Zenith’s Tower - Chapter 7

Ellis took a sip of the red potion and immediately felt refreshed. He only had one mouthful of the potion left.

Ellis’s chest, which had not stopped emitting a white glow for the entire battle, finally stopped glowing.

I wonder how much I leveled up from that battle.

Ellis checked his TowerCard to see what level he was.

Name: Ellis Ryne

Level: 23

Age: 17

Race: Human

HP:553/553

AP:2/416

(66) unused ability points!

VIT:53 END:45

AGI:51 STR:43

DEX:40 INT:56

WIS:18 RES:19

DEF:24 LUC:21

Active Skills:

Spark LV. 3

Electric Flash LV. 3

Lightning Bolt LV. 5

Magic Mastery LV. 5

Dagger Mastery LV. 3

Passive Skills:

Language Comprehension LV. 2

Identify LV. 2

Crafting LV. 3

MONSTERS DISCOVERED:

Imp – Imps have greyish-red, extremely tough skin. The skin is rough and scaly to the touch. Imp’s stand about four feet tall. They have long rounded ears and an oversized head. It has a scorpion-like tail with a stinger at the end. They have two large talons on each of their feet that they use to rip their prey open. At the end of their short arms are long, razor-sharp claws. They rarely travel in groups.

Killed: 305

Winged Imp – Winged Imps have the same features as normal imps with the exception of a pair of large wings on their backs which make them more agile.

Killed: 32

Scarver – Scarvers are large furry carnivorous rodents with a mouthful of razor-sharp teeth.

Killed: 122

Scarver Wolf – Scarver wolves are massive scarvers with a huge mouth full of long razor-sharp teeth and extremely powerful legs that help them attack unrelentingly.

Killed: 2

TITLES:

Tower-Walker

Imp Slayer – Killed over 100 Imps. (Increased damaged to Imps)

Level 23! I gained 9 levels from that fight and all my stats have increased like crazy as well.

Ellis stepped over the bodies of imps and entered the giant room to examine it. After confirming that there was nothing left alive, he noticed there were two huge metal doors at the back of the room. Ellis looked toward the massive doors and wavered slightly.

Hopefully, there will be an exit ahead, but I don’t think it’ll be easy. This Tower has a way of making you think you’re about to get out and then you hit a dead end. Something tells me the so-called “boss” the Tower God mentioned is behind those doors.

Ellis shuddered as he thought about it before he turned around to gather all the anima gems from the monsters he’d killed. After crushing all of them between his fingers he increased his anima by a staggering 600 points. His max anima was now over 1000.

Ellis pushed on the doors, but they wouldn’t budge. Ellis then pushed on the doors with his entire strength and veins began bulging out all over his arms and legs. The doors creaked but still didn’t move.

Alright, I guess I need more strength to push these open. I’ll add a few of my points into strength and see if that makes a difference.

Ellis added five points into his strength stat and his muscles became denser, bursting with power.

Ellis tried to push the doors open with all his might again. This time they creaked louder and moved ever so slightly inward before Ellis stopped pushing and they fell back into place.

Still not enough strength. Damn, I don’t want to waste my ability points on strength, but I have no choice.

Ellis poured ten more points into the strength stat this time, totaling 15 points, and threw his body against the doors, shoving with everything he had. His muscles swelled as he pushed, and a loud creaking could be heard as the doors moved forward slowly. Finally, Ellis had pushed the doors open enough so that he could see through the small crack in the doors.

Through the doors was another massive room, although this one was nearly empty. At the far back of the chamber was a large, black, metal throne. Atop the throne sat a monster that looked somewhat similar to an Imp, but almost five times the size.

Ellis took a closer look at the monster.

Aside from a few features it almost looked somewhat human. It had a bulky, muscular body and a brighter skin tone compared to the ashen red of other Imps. There were four large horns on its head, two of the horns curved upward from its forehead and the other two curved outwards from the side of the monster’s head. A massive set of wings protruded from its back, spikes covering the majority them. Using identify Ellis discovered that its name was Imp King and it was level 40. It was nearly twice his own level.

Ellis’s eyes shifted to the hands of the monster.

In one of the hands stood a lengthy halberd with a blade curved out on one side and an axe head on the other. Both sides of the halberd converged together into a sharp, deadly point. At the bottom of the halberd was another sharp point that pierced into the ground. The head of the halberd seemed to give off a flaming glow when looked at from different angles.

Ellis stared at the weapon for a few moments before shifting his eyes back to the beast.

The monster had its eyes closed and looked to be asleep. Or maybe it was just uninterested in him. Ellis concluded that as long as the monster wasn’t interested with him and didn’t attack him, Ellis had time to prepare.

Ellis moved backward slowly watching the monster closely, and let the doors close in front of him. In front of the door Ellis sat down and began restoring his anima little by little while keeping a close eye on the door.

After a few hours, Ellis had completely restored his anima.

I should use all my stat points and increase my power as much as I can for this fight. That monster looks like it leagues about anything else I’ve fought. I doubt that even the hundreds of imps I fought before could even compare to that Imp King.

Ellis decided to split his points between vitality, agility, intelligence, and dexterity, with the majority of his points going toward vitality and agility.

Vitality meant more health which in turn meant more survivability and agility meant being able to dodge more which also meant more survivability. Intelligence would increase the power of his anima attacks. Dexterity would make him more accurate with his strikes. With all his points allocated Ellis decided to equip the Imp Slayer title as well because even though it was giant, it still had Imp in its name so hopefully, it would help him.

Ellis rose to his feet and pushed the doors open at a snail’s pace once again. As soon as the doors were open enough, Ellis slipped through and the doors slammed shut behind him. Emotion overcame him as he stepped forward toward the Imp King.

This is it. I have to survive. Mom and Solana are waiting for me.

Ellis poised himself as he got closer and closer, but the monster still didn’t open its eyes or move. He made it to the center of the room and stopped.

Better not push my luck. I’ll use lightning from here and get the jump on him before he even attacks.

Ellis raised his hand out in front of his body and aimed it at the huge Imp. As soon as Ellis’s hand was in position the Imps eyes flashed open. Its eyes were a blazing red that seemed to penetrate right through Ellis’s soul.

Ellis froze in place.

The Imp stood up without hurry in a domineering way, emitting an unexplainable pressure that held Ellis in place. Wuxiaworld for visiting.

Shit! I gotta move!

Ellis finally regained his senses and fired a lightning bolt at the giant Imp, using a third of his anima to overcharge the lightning bolt.

ZWOOH! KABOOM!

The biggest lightning bolts he had shot earlier only used nearly 100 points of his anima and were enough to reduce hundreds of imps to ash. This one was using over 300, three times the amount of his biggest lightning bolt.

The massive power radiating from his palm knocked him off balance and shockwave from the explosion sent him backward onto the ground.

Smoke and dust covered the room making it hard to see what happened.

Ellis jumped to his feet and stared into the cloud of smoke, waiting to see if he had killed the monster.

I definitely can’t use this attack when I’m close to a monster or I’ll end up hurting myself too.

Before the dust could settle a dark figure flashed through the dust cloud straight toward Ellis. The figure stabbed its weapon through the air with extreme speed aiming for Ellis’s chest.

Ellis sidestepped the incoming attack, using his daggers to block part of it. As soon as the attacked connected with his daggers he was sent flying backward through the air.

As he flew through the air he managed to twist and contort himself, allowing him to land on his feet.

Ellis turned and looked at the figure across from him and discovered that it was the giant Imp, or at least what remained of it.

The right side of the Imps face was distorted in a mangled mess and its scorched right arm hung limp at its side. As the monster shambled forward, Ellis could see much of the right side of its body was burnt and still steaming.

Damn! This thing is still so strong even after taking a direct hit from my lightning bolt.

Just then the Imp King leapt up, using its wings to boost itself higher into the air, and shot straight down at Ellis with its halberd aimed directly for Ellis’s head.

Ellis dodged the thrust using his daggers to redirect the attack to the left of him.

CRASH!

The ground a few steps away from Ellis exploded.

Before Ellis could counterattack the monster swung its halberd horizontally using its long reach to take Ellis by surprise.

Ellis reflexively leaned backward, throwing his body toward the ground to avoid the incoming blow.

As the blade of the halberd made its way above Ellis it suddenly changed trajectories, heading straight down for him.

Unable to dodge the attack heading for him Ellis threw his daggers up to receive the blow and tensed his body up.

BOOM!

Taking the full force of the blow his body had created a crater in the ground below him. Ellis spurted blood from his mouth as he rose to his knees. One broken dagger laid on the ground next to his mangled torn arm. The beast stood above him, glaring down at him with a raging fire in the one eye it had left. Blood leaked from Ellis’s mouth as he realized he had no other options. Ellis threw his other dagger at the monster’s face with all the strength he could muster.

The Imp King batted the dagger away with its raised halberd before it swung down at Ellis with a slight smirk on its face.

Using the few seconds throwing his weapon gave him Ellis raised his left hand into the air above him.

ZWOOH! KABOOM!

Ellis went soaring backward until he eventually hit a hall wall leaving a human-sized crater in it. He tumbled down from the wall unconscious and hit the ground.

Awhile later Ellis woke up covered in blood and in agonizing pain.

His entire body felt broken and he could barely muster the strength to move as he reached into his bag, using his fingers to feel for the bottle of red liquid. He slowly moved the potion to his mouth using his teeth to pry off the cork and guzzled down the remaining liquid.

Moments later his body was almost completely healed by the miracle potion leaving only a couple bruises and scars.

Ellis heaved himself to his feet and assessed his body, testing each limb and ensuring their function. Everything worked properly, but he still felt extremely stiff.

I’m so glad I got this potion in that chest. If not for it I would be dead a hundred times over.

Ellis smiled at the empty bottle before putting it back in his satchel which had miraculously survived the fight.

Ellis surveyed the area around him and eventually found the Imp or at least what was left of it. All that remained was a burnt lower torso and a pair of legs as the Imp King’s upper body had been reduced to ash. Ellis inspected the corpse to see if it had an anima gem. Pertruding from the bottom of the imp’s charred torso there was an anima gem nearly four times the size of any gem he had acquired thus far. Ellis tucked it into his pack quickly and kept searching. On the ground, a few steps from the corpse was the imps halberd, completely unscathed.

This must be made out of some insanely high-quality material if it survived my lightning blast without so much as a scratch on it.

Ellis reached down and picked up the halberd.

The weapon was quite a bit heavier than what Ellis had expected.

Using both hands Ellis swung the halberd to the side but the weight of it pulled him along with it, throwing him slightly off balance.

If I want to use this weapon, I’m going to need a bit more strength to properly wield it. I wonder if I leveled up at all after killing that giant Imp.

Ellis checked his TowerCard and found out that he had leveled up three times from the boss. Straightaway he chose to empty the 9 points he received into strength.

Ellis held the halberd in both hands and tried to swing it again. At the end of its arc he successfully pulled it back up ready to swing again.

Well, I can’t swing it with one hand but it’s a huge upgrade from some broken daggers.

Ellis smiled as he admired his new weapon before realizing that he still had to find the exit to this place. He looked over the room to find no other doors or hallways leading away from it. The only thing in the room was the black throne.

Ellis went over to the throne and inspected it carefully, discovering nothing until he made his way around to the back of the throne.

Around the back of the throne was a large, faint, glowing white circle made of the strange symbols Ellis had seen a few times before.

Ellis stepped into the circle and as his feet crossed the symbols, the white light grew brighter. With every passing second the light grew more intense until Ellis could no longer see anything but white.

Gradually the light faded away revealing an unfamiliar place and Ellis realized he was no longer in the throne room.