Broken Tower Saga: The First Swordsman

Wrik sighed in relief as the negotiation went down. He could not believe he convinced this wild lady who proclaimed herself as Lily.

Lily had a more handsome face than a pretty one. She was light brown-skinned with her dark hair was long braided behind her, while her standing, moving, was as whacky as her talking. A peculiar lady.

"Little brother, no need to fear, as I gave you my words. I won't make you slaves, nor you two little friends," Lily said. "But you have to keep your bargain as well."

Wrik nodded as the group left the cave. The three people Wrik had beaten up were in no condition to move. The other slaves carried them without any sound.

"You beat them quite badly. I had to invest quite a collection from my belongings to treat them," Lily added, glancing up and down at the three beaten up slaves. "I guess I can't blame you for that. They reap what they sow."

Wrik shrugged before moving next to Tanya. He took Byul on his shoulder, as Tanya was not in fair health to carry her. "Where are we going?" he asked.

"To a place much safer than here," Lily answered as she was in the lead. "You guys are quite lucky. If you met the mad gorilla in place of mine, you would not be going like this." 

"Mad Gorilla?"

"A fellow participant," Lily answered carefully. 

"A huge guy over two and a half metre height, browned skinned," Wrik asked, raising an eyebrow. "If I remember correctly, his name was Adam D'orge." 

Lily puffed out in laughter, hearing out the name. "That's a good one, little brother. The mad gorilla did not lose out to an orge," Lily suddenly stopped in her walk, and moved back to face Wrik again as a sudden reckoning hit her. "Don't tell me you have met him before?"

Wrik nodded warily. This lily was even taller than him, even though it was only a couple of inches Wrik could not help but feel a bit down. Wrik by far was not short, he's way over six feet, yet he was shorter than this wild lady. His only hope was that he was still growing.

"So the reason you guys are beat up so much was that gorilla," Lily cleared out the puzzle. "It's good that you make it safe."

"I think that guy was in worse shape than us," Wrik said.

"What?" Lily asked again. "Did the Scythe take him or something?"

"Scythe? What's that?"

"Nevermind," Lily sighed. "Are you telling me you three beat up the mad gorilla?"

"Well, it's mostly Tanya." Wrik said warily as Tanya did finish the bunch of fellows with her last spell.

"I reckon the girl still standing is Tanya," Lily said as she looked at Tanya. "Tell me the details."

Wrik came clean truthfully, and so did Tanya. They mentioned how they were cornered by the gang, and how they counterattack, leaving their secret abilities, and how Tanya froze the group of fellows.

"How sure are you that the gorilla won't be in any shape to move for a few days?" Lily asked, frowning as she heard everything out. 

Wrik looked at Tanya, who opened her lips after a moment. "I have 54 points on Magic power. With that I added the chilly aura of the test zone and froze them all while my main focus was the leader. Can you tell me how good their condition is now?"

Wrik sucked in a deep breath just hearing the number 54, and it was not just him, Lily gave Tanya another look of measuring.

"Atta girl, why didn't I meet you guys back then. We could have destroyed that gorilla and his underlings." Lily said, baring her teeth. She did not try to hide her enmity with the Orge.

"Well, there's no pill for regret. We should move now," Lily continued. "Even though the gorilla was in no condition to fight now, he had a lot of underlings that can, and most of them are heavily loyal to him."

.. .

"What do you see, Davin?" Anton asked. His eyes were ahead at a skirmish where a group of six ganging up on three.

It had only been light for a couple of hours, yet they started fighting again. The group of three could not stay in the conflict for further, as one of them tried to flee leaving his other two companions.

"A group of six overpowering a group of three," Davin answered. "Should we help them?"

"Help who?" 

Davin did not understand the question. "Of course, the weaker group?" he said.

Anton shook his head from the scene and looked at Davin. "Are you some kind of messiah of the weak, Davin?"

"No. But," Davin could not answer properly. 

"Tell me, Davin, what makes you think the three are any better than the six?" Anton continued. "Is it because they were weak?"

Davin could not answer. All his life he was taught to help anyone in need, but that mantra became too complicated the more he progressed into the Tower. It was the only reason holding him back.

"You don't have to think about it further. I'm just rambling," Anton said, noticed the conflicted appearance of Davin. "Just remember, we are inside a test, all of them are our competitors." 

"So we should ignore them even if they are in need?" Davin commented, clenching his fists.

"When did I say that?" Anton smiled. "Ohh, we're going to help them, but our purpose should not just be saving some pitiful fellows. Look at the insignia of the six."

Davin finally noticed the black scythe insignia on the chest, and on the back of the six. They were the underling of Scythe.

"So they were from the scythe guy," he mused out loud. He looked at Anton again, asking, "What are you planning?"

"Nothing much, just need some info about the scythe guy," Anton answered.

"Before that, tell me why are you so interested in this Scythe guy?"

"Well, haven't you heard? This fellow rule over most of the north, so he must know where our friends are." Anton said, preparing for a wrestle. 

"And you expect him to answer you just like that?"

"No. That's why we need to prepare," saying that he lunged at the conflict. 

The three pitiful fellows were already down, in a terrible state, while the six were preparing to move them. Anton did not give any moment of recollection, put a knife on the knee of one. Before his opponent yelled in agony, the knife left his knee to another's shoulder.

"Heyo, Punk, do you know who we are?" One of the guys said as they all started to encircle him.

"No," Anton said as his legs moved in ghostly fashion. The next moment he was behind the guy that tried to threaten him. Anton gave him a good hard smack on the back of his head; hard enough to hurt like hell, yet not hard enough to make him unconscious. "But it hardly matters."

At the time Davin arrived at the conflict, there was only one guy standing. He was holding a club, but did not know what to do with it. Davin shook his head, "Are you sure your plan will work?"

"Maybe not, but we got to try something," Anton said, delivering a kick on the arse of the last one as he joined his other five companions on the ground as well.

"Bastard, you will pay for it," one yelled, holding his head. He was a red-faced man that do most of the commanding of the group of six.

"Yeah, yeah, before you open your mouth, I am quite a busy man," Anton walked all the way down to face the red-faced man. "Or I will eliminate you from the test."

"Anton, I don't think you can do that," Davin said warily from the sides. "Participants can not eliminate other participants in the first month of the test. Only participants eliminate themselves in the first month. Weren't you listening to the manager?"

"I was away then," Anton answered, though he still didn't remember most of what he heard from the manager when he had arrived. "Well, that was not the point." He looked at the red-faced man before saying with a smile that wasn't any bit threatening. "Tell me about this Scythe guy or I'll make sure you eliminate yourself."

Davin almost slapped himself upon hearing Anton out. Even after listening to the rule, his decision was the same.

But the red-faced man did not answer, looking at Anton with anger. Nobody had been so brazen to act on the Scythe, yet Anton was talking like he did not give a damn about it.

"So you will play a tough guy?" Anton said. "Davin, would you mind enlightening our new friend about what we did with the other guy yesterday. How long was he able to endure before eliminating himself? About three minutes, right?" 

Davin did not know what to say, only remained silent as Anton continued his play.

"Alright red-face. Oh, I remember they were calling you A'dil something, well whatever," Anton paused for a moment to create a threatening vibe. He looked at the red face man before saying again. "If you can endure hat I'm going to do for two minutes, I'll let you go. How's that sound?"

_______________

End of Chapter: Wild Lily.

Next Chapter: Scouting.

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Finally, the problem is solved.