Sword of Salvation-Chapter 118: - Tower of 9 Gods (2)

Shit Island was surrounded by hundreds of massive coral rocks.

The smallest of them was the size of a giraffe. However, there were two smooth paths—visitors didn’t have to weave their way through the coral. One path was aligned with the dock, and the other was to the north.

As soon as they arrived on the island, Mariel, Julia, and Sean immediately began exploring the desolate land.

They found no animals aside from insects and a few reptiles. Birds perched on the balconies of the tower, but they only stayed for a short rest before flying away. Only the insects and reptiles remained.

"I’ll try to track it," Sean said as they stopped in front of the tower’s entrance.

Mariel watched as Sean struck her magic staff against the ground. A pale yellow magic circle, slightly transparent, appeared beneath the mage’s feet. The circle expanded exponentially in an instant. Within seconds, it covered the entire island—and continued to grow, encompassing even the coral surrounding it.

"Mariel, that demon is dangerous," Sean said the moment the magic circle vanished. She pointed between two coral rocks. "It has more prana than you. Its power might surpass every Super Demon I’ve ever seen."

"But based on the village chief’s description, it sounds like a low-class demon. How can it be that strong with traits like a Rare Demon or Extra Demon?" Julia asked.

"In all things, there are always exceptions, Lady Julia," Sean replied wisely. "Among wizards, Merlin is an exception. Even among wolves, there might be one superior to a tiger. We also can’t ignore the rumors about the Demon Leader’s strength. Perhaps, if we leave this demon alone, it will evolve to rival the leader of all demons."

Listening to Sean’s explanation, Mariel found a connection between the woman named Eya and the demon’s terror.

If that woman was truly a mage, as he suspected, then she was most likely controlling the demon to obey her every command. Mariel couldn’t be sure of her goal—it could be that she was simply collecting victims for an immortality ritual, or perhaps she was studying dark magic that even Sean wasn’t aware of.

"You two can enter the tower first," Mariel said after a moment. "I’ll catch up after eliminating the demon. If it’s as strong as Sean says, I need to finish it quickly."

"Do you need help?" the mage asked. "I don’t know how much I can assist, but at the very least, I can ensure your safety from behind."

"Thanks for the offer, but no need. Just accompany Julia into the tower, but don’t go straight to the top. Like I just said, I’ll join you after dealing with the demon. Then we’ll head to the top together."

Mariel didn’t wait for a response. He immediately dashed toward the direction Sean had pointed. And when Mariel reached the two coral rocks, he discovered another rock—this one with a hole about one and a half meters wide. Without hesitation, Mariel entered the hole.

A submerged cave with no seawater. That was what Mariel found inside. The cave ceiling was filled with glowing crystals, preventing it from being pitch dark. Though dim and unclear, Mariel could still make out the cave’s structure.

"How much would these crystals sell for?"

Mariel muttered to himself as he stepped down the small stones forming a natural staircase.

"I think I’ll take a few dozen after I kill the demon. I can sell them to Queen Maggio’s wife. She would probably pay a fortune for these glowing, multi-colored crystals."

Just as he finished speaking, two tentacles shot out from one of the cave’s tunnels. They were covered in crackling lightning, lashing at Mariel with supersonic speed.

Mariel instinctively dodged. The cave was spacious enough for a fight, and the ground was even and stable, allowing him to move freely. However, unwilling to let the tentacles damage the cave, Mariel stopped dodging and summoned two wind swords, slashing through both tentacles. At the same time, he unleashed a gust of wind into the cave corridor.

He didn’t have to wait long for a response. Exactly six seconds after he sent the wind attack into the tunnel, the demon burst out at high speed. Mariel instinctively coated himself in wind armor and space armor, then charged at the demon even faster.

The demon lashed out with eight tentacles, but Mariel severed them all in an instant with rapid sword strikes. However, when he beheaded the demon, something happened that he couldn’t understand. His wind sword passed through the demon’s neck as if it were an illusion. Not just his sword—Mariel’s entire body phased through the demon as if it wasn’t real.

As Mariel passed through, all the serpents growing from the demon’s head opened their jaws and fired high-density lightning lasers.

Such an attack would have instantly killed most people.

But Mariel wasn’t part of the majority.

Even if he did nothing, he wouldn’t be harmed.

But Mariel wanted to test something.

So the moment the lightning lasers struck his barrier, he glanced behind him and swapped places with the demon.

Blue blood splattered everywhere as the demon’s own lightning lasers struck its own head.

Mariel wasn’t the type to show mercy. Taking advantage of the demon’s destroyed head, he immediately turned around and plunged his wind swords into the middle of the demon’s back. The second sword stabbed just above the first. And as the finishing blow, both swords branched out, tearing the demon apart from within.

"This demon truly had potential," Mariel murmured as he pulled out his swords. "If it had evolved into a high-class demon, it would’ve been a truly formidable opponent. With that massive prana capacity and unique ability, it could’ve become the next Primordial Demon."

Kicking the demon’s body against the wall, Mariel continued exploring the cave, checking its deepest corners. Given the number of victims that had fallen, he expected to find more demons or at least human corpses.

But by the time he returned to the cave entrance, he had found nothing.

Not wanting to stay in the cave any longer, Mariel immediately cut down the crystals hanging from the ceiling and stored them in his pocket dimension. He didn’t count how many he took; he simply collected all the crystals in the front part of the cave.

After that, Mariel headed straight back to Nine Gods Tower and entered without paying—there were no attendants collecting entrance fees anymore.

The Nine Gods Tower—or the Nine Gods Lighthouse—stood at a height of 2,800 meters. It had a circular shape with a total of 280 floors. The base had a diameter of nearly 40 meters, but it shrank by one meter for every 100 meters in height. This meant that the top 100 meters had a diameter of less than 13 meters.

The tower featured balconies every ten meters. In accordance with the number of floors, there were a total of 278 balconies. The number wasn’t exactly 280 because the first and last floors lacked balconies. It was said that these balconies were once used as platforms for throwing criminals off the tower. Depending on the severity of their crimes, criminals could be thrown from the first balcony or even the 278th.

The interior of the tower wasn’t as spacious as one might expect. The walls were two meters thick. A central pillar—housing the staircase leading to the upper floors—had a diameter of three meters. This meant that the first floor had a radius of less than 15 meters. As for the top floor, Mariel estimated that its radius was less than one and a half meters.

Until the third floor, Mariel didn’t find anything remarkable. The rooms only contained empty chairs and flower pots with fruit-bearing plants. There were no clues to justify the tower’s name.

Mariel found Julia and Sean on the eighth floor. They were just about to ascend to the ninth floor when he entered. Mariel then joined them as they climbed to the next level.

"That demon wasn’t as strong as I expected?" Sean asked as they stepped up the staircase.

"It was strong and dangerous. Even a Level 1 Sterminatore wouldn’t be able to defeat it without a unique ability or support. That demon could phase through solid objects, and the snakes on its head could fire high-density lightning lasers that were difficult to avoid. But it lacked the intelligence to fully optimize its power. It’s not a threat to someone like me."

"I thought I’d be glad that you killed that demon so quickly, Mariel," Julia added. "But now I think it would’ve been better if you had gotten hurt. That way, those arrogant words wouldn’t be coming out of your mouth."

"If I got hurt, would you tend to my wounds and take care of me with love?"

"When we meet C, I’m going to tell him you tried to flirt with me."

"Eh, I was just asking. Sean is my witness. But setting aside that baseless accusation, my words earlier weren’t arrogant at all. I was merely stating facts. No one can call someone arrogant for saying they can breathe with their eyes closed."

"I agree with Mariel, Lady Julia. Arrogance and confidence are similar yet different. Arrogance elevates oneself while belittling others. Confidence, on the other hand, is simply believing in one’s own strength without exaggeration or putting others down."

"Hold on, Sean, why are you siding with Mariel? You should be backing me up so we can corner him together. This kid is younger than us, you know that, right?"

Trivial conversations like these accompanied their journey up the countless stairs. 2,800 meters—how many steps did they need to climb to reach that height? One thing was certain: the ascent would feel much longer if they weren’t talking.