Chapter 31: Cleansing (1)
Misha stumbled out of the portal and crashed onto solid ground hard enough to jar her wrists.
She hissed as pain shot up both arms. She planted both palms, and shoved herself upright before her knees could buckle.
She made it to the 6th Floor...
Although her relief lasted less than a second.
"Gerbaut?"
She spun around and saw the portal still floating behind her. Its surface trembled in slow ripples, as if nothing inside had tried to kill them a moment ago.
Her stomach twisted when she saw no one came through after her.
A cluster of windows exploded into view.
「 〔FLOOR QUEST〕
Escape the Maze
Time Limit: 00:47:39」
「 Congratulations! Floor Quest Cleared! 」
「 〔CONTRIBUTION RANKING〕
1. Yara Borealis
2. Gentle Giant Jules
3. Nyxie
4. Elyes Faust
5. Misha Apocalypse 」
[ FLOOR CLEAR REWARDS
EXP +110
Tower Coins +93
<Items Obtained>
Wayfinder Fragment ×5
Mana Shard ×2
Minor Stamina Potion ×2
<Contribution Bonus>
EXP Bonus: +60
Tower Coins: +30 ]
「 〔ATTRIBUTE GROWTH〕
Perception .... +2
Agility..... +2
Vitality..... +1
—
Current Attribute:
Strength ..... 8
Agility ... 14
Vitality ..... 11
Perception .... 14 」
「 〔TITLE EFFECT ACTIVATED〕
The One Acknowledged by the Tower 」
「 Trait growth rate increased 」
「 〔TRAIT PROGRESS〕
Calm Under Pressure
86% —> 97%
Analytical Thinking (Lv. 3)
98% —> 100%
—
Passive Trait: Analytical Thinking has leveled up!
Lv. 3 —> Lv. 4
—
Effect Update:
Improve prediction of enemy movement. 」
Misha didn’t spare the windows a single glance.
Coins, EXP, Trait growth... they were all wonderful but she would have traded every last point just to see one tall, annoyingly calm idiot step through that portal.
Gerbaut was a friend, and also her mentor who taught her how to survive better. He should have been here already, right?
She found herself staring so hard at the portal, her eyes started to sting.
A few seconds passed... then ten, then fifteen.
Misha clenched her fists as she recalled the final moments in the maze.
The image of the giant thorn sphere chewing through stones, corridors collapsing inward, the floor shaking under her booths, and Gerbaut getting left behind while he threw her toward the exit.
Her chest tightened. No, no. This was stupid. He was Gerbaut, the man who never seemed worried about anything.
Still...
"Come on... where are you?"
Misha found herself holding her breath. Her pulse hammered louder and harder inside her ears.
Then the light tore open and a figure shot through.
Gerbaut hit the ground in a rough roll, came up in one clean motion, and stood there like he had only tripped over a rock. The portal snapped shut behind.
For several seconds, Misha just stared.
Then rage and relief smashed together inside her chest. "You fucker!"
She rushed forward and punched his arm with all the force her trembling body could manage. "You’re alive!"
Her voice cracked on the last word. Tears spilled down her cheeks before she could stop them.
Great. Perfect. Now she looked pathetic too.
"You disappeared for more than a minute!" She shouted, half sobbing, half furious. "Do you know what that does to a person?!"
Gerbaut remained unmoved after all the punches he received. He brushed some dust off his shoulder as he replied with, "The maze was collapsing."
Misha blinked at him through wet lashes.
The man sounded as though he had been delayed by traffic.
She scrubbed at her face with her forearm, but that only smeared the tears around. For one awful moment back there, she had truly believed that giant death ball finally turned him into mulch.
Gerbaut looked at her for a moment, then said, "You’ve got snot."
Misha recoiled. "I don’t!"
She swiped under her nose anyway. Then remembering something, she pointed an accusing finger as her eyes narrowed at him. "You threw me!"
"It worked."
She continued pointing at him like she wanted to stab him with her finger. "That’s not the point!"
"You’re alive."
She opened her mouth. Closed it. Then she opened it again.
Gosh, why did he always do this? Why did he say the most infuriating thing in the calmest possible tone? He made it so hard to stay mad when his logic kept being stupidly effective.
Then he added, "I promised."
She frowned deeply. "Promised what?"
Her gaze shifted to her, steady and matter-of-fact. "I’ll protect you if things get too dangerous for you."
The anger in her chest stumbled. For a second, words just... disappeared.
She looked away first. Her vision blurred again, and she hated that. Why was she crying this much? She wasn’t a child.
She sniffed and tried to sound annoyed. "Next time, you’re going to explain things before throwing me into portals."
Gerbaut adjusted the spear resting against his shoulder. "No."
Misha stared at him in disbelief, then she groaned into her hands. Somehow, at the back of her head, that was exactly the answer she expected.
Only then did she finally take a proper look around the 6th Floor.
"Gerbaut..."
"Mm?"
"What is that?"
The land stretched outward in a dead, colorless sprawl. Black earth split into long cracks under a dim, bruised sky. In the distance, stone altars rose from the wasteland like broken teeth. Thin straps of dark smoke piled out of each one and smeared across the sky in ugly stains.
An ominous feeling settled in Misha’s stomach.
「 〔FLOOR QUEST〕
Cleanse the Corrupted Altars (5/12)
Failure: Death ]
「 〔WARNING〕
Hostile entities will continuously emerge until the altars are purified. 」
Misha stared at the words for a long moment until her mouth went dry.
"Cleanse..." She murmured. "Wait. Five out of 12?" She looked up sharply. "The others already started?"
He nodded once. "We split it."
He pointed toward a dark forest in the distance, where faint red lights throbbed between crumbling ruins.
"Four altars for each pair."
Misha understood immediately. So that was the plan all along. No wonder he said that they would meet up on the 7th floor.
Gerbaut pulled out a potion and held it toward her. "Here, drink this stamina potion."
"That’s not poison, is it?"
"Alright." He started to pull it back.
"I was just joking!" She yanked the potion from him and uncorked it.
As she drank it, the orange liquid hit her tongue with a weird fruity taste. It was sweet at first, then sharp enough to make her scrunch. She swallowed the rest anyway, shuddered, and wiped her mouth with the back of her hand.
「 〔ITEM EFFECT〕
<Minor Stamina Potion>
Vitality +3
Endurance Recovery +15%
Fatigue Reduction +10%
Duration: 1 Hour 」
Her breathing evened out a little and the heaviness in her legs eased, like someone loosened a tight strap around her muscles.
"Oh..." she said quietly as she flexed her fingers once. "That actually helps..."
Then she turned her gaze back at him. "So what’s the plan?"
"You cleanse, I stand guard."
"..." Misha stared at him flatly.
He stared back.
She pinched the bridge of her nose. "Please, for the love of whatever half-broken deity runs this tower. Explain more than one sentence so I can actually understand what I’m doing..."
She suddenly miss Yara.
