Once Human, Now a Parasite

’X’ waved his hand to Arthur, who landed on the pillar to his . The parasite returned to his original appearance and gazed at the man whose face cannot be seen, neither reciprocating the greeting or reacting .

"Don’t tell me you still bear a grudge? It’s not like I tried to kill you . "

"You’ve used me and that’s enough of a reason to treat you like an enemy . "

’X’ scoffed at Arthur words and retorted:

"Oh please! Don’t pretend to be righteous in front of me, it really doesn’t suit you . I tricked you and you fell for it, moreover, I still granted you a second life... just like I promised . You should be thankful rather than behave with hostility . "

Arthur harrumphed but spoke no more, his eyes glancing around, seemingly in search of someone . Noticing this, ’X’ chuckled and added:

"You’re looking for your wife? I don’t think she entered the Red Tower . "

Although he said that, Arthur kept ignoring him, pretending not to hear him .

"It’s true . Eleven people didn’t show up and I’m sure I saw all of the rest... not one of them was her . "

"See, the more you insist she’s not here, the surer I am that she joined the competition . "

After saying his bit, Arthur took off, leaving a sighing ’X’ alone .

"Now I understand why they said he’s stubborn . Oh well, I tried my best . "

’X’ shrugged his shoulders, took out a chair and sat on it while humming, uncaring about the people who leapt at him . Everyone who got close to his pillar would be teleported hundreds of meters away and have their five senses temporarily disoriented . ’X’ didn’t even budge and wasn’t interested in gaining points either, though he was fortunate enough that no Exalted God was in the area .

*****

Six hours after all the contestants entered the 2nd floor, the Red Tower announced the completion of the task, which wasn’t stated at the beginning . To proceed to the 3rd floor, one hundred people must be eliminated one way or another . As only a minority were God Monarchs, it took more time than one might expect from such a thing to happen .

"All contestants will be teleported to the 3rd floor in one minute . "

"I will announce the players with the highest points:

Ranked 1st: Arthur MoonStar: 27 points .

Ranked 2nd: Maxine Bull : 25 Points .

Ranked 3rd : Hach’ara : 19 points . "

"I will announce the players with the highest elimination combo

BSD: 10 points in 9 . 8 seconds . *

Exactly one minute later, all 879 participants were teleported to the third floor, this time randomly separated into another vast world . Unlike the two first floors, Arthur was surprised to see himself inches away from another person, a woman, to be specific .

She had a grey hair despite looking in her twenties, her eyes seemed lifeless and her expression stiff .

*Celes Ardberg(Race: Human): Realm: Exalted God (Link Stage)

Age: 299 years old

Titles: Moving Decay - Physique Mastery - Soul and Body

Skills : Killing Touch (LvMax) / Truthful Copy (Lv430) / Death Blast (LvMax)

Information: She is the notorious Grey seat of Decay of Black Rose . Born in a prestigious family in the Heaven and Hell Universe and was once a priestess but was excommunicated due to her rare Physique, which negates anything related to Holy Magic . Hates talking and despises crowded areas . *

Arthur quickly read through the contents of the appraisal then looked at Celes, who was also staring at him with an expressionless face .

"Read enough?"

Her voice was even more chilling than when Lucy talks to strangers(males), her piercing gaze made him feel uncomfortable but he didn’t act arrogantly as he remembered having a connection with Black Rose . He became the Red Seat of Blood but never met with Artid ever since, which made him think that they sent Celes specifically for him, though, unfortunately, he was completely wrong .

Celes had heard of Arthur but never actually met him . She wasn’t interested in fighting him and, from the looks of it, they need to cooperate to clear this floor .

"For the 3rd floor, each one of you will be randomly paired with another contestant and cooperate together to find whatever the tattoo in your hands is . If the paired contestants are more than 15 meters away from each other, they’ll be disqualified and sent outside the tower .

If more than one pair have the same tattoo, whichever acquires the target first is considered to have passed the task .

Please note that killing in the 3rd floor, the Ancient Land, is prohibited and is punished by immediate disqualification . Good luck . "

Arthur looked at the back of his right hand and found a tattoo of a fat bee which had four transparent wings . Celes had the same exact tattoo but, unlike Arthur, she didn’t seem to be ready to move .

He walked a few steps and when he noticed her not following her, he frowned and looked back only to find her sitting on the ground, on which a colorful tablecloth was spread .

"I’m exhausted from all the fights in the second floor . We will move after a short break . "

Then she took teacups, hand-made sandwiches, and fresh fruits, ordering them in front of her and ignoring the dumbfounded Arthur .

"We have to move no-"

She cut him off by saying: "It never gave us a time limit . Finding the bee may take days if not weeks and I don’t want to move around with an empty stomach . "

With a hand on his temples, Arthur paced around, pondering about this outrageous situation . No one would think she’s do something like that if they saw the appraisal status or her face, which was utterly void of any emotion . The phrase ’don’t judge a book by its cover’ applies well in this kind of strange situation .

’I could still force her to come with me . She’s a Death Magic user so [Unbound] will give me advantage but... if Lucy sees me carrying a woman on my shoulder... ugh’

In the end, he sat a distance away and patiently waited for Celes to finish her sudden picnic .

******

Hach’ara was a very strong Exalted God, his appearance was that of an old man with green, poisonous skin and lengthy and dirty nails . He had an horrendous smell and looked borderline grotesque as flies and other buzzing insects floating around him . Mind you, these insects were his ’pets’ and the strongest thing in his arsenal . Basically, Hach’ara controls his insects to attack his targets, however, his melee fighting is not to be underestimated either . He has the Rat Poison Physique, a rather weak Physique which seemed to have been drastically altered, making Hach immune to anything poisonous and allowing him to move his organs all over his body .

Currently, Hach’ara found himself paired with an old man wearing a grey robe . Just by standing next to him, he felt an uncomfortable eeriness that forced him to jump ten meters away, unwilling to be influenced by the black fog emitting from him . Even his insects took a rather defensive stance, some even clinging onto his sticky clothes .

"You know, I’ve traveled to all kinds of places to procure precious materials for my pets... in one of them, I’ve stumbled upon a temple that had a statue with a face just like yours, hehehehe"

Zodiak glanced at the nervous yet excited Hach’ara, not confirming the former’s suspicion . He looked at his hand and saw a jet black circle that lacked any necessary description .

"We should move . "

"Yes yes, of course, we should . I’m sure this meeting is a fortunate event for us both, Zodiak . "

"Quit your rambling and come on . "