Chapter 213: Chaos on the Lower Floors

Chapter 213: Chapter 213: Chaos on the Lower Floors

The morning light filtered softly through the crystal-glass windows of The Zenith Suites, casting warm hues across the carpeted corridors of Floor 21. One by one, Squad 07 stepped out into the hallway—freshly bathed, rested, and with their equipment polished and repaired.

However, the easy, relaxed atmosphere they anticipated in the hotel lobby was completely absent.

Instead, a suffocating tension hung heavy in the air. Gathered around the grand hearth and the central bulletin board, dozens of seasoned awakeners and guild representatives stood in hushed, grim clusters, listening intently to a visibly shaken messenger from the lower floors.

"...total ambush at the Floor 5 and Floor 10 waypoints," the messenger was saying, his voice trembling as he gripped a blood-stained parchment. "They didn’t come to conquer or clear floors. They came to slaughter."

Rowan, his straw hat resting low over his brow, led the squad closer as the room buzzed with outraged, fearful murmurs.

"The Order of Humanity..." a veteran mercenary nearby spat, clutching his sword hilt until his knuckles turned white. "It was a coordinated strike. Those zealots targeted the low-floor registration halls, supply depots, and novice training grounds!"

The details circulating through the lobby were harrowing:

Simultaneous Incursions: Cells from the cult Order of Humanity had breached the lower floors during the late-night shifts, using specialized anti-mana arrays to seal off exit portals and safe-zone barriers.

Massive Casualties: Unprepared novice awakeners, low-tier support staff, and merchant traders on Floors 1 through 10 were caught completely off-guard. The resulting bloodbath left dozens of casualties before regional guild enforcement units could respond.

Retaliatory Strike: According to the chatter, this brutal rampage was explicit retaliation for recent disruptions to cult operations—a bloody statement meant to spread panic throughout the entire Tower climbing ecosystem.

Vanished into the Shadows: Before high-tier response squads from the upper floors could descend, the cultists activated hidden warp talismans and withdrew from the Tower entirely, leaving behind burning safe zones and mass chaos in their wake.

Caelen’s relaxed posture vanished instantly, his hand dropping to the hilt of his broadsword as his eyes narrowed. "Cowardly bastards... targeting novices and non-combatants on the bottom floors because they know they’d get wiped out up here."

Barney crossed his heavy arms, a low rumble of disgust reverberating in his chest. "Locking down the exit portals so greenhorns couldn’t even flee... that ain’t war, that’s just murder."

Mirei checked the string on her longbow, her expression cold and focused. "If they struck the lower floors, supply lines from the surface will be frozen. Prices for basic consumables are going to skyrocket, and panic will spread to the middle floors if the guilds don’t secure the waypoints soon."

Seraphina adjusted her alchemy belt, her sharp eyes flicking over to Rowan. "Our recent victories against their operatives on the lower floors clearly struck a nerve. They’re trying to force high-tier squads like ours to turn back and waste time patrolling the rear."

Rowan adjusted the brim of his straw hat, his dark eyes brimming with quiet, intense anger beneath the shade. He surveyed the panicked crowd in the lobby before turning back to his team.

"They want us distracted, terrified, and turning on each other," Rowan said softly, his voice cutting cleanly through the nervous noise of the room. "We won’t give them the satisfaction. We keep moving forward, clear the path ahead, and make sure their sacrifice wasn’t in vain."

***

The heavy stone doors of the tenth-floor boss chamber groaned as they settled into the blood-soaked floor.

Kael stood over the twitching, freshly slaughtered carcass of the floor guardian, his breathing steady and untouched by the exhaustion that crippled ordinary awakeners. A chilling, dark aura swirled around his frame, whispering of forbidden techniques and relentless slaughter. Reaching Level 20 within a mere two weeks of stepping foot in the Tower wasn’t just fast—it was an anomaly that defied every natural law of climbing.

Every floor behind him had been carved open with ruthless, unyielding efficiency. Where other teams coordinated, strategized, and suffered casualties, Kael left behind a silent, empty wake of absolute ruin.

With a cold, practiced motion, he gathered the high-tier boss core and rare materials scattered across the stone. Without a single glance back at the carnage he had wrought, Kael strode toward the shimmering exit portal, eager to convert his bloody harvest into raw power before the rest of the tower even realized a storm had arrived.

***

As Kael stepped out through the shimmering portal onto the lower floor’s transfer grounds, the lingering smell of ozone and burnt stone hanging over the cult’s recent massacre didn’t even make him blink.

A group of cloaked figures stepped out from the shadows of a collapsed archway. The elders of the Order of Humanity, their robes stained with fresh blood and eyes burning with fanatical zeal, surrounded Kael instantly. Seeing the chilling, dark aura wavering around him and sensing his newly minted Level 20 status after a mere two weeks, the elders beamed with sickening pride.

"A masterpiece in the making," one elder rasped, his withered hands trembling as he gestured toward a waiting carriage shielded by anti-detection runes. "The Tower’s so-called heroes play at virtue while you harvest its true power."

Without a word, Kael fell in line as the cultists swiftly escorted him away from the Tower’s public grounds, slipping through hidden passages into the surrounding wilderness toward their secret underground base.

Deep within the subterranean fortress, away from any prying eyes of the guild enforcement units, the elders led Kael straight to the chamber of blood cultivation. In the center of the room rested a massive obsidian basin, bubbling with a vile, crimson slurry infused with toxic elemental herbs, pulverized monster hearts, and dark mana catalysts.

"Strip off your armor, child of curse," the lead elder commanded, his voice echoing off the damp stone walls. "The blood and toxins are prepared. Soak in the pain, absorb the poisons, and forge a physique that no mortal blade can pierce!"

Kael unbuckled his battle-worn gear, his expression cold and unreadable as he stepped straight into the boiling, acrid pool to begin the excruciating process of his next ascension.