Towers Of Heaven - 70 Book 3 Chapter 65

The Alliance.

People held respect and admiration whenever they mentioned the organization. After all, even the strongest countries treated them as equals. Or at least it appeared that way. While the public largely remained in the dark, presidents, senators, and military generals alike knew the truth. If the Alliance wanted to, they could take control of any country they wanted. Even top-tier guilds could face the world’s strongest militaries head-on.

Take Jason, for example. As an ascender specializing in defense, his skin alone could deflect bullets. A tank would only cause minor flesh wounds. If he wore armor, no modern weapon outside of a nuke could harm him. However, should Jason activate all his defensive skills, he might even be able to survive that.

Regardless of whether the public admired the Alliance for their sacrifice, many ascenders found the situation unfair. Since the Alliance entered the floor of death, they didn’t let anyone else in. While many ascenders were displeased, the Alliance couldn’t afford any mistakes. If they let in a top-tier guild, only for them to provoke a demon general, the consequences would be too much to bear.

Alas, no matter how much guilds complained, they couldn’t hope to match the behemoth that was the Alliance. In the end, many ascenders left their guilds to join the Alliance. As such, over the past three weeks, the Alliance rapidly grew in strength and now had nearly 5,000 top-tier ascenders.

More members required more hunting spots, so the Alliance had no choice but to expand its influence. Since every member was a genius in their own right, the Alliance soon took complete control of the dread plains. Jason’s constant supply of essence and equipment was like strapping a rocket engine to a car. The Alliance quickly outgrew the dread plains.

In the past, after guilds entered a new floor, they’d take time to adjust by staying within the starter zone. After it could no longer sustain them, they’d head to a stronger area to satisfy their needs. However, even as everyone’s leveling and essence gains plummeted, Peter and Shenlong refused to let the Alliance expand past the dread plains.

The reason was simple.

According to Sam’s reconnaissance, the floor’s difficulty grew the further north or east you went. Think of a pie with 12 equal slices. At the center was the abyss, while the bottom-left piece was the dread plains. If you went up or right, you’d enter the territory of another demon general.

Although Sethess wasn’t much weaker than them, they ruled their lands much more efficiently. Demon squads regularly patrolled the grinding zones, and if the Alliance wanted to expand, they’d clash with the patrols in no time. The demons would act swiftly if any patrols went missing. Due to this, Peter prevented any expansion.

If it were up to him, he’d wait at least a year before clashing with a demon general. Alas, every monster on this floor was a mutant. Even if the monsters slept day and night, they’d level up as time passed. According to his subordinate’s calculations, they had at least two months. After that, Peter would have no choice but to expand.

Unfortunately, things didn’t always go as planned.

Far to the north-east, in Revenant’s Grasp, sat a black spire. While clouds obscured its tip, it was a frail thing, barely wider than fifty feet. An accidental bump from Sethess would’ve knocked it over. Even so, the spire had watched over these lands for centuries. It was the home of the demon king’s strongest general, Ulmer.

While usually a forbidden land, numerous demon squads currently stood in military formation at the spire’s base. Not daring to look up, they kept their gazes low to the ground.

At this time, another squad arrived, all of them minotaurs. Lavos took the lead, with the chieftain Dunk standing not far behind. Although their team was the smallest, none of the other squads despised them. It was old news Lavos killed Sethess and took his place.

After gesturing to Dunk, Lavos took a deep breath before entering the spire’s entrance. When he entered, space shifted, and soon he found himself at the spire’s peak. In front of him were eleven demons, none weaker than he. The monsters gathered here were the rulers of this floor. To them, it was their entire world. They knew nothing else. To enter their circle was another test for Lavos.

“So you were the one who killed my brother?” Wekkin, a demonic crow, commented casually. The demon was slightly larger than a minotaur, though it was far slimmer. While its beautiful onyx colored feathers were beautiful, they were as sharp as a divine-grade weapon.

“What of it?” Lavos lazily glanced at the bird.

After a moment of tense silence, Wekkin tilted its head, “Nothing. You’re qualified enough.”

“Does anyone else have a problem?” Lavos’s fighting intent flared.

Some of the generals responded in kind, while others appeared disinterested. Lavos was no stranger to the generals. The minotaur was a living fossil, after all. Many of the generals were younger than him.

“I can’t help but find it strange,” Vindred, a humanoid demon wearing a set of debilitated red armor, commented, “Sethess was no weaker than you. For years you two were equals, yet now he’s dead? And weren’t you cursed?”

“Hmph,” Lavos sneered fearlessly. “I don’t need to explain anything to you.”

It was true Lavos had help, yet the minotaur didn’t show any flaws for the generals to pick apart. Inwardly, however, his heart clenched.

Compared to Wekkin’s lackadaisical response, Vindred pulled out a rusted spear and pointed the tip at Lavos, “Are you sure about that?”

Before Lavos could respond, Ulmer, the spire’s ruler and a powerful warlock, commanded Vindred to stay his hand. “Enough! Solve your feud later. We have more pressing matters to address.”

Ulmer was a wraith, a type of ghost. He was both the oldest and strongest demon general. In other words, as long as the demon king remained in seclusion, he was the unofficial ruler of the floor. Hence, Vindred reluctantly twirled his spear and stored it away, but not before giving Lavos a fierce glare.

Ulmer stepped forward and glanced over his peers. “I presume many of you will not meet the demon king’s quota next month. You might have secretly stocked up enough essence to get through this month, but I doubt your reserves will last long.”

Everyone but Lavos winced, though thankfully, nobody seemed to notice. While others might have trouble paying the monthly tax, Lavos’s tribe was practically swimming in essence.

“I thought I was the only one,” Wekkin released a sigh of relief after seeing the other general’s expressions. If everyone was having problems, the punishment might be less severe.

After a moment, Ulmer continued calmly, “Someone has been wiping out our strongholds. According to my investigations, the killing method is instant and covers a large area. If anyone has any clues, please share.”

“Whoever it was, they wiped out my elite army,” Vindred scowled at his peers with an accusatory tone.

“You too?” Wekkin was delighted. The bird had been deeply anxious the past few weeks, such that it couldn’t sleep well. What great news it was to hear that everyone else was in deep shit.

Unlike Wekkin’s cheerful attitude, the demon generals all thought it was one of them. After all, the world was small. It wasn’t like some unknown factor would suddenly appear.

“Vindred, it was you, wasn’t it? You’ve always been ambitious,” Toka, a giant dragon-turtle covered in vines and plants, was the first to accuse someone.

“Me?” Vindred snarled as he pointed at Lavos. “Are you all fools? It’s clear Lavos is the one!”

While they were all subordinate to the demon king, it didn’t mean they were on good terms with each other. It was more accurate to call them rivals. Now that someone was plundering essence, all their frustrations with one another came to light. As Lavos watched this, he was both delighted and frustrated. Although he was shocked at the Alliance’s growth, Jason drew too much attention this time.

“ENOUGH!” Ulmer shouted as he slammed an onyx staff against the ground. Once he had everyone’s attention, he turned to Casil, a fallen angel with one wing, “If you have something to say, say it.”

“Fine,” Casil snickered as she gave everyone a mocking smile. “It wasn’t one of us. I happened to come across this interloper about a week ago. We fought evenly, but I couldn’t prevent him from fleeing. A shame. He was just my type.”

As Casil licked her lips, Ulmer questioned, “What did he look like? What skills did he use?”

“Mmm. A very handsome swordsman?” Casil answered unhelpfully. Only after she sensed everyone’s hostility did she cover her mouth with a laugh. “Fine, this is what he looked like.”

After speaking, she used her energy as a medium to form Jason’s body. To everyone’s disgust, the perfectly replicated Jason was staring at Casil with a charming smile. Worse, Casil looked at her feet and blushed.

Ulmer coughed into his fist. “Very good. Now that we know what he looks like, we can begin the search. To maintain peace, don’t go beyond your territories. We’ll reconvene in a week.”

“I’m gonna hunt this bastard down,” Vindred growled as he turned to leave. “If there’s nothing else, I’m going.”

Once Vindred left, the other generals had no reason to stay. As for Lavos, he left the spire and returned to the dread plains with his squad. Once the other demons were out of sight, he immediately broke into a cold sweat.

There was no turning back now.

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