Chapter 131 – Floor 11: Part 15
Mathew back away from the vortex of corrupted mana that surrounded Allen as the man screamed in agony. His entire body writhed and twisted, bulbous protrusions emerged from his skin and Mathew could hear the sounds of flesh tearing and bones snapping.
A new set of arms formed from Allen’s bloody torso, along with another set of legs. His skin darkened, and lines of fiery mana scarred his flesh. His teeth, white and perfect, elongated and formed into long fangs.
Allen became an amalgamation of an Anti-Life and a human. Terrifying to behold and more powerful than any other of the Anti-Life monsters that Mathew had seen. As the transformation completed, the power it exuded returned into Allen’s body. The swirling vortex of corrupted mana subsided as the screaming stopped.
“It was telling the truth. Everything is so clear to me now! The gods have lied to us! The Tower is a shackle, binding us to subservience! Only the True Gods can free us. I need to leave this place and spread the truth to the other Floors!” Allen yelled, and his voice echoed loudly from the stone walls.
Mathew cautiously retreated further while subtly preparing his mana for his transformation to a stronger form for could fight Allen if necessary. Even this small movement wasn’t able to evade Allen’s view and his eyes locked onto Mathew immediately. The irises of his eyes had turned scarlet red and Mathew could see a swirling mix of Aether deep inside his pupils.
“You can’t evade the truth, Mathew. The Anti-Life aren’t just mindless monsters that seek to devour the universe. They will have their own gods forged from the Aether! We were stupid to just give it away for trash Blessings and pitiable Disciplines!” Allen shouted, trying to convince Mathew of the reality of their situation.
“That’s the Heart talking, Allen. Just calm down, and we can find a way to separate it from you.” Mathew replied as he tried to calm the maddened monster that Allen had become.
“Separate it! You’re a fool, just like all the rest of them! Mindless slaves serving their masters in the Tower! Only the Anti-Life can free us. With more Hearts from the Nests, I can become a god myself!” Allen screamed, and the vortex of corrupted mana reappeared, stronger than before.
Mathew was blasted backwards. His back hit the stone wall with a ‘thud’, and even his magical armour couldn’t absorb all of the blow. Coughing, Mathew stumbled forward and nearly fell to his knees. The power that Allen was throwing around casually was equal to the directed attack Blessings of many of the Players in the tunnels.
Allen railed and shouted, and his attitude became increasingly deranged. Mathew looked at the passageway to his side and used Allen’s distraction to rush toward it. When he was nearly to the tunnel, a wave of corrupted mana struck the passage wall with enough force to crack the stone and collapse it.
“You’re not going anywhere! The Heart isn’t the only thing that can increase my power! I’ll consume your heart as well!” Allen screamed, and his multiple legs kicked off the ground as he leapt toward Mathew, his arms outstretched to catch him.
“Breath of Dragons!” The mana in Mathew’s chest that he had been cycling since Allen began his transformation stung his lungs. Releasing a breath of bright green acidic cloud into Allen’s face, Mathew didn’t hesitate to see the results as he lunged out of the way.
“Ahh!” Allen screamed. The pain was intense, and the acidic breath clung to his flesh and burned his skin and eyes. Throwing up his hands over his face, Allen threw his head back and howled in agony.
Mathew was running toward the only other exit to the chamber when a loud ‘Ding’ sounded out, and another notification came through. This time, he didn’t need to raise or activate his wristband to see the message; the burning letters appeared on the chamber walls.
Objective Updated: A Monstrous Heart
Summary: The Heart of the Anti-Life Nest has been consumed. Destroy the monster containing it and retrieve the Heart.
Reward: A Blessing will be randomly given upon completion.
Hidden Reward: Will be revealed when the Heart is returned to the World Tree
Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.
Failure Punishment: Failure to destroy the Heart-Consuming Monster will result in transfer to a Punishment Floor.
“Shit!” Mathew shouted as he skidded to a halt. He wasn’t sure what a ‘punishment floor’ was, but if it was worse than the Floors he had already experienced, he was pretty sure he wouldn’t survive it, which meant that he needed to kill Allen.
Turning around, Mathew began to fuel the transformation of his body. His bones became heavier and denser while his skin thickened and formed a faint layer of protective scales. His muscles bulged, enhancing his already high ‘Body’ attribute, and he pulled out his magical knife.
Dashing toward the blinded Allen, Mathew leapt onto his monstrous former ally's back. Gripped one of the bulbous protrusions that felt like a new limb being grown inside Allen’s flesh, Mathew stabbed downwards with his knife.
Roaring in anger at the sudden assault, Allen spun around and tried to knock Mathew off of his back but was unable to dislodge him. Ignoring the pain of Mathew’s acidic breath created by his Blessing, Allen ran toward the nearest wall.
Mathew removed his knife and leapt from Allen’s back just as his malformed body slammed into the stone, sending cracks throughout the rock and up into the ceiling. Mathew leapt backwards just as the first large piece of rock fell from the ceiling and struck Allen harmlessly.
As more rocks fell from above Mathew concentrated on a single, large and dense piece of stone.
“Enlarge!”
Mathew pumped most of his mana into this Blessing, making the piece of rock that was as large as his own body double in size, then doubling it again. To go along with its increased size, he increased density and weight.
By the time Mathew finished his blessing, the stone was as large as the monster Allen had become and dense enough that not even the strongest player with the highest ‘Boby’ attribute would be able to crack it with a magical weapon.
Allen roared in anger as he turned, ready to attack Mathew again, only for the large stone section of ceiling that Mathew had enhanced to strike him. Allen was crushed by the weight of the rock, pushing his mutated body against the ground. He feebly tried to crawl his way out from beneath the rock but was unable to budge it at all.
Mathew wearily picked up his knife and made his way toward the fallen monster that had once been a human. Pushing the thought of what this creature had been, Mathew focused on what it currently was. An enemy determined to murder and devour the humans above. It was no different from the other Anti-Life he had fought, regardless of its origins.
Mathew plunged the knife into Allen, and the massive creature's struggles ceased. Letting go of the ‘Enlarge’ Blessing, Mathew watched as the section of stone shrunk. A large red crystal pulsated with mana in the center of the mass of flesh that had been the monstrous Allen.
Page Break
‘Ding.’
The sound of the notification rang out as Mathew wearily climbed out of the chasm that contained the Nest. None of the other Players that he saw on the surface spared him a single glance. They were all exhausted and showing clear signs of having fought an intense battle.
Hundreds of people gathered around the edge of the chasm; most sat on the ground or were lying on stretchers as healers or their comrades poured elixirs and potions on their wounds. There were no bodies anywhere, either human or Anti-Life. Enough time had passed that they had all faded away.
To the Players gathered here, Mathew was just another survivor of the battle and the adventure into the depths of the Nest that managed to escape the Anti-Life.
Mathew placed his pack on the ground in a clear space and practically collapsed in exhaustion. He barely had enough energy to climb the long, rope ladder that someone had placed in the Nest. Finally having a chance to catch his breath, Mathew looked at the message on his Silver Wristband.
Objective Updated: Feed the World Tree (Completed)
Summary: You have successfully brought the Heart of the Nest to the surface, allowing the World Tree to penetrate the barriers blocking its attempts to grow. The Heart of the Anti-Life Nest will nourish the World Tree.
Reward: You have been granted the following Blessing: Reduce
Reduce: Similar to the effects of ‘Enlarge’ only in reverse. You may change the size of a non-living object with your mana as determined by your attributes and the amount of mana spent. The object's reduced size will also decrease its weight.
Bonus Reward: Each Participant of the Tower of Avarice will transition to the next Floor after earning the World Tree 10 Million units of Aether.
Current Aether Accumulated: 12,232,058 units.
Mathew Larson: Eligible for transition to Floor 12.
Congratulations!
Transitioning in Ten (10) Minutes.
Reading the rewards, Mathew was stunned. The Blessing was pretty good; he found the ‘Enlarge’ Blessing to be useful and could only assume that the ‘Reduce’ Blessing would be equally valuable. But it was the bonus award that left him speechless.
The 11th Floor would be continuing for decades if the description was correct. But it seemed that the gods had other plans. His contributions in the Nest had been enough to earn him passage to the next Floor.
Mathew knew that Players were only paid a small percentage of the Aether they earned for the gods, but he hadn’t expected the evidence to be there on the screen before him. He had earned over twelve million units for the World Tree but had only been paid less than ten percent of that during his time here.
“I need to speak to Rehn.” Mathew muttered, climbing to his feet and already looking at his surroundings, hoping to find her amongst the crowd.
He didn’t have long left on this Floor.