Macronomicon
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Chapter 81: Dance with the Rotwitch
🕑 Added 2024-12-06 22:18:48 +0000 UTCDanced with the Rotwitch.
- Climber idiom for ‘died horribly’
Will’s stats were very good…for a level twenty-four.
His Acuity was particularly excellent, so he was able to perceive about half the things that happened in the next fraction of a second.
Taking advantage of the heartbeat Will had bought, the Baron encased his son and grandson in living shield and shot them through the wall, the two younger Akuls disappearing in the blink of an eye.
An explosion and a screeching noise, as though someone had run their fingernails down the fabric of space, sounded to Will’s left-rear, but his head couldn’t turn that fast.
Baron Akul gave Will a sheepish shrug before Frederick Wyrd’s jaw flexed and the Baron exploded.
Rotwitch lunged forward, aiming to touch the Wyrd patriarch.
While she was still frozen in midair, the Marksman motioned as though he were drawing a bow, then released, sending an arrow of pure energy past Frederick Wyrd’s face.
Will thought he’d missed until a blast of air battered at him as the air formed a tunnel in the wake of his shot, nearly drawing Will into its influence like so much of the furniture that sailed through the roof of the building and into the distance.
Frederick Wyrd resisted the pull and turned to face the other Lords, dancing out of the way of the Rotwitch, his gaze landing on Marksman.
Marksman slapped a hand to his chest and blinked out of existence, a necklace with a dull broken gem in the center clattering to the ground in his place.
Will reached out with Phantom Hand and attempted to use Dimensional Storage on the rod.
It went about as well as he could expect. The resistance to stealing a Relic had always been a test of their relative power, and as his opponents had grown stronger it had become harder and harder to easily steal Relics. Especially if he had some way to prevent the theft.
Trying to sever the connection between Frederick Wyrd and the keystone of his Build was like cutting braided steel with a pair of rusty bronze shears.
Damn!
Frederick’s gaze turned toward Will until a sickly bolt of green energy spattered against the patriarch’s back.
Ghoul exploded, leaving behind a translucent copy of himself, holding his hand out to unleash the attack.
The Lord’s spirit form glanced down at his non-corporeal body and gave Wyrd a hate-filled scowl as his scattered bits began crawling back towards him, reassembling his form from the ankle up.
“Hold. STILL!” Rotwitch growled, trying to touch Frederick, the air around her becoming toxic and catching in Will’s throat.
I need to leave, Will thought, glancing at tables below them. I could make that jump, easy.
“No you don’t,” Wyrd said, his hand clamping down around Will’s left wrist. “You’re not wriggling out of this one again-“
“Ah HAH!” Rotwitch swung at Wyrd, forcing him to let go of Will and push the two of them apart in order to avoid either of them dying.
“Use your little explosion trick on me, Freddy, I DARE YOU!” Rotwitch said, chasing the Thorns Build around their little box, which would’ve been comical if the observation box wasn’t beginning to sag from the corrosive fumes rolling off of Rotwitch.
The Swordsman Lord and the Marksman Lord was gone, Ghoul was reconstituting, Akul was…everywhere, Luis and Nephir were gone, leaving…
A hand clamped down around Will’s shoulder.
Ah yes.
“Terribly sorry about this,” Mark Wyrd said, bringing his fist down, prompting Will to slide out of the way of a blow aimed at knocking him out.
“No, I get it.” Will said with a shrug as he outmaneuvered the slower Thorns Build. In public they had their roles to play. Mark didn’t like Will, sure, but he also didn’t want to obey his father. The deciding factor was that he didn’t want to turn Frederick Wyrd against him before it was time, which took precedence, leading to him attacking Will on his father’s orders.
Politics is complicated.
“Boy!” Frederick Wyrd said, pointing at Will.
“Behave yourself, or I’ll remove your legs until you learn your place. I prefer my property undamaged.”
Will had no doubt that the man had the power to do it.
His eyes narrowed as he glanced at Rotwitch and back to Frederick.
Why wasn’t Freddy using his explosive ability on Rotwitch?
Rotwitch corroded anything she came into contact with.
Abilities, too, maybe?
If The System made a connection between the two of them in the form of that damage loop, then her corrosive influence could infect Freddy and possibly kill him.
And Freddy wasn’t sure he would win that exchange.
“You know what?” Will said, dodging another attack by Mark before drawing his replacement sword out of the Phantom Hand and pointing it at Frederick. “I don’t like your tone, Freddy.”
The Wyrd Patriarch’s jaw tensed.
“Very well,” Frederick Wyrd said, activating his Voodoo Ability to connect him and Will, stooping to tap his own feet with the rod.
Will dropped the sword and ripped off his gauntlet, jabbing the Rotwitch in the side with his regrowing nub of a wrist.
“EEK!” Rotwitch squeaked at the sudden fleshy contact while Wyrd swung his rod down towards his foot, frowning at Will’s sudden change.
His eyes widened.
I hardly knew you, new hand, Will thought, his regrowing wrist beginning to sizzle as his Phantom Hand raced the Rod of the pacifist Healer.
Either this kills me or Freddy gets some much-needed payback on behalf of Baker Girls everywhere.
Flick!
The Phantom Hand flicked Frederick Wyrd’s left middle finger with bone-breaking force an instant before he managed to hit himself with the rod.
BOOM!
The damage loop triggered, damaging Will in the closest place to Frederick Wyrd’s left middle finger.
His stump of a wrist.
His stump of a wrist…currently afflicted with the Rotwitch’s curse, which was pressed into her side.
“AAAH!”
Frederick Wyrd’s left middle finger half melted, half exploded as the infectious curse spread to his finger and prevented his lifesteal from healing it, allowing the looped damage to accumulate.
The Wyrd Patriarch’s side also began to smoulder where Will had touched the Rotwitch, implying his rod had decided the tiny amount of damage that had been done to her from Will’s wrist exploding was Frederick’s fault.
Bonus.
Will stalked forward through the sudden silence, approaching the wide-eyed Lord. Like a child that had never experienced pain.
“You thought I won that tournament through LUCK!?” Will demanded. “I fight even BETTER without rules! I’m going to find you on the Seventh Floor, BOY…hunt you down and-URK!“
A band of spidersilk snapped around his waist and catapulted him backwards, yanking him violently over the bannister and out above the auction-house seating.
Will hit the ground in a tangle of limbs and shards of wooden furniture.
“He was about to kill you,” Loth said apologetically.
“No he…” Will thought about Frederick’s trembling fingers disappearing into his pocket, doing gods-knew-what. He’d been too mad to be paying attention. Too wrapped up in getting revenge for the suffering of Brianna and all the grief the Lord had caused Will and others… “….Yeah, he was about to kill me.”
“His voodoo Ability has to have a range limit.” Mason said, peering up at the collapsing VIP box. “Let the Lords handle the rest of the fight.”
“Alright you guys, go, go, go!” June said, motioning Reggie and Travis, each of them loaded with rare and valuable auction items, to sprint through the hole in the wall Mason had ‘engineered’.
“Awesome,” Will chuckled. “…Can one of you cut off my arm?”
He raised his left arm, which was sizzling and decaying at a rapid pace. In a matter of minutes the corruption would reach his torso, and that would be a problem.
“I’ve been working on something,” Mason said, stepping forward.
“No, no,” Will stopped him. “It can infect Abilities. Use something disposal.”
Loth motioned to a rare and valuable sword Reggie was currently pilfering for them.
Her insects stole the sword and brought it to her.
“I can see how far it’s spread, let me,” Alicia whispered, taking the scimitar out of Loth’s hand and bringing it down on Will’s upper arm with all her might…which was significant.
Despite the searing pain, it actually felt better than when the Rotwitch’s curse had been tearing through it. less…unstoppable, life-draining curse, and more…unspeakable pain. A marked improvement.
Alicia hissed and stumbled back, dropping the scimitar and bleeding from her eyes.
“Alicia are you-“ Loth began.
“I’m fine,” She whispered, raising a hand and looking back at Loth with bloodshot eyes, red tears streaming down her cheeks.
“They aren’t infected, so they’ll heal. Rotwitch’s curse is not pleasant to look at though.”
“Let’s go you three!” June said, tossing Will a healing potion.
Will uncorked it with his teeth and slammed it back, rolling away from his chunk of arm melting through the floor before he stood. It wouldn’t do to re-introduce Rotwitch’s curse to his flesh.
That’s gonna take months to grow back, Will thought sourly before shrugging it off. On the other hand, we had the winning bid on…everything. That brought a smile to his face.
…Fair trade, Will thought, glancing back up at the VIP box before he joined the stream of panicked civilians fleeing through the hole in the wall.
What kind of man sacrifices the advantage to protect his children? Will had bought Baron Akul a heartbeat of time to act as he saw fit. The man surely had powerful Abilities that could’ve secured his life or put Wyrd at a disadvantage.
But would they have ensured his sons didn’t get caught in the crossfire?
…The best kind of man, I suppose.
“Remind me never to have children.” Will said as they ran.
Loth sent him a sideways glance and shrugged.
BOOM!
The six of them came to a screeching halt in the middle of the street. Normally this would’ve caused a problem with the press of people around them, but in this instance everyone came to a screeching halt.
In the distance, a building crumbled as a kaiju emerged from beneath it, groggily climbing to it’s feet.
It was a lizard-like thing with too many legs, and a sharp tongue that looked as though it could extend outward, spearing or slashing as needed.
Rumbling continued as another building collapsed, revealing a kaiju. Then another, and another.
The Baron had FOUR kaiju buried under the city? SERIOUSLY!? I take back every nice I thought about him. He was an idiot.
The screams of panic turned to screams of pain as dozens of men and women on the street began to writhe, limbs bursting out of their bodies as they became Tangled, immediately attacking anything and anyone near them.
“Travis,” June said, holding out her arms.
Travis dumped his loot in June’s hands before putting his fingers in his mouth and unleashing an ear-piercing whistle, garnering the attention of everything on the street.
“Hey all you Tangled sons-a-bitches!” Travis shouted, his Ability permeating his voice.
The one thing the Kaiju and the Tangled shared was a low resistance to mental attacks. They immediately began chasing him, as if tugged along on strings.
“Follow me!” Travis shouted and immediately began sprinting toward the first of Loth’s traps.
“This way,” Loth said, taking the lead now that June’s hands were full, breaking their path away from Travis and the steam of Tangled following him.
But the Tangled weren’t just those they’d seen on the street. They were practically everywhere, spilling out of apartment buildings, shops, boiling out of the sewers in a flood of angry, nigh-indestructible meat.
They took a quick duck into a side-alley, the sound of buildings being stepped on turning into a constant background noise.
Dozens of Tangled poured in the end of the alley before they reached it, and still more came in from the road behind him.
“We’re going up!” Loth said, and a moment later, the five of them were buoyed up by her insects, floating toward the roof of the building.
Will smacked a leaping Tangled out of the air with Phantom Hand moments before it could grab hold of June. The creature tumbled backwards before its fingers dug into the building’s stone wall, joining the other grotesque limb-monsters chasing them.
They reached the roof of the building, able to see where a nearby kaiju was beginning to lay waste to the surroundings. This one was tall and slimy-skinned, with emaciated limbs that seemed to cut through buildings like butter.
And it was only two buildings away.
“Yes. Here is good.” Loth said as she scanned the rooftop. “Hold them off, Mason.”
Mason rolled up his sleeves and the explosions began to echo across the roof, hot and heavy.
The kaiju’s attention turned towards the staccato blasts, and it began lumbering towards them, it’s claws sinking into the building across the street.
The creature was so huge that it leaned over the entire street to peer at them, the building underneath it crumbling under its weight.
Loth’s trap went off.
Silk ropes whipped out of the crumbling building and slammed into the kaiju at high speeds, depositing a crimson powder across the creature’s chest that seemed to sink into its skin instantly.
In the back of his mind, Will felt a faint, insidious urge to abandon everything he was doing and attack the offending monster. Naturally this was outweighed by his understanding that that was a stupid idea.
Not so with the surrounding Tangled, who immediately began to swarm towards the kaiju, streaming past them by the hundreds.
The gigantic monster reared back as Tangled began to swarm up it, ripping and tearing to the best of their abilities.
“The Handlers?” Will asked. if they couldn’t deal with the Charm-based classes directing the Tangled, then this little distraction would be countered in a matter of minutes. Maybe less.
“I’ll spot them,” Alica said, unslinging her bow and scanning the surroundings.
June handed her a glowing arrow, which she nocked without looking.
“…there.”
Alicia snapped her bow up, drew back to her cheek and released in one fluid motion. The arrow flew out and pierced the stone wall of a nearby apartment building.
A moment later, the Tangled began ripping into the kaiju with renewed energy, that little voice in their head telling them to stop going quiet.
As they tore into the panicking kaiju, they began bleeding themselves as tiny bite marks appeared all over their bodies.
Do the kaiju have thorns on them? That’s insidious.
It seemed as though through some unknown process, Wyrd had buffed the kaiju with a fraction of his thorns, to make it significantly harder for the defenders of the city to get control of them.
But since the Tangled were the ones doing the damage…this actually worked just fine for Will.
The crazed Tangled only attacked harder as they were wounded, lashing out violently at the nearest thing…the kaiju and each other.
Across the city, Will saw the lizard-like kaiju get slapped with the Tangled bait, followed by the other two kaiju.
A moment later, all four kaiju were crawling with Tangled.
Using one problem to solve another.
“There’s another handler.” Alicia said, shooting high in the air, her arrow arcing across half the city before coming down on its hapless victim.
“I’m proud of you,” Will said, patting Loth’s head.
“It was your idea,” Loth said, peering up at him.
“Ah, but the execution…” Will clicked his tongue. “I couldn’t’ve.”
Across the city, Frederick Wyrd blinked into existence atop the highest tower in the city, burning an incredibly expensive consumable to escape from the Rotwitch.
It doesn’t matter if the rest of the Akul survived. I killed the Baron, and his successors are weak shadows of his power. Once the city is hollowed out, they’ll vacate if they wish to continue breathing.
In a matter of hours, the city would be deserted, crushed between his Tangled and Stephan’s hubris, every living soul within its walls dead or fled, leaving this prime territory his for the taking…
Wait, what are they doing?
In front of his eyes, the Tangled swarmed the kaiju like ants, whittling away at their flesh. Killing themselves in the process.
“WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?” Frederick bellowed at his Handlers placed throughout the city. This was explicitly what he didn’t want to happen.
Then he spotted a blue streak of an arrow fly from the top of a distant building and bury itself inside a far-flung location. A familiar location. Where they’d hidden one of the Handler/Tangled pairs.
A deep fury began to well up inside him. That arrow belonged to Alicia Zodiac. Alicia Zodiac belonged to William Oh.
William Oh had read his plan and ruined it.
“My lord,” One of his men appeared beside him, shoving a greater healing potion under his nose, but Frederick barely noticed it.
“Please, take the anti-curse before it takes root,” The man said.
That got his attention.
Frederick glanced down and began knocking back priceless medicines one after the other to flush his system and make sure no lingering effects stuck with him.
His fist clenched tight as he considered going down there and putting William Oh out of Frederick’s misery, but…
He glanced down at his missing finger.
Part of his Kit was missing. His Build was cracked. He needed to retreat.
Bakton and Marksman had the speed to take advantage of catching him out in the open without his whole kit. If they were hanging around…
I have to leave.
I HAVE TO LEAVE!?
Frederick’s eye twitched at the indignity of a whelp who wasn’t even halfway to his first class evolution forcing him to retreat.
William Oh is beyond control. He’s a…competitor.
Well. This has been a tremendous waste of time and resources, Frederick thought, straightening and taking a deep breath.
“Send word to gather up our acquisitions, we’re leaving.” He said, swallowing the rage.
Experimenting with Tangled required rare ingredients in bulk. Small improvements were being made every year, and Frederick was excited to see what could be done with Dimensional Oyster. Everything else at the auction was just icing on the cake.
“Umm…” The servant wrung his hands together nervously, drawing Frederick’s attention to him.
Frederick cocked a brow.
“It seems the auction items were stolen the moment the fighting broke out? Several of our operatives in the vault room and behind the stage were killed or wounded by…traps.”
BOOM!
The building cracked beneath him as he drove his fist into the worked stone.
Back at the Auction House, Mark Wyrd’s back was to the wall, his hands up in surrender.
The Rotwitch’s hand hovered a hair’s breadth from making contact with his neck.
“You little shit,” She said, her beautiful features twisted in anger. “Give me one good reason not to end you right here.”
Mark couldn’t think of one. Not a good one anyway.
“He’s Stephan’s son-in-law.” Ghoul said, approaching from behind the Rotwitch, his hand extended, but not quite going so far as to touch her.
“So? This little punk helped kill a Lord. Stephan, specifically.”
“If his son dies, Frederick doesn’t have any reason left to keep Stephan’s daughter alive. Stephan knew that,” Ghoul said gently. “He wouldn’t want you to kill Mark.”
The Rotwitch growled and pulled her hand back. “Fine.”
The emaciated undead watched Rotwitch stalk away, her posture radiating anger and frustration.
Once she was out of earshot, he turned back to Mark and spoke.
“Stephan wanted me to give you something. It was supposed to be after the auction, but I feel as though now would be a better time.”
Ghoul produced a wicked-looking dagger and offered it to Mark.
“He bade me to ask you to protect Amanda with it.”
Mark reached down and wrapped his fingers around the wound leather handle.
Dagger of Sublime Retribution
+10 Resistance
+7 Focus
+5 Strength
+30% Thorns Potency
+10% Lifesteal
When the wielder is dealt damage, all affixes are quadrupled for 3 seconds.
“He said you’d know what to do with it.” Ghoul said.
“I certainly do,” Mark said.
“Get outta here before your father wonders why it took you so long.” Ghoul said, pointing over his shoulder.
Mark nodded and left, jumping from roof to roof to navigate the chaos.
The kaiju were dying not one building from where they had emerged, taking the Tangled with them, making the rest easy work for the city guard. The city itself was largely unharmed.
He found his father at the backup rally point outside the city, sitting in the center of a bustling camp, peeling his gloves off and removing the false rings from his maimed hand.
Still missing.
Void and Arms stood beside Frederick Wyrd, guarding the patriarch during this vulnerable moment.
Mark glanced at Void.
Void studiously looked away.
He glanced at Arms.
Arms did the same.
“Son,” Frederick said ominously, having missed the exchange, focused as he was on his hand. He began winding into one of his infamous punishment speeches as Mark approached. “I don’t suppose you know how William Oh knew which-“
Mark Wyrd lunged forward and buried the Dagger of Sublime Retribution deep in his father’s lungs.
His father’s eyes widened an instant before he exploded into viscera.
The weakness of the Rod of the Pacifist Healer was that…against another Thorns user, the damage reflected back to the user in each cycle would always be far higher than 100%. Nearly impossible to outpace. Especially not against the dagger and missing a vital piece of Kit.
“Baron Akul says ‘hi’.” Mark said as the entire camp stopped to stare at the pile of blood that used to be their Lord.
“Oh no, my Lord has been slain. What a godsdamned tragedy.” Void said in monotone.
Comments
BookDragonling
That was so satisfying!
Jesse
This was such a good chapter.
Neuos.t
Came to say that too. Absolute cherry on top.
Daniel Pataki
Even a tiny scratch would cause the explosion. The first minute scratch gets magnified by the 100+% thorns and scratches his son, who's own scratch would rebound back to his father magnified, etc. The only question is how Mark himself didn't explode, but I guess with Freddy's ring missing, and the new dagger (which has tripled effectiveness because of the second scratch), it's possible.
Jacob Goodrich
I came to say exactly that. You could see it coming
Antony Claughton
I love Void’s final comment.
Antony Claughton
Church of Graenesh wants him dead and he just lost his protector.
Antony Claughton
Remember part of Frederick’s build had been wrecked already.
Antony Claughton
Wow. What a chapter. I initially thought Stephen was an idiot, but looked like he sacrificed himself to give his daughter a chance.
CAPTAINCAEL
thank you
Arrogant Dreamer
Yeah, just assumed that once the person who holds lordship over you is a bowl of soup, you'd be free from said bowl of soups orders
Person
Are vassals freedom? I missed that part.
Arrogant Dreamer
So what is the general size of the floors? Are we talking state, country, or continental length? With the death of two lords and the probable release of their vassals, I'm guessing all the minor lord candidates will make the floors a bloodbath
BlaueFeder
wasn't it said multiple times that Lords have OP builds? They excel at pvp, where climbers like William's parents were really good against monsters.
BlaueFeder
He certainly did get better. I personally didn't like where Industrial Strength Magic or what it was called was going (that harem was weird af) and dropped it at book two. William Oh is much better.
BlaueFeder
The swordsman is a Lord. He must have god-like reflexes and fled so quickly, that nobody noticed.
BlaueFeder
Didn't see that coming so soon, but I have to admit, I liked the suddenness. Fred was too dumb to be a Lord in my opinion, he didn't understand that killing off all other Lords has extremely negative repercussions for the people living there and wouldn't have cared either way and generally acted vain as fuck. Now Will can progress through the tower without being hunted all the time, maybe...
Quazzy
Awesome stuff! The only pedantic note I have is that the dagger would probably only leave a tiny scratch on Wyrd Sr. There'd still be a nice explosion of viscera, though.
TjStorm
“No, no,” Will stopped him. “It can infect Abilities. Use something disposal.” “No, no,” Will stopped him. “It can infect Abilities. Use something disposable.’’
Khani
I thought that the lords were like super super op but I guess they aren’t that invincible as they seem, we are barely in the 5 and 10s floors area so the power level should be at this level where someone like mark or William oh can kill a lord. Nicely done loved it
Macronomicon
they both had damage reflection. Mark had more.
King Eater
The 3rd to last paragraph pretty much spells this out explicitly..
Exrotes
Regular people can't be used as sacrifices since they are so magically insufficient but we saw with the church of Granesh that preserved body parts from high level people are valuable sacrifices. There's probably stuff you have to do with the parts and the parts probably have to be relevant to the ability/spell trying to get power from ie 20 levels from now Alicia's eyes or Will's feet will probably make for a fine sacrifice.
FossilWreckers
Is the Phantom Hand now cursed/infected?
WanderingArchitect
So close range Lord combat is like melee fighting with nuclear weapons. Good to know.
Khani
Can someone explain how mark killed his daddy in Fortnite terms?
Beeees!
Lmao
Ral
Frederick is now a saint
DM
Was the death sentence for Frederick because his thorns was less than his son’s, given the missing Relic and the one Mark received?
Josh Cothran
Does Will get some experience for Fred’s death?
Josh Cothran
Hell yeah
King Eater
I've read basically everything. WotR is still my #1. Macro has definitely improved as an author since then, but it's still my favorite story of his. This is shaping up to be a real competitor, but for me, patreon isn't good when I love a story too much. A few minutes every couple days isn't enough.
Stanisław Drewienkowski
Good point Quex, I would assume this agreement is still in place, considering Mark was personaly present for the downfall of Oilton as he was to be the main beneficiary, and since his position is about to get quite strong with him taking over his fathers Domain and Vassals. Unless Macro gors the path of him losing most influence without overwhelming presence of his gather to back him up. He was a lord material tough, even if with support.
Quex
I have to wonder about Travis' participation in the group as well. Part of the agreement with the oiltons was to take down Wyrd. Does that mean all of them or just Freddy? Some politics there.
Doctor Zero
Tho i suppose that could have been any number of things.
Doctor Zero
I assumed the swordsman's escape was the flash of light that happened too fast for Will to perceive what happened.
Doctor Zero
Exquisite. Thank you.
Dash Marley
They mentioned that you can’t use humans as sacrifices, which is what led William Oh to believe that he’s part immortal serpent. I wonder if Saint pieces are an exception because they’re soaked with God power and it’s really the god power that’s the sacrifice not the Saint
WanderingArchitect
Wouldn't pieces of high level Lords be the greatest treasure of all???
David Giles
RIP Stephen Akul, you will be missed.
Aloysius
Nope. Is a fun surprise
Aloysius
Note to author: there is no mention of the swordsman lord escaping at all but there are two different paragraphs for the marksman lord, while freddy does mention the swordsman lord later, could I ask if I missed the mention of swordsman lord escaping or was there a mistake there?
Ariel
A note for the author. In Chapter 79 we put Brom (granesh guy) on the balcony with the rest of the lords and then he never showed up in chapter 80 or 81. He seemed absent from the throwdown, even to mention him escaping (i think, please correct me if im wrong) Of course this can still be justified later but I just wanted to note that his presence and then lack of presence was notable to me
Notcreepycreeper
lol, didn’t think that villain would be gone so soon. It’ll be interesting to see Mark’s actions towards will on the 7th floor now that he’s in charge, but still blames Will for his mentor’s death
StrollingEye
Has the term 'class evolution' been used before? I presume it's exactly what it says, you evolve your class. And it happens around level 50?
Marin Schmidt
What an amazing twist. I did not think we would get rid of him here and not in such a great way!
Mi
Daaaaaamn !
Domy
I love this chapter
Charles Travasos
Fantastic chapter!
Ellija
My guess is it has to do with the gods. The only ways we've seen to resurrect people so far have been divine. So it may give the god a claim on you that prevents you from claiming a lordship on your own.
JhanicManifold
I don't think we know what specifically "Lords" have that simple high level climbers don't
Jeff Wells
Mechanically sure, but if anything she'd be more inclined to help him now. Mark Wyrd would be the next most logical choice, but again Mark's true enemy was his father, and they just took him down together. So he'd be more inclined to let bygones be bygones, even if they aren't ever going to be friends. Don't forget that the Tower itself is the main antagonist in this story, and there's a ton more floors to go.
austin kutz
Idk, he hasn't matched the chaotic fun of Wake of the Ravager.
Jeff Wells
It was some combination of the ring, coffin, and that guy's abilities that made Akul invulnerable. When the coffin was broken and not repairable, Akul became vulnerable.
Jeff Wells
Yes. I don't remember if it was explicitly spelled out, but I'm pretty sure he had a life-link ability connected to the guy in the coffin, who is immortal for some reason. When the coffin was broken the life-link failed. In an internal monologue he mentioned that he was no longer immortal, and he could only hope Frederick Wyrd wouldn't find out until he had solved the problem. Well, Frederick clearly found out.
Jeff Wells
I think if you came back under your own power it wouldn't. It's possible the system explicitly prohibits it, but I think it's more that the kind of person who can become a true Lord does not need that kind of support. They call do it on their own.
Jeff Wells
Lol read the rest of Macro's work, if you haven't. There are thousands of chapters of worthwhile reading, even the incomplete series. It's true though, that he gets better with every series.
bbjace
Nice. Love the sass.
Andrew
Thank you!
Charlie
Yeah but also, who actually wants to revive Fred? Sounds like everyone thought he was an asshole.
Charlie
I really like this theory. Since it was both a big problem for the Baron but also apparently not super time-sensitive to fix.
Nate Oppy
Also brobeans in regards to ur comment… “skill issue”
Nate Oppy
William Oh has been observed to be quite the poker player… he played poker with the rot witch and only lost an arm
King Eater
I have to cancel my sub, I need a backlog of this. It's too good to read one chapter at a time.
Nate Oppy
William Oh told off a lord! I called it baby!
Nate Oppy
Question for everyone. Why does dying disqualify you from being a lord?
Nate Oppy
This whole chapter is freaking nuts!!!! So cool
Nate Oppy
Jaw dropped
King Eater
I think mainly the switch to Frederick doesn't read like a POV change right away. The little bracket of asterisks maybe?
John Pratt
I'm thinking the Rotwitch. Baron Wyrd wasn't long for this world for the simple fact that he wasn't very fun to be around, personality wise. On the other hand the Rotwitch seems a more interesting foil for Will, a more interesting take on "untouchable" than Wyrd to.
DiffTides
Now that’s a goddamn chapter
BerciTheBeast
Not sure what a cycle is in this case, but I'm guessing Sebastian's survival is konda-sorta connected to the black coffin or the person within.
Aloysius
Yeh, exploding into a cloud of viscera is a death sentence when you're not Ghoul. Sebastian, we don't have any more information about but given that he has survived mutlitple cycles, we're gonna see him again
Quex
Yeah death is swift when they're all that tuned
Gaunt
Excellent
BerciTheBeast
Wait did Frederick actually die or was it a trick? Furthermore: did Sebastian have an immortality thing up his sleeves or nah?
axel jensen
sweet revenge, i have to say i did not expect the baron do die so fast but thats what happens when builds get turned up to 10000% everyone becomes a glass canon who compete to strike first.
KipBR
The alliance will just get stronger now.
KipBR
Is stephan dead for good? Because if so that's really sad. And also means we are down two lords - there aren't all that many left out there.
Mariposa
Okay I was not expecting Frederick to die! I love it. Now Will can focus on saving Jason. When he finds out Jason was taken.
Rhaid
From the Barons comments it seemed to be keeping whoever was in there alive in stasis/eternal slumber and the baron had a ring that maybe linked his life with the man in the coffin, so he was effectively immortal? Or maybe that was what they were working towards.
Quex
Thank you for the chapter. Was very much looking forward to this chapter all day and it delivers!
Grotix
There's always a bigger bad, and Freddy was ONLY from the seventh floor. Sounds high now, but guaranteed it'll be small potatoes by the end. True villain will either be a God or, or an entity completely beyond the tower. Gladly looking forward to whoever will be suffering the Wrath Of Oh between now and then
Lebog
So can someone confirm what the coffin was? Or at least the best guess?
Phsteven
You know, I never thought about Wyrd being replaced by a tangled as a security measure…
Sam Oppy
I loved this chapter but the multiple changes in perspective made it a bit hard to follow, it may be worth creating some method to show when the story is changing perspective
Redc05
Why is void being there be a tell?
Apotheosis
Now THAT truly is sublime retribution
Ichikira
Well, I don't think Akul and Wyrd are gone for good. Remember that revival is possible from the churches (though it's probably insanely expensive if the person exploded...). But they probably just can't be Lords anymore. I assume so anyway, since dying disqualified Alicia. Edit: I know the priestess at the arena couldn't revive exploded bodies, but I'm betting a pope or someone could
ImYou
LMAO I guess Will isnt getting his revenge
Ano Ano
Yeah, Mark killing his dad was so satisfying. Bravo. Also, if William got the whole auction, did he get the uru drake scale too? I assume no since the buyers explicitly moved to get it right away, but William getting true flight would be nifty.
Daemion
So Stephan lost his immortality (the coffin Bee stole and that later got damaged) but did he not have any backups? He's basically a vampire, right? Doesn't that mean that with some blood he can be brought back? He seemed to invested in the tower to just ... give up like that. I love it when a plan comes together. Will did great and I'm really happy all the other Lords sided against Freddy. Also, Freddy died as a result of his greed, replaced by Mark who's hopefully more reasonable. Maybe Mark will release all the Tangled and stop the research into them, that might give the Baker girls their freedom back. Man, I hope Will's reputation isn't going to get weird. Every city he comes through experiences an attack... But at least the team made out like bandits. All the stuff from the auction is going to upgrade their abilities a lot and give them new gear for better builds. Considering that they are known now, they need new surprises just to survive. While Freddy's death means that the current antagonist is gone, I doubt life is going to get easier for Will. After all, there's still an entire church that wants him dead.
Pseudo
Given that priests seem to not be able to revive someone if the body is not mostly intact without a prepared spell I'd say the lords will probably stay dead. Although we didn't see a tower announcement which might be a sign they are still alive (I'd think there would be a tower announcement if a lord died.)
Stanisław Drewienkowski
I suppose this cuts Marks alliance with Will. That felt abrupt. Another two lords bite the dust, so the towers political landscape just became even more unstable, not to mention slight increase in monsters spawn rate. Can't wait to see the knockon effects.
Ano Ano
Hot damn. William really pulled it off.
Leobardis
What are the chances that the Baron's not dead. He's a canny operator, paranoid, though egotistical. Could be that he swapped a tangled shapeshifter into his place, and Void being there is the tell that its not the real Baron.
Ryan Nguyen
Who else but the successor son? Someone with the same build but younger, probably more optimized, and almost assuredly better liked by his father’s old network and resources. Will say though, he probably won’t be big bad, but it is something to consider.
Malcolm Haynes
If anything it’d be Akul brought back. He was the one studying the coffin.
Pseudo
The lawd went pop.
Macronomicon
it was a kind of...'now or never' situation.
Malcolm Haynes
Tftc!
Alex Matheny
So i think i follow to logic, but can we see like two or three loops of the cycle that finished out this chapter? Im a bit slow and while I think i understand id love to be sure
Cyrus McEnnis
Well, we have indications that Freddie had a pseudo immortality from the Church sacrifice - as in he could apparently steal life force from his kills. If that manifested in an "Extra Life" given the gamification of the setting, we could be seeing The Return of Freddie at some point...
Ziggy
Very satisfying climax. All kinds of nonsense, clever workarounds, and good dialogue.
Paratus
Yes! 1 recurring villain down!
RedInkQuill
Two unexpected baron deaths. Great stuff
Ryan Nguyen
A wonderfully written chapter. Everything makes sense and yet the ending still comes as a good surprise.
Cyrus McEnnis
Oh wow. Did not spot Mark's swift yet inevitable betrayal happening at that point at all!
Steffen
Wow, I was not expecting Frederick to go down that soon. I love it when a story keeps surprising me, this is great stuff!
Jimmy Oneil
Hooyah
Ethan Gardner
Didn't expect him to die already, makes sense Akul had a hail Mary prepared though. Suppose we will have to wait and see if he stays dead though
Ryan Silveira
Well, that's interesting. Who's the big bad antagonist now?
Destroyer vs Games
Wait what? did he just die like that! (At the end)
Enzo Elacqua
Now to see what Marks stance on Tangled is, and whether any bit of friendship between him and Will remain
The Human
What an ending!
Jordan Burnett
Unless of course the coffin somehow brings someone back despite being broken, and somehow that someone is Frederick…
Jordan Burnett
That played out beautifully, and completely subverted my expectations for Frederick Wyrd to continue to be an ongoing evil 😂 tftc!
