Chapter 214: Urgent Recall

Chapter 214: Chapter 214: Urgent Recall

The climb through the middle tiers went smoothly.

Squad 07 left Floor 21 at first light and settled into a pace they could hold for days. The Tower’s middle floors were no longer the crowded killing grounds of the lower tiers. The corridors widened into open country: ash plains, flooded ruins, forests where the canopy never quite let in the artificial sun. Most parties treated these floors as ground to be crossed quickly. Squad 07 treated them as a resource.

That was Rowan’s doing. He walked with one hand loose at his side, and the earth answered him the way it answers few people. Stone told him where it was hollow and where it was dense.

Beneath a field of cracked slate he found a seam of mineral so rich that Seraphina swore under her breath when she saw it. Between the roots of a long-dead tree, in a crevice no one had reason to check, he found a cluster of elemental herbs, still potent and still untouched. Ordinary climbing parties had walked right over them. They had never known to look.

The monsters were handled with the same economy. When a pack crossed their path, the fight ended quickly, and what followed was brisk, practiced work. The squad took only what was worth the most and weighed the least: skins without a single tear, teeth still sharp, bones dense enough to bear weight, and cores that had survived the kill whole and unblemished.

They worked without arguing, each of them knowing the next task before it was named. Everything else stayed where it fell. Nothing was wasted, because the Tower’s scavengers and local inhabitants would arrive by nightfall and take what the squad had no use for. Over those days, a few watchers on distant ridgelines noticed the careful carcasses left behind and understood what kind of party had passed.

By the time they climbed the last steps onto Floor 25, their spatial pouches were heavy and their pace had not slowed once.

The waystation was loud and warm, built into the rock of the staircase landing, and crowded with climbers on their way up or limping back down. The squad found a trader who knew good materials when he saw them and didn’t try to haggle down what he could see was worth full price. The surplus sold for a handsome sum, more than they’d expected, and Seraphina spent part of it at once.

She restocked her reagents, adding vials, powders, and distilled essences until her alchemy reserves were full again. The rest of the money went on provisions. They bought real travel rations this time, dense and hearty, the kind that held up for days and tasted better than they had any right to.

They ate together that evening and rested for a few hours. There was no ceremony and no speeches. Everyone already understood what came next.

They didn’t linger. At dawn, the gate to the upper-middle tiers stood open, and the steps beyond it climbed into dim light. Floor 30 was still five floors away, and Squad 07 stepped through and began to climb.

***

As the massive, bioluminescent shell of Volkez the Nautiloid finally dissolved into shimmering blue mana motes across the flooded obsidian floor of the 28th floor chamber, Squad 07 leaned back against the cavern walls to catch their breath. Barney unclasped his heavy gauntlets with a sigh, while Mirei began inspecting her bowstring for water damage.

Suddenly, a resonant, metallic hum pierced the quiet room.

Rowan’s hand moved instinctively to his chest. Fastened beneath his cloak, the Imperial Emblem Badge—the special insignia personally granted to him by the Emperor—was glowing with a brilliant, pulsing golden hue.

Within the barrier-laden structure of the Tower of the End, standard long-range communication talismans and mana-scrolls were completely dead, isolated by ancient spatial laws. However, the Emperor’s badge operated on specialized, high-tier imperial frequency waves designed to cut through even the densest spatial interference for matters of utmost national urgency.

Rowan tapped the emblem’s center, channeling a sliver of his Origin Earth mana into the crest.

The gold light coalesced into an encrypted, shimmering projection that hovered right above his palm. The formal, stern seal of the Imperial Citadel flared into view, followed by a urgent, heavily compressed audio transmission:

"Rowan—by order of the Grand Secretariat and direct mandate of His Imperial Majesty. Emergency recall activated. Unprecedented movements detected along the southern borders; internal faction instability rising following recent cult disruptions. Your presence is required at the Imperial Capital immediately. Sovereign clearance granted for rapid exit via the 28th Floor Imperial Transfer Gateway."

The projection flickered and dissolved, leaving a heavy silence hanging over the damp, quiet boss arena.

Caelen looked up from wiping down his broadsword, his eyebrows raised. "A direct Imperial recall through the Tower’s spatial jam? That’s not a standard check-in, Rowan."

"An emergency order from the Emperor himself," Seraphina noted softly, adjusting her alchemy kit. "It means whatever is happening outside is far bigger than local guild skirmishes."

***

With the imperial recall echoing in their minds, Squad 07 quickly realized that pushing the final two floors to reach Floor 30 immediately was no longer practical. With continental stability fracturing and a direct summons waiting, their priorities had shifted.

"Looks like our push to Floor 30 is going to have to wait," Caelen said, slinging his greatsword across his back with a resolute nod. "If the capital is calling you back, Rowan, things outside are far worse than the rumors let on."

Before parting ways, the squad swiftly tallied and sorted the high-grade materials left behind by Volkez the Nautiloid. Rowan handed over the bulk of the miscellaneous monster drops, rare aquatic shell fragments, and spatial reagents to Barney and Seraphina, trusting the blacksmith and the alchemist to handle the exchange rates and material processing back at the Floor 21 waystation.

"Leave the logistics to us," Barney grinned, hefting a heavy sack of iridescent nautiloid plating over his broad shoulder. "Seraphina and I will turn these spoils into a gold mine and have our gear fully primed for when we pick up where we left off."

With their paths temporarily diverging, Caelen and Mirei gathered their equipment and set off toward their respective family estates. With political tensions rising and cult activity flaring up across the lower and middle tiers, both warriors intended to use the downtime to push their training to the next level and elevate their martial readiness.

Meanwhile, Rowan secured his cloaked gear, adjusted his straw hat, and stepped toward the 28th floor’s restricted Imperial Transfer Gateway. With a hum of golden imperial mana, he activated the direct portal to the capital, preparing to answer the Emperor’s urgent summons as Squad 07 temporarily split up to face the brewing storm on multiple fronts.