23 Not that Strong

The tall buildings that surrounded the plaza left the place to dark walls of rocks as the entire square kept falling down.

The only light illuminating the descending Level Escalator came from the hole left on Fort Iron Gates. Yet, the more time passes, the smaller it became.

When Sif started to think that he would have to pass the rest of the travel in complete darkness, feeble blue light started to shine from the blue cobblestone that paved the square.

He looked around. Most people on the plaza sat dawn to not be sent flying by the shaking ground.

He noticed that the plaza was trembling and several times it so bad that people were having a problem standing still. Yet in the place where he stood the youth could barely sense anything. It seemed that the farther from the center of the square one was, the worst the tremblings became.

He now understood why the two Summoners near him had chosen to walk in the very middle of the square.

The latter were still debating on which side was more powerful, even going down in detail on particular fights that had become famous.

Listening to them Sif could gather quite a bit of information about the strongest people walking the battlefield.

It seemed that there was only one roaming Silver Ranked Summoner that joined the war, it was a lady called Jin Tak that joined the fray with Ivory Tower.

Naturally, she wasn't the only one with her rank fighting. It seemed that Ivory Tower had two Silver Ranked Initiate Summoners Elders. Mysterious Light, however, it had only one but he was considered stronger.

Then came Stone Hurricane. Thunder Drum, the youth on the bull, described him as an old man that looked like a middle-aged guy. He was extraordinary arrogant and didn't follow the any of the two Paths of cultivations normally seen in the Coast of Republics.

His arrays had caused serious problems for Mysterious Light and he even managed to trap Golden Ghost one time, causing the Leader of Mysterious Light to intervene to save him.

Sif eyes shined with understanding.

Trap Leaf? This could only mean that this Stone Hurricane had achieved the level where he could create seals on space-time. His knowledge in the Art of Arrays wasn't shallow then.

The black robed youth stood next to the two Summoner, responding to them from time to time and absorbing knowledge about numerous other people that were famous or moderately renowned between those that followed the conflict.

The entire plaza continued falling down until evening without slowing a bit. According to Sif's calculations, they were traveling at several hundred kilometers per hour and even at that speed, the trip was taking so long.

The distance between Levels was truly insane!

The three Summoners were still talking about the war, when suddenly Thunder Drum slapped his ankle and laughed heartily.

"It's time to eat! Let me treat you with some things I took from Ivory Tower! Brother Sif, sister Nia, you will definitely recognize your error and join the right camp!"

The guy jumped down from his giant bull and pulled out an entire table from a pouch dangling on the side of his Familiar.

Nia's face darkened Spatial treasures were expensive, but Ivory Tower had an Array Master capable to create them for them at a minimal cost.

Thunder Drum sensed the dark mood in which the serpent Summoner had fallen and his eyes brimmed with pleasure.

He then proceeded to take out countless fuming plates already prepared, each one had feeble radiation coming from it. It was evident that the ingredients used to cook them where magic beasts and precious herbs.

The level of waste made Sif feel exhausted.

He knew that the meat was only bronze ranked, and coming from some magic beast that was specially bred to be eaten and not for fighting.

However the herbs could be re-used in so many ways that his head hurt thinking that they had been wasted like that.

Thunder Drum laughed with pleasure when he noticed that even Sif, that Summoner that had been so reserved and calm, was astonished by the display he had put out.

"Come, come! Eat!"

The three Summoners sat at the table, and started eating and drinking without any care in the world. Nia was completely shameless and let even her snake eat its full, next to her.

Not that Thunder Drum seemed to care. "If you join Ivory Tower, you will be able to enjoy this every single day... I don't even need to pay to get my hand on this food."

Nia continued to fill herself, but she still didn't lose her sharp tongue. "This is just food brother Drum! Ivory Tower is tricking you with mere temporary pleasure, their actual rewards are good but not at the level of those given by Mysterious Light."

Thunder Drum's eyes looked at the girl with pity. "I was given several Bone Strengthening Pills and a Thunder Enhancing Potion already." He pointed to his bronze ranked bull. "Little Cloud has already become a peak bronze ranked beast! His electrical powers have also become way stronger than in the past..."

Hearing his owner brag about him, the giant bull pointed his head toward the sky. Crackling red lighting tendrils started to run across his body, emanating a strong pressure.

'What kind of lighting is that?' Sif felt that there was something strange about the red lighting showed by the bull. However, he couldn't put his finger on what it was exactly.

"So what?" exclaimed Nia. She looked truly unfazed by the display of wealth of the other Summoner. "I may have not received anything yet, but it only because Mysterious Light's rewards are more expensive. I need only a few other missions and I will be able to take out something way better than anything that you could ever obtain working for Ivory Tower!"

As they were eating and debating, the plaza continued its rapid descent. At a certain point, Sif began feeling a slight pressure starting to be applied on his Energy Shield.

[Danger! Strong Radiation Source! - 1 Consistent Damage]

"We have crossed over to the Third Level" murmured Thunder Drum.

Sif had already known of the pressure, but feeling it was a completely different thing. It supposedly came from the enormous quantity of Vitality Ash present in the Grotto.

Even the First and Second Level had it, but it was so feeble that most people wouldn't even realize that it was there.

However it was there, and it was also the reason why there weren't any mortal slaves working in the mines.

They would be immediately crushed by the pressure and then most resistant between them would then die poisoned by the radiation in a couple of months at most.

The pressure became stronger and stronger the deeper one went. On the Third Level it would leave even rank 2 Fighter unable to move. Rank 1? they would die rapidly in a couple of minutes.

Sif could feel that if he didn't have an Energy Shield protecting him, he would surely die in a couple of seconds, squashed by the mere pressure in the place.

The strange thing was that the pressure was continuously increasing.

"Here it comes!" laughed suddenly Thunder Drum as the Energy Shield around him became visible and started to rumble with electricity.

Even Nia narrowed her eyes and started concentrating on a dark-colored energy shield filled with numerous moving snakes.

[Danger! Critical! Crystallize Life Energy in Critical Amounts! - 3 Consistent Damage]

Suddenly, Sif's eyes moved towards the border of the plaza. "Uh?"

Most people were starting to move towards the center of the plaza, far as they could from the borders. Not only the common Fighters, but even the Great Fighters also did so. They also began to summon their Fighting Aura.

Remaining on the borders, there were only a few dozens of people that were silently cultivating on the ground and didn't notice the change around them.

'Something big is coming' realized Sif. 'Something that made all the people who already had done the trip before feel very unsure, if they summoned all their strength to resist it... what the hell it could be?'

In that very moment, the dark rocks that surrounded the Elevator were substituted by walls of shiny and smooth black material.

Sif was invested by a large quantity of powerful fluctuation coming from those black shiny walls. His Energy Shield started to tremble under the wave of powerful radiations.

The youth's eyes narrowed. Whatever material that was, it wasn't something that people at his level could stand near to!

He looked at the remaining people near the border of the square: they all started to tremble in pain under the terrifying amount of fluctuation coming from the walls.

"First timers" laughed Nia with an amused in her eyes. Her snake seemed to laugh at her place as she watched many of those poor Fighters starting to fall to the ground, vomiting blood and screaming in pain.

An invisible ripple moved out from Sif, checking the incoming radiation to understand better what kind of power he was dealing with.

A strange look appeared in Sif's eyes, and then his Energy Shield started to loose rapidly power under the waves of powerful fluctuations.

For a single instant, he let a wave of powerful fluctuation hit his body in full before disappearing into thin air. Behind him remained only a small metal scrap, gently hovering in the air.

Thunder Drum looked surprised at the flying piece of metal. A spatial treasure?

Did Summoner Sif run in hiding inside his spatial? What a weak Energy Shield he had if it could not even handle a couple of breaths of pressure. Even Rank 3 Fighter could easily do so!

He laughed at the scene pointing at the girl with a serpent around her. "It seems that your new companion isn't that strong after all! You can keep him ahahaha"

Nia bit down her lips. She looked at the spatial treasure with some longing. It didn't look good as Drum's but it was still a spatial treasure! She had none!

'And it's in the hands of an incompetent that cannot even resist in the presence of Vitality Crystal.'