Jaded Series (Books 1-2)

The giant fluffy snow leopard monster that Jin saw burst from the trees to tackle Liraz to the ground was quickly halted in its mauling by the Slime Witch's [Engulfing Slime] that sat on her shoulder like a little coiled snake. As soon as it came into contact with the beast, it quickly grew to grapple and entrap the monster within itself. This gave Liraz time to regain her footing and step back to speak a different, but quicker, incantation: "Have a dip, enjoy the stick!" An arc of slime sprayed across both the monster and the surrounding trees, creating a sticky webbing between the branches.

Jin was already moving forward with [Vorpal Charge] to pin the large feline against a tree trunk. She made sure to continue stabbing until she couldn't sense its Aura anymore and carefully guarded Liraz as she cast the longer ability, [Slime Field], around their base to continue coating the perimeter in sticky slime that would help them not get as overwhelmed.

It was interesting to see Karam's tiny mushrooms coated in a thin membrane of blue slime. Jin thought the only unfortunate thing about that was that she no longer had any desire to put one in her mouth to extend the extra benefits. Instead, she simply picked a few differently colored ones and let them dissolve in her hand to boost her stats.

Unlike the previous two floors, Jin noticed that, despite it being night, the outside was much brighter, with an illusory moon and starlight canopy shining from the third floor's ceiling and reflecting off the snow. She was momentarily mesmerized by the odd moon, a pale blue orb that looked nothing like the one she had grown up knowing.

A crash to her right snapped her attention back as she caught Hadia's earthy Terram ramming another Frostprowler into a slime-covered tree. The angle of both creatures made Jin realize she had almost been sneak-attacked by the fluffy white monster.

"Jin! Snap out of it," Hadia hissed from nearby, her reprimand punctuated by a distant yowl of another large cat monster.

"I think at least this wave is all those cats, but we might be fucked if they sent enough for six Sect bases instead of just ours. Seriously, have none of you seen wave mechanics like I've described before?" Jin signed to the others, not wanting to risk a monster hearing them.

Rayyan whispered back, stumbling over his signs still, "We have, just not like this. More often in Trials or from a specific Boss sending them out due to ability cooldowns. Nothing on an entire floor scale that I can recall, but I didn't exactly specialize in Tower History."

An explosion of slime behind him signaled the arrival of another monster, luckily triggering one of the hidden mines, dealing Corrosion damage and coating the white leopard in gluey slime. Triggering her [Leap] and [Piercing Thrust], Jin quickly finished off that monster with a spear to the skull.

Another notification popped up on everyone's bracelets with another message that helped fill in more of the puzzle pieces to this floor's challenge.

Congratulations! The first of eight waves has been defeated. Surviving Champions within the Frozen Mountain biome gain twenty-seven points. Incoming wave in twenty-seven minutes.

"Well, that's enlightening," Jin muttered in mild surprise. "Looks like the wave size is dependent on the floor population, which is great news for us. Also, it looks like we're incentivized to kill each wave as fast as possible with points based on time remaining, and that we're given an hour for each wave. Not really happy with the idea that our bonus points depend on the other Champions, though."

"That's not that rare of a mechanic, actually," Karam said, walking over to take a closer look at the monster before Jin would loot it. "Not every floor is meant to pit Sects against each other like the last one, with fighting for those Divine Tower items." He glanced up at Jin and asked, "Are they giving you more golden things as loot? We haven't seen much on this floor yet, and the cost to upgrade is so high…"

"Are you suggesting we try going back to the previous floor to farm more goblins after the portal unlocks?" Jin asked curiously, triggering her loot ability with a thought and watching the large furry feline dissolve into white ash that blended with the snow.

"I think so?" he said with the inflection of a question.

Jin chuckled and shook her head, patting his shoulder. "Don't be afraid of sharing your ideas and opinions, Kar. You usually just agree with whatever I say, so it's actually refreshing to hear you speak up. Going back to farm tribute points and stocking up a bit more for this kind of challenge isn't a bad idea."

"Except I'm fairly certain Ms. Liraz and I will be trapped here alone and extremely vulnerable during the next night cycle," Rayyan interjected, obviously not thrilled by the suggestion.

"We could go tell the Workers to come through so it unlocks for Liraz," Hadia said, but sighed when she looked at Rayyan. "I don't think we can do the same for the Lovers if they're still with the Fighters, but that might also mean they'll be coming here soon anyway. Pax had said that the Fighters were going to upgrade their base soon, which was what had rushed us in the first place, remember? I doubt they'll linger on the second floor."

"I agree, but that might be a good reason for us to go stay on the second floor for a while, like Karam suggested," Alim wrote in the air, his head tilted in thought. "Let the Fighters struggle on this floor while we upgrade the base more."

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"We'll focus on surviving the night first," Jin interrupted, checking the time on her bracelet again. "We'll have to shift our sleeping schedule to fully acclimate to this floor, too, and I don't think we should leave until we know Rayyan can get through the portal. That'll be the easiest way to know if the Fighters and Lovers made it to this floor. For now, though, let's focus on securing this area more before the next wave and getting rest when we can."

"Where the fuck did Nawal go?!" Antoni yelled over his shoulder as he came face-to-face… well, face-to-ghostly-flames with a Dullahan that appeared out of thin air as soon as he entered the enemy base's Aura. The summoned beings were an ethereal swirl of blue and lavender smoke given the shape of headless knights on the backs of skeletal horses.

Aside from those summoned protectors, the base seemed to have a plethora of additional enchantments adding debuffs that he could feel, even if he didn't have the time to check his bracelet for the readout of their specific effects. He could feel his health and mana regeneration slow, his resistance against Elemental magics diminish, the damage of his physical attacks be slightly suppressed, and something dealing ongoing Corrosive damage to him from the inside.

Only Roxana was fighting beside him, grinning wildly as she struck the incorporeal enemy with a strike of lightning from her hammer. While the physical damage from her strike was negated, the Lightning magic still affected it, making it at least somewhat impactful.

More useful than the few Lightning abilities the Thunder Valkyrie had unlocked so far was Farideh's Light and Dark magic as she cast them from a handful of yards behind them. However, Nawal should have been right beside her, casting a couple of her Arcane Spells with her wand.

"She took Demir to the healer!" Farideh called back between incantations.

He growled out, "I didn't tell her to do that! She's going to—" His words cut off as he noticed movement nearby, and his Perception ability alerted him to the stealthed enemy.

Antoni moved just in time to dodge a shower of silvery needles, though a few did manage to hit his armor without penetrating its protection. He swung his [Lionbrand Blade], its golden hilt and shimmering rainbow blade a brilliant contrast to the murky swamp around them, and managed to hit the blurred figure.

He thought it odd that the enemy didn't even grunt in pain as blood coated the tip of his sword—apparently only a grazing wound by the depth. Their appearance flickered into view better, now that he noticed their presence, and he realized it was the Whisper who had called himself "Cihan," which he now very much doubted was true. The only difference in his appearance was the black mask covering the lower half of his face, so he couldn't be positive, but it made the most sense given the circumstances. With a lunge, Antoni triggered his [Solar Cleave] ability and aimed for the Whisper's heart, returning the earlier surprise attack that likely claimed Demir's life.

That time, he knew he hit the enemy dead on, but still, there was no sound of pain to confirm the strike. It was unnerving, and he wondered briefly if this was just some magical construct he was being tricked into fighting. His thoughts were interrupted again as he moved to dodge an incoming attack from the Dullahan charging him, creating a trail of blazing blue flames between him and his intended prey.

With their own base immovable and the enemy base remaining outside the range of its attacks, combined with the fact that he was now reduced to only three Fighters out here attacking the enemy, they were outnumbered by the Whisper and his half dozen summoned protectors. Despite the blow to his pride, he made the tactical choice. "Fall back to the base!"

He made sure Farideh and Roxana actually listened to him this time, remembering that he definitely needed to punish Nawal for her earlier insubordination. As they attempted to retreat, he was grateful to confirm that the Dullahan's couldn't go beyond the base's Aura, maintaining a specific area of effect they could work around.

As they reached their own base's territory, its Aura washing over them and reminding him that they should focus on more enchantments after getting it moving, he noticed two deeply upsetting and appalling facts. The first was that the enemy base was retreating instead of pursuing them. It made absolutely no sense why they would when they had first initiated the confrontation and had annoyingly managed to put them on the back foot. Pressing them further could potentially manage to kill more of them, which he thought was their goal, no matter how insane it might be.

The second fact was that Nawal hadn't just taken Demir to the healer; she had vanished along with Demir's body and the group of Lovers.

Traitor.

He was going to kill her.

How dare she abandon her Sect, their home, and join forces with another! It went against everything they were taught growing up in the Pain Sect. They were Fighters, not cowards who run at the first sign of a true threat. It was the most dishonorable act they had a name for.

Antoni made his way to the command center inside their base and walked straight up to Hasan. Grabbing him by the scruff of his neck, he hauled the smaller man up from his station seat to yell in his face, "Where did they go?!"

"What? Y-you saw which way! It's n-not hard to see the tree m-moving back east," the Gale Archer stammered out.

He snarled in return, disgusted by Hasan's lack of a spine. "Not them! The traitorous bitch Nawal and that group of whores!"

"I d-don't know, sir! I was keeping my eyes on the battle and relaying what was happening to the others here."

Antoni released the scout with an angry roar of frustration at their complete ineptitude. He was surrounded by idiots. "Well, everyone, get out there and find them! You have until the next tally to either bring them back or bring back enough tribute points to get this useless pile of leaves moving! We're going to teach that traitor a lesson and get back our healer, then we're going to find that pompous Whisper and nail his corpse to his pathetic tree!"