Chapter 56: The Retreat (Patreon)

I stepped through the door and immediately felt the temperature massively drop. We were on a snowy mountaintop with nothing except a couple of small statues, each about the size of a goblin that were mostly covered in snow. The others shivered while I looked over the edge. We were high enough that a blanket of clouds prevented me from seeing further below. That didn’t stop the obvious argument from being raised, however.

“We should climb down the mountain,” said Sebastian.

“That’s insane,” said Elise. “We don’t even know if there’s anything down there.”

Sebastian gestured at the mountaintop. “Look around you. Do you see any elevators here? There must be more to the floor than this. It’s part of the rules of this place.”

“Climbing down is still a big risk,” I said. “We don’t know what’s out there and we’ll be vulnerable during the climb if there’s flying creatures around.”

“Plus, what about Hemi and Hugo?” asked Elijah.

Sebastian was unconcerned. “Just tell them to go back to floor 100 and wait for us there.”

Elijah tried to do just that and then frowned.

“Party chat doesn’t work between floors,” I explained. “How long do you think they’ll wait before they decide to go down there to try and help us?”

Sebastian became angry and stomped towards me. “You really want to go back and fight that thing?!” he shouted, almost spitting the words at me. There was a crazed look in his eye that spoke of fear.

“Yes,” I replied calmly. “It’s injured. The attacks the others used had an effect. It just wasn’t deep enough. I propose that we ignore the tentacles and focus on its eyes. That’ll be the quickest path to get to its brain.”

Sebastian took a few steps back and laughed. “Oh, he proposes? You don’t even know if this thing has a brain. You’re just guessing.”

“It’s a reasonable assumption,” I said, standing firm.

“What’s reasonable?!” he shouted. “We just saw six of our group, some of whom were a higher level than us by the way, get killed instantly. What chance do we have?”

I wanted to say that we had a great chance, but the words sounded like lies even to me, and died before they could leave my mouth.

“He has a point,” said Rebecca softly to me.

“I’m not abandoning Hugo and Hemi,” I said.

“We don’t have to,” she replied. “If we can climb down and get to an elevator, we can get to a different part of the stairs and warn them to come back up.”

I shook my head. “It’s never that easy. Every floor that I’ve been on, which is more than all of you, has either had some form of deadly trap or a monster lurking within it. This place will be no different.”

“I don’t see another option,” she said.

Worryingly, while Rebecca was trying to convince me, Sebastian was speaking quietly with Elijah, likely trying to convince him that running away would continue to be their best option for survival. I was losing them with every word. All except Elise, who seemed hesitant to leave.

Elijah said something, and Sebastian nodded before addressing the rest of us. “Alright, I’ve made up my mind. I’m climbing down this mountain. Anyone who wants to join my party and come with me can do so now.”

[Sebastian Calder has left the party]

[Elijah Jackson has left the party]

[Rebecca Adwell has left the party]

“You’re taking orders from him now?” I asked Rebecca.

Her face became stricken like I’d slapped her. “I… I tried being the leader. It didn’t work out so well. We added a few members to the party to help us clear floor 97. They all died. I decided after that that I didn’t want to be in charge anymore.”

“So you’re just going to blindly follow him?”

She shrugged. “A mountain climb with potential monsters sounds better than a guaranteed fight with that thing. You could always come with us. Greater numbers and all that.”

I shook my head. “I can’t. I’m sorry.”

She nodded as if she understood and went to join the others.

“What about you?” Sebastian asked Elise.

She folded her arms. “I’m staying.”

Sebastian didn’t try to convince her. He simply walked to the edge and began climbing down. The other two quickly followed suit and soon all three had disappeared beneath the clouds.

“You know you didn’t have to stay,” I said to Elise.

“Earnest was my friend. He was kind to me when few others were willing. I don’t want to leave his body in that place for that thing to feed on and I don’t like the idea of letting it live either.”

I liked her fiery spirit, but I wasn’t sure what just the two of us could do against Ostorox. Even if I got close and bled it, that thing had killed Earnest instantly. Somehow, I doubted that my blood healing would bring me back from that.

I figured there was no use in putting up a front anymore. I told Elise that I had no idea on how to proceed.

“I could call for help?” she offered.

She stood next to one of the statues and brushed away the snow to reveal a payphone.

“That’s great, but we need a…” I trailed off as she held up a small copper disc that looked very much like it could be a payphone token. “Where did you get that?” I asked her.

“Found it in the woods on 98,” she said, like it was no big deal. “Will it help?”

“The System Officiator said that the purpose of the payphone was to call in order to get advice. I’d say this qualifies.”

She offered me the token.

I frowned. “You don’t want to use it?”

Elise looked away. “I don’t really want to talk to one of beings who destroyed my world. I think I’d just get mad and start screaming about all the imaginative ways in which I hope that it dies.”

I nodded and took the token from her. “I understand the impulse.”

Before I used the token, I considered what to say. The Officiator had been somewhat personable before, especially in comparison to the System messages I’d gotten, but that didn’t mean they’d help.

I sighed. “There’s no guarantee that this will work, but here goes.”

I picked up the phone and put the token in. It started ringing and then a pleasant male robotic voice answered by saying, “hello, you’ve reached tower customer services. How may I direct your call?”

“Uh, I guess I’m looking for advice on how to kill a Void Spawn named Ostorox,” I said.

“Why don’t you just come back to it later when you’re at a higher level?” the Officiator asked.

I rolled my eyes. “Are seriously asking as if you don’t already know our exact situation?”

“Hey, don’t get snippy with me. You don’t know what Ihave to deal with. All the constant complaining I get from viewers all over the universe. ‘Ooh, the tower floors are too big,’” he quoted in a mocking voice. “‘Why are you still using the standard integration package?’” He snorted. “As if a million others wouldn’t jump down my throat if I deviated too much.”

“Okay, that sounds rough but—”

He cut me off. “You think you don’t get complaints too?” The Officiator pretended to clear his throat. “‘Faces off against the spiders and doesn’t immediately use Heart Strike? Retard character. I’m dropping this System integration.’”

I frowned. “That’s not fair. I’d just gotten the ability. Plus, do you know how terrifying spiders the size of dogs are? Have they never had an emotion alter their state of mind before?”

The Officiator ignored me and moved on to the next quote. “‘Says he wants to keep a low profile and then picks a fight with Martin’s lieutenant. Retard. Dropped’”

“What? That’s not even true. Anders picked the fight. What else was I supposed to do at that point? Meekly run away and hope they don’t recognize my incredibly conspicuous sword and cloak in the future?”

“Ah, here’s my favorite. ‘Doesn’t open loot boxes or use upgrade points immediately.’” A deep alien groaning sound followed. “That’s Klarfaxon for… well, it’s another intellectual based insult, but you get the idea.”

“It was my first couple of days in the apocalypse,” I muttered. “I just wanted to consider my options carefully in a safe place. I could have died upgrading the wrong stat or choosing an inferior ability. Not to mention the stupid gag gifts in some of the loot boxes would’ve driven me over the edge if I’d opened them earlier. Look, we’re getting off track here and I need useful advice.”

“Okay fine. I had a few more quotes about how they would have done things differently. It’s actually been quite cathartic for me to read these out. You have no idea how many of these I get across different System integrations no matter how successful they are.”

A cold wind blew across a mountain and I had to fight to not shiver.

“Yeah, my heart bleeds for you. Now how do I defeat Ostorox?” I asked.

“I can’t tell you that.”

I paused. “So, what was the point of this call?”

“Well, it allowed us to touch base and reconnect. I’m rooting for you out there.”

“Gee thanks.”

“Look, if you want help, then you’re going to have to use the shrine next to this payphone. It’ll allow you to commune with a god that you’ve had previous contact with. But you can only speak to one of them, so choose wisely. Oh, looks like our time is up. Good luck.”

The line went dead before I could ask anything else.