One thing that Worthy noticed after arriving in the grisly swamp was that there was no clear cycle between night and day.
When he entered the gateway, it was the early afternoon in the human world. Meanwhile, time in this place didn't change whatsoever. There was a steady amount of light, enough to give visibility when out in the open, lest you find yourself going beneath a tunnel or canopy. The light itself appeared to be saturated by blood to a degree, much to his dismay. In the blood lake, he couldn't get a clear view of his surroundings without a crimson tint over everything. Once he exited the region, he could make out the whiteness in the bone-like ground.
'No sign of whatever made that marking. Luck's running good for now.'
Worthy didn't feel safe; he'd never make that mistake. His father had a streak of luck when he entered the tower, only for it to end when he got too comfortable.
'Based on the things I've heard, the monsters on this floor are largely mindless. They're dangerous because once they catch you, they can melt through all your defenses to assimilate you with their mass. The bigger, the more dangerous. That's my rule of thumb.'
Granted, as a child, even the smallest of enemies will be a danger to him.
Fortunately, likely because of the bloody nature of the world around him, the First Floor is warm. It's impossible to get cold on this floor in particular, which plays a role in one's adaptiveness on the next floor, where warmth is crucial.
'Finding other humans should be my first step, but I can't risk yelling. Someone had to have left behind markings or some indicator… I hope.'
Settlements exist in the tower, though Coward hadn't found one on the First Floor during his climb. Worthy's intention is to find a person, a settlement, or both before something comes out of the ground and swallows his little body whole.
Then, he stops in his tracks and studies something in front of him.
His first sign of human life.
Lying on the ground are tattered pieces of clothing, unabsorbed by a flesh monster. Blood covered it, the aftermath of some battle that took place here. Further from the fabric, there is a red structure with scratches running along it. It looked like the remains of a broken wall that once formed a building, but there are no other bulwarks in the area.
Small, bloody footprints create a trail towards a pile of mass several meters away from where he stands. 'My mind's telling me that I don't want to follow this trail… So in my body too, actually.'
His entire being must be upset with his decision.
Throwing caution to the wind, Worthy hurries to follow the trail.
The reason is logical: searching for people to travel with is beneficial, as he would otherwise have to be alone. The slums taught him how easily the strings of trust among humans can be severed, yet he also knew that in a life-or-death situation, unity could be found.
He passes several piles, with even more signs of struggle being seen in the numerous carvings cut deep into the disturbing hills. 'Why are there so many of these things just… sitting around?' The more he thought about it, the less sense it made.
There wasn't any time to think about it at the moment. Growing closer, the sounds of voices and fighting reach his ear up ahead, behind another red wall. Notably, this wall has more marrow exposed within it, with bone fragments giving insight into how the structures remained stable at this time.
Circling the wall, Worthy finds another. This one has squares cut into it, a window that lets him see inside the makeshift attempt at a building.
There, he finds four people and five monsters.
"Back! Away, you disgusting dogs!" At the forefront, a knight in white, pristine, enchanted armor stands with his weapon drawn defensively. He is large, towering over both the climbers behind him and the quadrupedal beasts trying to get around him.
Surrounding the group, five abominations of flesh threaten their lives. From what Worthy can see, the knight has been holding them back alone. Sharp bones grow from their hound-like maws, cylindrical stubs making up their feet that'd otherwise look like 'paws'. Behind each of the hounds is a long, tongue-like ribbon with sharp barbs capable of tearing anything that gets too close apart.
One of the hounds jumped to strike a person who was on his ass behind the knight. A young man with ginger hair, who looked unarmed, save for the brown sphere that hovered near him.
"E—Eeeeeee!" An uncharacteristic squeal comes from the young man who flinches, raising his arms in a useless attempt to fend himself. That orb idling beside him goes to move, but it's exceptionally sluggish. It'd never make it in time to save him.
Luckily for the ginger, the knight is quicker.
"Dare I repeat myself!? I. Said. Away!" Then, with a mighty swing, his Divine Sword slices through the underside of the hound's maw and arrives through the top of its head, sending its dismembered body flying into the nearest wall.
Worthy, who'd been trying to find an entrance that didn't offer the dangers of having his leg snagged before he could get into the building, was amazed. 'Whoa.'
Knights and Enforcers sometimes came into the slums to pick fights and bully the slum-rats when they were uncomfortable, but Worthy had never actually seen one fighting with such efficiency before. It made all those fights in the street and bars look like nothing short of child's play.
Though the scene was amazing, it carried a difficult truth to it as well. At the rate that things were going, everyone in the building would die.
Indifferent to the disposal of their companion, two hounds leap at the knight in unison. Attacked from two different angles, a snarl breaks the silence behind his mask. "Damned beasts!"
Determined, the knight swings his weapon with all his might, horizontally splitting one of the hounds that'd jumped to sink its teeth through his neck. Afterwards, a sharp pain was carried through his left leg.
He'd successfully disposed of one monster, yes, however, the other hadn't faltered even marginally. As its teeth fight against the enchantment of the armor, seeking out flesh to assimilate with itself, its barbed tail quickly rises and latches onto the knight's wrist, preventing him from handling his Divine Sword accordingly.
"S—Shit! Boy, help protect my right!"
Briefly, Worthy thought the knight was talking to him. After all, he was already in a position to help regardless.
"!" The knight was clearly shocked to see what came next. As one of the people behind him steps forward to prepare and protect him from the fourth creature, a crimson glint crosses the air behind the hounds.
Diving through the air, a small figure with a backpack drives a knife down the neck of the furthest, lurking abomination.
Another head rolls, the hound's body falling limply to the ground, now nothing more than another ornament of carnage, much like the pile of corpses decorating the Floor.
'R—Righteous! Fucking righteous! It chopped that thing like butter!' The crimson knife, which he'd fed blood from the lake, was fully empowered. With it, Worthy cut through the head of the hound with identical ease to the Divine Sword of the knight.
Meanwhile, the companion whom the knight called from behind successfully cut the ribbon restraining the knight's dominant arm, but not before the barbs managed to puncture the vambrace and melt through the chainmail underneath.
Undeterred, the knight raises his left leg, lifting it high over his head with a level of athleticism that both his armor and the hound biting his leg shouldn't allow.
The child could've sworn he saw a confused expression on the hound's face, but it clearly lacked one.
What follows is the sound of an explosion and chunks of bone flying into the air with dangerous force.
Guiding his leg down to the ground, he bends his knees to place the hound right underneath the dropping lamb. When it hits the ground, it is slammed with the force of a hydraulic press.
Little is left except for a puddle of the tendons, bones, and blood that the beast was previously composed of.
With only one monster remaining, the knight, even while his dominant arm is injured, cuts the remaining hound apart with ease.
Now, humans are the last remaining survivors in this unnatural tower structure.
Sitting on the ground, the knight carefully removes his vambrace and rolls up his chainmail sleeve, studying the injury he'd gotten from the beast.
'I get it. You'd think their teeth are the most dangerous part of their bodies, but it's really those stupidly long tails that do real damage.'
As if feeling his gaze, the knight finally turns to face Worthy. "You." Now that he has calmed from the heat of battle, behind that helmet, a deep, trembling voice rattles Worthy's eardrums.
"Me?" Pointing to himself innocently, Worthy looks at the knight, but not at his visor. That'd be too close to eye contact.
"...Yes… You. Your aid is appreciated, boy. I'd like to ask why a child like you is in the tower, but everyone has their reasons. It'd be impolite for me to pester someone who leapt into danger to support me."
Worthy wanted to gag.
'That mask of humility the knights put on isn't fooling anybody. I shouldn't make him into an enemy, though.'
"It's no problem, really. I was actually looking for other humans that might've been teleported near me."
Raising his good hand, the knight issues a humble gesture. "Never in my days did I imagine a child would be saving my life. Truly, allow me to show my gratitude by introducing myself."
What came next was more of a twist than anything Worthy had seen so far in the tower.
"I am a Holy Knight: War Reaver. I entered this tower at the command of Priestess Rosaria with the task of finding a relic lost by a knight squadron in a previous expedition."
Worthy didn't mean to swear out loud… "Holy shit baskets."
The hierarchy of knights was not very vast. At the very bottom, there were the Reserve Knights, who didn't have any official recognition, but were talented enough to be seen on equal footing with the lowly Enlisted Knights who came after them, to the extent that the capital may call upon them to take up arms should the situation ever call for it.
Enlisted Knights made up the majority of their forces. In fact, Worthy was willing to bet that out of the 50 knights he saw entering the tower today, at least 40 were of the 'Enlisted' rank.
An Enlisted Knight is skilled enough to take on a group of men alone, thanks to their personal strength and the enchanted equipment they receive from the capital. A step above them, Knight Captains are even more formidable.
There is a saying told by an old veteran who fought during war-torn times: "To carry the title of 'Knight' is the same as being a named weapon. Any direction they point their weapon in may be at risk of being erased. Yet more dangerous than the numerous infantry of an army are their commanders. 'Captain' is a title that only the most righteous and powerful of men can handle. In order to command knights, a captain must be able to impose his will on them. This means being more imposing than all of his men together. One Captain is enough to dominate a battle with a squadron of Enlisted Knights."
Every book related to knights and history had some mention of it.
Even if he couldn't read, Worthy had heard these sayings many times in the slums due to the irrational fear they had of a Captain ever joining in the bullying they were subjected to.
Nowhere in that quote does "Holy Knight" come up, for they are in a realm of their own.
Holy Knights are one-man armies, people who may not even be called humans. It is already mandatory for a Holy Knight Candidate to clear several towers at the behest of the acting Priest or Priestess of the country's cathedral. More impressively than that is the fact that they must also set out into the unexplored, dangerous regions of the world and return with the trophies of various beasts, perhaps more terrifying than anything contained within a tower.
Truthfully, they are the closest things to demi-gods that one can get.
'This is… amazing. Amazing doesn't even begin to describe it, does it? I just used a lifetime's worth of luck! Hell, I might drop dead on the spot in a few seconds! This is frickin' great!'
To his chagrin, he'd stumbled upon someone who held more than enough power to defeat anything the tower had to offer.
At least… he used to.
Only after stopping and thinking about it did Worthy realize what the man had said. "Hey, uh… War. You said 'Priestess Rosaria' sent you here?"
With a satisfied grunt, the knight nods his head. Beside him, the last member of the group, a mature-looking woman, was tending to his injuries. It looks like her Reward had something to do with healing people.
"Yes! Priestess Rosaria, in all her young, generous greatness, commanded that I recover the relic lost by an expedition team who'd been sent to uncover a way through the Third Floor. Regrettably, they had no choice but to leave after being faced with unexpected resistance. It was only after climbing all the way up to the Third Floor that they realized they were missing a rather important relic of the church. The [Vine of Radiance], to be exact."
The excitement Worthy felt was beginning to fade, rapidly. "W— Mr. War… How long have you been on this floor?"
War ponders for a while. He hadn't been keeping track of time, as it was irrelevant to his goal. "I'm unsure. Night and day are irrelevant concepts on this floor. However, I've taken well over a hundred rests since I arrived. Many more than that, in fact."
This confirmed Worthy's theory.
Rosaria was the name of their country's previous Priestess. The woman died of old age two decades ago, but had already stepped down before then.
Worst of all, the Vine of Radiance was a relic their country had in the present. There was a scandal during Rosaria's time, sixty years ago, involving an Enlisted Knight who concealed a relic inside his stomach using one of his Rewards from the tower. This knight was, of course, executed, and his stomach was cut open to retrieve the relic, which he thought would grant him some form of immortality. He kept the relic for twenty years up until then.
Meaning…
By all accounts, War is a knight of an old era, whose age, if estimated correctly, was within the 100s.
Such a powerful warrior, capable of rising through the tower with ease, had grown rusted after spending over fifty years on Floor 1.