"What do you want?"
Even though he said this using the coldest tone that he could muster, Alexei's eyes unmistakably stayed on the item held by the hand in front of him. He would be a hypocrite if he said that he did not desire it after he saw how effective it was, at least, to external wounds. However, Alexei was vigilant because he could somehow guess her intention.
Sure enough, Giada's lips curled into a grin as she moved out one of her hands to gently pat the weapons separating her from the other.
'She wants me to remove the barrier?'
Alexei immediately frowned. Although he understood the cue, it did not mean that he found it easily agreeable.
'This is the second floor. And yes, I must go back to his optimum state as soon as possible.'
The young man lowered his head in contemplation.
Shortly, he came to a decision.
There was no other choice but to take the medicine. But there was no way that he would let anyone else get near him when he was in a vulnerable condition!
Therefore, he snatched the vial in the girl's hand, then controlled three of his sharpest and most durable daggers to land in front of Giada. After that, he summoned a few more blades from his inventory to fill in the gaps and totally isolated himself from the outside.
Giada who was caught off-guard by his response stared blankly ahead. "What the-"
Afterward, her gaze went to the three daggers that lay on the ground before her and then to her wrist that she barely saved from the barrier.
'Hah... Haha.' A corner of her lips twitched for a moment, then lifted up as an impish glint flickered across her emerald-colored eyes. 'It's rare to run into a low-level Fallen Blessed who is not in a guild yet. But it's even rarer to see someone who behaves like this. What a... fascinating guy.'
The woman was indeed surprised, but she was not disappointed with Alexei's response. This was the abyss, after all. The majority would not even hesitate to commit actions worse than this even if survival was not at stake. For example, if it was another person inside the barricade, say, somebody from the Jua Clan, she could bet that they would not only take away the medicine but kill her so they would be able to loot everything that she had.
In the Tower, the number one rule to survive was to always anticipate the worst possibility since counting on luck or the moral compass of a stranger was almost always sure to lead to an undesirable situation.
Unless exceptions would occur.
Giada was amused because she never thought she would find herself in this situation. She, who had imagined several scenarios in her head earlier was truly intrigued by the guy's act of repaying exactly the amount due. The three weapons thrown at her had luster and craftsmanship that were of good quality. It made her wonder where the youth found them, and whether he had more of these.
'I think I will be entitled to a fairly generous reward from the guild master. What a stroke of luck. I found somebody sane who is so worth scamming into joining us.'
She inwardly grinned but when she spoke again, only a concerned look was on her face, "Hi, is that enough for you? You know... A vial can only deal with one serious injury. And I'm quite sure that yours are rather many and severe. If you want more, I do still have some with me. This time, free of charge."
While she was saying that, her left hand secretly activated an abyssal item that would once update her coordinates to her guild.
Not long after, Giada hurriedly added, "... But of course, if you're not comfortable getting free stuff, you can exchange your name and contact for it. You see, I'm interested in getting a hirable protector."
No reply came from inside the barricade. Alexei's eyes were shut. After he ingested the contents of the vial, he began to meditate and soothe his mind and emotion. Soon, the dizziness and headache eased a lot.
'One is enough... Because I only need it to remain sober.' Now that some of his injuries were healing and the distracting pain had lessened, Alexei immediately took advantage of it to recover his mana and send some to his sleeping Gift.
The ignored lady rolled her eyes. But even though she felt mildly annoyed at the snubber, she still sat with her back against the barrier. Her action showed that she had no plan to move away.
Knowing that the wait for the guy to heal and think things through would take some time, Giada crossed her arms and went back to observing the thirteen people in the place.
Everybody knew that it was not an option to stay long here. Even if they could tolerate the smell and the aura, and stay safe upstairs, with no source of supplies, it would just be a matter of time before they died of starvation.
How would they deal with this issue?
Originally, it was easy to choose who to sacrifice because, amongst their bunch of ascenders, one looked obviously incapacitated. Unfortunately, this person turned out to be a Fallen Blessed which no regular Tower challengers would usually want to provoke.
The burly middle-aged man felt humiliated but did not continue to trouble Alexei. He threw a glance at Giada. But, as impulsive and hot-headed as he looked, he was not an idiot to not know that there was no way of getting healing potions on the first floor. Those who possessed one, even if they came from the first floor, were definitely backed by a 'veteran', if not a veteran themselves.
'I can't mess with that one.'
So Antony looked around again until his eyes stopped at a pair of twin brothers seated near the railing. The two wore a grey shirt and black trousers and had short black hair and grey eyes. One had an ax fastened on his back, the other held a rapier in his hand. They looked like regular teenage peasants from a certain island country in the Middle Lands. Although the first test of the fairies forced them to take other people's lives, the twins still held some traces of innocence on their faces. At a glance, it was obvious they were not mature and stable enough as they could not even hide their fear and insecurities after sensing the several pairs of eyes that began to observe them.
However, just when Giada was wondering how those twins made it this far, the answer showed itself to her.
"Where are you guys looking, huh?"
When she traced where the frigid voice came from, she saw another middle-aged man who was less muscular than Antony, yet had a more dangerous aura surrounding him.
'An assassin?' Those eyes that stared back at Antony were emotionless. But Giada could feel that once that man pulled out his weapon, somebody would definitely get seriously injured or even die.
'How curious. Since he resembles those two, it means he's their father. These three are father and sons?'
What Giada concluded, the others thought in their minds too. But while the former was amazed to find a family summoned together, the others were simply dismayed, and worried.
The burly man's face turned sour once again. The fairy too started to become impatient. Its gaze flickered from one person to another. However, when the silence continued for almost a minute, it flew around in circles before it floated above the sea of flesh.
"Alright. Since I don't know when you lot would choose the offering, I think I don't need to stay. Anyways, ladies and gentlemen, you know what to do. I'm sure you all can imagine what would happen if you don't get away from this thing as soon as possible."
...
...
...
A minute then passed since the fairy ripped a small wound in the void. For Giada who had been here a few couples of times already, she knew that this tension-filled atmosphere was the cruelest and darkest for those that knew how weak they were. But was there any other way?
"This is the abyss and the upper floors hold something way more terrible than this. But since there's hope, people want to live anyways." She could not help but sigh.
"Hey." After a soft laugh, Giada said to the guy hiding in the barrier, "Everyone here must have killed a person. Maybe even more. Because to survive, we can resort to almost anything, the fairies are intentionally putting us into situations like this for their amusement. What do you think? Is the Tower toying with us because it judges that we're all such funny insignificant beings?"
The harsh voice of the middle-aged assassin replied to her.
"Miss, when you care too much about the opinions of others and think about useless matters, that's when you become prone to carelessness and become closer to danger or even death."
The burly man snorted too. "You talk too much."
He said what Alexei also thought in his mind.
"Well." Giada did not get angry at the snide remarks and merely shrugged before she pointed a finger at the huge monstrosity before them. "If you all believe that I'm just talking nonsense or being an existentialist for no reason, look at that disgusting monster below."
Frowns and doubt-filled expressions crossed the faces of the majority.
Giada explained in a calm tone. "Observe closely. It's beginning to secrete poison gas from being too hungry. That poison will slowly engulf this entire dome, meaning nobody here will be able to escape from it and I must warn you that it's no less deadly than the fairy obelisk's poison."
A grin formed on her luscious lips as she continued, "Even though I came late, I know for sure that the fairy withheld this information from you all."
...
Time passed. When Alexei finally exited from the blade barrier that he created around himself, everything around him had turned gory and unsightly. Somehow Giada caused everyone to lose their cool and started a chaotic battle where the twins ended up the primary targets.
That decision came with a cost though.
Alexei swept his gaze around and found that it was not the talkative lady who became the most feared after him, nor it was Antony who had the best physique among everyone. It was the father and son trio who stood conspicuously near the only stairs leading to the ground floor of the Palace.
'The rude weird man lost his right arm.'
He was referring to Antony who was now backed against the wall and staring vigilantly at practically everyone. A gloomy expression could be seen on the burly man's pale face and the gazes he was giving to the assassin and his sons were venomous and full of hatred.
Just that one scene was enough to explain what happened. The seemingly indifferent assassin used Antony to warn the others not to harbor any malicious thoughts toward his sons.
As the barrier that used to surround him was very eye-catching, when it suddenly disappeared, the fourteen people there were naturally alerted.
Alexei inwardly took a deep breath and tightly gripped his polearm, the only weapon that he chose to retain for its long reach.
The woman that 'traded' the healing potion with his daggers boldly waved at him. She was covering her mouth and nose using her other hand. However, he immediately looked away, clearly showing that he had no plans to associate with her.
'Heartless,' laughed Giada in her mind.
Alexei actually did not do anything after that. He felt bad a little when the burly man that lost his arm was attacked while he just stood there in one corner. But then he remembered what the talkative woman said earlier. Yes, nobody that survived after being summoned by the Tower had clean hands. Even Alexei himself had indirectly killed before. So even if he died, he deserves no sympathy, and the same goes for the others here.
"We'll be going first." Finality could be heard in the middle-aged assassin's emotionless voice.
The burly man was under his left foot and was barely alive. His face was bloody and his three other limbs were missing, or rather, they were already turned into an unrecognizable mess of flesh, bones, and blood.
After giving everyone a glance, the father of the twins ruthlessly threw Antony down without care for the latter's weak pleas.
Shortly, the sea of flesh moved to catch the sacrifice. The colossal piece of flesh used its entirety to play and digest a human that was not even a thousandth of its size. The sight made the viewers unable to decide whether to laugh or throw up from finding it disgusting.
The monster did not care about their reactions. To further show its joy and excitement, it secreted more toxic fumes and made the disturbing stench even more unbearable.
The father and son trio immediately jumped down when an exit finally showed itself. Giada readily followed. In comparison, the others were more cautious as they descended the stairs with very light footsteps.
...
From behind the stone balustrade, Alexei watched them leave one by one. When they completely disappeared into the dark narrow tunnel, he focused again on the monster that was toying with the limb-less corpse.
"Hi. Hi. Hi." He did not know when the masked fairy returned, but after taking a few steps away from it, he went back to observing the grotesque creature.
He grabbed the necklace that he hid inside his shirt, and seeing the blue gemstone that barely glowed under the dim lighting above, the masked fairy giggled.
It flew around in circles before it stopped in front of him and laughingly said, "You seem to be thinking of doing something interesting... but I wonder if it's a good idea, Mr. Al."