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

his dream of fulfilling his promise to his sister would be over. His goal of becoming a tower climber would be down the drain. Everything he’d worked so hard for would be rendered meaningless.

His heart raced as he began to panic more and more.

Casey and Toto stared wide-eyed at the flat-screen television in the student climber waiting area.

Cyrus had paralyzed Max and was now vindictively approaching him like a monster playing with its prey.

“Isn’t anyone going to do something?” cried Casey. “Cyrus is going to try and kill Max?”

The other students ignored her, watching the match.

None of them cared. This was the attitude of climbers. They’d grown so used to the bloody violence and monsters of the tower that they’d grown apathetic to everything that happened around them.

So one climber killed another—this was the reality of those who lived in the tower-zone.

Casey turned to the buffer climber who was chaperoning them.

“Isn’t anyone going to do something?”

The buffer crossed his arms.

“Have more hope in your friend,” said the climber. “If we interrupted now, we’d be dishonoring him, taking away his chance to escape or defend himself.”

Casey turned back to the TV screen and petted Toto.

C’mon Max, she thought. You can do this.

Max squirmed on the ground, frozen in place.

Cyrus was now only a few steps away before he could cut him up in anyway he so desired.

“I love seeing the heart throb faster and faster as a victim panics at his own impending death,” said Cyrus.

Max ignored the boy as much as he could. He needed to think through a plan. There must be some way to break through this ability.

Cyrus lifted up his scalpel, grinning.

The boy was close enough to stab Max now in any artery or spot he wanted.

Cyrus pulled his arm back, clutching the scalpel.

“Another reason most people don’t die of stab wounds,” said Cyrus. “Is that many fail to penetrate the important arteries. That’s because so many people are amateurs. You need a good thrust to cut through flesh and puncture a blood vessel.”

So that was his plan, Max thought. Cyrus was going to stab him in the most important artery and let him bleed to death as he tried to fight back and win the match.

“Time to die,” said Cyrus.

The boy thrust his scalpel forward.

This was it.

Cyrus’s eye bulged in shock. His whole body squirmed in anguish.

His scalpel was inches away from Max, but the sharp silver blade never reached the boy’s flesh.

Cyrus’ scalpel and hand were frozen inches away from Max’s stomach.

“Your rare trait is pretty cool,” said Max. “Its just got one weakness. Itself.”

89

Sakura had both of her hands on the glass as she watched the battle with panicked concern.

Cyrus was about to stab Max and then—

Nothing.

Absolutely nothing.

The two student climbers were just standing there, frozen.

“Interesting,” said the climber president, scratching his chin. “Max has escaped defeat, but now the battle has come to an impasse.”

Sakura looked closer to the ground.

Ah, I see, she thought. Clever thinking, Max. Use Cyrus’ own trait against him.

Cyrus squirmed in front of Max.

Max took a moment to catch his breath. The scalpel that was going to kill him was only inches away from his flesh.

Max only figured out how to save himself at the very last second. He realized that Cyrus’ trait while paralyzing him, still allowed him to breath and speak. Did that mean he could do other things as well? Like trigger his own trait? That was when he realized he could now utilize Cyrus’ own bind ability and paralyze his opponent.

It was a very interesting ability Max realized. The way it worked was simple. A string of mana emanated from your finger like the thread of a spider’s web and then it froze anyone in place who touched it.

Cyrus kept squirming, frozen in place, trying to break the hold.

The audience began to get bored at the two of them just standing there. They started to heckle and boo.

The match had come to an impasse. How long it would stay like this, Max wasn’t sure. He still didn’t completely know the full functionality of Cyrus’ trait. How long did the paralysis last for?

“Give up now,” shouted Cyrus. “Give up. You’re only delaying the inevitable.”

Inevitable.

For Max, the word felt like a punch to the gut.

Many years ago when Max was eleven, he rolled up to Mr. Grimes on his wheelchair with a piece of paper he’d received from school sitting on his lap.

“What do you want, Useless!?”

He presented the paper to Mr. Grimes and the orphan manager snatched it out of the boy’s hands.

“What’s this, Useless!?”

“It’s a field trip for this coming Saturday,” said little Max. “There’s a career fair downtown. All the schools are invited.”

“Pah! You can’t go, Useless!” shouted Mr. Grimes at the little boy. “You’re going to clean the cellar on Saturday, remember?”

“What if I cleaned the cellar the following Saturday?” asked Max.

Mr. Grimes shook his head. “That’s not how things work, Useless. You need to clean the cellar this Saturday. What do you need to go to a career for anyway?”

Max perked up at this. Such a question suggested maybe Mr. Grimes could be reasoned with.

“I need to go so I can see what I can be when I grow up,” explained little Max.

The orphan manager laughed in his face. “You!? But you’re nothing. You’re going to grow up to be nothing. Trust me. It’s inevitable.”

Cyrus squirmed in irritation, staring Max down.

Something had changed in the red-headed boy. He was staring at him with a new level of anger and rage.

Suddenly, a horrible piercing pain filled Cyrus’ entire body as if he was burning from the inside out.

“What’s happening to me!?” he screamed.

The bind ability wasn’t an offensive trait. If they were both frozen, there was no way for them to hurt each other. How the heck was Max dealing this level of pain to him then?

The sizzling internal burn was too much for Cyrus to bear.

He had to escape it. The