The two Climbers dispersed from their spots, clearing the way for the new Taurus to charge through.
But Jace immediately sprung back, preparing to pull the unthinkable. He didn't care for any broken limbs or crushed organs. Their situation had turned more than extreme.
If Jace would succumb to his Curse, then the monster would relish on his crippled body and chase after the sneaking archer. He knew Erin's mana must have been depleting, judging by how many Skills she had used for her arrows.
None of their mundane attacks could work. It was his (Curse of Unbridled) that had the only hope of survival.
Jace jumped onto its back before it would turn around, grabbing the side of its horn and raised his fist. If he could break away one of its horns, he had enough power to shatter its skull.
The Taurus had shook him off, throwing its head in a violent spin until the foreign weight had flung from its body.
Jace rolled back on the flattened grass, feeling his nerves override again, and swiftly turned to grab the bull's horn before it could impale him.
No words or actions could be phrased. He had to act without question, abandoning any unnecessary theatrics. The auburn boy moved like a savage. His eyes never blinked since the moment his Skill of forewarning had activated.
As he swung his body behind the monster's skull, shifting his weight correctly for balance, he raised his fist again.
From that moment, Jace had no longer looked human.
Jace rammed his knuckles into the head of the Taurus, pounding the skull until it completely shattered. From the way he positioned himself, it was barely near the reach of the bull's grasps. The Taurus was designed with such muscle that it had restricted its flexibility greatly. In other words, it had obvious trouble pulling the latched human off of its head.
More booms echoed throughout the glade, along with the feral grunts coming from a supposed human.
In the short time of the brutal attacks, its skull had only cracked slightly. Was he growing weaker to fatigue? Or was the material of the bone stronger than he thought? Breaking off the horn was possible because of the curve, but it should have shared the same properties.
He gritted his teeth in fury, surpassing the limits of his own mind, and flattened his right hand, mimicking the tip of a blade. With this insanity, he had created a new weapon capable of piercing anything.
Driving the bare end of his hand into the bull's skull, an immeasurable shock of pain shot through his arm. Though, it wasn't nearly enough. Nothing would ever compete against the torturous drawback of his Curse.
The Taurus desperately spun its body around in an effort to throw off the feral human. With a sharp force repeatedly being hammered into its head, the feeling shouldn't have been too pleasant.
That was what Jace exactly wanted.
His nails must have already tore off with some fingers contorting in a sick way. None of his injuries mattered anymore. With each second being drained by the thought of pain, his Curse was slowly drawing closer.
The Taurus slammed the back of its body into an amassed rubble, hoping the impact would affect the human stuck on its skull. Unfortunately to the monster, none of its efforts were fruitful.
Jace realigned his body, planting his boots against its skull again. Despite the world spinning around him, his eyes had never left on the fracturing bone.
With a final roar, he drove his hand into its skull, deep enough where he had lodged half of his arm inside the cavity of its head. He clutched whatever flesh or brain matter his palm could hold, and tore it outside.
The Taurus bellowed in anguish, jolting parts of its muscles in erratic motions from the snapped receptors. Its nerves were being pulled apart by the source, each violently and painfully.
Jace reached inside the shattered skull again, repeating the savagery until the Soul echoed into his ears. He didn't care how long of the duration he had left of the Curse. His eyes, arms, and legs had fully tuned into the senseless carnage.
Then, as he pulled another clump of connective flesh from its brain, his Soul had returned to normal. The auburn boy hoarsely cried out, feeling the familiar agony wash over his body like a crushing wave.
He dropped to the ground, crippled and writing in pain, as he choked on his own congesting blood.
A few seconds after, the body of the Taurus slammed beside him.
[Youhaveslain Taurus. You have gained experience.]
The Soul echoed into his ears again.
[Congratulations, Climber Jace! You have leveled up!]
[Congratulations, Climber Jace! You have leveled up!]
His vision blurred, turning dark the more he gasped for air. There was no longer any more strength to struggle or move.
The Soul flickered into his fluttering eyes.
[HP: < 1/134]
He began to give into his pent fatigue, realizing he had succeeded with his impossible objective. The auburn boy could finally die without any remorse of dragging another Climber to the Void alongside his own pitiful Soul.
As his ragged breaths eased, he had caught the sight of another figure interrupting his somber view of the sky.
It was a blonde girl, mouthing his name as her face was stricken with visible distress.
Without any more strength to stay awake, he felt his eyes roll back, falling unconscious to his Curse.
***
The Soul echoed into his ears again, waking him from his nap.
[You have 4 Soul Points remaining.]
Jace slowly opened his eyes, subtly smacking his tongue to the appalling after-taste in his mouth. He knew what this was in an instant.
But there was no other way to save him from the Void. They had no spells to heal a Climber, after all, so bearing with the repulsive liquid was the least of his worries.
He sat up, scanning his surroundings and figured they were still in the stone labyrinth. Instead of laying in the clearing of the glade, his body had somehow been transported into a caved spot within the towering walls.
And judging by the grass streaks on his back and legs, it was clear proof she had dragged him on the ground the entire way.
Erin peeked her head inside the caved spot, hearing the shifting sounds and yelled:
"What's wrong with you?!"
Jace winced. It was like his ears were beginning to adjust to normal sounds again.
"Well, first off, thanks for not leaving my body outside."
She crouched closer, studying his patched wounds and taped right hand. Her face had only been scraped slightly, with some stretches on her leather armor but it was only minor compared to him.
"What's wrong with you, Jace? Did you take me here to prove that you're more crazy?"
He blinked a few times and exhaled.
"I didn't know what else I could do."
She held his disfigured and bloodied hand as a pained expression formed on her face.
"Why does this always happen? In every expedition, you're the one that needs help. Why can't you ever think for yourself?"
Jace didn't understand why she had looked so sorrowful. They had made it out of the fight alive and even gained incredible amounts of experience. If she was concerned about the drawbacks of his Curse, then that was another problem to solve later.
Right now, they were more than lucky to be alive. If the duration of (Curse of Unbridled) had ended early, then the Taurus would have smashed Jace's crippled body into a pulp and moved its attention to the depleted archer.
Knowing the tenacity of the Tower's monsters, a silly game of chase would not suffice. Erin would have shared the same fate as him not too long after.
Instead of responding to the troubled blonde girl, he crawled out of the caved spot and took a breath of fresh air.
Erin looked confused by his sudden movements, watching him lean his crippled body on the stone wall.
"Are you okay, Jace?"
He was more than okay. There were a total of four Soul Points waiting for him to allocate into his Soul. It wasn't a feeling that could be defined as okay.
They were in one of the vast pathways in the maze, away from any oncoming danger or patrolling monsters. It was a needed breather from what had happened.
He turned his head to her and tiredly asked:
"How long have I been out?"
She dusted her knees from the small rocks.
"Twenty minutes. It was hard to keep your mouth open. Do you also have a Skill to involuntarily avoid potions?"
He turned his head back, figuring a small laugh would only stir the suppressed agony from his Curse. Though, twenty minutes was a real surprise. From what he remembered, the first activation of his Curse had left him unconscious for days.
Erin sat next to him, also staring blankly at the other end of the stone walls.
"Your Curse…you used it, right?"
He nodded.
"It does wonders, I know."
She tilted her head back, remembering their short conversation before.
"Your Soul Points double and that was enough to rip the brains of the Taurus out. Jace, you killed a monster like that in—less than thirty seconds. How much experience did you gain from those encounters?"
Jace felt reluctant to answer. He knew she was aware of his Level, as she was able to piece together his pathetic story of ascending to Sun Valley. But a part of him felt comfortable to share the spoils.
Did he trust her? He's only known her for about a month and yet she had already known about his Soul.
He decided keeping secrets from the observant blond girl was pointless, flipping the conversation over as he asked her in return.
"I'll tell you my Level if you tell me yours."
Erin snorted, breaking into a smile from his attempt to act intimidating.
"It's at twenty. I was at seventeen before and now it's at twenty. My Level increased three times from those encounters with the Taurus."
He groaned on how easy she had revealed herself. Though, there was a strange satisfaction in his chest when he heard the number but he quickly brushed that feeling way.
"Good, we're all happy. I guess you obtained a new Skill, too?"
She nodded as that same smile stuck to her face.
"I did. Do you wanna see? It's an Active—"
He weakly waved his intact hand, refusing to learn any more information about her Soul.
It was at least pleasing to know Erin had benefitted from his insanity. He would have never guessed she was in favor of his idea of tackling a Floor higher than their Level. Even if she had stood somewhat of a chance, Jace's stupidity should have been their doom.
Though he knew she was just as crazy. Any Climber should have absolutely refused the idea of a duo expedition, especially when paired with someone like Jace.
Erin wasn't here because she pitied him. She was here for the same reason as him. To strengthen the Soul. He imagined the frustration of venturing into expeditions with other Climbers, having the Soul distribute the experience to those who were more worthy.
Fighting with a mage and her powerful spells, a brute and his brawny vitality, and a bastard with exploding tendencies, there wasn't much room for a generic archer to fit in. In a way, the two of them shared some sense of isolation.
And when she was with Jace, their share of full experience was only split between them.
Erin bumped his shoulder, snapping him away from his thoughts.
"I told you about my Soul, tell me about yours. Be a gentleman for once, jumpy."
Jace groaned, knocking on his crippled legs as if they could run away from the conversation.
"My Level is nineteen."
She suddenly gained some interest.
"And your third Skill?"
He subtly smacked his lips.
'I have to tell her about my Skill? I just showed her some courtesy!'
With some of his own curiosity, he opened his Soul.
[Name: Jace]
[Rank: Climber]
[Level: 19]
[HP: 129 > /134]
[MP: 9/20]
[STR: 7]
[END: 2]
[AGL: 6]
[INT: 0]
[WIS: 0]
[Skills: (Wide Slash - Lv. 1), (Strike - Lv. 1), (Instinct - Lv. 1)]
[Blessings: (Blessing of Starch - Lv. 1)]
[Curses: (Curse of Unbridled - Lv. 1)]
He lowered his eyes to the new addition to his set of Skills.
'Instinct? At least the Soul appointed me with a decent name beside those other ones. But…you've been keeping me alive, haven't you?'
He magnified onto (Instinct).
[Skill: Instinct - Lv. 1]
[Type: Passive]
[Description: You have known danger from the very moment it began.]