Peter couldn’t help but notice the lack of runes on the ‘elite squad’. Turning to his companions, he voiced a complaint. “I thought you guys would have multiple runes by now. Did you not kill any demons?”
“We did.” Shenlong paused, then added, “Many.”
Peter raised an eyebrow, wondering where exactly the problem lay. If it wasn’t the lack of essence, then what?
“Ugh! Fine.” Amara extended a delicate hand to Shenlong. “Hand it over.”
After taking the group’s essence gathered over the past week, Amara pursed her lips as black tendrils spread from the ball of essence. It formed a rune across the back of her hand. In total, the rune consumed over ninety percent of their savings.
Olivia gasped. “You greedy princess!”
“Hmph,” Amara replied shamelessly. “I’ll pay you back, little shadow.”
With a flick of her finger, Amara showed everyone the details of her rune.
Spell Echo - Tier 1 Rune
5% chance to duplicate any spell cast at no mana cost. The duplicated spell has 20% of the original’s power.
Passively adds +1% intelligence.
“It costs twenty times as much to upgrade compared to mine.” Shenlong remarked grumpily. Did this mean his rune had less potential or was of lesser quality?
Lavos gave a soft snort. “You’re overthinking it. The cost of a rune is determined by how much it influences the world. Due to the specific focus of your rune, it will manifest its potential much faster than hers.”
Shenlong felt better after thinking it over. The cost scaled exponentially. Amara’s rune required one million essence to upgrade to tier 2, so how much would it need for tier 3? Tier 4? While she would struggle to get her rune to tier 5, it was much easier for Shenlong.
As the group made small talk, black miasma slowly escaped from the earth. It rose higher and higher until even the sky was covered. Bizarrely, you could still see the giant eye with perfect clarity. However, compared to other nights, red veins extended across the demon king’s eye. They squirmed about like worms.
All of a sudden, an invisible ripple came from the eye. It spread out to encompass the entire floor. When the ripple reached the haven, it hit the barrier and disappeared. While Jason and the others were safe, the demons across the floor were not. A nefarious will entered the monster’s souls, compelling them towards havens across the world.
BOOM!
There was a tremor as one of the pre-placed traps went off, followed by a yelp. The ascenders on the walls ceased their discussions and focused. Only a moment passed before another trap exploded, this one magical. Then another.
In every direction, traps went off like popcorn in a microwave. At first, there were only a couple, but more went off with every passing second. In no time, all everyone could hear was explosion after explosion. They could no longer hear the monster’s screams over the deafening blasts.
Sam stood on the northern watchtower, his eyes covered with mana as he peered closely at the miasma beneath him. With his exceptional eyesight, he was able to see deeper than most. At that moment, his expression changed as he screamed, “They’re here!”
The miasma churned as thousands of demons rushed out, their eyes filled with madness. Aside from their cruel appearance, no demon looked the same. They appeared to be the experiments of a mad scientist who loved making hybrids—a genius who took the strengths of different beasts and combined them to create horrific monstrosities.
In the face of this terrifying monster horde, everyone wore grim expressions. On top of the tallest watcher, Peter shouted, “Activate the sigils!”
At his command, ungodly amounts of mana surged into the sigils engraved on the outer face of the wall. The sigils represented an equation, and not a simple one. It took the most skilled engraver hours, along with countless resources, just to create a single one. But it was worth it.
Time seemed to stop. The haven trembled as hundreds of heavenly beams shot out from the wall, leaving only destruction in their wake. The demons couldn’t mount the slightest resistance as they turned into ash, forever gone from the world.
“What the hell?!” Everyone’s jaw dropped at the unexpected result. None of them expected the sigils to be so powerful.
“Hehe! Behold the power of my profession!” In the center of the haven, Ricky, the most talented engraver, cackled madly. However, just as his words entered everyone’s ears, a tenth of the sigils abruptly collapsed, releasing a small explosion. The load was too high to bear.
Ricky gagged as everyone turned to give him a strange look. Amongst them all, Peter was outraged. How many resources and gold bars went into making just a single sigil? Peter’s heart bled just thinking about it. Ricky saw Peter glaring daggers at him, so he made a ‘hehe’ sound, then found somewhere to hide.
As everyone was in between crying and laughter, Sam’s voice rang out. “More incoming!”
Due to the sigils clearing out the surroundings, it took some time for the monster horde to reach the walls again. Peter knew there was a ten-minute cooldown between each use of the sigils, and as only a few moments had passed, they had to defend via other means. Peter raised an arm and swung it forward. “Fire at will!”
As the second wave of demons exited the miasma, a barrage of projectiles and magic greeted them. The frontline collapsed as blood dyed the ground. The monsters behind them cared not; they continued their charge without fear.
Even as archers and mages fired without end, the horde reached the walls, albeit with heavy casualties. With their stats, the wall was nothing a jump couldn’t solve, but first, they had to break the haven’s barrier.
“Die, you bastards!” Hundreds of ascenders jumped off the wall. All of them specialized in close combat, and with the barrier blocking the demons, they didn’t have to worry about defense.
“Back to the wall!” Peter shouted from above. Unfortunately, the barrier was of the lowest grade and could only withstand a million damage. That was nothing to thousands of demons. They broke the barrier in only a few minutes.
With the barrier gone, the demons on the frontline jumped. They soared over the wall, far beyond the reach of close combat ascenders. Just then, thousands of red dots landed on their bodies. On the other side of the wall sat thousands of auto-turrets, purchased using reputation from the robot floors. They locked on and fired, riddling the demons with holes. They died instantly.
It was a strange sight—many demons continued to think it was best to skip the wall. They didn’t know they were jumping to their deaths.
On the watchtower, Peter had the best view of the battlefield. He saw the endless horde outside the haven and knew he couldn’t hold anything back. “Activate the artillery! Fire at will!”
The bombardment of artillery, both magical and conventional, decimated the horde of monsters. With the auto-turrets, artillery, sigils, and ascenders combined, thousands of demons died every minute.
With the power of their contraptions, the ascenders were able to save on stamina and mana. Every time the demons overwhelmed them, the sigils would reactivate, giving them a brief break. The monster horde would end soon, they thought.
After an hour, they thought the same.
After two, they began to doubt.
After three, they were confused.
Why did it seem like the horde was endless? It almost looked like they would attack all night, but that was impossible, right?
As there was no boss monster for Shenlong’s team to hunt, they had long ago joined the fight, quickly killing one demon after another. Only Peter and Lavos remained on the watchtower. Seeing the situation, Peter couldn’t help but ask the experienced minotaur, “Does the monster horde last all night?”
Peter cussed upon receiving a nod. Worse, he noticed several auto-turrets run out of ammo. Helpless, he joined the battle as well.
Two hours later, the artillery and auto-turrets ran out of bullets. Shortly after, a human scream came from the walls. Unfortunate
ly, the inevitable had happened. A shadow panther ripped through the throat of a spear-wielding ascender.
With over half of the sigils broken, and the auto-turrets and artillery useless, the monster horde finally overwhelmed the ascenders. Demons ran rampant inside the haven while many parts of the wall crumbled. It was chaos.
Still on the watchtower, Lavos overlooked the battlefield while deep in thought. Honestly, he didn’t expect these humans to have so much strength with only a single rune. They possessed such power by relying on their innate abilities. If one day they had as many runes as he, would they threaten the demon king?
Lavos activated two of his runes. A gnarled wooden longstaff appeared in his hand while a crown hovered above his head. Fire, water, earth, and wind in a tangible form made up the crown’s material.
Lavos’s feet lifted off the watchtower as he rose into the sky. Using his free hand to point down, lightning coursed around him before being guided by his finger. Moving at the speed of light, it hit a demon in the middle of the haven, killing it in one blow. The lightning split into two and found two more targets. It split again and again, and in just a second, all of the demons in the haven were dead.
Letting out a breath, Lavos glanced outside and waved his staff. Twenty tornados, each hundreds of feet wide, popped into existence around the haven. Thousands upon thousands of demons were picked up and chopped into pieces. Astonishingly, the tornados continued to rampage across the battlefield, even after several minutes. They wouldn’t run out as long as there was enough ambient mana in the air, all thanks to Lavos’s crown.
Two moves were all he needed to turn the battle around, and with the demons mindlessly dying to the tornados, two moves were all he needed to defeat the monster horde.
Lavos was on another level.
He alone was a calamity.
Chapter 38
Dawn.
The demons Lavos had killed decayed at a visible rate, quickly becoming ashes in the wind, while the ground absorbed any blood spilled. The only thing left behind was the sea of essence dropped by demons slain by ascenders.
Everyone went out to gather the loot after a brief period of mourning. Thankfully same-tier essence could be stacked in an inventory, so there was no need to count them one by one. Who knew how long that would take?
“Come on, Pete, tell us already!” The essence ended up in Peter’s hands, making him the only one privy to the final tally. Looking around at the greedy gobli— er, no, his comrades, Peter cleared his throat and announced slowly. “2,142,190 tier one essence.”
“My god!”
“Holy hell!”
Everyone’s jaws hit the ground. Peter’s division had hunted countless demons over the past week, yet even added together, they’d killed but a tiny fraction compared to last night. Their feelings were akin to a farmer harvesting crops after a bountiful season. How delightful!
In the silence, someone asked, “What about tier two?”
Peter gathered his wits after hearing the question. He didn’t know either, so he took another glance at his inventory. His face dropped as he spoke through clenched teeth. “98,111 tier two essence.”
“Hm? That’s good, but…”
“Doesn’t that mean?” People glanced at their companions as they simultaneously came to the same realization. The struggle and hardship they endured for hours, all of it was against the weakest demons?! Sure, there were some tier two demons sprinkled in, but they were a minority.
Shenlong stood next to Peter, his voice flat. “How many tier three?”
“112.” Peter’s shoulders dropped as he replied.
The excitement of triumphing against the blood moon vanished, replaced by the grim realization that they were but ants. Yes, ants. Various professions came together to create the best defense humanity could offer, yet it was barely enough for a horde of tier one demons. How many ascenders would have died if Lavos hadn’t stepped in? Half of them?
“What are you all despairing for?” Lavos appeared behind Peter when everyone felt demotivated. Perhaps it was because he was old, but Lavos felt the need to lift everyone’s spirits. “First of all, the scale of the monster horde is based on the number of people in a haven. Let’s say you lost half last night. Next week, the horde would be much more manageable.”
Peter shook his head. “Then wouldn’t we lose half again next week?”
“Losing half is already very good. Do you know how many tribes I’ve seen get wiped out in a night?” Contrary to Lavos’s intentions, he only made the atmosphere worse. The elderly minotaur had seen too much death over the decades, so he approached the topic casually.
Jason stood among the crowd. Unlike his companions, there was no emotion on his face. He was the only one who understood Lavos.
After a moment of silence, Peter clenched his hands and pleaded. “I’m unwilling to lose another person. Please, Lavos, is there anything we can do?”
The minotaur didn’t respond immediately. At first, Lavos wanted to say ‘how arrogant’, but the fire in Peter’s eyes reminded him of his youth. He remembered the sense of loss upon losing his parents and how he wanted to become a hero to protect his tribe. He was naïve. No matter how hard he trained or how many demons he slaughtered, the fate of his tribe seemed inevitable. The once ten thousand strong tribe now numbered under a hundred.
It wasn’t fair.
Pure demons and demons like Lavos could grow stronger by forming runes, yet pure demons could fully extract any living creature's essence. Just like these humans. They didn’t need to extract essence by consuming flesh inefficiently.
So why was he hesitating?
Hadn’t he already decided when he stepped in earlier?!
“There is a method.” Lavos’s deep voice broke through the silence. He held Peter’s gaze. “Upgrade your haven.”
Just as Peter was about to say something, Lavos continued with a crazy glint in his eye. “You need a blueprint, and there’s only one place to get them. You need to raid a pure demon stronghold!”
“Ah, I thought as much.” Peter clicked his tongue. They found a pure demon town on the first day, but he wanted to avoid confrontation until they were stronger. Now, it seemed, they had no choice.
“There is one problem,” Lavos explained with a sigh. “Many years ago, I wanted a blueprint for my tribe, and I even acquired one after wiping out a small stronghold. I just didn’t expect some pure demons to arrive from afar to investigate the disappearance of their kin. As for the rest, you know what happened.”
Peter touched his chin and mused aloud. “We can ignore the strongholds nearby. That way, they won’t be able to trace it back to us.”
“That might work, but I have a better idea.” Lavos broke into a toothy grin. “If, say, a monster horde attacked, they’d only think the stronghold was unlucky.”
“Do monster hordes happen without a blood moon?” Peter inquired. He thought it was possible to mask their attack by using a monster horde as a scapegoat. No, it was more than possible.
“It’s rare, but occasionally a demon with both strength and intelligence appears. To them, a pure demon is the finest delicacy, so they usually target strongholds. Most fail, though.” Lavos licked his lips just thinking about it.
“Okay, good.” Peter released a breath he didn’t know he’d been holding. This was great news. With a goal in sight, the gears in his head began to turn as a plan formed. They had the strength to wipe out a pure demon town; he was sure of it. The only problem was how to get a monster horde to hide the evidence. Damn, if they still had Eboni, she could have shapeshifted into a terrifying beast and form a monster horde. It was a shame she died.
As Peter looked at his companions, his gaze eventually settled on Andy. The kid had shivered in fear the entire night. It was time for him to work, coward or not.
Chapter 39
Lavos introduced the grading system, which was common knowledge on the floor. It was simple: a tier one demon possessed one rune, a tier tw
o had two runes, and so on.
However, Lavos stressed demons grew exponentially more powerful the higher their tier. For example, Lavos’s lowest level rune was seven. The stat bonuses he received from all his runes was mindboggling.
Over the decades, the minotaur tribe dwindled in numbers, leaving only the battle-hardened elites. Each one could fight one to two levels higher. However, for most demons, it was hard for a tier one to kill a tier two and almost impossible to kill a tier three. Those that could cross grades were the cream of the crop, and it was because of this Lavos was so impressed.
With no runes, top-grade ascenders were strong enough to kill tier three demons one on one. Above them were Shenlong and the others. Based on the brief spar between them, Lavos concluded Shenlong was strong enough to kill a tier four demon by himself. They shattered the rules of the floor. Lavos looked forward to the day these humans had as many runes as him.
After everyone rested, Andy left the haven under Shenlong’s party’s protection. Peter spent nearly an hour convincing the coward, and only after guaranteeing his safety did the kid accept.
“Found one.” Not long after the party left, Roy spotted a tier one silverclaw scorpion the size of a car. The beast was sleeping under the shade of a withered tree, and based on its lack of movement, it hadn’t noticed them yet.
(Mutant) Silverclaw Scorpion - Level 210
Health: 200,000/200,000
Shenlong and the others glanced at Andy. Gulping, the kid inspected the giant scorpion in the distance. His vivid imagination instantly created ten scenarios of him ripped to shreds. He only relaxed a bit when he realized Shenlong could probably kill it in a single hit. With such strong guardians protecting him like he was royalty, he would be safe. Probably.
Towers of Heaven: A LitRPG Adventure (Book 3) Page 17