Awakener's Guide to Climbing the Tower

Misha already knew what waited for them on Floor Eight. That did not make seeing it again easier.

Blue light released the four of them in the middle of the forest.

A man stumbled from between the trees before the portal had fully vanished behind them.

His armor had been split across the chest and shoulder. One arm hung uselessly at his side while the other clutched a sealed letter and a brass compass against his breastplate.

He made it three more unsteady steps then his knee struck the ground.

"P-please..." The words scraped out of him. He tried to lift his head, but whatever strength had carried him this far had already started giving out. "Help me..."

Astrid drew her sidearm at once and turned toward the trees rather than the wounded man.

The messenger dragged in another breath, fever had clouded his eyes, leaving them unfocused as he looked between the four of them. "T-they can’t have it..." He pressed the letter more tightly against his chest. "No matter what happens... this must reach Captain Reinhardt at the northern checkpoint..."

Ding!

「 〔FLOOR QUEST〕

Protect the Messenger and deliver the sealed letter safely to the next checkpoint. (0/1)

Failure Conditions:

• The Messenger dies.

• Sealed letter is lost or destroyed.

• Party wiped out. 」

「 〔WARNING〕

Hostile entities detected nearby.

The messenger is being pursued. 」

Misha crossed the distance between them and knelt beside the wounded knight.

"We can’t stay here," she said with urgency. "They’re close."

Caius crouched on the messenger’s other side. "Can you stand?"

The man tried, his palm pressed into the dirt. His elbow trembled, then folded beneath him despite Misha’s support.

Caius caught him before he struck the ground.

Astrid kept her weapon raised, her green eyes narrowed as a branch shifted somewhere beyond them. "At least twelve approaching from the south.... Possibly more behind them."

Misha looked toward the others. She had already explained the next floors before they entered the portal.

Floor Eight was not a simple escort quest. It led directly to the northern checkpoint on Floor Nine, where they would be forced into a prolonged defense and where retreat was restricted.

Before entering, she had warned them and offered them the two emergency runes in her inventory.

Two of them could have returned to Genesis and one would have needed to remain behind with her.

Caius had ended the discussion by refusing the rune. Astrid had followed and Hiiro had claimed he could not abandon his newly formed party before they witnessed his rise to greatness. To fall back and leave others behind would shatter his legendary tale.

In the end, all three had chosen to climb.

Now the first consequences of that decision was tearing through the forest toward them.

"We need to move him." Misha tightened her grip beneath the man’s shoulder. "Now."

"I have something." Hiiro’s eyes lit up.

Astrid turned her head just enough to look at him, her expression immediately became suspicious. "That sentence has never once improved our situation."

"No, this one is good." He opened his storage and a rolled bundle dropped into his arms.

He staggered under its weight, caught it against his chest, then threw it onto the ground. The bundle struck the dirt and rolled open. A wide black carpet unfurled across the forest floor.

"..." Misha stared at it.

"..." Astrid stared at it.

Even Caius looked away from the wounded messenger long enough to study the carpet.

Hiiro spread both arms, his grin carried the pride of a man revealing a legendary weapon rather than decorative furniture. "This is our emergency transportation! My flying carpet!"

"..."

Astrid looked from him to the carpet. "You’ve had a flying carpet this entire time?"

"It didn’t seem relevant before."

Her face went blank. "You fell off a cliff..."

Hiiro paused, his confidence faltered. "The carpet requires open space."

She pointed toward the sky with her pistol. "Falling off a cliff is open."

"Not in the correct direction."

Caius slid one arm beneath the knight’s back and the other beneath his knees. "We can discuss his questionable inventory choices after we leave."

"Finally, someone appreciates me!" Hiiro crouched beside the carpet and patted it. "Put him here."

Caius carefully lowered the wounded man onto it.

The carpet dipped beneath the additional weight, then rose again until it hovered a few inches above the ground.

Misha adjusted the man’s injured arm across his chest.

His eyelids fluttered. "The letter..."

"I have it." She eased the envelope from his grip only long enough to secure it beneath the straps across his breastplate. "It isn’t going anywhere."

His fingers caught her wrist. "C-Captain Reinhardt," he whispered, forcing the name through cracked lips.

"We’ll get you to him." She held his gaze until his grip loosened.

Leaves rustled behind Astrid and a goblin stepped out, then another appeared to its left. A third came from behind a tree with a short bow already drawn.

Astrid fired before Misha could reach for her weapon. The mana bullet struck the archer through the forehead and threw it backward into the bushes. Then she shot the other two before either managed a second step.

"Time to go." She climbed onto the rear of the carpet without lowering her weapon.

Caius sat beside the injured knight and supported his shoulders.

Misha positioned herself on the opposite side, one hand braced near the wounded man’s ribs.

Her annoyance toward Caius had not disappeared, neither had her suspicion. But none of that mattered while they had an injured man between them and goblins moving around the trees.

Hiiro grabbed two silver tassels as though they were reins.

The carpet bucked violently.

She and Caius caught the knight at the same time before the sudden movement rolled him over the edge.

"Hiiro." They both said at the same time.

The boy hunched his shoulders. "I’m adjusting for weight distribution."

Astrid steadied herself with one hand against the carpet. "You nearly distributed us onto the ground, dumbass!"

A branch cracked nearby, then several more dark shapes moved between the trees.

Caius lifted his staff-spear, purple mana flashed around the gem at its head, winding through the metal in thin lines. The energy crackled once, low and sharp like distant lightning. He twisted the weapon and mana discharged in a wide arc.

Several goblins hit the ground before their bodies stopped smoking.

Hiiro tugged the tassels dramatically. "Everyone hold on!"

Misha gripped the side of the carpet with one hand. "Do you actually know how to control this?"

Hiiro looked over his shoulder, his grin did not inspire confidence. "I read most of the description."

Astrid’s eyes narrowed. "Most?"

"The important parts."

"What parts did you skip?"

"The warnings." His grin widened.

"Hiiro."

"What? Those are usually overly cautious."

A goblin leaped toward them from the side and Astrid shot it through the throat without looking at Hiiro. "Move the carpet!"

"Yes ma’am!" He faced forward and raised both tassels. "Yip yip, magic carpet!"

Nothing happened. The carpet remained one foot above the ground.

Everyone stared at him.

"..."

His grin tightened. "That should work..."

Misha blinked. "There is no possible way that is the activation phrase."

"It responded in my heart."

Another spear passed over their heads and all four of them ducked. The weapon struck a tree behind them.

"Hiiro!"

"Hiiro."

They all said at the same time.

The boy looked down at the silver embroidery running along the edge of the carpet.

His lips moved as he read the tiny letters. "Oh right."

Astrid fired twice into the approaching goblins. "What?!"

"I almost forgot it needs mana activation."

"..."

Caius closed his eyes.

Misha could hear him reconsidering every choice that had brought him to this moment.

"Hiiro," he said with unnatural patience.

The other boy let out a nervous laugh before he pressed both palms against the fabric, mana flooded from his hands.

The carpet shot straight upward.

Misha’s stomach dropped, Astrid nearly slid off the rear and caught one for the tassels with her free hand, Caius tightened his grip around the messenger, and Hiiro screamed.

"AAAHHHH!" It was not a dignified sound.

The carpet stopped several meters above the trees.

For one suspended moment, none of them moved.

Wind pulled at their clothes and hair. Far below, goblins gathered and stared up at them.

Hiiro slowly opened one eye, his hands remained locked around the tassels. "W-we’re alive."

Astrid’s hair had loosened from its tie and whipped across her face. She pushed the strands aside with one hand, revealing an expression so cold that Hiiro visibly leaned away. "I am going to throw you off this carpet!"

"That seems counterproductive."

"I’ll wait until we land."

"Much appreciated."

A goblin arrow rose from below.

Astrid leaned aside and fired downward, her mana bullet tore through the archer’s shoulder.

Few more shots followed and the goblins scattered beneath the trees.

"Go north," Misha told Hiiro while she was looking at the compass.

Hiiro twisted both tassels, the carpet spun halfway around but it was too far so he twisted them back. The carpet rotated in the opposite direction. They completed one full circle.

The knight released a weak groan.

Caius looked toward Hiiro. "Do it slowly."

"Don’t worry, I’m learning."

"You are experimenting while carrying an injured man," Astrid said, keeping her weapon trained in the forest below.

"That is how practical learning works."

"No, that is how casualties happen."

Misha reached past him and caught one of the tassels. "This one turns left, and that one turns right."

He looked at her hand, then at the tassels. "I knew that."

"You made us spin."

"I was testing maneuverability." Then he pushed mana into both tassels at once.

The carpet lurched forward. Wind slammed into them hard enough to tear the breath from their lungs.

The forest blurred beneath them and Hiiro’s delighted laugh scattered into the air. "THIS IS INCREDIBLE!!!"

"SLOW DOWN!!" Misha shouted.

He leaned forward as if that would make them faster. "I CAN’T HEAR YOU!!!"

"YOU ANSWERED ME IDIOT!!"

The carpet tilted sharply around a tall tree rising beyond the canopy.

Astrid dug one knee into the fabric and Misha nearly lost her grip on the compass.

Caius planted one hand against the fabric and purple mana spread beneath his palm in branching lines, stabilizing the carpet before it could roll over.

Hiiro glanced back. "You can do that?"

"I can now." Caius’ jaw tightened.

Astrid raised her voice over the wind. "Next time, let Caius control it!"

"There may not be a next time if you keep insulting the pilot." Hiiro huffed.

"You are not a pilot."

"I am currently piloting."

Misha tried to hold it in, she really did. A laugh escaped anyway.

Hiiro looked over one shoulder toward her, grinning. "See? Morale improved!"

"Face forward," all three of them said at once.

"Such a hostile work environment."

The forest thinned beneath them. Ahead, gray stone walls rose after a field.

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