Read Novel Full Chapter 771: The Fourth Floor
Chapter 771: The Fourth Floor
When Daniel placed his foot inside the fourth floor, he expected an exciting transition, a pressure that would crush his bones, or at least some instability in space.
But nothing. His feet gently settled on the ground, as if he had always been there.
He had gone straight through the lobby and come to the fourth floor of the tower without wasting much time there.
The forest around him stood silent. Too silent.
The trees were straight, flawless, and motionless. Not even the smallest vibration could be seen in the branches, as if the wind had lost its meaning here. Mana flowed in the air, but not in a natural way... rather like something that had been forcibly arranged.
Daniel looked around. He tried to find something strange or dangerous, but there was no such thing... at least if we ignore that tree in front of him.
He walked a few steps forward and saw it more clearly.
A tree.
But not something you could pass by with a single glance.
A silver trunk that shimmered under the invisible light of this world. Roots, some of which had emerged from the soil, as if they didn’t want to remain completely hidden. Dry branches, without leaves... without any apparent life.
And at the highest point, there was a fruit, but small and unripe, and strangely a combination of white and gold.
Daniel stared at it for a few moments. Just looking at it gave him a strange feeling of closeness, as if he knew this tree or they were related somehow.
And at that moment, a voice echoed directly in his ear, and a screen appeared in front of him.
[Welcome Daniel Noir to the fourth floor of the tower]
[Floor Name: The Cursed Tree]
[Difficulty: Hell]
[Phase One Description: Protect the cursed tree until its fruit fully grows]
[The Mother System wishes you the best]
There was no timer and no limitations announced, just one goal, and that was to protect this tree.
Daniel shifted his gaze from the fruit to the trunk of the tree and was silent for a few seconds.
"...Just defense?" The question was, what did he have to defend this tree against?
Why would anyone need to protect a tree? It didn’t even seem logical, but since when have the tower floors been logical?
He had no doubt that there was a reason behind it, and the reason might be related to this tree being special. It wasn’t for nothing that he felt such familiarity with this tree.
"A cursed tree, huh? The question is, why would a tree be cursed? Could it be sentient?" He muttered to himself.
A tree having sentience might seem strange, but it wasn’t impossible, especially since he had seen examples of it before.
However, before he could think more about it, he suddenly felt something.
He raised his hand, and The Heavens Honor slowly took shape in his hand. The edge of the sword glowed with a weak current of lightning energy.
A wind blew.
But it made no sound. No leaves moved. And then one of the ordinary trees around him... unnaturally... shifted.
It wasn’t moving or bending, but rather its "position" in space had changed. Several shadows separated from among the trunks.
Bodies compressed from darkness with no clear boundaries. They had strange shapes, but from their smell and aura, it was clear what they were.
Beasts of corruption.
Even stranger was that all of them were at the peak of A-rank.
Their movement was direct, but not toward Daniel, rather toward the cursed tree, as if they wanted to destroy it.
Daniel stepped forward. In the blink of an eye, he closed the distance. His sword moved. A short blue light traced through the air, and the first creature was split in half.
Its body didn’t fall or crumble but turned into fine particles that were pulled toward the tree and disappeared into its silver trunk, and the tree’s fruit suddenly grew slightly, just a few millimeters.
"...Interesting." Daniel raised an eyebrow for a moment.
Several other creatures passed by him. This time, instead of pursuing, Daniel stepped back and lured them closer to the tree.
And then he moved. His body shifted at a speed that didn’t even force the air to react.
One.
Two.
Three.
Consecutive strikes, precise and unrelenting, tore the bodies apart at a specific distance from the tree. Dark particles, like reverse rain, were pulled toward the tree.
The fruit grew slightly larger. A weak light emanated from it. Daniel’s eyes narrowed.
"So... that’s how it is." He partially understood why this tree was called the cursed tree.
Another creature approached, and this time he raised his left hand.
A different kind of energy, something deeper than mana, took shape in his palm.
A small flame that seemed to be made of all the colors in existence.
The Primordial Flame.
When the creature came into range, Daniel released the flame without any extra movement.
No explosion occurred, and there was no sound, but the creature’s body began to burn.
Not physically, but rather as if the "corruption" inside it was being cleansed from within.
A few seconds later, nothing remained, and that beast of corruption was completely destroyed. The monster was entirely made of corruption energy, so nothing was left of it.
But according to what it seemed, if a normal beast became corrupted, it might be possible to just burn the corruption and return the beast to its normal state.
Daniel kept his gaze steady. For a brief moment, his mind went elsewhere. The mark that the Corruption Worshipers had placed on him.
If this flame could burn corruption, then it could burn the mark too.
"...I can cleanse it." Then he lowered his sword.
"Not yet." He preferred that the Corruption Worshipers come after him. This way, he could hunt them more easily.
His eyes returned to the field.
The first wave was no longer a threat. He had easily slaughtered them all. If it weren’t for the fact that he wanted to run some tests on them, they would have been slaughtered much sooner.
He doubted any other beast of corruption would dare come near this place.
But just when everything seemed too simple, the space changed. The ground beneath Daniel’s feet trembled slightly.
And from the darkness between the trees, something emerged.
A body that was a combination of rotten flesh and tree tissue, roots that slithered like snakes on the ground, and a surface that constantly changed.
Daniel gave it a look from above, and it was clear he hadn’t taken it seriously at all.
"It seems I underestimated these monsters’ hatred for this tree." He sneered and muttered to himself.
Then he raised his sword again and struck a gentle blow. Although the blow was gentle, the power within it was monstrous.
Boom!