A man could be seen relaxedly heading to the Tower, a relieved smile on his face. He was the Orator that had just visited Josh—or so it appeared.
Josh had made himself look like the assassin. AT's gift made it so easy! It was crazy how useful it had already been, especially that he had gotten it from clearing a few easy trials.
He was gleeful, for he had managed to secure his access to the League of Assassins, convincing the young assassin to skip his upcoming entrance test. The man would be disappearing in the Alter Tower for a while instead.
He could remember the assassin's shock as he had realized that Josh intended to go against the League. But, the man had then "figured out" that he was working for the school, probably with the MTAs' blessings.
There already was tons of gossip about the rivalries between the two organizations. It made everything easier to believe, for there usually wasn't smoke without a fire. He was also looking for an alternative to being a killer so it made it easy.
The man had a few worries, but Josh's confidence quickly crushed them. He had been assured that D-23 would be League of Assassin free and that everything would work out. The least he knew, the better.
The rest was only to wait for the test to begin, as he would impersonate the young man from this point onward.
In the meantime, he would be Climbing. His next challenge would be one that happened in a forest. As he scoured a random forum, he couldn't help but think that there was something strange about it.
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Climbing For Dummies— Forum Edition!
- CityGuy: This Floor is such a painful waste of time! I swear a white dude designed it for sure!
- FishInShips: What?! Please, as if it was a white thing just cause of the scavenger hunt and the hiking involved!
- CityGuy: …I rest my case.
- MidriffFTW: @CityGuy Bro, what are you talking about? Who cares about the Mission when there are dryads!! Have you seen how lean and beautiful they are?!
- TruthDispenser: Those monsters are to real dryads what dolls are to human women.
- AntiBonkSquad: So…a slightly more challenging wank? I don't really see the issue…
- BonkSquad: You fiend!
- ProClimber: …..Guys, can we talk about the actual Floor? What am I supposed to do for this Mission? Finding them is so freaking hard! My team spent three days inside, finally managing to clear the extraction mission, but not the true one.
- Dragoooon: You should have called yourself NewbieClimber instead. The answer is easy, get a better scout.
- ProClimber: 0_0 ….I'm the scout. What should I do?! Please give me tips!
- LifeCoach: Here's a great idea: search for a new job!
- ProClimber: T_T Anyone else?
- JurassicEgg: How about you keep trying until you succeed? What's the worse that could happen? Yes, the answer is dying to the protectors, but that's only a tiny detail in pursuit of greatness!
- CatOnSteroids: It's not like there's a pattern to the Floor itself. You'll have to git gud. There really isn't anything we can do to help.
Then it went on with lots of random chatter.
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Josh couldn't help but be taken aback: dryads, an extraction mission, and a treasure hunt?! What could this all possibly be? He was already hyped!
This would be a drastic change of scenery compared to the cockroaches. Without waiting any further, he entered the Tower. Floor 23, there he came!
He found himself welcomed by the delightful scent of pine. The world was entirely green as large trees surrounded him. The spawn was peaceful and right under the cover of a green giant.
[Mission: follow the clues and find all the dryads!]
"Clues? What about the mid-clear extraction mission?" Josh asked, curious. Also, a search was a breath of fresh air compared to the usual killing.
[Extraction Unavailable in Hellish!]
Alright, it did make sense. If people could exit any time they wanted, it would be too overpowered. While he did have a dimensional belt, it had restrictions: the 1-day duration before using it and the recharge period.
Now, where was he supposed to start? He explored the nearby area, finding a message carved in the bark of a tree. The cuts were dark and a clear contrast to the rest.
<We are silent protectors, forever watching over the ones who bring life to the forest.>
Okay….What was he supposed to make of this? Was this a riddle? But then he noticed something. Life was written l↑fe with an arrow instead of an "i." Should he follow it?
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For now, he had nothing to lose, so he began trekking the woods. There were endless trees as far as the eye could see and there wasn't an enemy to be seen. Was he lost? Just as he was feeling doubtful, he noticed a peculiar sight.
On the bark of a pine tree, there was a blackish handprint. Josh almost expected to see a "We-know" under it. He carefully inspected the surroundings, but there wasn't anything of interest at all.
This new clue was puzzling, to say the least. He approached it and nonchalantly laid his hand atop it; somehow, it was a perfect fit. As he made contact, he felt a tingling sensation on his skin.
Suddenly, the handprint began glowing. It was a green light that seemed to be pulsating. Josh quickly retreated, on his guard. The disturbance instantly stopped. What kind of event was this?
Josh came closer once more and resumed contact. He couldn't help but smile wryly as the green light emerged once more. The longer he held, and the stronger and bigger the effect became. Yet, it didn't hurt him in the slightest. It felt relatively warm too.
It seemed to build up for a few seconds, and then it suddenly erupted as a massive wave that propagated across the entire forest. Not only did it not hurt the vegetation, but it also seemed more vibrant.
Just as he was curiously observing the changes, he felt killing intent. He instantly retreated— or tried, but he was stuck!
It was as if the bark was trying to devour his hand. He grabbed his weapon, turned it into an axe, and swung it with all his power. As he did so, there was movement as all the branches nearby began swaying.
Then the wooden appendages moved before suddenly thrusting toward him akin to deadly spears! Crap! Josh barely managed to free himself, but it would be far too late to avoid. He activated his cloak effect in panic while fleeing.
— BAM!!—
Josh felt his body being swatted away, surviving thanks to the skill. But the second wave of attack was already coming! This time he was farther away and had more room for dodging. He twisted his body, feeling a sharp pain in both his shoulders.
Even then, he didn't stop in the least, finally reaching safety. He was wounded, but it would regenerate slowly. The important detail was that he was out of the monster's range.
<Deadly Pine Tree Lv 28>
Talk about a deadly ambush! For most Climbers, it would have probably been impossible to react in time. This was especially true given the unexpected hand-grabbing trap.
"Talk about rude! I ever so gently woke you up. I even shared the warmth of my body with you, and this is how you repay me?!" Josh was shaking his head in disappointment while he scolded the magical tree.
It only swung its branches all around in murderous anger! Anyone else would have had trouble reading the body language of a tree, but it emitted enough killing intent to make it clear.
"Why would you even do such a thing?" Josh harshly reproached. But then he suddenly remembered one very small tiny detail.
- S Curse of the Greenwood Lord: Active
Yep, there was still this one line in his status screen. Then again, chances were that they would react the same against any human. It was probably just exacerbating it— not that it mattered much. What would an immobile tree even do?!
Josh smiled as he grabbed his bow, aiming it at the creature. He was actually targetting the palm imprint. He released his attack, the mana arrow flying fast and true. Shlack! It lodged itself into the creature.
The mana arrow broke the outer layer of its bark, sap gushing out. The creature flailed its branches around in pain while screeching. What good would this even do?
— Screech!!—
Josh instantly realized something crazy. A screeching tree would be so damn popular! He had to get some of its pine cones for sure. With a little bit of training, this would make the perfect watch tree to protect his home!
What if he could get an entire forest of it? Heck, he'd even be able to start a vegetation Acapella group! Josh grinned as he pictured the possibilities. For now, he'd try killing this one. With a bit of luck, it would drop some.
He aimed carefully once more, shooting vigorously. Except, this time, the tree swung its branches and used them to block.
"Nice block, but how long can you keep it up, eh? You're nothing but a sitting duck....Wait, no, you can't even move!" Josh remarked.
He kept shooting, with the creature swaying full speed. It reminded him of that one futuristic space movie with dudes blocking blaster shots with neon lights— or something similar. If it were a duel of patience that it wanted, Josh would deliver!
At first, the tree seemed spirited (?) as it was probably expecting him to run out of arrows at some point. The fool! Josh had infinite arrows, hahaha— well, as long as he still had mana anyway. But he was really good at faking that he could go on forever.
The plant eventually seemed to realize that there was an issue. It suddenly stopped moving entirely. Was it trying to surrender? Was it scared? Josh stared at it, wondering what it was doing. Wait…was it playing dead?! A tree was fucking playing dead. Wow!
Would Josh show leniency just because it had seemingly given up? No way!
"Welp, don't mind if I practice my aim then. you will make the perfect training target!" Josh began shooting a flurry of arrows once more. However, this time was different. Instead of penetrating the tree, the projectiles disappeared on impact.
Was it possible that there was more to its immobility? Was it perhaps now in a defensive mode that gave it more resistance. Was there any method available to him to counter this? His new Mana Coating skill didn't work on the arrows, probably because they were generated via an item.
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Josh slowly approached the monster, tiptoeing. This had to be a first: sneaking up on a goddamn tree! How was it even perceiving things, and was this a new trap? Either way, he would soon find out…
Creator's Thought
Can you picture dying on Floor 23? How mortifying it must be to break the news to the family of the deceased. "I'm sorry. We did everything we could, but the tree got him in the end." Would a hippie show up to the funeral screaming "This is mother nature's revenge!!!"