They stood before the gate to Alepheria's Tower. It was a massive thing, large enough that her creations could pass through, which made Adam wonder how the inside of the large tower must look. Standing at the foot of it, he doubted that his earlier estimation of its diameter was correct. Wood and metal had been wrought together to form the two doors of the gate, but it wasn't exactly the most complex creation, though its size was just absurd. Nevertheless, they went two to each side and pulled where they could dig their fingers in, with Adam's barriers lending their power.

Although the gate doors were heavy, they slowly opened under their combined effort, which was a relief.

"Thought we weren't gonna get in for moment there," Gladwyn remarked, out of breath like the rest of them.

Adam resummoned his barriers and moved them in front of himself while shaping them into shields. "Let's be careful when we enter."

Thanks to Emelia, they knew about the containment facility in the basement, but it had a hidden lever on the first landing above that they needed to get to. Unfortunately, like with the outside of the tower and its location, it was always slightly different, so there was no telling what monsters awaited them in the entrance.

Gladwyn went in first with James next to him while Adam and Hahn brought up the rear. The archer cast a worried glance back the way they'd come, but there was nothing to see there. He was no doubt expecting an ambush.

But I get it. There's no telling what happened to the other two.

Maybe they're just checked out and refusing to participate.

Maybe they formed a pact to kill us.

Or maybe one of them killed the other and the survivor is now coming for us, biding their time to strike.

All of those possibilities were there, but Adam knew better than to worry about things he had no control over.

"Come on," he told Hahn.

"Yeah, I'm coming," he replied.

Gladwyn and James stopped only a few metres past the giant threshold, and when they caught up, Adam realised why.

A massive ramp, big enough to fit three trucks side-by-side, moved up along the rounded walls of the tower. The scale was absurd. And he had the uncanny sense that the interior of the tower was somehow bigger than what the outside showed.

Perhaps the 'crooked' part of the tower's title is actually a reference to some magical fuckery going on?

The spiralling ramp screwed up into the air, with maybe about an eight metre wide gap in the centre. They all moved over to the gap to look up.

James cursed.

"What the hell?" Gladwyn said, frowning.

Adam suddenly doubted that his idea of flying to the top of the tower would've worked, because when he stood there looking up, he saw that the screw-shape stairwell just went on-and-on for what looked like kilometres.

"Will we be able to make it to the top?" Hahn wondered.

"We'd best get started," James said.

Adam nodded. "Let's get going."

Gladwyn spared him a brief glance. Although Emelia had told them about the areas of the tower she knew about, she hadn't said they should seek them all out.

It's starting to all make sense though, Adam thought. I was wondering how the hell you fit a lab, prison, library, and all that other stuff in here…

No wonder they gave us a full 24 hours to finish the Stage. I bet the Speedrun must be like 6 or 8 hours, and that's probably with non-stop running.

Gladwyn took the first steps up the ramp and the rest of them filed into formation. The walls were a bizarre amalgamation of brickwork, wooden panels, metal braces and beams, and solid stone. The ramp was more uniform however, as it was made from colourful bricks in earthen hues like light-and-dark browns, reds, and greens. Somehow, despite the crudeness of the construction, the ramp was perfectly smooth with not a single brick out of place or a gap anywhere to be seen. It was like a chaotic type of perfection that Adam was sure could only be achieved with magic.

They followed the ramp up without pause for 10 minutes before they reached the first landing. Recessed into the wall on their right was an opening for some kind of barracks built from grey bricks. No sooner had they set foot on the flat part of the stairwell than humanoids emerged.

Although they were shaped like humans, they were made of bone plates and had blue-glowing cables visible between the gaps, making them look like some kind of armoured robots in a way.

Gladwyn moved forward, while James assessed the enemies with his telescope Relic.

"Target their torsos!" he shouted. "They're similar to the Statue Elementals!"

[These are constructs called Mana Hoarders.]

That sounds ominous.

As if to point out why they had such a name, the constructs surged around Gladwyn and aimed for James and Adam.

Hahn had taken off the Fiendbarb and fired arrows that ricocheted between the targets but dealt minimal damage.

James used his new Cowl almost immediately, sucking the blue energy out of a hoarder that went right for him. It collapsed to the brick floor with a clatter and his sword lit up with the same energy, but also made him laugh like he'd gone mad. He immediately went on the offensive, moving past Gladwyn's attempts to guard the rest of them, while carving his glowing blade through the constructs, shearing them apart.

The enemies kept pouring out from inside the barracks though and Adam was unable to keep track of James, since he was too busy fighting off the ones targeting him. His barriers whistled through the air as he commanded them simultaneously, both shaped like narrow lances. With their speed and damage, they tore right through the centre of the constructs without slowing down, piercing the strange pumps that served as their facsimile hearts and kept the constructs alive.

He couldn't tell if they were sentient, but the fact that they specifically targeted magic users was worrying and reminded him of Yenna's warning.

If not for the fact that Gladwyn was holding a lot of the enemies back through sheer effort and aggressive defending, as well as them focusing on Adam and James, then Hahn would have easily been defeated. Despite his amazing contribution against the Discarded Golem, he was absolutely useless the moment the enemies had any kind of meaningful armour or weren't made out of flesh and blood. Adam couldn't help but think that Hahn had only survived Stage Five by getting lucky, since there was no way he would've even been able to defeat the statues.

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

The soul essences of the dead constructs flowed into Adam's Wraith Lantern and soon a pair of wraiths were summoned.

Except, they weren't wraiths.

They were like pale-white dancers covered in translucent shawls with glowing white eyes and smiles. Glittering snowflakes trailed after them while they moved through the air, floating a few centimetres above the floor as they pirouetted across the landing, slashing with their long and deadly nails as they passed through the enemies. Unlike the normal Winter Wraiths, they did not trigger the Last Stand buff until after their third attack. Although their swipes didn't instantly kill the constructs they hit, the cuts they made froze immediately and partially immobilised the bone creatures, slowing them down.

Once the Last Stand's Fervour did kick in, they became like whirling dervishes of ice and spite, causing only more of the soul essences to fly back into Adam's lantern, creating more of themselves.

He looked down at his new right hand. This Legendary Relic is amazing!

When the fourth pair of Winter Dancers were summoned, Gladwyn and Adam had already pushed into the barracks. The place was a lot bigger than they had realised, having several branching rooms connected to its main one, and the constructs which had been stationed there were activating in batches as they went deeper.

Adam resummoned his barriers after cracking one of them by striking a construct at an odd angle. The dancers were moving off into the different chambers at Adam's command, obeying his orders just as easily as the barriers did.

Hahn caught up to them when they reached the last room, inside of which James was finishing off the final construct by draining its energy using the power of his Cowl. The tall black man shuddered as the blue energy suffused his sword.

"What the hell was that!?" Gladwyn scolded him once it was clear the danger had passed.

"Yeah, running off like that could get you killed," Adam said.

James turned to look at them, some of the blue energy lighting up his eyes as well, which was worrying.

"Sorry about that," he said. "The Mana within the constructs is especially pure and consuming it seems to have made me quite reckless, I now realise. It was a debuff called Mana Euphoria. I had almost double the Mana I normally have and I was able to just use my spells over and over!"

He was talking faster than normal and his expression was slightly crazed.

Christ… Even getting too much Mana is a problem??

Adam was a bit disappointed he hadn't been able to see what James' spells looked like, but by the time he had gained control over the situation the Spellblade had already vanished from sight. Still, there wasn't a scratch on him, so he had to have fought well, Adam thought.

"Sorry, guys!" Hahn said.

Before anyone could respond, their cubes all spoke with one voice.

[Encounter cleared.]

"Do we get a reward?" Gladwyn asked his cube.

[Yes. An Upgrade Chest has been made available in the main chamber.]

"Can we all use it?" Adam asked.

[No. Chests may only be used by one Player. It is advised that you decide who amongst you is most deserving of it.]

"Adam and I already got rewards, so the next one is Gladwyn's," James said.

"I'd rather wait until we find a Relic Chest," Gladwyn replied. "I think Hahn should take it, he needs more damage and penetration for his bow."

Hahn lowered his head. "Sorry," he said again.

"Hopefully we can find a Relic that's useful to you," Adam added.

Gladwyn looked around the chamber they were in and Adam knew he was searching for the lever that opened the tower's basement. But it wasn't in here.

After they returned to the main room and let Hahn open the bone chest that awaited them, Adam and Gladwyn went through the side chambers until they found what they were looking for. Adam called the others over before he pulled down the lever and made a tremor roll through the tower.

"Did you know this was here?" James asked. "And what did that just do?"

"I just figured they'd be hiding stuff from us," Adam replied.

"It sounds like something opened below us," Gladwyn commented.

The two of them weren't doing a great job of hiding the fact that they knew more than they should, but Adam figured it was at least slightly more believable since they were both in on it.

Hahn returned to the Upgrade Chest, which he had already opened. None of the choices gave him additional penetration, but he had both Projectile Damage and a general Damage upgrade available. There was also a Draw Speed upgrade that made him able to fire faster, but it didn't affect the speed of the arrows. Since the general Damage upgrade was Rare and the other two were Uncommon, Hahn picked that one.

They went through the barracks once more before leaving, finding nothing besides the remains of the constructs they'd fought.

James went over to the edge of the stairwell landing and looked down.

"You were right, Gladwyn," he announced. "Something opened up down there."

"Let's go investigate," Adam said.

"Shouldn't we continue going up?" Hahn countered.

"I have to find something for my Patron," Adam replied.

"Me too," Gladwyn added.

"We all do, I'm sure," James said.

"I have to find an Eye That Has Witnessed Its Own Death," Hahn said.

That's gotta be the thing Emelia said was in the laboratorium.

"I have to find some notes or a book," Adam announced.

"Mine's a face given up willingly," James said with a frown.

That's creepy as hell…

"I think my object was called a Resistant Organ," Gladwyn added.

"Is it really worth searching for them?" Hahn asked. "We might lose too much time."

"Lucca told me that the Relics from Absolutes are worth three times the normal rate, so I think it'll be more than worth it to finish our gathering quests," Adam replied.

"If we end up unable to find them all, then we will just give up and keep climbing the tower," Gladwyn added.

"What even happens if we run out of time?" Hahn asked.

"We die," James said with utter certainty. "I saw it happen in the last Stage."

"Really?" Adam asked, surprised he had witnessed such a thing.

"Yeah. I had claimed the Altar but there were still 3 minutes remaining when the timer ran out. Someone was running towards me while I stood within the Altar and as the timer expired they collapsed to the floor, instantly dead. It was like the light in their eyes just vanished."

I wonder if there's a way to survive such a thing, like with the Cheat Death Relic or the Hobgoblin Pendant.

"Come on," Gladwyn said and they followed him back down the ramp.

It was faster down than up, but mostly because Adam used his barriers to speed up the process, resummoning each time their Fervour ran out. What had taken them 10 minutes going up, took only 2 going down.

If I fuse them together, I should be able to carry at least three of us, he realised. Since there's a hole in the middle of the tower, it would be easy enough to make an elevator sort of contraption with the barriers.

Although that'd require them to trust me to not drop them…

At the bottom of the stairwell, where the outside was visible through the large gate, was a new ramp leading down below the ground floor.

Gladwyn once again went first and after following the new stairwell down for a few minutes, they reached a subterranean prison, although Emelia had called it a containment facility. The walls, floor, and ceiling were all made of light-grey bricks and from the ramp a large hallway led them towards a chamber. Along the walls of the tunnel were locked cells full of various creatures. Some of them were humanoid and called out for them with pleading voices, but the rest were twisted animals born from vile experiments.

The four of them stuck to the middle of the hallway, not daring to get close to the creatures for fear of what might happen.

Adam thought it might be worth trying to slip his barriers into their cells to kill the monsters before they could escape, but when he tried it, some sort of magical protection destroyed his barriers without even triggering Last Stand's Fervour.

It was clear they had to just keep going, but when they reached the large chamber, a cacophony of voices, screams, and roars trailed after them, and Adam feared they might be overrun if the cells were to be opened before they could leave.

Maybe coming here was a mistake, he thought.

Still, there was no going back now.

The moment Hahn crossed the threshold of the chamber's entrance, a portcullis fell down, blocking their escape route.

"Shit," Adam muttered, moving his barriers out in front of himself.

The chamber was quite big and the walls were curved like an arena. Stone slabs with manacles took up the right side, looking like some kind of setup for experimentation, though Adam knew the real laboratorium was higher up the tower. The left side of the chamber held vertical tube vats within which floated creatures and humanoids, suspended in oily blue-ish fluid. In the back, opposite from where they had entered, was a raised podium with various tools and instruments, as well as several levers that no doubt opened the cells they'd passed on the way.

But what they all focused on was the hole in the ceiling from which came strange squelching sounds. Directly below the hole was a slightly raised dais with two chests on it, but none of them were foolish enough to move any closer.

"Fucking hell," James cursed as something appeared from the hole.

It was a large yellow eye tinged with blue energy.

The eye moved down into the chamber and the rest of its body followed.

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