From the moment Draco punched the arm off of one Strength Sentinel, things escalated on his end. The behemoth itself had been shocked by the hit, knocked over to the side despite its grand size.
Then, it suddenly howled in agony as blood had started spurting out of the stump at its right shoulder which used to be where its arm had been connected.
It raised its head to look at Draco with dread, yet the fellow had simply spawned hellfire wings that flapped lazily behind him as he inspected his work with a smile.
He raised his fist and clenched it. "With this transformation, there are few things in Boundless that can match my raw physical power, much less on Earth."
With his current power, he could certainly begin to roam about Earth and seek out those Primordial Beings to have a chat about what the hell was wrong with the planet's energy.
However, the irony was that he could not yet challenge the World Council because his nuke tolerance was still abysmal. Even Local Lord, that undying cockroach, at his peak would not like the experience even though there was a chance for him to survive as long as he prepared enough.
As for Supernatural and Superhuman, their conflict had been relegated to playground level for Draco. He would only use the two for purposes related to his progress and early training. In essence, a self-imposed tutorial.
He may have taken over a country and procured a nuke back in the previous timeline, but he had used force and very unsavory means which likely had damaged all his relationships and contributed to his death.
There was no need to go so far in this life though.
Thinking like this, Draco noticed that the Strength Sentinel he had punched was trying to create distance and make way for another to assist it. Smiling, Draco flapped his wings once and appeared on the left shoulder of the one-armed Sentinel.
Both of the behemoths failed to see where he had disappeared to and paused with shock, gazing around as they wondered what the hell just happened. It wasn't until Draco patted the neck of the one-armed Sentinel and lightly spoke that they noticed him on its left clavicle.
"Buddy, it sucks to have just one arm, doesn't it? You can't help but struggle to do things you could do with two, and you feel to unbalanced and incomplete, right?" Draco asked while amiably patting its neck and sighing like he understood its worries.
Draco then raised his left leg, which flared with dark red Demonic Energy, and stomped down hard.
"So let's make it even. It's much better to have either two arms or no arms, amirite?"
THOOOM!
His stomp caused everything from the Sentinel's clavicle to its left foot to tremble severely, even going down into the earth and causing a strong earthquake. The behemoth itself went black as its shoulder was ruptured by the force, its left arm flung away, following its right one and crashed to the ground.
This left the Strength Sentinel in question armless, and its blood spurted out from both wounds crazily as it had neither been blocked nor cauterized. Sentinels had crazy regen due to their size, but this much blood that formed lakes and puddles all over was not something that could be recovered.
Draco simply flew before its face that was rigid, its expression dazed and its eyes glazed over in confusion and lethargy. He then pushed its forehead lightly, causing a small sonic boom as the Sentinel fell over backwards.
When in crashed into the land, the ensuing quake was greater than anything any of the other fights had caused. If there was one thing to be said, it was that fighting Sentinels would easily ruin the land if it was not sturdy.
However, since the Quest description only cared about the number of surviving warriors and the next Quest would likely send them somewhere else, neither Draco nor the rest of the Morningstar Group cared about the damage they caused to their surroundings.
Draco only paid attention to the already low HP bar rapidly dropping each second like a counter as the Strength Sentinel was bleeding to death, an ironic fate given its health pool. Umbra's GuildMaster switching focus to the last remaining Sentinel of the lot, the other Strength Sentinel.
It was frozen where it stood, shocked and dismayed at how easily its compatriot had been taken out. It then roared at Draco and swung at him desperately, trying to take him down before he could lay his crummy fingers on it.
Draco smiled and met the punch of the Strength Sentinel with his own fist coated in Demonic Energy. The collision between the two caused a shockwave that ripped apart the atmosphere a little, but that was the extent of it.
The Horned Demon remained airborne without moving while the Strength Sentinel was kicked back a few steps, the knuckles of its right fist smashed apart. Horrified, it let out a strange bellow as it raised its left leg… a kick!
Draco was stunned, because this was the first time, he was witnessing a Strength Sentinel use its legs like this. Normally, their size made their punches so slow that one could hack them many times in a second before it even reached you.
It was also because of this slowness that the fort was still up when Draco and co came. If the Strength Sentinel could move at normal speed or as fast as Agility Sentinels, they would only need three stomps to clear the entire place.
The force of its kick though, was far greater than its fist, even causing minor shockwaves just from its movement. Draco knew that receiving this one might hurt a bit, yet he was curious about finding out the limits of his Horned Demon True Body's power.
After all, it did not show any increased stats like his Demon Form as it was a technique and not system skill, so he couldn't quantify his power with numbers. The fact that he could fight giant behemoths comforted him and made him feel like fighting Primordials might not be as hard, but that was that.
In terms of whether he could win against them in reality though… no chance!
Even Zeus, a High Human who had access to all the power, had merely managed to trap one beneath a seal, since he had been unable to kill it, much less Draco.
Draco rushed towards the kick and maximized his Demonic Energy output to throw a punch right back at it to meet its attack. The collision this time was much more intense, so strong that space shattered a little.
The Strength Sentinel was blown back and almost fell over due to balance issues. Its leg was severely bruised and it was dented inward, indicating that it was likely broken.
Draco though, did not fare much better. He had been blasted back into the ground, creating a huge gully as he dug deeper into the earth in order to slow his momentum. He eventually came to a stop 30 kilometers later, lying flat on his back with a slightly dazed expression.
"Peh, tastes like sand." Draco muttered as he spat out clods of dirt from his mouth.
The transformation to his Horned Demon True Body had been forcefully canceled due to a lack of energy and his current weakness, making Draco feel even worse. However, he suddenly felt much better the next second thanks to a White Light Healing that Hikari had cast upon him from the fort.
Draco rose to his feet easily, looking towards the fort to see Hikari waving towards him excitedly while hopping and Zaine grabbing both her large breasts and shaking them for Draco to see.
Feeling invigorated at seeing his two sexy beauties, Draco sighed and checked his Bloodline Energy. Even though he had depleted it to zero, he could regen everything in about 10 second and retake the Horned Demon True Body for about 1.5 minutes again, only if he disabled his Nine Hells of course.
Since the Strength Sentinel was still unable to regroup and attack, Draco just waited for the 10 seconds to pass before stretching his body and trying his Serpent God Inheritance's Advanced Manifestation Technique.
A huge black portal appeared above Draco's head that was about the size of the Strength Sentinels lower body. From it came a snout that was ridged with black scales, then two red eyes before the rest of the Draconic body emerged slowly and predatory.
It was the bloodline Black Dragon!
This fellow was different from his soul Black Dragon and his system skill Black Dragon, as it was essentially the fellow who had been on that Avatar Statue.
When it appeared, it stretched its wings out wide and roared with majesty, announcing its presence to the world. Draco, who had summoned it, was able enjoy what Eva felt as the Black Dragon switched from draining him of Bloodline Energy for sustenance to draining the ambient Aetheric Energy that Hikari was producing.
This would allow him to maintain the summoning without wasting hundreds of Angel's Kiss potions like he had done during the Dragon Slaying Event and the Emergency Quest.
He was thankful for not having to burn through any Bloodline Energy. That was why he loved using Bloodline skills in Boundless nowadays, since using the system ones with their long cooldowns was unnecessary.
Technically, Draco had also mastered the Ultimate Transformation Technique, which meant that he could transform into a Black Dragon himself. It was the same as how he could transform into the Horned Demon True Body.
However, just like that, it would drain a hella lot of Bloodline Energy and could not be substituted for Worldly or Aetheric. He would barely have 1 minute in that form and every attack he used would just drain it faster.
If he ran out of Bloodline Energy, it didn't matter how the summoned Black Dragon was using other energies to sustain itself, it would disappear as well. So, it was best to just fold his arms and watch.
Well, the fight didn't last long, that was for sure. Summoning a whole ass Black Dragon to deal with an injured Strength Sentinel was a little more than overkill. The Black Dragon itself could have soloed the entire lot, much less just one fellow who was limping.
It didn't have mercy though. The moment it came, it flew into the air and breathed out a thick flame of Destruction Energy that burned away the torso of the Strength Sentinel, leaving nothing but ash there as half its middle part disappeared.
It then coated its claw with Destruction Energy and smacked its head, carving a hole in half its scalp that disintegrated on contact.
The Black Dragon could not even be bothered to attack again as it returned into the portal from whence it came. As for the Strength Sentinel it beat up, if it was not dead, what else could it be?
With that, the Siege of Ferrut Fort came to an end. There were no casualties, in fact there were probably more people there than in the beginning since Hikari had revived anyone, all the vanguard Sentinels had been killed and the fort itself was being reconstructed by Eva who was using her Spacetime Regulation to turn back time for the building alone.
It was undoubtedly a perfect ending.
At this time, the delayed energy from all the dead Sentinels swept over the party, but it was split into too many flows. Unfortunately, The Five Angels Eva summoned and the Black Dragon were counted as 'summons' and 'autonomous allies', so they too got a share of the exp the way Clarent and Qiong Qi did.
(Author's Note: I noticed that I made a mistake in the previous floor. Each 5% of Hp taken is 1 level, and I made it that the whole Endurance Sentinel killed was one level, so the exp allocation was wrong. I'll be fixing it here before doing the one for this chapter. So what you're seeing next is for Chapter 587 and the one after for this chap.)
The entire group gained 286% experience.
Draco went up 3 levels, going from 111, 43% to 114, 29%. This gave him 2 stat points to allocate, of which he graciously placed into Intelligence to bring it to a total of 97 points.
Eva went up by the same amount and reach the same threshold as Draco. Her 2 stat points were placed into Strength, bringing it to a total of 97.
Roma went up 2 levels, going from 115, 09% to 117, 95%. Her stat gain was 2 points just like Draco and Eva, of which she placed all Intelligence to bring it to 312 points.
Hikari went up by the same amount and reached the same threshold. Her 2 points were placed all into Spirit, as usual, bringing it to 512 points.
Zaine was a little behind her other two sisters, coming from 114, 43% to 117, 29%, three levels. Her 2 stat points - 1 was previously allocated on the wrongful chapter - were put into Dexterity, bringing it to 12 points.
The experience gain after killing 10 Sentinels that were sieging Ferrut Fort was grand, even if some split off to the wrong places. Qiong Qi and Clarent hadn't been summoned to the floor as Draco and co wanted to monopolize the exp, but they were still blindsided by the tower.
The total 20,000 experience was split into 11 flows, the Morningstar Five, the Black Dragon which was gone, and the five Angels who were stunned by this energy that did absolutely nothing for them.
Each person had gained 1,818% experience.
Draco went up 18 levels, going from 114, 29% to 132, 47%. This gave him 9 stat points to allocate, of which he placed 3 into Intelligence to bring it to a total of 100 points, and the remaining 6 into Charisma, bringing it to 76 points.
Eva went up by the same amount and reach the same threshold as Draco. Her 9 stat points were shared between Strength which took 3 points, bringing it to a total of 100, and Endurance, which now reached 76 points as well.
Roma went up 19 levels, going from 117, 95% to 136, 13%. Her stat gain was a whopping 19 points of which she placed 18 into Intelligence to bring it to 330 points and the last point into Spirit, bringing it to 121 points.
Hikari went up by the same amount and reached the same threshold. Her 19 points were placed all into Spirit, as usual, bringing it to 531 points.
Zaine went up 18 levels, coming from 117, 29% to 135, 47%. Her 18 stat points were share between Endurance, bringing it to 40 points, and Dexterity, bringing that to 15 points.
By this time, the cheering warriors were beginning to fade away into nothingness as the floor receded. Draco and his Four Beauties focused on the floor results screen, not surprised to see the usual there.
｢Congratulations on completing: Tower of Babylon Fourteenth Floor
Time elapsed: 0:2:50
Objectives complete: All
Assessment: EX+
Reward:
18,000 Score Points
1 Treasure Selection Reward - Peak Bronze Grade｣
With this, Draco's current score point tally was 159,350 score points on the leaderboard and 394,437 overall. It was so tempting to just up and use some of those, but now was not the time.
The group returned to the castle, this time Draco preventing his Four Beauties from being sent right into the Inner Universe by default. He wanted to see if they could be present without a trial token, so he awaited the tower's verdict while he chatted with them.
Soon, Tadaima appeared and hovered before Draco, intruding on his private space.
"Candidate Draco, it has been detected that through unique means, you have brought in extra persons to the Tower of Babylon without a Trial Token. Is this correct?"
Draco pushed the demanding orb away from his nose and answered with a smile. "Partly. I didn't bring them into the tower, they were always with me. It was rather the tower that brought them with me."
Tadaima froze at that, and seemed to be communicating with something. It then focused on Draco once more, speaking in its usual monotone.
"Candidate Draco, it has been made clear that your unique means is, in fact, a part of you, and this oversight is the fault of the tower. However, the rules are the rules, but since you are not a fault, no penalties will be applied."
Draco raised a hand. "The tower cannot possibly think things would be so convenient, right? I was minding my own business and was brought here upon its invitation to partake in this trial. After allowing my wives freedom from my own personal world which is not hidden from the tower, it now comes to accuse me of breaking the rules."
Draco shook his head. "It is not about whether the tower is willing to let this go but whether I am willing to let this go."
Tadaima paused once more and seemed to communicate with something, but this time it lasted almost ten straight minutes. When the floating orb came to, there was a slight hint of astonishment in its monotone.
"Candidate Draco, the tower acknowledges your argument and finds it rational. It had classified your female partners as summons when on the floors because that was a fair method, but will not accept them in the safe zone as they would be able to make use of facilities reserved for Trial Takers."
Draco rubbed his chin. So that was the tower's problem, it just didn't want them to use the shops, hospitals, and whatnot like they were independent trial takers. Then, the solution to this is simple.
"Who said they need to be regarded as independent trial takers? As the tower stated itself, it regards them as my summons, so just keep it that way. They will be unable to gather their own score points or the like, but they are linked to my account. As such, there should be no problem with them using any facilities as long as you treat it as if I were the one using them, all costs and everything shall be borne by me!"
