Chapter 295: He’s Faster Than Arthur Was Back Then!

The Guardian seemed to sense the compressed soul energy within it. The moment it forced Iron back, it changed direction and accelerated toward Zich, attempting to reach him before he could attack.

Zich threw the Spirit Bomb forward.

The instant it left his hand, his figure vanished.

[Shadow Blink!]

Boom!

The Spirit Bomb exploded directly in front of the Guardian.

Black-blue soul energy spread outward like a surging tide, and clear cracks appeared across the heavy armor for the first time. Zich reappeared beyond the explosion’s reach, raised Frostgrave Scythe, and released a Blood Arc that struck the damaged area with perfect accuracy.

FWOOOSh! Shing!

The Guardian charged out of the churning energy. Although charred marks covered its armor, its speed had barely decreased.

It ignored Iron and the Silverback Ape Grunt, its crimson gaze remaining fixed on Zich. It had clearly identified which opponent posed the greatest threat.

But that was precisely what Zich wanted.

Slimy leaped from his shoulder, its translucent body expanding as a Silk Barrier formed between them. The Guardian’s attack crashed down, snapping countless white threads, but their resistance delayed its weapon for a fraction of a second.

Quickly, the Silverback Ape Grunt activated Intercept and charged between the Guardian and Zich.

Iron moved at the same moment.

Whoom!

Its bone greatsword swept upward before Black Cleave descended along the crack previously struck by Blood Arc, tearing the damaged armor open even farther.

The Undead Skeleton Soldiers surrounded the Guardian without attempting to overpower it. Two repeatedly obstructed its steps, forcing it to shorten its stride, while the others attacked its weapon arm and damaged flank whenever its attention shifted toward Zich.

Zich retrieved another Spirit Bomb however he didn’t recklessly throw it against the Guardian’s intact frontal armor. Instead, he waited for Iron to receive the next attack, activated Shadow Blink, carried the bomb across the Guardian’s blind side, and released it beside the cracked section before retreating.

The explosion battered the same point again, causing cracks to spread across the Guardian’s torso.

It released a deep roar and swung its weapon in a wide arc, knocking Iron aside and forcing the Silverback Ape Grunt to retreat. Two Undead Skeleton Soldiers were thrown across the ground when they attempted to obstruct its pursuit, but they immediately rose and moved back into position.

Zich maintained the pressure.

Blood Arc struck the weakened armor whenever the Guardian turned. Iron’s Black Cleave widened the existing fracture, while Slimy extended strands of silk across the battlefield, disrupting the Guardian’s footwork without trying to withstand its full strength directly.

Black-blue explosions continued to target the same area until the hairline cracks extended across more than half of the Guardian’s body.

Realizing the danger, the Guardian abruptly abandoned the summons and lunged toward Zich.

The four Undead Skeleton Soldiers converged to obstruct it. One struck the side of its knee, another threw itself beneath its descending foot, and the remaining two attacked from opposite directions, but the Guardian broke through their interference through brute force.

The distance between it and Zich rapidly vanished.

Instead of retreating, Zich charged forward.

His movement caused the Guardian to raise one arm across its damaged torso, preparing to block the Blood Arc it expected him to unleash.

Zich did not swing Frostgrave Scythe.

He retrieved another Spirit Bomb and held it close to his body. Just before the Guardian’s attack descended, he activated Shadow Blink and passed across its flank.

As he crossed the cracked section of armor, Zich thrust his hand toward the opening and slipped the Spirit Bomb through the fractured plates.

His fingers released it inside.

He reappeared beyond the Guardian’s body.

Boom!

The explosion erupted from within.

Black-blue energy tore the heavy armor apart from the inside out. The enormous figure stumbled forward several steps before stopping, the crimson light within its armor gradually fading until its entire body dissolved into countless motes of light.

[Trial Completed.]

[Trial Evaluation: SSS.]

The portal leading to the Sixteenth Floor lit up.

Zich checked the condition of his summons, recalled them, and walked directly into the portal.

At the same time, outside the Heaven Reaching Trial Tower, the intense reaction caused by Zich reaching the Fifteenth Floor had not completely subsided.

More powerhouses who had received the news were arriving at the plaza. Among them were senior officials from the Players Association and representatives of the Human Alliance and the Five Great Families.

When a familiar figure appeared at the rear of the crowd, the surrounding discussions quickly quieted.

"President Arthur!"

The crowd voluntarily parted to either side.

Arthur didn’t respond to the gazes directed toward him. He merely walked through the opening, raised his head, and looked at the black monument.

A recorder from the Players Association quickly approached and presented the intervals compiled since the beginning of the trial.

From Zich’s initial entry until his arrival on the Fifteenth Floor, the cumulative external advancement time recorded through the monument’s changes was shorter than Arthur’s had been twenty years earlier.

The comparison was not information displayed by the monument itself, and ordinary spectators could only make rough calculations by recording when a challenger’s floor number changed. Arthur, however, still remembered the condition in which he had passed those same thresholds.

A senior member of the Association lowered his voice.

"The first fifteen floors cannot determine the final result. Most of the truly dangerous trials lie farther ahead. That was also where your advancement began slowing twenty years ago."

"I know," Arthur answered calmly.

Faster progress through the early floors did not mean Zich would necessarily reach the Thirtieth Floor, much less clear the floor Arthur himself had failed to complete. The trial content was different for every challenger, and many promising Players had collapsed once exhaustion accumulated or they encountered an opponent that countered them.

But those limitations did not alter the figures the recorder had placed before him.

At the same stage, Zich’s cumulative advancement time was ahead of Arthur’s.

On the other side of the plaza, Nadia, Helen, and Austin continued their own trials, and the positions beneath first place shifted as their displayed floors changed. Their supporters watched closely, but even their competition could not pull the majority of the crowd’s attention away from the top.

A few minutes after Arthur arrived, dark-gold patterns moved across the black monument.

[First Place: Zich Grave, Sixteenth Floor.]

The confirmation brought a roar from the plaza.

"He cleared the Fifteenth Floor!"

"He’s already entered the Sixteenth Floor!"

Players Association recorders instantly added the new interval to their documents, while the representatives who had only recently arrived turned to question those who had witnessed Zich’s advancement from the beginning.

As for Arthur he stood where he was simply observing. He did not object to the comparisons spreading through the crowd, nor did he publicly confirm them yet. He merely watched Zich’s name and allowed a trace of anticipation to appear in his eyes.

The advancement data had already established the comparison.

Whether Zich could maintain it was now a question only the Tower could answer.