Chapter Eighteen

Blood leaked from several cuts as Will darted forwards with his scimitar flashing, only to have it pass through a mass of shadows instead of the knife-wielding Mira. Her Shadow Class came with the very irritating Shadow Meld Skill, and she’d apparently become quite talented at its’ use. Even with his speed boosted by Alacrity, he was having a tough time nailing her down as she used the abundant shade of the thick jungle canopy to pop up and disappear at will.

“Mira, I know you’re hurting, but this won’t help!”

Will was getting desperate. He lunged in and managed to score a cut across her back, but she burst into shadows and he had to dodge quickly to avoid taking a throwing knife in the spine as a reply. She kept laughing, occasionally peppering in one of the short yelping screams that sent his knees wobbling.

She couldn’t have picked a worse time to attack Will, and he cursed himself for not thinking of this possibility. He’d assumed she’d be hiding in the jungle, but she must have been using her Class to slip into the safe area and had overheard about his search. And unlike her, he very publicly went into the Zone every morning to train. If the damned River Wolf hadn’t caused him to waste so much energy, he’d have been able to bring the fight to Mira and keep her engaged, but as it was he was having a hard time even keeping up. She’d clearly benefited from the killings in her past, and as he almost managed to land a beheading stroke she screamed right in his face.

“Argh!”

Will stumbled back, blood running from one of his ears and the sounds of the jungle echoing strangely from the damage to his hearing. His bones felt sore, as though the scream had vibrated him on the deepest level, and he doubled down on the Mana flowing into Alacrity, determined to stop this woman before she ruined everything. There would be far greater foes in Humanity’s future, and he had to be alive to stop them. A quick withdraw and chug of a Mana potion from his ring allowed him to up the flow just a bit, which helped.

Paying attention and going on the defensive for a few moments, he tried to see if there was a pattern to Mira’s movements with her Skill. She seemed to be using it mainly to dart out of his attacks and then reappear in his blind spot, which was the obvious strategy. Frankly, the fact she was still primarily relying on a belt of throwing knives was a blessing, as her desire to toy with Will was trumping her will to end the fight immediately with a full power scream. He tried to exploit this, feigning weakness for a second and leaning as though he might fall. She disappeared from view and he pivoted, throwing away the disguise and powering directly towards where she’d appeared – directly behind him, just like the last few times.

“I don’t want to have to kill you, but I will!”

This wasn’t his strong suit. He’d hoped she might have enough sanity left that he could get through to her, but he didn’t have the social skills to penetrate her chaotic mind whilst also trying not to get murdered. Cursing, he batted a throwing knife away from his throat and lunged.

He sliced into Mira’s side, her eyes watering and her mouth twisting in a pained yell as the blade of his scimitar bit deeply into her ribs and drew a fountain of blood. Before he could dash back, her Spell kicked in and she screamed.

Will thought he’d endured her scream a few times, by this point, though he knew she hadn’t really unloaded. But as she stared directly into his eyes and poured a tangible wave of Mana into the Spell, he felt the full impact of what B Rank meant on this Floor. His head began to vibrate, his brain feeling as though someone had put it in a blender, and his whole body felt weak. He absently noted that blood poured from his ears and nose, but the all-encompassing pain that he could feel tearing his internal organs to pieces prevented that thought from drawing any emotion or reaction. Forcing himself to stay conscious, he managed to wave his sword close enough to her head that she disappeared again and the pain dulled slightly, swapping his Mana over to pumping Verten’s Vitality to keep himself standing.

“This Tower is a place of death, and you don’t get to escape that!”

Mira’s wild expression was inhuman, at this point, as she appeared in front of Will with her knives dancing in thin fingers. She drew in another breath to scream, ignoring the extra blood that pumped from her wounded side at the motion, and Will braced himself to endure another attack. He didn’t have the time to get out of the way without Alacrity, but if he dropped Verten’s Vitality he’d likely pass out from his injuries.

Desperately, he tried to dash forwards and cut her down before she could scream. Before he reached her, as the first hint of her Spell started to ripple through the air, a louder noise split the jungle air. A screech, accompanied by the scent of burning and smoke. Will didn’t have time to make the connection before a flaming bird descended into the clearing from above and slammed into Mira’s head. Her hair caught light immediately, and she fell backwards, her scream being aimed directly into the air instead of at Will. He still staggered back from the ripples it projected, but the firebird simply exploded and reformed, darting into Mira’s chest and causing her breath to be forced out, preventing another scream.

“Get away from him, you varmint!”

Unk’s voice boomed as he strode into the area, shield and sword both raised as his eyes scanned the area. He saw Will, injured but standing, and the now writhing form of Mira on the ground and turned back to shout again.

“Good work Daph, looks like you got her!”

Will nodded in thanks to the man, and stepped over to where Mira was gasping for breath on the ground.

“It didn’t have to be like this, but you’re clearly too far gone. I’m sorry Mira, I’d have helped if I could.”

He raised his sword and then paused, looking at the tall American and his niece, who’d stepped into the clearing and recalled her firebird. They both gave him serious, but not judgemental expressions, and Unk spoke up.

“She’s in pain, there’s no police out here, and she tried to kill you. We won’t judge.”

Will nodded, grateful that he didn’t have to justify himself, and swung his scimitar down onto Mira’s neck. A final gout of blood spurted across the grassy floor of the jungle, and she stopped writhing.

A sombre few hours followed. Will, Unk and Daphne got a few of Brunjar’s guys from the safe area to help them bury Mira and Will said a few words over the grave.

“This is to Mira. We don’t know her full story, but we know she did not deserve to end up as she did. I was too late to help Mira, too weak to restrain her safely and get her the support she needed. I will improve in future, and we will make sure that others do not have to suffer her fate or the fate of her victims.”

Enough funerals had taken place towards the end of the first timeline that he knew what to say, but in front of a group of people without even his sympathy for the woman they didn’t feel particularly impactful. He’d known this was the likely outcome of his hunt for Mira from the start, but hadn’t been able to stop hoping he could find a way around it. In a few months, when he could have taken a wounded Mira to Earth and handed her over to law enforcement, it would be a different story. If he tried that now, though, he’d likely end up in a cell and not her, and that couldn’t happen.

“Come on buddy, you did the right thing. We heard you two shouting at each other from a good distance, and Daph’s bird saw you trying to talk her down. No use beating yourself up about it.”

Unk’s words were harsh, but spoken with the tone of a friend. Will took solace in that, as well as in Daphne’s supportive smile and the respectful nods of the two men that had helped them dig the grave. He transferred them each 100 Tower Coins for their help, and the group all turned to walk back to the safe area.

“So, I didn’t get a chance to thank you. That tip about the Event paid off, we both got another Skill Point from it!”

Daphne pushed Will lightly as she spoke, and he gave her a tight smile in reply.

“Glad to hear. We’re more than even, after your nick-of-time rescue.”

That led the trio into a conversation about their past few days and the events that led up to their reunion and Mira’s death. Fjord and Lancelot, the two allies of Brunjar, chatted quietly amongst themselves and gave Will’s group a respectful distance.

By the time they’d returned to the safe area, explained what happened to the crowd that had formed near the Spawn Platform, and Will had finally got to begin resting and healing properly, all three had been fully caught up on each others’ activities.

“So, you’re heading back to Earth then?”

Will nodded at Unk’s question, wincing as he sat forwards and felt the wound in his side tweak.

“I have a few things I need to do, but I’m planning on coming back in the New Year. I’m glad I caught you though, actually.”

Unk gave him a curious look, and gestured for Will to continue speaking.

“I’ve made a couple of friends on other Floors, and I’m planning on trying to put together a group to take on this Floor and the next ones. The experience with Mira made it very clear that if I want to keep Climbing, I need partners. You and Daph both seem to know what you’re doing, and I know you’re good people.”

Daphne spoke before her uncle could, and it was with an excited tone.

“You think we can find the Key thing?”

Will nodded.

“I’m sure of it. It’ll take some time and some work, but my plan is to come back to this Tower in the New Year and be the first group to reach Floor 4. I have some ideas that I think will help us out. I understand if you want to stick together and not work with me, but I’d love to have you two.”

Daphne was on board the moment he said he wanted to be the first to the next Floor, but Unk had a few more questions to ask.

“Who are these others you’re working with?”

Will shook his head.

“I’m not actually working with them yet, but we swapped information and I’m confident I can convince them to join us in the New Year. They’re good people, but obviously I can’t give you any details unless they consent, you know?”

That made both of the other Climbers smile, and Unk looked more satisfied than suspicious at the answer.

“When you say you have ideas, what sort of ideas do you mean?”

“Well, first I was thinking that the fact there’s 4 Zones must mean there’s something in each. Think about it, why would there be 4 Zones if the Key was just in one? To confuse us? No, I think we need to do something in each Zone to find this Key. Also, you know I’ve been talking to everyone I can about the Zones? Well a lot of people have mentioned Roaming Bosses, like the River Wolf I fought earlier today. Might be worth trying to find them, see if that helps? There’s other stuff, but those are my two big ideas right now.”

He’d thought carefully about how much to let on to his desired party members, and it seemed to be working as neither questioned him and the pair just gave introspective looks and murmured interest in his words.

“Look, you don’t need to decide now. I’ll give you my email, same as the others, and you can send me a message if you’re on Earth before the New Year. I’ll speak to the others when I get back, and I’ll let you know what the plan is. You can decide then.”

Agreement was easily reached with the proposition, and Will was even more confident that the pair would join him than he was about Metrodora or Okembe. Metrodora was the one he worried about the most, given that she had the best reason to never set foot in the Tower again, but he got the impression she was more pro-active than that. She’d want her arm back, and she was definitely smart enough to know that the Tower was her best shot. He just needed to sleep off the day’s fights, head into the Zone for another hour or two to get the last few Coins for Whisper and Shout, and he could head back to Earth and move into the next stage of his plan.

The next morning, Will made sure to tag his Recall Sigil to the 3rd Floor, said goodbye to Brunjar, Dane and the others and let himself disappear. He reappeared, stood in the exact same spot he’d left from just a few days ago. Looking at the twin swords now belted to his waist and the mis-matched armour across his body he gave a chuckle. Good thing he lived alone, or he’d have caused some serious shock. The Stat growth he’d experienced had added two inches to his height, and as he switched his clothes out for comfortable tracksuit bottoms and a t-shirt he nodded approvingly at the now hardened muscles – all the podge of a life spent behind a computer had melted away. He headed over to his couch, grabbing his laptop and booting it up. Time to ramp up the information release.

“Good luck, I’m behind 7 proxies.”

Will joked to himself as he stirred his lukewarm coffee with a finger and stared at the open browser window on his laptop. As silly as the old meme was, he had been reminded of it by the careful steps he had to take for this next part of his plan. He was planning to build the Pioneer reputation he’d been establishing in-Tower, on Earth. That meant he’d be exposing himself to a lot more risk, especially as the Tower still wasn’t public yet. Layers of anonymisation and careful selection of where he posted and what information he shared was the best bet, coupled with visiting Earth as infrequently as possible. He’d debated even wearing a mask in-Tower, in case people connected his real-life identity to the Climber, but if he did get exposed and it became a risk he’d just flee into the Tower permanently. Not ideal, but finding allies would be a lot easier if he wasn’t masked and scary. It wasn’t as though he had family they could use against him, with the foster mother he’d stayed with after his parents’ death having passed away just a few years earlier.

He’d sent messages to Okembe, Metrodora, Daphne and Unk as soon as he got back to Earth. Okembe had responded with interest at his proposition, but not actual agreement. Daphne and Unk were in, raring to go in fact, as he’d expected. Metrodora hadn’t replied, but he was still hopeful. Even if she didn’t want to Climb again, 3 allies was a lot more than he’d had in his first Climb, and with them he should be able to get to Floor 4 a lot more safely. Currently, the plan was to head back to Floor 3 on the 5th of January, in another week. Then, he’d have the fun job of trying to “accidentally” discover the 4 Roaming Bosses and lead his team to victory over them.

Until then, he took brief jaunts to the 2nd Floor to keep his skills sharp (and for fun, with Whisper and Shout being much more enjoyable than the old scimitar/dagger combo) but primarily focused on his work on the internet.

Along with Spiresidechats, he’d started seeding information across various sites that had Tower discussion. He posted anonymously, but also under the name Pioneer, and tried to share what he could about the first 3 Floors and the Tower’s mechanics. He listed off some of the Subclasses he could claim to have witnessed, gave information about Hidden Events and Spawn rules, and most importantly started hinting that he might be re-entering the Tower soon and looking for allies. He even dusted off his artistic side and drew some simple maps of the first 3 Floors, enough to help newbies navigate by a mechanism other than random wandering.

Just like in-Tower, he needed to get the community familiar with his presence and his goodwill if he wanted to form a Clan that could stand alongside the other ones that would soon be created. He had the advantage of knowing that the Clan system existed before anyone, and he had to take full advantage of it to succeed in his plans. So far, things seemed to be going well, and he planned to keep adding to his online reputation carefully a bit at a time until the Tower went public and he went full-time.

Eventually Metrodora did reply. She was a bit dubious about everything, but did eventually say she'd see him on Floor 3 when he went back, and that was the best he could hope for. With Okembe agreeing to try out the team-up, that meant everyone was as ready as they would be.