System: Daily login!!, jackpot on the first day!!!

#A/N - "This "Infinite Tower" was a grave mistake, I'm not ready and lack data to write a chapter, my brain is not brained for the past five days, and have to do a lot of research on anything "Tower" themed, but the story must continue so, well~ we'll see how this story will continue"

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After securing the second rune from the Wolfpack Alpha, the party pushed northward, toward the overgrown heart of Verdant Hollow, where the Sprite Swarm Matron awaited. This final key would unlock the gateway to the next floor of the Infinite Tower.

The air changed as they moved deeper into the forest.

It grew thick, cloying, too sweet, like overripe fruit left to ferment under a swollen sun. Golden pollen drifted lazily through the air, falling like a luminous mist that clung to their clothes and skin.

Each breath felt strange, too warm, too fragrant, like it wasn't meant for lungs.

The forest around them pulsed with unnatural life. Vines shifted when no one touched them. Trees swayed without wind, their trunks expanding and contracting as if breathing, alive, and watching.

"This forest…" Daniel muttered, his voice barely above a whisper. He tightened his grip on his cross-sword, knuckles whitening. "Something's not right…"

"Be careful," Caldwell warned, eyes scanning the foliage, hand on the hilt of his dagger. "We're already inside their territory. They could come at any-"

A sharp click.

Then a whistle.

A skittering rustle from all directions, like dry leaves scurrying across stone.

Then came the hum.

"Above!" shouted Asahi.

From the canopy, they descended.

Sprites, once gentle guardians of the Verdant Hollow, now twisted into something feral. They dropped like a storm of green fireflies, wings sharp as needles, bodies distorted by corruption. What once might have been delicate sylvan creatures were now snarling, insectile horrors. Their eyes glowed sickly amber or green, leaking motes of mana like diseased lanterns.

Their limbs were jagged with thorn and bark. Some wore armor shaped from curled leaves and chitin, while others wielded stingers or barbed vines like whips. They hissed and clicked in unison, their swarming movements dizzying, relentless.

Dozens, no, hundreds, encircled the party in a spiraling formation, a living tempest of wings and poison.

"Shit," Caldwell muttered under his breath, his grip tightening on the hilt of his Excalibur. His werewolf instincts kicked in like a sixth sense. One glance at the swarm, and he knew.

This time, they were in real trouble.

"…Rijal, buy us some time!"

He didn't have to ask twice. Rijal had already begun chanting.

"... Sphera Vorlun, Ascendat!"

Light erupted beneath his feet. An ethereal, translucent sphere shimmered into existence, expanding rapidly into a glowing semicircle that enveloped the group in a radiant barrier. Its surface rippled like a soap bubble but held firm against the first barrage of sprites that slammed against it with shrieks of frustration.

"Thirty seconds!" Rijal shouted, sweat already forming on his brow. "I can only hold it for thirty seconds!!"

"It's good en-"

"Caldwell!" Daniel cut in, urgency sharp in his voice. "I have a way out. I was saving this move… for Taufik. But right now-" He looked up at the hundreds of sprites clawing against the barrier. "I don't have a choice"

"That's a good thing," Reza said, his body flaring with visible Aura as it sheathed both him and his blade in radiant energy. "Is there anything we can do?"

"Just buy me time," Daniel replied, stepping forward and planting his cross-shaped sword into the ground. His eyes flared with inner resolve.

"How much time exactly?" Asahi asked, already with his katana drawn and Mana wings extending from his back in a shimmer of blue light.

"As much as you can give me"

Caldwell turned toward Daniel, scanning his eyes for even a flicker of doubt. He found none. That was enough.

"Then we hold the line," Caldwell growled. "Everyone... protect Daniel with everything you've got!"

"Ten seconds!" Rijal yelled, his voice straining from the mana expenditure.

The three warriors stepped forward in sync, Caldwell, Reza, and Asahi, each taking a position between Daniel and the barrier's edge.

The sprites, sensing something was happening, grew more frenzied. Their screeches sharpened, claws and thorns hammering against the sphere.

"Six... Five... Four..." Rijal counted down, veins pulsing with light.

Reza's aura flared brighter. Asahi crouched low, his wings twitching. Caldwell exhaled slowly, eyes glowing gold.

"Three... Two... Now!"

The barrier burst like shattered glass... And hell descended..

Sprites poured in like a living storm, buzzing, chittering, screaming in warped tones. Razor-thin wings sliced the air, and thorned claws reached for flesh.

Caldwell was the first to meet them, his Excalibur cleaving through a trio in one wide arc, light flashing from the silver blade.

With every swing of his Excalibur, ten or more spirits froze in midair, fell, and then shattered.

Reza was already mid-strike, his aura flaring like a second sun, incinerating every sprite that dared to come close.

Asahi zipped between the gaps, his mana-wings carrying him in weaving arcs as his katana sliced in precise, surgical movements.

But it was endless.

They killed ten, twenty, still more came.

Behind them, Daniel remained still, one hand on his cross-shaped sword buried in the earth, his eyes closed, lips moving in silent preparation.

Holy power coiled around him like mist, golden threads binding the air, weaving runes that flickered across the ground in a widening circle.

"Daniel!" Reza shouted, blade locked with a sprite larger than the rest, its bark armor reinforced and eyes glowing red. "Whatever you're doing... do it now!"

Daniel opened his eyes.

They shone with a brilliant light.

He took a breath and raised his hand.

Then he spoke, his voice like thunder clothed in calm:

"By the blood of the covenant and the breath of the divine~

I call forth light eternal, to claim this earth in truth~

Let shadow retreat, let sin recoil, let evil be unmade~

Let the stars bear witness, and the winds remember~

This ground shall know no blight, no curse, no foul dominion~

From this moment forth, all that is wicked shall tremble~

For I declare, in the name of the Most High,

This soil to be sanctified, this land to be pure,

This circle… to be made Holy Ground!"

The ground beneath their feet ignited, not with flame, but with radiant light.

A blinding surge exploded outward from Daniel's sword, tearing through the underbrush and roots like divine fire. Ancient sigils erupted from the earth in brilliant gold, weaving into a massive glyph-circle that expanded outward in a pulse of holy energy.

The sprites screamed.

Those within the circle burned, dissolving into particles of corrupted mana, their twisted bodies unable to withstand the sanctity of the field. Others halted mid-flight, their wings scorched, their forms unraveling.

The forest itself responded, the breathing trees fell silent, the twitching vines recoiled as if in fear. Even the golden pollen in the air scattered, fleeing the radiant purge.

For a moment, time seemed to hold its breath.

Then-

*BOOM!*

A wave of force blasted outward, knocking back any surviving sprites outside the perimeter.

The circle glowed beneath them now, "Holy Ground," radiating a protective aura. No corruption could cross it. No shadow could remain inside.

The party stood at its center, ragged but alive. The battlefield was no longer theirs alone.

It was sacred.

"Fuck! It's hot!" Caldwell shouted, flinching as his skin began to sear and smoke, his fur reacting violently to the overwhelming energy flooding the air.

"Caldwell! Shift back... now!" Daniel called out without looking. His voice carried the weight of authority, bolstered by the Divine magic pulsing from the very ground. "This Domain… I created it specifically to counter Taufik. He's a vampire. You're a werewolf. It'll burn you too if you stay transformed"

"You could've told me that earlier!" Caldwell snapped, already beginning to shift. His body twisted and shrank, fur vanishing in a ripple as he forced himself back into his human form, chest heaving from the effort.

As he did, the Holy Ground fully locked into place. The circle completed. The air itself shimmered with righteous fury, thick with radiant energy so potent it hummed through the bones. Every breath the party took tasted of light. Like breathing in the sky itself.

Daniel exhaled, long and slow, letting the power flow deeper into his body.

He reached down.

*SCHNK!*

... And pulled his cross-sword from the earth.

A shockwave of Holy Power burst outward again, cracking the ground beneath him, shaking leaves from the corrupted canopy. The light intensified for a heartbeat, and then steadied, glorious, oppressive, divine.

He stepped forward once.

The remaining ferocious sprites, those who had barely survived, froze in mid-air. Their wings twitched but did not flap. Their glowing eyes widened with something they had never known:

Fear.

"…In my Holy Ground, no impure creature may set foot," Daniel declared, his voice low but resolute. It wasn't just a statement. It was the law. A divine proclamation.

Then-

From the air itself, they formed.

Glowing crosses, forged entirely from condensed Holy Power began to manifest, one after another, floating in the air around Daniel like radiant weapons of judgment.

Each one pulsed with power, their outlines sharp and impossibly bright. They hovered in perfect stillness, humming like bells made of light.

The sprites shrieked, trying to scatter-

Too late.

With a flick of Daniel's hand.

*FWOOOOOSH!*

The crosses launched, streaking through the air like divine spears, piercing through the corrupted sprites mid-flight. One by one, they disintegrated into harmless particles of mana, cleansed and unmade.

Silence fell once more. The forest quivered.

The battlefield was no longer contested.

It belonged to Daniel.

....

...

..

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