Arc 2: The Tower of Power
Nora
Yes, we were in a forest very different from the ones we were used to. It was vast, with trees stretching in all directions, but since it was still daytime, we felt more at ease. Everyone had split up, so we decided to try to find the exit on our own.
"This place has a blue sky with moving clouds — shouldn't that be impossible?" Helena asked Nora, who was looking up at the sky searching for the sun.
"It could be magic. This place is really strange. How can an ecosystem exist inside a tower? And on top of that, there's a sun... Is it artificial? Whatever. I've already figured out where north is; let's head in the direction of the wind. Maybe we'll find something."
We walked deeper into the forest, covering several kilometers until we heard some noises, like something breaking.
Crack... crack
We paused a little behind some bushes and crept slowly toward a spot where some trees had fallen. Looking closer, there was a giant insect resembling a bee.
"Let's back off slowly. I don't want to have to fight a giant bug," Nora said, turning around.
Crack
"Shit..." Helena muttered—she had just stepped on a branch.
Helena slowly turned her head toward Nora, who expressed fierce anger but smiled disdainfully.
"Who the hell did you inherit this from?" Nora sighed.
Nahhh
That giant bee was incredibly fast. It flew straight at Helena and grabbed her with its claws, then took off. Realizing she was being carried away, Helena summoned her beautiful weapon: a black spear with red details radiating darkness—truly magnificent.
Helena held on with all her strength and struck one of the insect's legs, slicing it off.
"Finally, it let me go—but now I'm falling from a great height," Helena thought. Looking down, she realized she would land right on top of honey mixed with the sandy floor of the nest, which surrounded a huge pillar that stretched to the sky.
"That thing flew with her that way—I have to run!"
I ran as fast as I could until I found the nest in the middle of a plain.
"Damn it, why does that girl always get into trouble? How am I going to get her out of there?" Nora muttered, biting her fingers.
When I exited the forest and entered the plain, some people were standing there staring at the nest.
"Don't worry, I'll burn the nest down. Where else can I make so much fire, right..." Before Nora could finish, a girl with her hair tied back, wearing a red kimono, charged toward the nest.
"What the hell is she doing? No way... she's an Elementalist?"
I realized that girl was an Elementalist—rare individuals who can control an element by forming a pact with an "entity."
The girl ran and jumped among the insects, and when she got near a crack in the nest's wall, she shouted:
"Incinerate!"
She then placed her arms on the crack, and flames burst from her fists like jets of fire, burning the entire nest. What she didn't expect was for all the insects to pour out and launch a fierce attack on everyone present.
"There wasn't enough time. Where is my sister?" Nora asked desperately amidst the smoke.
Suddenly, the young man I had seen before—the one whose aura I couldn't sense—emerged from the smoke carrying Helena in his arms.
"Thank you so much. That girl in the kimono didn't give me a chance and just set the nest on fire."
"I'm fine, don't worry. Now we have to focus on destroying this nest," Helena said.
The young man set Helena down and disappeared in a flash of light, rushing to eliminate the insects still flying around.
Most participants were there, and at that moment, I realized this might be the way out.
Everyone was fighting the insects, quickly killing them, but some who weren't strong enough got devoured...
"Shit, there are so many!" yelled one participant while cutting off a bee's head.
Helena was extremely strong, spinning her spear and killing three bees at once.
"Move aside! I'm clearing the way to the hive entrance!" shouted an elf holding a staff pointed at the hive's entrance, which was swarming with bees.
He chanted a spell in Elvish:
Elen síla lúmenn' omentielvo
A sphere of energy began forming, growing bigger with each word until it became massive.
"Get out of the way!" the elf shouted as he launched the sphere directly at the hive. A tremendous explosion followed, throwing some people backward.
"Hold on!" someone yelled.
When the dust settled, everyone slowly got back up.
"I thought mages didn't exist.""Thanks to this elf, we were saved.""Speak for yourself, weakling."
The girl in the kimono appeared again, her fists still blazing.
"Let's go, the queen is still out there."
We went deeper into the hive until we saw the queen bee.
Roar
She's even bigger than the others.This is just the beginning—there are forty-nine more floors to go.Will we survive that long?
"I'm going to cast another spell. It'll take a few minutes. Try to hold her off until I finish," the elf told the group.
The young man in black with the blindfold stepped forward.
"Get out of the way."
"Where are you going? Wait, let's plan a strategy..." the girl in the red kimono replied.
"She's guarding the elevator that takes us to the next floor. We just have to kill her."
The young man summoned his soul weapon—a golden and silver sword emitting light and lightning, resembling the sun itself. It was different, truly beautiful... In that moment, for an instant, I felt his aura—the same aura I had felt before... Could it be? Impossible, he's dead.
He took an attacking stance, focusing all his mana into the weapon. The ground trembled and cracked under the air pressure. His soul shone intensely, unlike any dark weapon that drips like tar.
He swung his sword up and down, unleashing a beam of light that sliced the queen bee in half.
Voices around
"Who is this guy? What level is he?""I've never seen a move like that.""I'm from the countryside, never seen someone shoot light."
"Showing off? You're not the only one who could've killed her with one strike," said the girl in the kimono as she wrapped bandages around her hands.
"Doesn't matter, let's move on," Nora said to the remaining participants.
The queen bee's body split in two, revealing an elevator behind it large enough to comfortably fit fifty people.
When we reached the second floor, Berbatov awaited us in a large hall.
"You can rest a bit. There's water, food, places to sit—help yourselves," he said to the exhausted participants.
"You were fast—only three hours to find the exit. Very good. There are just over forty participants left; many died... I wonder if any of you will reach the end."
To be continued...