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Almond had eagerly waited for such an opportunity.

‘The effect of the acceleration rune is surprisingly remarkable.’

When he used the rune on himself, the explosive power felt tremendous. He thought the acceleration rune would only make him a bit faster, but it wasn’t just a slight increase when he started running. His speed was at least three times more than usual, capable of reaching the velocity of a simple scooter. Naturally, his jumping power and the destructive force of his thrusts also increased.

However, not everything improved.

— Using the acceleration rune to this extent?

— It's too fast and hard to control.

— That’s crazy control.

The speed came at the cost of control. This was obvious considering the cornering ability of a car running at 100 km/h versus one running at 30 km/h.

The same principle applied to the acceleration rune. The challenge of utilizing this rune lay in whether one could control their movement at three times the usual speed.

"Did you use the... acceleration rune?"

However, Almond had effortlessly demolished the golem and landed gracefully in front of him after clearly using the acceleration rune.

Swift stared at him with a piercing gaze.

"This can't be... This is strange..." he muttered to himself.

Why? Was he that surprised? Or was it jealousy?

Almond couldn’t tell. He was only curious about why Swift's name was tattooed right above his heart in the center of his chest. While the psychology behind a tattoo could be complex, tattoos in such a location were usually deeply meaningful and not merely for show.

"Hey, you. Didn’t I ask if you used the acceleration rune?"

Why was this so important to him?

"Yes, that's correct."

"How did you control it?"

"How? Well…"

— That’s elementary Almond haha

— Stop hating Swift!

— So different from Raina's reaction. Am I mistaken?

"..."

"I've leveled up now."

"What?"

"I killed that thing. My level is now three."

[Your level has increased!]

Indeed, a message appeared to notify him of the level-up. Although it was unclear what leveling up entailed, it undoubtedly meant becoming significantly stronger given LIL's system.

"So I'm definitely going to be useful."

"And?"

Almond pointed to several children lying around who couldn’t fight anymore. Some were injured beyond recognition.

"Your numbers have decreased. Why not go together?"

"You seem very eager to find the sanctuary."

Swift twisted his mouth in a half-smile after his question.

Almond merely shrugged.

Convinced by his argument, Swift turned away and ordered another kid.

"Give him your weapon, Luna."

It seemed Swift had accepted Almond's proposal.

[Ding! You've joined the party!]

He was now registered with their party.

"But Swift?"

The girl worriedly looked between Almond and Swift, holding her spear as if it were precious.

"His combat abilities are superior to yours. Your spear is too good for you. Hand it over."

"Okay..."

The girl known as Luna handed Almond the weapon with a somewhat pale face. Then she picked up another weapon.

Swift spoke to Almond, “Once you’ve joined our party, you follow my orders. That’ll be the best path for your survival, Almond.”

“Understood.”

With that, Almond somehow ended up joining Swift's party.

"We'll go to the next floor. Follow me," Swift said and moved toward where the exploded golem's core had been.

There, a blood-red magic circle seemed to float in the air. As a person approached it, it lit up and changed into the form of a door. It seemed that the door appeared in the place where the doorkeeper golem died.

Swift entered without any hesitation.

Swoosh.

He disappeared in an instant. The children, after a brief moment of murmuring, followed him inside.

"So this is the door Swift was talking about."

"Wow..."

It seemed Swift already told the children about this entrance.

'How does he know so much about it?'

It seemed likely that Swift had experience exploring dungeons before.

'I'll have to ask these kids later.'

Swoosh.

As Almond stepped inside the door, his figure also disappeared.

In story mode, information was just as important as combat. Some conditions could be cleared just by acquiring information.

For example, in the case of the “Memory (★★)” condition, it would be cleared just by recalling some memories. This memory was likely deeply connected to the tattoo engraved on his body. To decipher this tattoo, he had to obtain more runes.

Since runes appeared more often as the influence of the sanctuary grew…

[Abyss - Underground Floor 1]

Now that they descended to the underground first floor, the chances of discovering runes had slightly increased.

[The aura of the sanctuary is felt]

Sure enough, such a message also popped up. Now, they were under the influence of the sanctuary.

"From here on out is the real exploration," Swift said solemnly. "There are no kind doors to the next floor anymore."

No doors? What did that mean?

Almond simply listened to Swift's words for now.

"When the time comes, the abyss will present to us what will become the door. Until then, we must continue to kill monsters and open rune boxes to strengthen ourselves in preparation."

So that was what he meant. It sounded like a tough job, no doubt.

"The quality and quantity of monsters vary here. If you fall behind, there's no helping you. Keep your wits about you."

"Understood!"

"Yeah!"

The children were quite willing to follow Swift.

"Now, Luna. Decide."

Instead of deciding the path himself, Swift called the child named Luna. She stood with Swift at a fork in the road.

"Anyway, no one knows anything from here on out. This abyss always changes its form. Don't feel pressured. Your ability is real."

"… Y-Yes."

"Try to choose. Where do you feel the aura of the sanctuary more?"

Luna closed her eyes for a moment.

Almond, watching her, decided to try feeling it himself.

'Which one feels stronger…?'

Almond closed his eyes for a moment.

'What's this?'

As he closed his eyes, he could visualize the aura of the sanctuary like a fog spreading out. There had to be a place where the energy density was even slightly higher.

Almond weighed his options as he stared intently at the different energies.

Then, he shouted through the stream microphone channel, "Right─"

"Left," Luna chose the left.

"Left!"

Almond also chose the left, ultimately.

— LOL

— Swift: You, get out

— Where's right-left? LOL

— He switches that fast, huh? LOL

— Quick reaction to switch? LOL

— Rock-paper-scissors, Dragon Ball style

[MasterofQuestions has donated 10,000 won]

[Don't try to solve everything with physical force! You have to keep using your brain to improve!]

"Thank you for the 10,000 won MasterofQuestions. I'll take it to heart."

— ?? LOL

— MasterofQuestions LOL

— Can't see, so gotta listen LOL

— “the unknown blind”

"Left it is," Swift nodded after hearing Luna's choice.

"Feels good."

He patted Luna's head once and walked to the left.

'Does he treat the kids well?'

Almond thought Swift also kindly treated the children even though he was harsh on them. Raina was like that too.

If that were true and Swift was like Raina, the irritation Almond felt toward him could subside a little.

With this thought, Almond followed them when Swift's voice suddenly echoed from ahead.

"Monsters."

“Grrr.”

Creatures resembling wolves eyed them from between the trees.

[Blue Wolf]

[Lv. 4]

Their levels were formidable at four. The children had already struggled with the gatekeeper golem, but there were even more wolves this time.

The wolves cautiously circled them and seemed to possess intelligence. Had Luna's decision to go left been wrong? It seemed so, but…

"It seems we made the correct choice," Swift commented. "The stronger the sanctuary's energy, the higher the monsters' level. It's a good sign. It means there's a rune box nearby."

He grasped his spear and stepped forward.

"Kill them all!"

***

With the wolves' corpses scattered around, the children exhaled in exhaustion. Only Almond stood without any signs of fatigue.

[Level 5]

Almond's level had now grown to five. He rose by two levels. After all, he had killed most of the wolves.

"What's this?"

"How did this happen? Why isn't our level…?"

Most of the children remained at levels two to three. Those severely injured merely followed and remained at level one.

— What do we need to do to level up? LOL

— Missed everything with open eyes LOL

— Confused LOL

— Level 5 at this time, wow

Was it a good thing that they couldn’t see each other’s information? No one knew that Almond alone had reached level five unless someone had been watching him during that intense battle.

[TopLaner has donated 3,000 won]

[Hey, dog! Why are you denying your allies?]

In LIL, denying the opponent the last hit on minions obstructed them from gaining experience and gold. This was a common tactic. The question was why one would do that to their own team.

"Thank you, TopSolo. I’m not denying them. They just couldn't catch up, so I had to act quickly," Almond clarified.

— He’s so mean

— Minion last-hitting

— A player to the bone, tsk tsk

— Even denying NPCs! You’re so mean!

Almond joked about the situation while thinking, ‘It seems I should level up faster.’

He was indeed focused on leveling up quicker because he needed runes, specifically from rune boxes. Swift would likely claim it first if the party members found a rune box, followed by himself. Given his late addition to the party, he needed a higher level to ensure his claim held weight.

"Everyone, state your levels," Swift demanded after the battle.

Responses varied from two, three, and one. Swift's expression turned sour with each answer.

As the children declared their levels, Swift's gaze finally landed on Almond.

"And you? What's yours?"

"I'm still three. Just got lucky before, I guess," Almond responded.

The viewers speculated that he hid his true level from Swift due to the previous admonishment.

— What a con artist

— Lying to Swift?!

— Haha he’s salty

Almond had a nagging suspicion, "I won't say anything for now. Isn't it supposed to go down to the last person in survival mode?"

— That’s true

— But we don’t know if that’s true here as well

— For real

“Even though it might not be the same, the process will probably be similar… We can’t trust anyone.”

This wasn't just because of the survival mode's nature, but because something truly felt off. The spear he received also had a mysterious message inscribed on it.

‘Something is off.’

Something truly felt off to him. Not just Swift, but everything else as well.

‘Especially this spear.’

Almond took another look at the spear.

[When the owl hoots three times, meet by the campfire.]

The spear had a message written on it. The content was about secretly meeting someone.

What exactly was the purpose of this? One could simply think it was a secret love meeting, but that seemed unlikely given the current circumstances. Who was calling out to whom?

Could it be Almond they were calling out? The chances were slim. No one knew he would join them, so it was unlikely they had prepared such a message for him.

Swift had ordered Luna to hand over this spear to him.

'It must not have been meant for me.'

Almond believed the message wasn't meant for him. The writing on this spear had been carved with a knife.

Almond had joined them after using the rune of acceleration. They didn’t know he would join them like that.

'It seems I received a message intended for someone else.'

The most logical answer was that this message was being exchanged among the children. There could be various other possibilities, but Almond came to that conclusion as his head started to overload.

'Something is happening.'

No one could be trusted. They didn’t trust each other either.

***

[Beginner Tip: Contractors always seek the sanctuary for their deities, but rumors say finding the actual sanctuary might not be a contractor's role.]

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