As the voice disappeared, everyone heard the sound of trumpets signaling the start of the test. Sol could see people on other towers running towards the stairs in an attempt to save as much time as possible.
'Five hours for 50 floors means we only have six minutes per floor. No time to waste then.'
With the time limit in mind and knowing it was best to defeat the easier enemies quickly, Sol ran to the stairs and jumped down them. At the bottom of the stairs, he could immediately see his foe.
Name: John Doe
Race: Human
Talents: [Slashing], [Tree Feller], [Strong]
Level: 82
HP: 800
MP: 400
Str: 140 (+20)
Vit: 80
Agi: 110
Int: 40
Wis: 40
Talent Skills:
[Wood Breaker] Lv 4
Passive Skills:
[Intermediate Axemanship] Lv 2, [Strength Up] Lv 4, [Parry] Lv 5
Active Skills:
[Fell Cleave] Lv 5, [Cross Slash] Lv 3, [Sprint] Lv 3, [Charge] Lv 5, [Leap] Lv 6
Not even a second later after confirming the strength of the enemy, a fist collided against its face, turning it into dust.
"Can barely be considered a B-Ranker."
It had the attribute points but none of the actual skills to back it up. With confidence, Sol was able to instantly decimate the fake human with just his fist.
Wanting to keep the momentum, Sol flew towards the next set of stairs ahead of him. He didn't know how hard the later floors would be, so every second counted.
…
Outside of the illusion, Zaman and the rest of the knights watched over the unconscious bodies of the applicants.
"Yikes, that guy over there is gonna wake up with back problems."
One of the knights pointed towards an adventurer who fell unconscious in a bowing dog pose.
Zaman, giving one last glance to make sure nobody was still awake, gave the next orders to his knights.
"Send the men to straighten those who fell… awkwardly. Then reposition throughout them for when they start waking up. Escort those who fail to the palace gates and those who pass to the royal knights headquarters."
It was easy to tell who failed the test by the token they held. It not only functioned as an identifier for the applicant but had two more functions. The first was to pinpoint the targets of the illusion formation. It wouldn't do to also drag the knights inside the illusion accidentally. The second function was the floor counter. On the other side of the token, a number would appear once they left the illusion; the number representing how far the applicant made it through the tower.
The knights receiving their orders mobilized and spread throughout the mass of applicants. Seeing them leave, Zaman turned to the cloaked individual next to him. He was holding onto a foggy orb as he constantly poured mana into it.
"What's up, boss?"
It was the same voice as the one everyone heard from inside the illusion.
"Hand me an orb."
"Sure, sure, I got a spare. You know how to use it?"
Without answering, Zaman received one of the orbs and inserted mana into it similarly to the cloaked individual next to him. As he did, the fog in the orb cleared, and the image of countless tall towers could be seen.
'Let's check on those who resisted the illusion.'
…
"[Tsunami]!"
A large wave of water rose behind Sol as it cascaded towards the group of four orcs. Even with their large bodies, they were swept away by the violent waters and crashed into the wall. Their bodies turned to smoke, which gave him the signal that they were defeated.
'Sadly, I don't gain any experience or skills from this as their bodies just poof into smoke.'
Sol ran towards the stairs of the 25th floor. He made incredible progress, easily defeating the enemies he encountered. The enemies he would encounter changed a lot through the floors. It wasn't only a slight increase in level and skills. Every so often, the number of enemies increased, and there would be times when the enemies weren't even humanoid, but none of them posed a big enough problem for Sol.
"The 25th floor in only 20 minutes. This was way easier than I thought…"
In Sol's defense, none of the enemies have yet to even match those found in Necropolis. At least those undead could survive his casual attacks.
Arriving at the 25th floor, Sol encountered a large behemoth with the head of a human, the body of a lion, and the tail of a scorpion. He immediately recognized the type of monster he was fighting, which was something he had heard about in stories.
"A manticore, just like the ones from those stories…"
They were sometimes the final enemy in fairy tales where the hero rescued a princess. Dragons were also commonly used in these types of stories, but most considered it to be too unrealistic even for fairy tale standards. After all, everyone knew dragons didn't exist; dragons were just exaggerated versions of drakes. As to why Sol read fairy tales with plots revolving around a hero saving a princess, he could only blame Annabel for that.
Name: John Manticore Doe
Race: Manticore
Talents: [Predator], [Untamed Power], [Venomous]
Level: 88
HP: 1500
MP: 550
Str: 160 (+40)
Vit: 110 (+40)
Agi: 100
Int: 25
Wis: 55
Talent Skills:
[On The Hunt] Lv 8, [Mad Dash] Lv 8
Passive Skills:
[Increased Health Regeneration] Lv 7, [Strength Up] 8, [Vitality Up] Lv 8, [Poison Resistance] Lv 8, [Hunter Vision] Lv 4, [Tracking] Lv 8, [Intermediate Unarmed Mastery] Lv 8
Active Skills:
[Iron Claws] Lv 7, [Tail Slam] Lv 8, [Tail Spike] Lv 8, [Venom Injection] Lv 8, [Crushing Maw] Lv 6, [Ground Shrink] Lv 5, [Rage] Lv 9
'Oh? It's stronger than me in one attribute.'
Until now, no enemy could rival Sol in any given attribute, even with the fact that he had his attributes spread out evenly. Though the Manticore surpassed Sol in strength, he didn't worry. At most, it could rival an Animated Armor from Necropolis.
"Let's see if you can handle more than one attack. [Harpoon]!"