CHAPTER 139.

When Maxwell was first summoned he almost had a heart attack, and even though he was barely into his second century of living he felt like he had aged multiple decades from the arrival of the news.

After all, Amber had not only stolen from the elven government but she had stolen the elves’ most prized possession; Arkara’s Staff.

The idea that it happened was completely and utterly insane, but at the same time it did put Sylvette’s message under perspective. Just yesterday she had come to thank him for teaching Amber magic, and she emphasized how sorry Amber was for everything but how grateful she felt as well.

It was an odd message, but now it made sense. Because Amber was a wanted criminal. Because Amber had committed a sin of the highest order. And naturally, he was related to the case, he was someone to blame⁠— or that’s what he thought.

Maxwell had been stressed out of his mind for nothing, because instead of being condemned he had been summoned as a witness.

He looked up at the grand courtroom, there were many high officials around as spectators to the judgment that was taking place. And at its very center stood a lone desk where he sat, and in front of him there was a high raised platform with numerous elves sitting behind numerous desks, the members of the parliament.

“Maxwell,” one of the elves on the raised desks called. “Can you recount your experience with Amber the Cursebearer again?”

Maxwell gulped as he looked up, right in front of him just before the platform was Asil Dazdril, and the person that had brought Amber into the Sacred Forest. He had never met the man, but from what Maxwell knew, he was Amber’s friend.

And more importantly, he was on the verge of being exiled from the Sacred Forest, and the Dazdril family wouldn’t come out unscathed either. But it didn’t feel fair, not at all. In fact, he quite disliked this entire situation, because it sought to use someone that in his eyes was innocent as a scapegoat.

Maxwell closed his eyes. “Amber was a brilliant girl, she was fascinated by magic theories even though she seemed to hate studying. I never really thought she would do something like this. That said, the Dazdril family would never knowingly put the Sacred Forest at risk.”

He didn’t want his testimony to be used against anyone, and so he continued by expressing his true feelings.

“It’s safe to say that Amber acted without their knowledge. Just like the members of the Magic Association acted without anyone’s knowledge. I don’t think it's right to punish the Dazdril family without punishing the heads of the Magical Association and the association as a whole.”

At that, people broke out in mutters discussing his opinion. The elves of the parliament gave him a glare but said nothing as the mutterings continued. And Maxwell didn’t know how he felt about things, but he did know that punishing the Dazdril family was wrong. Sylvette was a kind girl, and he was sure that applied to others as well. Even if Amber was their friend, she didn’t involve them.

As for Amber being innocent or a heinous two faced criminal? Unfortunately he had no idea. He couldn’t fathom the girl stealing Arkara’s Staff without a good reason. And she most definitely wouldn’t steal it out of selfishness. But if he had to bet on something, it was that Amber wasn’t an evil person.

“Silence,” another man from the platform said. “Maxwell, you do realize that this person has killed Archmage Xavier right?”

He nodded. “Indeed, but my point still stands. The Sacred Forest prides itself in being just, that’s why the Lasren family wasn’t exiled over the actions of a family member.” He let his words linger in the air before he spoke again. “And I believe from the bottom of my heart that we are anything but hypocrites.”

His words were like a ripple that made people look at each other and reconsider. And following them, the court descended into a quiet and organized chaos of mutterings.

“That’s true…”

“Anyone could’ve been in place of the Dazdrils and nothing would’ve changed…”

“We should be sending parties to search for the thief, not doing this!”

…

Maxwell knew that this was just the start of the court session but it didn’t matter to him, because he knew that it was wrong to punish those that befriended Amber. He closed his eyes.

After all, if people must be punished then I deserve to be executed for teaching her magic.

That thought alone scared him, but also resolved him to find out the truth behind her actions from Amber herself in the future.

But for now, he had to put an end to this.

However, before he could speak further, the doors to the room opened and a dark-skinned elf walked in as he spoke, his voice booming.

“Asil Dazdril and his family are innocent,” he declared. “I will not entertain objections to this.”

Everyone turned and paused seeing two people enter the room, one was Zarkan the patriarch of the Sacred Forest, and the other person was…

Maxwell paused recognizing him.

The king of Cytel, Octavius III.

* * *

Amber departed based on the information she had gotten from Remmel. As much as she had enjoyed the festivities, she knew that they couldn’t stay in the little village of Froststone all that long. Especially when going to kill the demon took more than a day. After all, she had priorities.

One of them was getting another divine artifact, so she could give it to the Sacred Forest and earn her redemption. As for Arkara’s Staff? Amber was studying it, and she’d give it back whenever she was done with it. In the end, that was the best solution to her problem with the Sacred Forest and to undo the mess that Remmel had caused.

And her plan to obtain another divine artifact was simple:

Find it in the Fallen Tower; the place that held the chained Primordial Spirit.

Now, that plan sounded ridiculous; just because the tower held a sealed god didn’t mean there were divine artifacts lying around, and if there were, they wouldn’t be easy to obtain. But that’s where Remmel’s information proved to be crucial.

Amber looked down at the piece of paper on her hand as the carriage advanced at max speed, each bump making her bounce on her seat.

The Primordial Spirit of the North of Kartil.

He has two towers, one of which is a Grand Dungeon and the other is a sunken one in the Republic of Mercenaries.

Legends say he was a benevolent spirit, but the last recount of him three centuries ago described him as a twisted being.

The report was long, but it had two key things that Amber noted. One was:

The sunken tower, otherwise known as the Fallen Tower holds one of Ishtar’s Journals, and its bottommost floor no one has been able to access is confirmed to hold a divine artifact by the spirit himself.

Of course, it was just information obtained by Remmel, but given their deal it was most definitely accurate. After all, if he were to not verify the veracity of the information, it would infringe on some of her terms.

She smiled at that, as she turned to the last piece of information.

The Primordial Spirit of the Great Desert worked together with the Primordial Spirit of Arveil and Lathyzia, and condemned the Primordial Spirit of the North of Kartil for his actions.

The results of this event are unknown.

Remmel Note: Amber this is as much as I could dig from from this event, don’t complain to me about it.

In the end, Sid’fril seemed related with whatever had happened with the spirit. Though right now it wasn’t too relevant. Because her main goal remained the same:

Grow stronger.

She closed her eyes. The Fallen Tower was also known as a trial, much like Val’leri’s tower, so Amber was quite excited to delve into it. However, in comparison to Val’leri’s tower which was a well kept secret, the Fallen Tower was considered the place where seasoned mercenaries went to prove themselves. And it was also infinitely more dangerous, with a near fifty percent mortality rate for people around her level.

It was certainly exciting.

And they would arrive there in no time. Plus there was the whole demon summoning thing too; from what she could tell she could use her new sword to summon them. Though she could only summon the demons that the mana stones originated from.

I can’t wait⁠—

The outside world exploded⁠— the entire carriage shook and Remmel screamed in anger.

“Bandits, just fucking perfect. As if I didn’t have enough fucking problems!”

Amber blinked. “Bandits?”

“The entire republic is falling apart, of course there’s bandits,” he said angrily. “I’m going to fucking kill them.”

“Huh…”

Amber paused, perhaps this was an opportunity.

* * *

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Alexzander was an outlaw by trade, but not any kind of outlaw. He had his own team, and they were good. And that was because of a variety of reasons, one of them being the fact that they focused on profit over anything else, and the other was because of his extremely rare class.

Danger Sensing Juggernaut.

The name was underwhelming, and some of its effects were relatively simple for a class of his level, but they were amazing. After all, it allowed him to tell the likelihood of someone engaging in battle and their threat level. So, when they first spotted a fancy carriage and realized it carried a level 300, they planned to leave it alone. That was until he noticed that the level 300 had an extremely low likelihood of fighting.

So long as they left her alone, she wouldn’t act. And the other two noteworthy people were an assassin and a berserker respectively. Both were dangerous, but considering their main priority was stealing their possessions it wasn’t a problem. After all, his class also made him a tank, a very resilient one that could punish those that attacked him appropriately.

He also had a skill that made him incredibly confident in surviving anything.

Revival.

And with it, he would protect his comrades and ensure a successful mission. He looked over at Raziel, an archer and the least powerful person in their small group but he had a dangerous trump card. A sure-kill skill that couldn’t be sensed by danger detections⁠. An instantaneous arrow that would hit its mark in a millisecond.

Then he looked behind at the three warriors at the ready and a single mage that was ready to cast long range teleport at any moment, and finally he turned to the thief, Lara. She was the one that would take their targets' precious possessions.

Alexzander grinned as Raziel backed off with a nimble step, his lithe frame barely dodging the swipe from the assassin.

And at that moment he raised his shield as he roared, activating one of his skills. The assassin frowned and turned towards him before teleporting and swiping for his throat.

But Alexzander blocked, and grinned as the assassin tried desperately to attack him. While he was fifty levels under the assassin, the class advantage was heavily in his favor. Assassins relied on stealth after all.

He bashed the assassin who grunted but landed lithely, and then a gust of wind passed as two of his rings were swiped. His eyes widened in surprise, and the archer shot in that small window.

The assassin failed to teleport away in time and was blasted away, as Alexzander chuckled.

“Just one more target…” Then he turned to observe the surroundings and paused as he felt a presence behind him.

He turned only to see the berserker swinging her sword towards him, it had an edge of silver flames but it didn’t feel dangerous at all.

Such a simple attack? Ridiculous. She was clearly underestimating him.

Alexzander snorted and raised his shield as⁠— it was cleaved right through, his arm went flying as he screamed and the warrior blinked.

“Huh, neat.”

What do you mean neat?!

He gritted his teeth and pushed forward as he triggered another one of his skills. Damage Return. He pointed in her direction and her arm got a simple cut that was immediately healed.

Alexzander was shocked but he saw a gust of wind and the rings of the warrior disappeared. She blinked and frowned, meanwhile he laughed, his previous confusion forgotten. Even if he himself was outclassed, with one of the best thiefs in the continent there was nothing they couldn’t steal in this situation. Unlike all of them, Lara only specialized in two things; stealing and stealth. In fact, her class wasn’t a combat class, gaining levels from the act of stealing instead.

And that was why it was so strong.

He was glad to have her as a companion, because with her, no matter what they were stealing they would always come out victorious. They had stolen from a level 350 before, so a measly level 207 berserker was not a problem.

But a moment later, the berserker teleported and with a swing, blood was shed as Lara let out a deep shriek in pain. She knelt and snatched her rings back as she snorted.

“Try that again and it’ll be your head next time.”

And the berserker tilted her head as a flash of light passed by her head. Making Alexzander’s eyes bulge from its sockets. That was Raziel’s instantaneous arrow, and she had dodged it?!

She teleported again and broke the arms of the archer with a simple hold into a kick of his back, making him crumple on the ground. And then, the warriors finally attacked her as their swords were split in half by simply clashing against her own weapon. Then, she incapacitated everyone present by slicing their limbs off.

It was unbelievable.

“You know, killing all of you would feel a bit like bullying,” she said, sighing.

At that, Alexzander felt rage. The warrior was strong, but his senses told him she wasn’t that much stronger. In fact, in his skills she wasn’t even a threat. Meaning there had to be some sort of gimmick to her strength, and he was going to find it.

He screamed entering a frenzy as his arm regenerated, and in an instant he pounced upon the woman as she blocked easily. His sword barely held as it almost got sliced, and he gritted his teeth.

“I will kill you!”

“I suggest you give up before I actually kill you,” she warned.

He snorted and swung again, the ground shattering.

“You can’t kill me!”

It was a fact, even if she was that strong, now that he was in a frenzied state it wasn’t possible to just slash his neck. His vitality had more than tripled, and his agility had followed suit as well. The woman tried to slash him, and he ducked.

“It’s futile.”

A sigh left her. “Battery.”

Alexzander exploded and his consciousness came to an end.

When he awoke, he screamed and he saw the berserker looking at him curiously. “Huh, I even got a notification for killing you.”

“Stay away from me!”

She was a monster. How did she do that? Last thing he remembered was a burst of purple and he was dead. He was higher level than her and yet she killed him in a single skill?! What was that?! He couldn't even run away from her at this point.

The woman frowned, standing up and thinking to herself. “And here I was planning on summoning a demon with your body.”

“D-Demon?”

At that moment, Alexzander blanched and at that moment he realized how badly he fucked up. He didn’t understand why the woman even now didn’t have a threat level, but since she was related to the demon worshippers, then it definitely had to do with that.

Meaning, he had made one of the biggest mistakes of his life.

She shrugged. “Oh well⁠—”

“Wait!” Lara called, limping in pain.

The berserker turned and the thief continued.

“Don’t kill Alexzander, we have monster carcasses and even some human ones you can use, those work for demons right?”

“Think so,” the berserker said, tilting her head. “And sure, that works for me.”

Hearing that, Alexzander felt nothing but relief. Though he saw the assassin aiming for his neck and his eyes widened as the dagger was swung.

It hit the berserker’s hand, drawing blood as she spoke coldly.

“Leave it Remmel.”

The assassin clicked his tongue and left, meanwhile Alexzander was shocked. He hadn’t even been able to detect the berserker. For a moment, he was lost, but he soon reached a conclusion.

Maybe I should retire.

Eventually, the berserker was brought to their hideout via teleport, just her alone. Normally that would’ve been a prime opportunity to betray her, but no one dared at the moment. Instead, they simply watched as Lara summoned the various monster corpses and human corpses they had in a spare storage ring.

Burning them hadn’t been an option due to the fact it would call attention to them, and for the most part it was an annoying thing to deal with, but now it was a blessing in disguise. They had been saved.

They watched as a woman summoned a very twisted and demonic looking sword and stabbed it into the pile of corpses, before she took out a piece of paper.

“Let’s see… so I need my blood and uh… huh I see…”

They all blinked. She’s reading summoning instructions? It took her less than a second to finish as she cut herself with a dagger and let her blood drip onto the corpses, before finally she gripped her sword.

“Demon of Wind, I summon you.”

Were demon summonings always so casual? Alexzander stared as the corpses melted away, and a moment later a harrowing laugh echoed. Reality itself fissured for the briefest second before it came back to normal. The pool of blood shifted and corpses returned; it was as if time had been rewound. Though the berserker was now frowning.

“I see.”

Everyone present was confused, but the woman seemed to understand what had happened. However, no one dared to ask her, instead they just watched as she walked out of their hideout; hopefully never to be seen again.

* * *

The Demon of Wind rejected my summoning, and the Demon of Brutality and Demon of Chaos couldn’t even be summoned in the first place.

That was an unexpected development. If she had known it would be so fruitless then she would’ve just let Remmel deal with it. Which she did afterwards. Though at that point he said it wasn’t worth it and they departed once more.

Well, maybe demon summonings aren’t even worth my time. They walked a much finer line between betrayal or doing the right thing after all; even if she planned to exploit the demon. However, it didn’t matter now.

All that mattered was reaching the Fallen Tower, which they did the next day. Thankfully, they didn’t run into any unexpected situations in the process.

* * *

Amber stared at what looked like a leaning tower, and in the distance there were a couple of tents camping outside. This was it. The exact same feeling as Val’leri’s tower, but it was a lot less grand. And that was because most of the tower was underground. The tower itself was still about a week away from the Sacred Forest at a normal carriage pace, which was quite nice because it had saved her a lot of time.

She grinned at the sight, Remmel had left already. Both of them had reached an agreement, where essentially he was free to do whatever he wanted while she was in the tower. Last thing he wanted was some kind of Remmel drama while trying to level up after all. That said, Aveline chose to stay which displeased him.

Finally, they made their way to the camp.

Amber turned to Aveline. “You do know I’m going into the tower alone, right?”

“I know that, I just want to use this time to figure myself out, that's all,” she said shyly.

In response, Frei grabbed her by the shoulder. “Hey, now we’re in the same boat, great.”

“Yeah.” Aveline chuckled awkwardly. “Maybe I can help you with the bone carving schematics you’re trying to do.”

“Sure-thing.”

With that, it seemed that their roles were resolved and Amber felt more excited, because this⁠— this was a solo adventure for her to enjoy.

The three of them strode into the camp, getting various different gazes from the injured mercenaries present. Some were mocking⁠, directed at Aveline, some were indifferent, directed at Amber, and some were of awe, directed at Frei.

Though Amber ignored them all and soon enough they reached the entrance to the tower which was unguarded. At this point, practically all gazes were on them.

“Apparently the tower will automatically put you on a floor matching your strength,” Frei said. “So no need to deal with fodder.”

Amber smiled. “Great.”

“Though make sure to check your own notebook, I don’t care if you’re dying. I don't want to design your body enhancements all on my own. They are for you, not for me,” Frei added with a displeased tone.

Amber nodded. “I will, thank you again.”

“You’re welcome.” The elf grinned. “Now go break a leg, ya bastard.”

Amber smiled as Frei gave her a push on her back, and she walked towards the entrance as she waved at her two companions. Her actions however, drew even more attention.

“Oi, she’s going in alone.”

“Is she insane?”

“She’s just going to die.”

But Amber didn’t care as she stepped into the dark room, and a moment later green lines pulsated throughout the room before she was teleported.

* * *

Amber blinked as she heard the sounds of dripping water, the visibility was poor as well. Out of curiosity she took out her map and…

Floor 31 out of 100.

“Interesting,” she muttered at that sight, and then continued through the cavernous room she was in.

Amber found herself going down a long and winding path, one that looked no different than a cave. There wasn’t even glowing moss or anything, however, it soon came to an end as she found a camp. One with a still burning campfire fire, and yet with no people present. There were sleeping bags haphazardly turned, and some of the tents had fallen.

It was as if whoever was here had gotten out in a rush.

She looked into the cavity further and noted how there was only a single exit, one that looked rather unassuming.

Now the question was.

“Is this part of the dungeon or were there other mercenaries here?” She smiled. “Guess I'll find out.”

Amber strode forward, Cursewelder at the ready as she passed through the camp, and just when she reached the entrance to the next chamber she heard screams. Multiple human ones. She raised her sword as voices echoed.

“Demon!”

“Run!”

She grinned. She didn’t expect for her leveling journey to start like this, but she certainly welcomed it. Maybe she’d get a demon servant, or maybe just some levels, but it didn’t matter. All that mattered was that now, she was on the path to getting stronger.

And so, Amber rushed forward to save the mercenaries.