Not caring the slightest bit about the little experience that the rest of the adventurers were focused on that came from the swamp monkeys that ran into the traps that had been set up earlier, the main thing on Verdell's mind wasn't even the two S Rank Monsters that had just begun ascending the staircase. Instead, it was the class quest he had to complete to reach the S Rank.
Now that he had some time to think about it along the way up the spiral staircase before the swamp monkeys caught up with them, he couldn't help silently regretting not having obtained this class quest earlier. After all, with his encounter and teamwork with Scaly inside the dreamscape, there was a very real chance that he would have been able to complete this class quest had he known about it and focused his full attention on trying to complete it while they had been working together to escape from the nightmare hawks.
Even if he couldn't complete the friendship part of the quest, he would at least have been able to complete petting part of the quest with relative ease during the escape from the nightmare hawks.
"What a pity… If only I had the opportunity to encounter that dragon again, I would make sure to take full advantage of the situation to complete that damnable class quest. If not… I might never reach the S Rank and end up joining those seniors finding themselves unable to take the final step…" Muttering this to himself as he leaned over the edge and looked up towards the top of the spiral staircase where it connected to the ceiling of the fifth floor and went up to the fourth floor of the dungeon, Verdell couldn't help hoping to encounter Scaly again. Knowing very well that she had escaped somewhere into the dungeon ahead of him and the simple fact that it might be his only chance at completing the class quest.
After all, dragons were not only well known for being difficult to befriend, but also incredibly difficult to find in the first place… And given that he needed to befriend a dragon, it was essentially impossible for him to complete the class quest by going to one of the dungeons with dragons inside of it, as dragons from dungeons were impossible to befriend.
His dreams of running into Scaly again aside, he first had to reach the fourth floor of the dungeon, as staying on the fifth floor would only mean death with his current strength. Even more so those weaker adventurers he had ended up finding himself in charge of because of his strength and the fact that he seemed to be the only one who had learnt anything about the fifth floor and the monsters found on the fifth floor of the dungeon ahead of time.
Rooar!
"Oh? Looks like those two S Rank Monsters ran into the swamp monkeys…" As his thoughts wandered while he continued leading everyone upwards, a loud roar followed by what could only be described as the panicked screams of swamp monkeys echoed out below. Signaling the fact that the S Rank Monsters finally seemed to have caught up to the swamp monkeys.
Not just that, but from the screams below, it was clear that the two groups had started fighting with each other like he had predicted. Taking significant pressure off his shoulders, as part of him had been worried that the S Rank Monsters would be smart enough to realize that attacking the swamp monkeys wouldn't help them ascend the spiral staircase faster.
"Huh? What is that?"
"The swamp monkeys… It seems like they are fighting something…"
"If I had to guess, they should have offended some powerful monster along the way and that monster seems to have finally caught up to them now that their speed forward was slowed by the traps we left behind.
"Really!? Haha, great!"
However, different from Verdell, who knew about the two S Rank Monsters that the swamp monkeys had ended up clashing with. The rest of the adventurers were mostly unaware of what he had done as they had been busy laying down traps while ascending the spiral staircase, something that ultimately ended with several exclamations of surprise and joy.
Even if the clash below would ultimately result in everyone earning far less experience from their traps, it was ultimately for the best that the swamp monkeys were slowed down, as it gave them more time to reach the fourth floor of the dungeon.
And in the end, reaching the fourth floor of the dungeon was their main goal. Improving their strength could always come later in a far less dangerous location than the one they currently found themselves. After all, as great and easy the experience from swamp monkeys was to obtain, it was incomparable to the danger they had to put themselves to get this experience.
Not to mention, the main challenge for advancing in strength wasn't so much the experience requirement, but more so the class quest they would end up facing.
After all, experience could easily be obtained through diving into dungeons, while the class quest that became harder to accomplish with time and ultimately turned into the main bottleneck for those advancing.
The most famous of which being the bottleneck between the A Rank and the S Rank that Verdell currently found himself facing, as it was the this one bottleneck where not a single class quest was easy to pass through and class quest like the one Verdell had received that was generally considered impossible to complete began showing up.
Of course, there were also a few unlucky individuals who encountered terrifyingly difficult class quests at the earlier stages, but those cases were generally rare and only happened to especially talented individuals who viewed these challenges as something positive, as completing difficult class quests earlier on meant one had a greater chance of obtaining a unique class far stronger than their peers. Giving them more stats per level, while at the same time also ensuring that future progress was smoother.
In some cases, these unique classes allowed these talented individuals to easily kill S Rank Monsters just after reaching the A Rank. A level of power that Verdell himself couldn't imagine reaching at the A Rank, as he himself might have the strength to kill S Rank Monsters after he reached the very pinnacle of the A Rank thanks to his own somewhat unique class, but that was only with the assistance of a certain dragon keeping him out of danger along the way.
Without outside assistance, he would have a difficult time taking on an S Rank Monster on his own, as only his attack power had reached that level. His defenses on the other hand… Might not even be comparable to that of a B Rank Adventurer…
In the truest sense, he could be considered a glass cannon, capable of wielding terrifying power, but breaking at the slightest touch.
Even with the different kinds of magical defenses, he had learnt over the years to try and alleviate this flaw, it was still something that had made solo adventuring difficult over the years…
Screeeech-!
Continuing the journey up the spiral staircase while listening to the struggle between the two S Rank Monsters and the swamp monkeys playing out below them for the next thirty minutes straight without any problems, a loud screeching sound suddenly caught everyone off guard…
"What is that…"
"A flock of flying monsters… And it looks like they are either focused on us or the struggle below…"
"Hopefully those flying monsters are targeting the chaos below, it would essentially give us a free pass for the rest of the way to the fourth floor."
And as all the adventurers, Verdell included turned to look in the direction of the loud screeching sound, they saw what could only be described as a colorful cloud rushing towards them. Hoping that they weren't the ones targeted by these flying monsters, as everyone understood full well how difficult it would be to fight against such a large flock of flying monsters on top the spiral staircase.
Even if these flying monsters didn't look to be too strong, they had the advantage on their side and could easily retreat whenever they wanted to.
Not to mention, the most important aspect was that even if they could fend off these flying monsters, they would still be slowed down significantly by them and give the swamp monkeys and two S Rank Monsters time to catch up with them.
And… If those two fighting groups of monsters caught up with them, they would end up finding themselves facing off against three groups of equally powerful monsters at the same time, a situation that would be close to impossible for them to get out of with their current available strength.
Unfortunately, as the flock of colorful flying monsters grew closer, it became increasingly clear that they were the target and not the monsters struggling below them…