Clearing the first floor

"Muma!"

The lead Misdreavus cried out and was about to retreat, but Agumon had already planted his feet against the ceiling and charged toward them upside down. With no time to react, the Misdreavus could only abandon its companions and retreat alone.

Qingliu was a little surprised that one of them had reacted so quickly, but he kept issuing orders.

"Agumon, use Pepper Breath on the Misdreavus to your left and right."

Before he had finished speaking, two fireballs shot out.

The two Misdreavus that had reacted a beat too late were instantly swallowed by fireballs and smoke. They flew backward with pained expressions, clearly having taken heavy damage.

"Agumon, finish them off. Don't stop."

They had finally seized an opening by using the corner of the room. Qingliu wasn't satisfied with merely injuring their opponents instead of defeating them.

As Agumon flipped backward and fell toward the floor, he forced his head up and fired a continuous stream of fireballs at the two Misdreavus he had just hit with Pepper Breath.

"Muma..."

With two cries of pain, the Misdreavus fell out of the air before they could react.

Just before hitting the floor, Agumon twisted his body and managed a reasonably steady landing.

At that moment, the Misdreavus that had fled suddenly appeared in front of Agumon. As he raised his head, an enormous, pitch-black gaze that seemed to spin endlessly and steal the soul filled his vision.

The Normal-type move, Mean Look.

By fixing its target with a soul-piercing gaze, it instilled fear and prevented them from fleeing.

For Misdreavus, this was its most crucial and powerful move. Once it landed successfully and the pressure left its opponent too afraid to run, the seed of fear had been planted. From there, the battle would gradually fall into its rhythm.

But to its surprise, the yellow Pokémon caught in its Mean Look showed no reaction at all. Instead, he swung a claw straight at it, frightening it into dodging frantically.

It was one thing for ordinary scares and Astonish to fail, but now even Mean Look had no effect whatsoever?

Misdreavus began to question its entire existence.

But Qingliu was a gentle person. He wouldn't give Misdreavus time to doubt itself, and immediately ordered Agumon to attack while he had the chance.

Another Pepper Breath shot out, breaking through Misdreavus's hastily unleashed Confusion and slamming into its body. A volley of ten more Pepper Breaths followed immediately, knocking it out completely.

After confirming that his opponent wasn't pretending to be unconscious, Agumon crouched down and poked Misdreavus's body with a claw.

"Qingliu, it really isn't a ghost! It's a Pokémon with a physical body."

"I told you that ages ago."

Still, knowing was one thing. This was Qingliu's first time seeing an actual Ghost-type Pokémon, and it was a rather cute Misdreavus at that.

Unable to contain his curiosity either, Qingliu came over and reached out to feel Misdreavus's solid body.

Before Qingliu could spend much time exploring the sensation, however, Agumon suddenly stood up. He remained still as a powerful aura gradually emerged around him.

Something occurred to Qingliu, and he quickly opened the panel.

[Level] Level 15 → Level 16

After defeating two level 16 Zubat, two level 16 Misdreavus, and one level 17 Misdreavus, Agumon had successfully reached level 16 and was charging straight toward level 17.

"This really is a faster way to level up."

Qingliu spoke with a touch of wonder.

Less than half a day after reaching level 15, Agumon had leveled up again. That pace made Qingliu even more interested in the second and third floors of the Lost Tower.

With each floor they climbed, the Pokémon inside grew stronger. Winning battles would yield more experience, and Agumon would level up faster.

Although Agumon's current strength might not be enough to defeat the Pokémon on the fourth and fifth floors, they still had a decent chance on the second and third.

"But we can't get careless."

Even if Agumon's courage countered Misdreavus, its level had still been higher. Ghost-type Pokémon also possessed strange traits that made them harder to deal with than Pokémon of other types. They had to stay alert at all times.

Qingliu walked to the passage in the middle of the floor and scanned the surroundings with his panel. After confirming that no remaining Pokémon could launch a surprise attack, he glanced up at the surveillance camera overhead, recalled Agumon into his Poké Ball, and headed toward the second floor.

Meanwhile, outside the Lost Tower.

Nearly half an hour had passed without any sign of activity inside the Lost Tower. As the Town Mayor waited, his expression had gradually shifted from impatience to anticipation, then back to impatience again.

"How long has he been in there?"

The assistant beside him hurriedly checked his watch and replied, "Twenty minutes."

"What's the longest anyone stayed inside before?"

"The average for the first floor is around sixteen minutes. Those who can clear it have usually done so by then, and those who can't usually lose around that time too. That's because the strongest Pokémon on the first floor is a Misdreavus that specializes in tormenting people and absorbing negative emotions to strengthen itself," the assistant promptly replied.

"In other words, we can already consider his challenge a failure?"

"Yes. Based on past experience, not a single trainer who went beyond sixteen minutes and stayed for around eighteen minutes succeeded."

"So he wasted twenty minutes of my time."

After saying this without any change in his tone, the Town Mayor sat down expressionlessly.

Knowing the Town Mayor's temperament, the assistant realized that, after the failures of the past few days and this latest setback, he was on the verge of exploding. The assistant unconsciously straightened his back and prepared to slip over to the reporters and tell them to show some sense later, rather than disrupt Miss Candice's focus before her challenge.

If Miss Candice failed as well after they had wasted twenty minutes waiting, the Town Mayor wouldn't say anything in public, but he would definitely fly into a rage once he got back. When that happened, none of the town's public employees would have an easy time.

A few reporters who had finished asking Candice questions also noticed how much time had passed without Qingliu emerging. Having learned over the past few days that the longer someone stayed inside, the lower their chances of success, they all sighed.

Even though they hadn't held out any hope for Qingliu, they had still longed for a miracle to salvage their news reports.

But now it seemed that miracle wasn't going to happen. They could only pin their last hopes on Candice.

Having finished answering the reporters' questions, Candice also looked toward the Lost Tower with unease.

"With Qingliu and Agumon's strength, clearing the first floor shouldn't be a problem. Why has there been no sign of them after so long?"

As someone who had challenged the Lost Tower herself, Candice naturally knew about the unwritten rule concerning the time spent inside. That was precisely why she was even more worried.

"Could something unexpected have happened because it's their first time inside?"

As the seconds and minutes continued to pass without Qingliu appearing on the stairwell's surveillance feed, Candice couldn't help sighing too.

The reporters who had finished their interviews were discussing whether to leave, while the Town Mayor was growing increasingly agitated. He had even begun to worry that something had happened to Qingliu and was preparing to organize a group to go inside and check.

Then Qingliu appeared on the surveillance feed at the stairway entrance.