CHAPTER 14: Tower of Insanity (Part 3)

On the 10th floor, both Isaac and Kyle are fighting a faceless humanoid. The room was filled with mannequins just like the humanoid. As the humanoid punches Isaac in the chest as he flew in the air before crashing into the wall. Kyle aimed his spear towards the humanoid's head but it flicked its head sideways before bringing its knees towards Kyle's stomach as he grunted in pain before receiving a kick in the face but Kyle grabbed the humanoid's feet that were aimed for his head before twisting it and kicking its stomach as he jumped back.

"Are you still alive?!" Kyle shouted without taking his eyes off the humanoid

"Yeah" Isaac coughed as he walks slowly towards Kyle. A smile blooming on his face.

"Don't charge again, although his attacks are weak. His health and defense are stupidly high. You might be alright from taking a hit but it would slowly add up until you can't stand anymore." Kyle said as the humanoid quickly dashes towards him. Its fist creating a large arc as it crashes towards Kyle's cheek but he tilts his head back before it hits. Isaac quickly stabbed forward but the humanoid attempted to jump back but the shaft of Kyle's spear blocked it as the katana embedded itself in its chest. The humanoid twitches before kicking Isaac away before rolling backward but Kyle chased him as he swung his spear but the humanoid raised its arms to block the attack as the force pushed it backward before tumbling.

The 10th-floor boss is called the martial humanoid. A featureless mannequin with an average build and average height. At first, it seems to be an easier boss than the skeleton abomination but those who underestimate it will die. In the room, no spells, skills, or weapons arts will work. The challengers are forced to fight with their weapons and martial prowess. It's impossible to fight once the challengers in the room exceeded 5 people because the more challengers there are, the stronger it will be. At 3 challengers, it would be 3x faster and stronger than the strongest challenger in the room currently. At 6 challengers, it would be 6x faster and stronger. Since Kyle is the strongest one in regards to martial prowess, all of its speed, power, and health would double.

They continued for hours fighting as the humanoid was misshapen and has lost one of its arms while bruises and swelling muscles covered the both of them. Kyle panted as he wipes his sweat, his eyes focused on the mannequin.

"Damn, can you still fight?" Kyle asked as Isaac nodded weakly, his hands are shaking from the bruises he received on his arms but he ripped a part of his robe to wrap the katana on his hands to stop himself from dropping it.

"This is taking too long, the humanoid is about to attack. We need to finish this" Kyle crouched slightly while aiming the tip of his spear towards the humanoid as his eyes gleamed with determination. Without any warning, the humanoid dashes forward. Its right fist slightly pulled back to get the momentum needed to punch Kyle. It created an arc as it flew towards Kyle's cheeks but it stopped midway before an uppercut appeared below Kyle's chin. Hurriedly, he tilted his head beck and avoiding the punch as he stabs the humanoid in the arm as it penetrates through it before embedding deeper in its chest.

"Isaac!" Kyle shouted as Isaac appeared behind the humanoid with his body twisted before slamming the katana towards the neck of the humanoid. A clear thud can be heard before the head of the humanoid falls to the ground as the body also falls down lifelessly.

Seeing this, Kyle falls to his bottom as he sighed deeply. Meanwhile, Isaac falls to his knees as he coughed up blood before removing the ripped clothing on his hands to reveal bruised and swelling hands. His katana falls to the ground as he doesn't have the strength to carry it.

Slowly, Isaac laughed weakly in between his coughs as the excitement of battle slowly vanishes with the adrenaline. That was the most grueling and hardest fight he has ever been, his fatigue was too high that the strength on his arms and legs started fading. His eyes flickered from opening and closing as his eyelids started becoming heavier. Just the act of laying down relaxes him even if it's on a hard floor.

'That was thrilling, i can't believe i'm smiling from the thrill of battle. I can't stop smirking' Isaac thought as he smirked while gazing at the ceiling of the room.

"We should rest for today" Kyle said with a tired tone. Like he doesn't want to talk anymore. His arms fall to the ground weakly as he yawns. He hunches while gazing at the cold hard floor as he breaths roughly.

"Yes" Isaac smiled as he looks forward to the boss that he and Kyle will fight.

"It has been a week already and there have been no movements in the entrance of the tower" Cellica said with a sleepy tone as she gazed at the entrance of the tower while mindlessly eating fruits. With her one hand holding her cheeks as she yawns once again.

Melissa chuckled as she continued on writing on parchment. Even if she left the capital, she still has work to be done. She cracked her neck before massaging it while a frown appeared on her face. She held up the parchment that she is reading to scrutinize it.

"Weird…Cellica, isn't this the information we received on where those envoys of the witch of calamity will leave the forest?" Melissa asked while gazing at Cellica until Cellica slowly turned her body to look at her.

"Yup" Cellica answered

"Where did you find this information?" Mellisa asked once again. There are no names or symbols to know who sent it but because she is too excited to capture those envoys, she didn't notice the lack of information regarding where it comes from. It was more suspicious since it was accurate. In the parchment, there is information about what day they will leave the forest, what form of travel they use and where they will go.

"It was placed in front of your door, so i just picked it up and gave it to you. You were so happy that you didn't even ask where it comes from" Cellica stated before Mellisa blushed as she cleared her throat. It was a huge blunder and she was embarrassed that she prioritizes the fact that there is information rather than if the information isn't a trap or inaccurate.

She shakes her head before reminding herself that she is the future heir of the Venir family and that she shouldn't embarrass her family and especially her older brother. She sighed as she nodded at Cellica before returning to her work. Cellica turned her body once again to gaze blankly at the entrance while munching the fruit that she is eating.

"Don't be too hard on yourself, it's fine to mess up. It what makes you human" Cellica muttered without taking her eyes off the black tower. A warm and gentle smile appeared on Melissa's face as the warmth of having someone concerned about her makes her appreciate having Cellica on her side as a best friend, sister, and maid.

"So it's not fine for you, then why are you always messing up" Melissa chuckled as Cellica turned around with a pout on her face.

"You just have to ruin it, I will never comfort you again!" Cellica pouted as she crossed her arms

"Thank you, i'm happy that you're always by my side" Melissa smiled warmly while her eyes gleamed with happiness. It's like a heavy burden was lifted from her heart, all of her anxiousness vanished together with her uneasiness.

"Just give me some snacks" Cellica said as she gave her a half-smile.

"Hey, are your injuries healed already?" Kyle asked while he drinks the bitter health potion that regenerates their life force and heals their injuries. His face twisted in disgust as he forcefully gulped the red potion. It was so bitter that tears started forming from Kyle's eyes.

"I always hated the taste of health potions" as Kyle spits the remains of the potion in the ground before wiping his mouth. He quickly grabbed a lemon from the dark storage, sliced it in half before he dabbed it on his lips. It was the 4th health potion that he ingested but the bitter taste only got stronger the more he drinks it. If thinks that he got it worse, he stared at Isaac who barely drinks the health potion before jamming the lemon pulp on his tongue. Isaac gazed at the red potion before dunking it all on his mouth before coughing and nearly vomiting because of the bitter taste, he desperately squeezed the lemons to remove the bitterness. He would rather taste the sourness of lemon than the bitterness of the potion. After that, he returned to his calm and emotionless demeanor before throwing the bottle of the potion to the ground.

"We have already eaten, slept for hours and we already rested. We have been here for 2 days already" Kyle said while staring at the opened black door in front of them. Most demonkins who challenged the tower didn't know that it would take days to beat a floor so most of them wouldn't bring that many rations, besides they can't really pack since they would be sneaking inside the tower. Resulting in deaths from starvation and dehydration. Kyle already knows about it since he's too cautious. The tower also is merciful since the challengers can stay for a floor for days to recuperate and rest. There is no time limit so both Kyle and Isaac abused it by resting and sleeping once they cleared a floor of monsters. This allowed them to fight in good condition.

The both of them entered the 11th floor, surrounding them is a large forest with trees and every type of plant and grasses. The damp mossy smell lingers around both of them as the crunch of gravel in their boots and the sound of rustling bushes and branches alerted the both of them.

"Kill the Goblin King and the alpha werewolf" the rough voice can be heard

"To reach floor 16" it continued

The floors 11th to 20th are different from the previous floor since it's a large single floor with different biomes and environments. The monsters are continually being spawned and they will only be stopped once the challengers kill the respective bosses on the floor. This would test the challenger's awareness of ambushes, planning, and survival skills. The goal of the tower of insanity isn't to kill anyone who enters greedy enough to get artifact but a way to train the next demon king or at least the candidates for the next demon king. Once every tower was conquered by a single person, he or she would be as strong as the former demon king.

This is the reason why Kyle didn't want to move to the next floor once he reached the 50th floor since he will be chosen as the candidate for the next demon king. It would change his body and his soul. He will be a demonkin and not a human anymore. Furthermore, the demonkin becomes weak in other continents but becomes a terrifying monster once inside the demon continent situated in the middle of the world. Since he didn't want to stay in the demon continent, he decided to give up. The reason why he wants both himself and Isaac to enter the 50th floor is that when two or more people will enter, instead of turning to a demonkin, the tower will mark them as intruders instead of challengers. The tower will force them to leave the tower or fight a wave of monsters. The tower will be sending 5 waves total of monsters and if the intruders survived, they will receive the title Acknowledgement of the Tower. This will allow them to continue until the 75th floor to receive an artifact.

"I already know where we can kill those two monsters, just follow me" Kyle smirked as he moved deeper into the forest.

After a few hours of walking through the forest. Both Isacc and Kyle climbed a tall cliff before laying down in the ground as Kyle surveyed the forest. Isaac sees a large grassland plain with houses made of straw and mud. Green humanoid figures known as the goblin is littered through the houses, some are training, hunting, and bickering in an unknown language. There are few who are crafting stone tools while others started sewing using the leather of wolves and boars. They wield spears and weapons while wearing a cloth to cover their body. In the middle of the city of goblins sits a large stone dilapidated castle.

"Let's wait here until midnight, we just need to assassinate the king before retreating. Killing all of the goblins are a waste of time." Kyle produced a telescope out of the dark cube before bringing it into his eyes. A wide smile appeared on his face before giving the telescope to Isaac.

"Where do you get these things?" Kyle just shrugged as Isaac used the telescope to survey the castle. The castle has cracks all around it and moss is starting to grow on it. Isaac can peek through one of the windows to see a large green humanoid as big as the castle inside. Just a little movement of that monster shakes the castle walls. It looks the castle is about to break. If Isaac and Kyle bombard the castle, they might kill the Goblin King inside by burying it with debris. Even if it survives, it would need to remove the debris before getting out. The houses all around the castle are also made with straws that can easily be litten in the fire which can kill the goblins and produce smoke to hide in if the goblin king started going on a rampage.

"Killing the Goblin King is easy if you find its base" Kyle laughed while waving his finger in excitement. Normally, the challengers would be subjected to countless ambushes from the goblins and every time the goblins find them, the next ambush would have double the number of the initial goblins. Once the goblin king knows that there are intruders, it would squeeze out the castle and wait for the challengers to reach it. The tired challengers would be easy prey for the monsters but with Kyle's knowledge, he created a route where the goblins wouldn't see him and Isaac. Once he reaches the cliff where the whole base can be seen. It's already game over for the goblins.

"We should wait for nighttime since it becomes much easier" Kyle walked away from the edge of the cliff before summoning 2 tents out of the black cube. The goblins have weak eyesight during the night just like humans, added by the fact that the sudden flash of light can blind them makes it easier to hunt them at night.

Oddly enough, even when they are inside a tower. There is a shining sun on top of them, it might be just a heat source but it is in a shape of a sun. Isaac contemplated for a bit, but he just ignored the sun-like light on top of the dungeon as he entered one of the tents before grabbing a book he borrowed from Kyle. With the help of Kyle's dark storage, Kyle can bring random things to entertain himself such as books without the problem of adding weight or bringing extra baggage.

'That spell is really useful, just how did Kyle obtain such versatile spell" Isaac muttered before opening a large book named the world of Aleria.

According to the book, there are 5 continents in Aleria. Each of them is bigger than Asia except for the fairy continent situated on the north of the demon continent. The four continent surrounds the demon continent. The place where Isaac and Kyle were summoned is the human continent situated on the east of the demon continent while the elves continent is in the west while the dwarves continent is at the south. Although it is called the human continent, it doesn't mean that only humans live or can live there. It just means that the majority of people living there are humans.

After the eternal war between the humans, dwarves, fairies, and elves. All of the strongest kingdoms in their specific continent agreed to have a treaty. If a human is selling elves as slaves then the other elves can kill that human even if he is the king of a kingdom. Still, this doesn't stop the discrimination against other species but the kingdom can't also stop them if they were killed by the other species because of their discrimination.

The eternal war started after the former demon king was killed. Instead of a century of peace, it turned into a bloodbath all around the continents. With the extra land and treasures buried in the demon continent up for grabs, the different kingdoms waged war on each other or on other species. This resulted in far more death than when the former demon king was still alive. The death and suffering from the war gave birth to the current and strongest demon king since the creation of Aleria. Demon King Agathon. No one has ever seen its face or appearance since even the heroes haven't reached its castle yet. There is also no information on how strong it is or where its name comes from. The people only agreed that it was the strongest by the simple fact that the voice of the world known to be the one who gave the status screen to all beings announced the birth of the demon king in the middle of an eternal war all over the Alteria.

The voice of the world only announces something if the threat can exterminate all life on Aleria but oddly enough, after all of these years. The demon king never invaded and only stayed on its continent but Kyle knows exactly why the demon king didn't leave the continent and why the birth of it was announced all over the Aleria.