Alaric spent a few minutes looking for the other monster and sighed to himself—the creature had hidden itself and from what he could see, the swamp stretched on far longer than necessary, he jumped onto one of the tallest trees and returned his weapons to their inventory. He raised his hand and the air started screaming in agony as flames flickered on and off in the center of his palm. The flames roared to life forming a blaze that drained the moisture from the atmosphere from their intensity, he commanded the flames giving them form and the flames obeyed turning into a black sphere of fire.
"Come out!" He yelled and threw the sphere down.
The sphere of fire touched the swamp and the water sizzled, bubbling profusely as the sphere dug deeper into the water before it violently exploded, the blast radius stretching to touch the edges of the tower, shaking the entire structure of the said tower. The amount of aura he had spent caused the timer outside to rapidly tick while the gate itself slowly started to crack—As the aftermath settled, Alaric stood on the single burnt tree, and a huge crater surrounded him, his eyes moved rapidly across the floor and he grinned when he found what he needed. He jumped down and knelt before the blue gem, and collected it storing it in his inventory.
Alaric started making his way to the circle that led to the next floor when he was forced to stop—dread flooded his system, the hairs on the back of his head stood up as the circle changed color and a massive axe shot from it and at him. Quick as lightning, Alaric shifted to the side and grabbed the axe, using his superior strength from his draconian aura to stop the axe. He climbed ontop of the axe and gazed down at the circle which was growing in size. The crack in space was familiar to what he had experienced a week earlier, and his grin was erased from his face when he felt the same presence as the man who had toyed with him then.
A huge hand came out from the circle, followed by an arm and the thing appearing from the circle dragged itself out slowly and it stood at its full height, towering over Alaric—the creature had brown skin, wearing leather pelt around its waist and it had one eye along with humongous tusks for teeth, it looked down at Alaric and laughed before its eye changed.
"You are dragon? Puny for a dragon that could threaten existence itself"The beast chuckled and reached down to grab it's axe forcing Alaric to jump back onto the tree that remained after the attack he sent.
"Are you with the other guy?" Alaric asked, his demeanor serious and the aura around him becoming much more potent.
"I am a vessel, my master is the architect of towers like this. If you mean Venus, I am."
"Good, that's all I needed to know." Alaric mumbled and clutched his hands into fists, purple lightning started to dance around his body—and in a blink he was gone, having left a streak of lightning. He appeared before the giant and hit it with a punch sending the giant flying with a single punch. Not wanting to waste the leverage he had, he flickered above the stunned giant and thrusted his fingers down, shooting a massive bolt of primordial lightning causing the giant to wail in pain from the attack.
Alaric suspended himself in the air, his wing flapping behind him—he knew that individuals like these, he shouldn't pull his punches, he knew from fighting the man that he could die if he was not careful. Having locked in on the giant, Alaric saw the blast coming from its eye and he dodged to the side, only to be forced to move again as the giant followed him with the blast, tearing through the walls and breaking the spatial barrier separating the tower and the real world slightly with each concussive blast it shot.
Lightning cracked and the air roared as Alaric twisted midair and blasted himself to the giant that was getting up, his twin blades equipped midflight and he twisted around cutting through the hand of the giant—he landed on the ground, destroying the already destroyed floor and dashed back at the giant leaving a lightning shadow where he was; he sliced through the giant's leg causing the behemoth to crash down on the floor leading to the already unstable floor to start collapsing bringing the entire tower down.
¡
Black who had been spectating saw the entrance change color and cracks started to form on it. She turned to the agents around her. "Retrieve every hunter in there now!" She yelled and chaos ensued as the agents rushed to inform the hunters within the tower to evacuate, the rating had changed—She removed the jacket she had over her armor and dashed into the gate, due to the initial level of the tower. She was immediately transported to the 35th floor and what she saw made her jaw drop—lightning was dashing around like crazy, crimson beams were striking everywhere and sound of steel against steel echoed loud as thunder; the tower above was falling down onto the floor where the chaos was taking place. She raised her hand and created a barrier which caught something that smashed onto it with full force.
Black looked down and saw Alaric covered in bruises, burn marks and was bleeding. She raised her head to see the giant he was fighting get up from the recoil of the attack.
Alaric got up and popped his shoulder back into place. "Thanks for catching me." He said and made his advancement to the giant only for Black to hold him by the shoulder causing Alaric to wince from the pain.
"Whats going on?"
"Long story, I'll explain when I'm done."
Black hearing the answer gritted her teeth and applied pressure on the shoulder cause Alaric to cry a bit in pain. "Stop treating me like I'm weak, I am a continent hunter for a damn reason, now explain!"
Alaric sighed and nodded. "This thing, is with that guy we fought the other day, the one who made quick work of us."
Black's eyes widened briefly before she composed herself and nodded. She released her hold on Alaric and stepped alongside him. "Let's kill it before it starts to become a problem."
Alaric looked at Black then nodded. "Keep up."
Black just shook her head and said nothing but stared at the giant. She pushed on her strong foot and shot past Alaric with speeds that made Alaric's lightning speed pale in comparison, shocking the latter at her sheer speed. Black reared her fist back and punch the air as the giant threw its axe—the punch sent out a wide area of effect shockwave which obliterated the ace like it was nothing and it knocked the giant back, blasting a hole on the giants torso.
The Regenerative factor immediately kicked in and the giant regenerated from the would—with a war cry the giant swung its hand down only for Black to stop the attack with her hand, holding the massive beast in place as Alaric came from behind her and cut through the arm, slicing through bone and flesh with ease—Alaric having seen an opening after his attack dropped one of the blades he had in his hand, and stepped on the air launching himself upward to the head of the giant, cutting through its hand with minimum difficulty. Meanwhile, Black grabbed the made and swung the dagger cutting through the knee of the giant bringing it down and she stabbed the dagger on the ground using it to balance her weight, and she dragged her foot higher kicking giant on the stomach with so much force the floor shook heavily.
Alaric having the assistance of Black shot past the giant and readjusted his angle behind the giant. "Dragon dagger, ice age!" He yelled as he switched between weapons summoning the dragon tooth blade from his inventory—the air went ice dry as frost covered everything and with his descent, Alaric stabbed through the neck of the giant pinning it on the ground just as a wave of frosting glaciers emerged from the point of contact piercing through the giant. Alaric sighed in relief and returned the tooth back to his inventory, and jumped off the giant. He landed next to Black who handed him the dagger.
"Why did you hold back during the level evaluation?" Black asked as she fixed her armor.
Alaric returned his weapon to the inventory and sat down on the giant gathering his breath. "I hid my actual strength because I did not want publicity coming my way that's all there is to it, nothing major." He replied.
**"It seems Venus was lying." **A voice came from the giant as it started to dissolve into the ground forcing Alaric and Black to distance themselves from it. As the giant finished shrinking, a man stood where it was, covered by a large robe which hid his features to them.
"Who are you?"
The man chuckled, his chuckled cause the destructing tower to stop its progression and everything except him, Alaric and Black halted. **"You can say I am the creator of this tower, and every tower in this country that has ever happened with the exception of the one that opened three years ago." **
Alaric's eyes widened, standing before him was the cause of this entire discord that had plagued his home for so long, the cruelty in the man's voice made his blood boil but he knew he had to keep his anger leashed. "What do you want?"
"You little dragon."
Without needing to hear anymore, Alaric flickered from sight closing the gap between him and the masked man in a heartbeat—he threw a punch only for the masked man to stop it with one finger, shocking Alaric as he had put all the aura his draconian lineage could master. The man chuckled yet again at the futile attempt the little dragon had made at him, he wondered how this boy made Venus contested with Venus if his attacks were so weak. The masked man flicked him with his finger sending Alaric back to Black.
"Weren't you taught to never interrupt your elders when they are talking." The man said, his voice calm to a point it was unnerving, he looked at the two and couldn't help but feel anxious, something he had never felt ever since he was alive and that was before humanity became technologically advanced, but looking at Black and Alaric made the man anxious, as if something more powerful than they've seen was brewing.
"You are strong indeed, I'll come back for you before you become a problem." The man said as he disappeared leaving his words lingering.