Once Human, Now a Parasite

Here, there was a middle-aged man surrounded by twelve small figures, each had a unique appearance but they all looked harmless due to their size . One had long tentacles and hidden eyes while another was a boy made from white stones that looked like metal, he was holding a round golden shield, waving it around playfully .

"There are a lot of attributes but none are easy to master . However, only a few are considered universal ones because they’re the ones which made the world as it is . "

The man raised his hand, above which a red and shiny fire symbol appeared, it was followed by a blue water mark, an earthen yellow stone, and a green runestone symbolizing wind .

"Fire, Water, Earth, and Wind . The four main elements... now, anyone wants to try?"

All twelve maintained their silence, some not understanding his words and others were simply shy . After a short period of time, a timid girl that had a skin made of wood and hair made of green leaves stood up and walked up to the man . She pulled the shiny symbols toward herself and meticulously followed his detailed instructions .

For the man or the spectators, the concept of time didn’t exist . Maybe a second passed or maybe a thousand years, no one knows .

"Marvelous! As the first one who succeeded, I shall name you Dmitra ’Mother Nature’ . Do you like it?"

Once given a name, the girl became a woman and the aura around her became stronger, fascinating the rest . Dmitra smiled at the man and retreated to the back, letting the others try as well . They didn’t know what gratefulness or happiness is but the more they listened to the man, the stronger and more sentient they became .

They also chose a different path than Dmitra, they wanted to be unique and distinguishable . An inordinate amount of time passed and, one by one, each of the twelve gained something new and refreshing . The last person was peculiar and the most fascinating because he was the first to talk .

He had two small horns protruding out of his forehead and a light blue skin, a large black cloth was covering the entirety of his body . He faced the man, pointed at a black thing behind him and said:

"What’s that?"

Hearing the young voice, the man was shocked beyond belief and spent some time collecting his thoughts . The boy wasn’t impatient and calmly waited for the man to answer, which he did .

"That’s a shadow . "

*****

Not long after taking down Noktox, the Red Tower declared the end of this short event .

*The required number of contestants have been met . You will shortly be teleported to the 8th floor; ’Hide and Seek’ . "

Arthur and Lucy remained in a party, however, the moment they vanished from the 7th floor, everything was canceled, meaning they can’t join hands for the next task, unfortunately .

Unlike last time, they weren’t put in the Waiting Room but were directly teleported to the 8th floor, which was a world dominated by an eternal obscurity . It seemed ghastly and eerie with the night sky, the dense fog, and the rustling black bushes . Basically, it was a world out of a horror movie, at least that’s what it looked to Arthur .

*On this floor, the hundred contestants will be evenly split into two groups, Seekers and Hiders . Every Seeker will get a piece of paper with the name of his target, and he needs to find it within an hour . For fairness purposes, the Hiders will be given thirty minutes to hide, in the meantime, all the Seekers will not be able to move or see . To proceed to the 9th floor, you must either find your target within the allocated amount of time or never be found .

Any Seeker who finds the contestant Losha Alpenwatcher will proceed directly to the 10th floor and will be awarded 3,500,000 points . Good Luck . *

Arthur felt a piece of paper in his hand so he looked at it . Only a few short words were written but were enough to explain his role . He was a seeker and his target was the Shaman that belonged to Maxine’s team . With his vast arsenal of skills, Arthur shouldn’t have any problem . There’s the Space Bender title which makes him invisible, and that is without counting the Stealth skills obtained from countless thieves .

On the other hand, Lucy was a Hider so she immediately started looking for a secluded and unnoticeable spot . Maxine, ’X’, G’am Tir, and Celes were all hiders whilst Forne, the Void Behemoth, Zodiak, Xyktia, and many others were tasked to seek their targets .

The tower didn’t mention if fights were allowed or if the hiders can escape . Arthur didn’t know if he just needs to find his target or physical contact is necessary, everything was so vague . It would be foolish to just consider it a normal hide and seek game as it’s a floor inside the Red Tower and there’s bound to be things that arise from out of nowhere .

Slowly but surely, thirty minutes quietly passed and, at last, Arthur was able to move and see his surroundings again . Due to the fog, the vision was severely limited and not even his special eyes were able to bypass it .

The first thing Arthur did was enter an isolated dimension with the help of Space Magic, then he transformed into a transparent and ugly creepy . Less than a minute after the countdown started, Arthur was already roaming this ghastly place and looking for the shaman .

He didn’t know how big this place it but considering there are only a hundred contestants, it shouldn’t be as big as the 7th floor, for example .

***

"... Teacher, it’s not a simple hide and seek game, right?"

The Joker laughed while nodding his head:

"Of course not! There’s gotta be something unexpected and thrilling!"

Saly glanced at the monitor and asked: "What’s the unexpected thing?"

In response, he handed the little girl, which she inspected only for it to explode, sending small red fireworks in the air . As she didn’t expect this, Saly fell on her butt, bewildered .

"Surprise surprise! Hahahaha why would I tell you? It’s more fun when you don’t know . "