Dante counted twelve guards through the borrowed binoculars, two at the main gate and four more patrolling the weathered stone walls of the fortress. Adrian’s advance team moved below, securing the entrance with the kind of coordinated precision that made him uneasy.
"Twelve guards," Vex reported from beside him, his magitech eye whirring as it gathered data. "Two at the main gate, four patrolling the walls, six more inside based on heat signatures."
"Monsters or climbers?"
"Climbers. The heat patterns are too consistent for monsters." Vex lowered his rifle slightly. "Adrian’s people are good. They cleared the approach without triggering any of the defensive wards."
Dante watched the distant figures move with precision that spoke to professional training, coordinated hand signals and overlapping fields of fire that most climbing parties never developed. These weren’t amateurs playing at soldiers. These were soldiers playing at climbers.
"Too organized," he muttered.
"What?"
"Nothing." He handed the binoculars back and started down the slope toward where the rest of his team waited. "Let’s move. Adrian’s expecting us for the main assault."
The joint operation was Adrian’s idea, a raid on the Fortaleza to secure supplies and claim whatever artifacts remained from its original inhabitants. The logic was sound. The fortress sat on a high-value island that controlled sight lines over three major transit routes, and whoever held it could effectively tax any climber moving through this section of the floor.
Dante didn’t care about the strategic value. He cared about getting inside Adrian’s operation and seeing how it worked.
"You’re brooding," Ravenna said when he reached the team’s position.
"I’m thinking."
"Sa thing, with you." She fell into step beside him as they moved toward the fortress. "What’s bothering you?"
"Adrian’s team. They move like a military unit, not like climbers. Their equipnt is standardized, their tactics are coordinated, and their loyalty seems to run deeper than personal gain."
"So he has good subordinates. That’s not a cri."
"It’s not their skill that bothers . It’s their source." Dante kept his voice low enough that only Ravenna could hear. "That level of coordination requires resources, training infrastructure and command structure. You don’t build that from scratch on the lower floors."
"You think soone’s backing him."
"I think soone’s been backing him since before he entered the Tower."
Ravenna processed that in silence for a mont. "The Archon’s faction?"
"Or sothing connected to it. I need to know for certain."
They reached the fortress gates where Adrian stood waiting with that charming smile that never touched his eyes. His team fanned out behind him, twenty climbers who looked more like soldiers than survivors.
"Perfect timing," Adrian said. "My people secured the periter. Your team handles the interior sweep?"
"That was the agreent." Dante gestured for his people to move up. "Any resistance inside?"
"So remnant guardians, nothing your muscle can’t handle. We’ve identified the main treasure vault on the third level, should contain enough supplies to fund both our climbs for the next five floors."
"Convenient."
"I prefer ’strategic.’" Adrian clapped him on the shoulder. "Happy hunting, partner."
Dante led his team inside while Adrian’s people maintained the periter, which was exactly what he wanted. The interior was a maze of corridors and chambers, ancient stone architecture interspersed with crystalline light fixtures that still functioned despite their age.
"Spread out," he ordered. "Standard sweep pattern. Astrid, Ren, take the left wing. Leon, Sera, right wing. Ravenna, Vex, with ."
The team dispersed, and Dante waited until they were out of earshot before turning to his two companions.
"We’re not here for treasure."
Vex’s expression didn’t change. "Figured as much. What are we actually doing?"
"Finding proof." Dante started down a corridor that led away from the main vault, toward what his instincts told him was the fortress’s command center. "Adrian’s people are too professional to be what they claim. Sowhere in their operation is evidence of who’s really giving the orders."
"And if we get caught snooping?"
"Then we improvise."
They moved through the fortress in silence, avoiding the areas where combat sounds indicated the others were dealing with guardian constructs. The command center turned out to be exactly where Dante expected, a circular chamber on the highest accessible level with sight lines covering the approaches from every direction.
Soone had been here recently.
The dust on the floor showed multiple footprints, and the ancient communication crystal in the center of the room still humd with residual energy. Vex moved to examine it while Dante scanned the periter.
"This thing was activated within the last few hours,". Vex traced the runes along its base. "Long-range projection, probably to sowhere way above our current floor. The power requirents alone suggest Floor 40 or higher."
"Can you tell who used it?"
"Not directly, but..." Vex adjusted sothing on his magitech eye, cycling through spectrums until he found what he was looking for. "There. Residual aura imprint. Soone with a Shadow Path stood here while the crystal was active."
A Shadow Path user. Dante rembered seeing one among Adrian’s lieutenants, a quiet woman who moved like smoke and never spoke unless spoken to.
"He’s reporting to soone," Ravenna said quietly. "Soone powerful enough to have communication infrastructure spanning fifty floors."
"More than that." Dante approached the crystal, letting his Core sense the energy patterns. The signature was familiar in a way that made his skin crawl. "This frequency. I’ve felt it before."
"Where?"
"Floor 75." He pulled back from the crystal like it had burned him. "The Archon’s throne room used the sa resonance pattern. This wasn’t just a report. It was a direct line to the enemy."
The implications settled over them like a shroud. Adrian Cross wasn’t just a potential threat. He was an active operative for whatever force controlled the Tower’s upper reaches, embedded among climbers to monitor and manipulate their progress.
"What do we do?" Vex asked.
"Nothing, yet." Dante forced his racing thoughts into order. "Adrian doesn’t know we found this. We maintain the alliance, gather more intelligence, and wait for the right mont."
"And when that mont cos?"
Dante thought about Ren dying on Floor 75, about Ravenna in chains and the Archon’s voice saying "you again" like they were old friends eting for the hundredth ti.
"When that mont cos, I end him. Slowly."
Footsteps echoed in the corridor outside. Adrian’s voice called out, friendly and unsuspecting.
"Dante? You up here? We found the vault, and you’re going to want to see this."
He walked out to et his enemy, composing his expression into sothing that matched Adrian’s easy charm.
"Find anything interesting up here?" Adrian asked as Dante erged into the corridor.
"Just dust and old bones. The real prize is in your vault, I assu?"
"You assu correctly." Adrian gestured for him to follow. "Co on, partner. Let’s see what we’ve won."
Dante fell into step beside him, close enough to sll the cologne and old blood, and wondered how long he could keep playing this ga before one of them made a mistake.
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