Tycoon May: Chapter 40

Chapter 40

Grant’s fall was broken by a very sturdy table.  He bounced off of it, and somehow managed to roll his way under it before he could be crushed by the rest of the stones falling down around him.  The other guards and two House Saturday assassins that had been waiting for him weren’t so lucky.

<I can’t believe that worked.  You just crushed eight Vassals, and leveled up to thirty-eight.  Maybe there is some kind of dumb luck involved at this point.>

“I thought… you said… it’s Karma.”  Grant’s back and ribs were in agony from the fall, and he was having trouble catching his breath.  He managed to crawl out from under the table as his Regeneration skill kicked in, grunting in pain as he felt his ribs shifting in his chest.

<Yeah, that’s certainly what it really is, but it’s still crazy how that worked out.  Not that it was all good for you, of course.>  As the dust started to settle, Grant saw what Sarge was talking about.  The rubble from the upper floor had blocked the doorway leading to the exit, meaning the only way out was to go all the way back up the tower, cross the wall to another tower, and fight their way to the ground.  <Unless there’s a way out through one of the other doors.  You never know what could be underground.>

Grant couldn’t hold back the shudder that ran up his spine.  He remembered the rat hordes in District March that could strip a person down to bone in little more than the blink of an eye.  Going underground there was a death sentence.

Shaking off the memory, Grant pushed aside the few stones blocking the doorway that led deeper into the wall.  There was only a single lantern in the distance to light the way, so despite the hurry he was in, once again Grant took his time to make sure there weren’t any traps left behind by overly cautious assassins.  It was a wise decision.

More than anything, it was instinct that kept the poisoned needles that came out of the walls and floor from stabbing through the bottom of his foot.  There might have been an almost inaudible snick as they shot into place, but somehow he just knew to freeze in place.  Grant carefully took a careful step back and saw the gleam of light reflect off the purple-tinted tip of the double row of needles that stretched the full length of the floor and walls.  A few well-placed swings of his sword knocked them flat, making them less of a danger.

Another trap would have dropped a skull-crushing boulder on his head if he hadn’t noticed the thin layer of dust coating the trio of floor tiles in the center of the downward-angled pathway.  Grant triggered the device from a distance with a chunk of his precious Metallica, happy to sacrifice the ore in exchange for a clear path of retreat.

There was a third trap plate right before the doorway next to the lantern where Grant suspected the people from the convoy were being held, but he didn’t trigger it.  Instead, he used the tip of his pickaxe to pry up the edge of the plate and turn it sideways, so if anyone stepped on it the trap couldn’t go off.  He wasn’t willing to risk setting this one off, just in case the device did something to the people on the other side of the door.

There were no windows, key holes, or door knobs to try, and the door was flush with the wall, meaning there was no way to open the door.  So, Grant did the only thing he could think of at the moment.  He knocked.

<I can’t believe you just did that.  There’s absolutely no way that’s going to work.>  Sarge highlighted the floor along the base of the door in Grant’s vision.  <Use your pickaxe again, and dig out a spot where you can grab the door to pull it open.  Once you get enough space to…>  Sarge trailed off as the sound of someone undoing heavy bolts and chains from the other side of the door came through the thick wood.  <Un-freaking-believable.  How much bad Karma does Tycoon May have?>  Not one to look a gifted horse in the mouth, Grant knocked again.

“Hold on, hold on.  It takes a bit to get all of these undone!”  The voice from the other side was easily recognizable as the House Saturday assassin that had gotten away from Grant at the Gracken cave.  “Let me guess, you have more of these chumps tied up and ready for questioning?”

As the door was flung open, Grant punched the other man in the face hard enough that teeth went flying.  The House Saturday Vassal stumbled back, trying to grab for something at their waistband.  <He’s going to recognize you, and report back that you’re still alive.  Kill him now.>

Feeling a little bad about how many people he’d killed already, Grant unsheathed his sword in a flash, using Iaijutsu to slice the killer across the neck.  The man’s body crumpled to the ground, dead before he knew what happened.  “I better be careful.  I don’t want to turn into a Murderhobo.”

<Oh, don’t worry about that.  You would have to kill way more before that could happen.>

Checking over the body, Grant quickly recovered a thick ring of keys.  He made his way deeper into the room and discovered it was lined with more thick wooden doors.  These thankfully had a tiny window cutout he could look through, and the first one revealed a very beaten and bloody Evander.  He was sharing a cell with Sam, who was doing his best to clean his wounds with a scrap of torn clothing.

“Sam!  Evander!  It’s good to see you two.”  Both of them jumped at Grant’s shout, and even the injured Evander managed to limp his way over to the doorway.

“Grant, is that you?”  Sam was trying to squint through the narrow opening, but some trick of the light made it impossible for him to see who was on the other side.  “Did they capture you too?”

“Capture him?  Ha!  I bet Grant’s here to break us free all on his own.  Aren’t you?”  Evander’s praise made Grant blush, but he quickly pushed down his embarrassment and focused back on the situation.

“Yes, I’m here to break you free.  Once I get you out, I’ll give you the keys so you can get everyone else.  While you’re doing that, I’m going to scout for a way back to the surface.”  Grant didn’t bother listening to their replies, instead staying focused on finding the right key.  There were dozens of them on the ring, and no two were the same.

After what felt like a gratuitous amount of time, Grant finally got the two men free.  “I never thought I’d be so happy to see a face as ugly as yours.”  Evander grabbed Grant in a big hug, quickly letting him go when Sam tugged at his sleeve.  “I know, I know.  We’ve got work to do.  Hurry, we’ll have everyone else out of here in no time.”

“Yes, what he said.”  Sam grabbed Grant’s shoulder and gave it a light squeeze.  “Thank you, Grant.  I don’t know what would have happened to us if you hadn't been here.  I didn’t want to believe that Tycoon May and his mother would stoop so low as to kidnap and torture their own citizens, but I guess I should have known better.”  Tears fought to escape the corners of his eyes, and Sam wiped at them with a dirty sleeve.  “After all, ‘we’re a sacrifice he’s willing to make.’  Once we get out of here, we’ll need to make sure everyone else knows about this part of his activities, too.”

“Right.”  Grant didn’t know what to say to their emotional outbursts, so he simply passed over the keys to Sam.  “I’ll be back as soon as I can.  If you don’t hear from me soon, just go back the way you came down, and try going over the wall.  That’s the only way right now.”

“Got it.  But don’t expect we’ll leave here without you.  Especially not after this.”  Sam waved him toward the darkness at the back of the dungeon area.  “Please, hurry.”

Nodding, Grant turned and headed for the unexplored area.  If there was a way back to the surface, it was up to him to find it.  Otherwise, they were in for an even longer day of fighting.