Fortunately, no one attacked or bothered Arthur after the lancer's death, making the rest of his hunt worry-free. He stopped at 118 rabbits and started thoroughly searching for Lucy, though it didn't take much longer to receive a pleasant notification.

*Contestant Beatrice Lokmov invited to join her party. Do you accept?*

Arthur immediately accepted as he knew that Beatrice is Lucy's cover name. Actually, you can purchase a one-time used item from the Luxury Store that allows you to party with others to increase efficiency and facilitate the completion of a certain task, which may require cooperation.

Just like a game, Lucy's name was added to the side and her location now shown on his map. They can't communicate yet but he felt relieved that she finally arrived on the 6th floor.

Hopefully, the number of rabbits she needs to catch is not staggeringly high as many contestants already arrived and it's not as easy as before to find the tiny white animals.

Less than five minutes later, Arthur and Lucy met up in a spot like any other. Bamboo trees were still abundant and you could notice one or two thick pine trees in the area, as for rabbits, there were no signs of them.

"Hey."

Arthur lightly hugged the excited Lucy then caressed her head as she smiled. Her face and hair were different but her reactions didn't change, giving him a sense of the usual familiarity.

"Did you receive the quota?"

"En! It's 200."

"Hmm it isn't much."

Arthur looked around, stretching his Sixth sense but found only a few scattered rabbits.

"There's no point searching for every rabbit individually."

Hearing this, Lucy creased her brows, not quite following him.

"What do you propose then?"

"Well, Zodiak used a very effective method. If we blast the whole place, you'll instantly reach your quota and we'll both advance to the next floor."

After thinking for a couple of seconds, Lucy said: "Forne and the rest are also here. They'll notice us for sure."

"Yes, they'll notice me but they don't know we're in a party. I'll be the one destroying things, you just need to stay put."

The White Specter frowned, disliking his idea. Not because it wasn't good but due to what he said a second ago… about her not doing anything. She doesn't want to be too reliant on Arthur, especially when she has enough power to complete the task by herself.

"How about this?"

She leaned closer to Arthur and whispered something to him, soon making him change the plan. What Lucy proposed is that, instead of incurring the wrath of almost all the contestants by blowing up the floor, it'll be better to act as if the two were fighting.

After all, to the public, the two were strangers so it won't be surprising to see two contestants fights, plus, the tower didn't forbid battles.

"The rest won't be suspicious but Forne will know about us."-Arthur

"Yes, he probably will." She shrugged her shoulders, appearing rather unperturbed: "But so what? It's not like he can do anything. You're part of Black Rose and my role was to stop you. I don't think he'll openly do anything because he knows he can't face us both."

"There are also 'X' and the rest."-Arthur

"'X'? He most certainly will never involve himself with you. He finds you to be troublesome and not worth the effort. Contrary to what you might think, he's actually lazy and never takes unnecessary risks. The behemoth only cares about Sol'khin and G'am Tir isn't that powerful. Only Celes is will follow Forne in times of need."

"Alright. You used the Party Ticket, right? How much points did you gain from the last floor?"

"5,700 points. The ticket only costs 200. There's also a ticket that can force you out of the tower if you ever wish so. It'll be used in emergency situations but the weaker groups. How about you?"

"A little bit less than 60,000 points. Apparently, defeating Sol'khin netted me and Zodiak a lot of points but I found nothing of use to me in the store. If you need anything, do let me know."

Lucy chuckled and shook her head, also considering the Luxury Shop as not that useful, especially if you have a small number of points. The really good and miraculous artifacts cost exorbitant amount and they'll not be able to get their hands on those anytime soon.

Honestly, she wanted that Ice Phoenix Blood but it can wait for later. The Yin Power can merge well with the phoenix' ice and boost her powers by a significant amount, perhaps even allowing her to break through to the Exalted God Realm.

The couple initiated their plan ten minutes later in a populated area of the forest that has a large number of rabbits. In fact, excluding Arthur and Lucy, there were a few contestants fighting for various reasons, which most are idiotic. Though, the more powerful ones such as Ber Von Xin were going around and hunting one rabbit at a time without minding the nearby conflicts.

Unfortunately, things became messier when a miniature orange sun rose into the sky and attracted the attention of most of the present contestants. The sun released an unbearable heat and shone brighter than the artificial sun hanging in the sky. It rose two to three hundred meters, became two times larger than violently exploded.

Many were alarmed and hastily retreated to not get hurt by the explosion or the spreading vermilion flames. The trees were incinerated and many rabbits died but the caster of this sun, Arthur, wasn't teleported to the next floor even after finishing his quota.

As he was in a party, he was given the option to remain and help his teammate, which he obviously accepted. Furthermore, the sun didn't hurt the nearby Lucy, who should have been injured but thanks to party buff, which rendered deactivate 'friendly fire', she escaped unscathed.

Nonetheless, to make the act more believable, she purposely burnt part of her clothes and coughed some fake blood. The deafening exploding sun caught the attention of many people like 'X', the Sword God, Losha, and even Xyktia.

******

"Greetings, milady."

A brown-haired man bowed before a prison cell while smiling. On the other side of the bars, with chains binding every part of her body, there was a woman with black and purple hair, some flashy muscles and a unique and eye-catching beauty. She was one of the Twelve, also known as, Zaarae.

"What are you doing here?"

Timos lifted his head and acted hurt, uncaring about the gazes he was getting from two identical youths that were locked inside the cell adjacent to Zaarae's.

"Is that a way to greet an old friend?"

The Parasite Empress burst out in laughter as she saw him act so intimately.

"Tell me, Black Devil, when have we ever been friends?"

"Huh, you still got that venomous mouth."

"What else would I have in this filthy place?!"

She wriggled around, trying to make herself more comfortable but that only made the magical chains restrict her even more and inject weakening fluids that are very effective against her.

"Yes, it is indeed an unwelcoming place. I've thought a lot before coming here… I cannot say that I didn't hesitate."

"…"

Zaarae only gazed at Timos, not saying anything for a long while.

"What is it that I, the one imprisoned here, can do for you that makes you come all the way here? If it's you, I doubt it'll be something simple."

"Oh please don't get me wrong! I'm free after such a long time so I came here to see an old friend who's still struggling in solitary confinement too. Back then, didn't you do the same?"

He paused for a split second before clearing his throat and resuming:

"Unlike me, you're more active person who seeks and provides help. I'm just wondering if your beliefs have changed."

"Why does it matter?"-Zaarae

"It truly does, very much so."

He walked closer to the cell, took a strangely long and deep breath before crouching down and meeting the woman's stare.

"You remember Arthur, right?"

The moment he uttered that name, Zaarae flinched but didn't say anything. Timos chuckled and spoke again:

"I suppose you do. It was foolish of me to think you forgot about him, after all, you and Moriah were particularly fond of him."

"Hmpf! It depends which Arthur you're referring to."

"Well of course the one who gave us our names! Hahahaha."

"Get to the point!"

The Black Devil passed through the cells as if they didn't exist and stopped in front of the bound Empress. Though she disliked his way of talking, the two weren't really enemies, so Zaarae merely watched him with a frown on her peerless face.

"That day… I bet you remember it as vividly as I do. And, unlike the rest of us, you clung onto him… what is it that you called it? Ah, yes! Love."