I delved deeper into Delilah's dream, immersing myself in a vivid memory fragment of that historic meeting. The nine of them stood before a magnificent white tower, so immense it pierced the clouds, its peak lost to sight. Its ancient structure radiated a powerful, mysterious aura.

I recognized them all. There was my father, Freyden, his posture upright and his eyes filled with a determination I would never see again. Beside him was a younger Delilah, breathtakingly graceful, a stark contrast to the broken, submissive woman I had molded.

Charlotte Haverty stood among them. Her appearance had hardly changed from the present day. She still carried bright, lively eyes and a warm, energetic smile. Her chestnut-blonde hair fluttered in the wind.

The one who made my skin prickle was the Winter Knight. He was tall, with snow-white hair and colorless eyes. His presence alone radiated a cold that seeped through the memory as if it could freeze the air. I immediately knew that this was Yukie's father.

Blazewalker, Ophelia Blazinger, stood not far from him. The head of Nine Stars Academy was mesmerizing. She resembled Arianna but carried a deeper maturity and a commanding aura. Her fire-red hair looked like moving flames.

Eldertree was beside her. He looked exactly the same as the present version of him. A wiry old man with a thick beard, messy brown hair, and tired amusement in his eyes.

Sky Ranger, a black-haired man whose long coat and ever-present rifle were as much a part of him as his sharp, vigilant gaze. According to reports, he later died in an SS-Rank dungeon, but here he was, alive and fierce.

Then there were the last two. Mysterious, elegant, impossible to overlook.

Twin sisters dressed in gothic black. Their long, straight black hair framed pale faces that looked almost ethereal. They were tall, graceful and hauntingly beautiful. They were Abyss Dancer and Hell Spectre.

In the present, Abyss Dancer had betrayed the Hunter Global Authority and created the Abyss Syndicate. Her twin, Hell Spectre, was long dead. Rumors surrounded her death, none of them clear or confirmed. Perhaps that tragedy had triggered Abyss Dancer's betrayal. Everything about it reeked of conspiracy.

I attempted to activate my [Eye of Desire] on them. It failed, as expected. These were memories, not physical bodies. Still, from their voices and presence, it was clear that they were all SS-rank during this time.

"Our family has guarded this Tower for generations," Freyden said with a steady voice. "But none of us have ever reached the summit. No one knows what lies at the top. With all of us gathered here, the strongest hunters of this era, I believe we can finally conquer it."

Hearing my father's words, my thoughts drifted to my own Class, Depraved Time Lord, and the [Key of the Tower of Space] I had obtained. Was the tower in this dream connected to the one mentioned by the key? Was my father's legacy intertwined with the power I now wielded?

The nine heroes stepped forward, passing through the tower's great gate. As it closed behind them, the scenery shifted violently.

They now stood on a vast, barren plain. The sky above was cracked like shattered glass, a dim light filtering through the fissures. Silent lightning struck in the distance, illuminating a bleak landscape of strange rock formations and dead vegetation.

"Although the Tower looks infinite from the outside," Freyden said while scanning the area, "it actually contains only six floors. Each floor is its own world with its own trials."

My breath caught when I saw the giant creature in the distance. Even observing from a memory, its presence overwhelmed me.

It towered all the way to the clouds. Its massive humanoid body was wrapped with thousands of moving arms that writhed like living serpents. Its head was not a head at all. It was a giant blooming petal. At the center, a pale yellow eye gazed blankly at the fractured sky.

Every step shook the ground and sent tremors through the earth.

"My God..." Charlotte whispered, her eyes wide. "What... what is that?"

I stared, feeling a profound insignificance; that creature's rank had to be above SSS.

But before they could process the giant's presence, a more immediate threat emerged.

From behind rock formations and from within the earth itself, strange creatures crawled out. Some were scorpion-like, their tails ending in mouths full of teeth. Others were multi-eyed spiders with sharp, pointed legs. Some had human-like bodies with distorted heads and limbs that twisted in unnatural ways. They all radiated a palpable aura of darkness and greed.

"Oh, right, I forgot to mention this," Freyden said calmly. "Time flows differently here. One year outside is ten days in this Tower."

Ophelia whipped her head toward him. "You forgot to say something that important before we came in?"

Sky Ranger raised his rifle. "Guys, we're surrounded."

There was no more time for questions.

"Prepare yourselves!" Freyden shouted.

His sword was drawn. With a single, seemingly effortless slash, the air itself seemed to part. Dozens of creatures before him were cleanly severed without his blade even touching them—as if space itself had cut them down.

Above, Delilah raised her hands. The air vibrated as hundreds of spears of pure light materialized above her head. With an elegant gesture, they shot forward like divine rain, each spear striking the heart of an approaching creature with unerring accuracy.

Beside her, Sky Ranger had set up a gigantic machine gun—a weapon impossibly large for one man to carry. The roar of its gunfire thundered, each bullet finding its mark and tearing apart the stony-fleshed abominations.

"Eldertree, block the left flank!" Freyden commanded.

The old man slammed his hands onto the barren ground. Instantly, massive roots erupted, weaving into a living wall that trapped and crushed dozens of creatures.

Ophelia Blazinger leaped forward, her hands open. Fire erupted not as a simple spray, but as an expanding river of lava, instantly incinerating hundreds of creatures. The stench of burnt flesh filled the air.

The Winter Knight was a man of few words. He simply stomped his foot, and a wave of ice spread from him, freezing everything in a large radius. The trapped creatures then shattered into countless pieces.

But the ones who captivated me most were the Gothic twins.

The Abyss Dancer vanished into the shadows, only to reappear amidst a horde of creatures. She danced—a literal, deadly ballet with two black daggers. Every spin and leap was elegant and fatal, her blades leaving a trail of dismembered corpses.

And Hell Spectre... I couldn't see her at all. But in areas untouched by the others, creatures suddenly collapsed en masse, as if their souls had been ripped out by an invisible hand.

"There are too many of them!" Charlotte yelled, raising her hands. A golden light emanated from her, healing minor wounds and restoring the stamina of those beginning to tire.

Freyden looked toward the horizon, where the colossal creature began moving toward them, its thousands of snake-like arms stretching in their direction. The threat was still distant, but already palpable.

"We have to retreat! Eldertree, make us a path!"

The old man nodded, clenching his fists. A ten-meter tall wooden Golem erupted from the earth, its hands made of crushing roots. It began clearing a path, smashing through obstacles while the others formed a defensive formation behind it.

But as they retreated, a new threat poured from the fissures in the ground—thousands of human-sized insects with shiny carapaces and razor-sharp pincers. They flooded the area in a chitinous wave, threatening to overwhelm the group.

"Ophelia!"

Blazewalker didn't need to be told twice. She leaped forward, arms wide. An ocean of fire erupted, incinerating thousands of insects in a single, devastating blast. The Sword Saint supported her by creating a whirlwind that amplified the flames, while Sky Ranger and Delilah cleared the stragglers that escaped the inferno.

I began to feel my mind tiring from witnessing this epic battle. It was clear this fight was protracted, spanning what felt like days or even months within the distorted time flow. I couldn't watch every detail. I accelerated the memory, skipping over hours of relentless combat.

What I needed to know was—how did they pass this first floor? What was the trial, truly? Did they have to defeat that terrifying giant, or was there another, hidden goal?

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