Ethan and Risa stepped away from the teleport crystal on the cliff, looking ahead while taking a long breath.

What spread out before them was the fiftieth floor. Ethan had done it, relief filling his head and heart.

He had completed the side quest to bring Risa and the entire Blood-Cursed Tribe to Floor 50.

Risa widened her eyes. This was the first and most historic moment in her life. She had managed to travel from the first floor to the forty-ninth floor without getting killed.

"W-What... is that the 50th floor?" Risa asked.

"Yeah. That's Floor 50."

"Yeaayy! That means we finished your side quest."

Ethan nodded. He was glad to see Risa's bright face, a sign that she felt proud for contributing fully to this.

With full enthusiasm, Risa grabbed Ethan's hand and left the place. The two of them stepped onto the stone bridge, passed through the stone gate, and arrived inside the forest.

A dense forest with leafy canopies. Even though Ethan was now on the fiftieth floor, he clearly saw many players on the dirt forest path, all hunting monsters.

They came from different guilds, shown by the uniforms they wore. Not feeling threatened by them, Ethan and Risa stepped deeper into the forest to reach the western region of Floor 50.

Ethan felt something different. After walking far enough, he clearly sensed that the size of Floor 50 had increased.

Usually Ethan could reach the western region in two to three hours on foot, but now they had to keep walking for more than three hours to get there.

A few monsters appeared. They were serpent monsters with humanlike arms for wielding weapons. Ethan narrowed his eyes, his steps stopping because of them.

"You stay here. I'll kill them," Ethan said firmly, and Risa nodded.

Ethan extended his hand and summoned his Bloodblade Ashura. When the sword appeared and floated in front of his face, Ethan immediately grabbed it tightly.

[Mode Ashura Activated]

A surge of power erupted, accompanied by his hair turning a bright crimson red. That caught the attention of the monsters, and they charged toward Ethan to attack him.

Ethan defended and dodged their attacks, occasionally kicking and throwing the monsters' bodies away. He used that trick to increase the recorded swings for his second skill, Ashura Rift.

He reached one of the monsters, then quickly swung his sword from bottom to top. Ethan unleashed three crescent-claw slashes to strike the serpent monster.

The attack became even stronger because Ethan's level had increased. In an instant, the serpent monster's body was split apart and killed, its body chunks burning in crimson fire before fading into floating magic particles.

Ethan had killed one, leaving two serpent monsters he still needed to defeat.

The fight lasted more than five minutes, because the serpent monsters gave fierce resistance against Ethan.

In the end, Ethan defeated them. He earned EXP, Gold, and Contribution Points. Not only that, he also gained three swings for Ashura Rift.

Seeing that the situation in front of them had become stable, Ethan invited Risa to continue the journey.

They left the dense forest, walking along the dirt forest path toward the western region.

From afar, Ethan stopped when he saw a massive city wall standing before them. Risa also looked shocked.

As they got closer, two city guards pointed their spears forward. Both guards were men from the Blood-Cursed Tribe.

"Stop! Who are you?!" one of the men barked.

"I am Risa, the Chief of the Blood-Cursed Tribe from Floor 1."

"Floor 1? What are you doing here?" the man asked.

"Of course, to evacuate the entire village."

"Hahaha!"

"There's no such thing here. Stop talking nonsense and get your butts out of here!" one of them shouted.

"I'm serious. We came according to—"

"No more words. Leave or we'll kill you!" they cut her off, gripping their spears tightly.

Ethan sensed their stubbornness. It was normal for them to act that way. Outsiders were never welcomed by the Blood-Cursed Tribe.

"I need to speak to your tribe chief!"

"Call her the Queen! She's not a chief anymore. She is the Queen of the Blood-Cursed Tribe."

Queen?

"Fine, the Queen of the Blood-Cursed Tribe."

"You, outsider, have no right to meet Her Majesty the Queen!" one of the men said firmly.

He was surprised to hear that. But Ethan didn't want to waste time. He wanted to finish this side quest, get the reward, and leave the Tower to return to Mavelard.

If the two guards kept blocking him, Ethan had no choice but to fight them.

"Lyodra! Neryss! Protect Risa."

[Aggressive Mode: Soul Servant]

[Neryss Abyssborn (Lv. 10) || SR Rank || Passive → Aggressive || 1000 MP]

[Lyodra Vulkanis (Lv. 10) || SR Rank || Passive → Aggressive || 1000 MP]

Lyodra and Neryss immediately transformed into adult women. Both appeared and floated in front of Risa, shielding her from any threat.

Ethan extended his hand, summoned his Bloodblade Ashura, and gripped it tightly.

His appearance changed significantly, his hair turning crimson as a surge of power erupted through his body.

Risa gasped, realizing what Ethan intended to do. But she couldn't do much to convince the gate guards.

The guards acted aggressively. They charged forward to attack Ethan, and Ethan leaped toward them while activating the Skybreaker Leap skill.

They were thrown aside, injured, and their spears shattered. Noticing a threat to the city, one guard activated a blood magic barrier.

A crimson dome appeared, protecting every corner of the city. The elders saw it and knew an attack was happening outside the city gate.

"Someone's attacking the city! Hurry to the gate!"

Many people rushed toward the city gate, from the elders to the tribe's warriors. The Queen of the Blood-Cursed Tribe stepped out of the palace, her gaze fixed straight ahead, toward the city gate.

"What's happening?" asked the woman, a middle-aged figure with red hair.

"Someone from outside is trying to break in, Your Majesty. We are handling it immediately," one of the elders said.

"Do it quickly, don't let that person disturb the city."

"Yes."

Just as they were speaking, a strong vibration shook the Blood-Cursed Tribe's palace. Everyone panicked except the woman.

She turned toward her throne, clearly seeing the sword sheath of Lord Gor—displayed on the palace wall for hundreds of years—shaking and emitting a reddish glow.

The woman widened her eyes in shock. Nothing like this had ever happened before.

She suspected the sheath was reacting because the person attacking the city was using Lord Gor's Sword.

Shockingly, the crimson sheath shot into the air with force, leaving a trail of crimson light behind it.

The Queen grew even more curious. She wanted to know what was happening and why the sheath reacted that way.

"I-Isn't that—"

The Queen turned to one of the elders beside her. "Do not kill him. Bring him to me!"

"Yes, Your Grace."

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