Dungeons and Dalliances

7.46 – Tower II

It turned out that the tower's imposing appearance did indeed hint at the danger inside.

Natalie and Vanetta alone had been able to fight through the Ruins without overmuch difficulty, which meant for their full squad of five, travel had been close to trivial. Thus, they'd made good time. Inside the tower, however, they met a new caliber of opponent. After walking cautiously into the first room, spectral beasts flooded from overturned tables and behind crumbling pillars. Half a dozen at least. They were faster, stronger, and more durable than any of monsters they'd run into thus far—a prelude and a warning to what lay higher in the tower.

A frantic fight ensued in which Natalie was, for the first time in a few hours, pressed hard. When the last monster had been dispatched, she looked around and made sure everyone had come out alright. They had, of course, though Clementine had to cast a minor heal on Natalie.

Thus, the real adventure began.

They set a careful pace. There was no timer pushing them along, like with the Arena. And unlike her duo assignment, they had a healer. Clementine tended to any of their wounds, both during the fight and after, making the expedition less a war of attrition and more a standard dungeoneering trip.

Token drop rates were nearly doubled, they discovered. And finding fights—difficult ones, with large payouts—was as simple as ascending to the next floor. So the trip was quickly proving itself to be lucrative. Worth their time even without other rewards, since the alternative would have been mundane Ruins hunting.

With each floor completed, Natalie’s curiosity grew on what they would find at the top. The best case scenario would be an Emporium Key. Well, the best case would be a Mythical item or something equally absurd, but the best reasonable expectation was an Emporium Key. Nobody they'd spoken to at the City had been inside the Emporium, so Natalie, and everyone else, was intensely curious what sorts of wares would be available. If the public shops sold Epics, would there be Mythicals there?

While it would be lovely, she didn't have great hopes for finding a key. They had a few leads on how to earn one, such as high-profile Coliseum fights, deep expeditions into the Palace Basement, and odder methods like indulging in the Pillory a little too thoroughly, but there were no guaranteed methods. Likely, the City itself had to take interest in a person's efforts and reward them personally. So no matter what, it wouldn’t be a simple process to find an Emporium key.

Natalie wasn't sure whether being Lust's champion would make it easier or harder. From one perspective, the City was interested in her by default—and thus more likely to reward her. From another perspective, Lust's champion might have greater expectations placed on her. She may have to work harder to impress the City.

During the intense expedition up the tower, Natalie was given a better look at the full extent of Elida's combat abilities. There were two observations of note. First that she was truly incredible at dodging—she had yet to take a single injury, even minor, despite lacking a stealthy style like Vanetta—and also that with the fights requiring more effort from all of them, Vanetta's description from earlier showed itself: Elida fought angry.

It wasn't a fuming, boiling sort of rage. It was cold, repressed, and—yes, even a little sadistic. Earlier, Vanetta had made a claim that sent a shiver down Natalie's spine: that Elida liked hurting things. Enjoyed the violence more than most delvers. That she became overenthusiastic, at times, during their fights. And indeed, Natalie started to catch hints of that. She was precise and vicious with those daggers of hers, and the further they went up the tower—the harder the fights got, the lower her stamina dropped—the more clear it became. As if, perhaps, Elida was relying on certain skills to carry her forward, ones that were affecting her mind. Rage based ones?

She was no regular berserker, she didn't think. Her judgment didn't seem to cloud; there didn't seem to be a 'rage resource,' not in a traditional manner. She was fighting angrier, but—purposefully so. Or maybe, as if, with the rising difficulty, the mask was slipping?

It was difficult to make any concrete deductions, especially because Natalie was busy with her own fights. She hardly had time to stand around and watch Elida. Her observations were stolen in snatches, between changing targets or coming to help a teammate.

Whatever the case, she grew more certain that the information Vanetta had given was accurate. She tentatively confirmed Elida's patron deity. Though, specific manifestations of her class eluded her. To be fair, Elida didn't know the details behind Natalie's skills either. She had guesses at best, and probably not many.

After a grueling ascension, they reached the top floor, which predictably held the boss encounter.

[Knight-General of the 2nd Battalion - Lv. 4]

It was a level four, Natalie noted grimly. Such a fight ought to be reserved for the fourth floor, not the third. But they had chosen to trek to the most menacing of the nearby buildings.

The ghostly Knight-General sat atop a horse armored as heavily as himself. The beast pawed the ground, snorted loudly, and lowered its head. Without ceremony, the horse charged, the Knight-General lowering a lance toward the nearest target—Natalie. She also rushed in, eager to take the boss's attention, noting the battlefield as she went. The tower was large by diameter, and this top room encompassed an entire floor. Still, it wasn't an open field; cavalry would be limited indoors.

She also noted a sheathed sword. If they knocked him off his steed, would he discard the lance and engage in a manner better suited to a footsoldier? With that sword, rather than his lance? She kept that in mind too.

Natalie preferred to preserve valuable cooldowns for deeper into a fight, or for emergencies, but in this case, the opportunity was too good to pass up. Seeing the knight charge with his spear lowered, she allowed her opponent's weapon to hit true: dead center of her chest. Even to her, it would have been a killing blow, considering the level of her enemy and that it was a boss monster.

But of course, she didn't just let herself get skewered. She [Hunkered Down].

The charging knight's lance slammed into a near-invulnerable brick wall, and the impact was so jarring it nearly flung him off his steed. Not just that, but before using [Hunker Down], Natalie had hooked her arm in such a way that, as his momentum carried forward, his lance was wrenched from his grip, secured by the angling of Natalie's immobile body.

[Hunker Down] was a niche skill, but a wonderful one when it came into play.

The knight wasn't fully knocked off his horse, but he was dangling precariously off his saddle, struggling to reorient, which gave her team several seconds to capitalize—an eternity to professional fighters. Unfortunately, disarming him did little; the ghostly lance fizzled, then reappeared in his grip. Natalie couldn't help but feel like that was cheating, but she had turned herself into an invulnerable statue a few seconds earlier, so fair enough.

Dropping the skill's active effect, Natalie charged in.

An exhausting four minutes later, both horse and general had died. Natalie was aching even through Clementine's heals by that point, and Elida had taken her first injuries of the day as well; even she had been pressed by a level four boss.

The ghostly remains evaporated, leaving an object behind. Natalie's heart jumped, seeing a key, but to her disappointment, it wasn't for the Emporium.

[Tower Vault Key]

The disappointment lingered for a second, but was quickly replaced. Because—loot from a level four boss. They hadn't gotten Emporium access with this expedition, but there would surely be interesting rewards.