Chapter 190: 10th Floor

“Report.” Caddock said as Orev Harti appeared in a puff of feathers. He could tell from the man’s expression the mission had failed, but the details were important.

“William Oh made a new Build in order to catch us off-guard.” Orev said. “A Thorns Build. The backlash from Walten’s Ability exploded Argus.”

“So he expected us to target his weaknesses and shifted strategy. Thorns, huh? With lifesteal? A thorns-tank Build?” Caddock asked, peering down at the map and the ambushes they had laid.

“Yessir.”

“Traps, environmentals and debuffs should do what we need. We’ll need to raise our emphasis on CC. William’s core build is about increasing the potency of Relics, not thorns. He doesn’t have any passives that will trigger thorns from indirect damage or debuffs like the Wyrd family. It’s not his specialty, and we should exploit that.”

“The way I see it, there are two options:” Orev said, holding up his fingers. “Either William Oh chases me here in the next few minutes, which gives us no time to set up a counter, or, he simply makes a different Build and returns with that.”

“He’ll come today.” Caddock said, resting his chin on his hand. “Mr. Oh’s entire career has been built upon giving other people the bum’s rush and catching them off-guard, denying them time to prepare. He favors swift, devastating attacks to hobble his opposition followed by methodically cutting off their options or fading away entirely. A natural guerilla fighter. He has no patience for the siege, and he never has needed it.

This month-long delay was extremely out of character for William Oh, which is why we foolishly let him get away with it.

“And he’ll have another Build or two that you didn’t see.” Caddock said, glancing up at Orev.

“Sir?”

“Mr. Oh has a crafting Ability that allows combining Relics. The affixes of the end result are diminished compared to the original, but his Dimensional Storage allows him to slot Relics and drastically boost their effects. He’s combining affixes that create soft-sets and putting them in his Dimensional Storage, allowing him to switch between powerful soft-sets at a moment’s notice.”

“There’s no way he only made one during that month.” Caddock said, rising from his seat.

“Take care of the civilians,” Caddock said. “Everyone not on that duty to their stations. Tell them it’s time to enact the plan, and to be ready for anything.”

The messengers darted out of the room, and in a matter of moments Stronghold became became a hive of shouting and stomping feet as they rushed to enact Caddock’s plan.

A few minutes later the first explosions and roar of flames began to echo through the fortress, underpinned by the screams of the civilians ousted from the new homes.

Caddock strode over to the balcony and watched his Stronghold burn.

“One way or another, William Oh isn’t leaving this Floor.”

On the Ninth Floor, William Oh was making his own preparations.

**William Oh**

“It looks like one of those deformed hands you get when one side of the egg freezes.” Loth said, inspecting Will’s left hand.

Will had grown over six inches over the course of the battle, and his left hand had not grown to match, leaving him with a tiny left hand dwarfed by his right hand.

If Will grew to the sizes he was intending to grow to, the difference would become even more extreme, and he could imagine the hand popping like a squeezed pimple under the pressure of his massive frame or accidentally getting torn off against the environment while battling as a two-story monster. Or burned to char by a Nuker ability the rest of his body resisted.

Gods…damnit!

Will had taken great pains to prevent his hand from turning undead on the 8th Floor, using a sack full of Loth’s bugs to filter out the bad air long enough for him to pass through unscathed, and now he was faced with the choice of cutting it off AGAIN or abandoning this Build.

Is it just my fate? Will thought with an inward groan.

It wasn’t really a choice at all. Either tidy it up here or let the pimple-sized protrusion get mangled in his battle with Caddock.

Will paused for a moment.

No, this could be a good opportunity. Will wasn’t a crazy bastard who enjoyed cutting off pieces of himself for any advantage he could muster. That was one of the reasons he didn’t like a Thorns Build reliant on receiving damage, despite it being excellent in terms of performance.

But he’d used his hand before for a Sacrifice. Maybe…the Map? Will was suspicious of serendipity, but in this instance, he would take full advantage of it.

“Alright.” Will said, holding out his left arm and taking out a Greater Healing potion with his other.

“Let’s tidy this up. Just behind the line where it starts getting bigger.” Will didn’t want a patch of low-Resistance skin bursting under strain. Best to get the whole thing off for now.

Loth raised a scaly brow.

“You’ve got Thorns on.”

Translation: You’re going to have to do it yourself, or take off the armor and reset your growth.

Will paused.

“Well. This is gonna suck.”

No wait, injury pain is delayed. As long as I can get it done and healed quickly…

“…Wish me luck,” Will said.

“Good luck.”

Will shaped Phantom Hand’s armor into the sharpest blade he could possibly imagine and began sawing away at his own hand.

It took longer than he’d hoped due to his Resistance, but Will was able to get the hand off before it started hurting, immediately downing his Greater Healing potion to seal up the wound.

“That’s the least painful time I’ve ever had my hand cut off,” Will marvelled. At least the stupid-looking bucket helmet was good for something.

“Congratulations.” Loth said.

Will grabbed his severed hand and held it up to The Tower.

William Oh’s Hand Sacrifice for Map

User gains an alternate mode that provides a detailed map of their own body. Abilities and manifestations created by the User show up on the overland Map as well.

That is more than I was hoping for.

Do you wish to Sacrifice William Oh’s Hand?

Yes.

Map has been upgraded. Review the description for changes.

Map*

Passive:

You have a map.

This map is a mental construct that contains an accurate record of terrain you have perceived. Your current location, heading, Abilities, and manifestations therof are displayed on this map. You may summon this map and dismiss it at will, and it will only be perceivable to you.

The map has an alternate mode that displays an in-depth map of the user’s body.

Toggle: 7 Focus

Manifest a physical copy of the map.

Will mentally commanded the map of his own body to appear. It was a perfect naked copy of himself in his mind that he could turn and shift any direction he could think of, giving him the ability to see every angle of himself, even things he normally couldn’t, like the back of his head, back of his teeth, inside or behind his ears.

He could expand the view as far as he wanted, viewing things as though his eyes were right on top of any part of himself without any loss of focus. It was a strange sensation, because he should’ve been unable to focus his eyes, but it was a mental map. It was not limited to what his eyes could process.

But The System is buried inside the body, so how will I-

At will’s barest mental nudge, his own skin faded away, revealing the pink muscles underneath. Below that were veins, then bones and organs.

…It did say ‘in depth’. Will thought withdrawing his mind from himself. Yeah, this’ll work nicely. All I need now is a Sacrifice to map miasmatic effects, and I’ll be in business.

…how many people know what their own skull will look like after they die?

Will dismissed the macabre thought and turned his attention back to the problem at hand.

“You guys sure you wanna go through with this?” Will asked his Party. “If I die, you’re all in the running to be Lords…except maybe Reggie.”

“That’s fair,” the Tank said with a shrug.

Everyone else had stony expressions.

“It might not be the best idea to pick a fight with the biggest organized religion in The Tower…” Will said. “Not to mention I’ve still got a week before my new slotted items kick in.”

“Then why don’t we wait a week?” Travis asked.

“Because they just got information from us that will allow them to counter my current kit,” Will said. “They might be able to send I as soon as today. I want to go and shove them off balance before they can prepare, and keep them off balance long enough to smash the Paladin.”

“A whole week of fighting?” Travis asked incredulously. “Against an army of level 50’s?”

“It can be done.” Loth mused. “Guerilla warfare is meant for exactly this. With the Abilities we have here? It can be done.”

They digested Loth’s words for a moment before June spoke.

“…I’m gonna be honest, guys. I never thought I’d get higher than the 5th Floor.” June said. The scout was cradling a custom bow Will had made for her. “Now I kinda wanna see how far I can go. Would be stupid to stop just shy of my class Advancement because I’m scared of a little death.”

While June spoke, Travis was running his thumb over the ring Will had made for him.

“Frederick Wyrd and the Graneshian Church were buddy-buddy for years. Sometimes I wonder how Wyrd knew my father had The Rod Of The Pacifist in his study. I found out the Graneshian church wanted to buy it from him years ago, but he asked for more than they were wiling to pay. I think they decided if they couldn’t have it, they would have Frederick steal it for them.

It would do me a lot of good to kick someone who deserves it in the dick.” Travis said.

“You tell ‘em babe. I love the brooding intensity.” Travis’s illusionary girlfriend/bodyguard said, pressing her generous bosom against Travis’s shoulder, prompting the others to sigh or roll their eyes.

…Called it.

“I don’t wanna miss anything.” Jason Salazar chimed in. “I’ve got a responsibility to tell people how cool it was.”

“I’ll go if she goes.” Reggie said, motioning to Alicia. “The Zodiac family gave me a cherry new contract after we hit level 30.”

“I need to go to the eleventh floor to see my father again.” Alicia whispered, her blue-flame eyes staring into the distance. “I doubt the Church will forget my involvement with you, so we might as well crush them here and now while we’re all together rather than isolate ourselves and wait.”

“Will, you’re just one person.” Loth said.

“I’ve already thought of at least one way to kill you through that Thorns Build, and I wouldn’t put it past Caddock to figure something out either. You might be punching way above your level, but all it takes is one good hit from a Charm specialist and you’ll be feeding your own head into a meatgrinder. You need people to watch your back and run interference so they don’t have the leeway to put you in checkmate. I’m going.”

Loth still had Will’s Wand of the Undead Retainer tucked in her belt as her off-hand weapon, since Will didn’t plan on using it to fight this time around.

“I’m going too.” Jean said, bedecked in custom Charm-resistant kit. Bee nodded eagerly, while Ria simply watched with stoicism. Anna seemed a little sick to the stomach, but she nodded as well.

All eyes turned to Mason.

“Obviously I’m going.” The Nuker said, his pearlescent skin reflecting the sunlight as he stood, leaning on his staff.

“Alright.” Will said, hefting his new weapon and a backpack full of arrowheads. “I’ll see you guys on the other side.”

Will activated his Door and stepped through.

The 10th Floor was…dry. Not stale and dry like the 8th Floor, or dry and choking like the 3rd. The air was clean, with plenty of life on this Floor, and it all competed over the small amount of water available. Will could smell pollen and spilled sap, underground water hoarded by burrowing creatures.

Phantom Eye

180 Charges remaining.

Will had appeared atop some kind of plateau. There was scrub in every direction, followed by a drop-off that led to the desert below.

The rest of his Party wouldn’t be joining him. They still had the Door granted by Kincaid’s Key Site, while Will had Mordaine’s. They were going to show up in different places.

That’s not too big of a problem. I don’t think a Charm Archetype will manage to make my kill myself before I consult the Map.

Will scanned the horizon and spotted a tower of smoke rising into the sky.

How wide would that fire have to be? Will thought, frowning.

Was that Caddock’s way of saying ‘here I am, come and get me!’?

Will sent a Phantom Eye up and over that way and spotted several makeshift forts of stone manned by hundreds of soldiers, overlooking Key Sites and possible entry points.

Now…how do I approach this? Will thought, hefting his backpack of arrowheads.

His first instinct was to switch to Hammer of God and dump the bag of arrowheads from  a mile up, giving every single one of Caddock’s soldiers a healthy dose of lightning.

The aim correction and speed/inertia over time Affixes would make each individual arrowhead hit like the wrath of an angry god.

Hence the name.

But…Will had another week before the finger with Hammer of God regrew, and he was pretty sure Caddock had seen a direct assault like that coming. Will was willing to bet that there was some kind of shielding over these forts that would thwart a sudden assault and turn it into a game of attrition.

Will’s favorite methods made him sort of predictable.

Plus I don’t know which of these forts has Caddock in it yet. I need to lure him out before I use the Hammer of God.

Will didn’t like hiding his cards and methodically using them one at a time, but this was the situation he found himself in.

Will turned his attention to the pillar of smoke. Beyond the stone forts, a sprawling Stronghold, composed primarily of wood that must’ve been grown by Abilities, was on fire.

Did he…burn his own Stronghold down?

Will cocked his head in confusion.

Was it…some kind of fight or die ultimatum to his people? A way of hiding his master stroke behind a wall of smoke?

Crazy zealotry?

Will shook his head. There was no way of knowing.

Will held out the pack of arrowheads and opened the top before grabbing it with Phantom Hand and shooting it straight up. It would go until there was no more air…and then it would continue.

I wonder how high the hand can go in a week? Hundreds of miles? Thousands…millions? Where’s the damn ceiling on these Floors, anyway?

Will turned his attention away from the rapidly shrinking bag of arrowheads and towards his newest Ability.

Map.

Will consulted the map, and spotted his Wand of the Undead Retainer in a grey area a few miles to the east.

Already the map upgrade is coming in handy. Hah. Handy.

That’s where Loth is, and by extension, the rest of my Party.

Will started running, bouncing the dusty ground beneath him to increase his speed, creating a wake of rippling scrub brush as he sped through the desert.