For the first time since reaching Floor 6, Gun and the others had something almost worse than monsters to deal with.
A rule.
They had spent enough time on the safe floor to realize one thing pretty quickly: there was no obvious staircase leading upward.
No hidden door.
No lift.
No glowing gate waiting in the center of the city.
Just streets, inns, guild halls, shops, and climbers walking around like this place was normal.
Gun stood in the middle of the city with his arms folded, looking irritated.
"So how do we even leave?"
Luna shrugged. "Ask around?"
Jack was already glancing toward nearby climbers.
That turned out to be the right move.
After asking a few people, they finally got their answer.
To move to the next floor, they had to register as a party at the guild, then complete three mid-difficulty quests or one extreme quest.
Gun stared at the explanation for a second.
"…That's annoying."
Luna blinked. "It's a tower, Gun."
"That doesn't make it less annoying."
Still, they moved through the city and eventually found the guild hall.
It was a large stone building with tall windows and a carved sign above the entrance. The interior was busy, full of climbers registering, taking contracts, and arguing over rewards.
Gun walked in first.
Jack followed.
And then, as soon as Jack stepped through the door, he bumped into someone.
A tall, lean black man in high-tier gear turned slightly at the impact.
Jack stepped back immediately. "Sorry."
The man looked at him for half a second, then gave a small nod and moved past them without saying much.
Gun glanced at him briefly, but not enough to think anything of it.
They went to the registration desk.
The receptionist looked up at them with a tired, practiced expression.
"Registering as a party?"
Gun nodded. "Yeah."
"Name?"
The three of them paused.
Luna looked at Jack. Jack looked at Gun. Gun looked at the ceiling like the answer would fall from it.
Then both Luna and Jack turned to Gun.
He sighed.
"…Fine."
He thought for a moment, then gave the answer.
"The Divers."
The receptionist wrote it down without comment.
Jack raised an eyebrow. "What kind of a name is that?"
Gun smirked faintly. "You won't get it."
Luna smiled a little, though she did not ask further.
The receptionist slid a contract sheet across the desk.
"Three mid-difficulty quests, or one extreme quest."
Gun picked up the sheet and scanned it once.
Then he shrugged.
"Let's do the extreme one."
Jack looked at him. "You're serious?"
Gun nodded. "Yeah."
Luna frowned slightly. "Should we really?"
Gun put the sheet down.
"I'm confident it'll be no match for us."
That was enough for him.
The receptionist wrote the quest into their registry, stamped it, and pointed them toward the route.
They left the guild hall and headed out into the city's outskirts, where the quest marker led toward a monster farming area outside the main streets.
As they walked, Gun felt it again.
That strange sensation.
Like someone was watching.
He slowed for a second and glanced over his shoulder.
Nothing.
Just people.
Just buildings.
Just the city breathing around them.
Still, the feeling remained.
Gun narrowed his eyes.
"…Whatever."
He kept walking.
The farming zone was farther out than expected.
By the time they reached it, the city's bright roads had faded behind them and the area ahead had turned into a wide open stretch of broken ground and scattered stone ridges. A few dead trees stood around the edges. The air felt heavier here.
Luna lowered her voice. "This is where the quest says the monster is?"
Jack checked the quest sheet. "Yeah."
Gun scanned the area.
Then he saw it.
A huge lizard.
It was sleeping near a stone outcrop, its body curled up like a mountain of scales and muscle. Its tail rested half across the dirt. Clawed feet. Jagged horns. A head the size of a cart.
Gun stared at it for a long moment.
"…That's the target?"
Jack nodded slowly. "Looks like it."
Luna looked from the monster to the quest sheet and back again.
"Extreme quest, huh."
Gun cracked his knuckles once.
"Alright. Plan."
They discussed it quickly.
Luna would use [Graceful Flame] to boost Gun.
Gun would draw the monster's attention and force movement.
Jack and Luna would attack from behind while it was occupied.
Simple.
Clean.
Good enough.
Gun took a breath and stepped forward.
Luna lifted her hand and sent the floating fire orb to him.
It settled near his shoulder, warm and steady.
The healing aura began to pulse faintly around him.
"Ready?" she asked.
Gun smiled.
"Yeah."
Then he used [Flash Step] and shot forward instantly.
He appeared in front of the lizard in a blur of motion.
The creature's eye snapped open.
Too fast.
It reacted before Gun could properly lock in position, shifting backward just enough to avoid the first clean hit.
Gun's eyes widened slightly.
"Whoa."
The lizard was awake now.
It snarled and swung a claw at him.
Gun raised his greatsword and parried the strike.
CLANG.
The force rattled his arms.
He countered immediately with the dagger, drawing blood from the side of its neck.
The lizard hissed and pulled back.
At the same time, Jack and Luna attacked from behind.
[Fire Spark]
[Thunder Bolt]
The combined damage hit hard enough to make the monster flinch.
Gun grinned.
"Nice."
They kept the formation.
Gun stayed in front, forcing attention.
Jack and Luna stayed mobile, hitting from the rear whenever the opening appeared.
The lizard was strong, but not enough to break the rhythm immediately.
It tried to lash out with a tail sweep.
Gun blocked it.
It turned to bite.
Jack struck with lightning speed.
It tried to shake off the pressure.
Luna's fire orb kept Gun's durability up while he held the front line.
Again.
Again.
Again.
Three full rotations of the pattern worked.
Then the monster adapted.
Gun noticed it first.
Its body shifted.
Its eyes stopped focusing on him alone.
It started tracking the others.
"Uh-oh," he muttered.
The lizard suddenly whipped around and lunged toward Jack's side.
Jack barely dodged.
Luna snapped backward to avoid a claw swipe.
The monster had learned their timing.
Gun's eyes narrowed.
"Okay. So it's not dumb."
The lizard was now focusing more on Jack and Luna, trying to punish the support line.
Bad luck for it.
Gun stepped in with [Flash Step] and cut across its vision.
Then Jack triggered [Flash].
A burst of lightning blinded the lizard for a split second.
That was enough.
Gun vanished.
[Avenger's Cut].
The blade tore into the lizard's side from behind.
The monster shrieked.
Gun didn't stop.
He kept attacking, pushing in with brutal precision while Jack closed from the opposite angle.
The lizard had no time to breathe, no time to reset.
The moment it tried to run, Gun used [Flash Step] again and cut it off.
Jack struck in the same instant with [Thunder Bolt].
The lightning-charged combo hit so hard the lizard's body jerked violently.
Then it collapsed.
The monster hit the ground with a heavy thud and stopped moving.
Gun stepped back and exhaled slowly.
Luna lowered her hand.
Jack looked at the body, then at Gun.
"…That was easier than the slime king."
Gun nodded once.
"Yeah."
Then he glanced toward the dead lizard and thought for a second.
"We're better now."
Jack looked over. "Better how?"
Gun folded his arms.
"Teamwork."
Luna nodded in agreement.
"We're syncing faster now."
Gun stared at the corpse.
That was probably true.
The King Slime had been dangerous because they were still learning each other's rhythm. This fight had gone better because they actually understood how to cover one another now.
Which meant progress.
Which meant they were getting stronger.
Gun was about to answer when Jack suddenly went rigid.
His face changed instantly.
"Gun."
Gun looked over. "What?"
Then Jack's leg was gone.
Not metaphorically.
Actually gone.
A clean slash cut straight through him, and Jack fell with a scream of pain so sharp it made Luna's eyes widen in horror.
"Jack!"
Gun spun around instantly.
Standing a few steps away was the tall lean black man from the guild hall.
The same one Jack had bumped into earlier.
He looked at Jack on the ground, then up at Gun with calm, almost polite eyes.
Gun's body went cold.
Luna stepped back, her hands already glowing faintly with support energy.
The man looked at Gun with sharp focus.
Then he gestured toward Gun's boots.
"Give me those boots if you want to keep that pretty head on your shoulders."
Gun stared at him.
Then gave a short, disbelieving laugh.
"Yeah. No."
The man's expression didn't change.
He moved.
Too fast.
Gun used [Flash Step] without thinking, grabbing Jack and dragging him back while tossing him toward Luna. Luna caught him immediately and threw up [Ashen Veil].
Smoke spread around them at once.
The healing aura began to regenerate Jack's injury to the point where he got a new leg.
James paused, clearly surprised for the first time.
"…An ability like that."
Then his eyes narrowed again.
"Still not enough."
He attacked Gun.
Gun barely managed to raise his greatsword in time.
CLANG.
The impact shook his entire arm.
Gun's eyes widened.
That speed.
That strength.
He should not have been able to react at all.
The man in black's servant looked mildly satisfied.
"Good."
Gun gritted his teeth.
"So you're the one who sent those thieves."
The man tilted his head slightly, almost amused.
"You caught on late."
He attacked again.
Faster this time.
Gun saw the strikes.
His body just barely moved fast enough to meet them.
He parried one.
Then another.
Then got clipped by the third, sliding back several feet into the dirt.
He clicked his tongue and moved toward Jack and Luna instead of staying alone.
If this turned into a straight duel, he would lose.
Jack was already recovering under Luna's smoke, his face pale but furious.
Together, the three of them went back in.
Jack and Gun attacked from both directions while Luna held the veil in place.
Gun used [Avenger's Cut].
Jones blocked it.
He laughed.
Really laughed.
"You think that matters?"
Then he moved his arm.
A vortex of blade-like wind exploded outward.
[Dismantling Winds].
The air itself split around him.
Gun threw himself into a parry before the slashes could fully cut through the formation, but Luna and Jack were not as lucky.
Jack screamed as his left arm was sliced open.
Luna cried out as her right arm was cut badly enough to make her stumble back.
Gun's eyes hardened.
He moved instantly, blocking the follow-up slashes and countering with a heavy strike from his greatsword.
For the first time, the intruder actually had to step back.
His eyes sharpened.
Then he front-kicked Gun hard enough to send him flying three meters into a wall.
Gun hit stone with a brutal impact.
The breath left his lungs.
Luna's smoke surged again as she forced [Ashen Veil] over all of them, healing the worst of the injuries.
Gun pushed himself up just enough to see James move again.
Too fast.
[Wind Dash]
He blurred forward, blade raised, heading straight for Luna's head.
Gun's body moved before he thought.
He met the attack with a parry so hard his arms nearly buckled.
CLANG.
The strike stopped inches from Luna.
Jack stared from the ground.
Luna's eyes widened.
The swrodsman looked at Gun, now genuinely interested.