Facing the unyielding Ducker and the other two, Kirito was on the verge of swearing—why had the boys in the Black Cats suddenly become so stubborn?
They weren't like this before.
Still, he kept a firm grip on Ducker's hand to stop him from opening the chest.
No kidding—on the 27th floor, even players like Akimi and the others, who had already reached level 55 or 56, would have to pay a price to get out of a trap room.
How could the Black Cats, whose average level had just reached 29 or 30, possibly survive?
After all, the monsters generated by a trap room were generally high-level monsters found on floors current floor number + 5 to 10.
With that level gap, most of the Black Cats would probably be wiped out in two hits.
And each trap room spawned at least 50 monsters at once.
To leave, you had to kill them all.
Even worse—defeating these monsters gave no EXP, no col, and no item drops.
In other words, killing them was a complete waste.
Of course, that made sense—if trap room monsters gave EXP, it wouldn't be called a trap room; it would be a high-level farming zone for pros.
Fifty high-level monsters in one go?
Even Akimi's group could probably fill a tenth of their EXP bar.
"Kirito, let go. I'm opening the chest."
Ducker's patience seemed to be running out, his tone tinged with irritation.
Just as he was about to shake Kirito off and force the chest open, Akimi walked over slowly.
With a calm expression, he gripped Ducker's shoulder and spoke in a flat voice:
"How about this—let's compromise. Ducker, you, Sasamaru, Tetsuo, and Sachi go wait by the hidden room's entrance. We'll open this chest. If there's no problem, you can be the one to check the loot. If there is a problem…"
Before Ducker could refuse, Akimi's hand tightened on his shoulder, and his face gradually turned colder, making Ducker instinctively swallow.
"…Fine. We'll do it your way."
It seemed Ducker didn't want to sour the relationship—or maybe he was just scared.
It had the feel of "three men make a tiger."
As they were leaving the room, Sachi glanced at Kirito with concern, tugging on his sleeve as if she wanted to say something.
But Kirito just smiled, patted her head gently, and said softly, "Don't worry, it'll be fine."
Only then did Sachi walk out, looking back three times with every step.
Once all the Black Cats were out of the room, Akimi walked up to Kirito and whispered a few words to him.
From a short distance away, Asuna shot them an exasperated look, but didn't say anything—after all, Akimi had already coordinated with her earlier while Kirito was arguing with Ducker.
"Huff…"
After taking a few deep breaths, Kirito opened the "chest" in front of him.
With a creak, the lid lifted—but the chest was completely empty.
Just as Ducker's group at the doorway was about to step inside, the hidden room's pale blue walls suddenly turned red, and the door slammed shut in an instant.
The abrupt change froze Ducker and the others in place.
When they realized what had just happened, their faces immediately turned pale.
Ducker stammered in panic, "I–Is this really a trap room?! W-What do we do now?"
Sasamaru and Tetsuo also stood frozen in place, panic-stricken, while Sachi's face was deathly pale as she collapsed to the ground.
The three people outside the room now stood in silence, staring at where the entrance to the room had once been, as if they could bore a hole through it with their eyes.
In the end, it was Sachi who forced herself to stand up, her voice trembling as she said, "Ducker, you all wait here. I'll go find Miss Argo… she should have a way to deal with this."
As she spoke, she took out a teleportation crystal, preparing to leave the labyrinth area and send a message to Argo.
After Sachi left, Ducker and the two other boys paced anxiously back and forth in front of the hidden room's door like ants on a hot pan, completely at a loss as to what to do.
Meanwhile, just on the other side of the wall in the hidden room, Akimi and his two companions stood back-to-back in the center of the room, gripping their weapons tightly, their expressions grim as they stared at the monsters surrounding them.
The monsters generated by this trap room came in two types — Heavy Armor Dwarf and Medium Stone Man.
Both types were monsters found around the town "Dwarven Capital" on the 33rd floor and within the labyrinth area.
They were elite heavy-type monsters characterized by high attack, high defense, high HP, and low agility.
Because of their specialized body types, dealing with these two types of monsters wasn't exactly easy for Akimi and his group.
If the space had been a bit larger, perhaps their battle would have been easier — after all, their agility wasn't low, so they could use their speed to kite the enemies.
However, the problem was that this trap room was only about 20–30 square meters in size, and with the monsters packed tightly together, their maneuvering space was further reduced.
Still, this wasn't enough to leave Akimi and the others completely without options.
"Alright, let's move according to plan."
With that, Akimi smiled faintly and raised his Nichirin Blade.
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