Chapter 29 - Ninth Floor (1/2)
The 9th Floor was a lot like the 3rd Floor, in the sense that it was a small town. As the group was looking around, a woman with a spiky, blue mohawk walked up to them. She was wearing a black leather jacket, leather pants, and knee-high shoes.
”What up, Regulars. The name's Moxie, and I'm your Test Administrator.” She greeted them while waving her hand.
”Here on the 9th Floor, we like playing games! Every few years, we change up the Test, but it's always in the form of a board game. The current game on the Floor is something we like to call Sky Chess.” Moxie explained while pointing towards the sky.
Up in the air, you could see squares that were spread out. Each was a distance away, where you had to jump quite the length to be able to reach it.
”Cna you please hurry up? I really want to take a bath!” Androssi begged the punk-looking woman.
Moxie smirked at her and deliberately started talking in slow motion. ”The special thing about this game is that it's played by four teams of eleven Regulars, unlike the normal chess where you have only two teams. Each team starts in the middle of each side of the board. The board is 11x11 squares.” She spelled out each word, letter by letter, driving the Princess of Zahard crazy.
”Each team has five Pawns, a Rook, Bishop, Horse, Queen, and a King. Pawns can only move one space forward. Rooks can move two squares, either vertically or horizontally. Bishops can only move diagonally two spaces. Horses can move in an L shape, two squares forward and one to the side. Queens can move three spaces in any direction, and Kings can move in any direction without limit.”
”You can only attack enemy pieces if you are on the same square as them. Each turn a piece has to be moved. You can not pass a turn without moving one.”
”Each team has to have one Player, who will choose how the pieces move. The Player can be chosen by the team, but all other positions are randomly ȧssigned before the game starts.” Moxie explained the rules.
Leesoo raised his hand and asked a question. ”What if a Regular can't jump to the square they are sent to?” Each square was quite a distance away from another. Some Regulars might not even be able to jump that distance.
”Well, that's not our problem, Regulars.” Moxie laughed out. ”Those are the rules, and if you can't play the game by the rules, you will have to wait until a new game is chosen, or you can go back to where you came from.”
Moxie pulled out ten black cards and flicked them towards the group. ”Each Regular gets a free room ȧssigned to them. The card will point in the direction of your room.”
The moment Androssi caught the card, she was already running towards her room.
”There are a few facilities on the Floor, but you can go and explore them on your own. If you have any questions... I won't answer them. So good luck, Regulars.” Laughing out, Moxie left them by teleporting away from there.
”Guess we need one more Regular in order to attempt the Test,” Leesoo commented.
Lumen sighed, but there was nothing he could do to change the rules of the Test. If he is lucky, he could find someone useful. If not, he could pick a random Regular just for the Test.
Their group was still missing a Lightbearer, so it would be good if they could find a good one here.
”Either way, we might end up staying here for a bit. Let's go and see what this Floor has to offer.” Lumen told the group.
Just a few minutes after they started exploring the Floor, they heard a sonic boom. Before they could realize what's happening, they saw a blonde man standing in front of them. Dressed similarly to Lumen, the man was holding a Silver Dwarf under his arm.
Almost everyone from the group was able to recognize the Silver Dwarf as Evan. The silver-haired Ranker looked very miserable and was silently sobbing. The blonde man roughly dropped Evan on the ground.
Before anyone could even react, the blonde man appeared in front of Lumen and gave him a crushing bear hug. His bones cracked from being hugged by the blonde man.
Despite having his guard up, Lumen couldn't even react to the man's movements.
”My dude! I'm so happy to see someone from the outside world!” Lumen didn't recognize him at first, but after hearing his words, he realized the man that hugged him is Urek Manzano. An Irregular just like him.
The group was momentarily frozen from the incredibly fast movements of the blonde man, but they quickly got out of their stupor. They were about to attack the man, and Lumen was able to sense that. ”Stop. Attacking him would be pointless.”
Urek is one of the five strongest people in the Tower. Their attacks would only tickle him.
”Oh, man! I don't know why you are here, but I'm really happy to see you. Let's go somewhere more private.” Just as Urek finished the sentence, the group heard another sonic boom, and the two disappeared from their spot.
The whole group was puzzled about what happened. The situation was very confusing, but Leesoo was the first to comprehend Urek's words. ”Wait, did he say outside world?”
As the group was pondering on those words, another person arrived. Princess Yuri looked around and didn't see either Lumen or Urek. ”Damn it, Urek. Why did you steal my date?”
The situation was getting more and more baffling by the minute. The blonde guy they just saw take their leader away was Urek Manzino? Princess Yuri had a date with Lumen? He was also pretty much confirmed to be an Irregular by Urek's words as well.
Bombshell after bombshell was delivered to them in such a short time.
As they were trying to comprehend the situation, Urek and Lumen appeared in a remote place on the 9th Floor.
”Little bro! I don't why you've come to the Tower, but I'm glad to see someone from the outside world. You don't have to stand on ceremony and treat me like royalty. Just treat me like your big bro!” Urek told him with a satisfied smile.
”Um, sure. Whatever you say.” Lumen was confused by his words. He didn't plan on treating him like royalty in the first place.
Urek looked at him for a moment and uttered. ”You actually don't know who I am?”