I am just an NPC ,but I rewrite the story-Chapter 72: [71] The Ten-Minute Peace

"After that," I said, leaning my back against the heavy oak dining table that had manifested in the center of our new hub, "we take the Tower."

The words were bold, maybe a little too bold for a guy who was still picking dried swamp mud out of his fingernails, but they seemed to settle the frantic energy in the room. For the first time in what felt like years—but was really only a few days of objective time—we were all in the same space. No chat boxes, no shimmering blue screens between us. Just us.

"Take the Tower. Right. Great plan," Red said, though she didn’t look up from her daggers. She was sitting cross-legged on a rug that looked suspiciously like the one from our foyer back in Silver-Port. "Can we maybe take a nap first? Or a shower? I smell like a salt-cured herring and I’m pretty sure my hair has turned into a structural hazard."

"I’ve got the kitchen!" Tybalt’s voice echoed from the back of the hub. He was practically vibrating with excitement, his hands flying over the surfaces of a stove that looked like a dream version of his ’Titan’ oven. "Ren, there’s actual butter in this fridge! Real, creamy, non-glowing butter! And the flour... oh, the gluten development on this stuff is going to be magnificent!"

"Ty, we have nine minutes," Kaelen rumbled. He was standing near the fireplace, his massive frame casting a long shadow over the stone floor. He looked at Mia, who was leaning against one of Cerberus’s four heads. "Mia, you okay? You’re quiet."

Mia blinked, her azure eyes reflecting the firelight. "I’m just listening to the house, Kaelen. It’s bigger now. It’s not just our rooms. It’s like... a hundred houses all stacked on top of each other, and everyone inside is holding their breath."

"That’s the Clash," Cian said. He was frantically flipping through his notebook, his glasses held together by a fresh strip of glowing blue tape he must have bought from the shop. "I’ve been cross-referencing the mana-pulses. There are ninety-three other signatures currently active in the Floor 10 queue. Most are Level 12 or 13. A few are Level 15. And then there’s Zero."

"Level 20," I muttered, checking the holographic ranking that hovered in the center of the room. "He’s at the top. He’s the peak."

"How is that even possible?" Lysandra asked, stepping into the light. She had cleaned her shield, and it shone with a soft, silver luster. "We have been moving as fast as possible, clearing High-Risk floors, and we only just hit Level 10. How did he reach 20?"

"Efficiency," I said, remembering the message Zero sent me. "He’s not stopping to save elven cities or help beast-men. He’s probably soloing entire floors in minutes. He’s playing the numbers, not the story."

"Well, he’s going to find out that numbers don’t bake bread," Tybalt shouted, emerging from the kitchen with a tray of what looked like small, golden biscuits. "Here. Eat these. I used the ’Mana-Flour’ I found. It says it provides a 10% boost to Stamina recovery for thirty minutes."

I took one. It was warm, flaky, and tasted like a sunny afternoon. I could feel the fatigue in my legs start to recede instantly. "Ty, you’re a genius."

"I’m a baker," Tybalt corrected, though he was beaming. "Now, Ren, you said we need to buy things. I have 1500 points left. What do I get? A bigger rolling pin? An enchanted whisk?"

"Everyone, open your shops," I commanded. Six blue screens flickered into life around the room. "We need to coordinate. Red, you’re the highest level besides Kaelen. What’s in your Legacy tab?"

"I’ve got something called ’The Ghost’s Tread,’" Red said, scrolling through her list. "5000 points. It says it makes me untrackable by tech-sensors for ten seconds. That sounds like it was made for fighting Zero’s world."

"Buy it," I said. "Kaelen, what about you?"

Kaelen grunted. "Abyssal Plating. 4500 points. Increases physical resistance but slows me down. I don’t like being slow."

"Get it anyway," I said. "If Zero has an energy spear, you need to be able to take the hit. Lysandra, look for ’Holy Aegis’ or anything that provides a group shield. We’re going into an arena. There won’t be any cover."

"I found ’Sunlight Mantle,’" Lysandra said. "It’s a passive aura. It reduces the effectiveness of dark-magic and necrotic rot. It costs 4000. I have exactly that much."

"Do it," I said. I looked at my own shop. I had about 2000 points left after the "Edge of Reality" upgrade. I scrolled through the utility items. My eyes landed on a ’Gravity Anchor’—a one-time use item that could lock a target in place for three seconds.

"Cian," I said. "You have the most Intelligence. Can you find a ’System Overload’ scroll? Something that can scramble electronics?"

"I’ve got something better," Cian pushed his glasses up. "An ’Arcane Feedback’ loop. If someone uses a high-energy weapon near me, I can redirect the discharge back into their battery. It’s risky, but it works on the same principle as the Phase-Compressor you used on the whale."

"Perfect," I said. "Mia, what about you?"

Mia looked at her screen. Her list was very short, mostly filled with things that had names like ’Star-Dust’ and ’Void-Echo.’

"I have ’Pull,’" she said simply.

"Pull?"

"It says I can bring things closer," Mia explained. "Even things that don’t want to be."

I thought about the "Space" fragment. "That could be the most important skill we have. Keep it."

[Time until Clash: 02:00]

The floor beneath us gave a sharp, metallic shudder. The stone walls of the hub began to glow with a faint, golden light, and the doors to our private quarters sealed shut.

"Alright," I said, standing up and checking the notched knife at my belt. The silver line was pulsing. "Listen up. We don’t know what the arena looks like. We don’t know if we’ll be dropped in together or scattered. If we’re scattered, the first priority is finding each other. Use the chat, but keep it brief. If you see someone from another world, don’t engage unless they move first. We’re the underdogs here, and I want everyone to keep thinking we’re just ’the bakery guild’ until it’s too late for them to change their minds."

"And what if we see Zero?" Red asked, her daggers spinning.

"If you see Zero," I said, looking her in the eye, "you run toward Kaelen. We don’t fight him one-on-one. We fight him as Eclipse."

Kaelen stepped up beside me, his black sword resting on his shoulder. He looked like the monster the world had made him, but his eyes were steady. "We’re ready, Ren."

Lysandra stood on my other side, her shield held ready. "For the Guild."

"For the muffins!" Tybalt added, though his voice cracked at the end.

Cerberus stood in front of us, all four heads letting out a low, synchronized growl. The smoke from his leg was filling the room, smelling of ozone and starlight.

[Time until Clash: 00:30]

The ceiling of the hub began to dissolve, revealing a vast, dark sky filled with thousands of floating platforms. Far below, I could see a massive circular floor made of white sand and obsidian. It was the Arena of the Apex.

"Here we go," I whispered.

A beam of light struck each of us. For a heartbeat, the hub, the fire, and the smell of Tybalt’s biscuits vanished.

The sensation of falling returned, but this time it was controlled. I was being lowered onto the arena floor by a pillar of golden light.

I hit the ground softly. It was white sand, fine as sugar. I looked around. The arena was huge, at least three miles across, surrounded by high walls of shimmering force-field. Floating high above the center was a massive holographic scoreboard.

[Floor 10: The Clash.]

[Condition: Last Guild Standing or Most Points at 60:00.]

[Current Participants: 100.]

I checked my immediate surroundings. I was lucky—Red and Mia had landed only twenty yards away. But Kaelen, Lysandra, Tybalt, and Cian were nowhere to be seen.

"Ren!" Red shouted, running toward me. She looked at the giant scoreboard. "We’re split up! I can’t see the guys!"

"Check the chat!" I yelled.

Ren: Red and Mia are with me. Kaelen, report.

Kaelen: I’m in a cluster of pillars on the North side. Lysandra is here. We’re being watched.

Cian: I’m with Tybalt! We landed in a sunken pit on the South side. Ren, there are drones here! Lots of them!

Tybalt: THEY’RE POINTY, REN! THE DRONES ARE POINTY!

"We need to move toward the center," I told Red. "Kaelen, Lysandra, head South. Cian, Tybalt, stay low and head North. We’ll meet in the middle."

"Ren, look," Mia said, pointing toward the Eastern wall.

A group of participants was already moving. They weren’t from our world. There were four of them, wearing heavy bone-armor that seemed to pulse with a dark, red light. They carried greatswords made of jagged obsidian and moved with a heavy, rhythmic stomp.

[Target: Bone-Reapers (Sector-4)]

[Level: 12-14]

"They’re high level," Red whispered, her hand going to her daggers. "Should we hide?"

"Too late," I said. "They’ve spotted the dog."

Cerberus hadn’t shrunk down. He was still in his Alpha state, his four heads fanning out as he stood protectively in front of Mia. A monster like that was hard to miss on a field of white sand.

The Bone-Reapers stopped. One of them, a massive figure with a skull for a helmet, pointed a jagged sword at us.

"Old Worlders," the Reaper’s voice was a wet, guttural rasp. "The Emperor said your souls were heavy. Let’s see how they taste."

"Emperor?" I asked, my mind racing. "You work for Valen?"

"Valen is a child playing with toys," the Reaper laughed, a sound like grinding gravel. "We serve the true Emperor of the Tower. The one who wrote the first blood."

The four Reapers charged.

"Red, take the small ones!" I ordered. "Mia, use ’Pull’ on the leader! Cerberus, GO!"

The fight was a chaotic blur of white sand and red light. Red was a shadow, her "Ghost’s Tread" making her invisible to the Reapers’ dark-sight. She darted between them, her daggers finding the gaps in their bone-armor.

Cerberus slammed into the group like a wrecking ball. Two of his heads clamped onto a Reaper’s shoulders, while his smoky leg swiped the legs out from under another.

I engaged the leader. He was Level 14, his Strength stat likely double mine. He swung his obsidian greatsword in a vertical arc that would have split a boulder.

I didn’t block. I used the "Edge of Reality."

As the blade came down, I stepped inside his guard. I thrust my knife upward. The silver line on the blade flared with an intense, white light.

SHATTER.

The obsidian greatsword, a weapon from a dark-magic world, didn’t just stop. It disintegrated where my knife touched it. The "Edge of Reality" ignored the magical durability of the bone-steel.

The Reaper froze, staring at his shattered hilt. "What... what are you?"

"I’m the guy who’s tired of being told I don’t belong here," I said.

I kicked him in the chest, the Level 10 impact sending him stumbling back into Mia’s range.

"Mia! Now!"

Mia raised her hands. "PULL!"

The air behind the Reaper warped. An invisible force yanked him backward with the speed of a jet. He flew through the air, screaming, and slammed into a stone pillar fifty yards away.

[Participant Eliminated.]

[Points +500]

The other three Reapers, seeing their leader taken out by a ’scrawny kid’ and a girl, hesitated. It was just enough time for Kaelen and Lysandra to arrive.

They didn’t just arrive; they crashed into the flank of the Reapers like a physical disaster. Kaelen’s black sword hummed with a dark hunger, and Lysandra’s shield-bash sent a shockwave of holy light that turned the bone-armor brittle. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶

In seconds, the remaining Reapers were gone, dissolved into grey dust.

[Guild Eclipse: Points 2000]

[Current Rank: 2]

"Everyone okay?" I panted, looking at the team. They were all there now—Cian and Tybalt had managed to slip past the drones and join up with the main group.

"I’m fine," Kaelen said, wiping black ichor from his blade. "But we’ve got a problem. Look at the center."

We looked.

In the very center of the arena, a platform of silver light had risen. Standing on the platform, his silver suit gleaming under the holographic scoreboard, was Zero.

He wasn’t fighting. He was just standing there, his energy spear resting on his shoulder. Around him, the bodies of at least a dozen participants were scattered across the sand.

Zero looked toward us. Even from a mile away, I could feel his gaze. It was cold. Analytical.

"Ren," Zero’s voice echoed across the arena, amplified by his tech. "You’ve gathered your ’party.’ You’ve collected your ’points.’ But the game is over. I’ve reached the threshold."

He pointed his spear at the scoreboard.

[Rank 1: Zero (Level 21)]

[Status: Ready for Floor 11.]

"Wait, he’s already cleared the floor?" Red asked, her eyes wide. "Then why is he still here?"

"He’s not waiting for the portal," Cian whispered, his voice trembling. "He’s waiting for us."

Zero jumped from the platform. He didn’t fall; he glided on jets of blue light from his boots. He landed a hundred yards away from us, the sand exploding in a neat circle.

"I told you, Ren," Zero said, walking toward us with a slow, deliberate pace. "In the end, only the individual matters. Your ’Guild’ is a weakness. A collection of anchors holding you back from the true potential of the Tower."

"They aren’t anchors, Zero," I said, stepping forward to lead the line. "They’re the reason I’m still standing."

Zero stopped fifty yards away. He raised his spear, the tip glowing with a blinding, white-hot energy.

"Let’s test that theory," he said.

[Warning: Boss Encounter — Zero (Apostle of Logic).]

[Condition: Survival.]

"Form up!" I yelled. "Kaelen, front! Lysandra, shield! Cian, get that feedback loop ready! Tybalt... just don’t stop throwing things!"

The Clash of the Apex had truly begun.