Without a word, they kicked out together – boots crashing into the double doors in perfect sync, blasting them open and unveiling to everyone behind them the Holy Sanctum.
The thundering slam of doors echoed off the white marble walls and throughout the entrance hall, blasting back the rising sun banners that were hung from the ceiling of the entrance hall. The Holy Sanctum stretched out before them as cathedral-like as the churches he'd visited during academy field trips, but even more magnificent than any Deacon could recall.
Along the walls, he could see gilded murals of the people kneeling before a man whose face was replaced by a sun. The scent of burning incense clung to the air, mingling with the sharp tang of blood and the rot of the miasma creeping in through the wide-open entrance they had stepped through.
For a moment after they had seen the Floor Seven Quest Prompt declare its resolution and vanish, every cadet with Dawn's Breath and the outer lands of the last bastion of humanity held their breath as a familiar chime rang out and a faint blue light blinked into existence at the edge of their vision.
Floor Eight – War of Kingdoms Event 4: Eclipse
It has been one hundred and twenty-eight days since the war between the Holy Human Kingdom and the Tyrannical Undead Kingdom erupted in its entirety. The once-mighty banners of both kingdoms are now drenched in blood and decorating the grounds of the battlefield along with the corpses of thousands.
The brutal stalemate had finally broken in a pyrrhic victory for the Tyrannical Undead Kingdom at the death of the Holy General Obi.
After the death of their Holy General, the soldiers and knights of the Holy Human Empire have retreated back to their castle, where the Tyrannical Undead Kingdom's forces have begun to lay siege onto the last remaining castle of the Holy Human Kingdom, Dawn's Breath - The home of the Holy Pontiff. However, through the collective effort of a five-person group, the once-impenetrable walls of Dawn's Breath finally fell, and 64.32% of its population promptly came down with a severe parasitic laxative.
As you've laid waste to the last bastion of the Holy Human Kingdom, you have but one objective that remains until the Undead Pontiff claims complete victory on the continent of Monarrow and becomes able to expand his armies beyond.
As mercenaries of the Undead Kingdom, your final goal is in sight; do anything and everything in your power to kill the Holy Pontiff and his rebirthed General before dawn.
Floor Completion Criteria:
▸ Kill the Holy Pontiff
▸ Kill the Spirit Guardian
Time remaining: 08:00:00
The glowing text hung in the air for several seconds before it faded from existence.
Deacon's face hardened as the echo of the Quest Prompt faded from his ears. His hand tightened around Echoform Reliquary's hilt, eyes narrowing on the massive white-marble hall ahead – and especially onto the small, ornate double doors etched with gold at the end of the hall.
The Final Boss.
Deacon wet his cracked lips, the weight of what they were about to face settling heavy in his gut – this would be unlike anything they'd ever gone up against before. A quick glance around told him the others felt the same; every cadet wore the same grim, hollow look as they turned to face their own Party members, while the undead soldiers and knights behind them stood frozen in place, as if a gorgon had turned the entire undead army to stone.
At the end of a Linked Floor Quest, there was always a Final Boss, one far stronger than any other Final Boss that could be expected from them to face on the Floor's level, which means that these Final Bosses were designed to be fought with armies in mind. Not one person could be expected to fight one by themselves.
Comparatively, if the Fungal Colossus and the Grovebound Warden potentially all fought together, they wouldn't stand a chance against the Final Boss of a Linked Quest. The sheer gap in power alone would doom them—and that was before factoring in the ability Deacon was starting to suspect the Final Boss possessed, judging by everything he'd seen since the war began.
A small thought popped into Deacon's head; Maybe Moriah could match a Final Boss of a Linked Quest if she didn't have her limitations… albeit if there were two or three of her.
He drew a slow breath through his nose, exhaling smoke visibly from the last push of the previous battle that had ended seconds ago. "So… that's it," he muttered. "We're at the final phase."
The unnerving silence that had wafted throughout the army in front of the cathedral suddenly broke with Bonehead's loud, cracking laugh.
"Fuck yeah!" he roared as he clapped his hand onto the nearest person by him, Deacon, so hard on the back that the impact echoed through the hall. "You hear that, Deke? We fucking got recognized by the Tower! Floor Seven, baby!"
"Bonehead, shut the fuck—" Sam started, but even he couldn't hold back the grin spreading across his face as Bonehead had effortlessly destroyed the tenseness that he felt envelope his heart at the anticipation of having to face the Final Boss of a Linked Quest.
"Recognized, huh?" Jass said with a short chuckle, spinning her glaive once before planting its butt into the marble. "About damn time."
Esmerelda, grinning despite the blood streaked across her cheek, leaned against a shattered column. "I guess Bonehead can come up with a decent idea every now and then."
The tension that had been suffocating them moments ago broke, replaced with that same reckless energy that had carried them through their time at the Academy of Beginnings and the Floors of the Tower.
Then, the sound of hundreds of boots pounding against stone shattered their moment of levity.
From beyond the Sanctum, groups of cadets and undead soldiers resumed their movements and began pushing forward, attempting to flood into the cathedral's entrance hall.
"Oh, fuck," Sam breathed, eyes going wide as the noise thundered throughout the hall and those behind him began to push him forward.
"Guess we're not the only ones the Tower called up," Esmerelda said grimly as she swiftly covered the five of them in another Gust barrier as they began rushing forward within the hall.
"Go! Go! Go!" Sam shouted, shoving at Deacon and Jass's backs to give them a boost to be the first ones to enter the arena, where they would face the Final Boss.
"Move!" Jass barked.
The Ravenlight Party broke into a sprint, blood-slick boots smacking the polished marble as the cadets and undead army behind them poured into the Holy Sanctum.
Deacon was first to the opposite end of the entrance hall, his breath fogging in the air as his hands slammed against the small, ornate double doors etched with veins of gold.
Ignoring the shouts and complaints behind him, Deacon braced his palms against the doors and pushed. Immediately, Deacon frowned as he was met with immense resistance as the hinges of the double doors remained silent while the weight of the doors pressed back against him; it felt as though he was pushing against a mountain.
Gritting his teeth through the looks of concern from his friends, jeers, and shouting from behind, Deacon drew a deep breath as the muscles beneath his armor bunched together and expanded – then shoved harder until the stone and iron finally scraped open with a thunderous crack.
The doors let out creaking groans from their hinges for a second before suddenly booming outwards and slamming into the marble walls with a thunderclap that echoed through the new chamber before breaking off their hinges and slamming onto the marble tiles and cracking them.
Deacon, with his hands still outstretched, let out a brief exhale before his eyes widened as the Inner Sanctum was now in full display before him.
The air shimmered with holy power that, along with the incense that actively began to push onto every undead that had borne witness into the Inner Sanctum. Its walls were lined with vast, ornate marble pillars that highlighted the many canopies of stained glass that seemed to tell stories about a man somehow becoming a sun and eventually a god.
But Deacon barely paid any attention to the murals, statues, and inherent beauty of the Inner Sanctum.
Instead, his eyes locked onto the line of soldiers waiting at the heart of the sanctum—hundreds of them, standing in perfect row formation in their heavy-looking white and gold armor and golden lion-shaped helms that immediately made Deacon feel rather undressed. In their arms were slews of weapons; halberds, maces, longswords, greatswords, and many more that were either planted on the ground or held resolutely to their chests.
[Human – Holy Paladin Lv 14]
Deacon's eyes flicked upward—toward the glowing figure standing at their head in the far back of the room.
The figure was both translucent, yet... not a spectral. His body, along with his armor, was wreathed in such radiant gold that it looked as though it were forged from the rays of the sun. And unlike the bluish-gray banshees Deacon, Sam, and Jass had encountered back on Floor Four, this spirit was practically a beacon of holy power.
[Spirit Guardian – General Lv 16]
Wait… Deacon thought as his brows creased in confusion, as he noticed a striking similarity between the Spirit Guardian and...
…Is that General Obi?
... But how? And–
"–Why does he look like a glowstick?" Esmerelda mumbled from behind Deacon.
He'd seen the man die – he'd watched the undead general sever the head of General Obi and placed it on a spike to be paraded through the siege lines in order to strike the resolve of those manning the Outer Walls.
And yet, here he stood.
The question of how barely even registered before Deacon's gaze lifted higher, drawn inexorably toward the dais behind the Spirit Guardian.
There, seated upon a throne of gold and white marble, was a frail old man draped in robes woven with threads of light. His skin was pale and sunken, more akin to that of a mummy than someone who was supposed to be the Final Boss of the Linked Quest. Yet despite his withered frame, not a single person doubted who he was—the sheer amount of holy power radiating from his body made denial impossible.
[Holy Pontiff – Floor Boss Lv 18]
The old man's head tilted slightly, hollow eyes glowing with liquid gold as he looked down upon the invading host.
"Abominations…" his voice boomed, echoing through the vast. "Traitorous taint… how dare you crawl into the house of the Eternal Sun?"
Even across the immense distance between them, the Pontiff's words boomed into their ears. Every cadet and undead within the Sanctum flinched as the holy resonance in his tone burned faintly against their bones that had been transmuted to that of an undead due to either being an undead or from the bandana they wore on their flesh.
"You who have betrayed your own kin," the Pontiff continued, rising from his throne to stare down the entirety of the undead army that followed the Ravenlight Party's lead, "and who now seek the unholy touch of death – know that your souls are forfeit! You are naught but fools, led astray by a being who cares not for your salvation nor your suffering!"
With his hand outstretched, a tall, ornate golden staff appeared within his grasp, and with a swift slam onto the ground, it let out a clear ring that reverberated within the chests of every person within the Holy Sanctum.
"Children of the Light! Sons and Daughters of the Dawn!" the Pontiff shouted.
"Why are we letting him monologue?" someone from the undead army barked out before raising their sword into the air and began pushing their way out from where they were covered and charged forward. "Let's fucking kill that old ass geezer!"
Snapping out of their stunned states, those of the undead army and cadets began charging forward with a roar, their patience finally snapping at the Pontiff's sudden sermon and the voice of one of their own.
The Holy Paladins answered in kind – raising their shields, forming an unbreakable wall of gold and silver as holy mana burst around their armor and covered their weapons and shields.
Deacon surged forward with his Party, Echoform Reliquary in hand, but his eyes never left the Pontiff.
The Pontiff's gaze swept across the chaos before raising his staff high into the air, and sending forth a wave of golden flame that incinerated all the arrows and spells that were fired their way.
"Paladins of Azul – the Radiant Flame!" the Pontiff roared. "Lift your blades, my holy lions! The end has come, but it shall not find us kneeling! For we are the Sun's chosen!"
Slamming the staff into the marble, once more, a tidal wave of holy power surged through the Paladins of Azul as they began to charge forward.
The air itself seemed to shudder with the force of the voices of the Paladins of Azul as they shouted all at once, "Sol Invictus!"