Strongest Among the Heavens
Chapter 366: First Battle of the Dark Tower

Chapter 366: First Battle of the Dark Tower

The waiting room was a massacre. The bodies of the fake Amazonians were strewn across the floor, their limbs severed, their faces frozen in expressions of terror and pain. Only one remained alive, the leader, her legs hacked off.

She tried to run but she couldn’t, so she crawled. She crawled like a worm.

Dasha stepped on blood.

The leader whimpered. She dragged herself away, leaving a trail of blood in her wake. The other fighters in the waiting room were as still as statues.

No one said anything. No one could say anything.

Not until a voice called out from the doorway. "T-The Professor, you’re up."

Dasha stopped. Whenever he committed a murder, he had to cover it up. The only exception was for when he had future intentions and plans. When he needed a detective or powerful man to realize something. Dasha turned without a word and walked toward the voice and the gate that led to the battle arena.

The guide was a wreck. Hands squeezing together, sweat pouring down his face. Dasha saw shock and fear. However, it was the type carefully calibrated. This wasn’t the first time someone vastly above the level of the floor conquered.

The battle arena of spectators was, as expected, rowdy and full of chants. The stadiums themselves were small and numerous in number. Ten of them with warriors ducking it out and blood being spilled. The audience went wild when a body dropped.

The blood thirst was intense and not for the weak. Dasha was guided to Stadium 5 and stepped up to the white platform. The stone was cheap and ancient. Old and worn out from centuries of use.

Opposite him stood a teenage swordsman. He held his blade with a bruised wrist, likely from a previous fight. The swordsman smirked, sizing up Dasha with a confident sneer.

"You’re dead."

Dasha said nothing. His hands went from behind to his pockets. There was no signal to start. As soon as one stepped onto the stone, the battle began.

The teenage swordsman wasted no time after Dasha’s shift in posture and charged with a scream.

From the perspective of the ordinary spectators, the fight was over in an instant. The swordsman toppled past him, suddenly sliced cleanly in half, his body falling to the ground in two gruesome pieces. The crowd on his side erupted in cheers and gasps. The speed and brutality of the kill had left them in awe, not fear.

For Dasha, the fight was merely a distraction. His mind had been elsewhere, scanning the arena and its surroundings. He observed the other fighters in the nearby stadiums, analyzing their techniques and assessing their strength. It didn’t take him long to conclude that they were all class one—unremarkable and not worth his time.

As the swordsman’s lifeless body hit the ground, Dasha’s eyes flicked back to the fallen opponent. He felt no satisfaction, only confirmation.

[ Receive:

1,000 XP ]

’Against the Monster Hunters, the amount of XP I gained was low. The applies to the Dark Tower, it seems. Fighting outside Valhalla’s Colosseum and the Heavenly Tower isn’t only prohibited, it is incentivized.’

No one announced the victory. There were screams and chants from the stadium. Someone had died. That was what mattered. Dasha could choose to stay here like the swordsman and keep fighting or leave.

Turning away from the cheering crowd and the blood-soaked arena, Dasha decided to step off the platform and exit the Dark Tower.

Then he returned as a spectator.

***

Blood and viscera stained the arena floor, evidence of the brutal battles that had already taken place. Dasha had been making his way up each floor to understand the competition. The first ten floors were for those in Class One and Class Two belonged to those up to the mid twenties, with Class Three so far rising up to floor thirty-five.

The ecosystem of the Dark Tower was intended for its residents, not players. Players were rare here.

Rare but not impossible to find.

An hour in, the crowd got rowdier than normal—and that was saying something.

"She’s back!"

"Scarlett The Red Viper!"

Scarlet was young, no more than twenty-one, with fiery red hair tied back in a tight braid. She did not yet step onto her little stadium. She was analyzing her opponent.

Scarlett’s opponent, a burly man twice her size, carried a human-sized axe over his shoulder. He waited for her. Scarlett stepped onto the plate. The crowd went wild.

Another opponent, another kill. The burly man immediately charged.

But instead of dodging or blocking, Scarlett seemed to flicker out of existence. The gianf stumbled, confused, as Scarlett reappeared behind him. Her hand glowed with an eerie green light as she struck, her fingers sinking into his back like claws.

The giant howled in agony, his skin turning a sickly shade of green. It had spread so fast. A fist to his cheek, Dasha observed Scarlett. That wasn’t solely speed — that was either Blink or Burst. It had to be.

’Blink and Burst are similar in ability to the Qinggong—the Lightness skill of cultivation that increases speed drastically. Although the principles are fundamentally different, the outcome is the same.’

Scarlett bounced back and danced around her giant enraged opponent. The axe’s swings were imbalanced. She darted and struck without him being able to react. The giant’s movements grew sluggish as the toxin worked its way through his system.

All the while she struck at his veins and his vulnerabilities with poison at bursts of speed.

"Raaah!" The burly axe-wielding male swung at a predicted point. To some, it was lucky. To Dasha, it was instincts and experience. This time, Scarlett had to dash back without that special dash of speed. She grit her teeth as the blade came dangerously close to breaking her skull in. She rolled back and then rolled to the side. Crunch! Slam! The axe crashed into the floor as its wielder went wild.

Poison wasn’t enough.

Scarlett tumbled back, her feet nearing the end of the platform. There were two ways to be defeated: death or going out of bounds.

Scarlett refused to lose and clapped her hands together. Lightning rang out and struck the burly male, stunning him. Scarlett leaped forward and shoved her fingers into his neck.

Victory by death.

Victory by Thunder Clap and a deep understanding of the human body.

Everyone that had been watching jumped to their feet and applauded her. Screamed for her. Chanted for her.

"Scarlett! Scarlett! Scarlett! Scarlett!"

Dasha’s ears, however, honed in on the hush-hush conversations.

"She has to be one of ’em reincarnates, eh?"

"Definitely. I bet Shadowblade or one of ’em other Floor Masters are keeping an eye on her."

He listened deeper.

"A player," a bearded man whispered to another. "And with an Intermediate Class at that."

"Mm."

"Her previous fights too. Remember? She fights with greed. She wants something."

"And, hehe, we can provide her with that something. Player chicks are gullible."

Scouts were watching. Those that lived above these floors were eager to take her.

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