The Light Crystals fell from the dead men's hands and made a giant creature visible. It was over three meters tall, had several tentacles half a meter wide and a very ugly face. To be precise dozens of faces on every part of it's body, each filled with hatred and pain, but the biggest surprise was that they were all human. Some seemed to be fresh while other were so rotted it was hard to tell what was what. The biggest and most cruel-looking face grinned weirdly and started mumbling some nonsense, soon all other faces followed creating a noise that chilled the bones. Arath shook his head to calm himself down and as soon as panic left him he grabbed Clara's hand and dragged her towards the exit. Seeing the boy running away the biggest guy from the team started to shout orders.

"Create a defensive formation! Shields to the front. Polearms and spears get behind them."

The group, following the orders, calmed themselves down and prepared for the fight. Their shields were wide enough to hide a person fully and almost 5 centimeters thick and if someone looked closely, blackish colour of the wood hinted that they were created from the steeltrees from the eleventh floor. The monster just grinned wider and attacked head on. Spears pierced it's flesh but it looked like as if it had no effect on him.

"What should we do?" Clara asked.

"Leave them be. If they kill it - that's great, if they die - we would die too."The boy answered and run towards the exit. The door was quickly opened and he jumped outside panting.

"Hey, everybody, there is a giant monster inside. I don't know it's name but it's very strong. Get all who wish to help in taking it down and kill him." He said and left before anyone took notice of him. Soon about twenty strong elementalist entered the Tower together, but run out before half a minute passed. Their teeth chattered and lips trembled. The terror in their eyes was so deep that the people waiting outside felt they could drown in it.

"It's a face stealer. We will inform the higher-ups. No one who values their life should enter before the Heores or a major guild gets rid of it." Upon hearing the name of the creature all passerby either gasped in shock and fear or looked around searching for answers.

"What is a face stealer?" Clara asked curiously.

"I have no idea but it seems to be something deadly. Even the twenty of them left as soon as someone recognised it. It's good that we took our leave before we got slaughtered like the rest." Arath answered.

"Wasn't the left corridor supposed to be safe?"

"There are no safe places in the Tower. The floors, even though they tend to be less dangerous than the dungeon, can prove to be deadly, even the seven heavens. This creature could be the big guy from the middle corridor expanding his territory or just a new abomination. Nothing is certain here."

"Wait, you said that it could be the big guy? How is he still there even though so many expeditions went through the dungeon?"

"Nobody really knows. All we know is that after a week has passed from their death all the monsters are brought to life again. That is why hunger and lack of food is not a major problem for them. The only creature that does not reappear is the boss."

The two went to Ruby's shop and sold everything besides the meat they had looted from the blestols resulting in the income of forty denars. They bought a good and long-lasting Light Crystal for thirty and left with the rest.

'We need to save as much as we can. Tomorrow when the Heroes start to clear the dungeon not much will be left for us. Also as time passes and better quality of loot will be brought from higher floors our income will decrease drastically. Let's hope some strong mercenaries take that monster down quickly.' Arath planned heading back to their apartment.

"Clara, you got strong enough to stand your own in a battle. Do you want to try and fight me all-out?" He asked.

"I was going to ask you the same question today. Sure, why not?"

"Great"

After taking a quick break, washing their clothes and cleaning weapons the two fell on their beds and fell asleep almost immediately. They were so exhausted that even when they woke up the next day their limbs could barely move and fatigue didn't allow them to take any sudden actions. They decided on taking a day just to rest and train for another escapade. Arath continued to read the notebook's part regarding first few floors thoroughly and discovered some interesting places or names of monsters he had never heard of. Once done with the reading he started to cultivate and increase the amount of energy in his ears.

'Hearing saved my life yesterday, I ought to improve it further. I can focus on fighting abilities only when I'm sure I can survive in the Tower.' He said to himself.

Meanwhile Clara deepened her understanding of the Air Element and tried out many ideas that came to her mind. She found out that she didn't actually need to jump or run to make her thrusts powerful, just by directing her energy towards the ground the strength of her attacks increased without a need for movement.

With the bell heralding the arrival of evening the two packed their weapons, some bandages just in case and two sets of armor. They set off to the cave, they had trained few days ago in, and prepared the surroundings for the fight. Arath didn't want any spectators as abilities were best to be kept secret, no one wants the enemy to know their tricks.

"You can go all out and show the best you've got, don't leave any opportunities, always stike when I show my back. It's going to be like a real fight with just one difference, we are not going to kill each other. So when attacking just hit me, don't cut my arms off, alright?"

"Stop being a grandpa, I know common sense. Let's begin."