Because of the rust worms, checking the beams was more laborious than I thought. Climbing up one beam to another was a chore, in and of itself. I had to ensure the metal would even hold my weight with every step I took. The communication tower was old and weather beaten. Even without the rust worms, rusted out screws and weak joints were everywhere. Add the damage from the little monsters, and it was all just a mess.
"Are you sure this is salvageable?" I called down to Terre. "Like I said, I'm not an expert and I know nothing about structural engineering, but are you sure this tower isn't going to collapse when Karmin takes away the ice?" I tapped the beam above and tested its strength. It seemed solid enough, so gingerly climbed up.
It groaned under my weight, but stayed steady.
On the ground, Karmin and Terre measured out the position of the anchors. It would be best if the anchors were all the distance from the tower, so they gave the same amount of tension. If one cord pulled stronger than the others, it could tip the tower over.
"I second that thought," Karmin piped up. She leaned over and placed an icicle on the ground, marking where they wanted to drill.
Terre pushed the button on the measuring tape and the yellow tongue rushed back into the container with a shrill ziiip. He glanced up, a frown on his brow. "For convenience's sake, it better stay up. But if it doesn't, we tried our best." Terre walked around the tower and started to measure the distance between the side poles to find the middle point. He didn't seem to feel the biting chill of Karmin's ice around the poles. "Even if the repair team has to rebuild the tower, the government can't complain. Either way, they got a free million dollar energy crystal out of it."
My brows rose. Oh, right. Without power-lines, energy crystals were the only power source out here. I just didn't expect the Nobles to give one out for free. "Aren't you worried someone might steal it?" I called down while I tested the next beam.
For balance reasons, Terre wanted all the chains to be anchored to beams at the same height. Same reason he wanted them all to be equal distances away. The ones on the north and east side of the tower were fine. So far, so good. Now I just needed to test the southern and western sides.
"Maveric put a barrier around the energy crystal. The only people who can touch it, aside from me and mine, have to have a special token," Terre explained. "If not, the energy crystal will self-destruct."
My brows rose as I tested the strength of the beam. "That would be a big bang."
Big bang was a major understatement. The power inside energy crystals were A rank or higher. Even explosions from the tiny shards made the protective barrier around Uncle's shop look tame. A blast like that would wipe the whole communication tower off the face of the earth; might even take the top of the mountain with it. Anyone caught in the blow would be very much dead.
Terre shrugged, not caring the slightest. "They shouldn't touch what doesn't belong to them." He marked the middle point between the poles and started measuring out to where the anchor should go.
When the beam I tested didn’t shake or rain rust, I climbed up. If the metal could hold my weight, it should withstand the tension of the chain holding it in place. "So what's classified as one of your–"
With a screech, the beam broke right off the tower. It happened so suddenly, my stomach twisted and my heart jumped into my throat. Instincts took over before my mind caught up. I thrust my hand out and sent a cord of water out. The end twisted around a higher beam and pulled tight, stopping my fall as soon as it started.
"Whoa," I muttered then paused, finally noticing that something was missing. I didn't hear a bang of the long metal beam hitting the ground. Curious, I looked down.
The beam floated on a mist cloud, twelve inches below my boots. That same mist cloud would have undoubtedly caught me too, if it wasn't for my water rope.
On the ground, Terre stared up with a look of consternation. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah." I swung on my tether until I landed on the beam I just came from. This one I knew was fine. With a deep sigh, I stared at where the beam used to be. "Now I have to go back and test the other sides again. Do you want me to check the beams above or below? How long are the chains?"
"Maybe I should do it," he reasoned.
"Maybe you should stop nagging and let me do my task," I countered. "I'm fine."
Terre froze, disbelief on his face. The mist vanished and the beam clattered to the ground.
It wasn't until the loud bang rang out that I realized what I just said. Oh my god, did I just mouth off to Terre Noble? Just this morning, I was so anxious around him, I felt like I was on pins and needles. Now I was talking back. What was wrong with me? Then again, we weren’t exactly strangers anymore. Things like battling monsters together really seemed to lower your guard around a person -- or in some cases, raise them. I'd interacted with Terre so much, the shiny awe-inspiring aura around him started to dim. Especially after seeing the casual way he interacted with Karmin.
It was funny. I'd spent the same amount of time with Terre and Karmin as I did with Star's crew so far. I started out trusting Star, but the more time passed, that trust shattered and I put my guard up. In fact, the only reason I was alive now was probably because I was on guard. With Terre, I started out distrustful, but the more I interacted with him, the easier it was to be myself.
It was concerning, really. Star and her crew were a lesson I learned the hard way, and I understood that was how most of the Hunter society was. Greedy and backstabbing. I had to keep reminding myself that Terre and Karmin differed from the norm. I mean, no matter how rich Terre was, the casual way that he gave away the stone diamonds was shocking. And at Karmin's insistence, both ended up in my Items Bag. According to social norms, considering how little I contributed to the battle, splitting two drop items with three people meant that I should have walked away empty-handed. But I somehow ended up with both of them — even after Karmin complained about being poor.
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Karmin, on the west side of the tower, sniggered. "Hey, helicopter mama Terre, come here." She motioned to the drill. "Leave Ria alone, she's got it. Help me make sure I'm getting the drill in the right place. Some idiot designer created a blind stop where the drill touches for the operator."
"What did you just call me?" Terre demanded and swung around.
I winced. I didn't mean to make them fight. What can I do to break the tension?
Just then, a little blue snake zipped across the ground on a tiny water wave. Karmin and Terre stopped bickering and watching Levi go by, like he was a novelty. He climbed up the pole, his bright color a sharp contrast to the tarnished white and red paint. He climbed up my leg and wrapped around the back of my neck, squeezing tight. He hissed and thumped my shoulder with his tail as if complaining, but I felt the worry behind his grumbling through our connection.
I touched his head with a careful finger, trying to show that I was okay. After five pets, he smacked my finger away.
I set out inspecting the other beams as Terre and Karmin operated the drill below. I was more cautious and didn't run into anymore slip ups — although the shrill whine of metal on rock when the drill started up caused me to jump and wobble. That god awful sound made nails of a chalkboard kiddy play. At least I wasn’t right next to it. Terre and Karmin groaned and covered their extra sensitive ears.
When the drill was done, Karmin threatened to kick it over. "Seriously, whoever made this thing needs to disappear," she grumbled, apparently losing all her interest in it. She massaged her ears with a scowl. "Agh, I think I'll let you do the next three alone. That's worse than a banshee."
"You are the one that begged to use it." Terre grabbed the drill and carried it over to the next spot.
I had half a mind to suggest changing jobs. It's not like the drill rocked all over, and needed to be held in place. It seemed pretty steady. I could very easily man it. But I bit my lips and withheld the offer. I didn't really want to give up my task, especially after all the effort it took to persuade Terre into letting me do it. Would I get brownie points for being a team player, or get viewed as flaky and fickle for suggesting changing jobs? Both would be bad. I wanted to show Terre I was competent and worth trusting, not raise his walls higher.
In the end, I focused on my task. But couldn't help but ask, "Won't the noise draw monsters?"
Loud Hunters were always the first to die in the wilds. But Terre and Karmin didn't bother lowering their voices. I guess that was a perk of being super strong. A pang of envy sprouted in my chest. I wanted to be like that too. So strong, no monster willingly bothered me. So strong that the System thought I could handle the truth of how my mom died.
Terre looked around. "The surrounding monsters probably already know this is a stone giant lair. But just in case..." He waved his hand. A large donut shaped mist cloud appeared around us, leaving the clearing wide open, but cutting off the rest of the world.
"What about the middle?" Karmin asked in confusion.
Terre shrugged. "I'm feeling lazy."
My lips pressed together, and I looked down at the rusted metal under my fingers. That wasn't his reason at all. He was covering for me, just like how he didn't tell Karmin I was scared of mist before the fight with the stone giant. No Hunter liked their weakness broadcasted. Even though I didn't think that Karmin was a threat now, I appreciated how considerate Terre was being.
I glanced at him and caught his eyes as he looked up at me. I flashed him a quick, thankful smile, then went back to testing the metal.
"That's a lame excuse," Karmin grumbled, but followed after Terre.
In no time, the anchors were in place and I found the perfect beams to attach the chains too. Terre jumped up and stood on mist as he wrapped the chains around them. I'd love to say that I could handle that part by myself too, but the chains he brought out of his Item's Bag were thick Grade 100 strength. Given the length, each one weighed at least a thousand pounds. And he handled them like they were jump ropes.
I sat back and let him work. After they were attached, he tossed the ends down to Karmin — who ducked out of the way then glared up at him. Terre ignored her look and brought me down on his cloud with him. It took everything not to pinch my thumb as we lowered. Seeing the ground get closer, albeit slowly, with nothing but a thin vapor under my feet was unnerving. The mist made it even worse.
Karmin attached the slack northern chain to the anchor and gave Terre a thumbs up. In the meantime, Terre attached the slack eastern chain to its anchor, then walked over to the western chain. The tower leaned east, on the gray brick building. They needed to pull from the west and south chains at the same time to stand it up, while the northern and eastern chains should pull taut and keep it from falling over.
I stood by the ice pool and watched. I couldn't even move the chains, much less a tower. Karmin and ChoCho didn’t help either. Instead, she stood northeast of the tower to keep an eye on the two closest anchors. Made sense; she was a mage. Given her rank, I'm sure her muscular strength was formidable, but her true strength was in her magic.
The southern chain was tied around Ghost. The flying tiger looked less than thrilled at the leash, but wisely didn't complain.
"Time to get this upright." Terre walked over the western chain, taking on most of the heavy lifting on himself. He wrapped the chain around his hand, then pulled it tight. "Karmin, your ice."
Karmin waved her hand and the ice encasing the bottom of the tower dissolved into snow, then disappeared entirely.
Terre pulled.
My mouth dropped open as the tower started to move. God, I knew this was their plan, and that Terre was super strong, but actually seeing it in action was awe-inspiring.
Hhhhh, Levi scoffed, showing me memories of the destruction he used to wreak when he was huge. Then he tapped my shoulder with his tail until I praised him.
For every three steps Terre took, Ghost took one. The combined work moved the communication slowly but surely. Rust and paint chips rained down, dusting the ground. With a sharp screech, a bar on the lower half dislodged and clatter down. It banged on the stone and bounced back into the air at an angle, towards the southeast corner pole.
I gasped and instinctively reached out, even though there was nothing I could do. A huge icicle appeared between the flying beam and the pole. The beam froze in the ice, only inches from the corner pole and suspended five feet in the air.
I let out the air caught in my chest and forced the anxiety seizing my chest under control. "Good catch," I called to Karmin, who responded by jerking her chin in a tight nod.
Terre and Ghost waited for a minute to make sure nothing else happened before they started to move once more. Each second lasted for an eternity, but no more beams broke off. Finally, Terre bent and hooked his taut chain to his anchor. He hurried over to Ghost and secured the last chain.
"First task, complete," Terre announced and stood up, clapping the dust off his hands. "Now for the second task."
*****