Classless Ascension

On Floor 22, a man and a cockroach were progressing at a steady pace. 

They would encounter enemy cockroaches that would block their way from time to time, but Josh would make quick work of them. However, the more they walked and the more monsters there were. 

The packs of a dozen enemies grew to 100 of them at once! He had to somehow prevent them from reaching his companion. The way he did it was to charge ahead to grab the aggro. 

It worked wonders initially, but at some point, it just failed. The backline would simply ignore Josh once he was already surrounded. Instead, they would scuttle toward the friendly NPC. 

This guy had no survival instinct whatsoever! It would just stand there in place, shivering endlessly. What kind of useless cockroach was this? Their species was supposed to be speed itself! (for their size anyway) 

The creatures' decision-making seemed primitive but correct in such a case. After all, they stood no chance in a direct confrontation, and attacking the weakest link was correct. Well, they probably just thought, 'we got enough mandibles on this guy'. 

One also had to know that many monsters would keep roaming around. This meant that Josh couldn't just tie the NPC and leave him alone or who knew when it would perish from a wanderer. 

He reluctantly went toward the giant insect and grabbed it under his arm like one would carry a body pillow. It felt cold to the touch and way too hard. This allowed Josh to reach an important conclusion: big black cockroaches would make poor beds, unlike hairy spiders. 

Anyway, fighting with such a weight was troublesome as it evidently restricted his amplitude of movement. Nonetheless, he kept struggling, one stab at a time, until he had defeated all his foes. 

Would he repeat such a dumb fighting method the next time? Nope! Now that he knew how the NPC reacted to big groups, he summoned Nightmare and strapped it onto its back. It seemed that his previous worries of it freeing itself were unfounded. 

"Here you go. Take care of this one for me. If it dies, we're screwed. I hereby grant you the title of Nightmare bodyguard!" Josh gladly delegated his protection duties. 

The horse could only scoff as it heard this. Nightmare bodyguard?! Nightmares were powerful creatures that would devour the living and snuff all hopes! None would even bother protecting anyone. This title was BS and almost an insult! 

Soon they encountered something that made them all stop dead in their tracks. The rocky floor was split in half by an enormous abyss. This reminded Josh of the Grand Canyon— minus the tourists, of course. 

One couldn't see the bottom as it seemed to be filled with some kind of ominous fog. No one sane would approach it, and Josh made sure to order Nightmare not to go anywhere near. Who knew if the NPC wouldn't just fall in by mistake? 

Josh had the nagging feeling that his destination was supposed to be on the other side of this abyss. The only question was, how were they supposed to cross? It was far too wide for him to try and cross above by making a spider thread rope. 

He could always climb the rocky wall downward toward the area in there. He could even use the spider set to accomplish this task. Still, it would be troublesome to do so while carrying the NPC, with the ascension on the other side even harder. 

For now, his priority was really to avoid danger as much as possible. It wouldn't be too late to explore this realm once he had brought his target to safety. If it was anything like the shroom Floor, there would be a Boss at the end in any case. 

"Alright, Nightmare. Follow this canyon carefully. Let's figure out if it has an end." Josh instructed. 

They rode in style, and it was extremely peaceful for a while. Then at some point, they encountered another pack of 100 critters. Josh only laughed as they proceeded to outrun them thanks to Nightmare. 

But soon, they had to stop. When the enemies realized that they were getting left in the dust by their prey, they acted. 

—SHRIEK!!!—

—SHRIEK!!!—

—SHRIEK!!!—

Goddamnit! The way they shrieked as they were watching them disappear on the horizon was so damn grating: it was shrill, deafening, and cacophonic! A few seconds later, more shrieks resounded in the distance. 

Well, fuck! Josh could only curse in dissatisfaction. These creatures would never stop chasing their prey and would also resort to calling for help. 

Usually, he would have scoffed at such a silly tactic, and he would have cleaned them all up at once. However, he needed to protect and wouldn't take the risk. 

"Stay nearby and kite. I'll take care of them before they become a problem." Josh instructed, sighing as he jumped off. Then he turned toward the bloodthirsty insect swarm. "Bring it on, you cocky bastards!" 

Exactly 23 stabs later. The cockroach reinforcements showed up. They almost managed to get to Nightmare via their pincer attack, but luckily it reacted in time and bolted away. Then, it all ended 77 stabs and an insect sashimi degustation later. 

Nightmare was looking at its owner, who was gluttonously devouring insects while shaking its head. As a pure and noble creature that could live solely on mana, it looked down on such eating! 

As for the NPC, it didn't seem to have any gripe with its cousins being eaten. It was relaxedly commenting "HeLl—" only to be stopped promptly. 

The more they kept going and the more groups they encountered. Their numbers were steadily increasing too. Josh would dismount, slaughter them, and they would resume their journey. 

Then, they eventually reached a bridge that seemed to lead to the other side. It was relatively thin and very long, so long that it pretty much defied the laws of physics. 

"Let me guess. There will be a huge boss coming out from below at the middle point, right?" Josh hypothesized. This was usually how those things were designed. 

Now how was he supposed to approach this obvious trap?