Amber thought about agreeing. Many would have called her crazy and even say that thought was nonsensical, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. She had many reasons for agreeing, one of them was keeping peace. She didn’t want to fight some knights and become the enemy of the kingdom, she had already snuck into the tower after all, and even though they seemed mostly fine with it there was no point in shaking the hornet’s nest in her opinion.
Who knows how they’ll react if they say no. She stared at the group of people before her.
Another reason was because these people — if to be believed — directly served under the king and king, meaning she could probably obtain a lot more information in regards to the Arcane Council and what happened that night now that so much time had passed. When she first came to the tower the knights were clueless, but now she thought differently. They weren’t ordinary knights, but elites trusted with the secrets of the kingdom.
Plus she’d get to ask about the Primordial Spirit of the tower.
And lastly; this was infinitely more interesting than just ascending the tower alone. She hadn’t talked to someone for six months, and even though she was perfectly content with that, a big part of her desired something more. Perhaps it was hedonistic behavior to change her goals on a whim like that, but she had been well aware her goals were fickle at this point. Naturally, she still intended to reach the top of the tower, but the knights probably wouldn’t affect that too much.
There was an issue with experience, but Amber couldn’t even tell how much worse it would get. She was getting about a two levels a week at this point and— that was actually infinitely faster than before her Class Advancement.
And those were all the reasons to agree. As for the reasons to disagree—
Well, there are plenty… Amber closed her eyes. In the end, I have to appease them to some level, and it will also be good for me in some ways…
While there were a lot of reasons to disagree, ultimately Amber wanted to know about what transpired at the capital the night she rescued Velda with Liz. Which was why she agreed.
“Sure.”
She watched the captain smile and some of the knights lightly shake her head. However, there was a caveat.
“But I don’t want to travel forever with you people, and in fact it’d be nice if you all left the floors to me alone.” She crossed her arms. “So, I’ll only be temporarily around, after I want to be left alone to ascend the tower.”
The knight captain frowned, meanwhile the vice captain stepped forward. “Do you think you have the right to make demands?”
The captain sighed. “You are asking for a lot, don’t you think?”
Amber reached for her sword and stood up, making the knights take a wary step back.
“Well, for starters, where did you all come from?” She raised her brow. “It’s been six months since I saw a person so, it’s very strange for all of you to show up all of a sudden.”
“A different route opened when we cleared the fiftieth floor,” the captain explained. “So we went through that door and found your fiftieth floor.”
Amber tilted her head at that. It was strange. So the tower essentially merged instances? No— it wasn’t a merge, it was an option to go into someone else’s path.
“Doesn’t that mean you are all basically breaching into my space?” she asked. “I think it’s kind of rude to just decide to forcefully take my spot in what I was doing.”
The vice captain frowned at that but didn’t say anything, instead he turned to the captain, who had his eyebrows creased and nose pinched with one hand.
“And so because of that you demand that we accommodate you?”
“Well I don’t care too much about taking the floors on my own, but I don’t want to feel bound to a group,” Amber said. “Can’t you go to your fiftieth floor when you are done here and continue climbing the tower from there?”
“That I do not know,” the captain answered swiftly before offering his hand. “But, how about this: If you are who you claim you are, we will agree to leave when you request us to. However, we will fight on all the floors.”
Amber lightly frowned at that, and so did the knights. In the end, to them I am speaking gibberish. She felt slightly disrespected at the man’s wording, but she figured she had nothing to lose since she in fact— had been telling the truth.
And so she gripped the man’s hand and shook it.
“I’m Amber, and you are…?”
“Terrel,” the captain simply said. “The vice-captain is Brent, you can turn to him if I am unavailable.”
Right… She looked at Brent whose expression showed great displeasure.
“I’m sure he’ll be reliable.” Amber nodded.
Terrel smiled at her and then spoke.
“I do hope you find it acceptable that we rest before continuing towards the next floor, otherwise—”
“That’s fine,” Amber interrupted. “I’ll go elsewhere and leave you guys to it.”
She smiled and waved, walking past everyone. I’ll just sleep on the stairs of the previous floor. Of course, she didn’t reveal her intentions, instead she simply let the knights do their own thing. And indeed they did, since they began to talk with the captain, Terrel, who was left to do damage control.
Meanwhile, Amber napped at the first step of the previous floor, finally getting the rest she wanted. However, as she drifted to sleep, she wondered about the knights.
Hopefully they won’t cause me any trouble…
She really wanted answers to all her questions after all.
* * *
Amber awoke, unknowing of how long her nap had been and headed to the floor she met the knights in, and she blinked.
There was a whole encampment, and some of the knights were already sparring with each other. But what confused her the most was…
Where did they get all those tents from?
She stepped onto the camp with utmost confusion and a moment later, a man called out to her.
“Amber.” It was Percy.
She turned to face him and the man continued.
“The captain was looking for you, we were waiting for you to ascend to the next floor.”
She blinked at that. So he is a man of his word. They could have easily tried to go up without her, but instead they actually waited. Amber smiled.
“Tell him that I’m ready to go.”
Percy nodded and excused himself, minutes later Amber watched as the encampment began to disassemble, and to her surprise she watched as the multitude of objects began to vanish into thin air upon being touched by the knights. She found it confusing, but abstained herself from asking questions. Right now, more than anything she wanted to climb the tower.
After that, I’ll ask questions once they are more comfortable with my presence.;
And so, ten minutes later they stood in front of the stairs to the next floor before departing.
* * *
Amber could feel the tension as she moved up the stairs, while Cursed Supreme Momentum wasn’t active, the same couldn’t be said about Crimson Fervor and Crimson Fuel. She ensured both of them remained fully active, so she wasn’t particularly weak at any moment. And she was sure that she was going to find a way to keep Cursed Supreme Momentum always active down the line. It was just a matter of time.
“Why are the stairs so long?” a knight asked.
“Probably a special floor,” Brent answered. “It’s probably already been cleared.”
“Special floor?” Amber raised her brow as she led the charge.
Brent did not reply, however, the captain did. “A type of floor that is said to push the limits of people, they look vastly different to the usual dull floors. They will have special and varied environments.”
Amber blinked. “Oh, so like a lot of the floors before?”
“Yes.”
Well that’s interesting.
Amber did wonder how the floors would change if the knights joined, or if they would still be single monsters. It was something that made her greatly curious, and soon she would have her answer.
The group continued for about thirty seconds before they found themselves in a very large white hall. It resembled the interior of a fancy building and was reminiscent of the floor of the centaur, being made entirely of white marble.
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Except, there were dozens of statues lining the walls. They all reminded her of the Greek sculptures from Earth given they were practically naked and bore no weapons.
“This seems fun,” Amber commented.
[Marble Guardian. Lvl. 105]
[Marble Guardian. Lvl. 105]
[Marble Guardian. Lvl. 105]
“So the person went into complete hiding?” Brent asked, looking around.
The captain stepped forward and turned to her.
“We will do our own thing and you do your thing; no interfering with each other, okay?”
Amber nodded at that. “Sure, that sounds good to me.”
Terrel smiled and then commanded his people to attack.
Amber watched as the mages began to attack the statues and all of the knights gathered into a mass that protected its center, which seemed to have a single healer. And just like that, the knights were taking about a dozen of the sculptures at the same time. The sculptures didn’t seem to be particularly strong or fast, but what they didn’t have in strength, they had in numbers.
Amber smiled watching the rest of the statues begin to come in her direction, and there were dozens of them.
She unsheathed her sword, and immediately rushed to the first one. This is going to be fun— Cursed Cleave went off and the first statue was immediately beheaded, her strike went past it and hit into the wall. Then she turned and used Cursed Stomp— and around two dozen guardians were stunned and cut multiple times. Some had their legs broken and fall.
Amber grinned at that. “This is really damn fun.”
All of the enemies she had fought so far had been tanky beyond belief, so having things die was so satisfying to her. Granted, they were statues but—
She sheathed her sword and punched one in the head, cracking the stone.
— It was all the same to her!
Amber ducked under a swing and then did an uppercut— Cursed Cleave went off and amputated the head in half, destroying part of the ceiling along with it. She smiled and then kicked another statue, breaking its calf with a single strike.
She didn’t even bother to pay attention to see how the knights were doing, instead she immersed herself in a close combat battle against hundreds of adversaries.
* * *
Amber lost track of time fighting. However, when she ripped the trachea of a statue and no more remained, she blinked.
“That’s all—”
She heard a scream and she turned only to see three knights standing fighting two last statues. The other three knights were on the ground, evidently too tired to fight. So, they haven’t finished yet.
Amber decided to take a seat on one of the corpses of the statues. All around her laid nothing but destroyed rocks. And even though the end was rather abrupt, she had enjoyed herself.
She had also leveled up some of her skills.
[You have defeated a [Marble Guardian. Lvl. 105].]
[You have defeated a [Marble Guardian. Lvl. 105].]
[You have defeated a [Marble Guardian. Lvl. 105].]
…
[Cursed Stomp has leveled up from 3rd Rank level 2 to 3rd Rank level 3.]
[Cursed Cleave has leveled up from 3rd Rank level 2 to 3rd Rank level 3.]
[Cursed Supreme Berserker’s Body has leveled up from 3rd Rank level 2 to 3rd Rank level 3.]
[Cursed Supreme Momentum has leveled up from 3rd Rank level 2 to 3rd Rank level 3.]
She smiled and then turned to watch the unfolding fight in the background. Only Percy and Terrel remained against the two statues. Percy stepped back and unleashed a ball of light towards one of the monsters. It struck and took a large chunk of stone from its torso, but the monster tried to attack him nonetheless.
Amber blinked. Why aren’t they aiming for the head?
She watched as Terrel cleaved the arm of one of the monsters, then carrying the momentum he sliced off one of the legs. That was enough to turn the tides of battle, for the monster fell. Then he charged at the remaining guardian, the one attacking Percy. Terrel crippled it the same way, and then they slowly finished both of them off.
Amber approached the panting group, or more specifically Terrel, the captain.
“You know, you would have had a much easier time if you aimed for the head,” she said simply.
“I know…” He breathed heavily. “But this is to… train our skills…”
Oh. She certainly didn’t expect that. So they struggled that much on purpose. She definitely respected that.
Her opinion of the knights immediately changed, and then she turned around—
“Wait… how did it go for you?” Terrel asked.
Amber smiled. “A lot of them were killed with head hits so it was fun rather than anything else, but you can see the destruction if you want.”
And with a shrug, she left the knight alone. Terrel stood up and walked towards her, but as soon as he got a sight of her battlezone he blinked.
“What the…” the knight was too stunned to speak. “I guess that makes sense if she mostly aimed for the head…?”
She could hear him doubt his own words, but Amber didn’t really care as she headed towards a burning fire in the background. For now, she’d keep her Cursed Supreme Momentum active, then continue to the next floor whenever the knights were ready.
* * *
They cleared two more floors together, before resting. Even though Amber had fun, the knights seemed to be confused. She could overhear their conversations.
“Where is the companion of the girl?”
“Maybe she was telling the truth?”
“Pfft! Don’t be ridiculous!”
They didn’t believe her, and while her goal wasn’t to convince the knights of her strength, she knew that perhaps doing so would help.
* * *
After resting, they continued on their journey towards the next floor. She did receive some questioning from the vice-captain in regards to why she was carrying a piece of flaming stone, but she didn’t answer. It was obvious she had ignited it earlier.
Instead, she immersed herself in her own thoughts.
In a few floors, I’ll ask what I want to ask, it is still too soon.
If she was honest with herself, she was putting more effort into getting this information than any of her social interactions in the past. However, she did want to know. She wanted to know what was stolen, what was taken, what did they know about the Arcane Council. And she wanted to know about the tower.
Maybe, I should give it a try.
She didn’t think it would hurt her chances of obtaining the information in the future after all.
“I met a person almost seven months ago, they claimed to have attacked the capital,” she began and looked at the captain.
“That is not information I can corroborate or share,” Terrel answered.
Amber closed her eyes at that.
I guess I’ll have to wait to ask about the Primordial Spirit and everything else.
She continued on the ascent to the next floor. In the end, she was going to need to prove she was the one to climb all of those floors.
It took about another minute, but eventually they found themselves in a large plain with a sun. And in the middle there was a stone formation, reminiscent of Stonehenge. There were seven different pillars in a circle, all of different sizes and widths.
Amber of course, continued with great curiosity while the knights discussed strategies and other stuff. However, given no clear enemies were visible, they settled on waiting till she engaged to make a plan.
She paid that no mind, and instead approached the pillars of stone. And once she was about twenty meters from the entire formation, the biggest and largest pillar began to shine. It emitted a golden light that shifted in figure, and a second later a large Velstalker appeared.
[Maelstone Velstalker. Lvl. 110]
Not what I expected.
Amber smiled as the Velstalker dashed with a burst of speed, she raised her sword and the monster struck. She was sent sliding back and the knights fervently began to discuss before deciding to set off.
However, Amber instead paid more attention to the Velstalker. It was much faster than the Fireblessed one after all.
* * *
Eventually, Amber grew bored, and decided that she wanted to finish this fight at once. The Velstalker just didn’t… compare. The guardians were fun due to their number, but this… It just feels like a downgrade.
She easily dodged a swipe from the Maelstone Velstalker, and even though its claw sent a ripple that cut into the air itself she didn’t feel threatened by it. Amber didn’t understand if the tower difficulty had gone down due to the knights joining, or something else, but the weaker enemies didn’t necessarily bother her.
What bothered her was the stone taking the shape of the strongest enemy she had fought.
“Aren’t you an insult to his existence?” she asked the reptile.
In response the Maelstone Velstalker hissed and threw a claw at her. She, naturally, dodged and met the gaze of the stone being.
“Is that all you can do, really?”
A hiss came her way and a red aura enveloped the monster. Even now, she still held some hope that the monster would be able to somewhat match the terror from the thing it was portraying, but as Amber forcefully increased her momentum to dodge every single one of its attacks, she became disappointed.
Well, if you can’t do more, you’ll still have at least one use, she thought.
The monster grew frenzied and even managed to take a small strand of hair. It snarled and shrieked at her, and Amber sighed. Those were its results from three minutes of exchanges. In the end, it bothered her that the monster that had given her such a challenge and pushed her limits so much was being disrespected like this.
She prepared her sword, pulling it back, she raised her free hand in preparation. The monster took the chance and clawed.
Her forearm took the brunt of the attack and three cuts exploded on her shoulder, shedding blood. In the end, that’s all this monster amounted to.
Her eyes narrowed. “At least, you will help me show the knights what they refuse to see.”
Amber stabbed her sword forward, letting its tip go into its chest.
“Flamethrower.”
And a moment later a deluge of crimson flames consumed the monster and the environment whole.
* * *
Brent was struggling. This was the most formidable foe he had fought in quite a long time, and he wasn’t used to solo battles but— he blocked with his sword as the scythe-like limb attacked him, and he activated his skill Protective Aura as the after-hit was blocked.
At the start, he wasn’t too sure about the potential amount of special floors, but now that insecurity had disappeared. This was the perfect training for him, the perfect training to grow stronger to serve the king and queen.
While he still thought the person that accompanied the woman was in hiding, the woman, Amber, was still much more capable than he gave her credit for. So, he was going to make sure to, one finally acknowledge her, and two, thank her and the person traveling with her for this opportunity.
Still, he couldn’t believe that he had yet to sense this person that had cleared so many floors, how could they hide so well?
Brent smiled, hitting the monster back.
I want to meet them—
And a fiery crimson deluge blasted not too far away, turning the environment red as he blinked.
That’s where Amber is fighting, but that power… He watched the flames consume everything. It can’t be… right?
* * *
Percy had still been doubtful of Amber after their encounter, however he knew what a rejection was so he had stopped being weird. Still, he couldn’t help but worry for the woman, he was struggling with his foe, so why wouldn’t she get injured against whatever she was fighting.
I’ll finish this and go help her—
And at that moment he saw a sea of red flames blast in the distance. One that turned all his doubt into a fact.
Amber was…
* * *
Amber was telling the truth.
Terrel watched the crimson blast engulf a large part of the environment, burning it and turning it into nothing but cinder. The fire was so prominent that everything stopped. The air, the knights, and even the monsters.
Instead, everyone turned to look at the source of the fire where they saw a single warrior. A woman with a flaming sword, one that the knights had already acquainted themselves with.
Amber.
She was the person they believed to be level 130.
The person that had cleared all those floors.
The person they had doubted.
And she was looking right at them.