*ZZZZooommmm*
With a low humming sound, they departed, leaving a crowd at a loss behind. The many guilds out there were still hoping for their members to come out.
Josh couldn't help but feel that this situation was similar to classical missing people cases on Earth. How many unresolved cases were there? Yet the families always remained hopeful to one day see their beloved child, spouse or relative, show up as if nothing had happened.
In this case, the missing persons had been confronted with deadly seemingly invincible monsters. From Josh's experience, they could be angered but not defeated. This was a horrible combo.
The keys to survival required either luck or a very careful approach. First, one had to avoid the monsters. Two, one had to find the Alter Tower. Third, one had to court death with the Slothtrosities.
Of course, there were probably other ways to complete a hidden mission, but even Josh couldn't figure out any.
"Lost in thoughts, are you? What devious plan hides behind these dark eyes of yours now?"
"Eh, just thinking about the situation back there. I don't think any will come back. I'd say most have become too used to our easy Tower and drunk on their own power."
"Hey! What do you mean easy Tower?! What do you even know about that?! Reach Floor 40 and tell me that again!" Scoffed Kasha.
"I saw a level 38 and 39 instantly get slaughtered without being able to fight back. How often does this happen in the Tower?"
"Well, yeah there are Bosses like that you know! One simply can't…"
"Boss? No, there was no boss. Just normal creatures. Normal creatures able to kill level 40 effortlessly."
"This is impossible!"
"Yep, that was pretty much their reaction as they died. That didn't really help them."
Josh could see Kasha shivering. She was clearly imagining herself in the situation. "Then how the Hell did you survive?! You said running back there, it can't be that simple, right?"
"Luck."
"Let me guess, the same 'Luck' that allows you to solo Climb for some god-forsaken reason and to guess the future? Bullshit! Still, there is going to be a shit-storm because of this. We haven't had that many losses since the initial Tower advent. *Sigh*"
In a few hours, they would reach <Draconic>. Josh wasn't sure yet how he wanted to report. The whole truth? Probably not. It was better to downplay his achievements. Was it in a bid for secrecy? Not even.
Josh knew clearly that he was considered a Newbie in this world. He had mostly survived because of his carefulness and skills. Would they all believe it? Some maybe. But chances were that many would underestimate the dangers if he included that part.
Many would probably think that if a Classless Newbie's skills were good enough so were theirs. They would scoff, swaggering in there full of confidence. You know, the kind of guys that attained their power following Tower clear guides. After the death of these dumbasses, people would probably blame Josh for downplaying the difficulty.
Was something like this rational? No, but many times humans were not. Josh wasn't afraid in the least but would like to avoid troubles if possible.
"Oh shit!" Kasha suddenly exclaimed.
"What's up?"
"We got company. Hold on tight! There will be a bit of turbulence for a while haha!"
Looking behind Josh could some kind of sleek metal flying ship that was a few times bigger than their own flying car. Kasha had turned off the autopilot and had a grin off her face.
"What's happening exactly? These guys are just peacefully flying behind us, no?" Josh inquired.
"That's where you are mistaken. No sane law-abiding person would approach a model like ours in case an accident happened and they got blamed. Wealth is not enough to afford something like this. One requires connections too." Kasha explained.
"So, what does this mean exactly?"
"These guys are pirates. What you see there is a combat-ready cruiser. Nothing too fancy, but it can intercept a flying car easily. See the antenna sticking out? That prevents us from sending messages. Ah, now comes the tracker! See the faint glowing green ray that they just released? With this, they won't lose our trace."
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"Can't we just run? Also, you seem pretty easygoing for someone getting her car intercepted." Josh calmly asked.
"Naw, cruisers may not be as easy to maneuver as cars but they definitely beat us in long-distance speed. Now, should we begin the fun? Let's just say I did a few modifications on this car of mine hahaha." As she said that there was a savage glint in her eyes, the one of a hunter looking at its prey.
"BEEP- WE HAVE YOU CORNERED! SURRENDER AND NO HARM WILL BE DONE TO-"
Then came an insane acceleration! Josh could feel his entire body sinking into the seat entirely. The entire world started spinning before their eyes. Yet Kasha seemed to be lazily and nonchalantly driving.
Very soon they were positioned in the back of the Cruiser. Of course, the so-called pirates tried to reposition themselves but their efforts were clearly in vain.
That is when Kasha uncovered a part of the dashboard, revealing a red button. As she smashed it, Josh could see canon-looking things come out of the hood. Then came deadly energy projectiles.
Of course, the enemies started their onslaught too. They had given up on capturing the car and were simply going for straight-up annihilation. But no matter what they threw, Kasha simply guided the car to avoid it at the last moment.
At some point small missiles were launched, homing ones. That too was a colossal failure on their part. She expertly navigated until the projectiles either exploded in mid-air or directly on the opponent's ship. She accomplished that simply by veering at the very last second, Josh resolved to never play chicken with her. Ever!
The outcome was a clearly nearing destruction cruiser. They mostly had been done in by their own weapons too! Was there any bigger embarrassment than that!
"BEEP- WE SURRENDER HOLD YOUR FIRE WE-"
That is when Kasha mercifully and humanly….shot them making the entire cruiser explode. Josh couldn't help but glance at her with a questioning gaze.
"What? You expected me to forgive them or something?" She grimaced, seemingly wondering since when Josh was that righteous.
"Aren't pirates worth money? You know with the bounty?"
"Hahaha, yes, but it's not worth the effort. We better hurry up and go back to headquarters. Their ship itself was worth way more than any pitiful bounty they could have had."
Josh simply nodded while thinking back on the earlier scene. These energy canons had shown very high destructive power. It was the same for the homing missiles. At first, Josh had disregarded technology since it couldn't be used in the Tower but it seemed he had to reconsider.
Would he be able to avoid annihilation confronted with such firepower? Not at all! He would be akin to a piece of paper trying to stop a wildfire. Now, why was most of the power in the hands of the Climbers then?
Why weren't the tech conglomerate the ones owning the world? Perhaps it was in a bid for the future? Right now they had the upper hand, but what would happen once the Climbers became stronger?
Maybe it was simply related to the gods' warnings. A ruler with ambition would have jumped on the opportunity to control the world before its destruction. A ruler with even more ambition would try to save the world AND dominate it.
Josh knew what he would do in their stead. He would show a harmless facade while growing his power in the Tower on the down-low. That is when a thought finally occurred to him.
"Say, Kasha. Is space travel possible?"
"What? Of course, it is! Still, any space travel projects are pretty much halted at the moment. What is the point of exploring outer space when we still have the Tower to explore right here? Well, there are some eccentric people still…Why do you ask?"
"Nothing, just curious…" Josh lightly remarked.
But that one point gave rise to many questions. Josh knew the Sloth's world was similar to theirs in the sense that it had its own Tower and that they were forced to Climb. But where was it?
What did the gods mean by other worlds? Was it other galactic systems? Was it entirely different dimensions? The portals were magical and all, but what if there was a scientific way to understand it?
After all, there were professions related to the Tower. What if, just what if, it was possible to merge technology and mana? What kind of amazing construct would be possible then?
Possibly warping battleships with superhuman crews? That is when Josh forcefully stopped his reasoning.
He was akin to a single weak strand of grass pondering on the mysteries of the forest. But that was only temporary. Of that Josh was sure….
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