"I-I didn't mean to, I thought I would be able to kill it," Asmond nervously answered as he held his cheek and blood came out from his nose with his body still on the ground. "I'm sorry, I truly am," he continued.
For Barika whose level was more minor than Asmond and not to mention that his skill was inferior to Asmond, he still could hurt Asmond. The armor on his body was so advanced that it boosted his pure strength because it was made to make them almost fifty percent stronger than without the armor.
Enma ran toward Asmond and tried to protect him from Barika and his team who seemed to be furious at him for Asmond's stupidity. Looking at the situation, those two against dozens of them, they had no chance while Mykel just stared at Asmond.
"If you want to be a hero! Go and replace one of my teammates' life!" Barika glared at Asmond and he was so ready to punch Asmond again but Henos stopped him with all the strength he had. "You will be called a hero once you sacrificed your life!" he yelled as he pointed his finger at Asmond.
"Barika, that's enough, let's not do this right now," Henos said as he used his body to hold Barika from approaching Asmond.
Mykel walked toward them and sighed. "I'm sorry, that it ended up like this," he said as he looked at the dead bodies. "It was my fault, you can blame me for this," he stared at Barika.
"No, I will never blame you because you kept your promise but because of this dumb kid right here, my men died for nothing!" Barika raised his voice but not toward Mykel but toward Asmond.
"It's my fault to bring him here with us," Mykel said as he stared at Asmond with a straight face.
Asmond looked a bit surprised when Mykel said that but he couldn't blame Mykel because it was really his fault for acting on his own. The moment he lost all the attention, he had the urge to prove that it wasn't just by luck and not to mention when Mykel said that he wasn't a hero.
[For your achievement, the Constellations have prepared you a wonderful gift!]
A ray of light was pointing at the ground and then a chest fell from the sky. Everyone was surprised when they saw a chest that came from the sky and it was enough to stop Barika from being angry at Asmond.
Mykel walked toward the chest and opened it in front of them, he looked at the same items then he showed them to everyone. He explained the items to them and they were quite surprised with the two scrolls.
"I was planning to give you one of these, Asmond, but after what you did, I should give all of these to them as an apology," Mykel said as he gave all the loots to Barika. "It's such a shame because you can become a lot stronger with those, but after seeing you making such a stupid decision, I don't think you deserve this,"
Asmond couldn't do anything but nod with understanding, he wasn't mad at Mykel, he was mad at himself and it kept giving the pressure under his consciousness.
Mykel looked at the [Key of Bumi] and then looked at Barika. "I think you should hold this one. This world might need your technology and you can make this your own base," Mykel said as he offered the key to Barika.
"Are you sure, Mykel? You're the one who cleared the whole floor but you're giving everything to us?" Barika asked with his eyebrows furrowed.
Mykel smiled and nodded his head. "Yes, I believe this world needs you more than they need me. Let's just say it's the proof of our friendship," Mykel answered while Barika grabbed the key from Mykel's hand.
"We are not a friend, you will be our brother-in-arms," Barika replied as he shook his head and with a serious expression.
"That sounds good to me," Mykel said and offered his hand for a handshake but Barika scoffed and then approached Mykel to hug him.
"Brother, let's meet again and let's help the other world together. I promise you that we will be more useful than this," Barika said as he grabbed Mykel's shoulders and shook them gently.
Mykel smiled and nodded.
[The Goddess of Vengeful is a bit disappointed with your decision but she didn't hate the outcome]
"Alright, men, let's bring our fallen brothers back home. We have families to visit and apologize for our incompetence," Barika said as he walked past Asmond and bumped onto his shoulder.
Asmond trembled in guilt the moment he heard Barika said that. The pressures were piling up and it would break him badly eventually.
"Let's go home, Asmond, Enma," Mykel said but then he looked at Enma. "You did amazing and I believe Caesar is so proud of you right now,"
Enma showed her sour smile and just nodded her head with understanding.
The three of them left the tower and it was just an awkward silence because of Asmond. Mykel wasn't bothered by it, but Enma did because she didn't know what to do or say to cheer Asmond up.
The moment they left the gate of Azrael tower, people were cheering on Asmond.
"Remember what I said, Asmond," Mykel grabbed his cigarette and put it in his mouth. "You're not a hero but that doesn't mean you can't be one. All you have to do is to sacrifice your life for the others as what Barika said earlier," he explained and lit his cigarette.
"The decision is yours, and yours alone. Think about it thoroughly and if you think you want to become a hero, just get ready for the hardship," Mykel said with a smile on his face. "I will see you later, Asmond," Mykel was backing Asmond and Enma as he waved at them and walked down the stairs.
Mykel went back to District 1 after he heard the news about Gunnar and the others who managed to clear the fourteenth floor on their own. He expected them to be able to clear the fifteenth floor in five days and by the look of it, they might be able to do so.
"Boss! Congratulations on clearing the fifteenth floor!" Gunnar said as he raised a can of beer at Mykel.
Mykel snickered as he shook his head and removed his blazer and tie.
"How was the Asmodeus tower? Was it difficult to clear?" Mykel went to the kitchen and poured a glass of water for himself.
"It was a piece of cake, it's just a bit annoying to fight the horde of demons because they all used magic and I wasn't able to handle all of them at once," Rozan said while he was laying down on the sofa with his forearm covered his eyes.
"If it wasn't for Gerrard's idea of luring all of them into a tunnel, it would take us three days to kill them all," Sven said as he massaged his shoulder. "That was painful to fight demons that can fly, I need a bigger scythe,"
Agnez walked toward the counter where Mykel was, and then she put something on the counter. It was a black dagger and Mykel looked at it with his eyebrows raised.
"What's this?" Mykel asked as he ate an apple.
"A secret room that Edith found on the thirteenth floor, we don't need those so we decided to give it to you," Agnez answered.
Mykel furrowed his eyebrows and grabbed the dagger and read the description.
[Dagger of Lechery: A dagger that a succubus used to stab her target and will give an irresistible desire for intimacy. Once used, it could control the target for as long as the User want but if the target has [Mind-Stability] level maxed, it will take no effect. (Cannot be used to harm)]
"Are you sure you're giving it to me? Don't Sven and Vincze would love to have this dagger for themselves?" Mykel said as he looked at those two.
Sven and Vincze lowered their heads and their expressions were easy to read.
"No, they didn't want it," Agnez answered. "You both didn't need that dagger, right?" she asked as she stared at both of them.
"No, we don't need that dagger, why would we?" Sven answered and pretended not to be interested in the dagger.
Mykel stared at the dagger and suddenly started to chuckle. "I don't need this dagger either, let's put it somewhere in this suite. Maybe put it in a display case and make a room for our collections in there," he said as he looked around the room.
"Anyway, boss, have you heard about the news?" Gunnar asked.
"News? What news?" Mykel asked back with his eyebrows furrowed.
"Uhh, they found a mass graveyard somewhere in the forest, and it seems that those people were Awakeners from the Demonic Cult. Someone put them there and the scariest part was that it was just hundreds of skeletons with nothing left on them," Gunnar answered.
