Zogarth
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Chapter 862 - Nevermore: Floor Eighty
🕑 Added 2024-03-01 11:41:28 +0000 UTCJake and company appeared on what would more likely than not be the final floor of Nevermore. Their spawning location was on top of a large ruined tower, giving them a clear view of the surrounding area. However, before Jake had a good chance to look around, he noticed the mana in the air and how it was filled with death.
Luckily, he didn’t have to speculate long why this was as the floor description popped up right then.
Welcome to the Eightieth floor of Nevermore: Plateau of the Twin Emperors
In a vast land ruled by two tyrants in constant conflict, you are tasked with ending it. These two tyrants are at constant war, with their armies clashing in war zones between the two empires of the land known simply as the Vast Plateau.
You find yourself standing in a long-abandoned war zone where remnants of battle still remain. Due to the nature of these wars, cursed lands and vast areas have appeared that are considered inaccessible due to the accumulation of death-affinity mana, resulting in the appearance of many undead. This is one such land you now find yourself in.
To end the deterioration of the Vast Plateau, the war must come to an end. Decide your next course of action. Will you join either side of the conflict? Will you attempt to negotiate peace by making them realize the doomed Path they are walking down? Or will you be the enemy of both, as you become a danger so significant you force the two warring emperors to come together? Another option altogether?
The choice is yours.
Main objective: End the conflict.
Bonus objectives: Join either side of the conflict or choose to remain as a third party.
Current progress: Conflict ended (0/1)
Note: More hidden events, achievements, or objectives may be hidden on the floor.
Current Nevermore Points: 1,953,950
Jake and the others read the long description of the floor as they got a general gist of the place. It was a pretty basic setup, basically just giving them an excuse to fight in a war if they wanted. There was probably more to it, but their goal wasn’t to figure out who was right or wrong but what decision would give them the most excuses to fight and gain levels while unlocking the event boss.
Addressing the Nevermore Points, Jake did feel pretty fucking good about how many he had racked up in the last ten years or so after the Challenge Dungeons. It was just about seven hundred thousand, with every floor giving more than the last – except for floor seventy-five being a bit of an outlier due to the event boss.
For reference, floor seventy-nine had rewarded just under a hundred thousand Nevermore Points, which was a bit less than double what floor seventy-one had rewarded. It was a big increase, but not that out of pocket, especially not when one considered how much the difficulty also spiked. Jake and his party, straight out of the Challenge Dungeons, would have gotten their asses handed to them against the event boss on floor seventy-five and also had serious trouble with the floors after that.
Jake sure as hell doubted many, if any, of the Leaderboard groups were capable of challenging anything above the lower floors in the eighties, assuming they even had the time. That still was a lot of potential Nevermore Points one could earn. He knew Ell’Hakan had been ahead of him time-wise with all the Challenge Dungeons, with approximately a full year extra to do floors, so assuming they matched Jake and company’s speed, they would end up doing one more floor than them. It wasn’t a lot, but it was something.
All of this is to say that things could get a bit hairy here toward the end. Alas, the only thing Jake should focus on was himself and clearing this floor. He would disappoint himself if he didn’t at least beat that orange fucker, but beating him still wasn’t Jake’s primary objective.
“You notice anything? Outside of the environmental mana clearly communicating that we are in undead territory,” the Sword Saint asked. Asking Jake about his thoughts at the beginning of every floor was pretty much standard by now, as he often could either see something with his adequate Perception stat or had some gut feeling. In other cases, primarily in worlds filled with nature, they also asked Dina for some insight from the local fauna. Not that there was any living thing for her to ask on this tower or anywhere nearby.
Jake looked around and saw dead land spreading in all directions. The ground was gray and dry, with some movement here and there from undead. Skeleton creatures, ghosts, zombies, large abominations… all the good stuff. Their levels were also all around level 290, with some of the larger undead just around 300.
Looking beyond the undead lands, Jake saw a few watchpoints established, likely to contain the undead. Further back than those, Jake saw plains, wilderness, some forests, and even some cities. It was very much the same in both directions, though he did also spot another contained land, and even from this distance, Jake felt the power of a powerful curse lingering there.
One might wonder how Jake could see this many things. It wasn’t because all these locations were bunched up or anything, but due to the peculiar layout of this world… because they sure as fuck weren’t on a planet. There was absolutely zero curvature anywhere, and the land was surprisingly flat, with not a single mountain of any kind in sight. Even with massive planets Jake could usually notice the ever-so-slightest curvature if he went far enough up, but here, there truly was none at all. A fact he shared with the party.
“Hm, so it’s a bit like the land the Endless Empire knows as the Great Plains. Massive landmasses just floating in space. The largest of which nearly matches the overall surface of a Great Planet, with the Heartlands of the Endless Empire placed primarily on these Great Plains. I have only seen some pictures from Grandpa, as getting to visit the Great Plains is quite difficult… though I don’t think Jake would have any problems,” Dina said, gladly sharing some more great multiversal knowledge.
“Let us hope this place is not that big,” the Fallen King commented with displeasure.
“Doesn’t look like it is based on what I’ve seen so far,” Jake shook his head. “Anyway, what’s the plan?”
“Going by prior floors, if we want the event boss, we have to take the hardest path possible, which I would reckon is not teaming up with any of these factions,” the Sword Saint said.
“Ree, ree,” Sylphie added helpfully, making Jake nod.
“Yeah, not making any allies will also give us the most potential enemies to hunt.”
“Before we make a final decision, we should become more familiar with the world. If these Twin Emperors are B-grades or above, we may be forced to at least act like we are allied with one of them,” Dina said cautiously.
“I doubt they are,” Jake shook his head. “I think it’s way more likely at least one of them is the event boss. But you do have a point; learning more about this floor would be a good start.”
So they went and did just that as they headed toward one of the cities Jake had spotted. On the way, they learned a bit about what kind of races they were dealing with. Unsurprisingly, it was a mix of many different enlightened races, but it did surprise them to see that most were orcs of different kinds. Orcs weren’t a rare race in the multiverse, but they were often looked down on compared to other enlightened races, primarily because they tended to be on the... simpler side. However, from the looks of it, the orcs in this world were a variant race of some kind.
With orcs also came a lot of goblins. Why these two were often grouped together, Jake had no idea, but a theory was that goblins tended to have strong mental stats, while orcs were more on the physical side, making the two races compliment each other.
These two races made up over seventy percent of the enlightened, with the rest being a mixture of the usual dwarves, elves, humans, beastfolk, and all that.
Anyway, having not sided with anyone yet, they believed it would be possible to enter cities and study the place a bit, but… yeah, things didn’t work out like that.
“Stop!” a guard said as the party approached a large stone city gate. “Identify yourselves immediately!”
Jake looked at the guard, who wore simple leather armor while wielding a halberd. He looked like a common low-level grunt, but his level said otherwise.
[Orc – lvl 284]
Then again, it was also entirely possible the standard for fighters was just really high on this floor. The few enlightened Jake had seen on the way were also all at least mid-tier C-grade, even the damn farmers.
As usual, the most diplomatic person in their party stepped forward, and luckily, they had discussed what they would do if they got into a situation like this beforehand. The Sword Saint smiled as he bowed politely to the orc. “Greetings, we are a but a group of adventurers who have just returned from fighting the nearby undead, and-“
Before he could say more, mana flashed beneath their feet as a magic circle appeared. On the tall walls, some goblin mages who had been listening in stood and had raised their staves the moment the old man mentioned fighting the undead.
“Bunch of fucking morons,” the guard swore as he shook his head and looked at Jake and company with pity. “Either you are incompetent spies or even worse adventurers, walking up to a guard and outright admitting to a severe crime.”
The Sword Saint admirably tried to save the situation as he looked taken aback. “We… we were not aware we had broken any laws. Could you-“
“Save your words for the mayor,” the guard said, as Jake noted the magic circle below them growing in intensity. “Now, try to stop acting stupid for just a second and surrender. Who knows, maybe the upper brass will be nice and spare you from execution. We could use some more war slaves.”
So… yeah, negotiations broke down.
Jake wasn’t even the first one to act. The Sword Saint simply nodded, and before the orc had a chance to open his mouth again, his head flew into the air. This clearly surprised the goblin mages on the wall, who prepared to activate the magic circle, but before they could, the Fallen King erupted with energy. A golden wave spread from his body, utterly dismantling the magic circle, as Jake drew his bow, and Sylphie shot toward the wall like a bullet.
Siding with whatever Twin Emperor was in charge of this city definitely wasn’t an option anymore. Especially not after their group effectively leveled the place, killing everyone who didn’t flee in terror from the five newcomers. Jake asked if he should pick off those who ran, but the group decided against it. Which Jake honestly prefered, as he didn’t like shooting a bunch of crafters who were just fleeing.
The city did have a mini-boss of sorts in the form of the mayor. A level 310 orc wearing heavy armor and a battlehammer, who definitely did not look like some official who spent most of his time in the office. In fact, barely anyone they encountered looked like they belonged outside of a battlefield. Even the average citizens were C-grade and took to weapons without hesitation. The population of the city was also way lower than Jake had first assumed. It was large enough to house at least ten thousand, but only about eight hundred had lived there.
Killing the mayor was easy enough, and based on records found in the city’s rubble – as well as some captured survivors - they learned more about the Vast Plateau. There was a lot of boring history, but to summarize, two powerful, nearly peak C-grades appeared less than a hundred years ago, calling themselves emperors after uniting a bunch of smaller factions. Smaller factions were already enemies with the factions that the other emperor brought together, which made making them go to war quite easy.
From there, they began to constantly fight as many battlefields were created. At first, only E-grades fought with the excuse of wanting to preserve power, but soon, it was D-grades, and now, there were barely any D-grades left outside of some crafters. Even low-tier C-grades were scarce; the battlefields now filled with C-grades.
At least a few billion had died within a single century, all concentrated on big battlefields. Battlefields that both emperors had made it illegal to enter, much less hunt undead within. Instead, they were treated more like conservations.
After listening to everything, Jake couldn’t help but reach a conclusion.
“They are cultivating these areas of curse energy and death. Working together to do so,” Jake said as the others looked at him.
“Why?” Dina questioned. “What would the purpose of that even be?”
“I know, like… at least seven rituals that use curse energy in an area. I reckon that at least one of these Twin Emperors has something similar for the undead areas. As for why, I’m just gonna take a shot in the dark here and guess it’s about trying to gain more power,” Jake shrugged.
“The endless folly of those too untalented to progress without cheap shortcuts,” the Fallen King scoffed.
“Yeah, not a fan of it either, assuming I’m correct,” Jake sighed.
“Aren’t alchemists from the Order of the Malefic Viper known to sometimes wipe out entire civilizations during their experiments just to try and get a level or two?” the Sword Saint said, being very judgemental towards poor alchemists just trying their best. He was entirely correct, sure, but still a bit judgemental.
“I wouldn’t know anything about acting haphazardly, my actions ultimately ending in the destruction of a planet,” Jake defended himself.
“Ree?” Sylphie asked with a tilted head.
“We aren’t talking about that one,” Jake quickly shut the bird up. Why had he decided to share all the things about Temlat with her again?
“Anyway, going by Jake’s theory, how would it function if we joined either faction when they are working together?” the Sword Saint got the discussion back on track.
“Even if they are in symbiosis right now, it doesn’t mean either isn’t trying to reap all the rewards,” Dina said with a frown. “It may be that they are both benefitting from the creation of these death and curse-filled domains and that our interference can tip the balance of power, resulting in the death of one Twin Emperor.”
“Ree,” Sylphie also added, making a good point.
“The name Twin Emperors does indeed communicate they are connected to one another and not merely competitors. That they appeared at the same time is also highly suspicious,” the Fallen King agreed.
“So what you’re saying is…” Jake hinted.
“We already discussed not choosing a side, so let us indeed not,” the Fallen King spoke. “They attacked us first. We are now merely retaliating and defending ourselves as we march toward the Twin Emperor.”
“Ree?”
“I am pretty sure using disproportionate force to pretty much slaughter an entire country or two would be considered a war crime,” Jake commented. “Actually, never mind, let’s not think about that.”
“To summarize, we’re all in agreement we will be a third force who just fights everyone?” the Sword Saint asked clarifyingly.
“That is indeed the way to get the most experience,” Jake agreed.
“In that case, let’s not dally,” the old man nodded. “Rather than ravage more cities, how about we check out one of the active battlefields instead?”
“You want us to just show up to an ongoing battle and put ourselves right in the middle to fight everyone at once?” the Fallen King asked.
“Precisely.”
“See, we’re all in agreement!” Jake grinned. “Now let’s go to war.”
Comments
Kevin Watson
what a great adventuring group! thanks for the chapter
Endless Nature
Thanks for the chapter
Hunter Thornton
Jake is a terrible influence. Now even the sword saint is startin to think like Jake. That’s a terrifying thought
donvitogonzalle
He did that at the beginning and it honestly didnt sound good. The way he does it now is better imo
Olof Karlsson
Thanks for the chapter!
Numbzy
I mean, Minaga mentions that the demon lord joined a demon prince in his scenario. So possibly it might work, I could also see it just not working too.
Martín Ballesteros Arias
This is not me needing my fix of a new chapter hahahaha
Thenais
He will soon have to chose a new skill, bet it will be full of curse options
Thenais
Will be
Ty Cooper
I love it. Cracks me up so much 🤣 his adequate perception stat
Sam Jackson
I like the Villy - Jake conversations. I always hear Beerus from Dragonball when it is Villy speaking.... lol
Jeff McCulley
I’m pretty sure the first thing that happens after Jake walks out of the final gate into after-Nevermore is that Arty pops over to…say hi.
Numbzy
I mean, Villy told Jake to go along with it. Villy also know, and even acknowledged, that Jake really couldn't betray him in this.
john henderson
Kinda like White's storyline where he was a King of two different countries and had them fight each other until they completely eliminated one another and he harvested all of the souls to gain power.
Vega
I don’t think accepting a skill related to another god shows a lack of commitment mate. Vilas would tease Jake but would be chill with it. He’s protective not possessive, the most he’d do is remind Jake not to let the skill muddle up his Hunter’s Path.
C. Adkins
This. 100%. Maybe it’ll involve Jake mentioning turning down a mythical level skill from Valhal. If that doesn’t show jake’s commitment, nothing will lol
ByLordMatsLuck
❤️
Erik Leiden
Post-dungeon would love some more Jake-Villy friendship content. Their true friendship was a defining point of the early series, and now with the Valhal poaching plans and other heretical convos it would be nice for a “dude, of course I’m not betraying you - we’re bros” moment
Ral
the Endless Empire knowns as the Great Plains -> the Endless Empire knows as the Great Plains
Kaibutsu
I think they are able already enough to escape from a B grade if it comes to that, it's a last floor so why not risk it and just let loose ^^ WAAAAR!!!
Ansordia
To be fair they HAD to know if they even have a smigling of a chance consdiering the emperors could have been B tiers
Ansordia
Considering on most floors the residents don't acknowledge an unique lifeform I'd say it has been balanced, to make the residence blind to such an obvious fact.
Blightdad
The boss is Zachary Atwood
11037
Uh huh. Well, if I'm alone in my impression, all the better. It's not fun like the things you guys are thinking of. I probably was just overthinking things.
Martin Hájek
I dunno if my over-thought theory is the same, but what is real title of Duskleaf? Mentioned only once when Maire got his blessing…
Atom
Is it be a reference to Zachary Atwood that you are avoiding?
Ty Cooper
I didn't even think about all that. So many POVs. With everyone we know about entering all at once, the Gods' views, and the EH drama.
11037
"I am pretty sure using disproportionate force to pretty much slaughter an entire country or two would be considered a war crime,” Jake commented. “Actually, never mind, let’s not think about that.”
Michael Fannon
At least a 2 weeks. The reveal is going to take all week, with several perspectives, with the top result only shown at the very end.
Michael Fannon
Eh, it could be their race is specific to that one planet. If that is the case, then either William is going to spark a revolution that Jake will somehow both have to finance and be blamed for as the good ones emerge OR that species is doomed to be a minor footnote.
Michael Fannon
What? Don't be a tease. That's Zogarth's job and they excel at it.
11037
Looking at the comments...no one noticed. But that's probably for the best. Leave that Pandora's box closed. Or maybe I just read between the lines too much.
Ty Cooper
Good call
Robert Davidson
Sounds like it was always one Emperor just playing both sides pretending to be two people.
Isley
good chappie
Zadumu
I think it would totally be viable for them to hasten covering the planet in curse energy, and Jake devour the curse energy before the “Twin Emperors” can.
Kaibutsu
Took them whole chapter to do what I would do right away ^^ WAAAAR!!!
John Balman
Best way to again Friday let's go to war LoL
Loading Error
Gingers are sickly. They’re more prone to melanoma (Google it). Oh no! I judged gingers 😱
Christopher Hendrix
“Hm, so it’s a bit like the land the Endless Empire knowns as the Great Plains.” knowns — knows
Alex Cox
I feel Jake is way overdue for a drinking sesh with Villy, maybe his patron could shed some light in a way that Nevermore couldn't about how everything turned out with Temlat. Without a doubt Temlat's impact on Jake would change a bit of the evaluation on it. If Jake had gone for the impacts of Temlat and his path vs just the creation and fulfillment of a student's path. Prolly just ramblings.
joel southard
Nice thank you for the chapter
ReadingObsessed
I wonder how a party is Risen would have handled this floor
Baged
Don't be so sure.. Try taking a musgroom of any kind and present it to Jake. I can assure you he will at least snezzel a couple times at its mere existence
Jonathan
the Endless Empire knowns knows
Mat
Big surprise, ectognamorphs are OG flat earthers
Sam Rosenberg
Looking forward to this…
Jonathan Haverlid
Lol, sounds like Jake went to Sylphie for assurance about his teaching ways.
Ty Cooper
Got to have a little soul dessert to go with his cursed dinner.
Ty Cooper
Either way Eternal Hunger would just suck it up like I vacuum not wasting a spec.
Ty Cooper
All that curse energy is just a big tasty dish served up by the natives for Eternal Hunger. Just a big ol' gift to Jake.
Vega
I want to see Jake steal that curse energy for himself and gain levels. That would be so funny
Ty Cooper
Lol it's going to be a week from Monday before we get the Nevermore leaderboard scores. I really hope a Jake gets the chance to pick up all that curse energy along the way. Seems like these two emperors are just farming curse energy as a final gift to the Viper's chosen before he leaves Nevermore.
KenTX325
Or creating a cursed individual who detonates the accumulated curse energy.
Lonnie Sizemore
I'm kinda bummed Travis baldree doesn't do sylphie's "ree"s the audio misses some cute context with him saying "screch" like where she's calling out Jake for letting Temlat kill a planet... 😆 What alchemist would kill a planet or two for a few levels. Oh that was too funny! Keep up the great work! I can't wait for the conclusion of C grade nevermore
Tyler S.
Its not just orange but i imagine a burnt cheeto with wierd blue markes all over
Johnny_B
Did anyone else immediatly think of the Twin Emps from Ahn'Qiraj in WoW?
Martín Ballesteros Arias
Well if you can't join them, fight them, and why chase them when you can just put yourself in the middle of their path?
Joshua Morris
Ah I love it when Jake uses the KISS principle when deciding what to do.
kingofshibainu
Let's see hand Jake pull out some curse ritual stuff to disrupt them! Continent sacrifice too!
Zogarth
Fix
Zogarth
Fix
Tommy
TFTC! I kinda hope that Jake will meet someone from Ell’Hakan’s species who is a good person. Always makes me feel a bit sickly when he insults the guy based on his species’ characteristics - surely everyone from his species isn’t bad! I like the colour orange :)
BerciTheBeast
So event boss is either the two emperors fusing together & doing the same to the curse energy, or it's caused by Jake just noming all the cursed energy on the plane, thereby pissing people off.
Catherine Jones
I always enjoy that moment in a game when everyone decides it's time to go full muderhobo. No more conversations and side quests, just slaughter. Good times.
JJB4345_80_815
Friendly possible edit: "In a vast last ruled by two tyrants in constant conflict" I believe that the word last should be land instead
JJB4345_80_815
Yes, thank you for the chappy, Zogarth!
Alexikon
This floor could be cheesed by Eternal Hunger.
Iam PANKANK
simply use Jake to hijack the energy and draw both out.
Witherstormmod
Yeah, zog, go fix it xd
Naotsugu97
Great chapter! Thanks.
Michael Fannon
Ok. Ok. I was hoping for a quick final floor, but this floor does sound interesting. 5 way overpowered people randomly joining a war by killing everyone else. Also probably a twist or 2 added in, but I think this final floor will be wrapped up in a very satisfying way next week.
Jana
Jake is going to be a happy man when he gets to eternal Hunger all that curse energy within the ritual and finishes it with the emperor responsible for Dessert.
Decibel790
Tftc!
RebelTreecko
I think the not is supposed to be now
Witherstormmod
That are not considered inaccessible... that are considered inaccessible? (Otherwise it doesnt rlly make sense)
BlackRazaras
Thanks for the chapter
BerciTheBeast
TFTC!
Michael Fannon
First
