Chapter 170: Heartbreak
Maven rushed to the restricted warehouse within the university where Liam had buried his cursed treasure deep beneath the ground, however, he was too late to arrive it seemed, as the warehouse was already dug up and the treasure within seemed to already be missing.
Dropping down to both his knees, Maven began to cry inconsolably, as he knew that his friend had chosen to commit suicide and that too in the most horrifying way possible.
For years, Liam had been pushing back the corruption of the seed of death, keeping it's negative effects under check as he tried to nurture students and ensure that they lived a long and happy life within the tower. However, today, he had finally given up.
[ Dear Maven,
I hope it's you who finds this letter and no-one else. Cnlsiskdl
I'm writing this letter in great pain and with whatever remaining sanity I can muster.
Lately, I've been feeling less like my own self and am unable to recognise myself when I look in the mirror.
It's anzhslalc.
It's almost like I feel like a dead man already and hence whenever I look in the mirror, I see myself as a ghost rather than someone living.
I loved these children and I loved raising them as if they were my own flesh and blood, however, lately I can't see any love in their eyes for me, but just fear.
I've always been a crazy bastard, I know it, however, every batch before this one still loved me despite my erratic nature, however, I guess I was slowly becoming unbearable, as this batch clearly does not.
I probably should have gone on a vacation as you suggested years ago, however, I was a stubborn fool who did not listen to your advi. Ahsjxkdkal
Advice ..
When you gave it to me.
As you can, see, I can't write, I'm at my limits my friend, so I hope you forgive my bad handwriting and my bad paragraph spacing.
I love you like a brother and am leaving the fate of the university for nourishment of young talents in your capable hands.
If possible, take over the subject of tower survival…. You're good at it and I wouldn't entrust it to anyone else.
Also, I'm sorry that I was peeking at the fight developing and saw Mori die.
I knew I should have stayed in my cabin, however, I could smell the stench of death and knew something was up.
Since I'm not longer stable, I have decided to burn the Olympian empire down with me for messing with my students as my final act.
So I'm taking my cursed treasure and launching a raid on floor21 alone.
Although I will most likely end up dying miserably, I will remind this tower of the consequences of messing with the mad professor Liam and the price of killing one of my men.
Goodbye my friend.
I hope you don't blame yourself for this.
I know you tried your best to keep me safe.
Your elder brother
Liam ]
Maven cried like a baby while gripping this letter as he read it over and over again.
He had indeed tried his best to save Liam from this fate, however, in the end he failed.
The stress of inviting two champions of gods into his university proved to be too much for the old him who was already battling with insanity as the repeated incursions by the Olympians finally drove him mad.
"I loved you like a brother too…." Maven said with a heavy heart, as he finally allowed himself to embrace his feelings as he laid down flat on the ground and cried his heart out.
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( Meanwhile Perseus )
"The prisoner Riva is here? Has father finally extracted everything he needed from her and discarded her as trash?
Well it doesn't matter if she's valuable or not to me…. Just make sure that you guard her properly….I don't want to take any chances this time…. I absolutely can't have her be kidnapped from under my nose like that fool Joe was before her" Perseus said as he emphasized the importance of guarding Riva properly.
"Yes, my lord" his trusted henchman replied as he took it upon himself to ensure that Riva was secured properly.
"Also, what's the situation with the increase in training and recruitment of new troops?
Why are we missing the weekly quota by 10-15% every week?" Perseus said sounding annoyed, as his father had given him the clear instructions of gathering a new formidable army in preparation of the True Elites launching a floor raid on his floor soon, however, the preparation for that raid was going slower than he expected.
"We will hit the quota this week my Lord. I will personally put more pressure on the underlings and make sure they deliver as you expect them to-" the henchman replied, as Perseus nodded in acknowledgement.
"Don't fail me–" he said, as he waved dismissively towards his henchman, who turned to take his leave.
*ALARM*
*ALARM*
*ALARM*
Suddenly, raid alarms started to blare throughout floor 21 as someone seemed to have challenged the floor 21's floormaster for the control of the region.
"What? Did the elites lose their minds and launch a raid early?" Perseus said in panic, as he felt his heart beat out of his chest at this unexpected development.
However, as he received a report from the tower administrator as he was obliged to receive whenever a group challenged him for the authority of his floor, he was shocked to see that the originator of the floor raid was a single man.
"What is this nonsense? A single man originated a floor raid and the tower administrator allowed his challenge?
Just which lesser god decided to pick a fight with the Olympians?" Perseus asked in surprise, as a floor raid wasn't something that just anyone could trigger, as a floor raid could only be triggered by a force which the tower acknowledged as capable of having a shot at actually winning the fight.
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/// A/N - Bonus chapter for hitting the PS target, it's very very late, so thankyou for being patient. ///