The boss exploded in a storm of shrapnel and glitch-light.
[Floor 69 Cleared.]
[All party members rewarded: XP +122,000 | Gold +14,400 | Reputation +4]
[Floor Warp Gate Unlocked.]
Cain didn't flinch as a chunk of molten debris whistled past his head and buried itself in the stone. His armor was scorched, Mira was bleeding from a cut across her ribs, and Arin was already lighting a stim with a shaky hand.
"You see that last parry?" Cain asked, brushing gore from his shoulder. "Clean as a virgin nun's prayers."
Lucis looked up from a wounded mob, unimpressed. "You missed the first swing and blocked with your face."
"Did it work?"
"No."
Cain shrugged. "Then it was clearly skill."
Mira limped over, grinning despite the blood trickling down her hip. She peeled off her cracked shoulder guard and flicked it aside, revealing the curve of her skin beneath a torn combat wrap.
"Enjoying the view, Velstra?"
Cain didn't even blink. "Like a sunrise over a massacre."
Mira rolled her eyes, but she didn't cover up.
They moved to the warp gate as the Tower calmed around them. Rubble still steamed in the corners of the boss room, but the oppressive weight of Gorath's presence had lifted.
Floor 70 loomed above.
Everyone knew the rumors.
Past Floor 69, the Tower changed. Maps became unreliable. Spawn timers went inconsistent. UI bugs, mob fusions, and memory stutters—glitches that shouldn't happen in a regulated VRMMORPG.
Cain called it progress.
---
The party ascended through the stair gate, warping onto a circular stone platform bathed in soft blue light. Safe zone. A campfire flickered to life near the center as the zone stabilized.
Lucis began stripping down his scorched armor plates. Arin sat with his back to the flame, face pale. Mira dropped onto a stone slab and reached into her pack for a stim injector.
Cain stared upward.
Above them, Floor 70's ceiling spiraled in deep shadow—lit occasionally by faint arcs of light crawling like data glitches across the stone. The Tower's heartbeat.
[Personal Log: Cain Velstra]
[Achievement Unlocked: Beyond the Bloodline - Floor 69 Clear]
[Global Ranking Updated: #7 → #6]
Cain's grin returned. He opened his HUD, highlighted the new rank, and broadcast it to the party.
Mira raised a brow. "Sixth? Not bad."
Lucis nodded. "You've worked for it."
Arin didn't look. "You're still three behind Ghostblade."
Cain flipped him off without turning.
[New Title Unlocked: Blade-Drunk Bastard]
[Would you like to display this title publicly?]
[Yes]
---
They rested. Ate. Healed. No one spoke of what came next.
Cain broke the silence.
"You know what Floor 70 means?"
"More pain," Arin muttered.
"More glory," Cain corrected.
Lucis rolled his eyes. "Or more reasons to die."
"Please," Mira said, smirking. "We've all died before. Comes with the territory."
[Mira – Respawn History: 7]
[Arin – Respawn History: 3]
[Lucis – Respawn History: 9]
[Cain – Respawn History: 1]
Cain looked at the log with satisfaction.
"See? I only die when it counts."
"You die when you show off," Arin muttered.
"And yet," Cain said, leaning back with a smirk, "still alive."
Lucis tossed him a ration bar. "Enjoy it while it lasts."
Cain looked into the fire. It flickered—just once—in an unnatural way.
Like a skipped frame.
---
[System Notification: Unregistered Instance Detected.
Location: Tower Floor 70 - Access Layer: Error]
Cain blinked.
"Did anyone else—?"
"What?" Mira asked.
The notification was gone.
Cain frowned. "Probably nothing."
But it wasn't.
As they rose and moved toward the stairs, something unseen flickered across the air behind them—a line of code, a whisper in a forgotten tongue.
The Tower's systems were watching.
And something deep inside them had just awakened.