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[Your Attribute: Nihility has sent the pain into Nothingness!]

[The Symbol of Night carved in your heart is reacting...]

[...]

***

\'Again... F*ck!\'

Russell inwardly shouted, seemingly recalling the first time he was stabbed in the chest by Czerina, the acting maid of the Shadow Guild that was stationed in one of the hotels in Western Olympia, at least in the area where their influence was rampant.

He had hoped that the Spade Cross of Penitence would instantly kill or extremely weaken the Sand War General, Dymuna, but upon not seeing her dead body with his profound vision, though he had no idea, he knew that something was about to go wrong.

It was an instinct. With his intuition that Dymuna was still alive, but not weakened, Russell strongly believed that she would target the one who had thrown the Spade Cross of Penitence, which was Amelie — his guess turned out to be right.

Reacting on time, wearing the Mask of Night and quickly blending in the shadows provided by the bright light of the sky, Russell saw the coalescing sand behind Amelie and was about to push her away, but then, a sand sword was first conjured before Dymuna\'s body appeared. It was then that he got stabbed in the back. It was a fast stab, more than that of the capability of a D rank player or Boss Monster, not letting Russell barely dodge or at least get cut by it.

With reasons unknown, the passive Skill: Cull and Cut (EX) was nerfed, causing it to have a cap of 999 Strength or Swift instead of 4999. It wasn\'t enough for Russell to dodge even though it was making him in the realm of C rank player. This could only mean that Dymuna\'s power of the strike and her speed was more than that of C rank.

"I admire your valor, young warrior."

Dymuna\'s words jolted everyone from their little reverie. Everyone\'s eyes widened and filled with horror except Raya\'s and Yara\'s, though they had felt that something was coming, if Rumia hadn\'t asked them to help, they wouldn\'t have. Moreover, Russell was someone that hadn\'t garnered their attention as they were also asked to scout potential players, and as of now, their eyes were directed at Amelie who seemed to possess incredulous and peculiar power.

"Russell-!!"

"Oppa-!!"

Samantha and Freya shouted at almost the same time, seeing a sword made of sand that was clearly unordinary.

Amelie, who turned her head, with her ruby eyes widened was feeling something inside her. She was seething in anger, her cheerful and somewhat playful demeanor was erased. At that moment, her pink hair, as well as her ruby eyes, turned deep black. With the use of her Unique Skill: Shade Transformation, she disappeared from where she was standing like a bubble that popped out of existence. It was only Freya, Amery, and Samantha who were seeing her, hovering.

<C-calm down-!>

Russell\'s voice, who fell on the ground and bleeding, mustered up his mental strength to at least tell his Chaos Companions to not be impulsive.

[Your Attribute: Nihility grows stronger.]

For some reason, when Russell\'s heart that\'s been carved by the Symbol of Night was stabbed, it reacted and made his Attribute stronger. It\'s the first time it happened because it wasn\'t the same case when Czerina had stabbed and killed him before, but considering the changes that happened after that, feeling surprised was the least emotion he should be having.

\'But this is truly surprising.\'

Russell thought. He was lying on the ground, waiting to lose his blood and die, expelling him from the Tower, but for some reason, his Attribute: Nihility seemed to send the strike itself into Nothingness. Though he wasn\'t looking ahead because he might get stabbed again by Dymuna if he was seen in a very weakened state. He was grateful that the Boss Monster didn\'t go for decapitation instead.

At that moment, with his face on the sand, he felt a tremendous aura coming from a few meters away — it was from Samantha.

Amelie didn\'t attack due to Russell\'s words, calming her down. She, Freya, and Amery were surprised. Although it was hard for Freya not to react since her older brother was literally stabbed in the heart, she managed to refrain from being impulsive and aimlessly attacking the Sand War General.

It was one of the pieces of advice that Freya had received from Russell.

- Do not get swept by your emotions in case someone was on the brink of death. You are either letting that person die or you want to die together, but always choose the former since that someone might never want you to die, too.

And with Amelie\'s Dark Resurrection, she was more than grateful because she almost lost her soul when Russell died for the first time.

"I can feel your rage, young warrior."

Dymuna, referring to a woman with auburn hair and brown eyes, spoke with a faint smile on her face.

"Let me get rid of her."

Samantha firmly spoke. Her emotions seemed to be out of line. It was a mix of coldness similar to her father and lividness for harming someone she was supposed to hate.

Jiho, Anya, Rumia, and Elizabeth, as well as the remaining party members, looked at Samantha, but seeing her cold eyes, they instantly felt that they wouldn\'t be able to do anything but comply with her request, no, absolute order.

A few seconds later, the updated information, after the ancient weapon turned into a pile of junk, was screened in front of them.

Name: Dymuna

Title: Sand War General

Race: Sand People

Family: Sand God\'s Follower

Rank: B

— STATS —

Strength: 1299

Swift: 1299

Fortitude: 1299

Intelligence: 1299

Magic Power: 1299

Myriads of reactions were painted on their faces, even Raya and Yara seemed to flinch, seeing the information. They had thought that the double in power was only applicable to the ancient weapon, but with it being subjugated and destroyed, it seemed like almost half of its stats that were equivalent to B rank were transferred to Dymuna, making her a B rank.

"What courageous words."

Samantha didn\'t respond further. It\'s more like it was her emotions and actions that would nonverbally speak since actions do indeed speak louder than words.

***

Bam-!

The clash of two swords reverberated throughout the desert war land. The others, who seemed to become spectators in a formal battle, just watched closely and carefully.

"What are you?!"

Dymuna strongly asked. For some reason, she felt like her overall power was greatly weakened, exactly by half.

[...Breaker of Impossibility...]

With Samantha\'s Stigma which still had a long way to go to be fully unlocked, the twice in overall power that Dymuna received was simply negated.

Samantha didn\'t answer her grumbling, instead, she intensified her attacks. It was pure swordsmanship — no movements or technique utilization, just the clashing of weapons between two great fighters.

After some time, a pure white aura emanated from Samantha\'s body, and her eyes also glistened with white. Dymuna\'s brown eyes widened upon seeing the pure white aura that Samantha was emanating. Although a white aura could be seen from other players, too, there was just something different with the aura that Samantha was exuding — it was the atmosphere.

An atmosphere of knowing oneself.

[Activating Skill: Eye of the Self (EX)]

[Locking on the self of the target.]

[Activating...]

For some reason, with what Samantha was about to do, System messages appeared in front of everyone.

[The Tower of Growth will expel the Player Party leader, Samantha Hall!]

[The Tower of Growth can not expel the unbound player!]

Dymuna, who was seeing Samantha\'s state suddenly felt helpless at the monstrosity in front of her. It was both majestic and frightening, though she was confused if it was really her will to react this way or the Tower itself.

"HAAA-!"

At that moment, someone jumped onto Samantha and stopped what she was about to commit.

***

"STOP-!!"

"R-Russell...?"

Mysteriously recovered, with the help of Nihility, from the stab in his heart, Russell, who\'s wearing the Mask of Night, lunged toward Samantha, completely stopping her next action.

Their bodies touched, causing Samantha to fall into a reverie. It was the first time in her life that someone she didn\'t have a deep connection with had hugged her as it was either her mother or father when she was still a kid that did so. Although it was to stop her, it was still technically the same thing.

Bam-!

The sound of something massive falling jolted her awake and pushed the completely recovered and rejuvenated Russell away. For the second time, Amelie summoned the gigantic dark cross, but this time, it directly crushed Dymuna\'s body.

[The Player Party has successfully cleared the 25th Floor of the Tower of Growth!]

[...Generating rewards...]

[...has received...]

[...has received...]

[...Waiting Room...]

[Duration: 42 minutes, 16 seconds]

It would be quite a long rest they would be having.

***

In the grey, plain waiting room.

Everyone was silent. They were astonishingly looking at Russell who should have been dead and expelled from the Tower of Growth.

\'Aren\'t they happy that their companion is alive?\'

Even his Chaos Companions were looking at him, stupefied. He then quickly explained what happened — which he didn\'t also know, but he told them about the Attribute: Nihility.

<Why did you stop me?>

Samantha, standing in front of the sitting Russell, telepathically asked. Russell was about to respond when Samantha\'s next words caused his eyes to constrict, prompting him to look at her and release a sigh of exhaustion.

<No, more like, how did you know when to stop me?>

<You see... I\'m not stupid. I don\'t know if others notice or had their minds blank when you were stabbed, but your death notification wasn\'t announced by the System.>

Russell frowned at Samantha\'s words as thoughts surfaced in his mind.

\'Did she deliberately act that way just to see how I would react?!\'

Somewhat pissed, Russell telepathically and frankly responded.

<Just what do you want to say, huh? Why can\'t you tell me directly?>

Samantha didn\'t expect Russell\'s demeanor, causing her to reflexively turn her back on him before she replied:

<We\'ll talk after raiding this Tower... and you are going to tell me everything I needed to know.>

Russell just looked at her back, walking away from him, with an unknown expression.

\'What a bossy.\'

Russell thought.

After some time, trading rewards, if necessary and desired, among them began.

***

In the South of Obelisk City.

"Arche... Will they be okay?"

Russell and Freya\'s mother, Melina, asked her husband. With the news that\'s spreading regarding the seemingly endless murders and suicides everywhere in the Orion Continent, concern was painted on their expressions.

"We can\'t help but worry, but, if they needed anything while they are afar, it\'s our trust in them."

Arche replied, revealing a faint smile.

"Okay..."

Melina said, sighing in resignation.

***

Inside the luxurious villa of the Hall Family, Artorious was sitting on a chair in his working office.

Taking a breather, he glanced at the family photo placed on the side of his office desk. It was a family photo.

\'I will get closer to finding you.\'

He firmly spoke inside, thinking about the appearance of the Close Mystery Tower.

For some reason, he could not deny the words of Russell that his wife, Samantha\'s mother, was still alive.

He didn\'t know if he was hanging on false hope or if he was now deluded.

Time would tell.

***

[The Player Party has successfully cleared the 15th Floor of the Tower of Growth!]

[...Generating rewards...]

[...Waiting Room...]

\'Hahaha! This is f*cking easy! And resting to the waiting room is a waste of time!\'

Leon, with the Eye of the Black Calamity, inwardly cackled at the fast pace raiding of the Tower.

On the other note, Mira was looking at him from behind with an unknown expression. Then a thought surfaced in her mind.

\'He seems different than usual.\'