This wind contained mana! Gasps of astonishment could be heard with other Climbers remaining silent. Did they not realize the implications?!
Mana was the very essence of magic, aka what Josh had so much trouble manipulating. The human world had been void of it until the Tower. Even then, there remained a clear separation between both.
Now mana would be all around? How would it impact the world? How would it impact humans? How would it impact the animal species?
Perhaps learning skills would be easier? Would it be possible to obtain a Class IRL directly? Josh didn't know but Classes were memories. Chances were, only the Tower could assign them.
Josh closed his eyes for a minute and felt the breeze. So many different theories swirled inside his head all at once. He didn't know if this was a good thing or not, but it would make things livelier for sure.
This mana wind made him feel as if all his cells were invigorated. He felt younger, stronger, and alive! He could almost spend the rest of his existence here happily. It was a very peculiar feeling.
Yet, the others seemed unfazed by it. Was it because they were higher level and were used to more concentrated mana? Josh didn't know, but they were now all looking at him, wondering what to do next.
"Shall we explore a bit? Remember, do not show any hostility whatsoever!" Josh reiterated once more.
The group headed toward D-23. It seemed to be the instance. That begged to question: where was the original town from before the disaster? Probably in the homeworld of the slothtrosities.
How much despair must they have felt upon being teleported to a deadly world? Did they perish instantly? Maybe they had somehow survived? It would have been great if the sloths could talk.
As they passed through the remnants of the red fog, the party members showed clear disgust. The rotten and stagnant water smells were powerful. Back then, everything had been unmoving, but now the wind carried this atrocious scent all over.
"God, this place is horrible. It smells like death." The tool belt girl was pinching her nose.
"That's what it is," Josh replied.
They all nodded gravely. They knew that many had perished here. As they kept moving, they finally saw a sloth. It was still as disgusting with its wet sticky fur full of unrecognizable trash as it slept there.
But, there was one thing that seemed different. It wasn't wholly unmoving. No, it kept turning and twisting, sometimes even scratching itself with its long deadly-looking claws.
Josh could hear a few nervously gulp as they watched it. The creature didn't have any level, and none could see through it. It felt harmless, but they knew it was all a facade.
"Alright, let's let it have its beauty sleep. We'll stick together and survey the area. We need to figure out if there are any changes whatsoever." Josh took the lead.
They kept journeying mostly in silence, with all the sloths they encountered acting like the initial one.
"Do you guys think it's the tremors that almost woke them up?" The headphones guy asked.
"Maybe they can instinctively feel that something is wrong with their surroundings." The Aeris one speculated.
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"It's probably the mana in the air getting thinner. They probably unconsciously feel it. Hopefully, they'll get used to it and go back to sleep." Josh replied.
"What if they start to hunt for sustenance once the mana becomes scarcer?" The Breeze Knight said.
"I really hope it won't come down to this, but it would make sense. If they do leave this place, we'll have to evacuate. We can't fight them." Josh admitted.
"We are humans. We can show them the power of science!" The Aeris fellow exclaimed.
"Perhaps, but even a level 40 wouldn't be able to leave a scratch on these guys. I wouldn't count too much on it." Josh reminded.
"Fair enough. It's hard to know since technology doesn't work in the Tower. We never had the chance to test it." The man with the knife agreed.
"Honestly, if they remain here and sleep forever, I'd rather we leave them alone. What do you guys think?" The guy from Foundation stated.
"Yes, letting them sleep only sounds fair." The man from Erebus instantly agreed.
They soon managed to finish surveying it all. Besides the sloths acting slightly weird, everything was in order. The Alter Tower wasn't covered by as much vegetation, but that didn't matter. The creatures seemed to be progressively calming down too.
"It shouldn't pose too much danger as long as we leave it alone," Josh concluded.
They soon exited, all of them relieved. That is when they saw the old man by the campfire. He was still roasting marshmallows, calmly waiting for their return. As he saw them, he nodded gravely before asking:
"Did you explore it all?"
But the old man could already guess the answer. Josh truthfully nodded. That is when the tears began falling on the old man's face. He had known it for a long time already: his relatives were dead. Even then, he genuinely smiled:
"I'm glad you all came back well. Anyone want a marshmallow?"
Josh gladly accepted it as he sat next to him. They shared a look of understanding, one that meant that everything would be alright somehow. But this touching scene was interrupted by the sound of flying metal.
There were buses, five of them! These long metallic flying vessels could each hold about 50 people. What was this all about?!
They all took their weapons out and readied themselves. Out of the vehicles exited tons of Climbers that were fully geared and seemed extremely enthusiastic.
"Tch, that's some B, C, and D guilds from Metropolis-D. What are they doing here? I have a bad feeling about this." The toolbelt lady remarked.
A tall and charismatic-looking man heard her.
"Of course, we are here to slay the beast! This is the best opportunity for new drops! Now that this ridiculous instance is down, we will all be able to cooperate with our brothers and demolish one of them. This will be a historic moment! Right, everyone?!"
"YEAH!!!!" Tumultuous cheers came from the sea of Climbers that were all disembarking.
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"If you guys want to join us, you are welcome but bear in mind that I am the one leading this party. You guys will have to obey my orders." He radiantly smiled as he offered. He was obviously trying to stroke his ego by having Rankers follow him.
"I'd rather fucking die." The volcano guy snorted.
"Suit yourselves. While you guys are cowering here, we will seize the day and we will be victorious!"
"Believe me, you all will die if you head in there," Josh warned him.
"Did you hear that, you all? He wants us to retreat! How ridiculous!"
"HAHAHA!" Raucous laughter came from the wannabe army.
Markus stepped forward.
"You should recognize me, yes? I am in charge of the MTA of Metropolis-D. I formally prohibit anyone from entering D-23. Is that clear?" He took the harshest tone he could.
"Did you hear that, you all? Sir Markus here believes that he has the right to order us? Isn't that rich?" Once more, he gestured to his minions while taking a step closer toward safety.
"We heard!" Shouts of disapproval thundered.
Usually, these guys would have acted coy in the presence of Rankers, but their numbers emboldened them. Perhaps the dozen of them could fight the 250 Climbers, but winning unharmed was another story.
Plus, such confrontation would be hard to hide and could socially kill all of them. It simply wasn't worth it. They could only grind their teeth in anger as they watched them slowly head for D-23.
The old man even tried standing in their way:
"Youngsters believe me. Do not go there! I've lost my only family to these creatures. You still have all the rest of your lives to—"
"Shut up, grandpa! We are heroes. We aren't as dumb as whoever you lost in there. Now, get out of the way." He growled.
The old man slowly came back toward Josh's party.
"This will end badly. There must be a method to stop them…." Markus exclaimed.
"Oh yeah, this will suck. But there is only one thing we can do." Josh deplored as he shouted at the idiot leading the braindead.
"If you head right this way, you should encounter a lone slothtrosity near the entrance! This should be your best bet!"
The man gave a thumbs up, probably picturing their glorious return already. At least, they would only disturb one of the creatures this way.
"They will all die." Markus somberly said.
"Actually, I only fear that they will live." Josh sighed.
This statement made the others uncomfortable. Some perfectly understood what he meant. Others seemed to think that he was only uttering this out of anger.
What followed was a period of waiting. Josh talked with a few before patiently letting time pass. It took about 30 minutes for everything to be over. They could see about 40 humans exiting the forest hurriedly.
Their faces were masks of terror as they ran for their lives. Just as they sighed in relief, it happened. They all suddenly fell as if puppets with the strings cut.
A sloth was slowly walking over, yawning. It was entirely red, full of fresh blood with pieces of flesh and organs stuck to its fur, none recognizable. Even they could feel their hearts tremble from the attack, even with the massive distance.
Needless to say, it was a massacre. It slowly approached the 40 of them and devoured them all in the laziest way possible. There was more human mess entering its fur than its mouth.
Soon, only the once handsome leader was left. He had been the one the farthest away from combat, yet he had pissed and shat himself running. He oozed with relief as he saw the Rankers in the distance. He would soon reach them and escape while they fought the monster.
Josh could feel it. The Sloth wanted this insolent human dead. He had disturbed the creature's sleep, and he had to pay.
"Do it." Josh coldly ordered.
That is when the woman nearby generated a water bullet. It was highly pressurized, with its content rotating at high speed. Then she fired it. The blue sphere flew with great velocity until it collided with the man's legs.
KACHA!
"ARGG, My fucking legs! Why did you do that?! Bitch! Quick hurry up and save me!" Hurry—"
But his cries for help soon came to an end. The slothtrosity grabbed the man casually, and it just happened that its claws passed through his throat. It then looked at Josh's party, seemingly in a deep dilemma.
It looked at the distance it would have to cover to kill them. Then, it looked at the distance it would have to walk back. Finally, it decided that it would be too much of a bother and returned toward its lair with the humans heaving a sigh of relief.
"What happens now?" Josh asked.
"It's time for a meeting. We have lots of stuff to cover." Markus sighed.
Josh couldn't help but glance at D-23. This wouldn't be the end for sure…
Creator's Thought
Forces: 250 Level 30-45 Climbers. Target: 1 Slothtrosity of unknown power. Result: Total annihilation. Their leader: "Shut up, grandpa! We are heroes. We aren't as dumb as whoever you lost in there. Now, get out of the way." -_-"