"Talk about an annoyance," Cinister muttered, recalling the fight with Allen.
"How are we supposed to beat him?" Ragna asked, concern heavy in his voice.
"I'm going to 1v1 him again," Cinister replied, calm but determined.
"Are you serious? You almost ended up in a coma last time," Ragna shot back.
"Yeah, but this time we're stacking every speed buff we have," Cinister explained. "If I can react fast enough to his attacks, I can hold him off. Then we just pray you guys can take down their base while I keep him busy."
"That is not gonna work" Ragna looked dissapointent
"Shut up, I'm trying," Cinister muttered.
"Go to sleep," Alya said, poking her head through the tent door.
"Just a second," Cinister replied.
"No, come here now," Alya insisted.
"Fine. Goodnight, Ragna," Cinister said, getting up.
"Yeah, sure," Ragna mumbled as they settled in for the night.
When morning came, everyone packed up the tents and we began exploring the cave.
"Why is this cave so big?" Alya asked, glancing around.
"I mean, the floors keep getting bigger and bigger, so it's natural," Cinister replied.
Then we spotted a mysterious party already fighting the boss. There were only two of them a boy wielding a massive claymore and a girl armed with a bow.
"There's a party. Should we help them?" Cinister asked.
"Yeah, we should," George replied without hesitation.
We rushed in to join the fight alongside them.
"Who are you guys?" the boy demanded, not letting his guard down.
"We're here to help y'all," Ragna said.
Without warning, the boy swung his claymore at Ragna.
Ragna blocked it and said "Why are you attacking me"
"Because we don't trust strangers," the boy said, launching into a combo on Ragna.
"Yo, can you guys help me?" Ragna called out, glancing over at us.
Cinister was already sitting on the boss's corpse, casually digging through the loot.
"Hey, Mr. Greedy, how about some help?" Ragna snapped.
"Are you seriously struggling against a normal guy?" Cinister replied, not even looking up.
"Cinister, I swear to everything I will blow up your room," Ragna threatened, dodging another swing.
"Okay, fine. Just calm down," Cinister said, finally standing up.
Cinister jumped into the fight, trading blows with the boy. Surprisingly, the guy was able to keep up. Suddenly, an arrow flew through the air Cinister caught it mid-flight and slammed it into the boy, knocking him back.
"Can you calm down?" Cinister asked, annoyed.
"Fine, I guess I can," the boy grumbled. "My name's Chuck, and that's Jasmine."
"Weird ahh names," Cinister muttered. "Where are you guys from?"
"From Mexico," Jasmine answered.
"Mexico? What are you doing in Europe then?" Alya asked, confused.
"Well," Chuck shrugged, "we wanted to climb this tower since the one in South America was insanely hard."
The boss dropped a lot of scrolls but they were all commons and Cinister takes some and said to them
"Okay we will meet you soon bye" Cinister said to the couple as the Fangra went to the 7th floor and started buying gear.
Cinister
[Mage Cloak] – Reduces magic damage taken by 50%, but increases melee damage received by 50%.
[Flying Orb] – Boosts Ignivar magic by 30%, but increases stamina consumption while casting.
[Speed Shoes] – Increases movement and reaction speed by 50%, but he can never tie the shoelaces.
Ragna
[The Legendary Oathkeeper] – A radiant sword that increases every stat by 50%, but each attack has a 5% chance to miss.
[Ring of Aqualith] – Buffs Aqualith abilities by 10%.
George
[Goo Shield] – Makes all melee attacks less effective against him, but magic attacks deal more damage.
Alya
[Sneaky Dagger] – Every hit makes her invisible for 3 seconds.
[Feather] – Makes her body lighter, increasing movement speed.
Brayden
[Sword] – Pretty cool sword, ig.
[Coat of Protection] – Increases defense by 15%, but decreases offensive power by 5%.
Michael
[Bow] – Every 5th arrow is guaranteed to hit, but it deals reduced damage.
"So are we ready to take on the 10th floor" Ragna asked
"Yeah let's go and win this thing" Cinister told him
We finally made it to the 10th floor.
The room we entered was massive packed with teams from all over. The air was heavy, a strange mix of anticipation and dread. The walls pulsed with a faint red glow, casting long shadows. It felt... menacing. And there he was.
Allen. Leaning casually against the far wall, surrounded by Choi and Scrappy. But they weren't the only powerful ones here strong, unfamiliar faces stood scattered throughout the room, all radiating dangerous energy.
Then Jarvis stepped forward, a smug grin on his face.
"Okay, okay I know everyone's excited," he said, his voice cutting through the murmurs. "But let me explain what you'll be doing today."
He paced in front of the gathered teams.
"You'll be competing in three different games. How well you do will determine your rewards. The better you perform, the better your loot."
Then he paused, his tone shifting suddenly colder, sharper.
"But..." he said, locking eyes with the crowd."The bottom three people will be asked to leave the tower. Immediately."
Everybody seemed shocked except Cinister and Allen
"Bro aren't you surprised?" Ragna asked Cinister
"No, I mean this was obvious, considering we're leaving the troposphere. People are already struggling to breathe," Cinister said, glancing around at the teams.
"But wasn't Benny supposed to give us air?" Ragna asked.
"Yeah, he was," Cinister replied, rubbing the back of his neck. "But it's still hard to breathe on this level. And I'm still confused. If the tower is like another reality, then why is it even affected by Earth's atmosphere?"
Then Allen looked at us and smirked before turning his attention back to Jarvis.
"You all will be in teams of three and will be picked at random to go head-to-head in the first game," Jarvis announced.
"Castle Crashers. Each team gets a base. You can place it anywhere you want. The goal is simple destroy the other team's base."
He paused, eyes scanning the crowd.
"Good luck," he said coldly.
Editors Note - Okay the fight between Cinister and Ragna vs Allen is coming soon and it's going to be peak trust. Anyway heres the segment
"Do you think we can make another Conjoined Nexus?" Ragna asked.
"Nope. It was luck. It's not gonna happen again," Cinister said.
"Let's try Bubble and Heatwave," Ragna said, excited.
"Fine," Cinister replied.
They cast the spells at the same time, and it immediately exploded.
"Told you, dumbass," Cinister said.
"Sorry," Ragna muttered.