ALL NOVEL Chapter 155 – Floor 15: Part 1
Chapter 155 – Floor 15: Part 1
Floor 14: A Daring Rescue (Complete!)
Floor Summary: Far away from the shores of Anglia exists an island shrouded by fog. An island of death where the living dread to travel and most never return. There, deep beneath the surface of the earth, a prisoner awaits your arrival. Travel to this strange and mysterious land and free them from their imprisonment.
Floor Summary (Complete): You have freed Arthur, Apostle of Righteous Subjugation, from his imprisonment beneath the ruins of a long-forgotten Tower.
Divine Consultation:
The god ‘Righteous Subjugation’ is very pleased with your actions and has taken an increased interest in you.
The god ‘Incidental Termination’ is displeased that you have freed an Apostle. They wish to send you to a ‘Punishment Floor’ for your actions. (Righteous Subjugation has blocked the request.)
Several gods have requested regular updates as you progress. (Approved)
The god ‘Mischievous Depravity’ has offered you the opportunity to become its Apostle. (Several gods have blocked the offer.)
Floor Completion Reward:
Blessing: Words of Power
Amongst the infinite planets of the multiverse existed a celestial race. They understood the language of the universe and were capable of manipulating it to their will by merely uttering their divine language. Creation, Control and Destruction, all things were possible with a word.
Fearing their power, the gods of the Tower eradicated the celestials. Their divine language has been lost, and only fragments remain, littered across the multiverse. You may use Aether to reconstruct simple, single-syllable words to emulate their language.
You have been granted the following words: Burn, Break.
Burn: Ignite a target using the Word of Power.
Break: Destroy a nonliving object of your choice; the size and material of the object determine the amount of effort required.
Blessing: Subjugation Aura of the Righteous.
You have been granted a portion of the god ‘Righteous Subjugation’s’ divine power. By using this Blessing, you will be surrounded by a Consecrated Aura that will provide you with slight increases in Body, Mind and Spirit attributes (+0.5).
All those who are not deemed worthy of Righteous Subjugation’s grace will feel suppressed and fearful in the presence of this divine force, for they are in the presence of someone favoured by a deity. Their attacks against you will suffer, and they will feel compelled to obey your commands.
Magical Item: The Wrathful Blade
Item Description: Forged by the Lady of the Lake, this weapon contains the Aether gathered from ‘Rath’ the Ancient Ogre. Intended for ‘Mathew, the Slayer of Rath,’ it lacks a point and is styled on the ‘Executioner Swords’ of the medieval period.
The blade is covered in a layer of rust and appears old and ill-maintained. But its looks are deceiving, for this sword is amongst the sharpest the Lady has ever created.
Arthur, First King of Anglia, convinced the Lady to shape a weapon for his liberator after ‘Excalibur’ was returned to his family’s line, and the Lady grudgingly accepted the request.
Magical Properties: (+5 Body, Indestructible, +++ Density)
Due to its unique materials and forging method, the Wrathful Blade has a weight far beyond its size would suggest. It contains the power of the Ancient Ogre, a massive Ancestral Beast who commanded a strength that could crush mountains.
Few possess the strength and ability to wield The Wrathful Blade effectively.
Floor 15: Heart of a Prince
Summary: Assuming the role of Prince Aiden, you have promised to protect Anglia and act as its Crown Prince until Alfred, the legitimate heir of the Arthurian Lineage, is ready to take over. Alfred is currently too sickly and weak for the responsibility, leaving it to you to find a cure for the ailing Prince.
Alfred’s condition can be cured through the use of a divine ritual.
Objective: Obtain five (5) Ancestral Beast hearts and perform the ritual to cure Alfred. Ancestral Beasts are no longer found in Anglia, and eligible hearts are currently located in:
The Orkney Islands – The Ancestral Beast of the Bearfolk.
Francia – The Ancestral Werebeast
Rome – The Vampiric Ancestral Beast
The Americas (East Coast) – The Ancestral Kraken
The Americas (West Coast) – The Abhorrent Corrupted Ancestral Beast
Page Break
Mathew closed the notifications and leaned back in his chair. Alfred had finally left him alone after he had promised to allow him to assist with planning their expeditions against the Ancestral Beasts in the morning.
The prospect of travelling across half of this world in search of monsters to slay wasn’t appealing to him, but it wasn’t as if he had a choice. Besides, he didn’t receive any type of time frame on this Floor. He could take his time and enjoy his stint in Londinium.
They likely wouldn’t be able to set out until the spring, which meant four months of wintering in the city until it was safe to sail north. A winter filled with parties and other social events.
Mathew scoffed at the thought and shoved it aside. He was exhausted and could feel the bed in the other room calling to him with warm sheets and a soft pillow, but he ignored it for a moment. He turned his attention to the Blessings he had received for freeing Arthur.
The Words of Power were the most interesting and obtuse Blessing he had ever experienced. It was like a splinter in him, foreign knowledge that wasn’t his, in a language that he couldn’t understand.
Break and Burn were the only two words that he knew, and they were complicated beyond comparison. It wasn’t merely speaking the word and commanding a response; it was more like altering reality itself, changing it to suit his will.
Burn caused an object to catch fire because he willed it, and the universe had to respond. In some ways, it was similar to his first Blessing, which was the ability to summon and control fire. But that had used his mana as a medium, and it could be interfered with if an opponent had the ability.
This was different, and hard to explain. It wasn’t summoning a fire in a location that it didn’t exist in before. This was creating something from nothing. A subtle but important difference that even Mathew, who possessed the Blessing, couldn’t truly understand.
Break and Burn were just the beginning, and the easiest, of an entire language of the Words of Power. Mathew had no doubt that as his understanding increased, so too would the scope and scale of his command of this Blessing.
The second Blessing, The Subjugation Aura of the Righteous, was similar to his old Blessing ‘Fear.’ Only this one made people more obedient or less likely to oppose him. It also had other benefits in combat, such as protecting him and hindering his opponents.
But its connection to a Deity made him wary of it. Mathew didn’t want to become too close to a god and risk becoming their pawn or a tool. Worse, what if he enjoyed using it, and it influenced him into becoming an Apostle?
Mathew doubted it worked that way, but his time in the Tower made him cautious. After thinking about his rewards for a few minutes, Mathew summoned the ‘Wrathful Blade’ from his inventory.
The sword fell into his hand, and Mathew staggered forward at the weight. It pulled him toward the ground, and only by setting his feet wide apart, bending his legs and lifting with all of his strength could he barely keep it aloft.
“It wasn’t kidding; this thing weighs a ton!” Mathew exclaimed. Even with the surge of added strength the magical weapon pumped into his ‘Body’ stat, Mathew couldn’t wield it effectively. Even the tiniest movement would send him staggering to the side.
Resting the sword on the ground, Mathew studied his new weapon carefully.
It was the ugliest sword he had ever seen. It looked like something the Lady of the Lake had forged for him as payback for the way he treated her.
The tip of the sword was flat and blunt, making stabbing with the sword impossible. It only had a single edge and was much wider than a regular sword, almost making it a cleaver, but the handle was in the center, and the blade was straight.
The sword’s handle was long and wrapped in black leather with a large, unadorned, unremarkable pommel. The leather and handle were the cleanest and nicest part of the sword, as the blade was discoloured with red and brown rust.
Now that he could see it properly, Mathew recognized it as a similar weapon that ‘Rath’ the Ancient Ogre used, which they had brought back to Londinium as a trophy.
“I suppose I’ll need to practice with this over the winter.” Mathew mused as he placed the sword back in his inventory.