Ryu could barely hear Kai’s voice above the noise of the wind but he could guess.  Through all of the open doors, there was a swarm of half human, half creatures similar to the last tower.  They had the body of a human with golden armor and spears while their head were various animals like jackals and hyenas.  Ryu tensed as they quickly surrounded them.  He noticed even the little fox was growling at the enemies as he struggled to stay afloat beside Ryu.  

“It’s okay.  Stay close to me and I’ll protect you.”  Ryu wasn’t sure if the little fox could understand him but to his surprise, he landed by his leg and looked like he was ready to fight as well.

“I’d rather not waste our energy taking them all out.”  Kai spoke over his shoulder as he came up back to back against Ryu.

Ryu nodded, eyeing the creatures as they stopped a few feet away as if waiting for something.  “We can try to get through enough of them to try the door again.”

“Sounds like a plan.”  Kai cursed under his breath as Ryu realized at the same time.

A large body made its way through the crowd and they saw that it was easily a head or two taller and broader.  Instead of the jackal or hyena, it had an aardvark for a head instead.

Notice.

Name: Thabit

Rank: A

World: Egypt, Galaxy X-195

Class: Lieutenance General, warrior

Preferred Weapon: double weapon axe and khopesh

Ryu eyed the sword in one hand that curved like a sickle and the equally deadly axe in the other hand.

“How is this an A-rank dungeon when we just breezed through an S-rank one yesterday.”  Kai was talking to himself as he also noticed the weapons in the leader’s hands.

“Just our luck, I guess.”  Ryu tried to joke, as he scanned through the inventory in his status window.  He was about to choose a long distance weapon like a spear to match again’s Kai’s longsword when the status window began to scroll down to the armor.

Notice.

Item type: Armored weapon

Origin: Armor of Anubis

Date: 6000 B.C.

Level: S

Skill: Defence against poison, magic, physical attacks.  Star absorption

“I don’t have time for this.” Ryu muttered, trying to get back to the spear when he zeroed in on the level line.  It was crossed out the other night but now it’s telling him that it’s an S-rank type.  Then he remembered how Brock was practically thrown across the room after he tried attacking it.

Deciding on the armor he already had on himself, he got Kai’s attention.

“I want to try something against the big guy but I’ll need you to hold the fort with the other guys.”

Kai stared at him, assessing the risk, before quickly nodding.  “Alright, but the little guy comes with me.” He whistled to the fox, who barked and ran after him as he made his way into the crowd.

Ryu’s narrowed his eyes and began to run towards the creature.  It grinned at him and raised his axe, ready to strike.  At the last moment before impact, Ryu took a chance and activated the armor using his mana.  The armor began to gleam and come alive.  The creature hesitated as it seemed to recognize the armor but decided to strike anyways.

There was a flash of blue and white light and similar to Brock, the creature was thrown violently back, taking quite a few of his soldiers with him.

Ryu kept his feet grounded, watching as the creature roared in fury, even striking at his own soldiers as he got back up.

“Guess you want to go another round.”  Ryu muttered, already getting ready to ram into him agin.  He was about to take a step forward when he paused, seeing the creature learn his lesson and throw his arm back instead, aiming the sickle sword at him.  He nearly missed the attack, as he threw himself to the side.

“Any luck?”  Kai shouted as he was hacking his way through the rest of the creatures.

“Kind of busy!  Give me a few more minutes then I might need to go with plan B.”  Ryu dodged another attack, this time a few spears from the other creatures.

“What’s plan B?”  Kai asked, steadily moving back to stand near Ryu again.  The fox was taking turns snapping its sharp teeth against the creatures who closed in on them.

“My sister calls it a flashy move but it’s effective.  It’s just that I can only use it once a day.”  

Kai paused, blocking an attack from a spear that nearly hit him in the head.  “Zion’s probably wishing he were here instead.”  He managed to joke, grunting as he blocked another spear and stabbed a few more creatures, who immediately turned to black dust.

“I’ll show him next time.  When we get out of here.”

Kai grinned at his words.  “No wonder you fit in so well with our team at the get go.  Your ego is just as big as the rest of ours.”

Ryu found himself grinning back as he braced himself for the move.

“When I say the word, keep the little guy with you and charge through.”

Ryu didn’t wait for Kai to nod and allowed his mana to appear as a faint blue-tinted white and covered his body.  The white began to turn into a darker, fiery blue with flames angrily coming off in waves from his body.

“I have about a minute before they overtake us.”  Kai shouted, his attacks not cutting down the endless swarm of creatures.

Ryu didn’t answer as he concentrated, not even caring to see the lead creature confidently prepare to throw his axe.

“Whatever you’re going to do, do it now or we’ll be overrun!”  Kai added, as he was starting to get pushed back.  

Ryu heard the fox whine and he saw Kai pick him up under one arm while continuing to fight.

Okay here goes.

With a silent command, the mana tore away from his body, turning into the shape of an angry tsunami.  The creatures stopped, mesmerized by the wave.  A few began to scramble back through the doors but it was too late and the wave tore through the crowed in a circular form, turning everything into a fiery pile before turning into dust.

“Straight ahead!”  Ryu shouted, gripping Kai by the sleeve as they ran through the fiery figures screeching in pain. 

They were a few feet away when Ryu looked back and found the leader surrounded in blue flames and running after him.  Picking up the pace, they managed to dive through the open door and Kai quickly released mana to close it behind them with a bang.

Ryu could hear the screeches and the banging on the door before it grew quiet.  He stared down at his hands, wondering how Kai would react to such destructive power.  The little fox came into view and he lightly licked his fingers before glancing up at Ryu with bright eyes.

“Remind me never to piss you off.”  Kai finally spoke up, coughing as he slowly sat back up.

Ryu glanced up to see him with a small smile.  “It’s…one of the abilities I gained when I was in the tower.”  He found himself revealing.

He could almost hear Rika telling him to open up more. 

Kai chuckled, holding out a hand to help him stand up.  “We’ve all gained some interesting abilities because of these towers.  Yours by far is one of the most memorable by the way.”

The moment was short-lived when they glanced around and noted that they were in another chamber but this time it had a large throne at the back.

“Guess we’re not yet done.”  Kai removed the broad sword, getting ready to face the next opponent.

Ryu nodded towards the figure slumped on the throne as they stood in their place, scanning the area for a trap.  

“Far from done, dear hunters.”

They looked to the figure on the throne, thinking the sound came from that direction but the figure revealed themselves from behind the throne.  

Ryu didn’t need to refer to his stat window as he could feel the power radiating from none other than Set, the God of Mischief.  Similar to the creatures in the other room, he was also hybrid form but those creatures were a weak comparison to a God.  He was easily over seven feet tall with the body of a human dressed in the finest golden armor.  And his head was that of a jackal and a gold head piece.  

To confirm further, the little fox let out a happy bark and ran towards the God.

“You have been taking care of the little one.  I owe you my thanks.”  Set petted the fox, who chirped and leaned into his hand before sitting comfortably beside him.

“Come forward.”  He commanded.

“We only want to close the towers and protect our world.”  Kai explained, carefully approaching the throne.

Ryu watched as Set turned to the figure on the throne and held out a clawed hand.  There was a burst of power and the figure immediately turned into fine dust.  With a wave of his hand, the dust flew off the seat.

They silently watched as Set sat in the throne and glanced at them with his lips pulled back to reveal sharp canines.

“Have you not considered that your world is not yours to protect?”