Souta and Alice arrived on the eighth floor. The eighth floor was a maze. It took them a few minutes before they found the path to the upper floor.
Then, they've arrived on the ninth floor. The ninth floor was a jungle but there were two enemies that were waiting for them here on this floor.
The last two of the six executives of the Moon Tower.
The final hurdle before the boss of the Moon Tower which was on the tenth floor, the highest floor.
Just like what he expected, Alice said to him that she will handle these two on her own. Considering the patterns, he already expected her to say that she will fight the enemies that will appear in their way.
For him, it feels like this tower became a trial ground to his comrades. They have their own enemies to defeat and they will gain experience by fighting someone as strong as them.
It's not a bad decision but if he only knew Cluster's condition he will not resort to this tactic. He will work together with his team to defeat their enemies one by one.
"In the end, all of you are leaving the boss to me." Souta sighed.
"Well, you're our boss too so it's your duty to fight the enemy's boss," Alice said as she smiled faintly.
"If you say so... I don't have much problem with it. I'm just concerned with you people whether you could handle your opponents or not." Souta said while shrugging his shoulder.
"Don't worry about us. We're not fighting the boss here. You're the one who's fighting the leader of the enemies." Alice spoke.
"Okay, I'll go up to rescue Cluster," Souta said as he placed back his sword in its sheath.
Alice turned serious as she launched herself at her opponents.
One of her opponents was similar to Brawler. He wasn't using any weapon. Instead, gloves were covering both of his fists. While the other one was armed with a giant round shield. There's no doubt that this man was a shielder.
The shielder intercepted her and blocked all of her attacks.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
"Do you want to leave? Not in my watch!" The other man dashed towards Souta to stop him from going to the next floor.
Swoosh!
Souta felt someone was chasing him. Since Alice said that she could handle it, then he would entirely leave this man to her.
If Alice couldn't stop this man on her own there's a high possibility that she would be defeated after Souta left.
That way, Souta wouldn't go to the upper floor immediately. He would stay here and help her defeat one of them before he moved to the next floor.
Alice frowned when she saw this. She lifted her feet and kicked the shield of the man in front of her.
[Repulsion Kick]!
She imbued her mana in her feet to make her skill more stronger. She used the rebound from attacking the shield to throw her spear towards the man who was chasing Souta.
[Ground Zero Spike]!
A large amount of her mana gathered on the tip of the spear. It spun around it like a whirlpool.
The moment Alice released the spear in her hand, the spear drew a white line in the air as it flew towards the man, who was chasing Souta, at a very high speed.
Swoosh!
"Kan! Watch out!!" The shielder warned his comrade about the attack.
Kan turned his head and saw the spear flying in his direction. The spear possessed momentum that could heavily injure him. All of it was a single glance for him to know that the spear contained power that could cripple him.
Luckily, his comrade warned him just in time. He could avoid a fatal blow so he suddenly stopped chasing Souta and the spear quickly passed in front of him.
The spear crashed on the sands close to him and it created a loud explosion. Even then, the shockwaves caused by the spear blasted him away.
Boom!
"So powerful..." Kan muttered with a smile on his face before he crashed on the sands and rolled a few times.
Alice opened her palm and her spear flew towards her. Since her mana was inside the spear, she could control its movement.
"But in the end, you're just one. You can't defeat both of us with your strength alone." Kan said as he stood up and patted his clothes. "Oh, right? I'm going to introduce myself first. Be grateful as I am Kan, the fourth executive of the Moon Tower."
The shielder just glanced at Kan and didn't say anything.
"Just call this guy Lim. Also an executive like me." Kan said as he introduced the shielder.
"I don't see the point of introducing yourself to me," Alice said as she gathered her mana in her spear.
Kan looked like he was the leader here but he was just a fourth executive. She didn't know the ranking of executive here but she guessed that Kan wasn't that strong among the executives. The guy who was called Lim was giving off a vibe much more dangerous than Kan.
So she thought that Lim was higher than Kan.
"I only pity you. You should at least know the name of the people that will kill you." Kan said as he sighed.
"It's not even decided who will die today," Alice said as she launched herself at the enemies.
...
Souta arrived at the top floor. The top floor was eerie and the amount of mana in the atmosphere was massive.
"Just what is happening here...?" He muttered as he walked forward. He then arrived at the place where the energy was coming from.
He saw the back of a tall man with short green hair.
The man slowly turned his head and he felt Souta's presence. "So you've arrived here... You've left your comrades to fight my executives just to come here."
Souta observed the man with a wary expression. The man was wearing a black shirt and underneath it, he could see light armor with blueish color. His pants was black and it has chains around it. He has earrings and rings, and his weapon was a high-grade halberd.
This man was fully equipped with high-grade artifacts. As expected of the leader of the Moon Tower, he was ready to fight the moment he started this plan.
This man was Curdova, the leader of the Moon Tower.
But what caught his attention was the things behind Curdova. In a wide space behind Curdova was a huge magic circle. The magic circle was emitting a strange light and there was a metallic head on the center of it. Outside of the magic circle was an alter with various weird things.
Above it was his goal, Cluster. Cluster was floating fifteen meters above the magic circle. All the mana in the surrounding area was coming from her. It was hard to believe it as a girl that didn't even reach B-rank possessed this amount of mana. She even beat magical humans who possessed massive mana the moment they were born.
"Did the Cloud Tower send you here? Maybe, it's the Sea Tower?" Curdova asked.
"Neither... I came here to take that girl. You see my comrades are attached to her so they wanted her back." Souta replied while pointing at Cluster. "I don't know what you want to do but I will bring her with me."
"Oh... If it's other things then I would comply with you but that girl is simply too precious for my plan. She's an important piece to me." Curdova said as his expression turned serious. He thought that this man was with the other tower but he was wrong. So that's why no one resembled this man's face among the subordinate of the two towers.
'So this man is unknown variables. I thought that the two towers are quick to send their people here but it seems that I was wrong.' He thought while looking at Souta.
"Well, I will take her back with me. Even if I used force." Souta said as his mana burst out of his body.
He quickly casted [Agility Boost] and [Strength Boost] on himself. Then, he activated the [Cat's Speed], [Triple Muscle Strengthening], [Shadow Cloak], and [Night Overlord's Aura].
Boom!
His strength rose to its upper limit by using all of these skills at the same time.
Souta slightly bent his knees as black mist started to come out of his body.
[Dark Cloud Hunting]!
Boom!
He then launched himself at Curdova while gathering his mana at his sword.
[Crimson Moon]!!
Curdova tightened his muscle as he was quite surprised to see Souta's outburst of energy. He raised his halberd and thrust it forward.
[Night Piercing Fury]!!
Both of their attacks collided and it caused a powerful shockwave that shook the entire area.
Boom!!
Strangely the shockwaves immediately disappeared the moment it got close to Cluster. Curdova already prepared protection for the ritual so that no one could disturb it.
At the same time, Souta heard a familiar sound in his mind...
[Quest Triggered!]
[Boss Battle]: You've confronted the Boss of the Moon Tower, Curdova. Protect yourself and defeat Curdova who is after your life.
Rewards: ???
