Tower Climber

by Jakob Tanner

  There had been a fight here of some kind. Maybe the climbers on guard duty had fought against each other or a monster or had hurried out into the city to fight battles there. Regardless, Max wasn’t sure. All he knew was that this place was a mess.

  “Oh my,” said Casey. “What do you think happened here?”

  “Same as what’s going on outside these walls,” Max muttered. “Chaos.”

  They hurried down the hall and headed towards what looked like a janitor’s closet. Beyond the door though was a huge manatech generator. Behind the giant device was a large glass chamber full of monster cores like a gumball machine. The generator must continuously consume those monster cores to help power itself.

  “Look,” said Casey.

  On the generator was a giant red button labeled, ‘Emergency Back-Up.”

  “That must trigger the defensive wards,” said Max.

  SLAM!

  Casey wasted no time slamming her hand against the red button.

  Max expected a massive alarm to go off, but nothing much happened, other than the pile of monster cores in the generator got consumed by the manatech device.

  “That should protect the buildings and everyone who’s in it,” said Max, sighing with relief. “We’re halfway there to winning this battle now. All that’s left is defeating the actual monsters. Let’s go!”

  They hurried back through the hall, returning to the city streets.

  As soon as they stepped outside they froze with terror.

  ROOOOAAAARRRR!

  A huge black dragon flapped its wings in the sky, flying above the city’s skyscrapers.

  “That doesn’t look good,” said Casey.

  Toto covered his eyes with his tiny hands, peeking occasionally through them.

  How the heck were they going to fight a dragon? Even with the other climbers’ help. This was a next-level threat.

  The dragon blew out a huge blast of fire from its mouth into a tall building, but thanks to them, when the fire dissipated, the building was completely intact with a slight silver sheen of the defense ward’s mana showing.

  “Um, Max,” said Casey. “I think we got problems closer to home.”

  A massive rock golem came lumbering towards them.

  Max triggered bind.

  The paralyzing string shot forward and locked the rock golem in place.

  Casey manipulated the wind and shot it forward until the golem crumbled into dust.

  Casey looked around frantically.

  “What are we going to do, Max?” she asked. “There’s monsters in all directions, including, a freaking dragon in the sky. What’s our next move? Go back to the arena to help Sakura? Or help the other citizens?”

  Max took a deep breath. Every second counted right now, but it would be far more wasteful to make decisions while panicking. Sakura’s assignment was to get the back-up generators on and then assist with other climbers.

  So their next mission should really be to find another group of climbers and figure out what the higher-up climbers had dictated was the strategy.

  They rushed forward into the city streets only for a new threat to emerge in front of them.

  SMASH!

  Landing just ahead of them was the climber president in full werewolf mode.

  Blood dripped from the creature’s sharpened teeth.

  It turned towards them, eyes full of bloodlust.

  Before Max and Casey could even react, the next thing that happened was the A-rank climber president was charging straight at them with murderous intent.

  97

  Samuel cackled with laughter overtop the arena.

  He was still standing on the back of his enslaved gargoyle, lording over the city.

  “You can’t stop me, Sakura,” said Samuel. “I’m a higher rank than you are. It isn’t feasibly possible for you to defeat me.”

  The patronizing bastard, Sakura thought, gritting her teeth.

  She was B-rank and he was A-rank. There was no doubt about that; but that didn’t mean the outcome was inevitable. Yes, the odds were in his favor, but Sakura didn’t even have to win. All she had to do was prolong their fight, keep the man distracted until reinforcements showed up.

  Sakura lifted up her hands and triggered slice.

  A massive energy blade shot above her and towards the clouds.

  The blade stabbed right into the center of the gargoyle in the sky.

  The monster’s eyes bulged with pain and it coughed up blood right before dying.

  It disintegrated into a monster core in the air.

  Samuel fell to the arena floor, imbuing his feet with mana right as he landed to cushion the fall.

  The powerful A-rank climber smirked at her.

  Just because he was a higher rank than her didn’t mean his little floating gargoyle slave was.

  “Get off your high horse, jerk,” Sakura declared. “And talk to me on the ground.”

  The climber president rushed at Max and Casey.

  The werewolf man galloped with incredible speed and agility.

  “Ahh!” screamed Casey.

  In the span of one panicked blink, the climber president was looming over them and lifting up its claws to slash them. This was the speed and power of an A-ranked climber.

  Incredible, thought Max.

  He didn’t have time to dodge, so he triggered the bind ability.

  The werewolf moved too fast though and tore a gash into Max’s leg.

  “Agh!” he screamed out as a sharp piercing pain rushed through his whole body.

  His leg was covered in blood.

  “Max! Are you okay?” said Casey, rushing over to him.

  Everything around him started to go blurry. Was he falling into shock? What was happening to him?

  The werewolf leapt away and reached at its head with its own claws.

  The climber president was still in there! He was fighting against Samuel’s cellular manipulation control over him!

  “Max! Can you hear me?” said Casey, leaning over him.

  Max took in a deep breath.

  Everything around him was going blurry. He felt very strange. He looked up to the werewolf that had attacked him.

  What?

  Suddenly, the werewolf no longer looked like a hairy lupine beast, but more like a biology poster. He could see beneath the creature’s skin: cells and veins.

  What’s happening to me, thought Max. The climber president attacked him. Had his claws been laced with some kind of poison? Unless...his mimic trait had decided not to copy the climber president’s trait, but rather the trait that was controlling him: cellular manipulation infused with the hereditary trait blood eyes.

  Max gulped. It was just like what had happened with Cyrus and the buffer. His mimic trait had suddenly picked up both of Samuel Archer’s abilities: cellular manipulation and blood eyes.

  In which case, maybe the climber president hadn’t attacked him for no reason. He wanted him to acquire the trait and use it to free him of Samuel’s control over him.

  Max lifted himself up off the ground and looked to the nearby werewolf. He focused on the creature’s head, that must be where Samuel was controlling him from.

  As he focused on the climber president’s werewolf head, he could sense a tampering in the creature’s brain. He couldn’t see it exactly but he pulled on that tampering like he was undoing a knot.

  The climber president let out a huge wailing roar. Then it nodded its head and smiled at Max.

  He’d successfully relinquished Samuel’s control over him.

  The climber president wasted no time.

  The werewolf turned around and started climbing up a building, heading straight for the dragon lording over the skies above.

  98

  As the climber president rushed towards the dragon, a smaller drake flew towards Max and Casey.

  It opened up its mouth and a huge swirl of flames could be seen at the bottom of its throat, rising higher and higher until it was right at the
top of its mouth.

  “Fire blast incoming!” shouted Max.

  The blast of flame would be enough to seriously injure either him or Casey. They had to dodge the attack.

  BOOM!

  The fire blast smashed into the ground.

  Max and Casey had managed to jump in either direction away from the radius of the blast.

  Casey wiped sweat off her brow. “How are we going to take this thing out?”

  The drake was probably twice their size and a significant foe. It wasn’t as powerful as the main dragon, but for two E-rankers it was not an easy match-up, and defeating it was not a guarantee.

  Max grinned as a new idea formed in his head.

  But maybe they didn’t have to defeat it.

  The drake swerved towards them for a melee attack.

  Max focused on its brain. He looked for the same thread of mana in the brain that he’d found in the climber president. This time, however, instead of untying the knot, he tied it.

  The drake stopped its attack suddenly and landed in front of it.

  “Don’t tell me,” said Casey. “Did you somehow turn this drake onto our side?”

  “Cellular manipulation,” said Max. “This trait is no joke.”

  The two of them jumped on the back of the drake and took to the skies.

  They flew towards the climber president.

  The large werewolf had imbued its feet with mana and rushed up the side of the building.

  “The climber president is so powerful,” shouted Casey with excitement.

  It was true. He was able to turn into a werewolf, but he retained enough consciousness to wield his own internal mana. Perhaps this was how the trait evolved. It started out as an insane feral mode that he couldn’t control, but now at A-rank, he could enter this deadly state and still have full control of his senses.

  The power was so intense! No wonder he was the climber president.

  Once on the rooftop, he crouched down, channelling mana into his feet.

  He then pushed himself forward, using that excess mana at his feet to propel high into the air towards the deadly dragon.

  “Can he really make that leap?” said Casey as they flew towards the fight on the back of the drake.

  Max wasn’t sure. Maybe he could, but what was the climber president’s recourse if he missed. He’d crash into a building or worse the ground.

  The dragon roared and actually flew to meet the werewolf head on.

  “Oh boy,” said Max, watching the epic clash.

  Toto covered his eyes with fright.

  KABOOM!

  The werewolf clutched one claw around the dragon’s neck. The climber president tightened its grip so that it couldn’t unleash a fireblast directly into his face. With the other claw, he slashed into the creature’s scales.

  The dragon screamed and tried to fly upward to relinquish the werewolf’s hold on it.

  The climber president was faring better than Max had expected him to against the dragon, but he didn’t see what the old man would do next as the dragon sent them flying upwards.

  The werewolf slashed its claws at one of the dragon’s wings.

  Once distracted, the dragon was no longer flying but trying to avoid the incoming attacks from the werewolf. It started to flutter in the air and then hurtled down towards the street level.

  “What if there’s people down there?” shouted Casey.

  “Then they better get out of the way,” said Max.

  A dragon and a werewolf hurling into the ground was going to leave a massive dent and Max was pretty sure the defensive wards weren’t used to protect the literal streets.

  The dragon and werewolf hurtled downward like a meteorite until—

  KABOOOOM!

  A massive explosion and tremor followed the two creatures smashing into the ground.

  99

  Samuel wiped dirt off his long black jacket as Sakura stared at him from across the arena battlefield.

  The wind howled around them.

  “You think we didn’t plan for this,” Samuel said, stretching out his hands.

  So the cocky bastard had contingency plans. He was slightly less arrogant than Sakura gave him credit for. Oh well. She stood with her fists up, readying herself for whatever attack he brought forth.

  The arena ground cracked and a fist made of stone burst forth from the dirt. Followed by another.

  Next thing she knew two rock golems had pulled themselves out from under the ground.

  “I have monsters everywhere,” cackled Samuel. “And with A-rank cellular manipulation, I can do whatever I want with them. Like use them to kill you!”

  So the battle suddenly became three on one, but Sakura wasn’t scared. The rock golems were C-rank at highest but probably lower. Maybe Samuel could use them as a distraction, but they were mere pawns.

  “Big whoop,” said Sakura. “You can control some lesser monsters. You’re nothing but a bully and a control freak, Samuel. Bring it on!”

  The rock golems rushed forward.

  They raised their heavy boulder sized fists to pulverize her with.

  “Don’t underestimate my minions,” shouted Samuel.

  The rock golems had a particularly powerful smash ability. The attack dealt damage that multiplied its strength stat by at least 1.5 meaning it could severely hurt things above its rank.

  Sakura couldn’t let herself be hit by these things. She would be forced to dodge.

  The rock golems delivered a hammer blow right where Sakura was standing.

  SMASH!

  The woman managed to backflip away from the attack in time.

  “Nice escape,” said Samuel. “You can dodge all you want, but you’ll eventually get tired. Or even if you don’t run out of stamina, you’ll run out of time and the city you love so much will be destroyed. Your choice.”

  Damn. So they both had similar strategies to run down the clock, they just expected different outcomes at the end. Samuel was confident that the city would get destroyed. Could she say she felt the same about the other climbers defending the city? She thought of all the climbers out there on the field, fighting for their lives. They needed her there.

  She needed to stop wasting time.

  Sakura rushed the rock golems and triggered her slice ability.

  “If only the common slice ability had more versatility,” Samuel declared sarcastically.

  Sakura ignored him. He was an idiot if he believed what he was saying. Sure, an E-rank level slice attack wasn’t very powerful, but at the level of B-rank. She could do a lot with that blade of energy.

  The golden energy blade formed in front of her and she mentally commanded the blade to separate into multiple blades.

  She then shot the blades forward at the rock golems from a multi-pronged attack.

  “You call this low versatility,” shouted Sakura.

  The energy blades ripped through the rock golems, tearing them to pieces. They fell to the ground in a rubble, before glowing out and disintegrating down to golden monster cores.

  Ah, so they were C-rank.

  Sakura smirked at Samuel.

  “What else have you prepared? Or are you all out of tricks?”

  100

  Samuel’s eye twitched as he looked out at the stray monster cores where the rock golems had just been standing.

  He reached down to his pouch and materialized two shield slimes.

  “Very well, Sakura. You’re making me pull out my big guns,” said Samuel.

  The man carried literal monsters in his pouch!?

  Sakura couldn’t believe what she was seeing. Also, his big trump card were two of the low level monsters they used to train students?

  Samuel looked down menacingly at the two shield slimes in either hand and slowly manipulated them from the inside out with the use of his cellular manipulation ability.

  The shield slimes melted before his very eyes, liquefying and coating themselves around his fingers and palms.

  “
What the—?” said Sakura both in shock and repulsion.

  He had manipulated the two monsters into gloves. It was demented and evil all rolled into one.

  “Shield slimes are quite interesting, you know,” said Samuel, clenching his new oddly colored fists. “Their shield is super powerful and while they never use it offensively, if one could, it could deal a lot of damage.”

  “Stop trying to scare me, Samuel,” shouted Sakura. “C’mon, show me how powerful your deranged slime gloves are.”

  Samuel rushed towards her.

  He leapt forward and held back a fist before slamming it in the ground.

  Sakura jumped away to avoid the impact of the blow.

  How powerful could a shield slime really be?

  CRACKKKK!

  A line of dirt crackled across the arena floor like it had been hit by a massive earthquake.

  “I’ll hit you eventually,” snickered Samuel, rushing after her once more.

  Sakura made sure to keep her distance from the man.

  The power of the shield slime used offensively was much stronger than she had expected. It was pretty impressive.

  Sakura needed to keep dodging his attacks, until she found an opening she could exploit against Samuel.

  SLICE!

  As Sakura had been trying to dodge the attacks a new one had hit her, piercing her in the stomach.

  She looked down and saw a red hole leaking through her jacket, more than that she saw a thin sliver of the shield slime had punctured her.

  The pointed sliver of the shield slime pulled out and returned to Samuel’s fists.

  “That’s another fascinating thing about shield slimes, especially combined with my cellular manipulation trait,” mused Samuel. “I can get them to stretch and harden into knives right at a crucial artery.”

  Sakura clutched her wound, pain taking over her entire body.

  “Without medical attention,” Samuel grinned. “You’ll die in a matter of minutes.”

  101

  A cloud of smoke erupted between the skyscrapers, emanating from the bottom ground level where the werewolf and dragon had fallen in a powerful smash.