Dawn: Another World, Another Fight, Another Clam

The beast didn't look all that viscous and only looked lazy. That didn't lessen its intimidation however, nonetheless, they had gone through the worst of times getting Here, What was an oversized turtle, without that snake for a tail it wouldn't even be worth making turtle soup out of!

"Come on men, let's go!!!!"

They activated their skills and charged at it.

**************

"F*ck F*ck F*ck F*ck"

"How did this happen, it wasn't supposed to be like this"

The surroundings were littered with corpses with warped expressions on their faces, their corpses gave off a sweet aroma, it was the scent of the poison of the snake tail.

In mere moments they had been reduced to this state, half of their initial numbers (Vicente gave them a few extra cuts here and there), The turtle didn't actually attack, it actually hid in it's tough shell while the snake end did all the killing.

Other than the tail and shell it was absolutely useless and it even looked lazy too. It was to be expected from the deceitful actions of the fairy.

<Hee hee. This is a super duper turtle, we don't expect you to kill it completely, just cut off its pesky tail and survive for 2 hours it'll get tired and fall asleep on its belly. Then you have the honour of killing it. Goodluck.>

They should've known it wasn't going to be simple that thing was like some Godzilla like foe in a Chinese movie, a levitating flying saucer like creature that spun. It was in the water as was their exit. It spun at breakneck speeds as was the speed of the snake headed tail.

Not only that but weapons just bounced of the snake tail like so. They spent several hours of battle with it.

They struggled to this state and finally managed to cut off its tail but something odd began happening, the remaining men began collapsing with bluish faces.

Kenpachi hurriedly inspected them.

This!

Poison! But when? And how? The snake didn't bite them, those that were bitten are dead. He regretted not accepting the ones he killed within his clan to offset the risk. Damn it all.

Sssskkc

Kacha

The sound of flesh tearing, his gaze slowly descended downwards at his c.h.e.s.t, a blade was sticking through his heart from the back.

"You're probably wondering- How, well I had several opportunities to give your men small amounts of poison in their system, their defenses were at their lowest now, so that's why it took so long, that and it was really just a tiny amount."

"And yes, I'm the corpse that mysteriously disappeared hmhm"

A demon's voice whispered in his ears, he managed to turn his neck to gaze upon his face , he opened his mouth but blood was all that was coming up in spurts, He had suddenly turned his blade, shredding his esophagus and heart simultaneously.

'How the Hell.... did this happ...en.'

Kenpachi felt his thoughts slowing down before disappearing all together. He thought himself a capable leader with every situation in mind but even he didn't expect some random loner he abducted was so strong. If only he could go back in time to change his choices sadly there was no medicine for regret.

The last feeling he experienced was a cold blade within him.

Slisssh

The blade was withdrawn from the corpse, his body fell to the ground, blood spilling under him to form a pool. Vicente shook the blade off of his Wrath of Juto.

He turned towards the huge turtle, seeing its thick shell he thought he'd challenge himself, After a while it broke under his awesome power- was what he thought would happen- but he was still punching it with his Tai Chi to no avail, his Tai Chi didn't penetrate it at all.

His delicate soft thin human skin with bone underling was in so much pain from his masterfully executed Tai Chi moves upon the turtle shell.

It felt like hitting a block of steel when he was still a human without runes. His hand was beginning to turn red from the pain.

'...'

He stopped for a while and wiped the sweat off his forehead. Fortunately, he didn't start with his katana's as from what he gathered from his period of hurting his fists, even they'd break if he hit with them hard enough.

'How wonderful'

Vicente wasn't discouraged from his failure in the very slightest, he was actually excited, this was a golden opportunity to refine his taichi as it would just stay still and be hit as the tail was already cut off and it was napping.

He spent the next few hours hammering the shield non stop with his fist force of mana bypassing more and more each time, even after all his hours of toil, he only passed through the b.a.r.e minimum of its shell and only touched the flesh underneath, he'd love to do this all day but sadly he hadn't the leisure.

He used his palms, his fists, his elbows, his knees, his toes, his fingers and every possible limb and joints for combat, he hit the shell so hard they began to bleed. He even went the extra mile as to keep hitting it until his bones showed, with the remaining regeneration runes and his high stamina, his injuries would heal up quickly.

This sounded easier than it was, it was the equivalent of someone telling you to jump off a skyscr.a.p.er repeatedly because there was a suitable cushion on the ground, even if that was the truth. Were you willing to risk your life? There was a chance it wouldn't work. There were too many reasons to not overwork himself.

Like he already had the knowledge of what was needed, he had his Sixth Sense, he had trained his body to a suitable state already etc. But he lived by one rule in his first life. It wasn't so much a rule as it was a reputable fact, it was always his fault whatever it was, that way he can change his side of the matter but he could never or he couldn't always change the other side.

He always looked for his own faults and eventually reduced them to acceptable measures.

He continued toiling away at the shell.

His muscles and bones were jolted from the opposing force produced by the action of his movements on the shell, it was like a bolt of electricity through his body.

At one point he even clumsily integrated his mana into his Tai Chi while trying to find the best way to achieve the d.e.s.i.r.ed effect of ignoring the shell. It didn't work all That well but he continued to practice with his mana.

Mana was key in this world.

It was the essence.

It was dou qi.

It was Qi.

It was shinsoo.

It was one of the basics of life.

He did his best to understand its awesome power, he continued to torture himself against the thick shield barrier shell.

Eventually, the count in his head was rushing him to stop and conquer the room.

He reluctantly eyed the turtle while walking pass it-Oh almost forgot- He took his blade to the opening in the shell at the tail end shoved it in several times, then he collected the runes of both the turtle and the dead clansmen while thinking killing was sure a profitable profession. Though one had to be at his level to get such exaggerated gains in merely a day.

Their were probably a few species like the turtle, just parts of the eco system and not really monsters but just ....yea just something.

It was quite stupid to sleep when it's life was in danger, the best thought he had was that the shell doubled as an organ and its body could barely maintain it which was why it was so freaking tough and thick. Or maybe it was just a dumb turtle.

He walked towards the finishing point.

In actuality no one was supposed to die in their appropriate rooms, the difficulty was exactly as advertised, 2 people needed to work together to clear a 2 man room, 10 needed to work together to beat a 10 man room and naturally 80 people needed to work together in order to clear a room.

If the clan before had 80 clan members they would have cleared the room with little difficulty but they didn't and he was slowly wearing them all down causing some to die from mistakes and others to succ.u.mb to poison plus the finale he directly did.

"My my, how lucky you are mister, you get to collect the sole prize for this rune, not many clan leaders can kill off their men to get it so you'll be a rarity amongst all your peers hee hee , keep up the wonderful work Mr Vicente"

"With you I hardly have to do anything as you already do it for me, you're no fun. Then again you might be the most fun of them all hehe take care, I'm sure we'll see each other again."

The fairy appeared and chuckled as it landed on his shoulder and patted it before leaving, he left through the door marked <1> and collected his prize while moving forward to the next floor.

' Of course I'll see you again, I'm only on the first of 4 floors. Second now I suppose.'

His sixth sense was tingling in several nearby locations, indicating that several other rooms have been completed, most likely it didn't include the clans as they would have cleared their rooms faster with no casualties.

*********************

The clans and Vicente had an easy time with the runes and so did everyone else but the end result wasn't the same everywhere.

Such was a the case for a 20 man room.

They had cleared the room with only some slight difficulty however the problem was what came after.

At that moment the fairy appeared above everyone's head.

'…'

While everyone frowned, the fairy quickly started to chatter:

"Hello everyone. Congratulations on clearing a room. Heehee. It was decent enough for 20 people to clear right?".

Everyone unconsciously nodded at these words.

It took about a day for them to get through one room.

And runes had come out too.

The fairy spoke as it looked at these people.

"Well it's exactly at the difficulty for 20 people. But isn't the reward a bit too lacking for a day's worth of work?"

Everybody flinched.

'Looking at it again….'

They had ignored it because they were hunting the beasts whilst being on guard with the nearby people but it seems like the beasts they had killed had not dropped a single artifact.

'This is a bit troublesome.'

Artifacts and skills were important beyond anything else.

Runes did not create a substantial gap and even if there was a gap it was still possible to catch up to it.

But a good artifact or a skill was different.

Everyone at some point in their journey had an incident where they collided against somebody of similar skill level as them.

Perhaps someone who tried to rob you, or someone who wanted to plunder your runes by killing you, or someone just looking for a fight, most likely a rapist even targeted you.

Most couldn't avoid a persistent dog.

Of course most would had calculated that their opponents would realize their skill levels and then refrain from colliding against each other.

But this was a misconception.

They were at similar levels in terms of strength but a huge difference was made at a decisive moment due to their artifacts.

One might had almost died because his artifact had broken apart after colliding against the opponents weapon a few times.

If you take into account the fact that the difficulty of the Tower would continue to increase then the level of one's artifacts could not stay stationary.

The fairy smiled while looking at the people trapped in their thoughts.

"Come on everybody. We aren't that heartless. We've prepared it right here! Since it has taken around one day the rewards should be around this much right?"

The fairy pointed towards the entrance.

The people who saw this stopped for a moment.

Artifacts were placed in front of the 20 doors.

Artifacts that were listed under the 20 Man Room on the map.

<Lupin's Sharp Dagger>

<Bracelet of Polgrade>

…

<Baul's Gauntlet>

One person asked the fairy:

"Do we just need to take one of them then?"

20 people. 20 doors. 20 varieties of artifacts.

It was quite an obvious choice.

The fairy grinned at these words.

"How could that be. Only one out of those 10 doors will open."

"…One? Then twenty people would go through one door but only one artifact will be given?"

The fairy smiled as it spoke again.

"Could you first check the standards of those artifacts?"

Everyone pulled out their maps as they started to check the options of the artifacts.

And then flinched.

'… Why is there so much difference?'

<Baul's Gauntlet>, which was in front of the door which said <20> was pretty good but it was something one could achieve by working just a bit harder.

And 20 of them existed too.

On the other hand, the single <Lupin's Sharp Dagger> which was in front of the room with <1> or two of <Bracelet of Polgrade> in front of the room with <2> were at a level which couldn't even be compared to something like Baul's gauntlet.

An overwhelming difference in power.

The fairy laughed as it saw this.

"The figure listed in front of the door isn't a number. It is something that tells you about how many could survive. The number of people leaving this room alive hangs on your decisions. Heehee."

"…"

"It's not bad to choose the 20th door and leave together in a nice manner with Baul's gauntlet. Though I wouldn't recommend it due to the structure of the tower."

"F.u.c.k…"

It wasn't just a problem of this moment.

They would just be dead meat if they were to take the Baul's Gauntlet and were to face a crossroad of choice like this and meet somebody who had killed off the other nineteen and had gotten something like the dagger.

Some cursed out loud as they gripped the artifacts in their hands.

The moment they started to move away from each other one person, called Takaki shouted out.

"Wait! Come to your senses! Isn't it a safer choice to get through the next level together as twenty!"

Everyone flinched at these words.

Of course it was logically better to have nineteen comrades than a single weapon like that.

And even more so if you take into account that you were the one who might die during the fight.

The fairy smiled.

"I don't know. Heehee. Is it okay for you guys to be at such a leisure when this is just a start? After this room…"

Takaki aggressively glared at the fairy as he shouted.

"Shut up, you Damn fly."

"…"

Everyone flinched as they got away from Takaki.

'That guy. What are his thoughts. To go up against the fairy…'

Some looked at Takaki with a worrying expression.

They felt bad for him because though guy's personality was pretty good, he was about to get killed by the fairy.

But the fairy didn't act out and instead made an amused expression as it spoke:

"What an aggressive man. Can I really not speak about it then?"

But then a man in the corner spoke out.

"No. Please continue. I must hear this out."

The man looked at Takaki as he spoke.

"You shut up instead. Shouldn't we at least hear what is about to come. If you aren't going to take care of all our lives then don't cut off important intel. Do you want to die or something."

"… This bitch."

Takaki glared at the man but he could not swing his sword.

Because that guy was one of the three strongest along with him.

If they fight here then they would be helping them to choose the eighth room.

The fairy continued to talk.

"It might not be bad to go along with twenty people but you will cross against the people of other rooms. Though the number of people you would get tangled up with depends on the room."

Everyone became serious at these words.

If they choose Baul's gauntlet then all twenty of them could survive.

But going together at this moment did not guarantee them going together next round.

'No. It'll be good if we don't become enemies then.'

This was proven by previous experiences.

And what if the people they meet in the next room had also been in a 20 Man Room but chose the 3rd or 4th door?

What if they were from a 40 Man Room and had chosen the 10th door?

If you start at similar starting points then the level of artifacts was the most important part.

If they head off like this then they have to go against people who are armed with much more powerful artifacts.

"…"

Everyone's expressions turned cold.

A definite decision to increase their chance of survival in this damnable structure.

Keep on choosing the low-numbered door and arm themselves.

It might be hard in the beginning but once they grasp the advantage the gap will continue to increase.

But even though everyone had such thoughts they couldn't move thoughtlessly.

Since there was no guarantee that they would be part of the winning side even if they felt greedy.

Takaki spoke cautiously whilst looking at everyone:

"Wait! If we fight here then we might receive injuries and get hurt! If we go into the next room in such a situation then it'll still be dangerous! It's just better to go as twenty…"

"Oh. All your injuries would get healed as soon as you go through the door. We should at least give that much as service when you fought so hard to take over. Heehee. Having a limb cut off is okay too so fight well."

"This damnable…"

While Takaki was fl.u.s.tered from the fairy's words, Hideki looked at Suhan for a moment and then smirked.

"Why are you trying so hard to survive all together. Quite a funny guy."

"What?"

Before Hideki's words ended, a woman started to walk towards Hideki's side.

Takaki narrows his eyes.

Karin.

One of the three strongest along with Hideki.

"What is…"

"I just like the idea on this side. Let's do it simply. Those who want to be with us stick here. We can organize it roughly. Even if it isn't the 1st or 2nd room hmm… 4? 5th room sounds good?"

'Damnit… it seemed like they were talking quite a bit on the way here…'

Gata grinded his teeth as he looked at Hideki and Karin.

They didn't predict things up to this point but had shared some part of their thoughts.