she being serious?

‘Come to think of it, it does seem true.’

Lately, women did seem to be gathering around me strangely.

First, I met Shiro a few months ago, and I met Lady Ainer around the same time.

Then there’s Sherry, Rio, Priestess Airi, Reneva, Arya, and now the Imperial Princess.

Even if they weren’t all interested in me romantically, I was surrounded by women.

‘…I don’t have any male friends?’

I hadn’t noticed because I thought I didn’t have friends at all, but everyone in my social circle was female.

From Shiro’s perspective as my girlfriend, this must be concerning.

“I think I haven’t been considerate of your feelings. I’ll try to keep my distance from other women.”

“Thank you. But you don’t necessarily have to go that far.”

Shiro took my left hand in hers.

“After all, I trust you.”

“…Thank you for trusting me.”

We spent time confirming our trust and feelings for each other.

Since it was almost time for others to wake up, we refrained from inappropriate skinship like neck biting.

***

The Crystal Cave felt murderously cold.

Thanks to the cold resistance scroll, we could move without problems, but the place was still damn freezing.

“Still, I’m glad I ended up with you, Shiro.”

“I feel the same way.”

We moved through the Crystal Cave with our bodies close together.

This wasn’t for skinship because no one else was around, but to conserve our cold resistance scrolls.

“This place is already somewhat contaminated.”

The blue ice was stained black in several places.

Since we were summoned at the starting point, we were probably advancing the slowest, but even considering that, the contamination was spreading quite rapidly.

“…Is this operation really going to be okay?”

Shiro spoke with a worried tone.

The Crystal Cave, which was conceptually between the 3rd and 4th floors rather than the 6th floor where the contamination originated, was already this polluted.

Seeing this phenomenon, it was natural to worry.

“It’ll be fine. There are many strong people among the operation participants, and even the Imperial Holy Knights have joined us.”

The advance team that had already left the cave would be positioned on the 5th floor.

For the time being, they would be securing positions on the 5th floor and preparing to break through, so we would face almost no danger.

And if Shiro’s life were ever in danger, I was prepared to protect her even at the cost of my own life.

“If you say so, then I believe it.”

“Yes. Let’s keep moving for now.”

We headed toward the end of the Crystal Cave.

…

“Let’s be careful as there might be monsters around when we exit.”

“Okay, Adel.”

After walking for quite some time, we stood before the portal leading to the 5th floor.

Since we were summoned farthest away, we hadn’t encountered anyone on our way.

The other personnel had probably already secured their positions.

‘That was lucky.’

Of course, we weren’t deliberately taking our time just to save ourselves.

The instructions for this operation were to move slowly within the limits of the scroll’s duration to conserve energy.

“I’ll go in first.”

I entered the portal with my shield raised.

-Clang!

The sound of battle immediately reached my ears.

‘Instantaneous Hardening.’

I immediately hardened my helmet while quickly surveying the surroundings.

Explorers were engaged in battle ahead, while the wounded were being treated in the back.

‘It hasn’t been breached.’

Originally, spawn locations were safe, but since the Labyrinth had been contaminated by Demonic Blood, nowhere was truly safe anymore.

I hardened my head just in case, but fortunately, the situation I was concerned about hadn’t occurred.

“…There are a lot of people.”

Shiro, who was summoned with me, looked around and stuck close to me.

She seemed uncomfortable with thousands of people gathered in the small camp.

“Indeed. But we’ll be moving with our squad separately, so I don’t think you need to worry too much.”

Our mission was to secure territory under the squad leader’s guidance.

‘Is it possible?’

The final goal was to secure one of the three areas on the 5th floor before six days passed, then advance to the 6th floor to stop the contamination.

Honestly, properly securing this vast area seemed difficult.

Thousands of mid-level explorers, Imperial Holy Knights, and high-ranking priests working together could easily dominate the 5th and 6th floors.

But our mission wasn’t that simple.

The monsters were contaminated with Demonic Blood, and we had to purify the contaminated land.

‘This will be difficult.’

It wasn’t that I feared for my life, but I questioned whether this mission could succeed.

“Ah, you’ve arrived too. Since you’re the last ones, were you summoned at the starting point?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“You’ve come just in time. Then let’s get our squad moving.”

Even as we joined the squad and headed to the operation site, one thought wouldn’t leave my mind.

If this operation failed, there would be massive losses. Shouldn’t they have deployed more personnel?

‘I don’t know.’

I just made my guess and moved on.

“Before we begin the operation, let me explain our task once more.”

The squad leader began briefing as I was organizing my thoughts.

“Our goal is not to kill as many monsters as possible, but simply to secure territory. We need to secure more of the Labyrinth’s area so the strike team can operate.”

The strike team was a unit that purified contaminated areas.

They were mainly composed of Holy Knights and upper-level adventurers.

“-And finally, there’s something else I need to tell you.”

After some time, when the operation explanation ended, the squad leader spoke with a serious expression.

“In the past few hours, two squads have gone missing. The clear reason hasn’t been discovered yet.”

It was about a strange phenomenon.

“Missing? What do you mean?”

The blue-haired mage asked with a smile.

It seemed inappropriate to smile during such a serious conversation, but he claimed he had a “smiling face” so he always maintained a smiling expression.

Honestly, it sounded like bullshit.

“The first squad had six members. While two warriors were facing monsters, the four members behind them disappeared. Their bodies were found about an hour ago.”

Everyone except the elitist priests had serious expressions.

Of course, the blue-haired mage only had serious eyes while his mouth continued to smile.

“And the second missing squad was in a similar situation, but what’s more unusual is that they discovered the bodies of the first missing people.”

“…They found the bodies, and at the same time, squad members went missing?”

“Exactly. And as if there’s some kind of rule, exactly four members of that squad went missing too, with two returning. However, they said they heard an unidentifiable sound before their squad members disappeared.”

The sudden disappearance of four people.

This situation seemed familiar.

“Keep this in mind during the operation.”

Whatever the case, we stepped into the wilderness full of monsters.

***

Honestly, the operation was boring without much tension.

After a few minutes of combat, we would report the current situation via communication magic device, then spend time securing the area.

When we heard that nearby squads had also finished their battles, we would advance again for more combat.

The battles themselves were challenging, but with so much downtime, there was plenty of time to think.

And so…

‘…The 10th floor?’

While thinking about the cause of the disappearances, I recalled the scene when I first cleared the 10th floor.

After defeating a monster that trapped people in a strange maze, the screen had brightened and we were automatically summoned to the 11th floor.

That was a space not contaminated by Demonic Blood.

‘Suddenly the ceiling broke and waves of monsters came rushing in.’

We had to block the Demonic Blood and monsters that came relentlessly from the front.

That’s why tanks were needed on the 11th floor.

Anyway.

The reason this scene suddenly came to mind was…

‘Four people.’

The mob that appeared there also took exactly four captives.

Of course, that might have been because I was in a four-person party, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that there was some similarity.

Moreover, the 10th floor was where the Demonic Blood contamination began, and even now, we were at a point not long after contamination had started.

Even if I couldn’t be certain, I couldn’t deny the similarities.

“The other squad’s battle has ended. Let’s move forward now.”

So we advanced again to engage in another battle.

We walked for tens of seconds, then for minutes.

Most of the ground was contaminated with Demonic Blood.

“Strange. There are no monsters.”

The squad leader was right.

Normally, we would encounter monsters again within 5 minutes at most.

“Ah, there’s something over there.”

The blue-haired mage pointed somewhere.

“Is it a monster?”

“No. Something seems to be flowing, but it doesn’t look contaminated with Demonic Blood…”

Some object in more than ten pieces.

As everyone’s gaze turned in that direction,

“…They’re bodies.”

Shiro muttered quietly.

“There are four heads. The bodies seem to have been dismembered.”

Four corpses.

What that meant was…

‘The missing people.’

-Crackle, crackle crackle.

An unidentifiable sound echoed.