Chapter 325: Setting Off

And so the clarion call to adventure went out, and the rider of the End of Times himself gathered of the souls of William Oh’s greatest allies, hey, what are you – Let go you sunofa-

• Jason Salazar

Jason tumbled out of a glowing Door, wearing the Family Gathering set.

Will ticked the prophet off his list.

“Will, what’s…is everything meat?” Jason asked, scanning the surroundings.

“That’s everyone we wanted from Akul.” Will called over to Loth.

“Excellent.” Loth replied.

“Who is that?” Jason asked, pointing at Loth.

“That’s Loth.” Will replied, frowning. Jason hadn’t been with them for all the hijinks, but it felt like he had.

“Huh. She got taller.”

“Jason we’re going on a deep Climb.”

“Uh, no, we’re not. Well, I’m not. I got a job and a junior priestess of Holdna for a girlfriend. You think I wanna disappear for a decade? Nah. I am set.”

“You wanna disappear forever?” Will asked.

Jason paled, arms tucking in defensively.

“You’re gonna kill me?”

“No, the Tower is falling apart.” Will hauled the teenager to his feet and handed Jason a spyglass, directing his attention to a distant mountain.

“You see that geyser?” Will asked.

“Yeah.” Jason said.

“That’s water from the sixteenth Floor.” Will said. “You didn’t notice anything weird on the fifth Floor?”

“Well, the sun was stuttering a little bit, but nobody seemed too bothered.” Jason said with a shrug.

Will blinked. “That is exactly the sort of thing that should bother you.”

“Wait, so my girlfriend-“

“You said she was a junior priestess of Holdna?” Will asked.

“Yeah.” Jason nodded.

“Go check with the Saint.” Will said, pointing into the distance where Charnesa was organizing a dozen panicking young ladies. “If she’s not here, then your best bet at keep her alive is climbing with us.”

“Why, what’s wrong?” Jason asked.

“Maybe I didn’t put enough emphasis on it.” Will mused before grabbing Jason by the shoulders and shaking him.

“It’s the end of the goddamn world and we have to go up the tower and fix it before everyone you know chokes to death on Miasma! That includes your girlfriend!” Will wanted to add a slap for emphasis but that would be a bit too much.

“G-g-got i-it!” Jason said before scurrying away.

“He got big.” Loth said as Jason ran toward Charnesa.

“He hit his growth spurt in the food-production powerhouse that is Akul, under Thea Oilton’s patronage. Makes sense.” Will replied.

“The Burned Stronghold is accounted for, Milord.” Badur said, bowing.

“Alright, you’re our head Logistician until further notice. Make sure everyone gets extra booze, cream and sweets, because this trip is going to strain morale like a motherfucker.”

Badur bowed and ducked back inside Mason.

“May I?” Will asked.

“Go for it.” Mason said.

Will glanced inside Mason, where a huge swath of the 10^th Floor had been carved out and transplanted beside Mason’s Stronghold, which was composed of wheat fields and small farms.

“I thought we only moved the Stronghold itself.” Will said. It seemed more like the entire tenth Floor had been transferred.

“My inner world can create an environment based on what I put into it.” Mason said. “It felt your Stronghold was from the Tenth Floor and created more of the Tenth Floor to match it.”

“Everyone getting along?” Will asked.

“Of course not. There’s been a decent amount of infighting, but Sherry takes care of it.”

A hugely pregnant young woman waved back from the walls of Mason’s Stronghold, seemingly miles away from them, yet privy to their conversation.

“How did you- Nevermind.” Will shook his head, pulling away from the void in Mason’s chest.

Mason was, for all purposes, their walking, talking Advanced Class caravan, capable of not only housing thousands of people, but producing food and raw materials for them as well.

If we don’t manage to save The Tower, we may figure out a way to get Mason and everyone inside him somewhere safe, a little voice inside Will said. It was a plan that assumed Will failed, but there was no harm in it. They were getting plenty of tangible benefits from taking Mason with them.

The vast majority of the populations of both Strongholds were happy enough to stay safe inside Mason, supporting those outside with food, healing and companionship.

The people on the outside were as follows:

Taken from NovelPhoenix, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

Will, Loth, Mason, Sammohan, Jorn, Devourer, and Beth, who was a more spritely apprentice of Saint Charnesa.

Those were the fixed members. There was a rotating crew of priestesses, guards and free-Climbers from Will’s Stronghold, along with a few enterprising prospectors who wanted took the world ending as the opportunity of a lifetime.

Sammohan, the oversized prospector had volunteered himself to part of the fixed crew, as the giant was greedier than any of them, and Will wanted a strong physical presence.

I wonder if I could’ve invited Bakton.

Will shook his head. He was already being greedy enough, trying to take his entire Stronghold with him. He could only move people he had direct authority over, and trying to convince Bakton Keep would add too much time.

Alicia and Reggie were missing, too.

They had a newborn and wouldn’t be able to take the baby with them. They were also living outside The Tower, so they couldn’t be reach by Door, and they would only be affected if the entire thing collapsed.

I didn’t think of taking them in Mason even though it was staring me in the face, Will thought. He’d just kind of…written them off. That trap of rigid thinking was exactly the sort of thing Will hated.

Did I just…assume they’d rather stay ignorant?

“It’s never gonna be perfect.” Loth said, reading Will’s expression.

“Alright. Let’s go.”

Will scanned the crowd. Sammohan was checking his equipment, which ranged from pickaxes to vials of powder used to identify different minerals.

Beth was one of the new generation of priestesses of Holdna that had been there when Will had chaperoned their Establishing Quest.

Since then, she had gained her Advanced Class and leaned harder into Sacrifices that increased her power with ranged weapons, and had developed quite the affinity for Laurence’s slug-thrower.

She was currently cleaning the barrel of the traces of Anchorite that were left inside, with four magazines carrying twenty slugs apiece hanging from her waist, the opalescent giant’s bone inlaid in the side glowing faintly as it passively absorbed her excess Charge, allowing her to stock up shots without hindering her ability to heal.

I did that. The weapon and the priestess wielding it both direct results of actions I took as a Lord.

“You need something, Mr. Oh?” Beth asked, glancing up at him.

When did I become a ‘Mr.’? Will thought.

“Just thinking about how things would’ve turned out if things were different.” Will admitted.

“You mean with me? I’d probably be dead.” Beth said. “You saved us during the Establishing Quest remember?”

“Not exactly,” Will said with a shrug. “The only reason the Establishing Quest was attacked was because of me. I don’t regret helping out, I just wish it hadn’t been necessary.”

“Oh.” Beth let out a quiet acknowledgement as Will turned his attention to the path forward.

Maybe you become a Mr. when you start thinking more about the past rather than the future, Will thought, glancing over at the Key Site.

“Loth, do you mind being the second in command?”

“Not at all.” Loth said with a nod.

“Mason, third.” Will said. “You have direct authority over Badur since he’s, you know, living inside you.”

Mason nodded.

“And prioritize your own survival over ours.” Will said, meeting Mason’s gaze. “I don’t think I need to tell you why.”

“Understood.” Mason said.

“Sammohan.”

“Eh?” The huge man asked, glancing over at Will.

He was still significantly wider than Will, but the man was only a bare inch or two taller.

“Can you take orders from a kobold?”

“That ain’t a kobold,” Sammohan said, pointing at Loth. “But in any case, it don’t bother me none.”

Will turned his attention to Beth, who nodded.

“Of course. Miss Loth is practically a legend herself. I just have a couple questions?” Beth said, raising a hand as though she were still attending the church’s school.

“Hmm?” Will asked.

“Who is Devourer, and how are we going to go up a Floor when all the Key Sites are cleared? Last I heard you were the one who cleared them.”

“Devourer is a being made entirely out of miasma who helps us deepen our knowledge of magic. You won’t see her because she doesn’t exist on the visible spectrum, but you’ve got a Focus-based Class so you should be able to learn how to perceive her. Ask Jorn for help on that front.”

Jorn, who had been attentively listening to them, waiting for the word to head out, wordlessly pointed at Devourer, who was hovering nearby.

Her flagella that she used to move from place to place hung around the stabilizing platform welded to the base of her body, looking something like a skirt.

“And for your second question, Loth, would you mind setting us up?” Will asked.

The miasma around them warped under Loth’s Draconic Domain, forming the shape of her larva-impregnating Ability.

I’m able to somewhat tell what a snippet of Miasma can do just by looking at it. But ‘somewhat’ is far below the fluency I’m aiming for, Will thought.

Insects manifested under the sheath of meat that covered the land, chewing their way out andbursting into the air, fully formed and the size of adult men.

As one, the sudden swarm of monstrous insect turned towards the distant Key Site.

It was a technique they’d discussed at length for quite some time, and they had seen the idea used by others in a couple instances, but Loth had never needed to create her own version up until now.

The shiny black pyramid rapidly filled with insects who began to pulse with blue light as they absorbed the Miasma being pumped up to the 16^th Floor.

Alert! There is a Key Site in need of clearing to the east.

Loth jerked her hand, and Will saw a key piece of the miasmatic structures keeping the insects alive unzip like a chain stitch, causing them to collapse to the ground, dissolving in a matter of seconds.

Thank you for clearing the Key Site. You may advance to the 16^th Floor or descend to the 14^th Floor at your leisure.

Beth blinked, mouth gaping open and closed.

“Make sure you close your mouth when we go to the next Floor. Odds are we’re going to spawn in water.” Will said.

The darkness and cold water of the 16^th Floor was just as uncomfortable as before. The only reason that Will dove in ahead of everyone was because he wanted time to get himself somewhere safe so he could dedicate all his attention to fishing others out of the Dimensional Oyster’s spheres of influence.

Will grabbed himself and shot up out of the water, passing by leviathans of the deep as he did so.

A moment later, his map was dotted with the rest of the party appearing.

He seized them all and brought them together. Jorn and Beth looked like wet cats, their clothes that normally added some volume sticking tight to their slender frames as they stared into the distance and shivered.

“Milord, how long can we stay?” Sammohan asked. “I’d love to grab some pearls.”

Will glanced at Jorn before looking over at Loth.

“Do you think my father knows about the Abby?” Will asked, plucking at the Abby Mk. VI clutching onto him. Thomas Oh seemed to think they should be in a rush, but by Will’s estimations of the average age he’d been when he died, he still had a couple years…which was the amount of time it would take to climb The Tower without bypassing Miasma Acclimation.

That gave Will a vague idea, but it wasn’t quite fully fleshed out. His Class was the reason he couldn’t Climb the tower at full speed, but it also was the only thing giving him enough power to do so.

If there was a way to get rid of his Class without dying, would the Tower even know who he was?

“I don’t think he knows about Abby,” Loth replied to Will’s question. “But it would probably be best to assume he does. We can’t possibly be an entirely original Party. Your father has seen us attempt this a hundred times, after all.”

Hmm… A hundred times isn’t that much in the grand scheme of things.

“We don’t know how long we’ll be delayed on higher Floors.” Will said, turning back to Sammohan. “Jorn has some fish that can easily hunt dimensional oysters. Discuss with him what you’re looking for. We’ll stay until our clothes are dry.”

Sammohan clicked his tongue and turned to Jorn.

“Hey kid, you wanna make a LOT of money?” Will almost chuckled at how creepy Sammohan came off as he loomed over the slender necromancer.

“I’ll buy anything useful you get out of it,” Will said. “The rest is yours to keep.”

Sammohan grumbled, but he didn’t argue.

“You okay, Mason?” Will asked, watching Mason rub his eye and blink.

“A bit of water got in through my eye, but not much. Nobody drowned.” The walking Stronghold said.

An instant later, a bucketful of water exploded out of Mason’s mouth and sailed off to rejoin the grey waters they hovered above.

“Are your people…bailing you out?” Will asked.