Chapter 43: 43. The Final Floor (2)
The Tyrant fell, and the arena went silent.
Silver mist poured from its collapsing body, flooding the obsidian floor in waves of pale light. Its two faces... one serene, one screaming dissolved last, unraveling back into the veil. Its four arms crumbled. Its massive frame crashed down and shattered into a million drifting sparks.
Nathan stood at the edge of the combat zone, bow still raised, breathing ragged. The Leyline Ring hummed, refilling mana drained by the final [Focus Shot]. His arms ached. His legs threatened to buckle. But he was still standing.
Then the notifications hit... not small chimes, but a flood. The accumulated experience of an entire High Class Tower, compressed into one overwhelming reward.
[Ding! The Veil Tyrant Defeated!]
[Ding! XP Gained!]
[Ding! Level Up! Nathan Cross: Level 30 Reached!]
[Ding! Mirko has reached Level 30! Evolution threshold met!]
[Mirko is evolving from E-Rank to D-Rank!]
Green light erupted from Mirko’s frame. Her ornate green-and-white bodysuit reforged itself... plates grew more defined, silver filigree traced her pauldrons, her gauntlets thickened with mana-dense metal. When the light faded, she stood taller, more radiant, her pink eyes blazing.
[Ding! Mirko has evolved to D-Rank!]
[New Knight Skill: Aegis Strike — A counterattack that activates upon blocking. Absorbs part of the damage and releases it as a shockwave through the next attack.]
"Master. I have grown stronger."
"I can see that."
[Ding! Kuro: Level 12 Reached!]
[Ding! Nathan Cross: Level 31 Reached!]
Kuro, still in her newly evolved humanoid form, flexed her fingers around her shadow daggers. "The gap between myself and the Berserker has narrowed."
"It has." Nathan nocked a fresh arrow. "Let’s use it."
---
The silver mist cleared, and the two parties faced each other across the fallen Tyrant.
Marcus Kade hadn’t moved. His greatsword was still in hand, chipped but unbroken. Ursa crouched beside him, metallic spines bristling.
Behind him, Derek trembled, not just with fear, but with fury, his fists clenched so tight his nails drew blood. His Salamander coiled at his feet, flame guttering.
"Kill them!" Derek’s voice cracked. "Kill them both! just END THIS!"
Kade ignored him. He rolled his scarred shoulders. "You heard the boss. No more games."
Nathan gave his orders. Dillon and Garrett moved to the support zone. Elise focused on Derek and his Salamander. Mirko would hold Kade, using [Aegis Strike] to turn his strength against him. Kuro would flank.
"Then let’s end this."
---
Kade charged first.
His greatsword swept toward Mirko in a horizontal arc. She met it with [Impenetrable Fortress] mana armor flaring green as the blade connected. The impact rang like a struck bell.
Then [Aegis Strike] activated.
The force of Kade’s blow was absorbed, kinetic energy, mana, raw power and channeled along Mirko’s blade. She pivoted, the stored force surging through her sword arm, and slashed at Kade’s exposed midsection. A crescent of green-and-pink energy erupted from her blade.
Kade’s eyes widened. He twisted, bringing his greatsword up to parry, but the shockwave caught him across the chest. The Level 51 Berserker skidded backward across the obsidian, boots grooving the stone.
"New trick," Kade grunted. A thin line of blood traced his ribs. "Should’ve guessed."
Ursa lunged at Mirko’s side but met a curved wall of blue energy. Elise’s [Mana Shield] deflected the blow, and her Frost Golem slammed into the bear, ice against steel.
Kuro activated [Invisibility] and vanished.
Derek sent his Salamander at Nathan. Nathan tracked it with [Hunter’s Insight]... trajectory, speed, the exact moment it would strike... and loosed a [Mana Arrow] into the soft tissue beneath its jaw. The Salamander recoiled, hissing.
Derek charged, his blade wreathed in flame, wild and desperate. He never reached Nathan.
Kuro materialized directly behind him. She didn’t strike but just let him feel the cold edge of her dagger against his neck, the whisper of her breath near his ear.
"Boo."
Derek screamed. He spun, swinging wildly, but Kuro was already gone, [Shadow Meld] carrying her into darkness. The Salamander thrashed, confused, as its master stumbled backward, clutching his throat where cold steel had kissed his skin.
"She’s on me! She’s on me!"
In the support zone, Tyler and Reid couldn’t help. Their morale was shattered, and it showed in their summons’ trembling forms.
---
Mirko and Kade dueled.
[Unstoppable Force] built with each clash. First strike. Second. Third. Kade’s Berserker passive made his swings faster, heavier, more desperate as his health dropped. But Mirko’s [Quick Reflex] let her read his movements, evade by inches, and every block triggered [Aegis Strike], turning his strength back on him.
Fourth. Fifth. Sixth. Shockwaves accumulated, cracking Kade’s guard. Seventh. Eighth. Ursa tried to intervene, but Elise’s Frost Golem pinned it. [Glacial Lance] streaked past Kade’s shoulder, forcing him to twist... Mirko’s ninth strike carved a line across his thigh.
His health was dropping. The Berserker rage was beginning to consume him... less precise, more powerful. He bet everything on overwhelming force.
Kuro reappeared at his flank and activated [Dome of Silence]. A zone of absolute magical stillness enveloped the Berserker. Kade’s mouth opened to shout a skill but nothing came out. His greatsword’s edge, which should have flared with [Power Strike], remained inert.
He tried to pivot, but the silence had broken his rhythm.
"Now!" Nathan called.
Mirko’s tenth strike crashed down. [Unstoppable Force] detonated, nine previous blows multiplied into a single devastating impact. Simultaneously, Kuro’s [Assassinate] found Kade’s exposed back, damage scaling with his missing health. Her daggers bit deep.
And Nathan released the [Focus Shot] he’d been charging for thirty seconds.
The combined force of Mirko’s finisher, Kuro’s critical strike, Nathan’s fully charged arrow converged on Kade in the same heartbeat. The shockwave, the pierce, the spear of blue-white light.
Kade’s greatsword shattered.
The dark iron blade broke into three pieces, spinning across the obsidian floor. Kade dropped to one knee. Ursa howled and dissolved into light, retreating into her summon mark.
For a long moment, no one moved.
Then Kade raised a hand. His voice was hoarse. "Enough. I yield."
---
Derek stood alone.
Tyler and Reid had retreated to the far edge of their support zone, their summons cowering. Neither had tried to intervene. They stared at the scene... Kade on his knees, Ursa gone, the greatsword in pieces.
Derek’s Salamander was pinned beneath the Frost Golem’s fist, whimpering.
Derek himself trembled, his blade hanging loose. His face twisted with disbelief and fury. "This isn’t... this can’t..." He looked at Nathan, at Mirko in her gleaming armor, at Kuro with her shadow daggers. "You’re F-Grade. You were supposed to be NOTHING."
"You cliché fuck... I was never nothing." Nathan’s voice carried across the arena. "You just couldn’t see it."
The TCA interface chimed:
[Duel Result: Nathan Cross’s Party — Victory.]
[Final Floor Clear Time: 1 hour 52 minutes.]
[Opposing Party Status: Defeated]
The veil began to fade. The exit portal materialized, a shimmering doorway of pale light.
Garrett and Dillon burst from the support zone. Garrett grabbed Nathan and shook him. "You did it! Solo S-Rank, now a duel victory against a Level 51. Cross, you’re insane!"
Dillon stared at Kuro. "Little Shadow, you were magnificent."
Elise walked to Nathan. Her expression was calm, but warmth flickered in her ice-blue eyes. "We won."
"We won," he agreed.
"You nearly killed yourself getting here. The climbs, the exhaustion, the injury. Any of it could have broken you. But you didn’t break."
"Neither did you. Neither did any of us."
She almost smiled. "No. We didn’t."
Mirko sheathed her sword. "Master. I believe I’ve earned a new song. With trumpets."
"I don’t think the system provides trumpets."
"Then I will compose them myself."
Kuro remained at Nathan’s side, her daggers dissolved, her black eyes fixed on the exit portal. "What comes next, Summoner?"
Nathan looked at his party, his friends. Garrett, loyal and steady. Dillon, irreverent and skilled. Elise, calm as winter. Mirko, fierce and proud. Kuro, silent and lethal.
He thought of Lucy waiting at home, of the cramped apartment, of the Towers on the horizon, and the long climb still ahead.
"Next?" He started walking toward the portal. "We go home. And then we get ready for whatever comes after. Something tells me this world still has more bullshit to offer me"
The party followed him out of the Veiled Colosseum, into the light. The end of a Chapter and the beginning of another.
