It turned out that the tower's imposing appearance did indeed hint at the danger inside.

  Natalie and Vaa alone had been able to fight through the Ruins without overmuch difficulty, which meant for their full squad of five, travel had been close to trivial. Thus, they'd made good time. Ihe tower, however, they met a new caliber of oppo. After walking cautiously into the first room, spectral beasts flooded from overturables and behind crumbling pilrs. Half a dozen at least. They were faster, stronger, and more durable than any of mohey'd run into thus far—a prelude and a warning to what y higher iower.

  A frantic fight ensued in whiatalie was, for the first time in a few hours, pressed hard. Whe monster had been dispatched, she looked around and made sure everyone had e out alright. They had, of course, though Clementine had to cast a minor heal on Natalie.

  Thus, the real adventure began.

  They set a careful pace. There was no timer pushing them along, like with the Arena. And unlike her duo assig, they had a healer. Clemeeo any of their wounds, both during the fight and after, making the expedition less a war of attrition and more a standard dunge trip.

  Token drop rates were nearly doubled, they discovered. And finding fights—difficult ones, with rge payouts—was as simple as asding to the floor. So the trip was quickly proving itself to be lucrative. Worth their time even without other rewards, sihe alternative would have been mundane Ruins hunting.

  With each floor pleted, Natalie’s curiosity grew on what they would find at the top. The best case sario would be an Emporium Key. Well, the best case would be a Mythical item or something equally absurd, but the best reasonable expectation was an Emporium Key. Nobody they'd spoken to at the City had been ihe Emporium, so Natalie, and everyone else, was intensely curious what sorts of wares would be avaible. If the public shops sold Epics, would there be Mythicals there?

  While it would be lovely, she didn't have great hopes for finding a key. They had a few leads on how to earn one, such as high-profile Coliseum fights, deep expeditions into the Pace Basement, and odder methods like indulging in the Pillory a little too thhly, but there were no guaranteed methods. Likely, the City itself had to take i in a person's efforts and reward them personally. So no matter what, it wouldn’t be a simple process to find an Emporium key.

  Natalie wasn't sure whether being Lust's champion would make it easier or harder. From one perspective, the City was ied in her by default—and thus more likely to reward her. From another perspective, Lust's champion might have greater expectations pced on her. She may have to work harder to impress the City.

  During the intense expedition up the tower, Natalie was given a better look at the full extent of Elida's bat abilities. There were two observations of note. First that she was truly incredible at dodging—she had yet to take a single injury, even minor, despite g a stealthy style like Vaa—and also that with the fights requiring more effort from all of them, Vaa's description from earlier showed itself: Elida fought angry.

  It wasn't a fuming, boiling sort e. It was cold, repressed, and—yes, even a little sadistic. Earlier, Vaa had made a cim that sent a shiver down Natalie's spihat Elida liked hurting things. Ehe violence more than most delvers. That she became overenthusiastic, at times, during their fights. And indeed, Natalie started to catch hints of that. She recise and vicious with those daggers of hers, and the further they went up the tower—the harder the fights got, the lower her stamina dropped—the more clear it became. As if, perhaps, Elida was relying oain skills to carry her forward, ohat were affeg her mind. Rage based ones?

  She was nur berserker, she didn't think. Her judgment didn't seem to cloud; there didn't seem to be a 'rage resource,' not in a traditional manner. She was fighting angrier, but—purposefully so. Or maybe, as if, with the rising difficulty, the mask was slipping?

  It was difficult to make any crete dedus, especially because Natalie was busy with her own fights. She hardly had time to stand around and watch Elida. Her observations were stolen in snatches, between ging targets or ing to help a teammate.

  Whatever the case, she grew more certain that the information Vaa had given was accurate. She tentatively firmed Elida's patroy. Though, specifiifestations of her css eluded her. To be fair, Elida didn't know the details behind Natalie's skills either. She had guesses at best, and probably not many.

  After a grueling assion, they reached the top floor, which predictably held the boss enter.

  [Knight-General of the 2nd Battalion - Lv. 4]

  It was a level four, Natalie noted grimly. Such a fight ought to be reserved for the fourth floor, not the third. But they had chosen to trek to the most menag of the nearby buildings.

  The ghostly Knight-General sat atop a horse armored as heavily as himself. The beast pawed the ground, snorted loudly, and lowered its head. Without ceremony, the horse charged, the Knight-General l a oward the arget—Natalie. She also rushed in, eager to take the boss's attention, noting the battlefield as she went. The tower was rge by diameter, and this top room enpassed aire floor. Still, it wasn't an open field; cavalry would be limited indoors.

  She also noted a sheathed sword. If they knocked him off his steed, would he discard the nd engage in a manner better suited to a footsoldier? With that sword, rather than his nce? She kept that in mind too.

  Natalie preferred to preserve valuable cooldowns for deeper into a fight, or for emergencies, but in this case, the opportunity was too good to pass up. Seeing the knight charge with his spear lowered, she allowed her oppo's on to hit true: dead ter of her chest. Even to her, it would have been a killing blow, sidering the level of her enemy and that it was a boss monster.

  But of course, she didn't just let herself get skewered. She [Hunkered Down].

  The charging knight's nce smmed into a near-invulnerable brick wall, and the impact was s it nearly flung him off his steed. Not just that, but before using [Hunker Down], Natalie had hooked her arm in such a way that, as his momentum carried forward, his nce was wrenched from his grip, secured by the angling of Natalie's immobile body.

  [Hunker Down] was a niche skill, but a wonderful one when it came into py.

  The knight wasn't fully knocked off his horse, but he was dangling precariously off his saddle, struggling to reorient, which gave her team several seds to capitalize—ay to professional fighters. Unfortunately, disarming him did little; the ghostly nce fizzled, then reappeared in his grip. Natalie couldn't help but feel like that was cheating, but she had turned herself into an invulnerable statue a few seds earlier, so fair enough.

  Dropping the skill's active effeatalie charged in.

  An exhausting four mier, both horse and general had died. Natalie was ag even through Clementine's heals by that point, and Elida had taken her first injuries of the day as well; even she had been pressed by a level four boss.

  The ghostly remains evaporated, leaving an object behind. Natalie's heart jumped, seeing a key, but to her disappoi, it wasn't for the Emporium.

  [Tower Vault Key]

  The disappoi lingered for a sed, but was quickly repced. Because—loot from a level four boss. They hadn't gotten Emporium access with this expedition, but there would surely be iing rewards.