The Ruby Magician

Metal reverberated, hollow dings of armor being struck echoed, and human cries of fury and passion grew in the small area of the dark plains on the sixth floor as the Climbers started their small war with the undead army.

But that was nothing compared to the deafening sound of the enemy monsters.

Their ravenous screams and growls made Wyn's ears ring, and he wasn't even at the forefront of the fighting. The noise was worse than war – it was a magical war, with foreign noises mixed with familiar, haunting sounds. All of it whirled together in a grotesque combination that filled Wyn's ears like sands of the past.

As the two forces collided, he carefully watched what happened. A mighty army thousands thick descended on the guild like flies on a dead animal. The monsters swarmed them, stopped only by the front line Climbers and the magical attacks of the ranged Climbers behind them, combining their powers to exude such a force that the dense army was repelled like Wyn's Shield protecting him from an attack that covered an entire room.

In that moment of collision Wyn was prepared to unleash everything he had while opening a portal to make sure everyone made it out safely. The familiarity was great and sudden, and the thought of protecting his soldiers was at the forefront of his mind. The fingers on his left hand fiddled with a portal key, ready to activate it at a moment's notice.

But that scenario was far from needed at the very start. He realized that was a relief that was unparalleled.

The front-line Climbers were blurs of movement as they powered through the undead monsters during their first engagement. Wyn watched with wide eyes, impressed at their physical abilities – being as enhanced as they were, they likely had more than a half-dozen auras on each of them, rivaling or possibly even eclipsing a fourth-tier Climber. Even with his enhanced speed and mental processing, the speed of the Climbers was similar or higher than his own, and that didn't include their other physical enhancements.

A boom to his left pulled Wyn's attention, and he looked over to see Arabelle lashing out with her whip at a group of monsters while fighting alongside her own teammates. The spell-infused hit cleared a large hole in the monster army, sending monster parts flying in the air. By Wyn's estimation, she likely took out two dozen monsters from the single magical strike.

But the flood of undead was relentless, and the hole was filled in as quickly as it was created like water filling a sinkhole.

Ranged Climbers peppered the horde of monsters with their own attacks, hitting and clearing out enemies behind the front lines to give the melee Climbers some breathing room. Tasha activated her holy beam to the right, clearing out a large group of monsters that were growing disproportionally to the rest of the formation.

It seemed to be going well so far. But the fight had only been going on for a minute, and there was still an army to kill.

The problem Wyn noticed right away was that the group slowed down considerably as they fought, even though they were still moving forward. It was only at a crawl, now, but the guild was successfully keeping the undead at bay. He was about to press them to move on, and he hoped everyone would stay in formation while simultaneously inching to the castle.

"Advance!" Wyn yelled, but it was useless. The noise was so overwhelming from the army and Climbers that his voice couldn't carry past a few feet around him.

He moved to Tasha, who was hovering above the ground, now. Grabbing her shoulder, he leaned into her ear. "We need to move forward! We've stopped to fight but need to keep up the pace!"

Tasha looked around and nodded, then grabbed the nearest support Climber and relayed the message into his ear. Wyn moved to Oren, who was standing behind his group, carefully watching them tear through the dozens of monsters in front of them. He relayed the message to him, and Oren's focused look turned to concern.

Wyn squeezed his shoulder, hoping to reassure him. He couldn't do much more for him. The man needed to dig deep and find his usual confidence. It wasn't a characteristic that was given.

Oren and one of the other support Climbers lifted a hand and pointed it forward, both releasing a small mote of light. The lights flew and hit Faye and Nigel respectively, enveloping their heads and lighting them up for only a second.

Faye quickly started moving through the ranged Climbers while Nigel kept fighting. Instead of keeping his feet planted, though, he started steadily advancing as he slew undead around him.

Tasha was the one who came up with the idea to use the first tier spell Message to be able to relay information as they fought, knowing it would be more effective. The spell worked to magically and silently send a brief message to a recipient's mind, which was normally not too useful but now was incredibly helpful. Due to the nature of it working within someone's mind, it bypassed loud noises, which was a major challenge of the raid.

As the formation began their slow movement, Wyn kept a watchful eye. He felt mostly useless but knew he'd be busy soon. There was no way it was going to be a smooth clear of the floor.

Less than a few minutes later, Wyn's assumption was right. The right side of the formation started to falter as some of the Climbers weren't moving while fighting. Seeing gaps in their line, Wyn moved to help secure their weakness. He started at the end so he wouldn't be in anyone's way, finding it relatively easy to hold off the monsters around him with his sword and magical boosts. They thankfully weren't smart enough to try and run around the formation to flank the support Climbers in the middle of the group, instead choosing to attack the closest Climber available.

That advantage proved the formation to be a solid one, and Wyn exploited it. He moved to the side and forward in an arc, hacking away at the standard monsters with ease. The ones he met were all typical zombies of a similar strength to the third floor, wielding no weapons and having no armor but instead trying to attack with their fists or bite with their snarling mouths. His sword moved through them easier than a hot knife through butter, and he was able to cut a single monster in half with each swing. Sensing how easy they were dying, he retracted his shield and expanded his weapon to a glaive with a larger blade at the end, then started sweeping through them like a farmer threshing wheat.

Each sweep erased a handful of monsters, and Wyn found it far too easy. With the enhancements on his body, the zombies wouldn't stand a chance. They didn't stand a chance currently, and were being torn apart like they were made of paper. Part of him wondered if he could just rush through the floor, carving a line through hundreds of them to reach the castle.

Willing his mind to focus, Wyn turned to the nearest Climbers and caught their attention. "Move!" Wyn yelled, pointing forward to the castle with a free hand.

The Climbers realized his intent and nodded, then moved back into position while continuing to bash, slice, and cut through more zombies around them.

Moving back to the support Climbers, Wyn saw the formation hold, again. And this time they were moving forward at a walking pace.

Judging from the distance to the castle, it would take them about an hour and a half to reach it, possibly even two hours.

That… was a long time for continuous, constant fighting. Not unheard of in war, of course, but based on the way the guild was tearing through the enemies, Wyn wondered if they could actually kill the entire army in that timeframe. It had only been a handful of minutes since they started fighting and he estimated about one to two hundred monsters were already dead. Likely more.

Which gave him the confidence to use one of his back-up formations.

While Wyn reviewed some emergency scenarios with the leaders prior to entering the floor, he also reviewed two other formations. One was in case they met strong enemies mixed with the weaker ones, and the other was if they needed to move quicker.

The latter was the situation, now. And Wyn wanted to move towards it so they could actually make progress.

After waiting another agonizing ten minutes with no major change, and only advancing at the pace of a walk, the monster army showed no signs of slowing down.

Wyn was ready to go faster.

Moving beside Tasha, he waited for her to return to ground level, as she had been flying above and alternating between helping the ranged Climbers and supporting the front line. Her pack was in front of her, which only carried mana potions for the Climbers tearing through their mana at alarming rates. When she noticed Wyn, her brows furrowed.

"We're moving too slow," Tasha yelled.

Wyn nodded. "Hasten formation."

Tasha wore a look of concern. Wyn understood. This experience was far different from a normal climb, but it was needed if they all wanted to clear the floor.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

Tasha relayed the message to the other Climbers who sent Messages to Faye and Nigel.

The appropriately named formation wasn't too different from their current one. Everyone practically stayed in the same position, after all. But the goal was obviously to pick up the movement. Doing that while fighting was tricky, as it meant that the front-line Climbers had to start sacrificing focus on killing monsters and protecting themselves to moving towards the end of the floor. Which wasn't easy, as it meant leaving behind monsters that could attack the less durable Climbers.

John was actually the one who came up with the solution as he compared it to an empowered arrow. A magical or spell-infused arrow flew faster and stronger than a normal one, he pointed out, so they just needed to translate that to their formation.

Then it was Daniel who came up with the idea for the formation, which required a trio of powerfully ranged Climbers, like Marcy, Tasha, and Cedric. If they were going to act like an empowered arrow compared to a standard one, they needed to be big and bold.

Falling back from their positions on the second line, Marcy and Cedric joined Tasha and Wyn. Cedric activated his boot's ability to fly while Marcy activated her cloak, and then the three of them flew above and over the group to the front.

That was when they started unleashing their power.

Marcy slung one spell-infused arrow after another, all laced with the fire element creating small explosions. Tasha cast area of effect healing spells that nearly evaporated large circles of the zombies, turning them all into black smoke. And Cedric launched lightning spells in pockets that were similar to Marcy's explosive arrows, completely decimating zombies and creating loud booms of magic.

The three Climbers all aimed about twenty to thirty feet in front of Nigel, looking to clear out a layer of enemies to make it easier to advance. Their attacks worked, easily eliminating dozens and dozens of monsters from the thick reserve they carried.

Seeing the density reduce, Nigel had everyone move after the closer enemies were dispatched, which took merely seconds. As the gap was still empty, he ran forward twenty or so feet before meeting the remainder of the army behind it.

Wyn quickly ran through the implications in his mind. That maneuver helped them gain some quick ground at a not insignificant cost of mana. But it was something all three Climbers could replenish with a simple drink of a potion.

Wyn stopped his own spell contributions alongside the ranged Climbers and pointed forward with his arm, signaling to the three flying Climbers to go again.

They repeated the process two more times before needing to drink potions. During those two instances, they gained another seventy or eighty feet of ground. Not fantastic, but not nothing, either, as the distance was made up far faster than their previous advance.

Wyn knew the floor was going to be a slog, and was slightly dismayed at their meager progress. Taking his teammates out of their places on the second line also meant the others had to pick up the slack, which he was helping to reduce by taking Cedric's position. Still, one glance around was all it took to see that all of the ranged Climbers were drinking mana potions at a higher rate than he hoped. While mana could be replinished, they didn't have an unlimited number of potions.

The army looked to be thinning out, but he couldn't tell exactly by how much on the ground.

He needed to do something else. And fast. But what else was there to do? They were a small squad against an entire army. Plus, fighting a war took time. And that's what they needed.

But they also had magic. That was the key factor.

Wyn tried to process possibilities as quickly as possible while watching the guild to make sure everyone was in position and in good shape. He planned for possibilities but that could only go so far – he was experienced in war but not in war that involved magic. How could he use it to their advantage? What else could they do to speed it up?

One possibility was killing the enemies faster. If they cleared most of the enemies – even though there were thousands of them – maybe they could have an opening to the castle. They were faring well against the monster army despite being so outnumbered. Their formation was holding, they were communicating well, and everyone was doing their job appropriately.

The only problem was their progress felt like a stalemate. They were advancing, but being so slow meant eventually they would tire or give out. Their magical enhancements wouldn't last long, either.

A boom pulled Wyn's attention, but he saw it was just two spells that activated at the same time. More monsters were cleared from a pocket in front of the guild, and the burden lessened for everyone for a few moments. But the gap was filled quickly with more zombies rushing to their demise.

An idea took shape in Wyn's mind. Something he considered before but didn't explore. Now, though, he thought it just might work. It wouldn't be easy, and a large part of him was terrified, but he was sure of himself.

Wyn signaled to the three flying Climbers to land, and they came down to hover on the ground in the middle of the formation.

"What is it?" Marcy yelled.

Wyn gestured for them to get closer, and then he spoke to them all at once. "How does the army's size look?"

Marcy tilted her head side to side. "There are less of them, but their numbers are still insane!"

That was a good sign that the likelihood of more monsters joining the army was low.

"We need more power!" Wyn yelled. "If we can clear out large numbers quicker, we'll move faster!"

"We're already using our strongest area of effect spells," Cedric said. "There's not much else to do!"

Wyn grinned. "Bring out the summons! I have a new plan!"

Tasha's eyes widened, which looked strange since they were glowing white. "Already? Which ones?"

"All of them!"

It took nearly a full minute to relay his plan to them, send the messages to the necessary Climbers, have them step back out of formation and be covered, and then finally bring out their summons before Wyn's idea was ready.

Four different creatures formed into existence – Marcy's deathhawk, an earth elemental bear that was average size but could use some earth abilities, a dire wolf that was the size of a horse, and Baratheon, one of Tasha's Callings.

The support Climbers surrounded Wyn and put multiple effects on him while he reactivated Sprint and Drain, then cast Elemental Weapon on his longsword, choosing for it to be fire. Around him was an ethereal suit of armor thicker than any plate mail, as well as layers of auras that improved his physicality far beyond just his speed.

He felt invigorated. He felt unstoppable. He felt like a god.

And he was about to channel that power.

Flying into the air with his three teammates, Wyn watched them fly forward and unleash another series of attacks that cleared a spot in the army. This time, instead of having the guild fill it, they stopped to allow the summons to make their way forward. The zombie army quickly attacked them, but the summons held their own for a few brief moments. They were surprisingly capable, especially Baratheon, who swept his great arms and kicked out with mighty legs to kill dozens of the monsters in single blows. He was a literal giant squashing the creatures around him.

Wyn took a deep breath. Now it was his turn. He felt a personal responsibility for his guild's ability to clear this floor, and for their safety. And he was ready to put his own abilities to the test.

Flying down to the army, Wyn cast Flash as he descended in front of the small group of summons. A large group of the zombies screamed in frustration and recoiled at the spell, and Wyn swiped through them with an incredible ease. With his enhancements, he felt hardly any resistance in their bodies at all.

He glanced around, taking note that he was surrounded except for his back, which was where the summons were still holding off zombies. Everywhere else, though, were enemies.

Weak, pitiful, but countless enemies. All snarling and scrambling to attack and kill him.

Wyn cast Frostsnap and caught a dozen monsters, then dashed at an angle and started slashing with his sword, fire whipping up around him and burning through the zombies. After killing more monsters in moments, he cast the ice spell again, slowing and freezing more of them. There was one additional spell he had prepared to use, one that would help clear the way. It was the Snow Swarm spell, found in Alistair. He was prepared to use its ability to further improve his crowd control, with slowing and freezing enemies or outright killing them.

Not stopping, he kept his movement focused, angling around the summons in a combination of swiping his fire-laden sword and freezing area of effect spell, pushing his speed more than he ever had before.

Often a monster would land a hit, but between his armor, magical armor, and layered healing auras, he never even felt the strikes, instead focusing on reducing as much of the monstrous army as possible.

His mana wasn't endless, but it did recover at a ridiculous rate. By spacing out his casts, he could prolong the eventual need of drinking a mana potion easily

He refused to stop. He grit his teeth, cast as fast as his class would allow, and flew through the zombie army all while Tasha, Cedric, and Marcy flew above him to provide additional cover.

*****

Arabelle felt sweat dripping down her brow, but she refused to stop attacking. She couldn't, or else she would be a weak link in the guild's formation, allowing the zombies to wreak havoc.

Her movements became a pattern, just like Wyn said it would.

Step. Whip, attack. Spell, whip, attack. Step. Whip, attack. Shield, bash, whip, attack. Step.

Repeatedly, over and over, seemingly without end.

Arabelle had a growing sense of dread as she felt her mana was low, then promptly drank a mana potion while shielding herself against a zombie. That was her third, and she only had two more.

They had only been fighting for twenty minutes. Or was it closer to half an hour? She couldn't make sense of the time anymore. The magical boosts on her body warped her sense of endurance and fatigue, and the constant slog of fighting confused her.

There was no way they were going to overcome this atrocious floor.

Then, she saw summoned creatures in front of the guild. She spared a moment's glance before continuing her rhythmic pattern.

Then she saw some of the zombies ignore the other Climbers on her side of the formation. They were actually running away, drawn elsewhere. For a moment she was relieved of the repetition as the zombies in front of her started to thin, giving her a chance to breathe.

More explosions and sounds of magic came from in front of the guild, but she knew that to be the ranged Climbers clearing the way.

Or was it?

Looking to her right, her face fell. The zombies around her had lessened so much that she had no enemies to target. Instead, she could only focus on one thing. The one thing that the other Climbers around here were also focused on, all unable to look away.

A blur of colored magic carved through the army unlike anything she'd seen before. The figure wielded a red-hued weapon and swung it with such speed she was unsure what it was. A blue pulse of ice fanned out of the figure like a wave of snow, engulfing and slowing enemies long enough to either remove them from immediate danger or make them still to carve in two. Then a literal ice storm appeared nearby, joining the other elemental storms from the ranged Climbers. Except that storm followed the figure and further froze and killed zombies like an ice god was summoned.

She didn't believe it, but she knew who that figure was.

A hand pushed her forward, and Arabelle looked back to see Oren urging her along. The rest of the guild was jogging, now. There didn't seem to be any reason to keep formation, as the front six Climbers were still tearing through the zombies, and her brother was single handedly eliminating hundreds of monsters on his own.

A heavy breath left her. Just how powerful was he, now?

"Come on!" Oren yelled.

Arabelle understood. They needed to help.

Over the next ten minutes, the guild picked apart the remaining monster army. There were some giants in the mix that looked intimidating, but a series of ranged magical attacks made short work of them. The other variation, the flying monsters, also seemed more for show than strength, as they were more of a nuisance than anything, and still were easily dealt with.

Eventually they made it to the front of the castle, and that was when everyone stopped to see Wyn standing still, thirty or forty zombies around him, all disposed, either on fire and turning to smoke or frozen solid in ice.

He looked like some kind of mythical figure. Like a demigod granted divine boons.

"I can't believe it," Oren said.

Arabelle nodded her head. Looking around, the entire guild had made it. Exhausted, but safe. "I know. His planning worked."

"No," Oren said, still not taking his eyes off Wyn. "Him. Just… what is he?"

Arabelle smirked, then smacked Oren on the back. "He's our guild leader. Now come on. I'm ready to leave this floor."

Trotting over to Wyn, everyone surrounded him closely, including the Packers that joined the climb. Arabelle wondered what he was going to do, then he just smiled and raised his sword, crying out in victory. Everyone else joined him, and she couldn't stop herself from joining their song of victory even if she wanted.

After a few more minutes of celebration, congratulations, and tired thanks, Wyn shushed the crowd.

"Thank you all for your part," Wyn said, his voice ragged and hoarse. "None of us could have made it without all of us. Hold your heads up proudly!"

Another cheer rang out.

Arabelle stepped up to Wyn and hugged him. "Thank you."

Wyn squeezed her tighter.

"Now what?" Someone in the group called out, causing laughter to replace the cheers.

Wyn let go of Arabelle and pointed to the clear portal behind him. "Now, we advance to the seventh floor!"

The laughter died down, and Arabelle looked at her brother in horror.

Wyn shrugged and pulled out a portal key. "Just kidding."

More laughs rang out, and then they started saying their goodbyes. The Packers left with Nigel's and Faye's groups, all of them talking about the items they picked up behind the carnage. Arabelle hung around, staring at the castle behind the portal, as her and Wyn's team were the last ones remaining.

"You want to see the next floor, too?" Wyn asked.

Oren nodded. "That's what we decided before we came. Just to see it."

"Agreed," John said, putting an arm around Tasha. "Just a peek."

Going through the portal, Arabelle felt the familiar tug through space, then her boots landed on soft grass. She looked around, then froze.

Wyn stared back at her. His smile vanished the moment they locked eyes.

"What in the hells?" Arabelle asked.

Looking around, she saw Wyn's entire team, and her own team, too.

"No, no, no," John said, walking up to her. "No way!"

"Godsdamnit," Cedric said behind them, holding his parchment out. "It looks like the raid isn't just for the sixth floor."