[1 year later]
A year passed since the princess left.
I hadn't really felt her absence during that time as I was busy with missions and training. While I continued training my original skills, I began delving into assassination abilities.
As I continued doing missions, I realized how powerful and useful an assassin was.
Without needing to cause any collateral damage, I could sweep through an entire dungeon unnoticed, as though I were a ghost.
I could execute fear and other strategies to decimate an entire camp.
For example, I could sneak through a goblin dungeon and silence the hobgoblin (the dungeon boss), sending the entire dungeon into a fearful frenzy. Make some spooky noises, kill a well-placed goblin or two, and soon enough, the whole population is killing each other.
Then again, there's always the option of burning a poisonous concoction of various plants and letting the noxious fumes fill the caverns. Most of them will die, but a few stragglers always make it out. It's fun to watch them struggle with the poison before I finally kill them.
...
Aya's rubbing off me, isn't she?
Anyways...
"...Are you sure we're heading in the right direction?"
"I... don't actually know."
Currently, Alea, Aya, and I were at Xyrus City again, and we were looking for...
"The Adventurer's Guild should be right here."
"Well, I honestly don't think that 'John's Kicks and Giggles' is a gathering place for mercenaries."
"I know that."
"And I know the issue."
"You do?"
"Yup."
Aya seemed oddly confident, which kind of pissed me off since I had guided us almost perfectly with the map.
"The map's upside down."
"..."
I turned away.
"..."
"..."
The looks were starting to hurt a little.
"... It's also the wrong way up. The ink bleeds, remember?"
"..."
"..."
I turned away further.
"...Give it."
Alea put her hand out, and I obediently put it back into her hand with an expression like that of a scolded child.
"Jeez, how is it you can't even use a map?"
"...Alea?"
"Hm?"
"...The map's 90 degrees to the right."
"..."
**
After way more wandering than I care to admit, we finally arrived at the Adventurer's Guildhall. I could only be glad we left early, or else we would be late, and that would be bad.
Especially since this was a matter of international importance.
"You think Bladeheart will be here?"
"Bladeheart? Why her?"
"Alea knows..."
Aya then started gossiping with Alea behind me as I pushed open the doors. Then, I was immediately bombarded with the salty stench of body odor and other mysterious aromas.
I ended coughing from the stink.
Sapin was generally worse smelling than Elenoir, which I realized after arriving at the city. Unlike where one could wash at any river in the forest, water seemed a scarcer resource in the floating city.
"Oh my..."
Aya pinched her nose, and Alea and I followed suit.
Walking up to the receptionist's counter, Alea tried to speak, but I stopped her. As much as it would be nice, revealing her elvish identity might make this a lot more difficult, especially in an anti-elf social climate.
"Excuse me!"
Taking off my hood, I flagged down a receptionist.
"Yes, hello—"
"...!"
I remembered her, and judging from her facial expression, it seemed she remembered me.
"If I recall, you're Sophia Bluelight, right? From back during the tournament."
"Y-yes! That's me. I'm surprised you remembered."
Pulling out the extravert Arias within me, I conversed like a regular human being.
"I remember most faces."
"I see. So, you're here today...?"
"Ah, right. I'm meeting some people here today under... right there."
I pointed at a reserved room.
"Then, the two behind you must be Aureate and Phantasm."
"That's right."
"Normally, we'd have to do a lot more identity confirmation nonsense, but I can just pass you all through."
"Really?"
"Yep."
"Thank you!"
"Just... could sign this for me?"
"Eh?"
"My son's your fan."
"Ah! I see, of course."
Though I was surprised that signature culture was a thing in a fantasy world like this, I quickly obliged as revealing Alea and Aya's appearance as elves in a bar filled with mostly hot heated adventurers with egos the size of Etistin who probably hated elves might end seriously badly... for them.
"And you're all set. Third floor, room 3-S."
"Got it, thanks again."
"No problem."
Thanking the woman, I began walking towards the stairs before I was stopped by a big adventurer. Judging from his pinkish cheeks, he seemed drunk.
"Hey, hic. This ain't no place for no kids."
"...?"
I turned to Alea and Aya, but they had abandoned me and were making their way up the steps.
"...Haaaa."
I sighed, wondering how I would deal with this big oaf.
Sending some mana into my eyes, he seemed to be... a dark orange core. Not terrible but—
"Ey! Did you hic, just sigh at me!??"
My expression warped, and I glared at him. If there was one thing I hated, it was being interrupted mid-thought.
"I did."
Looking straight into his ugly brown eyes, I smirked.
"Problem?"
"This little—!"
The overly cliché situation escalated in a cliché way when the tanned 220 cm giant with way too much muscle lifted up his hand, augmented with mana.
Telescoping an excessive amount, his fist came flying at a surprisingly quick speed.
But of course, it wasn't something I couldn't dodg—
—BOOM
Being struck in the side, I went tumbling into the wall.
"Dayum, Terrance got another one."
"Hopefully, the kid'll live..."
Other adventurers muttered from the side as they looked at my corpse with pitiful gazes.
Of course, I wasn't actually dead.
"...Ow!"
Staggering up, I got onto my feet before smiling. It was a rule in this place that you couldn't use mana or fight unless it was a case of self-defense.
Standing relaxed, I gathered my breath and spoke lackadaisically.
"Everything from here on out..."
I sent mana throughout my body.
"...Is self-defense."
Then, using a scaled-down version of Flash Thunder, I appeared behind the adventurer and stabbed the side of his neck with my fingertips.
Although it didn't kill him, it certainly inflicted quite a bit of pain.
"AHRRGGH!!"
Landing on the ground lightly, I walked around to the front of the now-kneeling man.
Glancing at his silver dog tag (making him a B-rank adventurer), I grabbed the man's chin and looked at it. It was a strange scene, a boy who looked 8 or 9, gazing down at the giant spawn of an NBA player and a pro-wrestler.
"I need to get to work, you see, so I can't spend too much time with you."
The man whimpered in response.
"So, I'm going to let you go."
Despite him clutching the side of his neck, his eyes brightened.
"But lemme tell you this. If you pull anything like this again..."
I unknowingly began releasing killing intent.
"... It'll be the last thing you do, got that? Terrance Turman*?"
"Y-yesh."
...Uh oh. Looks like I broke a tooth or two.
In any case, I released his chin and let him fall entirely onto the ground before climbing the staircase, feeling the eyes of the adventurers below on my back.
"...!"
When I knew no one could see me anymore, I dashed up the remaining steps.
"...Pft, way to make a statement."
Looking up, Alea was grinning from ear to ear while Aya was chuckling in the corner.
"Haha, very funny coming from the ones who abandoned me."
"Yeah, yeah, enough bitching... You do know that she doesn't have a kid, right?"
"...What?"
"Yeah, she's way too young to already have a kid."
"...Oh."
Following Alea's lead, we walked down the hall to the farthest room.
Room 3-S.
A room reserved for meetings between people of the highest importance.
The people beyond this door were just that. They were the future Lances of Dicathen.
"Let's go."
"Mm."
Opening the door, we entered a brightly lit room. Simple yet fanciful. It was like human architecture met elvish.
Seated around a round table in the center were 4 mages of incredible power. 2 dwarves and 2 humans. Most were silver cores, but one was on the verge of entering white core.
I nodded at the woman with white hair in greeting.
"...You're late."
The man who spoke harshly was a guy with the codename of Thunderlord (he was probably a closet chunni).
"Actually, we're right on time."
Aya sauntered up to the table, reassuming her dominatrix succubus persona (wtf author). Alea sighed and walked up. Feeling a bit lost among these titanic beings, I followed behind her.
"..."
"..."
It was... awkward, to say the least.
After the waitress served us drinks, each cup of varying style, we sat around the table, staring at each other. No one really brought up conversation topics, and these men and women were too busy leering.
"...So!"
Feeling that this kind of atmosphere would be detrimental to our mission, I decided to try an icebreaker.
"I'm sure we already know who we are, but let's introduce ourselves."
Immediately, the 6 powerful mages flipped their heads to stare at me, most likely trying to gauge my core, but...
"...!"
...I had been practicing countermeasures.
"...Who invited the brat?"
An older dwarf spoke, slight indignation. It seemed he didn't like children.
"The kings and queens, including yours. Now then, I'm Aureate, a conjurer who specializes in nature."
"Phantasm, a conjurer who specializes in... I'll just say assassination."
Following their lead, the others began introducing themselves. I made a mental note to thank the two for following along.
"Ohmwrecker! An augmenter who specializes in gravity."
The dwarf who spoke... was very unlike other dwarves. She kind of reminded me of one of the kids from the orphanage.
"...Balrog. Magma."
"Thunderlord. Lightning."
...Well, these two seemed like they had sticks up their asses.
"Zero, I specialize in ice magic."
Suits her. Even her voice is cold.
"..."
...Oh right, my turn.
"I'm..."
I internally held back my excitement. I honestly thought my codename was awesome in all sorts of ways.
"...Stardust, a specialization in pure mana."
After that, another lull in the conversation occurred. Fortunately, the older dwarf spoke up again.
"...Right, I've been meaning to ask about that."
"?"
"How do you use pure mana practically?"
Rather than explain, I just demonstrated by conjuring a small white knife in my hand.
"...Ah."
Balrog nodded as he leaned back.
"In any case, let's discuss our mission then."
I decided the best thing to do with these socially inept losers— I mean, mages, was to spur on conversation.
"...Fine."
Surprisingly, it was Zero who agreed first.
Thunderlord grunted before pulling out a large piece of paper. Clearing the drinks off the table, he spread it out, and it revealed a detailed map of what appeared to be a tower.
The Tower of Infinity, to be exact.
It was a tower that spired downwards. It was dubbed the Tower of Infinity as there was no end.
Each of its floors was a dungeon room. Sometimes a forest, other times a maze, the tower was always something filled with monsters. The only way to advance was to find the boss monster and kill it.
In any case, we were tasked with its completion. It was theorized that the greater dungeon had a total of 100 floors (but to be honest, I guessed that without even trying) and that its clearing would be a great segue into the unification announcement.
The strongest of each nation, the Lances, coming together to conquer the greatest black mark of Dicathen.
The unconquerable dungeon, The Tower of Infinity, conquered to show the power of unity.
...Or at least that was Alduin's pitch. I said I didn't want to do it since I wasn't a Successor nor even a Prime Candidate (The current Lances were unavailable), but Virion just told me to go do my job and kicked us out.
"Well, there isn't much to talk about strategy."
"That's right. I'm sure everyone can take care of themselves, and if any teamwork is necessary, we'll figure it out as we go."
Why did that feel directed at me?
I wondered how our closet chunni had already found a reason to hate me as the others silently agreed. Then, the table grew silent again.
"Well then..."
Unwilling to sit through awkward silence again, I tried bringing up another topic.
"?"
"... Let's think of a cool team name."
The comment earned me a bunch of weirded-out looks.
"Oh, come on. Everyone has a cool team name."
There was Jason and the Argonauts, the Avengers, the Hecatoncheires, etc. Everyone had awesome team names, so why couldn't we?
"..."
Oho? I saw that closet chunni. I noticed that twitch in your brow.
"That's ridiculous."
A response of anger when you're guilty is extremely common.
"Well, what are they going to call us when we succeed? Are they going to list out all our codenames? Breaking news! Read all about it! Zero, Balrog, Aureate, Fartlord, Stardust, Ohmwrecker, and Phantasm have conquered the Tower of Infinity!"
"Aha, I see your point."
Aya nodded.
"Wait a damn minu—"
"Hm, we can't call ourselves the Lances just yet."
Balrog cut through the closet chunni.
"Is anyone going to—"
"Something that relates to all-out codenames?"
Ohmwrecker sniggered silently.
"Hey—!"
"Elementals?"
Alea's idea was shot down.
"Nah, that's a bit..."
"Yeah..."
The conversation began picking up as the powerful mages began discussing potential names. Taking the opportunity, I glanced over to the left.
Fartlord looked like he was on the verge of tears... or was that exploding?
"...Ah!"
"?"
"How about the Companions?"
"That's... also cringy and it sounds like a rip-off."
"Welp, that's what it is."
Feeling that Fartlord might actually cry if we kept cutting him off, I decided to end our conversation here.
I took a brush, black ink, and parchment, quickly wrote Companions in a calligraphic style, and drew a symbol.
"...Not bad."
"I'm a genius."
"Hi, a genius. I'm a smack to the back of the head."
"Ak! What was that for?"
"Righteous vengeance."
"Wait, Fartlo— Ak! Stop that!"
"Lol, looks like you're having fun together."
"I look younger than you, you hag."
"Did you just—"
"Ak! Stop hitting me, dammit!"
"Then stop being so hittable."
"You..."
*
What started out as a stagnant engagement between some of the strongest mages on the continent had soon morphed into a casual meeting between friends. Even the silent ones let go of their icy walls and began casually conversing, something that others would find impossible to believe. And at the center of all this was Asher. Or perhaps, stardust, who gave upon these war-hardened mages a chance to feel at comfortable again.
It was truly... a magical moment.
**
3rd Person POV
"...Arthur?"
"Yeah?"
"Are you sure we can be here?"
"Relax..."
The boy chuckled lightly as he spoke with his guardian.
"...I was half-raised by these people."
"If you're sure, I suppose."
"See Jasmine? They're already here to welcome me!"
Although a little skeptical, Jasmine decided to trust in her little companion.
"Sir Arthur! Lord Virion has informed us that you'd be visiting."
"See?"
Arthur whispered before turning back to the elf.
"Ah yes, would you mind...?"
"Not at all. Please, come this way."
The guard led the pair of adventurers to a teleportation gate, and they quickly arrived at the capital.
"...Woah."
Jasmine's jaw dropped at the breathtaking scenery.
"First time?"
"Obviously."
After taking in the sight of the elvish capital, they made their way to the palace, where they were promptly led in.
"...Brat!"
And soon enough, an old elf greeted them.
"Gramps!"
Beside Arthur, Jasmine immediately dropped to the ground.
"You can get up, you know?"
"... It's lord Virion!"
Jasmine hissed in a panic.
"The Miracle Commander of Tira Valley!"
"...Oho?"
Arthur's lips twisted into a sly smile as Virion finally made it to Arthur from the second floor.
"It's been a while, brat!"
"Yeah, it has, Miracle Commander."
Virion froze.
"...Anyways."
Virion cleared his throat.
"Why are you here? I doubt you're here to see me."
"Ah... I was looking for an Asher Aureus."
"...Asher?"
"Yeah... is he around?"
Virion shook his head.
"He's off right now..."
Arthur was a bit nervous. If Asher had died or something...
"Where?"
"To conquer a tower."
But before Arthur could ask, Jasmine gasped.
"You don't mean—"
"I do. In the next month..."
Virion's eyes began to glow as the faintest wisps of his Beast Will danced around on his body.
"...The Tower of Infinity will be conquered. The long-held wish of the adventurers finally granted."
**
Asher POV
We were currently in a distant corner of the Beast Glades. Arriving on wyvern back (those things were seriously cool), we were introduced to some extremely fantastical scenery.
Atop what looked like the remains of an ancient volcano, what would've been a plateau's flat was instead a colossal, seemingly bottomless, pit**. The enormity of the hole was overwhelming, as much as was the first time I saw the stars in the night sky.
Fartlord and Zero led us down a trail to what looked like a small outpost.
"I am not Fartlord, Stardust. It's Thunderlord"
...He read minds too?
As we walked towards the entrance of the Reverse Tower, a guard with a rather slappable face came sauntering out. His folds of fat were... unpleasant to look at, to say the least, and that wasn't me being mean. His obesity was almost terrifying, with each step causing every single layer of fat to jiggle in a way that could hardly be described as pleasant. He had to weigh at least 600 pounds.
But if he was the equivalent of the PE teacher... how buff is the janitor?
"...Halt!"
The guard stopped us after taking a few gasps for air. A twitch appeared in Thunderlord's brow.
"Is there a problem?"
"Yes, sir. According to the Tribunal Convention, only humans are allowed access to the dungeo— my apologies!"
Pulling out a golden seal with a lion engraved on it, the guard's snotty expression immediately paled, and he bowed low enough for his nose to touch the ground.
It seemed that the seal was the seal of the royal family of Sapin.
"We've been approved by the finial of the flag pole; now prepare the elevator."
"R-right away, sir!"
...Power is nice.
The obese guard began running, no, tumbling down the hill. Seriously, I kid you not; the guy was actually rolling down the incline.
Still, that only held my attention for a second.
"You guys have elevators??"
"...Of course."
Thunderlord was off brooding about something, so Zero was the one to answer.
"It was made by master Gideon in conjunction with dwarven engineers."
"That's right, Mica was the guard for them!"
"...Codenames? Remember?"
Alea spoke with slight nervousness. Our names were technically national secrets as we were all most likely future Lances and Lances' identities were, well, national secrets.
"Mica doesn't want to say Thunderlord every time; it's too hard."
In the distance, we could hear our poor Lord of Sparkles shouting, "I heard that!"
"Kek, well, I do agree with that. Shall we exchange names?"
"..."
Zero was silent.
"...Uh, then I'll go first."
I tried to clear my throat but soon found I lacked the muscles for it. My attempt ended up sounding like a fox giggling.
"...Y-you might know me already, but I'm Asher Aureus."
Zero nodded in acknowledgment. It seemed she knew about me already.
"Mica will go next. Mica's Mica. Mica Earthborn."
Nodding, I then looked over to our Lord of Stomach Rumbles, who had come over with expectant, glittery eyes. It was my ultimate move, more deadly than Ethereal Flash. I mean, I could bend the wills and minds of whoever I wished with it.
"...Bairon."
...It worked!?? I was bullshitting; it almost never worked anymore... Then again, I suppose it's the first time it was being used on Lord Cloud Fart here.
"Bairon Wykes."
"I'll... go next then."
Alea spoke.
"Alea Triscan."
Following suit, the rest of the mages listed out their names.
"Aya Grephin."
"Olfred Warend."
"Varay Aurae."
Nodding and quickly jotting them down in my mental phone book.
Seeing that no one was in the mood to chat anymore, I sat down and relaxed, observing my surroundings.
It was...
I sighed, not in disappointment but in leisure.
...Empty. That made sense. The Tower of Infinity started off as an F-rank dungeon, but as the years went by and more and more floors were conquered, it grew to be an S-rank dungeon.
That was why mages as powerful as us were sent to deal with it.
I wasn't saying I was as strong as them, no way, but I was certainly a cut above anyone else.
Anyways, granted the momentary reprieve, I decided to meditate.
"...Sirs! Madams!"
After some time, the fat guard came back. Judging from his bright red face and gasping, he had run the whole way.
"Y-your... elevator has... arrived!"
"'Bout time."
Grunting gruffly, Olfred began walking towards the elevator, which seemed to use a clever pulley system and enchanted objects.
Feeling butterflies in my stomach, I stiffly followed with the other mages.
This was it.
The beginning of the end of the Tower of Infinity.
*Turman is the adventurer who had his fingers cut off by Arthur after the time skip. Because of this event, he won't annoy Arthur this time around. He'll actually retire from active adventuring and begin teaching the younger generation of adventurers as an instructor.
**Basedoff the Abyss from Made in Abyss.
A/N: So the journey through the tower begins.
Thanks for reading!
Rua