Tower of Souls

”What the hell is with this Floor?”

Cam couldn’t figure it out, even after spending more than an hour moving through the massive hall, weaving between shelves, past tables and overturned chairs, stepping carefully to avoid the ridiculous number of books scattered around. Slowly, the silence of the room pressed in on him, the only sounds his muffled footsteps, and those of his clone, echoing softly with each step on the dusty marble floor...

No exit in sight, no monsters found, just a huge hallway, broken up by book shelves and small seating areas with tables and chairs, littered with books, some strewn about haphazardly, others piled so high they form small mountains, or stacked precariously well over head height...

”If it was a puzzle, wouldn’t there be some sort of clue?”

”Probably...” He shrugged, not really having an answer to his clone’s unasked question: What the hell were they supposed to do? ”No hidden alcoves or secret rooms- that we can find, at least-, no clues for a puzzle or a treasure hunt; Maybe it’s a Test Floor, and we have to find... something... among all these books?”

”There should be some clue as to what though, right? I mean, otherwise we’ll basically have to go through almost every single book to figure it out... and that will take months, man!” Eron groaned, bending down to grab a book near his foot with the intention of checking it for some sort of... anything... to help them move forward...

So, when the book shot out from under his fingers, its back and front covers beating against the air like a pair of wings that took it up above his head, and its pages fluttering underneath creating a soft sound of pages turning rapidly that seemed to echo unnaturally against the library walls and shelves... he was more than a little surprised.

His surprise only rose when the book suddenly darted down, ramming into the shield he hastily raised to defend himself.

Bookbat slammed your clone(Eron) for 1 damage.

”What the fuck!? It’s a trash mob!”

Cam blinked, both at the sudden attack, and the notification; He knew Eron’s shield had blocked two damage, and he wouldn’t have taken any damage at all if he actually had armor for the rest of his body and not just his legs and feet... but surely there had to be more to this Floor than just a single trash mob, right? And why didn’t it attack before? Was it because they hadn’t touched the books until just then?

Unfortunately for Cam, the Floor really was more than just a single trash mob.

The sound of fluttering pages still echoed across the room, but, as Eron raised his cudgel and clubbed down the aggressive book, the sound didn’t stop. If anything, it grew louder.

Before their eyes, another nearby book rose into the air, cover flapping likes wings and pages fluttering... and then another book, and another. Rippling like a wave moving away from them, more and more books rose into the air, the sound growing louder and louder by the second... and Cam’s eyes widened in alarm as every book he could see started to fly...

”It’s a Swarm Floor!”

A Swarm Floor. Depending on who you asked, it was either the easiest type of Floor, or the most terrifying. Sometimes there was a Boss, or traps, but, usually, a Swarm Floor was nothing more than trash mobs with low damage and next to no HP... just large numbers.

Incredibly large numbers, in some cases.

Tanks hated Swarm Floors because they were nearly useless on them, the mobs too numerous for them to attract all of them and keep them away from the rest of the team. Brawlers hated them because their heavy attacks were wasted against the small monsters. Healers hated them because, no matter how hard they tried, everyone would take damage from a swarm, making their job much harder than normal...

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Only Classers with large area of effect(AoE) spells liked them, as it was their place to shine... and AoEs were practically required if a team wanted to survive a Swarm Floor.

Back on Floor 2, Cam had been worried about the idea of fleeing from the Kawe and running into a large group of Bunnicorns, not because of the damage they could do, but because such a group could have slowed them down... but even then, it wouldn’t have been a swarm of Bunnicorns, just a large group of them...

A swarm was a whole different nightmare.

”Follow me!” He shouted to his clone as he turned towards the closest wall and started running- being in the middle of the open floor was the worst place when dealing with a swarm. They needed a wall at their back, at the very least... and some other cover wouldn’t hurt.

While Fan the Flames, as an AoE spell- even if a close range one-, was the best choice for thinning out the swarm, Cam knew he couldn’t pause to cast; Waving his sword to frantically bat away the diving books, his mind raced as quickly as his feet, eyes flitting around in search of cover. Having a wall at their back would be good, but the books would still be able to come at them from the front and sides- and above, as the damn things could fly-, and that left too many avenues for the two of them to defend...

The Bookbats did 3 damage, which could be reduced by armor. If they hit Eron’s shield, he would only take 1 damage, and if they hit his legs, he wouldn’t take any damage, as his pants had 3 armor... But the rest of his body was unprotected, thanks to their bad luck with drops so far...

And Eron only had 150 HP; Just fifty hits from these Bookbats to unarmored parts of his body would kill him.

Cam... wasn’t much better off. His head was safe, as the Bunnicorn Helmet granted 3 armor, as were his feet and waist, as his boots granted 5 and his belt 4... but those were the smallest areas of his body; The rest of him was unarmored, save for his arms... which had a measly 1 armor. He had more HP... but he doubted that was enough.

Not with there being thousands of Bookbats.

Passing beside a free standing bookshelf, and with the wall just ahead of them, Cam skidded to a halt, an idea forming in his mind that he hoped would work...

”What are you stopping-”

”Get the other side of the bookshelf and push!” He shouted, cutting off his clone- and ignoring the brief, stinging pain as Bookbats slammed into his back.

Working with his clone had its advantages, as Eron didn’t need any more explanation to catch on; The bookshelf was a good fifteen feet wide, and perhaps twice as tall... and close enough to the wall that, if they could tip it, it would offer a nice, covered space for them to fight from.

Assuming it was actually a piece of the terrain they could affect. And that they could actually tip over the heavy looking shelf made of solid wood.

Bookbat slammed your clone(Eron) for 3 damage.

Bookbat slammed you for 0 damage.

Bookbat slammed your clone(Eron) for 2 damage.

Bookbat slammed you for 3 damage.

Bookbat slammed your clone(Eron) for 0 damage.

Bookbat slammed you for 3 damage.

Grimacing at the flashing notifications as they piled up, Cam and his clone reached up in near unison, grabbing the bookshelf almost as high as they could; Leaning their weight into it, the pair pushed... and, for a second, their hearts tightened...

Until it shifted.

What felt like an eternity passed, though it was only seconds, as the pair shoved with al their strength, and the bookshelf tilted, seemingly balance right on the edge... before toppling over; Seeming to fall in slow motion, with Bookbats darting through the air and out of the way, the bookshelf crashed into the wall. For a second, the bottom slid back, the whole thing threatening to come crashing to the floor and ruin their plan...

Until it caught on a groove between the marble slabs of the floor and stopped.

Darting under his new cover, Cam didn’t pause to sigh in relief; While their actions had limited the Bookbats approaches, he still had a good sized area to protect... but, with his clone at his back, he felt there was a chance it would work.

Raising his hand, he sent a burst of fire out of his cover at a clump of Bookbats and ignored the notifications- there were too many flying around for him to count, and too much going on for him to divide his attention... but the sound of something grinding against the floor made him glance back.

To see his clone dragging a table into place, blocking off a good chunk of his side- but looking significantly more beaten and battered for the extra time spent out of cover doing it.

”Hey, at least this side is a little better!” Eron shouted with a crooked smile.

And Cam could only agree... he just hoped they didn’t accidentally set fire to the bookshelf over their heads.