Chapter 355: Unleashing The Beast

"THAT IS DANGEROUS!" a guard shouted behind him.

The wind struck Kael’s face as he dropped from the wall. One of the trolls looked up, but it noticed him too late.

Kael landed on its shoulders, and the impact drove the creature to one knee. The troll roared as Kael grabbed the side of its head with both hands and twisted.

The neck did not break.

Of course it did not. The thing’s neck was thicker than Kael’s torso.

"Right."

The troll reached for him, but Kael drove one fist into its temple. The impact sounded like a hammer striking wet timber, snapping the creature’s head sideways. Kael hit it again, and bone collapsed beneath his knuckles.

The troll fell. Kael jumped from its shoulders before the body could strike the ground.

A goblin rushed him, and Kael kicked through its chest. The creature flew backwards and disappeared beneath the legs of an orc.

The orc raised an axe. Kael stepped inside the swing and struck beneath its chin, shattering the jaw with enough force to lift the creature from the ground. Before it could fall, Kael caught its armor and hurled the body into the goblins behind it.

Then the battlefield noticed him.

Enemies turned toward the lone climber who had just jumped from the fortress wall. Goblin faces twisted with excitement. Orcs roared, and the trolls stopped battering the gate.

For several seconds, Kael became the most interesting thing in front of it.

"Good."

A goblin leapt at him, and Kael punched its head apart. An orc charged from his left, but Kael ducked beneath the axe and drove his shoulder into its stomach. The creature folded around him as he lifted, turned, and threw it directly into the legs of a troll.

The troll stumbled. Kael stepped forward and punched it in the knee.

Something gave.

The massive creature collapsed sideways, and Kael climbed with it. One hand caught the troll’s ear while his other fist came down into its face.

Once. Twice. Three times.

The skull caved inward, and Kael dropped back to the ground.

He had used no Fire, Frost, Heft, or any other rune. He was fighting with nothing except his own body, the same body the Fist King had spent a year tearing apart and rebuilding through training that Kael still occasionally woke up angry about.

A goblin stabbed toward his ribs. Kael moved aside, caught the wrist, pulled the creature forward, and drove his elbow into its skull crushing it clean.

An orc tried striking him from behind, but Kael heard the movement. He turned and blocked the weapon against his gauntlet rattling his shoulders, then stepped forward before the orc could recover and buried a fist beneath its ribs.

The armor dented. The flesh beneath it ruptured, and the orc coughed blood across Kael’s helmet.

Kael pushed the body away as a troll approached. Its club was an entire tree trunk, and the creature swung it horizontally with enough force to flatten several goblins standing behind Kael.

He dropped beneath the attack. The trunk passed above his head, and Kael rose inside the troll’s reach before driving his fist into its stomach.

The fat distorted around his arm. For a moment, the troll looked confused.

Then blood exploded from its mouth.

Kael had not pierced the flesh. He had not needed to. The force travelled inward and ruptured whatever happened to be behind the wall of fat.

The troll staggered. Kael struck it again, causing its knees to buckle, then broke its face with a third punch.

The creature collapsed, and Kael stepped aside before several tons of dead troll could land upon him.

The fortress soldiers above stared down at him.

Then they started cheering.

Kael ignored them. More enemies were coming, and he met them.

Every punch carried strength earned through titles, brutal training, and a body pushed far beyond what any Level One climber should possess. Skulls cracked, jaws broke, and ribs folded inward. Kael caught one goblin and threw it into another, then grabbed an orc by its belt and used the creature as a weapon against two more.

A troll attempted to stomp him. Kael rolled beneath the descending leg, rose behind the creature, and kicked the back of its knee until the joint bent the wrong way.

The troll screamed. Kael climbed onto its back and drove both fists into the base of its skull, sending the creature face-first into the ground.

His contribution continued rising, but Kael barely checked it. The pressure on the southern gate had stopped, and that was what mattered. The trolls that had been hammering it were now trying to hammer him.

He could work with that.

A tree trunk slammed into the place where Kael had been standing. Earth erupted around him, filling the area with dust. Kael moved through the cloud and punched the troll holding the weapon directly in the nose.

Blood sprayed as the creature reeled. Kael jumped and struck again, collapsing its face before landing beside it.

Another troll attacked from behind. Kael heard the wind from its club and threw himself forward. The weapon passed close enough to brush the back of his armor.

He rolled, rose, and dodged an orc’s spear. Kael snapped the shaft beneath one arm and drove the broken half through the creature’s throat, then stepped aside as another goblin attempted to leap onto his back.

He caught it in midair and slammed it into the ground. The creature stopped moving.

Kael allowed himself a breath. His body could continue, especially after the stamina potion, but the battlefield had not changed enough.

He glanced toward the walls. The southern gate was safe because the trolls were focused upon him, but the eastern gate was not. Another heavy impact shook it while the mage’s railgun remained in cooldown.

The spear wielder’s side was under similar pressure. Even Kael’s northern gate had begun taking hits now that the trolls had crossed the cooled terrain.

His expression darkened.

It was the same problem in a different location.

He could massacre everything around one entrance, but there were four. He could run to the eastern gate after clearing this one, then continue west and north, but the monsters would keep arriving.

The next wave was already somewhere beyond the horizon.

Kael punched an approaching goblin without looking, sending the creature flying several meters.

He needed more.

Not another turret. Not another repair.

Power.

Enough power to clear one side quickly and move to the next before its defenses collapsed.

The railgun he created himself had that power, but it was taking too long to recover its former shape. He needed something else. Personal power.

His internal energy could not provide it. Not yet. The improvised railgun had emptied him, and his runes were effectively unavailable until he recovered more.

Kael ducked beneath another troll’s swing. The tree trunk crashed into two orcs, and he stepped forward before striking the troll in the throat.

The creature gagged. Kael followed with a blow to the jaw that snapped its head backwards, then planted a third punch against its chest.

The troll collapsed.

Kael stood over it, knowing there was another source of power.

He had known since the beginning.

He had simply refused to touch it.

A goblin charged him, but Kael kicked it away and opened his status. The translucent window appeared before him while the battle continued around it.

His eyes moved downward, passing his stats, titles, and the accumulated bonuses that had carried him this far.

Then they stopped upon his level.

[Level: 1]

Kael stared at it.

He had remained at Level One intentionally. Every kill, every floor, every boss, and every achievement that awarded experience had passed without changing that number.

Kael had refused to allow the Tower to convert any of it into levels. The experience had accumulated instead, deferred and saved.

His entire climb had been built around proving that level was not the only measure that mattered. He had relied upon titles, equipment, runes, knowledge, and training. He had killed monsters dozens of levels above himself while remaining at the absolute bottom of the Tower’s progression.

The difference had even benefited him in some fights. Enemies far above his level interacted strangely with percentage-based effects, forcing Kael to find better solutions rather than depend upon cheap scaling.

More importantly, he liked having the experience available.

It was a reserve no one could see, a resource he had refused to spend because there had never been a reason to spend it.

A troll roared.

Kael closed the status window long enough to step aside. The club struck the ground, and Kael drove his fist into the troll’s ribs.

He felt several bones break, but the creature swung again. Kael ducked, caught one enormous wrist, and used the troll’s momentum to drag it forward. He struck the side of its knee, followed with another blow to the throat, and finished with a punch to the face.

The troll fell beside the others.

Kael reopened the screen. The option remained where it had always been.

[Deferred Experience]

He had not touched it since the second floor.

Not once.

How much had accumulated?

Kael expanded the window, and the number that appeared left him silent for a moment.

All those floors. All those monsters. Bosses killed while absurdly underleveled. Hidden achievements. Vanitas. Enemies that should have been impossible for a Level One climber.

Everything had been waiting here.

Kael looked toward the eastern gate as a section of wood broke loose. Soldiers rushed to reinforce it.

He looked west and saw more trolls arriving.

When he turned north, the burly man was standing above Kael’s gate, swinging his enormous sword into goblins while the first trolls began battering the entrance below him.

There was no time for pride.

Kael had never promised himself that he would remain Level One forever. He had only refused to spend the experience before he needed it.

Well, he needed it.

Another troll charged him and brought its tree trunk down. Kael dismissed the screen and stepped aside, allowing the impact to crater the ground beside him.

He punched upwards.

His fist crashed into the troll’s jaw, sending teeth flying from its mouth. The creature staggered, and Kael hit it again, then again, until it collapsed backwards.

Kael stood among the bodies, breathing heavily.

"Fine."

He reopened his status.

[Level: 1]

His eyes settled upon the option beneath it.

[Release Deferred Experience?]

Kael hesitated. He thought about the Fist King, the year of training, every title he had earned, and every fight he had won while refusing to rely upon levels.

Then he looked at the four gates being hammered apart simultaneously.

"Was fun while it lasted."

Kael selected the option.

[Release Deferred Experience]

The accumulated experience began pouring in.