With Jack's incorporeal state, it didn't take long for the four to go down the labyrinth. The monsters of the first half of the floors were nothing to them. Their challenge was simply to find a way through the maze. Since Jack's incorporeal state eliminated that challenge, it became a walk in the park for them.
In a short two hours, they were already on the tenth floor. The monsters on that floor had levels from 45 to 50.
The drop rate was still terrible, but the mana core drops from the bosses were decent.
They encountered two more gold bull bosses in their descent, which Peniel said was extremely good odds. It was roughly one gold bull boss every three bosses. Normal players considered themselves very lucky already if any of their group encountered one gold bull boss after one week of adventuring through this labyrinth. Sometimes, no party that entered the labyrinth even saw one after two weeks straight, except if they reached the boss on a floor that was not yet cleared previously.
The third gold bull boss they killed was level 40 and it dropped 50 mana cores. On their way down, they discussed and agreed. Jack got all dropped mana cores but relinquished all dropped equipment. Materials went to the guild, and other items were rolled.
Bowler and the others didn't mind. In their opinions, they were just tagging along. Jack paid for their entrance fee. He was also the one carrying them down the labyrinth so fast. He could kill the bosses all by himself. They considered Jack sharing the exp points was already generous. They wouldn't mind if Jack said he wanted all the loot. But since Jack insisted on the arrangement, they just went along with it.
As they went down, Jack saw fewer and fewer blue dots on his radar. This was because normal players needed time to find their way through the maze. Those who reached these lower floors had been scouring the labyrinth since the morning when Jack was still socializing with Thelgrun.
Jack and the others soon arrived at the twelfth floor. This was the floor where the boss was still unconquered, meaning it would for sure have a gold bull boss.
The same with the other floors, Jack used his incorporeal state to interact with the corridor's mana and search for the boss' location. Since the monsters on this floor were around levels 55 to 60, they couldn't take it as easy as they did on the previous floors.
Jet and The Man stood facing opposite directions in the corridor, protecting Jack while Bowler stood next to Jack, prepared to use his healing spells to support them if needed.
While searching for the boss' location, Jack's mana sense made him aware of something else.
What he sensed was a group of players. He felt a sense of familiarity with this group. As his consciousness came near them, he saw that he indeed knew these players.
Jack memorized their location and then proceeded to find the boss. Afterward, he returned to check these players' positions again before returning to his body.
"Found the boss?" Jet asked when Jack stood up.
"Do you have to ask the same question every time?" Bowler responded.
"Do you want me to whoop your skinny ass?" Jet said to him.
Jack ignored the two. He said instead, "This way. We will first make a stop somewhere before we go for the boss."
"Make a stop? What is this? A delivery service?" Jet commented while following Jack.
Jack didn't explain. The three didn't ask further. They were lost if not for Jack. So if Jack wanted to make a stop, they made a stop.
Jack was running at high speed, but he still took care to not be too fast. Otherwise, the others won't be able to keep up. Especially Bowler who had the slowest movement speed. He was in a hurry because if he took too long, the players could have moved to a different location when he arrived.
When he was near, he heard quarreling voices. The players were fighting monsters when Jack found them using his mana sense. Maybe they were still fighting the monsters and quarreling due to some difficulties?
Whatever the reason, Jack was glad they were still there. He turned a corner and saw the group. He was surprised that the group had been joined by another group of players, who were quarreling with them. He was even more surprised that he also recognized the leader of this new group.
*
"You know whose turf this is? This is our grinding floor, all of you should get out now! Once we kill the boss of this floor and move to the thirteenth floor, then only you may grind on this floor."
A dwarf player who was a level 42 mage knight was talking to a group of human players. The human players were very vexed. How dare this low-level dwarf talked to them like this? But then again, the other dwarf players accompanying this low-level mage knight had more numbers and they had decent levels, unlike this mage knight.
This low-level mage knight was Vincenzu Giovanni. The dwarves backing him were all from the same guild, Casa Oggetto.
The human players knew about this guild. Though Cassa Ogetto wasn't ranked number one in Palgrost, its infamy still caused intimidation to those who crossed paths with the guild. This was because this guild was very overbearing.
Their members also weren't afraid of playing dirty to get what they want. Just like how they were now using their larger number to intimidate the five human players.
"People know that I'm a fair person. So, I'm going to give you a choice," Vincenzu said to the human players. "You can go back out willingly, or we help you leave this labyrinth minus one level."
"You are so unreasonable! We are here first!" Exclaimed the single woman among the human players, who had an archmage class.
"Hm? What do we have here? You are quite good-looking. All right, I will let you accompany me. After we are done with this labyrinth, we can go back to my place and I will show you a good time."
"Over my dead body!" One of the human players, a Sentinel, exclaimed. He put himself before the female archmage.
"Do we have a hero here? I hate heroes," Vincenzu spoke with a threatening tone. His underlings behind him took one step forward in an intimidating display.
"Hmph, enough nonsense. If you want to fight. Then we fight!" The leader of the human players stepped forward. He was a blade dancer. He didn't show any fear against this band of dwarves who outnumbered them.
When Vincenzu was about to mock the blade dancer's act of bravery, a voice cut him off. "Warpath! I'm surprised to see you here in the dwarven country. I thought you will be with the Death Associates in Aurebor. Speaking of which, why is there no guild tag on you five any longer?"
Both Vincenzu and Warpath turned to the voice and saw Jack there.
"You!" Warpath exclaimed.
"You...!!" Vincenzu also shouted. He immediately remembered Jack who had killed him. Jack was the reason why he had such a low level. He had madly leveled up after the incident but he was still unable to chase the levels of the average players.
"I will take my vengeance!" Vincenzu yelled. He took out his sword and attacked. Everyone was taken aback by his abrupt action, including his underlings.
But soon after, an even more unexpected thing happened. Before Vincenzu's sword touch Jack, Jack's hand moved at an incredible speed. A flash of light followed his hand movement.
When Jack's hand stopped, everyone saw a long black sword in his hand. Vincenzu was laying on the floor with zero HP.
