ALL NOVEL Chapter 66 – Floor 7: Part 6
Chapter 66 – Floor 7: Part 6
The Outer Deity was attempting to entice the humans over to its side.
For nearly a month after he had returned to the ruined city with whatever people he and the other scouts had managed to find, Mathew had tried to deny that fact. But the evidence was overwhelming. Worse, he suspected that Samuel was one of its targets.
It had started with items in the shop. Magical equipment aligned to the Outer Deity had appeared shortly after Mathew had arrived. Priced the same as the regular Magical gear, it differed significantly in power. Of course, for players fighting on the Seventh Floor against an army of Fiends, most were desperate for anything that could give them an edge.
Mathe hadn’t bought a magical item; he had instead focused on levels and Blessings, but several of the scouts in his party had. They began to act strangely after a few days, and after a week, they had disappeared into the night while out on patrol.
It became a common story and one that worsened over time as new Blessings appeared in the shop. Like the magical items, these Blessings were more powerful than any Mathew had seen before. They were also ‘darker’ in nature.
The Blessings affected the minds of the users or had side effects that damaged the body in return for more powerful attacks or abilities. One that had appealed to Mathew for a moment would allow him to teleport, blinking out of existence for short periods of time and reappearing wherever he wanted as long as it was within sight.
But the downside to that ability was that it would use his own life energy as fuel for the Blessing. It would likely make him sickly and weaker. Although many would not care about the side effects in exchange for such a powerful ability, Mathew wasn’t interested. Not after several of those who had taken the gifts of Outer Deity suddenly declared their allegiance to the god and fled their ranks.
The straw that broke the camel’s back, forcing Mathew and many of the other leaders in the city to declare an outright ban on accepting anything from the Outer Deity, had been when new Disciplines suddenly appeared.
Mathew had been in a council meeting, discussing their next step now that Samuel and everyone that had stayed in the city was gone when they had all received a message on their silver wristbands. Rather than the burning words that they were accustomed to, these flowed like ink in the air above them.
Discipline: Adherent of the Outer Deity
Summary: The Outer Deity has offered the sons and daughters of Humanity a choice to join it on its crusade of liberation. All things are possible under its divine auspices. Seize your fate and cast down your false idols. Join it in exaltation.
Stat increase per level: +++ Mind, +++ Body, +++ Spirit
Unique Blessing: Keep What You Kill
The Outer Deity requires nothing but your devotion and faith. You may keep the Aether you collect from your enemies. Kill and grow stronger. There are no limits under the patronage of the Outer Deity. We will conquer the Tower of Avarice together. Seize your desires from the grip of the underserved, and grab hold of your wish with your own power.
Unique Blessing: Sheltering Embrace of the Outer Deity
You are the chosen of the true god of the Tower of Avarice. No Blessing shall harm you. You may use the Blessings offered by the Outer Deity without fear of the side effects.
Cost: Free
Mathew stared at the words in startled wonder. Even knowing that the Outer Deity was trying to entice people to its side, Mathew could barely comprehend what it was offering. The gods of the Tower offered Disciplines with a maximum of three stat increases per level. The Outer Deity was offering nine!
Better than that, all the Aether collected in a floor would go toward the players. Mathew didn’t know how much the gods of the Tower collected from them, but they all suspected they were only keeping a fraction of the total collected. Otherwise, why would there be limits on levelling on Floors?
The offer was a temptation that Mathew was sure many would take. The possibility of keeping all the Aether on the floors, access to a Discipline with incredible stat increases, and the ability to use its Blessings without the harmful effects? Even Mathew felt the need to agree.
A shout erupted in the large tent they had been using for the meeting. One of the council members had leapt on another, stabbing them with a dagger repeatedly. More shouting followed, and in moments, the entire city exploded in an outright civil war.
When things finally settled down, a large portion of the humans in the city were dead, more had fled to join the ranks of the Outer Deity, and Mathew was one of the few people left on the council. They had implemented the ban shortly after.
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“You bastards! I’m no easy meat!” Greg shouted, firing the last bolt from his crossbow at another fiend before tossing the weapon onto the ground and drawing a knife in his left hand and a short sword in his right.
He and thousands of others had just arrived from the elevator a few moments before. The summary for the 7th Floor had told him that this world was involved in a war against an Outer Deity and that hundreds of millions of other people would be joining him.
It failed to mention that they seemed to be losing the war against the Fiends!
The rocky ground he found himself on was covered in bodies, the remains of a battle that the humans clearly lost. When he had stepped out of the elevator, the Fiends were waiting for him. If it hadn’t been for the steady arrival of others from the floor below, Greg doubted he would have lasted long at all.
He had unloaded his entire quiver of bolts into the creatures, putting down a half dozen while a chaotic mess surrounded him. Greg could feel the Aether in the air; everything was practically saturated with the stuff, and he knew that if he could survive the next few minutes, he could probably purchase a few levels.
A Fiend leapt at him, its bladed arms stabbing toward his chest. The creature’s face was twisted in hatred, and Greg could see its pointed teeth when it screamed.
He threw himself to the side, avoiding the Fiend’s bladed arms and slashing at its torso with his sword. Feeling it bite, he followed the attack with a strike at the monster’s throat with his knife. The Fiend collapsed in a spray of black blood, and Greg pulled the knife free and looked for the next target.
There were plenty to choose from, and the next few minutes were a struggle that Greg would never forget. Especially when he lost his knife and his sword broke at the hilt. Throwing the useless remains of the sword at an approaching Fiend, Greg was ready to fight barehanded when an arrow struck the Fiend in the chest.
Another soon followed it, and a rush of new people charged into the creatures. These newcomers were well-armed, wearing equipment that Greg thought was magical or of the highest quality. They used their weapons with skill, had blessings that were high-level, and worked together with a familiarity that spoke of their time together.
“Are you alright?” A young woman asked. She had a rifle in her hands, a modified weapon that looked as if it could have come out of a Steampunk movie. It had strange tubes and wires stretching to her large backpack.
“Yeah. Peachy.” Greg replied. The adrenaline was already wearing off, and the wounds that covered his body were already beginning to ache. The young woman nodded, pulling out a potion from a pocket and offering it to him.
“No thanks, I’m due for a level after this.” Greg said, and the young woman shook her head.
“Levelling doesn’t heal wounds on this floor. Take it.” She said, tossing the potion to him. Greg stared at her in confusion for a moment. Levelling didn’t heal wounds here? What the hell was wrong with this floor?
Popping the cork, he swallowed the awful-tasting elixir in a single swallow. He could feel a rush of heat from his stomach that swept across his torso and limbs.
“Come on. You all are lucky; we’re not far from the city.” The young woman said, gesturing for him to follow. There were hundreds of survivors from the new arrivals, and the group of well-armed humans led them to a group of ruins that Greg thought the title ‘city’ was too generous a word for.
There were people everywhere, more than Greg expected to see in a place like this. He suspected there were at least a hundred thousand people gathered here, with more arriving all the time, from what the young woman told him.
“Wait here. Someone from the council will be by shortly to give you a rundown on what’s expected of you and to go over the ban.” The young woman advised, leaving Greg and the others waiting near a vast ruin at the center of the city.