"When my dad would take my sister and I on trips into the woods near our town, it was one of the only times we ever got to breathe in semi-fresh air. It still smelled horrible, but not nearly as unbearable as in the town itself. That's how it felt being in that place for a week."
The child vented to the woman walking beside him, who didn't look like she was paying much attention to his complaints.
Each step took them further and further up a white mountain made of humungous bones. Esme knew how hellish the First Floor was, everyone did. She was still overwhelmed by how disgusting and unhygienic its very concept was. At the bottom of the ridge of bones, there were pools of blood they had to push through in order to make it this far.
The departure from the Devil's Den had gone smoothly. There were two defensive measures made to protect the group as they moved towards their objective, a high vantage point that can easily oversee much of the path ahead. At the front of the group, War and his mighty weapon cleaved any monster attempting to delay their march. He was accompanied by three other men whose Rewards enabled great combat versatility.
One of the men had the ability to eject tongues of fire from his hands. With it, he was a very effective counter against the beasts who were made of gore. He was one of the settlers who Esme had healed, having suffered a grievous injury during a desperate attempt at finding a Gateway.
The other two had abilities revolving around heightening their physical attributes. With their weaponry, they helped support the fire user.
Meanwhile, four Climbers defended the rear of the group. Leading the defenders was Cross, who'd proven his exceptional coordination skills to War when they first met. This allowed him to work splendidly with the others, whose Rewards helped them during the initial departure.
One of the defenders, a woman with a scarf wrapped around her head to help protect herself from the blood and disturbing stench of the floor, could produce powerful spikes of steel, which she used to create weapons to arm anyone looking to fight.
Supporting her was, strangely enough, the man who'd attempted to confess himself to Esme. Hiel must've taken her words to heart, because he joined War's expedition shortly after his speech. The man's Reward was splendid, which made Worthy question why he'd given up climbing.
Hiel could manifest the avatar of a gargantuan, wolf-like monster. It was powerful, strong enough to eradicate the flesh monsters with the swipe of its claw. In fact, the reason Hiel did not use the beast in the Devil's Den is because its size was too abundant to be allowed to wander. It'd take up more space than necessary.
The gigantic monster helped level the playing field against the flesh monsters that neared the group. It dwarfed all of them in size, for now. Furthermore, the beast required sustenance when summoned, which the abominations provided an abundance of.
The remaining defender was an ordinary fighter, equipped with the strong spikes created by the scarfed woman's Reward.
"I don't think anyone's died yet, so that's a bonus." Muttering as he rose up the sloped surface, Worthy watched the defenders at the rear engage with a small pack of Flesh Hounds.
Every time monsters neared, it encouraged people to move faster. Reaching the top of this ridge would hopefully give Walkyr an adequate vantage point for his ability.
The climb was far more rigorous than expected, sadly.
There were cavities in various spots on the bone ridge, concealing pits of blood within that housed unseen monstrosities. Some were alerted by the traveling group and rose up to attack, and avoiding them was sometimes impossible without making the journey up the mountain more exhausting.
Walkyr could easily reach the top of the mountain on his own, but there was no telling what could be at the top. He was durable, but the beasts on this floor were tricky to battle, evident by the wounds War had suffered throughout the years. His body was perhaps more stern than Walkyr's by a thick margin. Testing his luck against whatever rested at the peak, if there was anything there in the first place, would not be wise.
It took a lot of convincing to dissuade Walkyr. The cautionary nature of the strategy was not his own. If the gunslinger had it his way, he'd charge ahead and challenge anything that seemed to be a threat to his life.
"Welp… Look at the bright side," Esme lifted her hand over her face to block a spill of blood descending from higher above. "With a group like this, the heavy lifting isn't in our job description. If anyone gets hurt, which should only be a few people at a time, they can come to me for a quick recovery."
Worthy nodded in agreement, "True enough. The vanguard and rearguard are strong enough to keep us safe."
Worthy and Esme were near the center of the group, placing them at the safest location from the enemies who were largely grounded. Attacks coming from their sides were quickly dealt with by some of the fighters on the outer perimeter of the group.
He only had one concern in mind with his position.
As a child who was notably small, especially because of his upbringing where nutritious meals were a delicacy, he could easily be crushed if the group became compacted together. An ambush or something of the sorts would leave him in a terrible predicament, which is why he'd discussed climbing onto Esme's shoulder if such a situation were to unfold. Fortunately, she agreed — largely in part because she doubted such a frightening circumstance would come to pass.
"Uh… How much longer until we reach the summit? We left the Den three hours ago. I don't know if you're aware, but three hours of walking is pretty long." Transportation was not a complicated issue. There were a few people among the Climbers who had Rewards that could help alleviate the burden of exhaustion, but their priority was to ensure the main fighters were kept standing.
Because War was leading the vanguard, these energy preservers were positioned with the rearguard, who lacked his will-boosting power.
After doing the math, Esme gave her answer, "Roughly thirty minutes left. Not long now, at least at the pace we're going."
Thirty minutes in the grand scheme of things was not a long time. They'd traveled far to reach this mountain of bones because it was one of the highest vantage points in this region of Carnage Valley. This vantage point was high enough to be spotted from afar, which meant that Walkyr could teleport back and bring more people in quick succession.
Their problems couldn't be solved with one jump, however.
This mountain was only one of several vantage points they'd need to take advantage of before reaching Middle Town. As the name suggested, it was in the middle region of this place. It technically was not in Carnage Valley, so the surrounding terrain was instead dubbed the Middle Area.
"Thirty minutes? Hm. Okay, I've got a title for our brilliant escapade. The Red Pilgrimage."
This was the fifth name he'd thought of in the last three hours. Judging by Esme's silence, it didn't quite stick either.
Silence wasn't new to the group. Some spoke to each other to help build more rapport. Many of these people had lived under the same roof without speaking to one another for interchangeable amounts of time. Worthy knew it was presumptuous of him to say it aloud, but they'd been wasting time.
What was the point of living in that place for all those years and having nothing to show for it besides tales of comfortable living?
'In all fairness, many of these men were actively seeking out gateways before coming to terms with reality. I even recognize some of those groaning chumps from the hospital. I'll cut them a little slack, if only a little."
The Climbers who War arrived with quickly made names for themselves in the Devil's Den.
Esme and her ability to heal others was indispensable, so everyone surrounding them knew of her great deeds. There was no one with anyone negative to say about her, even those who hadn't met her yet.
Her reputation was one of an angel that could bring you back from the brink of death. Naturally, Esme denied that she could nurse anyone that close to death back to health, but those rumors hadn't receded in the slightest.
Although on a smaller scale, Cross had made a name for himself too.
Worthy thought that the bandana-wearing mercenary was some kind of thief or assassin who didn't want anything about himself being known. He was only half right. The reason Cross did not allow himself to stand out was largely because of Walkyr and Haul's presences. Catching the interest of either of those two people would bring burdensome situations — something that was not made inevitable thanks to his role in the rearguard.
Somewhere at the front of the group, Robert was walking among a cohort of noblemen. They'd built a small connection over the past week, which allowed him to be indoctrinated into their cause.
Worthy pondered what a group of noblemen could possibly speak about:
'Maybe ways to slip incestuous practices into their betrothals. No, I'd bet they'd discuss which plot of land they'll tear out of a run-down town to fill in with a factory. A nice, shining facility in the middle of a dilapidated backstreet, where knights can batter whoever walks a few inches too close in that direction. Yeah, that sounds right on-script actually.'
His hatred for nobles was something he made sure to keep to himself. Such open animosity would leave an unwanted target on his back, even if it could be chopped down to childish immaturity by the masses.
Nobles could dispose of a frustrating child for much less than a gaze of ire.
Well, only beyond the boundaries of this tower.
'In here, we're all in the same boat. I bet that's a tough pill for quite a lot of those pompous pricks to swallow.'
He didn't know, nor would he ask.
So far, the illustrious club had stuck to themselves. When someone spoke to them or asked them a question, one member of the group would give a simple, curt answer, before greeting them with his back.
"Jerks aside, how come nobody's tried to make a map of this place, Ms. Esme?"
"Huh? Jerks? What jerk are you talking about, Kid?" She studied him with a weird look.
"…Oh, your question. Right. Well, I imagine it's because mapping this place efficiently is just impossible. We only understand the rules and basic fundamentals of Towers, nothing more and nothing less. We don't know where they come from or how they operate, nor do we know the origin of the various monsters within them that seem content with feasting on foreign life."
Esme looked at the sky, or the thing that looked to be the sky of the Floor. It was a massive miasma, one that made up the sky itself. There were many unknown beings within it, the shadows of monstrosities too great for a human to battle occasionally spotted moving within.
"Towers are magical, so there is never a fixed position for anything within. War has seen the terrain shift constantly during his travels, I've been told. Anyone who managed to travel this place long enough to create a map is either dead or has already moved on to the Second Floor. The closest person we have to being a geographer is the person who's been here for longer than we've been alive."
The person she spoke of was of course War Reaver.
Suddenly, Worthy thought about her words and felt the irresistible temptation to ask: "Wait… Ms. Esme, how old are you exactly?"
And thus, for the first time since entering the tower, the young man's lips were struck shut.