Chapter 24

Molten Cave (VI)

Tense atmosphere reigned over the small party as they walked up to the black-dyed stairs leading up to a tall wall blocking the next 'stage'. There was a sort of eerie air almost reeking off the stairs, tendrils of black smoke visible to the naked eyes. It reminded Cain somewhat of the Devil's Path, an 11th-floor dungeon of sorts, but most people when first visiting it could barely breathe, while here it was only a faint suffocating sensation.

They slowly began to climb, frowns etched deeply on their faces. The climb, similarly to the first, was also quite short -- especially considering that the heat had dissipated considerably and that the stairs could be climbed normally.

Roughly fifteen minutes later they found themselves on the top, a massive, crater-like dip entering their sights. Running from one end to another was a bridge-like platform, over half a mile wide and nearly two whole long. Besides it, there was only the colorless, endless, and bottomless abyss that seemed to roar every other moment, sending out gusts of violent wind to surge upward.

Cain’s eyes drifted forward, to the opposite end, where he saw five figures standing around, icily looking at them. Blood in his veins froze as he realized what kind of a ‘challenge’ this would be -- duels, one of the most dreaded aspects of the Tower. While a vast majority of battles were fought in groups, on a rare occasion, people would be forced into grueling duels. Please don’t be life-or-death, please don’t be life-or-death, please don’t be...

Just as Cain was praying, the notification window appeared in front of everyone, listing out the details of the second stage.

//Congratulations on making it to the Soulless Prison!

Soulless Prison was an Empire-known horror during its peak, home to the most wretched and evil men and women that the world had ever spawned

Each prisoner had a single opportunity to challenge a Prison Champion to escape -- if they defeated them, they were free; if not, they would be killed

The rules for the second Challenge are as follows:

-One on one duel between one of the five Champions and a member of the party

-No outside interference

-The battle is not finished until one of the two participants is killed

-The first group to three wins will be declared victorious

-Should your Party lose, you will all be imprisoned for two years

-Should your Party emerge victoriously, you will all receive personal tutelage from one of the Past Champions

-There is no limit at the number of times a single member can participate

Cain’s face grew darker and darker the further he read, until he came to the last lime, color finally returning to his face. Just before the others even had a chance to finish reading everyone, Cain jumped down without hesitation, startling everyone as they called out to him.

“What the hell are you doing?!!”

“Cain, get back up here!!”

However, he turned deaf to their calls, landing nimbly onto the ‘bridge’, looking up at the five figures still coated in the dark.

“...” he remained silent, patiently observing them. They're all human-like, huh... even more of a reason I can't let anyone else fight...

Human-like enemies in the Tower weren’t rare, but they were fairly scarce on the first floor, likely so that the people could slowly get used to the new way of life. Nobody up there ought to even have the capacity to kill what effectively, to them, would be a human. Not that they’d ever get a chance to do that, he suspected.

By now, everyone had also read the last line of the notification, causing bitter feelings to swell up inside their throats. Rick and Emma were somewhat better off, but they, too, felt rather useless at the moment.

A figure from the other end suddenly jumped off and landed onto the platform, the dark tendrils surrounding its body washing off. Everyone soon got a good look at it -- no... it wasn’t it. It was a he. Lips agape, they stared wide-eyed at a relatively-handsome man who appeared to be in his thirties, topless, muscles built on top of muscles, black hair tied into a ponytail running down his back, square-jawed, a pair of lime-green eyes shining amidst the dark.

He only wore a set of worn-down trousers and was barefoot, with a rusty-looking sword strapped to the side of his body. The man stood at a slight angle, examining Cain from head to toe casually.

“... a magician wishes to partake in a duel?” HOLY CRAP, IT SPOKE?!! -- against all common sense, the man spoke out in an almost perfect American accent, using completely normal English. “A fool.”

"..." Cain had no reaction besides a slight surprise. As far as he knew, only the Floor Boss had enough Intelligence to speak English, and even then from what he heard it was quite broken. He casually pulled up the man's status window, quickly wishing he hadn't.

//Ethon Race: Ante-human

Level 49

Traits: Intelligent(S+), Patient(B+), Arrogant(S), Quick(B), Agile(S-)

Skills: Blademaster + Void Knight //

Aah, it’s one of those classified bastards... fuck my pretty bumhole... Cain cursed inwardly, sighing. However, his expression remained placid. It didn't need to, however, as everyone on his side was currently suffering from a temporary aneurysm, all equally incapable of processing anything at the moment.

“... are all of you ante-Humans?” Cain asked casually, taking a silent, deep breath.

“What does it matter?” the man replied, bending forward slightly. “You will not be alive to learn.”

“... tsk, a cocky cunt...”

//Let the battle begin!//

Just as soon as the notification rang out, the man bolted forward, kicking up dust in his wake and crossing the whole bridge within a few seconds, dragging the sword from the side and slicing it at Cain’s head. The latter bent back slightly and charged his right leg with Arcane and Earth, kicking out as soon as the sword slashed past his chin.

He managed to land a hit squarely on the man’s chest, surprising him and tossing him back half the bridge’s length, causing him to roll on the dirt, appearing to be in sorry straits.

It was hardly enough -- besides just managing to piss the man off -- as the later quickly stabilized with a deep grunt, shooting up to his feet. A burst of mocking laughter rang out from his 'companions', his extremely pale face flushing in a faintly rosy color.

“... shut up!!” he roared back at his companions, Mana surging within his feet and his blade.

What made it all even more frustrating was that the man was a dual-class, making it much harder to predict his attacks. Furthermore, Cain had fought only a few times before against a Blademaster and Void Knight combination as, in the simplest of languages -- it was absolute garbage.

Right after, the man swung the blade down, rippling space outwardly as an array of starlight -- one much darker than Jamal’s, however -- surged out like a tsunami, immediately crossing the distance between him and Cain. The latter was ready, slamming his foot into the ground and erecting a sloped wall of dirt. Though it lasted only for a moment, Cain had already blinked out and took to the air, charging Wind, Blood, and Arcane within his fingers, weaving them together into a strange tapestry that wound up resembling a fishing net.

He quickly tossed it as the net expanded, shimmering in glistens of violet and crimson, falling toward Ethon who roared out and rapidly slashed out, sending out nearly a hundred arrays of foot-long starlight with each swing.

Cain coalesced Falling Fire in the meantime, tossing the massive, burning blade in a downward arc. The man, appearing panicked for a moment, swung out the sword erratically, building up a surge of red-dotted cloud that slightly absorbed the shock of impact. However, even the remnants of the collision -- that had caused the whole ‘bridge’ to shake as a massive cloud of smoke surged into the sky -- were enough to blast Ethon backward all the way to the wall, stabbing him directly into it.

Cain didn't wait, raising Elemental Shield and charging Wind into his feet, bolting forward while also charging Fire in both his fists, causing a trail of flames to arise from his hands, burning backward. As soon as he reached a hundred-foot radius of the man, he came to a screeching halt and slammed both his fists down, ripping the stone out of the platform bellow and hurling it forward in shape and form of an infernal boulder. The whole thing was over sixty feet in diameter, and Cain certainly felt it as he'd actually torn his arm muscles.

Grumbling in frustration, he Blinked back and quickly took out a pearie, swallowing it to slowly restore his arm’s function. In the meantime, Ethon’s cry shook the whole ‘stage’, a surge of crimson-dyed light burning through the boulder and turning it into ash as a figure came streaming out, blood-colored.

“... you... who the hell are you?!!” Ethon screamed angrily. “You’re clearly not a puppy wizard, you sneaky bastard!”

“... oi, don’t blame me,” Cain shrugged, a playful smile on his face. “It’s just that you suck. As in, suck balls. I don’t think I’ve ever seen someone so inept at using Starlight. My friend over there had been at it for two weeks, and even he is better than you. How old are you, anyway? Ah, sorry -- are you like, five, six, maybe? Gosh darn it, am I bullying a child? Sorry, I’m so sorry...”

“... paat,” Ethon angrily spat out a mouthful of blood, his body surging with Mana. “Of course, a tiny wizard with a tiny tongue. I’ll dissect you into pieces!”

“... eh? You want to die in peace? Ah, naturally, naturally -- we all wish so. Don’t worry, I’ll be gentle...”

“...” the man scoffed and rushed forward as Cain Blinked back, already having charged Fire and Arcane, shooting out purple and coral-dyed bolts at Ethon who kept using the sword to deflect them. Embers and sparks flew off like fireworks as they began pushing each other back and forth. Though the stage itself was slightly disadvantageous for Cain due to the lack of room to properly maneuver, Ethon’s defenses were absolute garbage which meant he couldn’t let himself be directly hit anymore.

Cain had also realized that the man’s health was already at a halfway point, despite the ‘6000’ being a decent chunk, especially for this stage. However, due to how Cain was using elemental attunement and aiming at vital spots, it ensured that even if Ethon deflected the strike, some damage would go through.

The two moved and danced quickly, yet, to the spectators -- including Emma, Rick, and the rest who had slowly recovered by now and started nervously observing the duel -- it looked... too much like a one-sided beating. After all, Ethon hadn't managed to even get within fifteen feet of Cain, while the latter repeatedly showered him in the arcane fire, occasionally using Frost and Water to 'smooth out' the floor beneath the man, causing him to lose balance and get hit.

The latter was growing angrier and angrier as the time ticked by, notable on his evermore distorting expression and his ever so erratic movements.

Within a five minute mark, Cain had realized that the man had turned mad -- completely abandoning the defense and charging through the winds and fire to attack Cain. It was a disparity, after all -- Cain had to continuously attack for over five minutes to shave away at Ethon’s Health, but if the latter landed even one solid hit, Cain was dead.

All the same, however, Cain was holding back -- considerably so. He mostly used just the basic combinations with some old-fashioned trickery, as he still had two battles to fight, and revealing all his cards on what was clearly an inexperienced Blademaster would be stupid.

Before Ethon could reach him, Cain charged Frost in both his fists and slammed them in a downward arc. Just a moment later, the air above Ethon froze as a massive, spear-tipped block of ice fell on top of him. Due to his exhausted Stamina and barely-holding Health, he was too late to react as the spike pierced directly into his skull, shattering it -- and right after the rest of his body -- into countless pieces of blood and gore, silencing the world temporarily.

As others registered the reality of it, they all began to toss their innards out one after another. After all, save for Emma, Rick, and to some extent Justin who had some experience in seeing an ungodly amount of gore surge from out of nowhere, others were witnessing it for the first time -- and it was hardly a pretty sight.

The four on the other end, too, stood up, looking down curiously at the outcome, one of them even appearing fidgety, as though they wanted to jump in immediately, yet being unable for some reason.

Cain casually walked over to the shambled corpse that had no whole section and bent over, picking up something shiny -- akin to a small crystal.

//Ante-crystal (E)

Collected: 1/100

??? ///

A bit earlier than I anticipated, he mused, glancing up at the remaining four. But I suppose it doesn’t hurt to start collecting them already...

“... ah, I apologize for that,” he smiled with a sorrowful expression at the four, shrugging his shoulders. “I just meant to spank him a bit to get him to cool down. Get it? Cool down? Ha ha ha ha ha... aaah... anyway, who’s next? My frost hungers! Aah, that was lame... like Ante-cunts will get that reference... aah...”