Floor 26 was as always the same. We killed the floor boss and moved to floor 27.
Which, in my head, always translates to money. Simple math. Monsters die, cores drop, coins appear, problem solved.
At least that's how it should've been.
Armored armadillo popped up first. Level 28. Cute enough that I made the worst decision of my life and actually petted it. It even leaned into my hand like it was domesticated.
For a second I forgot I was in a death tower and not some weird petting zoo with trauma.
The rest? Turned into cores.
Then we saw them.
A group of earth players surrounded by player killers. Their numbers were getting bigger by the day.
The type of people who discovered "effort" and decided it was optional. The type who think stealing is a skill tree.
"Give us all your cores and tower coins. Now!" one of them laughed, holding a player down like it was a game.
All earth players.
Of course.
