Chapter 130: Power-leveling Civilians

Will mused. It was time to start sorting through the Relics they were acquiring to see if he could grab anything that could act as a standby. Will still had the ring of Snaring, but it didn’t synergize well with his build as a whole... “A rare few people simply aren’t cut out for fighting.” Loth mused, bringing Will’s attention back to where Logistics Officer Badur was trying to kill a Lathran, which looked something like a giant centipede with fur. The creature was pinned to the ground by one of the thousands of nonlethal traps that Loth’s minions had placed along their route overnight. All they had to do was follow the path they were planning on taking anyway, and have their weaker members pick off the trapped monsters. Usually with a long spear and some hand-me-down Relics designed to raise their Strength. Badur let out a shriek and swung the spear sideways for some reason, the blade twisted and bounced off the target, the entire pole vibrating in his hands, causing him to drop it to the forest floor. He spent the next five seconds fumbling to pick it up, during which time the monster would’ve definitely killed him if it wasn’t strapped to the ground by nearly unbreakable webbing. “Most people aren’t cut out for fighting.” Will said, giving their bean-counter the benefit of the doubt. “Not true,” Loth said. “When threatened with death, even the most mild-mannered civilian will fight, and surprisingly viciously. It’s in your blood.” Will glanced up and spotted other Climbers watching, shaking their heads, whispering to each other and stifling laughter as Badur flailed again, doing basically nothing to the monster he was supposed to be killing. A thought occurred to Will. He sent his Phantom Snakes out, ripping the webs keeping the monster pinned out of their anchors in the ground. Badur let out a yelp of terror as the Lathran reared up, glaring down at the human that had been harassing it for several minutes, black mandibles twitching with anger. Loth gave Will a sidelong glance as shouts of surprise rippled through the camp, the nearby Climber’s hands going to their weapons as the civilians backed away. Badur shrieked again and tumbled away as the Lathran struck like a snake, carving out a section of ground inches away from their beancounter. Badur rose to his feet, his breath coming fast as the lathran reared up again. Will could see his heartbeat in his skin, practically humming. “Stay back!” Will shouted to the Climbers who were edging forward, ready to subdue the monster again. They looked at Will with confusion, edging away. Badur was too trapped in the moment to hear Will’s command. The world had shrunk to just him and the lathran. He tried to lever the spear against the ground as the monster struck down. A smart move, but it wasn’t a Relic, and the creature was too heavy and too heavily armored. The spear snapped off in Badur’s hand, the Lanthar smashing into their Logistics officer and trapping him against the forest floor. Will caught the creature’s mandibles with two Phantom Snakes, preventing them from crushing the skinny man, or cutting him in half. Badur’s horror at being trapped between the mandibles with the mouth-parts trying to nibble at him while trapped against the ground triggered exactly what Loth had been speaking of. Badur let out a feral scream and began stabbing the lanthar’s eye with the spearhead, over and over again with every ounce of muscle he could bring to bear, and then some. Will discretely had one of his invisible snakes bite the Lanthar’s hairy underside where no one would notice the wound, inflicting Psychic Venom to speed things along. This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings. In a matter of seconds, the beast’s writhing coils went slack and Will helped Badur out from under the beast’s mandibles. “I got three levels.” Badur whispered, eyes white all the way around. “Nicely done!” Will said slapping him on the back. “How about that!?” Will shouted to the observing Climbers. “Whoo! Badur!” One of the Climbers shouted. “That was sweet!” “Badur, write off some food and booze, we’re having a celebration tonight!” Will shouted. Badur nodded numbly, staring into the distance as the other Climbers surrounded him, patting his back and giving him congratulations for the levels and for not dying. In moments, Will was able to disengage from the situation and walk back to Loth, the celebration having already taken on a life of its own, Badur being sat down at a fire and handed a mug of beer. “Why?” Loth asked. seaʀᴄh thё nôᴠel Fire.nёt website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. “A lot of reasons,” Will said. “I wanted to see if Badur had ‘it’ deep down, like you said. I also wanted to ease tension between our logistics officer and our Climbers. And our guards were too relaxed. From now on they won’t be. “But you cast doubt on the ability of my traps to contain monsters,” Loth pouted. “Aww, I’m sorry. know your traps are inescapable.” Will consoled her. Loth crossed her arms, looking away from him. “And you wouldn’t want people to correctly estimate their danger, would you? Misdirection is half of what a trap is about.” Loth sighed and uncrossed her arms. “You’re not wrong, but I don’t have to it. “Noted.” “So what if he’s… after this?” Loth asked. “Almost dying does that sometimes.” “That’s why I ingratiated him with the other Climbers.” Will said, motioning to the three Parties currently surrounding Badur. “I haven’t personally witnessed it, but they’ve surely dealt with it before, and if they like him, they’ll help him through it.” “Mmm.” Loth nodded. The three Parties on board to guard the Caravan were older than Will’s Party, although was early twenties actually that old? In any case they’d all been Climbing for years longer than Will and they’d surely seen that kind of damage before. Will thought, frowning as he recalled the hint that the retired Climber had given him that allowed him to go through Doors when his body physically wouldn’t allow him to move through the glowing portals. Will’s eyes widened. “We need to have Badur kill some more monsters, right ” Will then set the pace of the caravan to seek out every trapped monster they could get their hands on, putting the Logistics Officer front and center to kill the things without a moment’s rest between them. Will could read in his body language that the slender waif was a hair’s breadth away from throwing down his spear down and running away, but despite trembling hands, he tightened his grip and stabbed for the eyes. Gone was the wild flailing of before, replaced with a simple killing thrust. He’d learned. Now was the time to ingrain it in his body. “We’re supposed to rotate the civilians,” one of the captains whispered into Will’s ear. “Why are we still having Badur kill them?” “He needs to do it until his body flushes out the fear. In short: until he gets bored.” Will replied, not taking his eyes off the display. “As soon as his hands stop shaking, you can switch in whoever you want.” The captain nodded and went back to his Party, sharing the plan. About sixteen monsters later, Badur’s hands weren’t shaking and he gave an exhausted but effective thrust to the eye, dispatching the creature in a single hit. He even kept his grip on the pole as the monster thrashed, yanking the bloodied spear out and cleaning it. “Whoo!” One of the few women that bothered to continue watching the repetitive scene cheered him on, prompting a weary smile from the dark-haired Logistician. “…Okay, he’s done.” Will said, glancing up at the night sky peeking through the canopy, then down to where Anna was cooking up beer and pancakes for anxious Climbers. “Let him go to his own party.” “So why did you double down on Badur?” Ria asked once they’d settled down for dinner. “The people were asking me if you were angry at him or something.” “?” Will asked, a syrupy pancake halfway to his face. He wasn’t at Badur. The man was just doing his job, and doing it well. “One quarter-ladle per person,” Badur reminded Anna as she approached with a ladle-full of syrup. In response, the baker girl dumped the full ladle of syrup on his pancake, much to the amusement of the other Climbers. Will turned his attention back to Ria. “I thought if we let that one experience crystalize overnight in his mind, he might not have the bravery to try again tomorrow.” Will said. “I wanted him to do it so much that the fear drained away to drudgery.” “I see.” Ria said with a nod. “By the way, what do you think?” She asked, spinning in place, demonstrating the new clothes she’d acquired for her six new copies. Ria was wearing a simple, easy to produce one-piece shift with no sleeves that ended at her upper thigh, with a custom-fitted leather belt around her waist cinching it in. The belt had a decent amount of storage space built into the satchel attached to the back, and several loops to hang things like herbs, Relics, or whatever else she picked up along the trail. It was light and breezy, which was good for the jungle. It didn’t really provide anything in the way of defense, but Tangled didn’t really need any more toughness. Will wasn’t going to argue, though. “…I like it.” Will said. “Where’d you get the belt?” It looked significantly more complex than the shirt. “Brenna is a leatherworker and had an Ability that can preserve monster hide, so she threw it in for free.” Abilities to stop the degradation of monster parts into Miasma were becoming more and more important the higher they went. “So, me and the other new Rias were going to push out into the jungle and establish a perimeter,” Ria said, sitting beside him. “I was wondering if you would be interested in joining us for a whil-“ “Will, you haven’t touched your cake!” Anna interrupted as she arrived beside him, cutting a piece of syrup-soaked pancake and offering it to him. “By the way, I was wondering-“ “Will, I stole your poorly guarded paperweight, making me the one true Phantom Thief! If you wish for it back, you must-” Bee began a rant as she appeared beside him. “Ahem.” All of them froze as Jean cleared her throat, standing above the four of them, arms crossed ominously. The three fragments of Brianna Jean Baker’s personality scattered, scampering away like frightened animals. Will glanced up at Jean. The older woman seemed to be aging in reverse as her mental wounds gradually healed. She had steely white hair the first time he met her, and now it was black with a streak of grey, the wrinkled substantially reduced. Jean was a persona that Brianna had adopted: The aunt whom she’d admired for her mental strength. As she needed to lean on the façade less and less, the original girl they’d met on the 3rd Floor began to shine through. “You wanted my attention?” Will asked. “You could tell?” Jean asked with a wry smile as she pulled up a log stool and sat beside him. “A little bit.” Will said with a shrug. Being mobbed by all her fragments at the same time must have stemmed from the original wanting to get a word with him. Perhaps it was even unconscious. A lot of the information that passed between them was unless they directed conscious attention to it. Jean clasped her gnarled hands together, scanning the party, where Anna was laughing carefree as the girl Jean had wanted to be and Ria was standing watchful guard, the protector Brianna had desired. Bee was off being free and wild, fulfilling another fantasy of Brianna’s. “I never got much chance to see the Seventh Floor, the first time through,” Jean said, looking up at the stars through the canopy. “They kept us locked up in the bus the whole way to the stronghold. Didn’t need to get leveled now that we were there, they said.” Will nodded, not sure what to say. Jean simply let that statement and all it implied hang in the air for several minutes as she searched for the words to say. “Will…I’m not sure we can go back to that Stronghold.” Jean said. “Frederick Wyrd is .” Will said. “Maybe, but it wasn’t like was the one doing all the work. There was an entire industry devoted to breaking Tangled. There’s going to be some…familiar faces there, and I’m not sure how I’ll react. Abyss, I’m not sure how react. They have Abilities that can…make people with low Focus…do things. They might see me as easy prey or some kind of bargaining chip they can take away from you.” “Want me to kill ‘em?” Will offered. He’d probably have to kill Mark Wyrd too if that was the case, but that probably wasn’t too great a challenge. Jean gave him a long, weighty glance, seemingly considering his offer for nearly a full minute before reluctantly shaking her head. “No, I want to put it behind me. I just…wanted to talk with someone who knows my story. Share my worries.” Will turned and drew Jean into a hug. “You’re going to break through this,” Will promised. “And if they try anything, I’ll pull you out of there and erase the Stronghold from the map. Trust me. I can do that.” In the distance, several Anna wobbled in place and leaned on nearby support, fanning themselves off while more than one Ria tripped mid-stride, landing awkwardly as their knees gave out. “…Okay.” Jean nodded. Even without his enhanced senses, Will would be able to feel the tiny bloom of damp tears on his shoulder. “Smooth.” Loth said from beside them, where she was eating a steak. “Quiet, you.”