Tower Climber (A LitRPG Adventure, Book 1) Jakob Tanner (reading comprehension books TXT) 📖

in this park? Could that be someone walking their dog?

Max’s heart suddenly started racing.

“HELP!” he screamed.

He pulled himself forward faster than before, hoping to get the attention of the dog walker.

He dragged himself across the grass. Stretch, pull, stretch, pull. Repeat.

He got closer to the rustling sound and then through the shadows of the trees, he saw glowing red eyes. Angry eyes. Demonic eyes. Eyes that did not belong to a dog or even the most zealous of dog walkers.

Words from before echoed in his mind.

A monster wave just started.

Could that thing in the distance be...a monster?

Okay, Max thought. New plan 2.0: get the heck away from whatever monstrous creature is stalking the park right now ASAP.

He pivoted around on the ground and started dragging himself back the way he came.

Stretch, pull, stretch, pull, stretch pull.

The monster was still moving behind Max. He could even hear the hissing breath of the unknown creature.

Max ran through every type of monster he’d ever read about: trolls, ogres, demons, orcs. The faces of angry mythological monsters helped him drag himself across the ground even faster than he had before.

Rustle, rustle, rustle.

The monster was moving faster now.

Based on what he was hearing, Max didn’t think the monster was coming from directly behind him any more. The monster was changing its direction. It was going to sneak attack him.

Or was it toying with him?

How vindictive were monsters?

There was no way he could escape a monster that was hunting him. He looked around. There were a few fallen branches. Maybe he could use those as a weapon?

Who was he kidding?

There was no way he could fight back against a monster.

If he couldn’t escape, he needed to try and hide.

He turned around and that was when he came face to face with the glowing red eyes.

Stepping out from the shadows was an eight-foot tall minotaur with dark brown fur, horns, and massive clawed hands.

The monster stared at Max as it stepped out of the shadows.

Its eyes glowed with bloodlust.

4

Max trembled with fear.

He crawled backwards, hoping to get away from the monstrous minotaur looming over him.

The minotaur hissed and made more incomprehensible noises.

Max had no idea what to do next. His body and mind were telling him to get away, but he was dragging himself around like a snail—no way he’d be able to escape a fully-grown minotaur.

But fighting it was an even worse option.

“Please...leave...me...alone,” said Max, as he pulled himself backwards away from the monster.

The minotaur hissed and exhaled through his nose like a bull gearing up to charge.

More explosions echoed from deeper in the tower-zone.

Every blast and ripple of energy from afar was a message to Max. One simple message. No one was coming to help him.

The minotaur flared its nostrils once more.

“Please...” said Max.

The minotaur’s body began to glow with a yellow aura around it.

The monster then cocked its clawed fist back and then shot it forward at Max.

This was it...

There was no way he would survive a powerful hit from a minotaur...

He blinked.

His heart was still beating.

He was alive.

He didn’t even feel any pain.

He then opened his eyes and almost threw up at the horror.

The monster had torn through the flesh of his legs. Broken bones poked out from his bloodied skin.

And yet he wasn’t feeling anything because neurologically he had no response to anything below his waist.

It was like a messed-up form of invincibility, thought Max. Not really though, as he still stood a pretty good chance of dying from blood loss or shock.

The minotaur huffed and paced around him.

Why didn’t it just rip me to shreds as fast as it could? Max thought to himself. The creature wasn’t expecting an opponent to not fight back. It kept expecting me to come back at it with something. It was going to kill me with caution.

Max trembled and dragged himself backwards, leaving a trail of blood.

The world around him was becoming blurry as he moved.

“HELP!” he screamed once more.

If he didn’t get help, he was dead. No doubt about it.

The minotaur stepped forward. It inhaled and exhaled deeply, readying itself in the same way it had attacked last time.

Its body began to glow yellow again and it cocked back its fist.

“Someone! Please! Help!” screamed Max with his last remaining energy.

Max didn’t see himself surviving another blow from the minotaur’s powerful smash attack.

The minotaur threw down its fist towards Max, before suddenly jerking back in pain.

A bright blade of energy appeared by the creature’s shoulder and ripped out a piece of its flesh.

The minotaur wailed in pain.

“What...the...” gasped Max.

That energy blade—where had it come from? It had saved him.

A blurry figure laid a bruising punch into the minotaur’s back and sent it hurling across the park.

Max was at a loss for words. He looked up to see the figure who had just damaged the minotaur so easily.

It was a woman. About twice his age. Early thirties.

She had long black hair and wore a dark green leather jacket over a black t-shirt and jeans. She had a ruby badge pinned to her jacket with the letter B on it.

Max looked up to her surprised.

Was this the power of a citizen of the tower-zone?

Sakura Sato held up her arms in a fighting stance and took in the situation.

The minotaur groaned and was picking itself up off the ground. Behind her was the kid with the torn up legs.

“Are you some kind of idiot?” she asked, not even turning around to face the boy, keeping her eyes focused on the minotaur. “What are you doing out in the middle of a monster wave? You should know better.”

“I...uhh...”

The boy was too shocked to reply properly.

There was something fishy about all of this, Sakura thought. A minotaur—most likely a copper or silver-ranked monster—had broken through their defensive line and had almost made it to the wall of the tower-zone? Something wasn’t adding up here.

She shook her head. She would piece the reasons behind this debacle later. She needed to focus on the fight.

The minotaur was back on