The Extra's Rise-Chapter 326: Ascension Tower Challenge (1)
They stood at the foot of the Ascension Tower, sixty strong, each brimming with mana and courage. A hush settled among the onlookers gathered outside the tower's ancient gates. Beyond those gates lay captured beasts, all of them five-star or six-star threats, each waiting inside twisting corridors and hidden alcoves. One by one, the challengers gripped their weapons or flexed their magic, preparing for the trials ahead.
A raised platform served as the gathering point. On it, an official in flowing black robes recited the rules. The Ascension Tower was divided into numerous floors. Each floor held captured beasts—rampaging tigers with elemental fangs, serpents that spat poison, giant apes with iron hides, all rated five-star or six-star by the empire's best tamers. The deeper one ventured, the more lethal the creatures. Victory required cunning, synergy, raw power. Everyone had four hours to climb as high as possible, gather special tokens dropped by vanquished beasts, and exit before the tower sealed.
Four among the crowd drew the most attention. They showed no sign of fear, only calm or fierce resolve. When the final bell rang, they moved with confidence through the gates. Voices in the crowd murmured names in hushed excitement: Seraphina Zenith, Jack Blazespout, Seol-ah Moyong, Ava Peng. Each carried a different flame of ambition.
They didn't walk together. Each stepped through the tall arch, flanked by lesser challengers from the same academy or from other alliances. The first floor stretched wide with dark stone walls lit by torches. Wind crept through unseen cracks, stirring the stale air. Somewhere in the distance, a roar echoed, then died away. The participants split into smaller groups or ventured alone, each scanning the corridor's gloom for the slightest motion.
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A faint screech tore the silence. Instantly, torchlight caught the glint of long fangs and glistening fur. A five-star beast—an obsidian-furred wolf the size of a bear—lunged from a side passage at a trio of novices. Blood spattered the floor within seconds, though protective wards saved them from true fatality. Dozens of watchers outside the tower gasped or shut their eyes, imagining how easily one slip spelled doom.
Seraphina Zenith reached that spot moments later. Her breath caught at the carnage. She drew in a slow lungful of air, letting cold energy surge through her limbs. Her affinity with wind, ice, and water lent a chill to her immediate surroundings. When a second wolf crashed in from behind, she whirled, calling upon the first movement of her Grade 6 art, Violet Divine Mist. Frosty swirls of wind whipped outward, tinted a soft purple hue that shimmered in the torchlight. The wolf froze mid-lunge, icicles forming around its muzzle. It snapped and tried to break free, but her Gift, the Ice Crystal Jade Body, amplified every icy wave. It stumbled, encased in a shell of rime.
With a faint, haunted look in her eyes, Seraphina flicked her wrist. The wolf shattered, leaving behind a battered token glinting on the stone. She picked it up, the crystal edges reflecting violet light, and pressed on. Her steps were quiet, her posture straight. Ice flaked away from her fingertips, drifting like tiny snowflakes. The watchers outside, seeing glimpses through scrying orbs, marveled at her elegance, whispering that a White-ranker had seldom looked so calm against a five-star beast.
Meanwhile, deeper in another corridor, a swirl of flames lit the darkness. Jack Blazespout strode alone, Integration-rank aura throbbing around him. Nirvana Flames coated his hands and shoulders like living fire, but it didn't scorch his own flesh. A six-star scorpion beast, covered in jagged plating, scuttled from the gloom. Its tail dripped venom that sizzled on contact with the stone floor. Jack let the corners of his mouth curl into a smirk. He stretched out one hand, palm forward, and unleashed a sudden torrent of azure fire.
The scorpion shrieked. Venom boiled off, plating melted, and within seconds, it collapsed in a smoking husk. The watchers outside trembled, seeing how unstoppable an Integration-ranker with Nirvana Flames could be. Jack knelt, rummaging in the remains until he seized a half-burnt token. He pocketed it, ignoring the acrid scent of roasted shell. Then he moved on without comment, flames fading from his hands. He had floors to climb, no time to waste with watchers or gloating. He used no incantations, no elaborate technique. Just raw Gift power that overshadowed lesser spells.
A few halls away, Seol-ah Moyong, second stage of Integration, advanced with her sword sheathed, her posture almost casual. The corridor around her rumbled as a towering six-star ape beast slammed its fists into the walls, trying to corner her. She exhaled, letting her aura intensify. Earth and wind coalesced under her feet, water and lightning crackled in her veins, space magic flickered around her edges. She was said to have five elemental affinities, and her Grade 5 art, Skyward Lotus, soared across them gracefully.
The ape roared. She touched the hilt of her sword. The first Petal of Skyward Lotus manifested as a swirl of wind that elevated her stance in a near-weightless dash. She glided behind the ape in a single breath. The second Petal, Blossom in Storm, unleashed a surge of swirling water-laced wind, combined with crackling lightning sparks. The ape howled, battered on all sides, bits of fur singed or soaked. Then she pivoted into the third Petal, Divine Gale, releasing a fierce gust that slammed the beast overhead. It crashed onto the stone, cracks forming under the impact.
The watchers outside gasped in admiration. Seol-ah retrieved a glimmering token from the beast's remains, a calm settling over her face. Her Gift, the Heavenly Sword Soul Body, shimmered in the faint lines of space about her limbs, making each motion fluid, unstoppable. She sheathed her sword and continued. A second wave of watchers erupted in cheers, seeing her synergy with multiple elements. She was overshadowing many White-rankers in advanced synergy.
Ava Peng, the last of the four to show her might, was cornered by a monstrous boar with thick, armor-like hide—five-star if not approaching six. She clenched her fists, letting her Gift surge. Her entire body thrummed with aura shaped by her triple affinity: fire, earth, gravity. She lunged, slamming her knuckles into the boar's flank. Earth pulses rippled, fracturing its bony plating.
The boar squealed, lashing out with massive tusks, but she harnessed gravity to yank it downward mid-charge. Then she ignited her fists with flames, pounding the boar's skull in a flurry of unstoppable strikes. The watchers glimpsed her determination, as unstoppable as any White-rank fist user could be. When it fell, she snagged the token, panting but determined to press on.
That was only the first floor, or possibly the second, for these unstoppable four. The watchers outside marveled at how quickly they progressed, overshadowing novices who got pinned or lost. Each floor, the beasts grew fiercer, their roars echoing through passageways that twisted and turned. Some beasts lurked in hidden dens, some guarded corridors or token caches, while others prowled aimlessly, attacking anyone who ventured close.
