PICK ME UP, ANOTHER LOBBY!

I lifted my hand and at the same time the goblin rose to the air, hanging by an invisible force.

A firm cable was lying nearby a broken ballista at the platform. No doubt it was attached to the machine before it was ruined.

I waved my other hand to that cable and made it flew to the raised goblin.

The iron string suddenly wrapped itself around the goblin like a coiling snake until it's entire limbs were knotted together, immovable.

That was when I deactivated the telekinesis spell and let the monster crash-landing on its face.

"Why are you doing this, Serafina?"

Jonah asked as he and the others approached me. Confusion was all over their faces.

I simply gave them a smile to let them know nothing was wrong and told them my reasoning for not killing the last enemy.

"If we had killed this goblin, we would soon be returned to the mirrored chamber. We would not be given a chance to investigate this area."

I gathered this from our experiences on the seventh and the eighth floor.

The moment we killed the last enemy, we were immediately transported back.

It did not really matter for the eighth floor since we could access it again. Though there was a barrier preventing us from approaching the walled city.

But it was quite consequential when it happened on the seventh floor.

We probably could had learned more about the dam and the region had we stayed longer, even just for a little.

And after hearing my reason, I could tell that my comrades agreed with me.

"Spread around and search the garrison! Look for anything that worth noticing!"

Leaving the tied goblin at the center, we all split up to every corner of the garrison.

I left the others to search within the structure and made my way to the platform overlooking the valley and the ruined city below.

While grabbing a paper kept within my dress, I examined the supposedly fallen city of Loro.

[Magnifying Lens]

I used my magic spell to observe the region closely.

The city was fortified with two layers of wall. An outer wall and an inner wall.

Both the outer and inner walls were the same in height and thickness.

Spired watch towers were installed along the two great rectangles.

The outer wall had four gates scattered at four directions of the city:

East and west which faced the grand valley extending in the same trend.

North and south which faced the two mountain ranges making the Surga Pass. 

The northern gate faced the mountain range where the garrison we were in was located.

In fact, the northern gate was positioned closer to the range compared to how the southern one faced the other. To the point that the northern gate was already on the slope which led to the mountain path.

The southern gate, however, still had a vast plain between it and the southern range.

I supposed the reason why the northern gate was close to the range was because the northern range bordered the ocean.

Perhaps the people of Loro used the mountain path in the northern range to get there.

And judging from the placement, the dam we saw on the seventh floor was supposedly on this side of the valley as well.

So that could be another reason why the city edged closer to this range and not the south side of the pass.

Shifting my gaze to the inner wall, I could only find two gates on it. East-facing and west-facing.

Whatever buildings stood within the city, however, were already reduced into piles of rubbles that I could no longer tell whether it was a house or what kind when it was still standing.

The way the rubbles were piled, though, were still arranged in a way that I could still recognize how the roads were paved throughout the city.

I looked through the paper I pulled from my dress.

It was the map of Loro that Norn sketched for me.

In her drawings, she also pictured two-layered city with four gates on the outer layer and two on the inner one.

The pattern of the roads on the map was also consistent to what I was seeing below on the city.

Proven by the map, there was no longer a doubt that we were in Surga Pass and the city I was looking at was Loro.

Should the Quintal Trial take place in Loro, we could use Norn's map as reference.

I probably needed to make five copies. Enough for my comrades.

Now that I had seen what I wanted to see, I returned to the center of the garrison.

The others joined me as I was walking back.

"Did you guys find anything?"

I asked them.

Jonah was the first to report.

"We couldn't get past far beyond the gate, but I went to the western one and saw a path going down. I think it led to that ruined city below."

Shanny then raised her hand.

"Darius and I checked the eastern one. We thought we recognized the faraway hills beyond the mountain path. They looked like the ones on the seventh floor."

That supported my observation of this garrison sitting on the same side of the valley as the dam.

Then it was Trudy's turn.

"I checked on the human skeletons scattered about. They seemed to be wearing provincial army uniforms. I thought so because they looked similar to the ones worn by the guards in my city. Colors were different though."

I guessed this garrison was some sort of an outpost for Loro.

This city was really poorly secured.

The other border cities had at least a dozen of such garrison spread beyond their walls. The two largest ones even had more than thirty each.

And still those cities fell by the monster invasions near the final days of Dunia.

I could not help but sigh at the conclusion of my thought.

"Alright, we've gathered enough information. Let's return!"

I told my comrades.

I raised my hand toward the tied goblin and returned the control of my telekinesis spell.

Through a flick of my wrist, the goblin's head jerked sideways and its neck snapped.

We were soon enveloped in the familiar ethereal light.

[Stage Clear!]

['Trudy (★)', 'Darius (★★★)' levelled up!]

[MVP – 'Serafina (★★★★)']

[Reward – 10,000G, Iron Ore (C) x3, Leather (C) x5]

The bluish-white light finally diminished and we found ourselves back to the mirrored chamber.

As always after clearing a new trial, I turned my gaze to the furthest left mirror.

[Climb the tower and save the world!]

[Main Dungeon]

[Floor conquered - 9 -]

The number of conquered floor had turned to '9.'

The completion of the ninth floor signified one major thing concerning all of us in the lobby.

The tenth floor.

It was time to prepare for the next Quintal Trial.