"I ask again. Does any of you wishes to surrender? Speak your mind now."
I said to them.
Silence did not stay for long this time.
"You said that we're called here to fight. So I won't back down. I will stay by your side and keep fighting."
Jonah was the first to speak up.
"Can't you return these utensils to the table? If I would give up, I would had died on the fifth floor."
Shanny said nonchalantly, she was eager to resume her dinner.
"Um, you said we need to reach the 100th floor to return home. I don't plan to just sit and watch you guys do it for me either. That's not how I was raised."
Trudy added.
"Forgive me if my words earlier had caused an upset. But to be on the battlefield has been my calling. If it is not, I would had hung my bow years ago."
The gray-haired Darius stated.
With their admittance to our cause of climbing the tower, I gently smiled at them and returned the knives and forks to their places on the finely-carved wooden table.
"Then I look forward to keep working with you people."
As if nothing ever happened, we resumed with our evening meals.
Once we reached dessert, we heard people walking up the stairs.
"It seems Party 2 are just returning."
Trudy said.
"The record does takes hours to be watched."
Darius commented.
Earlier that day the fairy distributed Replay Stones to each of the Party 2 members.
Master made them watch the fifth floor trial now that their party arrangement was fixed.
If they were to pose as the secondary party that would replace Party 1 should we fell in battle, they needed to witness the kind of fight we fought.
We observed Party 2 as they passed the dining room on the way to their bedrooms.
Zecht and Norn seemed uneasy, a little troubled. But the others were entirely distraught.
Tarran, Maddock, and Luan were pale like snow.
Their gazes were hollow. Shoulders drooped. Steps were as heavy as anvils.
They looked so preoccupied with stress and spaced out that I doubted they even noticed the rest of us in the dining room.
Party 2 knew the purpose of their formation, which was to replace Party 1 should we were eliminated.
It must had been hard on them to learn the kind of burden they would shoulder if we were gone.
And the next time Party 1 entered the rift, we would learn how soon we would continue carrying such burden.
[Serafina, Jonah, Shanny, Trudy, Darius! Come to the square!]
The fairy called us the next morning.
As we walked down from the second floor, I turned to my comrades, precisely to the leather pouches strapped on their waists.
"Does everyone have their potions?"
I asked.
Having made dozens of intermediate health potions, I asked Gerrits and the crafters to create belt pouches so we could carry the potion vials to the trial.
Thanks to their equipment, each person could carry three health potions with them.
Their usage was simple. You needed only to pour the health potion on your wounds or drink it if the wounds were plenty and, especially, if they were internal, such as broken bones or punctured organs.
I had told my party that information when I distributed the potions, though Darius had experience of using such potions during his mercenary days.
"Yes. We're all set."
Jonah said on behalf of the others.
His eyes ran down around my waist, puzzled as to why I did not wear my pouch belt.
"Don't worry. I have mine tucked safely in my dress."
I shifted a hanging fabric of the dress covering my oblique, revealing hidden pockets where three vials of potion were kept. That was the most I could bring with my magic dress.
He soon noticed something else from the potions I had with me.
"The liquid on two of your vials is blue. Not red like ours."
"That's because these are not health potions. They are mana potions."
During the three days of inactivity, I managed to enter the Weekday Dungeon and gather the necessary materials for mana potions.
I could only make two vials from my trips, but these should be enough.
Two vials would be enough to prevent me from experiencing mana overflow on the fifth floor. So it should be enough for the sixth floor if we were to face the same challenge.
And since I would not be engaging the enemies head on, risking less wounds than my comrades, I only needed to bring one health potion with me.
Though I could always open the dimensional portal and replenish them if we needed more.
[Open the rift of space and time!]
The fairy shouted with exaggerated pose once we arrived at the first floor square.
We then entered the glowing stone gate and poured into the mirrored chamber.
I stared at the shining mirror on the furthest left.
[Climb the tower and save the world!]
[Main Dungeon]
[Floor conquered - 5 -]
Five floors cleared so far.
Ninety-five more to go.
Today we would reduce it to ninety-four.
The shining mirror glowed even brighter and we were soon began to be enveloped in bluish-white light.
My comrades readied their fighting stances.
"Remember to stay calm and keep your focus no matter what. Quickly assess the situation once we arrived, even before the mission window appeared."
I told them. The others replied with an agreeing nod.
The light completely engulfed us and we felt our environment shifting.
Cold breeze brushed my skin.
My nose and lungs felt the air thinning.
Once the otherworldly light diminished, it got replaced by piercing sun rays.
We found ourselves standing on the top of a tall sloping cliff, overlooking a grand valley.
Though seeing the cliff stretched far by the side of high mountain ridges, it would be more appropriate to call it a mountain path.
The region we were at were vast and towering, differ from the grand flat plain on the fifth floor and below.
No enemies in sight, not yet.
My comrades and I still maintained our fighting stances and observed our environment for a few more long seconds.
It was then that the mission window appeared before us.
[Floor 6]
[Mission Type – Exploration]
[Goal – Investigate the unknown area!]