Chapter 48

“Over, 1000?” I said the words aloud. My HP was at a paltry 105. At level 10, assuming I stuck my points in physical stats, it would only be 108. The Den Mother had 10 times my HP?’

“Yeah. And because of her constitution, she takes less damage from attacks too. Fun ain’t it?” He chuckled, “the monsters in the Tower have a completely different system than us Climbers. Their base stats are always different, and the amplifications therefore from their stats, are different as well. Climbers, well, our stats are based off that of a basic human. But theirs,” he shrugged with a smile, “they’re monsters, remember.”

I thought back to the goblin that had hit me with a club. The creature had been so thin and wiry, and yet, that club had hurt. A lot more than I’d expected it to. What Flint was saying made a lot of sense.

“And yet, you’re saying we will be able to kill it by the end of the week?” I asked.

“If you do what I say, yeah. These early floors, there are pretty tried and true methods to dealing with the mini bosses and monsters. More Climbers have gone before us on those floors than we can even fathom. Later floors, those are the ones where the strategies become less concrete, less clear. When you start reaching levels fewer people have traversed, you lose a lot of the guidance from previous generations and have to learn a lot for yourself.”

“What floors are those?” Lyn managed to ask.

“Past the twentieth it really teeters off.” Flint said with a sigh, “which is extremely unfortunate for us. Makes for slower going. We don’t know what gear we need, what types of potions we will want, what skills to use and what weaknesses our foes have. Up to the twentieth, there were pretty clear guides on what all to expect, and how to prepare.”

He looked at us solemnly, “of course, even having that knowledge doesn’t mean anyone can do it. Individual skills, gear, and teamwork are all important too. As well as the grit and determination to never give up. There’s a reason a lot of Climbers wash out around the 10th. The experiences fighting up to the 10th floor boss, and then the notes about what Climbers have to face to make it to the 20th, are enough to keep many from pushing further.”

He cracked his shoulders suddenly and pushed away the distant look that had crossed his eyes. “But that’s enough doom and gloom. Today, you’re going to get your lesson in how to take on the Den Mother. Are you ready?”

I looked skeptically at Lyn. After everything Flint had just told us, the task of taking down that monstrous mini boss was seeming more and more impossible. No matter how confident Flint seemed in our abilities.

“Ready,” Lyn said, nodding to me and offering me a shaky smile. She had her doubts too, but I could tell she was placing her faith in her fellow bow user.

“Good,” Flint drew his bow, pointed it at me, and drew back an arrow. “The first, most important rule of every battle,” he let the arrow fly. It punched me in the gut without warning, leaving me no time to react, no time to even register what was happening. I dropped to my knee as I gasped, reaching for a wound that wasn’t there. Only then did I see the arrow on the ground. It was a training arrow, complete with padded head. We’d used them plenty enough in mock battle scenarios. They hurt, but they didn’t do any actual damage.

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“The first thing you two need to master, for the fight, is how to dodge any, and all, attacks.” Another arrow was already drawn back as he spoke. And Lyn, who’d gone from surprise and concern, to laughing as I gasped for air, let out a pained grunt herself as an arrow punched into her thigh.

“Cheap shot,” Lyn grunted as she rubbed at her leg.

“Really cheap shot.” I confirmed as I stood shakily to my feet. Flint had a grin on his face, as another arrow appeared knocked in his bow, as he drew the string back.

“And yet,” he let fly, and I dropped to the ground again with a thud. “You haven’t started taking any precautions to stop my attacks. Even though you now know they’re coming.” He laughed, and Lyn’s other leg was shot. Flint was casually walking backwards now, drawing arrows as he continued to talk. The ones he’d hit us with, disappeared a few moments after impact. Were they magical training arrows?

“Your stats aren’t going to be high enough to take hits from the Den Mother recklessly. A common truth for any mini bosses and bosses within the Tower. Learning to dodge, parry, or block attacks on reflex, without warning, is key.” More arrows. This time I managed to turn just in time to have the padded arrow graze into my stomach. It still stung, but it didn’t drop me to my knees.

“Knowing how to dodge, and which attacks you can parry or block, is also vital to survival within the tower, though that’s a lesson for a later date.” He chuckled mysteriously. “For now, we’re going to work purely on your ability to dodge attacks. It’s going to be a long fight against the Den Mother, and you’ll get exhausted. You’ll grow tired and weary. Your muscles will ache, your bodies will scream.”

More arrows flew. He was firing faster than before. Lyn and I split up, running in opposite directions, our training telling us to split his focus. Still, his attacks came faster. His skill, was immediately apparent.

“Against the Den Mother, when you’re at your limits, you’re very lives, your success, will hinge on your ability to stay alive. One wrong step, one slip because you were careless, one stumble because you were tired, will turn the fight in her favor.” An arrow caught my ankle, and I went tumbling. At almost the same time, I heard Lyn yell. She’d been hit too. How was Flint shooting the both of us at the same time?

“For tonight, your singular task, is to keep moving, keep dodging, until I get tired.” More arrows. I rolled forward, his attacks giving me no time to stand beforehand. My mind raced. He seemed to be warming up, how fast could he attack us? Did he have an attack pattern? Was there a weakness? A way to slow his attacks?

“And fair warning to the two of you,” he laughed, and I looked towards him. He had not one, but two bows out now. They were floating on either side of him, magically suspended in the air, and he was firing each bow with one hand, aiming the weapons in the span of a single second, before letting the arrows fly. I took one to the knee as I watched, so fascinated was I by the magical bow he was using. What was it called? What else could it do? How had he gotten it?

“My dexterity is high enough,” Flint was smirking in my direction as he watched me fall to the ground from the arrow to the knee, “that I can keep at this for quite a while without even breaking a sweat.”

I had no time to check on Lyn. No time to really try and process anything else. I needed to figure out how to deal with his onslaught, and the sooner the better. Because already I could feel welts rising from where the arrows had impacted. If there was one thing I remembered well from training, one thing Commander Phyr had always driven into us, it was the fact that pain, and the fear of pain, was an extremely powerful motivator.