Chapter 73

Unfortunately, we couldn’t evade death for long. The moment we took off, running away from the Jungle Titan, it gave chase. It’s massive form allowed it to close the distance with ease, and it finished us off faster than I would ever care to admit. The silver lining, the swift death hurt a lot less than my death at the fangs of the Den Mother.

“Welcome back Climber,” a hooded figure said as I moved quickly from the Resurrection Chamber. “Would you wish to give an offering to the Tower today, to bless your future climbs?” The man was standing by one of the small rooms. I couldn’t see any facial features beneath the shadows of the hood and could only discern his identity from his voice. All of the Speakers looked the same. That is, they were in their dark robes, cloaked their faces, and hid their identities. The only distinguishable features were their voices, and their hands. This man’s looked shriveled and burned.

“Not at the moment,” I said quickly, my eyes scanning the area. Alax and I had died at roughly the same time, but I’d not seen him in the resurrection chamber. I saw him then, already at the door, waiting for me. We locked eyes, and I rushed towards him, further ignoring the Speaker. Right now, we had an important mission. We needed to get word to Alexandra and post the quest for Pren, and then, we needed to get back to our teammates.

“The Tower takes note,” the man called after me. “The Tower sees and knows all.”

A chill ran down my spine, but I pushed past it. Ryker had already told me there wasn’t a requirement to donate every single time we were resurrected within the Cathedral. And past that, Ryker’s own team gave all their donations to their Holy Mage to donate, to better take advantage of the Holy focused gear they could earn in return. After the Holy focused loot I’d received the last time I’d donated, which I’d immediately given to Nyle, honestly, my eagerness to give any donations to the Speakers was pretty low. Still, I wouldn’t fully ignore it. After all, the last thing I wanted was to somehow, accidentally, get on the Tower’s bad side. Considering what was happening with Alax and the Jungle Titan, angering the Tower seemed like a very, very, very poor life choice.

“You donate anything?” I asked Alax as we both took off from the Cathedral. The gently sloping hill that descended downwards towards Climber’s Rest made our pace fast. We’d been exhausted within the Tower, but having just been resurrected, felt fresh and good as new. Meaning we had much more stamina and energy, and our pace was hastened even more by urgency.

“A few coins,” Alax said, “I didn’t have anything else.”

“Get anything back?” I added as we rushed towards our goal. A few Climbers eyed us with looks of interest as we rushed past them, but none said anything or stopped us. Shop keepers and other townspeople all moved out of our ways, having hushed conversations as they pointed at us. What were they thinking? Seeing two Coal’s dashing at top speed away from the Tower, back towards Climber’s Rest.

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“The Speaker said I’d been absolved of my sins.” Alax said, “do you think they knew somehow what I’d done?”

“How could they?” I asked, the thought clinging to my mind even as I responded.

“Well, they are Tower Speakers,” Alax said simply, “maybe they really do speak with the Tower.”

The shiver returned, as I remembered not only the Speaker’s words to me, but the words they’d said the day prior, to Ryker. He’d told Ryker to enjoy the Tower’s ire. Worry filled me, over the fate of my Mentor. He and his guild were supposed to be pushing the floors in the Tower starting today, working to climb past the 20th floor, which they’d apparently cleared. The same floor that Lyn’s mentor was apparently trying to solo. How long would they be gone? And what types of horrors waited for them? Was the Tower truly going to punish them, for not individually donating? Questions rushed through my mind faster than I could process. With great effort, I pushed them aside. Ryker could take care of himself. For now, Alax and I had an important task to take care of.

“Whatever it is, you can probably ask Alexandra or your mentor about it later,” I said, forcibly refocusing myself. We were making good time, though I knew the ascent back to the Tower, uphill sadly, would take longer. Still, if needed, I knew we could both use heal to rejuvenate ourselves. A, er, rather wasteful use of one of our spells and our MP, but if it ensured we got back faster, it would be worth it.

“Yeah, probably,” Alax said, though his tone seemed distant.

“Either way,” I changed the subject, “do you think there will be enough Climbers available to take care of The Jungle Titan? Pren said it was an emergency D Rank job. How many Climbers will be needed to defeat it? How can they defeat it?” I was spiraling. The Den Mother was one thing. A level 10 Secret Boss, and yet, in my mind, she felt beatable. Especially once we got some levels. But the Jungle Titan. My mind couldn’t begin to fathom fighting that thing. And how was that thing just a Rank D? And if it truly was only Rank D… what did that mean for the 5th floor boss? What types of monstrosities did the higher floors have?

“I don’t know,” Alax said, a tinge of dismay in his voice, “but we’ve got to do this. I’ve got to do this. I’ve got to see this through. After all,” his voice cracked, “I started this whole mess. It’s all my fault. It’s my fault you suffered earlier, it’s my fault the Jungle Titan was summoned, it’s my fault Quill didn’t meet his quota, and now its my fault you died.”

“If it makes you feel any better,” I said, we were almost to the base of the hill, and were approaching the open, currently empty, expanse of training area outside of the massive stone structure that was Climber’s Rest. “I only lost two essence total.”

“You still died,” Alax retorted, “but, thanks. Really.”

“Death’s part of the job,” I said, trying my best to sound nonchalant. Dying was… an experience I had a feeling I’d never get used to. Even though the death at the Jungle Titan’s hands was swift, it had still hurt, a lot. “Overcoming death, learning from each failure and growing stronger, is what it means to be a Climber.”

He looked at me, as we neared the doors to Climber’s Rest. His eyes shone with wetness, but he offered me a genuine smile. The first one I’d seen from him since before the Reaping. “Thank you, Ash.”

“For what?” I asked as I put my hands to the massive door, preparing to open it.

“For saving me.”