CHAPTER 6: Strange Lady.

"So, can I be part of your circle?" Blanche asked, Ethan turned to Luck who happen to be looking at him as well. Ethan stared at Luck, while he only tilt his head as if telling the guy to decide. 

"Luck. You know you're the leader," Luck took a deep sigh and smiled. Of course, he already had a plan to recruit this person to be their member.

"We'll be glad to have you in our team, Miss," Luck answered. Blanche's face lits up as she smiled and look behind her.

"You're right, Lupin! I made friends!" Luck and the others creased their foreheads as they look behind the lady. All of them are confused, exchanging looks with each other.

'This Lupin she's been mentioning...' Luck thought.

'Is he invisible...?' Damon asked to himself.

'That Lupin...i-is he a ghost?' Amethyst thought, confusedly looking at Blanche as she talks to an invisible air behind her. Amethyst felt a shiver down her spine which caused her to hide behind Ethan. 

'There's a chance that she's suffering from a mental illness for being trapped for so long. Schizophrenia, perhaps?' Ethan crossed his arms while staring at Blanche.

"Anyway, Lupin said that the monsters are far from us, so we can take our time to decide where we should go. You're the leader, right? Do you have a destination for us?" Blanche asked, facing Luck. Luck stared at her for a moment, causing her to cock her head.

"What?" Luck shook his head.

"You don't have a destination yet?"

"We have. We plan to go to that tower up ahead," Luck answered. His other new friends nod their heads to agree with him.

"Oh, that's a nice idea. I'm quite curious as well as to why there's a tower inside this tower. What's more confusing is how the surroundings changed as if we're in a different world. Don't you think so too?" Blanche asked. 

"Indeed. That alone is enough to confirm how strange this tower is. We don't have an idea if we're still within the tower or if we're transported to another place...or could it be that that tower we're running towards is the tower we entered earlier?" Ethan asked. The four people with him stared at him with shocked expression. 

"That's actually possible, no?" Damon asked, nodding his head. Luck turned to the tower ahead and his eyes narrowed. 

"But it looks different. The design is a whole lot simpler than the one we entered..." Luck spoke. Blanche nodded repeatedly. Because like Luck, she also upgraded her senses, in suggestion by her friend Lupin. 

"Maybe it's just a tower within the tower?" Damon asked, Luck shrugged his shoulders.

"Let's continue. I don't hear any monsters approaching, maybe we're safe for now," Luck spoke as he starts walking again. The four people with him followed, with Blanche lining up with him.

"So, you're the team leader?" Blanche asked, with a smile on her face.

"Yeah...I think," Luck answered, which made the lady creased her forehead because of his unusual answer. 

"Then, leader. Are you strong?" Blanche asked. Luck turned to her and smiled before he answered. 

"Quite strong," he answered. Blanche's eyes slowly widens as if she was surprised by his answer. As he is the only person that smiled like that to her and answered her question confidently. 

"Hehe ~ I'd love to spar with you! I'm also very strong you know?" Luck nod his head to answer the lady, meanwhile the three behind them are just staring at them. 

"Yeah, I saw how you took down that monster earlier," Luck replied. Blanche glanced at someone behind her and turned to Luck again. 

"What do you mean? The monsters are weak," Blanche answered. This time, Damon spoke between their conversations. 

"That's probably because you're stronger than them--"

"No. They really are weak. The levels above their heads are fake, it's not their real levels," Blanche cut off Damon's words, and what she just said made all of them stopped walking. 

"Do you have any proof to prove that?" Ethan asked. Blanche cock her head and turned to her side. She's once again staring to thin air as if she's looking at someone. 

"Lupin told me that their levels are fake. And when I tried to fight them, I was able to take them down," Blanche spoke. The four people with them exchanged looks with each other before Luck spoke. 

"Maybe it's just you're stronger than them. You did upgraded your strength," Blanche sighed in disbelief. Damon prevented himself from laughing after seeing Blanche's reaction.

"I only upgraded myself strength during the game. The first monster was defeated by me without upgraded strength," Blanche answered. 

"B-but you won't be able to upgrade your stats after the given time, right?" Amethyst asked. Ethan shook his head.

"That's not really mentioned earlier, right? They gave us time to upgrade our stats, but it was never mentioned that we can't upgrade them during the quest," Ethan explained, and while Ethan was saying those words, Luck started working on his status window after he realized Blanche's words. 

"That's right! Lupin was the one who told me about it as well!" Blanche said, patting the thin air. Amethyst glanced at Ethan and her cousin just secretly shook his head to tell her not to mind it. 

"Lupin's a real genius, huh," Luck said, giving Blanche a small smile. Blanche's lips formed a wide smile and then suddenly crossed her arms with a smug expression. 

"Of course, Lupin is my friend after all!" she spoke. Luck nod his head, finally finished upgrading his desired stats. Including strength, and the other stats he did not upgraded earlier. 

The other three started upgrading their stats as well, making sure that they spend golds for their strength and defense. 

"Let's continue heading towards the tower---wait, stay quiet," Luck placed his index finger to his lips as he side-eyed to their left side. Everyone obeyed him right away as they turn to the place where Luck is looking. Blanche wasn't even confused as she heard some noises as well.

The white-haired girl blinked for a couple of times before she smiled.

"You're right, Lupin!" Everyone with her was surprised after she spoke all of a sudden.

"So, there are monsters coming here. To prove to everyone that I'm not lying about their levels, how about you try it yourselves? I swear, I'll interfere if you can't kill them!" Blanche spoke, making Damon, Amethyst, and Ethan exchange glances with each other before turning to Luck, who's staring at Blanche, as she smiles face to face. Seeming to be so proud of her idea.

"Luck...do we--"

"Alright,"

"Luck!?" Luck turned to Damon and smiled. Damon stared at him in disbelief after seeing his smile, and just sighed.

"Nevermind..." Damon spoke, shaking his head through devastation. Ethan just smirked, while Amethyst is feeling nervous. 

"There's no need to worry. I'm the only one who's going to fight it, you don't need to risk your lives--"

"No way, I'll fight them too," Damon spoke. Luck turned to him with a surprised expression and he just smiled at him. 

"Then, I'll also fight them," Ethan added. Amethyst exchanged looks with the three of them as she felt her heart beating fast because of their decision. 

"I-I...I'll also..."

"Blanche, can you watch over Ai?" Ethan asked. Amethyst quickly looked at Ethan because of his words, then to Luck and Damon who are all looking at the white-haired lady, waiting for her response. 

"Of course! I'll make sure no monsters heads this way!" Blanche reassured, making the three guys felt relieve. Ethan turned to Amethyst who looks worried and is tearing up. 

"Brother Tan--"

"It's fine. We won't know anything if we don't risk everything," He said, ruffling his cousin's hair. Amethyst sniffles as she nods her head, wiping off the tears that are planning to escape her eyes.

Ethan smiled at her before he turned around. Luck smiled at Amethyst, while Damon just nod his head. The three of them started walking, and Amethyst can only watch them as they walk away from her. She felt really scared and worried, her heart racing fast and her hands getting cold and sweaty.

"No worries. I know they'll defeat them, the monsters are so weak!" Blanche spoke, trying to comfort the lady beside her. Amethyst turned to her, with fiery eyes as if she's blaming Blanche for making his friends and cousin challenge those monsters. 

Blanche was shocked, because it was the first time that she's been glared at fiercely. She encountered different type of people after she's gone out from her home, but this was the first time that someone looked at her angrily. She's confused. 

"Did I do something wrong?" Blanche asked, not knowing of the reason why she's being glared at.

Amethyst closed her eyes tightly and faced his friends and cousin who are now walking towards a certain area, with Luck leading them. 

He turned to the other two. 

"By the way, maybe you two should upgrade your senses first. Although, you definitely will hear disturbing sounds, smell bloods, and more..." Luck spoke. Damon and Ethan exchanged looks before they nod their heads. 

"We'll do it then," Ethan spoke, Damon just nod his head even though he's still devastated by the fact that they are going to challenge the monsters all because a lady asked them to.

The two guys behind him follows him carefully as they both toggle with their status window, using their golds to upgrade their senses, and as they upgrade it, they are slowly hearing things that they've never heard just a while ago, smell something that can most definitely ruin someone's lungs if they smell it, and feel something strange. 

"Bleugh---"

"*cough cough--COUGH!*" 

Damon covered his own mouth to prevent himself from throwing up, while Ethan couldn't stop coughing. The scent of the metallic blood that Luck has been smelling earlier caused them to feel anxious and nauseous, plus hearing screams everywhere surprised them. 

"Luck...*cough cough* was this the reason why you were acting weird earlier...?" Damon asked, with tears at the edges of his eyes as if he's about to cry. 

"Well, yeah. But, it seems like my nose is already used to the smell---still, these things I've been hearing is really distracting," Luck answered. Ethan stopped breathing for a while before he pull out a handkerchief from his backpack and cover his nose anad mouth before he spoke. 

"You should've told us earlier so we can rest--"

"Resting is unnecessary and it will only waste our time," Luck said, smiling a bit towards Ethan. The latter nod his head. 

"Anyway, we should go. We need to know if Blanche is telling the truth," Luck starts walking faster, with the two guys following him without hesitation at all. 

Meanwhile, Amethyst is looking at them from afar, worried, and annoyed by the lady who's talking to someone she can't see. 

***