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The test of the tower pt 4
🕑 Added 2022-05-08 00:33:03 +0000 UTC##### Author's Note #####
Hey everyone! I'm sorry for taking so long for finishing this story.
In the future, I'll try to do one side story a month since this is apparently what I can handle rn lol.
Next week I'll post a poll to see what the next one will be!
Also, all the chapters of this story will be linked before the start. If you want to read again or read it for the first time, just click the link! Each previous chapter will also have the links for the rest.
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The test of the tower pt1
The test of the tower pt3
The ground shook, and the Black liquid ceiling opened up, revealing a blue sky. Behind the skeleton king, something was emerging from the water, something big, something coated in some sort of metal. The camera changed panning to the right, showing Becca, Black Star, and Bright Night with confused and scared expressions. They had no idea what to expect or what they would have to face, and their expression reflected that. Behind them, the black water was vanishing. Almost as if an invisible giant sponge was sucking it up. The sound of metal bending echoed behind the camera.
The image changed to focus on the challengers that were ready for a fight. Night was holding a rapier made out of the light she created. The camera froze for a moment, and some statistics appeared on the side while two points of her figure were outlined. The weapons were called light eaters, and according to the description on the screen, it was made out of condensed light. It could reach temperatures close to the surface of a star and could extend itself or retract at Night's command. The other outline was around Night's veil. The info card shown explained how this was a way to contain the light coming from the mage and directed to the spells she could use. By stopping her light from spreading, it would make her spells stronger as if they were going through a magnifying glass.
Star had a pitch-black spear with an event horizon on what should be the blade. The entire weapon was just a shadow, and no one could see its shape. The information card popped out, explaining how this was, in fact, a catalyst. By focusing her magic in a somewhat physical form, she could shoot out blades of gravity as an attack. Despite the appearance, this weapon was used as a staff, not as a spear. Her boots were the other outline in the frozen picture. There was an explanation about how the boots held powerful gravity enchantments that could allow her to increase the power of her spells and change the gravity of her surroundings. She could even choose who to affect with this effect, meaning that while it would be difficult for her enemies to get closer, her allies didn't have to worry about a thing.
On the other hand, Becca was just with her hands up in a boxing stance. She was one of the rare kinds of explorers that didn't focus so much on weapons. Instead, she had learned mixed martial arts. Her hands were outlined with the description of a spell to the side. Becca used magic combined with her fury, the fighter's role skill, to make her body a weapon. The text card continued to say that while this wasn't the most combat-efficient way of doing things, her mobility was second to none. This spell would not only make her body sturdier, but it would also enhance her muscles. There was no second outline, but there were more explanations about her abilities. Becca also was able to use a particularly rare skill called The Barbarian Way. It was a very odd skill in the way that it behaved. The less actual equipment that Becca wore, the stronger she would get. That's why when she was doing her job as a reporter, she would usually wear casual clothes, even in dangerous places. However, the skill was limited to her own strength, which meant that if she had a very powerful piece of equipment, it was likely that she would get more benefits from the gear than from the skill.
The camera shifted again, and now it showed whatever it was rising from the black water that now looked more like mud than anything else. The metal block that emerged was now ten meters high. A rectangular line appeared in front of it, and it fell down with a heavy thud, opening like the back of a transport ship. Inside it, hundreds of different machines sprang to life and started leaving this vessel, all heading towards the trio.
Some of the robots looked like animals, tigers, bears, giraffes, spiders, beetles, and such. Others had amorphous shapes. One seemed to be just a square with tentacles they would use to move around it to help it change directions or rush forward. But the one that scared Becca the most was an animatronic clown with wide, unblinking eyes and a mouth going from ear to ear.
Becca put her hand on the ground And ripped off a chunk of rock before tossing it at the robotic clown. The projectile hit it square in the face and took off one of its eyes, but the machine was still moving and heading in the direction of the people inside the test.
"What was that?" Night asked.
"I fucking hate clowns," Becca replied while staring at the robot she had just attacked.
"Really?" Star asked.
"Yeah. The make-up freaks me out. That's why I even refuse all the invitations to go to drag shows. Don't get me wrong. They are beautiful women, but every now and then, one make-up is a bit too close to a clown, and it… it just irks me," Becca pulled another rock from the ground and tossed it at a cow robot that was getting closer.
"Why is that?" Night stabbed in the air, and her sword grew and cut through a few of the robots coming their way. Seeing that, she relaxed a bit. After all, she just killed about a dozen monsters with a simple attack.
"I don't know. I never had any traumatic experiences with clowns. I think it's the double face thing. You know, the big eye on top of your regular eye, and the big mouth on top of your regular mouth that just messes with my head. It's like seeing one of those bad CG movies that are just close to being human-like but just not quite there," Becca put both her hands on the ground, "Step back."
She used the spell to bring out a rock from the ground, but it was much larger than the one before so she had to lift it with both her hands.
"Wait. Are you gonna throw it at them?" Star asked.
"That's the plan," Becca replied while clenching her teeth. This rock was heavy, and talking while she held it wasn't easy.
"Let me do a thing then," Star touched the rock, making purple energy cover it. That took a few moments, and Becca was starting to shake.
"Done?" the reporter asked.
"Yep," Star nodded and stepped back.
Becca flung the boulder towards the incoming horde of robots. When the rocks started to go down, the purple energy around it expanded, and the moment it got close to the ground, a gravity well was triggered, pulling all the monsters towards the boulders. Thanks to that, the impact did a lot of damage. It was enough to destroy about 20 of the robots. Mostly the animals, aside from the elephant, who was sturdy enough to keep going even after being hit by the boulder.
That seemed to trigger something in the army that was leaving that metal structure. What was before just a dumb mad dash to head outside became an organized charge. The bigger animals stay in front while smaller ones keep to the back. A few of the robots, the ones that didn't have a particular shape, twisted and bent their bodies to become what were essentially artillery weapons that other machines could use to defend themselves. After the last monster left the structure, the entire five-meter tall chunk of metal started moving again. It twisted and turned in a sickening way making sounds that would only be heard by victims of car crashes when the metal breaks and reforms itself due to the high speed.
What was once an arc shifted and transformed itself into a dinosaur's head. But not one that you would expect to see in a museum. Instead, it was one that you will see in a monster movie about a creature that came from the sea and started destroying a city. This robot started walking toward the singers, and it started revealing more of its body. It was just halfway out of the water when it became clear that what they thought was a 5-meter tall structure was, in fact, a 20-meter tall metallic dinosaur that was about to chase them.
"Crap, Run!" Dark Star yelled as the giant monster roared.
The camera went up, giving up a bird's eye view of the scene. For the first time, Becca didn't care about what would appear on the screen. There were larger valleys filled with grass everywhere, the black lake was surrounded by bigger lakes of clear water, and to the left, there was a ravine that seemed to drop hundreds of meters before reaching the bottom. Becca, Bright Night, and Dark Star were running towards a valley, followed by a horde of machines that seemed to move as a single entity. There was that massive mechanical dinosaur in the back of this army, who was apparently their leader. What followed was the sound of running with some intense music playing in the background. You could see Star aiming her spear toward the army and some black lines appearing on the ground, cutting some of the robots as they passed. Night was also doing something to help delay the attackers. She plunged her sword into the ground and kept dragging it behind the group. Because of the heat created by the weapon, part of the ground was now starting to melt, turning into lava.
Becca was the only one who wasn't doing anything to hinder the army's movements. Instead, she focused on picking up the singers if they got stuck somewhere or clearing out their path. While they were crossing The field, some of the robots started to get closer. It was a couple of the animal creatures that were able to move at much faster speeds than the rest of the army. Night noticed that and raised her hand to the sky. The sunlight started to shift, and when the singer pulled her hand to the side, a wall of light appeared behind her. At the same time, she removed the sword from the ground, accepting that any more than this would make her be too far behind the rest of her party. Their traps were doing their jobs. A large part of the mechanical army was stuck on it, and it began to melt away. However, that only happened to some of the animal machines. The bigger ones didn't seem to mind the heat, while the ones without a certain shape simply climbed on top of the other robots that were still able to move and kept going without a problem.
"If we keep going like this, they're going to catch us. Their robots, there's no way we can outlast them," Becca told the group.
"I know. I'm trying to see if there's any place we can hide," Star had stopped attacking, and she was sending small specs of gravity magic to different places, looking for a cave or something that could let them hide.
"Isn't Night better at that? " Becca asked.
"Only at night. During the day, my powers focus more on light than the night sky," Night replied. She glanced back and saw that the robots were starting to pass her light wall. The first couple of robots to touch the wall melted away, but the second wave was strong enough to withstand the heat, even if they ended up disfigured.
"What about there?" Becca pointed to the ravine where there seemed to be a cave high up on the side of the valley.
"Isn't that a bit too much on the nose? If we go there now, there's no way they won't know where we are hiding," Star replied.
"Can't you guys make an illusion to pretend like we're not there or something? I've seen you do fireworks in your shows," Becca pushed a large rock to the side to clear their path.
"Making fireworks and things that look pretty is one thing. Using a spell to hide us or make a copy of the surroundings to pretend like a hole is not there is wildly different," Night replied.
"Let me know if there is something in the way," Becca pulled her tablet and sent off her camera as high as she could. She decided to use the bird's eye view to see if there were any hidden elements in their environment that they could use to their advantage. It took her a moment, and they were about to enter the valley, when she noticed that around 100 meters in front of them, the path they were taking started to curve to the right and some time after it there was an opening that looked like a cave. If they moved fast enough, they might be able to hide there before any of the robots saw them. Even better, the giant dinosaur shouldn't be able to simply walk over to where they were. After all, by Becca's estimation, the creature would, at most, have its head peeking out from the valley.
With the plan in mind, the three pushed forward, running as fast as they could. The camera kept following them from the sky, showing their progress in relation to the incoming army. Becca thought about bringing in the camera close to get some shots of their dash but doing so would remove the only information tool she had at hand. After the last part of the test, all she wanted was to survive this ordeal. It didn't take long for them to turn the corner and reach the cave. If it wasn't for the fact that Becca had set up a recording device with her tablet, all this part of the trial would have happened without a sound.
They kept running, three little dots on the screen moving quickly towards the cave and jumping inside it as soon as they got there. Lucky, the army was still far from the turn. The camera lowered, and they could see Dark Star using a spell to the entrance into a small gravity well. This pulled some of the rock and rubble from the area, and with a few more spells, they were able to close up the cavern. The screen started showing a time-lapse of what happened in the valley. The army of robots continued through that passage and reached the other side, arriving at the other side of the plains. Since their targets were no longer around, the army stopped its organized march, and each of the robots moved as they were moving when they left the ark. They spread out, covering not just the valley but plains on both sides. Some even climbed up the valley to stay on high ground. However, the dinosaur walked back to the lake and submerged itself, staying with just its head above the mud before seemingly turning off.
"OK, I think they are far enough from each other so we can start taking them out," Night said while the camera returned to real-time.
"That's great. I don't think our food is gonna last that long," Star added while a secondary layer of images appeared on the screen as an overlay on top of the map. It was a network of underground caves, including a marker showing where Becca and the others were currently at. Right in the middle of the ravine.
"I just hope that all the monsters we have to fight are outside. There are still some parts of this tunnel that we couldn't explore. I'm worried that some monsters are hiding somewhere," Becca sighed.
"Don't worry, we got this," Star tried to reassure the reporter.
"Speaking of which, here's the plan," when Night started to speak, there was a suspenseful and upbeat music, much like the one that would play during a heist movie, while the characters created their plan.
"We know that we can exit the cave here, here, here, here, and here. And according to what the camera told us, there are some patrols that get very close to those exits here, and here," the screen showed the entrances and the patrols that got close to them.
"So we should stay away from those entrances, right?" Becca asked, "That way, we don't have to risk warning the entire army where we are."
"I was thinking about clearing them out, but that's a good idea. That way, we can do some hit and run tactics," Star replied with an excited voice.
What followed were several freeze frames showing those attacks. On the first, Night was jumping with her light swords about to come down on a mechanical bear. Star was using a spell to lift up two now unrecognizable machines and crush them with gravity, and Becca was wrestling with a robot gorilla, who was seemingly losing the strength contest. The image wasn't completely static. It turned to the side, giving it a 3D feel, and it had a few lightning particle effects to show where the action was happening. Sparks flew out of some of the robots. The light coming from the swords would create small rays that reflected on the metallic surfaces.
In the following image, Becca was running away from 4 mechanical tigers with Star and Night in the back, trying to catch up. It was a more lighthearted picture, even if the actual implications of it could be terrifying. Then there was one image with Becca ripping the head of one of the clown robots straight out of its body, and another two bodies that now could only be described as scrap were on the floor around her. Again, Star and Night were in the background, but now they had scared expressions while staring at the reporter.
Another five pictures appeared on the screen, each showing a different scene of the fight they were having against the army. There is also a disclaimer on the bottom of each picture saying that those were representations of what happened inside the test. There was no actual footage of those fights since the camera was always in the sky to give them intel until the army was destroyed. However, that wasn't the end of the test. The objective was to kill all enemies, and there was still a giant dinosaur to deal with. They had footage to show this time since when Becca couldn't see any more enemies, she recalled her camera to focus on the show she was recording. The three of them were by a small hill overlooking the lake, staring at the now unmoving dinosaur.
"Anyone have any suggestions on how to deal with that thing?" Becca asked.
"Well, it's metal. If we heat the metal, we might be able to do something, but anything in that direction will take some time. You saw how it was with the other bots," Night sighed.
"The gravity that I use probably won't do much. It's strong on smaller targets, and that thing seems ... denser," Star added.
"I'm on the same boat. The best thing I could offer is some very weak electric spells, but I don't think it'll be enough to short circuit even one of the other bots. I mean, I tried, and well, you saw what happened with the tigers," Becca looked back at the monster, "Anyone knows how to make metal weak?"
"Cold, maybe. Or heat, then you will melt, and you can like, pierce through it, but I don't think either of those are good options for us right now. I don't think we have any way to make it cold enough, and to heat it to the point of melting will take a bit too long. My swords may be at the same temperature as the surface of the sun, or at least, I can make them that hot, but it's really not as hot as people think. There are some generators out there that can make things way, way hotter," Night explained.
"Really?" Becca turned to the singer.
"Yeah. It's complicated. I don't think I can explain now, but let's say that even if I try to melt it with one of these swords, I will have a hard time melting anything on this layer right away. It should take about a minute just to make a hole."
"I might be able to do a thing," as Star spoke, everyone looked at her, "So, I have this combo of skills with a spell that I never really use. I told you about it, Night. It's the one that I only use in dungeons when I'm alone because otherwise, it can do too much damage to other people. And I only do it in low-level ones because I have to be still and risk getting hit while I'm charging the spell."
"Oh yeah. But you never told me what that combo was," Night nodded.
"Basically, I can increase the mass of something."
"Why is that dangerous?" Becca looked at Star with a confused expression.
"Quick lesson about gravity. If something has too much mass, it kind of collapses on itself. That's a very rough way to explain how gravity is 'made.' That's also why you hear about things like super massive black holes or stars with the mass of a thousand suns and stuff like that. The problem is, if you make something small that has too much mass, it will just be pulled to its center, forming a sphere. That's basically how planets were made. A lot of particles started to gather, and eventually, they had enough mass to make gravity. Or at least, that's how I understand things. And you guys know how magic is more about how we understand stuff than how stuff actually works," Star explained as quickly as she could.
"Not really. I don't understand that," Becca shook her head. That idea of magic seemed really weird.
"Star is a conceptual mage. To her, magic works differently. Don't worry about it and just go with it," Night shrugged, "So what's the plan? You want to use that combo on the big guy?"
Star nodded, "Pretty much. Yeah. Because of the skills and the spell that I use, the more mass my target has, the stronger the effect gets. Something that big should have a lot of mass. Especially since we saw some of its footprints, and it was what? 2 meters deep? Plus, the spell doesn't obey me. Once it starts, it's just going to do its thing, and I can't control how it will affect us. I know I can use my own magic to form a barrier around me, but I usually can't protect anything else."
"So, what's the idea? We protect you while you are casting the spell, and then what? We run? We grab you? We do what?" Night had a worried expression. Not only would that spell leave Star very exposed, but it will also be a problem for Becca, who was considerably weaker than the two mages."
"Basically that. Protect me while I cast the spell, just in case the big guy wakes up, and you run when I tell you to run. If someone can carry me, it would be great. One of the skills makes me unable to move for a while after I use it," Star looked at her two companions.
They continued discussing for a few moments trying to come up with a less risky idea, but nothing came to mind. In the end, to Night's dismay, they decided to go with Star's plan. To start, they had to find a place where she could cast her spell without being too in the open. Unfortunately, the hill they were on was too far away, and she couldn't reach the dinosaur from here. By using the camera one more time, Becca could locate an area with some bushes where Star could hide and cast a spell. Doing things like that should be better than being just in an open field. They walked around going for a wide arc that took them about 20 minutes to reach their position, and Star began the channeling of the spell. So far, the dinosaur was still. There were no lights, no movement, no sign that the creature was alive or aware of their presence.
According to the singer, the spell should take about 10 minutes to cast. That was another reason why she only used it in very specific situations. Becca and Night were closer to the monster but the first couple of minutes went after a hitch. Only when the casting picked up, and it started to connect with the metallic dinosaur that the creature sprung to life. Although, spring might be an exaggeration. The giant robot opened its eyes. Two metal plates on the sides of its head moved up, revealing a very intricate gem inside the socket. Steam started to come out of the lake as if something extremely hot was inside it. From the back of its neck, the dinosaur opened another compartment, and shot 50 small projectiles that went high in the sky before coming down in the area where Becca and the others were. Without missing a beat, Night created a set of homing stars to intercept the artillery fire. The monster launched another volley, but this time it was Becca who stopped it in his tracks. The reporter picked up a large boulder and tossed it at the back of the creature's head, trying to clog up the area where those projectiles were coming from. Even with her best efforts, it wasn't enough to stop it from shooting completely, but now, instead of being 50 missiles per volley, the number was reduced by half. The monsters seemed to notice that, and this new volley was now aimed at Becca. Thankfully, she had her camera by her side, and as one of the tricks of the spell, she could make the camera a decoy changing the target from her to the device. At the same time, she sent the camera in a direction away from Star at the maximum speed she could muster, and having the projectiles following it allowed Night to pick them off with ease.
When the channeling reached the five-minute mark, the dinosaur started to move again. It slowly got up from the water, revealing more and more of its body. Oddly enough, the lower half of the dinosaur had an orange glow. It seemed like it was inside the lake to cool off, then it had yet to complete that task. Without saying anything, they could just toss a border towards the glowing part, hoping that it would be enough to hurt it, or at least stall the monster. No one was more surprised that this had worked than Becca herself. The boulder slammed against the glowing belly of the creature sunk in, opening some holes in the armor and revealing the gears inside it. Night took advantage of the situation and threw a larger star toward the creature aiming at that newly created opening. The spell was almost blocked by the monster but Night could change its directions mid-flight, allowing her spell to dodge the creature's arms and hit her target. Her attack was enough to do some damage to the creature, although it seemed like it wasn't going to stop anytime soon.
Instead, the monster returned to its ark form, and the hole on its belly started to be repaired. But its attacks didn't stop. More panels shifted, revealing smaller clusters of missiles that were launched at Becca and the others. Night started to work overtime, using her own homing stars to defend against the continuous barrage of attacks. Becca returned to what she was doing before, using rocks to clog the cannons, but now that the creature was in a defensive mode, it was able to clear out the rubble with ease. In times like this, the reporter regretted not having many offensive long-range capabilities. She was someone who specialized in scouting, and because of that, her attacks weren't all that great.
The minutes passed, and Star yelled, "I'm done! Start running away!"
"Can I carry you?" Becca asked.
"Please do!"
With that line, Star triggered the spell she was preparing. Suddenly, a massive black and purple mass came out of her body in a wide arc, going up and crashing down into the creature. This swirling shadow wrapped around the dinosaur and slowly started to be absorbed by the monster. As the spell began to take hold. The monster started to shake, trying to get rid of it, but to no avail. It didn't take long for the shape of the dinosaur to start to crumble and collapse on itself, becoming heavier and heavier and sinking deep into the lake. However, the spell wasn't done. It continued to increase the creature's mass, creating a gravitational pull toward the monster that destroyed the terrain, and most of the lake was quickly gone. Becca turned around and rushed towards Star. Running was her specialty, and she wouldn't let us spell get to her. Night wasn't as fast, but she had other ways of fighting against the gravitational pull. And, as a last resort, she could use a spell that allowed her to travel with the light. She wasn't going to get anywhere near the actual speed of light, but she could cross considerable distances almost instantly with that spell.
The camera turned back towards what was once the mud lake, and people could see a black spot that was swallowing everything around it. That darkness grew more and more until it finally covered the entire screen. A few moments passed before the picture changed. Now they were back in front of the café that appeared when the show started. Becca, Dark Star, and Bright Night were there, sitting in casual clothes and drinking coffee.
"Hey, everyone. I would like to apologize, but unfortunately, we don't have the footage for the last few moments of the test. You see, Star's spell was a bit too strong for my camera and broke it, but you guys didn't miss that much," Becca explained.
"Yeah. It was mostly me being carried like a Princess until the spell stopped and the notification appeared about us beating the test! Well, the third part of the test," Star opened a big smile.
"And we already had agreed not to show you guys the complete rewards that we would get. We're going to tell you what we got but not the specifics. After all, a lady must have her secrets," Night winked.
"That's debatabl," Becca rolled her eyes, "Anyway, here is what you can expect from the rewards for a C clear rank. We all were able to get an option to change our roles if we wanted to. We would keep some of their abilities and our level and everything like that, but any role-specific skill will be gone. I'm not sure how that would work with explorers and their relics, but I'm assuming you will lose the relic too. We also got a tailor-made skill. A skill designed specifically for us, and the system even considers it a unique skill so no one else would be able to get it. If we didn't want that we could get an epic rarity item for our level, but c'mon. Who is going to pass up on a personal skill?" Becca continued.
"Lastly, and I think this is the most important part. Or at least the most interesting one. When we completed the challenge, we got a title called 'One Who Overcame the Tower.' According to the notification, and I quote, having this title proves that you are eligible to participate in the MAZE's challenges," Star broke off a cookie in her mouth, "I'm sure that's something really important. Otherwise, it wouldn't be here."
"I agree. But we still have no idea what that means or if it means anything. It wouldn't be the first time where the MAZE showed a notification that didn't seem to do anything. We have a lot more to learn about the tower and what it can give us, but I think we have all learned enough for now. I want to thank you all for watching, and I hope next time we'll see each other, I won't be running for my life so much."
"We also want to announce that Star and I will take a break to get used to the new role. So, for the next couple of months, we won't be doing any live performances, interviews, or any sort of public appearances," Night took a sip of her coffee.
"That doesn't mean we are retiring or anything. We just want to make sure we can give the best performances possible. After all, that's what we are now. Performers," Star announced proudly.
"I think that's all we have for tonight, and thank you for joining us in this bizarre program. I'm Becca Swan, and this was the test of the tower. Any final words, ladies?"
"Before we forget, and this is just my opinion on the matter, don't think the difficulty that you saw is the test at face value. It's very likely that since Becca was with us, the level of the monsters went down. Even if we couldn't use Observe in any of them to confirm," Night explained, " Aside from that. I gotta say, this test helped a lot not just with her rewards but how it forced us to fight in ways that we are not used to. And I kind of liked it."
"Me too. I rarely use that gravity lance because it's big and clunky, but it helped a lot, especially against the elephants. Also, remember to bring food. We almost ran out and eating robots should give us a really bad stomach ache," Star laughed.
There was a long pause, everyone waiting to see if someone else had something to say. Then, the three looked at each other and turned back to the camera, "That's it, guys. Thanks for watching Bye."
