Chapter 23: Existence
Mike looked at Silva with a frown. He stood up and drew his sword, getting into a stance, inviting Silva to fight.
Silva knew that if he showed Mike any mercy, Mike would take it as disrespect, which would fuel the flames even more.
Personally, Silva had no issues with that, but he wanted to respect Quin, who set this duel. He took out a random sword from his inventory and got up.
Mike saw the sword Silva was holding and frowned.
"Don't play with me. I know you have a better sword. Am I not worth it?" Mike asked.
Silva let out a sigh and took out the Chimera's stinger, getting into his stance as well.
"Alright, fight," Quin began the duel.
Mike wasted no time; he charged as fast as he could, going straight for Silva's head. He slashed at Silva with full intent to kill.
Silva got pissed at the fact that Mike was trying to kill him. He stepped forward, parried the attack, and grabbed Mike by the collar, throwing him against the wall.
The scene shocked everyone; they didn't expect things to take this turn.
"What the hell are you doing, Mike? You went for the kill, filled with killing intent," Silva asked.
Mike didn't say anything; he just got up and charged at Silva again. He went with an upward slash. Silva took a step back, and the sword passed just barely. He then went in with his own slash, so fast that Mike could not react.
Silva stopped the sword an inch away from Mike's neck and then withdrew his sword to take another fighting stance.
Mike got far more pissed at the fact that Silva could have won but refused to. He felt a burning rage in his chest.
Silva looked at Mike as he fumed, and a thought came to his mind.
'Why did it get this way? What made it so that we can't be brothers? Quin accepted me, Lia did, but Mike refused, and now the rift between us can't be fixed by an apology.
If this goes on like this, Mike and I may never see eye to eye. Still, I have to show him full respect and respond to his hate. Since he wants me to show him my strength, I will.'
All of a sudden, everything seemed to become slow and calm for Silva. He could see the movements of Mike in slow motion.
[Sword Skill: Calm Seas has been activated.]
Silva activated a skill that he had bought and learned, a sword skill that made the world calm like a sea before the storm.
The first phase was the calm, the moment when he would make all the decisions he needed to make, and after that was the storm.
The period of calm passed, and the storm came. Silva stepped forward like a mighty wave, and in one downward slash, his sword collided with Mike's, shattering it and sending Mike flying and slamming against the wall, leaving a crack.
Mike fell unconscious from the impact before he even reached the ground. Silva looked at Mike lying there and bowed his head.
'It's not your fault, Mike. You are a very good swordsman and very dedicated, but you kept choosing me to be your enemy.
I wish I could tell you, but my life is basically a cheat code. Making me your enemy would make you seem inferior no matter what you do.
Still, I am not ready to allow your actions to go. Whatever you bring, I'll double it and hit you back.'
The group waited for Mike to wake up. After that, they fed him a potion. It belonged to Silva, but he asked that they didn't tell Mike it was from him.
A normal person would be happy to get a potion to heal up, but Mike would take it as spite.
After Mike woke up and healed, he didn't utter another word until it was time for them to get going. He didn't even glance at Silva; he kept his eyes forward.
As they went, Silva didn't know why, but the energy he felt from the first floor was getting stronger and stronger.
A while later, they made it to another giant hole, which they presumed was the path to the third floor. They were all in top condition, so they went in.
When they got to the third floor, the pungent smell of blood and rotten corpses filled their noses.
The group moved forward quickly and saw the bodies of a party of six on the floor, decaying.
"This doesn't make sense," Quin said, his eyes trembling as he looked at the sight. He had seen dead people before, but the sight was still not pleasant.
The others basically had the same look and expression as Quin, with Roxy being the most panicked.
Silva, on the other hand, wasn't shaken. Ever since the dragon legacy awakened, his emotions were kept in check by the legacy.
A dragon would not flinch at the sight of death, and so that was subconsciously engraved into him, making him immune to this sort of thing.
He walked up to the bodies and bent down. The smell hit him harder down there, but he didn't care.
"Quin, you noticed that they are all rotten to a large degree, right?" Silva asked.
"Yeah, that's why I said it doesn't make sense. The labyrinth has been open for just a day or so. If you died, you shouldn't be this decayed.
Aside from that, when you die in the labyrinth, your body is supposed to disappear, but they didn't disappear and even started decaying," Quin said.
"Exactly. I am not sure, but I think they were no longer categorized as living beings before they died.
No, that would not make sense. There are labyrinths with undead, and the Chimera I fought didn't have a soul.
The only thing that I think is possible is that their existence was eaten up by something," Silva said. This was the power of a 250 intelligence stat; he was deducing at a crazy speed.
"What do you mean their existence was eaten up?" Quin asked.
"We are about to find out," Silva said, looking in a certain direction.
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone