Tower of Avarice: A LitRPG story

Chapter 96 – Floor 9: Part 17

“Mystic Bolt!” Mathew shouted, and a streak of bluish-white energy struck the wall of bone that surrounded the undead figure that they had found in the deepest part of the tomb.

The undead wore rags that had once been made of the finest silk, heavily embroidered with gold and silver. Its body was skeletal and fleshless, but its eyes glowed with a crimson malevolence. Yule hid near the burial chamber entrance and watched Mathew's every move.

They had entered to find it surrounded by the lifeless bodies of dozens of humans and thousands of animals. Streaks of blood made a trail in the very center, where they formed runes and symbols around a skeleton.

They interrupted whatever spell or ritual that was in progress, and the undead reacted with violence. Yule could feel turbulent energies sweep across her skin like stinging nettles. But Mathew, unaffected by the onslaught of mana, rushed headlong into the chamber.

Undeterred by the summoned wall of bone the undead created, Mathew was a blur as he dodged the creature’s counterattack, a blast of cold air that froze everything in its path. It was so icy that when the rock wall behind Mathew finally stopped it, the stone shattered.

Yule’s eyes widened as she watched Mathew’s distorted silhouette roll across the ground to dodge another attack. Back on his feet, he flicked his finger to send a boulder the size of Yule’s head at the undead.

The stone sailed across the bone wall but was redirected by a gesture from the undead. The rock crashed onto the ground next to it, and its eyes were momentarily preoccupied by the distraction. Hidden behind the rock was another streak of energy, and the bolt struck the distracted undead in the body.

When the bolt of energy Mathew sent hit the undead, a barrier of dark energy surrounded its torso in an attempt to block the energy. A clash of conflicting energies lasted a moment and sent sparks of white energy in all directions before the undead’s barrier failed.

The bolt of energy burned through its chest, leaving a smoking hole and spinning the creature around with the force of its attack. Mathew, capitalizing on the monster’s inability to defend itself, snapped his fingers to create a towering pillar of fire.

The flames engulfed its body for a second before the undead managed to protect itself with a barrier of its mana. Pushing back the flames, the creature looked for Mathew’s blurred figure through the inferno. Its crimson eyes scanned the room in vain. Mathew was nowhere to be found.

Seeing that its prey eluded it, the monster focused on Yule, hiding behind a curved wall section. Yule let out a frightened cry as the undead’s eyes found hers.

Its hand raised and pointed at the Chronicler, and Yule felt the necrotic energy within it swirl and build. She couldn’t help but stumble backwards and shield her face with her hands.

Mathew leapt out of the darkness behind the undead, the massive mace of Righteous Subjugation held in his hands and raised above his head. The monster didn’t have time to turn before the clenched fist bashed into its skull, shattering it into pieces.

A crimson energy swirled around it, the remnants of whatever mana was fueling its undeath. The skeleton crumbled to dust immediately, causing Mathew to sneeze loudly and brush it away from his clothing.

“Whew! That was nasty.” Mathew exclaimed, sending his mace back to his inventory. He turned to look at Yule, who was still cowering.

“Are you alright? Everything is fine. I wasn’t going to let it hurt you.” Mathew assured her while walking over to where she was kneeling and offering her a hand to regain her feet. Yule tentatively took his hand, marvelling how steady Mathew was. She was shaking with adrenaline and fear, while he was like a rock.

“Thank you.” Yule whispered, removing her hand from his.

“No problem.” Mathew turned away from her and looked toward the dusty remains of the undead. He had a contemplative look on his face.

“What is it?” Yule asked, noticing right away the change in Mathew’s attitude.

“That undead was stronger than any of the other ones I fought. And it was using Blessings.” Mathew revealed. Yule understood what he was saying immediately.

“It was like you? From the Tower of Avarice?” Yule asked, and Mathew shook his head.

“I don’t know. Maybe? It’s connected to it somehow.” Mathew paused before turning to look at Yule once again.

“Does your Chronicle say anything about any of the Demon Lords that died? Are any of them buried in this part of your world?” Mathew inquired. Yule didn’t even need a moment to consider the question before responding.

“Yes. Several perished in these lands from Lord Algrond’s father.” Yule explained.

“Several?” Mathew asked in surprise. He thought that the death of a few Demon Lords would have been common knowledge, or their graves would have been marked in some way.

“The last time Demon Lords invaded this realm, their numbers were much higher than yours. However, if I have interpreted the chronicles correctly, they were much weaker than you.” Yule stated with a tone that was doubtful of her mistake.

There was little chance she would be wrong about something concerning such an important document.

“Huh. So it's possible this was a Demon Lord’s grave.” Mathew muttered while looking around the underground chamber. He didn’t feel anything from learning of the loss of a player. He didn’t know them, and even if he did, he had a feeling that a person capable of leaving such a malevolent undead hadn’t been a good person.

“Let's take a look around.” Mathew uttered while rooting around the dusty remnants of the undead for any loot. He only had to flick away some of the grey ash to find a cube of Aether that he immediately pocketed.

‘Not bad. Five hundred thousand units.’ Mathew thought as he placed it in his inventory. Straightening, he began to walk around the chamber, occasionally sifting through the piles of debris with his foot or using ‘Catapult’ to move items if he didn’t want to touch them.

“What do we have here!?” Mathew exclaimed, and Yule rushed forward from where she stood behind him to get a better look. She would have liked to say it was important for her chronicle of Mathew’s endeavours, but the truth was she was curious about what could interest a powerful Demon Lord.

It was a metal decanter filled with water. There was an aura of mana about it, and even covered in dust, there was a gleam to it. Mathew brushed away the dirt from its surface with the sleeve of his jacket. The water inside was so dusty that it was more mud than liquid.

Mathew tilted the container on its side to dump out the muddy water and to have a better look at the inside. To his surprise, it slowly began to fill once more with crystal-clear liquid.

“Interesting.” Mathew said as words appeared above it, revealed only to him.

Decanter of Endless Water

“That’s pretty cool.” Mathew muttered and poured out about a cupful of water that had already returned. The brass interior of the decanter was sparkling clean, and Mathew made the decision to have the rest cleaned when he returned to Reesh.

“A magical item!” Yule exclaimed in awe. She had seen the Lords and Ladies, as well as the Demon Lords, use magical weapons. But magical items were much rarer since they could be seen as ‘frivolous’ and weren’t as commonly created.

“Do you like it? Here.” Mathew said, handing the young woman the decanter. He didn’t really have a need for it. He had an inventory stocked full of food and water. Even if he didn’t, he could just buy some from the ‘shop’ with a few units of Aether.

Yule was shocked as her fingers closed around the handle of the magical item.

“But, this is yours!” Yule cried while trying to push the magical item back to Mathew. Such an item would be worth a fortune in their world.

Mathew scoffed at her and ignored the offer to return it.

“Actually, it was probably his.” Mathew said, pointing at the pile of dust that had been the undead.

“And now it's yours.” Mathew finished. After a final look around to see if they had missed anything, Mathew led the way out of the chamber with a delighted Yule following behind him, occasionally pouring out water and watching the decanter refill by magic.