The 30th floor was the last of Zone 1. Passing this, you could enter the safe zone to rest and prepare for climbing Zone 2. In a sense, this was the 'boss' floor.
It was indeed different from the rest.
The moment Varian felt the teleportation end, everything around him froze. It wasn't the freezing of space or time though. The time was still flowing normally and the space wasn't solidified.
It's just…
"What the fuck…I can't even move…" Varian found himself frozen for no apparent reason.
Thankfully, he could still speak. But that made it even more creepy.
Due to the rash teleportation, Varian was in a bad shape with thousands of small space cuts, bleeding him dry.
Maria had fewer injuries but her eyes were blurry and she was looking around in confusion like a patient who just woke up from a deep coma.
If the two were to fight now, Varian was certain of an overwhelming victory. But he didn't intend to fight now.
He'd need her help to survive this ordeal.
'But why did they even target us? Mostly because of her…' Varian tried to think that way, but he knew his own record.
There's actually a good chance that these guys were somehow related to him, even though he never met them. Such was his luck that Varian found himself pulling all the aggro where ever he went.
'But rank 6 is beyond my paygrade. I'd struggle even for rank 5s…' Varian tightened his palm on Maria's head, pouring more sliver power into her heart and working on breaking her seal.
It'd take time but they didn't have that time. Those death spheres might be here in a minute or two.
"Maria, what's going on?" He asked, unable to hide the anxiety creeping into his face.
The tree-lady silently rubbed her eyes and slowly regained focus. "Uh, what? Ughhh?"
Varian took a deep breath to control himself as he watched her act like she had just woken up from sleep.
"3-30th floor?" Maria's jaw dropped and she opened her status screen. Varian followed and saw a notification.
[Congratulations on reaching the 30th floor. Choose how you wish to go through this floor. Your achievements will be rewarded.
First Choice: Team Or Individual?
Second Choice: Rank of the boss: Same rank, +1 rank, and +2 rank]
"Can you remove your hand from my head?" Maria asked in the middle.
"No. I'm helping you break the seal." Varian replied while formulating a plan.
"Don't be ridiculous. The seal is not something even a peak rank 6 can hope t—"
"What's ridiculous is you comparing me to a peak rank 6. I said it before, didn't I? I sealed my ranks, just like you. My original powers are far beyond your imagination." Varian said in utter contempt.
"Y-You really want me to believe that?" Maria's expression was conflicted, torn between her unwillingness to believe in the sheer coincidence of meeting another sealed powerhouse and the living reality of Varian's obvious aura increasing at a speed that couldn't be explained by anything other than the seal break.
"Every time you talk, you say more stupid things," Varian shrugged.
Maria wanted to stab him with the spear but decided to survive first before taking revenge.
"What's the plan?" She pointed to the screen.
"Team, you'll take +1," Varian said.
"But I can't win against a rank 5!"
"You're right, but," Varian smiled and Maria's aura fluctuated for a moment. "What if you advance when the match starts?"
Maria looked at him with wide eyes before nodding.
[Choices made:
Team Fight — 2 vs 2.
Baldur fights — Rank 5 (+2)
Maria fights — Rank 5 (+1)]
"Wait!" Maria screamed as her heart nearly stopped at notification. "You were supposed to pick +1!"
"Too late!" Varian answered with a snicker.
"Die if you want to, why did you have to pull me i—"
— — — —
The two spheres of death quickly reached the 30th floor and rushed to a purple star.
A few hundred million years from the spheres, Varian and Maria watched at the two giant beasts as large as Earth's moon appear out of a vortex.
After identifying them, Maria began to curse in a dozen languages.
The two rank 5 beasts, called Moon Wolves, featured in the infamous legend of the tower.
Before they were abducted into the tower, these creatures roamed the galaxy with impunity. They'd first devour the moon of civilization and throw a challenge to the sentient
beings.
Then they'd kill all the 'saviors' of the civilization and induce despair in the populace before devouring them all.
Because of their enormous size and constitution, one moon wolf could contest against dozens of warriors of the same rank. It'd still lose to a higher rank, but in a
sense, moon wolf represented the strongest a rank could go.
"Even if my seal is undone, I don't think I can win against one, much less two," Maria muttered, her hand reaching for her storage ring, ready to use the ultimate treasure as the final resort.
"Oh come on, I requested the tower for these creatures," Varian confessed.
"You what?!" Maria looked at Varian with eyes so wide he worried they'd fall out. "You really want to die, don't you? I've never seen someone like you! You madman!"
Despite her hysteria, Varian didn't remove his hand from her head and nodded. "I've never seen anyone like me either."
"Fuck my luck for teaming up with you!"
"Anyway," Varian ignored her ramblings and focused on the seal break. Two more seconds passed and with a click, a mystical aura in Maria's heart dissipated.
Maria's aura skyrocketed in a breath and reached high rank 5. But her skin began to quickly crack and she fell into turmoil, trying to adapt to the sudden outburst of power.
Varian left her to adjust her state and turned to the wolves.
There's a reason he requested them.
These guys were so prideful that they'd devour the moon of civilization to declare their arrival and wait until the civilization made all preparations to challenge them. Only after crushing their enemies at the strongest would these creatures have their fill.
When he heard this tale from Maria during the climb, what stood out to him the most was the pride of these creatures. Some might call it an honor. But he felt it was just some stubborn pride. Pride stemmed from their belief that they could crush the natives no matter what.
Now such prideful creatures were captured and raised in the tower. Even though races could escape the tower and several did—including Havocs thanks to a certain spy—not a single moon wolf escaped the tower to date.
It's for the same reason.
Pride. Goddamn pride that wouldn't bend no matter what.
"Moon wolves, it's my first time seeing members of your kin," Varian addressed them in a casual tone.
The two wolves' ash-colored fur partially reflected the light coming from the purple star and thus made them appear like some sort of demigods.
In front of their presence, Varian had to feel insignificant. But he didn't. His voice contained a hidden arrogance the wolves couldn't miss.
"The tales of your race devouring the moons and destroying civilizations were once popular throughout the world,"
Their five large tails remained relaxed and lightly stood up, their ego was stroked and satisfied with his words.
"But no one remembers you today. You're caged birds, a dead legend, a species
the world has moved on from." Varian's words were piercing and it hit where it hurt.
A thick killing intent burst out and like a tsunami, the translucent red light drowned Varian.
Maria who was trying to stabilize her aura wanted to run away but gathered enough courage to stop at the last moment.
'I'll escape at the last moment, even if I escape, I have to make sure he's dead.' She didn't want to be around this madman anymore. He's driving her nuts.
"Killing intent, eh?" Varian was unfazed. He'd read enough records and learned enough legends about these creatures along the way. "Has your honor dropped so low that you'd attack first?"
Yes. What he saw as pride was 'honor' for these creatures. So, Varian simply used it against them in a simple way.
It wouldn't have mattered for anyone else because the moon wolves would never lower their strength when fighting their opponent. It was their way of honoring their hunt.
But Varian had another use for their honor.
"You see, we're chased by someone strong." Varian was perhaps the most honest person of his age. "I want to duel and slaughter you, but they'll intervene. Then you'll win. But know this, you'll win only because of the intervention. Else, you're dead."
The space around the moon wolves shook as they glanced at each other for a moment before turning to Varian. The killing intent on him increased.
Varian shrugged and spread his arms. "I don't care what you think. I'm going to die anyway. But too bad, it's because everyone looks down on that they can intrude into my duel and injure me."
The moon wolves understood what Varian was trying to do. It was too blatant. But even so, they couldn't just let their pride be trampled.
"You are our prey," A deep voice reverberated across space. "We will not tolerate anyone to snatch our prey."
'Aha!' Varian barely controlled his smile. Getting their word was enough. If they were shameless like him, they'd just tear up the contract and deny their own words.
But unfortunately, they had pride.
"Alright, then those two are the attacks coming from them!" Varian pointed to the two death spheres rushing at them.
The moon wolves froze for a moment before giving Varian a deep look and opening their mouths.
'What the actual fuck?'
Their mouth split open into six pieces and began to expand at a crazy rate. In seconds, the mouth grew from the size of moon to size of earth. It was like a full blooming flower but with disgusting petals.
"Break!"
They're not the original moon wolves outside the tower. If the attacker was a rank 6, they'd have hesitated. But since it's only a rank 5 attack, the moon wolves had no hesitation.
"Go!" With Varian cheering for both of them,
The moon wolves intercepted the death spheres.
