[ Duel — Ainen vs Goblin General ]

In the battlering spanning a 100-meter radius, Ainen faced the Goblin General. Both had a distance of 50 meters between them.

'I need to get strong in every way.' Ainen's eyes glinted. 'I need to train close-combat skills as well.'

Tyrant Mage's Arm—Blade Mode.

The blade had neon flame patterns as it glowed and vibrated purely due to the circulation of heat Ainen had structured due to his crazy control of Fire and magic in general.

Goblin General had a heavy sword in his hand, and its stats were 200 in each except for Vitality and Stamina, which were 250.

It waved its hand, releasing a blue wave from its sword before dashing towards Ainen at a breakneck speed.

Ainen calmly snapped his finger with his other hand, releasing a flame slash that nullified the sword slash before he waved his blade while suddenly bursting forward with Jet Blaze Flight.

His immense speed gave no chance to the Goblin General as his blade split it in two.

[ You have won. You can move one step ahead. ]

Ainen moved to the next Step and saw that Dylan and Sofia reached the 4th step already. They didn't want to duel each other, so they moved one by one. The third guy was on the 3rd step, fighting against a generated opponent as well.

The total steps to reach the first island were 10.

Maurin watched Ainen helplessly. This floor was disadvantageous because neither Vorton nor Nico wanted to duel Ainen and kill him.

Moreover, this floor prevented deaths. People could kill each other in a duel, but it didn't affect them physically or mentally, except for experiencing pain.

As such, they had no confidence in winning against this Infernal Demon in a duel after watching him fight against the Floor Boss.

They were scared of his Fire spells.

But Ainen hadn't even shown the true power of his flame, the characteristic of Palatebloom Fire, during the boss fight.

"We should go as well." Naresh looked at Diana.

"Yep." Diana nodded before she glanced at Vorton and Nico. "You are welcome to challenge me, by the way."

"Sure. Just don't regret it." Vorton grinned and moved.

Diana and Vorton jumped on the step at the same time and entered a duel.

After that, Nico and Naresh jumped at the same time.

"Five minutes feels too long," Rock muttered as he saw the four of them entering a duel.

"Since we have to stay here, do you think other people can duel us?" Stacy wondered and looked at Hammer, who was the only Adept-rank remaining.

"Can you come up on the step and see what happens?"

Diana, Naresh, Vorton, and Nico jumped on the first step, but the way they entered, the duel against each other started instead of triggering against Rock or Stancy.

They needed to confirm if the losers on a step can go into a duel with others who arrive on that step.

"Alright, let's check." Hammer nodded.

He jumped on the step at the corner.

"Oh, it's actually an option. I can choose to duel either one of you or enter a normal duel."

Hammer grinned. "I am not dueling against you. I just broke through to Adept-rank."

…

The twenty Adept-rank Adventurers of the Cradle organization also arrived on the magic platform since all Adventurers had left.

"We will split into two teams. I'll lead one, and Prisha will lead the other one," Elber said. "Before killing them, you can make a slave offer to them with the contract. If they accept, they are yours. But not for these five. They must remain alive, but we can disable them and cut a limb or two."

Elber's eyes glinted as they released a Mana projection, displaying the faces of the five people according to his memory.

They were Ainen, Viena, Dylan, Andras, and Sofia.

"Aside from these five, kill or do whatever you want with the rest, but don't delay."

Everyone nodded.

"I'll go to the northwest," Prisha said and immediatly vanished.

Her team quickly followed up.

"We will be going to the northeast then," Elber said. "Let's go."

…

Prisha arrived in the grassy plain and saw people on the steps. Her dark pink hair fluttered in the wind as she blinked, reading the mechanism of this floor.

After reading it, she looked at the people on the steps.

This northwest area had people of the Torion Kingdom mostly.

"Who are you?"

Seeing more people alive, the losers on the steps who were waiting for the countdown to be over were surprised.

"Did you all enter later? Where are you from?"

Prisha pointed her finger at the losers on the 1st step. A spiraling green beam shot out, striking the person who spoke first.

However, a barrier flickered into existence and protected that person.

[You cannot attack others on the steps. Life and death duels are only allowed on the islands, and the duel challenge from one to another cannot be rejected.]

"So we have to get on the island first to kill them?" Prisha frowned. "Annoying floor."

"Hahaha, let's go. This floor sounds like a fun way to torture these idiots."

"That red-haired babe is mine!"

"Tsk, dickheads only thinking with their dicks."

On the other hand, Elber also found out about the second floor's mechanism.

There was no other way but to reach the island.

Four areas each had steps leading to an island.

But going further up, the steps from those four islands actually led to a single island.

And then from that island, four different step-pathways led to four islands in the East, West, South, North.

Then the steps converged once again on a large island where everyone who ascended would meet again.

This went on for a total of ten times. As in, layer 1 with four islands leading to layer 2 with a single converging island, then to layer 3 with four islands, and again leading to a converging island on layer 4…for a total of 10 layers.

The steps in each layer increased by 10 per subsequent layer, with 100 steps for the last one to reach the floor boss area.

No more than ten seconds of rest on each step. One second more, and they would become losers and get a five-minute break.

Constant fighting, finding rewards in the island, dueling others in life and death without being able to reject, and ultimately reaching the very top island to challenge the floor boss.

But once they reach the first island and go further to find new mechanisms, they would realize that this wasn't a sprint race, but a strategic marathon with death zone islands acting as checkpoints.

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