28 Discovery

The giant writhing thing on the second floor of the Tower did not exist in-game and so Alexei knew nothing more than what the masked fairy told them.

'It was a piece of flesh from an ancient giant demon god that once terrorized the entire abyss'.

'It held only a thousandth of the demonic giant's majestic and unimaginable power but was still capable enough to wipe out a country in Mavria with just a thought'.

'It possessed only basic consciousness so it could easily be pleased with a human sacrifice that would serve as its toy for a few seconds.'

Alexei found the sight and wriggling sounds of it sickening and he was sure that everyone would feel the same way unless they were lunatics like the fairies. Yet he chose not to avert his gaze. When he heard the subtle warning in the masked fairy's words, he still did not look away, tightly gripping his pendant which began to emit faint heat when the piece of flesh began to move.

Why was the gemstone reacting like this? And why was the fairy intently watching out for his next action? Alexei kept his silence as he deliberated.

Soon, the poor sacrifice vanished without even a speck of his body remaining to prove that he had once existed. The massive piece of flesh also started to calm down and expand to fill the floor it was on.

The fairy hovering in front of the youth glanced at it casually before she said, "Soon the exit will be blocked again. Mr. Al, are you sure you want to stay further?"

At that time, Alexei almost gave a satirical smile. If not for his Gift's unusual response, he actually would not entertain the thought of staying for even a fraction of a second. Yet there was no way he could reply this.

Shaking his head inwardly, he thought for a moment then replied, "Fairy, there's something I would like to know first. If possible, I hope you won't give me a nonsensical answer."

"Go ahead." The fairy's voice was calm, yet its because it was calm that Alexei narrowed his eyes, his mood became more solemn. He noticed that the flying creature's eyes never left the blue gem gripped tightly by his hand.

Alexei fought the urge to furrow his forehead. "How long does it take for the next batch of challengers to arrive on the second floor? And does the Tower allows people who haven't completed the fairy's trial to ascend from floor to floor?"

To this, the fairy looked up from the pendant and answered, "I don't know how long, and yes. If someone can travel from one floor to another without the help of us, fairies, we're magnanimous enough to not pursue the matter."

'...Hah. Of course, I should have known you demonic midgets won't care about the trespassers since you all just want chaos.'

Alexei closed his eyes and took some time to calm himself down. When he opened his eyes again, his expression was back to being blank and hard to read. At that time, the only exit created by Antony's sacrifice was no longer there. Yet no trace of panic showed on his face.

The youth ultimately decided to descend the stairs. There was no more exit in sight but his footsteps continued in an almost rhythmic fashion. Step by step, he neared the end of the long staircase. Strangely, the masked fairy did not follow and only sent him off with its eyes. It only teleported in front of him when he finally took off his necklace and raised it above his head.

Stopping midway, Alexei gave the floating thing a fleeting glance. The memory from a little more than a week ago flickered in his mind. That time, when he was about to hack the purple obelisk, one of the masked fairies on the first floor suddenly interfered and forcibly teleported him outside the arena. It was against him destroying the obelisk. The current situation... he could not help but associate with that one.

So was the sea of flesh the obelisk equivalent on the second floor?

Surprisingly, the masked creature stopped in place and merely kept its eyes on him. This made him crease his forehead further as he wondered about a few things. Was he mistaken, the fairy actually wanted to see if he really had the means to destroy its method of testing newcomers on this floor? Or was the abomination ahead of them deterring it too?

'Only one way to find out.'

A fierce look took over his face. A second later, countless weapons of varying sizes and lethality rained from above the flowing sea of flesh.

"KIEEEHHHH!"

Despite the absence of any organ that could be called a mouth, an ear-piercing scream rang out from below which later turned into an angry roar. Alexei hurriedly retreated while covering his ears. Even the fairy covered its ears with its small hands, its mask sporting a frowning expression.

In the next moment, it was as if peace had been distorted. Alexei immediately felt a very domineering and deathly aura enveloping the Palace. Every cell of his trembled. He felt extreme fear. Now he believed that the massive flesh used to belong to a god as the pressure it gave off was greater than the one he felt when he first stood before the lich and the Leader of the Dark Palace.

Alexei hurriedly retreated a few steps. Thankfully he immediately recovered his calm and remembered his reason for provoking the flesh monster. When he discovered that the weapons he threw down had all melted or couldn't escape from the monster's body, Alexei stopped trying to recall them and instead held his Gift above his head.

"KIIEEEEHHHH!" Its cries continued to deafen the two remaining creatures in front of it.

'I hope the gemstone doesn't break.' Alexei prayed as he endured the tremendous pressure that threatened to destroy him.

After shutting his eyes tightly, the youth flung the necklace towards the enraged sea of flesh. Then he ran back up as fast as he could, hoping that if his guess turned out wrong, the verandah would turn out to be an actual safe zone that would prevent the colossal monster from reaching him.

In the air, the sapphire-like gemstone encased with silver left a straight blue line after image and soon started to descend due to gravity. Alexei had his back facing it so he did not see the strange thing that happened after.

The giant piece of flesh roared but its body twitched then stiffened when the gem made contact with it. Not long after, it used all its strength to make the Gift bounce away from its body and roll away. The place where the necklace landed immediately became void of the flesh monster's parts. Three entrances were also revealed, in which none was the passageway taken by Giada and the others.

When Alexei finally realized what took place downstairs, he was really surprised, then ecstatic.

However, apart from narrowing his eyes at the roaring flesh giant and retrieving his necklace using a chain with a hook, he did not move from his position. He counted a full minute before the flesh giant regained its courage to cover every inch of the floor. The entrances once again vanished, but Alexei showed no sign of regret as his mind was preoccupied with another plan that hatched when he saw the reaction of the thing below to his precious gemstone.

...

The fairy never left Alexei's side since then. However, the young man did not seem bothered as the masked floating creature never interfered with his actions, only observing and sometimes distracting him with its nonsensical chattering.

Two nights passed. He survived the deadly mist that the hungry flesh monster excreted thanks to his Gift. However, he soon ran out of food as all the meat jerky Alexei carried with him when he ascended was long consumed.

He refused to leave the Palace even though he could do so anytime he wanted. The weird thing though was that despite his predicament, the youth showed no distress or urgency on his face. Even when the new group of ascenders arrived, he did not move against them to take away their rations.

"We have to choose. But how do we determine who should be thrown down there?"

The fairy who basically never left his side finished explaining the first test on the second floor and then left the twenty-something newcomers to discuss their next course of action.

Because these people were wary of the masked fairy, they chose to distance themselves from Alexei. The latter did not think badly of it as he observed them from a corner with crossed arms.

"Hah. Determine the weakest. Easy. The weak have no choice but to die anyway. No matter how they struggle, death will find them sooner or later."

"Such arrogance!" A black-haired man dressed in dirty robes coldly commented.

The thin, red-haired tomboyish woman felt offended and glared as she retorted. "What? Do you have any problem with what I said?"

Everyone there did not join the argument that sparked between those two. After all, what the red-haired lady was the idea that also crossed their mind. Now the next issue was the method to use to determine the weakest among them.

In no time, weapons were drawn and blood spilled on the floor. Like what happened last time, the weakest was not really the one who ended up dying as those weak physically or lacking in martial prowess usually advanced by using their brains.

"I think there's a former court minister in this batch." The masked fairy giggled in amusement after watching the result of the black-haired man's incitement of the crowd.

By this time, all arrogance was gone from the red-haired lady's face. It only took a few minutes for this change to take place. Alexei saw her gulp upon seeing what happened to the heavily bearded fellow who insisted on opposing the robed man.

'Black-haired... Height similar to the Asian of my former world... And those facial features... He seems to be from that isolated eastern island nation...'

Alexei inwardly flashed a wry smile when he remembered that he mentioned something about the Sovereign of Lightning to the Leader of the Dark Palace. He briefly wondered if the middle-aged man used to be an advisor of the Sovereign of Lightning or a bigshot of that nation.

Shaking his head, he went back to observing. However, there was really nothing much to take note of after the sacrifice was chosen.

By his side, the masked fairy still had not gotten over the lack of response to its comment so it complained that he was too much of a blockhead which made him indifferently say, "If you hate being ignored, then you should just go find someone else to annoy and leave me alone."

"No. My mission is to annoy you to death!"

So it wanted him to drop dead from being too annoyed?

Alexei mocked it, "What a shallow purpose."

"This fairy is magnanimous but I cannot help but wonder if this is really the attitude one should receive from somebody that makes things convenient for him." The masked fairy's snide remark was pointing to the fact that nobody messed with him because the fairy was beside him.

Alexei simply went back to pretending that the floating did not exist. Coincidentally, he met the black-haired man's gaze.

Although no change showed on his face, Alexei actually became more alert. He did not appreciate the attention from the dangerous politician so he felt relieved when the person exited the place alongside the other survivors. Once again, he was alone, or rather, the lone Tower challenger in the spacious verandah. He walked towards the edge and then leaned his upper body forward to check on the disgusting piece of meat wriggling below.

A corner of his lips curled up as he noted the slightly obvious difference in its mass and size. Nothing changed in its width and length, but if before, its height in its dormant state was two and a half meters, now, it was roughly two and a third meters.

"Time to eat."

The youth tried to erase from his mind the reality that the sea of flesh had just devoured an entire humanoid creature and tossed his necklace down...