Chapter Seventeen

Sun streamed down, piercing the few gaps in the heavy canopy of the jungle trees and casting bright white dots across the bodies in the clearing. Blood and ichor spattered the plants and added to the humid environment with a thick stench of death. A distant bird shrieked, and the man in the centre of the clearing smiled and opened his eyes. A moments’ meditation over, the man turned slowly around the area and looked at his handiwork. Big, deep slashes and gouges covered the corpses, a few piercing wounds with visible burns around them, and one had even been split fully in two by a particularly powerful attack. A grin broke out across Will’s face, and without a second look at the half-dozen Feral Apes he just slaughtered, he turned and walked back towards the entrance to the Zone.

He’d spent three days in this Zone, three days uselessly searching for Mira. Though he’d still had no more success tracking the woman, his gains had made up for it. He was already at 4025 Tower Coins, well on pace to doubling his total by the end of the week, and now he’d managed to upgrade Sharpen his damage had increased significantly. It wasn’t just that the Spell was more powerful, it was that it lasted longer and drained less of his Mana, meaning he could pump even more into Alacrity and keep his dodging up. All 4 of his Physical Stats had finally pushed past 20, and Conditioning [F] had become Tough Conditioning [E]. As he cut through the brush and took the familiar trek back to the spawn area, he reminded himself that the swords were still up for sale in the Store that morning, though there were fewer other items in the Valuables section, suggesting that more were reaching the point of affording the pricey rewards and furthering his commitment to buying the swords before leaving the Tower.

He entered the safe area, passing through the gate with a tired yawn, and laughed at the sound which greeted him. Brunjar, Dolf and the rest of their crew were stood on the Spawn Platform with their arms interlinked and a crowd of other cheering Climbers as they serenaded the Floor with their rendition of Christmas carols. As the group were all from various Eastern European nations, they had slightly different celebrations and traditions to Will himself, but over the last 3 days as Christmas approached they’d made clear that they planned to spend the day turning the section of the spawn area they’d made a community within to a party-zone.

Not all the Climbers on the Floor had stayed for the day, most going home to see family or similar, but those that did were the hard-core. He’d already spotted a dozen or more people he recognised from the first timeline, though nobody he felt it necessary to do more than engage in polite conversation with. One of those hard-core Climbers, the one he’d bothered returning to the spawn area for when he still had the energy for another few hours of training, was Dane. Shorter than Will expected, the Canadian man had a thick bushy beard and made up for his 5’7 height with dense bulging muscles that rippled beneath soft leather armour.

“Nice to finally meet you. Brunjar says you’ve been passing on a lot of useful information since you got to the Floor, so thanks for that.”

Dane showed Will to the table in his safe shack, gesturing to a keg of ale that he’d purchased from the Store and a pair of mugs. He smiled and inclined his head in thanks, pouring himself a draught and taking a swig. Though he hadn’t been a big drinker, wanting to save his Coins had ensured a diet of nothing but water and basic rations, so a treat on Christmas Day was always welcome.

“Same to you, I hear you’re the closest thing to an expert on the Floor we have. It was Unk who recommended you actually, when I told him what I was looking for.”

The bearded man chuckled and poured himself a drink.

“Well, as much as anyone can be an expert on this place after a few months. Me and my boys have all been in-and-out of the Tower for about as long as anyone’s known it existed, far as we can tell. Still no clue how to leave the Floor though, if that’s what you’re asking. Haven’t caught hide nor hair of a Key yet.”

Luckily, Will hadn’t come to ask the man about that particular question. He already knew how to get the Key, and though he wouldn’t be able to do it alone, he had a plan already building for the day he took on that challenge. No, as he’d mentioned to Unk, he came for information about the “Scream Queen”.

“Yeah, I’ve heard the stories. Why you after her?”

Much as Will had become quite adept at on-the-spot justifying where all of his tips and tricks came from to the other Climbers he shared them with, he’d already figured out his answer to this question days ago.

“This Tower’s an opportunity for Humanity to grow and unite, I’ve got no time for those who try to prevent that. Competition’s one thing, but murder? If I can stop it, I will.”

That set Dane’s eyebrows to raising, and he regarded Will with a different expression than his initial friendly guise.

“I can respect that, you know? No cops here, I guess. Gotta be our own protection.”

Though his answer did seem to have secured Dane as an ally going forwards, the man was frustratingly ignorant about Mira’s activities. He did help Will narrow her likely area to the eastern half of Zone 2, based on a second-hand report of a sighting one of his party members’ reported, but otherwise could do little but promise to keep an eye out.

They swapped a few more stories and pieces of information, just little things like spawn locations or insight into an Item or Skill they’d come across, and Will even gave Dane two of the five vials of Forest Born Bloodline Elixir for 1500 Coins. That was a great deal, even if Dane wasn’t quite aware of how much, but making long-term allies was more than worth parting with the easily replaced vials. He did advise Dane to be careful, warning him of the Bloodline’s weaknesses, claiming to have learned of the vials’ location from another Climber who’d used one. He’d waved it off though, saying he had two allies who it would be perfect for.

Will had shrugged. It wouldn’t cripple them, and for all he knew they actually would benefit from it in a way Luke never could. Some Bloodlines had that option, and it wasn’t as if Luke would have had the talent to discover it.

Either way, their conversation concluded and Will returned to his shack for the evening. He did join in the festivities for an hour or two, but he was honestly more interested in getting back into the Zone and continuing his training/search for Mira. Waking up the next morning, he looked at his Sheet with a smile. Just 1000 more Coins for his swords. At this point, he was resigned to having to catch Mira on the 28th when she went for her next kill, but he was planning on being more than ready to take her on when that day came.

He started hacking through the jungle, taking an eastward direction just in case he did manage to spot her, and hummed a soft tune under his breath. Somewhat removed from the early panic and weakness, he was beginning to feel a lot less rushed in his activities and the Climb had become enjoyable again. He wondered, as he stopped to dart in and slit the throat of a pair of Vicious Chimps before they could start screeching and attracting other beasts, if Daphne and Unk were done with the Hidden Event yet. They entered two days earlier, and it shouldn’t take them much longer. He hoped they’d made it through, and with his hint about its’ mechanics he was confident they were capable of clearing the thing. He’d have to see if they returned to the spawn area anytime before he left the Tower.

Noting that the chimps had given him fewer than 10 Coins, he tutted in irritation. Not only was he over-levelled for them, but he’d killed enough that their drops had started to be reduced. The same effect, though less dramatic, covered most of the beasts in this Zone after his 3 days of furious combat.

“Where to get 1k Coins quick in Zone 2...Hmm…”

Inspiration struck. He looked up at the sky and then around at his area, and started making calculations. From the basic map of the Zone Dane had somehow acquired and Will’s own memory of the place, if he headed north for about 20 minutes he’d be in the territory of a Roaming Boss. One Will knew the trigger for, and should be able to handle without dying in the process.

Decision made, he picked up his pace and headed straight for the Waterfall of the River Wolf.

The River Wolf was a bigger threat than anything he’d fought yet, even the Ogre that had nearly killed him back on Floor 1. About twice the size of a regular wolf, coated in slick wet fur and surging from the waters in response to Will stepping inside, it lunged straight for the kill with wicked speed. Still, Will was able to nimbly avoid any of its’ charges and wear it down with quick slashes from his scimitar. Annoyingly, his dagger’s passive wouldn’t work on the beast, so he stuck to the single sword for this fight. Though the creature had a decent pool of health to work with and managed to land a few good bites onto Will’s limbs, he was enjoying the fight and not fearing danger as he struck what he expected to be the killing blow. Roaring, the River Wolf moved with unexpected speed and his sword struck only the soft grass atop the waterfall. He spun, Alacrity giving him the ability to get his blade up and block the Wolf’s jaws from closing around his throat, but he was off balance from his missed attack and felt himself wobble and fall backwards.

As he felt himself falling, his buffed Reflex came into play. It was 20 now, double the average of a normal human, and it let him make two near-simultaneous decisions in the few moments before he toppled backwards and fell down the waterfall. First, he decided to finish the Wolf off. He wouldn’t die even if he did fall down, thanks to his Endurance and Verten’s Vitality, but the Wolf would definitely leave and he didn’t feel like going through the whole fight again. He drew the Fang of the Denmother with his off-hand and flicked it towards the Wolf where it pierced the beasts’ eye perfectly. Secondly, he decided that he’d rather not fall down the waterfall if he could avoid it, and forced all the Mana he could into Alacrity, twisting the one foot left on solid ground with as much force as he could manage to lean his fall to the side.

Both decisions paid off, though he wasn’t able to totally avoid injury. He fell to the side, smacking his head off of a rock and rolling off of the edge of the waterfall, but instead of plummeting the few dozen feet into rocky waters he fell less than ten and landed on a wet grassy ledge off to the side of the rushing waterfall. Picking himself up and transitioning all of his remaining Mana into Verten’s Vitality, he looked up at where he’d come from and then down at the nearest piece of safe ground below.

“Shit.”

He’d made enough coins for Whisper and Shout, but his Mana was nearly drained and he still needed a good bit more healing if he was going to make it back to the spawn area. Begrudgingly, he opened his ring and wasted another two potions to restore his Mana and Health. After drinking them, it wasn’t too hard to use rope and a stake (more Coins wasted, sigh) to lower himself down to the jungle floor below and start trekking home.

Though he ached all over, and had spent every drop of Mana he had including what the potion restored, he was in good spirits as he headed back to the spawn area. He’d be able to recover in another few hours and head back into the Zone for the last few Coins, and the fact he’d had to leave the dagger behind was irritating, but really didn’t matter once he had Whisper and Shout anyway. There would be other loot, especially once he started pushing for the Floor Key. The lost coins, or the opportunity to pass the dagger to someone else, were annoying, but sticking around in the Zone without getting healed was asking for trouble.

Irritatingly, he had to fight a Verdant Panther that leapt out of the trees towards him, but even without his Spells he was able to dodge most of its’ swipes and only take a small cut on the neck from its’ paw. That just added to the overall pain, but didn’t slow his movement too much. After an hour, during which he’d only become more tired and his Mana had stubbornly refused to significantly regenerate, he was in sight of the Zone entrance.

He swept a vine out of the way, momentarily sheathing his scimitar so he could use both hands to push through the dense foliage. It was then that his senses flared and alarms went off in his mind.

Spinning, drawing his blade, he looked behind him to see...nothing. The jungle was quiet, aside from the ever present buzzing of insects and far-off sounds of birds. He turned back, and then had to dive to the side as fast as possible to avoid being impaled on a throwing knife that shimmered and caught the sunlight as it slashed a deep line across his unprotected neck. It was only his Stats that had allowed him to avoid taking it straight in the throat, and as he got back to his feet to engage the attacker his heart sank.

There, stood wreathed in undulating shadows with wild eyes and hair that bloomed out in matted, bloodstained strands, was Scream Queen Mira. She threw another knife at him, barely missing as he twisted his body to dodge, and let out a wild screech that made him stumble as he ran.

“Looking for me were you!? Well I found you-hoo!”

Her voice scraped and grinded, anger and agony both woven into every syllable and Will had to dig deep to keep control of his limbs. He didn’t have his dagger, couldn’t open the Store and sell something to afford Whisper and Shout, let alone waste the time to Bond them. His Mana was dangerously low, and he was losing blood from his neck at a fairly unsettling pace. He trusted in his Endurance to keep him alive if he didn’t take worse wounds, but he needed to end this fight now if he wanted to survive it.