Chapter 503: The Second Floor, Worthy Predators
The two girls turned toward the direction indicated by the arrow. They did not have to walk very far before they encountered another one.
This time, the ice arrow pointed toward a different hallway.
Celeste immediately smiled, "See? I told you!"
Emilia could not help but smile slightly as well, "Looks like you were right."
They followed the second arrow. Then they found another. And another.
Soon, they realized that the arrows were not limited to a single hallway. Violet had placed them throughout a huge chunk of the floor, creating an unmistakable trail that guided them from one corridor to another.
Every arrow pointed in the correct direction. There was no longer any need to wonder which path they should take.
Emilia and Celeste simply followed the frozen trail. After only five more minutes, they finally reached a large chamber.
At the opposite end stood the massive gate leading toward the next floor.
Emilia nodded happily before turning toward the phoenix girl.
"By the way, why didn’t you just use Pyra to scout ahead?"
But Celeste shook her head.
"I want her to stay full of energy in case things get worse later. Besides, I’m worried that if Pyra gets hit by a soul attack, she might suffer from it."
Celeste understood immediately, "Oh, I hope I can use that [Monster Lord] talent to get a pet too!"
The two of them looked toward the gate.
Since Violet had gone through the trouble of leaving a path behind, they assumed that she and Leon had already gone ahead.
There was no reason for them to wait. Celeste took a deep breath, and Emilia prepared herself as well.
Together, they stepped into the darkness beyond the gate. Their bodies immediately began breaking apart into particles.
Fwoosh!
A moment later, both of them disappeared.
...
Leon and Violet had already entered the next floor.
Leon had expected them to appear somewhere together again, but the moment he opened his eyes, he realized that Violet was nowhere nearby.
He looked around the dark corridor.
"Violet?"
There was no response.
Leon frowned slightly. It seemed the Tower of Souls had separated them again.
Ding!
[Floor: 2]
[Half of the monsters of this floor are higher-ranked creations from the Lord of Souls while the other half are those that he deemed as worthy predators.]
Leon read the description carefully. The second floor was clearly different from the first.
Some of the monsters were still creations, but the other half were actual predators that the Lord of Souls considered worthy enough to place inside the Tower of Souls.
’So there are actual monsters here.’
Leon was not particularly concerned. If anything, the thought made him slightly excited.
’Well, that just means items.’
There was a chance they would drop something useful.
Leon immediately thought about the girls.
He had already obtained [Soul Pulse (C-Level)] from one of the previous monsters, but he had not given it to Violet yet as it was kind of low.
If he found another soul-related sub-talent, especially one of a higher rank, he would definitely give it.
Leon took a step forward.
But the moment his foot touched the ground, every torch in the hallway suddenly flickered. Then they all went out.
No... It was not just the torches in Leon’s hallway.
Every torch throughout the second floor seemed to extinguish at the exact same moment, plunging the entire area into darkness.
The faint light coming from the markings within the walls remained, but it was nowhere near enough to properly illuminate the halls.
For an ordinary person, seeing anything in such conditions would have been nearly impossible.
Leon, however, was completely unaffected.
His SSS-Level [Essence of Darkness] allowed him to see through darkness as though it were nothing.
The girls also had no reason to worry.
Leon had given them the [Eye of Shadow] skill during the Monster Tide, allowing them to see through darkness as well.
Still, the sudden change immediately made Leon more alert.
Something had happened. He slowly looked into the darkness ahead.
Then he heard it.
Huff...
A low breathing sound echoed through the corridor.
Leon narrowed his eyes. From somewhere in the darkness, four blue eyes slowly appeared.
They were staring directly at him. Leon remained completely calm as the creature stepped forward.
It looked like a massive wolf, but calling it a simple wolf would have been an insult to its terrifying appearance.
Its black fur seemed to absorb the surrounding darkness, while jagged bone-like growths covered its shoulders and spine, and blue energy pulsed through its body like a second set of veins.
Eye of Truth!
---
[Spiritfang Wolf]
[Level: 100]
[Talent: Soul Regeneration (B-Level), Supreme Spirit Enhancement (S-Level)]
[Combat Power: 16,500,000]
[Details: One of the predators of the second floor of the Tower of Souls, tears apart anything with a soul to consume it.]
---
"So that’s the predators the panel talked about," Leon said, nodding slightly. "They consume souls."
The wolf lowered its body. Its four blue eyes remained fixed on Leon.
A moment later, its muscles tightened. Then it suddenly lunged forward.
Its enormous body shot through the darkness at an incredible speed, its claws extended toward Leon’s chest as it attempted to tear him apart.
Leon did not even step backward. He simply raised his sword.
The wolf was almost upon him when Leon swung once.
Slash!
His blade passed directly through its body.
The Spiritfang Wolf froze in midair. For a moment, nothing happened. Then its body split cleanly in two.
Both halves fell to the ground, blood leaking from the wound.
Ding!
[You have killed "Spiritfang Wolf" and gained 120,000 experience points.]
[100% Drop Rate has triggered...]
Leon looked at the notification and grinned.
"Heh."
It seemed that the predators were not nearly as threatening as the tower’s description had made them sound.
The Spiritfang Wolf had been considerably stronger than the Lich of Souls in terms of combat power, and its talents were also far more impressive, yet none of that mattered against Leon.
One swing had been enough.
Since it had given him experience points, there was no doubt that it had been an actual monster rather than another creation of the Lord of Souls.
That meant it should also leave behind something after its death.
That reminded Leon once again of the ten souls related to his [Life Vessel] title.
The warriors from his first God-Rank assessment had all been extremely powerful, yet their souls had somehow ended up being destroyed by the monsters inside this place.
Now that Leon understood how the Tower of Souls worked, he could not help but wonder what had actually happened to them.
’Did the monsters on these floors kill them?’
Leon frowned slightly.
The Spiritfang Wolf had been stronger than the monsters on the first floor, but it had still been completely helpless against him.
Of course, that did not mean the other predators were equally weak.
The Tower of Souls had only just shown him the second floor, and the panel had already mentioned higher-ranked creations and worthy predators.
’Maybe they were killed by something deeper inside.’
Leon quickly pushed the thought aside.
Whatever had happened to those warriors, he would eventually discover the truth himself.
Then he immediately opened his Storage Space to check what had been added.