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Time had passed. The battle between the challenger of the Tower and Commander Cargan and his troops was reaching its peak. It was a spectacle, but the great disadvantage of the Sand People in this sand temple was that they didn\'t have any active skills to use against the invaders. Even though that was the case, their weapon mastery, which was mysteriously passed down by the Sand God, was more than refined.

Simply, they were war veterans, but the Tower of Growth had nerfed them with its will and "program" that would serve as an adequate challenge on the challengers, including some of the monsters on the lower floors because something like Murlocs could be found on higher ranked dungeons — either Strayed or Dungeon Tower.

Since the purpose of the Tower of Growth was to facilitate the growth of players in the long run, it would only make sense that this Tower was meant to be cleared, especially with thorough preparation. It\'s just that some players, though they couldn\'t be blamed, were too exhilarated, and prone to make detrimental decisions. Apart from those kinds of players, some were too greedy for power.

"Intruders must die!"

Commander Cargan shouted. He was fighting toe to toe with Jiho, Samantha, and Elizabeth. This commander\'s stature was around 3 meters, and he was wielding a gigantic dilapidated great sword.

Bam-!

Russell glanced at the sound of intense fighting that was happening on the backline while he and the others, except for the long-range attackers, were having their own battles against the Sand People.

\'They can do it since they\'re the most synchronized.\'

According to his unpublished novel, early in the story, the cooperation between Samantha, Jiho, and Elizabeth, was the most auspicious one. But this could only work depending on the situations they were thrown into.

Rumia, though her skills were superficially water affinity, didn\'t possess an active skill that\'s a counter against the Sand People.

While Anya, on the other hand, specializes in fighting a being that had a weakness that\'s non-elemental, unlike these Sand People clearly had a weakness of water... That\'s why those two came into play...

"Becca! Rika! Now!"

Samantha shouted. At that moment, with the combined skills of the two former rival Ice Mages in the party, Ice Mist surrounded the entire hall, gradually slowing the movements of the Sand People, including Commander Cargan. With this, openings to attack were made. Those who were near the ground zero of the skill were more affected than others, but it was still a considerable degree.

"It\'s a pity... But you\'re not the Sand God."

Russell whispered as he stabbed his mysterious weapon into the chest of the one he was fighting. Though these were called Sand People, they were still "people". Their blood was golden as though it was melted gold.

"And you... are not you."

The one Sand People he stabbed seemed to leave a smile of freedom upon hearing Russell\'s last words. Russell revealed a faint smile, knowing the filthy truth behind these summoned monsters meant to re-enact scenarios.

"Rest in peace"

Russell muttered. Freya, standing on guard near him, pricked up her ears upon hearing the previous words of her older brother. Various thoughts surfaced in her mind, especially the System messages she received after the Horror Murloc had killed himself.

***

"Petty tricks! HAAA-!!"

The commander of the Sand People cleaved down his great sword, though it turned slower, it was still considered fast and powerful. A clean hit would certainly split the body of the target in half. Jiho, Samantha, and Elizabeth blocked it with all their might.

Even though Commander Cargan\'s overall power had been nerfed by the Tower of Growth, it was still somewhat irrational to exude this much power.

\'It\'s his swordsmanship.

Samantha surmised. Her stats were considerably higher than the commander, whose stats was slightly higher than Jiho\'s and Elizabeth\'s.

<You\'re right. It\'s the Sand God\'s pseudo-swordsmanship, after all.>

The woman in her head spoke, awake.

<Do you know the Sand God? This is only a pseudo, huh?>

Samantha replied. She was somewhat enjoying the fight since she was having someone formidable to fight against, at least on the same level as her.

<I know him. He\'s just like me in some ways. He doesn\'t care and only wanders around, but he\'s in deep sleep right now. Though I am certain that he didn\'t know he has many followers waiting for him — at least not in this Tower though.>

<What do you mean by not in this Tower?>

Samantha asked, curious.

<Don\'t mind it, and just focus in front of you. You can even talk to him, having a knight\'s duel.>

Samantha seemed to understand what the woman in her head was saying as a smile carved on her face.

***

"Becca, Rika. Deactivate your skill."

With confused expressions on their faces, tilting their heads, both of them obeyed Samantha\'s words.

Not letting her guard down, Samantha looked at the three-meter-tall commander. She then spoke with a faint smile.

"Commander, I would like to offer you a duel between us."

The fighting almost instantly stopped as Samantha\'s words reverberated and overshadowed the sounds of clashing weapons.

Russell, who heard her, let out a sigh. He knew Samantha\'s personality, including her tendency to love fighting someone her match, but he didn\'t expect this development — not at all.

"Uh, why?"

Rumia asked, perplexed. A ceasefire was undoubtedly established at this moment, even Jiho and Elizabeth had a baffling expressions, especially because the commander stopped attacking them upon hearing Samantha\'s words. Rumia and the others didn\'t receive an answer from Samantha, but they decided to put their trust in her as the Sand People reacted strangely to her words.

"Young woman, do you know what you are saying?"

Commander Cargan spoke valiantly, looking down at Samantha that\'s roughly about his stature.

"It\'s an honorable battle... to death."

Samantha spoke, not showing any form of fear.

"Haa... HAHAHA-!! This will be the first after countless years!"

The remaining Sand People under Commander Cargan\'s command were looking at him, they nodded their heads in agreement with the duel to take place.

"I! Samantha Hall, offers Commander Cargan an honorable battle to the death!"

Pointing her sword at Commander Cargan, Samantha spoke firmly and resolutely.

At that moment of declaration, Commander Cargan\'s brown eyes befitting of sand turned sharp. As a follower of the Sand God, a noble existence, he never made fun of anything related to a duel.

"I accept your duel, young warrior!"

Commander Cargan changed the way he addressed the young girl.

After that moment, the Tower of Growth heard them, and various System messages, which only appeared in front of them as players, entered their heads, which they double-checked through their respective holographic screens.

[The Tower of Growth has permitted the duel between the Player, Samantha Hall, and the soul of the Sand People, Commander Cargan!]

[If the challenger wins, her entire Player Party will be rewarded and advanced to the next floor.]

[If the soul of the Sand People wins, the Failure Penalty will be amplified, but will only affect the challenger.]

[The winner will be decided if the opponent acknowledges his or her defeat or if he or she dies!]

***

"I admire your valor, young warrior, but valor should not be synonymous with foolishness."

Commander Cargan firmly said, looking at the young warrior. Samantha\'s brown eyes seemed to burn as her auburn hair swayed.

The former waited for the latter to strike, and after a moment, Samantha lunged forward, toward the three-meter-tall commander with her sword ready to cut down whatever was on its way.

She easily jumped highly. If it was the Old World, it would be considered superpowers or supernatural phenomena, but with the existence of the System, along with Status Windows, skills, and so on, it was a normal feat to do so. The spectators; challengers of the Tower and defenders of this floor gave way to both of them due to respect and anticipation.

"Hup-!"

Slash-! Slash-

Clang-!

The sounds of swords of different types and sizes were clashing. Against the force of the seemingly giant commander, Samantha was slightly taken aback, but as time went on, she was getting used to the pseudo-swordsmanship, according to the entity in her head, that Commander Cargan was using.

Samantha wasn\'t using any skill, even one of the effects of [Breaker of Impossibility] that she used against Jiho during the exhibition match on the Emergence Anniversary. It was a battle of pure swordsmanship — a sublime sight for the spectators that even those who knew nothing about sword was captivated by it.

The air occasionally vibrated when the heavy strikes were being exchanged. As though it was palpable, the remnant of slashes was left behind in the air with every sword strike.

After some time, a faint smile was revealed by Commander Cargan, as well as Samantha, but it held different meanings as the thoughts between these two were shaped differently. Commander Cargan seemed exhilarated and in awe at the talent of the young warrior, while Samantha seemed to fight just for the sake of fighting — the thoughts of losing and receiving the Failure Penalty weren\'t on her mind at all.

"You seem to have guessed it, young warrior."

Samantha, maintaining her smile, didn\'t respond to Commander Cargan\'s words. It was just nonsensical that earlier, Samantha, Jiho, and Elizabeth had it harder against the commander, but when it was Samantha alone, she was equal in power if not more powerful.

"But I will not go down without a fight!"

With resolve, Commander Cargan heavily spoke. The remaining Sand People as spectators were feeling deep admiration towards their commander, even though they knew that he was now fighting a losing battle.

Bam-!

Clang-!

Sounds of strikes continued to reverberate inside the ground floor of the sand temple. Dodging, multidirectional cleaving, jumping, and whatever possible move to utilize one\'s swordsmanship had been relevant in this honorable battle.

A few minutes passed, and the words of the commander resounded in every one of them.

"I surrender, young warrior."

His troops, instead of feeling sorrow for the loss, nodded their heads with blissful smiles.

[The soul of the Sand People, Commander Cargan has surrendered!]

[The honorable battle has ended!]

[The Player, Samantha Hall has won!]

[The honorable battle will be recorded in the Tower of Growth\'s history!]

***

"Young warrior, this is the end of the line for us.

"I want to show my gratitude by giving you this as a remembrance."

A book with intricate and esoteric runes carved on it materialized on the hand of Commander Cargan, it then floated toward Samantha\'s hand, and at the same time, a System message rang in her head.

[You have received the Skillbook: Pseudo-Swordsmanship of the Sand God (S+)]

At that moment, apart from Samantha, the others received Skillbooks of different kinds, but in accordance with their respective professions.

[The souls of the Sand People have been sacrificed for the making of the Skillbooks.]

Russell knew such a case, but for others, it was simply shocking. Though the faces of the Sand People were painted with relief since they would now be free of the Tower\'s confines.

"Farewell, young warriors!

"Your journey is still long ahead!"

Soon after, they dissipated into the sands of time.

Samantha nodded, full of admiration in her eyes.

[The Player Party has successfully cleared the 21st Floor of the Tower of Growth!]

[Rewards have already been granted!]

[...Waiting Room...]

***

In the office of the Disciplinary Committee, the President of the Disciplinary Committee was sitting on the chair, fiddling with a pen in her supple fair hands.

On the couch just on the right side of her office table, the President of the Student Council was sitting, seemingly different than usual.

"Are you crazy?"

Azalea responded, frowning at Arthur\'s words.

\'What\'s with this man? Suddenly wanted to party with me in raiding the Tower.\'

She recalled that she helped him clean up some bodies. What\'s more, it was recommended by Russell.

\'Tsk. It\'s probably because of him... again!\'

She inwardly lampooned. Lately, it was mostly Russell that was on her mind, specifically, the strangeness of the person himself.

After pondering something, and letting out a sigh of resignation, Azalea glanced at Arthur before she finally agreed.

"Alright then, but we\'ll wait for some time. I\'ll notify you, so scram!"

She tried to be harsh in treatment, but Arthur just walked away like a doll.

\'I\'ll wait for Russell\'s party to finish raiding it, so I\'ll be able to get some information. I think it\'s better to trust him on this matter than some of my Thorn of Rose\'s men.\'

She carefully thought, glancing at the laptop on her table, catching the glimpse of the number of deaths that were caused by failing the Tower of Growth.

— Player Death Curve: 125,059,961