Awakener's Guide to Climbing the Tower

Astrid looked at the carpet then at him in confusion. "Free what?"

Hiiro blinked. "Backline access."

"That did not explain it." Astrid’s eyes narrowed as if he had deliberately replaced one confusing phrase with another.

"It means I can reach the rear formation without fighting through the front."

"Then just say that."

"I did say that though..."

Misha kept her gaze on the enemy lines. She knew what Hiiro meant. It was not impossible for someone in the Tower to use the phrase, though the way he used them was different, like someone talking about a game rather than a battlefield filled with things that would tear him apart if he made one mistake.

Could he really be someone like her?

The game name he mentioned did not exist in her memories, but the words he mentioned came from somewhere modern. Somewhere outside the Tower...

Astrid tapped the rolled carpet with a finger. "Even if your idea is reasonable, most people know how to operate their emergency transportation."

Hiiro pulled away and hugged the carpet protectively. "I know more now than I did before."

Caius rested one hand on the battlement. "That is a dangerously low standard."

Hiiro pouted. He turned away from Caius with exaggerated offense, though the tip of his ears had reddened. "Once I hit the rear, they’ll have to turn part of the formation around. That pulls the aggro away from the wall."

Astrid looked at him again and Caius’ brow moved.

"Aggro?" Astrid repeated.

Hiiro paused, perhaps only now realizing he had used another word none of them should understand.

"That means..." Hiiro made a vague circle with one hand. "Their attention, their aggression, and their desire to kill."

Astrid gave him a flat look. "You have one word for all of that?"

"Yes."

"Why?" She raised a brow.

"Because saying all of that during a fight would get me killed."

"You have already spent longer explaining it."

"The point is," Hiiro continued before anyone could question him further. "If I get their aggro, pressure drops here. Even if I don’t kill all six commanders, splitting the formation buys time."

Misha couldn’t help but agree with his plan. He was right, a few stolen minutes could decide everything. Thirty minutes could stretch into something endless when a wall was breaking beneath an army.

And this time, she did not have Skyreach beside her.

Nyxie had cut through monsters as if they were tall grass, Gerbaut had held a line alone when anyone else would have buried beneath it, and Elyes could wipe entire groups with one spell. Even Yara, for all she had done later, had possessed enough power to freeze a part of the battlefield.

The three students beside Misha were talented. That did not mean they have enough experience. They were still her responsibility even if it was only until Exodus.

Perhaps they would hate hearing that. Still, she was the only adult accompanying them. If one of them died, she knew exactly whose face she would see whenever she closed her eyes afterward. Her own.

Her skill offered no easy answer either. Tobias remained unavailable since his chamber required thirty-five hours before she could call on him again, and not twenty-four had passed since the last possession.

Astrid tilted her head as she examined Hiiro more closely as if she discovered something mildly surprising beneath a noisy exterior. "So your brain is not merely decorative after all."

Hiiro stared at her, his lower lip pushed forward again. "You’re being rude!"

"It was praise." Astrid checked the sights of her weapon without looking at him.

"It did not sound like praise..."

Caius remained focused on the western section of the forest. His expression had gone still in the way it did whenever he began arranging details in his head. Distance, timing, enemy placement, and escape routes.

"You don’t attack alone."

Hiiro’s pout vanished. He turned to him so quickly that the carpet shifted against his back. "You’re coming?"

"Yes." Caius pointed toward the route Hiiro had indicated. "You take the carpet behind them and remain below the upper branches. Astrid and I stay on it and attack from above."

Astrid looked at him. "You decided quickly."

"The route is viable."

Hiiro brightened further. "See? He gets it!"

Caius ignored him. "Once the first wave reaches the wall, you strike the rear. If we move too early, the commanders will redirect the entire formation to eliminate us before the front line commits."

Hiiro nodded, already following the plan in his head.

"You only target the commanders. The moment they turn toward us, we retreat. We are not staying long enough for the rest of the formation to close."

"I can handle them." Hiiro straightened, one hand settling against the bow at his side. "Six isn’t even a full raid boss."

The two ended up looking at him once again.

"A what?" Caius spoke first this time.

Misha closed her eyes briefly. Of course, he was going to expose himself one careless word at a time. At this rate, Hiiro would expose himself before the first wave reached the wall.

"I mean... a difficult enemy," Hiiro explained. "The kind that normally requires several people working together."

"That sounds like a Hobgoblin Commander," Astrid replied. "Why give it another name?"

"Because..." Hiiro shifted the carpet strap on his shoulder. "Because it sounds better."

"That is not a reason."

"It is to me."

Astrid looked unconvinced, though the growing goblin army eventually pulled her attention away.

Hiiro cleared his throat. "Anyway, six of them isn’t impossible. I can handle the DPS check."

This time even Misha’s head turned to him.

Astrid frowned. "You can handle the what?"

Caius’ expression did not change, though something almost weary entered his eyes.

"The..." Hiiro rubbed the back of his neck. "Damage requirement."

"You mean killing them?" She said.

"Yes."

"Then say killing them."

"You have spent more time explaining your words than using them," Caius commented.

Hiiro drew himself up in offense. "That is because the local vocabulary here has been tragically nerfed!"

Before Astrid could ask what it meant, Misha sighed and opened her mouth instead. "It means weakened."

Hiiro turned toward her, his eyes sharpened. She pretended not to notice.

Astrid accepted it with a slight nod.

"Anyway, you will not be fighting all six alone," Caius repeated.

Misha barely heard the rest when her attention had returned to the Hobgoblin Commanders standing beyond the front line. One carried a hooked axe, another held a cleaver almost as long as Hiiro was tall.

For one second, it became a different weapon, a different Commander, Jules stepping in front of her, the monster’s blade rising, and the blunt whistle of metal cutting through the air.

Misha’s fingers locked around the bow. "Wait."

The words came out harder than she intended.

All three turned toward her.

Misha lowered the bow she was holding. "Have any of you fought a Hobgoblin Commander during the siege?"

Hiiro’s expression shifted first. Then Astrid’s gaze moved away, and Caius remained looking at her.

No one answered. She felt the silence confirm what she already suspected.

"Have you?" Misha asked again, forcing the words out more slowly.

Hiiro rubbed the back of his neck, his eyes avoided hers. "There were many monsters, I could have killed one."

"That isn’t an answer."

Misha met Caius’ gaze.

He stared at her for another second before giving a small shake of his head. "They haven’t."

The wording caught her attention. They. Not we.

Her eyes narrowed suspiciously at him.

Caius seemed to realize what he had said. His expression did not change, but one finger shifted against the stone.

Misha did not give him the chance to correct himself. "Then Hiiro’s not doing it."

The boy’s head snapped toward her, looking at her as if she had insulted him in front of the others. "What? Why can’t I?"

"You heard me." She lifted the bow again, more to give her hands something to do than because she needed it. "I know you’re strong."

"Then why–"

"Because strength won’t help if you don’t know what they can do."

Hiiro’s mouth closed.

"A Hobgoblin Commander isn’t just a larger goblin. They are smart and they can bait attacks. They know when someone is trying to flank them and they don’t panic just because the formation splits."

Hiiro’s jaw tightened. "That’s still manageable." Frustration began to roughen his voice. "They have patterns. Everything has patterns."

Misha’s grip tightened around the bow. "People die while learning them."

"I won’t."

"You don’t know that."

"I know what I can do."

"And I know what they can do." The words left her too quickly.

"I’m stronger than you think I am." His voice no longer carried the loud confidence from before. It sounded almost like a plea.

Misha forced herself to look at him. "I know."

"Then stop treating me like dead weight!"

His accusation struck deeper than she expected.

"I’m not." She stepped closer. "I’m trying to keep you alive."

"I won’t be alone." He gestured toward Caius and Astrid. "They’ll be with me."

"That does not make it safe."

"It isn’t supposed to be safe." His voice rose slightly.

Several nearby soldiers glanced toward them before turning back to the approaching army.

Hiiro lowered his voice, though his frustration remained. "We’re in the Tower, Misha. There is no safe route, there is no perfect plan where nobody gets hurt and everyone goes home with full health!"

Misha flinched. He was right but she couldn’t risk it. "I know, so stop talking like this is one of your games."

The words struck him and he froze.

Misha realized too late what she had said.

Hiiro stared at her for a long moment, something guarded appeared beneath his usual openness.

"I’m not." His voice had gone quiet.

Misha could have stepped back, she could have softened it. Instead, the memory of Jules’ body remained beneath her skin, and all the fear she had swallowed since seeing the wall came out wearing anger.

"You want to fly behind six Hobgoblin Commanders because you think you recognize the mechanics? You think there’s a safe opening if you time it properly? This isn’t a game! You don’t respawn if you make a mistake!"

Hiiro’s face had lost all humor now. "I know..."

"Do you? Do you really know?"

The words were unfair. She knew it as soon as she said them.

He had fought on the previous floors and survived until this one. Whatever game he remembered, he knew by now that this world could hurt him.

Still, the fear would not loosen its grip.

"You don’t know what those things can do," she said, her voice softer now. "And I’m not going to stand here while you learn by letting them tear you apart."

Hiiro flinched, then he looked away as he clenched his fist.

"It’s still a good plan..." The defiance had not disappeared, though it sounded weaker now.

Misha hated that too because he was right. It was a good plan. That did not make it worth his life.

Caius shifted between them, not fully, only enough to interrupt the direct line of anger.

"We can reconsider the rear attack. Let’s observe the commanders from the wall. We identify their movement and ranged support, if an opening appears, we adapt."

"That sounds like my plan with extra waiting." Hiiro pouted once more.

Caius ignored him once more. "Until then, no one leaves the wall."

Hiiro glanced from Caius to Misha. The argument had not left his face, neither had the hurt.

"I’m not going to lose anyone again on this floor." Her words slipped out.

Everything around them seemed to recede.

Soldiers still shouted, bowstrings snapped in rapid succession from the far battlement. Yet the space between the four of them went strangely quiet.

Hiiro’s anger faded. He stepped beside her as he focused on the advancing goblin line. After a moment, he leaned slightly toward her.

"For what it’s worth," he murmured, keeping his eyes on the enemy, "I know there’s no respawn... And I’m not trying to die."

Misha released a slow breath. "I know."

Hiiro glanced toward her, she did not smile.

"But knowing you don’t want to die isn’t the same as knowing when to stop," she added. "So for now, you stay on the wall."

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