Chapter 34 - Black Doors

I brushed my hands over my waist, checking to see if the bandages were still tight enough. It was much worse the morning after returning from the Tower but at this stage, I am near full recovery.

Thanks to Liv’s elixirs I didn’t suffer any large wounds so coming into the Tower isn't out of the question.

None of that bothers me, what does is the message that has been here ever since.

{HP will not return to its max status until fully recovered from injuries}

Every time I focus my eyes on the HP bar, that message reappears in my line of sight, as if to warn me against suffering damage in the future. I can’t help but think about how much easier a fight like that would have been if I had armour at the time.

The stunning rose woman ahead of me turned back with a glance, and with curious eyes, she posed her question.

“How’s it feel?”

I patted the steel chest plate resting on me and replied with a thumbs-up.

“Good, that’s my dads spare equipment, it should be more than fine for the area we’re going to.”

For the first time since entering the Tower, I was dressed in armour! I only wish that it wasn’t a borrowed set of gear…but I can’t exactly be picky either.

Arga’s father was kind enough to let me borrow it since I agreed to help her out. He was a little scary at first but after making me agree to look out for her, he only seems a little terrifying…

Anyone who cares about their daughter that much, can’t be too scary right?

I looked down at the layer of steel covering me and smirked.

A thin chest plate, two shin guards, vambraces on each arm and a rounded pauldron on each shoulder. They were plain and pretty light material too but they made me feel much safer. I could rest easy with my injuries knowing that I had some more defence.

Oh—speaking of defence, I should check that out.

I haven't checked my status since entering the Wolf Den all that time ago.

{Rei Alos Lv12}

Strength – 32

Speed – 60 (+25%)

Vitality – 70

Mana – 55

Defence – 25 (+20)

“Wait for real— this brings it up to forty?” My lips curled into a wide O as my eyes marvelled over the stats displayed in front of me.

Arga glanced back once more wondering what I was talking about.

“You say something?” She asked, thinking that I was talking to her.

“N-no—it’s nothing…”

Seeing something that nobody else can makes it really hard not to stand out…

My stats have jumped pretty far from the last time I saw them, especially my speed! It’s not too surprising now that I think about it though—my first skills did come from the Rush Rabbit, they were almost all speed. Using their skills so much must be affecting the way I gain stat points…is that why my mana is higher than the others too?

Just as I was lost in the panel floating in front of me, Arga stopped in her tracks and spoke up.

“We’re here.” Arga stated as we reached the Tower doors.

The crowd of adventurers passing by each other in a unified cog brought a smile to my face. On the left side were people passing into the Tower while parallel to it were adventurers returning out.

Along the wall of the Tower was a thin piece of paper displaying a bold headline marked in red, followed by a short paragraph.

“Caution…monster behaviour irregularity?” I mumbled under my breath.

It was a notice from ASH posted outside the door, from the headline alone I could see that something was wrong. If they put up a flyer this ominous it would only be because something was worth informing those that planned to enter the Tower—I.E me and Arga.

“We should hurry inside, people are starting to get blocked at the door.”

“Oh—sorry, it’s nothing! Let’s go in then.”

I doubt it's anything to worry about, they were probably just talking about the Wondering Boss.

-

We climbed up the Tower towards higher floors, and in a few hours, we managed to reach Floor 5. The last time I scaled the Floors, our group made it here in twice the amount of time. Most groups who go further into the Tower can do it in less time, the key is to learn the routes and avoid combat.

Once you know all the shortcuts it makes it pretty easy to cut through longer trails and paths that would otherwise take an entire day to scale. The first few floors are some of the larger ones because of the empty open areas but there are shortcuts there too.

“—Argh! Hiyaa!”

A knight comprised of vines and budding roses slashed its sword at me. I dodged back and cast one of my Chakram but the knight blocked it with the dainty old shield in its other hand.

My blade nicked off the shield and soared out to the side where suddenly it curved back around and plunged through the back of the knight.

My blade sliced through the chest, just above its metal chest plate and into the mossy skin. The cut delivered a deep wound that released no blood, it didn’t seem to react much at all to the damage.

I’m not sure if these monsters started as humans and were turned into these at some point or if they sprouted from the ground like this—either way, they were annoying to fight since they used weapons.

The Chakram broke out of its chest and flew back into my hand. The knight suddenly stopped and its entire body followed with violent shakes. The rose sprouting from its helm began to bloom and was at its prettiest, displaying layers of vibrant pink petals.

{Rose Knight Lv7}

These guys aren’t that hard to deal with, they mostly just attack over and over. The ones with shields will occasionally block but their gear is pretty easy to get past. It looks like some of the gear that can be bought in Istoria’s main stores…are they using killed humans gear…?

The knight ahead of me swung its sword randomly through the air as it charged towards me.

I aimed the Chakram forward and widened my stance. With a powerful swing of my arm, I sent it out like a javelin and cut straight through its neck, just between the helm and cracked chest plate.

“What the—!”

I spun around to an ominous presence that lorded over me, I held up my arm to block and the vambrace took the brunt of the attack.

A rose knight brought down its sword onto me but was stopped by the thin layer of steel resting on my arm. The sword was rusted and in worse shape than the one I used to own.

I shoved it away with a desperate motion and leapt back. Suddenly a green blur cut through the air past my head and collided with the knight's neck, slicing it clean off.

The Chakram which had just decapitated the rose came circling back to me through the air, still glowing with the bright green glow.

{300 Exp gained}

{300 Exp gained}

I looked down at the vambrace and stared in disarray.

The armour was no thicker than a few sheets of paper stacked together, so how could it have withstood something like that? This armour is seriously cool~

“Move aside!!” A powerful roar was delivered as Arga swung a massive black sword into a rose knight's waist.

The edge of her blade forced the knight through the air, following the path of her blade like a kidnapped monster taken for a ride. With a widened stance she spun around twice over before the knight's armour finally gave way and the metal was broken through.

Her large two-handed sword had broken through the waist of the knight and severed the top half of its body from the bottom.

“She’s strong…”

Arga was dressed in black and gold themed armour, made with a large chest plate and light coverage around her limbs. Flowing from her backpiece was a material cape that didn’t pass her knees. She mostly covered the essential areas like my bowed armour did, with a few touches of grand elements of her own.

I think her taste matches her fathers a little too much though…

She blasted through enemies with a long two-handed sword. The blade itself was black and nearly as tall as she was, not to mention wide. The handle was made from solid brown wood with a white cloth wrapped around it.

A small strip of engravings ran down the sword's hilt and under the white material cloth, almost all of it was covered but the small section visible wasn’t anything I could read. It was strange-shaped runes that I had never seen before.

“I noticed it before when we cleared our way through those goblins before but your sword's quite amazing. It tore through metal like butter!”

She rested it over her shoulder after pulling her sword from the knight’s body, she let out a casual smile.

“You bet, this is something I came up with when I first entered the Tower.” She extended her sword out to me, aiming it right at my nose. “Meet, Black Opal!”

“What’s black opal…you named it?” I asked with a blank stare.

“Of course I did, I name all my pieces! If you don’t name it, how can you expect to bring any life to it.”

It isn't completely insane to think of it like that but it still sounds a little strange to talk about the weapon as if it were alive…

She turned her head away from the conversation and cupped her hands over her eyes to see ahead. “I see it, there’s the gate!”

Ahead of us over the hill of grass, was a tall cathedral door embedded within a hedge of vines. The area around it was flat grass with trimmed hedges shaped into two half circles on both sides.

The area in front of it looked like an open stage.

“It looks so different from the other doors…”

As we got closer the door only seemed to stretch taller above us. Unlike the ivory white doors we were used to seeing throughout the Tower, this one was black. The markings along the frame were different too. Small markings ran along the frame from the bottom all the way around to the top, similar to the ones on Arga’s sword.

“I hear this is the door that the Floor boss guards, that’s why it’s different. I expected it to be a little special but nobody said it would be black. It doesn’t even look like the other doors, it almost feels out of place here in the Tower.” Arga admired the frame, brushing her hand over it.

Her eyes suddenly went wide and looked back at me with concern.

“Wait the floor boss won’t spawn before we get back right?!” Her face contorted into a worried expression.

She’s not well informed about the Tower. I’ve had to put her mind at ease a few times now, not that I mind, it’s just—different than before…

Images of Welm and the rest flooded through my head with an abrupt appearance. I shook my head to clear them out before speaking.

“Don’t worry there’s still two more days before the boss will come back. I checked it yesterday before coming to your store.” My words calmed her eyes, she let out a sigh of relief.

She’s so mature at times and then in others, she can be such a kid. How do I find these people, Huff~

“That’s a relief, I wasn’t planning to fight a Boss monster today.”

“I don’t think that would be much of a fight…”