The huge city on the 80th floor was even bigger than many countries, making it quite time consuming for one person to get from one end to the other, especially when a person couldn't fly inside the city.
Even for Azekiel, it hadn't been easy. Just to cover the distance, he had to run nonstop for close to four hours straight before finally reaching close to the center of the city.
Fortunately, as soon as he reached near the center, he finally started seeing some people. The city, which seemed completely empty until now, finally started looking like it was filled with people.
All the streets were filled with people. As far as the eyes could see, thousands of them could be seen.
He didn't even know how long he was from the center, but it looked like a long way. He entered the crowd and started getting ahead, at times throughout the gap and other times by just pushing the people aside to make way for him.
After getting past all the people, there were only two rows between him and the stage ahead, where he could see some people standing.
Once again, there were many familiar faces on the stage, but there wasn't one that he was looking for. There was Osiris on the stage, along with many other Top Tier Kings, but Raphael wasn't anywhere to be found. It was as if Raphael didn't even bother coming here.
Despite Raphael's absence, this place was flooded with Kings. It was as if every king who had managed to reach this floor was here. But what didn't make sense was why they called so many people here? It was looking as if they were going to make some declaration, and at the same time, they were waiting for something.
Even though Azekiel was in the middle of the crowd, he still noticed some of the kings going down the stage, each going in different directions for some reason.
"What are they trying to do?" Azekiel wondered, slightly confused.
Five minutes after some of the Kings had left the stage, an old man who was sitting on a throne on the stage stood up.
Osiris and the others also stood up with him, showing unity.
The old man seemed like the leader of the group, and that made sense as well since the man was ranked two on the Tower Ranking. He was the strongest after Raphael... At least, that's what the rankings showed. No wonder the other Kings let him take the lead.
The old man stopped in the middle of the stage, roaming his gaze over all the crowd.
"I see you've all accepted our invitation to come to this celebration. I am really grateful to all of you." Firstly, the old man thanked all the people before shifting to something else.
It finally made sense for Azekiel why all these people were here. It looked like the Kings had promised them that there were going to be some celebrations and maybe even some rewards for the one who attended this event.
"But before we get to the celebration, there's something else we must get through," he said as he clapped his hands.
The Kings who had left before were already out of the crowd. They all slowly surrounded the massive crowd for some reason. Even now, no one paid attention to what they were doing.
"First thing is that I want to thank you all. We have been here for a long time! And in that time, your presence made this world feel like no less than our real home. Unfortunately, there always comes the time when one must leave their home to see more of the world, and that time is here for us all."
"Most of you already know this, but we are very close to clearing this floor! Finally!" The old man's voice was filled with life and excitement as he talked about finally being able to leave this place. He wasn't using any speakers to get his voice across, but his voice still managed to reach every person.
The citizens started cheering for the Kings, making the atmosphere even more electric.
Even though the old man looked quite pleased here, Osiris didn't look very pleased for some reason. It was as if something wasn't to his liking.
The longer this speech went on, the more suspicious Azekiel felt since Osiris' expressions were telling a completely different story here.
"However, before we leave this world, I have one more favor to ask of you all!" The old man slightly changed his tone. Even though this was a very minute change that most couldn't even notice, it was still quite evident for Azekiel. The tone wasn't as friendly as it used to be before.
While everyone was wondering what help people as strong as the Kings could need from them, the old man didn't keep them guessing.
"To break through the barrier of the next floor, we are lacking just a little bit of strength. And to get that little boost, we need your help! So please give your life to us?" the old man flashed a devilish grin.
"So that's what it was..." Azekiel didn't need more information to understand what was happening here.
"There is no celebration. It was a trap. No wonder all the Kings left. They are probably already surrounding this crowd now to make sure that no one can escape... What a way to get that last boost of strength."
Azekiel knew exactly what the problem was, and he also understood why these people were trying to kill the citizens. To clear the 80th Floor, they needed to defeat the Guardian of the Middle Realm.
Unfortunately for them, the guardian was very strong, and they needed more strength for that. It was intentionally made that way by him to make this Floor more challenging. That's also why he made sure to keep the number of Monsters limited on this floor, so they couldn't just grind levels.
Lower floor beasts also didn't give as much experience to these people after a certain point since the 80th floor was different. They probably killed all the beasts on this floor and knew that they still lacked strength.
