After a series of bloodbaths, Arman wiped the blood off his face. All the guards, both humans and aliens were eliminated.
Now, all that was left was to capture the tower. But before that, the squad checked if something useful could be found from the corpses of the enemies.
After searching for less than five minutes, they collected 137 weapons of various types, Pieces of skeleton of some of the higher forms of life among the aliens we fought.
Though the acquired skeletons were useless for those in the squad, they could be used to make weapons which were suitable for those on the rank of Skirmishers.
Han, a black magician, collected some blood samples in a vial. He said that he could strengthen himself or make a quick recovery during times of adversity using the blood of different species.
Arman found Black Magic particularly spooky so he decided not to go into the details too much.
The Flame King said that Necromancy was a type of Black Magic which would facilitate the growth of a being but would cause damage to the body in the long run.
As for how it was done, the Flame King said that it was a matter better left alone.
"We too, are capable of doing Black Magic."
He said.
But Arman didn't wanted to get involved in such things, so he changed the topic to 'how should I invest my stats efficiently?'
Though the Flame King knew that Arman was trying to change the topic, he continued the flow along with Arman, talking about ratios between the stats and how the primary stats varied accross different classes.
He also said that at the starting, a King is an all-rounder. But later, as the number of stats accumulate, the decision has to be made, whether the King wants to remain a trashy-jack-of-all-trades, or develop in one particular field. Whichever field is chosen, the stats necessary have to be cultivated and given more priority than other stats.
For example, Strength was important for the Power type, whereas agility for the assassin class. Similarly, vitality and defence for tanking class and intelligence for magicians.
There were some hidden classes too.
One such hidden class was the anti-assassin class. They had relatively higher agility than other classes except for assassin classes. But, the sense stat was higher.
In the long run, a big benefit to being a King was that there was complete freedom of choosing whatever class one liked.
The class specific skills contained skills of all classes.
Since the class chosen would have a big impact on the future and potential of any being, Arman decided that the investing of stats was a chore better left for later to think with a calm mind.
The squad climbed the stairs and reached the second floor. And again, they met stairs.
From the outside, the tower looked as big as the Eiffel tower. But from inside, it was much bigger.
Dai Ito said that
"There might be some type of illusion that prevents us from getting a proper span of the tower."
And everyone nodded in agreement.
Except for the Flame King.
He said that it is more of a spatial magic than illusion magic.
Either way, it didn't matter.
And finally, they reached the top of the tower.
There were two big doors. The size of the doors was so big that they could accommodate the leaders of the giants Arman had fought earlier.
Two Killers came forward and pushed the doors to open it. To avoid any surprise attack from behind the door, they had planned that they would give the door a slight push and run back to the ranks of the squad.
But, it took more than a slight push to open the doors. When the doors were opened a bit, the thickness of the doors was revealed. The doors of this one room were thicker than the walls of the fortress.
If it were normal people, a hundred would barely be able to shake the doors even after putting their lives on it.
It was expected that they would find a large hall on the other side of the doors.
But, on opening the door, a large pathway was revealed. After a short distance, the pathways divided into two.
"We need to split again."
And the same was done.
Since Arina and Dai Ito were the strongest members in the squad, they were made the leaders of the squads. Both teams would tread on a pathway till they find something or thirty minutes, whichever is earlier.
This time, Arman joined Dai Ito on the precondition that his actions wouldn't be restrained.
Dai Ito agreed readily. For, he had now realised that Arman was capable enough to defend himself.
And the two teams split.
The two pathways looked exactly similar to each other. Once entering the pathway, Arman probed his surroundings. There wasn't much distinct to be seen. The walls were painted with a creamy shade of yellow with brown streaks here and there, making them look like ice cream stacked on top of wooden planks.
Everything was normal, except for the blood that could be seen here and there.
Though the colour was somewhat brownish, the stench clearly described that it was blood.
Dai Ito and others now realised that the brown streaks on the walls, which they had encountered earlier wasn't paint, but blood.
It had been so long that the stench had disappeared and the blood had perfectly been incorporated into the walls.
"This is a bit weird."
Dai Ito made a remark. He had participated in thousands of missions and raids. But not once had he seen such a thing.
Perhaps, this time, they had encountered a dungeon. A dungeon where living beings were tortured.
"Why would they build a fortress to guard a dungeon?"
Botan questioned.
"Only one way to find out."
Saying so, Arata curled the left part of his lips, to form a partial smile.
And the squad's morale boomed and they started to walk faster. Ofcourse, they weren't running. They had to conserve their stamina for the fight.
And in no time, they reached the end of the pathway. And again, it was a door. This one wasn't as large as the previous two. Instead, it was a normal door made up of a kind of wood which Arman had never seen before.
Dai Ito didn't bother opening the door.
He held his wand and casted a spell.
A ray of light emanated from his wand and hit the wooden door and blasted it to pieces.
The doorway including the part of the walls which was right next to the doors collapsed and dust particles shrouded the Squad. Nothing could be seen on the other side of the dust.
Something came in and hit Arata, who was standing on the forefront.
Keuk!