Tower climber 4 a litrpg.., p.20
Tower Climber 4 (A LitRPG Adventure), page 20
He couldn’t see the man’s face, it was hidden behind a mask.
He could see the man’s eyes though and they weren’t what he was expecting.
They were the eyes of someone he had never met before.
“Please,” Minh shouted. “You don’t have to do this—”
He couldn’t finish his words.
He felt sick, just thinking them.
“Please,” he cried. “I beg you—”
The Nightmare City Butcher didn’t hold conversations or debates.
He only had one type of rebuttal and that was the swing of his arm with his hand clutching onto a cleaver.
Jimmy stared Ezekiel down as the man emerged from the elevator shaft.
The gang leader felt anger bubble up inside him.
“You think you can come into my domain and disrespect my staff and then demand a chat!?”
He narrowed his eyes and stared at Ezekiel.
Jimmy was not in a chatty mood. He wanted to create destruction and chaos. He didn’t want to hold a conversation.
He then felt a pang of sadness as he thought about Gun Nut Ned.
He would have been the perfect soldier to set about creating total chaos right now.
But Ned was gone.
Jimmy would have to stop forgetting that fact.
It brought him sadness to forget and then be reminded of the cruel truth all over again.
Thankfully, he still had some strong fighters in his crew. People like Bazooka Terry and Angelo Angel.
“I don’t think anything,” said Ezekiel. “I know it all to be true. Here I am in your domain, chatting.”
Jimmy scowled at the sub-captain of The Immortal Killers.
The frog-man slipped his hand into his tuxedo pocket.
Inside that pocket, he kept a special device that would unleash different traps of his choosing all created throughout this penthouse in case Jimmy ever needed extra firepower against a particularly irritating threat.
This guy fits the bill, Jimmy thought. Particularly, the irritating part.
Jimmy was about to press the button when Ezekiel held up his hand.
“I know you have traps in here,” said Ezekiel. “I assure you, I’ll be able to escape them.”
Jimmy wanted to obliterate this insulting man even more now.
“You insolent fool—”
“Please, I can assure you,” said Ezekiel. “I mean you no harm or offence. I think we have a mutual problem we could both benefit from resolving.”
Ezekiel faced multiple barrels of guns pointed at him.
His training had included preparation for difficult highly stressful situations such as these, and even though he had been retaining a certain level of calm throughout the whole situation, he was running out of ways to de-escalate the tensions simmering throughout the room.
Jimmy gestured to his men to lower their guns and Ezekiel inwardly sighed with relief.
“Come with me then,” said Jimmy, gesturing to Ezekiel to follow him.
They went into a polished penthouse suite and Jimmy sat down at a bar stool and gestured for Ezekiel to do the same across the table from him.
“Bring us some tea,” said Jimmy, snapping at his personal chef.
After a few minutes, the man returned and placed each of them a cup of Earl Grey tea with milk.
Ezekiel looked down quizzically at the three dead flies floating on the top of his tea.
But, as he watched Jimmy sip on his tea and slurp up a fly from his own cup, he accepted the repulsive addition to his tea as some kind of strange Tuxedo Devil custom.
“So what do you want?” asked Jimmy. “I don’t know if you’ve noticed but I have a couple of problems to deal with at the moment—which, one of those problems, is the one also causing issues for you.”
“The serial killer on the loose,” said Ezekiel. “The Nightmare City Butcher.”
“That’s right,” said Jimmy. “I forgot, the prick got one of your best soldiers as well.”
“Leila,” said Ezekiel. “She was a promising warrior, but I did not come here to share tales of mourning. I believe The Faceless Association is behind these murders. You know they’ve always believed themselves to be superior to us. They’re not a gang. They’re not a clan. They’re not a sect. No—they’re an association.”
“That’s a load of trash,” said Jimmy.
“My thought exactly,” Ezekiel replied. “That’s why we need to join forces. I think that red-haired climber might be behind all of this. The butcher became much more active right around the time he showed up.”
“Hmm,” said Jimmy.
“And, what’s this? So far only members of our gangs have been victims to this psychopath. I haven’t heard of any killings of Faceless Association members, have you?”
At that very moment, an underling scurried into the room and whispered something into Jimmy’s ear and then ran out.
“Speak of the devil,” said Jimmy. “I’ve just gotten intel that breaks your theory. Minh of The Faceless Association just turned up dead. It’s believed to be the work of our butcher friend.”
Ezekiel was taken aback.
He hadn’t expected that, but even still, his opinion remained unchanged.
“Who reported this, may I ask?” said Ezekiel. “Was it The Faceless Association, perhaps? If the association is behind this as I believe it is, they would want to make sure one of their own got killed to avoid suspicion, right? Who better than the one guy who can disappear better than anyone? Problem solved.”
Jimmy nodded his head to Ezekiel’s words.
The Immortal Killer sub-captain could tell he was convincing the gang leader to his way of thinking.
“You know what you’re suggesting, though, is against the Nightmare City Thieves Treaty,” said Jimmy. “Two powers ganging up on the other—that’s enough to start a citywide gang war, is it not?”
“Not if we end up having sufficient proof that the association is behind these killings,” said Ezekiel.
Jimmy shrugged.
“You have my blessing,” the frog-man sighed. “Something needs to be done and the heat needs to be taken off my gang, that’s for sure. Go kill that red-haired boy. Who needs an out-of-towner like that messing with our auction anyway.”
“I’m glad you agree.”
Ezekiel stood up—leaving his cup of tea completely untouched—and walked out of The Tuxedo Devils headquarters in pursuit of his vengeance.
49
Tensions ran high throughout The Faceless Association.
Emergency meetings were called. Lower level association members discussed ways of getting revenge and catching The Nightmare City Butcher.
Some of them speculated on who it could be, whether it was a plot orchestrated by the other rival gangs.
There was no doubt about it though: the death of sub-captain Minh created a pulsing surge of anger and resentment throughout the association.
Max and his companions, however, had all unanimously agreed to stay out of it.
Within their dorm room, they discussed the next stage of their plan.
“The auction begins in only a few more days,” said Max. “We’ve acquired a ton of cash. Obviously, we could attempt to gain more, but at this stage, I think it’s better we lie low, especially with tensions rising between all the Nightmare City gangs.”
“Sounds good to me,” said Tiberius, crossing his arms.
“Of course it does,” said Casey. “You’re just going to spend the next few days playing that game.”
“I told you already I’m done with that game,” said Tiberius. “I don’t believe SweetBursters is pertinent to our discussion right now.”
“Fine,” said Casey. “I like the plan, but is it alright if I go train in The Outskirts.”
“Normally, I’d say we should all go together,” said Max. “But I believe you’ll be able to handle the monsters there on your own and will probably bring less attention to us if you go alone, so sure, why not.”
“Excellent,” grinned Casey. “Then let operation kill-time-until-the-auction begin!”
A few hours later, Casey found herself on one of the grand bridges that separated the city from The Outskirts, fighting against a horde of zombies and vampire bats.
She made quick work of them with her wind katana, slicing them in half or cutting them off at their legs.
She did whatever she needed to make slaying them easier.
She sighed deeply.
“Who knew zombie killing was so tiring,” she said, wiping her eyes.
She’d destroyed monsters on the bridge and the space had begun to clear.
The monsters were now actively avoiding her!
She materialized her paper wings and with the flick of her fingers created a gust of wind needed to propel herself high above the bridge and city as a whole.
She needed something big if she was going to catch up with Max.
The river monsters were no good as they didn’t drop many cores.
She then eyed some of the other bridges.
They’d been sticking to this bridge mainly because it was in The Faceless Association controlled territory of the city. The other bridges were not.
Still, Casey thought, as she flapped her wings in the air, None of the inhabitants seem to go on the bridges, so I could just pop over there for a sec.
Casey flew across the river to the next big bridge on the river, now in Tuxedo Devil controlled territory.
Just as she expected there were different types of monsters on this new bridge.
Right below her was a giant zombie in the shape of an ogre, stitched together from other zombie parts.
An abomination!
Casey could instantly feel a stronger mana radiance from this monster that was sure to drop the ruby core that she desperately needed.
“Alright, Casey,” she said, speaking to herself. “Let’s get to work!”
Given that this was an enemy-controlled bridge, this had to be a quick job.
She swooped down on the bridge, wind katana in hand, and sliced the abomination right along the stitch marks that connected one zombie limb to the rest of it.
SLICE!
The arm came off quickly and easily.
She swooped back down on the other side and did it again.
The abomination collapsed to the ground and began to transform down to a monster core.
“Yoink,” said Casey, picking up the ruby core and flying back into the clouds above the city.
She grinned as she looked at the ruby core.
I’m almost there, she thought. Just a few more training sessions and I’ll be caught up to Max. Then we’ll be truly unstoppable!
50
Ezekiel sat on a café patio, wearing a hat and sunglasses, as he watched the entrance to The Faceless Association headquarters.
He took a sip of his coffee and took in his fellow Immortal Killers, standing around the building, undercover.
“It’s been over two hours, boss,” said a gang member who was sitting across from him.
Ezekiel shook his head in reply and put his finger to his mouth.
Shut it, he thought to himself. I don’t want to hear your complaints.
His eyes returned to the entrance of The Faceless Association headquarters.
The whole plan was to wait for the red-haired climber and his companions to come out and then they’d make quick work of them, but instead the out-of-towners seemed to be taking a day off.
What’s going on? Ezekiel wondered. Why aren’t they coming out?
He took another sip of his coffee and stared.
I’ll wait all day if I have to.
Tiberius sat on his bed in the dormitory, eyes focused and determined on the screen of his PlayDudeAdvanced.
He’d just entered a new stage of the game where lilac-colored candies were appearing and if he burst them he got quadruple the amount of points.
If I continue like this, he thought to himself, I’m sure I’ll gain the highest score ever earned in SweetBursters!
His concentration, however, was interrupted by a squeak.
Tiberius paused his game and looked up to see Casey’s gerbil Toto, staring at him with concern.
“What is it?” said Tiberius, irritated. “Can’t you see I’m playing? Are you hungry or something? Casey told me not to overfeed you or you get grumpy!”
The gerbil continued to squeak.
Tiberius sighed and closed his game.
“Alright,” he said. “Let’s look for some grub for you then.”
He stood up and Toto followed behind.
Max had spent the last few hours in The Faceless Association’s library, going over the history of the place: from The Mayor’s War thirty years ago to The Thieves Treaty that was signed shortly after that. The treaty had ushered in the modern incarnation of Nightmare City, divided into the multiple zones, lorded over by the three main gangs.
He yawned and closed his book shut.
That’s enough studying for today, he thought.
He gathered his things and left the library.
He went back to the dormitory to see if Casey had come back, only to find the room deserted.
He went down to the dining hall to find both Tiberius and Toto to be nibbling at an ice cream pancake.
Tiberius looked up with a bit of ice cream on his lip.
“The gerbil made me do it,” said the Caesarian soldier.
“Uhh, what?” said Max.
“Never mind, would you like some of our ice cream pancake?”
“I’m good,” said Max. “You haven’t seen Casey have you? I know she said she’d gone out to train, but it’s been awhile now.”
“Haven’t seen her,” said Tiberius.
Max sighed and looked around the room.
“I’m sure she’ll be back soon.”
Ezekiel continued to sit at the café, still on his stakeout mission.
He felt obliged to keep ordering at the café, but had gotten jittery and impatient from all the coffees, so had switched to peppermint tea.
“Maybe they’re not coming out today,” said his colleague.
Ezekiel hadn’t wanted to hear his colleagues’ doubts earlier, but they were beginning to echo his own thoughts as well.
What if they don’t come out?
Just as he was about to suggest reconfiguring their mission, a girl with paper wings landed on the street in front of them.
“Isn’t that—?” said Ezekiel’s colleague.
“That’s the red-haired prick’s main squeeze,” said Ezekiel, standing up. “C’mon, follow my lead.”
Within seconds, Ezekiel was across the street, approaching the girl from behind until he twisted her arm with one hand and with the other covered her mouth so no one could hear her scream.
Another gang member pulled up in a white van and dragged the girl inside and drove off.
Ezekiel grinned as the girl squirmed and tried to fight out of his grip.
This will draw out that red-haired punk for sure.
51
An hour later, Max was beginning to get a bad feeling in his stomach.
The same thought kept running through his head again and again.
Where the heck is Casey?
Even Tiberius was getting worried and put his PlayDudeAdvanced away to concentrate on the situation at hand.
Max went and found Moira in the dining hall.
“I think something is wrong,” Max said.
“What do you mean?”
“We think something has happened to Casey,” said Max. “We don’t know where she is. She went to go out for a bit of training, but she should have been back by now.”
Max kept hoping he was just worrying over nothing. Maybe Casey had wanted to stay out extra late, slaying monsters and improving her stats. He sure had had plenty of nights like that, why couldn’t she?
Still, he had an uneasy feeling.
A low-ranked Faceless Association member approached Moira’s table.
“Um, miss,” said the junior member. “A strange note was left outside the headquarters. I’m not sure what it means.”
He handed the note to Moira.
The association’s sub-captain’s face went pale.
“I think it’s for you,” said Moira, handing Max the note.
Max took the piece of paper and immediately felt nauseous.
The nausea was followed by rage.
The message was a note written directly to him.
We got your lady friend. Come to our pagoda at 8 pm this evening if you ever want to see her again.
Casey squirmed.
Her legs were tied up as were her wrists. They’d duct taped her mouth so she couldn’t scream.
She was left to breathe frantically in and out of her nostrils.
“What an irritating little princess,” sneered some of the lower-ranked thugs working for the Immortal Killers. “Stop squirming. Give up. It will all be over soon.”
Casey desperately wanted to escape and punch that guy right in the face and then give him a good kick to the nuts.
Even if she did somehow get rid of the ropes, she still wouldn’t be home free.
For one thing, she had no idea where they had brought her.
They were on a rooftop garden full of bonsai trees and beautiful butterflies and yet if you turned your head in either direction, there was the rust and grime-filled rooftops of neighboring skyscrapers.
At the center of the rooftop garden was another large building, an old Japanese-style pagoda.
This must be The Immortal Killers headquarters, Casey surmised.
She squirmed some more, trying to loosen the ropes tied around her.
Her captors only laughed and sneered at her efforts.
These jerks, she thought. I was training to help Max get ahead and now because of these lameos, they’re making me drag him behind.
I’ll never forgive them for this.
If I ever get free of these ropes, I’ll make them pay!
