" After killing so many Kings, I'm sure he's the strongest of all the kings at the moment. I really wonder how crazy his stats are."
"They must be at least ten times our stats or more."
The initial shock soon changed to a discussion about Azekiel's strength and his stats. The battle was already over for them, after all.
Azekiel moved closer to the first Sand Demon and placed his hand on the Sand Demon's body, trying to steal the soul energy.
"Hmm?" He took back his hands in disappointment. "This is strange..."
"What happened?" Raphael asked.
"They don't have any Soul Strength. The stealth doesn't work. They only gave me experience points for killing them, but no additional boost from Soul Stealth."
"Maybe their Souls were just that weak that it wasn't even worth being detected?"
Almost every creature had a soul. That was for sure. But since Azekiel wasn't able to sense any soul strength in them, it made Raphael feel that maybe the Sand Demons didn't have enough soul strength.
"Maybe..."
Azekiel walked over to other Sand Demons and checked as well. It was the same. There was no Soul Strength for him to gain anything.
"That was disappointing. And here I thought I would get stronger through them."
He was quite disappointed by the revelation. However, there was still a battlefield for him to enjoy. There were so many dead elves here, and elves were said to be superior in soul strength. But first, he needed something else. He needed to clear the Floor.
Azekiel went from one Sand Demon to another and took their cores out of their bodies which were so small that they were only a few inches wide orbs of crystals.
He gathered all the Soul Orbs in one place. After pulling out the fiftieth Soul Crystal, he placed that on the ground before other Soul Orbs. There were now fifty Soul Crystals before him now, just as the quest demanded.
He stood near the crystals, waiting for an announcement of him clearing the Floors.
Throughout the way, the battlefield was completely silent. Both, the Nature Elves Queen and the Dark Elven Queen watched the bizarre actions of Azekiel.
The two of them felt slightly intimidated by him after seeing what he was capable of. Their warriors felt the same.
[Congratulations. You have cleared the Fourth Floor]
[You are now the Ruler of the Fourth Floor]
[A new Title Received: The Monarch of Fear]
[Would you like to equip the new Title as a secondary Title?]
Azekiel shook his head in response, pressing no. A new secondary Title was good, but it could only be equipped by removing his old secondary Title, which he didn't want to do.
His current secondary Title allowed him a much higher chance of receiving hidden quests directly. Even though the boost that title provided was less than what this new title could provide, he still didn't believe that it was worth the tradeoff.
"Maybe later sometime...."
Other than the title, he also received some experience points for clearing the floor, but the experience points were not enough for him to level up again. He had already leveled up quite a bit after killing the Sand Demons.
The experience requirements were just more than what the floor clearing provided him. He had already reached the level thirty-five by now.
[Stats:]
Name: Azekiel
Species: Human [?]
Primary Title: King of Gluttony
Secondary Title: Conqueror of World [Tap to remove Title]
Level: 35
Experience needed for Level up: 500
Strength: 2079
Speed: 2050
Defense: 2079
Hunger: 390
Magic Affinity: 105
Constitution: 99
[Skill:]
Summoning
Soul Snatch
Card of Judgment [3 Cards left]
Gluttony of Knowledge [Passive Skill]
Commander [Tied to Secondary Title]
[Weapons:]
Gauntlet of Gluttony
[2nd Form Unlocked: Hammer of Gluttony]
[3rd Form Unlocked: Ax of Gluttony]
[Familiars:]
General of Gluttony: Raphael
Witch of Famine: Lia
[Items:]
Escape Orbs: 3
Storage Ring
Ring of Disguise [One use left]
Key of Castle of Infinity
Call of the Dead
Looking at his own stats, even Azekiel felt slightly amazed. When he first found out about Michael's stat while fighting him, he could never have expected that his own strength could rise so much in just a few floors.
The Soul Snatch was really his prized possession and something that helped him the most.
As a reward for clearing the floor, more notifications arrived. He was given another Escape Orb.
He closed all the screens before turning around. He finally noticed the two Elven Sides looking at him like he was a ghost.
"I wish I could stay here and watch you fight more, but I don't have much time to waste."
He walked all around the battlefield, using Soul Snatch on all the Dead Elves before commanding his men to leave with him.
"Enjoy the battle." He waved at the two queens before disappearing into the horizon with his men.
The two queens looked at each other. Both had a confused look on their faces, and they both wondered what had just happened.
The Nature Elves Queen wondered why the people that were here to help the Dark Elves left. The Dark Elven Queen also wondered the same thing. Why did they leave if they were here to help her... Unless they were never here to help her?
The two sides decided that what happened today was too much. They both needed time to think about it and understand just what they were doing.
Both the Queens called for a ceasefire for now and discussions. They both felt that something was really wrong about their battles here. It was as if someone was playing them like they were puppets.
There was a ceasefire, and both sides started bringing back their dead, taking them back. The battle that began with such excitement ended at such a bizarre moment that both sides were underwhelmed and confused.
*****
In another place, the battle between two other Empires was also about to begin, even though it didn't need to. They didn't know that they were just Azekiel's backup which he didn't need anymore.
Azekiel stood at the entrance of the Portal to the fifth floor. However, Azekiel didn't enter the portal.
"Finally, we'll enter the fifth floor!" The Lord of Theft exclaimed. "One more floor, one more King to kill."
"No, we won't enter the fifth floor," Azekiel responded. "Only you all will be entering. As for Alioth, I don't think I'll be killing him anytime soon. I have something more important to attend to. "
"What could be more important than the fifth floor?" Layim asked. "We can also wait with you if it's something important."
"It's way more important than the fifth floor. It's quite possible that you won't see me again…."
