Chapter 26: Next Floor Please (Patreon)

Hugo and I followed Damian through the forest until we reached the Stairwell door. It was built into the trunk of a massive oak tree and I hadn’t the faintest idea of how he’d found it, other than through dumb luck. There was also a bald man in grey robes standing beside it while holding a spear. Our final group member I presume. He appeared to be in his fifties but unlike my neighbor Earnest, this guy looked like a typical out of shape office worker. His eyes kept shifting around too, never staying in one place for too long.

“Harold, these are our new party members,” said Damian.

His head shot up to meet us and I noticed he kept opening and closing his free hand. Clenching and then flexing his fingers. Some kind of nervous tic?

“Harold, you good?” Damian asked.

“Yes. Just eager to get this over with,” he replied.

I didn’t like it, but this was my ticket down to the next floor. If the System does want residents to compete with each other, then staying ahead of the curve was in my best interest.

Damian explained the plan to us, though it was with less detail than I would have liked. Essentially, he would activate his ability that makes him invisible, but we’ll still see him because we’re in the same party. Mirror Master Harold then duplicates Damian’s ability and shares it between the three of us. I asked about the Void spawn, and Damian assured me that the tentacle didn’t so much as twitch when he went down last time for a test run.

He asked us if we were ready and we all nodded. A moment later, his body became enshrouded in this roiling black cloud. I could see nothing except the outline of his body. Harold raised his hand and suddenly my body was surrounded by the same black mist, though when I looked down, I could still see myself clearly. Hugo and Harold had also become black shapes.

Damian addressed the party. “I go first, then Lucas and Hugo with Harold bringing up the rear. My ability has no effect on sound, so no noise until we’re on the next floor. Everyone clear?”

We all nodded.

He opened the door and went through. Hugo remained perched on my shoulder as we followed, though he had his back turned so that he could watch the Mirror Master in case he tried anything with that spear of his.

Once we were all inside the Stairwell, Harold closed the door behind us. There was no sign of Ostorox and part of me hoped to not see it at all. There was something more sinister about it compared to the other creatures I’d encountered.

We descended slowly, taking the steps one at a time. Unsure of when a dangerous creature might appear. Screeching noises would intermittently erupt from higher and lower floors. Each time we would stop on the stairs and listen to see if the noises were getting closer or further away. I’d seen the goblins move between floors on the stairs and the Void spawn had stretched itself up multiple flights, so I wasn’t taking any chances.

Sure enough, after the last screech from above, a goblin tottered down the stairs with a sword in hand. It stopped at the edge of the next set of stairs and peered down at us. The goblin coughed and scratched his nose before turning around and going back upstairs.

At least that was confirmation that Damien’s shadow power worked. Let’s just hope it can work on a higher-level creature.

Damian continued down first, taking the steps one at a time. I couldn’t hear him, but I was painfully aware of how a misstep could cause my boots to make a noise. But if I was nervous, then Harold was worse. I could hear him breathing behind me and I wondered if the stress of this whole thing might get him before a creature does.

Finally, we reached floor ninety-seven. There was just one problem. Two of Ostorox’s tentacles covered the door like it was guarding it. Both reddish-pink with wicked looking spikes covering it. One of the tentacles ended with a black stump from where it had gotten injured trying to follow Hugo and me onto a floor. It seemed that this creature was only permitted in the Stairwell. Both tentacles twitched slightly in a way that made it look like it was sleeping. Though that could have just been wishful thinking on my part.

[Harold Coronado: I knew this was a mistake. I warned you.]

[Damian Sutter: You did not. You said only that you had concerns and my response was that you were always welcome to go back to the shiny bauble that this System calls a town.]

[Lucas Hudson: Stop arguing. All we have to do is lure the tentacles away from the door.]

[Damian Sutter: If you’re thinking that one of us acts as bait, then it won’t work. The tentacles are too fast.]

[Lucas Hudson: No, I have a better idea. Just be ready to move to the door.]

I set Hugo down and moved closer to the tentacles. Boy, I hope this works. I took two goblin bodies out of my inventory and tossed one onto each spiked tentacle. Ostorox woke up with a roar.

*Beast Identified* [Punished Ostorox (Rare)] Level 18 – A creature from the dark void that is capable of unfathomable cruelty and malice. It likes to drape its victims on its spikes and keep them alive for as long as possible by excreting a substance that is part healing salve and part anti-coagulant. It injured itself trying to chase prey onto a floor it's forbidden to enter and now hungers for revenge.

The tentacles flew around the room, shaking, but the bodies had become impaled on the spikes and were stuck. As one flew towards me, I dodged and weaved out of their path. Had they been targeting me directly, then I’d likely be dead, but the swings were wild and chaotic. Easy to outmaneuver with my high dexterity level.

As soon as the tentacles moved clear of floor ninety-seven’s door, Damian got there and went inside. Ostorox heard the door being opened and his unharmed tentacle shot towards it. The tentacle stopped just shy of the boundary, having learned from its previous. It screamed in frustration at the thought of prey slipping past it and set one tentacle in front of the open doorway while the other probed the rest of the room.

Still, there was enough space for Hugo to fly through undetected, and he did when I gestured for him to do so. That just left me and Harold.

I turned to see him, frozen stiff with terror. The second tentacle was near him, searching for anything of note. If he didn’t move soon, then the beast would surely find him.

With my enhanced strength, I pulled out my last goblin body and threw it as hard as I could across the room. Ostorox went after it immediately, freeing me up enough space to get to Harold. I grabbed his shoulder and pulled him towards the doorway. Harold resisted me, so I went into party chat to try and get him to snap out of it.

[Lucas Hudson: Come on. We have to move!]

Something suddenly awoke in him. He shoved past me and sprinted toward the open doorway even though there was still the second tentacle guarding it. I don’t know whether he was going to try and fight it or leap over it, but he was too out of shape and too low of a level for either.

[Lucas Hudson: Wait!]

He ignored my message and kept running. There wasn’t much time. With my poisoned Green Viper fang blade, I slashed the moving tentacle. It momentarily recoiled like it had been stung before both tentacles swung towards me, one high and one low. Using my acrobatics skill, I dove through the gap between them and rolled to my feet, before running for the door.

*Green Viper Poison Activated*

*Green Viper Poison Resisted*

Damn. Looks like it’s too strong for the poison to take effect.

Harold had made it through to the other side and was waiting for the others in what looked like a small sandstone room with a hallway leading further on. As soon as I was past the threshold, I slammed the door shut behind me.

Damian then dropped his shadow ability so that we could see each other. Which was good because I wanted to see Harold’s cowardly face when I rounded on him and pushed him up against the wall.

“What the hell was that?” I yelled.

“I just… had to get out of there,” he muttered while looking away.

“Harold,” said Damian slowly, drawing out his name. “It’s important that we all pull our weight here. I only needed your ability to help get a group down here. Do you understand what I’m saying?” Harold met Damian’s dark eyes and nodded.

“I’ll keep up,” Harold promised.

“If he doesn’t, then just leave him behind. Too much empathy can get you killed in a place like this,” said Damian to me matter-of-factly.

I let go of the cowardly Mirror Master and dropped the matter. It sounded like we only needed to stay as a group in order to enter the floor. Now we stayed together to avoid competing with one another.

The four of us took a step forward when suddenly the stone floor beneath us collapsed and we fell.