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

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

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

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

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

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

  He was slightly ed, as they had already spent a siderable amount of time farming the ants and only acquired that mubsp;

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

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

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

  Another hreat was the purple moth, whose wings tained poisonous powder that it would spread through the air with each fp, making it a nuisance for inexperienced adventurers with low resistao the poison.

  The needle rabbit was another dangerous monster, rarely seen ih 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 fident that with this increased monster variety, they would be able to meet their quota.

  As everyone fiheir lunch, reenergized, they began their dest into the 6th floor.

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

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

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

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

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

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

  Now oh floor, Draco began sending out pulses of energy to s 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?" Draurmured, his brow furrowed in tration.

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

  ……………………………………………………………..

  Earlier, Draagic 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 rge backpabsp;

  Drad 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 approag group.

  However, when he sed the area again to refirm the location of the approag 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 spa 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 expi 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 o iigate this." he said.

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

  “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 se of the i.

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

  First, Draco sed 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 pig 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 stro 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 Cir.

  Draco carefully approached the bodies, his keen eyes sing 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 st that piqued his curiosity.

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

  As he examihe se, Draoted that the supporter, was the only one among the group, who had the sweet smell ing from only her hands.

  This observation sparked further intrigue, leading him to suspect that the cause of death was more plex 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 oher hand, was killed with one ued blow.

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

  Signalling his panions to be o, he cautiously approached the opening, prepared to fay 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, "e out! We know you're there. It's best if you surrender now, rather than f us t 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 appearand the sharp gre in his eyes.

  "What happened here?" he demanded, his voice steringed with curiosity.

  The maated, gng nervously at the bodies of the adventurers and the supporter.

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

  Draarrowed his eyes, sensing the man's evasiveness.

  "An act? Expin yourself, aruthful. We're not in the mood fames," he warned.

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

  "I...I was just trying to survive. My party got wiped out oh floor, but I mao 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 iing piece of information to know,’ Draused, his expression unreadable as he listened ily.

  The man tinued, "While I was resting, I heard a strange sound and peeked out. To my horror, I withe supporter there betray her panions, 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 ce to recim what I had lost oh 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 i, his eyes downcast.

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

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

  "So you're tellihat 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 exged a gh his familia, their expressions mirr his own.

  They could all sehe 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 limmer of uanding.

  The maated, 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 chilliainty.

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

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

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

  First and foremost, the cim that his party was wiped out oh floor ossibly a btant lie.

  The 11th and 12th floor were known to be a retively 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 on sense wouldn’t add a liability like him to their party when going that deep.

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

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

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

  Draco suspected that Elias had likely told the truth about the supporter, freence supporters werely treated good, adding the fact that the supporter was female, the story seemed more believable.

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

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

  His rea 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 ge 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, o his broken arm, something had dropped from to the ground.

  Draelt beside the man, his expression stoibsp;

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