Later around noon. Almost five hours had passed since the War Potentials had arrived on the 30th floor.
At this point, the small figure monsters were less frequently seen.
With new combat-oriented monsters replacing them. Moving skeletons that wield weapons, to creatures over eight feet tall, wielding giant axes. The level of difficulty was clear to see when comparing to the first couple of floors.
The axe-wielding monsters were known as Minotaurs, a strong and ferocious beast adventurers normally complained about.
These creatures can be seen by seasoned adventured pretty much on any given floor, because of the diversity in skillset.
...
Ericka found herself confronting five of these violent beasts while the rest of her party watched from a safe distance.
Ericka blocks the strike from the minotaur in front, then steps back avoiding another swing from the one beside her.
As she stepped back again, a hand grabbed her head, but she quickly escaped with a high jump into the air.
Before she landed, two of the beasts threw their axes with impressive aim.
"NICE!"
Ericka deflected the first axe then flipped her body to land on the second axe, using it as a brief foothold to make another leap towards the closest minotaur in sight.
SWOOOOOOOSH!
She decapitated the monster in one swing. The instant she landed, she did a full-on split on the floor to avoid a rather fast swing from a minotaur closing in. She got back on her feet right after sweeping them off their feet.
It was here. At this very moment, Ericka felt a change in her demeanor.
"It's here."
It took a while, but it finally happened. Ericka panted and a sweat drop fell down her face.
"This is it, just a bit farther."
"Hersches Twin Blades Act IV: Crescent Blinding Swirl!"
Ericka performed one of her family techniques, swinging both of her swords in a rapid circular motion with blinding speed, resulting in the air around her bend to her will.
The wind swirled all the minotaurs in the air. Ericka then stabbed each monster, right in the heart, killing them. In mere seconds, they were all reduced to dust.
Once the fight was over, Ericka wiped her face while turning to her party members.
"On second thought, floor 30 might be a little too low." she said, her cheeks blushing bright red.
Victor was quick to agree with her, Utar soon after. Oda hesitated but ended up agreeing with his friend's decision in the end. They continued to higher floors.
As they climbed the last sets of stairs, a striking difference caught their attention immediately.
The walls were the same color as the first floor, meaning there were no bats on this current floor covering it. What's more, the land was incredibly narrow, with a massive river flowing at a rapid pace.
Oda gulped upon stepping too close to the edge.
"Yep! Doesn't matter how strong we are, one wrong move and we die.
Utar lightly patted friend on the back, telling him, "But you of all people won't fall off the edge, right?"
Oda awkwardly laughed, "Hehehehehe…right."
Despite the narrow land, Ericka did not slow down her pace, quickly gaining a large gap between her and the others.
Victor called out to her before the gap got wider, "Wait up Ericka! Remember, we're moving as a group."
"Pick up the pace! We're going to the 50th floor."
Oda added, "No need to rush. There's still plenty of time before sunset."
"On our way back to the first floor, we should pick up some items," Victor suggested.
Oda disliked the idea, "Hmph, the only materials worth a damn in these parts are on the very high floors. It's best not to think about items or gold this trip."
Utar agreed, "Yeah, for now. We should only focus on familiarizing ourselves with this Tower."
"Hehehe, to think this is the place that is said to be humanity's ticking time bomb." Oda grinned.
"We're bombs ourselves you know."
Legends and Ancient Stories told a prophecy, that one day the monsters that resides in the Oblivion Spire will adapt and enter the outside world to wreak havoc on all mankind.
This was why the monsters were called Invaders.
Thanks to their ability to respawn set amounts of time after death, it will be a guaranteed result of human extinction, if the monsters were to ever leave the spiral.
This prophecy gradually became the cornerstone and drive for why many adventurers to this day, enter the Tower to find a way to prevent this future tragedy waiting to happen.
ROOOOOOAAARR!!
Suddenly, a roar echoed inside the hollow space. The narrow ground beneath the party began to shake as the roar got louder.
Victor turned to Utar, "How many?"
"One of them."
Ericka gripped her swords tightly, going into one of her many fighting stances.
Before long, a new creature appeared, flying quickly towards its prey.
COAAAWWRR!
A two-headed bird, surpassing the size of a minotaur. Its scales looked sturdy, resembling the light and clear blue color of the raging river next to the party.
Victor advised Ericka before she continued, "Think about the moves you make against this one. Even I am not sure I would be able to save you if you were to get washed away by this river."
Ericka nodded, acknowledging her leader's advice. "Like I'd die without fulfilling our dream."
The two headed birds were called Drucrows, similar in speed to that of Tyrony while being significantly heavier and more powerful. It was classified in the Adventurer's Data book as a Level 3 threat, meaning it requires three adventurers to take it down.
Oda and Victor prepare to join the fight at a moment's notice, just in case Ericka somehow manages to slip up.
Ericka waited just before the bird was in reach, deciding not to abandon her agility given the terrain. The Drucrow inhaled deeply, before firing a ball of muddy substance out of its mouth. Ericka sliced through the projectile aimed at her but some of the mud fell on her armor.
"Eek!" she grossed out.
The piece of armor that got into contact with the mud suddenly cracked. That got everyone alerted to the point Victor stepped forward.
"Make sure that doesn't touch your skin. I feel like that mud have properties we'd rather find in books." Victor said.
Ericka nodded, agreeing with him.
"Seeing as how it's a long-range beast, I'm going to take charge from here on out." Victor declared.
Ericka was quick to protest, but Oda shut her down before she even began.
"Don't make this hard Ericka. We don't doubt your skills, we know you can take that monster down. But mistakes are mistakes, and they do intend to happen to the best of us.", while saying that, he pointed to the specific spot Ericka stood.
This entire time, unbeknownst to her she was slightly tilting over to the right, where the river was. She was so focused on enjoying the prey in front of her, she forgot briefly about the river.
"You aren't used to this floor just yet, most of your techniques are close range, and your style is to move around a lot." Oda mentioned also.
Ericka backed down, after hearing Oda's reasoning.
"Fine, but any close-range monster is mine. Deal?"
"I have no quarrels."
After stepping back to the others, Utar added a bit of comfort to Ericka's now gloomy expression.
"If it makes you feel any better, you single handedly proved you could have soloed these floors by yourself, without our help. You truly are an outrageous fighter, Ericka."
In response, Ericka turned her face away, hiding her flustered expression.
"I know, no need to tell me."
COOOOAAAWWRR!!
The Drucrow fired another mud blast, this time aiming at the group behind Victor. To counter the projectile, Victor raised his palms already ignited in burning hot flames. "Hmm, I wonder if you're tasty?" Victor questioned, right before launching flames at the creature.
The flames traveled too fast for the poor bird, burning it alive as it fell harshly on the floor. Even after the monster turned to dust, Victor's flame kept on burning.
"You block our way forward genius." Oda remarked at the blockage of flame before them.
"Not to worry." Victor smirks, snapping his fingers.
With a snap, the flames dissipated at its master's command. That skill surprised his party members.
"Hold on, you can dispel your flames now!? Since when?" Oda asked, surprised.
"I've been practicing in secret. My control over flames is now second to none."
The same thing repeated.
All monsters, new and old, were burned to a crisp with simple gestures. It was less flashy and took far less effort than Ericka's combat style, spending up their pace fivefold.
Before they knew it, the party of rookies made it all the way on floor 38 where they encountered many new species yet again.
An Earth Golem, a massive monster made entirely of stone and its main method of attack was shaking the very earth, and levitating nearby stones.
A Void Serpent, a gigantic serpent-like creature with a shimmering, black body that seems to absorb light. Its scales are semi-transparent and contain swirling patterns of stars within them. Its eyes glow with an unnatural purple hue, and it slithers silently, leaving a trail of distorted air behind it.
For most average adventurers, defeating a Void Serpent would require a party of seven or more.
Its unrivaled speed, ability to turn invisible, silent movement, incredible strength and venomous gas proved fatal to most humans, even ones of magical bloodlines.
Victor still burned it to a crisp on sight.
A while later, a duo of skeleton and earth golems tag teamed against Victor, but his flames were just too much for them. His members watched from behind, starting to contemplate their reason for being here.
"At least we got a show when Ericka was taking the lead." Oda sighed.
When they arrived at the staircase, leading up to floor 39, a new kind of minotaur showed itself. A towering, muscular figure with a body made of living, crackling lightning. Its horns are jagged and resemble lightning rods, and it exudes an electric aura, making the air around it hum with static.
Its skin is dark gray, almost metallic, with veins of electric blue glowing beneath the surface. In the Databook, it was known as Thunder Minotaur.
A monster capable of conducting electric properties through its weapon, being an axe.
"Nice, another Minotaur."
Victor turned to look at Ericka, but by the time he looked, she vanished out of sight. Victor looked back in front and saw Ericka slashing through the new kind of minotaur.
It only took everyone to blink once, for the fight to be over.
Yes, a Level 5 threat was dealt with in a single leap. After effortlessly defeating that monster, something unexpected approached down, walking on the steps.
It was another group of adventurers, older men in their middle age.
"What's this?" the leader of the next party said, upon seeing Victor's party. The two parties recognized each other immediately.
"Omarus! How have you been!?" Victor greeted the leader.
The brown-haired man pushed out his hands for a handshake, "Well I'll be, you all just couldn't wait huh! Yall eighteenth birthday was two days ago, right?"
Victor shook the man's head, giggling "I'm no kid anymore. We're all adventurers now."
"It is your first day, and you're already planning on going this far?"
"Yes, but don't worry. We won't pass the 50th floor today."
"Hmm, in my opinion, you should just head back now. Pick up some interesting item drops while you're at it too."
Victor, as well as his friends, nodded strongly in reply. "We're fine. We are the Great War Potentials after all."
"Can't argue there. You alone can beat my party to a pulp much less than the four of you. Good luck to you four. I look forward to your safe return."
Omarus and his group went their separate ways, leaving Victor to climb up on the 39th floor.
On the 39th floor, the terrain completely changed. What felt like a cave before, now seemed to be a forest with the sky resembling the real deal.
"The heck!?" Oda was bewildered.
"The scent remains the same, so how can the surrounding be this different?" Utar wondered.
The party had no time to take in the scenery, as they began to realize the sheer number of monsters within the forests. Man-eating rabbits, wolves from before, different variations of Drucrows were at every corner.
"Wow, there are even creatures underground." Utar said while sniffing. "Let's get to running, quickly too."
The party began to follow Utar's lead. The second they took off, a white fur creature burst from underground, right where they were standing just a second ago.
"There are plenty more of them underground. I'd say it's best we fly but..." Utar gazed up at the sky.
"We don't want to risk making those drucrows get easy targets." Victor finished his friend's statement.
"Yes, that's my worry."
Then everyone suddenly looked over at Oda, who had contributed very little thus far.
"Seriously? It's my turn .... jeez, I was hoping I didn't have to sweat today." Oda complained.
"Hurry up!" Ericka rushed him.
"Be wary of the fact that I can just leave you here Ericka."
Oda's ability was not combat oriented like the other three, but it was just as powerful and even more versatile of the four. He owned the most insane ability known in Loria City Adventurer's history.
Immortality…
His early mastery of healing magic led way to this unimaginable spell.
Oda concentrated for a second, causing his left fist to glow a yellow aura around it. This aura was his life energy, dispelling from his body and materializing for the naked eye to register it. All members immediately stretched out their hands, to which Oda slapped each of their hands his glowing hand.
Soon, everyone was glowing in that same yellow aura around them.
"This thing lasts for ten minutes. Should be plenty of time to exit this floor."
Oda told the others. The best thing about Oda's magic was that he had no cooldown on its effect.
Once the timer was up, he could immediately restart it.
At all angles, golems, drucrows, wolves, rabbits and even some new lesser monsters all attacked the party of four, but none of them retaliated.
When a wolf tried biting Ericka, the wound healed while the bit was occurring, the pain never got the chance to register, showcasing the instant regeneration at its best. What's more terrifying about this ability is that Oda can use it multiple times. It only costs him his own life energy, which he was born with an unusual quantity that could replenish through rest.
Victor and the others could fight back but decided to simply rush forward in hopes of reaching the 50th floor as soon as possible.
...
Thanks to Oda's temporary immortality, it gave them the boost needed to arrive at their location quicker than expected. They never bothered fighting anymore monsters, simply running past all of them, since they couldn't be hurt.
When they arrived on the 50th floor, the surroundings were still that of a forest, but with a wider open plain than before. The floors were getting bigger and more spacious, the further they went.
"So... we're finally here. The 50th floor." Ericka said proud of their achievement on the first day.
The sky was still clear, with the sun and clouds drifting normally. A few drucrows were in the sky, as well as monsters on land. But none of them were quick to attack Victor's parties, compared to the lower floored monsters.
"So, we should head back now or what?" Oda wondered.
"Maybe there's a rare monster up here. Perhaps we can get an item drop from it," Utar suggested.
"Agreed, we should journey around this floor for now. Search for anything interesting," Ericka added.
But in the end, the final call belonged to Victor Cruz.
"What next leader?" Utar asked.
Victor's back faced his team, none of them saw his expression at this moment when he uttered, "Further."
"What?" Oda sighed, "Could you repeat that?"