Making our way to the next… floor. Marvin stumbled out of it and retched.
"Now that," He wipes at his mouth, pointing back at where the door had been, "Is… wait, where'd the door go?"
Peering around me every which way, Marvin shakes his head, completely lost. "This tower is really weird."
"And dangerous." I remind him.
"Sure, sure…" Marvin sighs, now looking around.
Upon seeing the calm river, he nearly dashed toward it, but a firm hand on his shoulder kept him from moving forward.
"Do you have a death wish?"
"No…" Marvin deadpans, "I can deal with whatever comes at me."
Wanting to smack him over the head for his overconfidence, I grunt, "Wouldn't it be better to deal with those monsters together?"
"Could you even deal with one by yourself?" Marvin answers my question with another question.
"I did before… I can do it again."
"Mhmm." Marvin rolls his eyes, "Oh hey, the monsters…"
Sure enough, two monsters had appeared across the calm river. Throwing taunts at the two of us, desperately trying to grab our attention, I ignore them and only look over my shoulder. Within a few moments, two monsters appeared from the tree line, brandishing their knives with vigor.
Having figured out the working of my sheath on the previous… floor, I pull out a sharp blade. Not slowing their charge in the slightest, I nearly let out a war cry to start my fight with them.
But my potential heroic act was cut short by a fast-moving Marvin.
In calm silence, Marvin, who'd run towards the monsters with his spear held on his shoulder, swung it out wide. The small tip that sat on the end of the spear was out at the perfect length to cut across the faces of the monsters.
Recoiling in shock from the sudden injuries, the monsters start to scream out.
"You helping or not?"
Finding Marvin staring at me with such ferocity, I nodded dumbly.
Sauntering over to the suffering monsters, I raise my sword above my head, ready to kill one. But, as if recognizing my shadow as the lead-up to the prey, the monster leaps forward.
Grabbing me by the waist, the monster begins to tear into my abdomen. Releasing my sword behind me, I begin to wail, trying to detach the monster. Feeling as though my insides were being clawed out, I start to hectically swing my fists into the head of the monster.
What felt like hours of torture for me, was but seconds in the real world.
I saw Marvin approaching me from the corner of my eye, and very faintly I heard him shouting, "Stop swinging your arms godam*it!"
Deciding to trust in Marvin, I raised my arm above my head, letting Marvin get a clear shot at the monster. Not disappointing, Marvin separates the monster's head from its neck, causing the monster to flop into two halves of the monster to hit the ground.
"Goodness, you are useless." Marvin shakes his head in disappointment.
Staring down at the wound the monster had inflicted, I nearly fainted at the blood that shot out of my body. Painfully applying pressure to my wound, I wobble back and forth, silver dotting my vision.
Feeling multiple slaps on my cheek, Marvin revives me, "Hey now, don't go dying on me. We still have a job to finish here, and a tower too."
Regaining a bit of my rationality, my vision clears and I'm able to answer Marvin.
"You're right." I pant.
"Oh, sh*t, here they come now."
Mimicking the direction Marvin was looking, I find two monsters coming from both sides.
"Can I rely on you to at least handle THAT one?" Marvin points at the monster that would be closest to me.
"Yeah… yeah…"
"Then pick up your sword and kill it…" Marvin hype me up, "You can do it."
Casting my gaze down, my eyes lock on the sword I drop. Swiftly picking it up, I ignore the throbbing of my abdomen and swiftly swing the sword at the monster. Not even attempting to dodge the readable attack, my sword passes clean through the monster.
Breathless, the sword drops from my hands, and I examine my handiwork.
Closing my eyes, I stare up, "Why… why does it have to be this way?"
Once again ignoring my inner turmoil, Marvin slaps me on the shoulder.
"Hey! You did it! Congrats!" Marvin then peers down at my wound and recoils. "Ooh, that really is bad… you should uh… clean it."
Swaying my way over to the river, I gently laid my stomach in it. Wincing at the pain, I eventually came to and dressed my wound with a non-tattered part of my shirt.
"Can you keep going?" Marvin peers ask me as I brought myself out of the calm river.
"Yeah." I readily shake my head, "I've already dealt with worse."
Checking with me one last time, Marvin climbs his way up the created stairway.
"I'll wait for you at the top!"
Nodding in understanding, I walk to each of the monster corpses and pay respects. Walking to the last corpse, which was the first monster Marvin had dealt with, I grow dispirited upon seeing it cut into several separate pieces. Even if it was a monster, it didn't deserve to be mutilated this way.
Lamenting, I set off up the stairs, forgetting my sheath.
"Ready?" Bobbing my head, Marvin smiled, "Then let's go!"
And go we did.
Entering the third floor, Marvin and I, who already knew the tricks of this floor, killed all six monsters. I had managed to injure myself while fending two monsters off at the same time, but Marvin on the other hand remained uninjured.
On the fourth floor, I once again managed to injure myself. Every floor on, I managed to injure myself somehow. Yet Marvin, even when facing off against eighteen monsters singlehandedly, didn't even get a scratch.
As I had done on my first climb, Marvin stood frozen in front of the door that led to floor ten.
"So, behind this door is your killer?" Bobbing my head frantically, Marvin then asks me, "Any sort of weakness I should know about?"
Shaking my head in shame, Marvin gives me a friendly smile.
"Hey, it's all right… just know that we're going to kill this monster…"
Placing my trust in Marvin, we walk into the tenth floor. Once again greeted by the sight of a cave, I turned over to Marvin to see him nearly shout. Covering his mouth hurriedly, I placed a finger over my lips. Seeming disappointed, Marvin walks with me to the cave's opening.
Entering the arena, Marvin began to look around frantically.
'Where?' I see him mouth.
Forgetting to have explained what the giant monster looked like, I pointed at the black rock in the center. Looking between me and the giant monster, Marvin doesn't seem to believe me.
Inching closer to the monster, it seems to finally pick up our scents and wake up.
Now that he actually saw the supposed rock move, he hurriedly moved back to me.
Revealing its large stature, the monster looks at us. As if seeing the dim light reflected off the length of my sword, the monster grew alert. Unlike before when it had gone about killing me leisurely, the monster now hurriedly grabs the tree trunk and runs towards us. Even though I described that with energy, the monster was still moving at a slow pace, giving Marvin and me a bit of time to split apart.
And sure enough, the monster was tracking the light that shone from my blade as it chases after me rather than Marvin. Approaching me from a more direct route, the giant monster manages to corner me in a circular room.
Letting out a cry that forced me to cover my ears, the monster ended its bellow and swung at me.
"Don't worry Edwin," I find Marvin jumping up behind the giant monster, "I'll save you."
Stabbing the monster with his spear, everything came to a standstill.
Wondering if Marvin had killed the monster with a single blow, my hopes were dashed as the monster turned its head and body to look at Marvin. His spear, which was still lodged in the monster, had lost all momentum traveling through the giant monster's cloak.
It had only given the monster a flesh wound.
Seeming upset by the wound it received, the monster swiped at Marvin.
"Oh sh-"
Not dodging in time, Marvin was flung to the other side of the cave, his body skidding across the floor. The monster, seemingly so enraged at Marvin, completely forgot about me.
Leaving its back open, the monster stalks its way to Marvin. Fearing that the same thing would happen to me if I were to interfere, I glued my feet and simply watched. But after hearing the pained groans of Marvin, and remembering all that he did for me, I take one step toward the monster.
Finding that it still didn't react to me, I grew a bit more confident and took another step.
Each time the monster didn't react was one where I grew more confident. Just as the monster loomed over Marvin was the time when I decided to strike.
Still planted on the ground, I swiped my sword at the spot where I thought the knee of the monster was.
Slicing through the cloak of the monster and its leg with ease, I nearly toppled over from my own swing.
Crumpling under its own weight, the monster released its grip on its club and grabbed at its now amputated leg. Whimpering in pain, Marvin now had enough time to pick himself up and escape from the monster's grasp.
Seeing movement, the giant monster rolls itself over and stares the two of us in the eyes.
Roaring through its helmet, the monster forgot all about its pain and began to swipe at us with its bloodied hands.
Backing away to the other side of the room, Marvin turns towards me, coughing, "What's the plan?"
Before I could even begin to divulge a plan that'd come to mind, the monster dug its fingers through the cave grounds and crawled its way to us. As it lifted its hands, I witness its fingers now being a bloodied, broken mess.
"Just get your spear for now!" I pushed him towards the monster.
"You're not just trying to kill me, right?" Marvin turns to me slowly.
"No!!!" I yell, "When that monster swipes at you just jump over it! It doesn't have the time to react!"
Shaking, Marvin leans back and forward, preparing to sprint.
"C'MON!!!" Having hyped himself up enough, Marvin sprinted forward and upon seeing the giant monster swipe at him, he leaped high into the air.
I watch in horror as the monster's hand just barely passes beneath Marvin. But I breathe a sigh of relief when I see Marvin land on the back of the monster. Yet instead of yanking the spear from the monster like I thought he would, he instead decides to push the spear deeper into the monster.
"WHAT'RE YOU DOING?!"
"These Weapons…" Marvin tirelessly pushes the spear deeper, "Are Unimaginably Sharp!! So, I Feel Like I Can Kil- Woah!"
The monster, which had recovered from the initial shock, was now trying to desperately throw Marvin from its back.
"HELP!"
The monster tries to reach backward to crush Marvin. Seeing that the giant monster's arms were no longer a problem, I rushed forward and threw my sword into the face of the monster. The monster seemed to remember my existence and dropped his head just enough for his eyes to become the target of my throw.
Slicing through both eyes with ease, my sword seems to catch on to the skull of the monster as it stays lodged in its face. Seemingly overwhelmed, the monster's hands seized up, allowing Marvin to give one final push of his spear.
With a stomach-churning crack, Marvin's spear sunk ever deeper into the monster. After a few frightening moments, the monster's movements halted, and then its limbs fell to the ground. For a while, neither Marvin nor I moved as we fear this was a ploy by the monster, but it didn't move again.
Finally realizing it was over, both Marvin and I dropped. I dropped to the ground. Marvin dropped on the back of the monster.
"Wooooh!" Marvin raises his arms in success, but then grabbed at his ribs, "That was Painful!"
Keeping my eyes locked on the corpse of the monster, I felt glad that I was able to kill it, but also guilt-ridden for making it suffer the same fate I once did. Walking up, I pay respects and then rip my sword from its face. Marvin, who was still releasing painful sounds, said something intriguing.
"We don't have to climb to the next door?"
Raising an eyebrow, I peer past the monster and find the door that led to the next area on the same plane. Making my way past the monster, I examined the door. It looked to be made of fresh birch wood and in the center, there was a large, royal green plus sign.
"Do you think we'll get fixed up if we go in there?" Marvin appears next to me, hunched over while clutching at his ribs.
"Well, only one way to find out…"
"Right, you are."
Hooking my arm around Marvin's head, we walk through.