Olivia had been stuck on this challenge for the last few months. Every death was caused precisely by those long ranged monsters. It was either an arrow through the back, or a fireball to the face. Olivia was a quick learner, and soon realized the trick to the floor. Stay on your feet. If you kept moving, it became harder for long ranged attacks to hit.

That was her strategy for the past few months. Even so, she had yet to beat it. Running around allowed her to survive longer, but it quickly exhausted her.

Only in the last three weeks had she once again began to progress. Her movements had become quicker and her attacks sharper. It was only to a small degree, but it allowed her to kill a few more monsters. All of it was due to her training with Jason. From him, she learned a core element to battle: conserving stamina.

At long last, she finally caught sight of her ultimate goal. She saw the wall that was the three realms. It was still foggy, but it left her exhilarated. Olivia knew that once she perfected control over her body, she would be at the border of the first realm.

Unlike Jason and Roy, Olivia barely focused on her kingdom. She instead spent all of her time in the colosseum challenging the fifth floor. To her, the kingdom building floor didn't offer her anything valuable. Strength was what she sought. And for that, she'd fight, and fight, and fight.

That was exactly what she did. For the past three weeks, she had challenged the fifth floor over a hundred times. Each time she fought to her fullest, seeking perfection. Slowly but surely, she inched ever closer.

Olivia glanced at her stamina and frowned. It was empty. Once again she was out of gas. I'm still wasting stamina. She reviewed the battle and already found several moments where she wasted too much movement. Exhausted but still aware, she habitually tilted her head to dodge an arrow.

Olivia gasped for breath as she glanced around, but her vision was blurry. Only when she strained her eyes did she gasp. Shockingly, there were only three monsters left. Two goblins, one of them an archer, and one orc.

The archer was actually out of arrows, so it was basically useless. The other goblin was missing a leg. It crawled along the ground, slowly making its way over to Olivia. The biggest threat was the orc. Or so she thought. Only after her vision grew clear did she realize that the orc's eyes were missing. By the looks of it, a fireball from one of the goblin mages had accidentally collided into its face.

Olivia's heart shook. As she realized the state of her enemies, a thought entered her mind. I can win! For the first time, an opportunity to beat the fifth challenge appeared. She stepped forward, only to stagger and nearly fall to the ground. Her legs felt like jelly. They could barely support her weight.

Her iron will kicked into motion. As if it was an emperor, it commanded her muscles to move. They twitched and moaned, but the emperor's command was absolute. It could not be disobeyed. Step after step she grew closer to the crawling goblin. She looked down at it, a grin tugging at her lips. Victory is mine.

The goblin seemed to understand what she meant. Enraged, it swung its sword at her ankle. With a simple kick, the sword was sent flying. That was the last straw. Olivia's legs collapsed, utterly exhausted. As if expecting this, she fell forward and used the momentum to shove her daggers into the goblin's back. It cried pitifully before dispersing into light.

Once more her will reached out, but no longer did her legs respond. They had already been pushed past their limits. Olivia glanced over at the blind orc and sighed with relief. It was swinging blindly at the air. It was no threat to her. That only leaves the-

A high pierced shriek interrupted her train of thought. She swirled her head to the left and found the goblin archer sprinting towards her. Olivia could only lay there, powerless. The goblin pounced onto her, its hands clasping her throat.

Olivia tried to raise her dagger, but it felt like it weighed a thousand pounds. The goblin screamed, saliva covering Olivia's face. The last of the air in her lungs was used up. What came next was a pain so unbearable most would have cried out. Olivia clenched her teeth in defiance. It was futile. As the seconds pa.s.sed, her vision grew dark. Am I going to die here, when I'm so close?

The goblin laughed gleefully, but even that could now barely be heard. Just as her consciousness was about to go dark, her father's voice echoed in her mind, taunting her. Are you giving up? I expected as much.

Her broken will, exhausted from the long battle, started to move. The broken pieces came together, their bond growing stronger than before. It was being refined. The more you beat her down, the stronger she would push back. That was the quintessence that was Olivia.

Even so, not matter how strong her soul, her will could not overcome reality. She could no longer see, hear, or feel. But that didn't matter. She knew where the goblin was. It was on her chest, choking her. That was all she needed.

Her dagger moved, slicing across where she thought the goblin's eyes were. Instantly, a flood of air entered her lungs. Her hearing came back, followed by her sense of touch. Last was her vision. She found the goblin clutching its face on the ground next to her.

Olivia struggled to her feet and looked down at it. She was grateful that it had no weapon. If it hadn't spent the last minute choking her, she wouldn't have regenerated enough stamina to turn the tide. This was probably the closest she had ever been to death. She s.h.i.+vered. Even though she knew she would be revived, it certainly didn't feel that way when she was on death's door.

With the two monsters blinded, Olivia backed off and recovered. When she regenerated enough stamina, she easily finished them off.

A ten second timer appeared which quickly hit zero. Olivia prepared for the next challenge, but when she saw the monsters that sp.a.w.ned, she chuckled bitterly. It just keeps getting harder, huh?

Twenty goblins and twenty orcs. That was twice as much as the last round. Considering she had barely any stamina, this battle would be futile, but the thought of giving up disgusted her. It just wasn't in her nature.

She kicked off the ground and charged forward.