Chapter 62 - 30 seconds is Up!
Chapter 62: 30 seconds is Up!
Thirty seconds passed. Nathan’s summon mark flared with brilliant warmth.Mirko’s presence flooding back like a held breath released. Green light erupted as she materialized, sword drawn, pink eyes blazing.
’I am here, Master.’
"Engage."
The battle turned instantly. Mirko’s [Impenetrable Fortress] caught the Wight’s staff mid-swing. The Frost Golem slammed into its flank. The Cloud Serpent crackled to life, static disrupting the Wight’s necromantic aura. Red’s wool hardened as it charged into the creature’s spine.
Nathan drew Moonlight. The Tyrant’s Eye swirled. He charged [Focus Shot] for thirty seconds, every ounce of mana he could spare and Kuro materialized behind the Wight’s skull, daggers gleaming.
’The crown. The core is in the crown.’
Nathan adjusted his aim. Mirko’s [Aegis Strike] carved across the Wight’s chest. The crown was exposed. Nathan released.
The arrow crossed the chamber in a streak of silver and shadow. It struck the crown dead center. The black iron cracked, splintered, shattered—and the Barrow Wight came apart in a cascade of blue fire and fading bone.
[Ding! Floor 5 Cleared!]
[Ding! Tower of the Hollow Barrow Cleared!]
[Overall Clear Rank: B]
[Level Up! Level 34]
[Level Up! Mirko: Level 33]
[Level Up! Kuro: Level 16]
[Reward: Barrow Wight’s Crown Fragment (Rare Material)]
Nathan lowered Moonlight. His summon mark pulsed warmly. Mirko’s presence was steady and strong, but he could feel the residual echo of those thirty seconds... the cold silence where her warmth should have been.
’Master.’ Mirko’s voice was gentle. ’I am here. I am not going anywhere.’
’I know. That doesn’t mean I have to like being without you.’
’Good. You shouldn’t.’ A pause. ’I am irreplaceable.’
Nathan almost smiled. "Let’s get out of this tomb."
---
The moorland evening was cold and grey. The Hollow Barrow loomed behind them, silent once more, its runes dark.
Dillon’s interface chimed.
Nathan saw his face, the way his expression hardened, then went blank. Frustration, then the settling of something worse. Resignation.
He walked away without a word but nathan followed.
"It’s my father again." Dillon’s voice was flat. "He’s given me a deadline. Two weeks. Come home and join the family business, or he cuts me off. No more stipend. No more equipment. He says if I want to play Climber, I can do it on my own money." A bitter laugh. "My money. I don’t have any. Everything I’ve used to climb—gear, potions, etc. it all came from him. I’m a second son. I’ve never had anything of my own."
Nathan absorbed the weight of it. The cruelty of the ultimatum.
"We’ll figure something out," Nathan said. "By the end of the month, we’ll get our monthly stipend. Our contracts are solid—it’ll cover your basics until we’re earning more."
Dillon looked at him. "Will it? Or is that just what leaders say?"
Nathan met his eyes. "It’s what I say. And I mean it. You’re not alone in this. You have a party. You have a guild. Let us help."
The words hung in the cold air. Dillon stared at him for a long moment. Then, slowly, he nodded. "Okay."
It wasn’t full conviction. But it was a start.
---
Old Marren took a detour through a village called Briar’s End on the ride back.
He claimed he needed supplies. Nathan suspected he wanted them to see it.
Briar’s End was a small settlement at the edge of the moorlands, grey stone and weathered timber. It was recovering from a Tower Collapse—a small one, a Low Class Tower that had never threatened anyone before. The damage was minimal. No one had died. But the story was familiar.
An old man leaned on his cane near the village well. "Strangers," he said. "Came through here three days ago. Four of them. Not Climbers I reckon. didn’t have the look. Didn’t have guild sigils. Asked about the Tower. Where it was. How often it was climbed. Whether anyone would miss it if something happened." He shook his head. "Funny lads. Two days later, the Tower collapsed."
Nathan exchanged a glance with Elise. "Did you report this to the TCA?"
"Aye. They said they’d investigate. Haven’t heard anything. Probably won’t. The TCA’s stretched thin out here. The outer regions? We’re on our own."
Nathan filed this away with the woman’s story from the refugee camp near Verdant Scales. Two villages. Two collapses. Two sightings of strangers. Four strangers in each account. The pattern was too consistent to be coincidence.
’This is not random,’ Kuro observed. ’Someone is influencing these collapses. Deliberately.’
’I know. But why?’
’That is the question, Summoner. And the answer will be unpleasant.’
---
Back at the guild hall, Nathan spread a map of the outer regions across the study table. Three points were marked: the village near Ashwick, the refugee camp near Verdant Scales, and Briar’s End. A loose triangle east of the capital. Three Tower Collapses. Three sightings of strangers—always four of them, always gone before disaster struck.
Elise found him there. She looked at the map and sat down across from him.
"You’re looking for connections."
"Someone’s causing these collapses. Strangers near Towers. No guild markings. Every Tower they target is in the outer regions, where TCA oversight is weakest. It’s systematic."
"Why would anyone want to collapse Towers? The monsters that spill out kill indiscriminately. There’s no profit in destruction."
"I don’t know yet." Nathan stared at the map. "But I think we’re going to find out."
Elise was silent for a moment. "The Winterhart envoy arrives tomorrow."
Nathan looked up. Tension in her jaw. Tightness around her eyes.
"My mother sent my aunt. She’s worse. More insistent. They’ve been arranging marriages for Winterhart daughters since before I was born." She paused. "They’ve arranged one for me. To the son of a powerful allied house. A political union, you know?."
Cliche stuff, but nathan felt something cold settle in his chest. "You never mentioned this before..."
"I didn’t want it to be real, you know? Speaking into existence and all of that. But my aunt coming in person means they’re not going to let me ignore it anymore." She met his eyes. "I’m going to refuse it, if course. Publicly. In front of her. It will burn bridges I can’t rebuild. My family will not forgive me."
"Are you ready for that?"
"I’ve been ready for months. I just needed a reason to finally say it." She held his gaze. "I have one now."
The words hung between them. The study was quiet, just the hum of the guild’s wards, the distant creak of the old observatory and their heart beats.
"Whatever... happens tomorrow," Nathan said, "you’re not facing it alone."
"I know." Elise rose. "Get some sleep. We have another Tower soon and things are only going to get more complicated."
She walked to the door. At the threshold, she paused. "Nathan."
"Yeah?"
"..."
She didn’t say anything and left before he could respond.
Nathan stared at the map for a long while. The triangle of marked points. The strangers. The collapses. Elise’s choice. Dillon’s ultimatum. All of it swirling together into something that felt like the calm before a storm.
’You feel it too,’ Kuro observed from the windowsill.
"Yeah. Something’s coming."
Nathan folded the map. Tomorrow, another Tower. Tomorrow, Elise’s confrontation. Tomorrow, the slow march toward answers waiting somewhere in the dark.