The Unwilling Protagonist

Chapter 41: The Tower and the End of All Things

"No...oh no..." Miriam sobbed in despair while Y/N was treating Charlotte.

"Miriam! I need you to focus! Charlotte needs healing!" Y/N frantically said, but Miriam was still in shock over the death of Reighland. Kara held down Charlotte as she was seizing in pain. Taking action quickly, Kara started wrapping a bandage around Charlotte's eye.

Reactively acting, Y/N slapped Miriam across the face and grabbed her collar.

"Miriam, Reighland is gone; the Mistress is gone, but we can't stay here!" Y/N was on the verge of tears himself, "Please! Focus on the task at hand! Reighland wouldn't want you to grieve for her right now. There will be time for that later."

The two of them stared at each other for a moment, as though they were trying to relay their intent with their eyes. Their moment was interrupted by the sound of shifting mechanisms. The entire floor started to shake and in the center of the room shined a glowing red crystal, and from it extended two spindly arms.

Opening Theme:

Theme of Tower:

XVI member of the Order of the Arcana: Tower

Strength: 88

Endurance: MAX

Dexterity: 0

Talent: MAX

Tower began its attack by forming spikes on the ceiling and dropping them on Y/N and the girls.

"Kara! Above us!" Y/N shouted.

Kara and Y/N raised their respective barriers to block the spikes. Tower's next move was to have the ceiling fall on the intruders. It collapsed and impacted the barrier and nearly broke it. Now, this was a battle of attrition. Tower was slowly crushing the barrier Y/N and Kara made. Miriam, who had collected herself as much as she could during the short amount of time reinforced the barrier with her own magic while Charlotte lay on the ground unconscious.

Tower then made the walls on the side fold inwards on the barrier. Now Y/N and his friends were sandwiched in four different directions. The glow of Tower's crystal seemed to taunt them, as though it would be their "light at the end of the tunnel".

Suddenly, Y/N's arm felt tingly, and then, Geralt manifested himself within the dome.

"Argh!" He cried out in pain, "That smarts! What happened while I was gone?"

"Well, Reighland's fucking dead, and Tower's going to flatten us! You got any solutions?!" Y/N snapped.

Geralt looked around at the situation he was in. There was only one solution he had in mind; something that everybody would most likely hate...

"Miriam, do you remember that time I absorbed you into my body when we were falling?" Geralt asked.

"What?" Miriam looked confused.

"Hold on tight everyone!" Geralt first picked up Charlotte and absorbed her into his body. Then he grabbed everyone into a big hug and absorbed them as well. Without anyone around to maintain the barrier, Tower's ceiling impacted the floor with a deafening bang. When it lifted the ceiling, there was only a flat black spot left on the ground. Then, the black spot reformed itself into Geralt.