THAT DAY I BECAME A STAR

"But, there is no proof that Farner is pregnant. Not yet, at least." 

"Once all this is over, make sure she checks with a priest whether it is the case or not. But knowing you, she must be." 

"Knowing me?"

"Because you are a pervert."

"Of course." 

When I arrive at the next floor, there is a thick fog that hides everything away. You can hardly see in front of you. But I can hear the beasts that are inside while they are walking around or howling. 

"AH, finally, we have arrived." 

"Arrived where?" 

"The floors of doubt." 

"Meaning?" You never mentioned anything about this, Maria. Did she hide it on purpose or is she just an airhead?

"Are you sure you want to insult me right now?" 

"No, I am sorry." 

"Good. You are starting to learn. The floors of doubt are the last floors of the tower. They are all interconnected and the beasts inside are as fierce as those that you found outside the tower. From here on, I can't really tell you which way to go so you will have to find it by yourself."

"Is there more than one way to reach the last floor?" 

"That's what N'donkeu said, yeah. This is the part that took me the most time because I ended up coming back here four times. With your luck, you will probably do so ten times or more."

"We will see about that." 

I enter the fog and immediately, I feel my Angas leaving me. 

"This thing acts the same way as their mist, eh." 

"Precisely. Though it is set to leave only with the minimum amount of Angas available. Now that you can't use Angas, you will have to rely on your senses to advance."

"I have my draconic power, you know." 

I release my draconic aura and advance. As I walk, the fog clears around me. I don't know why but since it is beneficial to me, I won't complain. I continue around the maze then I spot an opening on the ceiling in front of me. 

"Maria, is that-"

"Hmph. I won't answer." 

"Wait, you are jealous?" What she just did looks a lot like Farner would do if she was jealous. 

"I am not. But using that power is cheating." 

"What kind of warriors would I be if I didn't use everything I had at my disposal?"

"Tch. Don't try to sound intelligent, you don't have that charisma." 

"Anyway, can this bring me up?"

"Yeah, yeah. Just go already." 

"Cool." 

I jump to the next floor but right as I land.

"Gaooo!!!" 

A gnoll is right in front of me as if he had been waiting. He swings his arms before I land, and I stop it. It was a good idea to tie Rebeca on my back using my clothes. The gnoll's eyes are clearly visible since the smoke is cleared out and they have opened to the point of almost tearing when I grab his arm that he swung at full speed.

"Yup. I can do that as well." Using my draconic power for this is a bit much but there is nothing I can do about it so…

"You mean to say that you are a cheater, right?" 

"Oh come on, Maria!" Be a good loser already.

"Gaoo!!" 

"Oh, sorry." 

I release the gnoll's arm and he wobbles while falling backward. Then I fire a bullet at his head and his body falls on his back. I give him two other shots after that since they need to die three times. Sorry, bud. But if you want to resent someone, you should resent the guys who created you to be like this. 

"By the way, Maria. What kind of sense is supposed to be used to navigate through here?" 

"All of them. Plus your intuition. I think I can go through here, I can hear something from over there, I smell something weird there. Everything here was designed to bring out your most basic instinct." 

"You speak as if you made it." 

"Yeah, I just repeat what he said when I asked." 

"I see." My most basic instincts, huh…Sadly, I don't and won't have time for that anymore. "Let's press on." 

***

"Graa!!" 

"Scree!!" 

"Hya!!!" 

I don't know how many floors are left because I forgot to count every time I found an opening to the next one but right now, that is not important.

"Why does it need to have those?!!" 

Another set of those giant insects appeared, together with some gragoras, and Maria freaked out, screaming in my ears like it is the end of the world. If only the people who keep saying heroes can face everything could see this. Maybe their delusions would finally stop and people would stop treating as objects. 

"Stop thinking about useless things and get rid of them already!!" 

"Why are you so afraid of them? They can't hurt you anymore."

"Scree!!" 

"Just fucking kill it!!" 

"Okay, okay." 

I jump in the fray and handle the monsters rapidly. Since she asked so nicely, I can't just let you guys enjoy yourselves without doing anything, right? 

The gragoras are pretty nimble, moving around rapidly in the large hallway we are fighting. There are five of them and they all try to encircle me, while the three giant insects are facing me directly. But it doesn't matter. 

"Because it will lightning storm for everyone." Four of them to be precise. 

The monsters all fall to the ground with their charred bodies and as they start healing back, I go around to kill whichever seems to be in a better shape first. I thought they would all heal at the same time since they were all hit but it seems the gragoras take more time to heal. The insects are the first to heal completely, though they die just the same. 

I take care of the gragoras and only two had a chance to stand back up to fight. Though it was for nothing. 

"You happy now?" I look at Maria who isn't even looking at me but instead at Rebecca's body that I left on the floor near her. Her look has changed into one of worry. Could it be… "Were we too late?" 

"It seems so. She will wake up soon. You must press on." 

"Okay." I go to take her body but Maria shakes her head.

"No, leave it here. There is no use to bring it with you anymore. N'donkeu won't be able to save your mother." Maria has a sad look on her face. Well, heroes always get depressed when somebody dies. 

"Okay." But I don't really care. I would have preferred to be the one to make her pay for what she did to me but if the goddess herself wants to do it, who I am to stop her, right?

I leave Rebecca's body and run to find the top of the tower. Now it is a race against time. 

"Gaoo!!" 

"Graa!!" 

"Scree!!" 

"Woof! Woof!"

As I run around, I find different beasts and monsters around. 

"Don't bother, just keep going!" And Maria won't let me fight any of them. Are we really that late? I thought we still had time. 

I slam a door and find stairs that lead to the next floor, thankfully, until now, I didn't find anything that would bring me back to the beginning. Though, there were three times that I went to the precedent floors already. While I go up the stairs, everything starts shaking. 

"Damn it, N'donkeu!! You made a mistake!!" Maria screams out of nowhere. What use is there on blaming him? Besides, Cissa told me that we didn't have much time left before we started going up the last floors. 

"Is there no-"

"Tch!! I got it, okay?!! Just blow things up!! We don't have much time left!" 

"Cool!" Finally, an attitude I like. 

I jump up and strike the ceiling with the Raizen. It breaks but doesn't fall so I add a little spice in the form of a fireball. The explosion rings loudly as rocks fall to the ground and I fly inside. The other ceilings receive the same treatment and I am sure the whole tower must be resonating with those explosions. Still, this thing won't stop shaking. She still hasn't wake up? What kind of sleepyhead is the goddess?

"Orahh!!" 

I breakthrough another ceiling and when I land, the fog has disappeared. There is only a long hallway with windows here and there, letting the sunlight illuminates the place. 

"Congratulations, I have reached the 101st floor. This is-"

"We could have arrived here so much earlier if you left me do this." 

"We don't have time right now. Let's go and-"

"Hurry up already!! What are you guys doing?!" 

Suddenly, abruptly, like a slap, another voice cuts Maria off. When I turn around to see who it is. The familiar face of a ghost greets me. 

"So you are up already." 

"Let's go!!" 

I simply follow him and we run up to the last floor. There, I find a simple and single door.. There is nothing else on this floor.