[Lirra's POV]
As soon as the voice, which haunted me for as long as I can remember, entered my ears, I became alert and tried to hide behind Fiona. I didn't know what would happen; he was strong, but I had not seen or heard about someone like Max.
I didn't want to remain here, in his clutches, and now that I am cured, I wanted to climb the Tower to make myself powerful enough to never have fear like before.
I watched as Max didn't give an ounce of respect and kept demeaning and belittling him. I saw Hidayat coming at Max with full speed; my palpitation started, but suddenly a hand pressed on my shoulder. Fiona turned around a bit and said, "Don't worry, Boss can beat that hideous guy even if he is asleep, which he rarely is."
That somehow removed some of my tension, and next I saw Max effortlessly dodging his attacks and landing punches on him. I asked Fiona nervously, "How much stronger is Max?"
She smiled, like she was proud of being asked such a question, and she answered, "I have been with him from Floor 2, and I haven't seen someone who can make him fight seriously. Believe me when I say this, he could have one-shotted him if he wanted to. He may have his own reason for choosing this way to fight."
I nodded and looked at Fight, and my jaw dropped to the floor. Max was holding him by his leg and using him as some kind of hammer to strike down the nail. The only problem was that Max was treating the whole ground as his nail.
The man whom I feared my whole life, the one who always taunted me, will use me to reach a higher floor. Now he lay crumpled on the floor, begging for his life and Max; he made this possible in just a minute. My respect for him only grew after watching his clean and methodical fight.
Fiona turned around and said with a cheerful voice, "Told you. Let's go." I just nodded and followed behind her.
My earlier fear and palpitation were all gone watching my supposed abusive father being beaten to a pulp.
As I neared him, Max looked at me and asked, "Although, he has signed to be my subordinate forever. If you want to kill him, you can, or tell me and I will."
I looked Max in the eyes, and there was no emotion, just simple, pure, cold eyes. I thought about all I went through and my pain. I wanted him to suffer, not just plain old die, so I answered, "No, I only want him to suffer."
"Okay, he is and always will be feeling all the pain he put others through. By the way, would you like to rule this kingdom?" He assured me and asked further.
I looked at him slightly confused but responded negatively, "No, I just want to leave this life of mine behind and start anew."
Fiona asked before he could respond, "Do you own this kingdom also, Boss?"
He responded by nodding and said, "Well, let's continue toward our domain. He is just a puppet underneath now." And pointed towards Hidayat, lying and eyeing with hateful eyes.
Fiona and I nodded. He created a portal; I still couldn't believe my eyes that he used the space element just for travel, and we followed through the portal.
After this little confrontation with Hidayat, we continued our journey from one domain to another labyrinth to another dungeon. I didn't have any skill books to use, and my racial traits were more of the supportive type, which I felt were useless with Max around.
We cleared the 12th floor with ease and transferred to the 13th floor and had some food in a city near the dungeon. During this time, I only talked with Fiona; Max only spoke when necessary or needed.
I asked her, but she only replied, "This is normal." but she also told me that Boss is hurrying to reach Rank B so that he can talk to his sister. After that she didn't know much.
After we had our snacks, surprisingly Max gave me skill books of ranks C and D of the life and decay element affinity, with some being hybrid. I tried to thank him, but Fiona stopped me. I looked at her confused.
She answered, "Boss doesn't like 'sorry' and 'thank you' very much now that you are our companion. So don't do that."
I sighed and nodded and said, "He really didn't talk much, did he?" Fiona responded negatively by nodding her head sideways.
We continue the routine due to no need of rest due to infinite stamina; this time I also fought using spells Max gave me.
After going through all the dungeons and labyrinths of the 13th Floor with impossible speed. We reached the last domain of the floor; the system panel flickered to life with information.
[Domain Name: Drownedscale Expanse]
[Terrain: Semi-open Swamp]
[Area: 100 km²]
[Monster Ranks: C+ to D]
[Domain Boss: Marsh Drake]
[Recommendation: Party of 15+ of Rank C]
Before we could enter, Max turned to us and said, "Lirra, now that you have fought some monster,. You will handle most monsters, Fiona will fight behind you, and I will only step in when there is an overabundance of monsters."
I sucked in a cold breath and muttered nervously, "Bo-Boss, isn't this too much? The panel says it requires 15+ members at Rank C, and we are just two if you don't step in."
He looked straight at me and said, "Do you remember a line in the contract you signed? 'Become one of the strongest beings.' How will you become the strongest if I am always there to save the day?"
I gulped; he was right, but facing so many monsters by being in front was terrifying.
Fiona walked towards me and put her hands on my shoulder and said, "Don't worry, it's the first step that is always the hardest, but I will be there, so don't worry and focus on defeating your foe."
"Thank you." I sincerely accepted and turned towards Max and nodded.
The monsters were of multiple kinds, and this was swamp domain, so most had slithering scales or poisonous breath.
Luckily, being the progenitor of my species, I was immune to all types of poison, so I fought with skills and agility combined to defeat every monster in my way.
Fiona always watched my back so I wouldn't be ambushed from behind, and Max just kept an eye on us, and in between, if the number of monsters increased, he would cut them down like chopping vegetables.
We continued forward until we reached the boss monster's lair. The boss, Marsh Drake, was a slithering serpent with horns and wings coated with mud. I was at the front to fight him.
He started with a poisonous breath mixed with a water stream; I blocked it with the skill 'Bloomshield.' It easily stopped the attack, and as I readied to counter, I heard my shield break and saw the tail of the drake sweeping at me.
I raised both my hands in a cross form to minimize the impact on my body. Suddenly, I felt something click deep within my soul, and something started to materialize in my hands, but I focused to stop the attack with all my strength, and it stopped midway.
The things that appeared in my hands were daggers in both my hands. They felt weightless in my hands.
One had a flower at the junction of the blade and hilt, with the blade having a pinkish hue, the same as the flower. Another one had a violet-colored blade with the same hilt as the first one. I felt a connection with them, like they were part of me.
Refocusing myself from the daggers, I looked at the one who stopped the attack, Max. He looked at my daggers and said, "Nice soul weapons you got there. A race with the natural disposition of being an Assassin, nice." He smiled, a genuine smile.
Then he took out the blade he always carried; he looked at the blade and talked with it, "C'mon Lamina, don't be like that. You know I only take you out on special occasions."
I was still confused when I saw the blade gleaming with multiple lights. He jumped in the air; the Drake tried to attack him again with its tail, but he swung his sword in a diagonal arc, and along with its tail, the Drake lost its head and fell down, cut into three parts on the ground.
He came near me and said, "Use that dagger from now on. You will feel more natural with it."
I just nodded, still overwhelmed with the turn of events. Fiona came near me and commented, "Cool daggers."
I looked at her and asked, "He genuinely smiled seeing my daggers and talking with his sword. What's with that?"
Fiona sighed and answered, "That he does sometimes; you will get used to it, and his sword is a living weapon, so they talk with each other. Mine is a living weapon too, but Boss said it's locked or something."
I was about to respond when a system announcement occurred.
[ATTENTION!!]
[The Rising Star tournament will be held one day from now; all Players of Planet Mythos, Harun, Prismaris, and Gelumarion will participate in this tournament]
[Qualification: All Players who joined this month until 5 days ago, compulsory participation]
[Format: World Tree Format]
[More details will be given during the start of the Tournament, all Players have 24 hours to prepare]
Fiona and I were still looking at the system panel when Max's voice reached my ears. He said with much enthusiasm, "Finally something interesting."