After going home and resting for the night, Nathan arrived once more at the entrance of the Tower, now extremely confident in challenging the second floor.
“This is gonna be more difficult, but at least I now have better items.” Nathan thought to himself, recalling what the second floor was like. The layout was almost identical to the first floor, a vast forest with lush foliage. However, on the second floor, instead of tiny goblins, hobgoblins the size of grown adults, and poisonous plants littered the grassy landscape. Nathan couldn’t help but remember the difficulty he and his party had with the fairly large jump in difficulty between the floors. With a deep breath, he steps through the portal. Before Nathan was a dirt clearing in the forest, with a few dirt paths extending from it, littered with a few imposing sentinels and tens of hunters, looking much more worn physically and emotionally than the newbies on the first floor.
“The first boss hits people the hardest. It's a shame to see, but theirs nothing that can be done, things will just get worse from here on out.” Nathan immediately began walking down one of the many paths leading deeper into the forest, “I’ll first test out my new abilities, and see how strong I am before determining my next move.” After a few minutes, Nathan arrived at what he believed to be a sufficient distance where he wouldn't run into other hunters.
“First, I should test how strong The Eyes of Erebus are at level 2.” After scanning the forest in front of him, Nathan spotted a small group of three hobgoblins. Their green skin let them blend in well with the foliage, but their ripped linen shorts, rusty broadswords, and tall stature, made them stick out like sore thumbs, at least to Nathan’s eyes. Luckily, even though the star on the second floor was high in the sky, the thick canopy of trees allowed for the ground to be covered in plenty of shadows. Crouching silently toward the hobgoblins, Nathan got as close as he could, hiding behind a nearby tree and imagining himself falling into the shadows, causing his skill to activate. Immediately, he seemed to enter freefall as he fell into the darkness beneath him. Nathan arrived in what felt like a liquid slightly thicker than water, but he could breathe perfectly fine.
As Nathan observed his surroundings, in every direction except above him, was complete, unending darkness. As Nathan looked up, he was able to see the patches of the forest that were covered in shadows, but from underneath it, like he was looking through glass. Observing each of the patches, he eventually saw one of the hobgoblins who seemed to have luckily been standing in a shadow. Floating in this invisible matter, Nathan attempted to do what felt the most natural, which was to swim like he was underwater. This strategy worked perfectly, and Nathan began quickly maneuvering directly under the hobgoblin.
“This skill is fantastic. I can only imagine how powerful it is at night.” Nathan exclaimed, before releasing the skill and being propelled upwards and out of the shadows. As he appeared behind the Hobgoblin, Nathan formed a shadow sword and sliced the hobgoblin's head clean off. The other two hobgoblins jumped back in surprise, but they quickly readied themselves and entered a combative stance. The hobgoblins stood back, observing Nathan, waiting for him to attack.
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"Time to test these boots," Nathan whispered to himself, conjuring a throwing knife in his free hand. He locked eyes with the Hobgoblin to his left and immediately lunged forward. With a guttural roar, the Hobgoblin readied its sword, aiming a downward arc towards Nathan's skull, and the other prepared to plunge the sword into Nathan’s side. As the Hobgoblin’s sword descended, he sprang into the air, positioning the bottom of his boots horizontally, and using Double Jump. Nathan easily soared past the Hobgoblin with surprising speed.
Mid-air, Nathan's hand flicked forward, sending the shadow knife spinning, embedding deep into the Hobgoblin's head. A muffled scream echoed as the creature crumbled lifelessly to the ground. Landing with the momentum of his jump, Nathan executed a tactical roll. He used the roll to regain his footing, sliding to a halt with a cloud of dust swirling around him.
Without pausing, Nathan pivoted towards the second Hobgoblin, now gaping in surprise. He darted forward. In a frenzy, the Hobgoblin swung its sword in a desperate attempt to strike Nathan. But Nathan, easily able to see the sloppy attack, sidestepped the wild slash and thrust his shadow sword forward. The blade sank deep into the Hobgoblin’s chest, and Nathan watched, unflinching, as the light faded from its eyes and its body slumped, defeated.
“Double Jump is better than I expected!” Nathan cheered, examining his Aerial Boots, “Realistically, I am strong enough to go straight to the third floor, but I can’t give up the opportunity of getting the achievement and the items that would drop from the boss. I should have till at least the 12th floor before other people might have already gotten the achievement, so I should make the most of it while I still can. Theirs no point in wasting time killing Hobgoblins, I’ll just go straight to the boss. I should be at the third floor in no time.” The thought of going back to the third floor made Nathan jump a little, but he reminded himself of his goals and tried to find solace in the fact that he would soon be avenging his friends, but some of the anxiousness still lingered.
Dashing back to the path he could still somewhat see in the distance, he ran back toward the portal and found the correct path toward the boss. The paths toward the boss, mostly on the lower floors are usually marked by an X, whether carved into a tree or written on the ground. This is due to any building or building materials being brought into the Tower disappearing almost immediately. Without hesitation, Nathan dashed as fast as he could toward the boss’ location.
“This one should be a lot easier since I won’t have to deal with magic,” Nathan mumbled to himself, the sharp winds caused by moving nearly as fast as a car slamming into his face and blowing back his hair. As Nathan arrived at the Hobgoblin village where the boss monster spawned, he saw something that interrupted his plans,
“Shit…I guess I should’ve expected this. I got lucky on the first floor, so I was hoping this floor would be the same.” Nathan sighed, slowing down his pace, as he began to see a group of four hunters waiting outside the gates of the Hobgoblin village, which was made up entirely of mud houses varying in size. The village was small, having only about a dozen homes, and a thin wooden fence surrounded the village. Nathan slowly walked up to the group of hunters, who had turned their attention to him, “I hope they're not waiting for a party to finish. Although I don’t know why they’d be standing out here otherwise, so I guess I came at the worst time.” Nathan thought to himself, a disappointed expression plastered on his face. He walked up to a tree just off the dirt path and sat down, laying his back against its rough bark. He had sat down only about a dozen feet from the party of four, to ensure no one would take his spot in line. Nathan closed his eyes and prepared to take a short nap to rejuvenate some of his energy.
“Excuse me, sir,” A deep, middle-aged voice called out to Nathan, causing him to open his eyes. In front of him was a man in fairly well-made metal armor with a sword sheathed on his back. He had brown hair and friendly blue eyes. A smile was plastered on his face, “I’m Carter, nice to meet you,” he offered a handshake.