The group organised into a close formation, with Nick in the middle. Just before they set out into the darkness of the 50th floor Kim gave a warning to Nick.
“There’s a reason we had ta get ya up ta at least 3-3 laddy. We have ta use our auras ta fend off tha darkness down ‘ere. We’ll try and focus it outwards, but ya better keep ya aura protecting ya the entire trip.”
With that, the Hogs unleashed their auras all at once and Nick was completely overwhelmed. It suddenly felt like he was standing between three titans, their weight bearing down on him. Nick’s own energy rushed to defend him, shoring up his body and protecting him from the overwhelming force he was facing. It took him a moment but he was able to stand up straight again and refocus. His energy was doing everything it could to mitigate the effect of the Hog’s auras on him.
“Good. Now we start movin’.” Kim nodded.
And so, the group started moving. Nick was constantly juggling his energy around, a patch would suddenly be unable to bear the weight of the Hog’s auras or get stretched too thin in one area. Every time that happened Nick would suddenly feel the auras crushing him and he’d stumble. This resulted in Nick constantly having to manage the energy inside of him. It was a strenuous task but oh so rewarding. Nick couldn’t focus on anything outside of his internal space, he simply followed the feet in front of him. Nick’s control over his energy was growing by leaps and bounds as he struggled to manage everything.
The desperation of his situation kept him constantly struggling to stay on top of things. Each time his concentration lapsed for a moment he was suddenly struck with that overbearing pressure from the Hogs. He’d desperately worked to patch whatever hole or gap that had opened in his aura, just so that he could keep moving forward. His mind soon fell into a rhythm, scanning his entire body for gaps, redirecting energy to whatever point he thought was weakening or about to give. He was constantly kept in motion during this exercise, any time he thought he had things under control he’d suddenly face a new challenge.
He was almost sent tumbling to the floor when he had multiple areas of his aura breached at once. He barely managed to keep himself upright as he struggled to move his energy to reseal his aura. As time passed Nick’s energy began to wane, he was losing control over it. His control began to get sluggish and instead of cleanly directing it around his body he was now resorting to just moving anything he could to reinforce other areas. Just when Nick was feeling like he might not be able to continue this any longer he was given hope.
“Not far ta tha door laddy! Keep it tagether.” Kim shouted.
Nick couldn’t spare the energy to look up from the floor, all his energy and focus directed to keeping his aura steady. Kim’s words reenergised him though, giving him the motivation to keep fighting through the tiredness. Nick’s efforts were becoming desperate, his aura began to shake and more and more breaches were occurring. His speed at responding to them was increasing though, which was the only thing keeping him moving forward. Soon his feet crossed over a doorway and suddenly the auras were lifted. No longer were they bearing down on him and he collapsed to his knees panting. He felt a hand pat him on the shoulder.
“Good shit kid. I’d bet we’d have to carry you most of the way.” Jackie said.
Nick couldn’t even muster a response, he was exhausted after that ordeal. His energy collapsed from its structured position and went back to its free-flowing state. Nick found himself envious of the energy, it looked so relaxed, so carefree. Nick on the other hand was panting, sweat pouring down his face. He was used to working hard, getting his sweat on, but this was something else. Over the last few days, he felt like his body and mind had been pushed further than they ever had been before and he was surprised he was still standing. He felt a sudden surge of pride at his own efforts. It had been an incredibly challenging time for him and yet here he was, on the 50th floor, surrounded by some of the strongest people in the Complex. He had done well for himself so far.
Nick then sucked in another deep breath and looked around the room he was in. It was a magnificent ballroom, an utterly breathtaking sight. The ceiling had to have been at least ten metres tall, with multiple glass chandeliers hanging down from it. Lights twinkled like stars in the night sky and Nick found himself awed by it all. Just this sight alone made the entire arduous journey worthwhile to him. Nick took in the room, finding that there was table after table, covered in fine cloth and adorned with fancy sets of plates and cutlery. At the end of the room was a staple of these floors, a massive door. This door was just as grand as the room, at least six metres tall, completely wooden with beautiful carvings decorating it. This was the most aesthetically pleasing hotel floor he’d ever been on, and he loved it.
“Hope ya ready for tha best challenge of ya life laddy.” Kim said with a grin, pulling him up to his feet.
Nick certainly didn’t feel very up to the task right now. He was exhausted, mentally and physically.
“Can’t we take a break of some sort? I feel like I’m dying here.” Nick begged.
“Bah, plenty of time in tha event room lad.”
Nick was then dragged down the room by Kim. Nick sighed and resigned himself to his fate, he wasn’t sure what this event was but he was sure it was at least interesting. Nick then remembered that this was the floor where the Hogs had gotten their rings. Did the event have something to do with rings? What would that even imply, was he going to hoola hooping? Or jumping through rings in some sort of obstacle course of sorts? Nick realised he didn’t really have any idea. The Hogs had chosen this floor for a reason though, and from what he’d heard from the mutterings of the people on the 65th, the 50th seemed to be a frequent spot for them.
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
Nick felt a little excited if he was honest, if his fellow Explorers loved this floor then there had to be something pretty great here. As he was pulled through the room he noticed that it was entirely empty, there was nobody else here other than him and the three Hogs. It was a surprise to him because he didn’t think he’d ever been to an empty hotel floor before. A place as grand looking as this surely had people living here didn’t it? Once again he found himself directing his questions to the Hogs.
“Where is everyone? Surely there are people living down here.”
“Aye, ‘course laddy. Though they spend all their time in tha event room. This one never closes nor resets.” Kim answered.
Now that was a new concept for Nick to grapple with, an event room that didn’t reset or close? Did that mean that people could just repeatedly farm it for everything it was worth? If so, it made sense that the Hogs loved it down here. An event that just kept giving out loot was certainly pretty cool. Nick’s excitement kept climbing, what could the event be? Hopefully, he wouldn’t be too weak to take part in whatever it was. Then he realised how deep into the car park he actually was. He was so out of his depth it was unbelievable, he wouldn’t have even made it to the 65th alone, now he was a further 15 floors lower than that.
“What’s the level of things down here guys?” He asked.
“Well, the 50s are between seven and nine, so down here on the 50th most things are about level nine.” Jackie answered.
Well, damn. Nick was certainly very out of place down here. Five levels above his strongest class huh? Certainly wasn’t looking all too great for him. It was at that point that Nick remembered his skill from levelling Brawler to four. Intolerable Weakness was an active skill that he didn’t quite understand. Just for the fun of it he, decided to just activate it as he was being dragged along by Kim, maybe using it would give him a better idea of what it actually did. As soon as he activated it he realised he’d made a grave mistake.
A wave of energy spread through his body, as if it was scanning him. It pinged back at his brain constantly, telling him that it was finding something wrong with him. It was telling him that there was something wrong with his blood. Which was bloody concerning to Nick, he kind of needed that blood. That’s when the next phase of whatever process the skill took started. Nick felt his insides begin to violently churn and everything started going spotty in his vision. Nick dropped to the floor like a sack of potatoes, his body twitching.
“What tha hells!” Kim yelled. “What tha bloody hell is happening ta him?”
Nick wished he knew as well. Suddenly he felt something rise up inside of him, pushing its way up through his throat. Nick started vomiting a disgusting mixture of blood and what looked like black tar. More and more of it just kept coming up, refusing to stop. Nick began to feel woozy, once again losing far too much blood in too quick of a time. Nick really needed to stop doing this. Through teary eyes, Nick saw that the black substance was stuck to his blood. Nick realised that whatever it actually was, it probably came from Paige. The odd feeling of something seeping into him was likely this gross substance he was currently violently expelling from his body.
Now it made sense that he’d gotten this skill from Gritty Brawler. Whatever Paige had been doing to him was considered an ailment of sorts and the skill was getting rid of it for him. Eventually, the skill seemed happy enough with its worth and stopped punishing him.
“What the hell is all that?” Jackie asked.
Kim let out a loud sigh. “Tha right there is what happens when ya let a Vampire get awful friendly with ya. Not sure why we’re seeing it though.”
Nick spat on the floor, trying to get the remainder of the bile out of his mouth. “The skill I got from level four. It cleanses my body. I didn’t understand it and decided to try and use it.”
Nick felt anaemic, which made sense when he looked at the floor around him. He’d vomited up a whole lot of blood and suspicious black substance. He pulled a seat out from one of the tables and plopped down. It had been far too challenging of a morning for him so far, he desperately needed a break of some sort.
“C’mon laddy. We can take a break in tha event room. I’m sure ya need a bit of food after tha.” Kim called out, moving off towards the door.
It was an offer that he couldn’t turn down. He certainly felt rather hungry, though a nap was pretty high on his to-do list right now. The Hogs went ahead first, grabbing onto a massive door knocker that was in the middle of one of the wooden doors the disappearing. Then it was just Nick left in the room. He took a moment to look around and take all of the sights in. He couldn’t get over how fantastic of a room it was, it was at times like these that he missed his phone. He would have loved to snap a picture of this place to show his family, whenever he saw them again. Nick didn’t dwell too long on that train of thought, he was trying to stay positive. Nick turned and grabbed the door knocker.
Welcome to the Event!
50th Floor - Royal Heist!
Plan a heist on the royal palace!
The worth of the items you steal during your heist determines your points!
Good luck!
Ohh. It all made sense now. Nick found himself in a den of sorts, with a low ceiling and dimly lit. The walls were covered in maps, schematics and pictures. The room was filled with people, most of them very recognisable to Nick. The Treasure Hogs made up about 80% of the room, the other 20% were an assortment of strange-looking people. They weren’t your usual bunch of archers or heavily armoured warriors, instead these people all seemed to fit the category of rogue. Many of them had a rugged charm about them, handsome or charming individuals dressed in clothes built for movement.
The arrival of Kim, Jackie, and Leif drew the attention of everyone, resulting in cheers and boos. Lots of jokes were made again about Kim being too old for this lifestyle and Leif and Jackie getting too distracted with each other. The Hogs felt more like a group of school kids heckling each other than a team of elite treasure hunters, but Nick didn’t dislike it. They had such a relaxed attitude about them, which Nick found refreshing. It was a nice break from the rest of the Complex, the politicking and desperate struggling. The Hogs were just having fun, they didn’t seem to be taking anything too seriously and Nick needed that right now.
Nick decided to forget about his troubles for the time being and see what enjoyment he could get from this event.