Chapter 480: The Last Trial
After Michael’s experiments with the God of War, the squad began focusing on the isolated Guardians, killing them one by one.
Most of the time, after exposing their cores, they fed them to Ember, steadily increasing her strength.
Since the Lords themselves didn’t gain much from the cores, they preferred to strengthen their companion instead.
[Killed Guardians: 8/100]
At some point, everybody reached a maximum state of exhaustion. Before engaging in another confrontation, they decided to let their bodies recover.
One benefit of the Tower of Ascension, which they had initially missed due to how intense everything had been in the beginning, was that it supplied a steady amount of spiritual energy, allowing the Lords to cultivate and restore their lost strength.
"Aren’t we taking too long?" Gloria expressed her worries. "Killing them all will take a long while. Not to mention it took us about a month of Earth’s time to enter the tower in the first place. Won’t the Emperor eventually destroy the portal on the star and slay the Titan we are hunting?"
"No, I can feel that time flows differently in the tower." Angel shook her head.
Ember nodded. "Indeed. We are at the center of the Almighty’s domain. Here, the basic laws of the universe have been twisted to the limit."
Several days passed from their perspective. Once their energy recovered, they continued their hunt.
Ember’s body began to shimmer brighter. She came forward with a proposal.
"I want to try challenging a Guardian solo." Her voice carried a newfound sense of confidence that hadn’t been there before.
The Lords weren’t against the idea, remaining close enough to intervene if a problem arose.
Running across the sky, she conjured lights and projectiles of differing shapes, hurling them toward her opponent.
The Guardian facing her, bearing a similar appearance to a bear, let out a deafening roar, aiming to shatter her attacks.
Yet surprisingly, her projectiles remained whole, colliding with the creature.
Attempting to retaliate, the Guardian used its paws to slash, its maw to tear, and its light and flame origin to imitate the fox’s attacks.
But it always fell one step short.
Ember, despite never undergoing evolution and becoming a Guardian herself, radiated a power that didn’t just match the bear. It exceeded what the creature was capable of channeling.
The bear put up a worthy fight befitting its title as a Guardian, yet in the end it failed and was torn apart by the marvelous fox.
No longer would the squad need to cower under the shadow of these beings. They now possessed a member who could overwhelm Guardians alone!
From then on, the Lords grew bolder yet remained cautious. They began challenging the Guardians in teams.
One of the reasons was that, once the isolated Guardians were dealt with, they would be forced to fight several at the same time.
It was wiser to get accustomed to battling in groups.
Michael fought with Nicole and Persephone by his side. The trio proved to be a deadly combination.
His God of War effectively stole the spotlight, keeping the Guardians’ attention focused on itself. In the meantime, the two women flanked the creatures, dispatching them with relative ease.
Persephone’s darkness spread outward, creeping over the beings’ bodies and severely hindering them. Her scythe grew deadlier with every blow, while her foe shuddered under the weight of her black chains.
Nicole, meanwhile, was even more fearsome than the chaotic woman. A single glance from her crimson gaze made the very essence of the Guardians shudder. Her Blood Manipulation felt like a foreign presence that crawled against their core, slowly pushing them to the brink of insanity.
In rare cases, she used her signature weapons, though she tended to avoid their use if possible. Two stars darker than the hue of blood rotated in opposing directions, and upon making physical contact, they began to tear like a chainsaw.
They were so fast that Michael’s drain on his spiritual reserves was minuscule, as he rarely had to maintain the war deity for long.
[Killed Guardians: 42/100]
Steadily, the number of Guardians decreased while the Lord’s battle coordination increased. At some point, Ember became incapable of sensing any other solitary foes.
From then on, they had to challenge multiple Guardians at once.
Given their observations, these illusions were stronger than Monarchs. It was by no means an easy task, considering that only Kings, Queens, and those beyond should have been capable of facing such opponents.
However, everybody had grown more experienced, plus only Ember was actually going to be fighting solo.
Besides the fox and Michael’s team, the squad split into two additional groups.
The first consisted of the three Supreme Lords of the Golden Vanguard. Already members of the same faction, their synergy was naturally at a high level.
The second team consisted of Francesca, Noctis, and the sister Lords Elina and Eliza. Although arguably the weakest of the teams, with imperfect team harmony and not the strongest individually, they were still a force not to be underestimated.
During another battle Michael relied on the God of War. He was busy dueling a humanoid creature bearing four arms.
Unlike the spider crab he had faced when entering the second floor of the tower, his mind was now able to simultaneously orient the ten limbs of the war deity with the same fluency as his own arms.
Michael had to admit that it felt pleasant not to instantly grasp a concept. Due to his prolonged first life, he had experienced almost everything. Simply having to learn how to properly master the God of War technique was, in itself, as valuable as its usefulness in combat.
He proved so overwhelming that he single-handedly defeated the Guardian before Nicole and Persephone even had the chance to enter the battle.
"Soon I should be able to push the technique further and increase the number of arms I can confidently possess." He murmured aloud, mentally debating how much spiritual energy he could afford to expend at a time, before it turned into a disadvantage.
Operating in teams, the Lords fought on, the number of illusions dwindling.
The second floor, which had once been overrun by creatures powerful enough to overwhelm even the Earth’s defenses if they attacked in unison, had been slaughtered to the brink of extinction.
At long last, Michael was presented with the notification he had been waiting for.
[Killed Guardians: 100/100]
[Quest Tower of Ascension - Floor 2: Completed!]
[Distributing Rewards...]
[10,000 Skill Points gained, an entrance to Floor 3 of the Tower of Ascension gained]
[Teleporting to the Sacred Spring...]
Exhausted but fulfilled, the Lords let their bodies disintegrate into particles of light, being teleported back to the familiar recovery spring.
This time, Michael didn’t accidentally get plasma into his lungs, distributing the 10,000 Skill Points he had gained.
• Strength: 32,000 → 36,000
• Agility: 33,000 → 36,000
• Stamina: 33,000 → 36,000
He felt a great sense of achievement as he evened out his basic attributes.
Considering that the Sacred Spring was solely meant for recovery, he had assumed he would be the only one to grow stronger...
He was quickly proven severely wrong when two overwhelming presences suddenly burst out from the side.
Everybody stared at Eliza and Elina, who were sitting in a meditative position, the battles with the Guardians still replaying in their minds.
"They achieved a breakthrough and broke into the Supreme Lord stage!" Emanuel’s laughter boomed across the spring. "From now on, the Golden Vanguard has five Supreme Lords in their ranks!"
Michael was impressed. The fact that they had managed to achieve a breakthrough here of all places was a testament to how focused they had been on advancing forward.
Of course, he didn’t realize that he had played the biggest role by demonstrating just what his God of War technique was truly capable of.
Elina was blooming like a flower, and even Eliza’s icy persona seemed to shatter, a faint smile tugging at her lips.
While this was shockingly good news for their faction, Persephone and Noctis, as members of the Immortal Legion, did not rejoice at their rivals widening the gap.
Nevertheless, they were still in a dangerous place. Aware that speaking out could lead to uncertain complications, they kept their mouths shut.
The allotted day of rest was drawn to a close.
[Time left: 00:00:01]
[Time left: 00:00:00]
[Your rest has ended.]
[Teleporting to Floor 3...]
Opening his eyes, Michael surveyed the surroundings.
Strangely, everything was pitch black, like when they first entered the tower.
The only thing that stood out was Ember’s blazing fur, which shone like a beacon in the darkness.
To add to the confusion, while the Lords were teleported close to each other, the marvelous fox was positioned further away, facing them.
[Quest: Tower of Ascension - Floor 3]
[Difficulty: Impossible]
[Task: MSAP-8 recognizes the champions’ efforts and is willing to meet them at the top. This privilege, however, shall be reserved only for its subject or for those who trespassed on its territory. To proceed, you must show your devotion: kill Ember.]
[Reward: You are granted an entrance to the top of the Tower of Ascension]
Michael: "..."
