As we entered the 38th floor, we were met with the same environment, with Players clashing against the angelic mobs. However, there was an urgency in the air, a palpable tension that even the most oblivious could feel. The once serene setting was now a battleground, with the heavenly creatures fighting back with surprising ferocity.

"Why is everyone so fired up?" Tommy murmured, scanning the floor as he gripped his swords tighter. "The GPA insisted that Players farm to their minimum required numbers posted on their site. I'm sure that there's a majority of people who are around my stats still trying to climb."

"Guess we'll find out, right?" I took the lead, jogging ahead. "Let's head to the boss room at the end of the floor. Maybe whoever pushed the 37th will still be here."

We swiftly made our way through the crowded floor, my Soultaker vibrating slightly in anticipation of the upcoming battle. While we slipped through the fighting, I fired off my skills every now and then, which gave Tommy experience points even though I myself didn't gain anything from it. Hey, every bit helps.

[System alert: A floor boss has descended.]

"What the fuck?" Tommy murmured, quickening his pace. Even though I could just use Grim Mantle to speed on over, I suspected Tommy already knew that, but didn't want to say anything. Maybe he just needed my company even now.

The closer we got to the boss room, the more intense the battles grew. Players were throwing everything they had at the angelic mobs, some even burning through their skill usages with abandon. The air was thick with magic and the clang of steel.

"I don't like this," Tommy said, his voice tight. "They're acting like it's do or die."

I wanted to say that technically, it was do or die, since if a Player wasn't prepared to die in order to achieve power, then they'd never be able to reach Ascension. But I kept that to myself, knowing it wouldn't help ease Tommy's nerves. That, and the fact that the system wouldn’t allow him to hear it.

"It's probably just the thrill of a new floor opening," I said instead, trying to sound more optimistic than I felt. Even when I had cleared the floors below, the Players back then weren't this frenzied over a new floor opening.

Finally, we reached the outside area of the boss room. It was a vast, open space with a grand castle in the background, surrounded by a lake of gleaming, crystalline water. The scene was so breathtakingly beautiful that it was hard to believe we were in a dungeon. But the serenity was shattered by the sight of Players lying defeated, their bodies twitching and convulsing as the angelic mobs feasted upon them.

[What... in the world...?]

I agreed with Sephera's shock. Despite a few groups of Players holding back the angelic mobs, the scene was grim. It was unlike any floor opening I had seen before. Normally, Players would be more cautious, taking the time to understand the new environment and its dangers before charging ahead. This was madness, even for me.

"Hey, get a grip!" Tommy shouted, running over to a Player who seemed to be disoriented. "What the fuck happened here?"

The Player, a young girl, stared at us with wide eyes, her hands trembling as she held onto her staff. "They... they just came out of nowhere! The angels... they were everywhere!"

I frowned. First, I noticed that her eyes were glowing with a faint green light, making her look as if she were in a trance. Second, what did she mean by 'they came out of nowhere'? Didn't the rest of the Players know that the monster concentration was the highest near the boss room?

"Are you okay?" I asked her gently, trying to snap her out of it.

The girl looked at me, but for some reason, I could tell her mind wasn't really there. She nodded absently before collapsing to the ground. Tommy and I shared a concerned glance before he knelt beside her.

I sensed the presence of angelic mobs coming to swarm us, so I spent more Risk points to resummon my clone. I transferred the Soultaker to him, leaving him to quickly cut down the monsters while I knelt beside Tommy.

"What's going on with her?" Tommy asked, checking the girl's pulse. He breathed a sigh of relief when he confirmed that she was still alive.

I felt another presence rushing up behind us and for some reason, I instinctively Shrouded my stats to mirror Tommy's. I swiveled my head to see another woman coming towards us, fear and concern etched on her face.

"Oh thank goodness you're here!" She exclaimed, rushing over. Tommy took a step back, but I held my ground, watching her cautiously. She had a short-sword in her hand, the same blade that the angelic mobs had been using. "It's just us now, everyone else is... gone. They came out of nowhere and just... started attacking."

The woman was breathless, her eyes darting around the room as if expecting another attack at any moment. Her clothes were torn and dirty, and she had the same eerie green glow in her eyes as the girl on the ground, save for the fact that it was much brighter. I tried to peek at her stats, but I was only able to get her name and level. Muriel Thomas, level 4587.

"Who are you?" I questioned, keeping my tone calm despite the alarm bells ringing in my head. Tommy glanced at me, unsure of where my sudden suspicion was coming from.

"I-I'm Muriel Thomas," she stammered, taking another step closer. "We're all that's left. We need to stick together."

I couldn't explain why I had such an off feeling about the woman, but considering what Tommy and I had gone through in the Village dungeon, I wasn't about to let my guard down.

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Muriel's story was tragic, but something about her demeanor made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. She spoke with a tremble in her voice, and her eyes remained eerily fixed on us, not quite meeting our gazes. Tommy, ever the trusting soul, agreed immediately, but I held back, hand tightening the grip of my Soultaker.

"Luquier?" Tommy shot me a curious look. "You okay?"

"Were you part of the groups that cleared the 37th floor?" I replied to Muriel with a question of my own. "Are you the one in charge, or know who is leading you guys on so dangerously?"

Muriel's eyes narrowed slightly, the green glow intensifying. "What do you mean?" she asked, feigning ignorance. "I was in a party that got wiped out. We were just following the crowd."

Tommy glanced between the both of us, unable to detect the tension in the air. "What are you guys talking about?"

Muriel took a step closer to us, her eyes still on me. "Your friend seems suspicious," she said to Tommy, her voice taking on a sweet, concerned tone. "Maybe he's not as friendly as he looks."

Tommy looked at me, his eyes glazed over slightly. "What's going on?"

Oh, shit.

"Tommy, step away from her," I warned, my voice low and serious.

Muriel's eyes grew wide at my sudden change in tone, but she didn't miss a beat. "What's wrong with me?" she asked innocently, taking another step closer. I could feel a heavy sensation bearing down on my body. A voice inside my head urged me to fall asleep, to let my worries float away. Muriel's vividly green eyes glowed brighter.

But I'd been through worse, much worse. I gritted my teeth and focused, my passive mental reduction quickly overpowering the mind control. The pressure grew more intense, but I remained standing firm. Tommy, on the other hand, was not so lucky. His eyes glazed over entirely, his body going slack as he swayed slightly.

"What did you do to him?" I demanded, pointing the Soultaker at her.

Muriel's smile grew colder, her eyes now a piercing emerald. "You're a sharp one, Luquier," she said, her tone no longer friendly. I never told her my name, so I assumed she took a peek at my stats. "But you should've known better than to question me."

I tensed my body, but Muriel anticipated that, snapping her fingers to command Tommy to stand between us. His movements were sluggish, but it was clear he was under her control. The grip on his swords tightened, and he pointed it at me, his green-ringed eyes still a dull, hypnotized glaze.

"Alright, I'll play along. So it was you who took control of a bunch of Players and rushed the floors?" I asked warily, keeping an eye on Tommy and her. All around us, the battle against the angelic mobs raged on. My clone caught my eye, giving me a nod when he noticed the look on my face. He'd continue to farm the monsters while I gather more information from this woman.

Muriel's smile grew wider, a hint of malice in her eyes. "Clever boy," she said, her voice dripping with sarcasm. "But let's not get ahead of ourselves. We need to stick together, right?"

"That doesn't answer my question," I retorted, sensing other Players coming to surround us. I noticed that a few of them didn't have the same green glow in their eyes. Partners of Muriel, maybe?

Muriel's grin remained unchanged, but her eyes grew cold. "I'm not one for explanations," she said, flicking her wrist. The air grew thick with tension as I watched her hand gesture.

Or at least, that's what I thought would be going through her mind as I stacked a Holy Element on my Flooded Kingdom skill, reluctantly expanding its targets to include Players. Immediately, everyone and everything in the open space that was on the ground froze, their movement permanently frozen by the flood.

Surprised yells and cries filled the air as Muriel's eyes widened in shock. Her hand paused mid-air, and she looked at me in disbelief. Clearly, she hadn't expected me to retaliate so swiftly. Thank god I Shrouded my stats when I did.

My clone flew over to where I was, nodding grimly as he gave me back the Soultaker. I whispered something to him before I launched off the ground. I grabbed Muriel by the throat in mid-air and flew us both over to the castle, where I continued on to slam through the doors and into the boss throne room.

The moment we were inside, the doors slammed shut behind us, the walls shaking with the sheer force. The boss, a massive angelic creature, didn't even flinch, continuing to feast on the essence of defeated Players. I knew it was only a matter of time before it would turn its attention on us, but as far as I was concerned, the boss was no threat to me.

Being so far away from my flood, I knew it had disappeared, but I had told my clone to use his own to keep the Players and monsters alike locked down for the moment. I didn't know if the distance restriction also applied to Muriel's skill, but I figured the hypnosis wouldn't last very long after I was through with her. I just hoped that any newcomers who stumbled into where my clone was wouldn't make things worse.

"Now," I knelt down next to Muriel, "Let's try this again. It's not hard to tell that you had a hand in this, but are you the sole ringleader, or are there more Players with you?"

Muriel's eyes narrowed, the green light dimming slightly. "You're a clever one," she chuckled darkly. "But you're just delaying the inevitable."

Her eyes locked onto something behind me. "Help! This man is trying to hurt me!"

I rolled my eyes. Typical villain move.

I spun around, seeing a man running toward us. A green glow suddenly pulsed around his eyes, a clear indication he had fallen under her spell. "Fuck this," I muttered, turning back to Muriel. I wasn't sure the full capacity of the skill, but I was admittedly curious to find out as I casted Neutralize.

"Wh-what?!" I heard the man behind us stumbling before a dull thud. Oh cool, so Neutralize wiped the mind control off of everyone she casted it on.

I smirked at Muriel, who was now struggling to get out of my grasp. Her eyes had lost their green glow, and she was looking at me with fear. "You're a PKer," I said, more to myself than to her. "But why go through the trouble of infiltrating and controlling Players to clear floors early?"

"It's not about–" Muriel shut her mouth before she could give away her true intentions.

"Which syndicate do you belong to?" I tried a different question, hoping to get a reaction out of her. Muriel's eyes narrowed as she remained silent. Clearly, she wasn't going to make this easy for me.

"Fine. We'll do this the hard way." Using up some points, I reverted the cooldown on my Flooded Kingdom and my ring, summoning both the water and Levius to my side. I wanted to summon Skalyt too, but I wasn't sure how the angelic boss would react to her. Or vice versa.

With the flood in effect, everything excluding Levius and I were frozen in place. Even the massive angel was rooted in place, its movements halted.

"This is... certainly a scene you have summoned me into," Levius remarked, looking around at the frozen Players and monsters. He noticed Muriel beneath me, a wild look in her eyes. "Ah... have you finally lost it?"

[He lost it a long time ago...]

"No," I snapped at the both of them, jerking my head over to the throne room's doors. "I just need you to ensure no one else comes inside."

Levius raised an eyebrow. "So you can clear the floor yourself with no witnesses?"

"No! Stop questioning me!" I was beginning to feel frustrated with everyone around me. "Just do your job, man."

Levius chuckled, his icy form seemingly unfazed by the tension in the room. "Very well, Immortal, if that's what you wish." With a flick of his wrist, a shimmering blue barrier enveloped the doors to the throne room, blocking any potential interruptions.