As the Morningstar Group watched the events unfold, they felt the entity moving through the darkness pass by them nonchalantly. They could even feel that while it had passed them, it had turned its head over to give them a nasty look and had likely sneered.
It was already satisfied, so it was too lazy to deal with this lot right now. Whatever the case, they were now trapped in this prison, so it would enjoy their flesh and blood 14 days later. There was no rush for it and the more they panicked when faced with their inevitable doom, the tastier they would be.
The Five Monsters shared looks of amus.e.m.e.nt between each other at the behavior of this entity. Draco then stretched out a hand towards the entity, even though he should not be able to even see it.
"Where do you think you're going?"
The entity was immediately enraged by Draco's actions. Did he miss the memo?
Since when did prey dare to interfere with its coming and going? They should be like the other prey, cowering in their beds and praying that a miracle would occur before their 14th day here elapsed!
To restore the status quo, it struck out at Draco, aiming to tear his flesh from his body and drink his blood like it was a daily beverage. However, the entity was rendered shocked when its attack towards Draco dispersed to the side while his hands approached it.
It seemed to grow in size by the second, that giant hand reaching into the void to capture it and drag its soul into the corporeal realm.
Shrieking, it fled in fear, trying to escape. However, this was useless before the likes of Draco, who grabbed it easily in the next second and dragged it out of its shroud.
He then snapped his fingers on the other hand, dispelling the darkness that had smothered the entire floor. As such, everyone was free to see just what kind of entity had been terrorizing the Dark Prison over the course of history within the generated world.
Unsurprisingly, it was just as Draco suspected, a Hell Imp! The little fat thing was ugly as shite, with pockmarked red skin, two small nubs it proudly called horns, and a loincloth around its waist that hid its bean-sized pecker.
Its face was similar to an anvil in shape, with a wart-covered nose, two beady red eyes, and a wide mouth with small tusks as the bottom. It also had a belly so round and protruded that it was a miracle that its tiny bat-shaped wings could keep it afloat.
The moment it came into view, the Four Beauties grimaced in disgust at the thing, Zaine having the strongest reaction as Demons and Devils, though cousins, didn't get along so well.
Draco held the imp by its neck with minimal effort, raising it to eye level with him even as it struggled and cursed for him to let it go with a high-pitched voice that was irritating to the ear.
"Hohoho, to be despised by the lowest level creature of hell. This has got to be the greatest irony of all ages." Draco commented with a slight smirk.
"Scram! What piece of cow dung are you to call me the lowest level creature of hell? I, Jackson, am a high-level imp and even one of my warts is far superior to mere mortals like you!" The recalcitrant imp shrieked with a mocking laugh.
Draco raised an eyebrow. He then smiled thinly and spoke coldly. "It seems like you are the type to talk big since you do not understand the situation you are in, so let me enlighten you."
Right then and there, Draco transformed into his Horned Demon true body. This was a transformation technique of his Horned Demon Inheritance and was different from the Abyssal Prime skill 'Demon Form'.
While both transformations shared the same look and abilities, one was system-based and had a time limit of 1 minute and a cooldown of 20 hours while the other was bloodline-based and lasted as long as his Bloodline Energy held out.
This form had not been used by Draco in months, since he had been a Rank 1 Avenger basically. The last time he had used it was to fight the unicorn in the Abyssal Trove, where he got enough platinum to pay for his Abyssal Prime Class Up.
After that, he gained the three transformation skills thanks to the system, and so he had never bothered to use the bloodline ones as there was really no need with how much his power was buffed.
However, since his class skills were now blocked, he resorted to his bloodline transformation which had been gathering dust for years. Immediately, Draco manifested great changes.
His height and muscle mass didn't increase, rather becoming more compact but clearly defined. As such, Draco now looked like a proper Royal Demon.
Or more precisely, like a Demon God who had ascended onto the mortal plane.
His aura caused the people around him to feel waves of raw power, heat, and negativity. Anyone within a certain range of this aura would find their negative emotions taking over their minds, making them act like animals.
The Four Beauties were exempt from this obviously, but the other prisoners who had been cowering either erupted into a beastly rage, or screamed while shitting themselves from insane fear.
One difference though was that the Hell Imp Draco was clutching was shaking so strongly it was as if it would crumble into a heap. It no longer gazed towards Draco with defiance, mockery, and anger, but fear, horror, and despair.
"L-Lord Demon God… I-I-I…" Jackson the imp stuttered weakly.
While this might be a generated world within the fifth floor, the residents had backstories spanning centuries. Jackson was a true Hell Imp, no different from those on the main plane, so it too knew about the Demon hierarchy and could tell which demon belonged where.
Since Draco had restrained his bloodline aura – same as Eva – as he didn't want others to identify him before he did them, the Hell Imp had not been able to detect his Demonic characteristics. Otherwise, instead of being defiant, it would have run over to lick Draco's boots and roll on its belly like a cute puppy.
However, there were no ifs in this world. Draco tossed the Hell Imp into his Nine Hells, specifically the fourth one Phlegethos. It was the hell world of fire and brimstone, where Belial the Lord of Pain and suffering, was the ruler.
Draco's Nine Hells were just as complex as Eva's Heaven after he had Ranked up to Rank 3 and uncovered its features. When he had first unlocked it, it had just been a blank slate with 9 planes that he had to fill up himself.
However, after convincing his bloodline aspects to entered a 'partnership' with him, there was no longer a need for that. All the Hells were ready and waiting for occupants just like Eva's Seven Heavens.
However, the Nine Hells were not Draco's focus, so he did not inspect them too deeply at this time.
The fourth level was where imps, hellhounds, spinagons, cornugons and hamatulas resided, all fire-type demons that danced around the famous Pit of Fire where one would cook for eternity.
As Jackson was tossed directly into the Pit of Fire, he began to screech and scream in agony while the other demonic species roared and shrieked with glee at finally having a target to torment for eternity.
After doing this, Draco sighed deeply with fatigue as he turned off his Horned Demon True Body. He was speechless at how much Bloodline Energy it drained now compared to before.
Before, even when his bloodline purity had been lower, he could manage it for whole fights. Now, just about 10 seconds and he was feeling the burn. He could only laugh bitterly, for he knew the reasons why.
His bloodline purity had reached 99% and was on the cusp of perfection. Back then he used his Horned Demon True Body, he only had it activated to 70%. His Serpent God Inheritance was activated to 50% and his Dark Angel was at 30%.
After reaching Rank 3 and establishing the partnership, he was at 99% activation for all three Inheritances. Otherwise, he would not be able to so casually throw out Destruction Energy and use his bloodline much easier than before, especially within Boundless.
The same also went for Eva, which was why she had worked so hard to fix her Abyssal Eye Inheritance into the Heavenly Eye Inheritance. The next step after this was to congeal everything and achieve perfection, so there could be no flaws.
Just like before, his Nine Hells had been empty planes for him to build upon. Now, they were whole worlds that had lifeforms and even Demon Lords. The kind of energy it required to keep them corporeal was insane.
To compare, it was like having a brand-new phone fresh from the factory with no software running and the same model phone, only that this one had a full storage, with all its apps simultaneously running in the background.
Which one's battery would run down faster?
After dealing with Jackson, Draco walked over to the wall of their cell and shot three waves of Destruction Energy at it. Immediately, the wall disintegrated as the moonlight from the outside shone in.
At this time, the group could see that they were high up in the sky, the Dark Prison turned out to actually be a tall tower located at the outskirts of a wide city. The wind blew into the now open cell, and the height from where they stood to the ground was enough to make anyone queasy.
Luckily, everyone in this group had some sort of flight ability!
Roma sat on her witch's broom and bolted into the night, Hikari half-transform into a dragon and flapped her wings, Zaine also half-transformed into a full s.u.c.c.u.b.u.s them flapped her pink bat-like wings, while Draco manifested black angel wings and Eva manifested white angel wings from their backs.
The group got airborne and flew outside the range of the tower. Once they passed a certain distance the world began deconstructing itself as usual, meaning that they had cleared this floor's objectives.
｢Congratulations on completing: Tower of Babylon Fifth Floor
Objectives complete: All
Assessment: EX+
Reward:
9,000 Score Points
1 Treasure Selection Reward – Peak Bronze Grade｣
Draco appeared in his castle once more, and his smile widened when he saw the result.
For the first time, they had gotten a perfect score!
This was truly unprecedented in this tower's session!
It wasn't surprising though, they had done everything to perfection. The fifth floor's objective was to escape before the 14th day to avoid being consumed by Jackson, but the first time the Hell Imp had appeared, he had instantly been subdued and dealt with by Draco.
Then, without using the destructive path of destroying everything, they had just removed their cell wall and quietly fled into the night. Not a single unnecessary life had been taken to achieve their goal, and not a single soul, not even their shared cellmates, had been aware that they had left.
It had been so easy and smooth that one had to wonder if it was a joke. However, Draco knew it was not. From the mouth of Helia, he knew that of the first 10 foundational floors, floor 5 was the hardest to clear and had the highest kill rate for newbies within that range.
It was the 'sure death' floor, where a lack of preparation would see you dead. On floors 1 and 2, skills/spells/equipment/abilities/titles were blocked. On floors 3 and 4, titles were allowed, in order to make things easier.
On floor 5, abilities were allowed, which was why Zaine and co could finally use their bloodlines to half transform. Only Hikari had been able to do that previously, and Roma, Zaine, and herself could also use their unique traits.
For example, Hikari could now use Creation Energy alongside her Holy Saintess skills. Zaine could now seduce and use s.u.c.c.u.b.u.s tricks to achieve her goals. Roma could now behave like an Ultima Sunt and consume anything to evolve.
For others, this was a lifesaver, as without their abilities, they would never escape the fifth floor's prison and died. Not everyone who came had special bloodlines, with most being normal humans with great skill.
Many of those who had not found clever methods to escape would be eaten alive by Jackson, while those like Gavin Guy and co survived by the skin of their teeth thanks to their special bloodline abilities.
The reason why Draco got a perfect score was simple, because his bloodline was engineered perfectly for the circ.u.mstances of the scenario. There could not be a mission more perfect for him among the various floors than this that he knew of.
Not to mention, he got a Peak Bronze Grade Token. Usually, he got those of the High Bronze Grade, which went to show that getting a perfect score was the best method to achieve success.
Draco then checked the ranking for floor 5 and his overall ranking as usual.
1st – Draco Morningstar: 9,000 Points.
2nd – Gavin Guy: 567 Points.
3rd – Dorothy Keel: 556 Points.
4th – James L.u.s.ter: 544 Points.
5th – Mandingo: 433 Points.
6th – God's Son: 421 Points.
7th – Dark Lord: 404 Points.
8th – King's Return: 394 Points.
9th – Helia Nuer: 334 Points.
10th – Makinsser: 326 Points.
As for the overall ranking, he was now 224th out of 1000 people with 33,350 points in total. Draco was like a speed bolt, catching up to those in the lead while leaving those he had passed in the dust, their mouths filled with dirt and their hearts with despair.
Seeing as he had exceeded his personal best time once again, Draco dove into the sixth floor. Heh, who knew, maybe he might complete the first ten floors in just a few days!
As such, he disappeared from the castle and reappeared in the middle of a square. What surprised him and the Four Beauties who appeared was that they were wearing rags once more, not the flashy class equipment they had gotten from the first floor.
Not only that, the square was full of people who were staring at them while murmuring, their eyes filled with fear and worry. The Morningstar Group then noticed that they were standing on a stage in the middle of a square, guarded all around by elite troops from the very same knight company that they had already killed three times so far.
What left the five of them speechless were the nooses tied around their necks that were quite tight.
Ayo, wasn't this a public execution?!
Dammit, we had just escaped from some nefarious prison and you're telling us we got caught AGAIN?! How incompetent were our character avatars the moment we logged off?
Draco frowned as he read the details for the floor.
｢The Sixth Floor – Divine Quest
Description: After successfully escaping the Dark Prison, you were pursued by 'Shadow Rogue', a group of elite assassins nurtured by the Carva Family. Managing to evade detection for a few days, you were eventually captured and brought before the court which pronounced you guilty without need for a defense. Now, you are to be hanged in public to set an example and your road comes to an end here. It is unlikely that any external force will try to save you at all.
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 above-average difficulty.
Provision 4: All equipment and abilities from the previous floor are carried over.
Rewards: Score Points, 1 Bronze-Tier Reward Selection.｣
Draco's lips twitched. What the hell kind of floor design was this?!
How was any trial taker supposed to survive this situation without their real equipment, skills, and spells as well as their fake equipment given by this tower!?
Just with abilities alone? Or titles? For f.u.c.k's sake, before Draco had come here, everyone who had participated had been NPCs!
Hardly any of them had such things, so what was the tower trying to achieve?
Well, the answer lay in the last line of the description. It was unlikely that any external force would save them… Yeah right, stop trying to act mysterious!
It was 'obvious' that no external force would save the trial taker, as they knew no one on this floor and those they started out with had been murdered by the knights. Why the need to specify that no external force would save them?
And on top of that, it was described as 'unlikely' not 'impossible'.
Draco cast his eyes through the crowd and noticed that while most citizens were unarmed and generally shaken, there were some inconspicuously dressed individuals in different parts of the crowd concealing weapons.
They were watching the movement of the knights and the actions of the condemned group, as if trying to judge whether or not it was worth their effort to intervene.
With that, the true objective of this floor was clear!
One had to read in between the lines and see the hidden truth, then act appropriately enough to get the so-called 'external forces' to decide to save them.
However, as always, wasn't there a more direct and fun path?!
