Too Stubborn to Die

Rushing from one point to the next, mopping up the rest of the floor objectives didn’t take long. Although Aaron picked up another level, and got a good opportunity to practice mana flying.

He mostly stuck to helping the weaker squads fulfil their objectives, trying to avoid killing weaker monsters and beasts guarding them. Although there were exceptions. Time was still important, and he wanted to keep their pace rolling. Even if Mo’han didn’t take the floor too seriously, Mandor might be, and the insectoid wasn’t someone to be taken lightly.

Quest: Construct the Great Tower! COMPLETED!

50 auction points rewarded!

Additional bonus rewarded for being the first group to finish!

20 additional auction points rewarded!

“We did it! Nice.”

“You did it, war leader!” A few orcs from a party he didn’t recognize cheered.

“And twenty bonus points this time? I suppose that means higher dungeon floors provide more bonus points. Not bad. Not bad at all.”

He was happy with this result. He didn’t necessarily need the most points of everyone in the dungeon. But he certainly wanted enough that he could outbid people with the same interests as himself, and he felt like he was getting close to ensuring that.

A moment later, exit portals appeared for him and the other champions from their cluster. But when Aaron stepped through, he didn’t find himself in another interval room waiting for the rest of the sector. No, they found themselves standing on a giant platform looking across at giant statues standing in a line.

“What are th—wait, I know!” Aaron pointed as he counted the statues.

All of the stone statues were set across two rows. In the first, eight identical and uniformed soldiers in chainmail armor were holding halberds. In the next…

“That's definitely a rook, and that’s a knight, a bishop, a queen, and a king… no doubt. These are chess pieces.”

“A chessboard?” Talia said questioningly as she stepped through the portal and strolled up behind Aaron. Within seconds, their entire party and their substitutes had passed through, alongside the rest of their cluster.

“I know this game. This is katharak. Quite enjoyable,” Ikran said, admiring the pieces.

“Stupid games,” Erdek hissed.

“Not stupid. Civilized, though I wouldn’t expect you to understand,” Red Song said as she walked up to one of the statues, and gently stroked the stone. “Beautiful craftsmanship.”

“Wait, you guys all have chess on your worlds as well?” Aaron said.

“Hey, pal, y’know, it’s just as weird for us,” Voidrin said. “To think, other worlds play bress. That is not something I expected.”

Role selection is currently inactive!

Please wait until all clusters have completed or forfeited the previous floor before claiming a role.

Warning!

Each cluster will be allowed to vote on a team captain. Team captains will then be able to discuss amongst one another who will represent their sector on the 6th floor!

Remember!

Those who do not participate on the next floor will still be rewarded with auction points!

Aaron hummed. He thought it was interesting that those they had left behind in the interval room were neither here nor mentioned.

I have a feeling they’re not included in this…

It was important to note that those who stepped out of this floor likely wouldn’t gain points for the next, even if they did win. Then again, it was still a good sacrifice if it was the difference between completing a floor and failing to.

There wasn’t much to do besides idle chatter until the other teams arrived. Luckily, it didn’t take long. First, Mandor and his cluster arrived, and within minutes, several others had joined them.

Still, it seemed nothing would activate until the entire previous floor was dealt with.

Spotting Aaron, Mandor strolled over. The insectoid was covered in his own armored carapace, and his serrated hands appeared to be his weapons. However, he looked different. Dully glowing, purple metallic veins had mixed in with his carapace and emanated a strange energy.

Like “Hello. Aaron. How. Have. You. Been?” Mandor clicked.

“Good, and you?”

“Acceptable. It. Seems. We. Will. Be. In. This. Together.”

“Yep. Just waiting for the others. What happened to your…” Aaron pointed.

“Oh. You. Noticed. How. Perceptive. Of. You. Yes. I. Have. Fused. By. Carapace. With. A. Mythical. Metal. Substance. It. Is. Quite. Powerful.”

“I see. Didn’t know you could do that.

“Neither. Did. I.”

Their conversation didn’t last long as more and more groups arrived, Mo’han being amongst them.

“A-ran! Mandor! How have you been? What a glorious color you have taken on! Perhaps you should take note, A-ran!”

“Yeah, I’m not going purple, Mo’han,” Aaron rolled his eyes.

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“Suit yourself, A-ran! More maidens for me!”

As the final teams arrived, arcing beams of electricity whipped across the ground, and suddenly everyone was standing beside the board in a cloudy, white void.

Each cluster must pick a captain to represent them during team selection for the sixth floor!

Within seconds, the clusters were piling together.

“Oh, more work. Save me,” Mo’han groaned.

“We select Mo’han as our captain!” cheered someone from his cluster.

“Oh, that was easy.”

“See you in a second, big fella,” Aaron said, and strolled over to his group.

And he had been just about right. There was already a heated debate on going. Voidrin and Red Song were at each other’s necks, and the humans of Superearth all wanted Aaron to represent them. And Elmira’s cluster quickly echoed them, all casting their vote for Aaron.

“I’m still competing for Pentival,” Elmira told Aaron. “But you did save us back there. I owe you.”

“Don’t mention it,” Aaron said.

It turned out, Erdek was somewhat right to be concerned about their overrepresentation. The humans were all favoring themselves. Multiverse tribalism as its most purist. Then again, Aaron was clearly the strongest.

The big centaur from their cluster smacked his hooves down and trotted over to Aaron. “You have my vote, too. But in return, I ask a favor. You must introduce me to Mo’han Khan when you get the chance.”

“I’m sure that will be possible,” Aaron said.

Aaron felt bad for the centaur. It was an easy promise to keep, since Mo’han would no doubt enjoy the challenge, but the poor guy was likely to get smashed, and his dreams shattered.

Oh well. Better to have tried and failed, or something like that.

Only seconds later, a majority was reached, and Aaron suddenly found himself standing on the giant chessboard again, alongside Mo’han.

“There you are, my friend! Oh, and Mandor! You decided to join us as well.”

“It. Appears. So. Mo. Han.”

Aaron looked across the crowd of gathered clusters. There were hundreds of people chatting and picking their captains. And then he noticed the little people.

Wait! I thought they weren’t going to continue? Those lying little bastards!

Aaron was surprised to see them there, but he didn’t really care. He was going to be a little more wary of them in the future, though. It was clear their word didn’t mean too much.

A moment later, Lord Draxas appeared on the board, rubbing their scaly hands together as they wobbled back and forth. Jutting to one side, it looked like the threesome was about to topple over and burst out of their trench coat. Up until Lord Draxas managed to stabilize their footing, and cleared their throat as if nothing had happened.

“It appears we meet again, Aaron.”

“And you lied to me!”

“Bah, big people are dumb! You believe anything because you underestimate us, little folk! But you’ll see. There’s more to Lord Draxas than you can imagine.”

Yeah, right.

Aaron sighed and just shook his head. And over the next couple of minutes, the rest of the team captains were selected.

Welcome, cluster captains! It is your job to come to an agreement and select who amongst you will take which role!

You must select one person for each piece of the chessboard! When the next floor begins, you will be bound to the movement of your piece, but you will be able to fight however you wish, should your piece be brought into the fray.

You will also have to select a “player.” The player will be the person who moves the pieces on the board.

You will not have to worry about death, as System respawns will be enabled for the following floor.

Note! Cluster captains do not have to participate in the following dungeon floor.

And remember, if the king is taken out, you lose!

“Who knows this game?” Roared an orc who was one of the cluster captains.

“We do!” Lord Draxas said. “Back on my world, we were known as a grandmaster. We know everything there is to know about this game.”

“Grandmaster?” Aaron raised a brow.

“Do not let our disagreements get in your way of seeing reason, Aaron Dober,” Lord Draxas said.

“Eh, if he knows the game, then I’m all for it,” the orc shrugged.

“How long is this going to take?” Mo’han asked. “I seek battle! Not bickering!”

“On that note, I suggest we select Mo’han Khan as the king,” a beautiful elven woman said. “He is nearly indestructible. And we can’t have our king get taken out.”

“That one is tougher than man ancestor’s fist,” a grumpy dwart huffed, pointing a hairy, stubby finger at Aaron. “He’d be a good king, too.”

“Not. Ideal.” Mandor clicked. “Aaron. Is. Formidable. But. Relies. On. Dying. No. Guarantee. System. Will. Acknowledge."

“Good point, Mandor,” the elven woman said. “Doesn’t matter if he can resurrect himself, if the System acknowledges his death as a failure. And that’s not a risk we should take.”

“Then it’s settled. Mo’han will be our king!”

A moment of chatter followed, and Mo’han was selected to represent them as king.

“Then he should be our queen!” The dwarf continued, pointing at Aaron. “Dunno if he hits the hardest, but that crazy bastard fought Mo’han one on one.”

“Agreed. The System message says that we’ll be able to use all of our powers. Aaron is a versatile warrior. He will make a good queen.”

Aaron didn’t really care too much himself. As long as they won, he didn’t mind what role he played in it.

“Yes, agreed,” Lord Draxas said. “Let us make Aaron our queen.”

Following that, Mandor was selected to be a bishop, alongside Voidrin. There was some discussion amongst the cluster captains who didn’t want to give multiple roles to single clusters, but ultimately, logic reigned supreme, and those who were strongest for the roles ended up being selected.

As for the rooks, Ikran and Raggots, the bunny took the positions. Even though Raksha was higher ranked and higher level, she didn’t have the name recognition that Ikran had.

Ikran had joined the trials very early, and many amongst the clusters remembered him and were happy to vote him in as a rook. Not to mention, it was becoming clear among the top rankers of the sector that there were far more important things than just levels.

Not only that, but if they were going to give up the best roles to others, then they wanted to be confident they would win.

There were a few notable pawns Aaron recognized, including Elmira and Talia, who were recognized for their early entrance and performance in the trials.

Aaron spotted Raksha and Erdek angrily trudging about. It was clear they were angry about not being selected. But the politics were different here. None really cared if they were important on Superearth. And neither had been that impressive in the trials, and so most of the cluster captains cared little about them.

“Looks like everything has been decided, and this is our team,” Aaron said.

“Yes! This will be glorious, A-ran! Fighting side by side!”

Aaron grimaced. He wasn’t entirely sure if Mo’han knew the rules of chess. Otherwise, he had a feeling that Mo’han wouldn’t be happy about being made king. Did he know he would barely be able to move, and that in all likelihood, he would be kept away from battle, and hidden behind others?

I should probably say something… but I wouldn’t want to start a drama.

Aaron felt a little bad for his friend. But this was a group decision, and it made a lot of sense to have Mo’han as king.

“Yeah, mate. This is gonna be a blast,” he patted Mo’han on the back and forced a smile.

“We still need a player!”

“Were we not clear enough that such a responsibility should fall upon ourselves?” Lord Draxas said. “Trust us. Complicated ambushes are our speciality. You’ll all see soon enough.”

A bit of back and forth followed, but since nobody else knew of another good option who wasn’t a powerhouse suited to taking a position on the board, they ended up settling on the wannabe dragon.

“Brilliant!” Lord Draxas threw up their arms. “We will lead us to victory!”

All roles for the 6th floor confirmed and selected!

The 6th floor of the dungeon is set to begin in 5 minutes.

Prepare yourselves, participants!

“Here we go,” Aaron said, thumbs upping his group, who watched from the crowd.

“TO BATTLE!” Roared Mo’han.

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