Reminder: Nathan is on level seven of ten and has a ball weight, a tongue clip with chain to the nipples, shackles on his ankles, a weight belt around the hip, a collar that keeps his head from turning, cuffs keeping his wrists together in front of him, and a nipple chain with six gems.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Level seven was physically impossible. The room was definitely too big to fit into a tenth of the pyramid. And now that I thought about it, the other floors had also seemed arbitrarily sized. Dimensional shenanigans again, which meant I had no way of estimating how long the way up actually was.
I stood in a room about the size of the hub-cathedral turned upward. The light source here was a green shining pillar of about twenty steps in diameter and an unknown amount of steps high. Various platforms along the room's walls touched the pillar in irregular intervals. I counted seven of them.
As I approached the faintly glowing column I saw stairs along it, spiraling upward. They were only protruding a tiny bit from the stone and made of the same material. Testing them revealed they weren't slippery, but fairly smooth. If I stepped with great care I could make it upwards without falling off. I wondered if I could fall to my death or if the magic of this place would save me. Perhaps I would be thrown back to the demon-construct floor again.
It took me a minute to get up the first twenty or so stairs because I was highly anticipating whatever horrible twist the demons would bring out. Nothing happened until I reached the first platform. That's when I saw that the stairs changed to even thinner ones. I would have trouble ascending since my legs were shaky and my hands were tied, thus not allowing me to press myself again the column's wall the way I would have liked to.
On the platform was a familiar green orb which would probably attach to my balls like it had done in the ice cave. But on the other hand, it could have been one of the orbs from the slow race and I was about to get the game master's help.
I stepped onto the smooth, featureless platform and towards the orb. It promptly jumped from its position and hovered below my crotch where it pulled equally on both balls and the head of my dick.
I wanted to curse but with the tongue clip even the usual indecipherable rambling came out only as a groan.
From experience I knew I would be able to carry up to four at most, but I already was full of weight and had to climb a pillar. There was no way to take more of them.
The platform I was on moved upward. I held still, terrified of losing my balance.
After a few seconds my ascent stopped at platform number two. It had a weight orb on it as well. I had the choice between using the next elevator or getting back to walking along the spiral.
I chose the stairs, which were now fairly broad again but also absurdly high, requiring me to raise my feet to hip height with each stair.
It was a miserable, slow walk, but I wasn't in danger of falling, which was the only thing that could have made me take on more dick-ball-weight-orbs. After the next fifty or so stairs, I got to platform three.
On this one, the prospect of using the elevator was tempting because there were no more stairs. Instead the way up had to be climbed through thick poles sticking out of the pillar. It was not immediately dangerous, though, so I decided to climb. My arms were as rested by now as they were going to get.
Of course, this left me with the problem that my hands were cuffed. I had to grab a pole, pull myself up and then either hold onto a lower pole with my legs, or sit on one if it was in reach of my ass.
That way, my ascension was a lot slower than it could have been. Luckily, the poles gave me enough grip to combat the usual sweat streams I left behind everywhere. The weights on my hips, limbs and especially my crotch pulled with as much force as I could exert. Any more weight and I would not be able to pull myself along the poles.
When I reached the fourth platform I dropped onto it because I couldn't hold myself up any longer. Right away, the orb attached and I was elevated to platform five.
With two orbs pulling my balls and dick I had a hard time standing without constantly crying out. Also, since they once again repelled each other, they forced my thighs apart just to make it a bit more uncomfortable.
I got up with every part of my body in some variety of pain and surveyed my next challenge. There were neither stairs nor poles. Instead there were bars – like those on a ladder, except wildly distributed across the pillar.
It would have been possible to use them as stairs of sorts, so I didn't step onto the elevator and instead grabbed a bar. My feet did most of the work, with my tied hands only holding me upright as I stepped onto higher and higher pieces of the broken mockery of a ladder.
Platform number last-but-one followed soon after, and the ladder pieces turned into carvings. They were too small for me to put my foot in without danger of slipping. Considering I didn't have full use of my arms, I decided I couldn't risk it.
The third orb forced me into an awkward stance with my legs wide spread and the pull on my balls made me think of the stress position between games. I could not stand upright any longer. The ball weight was too intense.
So I dropped on all fours and then on my side. There was a small decrease in ball pain but I had no idea how I would go forward.
The last platform came into my field of vision. There was only one more `staircase' between the top and my bruised body. I looked for the way up, hoping it would be simple stairs, although I didn't think I could drag myself up.
The pillar was perfectly smooth. Taking a fourth orb was my only option. For cruelty's sake, the sixth and seventh platforms were more than a step length apart.
Screaming, I fought myself into a standing position, ran forward and jumped. It felt as if trying to jump with my balls tied to the ground, but I landed on the other side with everything still attached.
On all fours, my crotch rubbing along on the ground, I dragged myself to the fourth orb. It attached right away and I rose to the top, right underneath the ceiling.
With tied hands it was nearly impossible to go forward. The orbs had to have a weight far exceeding my body weight.
Sweat and precum greased my way as I slithered along the floor like a snake that had forgotten how to go forward. I must have looked hilarious to the audience but I wanted nothing more than tear demon heads off their massive bodies.
As I passed the line from platform to the column's flat top, I saw movement below. Kang had used the first platform and ascended. I didn't have all the time in the world anymore. If Kang was already in this room it was possible – though not likely – that Sven wasn't far behind. Depending on the next challenges I could still come in last.
A gem attached to my nipple chain at the same time as the orbs vanished. I let out a hoarse cry in relieve and waited for the gift to appear.
The seventh gift consisted of a thin, but unbreakable string from my cuffs to the head of my dick where it wrapped around the separation between head and rod. From there it split and attached to my ankle shackles.
Naturally, all the ropes were too short.
If I wanted to keep my hands hanging where they were, I had to bend my knees. If I wanted to keep my legs straight I had to bend my torso.
A staircase descended the short distance from the ceiling and I made my way up on wobbly legs. Despite everything I felt light – as if I was floating. The orbs really had been most of the weight on me.
Part of me wished Kang good luck. Another part of me hoped he'd take on too many orbs and get stuck.