Floor 3 was unlike any environment Chosa had faced before. Thick fog hung low across jagged rock formations, and the air was laced with the scent of sulfur. Heat radiated from cracks in the earth, geysers of steam erupting at random. One wrong step could mean being boiled alive or falling into a crevice too deep to climb out of. The terrain itself was as deadly as the monsters.
Chosa moved cautiously, his eyes scanning for danger, and his ears alert to the distant roars echoing through the haze. He fought off several monsters—clawed beasts with obsidian-like skin and glowing eyes. One nearly impaled him with a tail spike, but he ducked just in time, slashing with his dagger. Another ambushed from above, forcing him to roll through a cluster of scalding rocks that seared his shoulder. Painful, but survivable.
"That was close," Luna commented. "Your health dropped dangerously low."
"Yeah, I noticed," Chosa muttered, catching his breath behind a boulder. "Anything I should worry about ahead?"
"Too many variables. This floor shifts constantly."
Chosa pushed forward, eventually climbing a ridge that gave him a vantage point over a small clearing. Below, a large guild expedition team was in the middle of combat. He crouched low, staying hidden among the rocks.
The guild worked like a machine. One member launched a volley of lightning, another created barriers of ice to funnel the beasts into choke points. Their coordination was impressive, like they'd trained for years.
Chosa watched silently. "So many useful skills... but I've only got one slot left in my bookmarks tab."
Then he saw him.
A man, early twenties, long black hair tied back, a sharp katana resting against his hip. He radiated a strange, intimidating aura. Unlike the others, he wasn't fighting. Just standing there, arms crossed, observing with clear disinterest.
"Why isn't he helping?" Chosa whispered.
As if on cue, one of the guild members called out to him. "Kaisel! A little help?!"
The man—Kaisel—sighed quietly, almost like he was being inconvenienced. He unsheathed his katana in a smooth motion and vanished.
Literally vanished.
In a blink, he reappeared behind the cluster of monsters. Blood sprayed through the air as the creatures twitched violently and collapsed, carved apart in an instant.
Gasps came from the guild members.
"He's a beast..."
"Every time I see him fight, it gives me chills."
Chosa's eyes widened. "Luna... how do I become like that?"
Luna's voice was quiet. "I tried scanning him. I couldn't read his full stats. He's... different."
"Different how?"
"He's like you, Chosa. An anomaly."
That word again.
Chosa's grip tightened around his dagger. "So I'm not the only one."
"No," Luna said. "But he's far more advanced than you... for now."
Chosa kept watching until the battle was over, then began to quietly slip away, heading toward the eastern pass where he knew the mini-boss cave waited.