Betrayal and Punishment

After resting, we continued to go deeper into the Labyrinth. Indeed, there was quite a strong magical power inside, but it was still within acceptable limits. I did not meet many adventurers either, as most of them were on the deeper floors.
By about the 5th floor, I began to sense various sources of magical power, proving that there were quite a few people here. From here on, I told Asp and Eli to attack less, mainly leaving it to Yui and me to take action.
Drawing the Shadow Sword from its scabbard, it emitted a wave of magical power that blew away the dust and rocks as well as the surrounding demonic beasts. The demonic beasts here were much stronger than those on the 1st floor. They could use weapons and even magic, most of the weapons being left behind by adventurers who had lost their lives.
The deeper we went, the more I began to see other groups of adventurers. They all traveled in large groups with clear formations and strategies. They struggled quite a bit when fighting the monsters here, specifically when facing the Mutant Erlang Wolves and other B-rank monsters.
Suddenly, while I was observing, a Mutant Orc rushed like the wind toward me. I intended to draw my sword to kill it; its speed was quite fast, but I could completely see and handle it.
Suddenly, an arrow flew straight into its head, causing it to freeze. The Orc immediately noticed the direction of the arrow and the person who shot it.
Right after that, a man with quite strong magical power rushed up from my left, wielding a sword to slash at the Orc. Several others also appeared, attacking the Mutant Orc together.
"You two, quickly thank Sado-dono for saving your lives!" A female mage in their party ran up to me and spoke loudly.
According to the current situation, the person she just mentioned was the swordsman who had rushed up earlier. This party had four members: a swordsman, a mage, a healer, and an archer. A fairly complete lineup, and they were struggling hard to fight the Mutant Orc, which was considered around A-rank.
The swordsman rushed into close combat, attracting the Orc's attention, while the other three supported from a distance. The Orc was also very strong; it had magic-resistant skin along with superior speed and strength, making the battle evenly matched.
Yui saw my attitude and only smiled softly. Asp and Eli showed no interest in the four. In truth, that swordsman was not kind at all; he just wanted to show off and snatch someone else's prey, without knowing that he himself was the prey of the Orc.
"Stone Spikes!" Yui cast a mid-tier magic when she saw that the party had exhausted their strength.
Instantly, the Orc was pierced through by a stone spike from the ground and died on the spot. The party was dazed, not understanding what had happened, only knowing that the Orc that was about to kill them had suddenly died. The other parties, seeing the leader Orc defeated, also cheered and congratulated the four of them.
They walked toward us.
"You don't need to thank us, we just helped out in passing," the swordsman Sado said.
"You should be grateful, otherwise it would have killed you," the female mage spoke up.
"You two must have worked very hard to get here, which is why you couldn't react in time when the Orc attacked," the female archer added.
"Sado-dono, how about letting them join our party," the female healer suggested.
"Let me see, that works too. It protects them and gives us extra manpower. Let's do that," Sado decided.
'Manpower? Why don't you just say meat shield!' I thought to myself.
"So you two should pay attention not to get in our way. And you should also thank Sado-dono for his generosity," the female mage said.
"It's nothing!" Sado laughed happily.
"What do you think, Sechi?" Yui whispered to me as we walked behind them.
"Whatever! It might be quite interesting!" I smiled lightly.
Asp and Eli didn't care either, both dozing off on my and Yui's shoulders.
We followed that party; they focused on fighting, while we only occasionally used some basic magic to support. It took quite a long time to reach the next floors. I also scouted out that every 10 floors would have a Boss guarding it. On the Boss floor, there were many valuable materials and items. But because it was a Boss, it was very strong; only elite armies could pass. The Boss on the 20th floor had not been defeated by anyone to this day, including the Hero party of ancient times.
After a long time, we reached the 9th floor. Thanks to our help, Sado's party had set a fairly high record by defeating both an A-rank monster and an S-rank one.
"You would have died long ago without us," the female mage mocked.
"Probably, they are too weak to be here," the female archer agreed.
Yui and I remained silent in the face of their contemptuous words.
Since the entrance to the deeper floor was always in random places, this party prioritized finding the way over fighting monsters. After many hours on the 9th floor, we finally reached the 10th floor, where the Boss of the first ten floors resided.
Currently, there were quite a few people preparing weapons and items to enter the Boss room. Sado's party was the same. Each floor had a teleportation device back to the first floor, so those who did not want to go further could return.
Entering the Boss room, everyone prepared their fighting spirit; if there was any disadvantage, they would immediately retreat. The room was gloomy, silent, and reeked of blood. Suddenly, the door slammed shut. From the darkness, four red eyes of bloodlust appeared. Flames flared up, illuminating the form of the Boss—a colossal SS-class two-headed snake.
The battle began. The snake immediately spewed toxic gas, while the other head spewed fire, turning the toxic gas into a sea of fire that burned everyone. Those who survived had to fight it head-on. The battle was extremely arduous. The snake continuously attacked and swallowed people one by one.
Sado's party had already hidden in a corner, waiting for the snake to weaken before taking action.
Only a few people were left standing, and the snake also showed signs of fatigue. At this moment, the party of four rushed out to attack.
"Hey, you two go out and attack it too!" Sado shouted.
Following his words, Yui and I also stepped out, using basic magic, which of course had no effect.
"NOW! WE ARE ABOUT TO WIN, ALL-OUT ATTACK!" Sado shouted loudly, and everyone poured all their strength into attacking the snake.
Suddenly, the snake's skin turned red and began to crack. Its body emitted powerful magical power and then split in half, turning into two separate snakes. Their magical power at this moment was even stronger than at the beginning. One attacked with fire, one attacked with ice. More people died under their fangs and claws.
Everyone advised to retreat, but Sado absolutely refused, because he coveted the rare things on the 11th floor.
Until only the party of four, along with us, Asp, and Eli, were left on the battlefield. Naturally, the four of them could not withstand the violent attacks of the two snakes. The three girls were injured and were trying to persuade Sado to give up.
Both snakes rushed toward us at the same time. Sado's face showed extreme terror.
Suddenly, he pushed me in front of the snake's mouth, then grabbed Yui's clothes and dragged her away.
"You should be honored to die in my place. As for your girlfriend, she will be mine from now on, you weak dog!" he said with a disgusting face.
Immediately after, the three girls also attacked me to prevent me from escaping.
"Weakling, your existence is just like a meat shield."
"Scum."
"Goodbye."
"This situation is really familiar, just like when I first arrived in this world," I burst out laughing as the snake's fangs were about to touch me. "But I am different now."
Immediately, I turned toward the snake and slashed straight down.
A spray of blood splattered across the room, landing on the disgusting faces of the betrayers. The snake was sliced in half. The wave of magical power from the Shadow Sword blew them as well as the two halves of the snake's body far away.
The snake was dead, to their horror. The remaining snake was also torn into pieces by Asp's claws.
The entire room was suddenly frozen. The bodies of the betrayers were lifted high by a branch growing from the ice.
"What... on earth is this. Why is this weakling... I didn't feel any magical power from you," Sado said in a terrified voice.
"I just suddenly wanted to try following a party, but now I've lost interest. Prepare to say goodbye," I said indifferently.
"Hey, you! Let us down! How dare you touch us nobles?"
"Do you want money or what, we can satisfy you..."
We walked straight toward the entrance to the lower floor, without looking back.
"Hey! Let us go!"
Boom... Boom...
The entire Boss room collapsed, burying everything under rocks and ice, including the corpses of the two monsters. From now on, the concept of the 10th-floor Boss room of this Labyrinth no longer existed.