Tower of Avarice: A LitRPG story

Chapter 106 – Floor 9: Part 27

“You wouldn’t want to hurt me, would you? Think of all the other things we could be doing right now.” Carlie said playfully, pouting her full lips and giving Aleks a lustful look.

The ‘Beguiler’ was heartbreakingly beautiful, and the Outlaw would have had to have been made of stone to resist her. Helen of Troy was said to have had a face that launched a thousand ships, but Carlie could ruin nations.

Aleks had been through enough conflict inside the Tower of Avarice and years before he entered to have hardened himself against manipulation. You couldn’t fight your way to where he had come from and not have learned to control yourself.

But, no matter how much he tried to resist her, a part of him longed to drop his revolver and let her go. He had already fallen for her tricks multiple times, letting his guard down only for her to stab or slash him with a knife. And, as always, she did it with a smile on her face in such a way that you could almost think she was merely playing.

“No, darlin’. I don’t want to have to hurt you, but you aren’t leavin’ me any choice in it. I’m sorry.” Aleks apologized, even though he knew that she didn’t truly care about him. This was all a plot by her to attack him, to play on his emotions.

It was infuriating that it was working. He couldn’t stand the thought of hurting her, and it took all of his willpower to pull the trigger. His magical revolver let out a loud crack, but between his shaking hand and the delay in mustering the nerve to fire on her, Carlie had no problem avoiding the projectile.

Cursing, Aleks tried again to hit her.

Dodging gracefully and laughing the entire time, she spun and weaved her way across the battlefield while tossing her knife from one hand to another.

By the time Aleks ran out of bullets and had to reload, she had scored another hit, a long gash across his thigh that would have been worse if Aleks hadn’t managed side step. Safely away from her, Aleks began to reload while Carlie grinned and laughed at him.

“Hmmm.” Carlie moaned as she raised the blood-covered knife to her mouth and licked the liquid from the blade. Her moan sent a thrill of pleasure down Aleks's back, and he dropped one of the bullets into the mud.

“You know, you aren’t going to live much longer at this rate. You should just put down the gun and play with me. We could be so happy together…” Carlie offered, her voice trailing off as she lowered her knife and leaned forward so that Aleks could have a better look at her.

When the Outlaw finally snuck a peek, his willpower overcome by her seduction, she smiled at him.

“Carlie, that’s enough playing around.” Corinna chastised, her voice carrying the short distance between them where the Highborn was nearly finished with her own opponent. Carlie let out an irritated huff in response.

“Fine! You never let me have any fun.” Carlie sulked, her frowning face nearly breaking Alek's heart. He longed to make her smile again, and, for a moment, his gun lowered, and he was defenceless.

“Got you.” Carlie whispered, and Aleks became lost in her eyes.

“Compulsion of the Beguiler.” Carlie whispered, and to Aleks, it sounded like she was right beside him. He could feel her breath on his ear, smell her body next to him, feel her warmth around him. He was nothing, while Carlie was everything.

She was his world, and he would do anything for her.

Carlie watched with satisfaction as Aleks gained the slack-jawed and devoted look of someone who was obsessed with her. The Outlaw would obey her every command, within reason. She had found that there were certain limits to her Blessing.

While she could order him to fetch her thing, even kill for her, she had never been able to get a Player of the Tower to kill themselves to please her. The locals were more than happy to jump off cliffs or set themselves on fire to make her happy, something she took great pleasure in watching.

She had lost track of how many she had ordered to their deaths, each with a smile on their lips as they did so.

But Players had more willpower than the locals, something that frustrated her at times. She needed them weak, tired and injured for her Blessing to work. That’s why she had to toy with Aleks for so long.

“Oh well. You’ll do for now. You want to make me happy, don’t you? Nothing would make me happier in the world than if you killed your friends. You’ll do that for me, won’t you?” Carlie whispered, and Aleks shook with pleasure at the sound.

Page Break

“Thunder Dance.” Marvin muttered. The Power of the Blessing started in his chest, swirling like a turbulent storm before moving down to his legs. With his sabre held upright, he waited for the perfect time to strike.

The problem with his fight with Corinna was that the Highborn didn’t use a weapon; she didn’t even move from where she was standing. As a Fencer, Marvin relied on his sword to strike his opponents in their vitals accurately. But Corinna wouldn’t approach him, nor would she attack in any way.

A Highborn doesn’t fight their own battles; they use their pawns.

Marvin didn’t know what she had done to the locals he was facing or what experiments or magic she had used to turn them into monsters, but it was effective.

Their battle started with Corinna sitting on a throne and directing a large, knight-like figure to engage him. Covered in crude, heavy iron armour, Marvin couldn’t see much of the person beneath the many gaps in their coverings, but he knew that it was human.

It obeyed her command to kill him with robot-like enthusiasm, never flinching from the many blows Marvin landed on its flesh or halting its mad pursuit of his life. But they were mismatched. While Marvin could hit it a dozen times without being struck in return, his sabre barely did any damage.

He knew he had hurt it; at least his blade was covered in the Knight’s blood, but it didn’t slow or show any sign of stopping no matter how many times he hacked away from it.

Worse, Corinna watched every minute of the fight with that cold, detached look on her face that said everything Marvin did was useless. Frustrated, he had even tried to circumvent the Knight to attack the Highborn herself, but he had been cut off every time.

Despite it being slow and heavy in its armour, it managed to anticipate his attempts to strike Corinna.

The Knight raised its large, two-handed sword in preparation to sweep it toward him when Marvin shot forward. The Blessing ‘Thunder Dance’ was aptly named; he felt like he was dancing in a storm, each step shooting him forward at blinding speed.

He was behind the Knight in a moment, and his blade was stabbing toward the unprotected gap in its armour at the knee. The sabre bit deeply, and, not slowing for even a second, Marvin slashed at the other as he spun about and sprinted toward Corinna.

He heard the Knight collapse on the ground, its knees sinking deeply into the muddy soil, but he was moving too quickly to care. In moments, he was leaping upwards toward where Corinna sat on her throne, his sword pointed at her unprotected chest.

“This is the end for you!” Marvin shouted. He had no doubt that what he was doing was righteous. The Highborn Corinna was a terror to the locals, and everyone agreed the Lower Ranks needed to be dealt with.

Marvin had no qualms about killing her.

His sword was only a few feet from striking her when a deafening ‘crack’ sounded out. Something struck Marvin with enough force that it sent him careening into the ground, knocking the breath out of him and breaking bones.

Another Knight stood beside Corinna, nearly identical to the other that was just starting to find its footing again. This one had a wooden club instead of a sword, and, from the amount of blood on its surface, it had been what had struck him.

Marvin’s head fell back against the muddy ground, and all his strength left his body. He was finished; there was nothing left inside him to fight back.

“You’re as bad as the peasants that call this Floor their home. Look at you.” Corinna stated, gesturing vaguely with her hand at Marvin.

“Useless. Carlie, that’s enough playing around!” Corinna called out to her sister, shaking her head in dismay.

“This was an adequate diversion in an otherwise mundane day. You have my thanks for that, at least.” Corinna said to Marvin as she ordered her knights.

“Kill him.”