It was ten days after the defeat of Jack the Undead Giant. The Heroes had moved nine levels up the World Tower, all of them surviving each of the battles.
The reason why there was an empty socket on the Arch was because it would be filled when a boss dies. A smoke would exit their bodies and a gem would travel towards the socket and then become a gem to fill in. The Arch would then be activated and the portal to the next Level would open.
The Heroes also discovered that by defeating monsters, they could level up and unlock new skills and even weapons. They gained EXP from each kill, depending on the strength of the monster that they defeated.
Kian only gained a handful of EXP so far. The other Heroes were already ranging from levels five to eight while he was still level three.
His level was like the confirmation of how useless he was and he hated every single moment of it.
It was nighttime. Everyone was sitting around a campfire as they rested. They just finished defeating the boss of the seventh floor, another undead boss just like the rest of the bosses in Hell Pit.
Mira decided to move up the next day, right when it's morning. This was so they could give their bodies time to rest and make sure that the boss wasn't in full power. The World Tower does not have a time limit, but their survivability was the most important thing. Fighting in their best condition was the way to conquer the tower.
Kian had done nothing to fight the bosses. He had no weapon, no ability, or even voice in their group. Even when he was part of the one who figured out Jack's weakness, all credit was given to Mira. They listened to her because they can see how she can help them, unlike Kian who was powerless.
Eighty-eight people were too many to be in a single group. Smaller and more intimate groups started forming not long after Jack's defeat, Kian wasn't part of any of them. Brent and Chen were in another group who was particularly not very friendly towards Kian because he was a liability in the group.
"Earlier, you were almost killed," Mira sat next to Kian as she took a whiff of a cigarette. "If Serpens wasn't there to cut the tentacle of that squid, you would've been the first mortality."
"Does it matter?" Kian scoffed. "I don't have anything to offer to the group. You have brains and buffs, I have nothing. They don't even listen to me."
"Maybe because you're too hard on yourself," Mira smirked. She ruffled Kian's hair and sighed. "Loosen up and try to find something worth your while."
Kian looked at the woman as she carried a sheepish grin. The former knew that Mira was looking down on him, maybe even disappointed that he couldn't do anything to help them.
"Power isn't always power," Mira said. "Sometimes, power is just presence alone."
"Mira!"
A voice echoed from afar. A man was flying towards them, seemingly panicking as he did. As he got closer, they saw that it was the Hero of Corvus the Crow, Nicola. "Mira! I'm sorry, I couldn't stop him."
"Stop?" Mira tilted her head to the side. "Stop who?"
"Joseph," Nicola said, panting as he tried to recover his breath. "When we were out looking around earlier, we found a castle. He entered the castle but then we were ambushed by an army of large monsters with the same power as the bosses."
"An army of large monsters?" Mira grit her teeth. "Why didn't they back off? Why is it just you left?"
"The front door was blocked by more monsters. I escaped by flying out a window, but I almost got eaten," Nicola said. "There are nine of them inside that castle. They're all fighters, Mira. It's a huge loss if we let them die."
"Darn those fools," Sebastian growled. "Mira? What should we do?"
"Just like he said, it's going to be a huge loss if we let them die there," Mira said. "We're only a few floors up the tower. We can't ignore losing a huge number like that."
"Alright," Sebastian nodded. "The fighters shall go in. The rest can stay outside."
Mira glanced at Nicola. "Lead us there. Now."
Meanwhile, inside the tower, Joseph was fighting against boss-level monsters. He was already losing his energy just by the sheer amount of the monsters that surrounded them.
"Men, do not lose hope!" Joseph yelled. "Dexter, are you fine?"
Dexter sighed and raised his sword. "Superhuman Slash!"
With a single slash of his sword, Dexter cleared a way for them to pass through. "This should lead towards the door. Everyone, follow me!"
Joseph was the first one to pass through the path that Dexter created. The latter could only sigh and shake his head, both in disappointment and frustration. "I can't believe you tricked me into going here. I told you we shouldn't make a move unless we get Mira's permission, and you told me you already got it."
"Oh, I'm sorry," Joseph rolled his eyes, unapologetic for the trouble that he had caused. "I guess we didn't get her permission. Who the fuck cares about what Mira thinks? Just because she lead us this far doesn't mean she will lead us forever."
"True," Albert agreed. "There's so many of us, it's impossible to lead us all to the top. Some of us have to grow out of her nest."
"When we get out of here, I will personally kill all of you," Dexter grunted.
They heard a roar coming from behind. Dexter spun and blocked an attack that came from nowhere. His eyes widened when he lost his balance and fell back after blocking the attack.
"What?" Dexter gasped. "Impossible. Where did that attack come from?"
"What are you doing there?" Joseph yelled, asking Dexter the question. "You're sitting on the ground for what reason, man?"
"That…" Joseph trembled. "That's not like the boss earlier. And there are several of them."
Joseph and his lackeys stopped moving after they felt a strong presence looming around the darkness. The castle halls were silent as all other monsters disappeared from sight. It was just them now, no one else.
"What's happening?" Albert clung towards Joseph's arm. "What are those?"
Several creatures stepped forward, all of them were tall humanoid figures. Their skin was pitch black with eyes glowing white like stars. They stepped forward, stopping when they were several meters from the Heroes.
"Uh, Dexter?" Joseph called out. "What are we going to do now?"
Dexter wasn't moving, he was still in shock. "I'm already level ten but I can't handle any one of those."
One of the creatures opened its mouth, a sphere of white light appearing on its large mouth. It was charging the attack, directly aiming for Dexter without even hiding it.
"Move, Dexter!" Joseph yelled. "You dumb asshole, move!"
The creature launched its attack, Dexter still unmoving. The white sphere was approaching but his body was frozen. He didn't know what to do.
"Swift Swirl!"
A gust of wind swept the man just half a second before the sphere hit him. The sphere of white energy hit the ground and created a large explosion, one that burst a hole in the wall inside one of the palace's walls.
"What…" Dexter trailed off. He looked up to see Bianca carrying him with her talons.
"Two times," Bianca winked at him. "That's how many times I saved you."
Bianca carried Dexter to safety, which was where Joseph and the others were. Mira, Brent, Chen, and Sebastian also arrived at the scene along with Juan and Isabel. The rest of the Heroes waited at the campsite, thinking that it was just another one of Joseph's tantrums. He was a prince and he wanted to do whatever he wanted, if something goes out of his way, he would throw a fit and make up lies.
But this was no lie.
"Fuck," Mira cursed as she saw them being surrounded by the large monsters. The creatures from earlier had now vanished, leaving the Heroes to face the monsters that escaped from the hole in the castle wall.
"You're not kidding, there are so many of them," Mira said. "The others are still too far from here. How the fuck can we handle this?"
"We fight," Brent said. "There's no other way."
"Fine," Mira sighed. "We fight like there's no tomorrow. This castle will give us enough EXP to face the higher bosses."
The woman grinned and licked her lips.
"It's an EXP farm."