Chapter 36: White Palace

The 36th floor can be likened to a 'cake in a box,' with the cake being the main area, the 'White Palace' and the box being the floor itself. Surrounding the vast rocky wasteland of white filled with monsters, and at the edge of this wasteland is the passage to the 36th floor. After crossing this wasteland, you will find yourself standing in front of a circular wall that stretches more than a kilometer high.

For reference, The Wall in Game of Thrones is only about 215 meters tall. This wall is 1000 meters.

"Holy water."

This wall is the outermost wall of the White Palace, also known as the fifth wall. Passing through one of the two entrances—one directly across the entrance to the 36th floor and the other one on the opposite side of this circular wall—will lead into the 'fifth ring.' The fifth ring is between the fifth and fourth wall, the fourth ring between the fourth and third wall and so on.

In the middle of the maze, on the first ring or the 'Throne Room' is where Udaeus and the entrance to the 38th floor is. The deeper you are, the smaller the maze, but that means you encounter monsters more often. Once you start fighting, you should expect to keep fighting for a while, hours even, as more monsters are drawn by the noise. 

"Holy water."

Unlike the middle and lower floors, which are more open, the 37th 'White Palace' returns to a maze-like layout. The walls, floor, and the kilometer high ceiling are all an eerie, cloudy white, giving the entire space a cold, otherworldly atmosphere. The rooms are shrouded in near-total darkness, the only source of light coming from the faint, luminescent patches scattered unevenly along the white walls. 

These glowing spots cast an unsettling, cold glow that barely pierced the shadows, offering no real comfort. Instead, they made the vast, cloudy-white expanse feel like an endless void. Even with this faint illumination, the floor was far darker than the Cave Labyrinth floors—13 through 17. Here, a Level five adventurer's enhanced sight will struggle to make sense of the surrounding things. 

"Holy water!"

Every single creature moving among this was at least a Level Three, even the weakest. But it wasn't just the monsters that made this floor terrifying—it was the sheer numbers. A room can have more than ten-thousand monsters, ALL of which are above level 3. And that's on the low end of how many monsters can be in a room.

The relentless frequency with which they spawned is also a problem. Here, in the White Palace, monsters respawned within minutes. A dead monster never stays dead for long here, and comparing the spawn rate here with the floors above—even floor 36 right above—was like comparing a slow, crawling turtle to a sprinting rabbit.

"Holy water!!"

This was not a place for small parties.

Aside from Ottar, the Warlord, no first-tier adventurer dared explore this level solo. Even then, only the most elite ventured here. A party of at least three was necessary, and a healer was a must. The relentless battles demanded constant regeneration; there was no room for error. A single misstep, and the monsters would overwhelm you.

"Holy~Water~"

And the monsters weren't even the worst part.

It was the sound.

That eerie, bone-chilling sound—the Banshee's Song.

It filled the air, a haunting wail that seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere at once. The tone was neither too high nor too low, but perfectly pitched to get under your skin. It was inescapable, constant, as if the floor itself had its own cursed theme song. The eerie cries echoed off the white walls, winding through the maze like a malevolent lullaby.

For anyone who stayed too long, the song was debilitating. A mental attack much like charm. Fear and confusion will continue to grow within you and prolonged exposure to the sound could leave adventurers mentally scarred, leading them to make foolish, fatal mistakes. Some would wander into monster dens, others would collapse, unconscious. 

The lower level you are, the more effective the song is against you. If a level 1 stepped in here, it wouldn't even take ten minutes before they fainted. Abnormal Resistance was essential to survive here, and without it, the banshee's wail would reduce even the strongest minds to broken husks in mere hours. Unless you have some kind of item that cures status ailments and 'reset' the curse.

"HooooooLyyy WATER!"

Even if we removed the trash Banshee's song—definitely not one that'll get them out of the hood—the darkness was still suffocating enough to make you go mad and the sound of monsters moving in the background wouldn't help. It was really dark down here, like the walls themselves absorb the light and if you hold something like a magic stone lamp;

You should be ready to be charged at by hundreds of monsters with the average level of a level 4.

I was confident coming down here, but when I got down here, I realized why a team is needed to come down here. Even with all my cheats and I almost fucking died three fucking times, without even going past the fourth wall of the maze.

"HOLY WATER!"

["Stop that."] Miquella's voice snapped in my head. ["You are getting louder."]

"I am not that loud, bro." It's true. There might be exclamation points in my dialogue, but my voice is barely above a whisper. 

["You will draw attention to us like you did a few hours earlier."] I turned to the elf laying on the ground beside me, his golden eyes shining like a fucking flashlight.

'...' You're one to talk. 'Your eyes had led us to more trouble than my chant did lil bro.'

"OooOOOo~"

An elixir appeared in my hand and, "Holy water!" I tossed the elixir at the wall with a flick of my wrist. It splashed against the stone, and immediately a piercing screech echoed through the air. 

Smoke rose from the wall as the magic within reacted violently, and a glimmer caught my eye. A magic stone materialized where the liquid hit, dislodging itself from the surface and clattering to the ground.

From my armor, a crimson tendril of blood snaked out, creeping along the floor before wrapping around the stone. The tendril coiled tightly, then the stone vanished into my inventory without a trace.

"Besides," I glanced at my map, "we're too far from any monster—" My words froze in my throat as a new dot suddenly appeared on the map, just a few meters behind us... on a wall as it just spawned. 

I clicked it, and its status popped up.

[Spartoi Spearman (Elite) — Low-Rank 5, Main Stat: Agility — Difficulty: High]

I sighed inwardly. 'Ah, I jinxed it.'

["... You better hope that thing didn't hear your voice the moment it spawned."] Miquella's voice chimed in my head. 

'Hush before I twist your balls.'

["What?"]

Spartoi. 

These things were essentially skeleton monsters seen in most fantasy. Here, even the weakest Spartoi were on par with low-level 4 adventurers. They were the most common creatures on this floor, like goblins on the first floor or minotaurs on the fifteenth, and they were among the strongest creatures here, at least physically, not counting rare spawns.

Every Spartoi was born with a weapon—more specifically, spear, swords, dual swords, shield, sword and shield duo, or a spear and shield duo—and they knew how to wield it. After a 'sparring' match with a Level Four Spartoi, I'd grade them as 'Master' level in weapon proficiency. Not as good as me, of course, the Weapon Master God, but still dangerous. 

Comparing a Spartoi Spearman to someone like Felix was like comparing a child wielding a stick to Finn of the Loki Familia. Well, maybe that's a bit of an exaggeration since I've never seen Finn fight and the gap isn't THAT big, but the point still stands—they were formidable fighters.

Currently, with the gear I had equipped before entering the dungeon—minus the Glasses of Clarity worn by my elf companion—I now also had on my Rare Atlas Gauntlet, Uncommon War Aspect Helm, Gate Guardian Cuirass, Personal Pendant, and my Legendary Lord of Blood's Robe. 

On top of all that, I was in Ketsu-Rasetsu, which covered all the different pieces of armor and equipment to make them look like a single piece of equipment made of solidified blood. Except for the cloak of darkness, which isn't covered due to its skill. With all those, my combat capability was at low Level 5. And yet, even with all this, an elite Spartoi Spearman was still considered a high-difficulty opponent.

No, it wasn't just its weapon skills that made it dangerous. If that were the case, I could handle it with just my high-rank 4 stats. No, the problem was its magic. According to my encyclopedia, it had three skills and one magic.

_____________________

Skills:

Spearman: Capable of wielding a spear with extreme proficiency. When holding a spear, all stats are increased by +50. Without a spear, all stats are reduced by -30.

Unholy Focus: When fighting an adventurer of Level 5 or higher, gains a 25% increase in attack speed.

Perfect Formation: When two or more Spartoi Elite are within range, their coordination becomes flawless, granting a 20% boost to their main stats. 

Magic:

Deathly Glare: Stuns any lower-level adventurer for 5 seconds. Level 5 are stunned for 2.5 second. Level 6 are stunned for 0.5 seconds. Level 7+ are not affected. (Cooldown: 3 seconds after cast).

_____________________

Deathly Glare.

A magic all elite Spartoi had, which granted it the capability to fucking stun lock me. That's why its difficulty is High. I don't know what the game was thinking while it gave these skeletons a magic like that. Even level 5 adventures are stunned for 2.5 seconds! 

Do you know how long that is in a fucking battle?

They seriously needed to nerf these fuckers, or else it will become much, MUCH harder to explore the lower floors with the new existence of elite. Based on what Amal told me, the Loki's familiar deepest floor as of now was floor 45 due to their inability to kill floor 39 Monster Rex, Udaeus, and still have the equipment and resources to go lower.

Now, I doubt they would even be able to reach Udaeus with monsters that can stun-lock moving around. Yes, it is dispensable even with the lowest grade item that can clear status ailments—I think? I am simply too rich to have low grade items that cures status ailments. 

However, if you are fighting the hundreds of fucking elite monsters surrounding Udaeus—that can ALL stun your level 5 adventures and stun lock your level 4 and lower adventurers—I doubt you will have the resources to fight the monster Rex itself. Udaeus probably has more cheat-like power my arrival to this world gave it, just like Goliath of floor 17 did.

Yeah, bro got a second form. If you kill it, it will respawn as a level 5 monster Rex with more skills. If you destroy its magic stone, it wouldn't respawn, but that would result in losing out in millions of valis—

It moved.

The elite moved. 

Yeah, I could kill it even after it stuns me. Afterall, it only stop bodily movement and not mental, so I could still control Rob, but—

It's coming towards us. Yep, it's moving DIRECTLY to us. But it doesn't seem to be in any rush, so maybe it will just walk past us. Yeah, look how slow it's moving on the map, like it has nothing to—

I grabbed Miquella and rolled to the side as the Cloak of Darkness warped around us both. Just in time, too—crack!—the sound of bone piercing stone echoed as a spear stabbed into the ground where I'd just been lying. I came up on my feet instantly, eyes locked on the monster.

A walking skeleton that stood tall, about six feet, with pale white bones, with both hands clutching a white bone spear tightly as it pulled it out of the ground. Its eyes burned with a cold, blue flame, turning toward me—and that's when I felt it. A throbbing pulse shot through my body. 

[Pain Breaker.] 

The stun didn't last long, as I dashed forward, Rob in hand, and swung horizontally at the spearman's neck in a swift Weed Cutter motion. But the Spartoi ducked just in time, letting the sword swing over it. 

I twisted my wrist, bringing the blade down in a sharp arc above its head. The spearman raised its weapon to block, the force of the collision sending it crashing to one knee, teeth rattling like a broken instrument.

Before it could recover, I slid my sword down the shaft of its spear, slicing through the fingers of its left hand that held the weapon near the base. The next moment, a bloodied tendril shot from my armor, weaving through the gaps in its ribs and stabbing through its magic stone. The skeleton collapsed in a heap, its blue flames flickering out, and the magic stone that had been pierced through vanished into my inventory.

No time to waste. The armor's tendrils slithered back to 'normal' as I threw the small elf on my shoulder and started running. 

"Ooooooaaaaah…"

"Waaahhh… hooOOoooo…"

The Banshee's Song echoed louder around me, announcing my presence to everything on this floor. Those pussy monsters hiding in the walls, ground, and ceiling—once they see you, they sing louder for other monsters. 

Miquella started chanting, preparing one of his Circlet of Light spells as, *rattle,* three skeletons charged toward us—two wielding swords, the third brandishing a spear. They were fast, even faster than I was, so they were gaining on us, but Miquella's Circlet glowed as a bright, golden ring of light the size of a frisbee materialized above his palm. 

He threw it at the oncoming monsters, the radiant disc cutting through the air, illuminating the dim surroundings. It moved fast, but the lead spear skeleton ducked just in time, dodging the ring. It continued its chase, but after flying a few meters, the ring came back, like a boomerang. I turned a corner just as I received the XP notification for the assist. But the other two were still coming.

"Hraaaaahhh…"

"Nghhhhhhh… Aaaahhh…"

The Banshee's Song grew louder, sending chills down my spine. More monsters were moving in my direction—White Specter, Blue Hounds, Spartoi, even an elite Loup Garou leading a pack. 

It was quickly getting out of hand and once an all out fight starts, it would be hard to escape the floor. Forget hiding.

Miquella threw three more rings of light in quick succession. The two remaining skeletons dodged them effortlessly, even avoiding the follow-up return attacks from the circling rings because these monsters weren't as dumb as the ones on the upper floors. But we just needed to hold out for a few more seconds until my Cloak of Darkness came off cooldown—

Now.

'One with the shadow!' I dived toward a shadow cast by the wall, letting the cloak engulf both Miquella and me. We melted into the darkness, becoming one with the shadow.

Though the cloak warped us in total blackness, I could still see the faint glow of Miquella's golden eyes through his closed lids and on the map, the Spartoi stopped dead in their tracks, probably looking around in confusion. The Banshees' eerie song paused for a moment before resuming their 'calm' melody. The elite Loup Garou pack and other approaching monsters halted as well, interpreting the shift in the song as a sign the threat had either been eliminated or had left.

The skeletons loitered for a few more seconds, but eventually, they moved on. The Banshees drifted through walls, going away with some staying behind to continue their haunting tune, ensuring no part of the floor would ever be silent.

"Holy water," I pulled my hand from the cloak and tossed an elixir toward one of the singing Banshees a few meters away. A shrill screech pierced the air, and with a puff of smoke, the creature vanished, leaving behind a magic stone that popped out from the floor and my blood armor retrieved it.

For some reason, Banshees don't seem to respond to the pained cry of another Banshee. It's not like they're deaf—they hear it, they just don't care. So, for the past two days, I've been using this camping strategy to hunt them, and only them. Sure, I take out a few wandering monsters here and there when there's no Banshee around, but mostly just them.

They can't be touched by physical attacks and spend most of their time inside the walls or floors. But if you throw an elixir or cast a strong ranged healing spell on the spot where they're lurking, it would kill them and their magic stone will pop out the surface they are hiding in. 

Normal adventurers wouldn't be able to pinpoint their location to attack if there are multiple 'singing monsters' around—and even if they did, I doubt they'd waste an elixir worth 500 bands or a healing spell just to kill a glorified alarm system. 

But I'm rich like that, as for tracking the banshees; Miquella helped with that using his 'Analytical Appraisal,' while Lord of Blood helped me track the monsters in my surroundings with its 'blood clones.' Rob can't really help since most of the monsters in this Undead Floor don't have blood for it to see, but that strategy worked until I unlocked the full map of floor 37. 

"Holy water,"

This strategy has been racking up experience for me and giving me thousands of magic stones. There's also a chance these stones will give me some kind of mental immunity. Seeing as the Banshees are unaffected by their own song, they must have some resistance, right?

I mean, other monsters aren't affected by their song either, so maybe it's just a dungeon monster thing. But the Banshees themselves are the source of the magic, so it stands to reason they'd have some immunity to it. Like how a dragon wouldn't burn its own mouth when it breathes fire, gaining heat resistance. 

Ahh, I don't know. 

Even if I don't gain any mental resistance skills from them, the experience alone is worth it. Each level 3 or 4 Banshee kill gives me anywhere from 1,000 to 3,000 XP and eating the stones gives around 700 exp. I have gotten almost 4 million EXP just from killing monsters, with 2000+ magic stones still in my inventory. 

When I eat them, I should get about two million exp, totaling six million exp after only two days of hunting. I needed about seventeen million EXP to max out all my stats, so it wasn't that bad even with the four times EXP nerf. Certainly dangerous being down here but worth it.

But, "We will leave soon," I glanced at my elixir count. 

[103/999]

The moment my elixirs drop to 100, I'm out. No point in using them all up, even if I don't really need them right now. Yeah, I could use golden grease to hunt these banshees or just hunt down other monster, but; 

Fuck. That. 

This is not like the upper floors, where I can just go out and grind out monsters. This is what almost led to our death the second time. Got too cocky, which resulted in my entire body waist down to be severed after being STUNNED LOCKED by multiple elite skeletons.

Thank god for Pain Breaker and my two bloody weapons, or I would have died. Down here, with only two Level 5s? It's suicide. Especially when one of us is constantly feeding blood to their sword.

[BLOOD!]

For the past two days, this hungry Katana has been sucking me dry, thanks to me keeping Ketsu-Rasetsu active the whole time. I can't afford to deactivate it. Not after I saw a level 6 Xenos and especially not down here where a Level 5 monsters able to pop out of the walls at random like that Spartoi did earlier. 

"Holy macaroni!" I tossed another elixir, watching another Banshee scream and vanish.

Two days of nonstop sucking. 

My body regenerates, thanks to Pain Breaker and the Lord of Blood's Robe, but still…how the fuck isn't it bored with sucking my blood?

[You don't get bored of crawling through the dungeon and tossing elixirs at monsters, so don't come at me.]

Fair point, I guess. At least it's making me stronger.

[…]

Wait…

[…]

Is it making you stronger? That's why you're always after blood, isn't it? It's not just because it's your nature—you need it. Does this make the seal on you weaker? No, that doesn't make sense. You use the blood to keep Ketsu-Rasetsu active—and that can't be a lie, since it is in the status…

Oh, so blood just passing through the seal and entering you is what weakens it?

[…]

Like erosion or something. How much more blood will it take before you break free? The sword didn't respond.

"Welp, we're leaving this floor," I decided, standing up.

["Finally,"] Miquella sighed in relief. ["Looking at these walls with Analytical Appraisal got pretty boring after I learned all the good things."]

"Oh, right." I laid on the ground and started crawling, Miquella crawling underneath me as we moved with the cloak of darkness still covering us. 'You'll have to tell me—'

"Holy water," I tossed another elixir at a distant Banshee.

'—what you've discovered about the dungeon when we leave the Deep Floors.'

["Are we leaving the dungeon or continuing hunting on the lower floors?"] He asked.

'Hunting, obviously.' But first, 'I need to return to floor 28 to deactivate Rob.' It's starting to actually 'hurt' me after having it active for two days fucking straight. The amount of excelia I would have gotten if I didn't have Hero Creation is also starting to make me mad.

I want to take out my anger on something…so I should probably get to 'Water City' to do that. Not only are those female Lamia easy on the eye, beating them up also helps calm down.

Extensively.

Not because they are female or anything, but just beating up anything that's considered a monster yet still looks more 'beautiful' than I do is wonderful. But now, here's the problem.

Getting out…

'Ah, damn.' Another dead party mutilated by the dungeon. Based on the wounds, a group of skeletons. Yeah, I am not a pro but that looks like weapon wounds. 'Damn.' Could have been me and the elf a day ago. 

"Hefty Oil Pot." I tossed two oil consumables at their bodies; "Hefty Fire Pot." I tossed seven fire pots at them. Even with the oil, just one wouldn't light them up completely. Yeah, I doubt it would burn them or their equipment to ash, but at least they got a good burial from yours truly and didn't get eaten.

["That drew attention to us before."] Miquella's voice echoed in my mind. ["I certainly understand the gesture, but we aren't in the position to do that. And stop calling out consumable, please."]

'Está bien.' 

I crawled away as the Banshee continued their calm song. They only care for the sight of living beings and a fire starting out of nowhere doesn't seem to indicate the existence of a human I guess.

'Let's continue through this maze.' Now, as I was saying. Getting out would be a problem.

Me, not being a dumb fuck, stayed in the fifth circle so all I have to do is leave through the door, enter the wasteland, and crawl my way to safety. But between me and the wasteland was the 'Guardian.' A new monster that spawned with my arrival seeing as it is an 'elite' monster, and it guards the entrance to the White Castle that's closer to the exit to the 38 floor. 

'We are here.' About one-hundred meters away was an arch that led into a tunnel through the fifth wall. It towered over fifty meters high and twenty-five meters wide, and the tunnel that went through the fifth wall and the tunnel was more than two kilometers long. Yeah, it is massive.

I couldn't see it from my current position, but when I first entered that tunnel, the White Palace Guardian had been lurking in the shadows. Miquella's eyes hadn't noticed it until its hands appeared out of nowhere, and that's when I experienced my first near-death experience on this floor. 

I hadn't unlocked my map then, but now…

[Custodian, The Gate Guardian (Mini-Rex) — Low-Rank 6, Main Stat: Agility — Difficulty: Extreme]

Rank fucking SIX!?

And would you look at that? A new title. 'Mini-rex.' 

Oh, those high rank exploration guilds are going to have SOOO much fun.

Wait, shouldn't they already know about this monster? I have been in this world for two weeks now, and seeing the groups of adventures I saw on map, it either means they managed to go past the guardian, entered through the second door, or…

It spawned when I got to the floor?

Is the dungeon evolution following me or something?

I doubt, but if a monster like this existed, I am sure I would have heard about it much like how elite monsters have become a public knowledge. I doubt the big guilds would try to keep something this dangerous to themselves.

So… I guess the game is probably adjusting the difficulty to account for my cheats or something. 'Are you happy, dungeon?' I am literally helping it.

Welp, forget that. No point wasting time fighting it, but first I opened the encyclopedia then sighed. It hadn't updated since I hadn't 'seen' the creature, only its stats.

'Can you see it?'

["No,"] he replied. ["Too dark."] Even with the Glasses of Clear Sight that granted telescopic, x-ray, and dark vision, he couldn't see the creature.

'Should we walk in and wait for it to attack? Fly past it, maybe?' Or… 'Are you going to try lighting it up?'

["Sling Ring back to the Basilica,"] He said in a matter-of-factly tone.

I completely forgot about that.

[What tunnel vision can do to a nig—]

'… Do to a what?' 

[...]

That's what I thought lil bro. 'Wait, Miquella.'

I paused. 'Wait.' I zoomed into the map and used 'street view', finding myself standing in the tunnel as a featureless black silhouette with a height of 175 cm height, like a placeholder for any male of my species. Even with enhanced vision, I was standing in utter blackness. No sound, no light. I couldn't even make out my own hand in front of my face—

"Jesus Christ!"

I jumped, instinctively trying to dodge the massive hand reaching for me. Too slow—it touched my torso, but passed through. Another hand followed suit, passing through me, then another, then a fourth. And then, as if realizing it couldn't grab me, all the hands withdrew back into the shadow. 

It can… sense me?

Yeah, FUCK that. 

I returned to my body. 'Miquella. We're not going through there again.' No way. I am here for action and gore, not horror and thriller. 'Teleport us back to the base.'

With a golden glint of his ring, he quickly completed the gesture as a portal just large enough to fit me if I crawled appeared in front of it. Like before, it showed the main altar of the Basilica, and from what I saw, no one was around. Without wasting time, we crawled through, entering the Basilica while still on the ground.

"…" x7

Only now, looking slightly to my left, did I notice the the captain and vice caption of the Loki Familia and Loki himself sitting in the front pew. Then looking to the altar, I saw Ishtar on the Saint Patrick throne at the altar, Tammuz by her side.

"Yo?" Loki broke the silence, staring at me and the small elf beneath me.

"YO—" I felt something grab my ankle.

"oh FU—" I was yanked back through the portal, which closed right in front of me, and I found myself being dragged across the ground toward the tunnel, the grip on my ankle tightening with every second.

"GREATER TELEPORTATION!" I used my last teleportation consumable, finding myself 500 meters away from the tunnel.

'Phew.' I wiped the imaginary sweat from my forehead. The monster was in the middle of the tunnel and we were about a hundred meters from so… 'It had stretched its arm more than one kilometer…' Yep, I better run.

But I turned to run from the tunnel, '…' I found myself now standing in front of two Elite Spartoi swordsmen who were staring at me with their fiery blue eyes.

They stared at me like I had interrupted a private conversation, none of us moving.

"...Eeny, meeny, miny, moe." I started moving my finger, pointing at the three of us. "Catch a tiger by the toe." They watched my finger like it was some kind of hypnotic trick as I continued. "If he hollers, let him go. Eeny, meeny, miny..." My finger almost stopped at one of the skeletons, but I moved it to point at my chest, "moe."

"Guess you're both it." They glanced at each other, then back at me, still staring. "Yeah, I know I'm supposed to be it, but you two are the monsters here. The monster chases the human, not the other way around." They kept staring. 

"Uh…right…" I took a step back. "Catch me if you can!" I turned and dashed away and was immediately stunned.

[Pain Breaker.] 

Stun broken.

Stunned again.

"…"

My God, My God, why have You forsaken me?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~Author's Note~~~~~~~~~~~

College work has been getting harder lately, especially for my CSC class, so I am taking longer to complete them. Yeah, I know chat GPT would help me get done with them in less than half the time but I really don't want to rely on it like I did on my first year so I will be grinding from now on. Chapters will be posted slower, but I will try to make the quality better and review them. 

Though, I felt like this chapter was useless as nothing really 'meaty' happened, but I guess you could see it as a transition? Hope it was still good.

Thanks for reading my people.