Chapter 568: Chapter 568: Night Group

A hint of a smile worked its way onto Zen's face upon hearing the words spoken by Teresa. The woman appeared to be indignant as she stubbornly refused to accept her previous defeat.

Zen would gladly give her a chance to challenge him if he encountered her on the third or fourth floor of the tower.

As Zen stood on the stage and waited for a long time, it was to his relief that no one had come up to challenge him. In this particular circumstance, it meant that Zen could spend the whole day leisurely and get the default victory today due to the fact that he did not have to battle or challenge anyone.

One full day later, Zen found himself stepping once more onto the arena. It did not take too long this time before he successfully got the qualification to advance to the third floor, seeing as he had not fought with any brave challengers on the arena for the third time in a row. Anticipating the next floor, Zen was prepared to participate in the battles happening on the third floor.

A discernible fact about the Tower of Sin was that there were many war fighters dispersed on the first floor up to the fifth floor. However, it was apparent that the number of war generals evidently increased if one happened to ascend floor by floor. Moreover, the fifth floor and the subsequent higher floors were only swarmed with war generals, not a single war fighter in sight.

Due to the news spreading about Zen's arrival, there was palpable tension hanging in the air, as well as a slight commotion from the warriors situated on the first floor up to the fifth floor. The warriors who were currently challenging on the third floor were not fools, and they all instantly moved out of the way when they laid their eyes upon Zen as every single one of them knew of his reputation. Only a very few of the braver creatures on the floor attempted to challenge Zen.

As Zen continuously climbed up to the higher floors, he drew more and more attention to himself. The living creatures, most especially the human warriors were clearly intrigued by his presence. Many human war generals on the higher floors personally came down from their floors to witness Zen's battles, albeit only a few war fighters dared to challenge him. Furthermore, the few battles he had gone through were exceedingly short, as those who ventured to stand on the arena were instantly defeated by Zen. It was a shame, as no one thus could really see an exciting fighting scene, or truly witness how powerful the young man really was.

Located on the west side of the tenth floor of the Tower of Sin was a huge room. From what the living creatures had heard, this particular area had always been occupied by the ogre, and the members of other races were not allowed to approach the place.

In the Tower of Sin, all of its areas were considered as public spaces that anyone qualified could occupy. However, the truth was that the area controlled by the ogre was the largest, and ultimately off-limits.

At one point, the ogre originally desired to monopolize the entirety of the Tower of Sin.

As a matter of fact, the ogres had nearly succeeded in achieving their mission and even managed to throw others out of the Tower of Sin. The desperate attempt to dominate the place also led them to prevent other creatures from entering it, which was an extremely controversial matter at the time.

In those days, the ogre had occupied over sixty seats in the Tower of Sin. As the race with the most powerful force in the Tower of Sin, the ogre back then had the ultimate authority of suddenly issuing an order which contained the elimination of all the living beings from other races out of the Tower of Sin. The worst part of the mandate was that every single creature who refused to leave was killed inside the tower mercilessly.

The ogres were triumphant in carrying out their plan during that period of time. Other than the ogres, no living creatures from other races remained in the tower for the fear of being executed. Thus, all of them had been expelled against their will.

During that withering month, only the ogres were able to freely enter and use the Tower of Sin.

However, this move of the ogre was a great nuisance, as their arrogance in owning the place was based solely on their strength, much to everyone else's disdain.

In the Sea God Continent, no one dared to challenge the might of the ogres as they were the most flourishing race and the only ones who had possessed two sacred places. It was hopeless for the other races even if they revolted against the vastly powerful ogres, due to the illfated notion that the ogres could still remain unbeatable against their attempt. But if they all cooperated together to attack the ogres, they could be very powerful. Despite the discouraging odds, it had been immensely difficult for the ogres to resist the Demon Night sacred place's members. Only if the members of the Dread Ogre Sacred Place and the Flaming Ogre Sacred Place had joined forces, they would be able to grab a fighting chance against the Demon Night.

Back then, all the races unwaveringly united and had almost succeeded in attacking and suppressing the two sacred places of the ogre.

All of the sacred places established on the Sea God Continent heavily relied on the Tower of Sin. This was because if they had lost the opportunity to utilize the Tower of Sin as a place for the strong warriors to cultivate, it would have a devastating impact to the continuation of the sacred places of their respective races.

If they failed to train their younger generation, it would be as dangerous as losing their foundation. Moreover, the implications of such a loss bore consequences for all because if the ogres gradually became stronger in the future while the other races remained stagnant, they would eventually be wiped out from the continent. Due to the threatening possibility of that future, those races stood up for themselves and tried their best to fight against the imposing race instead of helplessly waiting for the ogres to drive them out of the continent. 𝘳ᴀɴО฿Ê𝙎

Upon seeing the allied forces of various races make their way determinedly and passionately to the ogre's sacred places, the ogres finally understood that they had crossed the line and done some reckless things they wished that they should not have done in the first place.

Without any effective methods to resist the siege and the penetrating attacks of the other living creatures, the ogres begrudgingly opened the door of the Tower of Sin once again to the public. Moreover, they reluctantly gave up on some seats.

After the conclusion of the revolution against the ogre race, it appeared to be true that the distribution of power within the Tower of Sin was a microcosm of the entire Sea God Continent. However, the state of the human beings was drastically low as they were easily intimidated by the other more formidable races. As such, they did not have a high position in the Tower of Sin. On the other hand, the Demon Night was a very powerful and unbeatable race; no one dared to look down upon their skills in the Tower of Sin.

Although the ogre gave up on monopolizing the Tower of Sin, it was still a staggering fact that a significantly large portion of the tower was controlled by this race.

The decorations in this spacious room looked incredibly sparse and rough, a far cry from being considered as delicate or elegant. Scattered around the room were several ogres, with some of them sitting on the ground and some lying down haphazardly. The ogres seemed to be in the middle of a crucial discussion.

Not a long moment had passed when their ears picked up on loud stomps rapidly approaching the room. An ogre war lord dressed in a cloak appeared at the entrance and while erratically breathing, the ogre stated, “The order to assassinate Zen has been sent out!”

“What do you mean!? Assassinate that guy?”

Boris, who had been quietly sitting on the corner of the room up until that moment, suddenly stood up and exclaimed.

A couple of sighs could be heard from a few of the ogres in the room as they glanced at Boris with an indifferent look. Just then, another ogre emerged from beside the ogre war lord dressed in a cloak. Without much preamble, the ogre spoke with a frigid tone, “Boris, you do not have the right to speak here!”

Even though the ogre had an implicit threatening tone, Boris showed no fear in retaliating with his own response. “When that guy enters the tenth floor, I will naturally end his life.” He gritted his teeth with an obvious twitch on his eyebrow. “Why do we have to assassinate him?”

The ogre war lord dressed in a cloak continued to stare stonily at Boris. Now that Boris was considered as the divine-level talent in the Flaming Ogre Sacred Place, he dared to retort brashly to the war lord. If someone else were in his shoes, like an ordinary ogre war general for instance, he would definitely not risk the act of interrupting the war lord in the middle of him speaking.

“I understand your feelings, but this is an order from the top of the tower,” the ogre war lord stated in a calm voice, barely suppressing the irritation from his voice. “This guy only has the cultivation base of a war fighter, but he has already caused enough trouble by bringing the war lords so much pressure.” He crossed his arms against his brawny chest while he chastised Boris, looking at him pointedly. “If he were to be promoted to a human war general, I'm afraid it would be too difficult for us to suppress him then. Are you sure you are his match?” The ogre war lord finished as he tapped his foot impatiently.

“I can defeat him!”

Boris gritted his teeth as he spoke, balling his fists at his sides in agitation. 'Why couldn't they trust me just this once? I am certain I can kill him with my bare hands!' he thought to himself, furious at the idea of his fellow ogres underestimating his capabilities.

The ogre war lord sneered at the blatant protest Boris was displaying. “I believe your words, but it is useless. Zen shall be killed by the Night Group's death warriors!” he persistently declared and huffed before walking out of the room full of ogres.

The Night Group was a race that ranked sixth among all races on the Sea God Continent. Interestingly, their name was based on their members' movements, as they typically lurked during the day and only took action when the stillness of the night was upon them. Furthermore, the members themselves lived in perpetual darkness even if the sun shone brightly during the day.

Although the members of the Night Group were not particularly powerful or extraordinary when they happened to formally battle with others, they were undoubtedly adept at their secret skill. This was derived from the fact that their members were naturally good at assassination and could silently take the lives of others without being noticed.

Since that particular race was slightly incompetent when it came to battling against others, it could not develop and prosper on the Sea God Continent without the protection of more powerful races. Consequently, the Night Group managed to rank sixth among the races on the continent mainly because of the protection of the ogre over them.

To a substantial degree, the entire Night Group was controlled by the ogre!

As a form of payment for being under the protection for so long, the Night Group had specially cultivated numerous daredevils for the ogres' use. Sending them to the Tower of Sin to assassinate the targets that needed to be eliminated was a common procedure for them upon the demands of the ogre.

In fact, all the races from the continent were well aware of what went down every time a warrior who had potential was suddenly murdered in cold blood. Despite this, the others tolerated such behavior with tight expressions on their faces as long as the ogre race did not go overboard and did not offend the geniuses of the few huge races. The rest of them kept mum, for they reconciled it as a necessary evil that was needed to maintain the balance and peace inside the Tower of Sin.

Back in the day, the ogre had never bothered to send a daredevil to kill human beings.

As the cost of cultivating a daredevil assassin was particularly too high and the human beings were weak to begin with, they did not deserve such a special treatment.

Albeit it was vastly different this time around, because Zen had extraordinary skills and strength that undeniably attracted the attention of other living creatures in the tower. From the moment he had stepped into the Tower of Sin, he even gained the interest of the masters at the top of the tower and promptly left them speechless.

In former times, there had been geniuses from other races who had appeared with a great potential and swiftly enhanced their skills, as they continuously climbed up to the higher floors in the Tower of Sin. However, all of them had been strong war generals! By the complete surprise of everyone, Zen started as a mere war fighter and effortlessly kept on rising to the higher floors. In addition, the Tower of Sin subsisted also as a sacred place for cultivation. Every single living creature of every race was well informed that the cultivation base could be exponentially increased by taking advantage of the Lucky Light.

Once Zen managed to climb his way to the top of the tower, the consequences would be unimaginable—an upset of the hierarchy would definitely happen.

Visible disappointment was painted across the face of Boris. Although he was immensely looking forward to fighting with Zen, the words uttered by the war lord enabled him to understand that he could not obtain such a chance. Although it left a bitter taste in his mouth, he silently acquiesced upon knowing well that the Night Group assassins were indeed a force to be reckoned with.

Given the fact that none of those who had become the targets of the Night Group assassins were able to escape their fate of being assassinated, it was safe to assume the same would happen with Zen; the assassins had been successful for so many years after all.

Clenching his fists tightly, Boris felt a faint sense of anticipation deep in his chest. A part of him wanted Zen to be quickly eliminated, but a bigger part of him surreptitiously hoped that the assassination attempt would not succeed.

Way down below, a man was seen sighing for the hundredth time, seemingly unaware of the danger approaching him. Zen was leaning against a wall with a bored expression on his face; passing the third floor without even breaking a sweat was admittedly a little too easy. 'Hmm, no one has challenged me for three days straight. Is it supposed to be like this?' Zen mused to himself, tapping his finger against his chin. Moreover, he obtained the promotion with ease and was therefore eligible to advance to the fourth floor.

Unluckily for him, the downside of no one challenging him was the failure of acquiring the Lucky Light.

At the time, Zen considered it as a problem. Earning the Lucky Light had been an important goal for Zen, but after some reflection, he shrugged nonchalantly and ultimately decided on proceeding to the upper floors to seize the Lucky Light from those war generals.

Upon discovering that Zen had been recently qualified to go up to the fourth floor, Teresa, who stayed on the second floor, felt pessimistic at her chances. If Zen kept on climbing up at such an alarmingly fast speed, she was uncertain of the possibility that she could catch up to him. Just as she had obtained the qualification for going up to the third floor, she learned that Zen had already entered the fourth floor. Frowning, she also realized that even if she did manage to enter the fourth floor, Zen would probably have reached the fifth floor.

Letting out a desperate sigh, she only hoped that someone would suddenly appear to stop Zen momentarily, or at the very least, slow him down. Otherwise, she would never get the chance to challenge him again.

On the first day that Zen strode into the fourth floor, he was disappointed but not surprised by no one coming to challenge him. Shaking his head, he raised his eyebrows and smiled wryly; no one even made eye contact with him anymore. The young man continued to rent a secluded training room for his cultivation.

Moreover, what made Zen ultimately despondent was another reason altogether. Since he did not battle with anyone for three consecutive days, not only did he not obtain the Lucky Light, he did not even get any sliver of points. Zen was unhappily walking by himself and his mood worsened upon realizing he had to use the life vitality crystal to pay for the training room he had rented.

The exact moment Zen stepped foot into the training room, he paused at the doorway as his skin prickled with the sudden change of aura in the air. Scanning his eyes suspiciously, he swore he sensed a peculiar feeling coming from the room.