CH 201

“Totto!”

We return to the staircase, and Joshua comes running when he sees Totto.

The other members of Light of Hope follow him, and are surprised to see his worn-out equipment, and perplexed by how exhausted he looks.

“W-what happened?”

“We’ll talk more after we get back. First I need to go to the g…”

He says before suddenly feeling heavy and fainting.

All the tension he was packing was suddenly released when he felt relieved about seeing familiar faces, or the staircase.

“Sorry, but can you look after him?”

“Y-yes. You can leave him with us.”

I leave Totto with one of Joshua’s partners, and quickly explain what I heard on the way here. How Leila and her party are alone on the twenty-eighth floor, and are in danger.

“T-that’s terrible. We need to go to the guild right away and report this.”

Says Joshua, and his party all use the device to return one after the other.

I watch them go, but don’t move.

“Sora?”

Chris is the first one to notice this.

Then it’s Hikari. Everyone walking towards the device, including the last member of Light of Hope, Joshua, turns around.

“Sora, are you hesitating?”

Hearing that gives me a little jolt.

I actually am. If I cool my head and think about it, I really should report to the guild and let them handle this.

But how long will it take for them to put a rescue team together and send them here?

It would be one thing if this was a normal field, but this is a dungeon. I don’t know how many people are exploring, but how many of them can go all the way to the twenty-eighth floor?

And if we leave, can we come back right away? I feel like there were restrictions to those devices. Was it about when we enter? When we leave?

I can’t remember.

I raise my head, and see twelve worried eyes pointed at me.

If I didn’t decide to check out this floor and just used the device to go back. If I didn’t rescue Totto. If I didn’t hear about it. If it wasn’t Leila and her party in that situation.

A lot of ifs run around inside my head, but I already reached a conclusion.

If I’m being honest, I want to go save them.

I still have food and disposable items in the Item Box. From that point of view at least, we’re good to go.

But in front of us is a floor we haven’t explored yet, not to mention that the monster on the twenty-eighth floor is one that shouldn’t be there.

The risk is too big. I can’t drag my partners into this.

“Let’s go back.”

I take one step forward, but a voice stops me.

“…Is that really what you want? Aren’t you going to regret it?”

Chris’ words feel heavy.

I can’t tell her I won’t. I thought and thought, and this is where it got me.

“I don’t know, but…”

I look at everyone, one at a time.

They say people’s lives are all worth the same, but they’re not. My partners in front of me are much more important. If put on a scale, it’s clear as day which side will be heavier.

“If you’re not sure about it, we should go there.”

“I think so too, master.”

“That’s right Sora, regret never goes away.”

Rurika says that while looking into the distance, like she’s remembering something.

It’s like she’s saying that to herself, not me.

“…Are you sure? It’ll be dangerous.”

“Of course it will. It’s you, after all.”

Mia seems happy as she whispers that, for some reason.

And for some reason everyone nods.

“Sorry Joshua, but I think we have to go. We’ll turn back if it’s too much for us.”

“I see. Then take what’s left of the disposable items you gave me.”

“All right. Thanks.”

“They were yours to begin with.”

I put everything in the Item Box, and we start walking after checking our equipment.

“Be careful out there!”

We are cheered from behind us while we think about how to proceed.

I should’ve asked Totto to tell me more about the route there.

Then again, it would be one thing if we had a map, but it would’ve taken too long for him to explain everything.

I can’t see the staircase on Map, even if I infuse it with magic energy to increase its area.

Should I just pump all my magic energy into it? Probably not. I don’t think I should use disposable items on something I’m not even sure will work.

We should go where we found Totto first, then talk about what to do from there.

This time we’re in a hurry, so I take the lead with Hikari, and Sera and Rurika go in the back. But Sera will move forward if we have to fight.

It feels wrong somehow, but if there was a trail of Totto’s blood, we could follow it. But just like monster corpses, it disappears after some time.

Actually, did he get hurt after coming here?

I guess we have to rely on our intuition, go through this place with a fine-tooth-comb, and look for where he came from.

I’ve used wind magic to check the airflow to look for the staircase before, but the dungeon gets wider the further down we go, so that would take a lot of time and MP.

Still, are there any skills that can help me here?

I don’t think there are any skills that can tell me the right path or anything, but… I open the status screen to check my skills, and Chris takes a step forward.

“Sora, I have an idea.”

She looks serious, like she made up her mind about something, or just made a decision. I see a strong will in her eyes.