Tower of Avarice: A LitRPG story

Chapter 108 – Floor 9: Part 29

Marvin numbly watched the approaching pair of knights. Unable to even move an inch, there was nothing he could do. His body was injured and broken, and his mana was depleted. Even if he could move, there wasn’t anything he could do against two knights that Corinna had in her service.

He had joined the Tower to search for adventure, to see new worlds and to meet all the different people that inhabited them. But the reality of what he experienced in the Tower was different than what he had thought it would be.

Each Floor was a horror show or filled with people that were selfish and cruel. Even his fellow Players weren’t to be trusted. Some of them, like the Lower Ranks, were amongst the worst people he had ever met.

The ground shook with each step the heavily armoured figures took, and Marvin closed his eyes as he accepted the inevitable. From now until the end, he would think about his home and all the beautiful things he had experienced in his life.

Marvin’s thoughts were interrupted by cold liquid striking him in the face. Opening his eyes while he gasped and sputtered at the sudden rough treatment, the cold liquid soon became burning hot, and a new energy coursed through his body as his wounds began to mend.

“Healing potion? But who..” Marvin looked around to find Mathew standing next to him with his large Mace of Righteous Subjugation resting on his shoulder. He held a few thin vials filled with red, blue and green elixirs in his other hand.

“You’re looking rough. Here, take a minute and recover. I’ll take care of Corinna.” Mathew said confidently, his body already beginning to distort slightly around the edges as his protective Blessing ‘Blur’ took hold.

Marvin watched as the Thirteenth Demon Lord stepped forward and gave his mace a few swings to warm up his shoulder, like a baseball player about to step up to the plate.

The Knights, not realizing who stood before them or maybe unable to do anything but follow direct orders from their mistress, ignored Mathew as they kept their focus on Marvin.

“I should have bought a Blessing or two.” Mathew muttered as he readied himself for the fight ahead. He didn’t enjoy close combat, even on the Seventh Floor, where the Fiends would always close in rapidly with incredible speed. Mathew would try to keep his distance.

“Too late now.” Mathew whispered. He carefully judged the distance between them and the capabilities of the two mindless knights before he sprang into action. The Mace of Righteous Subjugation, with its boost of three to his body stat, gave him a significant increase in strength.

The mace screamed loudly as it sped through the air with every shred of force Mathew could muster. Fueled by the magic of Righteous Subjugation, the mace head emitted crackling golden lightning that flickered and danced across its metallic surface.

Mathew felt the magical weapon pull on his mana, and he gave it whatever it needed. It used more mana than any of his Blessings, but it was worth it.

The Mace slammed into the first of the knights with a thunderous crash. To Marvin, standing nearly a dozen feet away, it sounded as if a bomb went off, an explosion of epic proportions. A discharge of golden energy erupted from the impact, burning the ground around Mathew as the Knight was launched into the air.

Marvin followed it with his eyes as the Knight left the ground, its armour cracked and broken from the blow before the energy discharge vaporized it. The shockwave created by the force of the strike shook the earth, and the other Knight was pushed backwards as waves of energy scorched its armour.

Mathew looked at the other knight as it knelt on the ground. Throwing the mace into the air, he flicked his finger.

“Catapult.”

The mace flew toward the kneeling figure, and the heavily armoured knight crumpled as the mace slammed into it. The large knight folded around the mace before it was buried out of sight by the muddy ground.

“Recall.” Mathew said, gesturing for the mace to return to his hand as he walked slowly toward the seated Corinna, who was only now looking concerned about the reversal of fortunes.

“So, you survived. I should have known that Osmund would fail. It’s certainly on brand for him. I was about to-.” Corinna was cut off as Mathew pointed to her and spoke.

“Halt Movement.” Mathew ordered. The Blessing, designed only to hold people physically weaker than him or those lacking the willpower or mana to counteract its effects, froze the Highborn for a moment. Already, Mathew could feel the Blessing weakened, the powerful will of Corinna wearing away at it.

The Blessing would only hold for a moment, but it was long enough for Mathew.

“Mystic Bolt.” Mathew threw a bolt of pure energy at the helpless Highborn, and he watched as it arced toward her seated figure. He didn’t have any qualms about killing her, not after watching her order the death of his friends or learning what she had done to the locals here.

The bolt nearly made it to her when a magical bullet shot it out of the air.

“Tut, tut, tut. Little Mathew shouldn’t hurt poor, defenceless women. That’s not very heroic, is it, Aleks?” Carlie asked as she stepped out from behind her sister's throne. To Mathew’s side, Aleks lowered his weapon, the charmed Outlaw having foiled Mathew’s attempt to end the battle quickly.

Corinna, frozen for only a moment, snapped out of the Blessing and laughed. It would have been a beautiful sound if it didn’t have a sinister edge to it. She gripped the arms of her chair tightly as she leaned forward.

“You were so close, Mathew. But, the fun and games are over. Do you think you won just because you removed a few pawns from the board? I have more than enough of those knights. The locals were scrambling over each other to join my ranks!” Corinna hissed, and with a snap of her fingers, another half dozen of the armoured knights appeared.

“Kill him!” Corinna shouted. The knights began to move toward Mathew while Carlie smiled at the charmed Aleks.

“Do your part, dear. You wouldn’t want to disappoint me, would you?” Aleks looked at the Beguiler with pure adoration before nodding and pointing his weapon at Mathew.

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Marvin had recovered enough that he could sit up, but what awaited him when his eyes landed on the battlefield filled him with a sense of despair that he thought he had gone since Mathew rescued him.

A half dozen knights formed a semi-circle in front of Mathew while Aleks, their friend and ally, was pointing his revolver at him. How did things take such a turn? Marvin let out a deep breath and lowered himself back to the ground.

It was hopeless; they couldn’t survive. Not against the strength of Carlie and Corinna combined.

But Mathew didn’t retreat. Instead, he did something that surprised Marvin. The Villain emptied his inventory onto the ground.

Mathew quickly opened his status screen and began to dump everything inside his inventory onto the ground at his feet. During his time here on the 9th Floor, he accumulated several magical objects. Spears and swords, a few shields and even a handful of rings.

Most had been pilfered from the Lords and Ladies of the Lineages, while several had been picked up from the various adventures he had had here to build his reputation. When he had about a dozen laid out on the ground, he closed the screen and assessed the situation.

“Right, Aleks first.” Mathew muttered. The slow-moving Knights were close, but the Outlaw was the real threat. Just as he spoke, the revolver let out a deafening crack, and Mathew felt the bullet strike his chest. The Coward’s Brand, dormant until now, burned like fire, preventing the bullet from penetrating his skin.

But, as powerful as the Brand was, he could feel its protections weaken. It wouldn’t stop another in the spot until it recovered.

“Catapult.” Mathew whispered, flicking his hands repeatedly as he sent all the magical items at his feet flying.

A storm of magic shot out from in front of him. Spears raced toward the Knights and Outlaw while swords spun and cut. The magical Dagger Mathew had bought from the shop on the Seventh Floor and spent so much time using in battle weaved and flew between them as if it were alive.

The Outlaw tried to dodge, but the Dagger homed in on him, just as it had done to the Wretch, Ludvig. The dagger pierced Aleks's shoulder, and the Outlaw screamed in pain. But, with the injury came a new clarity, and the Outlaw finally came to his senses.

As Aleks spun from the force of the blow, he turned his revolver onto his tormentor and pulled the trigger.