CRIMSON TOWER
1194 Words
Soon, Grey was back in the city, if it could even be called that. The entire streets were filled with monsters, rampaging and destroying buildings. The only difference it had compared to when the game started was that human deaths were fewer than before.
This place is brimming with corpses, Grey thought.
Then, with a wave of his hand, he extended devouring t****l call to a 500-meter radius.
Then, over a thousand thralls crawled out of the corpses that littered the street.
Grey made a quick count and discovered that over 80% of them were at level 1, with the highest 6 being at level 7.
I have expended most of my mana. When it is refilled, I will use the level 1 thralls to raise the rest, and raise more thralls.
That was what Grey did throughout, while awaiting the crimson tower.
[Time until crimson tower descent: 1:00:00]
As the time was nearing, Grey made an inventory of the thralls under his command.
[Level 5: 521]
[Level 6: 347]
[Level 7: 161]
[Level 8: 83]
[Level 9: 29]
[Level 10: 5]
[Level 20: 2(Alice, Direwolf Matriarch)]
Now, this feels like a true army of thralls, he thought.
[Crimson Tower has descended, and all players strive to clear the 100th floor before the main game begins.]
[Penalty for failure: Death]
[Reward: Game seal x1]
The tower has finally descended, Grey thought.
Suddenly, a tremor rang throughout the server, forcing everyone to kneel down; even Grey had to kneel.
Then, another release, and everyone lost consciousness.
So this is the seed player, a being said, as it walked out of a portal, while looking at Grey's body lying on the floor.
Similarly, other beings looked at the body of some players in different servers, with different expressions.
Arrgh, Grey groaned as he stood up from the ground, alongside other players.
But looking closer, there was a blood red tower that shot straight to heaven, that stood calmly in the front.
Is this the crimson tower? Grey thought.
It sure is as imposing as it can be.
Even the other players had different thoughts passing through their minds after they saw the crimson tower.
Then, a prompt was sent to all players.
[In the crimson tower, all players can come and leave, or visit any floor, with the help of checkpoints, provided every 10 floors.]
[Death is not permanent, and players revive after death for a level decrease.]
[To create private spaces on every 10th floor, a dungeon core is needed.]
[Good luck to all players.]
With the final message, the system stopped the prompts, leaving the players to ponder the way forward alone.
Most of the players ran towards the tower immediately after the message was broadcast, hoping to get a head start, but Grey was patient as he collected his thoughts.
So that was the use of dungeon cores, Grey thought as he looked at the core in his inventory.
After about 2 hours, he finally decided to enter.
Grey stared at the tower, then, without a word, he stepped forward, walking in the direction of the doorless tower.
Then, as he approached it, a sudden force sucked him in.
As Grey stepped out of the portal, he felt dizziness wash over him, and he almost threw up.
But he soon regained his senses as he looked forward.
This is the tower; it's certainly magnificent.
To think that a floor has its own ecosystem, Grey thought, while he looked at the endless swamp that flowed in the slightly lit cave.
Then, a system prompt.
[Floor 1: Moss cavern]
[Challenge type: Attack]
[Challenge starts in 3 sec]
Then, the timer began counting, and when it hit 3, huge glowing portals opened up at the far end of the floor.
Then, green, slimy blobs emerged, alongside tiny, winged fairies that glowed in soft light.
[Mossling Grub, Level: 7, Skill: Slime shot: spits a glob of goo that poisons enemies, dealing damage over time]
[Cave sprite, Level: 7, Skill: Irritating Buzz: Disorients one target for 3 sec.]
Seeing the skills of the two monsters were only debuffs, Grey could not help but chuckle. The reason was that, as thralls, his minions were immune to all debuffs unless the power gap was too high. But the monsters in front of him at most passed his most basic minions with 2 levels.
With no suspense, he was able to kill them with little effort, without sacrificing any of his thralls.
The thralls went around, picking up the loot that fell from the monsters, and delivered it to Grey, who put it into his inventory.
[The boss monster has appeared.]
[According to tower rules, boss monsters' level increases if the player is too strong.]
Then, out of the portal, a huge tree-like monster came outside.
[Rotbranch Nymph Level 15 >> Level 25, skills: Root Lash: Strikes enemies with a tendril, dealing nature damage, Decay Aura: Enemies within 5m take constant minor poison damage, Seedling Spawn: Summons tiny minions to distract and harass that explode on impact.]
Seeing the crazy skills and level of the boss, instead of running, Grey grew happy. He had cleared the monsters on the floor, and they barely provided enough exp to reach a quarter of the required exp.
March, he commanded in an imposing tone to his thralls, as he activated the rotting t****l command.
The thralls surged, clawed hands tearing at the earth as they charged. At the forefront, Alice moved with grace, her claws glowing faintly green. With a hiss, she leapt at the treant, slashing a poisonous arc across its bark. Sap hissed as her Poisonous Claws dug deep into its body.
The treant roared and slammed the ground with a Root Lash, vines whipping out. Three thralls were crushed outright. More fell to the spreading poison of its aura.
Then came the Direwolf Matriarch, bounding through the ranks, eyes glowing like twin moons. She howled, a piercing, thunderous, Stunning Roar, and the treant faltered, its limbs locking for a heartbeat.
That was all Grey needed.
He raised his hand. Magic Missile.
Three blue beams of mana lanced through the air, slamming into the treant's face. Bark splintered. The massive creature reeled.
But it fought back.
Seedling Spawn, the treant bellowed, and a swarm of tiny saplings burst from its trunk, crawling across the ground, biting and clawing. Several thralls were overwhelmed.
Grey stepped forward, his voice low. Toxic Sovereign Grasp.
His hand glowed a vivid green, claws of poisonous magic forming over his fingers. He leapt into the fray, carving through seedlings with every swipe, each touch making barks and flesh decay, their explosions causing little damage to him.
Alice struck again, this time using the flame whip, dealing extra damage to the wooden nymph. The Matriarch tore at its roots. The thralls, undeterred by pain, kept swarming.
The treant, staggering, let out one last gurgled groan before it toppled, its trunk split, vines twitching in death.
Grey stood there, his face filled with fatigue.
But when he looked at his level, he could not help but feel that the stress was worth it.
[Grey Anderson Level 17>> Level 18(78.9%) ]
- Writer
