Chapter 193: The Golden Palace of Death (First Sublevel)



~THUMP, THUMP, THUMP~

Stark walked across the mist-filled hallways of the [Undead Realm] sublevel, and he surprisingly didn't meet any monsters, maybe it truly was all about that elite zombie which was controlling them all?

In the end it didn't matter as Stark reached the green dot that indicated the exit, and there... he saw the white-haired lady sitting against the wall, her eyes closed.

She looked so peaceful, and the white aura around her was moving like a melody, making it extremely pleasant to watch.

"..." Stark and his clone began to head toward the exit, and the lady opened one of her eyes to see who was here, "Just me, not here to kill you," he shrugged, and she went back to closing her eyes without answering.

The fact she was already here meant that someone between Kokoro, Yuri and Akira had died.

Not wanting to waste his energy, Stark sat against the wall right in front of the emotionless woman, not bothering to even look at her as it was useless.

But right as he sat down...

"I am confident you are going to survive," she spoke for the first time, her voice just as angelic as her aura.

"I know," Stark didn't even question it, he just confirmed what he already knew: he sure as hell wouldn't die in this trial.

"Good..." that's all she said before going back to closing her eyes, it was almost as if she was meditating though.

"=)" his clone though seemed to enjoy that, and it didn't sit down as it couldn't really get tired, so it just kept staring at the lady.

"Sora," she didn't open her eyes again, "Don't say it in front of the others."

It might sound confusing like that, but Stark immediately understood that it was her name (or maybe codename, doesn't matter), which meant he was finally able to identify her.

"Alright," Stark nodded as he now kept looking at his fist, it was surrounding by crimson and holy aura.

A few minutes later...

~FWISH, FFINNNNGGG~

There was some sort of noise, and when Stark turned his head, he saw that it was just Kokoro, who was still using her tablet to float in the air rather than walking.

~TAP, TAP, TAP~

"Phew~ That elite zombie was pretty though!" she typed on her tablet and the blue panel appeared in front of the two others.

"Oh?" Stark raised his eyebrows, "I wasn't the only one who had to fight that horde of monsters and that elite zombie that controlled them?"

~TAP, TAP~

"Nope! Had to fight it as well, it seems like everyone did actually, maybe it was the way this sublevel was testing us since we already had the key to leave it?" she shrugged.

It was rather interesting as it meant that everyone, including Sora, Yuri and Akira had probably fought the elite zombie.

But now that Kokoro was here... it meant that someone between Yuri and Akira had died.

"..." Akira didn't even say anything, he would usually try his hardest to argue back or force his way to whatever he wanted, but for some strange, he didn't like Stark's aura and expression, so he just turned around and turned the keyhole with the key inside of it, opening the golden door.

[The door to the first sublevel has been opened, thus canceling the 'TOP 3' perk!]

But this wasn't all...

[Too bad! You all will regret that choice =)]

And just like that, the panel disappeared.

"I am touching the door," Akira suddenly said without even looking back, "If anyone tries to steal it from me..." his aura was completely dark in color, surrounding him as if he was some sort of demon, "I will make sure they regret that choice even after they died," and so he began to climb the spiral stairs.

"=)" Stark's clone smiled, its expression clearly asking Stark to steal the reward so that they could beat his ass.

~STEP~

Stark walked right behind Akira, walking up the stairs while staring at the murderer's back, while his clone was busy protecting him from all angles.

Kokoro and Sora followed afterward, and after around three minutes...

They reached the end of the spiral stairs, the second golden door now in sight.

~FWISH~

Akira put his palm against the door, and it glew.

[Akira has reached the first sublevel first, granting reward...]

After a few seconds, the door opened, allowing the group to enter the last sublevel.

[First Sublevel: The Golden Palace of Death]

[Have fun!]

And when all of them entered the level...

~CLANG~

The golden door closed behind them, meaning they obviously wouldn't be able to go back.

It was the final stretch, but just how many would survive at the end...? No one knew that answer, but it surely wouldn't be much...

After all... this sublevel was extremely deadly.

And in addition to that...

[Introducing a new perk since you have reached a new sublevel!]

A new perk would be revealed... the worst of them all...