Chapter 13: The Great Liberation
That's right. Admiral Robert alone is the greatest nemesis of an entire alliance made up of four different world leaders who are all under the leadership of World President Nicholas.
No matter how much the Four Beasts Alliance denies this claim, almost everyone on Earth knows the fact that up to this date their entire alliance still can't get out of their respective territories without the permission of the Kraken Beast Republic that controls the oceans that surrounds their continents. Because of that, they are constantly on the disadvantageous side whenever they have any negotiations together.
Although when it comes to the forces being commanded by the two organizations, the Four Beasts Alliance has the advantage compared to the Kraken Beast Republic. That's because the latter's territories are in the oceans where living is very difficult and there's hardly any land to build as their base to train soldiers and increase their manpower. Their best way to access huge lands is through the 'Tower', where it just so happens that the Four Beasts Alliance held more advantages compared to them.
Nevertheless, that still doesn't change the fact that on Earth the Four Beasts Alliance can't defeat the Kraken Beast Republic as they aren't as adept in naval warfare compared to the latter and there is no possible way for them to effectively train soldiers in that certain aspect as every move in the ocean would be noticed by the Kraken Beast Republic, including inside the 'Tower' since they also held control of almost every oceans at that side as well.
"It's really strange and somewhat weird to see the famous Heroes in the future being young again," Kayn expressed his thoughts as he observed Admiral Robert's appearance.
Looking at the man that appeared on the big screens, it could be seen that Admiral Robert is of the same generation and age as World President Nicholas, both Heroes belonging to the first generation. Well, truth be told, ever since the appearance of the 'Tower', these two great figures have actually constantly butt heads against each other almost on every single floor.
Similar to World President Nicholas, Admiral Robert also doesn't show any signs of aging in his overall appearance and body despite his age. But unlike the former who constantly maintains an upstanding and unstained aura, the latter doesn't bother to hide his fierceness and untamed nature around him. Every time this two are put in the same picture together, World President Nicholas would always look like a docile dog, whereas Admiral Robert is the wild wolf.
"Good day everyone!" Admiral Robert greeted with a smile reaching on both ears, evidently expressing just how proud he was right now.
"No need to be afraid, because I mean no harm to anyone. As a matter of fact, I actually brought all of you good news from the inside of the 'Tower'," Admiral Robert paused as he took out a blue-colored crystal from under his table.
In the next moment, a scene was transmitted by the blue-colored crystal that shows a group of Heroes that just slayed a knight wearing golden armor.
The golden knight lay on the ground with its head separated from its body as its neck constantly spews out a fountain of green-colored blood everywhere nearby. Meanwhile, the group of Heroes surrounding it were celebrating their triumph.
Suddenly, as if receiving some sort of signal from Admiral Robert, the leader of the group stepped forward to grab the head of the golden knight and remove its helmet for the entire world to see its face.
What appeared in front of everyone was a face of a living being that they have never encountered before inside the 'Tower'.
It was a Humanoid face that has a pointed head with whiskers on both sides of its nose, that has large eyes that is entirely red in color, thinly furred ears, and its mouth had two protruding razor teeth sticking closely together on top.
After showing the head of the golden knight to everyone, the transmission was immediately cut off and returned to Admiral Robert.
In the next second, everyone who saw the scene started expressing their own opinions with each other online.
"What on earth was that?!"
"A rat?!"
"That was a seriously huge rat!"
"No way… That's a Ratman!"
"It seems like the monsters that will be appearing on the 201st floor to the 210th floors are going to be Ratmen,"
"…"
It was exactly as everyone was saying; Ratmen, one of the tribes that belong to the Beastmen race, are the monsters that all Heroes would have to fight on the 201st floor of the 'Tower' to the 210th floor.
Ratmen are filthy, disgusting, and foul creatures that live in unpleasant and almost unlivable places, which is what the setting of the 201st floor until the 210th floor of the 'Tower' would be like. They are the most hated enemies since their combat style is as dirty as who they are. Fortunately, the majority of them don't have any extra outstanding traits amongst them other than what's commonly found in rats and mice.
As he saw the scene that was transmitted by the blue-colored crystal, also called Transmission Crystal, Natas finally realized the reason why Kayn doesn't want to miss this part. In his head, he finally remembered that this was actually the day when the Kraken Beast Republic pulled a huge stunt that ultimately changed the approach of every Hero and even Villains in clearing the floors inside the 'Tower'. This day is known to be the 'The Great Liberation' as everyone became free to some extent from the tight limitation that World President Nicholas implemented with the approval of six world leaders, respectively the Four Beasts Alliance along with the Church of Fate and Church of Messiah.
Before 'The Great Liberation', the clearing of each floor inside the 'Tower' is conducted in an organized and coordinated manner to avoid any disorder and disarray from happening. This was good as law and order are important to have so as to achieve unity amongst all the Heroes, and also restrict the Villains to some degree from creating more chaos and anarchy.
However, in reality, this so-called organized and coordinated manner is actually a pretense. In truth, it is a method for the big guilds and powerful Heroes to use in order to suppress the sprouting guilds and force the casual and weak Heroes into becoming cannon fodders.
That's because in this system; money, items, and other types of currency became the means in order for Heroes to gain any sort of benefits and profits from the territories found inside the 'Tower'. Without it, Heroes would have no other choice but to pick up scraps from community territories where it's always packed to the brim with countless Heroes, including Villains as well that constantly hide in the dark, patiently waiting for a perfect opportunity to strike.
In that kind of poor and substandard scenario, if Heroes want to grow even more powerful and stronger, they'd have no other choice but to join powerful guilds and become the dogs of powerful Heroes in order to receive the required standard to have the hopes to keep up with the demand for the Heroes. Otherwise, they'd be living worse than trash because at least trash is being picked while they aren't due to how weak and useless they are.
Moreover, because of such an unfair system, the clearing of each floor of the 'Tower' became very slow. How slow exactly? Well, it took everyone ten or so years just to reach the 201st floor, whereas Kayn in the future alongside his guild was able to reach the 900th floor given the same span of time.
At this moment, Kayn finally understood why that system was introduced by World President Nicholas in the first place. It was so that they will be able to delay the clearing of the 'Tower' while simultaneously buying some time for themselves to become much stronger than the majority in a short period of time due to them abusing the system. With the current power they possess afterward, it's only natural that they are almost unstoppable and could eliminate virtually anyone that would potentially pose a threat to the 'Tower'.
"No wonder I wasn't able to notice how World President Nicholas trained his hidden forces," Kayn thought to himself. In that span of ten years or so of time where he wasn't hugely involved in anything related to the tower, World President Nicholas probably used it to build his forces and made them stronger. And after 'The Great Liberation' was announced, every single Hero, including Villains as well, frantically started racing in gathering resources and becoming powerful in fear that another system is going to be established in order to maintain order. Not only that, but everyone on Earth was also using that opportunity to earn as many benefits and profits for themselves in order to become rich and hold more authority and power. It should be during that time that all the information related to the plan of World President Nicholas was burned and buried six feet underground to clear every piece of evidence about it and prevent him, or anyone else, from possibly finding anything about it in the future.
"How cunning…"
Fortunately, all of that is about to change today and the opportunity to see the truth before it eventually gets hidden in the dark is presented in front of him.
"To be honest, I am very grateful to Admiral Robert. If it wasn't because of 'The Great Liberation', then I would have stayed picking up scraps for a long time just so that I can afford to buy the rights to raid a territory and get resources to grow stronger and more powerful," Kayn expressed his appreciation of Admiral Robert's efforts of changing the system.
Every single Hero started from scratch, and he wasn't excluded from that fate. The only difference is, the time it took for him from picking up scraps to officially becoming a Hero was much shorter compared to the majority of Heroes as he benefited a lot from 'The Great Liberation'. The latter generation after him also experienced the same, as everyone finally has almost equal chances to become powerful and stronger.
And all of that happened because of Admiral Robert, that's why Kayn doesn't want to miss this scene.