Tower of Avarice: A LitRPG story

Chapter 71 – Floor 7: Part 11

Mathew had expected Samuel’s power to be overwhelming. The ‘Buzz’ had warned him of the fact before he had ever engaged in direct combat with him. The Council had expected it when they made their plans and gathered dozens of the highest-level players amongst them to fight.

Even with all their planning, they underestimated how monstrously powerful the man had become.

Samuel would send a half dozen men and women flying through the air with every swing of his mace. He was tireless. The weapon he held, which a regular player would need two hands to wield, was swung casually with one.

No attack could penetrate his black armour that covered him from head to toe. What little skin was visible on his face was greyish and inhuman. The Outer Deity’s influence had changed him into something unrecognizable.

It wasn’t only his physical abilities that caused destruction among the players.

He obliterated bodies with a touch of his hand, the corrosive mana inside him flooding his victims with enough energy that they would pop like a balloon, swelling grotesquely before disappearing into a bloody mist.

Samuel had an aura about him, one of darkness and heaviness that had wholly replaced the halo of light that Mathew had once associated with him. It made people flinch when he approached, slowing their movements slightly and causing them to hesitate.

But the worst of his new abilities came from his voice.

“Die!” Samuel shouted, pointing at a man in the distance who was gathering mana for a Blessing. He clutched his chest suddenly and let out a scream before falling to the ground dead.

“Flee!” The Apostle spoke. A group of players tried to run away from the black armoured figure, only to be cut down by the Fiends supporting him. With every command that Samuel bellowed, those weaker players who tried to stand against him succumbed to his words.

In the few short minutes it took Mathew and the high-level players to reach the front and face Samuel, he had killed hundreds and disrupted the battle lines. With each step Mathew took toward his former friend, the ‘Buzz’ grew more intense.

Mathew’s limbs shook, and his hands had a tremor so severe that he wasn’t sure if he could grip the knife at his belt. His mouth was dry, but he was sweating beneath his jacket. His heart pounded in his chest, and the world around him narrowed until it felt like he was in a tunnel with only himself and Samuel.

The fight between them started with Baxter leaping into the air. Propelled by superhuman strength, he sailed over the heads of players and Fiend alike. The impact of his landing cleared a space, destroying a swath of Fiends that were too close to avoid it.

The battlefield seemed to halt, the humans understanding that the fight between the high-level players and Samuel would determine the outcome of the conflict. The Fiends seemed to either instinctually feel the same or perhaps were influenced by Samuel. Mathew saw them back away for the first time, retreating like a tide and watching their leader intently.

The space around them was muddy, and Mathew’s boots sunk into the ground nearly to his ankle. Even with his enhanced strength, it would hinder his movements. With ample room to maneuver from Baxter’s landing, they spread out and formed a semi-circle around Samuel and his closest allies.

“Daolithin, the Outer Deity of Hushed Solitude, offers you this chance to live. Join us, become ‘Adherents’ to its cause, and you will be spared.” Samuel spoke, his voice a whisper that easily carried across the entire battlefield. It had a strange tone, a vibration that Mathew could feel in his body as the Apostle spoke.

The Outer Deity of Hushed Solitude. It was the first time that Mathew had heard its title. He was familiar with the god's name; the Adherents he had fought in the past all learned it on their acceptance of the Discipline.

If the Outer Deity had now earned itself a title in the Tower of Avarice, did that mean it was close to overpowering Righteous Subjugation? The affairs of the gods were beyond Mathew’s knowledge; he wasn’t even aware of what existed ‘outside’ of the Tower, but he couldn’t help but feel a sense of unease at this new revelation.

“Your Deity can shove off, Samuel.” Baster replied, cracking his knuckles.

He was covered in mud from his landing, with flecks of black and red blood already running down his bare chest from where it had splattered onto him. The gore enhanced the image of ferocity about the man, giving him a wild and brutal appearance.

“Blasphemy is the last gasp of the helpless dying. You will all be witness to my god’s supremacy.” Samuel replied, and Baxter scoffed loudly.

“We’ll be witness to your death, traitor.” Baxter responded, and Eloise placed her hand gently on the large man’s arm to keep him from running forward. Eloise had a whip in her right hand, its long length spiked and barbed. Lines of red energy streaked down from its handle, revealing its magical nature.

“Hold, Baxter. Follow the plan. Speaking to him is pointless. He’s nothing but a hollow shell compared to the man we knew.” Eloise stated, shaking her head sadly.

There was a history between Samuel and Eloise that Mathew wasn’t knowledgeable of the details. They had known each other on the lower floors. Her arrival to the Seventh had been shortly before Samuel’s defection to the Outer Deity. She hadn’t come to ‘Ruin’ until Mathew had returned from scouting the Barren Sea.

“There is a place here for you, Eloise. By my side, you will learn the truth. About the Tower, the gods. Everything.” Samuel said, his voice echoing off the cliffs behind him while still seeming to be a whisper in Mathew’s ears.

“You know I will never do that, Samuel. What happened to you? You were so filled with conviction and endless compassion.” Eloise replied.

“I am who I always was. Who I was always meant to be.” Samuel replied, and Eloise was forced to look away from him in grief. Samuel’s gaze moved across the gathered players before landing on Mathew.

“Mathew. I have been told that they gave you a title. Reliable. Survivor. You, of all people, should know better than to fight against me.” Samuel said, and Mathew felt a twinge of grief in his chest. He swiftly crushed it. Eloise was right; the man in front of him was no longer the person he had once known.

“I’m fine where I am, Samuel. I know that whatever happens, I made the right decision.” Mathew replied, and Samuel stared at him for a moment in silence as if contemplating what he had said.

“That is because you are living in ignorance. If you were aware of what Righteous Subjugation says about you, you would no longer be willing to lay down your life for them. I am privy to the thoughts of the false god, and they are no more divine than the mud beneath our feet.” Samuel revealed.

“Coward. Trickster. Charlatan. There is a reason these Disciplines were offered to you. The gods of the Tower believe that they suit you best. That they understand your true nature. They are wrong, Mathew. Come with me, and I will bestow upon you the power to make your every wish come true.” Samuel said as he held out a hand to Mathew as if to guide him.

Mathew shook his head.

“My wish is that you stop this. Can you make that wish a reality, Samuel? Can you renounce your new title so that we can all leave here alive and move onto the next floor?” Mathew asked, already knowing the answer.

“It is a pity, Mathew, that you claim to possess the ability to discern the truth, yet you refuse to listen. If that is the case, I will make you understand.” Samuel said, and the aura of darkness around him grew thicker.

The wind began to howl, and the oppressive feeling of heaviness that weighed down on Mathew’s shoulders made his knees buckle. His own mana surged through his body, a small stabilizing force against the tempest that was Samuel’s power.

“I can discern the truth of things, Apostle.” Mathew spat out the title with contempt. “And the truth is you’re going to die here.”

No more words were spoken after that exchange, and no bargain was struck to avoid the inevitable. A shockwave of force drove back human and Fiend alike when Mathew and the others clashed with the Apostle.