After traveling over snow and ice for over a day, I'd never thought to find my team forced to strip their warm clothing in fear of a heatstroke. The ambient air temperature is in the eighties, with that number rising above a hundred near the tower's entrance. It's because of that heat why many of the pilgrims look to be covered in sweat.

"Do you know why the tower produces heat?" I ask Gunnar while my team sets up a makeshift camp. Nothing too complicated of a camp, though. Just some bedding for rest and a fire to melt snow.

"No, though my father would argue it's because the great one offers sanctuary from the cold to any who need it."

"Is he part of the Tower Ecclesiasticus?"

He shakes his head. "No- though I wouldn't be surprised he would've been if he wasn't leading a country."

"How about telling him your dads story?" Leif interrupts. The man slowly approaches with two [Paladins] in tow.

Gunnar rolls his eyes as he looks to his brother in arms. "What's there to tell? My father got lost on the island and almost died from frostbite. He found the tower and survived because of the warmth."

Leif shakes his head. "Your father would punish you if he heard how boring your retelling is."

"Then my father can keep telling his story. Now, what do you need?" The [Frost Lord] asks.

Leif extends a thumb to the two [Paladins]. "My charges wish to introduce themselves."

The two [Paladins] step forward and tap their chests. "I am [Paladin] Breaven and this is my brother in arms [Paladin] Grendal. We wish to speak with the apostle." The two men shift their expectant gaze to me.

I sigh. "Go ahead. Ask."

"Are you truly an apostle?" Grendal asks, surprising Breaven with such a question.

"No. James is just making up stories."

Grendal seems to slightly deflate with the answer. Breaven rubs his chin.

"Can you enter inside the tower?" Breaven asks the next question.

"I plan to once my crew rests."

Grendal immediately perks up. "What about the other group?" He asks.

Other group?

"What other group?"

Both Grendal and Breaven point at a bunch of [Mercenaries]. "They're part of a larger group that entered inside recently."

OH SHIT! Looks like there's another champion here. Things are going to get a bit more complicated.

"Who's the leader? Do you know anything about them? Species, skills, class, level?"

Breaven shakes his head. "We'd only just arrived before the group entered inside."

"Do you plan to punish these transgressors?" Grendal asks eagerly, once again surprising Breaven.

More like kill.

"I'll see once I'm inside. How long ago was it since they entered?"

"About half a day." Breaven says.

"How can you enter the tower?" The [Frost Lord] finally interrupts, unable to just listen quietly to the conversation.

"He is the great ones apostle." Grendal answers, causing Breaven to perk up in surprise.

"Comrade," Boriss yells and waves. "Camp is ready," he announces.

I smile to the men. "Looks like I have to go prepare. We'll talk later."

I hop off my perch and leave the four to their devices. When I return to my crew, I find very few of them exhausted. They are all partially naked, some even sweating from the heat.

"Alright, I was just told we've got another group within the tower. Which means we may find ourselves fighting enemies with classes. They've been in there for half a day, so either the test in the tower is long or they're dead. I'm going to go with the expectation that it is the former, though. Because of that risk, I'm going to have to leave many of you here."

"What's it look like in the tower?" Gino asks.

Huh, actually, that's a good point. I should take a quick peak.

"Let me check."

I hop off the perch and rush to the tower. As I pass the barrier, the heat seems to increase by a further ten degrees- something my body quickly adapts to.

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I enter inside and rush up the stairs. As I do, I'm met with everything covered in ashe as well as numerous footprints on the stairs.

That must be the other group.

On the second floor, I move to the exit. What I see is a sea of magma with islands in-between. Bridges of metal chains connect the islands, leading to what I can only expect to be the next tower.

Above the islands are flying creatures the size of humans while within the lava are massive slithering serpents covered in sharp spines. Some of the islands even have monsters that mimic dinosaurs in stature.

I guess this explains why the tower is spewing heat.

After another survey, I exit the tower to find another scene. The [Mercenaries] from before are armed and ready, pointing their weapons at my own armed and ready crew. Boriss is in front with a grin on his lips ready to get in the thick of things.

Oh, how fun.

"What's going on here?" I ask.

The leader of the [Mercenaries] glances at me, surprised, and then shifts his blade in my direction.

"You are not to enter the tower until the rest of my people return."

Are you being serious?

"And if I do, what are you going to do about it?" I ask.

The man smirks. "I'd rather avoid killing, but I've got my orders."

"And you'll follow orders even if you're outnumbered and outskilled?"

That's when the man looks around to find that Breaven, Grendal, Leif, Gunnar, and Anna arrive next to my own group. With six experts to the [Mercenaries] one, the leaders arrogance quickly deflates.

He sheathed his blade. "Fine. Just know there will be consequences when my commander returns." He turns. "Return to camp and stay vigilant."

As the [Mercenaries] leave, Boriss pouts. He looks at me. "Vhy no fight?"

"Because I don't want anyone getting tired yet." I glance at the support. "Though you didn't need to, thanks for coming to my defense"

"Like I had a choice," Gunnar gumbles, the words of the sovereign still clear in his mind. The [Frost Lord] knows that

"You will always have the church's support, apostle," Grendel announces. Breaven once again gives his compatriot a glance.

Huh. Maybe having the tower crazies support might not be so bad.

Returning back to camp, I face my crew with a frown. "So, it looks like the inside of the tower reminds me of the inside of a volcano. We've got extremely hot temperatures, an ocean of lava, and a bunch of islands. Also monsters, lots of dangerous looking monsters. In that sense, I'm going to take Nepenthes, Auranta, Yuto, and Boriss with me."

"I cannot go." Nepenthes quickly dejects. "I acclimated my body to reduce heat loss to a minimum. The current environment is already creating stress on my body. Further increase in temperature can be detrimental to normal bodily function." She explains. "Shifting my body to adapt to heat will take significant caloric expenditure on top of a minimum of eight hours."

Damn.

"That's fine then." I turn my head to Yuto. "Will you be fine with all that fur?"

Yuto nods. "I'll bring food to keep my temperature under control."

Food?

"How will food keep you cool?"

The wolven tilts his head. "What do you mean? My kind cool their bodies naturally, but we get hungry faster."

Nepenthes clicks her pincer. "Wolven have an organ that cools their blood at the cost of calories. Fenrimorphs have this organ too."

Oh damn. So it's like an internal air conditioner. I guess that explains the lack of sweat from the first tower I went to.

"That's good to know." I shift my gaze to the rest of my crew. "While we're gone, I want you all to hold the fort. Micheal, I'm leaving you in charge. Avoid fights and don't be afraid to ask for help from the tower people or Gunnar."

With my orders sent, I return my attention back to the tower. As I walk towards it, I glance up at the plaque.

Here lies the test of Temperance

Through Mana, you will avoid the sky.

Through Endurance, you will survive to your destination

Through Strength, you will overcome all obstacles.

Simple enough. Go in, survive, endure, and kill everything in your way.

We pass through the barrier and enter inside. Once inside and out of sight, Auranta quickly removes her clothing to reveal her insectoid heritage. She spreads her wings out like a woman removing her bra after a long day of work.

We stride up the tower and exit outside.

"So this is what the inside of the tower is like." Yuto comments. His eyes glaze in the distance, watching curiously at the serpents in the laval. "Where are we headed?"

Sitting on Boriss's shoulder, I raise a paw at a bridge of chains.

"We cross the bridge and continue deeper."

Following my direction, we step on the bridge which both jingles and shakes.

"Will this hold?" Auranta taps the metal chains.

I hop off Boriss shoulder for a moment to analyse the metal. No cracks, dents, or rust anywhere. After a few more taps, I realise why.

"The metal is the same as the tower. It's probably indestructible." I explain. I hop back on my scale-armored mount and we arrive on the first island. It's here where we find the bone remains of multiple monsters that resemble velociraptors alongside human remains. Everything is practically picked clean by what I can only believe to be the flying monsters above if the clawed tracks are to go by.

Signs of more combat are found on the next island as well as the third. By the fourth and largest island so far, the corpses we find are missing the clawed tracks. On top of that, seven humanoid corpses lay half-eaten. Their bodies are also not stripped of equipment either- which is a sign in and of itself.

"Stay vigilant and keep your distance from the corpses."

I hop off Boriss shoulder and stride towards the bodies. As I do, I focus on my senses with my mana ready to shift me into my other form.

On my arrival to the corpses, I note the armor they wear are similar to the ones worn by the [Mercenaries].

They're clearly part of the same group.

I glance at a nearby cutlass.

Name

Cutlass of Slicing

Rarity

Rare - 5 Runes.

1(1-Durability) 1(1-lightweight) 1(3- Enhanced Sharpness)

Description

This Cutlass is +30% more durable, +30% lighter in weight, and is +100% sharper.

Sustain

0.08% Mana regeneration per minute.

It's runed and pretty good. It would sell for quite a bit, but It's not something you'd see an expert level use as a major weapon.

I glance at all the other weapons, all Rare in rank.

None of these dead are experts. Which means whatever threat is here isn't capable of taking on anyone stronger.

"They still shouldn't leave this equipment." I whisper aloud.

Immediately the ground rumbles all around me. It shifts open to reveal a serpent's open and toothed maw.

_________________________________________________________

Seeing the monster pop out and consume Quasi, Yuto moves to rush forward, but is stopped by Boriss.

"Not yet."

Yuto opens his mouth to complain to argue, but stops himself at the man's confident grin.

The monster lowers back down into the dirt for a moment. Then the ground explodes in a bloody explosion of gore. Quasi spreads his wings and roars, towering in his wyvern form.

His roar awakens the ground as dozens of angry serpents penetrate out in a violent and angry swarm.

Boriss swings his weapon readily with a grin. "Now vhe fight."

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