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

only way to was to let go of his bind spell.

He released the bind on Max, but the burn still continued.

How was Max doing this to him?

“I’m so sick of people telling me what’s inevitable,” screamed Max. “You don’t know what you’re talking about, you jerk!”

The sizzling pain inside of Cyrus disappeared and so too did Max’s bind over him. Yet, by the time Cyrus realized this, a mana-imbued fist smashed into his own face, sending him hurling across the arena in pain once more.

90

Samuel was shivering with a quiet rage inside of him.

He pulled out his phone surreptitiously so that Sakura and the climber president didn’t notice.

None of this was part of the plan, thought Samuel. Cyrus—you foolish boy. I thought I had been hard on you growing up, but clearly I hadn’t been hard enough.

Since Cyrus botched the original signal, none of the operatives were moving ahead with the plan. He had to send them a new signal.

Samuel typed a text telling them to get to work regardless of his son’s incompetence.

When he was finished, he clicked send.

“Don’t you agree, Samuel?” said the climber president.

He blinked. He hadn’t been listening to the conversation happening in front of him.

“That question is unfair, Mr. President,” said Sakura. “You can’t ask the man to comment on his own son’s defeat.”

“Cyrus is defeated?” said Samuel.

“Well, not yet,” smirked Sakura. “But Max has displayed some very clever thinking. First, he used the bind trait against Cyrus, but then with an even bigger stroke of genius, he used the mana threads of the bind trait as a mana bridge to then send hostile mana into Cyrus’ body causing him to burn from the inside out.”

Samuel bristled. It was a smart play from the boy from the outer-rim. Maybe he had approached his arrival in the wrong way. The boy may have been a good recruit. It was too late now though. The sides were already drawn.

The operatives should have received his text message by now.

There would be no more delays to the plan.

Everyone was silent in the student climber waiting room.

Toto squealed and nestled into Casey’s neck.

“I know, Toto,” said Casey. “I can’t handle the suspense either.”

Was this it? Was the battle over? Had Max won?

Max took a deep breath as he watched the smoke and debris settle on the other end of the arena.

He’d given Cyrus everything he had.

The audience watched with bated breath for the smoke to clear.

With Cyrus’ low endurance, he didn’t see how the boy could survive.

The smoke began to settle.

It was now the moment of truth.

Cyrus was bruised to a pulp, but he stood up, wiping blood off of his mouth.

No way, Max thought. How was he still standing?

Cyrus started to laugh manically. His eyes bulged.

This guy was truly insane, thought Max.

“Nice trick,” said Cyrus. “But I’m still right and you’re still wrong. You’re weak and I’m strong. I’m Cyrus Archer and you’re bloody nobody. Just watch.”

Max rushed forward. The sight of Cyrus’ face was enough indication that Max only needed to hit him one more time to knock him out unconscious.

After two steps, however, he found himself frozen in place.

“We’ve been through this, Cyrus,” said Max. “You can’t keep me frozen.”

Cyrus snickered once more.

“Oh yes, I can,” he said.

Max’s heart raced. What was Cyrus going on about?

BOOM!

A huge explosive tremor of noise and destruction came from beyond the arena.

Sakura swerved her head to the other side of the room.

A huge tremor reverberated against the wall.

“What’s just happened?” shouted Sakura.

She quickly glanced over to the branch commander of the healer climbers. Samuel’s face was as placid and apathetic as ever. Almost as if he’s not even surprised or worried about the explosion.

The door to their private arena box swung open and it was an E-rank city climber. Her face was pale with fear.

“They’re attacking the city!” she cried.

“What do you mean?” said the climber president.

“It’s unbelievable...but it’s a brand new monster wave!”

How was that possible? A monster wave wasn’t due for almost another month? None of the city’s defensive wards were even powered up to deal with a monster wave. The city was defenseless.

“Go warn others,” Sakura commanded as she rushed to the door to see if there were any threats coming from the hallway.

“I don’t know what you’re trying to do, Sakura,” said Samuel. “But it’s too late.”

The woman shuddered.

“There’s nothing you can do to stop it,” grinned the man.

The audience suddenly screamed with hysteria.

There was a sudden flash and a C-rank climber appeared beside Cyrus.

People in the arena were clambering over each other wanting to escape.

“Such idiots,” said Cyrus. “None of you deserve to live. You don’t even know why you’re scared. You just hear an explosion and you start running. You realize you’re all running in the direction of the thing you’re afraid of. Maybe you should just stop.”

Cyrus lifted up his hands and suddenly everyone in the arena froze in place.

Max watched all this develop as he too was stuck mid-run, unable to move.

But how was this possible? Paralyzing one person felt like a reasonable power, but the entire arena?

Unless—!

The climber who had appeared beside Cyrus. He was similar to the one they’d encountered in the waiting room.

The climber in the waiting room had the power to stamp out people’s powers. He was called a debuffer.

This climber had the inverse of that ability. He was able to magnify people’s abilities, strengthening them beyond their normal limits. This climber was a buffer.

The arena had gone silent.

No one could move while the strange screeches of monsters emanated from just beyond the arena’s walls.

91

Max squirmed, still trapped mid-step.

Cyrus and his buffer companion had completely paralyzed the entire arena audience.

That didn’t just include ordinary citizens, but other climbers as well. People who were currently needed to help defend the city.

Cyrus laughed.

“It’s about time,” he sighed. “I’ve been waiting a long while for this plan to come to fruition. I thought I might have a few extra minutes to kill