“I…I d…didn’t mean–” I stammered for a moment as Ylsa’s fury washed over me. It felt like the time my dwarven cousins dared me to walk out on the family veranda on the side of the mountain, naked, during a windstorm. It took months for my skin to recover and it felt like the same thing was going to happen to my psyche as she tore into me.

Over the next five minutes, Ylsa absolutely ripped me a new set of holes. Every selfish or inconsiderate thing I’d done since meeting her came out and she told me exactly what she thought about each of them. I’m not saying I didn’t agree with some of the things she was saying, but her hitting me with them all at once was absolutely overwhelming. By the end, I was left in a heap against the wall, just nodding and apologizing over and over again.

When the berration faded, I didn’t speak, afraid it would set the [Mountain Tempest] back on me for round two. Nearly a minute later, she crouched down next to me and lifted my chin so I could look her in the eye.

“All of those things, little or big, while annoying, don’t matter in the long run.” She smiled as my eyes widened. “Arlian made the same decision I would have, no question about it, and you have to respect that. What’s done is done. What you have to do now is stand up, straighten your back, and lead us on to new places and things. This Tower isn’t going to clear itself.”

From his corner a few yards away, Jaegan coughed weakly. “I hate to interrupt a good dressing down, but has anyone else noticed the threads of black snaking over the stone toward each of us? The ones headed toward me are getting a bit close for my liking.”

Glancing around Ylsa’s imposing form, I saw what the [Mage] was talking about. Dark trails traced all throughout the room from the entrance to the boss room, though for some reason they seemed to be avoiding Volta and Voltaire. I gestured to the pair of them and they quickly got the gist and moved to stand in front of Jaegan. I watched as the miasmic lines headed for the old man gently curled away from the [Arcweavers], as if they were matching poles on a magnet.

Hurrying to my feet, I shook my head to clear away the fog I’d been resting in. I looked at Ylsa. “I can’t say I’ll ever be the perfect lord for you, but I promise to try and be better.”

She saluted me with her fist over her heart. “That’s all I ever wanted. Perfection is overrated.”

With a nod, I moved away from Ylsa to go and check on Jaegan. Where before he’d been mostly untouched physically despite his mortal soul wound, now he looked like absolute hell. His cheeks were gaunt and his robes hung from his frame like he was skin and bones. The only thing that wasn’t changed for the worse was the fire in his dark brown eyes, they sparkled with a fervor I only wished I felt.

“It’s time.” He tried to stand up on his own, but Volta ended up needing to help. She stood next to him, offering support with the dignity he deserved. “We have to clear this floor, or this has all been for nothing, right?”

“Clear it? No. Fix it? Yes.” I smirked and he weakly waved me away. “There’s something on this floor that the Tower knows isn’t supposed to be here. We just need to find it and get rid of it so we can get the hell out of here and get you healed up.” I snuck a glance at his Status and immediately wished I hadn’t.

[Name: Jaegan “Wallbreaker” Toretto

Emotional Status: Exhausted/Determined

Physical Status: Mortally Wounded (Cause: Spirit Wound x2)

Current Estimated Lifespan: 48 Hours (6 Hours without the effects of Lordly Aura)]

“Jaegan, you don’t need to…” My eyes darted away from the System window to find him glaring at me.

“Stuff it.” He poked a finger weakly into my chest. “My physical stats may have gone to shit, but my [Wits] and [Arcane] are as good as ever. Let me do this.” He sighed. “Let me do everything I can for as long as I can. Please?”

Part of me wanted to tell him to rest, but what good would that do? Jaegan had two days to live, assuming I could keep [Lordly Aura] up the entire time. I thought back to what Ylsa had said about respecting Arlian’s wishes and hardened my heart.

“If that’s what you want?” I looked to Volta with a small smile. “Would you mind helping the old man get around in the next fight or two?” I flashed him a quick shark-like grin. “It wouldn’t do for him to go down because he got caught up in his baggy ass robes.”

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She saluted me just like Ylsa had moments before. “It shall be done.”

“Cheeky pup,” Jaegan grumbled before spitting out some bloody sputum, “let’s get going before I feel even worse.”

Bracing to dodge backward away from the slap I knew was coming, I grinned. “Can’t be any worse than you look!” His scoff and half-hearted slapping attempt were all it took to get me ready to go.

We stacked up on the door to the boss with Raiju and I in the lead, Jaegan and Volta were behind us, while Ylsa and Voltaire pulled up the rear. The ten foot opening was big enough for us to go through two or three abreast and we planned on taking advantage of it.

With a surprisingly small amount of pressure, the wall of fog lifted and I stepped into the Mid-Boss room of the Chalcedony Tower of Trials.

The chamber we stepped into was nothing like I’d expected. It looked like we’d stepped into a small town where most of the buildings were made of the same grey stone as the tower. The stone buildings, their roofs thatched with dried reeds, clustered around a central courtyard. A patterned stone path wound its way through the village, leading to a peculiar fountain in the center of the courtyard. The fountain, carved from a single, massive stone, featured a strange, humanoid figure atop it, its features obscured by moss and time. The figure held a cup aloft, from which a gentle stream of water flowed into a circular basin below.

Despite the strange fountain, the most striking thing in the village, if it could be called that, was the ten foot tall black and purple spike ten feet behind the water feature. The same dark energy threads and trails we’d seen encroaching in the Safe Room seemed to be coming from the huge dark edifice.

“Yeah, that’s probably what’s causing the problems with the Tower.” I muttered under my breath as I looked around for any enemies. It appeared that the System agreed as a window popped up in front of all our visions.

[Emergency Quest - Remove the Infection from the Chalcedony Tower of Trials.

Reward - Variable based on the state of the Tower upon completion compared to this moment.]

A Quest? Huh, I guess the System really does love its Towers and Dungeons. Maybe it’ll offer to fix Jaegan!?

“We have to do this perfectly.” I turned to see Jaegan and Ylsa staring at the notification in shock. “I get it, it’s probably your first Quest, it’s mine too. Get over it and maybe Jaegan can live through the end of the week. Copy?”

That snapped Ylsa out of it. Her gaze turned toward the buildings surrounding the courtyard. “We should get Jaegan hidden in one of those buildings so he can support, but be out of the way of any attackers when things pop off.”

“I’m not dead yet!” The creaky old man whined. “Let me fight.”

With a sigh, I turned to him. “You can fight, but if we have to spend every moment defending you, we’re going to get hurt. I’ll give you both of the siblings as guards, they should be able to keep you safe and ready to kick some ass. Fair?” I raised an eyebrow.

“Fine, but I don’t like it.” He relented before turning to the [Arcweavers]. “Well? You heard the boss, get me up on the roof of that building.” He pointed at the same dwelling Ylsa had mentioned he should hide within. “We don’t know when the monsters will start spawning and we have to be–”

A huge bell began to ring and everyone’s eyes shifted to the manor house behind the spike of black stone in the middle of town. The ten foot wide doors were slowly creeping open and from within I could make out the enormous shape I hoped was not the Mid-Boss. When the doors finally opened fully, I was almost disappointed when I saw what we were dealing with.

[Ogress Warboss - Rank B Mid-Tower Boss

Level: 44

Vulnerabilities: All

Status Effects: Entropic Drain - All Stats Halved and Vulnerable to All Damage]

[Orc Guards - Rank C Monster

Level: 44

Vulnerabilities: All

Status Effects: Entropic Drain - All Stats Halved and Vulnerable to All Damage]

[A once proud female ogre warboss, laid low by the efforts of an outside source attempting to subvert her home. She and her guards are all that are left of their village and they seek death like a parched person seeks water. Please, put them out of their misery as kindly as you can.]

“Everybody, check this description. I almost feel bad for them and they’re not even real.” Forming a ball of fire in my right hand, I hefted it a few times before preparing to lob it into the monsters’ midst. “A quick fireball or two should take care of this.” Before anyone could say anything, I hurled the sphere of flame a hundred feet toward the sickly Mid-Boss and her adds.

The moment the fireball exploded, the black spike glowed a dark purple and I felt my control of the flames failing at the same time as they were being sucked into the spike. Unwilling to risk a direct connection to something that could corrupt a whole Tower, I cut my connection to the flames with a small frown.

“What was that?”

I felt a light pressure bump into the back of my head and turned around to see Jaegan’s gnarled form hand raised as he shook it at me. “If we’re dealing with Entropy, you can’t just lob magic around willy nilly! Everyone knows that!”

I turned away to hide my blushing face. “Well, I guess I’m no one, because I didn’t know that.”

“There’s only one kind of magic you can use when Entropy is involved!” He stumbled into the corner of my vision with a huge grin on his face. “Force magic.” He raised his staff and slammed it down twice on the flagstones. “[Arcane Battery]!” A dozen watermelon sized orbs of force sprang into existence all around the [Mage] as he cackled. “Let ‘em have it!”