Suddenly, Lucas opened his eyes. He tried to move, but his head felt like it weighed a hundred pounds, so he gave up. He felt a strange numbness sensation on the side of his body. What happened? He wondered, confused, his memory seemed to be missing parts.

Focusing on his body again, he felt like something was terribly wrong with it, which made him feel sick. His mouth was dry, and his head was pounding. Still, he made an effort to turn his head to the side where he felt the numbness. When he did, the memories came rushing back to him.

His arm and a part of his torso were gone, replaced by a pool of blood and bits of flesh scattered on the floor. The gory scene, accompanied by the smell of burned flesh, almost made him puke. Anxiety made his heart pound heavily in his chest.

Lucas remembered how, in the last moment, he had used everything he had to compress Fire Blast even further than the skill allowed and concentrated all that energy in the arm Sultan was holding. That explained why his arm was blown to bits, but what made him anxious wasn’t this—it was the lack of notifications. If he had killed Sultan with that last attempt, there should be a notification.

Lucas’ mind froze when he heard a faint cough coming from somewhere in the room. He’s still alive, he thought, agitated. But how? Lucas couldn’t understand. The power he had concentrated on that skill had been incredible. If Sultan was able to survive that, then his defenses were far better than Lucas had predicted.

Desperate once again after discovering he wasn’t safe, Lucas did all he could to raise his torso, but it took him nearly three minutes to do so. Sweat covered his entire body. He felt like he had exerted more effort during those three minutes than he had during the entire fight. But he couldn’t complain; instead, he had to be thankful that the numbness prevented him from feeling much pain.

The first thing he saw after rising was that the room was a mess. Many tables were destroyed or turned upside down, with blood splattered everywhere. He saw the bodies of Sultan’s henchmen, and on the other side of them, he saw a man lying down—definitely Sultan.

Lucas couldn’t see him properly from where he was sitting, but he promptly checked his own status and saw that his health pool was dangerously close to zero. Looking at his remaining hand, he was glad to find that his ring was still there. If he had put the ring on his right hand, it would have gone along with his arm and all his belongings.

Giving a sigh of relief, Lucas hurriedly took out a health potion from his ring and, with a trembling hand, drank the whole thing, immediately feeling better. His arm didn’t start to grow back as he had hoped, but his open wound began to close quickly, and he could feel his energy replenishing with each passing second.

After two more minutes, Lucas finally managed to stand up and walk very slowly towards Sultan, who hadn’t moved the entire time. When he arrived, he saw why. The man’s chest was open for all to see, and his face was purple. Lucas could even see his lungs contracting from where he was standing. If he had to make an educated guess based on his studies in college, Sultan was in a hypovolemic shock due to blood loss.

Lucas felt genuinely sorry for him and went to finish him off, to put an end to his misery. But just as his blade was about to strike, he thought he saw a smile appear on Sultan’s purple face. What did he mean by it? Lucas had no idea.

*You have killed Human — Lvl 16*

Lucas sighed deeply after the confirmation came. There were moments during his last fight when he really thought he was going to die. He had faced many life-and-death battles during his journey, but none were like this. His opponent was clearly better than him, not only in strength but also in combat. Lucas still didn’t completely understand how he had won.

He had done something not even Sultan could predict—he used his body as a bomb and risked killing himself in the process. Even after taking his health potions, he still felt pain in multiple parts of his body. The explosion had caused burning wounds all across half his face and had even burned off a little of his hair. Not to mention his arm, which showed no signs of growing back anytime soon.

That’s when Lucas remembered—he should be dead. Why hadn’t the prince come to finish him off? Lucas quickly looked around but found nothing. The prince had disappeared.

I lost sight of him during my fight with Sultan. Maybe he ran away before the explosion, Lucas thought, a little concerned. If he didn’t deliver the prince, then everything would have been a waste of time. But he soon calmed down.

The prince shouldn’t be very fast, judging by his level, and they were in the middle of the desert, so he couldn’t have gone far or found a place to hide yet. Feeling reassured, Lucas steeled himself for his next task; he needed proof of his success in the mission, after all. Since he couldn’t use his ring for that, and having also discovered that, while he could use other people’s rings and take items from them, he couldn’t place anything inside that wasn’t there before, so he was forced to use other methods. Shortly after, he took off Elliot’s shirt and used it to make an improvised bag for Sultan’s head. He wasn’t sure if this was even necessary, but he wasn’t taking any chances.

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Before he left, he decided to search through his opponents’ spatial rings. He was mainly interested in skills; if he managed to learn a skill or two during the two days that he had left, it would be a nice bonus. He was especially interested in the water wall Elliot had used; that skill could take his dodging to the next level.

But after a thorough search, he didn’t find any skills, just a few weapons and coins--nothing he could take back with him. Disappointed, Lucas decided to take a quick peek in Sultan’s office, since he had no interest in the arsenal or in the dormitories.

He didn’t find much there—just a few couches, a desk and a chair. The only interesting thing were the monitors on the table showing all the locations of his lair. Lucas searched through them to see if he could find the prince hiding somewhere, but couldn’t find anything apart from the corpses that he had left behind.

Feeling that his job there was done, Lucas left. Needless to say, he had a hard time climbing the ladder he had used to descend, having only one arm, but he managed to do it after a few minutes. Once he was out in the open, he felt a wave of relief wash over him. It was good to see the clear sky, even if he was still technically inside the tower.

Where could he have gone? Lucas wondered, looking around. The only thing within sight was the forest he had used with Faruk. The king’s castle was too far for him to see from that distance, but the prince should’ve been aware of it, considering he was studying those maps when Lucas arrived.

Believing the forest was his best shot, since he didn’t believe the prince wanted to meet his father anytime soon, Lucas started running towards it, now even faster than before thanks to his increase in levels. It took some time for him to get his balance straight with one limb missing, but eventually he got the hang of it.

Just as he was arriving at the forest, he saw a man bent over, coughing his lungs out. Slowing down, Lucas walked without making a sound, and when he was just behind the man, he silently dropped the shirt containing Sultan’s head and slapped him on the back. Immediately, the man jumped and looked back. Lucas smiled.

“Going somewhere?”

“H-h-how?” the prince replied, shock all over his red face.

“What, you didn’t think I would win?”

The prince’s gaze shifted towards Lucas’ missing limb and back to his face.

“Did you kill him?” Disbelief was clear in his tone.

“Isn’t that your friend?” Lucas said, picking up Sultan’s head from the shirt and showing it to him. He felt a little disgusted at himself for doing that, but the expression on the prince’s face was totally worth it. “I don’t think he can save you now.” Lucas said, placing the head back in its place. “Let’s go; I’m dropping you off at your father’s. And don’t dare run away again.”

The prince, who was already feeling sick at the sight of Sultan’s head—the man he judged to be one of the strongest on the entire planet—trembled all over, hearing Lucas’ last sentence. Even if he had twice the guts, he wouldn’t dare disobey, so he lowered his head and followed as both started their stroll through the desert.

…

The king was staring at him with a very colorful expression when Lucas pushed the prince in front of him and threw Sultan’s head to the ground, dirtying the pristine floor of the throne room with blood.

“I’ve done what you’ve asked,” Lucas said simply.

“So you did,” the king replied, excitedly after recomposing himself. “Not only did you rescue the prince, but you have also achieved the impossible and managed to kill the great villain of our nation. And I see you paid a hefty price to accomplish this,” the king added, nodding towards his missing arm.

“It’s a small price compared to the king’s rewards, I hope,” Lucas said, half-threatening.

“Father, are you going to let a peasant speak to you like that?” the prince asked, furious, regaining his courage after arriving at the castle he had spent most of his life in.

Inside those walls, he was the big shot; he was the one who told people what to do. These last days in Sultan’s company had forced him to lower his head too many times, and he was sick and tired of it. He knew his father; he wouldn’t punish him too harshly. He wouldn’t place a stranger in front of his own…

“Quiet!” the king yelled, spitting with anger. “A traitor dares tell me what to do? Are you not afraid of death?”

The prince trembled. He had never seen his father so angry in his entire life. It was like he had become a different person. Freezing from fear once again, he didn’t dare talk back.

“The Lord of Shadows is an esteemed guest in my kingdom, and I don’t want to hear another word about it!” After saying that, his expression softened as he turned to look at Lucas. “You don’t need to worry; I’ll make sure your rewards are plentiful. In the meantime, I would like to throw a feast in your honor, if you don’t mind.”

Lucas considered. He was anxious to get his arm back, and he knew he would after finishing the floor. However, a part of him really thought he deserved a feast after all he had done, so he complied, to the king’s delight.

The whole kingdom attended the feast; everyone wanted to take a look at the man who had defeated Sultan and reenter the good graces of the king now that his power was supreme.

It felt a little weird to attend a feast in his condition and with his clothes torn off, but he quickly got used to it once the food started coming. Lucas received a lot of gifts from the populace, and he accepted all of them, even if he couldn’t keep anything after leaving the floor. It was nice to have so many people grateful for what he had done, an experience he would find hard to forget, along with the exquisite dishes the king provided for the feast, which Lucas made sure to get a sample of each.

Lucas did try to look for Faruk; he thought perhaps the man had heard about the feast and come to say his goodbyes, but found no trace of him. Whatever Faruk went to do, he probably didn’t intend to come back.

Afterward, when it was already dark, and he had no more space left in his stomach, Lucas decided to call it a day. He did try to ask the king for a few skills, but conveniently enough, the king had none. Embarrassed, he instead offered him many women for Lucas to spend the night with, to which Lucas promptly refused. Gifts and food were one thing, but he believed woman was crossing a line.

So, after the King handed him a bunch of gold coins, which Lucas just barely managed to store in his pockets—knowing full well they would likely disappear—everything went dark for a second before he appeared back in the waiting room.

Second floor completed. 10,000 points earned.

Bonus objective completed: Kill Sultan. 5,000 points earned.

Bonus objective completed: Complete both objectives without asking for help. 3,000 points earned.

Bonus objective completed: Complete the floor in less than a day. 2,000 points earned.

Bonus objective completed: Kill all enemies. 1,000 points earned.

Object acquired: Dark Wooden Staff. – 3,000 points.

Current points: 30,500.