Zelphar wore a black robe with embroidered ornate runes that went over the shoulders and continued down to his feet. His red hair was short and messy and his eyes glowed red from his recent spellcasting. He had just pulled some kind of trick on Mac that caused him to be trapped inside a pink bubble that floated above us. A self-satisfied smile sat on his face as he looked between Mac, my shadow and myself.
My shadow currently looked like a homeless version of myself. His facial hair had grown out and badly needed to be tended to. Apart from that, I thought my shadow made a dashing figure in the golden robes we looted from a pirate captain. The robes were loose from the feet to the waist and then skintight for the rest. It really showed off his burly physique. I was wearing the same robe, but I looked way better than my shadow did. Especially since I just recently had my hair trimmed and personally neatened up my beard.
Zelphar moved forwards until he was equal distance between myself and my shadow. He lifted a small round object and looked down at it. When he looked back up, he was looking directly at me.
I didn’t think it was possible, but it happened, his smug smile widened and became even more insufferable. Checking behind me, I saw that the others had yet to leave. Which meant I had to interact nonviolently. Unfortunately, that was not my strongest skillset. With that in mind I decided to just stand here and remain quiet.
“There now, where was I? Oh yes, I need you to come with me. You see there is a very important guest staying with my father who very much wants to meet with you. So much so, that they are willing to teach the one who brings you to them some very advanced magi-”
“Oh fuck off! Yer the only one that likes the sound of ye whinging.” Yelled Burin. Miko and Yui stood In front of him ,blocking him from moving forwards.
Zelphar’s eye twitched but he did not look away from me. “You should keep your pet in line. Otherwise, someone else might feel the need to do it for you.”
I looked at Burin, his face was in a rictus of fury, tears streaked down his face. It hurt me to see my first real friend in this world so pained. I wanted to beat this elf clown into the ground but did not want to start fighting until the others were away. Yui was looking at me with concern in her eyes. I nodded towards her and nudged my head towards the mazer hole. She nodded and whispered something to the others.
Just as they took one step backwards a wall of fire appeared behind them, forcing them to stop their retreat.
“Now wait a moment. Don’t be in such a hurry to leave.” Zelphar moved his outstretched hand back down to his side. “We still have things to discuss.”
That was fast. I looked the other way for half a second but that was enough for him to complete his spell. I sent an annoyed glance to my shadow. He returned my look with a small shrug of his shoulders.
Zelphar looked between us and chuckled to himself. “How about this. You agree to come with me now… and your friends can continue to play around in the dirt.”
I was fairly confident after our last encounter that I could shut him down. I was also confident that his area attacks would quickly mean the end for the others.
As if reading my thoughts, he continued. “I don’t know what trick you pulled back in that forest but be assured that it will not happen again.” He glanced to the others. “In fact, if you don’t come with me… what happened last time might be repeated here. Only it won’t be a few elves this time…” He flashed his smug smile.
This was a bad situation. With Mac in his sphere and the others exposed, there was no way I could fight Zelphar without someone getting seriously hurt or worse. His domain alone would likely kill the others within a minute or two. Could I end the fighting within that time? Maybe, but I did not want to risk lives finding out. My best option would be to go with him now and then take him down away from the others.
“Fine.” I let out a sigh. “Let them go and I will go with you.”
“Excellent!” Zelphar looked down and placed his hand on a small pouch on his belt. “I’ll just have you-“
He was interrupted by a spear of ice impacting his barrier. It neither knocked him back nor seemed to cause any damage. What it did do was surprise the elf and send up a cloud of steam. His smug smile quickly changed into a frown.
Zelphar looked to Burin and lifted his hand. I started conjuring a spearbolt as I watched him form a black and purple flame above his palm. He launched the spell towards the group while I launched my spear at his spell. I hoped my attack would detonate his spell but that didn’t happen. The spear just passed harmlessly through the spell. My shadow placed himself between the spell and the others but just like with the spear, the fireball just passed right through him.
Miko, on seeing the incoming spell, stepped forwards and braced herself behind her shield. Yui stood behind Miko, and Burin stood at the back. A barrier of mana expanded out from Miko’s shield but it too had no effect on the spell. The fireball moved into the centre of the group, right behind Yui, and exploded.
Miko and Yui were knocked face down into the ground while Burin was blasted through the wall of fire and into the mazer hole.
Rage filled me like I had never experienced before. I turned to Zelphar, who was once again grinning in self-satisfaction. He looked at me and opened his mouth to speak, just as my hammerbolt met his face. Or it would have if his barrier did not protect him. The hammer broke and disintegrated but the attack seemed to have surprised the fire mage as he jerked his head back and had to rebalance himself.
My shadow dashed towards Zelhar and slashed outwards with a conjured sword. Zelphar let the attack break against his shield as he readied another spell. An explosion of light filled my vision and completely blinded me. I still had a rough sense of where everyone was and summoned another spearbolt but was prevented from launching it as a wave of vertigo hit me. Unbalanced, I fell to my knees and felt sick to my stomach. Bile rose to the back of my throat and all I could do was breath and blink my eyes in hopes of my vision returning quicker.
Zelphar let out a scream. “You stupid dog! Do you have any idea what that cost me? It’s just one thing after another. Damn it!”
Thankfully Zelphar continued to rant instead of attacking and my vision soon returned to me. Yui was laying down next to me unmoving. Miko had switched places with me. She was now standing in front of Zelphar and was now wrapped in some metallic binding that twisted around her entire body. Her body was rock still, until it leaned to the side and fell to the ground.
What was I doing? I was a hero in the past world. I was a protector. How could I have let things come to this point? Right now, I was nothing but a fool. Shame filled me. Shame for my actions. Shame for playing pretend mage. Shame for allowing my friends to become injured around me. No more. My shame soon morphed into anger… and then rage. No more pretending.
Not bothering to push myself fully upright, I just pressed my feet against the ground and launched myself towards my target. I felt my closed fist impact against his mana shield for a split second before smashing through. The impact sent Zelphar spinning through the air in one direction, while I was knocked to the ground in another.
It took only a second for me to get back to my feet. Which was enough time for the pained scream of Yui to reach my ears. The sound was enough to distract me, I turned to see Yui curled up in a fetal position. I quickly moved over and looked her over. She was not in good shape, her leather armor was blackened and burned, and the party ring’s link showed me her health was rapidly diminishing, with only fifteen percent left. I conjured a campstone but the regeneration was not enough to prevent the decline. In a panic I conjured some bandages and started wrapping them around her arm. It felt small and delicate in my hands. Fragile even.
On feeling my touch, she opened her eyes and gave a pained smile. She tried to say something but was interrupted as a wave of dark flame emanated out from her back, coursing around her body.
“Shh, don’t talk.” I said as I finished wrapping one bandage around her. Remembering I had a potion in my bag I let go of her hand to pull it out of my storage. I brought the lip of the bottle to her lips, but she did not drink. She grabbed my hand and turned her face towards me, away from the bottle. She stared up at me, her eyes crinkled in a smile.
She died holding my hand, a potion of healing just centre metres from her lips. One last wave of fire ravished her body and burned away the bandages. Her body disintegrated into mana, much like one of my own conjured items. A dense cloud of glowing motes engulfed me before dispersing and dissipating outwards. The only thing left in front of me was charred blackened ground and the smell of burnt flesh.
I slowly rose to my feet and turned to face the one responsible. He was not far. Zelphar was standing over Miko’s prone form, his hand outstretched above her.
I stepped forwards and embraced my rage. All I could see was Zelphar in front of me. All I could see was his death.
The smug smile on the elf’s face was missing as I approached. Instead, there was a look of concern, maybe even fear. His left arm hung limply at his side while his other was shaking.
“Stay right there.” He said through gritted teeth.
Ignoring the words of a dead elf, I continued forwards.
“Hold it or I will kill your friend!” He moved his hand closer to the metal wrapped form of Miko.
My rage wanted me to end him, to slice his body into tiny pieces, but part of my brain screamed at me to pay attention. I looked down at Miko’s form and after a second, realized that she was still breathing. I was still furious, but it was enough to break me out of my trance.
“Good… Just good… We can still recover from this.” He panted.
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I looked up from Miko’s still form and met his eyes. “I’m going to kill you.”
“Hah… Y-you might have some powerful skills for your level, but I don’t think you understand the gap in our p-power. No, you won’t kill me, especially if you want her…” He pointed downwards with his chin. “And your other friend to live.”
I took another step forwards. “If I kill you, they will live.”
“No!” His smirk returned but it was a parody compared to what he wielded earlier. “That spell was no ordinary fire. It’s an evolved spell that will continue to burn its victim until either its removed or they die.” He let that hang for a second before continuing. “Right now, only I can remove the curse… Get what I’m saying?”
There was a rhythmic pounding noise as we talked. I paid it no mind until it changed to the sound of glass cracking. Above us Mac was trapped inside a sphere of magic. However, that sphere now showed flaws on its surface. My shadow was balancing on top of the barrier while repeatedly slamming down conjured hammers. Spiderweb cracks continued to form and deepen with every booming impact.
Zelpher let out a frustrated sound. “Let’s make a deal. You will meet me on the tenth floor and come with me to see my father… and I will remove the curse of your friend right now. To ensure you do actually show up, I won’t remove her bindings until you are in my care. And just so you know, only I can remove them.”
Traces of the black flame could be seen between the gaps of the metallic bindings. Miko looked to be unconscious, which was probably for the best. The party link showed me that she still had forty percent health left but like Yui, it was depleting quickly. Either she was not hit as badly as Yui, or she just had a much bigger health pool, either way, if she did not receive help, she was going to die. I tried looking for Burin’s health, but his bar was grey… I hoped it was because he was out of the ring’s range and not because he shared Yui’s fate.
Another loud crack sounded out from the sphere above us.
Zelphar made a quick glance upwards. “Do you agree or not?”
I did not have much of a choice.
“Fine. I will meet you on the tenth floor.” I said calmly. As much as I wanted to end him right now, Miko’s life was more important.
Some of Zelphar’s smugness returned “Excellent, I knew you would see reason.” His words sounded pained, forced even. The flames soon left Miko’s prone form and were absorbed into Zelphar’s outstretched hand.
He backed away and flashed a grin. “Don’t take too long. Maybe you could even save that dirt dweller if you are fast enough.” With that, he turned around and covered himself in flame before launching into the sky.
I leaned down over Miko and made sure that her health was no longer draining. I tried ripping the bindings off her, but for the first time in this world, the metal resisted my strength.
A loud crashing noise sounded followed by Mac and my shadow landing on the ground close by.
Mac rushed over to Miko and checked on her. He opened her mouth and forced a potion down her throat. “She will live. I don’t know what this binding is though. We need to take her back to the tower.”
I nodded and got to my feet. “I can’t go. Burin is alone on floor ten.”
He shook his head. “It’s too late. If you go in now, you could be separated by either a hundred or tens of thousands of metres. You will never find him.”
My shadow picked up an item from the ground, the thing Zelphar used to identify the real me, and raised it towards us. “We will find him.”
[Compass of the Hunt]
Quality: Rare (Magical)
Weight: 70g
Value: 10g – 20g
Effect: This compass will always point towards the nearest neutral or unfriendly climber or creature. You can adjust the compass to focus on either creatures or climbers.
I shared a look with my shadow. Was it a coincidence? This was the item Richard left with. I pushed the thought to the side. I could only focus on one thing at a time right now.
“Luck must be on your side.” Mac handed me two potions. “When you find him, make him drink one and only one. It will break any curse and provide powerful healing. Just make sure he doesn’t use another potion until it’s left his body.”
“What’s the second one for?” I asked.
He pointed to my left arm. “For you.”
My arm was burned. My hand was a charred mess while my shoulder was only slightly blacked. Blood oozed out from fissures running all over my arm. I had no memory of that happening during the small fight. I could still move my fingers, but they had no feeling to them. Whatever, I could still make a fist, that was good enough for now. I downed one of the potions and watched as my skin started repairing itself.
Slipping the other potion into my storage I turned around and faced the mazer hole. The wall of fire was gone, leaving only a line of blackened earth behind and a clear way into the mazer hole. Looking over, I could see the same scorch marks where Yui was just a moment ago. I refused to let that happen to Burin.
“Wait.” Mac called just as I took a step forwards. “You don’t have a floor gem.”
As if summoned by his words, the troll respawned in front of us. Ten seconds later, I was walking into the mazerhole.
The mazerhole opened up to green rolling hills with a river flowing between them. There were some trees and bushes. I only paid enough attention to make sure I did not get lucky and arrive next to Burin. I did not.
“Which way?” I asked my shadow.
“It won’t work. The compass only shows neutral or unfriendly climbers. Burin wouldn’t be counted.”
I spun towards him but as if expecting my reaction, he continued talking.
“That’s why I thought we could use this.” He was crouched over the bag of pirate loot. He fished through it until he pulled out an ornate scroll. Turning to me he said, “You didn’t really think I was interested in some pirate trash, right? There was no way I was going to throw his baby away.”
[Scroll of The Tower]
Quality: Mythical (Magical)
Weight: 600g
Value: ???
Effect: This scroll can be opened once per day for five minutes. After the allotted time the scroll will forcefully close until the next sunrise. Once opened, the scroll will show a map of the current floor, detailing your position, and all landmarks you deem important. This map can only be seen by the one that opens the scroll.
Have you ever looked into a mirror or a reflection of yourself and thought, damn what a handsome fellow? Well, that’s what I felt right now looking at my shadow. I could have kissed him but instead settled on a nod of appreciation as I took the offered scroll.
I could only use the scroll for five minutes, so I had to be clear on what was needed. First of all was Burin, secondly was the tower, and thirdly we needed floor gems to reach floor ten.
The scroll unrolled to reveal a beautifully detailed map. The tower was easily identifiable as every river and stream seemed to be pointing directly to it. That made reaching the tower easy, just had to follow the water. Next was Burin. After scanning the map, I found an icon of a dwarf that was only four rivers away. According to the map, he was currently in the middle of the fifth river.
Lastly were the floor gems. There were many, everywhere, so many icons of them that it made looking at the details of the map difficult. That was useless for me. I only wanted the gems that were between Burin and the tower. Immediately the map cleared up to only show the gems that would be on my desired path. There looked to be a few in the river itself, with more on the edges. Pretty straight forward.
The scroll was surprisingly intuitive to use, changing what was shown as my focus changed. I couldn’t help but think about magical spell books as I was closing the scroll and caught a glimpse of a handful of icons appearing. Before I could be tempted, I closed the scroll and placed it inside my storage.
I shared a look with my shadow and then ran towards Burin. The landscape blurred by as we moved forwards. The rivers were slightly too wide for me to fully leap across, despite my running speed, so I was forced to swim the last third of each river. Luckily the streams in between the rivers were easy to hop over.
I was such an idiot. I was so used to being the ultimate weapon that I thought myself and those around me invincible. How could I be so naive? I gave that up to have access to magic, I need to give up that mindset of immortality. The low leveled creatures put me in such a complacent mindset that I didn’t think anything could harm me. My arm itched like crazy as it continued to heal. This world was nothing like the last. The biggest danger from there was the tower and its creatures. Here the tower is a playground and the climbers are the real threat. I should have left the others soon as I found out about Zelphar and the elves. I continued beating myself up as I ran. I will never let something like this happen around me again.
My speed was not my fastest as I had to account for sudden adjustments. Trees, rocks, monster camps, and their creatures were constantly forcing me to either dodge to the side or run right through them. After what felt like hours, I managed to reach the point on the map that held the icon of Burin.
Looking from the edge of the fifth river, I could see no sign of the dwarf.
“He is his way.” My shadow stated as he followed the downstream.
“How do you know?” I asked as I followed behind him.
“The party ring.”
Through the ring I could see Burin’s health bar. It was currently wavering around thirty percent. Unlike Yui or Miko, his health was declining at a very slow pace. Focusing on that connection I got a sense of where he was, roughly thirty metres downstream.
I followed the direction at a quick pace. Eventually I came across a section of river that was completely frozen to the riverbank. Bits of ice would occasionally break free and be pulled down stream as water from upstream flowed and froze in the gaps. The party ring was pointing right at the centre of the frozen mass.
I couldn’t see Burin but there was a large chunk of ice that looked to be large enough to hold him. I made my way over and tried to peer through the ice. It was too murky to make anything out, but I thought I could see a dark shape inside. With my shadows help. We pulled the chunk fully onto land and started to carefully break through.
The ice was not solid all the way through, instead as we continued removing chunks, I saw that the ice was more of a slurry after the initial boundary. It was painfully cold but allowed for easier removal. Burin was incased inside, unconscious. The water that was closest to him froze solid for a moment only to melt a moment later as Zelphar’s cursed fire flowed around him.
“Clever dwarf.” My shadow mused. “Using the water and ice to slow the fire.”
Now he was not completely covered, his health was starting to decrease at a faster rate. With my shadow’s help we forced the potion down his throat. I watched his health closely. After a moment his health stopped declining completely and stayed around twenty six percent.
“He’s safe.” I let a relieved sigh.
Unfortunately, the potion did not completely cure the curse. Instead, it diminished the amount of damage it was constantly dealing to the dwarf. As we fully removed him from his ice capsule, I noticed his health started draining again. Luckily, a conjured campstone was enough to cancel it out. After a few dozen bandages, Burin was still unconscious, but had full health.
“Here’s the plan. I’ll carry him while keeping an eye on his health. When his health falls under seventy percent. We stop to heal him back up before moving again.”
My shadow nodded.
Positioning Burin onto my back, I continued. “Apparently there are creatures in and near the river that drop floor gems, so as we move...”
“Kill everything and loot the gems. Got it.” My shadow finished for me.
It took roughly twenty minutes before we had to stop and heal Burin, and the sun had almost set by the time my shadow found two floor gems. I placed one into my TKS and the other in Burin’s pocket. I couldn’t access his TKS or his storage device, so hoped that having it on his person was enough.
We ran through the night, following the river towards the tower. After an hour into the night, the tower appeared on the horizon, a giant glowing pillar, beckoning us to safety… and the death of an elf. Climbers and adventurers started appearing before us and I only slowed down enough so that I did not accidentally run into anyone.
I felt Burin stir on my back. “Ye found me… I knew… ye would.” He sounded weak, despite being almost full health.
“Hold on Burin, you will soon be right as rain.”
He did not respond.
Not bothering to stop, I rushed through the open gate of the wall, around the mass of adventures, stalls, and tower knights, and ran straight into the tower.
I had no intention of following Zelphar to see his father.
There were only two things on my mind. Saving those that were still alive… And avenging those that were not.