Tower Climber (A LitRPG Adventure, Book 1) by Jakob Tanner (interesting books to read for teens .txt) 📗

She pounded her fists together, hyping herself up. “Alright, tough guy, your little jaunt through our city is over.”

Based on the fact that she was able to send the monster flying with a single punch, Sakura figured she was higher ranked than this monster or, at the very least, it just had a very low endurance stat. Either way, there was no way the defense climbers would have allowed for any monster higher ranked than silver to make it this far.

RARGH!!

The minotaur charged at her.

The kid behind her screamed.

Oh crap, thought Sakura. The dumb teenager behind me. Now I understand the rules of this fight. This kid is my handicap.

“Get out of the way, kid!” she yelled over her shoulder.

Sakura had to rethink her strategy on the fly. She stretched out her hand and triggered her slice skill.

A bright golden shard of energy stretched out before her.

The minotaur kept charging towards her, roaring with all of its might.

One hit should do it, thought Sakura.

She stretched out her arm and, as if she was manipulating the bright shard of energy in front of her, the shard stretched out further as well.

The shard of energy grew in length at such speed and velocity it had become a deadly projectile like a throwing spear.

The bright shard of energy dug into the minotaur’s chest.

The minotaur screamed in pain.

Sakura waited for the creature to fall to the ground, but it didn’t. Any moment now there should be a big gaping hole of blood and flesh in the minotaur’s stomach.

The glowing energy shard of her slice move dissipated in the air, revealing a large bloodied wound on the minotaur, but no hole through the flesh from one end to the other.

Impossible!

Her slice ability had broken through the monster’s hide and wounded it a little, but nowhere near as much as she was expecting. The ability should have easily torn through the monster’s flesh.

Unless...

A red aura surrounded the minotaur’s body as it glared at Sakura once more.

ROAR!!!!

The monster let out a massive howling roar.

“Get back,” Sakura shouted to the kid.

The kid was severely wounded, thought Sakura. He needed medical attention pronto. She needed to finish the battle as quickly as possible.

There was one major problem though: this monster was higher ranked than silver. Gold, possibly? Maybe even ruby rank? If the latter, that meant this creature and Sakura were evenly ranked. It might even be more powerful than her. She had screwed up big time by underestimating this creature.

The howl created a ripple of swirling energy, picking up dirt and pebbles. Sakura held up her arms to keep the dirt from getting in her eyes.

The minotaur kept screaming. The swirl of energy got more and more intense, until the ground was trembling. Trees were swaying.

CRACK!

A group of trees fell and piled onto Sakura, pinning her down to the ground.

I need to get out of this bind, thought Sakura.

She readied her slice move to break through the tree trunks piling on top of her.

But before she could, the minotaur rushed her and with its clawed hands shoved the fallen tree trunks right against her body.

Her future was looking bleak.

Death by crushed trees or death by suffocation. As her airflow started to cut off, she joked cynically to herself: take your pick, Sakura. Take your pick.

5

Max caught his breath behind a nearby tree. He focused on inhaling and exhaling.

Remain calm, he thought as his mind drifted and his visions swayed from the blood loss. The fight will be over soon and I’ll be given medical attention then.

He peeked his head out to check on the battle between the impressive climber lady and the deadly minotaur.

“Oh crap,” he gasped.

The minotaur had bested the climber lady. She was pinned to the ground underneath a pile of tree trunks.

Any normal human would have been crushed and killed by that many trunks falling on them. The fact that she was even still alive was impressive.

The climber lady squirmed and cried out, but her gasps were feeble and weak due to the minotaur pushing the trunks against her lungs.

The minotaur snarled as it held the trunks over the woman, deadly focused on ending her life.

“...Hrlg...”

The woman was in bad shape. Max had to do something to help her.

But what?

What could he do?

“HEY OVER HERE!!”

He yelled at the minotaur, hoping to get its attention. But it was so focused on killing the woman, it ignored him.

Crap.

What else could he do, but distract the creature?

He was weak, he realized.

Voices echoed in his head. Painful quotations he didn’t want to hear.

Psycho-Cripple.

Weakling.

Useless.

Max wiped tears from his eyes.

He started dragging himself across the mud once more.

Stretch, pull, stretch, pull.

The climber lady squirmed and groaned beneath the fallen tree trunks.

The voices in Max’s head got louder. Mr. Grimes. Seth. Everyone who didn’t believe in him. Who thought he was too weak to do anything, too pitiful to even acknowledge his existence.

He kept dragging himself across the ground and his bloody immobile legs behind him.

He was halfway across the ground towards the minotaur.

The woman kept squirming. She didn’t have much longer to live.

Psycho-cripple.

Weakling.

Useless.

The words became a mantra in his head, a marching drum, propelling Max forward.

He wouldn’t let those who didn’t care for him bring him down anymore. If he died here, fine. He didn’t care anymore. But he wasn’t going to sit there and bleed to death while someone who actually tried to help him died for her actions.

A powerful rage swirled in his body, energizing him. His heart beat rapidly as he dragged himself forward.

The adrenaline pulsed through his veins. He suddenly felt unshackled. His mind clear. His determination fierce.

He got to the foot of the minotaur.

The woman was barely making any noise now.

It was now or never.

If yelling at this monster wouldn’t distract it from its murderous intent, maybe something physical might do the trick.

Max lifted up his right arm. He clenched his fingers into a fist.

One punch. That was all he had. Hopefully, it would be enough to distract the monster