Meanwhile on the battlefield.
After a long night, the first monster wave finally ended.
Everyone was panting heavily while they looked at the burning sun above their heads.
The first monster wave was neverending as everyone fought without any rest.
Now there wasn’t a single person who wasn’t drained of energy. All of them were tired with their bodies aching with pain.
Also, last night 1 demi-human and 2 humans died due to the onslaught of monsters.
Alec gazed at his team before mumbling under his breath.
“Can we even survive the second wave?”
Meanwhile, Casian who was sitting among the clouds laughed loudly. He gazed at the people who died and a satisfied expression appeared on his face.
It had been ten minutes since the first wave ended.
“They have rested enough, let’s start the second wave.”
With a creepy smile, he waved his hand and at a distance the sand started to sink again.
After a few seconds, familiar monsters with bloodshot eyes started crawling out from the ground. They immediately started making their way toward the Castles.
Lara who was standing on the upper part of the castle was panting heavily while looking around. Her fingers were bleeding due to stretching the bowstring continuously.
Suddenly she saw more monsters charging toward the castles and her eyes contracted.
Without waiting for even a second, she shouted.
“Another monster wave is coming!”
Her voice was loud because she coated it with mana. Everyone heard her words and gasped with shock.
Another wave was coming?
Didn’t the first wave just ended a few minutes ago?
No one was in the condition to fight but still they stood up while holding their weapons tightly.
They looked at the far distance where the ground was slightly trembling due to the large amount of monsters charging toward them.
While everyone was waiting for the monsters with heavy hearts, their eyes finally spotted a large army of monsters charging toward the castles at full speed.
“The fuck?”
Nine cursed while looking at the monster wave with contracted eyes.
“How the heck are we going to win against such a big monster army?”
He shouted with disbelief. Alec looked at Nine and gripped his sword tightly.
“We can only try our best.”
His voice was barely audible but Nine nodded his head seriously.
Soon, the monsters appeared in front of the castles but instead of attacking suddenly they all froze in their track.
Under everyone’s shocked gaze, the monsters started disintegrating.
Not just the monsters, but the sand castles also started falling apart turning to normal sand particles.
“What’s happening?”
Jian looked at the hundreds of white particles around him with wide eyes and questioned but no one knew the answer to his question.
Within a few seconds, all the sand castles and the monsters turned into particles and vanished into thin air, leaving behind the dumbfounded individuals who were supposed to protect the castles.
As everyone gazed at each other with confusion and anxiety suddenly a thunderous roar sounded among the clouds.
“Which bastard did it!”
The angry voice was loud and unpleasant. Everyone looked at the sky and tried to find out the owner of the voice.
Under their gaze, Casian the guardian who gave them the trial came out from the clouds. He was still floating but right now Casian was bleeding from his nose and mouth.
A vein was also bulging on his forehead as he looked at a faraway place with a dark expression.
Before anyone could say something, Casian stumbled and fell from the sky. He shouted again with anger.
“Bastard!”
With trembling hands, he immediately tore the air in front of him and a huge hole appeared in front of everyone.
With dark eyes, Casian gazed at the other side of the hole. A magnificent hall filled with red carpets appeared in his gaze.
The hall was empty devoid of anything else except for a single White stairway standing proudly in the middle.
Casian entered the hole within a second. He gazed at the white stairway and saw a young man standing on top of the stairway.
Casian eyes contracted as he disappeared from his place and tried to grab the young man standing on top of the white stairway but alas he was a little late because the young man’s image faded the moment Casian tried to grab on to him.
“How dare you!”
Casian angry voice sounded within the whole floor as he gazed at his empty hand.
After a few seconds, he calm down and frantically started looking around the hall, seemingly finding something important.
While Casian was looking around the hall, the others who were standing on the other side of the hole looked at the hall and the white stairway with wide eyes.
Alec looked at Casian and at the hall, he knew staying on this floor any longer would be dangerous. With a caution expression, he hurriedly stepped inside the hole.
The moment Alec entered the hall, his left foot collided with something hard. He looked down and saw a black ball that had a small crack on it surface.
Alec picked up the ball, only to see Casian standing in front of him while staring directly at him. No to be more specific Casian was staring at the black ball Alec was holding.
“Give it to me.”
With a commanding voice, Casian shouted toward Alec who was holding onto the black ball.
A huge pressure descended on Alec, making him wince in pain as Casian stared at him with dark eyes but Alec didn’t give the black ball to Casian. Instead, Alec grabbed the ball more tightly.
Casian showed a painful expression the moment he grabbed the black ball more tightly.
Seeing his expression, Alec shouted with gritted teeth.
“I will, If you let us all go.”
Casian didn’t say anything. He just stared at the ball with dark eyes. The pressure around Alec immediately disappeared before Casian spoke with a hoarse and unpleasant voice.
“Okay, but you have to give it back to me.”
Alec nodded and slowly stepped toward the stairway while looking at Casian.
“Everyone leave.”
Hearing his shout, all the hesitant individuals standing on the other side of the hole immediately rushed inside the hall.
They all glanced at Casian and without waiting for even a second they stepped on the white stairway.
Carcel and Nine stood behind Alec and when they saw almost everyone was gone, both of them immediately climbed the stairway and shouted toward Alec.
“Alec, come on! You are the only one left now.”
Alec’s gaze was still fixed on Casian as he slowly moved back toward the stairway and started climbing.
After he reached the top, he threw the black ball toward Casian and disappeared.
On the other hand, Casian immediately grabbed the black ball. His mind was racing before he finally sighed with relief when the ball was in his hand.
The black ball was his life!
If something happened to it Casian would undoubtedly die!
He hurriedly placed the black ball back in the wall and all his injuries healed immediately.
Not just Casian, all the guardians of the Tower had their life tied with a specific thing.
It was done by their master as he wanted to restrict them to some degree so they don’t cause trouble.
Suddenly Casian thought about the young man who found his abode.
“Why the hell did I not notice his presence when he stepped inside my territory?”
Thousands of questions appeared inside his head as he gazed at the empty castle with anger before he suddenly remember the man’s appearance.
The man had black hair and black eyes. Also, strangely the corner of the man’s hair were silver.
Suddenly Casian eyes widen.
“The earring!”
Now he knew why he wasn’t able to detect the young man’s presence. It was all because of the white earring the young man was wearing!
The earring was a special artifact crafted solely for the purpose of hiding the user’s presence.
No one below (+SS)-Rank can sense the presence of the person wearing the white earring.
It had been hundreds of years, that’s why Casian forgot about a lot of artifacts scattered around the lower floors.
After seeing the empty castle devoid of any precious things, Casian was angry.
He wanted to torture the individual who dare to steal his belongings under his nose but he knew now he can’t do anything because the said individual had left the floor.
According to the rules, Casian can’t leave this floor for the next 20 years.
“Don’t you ever let me see you again or else I will tear you apart!”
“You bug!”
He shouted with anger and frustration. It was the first time after a long time he suffered such a huge blow.
While Casian was cursing, the black orb started trembling.
Under his horrid gaze, multiple cracks appeared on the black ball and Casian shouted with pain.
“Ahhhhhh….”
While his body twisted with pain, a serene voice sounded from behind.
“Sigh, why didn’t you stop when I asked you to? Now the old ancient tree who was keeping an eye on a specific individual saw what you did.”
A young woman wearing ancient clothes appeared behind Casian. Her face and body was hidden behind a white curtain.
“According to the rules, you have to spend a thousand years underground.”
Casian turned around and looked at the woman while bleeding from various parts of his body. He shuddered when the woman mentioned the word ‘Underground’.
That place was the worst nightmare for all the Guardians!
Casian wanted to apologize but voice didn’t come out of his mouth and the woman mercilessly dragged him inside a black portal.