"Tenth floor..." Sven said as he slouched his way to the last step of the stairs. "Holy shit... so hot..." Sven went down all four and immediately regretted it because the floor was boiling hot.
"It's going to be impossible without Rozan, but that's not the case here, and we have to keep moving because we are running out of time," Jeanne said as she looked at Sven with a worried expression. "Let's keep moving, it's the only choice we have," Jeanne offered her hand to Sven and lifted him back up.
It had been four days since they entered the Domain of Demon King Asmodeus. They only had three days left even though they had been advancing nonstop.
"(Mykel, on which floor Asmodeus is waiting for us?)" Jeanne asked since she didn't have any other choice but to ask for his information.
"(On the fifteenth floor, but there are servants that guarding the entrance)" Mykel answered.
"(Thank you, and I think we will be able to go back before the breakout happens)" Jeanne replied.
"(Take your time. As long as Rozan is there, there's no need for you to be worried about. In fact, you can easily defeat him if you want to)" Mykel said.
"(I would rather stand down for this one because Rozan wants to do this one. He wants to prove himself worthy. Isn't that what you said to him?)" Jeanne smiled as she led the team deeper into the tenth floor.
"(How does it feel to be an observer?)" Mykel asked as he chuckled.
"(It's boring, but for some reason knowing I'm strong enough to defeat whatever is in front of me makes me feel so superior. I guess I understand why you decided to watch most of the time because it would be ruining the fun for them)" Jeanne chuckled and everyone was startled when she suddenly chuckled.
After Jeanne told them about Asmodeus' location, they all cheered up and hurriedly cleared the tenth floor. It only took them six hours and they went straight to the eleventh floor but realized something was off about the information Mykel gave Jeanne.
"He said that Asmodeus is on floor fifteenth, right? But how can he be there when the castle is taller than the skyscraper?" Rozan asked as he looked at Jeanne who walked to the front.
"I'm not sure, but Mykel never lied about the information about the towers. So I guess we will find out why," Jeanne answered and looked around.
They cleared the eleventh floor and looked for the stairs to the twelfth floor, but they couldn't find it until they entered a hall. They saw a giant hole in the ceiling in the middle, and when they looked up, they realized it was the only way up to the next floor.
"That can only fit one person at a time, do you think we should go up there?" Vincze asked.
The ground suddenly got lit by blue flames and it was blazing fiercely that it started to burn their skin. Rozan covered the whole ground with solid ice and enhanced its durability with [Element Enhancement].
"I see... So this motherfucker is trying to burn us alive if we don't get up there hurriedly, and once we get there we will be smoked and roasted like a chicken," Sven said as he looked at Rozan dealing with the fire. "But since his plan is failed, we should be fine climb up now," Sven continued and jumped into the hole in the ceiling.
As soon as Sven grabbed the wall, his glove started to burn and his fingers got burned by it. He immediately jumped down as he removed his glove and looked at the wound.
"I forgot that this whole castle is boiling hot..." Sven looked at his fingers slowly healing themselves.
"It's a trap. I don't think we should use that hole to go up because that's impossible even for us. There must be a hidden passage to go up, let's look around the hall," Gerrard said as he looked around.
Mykel who watched them was smiling because it was indeed a trap. Even in the original story, Rozan was dealing with the blue flame, but a lot of the Awakeners that followed Asmond decided to go into the hole. They were panicking and ended up getting burned alive and their bodies melted inside the hole and clogged it making the whole hall hotter because there was no circulation.
It was like an oven until Gerrard found a hidden passage in the hall and used it to go to the twelfth floor. It was similar to the original story, but this time they were a lot smarter and Rozan dealt with the blue flame much easier.
Every castle had a hidden passage and Gerrard found it when he saw an odd gap in the wall and used his bow to force it open. He saw a spiral of narrow stairs and told everyone what he found behind the wall.
"I'll cool down the walls so we won't get cooked like inside of an oven," Asmond said as he covered the whole wall with ice, even the stairs.
To their surprise, the stairs seemed endless and they couldn't see the top of it by just looking up even for Gerrard with his [Advanced Eagle's Eye] and [Night Vision]. He could see things clearly which was a mile away, but he still couldn't see the end of the spiral stairs with it.
"You know what? Let's use a different method," Rozan said as he looked at his hand and started to produce from his palm. "Let's fly!" Rozan looked at everyone and he started to float.
They were flying and following Rozan from below since he was the one who controlled the flow of the wind. Gunnar and the others never thought it would be that fun to fly, and they enjoyed it while it lasted.
They managed to get up to the fifteenth floor in two days and it was like torture for them even for Jeanne that started to feel the warmth that lurked under her skin. They met the two servants with gray skin similar to Glasya's appearance where every part of their bodies was decorated with accessories.
"My Anti-magic Barrier and my Dispell skill can only be used once a day, so I'll save them for later. It's all you guys while I'm giving you support from behind," Rozan said quietly.
The two servants could use blue flames as well which was dangerous for them to handle. Rozan had to pay more attention because even though it was weaker than [Hellfire] it was still enough to melt skin and flesh in an instant.
Gunnar was used as a bait and meat shield for the team. Gerrard was used as a distraction and dealt with the servants from the far back. Nagy, Edith, and Lillith as the backstabber and used the opportunity to hit their weak spots. Sven and Vincze as the front liner and dealt with the servants head-on.
It was quite a fight because the servants knew they were at an advantage because they could fly. The only ones who could attack them in the air were only Gerrard and Rozan, but that didn't stop the others from trying.
Gunnar was used as a trampoline for the others so they could reach the servants by bouncing off the wall around them. The servants were like bumpers and the others were like balls in a pinball game. It didn't take long until they managed to cut the servants' wings and kill them once they couldn't fly anymore.
They looked at the two dead servants in front of them, who suddenly turned into ashes because their bodies got swallowed by a blue flame. There was nothing left and made sure there would be no other servants on that floor.
They walked toward the giant steel doors in front of them and looked at the carvings on them. It looked like a painting of a demon standing on top of naked dismembered bodies.
"So, uh, you were joking about it, right? About Demon King Asmodeus liking powerful men?" Sven asked nervously.
"Who knows," Aurea chuckled mischievously.
"Jeanne, can you ask Mykel about this? I honestly have a chill down my spine right now," Sven looked at Jeanne, and he wasn't the only one who was nervous about it.
Jeanne asked Mykel about it and Mykel told them the truth about Asmodeus and his [Lust]. He told them that it wasn't actually wrong because Asmodeus' fetish was torturing strong men which made him aroused by watching it. The more men suffered because of him, the more powerful he became.
Asmodeus' [Lust] wasn't the same as Glasya's because he was the source of lust emotion itself. His torture methods were to put mortals into an endless need for lust and would make them suffer they ended up killing themselves.
"As long as there's lust, he's still powerful," Sven said as he scratched the back of his head. "But I'm glad that he's not interested in men like what Aurea said," Sven sighed in relief.
"Now that it has been solved, shall we meet him?" Jeanne asked and looked at everyone.
They all nodded and then Jeanne opened the doors. The moment they entered the room, a notification appeared in front of them
[Demon King Asmodeus, The Sin of Lust has been waiting for this moment]
"Ah... So this is why he's on the fifteenth floor. It's because this is the highest floor," Rozan said as he looked up, it was a spacious chamber five times bigger than Glasya's chamber with a ceiling that couldn't be seen because it was way high up that naked eyes couldn't see.
