The worm crawled all the way to the top and they came into what seemed like a giant palace.
Aldred and the others dismounted the worm as it left right away.
Aldred looked left and right. There were furnitures the size of one hundred mountains. He felt like he was an ant inside a home of a human.
"Where are we?" Mary asked.
"I don't know." Aldred looked up and saw a beautiful chandelier hanging from the ceiling. And, like everything else, it was humongous.
"So where is the treasure?" Ivette asked.
"I don't know either." Aldred summoned his Astrolabe.
"It pointed over there. Let's go."
They sprinted towards the pointed directions. After a few minutes, they encountered a monster. It looked like a giant rat with lightning crackled around its body.
Summoning his Phantom Doomblade, Aldred killed the rat with a single attack.
[You have killed Giant Rat +4,250 EXP]
And then about a dozen more of them came.
"Let me take care of this." Aldred flashed forward, his sword already extended to the right. He sheated his sword, then suddenly, all the rats were engulfed by flame.
[You have killed Giant Rat +4,250 EXP]
[You have killed Giant Rat +4,250 EXP]
[You have killed Giant Rat +4,250 EXP]
[You have killed Giant Rat +4,250 EXP]
[You have killed Giant Rat +4,250 EXP]
"Let's go."
They entered a hallway of which they encountered more rats and even cockroaches. Aldred and the soldiers killed them all.
After running for a few hours, they arrived at what seemed to be a dining room for giants. There, Aldred saw cats.
Giant cats, big as a mountain. One of them leaped from the table and landed right in front of Aldred, staring at him with its curios eyes.
"Hello, beautiful. Now, you might want to ignore me because there's a lot of rats down there." Aldred pointed to the side to distract it.
But it kept on staring at him. Licking its lips, it raised its paws and slammed.
Blood splattered.
But it wasn't his.
Aldred slashed. A powerful arc sliced the cat's paw. It roared which made him dizzy a little bit, but it wasn't a problem as he leaped and sliced the cat's neck.
[You have killed Giant Cat +4,400 EXP]
The cat fell to its side which shook the ground under him.
More cats meowed. But to Aldred, those meows were like a roar of a lion. They all stood up and leaped off, walking slowly towards Aldred.
Bartrem stood beside Aldred. "Seems like we have to kill them all first before we can proceed."
"It seems like so." Aldred's eyes flickered with killing intent. "It's not to my taste to kill these cute cats, but I don't think they see me the same way I see them."
"My men and I will take care of this side," Bartrem said.
"We will be taking the right." His wives smiled at him and faced the cats on the right.
"I guess I will take the front." Aldred looked forward and saw dozens of huge cats in front of him. This made him excited.
"Come and fight me!" Aldred leaped into the sky. Dragon wings shot out of his back. Flame covered his whole body and powerful jet stream came out of his feet.
The flame pushed him forward, increased his speed and the momentum it created helped him in his attack.
Roaring, Aldred dodged a claw attack, and beheaded a cat. He looked to the right. "Dragon Gaze!"
His eyes shone brightly in golden color. Then five huge cats instantly exploded into puddle of blood and flesh.
"Execution Strike!" Aldred slashed, sending a powerful red arc that cut everything in its path. The cats dodged, but the arc managed to cut their paws.
A cat leaped at Aldred, opening its mouth wide.
"Ten Thousand Cuts!" Aldred flashed and the cats fell to the ground in thousands of pieces.
More cats swarmed towards him in every direction. Aldred kept his calm. But he was excited. Fighting against these mountain-sized cats were something he had never experienced before.
Now this was adventure!
"Fire Combustion!" Aldred slashed left and right. Any cat he touched would immediately engulfed in flames.
"Fire arrows!"
A fiery magic circle appeared in the sky, shooting fire arrows endlessly at the cats. The arrows shot through the air, then penetrated the cat's skin, burning them. One arrow might be nothing, but what if hundreds if not thousands of arrows?
Some of the cats were in so much pain it died.
"Fire Bullets!"
"Fire Balls!"
"Fire Javelins!"
"Fire Fist!"
"Red Rain!"
Hundreds of fiery magic circle appeared in the sky and shot all kinds of fire abilities at the cats.
Everywhere was fire. In this state, Aldred truly looked like the Monarch of Flame.
Thousands of cats died under his spell.
Aldred was laughing as he threw spell left and right while killing them with his Phantom Doomblade.
He dived down onto the ground, driving his sword into the nape of a cat. The cat meowed in pain as flame shot out of his blade and burned its internal organ into charcoal.
The cat fell and Aldred glared at the other cats which made them flinched and backed away a few steps. After a few seconds, all of them ran away.
Aldred looked at the list of notifications.
[You have killed Giant Cat +4,400 EXP]
[You have killed Giant Cat +4,400 EXP]
[You have killed Giant Cat +4,400 EXP]
[You have killed Giant Cat +4,400 EXP]
[You have killed Giant Cat +4,400 EXP]
[You have killed Giant Cat +4,400 EXP]
[You have killed Giant Cat +4,400 EXP]
...
He smiled. "Not bad."
[You have leveled up. Level 87 -> Level 88]
Aldred closed his eyes as he felt a powerful sensation. His mana churned all over his body, evolving into something of a higher quality. He was closer and closer to Platinum Rank.
The major difference between ranks were always quality of mana. His supremely high stats could give him an advantage against low-level Platinum Rank, but mid-level Platinum Rank were impossible for him to defeat because their quality of mana or life force were vastly superior. This meant that their spells would have much better effect or cause greater damage.
Higher quality of mana also naturally increased stats, intelligence, reflexes, strength, agility, and overall power.
In low ranks, the quality of mana might not change that much, but now, each level was like a higher existence.
Aldred turned around and saw his comrades and wives leveled up too.
"Is everyone okay?" Aldred asked.
"We're fine."
Aldred scanned them with his godly eyes, and none of them seemed to be hurt. These cats were not a big deal for them. Each one of his comrades could be considered the elite of the elite.
After all, he had mentioned their imperfection and guided them to hone their skills to be sharper every single day.
Not only that, they also frequently fought against powerful opponents. So battle was like second-nature to them. It was ingrained in their bones.
"Let's go, guys." Aldred smiled.
