Chapter 311

It turned out that the tower’s imposing appearance did indeed hint at the danger inside.

Natalie and Vanetta alone had been able to fight through the Ruins without overmuch difficulty, which meant for their full squad of five, travel had been close to trivial. Thus, they’d made good time. Inside the tower, however, they met a new caliber of opponent. After walking cautiously into the first room, spectral beasts flooded from overturned tables and behind crumbling pillars. Half a dozen at least. They were faster, stronger, and more durable than any of monsters they’d run into thus far—a prelude and a warning to what lay higher in the tower.

A frantic fight ensued in which Natalie was, for the first time in a few hours, pressed hard. When the last monster had been dispatched, she looked around and made sure everyone had come out alright. They had, of course, though Clementine had to cast a minor heal on Natalie.

Thus, the real adventure began.

They set a careful pace. There was no timer pushing them along, like with the Arena. And unlike her duo assignment, they had a healer. Clementine tended to any of their wounds, both during the fight and after, making the expedition less a war of attrition and more a standard dungeoneering trip.

Token drop rates were nearly doubled, they discovered. And finding fights—difficult ones, with large payouts—was as simple as ascending to the next floor. So the trip was quickly proving itself to be lucrative. Worth their time even without other rewards, since the alternative would have been mundane Ruins hunting.

With each floor completed, Natalie’s curiosity grew on what they would find at the top. The best case scenario would be an Emporium Key. Well, the best case would be a Mythical item or something equally absurd, but the best reasonable expectation was an Emporium Key. Nobody they’d spoken to at the City had been inside the Emporium, so Natalie, and everyone else, was intensely curious what sorts of wares would be available. If the public shops sold Epics, would there be Mythicals there?

While it would be lovely, she didn’t have great hopes for finding a key. They had a few leads on how to earn one, such as high-profile Coliseum fights, deep expeditions into the Palace Basement, and odder methods like indulging in the Pillory a little too thoroughly, but there were no guaranteed methods. Likely, the City itself had to take interest in a person’s efforts and reward them personally. So no matter what, it wouldn’t be a simple process to find an Emporium key.

Natalie wasn’t sure whether being Lust’s champion would make it easier or harder. From one perspective, the City was interested in her by default—and thus more likely to reward her. From another perspective, Lust’s champion might have greater expectations placed on her. She may have to work harder to impress the City.

During the intense expedition up the tower, Natalie was given a better look at the full extent of Elida’s combat abilities. There were two observations of note. First that she was truly incredible at dodging—she had yet to take a single injury, even minor, despite lacking a stealthy style like Vanetta—and also that with the fights requiring more effort from all of them, Vanetta’s description from earlier showed itself: Elida fought angry.

It wasn’t a fuming, boiling sort of rage. It was cold, repressed, and—yes, even a little sadistic. Earlier, Vanetta had made a claim that sent a shiver down Natalie’s spine: that Elida liked hurting things. Enjoyed the violence more than most delvers. That she became overenthusiastic, at times, during their fights. And indeed, Natalie started to catch hints of that. She was precise and vicious with those daggers of hers, and the further they went up the tower—the harder the fights got, the lower her stamina dropped—the more clear it became. As if, perhaps, Elida was relying on certain skills to carry her forward, ones that were affecting her mind. Rage based ones?