Du Ze closed his eyes subconsciously the moment he crashed into the tower. When he opened his eyes again, he and Xiu had arrived in a completely different space.
This is a spacious circular hall, about the size of half a football field. There are several stone platforms around the hall, like some pedestals. At the 12 o'clock direction is a huge light gate, and the not-so-bright light blocks the situation inside. Except for the light gate, there is no entrance or exit in the entire hall. The light gate should be the entrance to the first floor of the divine tower. The circular hall is crowded with people. Du Ze took a glance and felt that there were too many people to squeeze in. But even if the Thunder Legion behind has entered, the whole hall is still in a state of being just crowded, and it will be crowded with one more person - wait. Only then did Du Ze realize that something was wrong. Although there were people all around him, there was no physical contact. Even the feeling of Xiu holding him from before disappeared without him knowing when.
Du Ze looked at Xiu and found that Xiu didn't let go of him. Xiu stood beside Du Ze, and stretched out his hand as if to touch Du Ze. His hand was not like a physical body passing through a virtual body and couldn't touch a person, but the two of them were not in the same space at all. Although they looked very close, the space was infinitely extended and out of place.
He frowned, he didn't like this feeling, Du Ze was right in front of him, but he couldn't catch him.
——Just like the feeling this person has always given him.
He knew he was insecure, but it was so serious because he cared too much about this person.
Du Ze saw Xiu seemed to say something, but the misaligned space blocked even the sound. Du Ze realized belatedly that the whole hall was too quiet. Everyone was crowded together and talking, but no sound came out. Xiu also realized this, and he pointed at the light door with his finger, as if to signal them to go through together.
Because everyone was in different spaces, Du Ze followed Xiu towards the light gate without any hindrance. At the moment when he was about to approach the light gate, an invisible force made Du Ze raise his hand, and a black flame floated on his palm. Du Ze couldn't describe this feeling. The moment he saw the black flame, he naturally knew that this was his "certificate": he could use it to ascend the tower and become a god, or he could give up his certificate in the round hall - lose his qualifications and be sent out by the God Tower, or give it to someone else.
Du Ze looked at Xiu and found that Xiu was staring at him. Black flames also appeared on the demon's hand. Du Ze handed his certificate to Xiu without hesitation. The black flames spontaneously merged into one when approaching. Du Ze looked at the flame on Xiu's hand that rose a little bit, and for some reason he felt a little proud.
Even if he had not come to this world to know Xiu, Xiu was still a belief of his. For readers, they watched the protagonist become powerful in the novel, pinned their unrealized dreams on the protagonist, and watched the protagonist fulfill them. As long as the protagonist succeeded, even if it had nothing to do with them, the readers would be extremely satisfied and happy—that was the protagonist they liked, and also their ideal self.
Someone held his neck with his hands, and when Du Ze looked up, Xiu leaned over and kissed him. After the black flames merged, the two seemed to be in the same space again. Because it was too sudden, Du Ze had no time to react. Xiu pushed away Du Ze's lips that were slightly surprised, as if he knew Du Ze would be shy. This time, Xiu folded his wings to cover the two of them, but it seemed like he was trying to cover his ears and steal the bell to others.
The demon sisters watched Xiu spread his wings to reveal himself and Du Ze. Even if the black-haired young man had a stiff and cold face, his slightly swollen mouth revealed the charm. Alice handed the certificate to Virla, who walked over and carefully handed over the black flame that was a fusion of the two people. After grasping his own stupidity, Xiu's emotions finally rose. He took over the black flames of Virla and Mor. When it was Ariel's turn, the elf princess was expressing something with gestures. After Du Ze saw the words Ariel gestured, he finally thought of the loyal mechanical puppet who was helping him carry Fatty.
"Old John, can't come over."
To them, the living beings in the hall were in different spaces that they could not reach; but to old John, who was not a living being, the entire hall was truly packed with people, and every one of them would stop him from moving forward.
"I'll pick him up."
Xiu walked back and said something to Old John. Old John nodded and handed the little phoenix to Xiu. Then, a gray light flashed, and the mechanical puppet was probably put into the space ring by Xiu. Du Ze watched Xiu walk back holding the unusually obedient ball of fur. As soon as Xiu let go, the fat chirp bounced towards Du Ze's head like a cannonball, landed accurately with a thud, and spread its wings like a gymnast who had just jumped off the equipment. "Chirp~"
Du Ze's attitude towards the fluffy ball that always nestled in his hair has changed from fighting hard at first to accepting his fate now. Xiu held Du Ze's hand. Because they couldn't contact Rachel and others due to the spatial dislocation, he made a gesture to the Thunder Legion and led everyone into the light gate.
Even though the light from the light gate was not bright, the moment he entered, Du Ze had to squint his eyes, and his vision was blank. After the extreme brightness, the white glare caused by the light faded little by little, and an image gradually formed on the retina. Du Ze looked at the scene in front of him, and for a moment he completely lost the ability to speak.
This was not like being in the tower at all, but in another world. This world was only black void, and they were in a circular arena, with the surrounding audience seats and arches in ancient Roman style, and the burning torches dispelled the darkness in every corner of the arena. Du Ze scanned the people around him, and it was really as Heidi said, except for the followers, no trace of the Thunder Legion or other creatures who entered the light gate together, no one knew where they were taken by the tower.
Xiu released Old John, and everyone began to look around. This circular arena should be the first trial of the divine tower. Du Ze stared at the pattern on the ground. Although it looked like a complicated pattern, it was actually a certain language - because he could understand it, its meaning was very simple, just a number "72". Alice was also looking at the ground. She seemed to remember something and suddenly raised her head to look up. In the dim firelight, she could vaguely see a circular outline of the same size above.
"I think I know where this is..."
Seeing everyone looking at her, Alice pulled at the corner of Virla's clothes and smiled shyly.
"I have read in some ancient books that the demons once had a very famous building complex called the Demon God Arena."
When Alice uttered that name, the flames on all the torches in the arena suddenly surged. A man holding a hellish snake appeared in front of everyone. He had a cold expression and empty eyes. When he saw Du Ze and others, he launched an attack without saying a word.
Xiu reacted the fastest. He held the magic knife and cut the snake and the man at the waist. To Du Ze, the battle was over before it even started. The dead man turned into ashes and was blown away by the wind. Runes formed in the air. The runes spiraled into a magic transmission array that led upwards. Everyone looked at this and felt puzzled.
Xiu shook off the blood on the magic knife and looked at Alice. "Go on."
Alice calmed down and pointed upwards. "If I'm not mistaken, there is also a similar arena up there. In the First Age, the demons built arenas to rank their strength. There was only one at first, but after Baal showed his strength in this arena, no one dared to challenge him. So the demons built a second arena below the first one, but it was soon occupied by Agares... Until finally, the demons built a total of 72 arenas. Legend has it that the 72 demon gods were ranked according to the order of the arenas, and these arenas were later collectively referred to as the Demon God Arenas."
Du Ze looked up along the magic circle and found that it indeed led to a circular building. Alice pointed at the magic pattern on the floor and explained, "This is the '72' in the ancient magic language, which means that this arena is guarded by the 72nd ranked demon god - the person just now should be the demon god Andumari."
"He is very weak." Xiu said. As a demon god, he is only at the level of a swordsman.
"That... I don't know." Alice replied somewhat uneasily.
The demon Andumari had already fallen in the Second Era. The man holding the snake just now looked dull and like a puppet. It was obviously a shadow of the demon created by the divine tower. Xiu looked at the magic teleportation array and asked Alice, "Who is on it?"
"If this is the Demon God Arena, the one on top should be the 71st Demon God Dantalin."
Du Ze almost spit. They had just parted ways with Dan outside the God Tower, and now they were about to "meet" again. Some stupid and cute people even couldn't wait to meet the "Demon God Dantalin". Xiu noticed Du Ze's eagerness, he curled his lips, and pulled Du Ze towards the teleportation array.
"Let's go."
The magic circle sent Du Ze and his group to the next location. Du Ze looked and saw that it was indeed the same style of the arena. Opposite them, "Dan" stood there expressionlessly with a book in his right hand. After everyone came up, "Dan" attacked them. Even if he called his name, "Dan" seemed to have not heard it, and he was silent and only knew how to attack mechanically.
Just like the previous arena, the "Dan" here is just a shadow of the demon god Dantalin, without thoughts and weak in strength, and only the demon sisters can stop him. It was the first time Du Ze saw Dan in the form of a demon god. Compared with the unremarkable green-clothed merchant, Dantalin in armor really had a bit of majesty.
Verla and Alice were both swordsmen, one with water and the other with fire. Their tacit cooperation made them much stronger than ordinary swordsmen, and their combo attacks overwhelmed Du Ze. Dantalion was completely suppressed and had no chance to fight back. Du Ze had to admit that even though he knew that this was not the jerk Dan, it was still very satisfying to see the sisters beating Dantalion like this.
It was like a carnival.
Because it was not the real one, "Dantalin" was also quickly resolved. After his death, he also turned into runes to form an upward magic circle. Now the situation is very clear. The God Tower clearly wants them to fight each other layer by layer. Du Ze always feels that this is the God Tower to make up for the 72 main cities that Mengzhu missed, and deliberately released the 72 demons for Mengzhu to enjoy.
The next two demons also did not cause any obstacles to them until they arrived at the 68 Arena. The two beautiful demons appeared in front of everyone, Belyar. In order to save them from the hands of the God of Light, this demon chose to sacrifice himself. The demon sisters looked straight at the beautiful demon driving the flaming chariot, and their voices trembled.
"Lord Belial..."
Compared to other demons, it is not only difficult to deal with him emotionally, but also a bit difficult to deal with him physically. Xiu could feel that the Belyar in front of him was completely different from the previous demon shadows, and his strength was not comparable to those shadows. The one facing them was a real demon.
"Alice, Vera?"
Under everyone's surprised gaze, Belial spoke. Unlike the previous demon gods, she did not attack right away, but looked at them calmly. When she saw the demon sisters, Belial smiled. "You are here too."
The demon sisters were so excited that they shed tears. Xiu put down his magic knife. Belyar obviously had his own thoughts. Maybe they could negotiate.
"I don't want to fight you." Xiu said, "Can you let us pass?"
"Unfortunately, you have no other way to enter the next arena except by killing me." Beria took out his weapon. "These are the rules."
Seeing Belyar draw his sword, the atmosphere suddenly became tense. The demon sisters looked at Xiu and then at Belyar, their expressions full of helplessness. Belyar shifted his gaze from Xiu to Vila and Alice, her eyes were very gentle.
“So we have to abide by it.”
Du Ze stared blankly at Belyal thrusting the sword into his heart without hesitation. Verla and Alice had their eyes wide open and tears streaming down their cheeks, seemingly so grief-stricken that they could not even scream.
"...Beliar...Sir..."
Belyar began to turn into ash and dissipate from her feet. She looked at her demon sisters who were almost crying and comforted them softly: "Don't be sad, this is not death - I am here, between life and death."
One of Beria's halves had completely turned to gray, and she was telling a story that sounded like a curse in a fairy tale tone.
"I will be there again when the next climber comes up."
Everyone watched in silence as the beautiful demon turned into ashes and fell. The ashes that Belyar had turned into were woven into runes, forming a magic circle leading to the next level. For the first time, Du Ze felt the cruelty of the rules. Those unconscious demon shadows were fine, but people like Belyar who had consciousness were almost forever imprisoned in this tower, welcoming climbers one after another, either killing them or being killed, in an endless cycle.
Du Ze suddenly felt very heavy. The tower was built with the bones of all the main gods. So when they reached the top of the Demon God Arena, the boss they encountered would be...
Baal.