The room was small, and it didn't have anything but a simple table in the middle. The table seemed to be one with the floor, which meant it was impossible to move that table.
On the round table, something was lying. A small wooden board was lying in the middle of the table that covered half of it.
Gabriel stepped closer to the table. He didn't see anyone here who could attack him, which meant the floor was different from the other floors. He felt that the way to clear the floor was related to the small wooden board in the middle.
As Gabriel stepped closer to the wooden board, he was able to see it much better. The wooden board was divided into four colors. One-fourth of the board was black. The other twenty-five perfect of the board was red. The third quarter was white while the fourth quarter was blue.
In each of the four parts, there was a strange symbol drawn that was impossible to read even for him.
In the middle of the board, where all the colors joined, there was a small piece of stone.
"What is this thing?"
There was no instruction on what he had to do. There was nothing else happening here either, which made him feel that he had all he needed to clear the floor. He just needed to find out how.
The guard was the answer and the colors that were on it.
"Four colors, four symbols, and one stone..."
He circled around the table, making sure there wasn't anything he was missing. He even checked under the table. Unfortunately, there was nothing under the table either.
"This is a headache. If they wanted to make me fight for these challenges, it would've been much better, but I don't even know what the challenge is here."
He reached out his hand and touched the stone in the middle, gently trying to pick it up.
"Hmm?"
Even as he tried to pick up the piece of stone, he realized that he just couldn't. There was some very powerful gravity that was pulling the stone down, making it impossible for him to pick the stone. The stone was certainly moving a bit but not rising in the air.
"Strength!"
He cast the strengthening spell before trying again, but it was the same even how. The more strength he applied, the stronger that gravity became, making it impossible even now.
"It seems I'm not supposed to pick it up. Then again, the stone isn't fixed to the board. It's only a force that is pulling it down. It can still move a little. If I'm not wrong, I should be able to slide it to the side. But what if that's the challenge?"
"These four colors... And a stone that could only be slided... No matter where I move this stone, it will leave the exact center, ending up in one of the four colors..."
"I wonder if that's what this Floor is about? Selecting your own trial? Could it be that all these four colors represent one of the trials, and moving the stone to them would be like selecting that trial for the twenty-sixth floor? Is the tower providing me with options? This would be quite interesting if true."
"Then again, it's not like I can read what's written on these colors. I'm completely oblivious about these letters, so it'll just be blind luck at this point."
Since he couldn't read anything that was written on the colors, he could only let his luck take over and just take a random guess. As all four were unknown options, he wasn't losing anything.
It was better to test than just waste time since there was nothing else on this Floor. He held the stone piece with his hand and slid it to the side. If he had to select one of the four choices, he selected the dark color.
He didn't know what the letters on these colors were, but he went with the possibility that these colors represented the Elements. The color black was for darkness, white for light. The red was for fire and the blue for water. There were two pairs of opposites on the board. Still, that was only his guess. He didn't know if it was right.
If he had to select one of the four Elements for his challenge on this floor, he decided to choose the Element of Darkness. With his Element of Necromancy, he believed he had a better chance against darkness. Moreover, he also had the element of Light, which made it the perfect choice.
Just as he expected, the stone piece moved easily. Moreover, it only took a gentle push from him to move the stone piece before it started moving on its own. The stone piece moved to the center of the black block.
Gabriel stepped back, holding the sword firmly. He was prepared for anything, but instead of the Trial, a door appeared behind him.
"Hmm? The door to the twenty-seventh floor? That was it? This was the twenty-sixth floor's challenge?"
As if the floor was less confusing already, it became even more confusing for him when the door to the next floor opened. It was as if all he needed was to move the stone to clear the floor, which was quite unexpected since he had prepared himself for some challenge.
"Strange Tower..." Even though he was confused, he didn't think too much about it. If the door to the next floor opened, he decided to leave, believing the subsequent trial was going to be much better hopefully.
Gabriel walked to the door.
"Urgh..."
When Gabriel was about to walk through the door, he felt pain. He lowered his head, noticing his chest had started bleeding as if a sword had penetrated his chest. However, he couldn't see any sword. He could only see the blood and a hole in his chest. Fortunately, his vitals were missed in this attack.
He couldn't see any enemy, but he was sure that the Sword had penetrated him from the front! So whoever attacked him was right before him, and it was impossible to see them.
Gabriel's clothes were already covered in his own blood. Having a rough idea of where the attack came from, Gabriel attacked with the Sword of Ulien.
As soon as he attacked, he felt the invisible sword that had stabbed him being pulled out.
The attack from the Sword of Ulien only hit empty air, as if the attacker had already moved away. If it was true, that speed even amazed Gabriel. The attacker was like a shadow in darkness... Silent, fast, and impossible to see.
