Chapter 333: Tower Defense

Kael looked at Yenna one last time.

The blue flame of the lantern burned between them, steady and quiet, holding back the darkness of Vanitas while the ruined streets beyond remained swallowed by black. They had spent long enough on this floor. Kael had obtained the materials he wanted, recorded more safe zones than necessary, found a merchant he unfortunately already knew, and discovered that Vanitas held far more than rats, butchers, blind creatures, and rusted golems.

He had also found Yenna.

That might prove more important than anything he had purchased.

"Are you staying in Vanitas?" Kael asked.

"No. I’ll also be leaving." Yenna adjusted the cloak over the newly restored Nightingale’s Chest Armor. "With this armor on, I can move through the floors safer."

"Good." Kael looked toward the lantern. "Then I’ll have to leave. This completes my tenth floor, so I should be able to head to the eleventh from here."

"Best of luck on the climb, then. I’ll contact you if there is any news."

"I’ll also contact you if I ever get a chance to leave."

Yenna’s gaze remained on him for a moment longer.

"Thanks, Kael."

"No worries." He raised one hand in a lazy farewell. "Alright, I’m out. See ya."

Kael accepted the option to complete the floor.

Light wrapped around him.

His body vanished from beside the lantern, leaving Yenna alone inside the circle of blue flame.

For several seconds, she stared at the place where he had stood.

"You really are lucky," the small honey badger said.

Its red-furred head emerged from her hair, dark eyes fixed on the empty space.

"Yes," Yenna said quietly. "I never expected fate would have a twist like this. Maybe it isn’t so bad now."

"But," the honey badger said, "fate is cruel. It has a way of making the brightest of hopes fleeting."

Yenna’s hand tightened around the grip of her curved sword.

"I hope not. Not now. Not here."

"If he is able to protect her outside the Tower, he won’t be able to do it forever."

"I know."

Yenna lifted her gaze toward the dark sky of Vanitas. Nothing moved above. There were no stars, no moon, and no true heavens. Only blackness stretching over the endless ruined city.

"That means I have to get out of this place."

"Yep."

Yenna took a breath and turned away from the empty lantern.

"Alright, then. Let’s keep climbing."

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{Congratulations, you have completed ten floors. You are now able to use the Beacon function.}

[Beacon]

Using the beacon option, you can teleport to the last saved floor.

Can only be used, after the existing floor is completed.

Currently, no floors have been saved.

You can teleport to [Community Floor Number 2]

Kael barely had time to read the notification before another appeared beneath it.

[You have entered Floor 11.]

The darkness of Vanitas disappeared.

A new mission window opened.

[Tower Defense]

[Floor Mission]

[In a strange world, the last bastion, a fortress, has been erected to protect the citizens from the incoming armies of the demon king.]

[Seeing that this world is doomed, the greatest magus of the planet is currently setting up a portal to transport all the citizens of the city to a different world.]

[The teleportation requires a massive amount of energy and will take 48 hours to charge.]

[You, among four others, are tasked with protecting the castle’s crystal, which is the heart of the teleportation, from invading forces until the timer ends.]

[Fighting between members is strictly prohibited.]

[Harming another member will immediately disqualify the climber from the floor.]

[The first wave of enemies will arrive at the end of the next six hours.]

Kael found himself standing on an enormous stone wall.

The scale of the fortress took a moment to process.

The battlements beneath him were wide enough for several wagons to travel side by side. The outer walls rose at least fifty meters above the land below and were easily ten meters thick. Towers stood at regular intervals, each one broad enough to contain several floors of soldiers, ammunition, and defensive mechanisms.

Beyond the walls stretched an open plain.

Farther away, dark mountains pressed against a red-gray sky. Kael could not see the approaching army yet, but the horizon looked bruised, as though something vast had already begun moving behind it.

Inside the fortress stood an entire city.

Stone houses, workshops, narrow streets, wells, granaries, and crowded gathering squares filled the space between the outer wall and the central keep. Thousands of people moved below, carrying supplies, reinforcing doors, praying near statues, or clinging to their families. Some looked toward the walls with terror. Others worked with the numb urgency of people who had already accepted that their world was ending.

At the heart of the city rose a massive fortified building.

Even from the wall, Kael could see a glow pulsing through its high windows. That had to be the crystal powering the teleportation ritual.

The sheer size of the bastion made him wonder what kind of enemy could possibly break through it.

Then he remembered Vanitas.

Its walls had looked even more imposing, and foreign forces had still shattered them. In the Tower, size was never a guarantee. A fortress only appeared invincible until the thing designed to destroy it arrived.

Kael looked around. There were thousands of soldiers stationed at the wall, manning it, and they didn’t look bothered seeing the strangely geared people.

Four other climbers had appeared near him.

He did not recognize any of them.

That was good.

His helmet was already equipped, hiding his face and most of his features.

One of the climbers stepped forward.

He was a young man with golden hair, a clean face, and an expensive set of well-crafted armor. Every plate looked polished and properly fitted. More importantly, an emblem had been worked into the chest piece.

A blue lion.

Kael had heard enough about that symbol to recognize it.

A Leonard clan member.

The others wore emblems he did not know. Two were women, one carrying a staff and the other a short spear with several blades folded along its shaft. The final climber was a broad, burly man covered in layered hide and metal, with a heavy axe resting against one shoulder.

Thankfully, there was no Sun Clan emblem among them.

"Seems like we’ve got a lot of new faces here," the golden-haired man said.

His gaze moved over the group, lingering briefly on Kael’s helmet before continuing.

"You guys don’t mind if I take the lead, do you? I’m really good at tactical combat, and this looks like a pure tactical-defense floor. I was already taught by our guild how to handle this floor efficiently."

The two women exchanged glances.

Neither objected.

Kael looked over the walls, the broken defensive structures, and the city below. The Leonard sounded confident, and unlike Kael, he claimed to know the floor.

The burly man shrugged.

"Sure."

Kael did the same. "Fine by me."

"Good."

The Leonard walked toward the nearest damaged siege weapon.

A broken ballista sat on a rotating platform beside the battlements. Its main arm had split, several gears were missing, and the enormous firing cord hung loose over the base. Farther along the wall stood more damaged ballistae and several cannons that looked ancient enough to belong in a museum, assuming the museum specialized in weapons designed to kill giants.

"So, if I remember correctly," the Leonard began, "this floor gives us access to a special currency. We can use it to repair some of the old constructs on the walls."

He pointed toward the ruined ballistae and cannons.

"Those are all out of service. We should have about one thousand currency each. We can use it to repair and upgrade these weapons. The more enemies they kill, the more currency we receive, which lets us keep upgrading them."

That sounded straightforward enough.

A defensive floor built around investment and escalating waves. Spend currency on siege weapons, kill enemies, gain more currency, and improve the defenses before the next wave.

Kael could already see how quickly that kind of system could spiral in either direction.

A good opening investment would produce more kills and more resources.

A bad one would leave them unable to recover.

The Leonard continued, "Since we’re doing this strategically, I’d like all of you to funnel your currency to me. That way, I can handle the walls and the planning properly. Don’t worry, I’ll consult with everyone before I start building."

To the others, it sounded reasonable.

Even Kael did not immediately object.

Five thousand currency concentrated under someone who had already studied the floor could create a far stronger opening defense than five people making disconnected purchases without understanding the system.

Before anyone transferred anything, however, the burly man spoke.

"If you get all the currency and build all the structures, won’t that mean you’ll get all the credit?"

The Leonard hesitated.

"Y-yes, but that will also mean we can survive."

"Yeah," the burly man said. "But we’ll get fucked over in experience and loot."

The two women stopped looking quite as convinced.

The Leonard lifted both hands, speaking quickly before suspicion could settle too deeply.

"We can always split the loot at the end. And it’s better to be alive than have experience and die."

That argument was harder to dismiss.

Whatever experience or rewards they lost would mean nothing if the fortress fell and all five were disqualified, or worse.

"And after the first wave," the Leonard continued, "once I’ve set up the initial defenses and they start producing currency, I’ll hand back the investment you gave me. By the second wave, all of you can start building your own weapons after consulting of course. Isn’t that fine?"

The burly man studied him.

One of the women asked, "You guarantee we get our original amount back?"

"Yes."

"And you’ll discuss every major purchase?"

"Of course."

The climbers thought about it.

Eventually, one after another, they agreed.