10. The Leader

After about two more hours, I arrived at the place with the portal to the fifth floor. There’s a base here as well.

How far did I fall, there’s no easy way to get here.

“Are you a bronze grade? Going to the fifth floor alone?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“That’s amazing. To be honest, I went with a party of four when I was bronze grade. Even had an iron grade explorer help us midway.”

“Is that okay?”

“It’s not really a big problem. It’s rare for one or two people to go from bronze to lead. If you nitpick about everything, there’s no end to it.”

Did I make a mistake trying to do it alone? Originally, the rule was to go to the fifth floor with a party. But I got stubborn and told the guy I partied with that I would do it alone.

There are very few solo adventurers. Without skills related to mobility, it takes at least a day to reach the fifth floor. Sleeping in the dungeon without a watchman is very dangerous.

“Alright. Are we going now?”

“Yes, we should. I met an unusual person, so it took a bit longer.”

I took a nap at the base as well. It wasn’t a long sleep, just about three more hours. But it’s better to keep the minimum sleep time.

Is it already around 3 o’clock?

“Good luck. You’re going straight back from the 5th floor, right?”

“Probably. Is there anything I should be careful about?”

I’ve only been to the 5th floor once before, but that time I was lucky enough to land near the portal and reached it in 20 minutes. I didn’t encounter anything threatening, nor did I see any of the elements I was warned about.

“From the 5th floor, goblins come out of the mountains. Other than that, there’s not much difference.”

“That’s true.”

From the 5th floor, it’s not just beasts, but real monsters like goblins appear. Each individual isn’t very strong, but they use threatening weapons like stone axes and stone spears.

It would be nice to land close to the portal.

“I’m going.”

“Take care.”

* * * * *

Swoosh –

“It’s a mountain.”

The moment I crossed the portal and my feet touched the ground, the piled-up leaves slipped and flowed down the sloped surface.

“The portal is over there.”

As I remember, the 5th floor portal is in the middle of the forest. I need to get out of the mountain area quickly. Fortunately, the portal is in the direction of going down the mountain. It’s much better than going uphill right away.

“Hmm.”

There’s a mountain on the way, so I might have to take a slight detour.

Since it’s a mountain, there are all sorts of ordinary beasts that haven’t been affected by magic. Even though my physical abilities improve at night, during the day, the visibility is clear, so I’m less worried than at night.

Other animals are also active at this time, so there are many things that catch my senses. But there are no particularly threatening ones.

“I should run.”

Staying in the mountain for too long only increases mental fatigue, and meaningless omnidirectional detection dulls my vigilance.

Fortunately, it seems I wasn’t in the center of the mountain. After continuously descending for about 30 minutes, I saw flat terrain. Since I took a detour around the dangerous path, the direction indicated by the compass had slightly changed.

I need to quickly go and stamp the return stone on the 5th floor and get promoted to lead grade.

—So, you have to climb the mountain from here?

—The direwolf should be in the forest, right? Climbing the mountain doesn’t seem like a good idea.

I heard human voices. The first voice was a peculiarly cracked male voice, and then a female voice that could be described as beautiful.

‘They are beastmen.’

The woman was a beastman. A cat? A fox? A wolf? I don’t know. She has orange fur.

The man…

‘An orc.’

Ordinary orcs have low intelligence and can’t speak so calmly. Roughly… Human!! Fight!! Kill!! That kind of feeling.

He must be a human with the [Orc] skill.

“Oh. It’s a person.”

“Good day.”

“Did you come down from the mountain?”

The orc man asked me a question.

“Yes. I’m heading to the portal.”

“Did you see a big wolf in the mountain?”

“Are you talking about the big wolf?”

“Yes. I heard that the leader of the direwolves is here.”

According to the female beastkin, there were reports that the leader of the direwolves appeared in the northeast of the 5th floor where I am currently located. Why did I have to end up in such a dangerous place?

“I haven’t seen it. I just arrived on the 5th floor. I reached the lower part of the mountain and haven’t had a chance to look around the upper part.”

“I see. You should be careful. They say it’s incredibly strong.”

“Are you planning to catch it with just the two of you?”

“We’re scouts. We’re of lead rank, but we’re not strong enough to catch the leader.”

Aren’t scouts supposed to be fast? I know that beastkin are incredibly good runners. Surprisingly, the orcs have the [Light Footwork] skill, so they have no problem running away.

A fat orc with light feet? That’s an interesting story.

“Well then, see you.”

“If you find it, scream first. There should be quite a few people around here.”

“Yes.”

As they said, I encountered quite a few people. I ran into about four teams, one every ten minutes. They were fast-moving parties of two.

Direwolves don’t usually live in the mountains, but their main habitat is the forest. From the 5th floor of the labyrinth, goblins occupy most of the caves in the mountains.

In terms of individual combat power, direwolves are about equal or slightly superior, but goblins live in tribes of at least 30 in one cave.

Naturally, it’s easier for higher-ranking individuals to emerge, and for that reason, direwolves rarely share the same living range as goblins.

For a leader to emerge from a group of monsters, there needs to be a large pack. For the direwolves to increase their numbers, they need to go to the forest. Other people know this too.

As expected, the number of scouts increased as we got closer to the forest.

It seems likely that the wolf is here, but at least there are many lead-ranked scouts around. If I were to be in danger, it would be better to stay here.

One of the people I met said there was a reward for reporting if they found it. Others are probably aiming for that too.

After that, we walked for about another hour. We moved away from the mountain and entered an ordinary forest again, with thick trees similar to those on the fourth floor starting to grow. We took a 30-minute break, drinking water from our canteens and eating grain cubes, then continued forward.

Now, if we just cross this low hill, it will be forest all the way to the portal.

‘Bloodstains.’

The blood was stretched out in a long line, leading to a direwolf corpse far to the right. Upon closer inspection, it wasn’t killed by human hands.

‘Cannibalism?’

There were two direwolf corpses with messy wounds. Judging by the long trail of blood, it seemed they had walked a long distance while injured. Did they fight each other? These creatures dominate the lower floors with their teamwork.

‘Is it the work of the alpha?’

In small packs, there’s no reason to fight. Even if they do, it wouldn’t be to the death. Unless it’s a large pack where the alpha eliminates those it dislikes…

The corpses hadn’t completely cooled yet. It was hard to determine the time of death since they had walked a long distance while bleeding.

I put a grain cube in my mouth and chewed slowly as I followed the direction of the blood trail. The side opposite the corpses seemed to lead to a group that included the alpha.

‘Is it the instinct of the direwolf?’

It’s not just the instinct of the direwolf species, but a common instinct among most monsters. Higher-ranking individuals eliminate competitors that threaten their safety.

“Fortunately, it’s in the direction of the portal.”

The direction the injured wolf was heading was towards the portal. The alpha must be in the opposite direction.

If we stay here, we might actually run into the direwolf alpha.

Or so I thought.

“Damn it.”

I can feel it. The presence of the alpha nearby. It’s coming from the direction of the portal.

My body trembles involuntarily. They have settled in the direction I’m heading.

The injured ones weren’t fleeing from the alpha. They were returning after a hunt.

Walking in the direction of the bloodstains was the problem. I should have gone somewhere else entirely.

Quickly, I pulled out a shield with my left hand and gripped a sword in my right. I ran straight to the right from here. There’s one on the way to the portal, so I have to take a big detour.

No, wait. Haven’t I already been discovered? I sensed it, so it probably sensed me too.

If the direwolf runs in earnest, no matter how hard I try, I won’t be able to escape. Do I have to fight? Alone?

‘I moved far away from the search range. There were no scouts around here.’

My whole body turned cold. The sound of my heartbeat echoed loudly in my ears, as if my heart had crawled up to my brain.

Can I win if I fight? It’s worth a try. If it were the usual me, I’d surely die.

I don’t have the combat power to catch it, and even if I somehow did, I’d surely die from the wounds.

But now?

‘As long as I don’t die immediately.’

Just like the other night, if I sleep and wake up, the wounds might heal. I don’t care if I get hurt.

Every moment, its presence gets closer. If I crawl out from beside this tree where I’m hiding, I feel like I’ll see it soon.

The leader is also wary of me. Yeah. It’s lived a long time, so it must have that level of intelligence.

“Hoo…”

—Thud, thud.

I stepped out from the tree trunk where I was hiding and revealed myself. As I expected, a pack of direwolves, including the leader, was staring at me.

—Click.

I drank half of the water in my canteen and poured the cold water over my head. I took out the remaining four grain cubes, stuffed them into my mouth, and chewed and swallowed them with the water. I didn’t need the pouch anymore, so I unbuckled my belt and threw it on the ground.

“Damn, it’s huge. The leader lives up to its name.”

The leader, standing at the back of the pack, fixed its bright yellow eyes on me. It was 1.5 times taller than a typical direwolf. It had a large mouth and ferocious fangs to match.

The day had come, dulling the sharp senses of the night. Must be why I didn’t notice so many dire wolves prowling around.

‘Even the alpha… about 14 of them, I’d guess.’

Even though it’s daytime, my physical abilities are much better than last time. They’re heightened at night, sure, but it’s not like they’ve weakened during the day.

I loosened up my body, shifting my feet in light steps back and forth, circulating the blood.

Damn, they’re cautious. Still standing stock-still like that.

“Come on, you b*tches. I’ll kill you.”

I slicked back my wet hair and cracked my neck.

ㅡAwooo!!!

The dire wolf pack started charging.