Chapter 244:

Chapter 244:

* * *

Garuel would not go down easily. He knew his abilities better than anyone.

With that belief, Cadel trudged up the stairs and towered over the protruding system window.

“......What’s the matter, Leader?”

[You have reached the upper level of the tower. From now on, each knight’s remaining health will be displayed.]

[Van Herdos: 74%]

[Lydon: 69%]

[Garuel Monzasi: 20%]

While it was surprising to realize that Van and Lydon had lost more health than he had anticipated, Garuel’s condition was even more shocking.

Not even two minutes had passed since they parted ways with Garuel. Was that the result of withstanding the attack despite having scale armor?

His low health would recover quickly over time, quickly reaching 100%, but Cadel was not at all relieved. His heart was racing and he felt like he was going to vomit.

“Leader. Wake up.”

It was Lumen who roused Cadel from his stupor. At the sight of his hard gaze, Cadel’s legs began to move again.

As he was led up the stairs by Lumen’s hand, Cadel tried to remember Garuel’s words.

He didn’t abandon them, he entrusted them. If he couldn’t move forward because he was worried about them, he was putting his subordinates at a disadvantage.

‘One more floor and we can save them all.’

If he left the fourth floor to Lumen, the rest was up to him. He would destroy Elvie’s heart as soon as possible.

Cadel tore his gaze away from his men’s dwindling health and stared at the doorway to the fourth floor.

* * *

Ting. Ting. Ting.

Three beeps, two seconds apart, and the floor of the hall glowed. And as soon as it faded.

“Leader, left!”

An indiscriminate trap without any regularity was triggered.

Cadel created a barrier of fire to his left, and as if waiting for it, dozens of arrows flew and pierced it. Cadel released the arrow-studded barrier as if shaking it off and took a breath.

‘I’m gonna die of heartburn.......’

Cadel was barely able to keep all the traps at bay, relying on Lumen’s sense of movement. If he was one beat slower to react, he was done. He didn’t want to think about the end result. Nêww chapters will be fully updated at (n)ov(e)l/bin(.)com

‘Is this why knights with high speed had an advantage?.’

But. Even if the presence was detected, if you could not immediately escape the range of the trap, you had no choice but to suffer. No sooner had Cadel come to that conclusion than the notification beeped again.

Ting. Ting. Ting.

Soon enough, having broken through the barrage of shells, Lumen slowed his maxed-out speed and glided to the exit.

“It’s over.

“Haah, haah.......”

It was like being on an insane amusement ride. Cadel slid out of Lumen’s arms, pressing against his throbbing chest.

“We must hurry before the next trap is triggered.......”

While Cadel braced himself against the wall to steady his dizzying vision, Lumen examined the two exits. After carefully comparing the two doors, he frowned slightly.

“They both have the same number carved into them.”

The two doors were separated by some distance, but they were identical in size and appearance. The number ‘1’ was also the same on each door.

“Does this mean we should each stand in front of one of the doors? Where do you think the real exit is......?”

If one side was the exit, where did the other side lead? If the other side was a trap, what would happen to the person standing in the trap?

Beside Lumen, who stared at the door with a determined face, Cadel’s eyes shone with seriousness.

‘The real exit is the door on the left. We can go out that way.’

He clearly remembered the location of the door to the last floor. Beyond that would be Elvie’s heart.

According to the strategy, the final, top floor should be taken by a knight with a high deal of damage and moderate defense. Considering that, Lumen was the most suitable, but Cadel was unwilling to send him to the top floor.

‘The knight on the top floor, no matter how much he used his skills, was only able to destroy the heart when he was almost dead, and that was after he had used all his good equipment and potions.’

As such, Cadel scoured his memories for the best possible arrangement for his battle with Elvie. It was inevitable.

The ‘Tower of the Demon Realm’ created by Elvie was a stage that could be cleared only after selecting knights with advantageous abilities for each floor and sufficiently raising each knight’s stats. If you take undertrained knights, they will all be annihilated, or the best thing to do is for the knight on the top floor to survive. It was even more difficult if you did not have excellent equipment.

And the current state of the Knight Order’s training was far from satisfactory.

‘Two A-grade and two S-grade. As he has yet to awaken, if I send Lumen to the top floor, there’s a high chance he’ll die.’

Cadel couldn’t let that happen. He could use [Soul Explosion] if he had to, and he could try begging Kunra. So it was right for Lumen to stay here. Cadel had to be the one to deal with Elvie’s heart.

“For now, let’s stand one by one.”

“......The trap could be triggered as soon as the door opens.”

“Even if we think about it here, the trap is still triggered.”

Cadel positioned himself in front of the left door as casually as he could, and Lumen, who was about to move to the right door, stopped and looked back at him.

His gaze was casual, but Cadel sensed something foreign in it. After a short silence, it was Lumen who spoke first.

“I think Leader knows where the real exit is.”

“......What?”

“You know.”

There was clear suspicion in his eyes. Cadel, who had not expected his intentions to be discovered so quickly, was belatedly trying to think of an excuse.