The Ascension : A New Beginning (Solo Leveling x Tower of God) [ON A HIATUS]

Chapter 26 : A Fox's Dilemma

A/N : Happy New Year, little shits. What better day to post a new chapter?

________________________________________

"I gotta say, you've got a good sense of timing." Sam muttered, now sitting on the ground and rubbing his right arm. While the health potion took care of his injuries, the experience of what happened remained. "A few seconds late, and you might have had to find a spot to bury me instead."

"Mmhmm." Len simply hummed in response, taking a sip from a can of orange juice, as the three golems remained on the sides unmoving. "My observer managed to catch a glimpse of you a little while ago."

"Your observer? Ah, I forgot. You are a Scout-Lightbearer hybrid."

"Still, I can't believe someone other than the boss managed to kick your ass."

"Well... How should I put this?" Sam gave a dry chuckle."It's not that she was stronger than me or anything. I... just happened to have a bit of history with her."

"Enough history to almost get killed by her?" Len asked him, taking another sip. But Sam opted to remain silent, not giving him a reply. And noticing his teammate's unwillingness to speak on the topic, Len didn't push it any further.

"By the way..." After a few minutes, Sam finally spoke, eyeing the three golems around them. "How did you get the tin cans to follow you?"

"I hacked them." Len replied nonchalantly.

"... Come again?" Sam raised his eyebrows. "Are you telling me that you hacked those golems - which were specifically built by the workshop for this test - just like that?"

"Well..." Len chuckled, rubbing the back of his neck. 'Where should I start?'

____________________

<Earlier, after the test had begun>

Similar to Sam, Len too found himself teleported to a random alley inside the city. Taking a quick look around him, he decided to hide inside a nearby building while using his observer to scout around the perimeter. As he had suspected, he saw other regulars in the vicinity trying to navigate the city, some of them forming alliances, and others openly fighting one another. But what caught his eye the most was the structure of the labyrinth itself.

'A city with a gothic style of architecture? Check. Night time with an unusually large moon? Check. Dark and creepy atmosphere? Check.' He mentally noted with amusement. 'Where am I? Central Yharnam?'

His attention was then brought to a pair of regulars - A spear bearer and a fisherman - attacking what appeared to be a golem.

'Hmm... Roughly ten-feet tall and seems to be an old design. The joints seem to be the obvious weak spot.' He noted. And while the two of them were having a hard time against it, the golem was taking damage as well, signifying it to be not that hard for an obstacle. After a few more minutes, he saw the golem falling down, finally beaten by the two. But immediately after, the two of them ran away from the location as a second golem appeared suddenly, giving them chase.

'Did the first one signal the others when it found a target?' He hypothesised. 'Either way, it'll be tough for anyone if the golems flank them in large numbers. Well, maybe not much for boss and Sam...'

After a few more minutes of reconnaissance, Len called back his observer as he moved out from his location. From what he saw, he estimated the entire test arena modelled after the city to have a circular layout. The golems only patrolled across certain routes, making it possible to avoid most of them entirely, if one tried hard enough. A thick fog enveloped the central part of the city, which made observing beyond it impossible. But the biggest issue was that he could only find one route leading to the centre from the sector he was in - There were no shortcuts to take or anything of the sort, leaving a frontal assault to be the only choice left. And while he couldn't observe much else in the route due to the limited range of the observer, he had no doubt that the Workshop wouldn't make it any easier.