Tycoon May: Chapter 39

Chapter 39

Somehow, no one had noticed Grant’s scramble over the wall.  Even the ridiculous impact of him hitting the wall hadn’t brought the few men pacing the crenelations running.  The voices coming from the other side of the door of the tower meant all that was about to change.

<If you move fast, you can clear the tower before they know what hit them.  Don’t hesitate, and move with a purpose.>  Grant put away his pickaxe and leaned against the door, ready to throw himself through the opening.  He listened carefully to try and get some idea of how many guards were on the other side, but the thick stone dampened the noise too much for him to hear anything but faint murmurs.  <I think I hear three people talking, but even I can’t be completely sure.  Be careful.>

Taking a deep breath, Grant slammed against the door with his shoulder and bounced off with a grunt of pain.  “Pull, don’t push.  I literally just checked that.”  Ignoring Sarge laughing at him, Grant yanked the door open and stepped into the room.  There were four guards inside, not three, and all of them had been given a moment of warning when he messed up his entrance.  Two of them charged, swinging cudgels studded with heavy spikes, while the other pair tried running down the stairs, deeper into the tower.

Rolling under the two clubs, Grant came up swinging for the legs of the two runners.  He managed to clip one on the heel, sending him sprawling into the other.  They both went tumbling down the stairs out of sight, where shouts from below warned Grant there would be more guards coming his way soon.

A hard impact to his left shoulder spun him partially around, but by some miracle his armor didn’t allow the spikes from the cudgel to pierce his skin.  It did dent inward at a bad angle, cutting down on his flexibility, and making it impossible to raise his left arm any higher than chest level.  It was a good thing he didn’t need two hands to use his skills.

“Peach Flower Petal Flurry!”  The level two skill left afterimages in the air as his sword moved, cutting down the two guards before they could mount a proper defense in the tight quarters of the tower.  Given the situation, he didn’t hold back.  He couldn’t have them coming up behind him while he was trying to rescue his friends, or running for help from House Saturday assassins.  The guards died quickly, and he wiped his sword clean before sheathing it.  Grant idly noted the increase in his cultivation, meaning the pair had been Vassals.

<You also got credit for the two that went tumbling down the stairs.  They didn’t die, though.  They were just knocked unconscious during the fall.>

“Any idea what the weapon ability is?  I didn’t get a message about it.”  Grant pulled the door closed, and used the keys from one of the dead guards to lock the door before breaking it off inside.  He used another key to do the same to the other side.  It might buy him some time if the guards along the top of the wall tried coming at him.

<Honestly, it’s an insidious kind of power.  It has a weak ability to disable armor.  That’s why you are struggling to lift your arm right now.  If enough of those guys were to beat on you long enough, you’d be trapped in your own equipment.>

“That’s… actually kind of scary.”  Grant imagined being in a suit of armor similar to Tycoon May’s set, and then getting stuck inside until someone was willing to let him out.  “It could cause some serious problems.”

<Not really.  Don’t get hit by them, and you won’t have any issues.>  Grant did his best not to roll his eyes.  Easy for the sword spirit to say.  He wasn’t the one fighting inside the tight confines of a tower against superior numbers.  <Time’s up.  They’re coming up the stairs.>

Grant spun and did a quick sidestep to put himself behind the first guard to come charging up the stairs.  Instead of drawing his sword, he reached out and grabbed them by the collar, easily yanking them back off their feet.  They made a loud ‘urp’ sound before tumbling out of sight.  More shouting and clanking of metal meant it was as good a time as any for him to go charging below.

<He either wasn’t a Vassal, or wasn’t knocked unconscious, because you didn’t get credit for taking him out.  Although, I do approve of the ingenuity.>  Keeping his hand on the hilt of his sword, Grant started his descent.

As he carefully rounded the stairs, Grant came face-to-face with another pair of guards, this time wielding shields and spears.  They were ready for him, and he barely had enough time to use Iaijutsu to draw his sword and combine it with Hemlock’s Bane to parry their stabbing thrusts aside.  Still, the successful move gave him a boost to his next attack, and he capitalized on it by using Begonia Chop, directly attacking the shield of the larger of the two men blocking his path.

The extra ten percent from each skill combined, causing the simple metal and wood of the upraised shield to explode.  Both guards shouted in a mixture of pain and surprise as the fragments hit them, flinching back as Grant stepped forward into the gap they created.

Six more swings of his sword, and the guards were left bleeding on the floor.  Behind them, Grant saw the three people he had sent tumbling down the stairs laid out against the wall.  All of them were alive, but they were still knocked out.

<That’s two more Vassals defeated.  Keep it up!>  Not trying to let it get to his head, Grant took his time going down the next flight of stairs.  If he was in charge, he would have set up a trap or two by now.  Thankfully, nothing of the sort came to be, and he made it to the next floor unopposed.  In fact, it was completely abandoned, and the door was locked.  The very thick, iron-bound door, with no key in sight, was locked from the other side.  <Well, that’s not good.>

“No, it’s not.”  Grant quickly looked around, trying to find another way down.  If he had gauged the distances correctly, the ground floor, where he had seen his friends taken, was right below.  He was close to his goal, but they had stopped him.

There were no windows beyond a narrow arrow slit, so going outside wasn’t an option.  Hacking his way through the door wouldn’t work either, especially if he wanted to get through quickly.  Frustrated, he kicked at the wall, even though he knew it would hurt.

<You know that won’t work.  They reinforce the walls as much as they can against monster attacks.>

Sitting down on the floor, Grant fought against the feelings of defeat that tried to wash over him.  “I figured House Thursday did something, otherwise those really big monsters would just knock over the city walls like they were children’s toys.”

<It’s a lengthy and expensive process, but it’s a cost they know they have to pay.  The price of doing business, I think it’s called.>

“Wait.”  Grant quickly stood up, thinking over what he knew about House Thursday, and more specifically what he knew about Tycoon May.  He looked above him, seeing how the ceilings were supported by beams of wood that bisected the room.  “If it’s expensive to reinforce the walls, how much do you want to bet they don’t spend anything extra on the floors…”

Not waiting for Sarge to reply, Grant pulled free his pickaxe once more.  It gleamed brightly in the light cast by the lanterns inside the tower, and even though it was a simple hunk of hardened steel seated on a shaft of wood, at that moment, to Grant it seemed to be the most beautiful piece of shaped metal he owned.

<I’m going to make you pay for thinking that.>

Deciding to ignore the sword spirit for the moment, Grant started digging at the floor of the tower like it held the largest chunk of Metallica the world had ever seen.  Chips of stone flew free, pinging off the walls as dust quickly choked the tower.  In only a few short minutes, Grant felt the floor beneath him shift dangerously.  He redoubled his efforts, doing his best to focus his blows in a straight line down the center of the room.

His only warning it was going to collapse was a loud crack, and the half of the room he stood on gave way, crumbling apart as it collapsed.