Clang! Clang! Clang!

Jamie groaned, squirming against the cold floor as the sound continued. She tuned it out for a bit, trying to fall back asleep, but ultimately failed. Opening her crusty eyes, she shot Paul a glare.

“Really?” she growled. He turned towards her with a smirk, letting the hammer fall one more time. She jolted as another clang filled the room.

“What, you don’t want something to protect ya? And here I thought I was being helpful…”

“…Shut up.” He chuckled, and Jamie rubbed her eyes as she turned towards Heather, who was somehow still sleeping.

“That girl… sometimes I wonder.” She scowled, feeling slightly bitter that one of them could at least get some decent rest. Suddenly, she got an idea, and she grinned. Cocking her arm back, she clenched her fist, throwing her weight into a punch drilled right into the center of Heather’s chest.

Heather’s eyes snapped open as her body was flung back, a sharp crack echoing through the stairway as she smacked against the wall, bouncing off with a grunt and tumbling down the stairs. Paul winced.

“Good morning!” Jamie cried cheerfully, clapping her hands together. “Long day ahead!”

“You’re a forking apple,” Heather grumbled as she stumbled her way up the stairs, one of her arms holding her chest as her ribs snapped back into place. “I despise you.”

“Pff, nah. Dunno what you’re talking about.” Paul groaned, sliding his hammer into a loop on his belt.

“Really? It’s too early for this,” he grumbled, his fingers tapping against an invisible screen. After a few more taps, some brown mushy paste in two small bowls materialized in his hands, and he shoved them towards Heather and Jamie.

“Eat up, you two. Can’t deal with the banter this early, wait at least another hour.” Jamie shrugged, tilting her head back as she drank the paste from the bowl. Grimacing slightly as the taste and texture of mud rolled down her throat, she forced herself to finish the bowl before slamming it down with a loud smack.

“Better than goblin meat, but still tastes disgusting,” she commented, drinking some water to flush out the taste.

“I mean, whatcha expect? It’s just a buncha crushed plants and leaves, it’s gonna be gross.”

“Still gonna complain about it, though.” Paul grimaced at that, nodding slightly. She sighed, passing him her bowl as their group lapsed into an awkward silence.

The plants had come from the jungle on Floor 28, a dangerous place filled with acid, quicksand, and sentient vines. The vines were the worst, wrapping around their limbs and trying to pull them off course from the main path. Jamie had watched an ogre stumble into a large bush made of the things, and still felt disgusted by what had happened to the poor thing.

His torso had been covered in the blink of an eye, and the vines had visibly flexed as thorns popped out, rupturing his skin. He let out a screech, struggling to rip his way through the slippery things, but one had tightened around his throat, cutting off his airflow. She’d watched in morbid fascination as his struggles grew weaker with every passing second, eventually dying out completely.

That just reminded her of the boss on Floor 30, and she shuddered, already trying to suppress the memory from yesterday. A psychotic nymph… tree… thing had ripped its roots out of the ground and chased them around the room, its leaves razor sharp and its wood harder than steel.

The DARK DRUID part of her had felt a deep kinship with the thing and had tried to revolt as she attempted to whack it with her staff. Luckily, it had been an easier boss than the one on Floor 10, so it wasn’t too bad for her. Still a bit annoying though.

She suddenly frowned. Nothing they’d faced so far could compare to what they’d fought on Floor 10. Even the boss on Floor 20, a large worm with serrated teeth lining its gaping maw, was almost laughably predictable with its pattern of attacks. Something wasn’t adding up.

It was all making her even more nervous for the next floor. They were getting close to the farthest point that anyone had ever reached in this dungeon, and she was just waiting for the other shoe to drop.

Still, she kept these thoughts to herself as they prepared for the day ahead. No need to give voice to the fears that were certainly on the minds of her companions. She knew they weren’t dumb enough to think things would get easier from here on out.

“We all good?” Heather asked, her posture loose and calm as she stood before the door to Floor 31. To the untrained eye, she looked as though she were going for a relaxed stroll in the park, or maybe through a forest or something.

Jamie caught the more subtle things, though, like the way one of her hands was always near her knives, ready to draw in an instant if necessary. Or the way her eyes flickered back and forth, calculating, scheming, plotting their next move forward. The loose and calm atmosphere just exerted less energy than if she stayed tense, a lesson they’d both learned during the month they’d skated around each other, struggling to control their new instincts.

“I’m ready, I think,” Jamie said, using her staff as a walking stick. It was nice that way. Multipurpose.

Heather nodded, and Paul stepped forward to open the door. He hissed as his hand touched the handle, flinching.

“That’s hot!” he cried. Heather and Jamie shared a worried glance. That… wasn’t promising.

With a creak, the door swung inwards, and a wave of heat washed over them. It bit against Jamie’s skin, immediately parching her throat. She already felt as though her blood was boiling, and they hadn’t even entered the room yet.

With a flicker of intent, she let her demon rise to the surface. A cool breeze washed over her, brining instant relief. She sighed, feeling that abomination’s voice grow louder as it bounced around her skull. Guess she would need to loosen her hold on it a little if she wanted any chance at being comfortable.

They ended up being lucky—there were no enemies on Floor 31. Instead, there was a molten maze with lava dribbling down the walls. Paul stayed up front, a common practice for their party in case there were any hidden traps.

Jamie was shocked when they made it through the room without triggering a single trap. It didn’t seem that hard… so why was it all the way up at Floor 31?

She felt a tension in her gut as they moved on to the next floor, one that was once again devoid of enemies. The heat was becoming worse, but the breeze naturally generated by DARK DRUID kept her feeling only a pleasant warmth.

The room was a simple puzzle room, one where they needed to select one of seven doors to move forward. If the wrong door was selected, lava would start pouring out of fissures in the walls, filling the room as the other doors locked automatically. A slow, painful death that Jamie wasn’t in the mood for.

Thanks, System, she sarcastically thought as the system message describing the room faded away. It was a scummy way to stop people from advancing, and she hoped there was something in the room that indicated the correct door.

Paul and Heather had the same idea, meticulously studying the doors for almost half an hour while Jamie paced around the room, idly swinging her staff back and forth. She contemplated doing some exercises while she waited, but a loud whoop drew her attention back to her two companions.

“How’d you figure it out?” she asked, resting her hand against the now open door.

“Small notch in the corner,” Paul replied, beaming. “Maybe a millimeter or so, but it was the only door with it. The rest were identical.”

Jamie nodded, and together they progressed a floor. At this point, even she was starting to feel uncomfortably warm, and she noticed both Paul and Heather sweating profusely. Seems that the next few floors would be mainly an endurance test.

They lasted until Floor 35, constantly consuming their dwindling supply of water. Every floor seemed to have some heat-based enemy that just added to the stifling atmosphere. Paul was panting heavily by the time they had finished the floor, and Jamie was getting a little lightheaded.

“You alright back there, H?” There was no reply, and Jamie frowned, beginning to turn towards her friend. A low thud resounded through the large room, and her eyes widened as she took in Heather’s barely conscious form laying against the floor.

“Paul, get some waters out! Heather, stay with me! Come on, come on…” She tried to shake Heather to keep her from passing out, but she hissed the moment her hand brushed against her skin.

It was so hot that it felt burning cold, immediately searing her hand. She wrenched her hand away, and some of Heather’s flesh peeled off with it, bubbling and boiling as it cooked in the heat.

“Oh god…” Jamie’s free hand covered her mouth as she dropped the lump of Heather’s flesh still in her grasp. The hole in Heather’s body slowly healed, much slower than usual, no blood pouring out. Jamie had to assume that it was because it was evaporating the instant it contacted the heat.

BERSERKER. She felt so very stupid as she considered the implications of her friend’s CLASS. Emotional instability, a small affinity as an EMPATH, and a constant high temperature. The high temperature would cause no health issues in any normal situation, only making Heather’s skin feel hot to the touch.

Here, though… she hadn’t considered what this environment would do to her friend. At this rate…

“We need to move, NOW!” she cried, lifting Heather up in her arms. She hissed as her skin burned just from contacting Heather’s, grimacing as the stench of searing flesh burned her nostrils.

Picking up the pace, she and Paul moved quickly through the next few floors, force-feeding Heather as much water as they could. About half of it evaporated before it even reached her mouth, the temperature only increasing. Even Jamie was feeling unbearably hot, her cool breeze doing nothing against the lava and fire surrounding them.

“This is insane,” Paul rasped as they snuck around another enemy camp on Floor 38. “No wonder nobody’s made it past this floor. My affinity for heat’s the only thing keeping me standing.”

“No kidding,” Jamie whispered back, her eyes falling to the body in her arms as they climbed to the next floor. Heather’s skin was completely black, cracking in places as she literally burned to a crisp. Her eyes were closed, the only indication she was still alive the slow rise and fall of her chest.

The only reason Heather was still alive was her stupid high health regeneration from blowing herself to bits in the TRAINING ROOM. Even then, it was barely keeping up with her deterioration. Jamie had a feeling that they didn’t have much longer.

Floor 39 was filled to the brim with rocky monsters covered in lava. Fire shot out from holes in the floor at random intervals, the monsters wading through it without a care. More lava and molten rock pooled around the edges of the room, the door to the next floor at the top of a winding, crooked metal staircase.

Jamie was panicking. There was no caution as she set Heather on the floor, blasting towards the enemies before her. She raised her staff above her head, screaming as she pushed her muscles to move faster than she ever had before, slamming it into the first of the lava monsters.

The monster exploded, chunks of rock flying everywhere. Jamie didn’t wait, immediately moving into her next attack. Jumping through the air, WIND at her feet, she bounced back and forth off nothing as she pummeled the monsters. EARTH rolled through the floor, rising in waves, crushing more and more monsters as she let her magic run wild.

As soon as it had started, everything was over. Maybe ten seconds had passed since she’d entered the room. Her breath was steaming in front of her as she gasped and heaved, forcing herself to stay on her feet. She wasn’t done yet.

Even the demon in her skull stayed quiet as she gathered Heather up in her arms and made her way up to Floor 40, Paul listlessly following behind her. The heat just kept growing, and his heat affinity couldn’t keep up anymore.

Heather’s skin caught on fire, and Jamie grit her teeth as more burns joined her already steaming body. She may not have an insane pain tolerance like Heather, but she would not let her friend die like this. Pure spite was her only motivation.

The boss was a massive tower of stone, metal, and lava, mashed together in some semblance of order. Jamie guzzled another bottle of water, tossing it to the side as the plastic melted seconds after leaving Paul’s inventory. Heather placed off to the side, Paul laying against the wall as he deliriously moaned, Jamie cracked her knuckles as she readied her staff.

Her body was smoking, her skin starting to boil, the crackle of sizzling flesh filling her ears. She didn’t have long. She was barely standing as it was.

Even so, as the tower of molten rock separated into dozens of boulders larger than two of her body lengths, she forced her screaming body to move. Diving and weaving between the stones, her staff cracked as it slammed against them, forcing them back towards the center of the room and away from her friends.

The demon within her roared its fury to the world, and she snarled in agreement, her vision tinged with a purple haze. Magic rushed through her veins, momentarily making her forget the agony of her blood evaporating as her flesh melted off her bones.

More rocks came towards her, and she screamed as she released a wave of EARTH that shattered half the oncoming hoard. WIND rushed around her, helping her dodge the incoming boulders as her staff swung back and forth, launching them away with nary a thought.

Eventually, the whole thing let up for a while, and Jamie felt the demon sink back beneath her skin, a small sliver of satisfaction crossing between both their minds. That feeling turned to dread as the boulders converged into an absolutely massive rock golem, its stone fist poised to strike.

Desperate, she dropped her staff and raised her arms, reinforcing the EARTH beneath her feet as the fist came down. Her bones screeched from the impact, the ground cratering beneath her feet, the heat coming from the golem causing her melting skin to catch on fire, but she held her ground. There was no backing down from this, not with Heather right behind her.

Channeling every ounce of magic she had left through her hands, she forced EARTH to flood through the golem, splitting her focus between trying not to die and tearing that piece of scum to shreds. The golem seemed to know something was wrong, the pressure against her dissipating as it tried to move away.

But it was much too slow, and her magic flooded every inch of its system as it shuddered, backing away from her in what almost seemed to be fear. Jamie grinned maliciously, never taking her eyes off the thing as she clenched her fist.

Its shuddering increased, and Jamie felt a migraine forming as she struggled to force the golem to submit. It fought against her with all its might, and she almost gave up, her vision going black for a suspiciously long time.

A crack formed against its skin, moments before the entire thing imploded in a massive burst of fire. Jamie stumbled as she struggled to keep her bearings, the world rolling chaotically beneath her feet. Her twenty arms somehow managed to wrap around the ten Heathers laying charred on the floor, only staying upright through sheer force of will.

Fifteen Pauls heaved themselves to their feet, following her as she shambled her way to the entrance to the next floor. Her vision finally gave out, but she ignored the sweet relief of death and dredged up any leftover magic to use WIND to allow her to see.

In the state she was in, she couldn’t think anymore, so she didn’t even stop to consider the fact that she didn’t have any magic left. She’d used the last of it on the golem earlier.

WIND answered her call, her headache increasing tenfold as she moved in the only direction with any cold air coming from it. Every step was an eternity, each breath agony. She couldn’t feel the hand on her shoulder guiding her forward, the arm around her waist supporting her body to keep her from collapsing. Only the single-minded focus of making it out of this blasted room kept her going.

The air turned colder and damper as she kept moving, her feet stumbling as they hit stair after stair. The fire coating her arms flickered and died, but she never noticed. Just like she had no way of knowing that her menu now said she was LEVEL 3.

Her foot caught on something, and she stumbled, tumbling forward as she rag dolled to the ground. She didn’t even have the energy to groan. Over the roaring in her ears, she could vaguely hear someone calling her name, but the soothing pull of darkness was finally too much to bear.

A long time later, Jamie felt something stir in her arms, half her body comfortably chilled while the other half burned so badly, she almost screamed. All that came out was a low groan as the thing squirmed against her, and she grunted as the pain in the left half of her body became a searing agony.

“Jamie… Jamie…” she heard, and she cracked her eyes open, forcing her brain to function around the crippling migraine.

Heather’s blue eyes stared back at her, swimming with unshed tears. Her face was black with soot, fading burns stretching across her body, but she was alive.

With a sigh, Jamie buried her head in the crook of Heather’s neck, her own tears falling as everything caught up with her. How absolutely terrifying everything had been. Knowing that nobody would be there to support her, literally carrying her friend out of Hell…

A hand gently rested against her back, warm and comforting, keeping her from sinking fully into whatever dangerous crevice her mind was diving into.

“Ya did good, kid,” Paul whispered. “Better than good. My word…”

“Please… just…” Heather sobbed, clinging to her desperately.

“Yeah, yeah,” Jamie croaked, her cracked and shattered lips lifting into a small, fond smile. “Didn’t have a choice, sis.”

They stayed like that for an unknown amount of time, taking comfort in the fact that they were breathing and thinking and living. Jamie felt the coldness in her hearth thaw as Paul kept his hand on her, her arms around Heather.

She’d really misjudged him when they’d first started climbing the TOWER. He’d been an expendable asset at the time, a way to hopefully keep her humanity for as long as she could. Now, though, after only a few days, he had become someone that she genuinely cared about.

He didn’t do anything in halves. He’d saved their lives on multiple occasions out of the goodness of his heart, and she couldn’t believe that she’d written off his actions on Floor 1 as naivety. After coming so far together, she realized that he probably knew the torch was trapped, but grabbed it anyways, believing that it would help keep her and Heather alive.

Guilt gnawed at her chest, but she crushed it ruthlessly, knowing that it would get her nowhere. There was no time for needless feelings to get in the way of what came ahead. Instead, she would make up for the way that she’d treated Paul through her actions towards him.

She forced herself to sit up as Heather slowly moved away, water dripping from the right side of her aching body. That explained why one half of her was pleasantly cool while the other burned in agony. Glancing around, she took note of the forest canopy above them, birds chirping cheerfully in the warm morning mist. A squirrel scurried past, taking a moment to stop and watch her party before disappearing behind a tree.

“Where are we?” she asked, coughing as blood trickled down her burned throat. It seemed it would take a while to fully heal her body.

“Floor 41,” Paul replied, shaking his head with a fond smile. “Even the GMs couldn’t make something this ridiculous without a rest area. Guess we managed to hit it somehow.”

“Huh.” Looking around, Jamie realized that he was right. Most hard dungeons like the TOWER had at least one rest area within them, allowing players a moment to regain their bearings. She shouldn’t have been all that surprised that the TOWER also had one.

“Guess we got some time to recover then, huh,” she mused. Breathing in the fresh warm air around her, her legs still half submerged in the water she was laying in, she couldn’t find it in herself to be disappointed. They needed a break. The next few floors could come tomorrow.