Chapter 101: 11th Floor

The teleport sigil on the 10th floor flashed as Sol and Amber appeared out of thin air. Sol looked around and noticed they were not alone, with a few parties also getting ready to dive into the dungeon. 

Sol had seen other parties before while diving into the dungeon, but they avoided making any contact with them. There weren't any rules that prohibited making contact with other parties, but there was a higher degree of danger doing so in a dungeon. If for some reason conflict arose from stealing someone's kill or over resources found and it ended with a fight, any who died would be forever lost in the dungeon. There wouldn't even be a body to recover if that happened. No one wanted to die that way so they usually kept to themselves.

At least that was usually the case.

"Attention! I better not see any of you on the 13th floor, western side! Our party will be hunting there and will attack any trespassers on sight!"

The one speaking was a rather intimidatingly tall sharp jawed man who stood in front of a group of 30 adventurers.

'How do they plan to gain any experience with such a large group?'

Sol had a small misconception as to why these people were in the dungeon. This group had no intention to level up, but to instead harvest the valuable resources of the dungeon. All these adventurers couldn't progress anymore in their careers for a multitude of reasons. Some were dealt poor talents that made it harder for them to fight the stronger enemies on deeper floors, a few of them had debt they had to pay off, and others simply didn't want to risk their lives and now devoted themselves to making easy money.

They claimed the west side of the 13th floor because with their quantity, they would be able to strip it clean of resources. The monsters didn't pose a threat with their numbers making it an easy job. The only downside of this resource gathering was that it stripped the dungeon of everything it had. The materials don't regrow that fast so they had to rotate between different floors so they could maintain high earnings. This caused a lot of friction with other parties who were smaller and were unable to find anything good after the huge group passed through the day before.

Although the other parties had a lot of resentment towards the group, the large group vastly outnumbered the other parties and it would take all of them joining together to pose a threat to them. Some had tried to report their behavior to the Adventurers Guild, but they were told that nothing could be done. They weren't doing anything technically illegal; it fell in a legally gray area. The group wasn't claiming dungeon territory as their own, they just stated they would be there and warned them to not interfere with their hunting. As far as the rules were concerned, that was normal party behavior.

Sol took note of the area so he could avoid it later. Although Sol didn't like the way they were acting, it was a lot of people and he wouldn't start a brawl just because he disagreed with their methods. The two walked past the other adventurers and made their way to the dungeon passage but were stopped by one of the members of the large group. 

"Hey you! Stop! You're gonna have to wait until we are ready."

Sol spoke back now annoyed, "What?"

"Ya heard me. You don't have to wait long, just give us five minutes."

The dismissive attitude really peeved Sol but he still didn't want to get in a tussle with them, so he let it be. Sol turned around and took a seat on the floor nearby with the thought that if they did take too long he and Amber would just use [Invisibility] and sneak past them.

Amber followed silently behind Sol and leaned against the wall next to him.

A few minutes passed and three people came from the teleport sigil. The trio headed to the large group and the middle-aged man in front was apologizing to the group.

"Hey everyone, sorry we're late."

The sharp jawed man was the one who spoke back in a half joking manner.

"You had us waiting, almost thought y'all were gonna no show."

"Nah, wouldn't miss this for the world. There was a long line for potions today."

The sharp jawed man turned to his other group members, "Everyone ready?"

The ones sitting stood up and everyone nodded. The sharp jawed man led the group to the passage as the other parties waited for them to leave.

Seeing they were finally on the move, Sol stood up and with Amber made their way to the passage before once again being stopped. This time by an orange haired woman who led a smaller party of 4 other adventurers.

"Hey, you should wait a bit longer."

Feeling this was getting ridiculous, Sol almost shouted at the woman but managed to hold himself back. Even so, his patience was running thin.

"Why? Is there a line for ten entire floors? Isn't there enough space for everyone?"

The woman shook her head, "Sorry, I didn't mean it that way. We are all waiting for that group to get further ahead. If we follow behind them too closely they will think we are trying to either backstab them or take the materials for ourselves. More than a few groups have disappeared that way."

Seeing she meant well, Sol felt guilty. "I'm also sorry. I thought you were gonna be like them."

She laughed, "No worries. Water under the bridge. I can tell you're new here so let me give you a tip. I suggest you take it slow for a day or two and let that group get to their hunting spot. Then you don't have to risk accidentally bumping into them."

Sol understood her reasoning, but he didn't have the luxury to spend time on the earlier floors.

'Time is limited, but we should spend some time fighting the enemies on this floor before fighting their stronger versions.'

Sol appreciated the tip. "Thanks, I'll keep that in mind." 

"No problem, see ya around." The woman waved her hand and returned to her group to wait.

Sol sat down and waited; eventually, ten minutes later one of the parties judged it was a good time to head in. Others seeing the party move in also stood up ready to go inside. 

The duo watched as party after party went into the dungeon until only they were the last ones.

"You ready?"

With a simple nod from Amber, the two also headed into the 11th floor of the dungeon, ready to tackle these new and stronger enemies.