- Enna Core -

The one who was speaking to them wasn't the creature, but the parasite that lived inside the creature.

The parasite had the appearance of a man with messy black hair and glasses, Mata, the name of Hockney's old friend. He was one of the parasites that survived in the Floor of Death by controlling the larger bugs, just like the creature that Charlotte was riding right now.

"This host has no choice but to obey me as long as it's connected, to that blue orb" Mata said, referring to an item like a lamp with blue light. "What do you think? Isn't this great? I called it Manyleg! Is not it really cute?"

He seemed to be excited to talk about his Manyleg. Charlotte understood where the name came from, it was because the creatures had many legs to help it walk. Right now, Charlotte was carrying Bam and put him down inside the creature. She rested his head on her lap while waiting for Mata and Hockney finished talking.

Mata dragged Hockney away to talk to him privately, to prevent Charlotte from eavesdropping him. Mata was quite happy for Hockney, thinking that he had made some friends and even be friended with a beautiful girl. But Hockney denied that and said that they were just merely acquaintances who shared the same purpose which was to come to the Floor of Death. Aside from that, they had no relationships.

"How could a monster like me ever make friends with anyone?" He asked to Mata.

"Hockney....."

"Those guys' real friends must be looking for them right now. I'm leaving so if you find them, lead those guys to them."

".....where are you going?" Mata asked.

"I'm going to " Hockney answered.

"WHAT?!"

Charlotte was a bit surprised when she heard a loud voice from Mata. She turned her head around and looked at the two of them while the two men didn't seem to notice that she was looking at them.

"You're going to the South City?! Why?! Hell Joe will try to kill you if he finds out you are back!" Mata shouted.

".....that's true" Hockney agreed. "But still, I have to go. There's a piece of my lost picture there."

He then showed the Emily he had and told Mata. According to Emily, if he comes to the South City of the Floor of Death in two days, he could find his painting. After all, his painting was very precious as if it was his soul.

Manyleg suddenly stopped abruptly. Charlotte held on Bam closely so that he won't roll or fall away. She asked them, "What happened?"

"It's here!" said Mata. "The gatekeeper!"

≪ ◦ ❖ ◦ ≫

At the same time as Charlotte and the others encountered the gatekeeper, Khun's team also met with one of them. Yuri decided to challenge the regulars where if the regulars failed to defeat the gatekeeper, she'll take them back to the train. By force, if she has to.

Endorsi was the first to attack.

"What are you waiting for? Let's get this over quickly" said Endorsi as she used the Bong Bong. "We have to go in to find the twins and Hwaryun. There's no time--"

Endorsi then flew and landed a strong kick on the gatekeeper's face.

"To waste!!"

Her sudden actions surprised the others who were still down below.

[Endorsi Zahard's Special Skill: Chiffon Sword]

She gathered Shinsu on her hands before releasing it and hit the gatekeeper, knocking it out at once. Evan who saw that skill was surprised as he knew that the [Chiffon Sword] belonged Endorsi was similar with Yuri's skill.

The gatekeeper fell at the ground at once and Khun used his lighthouses to form a barrier so that they won't be blown away or that the smokes and the dusts could reach them.

"I.....is it really dead? Hey, it wasn't so bad as I thought!"

"Are you sure it's not that Endorsi is stronger than you thought?"

"I....I guess so."

Then, there was something coming out from the creature. It was something like a yellow ball with one big eye and sharp teeth shown when it was smiling. It looked rather creepy and its speed was rather fast.

And as if being fast wasn't enough, it could also attack from long- range.

With Bong Bong, Endorsi managed to dodge the strange ball that she assumed as the gatekeeper's main body. But even though she managed to dodge it, her outfit was a bit torn thanks to the creepy ball.

"..........." She pondered about what she should do now.

Her decision was to look for Khun, tapped his shoulder and landed on the ground.

"Your turn!"she said as she tapped her shoulder.

"Huh?" Khun was surprised.

"I beat the monster so I'll leave that thing to you. Honestly, I did the most of the work, didn't I?" She asked coolly.

Khun thought it was ridiculous. The young princess had just said that the creepy- looking ball was the main body. This princess was just afraid that her dress would be ruined!

"Come on" said Altaira with a wide smile. He was also looking forward for the hidden skill that Khun had. "If you can't do something with that main body thingy, Charlotte would have been disappointed."

"What does it have to do with her?!" Khun asked back irritably.

It was a bit earlier than what he thought. But perhaps right now, right now was the good chance for him to test his new ability. The ability that he had gained after suffering under the training with the evil Silver Dwarf for two months.

"Come out......"

Three of his lighthouses flew towards the strange, creepy ball and surrounded it. But there was something different about the lighthouses as each of the lighthouses seemed to be split. There were some squares on the surface of the lighthouses. Altaira whistled over this change.

".....what on earth did you teach him, Evan?" Yuri asked.

"Hehe....just wait and see, princess. I taught him a sneaky and vicious skill-- perfectly suited to him--"

For a moment he was being a proud teacher.

For Khun's relief, the lighthouses didn't seem to have any problems inside the Floor of Death. He asked Celeste a favor and wanted her to stand on the spot where one of his lighthouses was shining. No matter what, she should stay on her spot and shouldn't leave the spot.

".....what are you planning?" Celeste asked.

"You'll see" he said with a smirk. It was the kind of smirk that made Celeste felt an ominous feeling.

The ball won't give them a chance to prepare themselves and rushed towards them. Celeste had expected that and used her silver butterflies to defend herself for some time until Khun was ready. Noah threatened Khun that his sister better not get herself wounded from the ball otherwise, he won't let him off. Irritated with Noah's voice, Altaira pushed him aside rather harshly and Nathan had to stop the two of them.

Soon enough, after he had finished installing his lighthouses, he began to activate it.

[Enna Core- activating the mystery sphere]

There seemed to be a cage that trapped the ball inside. The cage looked like a sphere and looked like a honeycomb.

"I trapped it" said Khun.

The ball was confused for a moment. Realizing that it was trapped, it wanted to break that sphere only to be bounced back.

The ball was confused again.

"Huh....? It went back to the sphere?"

The ball didn't give up. It was one of the persistent balls. It tried to attack and break the sphere from all directions but failed and failed and the ball was starting to get pissed. It was even more pissed to hear Altaira's laughing at it.

"....what the heck is that?" Yuri asked Evan.

"[Enna Core]. It's an advanced technique that allows you to perform the calculations of nine lighthouses with just one lighthouse. It splits the lighthouse into numerous sides and each sides handles different calculations. On a pure theoretical level, it's an extremely simple skill. Actually, it's very difficult skill since even dividing one side causes a massive overload."

With the lighthouses that possess tremendous calculating power, the sphere was filled with numerous teleportation surfaces that allow the user to trap his or her enemies. Khun was using that skill right now, the mystery sphere.

Evan upgraded Khun's lighthouse with an illegal item that he had. He wasn't afraid of being caught of using an illegal item, since he could just use the princess' name as an excuse. And besides, in this Floor of Death, he was sure that the position that could help them the most was the Light Bearer.

[Changing Mystery Sphere Mode-- Red Crystal]

The sphere turned red.

And in the same time, the ball was getting angrier and furious.

"It is getting faster!"

"Celeste, no matter what happens, hold on tightly to your sword!"

"What?!" Celeste glanced at the blue haired male.

"It'll be out soon!" said Khun.

Like what he said, the ball went out and moved towards her. Though Celeste was both surprised and confused, she quickly regained her composure and held her sword tightly. Her sword pierced through the eye and the ball exploded.

"Red mode. When my opponent charges with tremendous power to break through the sphere, I can use that power against it and teleport it wherever I like. since the sphere turns red."

"I see......" Celeste responded, glancing at the ball who has became the first victim of Khun's vicious and sneaky skill.

While Noah went to check on his precious younger sister, Endorsi asked them to head inside first. Khun thought that Endorsi was being jealous for a moment.

"Well, she isn't wrong though" said Altaira. "We have to go in soon. My younger sister is wondering somewhere else and I couldn't rest well because of that."

"Lies. You clearly look relaxed like nothing is bothering you."

The group then headed inside with Celeste and Noah walked on behind. The siblings glanced at the corpse of the dead gatekeeper before glanced at each other.

"Come to think of it, how long since you feed those things?" Noah asked.

She heard his question. Celeste's lips curled into a smirk, a vicious smirk and her face darkened. From her, there were lots of silver butterflies coming out, flying towards the corpse of the dead gatekeeper before devouring it.

"It's dinner time, my children."

It didn't take long until the silver butterflies turned the corpse of the dead gatekeeper into bones and left it with no flesh or meat. When those silver butterflies had finished eating, they returned to their owner.

Noah looked at the corpse before looked at Celeste, "Wonder whether you have ever told that blue bastard and Charlotte 'bout your flesh- eating butterflies."

"Don't worry. They treat me nice enough, even when these flesh- eating butterflies are quite scary for some people in this tower."

≪ ◦ ❖ ◦ ≫

They have defeated the gatekeeper and soon headed to their next destination.

Hockney's eyes were proven to be special and different from the others as they seem to be able to see the future. Charlotte didn't need to do anything to defeat the gatekeeper before them and they continued to move.

By the time that Bam was awake, Charlotte smiled again and greeted him. She said to him that they were in the Floor of Death and right now, facing the final gatekeeper who was a monk, Richie and that they shouldn't be discovered. Why shouldn't they be discovered?

Because the final gatekeeper will only allows the dead or the one without souls to enter the Floor of Death. The livings are not allowed to come inside which also mean that if they were caught, they have to surrender their souls and forever couldn't leave the Floor of Death. Right now, Mata-- Yuliu Mata-- was trying to deceive the High- Richie to let them in.

But of course, that wouldn't be easy. Ater all, he was the High- Richie, the final gatekeeper. They were all aware that there was just a slim chance to deceive him. But that doesn't mean they won't give it a try.