Zecht and his party soon entered the central square. The monsters were not far behind them, however.
As soon as a goblin entered the square grounds, the three golem cores hovering in front of the city hall glowed brighter.
As enchanted, the golem cores were to be activated as soon as they detected monster presences.
The pavements on the square were torn from the paths and gathered around the three magic rocks. The fragments amalgamated into the huge shape of three hunched figures.
The golems landed on the ground and immediately rushed past Zecht and the others.
The magic rock creatures engaged the horde of monsters coming from the east side of the inner wall district.
Seeing the golems had intercepted the monsters, Zecht hurried to lay the injured Luan at the bottom of the city hall's stairs.
He finally reached for the health potion Shanny brought him and opened the vial to heal his comrade.
Unfortunately, Luan's eyes had turned empty as they stared the clear blue sky above.
['Luan (★★)' has returned to the Goddesses' embrace! Her fighting spirit will be remembered forever.]
Tarran was about to ask Zecht why he was not pouring his health potion on Luan. But the boy soon saw the party leader closed the lid of the girl's eyes.
The young archer did not say anything. He simply swallowed hard and gripped his bow even tighter.
Kroaahhh!
Ogre roars suddenly came from the other side of the square.
One of the golems quickly rushed to intercept the horde of monsters now arriving from the western side of the district.
It was then that Trudy and the others arrived at the city hall.
Norn was seen carrying Ashta on her back. The Party 3 leader had lost a leg and were bleeding heavily from the wounds on her back.
[What happened?]
Zecht asked Norn whom was just laying Ashta by the city hall's entrance, behind the goddesses statue.
[We had a hard time getting away from the western gates. There were too many monsters. Ashta got ambushed by a group as we turned in an alley.]
Norn said as she poured health potions on Ashta's wounds.
The Party 3 leader sighed at the telling.
[It's my fault. I wasn't paying attention to where I was going.]
The woman seemed really strained and spent.
Even without the wounds, I doubted she would be able to continue to fight from that point on.
Norn stood up and whispered to Zecht's ear. But the mirror managed to hear her words loud and clear.
[She's been taking the deaths of her teammates pretty hard. The reason she got ambushed in the first place was because I found her staring into space as we ran. She would had been dead if I didn't shout at her.]
Zecht nodded. Understanding the woman's situation.
[Maddock and Luan are dead, Norn.]
The 3-star spearwoman bit her lip and sighed.
[I saw the notifications. I know. You don't have to worry that--]
[We can mourn the others later. Right now we got a statue to defend!]
Shanny interrupted them as she climbed the city hall stairs to the goddesses statue.
She pointed to the square where the golems were fighting back the monsters pouring from all over the city.
[The golems are fighting well. But Serafina said they'll be gone before long.]
Darius, Trudy, and Tarran joined them at the statue in front of the city hall's entrance.
[We will fail the trial if the monsters claim the statue. We need to protect it until Serafina and Jonah brings the imperial army reinforcements.]
Trudy stated the matters.
[But what if the reinforcements aren't coming?]
Norn asked.
[W-well, we got to protect the statue either way, right? Until all the monsters are dead?]
Tarran replied.
[I haven't seen any notification suggesting Lady Serafina and Jonah failing in their quest to bring reinforcements. I'm sure they will come.]
Darius insisted.
Zecht nodded to the conclusion of their discussion.
[That's settled, then! We'll assume a formation around the statue to keep monsters from getting closer! Norn, Shanny, and I will be at the bottom of the stairs acting as the vanguards. Trudy will tackle any monster that slipped past us. Darius and Tarran will take vantage point at top of the stairs, right beside the statue, and support the vanguards from there.]
Nobody objected to Zecht's plan that they immediately positioned themselves according to his instructions.
The three golems I created were mighty. But they could not take on the thousands of monsters streaming into the central square.
A couple of dozens, even hundreds, managed to get past the golems and charged to the goddesses statue.
Zecht, Norn, and Shanny fiercely engaged with all the monsters be them goblins, wolves, or ogres.
Few goblins and wolves would manage to get past even those three and climbed the stairs to the city hall.
Trudy swiftly intercepted all of them with her sword even though she had lost an arm.
The woman knew she should not dwell on the loss or, even worse, be afraid of it. She knew that being afraid would weakens her in the trial.
And this was not a trial one should be weakened in.
But even with the three golems, the three vanguards, and Trudy as support could not intercept all of the enemies approaching the statue.
There were also monsters that were approaching from the flanks of the building, mostly those that came from the western side of the city.
They would climb through the city hall's structure and eventually got their way around to the top of the stairs, to the statue.
Darius and Tarran would try to eliminate these monsters that got past their blockade.
[Over here!]
Ashta suddenly shouted from behind the statue.
Darius and Tarran turned around and were surprised to see a goblin lying on the floor with an arrow on its head.
The monster was only three steps away from the statue.
They, we, almost failed the trial.
The two archers then realized the goblin arrived from the inside of the city hall, through its entrance where Ashta was resting at.
By then, Darius and Tarran found Ashta already drowned in her own pool of blood, surrounded by a dozen goblins that just slaughtered her.
['Ashta (★★)' has returned to the Goddesses' embrace! Her fighting spirit will be remembered forever.]
[Party 3 has been annihilated!]
The monsters certainly arrived through the city hall's other entrance.
Judging by the bow in Ashta's limp hand, no doubt she was the one who prevented the goblin from reaching the statue.
She used the last remnant of her strength to save us all.
I could not believe I missed her body when I returned to the central square.
The last two archers promptly secured the entrance by riddling the approaching goblins with enchanted arrows.
A while later, another portal opened and Jonah and I arrived.
The perspective of the mirrors finally merged together as one.
The rest happened the way I remembered it.
[Stage Clear!]
['Serafina (★★★★)', 'Jonah (★★)', 'Shanny (★★)', ….]
[Reward – 80,000G, Basic Wind Elemental Stone (D-), Tear of Malaikat (S), Book of Malaikat (S+), Fragment of Malaikat (SS)]
[Congratulations on clearing the tenth floor, master!]
[The lobby's name will be cha…]
The mirrors finally darkened, leaving the entire chamber in pitch-black darkness.
Soon the mirrors lit up with their usual glow and brightened the room once more.
I noticed the third mirror on the furthest right had finally glowed up like the rest.
But I could not bother to check what was written on it at the moment.
I stepped out of the rift of space-time and strode into the first floor square.
It was already nighttime when I was done watching the tenth floor's recording.
There were even no longer people training in the first floor training ground.
I was certain it was well past midnight for the lobby to be this empty.
Everyone must had returned to the lodging and rested for the evening.
But sleep was the furthest in my mind right now.
I made my way through the square and walked to the storage beside the equipment workshop and the first floor training ground.
Nobody was inside as I stepped in. The crafters and their apprentices who often came to grab materials were no longer working this late into the night.
I waved my hand and lit the lamp hanging by the wall using a simple fire magic.
The storage was full with crates and sacks of bounties from the Weekday Dungeons.
There were also some monster parts collected from the trials as well as the health potions I created in the magic hall. What was left of them after the Quintal Trial that was.
But those were not why I was here right after viewing the record of the tenth floor.
Among the crates in the storage, there were two wooden chests sat atop the piles.
These two chests were carved ornately with patterns of clouds, serpents, and winged maidens.
The decorations made the chests looked as if containing something important within them. They were.
Each chest was no longer than the length of my arm. One was even shorter than my forearm. The longer one was three times as thick as the shorter chest.
I approached the larger chest first and lift its lid.
Inside could be found a glimmering crystal the size of two grown-men's heads. I could sense magical properties from the rock, but I could not tell what at the moment.
I shut the lid and turned to the smaller chest.
As I opened the lid, I felt the unintelligible whispering growing louder in my head.
The chained grimoire with the feathered-wings symbol sat comfortably on the chest's cushioned interior.
I grabbed the book and the chains bounding the text suddenly disintegrated into thin white mist.
Ignoring the odd occurrence, I flipped to its first page.
A silver feather was slipped behind the leather cover. It had even stronger energy than the crystal.
I did not know its origin and its uses, but the feather seemed to be part of the reward obtained from clearing the subquest.
What was disturbing was the fact that the mysterious whispers grew louder and stronger the closer I got to the feather.
What could it possibly be?
I shifted the feather so I could read what was written on the grimoire's first page.
[The wings shall summon the light whom will don the power of eternity.]
[Many will be drawn and answer the call for the light. But the light shall come.]
[The light will either begin, end, or destroy everything.]
Odd and ominous things were written on the first page. So I flipped to the next one and the next and the next.
All I could find was cryptic magic formulas that I could not even tell how they were supposed to be used in any kind of sorcery.
I sighed as I closed the book and returned it to its fancy chest.
My gaze rested on the objects that returned with us from the tenth floor.
Seven people died in our second Quintal Trial because we were trying to obtain these objects. These rewards.
And the reason why we were trying to obtain them was because I suggested it in the first place.
Most of the hardships and deaths that occurred on the tenth floor happened because of me.
It was my fault that the trial turned out to be the way it did.
Those deaths that I witnessed with my own eyes were my responsibility.
I had to carry the weight of their souls till it was finally my time to depart to the eternal beyond.
Perhaps even then.