nownovels Chapter 682: There's Only One Way Forward
Chapter 682: There's Only One Way Forward
A few more people dropped down from the ceiling and several of them tried to climb up the stairs only to run back down when they found a giant boulder rolling after them when they tried.
Some of the people who fell from the ceiling recognised each other and started forming groups to share what happened to them. Others were just sort of hanging around with a few of them just simply collapsing on the ground in exhaustion.
Most of them were pretty much naked while a few had some rags on them to at least preserve what little remained of their dignity.
All of them seemed to be keeping their distance from me for some reason even though I've shown no hostility to them so far.
I wonder why?
That was when one of the girls came towards me albeit hesitatingly.
"Umm... Excuse me?" She called out in a shaky voice.
"Yes?"
"Could we... I mean... Could I ask... What you are doing here?"
I noted that everyone else seemed to have focused their attention on me, clearly interested in finding out the answer to that question.
I tilted my head, "Didn't I already mention that earlier? I'm here to conquer the Dungeon."
"But... How did you get past the succubi floor? They had turned that entire floor into a trap and we had nowhere to run or hide. What's more... They even trapped the area in front of the stairs to make sure no one got past..."
I could tell them about the 'succubus manager' leading me through that floor and helped me get past the trap... But then that might lead to questions about the succubus manager herself and I don't think I should tell them that Hiandoca was the one who guided me through that floor.
That's why I settled for the next best explanation instead.
"We beat them back and made a run for the stairs."
The girl blinked, "You... You guys managed to beat all the succubus that were guarding the stairs?"
"Well, not all of them but just enough to keep them away from us to clear a path to the stairs."
"Were you not tempted by them at all?"
"Can't say I wasn't, but I managed to resist their temptations long enough to reach it."
"H... How? They... I mean... Even myself... I don't particularly like girls but when they look at me... I was already begging them to ruin me..."
I narrowed my eyes, "Aren't you one of those who came to this Dungeon looking to get fucked in the first place?"
"Eh? Err... Yes I am... But what does that have to do with anything?"
"Well, I didn't come here with that in mind. I came here to train and to actually conquer the Dungeon. So I think that the fact that I did not have such ulterior motives might have contributed to my resistance to their seduction."
I was talking out of my ass, of course, but it's not like they would know, right?
She then turned to face the crowd and made a threatening pose, ensuring that everyone knew that we were serious.
That prompted the remaining people to line up obediently in front of us.
We started distributing the food out to them and pretty much all of them started devouring the food they received immediately.
Thankfully, I really did have enough to distribute to everyone. Otherwise, I might need to either knock the remaining ones out or maybe risk the possibility of even more trouble by giving them something else.
Now that their hunger was taken care of, I needed to address the actual problem that we found ourselves in.
"So... I have a question of my own, you guys... How are you all planning to get out of here? Because the stairs are clearly blocking all of you from returning for some reason."
The first woman who had fallen from the ceiling pointed at the door, "I'm guessing that place is our only way out?"
I nodded, "Unless someone has a better idea?"
Of course, I wasn't going to use Hiandoca's coin unless I absolutely had to.
If it turns out that the only way for this group of people to escape from here was for me to use the Escape Ball, I wouldn't use it either since I fully intend to only use this for my own party and not for some strangers I just met.
The woman hesitated, "But... We're all unarmed. My normal role is a fighter so I would be less than useless in a boss fight..."
I suppose it would be quite dumb for me to expect her to fight with her bare fists in that case... We don't even know what was behind the door either.
Hmm... Should I just use [Shadow Forge] to create new weapons for them?
No... That would take too much time... Plus I wouldn't want them asking questions about it later and realise I'm an Off-Worlder or at the very least, someone that acted really weird.
"Are there any mages around here? Or even people who can fight without needing to use weapons?" I asked.
A few hands went up, most of them coming from the women which wasn't saying a lot since there were less than ten of them here.
I considered my options for a moment before addressing them again, "Alright... Seeing that we don't exactly have a choice... We'll enter the room together and all of you leave the fighting to my party and just stay out of the way. Hopefully once we beat the boss, we can send you all back to the surface. How's that sound?"
Sounds of agreement rippled through the crowd, ignoring the fact that most of them were still enjoying the bread and dried meat I had offered them.
Well, at least most of them acknowledged my suggestion so let's just go with that.
Since we had decided on that, I guess there was nothing else to wait until the door opened.
...
...
Hmm... Whoever is fighting the boss inside there is really taking their time huh?
They've been inside for at least a few hours already... Could they really have been fighting the boss for that long?