Chapter 122 – Epic
Jack tried several times over to stand up, only to stumble drunkenly back to the ground. Or at least what he thought was the ground. There wasn’t any sort of tangible reality as far as he could tell. He was just sort of spinning aimlessly in the void while the Tower threw text in his face.
[Floor one Complete. Evaluating progress and achievements.]
[Evaluating…]
[Evaluating…]
[Evaluating…]
[Evaluation Complete]
[Current first floor ranking among humanity: 7th]
“Seventh place!?” Jack complained to the void. “Absolute bullshit. Show me who’s stronger than me.” Jack stood up and shook an angry fist at the void, only to stumble back onto his ass. He blinked at the rankings, his mind not quite working how he wanted it to.
Seventh place. That meant six people from humanity existed that were better than him in some capacity. That annoyed him to no end. Who the fuck were they?
Oh god… He suddenly thought. If Hannah has a higher rank she will never let me live it down.
Jack laid back and sighed. He honestly had no idea who would have ranked higher than him. He had heard some whispers of a few strange earthlings. Even mention of some who might have stumbled across a cursed dungeon same as him. Hannah was the one who had her web of contacts and information, and she had never mentioned anyone. Maybe ranking isn’t related to combat ability. That might make sense.
Jack tried to think it through, but every thought he had seemed to slip through his fingers and float away as his train of thought circled back around to the need for a taco.
[Distributing Awards]
“I would like to request a taco… And another drink.” Jack mumbled.
[Class upgrade to the Epic Tier]
[Beginning class upgrade.]
[Determining class archetype…]
[Class archetype determined.]
[Evaluating class archetype in conjunction with mana core type to determine epic class…]
“Oh shit…” Jack groaned.
[Error. No core detected.]
[Error. No core detected.]
[Error. No core detected.]
[…]
He was wondering how quickly his lack of core situation was going to become a problem. As it turns out, immediately. By the looks of it, he just caused the Tower to crash.
[Unprecedented Anomaly. Floor advancement without a Mana Core.]
“You’re telling me I’m the first person to try this? Bullshit.”
[…]
“I want a re-evaluation then. If I’m the first it should come with some sort of reward. I’m making history here!” Jack’s words were slurred, but rang with passion.
[Re-evaluating…]
[Re-evaluating…]
[Re-evaluating…]
[Current first floor ranking among all humanity: 9th]
“ASSHOLE.”
[Requesting Celestial assistance for instructions on how to proceed.]
“Oh sure. Let’s get the gods involved. Such a fucking tattletale.”
[Not tattling. Requesting assistance.]
Jack raised his eyebrow at that. He honestly wasn’t sure if he was getting the Tower to actually engage with him or if this was all some drunk hallucination.
[Assistance received. Special override granted. Assigning base version of class until mana core is restored.]
“Hold on… restored? How?”
Another series of messages popped up, but they were becoming blurrier by the second and Jack was starting to have serious trouble reading what any of them said. Only two words really stood out to him.
[Andurian’s Legacy.]
Jack let out a sigh. He had hoped ditching his core at least meant he didn’t have to deal with his curse. He just couldn’t seem to get away from this guy. The system pressed on before he could ask any follow up questions.
[Your class has been upgraded to: Executioner]
Class: Executioner - Epic
Every step the Executioner takes echoes with the weight of finality. The Executioner acts as a relentless force cutting through the fabric of existence, delivering the ultimate sentence without remorse or hesitation.
+5 Strength per level
+3 Endurance per level
+3 Vitality per level
+3 Dexterity per level
+Final Strike [Ability, Epic] [Error: No Core Detected] [Error: No available ability slots.]
+Blood Scent [Passive, Rare] [Error: No Core Detected]
+Mortal Wounds [Passive, Rare] [Error: No Core Detected]
Class upgrade unavailable
[Beginning upgrades now.]
A white light slammed into his body and Jack felt a feeling that had become foreign to him crawl through his body. Mana. It was an awkward sensation. Even the mana seemed wholly unsure of what to do as it meandered aimlessly around the spot where his core was supposed to be. Eventually, it worked its way up to his head, filling it with all the nitty gritty details of the class.
Executioner. Jack frowned as the white light continued to cradle him. He liked that class name about as much as he liked his Hitman class. It felt a little… Below his station? He was under the impression that epic class equaled epic name.
“I would like to file a complaint-“ Jack started.
The white light immediately dropped him, and even though he was sure there wasn’t really a ground in the black void space, he still slammed into something. He groaned, a slight ringing in his head further clouding his thoughts.
[Class upgrade complete. Please restore mana core to fully complete class upgrade.]
[...]
[Now distributing awards.]
Jack wanted to complain but when he saw the word awards flash across his vision, he felt a greedy smile crawl back onto his face.
[For achieving rank 9-]
“I got seventh and you know it, asshole.”
[…]
[For achieving rank 9, an epic supply crate will be granted upon arrival to the second floor.]
“Hooray… Supplies...”
Jack waited for the system's retort, but it never came. Instead, Jack just laid there in the darkness waiting for whatever was next in the process.
It was taking too long. If his warning bells worked right now he was positive they would be going off. But his mind kept drifting back to tacos. Tacos and a blanket. It was cold. Too cold.
He pushed himself up off the ground and glanced around. The world seemed to be spinning around him, and he wasn’t sure if it was an alcohol related phenomenon or not. The ground rumbled as something big began to move. The darkness tightened around him. He wanted to be terrified, but he couldn’t quite muster up the feeling as the quaking void gave way to the clinking and grinding of chitinous armor. Hundreds, thousands, millions of legs moved together, clicking and clacking in a maddening symphony as the darkness closed in on him.
Footsteps cut through the noise.
Jack’s ears picked up the cadence of one bold foot in front of the other. He stared in the direction of its source. A tall elf emerged from the darkness; his skin as white as moonlight. His hair as black as death. The shadows clung to his body and solidified into a cloak that covered him completely. The god towered over him. Long slender fingers found purchase on Jack’s face and he shivered at the touch as sharpened nails left shallow cuts along his face.
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“At last, we meet again, my child.” The Black Centipede smiled down at Jack.
This had been the real reason Jack had been postponing his move to the second floor. He was supposed to kill a dragon. Not only had he failed, he had even worked with the dragon asshole at one point. And now the big boss man was here to likely kill him. Jack stared back into the pitch-black eyes of the god. He opened up his mouth to say something, anything that would stave off his execution.
Unfortunately, the only thing that came out of his mouth was throw up. Jack knew he wasn’t going to remember much of this. But the look of complete and utter shock the Black Centipede wore on his face was going to be seared into his brain forever. If he survived that is.
“Hold on, hold on, hold on.” Jack stumbled back, wiping vomit away from his mouth and trying to hide a growing smile. The Black Centipede was frowning now, and staring down at his vomit covered cloak in disgust.
“That wasn’t my fault-“
“Not your fault?” The Black Centipedes' words were like daggers that pierced Jack’s soul and instantly brought him to his knees.
“I’m… just… saying…” Jack groaned, the pressure the god was exuding on him had reached an all time high and he was now double over in pain.
“Tell me, what were you just saying?” the god demanded.
“You’re a god. You should have seen that coming, it’s not my fault you let me throw up on you,” Jack choked out from behind gritted teeth.
The pressure relented immediately, and Jack laid there panting. He looked upward at the god whose arms were now crossed, a puzzled look on his face.
“You dare to blame your inebriation on me?”
“Listen, if you’re going to be standing directly in the line of fire, don’t be surprised when you get shot is all I’m saying,” Jack protested.
The centipede considered this for a long moment, then leveled another angry glare at Jack.
“Why do you insist on being so brazen?”
“Because you’re here to kill me?”
“Kill you? Why would I kill you?”
“Uhh. Because Gideon is alive? Did you already forget you told me to kill him?”
The two men stared at each other, each a confused look on their face. Then the Black Centipede smiled again.
“Ahh. I understand. Mindalia promised to kill you if you failed to kill Gideon.”
“Correct,” Jack nodded. “You also told me I had to kill Gideon as well. Although I don’t remember if you followed it up with any threats. But I assume you being here now means you’re here to kill me.”
“On the contrary,” the Black Centipede laughed. “I’m here to reward you.”
“Reward me…” Jack repeated the words, confused. “Wait. What? Why?” He had thought he was sobering up after the whole class upgrade and run in with the terrifying god and then throwing up on him. Clearly that wasn’t the case though. Obviously the god wasn’t going to reward him. Obviously he was still drunk.
“You failed Mindalia. She is the one who instructed you to kill Gideon on the first floor,” he said, stressing the last part. “I simply instructed you to kill Gideon – a task which I still expect you to complete.”
“So… Mindalia isn’t going to kill me and all my friends?”
“Oh no. She has assigned several of my children to that very task. The moment you show up on the second floor I suspect your life will become very difficult.”
Jack squinted at the Black Centipede. None of this made any sense.
“So… You’re here to reward me, and still expect me to kill Gideon. Meanwhile, Mindalia—the leader of your guild of assassins—is still allowed to kill me? Am I understanding this right?”
“Well. I thought this would make a fun little game for me.”
Jack groaned. Nothing good could possibly follow a god saying ‘this will be a fun game’. He let out a defeated sigh.
“So, what kinda game we going to play?”
The Black Centipede returned a large, menacing smile as he fell back into a throne of blackened bones that materialized from the shadows behind him. He steepled his fingers together and stared at Jack intently for several long, uncomfortable seconds.
“Anyone,” he started, “can clearly see that you are special, Jack Atlas. The reckless talent you’ve displayed on the first floor has earned you quite the reputation in the heavens above. Ripping out your core and using it as a bomb. Truly, truly innovative thinking.”
Jack rolled his eyes. The god was saying nice things, but his tone indicated that he thought Jack was a complete moron.
“And…?” Jack asked.
“And it would be a waste to simply kill someone with so much promise. Even if that person does lack a core. You see, me and several of the other gods are curious just what it is you plan to do without a core. Can you overcome the overwhelming burden of not having access to mana? What will become of you if you survive? How will you grow? How will you change?” All amusement had dropped from the gods face, and he leaned forward with a hungry look in his eyes. “This will be our game, Jack. If you can survive Mindalia, the assassins she sends after you, and make it to the third floor, then I will assure you a place in the Hall of the Black Centipede.”
Jack thought through the challenge. It was honestly pretty easy.
“So you’re telling me I just need to make it to the third floor?” Jack started running through plans in his brain. He wouldn’t need to spend much time on the second floor. He could just figure out how to complete it as fast as possible and then move on to the third. Sure he might be missing a lot of opportunities, but he would just make up for it on the third floor.
“Actually no.” The Black Centipede said after a moment’s consideration. “I would like you to solve the secret quest on the second floor.”
He grimaced. That made things a little harder. If he had to stick around on the second floor things were going to be all the more difficult. Still. It did seem manageable, and he wasn’t likely to get a better deal.
“Alright you have a deal-“
“I should tell you, before you accept my terms,” the god cut Jack off, a mischievous smile returning to his face.
Here it is… the catch.
“What is it?”
“The secret quest for the second floor has never been completed.”
“What, like, hasn't been completed in a while? So what?”
“No. It has never been completed. No one has been able to achieve it since the Tower's inception.”
Jack let out a long, tired, annoyed sigh.
“So what happens if I don’t choose to participate in this little game then?”
“Then I never call off the assassins. They follow you to every single floor of the Tower. Your friends, your family, your loved ones will all be under constant threat. There will be no respite. No peace. Everyone will die and it will be your fault.”
The Black Centipede had risen from his throne and stood much taller than he did before. Jack was sure the god was likely to kill him right here, right now if he refused.
“Should you accept the game though, I am willing to offer some assistance,” he smiled.
“What kind of assistance?”
“Accept the deal and find out.”
“Fine. You win. I’ll play your game. Just don’t be pissed and flip the board when I start winning.”
The Black Centipede cackled.
“Very well child. Allow me to give you your reward. Wiggleworm, Come forth.” The god extended a long slender finger and beckoned Jack to come closer. He took two steps and then stopped.
“Wait. Did you just call me Wiggleworm?”
Before Jack could get an answer, his eyes shot down to his left arm. Something was moving. He pushed up his shirt sleeve and stared at the centipede tattoo the god had previously gifted him when he first arrived in the Tower.
The tattoo was writhing back and forth on his arm. Jack watched in abject horror as the tattoo pulled itself free of his arm, wiggling frantically back and forth as it materialized into an actual centipede the length of his arm. Jack almost threw up again.
“I knew it!” he screamed. “I knew that creepy fucking tattoo was alive!”
The Black Centipede paid Jack no mind as he bent down to the ground and gently picked up the small creature.
“Wiggleworm, my sweet, did you have fun?” The god asked, holding the centipede up to his face and whispering to it with the tone of an endearing father. The centipede, for all it was worth, did seem to be nodding.
“Good,” the god smiled. “Would you like to have even more fun?”
The centipede nodded again, this time much faster. Jack glanced over his shoulder to see if anyone else was witnessing this. He was now positive he was still drunk.
“Very well my child. First, let’s get you something to eat.” The black centipede held out a hand towards Jack.
“What the hell do you want me to do? I don’t keep creepy bug food.”
Jack looked down and watched as his chest armor was ripped off his body. The Black Centipede ripped off each piece with unseen magics and gathered them all together. He watched as the armor pulsated wildly before turning into a blob in the Black centipede's free hand.
“Eat, my child.” He presented the blob to the little centipede.
Wiggleworm lunged at the shadow blob, and Jack cringed as it began to squeal and scream as the centipede ate it alive. Jack had spent the better part of the past year spending every drop of AP he had gotten on armor to feed that thing. He had almost gotten it to materialize into a full suit of armor. collectively, that thing was worth over a hundred million AP, and now he had to sit here and watch a bug eating all of his hard work.
The live feeding lasted only a moment longer before Wiggleworm devoured it completely. Jack sighed in defeat. He didn’t know how this was supposed to be considered helping.
“Are you still hungry?” The centipede clacked its fangs excitedly at the god, wiggling its head up and down in confirmation. “You’re right, what's a meal without dessert?”
The god held out his hand at Jack again, this time Jack watched as a black cloak was pulled from the void sack at his waist. His centipedes cloak.
“Try this,” the god offered it up to Wiggleworm, who happily chowed down on the cape. He was thoroughly annoyed that his inventory had turned into pet food, but that wasn’t the most pressing concern at the forefront of his brain.
“Did you just pull that out of my void sack?” Jack asked.
“Yes.”
“Did you happen to see everything inside my void sack?”
“…Yes.” The god relented, his face turning into a disgusted frown.
“I can explain-“
“I’d rather you not.” The god cut him off and gave Jack a sharp stare silencing any explanations.
“It’s not what you think…” Jack grumbled under his breath, but the god had already returned his attention back to Wiggleworm, who hastily devoured the cloak.
“Very good. Now go back. Serve him well. He’ll need your help.”
Wiggleworm gave a quick nod and then crawled back across the ground towards Jack. Jack hesitantly backed away from the centipede, but in an explosive burst of speed it latched onto his ankle. He batted at the bug but it somehow materialized back into a tattoo on his skin. Jack watched in horror as the tattoo climbed up his body and rested itself back onto his left arm.
“That’s it? A pet bug?” Jack looked back to the god for an explanation, and grimaced slightly at a tightening sensation around his arm.
“You’ll find Wiggleworm a much more suited familiar. Far better than that little mimic you had pretending to be your armor,” was all the god offered.
“Can I at least get an instruction manual?”
“I find the best instruction to be real experience. Now begone.”
The centipede clapped his hands together in dismissal, and suddenly Jack was falling.
“Do not forget our deal. Conquer the second floor.” The god's voice cackled in his ear before disappearing completely.
The world began to materialize around Jack in pieces. First was cold winds. Then sand. Lots of sand. Head still spinning and body exhausted from dealing with the god, Jack tried to stand up and reorient himself to his new surroundings.
He had been placed atop a massive sand dune. The sky was pitch black, but he could still see with relative ease. A giant cracked moon that felt far too close for comfort lit up the dark sky and reflected off the sand, creating a sort of daylight effect. It felt as if the sun had been inverted and the world was in a perpetual twilight. Dead trees with branches white and withered pierced through the sand all around, reaching out towards the sky with limbs that sharpened to a point.
Jack had finally made it to the second floor, and it was a desert wasteland.
“Hey… Where the hell is my epic supply crate?” Jack asked, glancing around the dune he had been unceremoniously dropped on.
There was a loud boom that sounded as though a mortar was launched, and Jack hit the ground scanning the skies. A low whistle of something falling fast was rapidly growing louder as Jack spotted an object in the sky. A large square object was hurtling towards him at breakneck speeds.
He squinted at the object as it rapidly increased in size. Its form gave way to a large wooden treasure chest with elaborate golden trim and adorned with ornate trinkets and decorations. Emblazoned across the lid was a highly stylized large number nine. Jack stood up, furious.
“I got seventh place you fucking ass-”
Before Jack could finish his sentence, the chest slammed into his head, knocking him out.