As soon as the tentacle touched William’s forehead, JellyBelle saw a pitch-black world. It turned around and looked at its surroundings, but there was nothing that could be seen but darkness.
“It’s not good to invade other people’s privacy.”
A soft and teasing tone reached JellyBelle’s ears which made it quickly look behind it.
The darkness slowly lightened up revealing a throne that was as black as the world it resided in.
Seated on the throne was an otherworldly beauty who was looking at JellyBelle with amusement.
The Guardian of the 50th Floor wasn’t able to stop its body from shuddering because it realized the identity of the being it was staring at. The beautiful lady that was seated on the throne was someone that it couldn’t afford to offend no matter what.
“Go back, Guardian,” the beautiful lady ordered. “You have overstepped your bounds. I don’t like bugs laying their hands on my property.”
“F-Forgive me,” JellyBelle stuttered as it hurriedly cut the connection.
—-
The tentacle had only touched William’s forehead for a few seconds before JellyBelle pulled it out. The Jellyfish’s body shuddered uncontrollably as if it was hit by an electric shock. A moment later, JellyBelle crashed on the ground as if it had lost its ability to float in the air.
The Guardians became alarmed and JellyBelle’s close friends hurried to check its condition. After looking at it upclose they realized that the Jellyfish had lost consciousness.
Oogwei walked towards the unconscious Jellyfish and tapped its head repeatedly with its foot, while chanting a spell. A minute passed, and the Jellyfish’s tentacle started to move. It had regained its consciousness, but its body would still shudder from time to time.
William glanced at the Guardian with a confused expression. Earlier, when the tentacle touched his forehead, he felt a shock run through his body. After that, JellyBelle hastily pulled back its tentacle and lost consciousness.
The Guardians at the scene frowned because they didn’t understand what was happening. They chose JellyBelle to be their envoy to communicate with William because they trusted its ability to get to the bottom of things.
They never thought that one of the strongest Guardians of Babylon would faint just by touching the red-headed teenager’s forehead!
“Y-You!” JellyBelle shakily pointed one of its tentacles in William’s direction. “You were sent here by a God?”
“Yes,” William replied. “I was sent here by a God to clear the 51st Floor of Babylon. I will greatly appreciate it if you allow me to proceed to the next floor unharmed.”
What William and JellyBelle didn’t know was they were referring to two different Gods. The Half-Elf was referring to Aamon, while JellyBelle was referring to the Primordial Goddess that it had seen a few minutes ago.
“So that is the case…,” JellyBelle’s body slowly floated in the air. “You are here under the orders of a God.”
The Guardians finally understood why JellyBelle had an intense reaction earlier. If what it said was true then the reason it had received a backlash was due to its attempt to pry against the workings of a God.
“So, what is everyone’s decision?” Oogwei asked.
Xod, who had its hands crossed over his chest, answered in a casual manner.
“Since he is under the orders of a God then his intention to go to the 51st Floor and conquer it is genuine,” Xod replied. “I believe that the Gods had finally decided to resume the progress of humanity and send this Half-Elf to pave the path for the next Era.”
The Guardians nodded in agreement. They too think that this was the will of the Gods. Since that was the case, why was there a need to fight it? Their reason for bringing William in their domain was to give him a chance to directly jump to the 51st Floor in one go.
JellyBelle’s duty was to test whether William had the ability to clear the 51st Floor or not. Now that they knew that he was being guided by a God, they were more eager than ever to send him to the Floor of the Devil, which no one had cleared in the past.
JellyBelle, who had just recovered, remained silent. It appraised William from head to foot as if trying to find the reason why THAT Goddess was favoring him.
A few more minutes passed before a sigh escaped JellyBelle’s thoughts.
“Fine. As the Guardian of the 50th Floor, I hereby grant you passage to the 51st Floor,” JellyBelle raised its tentacle and a ray of light covered William and Chiffon’s bodies.
“I have planted a part of my consciousness inside you,” JellyBelle commented. “All of us here want to see the 51st floor through your eyes. I wish you goodluck. Know that even though a Goddess is watching over you, that doesn’t guarantee any chances of success.”
‘Goddess?’ William thought. ‘Is it talking about Lily?’
William wanted to ask JellyBelle what the Goddess looked like, but before he could do that, the world around him had already changed its scenery.
The Half-Elf and the pink-haired girl found themselves standing on a raised platform. In the distance, a massive maze could be seen. The Maze reminded William of the labyrinth that protected the Minotaur Race from outsiders.
‘A maze would not be enough to prevent people from clearing this stage,’ William thought.
Although mazes were hard to clear. It was not impossible. William didn’t believe that humanity failed to advance to the next floor because none of them were able to find the exit of the maze.
While William was thinking of other possibilities as to why no one was able to conquer the floor, a series of notifications appeared in his Status Page which made his eyes widen in shock.
< Connection to the Thousand Beast Domain has been disconnected >
< Connection to the Dungeon of Atlantis has been disconnected >
< Connection to the Goblin Crypt has been disconnected. >
< Connection to the Undying Land has been disconnected >
< The Test of the Devil has started >
