She had continued to walk down the wall, claiming more and more sections and adding the full suite of defences with the exception of the Sentinels which she only purchased for every other section, but that would not be possible for much longer.

With the last section Evelyn had just claimed, the total number she had purchased on her stroll was brought to nine.

Including the repair costs and the investment for the defences, she had sunk over half her saved essence into the venture. It was a worthwhile spend because it would allow them to fight with more freedom without worrying whether or not the monsters were slipping through elsewhere, but it still hurt her every time she spent her essence.

It seems I’m a lot greedier than I thought I was. I never used to be the type of person to hoard money and would rather have spent it on a wonderful experience. I think the fact that essence is tied to personal power and the excitement and fulfilment that comes with overcoming challenges and seeing so much growth in myself adds another layer of attachment to the stuff.

By the time the World Event ended she would have received her income quite a few more times though, so she tried to quash the feeling in the corners of her mind that was whispering to hoard every single drop of essence.

Her claiming spree was ending not because she no longer wanted to spend the essence to continue it, but because she had reached the border of Ventura’s outpost.

Kyron’s guild had claimed a huge section of the wall. It was difficult to see all the way around the city to the other parts of the wall, but from the limited view she had Evelyn guessed that Ventura had the first or second largest outpost.

It made sense given the sheer amount of resources they had to throw at the task. While she doubted anyone in Ventura had an essence income close to hers, when they pooled together the incomes of a few hundred people it was easy to match up.

Sometimes quality and quantity were equal in weight.

Ventura’s banner now fluttered in the breeze, right alongside the golden phoenix of Defiance. The other guild’s logo was rather simple in design, as were most of the major guild’s. It was a compass star, similar to the one that often adorned maps along with the words ‘Venture Forth’ written beneath in curling script.

Evelyn felt it was rather ostentatious considering that his guild had only been the ones to clear the 16th Floor first because they had the assistance of T and Eleanor, two of the top challengers who had not joined the guild after its creation and instead gone their own route.

They returned from their presumable ascensions - she had no way of knowing if they actually had gone through with the process but she assumed that was why they vanished for a couple of weeks after beating the 16th Floor - and joined forces to found a guild of their own, which they called ‘Eclipse’. In the far distance she could make out their banners, a fiery corona against a midnight purple.

It’s a shame that the tower seems to be pushing the guilds into competition with each other. Haven was starting to feel like a place where we could just be human again. No killing each other, no struggling against monsters all the time. Just a conglomeration of people eating, sleeping and all the other little things that make life… well, life.

There was nothing left for her to do now that she had claimed as much of the wall as was possible. As far as she knew there was no way for the other guilds to overturn her claim, so she just decided to head back to the group after taking a final glance at how Ventura was faring with the invasion.

Overall they were coping well. The guild counted quite a few powerful challengers among its ranks and the combined effort of those forerunners with the weaker members supporting them had allowed them to stem the tide of monsters.

Satisfied that they wouldn’t find a horde at their back thanks to the failure of their temporary allies, Evelyn began the walk back along the wall.

~~~

~ Kyron POV ~

He surveyed the carnage along the wall with taut lips and sharp eyes. His guild were doing a decent job of battling against the monsters but some of the weaker members were struggling to keep up. There would need to be a culling once this World Event was over.

There was no need to remove them from the guild, of course. No, that would be too easy. Those who were unable to pull their weight would be collared. Their essence would go directly into the guild’s fund, or to purchasing more stars to make them more efficient. In the basement of their headquarters there were already a hefty number of ‘farms’.

Even before the introduction of the guild system he had figured out the endless ways to exploit the essence trading function.

Weaklings, content to remain in Haven without contributing to the continued climb up the tower in any way, even if it was something as simple as crafting tools or armour. They didn’t deserve freedom or autonomy. Contributing to the guild as essence producers was the least they could do.

He wasn’t battling himself, at least not at the moment. When the event had begun he fought alongside his guild to bolster their morale, but the guild system let him take essence from the monsters they killed without lifting a finger. He had no need to waste his energy.

One of his scouts approached, stirring him from his internal machinations.

“What news, Ithamor? I know you wouldn’t have broken your vigil unless you had good reason.”

“Evelyn Han claimed the wall right up to our border. Installed the full set of defences along their outpost too, as far as I can tell. She was having a look around but didn’t stay for long. Should I take action?” he asked.

Ithamor was one of Kyron’s shadow troupe. While the guild had no lack of powerful warriors and mages on the surface, there was always a need for darker work. Information gathering, assassinations and sabotage. He wanted humanity to climb the tower, but he wanted to lead the charge. It wouldn’t do to let the other guilds get a foot up on him. That was where his shadow troupe came into play.

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Ithamor was one of the best. His skills leaned heavily towards stealth and delivering lethal blows from the shadows. It made him a perfect assassin or spy, depending on what Kyron had a need for at any given time.

Evelyn was a developing thorn in his side, digging deeper with every wave she sent through Haven. Her solo clear of the 16th Floor had skyrocketed her popularity among the citizens and given her the means to found a guild of her own, which she had aptly named Defiance.

While he desperately wanted to remove her as soon as he could, before she garnered even more strength and support, doing so right now would be unwise. Everyone in the city was on full alert during this early phase of the world event and none would look too fondly on him for removing one of the key defenders. Instead, he would make full use of Ithamor’s excellent talent for espionage.

“There’s no need to be hasty. Follow her and watch the movements of her guild for now. If I need you to do anything more I’ll contact you.”

“As you command,” said Ithamor, before a cloak of shadows consumed him and he slipped away into the darkness of night to trail Evelyn.

When the man activated his stealth even Kyron wasn’t able to detect him. He suspected it was an unusual tier skill, formed through the combination of various other stealth skills. He had wanted to put together a dossier of all his guild members’ skills but didn’t want to push his most loyal members to reveal their greatest assets.

If they felt as though he had full leverage over them they might dissent, after all. Being a great leader meant making sacrifices on occasion.

And Kyron considered himself to be one of the best.

Looking in the direction of Defiance he spotted the retreating Evelyn, sprinting down the wall at a rather sedate pace. She was a tank, or so he had heard. It made sense that she wasn’t fast, but he did wonder how she had brought down that terrifying hyper boss, Dazurmagon, without some measure of speed.

There was no need to worry about her, for now at least. If anything changed then Ithamor would update him or take the appropriate action. The more pressing concern was how bold Alice was getting on his other flank.

She was utterly insane. Compared with the majority of the guilds and challengers doing their utmost to defend the city and cooperate, she had been at odds with everyone since the start of the World Event.

Sure, her guild was doing its part to defeat the monsters that threatened them, but had also actively been pushing them towards other sections of the wall to increase the pressure on the other guilds and directly sabotaged the integrity of the wall on occasion. The woman was a wildcard, one that they needed to take off the table as soon as possible.

Luckily Kyron wasn’t alone in his disdain for her. T and Eleanor had sent a messenger with an interesting prospect, one that they also shared with another of the major guilds, Hammerheads.

Very soon Alice Steelweaver would learn that every action had consequences, ones that she wouldn’t be able to overcome through obstinance alone.

~~~

~ Evelyn POV ~

While the rational portion of her mind knew that the other guilds doing well was a beneficial thing for the city as a whole, the vengeful part that she tried to keep hidden away had wanted to arrive at Ventura’s outpost and see Kyron struggling to stay afloat.

Both parts agreed that there would be time to mess with the annoying man after the World Event was over.

A blinding golden flash struck her and stunned her for a moment. It soon passed and she glanced in the direction of the light, only to see it was just the first rays of the rising sun appearing in the distant horizon over what remained of the once lush hills.

Most of the nearby terrain had been unearthed and destroyed by the underground invaders as they breached the surface, which was a shame given how beautiful the hills had been before. She hoped the tower would repair the damage after the event.

While it was cruel, it did seem to have a fondness for gorgeous scenery and she felt that it would probably fix everything around the city while leaving the challengers struggling to recover, just to spite them.

The sun broke the peak of the tallest hill and she thought it would banish the darkness, but the ground was still wreathed in a black cloak.

That’s odd.

Evelyn squinted and tried to get a clearer picture of what was happening. The morning sun had blown away the dark of night, but unbeknownst to the defenders of Haven a new threat had appeared. This third wave arrived in silence, which was why she hadn’t expected it. Rushing towards the walls was a writhing army of abnormally large ants.

Following the theme of the first two waves, the third was also a type of monster which tunnelled through the earth. In Evelyn’s opinion though, ants were far more terrifying than either of the monsters they had faced so far.

Ants knew how to work together, and that meant defeating them would be multitudes harder than bringing down the worms which simply crawled onwards without any thoughts save for consuming what lay in their path or the armoured moles whose only desire seemed to be bringing down the walls or slashing the defenders to pieces.

She picked up the pace and put her all into rushing back to her parents and Anthea. The corners of her mouth lifted a little.

I guess one of us will be excited about the latest development.