The fierce battle raged on for two more hours and, with the noise of weapons raging and resounding throughout the tunnel, the saint decided to order everyone to take a step back after each win.
Eventually, no more orcs came to charge at them with their bloodthirsty and weapons brandished, giving everyone the reprieve they all craved. That being the case, they all began to plop on the ground one by one, exhausted.
"We are taking an hour's break!"
The saint-rank fighter with a large build ordered. It was only now, when all the chaos quelled, did Viktor find that the male saint was named Axel, and that the female saint fighter next to him was called Katarina.
Right as Viktor sat on the ground to catch a break like others, something weird suddenly happened. A notification appeared in his mind
[You just received one point of spirit force]
For a moment, Viktor was taken aback by this notification that seemingly came out of nowhere. In the whole two hours he was training, he didn't manage to kill any of the orcs and mostly focused on just running away. Receiving one point after all of that was certainly a confusing issue.
The Djinn heard his question and therefore explained what happened.
<You and everyone around the battlefield would receive a share of the spirit energy earned from killing the creatures. Killing them directly would give you more spirit energy, but even if you do nothing, as long as you're part of the group, you'll still get some portion of spirit energy. This is the reason why.>
"That is quite convenient, isn't it?" Viktor smiled.
Now that the battle was over, with everyone sitting, either resting or talking to their friends, Viktor finally had the chance to carefully and closely observe the 250 fighters around him.
Other than the two prominent saint-level figures and the group consisted of spirit enhancer individuals like the Golden Roses, Viktor noticed there was another one, particularly interesting group.
It consisted of 10 high stage sky realm fighters wearing a uniform plated with black armor. What caught his attention was the fact all of them were standing around a particular young man who seemed to have only reached the early stage sky realm.
He felt the other party was familiar and as he stared at him from afar, Viktor finally realized who the young man was. It was actually his cousin, Albert Romanov.
Albert was one of the annoying pricks who always caused trouble for Viktor.
The young man with short well-combed blond hair and fancy equipment walked at the front of the group as if he owned the entire place. It also didn't help that the 10 bodyguards surrounding him made him look more intimidating than he actually is.
However, it was blatantly obvious to everyone on the scene that he was trying to show off his power. With a wave of his hand, Albert called out for all 250 of the tired fighters to gather close to him and listen to his speech.
"Warrior of Pern city, you have been fighting really hard these last two weeks and you will soon be rewarded. We only have 3 floors left and the Rus Imperial will finally have the third level three-pillar!"
From afar, Viktor just watched as the ten bodyguards started clapping as if to try and increase the spirit of everyone present. Meanwhile, the actual fighters only silently stared at Albert's group as if they had grown a second head.
On one hand, the guards' clapping did make the speech sound more interesting than it actually was, but on the other hand Viktor couldn't help but think that the whole scene seemed like a corrupt politician trying to gain favors in an election campaign.
Everything Albert did to try and make the situation merrier, only served to leave a bad taste in his mouth.
At the end of the speech, Albert decided to cut the break short to only 30 minutes. That decision, coupled with his completely unnecessary speech, only disgruntled the fighters even more.
By this time, Viktor's interest in continuing to fight had completely evaporated into the air. He had seen what he came here to see, and furthermore, he could not afford for his cover to be blown.
When he was thinking of a way to get off from the battle, however, his cousin spotted him and shouted at him.
"You!"
Viktor froze in surprise and wondered whether he had been found out. How could the man see past his metal armor? Did Albert get some sort of clairvoyant eyes?
However, the next words from his mouth made him sigh in relief. "What the hell is an earth realm doing in my group?! Get the fuck away!"
Viktor nodded calmly even though he happily accepted being sent away, for he had wanted to leave anyway. However, it turned out that it wasn't just him or the roughly 20 wounded fighters who were sent away, there were 30 other sky realm fighters who were sent away as well.
Antoine was among them.
"What the hell happened, Antoine? Why were you sent away as well?" Viktor asked as he stared at the man. Even with a quick glance, Viktor could tell that Antoine was not wounded at all.
The man explained that apparently, the young master's agenda was not just to break level 60 of the pillars, but also increase his realm along the way. The less people fighting in a group, the more spirit energy he would receive passively.
From this, it could safely be concluded that the young Romanov master was more than willing to endanger the whole campaign, to gain a little tiny more spirit energy for himself.
With that, Antoine and the others had learned just what kind of character the Romanov young master had.
The young man, along with his 10 bodyguards, had never actually seen a real fight. Whenever it was time to battle, they would always stay behind the huge defensive group. Simply put, their prowess was gained in safety through other people's efforts.
"Oh well, his family was the ones funding the campaign anyway, so no one is complaining." Antoine waved his hand. From his disgusted expression, his opinion of the rich brat was straightforward as it could be.
Jessie, however, knowing Viktor was also a Romanov, flashed a teasing smile to him. From her expression, it was clear she was wondering if Viktor was similar to his cousin which Viktor immediately took notice of.
"Hell no!"
As he left, Viktor took a last glance towards the battlefield, before heading back into the stairs and returning back to his companions at level 40. Now that he had seen the best fighter Russia has to offer, he realized that he needed to get stronger before he could even think about leaving this place and entering a big city.
pαпdα Йᴏνê1,сòМ He decided to take Jessie's suggestion and go into one of the secluded pillars located on the northern Siberian tundra. There, he would fight lower-level creatures to increase his realm while waiting for the mutated leopard seal's skin finished process into armor in three weeks.
Now that he had decided on his next plan, Viktor continued walking down the stairs. The only thing he regretted was the fact he didn't have the chance to see the face behind the fierce fighter, the leader of the Golden Rose.
For some reason, Viktor harbored a curiosity to know who the girl is. He couldn't help but feel there was just something special about the girl.
Unfortunately for him, right after Viktor left the battlefield, the leader of the Golden Roses was called forward by the young master, Albert.
"Take off your helmet!" He ordered with a haughty voice.
It was clear that she was reluctant, but not wanting a conflict to break out with the rich brat, she took it off, revealing the face of a beautiful woman in her early 20s.
The young master Albert said.
"Have you decided to join the family and be part of my crew? I can give you many things, shower you with riches and power-" Albert gave his best smile to her, but his eyes did nothing to hide the desire within.
To his surprise, the girl rejected the offer without even letting him finish speaking.
"No, I will never join a Romanov. This will be my last job, and after that, I'm done with you."
The girl turned around and was about to leave, but then the bodyguards all gathered to stop her.
"The young master has not yet finished talking, miss."
The girl turned back and coldly asked, "What else do you want?"
"Hahaha, remember your place, woman! I know your history, you are just a poor little girl, servant of the Romanov family. You will not reject me, Anna!"
The leader of the Golden Roses was indeed fierce and beautiful, however, if only Viktor saw her face, he would recognize that she was actually Anna, his childhood friend, lover, and also the one who broke his heart.
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