"I don't know what happened, but you did dare to betray him, Isabella," said Denis, a man in a T-shirt and leather jacket, stepping close to the door of the boss's room.
Isabella's hands and feet were shaking. She knew who Denis was as she had seen David exchanging messages with him.
David had also told her that Denis was one of the strongest people on the first ten floors, but he preferred to live on the second floor with his wife and child.
"This is my problem with David. The Night Liberators on the second floor don't need to interfere."
"Really? I'm confused. David sent a message saying that both of you are traitors. Don't you know the punishment for a traitor in the Night Liberators?" asked Denis.
"Death sentence."
Isabella lowered her head again, unable to bear another glance at the man. Aaron turned sideways, watching closely as Isabella looked terrified, even though she was just talking to him.
The young man could not continue to let Denis intimidate and threaten Isabella. He whispered something to the back that the woman could clearly hear.
"Press the Yes button on that panel. Even if there's a five-minute delay, I can hold them off," Aaron whispered.
"A-Are you sure? Denis' level is at least 50; your strength alone won't be able to withstand him."
"Just leave him to me."
Clara held Isabella's hand; the woman felt her hand cold and shaking. Receiving Clara's gentle touch and caring gaze, Isabella smiled and began to convince herself that Aaron could withstand Denis and his people.
[Teleportation to the third floor confirmed]
[Destination: Third Floor Light Stone]
[Initiate teleportation to destination in five minutes]
[00:00:04:59]
Denis gasped, seeing the panel confirming teleportation to the third floor. He immediately ordered his men to charge forward, taking out Aaron and Isabella right before the two went to the third floor.
"Take their system watches so that the teleportation will fail!" said Denis.
Aaron closed both eyes, the soul servant pattern on his forehead glowing white brightly enough. By sacrificing his Additional MP, Aaron manifested Jack The Ripper's servant figure according to what he wanted.
[Servant Activated]
[Servant Name: Jack the Ripper]
[Number of Servants Active: 1]
[MP -24500]
The man appeared in a white mist beside Aaron, standing tall with a murderous aura as he stared ahead.
Aaron brought out his purple darkness elemental energy again, startling Denis' men into stopping them in their steps.
"A soul servant and dark magic?"
"This is bad! The strength of a soul servant is the same as a level 40 adventurer, not to mention the mysterious power of dark magic."
"We should let him go, Captain Denis. The people upstairs can definitely defeat him."
Denis clicked his tongue, annoyed to realize the power behind Isabella was pretty strong. Denis walked forward past several of his men while clapping his hands softly.
"Well done. I knew you could betray like this because you have a strong man like him. You must be Aaron, right?" asked Denis.
"Did David tell you?"
"He told me everything."
The red aura from Denis' body began to emanate strongly, accompanied by a strong gust of wind that suddenly made his men choose to stay away from Denis.
Two great forces appeared inside the defeated boss's room, Aaron against Denis. Isabella sensed a huge energy fluctuation between them, which was dangerous for ordinary people to interfere with.
"Although you have soul servants and dark magic, it doesn't scare me. In fact, I'm even more excited because I've been waiting for a big fight like this for a long time!" said Denis.
'Crazy man. He can die facing my power. What does he really want?'
"If you want to fight me that badly, I'll grant your request!"
Aaron pointed his hand forward, ordering Jack the Ripper's servant to strike against Denis first. The servant nodded, understanding the meaning of Aaron's words.
A thick white mist was present in the place, focusing not only on Denis but all of his men as well.
They panicked, frightened, and ran in a circle. Although they couldn't see each other due to the thickness of the white mist, Aaron could see them clearly as the servant's eyes shared his vision with Aaron.
With the power of his Illusion of a Thousand Glasses sub-talent, Jack the Ripper managed to embody thousands of forms of himself in the shape of an illusion.
Hands holding daggers with his body darting quickly from within the mist ganged up on Denis' five men.
At first, they managed to deflect the soul servant's attacks. Yet, the servant's attacks grew more vicious and faster.
SLASH!
All five of them were injured with deep cuts, three of them were blinded due to Jack slashing their eyes.
"AAAKH!"
"My eyes! I can't see!"
"Captain Denis! Help us."
Denis seemed to clench his hands tightly, his right foot stomping the ground forcefully, creating a wave of fiery hot magic that faded the white mist and pushed Jack the Ripper's servants away.
Aaron looked towards his system panel to confirm how much time he had left to teleport.
[Initiate teleportation to destination in five minutes]
[00:00:02:03]
'Two minutes feels like two hours. I have to watch out for his abilities!' Aaron explained.
Denis sharpened his eyes forward, hot flames burning brightly in his hands. In a flash of red light, Denis' figure lunged forward, aiming a fiery fist at Aaron's face.
Jack the Ripper arrived before Aaron, pushing his master and parrying Denis' attack. Still, Denis' maximum strength caused the body of Jack The Ripper's servant to be knocked away.
[Damage -76000]
[Servant Deactivated]
[Servant name: Jack the Ripper]
[Servant Recovery Time:]
[04:23:59:59]
'Damn! His defeat prevented me from using servant Jack the Ripper for five days.'
"Focus on me when fighting me, damn it!" snapped Denis.
Aaron gasped. He pointed his hand forward to bring up his protective magic wall. But, the fire magic power in Denis' fist managed to destroy it easily.
CLING!
'Damn it! I didn't have time to activate the other magic.'
'Am I gonna die here? In the hands of someone like him?'
Aaron's eyes closed when he saw Denis' fiery fist was about to hit his chest. Just as he gave up on receiving that crushing blow, a mysterious voice emerged from the place.
"Oh my. I thought you could beat him, Aaron."
Time stopped! A dimensional rift appeared in the sky. A woman dressed in a long red dress revealed her form. Although time had stopped, only Aaron could see Aerith's presence.
"A-Aerith?" asked Aaron, shocked.
The woman stepped like she was descending a circular staircase, walking until she was close to Aaron. Aerith's eyes were drawn to the side, seeing that Denis's level and strength far surpassed Aaron's.
Still, to Aerith, Denis's strength was like an ant, easy to step on and forget. Aerith came to Aaron's place solely to protect him from death.
"What brings you here, Aerith?" asked Aaron, curious.
"Eh? Aren't you happy to see your savior coming?"
"I see, huh? Thank you for coming to save me."
"You've shown significant improvement in your abilities. I'm impressed with you." Aerith reached her index finger forward, touching Denis's forehead, which was frozen in time.
A small purple circle appeared on the man's forehead, remained there, and continued to rotate clockwise. That was all Aerith did, much to Aaron's confusion.
"What is it?" asked Aaron.
"Just a gift from me to him."
"Come closer, Aaron," Aerith pleaded. Aaron did exactly as Aerith instructed.
Aerith's lithe hand touched Aaron's, a panel notification appeared in front of Aaron, which surprised the young man. He never guessed that Aerith would do that again.
[Additional MP +500,000]
[Total Additional MP: 727000]
"Additional MP? Why are you giving me some more?" Aaron asked.
"It's a reward because you've shown significant skill improvement. If you were lazy, I wouldn't have been able to do this, right?"
"That's all for now. Once time starts again, you'd better close your eyes, Aaron."
A dimensional rift appeared behind Aerith, the woman in the red dress waving as she threw a wide smile at her. The woman's steps came to a halt again when she remembered something.
"I forgot something. Use the Dimensional Dark Portal sub-talent if your level is already at 35. Meet me, and I'll let you obtain Rasputin's soul."
"Okay. I'll keep that in mind," Aaron replied. Aerith left, and the dimensional rift disappeared.
Time, which had stopped, returned to normal. The small purple circle on Denis' forehead began to show its effect.
A huge explosion was created and shattered the man's head, shocking Aaron to the point of making the young man tremble with fear.
Isabella and Clara were also surprised; they didn't see any attack from Aaron on Denis. This suddenly made the two women confused.
"C-Captain Denis is dead?"
"This is terrible! He is the main enemy of the Night Liberator."
"We'll hunt you down again and avenge Denis' death! Just wait, Aaron!"
One of Denis' men stepped ahead, picking up the body of Denis, who was injured after his head was blown off by Aaron.
Aaron's face was filled with blood and pieces of Denis' brain. The young man felt nauseous after smelling the rancid scent of blood and human organs.
"Huek!"
"I should have closed my eyes earlier."
'What a terrible power. How strong is Aerith really?'