Chapter 411: War (1/2)
Zac witnessed the battle with a small frown, and the screams and cries of the villagers in the distance felt extremely discordant in his ears. His eyes followed Ogras as he looted the fallen Warrior and even put the mangled remains of his mount in his Cosmos Sack before he returned.
“Why did you have to do it like that?” Zac asked as the demon walked up to them. “You could have won in a head-on fight as well.”
“But the risk to my wellbeing would increase,” Ogras answered with a refreshing smile as he refastened his metal casing around the congealed shadows. “Besides, I knew he would choose to protect the village rather than attack me. Those kinds of bloodline warriors have extremely close-knit communities.”
“Still,” Zac sighed but didn’t press the matter further.
It wasn’t his business how Ogras fought, and he knew that the demon was simply using smoke and mirrors with his shadow-wave, rather than actually trying to kill the children in the village. The demon knew as well as the others that killing innocents would likely cause a real mess.
The still gave Zac a bad taste in his mouth as it reminded him of the Flame Golem’s attempt to kill his army back in the Underworld with the wave of lava. It was an ‘anything-goes’ attitude to battle that was unnecessary in a place like this. Ogras didn’t even push himself to his fullest, and even if he failed Zac could step in to defeat the chieftain.
“That weak heart of yours will be the death of you one day,” Ogras snorted as he looked over a whisk he had looted from the body of his enemy.
“Let’s just go,” Zac said as he turned toward the array, engraving the hateful stares of the villagers in his heart.
“Remember, please hurry,” Galau said as he followed Zac.
“We know,” Zac nodded. “Though I think you’ll do just fine on your own if in a pinch. Your skill with the sword is pretty impressive.”
“Remember, the agreement said 32nd level, not the fourth floor,” Galau entreated. “And I have the option of buying further levels if needed.”
“What’s the point of that?” Zac asked curiously “We can’t take you past the fourth floor anyway.”
This was something he and Ogras had already decided. They wouldn’t risk their climb by adding Galau to the penalty of the fifth floor and beyond. They would take him to the floor before the floor guardian at highest, and continue alone from there on out.
“He doesn’t want to stay on a bad level for months,” Ogras explained. “Remember the 24th level?”
Understanding dawned on Zac’s face as he recalled that wretched level. The 24th level took place inside a swamp teeming with all kinds of disgusting bugs, huge ferocious eels, and pockets of poisonous gases. Their objective had been to find a flower, and Galau had pulled out one treasure after another in order to escape that cursed place as quickly as possible.
“That’s fine,” Zac agreed. “We’ll hurry.”
The fourth floor was like the third, but worse. There was no longer any point in color-coding the flares, as they would almost always be thrown into the thick of it according to the merchant. That’s why the merchant wanted to remind them to not dally around wherever they started.
“About the price…” Galau ventured.
“We’ll discuss it when we get there,” the demon smiled.
Zac nodded in agreement, as that felt like a matter that should be discussed when they got there. What if the 32nd level was the same as the 24th? They’d be able to make a killing if that was the case. The three stepped onto the platform as they had so many times before, and Zac once again found himself in the black space.
[Third Floor Complete. Upgrading Title.]
[Choose Reward: Longevity Medicine, Race Medicine, Energy Medicine]
Zac didn’t immediately make his choice, and instead opened his status screen. He had already learned that the black space had an even more dilated time-space. He could spend a few minutes inside with less than a minute passing outside, allowing him to go over the gains before entering whatever mess the fourth floor would bring.
So Zac ignored the prompt with the quest reward and instead opened his status screen.
Name
Zachary Atwood
Level
75
Class
[F-Rare] Hatchetman
Race
[E] Human
Alignment
[Earth] Port Atwood - Lord
Titles
Born for Carnage, Ultimate Reaper, Luck of the Draw, Giantsbane, Disciple of David, Overpowered, Slayer of Leviathans, Adventurer, Demon Slayer I, Full of Class, Rarified Being, Trailblazer, Child of Dao, The Big 500, Planetary Aegis, One Against Many, Butcher, Progenitor Noblesse, Duplicity Core, Apex Hunter, Heaven's Chosen, Scion of Dao, Omnidextrous, Eastern Trigram Hunt - 1st, Tyrannic Force, Achievement Hunter, The First Step, Promising Specialist, Tower of Eternity – 3rd Floor
Limited Titles
Frontrunner
Dao
Fragment of the Axe - Early, Fragment of the Coffin - Early, Seed of Trees - Peak, Seed of Sanctuary - Peak
Core
[F] Duplicity
Strength
861 [Increase: 60%. Efficiency: 147%]