The second wolf was just like the first. It’s eyes glanced over at the body of its fallen friend. It snarled and glared at Alex. He gripped the knives tighter. He realized it was probably best to only hold one knife securely at a time, so Alex dropped one of the knives.

He gripped the handle of his knife tightly as he faced off against the massive wolf in front of me. He was already exhausted from the previous fight with its pack-mate. His arms and legs ached, and he could barely catch his breath. But he had no choice but to fight. If Alex hadn’t, he knew it would be the end of him. The only consolation was that Alex had done this once before. He could do this again. This wolf was not an intelligent monster so it would follow instincts. That meant he could plan and overcome this obstacle.

The wolf snarled and lunged at him, but he was ready. He dodged to the side, narrowly avoiding its sharp claws. Alex slashed at it with his knife, but it was too quick. It dodged his attack and turned to face Alex once more.

Its tail swung towards him, and Alex leaped back just in time to avoid being impaled. The spikes on its tail glinted in the light, and he knew he had to be careful. Alex circled around it, waiting for his chance. It snarled and snapped at him, but Alex kept his distance. Suddenly, it charged toward Alex, and he dove to the side, narrowly avoiding its attack. Alex felt the wind rush past me as its claws grazed his arm.

Alex rolled to his feet and turned to face it once more. This time, hewas ready. He charged toward it; his knife held high. It swung its tail towards him, but Alex ducked under it and slashed at its underbelly.

The wolf howled in pain, and Alex knew he had landed a good hit. But it wasn't over yet. It spun around and charged at him once more. Alex dodged to the side and slashed at its back, but it was too quick. It lunged at him, and Alex braced himself for impact.

Its teeth grazed his arm as Alex drove his knife into its side. It howled in pain and stumbled back, giving him just enough time to catch his breath. His arms felt weak, and Alex knew he was running on adrenaline alone at this point.

Hs heart pounded in his chest as he circled around it once more. Its eyes glinted with fierce determination, but Alex wasn't going to back down. Alex charged towards it once more, his knife held tightly.

The wolf lunged at him, and Alex ducked under its first strike. He stabbed out at its weakened belly and then rolled away before it could attack him further. He could feel my muscles trembling with exertion, his breaths coming in short gasps as he struggled to keep up with the wolf's relentless assault. With each of his attacks, it just continued to fight with him. He realized then that it was no ordinary animal beyond the spiked tail mutations. The tower had changed the wolf into something that only wished to kill.

He could feel his body weaken from the injury and exertion. With a fierce cry, he launched himself at the wolf. It was a reckless move, but he had no other choice. The wolf's spiked tail whipped around, narrowly missing his head as Alex rolled out of the way. He felt the breeze of its passing as he scrambled to my feet; his knife raised in a defensive stance once more.

As both his and the wolf's weariness grew, Alex knew he had to stay alive long enough to land one more good hit. So, Alex waited for the wolf to perform its teeth-bared lunge once more.

This time, he was ready for its claws, dodging to the side as it swiped at him. Alex plunged my knife into its side, feeling the resistance of flesh and bone as he twisted the blade. The wolf howled in pain, staggering backward as he wrenched the knife free.

He took a deep breath and wiped the sweat from his forehead. He dropped his knife to the grass, and Alex followed soon after.

Slowly Alex wrapped the gauze over the arm that had taken the worst of the hits and wrapped himself up. Alex looked over at the wolf’s bodies. They were fading away like a dream. In place of the second wolf was a potion and based on his knowledge of games it was red for health. Not wanting to rush things Alex tied off the gauze before uncorking the bottle. He sniffed it and it smelled pleasant. There was a smell of nature and flowers though he could not pin point exactly what it smelled like.

Turning it over Alex drank the potion.

The relief was immediate as it swelled through his body. It was also slightly uncomfortable as his skin and muscles stitched and sealed themselves back up. After a minute he laid his head down on the grass. While the potion had healed his physical injuries it had done nothing to the mental and physical excursion he had experienced over the past few minutes. With no effort at all, he passed out.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

<<<>>>

“What are you doing in my backyard? Are those knives?” said a lady’s voice. “Get the hell out of here or else I am calling the cops.”

Alex stirred and he was jolted awake by the voice. He got up from his side and got a better view of the old lady. He realized that he should get going as soon as possible and did just that. The woman harassed him on the way out of the backyard. He turned back toward his apartment and started walking. He was bloody and hungry. His clothes were now ruined by the wolves he had fought, and it wasn’t getting any warmer outside.

“That was really dumb. I hope that was worth it,” Alex thought as he walked home. “If I did this again I would have to work with others to kill the wolves. If I tried this again by myself I would probably die. Without the health potion, it was likely I could have bled out even though I succeeded. It might be a good idea to get some proper armor as well.”

When he reached his apartment he stripped out of his clothes and threw them in the trash. As he lay in bed he scrolled through his phone. Social media was flooded with hashtags such as #Towers, #monsters, #monsterhunting, and more.

The monster-hunting threads intrigued him the most and the videos attached were violent. Groups of people surrounded the wolves or wolves and let lead rain into the creatures until they died. Similar to what he had found sometimes the wolves dropped ‘loot’ while other times they left nothing behind. A few of the earliest videos showed people fighting like him, with bladed weapons and hastily made shields to protect themselves.

As he scrolled further he saw other threads containing fights of other monsters. There were large, mutated lions, bears, and a few sharks in some cases. These monsters all sported a mixture of added spikes, poison, or hardened body armor. The general response at this point now that several hours had past was to shelter in place. Nearly every army in the world had mobilized to take out what remained of the monsters surrounding each of the tower beacons.

Alex suddenly felt lucky that he was able to kill two wolves not just by himself but without a gun as well.

Among the videos and posts were a few messages from different localities and states about the situation and how they planned to deal with it. They couldn’t deny that the towers or the monsters existed so they were forced into action or else more people might die. He searched his own city’s response and found it stayed in line with the general principles many other groups released. By the end of the day or two, the entire neighborhood and then the city would be swept through by the police and some national guard.

The final video with accompanying photos he looked through showed one of the tower beacons, or one of them at least. They were all identical throughout the entire world. The video showed an Asian man putting his hands on the side of the tower. It was made of a gray stone that seemed to have no seams. Around the outside of the tower were no doors or windows. It stood above almost anything else in the landscape and could not be damaged by anything else. The video overlayed captions that explained what the man was doing.

“Today as everyone knows is the start of the ‘Tower Era’. I went out and was able to slay one of the foul beasts that currently rampages through our cities. So, I come back here to claim my prize. I touched the tower walls to investigate and received a message from our tower overlords. And I can confirm as can anyone else that the message says as follows.” The man looked spaced out and Alex knew that he was currently reading from the tower’s system which had also sent him the initial message. “Tower beacon currently not unlocked. Beasts slain (77/100). End message. Do you know what that means fellow future tower climbers? Slay all the monsters from your section and gain access to the tower. I wonder what will happen to the first beacon that becomes unlocked? Comment below watchers with your theories. Until next time.”

“I wonder what my tower is at? I need to check. If I want to get a head start then I will want to gain entry as soon as possible.”

Alex got out of his bed and hurried over to Caleb’s door now that he had rested a little and got some new clothes. He knocked on the door a few times and waited. Caleb did not come to the door.

“I wonder where he went?” he thought, “He might have gone to his work shift. Then he is so going to miss this. I am going to be a slayer of monsters and climb the tower. He better enter the tower by the end of the week, or I will drag him into it once I am strong enough.”

His mind was full of the theories and speculation thrown around on social media. There were guesses at what kind of powers one could receive from magic to superpowers, to evolutionary augments, and cultivator fantasies. He knew what he wanted. Magic plain and simple would be preferred. From his brief experience with the wolves, he knew he wanted to avoid being up close and personal with fighting in the future if he could help it. If he could throw fireballs he would be a very happy man.

If he was going to pick any of the suggested power rulesets that he disliked the most it was the idea of evolutionary augments. A few people had suggested it based on the way the monsters that had been released to the world were modified and mutated from a common Earth equivalent. Alex wanted none of that. If he had to become something non-human to grow in power then he wanted very little of that. He was quite happy with his current human form and if he had to grow something more than wings then he would leave the tower immediately. For Alex, there would be no scales, claws, or fur.

He walked up to the tower. A few people were already gathered around it. Some had brought their guns while others had melee weapons. He of course had his knife that he had killed the wolf with. None of the others seemed to care that he was armed so he didn’t bother them either. Alex was able to walk forward the doorway through the tower currently not available. He reached his hand and touched the stone.

The Tower beacon is currently not unlocked. Beasts slain (93/100).