Tower of Souls

”It’s skin is like glue!”

As his shout rang out, Eron reared back with the mace in his hand and swung, putting all of his Strength into the blow...

A brief glance at the notifications that flashed past in the second the fight kicked off, Cam knew this fight was going to be trouble. The monster, a Mimic, according to his notifications, didn’t seem that tough; Eron’s attack did good damage, so, unless this was some sort of Mini Boss- which it wasn’t, or the notification would have said so-, they should be able to take it down quickly... Except for the part where Eron’s hand was stuck to the damn thing, with no time duration mentioned at all.

Worse yet, now his mace was stuck as well!

Growling to himself as he wrenched at the handle of the mace, trying to pull it free, Eron had no way to defend himself as the creature that only looked like a chest suddenly opened its mouth wide, its broad slab of a tongue lashing out wildly across his chest in a blow that felt almost as heavy as the previous Kawe Boss’s punch. And it burned!

Mimic’s Tongue Lash struck your clone(Eron) for 15 damage(Physical) and 3 damage(Acid).

Your clone(Eron) was afflicted with the Corrosion condition.

Your clone(Eron) took 1 damage(Acid) from Corrosion.

”It’s tongue is acidic!” Cam hissed, frantically trying to find an angle to attack from... but, with the narrow doorway leading into what was basically a large closet, and Eron being between him and the monster, there was no way for him to get through- or even attack the thing, as even using one of his longer weapons to try and attack past his clone ran the risk of hitting Eron in the chaotic scrum.

In the midst of his worry, a bright flash of fire filled the alcove, and Eron’s snarling voice echoed out to him. ”Weapons won’t work, so just burn the damn thing!”

For a second, Cam hesitated; While he understood his clone’s logic- after all, Eron could basically come right back afterwards-, the idea of burning his clone alive, just to get the monster, was horrific and crazy enough to shock him!

Somewhat reluctant, Cam couldn’t think of a better idea; He was sure Eron would have dragged the monster out of the closet if he could... But, with that not appearing to be possible...

Your clone’s(Eron) Fan the Flames burned Mimic for 16 damage(Fire).

Your Fan the Flames burned Mimic for 20 damage(Fire).

Your Fan the Flames burned Your clone(Eron) for 20 damage(Fire).

Your clone’s(Eron) Fan the Flames burned Mimic for 16 damage(Fire).

Your Fan the Flames burned Mimic for 20 damage(Fire).

Your Fan the Flames burned Your clone(Eron) for 20 damage(Fire).

Your clone’s(Eron) Fan the Flames burned Mimic for 16 damage(Fire).

Your Fan the Flames burned Mimic for 20 damage(Fire).

Mimic was afflicted with Burn condition.

Mimic took 2 damage(Fire) from Burn.

Your Fan the Flames burned Your clone(Eron) for 20 damage(Fire).

Your clone’s(Eron) Fan the Flames burned Mimic for 16 damage(Fire).

Your Fan the Flames burned Mimic for 20 damage(Fire).

Cam felt...nauseous. Not just from the thought that he was basically burning himself to death with his repeated casts, but from the smell of burnt flesh- Eron’s burnt flesh. His burnt flesh.

They were the same person, after all.

But... he really had no other ideas at the moment. Iron Skin wouldn’t stop the fire damage. Twin Shot was useless without a proper ranged weapon and ammunition for it- to say nothing of the fact that he wouldn’t have had a clean shot anyway. There was no space for his Big Bunni to get into the fight, even if he summoned it. Weapons stuck fast to the monster- not that he could reach it, given the circumstances...

So the only option was to burn it out... while also burning away at a literal part of himself.

Even with all the fights before this, including the intimidating fight with the Kawe Boss... this was the most helpless he had felt since entering the Tower.

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Still, considering the rest of his life before Awakening, it wasn’t the most helpless he had ever felt- he could still fight back, even if it meant torching his clone...

”Eron comes back. Eron always comes back.” He muttered softly to himself as he cast the spell again... and almost missed the notification he was looking for.

Mimic has been slain! +66XP

”I don’t know which idea sounds worse...” Eron said into the silence as the fire suddenly stopped, his back a mixture of red and black from burns and charred flesh and his voice sounding raw and hoarse. ”...waiting to heal from this mess, or asking you to finish me off and resummon me.”

Cam knew his clone was just trying to lighten the mood- just as his clone knew there was no way he would be ok with the idea of killing his own clone- but there was no way for him to laugh at the bad joke.

The whole situation had Cam’s heart in a knot.

Sure, Eron was his clone- but he wasn’t just a clone; He was a part of Cam, and Cam’s best friend- which, he realized, said a lot about him and his life... And, while that was sad in its own way, Cam couldn’t imagine actually killing Eron! Regardless of whether Eron would be back in just seconds- assuming he didn’t overextend himself like he did against the Kawe Boss again-, it still wasn’t something he ever wanted to consider... even if a part of him deep down understood that there may come a day and a situation where doing exactly that really was the right call.

He didn’t like that thought, even if he could see the same thought mirrored in his clone’s eyes as Eron glanced back over his burned shoulder.

”So, are you going to finally let go of that thing or what?” Cam asked, voice cracking as he tried to joke as well to ease the tension he knew they both carried.

”I wish I could, but it doesn’t seem to want to let go yet.” Eron chuckled darkly, tugging at his hand once more. ”It does seem to be loosening a bit, so I don’t think the effect lasts past death... even if it is kind of a bullshit Ability.”

”Seriously.” Cam nodded with a sigh; he had never heard of a control Ability that didn’t have a duration; The few high Level examples he had read about still had a set duration- even if those durations were sometimes measured in minutes rather than seconds!

”I think maybe I could have pulled loose if my Strength was higher.” Eron continued, finally pulling his hand free with a grunt. ”It felt like I was close a couple times, but just couldn’t quite do it.”

”You think my Strength would have been enough?”

”Yeah, probably... and no, you aren’t going to be the one checking chests going forward!”

”I wasn’t planning on it!” Cam replied, rolling his eyes at his clone as they fell back into their usual- and safe- banter. ”I was actually going to suggest smacking the chests with a trash weapon!”

”Yeah, that’s probably a smart plan... But why have we never heard of these ’Mimics’ before?” Eron said slowly, warily eyeing the still smoldering corpse. ”This feels like the kind of mob that every climber should be warned about before they ever set foot in here!”

”Maybe they are... by whatever Family or Guild they join...” Cam replied even slower, a thoughtful look in his eyes. ”It’s possible they don’t make much effort to update the education standards of the Outer Ring since they expect all Classers to be picked up by one of them...”

”That’s... pretty fucked, honestly. I mean, limiting the information we have access to is a pretty cunning way to control people, but still... it’s pretty fucked up.”

”Assuming that’s what it is, and not that this is just another unknown monster...”

”Yeah, assuming that... Which still wouldn’t be comforting, as it would mean that we’ve run into two complete unknowns. And that is probably even more worrying than the idea that those damn Innies are controlling assholes!”

”Yeah, it is.”

Silence fell between them again, with Cam pondering which it could be. Sure, he could see the Council restricting some information as a means to control climbers more... but would they really risk people dying just for that control? The more information they restricted until someone joined a Family or Guild, the more chances there were that whoever was responsible for teaching them after their ’recruitment’ might forget or overlook something important... and he kind of doubted they were willing to throw away climbers over stupid mistakes like that.

But he couldn’t be completely sure.

The other option, that he had somehow encountered two completely unknown monsters in the first three Floors... He wasn’t sure what to make of that idea. Maybe the Tower liked to throw curve balls- another phrase he didn’t know the origin of- at Mythics? Or maybe it did it to Legendaries as well? Maybe there was a higher chance of getting strange things, and maybe even Anomalous Floors, for people with higher Rarity Classes?

There was just too much he didn’t know... and the only way to get some answers- as he was sure he would never get all of his questions answered- was to ask the people that might know. One of those ’Innies’ he always complained about.

But would they actually tell him?

”So, are you going to check the Abilities or what?” Eron asked after a few moments of thought.

”For what?” Cam scoffed as he glanced at the slowly fading silhouette above the corpse- it still looked a bit like a chest, thought jagged and distorted. ”I saw the notifications. Adhesive Skin and Tongue Lash don’t exactly sound great; One probably requires attacking with our tongue, and the other basically means gluing ourselves to whatever we’re fighting... Which, if we were one of those random, brawny Classes that liked to wrestle with monsters, would probably be good...”

”Hey, maybe it has a third option! You know, like the Big Bunni did?”

”Fine...” Resisting the urge to roll his eyes, Cam shuffled past his clone, holding his nose against the cloying scent of burnt flesh that lingered in the small room, to check the monster’s soul for an Ability to Harvest...

”You have got to be kidding me!’ He murmured softly, eyes widening not only at the fact that there actually was a third Ability... but because of the loot that dropped from the slowly dissolving corpse...