"Let's not fight!" Luke yelled to his would-be opponent, still a few platforms away from where they would inevitably meet. "Fuck," he muttered under his breath as the black-robed man ignored him and leaped to the next platform.
Does he not see how all the fights are turning out? So far, I'm the only person who successfully managed to kill someone who attacked me. The rest all died together. The platforms are way too dangerous of an arena.
Shaking his head, Luke jumped to the next one as well. The only two ways he could imagine surviving were by agreeing not to fight, or by being so fast that fighting became unnecessary. The latter of which ran the risk of an attack from behind.
Is that what he's afraid of? That he can't trust me with his back? Fair, but it makes things a lot harder for both of us.
As he zeroed in onto the platform, though, he realized that both options were becoming increasingly unlikely. Despite the giant man's large frame, he was very nimble. He leaped from one platform to the next with hardly any pause as he moved closer and closer to the obelisk.
As he wiped the sweat off his brow, a feeling of despair manifested in Luke. His opponent had reached the next platform before him.
Cursing under his breath, Luke leaped to the platform just before the occupied one and stared at his opponent, who had drawn his shield and was waiting with a spear leveled at Luke, blocking him from leaping forward.
Luke watched the others as they got closer and closer to the tower. If he wasted too much time with him, he risked not being able to make it before the ten-person limit.
"Look, you can't stand there and expect me to impale myself on your spear."
"I can," the other man replied stubbornly.
"No, you can't, you oaf. If we both stay here, neither of us will make it." Luke tried to explain the situation to him.
"Or you can go the long way around," the other man offered.
Luke lifted his arms in exasperation.
"Are you serious? I won't make it at all, then. I'd rather take my chances with you."
He shrugged and steadied his spear. "So be it."
"Aggg," Luke groaned, snarling in frustration. "Fine, then!" He jumped, activating a protective talisman in midair.
The bubble that surrounded him clashed with the man's spear, and for a moment Luke thought he would bounce off the spear's tip and land in the lava, burning to death as his gambit failed. Instead, the spear ripped free from the giant's hands and rolled into the lava. Luke's bubble dissipated at the same time, and he fell straight onto him.
Before the large man could rip him off and throw him into the lava, Luke wrapped his arms around his neck and swung his body around, pulling them both onto the searing metallic surface of the platform. Sending his sword into his inventory to get a better grip, he ignored the burning pain on his back and did his best to suffocate his enemy.
An attempt that failed right away. His opponent was too strong. With almost casual ease, he pried Luke's arms free from his throat.
This is bad. Think. Think. Think.
Luke summoned an already-activated explosive talisman into his mouth, desperately trying to keep a hold on the man as the timer ticked down in his mind.
With three seconds to go, the man finally managed to free himself. Hastily getting to his feet, he stood over Luke's exhausted form, his shield raised over his head, ready to bludgeon him to death. Luke would have died then and there had his opponent not taken a second to catch his breath.
One second to go.
Luke spit out the explosive talisman, calling forth another protective talisman as he did. The bubble came to life around him milliseconds before the detonation.
I love talismans, he thought with a grin.
Watching the man stagger back, Luke was disappointed that he had managed to block most of the explosion's force with his shield. Recalling his sword into his hand, Luke leaped forward, his blade snaking between his opponent's legs, biting into his flesh. With a flex of his wrist, Luke changed the angle of his blade, hooking it just over his opponent's knee as he did, and with all the force he could muster, he pulled it toward him.
Blinking blood out of his eyes, he flashed a savage grin as his opponent's leg came clean off. Scrambling to his feet, he kicked out his other leg and, with the giant man down, stuck his blade into his throat.
+7 Stat Points
He put all the points into Agility as he struggled to regain his breath.
Fuck. That's three bodies in one day. If I keep going at this rate, my body count is going to surpass my actual body count, he thought sardonically.
Leaning down, he collected his opponent's shield, slinging his own on his back, and quickly riffled through his pockets, just in case he had anything useful. He was rapidly running out of protective talismans and was already regretting not buying even more of them.
"Sorry about this, but you don't need anything you own anymore. Sorry for killing you, too, and if you're still lingering around, I hope no one tries to eat your soul. Also, I tried to do this peacefully, so really, this is all on you," Luke muttered under his breath. "Also, why are you so poor?" He finally managed to find a single explosive talisman and a bottle of cherry-colored pills in the giant's pockets, discreetly storing them into his inventory, not even bothering to read the description on the bottle of pills as he did. He'd already wasted too much time.
Kicking the body into the lava, he resumed his journey, hopping from platform to platform.
Okay, just five more to go.
"No fighting!" Luke yelled at the top of his lungs as he and a lithe woman began closing in on the same platform, just three jumps away from the obelisk.
"Okay. But I'm watching you. Try something, and I'll throw every talisman I have at you."
"Same," Luke responded, marveling at the ease with which he could now move. The benefits of having forty-two points in Agility, now officially his highest attribute, were readily apparent.
In the past, he hadn't found much use for Agility; sparring in a ring was a constrained affair, and while being a little faster and a little more limber with each increase was nice, Luke was still far from being fast or skilled enough to leverage that increased capacity in an actual fight. His rudimentary fighting style defaulted to punching hard and tackling his opponents to the ground and wrestling them when the punching failed him.
Leaping from platform to platform, though, was a different feeling entirely; he could feel the increase like night and day.
Surveying the competition, he was relieved to see that no one had made it to the center yet. Not that he would envy the first person to make it there. They would immediately draw the attention of everyone who was still on the platforms, and the tower was in perfect view of everyone participating.
Whoever tries to climb it first is not going to be in for a fun time. They're going to get pelted with talismans. Actually— Luke stopped four platforms away from the tower. It's better to let people exhaust their talismans before I give it a try. I'd rather risk a sword fight than be blown off and fall into the lava.
"What are you doing?" the woman yelled at him, rapidly leaping from the third platform to the second, then the last. She didn't even wait a second before hopping on to the helical staircase.
She made it two steps before an arrow pierced her neck. Her hands clutched her throat in shock, and she fell into the lava.
Avoiding that.
Luke's eyes narrowed as he mapped the trajectory of the arrow, following it back to a black-robed figure to his right. His eyes briefly met the other man's before he positioned his shield in that general direction.
That's really not good. I'll need to activate another protective talisman, but those things give way after a single solid hit.
I could double-wield shields, too. No. One on my back, and one facing my side, and my sword in my left hand facing the tower. That way I'm covering both my blind spot and protecting my biggest openings. It'll stop an instant kill shot, but getting my leg blown off, or an arrow through my ankle, is just as bad.
Think. Think. Think.
There's no way to sneak up there, not with everyone watching the way like a hawk.
I have … six more of those protective talismans left. Should I just spam them? No … they'll chew through them. I'll use 'em if I need to, but with how crazy this is, I need to conserve my resources.
Luke watched another person start climbing the tower. This time, he managed to catch the arrow with his shield but then fell into the lava when a talisman exploded by his head a moment later. One carried by another arrow that came from a different direction.
Not looking good. Not at all. At least two snipers I'll have to watch out for.
Luke hopped foot to foot, frowning as he did so. Are the platforms getting hotter?
They were.
Just what I needed, a shrinking field of play. I can use this, though. If they get too hot to stand on, then that means less people to snipe anyone who tries to break away.
He looked around the cavern again, noticing a few dozen people all standing on platforms two to three jumps away from the obelisk. Having seen what had happened to the last two people who had attempted to climb the tower, they were understandably cautious of meeting a similar fate.
Not that Luke could blame them—the tomb had turned out to be far more lethal than he, or anyone for that matter, had expected. Save perhaps the Elders who had sent them here in the first place.
Something's gotta give, though. We can't just stand around here forever.
He winced in pain as the platform suddenly became hotter.
At this rate, we'll burn alive before someone moves.
A moment later, half the platforms suddenly sank beneath the lava. Those unfortunate enough to stand on them went with them.
Okay, that's it.
Luke activated a protective talisman and leaped into action, and he wasn't the only one, either. With the threat of random death if they delayed too long, it suddenly wasn't worth staying and waiting for an opportune time.
With everyone rushing in, it suddenly made more sense to bull-rush the staircase and seek protection in chaos.
An arrow struck Luke's barrier, and another whizzed by his head as he leaped onto the final platform. Reapplying his bubble, Luke leaped onto the first of the helical steps leading to the cavern inside the obelisk, then the second, before his barrier timed out. He frowned as he applied another one the same instant, counting the five-second timers in his head.
I need to be more careful with how I use my inventory. I doubt anyone will guess what I'm actually doing right away, but that's still no reason to be careless.
He leaped onto the second step as he counted the people ahead of him. He sighed in relief when he counted seven. Relief instantly turned to shock as a handful of explosive talismans sailed over his head and knocked five of those seven into the lava.
That's it.
Luke pulled out all twenty of his preactivated explosive talismans and tossed them into the crowd behind him, doubling up on his protective talismans as he did so. Then, without looking at the devastation he had wrought, he rapidly climbed to the third, fourth, and fifth step. The talismans didn't last long.
An arrow bounced off the shield on his back, and Luke activated another protective talisman.
Just a little more.
Pushing himself as far as he could, he rapidly ascended the three more steps before his talisman fizzled out.
He mentally prodded his inventory to activate another one, only to frown as none came. He was out.
Fuck, fuck, FUCK!
He climbed one more step before risking a glance behind him, batting away an arrow aimed directly at him as he did so.
Luck seemed to be on his side, though, as in the next moment another series of explosive talismans burst in the middle of the crowd, knocking the vast majority of them into the lava.
This is brutal.
Luke raced up another three steps, feeling naked with the lacking state of his defenses.
Just two more steps, and I'm there.
A talisman landed on the step in front of him. He gritted his teeth and leaped onto the step anyway, extracting every ounce of value from his Agility attribute he could to make sure his foot landed on it, sending the explosive talisman straight to his inventory milliseconds before it blew.
One more step.
He scrambled forward and dived onto the last step. An arrow sank into the flesh of his thigh. Wincing in pain, he stumbled into the cavern. A bright flash of light surrounded him.
I can't believe I made it.