Chapter 369: Back Again

The Lesser Death Knight did not move again, though Kael kept his boot planted beside the shattered skull for several seconds. After everything that bastard had survived, he refused to turn his back merely because the Tower had flashed a notification in front of him.

The ruined eye sockets remained dark, and the skeletal hand near his ankle showed no sign of movement. Only after watching the corpse long enough to satisfy his paranoia did Kael finally relax, though only slightly.

His right arm hung uselessly beside him. The sharp agony that followed Demon Descends had dulled into a deep, throbbing ache that traveled from his knuckles to his shoulder. The arm was definitely fractured, probably in several places, and his left was not in much better condition even though he could still move it.

The system windows multiplied.

[You have defeated the Lesser Death Knight.]

[Honorable Duel completed.]

[Final Wave cleared.]

[Floor 11 has been successfully defended.]

[Unique Solo Clear condition fulfilled.]

Then the rewards began.

[Achievement Unlocked.]

[Honorable]

Achievement Condition:

Accept and complete an Honorable Duel without outside interference.

Reward:

+2 to all Stats.

Kael raised an eyebrow. "Not bad."

Heat moved through his body as the attributes integrated. Compared to the enormous stat increases he had experienced earlier, eight total points barely registered. His muscles tightened for a moment, his senses sharpened slightly, and then everything settled.

Another notification followed.

[Title Unlocked.]

[Lone Wolf]

Condition:

Complete a cooperative fortress-defense Floor as the final remaining Climber.

Lore:

A pack makes survival easier.

Some survive after the pack is gone.

Kael stared at the title. "That feels a little dramatic."

The Tower disagreed by immediately giving him another.

[Achievement Unlocked.]

[One-Man Army]

Achievement Condition:

Defeat a threat classified by the Tower as a complete enemy wave while fighting alone.

Reward:

+5 to all Stats.

That reward was considerably better. The change rolled through him with enough force to make his battered right arm twitch as his Strength increased. His breathing changed with Stamina, Dexterity sharpened the heightened awareness he had relied upon throughout the duel, and Intelligence brought another subtle clarity to his thoughts.

Then came the contribution calculation.

[Calculating Floor Contribution.]

Numbers flickered rapidly as Kael watched the value climb. His contribution had already been absurd before the final wave, and Ulsal’s interference had caused the four departing climbers to surrender everything they had accumulated to him when the Floor’s rules changed.

The system continued adding hundreds of thousands of points until the final result appeared.

[Total Floor Contribution: 1,107,114]

Kael blinked. "Jesus."

He had earned more than a million Contribution. His personal total before the transfer had been somewhere around two hundred and eighty thousand, which meant the others had been much closer to him than he initially realized, especially after the troll wave and their combined assault against the Lesser Death Knight.

Now all of it belonged to him.

[Contribution Ownership: 100%]

[Floor 11 Contribution Ranking calculated.]

[Rank: 1]

A new question appeared.

[You have achieved the highest recorded Contribution score on Floor 11.]

[Would you like your Climber identity displayed publicly?]

[Yes]

[Remain Anonymous]

Kael selected the second option immediately. "Not even thinking about that one."

[Confirmed.]

[Floor 11 Record Updated.]

[1. Anonymous: 1,107,114 Contribution]

The previous record disappeared beneath it. Kael stared at the word Anonymous and decided it suited him perfectly. Everyone else could argue over who had established the record. The less anyone knew, the less likely some guild would begin digging into his business.

Another notification appeared.

[Achievement Unlocked.]

[Record Breaker]

Achievement Condition:

Establish a new Tower record through an extraordinary Floor performance.

Reward:

+1 to all Stats.

Records exist until someone proves they should have been higher.

***

The additional attributes settled into him as Kael flexed his left hand. Another window appeared before he could properly test the difference.

[Additional conditions recognized.]

[Solo completion of Final Wave.]

[Completion under externally altered Causality conditions.]

[Defeat of an enemy originating significantly above the Floor’s standard combat range.]

[100% Contribution Ownership.]

[Honorable Duel victory.]

[Original Floor Reward has been upgraded.]

[Reward Tier increased.]

[Reward Tier increased.]

[Reward Tier increased.]

Kael watched the messages accumulate. "How many times are you going to..."

[Final Reward Grade: Epic.]

Kael stopped complaining.

Light gathered several meters away as an enormous chest materialized upon the battlefield. It looked nothing like the little wooden boxes the Tower occasionally produced after minor objectives. Dark reinforced wood formed its body, thick silver-gray metal bound every edge, and runic patterns covered the corners before converging around a large central lock glowing faintly purple.

[You have received an Epic Floor Reward Chest.]

Kael slowly approached as curiosity began fighting with common sense. He wanted to open the chest badly, but his right arm was fractured, his equipment needed repairs, and he had just spent hours defending a city before fist-fighting an undead warrior that belonged twenty Floors above where it had appeared.

The chest could wait ten minutes. Kael stored it, watching as it disappeared into his inventory.

Kael nodded slowly. That had been a remarkably profitable attempt at getting murdered.

Then another window replaced everything.

[Floor 11 Completed.]

[Would you like to proceed to Floor 12?]

[Proceed to Floor 12]

[Teleport to a previously completed Floor]

Kael almost selected Floor Twelve automatically, but one glance at his gauntlets stopped him. The right one was a mess. Deep sword marks cut through several steel plates, one section had nearly separated near the wrist, and the knuckles had warped when Demon Descends punched through the Death Knight’s tower shield.

The left gauntlet was in better condition, although that was hardly reassuring. Scores of scratches covered it from repeatedly redirecting the massive sword. Several runic channels had suffered minor deformation, and one plate had begun pulling away from the underlying leather.

Brokk’s Hammer could repair the damage easily enough, but the condition of the gauntlets revealed a much larger problem. Kael flexed his fingers and studied the metal, thinking about how well the Atrax material had served him. It had been strong, reliable, and easy enough to work with once he understood it.

For the first ten Floors, the gauntlets had been more than sufficient. Floor Eleven had changed that. The Lesser Death Knight had nearly cut through them, and if the undead had been slightly stronger or its sword slightly sharper, Kael might have been looking at stumps instead of damaged equipment.

Death Knights supposedly began appearing normally around Floor Thirty.

"this metal isn’t going to last."

The material had reached its limit. If the Tower continued escalating at its current rate, it might not last much farther at all.

His gauntlets were his primary weapons, making them more important than a sword or staff. Nearly every rune combination he developed eventually passed through his hands, which meant losing the gauntlets would cripple half his fighting style. He needed an upgrade.

Then there was the other problem. Kael lifted his right arm slightly, and the immediate surge of pain told him to stop.

"Yeah."

Demon Descends had worked beautifully, but it had nearly destroyed the arm that delivered it despite Kael wearing the Fist King’s restraints. He did not want to imagine what would have happened without them. Powdered bone seemed likely, and his entire shoulder might have come apart beneath the recoil.

He had learned only the first Chapter of the Demon Fist and the first Chapter of the Wonderlusting Demons footwork. The foundation was there, and his rapidly growing body and attributes allowed him to produce absurd results with it, but his understanding had not kept pace with his strength.

The Lesser Death Knight had shown him exactly how dangerous that difference could become. Statistics gave Kael speed, strength, reaction time, and endurance, but none of them provided experience. The Death Knight possessed less versatility, no runes, no spells, and no clever machinery, yet it had spent an hour making five climbers look incompetent because it understood its sword and shield better than they understood their own bodies.

Kael had won because he finally combined everything he possessed correctly. Victory did not mean he properly understood everything he had used.

He looked at the available choices again. Floor Twelve could wait.

"Second Floor."

[Confirm teleportation to Community Floor Number 2?]

"Yes."

The fortress disappeared, and the smell reached Kael before anything else. Smoke, food, hot metal, and the unmistakable presence of far too many people surrounded him as he materialized in the middle of the familiar city square.

Kael immediately realized something had happened. Climbers filled the square in greater numbers than usual, clustering around system boards, tavern entrances, fountains, and shop fronts. Their conversations overlapped loudly enough that he could barely distinguish one from another until he heard the same word repeated several times.

"Anonymous."

Kael stopped near a group gathered around one of the ranking displays.

"Over one fucking million?"

"That isn’t possible."

"It’s right there."

"No, look at the old record."

"I am looking!"

"Five people enter the Floor. How does one person get a million contribution?"

"Maybe the others died."

"That makes it worse!"

Another climber joined them.

"Someone said the eleventh had a special final wave."

"What special wave?"

"No idea."

"Was it the Leonard clan?"

"Then why hide the name?"

Kael immediately started walking. He did not need to hear the rest, especially when another group farther ahead had already begun discussing the same subject.

"First the records in the lower Floors, now Floor Eleven."

"You think it’s the same Anonymous?"

"Has to be."

"Why?"

"Because how many lunatics are climbing anonymously and breaking records?"

Kael tilted his damaged helmet farther forward. That was a good question, and one he preferred nobody investigated too closely.