As soon as Alisa spent the points, a large, flower-shaped fountain immediately appeared in front of the tower. The flower had ten petals with water flowing from the center, and if one wanted to, one could drink from them until the water returned to the beginning.
Given the volume of the fountain, even 500 people couldn't drain it, so now everyone was free to drink as much as they wanted.
"Wow... What is this?" Someone exclaimed in surprise, looking at the fountain in disbelief.
Step. Step. Step.
Ethan stepped out of the tower as if it was to his credit that the fountain had appeared here, though it partially was.
"I see you are pleased. For your information, this fountain cost 50 points, which is all we had." Ethan said calmly, approaching the fountain.
"Hmm...?" The girl with short scarlet hair gets a puzzled look, "I don't doubt that you chose the best option, but it looks like we need to use it with caution."
Ethan waved his hand, "Nah, don't worry, there are 5,000 liters here, so the only thing you can do is this."
Ethan leaned over to one of the petals and began to drink, loud and active as if he had come out of the desert.
Without food a person could last about a month, depending on weight, but, without water, anyone would die in a couple of days.
"Agh... What a treat... What are you waiting for? Look, the portal is already appearing." Ethan pointed forward, where flames erupted in front of the barrier.
[Time is up!]
[Second Wave begins!]
[Defeat the 99 Monsters!]
The participants glanced around and quickly headed towards the fountain.
Ethan wanted to tell them to maintain discipline, but to his surprise, no one started pushing. Instead, people quickly took a few sips and headed towards the portal.
"The sooner they deal with the monsters, the sooner they can get back to the fountain and drink the water." Alisa said, standing up next to Ethan.
"Yeah... Looks like it, but why such a weird number?" Ethan frowned, rubbing his chin thoughtfully.
At the same moment, a multitude of creatures emerged from the portal. They were hyenas, with brown fur, long heads, predatory eyes, and sharp claws.
Something happened to the hyenas, as on their paws were broken shackles, and in their bodies in some places were various metal objects, nails, parts of chains, or even broken blades.
"What strange beasts..." Alf muttered with wide-open eyes, "I doubt it's supposed to be like this..."
"Yeah, it looks like they escaped from somewhere or something. Anyway, it's a plus for us that we weren't forced to fight the healthy ones right away." Ethan shrugged, "See how they do, I'll stand back for now."
Alisa turned around abruptly, "What...? Where are you going?"
Ethan lifted the collar of his coat, hiding everything to eye level, and calmly said, "To steal."
"Hmm...? What did he say?" Alisa tilted her head in a puzzled manner.
"Now I see what he was talking about." Alf nodded deeply.
"What... Did you understand him?" Alisa puffed up her cheeks, then she put her palms together, "Tell me! Please!"
Alf just looked away, "Think for yourself, you have plenty of time for that. My job is to protect you."
After Ethan left, Alf stopped watching the monsters and stood next to the fountain. This way he had Alisa, the tower, and the sphere in his field of view. All importantly, the monsters were handled by Magnus and the others.
"Stay right here, don't move anywhere." Alf calmly said while pointing at Alisa.
Alisa nodded silently.
...
Crackle.
With a kick of his foot, Ethan burst through the closed door, walking down the empty hallway, he was the only person in the building at the moment. Everyone else was killing monsters.
'It took us about ten minutes for the first wave, and now it's going to take even longer. I hope I didn't make the wrong choice of victim.' Ethan pondered as he approached the window overlooking the black crystal tower.
There were two such towers, Maris's one and Nitra's one. Ethan decided to choose Nitra's tower, which had a large Spade Sign on it.
In the distance, a multitude of humans, several hundred, were fighting the poor hyenas.
The contestants were raining their axes down on them like furious, but not all of them, only a small fraction. More than half were afraid and just stood aside, but the rest acted like berserkers.
There were only two persons in front of the tower, Nitra and another girl. She was tall, taller than most of the guys, and had long brown hair, gray eyes, and an athletic build. Even under her shirt and jacket, her muscles were visible.
'Sara Eveline... Damn, it's not good that she's here at all.' Ethan frowned, staring intently at Sara's hands. Soon Ethan saw what he wanted, her veins were a normal, blue color.
'Nitra's men got axes and a strength increase, probably comparable to the coins from Second Trial. Hmm, given that I'm a man in a normal situation I'd be equal in strength to Sara, but given that river in my mind, I should be considerably stronger.
Then, Ethan glanced at the massive poleaxe in Sara's hands, 'But, she has a buff from Nitra, and also Nitra seems to have made her a Knight. If she's got the same bonus to strength as I have to regeneration, then... Fuck, she can just pull my arms and tear me apart like an ant...'
Ethan scratched the back of his head, pondering what to do. He sighed, placed his long sword on his belt, and headed for the stairs, moving to the first floor.
Even the normal buffs of Princesses could greatly enhance a person, Knights, getting a weapon, a special ability, and multiple buff boosts. This combination made Sara an invincible opponent for Ethan.
He didn't leave to fight, however, but to wait.
Ethan stood around a corner where he had a view of the entire battlefield, but no one could see him.
After about fifteen minutes, Nitra's men killed the last hyena. 99 monsters had been defeated and the second wave was over.
However, the portal didn't close just as the stage wasn't finished.
"Hm? What's going on?" Nitra raised an eyebrow in confusion, "Is this some sort of glitch?"
"I doubt it..." Sara said cautiously, clutching her poleaxe tighter.
Whoooooooooooooosh.
Then, the portal became much larger, and a huge silhouette slowly emerged from it.
[Defeat Champion Monster to get extra points!]
[You have five minutes! After that, Champion Monster will be banished!]
"Well, well, I told you it was a strange number." Ethan spoke in a deep voice.