GAA headquarters, inside a big hall.
The tables were in a circular formation with three layers.
The outermost and one inner ring were for the heads of the top 100 families and top 100 guild leaders.
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The core ring table was for the top 10 strongest family heads and top 10 guild leaders.
And in the centermost middle ring sat seventeen old people, eighteen if including Rudra, mostly above 50 and 60 years old. They were the so-called old monsters—people who were very proficient in combat and martial arts before the Labyrinth descended and became very powerful with their wisdom and insight as they grasped the magic and learned more about it faster than others.
Five meters above the center ring were also four screens that displayed the Floor Boss via Arcane Eyes sent inside.
“The main advantage we have is that the 10th Floor is large, and even though it went through major changes due to the Floor Boss spawning, it’s still bigger than the 9th floor. Should we make multiple teams to fight the boss turn by turn, using all of our powers at once to deal damage?”
“Hit and run tactics per team? Sounds good, but the problem is that not many of those present here can last long against that boss unless we have some people who can keep it occupied.”
“That boss is a giant humanoid-type lizard, walking on two legs, wielding a giant curved heavy sword for melee and a bow for long-range attacks. We only saw its bow attack once, but can I ask who can dodge or block that arrow attack aside from those seniors?”
“Its speed is faster. Even if we can perceive its movements using Focus Field, it would be hard to dodge or keep up our movement with it.”
“Why did this 10th floor’s floor Boss have to be a humanoid one? Sigh.”
The old monsters weren’t speaking for the last hour and were just watching the Floor boss while listening to others.
But Rudra finally spoke as he got up, “Alright, I have decided.”
The hall turned silent as all types of discussion stopped.
“We can all agree that this situation is dire, and if we fail to resolve it in one try, we are going to have some serious problems and unrepairable damage.”
Everyone nodded.
“So I want all of you, especially the top guilds and families, to bring out their full support. And by support, I mean the Magic Artifacts, Legendary items, and valuable one-time-use items. Only by giving our all efforts can we ensure that we will win and keep casualty low.”
“And I know,” Rudra’s eyes turned sharp and cold, his aura permeating the hall. “I know for sure we have some rats here that know exactly why we have this situation. They are the ones responsible for this situation, along with the rats that hide in the underworld.”
Rudra’s Focus Field was expanded, and he was watching and sensing everyone’s aura and fluctuation to see what reaction his words brought out from people.
“Rudra-kun, you are strongest among us and the only one who can contend with that Floor Boss head-on with your skill set and arsenal of techniques. The risk for you is higher than usual this time. Therefore, I will part with my clan’s artifact—Yata No Kagami,” a white-haired old man said while caressing his short beard.
Everyone was shocked.
Yata No Kagami was a famous mirror possessed by the old monster Shiro-sen of the Shimazu clan–one of the top 20 families. Even though it wasn’t a top 10 family due to its small size and less appearance on the outside, Shiro-sen was a bonafide veteran, one of the strongest old monsters.
There had been instances of ancient heirlooms or artifacts of the past suddenly transforming and gaining power. There were not many such instances, but each artifact possessed unique and powerful effects.
Yata No Kagami was a round mirror, and it was used along with two other artifacts on the 6th floor crisis where adventurers had died, and the Floor Boss was undefeated for over 24 hours, putting the world at a big risk.
What everyone saw that day was how that mirror absorbed a whole AOE skill of the Floor Boss and turned it into a poisonous beam back at the boss. According to the rumors, it had a cooldown of one month before being used again, but nobody was sure aside from the ones who had used the mirror.
“Tsk, alright, take my Hermes’ Winged Sandles. You’ll need them again if you are going to court death against a floor boss,” said a gray-haired man in a loose robe—Theo Gabris, the old monster from the Gabris family, one of the top ten families.
Rudra rolled his eyes, “You keep them. And you three, too.”
Rudra looked at the other three old monsters who had artifacts. “I am not going go head-on alone this time. I want support, a solid one.”
As he said this, he magic whispered to them, ‘You old coots better agree without drama. There are rats here, and there will be rats when we fight the floor boss as well. I don’t want to expose my back when I am focused against the floor boss.’
“Anyway, moving on, let me start with something important. We are not going to fight the floor boss as soon as possible. We are going fight it after we are sufficiently prepared,” Rudra said as he narrowed his eyes. “It’s time to enter the S-grade dungeons.”
“On that note, Admiral, one S-grade dungeon also appeared in my guild’s territory,” spoke Liam Sunbreak, the guild leader of the current rank 1 Proximax Guild.
The first S-grade Dungeon appeared after the 10th Floor of the Labyrinth was accessed. It’s been over three months since then, so more were bound to spawn, albeit at a very low rate.
Rudra nodded at Liam and swept his glance at others, “I want locations of all S-grade dungeon doors. Do not withhold this information because it is important. No guild or family alone is capable of clearing them right now without the help of the strongest people here, and this Floor Boss fight will be delayed by 24 hours for sure, which will make the dungeons fill up their border gauge faster.”
“We don’t want any S-grade dungeon to have a dungeon break, as that would result in massive destruction. I am also going to use the new satellites we have launched along with Tower of Arcane to sweep the whole planet for the S-grade dungeon doors.”
“So, you better disclose the location now, or I will personally hold a grudge and doubt about you forever,” Admiral Rudra finished speaking, making many breaks into cold sweat.
In the following minute, a total of six S-grade dungeon doors were reported, four by the guilds and two by some families.
“Good. Aside from these six, we have six more S-grade dungeon doors that we know of,” Admira Rudra nodded. “We will make twelve strongest parties and dive into those dungeons. The goal is to get valuable rewards from them to increase our chances against the 10th Floor’s floor boss.”
“S-grade dungeon could give us legendary items since A-rank dungeons did not, so this is indeed the best course of action to handle the matter,” said Silvester Duncan with a nod. “If there’s a Legendary sword, I would love to use one.”
“If there’s a legendary sword, then it is I who should use it,” said Arata Ryugiri, the old monster from the Ryugiri clan—one of the top 10 families.
“Alright, stop it right here,” Rudra snorted. “It’s time to create twelve teams properly to clear those dungeons. We must decide the teams within half an hour, so let’s get started.”
[A/N: Btw, please give points to Almond in the character sheet for the character event 😀 Oh and Almond and Lily both have new character illustrations.]