As Gabriel was about to leave the floor, he was attacked by an enemy that was impossible to see. It was like an invisible warrior who was fast like the wind.
Gabriel had attacked right away, but his attack still didn't hit the invisible enemy, which meant that the enemy was faster than his attack speed.
"Shield of Light!"
There were too many questions, but first Gabriel needed some time to gather his thoughts and come up with a plan. He cast a barrier of light around him, providing him with some protection.
At the same time, he also placed his hand on his chest, casting a healing spell. "Minor Heal!"
The wound on his chest wasn't a minor wound. Because of it, even his Minor Healing spell couldn't heal him right away, but it was better than nothing. The Minor Healing spell stopped his bleeding and increased his healing speed.
Gabriel looked around the room, protected by his barrier. The room still looked empty. It was exactly like before, but he wasn't going to make the same mistake of thinking this room was empty.
"I know you are still here... somewhere in this small room. I can also say that you're a good enemy. It's easier to fight thousands of enemies that you can see but harder to fight even one enemy that you can't see. Unfortunately, that only works in two situations."
"First is if it's a successful first attack while the enemy is still unaware of your existence," Gabriel explained while waiting for his wound to heal a little more. He didn't know where the enemy was, but he wanted to keep that person engaged for a little longer so he could recover more.
He received no response as if he was just talking to himself. Surprisingly, the enemy didn't attack either. It was unclear if that was because they knew that he was protected by a barrier or because they wanted to hear him finish what he was saying first.
" In fact, your first attempt was definitely good. I'm surprised I didn't feel the attack coming. I don't feel any sense of danger for some reason. Then again, you missed... You should've gone for the heart.'
"The second situation where invisibility gives you the best advantage? If it's in a big area, not in this closed space like we are in now. You know why?"
The enemy still didn't respond. If Gabriel didn't know that there was someone inside, he really would've thought that he was all alone here.
Fortunately, by how his wounds had healed for the most part after another successful Minor Heal.
"It's because, in a small space, you don't have many places to escape, do you?"
Gabriel raised his right hand. "I wanted to save using these for later, but oh well... You've earned it."
He canceled the protection spell.
As if sensing something wrong, the invisible enemy attacked again. Unfortunately, by now it was too late for him.
"Soul Explosion!"
Gabriel used one of the two new offensive spells that he had acquired recently.
As soon as he cast the spell, an Evil Spirit came out of the Dark Ring, as if being forced out.
As soon as the dark spirit came out screeching, it exploded, letting a terrible destructive energy flow everywhere.
Since it was a small room, that explosive energy management to cover every corner of the place. Gabriel knew that his enemy was fast enough to avoid his sword attacks, or maybe even his single point spells, but how could one avoid an attack that targeted every single corner at once?
Only Gabriel was safe in the entire room, as the destructive soul energy had no effect on him.
It was like a powerful bomb had exploded in the middle of the room, which actually managed to hit the enemy.
Even that invisible person couldn't avoid the attack as his body flew back, crashing into the wall in the back.
The person used to be invisible, but now that his entire body was covered in blood, his invisibility was basically useless.
Through the trails of blood, Gabriel could make a rough idea of the enemy, who seemed like a human. It was a man who had one hand missing. It was unclear if he had that hand before or if it was destroyed in the current explosion itself.
The man's legs were bleeding as well, just like the rest of his body. He couldn't even move his body.
"Told you, it's a disadvantage for you to fight in this room." Gabriel walked closer to the body lying in the distance. "Then again, it was definitely interesting to fight you. I didn't know there were enemies like you as well. Next time, I'll be more careful."
Gabriel placed the tip of his sword in the chest of the man, thrusting the sword deep inside. Unlike the man, Gabriel didn't miss the vitals.
The man finally died, and his body turned to dust like the bodies of the others that Gabriel killed.
"Not a real person either," Gabriel muttered, looking up. "This tower..."
The tower could bring these people to exist just for the challenges, which was a feat in itself. It made him really curious as to how someone was able to make a tower like this.
He was also somewhat impressed by his Soul Explosion. It was his first time using this spell, and it was just as he expected... It was a powerful spell, and it covered a large area around him.
"It can be a great spell for offense and for defense when fighting a close-range fighter. Then again, every time I use this spell, I'll lose a soul from the Grimoire, sacrificing it. I don't know if this affects the Grimoire's strength... Hopefully not."
From what he heard through stories, Karyk had absorbed Billions of Souls, but he didn't know about this Grimoire or how many Souls this Forbidden Book had.
There could be more spells in the future that might need these spells, so he didn't want to hastily destroy the souls without knowing more about this Grimoire.
Despite all the questions, he was still very pleased with everything.
He walked to the door and passed through to the next floor.
[5218 Gabriel Light 27]
The name of Gabriel rose through the tanks again.
An entire day had passed since Gabriel cleared the 26th floor. By now, the old man was entirely sure that Gabriel was dead, so he decided to forget about him and became busy with his work.
He didn't realize that there was something quite interesting happening outside.
A name that the Mages had never seen before on the rankings not only appeared on the rankings, but it was climbing high at a speed that they rarely saw.
"Who is this Gabriel? I'm sure I never saw that name on the rankings. How is it possible that it's his first time appearing on the ranking, and he managed to reach that high?"
Even fourth year students were looking at the rankings in amazement.
[918 Gabriel Light 57]
As soon as Gabriel started using his Element of Necromancy and his Grimoire, his speed of climbing the tower increased by multiple folds. In less than two days of entering the tower, he was already in the top thousand!
"It seems the Third Year Mages were hiding a talented mage. You think this might be another Garrick in the making?"
"Heh, they wish. There is only one Garrick. He managed to enter the top hundred ranking when he was in the third year. This year, he might even enter the top fifty. This third-year brat might be doing well for that stage, but he's not even close."
"Hahahaha, you're right. It seems I was overthinking. The higher they go, the harder these Challenges become. This Gabriel should be out soon."
"Exactly. If I were to guess, I'd say that he would be out before reaching the 70th floor."
"Correct."
While fourth year mages were praising Gabriel, thinking it was a great achievement for a third year Mage of Light, none of them believed that he could go much higher.
At the same time, the Third Year Mages of Light were also slightly amazed. However, they didn't even compare Garrick with Gabriel. For them, both Gabriel and Garrick were from fourth year. Despite being on the same footing, Gabriel was very far.
There was another person who was looking at the name on the ranking.
Maya stood before the tower, blankly staring at the name on the tower. It had been a long time since she heard or saw that name.
"It can't be him... It must be someone who shares the same name! He can't be here... He can't."
She didn't believe that it was her Gabriel. Even though this Gabriel also had the Element of Light, according to what she heard, this Gabriel was a Senior, which made her sure that it wasn't the Gabriel she knew.
