Chapter 63
Climb For Your Life (Part 1)
Ryle and Durge were making their way through the game show trials ahead of them. The gate they had gone through had led them to a wide hallway that seemed to be empty. However, once you took a step in, you would learn that this was far from the truth. The hallway was covered in pressure plates that would trigger hidden doors to open on the walls, floor and ceiling. From with these hidden doors would then come out wild beasts that the Laughing Ogre had captured and stashed in these places in anticipation of these games.
Most of the other contestants didn’t stand a chance against the bloodthirsty beasts, as they were quickly torn apart by the animals that had been kept hungry specifically for this purpose. The ones who managed to make it out alive either used other contestants as bait to distract the monsters so that they could escape. There were those who were either skilled enough to avoid the beasts completely or strong enough to fight them, but they were quite few in number.
Both Ryle and Durge were able to make their way through the beasts in their way with relative ease, as they weren’t the most dangerous creatures nature could offer. Despite their capabilities of taking on the beasts, they still chose to avoid and run away most of the time. This was because both Ryle and Durge knew that getting locked into combat was only going to be a problem for them in the long run. Not only was there a chance that while they were dealing with one opponent another one could sneak up behind them, but just fighting overall would prove to be a big disadvantage in the long run. This was just the first trial ahead of them and any lost stamina was going to be an issue later on. They would need to conserve their strength for the latter, tougher challenges, if they were to have any hope of winning.
“Goddammit! These things are really pissing me off!” Ryle yelled angrily as she kicked at a Badlands Wolf that tried to bite down on her. “Seriously, wolves again!? Is this becoming a thing with me or something!?”
“Don’t bother fighting these things!” Durge shouted as he kept running forward. “You’re only going to make things more difficult for yourself in the long run! Just focus on running forward and try to avoid them!”
“Shut up! You think I don’t know that!?” the blonde yelled back as she followed after the orc. “This isn’t my first time getting chased, you know!”
“Well, excuse me then,” Durge said sarcastically as he rolled his eyes. “Didn’t know you were a pro at pissing people off, but I guess I should have suspected that!”
“BITE MY ASS!” Ryle shouted angrily in response to the insult. “Besides, do you even know what’s ahead of us!? You should have at least some experience with this shit!”
“Like I’ve told you already, I do not enjoy these games like the clan does! I’ve only seen some of them due to my former job, but that’s about it!” the orc said in a frustrated tone. “The only guess I can make is that we are most likely going to have to face some even more dangerous monsters ahead, since that might be the theme here. However, it’s your two friends that I’d be more worried about.”
“Erin and Lex!?” the blonde said out of shock. “Why!? How do you know that they are in trouble!?”
“While a lot of the challenge in these things change to keep it more interesting for the audience, I have noticed a certain pattern that Grandall seems to follow,” Durge began to explain. “These things always start the same way. The contestants are brought into an area with seven gates that open up for a limited time. They then start to close down and anyone left behind is killed. However, there is always one gate that stays open for longer than the others and your friends might have unfortunately gone through it.”
Ryle felt her heart sink, as she could only fear what her friends were most likely facing right now. Not only that, but the fact that she wouldn’t be able to do anything to help, made things worse. The blonde could only hope that whatever it was that Erin and Lexton had ahead of them was something they would be able to handle.
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Meanwhile, Erin and Lexton were going down another hallway, except they didn’t have any obstacles waiting for them. It was just an empty pathway with nothing or no one in sight. This obviously confused them, as they were expecting something life-threatening to come at them, such as a wild beast or a masked murderer, yet there was nothing.
“What is up with this?” Erin asked, as she kept running while carrying Lexton on her back, as the kobold’s leg was still injured. “Knowing hiw sadistic these people are, I was expecting some crazy death traps or something. Did we get lucky and get thrown in the “free pass” gate or something?”
“I doubt it. These people don’t seem like the type to give mercy on anyone,” Lexton said as he looked around, confused by this recent development. “There has got to be something hidden here that we are not seeing. Be careful.”
The redhead nodded in response and kept pressing forward. There was no way this was going to be so simple as to nothing actually happening. They just hadn’t figured out what the danger was.
Suddenly, there was a loud clicking noise that echoed in the hallway and a large trapdoor opened right beneath Erin and Lexton. They both fell down it while screaming as loud as they could.
However, as the two of them were certain that death had come for them, they realized that they weren’t simply falling down a pit. They were going down a long slide that seemed to go on forever.
The fall finally ended, as Erin and Lexton landed into a large pile of cushions, that stopped them. While fighting the dizziness that they were feeling, the two of them got up from the cushions and did their best to regain their bearings. Once they had managed to do so, they were able to take in their surroundings and see where they had ended up.
The room they were in was round in shape and the ceiling was so high that they couldn’t see it. In the middle of the room was a large round hole that was so dark one couldn’t see what was at the bottom of it. There were also other contestants there, nervous and scared over what they had ended up in.
However, as far as Erin and Lexton could tell, nothing was really going on yet, so this was most likely a waiting area of sorts for whatever game that was going to begin soon.
With nothing better to do, Erin walked up to a more secluded area with Lexton on her back and decided to see what would happen. As she did this, she tried to listen to some of the conversations to find out what was happening.
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However, not only was the redhead unable to learn any valuable information, as the other contestants seemed to be just as much in the dark as she was, but some people took notice of her and approached her.
“Hey, you there. Why are you carrying that kobold on your back?” one of the other contestants asked. She appeared to be a female human with a build almost as imposing as Durge. She was wearing the same outfit as the other contestants and had a long wild mane of hair that reached her lower back and scars all over her body. She was accompanied by two other people, a male dwarf and a male orc. “Are you planning to use him as a shield or something? Carrying him is just going to be a waste of energy, so you should just drop him already.”
image [https://i.ibb.co/SP48m5N/Ch-63-Pic-1.jpg]
“...I’m not planning to use him,” Erin said as she glared at the woman. “He’s my friend and he can’t walk. That’s why I’m helping him.”
“Helping him!? Here!?” the dwarf said with a laugh. “You must be a total idiot to do something like that over here! No good comes from helping others around here!”
“You’re only saying that because you don’t know any better. He’s actually a very helpful guy,” the redhead said as she felt her anger start to rise. “Besides, he’s my friend. What other reason do I need to help him?”
“It’s not about you having a reason to help him. It’s more about you having a reason NOT to help him,” the orc said with a smirk. “Like sis here already said, carrying him around is only a waste of energy. You should just abandon him and save your own ass. No use carrying useless weight around. Besides, what is a kobold supposed to do for you?”
Erin could feel Lexton’s grip on her tighten in response to the cruel insults. This only served to further anger her, but she managed to keep her calm. Starting a fight was the last thing she needed.
Still, the redhead was not about to let such comments simply pass.
“I’ll keep that in mind, but I can’t promise that I’ll take it all that seriously,” Erin said with a small smirk of her own. “After all, judging by the stench, I doubt any of you have ever had any friends before. Especially ones worth risking your own life for.”
“Why you mouthy little-!”
The dwarf and the orc were stopped in their tracks by the woman, who signaled for them to stay put. Unlike her companions, she didn’t seem to be angered by Erin’s insult at all.
“That’s one tough act you’re putting on. But how long will you be able to keep it up?” the woman asked with a chuckle. “I can tell just by looking that this is your first time taking part in these games, so you obviously don’t know just how dangerous these things can be. If you did, I’m certain you would have already abandoned that friend on yours.”
“I disagree, but that doesn’t matter. There’s nothing that could ever make me abandon my friend,” Erin said as she glared at the woman. “And what makes you say that about me? Do you know something that I should about these games?”
“Wouldn’t you like to know? Too bad for you, I’m not one for sharing,” the woman said with a grin. “You see, some of us have gone through these games more than once already. If you really need to make friends around here, you should aim for people like me, who can actually get you through this alive. My two associates here seem to at least understand that much, which is why we are now working together.”
“Not interested. I have a different way of choosing my allies,” the redhead said. “Besides, while someone like you might have useful skills and knowledge, it would come at the cost of getting stabbed in the back.”
“Suit yourself. It’s not like I need you,” the scarred woman said with a shrug before she began to walk away. “Just remember that you turned down an offer from Goldiana, the most known champion of these games. Don’t come crying to me later, when you’re in trouble.”
Erin didn’t respond as she only watched Goldiana leave with her two companions. She could tell just by looking that these people were guaranteed trouble, so avoiding them was the best option when it came to dealing with them.
“They weren’t exactly wrong, you know?” Lexton said now that Goldiana and her cronies had left. “I am not going to be all that useful to you here. Even if my leg wasn’t injured, I’m not all that strong anyways. You would be better off with leaving me behind.”
“Again with this bullshit from you! How many times do I need to tell you that no matter what happens, I never want to abandon you!?” Erin said. “Besides, you might not be able to help me out during these challenges, but there are a lot of things I can count on you to do things that I have no idea how to do. Believe me when I say this, I seriously need your help. That’s a simple fact.”
“...I’ll keep that in mind,” the kobold replied with a smile on his face. He then added a “thank you” in such a quite tone that the redhead almost didn’t hear it.
A smile crept up Erin’s face, as she wordlessly acknowledged her friend’s gratitude.
Some time passed, yet nothing seemed to be happening at all. Erin was starting to worry if they had all run into a trap where there was no escape and they were all fated to die here. However, since Goldiana seemed to stay completely calm, she assumed that this was just a regular thing in these games.
Suddenly, the sound of some large mechanism moving around began to ring throughout the room and it seemed to be coming from the hole in the middle of the room. A couple of the contestants went to peer over the edge to see what was happening, but couldn’t see anything.
The people peering into the darkness suddenly died, as a large structure shot up from the hole, decapitating those who tried to catch a glimpse of it.
Erin and Lexton stared up in awe, as what seemed like a tower kept rising up, to the point that no one could see the top. After it finally stopped moving, the contestants noticed that there was a set of stairs carved to the side of the tower that circled around it and went up to the top.
With the tower in its place, a voice from a speaker began to speak up.
“Alright, may I have your attention, contestants?” the voice coming from the speaker said. “Unless you’re blind, you have probably seen the tower that just rose up in the middle of the room. Your task is very simple. You have to climb up the tower and get to the top. That’s it.”
Upon hearing the game explained to them, several contestants began to talk among each other. They were obviously confused over the very simple task set ahead of them. They had all been expecting some sort of a monster to rise from the hole or for the whole room to get filled with poison, yet it was nothing like that at all. In all honesty, this seemed far too easy and simple to be real. There wasn’t even any type of a time limit or rule about eliminating other contestants.
Erin watched as some of the contestants walked to the stairs and began to make their way up. Since there was no need to rush, they were all walking in a calm manner in order to save stamina, as it was still a long way for them to climb up.
“What do you think, Lex?” the redhead asked. “Should we go there and get to climbing?”
“Let’s stand back and wait a while,” the kobold answered. “If we start rushing in, we might risk agitating the other contestants and get into fights with them. I’d say it’s best to do the best we can to save strength for now.”
“But isn’t there also a risk that the ones ahead of us will set up traps or something?” Erin asked.
“I’d say that’s highly unlikely. Not only do we all lack the materials to do so, but with the way this whole thing is set up, you won’t be able to do so,” Lexton explained. “So far, I’d say the biggest threat is the psychological pressure we’re in. I’m sure everyone here thinks this is far too easy and is wondering what the real threat is. I’m certain we are going to start seeing people start fighting each other to the death in order to be the first one to reach the goal, just to make sure they survive. We should try to avoid getting caught in those fights.”
The redhead nodded at her friend’s explanation. It seemed to be solid logic, as there so far didn’t seem to be anything out there that really defied his theory. It was going to be for the best to stand back for now and then climb up in a calm and orderly manner in order to avoid the worst outcome.
The contestants continued either climbing the stairs of the tower or standing back and observing, as everything proceeded in a calm manner. Suddenly, a scream broke the calm, as all contestants turned to a horrifying sight before them.
While everyone’s focus had been on the tower, secret doors had been opened, releasing what seemed to be former contestants judging by the outfits they wore. However, while these people might have looked human at first, one quickly realized that they were far from that, as their eyes glowed red and their skin had taken a dark purple color. Their bodies also had sunken features, like they hadn’t eaten anything for weeks. These creatures did have an appetite, though, as was evident from the unlucky contestant that three of these things were devouring.
Erin’s eyes went wide at the horrifying sight before her. She was able to immediately recognize these creatures as ghouls, undead monstrosities that were a grade above regular zombies. While they shared a lot of similarities with their more known counterparts, ghouls had better physical capabilities, allowing them to move much faster, use a lot more strength and they even possessed many unnatural abilities that made just a single one of them a dangerous opponent. Now there was a small army of said monsters right before the contestants, who were terrified by the horrors that had just been unleashed upon them.
image [https://i.ibb.co/ZhF8gFj/Ch-63-Pic-2.jpg]
“Oh, that’s right! I forgot to tell you all that you will need to avoid our little friends here while you make your way up the tower. Silly me!” the person that was talking to the contestants through the speakers said mockingly and laughed. “Don’t get too upset with me, okay? We need to make this at least a bit interesting, after all!”
“...Okay, forget everything I said earlier! Just run as fast as you can!” Lexton said as he stared at the ghouls in horror.
Erin didn’t need more convincing as she immediately took off running, hoping to get away from the bloodthirsty creatures.