Bog Standard Isekai

Cecildis made it to the ground floor on her own and was surprisingly effective at quelling the Shroudlings that she found. Brin couldn’t quite make out the mechanism of her attacks, but whenever the faint dark blur moved across one of the near-invisible Shroudlings, the Shroudling burst and nothing but a splash of water was left in its wake. Brin told Marksi, Bia, as well as Rafael and Sallvador to start making their way up the Tower and meet him on the sixtieth floor.

He meant to go straight there as well, because that was the prison level, and the Tower asking for his help there had to be something dire. But there were a hundred little disasters happening between here and there. Some of the floors were empty, some had commoners playing games or taking tours, completely unaware of the chaos in the rest of the Tower, and some of them were ongoing battlefields.

The eighteenth floor was one of those, but the fighting was between Shrouded and Easterlings so he left it alone. On the twentieth floor, Earth and Fire [Mages] were defending against the same twelve Shrouded who kept rising from an indoor swimming pool. They seemed to have it handled. Brin marked the location on the map because apparently the Tower had a pool he hadn’t known about.

The twenty-second floor, which was the garden where Lumina held her lessons, looked like it needed his help. Fowler was there.

Tower message. The emergency on this floor has a lower priority. Please exit towards the elevator immediately. An emergency requires your attention on the Sixtieth floor.

They arrived on the floor in time to hear an old man bellowing words of Language, the sound of his voice echoing through the trees and grass. Brin ran, sending glass magic into his armor for greater speed, but Vitor quickly overtook him, followed by Sion. “Let me!” said Bedelia and rushed past all of them.

Brin’s Invisible Eyes were already there. [Grand Magus of Bountiful Agriculture] Elpidio was an old man with a beard that yellowed as it went all the way down to his naval. He shouted and flung spells at Fowler, who bounced around in the air, hard pressed to avoid them.

Walls of earth rose to block Fowler’s path, then transformed into hardened stone spikes flew like spears. Great vines wider than Brin was tall grew from the ground and followed Fowler with the same speed as Brin’s chains. Mushrooms popped from the ground and exploded into clouds of toxic spores. For all that Brin had heard that Elpidio wasn’t a fighter, he was an incredible caster.

Fowler fought through it all with the grace of a [Rogue], dodging spells that should’ve been invisible to him, and slashing through wood and rock with his saber. That saber was trouble–Brin saw him cut through solid stone as if it were made of vapor.

Elpidio’s voice was hoarse; he probably didn’t talk this much in a week and he sounded like he never yelled. Also, Brin couldn’t miss that his legs were shaking and that he was standing near a wheelchair. Forget fighting, this man probably wasn’t on his feet this long in a day. He just needed to hold out a little longer.

Vitor and Bedelia rounded the corner, Bedelia rushing forward while Vitor launched a spear of hardened dirt.

Fowler noticed his time was up, but rather than retreat, he blurred towards Elpidio. He twirled around a tree-trunk vine, leapt over a storm of boulders, tanked a barrage of flung sticks that cracked his blue carapace armor, and swung his saber straight through Elpidio’s neck.

“No!” Bedelia swung her hammer an instant too late to save Elpidio, whose head was still falling through the air. Fowler dodged both her hammer and Vitor’s thrown spell, and he brought Elpidio’s body with him.

The [Pirate] rifled through headless Elpidio’s body, pocketing wands and potions, all while dodging increasingly furious attacks from Vitor and Bedelia.

“Leave him alone!” It was Almenesh; Brin hadn’t even noticed she was there. She’d been huddling behind Elpidio with a few other Life Track students, including her extremely pale friend. She launched a single fist-size stone which wasn’t much compared to what Vitor and Bedelia could do, but she launched it at the same time that Brin caught up with the rest of his friends, leaving Fowler momentarily distracted. The rock hit his bicep on a place not covered by the plate.

“Ow!” he said. He finally dropped Elpidio’s body so that he could rub his arm while ducking Bedelia’s warhammer. “This floor is getting a little too crowded. I hope you won’t mind if I duck out first!”

Brin tossed a javelin of glass, and he wasn’t sure if it hit. The glass got to him just at the moment that he was fading away, moving to the west and out of this plane of existence. He chose to believe that the fact that his javelin disappeared as well was a good sign.

The moment after a battle like this was painfully familiar. This was the moment where everyone rushed to the side of the injured, to see if anything could be done. It wasn’t even a bad instinct–sometimes you thought you saw someone take a fatal wound only to discover they were still breathing and might still be saved.

Not so with Elpidio. His head was now separated from his body by more than fifteen feet. Not even the Healing Potion that was burning a hole in Brin’s pocket could save him now.

“Well, damn,” Brin said.

The others were playacting the same mental process that Brin had just gone through. Almenesh and her friends, Sancha, Ares, and Sion all rushed towards the body of fallen Elpidio. Then they slowed as they neared, realizing there wasn’t anything that could be done, suddenly awkward because lessons on manners and classes on history don’t tell you how to handle something like this. Only experience did.

“We need to keep moving,” said Brin. [Wyrdic Inspect] gave him the names of Almenesh’s friends. “Coela, Agendi, can I trust the two of you with the body? He doesn’t deserve to stay lying in the mud like that. Almenesh, you could stay or go, but I could probably use your help. Either way, the rest of us need to keep moving.”

“Go where?” Almenesh asked, eyes full of rage. “What could be so important that you do not spare even a moment for the death of a… a… for so great a man!”

“I did spare a moment. That was the moment. But I don’t have two moments. Come, if you want to find out. I’ll explain on the way,” said Brin.

Stolen story; please report.

To his surprise, she didn’t hesitate, and was marching by his side the moment he started moving. Coela also came along. She was a level 25 [Mage of Thorns], which was a pretty common Class for Life [Mages] who wanted to move towards something that could hold up in duels. He didn’t object, but left an Invisible Eye to watch over Agendi, who they were leaving alone with the body.

He got to the elevator at around the same time as Marksi and Bia were coming up, so he had them stop on their floor and hold the elevator until they got there.

Tonin and Sanpurana had caught up with Marksi and Bia, so it was a pretty crowded elevator when they all filed in. Tonin’s hands were black with ash, but Brin trusted that if he was here that meant he’d adequately handled the fires he’d left in near the carriage drop-off.

When the doors closed and the elevator started to move, Brin cast his best ward against sound and light around the room. He was momentarily distracted by a bit of shuffling. Random circumstance had pressed Bia into him, unless she had purposely worked her way through the crowd to this spot. She only had the placement for a moment because Marksi wriggled through and climbed up onto Brin’s shoulders, wrapping his tail around his middle.

He cleared his throat. He thought about making a joke to ease the tension, but Elpidio’s headless corpse flashed through his mind and any attempt at humor died on his lips.

“We don’t have a lot of time to catch you all up to speed, so I’ll make it quick. The Motley Shroud has assaulted the Tower in force. The [Grand Magi] have mounted a defense, mostly centering on [Grand Magus] Hogg’s Shadow Elementals,” said Brin.

“Like me!” said Bedelia.

“Picture nine-hundred and ninety-nine competent Shadow Elementals and one Bedelia,” said Brin. “Meanwhile, it appears that the Easterlings have taken advantage of the confusion to make another attempt to steal the Grand Focus of Keetes.”

“Easterlings, here?” asked Almenesh.

Bia lightly slapped Brin on the chest with both hands. “Another attempt? Then that’s what they were after on intake day!”

“Good, then we got to go get a Grand Focus?” said Ares.

“Then I shall complete the circle by asking after Keetes,” said Sancha.

Brin glanced at the display. Floor thirty-five. He really didn’t have much time.

“Oh! I know this one!” said Bedelia. “Me, Reggie, Master Hogg and this [Assassin] lady I’m pretty sure I’m not supposed to talk about all got together and killed some idiot named Keetes and stole his gemstone. It was a whole big thing where–”

Brin cut in. “The important thing to know is that Hogg is using the Grand Focus to defend the Tower. The “everybody dies” scenario is the one where–”

Bedelia kept talking. “–we had to murder our way through a whole circus. And the [Assassin] lady was super into Hogg.”

“She was? Who was she? Someone I know?” asked Brin.

Bedelia looked suddenly shocked, like she had just realized what she was saying. “No, go on with your ‘everybody dies’ thing.”

“Did Hogg like her back? Did he say anything?” asked Brin.

Bedelia mimicked buttoning her lips closed.

“I would also like to hear about how everyone might die. A [Merchant’s] curiosity! It’s my most dreadful flaw,” said Sion.

Brin sighed. So much for being solemn and respectful. He put his hand on the elevator control to stop it. They were already at level 50, and they weren’t ready.

Tower Message. Elevator controls overridden. The emergency on level 60 requires your immediate attention.

He hit the button again, but the same message repeated. Shoot, this could be really bad. With one mind, he started organizing the illusions he’d need to cover them all, and with his other he tried to think of a way to stop this elevator. Was the Tower intelligent? He’d fallen for his old world bias of believing that anything automated was stupid, but in this world, if it had speech it probably had a mind. Could he just talk to it?

“Tower! I’d like to stop level 59 and enter 60 from the stairs.”

Tower Message. This is acceptable. Please make your way to level 60 with all possible urgency.

The elevator slowed to a stop, and then went back down a couple inches to the 59th floor. They’d stopped just in time.

The doors opened to an empty cavern with a low ceiling–the top two feet of the elevator doorway was blocked by stone. This floor was completely unlit, and completely empty except for a table with some empty beer bottles and a few chairs. He had to crouch when he exited; it was only around five and a half feet high.

“What’s this?” he asked.

“The prison is right above us. The only purpose of this floor is to make sure no one tries to tunnel into it from above,” said Bia.

Brin nodded, his mind already on the upcoming fight.

“Tower, can you tell me what to expect on the next floor?”

Tower Message. The detention center is currently being assaulted by a force of thirty Easterlings. Two Sentinels are destroyed. Eight remain. Guardsman on duty deceased.

“Thirty…” He wouldn’t have tried to engage thirty Easterlings even if he had his whole Lance behind him. One Easterling was the match of an average [Knight], and Brin didn’t have thirty [Knights]. Vitor could count as one. Bedelia, another. Rhun, of course. Marksi, maybe, but he was still so little. Ares wasn’t a slouch, but he had no defense. Brin shook his head. “There’s no way. We can’t help.”

“Who are you talking to?” asked Rhun.

Tower Message. The Sentinels and Easterlings are currently evenly matched. More reinforcements are incoming. Please proceed to the 60th floor immediately.

“Can you disable the wards against illusions?” asked Brin. His secret was thoroughly out now, anyway.

Tower Message. This is acceptable.

Brin sent an Invisible to the stairway leading up, and it made it through. When the Tower said they were evenly matched, his mind went to a tense stalemate, but what he saw was sheer bedlam. The Sentinels moved with the speed and dexterity of [Rogues], but their diamond-shining armor was stronger than steel and heavier than stone. They rammed through the blue-carapaced Easterlings with impunity, and if their sheer physical might wasn’t enough, they each shot a beam of blazing red energy that made the walls of the prison bubble and smoke where they landed.

The Easterlings fought with a swarm intelligence, each of them exactly where they needed to be at every moment. Black-carapaced Easterlings threw up strange shields that didn’t so much deflect damage as ensure that it always took too long to get to the target in a way that hurt his brain to witness.

The Sentinels had managed to keep the Easterlings contained to the foyer and the first guardroom, but it was a disaster zone and it couldn’t last.

“Tower. Is what you have locked up in there really worth it?” asked Brin.

Tower Message. It is.

“Hogg?” Brin asked in Silent Voice.

“Oh, Nedramus’ Beard, definitely stay out of that. Do what you can with illusions, and I’ll send some summons as soon as I can,” Hogg answered.

Brin looked at his crew. Most of them were obvious no’s. Some of them were a risk. He ruled out anyone that wasn’t functionally invincible or covered in metal.

“Rhun, Bedelia, you’re with me. Marksi, too.” That hurt, but he knew he couldn’t be friends with a dragon if he didn’t respect his power. “The rest of you wait until I call for you.”

Vitor stepped forward. “I’ll come.”

Brin shook his head. “They can strike from a distance, but it’s some kind of spatial magic. I don’t know if your Skills will count them as projectiles.”

“[Sand Cloak] doesn’t differentiate,” said Vitor.

“Wait. You have a Skill that blocks all attacks? How is that fair?” Brin asked.

Vitor just snorted.

Meanwhile, Bia had pulled shortswords out of a storage bag, and she was clipping her oversized boots and gloves tight so they wouldn’t flop around so much.

“No,” said Brin.

“I snuck around these guys in Arcaena. I can do it here,” she said.

Tower Message. You are required to immediately travel to the 60th floor.

The Tower wasn’t overreacting. In the moments they’d delayed, another Sentinel had taken heavy damage, and three more Easterlings had taken heavy damage.

Brin grit his teeth, but said, “Let’s go.”