Once they found the staircase to the third floor of the Labyrinth, Sarah spoke, "We've been wandering for days now. Let's take a break here before we enter the next floor."
"I agree. I'm tired even though I didn't do anything but walk." Oscar said.
Thus, they set up their tents right next to the staircase and began their second break.
"You can sleep this time." Lia said to Leo. "I'll watch over you."
"Alright. Thanks." Leo didn't refuse and immediately set up his sleeping area, as he was mentally exhausted after casting so many spells.
Once Leo laid in his sleeping bag, Lia walked beside him and sat down, causing Leo to open his eyes.
"What are you doing?" Leo asked her.
"I'm watching over you," she said.
"Like… literally?" Leo was speechless.
She silently nodded.
"..."
Leo decided to ignore her and closed his eyes to sleep.
One would think it would be harder for Leo to sleep while knowing that there was a beautiful girl staring at him, but he was already used to it with Lilith doing it to him almost every single night.
Leo quickly fell asleep within minutes, and he even started snoring a little.
Lia would stare at Leo's sleeping face with a pondering look on her face.
Even though she believed Leo when he told her that he was from another world, it was still hard to believe.
As for Lilith, she went to check on the others.
Oscar was fast asleep just like Leo. The twin brothers were eating food, and Sarah was taking a shower.
Meanwhile, inside Aaron's room at his own residence, an old man stood before Aaron with an intimidating aura around him.
"Where is Leon?" Edwin asked Aaron in a cold voice.
"They left for the Labyrinth several days ago."
"Then where the hell is he? The assassins should've returned by now!"
"Maybe Leon and his team are taking longer than expected to clear the first floor. It's a huge maze, after all."
"It would take them three days maximum to clear that level of maze. Also, they stopped contacting us completely. I'm starting to think they're all dead. What a useless bunch." Edwin sucked his teeth in an annoyed manner.
"What? That's not possible! Leon may be strong, but he shouldn't be able to defeat a team of A-Rank Adventurers! One of them was even a poison expert!"
"What about his teammates? He's not alone."
"Even if his teammates assisted him, they only have a single A-Rank Adventurer amongst their team. I find it hard to believe that Leon and his team were able to defeat a team of A-Rank Adventurers picked out by the Scarlet Family." Aaron said.
Edwin began pondering in silence.
A moment later, he spoke, "You're right. Leon doesn't have the capabilities to do such a thing— at least not to the assassins I'd hired. Although they were not the best, they were above average and more than enough to deal with someone like Leon."
After a slight pause, he continued, "However, just in case, I have sent reinforcement inside the Labyrinth to see the situation. They should've already reached the second floor by now."
"Reinforcement?" Aaron swallowed nervously when he saw the creepy smile on Edwin's face.
"Yes, he's been with the Scarlet Family for over 2 decades now— Matthew Hicks."
"What?! That S-Rank Adventurer who is known for being crazy?!" Aaron couldn't believe it.
Why would the Scarlet Family go through so much trouble to capture Leon, even sending out an S-Rank Adventurer? He couldn't comprehend it.
However, he did know that Leon wouldn't be able to escape the grasp of an S-Rank Adventurer.
'Although Matthew Hicks isn't the strongest S-Rank out there, he's definitely more than enough to capture Leon and deal with his team. What did I get myself into?' Aaron sighed inwardly.
Nine hours have passed since Leo and the others began their break, and it was about time for them to enter the 3rd floor of the Labyrinth.
After taking down their tents, Leo and his team began descending to the 3rd floor with Oscar in the lead.
Upon entering the third floor, they were greeted by a blue scenery— one that was filled with water.
"What the hell is this?" Leo muttered in a dazed voice after seeing the scene before him.
Similar to the second floor, the third floor consisted of mostly one color— blue. And before Leo and his team was a massive sea with a single path in the middle.
"I guess we have no choice but to go this one path, huh?" Oscar mumbled.
"I have a feeling that we won't be able to rest until we reach the end of the floor for this one since there's a good chance that we'll have to deal with sea monsters jumping out of the water." Sarah said to them.
"Sea monsters, huh? This is my first time encountering them. How are they any different from land monsters?" Leo asked.
"If they're not jumping out of the water to attack us, they'll be attacking us from afar using water magic, and they're much harder to notice compared to land monsters, so they're pretty annoying to deal with." Sarah said.
"I see…"
"Anyways, we just need to keep our eyes out for monsters, and make sure you alert the others if you see one."
"Alright."
Once they were prepared, they began walking the only path they could take.
"I don't like the sea, especially the things lurking inside." Leo suddenly sighed out loud a minute later.
"Oh? Then you'll hate the underwater floors." Sarah chuckled.
"What? Underwater floors?" Leo raised his eyebrows.
"Yes. There are some floors in the Labyrinth that are submerged in water. Fortunately, they only appear in A-Rank Labyrinths and above." Sarah explained.
"That sounds like a pain in the ass. How do people even prepare for that?"
"When you're an A-Rank Adventurer, you have to prepare for every possible scenario. That's how we stay alive, after all."
The first several minutes were quite peaceful and they felt like they were walking alongside the ocean, but unbeknownst to them, they would encounter some terrifying entities soon.
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