Chapter 72

With Vasileios having joined Draco, Nikolaos, and Dimitra in the magic stones gathering group, the process went much faster.

Soon, they had completed the task of gathering the scattered stones.

After which, Draco decided to let everyone rest and have the lunch he had packed before moving on to the next floor.

The group had managed to collect a total of 167 killer ant magic stones.

Draco recalled that these stones typically fetched around 800 to 1,100 Valis per stone.

He estimated that they would need approximately 300-350 stones to make the day's endeavour worthwhile.

He was slightly concerned, as they had already spent a considerable amount of time farming the ants and only acquired that much.

It was quite different from the earlier floors, where they could gather a larger amount from weaker monsters in the same time frame.

This was the primary reason Draco decided to move to the next floor, hoping the spawn times would be faster, and the variety of monsters would increase from the 6th floor.

One such new monster was the frog shooter, a large frog with a single, large eye that allowed it to spot prey from afar and accurately strike with its extremely long tongue.

Another new threat was the purple moth, whose wings contained poisonous powder that it would spread through the air with each flap, making it a nuisance for inexperienced adventurers with low resistance to the poison.

The needle rabbit was another dangerous monster, rarely seen in the 6th floor but abundant from the 7th floor onward.

This seemingly cute, rabbit-like creature was quite fast on its feet and had a horn that could easily pierce through low-quality armour.

However, not all the new monsters were threatening.

The Blue papillo, for instance, was a harmless creature whose wings secreted a powder with healing properties, making it a valuable ingredient for certain potions.

Draco felt confident that with this increased monster variety, they would be able to meet their quota.

As everyone finished their lunch, reenergized, they began their descent into the 6th floor.

Clair's mind, however, was occupied with the cryptic words Vasiliki had said earlier.

‘Just what did Vasiliki mean by that?’ she wondered, unable to get it out of her head.

Michalis, noticing Clair's distracted state, asked in concern, "Clair, are you okay? You seem a bit unfocused." he said.

Clair's thoughts raced, ‘Oh, Michalis. Should I try teasing him like Vasiliki said? No, my mind is not prepared to do something so embarrassing yet,’ she thought.

"Ah, it's nothing." she hastily replied.

"If you say so," Michalis muttered, turning his gaze forward.

Now on the 6th floor, Draco began sending out pulses of energy to scan the surrounding area for monsters and nearby adventurers.

It didn't take long for him to have a picture of the surrounding area, monsters and adventurers, but his senses picked up on an odd situation.

"What is going on?" Draco murmured, his brow furrowed in concentration.

He focused spreading his energy further, trying to get a clearer picture of the situation.

……………………………………………………………..

Earlier, Draco's magic pulse had picked up a group of 4 adventurers and someone who was likely their supporter walking towards them.

He judged the person to be a supporter because they were the only one carrying a large backpack.

Draco and his familia were currently about two corridors away from the entrance leading from the 6th to the 5th floor, so he believed that the adventurers were likely heading back to the surface.

Draco had quickly decided to lead his familia on another path to avoid meeting the approaching group.

However, when he scanned the area again to reconfirm the location of the approaching group, they were all lying on the ground, likely dead.

The anomaly was that his senses didn’t pick up on any monsters in the area, but it had picked up on an oddly shaped humanoid figure curled up within a space in the wall, which made him extremely curious about the whole situation.

"Is something wrong?" Vasiliki asked Draco, as he had been standing still in the same spot for a while.

Draco didn't bother hiding the situation and explained it to them.

"I picked up a group of adventurers and their supporter heading this way, but when I checked again, they were all lying on the ground, likely dead. What's strange is that my didn’t senses picked up on something in the wall. We might need to investigate this." he said.

"I see, could it be a new monster?," Clair asked after listening to his explanation.

“I don’t know but we should check it out” Draco replied.

The others simply nodded in agreement, and with that, the Bahamut familia went towards the scene of the incident.

Upon reaching the location, the familia weren’t surprised to see the dead bodies, as they had already expected it.

First, Draco scanned a small area around the bodies in case he had missed anything due to distance.

‘As expected, it’s still in the wall,' he thought.

"Stay back, there might be poison around," Draco cautioned, his nose picking up on a subtle sweet smell.

He was naturally resistant to various poisons as a dragon kin, so it was right for him to approach first.

Additionally, he was the strongest in the group, so he could respond faster in case this was some sort of trap.

"Well, I highly doubt that. The pool of blood around the bodies says otherwise," Michalis muttered, earning him a hit on the head from Clair.

Draco carefully approached the bodies, his keen eyes scanning for any clues that could reveal the cause of their demise.

There were three men and two women who had met a brutal end, their bodies littered with stab wounds and bearing a peculiar sweet scent that piqued his curiosity.

‘Could it be poison?’ he wondered, his brow furrowing in concentration.

As he examined the scene, Draco noted that the supporter, was the only one among the group, who had the sweet smell coming from only her hands.

This observation sparked further intrigue, leading him to suspect that the cause of death was more complex than he initially thought.

He also detected little signs of struggle, leading him to deduce that the adventurers were killed brutally after being incapacitated by poison.

The supporter on the other hand, was killed with one unexpected blow.

Suddenly, Draco's sharp ears detected a faint sound emanating from a dark crevice a short distance away from the bodies.

Signalling his companions to be on alert, he cautiously approached the opening, prepared to face any potential danger.

Removing the loose rock, Draco peered into the crevice, his eyes quickly adjusting to the low light.

There, crouched in the shadows, he spotted a figure, seemingly hiding from view.

Without hesitation, Draco called out, "Come out! We know you're there. It's best if you surrender now, rather than forcing us to drag you out." he warned.

The figure stirred, and a pair of eyes gleamed in the darkness. Slowly, a man emerged, his bloody hands raised in a gesture of surrender.

"Please, don't hurt me," he pleaded, his voice trembling.

Draco studied the man, taking note of his disheveled appearance and the sharp glare in his eyes.

"What happened here?" he demanded, his voice stern yet tinged with curiosity.

The man hesitated, glancing nervously at the bodies of the adventurers and the supporter.

"I... I didn't mean for it to happen. It was an accident," he stammered.

Draco narrowed his eyes, sensing the man's evasiveness.

"An accident? Explain yourself, and be truthful. We're not in the mood for games," he warned.

The man swallowed hard, his gaze darting from one member of the Bahamut familia to the next.

"I...I was just trying to survive. My party got wiped out on the 11th floor, but I managed to escape and hide with my special skill. I was exhausted from the ordeal and decided to take refuge in this small crevice to rest. Monsters don't typically spawn in tight spaces like this, so I thought I'd be safe," the man paused, his gaze darting quickly around the dimly lit cavern.

‘Oh, an odd but interesting piece of information to know,’ Draco mused, his expression unreadable as he listened intently.

The man continued, "While I was resting, I heard a strange sound and peeked out. To my horror, I witnessed the supporter there betray her companions, poisoning them and then brutally stabbing them. I couldn't believe my eyes." The man's voice trembled, a hint of guilt and remorse evident in his tone.

"Seeing it as a chance to reclaim what I had lost on the 11th floor, I thought I could ambush her and take their possessions. I had lost everything, and the desperation had clouded my judgment. I know it was wrong, and they didn't deserve to die like that." The man's shoulders slumped in defeat, his eyes downcast.

Draco listened intently, his expression unreadable as he evaluated the man's story.

He could sense the man's fear and desperation, but there was also a lingering hint of deception in his words.

"So you're telling me that you attacked her, and they died as a result of the supporter's betrayal?" Draco asked, his voice low and dangerous.

The man nodded, his gaze meeting Draco's.

"Yes, I...I didn't mean to kill her. It just happened so fast. I'm sorry, I'm so sorry." he apologized.

Draco exchanged a glance with his familia, their expressions mirroring his own.

They could all sense the same thing – the man had likely told some truth, but it was mixed with lies.

"What is your name?" Draco asked, his tone softening slightly, as if to offer a glimmer of understanding.

The man hesitated, then replied, "My name is Elias. I...I don't know what to do now. I'm so afraid." he said.

“By the way, what level are you?, and what level were your party members and their number?” Draco asked.

“Why do you ask ?” Elias questioned, defensively evading the question.

Draco's expression darkened, and he spoke with a chilling certainty.

"Well, Elias, I regret to inform you that you might be dying here for lying." he threatened.

Elias' eyes widened, his bloody hands immediately reaching for his back pocket.

Draco had detected several lies and inconsistencies in Elias' story.

First and foremost, the claim that his party was wiped out on the 11th floor was possibly a blatant lie.

The 11th and 12th floor were known to be a relatively difficult area for a level 1 adventurer, requiring a minimum of B stats to transverse.

Additionally judging from his strength, Elias at best had some of his stats around the E range, Draco was quite sensitive to the strength of others.

The average adventurer with a hint of common sense wouldn’t add a liability like him to their party when going that deep.

It was also highly unlikely that not only would he survive whatever or whoever attacked them alone, but made it by himself all the way up to the 6th floor while exhausted.

Furthermore, Elias' description of the supporter's betrayal seemed too convenient.

It was as if he had carefully crafted a story to justify his own actions, but Draco kept in mind that it could possibly be true.

Draco suspected that Elias had likely told the truth about the supporter, freelance supporters weren't exactly treated good, adding the fact that the supporter was female, the story seemed more believable.

But Draco, suspected that Elias either had a connection to the supporter or this wasn't his first time pulling off such a stunt.

Adding to the list of suspicion, Elias didn’t once mention his familia name and referred to his deceased group as casual party members.

His reaction to their loss was rather mild, yet here he was freaking out about killing a random person.

In the end all this didn’t matter to Draco, Elias was a thief and a murderer, there was nothing that would change that.

Swish! Crack!

Draco's hand moved with lightning speed, breaking Elias' arm before the man could make a move.

Elias screamed in pain grasping onto his broken arm and kneeling on the ground, next to his broken arm, something had dropped from to the ground.

Draco knelt beside the man, his expression stoic.

"You had your chance to tell the truth, Elias, but you chose to attempt deceiving us. I know that in this world, the strong survive, and the weak perish, but…….." Draco stopped mid -sentence.