System's POV

Two days after the Wanderers entered the Temple of Courage…

Roland's group finally arrived at the 6th Floor of the Temple of Courage, looking very tired and exhausted.

While the Teleportation Gates from the 1st Floor up to the 8th Floor could be found in fixed locations, the journey to reach them had been quite hard.

Their path had been littered with monsters, and dealing with them as they moved forward slowed them by a lot of time.

The other thing that buffered their travel time was the environment of each floor.

The 5th Floor was a dense jungle. Not only did danger lurk everywhere, but they also had to find their way through the lush vegetation.

The 6th one was a Wetland, which annoyed Erica very much, so she spent most of the time flying in the sky.

The Temple of Courage banned the use of any Avatars, so they couldn't summon monsters to use as mounts to speed up their journey.

They weren't like Thirteen who could travel with the help of Rocky and Blacky, allowing him to clear each floor as fast as possible.

"Frogs at three o'clock!" Erica shouted from the sky before hurling a fireball in the direction of the monster lurking in ambush from under the water.

Thanks to the monocle Thirteen had given her, she was able to sense the heat signatures of monsters lurking in the wetlands.

But reptiles such as frogs, lizards, and snakes were nearly invisible to her monocle because they were cold-blooded animals.

However, despite their advantage, Erica's new ability allowed her to detect even near-invisible monsters within a three-hundred-meter range with her at the center.

She had gained this ability after Thirteen defeated the Majin King.

The name of this skill was called Danger Sense.

It was a very powerful ability, but Erica could only keep it active for two hours max.

After that, it would enter a cooldown time of three hours before she could use it again.

Right now, this skill was activated because they had been ambushed by a Rank 3 Red Frog that was hiding under the ground.

Fortunately, everyone was on alert, so Diana had been able to block the attack, followed by Derek who swiftly went in for the kill.

"This is annoying," Erica complained as she, Shana, and Diana hovered above their team, keeping watch of their surroundings.

Thirteen had gifted the Saintess a pair of wing earrings, which would transform into a winged helmet when activated.

When the winged helmet was active, Shana could summon a pair of angelic wings behind her back, allowing her to fly in the sky.

Diana, on the other hand, was able to get a pair of black steel wings from the Steel Falcons that Thirteen had captured.

Sherry looked enviously at the three ladies flying in the sky because she had no choice but to walk through the muddy wetlands. It would be nice to ride a Flying Avatar, but the temple unfortunately restricted them.

It was not only her who felt this way.

Roland, Joshua, Derek, and Mildred were also suffering from their current environment.

"If we continue heading North, we will arrive at the teleportation gate in half a day," Arlo said.

He was one of the Guides leading the Wanderers in the right direction so that they could clear each floor as fast as possible.

"What kind of Boss Monster lives on this floor?" Roland inquired.

"The Boss Monster we fought when we entered here a year ago was a Giant Black Anaconda, a Rank 5 Sovereign," Arlo answered. "But since a new Boss Monster will appear two weeks after the previous Boss Monster has been killed, the possibility of it not being another Black Anaconda is high.

"Please be careful because the monsters here in the Wetlands always rely on surprise and sneak attacks."

"I hope the next floor is better than this one," Erica grumbled.

"Well, I won't say it's better, but the hardship is on a different level," Arlo commented. "The 7th Floor is a desert, and it's very hot during the day, and very cold during the night. Similar to the Wetlands, most monsters hide under the sand, especially the Scorpions and Sand Snakes."

Erica groaned in frustration because although he disliked the Wetlands, she could still remedy it by flying.

But the hot desert?

That was bad news for her skin!

'Hey, Zion, what floor are you on right now?' Erica asked Tiona's clone, who was currently coiled on her neck.

'I'm on the 11th Floor,' Thirteen replied. 'Talk to me later. I'm about to fight the Boss Monster.'

Erica clicked her tongue because the difference between her team and Zion's team was like heaven and earth.

It took them two days to reach the 6th Floor, yet the teenage boy was already fighting the Boss of the 11th Floor.

If only the Sorceress had known that Thirteen had planned to sneak away during the night, she would have insisted that she slept beside him like usual.

"This is driving me crazy!" Erica shouted in anger.

Everyone could only sigh, and nod in agreement.

This environment was indeed driving them crazy, and they still needed to travel for half a day before they reached their destination.

———

Meanwhile, on the 11th Floor…

From within a blizzard, the sound of fighting could be heard.

Despite Rocky's attempt to transform the entire battlefield into molten magma, the blizzard was too strong to make it possible.

The monster they were facing was a Yeti-like monster but more savage and deadlier.

It was a Chenoo.

Its entire body was covered in white fur, making it nearly invisible in the snow. It had two black horns on its head and blood-red eyes that shone faintly, hungry for blood.

Its wide mouth, filled with razor-sharp teeth would make babies cry the moment they see it.

But despite its size, this monster was very agile, able to jump dozens of meters in any direction, using its body to lunge at its opponent with feral ferocity.

It was a peak Rank 7 Sovereign, which was a very difficult opponent to fight in its home court.

Rocky might have been able to do something if the environment had been different, but even his flames couldn't fight against the laws of frost that were widespread on the 11th Floor.

"Let's do, Plan B, Rocky!" Thirteen ordered.

The Magma Bal-Boa, who had managed to get a two-day rest after fighting the Death Worm, had now regained his strength.

Because of this, he heeded Thirteen's orders and burrowed underground to create tunnels, which it would use to trap the very agile monster who was nearly impossible to catch above ground.

Thirteen didn't dare to summon Giga, Blacky, Hercules, and the others because they would not be able to do anything against the opponent, who was a natural-born killer within its winter wonderland.

The only way for it to be defeated was to remove its ability to move, which was what Rocky was currently trying to do.

Their only option was to build a deep, large pit, which would take the Chenoo by surprise and make it fall deep underground.

Just like the Death Worm on the 10th Floor, Thirteen deemed that the Wanderers wouldn't be able to defeat the Boss Monster, so he needed to kill it first to prevent the inevitable mass casualties among his subordinates.

He understood that this was a battle of chance and attrition, but since this was the only way to secure an advantage over their opponent, he was willing to spend many hours crafting a place that would serve as the Chenoo's grave.