Ray did his best not to tell the newcomers to scram. He had Tower Nodes to ponder over. Now really wasn’t a good time for disturbances.
But the middle-aged couple—the way they clung together suggested they were husband and wife—looked harried. The woman’s face was flushed with worry, her long, dark hair in disarray. Meanwhile, the man looked like he was about to spontaneously conjure some more grey hairs to add to his salt-and-pepper strands.
Both newcomers glanced at the Tower Nodes for a second, but they decided not to comment on them.
“Are you…?” The man stared at Ray, giving him a once over. “You’re not with them?”
“With whom?” Ray asked. He pointed at the other fellow farther behind who was coming closer. “That guy?”
The woman didn’t even turn. “Yes. They’re trying to drag us into their team by force.”
“Team. You mean, Faction?”
“Right. That’s what they called it…”
Ray’s initial annoyance was giving way to curiosity, which was bound to be sated at least somewhat now that the man in the distance finally reached them.
He reminded Ray a little bit of Gritty for some reason, though they didn’t look alike. His short blond hair was cropped military style. Unlike Gritty, his fierce, challenging expression had a more sinister cast, as did his ripped and shredded tunic and leggings. A red piece of cloth was tired around his bicep like a mix of an armband and a bandanna.
Ray blinked. Oh. Now he knew why the man reminded him of Gritty. It wasn’t appearance. It was familiarity.
He had been one of the Hop passengers. One of the last people Ray had seen on Earth before he and everyone else had been transported into this Tower. The level of coincidence that they would meet again, here of all places, was wild.
Ray peeked at the what the man was capable of using Presence of the Primordial.
[Presence of the Primordial]
Holt Bailey [Denizen]
Race: Human
Class: Shifter [Uncommon] [Tier 2] at Level 9
Skills:
Shift [Tier 3]: Transform into a ferocious beast and channel the strength of the wilderness. At Tier 3, this skill transforms you into a Tier 3 Lupine Beast, granting 20% bonuses to Strength, Dexterity, and Vitality, and lasts 3 minutes.
Pain Tolerance [Tier 2]: You are now immune to the distracting effect of status conditions, afflictions, and any attacks. Pain is your companion, not your adversary. At Tier 2, this skill only blocks the debilitating effects of Tier 2 status conditions, afflictions, and attacks.
Killer Instinct [Tier 2]: Whenever you kill an adversary, your primary stats temporarily increase by. At Tier 2, stats are increased by +6 and last for 2 minutes.
Bestial Roar [Tier 2]: Let loose a ripping roar that rocks your foes and bolsters your allies. Inflicts Intimidation at the same Tier as this skill, while raising allies’ damage negation and damage dealt by 10%.
Hunter’s Omen [Tier 2]: Automatically locate the strongest foe in a group. At Tier 2, this skill also indicates your foe’s weakness.
Wild Charge [Tier 4]: Burst into a thunderous charge that boosts your momentum at the cost of a miss leaving you vulnerable. At Tier 4, this skill’s radius of effect is 8 meters.
Hmm. An Uncommon Class, but no Path. Interesting.
“Well, well, well,” the big man said, grinning at them all. His teeth were blackened. “Look what we have here. I thought you good folks were running away, but it looks like you were just being good Samaritans to bring us a new recruit! How wonderful.”
“The hell are you talking about?” Ray asked.
He didn’t answer immediately. Instead, he waited until more people joined in. Half a dozen of them were part of the same group clearly, each one of them sporting the same red cloth around their arms. Three people didn’t have them though, and all three mirrored the looks of the couple who had come to Ray. Frightened rabbits caught in a trap.
Come to think of it, hadn’t Ray seen those red bands a while back? In that vision the Marauder had been kind enough to let him pore over. One of the groups Ray had seen had the same red band on everybody.
“I’m Holt,” the man in front finally said. “Third commander of the Wild Tides. Heard of us, buddy?”
Ray had, but he shook his head anyway. “No. Should I have?”
“You should have, if only for your own good. But I can excuse a little bit of ignorance. We’re the largest Faction in the entire Floor, and we’re growing rapidly. Our mission is to make a home on this Floor and take the fight to the bastard Sylvans who set us this stupid, impossible challenge of leashing their hounds for them.”
“Sounds fine and dandy.” Ray tapped the top of his wrist like he had a watch there. “If you’re getting to your sales pitch, can I suggest you hurry up?”
Holt laughed. It wasn’t pleasant at all. “This ain’t a sales pitch, buddy. You’d do well not to be flippant when the Wild Tides are around.”
“They want you to join them,” the woman who had first reached him hissed.
Holt glared at her like she had spoiled whatever he had been about to say or do. “We don’t want you to join us. You will join us. See, we’re not going to tolerate half-assed people who think they can do whatever they want and make trouble for the rest of us. We—”
“Not interested.”
“What?” This was blurted out by one of Holt’s henchmen a little farther back.
Ray cleared his throat. “I understand the concept of no might be unfamiliar to you, but I said that I’m not interested in joining your Faction. End of story. If you’ve got nothing else to say, get out of my sight.”
Some of them immediately turned angry, others looking shocked at his brazen attitude. How dare he dismiss their politely-worded invitation? Any second now, they were going to make him eat his words.
Or attempt to.
“Last chance, buddy,” Holt said. A vein was very clearly throbbing on his forehead. “There’s one rule we at the Wild Tides stick to above all others. You’re either with us, or you’re against us. There’s no in between in this new world. So which is it? Think carefully before you answer. Are you with the Wild Tides, or are you against us?”
Ray tutted. “That’s the stupidest rule I’ve ever heard. But according to your own logic, since I’m clearly not interested in being with you, I’m apparently against you? Is that how it works? Sorry, I haven’t done kindergarten politics in at least two decades now.”
Several of the Wild Tides’ members began shouting insults at him in turn. Theirs were a lot more uncouth and uncreative. Boring.
A vein had begun throbbing on Holt’s forehead. “Alright, then.” The man stepped forward, rolling his shoulders and cracking his knuckles. He dismissed the Tower Nodes with a sneer. “Think you’re some kind of hot shot, do you? I’m going to make you eat your words.”
Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.
“Wow, I can’t believe I predicted you were going to do exactly that.”
Holt looked confused, but then another vein popped up on his temple, and he attacked.
Ray understood what was going on. They wanted to stick to their stupid policy, no matter how idiotic it seemed, because to them, it was a show of strength. All a matter of optics. If Ray ended up not joining the Wild Tides, then these goons would need to subdue him, just to prove that there could be no one who went against the Faction’s wishes.
Yeah well, fat chance of that. Maya’s Insurge Faction wasn’t even being a dick and he still had no intention of joining them properly. How in the world did these birdbrains think he’d be convinced to join their little extended frat party hazing ritual?
Presence of the Primordial was quite nice in telling Ray what his opponent was doing. Holt had used his very first skill. Shift.
Ray blinked. “Are you… an honest-to-goodness werewolf?”
He could have been forgiven for asking that. Seriously, it was a legitimate question.
Holt had bulked up, his tunic stretching over his beefy muscles. Fur sprouted over all his exposed bits, his head elongating into a canine snout. The ends of his hands grew curved claws as big as Ray’s fingers.
What an interesting skill. It really had turned him into a sort of pseudo-monster. A human and beast hybrid.
“Can you even talk or understand things anymore?” Ray asked.
Holt growled at him, a wolf about to tear into its prey. “I’m going to rip you to shreds, you piece of shit.”
Then he bounded forward using Wild Charge. If nothing else, the man was fast.
Ray still had his Diamond-crusted Ring of Temporal Evasion on, but it didn’t activate. A full day hadn’t passed since the last time.
He wasn’t too concerned. Ray knew just how to deal with this.
Holt charged at him, eating up the distance at a rapid pace, reaching hist target in mere heartbeats.
But Ray was ready. One Talisman to activate Occultic Apparition, the other to summon Soaring Wings. Black energy trailed in his wake as he rapidly dodged to the side. Just in time as Holt sailed past Ray and crashed to the ground
Next, True Enhancement and Shatterclaw were all that Ray needed. It would take a bit of time to condense enough Mana to activate the spell, but Ray had the time.
Wild Charge granted Holt huge power, but it also made him commit. When it failed to hit its mark, it would leave the wielder momentarily vulnerable. Idiot hadn’t believed Ray could have dodged.
But he had, and as Holt finally turned around, Ray was ready.
Dark energy rippled off his shoulder, crafting the clawed arm wreathed in burning red and dotted with motes of gold. All created in the space and time it took for Holt to rush in with another Wild Charge. A blink in which Holt had already committed himself.
Ray got to enjoy the widening of his opponent’s eyes for an instant before his spell struck.
The contact between his black-red magic and his onrushing foe created an explosion, blasts of crimson-speckled darkness shattering outwards in every direction. When Ray pulled back the now-broken Shatterclaw arm and let his magic dissipate, the screams began.
[Enemy Defeated—Human]
Shifter [Tier 2] Human: [Level 9] x1
Essence: +900
Mana Restored: 90
Knowledge: +3
Essence to next level: 5,810/6,400
[New Personal Achievement—Murderer!]
You’ve killed your first Denizen of the same race as you. It appears you possess no scruples when taking out even your own kind. That can only help going forward.
Reward
* Reputation: +20 Ruthlessness, +10 Chaotic
* New Skill: Killer Instinct [Tier 1]
[Reputation Threshold Crossed]
For reaching the 50-point threshold, your Ruthlessness boosts all your damage dealt even further. All damage inflicted gets a 10% bonus, including damage from any afflictions.
Interesting. Ray had received one of Holt’s skills as an achievement reward. Considering his had been at Tier 2… did that mean the bastard had gone around killing a bunch of people? Of course, what else did he expect after the ultimatum he had received.
Back to the present.
It was obvious why the others had screamed at the violent contact between Ray’s spell and Holt. There wasn’t much remaining of the Wild Tides Faction commander.
That enhanced Shatterclaw had essentially destroyed Holt’s body above his waist. Where there should have been a chest was a twisted, malformed abomination of rotted flesh, flowering bone, blood vessels and organs contorting themselves into horrific shape. Both arms had been torn off and flown several yards on either side, while the head—
The head thumped down about a dozen yards behind the last man. He flinched as his leader’s disembodied noggin crashed back down to earth.
“Well, that takes care of that,” Ray said, his spells dissipating. “Anyone else want to try forcing me to join their Faction?”
Nobody volunteered. They all just stared at him like he had performed an incomprehensible trick. Well, he had done magic, so there was that.
Since they weren’t forthcoming, Ray stepped forward himself. “Let them go.”
The Wild Tides members looked one part angry, one part resilient, and several parts frightened. Just to add more fuel to the fire, Ray reactivated Occultic Apparition. That did the trick.
“I said.” Ray raised a hand threateningly. “Let your captives go.”
The gaggle of men stepped back from the people they had captured. With slow, hesitating steps the captives walked over to join the couple.
Ray wanted to address them, but not in front of these grunts. “Now, get out of here before I make you leave.”
They started retreating, one of them even looking at their former commander’s body like he wanted to loot the corpse.
“You won’t get away with this,” the man at the head said. Maybe he was the second-in-command or something. The dead Holt’s deputy. “You’ve made an enemy of the Wild Tides. Nobody takes us on and lives free for long.”
Ray pointed at the corpse a few yards in front of him. Blood now formed a little pool around Holt’s body. “Tell your napkin-loving boss that if he doesn’t want to experience the same thing that happened to his little puppet here, he had better stay out of my way.”
“You’ll regret this. You’ll—”
Ray fired off a Chaos Chymify at the red-banded group, who turned tail and ran.
“You’ll pay!” the deputy shouted even as he continued hurtling after his fellow goons, his voice dwindling. “You’ll rue the day you messed with us, you little Oz cosplayer.”
Ray actually laughed. Alright, lame as that last insult had been, at least it brought a chuckle out of him.
He turned to the couple who had first come to him for help, where the others had all gathered. Ray tried not to feel discomfited by their reaction. He could tell that the way he had killed the Wild Tides commander didn’t sit well with them.
“You guys should head due… that way,” Ray said, pointing to his left. “You should be able to find some people sheltering in a keep. They’ll take you in.”
They hesitated, for whatever reason. Ray didn’t fully understand what was going on, until one of them eventually summoned enough courage to speak up.
“What if we don’t want to join up?” the salt-and-pepper haired man asked.
Ah. Good point. After all, that was why they had tried to run from the Wild Tides. Not just because they seemed like a bunch of egotistical maniacs, but also because they simply might not want to be a part of any Faction.
Like Ray.
“I’m not going to force you into anything,” he said. “But you almost did just get forced into a Faction against your will. If you’re not strong enough to protect yourself on your own, wouldn’t it make more sense to be part of a group that is strong enough to protect you?”
“Maybe.” It was the woman who spoke this time. “But at the same time, we want to get strong. We don’t want to end up relying on anyone but ourselves. We’ve made it this far, after all.”
Ray nodded. He could understand some of that. “Do what you think is best. But just be careful, alright? Not that I want to sound egotistical, but if I hadn’t been around…”
They nodded back at him a little morosely. Their situation had been precarious.
“That’s why we were going through the local dungeons here,” one of the others said. “Clearing them, gaining Essence, growing our levels and skills.”
“Oh, you must have been the people who cleared the library dungeon.”
“That’s right. That was the second dungeon we had cleared in the area.”
Ray didn’t know quite how many dungeons there were under his latest Tower Node’s influence, but he told the little group about the ones he had gone through all the same. They relaxed a lot as he told them about his experiences in the dungeons. Mostly, he just told them about the challenges. They didn’t need to know about his specific rewards.
When they finally parted, Ray caught a few of them eyeing the Wild Tides Commander’s dead body. Two of them even spat on his corpse. Served him right, the ass.
Though, it did make Ray wonder what exactly the Wild Tides’ plan was. Taking over the entirety of the First Floor? That was basically an invitation for wide-scale conflict. Surely they understood not everyone would be willing to go along with their plan. Were they that arrogant?
Now that Ray had killed one of them and let the others go, they’d pin him as an enemy, that was for sure. Question was, how far they would take this enmity.
If the entire Wild Tides Faction came after him, then he’d need to take some decisive action.
A lot of it made him curious, though. A commander at level 9. He was clearly not their main leader, but that did suggest the actual head honcho was even stronger. But higher than Ray’s own level? Someone who had gone through an even more difficult tutorial zone than him wasn’t an impossibility.
Someone else who could punch above their weight was also not an impossibility.
Basically, Ray would need to keep an eye out. Once again, he was reminded about what Gritty had said. Potential defectors. Hmm, he might even need to be proactive about these Wild Tides folks.
For now, though, Ray checked his latest skill acquisition.
[Information Request—Skills]
Killer Instinct [passive] [Buff] [Tier 1]
Whenever you kill an adversary, your primary stats temporarily increase. At Tier 1, stats are increased by +3 and last for 1 minute.
Well… of course it was going to say the exact same thing it had said for the dead guy.
Ray looked down. The Tower Nodes were still glimmering where he had summoned them. Or rather, they had interacted with each other and called them forth.
And now, Ray could gain his second Tower Node.
He leaned down and got a look at what his newest System Artifact could provide him.