Chapter 204: Will you die for me?

After her confrontation with Melissa, Lysandra went ahead to track down the goblin village and single-handedly defeated the goblin chief and shaman while Melissa was still stuck in the safe zone trying to pick crystals to refill her mana pool with her whip.

Her expression was priceless when the notification flashed across her vision that the dungeon had been cleared while she was inside mining with her whip.

Out of the three men in the party, only one survived. It was the man who claimed he had a family and had apologized before leaving Lysandra and Chloe—who miraculously survived without a scratch—behind.

This made them the first official lobby to clear the second floor. Even at that, they all returned with gloomy faces for various reasons, except Lysandra, who had an unreadable expression, and Chloe, who was happy about their survival.

They had barely returned to their lobby when other lobbies began racing against themselves to clear the second floor with the information they had from Lysandra’s party clear.

Kaelen smiled proudly as he sent her a congratulatory message and closed his system panel to start cultivating when he received a quick reply from her.

[You have received a voice chat from Lysandra Cross]:

"Thank you. I’m sorry about what happened earlier. You don’t have to worry about what she said. I’m sure she was only boasting like she always does and doesn’t really mean it."

Kaelen chuckled in amusement. "Mad? What are you talking about? It’s only normal since we’re rivals, and she isn’t the first hater of humanity. I’ve met a bunch of them."

Lysandra hesitated for a moment. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah, c’mon. It’s fine. I just need you to get some rest and stay hydrated. I’ll send you a few buckets of water and some items to help you recover quickly, okay?"

"Okay. I’m glad to hear that."

"Good. I plan on entering the third floor this evening and will be busy cultivating till then. Gotta speedrun the next eight floors to get a personal maid." Kaelen’s lips curled up as he remembered his bet with Emir.

"Third floor? A personal maid?" Lysandra asked in confusion and worry.

"It’s nothing. You don’t have to worry about that. I doubt they’ll throw me into another malfunction floor, so I’ll be fine." He reassured her.

"Okay. Will you... visit me this evening?" Lysandra asked after a short pause.

Kaelen paused as well to think for a moment. "I’m not sure. Maybe after the third floor. Any problem?"

"No... not really. See you later, then."

Kaelen hummed in reply and ended the chat there before pausing for a long moment as he stared into the void in a random direction.

He then took out a dagger from his inventory and examined it subconsciously for a moment before mumbling to himself.

"I wonder if I can still use that here." His lips curled up in a cold smirk.

After sending Lysandra the promised packages, he spent the rest of the afternoon cultivating for seven straight hours until it got dark, before he woke up and stretched. Then he went downstairs and began heading towards the angels’ gate.

Before he even got there, the Herald appeared before him with a blank expression.

"Don’t tell me you haven’t learned your lesson."

"What are you talking about? I’m only going to check it out and would return as soon as I map everything."

"That’s what you said the last time."

"It’s not like I’ll run into another malfunction. And I mean it this time; I’m aiming for the shortest clear duration because, if my speculation is correct, there should be leaderboard rankings soon where all that will matter. Am I right?"

"Not until the ninth floor," the Herald replied.

"Makes no difference. It’ll still matter either way," Kaelen said and stopped before the angels’ gate to face the Herald. "Can I ask for a favor?"

The Herald looked surprised for a moment.

"What is it?"

"Is it possible to not go live?" Kaelen asked.

The Herald was taken aback. "What?"

"Like I said, I plan on achieving the shortest clear possible and really plan on just investigating the third floor now to prepare for the main raid. So is it possible to keep it discreet so a certain someone doesn’t throw her party in after me and ruin my first-clear chances?"

The Herald stared at Kaelen for a long moment before smiling in amusement. "It is, in fact, possible, but..."

"But what?"

"It’s not free."

"How much does it cost? Name your price."

"In your last stream, you had an average of 800 quadrillion viewers who generated 10 Evolution Points in a minute per viewer. So, depending on how long the clip should be, that’s how much the Tower makes from every livestream, and if you wish to go anonymously, that’ll cost you..."

Kaelen immediately raised his hand to stop the Herald. He was stunned to learn just how much the Tower made in Evolution Points for every single stream. He didn’t need to hear it all to know where this was going.

It was going to be an outrageous price to compensate the Tower for how much they’d lose if he went live.

"I’ve heard enough. Just open the gate."

"On a second thought, since you’re certain you wouldn’t be clearing the floor but only investigating it, I can let this one slide. Because if you’re able to pull off an incredibly fast clear, I’m sure we’d have more sponsors standing in line. So your favor is granted. Do as you wish, but don’t go anywhere close to the final boss."

Kaelen smiled as he gave the Herald a thumbs-up.

The angels’ gate slid open with a loud screech, alerting everyone on the floor once more that someone was entering the dungeon.

Kaelen stepped inside and turned around to look at the other candidates staring with varying expressions from their balconies before shifting his attention to the Herald.

"You’ll be watching, right?" he asked calmly.

The Herald felt the question was strange but still replied. "Of course. But it’ll be just me and maybe the Herald Executioner."

"The Herald Executioner? That’s good... ’cause I’ll need y’all to be watching," Kaelen mumbled to himself as the angels’ gate slammed shut.

***

Lysandra sat on her bed wearing comfortable, loose clothing. It wasn’t a new outfit, but her crafted combat outfit with the ability to adjust based on whatever she wanted to wear at that moment.

She took out one of the buckets Kaelen had sent her, which didn’t hold water but the items he had promised to send to help her recuperate. They were mostly accessories such as a necklace, rings, and an earring.

She smiled warmly as she admired the items and didn’t notice the shadow that slipped out and moved along the corner of her room till it slipped under the door and disappeared into the hallway.

In another room under the same roof, Melissa was pacing around the room with a dark expression. She couldn’t believe she had lost the final boss to Lysandra, and if it weren’t for them entering as a party, it would’ve been considered a solo clear.

It still was in the eyes of the audience, after she had made a fool of herself and given the first impression that she was just a noisy brat who couldn’t even carry her own weight.

"This is bad... this is bad... this is bad..." she muttered incoherently to herself as she anxiously bit her nails, destroying their beautification.

A soft knock suddenly came from the door, and her eyes snapped towards it.

"Who the hell is that?!" she roared towards the door.

There was no reply.

The knock came again, soft and steady.

"I swear to the Goddess..." she hissed as she stormed towards the door. "I’m gonna kill you if you can’t give me a good reason for disturbing me at this time of the night—" She swung the door open.

Slash—

Melissa immediately stumbled backwards as she clutched her throat with both hands, trying to stop the bleeding as she stared in terror at the shadow standing before her door.

The shadow calmly stepped inside as their face was slowly revealed. Then they closed the door behind them as Melissa stumbled and dropped to the side of her bed while choking on her own blood.

"Y-You...?"

The shadow raised the dagger in their hand to examine it as their lips parted to speak. "You see, I’ve had these really cool abilities I named Shadow Prison and Hell’s Gate." As they said that, they threw the dagger, which missed Melissa’s head and was embedded in the bed frame beside her.

"The first traps your shadow and makes you unable to move beyond the reach of the shadow. While the second traps your soul and makes you unable to respawn anywhere else but that exact same spot where you died. After switching abilities, I’ve always wondered if it was possible to cheat death inside the Tower using Hell’s Gate. But you see, I never had the opportunity to try it out because it’d require the target to die first... that is, until I met you."

The shadow said this as they stepped forward and crouched before the blonde woman, who had turned pale from both lack of blood and terror after discovering she couldn’t teleport away to call for help.

"So I’d like to ask a favor from you, Melissa..."

"Will you die for me?"