Chapter 25
Kashi observed the cracking void with a wry smile. Damn it, he could 'see' Suzuki concentrating on a portrait in Orez. It did not take a genius to realize that Suzuki was painting the draconian's embarrassing pose.
"At least he seems to be enjoying himself." Kashi rubbed his temples to stave off the incoming headache and then shook his head. He pushed Suzuki's taunting to the back of his mind and focused on the shattered void.
Following a loud breaking sound, the void finally collapsed completely. Kashi braced himself and endured a sharp 'sucking' feeling like a black hole appeared in front of him. His vision briefly went dark, before an explosion of light nearly blinded him.
Kashi instantly shut his eyes. Soon enough, the 'sucking' ended, and Kashi felt himself falling. The draconian tentatively opened his eyes and found himself in a large rocky cavern. The cavern's ceiling was over one hundred meters high, and artificial luminescent stones embedded there lit up the dreary, rocky plain underneath.
Several gigantic stone statues stood around the grounds. Knowledgeable historians and worshippers would recognize the twenty gods. Intriguingly, a statue of Skyrm stood at the end of the cavern, its head lowered over a large door hewn into the wall.
These statues seemed to confirm that Skyrm was indeed a god, albeit of a lower status than the other nineteen.
"What is this!?"
Several cries drew Kashi's attention to other beings falling alongside him. Kashi recognized them to be the remnant demons on the second plane. Aside from the demons, many items were also in freefall, including swords, shields, spell books, potions, and many more.
Kashi's eyes gleamed when he saw these items. These were the treasures Razznik buried in the first two floors for challengers to find. When Kashi destroyed the void, these marked items got transported alongside all living creatures. As can be imagined, items Razznik designated as treasures certainly were not things to sneeze at.
Personally, Kashi did not need any of these items. Ferulic's Training Bow and Jingu Brush were both items that could grow infinitely alongside him. However, while Kashi did not need these items, the Hopeful Maggots were another matter entirely!
Without standing on ceremony, Kashi spread his wings and zipped across the sky. He ingeniously sucked each item into Orez by strategically opening the portal in positions that guaranteed the items would fall into the portal by their own accord despite his lack of movement.
Within a few moments, Kashi successfully sucked up every item, including those that fell to the ground. Only after he finished, did the draconian turn to look at the demons that were huddled on the ground.
As expected, a fall from this height did not deal too much harm to the sturdy demons. However, they did not dare to attack Kashi because he deliberately released his aura. The horrific aura informed the demons of their gulfing inferiority.
Demons were inherently cowardly bullies. They were strong against the weak, and weak against the strong.
Having completed his harvest, Kashi confidently flew over to the gaggle of cowards. He hovered over the group and pointed at the opposite end of the cavern from the obvious door. "In a few hours, a door will open there. You can take it to freedom."
Leaving those words behind, Kashi flew off, leaving the confused demons staring at his silhouette.
Kashi did not take the demons into Orez because demons were naturally chaotic creatures. They were formed from humanity's malice that gathered in the Netherrealm and was thus creatures that naturally sought destruction and chaos.
Kashi could use force and fear to control a small group of demons, but he would be courting trouble if he put too many demons into Orez. The number currently in Orez could be used to maintain the dungeons until the guild members were ready to start training there. He did not need any more of these chaotic elements.
Kashi sorted his thoughts and then landed in front of the massive door. He glanced at the dragon statue overhead, and solemnly pushed the door.
The doors opened with a loud groan, revealing a small chamber with a spiraling stone staircase. Kashi walked into the chamber and then climbed the stairs to the landing above.
A fiery-red door greeted him at the top. A disturbing image of a burning angel was carved onto the door, bringing with it illusions of a sea of endless flames.
Kashi's heart raced, and he frowned as he felt his emotions begin to run amok. Kashi was no stranger to this feeling. Each Sin Floor would stimulate specific emotions in the challengers. Those who could not control their emotions would lose themselves and in time, their lives, to the Floor Guardians.
Within Orez, Suzuki frowned and glared at the painting in front of him. Suddenly, he felt irritated. The eyes did not look right. He used too much dark hue when painting the background. The pose was a little off. He felt an urge to rip the painting to pieces!
Fortunately, Suzuki was no stranger to his inner rage. Suzuki took out another canvas and began painting a new image. The angrier he got, the faster Jingu Brush flew over the canvas, vividly painting Suzuki's frustrations and anger.
'Fortunately, Razznik already vented most of his anger.' Sensing Suzuki's emotional state, Kashi inwardly shivered. He could not imagine what would have happened if they came here a few years ago. 'He might have destroyed me in his anger.'
"Speaking of which. I've kept those guys waiting a while." Kashi inwardly murmured as he pushed the door open. "I hope they haven't gone craz—"
BOOM!
Kashi just about dodged a ki-blade that slice through the doorway. His heart could not help but leap to his throat when that ki blade shattered the staircase behind him.
"What the hell?" A mildly frustrated Kashi looked into the room. The complaints immediately died in his throat when he saw the pandemonium before him.
Shokō wielded her blade, rapidly tearing down several vines that grew the ground. The swordswoman's regal clothing was torn in a few places revealing injuries of varying degrees. The skin around some of the injuries had turned purple and nasty, revealing significant traces of poison.
On the other side, Brilith Loneheart stood within a dense cluster of vines, attacking Shokō from range. The guildmaster did not seem to have any injuries, but then Kashi noticed that her eyes were closed. There seemed to be some dried blood around her eyes.
Wait. Hold on. It could not be, right? Did Shokō injure Brilith's eyes? Could she be blind!? If that was the case, Kashi could understand why it seemed like the two were intent on slaughtering each other.
Aside from the two protagonists, the side characters were also engaged in a massive brawl. From what Kashi could gather, the fight seemed to primarily be between the Maggots and Silver Spear's members.
Sonic's Nature Vanguard was trying to mediate between the two, but after getting attacked by both sides, some of their members joined the fight, thereby increasing the chaos even more!
Kashi guiltily scratched his cheek as he surveyed the scene.
The draconian knew he was partially responsible for this. Something must have sparked some enmity between the Maggots and Silver Spear on the third floor.
Then, the Wrath floor exacerbated the warriors' violent emotions, causing them to eventually lash out and start a huge brawl. Unfortunately, Shokō did not understand the concept of holding back. She severely injured Brilith, which immediately started an all-out life-or-death battle.
If Kashi arrived on this floor with the rest, everyone would have moved on to the next fight before those negative emotions could brew to such a dangerous state.
'How do I stop this?' Kashi did not think words would work at this stage. The accumulated wrath was too far gone.
'Let me.'
Kashi hesitated, but he ultimately nodded and then closed his eyes. 'Kashi' then opened his eyes one second later, but the red eyes had turned cold and lifeless, like embers of smoldering coal that sucked away all the air.
However, that lifeless state only lasted for a moment before 'Kashi's' eyes experienced a drastic shift.
From smoldering coal, the eyes transformed into a blazing inferno. Kashi's expression hardened even further as he growled softly, barely over a whisper, "Enough."
Intense tremors akin to an earthquake suddenly ran through the room, causing everyone to lose their footing. Alongside the quake, Kashi's low voice rang in their ears, like he was right next to them.
The battling parties turned to Kashi in unison.
Any other person would have faltered under the ensuing pressure, but 'Kashi' coldly walked right into the middle of the group like it was his backyard.
"Kashi?" Shokō tentatively called out as the draconian walked up to the roots that stood between her and Brilith. However, her heart palpitated when she noticed Kashi's fiery gaze. "No. You're not Kashi... Suzuki?"
Suzuki's lips slightly curled up. "Good eye." He then placed a hand on the vines as he turned to Brilith. "We do not have time for this—" As he spoke, blue flames poured out of his hands and instantly enveloped the vines, causing them to silently burn to ash. "Razznik's summoning will be completed if we do not hurry."
Suzuki sensed Brilith's anger and revealed a horrifying grin. "I shall accompany you if you still seek a fight. But, bear in mind that on the Sin floors, emotion is power. If you are not certain that you are angrier than me, I would advise against it. Even I do not know what I am capable of right now."
A bottle with a sky-blue liquid appeared in Suzuki's hand. He tossed the bottle at Brilith, seemingly uncaring of whether she could see or not. "That is a rejuvenating elixir. It can even regrow lost limbs. Consider it my payment for our continued cooperation."
Pa! A small vine caught the bottle mid-air and then delivered it to Brilith. The halben did not hesitate to drink it as if showing that she was not afraid of any petty tricks.
After drinking the potion, a bright aura suffused around Brilith, delivering with it a sweet, perfumed scent. Moments later, Brilith tentatively opened her eyes and was relieved to find her sight returned.
Brilith did not express gratitude, and Suzuki likewise did not bother with her.
Instead, he took out some more potions and distributed them among the other brawlers. Obviously, these were not as precious as the rejuvenating potion, but at the same time, they did not need to be. Unlike Brilith and Shokō, the others were not completely overcome by rage. They had the presence of mind to hold back a little and thus only had superficial injuries.
After healing everyone, Kashi, whose eyes had returned to normal, gave Shokō the Blight antidote and a healing potion.
"Thank you." Shokō expressed her thanks before drinking the disgusting dark-green antidote. The swordswoman's face scrunched up in disgust and she had to suppress her gag reflex as the liquid gushed down her throat.
Within a few seconds, the purple-colored injuries regained their color as the blight antidote absorbed all the poison in Shokō's bloodstream. She then coughed up a clot of black-colored blood, and with that successfully expelled all the poison in her body.
After her treatment, Shokō drank the potion and revealed a sigh of relief as her injuries healed at a visible rate.
Kashi wanted to ask what happened between Shokō and Brilith but then decided against it. He did not want to accidentally trigger their rage.
Instead, he pointed at a stone arch that appeared once he entered the room. "Pay attention, because this information will save us time going forward."
Kashi looked at everyone. After confirming he had their attention, he continued, "The Sin Floors are Oni Hill's true test. The previous floors were added much later. Each floor is protected by a guardian who utilizes the corresponding sin to augment their abilities. I already told you all about how we will fight parallel copies of the guardian. The first person to enter that archway will fight the true body, whose strength will at least be tripled due to how many we have here.
"Normally, the strategy would be that the person in charge of fighting the main bodies stalls for time until enough of us can defeat their corresponding copies. This would weaken the real body, allowing said person to finally defeat them."
Kashi shook his head. "Sadly, time is not on our side. Whoever is taking point needs to destroy the true body as fast as possible. Once the true body is defeated, everyone will get transported to another room like this one where another arch will await.
"However, for subsequent arches, we will only have ten seconds to decide who takes point before we get transported at random. Worst-case scenario, some of our weaker members are forced to face the true body. What's worse, no one can take their place until they get killed."
Kashi grunted. "Getting killed is good. The truly shitty thing will be if the guardian captures the challenger without killing them. At that point, we will be stuck in limbo for at least an hour before we get automatically reshuffled. I don't have to tell you why this is bad for us, right?"
"This is a battle of time." Sonic softly murmured. "If I were the Chaos Order, I would order my men to primarily capture, and only kill if their lives are in danger."
"Indeed." Kashi nodded. "So, we must decide now who will challenge the sin floors to reduce confusion later."
Kashi rubbed his eyes. "Unfortunately, there are more than seven people in our party, so we cannot challenge more than one floor per person." Kashi saw their looks and revealed a wry smile, "Razznik added that stipulation to make sure that, in large parties, at least seven of the challengers had the right to challenge him."
GrizzlyDiamond clucked his tongue. "I've been thinking this, but that Razznik is a real bastard!"
"Heh." Kashi coldly chuckled but did not say anything. Instead, he turned to Sonic and Brilith. "The three of us are a given. Who do you pick for the other four? I nominate Syèl and Shokō on my end."
Kashi deliberately ignored Hektor's expectant eyes. It was not that he did not have faith in Hektor, but rather, the youth had just gotten his new powers. He needed a period of stable growth and challenges to acclimatize himself to being a Dragoon.
This was not the time to throw Hektor into the deep end with an anvil tied around his neck.
As for Zuri, Kashi was even less inclined to send her. The draconian had a soft spot for this innocent menace. Like any overprotective guardian, he willfully ignored her overwhelming strength, seeing her only as the little girl that liked climbing his shoulder and playing with his hair.
The sky would literally have to fall before Kashi considered putting Zuri in any form of extreme danger.
Aside from Shokō and Syèl, Shadow and Larsial were probably one of the deadliest people in the entire group. However, these two were assassins. Frontal battles did not suit them.
'Speaking of which, Shadow keeps having head-on fights because he travels with me. I should find a chance to send him into the world to better hone his assassination skills.' Kashi shook his head and then looked at Brilith and Sonic, who appeared to have come to a decision.
"I'll take Gentle Breeze with me," Sonic murmured. "Let him handle the Sin of Sloth."
"Boss, why I do feel like this is a slight dig at me?" Gentle Breeze chided, but then said, "That's fine. I'll take care of that floor."
"Great. Then I shall take lust," Sonic said after a thought. Everyone glanced at him with suspicious eyes, but Sonic nonchalantly smiled.
"No issues," Brilith stated after a thought. "I will conquer the Pride floor, while Rono takes the Gluttony floor."
"Alright then." Kashi raised three fingers. "That leaves Wrath, Greed, and Envy." Kashi smiled and said, "I'll kick us off with Wrath. Syèl can take Greed, and Shokō clears Envy. We are all fine with this arrangement?"
Everyone nodded, realizing they did not have time to waste.
"Good then." Kashi smiled as he turned and walked into the screen of light under the stone arch. "See you all in a few minutes."
As Kashi disappeared beyond the archway, the others' bodies turned illusionary, like they were about to disappear from reality.
Having already experienced this when they got transported from the third floor, no one panicked. Instead, their gazes turned heavy as they prepared for the true test that was to come.
A short few seconds later, Kashi walked out into what can only be described as hell. A sea of flames enveloped a large hall. Twelve five-meter stone islands arranged in a 3 x 3 formation levitated above the flames, with gaps of about ten meters between them.
Kashi's sight traveled across the precarious landscape to see a robed figure seated on the center platform directly in front of him.
As if sensing Kashi's gaze, the robed figure sat up and snapped its fingers. Its robe instantly ignited and burned to ash, revealing a one-meter tall goblin whose eyes burned with intense, seething hatred.
"A goblin shaman?" Kashi's eyes shone with interest. He habitually flexed his hand as he said through a dangerous grin, "Now, this isn't something you get to see every day."