Jace didn't know how he ended up on the mud, facing the sky, with pain that ached throughout his body.
He could hear shouts, and over them, hisses and roars that sounded too guttural to be human.
A few seconds after collecting his thoughts, his memory refreshed him.
'Oh, that was right…'
In a fit of blinded rage, he had charged the Alpha Jackal and abandoned all of his cautions that kept him alive.
But as the rain continuously pelted onto his face, and prickled into his eyes, he began to assume this wasn't how the Void felt like.
In other words, he was not dead.
His eyes flared open, his thoughts racing back to his head, and his muscles tensed as he flipped over to look for his silver sword.
'Erin!'
He crawled over a few feet in the splattering mud and grabbed his weapon, turning back to the ongoing fight behind him.
His squad was still alive, fighting the Alpha Jackal while he was stuck in a pathetic concussion.
Jace gritted his teeth, slipping over the mud again, and firmly pressed his boots for the next sprint. The fight wasn't over.
Klav had regained his composure, seeing some of his wounds had stopped bleeding and the minor ones had closed themselves. He must have drank a potion during Jace and Erin's isolating fight.
Alongside him, Heather was actively slashing his sigil sword across the blind spots of the beast. They were working together in unison again.
As Jace ran closer to them, he opened his Soul.
[HP: 42/130]
[MP: 5/20]
[STR: 5]
[END: 2]
[AGL: 3 + 3]
[INT: 0]
[WIS: 0]
Without feeling too endangered about his HP, he was at least glad to see his Soul had worn off that tampered effect.
Never once had he thought anything positive about his Soul, but he needed it more than ever right now.
Just before a few seconds when he would rejoin their fight, he caught two figures by the corner of his eye, away from the commotion.
His world had frozen still.
A girl, wearing a long cloak with long lilac hair, hurriedly poured a vial of potion into the other person's motionless mouth. The lilac girl was distraught, even on the verge of tears as the potion trembled in her hands.
Jace turned his head away, quickly facing back to the Alpha Jackal before his own impulsive feelings could overwhelm him.
'No—I can't. Even if Heather and Klav's Soul had returned to normal, the Alpha Jackal wasn't the same as before. They won't last without me.'
Just like any other monster created by the Tower, each of them enters a phase of desperation as they approach closer to the Void. That must have meant the Alpha Jackal was on its last legs.
But slaying it was still a problem. With their small supply of health potions, and the dreadful build of human fatigue, they couldn't risk being injured again.
The Alpha Jackal moved in sudden bursts, throwing its body and claws around without any care. Its eyes were still seething in an uncontrollable rage, overriding the nerves in its brain that secreted fear and hesitation.
It was going all out.
Jace joined back into the fight, flashing his silver sword across its thigh and quickly weaved the incoming swipe. He couldn't hear Klav's voice through the rain though he thought the barbarian sounded elated to find out he was still alive.
Heather kept his distance towards the beast, also noticing that its movements were different when they had first encountered it. It was to an extent where finding an opening counter-attack was near impossible.
The beast no longer focused its attention to a singular target, rather, it wanted to tear every human in its path.
As Jace expected, Klav's methods of wrestling and grappling the beast failed miserably, forcing him to use the handle of his great-axe to direct its attacks away. Though, something like wouldn't sustain their fight for long.
At this rate, they would have fallen victims to their fatigue, and present an easy meal for the already ravenous beast.
Jace gritted his teeth and fought with more intensity whilst keeping his own skin intact.
Even if he could pull off an unbelievable stunt like that, nothing that he ever wanted would come that easily.
The Alpha Jackal persisted its attacks on the barbarian, claw after claw, until a handful had torn into his bare shoulder and leather chest-plate.
Jace thrusted his sword and missed, just as the beast spun, and slammed its arm into his sides.
Then the beast pounced, too quickly for Klav to react, and shoved its claws into his chest, dragging him off his feet and away from his squad.
Klav growled into a roar, his cry filling with painful anger, and cleaved his great-axe into its arm, sending them both in the ground.
But despite losing a limb, and suffering through many wounds, the Alpha Jackal stubbornly opposed the idea of dissolving.
Jace was already sprinting back into the fight, disregarding the stabbing pain in his sides. They needed to keep control. If any one of them left the beast unattended, then Verdant Maw would be all of their graves.
Heather was already in front of him, configuring his own moment of glory, and raised his sigil sword in a supposed opening.
The Alpha Jackal, even more agitated by its missing arm, swatted the puny Climber away before he could even have a chance.
Jace drifted into a stop, ignoring Heather's flying body, and stared into the beast's eyes as it snapped to him.
The Alpha Jackal recognized him, roaring in another raging outburst, and rushed towards the lone Climber.
From what felt like confidence that surged through his body was turned into complete horror. The beast no longer concerned itself by how Jace could maneuver its claws and land a few attacks in the process. It already knew how aggravating he was, that was why his silver sword seemed painless across its skin.
The beast was ignoring its pain, just like how Jace was ignoring the mercilessness from the Tower. He wasn't fighting some untamed animal by nature. He was fighting the epitome hatred of humanity, generated with the purpose of driving them to extinction.
It wanted him dead by any means necessary, whether not that meant dragging him into the Void alongside it.
Jace felt his body crash into the mud. Before he could instinctively move, four sharp and elongated claws slammed into his chest, jolting his head forward in a shock of pain.
The Alpha Jackal cackled a roar in its triumph, finally conquering Climber that should have died long ago.
He felt each uneven claw bury deeper into his chest, carving past his ribs, and ripping into his intestines. It was more painful than being impaled by a Savage Boar. Each breath that his body forced out was congested with his own blood, choking him with jolting pain that came again from his insides.
Klav grabbed the beast from behind, plucking each claw from Jace's chest, and tightened into a bear hug with all of his remaining might.
Heather's voice shouted loudly in the rain:
"Now! Do it, Brita, do it now! Fire your spell!"
The Alpha Jackal hissed, thrashing its body around in a desperate motion to free itself. Though with its missing arm and waning fuel of ferocity depleting, it had bought them enough time to set their initial plan in motion.
Brita hurriedly came into view, aiming her wooden staff and began casting (Arcane Light) at the restrained beast.
But she turned her eyes to another body on the ground, and in his own pool of blood, laying motionless with dark eyes.
It was a boy with deep auburn hair spilling from his forehead. He was their sacrifice to win against the Floor Guardian.
Heather shouted again, his voice sharper and clear to the mage.
"Brita! Do it! Hurry!"
The shining missiles of light dissipated as she gravitated towards the dying Climber, kneeling beside him and frantically casted her healing spell.
Heather's eyes widened. He yelled, running towards her:
"No—what are you doing?! NO! BRITA, STOP!"
Jace felt like his body was sinking into the mud, pulling him closer to the Void like he inevitably thought. He just didn't know this was how the Tower would end his journey. To be ripped apart like an insect was more than disappointing.
The Soul flickered into his weak eyes.
[HP: << 4/130]
He stared at the single digit for a few seconds and thought to himself:
'Was I good enough, Soul? Did I entertain you? Was this what you wanted from me?'
The Soul's transparent window dimmed before showing him a warming farewell to his pointless efforts.
[HP: << 1/130]