Ark's injury was taking a long time to heal. Ark realized that he was particularly weaker to holy aura. During the six days, Ark had fought many types of monsters that ranged from slime goos to acids. There were mold zombies and there were some madness effects too. Ark had been exposed to all of them at some point in his life. This was probably why most of them had little effect on him.

The holy aura though...It was a completely different experience for him. Ark had never fought against a holy knight though. He never had to. The Angels of Arcadia were always on the good side of things. Most of the time, they were on Ark's side. Even when they fought together, Ark was not deemed evil.

This was probably why the demons had such a hard time against the Angels of Arcadia. They were natural predators. The demons were considered evil in the court of public opinion which meant that the Angels of Arcadia could freely use the judgement of evil and good against them. This gave them the ultimate ammunition and made them nearly unstoppable. Ark really did not want to get on their bad side.

He jad experienced first hand what holy aura could do. It was to such an extent that his Constitution stat which was a lot higher than his other ones foundation stats could not heal it in a matter of minutes. Ark did wonder though why he was deemed evil. There were certain prerequisites that needed to be met before one was termed evil or good. This was the effect of a skill but the activation condition of the skill was something Ark didn't know.

Ark did have a hypothesis though. It seemed narcissistic at first glance but if one looked at it closer, it did make sense. What if Ark, instead of being termed as evil, was judged good by the holy knight. Would that have perhaps triggered the activation condition? The holy knight was corrupted beyond belief and yet it still could use its original skills. That meant that the activation condition might have changed...something to do with opposite effects.

It was not a completely unfounded theory in the Tower though. There were certain Clerics and Paladin classes inside the tower who got their skills from their respective Gods. That would not have been a cause for concern but those very same clerics and Paladins continued to do something that defied their God's own ideals and morals. Those people could still use their skills. If Ark put forward that theory in front of the Church, he would no doubt be executed.

When even the head of the snake was rotten to the core, what use was cutting it for poison. Ark dimly wondered if he could perhaps use his monster hunter card against the Church itself. That way he would only have to fight one thing instead of thousands of those fanatics...that was just ideal thoughts that passed by Ark's head as he continued to walk forward.

Ark had gained four extra levels from fighting the holy knight though so he couldn't really complain. Ark could just sigh in resignation. He knew what was to come after he entered the Tower. His explosive growth would slow down to a snail's pace. He had been growing in an almost unprecedented manner because of the situation he was in. He would not be able to fight hordes of monsters in the Tower itself. As a result his growth would just slow down.

But that was going to come after a long period of time. He still had the seventh horde of monsters left. He also had the third scenario left. They were going to be the cash cows Ark was going to milk the hell out of. Ark predicted that he would be above level 50 by the time he entered the first floor of the Tower. That was a huge deal. The average level of the first floor was level 10. Ark could just look at them and they would run away.

There were still outliers though...namely Ark's previous friends. They just like Ark had done something truly extra ordinary in their own respective zones which meant that they too had great story cards. It was going to be fun meeting them again. As Ark moved further and further away from the origin of the subway station, the path ahead gradually got darker. It was to such a degree that even Ark's Perception stat could not make heads or tails out of it. He did wonder what was in front of him though.

Like any sane person, Ark resorted to using Arkana in situations such as these. Ark had fully mastered the fourth Arkana manipulation technique which meant that he could use them now in creative ways. It was his Arkana after all. Was someone going to tell him how to use his own Arkana properly? The answer was no.

Ark stopped for a few moments. He needed to concentrate before he could perform the technique. It seemed that Ark's earlier assumption of completely mastering the technique was false. If he had indeed mastered the fourth Arkana manipulation technique then he would have been able to do it instantly. And yet it took him some time. Ark resolved to practice the technique after he got to to the third scenario. He would have plenty of time then.

Ark held out his palm in front of him and tried to condense his Arkana at the tip of his finger. It was the same concept as that of the net. Only here, Ark did not intend to make a net. Instead he wanted to make a little ball of pure Arkana. His reasoning, pure Arkana glowed brightly even in the darkest of regions and so for a few minutes Ark's Arkana condensed and Ark was left with a tiny little ball which illuminated the way forward. The space where Ark could see nothing previously was now lit up. Every single detail flashed in front of his eyes.

If you come across this story on Amazon, it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.

What Ark saw in front of him would have repulsed an ordinary person. The space in front of him was a grotesque mix of monster corpses and blood. Every single monster Ark had seen the past few days were present. Some of the monsters had their heads detached from their body while some monsters seemed to have missing body parts. The tadpoles of Cthulhu were missing their tentacles entirely. There seemed to be hundreds of monster corpses scattered all around him. Ark realized then why there seemed to be less monsters than he had expected.

Something sadistic was lurking around the corners quietly prowling the train tracks, killing monsters each night. Ark continued to move forward. The stench of monster corpses was unmistakable now. Ark wondered what or who could be responsible for these. Even Ark who had a certain hatred for Monsters would never have done something cruel. In front of Ark there seemed to be even more corpses but something was different around them. They were all killed, that was certain but the evidence did not match up.

Ark knelt down to examine the corpses. There were signs of struggle there. It seemed that a gladiator arena was formed there. Each subsequent monster was pitted against each other and the winner, it seemed was killed off by that very same monster. Ark was always wary of killing monsters. He might have hated them but that had come from years of resentment. The Monsters had their own tribes too and every single monster was different from each other. Ark killed the monsters only because they attacked him first.

Ark did not go out of his way to kill the monsters though. Ark decided to get to the bottom of it no matter how long it took him. He was certain though that the root of all problems lay in the end point of the trains. The trains themselves were completely ordinary. Not even blood splatter from monsters could effect them.

As Ark continued to move closer and closer to the end point, the path seemed to become narrower. It was starting to converge at a particular point. Ark was a bit worried about the skills of the creature so he decided to stay cautious. Ark finally made it to the end point. There was a massive door from which the Two trains came out. Calling it a door did not really do it justice. It was like a huge portal, purple in color. When Ark looked at it closer, it seemed to shimmer too. Ark was pretty sure that this portal was the door to a separate dimension. The only people in the Scenario stages who could use Dimensional storage spaces were the jackals and the Administrators.

Ark had a hunch that that creature responsible for the monster killings was not the Administrator. It would have to be a jackal. They were vile creatures who managed the scenarios. Ark wondered why the Tower had ever allowed them access. It was not time for Ark to slowly think about things though. He needed to take actions right now. Ark was completely pissed. He wanted to shatter the jackal's bones and peel of its hide in the process. What the sadistic creature had done was not for self defense or for some other reason. It was pure sadistic pleasure. Ark would make sure the Jackal knew exactly what sadism was.

Ark entered the dimensional storage space and surprisingly it was open. Ark was planning on brute forcing his way inside but that worked out for the better. Ark looked around. The jackal which was on his hind limbs had turned its back to Ark and was working on some kind of experiment. Ironically it also had a lab coat on. The Jackal might not have thought that a person would come here. This was why the Jackal was singing in a toneless high pitched sound. It seemed to be its own language because Ark could not make heads or tails about it.

Ark looked around to find out that many different monster heads were hanged on the wall like trophies. Every single monster had a terrified expression on its face. Only the most arrogant of monsters seemed to have a defiant expression at the moment of their death. It seemed that this Jackal was the progenitor of the horde of monsters. The Administrator must had put him here for the supervision of the second scenario. Ark took out his word and moved closer. Just as he did, the Jackal turned around. It had spectacles on too for some kind of reason. Its goatee seemed to speak of age

"Hmm? A Human specimen? I did not order a human specimen? Tell me Specimen number 56, what are you exactly?"

Ark gritted his teeth. Why was he becoming so angry. It seemed that he scientist Jackal in front of him did not even care about sadism. He did all these cruel acts just for the sake of science. Ark calmed down almost immediately as he took a deep breath.

"Are you the Jackal in charge of the Second Scenario?"

"Indeed Specimen 56. I am indeed the Scientist Jecko who is responsible for the scenario"

"Would you mind if I just killed you?" Ark asked as nonchalantly as possible as he moved forward with his sword

The Scientist Jecko could only laugh, "Hoh Specimen 56, I understand all your feelings Hoh Hoh! Are you going to kill me because of what I did to Specimen 23 to 52 or Are you going to kill me to end the second scenario"

Ark hummed in response, "Perhaps both"

"No matter No matter! My research is complete! And the Administrator is going to kill me anyway for my breaches during the Scenario. Better you then him Hoh Hoh!"

Almost instantly Ark's sword moved and the Jackal's head lay down on the ground

"Good Luck with the last... Specimen 56! I made it just for you...Hoh Hoh. My death only furthered yours Hoh Hoh!" And the head of the Jackal turned to Ash. It was a signal that The administrator had called for him. The Jackal was not really dead but it would be in a matter of moments. Ark had far more important things to worry about though. The Dimensional Storage had melted away and instead of getting a whole day for the preparation of the seventh horde, Ark would have to fight all of them in his injured state. It was simply fantastic

[The Seventh Horde is approaching]

[The Tower wishes you the best of Luck]