Ashley

  One round after another, I gradually decrease the total number of ‘health’ points the boss has. Or rather, the blue number above its head that I’m calling its health.

  Meanwhile the jury members and enforcers increase in number the lower the number above the Judge’s head is.

  All the way until I get the blue number down to zero.

  Then I wait a few seconds, only for the Judge to suddenly declare that the next court case is about to begin. Continuing the process despite the number being at zero.

  My eyes narrow.

  Wait, so do I have to kill the Judge myself? I don’t have to just decrease that number?

  I stare at the Judge and the jury enforcers and members for a few seconds before deciding to go through one more round just in case. Of which I manage to get the Judge’s number reduced by two more points.

  Making the blue zero turn into a red two.

  Interesting…

  I go ahead and try attacking the Judge now that the number is red. Only for the scales to suddenly gain sooo many points that it makes me grit my teeth until my teeth crack. Even if said teeth heal immediately.

  That said, the Judge doesn’t immediately heal from my attack.

  So the number above the boss’ head really is like its health…

  The higher the blue number, the higher its regeneration.

  Actually, even after watching for a little while, the Judge still doesn’t heal. At all.

  The wounds seem to be growing worse in fact.

  So the red number represents a negative regeneration? Or something like that.

  I frown at that thought before going ahead and running through that annoying little game again. But thanks to attacking the boss right away, I end up with a score that is actually losing out a little bit.

  Adding one red point to the boss’ number. Which decreases it from red two to red one. Bringing it back closer to the blue area.

  Which is kind of inversed, but whatever.

  I make up for the loss in the next few rounds as I gradually decrease the boss’ score bit by bit.

  All the way until it reaches red fifty. Then I change my strategy.

  Instead of just playing the Judge’s little game, I play it until I decrease the number of jury members down to one. Then I attack the Judge. Increasing the red points on the scale by a single point instead of the dozens of points it would’ve been at during the start of the game.

  I completely ignore the attacks from the jury enforcers since they’re too weak at this point to harm me as I focus on repeatedly attacking the Judge. Gradually weakening him bit by bit until the score on the scales is almost even.

  Then I finish off the last jury member and proceed to finish this round of the game while the boss is bleeding rather heavily.

  That doesn’t stop the Judge from slamming that hammer on the counter though. Even if his announcement of the next ‘court case’ is filled with coughing and blood splatter.

  Yeah, I think this’ll do.

  With that thought, I go ahead and repeat the process over and over again.

  Clearing most of the Judge’s little game before attacking the Judge until the score is almost even. Then repeating the process as many times as it takes to bring the Judge to his end.

  At which point I see the expected message from the System appearing in my vision.

  To all the participants of the quest, Court of Order, the quest has been updated!

  Court of Order

  Floors of the System Tower will vary depending on your total point score when arriving at them.

  Objective 1: Kill the Judge.

  Objective 2: Kill all monsters within the Court.

  Objective 3: Kill all Jury Enforcers within the Court.

  Objective 4: Find the Jewel of Order.

  Objective 5: Survive for 12 hours within the Court of Order.

  Nice. The boss is dead.

  After finishing off the Judge and reading the message, I go ahead and kill off the remaining jury members and enforcers in the court room. At which point I get another message from the System.

  Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.

  To all the participants of the quest, Court of Order, the quest has been updated!

  Court of Order

  Floors of the System Tower will vary depending on your total point score when arriving at them.

  Objective 1: Kill the Judge.

  Objective 2: Kill all monsters within the Court.

  Objective 3: Kill all Jury Enforcers within the Court.

  Objective 4: Find the Jewel of Order.

  Objective 5: Survive for 12 hours within the Court of Order.

  Huh. So that was the last of the monsters?

  What’s with the Jewel of Order then?

  I purse my lips at the thought before shrugging and beginning to walk around the court room in search of it. Only to notice something sparkling from where the Judge was sitting.

  So I walk behind the Judge’s counter to find a light shining from the Judge’s pocket.

  “Don’t mind me,” I mutter while sticking my hand into the Judge’s pocket and proceeding to find a glowing jewel in it.

  Then the System Message updates again while announcing the completion of Order’s Domain.

  Then the point calculation comes next.

  Okay then. So I apparently didn’t complete it in the first Tier time limit.

  That’s kind of annoying, but it doesn’t really matter much at the end of the day.

  Not when I’ve already got more points than I need to face the Final Boss.

  I just wish I could’ve gotten a perfect score on everything.

  But this makes sense considering how long it took me to complete those chess games.

  Well, whatever. I soon find myself reappearing in the next wait room. Only to wait for a little while inside of the waiting room before entering the next Primordial Domain once my energy is fully recovered.

  At which point I find the next message playing out in my vision. One that has me grimacing because of who exactly the Primordial in charge of the Domain I’m in is.

  Hell of Sin

  You have entered the System Tower’s fourth Domain. The following objectives have been unlocked.

  Complete objective 1 or all of the objectives to conquer the third Domain.

  Complete 1 or more objective to leave the third Domain.

  All objectives will give an unspecified number of points towards your final System Tower score.

  Floors of the System Tower will vary depending on your total point score when arriving at them.

  Objective 1: Kill the Demon Overlord.

  Objective 2: Kill all monsters within the Hell.

  Objective 3: Kill all demons within the Hell.

  Objective 4: Find the Jewel of Sin.

  Objective 5: Survive for 24 hours within the Hell of Sin.

  The next Primordial’s Domain I’m up against is Erebos’s Sin Domain.

  As for my surroundings?

  I find myself in, what is quite simply, hell.

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