Lost Tower, third floor.
The map of the third floor was a jungle and grassland, with traces of cultivated land and a rather decent-looking village.
Worthy of a high-difficulty dungeon. Even the map was incredibly varied.
Demon Player Pike, backed by a few magic classes, was having a great time fighting a Centaur General—after changing opponents several times, he finally found one he could clash with head-on.
Despite magical healing, the monster's wounds grew deeper. The cloaked NPC guide was an expert. He wouldn't join the fight personally, yet always provided the clearest guidance at critical moments.
The Players, initially shocked by the difficulty, had gradually settled down.
Even if monsters respawned over and over, by the wee hours, they had successfully reached the third floor. With such a formidable NPC for guidance, perhaps there was a deeper meaning behind this quest!
The debates between "surviving the fight counts as a kill" and "no corpse means no death" were endless, with some even trying to bypass monsters to look for shortcuts within the rooms.
Pike couldn't be bothered with these underhanded tactics. He just wanted to take down the formidable red-haired Centaur General in front of him—the Centaur General, clad in heavy armor with a long spear and a huge shield, was like a mobile fortress.
This monster's growth magic was equally troublesome, with black and red vines occasionally shooting out of the ground, tripping them up. Those slightly weaker would be instantly bound by those damn vines.
A perfect opponent. Pike's blood was boiling.
The Centaur General would occasionally let out a neigh, with white, scorching breath spilling out from his helmet. The heavy armor couldn't conceal the beast's scent, and Pike was convinced the opponent must also be enjoying this battle.
"This guy is so annoying, like a stalker! Anyone would think I've aggroed him." Centaur General Xiao Wu complained while fighting. "When do we get off work this wave?"
"It's shift work—about seven or eight more minutes," the Swamp Witch next to him grimly said while casting curse magic.
Despite their complaints, they were both decisive in their actions.
"Wait, I've received a notice from above… Huh?" Centaur Xiao Wu voiced his confusion. "This is…"
"Just do as it says!"
The Swamp Witch, also frustrated by the battle, immediately summoned a thick swamp fog to protect all the teammates on site.
Their instructions were simple, with just three words—
[Leave the Tower]
The bosses already had an advantage in direct confrontation with Players. Escaping under defense was even easier. While the Players were preparing their attack formation, the neighbors used the dense fog as cover and dashed out of the Tower without looking back.
The Players preparing for a prolonged battle: "?"
What happened to the agreed rotation of bosses for tower climbing?
The neighbors didn't care about the Demon Players' gaming experience anymore and rushed out of the Tower in the blink of an eye. Outside the Tower, many Players who hadn't managed to enter or had died and de-leveled were left standing, resulting in an awkward stand-off.
Pike was the first to chase out of the tower, ready to continue attacking the Centaur General when a shadow suddenly landed at his feet.
Not just one shadow.
Pike looked up. For the first time since arriving at Tahe, he was so shocked that he forgot to breathe.
Under the moonlight, hundreds of boss-level monsters flew in the air, with the rumored succubi and dog-headed beastmen in tow.
Some monsters had wings of their own, while others floated via magic or magical items. Under the bright moonlight, countless shadows crashed into the ground. Time seemed to freeze as the huge and deformed monsters densely populated midair.
An absolutely lethal legion, with the low growls of monsters echoing, waiting for a command to "attack".
"All the monsters in the Tower are out!"
Pike heard someone cursing. "Is this even a playable dungeon?"
"Hey, guide, what do we do next?" Some of the more impatient ones had already rushed towards the cloaked NPC.
Midair.
"Ahh, ahh. I'm afraid of heights!" The Spider Girl closed all eight eyes, trying not to let her legs tremble.
"How long do we have to stay like this? I've got dough rising in the kitchen." The Banshee mother, in charge of food, was very anxious.
"We didn't have to bring the kids out if we just wanted to scare them away," the Crow father flew beside his wife. "Xiao Xu and the others must have considered it. Don't worry."
Little Piel skillfully flapped his griffin's wings, firmly grasping a short sword in his hands, curiously looking around. "Haven't the Mr. Fairies arrived yet?"
As both sides stood bewildered, the ground suddenly began to tremble.
The cloaked NPC—Enbillick adjusted his hood. An unnaturally powerful magic was rapidly activating. That power did not come from Nol. It was the system's own power.
Amidst the trembling, the Lost Tower gradually became transparent, its outline twisting like smoke.
It was about to forcibly move. Enbillick clenched his teeth.
As an "unofficial feature", the Lost Tower could be hidden by the system. In hidden state, provided with explicit coordinate parameters, it could move to a specific location.
Enbillick knew all this.
He also knew that the reason Paradise hadn't moved before was purely because the Black Forest was rich in resources and dungeons, and it could stay away from human interference.
At this moment, the higher-ups of Paradise must have used some method to modify the Tower's location coordinates.
The problem was, such an action was meaningless.
Being the core of the dungeon, the "monsters" were still here. Without the Lost Tower as support, they would actually be at a disadvantage.
As for the empty Tower, once the Players killed all monsters and left, they could still take partial control—Star Stealer Sol had confirmed, the Lost Tower was a standard guild base. Its permissions inherently allow it to be invaded and seized.
And that was precisely what he did best.
He would cleanly strip everything from Nol, shake his spirit, and erode his stronghold. He would make that guy return to death effortlessly.
…His plan was straightforward. Nothing was supposed to go wrong.
Suddenly abandoning their stronghold, what was Paradise planning to do?
As expected, accompanied by flickers and thunderous noise, the massive Lost Tower disappeared into thin air. With the black tower gone, the vicinity suddenly became empty, making even the airborne army of monsters seem somewhat diminished.
They turned their heads in unison, seemingly surprised by the disappearance of the Lost Tower.
"Attack—!" Enbillick immediately ordered. "Without terrain interference, this is a good opportunity!"
Regardless, targeting a portion of the people first was the best strategy. The succubi and dog-headed beastmen had all come out, making them perfect targets.
No one moved.
"Why…"
Before Enbillick could finish his question, a blood-red popup appeared in front of him.
[Players have completed the hidden dungeon quest: Assault on the Lost Tower.]
[Players have met the conditions: Kill all monsters within the Tower.]
[Mission rewards: The unique system guild base "Lost Tower"; all treasures and items within the Lost Tower; clues about the Demon King will be settled after subsequent events.]
[※The first Player to reach the top of the Lost Tower will gain relevant permissions.]
The quest was completed?
How is that possible?
But… regardless of where the issue was, quest completion meant one thing—the "dungeon boundary" set up by the system would disappear due to the completion of the quest.
Enbillick looked up, his silver-gray pupils reflecting the night sky as a clump of blue fire ignited.
Nol had arrived.
The circle of blue fire burned fiercely, tearing through space, and two figures appeared at the forefront of the monster army.
The God of Creation maintained his Dracolich form—Nol was mostly in human shape, except for the huge dragon wings behind him and the crown-like dragon horns on his head. In the darkness, those blue eyes were more piercing than the moon itself.
Rage boiled in those eyes, with killing intent uncontrollably spreading.
Beside him, a white knight floated in mid-air with wind magic blowing through his long hair. Teest raised his long sword, pointing its tip towards Enbillick in a highly insulting manner.
[Did you enjoy the grape frosted sweets? I sincerely recommend it, Mr. Star Stealer Sol.]
His voice resonated in Enbillick's ears. [Now, give me back my gold wheel.]
The next moment, Teest's figure vanished, his long sword piercing through Enbillick's chest, the destructive force spreading like poison.
Amidst the intense pain, Enbillick instantly activated reversion. The moment the blue fire ignited, he crushed the magic crystal in his pocket, teleporting to Grape Collar.
After this short reversion ended, Enbillick activated a longer reversion. This time, he went back to the afternoon.
He discreetly returned to the fountain square, witnessing "another self" initiating reversion, disappearing among the crowd at the grape frosted sweets stall.
With a flash, Enbillick returned to his original spot in line. The transition was seamless, with the person behind him not noticing anything amiss.
The afternoon sun was exceptionally warm, with children's laughter and the melodious sound of the fountain statue filling his ears.
Enbillick opened his pocket watch to check the time.
At this moment, "another self" was near the Black Forest, planning this quest doomed to fail. Theoretically, he could initiate reversion again, replacing that oblivious self.
But that would be pointless.
Nol made a grand entrance in front of thousands of Demon Players. The course of fate was set, and the plan was declared a total failure.
Enbillick couldn't figure out how the quest had mysteriously succeeded.
He wasn't unfamiliar with Players trying to exploit loopholes in quest texts—facing quests like "eliminate monsters in a specific area", some had tried luring monsters out of the target area or outright destroying quest buildings, to achieve the "no monsters in a specific area" effect.
But they all failed.
In Enbillick's view, Nol did something similar.
He had peeked into the system internals before, but alas, he couldn't understand those deadly mysterious codes. Blindly using the system against the creator was too risky. Next time, he'd minimize system interference, and the plan had to be more meticulous…
"Respected sir, what would you like?"
Lost in thought, Enbillick inadvertently reached the front of the stall. Hearing the greeting, he sighed deeply and casually scratched the back of his head.
"Four grape frosted sweets," he said.
The sun slowly slid across the sky, with the shadow of the fountain statue rotating like a clock hand. The shadow of the Goddess of Life statue stretched longer, creeping to Enbillick's feet, merging with his own shadow.
People passed by, paying no mind.
...
The Black Forest at night.
With the quest suddenly completed and the guide NPC vanishing on the spot, the Demon Players looked at each other, unsure of what to do next.
"It must be bugged," someone behind Pike muttered cluelessly. "None of them died, right?"
"What are you waiting for? Run!" Someone seemed to have snapped back to reality.
But it was too late.
Ensuring those on the ground were all Demon Players, Nol raised his hand and waved downwards. Countless cyan meteors fell like hail, with the Players' resurrection effects flickering amidst the dust and smoke.
Above the Black Forest, a deadly cyan meteor shower lit up the sky. It was as clean and swift as a guillotine; before the pain could even register, the Demon Players' levels vanished along with their HP.
Nol's casting hand didn't tremble in the slightest.
He didn't mind reducing the levels of these folks, just as he didn't mind strengthening factions like Amazon.
Teest whistled satisfactorily and leaped down. He skillfully avoided the cyan fires, with golden threads spreading out, turning into fireworks blooming on the ground.
Blood splattered, and the death rate of the Demon Players doubled instantly.
A one-sided absolute slaughter.
"Fuck, it's a big boss!"
The Players who had come to their senses began to flee, even if the outside was still filled with an unknown, destructive corruption.
For those who didn't value their lives, there might have been a slight chance against the monster army. But it was clear to everyone that the blue-eyed demon wasn't a target they could handle at this stage.
Perhaps this bug in the mission was also facilitated by him! After all, one of the rewards was "clues about the Demon King".
Such a powerful monster could very well be…
"The Demon King…"
In less than a minute, Pike lost eight levels. In his hasty escape, he looked back at that terrifying figure surrounded by blue fire.
But it was that look back that prevented him from seeing the golden thread appearing in front of him. The next second, his head flew off.
The system's death sound effect played once more.
Indeed, that person must be the Demon King.
Only the Demon King could possess such terrifying power. Only the Demon King could disrupt the quest so forcefully.
The whole cooperation between Paradise and humans was a giant trap! He needed to get back safely and sell this information as soon as possible…
As his head returned to its place, Pike ran even more desperately, tumbling into the depths of the night.
That night, the sky above the Black Forest was as bright as day, with participating Players generally losing 40% to 60% of their levels.
It was said that no one received the Lost Tower rewards, but they indeed obtained "clues about the Demon King".
According to the last Demon Player to leave, the Demon King opened a terrifyingly large circle of blue fire. Beyond any doubt, a massive spatial gate. Beyond the circle of fire was blood-red, emitting a corrupt, sweet smell. It was likely something akin to hell.
When leaving the Black Forest, the Demon King and his knight walked at the back of the army. Those two beautiful monsters were clearly aware of his presence as an observer—
In the end, the pale knight turned his head, casually reducing his last level.
After doing all this, the guy wrapped his arm around the Demon King's waist and made a face at his rolling head.
Then the blue fire extinguished, and the Black Forest returned to its usual tranquility.
…Far away, over the Endless Sea.
Through the blue fire circle. Before them was a blood-red sky and a land as dark as the void.
"Welcome."
Perradat said listlessly.
"Before I explain, I'd like to hear your explanations first—what exactly happened just now?"
The author has something to say:
Let's pay homage to Perradat's head (?