"Everyone, wake up. They're coming, all of them." Josh warned. 

"What?! How do you know?!" 

"Can't you guys feel the killing intent? Normally it wouldn't be detectable from that far, but there are just way too many of them!" 

They showed puzzled expressions but then recomposed themselves. There was no time to waste. That's when Emsee grunted: 

"They just triggered my farthest alarms. At this rate, we won't be able to fight all fronts at the same time. Joe, that tunnel on that side…wanna reduce it to rubble?" 

"On it! I'll give them a good surprise!" He happily left with his steel beam in hand. Before long, loud noises could be heard CLANG CLANG CLANG. Whatever he was doing, he was hard at work. 

"If you guys destroy the ladder, we'll have one side to fight. We can always use abilities to exit the place in case of emergency." Josh suggested. 

"That's fair enough," Emsee admitted as he struck the ladder over and over. Every hit sent a peculiar vibration in the object until it crumbled to dust somehow. Wow!

RA-TA—TA-TA-TA, BAM, CRASH! 

It seemed like Joe had just finished his task. How many foes had he buried alive along with the destruction? Good thing they were all NPCs anyway. They deserved to be flattened. 

As for the missing ladder, it wouldn't make the enemies above give up. Some began jumping toward the group, using ropes to go down slowly.

They looked like special ops soldiers coming down from a rooftop. But, AIYA targeted the ropes, cutting many with every arrow and making them crash.

Josh moved forward to finish them. He could at least do that. That is when the sound of footsteps could be heard in the only entrance that was still fully opened. 

"We could destroy that one, but then we would be trapped in here too. It's better if we have an escape route available in case of emergency." Emsee sighed. "Go ahead, you guys. I'll take care of things here." 

The rest of the party proceeded forward. There was a long tunnel with tons of enemies in it. Peaking from the corner of the wall, AIYA began shooting at them. That triggered their retribution, but Minor was there to help defend. 

Meanwhile, Josh was on the side watching all the bullets that had flown right next to their faces. This was quite crazy, and the scene was magical, quite literally. Purplish glowing shots lit up the darkness. At this rate, they would soon get overwhelmed. 

That's when Josh noticed something. There seemed to be a commander in their midst, in the very far back in fact. But did they have a way to even get there?

They could try and exit through the trapdoor and make the whole detour. It would fail for sure. Braving the bullet rain was not a viable solution either. 

That's when Emsee appeared. What was he doing there?! 

"Joe replaced me. He should be fine alone somehow. Now, I have a few traps that will utterly confuse them for a few seconds. We'll have to kill as many as we can when it happens." Emsee explained. 

"Wait, I may have an idea. I'll count on you to cover for me as I come back. Get ready to use your traps when I'm fleeing. I'm going for an assassination." Josh whispered. 

"Are you crazy?!" Emsee shouted, only to realize that Josh was already gone. He looked around but couldn't find him at all. How?! Wasn't he low level?!

"What's happening?" Minor inquired. 

"I lost Josh." 

"What do you mean, you lost Josh?!"

"He was here, and now he's not! He talked about an assassination!" 

"What the fuck?!" 

That's when AIYA chimed in: "What are you guys mumbling about?"

"We're searching for Josh because…..oh my god!" Minor was the one to shout, flabbergasted, but the others soon followed. 

"This is insane!" 

"Are you kidding me?!"

They could see a human shadow fall from the ceiling. That's when it dropped directly on the enemy commander, and blood spurted all over. There was a moment of pure panic in the enemy ranks. 

Josh slaughtered many in the next seconds. AIYA made sure to capitalize on it as he killed heaps with every shot. Minor targeted Josh, giving him the strongest shield he could. But, would that be enough? No way! 

Just when the enemies began turning toward Josh, Emsee activated his traps. Instantly a loud, powerful, and vibrant melody resonated. It instantly made them all stop. But, there was an issue. Josh was in the targeted area, and this skill could hit allies. 

"I'm going in to rescue him! Hopefully, I will make it in….what the fuck?!" Emsee exclaimed as he saw Josh begin to run. How was he not affected by the magic?! 

He was, in fact, so steady and in control of his actions that he kept gutting the fodder on his way back. The rest of the party couldn't help but gawk at him, their eyes bulging. Josh soon rejoined the group. 

"Alright, that went well. Now, they should have less cohesion and be more prone to fear!" He announced. As Josh said so, death kept claiming the enemies. 

That's when the sea of shooters began to retreat. They had suffered countless casualties and lost their leader. Were they guided by thoughts or perhaps instinct? It would be hard to know for sure. Soon enough, peace returned to the underground. 

"Holy crap, Josh! How did you do that earlier?!" Emsee still couldn't calm down. 

"Approach them sneakily, you mean? I used the White spider Set to Climb on the ceiling, pretty straightforward." Josh admitted. 

"How did none of us even notice you? It's illogical!" Emsee asked further. 

"Well, nothing too strange. I moved when no one was looking. That's all." Josh explained. 

Was that even an explanation? The party members couldn't help but glance at each other in confusion. Then again, it was coming from a man that had somehow sensed the enemies' arrival way before any alarm could. 

"I wonder about something. The mission said to find and defeat, not to kill. Is it possible to push them to surrender? What is even motivating them to fight us? If we can find this, perhaps we can leave this place." Emsee theorized. 

"So, what now?" Joe asked. 

"There are still too many of them out there. Perhaps we should hold on until their numbers are thin enough for us to try and exit. Then, we'll be able to try and negotiate. What do you guys think?" Minor proposed. 

"Sounds legit." Joe agreed. 

"Now we wait once more, I guess." AIYA too. 

That's how resumed a peaceful night in the Alter Tower with Emsee replacing all the traps. Not only did they not get attacked, but they even managed to rest up. They got back on their feet, feeling refreshed, but there was bad news.

"These guys seem to be camping. If we exit now, we'll die. Emcee, you have a way to lure them in, right?" Josh confirmed. 

"Pease don't!" was the unanimous shout.

"If it can save us...." Josh said. 

That's when they all grimaced. At first, Josh didn't understand, but it soon became obvious. Emsee began playing some very discordant and annoying noise. It was so bad that it made an ear-rape sound like an ASMR! 

It was akin to nails on a blackboard, but the hellish version. It would continuously play to annoy the enemy to death. This sound was perhaps actually worth dying for to make it stop! It filled the entire mall too! 

This relaxing time soon became complete torture. The party members could be seen trying to filter out the sound by blocking their ears without success. It would still be heard no matter what. For once, Josh almost wished he was deaf. It was that bad. 

At least, they saw an effect on the opposition. With every passing day, Josh could feel their killing intent rise in a very chaotic manner. Sometimes they seemed to forget about the party completely as a few began killing each other. 

Quickly, a few days passed. Everyone was affected by sleep deprivation, both allies, and enemies. One just couldn't sleep with that goddamn tune! It took all their willpower not to kill Emsee themselves to make it stop. 

Then, they slowly went back to the surface. Aboveground, it was mayhem. The song had been so discordant that they had all gone crazy listening to it. Josh couldn't help but gulp in fear. What the Hell?! 

As for what happened next? Well, the enemies were in no way to fight at all. It soon became a one-sided slaughter. Before long, the entire mall was tainted with a beautiful red. They couldn't help but feel proud, for they had outdone themselves. 

As for killing humans? Meh, they were in no state to care about such a thing. At all! In the future, they would be more careful with such strategies. 

[Congratulation on this ...unorthodox victory.] 

[I really wasn't expecting you guys to drive the enemies crazy. Well played!] 

[Are you ready for your reward?] 

"No, I don't care about that! Make the sound stop!" Joe could be heard shouting. 

"Yes, hurry up and stop your spell already!" Minor screamed at Emsee. 

"I can't take it anymore. I'm going to be sick. I'm that close to going crazy!" AIYA exclaimed. 

"Guys…it's already been off for a while now…." Emsee didn't know how to react. He could still hear it too. 

"What?!" They showed expressions of horror! 

"I can still hear it! How's this possible?!" 

It was akin to a nightmare from which they could never wake up. 

That's when Josh slowly calmly uttered: "Since when can Tower Protocols add background music?" while raising an eyebrow. 

What?! That's when they realized what was happening. 

[Alright, I'll turn it off.] 

With the sound gone, their sanity came back.

"Josh, how does one murder a Tower Protocol?! I'm asking for a friend." Joe asked. Then came a series of acknowledgments. 

"+1 I am a friend." 

"+2 I, too, am a friend." 

"+3 Count me in also." 

Josh couldn't help but chuckle. "Alright, stop playing and give us our rewards already." ...

Creator's Thought

The Alter Tower felt to me like a curious kid with new toys. It would always try to reproduce any ability the people used on its Floor. The thing is, it often ended up making pranks. It just so happens that some of these pranks would be considered deadly. I still can't believe how many Rankers went insane in it. Fun times...