Chapter 537: Ch 537 : Monsters on the fifth floor

Then, Jean walked alone toward the left fork.

The group watched as she disappeared from sight and then proceeded down the right fork themselves.

Upon arriving at the battle area, Aether nervously scanned the surroundings, thinking that if this path also turned out to be a path of death, he might have to coordinate with Su Yuan to use the death rewind and redo everything...

However, the monsters that appeared soon made everyone realize that this path was not a path of death.

The enemies were nothing more than a few weak, insignificant slimes.

The group defeated these monsters effortlessly, and the passage to the next room opened successfully.

"Looks like our luck’s holding. This path seems to be the safe route," Su Yuan remarked.

"But for us, this being a safe path might just be luck..." Klee said with a hint of sadness.

"Captain Jean, who took the path of death, is extremely unlucky..."

"Alright, Klee, don’t think like that," Lisa said, patting Klee on the head.

"Since Jean made such a brave choice, we can’t let her down. We must keep moving forward!"

The group then passed through the passageway’s door, but instead of arriving at the second room of the fourth floor, they found themselves directly at the entrance of the fifth floor.

"Has the Spiral Abyss’s environment changed starting from the third floor?" Su Yuan observed thoughtfully.

"So the fourth floor doesn’t have separate rooms anymore—it goes straight to the fifth floor after passing through?"

The group also noticed a passage to the left, which must have been the route Jean took.

Everyone desperately hoped that Jean would emerge from there safely...

But they all knew that, when facing a path of death like that, the probability of Jean surviving was extremely slim.

Sacrifice is inevitable.

We cannot dwell in sorrow—we must keep moving forward!

However, the group soon noticed that at the entrance of the fifth floor, there was another sign with writing on it, once again in Aji’s handwriting:

[It seems you’ve successfully cleared the fourth floor of the Spiral Abyss!]

[I wonder how many sacrifices you had to make to reach this point...]

[Ahead, there are still two branches—one path of life and one path of death...]

[But this time, each path must have at least two people, or it will turn into a path of death...]

"This Aji must have been watching us all along!" Aether said, frowning.

"He already knows how we cleared the fourth floor, so this sign seems to have been added temporarily, forcing us to split into groups of at least two..."

"If we follow this logic, now on the fifth floor, we need to sacrifice two people..."

"Then on the sixth floor, three people; the seventh floor, four people..."

"When we reach the twelfth floor, how many will we have to lose?"

"That’s actually the better scenario!" Paimon chimed in, continuing Aether’s thought.

"If we calculate according to the doubling pattern, the sixth floor is four people, the seventh floor is eight, the eighth floor is sixteen..."

"How many people do we need to bring to safely reach the twelfth floor of the Spiral Abyss?"

"However, I have a suggestion..." Su Yuan said after some thought.

"The monsters on each floor of the Spiral Abyss are never the same..."

"That means the path of death on the fifth floor might be different from the fourth floor’s!"

"If everyone works together, maybe we can make it through!"

Although Su Yuan said this aloud, in his mind he was already thinking: if they truly encounter an insurmountable situation, he could take the risk and trigger the death rewind once more!

After all, he didn’t know how many random death rewinds he had available today, nor how many he had already used—somehow, that made it feel a little less frightening...

"Let everything be left to fate!!!"

After hearing Su Yuan’s suggestion, everyone felt it might be worth a try.

So, after a brief discussion, the group chose the left branch and entered it...

Upon arriving at the fifth floor’s battle arena, they quickly spotted the large monsters seated in the center of the field...

They were five colors: red, purple, cyan, blue, and green, representing the five elements—Pyro, Electro, Anemo, Hydro, and Dendro...

Su Yuan immediately recognized these monsters—they were the same Consecrated Beasts from the Spiral Abyss in the game, notorious for making newcomers’ lives miserable...

"Again, monsters from the Sumeru Desert region, just like the Setekh Wenut!" Paimon exclaimed, surprised as she looked at the Consecrated Beasts.

"Everyone, be careful. These Consecrated Beasts have high resilience and defense, and now with the Eerie power augmenting them, they’re likely even stronger!" Aether warned the group.

Everyone nodded and prepared to give their all, entering their Eerie states to fight...

However, Su Yuan and Aether both knew that although these Eerie-controlled Consecrated Beasts were strong, they were by no means a match for their team...

If this path was still a path of death, there would definitely be hidden lethal tricks waiting...

They just hoped this time, it wouldn’t be something like the previous floor’s infinitely multiplying and resurrecting enemies—completely unbeatable...

"Aether, why do the Consecrated Beasts we’ve seen so far only have five elemental types, with no Geo or Cryo ones?" Su Yuan asked.

"There should be Geo and Cryo Consecrated Beasts too; we just haven’t encountered them yet..." Aether replied uncertainly.

"That’s true, but it’s not important right now," Su Yuan nodded.

"What we need to guard against is what hidden lethal traps this so-called path of death might still hold..."

Then, Su Yuan and Aether watched the group’s battle with the Consecrated Beasts.

The beasts were undoubtedly being heavily suppressed and were likely to be defeated soon...

After all, the Consecrated Beasts were just powerful monsters—not lord-tier like the Setekh Wenut or Ruin Serpents—so the team quickly brought them down, leaving them unable to rise again...