From Player To Npc

With Dark Shadow earning its class, they were ready to move on. Shingi made sure that Dark Shadow and everyone else was in full power.

The plan was quite simple and similar to the one he had on the last floor. He wouldn't go after the group away from the stairs, but he and Syra would use Spirit Element to make them fall unconscious. Shingi worked with her and got the SLEEP Spell from that training, a Base Grade AOE Spell.

He had noticed that his control of the Spirit Element was better when he had his eyes active, so he had them active this time. The chance of anybody among those players being able to see them was minimal to nonexistent. Still, he wouldn't give them a chance to look.

They made their way to the stairs while under the effect of INVISIBILITY from Little Phoenix or Shingi. Dark Shadow also knew INVISIBILITY, but for some reason, it didn't want to use any of its Spells to anyone else but himself. Of course, not even Shingi wouldn't be the target for these kinds of spells. Maybe his natural instincts told him to look after himself, but in combat, he was helpful and protective sometimes.

According to the schedule, they made it in place, and as expected, the two groups had left and been far away not to hear them. So Syra would go from the left while Shingi would go from the right, trying to affect all of them simultaneously. But unfortunately, some of the Players were walking around, so Shingi and Syra had to wait for the perfect timing to affect them all.

There were five Players, two near Syra, another two near Shingi, and one between them. They could get the four of them simultaneously, but that last one could have enough time to react by sending a message if it was fast enough. Unfortunately, that Player was sitting right at the stairs, and even for Shingi, it would take him some seconds to get to him.

This tactic was new, and he hadn't noticed it when he checked them before, and Price didn't mention their positions as they seemed to be near to each other still, but the range of the Sleep Spell wasn't that wide.

Shingi could tell by their auras that all of those weren't just well-equipped Players, but they were close to level 60, meaning that they knew what they were doing. Of course, they could just be that high level because of Dark Guild's help, but reaching that level and have learned nothing of how the game worked was impossible.

'Could it be that they understood that we have two people that can use this tactic?' [Shingi]

He used a similar tactic on the last floor, but only Syra made them unconscious with magic while he used his skills. But they couldn't know their numbers back then, as even when he fought that one individual, he was by himself.

But then Shingi remembered. Syra made that Players fall unconscious while he fought him, meaning that the Player would know that he wasn't the one who made him unconscious. He had used WIPE on him, but that didn't mean that it erased everything about the battle, but any details to recognize Shingi like details of his face.

Shing still didn't know how WIPE worked, but he had heard of similar abilities that could work like that. He could test that theory as it would cost him CHA, and he had to keep it at 5 to keep his Minor Mana Regeneration Passive Skill to its current power. He still had to find a way to upgrade that stat, and earning Stat Points was pretty hard, especially for NPCs.

Shingi thought about what they could do, and a new plan formed in his mind soon.

He sent a message to Syra, and after waiting for a few seconds, they made their moves.

Spirit Element started gathering on the head of the two Players of Syra, turning their eyes completely white and making them fall asleep. The two that were for Shingi to take care of were seeing feathers surrounding them as their eyes also turned white, like Syra's targets did.

As for the final Player, he fell unconscious before the other four, and the reason was the only other member of their party who could use Spirit Element; Dark Shadow.

Dark Shadow also learned how to cast the SLEEP Spell from Shingi, but it was hard for Shingi to persuade to use any Spells. During training, it was quite obedient, but in actual combat, Dark Shadow was just doing what he wanted.

Shingi found a way to persuade him, though. By bribing him, of course.

He found out that it could eat Mana Gems, especially Air Mana Gems. But, of course, it wasn't actually eating them but consuming all its Mana, and even if he didn't break it for some reason, the design didn't work anymore. Those designs worked similar to Runes, meaning they needed Element to embed in them, but it wasn't a Rune. So it was easier to do so; that's why even Zhen's slimes could make them.

Shingi promised to give him a few to eat if he helped them in this situation. Shingi didn't want to waste them like that but had no other option. They also seemed to increase his Mana Control of the element that the Mana Gem he consumed was. So Shingi planned to restock on materials he needed soon to make more Mana Gems.

One floor they would soon visit had a mine with this kind of mineral needed, but the Dark Guild would most likely cover Players, as those minerals were precious. But he needed them either way, as Mana Gems was a precious resource for many of their projects and items. Furthermore, he had started a war with them already, so he wasn't afraid of fighting them; he just was going to be smart about it.

Since the Players were out of the picture, he started their way up the stairs but had to dispel some of the traps as they were placed in a way so that they couldn't go around them. His understanding of Enchantments and Runes helped him on dealing with them at a quick rate.

They reached the end of the stairs and went through the portal at the end.

The next floor was actually another floor in the clouds like the one with the Angels, but this one wasn't under control by any of the Gods. All the monsters in here could fly, and most could use Air-based Spells. Again, no signs of Players, but they kept their guard up just in case, as they kept their INVISIBILITY on when teleported to the next floor so that they didn't have another fight like on the previous floor.

This was a good floor for Dark Shadow to study how creatures with Air Mana fought, especially those that could fly. He could also use the experiences.

Shingi and Dark Shadow would be the only ones getting experiences from these monsters, as after one had their class evolved, they had to fight monsters of power similar to level 60 or more. They would find those after floor 40, but Shingi and Dark Shadow still needed some levels to reach their Evolved state.

Shingi didn't know how many exps Dark Shadow's class needed for each level, but it couldn't be as much as Shingi needed since Dark Shadow's class wasn't a True Class. Since he never heard of the Skymage class, he couldn't be certain, though. Shingi had to see how quickly Dark Shadow leveled up, and that way would make an estimation of his exp bar since there wasn't anything like that in the status window.

There were some Harpies like the ones on the floor with the Sphinx but stronger. There were also some Air Elementals, Giant Eagles, and some Sky Giants. Sky Giants were almost the top in strength among the Giants. Not only because of their physical strength but also because of their natural ability to control the weather to a degree.

Some of them had developed their mana to have Storm Mana, similar to Aella's, but only the Boss of this floor seemed to have it completed at the same degree or at least close enough.

Sky Giants were as huge as all the giants and as heavy, which even if they could use Air Element to cast spells, they couldn't cast FLY or even LEVITATE on themselves but could make themselves jump pretty high.

Shingi normally wouldn't fight the Boss, but Dark Shadow and he needed as much exps as possible, and that Giant was an enormous source of it.

As usual, they cleared monsters before heading towards the boss, as they didn't want it to have any help to get to the boss when the battle started.

They didn't fight any giants, as all of them were at the fortress in the middle of the floor, where the Boss was.

So after making certain that all the monsters outside it, they made their way in the fortress, and to the throne room where the Sky Giant Boss would be. They faced more monsters on the way there, among them some Sky Giants, giving the chance for the group to become familiar with them.