Chapter 37 - Enduring The Exhaustion

There was an old saying,

'Life Is Short, But Misfortune Prolongs It'

And today must have felt like the longest day for Shiva in his life.

It has been around 22 hours since he had entered the 8th-floor challenge room. His breath was unsteady, his clothes were torn, his skeletons were destroyed, laying on the ground. Beside him stood Virupa, offering a shoulder as support for his Lord to steady himself. Virupa was just as calm as always with an indifferent look in his eye. Panting heavily, Shiva looked at the message in front of him,

[You have cleared the 86th horde of monsters]

[The next horde of monsters will appear in 4:59s]

Shiva looked towards Kapali, whose armor has now bent in various regions, with some parts missing. It seemed like they had one hell of a battle there.

"Enjoy the party, it's your turn!" Shiva said smirking.

Kapali and the cute Calf, which now looked like it was out of energy, not even a bit of the excitement which had been on its face ever since it was revived remained, stood up and walked towards the battlefield, while Shiva and Virupa moved towards the sideline.

"Which monster cleared this challenge till the 96th wave?! Damn, that b*stard must have cheated! We are only on the 86th wave and are already running out of steam" Shiva mumbled to himself.

Clearing the 8th floor itself was a very easy task, you could even say it wasn't even a challenge for him.

Due to Virupa's plan, everyone was somehow holding on. At first, there were only ten lv.20 scarecrows. On the next horde, the number increased by five and they just kept multiplying like that until the 10th wave, then suddenly the difficulty spiked on the 11th wave when their level increased to 25, but the good thing was that their number returned to ten scarecrows. The waves continued as usual and once again on the 21st horde their level increased by five, which was still completely manageable. Everyone there, including the weakest ( no hard feelings ), was capable of fighting something far stronger than their level.

Things started to go south when they faced the 71st wave, facing a group of lv.55 monster singlehandedly seemed a bit....maybe a lot difficult so they started to fight in groups of two: Shiva and Virupa formed team one, Kapali and Bhima formed the second team, and Ugram with all the skellies formed the last team. Every time the skellies got destroyed during a wave, Shiva would revive them while others were facing the horde. If it wasn't for his skill, 'Undead Confederate', which recovered the mana and health in proportionate to the skeletons summoned, they would have long since been kicked out.

The true hell started on the 81st wave. Ten lv.60 monsters were just too much for someone who hasn't even entered the 10th floor, and they say there was an even greater monster who cleared the 96th wave!

"If I can't clear until the 96th wave with all of you, then I really am not worthy to climb this damn Tower"

Shiva was feeling an all-time low now. Until now, wherever he went he was invincible. Hell, he even annihilated one of the top guild's bases! It was the first time he felt like this since he killed the goblin back on earth.

"Master, we can't fight like this! I suggest we fight together starting the 91st wave," Virupa suggested seeing the state everyone was in.

Shiva thought about it for a bit, then decided, "We will go with that from now on. Remember, we will not back down till we break that damned record!"

""Yes, master,"" Shouted everyone.

Shiva smiled slightly seeing that he was not alone in his determination to accomplish them, commonly agreed, impossible goal.

It was just a battle of endurance from then on. They managed to hold using the two-man strategy up until they reached the 90th wave, which they then decided to change their tactics and teamed up on the 91st wave, clearing nine lv.60 monsters and leaving one barely alive to recover some mana and rest up.

When the time was almost over Kapali beheaded the downed monster.

.

.

.

It was on the 94th wave where things started getting out of hand. They could no longer fight them head-on, the scarecrows were simple too strong for a head-on fight. Still, by using tactics and planning, they somehow managed to clear it. Now it was time for the 95th wave, all their big skills were ready to be used.

Once the wave started, 4 lv.60 scarecrows appeared in a flock. Shiva quickly ordered upon seeing them, "Ugram, use Dragon Breath!"

Dragons were not meant to be present on the lower floors, because the Tower can't bear the existence of a dragon on the lower floors. The power that a dragon possessed was not something a mortal climber or even a high ranker could compare to. They were the pinnacle species of the Tower who controlled the upper floors. The 'Dragon's Breath', the main power of the Dragons was just unfathomable. Not to mention that what Ugram possessed was not a normal dragon breath. With the fusion of primordial energy and death energy, the power it had surged up to a new level! That's the reason why Shiva was holding him back from using it, it was his key to clear the 95th floor, and it worked!

The black flames of the dragon's breath covered the whole area decimating everything in its path, the scarecrows made of hay are just what it needed to burn brighter. With just one breath the whole floor was set ablaze and all monsters became piles of ash.

[You have cleared the 95th wave]

[You are the second person to clear the 95th wave]

[Rewards will be given at the end of the trial]

[Time until the next horde 4:59s]

"So, the legend was true," Shiva said while looking at the message. There was another message appearing before him:

[Your summon, Ugram, has depleted all its death energy]

[Ugram will be forcefully unsummoned]

[You will not be able to summon him for the next 24 hours]

"Aren't undead supposed to fight forever, without exhaustion?" he complained.

While that was generally the case for undead, because he is an lv.10 necromancer, he couldn't provide the energy needed for them to work, so it was technically his fault. The problem now was not this though, his plan for an easy clear has just flown out the window.

His face changed upon seeing the message. The challenge just got way harder. Ugram used the dragon breath, battled for a continuous day, and exhausted his energy, but it was not in vain. He cleared the whole horde himself and bought time for his master to recover.

'You did good Ugram' Shiva praised him silently, slowly turning his head to look towards the cute calf.

"Bhima, use the Twilight Beam as soon as they are summoned. Don't let them scatter and do your best."

"Aye… master" He also seemed out of energy. It seemed like he wouldn't be able to fight after launching his Twilight Beam.

Twilight Beam was a lot stronger than dragon breath, especially against these scarecrows which can be considered as dark-type monsters, but it was not a PVE skill. Its range was just too small and cannot be comparable to Ugram's Dragon Breath.

[The 96th horde will now begin]

He came back to his senses as a message rang out. Soon a group of 45 lv.60 scarecrows appeared and a bright beam was shot towards them almost immediately after.

[Your summon, Bhima, has depleted all its death energy]

[Bhima will be forcefully unsummoned]

[You will not be able to summon him for the next 24 hours]

Bhima was down, but the scarecrows were not, the twilight beam managed to hit nineteen of them but twenty-six were still standing and soon the brawl begin. Eventually, all the skeletons got decimated.

[Your summon, Virupa, has depleted all its death energy]

[Virupa will be forcefully unsummoned]

[You will not be able to summon him for the next 24 hours]

Even Virupa was down.

He was losing all his energy and slowly losing consciousness.

"I really wanted to clear this..."

That's when he heard it,

"Sword Style of the Death demon..."

His first servant, the one who accompanied him even to the Underworld, the one who was most loyal to him, and also the one who taught him how to fight.

"2nd move, Annihilate!!"

It was now time for him to shine.

******

Alright! that's a big one guys( I mean the chapter)

The good news is that an amazing person has agreed to proofread the chapters,

And this chapter is edited by him, there were so many mistakes that I wondered, how the hell did I pass the English in 12+, well jokes aside He is an amazing guy with very good skills, his nickname is JackyDagger.

Comment me and let me know the difference in writing qualities in this chapter to the previous, of course, all credits go to Mr. JackyDagger.

Thank you!