Chase entered the portal which teleported him back to the top of the tower once he had gone through all the hundred floors. If he wanted to quit, a door would have opened in front of him leading him to the outside world but he didn't. He took a deep breath and placed all of his focus on the task ahead as he stepped forward.
It was time.
*****
The team that Maria had sent to look for Chase had returned for the fourth time with nothing. She was about to send them back again but refrained from doing so, since it would be a waste of time. Lucas was expelled for a bit which was good but, the MTF were less effective considering that the strongest of the group who was also their leader wasn't there but at least, they came back with less injuries as they were now fighting more strategically but the time taken to defeat a specific monster had increased.
Maria sighed. She abandoned the search... For now. She glanced at a document by her desk, took it and started reading.
******
Chase had grown at an incredibly fast rate, making him able to rerun the tower for the second time. He couldn't care less about the rewards and just kept on going but Tridius saved them for him without his knowledge. The stronger Chase got, the stronger the enemies also got and the rewards became better too but, he was always a step ahead even without Tridius' help. He had reached the last floor of his third run and walked towards the opened grande door after scorching some kind of plant monster to death.
This was going to be his last run as he wanted to gain as much power and experience as possible before he went back into the world. He expected the boss to be the same as all the other rounds but, Chase instantly felt that something wasn't right, making him extremely cautious as he stepped through the door of the hundredth floor.
A frightening aura escaped from the room but Chase was prepared and not at all scared. The monster was quite huge, five times Chase's height to be exact. It had amber eyes and a brown body with weird red markings all over it. Sharp scales could be visibly seen and a low chilly growl escaped from its mouth by every passing second. It carried a long brown spear in its left hand and a rope was found around its waist revealing two masks sitting there. Although the monster looked like nothing special, it was best not to judge it from it's appearance.
Chase was going to fight it even though he could feel a difference in power however, his days of running away were far behind him, additionally, Tridius was there for backup. But something still didn't feel right. What was it, this unsettling feeling? Yes, the boss monster was intimidating and scary but that was the least of his worries, something else felt out of place.
The room was well lit and there were no places to hide but, the monster had still not made a move, almost as if, it was waiting for something. A sound came from above but, Chase didn't have time to look as a huge boulder came crashing down on him causing him to jump forward but he soon regretted it as the monster made its move and threw his spear at him. Catching it was out of the question so he dodged to the left and sighed when the spear had slightly passed him yet, it had reallocated itself back in the owner's hand to Chase's surprise.
"Never thought that you would dodge both of those attacks." A voice from above observed, "I got to say, I'm impressed." Chase looked up and saw six figures standing on the ceiling above the entrance.
'Humans!' Chase thought as the figures vanished from the ceiling and stood behind him. They were all wearing masks, hoods and dark cloaks, making them hard to identify
"Be careful master!" Tridius warned. "I've heard of humans that entered the towers when individuals attempt it in order to steal their rewards."
"Give me what you have." One of the individuals uttered menacingly. Chase realised that Tridius was in fact correct.
"Do you also want what I'll get after defeating the boss?" Chase asked.
"There's no need for that." The suspicious individual said as he took out a gun from his waist and aimed it at the boy. "You just need to die."
"What about the monster?" Chase asked, trying to find a way out of this situation but mostly keeping an eye on it.
"We brainwashed him, so it'll be easier to kill him later."
"How?"
"We have a spell caster here." The suspicious individual said as he pointed at one of his people. "I don't like killing children but you've accumulated a good amount of rewards which would make the trip worth it."
"Can I ask you one question?" Chase asked.
"Fire away, "The sus individual responded in an unenthusiastic manner, "It'll be your last one anyways."
"How did you get in since this tower is only for people who want to attempt it?"
"We followed you as you attempted your second run." He replied yawning. "Everytime the tower is cleared, a door is opened for the challenger to exit the tower and a portal which would send the challenger back to the top. So, we waited for you to complete the tower and just headed inside when the door opened. As to how we knew you were here, our people are constantly monitoring the tower to see if there are any potential candidates that could be easily robbed and, we found you."
This was bad! Not only because he had to escape the dubious individual's shot, he had to be wary of the four other distrustful figures and the monster on standby. On top of that, he was in the middle, so doing anything rash would result in his death and the brainwasher could prove to be a big threat to him.
"Master!" Tridius said. "I'll watch your flank!" Chase nodded and the sus pulled the trigger. But, chase was already on the move and dived to the left, making sure that the monster was still in his sight.
The bullet missed but the sus wasted no time and fired again but it was dodged once more. Chase was about to launch an elemental attack but a shiny object caught his eye. He realised that the monster had moved and the sus had shot his gun a split second before the monster had thrown its spear which would have collided with Chase and probably leave him bleeding out on the ground if Tridius hadn't placed an ice wall strong enough to stop the spear's journey.
Chase stood up and Tridius ran to his side. Chase faced the skepticals whilst Tridius faced the monster and they were ready to begin their counter attack. The leader motioned for three of the skepticals to attack the boy and they obliged.
The first one who had a red mask jumped highly in the air before launching a red blast with his hand. The pair jumped to the side to avoid it but the second skeptical who wore a blue mask moved quickly to Chase side and gave him a round house kick which sent him flying towards the wall.
"Master!" Tridius anxiously shouted. The third dubious individual who wore a purple mask intercepted Chase's flight and kneed him in the stomach before following up with an axe kick that brought him down on the ground. Chase coughed and tried to catch his breath but they didn't leave him any room for that. The next attack came quickly: The purple skeptical viciously kicked Chase's sides which sent him rolling a couple of metres and the red skeptical tried to jump on him from above but, Chase rolled aside just in nick of time just to be rewarded by an electric shock that sent his body into a slight spasm.
The monster had also made its move and threw his spear towards the boy on the ground but was once again blocked by Tridius' ice wall. He then proceeded to place an ice barrier around himself and his master to buy him some time and to allow him to catch his breath.
"Are you able to handle them master?" Tridius worriedly asked. "They're strong and we don't know what the monster can do." The ice wall was starting to crack slowly but surely, meaning that they were making their move.
"Yes." Chase said, clutching his side and standing up with a stagger. "I'll be able to handle it."
"The problematic one is the brainwasher." Tridius stated as he reinforced the wall. "You would need to take him out first before we can make serious progress. But, there's no telling what would occur if the brainwash is uplifted. So we would need to be cautious." Chase nodded and steeled himself.
"I'm ready." He said as he took his hand off of his ribs. Chase knew what he had to do and Tridius was confident in his master's abilities. Tridius lifted the ice wall and within seconds of it dissipating, Chase had already made his move towards the brainwasher whilst being all too weary of the rest of the opposition. The purple chary sent down purple lightning on Chase but he swiftly dodged and countered with his own dose of black lightning, knocking the purple chary backwards into the wall.
Chase kept on running. The red cynical tried firing a fireball towards Chase but, Tridius had sent a huge ice arrow which pierced through the man's chest and he died on the spot. Chase couldn't believe that he had witnessed someone's death but that was the least of his worries as he had to save himself first. The other suspicious individuals were slightly surprised but didn't care much and shifted their attention back onto the boy and his pet.
Chase was 20 metres away from the brainwasher and the leader when the blue and the purple suspicious individuals unleashed a terrifying attack. They had both risen in the air and had merged water and lightning powers together in a giant ball and threw it at Chase. That wasn't the only thing. The monster had also thrown a spear and the leader had raised his gun and pulled the trigger. Attacks were coming from all three sides but the boys were focused. Tridius jumped towards his master and cold vapour filled the room.
"What is that?" The purple dubious asked as the vapour cleared, a huge figure sent chills down his spines and a cold atmosphere filled the room.
"A-a-a wolf!?" The blue one exclaimed. The suspects were surprised and pretty shaken up because of the fact that a huge, terrifying wolf was standing in front of them, ready to devour them at any second.
"Thanks." Chase said as he turned to the wolf. Tridius nodded and spat out the spear he had caught in his mouth. Tridius had shielded Chase from the attacks using his original form and seemed to have taken no damage from them and as for the bullet, it didn't even hit Chase.
"Now is your chance master, while they're still stunned." he said. Chase nodded and rapidly approached the brainwasher. Tridius stomped his paw on the ground, creating ice spikes between the leader and the brainwasher making them jump away from each other.
"I'll take care of the two others." Tridius said as he made a path for his master to easily reach his opponent. Since the brainwasher was startled, it didn't have enough time to react or to even control the monster when a lightning filled punch sent him crashing into the grande door. Chase turned towards the leader and attacked.