Chapter 260

“Gentry.” The man said, slowly taking Riven’s outstretched hand and warily eyeing the other demons stepping out of their portals. “You’re… a warlock? A summoner? It isn’t often you see true battlemages before the C-grades, but after watching your brief fight I’m not sure whether your strength and speed are your focus - or whether it is your magic.”

Riven chuckled at the uncomfortable dark elf in gold-trimmed blue robes, and shrugged. “Does it matter? The better question is what do you know about this ‘Abyssal Descent’ we’re about to take? There are only minutes left and I’m rather curious about the details.”

Gentry’s purple eyes flitted to the nearby corpses of the two other drow warriors, or what was left of them on the floating mile-wide platform, as Athela and Azmoth went to pick up the spacial bags and whatever materials they could salvage from the dead. “You really don’t know?”

“I’m in the integration phase, remember?” Riven winked good-naturedly despite the man’s discomfort. “My planet hasn’t even entered the true multiverse yet. It’s still shrouded by Elysium’s protections.”

The dark elf scowled, looking down at Riven’s armor, the ancient unreadable tattoos of unholy make scattered across his face where the helmet had been removed, and then to the large sin-afflicted weapon that had actively flowing streams of blood running along the dark metal. “For an integration-labeled planet, you sure do have quite the set of equipment… Equipment that would bankrupt any F, E, or D-grade faction in an instant should they attempt to buy it at a fair price. And I don’t even know how it’s possible to acquire the mythic title and can’t remember there ever being one in our sector of the galaxy.”

“Which galaxy?”

“Narwali sector of the Cheshish galaxy in Universe 16. Not that it means anything to you, but your universe is labeled 78 if you’re in the integration phase right now. Integration is mostly complete, and within the next ten thousand years - Elysium should be moving on to universe 79 wherever it may be.” Gentry’s free hand hesitantly settled into his pockets, curiously studying Riven through squinted eyes. “Just who are you?”

Riven’s eyebrow raised, and he put a hand around Gen-Fay’s waist to pull her close, which is what he was calling the combined bodies of Genua and Fay until they decided to un-merge. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“What do you MEAN what’s that supposed to mean?” Gentry asked, exasperated. “Are you a plant?”

“I certainly don’t think I grow leaves, no.”

Gentry snapped his fingers in irritation. “You certainly know that’s now what I meant!”

“I definitely meant ‘what is that supposed to mean’, and I certainly don’t know that’s not what you meant.”

“Stop it!”

Riven chuckled as the amusement from Gluttony rose in turn. “Fine. But in all seriousness, I don’t know what you meant by am I a ‘plant.’”

“It’s a term some people use to describe older factions who breed younglings and place them on pre-integrated worlds in anticipation of Elysium integrating the planet soon. An easy way to conquer worlds.” Athela called out, walking towards him in her rogue outfit of black and red leathers made in part from her own bloodsilk - hooded and cloaked. Her red eyes scoured the drow, before handing Riven a spatial sack. “Very rarely does it work, because Elysium usually punishes both the faction attempting to cheat the rules - and it usually executes the plant as well.”

Riven hummed thoughtfully at the idea, then shook his head and thanked Azmoth when the large demon came over to hand the other drow’s sack in turn. Putting them both in his own, he closed it shut and flicked his gaze to where the portal arch was starting to rotate. “I’m no plant. Not an intentional one, anyway.”

Gentry’s frown deepened. “Not intentional? That’s… an odd way to answer. So you ARE affiliated with another force then?”

Riven shrugged. “Perhaps. Why does it matter?”

Gentry gestured to the two remnants of drow bodies nearby. “Because despite how much I genuinely hated those two self-centered idiots, they were my ticket into an ally enclave. Without them, I’m devoid of any real connections.”

He glared back at Riven, and then to Nora who was flippantly waving around the other token Riven had acquired for her. “And they were also my teammates for descending into the lower levels.”

Azmoth snickered, folding all four of his large clawed arms over his chest. “Bad team mate, let Riven kill all without help fight.”

“He makes a good point.” Gen-Fay said, the two feminine voices overlapping with one another.

Sighing, and glaring, Gentry lifted his hand and facepalmed, before dragging that hand over his face with a defeated look. “Alright, how about this. I’ll tell you all I know about the event, and in turn you’ll escort me to my sister’s complex on the third floor down. She and I aren’t close, in fact I haven’t ever even met her, but she’s been there for the past 600 years and last two cycles. She’ll know who I am after I take the bloodborn test, I’m sure she’ll have some advice on how to go about this.”

Riven, who’d been listening intently up until this point, blinked rapidly in confusion and scratched the back of his head with a clawed gauntlet. “Uhm… Did I hear you right? Your sister has been there for 600 years? Two cycles of 300 years each?”

Gentry raised his own eyebrow, unamused. “Yes. That’s what I said. Some cultivators stay in this place far into the E-grade even after their soul lattice is completed. Why?”

Pausing and not knowing how to proceed with that information, Riven clicked his tongue a couple times and stared up at the sky. “Well… how old are you exactly?”

“Me? I’m 192 years old.”

Riven nearly choked. “You don’t look like you’re more than 30.”

Gentry did not reply, only continued to stare.

Clearing his throat, Riven continued. “And you’re just now hitting level 200?”

Gentry’s face darkened, and his hand reached for his blade before taking a quick hiss of air into his lungs - letting the anger go. “Are you insulting me, vampire? Unlike some races, the drow do not go around butchering others for their meat. Nor am I on a planet that is full of opportunities that an integration could provide, with wars between our clans only seldom coming. That may be a foreign concept to you, but that is the reality of it.”

“But don’t you have beasts or animals to fight for leveling?” Riven pressed, still curious.

Gentry’s mouth opened, closed, opened, closed, and then opened again before speaking in quick irritated clips. “My mother was sick and my father was gone for quite some time. I was needed to rule over our house in his absence and prioritized my mother’s care over my own success. Laugh at me like all the others do if you wish, but my family comes before my personal gain.”

It was almost a challenge, and the man’s purple eyes flared angrily while glaring Riven down. However, Riven’s response was not one the drow elf could have guessed.

“That’s very admirable.” Riven said calmly, even giving the other man a smile and a small bow. “It speaks well of your character. I did not mean offense. I would be more than happy to escort you to your sister’s estate wherever it may be. Now, could you tell me more about this event? We’d all be very appreciative of any help you gave us.”

***

The backstory of The Abyssal Descent was wrapped in layers of folklore and legend, according to Gentry, and Riven’s demons knew a little bit about it - though not nearly as much as the drow did.

The general consensus was that Elysium itself had sequestered a piece of the Abyss, which was the deepest and darkest part of the Void, and utilized the rich, naturally unholy environment for cultivation purposes. It handed out tickets as prizes for various other events or accomplishments, and prioritized people who showed the most promise for growth in the future. The Abyss was the same place where Gluttony itself had been imprisoned, along with all the other sins and even the commandments, and was in most cases incredibly hard to reach or leave. But under the controlled hand of Elysium’s own insights, it was also an incredible experience to undertake for any potential Unholy-Foundation user.

Which is why Gentry’s sister had opted to stay for a couple extra centuries, sculpting her soul skeleton for the D-grade in secluded cultivation before leaving - even though she’d already created her Soul Lattice and ascended into the E-grade long ago. Grudgingly, Gentry had admitted his family wasn’t the most talented set of cultivators out there and that in many circumstances people wouldn’t take that long to ascend. His own highest affinity was 24%, and his noble house had been founded on maneuvering through financial markets rather than by the martial paths. However, he’d been very adamant int explaining that although his clan wasn’t considered a cultivation powerhouse, many of them had still scored as ‘ELITE’ by system standards due to their skills with a blade and utilization of techniques in various wars; and that the vast majority of the multiverse was found with affinities below the 30% mark.

It was obviously a touchy subject for the drow man.

Aside from this, Gentry had also gone on to explain what they should be expecting when arriving. The first three floors were habitable going down, with the first floor being the largest and cheapest to stay in - while the second floor was more expensive and full of entire younger generations from various factions across the multiverse. The third floor, his sister’s own floor and the last floor that did not experience frequent abyssal monster spawns, was far richer than the other two habitable floors in ambient unholy energies that expedited a cultivator’s formation of soul constructs. How his sister had even set up a compound in the third floor was a complete mystery to both himself and the others of his noble house, but none of them had complained when she’d informed them of this by waystone at a massive cost to her own coffers about a century ago. Many of the factions even warred with one another over such spots, leading Gentry to believe that she’d gained some powerful allies from undisclosed factions in her time spent in this isolated abyssal zone. People could travel together through portals between floors in groups of 5, not including minions, and not moving in a group often meant you’d be picked out as a potential mugging or murder victim - where they’d strip you of your gear to sell on the internal markets here.

“Your two friends may attract unwanted attention to our group considering their levels.” Gentry stated, head-bobbing to Gen-Fay and Nora in turn as the portal finally flashed to life - revealing a spinning disc of green that began to suck in like a wormhole. “I’d say the same about the brutalisk, but everyone who knows what he is will stay far away regardless as their physical strength is absurd regardless of the significantly lower level. Even with myself in the picture, I am without a system affiliated title - without the normal Elite tag that so many of the others here will have.”

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Azmoth had gained a good chunk of levels after fighting the monster wave that was meant for Outpost #84, and had leapt to level 129. However it was still far below the norm in the descent, which Gentry claimed to be anywhere between level 180 to 250, with most people averaging at level 200 or so. Anyone above level 250 was automatically kicked from the area, as were people who’d progressed past the halfway stage of creating a true soul skeleton in the E-grade; the step beyond a soul lattice.

Gentry then glanced at Athela, who was juggling her two red katanas alongside two balls of red webbing like an acrobat, and then looked to Riven. “Athela however is quite the opposite. No one would want to take on a Legendary except for other Legendaries. Most people here are Elite ranked as I stated, but you…”

He rubbed his chin thoughtfully, looking Riven up and down with a frown. “Your Mythic tag will no doubt draw a lot of attention, and probably in a bad way. I’ve heard stories about it but have never seen it for myself, and I’m sure it’d create quite a ruckus. To the point that it might even be dangerous. Here, take these - we’ll all use them with the exception of your minion Athela. It’ll help hide our identification information from most who’d try their hand at getting our information.”

He took out a series of star-shaped amulets, and passed them around to Azmoth, Gen-Fay, and Riven in turn before putting one on himself. Immediately the ability to identify him became hazy and fuzzy when Riven tried, and the same could be said for the two minions who donned them next. Even trying to identify the amulets themselves was a no-go, and Riven was happy to see that the effect worked on him just as well. It even obscured the information of other items he and his allies were wearing.

“Good shit.” Riven said, eyeing the pendant with a smile. “Thanks. I owe you one.”

“Damn right you do.” Gentry spat with mixed humor and irritation in his voice. He folded his arms. “You killed the two men who were supposed to be my way down into the fifth, sixth and seventh levels. I’m going to need to hire an entirely new team thanks to you. But they did genuinely suck to be around, so I’ll forgive it. Come on, I’ve never been there before but I have a map. If you don’t mind I’ll leave the way - at least until we get to my sister’s compound.”

***

The portal winked out, and Riven found himself amongst a crowd of tens of thousands that was rapidly growing by the minute. Large flat mountaintops numbering in the many dozens surrounded a large sprawling city far beneath, each of them having a huge green portal overhead just like his own. The city itself was speckled with lights all down the mountain slopes and in the valley against the absolute black abyssal hole in the center that took up a solid third of the city’s entire volume between mountains. The dark sky overhead was flecked with crackles of what could only be purple sin lightning, stone skyscrapers crawled towards the heavens above, and the air was thick with ambient energies that permeated Riven’s very being.

The environment was a cultivation paradise that radiated power related to Unholy, Shadow, Blood, Chaos, Depravity, Infernal, Void - which was not technically part of the Unholy branches, and lastly - Sin. It was like being hooked up to a battery, and Riven could see why Gentry’s sister had chosen to stay for so long.

“Keep a lookout for that naga bitch who attacked us earlier.” Riven whispered to Athela as she glanced around at the flashes of people in the growing crowd. “Kill him immediately if you see him. It won’t perma-kill him because of the world quest parameters, but it’ll at least knock him out of this event if he’s here.”

“I don’t think he’d be here because he was a glacial-water specialist.” Athela replied evenly, considering Riven’s words. “He’s most likely to be a threat only in the altars’ realm, but then again Greed is likely the one that utilized him if Gluttony’s guess is correct. I’ll remain vigilant, don’t worry.”

She gave him a peck on the cheek and a spank before giggling at his eye roll.

“This event will be open for a year’s time, and stragglers will continue to come in more and more.” Gentry said as he motioned for them to quickly follow towards the large stone walkways leading down the mountain’s slope. “But the faster we get out of here the better, or so I’m told. Often fights are supposed to break out when the scions of rival factions find one another, and we don’t want to be caught in the middle of it.”

As if on cue, explosions from an opposite mountain peak roared to life in a series of violent and thunderous booms. The energies were quite potent even from here, and it quickly humbled him to realize that there were other people in this place capable of such destructive force.

Looking back over his shoulder and then down to his side as they continued to walk, he noted how the landscapes on the back ends of the mountains not facing the internal city faded away into a deep black landscape where light did not penetrate even to his eyes - and he wondered whether anything was surviving out there in the dark.

Another flash of sin lightning crashed against a suddenly visible dome, overhead, illuminating the sky to a greater degree than what was normal for just a split second, and eliciting screams from the crowd around him as Riven’s own heart sank upon what that light had shown. For in the briefest glimpse of that purple lightning flash, there’d been a giant, eel-like creature with milky white eyes staring down at them beyond the barrier. It was so large in fact, that it could have swallowed the entire city and all the mountains surrounding it in a single bite, with a coiled body and flashing black scales.

“A void titan.” Gentry said reverently, urging Riven to continue moving. “It won’t be able to break through Elysium’s barrier, ignore it. Keep your amulets on to conceal your identity and don’t get trampled in the crowd. If you stop now, you’ll just get run over. Come on, we can find an information broker further down. Ignore the people on the sidelines, they’re usually scammers if my family’s information is correct.”

Keeping Gen-Fay and Nora in front of him to make sure the weakest members of their group were guarded, and having Athela with Azmoth on either side, Riven took up the rear as they all followed Gentry down the giant stone steps that traveled for miles into the valley. It was like watching a mass exodus from the portals, and life-and-death battles continued to erupt all across the dozens of peaks one after another as they went.

Riven could see why Gentry had wanted an escort. This place was dangerous, and identifying one person after another - Riven saw that roughly 60% of everyone he identified had an ELITE tag on their information. Scattered about the crowd there were rare instances of LEGENDARY tags, just a handful of them that he saw, and then the rest were predominantly untagged just like Gentry was. Most of the LEGENDARY tagged participants were followed by entire groups of other cultivators, while some had clan squads of people who’d already been here for the last 300 years waiting to escort them.

Riven also noticed that there were significantly fewer people here of certain races, while other races were in abundance. This in turn was likely due to how Charisma worked, and how certain races leaned towards the Unholy Foundational Pillar while others did not.

Drow - or dark elves, were in abundance; their chief features being silky white hair, dark skin and fair features. As were chaos dwarves like the berserker cultist he’d recently killed in battle, with inherent runic sigils of gray and black light carved into their very bodies at birth. There were enormous amounts of undead from dozens of varying races - including vampires like himself, a significant amount of demonic races in equal varieties, and a paltry amount of scattered humans too. Then there were the less common races, or the ones that didn’t fit the mold. A few fallen angels on black wings, though rare in number, were seen flying overhead along with some of the winged demons like imps or devils. There were some humanoid rock-based golem creatures with red eyes that lumbered down the walkways and trampled people who were too slow to get out of their way. Wingless draconic races of humanoid sorts were seen in small amounts too, and the occasional gnome or pixie were also noted.

“Fascinating…” Riven muttered to himself, appreciating the variety of species coming to intermingle here in the abyssal depths. “I’ve never seen so many races at one time, in one place.”

An abrupt shove from behind nearly caused Riven to fall, and he heard a gruff voice bark out a shout. “Move faster, blood sucker! You’re in-”

CRASH

Riven asserted dominance by whipping around and smashing whoever or whatever it was that’d shoved him with a spiked fist. Body parts exploded under the charged strike with a resounding crash. Not wanting to be seen as weak in front of so many other elites of the multiverse, he wasn’t taking any chances of making himself a mark.

What he left behind was a smoldering wreckage of blood and gore, flickering with black lightning that sparked out of the crater he’d created; with numerous people nearby who’d either dodged out of the way or had managed to erect shields in time to stop from being thrown back. Other people HAD been thrown back, being blasted into others in the ground or off the ledge to roll down the slope into one of the buildings on the mountain, but nobody but the creature who’d shoved him had taken the direct hit. Riven had been careful to keep his power isolated to a single point as best he could, but he honestly couldn’t even tell what or who had shoved him after the devastating attack had landed.

Perhaps he was just on edge.

The others wordlessly stared, some sneering, some expressionless, and others giving him impressed looks.

“Keep moving.” A horned draconic man in flowing silver robes hissed from between bronze scales, notably with a LEGENDARY tag and at level 200 when Riven identified him. “You are holding up the line.”

Riven blinked, then nodded after making sure no one else was coming to bother him - and he steadied himself before turning around and following the others in his group who’d stopped to watch.

“You heard the man, let’s move." Riven began to head out, but stopped as Gluttony pierced his mind with a mental message.

"There is a hot springs further down in the city. Travel with the others to the location I've marked, and you may find that it is more than what it appears."

There was a pause.

Riven's brows furrowed at the information being laid out in his head after Gluttony's words, before his brows rose with mixed emotion. "Hey... Maybe let's find something to eat? Or a place to relax? Maybe a hot spring. Do they have hot springs here?”

Gentry chuckled nervously as the others in the crowd occasionally shifted their gazes his way amidst the descent. “I’m not sure, but we could find out. Regardless of where, it would certainly be wise to get off the main path near the base of the mountain before getting our bearings. We can then get insider information from people that’d lived here for a the last few centuries, and we can compare it to the information my own house has acquired to assure ourselves of its validity. Does that sound ok with you?”

Nora nodded vigorously. “Sounds good to me.”

“Me too.” Azmoth grunted, growling at a passerby who got too close. “I not like these crowds. Need larger space, more room.”

***

The first level of the Abyssal Descent did indeed have a hot springs, though it was quite pricey. As was everything here in this alternate realm, which Riven quickly found out. His sum of 22 million that he’d thought so outlandish back on Panu was pennies and pocket change here in the abyss, where the young elites of the Unholy-oriented multiverse were congregated by the millions. A basic meal for one person cost thousands of Elysium Coins, and most of the people either dealt in platinum or in coins that Riven had never seen before such as ‘Etherium’ - which was the equivalent of 100,000 platinum, or ‘Basdum’ - which was the equivalent of 10 Etherium.

One platinum Elysium Coin was equivelant to 1000 bronze coins. Thus the amount of a single ‘Etherium’ coin was worth one-hundred-million Elysium Bronze Coins, and a ‘Basdum’ coin was worth one-billion Elysium Bronze Coins.

Meaning that Riven’s total wealth of 22-million coins - even after all he’d done only attributed to about one-fifth of the wealth of a single Etherium coin, and he wasn’t anywhere even close to having the wealth of an equivalent Basdum coin.

Yet he saw many people exchange these coins with one another somewhat flippantly, for various items or services around the city as they went. The amount of money some of these people had just mind-boggling, and he wandered what kind of stuff he could buy with that kind of money from the Elysium Store back home. He honestly hadn’t explored the store much, but what he had seen from it - before even upgrading the altar at all - had led him to believe that the utmost of what he could afford were basics and necessities.

Then again, he was on an integrating planet that was only starting to reach the 1-year mark.

“You will have your meals delivered to you in the springs, and your time is reserved for two hours.” A pretty but stern-looking succubus with red hair said, eyeing Gen-Fay warily before handing each member of Riven’s party a set of keys. “Storage containers with basic alarms and wards are in the hall, but are not guaranteed for safekeeping. Any theft that occurs here is not our responsibility, so keep that in mind.”

Gentry’s eyes lingered on the woman’s bosom for a short time before he snapped out of it and gave her a nod. “Thank you.”

“It is appreciated.” Riven stated with a smile, laughing underneath his ivory helmet as his girlfriends tugged at his hands excitedly. “I suppose I’ll be going now. Make sure you bring the scones!”

With a final tug, Athela dragged Riven off into the changing rooms with Azmoth coming in last.

***

Behind them and out of sight, the redheaded succubus rubbed at one of her horns under the stone ceiling of her hot springs abode. Hesitantly picking up a communication orb, her eyes lingered on the presence of sin left in the vampire’s wake - and the image of the maw across his chest was prominently burned into her retinas.

She waited for the click, then the light flashed in the stone she held and she began to whisper into it with concerned glances in the direction of the springs she’d just rented out. “Amano? Yes, it’s me. Please contact the church, I think I may have some information that they’d be very interested in learning about regarding a certain individual who just entered my establishment. Yes, yes I think so. Well that’s why I’m calling. Of course. No. Alright, I’ll do my best to keep him here. I’ll see you soon.”

There was another click, and the stone faded away.

Taking in a deep breath, the succubus looked at herself in the mirror across the room and turned around to make sure she was showing a lot of skin that evening. Hastily getting out a brush and combing her long locks of red hair, she scurried into the kitchen - where she began yelling at the cooks to prepare a special meal for the newcomers that’d just arrived.