5th Floor—Maximum level: Gold level 50.
The 5th Floor was a multi-biome floor, and the main enemies were the tribes of powerful humanoid-type monsters ruling the four core areas. Each of these areas also held the special item required for the floor boss spawning.
Blazing Leon Tribe: Ruling over the molten canyons and ash-laden deserts, these leonine beasts boasted manes of living flame and guarded their territory fiercely.
Frosthart Cyclopes: Dwelling in the glacial expanse of jagged ice cliffs, these single-eyed giants wielded colossal clubs infused with frost magic. Tough and strong.
Tempestcall Tengus: Dwelling in the glacial expanse of ice cliffs in the storm-swept peaks, these savage Tenjus nested among dangerous spires of rocks. Their forces of gale winds and crackling lightning made them formidable as they possessed relentless offense.
Verdantfang Minotaurs: Deep within mist-shrouded jungles, hulking, horned warriors prowl amidst ancient ruins overgrown by vines. Their druidic bond with the earth grants them incredible physical might and regenerative abilities.
These four areas were core territories, the largest ones on this floor as each one stretched 300 kilometers in area and occupied four sides as they bordered each other with the floor boss area in the center, but that was not all.
To reach any one of those four territories, Adventurers had to go through different outer areas stretching 100 kilometers on all sides.
The secret areas and challenges were in those four areas, so Almond and Lily rushed through the outer area.
They were riding on Argamon, the infernal equine of Ashkar, while Ashkar was in the spirit pocket.
They shortly arrived at their first area—the ruins of Nexite city. It sprawled with monsters called Nexite Vermins, who had mixed attributes of darkness and earth.
The duo rushed past it while killing monsters. Almond gained the stats by absorbing all four types of Nexite Vermins’ spirits.
They killed over fifty monsters each while rushing through, so Almond gained roughly a hundred spirit items in the production.
He was also going to put 100 spirits in Spirit Nuke slots, but not the spirits of Nexite Vermins.
For that, he planned to add the spirits of more powerful monsters to make the nuke more powerful.
The duo continued on the horse, rushing through a forest filled with different monsters and a hill area over the next three hours as they crossed 100 kilometers.
They killed hundreds of monsters, and Almond’s stats also went over 150 each, though the duo’s levels hadn’t maxed out to the limit of this floor yet since monsters above Gold level 40 only started in the core territories.
When they were less than 10 kilometers from entering the Tempestcall Tengus’ territory, Almond’s eyes glinted as he slowed down.
They entered a small, strange forest area with charred black trees with glowing red patterns as if blood.
‘This is the area…it should be just a bit ahead now,’ Almond thought as he felt familiarity.
From his recently gained memories, there was a special challenge in a secret area somewhere here that could benefit them greatly.
And Almond also took this chance to come clean, even if he felt a bit nervous about it.
“Lily, there’s a secret area right before we enter the territory of Tempestcall Tengus, and there’s a special challenge there. If we succeed, we can earn something that’d give us a good boost.”
“Oh? What is that?” Lily blinked as she turned around on the horse and faced Almond, putting her arms around his neck while smiling.
Almond put his arms around her waist, his expression plain, but his eyes hinting wryness, “That one is not a repeatable challenge like most others.”
Without stopping, he added, “And I don’t know if anyone has managed to find that area or not yet.”
“But I know exactly where that area is.”
Lily’s eyes fluttered as she blinked a few times, “So…darling, I feel you said all that just so I can ask you, how do you know about that area?”
Something clicked in her, and she added, “Is this about the lie you told me and said that you would tell me the secret later?”
“Yes,” Almond’s plain expression broke into a dry smile as he nodded.
Lily’s eyes sparkled in curiosity, “So, how do you know about that area?”
“Because…I have memories of it. I have memories of a party that found that secret area and disclosed its details to me.”
A hint of confusion appeared in Lily’s eyes, “But you just said you don’t know if anyone has found that area or not.”
“Yes,” Almond coughed. “At least, I don’t know if that happened in this world yet.”
Lily’s eyes momentarily stilled as if she was confirming whether the words she heard were correct before speaking, “This world? Wait…this world?”
Almond nodded, his expression turning serious. “Yes. I’ve been gaining memories of my past life each time I clear a floor. So far, the floors have been the same as they were in my past life, and I have memories of up to the 10th floor clearly, and some other information.”
“Wha…really?” Lily asked, but then she remembered something, and her eyes glinted. “No wonder…no wonder you behaved strangely when you held the sword first and how you were getting better faster with it. It’s related, right?”
“Yep,” Almond wryly chuckled. “I was a very good swordsman in my past life, and I improved and got strong fast, reaching the 30th Floor. I don’t know about my journey as I haven’t regained all memories, but I know something terrible happened that destroyed my world, and I was the last one standing after I somehow defeated the 30th Floor boss.”
“It’s all hazy except for the memories I gained so far. Oh yeah, the Heroic Challenge is new. I haven’t heard about it in my past life from the memories I gained so far.”
“That is…” Lily’s dreamy dark blue eyes glittered. “Amazing! That means you have a big advantage in terms of information and other stuff! That’s awesome, darling!”
“Well, yeah,” Almond smiled. “I wanted to tell you this, and I felt this was a good chance.”
Lily suddenly planted her lips on him before grinning and saying, “Well then, thank you for telling me this sooner rather than later. Now, my darling, we shall take full advantage of your advantage, haha. Tell me about the secret area we are headed to at the moment. What’s the juicy reward to get from there?”