“You greatly misunderstand the nature of the Tower,” the elf said cryptically. “Then and now.” He shrugged. “Then again, my people were no better. None of us have the context to understand when it first arrives. Some learn, before the end, but...” He shook his head. “I should not be wasting words on you, dead man. I do apologize, but unfortunately I can offer you nothing more.”

Josh didn't wait to give him another opportunity to do anything else. He rushed forward, [Empty Chop] ready. Mizuno dodged better, but the line of dense cutting energy still cut through his shroud—which had regenerated while they were talking—and cut a line along his arm. Josh raised his ax for another swing.

Mizuno ducked under his guard, far too fast for a man of his size, and hit him square in the forehead with a palm strike.

Josh stumbled back, seeing stars. Worse than that was the blinding, burning headache. He fell to the ground, not even able to see straight, as he struggled to figure out what the elf had done. Had he used a technique? It hadn't looked like a technique. He recognized this burn, and the System notification that came in a moment later confirmed it.

ALERT: You have been reduced to negative mana by the non-enhanced strike of an uppity elf who would lose an arm wrestling contest with a particularly energetic toddler. You should be ashamed. 50% reduced mana regeneration until you reach 0 mana.

Blows to the head did mana damage. Anything that injured your mind did that, actually. A particularly strong drink could drain your mana on a bad day, which was why magic-type classes had a reputation for not drinking. But one hit? How did he get reduced to negative mana in one hit?

Through bleary eyes, he saw Mizuno looking down at him, surprised. “Even I didn't expect that to work so well. I know I outlevel you, but I haven't exactly put many points into Strength. What is your Capacity?”

Oh. Right. He had dumped everything into Sensitivity, meaning he had a hilariously small mana pool. Even with his rune talisman, he was still only at five mana. Six when in range of the citystone—which he wasn't in range of, because a bloody Jungle-touched horse had dragged him down a hole.

He struggled to breathe, to activate his [Meditation] skill, but it was no use. He was so out of it, so dazed by the burning pain and his swimming vision, that it took him far too long to remember that he was underground. Outside the range of the Jungle and the mana in the air.

He finally checked his mana. Negative three. That was hardly even anything. On the surface, he could recover that in three breaths, even with the penalties. But down here, with nothing to draw on but the furnace of his own pitiful soul...

Two hours. It would take two hours just to get back to zero mana.

He stood up on shaky feet. His magic was lost to him now; you couldn't use a spell if it would push you below zero mana, meaning he couldn't use any spells right now. All his techniques were [Utility], and wouldn't even let him target Mizuno. He had a full stamina bar, but it may as well have been empty too.

But he had a big, heavy ax in his hand. He had an enemy in front of him. He could do something. He could stand and fight.

That was when Mizuno summoned his beasts.

If someone asked him after, Josh would blame the manaburn for the fact that he had forgotten he was facing a bloody Beast Caller. The truth was, though, that seeing Mizuno's face and ears had been enough of a shock that he had entirely forgotten what he was up against.

The ghostly image of a bear appeared, standing on its hind legs and even larger than Mizuno. While Josh couldn't use his Identify skill on it, he recognized a high-level Ursine Geo-Breaker when he saw one. They were surprisingly common.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

The monster roared and lunged forward, swiping a claw at Josh's head. He let his legs collapse under him, dodging, but his head swam even worse, and he lay there on the ground for a moment, too woozy to move. If Mizuno had any of his monsters with him for real, that would have been the end right there. He didn't have the strength to lift his head, much less defend himself.

This was the weakness of the Beast Caller over a normal Beastmaster. They could summon their pets without putting them in danger, but only temporarily. Only long enough for a single attack. Summoning them permanently would cost more time and mana than Mizuno would be willing to spend right now.

Josh didn't see the summon disappear, though he heard it—the distinctive rushing sound like a statue made of sand collapsing. Josh ignored it to try to focus on his predicament. He struggled to his feet, mind racing as fast as it could, considering the manaburn. He could hardly even see Mizuno in front of him, standing well out of reach. Josh still had his ax in his hand. Could he throw it? Throwing things was technically influenced by the Perception stat, which he certainly had high enough.

Before he could get his muddled thoughts into order, Mizuno summoned another beast. This one was an Apid, a giant bee, though small by their standards. It didn't look that different from a normal bumblebee, other than being the size of a basketball. It didn't have a stinger, which he found odd, and its stripes were red and black.

Its stripes started to glow, and his eyes widened as he realized what this was. It was a Bomber-type monster. Mizuno had somehow raised a living bomb, then summoned an expendable copy of it. Meaning he could have it blow up and then just summon a new one, over and over again.

Josh didn't have time to think. As the Apid's wings buzzed harder and it started to fly towards him, he threw his ax at it. The ax flew through the air, end over end, and smashed into the monster with all the grace of a boulder. Both crashed into the ground. Just as the giant bee's corpse started to flash brighter, and Josh got ready to jump to safety, the bee dissolved into golden dust. The dust disappeared in a moment.

Mizuno didn't say anything. He just took a few steps to the side so that he could put one foot on Josh's fallen ax, trapping it and dashing any hope of grabbing it again.

Josh clenched his fists. He was out of weapons. His head still felt like someone had stuck it in a bell and rung it a few times, then made him snort hot sugar. Everything hurt, and he couldn't even think about thinking until he got some mana back.

“I am sorry,” Mizuno said. He said that quite often, now that Josh thought about it. “I do not enjoy working for a dragon. But we all must make sacrifices for our goals.” He sighed. “I am sorry. But the life of a drowning world is not worth arguing with a dragon.”

That was it. That was his only chance.

The elf didn't want to kill him. Not really. He just didn't think there was any reason not to kill him. Why would he? This entire world was dead to him. Nothing would matter one way or another. The dragon—apparently—would survive long enough to make its gratitude or displeasure known. Backing him was the safer bet.

Josh couldn't tell if he hated Mizuno more or less for that cold calculus. Right now, he didn't have the time or brain power to spare on such thoughts. Instead, he turned and ran at a right angle from the elf.

There was a pause, which Josh hoped was caused by Mizuno being too shocked to move. After a moment, however, a new summon appeared in front of him. The horse. It reared up, ready to clobber him with its hooves, but he dove under its legs, running past it and jumping straight to his goal.

He had been aiming for the river running down the side of the chamber. He thought that if he leaped headfirst, he'd be able to escape into the underground waterway. The elf wouldn't be able to follow him there.

Mizuno, however, wasn't going to let him get away that easily. He jumped in front of Josh, trying to intercept him with his own body. It seemed he couldn't call another summon just yet.

One of the many Basic-tier classes was called the Pugilist. It was a bare-knuckle brawler class, and indeed shared a number of similarities with the actual Brawler class. The main difference was that it put more emphasis on wrestling and grappling.

For years, it was Josh's favorite class.

He tackled Mizuno right in the middle like an Old World linebacker. The elf might be tall, but he was thin, and Josh outweighed him by a significant margin. He easily overpowered him and pushed him forward like a freight train.

Right into the water.

Before Josh even had a chance to acknowledge the sharp, biting cold, it had swept both of them into a tunnel and out of the room.

He knew only darkness.