After some time. Sophia finally placed everyone in the huge magic circle located in the room which is protected by the Knight. The room is small that only really fits the magic circle and few apparatus inside.
At first, Sophia plans to only place one of her friends at a time then activate the switch but a question pops on her mind.
"What if the teleportation is randomized?"
With that question. Sophia decides to instead put everyone in the circle for one single teleportation. But before doing that, she did some test first to see if the circle is really working by placing a chair then activating the switch. Sophia learns that the magic circle is working as the chair dissapears after a 30 seconds delay. She give a sigh of relief as she's not going to be left behind nor put her injured friends and Gilmore in grave danger.
Sophia activates the lever which is the switch for the magic circle. She quickly runs towards the magic circle the moment it starts to glow. Sophia patiently waits until the room is engulfed in light and after that, Grand Ecstasy is no more.
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Sophia feels dizzy after the teleportation. The nauseating light she saw while teleporting is just too much so she rest a little bit. When her senses return, she look at surroundings and realized that they're in Layer 7: Bloody Ice during night time of the Reverse Tower. She looked again in the surroundings, trying to find the chair she sent earlier and chill runs down on her spine. Not caused by the cold weather but the dread that if she teleports her friends one-by-one. Just like the missing chair, she might sent them in completely randomized locations.
Sophia is faced with another problem - the environment. Freezing Cold would surely kill them slowly if they didn't get in any type of warmth or shelter.
But there's no way he can carry everyone let alone traverse the tower without any kind of light source nor idea where to go and the fact the she's manaless means she can't defeat the wilderness if she attempt to find help, which is a risky move at its own. Because of all the piling difficulties, Sophia is slowly losing hope.
"Its... Impossible..." Sophia said. Her voice sounds defeated.
Sophia just sit in the snow and stare on empty darkness while the cold wind makes a chilling breeze, like death is whispering for all of them...
Until.
A glint of light catches Sophia's attention. When she look at the light, her eyes widen when she saw 4 lights moving slowly. Sophia waste no more time a quickly stand up and screams for help.
"HEEEELP!!!" Sophia screams with all of her might. Trying to get the attention of whatever the owner of the lights are.
"SOMEONE HELP US PLEASEE!!!" Sophia screams again. She doesn't care if the light is from a human or a monster. It's a gamble worth the risk.
"HEEEELPPP!!!"
With another loud scream. The lights suddenly stops moving.
"IS ANYONE THERE!"
Sophia hears a manly scream. Her heart is overjoyed.
"YES YES!! PLEASE HELP US!! I'M OVER HERE!!" Sophia screams while waving her arms high in the air despite knowing its not necessary as they would not see it anyway.
In Sophia's view. The lights are slowly getting larger and after few minutes. Sophia finally see the owner of the lights.
It's a group of 12 adventurers. 8 man and 4 women. Sophia feels a relief when she see that 4 of them are clerics.
"Thank you so much." Sophia starts crying.
"Are you ok miss?" The older battle harden adventurer asked. He seems to be the leader of the group.
"Yes yes I'm fine but my friends need immediate help! Please save them!" Sophia begs while frantically pointing at her friends laying in the cold snow.
The adventurers after seeing the state of Grand Ecstasy and Gilmore, instantly rushes towards them and checked their condition.
"They're still breathing! But faintly!" One of the adventurer screams.
"To think they still managed to stay alive with such gruesome injury." The leader commented then he realized that the wounds seems closed despite not having stitches on them.
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"Clerics! Apply healing magic at them immediately! Everyone not occupied, prepare everything needed to make them stay warm and to carry them!" The leader commands which everyone quickly follows
"Wait a minute! This man is!" One of the Cleric is shocked while looking at Gilmore.
"What?" The adventurer asked.
"Its Gilmore Vandril! The Platinum ranked adventurer of Natunnia!"
"WHAT?!" Everyone is surprised to the revelation.
"AHH! I remember him! He's the one that saved use several days ago!" A lady archer shouted.
"But... What happened to his arm?" One of the adventurer asked.
"What are you doing! Start the procedure already!"
The clerics cast mid tier healing magic to every injured members while the others prepares the emergency stretcher hidden in theit Bag of Storage. After the first aid, the other adventurers puts thick blankets at them then carefully puts each one to their own stretcher.
"You. You're also a cleric right? Perhaps you should help them." The adventurer asked.
"Yes but... My mana is already depleted." Sophia sadly said. The old adventurer nods.
"I understand. Seeing that your party is still alive. You must already used your mana to them."
"No...." Sophia's only words while tears flows on her face. She feel ashamed.
The old adventurer sees it and pats Sophia in the shoulder.
"I don't know what you dealt with but the fact that you managed to save them, you should feel happy about it."
Sophia just nods.
"To think that I'm going to see that powder being used. It must be expensive. Well, he's Vandril." The old adventurer stated.
After everything is done. The group finally leaves carrying the injured Mateo, Claustrine, Shirna, Beltrand and Gilmore with them. Heading to the exit.
The old adventurer tells Sophia that all the Apex in Layers 7 and 8 are already exterminated by combined efforts of Adventurers guild with the help of selected Natunnia and nearby kingdoms' army a week ago, and his party is pretty much sent as rescue/retrieval operatives searching for survivors or the deceased.
"How we can deal with the regular beasts?" Sophia asked.
"Most of the aggresisve beast are killed when the extermination went through. There's no need to worry except the temporary closure of Reverse Tower." The old Adventurer said.
Sophia understands why the closure happened. The guild probably needs to find out what caused the anomaly and they don't want to risk losing adventurers again.
~~~~~~°~~~~~~
"And with a mighy swing of her sword. She defeated the evil Vielarata that terrorized the kingdom for decades. The kingdom rejoice, many songs are sunged and the heroic swordswomen finally realized the evils of Vielarata and joins the hero party on a mission of defeating the Vielarata King, and restoring peace once and for all."
The young Gilmore is mesmerized by the stories told by her mother about the amazing journey of the heroes party. Despite hearing the same story several times already, the young Gilmore is still love the stories of the past especially the swordswomen of the hero's party - Glidel.
"Mommy. Glidel is really an amazing person. She really help people in need."
"Of course she is. She's the heroic swordswomen afterall. Doing the right thing is just what a hero should do." Gilmore's moms happily said. Gilmore agrees with excitement with a bright smile on his face.
Doing the right thing is just what a hero should do, a sentence that truly stick on Young Gilmore's mind.
Young Gilmore really idolized Glidel. Not only she's the first Vandril but also a hero that helps humanity in any way possible. Gildel onced tunneled a mountain using her swordsmanship just to make sure that a group of refugees can escape the march or Vielarata army, she sided with the people when the a kingdom starts oppressing its citizen and fight alongside common soldiers against evil. With her righteousness, the public adores Glidel even today where her story becomes an inspiration for younglings, including young Gilmore.
Stolen novel; please report.
Gilmore is a far descendent of Glidel who lived 800 years ago and in order to not tarnish the name of the hero. Gilmore at young age starts his training to become a swordsman, a disciple of the famous Vandril swordmanship that passed down through generations.
Known for its sheer speed yet calculated style, Vandril swordmanship is considered as one of the powerful sword stance alongside other sword stance Glidel developed on her whole life. The mastery of multiple swordsmanship and her huge contribution on developing sword stance earns Glidel the title "Sword Saintess" a title alongside her Vandril swordsmanship being an treasure exclusive only for the one with her blood.
And through rigorous training and intense mentoring of his father, Gilmore already master the Vandril sword stance. But as he grows up, a question slowly appears on his mind.
Gilmore now a 20 years old asked his father a very important question.
"Father. I have a very curious question." Gilmore suddenly asked while both of them are drinking wine on their cellar.
"What it is my son?"
"I'm curious. Why in the history of our family, the title "Sword Saint" is not passed down not even onced?"
Hearing the question, Gilmore's dad stay silent for a second before showing a face of sadness with a hint of anger.
"You know son. I also asked the same thing to your grandfather and I'm appaled on the answer." Gilmore's dad said.
"What do you mean father?"
Gilmore's dad takes a delicate sip of wine on his glass, mix it a little by shaking the glass on his palm and then take a sip again.
"The only way to achieve the title Sword Saint is to defeat the current holder."
The revelation shocked in confused Gilmore.
"You mean defeating HER?" Gilmore referring to his hero Glidel.
"Yeah. Absurd right? And it with 800 years of our family history, no one manages to defeat her. Well, its possible when Glidel is still alive but after that. It's impossible."
Gilmore can understand a little bit why such condition is made but the fact that no one manages to take the title speaks on how powerful Glidel is that even her sons or daughters didn't manage to defeat her.
"Is Glidel the one imposed such rule?" Gilmore asked.
"According to the historical text, Yes. And the kingdom even today highly respect her conditions especially the part that a Vandril family can only become a higher nobility if a descendant holds the Sword saint title."
Now it makes sense on why higher nobles treated him poorly when he was studying in the Royal Academy. His life as a student is a mixbag and only saved by lower nobles he befriend, one even become his fiancee.
"The kingdom must included some leniency for that right?" Gilmore asked.
"The truth is there's a leniency."
Gilmore is surprised.
"But don't make your hopes high my son. It's equally impossible as defeating our progenitor." His father added.
"I just want to know it."
Gilmore's father makes a deep sigh before answering his question.
"The other way to achieve the title Sword Saint is to find the remains or anything directly to the Sword Saintess like her sword."
"Ah."
"That's why I said its impossible. According to our family and kingdom records. Glidel suddenly dissapears without any trace. And it's not that Vandrils didn't try. Now that there's a loophole for becoming a sword saint. Some of our non-swordsman ancestors waste too much resources just to find any trace of Glidel. Some even lost their life in their self expeditions. Thank the goddess and our ancestor for not making this crucial information public because I don't know if there's a rule that a non Vandril can become a sword saint. Now, we pretty much lost interest and just accept what we are." Gilmore's dad said and as he explains, he also slightly getting annoyed but not in violent way. Just like ranting.
"Father."
"Sorry for my ramblings. What it is my son?"
"It is ok for me to continue the search?"
His dad's eyebrow rises.
"Are you sure? In my honest opinion, it's better to not disappoint yourself."
"I understand but also in my opinion, its better if I try. Atleast I did my best finding her and if nothing comes on my search. Then, it is what it is." Gilmore said followed by a smug smile.
Gilmore's dad laugh but Gilmore doesn't feel any mockery on it.
"You're truly persistent are you? You remind me of your mom. Fine, I support you on your mission. But with one condition."
"What is it father?"
"Just know when to give up and never fall to the insanity like what happened to some of our ancestors." Gilmore's dad said.
"I understand."
Thus, Gilmore starts his search for his hero. To get resources without relying on his family's treasury. Gilmore decides to become an adventurer.
At first, the guild is reluctant on hiring Gilmore as they don't want to be viewed as practicing nepotism, and to everyone's point of view. A noble doesn't need to become an lowly adventurer as they already have programs prepared for them thus skipping the rank climb and easily becoming a Hero-ranked adventurer. To commoner adventurers, it feels like an insult.
But overtime, Gilmore slowly gets the guild's approval as unlike the snobby nobles that the adventurers hated, he truly immerse himself to the guild. drinking with them, doing degrading missions like sewer explorations, socializing with them, training the lower ranked adventurers and not treating himself as someone with a higher standing. Perhaps, Gilmore really practices what his hero did.
And with already accumilated skills, Gilmore easily climb the ranks up to becoming a Platinum ranked adventurer. The most prestigious ranked for common adventurers in terms of normal rank climbing.
With all of his achievements. The guild now views him postively. There's still few people that questions his status as a nobility but they're dwarfed by others he inspired and befriended.
And 15 years passed by like a whisper of the wind. Gilmore, now a 35 years old family man alongside Erika his fiancee who becomes his wife. He become a household name for adventurers due to his skills which just become better over time. Yet, a decade and he still didn't find any valuable information about Hero Glidel except for one.
The Reverse Tower created by another hero named Julzhihar. It's just a very tiny footnote on a delicate and old history book but Gilmore is glad to read the short tidbit of history.
According to the book. Glidel and Julzhihar are collaborators on the creation of Reverse Tower. Being the only usable information about Glidel, Gilmore spends most of the last decade repeatedly searching for hints inside the Reverse Tower. He even try her best looking for the entrance for the mythical Layer 9 and 10.
Still, Gilmore failed to make considerable progress.
In his home office, Gilmore just stares on the piles of books and paperworks he used for his research. Dissapointment slowly manifest on his mind. For Gilmore, he spend too much time reading all of the paperworks for nothing which can be used to more productive work. He gives a deep sigh.
His wife Erika enters the room, bringing some snacks and tea for her husband occupied in deep thoughts. She gently put everything in the table and stand beside Gilmore. Also staring at the 15 years of collective nonsense.
"Honey? Any progress on your work?" Erika asked.
"Nothing as usual." Gilmore said with low ethusiasm.
"I see. Its 15 years already since your first search. It must been tiring for you."
Gilmore didn't and stays silent for a while.
"Honey?" Erika is curious on his husband's silence.
"Hon."
"Yes?"
"Do you think this search is useless in the beginning?" Gilmore asked out of the blue. Erika is surprised on the question for a moment.
"I don't think your search is useless as you have good reasons and resolve for doing it so I will not call it useless. But..."
Erika gets closer to Gilmore and hold his hand.
"It's already 15 years with no visible progress so far. Perhaps its time for you to quit." Erika said with a sad expression in her face.
Gilmore stays quiet as he wants to hear more of his wife's opinion.
"I appreciate that you managed to still have time for me and your son despite your busy life. But honey... can I become a little bit selfish this time?" Erika said.
Gilmode is intrigued. He rarely see this side of his wife. But because Erika respects his decisions, Gilmore is ready to hear his wife's wish.
"Of course."
Erika hugs Gilmore's arm while leaning on his shoulder.
"You see. Your son is growing fast. With his crucial moments of his life, I wish you spend more time for him and teach her valuable life lessons."
Gilmore understands what Erika is trying to say. Now that his son is slowly becoming a teenager, its time to focus on his fatherly duties more than ever to ensure the future of his son.
"I don't need for us to become a higher nobility. As long as we live as a happy family, that's enough for me. So I wish you stay with us more than ever." Erika said with sincerity.
"Especially when there's a new member of Vandril family coming."
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"Huh?"
Gilmore is caught off-guard on Erika's sudden reveal. He looks to Erika with confusion while his wife just give a sly smile.
"REALLY?!" Gilmore's calm demeanor is completely dissapeared once he heard the news.
"Yup. Our love 2 months ago bear fruit to another child." Erika said. She blush a little as she remembers vividly the scene.
"Why I just learning this now!?" Gilmore excitement is on the roof.
"Who knows. Maybe because a certain someone is so occupied on his work." Erika's said then followed by pouting.
"All right fine. I'm sorry ok? Hehe." Gilmore's sincere apology.
"You know what. An apology is not enough." Erika is still pouting.
"Why? What I need to do?"
Erika suddenly becomes serious.
"Remember everything I said earlier."
And just like that. Everything that Erika said now about quiting becomes more heavy for Gilmore. He close his eyes and make a deep sigh.
"I see. Ok I promise. I will stop this search." Gilmore said with sincerity. Erika smiles and hugs Gilmore.
"Thank you..." the only words she say.
Gilmore hugs Erika and his mission is slowly being replaced by his responsibility as now father of two.
Within 10 days. He finally get rid of all of his research books and written journals about his search of Glidel. All of it donated to the Academia, hoping that maybe someone in the future would continue his search. He also spend more time with his wife and son.
But one day. A news reach him. A news so huge that it light a spark on his desire to search Glidel. After learning the anomaly of the Reverse Tower, he quickly ask Erika for another chance.
In the living room. Erika is looking disappointed on Gilmore who currently bowing to her.
"Please. Let me continue my search in the Reverse Tower."
"But... You promised to me... To us your own family." Erika said with harsh tone.
"I'm sorry. This is just too big of a chance for me to ignore. But I promised for real this time that this is the last. So, please let Erika, give me one more chance." Gilmore said with conviction.
"But how can I believe you if the first promise is already broken?! How can I know that it's really your last if your search turns out nothing?!"
"No. I promised as a Vandril that this is going to be the last. Please Erika, trust me. If I need to kneel for your approval, I will do it." Gilmore's conviction becomes even stronger which makes Erika angry.
"No! You liar!"
Gilmore didn't answer, instead he slowly kneel and prepares for a prostration.
"STOP!!"
Gilmore stops before he even put himself to the ground. He looks to Erika which is now crying.
"You're a Vandril! You don't need to put yourself that low!" Erika is angry. Gilmore stands and he's pained to see his wife suffering because of him.
"Why?! Why you really need to do this?! I told you I don't want higher nobility status! So, why you so desperate to the point of lowering yourself?!"
Gilmore can't answer. Within 15 years of his search. The reason of searching for Glidel is slowly becoming a blur.
Is it for Vandril to become a higher noble family?
Is it for the fame and glory?
Is it for the title of Sword Saint?
Is it to find the... Truth?
Truth?
What truth? To find the fate of a hero that died 800 years ago?
Does his mission is to finally put closure for him and his entire blood line?
Gilmore is unsure.
"Sorry but I also don't know why. But something inside me really wants to find the answer. Like it was wishing for me to continue." Gilmore said. He didn't really give a satisfactory answer to Erika so he avoid eye contact out of shame.
Ouf of nowhere, something appears on his mind.
"Doing right things is just what a hero should do."
Gilmore suddenly remember the very sentence that really makes him idolize Glidel.
Gilmore looks at Erika again.
"But, I really want to help everyone in need and right now, the guild needs me to help people who is now missing inside the tower. Because that's what a Vandril should do."
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Gilmore is surprised when Erika suddenly rushed to him and gives him a very tight hug.
"You moron..."
Erika plants her face on Gilmore's chest as she tries to hide his tears.
"I'm sorry..." Gilmore apologize.
"I don't care anymore! Go. Just be sure that it was truly the last."
"I will."
"Also, promise me to come back to us alive. Be careful..."
"I promise..."
The two just hugs each other for a moment to ease the pain. When Erika finally calms down, he properly says his farewell. He carefully wear his gears and pick apporiate supplies before heading to the Adventurer's Guild.