289 Tower Of Death
The Tower Of Death…
… Also known as the Realm Of The Undead, was a place swarming with creatures of the kind. Dark beings who had false life and resented the living.
Apparently, the story of the Tower was that this was a prison to hold the embodiment of death, and those who fell prey to its power became undead and took on various forms depending on their abilities and Skill Sets.
Of course, this also meant that a reward awaited anyone who cleared the Tower, and that was the power over Death and False Life! With such an alluring appeal, it was obvious that Gifteds would desire to climb this Tower to get their clutches on an ultimate ability that one couldn’t even find in the SHOP.
Of course, other rewards existed along the way, such as the Undead Summoning Ring and Necromancer Scroll that a famed Ranker possessed. With the power he obtained, he was able to make it within the ranks of Top 100 Gifteds in the world.
If that was what he obtained merely on the 25th Floor, it was left to imagination what would await those who climbed higher… on the 26th Floor and beyond!
Each Tower had a total of 99 Floors, and every Floor had a clear reward. Other than the Karma Point and EXP gotten, abilities, items, and other goodies could be collected.
The problem was that if someone cleared a Floor, or a Party did so, those rewards went to them and the ones that came after would only receive Karma Points for their achievements. That was why people rushed to be first in conquering a Floor, even if they were unqualified.
It was due to this reckless pursuit for ‘Ultimate Power’ that some Gifteds had perished in the Tower.
But, that didn’t stop more from flooding in!
Why was the Tower of Death an exception, devoid of any Gifted other than the brave Party that steadily ascended it?
Difficulty!
Every Tower grew more difficult the higher one climbed, and their Levels of Difficulty were basically comparable. However, for the past weeks, after a particular Ranker succeeded in getting the Undead Summoning Ring and Necromancer Scroll, it was practically impossible for anyone to climb further.
The difficulty had increased dramatically!
Gifteds flooded the other three Towers, those that hadn’t been conquered up to the 25th Floor, hoping to try their lucks there.
Unfortunately, this created tons of problems and a fierce competition that seemed to cause even more fatalities. At this point, it wasn’t just spawned Demons that killed Gifteds. Human killed humans too!
It was due to this reasoning that Nate and his party decided to try their luck once more in the Tower of Death. Even if they couldn’t pass the 25th Floor to gain special rewards, they had the Tower grounds to themselves.
They could also end up lucky and discover a hidden path leading to untouched treasure! The chances were slim, but if happened before, it could happen again.
Besides, wasn’t it better to try their luck here than struggle for kills in the other Towers?
While Nate’s team was fairly strong, they were only just about average among Gifteds, and so competing against stronger foes would only result in collateral damage. In any case, this was the optimal solution.
They just had to keep climbing… hoping for something special to happen sooner or later!
*******
The fifteenth floor proved to be a bigger hurdle than the team thought!
Their record was the twelfth floor. Anything beyond that was uncharted territory, but the team members were fairly confident in their abilities. And so, despite bring their first time, they made it to the Fifteenth floor and cleared it… though it took a lot out of them.
“Huff… that was… too close!” They huffed and breathed heavily upon reaching the Final area in the Fifteenth floor, which was by luck, a Safe Zone!
Now all on the ground, they did their hardest to breathe and also laugh at their immense luck that they had come this far. Without resorting to the Return Stone in their possession, coming so far without any fatality was a feat. However… even luck came to an end.
“Should we retire now? We’ve come this far, and since it’s our first time clearing the 13th, 14th, and 15th Floors, we received good rewards. We also Leveled Up quite well!”
Looking at the bright side, this was the safest option for them at the moment… but was it the best?
“If we return now, next time we come here, we’ll start from the First Floor. It’ll be a waste of time climbing back up.”
That was a major problem, and for a team that was in it for rewards, wasting more time couldn’t be allowed.
“Besides, don’t we have a Return Stone? It won’t be risky going further up!”
While Return Stones were expensive, the Karma Points currently in the team’s possession made them feel a little rich, so affording another wouldn’t be a problem. If they succeeded on the next floor, they would even be met with more rewards!
“We haven’t been using our ace moves since we saved them for emergencies. Plus, we still have recovery potions and other stuff in our INVENTORY. We should be good.”
It was now about weighing the risks and the rewards to be expected. No matter how one looked at it, they stood more to lose if they passed up this opportunity.
“Fine… let’s vote!”
As was a general rule in the Party, voting by majority rule was how things were decided. Even before they chose to challenge the Tower of Death, they had voted… unanimously at that.
“Okay!”
Upon agreement, the team split the options into two;
Those who wanted to go further,
Those who wanted to return.
Hands were raised for the former, while those who didn’t budge basically meant that they supported the latter. Once this was settled, the voting began.
Four hands were raised.
One hand remained still.
Instinctively, the whole team looked at the one whose hand didn’t move…
… It was Tia!