Calmly standing in front of the small group, Robert was patiently waiting. There were a few reasons for that. He could observe future opponents, trying to gauge their strength and mentality. The latter was quite important as sometimes it was enough to deal with several most powerful foes before others would succumb to the fear of death. Such emotional breaking would cripple their battle prowess, making them easy targets.
Another was dedicated to his naïve attempt to take the blame off himself. At least a part of it. Robert never initialized the fights, so he could try to lessen the guilt of taking the lives. It was a convenient self-lie to convince himself that he was just defending himself and he wasn’t responsible for the deaths of sureties. It worked badly but still helped to keep his mind from the pressure of the situation. During this time Rob made up a lot of new reasons for it. And still, occasionally a filthy thought managed to sneak in, reminding him of his deeds. However, as his storage was filling up, the horrifying effect was weakening, confirming that the human mind can adapt to many things. Therefore, he waited.
The group consisted of three men and one woman. All of them were middle-aged with an average appearance and physique. Not athletic, but not fat, they wore different expressions on their faces. Focusing on each of them, Robert finally paused on who, he assumed, was the leader of the group. Something was strange about him. Carefully observing the man with a single lumberjack axe in his hands, Rob noticed his eyes. There stood out as a bright red light in the middle of the darkest night.
Having a mixture of hidden pain, confidence, and emptiness, those eyes looked familiar. Robert had plenty of opportunity to see such dull eyes during his stay on the frontlines. The seasoned veterans who managed to live through multiple battles and lost a piece of themselves had a similar look. The imprint of the horror they experienced was deeply engraved in them and would be their part till the end of their days. On the other hand, this horror gave them enough self-confidence to meet any difficult situation with a clear mind. The eyes of the soldier. And it appeared Robert wasn’t the only one to notice it.
“Wait! Do not attack,” commanded the man, halting his group, who was in the process of encircling Rob. A single mage stayed behind, while a rapier wielder and spearman were on the sides, “Do you understand me?”
“Yes, but unfortunately, you do not,” Robert shrugged after the quick nod, despite knowing the futility of such communication. He already tried the gestures, but it seemed the confirmation or denial had quite a different set of movements in this realm. During his work in the eater, he failed to notice it as he never tried to befriend his colleagues, thinking he would soon go to the Tower. And they were too scared of his appearance to do it themselves.
“Jason, it is pointless. You can’t communicate with reds. They are the enemies,’ the woman with rapier interfered, not hiding her skepticism.
“He is different. He is the first one not to attack straight away. Moreover, he answered my question as if he could really understand me,” the leader disagreed, continuing to look at Robert. The latter met the gaze with a grin. “See, he smiled.”
“Maybe he is a higher rank red… Don’t know – never played anything. I bet my nephew would answer your question. The kid just spends all his time in front of a monitor...,” the spearman was interrupted by the leader before finishing his complaints.
“No, I can see it in his eyes. He is different. Sapient. Not an average red… Were you, maybe, a soldier?” After a small pause, the man asked only to meet another Rob’s sincere smile. For Robert, it was the first time that someone tried to communicate after the initial failure. Most of such speakers never tried more than once, quickly going for the possible experience gain.
“I was right. Sometimes it isn’t hard to see a comrade-in-arms… So, are you also a human that was summoned here?” A smile.
“And you can understand me?” A smile.
“Good. Then why were you chosen as the enemy?... No, you can’t answer that. Did you have a choice of the side?” The smile had disappeared without a trace.
“Is there any choice to avoid our fighting?” Rob’s expression became stony, deprived of any emotions.
“I see… So, the only way out for me and my group is to kill you. The same goes for you. Am I right?” The smile emerged once again, but now it was clearly forced as if its wielder was making it through the pain by sheer willpower.
“It’s a pity. Still, I ask you not to give up if you managed to survive the shit, then you can’t just throw this opportunity away. Obviously, we also will do our best. We will not give our number an advantage, no matter how unfair it is. We are all prisoners of the circumstances, so I apologize in advance,” shining with resolution in his eyes, the man had ended his speech and raised his bastard sword.
It is indeed unfair… but not for me.
Glancing at his hand, which was holding the metal club, Robert inwardly sighed. This battle was going to be a test one. Not only he had finished his first rune, managing to inscribe it on the steel surface, but he had found a way to better usage by severing the easiest parts of the runes to prevent the activation. Rob had to keep the image of the inscriptions in his mind, constantly fueling them with mana and reconnecting the rune in the moment of need to summon the effect. The complexity of the task made the choice of the weapon an easy one as the club had the most primitive form and more weight on the end. And he wasn’t sure he was able to resummon the runes during the fight. So Robert had to rely on the prepared set.
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Raising his club, he conjured a small steel shield on his other hand. It left him with a limited amount to summon as Rob was close to using all his mana flow. Both constructs and runes were already taking a lot. The free part was left for an emergency when he would need to cover his body from the direct hit. Such a way wasn’t the best solution, but it was a deliberate choice. Rob needed to raise his battle awareness and not rely too much on his ability to cover himself with a protective layer any moment he wanted.
The rank 1 spells were already dealing with his steel and the higher floors would provide an even bigger arsenal for magic wielders. So, it was good training to limit himself. To make every action to be efficient. To avoid creating bad habits from the start. Moreover, if he got more runes to use, he would need spare energy to support it. That would decrease the amount of steel even more. Therefore, only club with the “Heavy” rune and a shield.
I am hesitating in an attempt to postpone what comes next…
The following fight was as short as most of them. Just one or two direct hits were enough to kill or weaken the opponent to the point he couldn’t continue. Nobody had armor, except Rob in the form of his steel. Increased stats didn’t give supernatural toughness to ignore the strikes from the metal club. That led to an obvious shortness and brutality of the battle. Especially taking into account Rob’s desire to end everything fast without prolonging an unpleasant situation.
The first one to fall was the leader. His attempt to directly block the club using his increased strength failed miserably as Robert activated the rune during his swing. The abrupt rise in weight added force to the impact, crushing onto the bastard sword and pushing it down. The blade went backward, penetrating the flesh of the owner and causing a painful scream with a splash of blood. Rob’s mind caught an image of shining inscriptions along his conjured weapon. Shining with a toxic green light as if it were fueled by some movie-like necrotic energy, it lightened the face of the leader in the moment of its death. He noticed a hint of acceptance and even relief that was made through the tough mask of unwillingness and self-confidence. The mask finally cracked.
Cutting off the support for the rune, Robert rammed with his shield against the man, sending him into the flight. Ducking under the fast thrust from the shining spear aimed at his face, he stopped a rapier with his shield. The wide swing of his club pierced the air in front of the face of a spearman, making him stumble backward. Continuing his rotational motion, Rob activated the rune for a single moment to accelerate himself. His leg sprung forward, hitting the knee of the spear wielder at the side, easily breaking it with the help of a conjured spike. His timed rotation had ended in a squatting position, where he deflected another thrust of a rapier.
Lunging forward, he crashed into the woman. The latter somehow managed to drop her weapon and grab the shield, pushing it to the floor with all her weight. Not stopping on that, she pushed herself higher, jumping over Rob’s head in a swift making. He could bet that for a single moment she was standing upside down using his shoulder. Maybe that was why she tried to throw him, using an inertia. The problem was that the difference in weight was more than a hundred kilograms (220 lbs). So, after falling on the floor with her back she got stuck in that position, unable to move him. And Robert simply dropped his club onto her chest, simultaneously activating the rune. The bloody cough and cracking ribs were the result.
The last mage struggled the longest. Using something akin to a flamethrower spell, he made Robert abandon the club and completely focus on the shield. The steel was quickly heating up, so he had to create several layers, dispersing them after some time when the temperature started to be intolerable. Rob still got quite a few painful burns, but all mage’s attempts to circumvent him were countered by simply turning around. In the end, the survivor wanted to shorten the distance when his mana pool was almost empty, missing the spike that simply shot forward from the shield and pierced his face.
Once again looking around on the dispersing bodies of the fallen challengers, Robert had to remind himself that all his options were reduced to Hobson’s choice – just an illusion of it. To live, he had to follow the script that made him an additional obstacle. So he had to endure it to the end unless he was going to give up. And that was impossible.
Okay, the test seems to be successful. I need to train an ability to create at will. And to do something with a possibility to damage the rune… Maybe to hide it inside? Nope, it will be too hard at this point. But first, the amulet of Meditation. I wonder, if it increases mana regeneration, will it affect my recovery speed. Good way to check it.
The routine action of picking up the weapons and dropping them into a storage room partly calmed him down. The staff with a Flamethrower spell was interesting, but after checking the cost of usage it followed to other useless magic items. Quickly washing himself in the pool and drinking water, while ignoring the pain, he slowly recovered his mental fortitude. His already common doings after each fight helped a lot, sending his body to act under autopilot.
Rob thought he got acquainted with the situation, but a single disturbance, a change in a “normal” flow, immediately threw him off balance. On the other hand, he knew he had enough willpower to overcome it. Moreover, it only increased his wish to get out of there through any means. He was a prisoner of the Tower, who had to participate in a death match every hour just to live, and with quite vague conditions to release himself from this solitary cage. It sounded bad, but the experience of being targets of artillery shelling was scarier. He survived then; he would survive now.
Meditate, recover, and then let’s train the usage of runes during the motions. The next stage will be the change of the club, while not breaking the effect. Then I need to run a few tests about the connection between the size of the inscriptions and the strength of the rune. The optimization of the cutting of the energy support of the rune is also needed… And why the fuck my runes are glowing with toxic green light? It really looks like some vile energy. I will have an appearance of the villain if it continues. My large frame and rough face are already setting me in that direction at a full speed. I only lack the red or black eyes. Damn, I don’t want to be a Lich-Brute.