Chapter 70

  The ptform moved up smoothly and easily, asding at a fortable pace. Jake observed its dimensions, noting its smaller size pared to the expansive shaft. The ptform wasn’t ected to anything, being powered solely by magic. Jake tipped his head back to gaze at the long dark shaft above. It exteo the highest floor, but he doubted the ptform would take him to the very top in one go. It would most likely make itent stops on each successive floor along its ast.

  Just as he expected, the ptform asded to the sed floor and came to a halt. The four ruched into the ers dimmed without pletely fading away, castihereal light in the dimly lit surroundings of the shaft. The elevator door was missing, leaving behind a gaping opening. He stepped through it into a corridor, immediately tensing aing ready to fight. He jerked his head one way, then another, but there were no enemies in sight. Ead of the corridor stretched out before him, devoid of any threats. No sound reached his ears from anywhere. The plete silehat enveloped him was eerie.

  Jake briefly gnced over his shoulder. The ptform remai the same level, each of the ruing a faint bluish glow. The ptform would likely stay at the same spot, waiting for him to eliminate all the threats on the floor before transp him to the subsequent one. Only where were the mutants he had to kill? Jake looked around once again. Pig a random dire, he began to sneak along the corridor, moving silently and gracefully like the predator he was.

  As he advanced a few more steps into the corridor, his acute sense of hearing caught a low hum. It seemed to e from all around him at ohe air suddenly felt electrified as well. Jake froze in his tracks, unsure of what was going on and what to expect.

  He quickly surveyed his surroundings and noticed a strange occurren the wall to his right. A sudden burst of eerie light revealed a vertical tear f, which turned out to be a magical portal. As the opening widened, cwed hands emerged followed by the face of an ex-human walker with a menag grin full of jagged teeth. As the magical tear expanded even more, the mutant emerged fully from the portal and charged directly toward him across the width of the corridor.

  Jake lurched toward the enemy. He swiped its extended hands aside, stabbing the creature’s chest with his sword all the way through. The bde erupted through the back of the monster, spttering the wall behind it with dark blood. He yahe sword out of the mutant’s body, and it colpsed to the floor, dead.

  In his expansive field of vision, Jake spotted numerous mystical rifts unfurling along the walls on both sides of him. More portals appeared on the floor, and mutants were already emerging from within them as well. A sudden movement above caught his eye, and as he gazed upward, he saw anateway tearing through the ceiling. A mutant’s form momentarily projected from the opening before plummeting to the ground with a heavy thud. The creature rose to its feet and turoward him, its gaping maw exposing rows of razor-sharp teeth as it emitted a pierg shriek. Despite its menag dispy, it was merely a standard walker.

  A message emerged in his mind.

  Wave 1 has started!

  Targets killed: 1 out of 15

  All the mutants that emerged from the portals immediately dashed toward Jake from all dires. All of them were low-level walkers, though, presenting no real challeo him. It took him just a few mio deal with them all. Each of the portals had disappeared in a few seds after disg a monster.

  Multiple enemies killed! +150 XP

  Wave 1 plete!

  Wave 2 will initiate in 59 seds.

  This was definitely very different from what he’d experienced on the first floor. Jake wondered how many waves of enemies he would o fight off. Utilizing the respite, he took a moment to review his current experience level.

  XP: 720/1375

  He was halfway t a level-up, having accumuted 550 XP on the first floor and 150 XP on the sed. With the sed floor not yet pleted, there was a ce he could level up before finishing it.

  It wasn’t long before portals once again began to materialize all around him on the walls, the floor, and even the ceiling. Most of the enemies were walkers, but among them, he also noticed a couple of leapers.

  Wave 2 has started!

  Targets killed: 0 out of 25

  Jake sshed and pierced, hacked and stabbed, killing mutants oer another while easily dodging their attacks. As soon as he took care of the fresh bunonsters, yet another wave was announced. For the several minutes, Jake fought off one group after another, easily dispatg the fresh mutants the system hurled his way.

  Refusing to stay in the same spot, Jake was in stant motion, navigating through the corridors and rooms of the sed floor. Upon disc a rge, vat room that appeared to have been a feren in the past, he s ample spaaneuvering. Reizing the tactical adva offered, Jake chose to make his stand within that room.

  The final, third, wave sisted of thirty mutants, mostly walkers and a couple of leapers. It proved to be the most difficult pared to the previous ohe reason for that was a shambler that emerged from one of the portals. Not that Jake had much trouble with the st wave. Sihe shambler retty slow, he first dealt with all the faster walkers and leapers befiving his full attention to the huge mutant.

  When its bulky body bleeding from numerous wounds Jake had inflicted on it colpsed to the floor, a final message emerged in his mind.

  Floor 2 cleared! You ow proceed to the one.

  trary to his expectation, he hadn’t leveled up yet, which surprised him. When he checked his XP, he saw he was almost there, though.

  XP: 1365/1375

  He literally needed just one lousy walker to level up to elevehen checked the current status of the challenge.

  Tower Climb Progression

  Floors: 2/10

  Remaining Time: 5 hours, 21 minutes, 15 seds

  It had taken him half an hour to plete Floor 2 iower Climb challenge, a siderably longer amount of time pared to the swift pletion of the first floor. It meant that the challenge had only just started in ear, and the difficulty would only increase with each subsequent floor, just as he’d expected.

  Jake made his way back to the ptform in the elevator shaft. As he stepped onto it, the fils glowed brighter, signaling its activation for the ast to the floor. With Jake’s weight fully oform, it automatically initiated its ast to the level.