"You have to be careful, Arthur, there are some powerful individuals who want to bury you in this tower."

Zodiak looked at the man next to him, his expression containing genuine concern.

"Since when were you a person to worry about another's well being?"-Arthur

Zodiak switched the subject by saying: "The Holy Dominion is stronger than it looks. You would think they gave up after suffering multiple defeats but that's definitely not the case. Even if they have to sacrifice one of their strongest warriors… as long as you're dead, it's worth it for them."

Hearing this, Arthur frowned and questioned the old man:

"Just what sort of enmity do I have with them?"

"Enmity? There's no such thing. That's just how they are, never accepting things like Dark Magic, Demons…"

The old man let out a sigh before continuing: "When I was publicly alive, they chased me but couldn't capture me because I didn't have any weaknesses. Family, friends, they'll use everything to get to you, which is why you have to end it once for all. For everyone's sake."

"I don't why all of you have such a high opinion of me. I'm not going to wander around and massacre every one… I don't think I have enough power to do that."

As he listened to grumpy Arthur, Zodiak heartily laughed, finding what Arthur said quite ironic considering what the parasite had done in the past.

"I'm not responsible for you or what happens in the future. The advice was given and it's up to you whether to accept it or ignore it."

*****

"Max! The gate is open, let's roll!"

The thief appeared behind the leader of the group and shouted with a deafening, causing the green-haired woman to violently smack him.

"I told you to stop doing that!"

While rubbing his aching head, the thief stood up, looking quite miserable.

"There's no end to them and we can't use potions!"

Though they were doing very well in eliminating the attacking Cthulhu, these players can't fight forever due to the restrictions put by the Red Tower. Fortunately, none were injured by the blast from the earlier meteor did push all six a distance away from their prior battle area.

"Leader, Rody is right, the strong ones are showing themselves. We won't be able to handle all of them."

Tula calmly spoke, his blue eyes gazing at dozens of tall black-skinned monsters dashing towards them.

Almost all the contestants were heading toward the opened Sky Door, unwilling to spend more time than needed on this floor. Yes, each and every one of them was an expert, however, even after Lucy's attack, the number of Cthulhu didn't diminish. In fact, it seemed to have doubled or triple and the golden-eyes archers became much more numerous.

The unstoppable arrows hit the walls of the city, slowly crumbling it and killing many of the elven archers firing from the top. On the ground, the battle grew fiercer as dwarves and humans clashed with the Cthulhu, which were physically stronger than their counterparts.

"Fucking cowards! Go ahead, I'll catch up."

Max cursed at her teammates but in response, they glanced at each other before acting up, each one of them holding of Maxine's limbs and dragging her with them. She tried freeing herself but it was totally futile as Tula and the Shaman cast some binding magic, further immobilizing her.

A few minutes later, with the dwarf leading the way, Maxine's group enter the Sky Door and vanished. The path to the door was relatively empty as many of the participants were in that area, clearing any nearby enemies and going to the 5th floor. The only ones left were the greedy ones who wanted to gain more points.

Oddly enough, there were some who still have not acted and only stood at the top of the western wall of the city.

Arthur looked at Ber Von Xin, who was holding a simple wooden sword and slashing his enemies with ease. Unlike the flashy attacks everyone uses, his movements were simple and only took down one or two enemies at once, however, he faced no difficulties and was going around finishing one target after the other, showing no signs of going to the Sky Door.

…

An hour later, the situation suddenly shifted to the Cthulhu's favor as the sky turned jet black and the sun's light vanished, making the defenders unable to grasp what's around them or who's attacking. The fifty or so remaining contestants grew uneasy as ghastly laughter echoed across the whole floor, bringing shivers even to the strong willed ones.

Arthur, however, find this dramatic change shocking as he recognized this ominous darkness.

"As I told you before, each floor is meant for a person. What you're seeing now is the result of a Dark Magic explosion, something more dreadful than even your Dark Rizaki. It happened on its own though I was the origin. It basically devoured everything before Sol'khin got his hands on it."

As Zodiak was recounting the tragic past, the contestants gave up on fighting and entered the Sky Door. The Sword God jumped high in the air then, like a shooting luminous star, headed straight into the entrance.

The last one was the mysterious lancer, who shot out a big bright javelin straight at the door but this one wasn't meant to eliminate an enemy but rather as a transportation. Just as he threw it, he swiftly jumped on it, soon disappearing into the door like all the rest, leaving only Zodiak and Arthur.

Of course, the soldiers and the city lord were still present, however, amongst the participants, only the parasite and his reincarnation were here, still unscathed.

"It seems the Dark Magic spoiled it… aren't you going to leave?"

Zodiak curiously asked the silent and motionless Arthur, his brow creasing.

"Hmpf! Why ask when you already know the answer?"

"You've always been bad with showing emotions. Is it really wrong to have compassion, sympathy, and pity? Why can't you do things because you want to rather think of a million reasons not to?"

With the appearance of Dark Magic, it wasn't only the mix-raced soldiers who were affected, the Cthulhu were vulnerable too. The siege was halted and only the dark-skinned generals or the golden-eyes archers maintained their deadly attacks.

You could hear the wails of the defenseless soldiers and continuous explosions sounds caused by the destructive arrows shot by the humanoid Cthulhu.

Despite the ever-lasting gloom shrouding the floor, both Arthur and Zodiak were able to see very clearly as the Dark Magic was having no effect on them. At last, both jumped from atop the wall and landed amidst the flailing soldiers, which were being sucked by the darkened earth.

Zodiak took out a long staff and stabbed it on the ground, causing the devouring effect to stop immediately. The half-conscious soldiers were then magically teleported out of the battlefield, literally leaving only the old man and the parasite facing the thousands of confused monsters and their snickering leaders.

The normal, hideous Cthulhu were of no problem to the two dark magic users, however, the generals and commanders sitting at the back were a real headache. Furthermore, the real boss still has not shown himself… like everything existing here, he also belonged to the past and is but a fragment of his real self, nevertheless, he's still an entity that should not be underestimated.

"I guess it's the first time we're going to fight together."

Hearing this, Arthur shrugged his shoulders, uninterested.

"Seems like it."