Without anyone taking the lead, confused expressions spread among us.

But before making any judgment, we decided to hear Ibaekho’s story first.

“Me?”

“Yes, just tell us. Maybe you have some info that could help us understand the situation.”

“I don’t really have anything special... After waking up in the Poisonous Lava Swamp, I wandered around to see if anyone had fallen here. I didn’t find anyone, so I crossed into the Primeval Land. A few days ago, I found that cloth tied up, and then I ran here to the monument as fast as I could. That’s about it.”

There was no other clue that could help.

He said that except for finding the cloth tied and rushing to the monument, nothing else had happened.

“But what’s this? When I arrived, there were traces of people staying here, but no one was around?”

Even a strange new entrance that wasn’t here before appeared, and our traces lead there—according to Ibaekho, they just entered.

“Tada! That’s my story here!”

Ibaekho stretched like waking up, then suddenly changed expression, looking us over with a low voice.

“So, where’s our archer?”

“......”

“Dead, huh?”

The blunt question left me speechless.

It’s not like it was my fault.

“Briot’s dead.”

“How?”

“I found his corpse on the way to the Primeval Forest alone. Seems like monsters got him.”

“...Is that so?”

Ibaekho fell silent after saying that.

Though it wasn’t for long.

“Hmm, but if only one person died, that’s still not bad.”

Ibaekho regained his usual energy as if nothing happened.

“Everyone must have had a hard time. Honestly, I thought everyone except the Baron and our Old Doom Grandpa might’ve died.”

“......”

“But what do we do without an archer? He was a bit timid but good at his job.”

I couldn’t figure out what was really going on inside him.

Is he really that unaffected?

He was a comrade for over three years.

Who knows, but that was the end of the Briot talk.

“Anyway, that’s not the main point... So none of us hung the cloth?”

“That’s right. Unless you’re joking, Baekho.”

“Why would I joke? Ha... This is really a ghost’s curse.”

Hmm, well.

Is this really something a ghost would curse over?

“Could there be a traitor among us?”

Ibaekho’s eyes started to glare fiercely.

“I’m not! I’m totally innocent! I couldn’t plan anything that complicated!”

Aures immediately started defending himself once Ibaekho looked at him.

This isn’t some mafia game.

I didn’t want to waste energy on pointless arguments, so I jumped in.

“Stop suspecting your own comrades first.”

“Why? Isn’t that a reasonable suspicion—”

Reasonable suspicion my ass.

“If none of us hung the cloth, shouldn’t we suspect the other side first?”

“The other side...?”

“Have you forgotten already? We’re not the only ones here.”

At my words, Ibaekho, who was confused, suddenly seemed to realize something and parted his lips slightly.

“Ah! That bastard who lured us! That, that name was... Han... What was it? Ah right! Dailan! Han—!”

“Stop.”

I quickly cut him off before that cursed name was completed.

Then Jaina spoke from the side.

“But that guy’s already dead, right?”

“That’s right! He was turned into a Bayon and was dismantled by Lord Ruingenes!”

Aures nodded enthusiastically.

Before I could say anything, the Old Doom Grandpa spoke.

“I agree with the Baron. It’s likely that someone who had evidence of deliberately luring us is involved. Han—.”

“Please call him by his proper title.”

“...?”

“They weren’t ◈ Nоvеlіgһт ◈ (Continue reading) exactly close friends, were they? Show some respect.”

The Old Doom Grandpa shot me a look like he thought it was nonsense, but didn’t want to argue.

“...Anyway, I think the mysterious ‘Han’ is really someone disguised as a man named Dailan.”

“So what’s the goal of that mysterious someone?”

“I don’t know. But as we explore this place, we’ll naturally find out why they called us here.”

As the Old Doom Grandpa said, we will find out in due time.

We are already trapped here, and all we can do is continue exploring this mysterious space.

“Well, then, that’s roughly settled. We search this space carefully while watching out for that bastard. Right, Baron?”

“That’s about the size of it.”

“Then let’s get moving. We might meet that bastard while we’re at it.”

Ibaekho said that and approached me as if eager to move.

But I didn’t budge and stayed still, making him tilt his head.

“Why aren’t you going down? Oh right, you were going up when we met earlier?”

Finally noticing the oddity, Ibaekho asked the reason.

One reason you don’t want many rowers.

The others followed me reluctantly, but Ibaekho didn’t seem like the type.

“I thought something might appear if we go up, so I wanted to check.”

I added that explanation casually, and Ibaekho seemed to think for a moment before slapping his knee.

“Going up because you don’t know what might appear... Oh! Now that you mention it, this looks like the ‘Golden Ruins’!”

Phew, maybe because I played original mode a long time ago?

This guy knows a lot despite breaking the cheat map.

“Heh, so that’s what you were after? Okay, I admit. Worth checking out!”

“Um... What are you two talking about...?”

“There is. You just follow us.”

Anyway, the opinion was unanimous, and with Ibaekho joining, we kept climbing the stairs.

10 minutes, 20 minutes, 30 minutes...

Some time later, when I started to wonder if this place was different from the labyrinth and no ‘event’ would happen—

Step.

At last, the stairs ended and a narrow passage appeared.

“...Huh?”

“There really was an end...? I thought it would be an illusion or something.”

“What’s about to appear...?”

It seemed like they wanted an explanation, but without a word, I started walking down the passage, and everyone quietly followed.

Step, step.

After about 10 meters, the dark vision disappeared, revealing a stone gate at the end.

I thought about giving a quick briefing before entering, but skipped it.

‘They easily kill grade 3 monsters anyway.’

The Golden Ruins, one of the fourth-floor rifts.

The boss there is not a rift guardian but a hidden mid-boss, so the fight itself wouldn’t be difficult.

“Then let’s begin.”

After saying this, I immediately took out my hammer and struck the stone gate.

And then...

Kraaaaang!

The gate shattered into pieces in one blow.

‘...What the—?’

Even I was stunned after breaking it.

In the game, it was pretty durable.

Even as a damage tank barbarian, I thought it would take at least five hits.

Swishhh.

The GM used wind magic to clear the dust and visibility was restored.

I cautiously entered and looked around.

The terrain was a square-shaped enclosed room.

Better than the narrow corridor, but not very spacious.

The walls were densely covered with creepy murals painted in a certain sinister style...

Step.

In the center lay a golden coffin about three meters long.

This was the ‘piece’ found by going back up the stairs.

Step.

Opening that coffin would summon a grade 4 mid-boss monster named ‘Makairo.’

Defeating it grants a battle buff that lasts until leaving the rift, and with luck, you can get a very rare Numbers item...

Thunk.

I kicked off the coffin lid and quickly stepped back to put distance.

Kraaaaang!

Raising my shield and preparing for battle, everyone cautiously took position.

But...

“.......”

“.......”

“Nothing’s coming out?”

Even after the dust settled, the boss monster showed no sign of appearing.

‘What the hell is this?’

I covered my upper body with my shield and slowly approached to look inside the coffin, freezing in disbelief.

Ibaekho quietly came over and murmured.

“What? It’s already dead?”

Inside the coffin lay only a completely bleached skeleton.

The skeleton lay inside the coffin in a resting position.

As I stared blankly, Ibaekho called the Old Doom Grandpa.

“Grandpa, start looting. Even if the most valuable eyeballs have rotted away, Makairo’s bones should still be high quality, right?”

“No need. These bones are worthless now.”

“What do you mean?”

“The value of monster bones comes from the mana preserved inside. But...”

The Old Doom Grandpa picked up a bone and continued.

“No mana can be detected here. These bones are worse than goblin bones now. They’re so rotten they can’t even be used as a staff.”

“...It’s the first time I’ve seen no traces of anything from a creature’s bones. Normally, it takes time for mana concentration to reach zero.”

“Which means we should take a few anyway. As our friend said, this is a very unusual case.”

The Old Doom Grandpa picked up several large bone fragments and put them in his bag, and the GM followed suit.

“Wow, so after all this, the only loot we got are some bone fragments worse than goblin bones?”

“Unfortunately, yes.”

“Why is that?”

“Well, there are two possible reasons.”

The Old Doom Grandpa held up two fingers.

“One is the monster’s cause of death. Sometimes black magic or Karui’s power absorbs life force and mana from corpses, causing this.”

“So the bastard who lured us here could be a black mage or Karui’s lackey? Okay, noted. What’s the second?”

“The corpse has been here a very long time. All biological remains decay over time, mana disperses.”

“Then what about making equipment from bones? I heard those auctioned off were from a famous explorer thousands of years ago and sold for a fortune.”

“That’s because the bones were magically processed to preserve mana.”

“So how long does it take for bones to become this useless?”

“There’s a specimen currently being experimented on in the Magic Tower.”

“Oh, you mean Jaymetal’s goblin bones? I heard the experiment started exactly 4,000 years ago.”

“Really? But it still retains mana.”

The bone talk went on unexpectedly long, but the key point was one.

“Simply put, this thing may have been dead for over 4,000 years.”

“If it wasn’t black magic or something similar.”

Of course, none of that was a problem right now.

What difference does it make how or when it died?

‘...It’s a shame we didn’t get the buff?’

I even hoped a bit.

If we defeated this guy, there was a very small chance to get an item—

“Hey, Baron, what’s this? Looks like a ‘box’...”

“What? ‘Box’?”

I quickly turned toward the voice and saw Aures holding a black cube-shaped box.

“...Where did you find that?”

“Found it? It was just lying in that corner.”

“Give it here.”

I took the box forcefully and carefully examined all sides, finishing the appraisal quickly.

It was definitely genuine.

“What exactly is that...?”

“No.777 Makairo’s Storage Box.”

The item we usually call the mystery box.