Guild Wars-Novel

Chapter 767 Floor 56 and 57

　　On the next floor, the Shameless Trio wasn't even sure what face to make as they faced this round's enemy. Before them stood a handsome, robust, and very masculine fellow. He was bronzed, not just well-built but square-jawed, chiseled faced, broad-shouldered, top-heavy, muscular and brawny, with large biceps and pectorals as well as a thickened neck, along with a puffed out chest and bull-like feet. 

　　The fellow was in possession of a jawline so sharp that it could cut Demons as well as an extremely broad neck, conveying his immense strength. This guy was the pinnacle of physical perfection, with muscles rippling all over his body. 

　　He wore a brown Roman warrior-armor gear with a dark brown belt, brown wristbands, and matching warrior sandals. He also wore a long light blue cape on the back of his tunic and wielded a longsword and round shield. 

　　｢Name: Hercules – Major Rank monster     

　　Level: 150   

　　HP: 900,000,000/900,000,000｣     

　　Draco, Qiong Qi and Clarent had had it. They were pissed. The three of them fell to the ground and began rolling about, wailing loudly and making a tantrum. 

　　How could anyone blame them? 

　　It was now abundantly clear that the Tower was pulling out all the stops to kill them. The first couple of fights against the beefed up Tyrannosaurus or the Nemean Lion had still been sensible, because the two had represented believable species that one might encounter in the Western Fantasy section. 

　　However, what about what came after? The legendary Gundam, the Dino Rangers, and lastly Ben FREAKING 10,000, only for the Tower to seemingly raid Disney's vault to dig up Hercules?! 

　　At this point, it was undeniable that the Tower was breaking copyright laws just to put Draco and co six feet under. Without Destruction Energy, how exactly had he been supposed to deal with Ben 10,000 and Alien X?! 

　　However, Hercules was a goddamn God! 

　　Sure, if one merely looked at his HP and level it might seem like a fair fight, but as a True God, even if the Tower had suppressed his stats, Hercules should still be in posession of his Source Origin. 

　　This meant he could use Divine-tier skills and spells, though they would lack the power output of one. However, with a natural Divine Source Origin, the fellow would have no problems powering them. 

　　From what Draco and Eva had learned from Shinoka's Amaterasu, True Gods had no such things as cooldowns. As long as they had Divine Energy to power a spell, they could spam it until they ran out of it. 

　　In other words, once one reached the True God level, or at least had a Divine Source Origin and any Divine-Rank skill or spell, the game shifted from cooldowns and mana supply to just mana supply. This was one of the greatest powers separating True Gods from mortals, and why they were so revered and powerful. 

　　Hercules also showed no indication about standing there like an idiot as Alien X had done, so the same trick wouldn't work. Making things even worse, Destruction Energy, while able to wear down all beings, was unable to insta-kill True Gods and above unless Draco reached that stage himself. 

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　　Of course, it would still work as a heavy damage dealer, preventing injury recovery and generally reduce the victim's stats, so it wasn't comparable to anything else you could use to attack a God, earning its number 1 spot for combat effectivness... but Draco would still somehow find a way to outlive the retaliation of his opponent... 

　　Hercules watched the three fellows whine and wail with a speechless expression, wondering if he should attack. However, he seemed to hear a voice from somewhere and his expression firmed up. 

　　"Brothers, I apologise for the unfairness of this fight, but I'm afraid the safety of my wife Megara is on the line! May we meet in your next life under better circumstances!" Hercules roared as he leapt at Qiong Qi, swinging his blade down. 

　　Qiong Qi screamed like a little girl and covered himself, seemingly about to receive the fatal blow. However, Fragarach appeared in time to parry the strike, saving Qiong Qi and sending Hercules back. 

　　Draco, who was holding Fragarach, stood up heroically and pointed Dragorugio at the True God. "If someone has taken your wife and forced you to fight, just storm there and kill them. If they used such underhanded means rather than go after you directly than that just means that they are weaker than you, no?" 

　　Hercules was surprised by this fellow making so much sense, so he lowered his guard slightly. "I… well, I suppose so, but what if they kill her to prevent me from freeing her?" 

　　Draco looked at Hercules strangely. "Why would they? Without her, they have no bargaining chip against a God like you, and they should know that you would fall into a primal fury if your wife gets killed. How could they even hope to keep their dog life in such a situation?" 

　　Hercules seemed to be speechless, sputtering. "B-but she would be dead… even if I kill them all, what's the point?" 

　　Draco sighed with lament. "My Brother in Christ, has she not died before? Were you not the one to dive into the underworld and pull her soul back? And wasn't that all before you ascended to Godhood? I'm sure if you ask your uncle for a favor, you could even save yourself the trip." 

　　Hercules was utterly stupefied by this point. "But… I… She's… They'd…" 

　　Draco simply stared at him with sympathy. He understood that it was not Hercules' fault, no, it was the sickness that plagued all heroic characters. They were retarded when it came to making obvious, logical decisions. It was only villains like Draco who did not suffer that cosmic defect. 

　　Of course, heroes weren't the only ones who suffered this. In fact, they were second in ranking compared to hentai girls. Their decision-making and thought process were the most handicapped in human history. 

　　Hercules sucked in a deep breathed and bowed to Draco. "Thank you, brother, for opening my eyes. I shall rescue my wife post-haste!" 

　　With that, he slashed the fabric of reality and entered a spatial tear. Just as he disappeared, and the crack closed, Draco could hear some shouts. There was the excited cheer of a woman and the fearful scream of some fellow, as well as Hercules' valiant battle roar. 

　　Draco prayed for the fellows who dared kidnap that fellow's wife. 

　　｢Congratulations on completing: Tower of Babylon Fifty-sixth Floor       

　　Time elapsed: 0:2:00       

　　Objectives complete: All       

　　Assessment: EX+       

　　Reward:       

　　60,000 Score Points       

　　1 Treasure Selection Reward - Peak Gold Grade｣ 

　　Since there was no longer an enemy to fight, the floor naturally came to end. 

　　Having survived without any injuries the Shameless Trio arrogantly returned to the castle, laughing uproariously and making a ruckus while insulting the Tower spirit for its incompetence, ugliness and inability to please a woman, theorising about how it would be throwing a tantrum at this moment, breaking everything at the top floor. That was, if it wasn't just a stupid AI. 

　　Whatever the case, the Three Stooges jumped onto floor 57. When they appeared, they were met with an interesting foe. This particular enemy wore a dark-colored gi with the sleeves removed. He had blazing red hair with a topknot, as well as sharp, pointed teeth, and was bare-footed. 

　　The man wore a black belt at his waist, and over his hands, he wore brown training gauntlets. He had moderately tanned skin and bloody crimson eyes, also donning a set of Japanese-like prayer beads around his neck, with a visible black Japanese kanji symbol on the center bead that glowed lightly. 

　　｢Name: Akuma – Major Rank monster     

　　Level: 150   

　　HP: 300,000,000/300,000,000｣     

　　Draco sighed. He once again transformed into his Horned Demon True Body and got into a fighting stance against the legendary Akuma. The martial artist simply sneered and pointed at Draco with a large, muscular finger. 

　　"My name is Akuma! The supreme master of the fist!" 

　　With that, he roared and charged at Draco, performing an overhead swing of his leg. Draco gritted his teeth as he blocked it, the ground below him cracking due to the sheer force of the blow. 

　　Draco spread his arms out forcefully, causing the airborne Akuma to flip over himself and land, where the Demon was waiting with a sharp punch to the jaw. Akuma easily blocked the blow, but the shockwave from the punch erupted and causing terrible winds. 

　　Akuma's eyes narrowed, realizing that this foe had great strength, and was likely not even going all out. As a fighter, his instinct told him to avoid a long and drawn out battle, rather going for a quick finish using his full power. 

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　　Akuma continued blocking attacks from Draco that were rapid and almost a blur, their speeds long surpassing the supersonic level. The martial artist was thinking about how to strike Draco with his ultimate when he got an idea form the red Demonic Energy that Draco produced when he was in this form. 

　　He waited until Draco committed to an attack before bringing his hands together, a blue light coming together rapidly as he moved his Ki. 

　　"Go-Hadoken!" Akuma roared as he fired out a blue fireball that rapidly edged towards Draco. His opponent simply met it head on with his own mimicked version, which used Demonic Energy to create a fireball that was red. 

　　Right as the attacks collided and exploded, Akuma rushed forward from a low angel and struck Draco in the chin, extending his body upward until they were airborne. 

　　"Go-Shoryukennnnn!" He bellowed as he completed the ambush and sent Draco flying upwards. 

　　Suddenly, Akuma began groaning menacingly as he entered his fighting stance, red energy accumulating on his body as he burned his Ki. His red hair and red eyes began to glow and float upwards. 

　　His visage became even more demonic than Draco's by the second, until Draco's body was about to hit the ground. 

　　"RAGING DEMON!" 

　　At that moment, Akuma's energy peaked and he rushed forward, his right leg held up while his left leg glided on the ground, his body leaving many blue afterimages after himself. 

　　When he connected with Draco, he grabbed him and the world seemed to flash with white light, only the sound of severe strikes and bright lights from ki-infused punches exploding on a target could be sensed. 

　　The moment the white light came to an end, all one could see was Draco crumpled body and Akuma standing victoriously beside him with his back facing the crowd, the Japanese symbol in his bead burning itself in the air behind his back. 

　　Akuma turned and looked down on Draco calmly. "The Raging Demon's power is unequaled. It is not my fist, but your past sins that will kill you. The more evil your past doings, the more painful your death!" 

　　Just as he was about to leave, he saw a sight he could not believe. Draco rose up from the ground, completely uninjured and looking somewhat aggrieved. 

　　"Man, that move is nice to look at in games and movies, but terrible to feel on one's own body." 

　　Draco patted himself down and gazed at the shocked Akuma. He smiled playfully. "You call yourself Akuma? Haha! You, a mere human, dare to name yourself after a demon!" 

　　Red energy exploded from Draco that covered the entire arena, everyone - whether in the crowd as a spectator or on the field - felt suppressed by this red energy, as if its evil nature was trying to corrupt them from their very sources. 

　　The Supreme Beings in the crowd who were not suppressed to Rank 3 like those who had entered the arena, it was easy enough to fight off this influence and curb Draco's Demonic Energy, but they still had solemn expressions. Demonic Energy of such purity… was he a fucking Demon God? 

　　Akuma could only kneel in fear, his entire worldview coming to a resounding crack as he watched the red-coated Draco walked slowly towards him, eventually standing above him. Despite such raw evil and Demonic Energy, Draco looked totally sane and normal. 

　　This was a true Demon! Not a mere imitation like him! 

　　"Go in peace, False Demon." Draco proclaimed coldly, condensing all his billowing Demonic Energy into his fist before striking Akuma in the head with a one-inch punch. 

　　A huge explosion occurred behind Akuma's body, his head turning into mush and then bloodmist as it was blown into the depths of the arena. The shockwave of this had turned the area behind the corpse to turn into a canyon, a huge hole spreading out in a fan shape.