"Thank you, Princess."

The guilty prisoner expressed his gratitude that it wasn't just a nobody player who would kill him, but rather a royalty of a country.

The White World (Legendary), the sword of Elizabeth, had appeared behind the guilty prisoner as she thrust her weapon through space with the right coordinates with the help of her skill, White Perception (SS+). Crimson blood gushed out of the man's mouth, but he rather seemed relieved and freed, unafraid of death.

For a moment, Elizabeth's momentum slightly faltered upon seeing the guilty prisoner's expression. It wasn't her first time killing a guilty prisoner or seeing the kind of expression of the man she just saw, but she felt like, as she was physically and mentally maturing, every prisoner that had died by her hands might not have had much choice behind their actions.

"Why did you kidnap people?"

Coughing out crimson blood, the guilty prisoner, hanging on to the last breath of his life, responded:

"T-to be used as experiments for the Project Black Veil."

Without waiting for Elizabeth to speak, the man continued:

"Heh. Princess, you seem ignorant about these things. That's why you're asking about it... You think humanity will forever be safe? Hah... Hahaha!"

"What do you mean by Project Black Veil? Don't die on me yet."

Elizabeth responded calmly.

At this moment, one of the queens sitting in the almost empty audience seats should have ended the life of the guilty prisoner after he spoke about something confidential, but they let Elizabeth hear about the unknown, looming threat.

Although humanity's insatiable desire to thrive for the greater of things was unquenchable, the consequences of Project Black Veil would plunge humanity into catastrophe rather than assure salvation. Humanity might reach greater heights, discovering many things that would advance human civilization by leaps and bounds, but... throughout the history of humanity, whether in the Old World or in this era, there's no such thing as progress without sacrifice.

"P-Princess... You see, it's about injecting chaos into humans. Ha! That's all I can tell you. If there's hell in this f*cked-up world, see me there. Hahahaha!"

Thud-!

The guilty prisoner, with the loss of blood and being pierced in his chest, died. His body slumped forward, and a pool of blood was painting the ground crimson.

Elizabeth stared at the lifeless body of the guilty prisoner. Memories of her first formal class under Emmanuel Lyncoster, professor of Monster Anatomy and Evolution, surfaced in her mind. She remembered the time when she asked him a question regarding human experiments being either willingly or forcefully injected with chaos that's collected using a special tool or artifact.

'Project Black Veil...'

The last words of the man seemed to streak through her mind.

***

<Let's use the same strategy.>

Orcs were one of the most common monsters in any kind of dungeon, Strayed or Tower, just next to goblins. Russell wasn't fooled enough to charge head-on at the remaining Orcs; at least, that's what was supposed to be the case. After completely unsealing the Symbol of Night and absorbing some of the seeped-out eternal power of the "last" Close Mystery Tower, the egg, which had reached its hatch rate of 13%, had blessed him, just like when he shared the Fruit of Chaos with the three women behind him.

It was this one blessing that he needed during his fight against the branch manager, Markim, of the Shadow Guild, when they invaded their secret facility to save Maya's parents and to steal the Urum (UR) mineral for the inevitable future.

[Use the blessing of the Egg for Equipment Fusion?]

[This blessing can only be used once.]

[Only equipment from Chaos Origin can be fused.]

[Fusing the Sword of "???" and the Scythe of "???"]

[Warning! The fused weapons cannot be reverted.]

[Proceed with the fusion?]

Russell proceeded with the fusion with a look of anticipation. At that moment, the plain-looking Growth weapons, the Sword of "???" and the Scythe of "???", in Russell's hands, floated in mid-air.

These weapons seemed to go into a time-lapse as their structure, from the plain-looking one, turned from glistening stars that ended with a supernova and black hole, to miniature moons exploding and imploding, with worlds' creation and their destruction. It was like a fast-forward depiction of creation and the end of the universe that's happening in the blade and sickle of the two respective weapons.

Seconds passed, and the two weapons had been fused into one, as though they had an eternal vow, fated to be together even before the beginning of time.

"What an ethereal sight."

The new weapon, from mid-air, landed on his hands, which he then easily caught.

[The Equipment Fusion has been successful!]

[The Sword "???" and Scythe "???" have been fused!]

[You have acquired the weapon '?']

[The additional effects of the skill "Cull and Cut" (EX) have been gained.]

"There we go!"

During his fight with Markim, when wielding a sword, he would only increase his Agility at that time. It's also the reason why, even though he's fast and barely dodged Markim's attack, he couldn't even damage the man. But, with the fused Sword and Scythe that just turned into "?", the additional effects of Skill: Cull and Cut (EX) would both be applied, multiplying his Agility (now his Swift stat) and Strength by five.

With his current raw Strength stat of 460 and raw Swift stat of 400, the former would be increased to 2,300, while the latter would be increased to 2,000. Though the Cull and Cut were capped at 4,999, it's very, very helpful at this moment. With the "?" weapon, his [Player Rank] would temporarily be A+.

At least that's what he thought.historical

'W-what?!'

Russell frowned at the next System message that entered his ears and echoed in his head.

[Due to the Skill: Cull and Cut (EX), your Strength and Swift stats have increased by two times. Capped: 999]

With his Attribute: Nihility, which even turned the descriptions of his Skills, Attributes, and Authority into nothingness, he had no idea that some of his skills had been nerfed since he couldn't browse their descriptions for some reason.

"System, why did the effects decrease from five to two times? And that capped... Ugh! Nevermind! This will be enough for now."

Increased by two times made his Strength enter the realm of C rank, while Swift entered C- rank, more than enough to take care of some brute Orcs.

Russell scrutinized the new weapon, result of the fusion, in his hand. It turned out to be a double-edged sword, but, just a few centimeters below its deadly tip, a few inches of crescent moon-shaped unknown metal protruded. Although it looked plain, the same as his previous two weapons, it seemed to contain a faint ancient aura, especially when he was holding it.

"Sigh..."

Letting out a sigh of resignation for a moment, Russell charged at the bunch of Orcs that were now coming towards him. He did the same thing by using the Skill: Void Acupuncture (EX), but this time he tried something else — the other option of this skill — to inject Chaos when pressing the acupoints of the monsters.

Pak-! Pak-!

[The Soul Body of the Orc has been corrupted.]

[...has been corrupted.]

[The Orc will turn into a Chaos Orc in ten seconds.]

[...in ten seconds.]

"Eh...?"

At that moment, the bodies of the two Orcs, on whom Russell had used the Void Acupuncture, bulged. They seemed to undergo a process of evolution.

[Warning! The ancient power of the Tower of Growth has detected an anomaly!]

[Eliminate the evolving Orcs or you will be expelled from the Tower!]

[The power of the Attribute: Nihility has tried to resist the ancient power of the Tower of Growth.]

[Resistance failed.]

Without hesitation and with quick speed, he beheaded the transforming Orcs. Russell guessed that because it's only the first Closed Mystery Tower, directly affecting the Soul Body of the monster with Chaos was forbidden.

He wasn't surprise by the ancient power of the Tower, unable to be resist by his Attribute: Nihility. But he was surprised that his Attribute tried to resist it, at least.

'Especially that this is only a trial...

Those watchers from the last floor of the last Close Mystery Tower aren't even interested in casting their gazes here.'

He thought, proceeding to use the same strategy of rendering the Orcs immobile, then letting the three women deal with them, though sometimes he also went for the kill.

***

"Samantha, do you think they'll be fine?"

Anya gazed at Samantha, casually waiting for her to answer. They just finished eliminating the other tribe of Orcs, which numbered approximately fifty.

Only a few seconds after Anya asked such a question, a System Party Announcement entered their ears.

[Your Player Party has successfully cleared the 3rd floor.]

[Your Player Party will be automatically transported to the next floor in five seconds.]

[5... 4...]

[You have arrived at the 4th floor!]

[Duration: 12 minutes, 1 second.]

Arriving together on the next floor, the party did the same thing — split up, but this time, to form more closure with the other party members, Samantha suggested that she would go with Celine, Russell, and Amelie. The others just acquiesced in her decision, especially when she ominously said:

"It's not every time that we'll be together, so we need to learn to be synchronized with each other's fighting style, so it won't matter who'll be with next time."

***

Sighting a tribe of Orcs from the distance, Samantha glanced at Russell. Her expression was unknown.

Russell, trying to be oblivious of her seemingly strange action, spoke to Celine.

"How many potions did you make?"

"Uh, around ten for each and everyone. F-five Stamina, five Health Potions, but I made Agility, no Swift Potions, too. It's for the sluggish me."

These two introverted individuals weren't close and barely spoke with each other, especially since each of them had an introverted personality.

Russell fell into deep thought. Every fifth floor was a Boss Monster except the 30th or last floor. Completely accomplishing the challenges of the tower took about seven to eight hours.

"Hmm. I think it'll be enough."

"Of course it will."

Samantha interjected, looking at the tribe of Orcs as she impassively spoke.

Russell glanced at her and involuntarily constricted his deep blue eyes.

"What's this girl's problem?"

It wasn't just him who noticed Samantha's tone; Amelie did, too. Not physically reacting to Samantha's way of speaking, Russell asked:

"What's the plan? That's around sixty Orcs."

"Can you just shut up? I'm the plan."

Russell, Amelie, and Celine looked at Samantha's back, who was charging towards the Orc guards, unescorted.

"She shouldn't have challenged this Tower during her red days."

Amélie jokingly spoke, prompting Celine to chuckle. Russell, on the other hand, thought of possible reasons regarding her seemingly unfounded behavior.

***

<Stop being a stingy and pompous brat.>

<Tsk. Do I, or do we, have any freedom at all? Or we're just a product of his imagination?>

Samantha responded to the dignified womanly voice in her head after she ran away from her companions to charge towards the Orcs.

<You are being mistaken. Sigh. I can't speak about this... Just... just move forward.>

<Whatever! Lend me your power, and I'll finish these dark green things in my way.>

<Are you stupid? It's been a while since I told you that this is now your power. That's why you possess a Stigma; it's a gift from me. Just continue to hone it, especially before catastrophes befall your race.>

<Alright, I got it. Poor Orcs.>

Samantha casually replied to the voice in her head before reaching the few Orc guards at the entrance of their little abode.

[Activating Skill: Eye of the Self (EX)]

[Locking to the self of the monsters.]

After she used the Eye-related skill from the mysterious woman in her head, she then performed the necessary skill for this moment.

[Self-Sword Sword Technique, 1st Movement: Vertical Thrust]

At that moment, before a few Orc guards reached her with their crude spears, illusory swords thrust their bodies. It seemed to appear from the ground, completely thrusting the bodies of the Orcs vertically, from below to their heads. Instantly, the sixty Orcs were killed without putting up any resistance.

Russell, who followed from behind along with Amelie and Celine, recognized the Sword Technique. But, considering his mysterious predicament, he just shrugged it off — tired of thinking about every simple changes that's happening.