by Prax Venter
Haylee lifted her bow, took aim, and held her breath. An instant later, a beam of pure light appeared that stretched from her bow to the distant horizon beyond the stern of the ship. She didn’t hit anything, so Jack still couldn’t be sure until he saw it happen. But it sure looked as if she might have an unlimited range. He’d never fired a bow in his life but had played plenty of videogames as an archer. The metal-tipped arrows always need to be launched upward with huge arcs to strike something across a long distance, and it took a certain level of skill that he never had the patience to learn.
“Keep shooting,” Jack said and watched her ability closely. If he still had a transform available for Alt, he could haste Haylee’s attack with the new clock ability. Not only would they get to see the effect in action, but their new Dark Prism would get a few more practice shots in.
She missed once more, but the thin Light Rays flashed into existence close to their targets. Jack smiled when he realized she wasn’t aiming for any currently running at them. Haylee understood the purpose of this exercise was to test the distance of her attack and only focused her onslaught on the farthest foe.
Then it happened. Jack saw her land a direct hit on one of the last men still on the winch apparatus.
Demonic Whaler -13 | HP 7/20
The damaged monster ducked, attempting to dodge further attacks as he ran into the dead whale’s mouth. There were four left, and Haylee landed a few more shots before Jack tagged one with his Mining Laser. Two made it across the deck to their group, and Lex Shouted, pulling them both onto her. She easily blocked their crude black daggers as Haylee finished them off from behind.
“Come on,” Jack said, “scoop up that loot, and let’s get to that guy who jumped into the whale… before he gets too far.”
The four of them jogged to the crane-like harpoon launcher. It looked like a huge trebuchet and the sharpened iron bolts lying on the deck nearby would need at least four men to lift into position. He scrambled up a ladder and up to a platform where the bridge spanned the distance to the unfortunate sea creature’s upside-down mouth. It was cavernous, and on the pink, wet roof of this whale’s maw were multiple interesting things to consider.
The first to catch Jack’s eye was the translucent fish floating in midair. Its ethereal, blue glow illuminated both a chest and the wounded whaler standing just inside the enormous whale. The fur-wrapped Demon stood facing away from Jack, shifting his dagger from hand to hand, and it appeared that he wanted to get the chest but was afraid of the phantom fish guarding it.
The Demonic Whaler looked over his shoulder and snarled as he saw Jack’s whole party join him on the platform. The monster made his choice and rushed the fish, who quickly responded by weaving its tail and passing through the chest of its attacker as only a ghost could. The Whaler died, shifting into the same buzzing static after they killed anything in the Tower, and he dropped some plate boots.
“You don’t see that a lot,” Lex said.
Jack had to agree. He’d seen plenty of death in the Tower, but he’d never seen anything that wasn’t his party destroy a loot-dropping monster. Was the fish only part of the layout? He eyed the chest and determined that they were intended to go deeper into this dead animal. With a swift, decisive motion, Jack pulled his blade and blasted the ghostly fish.
Spirit of the Sea -96 | Defeated
With the glow of the ethereal spirit gone, they all noticed another luminous fish deeper in the darkening shadows of this dead leviathan.
Jack shook his head and sheathed his blade before leading his team over the bridge and into the maw of the massive dead beast. The roof of the whale’s mouth was firm, but slick with wetness, and he hoped they wouldn’t need to do a lot of running inside this enormous creature.
“Every day is something new,” he said. “Now let’s get this over with. Loot that chest and then shoot that next fish, if you would be so kind, little one.”
Haylee marched forward over the ridges of the dead whale’s upside-down mouth and did exactly as she was instructed. She pulled the items into her inventory, planted her cloth-covered feet, and then took aim at the distant glowing phantom.
Spirit of the Sea -11 | HP 7/18
The ghostly monster swished forward through the air at high velocity and closed the distance quickly. Haylee activated her Withering Stare ability, and despite its reduced speed, she missed her next shot. The third one hit its mark, however, and a new bow dropped from the kill.
The Dark Prism waited by the empty chest for Jack’s command but didn’t take her gray eyes off the new weapon lying on the moist roof of the dead whale’s mouth.
“Haylee, take us forward,” Jack said. “Obviously stop to snatch up that new bow, but fire at anything you see. We’ll cover you if anything gets close.”
He saw her switch out her old bow for the new one, and he Inspected it as they crept forward.
Brittle Bone Bow - [Bow | Value: 18]
| Dmg: 5 |
| Hit Chance +0.01 |
| Crit Chance +0.02 |
They were starting to see Hit Chance on her weapons, and she looked like she’d need all the help she can get. Jack took the opportunity to impart some more of his limited wisdom on the new Hero.
“I believe it helps to focus on one stat when looking for upgrades. Only you can truly make that call regarding what works for your death-dealing comfort and for our team. Also, it’s not something you’re stuck with. You only need to equip different items to change your focus. Heck, I used a shield for- what was it, Lex? Up to Floor 20-something at least.”
“It was the coin, Jack,” the Bastion said, her voice soft. “The Floor with the claw-game, remember?”
He smiled, playing back that awesome day. It was technically their first real date.
“That seems so long ago,” he said.
Haylee drew his attention as she fired a Light Ray into the darkness, he turned to see a glowing fish way down the fleshy tunnel blitzing toward them. Her second attack was spot-on, even though the creature was a decent distance away.
Spirit of the Sea -15 | Defeated
“Nice shot!” Jack called out, and Haylee continued marching forward. There was no way the dead whale’s mouth was this long, but the wet, ridged roof seemed to continue forever. At least it wasn’t cold anymore.
Haylee’s quiet voice floated back to him as they walked, breaking his train of thought.
“Even with the upgrade found on this Floor, these monsters require two Light Rays to defeat.”
She sounded slightly dejected.
“That’s to be expected,” Lex said quickly. “You are at the Floor equal to your Hero Level. It usually takes many hits from all three of us to drain the hundreds of hit points from monsters on Floor 28.”
“And the difficulty scales faster the higher you climb,” Alt added from the back.
Jack sighed as he looked at the back of Haylee’s curly brown hair.
“That’s why we take it one day at a time. Sometimes we need to do a lot of grinding to get the drops we need. If we take you up five Floors a day, you’ll be caught up to us in no time. A few days from now, you’ll be sniping things left and right.”
The Dark Prism had been keeping her sharp eyes fixed forward for threats, but she turned back to face him now.
“Sniping? Does that mean to kill at a distance?”
“That’s close enough, yeah. A sniper is a one-shot killing machine that can pop heads before they even know you exist.”
Lex chuckled. “We call them Long-Range Damage Dealers, but your word is more appropriate for our Dark Prism, and more fun to say.” Lex waited for a few steps, then she repeated the word quietly to herself once more.
“Sssniper…”
They moved in the quiet, dead carcass for a short while before Haylee spoke up again.
“I want to focus on critical strike, at least for now. I want to fill the group role of sniper.”
“Awesome,” Jack said. “That leaves us one sl
ot open, right?”
“Correct,” Lex said, keeping pace beside him. “It’s been widely accepted that the only way to get past Floor 50 is with a full party of four Heroes. Alt brings us to four, and I can only imagine how high we could climb with a fifth member.”
“We’re going to find out,” Jack said.
They took out two more ghostly fish before noticing something different up ahead. A blueish pulsing light flashed in the distance, and it wasn’t until they were closer that Jack figured out it was the opening to a whole new area. The whale’s impossibly long mouth ended in a circular opening that connected to what was apparently the Boss chamber.
The space was spherical with a mostly flat bottom, but the massive, pulsating sea urchin floating in the center was hard to miss. Multi-hued coral and green seaweed covered the walls and ceiling while sand and rocks covered the bottom. Illumination from a nonexistent source spilled rippling light across the entire scene, giving it an undeniably ‘under the sea’ feel.
The 15-foot quivering spikes that covered the hovering urchin looked absolutely deadly and he was glad they weren’t fighting this Boss on a higher Floor.
“Extras in the chamber,” Lex said from behind him, and he pulled his gaze from the intimidating Boss to see one of the ethereal ghost fish floating among the flowing subaquatic foliage.
Jack waved Haylee forward and gave her a moment to look around.
“If we would have rushed in there,” he began, “we would be throwing away a tactical advantage in addition to possibly getting surrounded by hidden foes.”
The Dark Prism nodded. “You want me to eliminate the spirits first, from this vantage.”
“Exactly, but I want Lex up here to cover you. There is a pretty good chance that attacking into this chamber will trigger the Boss. Can’t know for sure, but best to be prepared.”
They shuffled around so Lex could block any sharpened spines coming their way. The opening was big enough for two people to kneel side by side, and there was plenty of room for the two smaller women. Jack turned to look at the muscular bear-man standing next to him. He gave Alt a slap on his thick furry back and turned to watch their Dark Prism get to work clearing the Boss chamber.
She took aim and missed, and they quickly found out that her attack did indeed draw the attention of the Floor Boss. But no one expected the energy attack that came from the pulsating urchin.
A wave of blue energy that looked like air bubbles rushing to the surface sped horizontally straight for the opening, and Lex tried to take the brunt, but it didn’t matter. The energy wave passed through everything and easily struck all of them with a jolt of electricity.
Lex -20 | HP 504/524
Haylee -20 | HP 57/77
Jack -20 | HP 374/394
Alt -20 | HP 395/415
Terror rose up in Jack as he noticed that another wave was directly behind that one and they needed to do something, fast. Their new party member could only take two or three more seconds of this before she would be killed on her first day in the Tower.
Jack drew his sword and activated his Mining Laser over the Bastion’s head, but they were all hit once more by an energy wave right before his attack lit up the urchin Boss.
Lex -20 | HP 484/524
Haylee -20 | HP 37/73
Jack -20 | HP 354/394
Alt -20 | HP 375/415
Floor 4 Boss -96 | HP 3/99
Jack knew the thing was going to hit them with one more wave before he was able to finish it off, and if Haylee were dealt a critical… but then a narrow, clean beam of white light from the Dark Prism joined his ragged blast of red energy bombarding the urchin.
Floor 4 Boss -15 | Defeated
Three ghost fish had reached them by this point, and Jack realized they were still in grave danger as their Bastion’s shield would do nothing to these non-corporeal monsters. Lex knew her role well, however, and she Shouted for their attention as she jumped into the chamber.
By the time her boots landed in the sand of the curved room, her shimmering bubble of hatred-inducing energy struck the fish, and all three thrashed around in the air as they swarmed her. Before they connected, the Bastion sang her triple Aether Tone and morphed into mist. She remained untouched as Jack and Haylee cleaned up the remaining Spirits of the Sea within the Boss chamber.
He looked down at the Level 5 Dark Prism and took in a shuddering breath. That was way too close.
“I’m ready to go home now,” she said.
“Loot the chest first,” Jack said. “You are going to be prioritizing Hit Points for now until we get you a nice comfortable buffer.”
“I understand,” Haylee said as she climbed down into the sand of the empty chamber.
He gave Alt a nod before he followed her down to stand next to Lex.
“I really hate this place sometimes,” Jack said, and the Bastion turned her golden eyes up to his.
“I was so sure your plan was perfect, that we would be safe up in that choke point.”
Jack nodded as he watched Haylee’s gray, hooded robe become replaced with a deep blue one. Beautiful, light-blue threads wove through the fabric and reflected the shimmering ambient light around them. The new cloth gear ended just below her knees again, and he wondered if the same item would appear different if he put it on.
They all approached the Level 5 Dark Prism.
“Well, you survived the first day,” Jack said, opening an interface to Inspect her new gear. “Think you’ll want to come back tomorrow?”
Chest: Sea Cloth - [Chest | Value: 22]
| Def: 3 |
| Max HP +8 |
| Max MP +8 |
| Magic Power +4 |
| Nature Attacks +2 |
~ Woven from water
“Yes,” Haylee said, her gray eyes locked on his. Jack moved his attention from her new rare item to her intense upturned face. He’d seen a lot of her recently, and he was starting to get a feel for her mood… despite her usually unreadable expression. From the way one corner of her thin lips bunched up slightly, she might as well be grinning ear to ear.
Jack crossed his arms. “You did great, Haylee. We’ll see you at Exit.”
“You really did!” Lex added. “We’re going to make a great team.”
“I look forward to fighting with you, Haylee,” bear-man Alt yelled out from his perch at the opening. The young girl held the AI in her gaze as Lex’s singing brought her to full health.
“Thank you, everyone,” Haylee said quietly before she headed for the Exit Orb pulsing near the edge of the atmospheric chamber. She focused on Jack once more with her cold, scrutinizing stare before she touched the orb and vanished.
Once she was gone, the Bastion immediately turned to Jack.
“We could have lost her. We did everything right and-”
“I know, but we didn’t lose anyone.” He cut her off, his eyes still locked on the Exit Orb. “I’m actually super impressed with how she handled herself, especially with how- um, difficult, she seemed the other morning.” He looked down into her golden eyes. “I think your father might have helped whip her into shape a bit.”
Lex shifted her attention over to the passage where bear Alt was sitting, and Jack followed her gaze. His human legs dangled over the edge, waiting for them to continue their climb.
“What I think,” she began, “is that you are the major influence in her behavior. Alt was right, you change the people around you. You did very well today, Jack. Haylee learned many lessons about how to survive in the Tower, and I think she looks up to you now. Everyone looks up to you now. Blackmoor Cove hasn’t had a true leader in a long time.”
“I- well,” Jack stammered. “That’s laying it on a little thick, isn’t it?”
“Listen to the Bastion!” Alt called out from his perch.
Jack took Lex’s hand and pressed his lips to the back of it.
“Come, my love,” he said, then raised his voice to address Alt. “And my noble steed! We’ve got a Tower to c
lean out.”
They only climbed to Floor 26 before they decided to call it a day. There was no point in the risk, especially when they’d have a fully powered Dark Prism with them after a few more runs. Neither of them found any upgrades, but Alt always gained a pile of complexity. His weapon’s constant growth was always a pleasant mental anchor to hold onto when the drops were particularly bad.
When they dismounted the Tower, all three Heroes appeared at the same time, at Exit. Jack expected Ryea there, and Harrak had taken to joining her as well, but he did not expect to see Sol, Reno, and Demi with another cake. This Town loved their celebratory cakes.
“Congratulations on Hero Level 5!” Ryea cheered.
Jack saw the owlish Sol face relax when he saw her. The tall man’s fists unclenched, and he tried to force his mouth into the unnatural state of a smile. He looked frightening.
Harrak crossed big arms. “Nice work, girl.”
Everyone was staring at Haylee, and all she had was a scowl for her father.
“And you’re okay with this, father?” she said, nodding to the cake, and everyone there felt the unwarranted venom in her tone.
“Haylee!” Demi snapped loudly. “Your father made sure this was a lemon-frosted cake. Now, let’s see how it came out.” The Innkeeper quickly turned away and started walking toward the Inn with the cake.
“Ooh, is that a new outfit?” Reno asked, holding his arm out for Haylee to start moving. The girl in the sparkling blue robe blinked at him once.
“I know!” the doughy farmer said, clomping up to Haylee’s side. “I noticed it right away. It’s beautiful.”
Reno and Ryea escorted the young Hero while, Jack, Lex, Harrak, and Sol slowly followed behind. Jack spoke up after a few steps of silence.
“Your daughter is going to be great in there.”
“I know,” Sol said, his eyes to the ground.
Harrak clapped one of his huge hands on the frail man’s back.
“Don’t worry, she’ll come around. I know how much of a pain in the arse a daughter can be.”
Lex laughed. “It’s true.”
Harrak continued, his attention on Sol.
“But you and I both know they are worth whatever pain and hardships they toss at us. In the end, when it comes down to the core of a father, we would endure anything to keep them happy and safe.”