Broken Tower Saga: The First Swordsman

"Wait."

Wrik turned his head to notice it was the injured man in his late twenties. His face was pale with all the blood he lost, his hair was pale brown, fair-skinned and rather an angular face even more than him. But he did give the air of in-control and had a better understanding of his condition than the other fellows. Wrik raised his eyebrows, asking for further.

"Are you going deeper into the maze?" The injured man asked.

"Yes."

"I think you should reconsider," the man's expression turned grim. It was like all his confidence was sucked out as he continued, eyeing Wrik with tightened lips. "It's more dangerous than just these Infectors."

Wrik frowned. These Infectors were more than they were having trouble with, what's other than these dead men in the subterranean maze?

"Can you elaborate?" Tanya asked, studying the injured man.

The man became silent in return. He looked at his other companion—the middle-aged mercenary who was treating his wound while smoking his cigar—void of any expression on his face. .. it's like the smoke was soothing his pain. Aasan sighed, controlling his emotions from tensing his appearances, and continued. "There's something awfully powerful there. .. not merely the average infectors. It's something. .. ominous."

Wrik and others didn't bother Aasan as his voice became clearer and sterner as he continued.

"Something like that shouldn't be present in this trial." He looked at the bandaged wound on his leg. The white bandage was red after all the battles before. "We have over two dozen men with us. .. and now." He sighed.

"Just tell from the beginning," Anton said from behind.

Everyone seemed to want to listen as well, as their attention was piqued. Even the archer from the other group looked eager. Wrik was interested as well; having a better understanding of the place you'd be advancing next should be useful. So, he didn't stop the flow.

"It isn't the first time we have entered this dungeon," the man continued. He had gotten better of his emotions by now. "The first time we went there was just for investigation. But a couple of days ago, we attempted to complete the main quest of the Trial. We entered with quite an enthusiasm, hoping to get a better hand this time.

"The first day went well, even though the number of Infectors was rising the deeper we went. We killed hundreds of infectors. But the deeper we went into the dungeon, we sensed some unnatural things."

"Like?" Tanya raised an eyebrow.

"The first was the rotting stench in the air," Aasan said. His face turned ugly, recalling. "Then the decreasing number of Infectors. We thought that we had cleared most of the dungeon and might have found another way somewhere. But it was something else. As we advanced, the stillness grew, the air turned heavier as the rotting stench. And then we came across something unbelievable.

"It was a spectacle of Infectors running away from something. .. the deadmen who didn't fear God, were running from something."

The other man of the group gulped. He said in an unnatural panic-stricken tone, "It was a demon."

Wrik raised a sceptical eyebrow at that and others didn't take the phrase seriously as well. They were inside the Trial of the Maha Tower. Something like a demon was impossible to appear here. Maybe it was something stronger than the average Infector.

Aasan shook his head at the man's phrase. "It may not be the demons from the Abyss, but. . ." he said, noticing their scepticism.

"But it was dreadful as a demon." The mercenary, who was soothing his wounds completed the sentence. He continued, releasing smoke from his nostrils and mouth."I can't call something that even the Infectors feared other than a Demon."

"It's over three feet tall, with outgrown bones on its body and those fangs devoured even the savage of the Infectors. Half of our group got devoured by it before we could run away from it."

The tale finished, none opened their mouths in the silence. Wrik opened the map again and noticed that the red dot was moving further away from them. And going deeper into the maze.

"I appreciate you for telling us this," Wrik said, looking at the group, then at his friends. "But we can't stop, besides our goal was not to clear out the quest, we'll leave after finding our colleagues."

"Well, it's your choice. It's just a reminder to give a helping hand." Aasan nodded.

Wrik nodded. He looked at the archer from the other group, who was more anxious after hearing the story. "And you?"

The man looked at him, hesitating for a moment before looking at the unconscious girl on his lap. He sighed, shaking his head. "Nothing, thank you for giving a helping hand."

Wrik and others nodded as the group of five left the place shortly, they were short of time.

A long silence reigned there for some time. Nobody cared to speak.

"Aasan, you're more generous than you used to be." The mercenary man finally opened his mouth.

"They saved our lives, Laman." Aasan said. "It's the least I could do."

The mercenary man, Laman, seemed to say something but shook his head instead.

• • •

About a couple of miles away from where Wrik and his companions were, inside the Infectors Nest, a group of six advanced into a deeper region. Their luck had been good so far. They didn't encounter many Infectors that they couldn't handle with their ranks. Well, it was because the group they were stalking after Wrik's group.

"Boss? Are you sure about this?" asked a middle-aged man standing beside the bulky boss.

"Patient, haven't I told you we'll get the opportunity later?" The boss was irritated. "This is what I was talking about. We just have to wait for a bit more."

"But boss, that chick and others already entered here hours ago."

"Yeah, boss. Are we not after them?" Another of the minions sounded out.

"What did I tell you guys?" Boss yelled. "Left all the thinking parts to me. Just do what I asked and I'll bathe you with beauty and riches."

All the other minions nodded in unison.

"Now, let go, before more of those damn creatures come."

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END OF CHAPTER SIXTEEN: TO THE INFECTOR NEST.

NEXT CHAPTER: GRAVE PERIL.