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

Healer climbers surrounded him.

“He’s dying,” shouted one.

“We need to use our highest level mending skills quickly,” shouted another.

“He’s sustained injuries all over,” shouted one more. “He’s not going to make it. The move he used. Wolf’s Rage. It’s incredibly deadly to the user.”

Max ran up to the climber president.

He couldn’t die. There was so much left for the man to tell him. They had their meeting arranged for after the tournament.

The climber president grabbed Max’s hand.

“The fight isn’t over yet, Mr. Rainhart,” said the president, coughing up blood. “Don’t waste my sacrifice.”

The old man then smiled oddly at him. “Only your unique ability might be able to save us now. Go!”

Max ran back to the drake, hopped onto it, and hurried across the city towards the arena.

Sakura, he thought to himself. Please hang in there.

107

Sakura lay on the ground, dying.

Blood was leaking out of her stomach. Her whole body ached.

“Any minute now,” said Samuel. “Bye bye Sakura and farewell to the tower-zone as you know it.”

Sakura squirmed. How was this man still alive after all her attacks? He barely had a scratch.

He walked up to her and kicked Sakura in the gut.

“Did you honestly think you could beat me?” asked Samuel. “I’m A-rank. You’re B-rank. There is a huge gulf between us in terms of power. You never stood a chance.”

He imbued mana into his feet and kicked her in her bleeding stomach once more.

She croaked and coughed out a huge gob of blood onto the dirt of the arena.

“I’m so sick of this city and its rules,” said Samuel. “I’m ushering in a new age where I make the rules and the first rule will be: the powerful can do whatever they like, including killing you.”

Max flew over the walls of the arena on the back of the drake.

Below him, he could see two figures. Samuel standing over Sakura. His mentor was dying on the ground.

Oh no, he thought. Am I too late?

Sakura squirmed on the ground. She moved her fingers gently in the dirt.

Good, she thought. She still had control over her hands. She was dying but she was not dead yet.

Samuel Archer looked down at her and laughed. “What? You saved one last slice attack to surprise me with? What’s that going to do that the countless others failed at. At best, your attacks leave a little sting, but they can’t break through my skin. My endurance stat is too powerful against your ability.”

“Screw...you...” said Sakura with one last breath, before triggering one last slice attack.

A beam of golden energy shot forth, just missing Samuel and going over his shoulder.

His whole face widened in a grin.

“You even wasted your last futile shot,” he said. “You truly are pathetic.”

Sakura’s slice attack shot over Samuel’s shoulder.

Max lifted his left hand and reached out for the energy blade like he was catching a baseball.

He gritted his teeth and held back the pain as the powerful attack ripped a hole right through the palm of his hand.

Sakura had thrown them both a lifeline. A trump card like nothing else.

It was now or never.

“It’s time to end this,” said Samuel. “See ya la—”

A blade of golden energy stabbed right through his stomach. Blood and guts shot forward to the ground in front of him.

Samuel coughed blood out of his mouth.

“But how...?” said Samuel, looking down at the fatal attack.

Max stood behind the man, his left palm had a hole in it from Sakura’s slice attack. His right hand had then triggered and commanded the second energy slice.

“Max can more than just copy powers, he doubles their power,” said Sakura. “So my B-rank power levels doubled, hitting strength stats even unknown to S-rankers. Power levels that can rip through your flesh with ease, you smug bastard. How does it feel to die at the hands of a common trait?”

“No, this isn’t it,” said Samuel, triggering cellular manipulation on himself. His own body began to mend, until Max raised the slice attack upwards, slicing Samuel into two pieces.

The left and right side of the man’s body fell to the ground on top of each other.

Samuel Archer was dead.

The attack on Zestiris was over.

The city had been saved.

108

Max opened his eyes and found himself in a hospital bed.

He instantly began to panic. What was going on? Where was the climber president? Sakura? Casey? Toto!?

“Ah, you’re awake,” said a voice.

He looked up and saw Sakura.

She was all patched up. She had no bruises or marks like she had when he had found her at the arena.

Also, on her green leather jacket was a badge, it was different from before. It was made of diamond and had the letter A engraved on it.

“You ranked up?” said Max.

She nodded and smiled at him. “There’s a lot to catch you up on. You’ve been out for a couple of days.”

“How’s Casey?”

“Everyone is fine,” she said.

“And the climber president?” he asked.

“You’re now looking right at her,” she grinned.

Max blinked. “You? You’re the climber president now? Does that mean—?”

“The previous climber president took a lot of hits in that battle, but he ended up surviving. He’s currently resting, but he’s accepted that now is the time to retire and he’s named me as the successor. He gave me numerous diamond monster cores which helped me rank up.”

Max nodded.

“We also had a meeting a few weeks back,” said Sakura. “When you went on your little incognito mission to the outer-rim.”

Max blushed.

Sakura smiled. “You thought I didn’t know about that, huh?”

“What was your meeting about?” said Max, trying to change the subject. “The president told me a lot about the state of Zestiris and the world at large already.”

“He told me he was going to tell you all of that,” said Sakura. “What he wanted to share with me was information that pertained to your family, most significantly, your sister.”

Max blinked. The information about his sister wasn’t lost after all.

“When I first met you, I thought I saw a