The battle lasted for thirty minutes. Isabella fought against the cyclops monster with help from several team members. In the end, Isabella got the last hit and earned the reward item.
Even though Isabella won it, she wasn't selfish. She divided the item results equally among the three who helped her, each getting a 3rd-level EXP crystal, which was used immediately.
Two of the three successfully leveled up to 28. They were happy to be able to earn benefits for their participation in this raid, Isabella was glad to be able to help them a lot.
"Faster than I thought. Your talent is not to be underestimated, Ms. Isabella," Hilda praised.
"Thank you, but this is still not enough compared to Aaron's strength. He alone can defeat two wolf monsters in less than half an hour," Isabella explained, smiling as she praised the other person, Aaron.
"Tch! Just having won because of the help of another power isn't a great victory for him!" complained James, still feeling dislike for Aaron.
'What's causing him to dislike me that much?
"If it wasn't for Aaron's power, we would've died being eaten by those two wolf monsters. Do you get it, James?"
Isabella truly hated to see James dislike Aaron so much, even though the young man had helped a lot in this team. James responded by throwing away his face, unwilling to accept the truth.
The woman ended the argument by saying that they had to rush. Hilda agreed with Isabella, saying the floor boss room was close to their location.
"Maybe we'll meet one or two more monsters. The best option is to avoid them," Hilda explained.
Isabella, Aaron, and the others cleared their throat in response. They would follow what Hilda said since she was the one who knew the route in this maze better.
Hilda stepped through several intersections, finding monsters with levels ranging from 30-33. But, Isabella chose to trick them and left the monster behind.
According to Aaron, it was a bit of a waste as the monsters had a decent amount of EXP rewards. If Aaron can defeat them, he can undoubtedly level up to 30.
"We've finally arrived," said Hilda, stopping in her steps right at a large six-meter iron door.
Aaron glared; inside the iron door was the ruling boss monster of this place. He surveyed the surrounding area, watching as human bones piled up as a warning sign that something behind the door was a terrible monster.
"W-Wait... are those human bones?" asked James.
"That's right. Those who died inside the boss room were left to suffer to death outside, eaten by the monsters living on this floor," explained Hilda.
"How do you know?" asked James, Hilda smiled as she looked back.
"Just my guess."
Isabella walked forward after seeing a red circle on the iron door, a magic circle waiting to be touched. Hilda looked at Isabella and explained that the magic circle was the team registration that would fight the floor boss.
"What do you think, Aaron?" asked Isabella.
"We've worked hard to get here. Let's not waste our efforts because we fear seeing those bones."
"Alright. If you're sure enough, I won't hesitate."
Isabella took a deep breath and stepped back until she was directly in front of the red magic circle. She put her hand down and brought up a notification panel before Isabella and the others.
[Registration successful]
[Team Name: Night Liberator Group]
[Team Leader: Isabella]
[Number of Team Members: Seven]
[Challenge: Single Horn Orc]
[Warning!]
[The team taking the challenge cannot retreat]
[The team can leave only once the boss is dead]
[Take the challenge?]
[Yes] [No]
Isabella pressed the Yes button, suddenly, the magic circle enlarged and opened the iron door. Another pop-up panel appeared in front of all team members, writing something about raiding the floor boss.
[Challenge accepted]
[Monster: Single Horn Orc]
[Level: 36]
[HP: 40000/40000]
[MP: 42000/42000]
[Element: Fire]
"L-Level 36? That's higher than the average level of monsters in this place."
Isabella and the others entered the floor boss room. The door closed again, and the flaming iron torch lit up the place. Aaron squinted, seeing clearly that the floor boss was indeed different from the average monster on this floor.
It didn't just have one HP bar, but four, with each bar totaling 10000 HP.
ROAR!
"Do you know the attack pattern, Hilda?" asked Isabella.
"When its HP bar is still green, it will unleash an attack in the form of a large sword that works like a boomerang," Hilda replied.
"When the monster's HP goes critical, it can be sure that it has two different attacks: Orc Horn Ramming and Sword Boomerang."
"Alright. At least we know what the attack will be."
"Start forming a circular formation; we will attack together," Isabella commanded. Aaron and the others agreed.
Isabella began the attack by releasing thousands of rose petals forward, poisonous and capable of dealing a fifteen-minute stun effect to the monster.
[Stunned!]
[00:00:14:34]
"Do it quickly with all your power!" said Isabella.
A stun notification panel appeared above the monster's body. It couldn't move or block attacks. The only thing it could do was stay still and wait for the stun effect to disappear.
They released their talent attacks aimed at the Orc. Some had the talent of a sword, magic element, or other special skills. Isabella turned her head to the side, looking at Aaron.
"If your talent is enough to drain a lot of your energy, you can use regular magic spells, Aaron."
"No. They are all fighting using their talents. I cannot just attack with regular magic spells!" said Aaron, returning Isabella's gaze with a wide smile.
Isabella was silent. She really needed Aaron's great strength to quicken the monster's death. Yet, on the other hand Isabella was reluctant to get Aaron hurt since she still needed him.
"Alright, but I'll take care of you. Don't act carelessly, Aaron," Isabella pleaded. Aaron obediently agreed.
Aaron stepped confidently forward. His palms opened and revealed the dark element's typical purple blaze of energy. Isabella watched thoughtfully; she wanted to know how Aaron's dark elemental talent was.
[Talent Activated]
[Sub Talent Activated]
[Claws of Darkness]
[MP -37000]
Aaron's hands were seen open with a purple aura starting to form large in both palms. Isabella and Hilda felt a tremendous amount of energy gathering around Aaron. Both suspected that the energy was gathering in both of the young man's hands.
The collected purple energy slowly formed the shape of a sharp bird claw, similar to the eagle's claws. Aaron smiled, knowing what he had to do with his power.
With a forward swing of his hand, the purple energy shot out in the form of three scythes ahead. The entire team saw the power and could only be astonished; they would never have guessed that Aaron wielded another terrifying power.
The three scythes hit the monster's body, a damage pop-up appeared that read the amount of massive damage the orc had suffered.
[Damage +13450]
[Critical +26890]
[Damage +17052]
[Three Combo! Great!]
"W-What kind of terrifying power is that?" asked James, stammering in a stuttering voice.
In the three scythe attacks from Aaron's purple claws, the amount of damage dealt exceeded even the Single-Horned Orc's HP. That made the monster's four HP bars run out at once.
Isabella widened her eyes, turning her head to the side with a focused look at Aaron. She was completely fascinated by Aaron's abilities, especially about his talents.
With that amount of damage, it was obvious that Aaron could easily climb to the 25th to 50th floors of the Dark Pillar Tower with ease.
'My sight wasn't wrong. He's powerful; there's probably only one out of millions of people with such abilities. Letting him go is like throwing away a treasure,' Isabella said, smiling with a thousand other plans in her head.
Aaron looked forward, watching the body of the Single Horn Orc monster begin to split into small pieces, then fade into tiny particles that vaporize and disappear.
[EXP +21352]
[TP +10676]
[3000 RL]
[DING! Congratulations on leveling up]
[Level 30]
[DING! Congratulations on unlocking a new feature]
[Second Talent]
[Host can add a new talent on condition that the rank cannot be higher than the primary talent]
[DING! Congratulations on getting a new title]
[7. Warrior of Floor Boss]
[Defeated the floor boss for the first time]
[DING! Congratulations on getting the last hit reward]
[1 Soul Core Elixir Lv.1]
[2 Blue Amethyst Gem Lv. 2]
[1 Arknoir Sword]
All of them who participated in the raid against the floor boss gained the same amount of EXP as Aaron. But, what they didn't get was the last hit reward. Isabella stepped close to Aaron, reading the list of items Aaron had managed to obtain.
"The items from the floor boss's last hit are really promising. You got some good stuff, especially the Soul Core Elixir," Isabella replied.
"What is that?"
"It's useful for increasing your servant's level. Although it's first level, it's quite expensive due to its rarity."
[CONGRATULATIONS!]
[You have successfully completed the Dark Pillar's first-floor boss challenge]
[The second floor of Dark Pillar Tower has been unlocked]
[Floor Access Privilege: 2]
[Want to go to the second floor?]
[Yes] [No]
Another panel appeared that surprised Aaron, a pop up notification system that explained that a team member's floor access privileges had risen to the second floor. Also, there was another column to teleport to the second floor, precisely to the light stone outside the Dark Pillar gate.
Not only Aaron but others also received the same notification panel. Isabella narrowed her eyes, then glanced at Hilda.
"We'll return and wait at the base," Hilda explained.
"What about you, Aaron?" asked Isabella, heart beating fast as Aaron's decision would affect her.
She was reluctant to return to the base and meet David; she had suffered enough from pretending to love him. Now, she has the chance to gain freedom.
Still, Isabella realized that leaving alone would be bad for her. She couldn't possibly invite the others due to their loyalty to David and the people at the base. The best option for her was to go with Aaron.
'Please, let's head to the second floor.'
"Thank you for your help, Hilda. Also, the other friends. I wouldn't have made it to this place without all of you."
Aaron turned his body around and spoke directly to them. Hilda squinted, wondering what Aaron was talking about.
"What do you mean?"
"I'm gonna go straight up to the second floor."