The final floor

Having totally decimated the goblin village he felt strangely fulfilled, like he had done what was expected of him. He had no idea who expected such things of him but he didn't really care at the moment, he had bigger issues at hand to deal with.

Having recovered all he could Joseph didn't hesitate to climb the stair to reach the final floor.

When he arrived he found himself in something that resembled a large throne room. Decorated with large faded tapestries and peeling paint, large torches lined the wall with a brass candle chandelier hanging in the center of the room.

While it looked rather run down, with cracks in the floor and walls, there was no doubt that at one point it was brilliantly luxurious. At least far more so than anything Joseph had been exposed too before.

At the far end of the room sat a 2 meter tall gray skinned goblin. It's body, though smaller, exuded a sense of pressure and danger that none of the other goblins did. This was a true rank F being, far stronger than any of the half ranked individuals Joseph had faced up to this point. It's violent green eyes were fixed on Joseph, while his muscular frame sat languidly upon his throne. A spiked club about half a meter long sat across its lap, while what little armor it did wear looked rough and stained.

Neither of them moved for several minutes. Joseph was taking his time sizing up the challenge before him, while the goblin simply thought it wasn't worth his time. It could feel no mana waves coming off of Joseph's body, and therefore assumed that it would be an easy victory.

Now this thinking would normally be correct, even F ranked awakened beings were 2-3 times stronger than ordinary people. But the goblin failed to take into account the massive amount of training Joseph had undergone. This oversight would prove to be its undoing.

"Seems straightforward enough," Joseph thought to himself after observing everything around him. He saw that the goblin didn't take him seriously, and he planned to take full advantage of that.

Slowly beginning to approach the throne Joseph drew his sword and pointed it at the goblin, a clear provocation which the goblin didn't take too kindly.

A loud roar filled the room as the goblin practically leaped at Joseph, desiring nothing more than too crush the ant that had provoked it. It landed several feet away from its throne leaving small cracks in the floor where it made impact. It then charged directly at Joseph, a mad blood thirst clear in its eyes.

Joseph grinned thinking to himself, "Gotcha!" He then jumped backwards to his left swinging his sword upwards in an arch, cleanly slicing the rope holding up the chandelier.

To its credit the goblin immediately realized what was happening, but was to far into its charge to stop. So instead it attempted to leap sideways out of the chandelier's path, but was unsuccessful in clearing it completely. The heavy brass chandelier crashed into the goblins right shoulder, shattering its collarbone and rendering its right arm effectively useless. This directly cut the goblins fighting effectiveness by almost half, greatly boosting Joseph's chances of victory.

"Not exactly what I was hoping for but it's better than nothing." Joseph mused, dissatisfied despite the fact that his plan was so successful. How many other people got to fight with a crippled boss for their awakening stone?

Refocusing on the goblin Joseph readied himself for its next move. He didn't have to wait long as moments after being hit by the chandelier the goblin was back on its feet, murder evident in its eyes. It transferred its club to its left hand and launched himself at Joseph once more.

The goblin was incredibly fast, about 3.5 times faster than ordinary people. Making it arrive before Joseph in the blink of an eye, thankfully, Joseph didn't blink.

He rolled to his right barely avoiding the goblins club that was swinging towards him. The goblin, not used to fighting with its left hand, couldn't stop itself before it smashed into the wall cracking it further. It fell backwards dazed due to the violent collision it's head had just suffered. Springing to his feet Joseph rushed towards the beast attempting to end its life, taking an overhead swing he brought the blade down towards the goblin.

Unfortunately at the last moment the goblin rolled away, suffering a large gash to its left shoulder and back rather than its neck. It's life had been saved but now it was even harder for it to fight. It could hold its club, but had to make very exaggerated body movements to cause its limp arm to swing at Its mortal enemy.

These attempts were laughable in Joseph's eyes, to him it appeared as though an overgrown toddler was throwing a tantrum. A rather dangerous tantrum if one was careless, but Joseph was anything but.

Joseph continued to dodge the wild swings for several minutes, allowing the goblin to tire out as it was loosing copious amounts of blood. It took much longer than normal due to the fact that it was truly an awakened being, it's vitality was much greater than ordinary people. Unfortunately for it that didn't mean that severed arteries would simply seal themselves, you would have to be at least C grade before any kind of super rapid healing was possible. And even then it wouldn't be perverse enough to allow one to continue to fight. It would basically be an ability to survive long enough to get help.

After 15 long minutes of chasing it's hated enemy, the goblin was finally exhausted. It's arms hung loosely by its sides while it heaved great gasping breaths. It's eyes looked listless like it's whole life was one big joke, how could it have been bested by someone so weak? Was it not an awakened being? Did it not hold sway over dozens of others of its kind? Was it not a king?

As these thoughts and more swirled through its mind it's eyes settled upon the view of its enemy. Looking into those cold eyes it finally understood that it was neither a king, nor was it worthy of respect or deference. It was simply a bug placed in the path of a beast, a beast who would burn the world to accomplish its goals.

It was a strange sort of relief, to know that it was beaten by something much greater than itself. Perhaps this being who came was not an awakened but it didn't matter, the goblin could see in the eyes of Joseph a holly wrath that sought only one thing.

VENGEANCE!

A brief smile set on the goblins face as it fell face first into the ground. It died immediately after having been totally out matched, unable to even scratch a hair on Joseph's head. Joseph just stood and watched, he knew it was over and was willing to wait rather than put himself in unnecessary danger.

Just after the goblin died it's body began to vanish into pixels of white light, leaving behind a fist sized clear stone that glowed gently from inside.

Joseph bent down to retrieve the stone, fascinated by the pale light that came from within it. The stone was smooth as glass and warm to the touch, just as he picked it up he heard a voice in his head. It was soft and feminine, yet at the same time piercing. He knew immediately that this was the voice of the universal system that every awakened had access too.

"Congratulations! You have successfully cleared your first tower and have won the right to progress on the path of evolution. Please take the stone in your hand and place it near your chest to begin the awakening process, or if you prefer to wait, you may place the stone in the temporary system inventory for future use."

Nodding to himself as everything he heard was identical to what Aden had told him it would be. Joseph simply placed the stone in the inventory for use upon his return to the guild hall. Aden had told him specifically that there was a room prepared for him after he was done. The room was sealed so nothing going on inside could be detected by those outside. This precaution was necessary due to the fact that some people out there knew about the catalyst, and Joseph was determined to keep them in the dark as long as possible.

Sighing to himself with a sense of both accomplishment, because he had been successful in clearing the tower, but also a sense of dread because of the long long road ahead of him.

Taking a last look around Joseph gathered himself and said, "Time to go, system exit the tower."

"Request acknowledged, tower has been cleared, exiting in 5…4…3…"

"Let's see just what this Angel blood is all about…"