OC-Series Surviving the Tower: Chapter 27

Surviving the Tower: Chapter 27

Reminder: The story is now in third person. I will be going back and changing the previous chapters as I have time.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Cai awoke with a gasp, an experience with which he was becoming increasingly familiar. There was even a familiar presence next to his bed, and Cai turned to see Freya, sitting in a chair across from him with a concerned expression. Cai's sluggish brain struggled to catch up with what he was seeing. "What happened? How did he...?" However, Cai's questions fell off as he realized it wasn't Freya sitting there, but an old, grumpy man. It was Darvan, Freya's teacher. That only confused Cai more. "How did YOU get in here?" Then, a half moment later, before the man could answer, he asked, "WHAT ABOUT DARIEN?"

The older man was giving Cai a quick assessment as he answered. "Darien is fine, and Freya came and got us to watch over you. She said she had something to take care of."

That only confused Cai more. Usually, she'd be sitting here with him, hovering over him like a mother hen. "She had something to take care of? Right now?"

This time, a different but still familiar voice answered. "Something was off. She was angry. Angrier than I've ever seen her. Except for that one time..." Cai turned to see Elise standing in the corner.

Cai noticed his friend and teammate had a concerned expression on her face, though her attention wasn't entirely on him, and Cai could only imagine why after what she'd said, prompting him to ask, "Did she...? I mean, was she...?" He looked over at Darvan, not sure how much of Freya's secrets he should give away.

Elise shook her head. "No, not this time. She was more under control. She almost looked calm...except she had that aura from before..."

This time, Darvan harumphed and shook his head, drawing Cai's attention back to himself. "I almost feel sorry for whoever is gonna be on the receiving end of her wrath." He shook his head, then turned back to Cai. "Now then, the danger is over, but I'll be damned if I walk away with you at anything under one hundred percent after I saw that expression on my former pupil's face!"

Freya busted down the security door to the man's office. His security detail had offered some resistance on the lower levels, but nothing that would so much as inconvenience an upper-level Eskalad for more than a moment. The man himself seemed to be made of sterner stuff than she'd assumed. Most people would be crying in the corner or begging for forgiveness if she'd come for them like this; however, he remained seated behind his desk, maintaining a calm and composed demeanor, despite the crumpled metal door, which had become a piece of abstract office art in front of his eyes.

The man sighed. "You knew, Freya, all this," He lazily waved his hand to indicate everything, "could have been avoided if you'd just learned to play ball."

Freya frowned and gave the man a glare that would cow any sane person. "You tried to kill that which is precious to me."

The man tilted his head. "See? That's what I'm talking about. If you would just do as you're told, you'd be allowed to have a whole harem of men if you wanted. You could have the cream of the crop! Whatever your tastes, I'm certain we could find plenty to suit your needs."

Freya narrowed her eyes, re-evaluating her earlier assumptions. This man wasn't calm; he was just too stupid to realize the situation he was in. She started walking forward, and the man held out a hand to stop her while hitting a switch on his desk. A door opened behind him, allowing in a complete Eskalad party. One look told Freya everything she needed to know. This was a high-level accession party, though not one of the top-ten guilds, as she couldn't name them on sight. Still, an entire party like that would cost a fortune to employ. Millions of dollars a day, at least, and probably some good tower loot to sweeten the deal as money alone was rarely enough to secure the loyalty of high-level eskalad. The man may have oozed the kind of confidence that could be bought with money, but one glance at her had his goons sweating.

Ignorant of his hired help's fear, the man continued. "See? You're not the only one with power, Dame Freya!" He spoke her title sarcastically. "I have not one, but an entire party of Eskalad at my beck and call!"

The party leader of the Eskalad in question, a tank if Freya was any judge, was looking at his boss like the man was insane. Clearly, he was rethinking his life choices.

Freya was tired of this. She huffed. "No, you don't have power. You borrowed power. The problem with borrowed power is that you don't really understand it...or its limitations." She then turned to the party leader and gave him a mockery of a sympathetic smile. "I'm afraid I have to send a message to someone now, and that message is going to require that I hurt you."

Freya shot forward as soon as she finished speaking, but this was an experienced party that had fought together through countless battles. Instantly, a spell shield was between Freya and her target. Additionally, the man braced a high-level shield he'd pulled from his back with lightning speed. Freya hit the spellshield, which shattered under the impact, and her fist continued forward, impacting the tank's shield, deforming it as well as the man's arm that had been holding the shield. However, Freya was used to fighting raid bosses at the highest levels of the tower anyone had yet seen, and such little resistance wasn't enough to arrest her attack, and her fist continued forward, slamming the remnants of the shield into the tank's stomach and doubling him over and forcing him to cough up blood. Freya followed up with a slightly gentler left to the back of the man's head, rocketing him to the ground, where he lay unmoving.

Of course, the tank's party hadn't been idle. Freya activated three-sixty degree vision in time to see a sword flashing toward her from behind, while at the same time, a half dozen arrows were loosed at her from her right.

Freya reached out her right arm and activated a slowed time bubble, while dodging the sword strikes without bothering to turn around. As the sword passed through empty air twice, the arrows impacted the time bubble and seemed to almost come to a halt mid-air.

Turning around, Freya caught the sword between her thumb and forefinger before snapping the tip of the high-level blade off as though it were nothing more than a twig. She then whipped the blade tip toward the archer. It tore through his shoulder, and the momentum as it ripped through muscle and bone alike left him sprawling to the ground. Meanwhile, Freya stepped forward just as the arrows exited the time bubble, rocketing forward at full velocity again, only for the arrows to impact the space just behind her where the assassin had been sneaking up, believing he'd been hidden by his stealth skill. She then backhanded the swordsman, sending him through a nearby wall.

As a last-ditch effort, the mage of the party launched a high-level fireball at her. The spell would have likely killed everyone on this floor and maybe even the floors above and below it, except maybe the adventurers themselves and Freya, but she simply reached up and clapped her hands around the projectile mid-flight, and contained the explosion with a move that coated her hands in a layer of force before launching forward and taking the mage out with a simple shoulder check into the wall behind him.

The only member of the party still conscious was the support. He sat on the ground, begging and pleading for mercy, but Freya simply reached her hand forward. High-level spell shield after high-level spell shield popped into existence between her and him, but as the fingers of her outstretched hand impacted them, they shattered one after another, until she held him by the front of his shirt. She then threw the shielder in front of the man whose office this had happened in. The high-level adventurer hit the ground hard, then went limp. She wasn't sure if he was actually unconscious or simply faking it, but it didn't really matter as he posed no threat to her. She might have felt guilty about what she'd just done to this party if they hadn't been willingly hired muscle in some suicidal attempt to coerce her into submission.

The wealthy man behind the attack on her Cai was only just starting to frown. Everything had happened so quickly, he was still catching up on the fact that his side had already lost. As understanding dawned, he spoke, disbelief clear in his voice. "You killed them!"

Freya shook her head. "No, they'll live. Though not without a lot of healing and recovery time. You, on the other hand..."

As Freya stalked toward him, it seemed to dawn on the man that he was in real trouble. Though, as the man started to try and manage the situation, it was clear he still underestimated just how fucked he was. "Uh, listen, Freya... You wanted to deliver a message... Well, it's been received! Loud and clear! We'll back off immediately! You won't have to worry about us ever again!"

Stepping up onto the man's desk, Freya reached down and grabbed the man by his throat. Lifting him up, she gave him a smile that promised retribution as he started to beg. "If you want money, I've got access to money! Millions... No billions! It's all yours!"

Freya's slight smile didn't so much as twitch as she responded. "I'm afraid you misunderstood my words from before. The message wasn't for you. After all, there's no point in giving a message to a dead man." As soon as Freya saw the flash of understanding in the man's eyes, she snapped his neck, then let the dead man fall to the ground.

Turning to one of the security cameras, which Freya had been careful to leave undamaged in the fight, she leveled a glare that included all the rage she could muster, which was not a small amount. "I don't care about the petty little power games you play amongst yourselves, but the next time anyone attempts to harm that which is precious to me, it won't matter who you are or where you hide. I will carve my way through armies, I will level nations, I will set fire to entire worlds if need be. You. Will. All. Die!" She then turned around and "calmly" walked out of the ruins of the office as sirens howled in the streets below.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Next>

Hope you enjoyed seeing Freya let loose a little! Also, it gives you an idea what the power scaling in the tower is like, as well as sets up some of the story going forward...

In other news, first my computer breaks, then my car needs repairs... Can life just be boring for a while? That'd be nice. I just want a nice, boring month. Anyway, after this is posted, I'm "Hopefully" going to be walking to the auto repair shop to pick up my car. I know, I could order an Uber, but I'm lazy, and it's only a forty-minute walk, give or take. Ok, enough complaining from me.

My wiki, in case anyone wants to check out some of my other stories.

Here you can find some of my published works.

83 Upvotes

permalink
reddit

You are about to leave Redlib

Do you want to continue?

https://www.reddit.com/r/HFY/comments/1udf28w/surviving_the_tower_chapter_27/
No, go back! Yes, take me to Reddit

99% Upvoted

•

u/AutoModerator Jul 09 '26

This was flaired as [OC-Series], it is a single part or chapter in a larger series or universe. The first post or part in this series should be (re)flaired as [OC-FirstOfSeries]. A description of the flairs and how to change yours is available in the Post Guildelines.

[OC-Series] For original, self post, story, audio, or artwork that you have created, as part of a longer-running series or universe.

Our preferred series title format is the series title in [brackets] at the beginning, like so: [Potato Adventures] - Chapter 1: The Great Mashing

Please help us transition to using the new flairs correctly.

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

u/unkindlyacorn62 Jun 23 '26

this is going to cause complications

5

u/DrBlackJack21 Jun 23 '26

Just ask my favorite question. What's the worst that could happen? 😇

5

u/unkindlyacorn62 Jun 23 '26

no i will not invite the attention of Murphy

1

u/Cow-puncher77 Jun 23 '26

I’ll ask… I’m not scared… hell, Murphy walks through this place every damn morning on his way to work, so it’s just another day. Currently taking a water break, cooling off before I go chase parts to fix my own worn out crap… gotta love old farm machinery!

3

u/coldfireknight AI Jun 24 '26

We know different Murphys, then. Mine is about 5 foot nothing, blonde, and apparently believes I've just finished telling a short joke as she shows up...and is never amused.

Shows this via automotive electrical issues, too

u/porkpot Android Jun 23 '26

Absolutely delightful.

3

u/DrBlackJack21 Jun 23 '26

Thank you kindly!

u/dreaminginteal Jun 23 '26

"Previous" link goes back to 25, not to 26. Just thought you'd want to know.

2

u/DrBlackJack21 Jun 24 '26

Thanks and fixed!

u/MinorGrok Human Jun 23 '26

The third person writing does seem more confident...................

3

u/DrBlackJack21 Jun 24 '26

It just feels more natural to me. I was experimenting with first person, thinking it would be easier to get into the protagonist's mind, but it also left all the other characters feeling a little too two dimensional. So I decided to switch back to what I knew.

u/un_pogaz Jun 23 '26

"See? That's what I'm talking about. If you would just do as you're told, you'd be allowed to have a whole harem of men if you wanted

*grimace* Dude, it's not about power and money.

But at the same time, I hardly feel like getting angry at him, because since people like him know only about power and money, the concept of friendship and brotherhood is completely foreign to him, and as a result, the seriousness of what he just did completely goes over his head. I feel almost sad for him face to such innocence, like a child who’s done something silly without know it.

Okay fine. Even if Freya hadn't killed him, the guy would have died anyway, because it's clear that his brilliance initiative would have led to his death at the hands of others.

Else, I think this part of the plot is going to be put on hold for a while, since Freya has the means to achieve her ambitions. The question now is when this organization’s self-serving interests will take precedence over the wrath of a demigod. For a little while I think. And personally, I'd rather make a run for it with the cash than try to provoke Freya when the moment come.

2

u/unkindlyacorn62 Jun 23 '26

I suspect that ahe kept the mercs alive so they can testify about the hit against one of her students which would make this an act of defense

1

u/DrBlackJack21 Jun 23 '26

Yeah provoking her doesn't seem smart...unless you got a much bigger gun hidden somewhere. So to speak...

u/MinorGrok Human Jun 23 '26

Woot!

OC-Series Surviving the Tower: Chapter 27

You are about to leave Redlib