"What are they doing? They're going up the stairs?" Snake Eyes' voice went up. But unlike Archers, Warriors and Priests could not see the situation clearly. The scene only appeared as a speck of light.

"Four people… Hm? They're fighting a monster?"

New information continued to pour in. What was going on? Was this Stage 2?

While Seol Jihu was postulating several hypotheses, he caught sight of Straight Face, who was looking down silently.

"There are stairs here as well."

Just as she said, the platform they were riding on also had stairs going up the mountain.

'It's long.'

Seeing the stairs stretch all the way to the foot of the mountain, Seol Jihu's jaw dropped.

'Pillars?'

One thing that caught his attention was the pillars. There were flat platforms periodically throughout the staircase, and each platform had a single pillar standing on it.

"You," Straight Face turned back. "You said four people were climbing up the stairs, right?"

"Yeah."

"Where? Describe it relative to the mountain."

"About the middle."

"Do you see anyone else?"

"Hold on." Snake Eyes looked around. Then, she fixedly stared in the direction Lara was looking at, and frowned.

"…You saw it?"

"I, I did."

"It appeared suddenly, right?"

"Y-Yes." Lara nodded her head crazily.

"It appeared suddenly? What's 'It'?"

When Straight Face asked, Snake Eyes muttered back, "There's only two over there… f.u.c.k, what's going on?"

"Just describe exactly what you're seeing."

Snake Eyes grit her teeth in bewilderment. "Over there. They only have two people. They're near the foot of the mountain, but while they were climbing up, a monster suddenly popped out of nowhere. I'm not kidding. It really appeared out of thin air."

"How did the two react?"

"They're fighting." Lara replied while still watching the far off mountain in a daze. Straight Face dropped her head in response. Seol Jihu also fell into deep thought.

First, it was probably correct to a.s.sume that both the group of four and the group of two were partic.i.p.ants of the Banquet.

"…Maybe," Straight Face spoke up. "This mountain is Stage 1."

"What do you mean? Didn't Stage 1 end?"

"The labyrinth might have been a sample, while this is the real thing."

"Wait, wait!" Snake Eyes pressed her temple as though her head was hurting. "I'm not following what you're saying."

"You can't understand even after looking at them yourself?"

"Shut up. So… you're saying that those idiots left the labyrinth before us and are continuing Stage 1?"

"Exactly. It looks like they have to climb the stairs to the top. While killing the monsters that pop out, of course."

Straight Face's a.n.a.lysis caused Snake Eyes to frown. "Fine. Let's a.s.sume you're right. Then why are we riding this?"

Just as Snake Eyes said, they were comfortably climbing the mountain with a moving platform, while partic.i.p.ants in other mountains were climbing the stairs and fighting for their lives.

Straight Face revealed her teeth with a grin. "Who knows? If my conjecture is correct, we shouldn't go all the way up to the peak of the mountain either."

"Why?"

"We are pa.s.sing through the sixth pillar right now. We should be stopping at the seventh pillar." Straight Face leisurely looked around at the other party members and then pointed her finger at the pillar they just pa.s.sed.

Seol Jihu nodded his head in agreement. Having heard her conjecture, he guessed how the Golden Commandment came back.

'It's not special treatment.'

Most likely, every group had left the labyrinth through the moving platform at the center. Because, that was the correct way of leaving the building. But not every group would have stopped at the same spot. The more people a group had when leaving the labyrinth, the closer to the top the platform would travel.

The pillars were there to serve as checkpoints.

What would have happened if Seol Jihu left with just Maria?

'We would have been dropped off at the second pillar….'

And forced to climb the stairs just as painfully as the others.

Seol Jihu glanced at the white-headband girl. She was making a suggestive smile.

"It's a bit of a shame but… it shouldn't take long to reach the peak from the seventh pillar."

Straight Face stretched her neck side-to-side and prepared to hop off the platform. However, her estimate was not entirely correct. Contrary to their expectations, the platform they were riding on pa.s.sed through the seventh pillar as well.

When Seol Jihu stared at her for an explanation, she scowled and burst out, "What? What are you looking at?"

"It's not our fault that that person died." A hollow voice rang out. When the quiet girl opened her mouth, the nearby gazes naturally fell on her. "He was nearly dead when he entered. We couldn't heal him either… so it seems the Banquet didn't count him in."

The girl's suggestion made Lara exclaim in disbelief, "No way, that means this place knows all about our situation!"

The feeble girl shrugged as if to say that was outside of her understanding. Snake Eyes muttered in response, "You can talk? I for sure thought you were mute."

"That's rude."

"Das roode~." Snake Eyes imitated the girl in a mocking tone.

"Well, we'll find out." Then, she lied down on the platform like she had given up worrying about the matter. But she had to get up soon enough, as they were closing in on the mountaintop. As expected, the eighth pillar was standing at the end of the staircase, or, in other words, the mountaintop.

Soon, the platform stopped and descended until it touched the mountain.

"Are we first?" Snake Eyes stepped on the ground joyously. How could she be anything but happy, when she almost ended up climbing the mountain from the beginning?

But just like the saying, 'even a jade has dirty spots', there was a team that arrived at the mountaintop first. That group consisted of eight people. Clearly, everyone had survived.

"d.a.m.n, we're second." Snake Eyes grumbled as if someone spoiled her fun, but in truth, the order of arrival didn't matter. What mattered was that they got here. The team that arrived first also noticed them and slowly shortened the distance.

Seol Jihu studied the group to see if there was anyone he knew. At that moment, he noticed someone walking toward him from the other group.

"Eh? Is that who I think it is?" Maria noticed too. It was the High-Rank Priest that Kazuki invited.

"Who the h.e.l.l is that dressed in nothing but black?"

Seol Jihu smiled bitterly at Snake Eyes' mumbling. Just like before, the Priest was hard to miss with her head covered by a hood and her body covered by a gown.

"Wow, wow! I'm jealous. One man and six women. You must have been one happy camper." The man standing at the forefront of the group commented sarcastically.

'Happy? Happy my a.s.s.' Seol Jihu cursed inwardly, especially when he remembered how much energy was sucked out of him in the labyrinth.

"But it's interesting. You only have seven people, yet you flew all the way to the top…."

"Ah, about that…."

While the man and Lara exchanged information, Seol Jihu greeted the Priest with courtesy, "h.e.l.lo."

"When did you get here?"

But the Priest didn't say a word no matter how many times he tried to talk to her.

'I don't think she's trying to ignore me, though.'

From the way the Priest glanced at him from top to bottom, Seol Jihu guessed she was checking to see whether he was injured.

Tap, Tap. She even straightened the wrinkles on his clothes.

"It's fine…." Seeing the Priest act like a mother duck that just found her lost duckling, Seol Jihu felt himself feeling a little strange.

'Now is not the time to be doing this.'

The Banquet wasn't over just because they reached the top. He couldn't just sit around and wait leisurely when Chohong and Hugo could be fighting for their lives.

'If I can just find out which direction they're coming up in…'

"You can't help them." At that moment, just as Seol Jihu was about to move, Lara's voice struck his ears.

"Yes, the moment you step on the mountaintop, you are no longer allowed to interfere with anything happening on the stairs." The man explained slowly.

"We tried various methods. We couldn't go down, support others with long-ranged attacks, or even communicate with them in any way. According to her, the world between the mountaintop and the stairway has been separated." The man spoke as he looked at the Priest spinning around Seol Jihu.

'She talked?'

When Seol Jihu turned and looked at the Priest, she stopped and stared out to the far distance.

"Then… we're stuck here?"

"Pretty much. We have no choice but to wait, for now." With the man's explanation finished, Seol Jihu glanced at the Priest for confirmation. The Priest turned her head and nodded slowly. In the end, Seol Jihu had no choice but to put down his spear.

Stage 1 had ended. Seol Jihu's party naturally split up. Although he knew there was no reason for them to cooperate anymore, he was still left with a bitter taste in his mouth. Lara and Sophie expressed their grat.i.tude, Snake Eyes left to take a look around the mountaintop, and the white-headband girl disappeared without a word.

Maria sat down under a tree, saying she wanted to rest. As for Straight Face…

"What's your name?"

…She struck up a conversation before leaving.

"Seol."

"Seol, Seol… Seol?" After repeating the name a couple of times, Straight Face's eyebrows went up. "From Haramark?"

"Huh? Ah, yes."

It could have been a misunderstanding, but, for the first time, she genuinely seemed surprised.

"Ah… so you're that…." After nodding her head a couple of times, she smiled and put a cigarette in her mouth.

"Is Old Man doing well?"

"Excuse me?"

"No, it's nothing. Anyways, you weren't half-bad."

"Well, I didn't like that you dragged those useless b.i.t.c.hes with us… but looking down at the rest of the contenders from here isn't all that bad."

Straight Face's snickering sent cold sweat down his back. Perhaps, this woman was a natural s.a.d.i.s.t. She was only missing a black leather suit and a whip.

'But her skills are top-notch.'

Her quickdraw, which was invisible to the naked eye, was still etched in his mind. She certainly had skills befitting a High Ranker. Moreover, she was from the same Area and was colorless, unlike Snake Eyes. Getting to know her didn't seem like such a terrible idea.

"What's your name?"

"Hmm, don't you know it's rude to ask a lady her name so casually?" Straight Face showed her unique arrogant face. When Seol Jihu reacted with a shocked face, she shook her hands saying it was a joke.

"It's Rahee."