Chapter 549: Ch 549 : The rules of the twelfth floor

The group gathered their strength once again and set off toward the eleventh-floor battleground.

However, this time—under Su Yuan and Aether’s guidance—they refrained from completely wiping out the first wave of monsters.

"Will this be enough?" Paimon asked as she watched a Slime being restrained and immobilized by Qiqi’s eerie power.

"Now we just wait until the clearance time is up, right?"

"Yes," Su Yuan nodded.

"If Aji wasn’t lying to us, all we need to do now is maintain this state and let time pass..."

"It’s just... we don’t know how long we’ll have to wait."

Aether frowned slightly.

He remembered clearly that in their previous attempt, he and his companions had fought for several hours without ever reaching the clearance time.

Even if there was no danger to their lives this time, and even if they didn’t need to worry about the Ley Line Monolith being destroyed, how long would they have to keep waiting?

Just as Aether was lost in thought, the Slime that Qiqi had pinned down suddenly vanished without a trace—and at the same time, the gate to the next floor opened by itself.

Everyone was stunned.

They looked at the newly opened gate, then turned toward Aether, puzzled.

"Traveler, didn’t you say we’d have to hold out for several hours? It feels like it’s only been a few minutes, and we already cleared it?"

"Uh..." Aether looked a bit embarrassed, unsure how to respond to the unexpected situation.

Su Yuan, on the other hand, thought to himself that perhaps Aether’s intel wasn’t always perfectly reliable after all.

Still, regardless of how it happened, clearing the eleventh floor of the Spiral Abyss safely and without casualties was already a great stroke of luck.

The group stepped through the gate and followed the passage until they reached the entrance of the twelfth floor.

Just like before, there was only one entrance—and beside it stood a wooden sign filled with Aji’s handwriting:

[You’re quite clever, aren’t you? I didn’t expect you to find a loophole in the rules and clear the eleventh floor of the Spiral Abyss!]

[Since you managed to exploit that trick, I figured there was no point in making you wait forever—so I let you clear it directly. You’re welcome!]

[And now, you’ve finally arrived at the twelfth floor. We’re so close to meeting each other... just thinking about it makes me excited.]

[However, I must tell you—the rules of the twelfth floor have also changed!]

[Each time you enter the battleground, only one person may go in. It will be a one-on-one duel!]

[The victor will earn the right to meet me. The defeated... will become nothing but bones and ashes!]

[Come now, take this final step!]

Everyone frowned as they read Aji’s message.

So that was why the eleventh floor had cleared so quickly—Aji had deliberately adjusted the timer.

But from his words, it was also clear that Aji truly could manipulate the Spiral Abyss itself—the floor layouts, the rules, even the conditions for victory.

Yet Aji was just an ordinary human who had been corrupted by the eerie power.

How could he possibly have gained such control?

What worried the group most, however, was the harshness of these new rules.

Only one person could enter at a time—no allies, no backup, no sharing of information.

This was what troubled Aether most.

If he couldn’t fight alongside Su Yuan, then if anything went wrong—if they couldn’t exchange intel or react together—they would be completely doomed.

And judging from Aji’s note, not everyone would have the right to meet him.

Only those who cleared the twelfth floor’s challenge would qualify.

"So... what do we do now?" Eula asked.

"Who should go first to take on the twelfth floor of the Spiral Abyss?"

"Let me go," Aether said, stepping forward without hesitation.

Aether thought to himself — since he couldn’t act together with Su Yuan for the time being, the only thing he could do was to take a step back and find a way to die before Su Yuan did...

The twelfth floor was the final level of the Spiral Abyss, and its difficulty was definitely incomparable to the previous ones.

With only his own strength, it would probably be hard to survive, right?

"Traveler, how is this any different from throwing your life away?" Paimon said sadly, her voice trembling.

"I don’t want to be separated from you!!!"

"It’s fine, Paimon. Maybe I’ll get lucky and clear it all in one go," Aether said with a gentle smile.

Then, without hesitation, he stepped forward.

As Aether’s figure disappeared from everyone’s sight, the massive gate at the entrance to the twelfth floor slowly closed behind him...

No one knew what he would face inside, but they all silently hoped he would make it out alive.

"If the Traveler really runs into misfortune, I don’t think I could handle it," Paimon said softly.

"Like I mentioned before... my Eerie transformation might actually be connected to the Traveler..."

"If that’s true," Su Yuan said comfortingly, "then maybe we can use that to gauge his safety. If nothing strange happens to you, it probably means the Traveler’s fine too."

Hearing Su Yuan’s words, Paimon nodded firmly.

"You’re right! If nothing happens to me, then the Traveler must be okay!"

Some time later, the gate leading to the twelfth-floor battlefield suddenly opened again, leaving everyone staring in confusion.

"What does this mean? Does it mean the Traveler cleared the twelfth floor? Or that... he fell in battle?" Eula asked, frowning.

"Honestly, this Aji could at least give us a hint, so we’d know what happened..."

"In that case, let me be the next one to go," Kujou Sara said as she stepped forward, passing through the gate into the twelfth-floor arena.

After another stretch of time, the gate opened once more — this time, Sigewinne stepped forward.

"Su Yuan, you’re the most crucial person here. Why don’t you go last, after all of us have entered?" she suggested.

Su Yuan nodded in agreement.

"Alright then — I’ll go last and take on the twelfth floor as the final challenger."