Once the group reached the 19th Floor, only one hour remained until the Labyrinth closed.
Most of the people were exhausted, and Almond had also stopped making troublesome challenges to speed up.
The priority was reaching the 20th Floor and completing the Advancement quest to reach the Mythical-rank lifeform.
“Almond, everyone is tired and needs some rest now,” Admiral Rudra frowned. “But we only have one hour.”
“We must reach the 20th Floor and come Mythical-rank lifeforms.” Almond clenched his fist. “Only then will I become truly powerful and be able to save us.”
His clone originally had 10,000 stats, but they were restricted based on the top 100 people’s lifeform ranks.
If 100 people reached the mythical rank, his stats would directly peak! He would have stronger stats than the other three Arcane Champions!
“Alright, all those who can fight will come with me and clear this floor’s Heroic Challenge as soon as possible. Thirty minutes…we have to clear this floor in thirty minutes, so we can spend the other thirty minutes reaching the Mythical rank.”
Everyone wasn’t that exhausted. What they felt was the tiredness of their mental capacity because of the tough challenges that Almond threw at them and the trouble he created.
Still, Lily, old monsters, and some Guild leaders were fine, so he took them to kill the big bosses quickly, using his own dreadful Mythical-rank skills to finish off the bosses early.
For the first time, all the old monsters and guild leaders witnessed Almond’s support.
The fights were over so easily that it almost felt surreal! Almond’s control of the battlefield was frightening.
No attacks could harm them, and nothing could stumble them.
He also teleported everyone abruptly, giving them the best positions to attack while also releasing his skills.
In just fifteen minutes, the group killed all four big bosses and gathered the special items.
Afterward, Almond teleported the remaining people to the floor boss area and initiated the Heroic Challenge, completing it within ten minutes.
Thirty-five minutes until the Labyrinth closed.
“Everyone! This is the time to grit your teeth and break your limits!”
Everyone looked at him. Most of them had bloodshot eyes because they just wanted to faint and sleep right there and then.
But old monsters were fine; some guild leaders were also toughened and raring, and aside from Lily, Emma, Marcus, Maya, Mira, Kira, Noah, Adrian, and Jian showed signs of increasing their willpower.
Anya, Kayla, Amir, and other Grim Breakers could breach that barrier yet.
But only if Almond pushed them would they breach it, or they would forever be mediocre.
Alas, it was up to them and not him.
“Kill the Mythical-rank monsters and complete the Advancement quest! Forget about tiredness! Forget about pain!”
Almond shouted, his voice infused with his full as it permeated into everyone’s body, vibrating them.
“If you give up even in subconsciousness, you will become nothing more than fodder! Even if you lose consciousness, your will to fight must remain and be ingrained in every fiber of your being! That’s what a fighter is!”
“That’s what it means to survive and go against the odds!”
“Fucking burn yourself, ignore the pain, and get strong! Your body is fine! I’ve kept you complete! But I can’t do anything about your mind, so fucking grit your teeth and fight! Only then will we survive the coming days!”
“Yeah!” Adrian roared alongside Marcus. “Burn! Break! Rise! Fight!”
“Say it, you fuckers! Burn! Break! Rise! Fight!”
“Burn! Break! Rise! Fight!”
The young ones, some past super rookies older than Almond, and others who were talented and joined this started and soon the other adults joined!
‘Rudra, this brat sure knows how to rile up everyone,’ Silvester chuckled before shouting alongside.
The few summoner’s beasts also roared!
“Alright!” Almond grinned. “Use your techniques and skills, and get ready! I’m teleporting us in five seconds!”
…
In the Vital Rampage Tower’s ground hall, Almond suddenly arrived along with 148 others.
Since everyone reached the Mythical-rank lifeform, they felt elevated and refreshed, but the mental burden still didn’t vanish entirely.
“Everyone, what we did must remain secret. Nobody should know that we reached Mythical-rank lifeform, nobody aside from us.”
“I have information that the other three worlds are working together against us and want to eliminate us quickly. If they know we have reached mythical rank, they will double down on us because we will become a bigger threat.”
“Of course, I still have something I want to try that will allow us to ascend peacefully, but there’s no guarantee, so our progress must remain a secret.”
“Makes sense.”
“Yeah, nobody should know about us.”
“Instead of participating in the event, we are going to use this tower to get stats, right? Perfect.”
“We have to clear ten whole floors next month, and the sooner we clear them, the better, so let’s take the first fifteen days of this new month to better ourselves.”
“Now,” Almond said as other voices were silenced. “Everyone must want to rest now, so go. We will meet up in our base later to bolster our defenses in case we get attacked while we are training. We will start this after seven hours. Rest fully until then.”
Everyone soon left on their own devices.
Half an hour later, a worldwide announcement rang.
[The next War Event shall start after 24 hours. Please sign up for the entry. The top 50 Legendary-rank who score the highest will participate in the event.]
[The War Event is Wild Hunts. The rules will be revealed one hour before the event starts.]
[All the best.]
Almond and Lily had just finished showering and laid on the bed to rest when the announcement appeared.
Lily chuckled and said, “Well, we have no business with War Events anymore.”
“Indeed, but we will have to protect our base on the battlefield. Admiral Rudra and other top powerhouses already went back and are resting there instead.”
Lily nodded. “But we have to keep this secret, right? If the other three worlds found out that we reached Mythical rank and planned to clear the Grimworld Tutorial, they could launch a full assault on our base.”
“Hmm, what if they leave us alone after hearing that we will…let’s say…give up from this Phase 1 event?” Almond’s eyes glinted.
Lily blinked. “That…could be interesting.”
“However, I am not afraid of them.” Almond narrowed his eyes as he squeezed Lily closer to him. “With you, me, Kexell, and other old monsters, we will be a powerful force. Kexell can be a terror.”
“And I’ve also promised him something, so I don’t mind fulfilling that on time instead of delaying it.”
“What promise?” Lily raised her eyebrows.
“To help him kill the Dragon Emperor and all the Dragon Kings and their families who had tried to kill him. Although he wants to destroy his world, my promise is limited to the killings of what I mentioned, and I’m sure he knows that and is satisfied with that as they are his biggest enemies.”
“I see…And your summon Asura is also crazily powerful. What about your other summons? Are they also going to become Spirit Lords?”
“Yep,” Almond grinned. “The next one in the process of becoming Spirit Lord is Meliora, a new summon again. She is an alchemist.”
“By the way, what’s the difference between Spirit Lords and Spirit Wraiths?” Lily curiously asked.
“First, Spirit Lords have a complete soul and potential system that can allow them to get powerful on their own. There’s no leveling in the second layer, and the power structure and progress completely change. Meliora couldn’t progress at first until I made changes, and then I completed the project Spirit Lord for a comprehensive creation of a new species based on Spirit Animation.”
“Spirit Lords also have one more function.” Almond grinned. “Morphing. Of course, this is a bit tricky and not entirely completed yet, but every Spirit Lord will be able to turn into artifacts of immense power, mostly a weapon-type to be wielded.”
“What?!” Lily was taken aback. “That’s freaking awesome!”
“Yep, but I need to fiddle with the Spirit Lord nexus a bit to make it possible. I’ll do it once we ascend next month,” Almond grinned. “I can’t wait for all of us to go to the second layer. It’s a brand new, vast world and a new beginning for us towards the true peak!”
“And also to find my mother who was taken away by someone called Devil Rosseramon.”
“Then let’s clear the tutorial fast and go.” Lily smiled as she snuggled into Almond’s embrace. “We will become strongest.”
“We will.”
…
Six hours later, the time Almond had set to meet up near, and most of the 148 powerhouses had gathered at the base.
Kexell was outside, guarding, but Almond had forgotten to tell them about him. However, Kexell was easy-going and told them he was stationed there to guard the base by Almond.
Everyone was shocked and couldn’t wrap their heads around how Almond did that.
It wasn’t long before Almond and Lily arrived with Natalia, Marcus, Maya, and Mira.
“Almond, did you get that disaster dragon to our side permanently?” James asked.
“Kind of, yeah,” Almond chuckled. “He was never on anyone’s side to begin with, except for his. Hearing that he was about to be hunted, he came to me to make me his subordinate.”
“…”
“But well, we reached a new term and decided to become allies,” Almond grinned. “He is with us now, through thick and thin.”
“Crazy,” Adrian muttered. “Aren’t we the strongest then? Hehe, we are winning this.”
“Not if the other three cooperate, and they do,” Marcus said.
“Almond, let’s start building the formations to defend the base without further ado. Everyone! Focus and follow the instructions properly when given. Once we complete this, we can start training in the Vitalis Rampage Tower,” Admiral Rudra said loudly as he swept his glance at everyone.
“Mhmm, let’s start,” Almond nodded. “I’ll also call Kexell to help. The formations would be stronger with his input.”