Quest: The Tower Climb VIII

Description: Conquer the eighth level and advance to the top.

Rewards: + 1 OV Bonus to an attribute of your choice.

Penalty: None. Except when you die, then the scenario ends.

Difficulty: SS

The trash mobs on floor VIII had survived long enough that Flora attempted hitting them blindly. While it was fun, she didn't dare to repeat it in the D-rated room. The C-rated monster was nothing to write home about. However, the B-rated mob had a domain again.

Lightning Domain Suppression: -1 OV Domain Handicap. – 2 HP per minute.

Flora resisted the debuffs, but her robots suffered. The Mover was shocked so often that Aidan couldn't hold the aggro. Therefore the opponent switched to Flora.

"Is it a robot, Aidan? It feels robotic!" Flora asked, excited, despite getting hit by what felt like a sledgehammer.

"Yes, Milady."

"I want to see it badly!" Flora whined but kept her blindfold up. Channeling Holy Beam, she beat the robot with her wrenches.

Flora was forced to sober up when the HP bar of the Octopussy sank under 30 percent.

(Left-Hand Multitool Scepter):

(Left-Hand Multitool Scepter):

Now, that the Octopussy was out of the red zone, Flora concentrated on defeating the robot. When it shortcircuited, Flora sat down and regenerated her pools.

The ninth boss had a domain as well. It felt simultaneously constricting and repelling.

Warding Domain Suppression: -1 OV Domain Handicap. – 1 HP per minute.

Biting Minus Ward Tier 1: 1 x (- 2 OV Macro Controls). 1 x – 2 HP every 2 seconds. Remaining Time: 10 seconds.

"A new Affinity, nice." Flora tried to see it as a positive. "Let's see if we can get it. We need around 10 minutes of exposure, right?"

When Aidan confirmed it, Flora sent the Octopussy and the Tollies out of range. She positioned herself close to the boss, to Holy Strike him now and then for mana reg.

(Left Hand, Wavering Wave-Ring, channeled):

Although the debuffs didn't clear as fast as Flora was used to, she didn't let them form more than one stack by using her right hand to clear away the excess debuff.

Gaccu only healed, and the Mover used two of his four propellors to generate aggro.

Everything went fairly well until the 5-minute mark.

"Milady, the boss is enraged."

"You can't fault him for that. We came unannounced into his tower and didn't even bring toasts. Okay, we brought toasts, but we didn't gift him any, which is even worse."

"Enraging is a game mechanic. An enraged enemy does double damage."

"Oh well." Flora looked at the HP bar of the Mover. Although it shrank, it was a slow process.

(Left-Hand, Multitool Scepter):

(Right-Hand, Multitool Scepter):

Except for Reconfirm, Flora used only those two skills. The secondary Faith effect of her healing reduced the received damage by 50%. So now, the boss only hit as hard as he would hit unbuffed. With two healers, Gaccu and herself, the Mover had nothing to fear. Unfortunately, the Acid from Divine Ice-Water Enhancement stacked high, and the boss HP was dropping rapidly. Therefore Flora took a 10-second break from all damaging activities.

"I have a complicated question. Please interrupt me if I assume anything wrong. Healing robots don't work with my Holy-Mage spells, right? Only prayers with the Multitool Scepter and Metal-magic are able to heal them… okay, the crafting and tech skills as well, but I'm not using those. However, I'm sure that I cleared some debuffs from the Mover even before using divine branch skills. How comes?"

"You cast Divine Radiance with your Multitool Scepter. Although the Sacred Rain(1) doesn't heal your robots, when it hits you, Divine Radiance still spreads the positive effects to them. The same goes for the skills you use on yourself like Reconfirm and Bolster Immune System."

"Right! Thanks."

(Right Hand, Toasted Bracelet):

The team continued in this fashion until Aidan spoke again. "We are at 9 minutes, Milady. The chances are good that the enraged status of the boss will rise again on the 10-minute mark. I suggest you reduce her health under 50% so that her 50% skill will be endurable."

In short succession, Flora cast Bless and Condemns. The Acid Debuffs and the Ice Debuffs stacked on the boss, damaging and slowing her. At least, Flora assumed it was female because of Aidan's use of pronouns.

(Right Hand, Multitool Scepter): : Mover.

"What is happening, Aidan?" Flora asked when the HP of the boss remained at 50% for several seconds.

"The boss has a shielding special ability. I'm sorry, Milady, my advice was useless."

"Nonsense. We just have good luck."

You gained a new Affinity/Resistance: Warding/Sealing.

"Good job, everybody. Let's kill her."

Quest completed: The Tower Climb VIII

Rewards: + 1 OV Bonus to an attribute of your choice.

Difficulty: SS

Completion: S

Now, Flora was familiar enough with the narrow staircase to haul up the Mover blindly.

The ninth floor's early enemies were the same old, but the B-rated monster had a nasty surprise. It healed itself! Not only that, but it powered it with the lifeforce of Flora's team. The fifty percent special ability was especially nasty. It emitted a cloud of something that felt so disgusting that Flora instinctively tried to disable her Magical Perception.

A sizeable chunk of Flora's and the golems' life went to the enemy.

Immediately, Flora panic-healed and poked Aidan for an explanation. She had never lost that many HP at once!

"It was a special ability based on a percentage of your total pool. You lost 25% before your defensive modifiers, with them 262 hit points."

"I want such a skill! Find out more about it, Aito." Flora said while ducking. When she felt the wind of the boss's move above her head, she was so proud that she missed its return and received a critical hit on the back of her head. Dancing stars exploded on her HUD. Literally. If the FX didn't come with a nasty status effect, she would have enjoyed it more.

Minus Tempering Tier 3: 1 x – 15 OV Controls. Dancing Stars.

(Right Hand, Toasted Bracelet):

"Die!"

(Right Hand, Toasted Bracelet): nd Effect Up, Mana Up]>

Flora's left hand already emitted a stream of holy energy, and now, with her right joining in, she would have won any job in the fireworks industry. Golden clouds billowed from her and torched the disgusting energies of the ardor of her enemy until it turned to dust.

"The difficulty increased quite a bit," Flora stated while she waited for her cooldowns to run out. "Every sarge and boss have domains, and the special skills are stronger too."

"Yes, Milady. Floor 6-10 is only for the most elite players. While the tower's bosses are simple tank and spank encounters, it is still quite the feat to conquer an A-rated opponent with an RGS of 9. It will get much worse from floor 11 onward."

"Is 'Tank and Spank' one of those cute gamer expressions?" Flora laughed.

"Yes, Milady. It means that no special tactics are necessary."

"Alright!" Flora got up. "Come on. You have a boss to tank and I to spank!"

The floor boss greeted them with a whale-like roar that cut through Flora's earplugs.

*beep beep beep!* (Your Mother!)

*Honking Roar*

*beep beep beep!* (Your Sister!)

"I'm sorry, Milady. The kraken boss seems to hate Aito intensely. I can't get him away from her."

"Oh, dear. Maybe he likes the Octopussy and doesn't know how to articulate his affection?"

A tentacle crashed into Flora and smashed her into the wall.

"Now, I'm sure that's the case," Flora mumbled and cast her spells.

"Some creatures are just not cut out for making a favorable impression," Aidan said through the speakers of the Mover but queued Flora in through the nocks.

*Honking Roar*

"Woohoo, Aidan! You got it right first try! Great bitching!"

"Thank you, Milady. I have another one." Aidan activated the loudspeakers again. "The Octopussy would never fall so low to date an uncultured kraken."

*beep!* (Speak for yourself!)

"Double hit! Friendly Fire!" Flora laughed hard enough that her spells shook.

"My apologies, Aitoshuri."

After they finished the ninth floor, the tenth floor was more of the same. The B-rated heavy hitter incited the Tollies against Flora with evil mind-control shenanigans. The A-rated boss had psychokinetic abilities and too much debris lying around, which Flora turned against it.

Flora remembered Aidan's warning about the eleventh floor when they hauled the Mover up. She made sure all her buffs were fresh (+9 OV Mag Power from Food and + 4 OV to Defenses from a potion) and recast Tinker on the Mover. It received + 12 OV to all its skills, and Flora envied it. She vowed to learn alchemy. If you want quality work, you have to do it yourself. Besides, alchemy was fun!

This time, Flora pressed herself against the next floor's barrier and let the golems push the Mover through the door. She didn't want to risk her back. When the Mover initiated the fight, Flora joined in. They needed over 10 seconds to clear the room of trash mobs.

"Thanks for the warning, Aidan. I can see the difference."

The two D-rated mobs in the next room took their time, as well. Aidan estimated their health pool's size at over 5000. Their joint damage exceeded Gaccu's ability to heal. The fight wasn't difficult, and nobody was in danger of dying. Nonetheless, Flora worried about the trend. Hence, she replaced Refresh with Healing Metal Shield in Gaccu's set-up.

"Use the shield against special abilities, Gaccu. I leave it to your judgment whether it's better to use it on yourself and spread it via Divine Radiance or directly on the Mover." Flora received a bit of mixed feedback from the golem. He seemed to be stressed out from having a choice. "Take it easy, dear. We are all learning."

The C-rated mob went well, and they finished the fight with nearly full HP. Still, they took a break to fill up all the pools before engaging the B-rated room.

The fight started, and the floor vibrated. First, Flora suspected an Earth ability, but no debuffs appeared. "Aidan, tell me about the sarge."

"It's a 3.45 tall ape with two clubs. The force of his hits is increasing continuously. I suggest going all out."

(Left-Hand, Wavering Wave-Ring):

: Mover. (Left-Hand, Wavering Wave-Ring):

(Right-Hand, Toasted Bracelet):

Simultaneously, Flora walked into melee range and attacked with her Multitool Scepter Wrenches. With this method, Flora applied four stacks of Holy debuffs on the mob. Each stack had a chance to proc Acid and Ice.

The ape slowed down because of Flora's Ice debuffs, and Dive-Tolly interrupted him now and then with shocks. However, the sarge trashed the Mover. First, he damaged one blender-propeller and soon afterward a second.

The Mover lost not only half of his melee arsenal but received 100 dmg per second. Gaccu could just heal a bit more than half of it away. Hence, the Mover's HP sank steadily. With a pool of 1300, it wasn't the most sturdy robot. Flora had to make compromises for its flight capabilities.

"Should I heal?" Flora asked, her eyes never leaving the Mover's HP bar. It had only 60% left, and the fight had just gone on for 10 seconds.

"No, Milady. Although the sarge's special ability nears, the sooner it dies, the better."

Suddenly the rhythmical vibrations changed. The ape's drumming skipped from the beginning of a Sirtaki(2) to the end.

Flora's hands wavered in indecision as the Mover's health plummeted. But then she decided to trust Aidan. Defiance rose in her, and her beats accelerated as well. "So this monster thinks it can use MY robot as a drum kit? I'll show it what it feels like to be used as a drum!"

"It dispelled our debuffs, Milady! Don't let up!"

The Mover lost its last hit point, and the ape moved to Flora. She had thought that the robot had hit like a sledgehammer, but the ape put it to shame. She was sure he had broken her arm with one hit. The silhouette on her HUD agreed and colored her arm orange. She had difficulties moving it.

"Just a bit more, Milady. We nearly have him!"

The next hit smashed into the same spot, and her arm hung limply at her side. All Flora could do, was moving her hand a bit so that the beam still hit the ape.

"Burned toast!" Flora said through gridded teeth. The pain was manageable, but the pressure was getting to her. She cursed herself for letting the Mover die and doubted Aidan and her decision to follow his advice.

"He's dead!"

Aidan's exclamation needed a second to reach through the haze in Flora's mind. Slowly, she cooled down and stopped hammering the corpse.

"That was intense." Flora took off the mask. "My poor Mover! Bad monkey!"

!

(1): Sacred Rain is the same as Holy Healing Rain. Flora just thinks of the skill in different terms, but Aidan uses, of course, the correct terminology.

(2): Sirtaki is a Greek dance, famous as "Zorba's dance". It gets faster and faster. It's fun sober, and even more so drunk.