Floor 2 was a forest that wanted to kill you.
Trees the size of old buildings stretched toward a sky that changed color every few hours, with undergrowth thick enough to hide anything and sounds in the distance that could be wind or something hunting.
Dante hit the ground running.
"Move," he ordered. "We need distance from the entry point."
Dax and Lena followed without question. They learned on Floor 1 that hesitation got people killed.
The forest swallowed them. Behind them, other candidates spread out in different directions, some alone and some in groups. Screams would start soon because they always did.
Dante navigated by instinct and memory. The broker's information confirmed what he already knew: Floor 2's dangers concentrated in specific zones. Avoid those zones, and survival became manageable.
Most climbers wandered blind and stumbled into death.
Not him.
---
They traveled for six hours before stopping.
The spot Dante chose was defensible: a rocky outcrop backed against a cliff face with good sight lines and only two approaches, the kind of place you could hold against superior numbers.
"We camp here for the night," he said.
Dax dropped his pack and sat down hard. "Night? Is there a night here?"
As if in answer, the sky began to dim, not like sunset but more like someone slowly turning down a light.
"The floor cycles every eight hours," Dante said. "Four hours dim and four hours bright. Creatures are more active during dim periods."
"Of course they are." Lena was already setting up a basic perimeter, placing rocks at intervals to create noise traps. "You know, for someone who claims to be a first-time climber, you seem to know a lot about how this place works."
"I research thoroughly."
"Uh-huh."
She didn't push further. Neither did Dax. They accepted that Dante had secrets. As long as those secrets kept them alive, they weren't going to dig.
Smart.
---
The first dim period passed without incident, but the second brought visitors.
Dante felt them before he heard them. A prickling at the back of his neck. His [Deja Vu] skill activating, warning him of danger.
He was on his feet with his knife out before the creatures emerged from the trees.
Three of them emerged. Wolflike, but too thin and too long, with eyes that glowed faint blue in the dim light.
[Shadowhound - Tier 2]
[Aggressive pack predator. Weakness: light-based attacks, exposed throat.]
The System provided the analysis automatically, useful for new climbers, though Dante had killed hundreds of these things.
"Dax, Lena. Stay behind me."
"Three against one isn't good odds," Lena said.
"I've had worse."
The Shadowhounds circled, testing them and looking for weakness.
Dante gave them one.
He took a half-step forward, putting weight on his right foot, exposing his left side. A subtle invitation. Take the opening.
The lead hound lunged.
[Phantom Step activated]
Dante's body shifted sideways through space. The hound's jaws closed on nothing. Before it could recover, his knife punched through its throat.
One down.
The other two attacked simultaneously in a classic flanking maneuver. He rolled under the first, let it sail over him, and came up with his knife leading into the second's chest.
Two down.
The third tried to run, smart but pointless.
Dante's thrown knife caught it in the spine. It dropped, twitching.
He walked over and finished it.
"Three seconds," Dax breathed. "You killed three of them in three seconds."
"They were Tier 2, not a challenge." Dante retrieved his knife and cleaned it. "Wake me in four hours, and we move at full bright."
He lay down and closed his eyes.
Sleep found him faster than it should have.
---
Dreams in the Tower were never pleasant.
Dante found himself on Floor 75 again with the sky torn open, the Hollow King descending, and the bodies of friends scattered like broken toys.
But this time, the dream shifted.
He was standing in a white void, empty and infinite.
A voice spoke from everywhere and nowhere.
*"You returned."*
Dante turned and searched for the speaker but found nothing.
"Who are you?"
*"You know who. You've always known."*
The Hollow King, but not the entity he remembered. This one felt different, less malevolent and more curious.
*"How many times now? How many loops? Do you even remember?"*
"This is my second time."
*"Is it?"*
The question hung in the white space.
*"The Tower uses you. Winds you up and sends you back whenever you fail. But it's running out of chances. The mechanism is breaking. Can't you feel it?"*
Dante said nothing.
*"This is your last loop. Your last chance. Fail again, and there won't be another reset."*
"Then I won't fail."
The voice laughed. A sound like glass breaking.
*"They all say that. Right before they break."*
The white space cracked. The dream dissolved.
---
Dante woke to Lena shaking his shoulder.
"Your shift, and everything's quiet." She studied his face. "You were talking in your sleep."
"What did I say?"
"I don't know. Wasn't any language I recognized."
He filed that away and processed it. The dream might have been just a dream, or it might have been something else.
'If this really is the last loop, then I can't afford to screw it up.'
If that was true, it changed nothing. He was already committed.
He took his watch position and stared into the darkness until morning came.
---
Day two brought contact with other climbers.
A group of five stumbled into their camp around midday, wounded and exhausted, and one of them was being carried by the others.
"Please," their leader gasped. "We were attacked. Lost half our supplies. We just need a place to rest."
Dax moved to help. Dante's hand stopped him.
"Who attacked you?"
"Creatures, some kind of apes, huge. We didn't even see them until they were on top of us."
Dante knew the creatures. [Ironback Apes]. Tier 2, but stronger than Shadowhounds. They nested in the eastern section of the forest.
"You came from the east?"
"Yeah. It was supposed to be a shortcut to the extraction point."
"There is no shortcut that way, just death."
The leader's face fell. "We know that now."
Dante considered. Helping them cost resources, slowed them down, and complicated things.
But these five weren't threats; they were just unlucky.
"One night," he said. "Rest and treat your wounded, then you go your own way."
The relief on their faces was almost painful.
"Thank you. Thank you. I'm Sera, by the way. Sera Knox."
Dante went very still.
'Sera Knox.'
The same Sera Knox who, in his original timeline, became his most trusted ally. Who fought beside him for years. Who died on Floor 75, trying to protect him from the Hollow King.
She was younger than he remembered and less scarred, with eyes that never learned to be cold yet.
But it was her. Unmistakably her.
"Dante," he said. His voice came out steadier than he felt. "Stay as long as you need."
---
Sera's group recovered faster than expected because the wounded man had a healing skill, low-level but effective. By the next morning, they were mobile again.
"We should stick together," Sera suggested. "Your guy clearly knows what he's doing. We've got numbers. It makes sense."
Dax looked at Dante, Lena looked at Dante, and everyone looked at Dante.
He looked at Sera.
'In the original timeline, I met her on Floor 12. She was already a Rank-C hunter by then. Hardened. Cynical. We didn't trust each other for months.'
'This is different. This is earlier. Softer.'
'I could shape that. Build loyalty from the ground up. Have an ally who trusts me completely.'
The calculation happened in less than a second.
"You can join us," he said. "But I make the decisions. No arguments, no debates. You follow orders or you leave."
Sera's eyes narrowed slightly. "That's a lot of control to give one person."
"I've kept my people alive so far."
"So you have." She studied him for a long moment. "Fine. We'll try it your way."
The group expanded from three to eight.
It was the beginning of something. Dante wasn't sure what.
---
The rest of Floor 2 passed almost smoothly.
With Sera's fighters and his knowledge, they avoided most danger zones. Creatures that should have threatened them died before they could attack, and resources that should have been hidden were found exactly where Dante expected them.
By day five, they reached the extraction point ahead of schedule.
The point was marked by a massive tree with crystals growing from its bark. A gate shimmered at its base.
[Floor 2 early completion bonus]
[You have reached the extraction point before day 7]
[Bonus reward: +500 XP, +1 skill point]
The System dinged in his vision. Dante dismissed it.
"We go through together," he said. "Same formation as the approach, fast and clean."
They moved as a unit now. Eight people who learned to trust each other, at least a little.
The gate swallowed them.
On the other side, Floor 2 was complete.
[Floor 2: Complete]
[Survivors: 1,391/1,847]
[Your rank: #84]
[7-day survival bonus: Achieved]
[Early completion bonus: Achieved]
[Total XP gained: 2,450]
[Level up: 3 → 5]
Four hundred fifty-six dead. Nearly a quarter of the remaining candidates.
Dante looked at his expanded group. All eight had made it.
'Two floors down. This is just the beginning.'
Sera caught his eye. "You knew the exact route, the exact timing, the exact location of everything."
"I told you. I research thoroughly."
"That wasn't research, that was experience." She crossed her arms. "I don't know what your deal is, but whatever it is, I want in."
He almost laughed.
'She said the same thing to me on Floor 30 in the original timeline. After I saved her life for the third time.'
'This timeline is different. Everything is accelerating.'
"Stick with me," he said. "You'll find out eventually."
"That a promise?"
"It's a prediction."
The safe zone opened before them. Floor 3 waited beyond.
The climb continued.