Author's Note
I'll say it again, this is a fan continuation. If you haven't already read Bind on Pickup, you need to in order to fully understand what is going on. Please go pay respects to the original author!
Chapter 1
Collapsing onto the platform to the fourth level, Annabelle decided to take a few seconds to collect herself and think about what she's had to deal with so far. Her first floor was a rush floor, a type of Tower Floor where she had to kill the enemies quickly; Difficult, but doable solo.
Her second floor was a hazard floor, where the hazard was an old rickety bridge that was half rotten over what she could only assume was a bottomless pit. Had she been a class that wore heavy armor, she would have fallen to her death.
Her third floor was the worst, being a limitless horde type... A type of floor that kept spawning monsters until you ascended. To make matters worse, her class, Spectral Lancer, was NOT cut out for that kind of thing, so she had to constantly jump, run, and slice to make her way to the next platform. She groaned when she heard an announcer's voice and realized she'd be doing an arena floor next.
"Why an arena floor...?" She cried out to nobody in particular. Oh, and that was the other thing, she was going to solo the tower. Though at this rate, she might as well look for another party to join her.
"...And his opponent is the manic solo climber, the Lancer that strikes your very soul, Annabelle the Spectral Lancer!" The announcer called out as her platform finished its ascent.
"Hello! I take it that the announcer isn't going crazy then? You really are a Spectral Lancer trying to rise up on your own?" Her opponent asked. Annabelle looked over from the ground and groaned again upon seeing that she was facing the bane of her class. A healer. Specifically, a Divine Lord class, who have always been known as being one of the most infuriating to fight due to their ability to redirect damage and heal themselves.
"Yeah… but I'm starting to think I need a party… There's no way I'm beating a Divine Lord as I am right now…" Annabelle replied from the ground, too tired to get up.
"Well, while you rest and think, why don't we have a chat! I'm Nessa, by the way. Made it to floor 57 before my party had to retreat… I… didn't make it back down," Nessa said as she sat beside Annabelle. "They tried to save me, really! But… A dragon talon shoved in your gut followed by it biting off everything below your waist? Not much anyone outside of an ascended class can do, and even they would be hard pressed to fix you."
Annabelle grunted as she rolled over and sat up, coming face to face with the spirit of the adventurer. "So that really is how a Tower works… Kills off adventurers and then traps their soul so they can do its bidding…"
Nessa giggled and flicked the laggie on the nose, causing her to scrunch her nose and rub at it furiously. "Can't say much, but I can tell you that that's pretty accurate! Oh, hey, if you come across a felisura and geckorian by the names of Ralph and Ghee, tell them I'm doing ok, would you? Haven't seen them trying to climb since… well…" She then gestured to their surroundings.
"I'll see what I can do. Thanks, Nessa. And um… any suggestions on-"
"Nope! Can't help you with that! That part is on you!" Nessa said in a rather chipper mood, cutting Annabelle off before she could even ask.
"Damn… Well, thank you anyway. Tower willing, I'll see you again on a different floor I guess," Annabelle said as she winked out of existence and appeared back at the foot of the tower. She sighed and got up, wincing as she held her side. She had until now managed to ignore the pain the horde of enemies had dealt to her with a combination of adrenaline and potions, but she very quickly ran out of those.
She sighed one last time before leaving the Tower properly. It was time to go party hunting after she hit up the summoning villa! Who knew the Tower could drop summoning eggs?
Annabelle held her breath as she watched the twin fate dice with baited breath. If she were really lucky, she'd get a dragon like the first Tower Climber Summoner Sandra did. But she got three dragons for the price of a single egg, so she wasn't expecting much. Soon the decagons, ten sided polygons that seemed to favor the lower numbers, began clattering and rumbling, starting to spin rapidly.
She heard the matron say something, but she didn't quite catch it as suddenly, the stones flopped to the ground with a loud thunderous crash. When the dust cleared and Annabelle could see properly, the numbers facing them were… twin zeros.
"Is… isn't that what-"
And then the rattling began anew. This time, however, they landed stacked. On their edges, as if defying the laws of gravity and reality itself. The golden numbers over the judging stones flickered and jumped, unable to decide on what to proclaim. Until they did, and seven counts of seven appeared over them.
Both the matron and Annabelle had to dive for cover as the stones basically exploded with mana and two forms came tumbling out, screaming profanities and fighting. One appeared to be a minotaur and the other a griffon that had a scaled and feathered tail. The minotaur reared back a fist and slammed it into the griffoness that he had managed to pin below himself.
"How about now, weak shell!?" He called out in triumph.
"Eat shit, mud drinker!" She snapped back, pulling out a kunai from somewhere and trying to stab him. They both quickly realized that they couldn't harm one another when the blade sparked against his skin, as if he was covered in some kind of armor despite them both being naked as the day they were born.
"E-enough!" Annabelle shouted, forcing her will upon the two of them, and making them behave.
"Hrk! Wh-what foul m-magic!?" The minotaur snapped through gritted teeth as he tried to fight the magic forcing his body to obey and get off of the griffoness, who was also struggling to resist and attack everyone since she wasn't where she was supposed to be.
"Wh-where are w-we…?" She demanded through her own grit teeth.
"Well… You're in Despara, a Tower town in the country of Hynberg," Annabelle answered, worried about how her summons were talking.
"Interesting… something similar happened once before, a few months back when…" The matron mumbled before sharply turning and leaving.
"S-so… Um… Are you two from the land of magical talking ponies…?" Annabelle asked nervously, suspecting she already knew the answer.
"Yeah. What of it?" The griffoness replied, stumbling slightly when Annabelle quickly undid the summoning magic that was binding them.
"Damn… Was hoping that would work… So uh… You two are stuck here now…" Annabelle informed the duo, taking a cautionary step back and grabbing hold of her spear in case they decided to attack her.
"Seriously? We don't have the option to go back to that shit show of a world?" The griffoness asked.
"Good riddance, if you ask me. Tired of trying to collect debts from you, weak shell," the minotaur said as he crossed his arms and looked sidelong at her.
"And I was getting tired of you and all your limp horn punches."
"Really? You wanna start this-"
"No! No fighting inside the town walls…" Annabelle shouted, stopping them before they got back into blows.
"Hmph… Lame… Well, I guess you're responsible for us now then. Name's Aurora, so ya know. Half Dragon half Griffon," the griffoness told Annabelle.
"And I'm Stone Head-"
"Because of how stubborn he is." Aurora said, cutting off the minotaur.
"Weak shell, I will throw you into a tornado." Stone growled out.
"Please just tell me you guys know how to fight…" Annabelle begged.
"Yeah. I live in a dangerous part of the world, and Stone, here, lives nearby. We're unofficial guards of our town, and something tells me that we're not on Equis…" Aurora said, taking note of the strange creatures poking their heads inside.
"Gee, I wonder what gave that away…" Stone mumbled as he looked away, snorting in agitation. "Surely not the fact that she called this place something that doesn't exist in our world…"
Annabelle sighed and rubbed her head, tired of their bickering. "Let's just… find someone willing to climb the tower with us and get you two classes and guildchains…"
