Draco rubbed his chin with interest. It was interesting to note that the provisions and limitations had changed slightly since the first floor.
Firstly, he was now allowed to use titles since the third floor, and the difficulty of enemies had slowly increased with each floor. From being 'far easier to kill' from floor 1 to 'easier to kill' on floor 4.
Well, he did have a few titles with some amazing social effects, but they likely would not work here. Hm, maybe only the Lightbringer title would give him some clout, but he would be seen as a good guy and probably abducted by the church in this world, forced to become a paladin.
Also, the objective of this mission was quite interesting. One had to stay hidden for 7 days in this town where every other alley had a poster of their faces and offered a high gold reward.
With the kind of power that a person would have by this point, this was harder than ascending the heavens. If you really thought about it, apart from floor 1 when you were acquiring your class, there was no other opportunity to level up your character in these foundational floors.
Floor 2 wanted you to survive an ambush, not fight back. Floor 3 wanted you to flee like a dog against rapid pursuit. Floor 4 wanted you to lay low and stay out of sight.
This was what Helia had told him that attracted newbies to the side of the pros. Because they were able to give timely advice to newbies to waste as much time as they could on the first-floor leveling as much as they could before dealing with the bandits.
This was why no one else had high points like the first three because they had trained quite a bit before dealing with the bandits, giving them a time advantage. Because of their high talent and powers, they were still able to clear these floors and remained unbeaten by those who came later even though they had better advice.
However, Draco and the Four Beauties were not the same. From the first floor up till now, they had followed the path of absolute destruction using their own techniques, no longer bothering with their classes since they were not very useful.
However, after slaughtering a band of high-level knights twice, how could they still be at those measly levels like before? They had made great leaps in power, which was also why they scored such high points at the end of those floors.
｢Name: Draco
Class: Swordmaster
Health: 800 –> 3,300
Mana: 150 –> 550
Stamina: 800 –> 3,300
Level: 1 -> 43
Exp: 23%
Power: 15 –> 75
Speed: 18 –> 90
Magic: 2 –> 10
Skills: Quick Slash, Heavy Slash, Dual Edge (new), Cross Slash (new), Reverse Slash (new), Riposte (new).
Talent: Sword Soul.｣
｢Name: Riveting Night
Class: Light Sage
Health: 300 –> 1,800
Mana: 1,250 –> 8,450
Stamina: 300 –> 1,800
Level: 1 -> 43
Exp: 23%
Power: 5 –> 35
Speed: 5 –> 35
Magic: 24 –> 168
Skills: Rain of Light, Light Shield, Blessing of Light (new), Purification (new), Detect Evil (new), Summon Angel (new).
Talent: Halo of Light.｣
｢Name: Roma
Class: Witch
Health: 250 –> 550
Mana: 100 –> 2,000
Stamina: 250 –> 550
Level: 1 -> 43
Exp: 23%
Power: 3 –> 9
Speed: 3 –> 9
Magic: 13 –> 39
Skills: Mystic Arrow, Magical Bolt, Soul Curse (new), Withering Curse (new), Spectral Cauldron (new), Ancestral Spirits (new).
Talent: Mana Sensitivity.｣
｢Name: Zaine
Class: Psylord
Health: 150 –> 350
Mana: 650 –> 1,850
Stamina: 150 –> 350
Level: 1 -> 43
Exp: 23%
Power: 2 –> 6
Speed: 5 –> 15
Magic: 12 –> 36
Skills: Launch, Crush, Hypnotize (new), Telepathy (new), Illusion (new), Enhance (new).
Talent: Mind Mastery.｣
｢Name: Hikari
Health: 10,000 –> 15,400
Mana: 100 –> 13,900
Stamina: 400 –> 2,800
Level: 1 -> 43
Exp: 23%
Power: 1 –> 49
Speed: 1 –> 49
Magic: 1 –> 245
Skills: Heal, Blessing, Restore (new), Invigorate (new), Protect (new), Stabilize (new).
Talent: Aura of Benevolence.｣
It was quite interesting, as after climbing so high, they were now almost at the same level as the knights. The average level of the knights had been 50, while the Knight Leader had been level 70 according to this world's system, which was why the five of them had climbed so high even though the experience had been split up five ways.
This was only thanks to their diligence in following the destructive path, and as one could expect, it yielded great benefits overall. As they had used that method to solve things up until now, it was obvious that the five of them would continue to stick to it until the end.
Suddenly, there was a loud bell toll that sounded throughout the entire town. Draco and co gazed at each other with surprise, not understanding what this meant as they were not natives, but given the general tone of the tolls, it sounded like a summoning.
Case in point, they saw people outside the alleyway leaving their homes with uncertain expressions, all heading towards a single location. That would most likely be the town square or any large enough gathering place to host all these people comfortably.
The Five Monsters smiled and followed the crowd. Even though many gave them strange glances since they were heavily cloaked – not to mention that hardly mistakable forms of Zaine and Hikari that the cloaks could not hide – but they seemed more worried about the summons than whatever problem Draco and his group could pose.
Soon enough, the group reached the town square where the entire populace of the sizable town was gathered, and one could hear whispers and murmurs all over as they each discussed the possible purpose as to why they had been brought here.
Eventually, the whispering died down as a well-dressed middle-aged man with a bit of a romp climbed upon a stage with some elite guards following behind him. He had a benevolent smile on his face as he faced the people, like he was happy to see that they were healthy and whole.
"My beloved Terrecians, I did not call you here to waste your time or disrupt your daily lives, for you are the lifeblood of our town. Rather, I had these summons made, because it has been brought to my attention that the five wanted criminals from the Carva Noble House's remand are hiding within our very town!"
This made the crowd burst into gasps as many began to mutter and chatter to each other, worried that this would lead to troublesome and unfavorable events for them. The mayor of this town allowed his people to share their worries with each other until they naturally quietened down.
He then spoke once more. "We wish not to disturb your lives, so the guards will not search through all of your houses nor really cause any of you, my beloved citizens, any discomfort. Rather, the Carva Noble House themselves have dispatched their own agents to capture these criminals, and I assure you they are efficient in their work!"
"You can rest easy knowing that these five who probably seek to destroy our town will soon be caught and taken away without you knowing! I just wanted you all to be aware of what was going on, because I, Romulus Debain, despise hiding things from my people!"
The crowd burst into cheer, their eyes filled with respect and appreciation for their mayor who had truly made their lives much than those from other towns by comparison. The town of Terrence was rather safe by comparison and much more prosperous because of this, which naturally made the citizens here appreciate what they had.
They also began to disperse as they chatted with each other. Most commented on how quickly they thought those vile criminals would be caught while others bravely stated that if they found those criminals, they would strangle them before turning in their corpses!
Amused, Draco led his group to the main boulevard, where he and some other nobler citizens waited. After a few minutes, the gates of the western end of the town were opened and with much fanfare.
From there, a group of around 200+ men on horseback and in gleaming armor rode into the town with pomp. As one could imagine, they were the very same group of knights that had been present since the second floor, alive and hale once more as the plot needed them alive.
Roma's eyes shone under her hood. "Guys, this is an unprecedented chance for me. I want to extract their souls once more, using similar methods too."
Hikari was confused, but the others largely understood, especially Draco. After all, it was a rule in Boundless that the soul was the foundation. This was true for players and true for NPCs.
When Roma extracted a soul and used it, that was the end of a person or existence. Even if Hikari came later and used White Light Resurrection, no amount of energy would allow her to bring them back.
As such, once extracted that would be the end for a soul. This was why anything that destroyed the Immortal Spirit of players would delete their accounts, which seemed like an extreme resolution for any MMO.
However, right before them were the fully hale and alive forms of the knights that had already met their end twice before. Not only that, Roma literally still had the souls of the very same fellows from the third floor in her inventory, not a single one missing.
This presented her with a chance, an opportunity to research the difference in souls that were not just similar, but the same! Roma doubted that any Mystic Arts practitioner had ever gotten a chance to achieve such a feat, because the circ.u.mstances required were too stringent!
Draco chuckled. "Feel free, Roma. We're right behind you all the way."
Roma nodded and stood forth, stepping in the way of the oncoming knights. When the various members of the upper echelon saw her blocking the way, many frowned and even one of the mayor's guards walked over to get her out of the way.
At this time though, the Morningstar Group threw off their cloaks and revealed their true appearances, shocking the crowd stupid. The knights especially were flabbergasted that the enemy they had to search for had chosen to appear before them.
Roma gazed at the shocked knights with a cold smile. She noticed that their eyes were no longer red with madness, but dark and almost lifeless, their guilt weighing down on them deeply.
They had performed unspeakable actions in the heat of the moment, and now that they had time to cool off, the weight of their actions had finally struck. They were struggling to live with themselves, and blaming the act on the Morningstar Group didn't help.
No, in this case, it rather made things worse. These knights knew the truth and blaming it on someone else only drove the guilt deeper, eating away at their minds. They were supposed to be knights, not bandits nor warriors, so their creed and way of thinking were naturally different from the other two groups.
Roma understood that the 'perfect' way to clear this floor would have been to make use of the mental fatigue of their pursuers who would be suffering to last 7, thereby scoring full marks.
Not many would notice this, as they would have long gained a shadow of fear towards the knights after watching the slaughter on the second floor, the chase on the third, and the current situation on the fourth floor.
These foundational floors really did test the fundamentals…
Whatever the case, Roma did not wait for the group to speak. Instead, she directly stretched a hand out that glowed with a green light, a mini magic circle forming at the tips of her fingers and encompassing her entire palm.
(Author's Note: Just like the wizards in Doctor Strange.)
From this magic circle, endless green wasps appeared that were semi-corporeal. They buzzed in an eldritch cacophony of malice, rushing at all living things before them with the exception of those close to Roma.
The faces of everyone changed as they either tried to flee or deal with these wasps, but the outcome was already predetermined once Roma had made her move. Horrendous screams ensued as the souls of everyone here were tortured intensely before Roma extracted them one by one.
She took both those from the knights and nobles, then pocketed them with a happy smile. Roma then turned to her family, only to see them gazing at her with strange looks and forced smiles.
Roma could only blush and cough silently, lowering her head. Eventually, the entire floor began to turn into a white expanse of nothingness as the results of their work were displayed to the group.
｢Congratulations on completing: Tower of Babylon Fourth Floor
Time elapsed: 0:32:19
Objectives complete: All
Assessment: EX+
Reward:
7,750 Score Points
1 Treasure Selection Reward – High Bronze Grade｣
They returned to the castle, Draco alone in his seat while his Four Beauties were sent into the Inner Universe as usual. Draco rubbed his chin as he gazed at his score points, which were extremely high as usual.
However, he seemed to have been docked 50 points as he estimated he would receive 7,800 points using the destructive method. This seemed to be a penalty for Roma killing those nobles, as rather than solving the problem, it would only make things more complicated had the situation persisted and not cut at that point.
Draco was not really bothered by this since Roma needed it for her research, and it was really only 50 points. The way things had gone, it was impossible for the group to use the marking scheme for the foundational floors.
Since Draco had started by using the destructive method, he would have to see through to end. He could only start trying to follow the marking scheme for floors 11-20 in order to hopefully get perfect scores, if such a thing was doable anyway.
Draco checked the fourth floor's ranking as well as the overall ranking.
1st – Draco Morningstar: 7,750 Points.
2nd – Gavin Guy: 1,098 Points.
3rd – Dorothy Keel: 1,033 Points.
4th – James L.u.s.ter: 1,002 Points.
5th – Mandingo: 876 Points.
6th – God's Son: 834 Points.
7th – Dark Lord: 801 Points.
8th – King's Return: 769 Points.
9th – Helia Nuer: 743 Points.
10th – Makinsser: 720 Points.
As for the overall ranking, he was now 482nd out of 1000 people with 24,350 points in total. He was truly making great strides in overtaking the top 3, so he decided to forge on while he still had steam.
After all, clearing the third floor had only taken three days, yet most of that time had in fact been spent allowing Roma to torture the Knight Leader, otherwise they would have been able to finish it in less than an hour, just like this floor.
Draco had no idea that the safe zone was silently watching the rankings with numb expressions. Just like the main plane outside, they had been spiritually, emotionally, mentally, and physically beaten and battered by the craziness of Draco's achievements, such that they could no longer be shocked anymore.
Now, they were just curious. Curious as to how far he could go and how much he could earn on each floor going forward. He seemed to always be so close to earning the most he could, but also slightly fell behind each time.
Most of them were waiting to see what miracle Draco could present next and some had even started to bet on which floor he might achieve the first perfect score.
……….
Draco appeared in a damp cell that had one moldy bed, a toilet in the form of a bucket that stank, and a single-window with bars that allowed the moonlight to flow into the room sparsely.
He noticed that he was not alone in the cell, but was sharing it with his four beauties. The four of them frowned at the smell, the cramped space, and the scenario deeply, their tempers flaring. As they were beauties, they were particular about cleanliness and did not appreciate such conditions.
Even Roma who liked bogs and swamps was not pleased at all. Draco saw their discomfort and swiped a hand. Immediately, the bars of their cells were slashed in half and disintegrated into dust by Destruction Energy.
The group then fled out of the chamber and found a dark and deathly silent corridor outside. The other cells were either filled with sleeping inmates or skeletons that clutched the bars while desperately trying to escape something from within.
Draco frowned and checked the details for this floor which had just popped up before him.
｢The Fifth Floor – Divine Quest
Description: During your attempt to stay hidden in Terrence town, you were eventually discovered by the Knights of the Carva Noble House and imprisoned in the Dark Prison in the province's capital city, Barrsell. Rumor has it that those who are incarcerated here never last more than a fortnight. The urban legend of this province claims that after the 14th day something terrible will occur. Escape the Prison before the deadline reaches.
Limitation 1: Your previous equipment/skills/spells have been sealed.
Limitation 2: You have been reset to level 1.
Provision 1: A unique set of skills can be acquired through skill-/spellbooks or practice.
Provision 2: A special talent is generated to assist the player.
Provision 3: Enemies are of moderate difficulty.
Provision 4: All equipment and abilities from the previous floor are carried over.
Rewards: Score Points, 1 Bronze-Tier Reward Selection.｣
Draco noted this as a wave of darkness swept over the entire floor. The moonlight was all but smothered and visibility was reduced to an all-time low.
The five of them felt a cold presence pass by them in the corridor as it entered one of the nearby cells. Immediately, they heard a scream and begging as a man rushed to the bars, banging and shaking them while shouting.
The others who were alive on this floor shivered in their beds but did not dare to open their eyes for fears of being implicated as well.
When the light returned, all that was left of the man in the cell was a clean skeleton that was clutching the bars, looking no different from the numerous others, who undoubtedly had experienced the same.
