Chapter 4: Chapter 4
#The 3rd round will begin shortly! The teams that want to join, press the buzzer before the count is over!# Lero Ro announces from his Lighthouse, thinking back to the bet between Mr. Baam and Ms. Anak. If Mr. Baam's team wins the game, Ms. Anak will have to give up her Green April and won't attack Mr. Baam before the test ends. However, if they lose, Mr. Baam will hand over the Black March to her.
"What the hell was up with that crazy lizard? That weapon was a monster." Bolt asks, thinking back to the second round when that crazy lizard's weapon started to go wild. Him and Hachi had to keep constantly moving or they would've died.
#1!#
"She's a Zahard, and her weapon is a weapon of the 13 month series, the Green April to be exact. A compression weapon that can branch out." Edward supplies, pondering if they should go in this round. It doesn't matter if they win or not. If he manages to kill Rachel, he'll make himself an enemy of Baam, and by extension, an enemy of his team. The only real roadblock is that demon she's got with her, the other's should be distracted or otherwise occupied.
"I guess that makes sense. But man, I'm glad that she's out of the game." Bolt sighs in relief, glad that he won't have to be facing some one like that.
#2!#
"But why did she jump?" Hachi questions, bringing up the important question, why? What possessed her to jump? With her sitting on the throne, there wasn't anything that could've stopped her team from winning. So why did she suddenly jump to one of the holding rooms?
"Probably because she sensed another one of the 13 month series." Edward answers. Might as well save his strength for the last round.
#3!#
"And how do you know that?" Hachi asks with suspicion.
In response Edward pulls out Haensing, who seems to be chewing on something."Because I have the 'older brother' to those weapons." Edward answers, as his teammates look at the living weapon.
=What're you looking at? Can't you see that some people are busy here!= Haensing exclaims, glaring at Edward's teammate's.
"What were you chewing on anyway?" Edward asks, wondering where what ever Haensing is eating would go. Do living weapon's even have a organ for digesting?
=Well if you must know, I was chewing on this.= Haensing opens his mouth, revealing a green shard, already half-chewed. Looking closely at the shard, Edward's face turns white, as if he'd seen a ghost.
#4!#
"Y-You ate a part of the Green April? How? I would've noticed if you had taken a bite out of it." Edward questions, fearing the reprecussions if Anak or anyone else notices it. If Zahard sends a fucking hitsquad after a Princess who took a 13 month series weapon and married some cook, what kind of army would he send after someone who's weapon can actually harm a 13 month series weapon?
=Oh, quit your belly-aching, they won't notice a thing. The old man made us so that we all fix ourselves whenever we ignite or drop the ignition.= Haensing says, setting his partner's worries at ease. Haensing couldn't remember all that much after they started to create the 13 month series, but he remembers that all the strong ignition weapons have that failsafe, ensuring that nothing short of complete obliteration would make them useless.
"Ok, but when did you even get a piece of Green April?" Edward asks, tired of Haensing dodging the question.
=It was when we clashed, I scratched a bit off the Green fool, and it got bigger when the crazy bitch ignited.= Haensing answers. She started screaming bloody murder at him, telling her wielder to Ignite her so that she can "Slice him up until he's nothing more than confetti", which in his opinion is uncalled for. It was just a scratch! a itty bitty scratch.
#5!#
"As much as this whole thing confuses, and to be honest, scares me, Shouldn't we enter this round?" Bolt cuts in, having enough of the weird talk between a boy and his weapon.
"Nah, this round is going to get... messy enough without us in the mix." Edward answers, knowing that Koon's going to pull his little magic trick in this round. And what the trick is? How to make 3 teams look woefully inadequate and complete idiots.
"What're you, a fortune-teller or something?" Bolt ask incredously, but stays seated on the floor none the less. Ed's been right about things so far, so why start doubting him now?
"Yes, and while I'm not a doctor, I don't like your odds of procreating." Edward jeers. Although his expression gives away that he's just joking.
"That ain't funny man, I heard that there's a tribe of women somewhere on the Tower, who kidnap strong guys, peeling their dicks after they're done with them." Bolt complains, remembering one of his grandpa's stories from the times he was climbing the Tower. He didn't make it beyond the 20th floor though, deciding to settle down.
"Then you don't have anything to worry about." Hachi notes, poking fun at Bolt.
"You guys suck, you know that." Bolt deadpans, turning to watch the current round.
"So Hachi, neat weapon, what's it called?" Edward asks, deciding to make small talk with the quietest one of their team. If there's one thing that Edward learned from watching anime and reading manga's and fanfictions, it's that the quiet ones always have something to hide. Of course he learned a lot of other stuff, like when a bad guy is gloving, you don't want none of that.
"It's called Malbeol, a gun that can launch needles at a rapid speed, coated in paralyzed toxins capable of knocking out a baby White steel eel." Hachi answers with an enthusiastic tone, obviously proud of her weapon. She'd built her baby by hand from scratch, and it helped her a lot during her time in the Outer Tower. Without it and her poisons, she wouldn't be here.
"But you're obviously familiar with that species of Shinheuh." Hachi continues, referring to Edward's clothes. Clothes made from Shinheuh hide is a common thing in the Tower, but any defense that the Shinheuh clothes might have are easily outclassed beyond the 20th floor.
"Yeah, I got these when I killed an adolescent one." Edward replies, surprising Hachi a bit. She just figured that Edward killed a lot of baby ones, but and adolsecent one isn't too bad, a team of regulars from the 15th floor can kill those beasts quite easily.
"Uh, Ed, the rounds over, so should we join the next one?" Bolt asks, cutting into their conversation, a little worried about their chance of beating the team that has the Throne. That albino guy's a crafty one, and the big chocolate bar is fucking scary!
Maybe they can win if they can match things up perfectly with Hachi fighting the albino, Edward hammering the chocolate bar, while he'll run past them and steal the crown.
"Let me guess, Baam's team has the Throne?" Although he knows how things should go, it doesn't hurt to double check.
"Uh, yeah." Bolt nods.
"And did Koon, the one with white hair, change his hairstyle?" Once again, it doesn't hurt to check. Besides, after this round, there wouldn't be any hidden allies to stop an full-out assault.
"Uh... yeah?" Bolt answers, not seeing the reason as to why Edward asked that question.
"Then no, we wait for the final round." Edward answers, leaning against the wall.
=You know something, don't you partner?= Haensing asks, as Lero Ro starts counting.
"What, you don't want us to enter the round, because the albino kid tied his hair a bit differently?!" Bolt shouts incredulously.
"I'll explain soon enough, just watch the match." Edward says, watching the round.
"Fine." Bolt says, deciding to wait. It's just the 4th round, there's still the last one left, so no worries.
As the three teams enter, a tall guy with maroon hair speaks up, addressing a brown haired guy with squinted eyes."Hey, You! We shouldn't fight...yet. We should focus on the other team first, then we'll fight for the Crown."
"I agree we should work toget-ugh!" the guy is knocked by a boomerang thrown by a guy with partially shaved hair.
"Wow, what the hell?!" Bolt exclaims as the boomerang guy's teammate, a humanoid prawn apparently starts eating a red haired girl from the squinty-eyed guys' team.
"You knew." Hachi states, looking at Edward, as the third member of the ambushed team, a green bogey with arms is stunned by a pale girl with black hair and dark clothes, after she whispers a few words, obviously using Shinsoo to paralyze the green blob. She could see that he kept an eye on the team that attacked the other one.
"That I did." Edward admits.
"But how the heck did you know that?" Bolt questions, confused about his teammate.
"Those guys appeared only after Koon had visited the bathroom." Edward answers.
"What does that albino have to do with anything?." Bolt asks, not seeing the connection. There's no way that a guy like that could hide three people on him and sneak them through the Tests.
"That suit case of his, the Manbarondenna, allows him to store numerous things, including people, inside a pocket dimension, and copy objects." Edward explains, as Koon's henchmen start fighting the last team left standing.
"That's freakin' sneaky." Bolt mutters. With something like that, you could store an entire army and carry it wherever you go.
"That it may be, but you can't argue with the results." Edward states as Koon's henchmen leave the arena, ending the round, causing Edward to shake his head in disappointment. If Koon had ordered them to stay in the ring for 5 minutes, they would've gotten a free pass onto the next floor.
#Since there is no other team left, the Team of Koon, Rak and Baam are the winners of the 4th round, congratulations.# Lero Ro announces from his Lighthouse, a bit annoyed at Koon for smuggling people through his Shinsoo veil.
"So I take it we're entering?" Edward only gives a nod for an answer. "Sweet."
"Ok, listen, there will be a lot of Regulars trying to get to the Crown, or try to thin their ranks, so stick to the back and when I give the signal, head for the Throne." Edward instructs as Lero Ro starts counting down.
"What's the signal?" Hachi asks, prepping her weapon.
#1!#
"A big explosion." Edward says, rising from the floor. This round could either go really well, or really, really bad. He could kill Rachel, but he could also get beaten up or killed, probably both.
#2!#
"And what else?" Bolt asks, pressing the buzzer. Ed seemed to know a lot of stuff, so maybe he could warn them about something dangerous in this round.
#3!#
"...Avoid a chick in a leotard, wielding a staff and another chick wearing a brown cloak with weird floating disk things, you'll die if you fight them." Edward adds, remembering vaguely what Hwa Ryun and Androssi look like at this point in time.
#4!#
"You're the Guide." Bolt says, stretching out a bit.
#5!#
"Let's go." Hachi says as the gates open, flooding the arena with the remaining teams who are either suicidal, cocky or desperate enough to enter the last round.
'I'm coming for you, you damn bitch.' Edward thinks to himself, enlarging Haensing to a sledgehammer, before charging into the mass of regulars, taking them out with golf swings, Hachi right behind him, as Bolt sprints around the area, delivering hit and run attacks.
"Whoa! None of that!" Bolt yelps, sliding under Hwa Ryun's staff, before picking up speed and continuing his run. Hwa Ryun watches in thought as Bolt runs off. That guy and his team, none of them should be here. When she first appeared on Evankhell's floor, she saw that the paths of numerous Regulars end on that grassy plain, him and the bee girl included. Those two were supposed to fail the test, due to not finding a third partner in time.
But here they are, climbing the Tower, still alive. And then there was their apparent leader, the boy with the hammer, who's path she couldn't read. He's the second one so far who's path she couldn't see, the other one being the boy sitting on the throne. Looking around her, Hwa Ryun can see that she's taken out enough Regulars, deciding to move on to the Throne.
"I will tear you into pieces!" the humanoid crocodile on the Throne team shouts, charging at Hwa Ryun with his spear, which she easily dodges, by jumping over the spear-wielder and lands straight on the Throne, startling the boy with the Crown. The boy's teammate attempts to come and help, but is stopped by Hwa Ryun's teammate.
"Put the Crown down." Hwa Ryun orders, pointing the tip of her staff at Baam. There's no reason to hurt him, all she needs to do is make sure that he doesn't pass yet.
"...I'm protecting the crown 'til the end." Baam says defiantly. He knows that he's the weakest of his team, and this is the only way that he can help them. He's not going to let his friends down.
"..." Hwa Ryun raises her staff, preparing to strike Baam with it. This strike should only incapacitate or cause the boy to jump off the throne. Either way, mission completed.
"Where do you think you're going!" Edward shouts, using [Bomb Dash] to catch up to a regular trying to run away from him, and the pile of unconscious Regulars, before smashing the poor Regular to the floor[- 60 HP]. Noticing that Hwa Ryun has already gotten past Baam's team and is now ready to strike him, Edward smiles on the inside, happy that things are going as planned for now.
As Hwa Ryun swings down her staff, Androssi blocks her attack with a giant disk. "And here comes the cavalry." Edward mutters as Hwa Ryun leaps back, deciding to gain some distance. She was not contracted to fight against a Princess of Zahard, just to stop the Irregular from passing early.
"Isn't that suit embarrassing? I wouldn't be caught dead wearing something like that." Androssi mocks Hwa Ryun as the giant disk shrinks down to the size of a pin.
"Be careful, Baam! They're our enemy!" Koon warns, blocking a sword strike from one of Hwa Ryun's teammate's. Even if they saved Baam from getting knocked off the throne, who's to say that they didn't stop the other team so that they could do it themself?
"Don't worry, we won't take the crown." another person wearing a brown cloak, who Edward and Baam recognize as Rachel, for different reasons. Baam recognized her by the sound of her voice, and is both surprised and happy about seeing her. Edward on the other hand, is seeing red.
"Hachi, Bolt, NOW!" he shouts, jumping towards the throne, or more specifically, Rachel with a [Bomb Dash], the explosion signaling his teammates to head for the throne, only for them to be intercepted by Rak and Koon.
"Don't think that it's going to be that easy." Koon taunts with a cocky demeanor as Rak prepares to attack with his spear, while Hachi leaps back, intending to fight them at a distance. While Koon would have preferred to stop the whole team from getting to the Throne, 2 out of 3 isn't bad, especially when the third one can fly over them.
Now he can only hope that the mystery team will help Baam to defend the crown, as unlikely as that is.
"R...Rachel?" Baam questions as Rachel keeps quiet. Why isn't she answering him?
"R-" the sentence is cut short as Baam notices Edward as he flies past him, his hammer already in half swing, aiming for Rachel's head. But before his attack can connect, a giant figure wearing the same kind of brown cloak that Rachel and Androssi are wearing swats him aside, causing Androssi and Hwa Ryun to move aside as Edward flies past them[-110 HP].
His master, Headon-nim ordered him to protect the Irregular girl, until she finished her mission, and until that mission is completed, he would not allow anyone to attack her. The hammer-user was clearly aiming for a lethal attack.
"Ugh, DAMN IT!" Edward shouts, punching the ground, followed by an explosion. Now that Rachel's pet monster is here, there's no way that the secondary objective can be completed, so goodbye 5500 EXP. Deciding to focus on other things, Edward uses [Observation] on Hwan Ryun and Androssi, who are once again, fighting.
[Observation]
/Regular\
Hwa Ryun LV: 21
/Tech\
|Guide|
HP: 210
MP: 213
STR: 24
INT: 49
VIT: 26
WIS: 50
DEX: 33
AGI: 31
Perks/Buffs/Debuffs:
Medium Shnisoo Resistance Lv5: the ability to resist Shinsoo.{-43% from MP attacks. Ignore AGI Debuffs in areas with Medium or lower amounts of Shinsoo.}
EXP Gained from defeating: 1800
'Oh, so now my [Observation] tells me how much EXP I get from beating particular enemies, interesting' Edward thinks to himself, before taking a glance at Androssi's stats.
/Regular\
Androssi Zahard. LV: 22
/Power\
HP: 220
MP: 330
STR: 75
INT: 34
VIT: 55
WIS: 32
DEX: 46
AGI: 58
Perks/Buffs/Debuffs:
Medium Shnisoo Resistance Lv10: the ability to resist Shinsoo.{-58% from MP attacks. Ignore AGI Debuffs in areas with Medium or lower amounts of Shinsoo.}
Blood of Zahard: The blood of Zahard runs through your veins.{+ 45 STR, +45, +45 AGI. Increase STR, VIT and AGI by 2 every level.}
EXP Gained from defeating: 2500
"Ah, shit." Edward mumbles to himself, before picking himself back up. He might not be able to get that sweet, sweet 5500 EXP, but he can settle for 4300.
"I told you, your attacks don't work!" Androssi says to Hwa Ryun, twirling her red needles. They had been trading blows for a while now, with Hwa Ryun using her shinsoo-controlled staff to try and hit her while Androssi blocks with her "Lapel Pin" Arms inventories.
"Well, how about mine?!" Edward shouts from behind Androssi, attacking her with Haensing. With the AGI boost [Bomb Dash], he actually manages to hit her, sending her skidding across the floor[- 120 HP].
"Hey! how dare you hit a lady like that?!" Androssi shouts with indignation and a small amount of fear. She managed to channel Shinsoo to lessen the blow, but it still hurt like hell. And she could even feel the hammer eating away at her Shinsoo. She'd have to be careful around this guy.
"Why the hell did you attack me? We're not trying to stop you guys from taking the crown." Androssi says, hoping to get these two to attack each other. Of course she lied when she said that her team wouldn't try to stop the other teams from taking the crown. Rachel said that she didn't want any harm to befall the kid sitting on the throne.
"Bullshit! Your teammate punched me when I tried going for the crown." Edward says, pointing an accusing finger at Androssi.
"And you decide to take your anger out on me? How brutal." Androssi mocks, not noticing the orange glow that's slowly building up beneath her.
"Oooh no, I hurt a wittle girl, what're going to do, call your daddy to beat me up?" Edward taunts her with mock-worry and baby talk.
"You know do know who I am right" Androssi questions, not believing the nerve of this guy. First, he attacked a Princess of Zahard, and a fake one, but both are still tantamount to suicide. And now he's mocking her? Does he have a death wish or something?
"A girl who's dumb enough to let his opponent get the jump on them." Edward replies cheekily, tapping his foot on to the ground, activating his trap. The only reason he kept her talking was in order to use his [Explosion Inducement] to build up enough explosive shinsoo to take out a truck, right below her.
"That was just once, at it won-" Androssi's sentence is cut short by an explosion, which sends her flying[-80 HP].
"Actually, that makes it two." Edward points out, before turning to face Hwa Ryun, who's already gone. So much for gratitude.
"Wait wasn't there something el-" Edward's pondering is cut short by a punch to the back of his head, causing him to hit the ground, hard[-120 HP]. Looking up at his attacker, Edward sees a very nettled Androssi Zahard, her yellow eyes, making her glare oh so much scarier.
"You're going to pay for that." She states, anger seemingly dripping from her every word. Not only did this punk manage to get the drop on her once, but twice! That would not go without retribution.
[Through a specific action, a Passive Skill: Sense Danger has been created]
Sense danger: A natural survival instinct. It allows the user to detect when something bad might happen. The higher the skill level, the earlier it can sense danger
Passive Skill LV: 1
EXP: 0/100
[Through a specific action, a Passive Skill: Detect Bloodlust has been created]
Detect Bloodlust: A skill that detects any bloodlust directed at the user. It is an instinctive skill.
Passive Skill Effect: {Detects bloodlust within 30 meters from the user's location. It also alerts the user of its origin.}
Passive Skill LV: 1
EXP: 0/100
As Androssi starts walking toward Edward, intent on beating him unconscious and then some, Edward tries punching her, only for her to grab his fist, before applying pressure, causing Edward to grimace from the pain[-20 HP].
"I've had enough of getting struck today, so how about you just stop struggling, and who knows, maybe I'll go easy on you." Androssi says, her tone shoving no sign of mercy.
"Heh, heh, you think that just because you're near me, that you're safe from my explosions, well guess what, you're not." Edward states as his captured fist starts glowing orange, causing Androssi to let go, as if burned by the hand. So this guy wasn't afraid to blow himself up to win. No matter, she'd just have to hit him before he could blow up.
"Well, I guess this means that I can stop going easy on you." Androssi states, cracking her knuckles, before noticing a orange glow on both of her arms, mainly the palm of her right hand, and the knuckles of her left one. That brief contact that his Shinsoo made with Androssi's hand was enough for him to spread it to her palm, and from there to her knuckles.
"Heh, checkmate." Edward chuckles, snapping his fingers as the orange shinsoo covering her arms blows up in her face, knocking her out[- 20 HP]. That was all the shinsoo he could put on her without her noticing it. Feeling tired from getting thrown around like a ragdoll, Edward groans as he falls flat on to the ground, hearing a scream of pain and the sound of two bodies hitting the floor echo throughout the arena.
Craning his neck towards the throne, Edward can see the body of Baam lying on top of Rachel's, while Hwa is preparing to swing again. "Oh, come one, I try to attack her with a hammer, and the big guy throws me like rag, but when she does with her staff, he just stands there." Edward wheezes out before blacking out.
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AN: That's all folks! Yeah, I left you guys on a cliffhanger, but it should build tension, somewhat. And before any of you start complaining about Edward beating Androssi, well, he caught her by surprise. He knew what she could do, while she didn't know anything beyond that he has a hammer and can cause explosions. Oh, and since I posted A.g.a.P Edward's stats, I might as well do them here, so here are Edward's level, stats and perks at the end of this chapter
/Irregular\
Edward Smith LV: 16
/Power\
Exp: 1050/1600
HP: 500
MP: 95
STR: 9{+210}
INT: 27
VIT: 10{+160}
WIS: 29
DEX: 12
AGI: 8{+30}
Points: 33
Perks/Buffs/Debuffs:
High Shnisoo Resistance LV1: the ability to resist Shinsoo.{-62.3% from MP attacks. Ignore AGI Debuffs in areas with High or lower lower amounts of Shinsoo.}
And now, I'll answer some of the Quest reviews that I thought I should reply to.
Susanoo-Overlord: Yes, Lliono already pointed that out, so don't worry, Edward has an explanation.
And instead of asking a question, I'll ask two, but they're both related to the same problem:
Which team should I put Edward on during the Hide-and-seek test, and which one of the Regulars who failed to pass the Position test in the canon should I allow to continue to climb the Tower?
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone