The Story is Told to the Protagonist.

Despite the female swordswoman’s attempt to stop him by telling him to shut up, the psycho just keeps shouting.

“System! Release this! Release it now!”

“I’m sorry, please forgive us just this once! I’ll kill my brother with my own hands…”

Thud. Ein’s dagger pierced the woman’s neck.

I flinched at the sudden action.

‘When did she get over there?’

Maybe it’s thanks to the scarf with stealth effect, but I didn’t notice at all.

“Ack, gurgle…”

The female swordswoman who was making gargling sounds dropped her head as the sword was pulled out.

Next was the other person, who was just trembling silently.

‘This person is probably that mage.’

A powerful and tempting force, but that’s why we have to kill him. Because he’s an enemy.

He sobbed softly, then quietly met his end.

But the psycho was indeed different.

“Sa-save me! This isn’t right!”

The leader, who was about to behead him, stopped his sword in disbelief.

“Are you crazy? What? This isn’t right?”

“It’s not right for the system to interfere just because we fought a little! I’m right, aren’t I!”

While the leader was dumbfounded, Ein approached with her dagger as if she couldn’t even hear the nonsense.

“I didn’t mean to make things this big! If only that damn healer had come over…”

But before Ein’s hand could reach him, the leader threw away his sword and swung his shield with both hands.

Thud!

With a dull sound, the psycho’s neck ‘stretched’ and then drooped. His head dangled lifelessly like a boneless cotton doll.

Sierra let out an exclamation like me.

“Wow.”

“Wo-wow…”

The psycho’s body collapsed. The penalty was lifted due to death.

The corpse twitches and convulses. It was the end of someone who thought short-sightedly, relying only on their sword in the Tower.

[You have annihilated a 3-person team. You have gained 150 points.]

I looked around. The teams that were watching the situation soon turned away and left.

In this arena of killing and being killed, not being looked down upon is quite a significant matter.

The series of actions I showed probably instilled enough caution to make them think, ‘We don’t need to mess with that team.’

“Phew… Let’s get going too.”

I set the direction. It’s towards where the first portal will be generated.
I don’t remember all portal locations, but I knew the most important first one.

‘Let’s aim to leave through the first portal.’

I urged the team.
Although it wasn’t mentioned in the message, the 2nd floor is actually a time attack. It gets increasingly dangerous, so a quick clear is important.

‘Points, where to get points…’

Crystal Creatures are nowhere to be seen.
As I was actively searching the surroundings, Sierra tapped my shoulder.

“Hm?”

“Noah. That, that… What could it be?”

Sierra pointed to a tall tree far away. Hmm. It was a tree.

Well. Why a tree.

I looked at Sierra with eyes conveying that meaning, but she tilted her head instead.

“That, that one, that. Can’t you see it?”

“See what?”

“I’m not sure what it is, but it looks really dangerous at first glance… Look closely. On the largest branch at the top. Or should we just pass by?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about… Oh.”

Oh, there it is.

‘Giant Topaz Bee.’

She found a bee as big as the upper half of a human body.

“It’s strange, isn’t it? Such a huge bee.”

Indeed, from an Earthling’s perspective, seeing a ‘monster’ for the first time must be overwhelmingly intimidating, even from this distance.

It was clearly described as just a common mob in the novel, but…

‘Gulp.’

A life form never seen before, far removed from intuition. Looking at it, a strange sense of unreality seemed to arise.

I took a deep breath for a moment and answered Sierra.

“Well done. You certainly have good eyesight.”

“I did well? Then perhaps that…”

“Yes. It’s a Crystal Creature. Leader! Wait a moment!”

Even though I was a bit scared seeing its appearance, I must do what is necessary. That’s how we pass the trial.

I gave Sierra a look.

“Huh? Should I, should I say it?”

You need to show that you’ve done your part so I don’t look awkward for adding you.

And so, we made the team members aware of the bee.

“That must be the creature. Eindrack, Sierra. Can you hit that?”

“Ah… I’ll, I’ll try…”

“Yes.”

Ein lifted her crossbow before the hesitating Sierra.

Despite the considerable distance, it didn’t take long to aim.

Whoosh-

“Oh, it hit in one shot! But it’s fine?”

“That… it’s glowing?”

Despite being pierced by the large arrow, the Giant Topaz Bee lit up its gem-like stinger with an ochre glow and flew.

That one shot won’t kill it.
The theme of the 2nd floor trial is cooperation. The creatures are designed to die only when cooperation conditions are met.

For the bee, it’s the mix of melee and ranged attacks.
‘It’s coming.’

All team members were relaxed. No one knows what’s about to happen.

This is a ‘you’ll get hit if you don’t know’ pattern, so I signaled first.

“Leader! It’s coming!”

He senses my alertness and takes a stance.
At the same time, I heard the click of a crossbow being loaded.

The bee disappeared for a moment.
No, it seemed that way.

The fierce buzzing sound was heard first, and the creature suddenly appeared about 10m in front.

Bzzzzzzzz-!

The tremendous buzzing sound hit our ears.

The bee rushes towards Ein who attacked it.

It’s too fast. It was too close to react after seeing it.
But the leader who had prepared in advance gripped his sword.

At the same time, Ein also aimed her pre-loaded crossbow at my shout.

‘Oh no, don’t do that!’

If the hitting order is wrong, the berserk pattern will come out!

It’s too late to stop her as she’s already pulling the trigger.

I hurriedly reached out to push her, but the arrow was shot first.

‘Ah.’

My hand reached her belatedly and pushed Ein.

However, both the leader’s swung sword and Ein’s arrow just grazed the bee. The bee was too fast.

And instead of Ein, I was standing in the place that was the bee’s target.

‘Huh?’

The bee, its sharp stinger, and the buzzing sound suddenly grew larger.

‘Gra-grab it!’

As my hand tightly gripped the bee’s neck, I rolled together with it, unable to overcome the inertia.

“Noah!”

Ein shouted, which was rare for her.

I stopped my body and slammed the bee’s neck to the ground.
And just as I was about to draw a dagger from my waist and strike down, the bee’s stinger pierced my side.

Thud-

“Ugh.”

My body stiffened along with the involuntary death cry. I need to strike the bee’s head but can’t muster strength because of the pain.

“No-Noah!”

“Noah!”

The insect wings vibrate terrifyingly with a bzzzz- sound, and the embedded stinger vibrates along with it.

“Uh, ack… Uh…”

As my mind was becoming hazy from the pain and buzzing sound, my arm that was going numb stabbed the bee’s head with the dagger.

Thud.

Ding!

[You have gained 10 points.]

At that moment, something pink pushed me, and the bee’s stinger was pulled out with a swoosh.

That something that rushed in urgently stabbed the bee’s head several times with a dagger, even though the point message had appeared. Until it stopped moving.

Behind it, a pink tail was slightly puffed up. It was Ein.

‘He-heal…’

As the vibrating stinger was pulled out, my senses returned. I hurriedly treated the wound.

[Skill ‘Tears of the Gem’ is activated.]

The pain disappears. But my heart was still pounding.

‘When it hurts too much, the body stiffens…’

It was the same with the harpoon man. I just realized it.

“Noah, are you alright!?”

As I was lying dazed, the leader came running. He was about to tear the clothes around the wound area but stopped when he saw that no more blood was coming out.
He must have forgotten that I’m a healer in his surprise.

“…That was close.”

This trial thing is really not easy.
After calming them down, Ein approached with a stern expression.

“…Noah.”

“Oh, Ein. Thanks to you, I survived.”

“…”

After thinking for a moment, she spoke slowly in a slightly angry voice.

“… Don’t do that again. Among the rear, you’re the top priority for protection. It’s right for me to protect you. Not the other way around.”

That’s correct. You have to stick to your position so the team does not fall apart.
But I didn’t step up to protect, yet I got scolded.

“I got it. Sorry.”

Her shoulders flinch at my apology. Her ears slightly droop to the sides.
It reminds me of the cat I had when I was young. Our cat used to do that when it was scolded.

She avoids my eyes and says very quietly.

“……Thank you.”

Oh… I feel a slight sense of accomplishment.
To think I’d receive words of thanks as a team member from a protagonist who was once the lead of a protagonist team.

‘But even though I knew beforehand, it was almost a big deal…’

The reason why physical ranged DPS is important on the 2nd floor is because of the Giant Topaz Bee.

Among various creatures, the giant bee is relatively safe and common.
However, if you don’t have a physical ranged attack, you can’t gather its ‘honey,’ and your point acquisition will be greatly slowed down.

At this point, mages were weak because they couldn’t use their spells many times with their low mana stats.*

‘It was dangerous this time, but it was the first time.’

Now that everyone knows the pattern, it should be much safer from now on.

After confirming everyone is safe, the leader laughs again as if he’s about to die.

“Hahaha! That was really surprising! We would have lost a precious team member if it wasn’t for Noah!”

“It’s fortunate that Noah knows a lot about this and that, like earlier when we had trouble with the other team.”

“That’s right! Sierra might not know, but before that, we almost had big trouble because of something called the Ash White Clan! We survived thanks to Noah then too!”

Sierra, who had heard from me about ‘the reason to hide being from Earth,’ flinched.

“Ah…. The, the Ash White Clan?”

“Hmm! Indeed, knowledge is power!”

“Huh? That saying…”

Sierra was about to ask in surprise but closed her mouth.
She might not know, but such idioms often appear in many civilizations.

“Brave and smart! If our former captain had seen this, he would have drooled!”

“But Noah, how did you know about the bee’s counterattack in advance?”

Sierra. Can’t you just let that slide?

“Hm? Now that you mention it, that’s right. There wasn’t any particular sign… How did you know about the creatures in the trial…”

“I saw it in a book.”

I cut off his question, which was stretching in a dangerous direction, and gave the answer I had prepared.

“A book? About the trial? That’s impossible.”

“No.”

I sprinkled a little hint about this world’s setting to them.

“I’ve read about this environment and these creatures in a book before. And strangely, I’m encountering the exact same scenery in the trial. I thought it was a mistake, but seeing the bee made it certain.”

“Oh! That’s interesting…”

The leader, who was quietly digesting my words, paused. Then he shouted with his eyelids fluttering.

“Wa-wait! If that’s true… isn’t that an amazing discovery!”

“Is it?”

I pretended not to know.
The important thing is not to tell them the truth, but to justify my knowledge.

Of course, if they notice this setting, it will be a great help in their future Tower climb.

“If that’s true…! This, this can’t be…!”

As if Ein’s words about his intelligence weren’t a lie, the leader easily reached the truth.

“Perhaps! The Tower’s trials might be recreating places and times from the past!”

This fact implies many things.

“And not just any past, but that of old planets we thought were destroyed and gone forever!”

As I said I read in a book, the possibility that trial information might be obtained in advance.
There is a possibility that information about vanished planets might be encountered in the trials.

A few other things, all attractive stories.

“Then! Then!”

However, everyone who discovered this truth seemed to disregard such things and cling desperately to just one possibility.

“Even if a planet is destroyed!”

The thing that countless lives in the universe fear most. The hope that they might escape that fate.

“We can survive! In here! In the trials!”

Like the person in front of me, they cling to it like madmen.

It’s a pity.

Translator’s Corner

* I changed the content of the line. The original is much cruder, so continue if you want: At this point, mages are like premature ejaculation, they can’t shoot many times with the low mana stats of the lower floors.