Unconquered Tower

FORTY-FIVE

Roan took everything that wasn’t nailed down. The enchanted hides were rolled up as tight as he could make them and shoved through the spatial box’s opening. It was a strain, but he managed to make them fit. Carved bones and even the general’s sleeping hides were all taken. He did transfer the papers into his personal locked spatial ring along with the puzzle piece.

Without the enchanted hides the stench began to hit him again. Roan covered his mouth and marched out, keeping an eye out for anything that could be taken. There wasn’t much here he could lug out. Not with how full his rings and box were.

“Need to find more storage somehow. Maybe after this bonus?” It would be a good bonus with the general’s death. Roan couldn’t see how there would be many surviving ogres either with how few had been left alive and how many had charged into the ambush. Of all the horde officers their biggest problem would be the shamans.

Roan jogged through the tunnels, careful to keep an eye out. Now that the horde was broken, he knew his biggest threat would be the other climbers. Nash and Grace had both escaped and neither of them had any good feelings about him. If they found him isolated, tired, and laden with loot they might take a swing at him.

“What was her power? It seemed similar to Taoya’s ability, but for weapons? She charges them and can throw them?” Roan puzzled on it as he left the tunnels, moving cautiously around the edge of the caldera.

With only one free hand it took him a minute to scale the edge but he managed without problem. The broken deadlands around him had been completely changed. None of the hills remained, all of them having collapsed inward during the explosions.

It looked like salt flats. Roan pursed his lips and looked further east into the wasteland. Part of him wanted to explore, to see just how far this level would go. There was still a hordemaster that was technically possible to find. If Roan went far enough east into the deadlands he had a suspicion he’d find the hordemaster.

“Good way to wind up dead. Alright, let’s get back to the others.” Roan spoke the words out loud to try to hammer home how bad an idea it was to go chasing after the general’s boss. Maybe the next level would give him a shot at the boss mob, but for now he needed to get moving.

He took off in a fast jog, mindful of his surroundings. It took awhile to work his way back to the dragon’s cave in the center of the level. He saw signs that others had passed in the directions, bloody bandages or broken tree limbs, but no other people came out of the woods.

“I almost want them to attack. Get this over with.” Grace and Nash were a threat and he didn’t want them lurking behind all of their backs. This level had forced nearly everyone to work together to survive. Those who hadn’t wanted to work with the Association or the Guild had found themselves with Grace or dead. Roan wanted it to be that there were no other options.

“This level ends should condense more instances together, maybe all of them. We need to be unified now or risk losing control.” Roan had fought and compromised to end up in his current position of leadership and control. To think that he would lose it all because their group was smaller and weaker than another was something that he wasn’t going to let happen.

Roan slowed as he reached the dragon’s nest. There had been a fight here, but it looked fairly tame. Dead goblins were scattered about along with a few ogres and shamans. No hobs to be seen.

“Hello the cave!” Roan shouted, not wanting to find himself on the wrong side of a crossbow. He waited a second before leaving the cover of the trees and walking toward the caves.

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“There he is,” Taoya said, stepping out of the cave. He was talking normally now, the bruising and swelling around his mouth nearly gone. Behind him Darren came around the corner with a crossbow. Roan had a second of thought that Darren would fire, but the man lowered the bow.

“Did you see the others?” Darren asked.

“Grace and Nash?”

“Yes, them.” Darren’s flat tone still pissed Roan off. The man spoke to him like he was an imbecile.

“No, I didn’t see anyone. Though I found some interesting things in the general’s cave,” Roan teased.

“Come on down. It’s just us left, everyone else went through,” Darren said.

“Ignore him, he’s just grouchy. We can’t check the market anymore, the village was too destroyed,” Taoya said.

Roan walked down the cave, seeing that the battle hadn’t reached further than the first line of defenses. A few goblin corpses were scattered around a single ogre body. Roan guessed that it was what was left of the horde living in the forest that had come to attack the defenders while the raid on the enemy camp had occurred.

Moira and Tyler were lounging near the back of the cave by the stairs. Tyler looked rough, her clothes were spattered in blood and mud, her eyes vacant. She had wrapped her long arms around her knees and rocked back and forth, her jaw swinging side to side.

“She’s alive at least.”

“Hey, Tyler. You saved all our asses. Thanks.” Tyler looked over when he called her name and Roan offered her a thumbs up. Without her attack Roan was certain the general would have left him or Taoya dead.

“Thanks for coming back,” Tyler whispered painfully. She winced as she spoke and her jaw kept going side to side.

“Taoya’s idea. But it was a good one,” Roan said. With a flick of his wrist he summoned the papers he’d found and the puzzle piece. He was going out on a limb showing them this, but the primary lesson he’d learned on this level was teamwork. Without he’d have been dead a dozen times over.

“What is that?” Moira asked, paying attention for the first time.

“Found it in the general’s quarters,” Roan explained. He didn’t tell them about the spatial box he had hidden or the enchanted hides. Teamwork didn’t need to include all of his loot.

Darren was there in an instant. He didn’t snatch the papers out of Roan’s hand, but it was close. Only at the last second did Darren slow down and look at Roan for permission.

“Small miracles.” Roan kept the smile off his face and handed the papers over. If the other man could figure them out then it would be better for all of them. Moira on the other hand looked more interested in the puzzle piece, picking it up and looking it over.

Taoya sank to his haunches and watched the entrance of the cave, not seeming to care about the loot. Roan was glad someone was watching the door at least.

“Can’t make heads or tails of this. Wasn’t there a universal translator skill?” Darren mumbled.

“Yeak, hundred thousand though,” Roan said. That was one of the Tower Unique skills one could buy. Roan had ignored it earlier, the price point seemingly insane, but after how much he’d earned on this floor, with the bonus he might be close to being able to buy it.

“It’s metal, but that’s all I got from it,” Moira said, handing it over to Darren who switched her the clues.

“I’m thinking this is what we missed on the last level. Why we couldn’t get the hundred percent clear,” Roan told them. Darren winced but nodded.

“We’ll have to hope that another instance got the full clear and the clues. If this is a story then we need to figure out how to play it right. We lost too many good people on this level. Another couple levels like this and there’s only going to be a handful of us left,” Darren said. Roan hadn’t thought he’d get that reasoning from the colder man, but he was in agreement with him. If they played into the storyline, or understood it at least, they’d have a better chance of surviving.

“Alright, we’re all here. Let’s go. I’m tired of this level,” Tyler said, rising to her feet smoothly. She rubbed her jaw with her fingertips, but was already turning and entering the stairs. Roan reached over and grabbed his clues, stuffing them back into his spatial ring.

Tyler was already gone. Moira was right behind her and Roan stuck with her, glad to be leaving the level.