"Ocean's Child..."

Arriving at the Waiting Room before proceeding to the 20th floor, Rumia muttered the last words of the Administrator.

Russell didn't intend to look at Rumia, but with the gazes of some of the party members, he, too, couldn't help but do so.

He heard Rumia mutter as she held the glimmering black pearl between her right index finger and thumb.

Everyone looked in anticipation, even Raya and Yara — the strongest players at the party at the moment. Holding the black pearl, Rumia then consumed it as she gently put the black pearl in her mouth. At that moment, a glistening dark aura emanated from her entire body. The flow of the dark aura, contrary to it being ominous, caused a sense of tranquility to the one's seeing the spectacle.

The emanating dark aura seemed thick, and it wasn't like the flow of water, but rather the flow of wind. The dark aura itself was like the nexus of countless stars due to its shimmer — a majestic sight.

'Apart from the massive increase in Growth Rate, they'd receive here, according to the Tower's will, a massive boost in power.'

Russell thought about the major characters of his unpublished novel.

'Especially from the 26th to 29th floor.'

***

[You have consumed the Ancient Pearl of the Cosmos Ocean!]

[You have received the Blessing of the Cosmos Ocean!]

[You have received 30 Unallocated Stats!]

[The highest rank weapon in possession will become a Growth-type weapon!]

[You have been granted the Title: Ocean's Child!]

'Huh...?'

Hearing the unexpected System's message in her head, Rumia browsed the holographic screen in front of her, perplexed.

'Did the Administrator... No, he might have left it on purpose...'

Rumia thought that the Administrator, for some reason, might have lied to everyone when he was asked about the effects of the Blessing of the Cosmos Ocean.

Without putting much thought into it, Rumia browsed the description of the newly acquired title.

[Ocean's Child]

Description:

As an Ocean's Child, you will have the ability to traverse the Cosmos Ocean — the first ocean in existence.

Rank: Ancient

Effect:

When sleeping, you will have a 49% chance of having a lucid dream regarding the Cosmos Ocean.

'...What now...?'

Rumia became more confused as she read the description of the title she was granted, but before she could put much thought into it or attempt to ask someone like Samantha, the resting duration ended, and each of them was transported to the 20th floor as they turned into blue lights, vanishing from the plain, grey-walled waiting room.

***

[The Player Party has arrived at the Floor 20 of the Tower of Growth!]

[Quest Objective: Kill the Boss Monster, Horror Murloc!]

[Duration: 20 minutes.]

[Good luck, Player!]

Arriving on a small deserted island, the entire party, surrounded by crystal clear water, waited for the Boss Monster to appear. They split into two groups similar to when they fought the Twin Ogre, assuming that it would be the same case on this floor — having two Boss Monsters to fight.

At that moment, similar to what had transpired from the 5th, 10th, and 15th floors, a space was torn apart as though it was made of fragile glass. A green bipedal amphibious humanoid monster walked out of the torn space.

It has a head with a resemblance to a fish, a large mouth lined with sharp fangs, two clawed hands, and feet, and its entire body seemed to be slime-coated as thick green liquid dripped from its body, down to the sand of the small island.

It was holding a dilapidated scythe weapon as though it came from a shipwreck that's been buried under the sea for countless eons, and unlike what they fought until now, the Murloc only had a stature of at least four feet — shorter than any of the party members and the previous Boss Monsters.

The information regarding the Horror Murloc screened in front of them.

Name: Horror Murloc

Title: [Horror]

Race: Undead Marine

Family: Deep Horror

Rank: D

— STATS —

Strength: 699

Swift: 699

Fortitude: 699

Intelligence: 699

Magic Power: 699

'That's a cute little monster.'

Russell thought. Though he knew that it was more dangerous than the Boss Monsters they had previously fought.

"Who has disturbed me from my slumber?!"historical

The intelligent Boss Monster spoke. It has a deep, male voice, which then reverberated throughout the small deserted island.

Some of the party members already noticed — that it's alone, even though, with the merging of two parties with uncertain reasons only known to Russell and according to the Tower's will that's been enforced by the Administrator, the difficulty should have been twice.

The Boss Monster shook his (since its voice sounded like a male) head, glancing at the invaders that disturbed his slumber. The entire party, except for Raya and Yara, were alerted and took the defensive formation they had learned from Professor Murak's class; two tankers in front — Murktan and Marokh; two fighters on either side of the two tankers — Elizabeth and Rumia; three swordsmen behind the two tankers — Russell, Samantha, and Jiho, then Freya, Anya, and Amery were in the middle of the formation, while the remaining ones — Amelie, Becca, Rika, Dessa, and Henriad were on the back. On the other hand, to ensure Celine's safety since she's not a fighter of sorts, Rumia had asked Raya and Yara to protect her.

The large circular white eyes of the Horror Murloc constricted at the defensive formation of the players. Swiftly fiddling with the dilapidated scythe weapon, the Horror Murloc vanished from his spot.

Bam-!

With its somewhat large body yet short stature, the impact of the attack that's aimed at the tankers was... blocked mid-air. Jiho, who jumped from each tanker's shoulder, parried the attack of the Horror Murloc.

Like a skilled fighter, the Horror Murloc was more than proficient to go toe to toe with Jiho, especially since the former's stats were somewhat higher than the latter.

Not everyone attacked the Horror Murloc, recognizing that each party member couldn't be synchronized with each other in a very short amount of time. Additionally, the size of the Boss Monster that's shorter than their respective statures wasn't ideal to be collectively attacked, that's why Jiho tried first, with consideration of the 20-minute duration given to them to clear the 20th floor.

A minute or two had passed, and Russell noticed something as the exchanges of strikes between Jiho, whose Attribute: Will of the Sword hadn't yet manifested, and the Boss Monster intensified. The green slimy viscous liquid that was dripping from the Horror Murloc was scattered on the area of the battle, then in a few seconds, this liquid turned grayish and started to bubble up like boiling water.

'I guess it's time.'

Knowing the contents of the Tower, Russell muttered in his mind.

At that moment, everyone was alerted of the sudden change in atmosphere. The bubbling grayish liquid seemed to defy gravity as it started to float, shaping something in existence like a clay sculpture.

"Isn't that..."

Rumia didn't manage to finish her words as they found the answer quickly to her untold question. Each of the grayish, clay sculptures was shaped into Murloc and came to life.

Without intentionally inspecting it, the System alerted them of its information.

Name: Zombie Murloc

Race: Undead Marine

Family: Deep Horror

Rank: E

— STATS —

Strength: 399

Swift: 399

Fortitude: 399

Intelligence: 399

Magic Power: 399

Since the battle between the Boss Monster and Jiho began, around seven Zombie Murlocs were formed.

'I see... That's the change in its overall strength.'

Russell thought. According to his unpublished novel, these Zombie Murlocs that paradoxically came to life possessed about only 25% of the Horror Murloc's original stats, but at this moment, it possessed roughly half.

A Zombie Murloc had only bone structures apart from the slimy grayish liquid that was dripping from them. Each of them held in their bone claws a bone scythe, ready to cut down the necks of the players who dared challenged the Tower.

With their existence, everyone, apart from Celine who's watching unperturbed with Raya and Yara on the backline of the formation, engaged in battle.

***

As the battle went on, the number of Zombie Murloc increased. With every vibration that each strike between Jiho and the Horror Murloc caused, the grayish slimy liquid was scattered, turning into Zombie Murloc.

"Everyone, aside from Jiho, regroup!"

The entire party's formation seemed to be shaken as the number of Zombie Murlocs increased to twelve. Everyone, busily, but skillfully defending against the Zombie Murlocs, slowly retreated together. Soon after, the previous V-like formation was re-formed.

"With death comes peace!"

The seemed to be patriotic words of the Horror Murloc resounded on the small island. Along with those words were more intensifying attacks as Jiho was sent flying for a few meters. He was cut in the abdomen, though not deep enough to disembowel him.

The Zombie Murlocs, for the second time, multiplied with the seemingly endless viscous liquid that's being expelled from the moving Horror Murloc. They were now numbered sixteen, in other words, they were fighting sixteen E rank, aggressive zombies which didn't have any regard for life since they were monster undead.

"Rumia, help Jiho! It feels like his Attribute isn't quickly manifesting to finish the job."

Samantha ordered the princess, to which she gladly complied. The Zombie Murlocs seemed to respect the battle between the two fighters as no one dared to interrupt them, but with Rumia's interruption, one of the Zombie Murlocs blocked her. With activated buff skills, Rumia, strengthened by some degree, killed the monster in her way, but, after a few seconds...

It restructured itself since her weapon or skills didn't possess holy power or any power that could defy the undead race.

"Humans! Die and be one with death!"

Somewhat agitated enough with Rumia's attempt of interruption, the Horror Murloc spoke. With every word that came out of the Boss Monster's large mouth, changes seemed to take place, and the change this time was that the bright sky turned dim and the dilapidated scythe weapon of the Horror Murloc became enormous — around eight meters in length and its blade became 3 meters in length. It was taller than himself, but it was being wielded wonderfully, if its intention wasn't to kill them, at least.

'This is bad...'

Russell thought. He didn't expect that the impact of the increase in difficulty would tilt the entire battlefield on this floor.

'Undead is truly troublesome without countermeasures.'

At that moment, Russell looked at his younger sister.

<Hey, everyone! I have a plan. The time remaining will run out if we don't do something.>

Russell spoke through telepathy to his Chaos Companions, and after that, he informed them of the plan he thoroughly pondered about.

<Oppa, will it be alright?>

Amelie and Amery were silent, waiting for Russell's answer.

<It'll be fine. We'll watch your back.>

<We'll distract these freaking strange zombies.>

Russell encouraged his younger sister, Amelie made an assurance, while Amery remained silent, but she understood what they needed to do.

***

After each of them came to understanding, Russell, Amelie, and Amery intensified their attacks. The other party members were too occupied with the Zombie Murlocs to even think of others.

"Samantha, we have a concealing artifact here, I'll use it to interrupt the Horror Murloc."

Russell looked at Freya, who spoke to Samantha some distance away. During this moment, the Zombie Murlocs have now numbered twenty-five and the two tankers were losing their footing, being targeted by at least six undead monsters.

"Go! Help both of them!"

With the clashing of sounds, Samantha shouted to be heard. Russell then took out the artifact, Junain's Blanket, and gave it to Freya, who then wore it, turning invisible at the moment.

If not for the numerous Zombie Murlocs, they could finish the battle against the Horror Murloc, but they couldn't. Only Samantha could truly kill the Zombie Murlocs with the partial effect of her [Sealed] Stigma — Breaker of Impossibility. Even though that's the case, she couldn't possibly tank the monster and the Impossibility effect had certain conditions for it to be activated.

On the other hand, Russell and Amelie could truly kill these Zombie Murlocs due to the skills in their arsenal that contained Chaos, but they refrained to do so since the situation, though bad, wasn't too dire. It's also restricted for Russell to inject Chaos in the souls of these monsters just like what he did on the normal Orcs on the lower floor, almost turning them into Chaos Orcs.

<Haha, it's a beautiful sight to see you struggle against the undead.>

The womanly voice in Samantha's head cheekily spoke.

<Shut up, will you?!>

Samantha retorted.

<Well, consider that as your training. I'll go back to sleep.>

The womanly voice in her head didn't even get mad at Samantha's remarks.

***

Under the effect of concealment provided by Junain's Blanket, Freya took out a necklace with an eye that served as its charm.