The group slowly proceeded to walk up the path hanging from the walls. Zane led the group, as usual, Rex walked close behind him and Lovia was helping the driver with the cart. Zane stared down at the dark lake beneath them, looking out for anything that might still attack them. All he saw were a few leftover ghouls sitting at the bottom of the lake, waiting for the next time someone would be able to come to the second floor. The path continued beyond the ceiling, like the hole the tree had grown through. There was an about ten-meter thick plate between the two floors.

I hope what ever's up here doesn't stink so much.

As they came closer to the third floor a faint humming reached their ears, it sounded like some flying insect.

The third floor was lit up by large fireflies, the size of a child. They were all up at the ceiling that was covered in leaves, the leaves of the trees that were growing all the way up to the ceiling.

Not as impressive as the Duclon Forest but still . . .

The ground was covered in leaves as well, they rustled with each step the group took.

"Might this be a peaceful floor?" Rex asked, but his uncertainty was obvious.

Of course not . . . there's probably some massive centipede or so roaming around.

Zane took of a gauntlet and let his hand glide over the leaves on the ground, they were dry.

Fire's not an option . . .

"Can anyone see the way to the next floor?" Rex asked.

"It is probably hidden somewhere along this wall . . . should we split up?" Lovia asked.

Zane shook his head and signalled them to follow him.

First, they walked around the entire room, sticking close to the wall the whole time. But there was nothing. No way for them to proceed to the next floor nor any form of enemy. The only things in here besides them were the fireflies at the leave covered ceiling.

"Then the way up must be at the centre of the hall," Rex stated.

Zane studied the trees and then began to lead them to the middle of the large hall. As they got closer and closer to the middle it became continuously harder to proceed. At first, there was only high grass, that even reached up to Zane's chest, which they could cut down easily but after a while the trees started to grow closer and closer to each other, narrowing down the path they were taking and eventually their roots even blocked their way completely. They had to go back and choose another way to the middle each time.

"This is like a natural labyrinth," Rex stated.

Yeah, and that probably means there's something in the middle of all this . . . guarding the way up.

They searched for a way to the middle for hours, marking the spots where they had entered with large branches they found at the bottom of the trees.

After they hit another dead end they decided to take a break. They returned to the wall and sat down.

Amongst their supplies was a small fire bowl they could use to make a campfire. Using the dry leaves that covered the whole ground they lit a fire and sat down around it.

"It is truly mysterious . . . we have been trying to find a way for hours . . . it is quite frustrating I must admit," Rex said.

"I'm sure we'll find the right path soon," Lovia said, reassuring Rex.

"It must be night on the outside right about now . . . I have also grown quite tired. I believe we should rest here and continue once we wake up," Rex said before calling on the driver to help him set up a tent.

Lovia and Zane stayed at the fire.

"What about you? Aren't you tired?" Lovia asked.

Zane shook his head, he was used to staying up for days on end.

"Me neither," she said.

There was an awkward silence for a few seconds.

"So, you said you already had experience with towers . . . was the one you went in anything like this one?" she asked.

Zane tried to remember what that tower was like. A few images appeared before his inner eye. It was about four years ago now. Shortly after he had decided that not using this power would hinder his goal. Zane and many other veteran mercenaries had been hired by Holvin Vermillion to help him conquer a tower. It went terribly. In the end, they only ever reached the fourth floor and only Holvin, Zane and two other mercenaries that later started working under the Vermillion family survived the ordeal. He still remembered Holvins desperate screaming as they ran away from a large drake.

Zane grinned and shook his head again in response to Lovia's question. "Hotter," he said.

Much hotter . . . all four floors were filled with either fire or lava . . . and then there was that fucking drake . . . nearly burned me alive.

Lovia laughed a little.

Then there was silence between them again, only broken by the crackling of the fire.

"How come you're so quiet . . . I mean I had heard from . . . an acquaintance of mine who had hired you before . . . that you were, but I don't know. It seems weird to me," Lovia said.

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Zane leaned back, looking up at the ceiling. The fireflies looked like large stars in the night sky.

Why am I so quiet . . . good question. I guess I just decided to not talk unless I feel like I have to. But why? What exactly am I trying to achieve? I talk to Vin a lot when he's there . . . I have no problem talking to her . . . even if she forced herself on me . . . and then there's that little girl. I can talk to those people, but why? Because they approached me? Because they talked to me? She talks to me so why am I still silent around her?

Zane couldn't come up with an answer so he just shrugged. Lovia looked quite disappointed. She eventually moved a bit closer to Zane.

"You also said that you know Vindictus, right?" she asked.

Zane nodded.

"What's he like?"

What's Vin like . . .

"Kind . . . but merciless," Zane answered after thinking about it for a while.

Yeah, that's who he is. A kind but merciless person . . .

"Kind but merciless . . ." Lovia repeated.

Zane nodded.

"How do you know him?" she asked, now sounding more interested than before.

I sense I've made a mistake of some kind . . .

"Massacre of Ulva Mountain," Zane responded.

I swear if she makes me speak even more I might just head to bed right now . . .

"That massacre . . . I've heard about it. He supposedly even wiped out the camps of both armies."

Both . . . so he would have done it anyway . . . good to know that our cover story would have worked.

"And you survived that? Unbelievable," she said.

Zane nodded again.

Lovia studied Zane for a short while.

"I guess I'll head to bed for now . . . will you help me set up the tent?" Lovia asked.

Both of them got up and went over to the cart, getting the tent and setting it up. Once they were done Lovia headed inside.

Zane returned to the fireplace.

She doesn't seem like a bad person . . . but I still feel like she's hiding something.

Zane stayed at the fireplace for a while and fell asleep there. The next morning he awoke to Lovia's voice. "Zane, Zane, wake up."

But to him, it sounded like Ivara's voice. Zane practically jumped up.

"Iva?!" he yelled.

"What? Who's Iva?" Lovia asked in a shocked manner.

Zane looked down in embarrassment, counting the leaves on the floor. Without answering Lovia's question he walked over to Rex and the driver who were packing up the tents.

Shit . . . why does stuff like this always happen . . . happened with her too. . . multiple times.

"Well then, let us continue on our search for the way to the middle," Rex said after he and the driver had finished.

Zane began leading them again, Lovia following close behind him, staring at him, and Rex at the back together with the driver.

Hours passed without them finding anything. They had almost given up hope. This much work and they had only gone around half of the hall. There was still so much left to explore but due to the size of the hall, it took them nearly an hour just for one path.

This floor must have been designed to starve the ones who do get this far . . . I don't even want to know what will be on the floors to come.

They went back in one last time, following what was probably their hundredth path and there it was. A large clearing in the middle of the room with a round pillar in the middle that had a path attached to it. Zane nearly began screaming for happiness.

"Finally, we have found the way up . . . I must say, this floor might have been more challenging than the last two."

How would you know? All you do is get in trouble.

Rex walked towards the path leading up when one of the trees fell over, nearly squishing Rex. He turned around slowly and walked back to the cart.

"What was that?" he asked.

Zane looked around, trying to find what had knocked over the tree. But the only thing he saw were trees. All of them reaching all the way up to the ceiling.

What could be here?

And then the ground began to shake.

Another giant?

But instead of a giant all Zane saw was a tree walking towards them.

Shit . . . a forest golem. And we can't use fire without burning up ourselves.

"W-What's that?" Rex asked.

"That's a forest golem!" Lovia answered.

"Wh-What do we do about it?" Rex asked with a frightened voice as he watched the massive tree-like creature getting closer.

"Normally we would use fire but we would just set the whole forest on fire if we used it . . ." Lovia answered.

"Pin it down," Zane said to Lovia.

"W-What? Oh yeah of course," she responded.

Zane and Lovia slowly got closer to it. The forest golem had now reached the clearing. Both it's arms were trees, the roots functioning as fingers. It had a grotesque face, with large teeth, perfect for ripping the flesh of large animals. It used its arms to walk since its legs seemed underdeveloped. They were small and couldn't carry the entire bodyweight of the creature. There was also a faintly shining light green smoke emitting from holes in its body.

I need to find the core quickly or else this thing's going to wipe us out.

The golem lifted up one of its arms, thrusting it at Zane like a spear. But the impact of the creature's arm was more like that of a cannonball as it hit the ground and hurled up leaves and dirt.

Zane drew his katana, slashing at the whip-like fingers of the creature. He managed to cut off a few but the creature wasn't fazed at all.

Lovia in the meantime had begun to swing the chain above her head and had already thrown it at the golem's body, wrapping the chain around it. She began to pull at it but had to use all her strength to not get thrown around.

This is the roots from the first floor all over again.

"I-I need some help here!" Lovia yelled.

This time, instead of Rex, the driver ran up to her. He grabbed the chain and basically threw the golem on the ground.

Knew there was something up with that guy. Might be a half-orc or something like that . . . doesn't look it tho.

Zane ran over to the golem's head.

How do I find the core . . . ah right.

He began concentrating. A strong presence came from the forest golem's chest area, right about where the heart would be. Zane opened up his blood satchel and opened one of the containers. He moved all the blood out of it and jumped in the air.

"Blood Spear!" he said with his otherworldly voice.

The blood gathered and formed into a spear shape.

"Thrust!"

The blood spear went down, piercing the golem's back and going straight through it, disappearing inside.

Shit, I only grazed the core.

The golem was now clearly angry. It began retaliating more and more, until it finally managed to get up, pulling both the driver and Lovia into the air.

Zane, who had landed again, recalled the spear. It broke through the golem's chest, leaving a large hole uncovering the core's location.

Need more . . .

Zane opened up the satchel again and opened two more containers.

"Increase!"

The blood from the containers was added to the spear, increasing its size. Zane grabbed it and began assuming a spear-throwing stance. He began moving and at the moment he only touched the spear with one finger he said, "Thrust!"

It flew at the golem at high speed. The creature managed to raise its arm fast enough but that wasn't enough protection. The spear went straight through the golem's arm, splitting it open, and pierced the core, breaking it apart. It sounded almost like someone had broken glass. The golem's lifeless body fell to the ground, stirring up the leaves and dust.

Rex began clapping. "Splendid, I was truly lucky to have hired you," he said.

And I must have been unlucky . . . this is gonna turn into a bloody mess, I can feel it already.

"Well then, let us proceed to the next floor!" Rex said.

Let us rest you stupid noble . . .

Lovia managed to convince Rex to wait for a few minutes. Once they had rested up a bit from the fight they continued on their journey up the tower.