“Good of you to finally return,” Vhar said.

  He looked at each of us as if waiting for a response. But what could we say? Our absence wasn’t our fault. Vhar knew that too. He was just angry and looking for someone to blame.

  “Luckily, we were able to continue up to this point without you,” he continued. “Hugo, you’re next.”

  His tile started moving before he’d even finished talking. Vhar acted like he was on a schedule that he was determined to get back to. Though some of the other Climbers looked like they could’ve done with more time. There were a few new bruises and cuts on some of them. Superficial wounds from their fights in the cage that weren’t worth wasting a health potion on. The lack of inventory was forcing everyone to ration them.

  “You didn’t miss much,” Damian said. His hands were covered in dirt, but other than that, he appeared the same as before. Helpfully, he filled me in what I’d missed.

  First, he pointed at an old man with a bushy gray beard. A bare-armed muscular fellow covered in tattoos, who only wore a leather vest and pants. He was pacing back and forth on his tile. Occasionally I’d catch glimpses of the back of his vest that had some motorcycle club patched onto it.

  “His name is Wayne, and he’s got some form of super strength,” Damian said. “His monster was a gorilla on steroids. The fight actually looked close at some points. They wrestled together and eventually he punched the creature out.”

  “A boxer?”

  “Nah, more like barroom brawler.”

  Wayne turned around and glared at us from the across the void. “Would you shut up?! You know I can hear you?”

  “We can all hear you,” Nate chimed in, before throwing a side-long glance at Ashley, who was still in her own world listening to music. “Well, almost all of us.”

  Damian smiled. “If you didn’t want enhanced hearing, then you shouldn’t have put so many points into perception.”

  Wayne swore at him, while a few others groaned before turning away from us.

  Damian shrugged and his finger then moved to Nate. “low-level super speed that creates an after-image wave effect in his wake. Anything that comes into contact with it gets burned.”

  Ah, that explained the goofy costume, I thought. I then looked down at my own attire. But I suppose it's all relative. His power sounded concerning though.

  My eyebrows rose. “Super speed?”

  “Not much faster than us. He’s not catching bullets out of the air or running backwards through time, if that’s what you’re worried about.”

  Nate scoffed with his back to us, but didn’t think we were worth engaging with any further.

  Annoyingly, I had to take everything Damian was telling me with a pinch of salt. That was the problem with potential future combatants hearing our conversation. We couldn’t sound weak in front of them. The only way I’d truly know how fast Nate was is if I saw it for myself.

  I felt a wave of anger. Yorgos has robbed me of the chance to see how some of them fought. It was invaluable intelligence, and now I was at a disadvantage since I would still be fighting in front of all of them.

  Damian continued getting me up to speed by pointing at a woman who was shuffling a deck of cards while staring off into the distance with a forlorn expression.

  “Finally, there’s Emma, who’s a little harder to explain.”

  She wore a skintight suit that was a motley assortment of purple and green. It was something a clown might wear, and over that was a big leather duster that went down to her ankles.

  “She used that deck of cards to fight,” Damian explained. “But I’m not sure how they work. All I saw was her shuffle the deck a few times, before pulling out a card. After that, her eyes became laser beams which cut her monster in two.”

  “Nothing we haven’t seen before,” I bluffed.

  Her card deck was curious. The cards were slightly larger than you’d find in a poker game. They were more like Tarot cards. I tried to see what some of them were, but she shuffled them too fast.

  “I had my fight after her,” Damian said. “Some kind of rock monster. Not much to say about that one other than the fact that my rank should’ve been higher.”

  So Hugo and I had missed four fights. I tried not to let it get to me and put on a cheerful expression. “At least you’re towards the higher rankings. Besides, it’s probably just Vhar’s personal preference order. I wouldn’t worry too much about it.”

  “You going to maintain that attitude if you’re not number one?” he smirked.

  I just smiled, but inwardly I was hoping not to be. Climbers tended to get competitive and, since so many had survived so far, I didn’t want them all gunning for my head after this floor. I’d rather let one of the others get the top spot and steal all the attention.

  Inside the cage, a portal opened up, and an orc dropped down carrying a double-headed axe. A farcry from the professional suit wearers we’d met in the past. This one wore nothing except ragged torn pants and was twice as muscular. A series of scars from old battles was present from his chest and back. Maybe he was trying to show them off? I thought to myself.

  Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

  “Looks like Hugo’s got an easy one,” I said.

  Orcs might have been tough for us once, but that was many levels and floors ago.

  “There’ll be more to it than that,” Damian replied.

  *Enemy Identified!* [Leandros, Champion of the Golden Pit (Unique)] Level: 205 – Born and raised in the toughest fighting pit of his home world, Leandros has known only combat. His life is dedicated to the fighting arts and the spilling of blood. He has slain scores of fighters and has never lost a challenge. Famously, he has taken to foregoing conventional armor for physical attacks to give himself more of a challenge, as his recent fights have bored him. This is his first time visiting a Tower, and he hopes this place will be different.

  The tile was shifting slowly towards the cage. Hugo hopped from side to side until he grew tired of waiting. “Screw this,” he muttered.

  The crow launched off the tile with a burst of air, and then propelled himself forward into the cage. Leandros sneered and spat off to the side, unimpressed by the look of his quarry.

  That was good. Lots of people have underestimated Hugo, and all of them have regretted it.

  As soon as Hugo was inside, a large spirit summon wolf burst out of the ground, snarling.

  Looks like he wants to end this fight quickly, I thought.

  Hugo dove inside of the wolf, and the pair become one as he took direct control. He was using his Ghost Walker ability. Not that I could blame him. His natural bird body was weaker, so possessing a stronger body gave him more protection. Unfortunately, it limited some of his other abilities, such as raising up other summons. Still, I’d seen that wolf take down an orc before, so I wasn’t worried.

  By the look of it, neither was Leandros. The orc shook his head in disbelief. “Bird or wolf, it makes no difference. Both are a waste of my time.” He looked up through the glass ceiling to Vhar. “This is beneath me!” he roared.

  Vhar ignored him.

  “It’s funny,” Hugo said with the wolf’s mouth. “In all your list of accolades, it never says you’ve fought a Tower Climber before. But I’ve fought orcs before, and you don’t look special to me.”

  Leandros charged forward with his axe held high. Hugo launched into a run with long, loping strides until they met in the middle.

  Leandros swung his axe down as Hugo sunk his fangs into his ankle. The edge of the axe head glowed orange, and as it made contact, the wolf spirit summon dissipated. Hugo threw himself across the room with an air blast before the orc could grab him.

  A thin line of blood trickled down the orc’s ankle. Leandros glanced at it and figured it wasn’t worth addressing. Hugo flapped his wings to keep himself high and out of the orc’s reach. He likely hadn’t anticipated the axe disabling his wolf so quickly, and was trying to figure out his next move.

  Leandros grinned nastily. “I promise I’ll make it quick if you come down here.”

  Hugo hovered in the air and spread his wings out. A blast of light shoots out of his chest. This is his Soul Lance ability. A move that targets a being's core aura. Every living thing has one and spiritual creatures are pure aura. However, it’s not something he can use often as it takes a lot out of him. It's usually a last resort type move for him. He must be getting a little desperate.

  The blast rocketed towards Leandros, who raised his free arm defensively. A blue shield of light formed in front of his arm, and the blast was repelled.

  I was surprised until I reread his introductory description. It said no conventional armor for physical attacks. I guess magical attacks didn’t count.

  Hugo’s flaps were getting weaker, and he was breathing heavy. He’d used his strongest spirit summon and his strongest magical attack. This fight was lasting longer than I thought it would, but he couldn’t just stay in the air. He needed to go back on the offensive instead of letting the orc dictate terms.

  Leandros drew the axe back and then hurled it at Hugo. It spun quickly, and the bird was forced to use another air blast to dodge it. The axe missed him, but he’s left looking even weaker for wasting energy on another ability.

  “Looks like your buddy isn’t doing so well,” Indira said.

  “The fight's not over,” I replied, not taking my eyes off the cage.

  Leandros touched his boots and ran at the wall. He hopped up and his foot held against the vertical wall long enough for him to hop to another section of the wall. The boots must have anti-gravity magic and with them, he’d be able to reach Hugo.

  The orc skipped along the wall, drawing closer to Hugo, who was struggling just to stay in the air. Leandros got close, reaching out his hand when a bell rang out. The orc lost his concentration and his footing. Startled, he slipped and fell to the ground.

  Hugo Bell Toll ability affects people’s emotions and increases their fear. It wouldn’t have a lasting effect on someone like Leandros, but it was good for a distraction.

  Hugo flew to the far side of the cage and landed awkwardly. There, he waited for the orc to pick himself up.

  Leandros shot to his feet, enraged. He looked around until he realized Hugo had stopped flying. He grinned before turning his back on his enemy to slowly walk over and retrieve his axe. Earlier, the orc had been frustrated he couldn’t end the fight quickly. But now, seeing Hugo so weak, so near the end, he felt the opposite. Drawing things out to try and insult Hugo.

  “I think I’ll take your body with me,” he said. “After all this cowardly running and dodging, it feels appropriate. I’ll pluck those feathers and roast you over a spit. I doubt I’d get more than a mouthful out of you, but I’ll savor it all the same.”

  Hugo ignored the insults and focused on getting his breathing under control.

  Indira feigned a look of concern to me. “I know you want to help your friend, but maybe you shouldn’t watch this part.”

  Don’t hold back, I thought to myself while watching them.

  Leandros chuckled to himself. “Matter of fact, I think I’ll show my friends your body first. That this grand Tower challenge was nothing more than me chasing a little bird around.” He laughed even harder as he slowly walked towards Hugo.

  The light of the white tile floor flickered a little, but Leandros didn’t notice.

  “I’m sorry,” said Hugo.

  Leandros stopped and frowned. “Eh?”

  “It was my fault,” he replied. “I held back too much, and now the others watching outside of the cage think I’m weak. So I’m sorry, but I’m going to have to make an example out of you.”

  Leandros frowned. “What do you…”

  Hugo’s eyes went white. The light on the floor flickered aggressively. Hands burst out of the ground and grabbed at the orc’s feet. Leandros sliced through them with his axe and moved forward determined. Two human spirits jumped from him from behind and wrapped themselves around his arms to weigh him down. Leandros tried to swing his axe at them but found that he couldn’t. The bodies on each arm weighed too much. He couldn’t remove them, but the orc knew that he was strong enough to stomp the bird to death. So he marched on with the spirit bodies clinging to him.

  More hands reached out of the ground, trying to clasp his feet. Another body from behind jumped on his back and then another after that. Their combined weight brought him to a standstill. But Hugo wasn’t done.

  More bodies piled on top of him until the orc was dragged to the ground. They swarmed over him until not a single part of him was visible.

  Then the screaming began.

  Hugo had sent the mental command to rip and tear, and the summons obliged with a flurry of mouths and hands. The orc’s screams became more muffled until there was only silence.

  *DING!* You have slain [Leandros (Unique)] Level 205 – Experience Points and Currency Acquired.

  Hugo made the spirit summons stand up and move away so that everyone could see. Some of the Climbers were shocked. Emma stopped shuffling her cards and gasped, while Nate’s mouth hung open.

  I glanced at Indira. Her face was a mask, but she couldn’t take her eyes off the orc’s remains.

  “My friend doesn’t need help,” I said.