"You've done well." Cedric, the survivor, gripped me by the shoulder, a lone tear running down his face.
As it would turn out, I did have something to fear when being trained by Cedric for he was what I like to consider the devil incarnate. Because of the mystical magical properties of the water, any time Cedric saw me succumbing to the pain of exercising, he'd throw me in the water.
Healing up in mere moments, Cedric didn't stop his relentless training. And since it seemed like I didn't have the need to eat or drink, we continued for a long… long time.
I could only take a break when Cedric needed to eat or drink!
Now, what Cedric taught me was undoubtedly valuable, but would I ever want to experience such torture ever again? No, no I didn't.
If I ever died on this tower run, I'd know to never accept Cedric's training again.
Cedric basically taught me how to survive and how to properly take advantage of holes in an opponent's defense. And now, I was finally ready to climb to the next floor… ready to challenge the killer turtle monster again. I would NOT see my throat flapping from the mouth of a turtle.
With Cedric waving me off up the stairs with his bandana much like a housewife would, I hurriedly escape.
Breathing a sigh of relief upon dropping into the muddy water, I never had to see Cedric again.
Sloshing my way through the muddy water, I look around, constantly searching for the ripples. Abruptly, a ripple appears in the water directly ahead of me.
Swimming ever closer to me, the turtle monster peeks its shell out and then its bulbous head. Extending its neck upwards to what I presume to be its maximum length, the turtle clicks a few times. But by then, I had already thrown my staff forward, slamming it into the elongated neck.
Making a sound very similar to what a human would make if they got hit in the neck, the turtle's neck starts to wave around widely.
Seeming to have recovered from the neck strike, the turtle goes to retract its neck.
Swiftly picking up my staff, I waltz up to the shell of the monster and poise myself, ready to strike down on the head that would soon be appearing.
The split moment where the monster's head sat outside of its shell is the moment that I struck. Bringing the staff down like a heavy weight, I felt as if the turtle's skull was cracked open.
Still receding back into the shell, however, I quickly jump atop the shell, hooking my feet between spikes. Standing there while feeling blood pump through my veins, nothing happens for an entire minute. By then, I'd slightly dropped my guard and was preparing to jump back into the muddy water. But just to be safe, I searched around for the stairway that should lead to the next floor.
Heaving a sigh of relief upon finding the door, I dismount from the turtle, being careful to not scratch myself on the turtle monster's spikes. Wiping the mud from my legs and staff, I drop down into the next swampy area.
All that serves to do though is recover my legs with the mud I just cleaned off.
Wondering why this was a tip that Cedric had given me when dealing with mud, I recall, "So that it doesn't permanently cake on and weigh you down."
Shaking my head free of Cedric, I see two ripples approaching me at a "fast" speed.
Honestly, I could probably run away with the way I am right now, but the next floor won't reveal itself until I kill all the monsters on this floor. Quickly coming up with a plan to deal with two at once, I decided to run toward the approaching turtle monsters.
Sensing my approach from the ripples, the turtle monsters are quick to raise their heads from the water and grow them to their entire six-foot length. Clicking a few times, I finally reach a spot just between the two turtle monsters.
Feeling my feet hit against something leathery in nature, I presume it to be the legs of the turtle monsters. I'd rather not think of it as anything else because if I did, then I'd freak out and turn back into the wimpy adult I was just a few floors before.
Wielding my staff like one would a shot from shot put, I twirl myself around, smacking the front side of the neck of one and the backside of the other. Whipping their heads around crazily, the turtle monsters recover and try to go back to the protection of their shell.
Having both of their necks recede at the same time, I find myself in a rather serious predicament. I could kill one, but what would I do about the other?
Looking between the two anxiously, I crushed the skull of one and tried to spin around to break the skull of the other the moment before it entered the shell, but my staff instead hit its beak, doing absolutely no damage at all.
"Uh…"
Shooting out from the void its shell offered, the turtle monster tried to rip my throat away. However, with the improved reactions I'd gotten, I'm barely able to bring my staff up high enough to block the strike.
Finding myself getting shoved backward through the mud, the monster's neck reaches the maximum length and that's when I finally get a break. With my arms shaking sporadically, the turtle monster raises its neck high up into the air, clicking a bit more. The clicks seemed to be mocking me almost like laughter.
With barely enough muscle strength, I wind my staff backward, chucking it back into the neck of the turtle monster.
"You never learn, do you?" I jump my way through the muddy water, picking up my sinking staff along the way and smacking it into the receding turtle head.
Turning this way and that, the stairway finally appears, letting me breathe easier. Scraping the mud off my body, I sat at the top of the pedestal wondering if there was a better way to deal with multiple turtle monsters.
Two was easy enough, but what about three and four? What about nine?
Feeling myself grow incredibly troubled, I trill my lips and decide to just go about it like I just had.
"Deal with one at a time!" Pumping my fist into the air, I proceed to fight the three turtle monsters.
Finding it to be just as difficult as I thought it would be, I sigh, "I'll use it till it doesn't work anymore."
With that sort of logic, I make it all the way to the boss's door. I was absolutely riddled with wounds and had a bit of my flesh torn away, especially around my knuckles. I could even see a bit of my bone showing through, but for some odd reason, I couldn't really feel the pain.
It was like I was staring at a bleeding paper cut expecting it to hurt, but then it just doesn't. Even though this is a bit more extreme than a paper cut, the sentiment remains the same.
With my wound-riddled hands, I push over the boss's door and walk through.
Feeling an overly intense wave of nausea wash over me, I fall to my knees and cling to the incredibly smooth and bony ground.
With the feeling of nausea only getting worse from the swaying I felt, I puke all over the smooth ground and watch through blurry eyes as my vomit streams away from me.
Following the trail, I become stunned by my surroundings instead. Instead of the normally dreary feeling the swamp had before, I was greeted by an endlessly beautiful blue sky and bountiful clouds. There was even a present breeze that swept across my face… and my knuckles.
Feeling the wind touch my exposed bone, I silently scream, stuffing my hands behind my shirt to hide them from the ferocious winds. But in my haste, I scratch my wounds against my shirt, causing them to flare up. Suffering unimaginable pain, I fall backward, convulsing every time my hand wounds brushed against my shirt.
Amidst my entire struggle, I also felt a pull that made me want to roll in the same direction my vomit had gone. And that urge was only made worse when the platform I stood on shook back and forth. In fact, what was it that I stood on for it to be moving this violently?
Recuperating from painful outbursts, I carefully stand up, desperately trying to protect my hands. Wincing every time something went wrong, I persevered to get back to my feet. And it was upon standing at full mast that the swaying became ten times worse.
Staring at the ground closely, it was grey in color and dressed in lichens. The ground was an array of hills and valleys. Kneeling so I could feel less of an effect from the swaying, I found myself on the side of one of the hills.
Staring out at the edge of the ground, I raised an eyebrow when I found that it just suddenly drops off. It wasn't like staring at a horizon, it just suddenly disappeared.
Using my elbows, I climb down the hill I was on and then walk through the valley to get to the edge of whatever it was I was on.
Amidst my walk, I wondered, 'Where's the boss?'
Peeking over the edge, I found the answer to my question when I saw two large spotted, leathery legs moving forward at an incredibly lethargic pace.
Trying to find what this thing was walking on; I pursed my lips upon seeing it walk in the sky. Thinking it was just a water optical illusion, that was broken when I noticed there were no ripples of any kind.
"If this thing has legs, then it has to have a head." Sucking in air, I walk through the valleys all the way to what I presumed to be the front of the monster. At the front, there was a lip I had to climb.
Revealing my knuckles to the elements, I climb the lip and gawk at the massive head of the monster. Rubbing at my eyes to make sure I wasn't dreaming; I fell back down the lip a sudden revelation coming to me.
I was on a giant tortoise's shell.
Pulling at my face, I start to talk to myself. "If that's the boss monster… which it most certainly should be… then how am I supposed to kill it?"
Staring between my staff and where the head of the monster's head was, I shook that idea away.
"There has to be some way to kill it… the administrators wouldn't make an impossible."
Putting full faith in the so-called administrators, even though I had no idea what their intentions were, I started to search around the shell of the tortoise boss.
As if feeling the tiny pitter-patter on its back from all the walking I was doing, the tortoise starts to shake. It started off as a soft feeling, but it slowly escalated into something that felt like an earthquake.
Said earthquake lasted for who knows how long and by the end of it, I found myself dangling from the edge of its shell, looking into what might possibly be eternal nothingness. Scrambling away from the edge as quickly, the tortoise boss seemed to believe it had gotten rid of me.
Having explored the entire shell of the monster and found nothing, the only left for me to explore was the monster's head.
Climbing up the lip once more, I sit on the crest of the lip and stare down at the place where I'd be landing. Finding the distance to be a lot more than I bargained for, I was about to go back to the shell valleys, but the tortoise boss suddenly bucked, throwing me from the lip and down.
Flailing my arms and legs widely while screaming out loudly, I smack against the soft, leathery skin of the tortoise painfully.
Clutching at my… everything, the tortoise felt me fall on its neck and starts to swing.
Not having the time to care about my own injuries, I clung to the tortoise's skin for dear life. Ending its charade, I stand up on wobbly legs and start to look around.
Behind me, there was an endless void offered by the shell. In front of me, there was a constantly moving head that'd likely throw me off in moments. Not liking either option to search through first, I decided that it'd be at least a little bit safer to enter the endless shell void.
Entering pitch darkness, I immediately fall to my knees and start to feel around with my hands, searching for anything that could serve as a weakness against the tortoise. As I progressed further into the tortoise boss, things started to get… brighter?
With a glow emanating from somewhere, I no longer had to feel around for weak spots since I could just spot them instead. Anxiously searching, my eyes land on another void of pitch black, but this void sat in the skin of the monster.
Marching forward, I curl my fingers over the rim and peek in. Scratching my head while being unable to see anything in the hole, I wonder what it's for.
Just then, the tortoise let out an obnoxiously loud groan, and then a flood of air rushed out from the shell. Nearly blowing me with it, I frantically look around, wondering what would happen next.
More specifically, I looked up because it seemed to me that the shell was getting a bit closer. Oh, wait no, it's definitely getting closer.
With my eyes wide, I hold my hands up to the approaching shell. But rather than protecting me, it lets me feel the excruciating pain of my arms getting crushed into my body and piercing my organs.
Letting out a gargled scream, I feel the cool touch of the shell against my forehead, and then…