Janik and Sam looked up at each other for a few seconds before silencing their phones and looking around to see what to do now. Dia was holding her ears flat against her head, trying to avoid the loud alarm which Sam assumed was probably extra horrible to her heightened hearing.
The alarm went on for a few more seconds before it lowered to a much more manageable level as what sounded like a recorded voice played over it.
“A Tower Break is happening, every available Player is to gather outside of the main entrance. I repeat--” The message was repeated, but lowered slightly in volume after the third repeat was done.
Sam felt something in him he hadn’t felt for a while. A certain fear, not panic but... almost. Mentally imagining the time he experienced this from the receiving end. On one hand, he couldn’t say that he felt heroic enough to protect people or want to take that position. On the other hand, he despised that this shit happened at all, especially now that he knew why this was happening. He hated the Tower for letting the monsters escape into the public of the common man, but knowing now that there was no escape involved and it was all a planned event, his hatred grew deeper.
Running towards the main entrance of the building, many others had already done so and were gathering outside. Making it through the bottleneck, filled with other Players he found himself entering a growing crowd of variously dressed and geared people. Some looked like heroes straight out of the media, others looked like they were as regular as you could get them.
A group of TAC uniformed staff was shouting information, using megaphones to reach everyone as they stood on an elevated platform crudely raised for the event.
“There is a Tower Break, luckily this time it’s at the base of the tower and not in a residential area. Everyone needs to work together to stop this.”
The only detail Sam cared about at this point was that it wasn’t in a residential area, this was good news. If this was to happen at least it was in a relatively ‘safe area’, all things considered.
“It’s not possible to harm the tower, and there’s nobody this close to the Tower, so take care to not hit your fellow Players but besides that you can go all out!” The man with the megaphone ordered. Players had already started moving towards the tower as flying creatures had started to gather a swarm in the distance.
“Please don’t risk your life more than you need to. You will be rewarded for this, the event is heavily recorded and the recordings will be processed for a while before-” His explanation was cut short as a group of goblins seemingly manifested near them.
Though Sam had no idea how they did that, this was the largest collection of Players in the area so this was the worst place in the city they could land, a second of confusion turned to a two-second purge, removing them from existence.
The man with the megaphone looked shaken to his core, he didn’t look like a Player so this was probably a horrifying moment for him. A uniformed woman took the megaphone from him. “Sod it, just go kill the fuckers!”
All the Players were already on their toes from the sudden landing of the Goblins, but they spread out right away, TAC had enough uniformed guards nearby that it felt relatively safe, they were also retreating into the building so it looked like that was under control.
“What about this one?” Sam heard someone nearby say as they pointed their weapons towards Dia.
Turning towards them with murder in his eyes, Sam calmly warned them. ”Don’t.”
This seemed to work, taking a step back one of them looked at the other. “N... no... It has clothing and Armour.” Turning around and running towards the Tower they left right after.
Sam took a quick check, Dia was there and so was Janik, sharing a glance and nod they sent off for the Tower as well.
As they jogged closer, they were far from the actual fight just yet, in the distance they could see explosions and large, flashy spells and abilities used. Not a bad idea to use the time before people gather to use all kinds of large-scale spells. A fireball was not a good idea when friendlies were involved, but now, before people had gotten in range, the bombardment was perfect.
When the players were getting in range, the mages and longer-range attackers seemed to be out of juice. Like it was a planned effort to have them expend themselves before it became a problem they just threw out everything they had to do maximum damage to the enemy before it would be problematic to continue. Not a bad tactic.
Weird, almost futuristic hovering aircraft had started to gather, currently, there were just two but more in the distance were closing in. Having ranged Players on board they served as an elevated platform for easier bombardment. The Player System was weird when it came to normal weapons, meaning that it was often somewhat problematic using normal weapons, even firearms, on Tower monsters. This was also why Players were so feared by normal people because unless lucky, it would be very hard to do anything.
The players started getting in range, which stopped most of the large-scale attacks, explosions and fire were still seen in the air, taking out flyers like bats, small dragon-like creatures and some weird hovering eyeballs. Everything almost looked like it was under control until the tower pulsed.
Sam had been so focused on what was going on, that he hadn’t seen what the tower itself was doing. Almost like it was gathering energy and slowly building up a glowing pattern, the pattern discharged and went black as a pulse of energy slammed into the concrete and asphalt ground it stood on. As the wave connected everything changed.
Suddenly a group of larger monsters appeared, it had mainly been Goblins, bats, ravens and so on, Floor one monsters. But now this had changed.
Out of seemingly nothing, there were now Golems, Lizards, Beastfolk of various makes, large demon-like creatures with spiked skin, and many more things Sam had never seen before.
A counter-charge started as the monsters came to the Players, catching a lot of them off guard as they just landed and started attacking. This took the lives of a surprising amount of them, making this the first proper attack from the Tower.
Sam hated this, he grew pissed. Knowing that somewhere some fucked up Entities sat and looked at their TV equivalent as they pushed buttons or however they controlled this. Deciding to create some drama for the sake of entertainment, sending monsters to kill people just trying to protect themselves, their friends and family. Thinking back on his own experience with this, he felt his anger take over, his swarm of blades was unsheathed from his body as he was getting into range of what looked like a Goblin riding a six-legged dog.
Heading straight for Sam, the goblin was flailing a rusty blade as he steered the dog around obstacles and dead people. As soon as it came into Sam’s Area it had zero chance, Sam brought down every blade he had, and as the 28 blades passed through their bodies, there was nothing left but a pile of gore. Not stopping he made sure that Dia was close, the earlier encounter made him wary that someone might attach her on accident... or on purpose.
Janik was doing fine, his new weapons served him well as they slid through their targets with great ease, and had it not been for the situation he might have enjoyed the sight. Dia only needed to protect herself which was kind of interesting to notice, the monsters seemingly recognized her as a target.
Being attacked by a continuous flow of enemies; goblins, dogs, bats, golems, beastfolk, demons and more. Sam couldn’t do more than just cut them down, again and again. He took several hits but his armour kept him more than safe, at least for now. Similarly, the hits Dia took were negated, so this was clear it was just a small fry.
This continued for a surprising amount of time, the Players were more organized and trained, and the hits they had taken were negated by potions or healers. When they took enough damage they pulled back, letting a fresh wave of Players take their spot up close, it almost felt like they were trained for this and in a way, through Dungeon running, they were. The only problem was the duration, he didn’t know how long this had lasted but he could tell that people were tired, worn, sluggish. They were all covered in sweat, dirt and gore, some struggling to swing their weapons, pulling out for safety to get healed and restored. Dia and Janik were doing relatively fine but it was clear this had taken a toll on them.
Sam hadn’t paid attention to any numbers, but he knew he had killed a lot of targets, splitting up his blades in groups and sending them around in his area had started making a moving circle of death around him, like a reversed blender he had started spinning blades around him at great speed, hitting anything within range. Dia kept inside this circle and handled anything that barely made it through.
Larger monsters had started coming out of the Tower, things that took more than one hit from Sam’s blade groups, forcing him to make fewer groups or use all weapons on one target, they started hitting harder and more damage started making its way through the Defence ratings. Sam started this with six 50% potions and one 80%, they were all gone. Janik seemed like he was doing fine with his but Sam’s was split between himself and Dia but had now run out.
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The flow of monsters was slowing down, it was feeling like they were nearing some end. He knew from reading about it that these Tower Breaks had a limit to what they sent out, and though there wasn’t a way to know beforehand you’d know when things slow down and end.
People around got a renewed wave of energy, knowing it was nearing the end made them more energetic in ending it. As Sam, in Janik’s words, was cheating when it came to energy spent, he wasn’t anywhere near as tired as everyone else. He looked a bit worn, yes, but he was still relatively fine. Around him, people had to be helped out from exhaustion.
Then it happened.
The Tower pulsed again, but instead of an army of monsters there stood just one between Sam and the Tower itself. A massive lizard-like creature, easily the size of a cargo truck, with six eyes, teeth larger than your arm, a heat-haze lingering on its breath and thick red-scaled skin. Before anyone in the area could react it had already bit one player and stepped on another, killing both instantly.
Sam froze, he stood there in a panic, and all he could see was his family being torn apart by this thing. His parents were impaled on its teeth, his friends crushed under its massive, clawed feet. Its fire breath set the entire neighbourhood ablaze. The fear he felt that day as it attacked him as well, the smell of its breath, the smell of burning flesh, the sight of its six eyes collectively staring into his soul.
He didn’t remember what happened at that point, he just stood there, staring at the massive creature as it waded through the Players around it.
[ Armour, Defence 50 has negated the damage. ]
Feeling the sharp sting of a slap to the face break him out of the hole his mind had made for him, he saw a different scene than before. Dead people burning, the horrible smell in the air, attacks landing but failing to do damage to the creature who had now come several steps closer, Dia panicked as she shouted his name again and again, trying to shake him out of his daze. The slap seemingly came from Elara who, coiled around his neck, had used the tip of her tail as a whip to get through to him.
As Dia relaxed a little bit, seeing Sam’s eyes meet hers instead of staring out into nothing, she took a step backwards before saying something in her language he didn’t understand. Ending her statement with a smile she looked much calmer, not considering the huge creature behind her.
Sam needed to decide what to do, he wanted to run, just grab Dia and fuck off. Nobody would blame him, nobody could blame him. He knew what it could do, he had seen it firsthand, and it was bad. Looking around for a good path of escape, what he instead saw was carnage, dead players being eaten by various creatures like bats or goblins that were still alive. Several corpses actively burning, weapons, armour, limbs and gore spread across the whole field. He knew a Tower Break was bad but this was nothing short of a warzone. People were screaming, running, attacking and doing their best to stay alive. Most of the easy-to-kill monsters had long since been taken care of, only the dangerous ones remained.
Wondering why the powerful Players weren’t here to handle this, they were probably out in Dungeons or Aetheria, come to think about it; he didn’t get the Tower Entry prompt when he got in range, did the Entities disable that to stop them from getting help? In a way that was worse than just sending these monsters loose on an unprepared populus.
No, he couldn’t run. He doubted anyone would hold it against him, he could just run and everyone would be fine with it, perhaps. But no, he couldn’t run. He tried, but his body refused to, the years of anger, hate, anguish, the years on the street, the loss of his family, his friends, everything started with this fucking piece of shit being let loose.
He reached out for his weapons, and he found most of them, he had dropped them when he phased out before, filling out the extra hands with other Players’ weapons, they weren’t using them at the moment and he needed them. Picking up swords, hammers, daggers, spears, it didn’t matter, he just needed the offence.
The first volley was sent flying at the monster, he didn’t take the time to find out what was what, the first was just to hit it. And hit it he did.
It roared in a mix of pain and annoyance, sending a shiver down his spine, Dia looked between Sam and the monster with uncertain eyes but seemed to calm herself afterwards, she seemed to be fine with his choice now that she knew what it was.
Inhaling deeply, the monster faced Sam. This felt like a breath attack incoming. Looking around for anything to hide behind he saw a large shield, dropping all weapons he used every Psyhand to pull it in, grabbing it with his hands as it came within range. Stepping in front of Dia, hiding them both behind the shield the fire crashed into it with surprising weight. He expected the heat but he didn’t expect weight behind it.
Picking up more spears, hammers, arrows, anything he could, he sent it towards the target. Most missed but enough hit to make it annoyed, it stopped the fire attacks with a snarl and instead charged Sam.
“Dia.” Sam turned to her before the monster came over to them and pointed her to the side. “Vash!”
She nodded and darted off to the side. For a brief moment, the lizard focused on her and looked like it was about to change target to her, but Sam picked up a spear off the ground nearby and sent it flying. It landed properly, even penetrating its thick hide, but didn’t seem to do much damage. The movement of the running was enough to dislodge it. He needed more power.
Picking up his weapons again, at least the ones he knew where were, he barely got enough time to pick them out of everything on the ground before he had to hide behind the shield and dart to the side, hiding his movements just enough to avoid being eaten. The shield folded in half under the force of the monster’s bite as Sam barely got out of its reach by jumping to the side. Getting back to his feet, still unsteady, he picked up random bladed weapons he could find, pulling them out of the hands of unconscious or even just struggling Players doing their best to leave the area, he didn’t care and he needed them.
Even though he took advantage of the Cluster strike, a surprising amount of weapons didn’t hit properly enough to penetrate its thick hide, that said he still managed to draw a considerable amount of blood, for the briefest of seconds he found amusement in the fact that the Vampiric Dagger triggered and absorbed 1 health.
The creature didn’t like this attack and turned towards Sam, in this brief moment as it stepped towards him, he decided to drop a few weapons temporarily and place the hands over its eyes, activating Force Pulse. Having six eyes worked against it in this moment. Reeling back it tried to use the frontmost two feet to try and rub away whatever was doing this. Strangely, it succeeded as Sam pulled the Psyhands away to pick up the weapons again, however, his plan worked out and it gave Dia the opening she needed.
Dashing towards the large monster, Dia pounced at it and spun in the air, activating her spin kick. She spun around in the air twice before landing a solid kick in its side, the hollow sound of hitting it around its lungs almost echoed around just before it let out a coughing roar. Though Dia was slightly unstable as she landed, the coughing fit it had was enough to let her get away safely.
Other Players looked like they saw there was a chance, keeping their distance they attacked from as far as they could, with arrows, spells weapons, and anything they had launched at the creature. Most bounced off or did minuscule damage, but some of it came through and managed to pierce its hide.
Having no idea how much damage this was, compared to how much it could take, Sam was finally at a point where he could think again. The monster looked in his direction with extreme bloodlust, he couldn’t take it out just like that but what options did he have? He didn’t have the time to check all the weapons on the ground to find the best one, grabbing what he could he sent another volley of attacks towards the monster before it got the time to get out of its coughing, however, it seemed the weapons he had wasn’t the best. He got through the Defence, sure, but it didn’t seem to do too much damage to it this round.
It charged towards Sam and without the shield to repeat the same tactic, he tried to time his movement alongside Force Pulsing its eyes again. However, Sam was a bit late with the Pulse, the creature had lunged forward and Sam’s dodging abilities weren’t as amazing as he hoped.
[ Armour, Defence 50 has lowered the damage. ]
[ HP: 45 / 175 ██░░░░░░░░ ]
Even with 50 in Defence, this much damage made its way through, had it not been for the armour he’d be dead right away. Screaming in pain he managed to wrestle himself out of its grasp by Force Pulsing its eyes repeatedly, it let go of Sam in favour of trying to get whatever was affecting its eyes away, but since scratching didn’t seem to work it opted to let out a fire breath all around it as it thrashed, causing the whole area to be covered in flames.
[ HP: 15 / 175 █░░░░░░░░░ ]
Sam struggled to get out of the fire as fast as he could, but it wasn’t fast enough, he took some damage as he dived out of the inferno, but he came out alive.
Frantically looking around for anything to help the monster noticed his location and stopped thrashing, focusing its fire in his direction instead.