Nico quickly conjured up flames in his hands and took a deep breath.
"Those closest to the wall, grab the torches and whatever you do, do not engage in this fight," he instructed, causing suspicious gazes to fall on him.
"Why's that?" Jax asked. "You got a plan?"
"Not exactly, but I believe we can't let all these torches burn out. Once they do, the game is technically over, and you know what that means, don't you?" Nico explained.
Jax nodded and grabbed the torch, keeping his eyes open and scanning his surroundings. More monsters were approaching from behind, so the group needed an idea and fast.
Sophia looked behind her and gritted her teeth. Then, she snatched a torch from another player and immediately dashed in the opposite direction.
"What the fuck are you doing?!" Jax exclaimed as he watched her run towards the darkness.
Ignoring him, Sophia reached the closest unlit torch and shared the flame from the one she had in her hands, allowing it to cast light once more. Then, she did the same for the torch on the other side. When she did, the monsters in the dark stopped approaching, glaring at her with their blood-red eyes.
She smirked. "Hey, Nico, go ahead and light up the ones ahead," she commanded. "The more torches we light up, the less space they'll have to roam freely. Eventually, they'll have to step into the light to fight us."
Without responding, Nico dashed for the dark and began blasting his flames on the walls, lighting up any of the torches on the wall. Victor dashed past Nico without any warning whatsoever, causing him to slightly panic.
But, before he could even say anything, he heard sounds of bones breaking and unearthly screams following them. He grabbed a torch and threw it as far as he could, allowing the light to travel in Victor's direction.
Victor was surrounded, but within the short seconds of him rushing into the darkness, 3 grotesque monsters with humanoid bodies and short, black fur, lay dead on the ground, blue blood flowing out of their heads, which were made of the skulls of dead buffalo.
'Wendigos!' Nico said internally as he quickly pulled out his Voided Xiphos and began cleaving through the monsters that surrounded Victor. With one torch at hand, the two players had to rely on that to keep them safe.
Victor chuckled. "Finally... Things are starting to get interesting!" he shouted as he punched a wendigo and sent it flying, cracking its skull and causing it to land on other wendigos.
One by one, Victor tore through the monsters with a maniacal smile on his face, which was now splattered in blue blood. But, he didn't care.
Nico barely had a chance to fight the monsters himself, so he decided to light up the remaining torches. Once they were fully lit, the wendigos had been revealed. As fast as the eye could blink, the monsters dashed past Nico and Victor, charging towards the players.
The players readied themselves for the incoming onslaught and began brawling with the wendigos. The malevolent beasts snarled and snapped their jaws at the players while clawing at them with their long and sharp nails.
One by one though, the wendigos fell and turned to dust, dropping white shards in their place of different shapes and sizes. After a few minutes, the monsters were completely felled, leaving behind the faint smell of metal in their absence.
{ Wendigos Felled! Floor 1 Cleared!
- Reward: æ15,000 }
The system then rewarded each player with æ15,000 coins, giving players who managed to kill the wendigos a bonus depending on how many they had managed to take down.
Nico looked around him and saw the scattered shards and immediately began picking up the ones around him, stashing them into his inventory.
{ Acquired 18 Soul Shards }
"Phew, that was close," Jax said as he also picked up the soul shards around him with a smile on his face. "I wonder what would have happened if we continued blindly."
"We'd probably be dead," said Sophia as she walked past him and stood in front of Nico, crossing her arms in the process.
She stared at him, but there was no hostility. Her facial expression explained that she was more curious than she was angry and Nico had an idea as to why that was the case.
"I don't sense any high mana from you. I think you're the weakest one here. And yet, you were able to conjure fire like it was nothing and you took down those wendigos as if they were a piece of cake," Sophia judged.
"I may be the weakest here, but that doesn't mean I'll let myself die to some monsters. Just like you, I want to live," he responded as he pushed his mask back slightly.
Before Sophia could say anything else, bells chimed and the system began speaking while displaying its message:
{ Good job on clearing the first floor of the Tower of Poseidon! Now, two doors will appear.
The first door leads to the 2nd floor of the tower, which will allow you to earn more rewards and potentially get to learn the secrets of the world! How exciting!
The second door will lead the players who wish to leave to the outside of the tower, sending them away with their rewards!
Now, would players kindly step into their designated doors }
Two doors appeared on the wall, both of them with holographic signs indicating the direction in which the players wished to go through, whether they wanted to ascend the tower or leave with their earned rewards.
'The system said we could learn the secrets of the world. I doubt that many of us here would like to learn about that, so they're probably thinking of leaving,' Nico thought to himself.
"I'm pretty much happy with the rewards I've earned. So, I think I'll leave," one player said as he shrugged and smiled.
"Hold on," Sophia interjected as she looked at the door leading to the second floor. "... Something doesn't feel right..."
"What do you mean?" Victor inquired.
"This world is built on a single factor; killing the players. Do you think that you'll just be allowed to leave? Just like that?"
"What are you getting at?" another player asked as she slightly furrowed her brows.
"I'm saying that there's no guarantee that we'll be safe when we step through. With that being said, I'm ascending."
"Makes sense. Guess I'll ascend too," said Jax.
"I'm more curious about the secrets of the world, so I'm going to ascend too," added Nico.
"V-Very well then, I guess I'll also tag along..." Veronica said in a low voice.
"You guys are ridiculous. I earned æ17,500 coins just by killing a handful of monsters. I'm ditching this joint," said the first player as he stepped through. "See ya!"
Once he stepped through, another player followed him, looking at the door wearily. Then, she took a deep breath and stepped through. When no other player seemed to want to leave, the system chimed and relayed a new message.
{ 2/20 players have stepped through the exit. Do the remaining 18/20 wish to ascend? }
Without answering, the door leading to the exit closed. When it did, red laser pointers appeared randomly on the foreheads of 2 unsuspecting players amongst Nico. Then, their heads exploded, spewing blood everywhere along with brain matter and teeth.
The players fell to the ground and bled out, earning shocked gazes from the ones that surrounded them. Veronica released a panicked scream and hid herself behind Victor, who rubbed his chin and raised his eyebrows, intrigued by the situation.
"They just flat out died... How interesting," he said as he smirked.
"So, that's the catch," said Nico.
"If a player wants to leave, another player will be randomly selected and die in their place. The Tower of Poseidon isn't a system that rewards players, but one that kills them, especially when others choose to leave it," said Sophia.
"B-But, that would mean that..." Veronica began as she anxiously looked at her fellow players. "... We have to kill each other...?"
"Basically... The gods have us trapped inside a rat race. Whoever survives and climbs the tower is rewarded, while those that can't get nothing," Nico said as he stood in front of the door leading to the second floor, inspecting it.
"Wait, does that mean that we'll die here?! If that's the case, I should've just left with those 2 instead!" a player crowed as he threw his arms around.
"Don't be irrational. You'll just get another player killed," said Sophia.
"Fuck that noise! If I gave a damn, I would've kept my mouth shut! Can't you see?! Only 8 more of us can leave!"
"Not exactly," said Nico as he turned to look at the player.
"The fuck?!"
"The system only wants us to ascend. And so, the best way to guarantee that no one dies is by ascending together. By protecting each other, we can make sure no one dies."
"You seem so confident, pipsqueak. But, what makes you think you can trust me?" Victor said as he towered above Nico and smirked menacingly. "There's no guarantee that I won't sacrifice you for my protection."
"Same goes for you."
Victor raised a single eyebrow.
"I'm not saying we should trust each other. To some degree, everyone here has at least murdered one person. I'm just saying that we murderers should use each other until we reach the tenth floor. I'll defend those that are useful to me and anyone I don't is either capable of self-defence or is too weak for me to use. So, what do you say?"
Victor scratched his chin and chuckled heartily. "You're cunning. I like it. Let's do it, Nico!"
Nico nodded and looked at the other players. Some seemed hesitant, while others understood Nico's viewpoint. And so, one by one, they stepped through the door leading to the second floor. When Nico was about to step through, Sophia grabbed his arm and pulled him back.
"You don't have the eyes of a killer. Don't try to act like a tough guy if you can't plunge a knife into another human being's chest," she whispered into his ear before pushing him away and walking past him, entering the second door.
"... Bitch..." Nico mumbled as he stepped through.
{ 16/16 players have chosen to ascend }