After my previous use of the Zantai power, I was still a little weak. But I was ever ready to take on some foes.
Sounge galloped to the entrance of the tower and made sure to give a good kick to whoever decided to flee. Druk pounced on two guards at a time and using his claws, he ripped the armor apart. Then killing them was an easy task. But I had no claws to fight with and the battle-axe only managed to create dents. After a good few hits, I managed to strike the stomach of the guard.
I looked around for more enemies but most of them were busy trying to control the wild bull that Druk was. Then my eyes fell on the monster that held the sword. His rage knew no bounds when he started attacking me. He was fluently using his sword, though heavy and sharp. Many a times, I blocked his attacks with Magnum as a shield. His hard and continuous hits told me that he was an impatient creature which I took as a weak point. I played the long game with my shield and at last he got irritated and tired. His quick movements slowed down but his attacks were still coming hot. I finally transformed Magnum back into a battle-axe and pierced through the guard's chest. He cried in pain but none of his allies were present to hear him. They were all killed by Druk.
"Where do you think your friends are?" Druk asked. I thought over it. All of a sudden, I knew that they were very close by. I used my Zantai power and was shocked to see waves of energy flowing through the air. I was able to see a figure glowing through the floor. I focused a little more and found that it was trying to communicate with me. Messages were exchanged and I eventually found out that Amanda was using her Zantai power to lead us to them. They were prisoned in the basement. I wondered where the stairs which would lead us down were.
Amanda through Zantai told me to break one of the walls at the corner. I went there and with my battle-axe, gave the wall a thrash. It immediately fell down on the other side, showing a secretive path which none of us would have ever guessed if Amanda wasn't helping. Before we could march forward, she told me to get to the terrace first where I would meet a guard who has a key with him. She conveyed that normal thrashing couldn't break the prison they were in and that the key was necessary. I wanted to argue that Anderclar liquid had enough strength to overcome anything. But I restrained myself from wasting it as we may use it during the war. So, I decided to follow the instructions given.
Druk said, "There are more on the top floors!" The grand stairs which led to the next floor was blocked by a bunch of guards. They looked anxious for blood so we decided to give it to them. Not our blood, theirs!
I wasn't tired at all from the previous battle and was ready for more. But I felt a little tensed about how long the fight will keep going. After all, we weren't here to battle. We had still not freed the DELTAs yet. The guards rushed down and we climbed up to meet them in a mid-stairway fight. Most of them were killed. The ones who survived tried to flee but Sounge kicked them with his mighty hooves. We progressed up and met with more of the sword guys. Druk and I had by then learnt to fight together with coordination. Without any eye contact, we knew when the other needed help and would rush for aid.
Sounge also followed us but at a distance so that no monster could escape and alert the guards outside. Nobody knew that a tower of the Abandoned Palace was being captured. After about half an hour of climbing stairs along with fighting, we finally reached the top floor. We missed many beautifully decorated floors in order to progress forward. If I was on a tour, I would be clicking pictures of every single part of the tower. Even the top floor wasn't the end. There were ladders leading to the terrace, the main defense of the towers. I found one of the guards climbing the stairs in order to alert the creatures upstairs to blow the emergency horn. I caught him by his feet and threw him directly down the stairs, to the lower floor.
Druk looked at this act of mine and commented, "It's not Magnum alone who is strong. Your muscles seem to be ready for a duel too!" I just smiled as we didn't have time. We started climbing the ladders – Druk taking the left one and me taking the right. Together we reached the top where a group of monsters were looking aghast. It's not their fault either. Who would expect the prince of Xorai and a random dude from a Realm to all of a sudden show up at the terrace and kill everyone?
Druk and I wiped out all of the guards around. In excitement, Druk was also thinking of dropping one of the monsters down the tower. I stopped him saying that he would alert the guards by suddenly dropping a dead body right on their face! Sounge was unable to climb the ladders and was waiting for the result of the battle up top. I gave him thumbs up to relieve him. I also snatched the key which was hanging on one of the soldiers' waist. "Blaze! Look at this place." Druk said. We had been so engrossed in the fight that I hadn't even seen the landscape from top. I looked around and saw a lot of things. I noticed the bridge which we had followed to get here. I noticed the number of monsters which present. There were lots of thin towers around. They were small compared to main three towers. In front of us, I found the central tower which was even at such a height making my neck pain to watch its peak. It surely was the largest structure in the whole of Darknor! Beside it, I could see a little portion of the tower on the right. It was smaller than on which we were standing but still looked menacing enough.
I decided that halting would lead into trouble. We climbed down the ladder and ran as fast as possible to the ground floor where the path to the basement was. Just then a large trumpet was blown. Outside, a few monsters gathered. When I say a few, I mean in thousands. Of course it was nothing compared to King Jalaar's army but a thousand is a heavy number. They could have crushed us without even a war.
I then heard Raptor's voice, "Hail King Jalaar!!!!" The King had reached the Abandoned Palace.