Experiencing the fights against the very fast and agile Imps, Rob acted on instinct. His body moved by itself, reading his stance for the attack, while the mind was already summoning multiple spikes from his skin, once again turning him into a humanoid hedgehog. There wasn't a moment of delay as if all his worries about the consequences of his win in the battle. The reaction was so deeply engraved into himself that Robert managed to understand what was happening only several seconds later while in the process of making a swing.
The teleporting man, who appeared right behind Rob’s back, wasn’t fast enough to avoid being impaled on the steel spikes. Still, he was lucky enough not to die right on the spot, getting a few nasty wounds on his stomach, and shoulder, and a deep cut on the face. The dispersion of steel made him drop to the floor. The enemy spent another moment to catch his balance, providing an opportunity for a strike. Hastily turning around and conjuring a saber, Rob tried to slash, but he was too slow. Another loud command followed, making the man leap through space only to appear once again behind Robert's back.
The summoned shield made a clicking sound when the dagger tried to penetrate its metal surface. This was the moment when Robert realized that all his reflection was a hypocrisy. No matter how awful the results of his action would be, he just wasn’t ready to sacrifice himself in an attempt to save some abstract people in the form of sureties. He did it once for William because the guy was his friend. He basically did it inside his bunker, staying until the end. His end. But now even his own body refused to lay the weapons down, moving by desire to live. Therefore, Rob just followed this flow. This desire to live, no matter what.
Dropping down on his back, he crashed into the man. The latter tried to teleport but was gripped by Robert’s hand, who managed to catch it while lying on the back. However, Rob wasn’t fast enough to cover the enemy with steel to immobilize him, as this assassin appeared quite nimble. Twisting his body around Rob’s arm, the opponent freed himself in no time, before “blinking”. This time the teleportation brought him right above Robert. Only the timely created shield saved Rob from getting an additional hole inside his skull. Pushing the enemy’s body to the side, he hastily stood up only to block another thrust attack from a constantly moving opponent. The counterattack with spear met an empty space as the enemy disappeared right before the tipping point had penetrated his chest.
Assassin’s attempt to attack from the side also failed as Robert simply made a wide swinging motion with both his hands, literally making a circle with two long blades. That still left another cut on the enemy’s body, making him roll backward. The motion ended in a swift jump, putting the man on his feet and at some distance from Rob. The shocked expression led to an involuntary chuckle – so funny it was. The following words only added fuel to Rob’s laugh.
“How? Your CP is too small to have an active skill… Whatever, you will still die!”
The arrogant ending created a wide grin on Robert’s face. Noticing a sign of mocking, the young man almost roared in anger. The moment later he tore off the chained belt from his waist, before hitting the floor with it as if it was a whip.
“Oh no, you don’t!”
Still, Robert’s lunge was too late as the enemy simply disappeared, avoiding the metal addition to his flesh. The reappearance occurred behind the back. However, this time Rob wasn’t ready. Moving under inertia after his charge, it took him more time to turn around only to meet with a swing of a chain. The shout of activating command was barely heard when all his attention was focused on the flying metal whip. The attempt to dodge failed as it seemed the thing had a tracking ability, changing its trajectory in mid-air. Despite all his effort, the chain tied around his arm, which he had put in front of his face. Shining with inscribed runes, the odd weapon rotated a few times around it before literally anchoring itself.
Then Rob felt heaviness from the thing, which tried to pull him to the floor. The increase in weight was so abrupt and huge that he almost dropped down, barely managing to hold it. Still, the loss of balance made to turn his attention from the enemy to the new sensation, which gave the opening for the latter. Shortening the distance swiftly, the opponent was already going for the killing hit, clearly aiming at a neck.
The whole world slowed to a crawling speed when Robert tried to find the solution. The chain was too tightly tied to his arm without the possibility of getting rid of it fast. Moreover, the weight had enough immobilizing effect to prevent him from moving freely. On the other hand, it was only an arm, which gave some options. Therefore, Rob started to act the moment he saw the enemy’s lunge. Conjuring a high pillar precisely under his captured hand to push it upwards and stabilize his balance, he moved his palm to intercept the dagger.
Even despite the steel gauntlet around it, the blade had penetrated the metal and flesh, getting stuck inside. Ignoring the pain, Robert simply grabbed the enemy and pulled it to himself, before headbutting the surprised opponent. Obviously, the spiked metal band was already covering his forehead, leading to a devastating effect. However, Rob didn’t stop even the blood was flowing from the face of the half-unconscious man. He continued to hit more and more till the opponent's skull cracked from this brutal barrage. Only at that moment, the heaviness of the chain had finally disappeared, confirming the death of this odd assassin.
Here goes six hundred lives… Fuck!
Dropping down on the floor right near the body of the enemy, Rob stayed motionless, looking with empty eyes at the surroundings. All his inner talks and all his reflections were thrown into the trash bin together with his self-proclaimed morale and honor. In the end, when he was met with danger inside the previously theorized situation, his desire to live appeared much stronger than anything else.
Yep, that is the difference. When I was in similar situations before, I never had a way out. It eased the choice to sacrifice myself for the greater good. However, it seems that I can’t do the same when I know that there is a way, a real chance to survive. Maybe it will be a different case if there are lives of my friends at stake and not just a number from the System. I don’t know… nor do I want to know… Crap!
Hitting the floor a few times with his fist, Robert stopped himself when he noticed a shining bluish light coming from the corpse. Soon he was observing the colorful process of its disintegrating into air that left nothing behind, except the chain. Even the dagger was gone, leading to a deep sigh. There were no traces of the fight left inside the chamber as if the place was readying for the next challenger. On the other hand, the blood that covered Rob’s forehead was still there, reminding him of his murderous deed.
The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.
No loot? Only chain? Damn, it sounds so bad, taking into account what is the source of it.
Rob was dressed in ordinary green shorts and a white t-shirt, which he got from his employer, and nothing else. His comfortable flip-flops were gone amid transportation for unknown reasons. And now his possessions were tripled. Not that he wanted the chain. Robert without a second thought would prefer a set of clothes, a cup with a plate and spoon, or many other things that would make his stay inside this chamber a bit more comfortable. But as always, he got what he got. Therefore he focused on the single item he got as a reward from the death fight.
Fetters of Burden, artifact
Made from mithril, it is a magical chain that can bind the target with the additional effect of weight increase. The activation commands for inscribed runes are “Bind” and “Heavy”. Both can be used together with a single command. Needs mana to sustain the effect with 1 mana per second for “Bind” and 2 mana per second for “Heavy”.
Surprisingly, the description was rather simplistic. No grades of the item, no cost or durability, and no story behind it. Just the basic effect. Picking the chain and making a clumsy swing only to barely miss his own head, Robert spoke.
“Heavy,” the following increase in weight made the possible weapon hit the floor with a much bigger force. However, Rob didn’t pay any attention to it, fully concentrating on his feelings. It was the second time when he actually did it. Felt mana.
The sensation was slightly weird as if he got another set of veins that were spread all over his body, transferring the endless torrent everywhere. The mana itself felt like steam, simultaneously hot and cold, that traveled through his body without any obstacles. Breaking expectations, the source was not a heart but his brain, signaling that it was exactly his mind that was connected to Aether. This constant flow covered his whole body, almost making another ethereal copy of it. And despite all his efforts to find any excesses, there were none. Every single particle of this mana was evenly absorbed by himself. Even when the runes in the chain started to take their part, such distribution wasn’t breaking.
A few quick tests confirmed that any touch from any body part was enough to form a connection with the artifact. Several more had shown the scale of weight increase that apparently was at least ten-fold, but more like much more. The last one proved that his conjuring fuel was the very same mana, meant for the energy supplying the rune as the amount of steel decreased by 40% - exactly in proportion to his regeneration ratio and the need for activation.
What is strange is that my ability isn’t registered on the Status screen. Does it count only the System-created skills? But how do I get them? It can’t be an action generated – I already fought and nothing. No combat skills, no conjuring. Or is there an additional condition? The single change is in Experience points, which increased by 107 points. The exact amount of the assassin's CP… Damn, where is my tutorial? Or annoying tooltips?
Continuing to test different ideas, no matter how stupid or crazy, Robert figured out a few things. The most crucial was the ability to directly increase his stats by spending experience points. However, to do that he needed to get a class first. The method for acquiring the latter was completely unknown as the error message appeared only when he was willing to grow his Magic stat. That left him only with the description of the Title.
Title: The Transcendent Tower’s Guardian – as a being that went beyond the realm’s rules, you can partly ignore the System's authority about your power. It won’t be classified and added to the standard skills list. However, because of such imbalance, the System changed your dedicated role to the Tower’s Guardian. You will be freed from your duties after progressing through the set number of stages. Before that, you can’t leave the realm, nor can you switch sides, keeping your role till the end. Your identity will be changed according to the stage scenario. Your ability to communicate with challenges will be restricted, so they will never understand you, always treating you as an enemy. On the other hand, you will have no penalties on experience gain and all power you managed to get during your stay in the Tower will be yours. Good luck, Transcendent!
Robert couldn’t even swear as it was what he wanted – the power. He got what he asked. It wasn’t Aether’s or the System’s problem that the conditions were too bloody. They were both machines, created by a living being to fulfill their goal. The latter probably barely had any limitations about the number of corpses on the road to reach it. This realm was definitely such a creation from the unknown but long-dead Transcendent who decided to make such “interesting” entertainment for his own world.
What a nice guy, yeah. So, once again – my life versus hundreds of others. What do I value more?
“Hey, look. There is a boss here, right in the center!”
The happy yell made Robert turn his head to the source. The small group emerged from the door. Gathering near the entrance, they slowly took a battle order, speaking loudly, while ignoring Rob’s presence completely, despite having his persona as a main topic.
“CP 101 – more than anyone among us has, but not that much to be impossible,” mentioned an athletic-looking guy with a sword and a shield, who was standing at the front.
“Don’t forget the growth cost of each increase. Plus we don’t know what skills he has,” this was spoken by a thin nerd in round glasses, who was carrying a rough wooden spear with a metal tip.
“So what? We can crush him and get more exp. Ben, you were the one who told me that bosses give an insane amount, like several times more than their CP,” a red-headed girl interfered, aggressively raising her spiked club.
“Just please be careful, everyone,” the last member of the group, a sickly fragile girl with blonde hair barely whispered, not hiding a worried expression. Leaning on her staff, she looked like she was about to drop.
“We got it, Lorie. He is just big. Nothing to be scared of with our perfect teamwork. Friendship does wonders. So, we go in, kill the boss, loot all treasures, conquer this floor, and later a whole Tower. Easy-peasy.”
Just a bunch of students. Literally kids, who haven’t seen anything… But am I older? I lost the track, but it has to be around twenty-three or twenty-four. I was a few months away from twenty-one when I died in the bunker. Need to ask Aether. They are almost the same age, but the difference is so huge. Yep, I’ve got a shitty life.
Sighing, Robert slowly stood up, attracting the attention of the group. From their gazes, he instantly understood that they viewed him as a mob, not a human. An obstacle, not a living being. For them, it was just a game. There were no worries about the possible death and responsibility, which they carried on their shoulders. Rob was sure that in the future it might have changed. The single occurrence of a heavy loss was enough to completely wipe such attitude. However, they wouldn’t have that chance as Robert didn't plan to give up.
After some prolonged thinking, he decided to treat the situation with sureties as with hostages. His sacrifice wouldn’t guarantee their return. He wasn’t the one to kill them – it was the Tower. He wasn’t the one to initiate a fight – he was a hidden boss by a scenario, without a need to risk a life in a death match to move further through the Tower. Therefore, he would have only a part of the responsibility for the outcome. And Rob could bear it. He never was a hero. Just a soldier who did his best to survive. And he would continue to do it.
“Together, attack!”