Destroying My Own Novel

Mykel entered the room to check on Gunnar’s condition but he was already up and looked healthy thanks to the [Health Potion] that Edith gave him. He looked at Mykel and immediately stood up to approach him.

“Boss! Thank you for saving my life! I’m sorry that I brought this mess to us like always,” Gunnar said with various expressions of guilt, sadness, and gratitude.

Mykel smiled a bit and shook his head. “I’m glad that you’re okay, Gunnar, that’s what matters,” he said as he patted Gunnar’s armor. “It wasn’t your fault so don’t bother thinking about it,”

Agnez stared at Jeanne and she never thought Jeanne could make such a sinister face.

“What are we going to do with them? Is there a way to bring them back?” Agnez asked as she stared at Mykel who walked to the desk.

“The only way to bring them back is by killing the demon who put them in that state,” Mykel answered as he sat down.

“Azrael tower is a tower of water and everything that has something to do with water is always dangerous. We need to find the source of the problem but looking at how all of the Awakeners who know about it are now under the demon’s control, we should start asking the people around,” Mykel answered as he looked at the green-haired guy who had been trying to free himself.

“No wonder everyone was only asking for food, they knew about it already,” Lillith said as she stared at Sven and Vincze with a weird look on her face.

Mykel stared at Agnez for quite a while. “You’re lucky that Agnez didn’t join them because she did, you might be dead by now, Gunnar,” he said as he looked at Gunnar.

“Yeah, thank god you didn’t join me down there,” Gunnar looked at Agnez.

Agnez scoffed with her arms crossed. “I’m not dumb enough to put myself in danger, especially in a place where everything looks so suspicious,”

“That’s why I prefer you more than Jeanne, Agnez,” Mykel said as he stood up and walked toward the soldiers.

Agnez glanced at Mykel and smiled happily when she heard that.

“Bring that soldier that brought us into the city, we can ask him about what happened to this world and he might be able to tell us where the water source or the source of this cursed water,” Mykel said as he looked at the soldiers on the ground.

“Who do you want to send to pick him up?” Agnez asked as she stood next to Mykel.

“Lillith, she already make a move on him, didn’t she? By the way, the card that you took, can you give it to me?” Mykel asked as he reached his hand toward Agnez.

Lillith nodded with understanding and then left the room to pick up the soldier while Agnez grabbed the card from the back of her trousers’ pocket.

“What do you want the card anyway?” She asked as she gave the card to Mykel.

“In a place where food is valuable, you think they will put it in simple food storage? They must have a safe and will need a key card to open it. It must be somewhere in this palace and Gunnar should be the one to check it out,” Mykel grabbed the keycard and then passed it to Gunnar. “Get yourself a treat in the safe, eat and drink as much as you can to restore your energy since the water should be safe to consume,”

Gunnar wreathed in a smile and grabbed the keycard immediately. “Thanks, boss! I will bring a bottle of water for everyone as well!” he said and then left the room.

Lillith came back with the soldier and he was surprised when he saw the soldiers were laying on the ground. He looked at the green-haired guy who got possessed and it made him panic but before he could leave, Lillith already blocked his path.

The soldier pointed his rifle at Lillith and she immediately cut it into pieces in an instant. “What were you trying to do?” she asked with a straight face and stared at him.

The soldier fell on his back and slowly crawled away from Lillith. “Please! I have nothing to do with all of this! I’m just a soldier who guards the gate!” he said with fear in his voice.

The soldier kept crawling back until he hit Mykel’s legs, he turned around and looked up. “Please! Believe me!” he said and he went to his knees.

Mykel grabbed the soldier’s collar and dragged him away. “You guys come with me, let’s hear about what he knows,” he said calmly as he dragged the soldier to the next room where Daniel’s dead body was.

Everyone was shocked when they saw the stiffen dead body of Daniel on the chair with his face and skin hanging down. Mykel threw the soldier next to Daniel and he shrieked in fear as he crawled away from Daniel’s dead body.

“Start talking or you will end up like him,” Mykel said as he sat down on top of the table.

The soldier gulped nervously as he raised his hands and stood up. “I don’t know much, all I know is that the water is dangerous to consume and it possesses whoever gets contact with it! That’s it!” he said while he looked at Daniel’s dead body.

“Really? I will give you one last chance to tell us the truth. What happened to the landfill down there, why there are thousands of dead bodies there?” Mykel asked and lit his cigarette.

“Th-that’s…” The soldier hesitated. “It’s the people who got possessed by the demon and they ended up killing themselves. All I heard is that they killed themselves under the demon’s influence because the demon wants their souls so he can grow stronger and stronger,” he answered as he trembled in fear.

In the original story, Asmond, Gunnar, Rozan, and Gerrard with Kastor and Caesar went to the eleventh floor with four hundred people with them. They experienced the same thing and killed those zombie-like people, and once they entered the other side of the city, they were welcomed by Daniel.

Daniel welcomed them and brought them into the palace since he knew he couldn’t fight them all at once. He wasted so much food and used the cursed water then served it to them, but fortunately, Gerrard and Rozan were suspicious about the situation and they didn’t drink or eat anything that Daniel served.

Four hundred people and only a hundred of them survived after they fought each other after the feast. They lost too many lives and they ended up killing Daniel and his friends after they found out the truth about the cursed water and the water demon.

It was a tough battle since Rozan and Kastor were the only ones who could deal with the demons. It took them hours and dozens of them got possessed in the battle because the water splashed on their bodies. In the end, there were only a dozen of people who came back alive from the eleventh floor because of how strong the demon was after consuming thousands of lives.

Mykel looked at the others and they all seemed to understand the situation.

“So there’s only one demon on this floor? And that demon is somewhere hidden in here?” Mykel asked.

“Yes, the flood, when the breakout happened, the flood came to this city and everyone immediately got possessed. Those people were the same people that you saw inside the landfill,” The soldier answered and looked at Mykel in the eye.

“Do you know where the demon might be?” Agnez asked as she stared at the soldier.

“I don’t know! But if you’re asking where the flood came from, it came from the dam on the north. That’s all I know, so please don’t kill me!” The soldier said and went to his knees again.

“Without Rozan, I don’t think we can defeat the demon if the demon is in a form of water. You’re the only one who can deal with it, Mykel,” Agnez said with her arms crossed. “If what he said is true, then we should clear this floor immediately once you kill that demon,”

Mykel nodded in agreement. “Yes, that’s the plan,”

Gunnar entered the room after he looked at the other room and didn’t find Mykel and the others. He was startled when he saw Daniel’s dead body and dropped all the bottles of water that he brought with him.

“Boss, what happened to him?” Gunnar asked as he collected all the bottles.

“That’s what happened when someone tries to go against my will,” Mykel answered jokingly and it was enough to put fear on everyone’s faces including Agnez.

Mykel stood up and grabbed the bottle from Gunnar’s hand. “We don’t have time to waste, let’s kill that demon before Jeannea and the others kill themselves,” he said and emptied the water bottle.