"Fl-Floor Master!"
"How could this happen..."
"I-Impossible! Glacial Wraith lost to that brat!"
"Ah..."
The demonized humans of the Black Tower trembled as they saw Glacial Wraith's lifeless body at Raon's feet. Cold sweat streamed down their foreheads.
"Qu-Quick! Move as fast as you can!"
Burren gritted his teeth and thrust his sword at the demonized humans. A sharp gale rose from the blade, slicing through the chests of the bewildered demonized humans.
"That Division Leader is a man of his word! He's not joking!"
Martha furrowed her brow as she activated her berserk mode. The aura flashing from her hands fell with tremendous weight.
Kuuuuung!
An impact that shook the entire maze erupted, sending the demonized humans flying in all directions.
"I hate training..."
Runaan scattered frost with urgency in her dull eyes. The cold energy dispersed from her blue sword technique constricted the hands and feet of the demonized humans.
"You bastards who only bring harm to the world!"
Mark Goetun, seemingly hating the demonized humans themselves more than fearing Raon's training, bit his lip hard and drew out the Blue Lantern Sword Art with all his might.
A sword strike that tore through the sky like lightning sliced the neck of the squad leader who was giving orders to the demonized humans.
Kugugugugugu!
As the explosive firepower of the Light Wind division squad leaders and Mark Goetun continued in succession, the wall of demonic energy protecting the demonized humans was instantly crushed.
"The path is open!"
"No mercy for the demonized humans! Kill them all!"
"Let's go!"
The Light Wind division used their footwork to enter the domain of the demonized humans, not wanting to miss the opening created by their squad leaders.
"B-Block them! Hold on no matter what!"
"H-How can we withstand that!"
"Ugh..."
"I-It's over. It's all over!"
The demonized humans, seemingly shocked by Glacial Wraith's death, were helplessly pushed back without being able to properly counterattack.
"You idiots! Are you going to die here?"
"Move forward right now!"
"There's a way to survive!"
The Master-level demonized humans tried to raise morale somehow, but Burren, Martha, and Runaan moved to completely break their momentum.
"Fight? You think you can fight?"
"It's all over! You black rat bastards!"
"There's no way out."
The three squad leaders each took on one Master-level demonized human, cutting off any chance of a counterattack from the demonized humans.
With Glacial Wraith dead and the squad leader-level demonized humans powerless, the remaining demonized humans were easily uprooted like weeds.
"You're the last one!"
Martha leapt in like a flying tiger and plunged her sword into the neck of the last remaining squad leader-level demonized human.
"Kuuuugh..."
The demonized human reached out into the air as if feeling wronged before collapsing.
"It's over!"
Burren swallowed dryly and looked back.
"The time!"
"It hasn't been 5 minutes yet, right?"
Not just him, but the entire Light Wind division looked at Raon with both trembling and expectation.
"Hmm..."
Raon tapped his wrist and shook his head.
"Unfortunately, 5 minutes have passed."
"Ah..."
"Th-That can't be right?"
"We finished quickly!"
The Light Wind division gaped in disbelief that 5 minutes had passed.
"5 minutes?"
Rimmer tilted his head.
"I think it ended in about 4 minutes?"
He also tilted his head, wondering if he had miscounted the time.
"Vice Leader."
Raon turned to Rimmer, narrowing his eyes.
"Do you want to train together?"
"..."
Rimmer's shoulders trembled before he shook his head.
"Fi-Five minutes passed! I'm sure! I saw it!"
He threw the Light Wind division under the bus for his own safety.
-You bastard! You are as bad as an angel!
Wrath deeply furrowed his brow.
-How can a human lie without even blinking once!
He let out an exasperated sigh, finding it ridiculous.
'It's all for those guys.'
Raon was smiling and shaking his head when...
"That's not right!"
Dorian raised his hand high. He shook his head while holding a portable clock in his hand.
"I started the clock right when the Division Leader mentioned 5 minutes, and the alarm hasn't gone off yet!"
After a few ticking sounds, the clock vibrated and made a small bird chirp.
"You see? This is 5 minutes!"
"..."
Raon looked at Dorian's clock and smacked his lips.
"The clock must be broken..."
"You know I always maintain essential items, right? It's not broken!"
Dorian confidently put his hands on his hips.
"Ohhh!"
"Dorian. Dorian did it!"
"He beat the demon!"
"He caught the demon king! Hero Dorian!"
The entire Light Wind division raised their hands, chanting Dorian's name.
-Puhehehehehehe!
Wrath burst into laughter while holding his plump belly.
-You got beaten by a wallet! Serves you right!
[Pyapyapyapyak!]
Kaiyan also flapped its wings and sneered.
-Keek!
[Pyaak!]
Raon approached the Light Wind division while gripping Kaiyan with his left hand and Wrath with his right.
"It seems I made a mistake. I'm sorry."
After measuring the time, insisting otherwise would only hurt his own pride. He had to admit when he was wrong.
-Y-You, what's gotten into you?
Wrath blinked in surprise.
"R-Really?"
"You're admitting it?"
"Woaaaaaah!"
"Dorian! Dorian! Dorian!"
The Light Wind division shouted with joy at their victory and even gave Dorian a victory toss.
"Uhehehehe! We won!"
Krein danced mockingly while wiggling his fingers.
"Krein."
Raon brushed his hair back and approached the prancing Krein.
"Yes?"
"You got hit by a sword, didn't you?"
"I-It's nothing."
Krein shook his head while hiding the wound on the back of his hand.
"If it had been just a little more serious, your hand could have been cut off, you know?"
"Uh, well..."
"And it wasn't just any sword, it was infused with demonic energy. If you were unlucky, we might have had to cut off your arm, not just your wrist."
"S-So..."
"That's one."
He approached Dorian, who was holding his head high like a hero who had caught the demon king.
"Dorian."
"Ye-es?"
Dorian approached while discreetly observing the situation.
"You got your thigh cut?"
"I-I just got grazed. My skin wasn't even hurt..."
"Demonic energy can cause fatal damage even if it just touches the skin. It's not called demonic for nothing."
"Ah..."
"Two."
Raon moved past Dorian and approached the other Light Wind division members. They were all swordsmen with minor injuries.
"What is he doing now? Why is he counting?"
"W-Well."
"I have a bad feeling about this..."
The Light Wind division swallowed dryly as they heard Raon's count exceed ten.
"Twenty-five."
After counting all the injured Light Wind division swordsmen, Raon returned to his original position.
"This is the number of idiots who got injured in this fight."
"..."
The Light Wind division bowed their heads and closed their mouths, as if they had never been celebrating.
"Twenty-five of you got injured against opponents whose spirits were broken after Glacial Wraith's death. Do you think this makes any sense?"
"Th-That's not..."
"Yes! We were in a hurry to fight! There wasn't enough time!"
"Shouldn't you be more focused when time is short? Do you think that's an excuse?"
The Light Wind division's faces turned pale at Raon's piercing words.
"This won't do. Let's do a little training here, even if it's just a bit."
"W-Wait a minute! This wasn't the agreement!"
Krein raised his head like a meerkat.
"What agreement?"
"We finished in 5 minutes, so it's unfair to make us train..."
"You're misunderstanding. The training we're about to do is special education for those idiots who got injured stupidly. It has nothing to do with time."
Raon looked down at the Light Wind division, curling up the corners of his mouth.
"Th-The demon king has been resurrected..."
"What kind of resurrection is this fast!"
"Who's going to subjugate that?"
The Light Wind division sighed, their shoulders drooping as if they had given up.
[Ah, demon. Pyak!]
Even Kaiyan fluttered its wings as if pitying the Light Wind division.
-You idiots! How many times do I have to say it!
Wrath shouted at the Light Wind division.
-There's no demon king like that even in Devildom!
* * *
"Haa."
Void Sword Division Leader Serena lowered her sword and let out a short breath. Behind her was a mountain of corpses of large monsters covered in pure white fur.
Blood that hadn't yet cooled was flowing on the ground, but the snow pouring from the sky quickly erased the traces of battle.
"..."
Serena slowly raised her gaze. Endless snow fell from the empty sky.
There was nothing on the ground beneath the snow. Only an endless plain filled the world.
'Where on earth is this place?'
The scenery she saw when she reached the 4th floor after passing through the 3rd floor maze was no different from this place she had reached after walking for over a day.
This world consisted only of this snowfield, snow, and monsters.
'Are there no other people at all?'
She had passed through the 4th floor corridor with the Void Sword division, but she hadn't met any other people, let alone her subordinates. It seemed to be either an extremely vast place or a space cut off from the outside.
As she walked through the empty snowfield worrying about her subordinates, her stamina was depleted faster than when she was in battle.
Dealing with monsters that appeared without warning had also built up mental fatigue, to the point where her body now felt heavy.
'Is this really the Sword Saint's Tomb?'
Until now, she had ignored it to move faster than the Five Demons, but the more she thought about it, the more suspicious the identity of this tomb became.
'This place is less like a tomb and more like...'
It seems like a place to test one's abilities.
Usually, tombs and dungeons create deadly traps to prevent looters.
But this tomb seemed to have created an environment to test intruders rather than trap them. She couldn't understand the Sword Saint's intentions.
'What kind of monster created a space like this?'
Whether it was the Sword Saint or someone else, it was clearly a master beyond her imagination.
The more she thought about it, the more complicated it became, so she looked up at the sky again. Seeing the madly falling snow, she remembered a family member she had met before coming here.
'I wonder if Raon is doing well?'
She trusted Raon's martial prowess and judgment, but given that his opponents were the White Blood Religion, Black Tower, and Holy Sword Alliance, she couldn't help but worry.
Especially since she had received help from Raon before entering the dungeon, she was curious about how he was progressing.
'To know that, I'd need to get out of here first... Hm?'
As Serena was looking at the endless snowfield, she noticed a small figure at the far right.
'It's not a monster.'
The monsters on the 4th floor had appeared suddenly, ignoring her aura perception. That was the first human figure she had seen here.
'Who is it?'
Considering it might be an enemy, she didn't approach hastily but concentrated aura in her eyes.
She saw golden hair that hadn't lost its luster despite the snow, eyes burning red like the sun, and the black long coat that had become his trademark, fluttering in the wind.
"Raon?"
"Void Sword Division Leader!"
Raon, having apparently confirmed her presence, quickly ran over.
"I'm so glad that the first person I've met here is you, Void Sword Division Leader!"
He bowed his head, his face showing relief.
"Were you also wandering around here?"
"Yes. I'm not certain, but I think it's been over a day."
Raon sighed, saying it was a terribly endless place.
"It was the same for me."
Serena nodded while examining Raon. Given how unusual this place was, she searched for any oddities, but didn't notice anything particularly strange.
His aura's characteristics and physique were the same, and the form of his uniform, torn from fighting the Demon Sword Master and Glacial Wraith before coming here, was also unchanged.
"Did anything unusual happen?"
"Just before coming here."
Raon shook his head.
"Just before coming?"
"Yes. I encountered Glacial Wraith in the 3rd floor maze."
"Don't tell me you defeated her?"
"Yes."
He calmly smiled as he said he had caught Glacial Wraith.
"Huh..."
Serena let out a hollow laugh as she looked at Raon.
"You really are something else."
"I was lucky. She controlled demonic energy like waves, making her difficult to deal with."
"I'm curious how you won, but let's move for now."
She gestured to Raon.
"We need to find the others too."
"Understood."
Raon nodded and fell in behind Serena's left side.
"Tell me as we go. How did you meet Glacial Wraith and how did you defeat her?"
Serena walked forward while gesturing to Raon beside her.
"When I reached the end of the maze. She came as if she had been waiting. First, I had the Light Wind division fight the demonized humans, then one-on-one..."
Raon explained the battle with Glacial Wraith in his characteristically calm tone.
"Using cold energy, you really..."
Serena chuckled and looked ahead. Having met someone after so long, and it being Raon whom she usually cared for, her tension quickly dissipated. It felt like returning to the family.
"I had an easier time than you."
"Didn't you encounter the Five Demons?"
"Right. I was far from the Five Demons. But there was a rather nasty trap in the maze..."
As she was explaining what had happened while looking ahead.
"I see."
Raon maintained his smile while raising his right hand in a sword stance. Without emitting any aura or killing intent, he thrust his hand towards Serena's back.
Pueeeerk!
* * *
"Burren. You're so caught up in the idea that you have to lead everyone from the front that you're failing to display your own martial prowess."
Raon dusted off his hands and stood in front of Burren first.
"I-I understand."
Burren, with dark circles under his eyes, nodded with difficulty.
"Martha. You're relying too much on your berserk mode lately. If you depend only on that power, your base skills will deteriorate."
"Ugh..."
Martha bit her lip, unable to refute.
"Runaan. You're still too passive. Don't you have something you need to do?"
"Yes..."
Runaan understood the meaning and nodded deeply.
"Dorian. It's good that you're moving to overcome your fear, but you're becoming too hasty and your vision is narrowing. Be careful. Next is..."
Raon pointed out the weaknesses he had noticed in the Light Wind division during combat and training to everyone.
The Light Wind division rested while deeply engraving Raon's advice in their hearts.
They realized in their hearts that he wasn't doing this just to be spiteful.
"If you've rested enough, get ready."
Raon clapped his hands and pointed to the passage leading to the 4th floor.
"As a final piece of advice, you should trust in your own martial prowess a bit more. Have confidence."
"Understood!"
The Light Wind division, having received both advice and praise, smiled brightly as they entered the passage to the 4th floor.
"Are you planning to make the Light Wind division as strong as the Heavenly Blade Division?"
Rimmer, the last one remaining, stood in front of the passage and turned his gaze.
"Not just as strong as the Heavenly Blade Division, but surpassing them."
Raon shook his head. He had no intention of stopping here. He planned to raise the entire Light Wind division to Master level, creating not just Zieghart's, but the continent's strongest combat force.
"Ooh, I feel a bit sorry for the kids."
Rimmer muttered that he might have passed on the Division Leader position too quickly as he entered the 4th floor passage.
"They'll be grateful later."
Raon chuckled and entered the black hole last.
Wooong!
The floating sensation was still there, but the falling time was noticeably shorter than before.
"Phew."
Raon exhaled softly and lifted his eyelids.
White.
A pure white snowfield stretched out, literally devoid of trees, bushes, or even a single pebble.
Snowflakes as big as a child's fist fell endlessly, seeming as if they would bury this snowfield no matter what.
'No one's here.'
Not only the Light Wind division, but even Kaiyan that he had been holding in his hand was gone.
-What do you mean no one! This king is here!
Wrath shook his head as if telling Raon not to be cheeky.
'Right. Thanks to you, I won't be bored.'
Raon chuckled and moved forward through the snowfield.
But there really was nothing.
People, monsters, trees, clouds, sun. There was nothing to use as a landmark, making it impossible to tell if he was moving forward or backward.
-What on earth is this place for!
Wrath furrowed his brow as if annoyed.
-Why is there no end even after walking for over a day! I'm bored!
'Same here.'
From the 1st to 3rd floors, he could understand their purpose to some extent, but the 4th floor's meaning was incomprehensible.
'Is it meant to make us irritated?'
Just as Raon clicked his tongue, a shadowy black figure appeared at the far right.
"Raon!"
Enhancing his vision with the Evil Eye of Wrath, he saw Rimmer running towards him, waving his hand.
With snow piled on his head and shoulders, he looked like a snowman.
"Vice Leader."
"I finally found you!"
Rimmer sighed with a voice full of concern.
-Hmm?
Wrath twisted his lips as he looked at Rimmer.
Raon lowered his gaze as he looked at Rimmer. He examined him just in case, but didn't notice anything particularly strange about him.
"Phew, it was so tough being alone all day."
He shook his head, saying it had been a boring and difficult time. Raon thought it meant he had no one to order around, so he seemed the same as always.
"Did you have any trouble?"
"Since there was truly nothing here, it was rather comfortable."
"Well, you're that kind of guy."
Rimmer chuckled and nodded.
"Then let's move quickly, I'm worried since I can't see the kids."
He frowned, saying something might have happened to the Light Wind division.
"...Let's do that."
Raon calmly nodded and started walking forward. As he was advancing steadily, Rimmer gathered his fingers into a sword stance.
His hand, sharpened more keenly than a sword, silently extended towards Raon's back.
Paaaang!
But Rimmer's hand strike only sliced through a falling snowball instead of Raon's heart.
Tak!
Raon sprang up from the ground like a ghost and grabbed Rimmer's trembling wrist.
"H-How!"
Rimmer's lips trembled as he looked into Raon's sunken eyes.
"That damn elf teacher would never worry about me or the kids."
Rimmer, who hates being sentimental, might think it inwardly but would never outwardly express concern for others.
Pududuk!
A heat like lava surged in streams across Raon's eyes. He roughly squeezed his grip, crushing the wrist of whatever was disguised as Rimmer.
"Who are you?"