"How's the armor? Do you like it?" Mykel asked as he puffed the smoke.
"I like it, but it's a bit too heavy for me," Jeanne answered as she looked at the chainmail and the breastplate on her body. "I look stupid in this," she continued as she removed the helmet and looked at it.
"You will get used to it and you can't have more than one skill right now since you're still level 1," Mykel said as he looked at her. "Once you reached level 5 we can stop then we can train your body so you get the basic skills to help you in the tower later," he continued as he grabbed the helmet and put it on her head.
"What about you, Mykel? Are you sure you're going to go in the tower like that?" Jeanne asked as she looked at the dark blue blazer and black shirt.
Mykel grabbed the gloves from his pocket and put them on. "I have these,"
"Are you being serious?" Jeanne asked as she looked at Mykel's hands.
"Do I look like I'm joking?" Mykel asked as he flicked the butt of the cigarette on the road.
Jeanne just shook her head and kept on walking next to Mykel.
After an hour of walking, they reached the Azazel Tower but it was surprisingly empty. There were only a few people near the tower and they weren't Awakeners, they were people that looked like a guard and they were patrolling around the tower.
Mykel approached one of them as he looked at the barrier around the entrance. "What's going on here?" he asked as he looked at the guard.
"All the entrances to the towers are now prohibited, anyone who is unauthorized is forbidden to walk past the barrier," The guard answered as he pointed at the barrier and the line that Mykel shouldn't pass.
"Under whose order?" Mykel asked.
"The Guild Association," The guard answered.
Mykel hummed with understanding and then walked away as he grabbed his phone from his pocket.
"What's wrong? We can't enter the tower?" Jeanne asked as she fixed the helmet.
"Something like that, but you don't have to worry," Mykel answered as he put the phone on his ear. "I can make us enter the tower, just let me make a phone call first," he said as he looked at Jeanne.
"You finally called," Lyneth said after she picked up the phone. "Let me guess, you need something from me, isn't that right?" she continued before Mykel could say it first.
"Yes," Mykel answered.
"What do you need? Do you need more money?" Lyneth asked.
"No, I need you to help me get inside a tower. There are people from the Guild Association that guarded the entrance and I can't enter since they said it's prohibited," Mykel answered as he squinted his eyes because the sun was so bright.
"Ahh, I see. Well, just give the phone to one of them, I will talk to them," Lyneth replied.
Mykel walked toward the guard and showed his phone to him. "Someone wants to talk to you," he said.
The guard looked at his phone and then grabbed it and put it on his phone. "Hello?" he said.
Jeanne approached Mykel and looked at the guard, they both were watching the guard nodding his head over and over.
The guard cleared his throat as he gave the phone back to Mykel. "You may enter," he said.
Mykel nodded and walked past him while Jeanne followed him from behind.
"Thanks for that," Mykel said to Lyneth on the phone.
"No need to mention, but you owe me one for this. You know what I want so hurry and get back in here because I miss you," Lyneth replied.
Mykel sighed as he rubbed his nose bridge. "Alright, bye," he said as he hung up the phone.
"So, who's that on the phone? That person must be really important in the Guild Association since they let us in like that," Jeanne asked as she looked at Mykel's phone.
"Just a colleague," Mykel said as he put his phone in his pocket. "Enough with the small talk, we are about to enter the tower and I need you to be focused now," he said as he stared at Jeanne from the corner of his eyes.
They both entered the tower and the first thing they saw was an endless hallway with torches on the walls. Jeanne looked nervous while Mykel was amazed by it since he never thought it would look exactly like what he imagined.
Mykel saw a giant wooden door at the end of the hallway, he then looked at Jeanne. "The moment we enter that door, kill or be killed is the only thing that matter. Do you understand?"
Jeanne nodded repeatedly as she gulped.
Mykel opened the door with his left hand and the place looked totally different from the hallway. It looked like they were inside another world because the hallway turned into a vast plain field with trees surrounding it.
"Wow, look at this place!" Jeanne said as she looked at the giant trees around her and the path that lead to the open field.
Mykel looked at the door that automatically closed itself and looked at the tall wall that blocked the view of what lies behind the giant wall. The door was locked and couldn't be open until they cleared the first floor, or until the last person died.
"Come on, you can enjoy the scenery once we clear the floor," Mykel said as he walked past Jeanne.
Mykel looked at the trees and made sure that nothing was lurking around them, and the moment he thought of that, an arrow flew right toward him. He grabbed the arrow with his hand that almost hit his eye, he was lucky because he could hear the wind. He crushed the arrow and then threw it away as he looked around and saw movements from between the trees on his left.
[You have attained a new skill!]
[Open your status screen to check it out!]
"What?! You can do something like that?!" Jeanne whispered as she looked at Mykel with disbelief.
Mykel put his finger on his lips and Jeanne immediately pursed her lips and looked around. They heard a loud screeching sound from the forest and they could tell that screeching was an expression of frustration.
Mykel looked at his newly attained skill and it was [Perception], he was glad that he got it on the first try. He immediately activated it to help him and of course to raise it at the same time.
More arrows were fired at them and it was impossible for Mykel to stop them all and not to mention that he brought Jeanne with him. He told Jeanne to hide behind the tree so he could take care of the arrows without having to worry about her safety.
Jeanne watched Mykel repel the arrows, dodged them, and stopped them with his hands. She couldn't believe what she saw even though she watched it with her own two eyes.
Finally, the arrows stopped. "We need to move to the open field now while we have the chance," Mykel said as he looked at Jeanne.
Jeanne nodded and followed Mykel to the open field.
"The first floor is a demon goblin, right?" Jeanne asked as she looked around with the sword in her hands.
"Yes, now we just wait since they can't use their bows anymore because they're out of range," Mykel answered as he checked his [Perception] skill that rose to level 3.
Mykel could feel their presence and there were at least dozens of them, he looked at the top of the trees and could see them staring at him and Jeanne. "Here they come," he said as he walked away from Jeanne.
"Wait, where are you going?" Jeanne asked as she watched Mykel start to walk further away from her.
"I have a plan, don't worry," Mykel said as he kept walking away from her.
The demon goblins started to show themselves, and there were at least forty of them. There was one goblin with a big tooth as a necklace, he seemed to be the leader and the rest of the goblins were standing behind him.
Mykel kept walking toward them and they all decided to charge at him and when they were close enough to him, he activated [Intimidate]. The goblins started to turn around but Mykel dashed toward them and grabbed two of them on the leg, he threw one of them at Jeanne.
"That will be your opponent! Fight him on your own!" Mykel shouted at Jeanne.
Jeanne looked at the goblin in front of her and she seemed to be so nervous as the goblin started to stand up while he was shaking his head.
Jeanne slowly walked toward the goblin but the goblin immediately screeched at her and it startled her. She fell on her back because of that and the goblin immediately ran toward her with a knife in his hand.
"What are you doing?! Stand up!" Mykel screamed at Jeanne and he looked a bit annoyed by her clumsiness.
Jeanne stood up immediately and swung her sword at the goblin but she missed. The goblin trusted his knife at her but thanks to her full armor, the knife couldn't pierce through the armor.
"Focus! Swing your sword as if your life depends on it!" Mykel yelled at her.
Jeanne gulped and swung her sword as hard as she could but again, she missed.
"What a dumb bitch," Mykel quietly said under his breath.
Mykel looked at the rock on the ground and grabbed it, he tested the weight of the stone and immediately threw it at the goblin in front of Jeanne. It hit right on the back of the goblin's head and his head exploded like a balloon.
Mykel looked at the goblin hanging in his right hand, he looked at it as the goblin was crying in fear. Mykel grabbed the goblin's right arm and pulled it off with his left hand then he pulled the goblin's left arm, and lastly the goblin's right leg.
Mykel walked toward Jeanne who was still in shock, he then stood in front of Jeanne with the goblin that only had one limb left.
"Do I have to spoonfeed you, Jeanne?" Mykel asked as he glared down at her. "Here, kill it," he said as he threw the goblin in front of Jeanne as it tried to crawl away with his only leg from Mykel.
Jeanne was trembling in fear because of Mykel's aura, and she started crying when she looked at his face which looked terrifying in her eyes.