Chapter 29: At what cost?

[You are the first to clear the fourth floor!]

[Please enter your name]

Kastor looked at the notification and put [Alliance Guild] on the name since there were at least a dozen of guilds that participated in the clear attempt. He looked around and watched only a few of them were injured during the battle and they still could continue to the fifth floor.

"We are going to take an hour break, use it wisely," Kastor said as he stood in front of the portal to the fifth floor. All of them nodded with understanding as they cooked their food and looted the body parts of the demons.

"Do you think they can clear the tenth floor?" Gunnar asked Mykel who was busy enjoying his drink and cigarette.

"The Azrael tower isn't like any others, I don't think they can make it to the sixth floor," Mykel answered and looked at the TV.

"Is it because they're just that bad or is it because of something else?" Rozan asked as he looked at Mykel.

"Let's just wait and see since they should have cleared the fourth floor by now," Mykel answered as he looked at the reporter who got information from one of the heavily injured Awakeners after they cleared the third floor and left the tower.

All of them listened to Mykel and then looked at the TV.

"So this is the fifth floor, why does it look so different than the rest of the floor?" Caesar asked as he looked around at the dried soil with so many graveyards in front of them.

Before Kastor could say anything a notification appeared in front of them.

[Your first trial is beginning]

[The servant of the first demon lord Murrad of Azrael has been waiting for this moment]

They were shocked to see that notification and immediately went on guard as they looked around them.

After a whole minute since the notification appeared, they didn't see nor hear anything but silence and the moonlight that provided the light. Suddenly they heard a crow cawing from the distance, and not long after that, the ground shook as if something was moving underneath the ground.

A giant arm came out from the ground and it was 12 feet tall, almost as tall as the first demon lord in Azazel tower that Mykel fought. They were surprised to see that demon come to the surface and before they could do anything, another one appeared from the ground and then another one.

"What is this?! Is this for real?!" Caesar asked as he glared at the three demons in front of him with disbelief.

"Everyone! Get in position!" Kastor said as he raised his sword.

Kastor charged at those demons and followed by some of the Awakeners while the Awakeners specialized in magic stayed behind and bombard those demons with magic.

An hour had passed and they managed to defeat one of them, but their relief disappeared the sound of the crow could be heard again and the demon they just defeated came back to life and started to wipe a group of Awakeners in a single smash of its hands. Knowing the situation, Kastor thought that one of those demons might be the real one, so he split the team into two to deal with the other two demons and hope they could defeat him before they were running out of people.

Another hour had passed and they were so desperate that none of them was the real one. There were at least two hundred of them when they entered the fifth floor, but now there were only dozens of them and most of them were heavily injured.

"Kastor, we won't make it out alive," Caesar said as he carried a heavily injured Awakener.

Kastor looked around and saw the other team just defeated the demon, but then the crow was cawing again and made the demon come back to life. He noticed that the crow might be the real one and it made those three demons keep reviving no matter how many times they tried to kill them.

"Find the crow!" Kastor screamed as he looked at the Awakeners behind him. They all nodded and immediately ran past the demons to find the crow that had been cawing ever since they came here.

"I found the crow!" An Awakener said as he pointed at the crow who had been sitting on top of a tombstone.

All the Awakeners ran and started attacking the crow but it flew away and dodged all the attacks easily. The crow started to caw louder and then more demons came out from the ground. Caesar didn't want to waste any more time and he immediately ran toward the demon and climbed up through its then jumped high enough to slice the head of the crow.

All the demons collapsed and lifeless the moment the crow lost its head. Everyone was silently looking at Caesar who landed on the ground with the headless crow right next to him. Then they all started to cheer their lungs out the moment the notification appeared in front of them.

[You are the first to clear the fifth floor!]

[Please enter your name]

Kastor sat down and exhaled deeply as he covered his face with relief and disbelief at the same time. "If only I realize it sooner, we won't lose a lot of people here," he said as he shook his head and was disappointed in himself.

Caesar stood in front of Kastor and offered his hand to him. "Come on, let's leave. Everyone is waiting for you,"

Kastor lifted his head and looked at Caesar who didn't even show any expression since he also felt the same way as him. He grabbed Caesar's hand and stood up as he looked at the dead bodies of the Awakeners.

"We cleared the fifth floor, but at what cost? We sacrificed their lives for something that's not even worth trying," Kastor said as he sheathed his sword. "We are just being used for someone's entertainment and cause. I don't want to sacrifice their lives for nothing anymore, I'm done with this," he continued as he walked away and left the tower.

"Wow, look at them," Gunnar said quietly as he frowned. "There are so many of them who have fallen," he continued as he crossed his arms to comfort himself.

Everyone was pitying them as they watched hundreds of dead bodies of Awakeners being carried out of the tower except for Agnez since she believed in Mykel's word that something like that would happen to them.

The reporter ran as she saw Kastor walking on his own with his head down and his left hand holding the handle of his sword.

"Mister Kastor! What happened inside the tower?!" The reporter asked and put the mic on Kastor's face.

Kastor stopped and looked at the camera with a straight face. "What happened inside the tower is nothing but a waste of lives and time," he said and then walked away while the reporter looked at him with disbelief.

Mykel smirked when he heard it and then poured himself a full glass of vodka to celebrate his victory.

"It's a waste of lives and time if you don't know what you're going to deal with. We have experienced it ourselves but luckily we managed to do it," Gunnar said as he kept watching the TV. "If it wasn't for Gerrard, we might not be here now," he looked at Gerrard and patted him on the shoulder.

Gerrard smiled and patted Gunnar on the back with a smile on his face.

"Don't forget that Mykel was the one who made it possible for us to fight the servants. Without him, we might have joined them and died in the tower like those guys," Agnez said and drank her gin.

Jeanne had no idea that they had gone up to the fifth floor and then she looked at the TV and saw the dead bodies or what remains of their bodies. She looked at Mykel who just kept drinking his vodka as he stared blankly at the counter, she realized that she just made the right decision to stay and didn't join them in the attempt.

"Thanks, boss," Gunnar said as he looked at Mykel.

Mykel smirked and raised his eyebrows. "No need to thank me, it's my job to make you guys the strongest Awakeners in the world. As long as you proved yourself as the best Awakeners, there's no need for you to thank me," he said as he stood up and put a cigarette in his mouth.

They all nodded with understanding as they kept staring at Mykel.

"Where are you going, boss?" Gunnar asked Mykel who walked toward the door.

Mykel stopped and lit his cigarette then turned around. "There's an important matter that I need to do, I'm going to collect the promise he made since it's already over," he said then left the tavern.