I constantly heard the reports from people as I was with others, so everyone could come to the same decision, but everyone had different options, and I had to decide what options we had.

The problem was who would fight after the Free Lancers were out of the picture.

No one wanted to be the meat shield and lose all their people, after all, everyone had to think about the future.

If they sacrifice many of their people now, there will be a generation gap later in the future, which can cause significant losses to their guild.

So we had to decide by drawing lots, and the Frozen Giant Guild was the one who would go after the Green Lotus Guild, then, etc.

As we gained more and more ground on the Fifth Floor, I got the intel that the Floor theme is an Ocean, as there is no staircase leading to the next Floor.

If it can’t be helped, then we have to stop our advance and request people with combat experience in water fights and skills for it.

As we set up our base, the monsters got fewer and fewer, but something happened that caused ¾ of the people on the floor to collapse.

Until they got up, we learned what happened to them.

Everyone had a ghastly look on their face. Such an overpowered ability on this floor. How do we deal with it? The Hope buff cannot counter this, as this attack won’t kill the user but just incapacitate him.

The smaller problem was this, but the bigger problem was when we faced the Guardian.

We might fight for a few hours, and the battle may take place in different places. To block this mental attack, we need people to leave the floor and then return, but the Guardian won’t just stay here and let us kill it.

We must come up with a plan so we can keep the Guardian close to the island so we can rotate our people.

But how many should stay on the floor, and how many do we rotate?

If anything big happens and the party currently staying on the floor gets caught up in something and cannot return and suffers a mental shock, they have to be escorted if they lose consciousness.

Can anyone even conquer this floor? Such an inhuman design! The person who created it must be crazy!

What I am talking about is that he has to be crazy to create monsters like these on the lower floors, to begin with.

A monster that must be brought down into hell.

Massaging my head as I sit down on a stone so I can ponder better on what to do.

First of all, luring the Guardian close to the island. Second, having a rotating system set up so we can change our fighters, but having only 1 hour as time is not much, but rather short.

Third, who will these fighters be, and from which guild?

Will we use the same guild people who were chosen first or go with the order, but everyone had to be familiar with the environment, and it will take a lot of time so everyone can familiarize himself with the terrain?

Even then the monsters will respawn and will do another attack on us.

For some reason the Fourth Floor no monster is respawning, but it is good for us as we can rest on this floor for the time being.

“Mine! It's all mine!” I could hear someone scream as he said this.

I can tell this person went crazy, but so soon, and who?

As I made my way there, the tents blocked my view as they got set up so people could rest. I found it came from the logistics.

As I made my way there, my guards went in first into the tent, but I saw one of my guards backing out as he grabbed his throat.

Blood gushed out of his throat as he tried to stop it.

“Priest! Call a priest fast!” I called for a priest as I took out my sword to confront whatever was inside.

As I cut the tent flaps, what I saw took me back.

A person above a pile of rings and silver and golden coins as he crazily tries to hold everything.

Once he heard the noise, he turned around and I saw his bloodshot eyes and crazy smile on his face.

In the tent, many bodies lying in blood, all having bloodshot eyes and smiling faces like his, but less crazed.

He got up and charged me while saying to himself, “Mine!”.

My other guard came in front of me and blocked his sword while I cut off his head with one swing as I went around my guard.

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Crouching down next to his corpse and looking at his body and then his head that was next to him, I did not dare to touch it, so I could only look at his body to find any clue what happened.

Seeing nothing too out of the ordinary, he had a small bump on his forehead, but likely it was from the previous fights.

But soon I had other things to worry about as news came that not only here, but at other places, people went crazy, and all they had to do with the logistics, but soon this became worse as people who had to take back the bodies of the dead and their belongings went crazy.

Soon I sent out a ban on collecting bodies and on the logistics to not touch anything.

We had to find what caused this, as our situation is extremely dangerous, as we can’t carry anything with us that might contain and drive a person crazy.

Just as I thought this could not be worse, it did, as one of the guild captains went crazy and killed his guards and the people around him.

Soon he turned into a monster as people described. They saw him turn into a demon and kill people wantonly.

I tried to gather the guild captains, but they did not dare to leave their positions, and everyone called back their people, leaving no one to guard the Fifth Floor.

With one of the high-ranking people turning out to be a monster, no one trusted the other person at all.

Who can say the person next to you is not a monster? Until now the guild could work together as we were all from the same camp, but now?

No one can trust anyone. What if everyone else is already a monster and waiting out when to strike you in the back at the worst time?

I could only grit my teeth and send out all my guards and invite them to an isolated place, but not far away so their people can keep an eye on them and vice versa.

But this meeting did not go well, as no one wanted to be the first one to take the brunt of the Fifth Floor, and with a monster so high on the ladder, even the freelancers before who survived turned immovable.

Until now they could only grit their teeth and accept they have to follow the guild's orders, but who can say the guilds aren’t monsters?

I could only send out requests for help to the outside world, and I am prepared to lose my position as the raid leader, but I am prepared for it.

Others might think I gave up on my position because I felt I failed them, but I want to leave this place as soon as possible. Who knows if my guards are not monsters too? I had to look into their backgrounds even more.

Who knew at this moment, as the guilds suppressed so no information was leaked out, a person who was at the time present when one of the guild leaders went crazy held a crystal in his hand that slowly recorded everything?

No one saw who this person was, but even if they did, all they could see was his smile, as the rest of his face was obstructed by the hood he wore.

Soon he disappeared, as no one saw him as everyone was focused on taking down the monster that suddenly appeared.

***

In a dark room, 3 hours later, 2 people met. As they sat down at the table, one of them asked.

“Did you get what I requested?” I could only ask a masked figure in front of me.

“I never fail any mission, but hand over what I need in exchange for it.” The man held a crystal in his hand as he played with it. Showing me he has what I need.

Putting the briefcase on the table and pushing it towards him as I opened it for him.

Inside it was all the remaining money I amassed through the years.

As he accepted, he handed the crystal to me.

Touching the crystal and seeing the scenes inside of it, I smiled as I got up from the table and made my way out.

As for the person opposite me, he just smiled at the money he got.

***

Two people in a highly secured area walk down a corridor while no one is around them.

“Did you have it?” Said one of the military commanders as he walked with another person in the hallway.

Where both are going is a military meeting he called with urgency.

“Yes, don’t worry, I have the reason to capture all guild leaders and absorb their guilds into the military before the emperor realizes, and with that, we have the final say in everything.” The person could hardly hide his smile as they made their way into the meeting.

As they opened the room, a few people were talking with each other, but as soon as they entered, everyone got up and saluted them.

“Marshall.” With all of them saluting the Marshall, who started this meeting, he gestured them to rest.

“Gentlemen, I have called this meeting as a serious problem has arisen amid the Guilds raiding the dungeon. We have evidence here that shows the guild leaders are in cahoots with the guilds, and we must strike them before they realize it.” As he said it, he gestured to the person next to him to start the crystal recorder.

Soon the events replayed how one of the vice raid leaders was a monster and made a massacre.

Soon a gasp of surprise went through the room as no one imagined monsters infiltrating so high up in the guilds.

This also makes them eye the people who talked before, who can know they are not monsters too.

“Don’t worry, I already checked everybody here, and there is no problem at all.” Said the marshal as he stopped the recording.

“But gentlemen, we have a bigger problem, how to deal with the guilds?” He knows very well some people are loyal to the emperor, and he needs to smoke them out.

Asking for their intentions is a small probe into their character.

“What to do? Of course, we have to move and capture all of them and look through their history and what they did behind the scenes! We cannot let monsters run among humans!” Said one of the marshals at the table.

Well, technically they are all marshals here, but everyone knows there are rankings between them.

This was the result after countless years where the military did not fight large-scale fights, so they could only move in the shadows and establish ranking that way.

Simply put, the one who has the biggest number of soldiers under their hand is the one with the biggest word in their group.

“We should wait and watch them closely as they already have a plan for this situation, and we might walk into a trap set by the emperor.” Said another marshal, as he was clearly against the idea of doing it, as he knew what would happen if they did this.

Each person put forward their opinion, but they can be put into 3 groups.

One group wants immediate action while another wants to wait and then act, and another group wants nothing to do with it.

Just as the situation was getting tense, a knock was heard on the door, and everyone looked towards it, as no one should disturb them, as they might face a martial court on the spot.

One marshal gestured for the guard to let him in.

Soon the door opened and a soldier walked in.

Unlike the others, this soldier had golden coats on his shoulders. Only the soldiers or generals under the emperor directly can wear golden decorations on their bodies.

Except for the medals, nothing can be made out of gold.

It is either made out of silver or emerald.

As the marshal saluted the soldier, he also paid his respect towards the marshal, and as everyone sat down and waited when the soldier came here, the emperor's envoy came and spoke to them, and only if extremely critical would the soldier come to tell them the emperor's intentions.

“Under the emperor's orders, I came to tell the marshal to mobilize the soldiers under them to assist the emperor immediately in capturing the guild leaders of independent guilds who participated in the Mutant Dungeon raid.” Said with a straightforward face and not beating around the bush as the soldier awaited the marshal's response.