Tower Dungeon Volumes 3 and 4 Review

Please note that this review contains spoilers for Tower Dungeon Volumes 3 & 4!

Tower Dungeon is a manga series by Tsutomu Nihei (Blame!, Knights of Sidonia) which takes place in a Dark Fantasy setting and is brought to us courtesy of Vertical (Kodansha). When an evil necromancer slays the king and carries off his daughter, secreting her in the legendary Dragon Tower, her steadfast Royal Guard approach the stronghold, but the way is blocked by powerful eldritch creatures… So, to supplement their forces in the face of mounting casualties, they press ordinary folks from the surrounding villages into service, including Yuva, a sturdy young farm boy with a strong back but no experience in battle, and only a battered old helmet and wooden shield to protect him.

Where we last left off in Volume 2, our heroes were continuing their quest through Level 25 of the Dragon Tower, but were ambushed and attacked by an unexpected threat in the form of former members of the Royal Guard, distraught at the countless deaths of comrades and convinced the trio are aware of a special weapon, the Dragonbane, threatening their lives in the process.

As it turns out, the adventurers did indeed unwittingly carry the weapon, hidden within an arrowhead of crystalized magic, worn as a pendant. Eriquo, beaten, bloody, and almost at the point of death still takes the opportunity to cuss out the cowardly traitors, and just before he meets his end in retaliation, is saved by Yuva’s quick-thinking as he manages to climb back up and stop one of the traitors attempting to shoot him with an arrow, by using one of Lilicen’s earrings (containing a magic stone), which she ignites verbally, thus wiping out most of their captors. Yuva dispatches the remaining two captors with a rugby-style tackle and a gnarly arrow to the throat, and for now at least the trio are free from imminent death.

Whilst recovering, Eriquo apologises for concealing that he held the Dragonbane upon his person, admitting that the Captain had taken it without permission, and that he planned to own up to having it when they reached level 80. Lilicen takes a pragmatic approach and rightly points out that A) there are traitors working against their cause that they must be mindful of, and B) they have a superweapon now that should hopefully work to their advantage in saving the princess.

As the trio make it to level 59, they come across another vast Great Hall, home to not only a member of the Excavator’s Guild, but also a massive Basilisk that has turned her, and then Yuva, into stone. Eriquo and Lilicen work in tandem to take the creature down and free those turned to stone, only to find the Basilisk has survived even post-decapitation. Yuva is able to finally take it down, but almost dies (yet again) in the process. Thankfully, everyone in the vicinity survives the ordeal, the Excavators get some rare loot from the Basilisk’s remains and gift our heroes with some Mindlinks (rare items) for their troubles.

Volume 3 winds down with a nice moment between Lilicen and Yuva as they exchange the Mindlinks (in ring form so you can guess the subtext there), and Yuva has another dream wherein he communicates with the trapped princess. She imparts a message to stop her captor, the Necromancer, from re-animating the remains of a Dragon which lurks on the 80^th level of the tower, and also gives him her necklace. As the chapter concludes, Eriquo and Lilicen realise that Yuva is of royal blood.

Whereas Volume 3 very much feels like a focus for the main trio of the story in Eriquo, Lilicen, and Yuva, Volume 4 opts to focus on newer characters, as we’re introduced to a motley crew including Churafee, Daughter of the Ratwick Chieftain Nezudon and Gesh, their strongest warrior, both of whom belong to a Rat-Humanoid race. We also meet Iscale, a One-winged Dracomorph and his mute valet Ricksell, the androgynous knight Aridellia, and elder Sargan, all of whom end up working together to venture through the Dragon Tower.

In a cutaway chapter, we are reunited with Minsabelle, Captain of the Royal Guard, who has opted to send the regular army to the Dragon Tower, in lieu of the Royal Guard, to try and rescue the princess. Her lieutenant Rudeum, whom we met previously, is initially outraged, but soon realises his anger is all too hasty, as Minsabelle comforts him and Calix, a fellow member of the guards, with the Oath of the Royal Family. Curiously, the story cuts back to our adventurers facing off against undead warriors and showcasing their offensive capabilities, and we also learn that Sargan hasn’t joined them to save the princess, but to avenge his mother, who was slaughtered by a Dracomorph named Carache, who also took off with the family’s most prized possession. The adventurers soon find some of the fiends’ handiwork, the disembodied remains of a knight whom we’d previously seen killed at the start of this chapter, in an ominous piece of foreshadowing.

The body comes to life as Necro-maggots fall from the ceiling, and after a close call wherein Iscale is incapacitated, he comes to and explains how the Necromancer further up the tower still manages to control the undead throughout, especially thanks to the vast quantity of corpses left in the wake of the various fiends throughout each floor – a grim thought indeed.

Come morning, the adventurers bear witness to the army of soldiers that Minsabelle has sent into the tower, and it is also revealed that Iscale was meant to be with them, but boarded the wrong ship, acting as a scholar with vast knowledge of the creatures and evil lurking within the tower. As the troops quickly work their way up the tower to greet the adventurers, they spot the Excavators still hauling the Basilisk shell after last volume’s battle. They provide Iscale with an update on how Eriquo, Lilicen and Yuva are faring, having met on the 60^th floor, but matters soon turn dire, when none other than Carache himself turns up to supposedly offer assistance in retrieving the princess.

In reality, he quickly dispatches the entire army thanks to his Basilisks, who make stone fodder of the army, before their bodies become a vast undead army – it is revealed that this was a diabolical trap, and our adventurers barely escape, only to come face-to-face with Carache himself, in a mutated and vile form. Thankfully, just as they’re cornered, our protagonist trio, Unit 7, catch up to try and fight the necromancer off, bickering all the while, as the volume concludes on a climactic note.

I greatly enjoyed these two volumes, and felt that the storyline had taken a solid turn, with #3 acting as a focus for Unit 7’s trio, and #4 giving us a solid set of new characters, some, it seems, with secrets to hide, especially Escale and Aridellia, who appears to be a Necromorph, as seen when bathing solo and consuming maggots reminiscent of the ones Carache uses, though whether they are a threat to our heroes remains to be seen. I also appreciated how the Basilisk foes were set up with just one providing enough of a threat in Volume 3, only for #4 to showcase multiple Basilisks at Carache’s disposal, and I’m intrigued to see if everyone will make it out of the next volume alive.

Our review copies from Vertical were supplied by Turnaround Comics (Turnaround Publisher Services).

• Tower Dungeon © Tsutomu Nihei/KODANSHA LTD.