Chapter 2: Divine Fists and Perfect Aim
The elevator of light deposited the duo in an environment that had nothing to do with the damp cave of the lower floor.
It was a colosseum.
The ceiling vanished into the darkness, too high to be seen, and the circular walls were adorned with torches of blue flames that emitted no heat, only a cold, spectral light. In the center of the hall, a complex magic circle occupied almost the entire floor, pulsing like a slow heart.
"Wow..." Bel spun on his heels, admiring the architecture. "It's much bigger on the inside than it looks on the outside."
"Space inside Towers is distorted," Asuke explained, walking with his hands in his pockets to the edge of the magic circle. He stopped before a glowing line on the ground. "Bel, get ready. As soon as we cross this line, the 'landlord' is going to wake up."
Bel swallowed hard and gripped his blowgun.
"I'm ready."
They crossed the line.
Immediately, the torches on the walls exploded into intense flames. The ground shook, not with the subtle vibration from before, but with a violent earthquake that almost knocked Bel over.
In the center of the room, massive rocks began to be sucked out of thin air, colliding against each other with a deafening sound of thunder.
KABOOOM!
The dust settled, revealing a silhouette five meters tall. A Giant Golem. Unlike the smaller ones, this one had polished stone armor and not just one, but three cores glowing on its back, feeding the main core in its chest.
The monster roared. The sound was a physical shockwave that made Bel's clothes flap.
"Damn... he's huge..." Bel's voice faded under the pressure.
"The bigger they are, the easier they are to hit!" Asuke grinned a predatory smile. "Bel, the strategy is the same: focus on the core! I'll draw his attention!"
Asuke shot forward like a cannonball.
"HEY, BIG GUY! DOWN HERE!"
The Golem turned its massive torso. Seeing the little "flea" running toward it, it raised a fist the size of a compact car and brought it down with fury.
Asuke didn't dodge. He jumped against the fist, spinning his body in the air to prepare a punch.
"Take thiiis!"
The human fist collided with the stone fist.
There was a dry crack.
"Argh!" Asuke was repelled violently, flying backward like a ragdoll until his back hit the arena wall. "Cough... okay, he's hard. Very hard."
"Asuke!" Bel shouted.
The Golem, ignoring the human it had just thrown, turned its glowing eyes to Bel. The floor shuddered as the monster started to run, gaining frightening speed.
"S-Shit!" Bel brought the blowgun to his mouth. "Think, Bel, think!"
Floop! Floop!
Two mana darts hit the monster's chest. They ricocheted off without leaving even a scratch. The stone was too dense.
The giant arrived. It raised its leg to stomp on Bel as if he were an insect.
Bel rolled to the side at the last second. BAM! The stomp opened a crater in the floor, and the shockwave launched Bel away, making him hit his head and drop the blowgun.
His vision blurred. The ringing in his ears was deafening. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the Golem raising both arms, preparing to crush him for good.
"This is the end..." Bel thought, his body paralyzed by fear.
"HEY! IT'S NOT OVER YET!"
Asuke's voice cut through the air.
Bel forced his eyes to focus. Asuke was standing, wiping a trickle of blood running from his forehead. He didn't look scared. He looked... focused.
"I didn't want to use this in a Level 1 Tower, but you're annoying, huh?" Asuke closed his eyes and took a deep breath. The air around him began to distort, as if it were very hot.
He raised his fists to face level.
"ASHURA."
VROOOOOOOOM!
An explosion of blue mana covered Asuke's arms. When the light dissipated, his hands were no longer bare. White, robust, technological gauntlets covered his forearms down to his fingers. Lines of neon blue ran across the surface of the divine metal, pulsing like living veins.
"It's time to meet my Kaminotachi."
Asuke vanished.
In the blink of an eye, he reappeared in the air, right in front of the Golem's face.
"Thunder Impact!"
The right hook, now amplified by the gauntlets, hit the Golem's chin. The sound was like metal tearing stone. The giant's head was thrown back, and the monster staggered three steps, stunned.
Bel's eyes widened. What absurd power is that?!
The Golem, furious, roared. An intense blue light covered its entire body. A spherical mana shield formed around it.
Asuke tried to punch again, but his fist stopped on the translucent barrier, creating ripples on the surface. He was repelled by an electric discharge.
"Damn it!" Asuke landed next to Bel, who was trying to get up. "He activated the Mana Shield! My physical attacks can't get through!"
"What do we do?!" Bel shouted, retrieving his blowgun.
"The shield only breaks with a concentrated attack of pure mana! My mana is raw; I'm only good for hitting!" Asuke looked at Bel. "You need to break that barrier!"
"But my darts ricocheted before!"
"Before, I wasn't distracting him!" Asuke smiled, confident. "I'll open a window. You shoot. Trust me!"
Without waiting for an answer, Asuke ran. He slammed the palms of his gauntlets together.
"WIND PALM!"
A blast of compressed air hit the Golem's legs. It caused no damage but made the giant lose its balance and fall to its knees.
"NOW, BEL!"
Bel felt the weight of responsibility. If he missed, Asuke would be crushed. He inhaled, blocking out the headache and fear. The world went into slow motion. The core was glowing, protected by the blue barrier.
"Concentrate... focus all mana on the tip of the tongue..."
"RAPID DARTS!"
ZIIING!
Two thin darts, but charged with triple the normal power, cut through the air leaving a blue trail. They hit the shield at the same spot, a millisecond apart.
CRACK!
The sound of breaking glass echoed through the room. The barrier shattered into a thousand pieces of light.
The Golem was vulnerable.
"NICE ONE, BLOWGUN NERD!" Asuke shouted, already in the air.
The Golem tried to raise its right arm to defend itself, but Asuke was already on a collision course.
"Move!"
BOOOOM!
A left hook pulverized the monster's stone arm. The Golem roared in pain, but Asuke didn't stop. He spun in the air and came down with a heel kick to the monster's head, smashing it into the ground.
The giant was down, but the core in its chest glowed intensely, trying to initiate regeneration.
"Bel! Finish it!" Asuke ordered, pinning the monster to the ground. "Attack the core with everything you've got!"
Bel was already aiming. He saw the opening. He remembered his sister, Lu, trapped in bed. For her.
"SUPER MANA DART!"
He blew with all the strength in his lungs. The projectile shot out like a blue comet.
FWOOOOOOSH!
The dart went through the Golem's chest like butter and pierced the core.
SHATTER!
The monster's light went out instantly. The giant stone body lost cohesion and crumbled into a pile of harmless rubble.
The room fell silent, except for the heavy breathing of the two.
Asuke's gauntlets dissolved into particles of light. He threw himself on the floor, sitting down, wiping off sweat.
"We did it!" Asuke laughed. "Bel, that shot was incredible!"
"We... we won?" Bel looked at his own hands, still trembling, but now from adrenaline, not fear. "YEAAAH! WE DID IT! Thanks, Asuke!"
Suddenly, a golden light wrapped around Bel's right arm.
"Huh? What is this?"
The light solidified. A futuristic silver bracelet appeared on his wrist, and his old wooden blowgun glowed, changing shape. The wood became a white composite material, sleek, with blue lines identical to Asuke's gauntlets.
"Whoa..." Bel held the new weapon. It felt lighter, more dangerous. On the barrel, it was engraved: G.I.G.O.D.
"Just as I thought!" Asuke said, standing up and pointing to the weapon. "Your Kaminotachi is a blowgun! Welcome to the elite, partner."
"Kaminotachi?"
"Divine weapons. Only those who defeat a Tower get one. Mine are the Ashura Gauntlets. Yours is this G.I.G.O.D." Asuke pointed to Bel's bracelet. "Touch it."
Bel touched the holographic screen on the bracelet.
Max Reputation: 10,000
Current Reputation: 10,000 RA
"Ten thousand RA?" Bel's eyes widened. "That's a lot of money!"
" 'Reputation' is our currency," Asuke explained, showing his own bracelet which marked 20,000 Max, but only 10,005 Current. "You use it to buy gear, food, lodging..."
Bel looked at Asuke's balance.
"Wait... you had already earned 10,000 in the first tower. Why do you only have 5 RA left from the previous balance?"
Asuke scratched the back of his neck, laughing awkwardly.
"Well... I spent it all."
"On what?! Gear? Potions?"
"Sweets!" Asuke replied with a proud smile. "I love sweets! They were imported cream puffs, you know?"
Bel stared at his companion for a long second, then started to laugh. A laugh of relief.
"Hahaha! You're unbelievable, Asuke."
At the back of the room, a blue light portal opened. The exit.
"Let's get out of here," Asuke said, walking toward the light, his stomach growling again. "I'm STARVING! You're buying lunch since you're rich."
"Alright, alright." Bel put his new blowgun on his back, feeling a little taller, a little stronger. "Let's eat. And there... I'll tell you my true goal."
"If you tell me, I'll have to help you," Asuke warned, without looking back.
"And if you help me..." Bel smiled, catching up to his friend and lightly punching his arm. "Maybe I'll accept being your guildmate."
Asuke returned the smile.
"It's a deal."
The two walked through the portal, leaving the empty tower behind, ready to evaporate into the air, as the real world's sun welcomed them back.