Chapter 1636: Chapter 1636

As Maria and her family passed through the entrance and reached the next floor, they collapsed in a large city hall. Dozens of people gasped in surprise.

"Isn't it nighttime? Who could have gone to the next floor at this hour?"

"They're somehow alive..."

Maria looked around, finding herself in an underwater kingdom. The people surrounding her were Mermen of all shapes and sizes!

"Oh, ooohh! We're here! Atlantis, right?" Maria asked, standing up.

"Y-Yeah...!" a scared fishman muttered, before running away.

"Finally! A normal world for once!" Maria cried happily.

What everyone experienced in Carnavalis was traumatic. The undying, soulless clowns that wanted to eat them and the strange, endlessly repeating carnival world were perhaps the scariest things Maria had faced in her three lives.

It was shocking that a world as bizarre as that was caught by the tower and added as one of its many floors. Although it was mostly harmless and fun during the day, at night, anyone who stayed would surely die.

She had used one of her strongest skills to deal massive damage to that bizarre world, yet it was slowly regenerating. This made her think that place might have been an "entity" of its own.

Maria considered returning and destroying that entire world by spamming her strongest skills to see what would happen. Perhaps destroying it might free the tower from such a threatening place.

However, she wasn't sure it would work, so she decided against anything too reckless. Her attack was a nice "warning," and it seemed whatever that world was, it was intelligent enough to recognize her as a threat and stopped trying to consume her and her family.

Nonetheless, none of that mattered now. Maria and her family had found a safe place to rest, free from creepy killer clowns, rogue Olympian Gods, vampires, or aliens.

They had explored only five tower floors, yet they had already seen a multitude of insane things. Maria couldn't understand how Players stayed sane despite the insanity they'd experienced.

Perhaps it came with the profession of climbing the tower, requiring resilient minds and bodies... or perhaps these people were already broken or crazy. She could recall that some Players were just outright mad.

"Haaa... alright, that was a traumatizing experience for many of you, right?" Maria sighed. "Can't say it was for me. I don't really get traumatized inquisitorially traumatized anymore... but yeah, I can recognize it was scary as hell."

"It was! What in the world tree was that?" Emeraldine screamed, before looking at the ocean and then beginning to calm down as she admired the azure colors. "Aaah... the sea... it's calming..."

Emeraldine looked at the ceiling of the great city where they landed, encased in glass. The sea above revealed colorful coral reefs, with fish, manta rays, whales, and other creatures swimming through.

"We'd better not return to that place," Lucifer said. "It was beyond bizarre... Nyx, are you alright?"

"I-I'm fine..." Nyx sighed, looking sad. "The clown was sad, though. Is it okay that we left after harming his world like that?"

"What?" Lucifer gasped. "Nyx, they tried to kill you!"

"I mean, maybe they were just hungry! We should've offered them meat. We've got plenty," Nyx said.

"Oh dear, you're a bit too kind," Nia giggled. "Celes... I'm glad you're alright, but are you truly alright?"

"Yeah, Mom..." Celes nodded. "But it was scary... I don't want to return if possible."

"I ate one of those clowns, and now my stomach really hurts..." Arachne groaned. "Guuuhh..."

"Arachne?" Maria panicked as Arachne vomited pink goop.

Maria caught it with her shadow to avoid soiling the lustrous streets of the beautiful underwater city, but they were already causing a scene. Many people looked disgusted, and some ran away.

"Is this what the clowns were made of?" Partner asked. "Is it alive? Wait, it won't turn into a clown, right?"

"...No," Maria said. "It's inert... it seems to work only in its own world. Outside, it's just a strange substance. I'll keep it in my inventory and analyze it."

Maria cleansed the streets and led her large party elsewhere to avoid further commotion. She didn't want guards to appear and apprehend her for disturbing the city's peace.

"Anyway, we're in Atlantis, right?" Nia wondered.

"I think so... wow, we're underwater, huh?" Alma asked.

"Yeah, this is the world where the Oasis Spirit came from, right?" Celes asked. "Her home..."

Suddenly, the three water fairies contracted to Celes appeared beside him, looking around.

"I can't believe we're back!"

"It's been eons since we left!"

"This must be the Underwater Capital of the Atlantean Crown, where King Oceanus reigns! It's also called the Royal Atlantean Capital, Oceanus!"

"So it's named after the guy? That's really original," Maria said, crossing her arms. "Haaa... I bet you're all sleepy. I'm a bit mentally exhausted and need a nap to feel refreshed. Let's find a place to rest... hey, girls, do you know a good place?" Follow current novᴇls on novel•fire.net

"We never explored the city much!"

"It's changed so much too!"

"Hmm, Ferleen, Melianna?" Maria asked.

"Y-Yeah... we know a good place," Ferleen nodded.

"Ugh..." Melianna groaned. "My head hurts a lot... I ate too much sugar..."

The two fox siblings led Maria and her family to a luxurious area of the city, greeted by several hotels for all budgets.

Naturally, Maria chose the biggest and fanciest, a hotel called "Venus Garden." It was a huge building made of colorful corals, with a wide garden of seaweed, flowers, polyps, and other plant-like sea creatures.

The staff, primarily eel and octopus mermen, tried to turn them away, judging their clothes as unworthy, but Maria displayed her System Points. Their faces changed instantly, and they were welcomed inside.

Too tired to eat, they skipped dinner and went straight to sleep. Maria learned they needed to visit a Guild to request a trial to move on, but she decided to leave that for tomorrow.