Hand raised, Arthur released the Refined Exploding Energy Dart from it, watching the attack slip past the flames to embed itself inside the wasp nest that was merrily burning away. It exploded, sending shards and burning goblets of compressed dirt and twigs through the air. Moments later, the flames swept into the now-open insides, burning the eggs, half-formed wasps, and one last, trapped creature. They struggled, their bodies lit by lurid flames that crackled, a wordless shriek echoing through the air. A louder shriek came from the bigger wasps caught by the fire.
None of the Climbers moved to put an end to the creatures’ suffering though. Most were too tired, too injured after their last pitched battle. Unable to retreat due to the injured among them, the group had been forced to stand and fight to the end. That had left more of them injured and hurting, such that nearly half the group was down, attempting to heal their injuries.
Funnily enough, Arthur was one of those best in shape, even with the poison coursing through his veins still and the hole in his stomach. That had clotted, and while he was not standing up and doing a jig, he had managed to pull himself over to a tree to lean against. Running the Accelerated Healing technique and forming a Refined Exploding Energy Dart simultaneously, he was on the lookout for potential problems.
Leia and Uswah were the only two not injured, the pair moving around the corpses and tearing out monster cores before they disappeared. Thankfully, after pulling out its core and chopping off the stinger, the Boss Monster had faded almost immediately, leaving the poison sack and stinger behind as well. That, they knew from previous documents, was one of the advantages of breaking into the higher levels. The chances of drops, of parts left behind by monsters, increased.
"Sakiiiit," Yao Jing groaned in pain, clutching his body. At least, now he was actually well enough to complain after finally managing to heal enough of his body. He was all kinds of sweaty though, his eyes still a little unfocused. None of the others were doing well, but the worst off was Casey.
"She going to be fine?" Arthur asked Lam. The man had been hit in his thigh and was grim-faced in dealing with it by putting a tourniquet around his leg, compressing the meat such that only a small trickle of blood could flow through it. It wasn't the best option, but at least it allowed him to function somewhat. And he needed to, since he was dealing with Casey.
"She will be," Lam said, firmly, as though he refused to believe otherwise as he pressed down upon the wound in her torso. The wasp had managed to slam into her hard enough that it pierced the overlapping plates around her abdomen, embedding its stinger inside Casey's body. She'd managed to kill it soon after, but the creature's stinger continued to be stuck within, refusing to come out till Lam had ripped it clear. That had left an open wound and also a ton of toxins.
Not a big issue, if she had a healing technique. However, she was not part of the Durians and thus did not benefit from their Clan Seal. All she could do was struggle through the pain, using the anti-toxin pills that the pair had taken from the Chins’ compound, and wait for passive Tower healing to take effect.
"Alright." Arthur lifted his hand, having formed it there rather than at his third eye because he was a little too woozy to risk having his conjuration explode in his face. He shifted it around, searching for trouble and then dropped his hand, keeping the formed Energy Dart there while he waited. "This was a mess."
"Yes," Rick grated out by his side. He was carefully trying to reload his guns, but his hands were trembling so badly he dropped more bullets than he did managed to slip into the magazine. Still, he stubbornly persisted at it, as though he needed the distraction. "We should. Have. Run."
"Yeah," Arthur replied. "My fault. I should have ordered it." He'd gotten focused on handling the Boss Wasp, to keep it from attacking anyone else, that he forgot to order everyone else to flee. Perhaps if they had done that, they might have managed to get away.
"Too fast," Mel said, then coughed and spat. She was, surprisingly, not one who had been stung. Instead, she'd managed to injure herself by falling over, after catching her foot in the wrong place. The break at her lower leg was nasty-looking and was still healing, and the process of setting it had nearly caused Leia to throw up. "It would have caught us."
"Maybe..." Arthur admitted. He had not considered that. Certainly, he hadn't had time to try to kill it more than once, before it had targeted Rick. "Should have had nets. Or something."
"Would’ve been nice, yeah. Or a fire aura, like Karen said."
"Maybe the Karens have a point, eh?" Rick said. The joke fell rather flat, since it was not only a little out of date but had never really transferred over to Malaysia that well. Not to say they didn't have their own busybodies or loud-voiced females, but it certainly was not as much of a cultural touchpoint for their generation.
"Still, lots of stones." Leia said, wandering back over to prod Eric with her toe. He did not stir, lying on his back and meditating. She bent low, eyeing the hastily packed and bandaged wounds, nodded to herself as she noted they'd stopped leaking blood and left him to continue his healing. "So, when does the portal form?"
"Have to wait for the fire to go. And the nest to be cleared," Arthur said, gesturing. "We'll want to check the nest. There's possibly something in there too."
"Possibly?" Leia said, frowning.
"Reports vary. Not sure why, but sometimes there are things inside." Arthur grimaced and added, “Also, Tower tokens and the like.”
“Ooooh.” Avarice glimmered in Leia’s eyes and even Jan stirred from where she lay, before they subsided into weariness.
Now attention turned to the merrily crackling fire as they waited for it to burn down. One way or the other, they weren't going anywhere till it did.
By the time the fire had burnt down, the Durians were mostly on their feet. Arthur was back to normal and had even had time to pull energy from one stone, refilling a portion of his reserves. Using his spear, he was breaking down the last of the smouldering nest, shoving it around rather than sticking his hand into the still hot detritus.
The others were doing much the same, either with spears or broken-off branches. They swept the various pieces of the nest and wasps aside. Some of the eggs and the half-formed juveniles had yet to disperse. Perhaps they might not. The point at which the Tower considered something part of the biome and what was a monster corpse that needed to be removed was still a question, a wavy gradient that much smarter and more bookish people than Arthur spent their time studying.
For his part, he was mostly considering whether some of the less burnt eggs could be traded in.
"No one wants them," Leia said, firmly. "Don't even think about packing some away."
"You sure? I mean, the Tower might make them into pills or something..."
"If they did, it'd be on this floor. And no one asks for it." More firmly, she added, "So, stop it. It's disgusting."
Arthur snorted, rolled his eyes and bent low as he spotted a glint. He pointed it out and Mel managed to hook it over with some leaves and branches, sweeping it clear and touching it quickly to check for warmth. She eventually picked it up, tentatively, and turned the Tower token over in her hand.
"So, someone died." Mel said, slightly sad.
"Nice!" Jan said, making grabby motions for it, only for Mel to glare at her. "What!? They're dead. Not as though we killed them."
Mel just shook her head, while Arthur firmly said, "Mel keeps them all. We'll share the spoils later." A beat, then he added again, "Later!"
"Yes, sir!"
Another ten minutes and the group had the pillars clear, which resulted in a familiar-looking inky black opening in the air forming. They'd also managed to find three other Tower tokens and one broken one that they'd hoped could be reused. With five tokens total, it was clear that there had been at least one group that had died trying to make their way through. The question was...
"Where's the bodies? Their gear?" Rick said the question out loud.
No one had an answer and even after they checked the surroundings, sweeping the area nearby for the missing bodies, they were not able to locate anything.
"Tower ate them?" Jan made a face at the thought.
"Did something else to the bodies?" Eric asked, more pragmatically.
No clues on the past, and Arthur found himself waving it off. Tower mysteries like these were all around, and finding the answer would waste time. Though...
"You okay?" Arthur said, looking at Casey who was sitting up, though she looked all too pale, exhausted and sweaty.
"Healing..." Casey looked at outwards, stared at the portal then shook her head slowly. "Can't. Got to wait."
"Yeah, I figured." Arthur sighed and waved the team off. They were ready, they were good to go for the sixth floor. But his team was still slightly injured and Casey needed at least a day. Maybe two. And while it might make some sense for them to test the next floor themselves, they might as well heal up more and cultivate. It would make little difference in the end. But might keep her safe.
One more night, one more day. And then, the sixth floor and the last of the weird platform biomes.
Almost there.
Almost.