The Tower in the Shadows

"Well, that happened."

Doltum was nearly carrying Seela up the stairs with Elian following behind. The statue was returning to its pedestal. It had been slightly damaged, but not as severely as I had feared. Doltum's sword and magic had scared the statue; its health bar was still 80% full. Its stamina was still pretty full, but its mana bar was almost exhausted.

My plans for the floor had worked out well.

I had created eight undead skeleton warriors. They were weak but fast. They had rusted weapons and armour. Realistically, they looked good, but a strong wind could knock them down. They were part of the Guardian, serving as the starting point of the engagement. They reached out to anyone coming down the stairs. As soon as they pass the two side doorways that go into the Underlands, they engage them. This, in turn, brings the Guardian into the fight.

The undead were to delay. The Guardian would be given time to watch the adventurers and target the most dangerous.

I opened the 11th-floor Guardian's status screen.

I had named it The Angel. I had used 110CP 30 Air, 10 Light, 10 Earth, and 20 Celestial mana in its creation. Multiple attempts were made to create the Guardian, which initially failed several times, much to my frustration.

I thought about what I had created.

I had leaned more towards Krag than Maximus with my plans for this Guardian. The Angel was slower than both but could take a frightening amount of punishment before dying. The fight against Doltum had shown that I succeeded in this. A diamond-grade adventurer had hardly injured my newest Guardian.

Seela had used extensive potions, but they also caused minor damage. It was her injury that had Doltum retreat. I think he might have stayed in it a bit longer otherwise.

Skills-wise, it had a good spread that I had adapted from Krag and Maximus. They had been used extensively in the fight, but its Stamina had been barely taxed. It had jumped using Leap, glided to a point and then dropped. I think I will need to repair the floor if the rest of the area doesn't.

The Guardians' Light Magic had been ok. The spells were a nice addition, but were weak and not a primary weapon in its arsenal. It had never triggered Harden in the fight at all.

"No elemental weaknesses."

Given the numerous mana types in use, I expected some form of elemental or mana-based weakness. The lack of one was quite a surprise for me in this regard. I have spent the last few days thinking about why that was, but I have still not come up with a satisfactory answer. I suspected it was due to the mix of mana in its creation.

With the creation of the Angel and the skeletons, I had lost one hundred and fifty CP in total. I had not added a hook to the floor, excluding access to the Underlands. Speaking of them, I haven't seen anything come through the tunnels yet.

I opened up the reward table for the Angel.

I still have the ability to change them if I desire, but I was happy with the way the system configured them.

The Angel was now being restored as the adventurers were beyond the fifth floor.

I vaguely wondered what the reaction would be to it in the city above.

## ## ## ## ##

Averance was often unfocused and seemed to care about nothing around her, even her duties. That was the impression that she usually gave, and that was what Elian frequently saw. But today she learned something new, which made her unhappy.

Averance was scary when she was focused.

Elian sat in a chair before her desk, reviewing her report from the 11th floor of the Dungeon multiple times, absorbing every detail with each retelling.

"Diamond rated then?" She had asked.

"Yes. Doltum said he and Seela will try again once they are properly prepared. They are not expected to fight what they had down there, and they have time to prepare." Elian remembered the conversation between them. Doltum seemed almost shaken by what he had fought, and said he needed a few days to be ready to fight it again.

Diamond-rated monsters have to be dealt with carefully and with a great deal of preparation. They had expected the Dungeon to create one as the new floor Guardian, and it had not let them down.

"A golem of some kind?" Averance asked what she was talking to herself rather than to Elian.

"Yes. It is a statue of a man dressed in armour similar to the Old Empire. It is created from marble or a similar stone. The thing that stands out the most is that it has large wings."

"Wings? Like a Celestial?" Averance asked.

"Similar. The wings are more like a bird's. They come from its back and are attached to its body in the shoulder area, I think." Elian explained.

"Strange," Averance said, leaning back into the chair.

"From what I witnessed of the battle, this golem is not as fast as the four bosses above. It has a similar level of magic and skills, I believe, but its real strength lies in its ability to endure."

Averance closed her eyes as she spoke. "Yes, I think you are right. Doltum's greatest advantage is his ability to cast multiple spells at the same time. People think it is his sword work that is his strength, but it is his magic. If this new monster can withstand even his assault, it's far tougher than anything I've heard of recently."

Before Elian could say anything else, the door suddenly opened and Doltum entered.

"Apologies for the rude interruption, Elian." He said, ignoring Averance. "I wish to request entry to the Dungeon once more tomorrow to try to bring the 11th-floor monster to heel."

"Are you sure?" Elian asked, concerned. "Seela was badly injured in the fight."

"No need to worry about her, she's fully recovered and ready to go again."

A snort from Averance drew their attention to her.

"Seela is ready to go again, I can believe. But are you?" Averance asked, looking at him with a focused gaze. There was something more in that look that Elian could not read.

"I am. The golem proved to be far more resilient than I imagined. I have taken steps to negate this advantage." He seemed confident.

"There is no dishonour in asking me to take care of it." Averance pointed out. "This type of threat requires a group to take down."

"No, I believe that Seela and I are more than sufficient." He had bristled slightly at her words, but was keeping his tone calm. "I thought I would need longer, but we had the resources I needed closer than I thought."

Averance never took her eyes off him. There was something else going on here that Elian was not privy to. She wanted to know what it was, but was wise enough not to ask. The tension in the room began to escalate, and it was almost becoming a physical presence. Neither was looking away. Elian was sweating.

"Very well." Averance suddenly said, and the tension disappeared.

He nodded tightly and then turned, striding from the room and closing the door behind him.

"Well, looks like you're going to be busy tomorrow," Averance said offhandedly to Elian.

## ## ## ## ##

Something was in a tunnel.

I could make out something, but it was beyond any detail. I was getting hints of movement.

Larry had been down on the floor but had heard something and fled. That had alerted me to something being out there. I shifted my attention to the tunnel and tried to see what was inside.

No luck.

Whatever was in there was not coming any further, yet

I knew the floor was ready if it turned into the area where the undead triggered. I could get the Guardian to attack it if it went the other way, or I could just watch and wait.

So, I waited.

And waited.

Whatever was out there was in no rush to come in.

I was getting bored.

It was large but low to the ground. I had made that out, but I was still unsure what it was. I told the Guardian to kill anything that entered. It was a risk, but my Core was a bit exposed.

Suddenly, it entered. I got a look at it. It looked like a kimono dragon, but with a twist.

I received an alert, but the Angel went into action.

My Guardian attacked by jumping off the pedestal and charging the intruder. The monster reacted and countercharged. The Angel triggered several skills as the distance closed and brought down its mace in a step arc. The beast tried to avoid it but was too slow, and even I winced at the impact. Before impact, it spat something at the Angel.

It was wounded and stunned. The mace had impacted its skull, and it was staggering from the blow. The Angel did not stop, and three more blows were delivered in rapid succession.

I looked over the Angel.

It was steaming?