"Hiss hiss hiss."

A series of fireballs slammed rapidly one after another into the gray grizzly bear. It formed a tall white flame that surpassed the height of a man, completely engulfing the gray grizzly bear.

It was Merlin's Third-level spell, Condensed Fire. At a glance, the fireballs might seem small in size but in actual fact, the flames contained within were tightly compressed and hence immensely powerful. Once a fireball is released, it would explode with unparalleled power.

Fiery Collapse which was infused into his spell would also be amplified following the increase in spell power. Therefore, Merlin's Condensed Fire had already achieved the peak of a Sixth-level spell. 

Despite the magical runic protection possessed by the gray grizzly bear, this was a level gap that could not be compensated for. Once Merlin's Fiery Collapse completely engulfed the gray grizzly bear, the frightening high temperatures could destroy the armor as easily as snapping a twig. In just a few moments, the runic armor on the gray grizzly bear had been burned to ashes.

In order to defeat the gray grizzly bear, a Spell Caster must first and foremost be able to break through the runic protection on the bear's body. Merlin's Fiery Collapse had far exceeded the limits of the runes. Therefore, at the exact moment that the runes collapsed, the gray grizzly bear's figure also disappeared and reverted into the white twinkling stars on the vermilion pillars.

"Phew…"

Merlin breathed a sigh of relief. Finally, he had conquered the fifth floor. Although he had been relatively confident that he would be able to break through the fifth floor, he was very relieved to have actually succeeded.

Soon, another gray grizzly bear coalesced again between the vermilion pillars. This bear, however, could converse in the human language. The gray grizzly bear gave Merlin an assessing look. "Good job! It has been so many years since someone managed to break through the fifth floor! You can rest here for a moment, then you can choose whether to continue or to leave."

"Leave? I can still leave?"

Merlin was startled. He had never heard that it was possible to leave the Runic Tower so easily.

The gray grizzly bear smiled. "Of course, you can leave. It's just that as long as you're inside the Runic Tower, there's no mortal danger to your life. Even if you're defeated by the guardian spirits, you'll just be removed from the Runic Tower. Therefore, naturally, very few people would choose to leave the Runic Tower."

Merlin nodded in understanding. The Runic Tower was used by the Great Wizard Fidel to select excellent Spell Casters within the Dark Magic Region, especially Spell Casters who excelled in runology. It was one of the main areas of interest to the Great Wizard Fidel.

He had even allowed three Spell Casters to attempt the challenges within Runic Tower together, which implied that it was acceptable to combine strengths to conjure a Runic Circle in order to conquer the tower.

Moreover, a failure in conquering the tower would not result in death. Instead, the challenger would merely be ejected out of the Runic Tower without any injury, like Wizard Envia and his team. Once they were hit by the gray grizzly bear, their bodies were instantaneously wrapped in a white ray of light. Merlin guessed that they must have been ejected from the Runic Tower in that manner.

Thinking along those lines, Merlin said, "Since there's no harm even if I'm defeated, of course, I'll continue the quest."

The gray grizzly bear nodded its head. It was normal for all Spell Casters to choose to continue even if they did not know what enemy was lying ahead. After all, they would not suffer any bodily harm as long as they were inside the tower and would also be able to witness for themselves the powers of the guardian spirits on the sixth floor.

"You can also choose to rest for a moment before continuing."

The gray grizzly bear appeared to be slightly "human-like" as it reminded Merlin to rest longer on the fifth floor.

However, Merlin's Fiery Collapse did not consume much Magic Power. With the amount of Magic Power accumulated in the Spell Model within his Awareness, he could easily battle another few more hours at least.

Thus, Merlin shook his head. "I'm fine, just send me to the sixth floor please."

The gray grizzly bear did not insist any further. With a slight wave of its enormous paw, a white light appeared and wrapped around Merlin. In the blink of an eye, he disappeared.

…

Outside the Runic Tower, numerous Spell Caster was staring unblinkingly at the fifth floor. For the longest time, however, there was no change in the ray of light on the fifth floor. It did not ascend to the sixth floor, but neither did it snuff out.

"Did he meet a tricky situation?"

The formidable Wizard Leo muttered quietly under his breath. He had never challenged the Runic Tower even though he had relatively high confidence regarding his accomplishments in runology. However, when he first joined the Dark Magic Region, his goal was dead set on becoming a Fourth-level or higher Spell Caster. As a result, he did not spare a single thought for other matters.

When he finally became a Fourth-level Spell Caster and constructed the Wizard Tower, he was no longer eligible to challenge the Runic Tower. This was one of Wizard Leo's biggest regret.

Right now, Merlin finally made it to the Runic Tower; and even better, he had advanced all the way to the fifth floor at lightning speed. His accomplishment attracted much speculation on the upcoming indirect showdown between him and Wizard Kleis, making Wizard Leo feel quite pleased.

Even though Wizard Leo did not know Merlin's current situation, he was not overly concerned since there was no danger inside the Runic Tower.

"Hum hum."

Suddenly, the light ray on the Runic Tower began to flash brightly as though it would disappear at any time. If the ray of light on the fifth floor vanished, then it would mean that Merlin had failed to conquer the tower.

However, the ray of light on the fifth floor flashed for a moment then immediately ascended to the sixth floor, illuminating the sixth floor of the Runic Tower!

This caused a large stir among all the Spell Casters!

"The sixth floor, finally someone made it to the sixth floor!"

"Wizard Merlin truly is a Six-Elemental Spell Caster, he's just as powerful as Kleis back then. Even though this is Merlin's first time conquering the Runic Tower, he has already managed to get to the sixth floor."

"Throughout the past thousands of years' within the Dark Magic Region, very few had managed to even reach the sixth floor. To date, no one has managed to defeat the sixth floor. Even back then, Kleis was only able to break through the fifth floor! Now I'm looking forward to the indirect showdown between Wizard Merlin and Wizard Kleis!"

Seeing that the sixth floor of the Runic Tower lit up, everyone knew what it meant. It meant that Merlin had successfully defeated the fifth floor and progressed to the sixth floor of the Runic Tower.

Merlin's ability as a Six-Elemental Spell Caster was more brilliant than Kleis, who was a Five-Elemental Spell Caster. Nevertheless, ever since Merlin captured the attention of the Dark Magic Region, he had not been able to escape being constantly compared to Kleis.

As long as Merlin was mentioned in any conversation, Kleis would also be mentioned. Many Spell Casters, including those high-level Seventh-level Spell Casters, were extremely interested in witnessing the showdown between Merlin and Kleis.

Right now, the crowd would finally be able to witness the "showdown" between Merlin and Kleis.

"Wizard Envia, Merlin actually managed to conquer the fifth floor! I cannot believe that we're hoping to confront Kleis and kill him in order to claim the immense reward from the Dark Magic Region. It looks to me now that our powers are no match for Kleis. Is Kleis truly that formidable?"

Wizard Ilman could not help but whisper. He was initially very confident in his abilities as he was one of the more gifted Spell Casters in the Dark Magic Region.

They had never had much contact with Kleis prior to this. Both Kleis and Merlin were similar where they often went missing for long periods of time, and no one really knew what they were doing.

Now that Kleis had betrayed the Dark Magic Region to join Ozmu, the Dark Magic Region had put an extravagant price on his head. Any Fourth-level Spell Caster and below who was able to kill Kleis would be able to claim the huge reward.

Wizard Ilman had even planned in his head that if he ever bumped into Kleis, he would take the opportunity to kill him and claim the immense reward for himself.

Earlier inside the tower, Ilman had combined powers with Wizard Sarah and Wizard Envia to cast a large Runic Circle in order to defeat the guardian spirits on the fifth floor of the Runic Tower but still, they did not succeed. Therefore, it implied that their powers paled greatly in comparison to Kleis who had managed to break through to the sixth floor without a sweat!

The gap in their abilities was too blatant. If they had really bumped into Kleis, they would be facing their own doom.

Wizard Envia and Wizard Sarah were thinking along the same lines. The three of them were considered the cream of the crop in the Dark Magic Region with the potential to advance beyond Fourth-level Spell Casters. With their combined power of the Runic Circle, they had been extremely confident of their abilities, to the point that they believed they could kill Kleis.

Nevertheless, they had failed to even break through the fifth level. Now, they realized that Kleis was far more formidable than they had anticipated.

"Let's wait and see whether Merlin can break through the sixth floor."

Unconsciously, Wizard Envia's tone toward the mention of Merlin warmed up considerably than before.

…

"Swoosh."

Merlin slowly opened his eyes and found that he was in a completely unfamiliar place. This must be the sixth floor of the Runic Tower.

However, the sixth floor no longer had the red stone pillars. Instead, the entire place was filled with dense runes in every nook and corner. Entering the sixth level, Merlin could vaguely sense that the spells within his Awareness were almost eager to move.

It was a wonderful feeling like there was an external force guiding these spells. More accurately, it was guiding the Spell Model in Merlin's Awareness.

"What on earth is happening?"

Merlin immediately heightened his guard. The sixth floor of the Runic Tower was simply too weird, vastly different from the first five floors. He did not dare lose focus. After all, for the past thousands of years, no one in the Dark Magic Region had been able to break through the sixth floor.

Among the challengers included Kleis, the most prominent genius the Dark Magic Region had seen for the last hundreds of years! Back when it was Kleis' first time challenging the Runic Tower, it was also a walk in the park for him until he reached the sixth floor.

However, his conquest ended prematurely on the sixth floor, and he did not manage to proceed further.

Therefore, Merlin was extremely vigilant toward the sixth floor of the Runic Tower, not allowing his focus to waver even for a moment.

"Hum."

Suddenly, the entire room shook lightly. At the same time, the mysterious runes started to gather together and take form. Under the watchful eye of Merlin, a familiar figure slowly emerged…