The door smashed down, and I dived in. Before the Spade soldier could brace itself after crushing the door, both my feet crashed into its body and sent it reeling back.

There were two more in the distance and a tied up Heart soldier. I pulled my free hand back before the first one could get up.

"Equip, Heart Knife!"

The gagged soldier cheered while the other two's eyes widened. Before they could react, I twisted my arm and threw the knife at the one on the left. Like a bullet, it tore through the air and—

[Miss!]

"Damn it! Heart Knife!"

I tossed the second one, too, with a much smaller wind-up, and it stabbed the Spade soldier in the eye. It was effectively out of commission.

The momentum of a battle was the most important. I ran ahead and kicked the already fallen soldier's head while rushing toward the last spade soldier. It picked up its mace and, this time, had a shield as well.

This was disadvantageous for me. If the shield got up, then I wouldn't be able to attack.

But the shields suited the Heart soldiers more. This wasn't over yet.

Pulling the mace trick again was not possible without the terrain of the stairs.

Ultimately, I pulled the spear closer to me as I neared the soldier. It swung the mace at me, and like a batter on the square, I parried it into a homerun.

The green health bar in the corner of my vision dropped by a quarter, and my hands stung. Taking the chance, I dropped the spear and placed both hands atop the shield.

The Spade soldier tilted its head in confusion.

My feet kicked off the ground as I performed a front flip. My eyes widened halfway through.

It wasn't impossible, not at all. I had moved like this many times.

But.

Not while leaning on empty air.

It was impossible to believe the realism, and I felt form cracking when doubt surfaced, but I had already landed behind the soldier by then.

"Halt!"

"Equip Heart Knife!"

I spun the knife in a back grip, and before the soldier could turn around, I stabbed it in the back of its neck.

It groaned mechanically and turned into dust.

When I placed my hand over my chest, my breathing became slightly erratic. After a few deep breaths, my mind calmed down, and I grabbed the spear once more.

The other two were easy games. A stab to the head of the fallen and two stabs to the chest of the blind handled them.

After retrieving the thrown knives, my eyes fell on the loot.

[<<Spade Chain-Mace>>

(Uncommon)

(Durability - 78%)

Chain mace of the Spade Faction. Damage +32.

-Potential to Learn Chain-Mace skills.

-Can be sold.

-Can be used in special quests.]

And another.

[<<Spade Hat>>

(Rare)

(Durability - 80%)

Hat]

And another of these.

I wasn't foolish enough to ignore it if the item was rare. It would have some use. But logically speaking, from what I had learned about RPGs, they are used in special quests and not in common scenarios.

If it was in a special quest, then people would definitely want to buy it and would pay a lot for it. I had seen this firsthand with the Rain Rathounds Rain Fangs.

But the problem was that it was rare, and the mob itself was much more common than a Rain Rathound. If it had other uses, it could have been of greater value, but as it was now, the hats seemed pretty useless.

I bagged the mace and walked over to the Heart Soldier while spinning the hat in my hand. Its uselessness stung.

The Heart Soldier that had been excited when it first saw me was now glaring at me. Its eyes were stuck on the hat in my hands.

I lifted the hat, and the soldier glared at it, lowered, and its gaze followed; I tossed it like a frisbee, and the soldier stared it down like a dog.

"Huh."

Could it be...

"Equip Heart Hat."

The hat materialized on my head, and the Heart Soldier's eyes widened.

With the tip of my spear, I removed the gag on its face and frowned.

"Human? Friend?"

It said in its mechanical voice.

With one hand, I pulled off the Heart Hat and put on the Spade one.

The Heart Soldier's eyes widened, and it shouted.

"Perry the Human—"

"That would be enough, doof."

I put the gag back in and smirked.

So that was the situation here.

"These idiots were at war, and the hats were identification."

I had planned to stop at the third floor today since the fourth floor was nigh impossible to clear. But now, that seemed different.

People in parties had a disadvantage; all of their luck stats affected loot. Let's say, for example, that having a ten in luck was the maximum you could get—if someone had 9 in luck out of ten, all of them would have a 90% chance of getting a good item. But what if they partied with someone who had just 1 in the luck stat? Then the cap became 20 points, pushing the chances straight below to 50%. Of course, this was an oversimplification and the game's algorithm took in a lot of different parameters. The real way the luck stat affected the drop rate was very complex and ensured no one would have a 90% chance of a good item, but the essence was similar.

The people playing may have not gotten about to figuring out the hats' effect, but it was clear from these dumb soldiers.

The army on the fourth floor.

I may be able to take it down.