The boat docked at the entrance of the spike-shaped massive tower structure that seemed to pierce the clouds and sky above.
As Fang Raon stood right at the entrance and tried to look up, he felt minuscule and thought, "Is this how ants feel when they look up at humans?"
This tower, and every floor inside, was inside the "Tower of Black," and he could only wonder about the size of that thing.
One day, he would love to go outside the Tower of Black and see just how big the actual thing was.
"This raid won’t be the same as in the newbie floors. It won’t just be the boss. We have to go through the boss’ minions before we reach the boss chamber."
Machary said.
They all nodded, and they knew what they had to do. Everyone was already armed and ready to go.
With that, Machary slid the Sea Tower Key into the keyhole, and the heavy-looking double doors creaked open, sounding like chains being dragged across the floor.
It was dark inside, but in that moment blue-flamed lanterns on the rock walls ignited, revealing a long, many-pathed maze of hallways.
Fang Raon and Machary took the lead. They led the party inside the tower, and the doors slammed shut behind them.
...
Creak! Creak! Creak!
In the darkness of the chamber, blue flames appeared in the hollow eye sockets of the crimson-armored skeleton.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
The skeleton’s joints began to move, as it unsheathed a massive sword from its scabbard. It was a beautiful longsword.
At the same time, its army of skeletons rose from their slumber, their jaws clicking and clattering, and like hypnotized army, they began to match forward.
"..."
The crimson-armored skeleton sat down on a throne, rested the longsword on its knee, and looked ahead with its blue flame eyes.
[Fallen Knight - 100%]
...
"...There are a lot of Square Coins scattered about."
Fang Raon said as he picked up several square coins that seemed like they had just fallen out of someone’s pocket.
Under his breath, he said, "yoink," and sneakily tossed them inside his interface and barely increased his total wealth.
"There are hidden treasures in the tower, but if you plan on picking up every coin you see, we will be here all day."
Machary said.
Poppy was also picking up some coins, but when she heard Machary talk, she blushed and put them back down.
In that moment, they arrived at a crossroads, and there were four paths to go. If they went through them one by one, it would literally take days till they found the boss chamber.
"Should we split up so we can find the boss room quicker?"
Abigail suggested.
"...A little risky, no?"
Machary asked.
"We’ll keep in contact with the chat window. We can create a party chat, and if anyone is in trouble, we can rush to help them."
Abigail said.
"We can do that. Poppy, you go with Ragnar, and everyone else will go alone. Mark your paths with a number."
Fang Raon went to the first path, carved "1" on the rock wall, and did the same with every other path.
"If you encounter more paths, mark them with numbers as well, so that when someone finds the boss chamber, you’ll just give the number order of the paths you took to get there."
He finished.
Everyone nodded, and they added each other to the party chat. They also wrote a message.
[Poppy: 4]
[Ragnar: 4]
[Abigail: 3]
[Machary: 2]
[Fang Raon: 1]
Fang Raon went down the first path, Machary the second, Abigail the third, and Poppy and Ragnar went to the fourth path.
’With this, I can always just check on which number each wrote to know what path they took, so when someone needs help, I can immediately rush over to help.’
Fang Raon thought to himself while making his way down the first path, and then pushed the chat window aside.
He didn’t make it disappear and only moved it to the side so it wouldn’t block his view or anything like that.
"...Huh?"
At that moment, he saw something in the distance.
It was a door, covered in rust and also looking thin and old. It wasn’t as heavy-looking as the front door.
It was a door that someone might find on an old wooden shack.
"...Is this the boss room already? Can’t be."
Fang Raon frowned, approached the door, and pushed it open, but he didn’t have to use any strength to do that.
Click! Click! Click!
In that moment, he saw four skeletons in the room.
They were moving their arms strangely, and their legs were making "L" shapes and bending in ways that shouldn’t be possible.
They were... dancing, it looked like.
"These must be the boss’ minions."
Fang Raon said, and then he pulled out his sword and shield before slowly making his way to the skeletons.
While dancing, the skeletons suddenly turned their hollow eye sockets at him and clicked their teeth together.
At the same moment, they pulled out their rusty swords from scabbards, and while dancing like they were in some macabre ballroom, they began to advance towards him.
"...Since they are dancing, I might as well try that skill. This is the first time that I am using it, so hopefully it won’t end in my death!"
Fang Raon took a deep breath, waited till they were closer, and then whispered, "Aurel’s Blade Dance," and his body started moving on its own.
The skeletons swung their rusty swords at him, but he weaved through the storm of blades and waved his sword around.
Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!
Refined Sword cut their skulls off their bony necks with the utmost precision, and rendered them lifeless once more.
"Haah..."
He took a deep breath and looked at the dead skeletons.
’That was pretty close. I thought I was dead when I saw those swords approaching me, but my body moved in a way that it had never moved before.’
Fang Raon thought to himself.
However, he still felt like it wasn’t perfect, which wasn’t all that surprising since this skill was only level 1.
He also didn’t have the Speed attribute as high as it should be to make Aurel’s Blade Dance even more deadly.
’Well, the good thing is that I know in which areas I should improve. I am starting to get more comfortable in fighting.’