Phoenix's Tears

"Quick! Ziro! Attack it!" Alina yelled.

Ziro stood there, holding his sword and staring at a giant human-sized spider who was dashing at him.

Ziro and Alina had come to the tower of Skaldi to level up. And they already cleared three floors.

"Ziro! What are you waiting for?! Dodge and attack it!" Alina yelled again.

Even though the spider was 2 meters away from Ziro, he didn't move. He just stood there with the sword in front of his face.

"Ziro!" Alina yelled at the top of her lungs.

She clenched her fists and dashed at the spider to save Ziro.

The moment the spider jumped on Ziro and opened its mouth to spit venom, Ziro swiftly spun around and got behind the spider.

Alina stopped on her track after seeing Ziro slash the spider into pieces with his eight swing sword skill.

Ziro didn't have any game skills, but he was using his real-world's sword skills in the game, and they were giving Ziro a considerable advantage over other players.

[Congratulations! You have slain a monster.]

[You can now enter the fifth floor.]

[Received 50 XP.]

[Leveled Up!]

[You are now level 3]

[You are not qualified to participate in the world's raid.]

[You have achieved sword skill- Fangs of Rouge.]

Ziro looked at the screen in front of him and read the description of the skill.

{Fangs of Rouge- A six swing sword skill.

[Can be used against any player or monsters.] [Cooldown- 5 Seconds] [Always Active.]}

"Useless," he muttered.

Ziro could easily do eight swings without any skill, and if he practiced well enough, then he had the potential to feat ten swing sword skills.

"Why did you wait so long to attack it?" Alina questioned.

Ziro stared at Alina with a serious look on his face and said with sincerity in his voice, "To look cool."

Alina's face twitched after hearing that, and she said, "What if you had messed up?"

Ziro waved his hand in confidence and said as he puffed his chest, "I practice sword fighting almost every weekend. And believe me, if I get serious, I might even just be a top player of this game in no time."

Alina furrowed her brows and uttered, "Just because you know sword fighting in the real world doesn't mean you are better in this game. Don't forget, this is a game, and the sword skills are more enhanced here."

Ziro shrugged his shoulders and said with a grin on his face, "I reached level 3 in one hour. You can call me a pro gamer now."

Alina scoffed and shook her head after seeing Ziro was enjoying the game.

"What should we do now? We came here so you can reach level three to participate in the raid. And you have already reached level three."

Ziro scratched his cheek and asked, "How big is this tower?"

"There are 100 floors."

"What level would I reach if I cleared all the 100 floors?"

"Around level 10," Alina replied.

"That's too less…"

Alina shrugged her shoulders and said, "I cleared this tower eighteen times till now and only managed to level up by 30."

"What level are you on right now?" Ziro asked with a curious look on his face.

"48."

Ziro furrowed his brows and asked with a confused look on his face, "The level capacity increases as we level up?"

"Yeah. If not, then every player would just clear the towers every day in their worlds and keep leveling up."

"I see." Ziro nodded and walked to the door, then looked back at Alina and said, "I want to reach at least level 5 today, so let's go kill some more monsters."

Alina and Ziro entered the fifth floor.

"Be careful; this is the boss floor, so the monster would be tougher than the rest of the monsters you fought," Alina informed.

Unlike the first four floors, the fifth floor was dark and dimly lit by candles ignited with blue fire.

Soon, the entire floor lit up the blue fire.

Ziro and Alina waited for the monster to spawn, but nothing happened, and they were met with silence.

Ziro nudged his elbow to Alina and asked, "What will happen now."

"I don't know," Alina replied as she took a defensive stance.

Zero raised his brows and turned to Alina, "Didn't you say you have cleared this tower eighteen times?"

"Yes, but it randomizes every time. And all the monsters and their stats change every week. So it's nearly impossible for any player to predict what monster or boss would appear on which floor."

"What if a dragon or some big monster spawns?" Ziro asked.

"They only spawn on the last ten floors. But even if some big monster shows up, I will protect you," Alina replied with a smile on her face.

Ziro squinted his eyes and uttered, "Don't try to act cool. And only I am allowed to look cool."

The floor rumbled, and the blue fire from the candles started flickering.

After a while, the blue fire from candles started gathering in the center of the room and slowly started taking shape.

"This is bad!" Alina yelled and pulled Ziro back.

"What's wrong?" Ziro asked with a confused look on his face.

"We are on a secret floor that randomly spawns between floor 5 to 100. Even I have never cleared this floor, and it is said to be the unclearable floor," Alina informed with a concerned look on her face.

"In other words, we are in trouble, eh?"

"Yes!" Alina yelled. "Even top players fear this floor because this is a fire spirit monster born from the phoenix's tears."

"That sounds cool, but what does it mean?"

"It means it is super strong. And we can't defeat it." Alina stood in front of Ziro to protect him from any possible attacks.

Ziro couldn't help but smile after seeing Alina act like that. He tapped on her shoulder and whispered in her ears, "If I clear this floor, then you will have to marry me, baby."