Tower Ascendant: A LitRPG Adventure (Realm Grinder Book 3), page 31
As he turned his attention to the Tower, to his amazement, the whole structure itself seemed to open to him. In that instant, he saw each and every layer, stacked nearly on top of each other in perfect order. He could see the dimensional folds that allowed so many massive worlds to exist in such a small space. He could see warriors fighting monsters big and small. He could see people arguing with one another over food and housing, he could see Bayard leading a zoning meeting, and Kitira doing her absolute best not to fall asleep in the midst of it. Higher in the Tower, he could see all the various Bloodskins, some of which he knew, and some of which he didn’t. Some were locked in battle. Others just looked bored. His vision came to rest on Floor 70, where, for a moment, his eyes locked with Kilnital himself. The old man gave a wave, and John heard a voice echo in his head.
Now you see more clearly, John Mavren. Do not let this gift blind you.
John blinked in surprise, but a moment later, Kilnital seemed to vanish, as if he’d hidden himself from the obtrusion. John scowled, but, emboldened, turned his vision ever-upward.
All the way to the top of the Tower his mind climbed, until he came all the way to Floor 99. There, he found a tall, lanky, nasty sort of creature. It stood at least thirty feet tall, but where the other Bloodskins were bulky and covered in muscle, he was thin, wiry, and sallow. His face was long and gaunt, like a ghoulish sort of mask, and he walked back and forth across the path, gnashing his teeth and lashing out randomly. He appeared insane at the very least, but hanging there, on his neck, was a glimmering pendant. It shimmered with an immense, intense malice, one that made John shudder even from so far away. Then, out of curiosity, John sent his vision just a bit higher.
Floor 100.
There, at the very peak of the Tower, he saw it. A window. A flickering, writhing hive of dimensional energy. He knew in an instant that to peer through it would result in the tearing of his mind into shreds, though he was equally certain that he would be able to do it. Below the portal, though… Now there was a sight. Standing tall, in a battle arena in the middle of a mountain, was the ultimate Bloodskin. If John had somehow distilled the essence of a Bloodskin and formed a singular creature, this would have been it. He was perfectly arrayed in every aspect, perfectly controlled. His rage and his hate was distilled and allied with a single goal: Prevent any and all humans from ever making it through the portal. His hatred of humanity was unmatched by anything and everything throughout the Tower, as was his control. He stood perfectly still, just watching the entrance to the floor. Patiently, he had waited, and patiently, he would continue to wait.
John shuddered greatly at the sight, then forcibly pulled his newfound vision away from the Tower.
“John?” Enora asked. Her voice seemed loud, and yet… distant. “John, are you okay?”
John turned his attention back to her. She was concerned, worried about him. He gave a nod, then turned and looked at the ground itself.
“Yeah, I’m alright.” He pointed forward as a wide system of cracks and crevices appeared to him beneath the surface. He could see almost all the way to the planet’s core, he could see the deadly borers munching their way through stone and rock. There was a single crevice between the group, about a hundred feet below the surface, that appeared to have been carved some months earlier. A large number of cave spiders had created a massive web that was still hanging, but due to a lack of monsters getting caught in said webs, they seemed to have all starved. “I think we’re good. Come on, I’ll keep a lookout.”
The Praetorians, stirred on by John’s words, rose up, and they started across the wide expanse. As they went, John turned his eyes around the battlefield, watching a wide assortment of monsters, both above and below the surface. None of them seemed to take any particular notice of the group. John considered turning his vision outward, to see how far the range on the Eye truly was, but he decided against it.
The rest of the trip inward was, all things considered, uneventful. When they reached the city walls, the Praetorians all broke away and started jogging off toward the Tower. John caught a glimpse of Bayard leaving the meeting after hearing word that the group had been spotted, eagerly rushing to come meet with them to get a feel for how things had gone. He was walking with a limp, and John noticed several ligaments that had been strained, presumably when Bayard crashed. He winced in sympathy, and Enora took his hand.
“I think you need to turn the Eye off for now,” she whispered. “You’re… kinda spooky right now. Like, I can tell that your brain isn’t actually right here.”
John let out a long breath, then nodded. “Alright. Just…” He winced. “I need to look at something.”
Farida stepped around in front of him and created a fiery sword in her hand, visibly warning him away, but he ignored the action. Instead, he turned his gaze downward, and his mind plunged into the depths of the earth.
There, almost immediately, he beheld the immense diamond. It was two miles directly beneath the Tower, beneath Beggar’s End. There, at the exact center of the thing, he could see Lilith. Her form was hidden from him, but he could sense her malice, her anger, her power. Whereas the Bloodskin at the very top of the Tower was controlled and purposeful, here, she was the exact opposite. Unbridled rage, uncontrolled and unchecked, prepared to burn down the world, even her own family, if the need arose. John flinched backward, and… suddenly… he saw something else.
The borers, methodically working their way through the stone, were carving their way steadily onward toward her prison. Their paths were jagged and erratic at first glance, but… in reality, they were anything but. It was a simple trick, a trick to distract the mages who glanced in the direction of the tunnels every now and again. They were preparing a path to Lilith, and while he could see that they were far too weak to tunnel through the prison itself, they could pave the way for the dragons.
John.
The voice exploded through his mind, and he was drawn back to the form of Lilith. He felt her mind rising, and grasped the Eye.
“End Eye of Kilnital.”
There was a flash of light around the edge of his vision.
[Error: Lilith the Viper is refusing to allow you to cancel this effect. It will wear off naturally in 10:15]
JOHN.
The voice made him fall to his knees, and the Eye dropped from his fingers to rattle across the ground. Suddenly, he found himself sucked downward, and in an instant, he found himself standing on a barren wasteland, impossibly wide, with only cracked and barren ground beneath his feet. A red sun glowed in the sky, casting a few paltry rays down onto the planet, while the stars were visible even with the star above.
A dark form, though, stood above the wasteland. She was as blood-red as the sun itself, thirty feet tall, and clothed in long, black robes that hung tattered about her ankles. The mantle even wrapped over her head, though a few locks of black, greasy hair hung down out of the cloth. Her face was hawk-like, with a hooked nose, rotten teeth, and two beady eyes that glowed with light and hatred. Two dragon-like wings burst from her shoulders and hung down almost all the way to the ground, wings that were also tattered and worn. Lilith let out a hiss, and John felt his world spinning.
“John.” She started walking forward, stretching out a withered, twisting hand toward him. “John, it’s so nice to finally meet you.”
“You stay away from me.” John planted his feet and reached for his spear… then realized that it wasn’t there. “You’re the most powerful person on this planet.”
“Yes,” Lilith hissed softly. “I am.”
“Then that makes you my ultimate target.” John held her gaze, swallowing down the nausea that rose at the mere sight of the wretched hag. “I will cut you down.”
“Oh, John, let’s not speak of such things,” Lilith cooed as she walked closer. John started to take a step back, but the very rocks of the wasteland grew up around his feet, holding him solid. She continued to stretch out her hand, and stroked a single finger along his cheek.
At that, a blast of white-hot pain streaked through his body, and on impulse, he leapt backward, shattering his shackles. Lilith raised her finger, holding a small bit of mist around it. She began to ply it around with her fingers, and John had to use every ounce of his strength to remain standing.
“A bit of your essence.” Lilith smiled as she looked at the mist. “A bit of… you. Fascinating. You know, Kilnital has spoken to me many times over the years. I’ve asked him who the greatest threat against me is, and while he always gives a shortlist of five or six people who may give us trouble, there are only ever two names that appear there every time. You, and Enora, though in due fairness, he admits that Enora only ever appears on the list because of you. You are… something special.”
“And I’m going to show you just how special I am.” John ground his teeth together. “I’ve beaten everything else in the Tower that I’ve come across. You’re going to be the crown jewel on my list of accomplishments. You’ll be a jewel, I’ll give you that much, but as time goes on, people will remember me. You’ll only be a name.”
“And that is where you and I differ.” Lilith cast away the small bit of essence. It drifted back over toward John, but he knew better than to try to take it back. He could see the dark strands of Lilith’s corruption. “I do not care if people remember me. I care what is, not what people imagine.”
“Then why am I here?” John bit out. “I can sense your passions raging. You seek only to destroy me, here and now.”
“And I will.” Lilith smiled slowly and wickedly. “What I have been doing is measuring you. And you, in your pride, have allowed me to do it!” Wind began to shriek across the wasteland, and thunder boomed as clouds rose up from the horizon and obscured the sun. “You have no weapons, John, only your mind! What can you do with it?”
John gave her no more quarter to answer, but charged forward at her. He knew that, in such a world, his physical strength meant nothing. All that mattered was his resolve- And he was utterly determined to take her down.
He flashed across the distance in a blur of energy, leapt up as he reached her, and slammed a fist into her chin. She was blasted backward across the wasteland, carving a trench in the baked dirt. As she came to a stop, John came racing up to her, leapt into the air, and threw himself down to smash her into the ground.
At least… that was his goal. Lilith, rather casually, reached up and caught hold of his fist. It was like hitting a block of iron- Or, rather, what hitting a block of iron would have been like before he entered the Tower and started growing in strength. He gasped in pain, and Lilith slowly rose up, holding him tightly. She seemed to tower above him, and her wings spread wide.
“I will admit, that first hit was better than I expected. Still, though, you are weak.”
She lifted him up, then threw him down into the dust. The impact blasted all the air out of his lungs, he felt as if he’d been reduced all the way to Level 1. As he struggled back to his feet, there was an explosion beneath him, and a sudden volcano launched him high into the clouds.
As he sailed through the dark, billowing clouds, lightning flickered and flashed, zapping him a hundred times in the span of several seconds. One final bolt, thicker than the others, struck him from above, blasting him back down into the ground. A shockwave erupted outward from the point of impact, and he groaned as he slowly stood up. Lilith was a short distance away, walking toward him, slow and unconcerned.
Like Kilnital, she suffered no banter during the fight. A purplish-black substance began to swirl around her, like dark flames. It was her own essence, burning with rage and determination, threatening to consume her. She lifted a finger, sending the substance flashing across the distance, and John braced himself.
When the dark flame hit him, he was driven backward across the wasteland, blasting dirt and stone high into the air around him. His mind whirled as he tried to find a way out of the situation, but he knew it was impossible. He couldn’t beat her in her own battleground. His only hope was to outlast her, to survive long enough that the effects of the Eye wore off on their own. To do that-
The very thought was cut off as the flames licked through his arms, lifting him off the ground and slamming him into the dust. A dark form rose through the sky as he lay on his back. It was dark against the black clouds, like a great void. Lilith, rising on her tattered wings. As she started to fall down toward him, he braced himself once more… then paused.
No.
No, he wasn’t hopeless. Here, weapons were useless, which meant that it was down to simple strength of mind. An angry child determined to get a cookie would be more powerful than either himself or Lilith. Lilith had been given thousands of years to prepare herself, to culture her hatred of humanity. John hadn’t been given so much time… but he wasn’t about to give up.
“Alright, Lilith.” He took a deep breath, then sprang upward from the dirt, blasting himself into the air. Lilith, falling downward from the sky, had a moment to look surprised before he hit her, blasting her back upward into the air. “If we’re going to do this, we’re doing it on my terms.”
She blinked, and John focused his mind, forming a portal right behind her. Through it, he could see the blue sky of a warm afternoon, and he kicked her firmly in the chest, blasting her through. Forming wings on his own back, he followed… into the battleground of his mind.
There, Lilith came crashing down on a wide, immense beach. Waves lapped at the sand, though they were momentarily driven back as she landed and blasted a large crater into the ground. John came to land in front of her, and Lilith slowly sat up.
“What are you doing, John? Trying to lull me with peacefulness?”
“Not exactly.” John shrugged. “The thing is… in your mind, you’re all alone. All you have to fight with is the nature you command, and your own two hands. You hate even your own family so much that you can’t bear them around. Me?” He crossed his arms. “Welcome to my mind.”
A low rumble rose from behind, and he saw Lilith’s eyes open with surprise. Rolling across the ocean, charging headlong for the shore, were tens of thousands of ships, airplanes, battle mechs, and a great deal more. Jets roared overhead, leaving their classic smoke trails in the sky, all of which rained down missiles on the dark lady. Soldiers hit the beach an instant later, firing tens of thousands of bullets into Lilith’s body. Just for the sake of it, he added George Washington coming off of one of the boats, a laser rifle in one hand and a scimitar in the other. Then, he added in Farida, who rolled her eyes grandly at the display, and made him laugh.
Bombs, missiles, bullets, swords, it all came crashing into Lilith with the fury of an entire world, desperate to survive after what seemed a lifetime of death and destruction. Lilith was driven back under the force of it, then vanished. A moment later, a portal opened underneath John, and he felt himself falling back into Lilith’s world.
For the next five minutes, thirty-seven seconds, the two of them flashed back and forth between worlds, blasting the other with as much as they could bring to bear. The boundaries between the two worlds began to fuse, until tanks rolled across the wasteland and dark clouds of lightning attacked the soldiers on the beaches of Normandy. John threw one final punch into Lilith’s face, knocking her straight into the full force of an atomic bomb…
And with that, the Eye ended, and John’s real eyes flickered open. Instead of staring into a nuclear inferno, he was simply looking at the sun, and instead of staring at the angry form of Lilith, he was looking at the angry form of Enora.
“Ahh…” John held up a finger. “I get the feeling that you might be upset at me.”
Enora simply sighed, then turned to look at someone that John couldn’t see.
“He’s alive!”
With that, she kicked him firmly in the gut, then turned to walk away.
“We’re heading back into the Tower. You coming?”
“Yeah.” John groaned as he rolled over and climbed to his feet. “Yeah, I’m coming. And… if what I just saw is any indication, we have less time than we dared to hope.”
CHAPTER 41
[Now Entering: Darkened Caverns]
[Floor 1: The Rotten Meadows]
[Power: SSS+++]
[Will: SSS+++]
[Skill: SSS+++]
[Level: 100]
John let out a long breath as he dropped through the small hole in the gently waving prairie down into the small den of Litheria. The snake hissed and rose up, flicking out her tongue.
“Die, hu- Oh! John Mavren!”
“Call me John.” John nodded at the snake as she coiled up in front of him. “Sorry to drop in on you like that.”
Litheria let out a long and slow hiss, then turned and pointed her nose toward the door, which had been repaired with rather sloppily applied mud. “It’s okay, I guess. I mean, you got my hopes up for nothing! Second time you’ve done that, and all.” She sighed. “I still haven’t eaten anyone. Miserable monster.”
“Here, have a hamburger.” John pulled out a burger he had bought from his favorite shop in Quarry, the same one where he had met with Kitira after recovering from his trip through the dungeon. “I had the chef make a three-pounder for you.”
Litheria seemed to beam as she gobbled up the treat, even as John made his way out of her cavern toward the main set of caves.
“Ahh… Can I help you with anything?”
“Not really. I just need to go talk to your mom.” John shrugged. “I knew I could find the entrance to your cave easier than trying to find my way through the whole cave system.”
“Do you need a guide from here?” Litheria slithered up next to him.
“Nah. I’ve got a good memory.”
Litheria paused. “Well, do you-”
“I wouldn’t mind the company, if you’re looking for an excuse to come along.” John raised an eyebrow.
“Great!” Litheria squeaked and came along next to him. “It does get terribly boring down here, you know. Yesterday, after a rabid rabbit fell through the hole, I let it live for four hours! Only wound up eating it at all because it was about to despawn.”
