The guy who incited the old man Paulus' puppet show, is in front of us asking to team up.
"I'm Fionn Gilroy."
Jin stepped forward. Compared to Jin's massive body, Fionn appeared tiny. Well, compared to Jin anyone around my height is too short. I said around my height but Fionn's a couple of inches taller than me.
Jin's about to offer a handshake when Finnley decided to butt in.
"We'll talk about it first."
Fionn nodded. Wearing that familiar creepy smirk, he moved a couple of steps away from us.
"What's the problem?" Jin asked.
I told them what the guy did a few weeks ago. It seems like only Finnley, Aran, and I were the only ones who saw that event.
Everyone's trying to decide. For the duration of the discussion, Amelka just listened and remained quiet. Aran's mind seems to be somewhere else. Urick who claimed to be a detective looked hesitant in allowing Fionn to join.
In the middle of our discussion, most of the other prisoners were shouting. Loud cheers and cries as if to boost their confidence. A familiar figure stood in front of them. He started everyone else's battle cry.
Hector, by his side Toby stood with those never-changing smirks. My eyes met with Toby, but only for a split second since he averted his gaze the moment it meets mine.
Jin who's contemplating decided to speak up, "We don't have time for this. Just let him work with us for now."
"You heard what he did. You want to keep lookin' behind your back?" Urick replied.
Jin looked straight into Urick's eyes with a serious face.
"I always watch my back."
I could imagine sparks bumping into each other in the middle of where their eyes meet.
Both of them stopped intensely looking at each other and everyone looked at Finnley as if waiting for Finnley to say his decision. It seems like everyone thinks of Finnley as the leader of this so-called alliance. I also trust Finnley and think that he is more than capable of acting as the leader.
Finnley nodded, "Jin's right, we could work with him for now."
Urick doesn't seem to favor what Finnley said. But he didn't speak a word against what was decided.
From afar someone's gaze seems to have followed me in this stage. It's a familiar eerie feeling I kept having back in the prison after the first stage. I knew who it is and decided not to mind her.
We steeled ourselves while waiting for the countdown for the start of the stage to finish.
"Siege will start in 3 seconds."
"Siege will start in 2 seconds."
"Siege will start in 1 second."
"Siege Start!"
The invisible wall that also blocks our vision inside the stage slowly vanished revealing a field with lots of huge rocks. From afar we could glimpse tall trees that even the biggest rocks couldn't block and beyond those trees is the tower.
If there is anything darker than black, it's the tower. Even the sunlight doesn't seem to let us see the tower's structure and just shows its shape.
The tower passed through the sky and the heavens. Looking at the tower, a screen popped up.
"Carnal Tower"
"An ancient structure that absorbs malice and releases it back to the world."
"Distance: 200 Kilometers"
Most of us stared at it for a whole minute before stepping past the line where the invisible wall once was. Everyone's battle cries grew louder. Shouting at the top of their lungs, everyone charged towards the tower.
On the other hand, we decided to take our time and slowly progress the stage. Hector also seems to think like us, he watched everyone else charge while he remained stagnant as he observes everyone.
I saw most of the ones who decided to charge had a bomb ready in their hands. Some have some sort of combat knife in one hand and a bomb in the other.
"Where did they get those knives?" I unconsciously said aloud.
With my question, our walk comes to a halt.
"Oh, you didn't know about that as well, Gray?" Finnley said.
While scratching the back of my head, I replied with a smile.
"I didn't, sorry."
Finnley said that some of the pockets in our tactical pants have something inside of them. Urick and Amelka who's been with Finnley from the start already knew it. Fionn seems to also know it by himself. While including myself, Jin, and Aran, it's the first time we heard of it.
Finnley and the others must've forgotten to continue talking about the other items when our topic changed when Fionn asked to work with us.
Aside from the pocket that contains the bombs, other pockets also contained something inside of it. Three other items aside from the bombs. I decided to see each item's description.
"100-Meter Rope"
"This rope is made with a material that absorbs shock. It cannot be destroyed by brute force."
...
"First Aid Pill"
"Heals any kind of injury or ailment in an instant."
...
"Combat Knife"
"A knife coated with the blessings of the gods. Thus, it is feared by the vile creatures that the Carnal Tower feeds."
All of us have the same items. So we have another life for this game huh? I thought when I saw the First Aid Pill.
Jin who was also browsing his items spoke.
"Should we ready our bombs as well?"
Finnley looked at Urick who was also deep in thought.
"Dude, I think we should. Finnley?"
"Yeah... But we should think carefully about what type to set."
After a brief pause, Finnley continued,
"For now let's set four bombs as poison gas since I think it is more adaptable. And just hold for the other four."
Amelka, Jin and Aran nodded. While Fionn stayed silent and just followed what Finnley said.
"Make sure to put them in a separate pocket." Finnley continued.
We did as Finnley suggested, we are still traversing our first kilometer and so far didn't encounter anything that suggested the use of these bombs. Aside from that, now that we know that we have another weapon to use aside from the bombs we can save it for when we need it most.
Now that I think of it, a gun would've been more reassuring. There's even a facility on the third floor where we could practice using guns. Well, I guess these bombs are also great aside from the knife as a weapon. Thinking back, the warden even said that they've decreased this stage's difficulty. I wonder what the stage initially was.
Most who fired themselves up died down their energy as they realize they were wasting it and our distance from the tower is too great. The terrain also made them think twice about their decision.
As the land is filled with huge rocks that block our way. A stupid mistake of stumbling may cause your skull to split open if you hit one of those rocks that have pointy edges.
No vegetation could be seen in this rocky barren land. But from afar we could all see those humungous trees that even some of the rocks as huge as a mansion couldn't block.
A couple of minutes into the stage, we all heard a thundering noise yet didn't see any lightning and the skies are clear. Among us, Aran reacted more scared than anyone.
The surge of wind came right after the thundering noise ended. It's only strong enough to make one's hair wave along with it.
Everyone paused as if already waiting for something to appear, they raised the combat knife in the direction the wind came from.
Aran saw something from the distance and pointed at it with his shaking hand.
"What's... that?"
Urick patted Aran on his shoulder and spoke.
"Doncha worry old man, just a rock."
"Guess the old man's gone senile," Fionn said.
Urick didn't like Fionn's comment as he glared at him intensely.
He approached Fionn, "What's your problem man?"
Fionn smiled, "Nothing."
With squinted eyes, I stared at where Aran pointed.
"It moved..."
"What did you say?" Jin asked.
I pointed in the same direction Aran pointed in earlier.
"Something's moving."
With that, I caught everyone's attention. They're also trying to view what's in the distance.
Amelka who's been quiet for a while pointed to another location and spoke.
"There also..."
Finnley took his knife out of his pocket.
"Everyone ready yours as well!"
I gulped and followed what Finnley said. Everyone also took out their knives and readied themselves for combat. We stood our ground and watch as those moving things multiplied from afar. Compared to everyone, Aran's shaking too much.
Most of the other players also noticed the things popping in front of them like mushrooms. They also took a halt and waited for the others. I think they wanted to know what Hector will command them.
There's a lot, too many to count. Those things covered the whole field. But after rising from the ground, those things also stopped as if waiting for something. The wait made the atmosphere more tense.
After a few minutes, the thundering noise from before came back. This time, dark clouds form around the tower, and it spread throughout the entire stage within seconds. With the dark clouds covering the skies, the area grew darker yet we are able to see almost as clear as day. Then the surge of wind came again. This time a bit harsher.
And those creatures from the distance sprinted as if riding the surge of wind.
"Ready for combat!"
I looked back to see who shouted those words. It's Hector. With his words, those who decided to work with him shouted at the top of their lungs.
The creatures were only a couple of meters away from us. Behind them formed a dust storm. Now that they are more visible most of us realized what those creatures are.
Aran who appeared more afraid than anyone shouted as he makes sense of what those sprinting things were.
"Z-Zombies!"