Daniel stared indifferently at the two people looking at him with blank faces. From their expressions, it was obvious they were shocked, surprised, and maybe even speechless.

He didn't say anything and let them calmly analyze the plan he had just explained. After all, he knew better than anyone how insane his plan sounded.

It was a plan where they would either die or succeed. Though, the "death" part applied mostly to the other two—since unless Daniel's soul was destroyed, true death wasn't even possible for him.

And with the current strength of his soul, he doubted even an S-rank could destroy it. After all, ever since he reached A-rank, the completion rate of the Undying Soul of Dragon had reached 72%.

Although he wasn't exactly sure how powerful his soul had become, he was fairly confident that even most S-ranks wouldn't be able to annihilate it.

So even if his plan failed, in the worst case only William and Diana would die. He felt a bit of guilt for them… but did they really have another choice? The answer was simple—no. This was their only way out. If they did nothing, they might end up stuck here forever, unless the Federation decided to send S-ranks to help.

"You're seriously insane," William sighed, though there was a faint spark of excitement hidden in his eyes.

When was the last time he met someone this interesting? He couldn't even remember. Most people who reached above B-rank valued their lives too much. It was rare to even hear such reckless ideas, let alone act on them. He wasn't an exception either—he feared death. Otherwise, why would he have possessed another man's body in the first place?

But now, he didn't really mind. Even if something went wrong, he still had a few trump cards to save himself.

"I agree. We don't really have any other option anyway," Diana nodded calmly, her face expressionless.

Still, there was a spark of excitement in her eyes too. The longer she spent around this masked man, the more certain she became—he was the one her master had been looking for. Who else could be so insane that he'd gamble with his own life?

"Good. But to make this plan work, we'll need the help of the S-ranks. Can you contact the ones still alive?" Daniel asked.

"It's not impossible, but we need to get closer to the island's center. There's heavy interference on the communication talismans—the closer we are, the higher the chance we can reach them."

"Then lead the way."

The three of them started moving. The distance to the island's center from their current path was roughly an hour on foot, assuming they were lucky enough not to encounter any major threats.

They used that hour to review and finalize the details of their plan. One of them needed to act as a decoy and sacrifice themselves to destroy the tree known as the Titan King.

Daniel immediately volunteered. The other two were a bit surprised, but they didn't refuse. After all, neither of them wanted to take that suicidal role anyway.

At the same time, Daniel had several questions he wanted to ask, but he wasn't sure how, or even if these two knew the answers.

Like the Federation's intentions… Why didn't the Federation allow any guilds to send S-rank Awakened here? Why didn't they want anyone entering the central layer?

What exactly was the Federation trying to obtain here?

Still, he didn't ask. As curious as he was, he knew that asking could be dangerous—and more importantly, William likely didn't know anything. As for Diana, maybe she did.

The path was relatively quiet, though they were forced to fight several times against monsters that surrounded them.

A few Sky Titans, much stronger than the ones they had seen on the bridge, suddenly attacked.

At one point, they were even ambushed by a group of powerful Stone Titans for no apparent reason. There were many of them, and they completely surrounded the group.

Fortunately, with the three of them working together, dealing with such creatures wasn't too hard. Their group could easily be considered the strongest team below S-rank.

In fact, if all three went all-out and used every trump card they had, they could probably even kill a single S-rank.

As they moved closer to the island's center, the rain gradually weakened. In the distance, they could even see light.

"We're here," Diana said as she looked ahead. The massive mountain range stood before them.

Though it was just a single step away, it felt like two entirely different worlds. The area they stood in was completely dark, as if trapped in eternal night, but beyond that point, sunlight illuminated everything.

They didn't rush in. The moment they stepped past that line, every S-rank monster, and even the peak S-rank guardian, would attack them immediately.

Diana pulled out a communication talisman and tried contacting several of the S-rank Awakened.

But to her surprise, no response came. It was as if no one was left alive to answer.

"Don't tell me they're all dead?" William frowned.

Hearing that made both Daniel and Diana's faces darken. If all the S-ranks were dead, their plan couldn't be executed.

As they stood there in uneasy silence, suddenly a voice came through the talisman.

"Diana? Why are you contacting me? Did you find what we were looking for?" The voice was rough and tired.

"Something happened, and we need your help," Diana replied quickly, then gave a brief summary of their situation.

"I see… so we're trapped here too," the voice sounded even more weary now.

Of course, being S-ranks, it wasn't impossible for them to leave—they had plenty of trump cards that could allow them to escape. But unless it was an absolute emergency, they preferred not to use them.

Contrary to how it might seem, the key holds extremely high importance, especially as one climbs to higher levels and reaches the upper floors of the Tower, its value only increases.

After a certain point, obtaining a key is no longer as simple as receiving one from someone else or even trying to buy it.

If they were to lose four or five keys now, challenging the Tower again would become incredibly difficult.

"Explain your plan."

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