Guild Wars

Chapter 560 – Two Floors Cleared

A path was formed in the middle of the crowd. A group of men rode over, including the Knight Leader that had been chasing them on so many floors and some of his more elite men, as well as some warrior guards dressed in noble livery.

In the middle was a tall middle-aged man with soft black hair shaped like strings that fell to the side of his face, reaching his chin. He had narrow black eyes, a long V-shaped face, a hooked nose, thin lips, and a light stubble on his chin. ​​

He wore a medieval Spanish nobleman's attire that was partly made of armor, and partly made of fine cloth with his house's emblem upon them. The man looked just like one of those popular villains from that old game about jumping off rooftops and stabbing people with hidden blades.

(Author's Note: basically, Cesare Borgia.)

He eventually stopped his entourage before the stage, gazing at the five of them tied by the noose with cold eyes. The man then turned to the watching crowd who were gazing at him with a mixture of emotions ranging from fear to reverence.

"People of Barrsell! Before you stand five criminals of immeasurable evil, so vile that I dare not even step close to them lest their sins rub off on me. The Royal Family in all of their magnanimity gave them the chance to awaken and what did they do with it? Despite possessing rare talent only few would be blessed with, they immediately slaughtered their own village, raping, pillaging, and torturing with glee."

The moment the man stated this, the crowd was riled up. Their unsure and confused eyes were soon replaced with anger and shock, not believing that this man would dare lie to them. Well, it really didn't matter anyway, as mobs were not known for their intelligence and logical reason.

"After that, I dispatched my noble knights directly to pursue them, but the devils continually displayed unholy techniques and strange magic, even managing to break free of the infamous Dark Prison!"

Once this was added, there was a loud and collective gasp that shook the entire square. From anger, the people dropped straight to fear. After all, the Dark Prison was a place where the moment you were incarcerated, death was assured.

No one had ever escaped that place, no one!

"I realized that conventional methods are unable to deal with such devils, as such I decided to put them to the death the most direct way in order to protect ourselves from evil!" The man spoke powerfully.

The crowd began to clap in support, fully immersed in the story they were presented with. After all, they knew nothing about the five who were about to be hanged apart from what they were just told, and they weren't going to risk their necks for a stranger.

Even if there were discrepancies in the story, it was easy enough to ignore them and not think about them. In the mind of these civilians, they just wanted it to be over and done with so they could continue plodding through life at the lowest rung.

"My name is Devin Carva, and I pronounce that the public hanging shall hereby begin!" He roared as he brought his hand down.

Immediately, the guards around the five began walking closer, ready to tighten the nooses and kick the stands from under Draco and co. Before that though, Draco raised both hands and bellowed.

"WAIIIT!"

The guard ignored him and were about to continue, but Devin waved his hands and gazed at Draco coldly. He wanted to give the fellow a chance to speak, if only to appear just. He could always just declare anything he said to be mere lies and proceed with the execution.

Draco himself took in a deep breath and raised his head. His eyes shone with valor and spoke lightly, though, for some strange reason, everyone could hear him.

"You are all wrong. I will not elaborate."

The atmosphere froze for a second… then erupted in anger.

Devin looked at Draco as if he had just seen the world's dumbest man.

'I gave you a chance to explain yourself or at least leave behind some last words, and THIS is what you chose to do? Could this retard really have committed everything the Royal Family claims he has?' Devin began to wonder. However, their execution was something the Crown had ordered, so he would do what had to be done.

The rebels who were taut with tension were also left speechless. They felt the energy leave their bodies as they shook their heads. Such a person who can fool around in such a situation was not worth their effort and sacrifices to save, no matter how talented he might have been.

Still, if it was possible, they could save the women…

However, when they saw that the ladies were laughing uproariously at what the fellow said, they shook their heads bitterly. Clearly, all five of them were not fully sane, so they should be left to the will of the gods.

"Cough, cough, alright enough playing around. I will now proceed to slaughter you all, thank you for understanding." Draco stated as he snapped the rope tying his hands with ease.

This made the eyes of the guards widen as they began to remove their swords, and the Devin fellow also armed himself as he bellowed: "Have you completely lo-"

However, he could only stop here as he saw all five snap their bindings. Draco directly turned into his Horned Demon True Body while Eva transformed into her Heavenly Eye True Body, which was basically a mixture of her Amaterasu Form from the Celestial Prime skill and her Angel Form from her remastered Celestial Maiden Inheritance.

Zaine transformed into her full body Royal S.u.c.c.u.b.u.s form with a seductive smile while Roma's body erupted in green light as her hair rose like snakes and her eyes shone like green headlights.

Hikari directly changed into a full White Dragon, gazing upon the masses with a neutral look.

The guards froze in place, and so too did everyone else. Devin especially had his lips quivering and his eyes wide to the max as he slowly fell to his knees, dropping his sword limply with despair.

His murmurs were under his breath, but strangely enough, everyone on the square was able to hear them.

"Demon God… Goddess…Devil Goddess…Supreme Witch… Dragon…"

The guards around the five also fell to their knees with despair, while the entire crowd did the same. They realized that they had offended a group that they could not even hope to see on a normal day. Each individual member would be enough to raze their city many times over, much less when in a group, so they had lost all ability to resist psychologically.

Draco was pleased with their reactions as it made things simpler. Now it was time to enjoy the harvest!

He raised a finger to the sky and began floating into the air slowly, the rest of his family following him. Electricity crackled at the tip of his finger, a small ball emerged and slowly began to grow.

Draco smirked as he gazed upon the sheep down there, then moved his muscles to toss the giant ball of electricity down so it would destroy this entire city when the entire world itself froze and began to decompose.

Draco's expression became ugly, and so too did Eva's. How could the floor vanish at such a crucial point when they were about to enjoy the fruits of their labor?!

The reason they had both transformed into these states, Eva into her Goddess True Body and Draco into his Demon True Body were to harvest the lives of all these NPCs and collect them into their Hell/Heaven.

It wasn't every day that they got such a huge amount of NPCs they could easily slaughter without any repercussions on the main plane, so this was their perfect chance to fill up their quotas and practice how things worked while in-game, so that they could begin harvesting lives in reality too.

On the floor where they were at Terrence Town, they didn't do so because Roma wanted the souls, so they gave the chance up to her. Now that they had found the chance to do so, the tower dared to c.o.c.kblock them at the last moment?

｢Congratulations on completing: Tower of Babylon Sixth Floor

Time elapsed: 0:12:59

Objectives complete: All

Assessment: EX+

10,000 Score Points

1 Treasure Selection Reward – Peak Bronze Grade｣

Draco's face slightly lifted upon seeing the perfect score. He now understood why the Tower kicked them out. The objective of this floor was to convince the rebels to save you as – for all intents and purposes – you likely couldn't save yourself.

Of course, if you had the capability, you could escape yourself and flee, which would give you far more points than waiting to be rescued. Draco and co chose this path, but used the most extreme way.

Instead of directly attacking and slaughtering everyone, they had transformed into various states. This meant a power-up to them, but it had social consequences in the lore of that world that ran deeper.

In that world, Deities were the highest form of existence. It was thanks to them that mortals could awaken and gain classes, level up, and progress. They were worshiped and revered by all from the bottom of their hearts.

When the five of them transformed, their States of Being as well as essence resembled deities, especially Eva who directly became an actual goddess.

From the NPCs' point of view, they had just condemned and tried to hang a group of deities and a dragon. It was no wonder they fell to their knees, as they had committed what was likely the greatest sin in history.

From that moment, it didn't matter if Draco killed them all or flew away, they certainly would never chase them down again to hang them, or even pester them about Ironwood's laughter or those bandit's death that started everything.

Draco sighed and passed a hand through his hair, returning to his base form. Eva and co had naturally been returned to the Inner Universe and Draco re-emerged in his castle. He then habitually checked the rankings before diving into the seventh floor.

1st – Draco Morningstar: 10,000 Points.

2nd – Gavin Guy: 1,209 Points.

3rd – Dorothy Keel: 1,203 Points.

4th – James L.u.s.ter: 1,200 Points.

5th – Mandingo: 1,154 Points.

6th – God's Son: 1,113 Points.

7th – Dark Lord: 1,083 Points.

8th – King's Return: 1,032 Points.

9th – Helia Nuer: 1,012 Points.

10th – Makinsser: 1,001 Points.

Hoh? It seemed that people did much better on this floor. Well, it was pretty straightforward. They must have used the chance Devin provided them to make an impassioned speech that was nothing but a cry for help, and those rebels would save you.

It basically depended on your acting skills, and being shameless enough would give you a higher score it seemed.

As for the overall ranking, he was now 169th out of 1000 people with 43,350 points in total. He had already broken through to the top 200 by floor 6, so it was likely he could enter the top 120 if he got another perfect score on floor 7.

Speaking of, he directly entered it and appeared in a dark room that was illuminated by a single candle. He sat on a moldy chair that was damp and discomfiting, while a table stood before him.

He was bound to his chair and partially gagged, while there was a man on the opposite side who was gazing at him silently as he came to. He just continued to stare at Draco who stared back, until the objective for the floor popped up.

｢The Seventh Floor – Divine Quest

Description: After successfully escaping the public hanging with the help of the rebel forces, there has been an internal split. The losses they took in order to rescue you were too great, forcing them to prem.a.t.u.r.ely unveil themselves. As such, the upper echelon is torn about what to do with you. You have been detained and will be interrogated by professionals in order to find out your true motives as well as your innocence in the crimes you were accused of. Convince the rebel forces that you are worth their assistance.

Limitation 1: Your previous equipment/skills/spells have been sealed.

Limitation 2: You have been reset to level 1.

Provision 1: A unique set of skills can be acquired through skill-/spellbooks or practice.

Provision 2: A special talent is generated to assist the player.

Provision 3: Enemies are of notable difficulty.

Provision 4: All equipment and abilities from the previous floor are carried over.

Rewards: Score Points, 1 Bronze-Tier Reward Selection.｣

Draco frowned. Another floor which relied on wits and social methods rather than force. He could take the destructive path and force the entire organization to pledge itself to his cause as he led them to deal with the Carva Noble House.

That would likely net him a good score, but not a high one. Rather, there was a far easier method that would work, the same one he had used on the previous floor.

As such, Draco directly transformed into his Horned Demon True Body, breaking all bindings on himself and standing up slowly. The stoic expression of his interrogator changed greatly, from shock to horror then to despair.

"W-We actually bound a Demon God… what have we done…?"

Draco waved his hand. "Forget about it, I have a good temper. I shall spare you as long as you lead me to my female companions! They are also Goddesses in their own right and their tempers are not as good as me, so you should probably warn your people."

"Y-Yes!" The interrogator stuttered as he ran out of the room, shouting to warn the others of what he had just learned. Draco's Void of Perfection told him that the entire fortress was galvanized into action immediately.

He also found his babes also bound in other rooms, but less tightly and rudely. Each of them had a female interrogator opposite them, so that was a plus, making Draco feel that these rebels ought to be the stereotypical 'good guys'.

Soon enough, they were freed from their own bindings as they hadn't moved without knowing how Draco wanted to clear this floor. Seeing as he had transformed, they did too, making the entire organization even more frightful, especially regarding Eva.

Soon, they were led into a lavish room meeting room where a large conference table had been set. Around the table stood many men and women in fine liveries and military attires, their faces filled with nervousness.

When they saw the Five Monsters enter, they immediately dropped to their knees and kowtowed. Draco shook his head at this reception, not because he didn't like it, but because it was superfluous.

"Look, forget about it. We originally planned to wipe out the entire capital city, but due to your actions we've changed our minds. We wanted to see what you lot were about and despite your slightly rough methods, we have ascertained that you are worthy of our blessings."

Draco's words first made them feel relief, then their heart quivered as excitement flushed through them. The Deities were about to bless them! Oh Lord, what kind of good deed have we done to deserve this?!

Hikari first used her Creation Energy to pass through the bodies of all the members here, healing hidden illness and increasing the lifespans greatly. It was nowhere near as efficient as her White Dragon skills, but it got the job done.

Eva then casually used her Heavenly Eye Inheritance to cast Eye of Blessing, granting these fellows some increase to their strength and luck. Since it was slightly for each of them, she could cast it on a larger group.

Afterward, they had the rebels explain their goals to them as well as share all their formation, then Draco and co promised to support them in removing the Carva Noble House, but under the condition that they would not interfere directly for obvious reasons.

The rebels accepted this and were grateful. The world then began to decompose right after, as the objective of the floor had been long achieved. The goal was to get the rebels to put them on their side, but they had naturally gone above and beyond that.

｢Congratulations on completing: Tower of Babylon Seventh Floor

Time elapsed: 3:22:48

Objectives complete: All

Assessment: EX+

Reward:

11,000 Score Points

1 Treasure Selection Reward – Peak Bronze Grade｣

Once again, a perfect score, which no longer surprised anyone given how the events of the previous floor had ended. Draco returned to the castle and checked the scoreboards once more before straightforwardly diving onto the eighth floor.

1st – Draco Morningstar: 11,000 Points.

2nd – Gavin Guy: 1,008 Points.

3rd – Dorothy Keel: 1,003 Points.

4th – James L.u.s.ter: 999 Points.

5th – Mandingo: 804 Points.

6th – God's Son: 785 Points.

7th – Dark Lord: 773 Points.

8th – King's Return: 721 Points.

9th – Helia Nuer: 656 Points.

10th – Makinsser: 638 Points.

In terms of the overall ranking, he was now 103rd out of 1000 people with 54,350 points in total. This was far higher than Draco had expected since they were at the cusp of breaking through the top 100.

In fact, by the time they finished the ninth floor and if they still got a perfect score, he would even be either within the top 10 or just outside of it. This motivated him even more as he truly wanted to see the expression on James L.u.s.ter's face as he was cucked out of seeing the 100th floor when the time was about to run out.

When Draco materialized on the eighth floor, he realized he was still within the fort of the rebels. He was also now in the conference room, but instead of being revered like before, he and the Four Beauties were being gazed at with mixed emotions.

Then the floor objective came up.