Chapter 334: Ancient Demon

Chapter 334: Ancient Demon

Five days later.

Ethan was still battling the two floor guardians, but now he could fight them with ease. Through this prolonged battle, he discovered something new about himself. His combat styles evolved the longer he fought.

He had never experienced a battle like this before. He always won with overwhelming power. Even when he was as weak as an ant, he could use the system’s protocols to instantly become overwhelmingly strong and destroy his enemies without effort.

"Your Highness, we think we should stop. Your power can only bring you to this floor. We are sorry," they said in deep voices, confusion mixed within their tone.

Ethan simply smiled.

"What are you talking about? We have just started."

"Supreme One."

Ethan activated his physique.

His entire body turned into pure light. A crown appeared above his head and his face took on an indescribably divine appearance. With this transformation, his power was amplified a thousand times over.

"It was a nice battle. Maybe someday I will visit your real bodies," Ethan said casually.

The moment they heard that, every hair on the guardians’ bodies stood on end. Before they could reply, Ethan swung his sword and their bodies disintegrated into cosmic particles.

He walked toward the portal to the twenty-sixth floor, where the guardians there also greeted him with utmost respect.

Ethan was not foolish. He understood now that he was most likely the reincarnation of an Origin Being. Yumiko had probably been his follower at that time.

"But what happened that forced me to reincarnate from an Origin Being?" He thought of many possibilities, but none gave him a proper answer.

Yumiko refused to tell him anything about his past. There was likely a restriction or a penalty involved. So Ethan never asked her directly. After coming to this tower, he was even more certain something extraordinary had happened. These guardians had immense respect and fear toward his sword. Obviously, he had done something unimaginable in the past.

"I need to reach the Thirty-Sixth Sky to learn the truth. If I reincarnated because I was scared of some villain, betrayed, or beaten to death, that would be embarrassing," Ethan muttered to himself.

After defeating the twenty-sixth floor, Ethan took a deep breath.

"System, get ready. We are going to start our plan."

On the outside, all twelve candidates from the Origin Family had already exited the tower. The highest among them had only reached the sixteenth floor.

But no one was talking about them. Not even the candidates themselves. Because right now, everyone was witnessing a remake of history. And the one recreating it was not Ethan. It was Aren.

He had reached the thirtieth floor. He was standing on the same floor the strongest Origin Being had once reached.

Everyone had already forgotten that Ethan had reached the twenty-sixth floor.

On the thirtieth floor, Aren stood with a holy sword in his hand. His body was severely damaged by the guardians, yet he still breathed, unwillingness burning in his eyes. He knew he could not defeat them with this sword.

The strongest Origin Being had cleared the thirtieth floor and only fallen at the thirty-first. Aren realized he still fell short.

"Forget rationality. If I am strong enough, I will seize my destiny myself. Even the system will not be able to control me," Aren growled.

He had long prepared himself to be abandoned by the system. He wanted to become the strongest existence so that even without the system, no one could challenge him.

"Curse sword, show me your power," Aren roared.

Instantly, endless dark energy rushed into his body and healed him completely.

Aren felt omnipotent before falling into eternal darkness. The dark energy had already corrupted his mind.

[Warning. Host is being invaded by unknown energy. Initiating reboot process.]

Before the system could finish, a voice echoed inside his mind.

"Huh? Where am I? The mausoleum? No. This place doesn’t look like the mausoleum."

Aren’s soul vaporized instantly.

"Huh? A bug? Get out of my body," the confused voice spoke again.

The system inside Aren’s body was instantly obliterated.

"An Ancient Demon?" The two guardians felt suffocating terror when the presence revealed itself.

"Begone."

Both guardians vanished without resistance.

The demon sat down on the thirtieth floor to merge with Aren’s memories.

[Congratulations for clearing the thirtieth floor. You may choose a reward.]

The notification appeared, but he ignored it.

After fully merging with the memories, he finally spoke.

"The Tower of Ascension? Those bastards have a branch inside this mausoleum too? I will destroy all of them someday. But for now, I need to lie low. My powers are sealed. This body cannot handle my full strength. Let it grow."

With a thought, he revived Aren’s soul but erased all his memories, replacing them with fabricated ones where Aren believed he served a powerful master on a mission to strengthen himself so his master could eventually take over the body.

Aren did not choose any reward and stepped toward the thirty-first floor.

Even with his power sealed, the Ancient Demon was equivalent to one hundred billion golden seal levels.

On the thirty-first floor, a single guardian awaited him.

When Aren entered, the guardian looked at him with amusement.

"An Ancient Demon? Not bad. I have been bored for countless eons."

A handsome young man stood there holding a pen.

"You can see through me? Not bad, bastard. But you are not my match," the demon roared within Aren’s mind and launched an attack.

The guardian waved his pen and created a barrier around himself. But as soon as the attack landed on the barrier,his face turned pale in horror.

"An Ancient Demon capable of producing golden seal level power even while sealed. How is that possib—"

He died before he could finish.

On floors twenty-one to twenty-five, the guardians panicked.

"Someone defeated the First General? Impossible. Last time, the general defeated that man with a wave of his hand. Could it be His Highness or that strange boy with the golden sword?" they whispered among themselves.

On the outside, all guardians from the Origin Family felt as if an invisible hand had grabbed their hearts.

For the first time in history, someone had defeated the thirty-first floor guardian.

A bloodbath was coming with the tremendous competetion this genius would bring among the Origin families. They knew they were not worthy to interfere.

"Let us leave and report to the higher-ups," they decided, vanishing from the Realm of Ascension.

Aren slaughtered all guardians up to the thirty-fifth floor.

But when he tried to ascend to the thirty-sixth floor, his entire origin screamed in warning.

"Something utterly horrifying is living there. I must leave or I will be annihilated."

The Ancient Demon immediately chose to exit.

"Let us see what this fourth axis from the thirty-fifth level can do."

On the thirty-sixth floor, an old man sat at a simple wooden table while a young woman served him tea.

"Huh? That pesky demon retreated? His danger sense is impressive. Then he looked at Ethan.Now let us see what that little friend can do. I remember him. He came here before. He used to be extremely powerful. What happened to him?" the old man murmured while sipping tea.

On the twenty-sixth floor:

[All right, Master. I am ready. Let us begin.]

Ethan teleported to the twenty-seventh floor and instantly killed the guardian by activating a system protocol before the guardian had the chance to speak.

In just seven seconds, he killed all guardians up to the thirtieth floor.

[Congratulations for clearing the thirtieth floor. You may choose a reward.

Divine Fruit

Divine Weapon

Divine Technique]