Chapter 69: Cleaning Up Loose Ends (Patreon)

*Beast Identified* [Empowered Azure Sky Ram (common)] Level 30.

“The System said that the floor had been cleared. That I was free to go. But that just didn’t feel right seeing in how we’d left things,” I said to the ram.

I had no idea whether it could understand me or not. It just felt better to say it out loud as I slowly walked down the steps, a knife in one hand and my sword in the other.

The ram, instead of meeting my challenge, turned away from me.

I scowled. “What? Am I so weak now compared to you that I don’t even merit your attention?”

As it was walking away, I consumed some Swiftleaf leaf. With my higher perception, I was less disoriented when I moved and appeared behind the creature in a flash. I activated Heart Strike and stabbed with my sword. It must have heard me because it had partially turned. My sword missed its heart by a centimeter.

The ram swung its horned head at me, but I was already gone. The Swiftleaf had teleported me across the field. Judging from the last time I’d consumed the stuff, my speed boost would only last for another minute or so. I better make it count.

As I looked back, I saw the ram speeding towards me. It hadn’t eaten the leaf, but at level 30, it was no slouch either. I looked for a spot right behind the creature and bolted towards it with my sword out to the side. As we passed each other, my blade sliced along its left flank. Before I had struggled to get past its tough exterior, but my higher stats, coupled with the leaf, were enough to finally give it a serious wound.

The ram roared in pain and stomped its feet. Every stomp created a boom and cracked the earth around it. I couldn’t tell if it was just my imagination, but I could swear that I just felt the ground tremor.

Still, it was time to finish this.

Once I moved, I appeared beside the ram in an instant. I went to stab when the surrounding ground gave way and I stumbled. The ram kept stomping, turning every direction until the ground around us was a crater.

I fell and as I did, the ram caught one of my feet under its hoof. I screamed as the bones in it broke. As I tried to free my foot, I felt it punch me in the gut. I coughed and looked down. No, it hadn’t punched me. There was blood. A lot of blood. That’s just what it felt like when it had stabbed me with the tip of its left horn.

I dropped my sword and gripped the horn. The ram, who was stronger than me, pulled it out. It tried to shake me loose, but I held on and went for its eyes with my knife. I stabbed wildly, feeling the blood gush out and hit me, rejuvenating me.

Meanwhile, the ram went insane. It ran all over the field, trying to shake me loose. Its next choice was to run headfirst into a hill. Earth behind me exploded, and I gasped. More bones felt broken in my back, but I refused to let go.

[Poison activated]

It had taken a lot of attempts, but the poison from my Viper Fang had finally gotten past its resistances. Plus, the ram’s blood loss and blindness were severe. I could have let go then and let things naturally play out. But I was still injured, and it had so much more blood to offer me.

I activated Savage Rupture with my knife and plunged it into the ram’s neck. My blade hit the artery and blood poured forth. It sprayed me in the face, but I didn’t care. The pain in my foot and back vanished as the bones reset and healed themselves.

The ram was wheezing from the poison and choking from the blood catching in its throat. When its legs shook and then gave out, I finally let go.

I almost left to grab my sword, but the animal’s pained gasps stopped me. It had fought well and was only trying in its own way to protect what it thought was its territory. I had to respect that, so I knelt down beside the creature and used Heart Strike with the knife. The blade sunk deep and ended its pain once and for all.

*DING!* You have slain [Empowered Azure Sky Ram (common)] Level 30 – Experience Points and Currency Acquired

*DING!* Class: [Blood Reaver] has reached level 23 – Experience Acquired.

*DING!* Class: [Blood Reaver] has reached level 24 – Experience Acquired.

*DING!* Class: [Blood Reaver] has reached level 25 – Experience Acquired.

I quickly threw the points into strength and constitution before retrieving my sword and the goblin knife I’d lost earlier down here. The others were waiting on the other side when I returned.

“See, I told you he’d kill it,” said Hugo.

“You guys could have helped,” I said.

The three glanced at each other. “It seemed a bit too high for us,” said Elise. “Besides, I’m saving my restoration potion for emergencies. It seems way more advanced than the standard health potions that we can get.”

“It is,” I said. “It returned me back to peak health as soon as I’d drank it. Just like my blood healing.”

Elise’s mouth hung open. “You mean you feel like that all the time? Going from exhaustion to perfect health?”

I shrugged. “Well, not all of the time. I have to kill something first.”

She shook her head. “Unbelievable. So what’s next? Another floor?”

“Actually, there’s something else I’ve got to do in town,” I said. “I’ll take you back up to the apartments first though.”

Hugo and Elise both inquired if this was about saving Damian, and I said that it was.

“We’ve got an extra day left before his trial or sentencing or whatever the hell it is that Martin is playing at. But things could change. Hell, he might be dead already. But I have to know and I have to know now.”

The others nodded. “We’ll back you up,” said Hemi.

“Actually, I’m only taking Hugo,” I said, while trying not to feel bad.

The other two deflated immediately. Hugo was about to say something unwise, so I clamped my hand around his face. He angrily murmured something unintelligible while I continued. “It’s just that it sounds like Martin has almost got full control over the town and if that’s the case, then I need to use stealth and you guys aren’t exactly known for that.”

The heavyset shield priest and the loud air and fire blasting sorcerer were outraged that I’d even suggest such a notion.

The four of us walked back to the elevator with them still arguing about it.

Eventually, I tried to find a middle ground. “Okay, fine, you can come,” I said. “But you stay at the top of the clock tower.”

“What’s the point of going, then?” asked Elise.

“You’ll be able to see a good chunk of the town and tell me where people are. You could also provide covering fire if I need to run back to the clock tower.”

“That doesn’t sound very stealthy,” she accused.

“That’s plan A,” I replied. “Plan B is throwing Damian over my shoulder and running like hell for the clock tower.”

“You know it’ll probably be guarded,” said Hemi.

I nodded. After we’d run into the clock tower and slammed the door in Martin’s face, there was no way he wouldn’t have at least two people watching the tower. They’d either be hidden observers, in which case I could run inside before they had a chance to signal for reinforcements or they’ll be low-level guards, sitting in front of the door. Martin wouldn’t leave his best people to wait around as security guards.

“I’ll handle it,” I told him.

I was about to push the button for the elevator when the doors opened automatically. Inside were Sebastian, Rebecca, and Elijah. We stared at each other in surprise, though I recovered first.

“What?” I asked. “You never seen a guy covered in blood before?”

[Floor 95 has been reset. New tower residents are now welcome to go inside]

A floor reset? I guess it made sense though it's never mentioned one till now. I guess it's not much of a tower climb if we or another group clear the way first and let people wander around a field of corpses and an empty temple.

That seemed to wake them up.

“I’m guessing by that message we all got that you guys have cleared the floor?” asked Elijah.

“That’s right,” said Elise.

“Any hints?” he asked.

“Yeah, don’t run away from a fight,” I said.

Elijah winced and Rebecca looked away while Sebastian appeared bored.

“Can we get on with this already?” said Sebastian. “You know the golden elevator for floor 96 is going to open up any minute now. I don’t really want to deal with a stampede of residents on the same floor as us competing for points. The sooner we get this one done, the sooner we maintain our lead.”

I didn’t really care for Sebastian as a person, but I couldn’t argue with his logic and would have even agreed with him if I didn’t consider Damian’s life more important.

Rebecca finally looked directly at Hemi. “I’m sorry,” she said.

Hemi nodded and stood to the side to let them pass. His face was unreadable as Elise and I followed suit to let them get out. Hemi stepped into the elevator the moment it was empty and we did the same and picked floor 100. Once the door had closed, Hugo said, “I didn’t expect to see them so soon. They must have gotten their confidence back on floor 96. I wonder what they fought? Do you think it's worth checking out?”

I shook my head. “We handled 95 well enough and got a bunch of levels from it. Whatever’s on floor 96 is too weak for us to waste our time on now.”