Sky-Piercing Tower

The base of the Sky-Piercing Tower was two or three kilometers across, nearly as large as a small town. To prevent monsters from escaping, the Empire had built several layers of defensive fortifications around the tower, creating a massive concentric fortress. Besides the garrisoned soldiers, there were also branches of various guilds and associations inside.

After centuries of development, the area had attracted not only official institutions but also many private businesses selling weapons, equipment, food, and potions, while purchasing materials and treasures dropped by monsters inside the tower from mercenaries. These merchants had gathered around the outer edge of the fortress, forming a huge marketplace. Thanks to the large number of mercenaries entering and leaving the Sky-Piercing Tower every day, business was booming, and the place looked exceptionally prosperous.

Using the certificate issued by the guild, the two entered the fortress without trouble. They first stopped by the local Mercenary Guild branch to see whether there were any available missions.

The forty-ninth floor had already been conquered, so the most important task was naturally to conquer the Fiftieth Floor. But such a mission would never be posted on the guild's board, much less handed over to B-rank mercenaries like them.

After looking around, they found that most of the missions involved maintaining floors that had already been conquered—for example, clearing monsters, gathering materials, and helping construct facilities.

With the intention of familiarizing themselves with the place, they casually accepted several missions with decent-looking rewards. Leaving the guild branch, they passed through layer after layer of city walls and finally arrived at the foot of the Sky-Piercing Tower.

"So this is the great door of the Sky-Piercing Tower?" Standing before it, they looked up at the enormous gate, more than a dozen stories tall, and could not help sighing. "It's