Tower of Avarice: A LitRPG story

Mathew and Greg stood back-to-back as the Lich's skeletal army closed in, their hollow eye sockets glowing with eerie green fire. The battle was a ruined temple courtyard where the trio had tracked the source of the Hollow Procession over the past few days.

The cracked stone floor was littered with bones and shattered weapons, and snow had blanketed the ground in a thin layer, making their footing even more treacherous.

The Lich hovered above the battlefield, a tattered black robe billowing around its skeletal frame. It was adorned with ancient golden ornaments, but its skull bore deep cracks, and its hollow eyes burned with green light. Long, bony fingers clutched an obsidian staff that crackled with dark energy while archaic runes glowed faintly across its ribcage.

A sinister aura of death radiated from its form, making the air heavy with the smell of decay. It was sapping the life from everything around it, even from the powerful heroes from the Tower of Avarice.

The Lich chanted incantations laced with malice as it raised its staff. The air grew thick and cold, the scent of rot intensifying. Green and black tendrils of necrotic power swirled around its body, coalescing into a pulsating sphere of pure negative energy.

"Perish, mortals!" The Lich hissed, its voice like a thousand whispers from the grave.

The sphere in its hands exploded outward in a wave of writhing shadows. Tendrils lashed at the ground and consumed all life in their path. The stone beneath it blacked and cracked as it passed, and the land withered under its unholy might.

Mathew planted his feet firmly on the snow-covered ground and gripped the hilt of his sword as the wave of necrotic energy surged toward him. Steeling his mind and focusing his mana, he raised his free hand outward.

"Sanctuary!" His voice rang out like a bell, echoing through the ruined temple. Without the connection to the Song of Creation, he was forced to use his own mana to simulate it, and he could feel the energy inside of him drain quickly.

A brilliant dome of golden light erupted around him, expanding outward just in time to meet the oncoming tide of darkness. The two forces clashed violently, and energy crackled as the lich's power battered against the radiant barrier.

Mathew gritted his teeth and continued to push against it as the sheer force of the spell threatened to overwhelm him. The barrier trembled and flickered under the relentless assault.

"Not today, you withered old corpse!" Greg shouted from behind Mathew as he shouldered his magical rifle. The weapon hummed with power as he took aim at the Lich. A beam of pure energy shot forth, slicing through the night and striking the Lich square in the chest.

The force of the blast sent the undead sorcerer reeling, and its ribcage shattered as a hole the size of a fist was burned through its torso.

With a shriek, the Lich's bones twisted and reformed, the wound knitting itself back together in seconds. It turned its hollow gaze toward Greg, its eyes burning with hatred and contempt.

"Fool, no paltry attack can harm me." It hissed.

Mathew grunted as sweat ran down his face. He struggled to keep the barrier intact. His arms trembled, and the radiant dome around them shrunk slightly as the dark energy pressed harder against it.

"Alivia! Any time now would be great!" Greg yelled.

While Mathew and Greg were distracting the Lich, Alivia stood in front of the shimmering barrier at the far end of the courtyard. Behind it was the Lich's phylactery, a jagged, obsidian heart that pulsed with dark energy.

The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

They tracked down the object after investigating the Hollow Procession, finding it here in the Temple, which was Lich's tomb.

Alivia flicked a card between her fingers and took a quick glance at the picture on the front before hurling it at the barrier. There was a loud explosion and a flash of light, the impact of which sent a crack through the magical shield, but it held strong.

"Come on, come on!" Alivia muttered as she drew more enchanted cards from the deck in her hands. She had spent millions of Aether on cards, and she knew that no matter how strong the barrier was, it would eventually break.

She flicked another card at the barrier, this one forming a streak of lightning that exploded against the barrier. The Lich turned its glowing eyes toward her.

"Foolish girl! You think you can destroy my soul?" It raised its staff and summoned a horde of shadows that surged toward Alivia. Before they could reach her, Greg snapped multiple rounds of magical energy, destroying the shades.

"You got this!" Greg encouraged as Mathew fell to one knee, his mana almost drained. The flickering barrier was about to fail.

"I don't just think; I know I can!" She spat before throwing a handful of cards into the air at the same time. They spun in a fiery arc before shooting forward, each shimmering with arcane energy. Their magic ignited, and the cards detonated in a chain reaction.

Brilliant bursts of fire and lightning erupted across the battlefield. Shockwaves rippled through the air, and flames licked at the stone floor while arcs of crackling energy danced through the stormy night. The final explosion sent a concussive blast outward, momentarily silencing the battlefield in its wake.

The barrier shattered with a deafening crack, and the phylactery was exposed. Greg saw the opening and grinned.

"Mathew! She did it!" Greg bellowed, and Mathew groaned in response as he got to his feet and wiped blood from his lips.

"Then, let's end this." With renewed determination, the pair charged the Lich just as Alivia pulled another card from her deck. Forming a blade of golden energy, it struck the phylactery with deadly precision.

The Lich's agonized scream echoed through the ruined temple as golden cracks spread like a creeping fire across its skeletal frame. Its robes, imbued with dark energies, frayed into nothingness and dissolved like smoke on the wind. The unholy green fire in its eye sockets flickered erratically, the glow dimming as the magic that sustained its unnatural life unravelled.

"No…this cannot be!" Its voice was a shriek, filled with disbelief and agony. The divine energy surged one final time, and with it, the Lich's form fractured apart. Its skull was the last to fall, shattering into dust as it struck the ground.

The undead of the Hollow Procession, their master defeated and losing their purpose, crumbled lifelessly to the ground, the magic sustaining them snuffed out in an instant. Silence reigned across the battlefield, only to be broken by an exhausted laugh.

"I'm glad that's over. I can sleep for a week!" Greg exclaimed as he sat down on the snowy ground without a care for the cold. Alivia joined him a moment later, and Mathew didn't comment on how the young drafter rested her head on Greg's shoulder tiredly.

The soft 'ding' of the elevator sounded out, and the trio made their way slowly to the interior. When the doors slid shut, sealing off the cold, they were asleep in moments.

All except for Mathew, who was lost in thought.

Floor 74: The Theater of Masks

You will be required to participate in the 'Grand Trial,' where you will navigate a series of ever-changing challenges.

All your powers, abilities, attributes and items will be sealed for this Floor. In exchange, you will be given a mask that will bestow strange, unpredictable abilities. It will be up to you to master these abilities.

However, the mask comes with a price. While they grant power, they also influence their wearer, forcing you to battle not just the trails in front of you but the creeping will of the masks themselves. Only by grasping these strange new powers and resisting the masks' pull can you pass to the next Floor.

Reward: Mask of the Regal

Mathew leaned his heavy head against the cold steel of the elevator. His exhausted eyes were barely able to stay open, but still, he couldn't sleep.

The burning message from the Tower of Avarice flashed above his wristband, but he ignored it. He was unwilling to face the weight of it at the moment. He didn't care if it was urgent, or what the contents were.

His thoughts kept drifting back to Rehn, the young woman lying lifeless on the ground. He pictured her once-bright eyes now dull and lifeless. He couldn't shake the image of her; it was haunting him.

Worse still, Rehn was joined by Emily who was still in the Tower. Was she still alive? What had she been through and how had it changed her?

The fear gnawed at him with a suffocating, insistent pressure. When the elevator slowed to a halt, and the doors opened, Greg and Alivia awoke to find Mathew already stepping out into a new world.