Divine Luck: SSS-Rank Battle Maid Harem

Zach wanted to continue diving deeper into the Labyrinth to search for his family once he figured out that they were most likely deep down. But he and the other two needed to rest. Staying in Viomin's village for a day gave them some breathing room. They could also listen for rumors about Yanael and the others.

The ninth floor had been a bit of a struggle to clear, and if the long-eared people on the tenth floor—the elves—were to be believed, the eleventh floor would be more dangerous. Every tenth floor was 'safe' but signified a change in scenery and difficulty.

The tenth floor was safe since one would almost always teleport to an elven village when clearing the ninth floor. But there were monsters and the like in the woods around. And it wouldn't be safe if the elves were hostile.

However, for Zach, Nora, and Alzara, the hostility they faced came from the Ugri tribe and its members in Viomin's village. But they didn't do anything. It was mostly Borso dropping passive-aggressive comments about them being from the Empire and whatnot.

Zach just had to ask him why he was hiding in the Labyrinth and staying on the tenth floor to get him to shut up, though. Borso didn't know why the tribes who took Ciel decided to enter the Labyrinth of Jira, and he didn't have the guts to ask those who knew. Enjoy new stories from My Virtual Library Empire

He also hadn't had the guts to follow deeper down after facing the tree monsters on the ninth floor. So, he had stayed on the tenth floor and trained with the elves.

Until Zach started to tease him about it.

When Zach, Nora, and Alzara were about to go through the gate in the depths of the village to the eleventh floor, Borso showed up with his gear, a bow, his sword, and a quiver of arrows.

"No," Zach said immediately. He could guess what Borso wanted.

"Yes," Borso answered. "I'm coming. You can't mock me for staying on the tenth floor and then stop me from going to the eleventh." It was a sound argument.

"Go on your own, then. I don't want dead weight dragging us down." It was easily refuted.

"I'm not dead weight! I just got cold feet a little. I'll be helpful! Didn't you say you were looking for Visla Maura? I'm familiar with the Maura tribe's markings. If she's left traces, I'll find them. And what are you going to do if you run into more Sesha? Tell them the ancestors are guiding you?" Borso rapidfired all the arguments and reasons he had come up with last night to convince Zach to accept him.

"..." Zach stared at him blankly. He didn't care much about Borso's helpfulness, but he raised a good point when he mentioned the part about the Sesha.

As far as Zach knew, at least three tribes—the three biggest tribes—had entered the Labyrinth of Jira. He hadn't seen many of them yet. Part of that was because each floor was big. It was like finding needles in haystacks when he wasn't even trying to find the needles. Another big part was that few of the Sesha had stayed on the single-digit floors.

They had mostly either stayed on the tenth floor in the elven villages or continued deeper into the Labyrinth.

There were a handful of the Ugri tribe in Viomin's village. There were thousands of Sesha in the Ugri tribe.

Viomin didn't know how many elven villages there were on the tenth floor, but it was anywhere between a dozen and a hundred.

At most, a thousand Sesha had stayed on the tenth floor. That meant there could still be thousands more on the following floors.

Borso had been easy to deal with. But he was relatively weak, and he respected Viomin and the other elves of the village. When they asked him to cool his beans and let them listen to Zach, he obeyed. And while he was prejudiced against the Empire and its citizens, he wasn't blinded by the generational feud.

He saw that Zach was just another young man, not an embodiment of an enemy that needed to be defeated or anything.

Zach thought about the Woet, Yota, Toma, and Rib tribes. If not for the Woet chief's and Visla's protection, they would have torn him to pieces. The Nilme tribe too, if not for him concealing his identity with hair dye.

The big tribes, the ones who led this invasion and that had stood on the forefront of the enmity between the two sides for the last decades and centuries, they wouldn't easily entertain Zach's words without someone of their own to speak up for him.

After a long silence, Zach sighed.

"Fine. But if you can't keep up, don't blame me for ignoring your dignity," Zach said before turning around and walking into the stone archway leading to the eleventh floor.

"Hey, what does that mean? What do you mean ignoring my dignity?" Borso asked while hurriedly going after Zach, Nora, and Alzara.

"Hey! Ski–Zach! Why would you ignore my dignity?!" He questioned, growing increasingly worried. Zach didn't answer him. He just walked through the vortex with the other two while thinking about what the elves had said about the following floors.

The eleventh to the twentieth floors were apparently the first big hurdle all the Labyrinth entrants would face as they tried to reach the depths of the Labyrinth. It was what separated truly capable Labyrinth entrants from those who could only hunt monsters.

Everything, not just the monsters, worked against those brave or foolish enough to enter the floors. The environment, the weather, the monsters, and one's perception were out for one's life.

The monsters, anywhere else, weren't overly strong. But in their natural habitat, they became dangerous threats.

Letting down your guard for even a moment could spell death.

Zach wasn't worried in the least. He had the most reliable person in such circumstances by his side.

The second part of the Labyrinth was a desert.