The last boss, the minotaur, had been the strongest monster Sam had ever fought. It was easily more powerful than the Dreamer Veilguard, though perhaps equal if the Lost Bone of the Dreamer was considered. Its ax had leeched health away from Sam with every strike, replenishing its own. It dragged out the fight to a length that wasn't often seen in Sam's ascension of the Tower.

Other than that, though, the battle was almost boring. It had been a slog, not requiring any sort of insight, only perseverance. There were no flashy attacks, or pageantry. It had simply been a gritty and bloodsoaked battle to the death. The difficulty of the Tower was certainly ramping up.

The labyrinth faded away like a dream as Sam entered the next floor of the Tower. His first step was on a substance that felt like cotton wool, compressing and rebounding beneath his stride. As the world came into focus, he found himself standing on a cloud. Thousands, or perhaps millions of other clouds dotted the sky in every direction. Each ranged from the size of a small city to that of a small country.

The one Sam was one had a single occupant. A hulking elemental, wrought from what looked like a storm forced into a bestial form. It was shaped like a bull, but only in the vaguest of senses. Its cloudy matter spilled out from its joints, flickering with electricity.

The monster moved too quickly for Sam to see. The skies boomed, and a bolt of lightning flashed down. Before Sam could even move, the monster was in front of him, its right hoof streaking towards his face. It was like the first segment of the Tower all over again, except that the battles were actually a challenge.

Sam raised his hammer, meeting the incoming blow. He shook violently as a powerful electric current tore through his body. His health dropped, and his flesh melted. Most of the damage was merely superficial, however, and he started to push back. Lightning of his own creation sparked and danced across Terra's Will, and with a roar, Sam forced the elemental away. With a point of physical interaction, forming from the interplay of his Dao and the elemental's conceptual nature, Sam was able to leverage his monstrous Strength stat to full effect.

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The surface of the elemental deformed like putty, and as it flew back, skipping across the cloud, it started to unravel. It skidded to a halt near the cloud's edge, digging into the ground with appendages of glistening lightning. It bellowed, the noise like thunder, and rose to its feet once more. Only, this time Sam was already beside it.

Hammer poised above his head, Sam extended his Dao and will into the weapon. It grew in size, and a comet's tail of cosmic energies gathered around it. With the noise of a meteor falling from the heavens, it descended upon the elemental.

It landed like a supernova, blasting apart the elemental and the entire cloud below. Where the monster had been, a faint figure floated, that of a human woman. She was transparent, and composed entirely out of light. The woman nodded once at Sam, and then exploded into motes of shimmering radiance. Then she was gone.

Sam was left standing in space. He quickly formed a block of compressed Dao beneath him, standing on it. Clouds drifted around him, looking like pieces of cotton as they traversed the sky.

Sam opened the floor notification, confused about what exactly this place was.

You have entered Floor 1 of the Forbidden Heavens(Challenge Mode).

Every civilization has its myths and legends. One common theme among them all is the existence of life after death. There is generally a duality of outcome, with there being an afterlife for the virtuous, and one for the sinful. In many places, this is simply a comforting parable for the weak and mortal. However, what happens when beings with the power of gods decide that they are, in fact, Gods? Some choose to form their own afterlifes, stealing away the souls of those rightfully destined for the true Beyond. The Forbidden Heavens is one such place. Each monster here is a soul held against its will. Free ten of them to progress to the next stage of the floor.

Completion: 1/10

Rewards: Title Upgrade

Sam had already known of the existence of Heaven and Hells on a Multiversal level. They were places that powerful cultivators went, those who had either reached E Rank, or possessed a Dao Seed. This, though… This was something else. Something perverse.

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