The mythic gate stood at his way completely still.
The mold falling down as dust every now and then.
Everything was silent, not even a sound of insect. Yet, vash didn't feel at ease or any sense of accomplishment.
He stared at the gate in front of him with a narrowed gaze. The presence radiating from it surrounded him like a sea of darkness.
He had been standing here ever since he cleared the lower 50 floors.
Resting and gaining his stamina to face whatever anomaly awaited him behind the gate.
"I have died more than a hundred times already, just trying to get to this floor."
"I should be feeling a sense of pride, shouldn't I?... but..."
"Why do I get a feeling.... That I am about to die here?"
He lets go of his blades as the gloves are torn up by the grips.
"Shit... That burns."
He left it as the regen filled the grip wounds and he turned his gaze back at the gate.
[The reason he was worried wasn't the presence or the level.]
[But, it was the fear that a person gets when they finally reach the end they wanted.]
He called out his status window, staring at his levels still locked in 264.
[Level: 264
Strength: 867
Stamina: 889
Agility: 893
Intelligence: 749
Precision: 924
Luck: 60 (+luck effect)]
[HP: 24560/24560
MP: 24300/24300
XP: 5.4M/ 70,000 (player level up will be count after job change quest)]
"Haa~.. The stats had barely rose up... And I think that's also because I pushed out of my current limits."
He had so much XP but he couldn't use any of that.
He closed his eyes and took as many deep breaths as possible.
The he opened his eyes again and stepped towards the gate.
Feet heavy.
A bead of sweat fell down his forehead.
He placed both his hands on the gate and pushed forward.
The gate creaked but didn't budge from its place, as the system window popped up.
[Place the boss fragments on the key slot in order.]
He stared at the screen for a moment before calling out his inventory and pulled out all three fragments that he collected on the lower floors.
On the first look, all the pieces looked like part of some scrapped coin.
Each piece was almost as big as his palm.
He looked around the gate to find a key slot.
He didn't find any empty slot near the gate, but found one on the pillar that was the third from the gate on its right side.
He read the inscriptions inside the slot and the inscriptions on each piece of the coin.
He didn't understand the language, but he understood the pattern on which the letters were written.
He read each one carefully and placed the coin piece with the exact inscription as the key slot.
He slowly placed each piece in the slot and left it.
As nothing happened, he decided to rotate the coin.
And just as the coin was rotated, the giant gate creaked and started to swing open.
A sudden surge of energy hits him right on the face, making the air heavier around him.
The gate was completely open but nothing was behind it. Yet, he couldn't bring himself to step forward even a step.
He tries to force himself forward by materializing his short swords again and clenching tightly around the grip.
[It wasn't to force his legs to move forward, it was to calm his mind and think that he's prepared.]
He got near the gate with small steps and looked inside.
Inside was a big royal hall, small seats on each sides of the carpet and a throne on top of the stairs.
Everything was covered in mold and dust.
There were also webs but no insects.
"Why is there a throne room?"
He took one last deep breath before placing his foot inside the doorstep of the throne room.
The moment his foot made contact with the red carpet of the throne room, the torches started to ignite one after another, all the way to the throne.
He froze on the very first step as a weird sound hit his ears.
It sounded like metal scraping across stone, mixed with an electric vibration.
He looked at the throne.
A black figure appeared on the throne and a knight commander wearing a cape, in silver armour stepped in front of the stairs to the throne.
His large sword scratched across the floor and cuts through the carpet.
His red cape flowed along with the air.
The air, that was not even there.
Vash felt a lump forming in his throat.
"Gulp~"
His brain sent him an immediate danger signal.
"Wh– why is there a knight?... T–This tower was supposed to be in a monster scenario."
The knight swung his sword and rested it on his shoulder as he stared at him with a single eye that glowed through the slits of the helmet.
He raised his free hand and made a gesture.
A finger moved side to side.
The system window popped up over his head.
[The sole commander of the fallen nation.
The loyal servant of the king of the fallen nation.]
[Knight commander: Leonhart]
The system notification popped up next to Vash.
[The knight commander protects its king.
To reach the king, get rid of the obstacle in front.
Trait: "A warrior who fights fairly."]
The knight stepped forward and stuck his massive sword into the floor and gestured for Vash to come forward.
It looked like arrogance at first, but the attitude was different.
Like an examiner looking at the examinee.
Vash moved forward and took an alert stance.
Ready for any attack.
Then suddenly.
Leonhart vanished and appeared right in front of him with a punch right on his chest.
"He's fast!"
He wasn't even able to make a sound when the punch made contact with his chest.
The impact sent him all the way to the wall above the massive gate.
But.
Leonhart didn't stop there.
He dashed again and appeared right in front of him and landed a barrage of punches on him.
All the while.
Vash wasn't able to make a sound.
And just like that.
[The player is dead.
Initiating restart.]
He woke up in a panic in front of the gate again.
His breathing was heavy.
His face pale.
His hands trembling.
And.
All he managed to think was.
"Why am I tested at the last moment everytime?"
He stood up once more.
Taking all his time to gather his thoughts and prepare again.
He knows that the opponent is faster than him.
He also knows that he went easy on him.
Because he never used his sword.
After a few minutes.
He stepped inside again as the black figure and leonhart respawned.
This time when Leonhart gestured him to come forward, he just stepped directly.
The moment Leonhart vanished, Vash blocked the punch with his blade and was sent a few meters back.
Leonhart stared at him with a tilt of his head and clapped a few times.
Vash coughed from the impact and held his arm that blocked the attack.
He stared at Leonhart with wariness.
"Why is he clapping?... Isn't he just a NPC monster?"
"Most of the monsters didn't have this much IQ."
"This guy really is more dangerous than others."
Leonhart vanished once more and appeared behind him, but Vash immediately ducked down swept at his feet.
Leonhart just jumped over his leg swipe and kicked him right on the face, sending him all the way to the stair of the throne.
Vash groaned as Leonhart waited for him to get up.
"This guy isn't just any NPC."
"Yeah, I think I know what it is now."
"He can't talk but he's clearly saying."
"You've fought enough mindless monsters, now learn how to fight a warrior with experience."
"This guy isn't a NPC monster.... He's an evaluator who wants to test me before the last stage."
Vash started to smile behind his mask.
"Heh~,.. I kind of like this."
"The restart is still working... So."
"Let's die."