Boom!

The body of the third Flesh Eater slowly toppled to the ground as we cleared the area of monsters. There weren’t any monsters within eighty yards of us, but the level of these Flesh Eaters was way too high, so their alertness was far above average as well. A player would aggro one of them simply by coming within fifty yards and this prevented us from advancing carelessly.

"What’s the situation with the Northern Alliance?" He Yi asked.

I peered into the distance before replying, "They’re also killing the Flesh Eaters. I see Blade of Kings and Grief of the Dark, but Vienna’s Sorrow hasn’t made his appearance yet. I wonder what he’s up to."

Chaos Moon chimed in, "Time's a-wastin'. We managed to find a way in, so we should send a group of assassins to infiltrate Nine Tigers Soul Suppressing Tower and scout the situation for us first!"

"Sounds good."

I turned back toward our forces and said, "Cute Little Naughty, you’re to infiltrate the tower with a squad of assassins!"

"Yes!"

Cute Little Naughty smoothed back her short hair before she hefted her dagger and started her advance. As her cloak fluttered behind her, her small and lithe figure vanished into the shadows as light bent around her. The 199 assassins following behind her similarly vanished as all of them entered stealth mode.

I frowned. Even though an assassin’s stealth was a very powerful weapon, there was no way they could kill high-level mobs without meatshields around them, so I said, "Eve, Chaos Moon, I’ll follow along behind them. I’ll leave the Flesh Eaters to you guys. Once you’ve killed four to six of them, everyone should be able to proceed with no issues."

He Yi nodded her head. "There are eight entrances to Nine Tigers Soul Suppressing Tower altogether, so the other powers are definitely doing their best to get rid of all the Flesh Eaters surrounding it. There are more and more players massing around the Soul Suppressing Tower, and there definitely won’t be any shortage of monsters on its first floor. Lu Chen, don’t get distracted with killing monsters once you enter the tower! Your main objective is to pinpoint the location of the first floor’s boss!"

"Yeah, I got it!"

After I said that, I waved my hand in the air, causing bloody light to erupt all around me. My body transformed into countless streams of blood-colored light which then shot into the ground. It had been a long time since I used Earth Escape. In fact, I hadn’t had to use it ever since I had grown in strength. After all, I didn’t need to skulk in the shadows when I killed players in the wild. I simply rushed them together with my pet most of the time.

……

I made a detour around two Flesh Eaters, avoiding their aggro, as I followed along behind our assassins.

Whooosh!

Cute Little Naughty immediately let out a startled cry when she saw my body fly out of the ground. "Wah, how come vice leader big bro decided to come along…"

I chuckled. "I came here to lead your squad!"

After I finished speaking, I raised my head to look at the heavy and bloodstained metal door. As I stared at the rust on the door, I wondered just how long it had been sealed for. We could even see the tiny black holes created by rust corrosion. Streams of cold air steadily blew out from between the gaps in the door and there was a dense mass of runes scribbled along both sides of it. I didn’t understand any of them, but I guessed that they were magic symbols used to seal the undead.

I stretched out an arm and laid my palm firmly against the door before I gave it a strong push.

Creaaaaak...

The metal door slowly started to crack open, but only a small gap had opened up before it refused to budge any further. A careful inspection revealed that there was being held in place by a chain on the inside, but this chain had also become completely rusted. I drew the Cyan Netherworld Sword and took careful aim before my sword arm flashed out. The chain was severed cleanly in half and it fell to the ground with a clatter.

A gust of dark and cold wind billowed out of the tower as the door swung open on their own, and the ugly squeak of rusted axles moving and clicking grated our ears as it did.

"Awhooo!"

A dark shadow bounded out from the tower as it let out a shrill shriek. What the hell is this!?

I steadfastly held my ground as I greeted the unknown assailant with a swing of my sword. My sword smashed the creature back with a loud bang, but I also felt a scorching hot pain erupt from my right shoulder. God damn, a single swipe of its claws had dealt me more than 19000 damage!

This monster’s attack power had to be really high to deal that much damage to me while my Ghost Deity Armor was active!

"Woah! What is that!?" Cute Little Naughty exclaimed in shock as she stared at the revealed creature.

It was a huge beast covered in a "coat" of greenish copper, and long copper spears protruded from its back like a hedgehog. Even though it stood on all fours, it was as tall as a person. Its head was extremely small despite its size, and it let out a low growl as it stared at us with its glowing red eyes.

Bronze Beast (Dread)

Level: 185

Attack: 6200~7450

Defense: 7000

HP: 650000

Skills:

Introduction: These Bronze Beasts were originally humans, pitiful souls who were experimented on by foul necromancers who broke their bodies before fusing them with copper, reforging them as creatures of eternal undeath. These pitiful creatures lost their souls long ago, becoming bloodthirsty, cruel and merciless guardians of the first three floors of Nine Tigers Soul Suppressing Tower. They have become the nightmare of many adventurers who have challenged the tower. In the past ten thousand years, an untold number of heroes have died under the vicious and cruel claws of these Bronze Beasts.

……

"God damn!" I silently cursed. After that, I said, "These are dread-rank monsters, and they’re a notch above even ancient-rank monsters. Fucking hell, it looks like elite and shadow–rank monsters are about to become obsolete now that even dread-rank monsters have appeared. I want every assassin here to engage these monsters very carefully. These Bronze Beasts have a monstrously high Attack, so they won’t be easy opponents to deal with!"

I drew a few lines in the air with my sword, causing an azure magic formation to appear on the ground in front of me. The Phantom Wolf King jumped out of the formation with a howl as it immediately sprang toward the Bronze Beast with its claws bared.

I brandished the Cyan Netherworld Sword and advanced as well, flames bursting from the tip of my blade. My Dark Pupils had allowed me to identify the proverbial chink in the Bronze Beast’s armor. The three crescent waves of flaming sword energy produced by my Burning Blade Slash struck the Bronze Beast’s eyes with exquisite accuracy, dealing a massive amount of damage. This was the most efficient way to fight this terrifyingly powerful creature. Hammering away at its outer shell was a fool’s errand, since most of the assassins behind me wouldn’t even be able to breach its 7000 points of Defense!

Whoosh!

An Eight Trigrams formation appeared underneath my feet as I plunged the Cyan Netherworld Sword into the Bronze Beast’s eyes. Universe Break! A huge damage number immediately popped out above its head. 37176!

Alright! That was a good hit!

Cute Little Naughty made a bold attack at the same time as me, her dagger coated with the poison from the Poisoned Weapon skill. After that, a bloody light erupted from her dagger as she struck the Bronze Beast again, the blow causing the monster to freeze in space. She had managed to successfully stun it with Ambush!

The other assassins around us immediately launched their attacks as well. They hit the monster with Eviscerate + Cruel Blade combo, as both skills ignored a significant amount of their target’s Defense. This proved to be very effective as a string of damage numbers that exceeded 5000 popped up over its head.

All of the assassins here were the best assassins in Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, a squad that Cute Little Naughty had raised herself. When that thought flashed through my mind, I realized just how capable this little lady was. She had managed to recruit elite assassins from all over the place, and she was far cuter than those useless female assassins who only knew how to flirt.

……

The party of assassins continued to wail on the Bronze Beast as I firmly held on to its aggro. This allowed us to finish it in less than twenty seconds!

"Aouuuu…" The Bronze Beast let out a miserable wail as its copper armor shattered and it slumped to the ground. Two magic stones dropped from its body along with a pair of Bronze-grade bracers.

Cute Little Naughty stared at the Bronze-grade item in consternation. "What the heck!? A dread-rank mob actually dropped a Level 160 Bronze-grade item. Are they mocking us, vice leader big bro!?"

I chuckled. "Who knows? Alright, let’s go in and take a look at the place!"

"Okay!"

When I stepped into the tower, I saw the surrounding area slowly start to brighten up. Even though the lighting in this place wasn’t the best, there were little windows surrounding the tower which let moonlight spill into it, illuminating every spot it fell on. I also turned on the lighting effect on my weapons and equipment, which caused my body to shine like a glittering lamp. The lighting effects of my rare items were beautiful and dazzling, and even Cute Little Naughty stared at them with envy and admiration. The Earth and Heaven–grade items were particularly eye-catching, and they also provided the best illumination.

The moment I stepped onto the flagstones of the tower, a lot of tension immediately bled out of my heart. Even though there were many monsters hidden in this tower, it was still something that had been made by man.

Ding~!

System Notice: You have entered the map "Nine Tigers Soul Suppressing Tower" and have automatically received the quest "The Sin of Ovia the Bloody Finger"! (Current Quest Rank: SSS)

Description: Enter the Soul Suppressing Tower and kill the guardian bosses of all nine floors. Once you have obtained nine Tiger Soul Essences, you will be granted the power to open the barrier blocking off the final floor. Enter the top floor of the Nine Tigers Soul Suppressing Tower and open up the Soul Sealing Box to release the tormented souls of the heroes of humanity which have been trapped within! You will be rewarded handsomely for your success!

……

"Holy shit!"

Everyone was shocked by the system notice. We had actually gained a god-like SSS Rank quest just like that! Fuck, there really are nine bosses in this tower. However, it wouldn’t be easy retrieving the items dropped by these bosses in this current situation. We would already have a dogfight on our hands if this map had been opened to Chinese players only. The participation of the eight major cities of the Northern Alliance would only make the fighting even more fierce!

……

I immediately tried to summon the Ice Qilin Horse to see if it was possible within the confines of this tower. The tower was so huge that it actually succeeded and I immediately leaped onto the back of my horse. My stats immediately soared when I mounted up. Alright, I’m even tankier now!

After that, I opened the map and a look of consternation immediately crossed my face. The floors of this tower were very big, even bigger than what it looked like from the outside, and there would be absolutely no problem for tens of thousands of players to enter the tower and grind if it was just based on the space alone. However, there was one major problem with this place. There were many walls which blocked your way moving forward, and it practically resembled a maze.

A gigantic red dot lay in the very center of this floor and it was obvious that it was where the boss was waiting for us. However, due to the labyrinthine layout of this map, it would not be easy for us to reach the center. The paths were long and winding and it would be a headache to figure out which path led to the boss.

There were eight different paths for us to choose, which immediately elicited a groan of frustration from everyone present.

"I hate mazes. Which path should we take to find the boss?" Cute Little Naughty asked with an adorable pout.

……

I waved a hand and saved a screenshot of the map. After that, I stared at it for a good ten minutes as I tried to figure out this puzzle. I finally managed to mark out a path that would take us to the heart of this floor, but it was a long and winding one which would most likely require us to kill many monsters.

"Let’s go in from here, we’ll definitely be able to reach our destination!" I said with absolute confidence.

Cute Little Naughty immediately nodded her head. She was never one to doubt my words, so she hefted her dagger and started moving forward.

"Hold on! Get one of the assassins to recce the area with their pets!"

"Okay."

One of the assassins nodded and got his pet to move ahead. It was Level 154 Fire Blade, a low-rank pet, and it was quite surprising that he had raised it up to such a high level.

As the Fire Blade floated toward the corner, three Bronze Beasts suddenly pounced out from the darkness! The Fire Blade didn’t even have time to react before it was torn to shreds by the claws and fangs of the three fierce monsters. Having lost the target of their aggro, the three monsters slowly moved back around the corner to wait for new prey.

"That was close…" Cute Little Naughty silently sucked in a breath of cold air as she covered her modest chest with her hands. She thanked her lucky stars that she had not moved forward. If not, she would have definitely died.