“Name’s Olor.”
“James.”
“Ivy, but more importantly, why shouldn’t I have my brother fill you with magic holes?”
“See, I’m glad you asked. Your brother can’t be more than level twelve or so? And he’s far from the only one capable of making magic holes. Luckily for you, everyone’s day can be simplified if you just come along with us. All my boss wants is to extend a gracious hand of opportunity to the both of you.”
James grunted, “Then why isn’t he here?”
“You think he has nothing better to do than run around trying to find people more interested in playing tourist than acting as proper adults?” Olor chuckled. “You seem to have tried to hide your trail, even. That’s what I’m for. To ensure Bron doesn’t have to waste his time. If you end up not working out, no harm done.”
Ivy and James both thought of Merek and how their guide constantly kept them from being involved in much on the first floor, but after everything at the awakening hall and having to rush out in a hurry, neither felt inclined to be sympathetic for the inconveniences caused.
Growing tired of the conversation already, James sighed. “Frankly, I don’t care. You can leave us an address, and we might respond after we discuss and if we’re interested.”
“This isn’t a casual offer you can pursue at your leisure. This is a choice you need to make. Or it’ll be made for you.”
Ivy tilted her head. “I think he’s really trying to threaten us. Isn’t this exciting?”
James groaned, completely unfazed and more bothered than anything by the man’s attempts at whatever it was he tracked them down for. If it was a sale’s pitch, he was doing a terrible job.. “Unfortunately for your boss, we’ve seen worse. Also, we’re the ones who make the deals here, and you can tell him I said exactly that,” James said, pointing a finger toward Olor. “Consider yourself dismissed. If you continue to harass us—well, I’m sure you can figure out what it means.”
A vein pulsed in Olor’s temple, bulging against his forehead. He raised a hand straight up. “You seem to think you hold any power here. You’ve made this quite difficult, so I suppose this is where the fun part begins.”
Then he dropped his hand.
James’ Protective Totem blocked something. A faraway bang echoed down to them, seemingly from the direction of one of the castles. James got closer to Ivy and sheltered her with his body.
“Your skill is quite impressive, I will admit, but you won’t escape!” Olor shouted, an energy sword in one hand and small compact firearm in the other. Something bigger than a pistol and peppering James with all sorts of attacks.
Fiery explosions, noxious gasses, icy lances, and earthy shrapnel began forming a semicircle around the pair. The magebolt James fired off went wide and paled in comparison to what they were being assaulted by.
“Hmm, maybe we bit off more than we could chew here,” Ivy grumbled, tapping her foot impatiently. “If only Shen Ai was here, I’d show them what we can really do.”
“Well, she’s not. And I certainly didn’t do any biting.”
“Might be time to give Tough Skin a trial by fire test,” Ivy suggested, earning a scathing glare from James. She returned an innocent grin, hands together in front of her. “You know, if we’d gotten me a big sword sooner, this wouldn’t be an issue!”
“How does that make any sense…? Gonna walk out there and try to activate Retaliation with a giant hole in your head? Yeah, right,” James bit back, looking for a way out. The exit was within sight, but there was no way they could cross that distance without being intercepted.
This situation grated on his nerves. He wished the shop was here so he could exchange some of his stockpiled lifespan to show these people who they were messing with. His inability to get out of them in tandem with his ability to eat everything they threw at him made him grin as he thought about how this whole shop thing started.
He’d been killed by a psychopath with a knife, and now he stood still, unflinching, as a veritable bombardment rained down around him.
“Well,” James put his arm around his sister’s shoulder to hold her close. “I vote we start walking and see how far we get before someone comes in close enough for you to punch them.”
“Boring.” Ivy gave an exaggerated yawn. “Not enough explosions.”
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Something exploded. She yelped and jumped in shock, then laughed. “Perfect!”
Olor and his group spread out to surround them, blocking any chance of just walking past.
Ah, well. Maybe they could still be negotiated with? “I’d rather you just let us walk away, but we could stand here all day if you prefer to wear yourselves out.”
“You’re coming with us, or you’re going down. There is no alternative.”
“Mmm, good luck with that.”
“Will you give me a big sword if I come with you?” Ivy demanded. “And power armor?”
Olor raised a hand, and the barrage stopped. “We don’t normally offer incentives for anyone who hasn’t completed their base deck, but if your brother would be willing to—”
He was interrupted by something else exploding, right between them. It blasted Olor away, while James’s Protective Totem blocked all but the dust.
James coughed and blinked.
A glowing form stood amid the cloud of dirt and drifting smoke. “If you’re looking for power armor, then you’re asking the wrong faction.” The figure held out a hand. “I am Jarvick of Ascension, and I can get you everything you want.”
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“Kill them! Kill them all!” Urthir shouted at his sniper subordinates. “We mustn’t let them fall into enemy hands.”
He held up his own hands in front of his chest and summoned his deck. Urthir’s Mage deck was fully optimized around a single concept: control. It’s what allowed him to ensure that his team could accomplish their objective every time.
Was it overkill to use his full strength against a handful of newly initiated climbers who’d barely made it through floor two? Perhaps.
However, the boss’s orders were absolute. There was no remorse to be had for someone who had earned the boss’s ire, and as such, Urthir would treat them accordingly.
His bound artifact materialized from the storage pouch tied to his hip. Raising it, he envisioned the effect of the card he called upon, Encapsulating Aura, and a large dome snapped into place around him. When he moved within range, anybody he identified as an opponent would be severely restricted in their movements, while his own allies would have their movements enhanced.
The second card activated the same as the third, Aura Expansion and Silversteam. The first amplified the size of all aura cards based on rank, nearly trapping the brother and sister pair within its effect, while Silverstream both augmented his own speed and left a path in his wake that further slowed enemies. Any enemy who might inhale the gaseous silver would also find their cards slower to activate.
His heart card, he only ever used in case of emergencies, but this would likely be enough to restrain the brother and sister and those that dare interrupt Expansionist operations.
He calmly stepped forward, approaching them with assured confidence as the rest of his team rushed past, their speed great enough that their figures were little more than blurs to his lacking perception.
As he approached them, the border of his aura nearly reaching, he thanked his forefather’s devotion to the next generations. He didn’t know how long it had taken for them to collect this tier three deck, but he was ever appreciative he’d inherited it.
The situation rapidly developed as he raised a hand up high, calling upon another card, Frost’s Descent. Eight pillars, each twice as tall as he, formed above Ivy and James and began dropping one at a time, blocking any gaps his crew wasn’t approaching from. The spikes stabbed into the ground a third of the way up and erupted into a fence of ice spikes.
“Impressive as always,” he said with a satisfied smirk. After all of this, their escape had become impossible. “Now, time to end this and get back to boss.”
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For once, watching the battle between the four castles play out was the least interesting thing happening. Normally, Specter Zero would have spent the morning racking up the easy experience from this rare low-level zone with decent powerup potential, but instead he found himself fixated on the drama playing out across the field. He’d lost three flags so far but barely even noticed.
He couldn’t help it. What kind of crazy person would be flashing a Gold Legendary on floor two? That was just asking for trouble. And yet the guy was firing his totem off in all directions as though he had a limitless supply of energy to burn.
Specter Zero raised a hand to activate his Slowsight card, hastening his perception to the point where everything seemed to be moving in slow motion. As a Shadow power, it unfortunately only worked at a distance—his immediate surroundings would be a nigh-unrecognizable blur—but he could watch the scene across the battlefield unfold in clear detail.
From the refresh rate, the kid flashing the Legendary had to be around level 80. Nothing else made sense, with his energy cooldown being as fast as it was. Or he had insane synergies, but that made even less sense than Specter Zero’s presence—sure, a level 40 farming on floor 2 was a bit unorthodox, but at least he still got a fractional amount of experience. It wouldn’t be worth it if not for the sheer quantity of enemies being slaughtered by the moment.
For someone above level 50, though, they’d get no experience and even uncommon shards would be obliterated rather than drop. Feeding them all back into the tower was the last thing anyone should be doing.
The girl beside him, though, was more what Specter Zero would expect. Her power flashed out every 2.68 seconds, right on target for a level 6 who’d just cleared the first floor.
The obvious hypothesis would be that the Legendary was here on escort or protection duty, but with the way the tower automatically assigned group experience, his presence would all but obliterate her progress.
Whatever he was trying to do, whatever his reasons, he was doing everything completely wrong. And he’d attracted the attention of not just the aggressive lower-floor Expansionists, but even the Ascender recruiters as well.
Not only that, the Legendary hadn’t used a single other card thus far. Why?
Specter Zero leaned forward on the battlements of the castle, eyes focused on the fight below. It’d been a long time since he saw anything this interesting.
“I wonder how this will play out?”
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