16 hours later.
[Floor 99 has been cleared! Proceed through the portal to enter the next floor!]
Zach glanced at Victoria, who looked anxious to pass through the portal.
Out of the 60 guild members (35 male and 25 female), 30 (17 males and 13 females) retreated as they ran out of MP and got exhausted because of long fights.
Now, only Zach, Aria, Victoria, and 30 guild members had left.
Zach patted Victoria's back and said, "You can retreat if you want to."
Victoria shook her head and said, "I am just anxious thinking what type of boss would be on the next floor. Since it's the 100th floor and there is a single boss, then it will be strong, right?"
"The 75th floor was different. And the boss was unbeatable by a player. So I don't think the next boss is going to be stronger than that. The bosses on the 95th floor were tough but not unbeatable," Zach asserted.
"But… what if the next boss is the same as the soul eater too?"
Zach shrugged his shoulders and said, "I don't know. That's why, you should retreat with your guild members."
"No."
Victoria turned to her guild members and said, "There are chances that the next floor can turn out like the 75th floor, so if any of you want to retreat, they can walk out of the other portal!"
The guild members glanced at each other as though they were considering retreating. It was a natural thing to do; everyone was afraid to die after all. And the worst death was to get obliterated by a monster for no reason.
After talking with each other for a while, 25 guild members walked forward and uttered, "We want to retreat."
"No problem." Victoria pointed her hand at the portal and said, "You may leave."
"Umm… will you be okay?" one of the female guild members asked.
Victoria smiled at her and said, "Don't worry about me."
She then looked at Zach and said, "I have someone who will protect me."
The 25 guild members left, and only five remained.
Victoria looked at them and said, "I will say this again; you can leave if you want to. There is no need to worry about me."
"My girlfriend died on the 75th floor. So I want to avenge her death by growing strong and defeating the gods with my own hands," one guild member said.
"My friend died too."
"I want to help everyone out."
"I don't care about my life."
"I want to be one of the first ones who cleared up to the 100th floor," the fifth guild member said.
Victoria opened her mouth to say something, but Zach stopped her by placing his hand on her shoulder.
He stepped forward and said, "With your current attitude and mindset, you can't do anything. If you decide to pass through that portal to enter the next floor, then it's your responsibility to save your lives. Don't expect us to save you; we have our own lives to save."
"…"
After a brief pause, Zach continued, "If you are not ready or confident, then don't come with us. You will die, and your story will end, but there are people who have to live with the guilt of not being able to save you. So unless you think you will survive, it's better if you retreat. At least, you will get to live to see the new sun."
After that, the floor was filled with nothing but silence.
Sure, Zach's words were harsh, but he didn't mean anything bad by it. He just wanted the players to realize that things wouldn't always go as they planned.
Even Zach wasn't sure what type of boss would be on the next floor. It could be a normal boss. Or it could also be yet another unbeatable boss made to annihilate everyone.
Zach was ready to take the risk, and so were Victoria and Aria. He already knew they both were strong, so he didn't have to worry about saving them. They possessed the power to protect themselves, and maybe the guild members did too. But one can't think straight in front of death's door.
Out of the five guild members, 4 of them retreated.
'This guy's girlfriend died on the 75th floor, so he is probably going through a lot. There are chances that he wants to die, but he was performing well in the last floors.'
The floors after the 90th were random. There were random monsters, and all the floors were boss floors.
Some floors were mixed with various bosses from the previous floor. The climate, monster type, and the monster spawning were different, but the difficulty level was the same.
Zach led Victoria and Aria's hand and smiled at them.
"Let's do it," he said in a calm voice.
"Yeah."
Not knowing what type of calamity was waiting for them, Zach, Victoria, Aria, and the last guild member passed through the portal and entered the 100th floor.
At first, the 100th floor seemed like a normal floor. But its structure and climate were confusing, making it impossible for them to guess the monster type. There was a puddle between the rocks, but nothing extraordinary.
They walked to the center and waited for the boss to spawn, but even after five minutes, nothing happened.
"…"
Victoria glanced at Zach and asked, "Do you think the monster will spawn?"
"It should…" Zach muttered.
"But we have been waiting for 4 minutes now," Aria remarked.
"Oh!" Zach exclaimed and said, "The floors reset every 10 minutes, right?!"
Victoria nodded in response.
"So there are chances that someone else just cleared this floor?" Zach wondered. "Because I can't think of any other possibility."
"True…" Victoria pondered for a while and muttered, "But what are the odds?"
However, Zach's guess was wrong.
The boss of the 100th floor had already spawned, and it was watching every movement of Zach and the others.
Slowly, the water level from the puddle rose and flooded the floor.
"…!"
***
Total players in the game- 1,496,452
100,000 new players logged in.
476 players died.
====
Author's Note- Water…