Row urged them to follow her to the line, before another wave of guardians descended from the tube.

“Boss!”

A quam called out to Row, waving at her with four short swords.

Crystal’s mercy! Four blades? How’s that fair? Nar thought, staring at the four bladed DPS.

Jul used no weapons, and for some reason, Nar had never considered what she might look like if she ever did. Now he knew.

“Do you fancy getting some swords, Jul?” Tuk asked under his breath. His thoughts had been the exact same as Nar’s.

“No!” she said, horrified.

“Look at him though! Look at all that DPS!”

“Quality over quantity,” Mul muttered.

“You’re just jealous, man!”

Row took them straight to their party, who held the middle of the line.

“Move, move! No time for chit-chat!” she said, waving them off.

The Climbers opened a hole for them to go through and closed it behind them. Tun stayed with them.

“Jaz!” Row shouted.

That got the attention of a short human. His skin was ashen gray like Nar’s, with a touch of brown, but where his hair was a dark gray, Jaz’s was a muted shaggy blond.

“Boss! About time!” Jaz said, casting a cursory glance at the newcomers. “Guessing it worked out.”

“Yes. This is Kur and his party. How’re things here?”

Jaz tutted and grimaced.

“Not good. Two more died in that last bunch of explosions.”

“Damn it! That makes fourteen!” Row said, her expression souring.

“Fourteen Climbers dead?” Kur asked.

“Since we’ve gotten here,” Jaz said.

“We’ve made it better,” Row said. “And more have been joining. I’ve gotten us to form this line, and that takes care of our back. But the front…”

“What is happening here?” Gad said. “And what do you need our help with?”

Nar looked down at the trial that awaited them.

About ten, wide steps led down onto a platform that hung over a deep, dark, impenetrable chasm. A gaggle of maybe thirty Climbers were pressed against each other on that overhang. They shouted incoherently at one another, amongst cries of pain and shouts of warning when someone got pushed too close to the edge.

In front of them, was the actual bridge. It fit maybe five people standing comfortably shoulder to shoulder, and it extended across the dark for a long, long aways, before it reached the mirrored open platform and stairs on the far opposite side.

Light beamed down from evenly spaced circular openings, and they revealed that the bridge was a solid wall cutting across the chasm. It went all the way down, as far as the lights could reach in the dark.

The air coming up at him stung his eyes. Nar blinked some moisture back into them. It was like standing near the furnace back at the plant.

When Nar breathed in, the hot air burned down into his lungs, and very quickly his shirt got drenched in sweat.

Also… He inhaled a few discrete breaths through his nose.

What’s that smell? he wondered. He had never encountered it’s like before.

“I don’t like any of this,” Tuk said. “Those holes where the light comes from. They look like that tube.”

“And the bridge goes down…” Nar said. “Remember the little guardians crawling up, during the tutorial?”

“How could I ever forget that?” Mul muttered.

The bridge was littered with guardian debris. And here and there, there was something else.

“Are those…” Cen asked.

“Yes,” Jaz said. “It’s mostly the explosions doing them in. And they just stay there, burning.”

Nar grimaced at the charred, smoking corpses. One of them was still encased in flames.

“I don’t like any of this,” Kur said, rubbing his chin. “So, what happens if we try to cross? I doubt it’s just an easy stroll across.”

“It’s coming any second now,” Row said. “It will be easier to explain after you’ve seen it.”

Nar crossed his arms and scanned the crowd, while the others spread out around Row and Jaz to have a better view.

Morsvar, humans, lengos, altei, truggers and quam. Just like them.

Thinking back to the big battle at the cubeplant, other than amongst the cannibals, he didn’t remember seeing any other races of sentients amongst the Climbers.

I wonder why that is? Nar thought. There were supposed to be an almost infinite number of species across the Nexus. There had only ever been six races in their cubeplant, but he had expected to encounter many more by now. Instead, it was always a combination of the same six. Where were the rest?

“It’s starting!” Row shouted, drawing his attention. “Look, from the other side!”

Nar looked to the far side, and saw a stream of guardians pouring down the stairs and rushing towards the Climbers. They looked like normal guardians, neither armored up like the Soldier 2, nor equipped with the shooting appendages that the poisoners had been harassing them with for weeks now.

“Crystal… I missed those guys,” he muttered.

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

“Me too,” Tuk said. “Can’t believe I’m saying that.”

“They look less scary now,” Jul whispered.

Nar glanced at her. She was frowning at the incoming guardians, as if to try and understand something that didn’t quite make sense.

Nar smiled lightly and faced back forward.

From their side, the Climbers shouted at each other, and pushed and shoved into something meant to resemble some sort of a battle formation. Five tanks filtered to the front of their ranks, and they stepped onto the bridge, locking their shields together.

“Watch,” Row said, leaning into Kur.

The tanks marched onwards, against the incoming guardians. The rest of the Climbers filed in a disorderly mob after them.

“How are they going to DPS like that?” Mul asked.

“Just wait for it,” Jaz said. His face was twisted in a grimace. He was half turned, like he didn’t want to see what was happening, but at the same time couldn’t help not to.

On the bridge, the two fronts collided. Guardians gurgled metallic, and Climbers shouted themselves hoarse.

The Climbers behind the tanks gathered at their backs, and placed their hands on them.

“Why are they pushing the tanks?” Cen asked. “Why aren’t they fighting back? Those tanks are getting attacked!”

“Wait. Just wait,” Row said.

The Climbers bunched up together and lent their [Strength] to the tanks. Slowly, they managed to push back the guardians.

“Is the point of this to push the guardians back to the other side?” Kur asked.

But the words had barely left his mouth when things changed. The guardians, who had been piling up at the front of their line, had reached enough height to surpass the tanks.

Their blades came down on them and on the Climbers behind them. Shields were raised, and a second line of tanks was revealed. But soon, guardians climbed over that second line as well, and tumbled onto the Climbers behind it.

Panicked chaos erupted.

Climbers ran back to the platform on this side, while others, not having the choice, stood their ground and fought.

“About time,” Mul said, when the first guardian was killed.

Row shook her head. “Here it comes.”

Guardians streamed out of the light circles. Most of them, Nar had no trouble recognizing.

“Poisoners!”

“And worse,” Jaz said. “Watch those ones with the long tubes!”

Nar searched the ceiling until he found a guardian matching the description. It was the same size as the poisoners, and at first glance, it looked the same. But whereas the poisoners had eight small tubes attached to smaller legs, from which they fired their bolts, these new guardians had a single, long tube attached to their main bodies.

“What in the pile are those?” Tuk asked, squinting.

From behind them came the sudden sound of battle. Guardians had come down from the tube on their side as well, and the line they had first seen was being attacked again.

“We’re surrounded!” Kur shouted. “That’s why you’ve kept people on the stairs!”

Down on the bridge, bolts began raining on the Climbers.

“Oh no!” Tuk shouted, as the Climbers below were pelted.

“Don’t worry! These bolts only make you slower. And they only last for about ten seconds,” Row said. “They won’t put you down for days.”

Jaz sighed. “They still do a pile ton of damage, though.”

“Yes!” Row conceded. “But the bolts aren't the problem. It’s that. Look!”

As soon as she spoke, explosions rang across the bridge. More tanks and even Climbers with big flat two-handed swords and axes tried to block the sudden onset of small orange looking balls coming down on them, but they could only hold for so long under the attack.

Orders were shouted on the bridge, and ranged DPS began firing at the guardians on the ceiling.

Nar followed the attacks up, and searched for one of the new explosive guardians. He found one, amongst the mass of poisoners. It aimed its tube at the bridge, and orange light shone within, from whatever mechanism gathered energy to fire the explosive round. DPS attacks rained around it, but the poisoners covered it, protecting it by sacrificing themselves. Nar opened his mouth to shout a warning, but he was not part of the action, and he was too far. Instead, he watched the guardian spit an orange ball, recoiling from the force of the blast.

He only caught sight of the explosive round for a split second, as it shot out of the tube, and there were so many explosions raging across the bridge, that he had no idea which one he had just seen being shot.

“It’s shooting little balls…” Nar muttered. “It was so fast!”

“Yes. It’s almost impossible to catch them unless you’re really paying attention, and they’re aimed somewhat your way,” Jaz said.

“You were down there?” Kur asked.

“Yes!” Row shouted, above the explosions. “We joined the push once, but I couldn’t keep my people there! There was no way to cross like that! I tried telling them that we needed more people, but they wouldn’t listen. All they read was Mid-Levels and nothing else matters.”

“Crystal,” Kur said, rubbing his chin. “Though I can understand.”

He sighed.

“How bad are those explosions? Damage wise?”

“Tun got hit twice,” Row said. “The initial explosion deals the majority of the damage, but there is still some splash damage, as well.”

“Luckily, the AOE is small,” Jaz said.

A brief look of confusion passed by Kur’s eyes, and Jaz grimaced.

“Oh, yes. AOE. That’s a new one.”

Nar considered the new piece of information that he had just received.

AOE, short for Area of Effect. So it’s damage that hits everyone within a radius! I mean, it's an explosion, so that’s kind of obvious, no?

“So, what happens now?” Gad asked.

The ranged were decimating the guardians on the ceiling, and the melee were doing the same to the ones that had broken through the line of guardians, down on the bridge. It seemed like they had the upper hand, but instead, everyone was retreating back to the overhang on their side.

“Why don’t they keep going?” Kur asked.

“Because more and more guardians are going to keep coming from both sides and above, until every Climber gets off the bridge,” Row explained. “Once they do, the guardians stop coming from above, and the whole thing starts over again. If we just press on, eventually, there will be too many guardians for us to be able to handle. The ceiling gets completely covered in hundreds of guardians, the bridge gets overrun, and the line covering our backs gets pushed till the breaking point!”

“Damn,” Mul said, eyeing the retread with a frown.

“Yeah. So, to circle back to the beginning, the reason why we can’t fight the guardians on the bridge is because if we do, as soon as we kill one of them, it triggers the guardians from above and behind to show up. And we have to retreat, and start over, or we just get overrun from both sides and above! And that’s with us still not knowing if anything can climb up the sides of that damn bridge!”

“Crystal, what a mess!” Kur said. “Did we miss something on that quest prompt?”

“No. It was all just trial and error,” Row said, her expression darkening.

“That’s just cruel,” Jul whispered from behind Nar.

Kur passed a hand over his hair. “So, we can’t fight the guardians on the bridge, only push them back… But at some point, they manage to break through regardless. Once they do, we have no choice but to fight them, which will then trigger the ranged guardians on the ceiling and the ones behind us. And then what? We can’t just keep retreating, right? It looks to me that when that happens, we do actually need to push forward.”

“Yes! But we were missing something,” Row said. “The ranged DPS have enough firepower to sort of handle the guardians pouring onto the ceiling. They are actually very weak, despite their high DPS. However, with the tanks holding the front, there isn’t DPS there to make that push when we need it. So…”

She glanced at Tuk, but even before that, Kur was already nodding in understanding.

“Ah, I see. You need Tuk,” Kur said.

“The ring tosser, yes! He can throw his rings around the tanks and clear the way for us. Especially with that crazy [Aura] attack of his!”

“Hmmm,” Tuk made. “I hate to break it to you, but so far, I can only use my [Aura] with one ring.”

Row grinned at him. “From what I saw, that’ll be more than enough.”

Kur looked over towards the bridge. Most of the Climbers were back at the platform, and all the guardians on the bridge were dead. The ceiling was still crawling with guardians, but the ranged DPS seemed to have it well at hand.

“We’ll do it, of course. We have no other option,” Kur said, glancing back at his party. “But I want my people at the front, and your party with us.”

Row burst out laughing. “Deal!”

“Just like that? Won’t the others oppose it?” Kur asked.

“Nobody wants to go first!” Row said, shaking her head. “And they can sort out who goes last. It won’t be our concern.”

“And you’re happy with me calling the shots?” Kur asked.

“As long as it’s not suicidal or moronic, I have no issues with it whatsoever.”

Moronic! There’s another management brat… Nar thought, eying the red-haired party leader.

“That’s fair,” Kur said. “And as long as your people behave and do their part, both our parties will get across.”

Row stretched her hand to Kur.

“Our party is the strongest here. We’ll pull our weight, and we won’t leave you behind. I swear by the Crystal!”

Kur took her hand. “Then we have an agreement, and I swear by the Crystal we’ll give our all to get your party across safely.”

They shook on it.

“That’s all I can ask for,” Row said. “So, what’s the plan?”