{Enter The Tower}

The world twisted as his soul was pulled into a new body.

Ethan inhaled sharply as his senses snapped back into place. But unlike previously, he was calm and slowly opened his eyes.

’In the real world, I’m a beast among men, trying to hide and fit in.’

He smiled excitedly.

’Here, I’m free - a beast among beasts. And I can finally let loose.’

Ethan spent more than half his time since receiving his Title in the tower, so it was only natural that he had grown accustomed to it. Wildly, he felt more comfortable here without having to worry about other people.

He looked down to see that he was in the same rags and sandals.

{Welcome back to the Tower Of Beasts!}

Then he looked around him, and his expression immediately twisted.

"What the hell?"

The environment was... disgusting.

That was the best way to describe what he was seeing.

The air itself felt thick and humid, clinging to his skin like a damp film. A sour, corrosive stench filled his nostrils, making him instinctively recoil. Before him stretched a vast, murky expanse of bubbling liquid.

’That’s definitely not water.’ 𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦

It seemed to be a greenish-yellow and viscous acid that was boiling in slow, ominous pockets. There were faint hissing sounds as gas escaped into the air.

Streams of it cut through in jagged paths, forming a twisted network of corrosive waterways. Meanwhile, solid ground was very limited, scattered, and unreliable.

Large, rotting lily pads floated lazily atop the acid, their surfaces slick and unstable. Half-submerged logs drifted slowly, eaten away at the edges. Small patches of muddy land jutted out here and there, barely wide enough to stand on comfortably.

Everything looked like it was slowly dissolving.

Even the trees, or what remained of them, were warped and skeletal, their bark blackened and peeling, as though the environment itself was trying to consume them.

{Floor Twenty-One: Acidic Swampland (C)}

Ethan stared, dragging a hand down his face.

"You’ve got to be fucking kidding me."

This wasn’t just inconvenient; it was an actively hostile terrain.

The cold or heat that he used to complain about felt luxurious in comparison.

But his mind immediately began adjusting.

"I can’t summon Wolfy," he muttered.

The massive Ulfen would struggle here; as agile as it was, it was too big and heavy. One misstep and...

"Yeah, he’d just sink and melt."

That definitely wasn’t ideal.

"So..."

His eyes narrowed slightly.

"Assimilation."

That was the play, using Wolfy’s power without the drawbacks of its size.

"And then I can summon the others."

Talon and Spark could both fly and navigate this filthy mess. But Ethan himself couldn’t, so he was going to have to deal with it all up close.

"Exploring this floor is going to be annoying."

As if to prove his point, something small splashed near his feet.

Ethan barely registered it until a tiny droplet of acid flicked up and landed on his leg. It sizzled instantly, burning through his skin with alarming speed.

"Shit!"

He jerked back, gritting his teeth as the pain flared sharply from that tiny amount.

"That’s fucked."

His eyes darkened slightly as he looked out across the swamp again.

"If the environment’s like this..."

His jaw tightened.

"...What the hell are the beasts going to be like?"

As if the Tower itself had been waiting for that exact thought, the surface of the acid ahead of him began to bubble. It wasn’t random like the other boiling patches; something was moving beneath it.

Ethan stilled, his instincts sharpened instantly.

"Of course," he muttered.

A low ripple spread outward as something broke the surface, and just like that, his first encounter on a C Tier Floor began.

-

Ethan shifted his footing on the half-rotted log beneath him, his eyes narrowing as something massive rose from the corrosive swamp.

First came the bulge, then the break.

A grotesque head forced its way through the bubbling liquid, strands of viscous acid sliding off its skin in slow, sizzling trails.

{Common Beast Status}

{Race: Acidspine Toad

Growth Stage: Prime

Beast Rank: C

Strength: 36

Speed: 40

Stamina: 38

MP: 34/34}

Ethan stared.

"That’s a common beast?!"

The creature was enormous - easily the size of a small car.

Its bloated body pulsed faintly, translucent patches along its sides revealing bubbling sacs of acidic fluid sloshing beneath its skin. Jagged, crystalline spines, corroded and misshapen, jutted from its back like broken glass.

As for its eyes, they were giant, wet, and aware, locking onto Ethan instantly.

A long, slow croak vibrated from deep within its throat, the sound warped and distorted as if filtered through liquid.

"Yeah," Ethan muttered, recoiling slightly. "This floor’s really fucking disgusting."

He mentally reached for the Ulfen to assimilate with as planned, then paused.

"Actually, no..."

His eyes sharpened.

"Let’s try something else."

If he was going to survive this floor, he needed mobility, precision, and most importantly, speed.

And he had just the beast for that.

’Partial Assimilation: Talon.’

The change was immediate.

His body lightened as if gravity itself had loosened its grip. His posture straightened subtly, shoulders shifting, bones aligning into something more aerodynamic.

Instantly, everything became clearer and slower as his field of view widened and his vision sharpened. His eyes, now hawk-like, scanned every surface: the unstable lily pads, the drifting logs, the bubbling acid currents.

Nothing escaped him.

"Much better."

He rolled his shoulders once, flexing his fingers that were now slightly elongated and reinforced. With a speed stat of nearly seventy in this form, he was a blur waiting to happen.

But the toad moved first.

There was no warning or build-up, its body suddenly tensed then...

Fwip!

Something shot toward him fast, extremely fast.

Ethan’s eyes widened, his body moved on instinct, twisting sharply as he leapt sideways onto a nearby lily pad. Something sliced past him, close, too close.

A thin line of blood appeared along his side.

"What the-?"

He landed, barely stabilising himself as the lily pad dipped under his weight.

Then he saw it.

The toad’s tongue, which was coated in a glistening sheen of corrosive fluid, was retracting after slicing past him.

"You’ve got to be kidding me."

He glanced down.

The cut wasn’t deep, but it burned badly as the acid coating was already eating into his skin.

And that was just the start...