In the vile forest, at the first floor.
Left segment of the first floor.
The group decides to head straight to the last stage of the floor, which is the corrupted.
"Hold on, what even is the corrupted?" Vanessa looked Noah, contemplating her decision.
Corrupted is the region soley in the first floor where the land does not grow, or where life cease to exist.
The deeper they enter this area, the wider wither spreads in the ground.
Those are just one of the many they encounter.
Everyone is becoming wary and even exhausted by fights that happened so frequently.
"This is supposed to be the easiest floor." Noah pondered.
"There is something amiss about this." He added.
"Also, it's supposed to be where new challengers are found. But why is it just us?" Noah added a valid question.
Normally, the tower would be swarmed by beginners. This certainly doesn't add up along with the abnormal rate of monsters.
Trees and grass are the primal example, aside from them being withered. There's not a single stain of blood nor any scent of monsters.
Moreso, is that there are also terrifying screeches coming from random directions that even Nero couldn't identify or see.
"I got to say... This place is even more scary than the things we've faced so far." Vanessa pointed out which the group agreed.
While being positioned in the center of the group, Vanessa thought about something else.
"Are you sure Diego was really taken in this place?" She adds, showing visible signs of discomfort as her feet tramples on the withered grass.
"I'm certain. There's no other place aside this that he can be taken from. The fountain, from where I fell leads to nowhere."
"While the vine section you were in is covered with a barrier. That barrier prevents vines and monsters from further expanding everywhere." Noah reassures the group.
He looked back at the troubled Vanessa who is holding her staff tightly.
"This place is eerie." Lady Fen added as she looks back, she slightly raised her guard up.
"Perhaps the ambush from earlier made her more cautious." Nero said to himself.
"They are certainly more anxious compared from the first time they entered."
"When they first entered this place, they were so relaxed." Nero finishes up his thought and looked at his cloak.
"Where did you get that fancy cloak?" Lady Fen looked at Nero.
That question made Vanessa to look and even Noah who finds it interesting.
The athmosphere was tense and having a question like that in such place is random.
"Well, one goblin was wearing this cape. I took him down and claimed it." Nero wasn't entirely lying about that but it's not the whole truth either.
The group seems to buy that excuse.
Noah remained vigilant, observing every possible way a trap might appear as the others support him.
"Don't worry, i'll protect you guys."
"This time." Noah added, saying those words. They were filled with emphasis.
"Looks like the incident from earlier is still in his mind." Nero's eyes narrowed.
When he finishes that statement, the trees starts to sway violently as a strong gust of wind passes through them.
"Everybody, be on guard." Noah shouted.
"Damn, not this." Noah said to himself.
He placed his arm up front to block some of the wind while protecting his eyes as he leads the group deeper.
A sound of string snapping was heard.
"Everybody down!" Nero said with sweat dropping in his cheeks.
It was a cold sweat.
Lady Fen grabbed Vanessa's head and ducked down with her.
Noah and Nero does the same.
When they look up, sharp arrows passes in both direction.
"A sideway attack." Nero observes the arrows pattern.
These arrows are coated with a certain liquid, something he is familiar with.
"Poison?!" Nero said realizing this was the same arrows that Zinga's group earlier.
Lady Fen hears Nero's mumbling.
Noah slashes his sword upward to create a gust of wind of his to counter the arrows.
It worked somehow to which destroys most of the arrows. He proceeds to do this while keeping a low stance to avoid incoming arrows from hitting him.
"Noah! Grab Vanessa for me! I'll do something!" Lady Fen looked at Noah with a serious look, he didn't question her at all.
She must have a valid reason to do so, a plan.
He instantly grabs Vanessa and cover her.
Noah was shocked to see Vanessa who is shivering in fear.
"Please... No more..." She seems visibly traumatized.
"Damn it. These traps! Take this!" She stood up screaming.
She started producing purple sparks as the electricity pumps in her body, it causes her hair to stand up.
"Unleashing Fury"
Fen declares a special move as the purple energy in her body manifested into an aura which covered her body.
"Perhaps it's due to her old age that gave her experience but she is exceptional." Nero couldn't help but to be amazed.
She started deflecting and destroying the arrows that is coming at their way in great speed from left to right.
All we could do is to watch her showcase and hear the sounds of wooden sticks breaking in half as she brutes her way through.
She is standing in one place yet not a single arrow manages to reach us at all, she is just a monster.
Lady Fen succesfully demolished the wave of arrows.
Her purple aura soon ran out as well as her hair that went back to normal.
Due to her prolonged performance, she has gotten extremely fatigued to the point of losing her balance.
Lady Fen holds her head while breathing heavily, but just then, a sound of piston caught everyone's attention.
An arrow flies through from the left.
"Granny!" Vanessa cries as she watches in horror.
Lady Fen was in the brink of passing out yet she remained standing.
"Someone!" Vanessa could only ask for mercy of her companion who's in the face of death.
Noah on the other hand couldn't move. As moving might cause another mechanism to activate or Vanessa to be hurt by something.
Lady Fen was half eyed as she slowly look at her left.
But it was too late.
Or was it?
In that split second, someone manages to catch it just in time as the arrow was an inch away from her eyeball.
Any delay more than a millisecond would pierce her in the eye. But miraculously it was caught.
There, Lady Fen and Noah saw Nero who is gripping on that arrow, tightly.
The arrow then breaks in half.
That snapping sound suddenly wakes Lady Fen.
"Nice job, kid..." She smugs as she passes out but Nero manages to catch her.
"I don't think she'll be able to fight anymore due to her fatigue." Nero looked at Noah who was surprised by what just happened.
"Mhm." He just simply hummed as his response before he and Vanessa got up.
Lady Fen opened her eyes.
"I can still go. Let me hold onto you as we walk, i'll recover in no time." Lady Fen said to Nero, not trying to be a burden in the group.
The group proceeds to walk further down the path.
Until they reached a path where there's a full of dead trees that are unevenly grouped from each other.
The position varies from one, two or four trees being clustered together.
To describe it more, the place is massive.
Within those trees, lanterns can be seen hanging on some.
These lanterns were extinguished.
"This must be it." Vanessa spoke.
"Yeah. This is the last area." Noah confirms as he pulls out his greatsword once again from his back scabbard.
"But where will we even find that musclehead?" Vanessa sounds more calm now, yet there is a hint of fear in her voice.
Not even a minute later, a man comes out from the back of the tree.
"Eyes up front." Noah cracks his neck slightly as a warm up.
"He was carrying a scyte...?" Vanessa squinted her eyes.
"Hey... Isn't that?" Vanessa's eyes widened as she saw her fellow companion to be in such state.
It was Diego, but also not him at the same time.
There were engraving symbols in his arms and his eyes were red matching those encryption.
He was also behaving like a mummy or a zombie.
"Diego..." Noah bit his lip in anger knowing he is the reason why his companion is in that state.
"Please allow me to fix my mistake. This time." Tears fell in Noah's eyes this time is that it's pure.
He swing his sword from the side, showing his readiness to battle.
His sword brims in light that gives a divine feeling through the dark forest.
It was soothing yet dangerous.
His sword was glowing in the field as he slowly approach Diego, crossing the withered trees in front of him.
"Is this what Granny meant when she said that Noah was giving a holy energy?" Nero thought to himself again.
"If so then Noah might possibly posses the blessing of the divinity." Nero assesed while keeping an eye on Diego and Noah that is circling up between the trees.
Without hesitation, Noah dashes through, side stepping along the trees.
Diego on the other hand tries his best to keep an eye on him.
But Noah was far superior in speed.
To which Diego was blasted by Noah's strike when he appeared in front of him doing a swing with his sword.
Diego groaned, as he recieves the strike of Noah.
Noah continues his assault by doing chain slashes connecting towarss Diego's chest.
This move blasted Diego from the trees creating dust when he hits and rolls in the ground.
Diego slowly stood up, he was shaking.
Despite of not being the real Diego, the face shows uncertainty when facing Noah.
Noah starts dashing once again and as he moves, he started going in circle.
Diego was too slow to keep up as Noah appeared in front of him once again and does an upward slash directly in his chest, followed by a side slash that ultimately weakened Diego.
Noah didn't waste this opportunity and slashes one more time through Diego, blinking after the slash.
Diego, whose body throbs in pain, made him cough up blood.
Noah was confident in his own skill, and dealing with something like this seems to be a normal occurence in him.
"This guy is on another league." Lady Fen was amazed, Nero as well.
However, when when Noah turned back after landing gently. He meets a scyte slash projectile that he barely blocked in time.
He was pushed by this slash.
Making his feet sink in the ground while trying to stop it.
He thought of a plan.
It is to redirect the strike by pushing it upward sending it to the sky.
He executes it perfectly.
"That's troublesome." He sweat on his cheeks as he looked at Diego.
Diego started spinning his scyte and once satisfied he moved twice as fast as he normal could and started swiftly moving in the trees through traversing in brances.
Noah was in disdvantage as he cannot really see Diego due to the large amount of leaves.
The same situation he put Diego earlier.
All he can do is listen to the leaves rustling.
Noah then turned back to deflect an attack but it was just a gust of wind, however, the wind is quite strong that memontarily blinds him as he covers his eyes.
That's when Diego appeared on top of him in motion to slice him down with his scyte.
"Noah!" Vanessa screamed.
A loud crash was heard as the two deals the impact.
Another form of dust rises up from that collision.
But as it disperse, Diego was surprised to see that no one was laying on the ground.
"Eyes up." Noah speaks as he appears in front of Diego in the air.
"A reverse move? How did he pull that off?" Lady Fen was amazed once again.
Noah, who was moving slow motion in Diego's eyes was going closer to him.
All he can really think is Noah's sword that is in the motion of slashing him down.
A light emits in Diego's chest as it gets in contact on Noah's sword after the slash.
"Divine Retribution."
Noah lands on the ground, immediately changing his footing by pivoting his feet to face Diego who was caught off guard. He then unleashes a series of heavy slashes towards the chest area and heavy spin slash that blasted Diego with a magical explosion.
Diego explodes in bright light once he hits a tree pretty solid.
When everyone thought was enough to defeat Diego.
A huge dark red color coats the explosion and blasted all the smoke away.
Diego is now floating in the air, his scyte now gone but with his new form shows a sharp claw that spew demonic energy.
"This place is so action packed. Are they not tired?" Nero sighed as Lady Fen and Vanessa looked at him with a confused look.
"Nothing." He muttered.
Nero then shakes up his thought and looked around to find an exit.
Luckily, he found one.
"Vanessa, let's go. Noah can handle this one." Noah added.
"But..."
"No buts. Also you haven't done much. Do you think you can help in this situation?" Nero cutted her off before she can even reply which made her realize the gravity of the situation.
Her eyes was getting teary, realizing she was a burden in the group and how she didn't really do that much compared to everyone else.
"We have to find a safe place first or possibly the entrance. Besides, do you think Noah would lose here?" Nero looked at Vanessa who looks defeated.
"No..." Vanessa replied.
"Then hurry, goddamn it!" Nero pulled Vanessa as he tried his best to also support Lady Fen who is aching as she walk.
Diego notices the group escaping, he then launches a claw strike in the air sending a clawed slash projectile.
"Nero!" Vanessa shouted as she saw a projectile coming towards them.
Nero was about to act as his eyes started glowing from pure red away to his usual crimson color but Noah suddenly appears in front of them and deflects the projectile.
Noah then looks back and smiled at the group.
"We'll escape here, can you buy us some time?" Nero looked at Noah.
"Good thinking, Nero. I can do that." Noah smiled.
"But Noah..." Vanessa was about to say something but hesitated.
"You go this." She said instead of saying what she truly feels.
"Thanks, everyone. I got this." Noah's word sends a comfort to Vanessa as she helped Nero who is helping Lady Fen to walk by going on the other side to help her.
"I'm your enemy, Diego. Let's end this." Noah looks at Diegi and started walking towards him.
He gathers his holy energy on his sword once again before dashing to close the distance between him and Diego.
Diego does the same by coating his claw with demonic energy before clashing with Noah.
This leaves the group to have a chance to safely escape.
Soon, they arrived at the end of the withered forest.
Once they got out of it, a beautiful garden with a giant door welcomes them.
It is locked.
"Okay. Now what?" Vanessa crossed her arms as she look at Nero.
"How would I know? We're supposed to find answers instead of yapping." Nero picks on his ear as he starts to get irriated at Vanessa's voice, his face looking pensive.
"I swear I hate this place!" Vanessa tantrums.
Nero slowly lays Lady Fen on the ground.
"Sorry, kiddo." Lady Fen looks at the sky.
"Don't apologize, you saved us." Nero comforted Lady Fen who seems to be lost in thought.
"You two should rest, we'll wait for Noah." Nero took a sigh.
As they were resting, a bright red light colors the sky.
Nero quickly looked up to see what it was.
That bright light soon turns into a flaming aura that is descending very fast.
Someone was in that flame.
"Vanessa!" Nero tried to alert Vanessa but she was irritated.
"What?! Can't you see i'm resting?" Vanessa bickers back.
"This bitch..." Nero spouted as he sprinted towards them.
As he gets into their center he pushed Vanessa and Lady Fen away from him.
"Hey!" Vanessa was surprised.
Vanessa and Lady Fens rolls in opposite direction as Nero caught up something above.
He grasps the flame that falls but that soon scatters as a man appears with his fist bawled up planning to strike him down.
"Hey! You caught me, huh?" He smiled psycopathically.
"Not enough!" His smile was ear to ear. An aura surrounds this person that manifested into a glowing horn made up of his flaming aura.
They were wavy but most importantly is that he broke through Nero's grip and pushes through him.
He grabbed Nero's neck and crushed him on the ground causing a loud crash.
Once the smoke simmers, a man shows, smiling while pining Nero on the ground with his hands on Nero's neck.
"You're not Noah." The man seems disappointed.
But quickly got his attention back when Nero's eyes changes from crimson to pure red.
The brighter color hue sends shiver down to the man's spine as he looked eye to eye with Nero.
Nero grabbed his arm which made the man's arm to ache.
Making him let go of his grip and distance himself.
He swiftly landed beside the giant door.
"Woah. You almost got me there." He started to sound nervous.
His red hair blazes along his flaming horn.
With the two foes present, Noah and Nero faces up.
Noah and Nero looks at their opponent with serious look, showing no signs of backing down.