Chapter 857 - 428: The Peculiar Lord
After Gauss’s Red Dragon Team commenced their official exploration on the 5th floor, other adventurers gradually received information that the 5th floor had opened.
Adventurers from the 4th floor began to gather in large numbers.
"Everyone, do a final check of your equipment."
Everyone knew the dangers of entering a new floor.
The deeper you go, the higher the probability of encountering high-level monsters.
On the 4th floor, most high-level demons are predominantly Level 5 and below, while the probability of encountering a Level 6 commander-level demon is relatively low.
But the deeper you go into the maze, the chances of encountering higher-level monsters increase rapidly.
Although all adventure groups have master-level professionals capable of battling commander-level demons, it doesn’t mean they are immune to the threats posed by such demons.
Real battles aren’t like a game world, where it’s about comparing numbers and levels, one on one, troops against troops.
The complexity of real-world battles is much higher; even an overlooked variable could lead to a team’s annihilation like an avalanche.
Especially for low-level professionals lacking self-protection capability, this is even more so.
Their physical strength and magic power are both limited; once caught in a demon beast tide, they face a deadly crisis. They can only rely on their weapons, teammates, and items and potions they carry.
The passageway to the 5th floor was crowded.
Although mainly adventure groups, within these groups were smaller teams.
Unlike wild solo teams, these smaller teams were better coordinated, and their members formed more rationally.
Warriors were responsible for the front line, casters and archers provided support firepower, and priests carried bags ready to cast healing spells and enhancement spells at any time.
Occasionally, you could see Great Shield Masters and Knights, Bards and Druids.
Almost everyone kept four or five low-level health or mana potions within easy reach.
The reason for not carrying more was because the short-term recovery effect of potions is limited; in a battle, only a few might genuinely help.
No matter how many you gulp down like water, it’s hard to be effective; potions require time to take effect, and multiple simultaneous intakes don’t enhance the effect.
Drinking too much briefly can weaken the effect.
In other words, even if you want to rely on potion usage, becoming a potion addict, you need a unique body talent, like Gauss’s talent ’Feast’.
"I heard that the Red Dragon Team, who conquered the 4th floor, has already entered the 5th floor."
"That was only a few hours ago. Why do the group leaders seem so anxious?"
Some ordinary adventurer members didn’t understand.
All they knew was that the Red Dragon Team supposedly had an extremely powerful leader, who found and killed the 4th floor’s lord demon ahead of other adventure groups.
Afterward, many adventure groups approached the Red Dragon Team for cooperation, buying parts of the monster corpse materials.
But now they weren’t much slower than the Red Dragon Team, was it necessary to rush here?
Only some members with inside knowledge in the team glanced at them helplessly.
"How long do you think it took the Red Dragon Team to kill the lord after reaching the 4th floor? I heard it was only a day."
"If you’re slow, you won’t even get the soup, let alone the meat."
After gathering personnel, teams quickly queued up to flood into the passage.
Of course, this was still the result of numerous adventure groups consulting; stronger teams walked in front, while solo teams followed all adventure groups.
After passing through the long stair passage and reaching the 5th floor, they were greeted by an extremely quiet cave.
"Captain Gauss and his team aren’t here."
"It seems the Red Dragon Team has left."
Upon not discovering any members of the Red Dragon Team, adventure group members exchanged glances.
Soon, numerous scout teams received orders and scattered like birds leaving the nest.
What felt even stranger was that as they left the cave to explore the surroundings, the environment was unusually quiet. Not to mention a decent monster nest, even the demons encountered on the road were scarce.
This abnormality instead made the scout teams uneasy.
"Captain, I didn’t see any traces of demons on my side."
"I didn’t see any on the side I searched either."
"I found a charred cave."
"..."
They only felt as if they weren’t in a perilous maze but rather going for an outing.
"Let’s go back to report the situation first."
The scene before them was so bizarre that scout teams instinctively didn’t dare to stray too far away.
Upon returning to the exit camp, several adventure groups exchanged information, sensing something wrong.
All teams hadn’t collected any useful information in any direction outside the camp.
Just one burned scene after another, or places that seemed like "people gone", resembling nest sites.
"No matter how fast Captain Gauss and his team act, they can’t be that efficient, right?"
Some adventure group leaders were baffled.
"Do you think they might have found the 5th floor’s lord demon again?"
Someone suddenly recalled an incident that occurred on the 4th floor.
Numerous demons converged on a place as if guided by some intangible force.