LoRG 1

Maltaius a fleshy blob like creature stood passively to the side nearer to Tziech than the rest His allegiance at least was clear likely due to the fact the only reason he had risen to power was he was friends with Tziech before he had changed and remade himself A dozen years ago Maltaius would have called him Zeke with a smile

No longer but that didn’t mean old loyalties had faded

Rifman the Lizardkin Elder and Tillian the Darkspawn were also rather neutral their arms folded Their continued support Tziech really couldn’t do without The Lizard corp was perhaps not the most powerful but it was definitely the largest and they were the most steady in the face of injuries With their remarkable healing abilities they could be cut in half in the morning and both sides would be ready to fight the enemy by the evening

The other three were standing in a line and at their center was Varga the Wargmaster Her eyes were soft golden crescents right now as one of her supporters went to speak on her behalf Immediately Tziech’s eyes narrowed He raised a hand

Let’s not play Varga state your piece

Although her two lackeys Tziech’s so called generals frowned Varga smiled

Thiss is why I always liked you And supported your bid for Monster King She said sweetly

Tziech was tired of the games tired of the intrigue of the subtle hints and the power plays at inopportune times That was part of the reason that he had withdrawn Which had given the Skinshifters the opening they needed

His hands clenched into fists They didn’t have time for this

We wonder if the Progenitor that you viewed was legitimate Varga ultimately said her eyes locked on him It just seems so opportune First they blame the abominations’ crimes on us making us pay now they want to use our armies to drive the enemies away What responsibility do we have to protect their realms The monster kingdom’s

Tziech couldn’t help it He laughed

Everyone gave him a surprised look even Maltaius a flash of warning in his eyes Tziech knew what his old friend was thinking that the Wargs were their heavies and the most powerful of the Monster armies in a direct confrontation Without them it would be very hard to assault the strange Soul Conduit that Lucretia indicated

But Tziech couldn’t be bothered to play with kid gloves anymore He had been king too long he suddenly realized He needed to remember how it was to be young and self righteous All at once energy rushed through his body to his left arm concentrating on that strange dark power the Progenitor had given him

A cold purple blue light began to shine from Tziech’s hand It grew and grew until Varga gasped and took a step back and Tziech could feel the frost forming up his arm to his shoulder the insidious numbness growing slowly

Then all at once he dispersed it letting the power fall away Grinning at Varga Tziech said We ride in an hour Varga You’ll take the vanguard Or after this is over I will hunt you down and remind you of the real reason that I was chosen to be the King of Monsters

Then he turned and walked away

Chapter 450

This isn’t a great idea Rose said for the 7th time

Ace just sighed shaking his finger at her What do you know Let me ask you what’s the most important thing about a battle

Strategy Rose said her voice low and strained almost pleading

Power Lucifer said looking up from his three swords Since they had taken a break Lucifer had rummaged through some of the rubble until he found an absolutely enormous slab of red iron and had pounded it into something resembling a sword Which Randidly reflected seemed good enough for him But did he really need a third sword

Preparation Thea said piping up Alana looked at Thea and nodded approvingly which caused the younger woman to blush

Randidly continued mixing potions his eyes carefully on the mixtures Although they had prepared a lot he would prefer not to burn through all of their supply of Mana Potions before they even began the assault Although it had taken about a half hour it would more than be made up for their preparation later in the face of a possibly extended battle

Ace threw his hands to the sky No The most important thing in any confrontation individual or group is momentum Therefore you want to be in control of the momentum at all times Which is why the most important step is

Alright I’m finished Randidly said standing and rubbing his hands on his pants He flashed a smile at Ace Although their relationship had changed so much and they were so far from where they had begun he couldn’t deny that it was good to work together like this to be on the same page Let’s show these fools how to make an entrance

Ace beamed at him

Most of the detailed calculations had been figured out by Lucretia who was much better than him at these things but the idea was pretty simple It’s execution was just a little difficult due to Mana concerns

Closing his eyes Randidly felt outward familiarizing himself with the feel of the land underneath them Now that he focused he could feel dozens of meters deep where the ground ended leading to the huge cave that the Creature had apparently dug up and hidden underneath the Cathedral He wondered whether every Cathedral connected to this thing It would explain why the monster hordes could spring up from nowhere and why the Cathedrals were made on such a grand scale

Upon investigation it had become clear that the rubble was from a series of pulleys and infrastructure that had allowed things to be transported up and down into the underground world Of course the Creature wasn’t kind enough to leave that sort of thing up for convenient use

Not that most of them needed it Perhaps that was why Rose was in such a panic Randidly thought reflecting She was the one who likely couldn’t really survive a fall from this height

Which made him stop and ponder whether any of them could really survive a fall from this high He almost wanted to test it out but they already had very sturdy rides arranged so no need to tempt fate

Randidly gave the signal and Death Cultists began spiraling down into the hole gliding out of their way A few would stay to fly the rest of them down but first the common soldiers would go and open up a path if necessary

As they were moving quickly through their lines Randidly began making the final adjustments Then when he felt that most of the Death Cultists had moved out of the way and began flying down he began

First he started with two both with the Cathedral at the far edges of the area of effect He grimaced casting two Earthquakes at once was not only a huge drain on his Mana but it also took a strange amount of concentration to localize the tectonic damage in the right areas

Which didn’t even make sense they knew this was the roof of the cave below them they were standing on so Earthquake couldn’t be moving tectonic plates But that also made sense in a way because that amount of power was far beyond what they were capable of or should be capable of

After downing two Mana Potions and checking to make sure the ground underneath them was rumbling Randidly reached out again And turning 90 degrees from the initial spots he made two more in front and behind forming a square of Earthquakes with them in the center

The effect now was much more apparent with the ground seeming to buzz long and thin cracks forming around them

Fuck this fly me down Rose said crossing herself Her Death Cultist obliged leaning forward and speeding down past some of the slower bats disappearing quickly beyond the scope of their vision

As if on cue most of the rest of the group went led by Alana Of them all the only two that remained were of course Ace but to Randidly’s surprise Ptolemy also stayed with them peering down into the hole below them but in no hurry to jump down into it As Randidly watched the other man the shakes got so bad that a large chunk at the edge of the hole cracked and slid down falling into the abyss

Ptolemy looked up at him and seemed to instantly understand the question He half shrugged in answer and then said I know it’s hasty what we are doing and destructive but it seems like it’s kinda fun Like we get to play in a sandbox crushing tiny castles

Kukuku Ace fake chuckled beaming at Ptolemy You truly are a secret villain The type who everyone thinks is a friend but then pulls a great betrayal at the end Not my particular taste but I respect

Randidly closed his eyes and reached again continuing to down Mana potions Only after he had filled his Mana to maximum was he even close and even then he was short by a bit By now the first round of Earthquakes was reaching its pitch and the Cathedral was beginning to fall to pieces around them plaster and brick tumbling down

In quick succession Randidly shifted 45 degrees more casting two Earthquakes drank 3 Mana Potions and then twisted another 90 to loose 2 more

All in all there were now 8 Earthquakes going rearing up to full gear the ground beneath them shattering and crumbling away In spite of himself Randidly smiled and beckoned his Grey Death Cultist even while he drank more Mana Potions It was likely best that they not be here when everything began to boil over

He hopped lightly even before the Death Cultist had grabbed him and the creature had to scramble to catch up looping its claws around his shoulders Cackling madly Ace followed with Ptolemy bringing up the rear peering up and around trying to get the best view of the collapsing Cathedral

Randidly could still sense that above those huge pillars toppled and smashed into the ground causing the thin cracks to grow even longer and wider More and more ground at the edge of the hole cracked off and fell As they descended their Death Cultists were forced to weave their way through the debris into the strange world below

When they popped out of the tunnel down there into the area below Randidly grimaced There was a great crystal to their left in the roof of the cavern that burned like a sun and cast warm light on the underground area Randidly could also see a half dozen more spaced out in the distance

Because around there were huge stone pillars that blocked his vision in some places but otherwise it literally seemed like the entire dungeon had another world beneath it controlled by the Creature

His grin stretching wider and wider Randidly turned to the nearest sun crystal and was delighted to see that it was within the zone of his Earthquakes Above the vibrations cracked the dense ground and there was finally some serious damage done But then the vibrations began to ebb and although the ground below had slid down a few inches in some places it wasn’t the big effect Randidly was going

So before the Earthquakes had run their course Randidly reached up and found all the roots in a certain area between the entrance hole and the sun crystal Within a split second he expanded them to 10 times their normal size whipped them around and then let them wither to nothing

Uh oh Ace said looking upwards

A relatively small piece of ground in the grand scheme of things around the size of a small building fell above them from the spot where Randidly had expanded the roots Very quickly the Earthquake’s continued vibration caused cracks to spin outward In a flash the nearby area around that circle disintegrated and several car sized pieces of rock began to fall

It only took a second but a huge gaping crack formed between Randidly’s small hole and the entrance hole as the two weaknesses compounded upon each other There was a shuddering moment of stillness then but Randidly felt what was coming and he smiled looking upwards even as the Earthquakes began to taper off

Due to the collapsing pillars the cathedral had lost its structural integrity and tipped over sideways In one huge piece the side of the roof slid down a veritable landslide of tile and brick crashing onto the ground with enough force to break the fragile equilibrium The ground around the entrance hole exploded downwards all of that weight forcing itself through And as that section fell more and more cascaded downwards in a huge cloud of debris and dust

Chapter 451

There was a part of Randidly that was extremely disappointed at the extent of the destruction and that side of him dominated for 10 seconds Right up until the thin hairline crack extending from the area weakened root to the sun crystal also began collapsing groaning from the weight of the shaking land

Randidly was lucky in his placement there were no giant pillars of stone nearby likely so the sun crystal could cast its light over the underground space without shadows They were purposefully designed that way But when the line of collapsing ceiling reached the crystal it shuddered for a bit twitching

Then the light went out and the huge thing fell to the ground

Right as the sun crystal fell the original rubble from the cathedral collapsing hit the ground sending a wave of force in every direction that leveled a good stretch of trees

As his Death Cultist became to swerve around and through falling debris Randidly looked around checking the lay of the land The giant pillars marred some of the wider views but they were relatively far apart likely spaced as far as feasibly possible without destroying the structural integrity of the zone Between them was a thick rainforest like area spreading in every direction There were some clear areas that ran along rivers and when Randidly squinted at those he could see trails interspersed everywhere but largely it was just the dull flush of trees that met his vision

But as he raised his head and glanced around his eyes alighted on a building and his eyes narrowed

What the fuck is that Lucretia asked the wonder clear in her voice

It was a strange construct on top of a raised plateau above a city It looked like a dozen spiral seashells were pressed together and then melted into one strange curling curving monstrosity It was about the size of an apartment building and as Randidly stared at it he abruptly realized that it was somehow shredding the Aether in the air that came near it Although Randidly couldn’t figure out what the purpose of such a building was it wasn’t hard to realize that this was definitely the work of the Creature

Now that the nearest sun crystal thing had gone dark and fallen it was relatively shadowy in their area so Randidly reached up and tapped his Death Cultist’s leg to get its attention Then he pointed

Nodding the Grey Death Cultist screeched something out that apparently its kin understood because all of the Death Cultists began gliding towards each other entering into a formation Randidly could still hear Ace’s whoops of glee and he craned his neck around to get a look at the wound he had made in this underground world As he did so the sun crystal hit the ground sounding like an entire glass factory exploded

The fissure in the earth was still up there and more and more debris was slowly cracking and falling as the tremors from his Earthquakes tapered off It appeared this would be all of the destruction for now which served Randidly’s purposes just fine Although the idea had some appeal Randidly had a hard time believing that the Creature could be killed just by collapsing a roof on it

As they approached the city Randidly’s mouth tightened because the city and the strange monstrous seashell above it loomed ever larger Which meant that they might still have a ways to it and it was much much larger than Randidly would have originally believed It was a metropolitan area in its own right

At least when his sharp eyes scanned the city he didn’t see many people But it was clear that this city had been constructed with the eye towards the future and a population in the hundreds of thousands

The Creature had apparently taken inspiration from Earth too because he doubted that the high rise apartment buildings and skyways were common practice on most planets

Then again Randidly reflected they might very well be After all at a certain level of materials engineering this sort of feat was relatively simple It was just a matter of how advanced technologically the race was before the System arrived and if most races had magic or strange abilities beyond the humans they might be more otherwise occupied that to turn their attention to the study of the world around them

Of course they would have their own area of advantages But it likely wouldn’t be this

Alana steered her Death Cultist over towards Randidly and then spoke Are we going in to kill

Randidly dearly wanted to say yes but he bit his lip The rest of the Raid Party came over towards him until they were all zipping over the treeline the canopy beneath them a blur of green Although a smash and grab approach had some advantages the usual method was surprise and he expected that he had already shot that horse in the foot

No better try and have a modicum of caution

Let’s land outside and knock on the front door If they stop us however Everyone else nodded at his words

Randidly was cursing inwardly Because he suddenly wondered whether this would be as easy as he wanted Was the Creature really here Because if this was another strange diversion built by the Creature and he just came in and killed the people here on his hunch

But his eyes wandered up to the strange seashell thing and it was hard for Randidly to believe that this was just a simple decoration Of course it could be a trap because the closer they got to it the clearer it was that this thing was extremely dangerous Around its apex Aether spiraled in a whirlpool sucked into one of the upper openings of it At the opening they was a sharp protuberance spanning almost the entirety of the diameter towards the other side of the opening perhaps going 85% of the distance It almost looked like a shark’s fin

As the Aether was sucked past this the oddly serrated shark’s fin caused it to almost scream There was a dull noise in the air that Randidly could now sense like the shadow of a cloud on the ground or the prickle of an oncoming headache It was slightly beyond both his and Lucretia’s understand of Aether what was happening here but it set both of them on high alert

They alighted on the ground the 10 of them then the couple thousand Death Cultists landed behind them chittering excitedly to each other looking around The city was surrounded by a low wall only about 3 meters high nothing that would pose any real threat to even Rose

Expecting the worst Randidly walked towards the tall wooden door that had a road drapped from it like a beard leading into the maw of the beast To his surprise when they approached the door opened and Randidly stopped short his eyes narrowing

Eight men in robes hurried out unrolling a carpet and then bowing to the black carpet they produced Then a man in a grey jumpsuit walked out and surveyed their group with keen eyes He seemed to take them all in with only a second long glance but Randidly was relatively amused to see the man glance back at them specifically at Randidly’s bare feet as if shocked

For good measure he wiggled his toes and grinned The man sneered at him raising his chin until he seemed to be staring almost directly upwards

You have the honor to be addressed by the immaculate Zith greatest and most giving among us having led her chosen people promisedpromise land

A woman then walked out from the doors in a brilliant white dress that seemed to drip pearls from its hems and sleeves She was not beautiful but she was pretty with a sharp pointed face and high arching brows Randidly didn’t fail to notice that as she appeared guards up on a small rampart above the wall holding bows and javelins stood gazing down over them all with a disapproving air Almost 300 and just those they could see

As the woman exited the door slowly closed behind her until it was only open a crack but through that gap Randidly had seen heavier troops with weapons in had that were made to hack and break His lips twitched farther upward his nose flaring as he sensed the approaching battle

But first

He considered the woman again and then began clenching his fists so hard that the bones of his fingers popped They had been warned about this they had been told about her identity btu that was from Aratta the broken and ripped apart Wild Rider so Randidly hadn’t thought too deeply about what it would mean that she was here the villain in the story of the Death Cultists

Or what that meant for his culpability for what she had to go through to get here Her eyes were bright and somewhat yellow which Randidly didn’t remember and her hair had darkened to a warm and refined chestnut She wasn’t smiling but she was inspecting Randidly with the same intensity that he was looking at her

Coward The head Grey Death Cultist hissed

Her face twitched and she shook her head slowly sadly

Before they could get off track any further Randidly spoke his voice raw Is such an entrance really necessary

Her smile was bitter and when Gemma replied her voice was just as raw If I hadn’t found small ways to amuse myself I expect I would be slightly mad living to the ripe old age of 408 Far far beyond what a human should be forced to suffer through Don’t you agree

Chapter 452

Tziech looked down at his hands his eyes red

It’s time to go the Thief said softly She was worried about him Tziech knew because of how much of the burden had been put on him this time The Progenitor’s trust weighed heavily on his shoulders

But perhaps she didn’t understand how liberating that could be at the same time to finally have a direction to have an escape from the Byzantine plethora of choices that had plagued him for years To see 100 bad answers and know that each one would have you blamed in a unique and tortuous way

Now that was gone

Tziech stood leaving his weapons on the ground Outside he could hear the strange almost musical almost mechanical call and replies of the invading army as they marched on their position The Thief looked at him in askance glancing again down at his weapons

Some things Tziech said flexing his muscles slowly testing every muscle and tendon Just feel better when you do them with your hands Let’s go

She nodded drawing her cloak farther around her taking back the Progenitor’s strange spear Together the two of them walked forward heading towards the frontlines What orders were needed were already given and now they just had the hint given to them by Lucretia the voice of the Progenitor here

They needed to make it to the strange Spirit Conduit Tziech didn’t plan to stop moving until he got there

Whatever it is doing to bind you here Randidly began but Gemma held up a hand

Please it’s much too late for that I’ve made my decisions I’ve thought about this moment a lot you know Her eyes stayed locked on Randidly I could never shake the feeling of how powerful you seemed to me all those years ago It was like you and only yo were the memory that was immune to the passage of time My friends my life before the System the people who helped me when I first arrived here all those have faded to grey despair But not you

She raised a hand and seemed to reach out towards him But after a second she let her hand drop And yet now I see you are strong but I see it as a peer Not invulnerable at all and so foolish to walk here towards a trap Yestyx will have her way

Randidly pursed his lips at the unfamiliar name but after a pause Lucretia said slowly I suspect that is the Creature’s name The fact that they have had enough interactions that she feels comfortable calling it by name does not bode well If what she said about a trap is true

But Randidly shushed her mentally his eyes hard because he had his own ideas about how the Creature functioned and what he needed to do to strike at her So he took a step forward looking at Gemma wondering where Rhaidon was So we fight

Gemma laughed a tinkling vindictive laugh of a mature woman who was supremely confident of herself well I guard this door Whether you will force my hand is your own decision Yestyx awaits beyond in the Exofact She will not be disturbed by the likes of you She has promised that after this task she will allow me to die

There was a deep softness that Randidly had carried for Gemma every since she had been used by the Wild Rider as a decoy and had suffered dearly for it time and time again And yet faced with this matured version of her feeling the very air she breathed lightly laced with a strange bitterness Randidly felt something inside of himself numbing towards his empathy for her So he took another step and then another slowly walking towards her

The announcer man still looked upwards towards the sky while the 8 carpet men remained kneeling while Gemma talked almost to herself her eyes slightly unfocused The irony of existence it’s almost beautiful That this is my motivation to fight now and that you the man I thought could rescue me were the great nemesis Must we do this We can pass this time softly

Randidly continued to walk and abruptly Gemma’s mood switched her face contorting into a hideous snarl She snapped her fingers and a giant body leapt over the short wall crashing down between them It of course was Rhaidon every bit as big as a truck his legs spread wide his eyes curiously mild as he regarded Randidly It’s fur was still metallic steel and copper and just a little bit of gold mixed in around his ears and eyes a beautiful life form

Nothing it seemed remained of the honorable beast that Randidly had pushed towards Gemma so the two could find support and succor in each other Randidly tried not to dwell on how perfectly these two had been poisoned and likely due to his interference although it wasn’t intentional

It was still a weight As he took another step Randidly closed his eyes and accept her malignant crazed anger into the swirl of ill will that he carried for each life he took or destroyed or warped Then he opened his eyes and took another step his gait steady

Rhaidon roared seeming liters of spittle flying forward out of his mouth towards Randidly who just narrowed his eyes Roots spray up out of the ground to catch it and knock it away When Randidly took another step three fingers shot passed him from behind interposing themselves between him and the beast

Alana arrived first pulling down her Valkyrie’s Helmet condensing sliding naturally into place on her head Without any hesitation her spear slid forward aiming for Rhaidon’s throat

Roaring it hopped slightly to the left moving its bulk with a surprising amount of grace and snapped its teeth at her

Snorting Alana spun away from the play bite and smashed her shield into the side of Rhaidon’s jaw with a sharp blow Although it was graceful it was not nearly graceful enough and there was a jarring crack as one of its teeth shattered

Instantly its eyes sharpened and a great fury arose in the air around it as if it was previously sleeping and only now did it realize that it was about to fight but at that point Chrysanthemum arrived spearing into its chest bowling the larger monster over Chrysanthemum was probably only half the size of Rhaidon but when it came to strength and momentum Randidly hadn’t encountered anyone more powerful

Even now he sweat slightly thinking about how he had used to play with Chrysanthemum casually Of course that bear had probably gained 400 pounds of pure muscle since they had done that last so Randidly tried to remind himself that his talents extended beyond simply being physically strong

Fucking all of you just let me have this just this Gemma hissed her eyes going wide a great deal of blackness gathering up towards her hands condensing into giant gauntlets covered in spikes But Thea was there whirling in front of her and Gemma had to raise a gauntlet to bat the attack away

Thea’s attack turned out to be a feint and she spun further her leg flashing out in a low kick striking Gemma at the knee causing her to stumble Randidly took two more steps and another body rushed passed him

Taking advantage of her moment of weakness Thea just thrust forward with her hammer a brutal blow that aimed to break Gemma’s nose Inwardly Randidly was relatively impressed that Thea could fight so calmly espeically against this girl who had been an age of her and so nervous and weak in their previous meeting

Unfortunately not only had Gemma become bitter she had also become much better at fighting and as the thrust rushed towards her nose she actually lowered her forehead and headbutted the hammer that was rushing towards her The strike was with enough force to send Thea stumbling backward

Randidly took another step walking calmly through the battle Gemma blinked and shook her head regaining her focus somewhat dazed Thea straightened lowering her center of gravity to try again Randidly took another step

Gemma slammed her gauntlets into the ground and there was a wave of blackness knocking Thea backward Then she pressed her hands together forming a ball of black energy pointing at Randidly At the corner of his vision he saw the details of the Skills ticking across his screen entered into party chat by Rose Heedless he took another step

In the instant before she fired the Dark Blast Ace was there smashing Gemma’s gauntleted hands off target causing the attack to whiz past and smashed into the wall about 400 meters down from where they were standing cracking and shattering it

As Rhaidon struggled to his feet fending off Chrysanthemum while Alana circled around him striking at his weaknesses Thea righted herself and charged forward towards Gemma but Randidly noticed there were tears running down her face He took another step then another

Ace brought his elbow down against Gemma’s chin sending her stumbling but only for a second because his follow up missed and Gemma weaved her way forward her crazed eyes on Randidly as he approached the gate

This wasn’t this wasn’t supposed to be what you did you were supposed to save me Gemma yelled with her voice torn between rage and betrayal Randidly ignored her and leaped covering the last few steps to the top of the walls There he activated Indomitable Will of Yggdrasil and Cruel Indignation of Yggdrasil causing the warriors on the wall to stumble away Then he leaped again heading deeper into the city

After Randidly was gone Gemma grinned and sidestepped a blow from Thea slamming her palms together A black shockwave came outwards knocking Ace and Thea backward Rhaidon leaped over Alana and landed next to his master gazing balefully at the remaining people

Heh do you think he bought it Gemma asked cheerfully a wide smile on her face The Raid Party said nothing

Che you are no fun Gemma said kicking at the dirt At that moment the warriors on the wall stood and began knocking and aiming arrows Behind the intruders the monster horde burst out of the treeline running towards their flank

To Gemma’s surprise the woman at the back with lightning crackling between her hands laughed

About damn time dungeons are such a drag without boss encounters The woman said cheerfully Then everyone began to move at once

Chapter 453

This is a trap Lucretia whispered as Randidly smashed another one of the guards to the side with roots He said nothing in response his attention focused on the delicate task of incapacitating the man without killing him Although it probably wasn’t super important to be gentle with these enemies Randidly still didn’t have an easy time killing them

He had a few those that surprised him with their physical capabilities leaping out in ambushes and the hard harsh part of Randidly took over in those frantic seconds He eviscerated them with roots the damage turning their bodies to swiss cheese But then he could almost feel their spirits float up to him sinking into his soul becoming a part of the bitter weight of his responsibility

The ire of the dead was a hard thing to handle but Randidly bore it stoically

It made sense that their strength would be that of his fellow Raid Party members In terms of straight physical capabilities they might even be superior It was only in the variety and rarity of Classes that Randidly felt confident in his compatriots And also in the tenacious ability to stay alive

Although these individuals were freshly Classed there was something profoundly dead about them Their eyes were dull and as their live drained out they said nothing as if everything that needed to be conveyed was already there

In one instance a man shot an arrow at Randidly which was deftly dodge in an offhand sidestep Frowning Randidly directed his attention causing Spearing Roots to rip upwards through the foundation of a house heading up towards a female archer on the 6th floor

The arrival of his skill was extremely loud and the female archer looked calmly down at the floor before continuing to knock an arrow and aim even though it was clear to her that death was rushing upwards towards her from below Her aim was true in the sense that the arrow sped rapidly towards Randidly only to have him dodge again This time there was a bright glow about the arrow and when it crashed into the building behind it there was a loud clap of thunder and the whole thing was ignited in a second

But a second later as she was aiming her third arrow the roots arrived lashing her apart

Her gaze was cold and not unfriendly but somewhat resentful in a way that set Randidly’s teeth on edge Her expression one of eyes brows knit together over a tight lipped mouth remained with him as he continued deeper into the strange city towards the seashell construct

Randidly wasn’t bothering for stealth at this point bursting through ambushes crushing resistance boring holes right through buildings to arrive at his destination in the quickest possible manner Because although the Creature had hundreds of years to prepare it only had 9 days since the Village was founded to leverage its advantage

In Randidly’s opinion the important steps had already been taken must necessarily have been taken by this point But there would be a refining process one that would be expedited by hundreds of years of preparation but not skipped over entirely

In a nice surprise Randidly lopped the head off a particularly rapid assassin with his spear and received a notification

Congratulations You have reached Level 15 +5 Stats distributed between Vitality Perception Resist Intelligence and Control +3 Free Stats +1 Stat to a Mental Stat +1 to a Physical Defense Stat +1 to a Mental Support Stat +1 Control +20 Health +24 Mana +23 Stamina + 5 to all Regenerations +1 to Health and Stamina Regeneration +20 Progenitor’s Influence You have gained the Skill Aether Understanding Lvl 1 The Path of the Patron 0/500 is now open to you

Aether Understanding Aids in the understanding of Aether Will be able to identify and understand Aether constructs created by others Effects increase and become more varied as Skill Level increases

In a very straightforward manner the other reward for this Level was a Path one that Randidly had some intriguing possibilities surrounding it but one that was likely something he would put off for a while Although with the way he kept obtaining interesting paths who knew when he would finally have the time and Skill leveling available to work through them all

But the more eye catching reward was the Aether Understanding Skill both because of its use and because it confirmed a deep dark fear that Randidly had held in his heart for a long time that the Creature had been involved in the creation of his Class Randidly could think of no other natural way for him to have access to Aether related Skills He had done his best to ignore that possibility focusing on the tasks at hand but the process of moving through this city was oddly mindless giving his mind the chance to dig as these insecurities

Because what did it mean if the Creature was the one who gave him these Skills If it was responsible for even this then

Abruptly Randidly thought of something and asked Lucretia Did you give Tziech the package I asked you to

Yes came her response and Randidly nodded sagely It was a gamble because now he was banking on his Soul Skills success against the invaders but it was probably worth the risk if it paid off It might finally get him the answers that had been so desperately eluding him

If the Creature had pushed his Class towards having the ability to interact with Aether it wanted him to get more powerful and to develop ways to fight against the System That generally made sense as the Creature was clearly very anti System and his Zone 33 appeared to just be a casualty of its quest to avoid the System’s eyes

After all the Creature had empowered him Sure to its own ends but those ends did involve the concentration of Aether on Earth Simply the methods that the Creature had employed would have too many casualties for Randidly to be satisfied with it Which was why the thought of leaving the Creature here with another 500 years or so was unthinkable what if she decided to just burst out of the dungeon enacting another plan that Randidly wasn’t ready for that would sacrifice Earth

At the same time the Creature needed a source of Aether which was likely why it had taken the Regalia bringing Randidly into its base Only then would it either obtain the coin he had from the early days or cause him to create a new one giving it the Aether it truly needed

Randidly’s thoughts were interrupted as he arrived in front of the giant Aether manipulation sculpture At the base there was a wide ramp that led up into the strange building’s insides The entire thing was lined with golden busts of Gemma In spite of himself and the situation Randidly snorted then he began to climb the ramp

The closer he got the more he realized that the scale of the thing was far beyond his imagining The inner sculpture was so large that a smaller city could fit within its space The other notable feature of it was that the closer he drew the more the air began to howl Although it was primarily designed to manipulate the Aether in the air in some way it also drew the air along with it causing strange wind currents in the air above him

Randidly took several terse minutes to study the Aether part of him impatient to continue on but Randidly recognized that was his stress and not that a few extra minutes would have much meaning He gained several Levels in Aether Understanding but he was still unable to figure out what the thing was supposed to do It seemed to be skimming just the top bit of Aether from everything around but then it rejected that skimmed portion and only allowed the bottom portion into space

However when it came to understanding the purpose Randidly was still a fair bit off from that

The inner hall was done in obsidian and Randidly crossed a walkway that appeared to be made from cast iron only to look down Below him was a deep deep hole leading down into darkness Across from him on the opposite side of the circle was a ramp one that spiraled downwards slowly rotating around the outside of the middle circle also disappearing into the darkness

Randidly felt a pang in his heart this would have likely been much easier if he had brought the Grey Death Cultist into this thing to help with this nonsense But it’s not like Randidly didn’t have his own tools

Focusing his will Randidly pulled on the nearby plant life bringing out something in the shape of a Root Spiderling only much larger Then he enlarged it further double strengthening the legs so that they were thick with vines and roots springy and tough so thick that they dwarfed most trees

Then while he sat on his back Randidly focused again and a small cage of roots surrounded him with just enough room to see through Then just for good measure he strengthened the legs once more pumping more and more Mana into them

With emerald eyes Randidly grinned and had his small contraption leap off of the walkway and begin its descent

Although he probably could have just dead stopped at the bottom Randidly didn’t really see the purpose of finding out whether or not his body was strong enough to survive a drop that had him reaching terminal velocity and instead had the spider thing leap towards the wall its legs latching briefly onto the solid patches of wall and propelling itself towards the other time so that it fell but its speed was continually checked

There was the awkward moment that Randidly leaped towards a spot where the outside was spiraling downward and he had to elongate the legs pressing and launching again in quick succession carefully controlling the exertions of strength so that the spider thing wouldn’t be set to spinning

Not that dizziness was a real issue but it would be incredibly annoying to stop once it had started

For the first time in a long time while maintaining an accounting for so many different variables during the fall Randidly felt the limit of his current Control Recently it had been so high that he hadn’t even need to question whether he could manage certain tasks But now doing this

To his surprise it took almost 3 minutes of falling to reach the bottom Randidly said a very thankful prayer that he hadn’t decided to try and walk down here Just imagining how long that would take made him realize how long it must have taken to dig this hole this deep

At the bottom there was a wide bronze door and beyond that there was a room shaped like the bottom of the Roman arena there was a dirt floor and the walls were lined with dropped portcullises behind which monsters undoubtedly waited The walls around those opening were intricately carved depicting strange monsters and the sharp angular form that was somewhat similar to angels Pictured front and center was some sort of slender dog with bat wings

Two figures stood in the center of the arena waiting One of the figures smiled at his arrival Ah so we can finally begin

Chapter 454

No need to wait on my account Randidly said dryly walking into the room not bothering to get off of his giant Root Spider Instead he focused on Glittering Leaves of Yggdrasil as much as possible Mana rushing into him to fill up his pools

Well I only thought it polite The Creature said its mouth twisted into a smirk After all you are an inspiration for most of this In your feeble and foolish struggles I saw possibilities I hadn’t considered before In that at least you may hold a bit of pride

The Creature was still wearing Lyra’s face but it had been stretched and wrinkled into the form Lyra would most likely have at 40 years of age It was still a distinguished and lovely visage for all that the Creature’s control warped it In addition the Creature for whatever reason had kept her eyes closed so Randidly had the displeasure of talking to a person who wouldn’t look at him

Next to it there was another familiar face Cyndra She stood calmly her arms at her sides but what disturbed Randidly the most was that her gaze was curiously mild and she regarded him with none of her previous disgust but now with a mild curiosity as one would a new and relatively strange bug

It seemed that for her at least the Creature had called in the favor that these people owed it taking some manner of control of her Likely in exchange for her people’s freedom And based on the Aether he could sense coming from her

Slightly furious Randidly said to the Creature You made her do the same thing that I did You had her kill the Tribulation without getting a Class Inside of her she holds an Aether Spring

The Creature laughed and every tinkling edge of Lyra’s cultured laugh set Randidly’s teeth on edge Well of course You demonstrated how easily it could be utilized as a path to power Of course I wasn’t able to take advantage of the Blessings you have had so evolving it into a proper Aether Crossroads will take some time But I almost wonder if perhaps the Founder of the System was right in this regard a true Aether Crossroads is pointlessly dangerous to those in power An Aether Spring is much more palatable

Randidly gave Cyndra a look that was filled with pity Then he turned his attention back to the Creature What is this then Why did you give me an aspect of my Class You are pushing me and polishing me even while you try to sacrifice this Zone for your own ends What do you truly intend Is this all a training plan with real consequences Or do you truly

But Randidly stopped speaking because the Creature began to laugh in a completely different way than Lyra would normally laugh This was a deep sinister giggling thing It made him shiver almost involuntarily

Hahaha You are such a self centered race It’s true I’ve been testing you pushing you increasingly far but that is only because I was being honest earlier the way you have grown connecting with the Aether Crossroads It is unexpected But truly it’s like how would you Earthlings say it it as though you were watching a snail develop the ability to play music Well perhaps that accurately captures your weakness but it loses some accuracy as to why I indulge you it is like having a pet dog teach itself to steal apples from your neighbor’s yard Although I truly could care less about the petty trick it is fascinating that the neighbors don’t have a system in place to notice the thievery It makes me wonder what else is left unguarded

It trailed off for a second the Lyra’ body tapping the Lyra jaw and then abruptly she continued Which is why I don’t mind continually giving you outs so I could see how adaptable and useful such a trick is And now I am content with having learned all that is possible from you to be able to create a Class haphazard and almost contradictory as it is is a coop against the founder of the System for me

You wish to strengthen your little puppet Randidly asked with a curled lip

The Creature seemed petulant as it looked at him I know you listen better than that I have no desire for my dog to have a full Aether Crossroads I will be taking yours for myself As you have seen I have been experimenting with that weak willed Champion the Wild Rider to understand how to safely cleft apart a soul extracting what I want I am confident that I will be able to accomplish it with minimal damage to the valuable pieces

I suppose it’s needless to say that I won’t allow that to happen Randidly said solemnly His face still Inwardly be marshaled everything he could manage Aether began to howl in a circle around him as he drew more and more Aether forward forming it into a torrential maelstrom surrounding him

On it She replied and Randidly began to feel the Aether crashing around him resolving itself into a more respectable form taking on simple repeatable constructs of Aether designed to repel the Creature’s advances and slow it down allowing their other plans to work Though Randidly wasn’t nearly as skilled as Lucretia in manipulating Aether the boost from Aether Understanding gave him a surprising amount of insights even now as he watched her work his neck tense

The Creature’s mouth twisted into a smile Is the parlay portion of the evening over Excellent onto the fun part

Like a sharp swimming among minnows Randidly sensed the two probes sent by Lucretia ripping through his spinning wall of Aether like it was nothing Very quickly it had penetrated through ? of his defenses heading straight for his Soul Space aiming to establish a direct connection to him Randidly didn’t doubt that at the same time the assault in his Soul Skill grew more desperate

He wished he had a few more seconds to check in on them to determine if there were any forms of assistance that he could give But instead he remained in the moment his eyes narrowed From his spatial ring Randidly produced a pistol and raised it to aim at the Creature

It clicked its tongue at him amused A firearm yes You must be aware that such things would do little but destroy this pretty little body So why bother Do you have a plan

The probes had slowed somewhat wary but they still had gone through 60% of the outside of the maelstrom of Aether constructs even as Randidly and Lucretia combined to churn out more and more As he had expected he was still far from the ability to repel her by simply relying on his Aether Skills In that he was a distant second to her

Randidly fired the bullet When it hit the Creature’s body the capsule inside of it collapsed and the Tellumurite continued with it ignited in the air As Mrs Hamilton had discovered and showed him all that time ago upon being released there was a slow burn in an average person’s Aether thick and impure and constrained as it was But in pure Aether it ignited in a second burning it out of the air

Even though he had prepared for it the immediate conflagration and disappearance of his Aether seemed to knock the wind out of him Immediately he felt extremely weak But his emerald eyes flashed in a pleased gleam the Creature’s two probes had been annihilated in the explosion of his Aether

If Randidly was somewhat knocked off his balance the Creature was completely floored It stood stock still its face twisted and hideous almost double as much as usual Immediately it recovered and sent three probes rushing towards him All the while Randidly had been flooding the air with more Aether that Lucretia shaped in those same simple concepts to slow the Creature down Calmly Randidly raised his pistol again taking aim once more

The Creature’s probes paused hesitating before it sank into the thick cloud of Aether around him Grinning Randidly produced more and more thickening the air with energy trying his best not to get carried away by the expanding energy

After a time at which he was more confident in holding against her for a few seconds Randidly said you were interested in my ability to create a Class because you have no way of obtaining more Aether than you already have right So you wanted to isolate yourself with a VIllage and do experiments finding a way to obtain your own Aether through the System Failing that you would take mine

Which is less than desirable at this point because you are marked by the System The Creature finished its face healing back to immaculate But the Creature’s voice seemed tired now and extremely acidic

It must have hurt you a lot to have lost those probes Randidly said slowly unsure of how true that statement was It was a loss for it yes but as to the extent of the damage the Creature said nothing nothing bothering to humor his fishing attempt Undeterred Randidly said I have to ask though seeing my strength why are you so intent on causing our Zone to fail and fall off from the Earth Did you ever consider combining forces to fight the System

Honestly one of the worst case scenarios was that the Creature would immediately agree it was a good idea and ask to be allies against the System together He already had to deal with Lucretia as a possible traitor constantly and although that stress had become a constant the Creature was an existence on an order of magnitude higher Maintaining constant readiness against it

Luckily it shook its head the blonde hair swaying You do not understand There is even together although how that would not just be myself with you as cheerleaders I an unable to fathom we cannot escape at this point If the Calamity comes it will take us all

You cannot know that Randidly retorted frowning

Ha how foolish you are If your puny planet passes the first three tests of the Calamity and the final test descends well that fourth test might as well be an executioner’s blade All of us will die

Chapter 455

There were several sharp shocks about this statement The first and most pressing of which Randidly blurted out without even thinking You can speak about the Calamity

He had for so long dealt with forces unable to speak because of the watch of the System where it would warp the language they were speaking even between two individuals that spoke the same original language Although Randidly was aware that the Creature had made changes to the speaking software somehow he figured that was only able to overwrite what a person said delivering a different message not somehow bypassing the System’s block on information regarding the Calamity

But then Randidly’s eyes widened because he considered another possibility

The Creature adopted one of her usual smirks You have undoubtedly noticed that there are perhaps two Systems in place Your antics actually made me realize it was done in such a sloppy manner that it can be bypassed so easily Yes we can speak of the Calamity it is the way by which the true System determines what to do with those planets that it absorbs into its greedy maw

Even though Randidly was excited to hear news of the Calamity he was careful about how much of the information she was giving he would hold as true Even so he put down all of it to memory so that he could ascertain the veracity later But what was interesting and slightly disturbing was that Randidly wasn’t able to bring up his menus currently

The Raid Party chat had been silent for a while and Randidly had been worried It turned out it had just been unable to penetrate through this Exofact Which reassured him in a way but also made his heart sink The Creature would have known that this radio silence would initiate and if it planned to make a move it would have gone immediately after he had gone out of range

Too late to worry about that now however What Randidly did wonder was how you could go on Paths without the menus Would you just gravitate towards one instinctually That made a certain amount of sense in one way but on the other hand how much PP would you put into a Path A point every time you got one Would it take a while sometimes to determine what was next if you didn’t take any significant actions

It was fine for now as his Soul Skill turmoil had stopped him dead in terms of upgrading his paths Could PP get through right now

Randidly didn’t plan on remaining here long enough to find out

What are you so afraid of Randidly asked curious but also more interested in keeping the Creature talking than letting it think of a way to blindside him Randidly too was moving to have an advantage over the monster but that was now in the hands of his little minions Stalling was his current game

Heh a long coming fate that it would be difficult to understand There can be compromises between us you know But you must fail the 3rd test It would be even better if you would be willing to fail the second but I can understand why that would be a point of contention for you

As I said the Calamity is the System’s way of judging what stage a planet should be placed at If you fail the first test the planet is deemed trash and the System pulls away leaving a planet as it was before as if the System had never arrived

What about all the people who died Randidly asked something rising in his heart It was half hope and if he was being honest with himself half worry

The Creature seemed amused coming back into her positive humor as she rubbed his face in his lack of knowledge They remain dead And before you become too enamored in a prospect know that this comes with a rather bloody cleanse of all those touched by the System’s taint I suspect you would end up being the only remaining human afterward if such a thing interests you

Randidly’s blood turned cold The Creature continued speaking that and newborns I suppose Those without a Class If the first test is passed then your planet becomes eligible to have its people populate dungeons If the 2nd test is passed you become a Strife’ planet That is what your teacher’s Shal’s planet is These planets form the main base of energy for the System to expand The hatred the twisted images all those fuel the System in growing larger

And the third test Randidly spared Cyndra another glance The entire discussion and then in the brief Aether confrontation she had stood completely still The longer such a frozen state lasted the more Randidly felt nervous about what it meant about her

If you pass the 3rd you earn the dubious honor of having your planet judged for anything of use to the System proper Specifically armor Classes Skills or Paths It is constantly searching for something better than itself to face the great monstrous bogeyman that the System sees as standing beyond its borders the problem is that the contents of the report Octavius Shrike will release should you pass the 3rd test of the Calamity You have created your own Class with a well documented process That will intrigue the System

You speak as though the System is a person Randidly said slowly

The Creature just smiled and ignored the question Instead she said There is a larger problem as well that anyone higher than Octavius will notice should they see the report generated on you You possess at least a dozen Skills that you should not Some of them can be explained away by your unique circumstances but there are two glaring red flags on you that will earn you the highest scrutiny The first Your initial time in a dungeon

Randidly had expected to hear this for a long time but still his mouth twitched almost unwilling to admit it That was because of you

Ha again you seem to take it so personally The Creature said wrinkling its nose I did this for about 10 000 people on 10 000 planets sending them into dungeons beyond their level usually those that possessed other dungeon divers The goal was to bring in Skills beyond a normal person’s means to the early System and have normal strife result in my empowered warriors attacking and taking over a Village I have long exhausted other avenues and I was curious how the System would react As you can expect tens of millions died without any results to speak of You were one of the more interesting iterations I must admit

And the second red flag Randidly asked frustrated how tired his voice sounded To think so many people had been thrown in beyond their depth to only die on a whim of this being Without a significant amount of luck spawning next to a safe zone Randidly would be the same dead in a random dungeon on another world

Also my work The Skill Touch from Beyond The Creature said sounding annoyed I thought I would be clever and slip it in but now I could have covered for the first but not the second Touch from Beyond that is the touch of Nether It is the breath of the boogeymen the System fears I am not sure if they will assume it is me or whether or whether the imaginary enemies have finally reared their ugly heads but

The Creature looked up sharply Perhaps you are right I have kept you in the dark for far too long Although we are not peers you are beyond my understanding in certain ways A man cannot fathom the dimensions available to an ant Take this information on the Calamity as a show of good faith If you leave now I give you my word that I will help you pass the first two tests of the Calamity But we must fail the third

We Randidly thought wonderingly surprised how quickly the Creature changed its tune In addition this pleading this strange compromise so suddenly

If the Creature was telling the truth Randidly could see how he would be tempted by the offer They would find themselves at constant war based on what Randidly knew of Shal’s world but how was that much different than they had been before the System arrived The tension the constant war at least in this instance their enemies would be those from other worlds Humanity as a whole would be working together for the greater good

Randidly slowly and deliberately shook his head All of this was based upon information the Creature provided It painted a pretty picture but he had no proof it was telling the truth If it had lied or omitted something and humanity became doomed because of this

In addition he would need to leave now and let the Creature continue whatever activities it was conducting here By now he was thoroughly spooked by Cyndra’s stillness He would not let this develop further not when he had the hopes of crushing this before it became a persistent problem

Randidly produced his spear from his spatial ring and adopted a stance spreading his bare feet on the dirt floor The three Aether probs surged forward aiming for his Soul Space with malicious intent In addition Cyndra’s feet struck the floor and her body hurtled forward towards him

Lovely

Chapter 456

As Cyndra rushed forward towards him he put the pistol back into his spatial ring hoping that he would have a few clashes to get the measure of her before he would be forced to shoot it in order to repel the Creature’s Aether probes This time the Creature was sending them staggered so one pierced in quickly one medium speed and the final one just revolved around ripping the edges off of his Aether flood managing it

When his body hit the far wall rebounding off of its cracked surface Randidly spat out a mouthful of blood He was barely able to keep his footing and Cyndra was already ripping towards him holding her two long knives high her eyes glowing a bright and vivid violet

How Randidly asked shocked but he didn’t have time because she was already there in front of him His body wasn’t cooperating so in spite of his thoughts on wasting so much Mana so early he activated Ash to Ash for a brief second letting the attack reduce his body to ash condensing quickly several meters away

Cyndra had to skip a few times this time slightly stunned by swinging so powerfully without hitting anything She twisted and glared at Randidly the fury clear even while her expression remained strangely distant

Pursing his lips Randidly opened up more distance Already his powerful regeneration was kicking in mending his shattered ribs and the deep bruises in his hands that had barely maintained a grip on his spear Cyndra began to rush towards him again quickly gaining a huge amount of momentum

Although in terms of instant acceleration she wasn’t impressive her top speed and her strength

At the last second Randidly hopped to the side dancing past her and Cyndra’s eyes flashed her hands blurring Throwing knives shot outward cracking against the bones of his cloak cracking and breaking some In addition she stopped not immediately but with two short hops dispersing her momentum and rushed at him again It was a slower turn than Randidly had but the speed was more than he could manage

Grimacing Randidly tried to use roots and vines springing up to slow her but he couldn’t get a handle on her ankles and his attempts to trip her didn’t phase her in the least she simply ripped through them with brute force

Gun Lucretia’s whisper drew him back to the other threat and Randidly had to make a difficult decision Honestly it wasn’t so difficult but Randidly hesitated for a split second before making it almost shocked he had been pushed so far so quickly But he did it gritting his teeth taking one hand off of his spear raising and shooting the pistol

The Creature had gotten too greedy after Randidly was struck earlier and once more lost two of its probes The third one was far enough back that it was able to snatch it backward at the last minute avoiding the sharp burning of Aether and it rushed out immediately

Looking at the two sharp knife blows coming towards him from Cyndra Randidly gritted his teeth He expelled Aether from himself like a rolling back of fog and shot the pistol again With all the strength he could muster weakened from overextending his Aether he swung his spear to meet Cyndra’s blow activating Yyrwood Flesh of Yggdrasil

The Aether ignited once more and the Creature’s probe was annihilated It screeched in hatred but then Cyndra’s blows reached Randidly knocking aside his weakened strike and ripping two large gashes in his bone cloak cutting deeply into his right shoulder and midsection

There was enough force to throw him across the arena once more and Randidly knew in a cold flash that if the Bone Cloak hadn’t been there those blows would have cut him into three pieces and no amount of high regeneration would have saved him Already he was at 60% life just from two trades

But Cyndra had stopped to finish her attack and behind her was a Grasp of Lava the fingers so hot they still glowed yellow The thing closed on her with a satisfying thwap and Cyndra grunted and fell to the ground

Grinning Randidly forced himself to stand leveraging his body to his feet with his spear Then Cyndra also stood wiping away the lava from her back her skin red and sizzling but seeming to be in no real danger

Village Dungeons Randidly spat out like a curse

The Creature licked its teeth Exactly And I trained her with a bit more of a specific target in mind Capped her other stats at 250 and all the rest into Strength and Resistance Be proud she was designed to make you irrelevant She even has about 700 fewer stats than you But with a little focus

Randidly grimaced doing some quick calculations in his head based on his memory of his stats Then he cursed quietly If he had basically ignored all the Mental stats and pushed it all into physical he would likely have something like 500 Strength and Resistance Which explained why when they crossed swords he was smashed backward

Based on what he had seen later points in stats did less But that was still a difference of about 300 at the very least Which was higher than his Strength actually was Effectively treating her as though she was double as strong as him seemed to be the way to handle this Which meant that a single knife could deal with him while the other knife struck

Gritting his teeth Randidly focused on healing as much as possible as Cyndra rushed towards him again He threw up a Wall of Thorns blocking off vision and a second later she burst through But as she did so she paused briefly on her next step scanning around

Randidly who had activated Twilight Manipulation to hide in the shadows of the arena grinned and instantly used about 30% of his Mana to fill the underground with Wall of Thorns Although this build of Cyndra’s was powerful it had some glaring weakness It couldn’t have been Reaction to deal with that high speed and it turned out that the Creature had skimped on Perception

Careful

Lucretia’s warning came just in time and Randidly doubled up on releasing Aether because 4 of the Creature’s probes scythed through the air homing towards him They didn’t need any sort of perception and shot unerringly towards him A split second later Cyndra ripped her way through a wall of thorns and spotted him Bellowing she launched herself towards him

Randidly rolled out of the way hoping that he would be able to stall with both of them aiming for him

Tziech felt like a god of war walking through the monstrous invaders a wedge of wargs following behind him His right hand was a hammer covered in that strange darkness that insidious numbing frost crushing the foes in front of it Everything it touched was broken and destroyed warped and shattered

Meanwhile his left hand was a gentler touch pushing a blocking weapon a little to the side pulling an ally just a half inch in the right direction to avoid a killing blow Tziech felt like an orchestra host moving through a choreographed waltz controlling it all As if in response a few of the Two Headed Reavers appeared breathing that violet fumes as if their very souls were aflame

Tziech almost believed that they were and would have felt pity for them had they met under different circumstances As it was

Energy flared from his left hand and the greatsword the one swung missed Tziech and slashed sideways overbalancing the creature The tip of the sword sank into its partner’s toes setting it to howling in pain Taking a step forward Tziech met the third directly with a blow from his right arm cracking its body its vital fluids draining away to join the mush of flesh and bodies that now formed the ground upon which they stood

Sighing Tziech raised a hand to his forehead and peered forward while the wargs around him finished off the off balance and ill prepared Reavers

They had pierced very deeply into enemy lines It was clear to Tziech that they had penetrated much farther much faster than they had expected But to each side seas of Aether Thralls and Reavers screamed their hatred preparing to give their lives to take the bright precious energy from this world

He turned to the wargs behind him Head west cutting through the forces and reinforcing the Spriggit lines Once those midgets build up some momentum for their mechs they will be able to cut through these little bugs like wheat

The captain nodded his face stoic Tziech almost wondered if he was supposed to slip a knife into his ribs on order on Varga aiming for when he was most ill prepared for it paving her way to ascension as the Monster Queen That would be the sort of move that she considered to be almost polite to demonstrate that she considered him a real threat

Nothing showed in the man’s face however and when he scanned the horizon he saw what could only be Varga’s main force absolutely mopping the floor with several hundred of the enemy driving them into the drive to snipe and drown them

And you sir The Captain finally asked snapping Tziech back to focus

Grinning he turned and looked towards the pulsing glow of energy on the horizon Between him and that conduit the huge four armed Devastator stood its powerful lower jaw moving as its gaze covered the battlefield On its legs it stood at about 10 meters towering over him In a strange coincidence with about a half mile separating them their eyes met

Tziech grin was wolfish I have a challenger to my seat as king of the monsters You’ll excuse me to settle this in private

With that he strode forward carving a path to his opponent

Chapter 457

Fuck everyone pull back together NOW Someone’s using a Skill on the Death Cultists all of them at once

Thea grunted more to herself than anyone else because no one could hear the noise over the sound of her hammer crushing in the skull of one of the weird pseudo humans that populated the Dungeon Had it been a few weeks ago before she had really grown into this Skill her Dance of the Ghostbear Thea didn’t think she could manage it

Not in terms of pure combat skills although it was true that she was so much stronger than she had been before coming here But in terms of mentality There was a certain numbness in the heat that infused her when she used the Skill and it was easy to lose herself in that letting the fury take care of moral quandaries Mostly it dealt with them by flat out annihilating them leaving nothing but a strange addictive passion in its wake

Still if something was going wrong in such a way that Rose was losing her cool

Thea whistled and began sprinting back towards the main group which were about 30 meters behind her Some of their group stayed towards the center to keep track of the huge clash of bodies going on around them While the Death Cultists were protecting their back the Raid Dungeon crew had been rapidly ripping through the Dintan people burning their Stamina and Mana to do it

Even though they hadn’t held anything back it had been hard These were tough strong opponents with high level Skills and a Class But that Class was recently obtained so after focusing concentrated fire on them they would swiftly crack and break falling away

But that took time and with the absolute tide of monsters screaming for their blood there was something of a deadline

Meanwhile Ace and Alana two of their best close combat specialists were tied up keeping Gemma and Rhaidon under control Just when it seemed that they would overpower them Rhaidon would display a burst of strength covering for Gemma who was somewhat uninspired in her battle strategies she basically hacked at you until you died Against Alana this was almost child’s play to handle

It was an unwelcome reminder to Thea of the girl that Gemma had been before before she had been taken here against her will and

Slow and Wither Skills From the Death Cultists targeting US No longer friendlies Rose’s scream sounded and that gave Thea some pause as she rushed back towards the group The Death Cultists were targeting them

Chain Lightning Chain Lightning Chain Lightning Clarissa’s hands were those of a conductor controlling the lightning almost 8 bolts at once moving back and forth crisscrossing through the monsters between them and the Death Cultists While the group hadn’t been paying attention it appeared that the Death Cultists had allowed the monsters through and had planned on attacking them from behind

If Rose’s Skill didn’t detect it

Through the hole Chrysanthemum charged a huge train based upon the amount of force contained in her body Thea grinned truly she loved to see her partner moving at her top speed it filled her with a wonderful admiration for the world and for nature’s natural genius

Annie leaped forward arrows blurring and curving seemingly just bolts of pure energy snapping over Chrysanthemum’s head smashing aside any monsters that noticed what was happening and moved to stop it There were only a few based on the speed at which the Raid Party reacted They hadn’t necessarily been training to work together in perfect concert while they were here but each of them had a System boosted Intelligence and had seen their fellows Skills dozens of times

Honestly if they hadn’t picked up each other’s timing it would be almost insane

But then the Death Cultist led by a red eyed Grey Death Cultist finished their spell and Chrysanthemum groaned her speed slowing immensely Through their bond Thea could feel the drain on Chrysanthemum’s life force and her fury reached a fever pitch Roaring she charged forward to exact vengeance on these Death Cultists but Annie was much closer

When that woman moved she fucking moved and covered half the distance in a second launching herself high in the air Behind Thea heard a shout from Gemma Like I’ll let you and then Alana’s calm short and didn’t even bother to turn around just rushing forward her eyes following Annie arc up into the air

By the time Thea had reached the grouping of Rose Ptolemy and Drake Annie was an incandescent sun in the sky But when she spoke her words echoed as if the very light she was producing carried the noise outward in a circle Winter’s Dream

At first there was nothing and then from Annie spiraled outward several snowflake petals that split into several hundred orbs that split into several thousand arrows They fell like the driven snow thick and blinding and heavy smashing into the middle of the mass of Death Cultists where their grey leaders stood

Hissing the Red Death Cultists rushed forward throwing their bodies in the way leaping to protect their leaders and then the arrows arrived cutting through into the bodies For a second the whole battlefield seemed to still even the Dintan behind them even Gemma and Rhaidon just listening to the thwack of arrows into bodies

Annie fell to the ground panting and hopped backward a bunch heading back towards the group Because although there appeared to be about 200 Death Cultists that were now dead laying on the ground three Grey Death Cultists shoved aside the bodies of Grey and Red Death Cultists alike looking at the Raid Party with angry eyes And behind them a wave of monsters came roaring

Chrysanthemum had made it back to Ptolemy who dispelled the Wither and Slow cast on her She snorted in thanks and looked at Thea in askance Thea looked at Rose Rose was biting her lip

They are doing wither and slow again We need to stop them if we are gonna have a chance of this Rose said her eyes bright as they flicked to and fro searching for a way out Clarissa how much Mana do you have

It was a strange question because Clarissa was throwing back Mana potions at the moment In answer she just held out her hand and wiggled it back and forth in a somewhat ambivalent gesture Rose’s eyes darkened

On it Lucifer grunted out and he produced a small knife from his spatial ring Waving the knife up and down he seemed to cut the world There was suddenly a jagged gash there where there hadn’t been one before Without fanfare hefting his huge blade he stepped through the hole

and appeared behind the Grey Death Cultists his sword silent despite its large size beheading all three at once Then he stepped back through appearing next to the rest of the group Deftly he used his fingers to close up the hole in the air

Everyone was gaping at him

That wasn’t a Skill Rose said admiring the small knife in Lucifer’s hands

He grunted Reward for defeating the first Tier III Raid Boss I prefer bigger swords however

Even Thea winced at that Truly this guy was someone who had nothing on his mind but hard hard steel

FUCK Gemma screamed Just die already will you Once we end you we are all finally free We can enter eternal rest Why won’t you die

A lifetime isn’t long enough to explain why my life is worth so much more than yours Ace said casually running towards Gemma low to the ground With a screech the woman warped by time moved to meet him Thea glanced at Rose in askance Better to find out information now while she still had a thread of clarity and could keep back the red from her vision

Drake lumbered forward his huge bone armor making him look more like the monsters that were rushing towards them than a member of the Raid Party Anything else

Nothing unusual Rose said glancing around The Death Cultists the remaining thousand or so were forming up into a column and rushing towards them with the monsters But this is gonna be a slog

Lucifer stored his knife away and produced another large sword the insect scythe he had found earlier in the Raid Dungeon Annie knocked an arrow

No time to waste then She commented and then everyone exploded out in different directions

Clarissa finished what must have been her 20th potion and raised her hands over her head Maelstrom

Chapter 458

The Devastator lay exhausted before Tziech its body broken the light slowly leaving its eyes Grimacing Tziech sat upwards holding onto his left shoulder as best he could Even now some of the Reavers and Aether Thralls were considering the merits of attacking him weakened as he was by the fighting

But that cut both ways and a column of Spriggit mechs was cruising in the space left by the conflict between the heads of the two armies But it was a boat in the tide and it seemed that no matter how many of the enemies they killed more crawled out of the ground howling and fully formed This was a Cataclysm for their world Tziech suddenly realized

And that was because they were weak The scope of this conflict was far beyond the ken of anyone he knew They were pawns in a great game borne out through different times and different locations of the Progenitor versus this great other As he tried his best to stabilize his injuries with the medicines given to him Tziech wondered about the other

Its minions were mindless and violent content to sacrifice their bodies just to wound the opposition It was a powerful dedication to a cause that scared Tziech If this world hadn’t been pushed to the brink of destruction brought to the edge of death there would be no way to motivate an all out struggle against the invaders

If it had been more of a colonization rather than an annihilation

Around the time that Tziech felt he was well enough to move without worries of moving without worsening his injuries a few Reavers worked up the nerve to approach him But as they came a figure appeared at his side holding a long beaten up spear

Thief Tziech said calmly his face studiously still

She nodded at him a smirk on her face King

Then she went to work The Monster King had only seen the Thief fight once and that was a time where he was on the receiving end of her strength She was an incredibly agile fighter so much so that it seemed almost impossible all the ways she was able to contort her body and strike She was a nightmare to duel with just for the fact that she constantly forced you to make decisions regarding which part of your body you were willing to sacrifice in order to stop her

Of course these fodder had no ability to slow her down and within 20 seconds they were all dead Tziech had to say he much preferred being on her side to fighting against her

How’s your condition She asked immediately after the enemies were clear

There was a part of Tziech that wanted to lie to tell her he was slightly wounded or even that he was fine and that everything would be fine And it wasn’t that he hadn’t intended to tell her exactly that but when he opened his mouth those words weren’t there

They had been absorbed by the creeping cold inside of him Tziech abruptly realized and then laughed aloud which caused the Thief to pale abruptly He waved his hand realizing the misunderstanding and aiming to correct it I’m fine for now but I will not live long after the battle

Pursing her lips the Thief said Maybe that would be true if you would be treated in a monster hut but Spriggit technology is so advanced that they can regrow limbs You’ll be fine

Perhaps again Tziech could have said nothing just nodded and followed her but this time it all had become too much He wanted to share his decision just once before the end with someone else no it was not my injuries from the battle against the Devastator that worry me so It is this right hand of the Progenitor’s

What do you mean She said

The destruction it has caused is so great and that comes at a cost My own body is breaking apart Right now even my superior physique will collapse under its strain given time

What He gave you that without warning you The Thief’s eyes turned dangerous with a hard glint to them as she clutched her spear Something was changing in her heart as she doubted the plan and the parts they both had to play

So then Tziech lied No he told me But I chose this Its power is great We needed it

You’ve been using it this whole time The Thief whispered her eyes wet

Shrugging Tziech said As I said we needed it Now will you follow me He gestured towards the glowing beam of light that shot off into the sky beyond a regiment of Aether Thralls

After several moments of hesitation the Thief nodded But Tziech noticed how tight her hands were on the shaft of her spear She had been taking it relatively easy Tziech knew Fighting to the best of her ability of course but not putting her life on the line Not exhausting herself And now this ancient defender of the land was wracked with guilt seeing Tziech’s own life leak away

And for that Tziech was sorry But just like he would sacrifice his own body for the greater good of this world of his home of his monster race he would sacrifice hers too

Some things purposeful some not

Together they moved forward and tore apart the enemies in front of them the Thief skewering them Tziech smashing them apart with brute force freely using his right hand There was no point in holding back now the damage had been done to his body What he lacked most at the moment was time and any actions he could take to accomplish this goal faster

When the enemies were clear they stood before the band of energy frozen for a moment by its majesty It was blue green the color of coral in the clean sea Tziech had never seen the sea the true sea that wasn’t just a very large swamp but immediately the color struck him of one full of life

Take my hand Tziech commanded

Which one The Thief countered with a raised eyebrow but before he could respond she had grabbed his right one Immediately she shivered Great Progenitor but your hand is cold

Hold on tight Smiling in spite of himself Tziech stepped forward Immediately he felt the strange energy of the pillar of light seize him and begin twisting him It wasn’t so much that he was moving but that the world around him was folding in on itself over and over until

They emerged from the pillar finding themselves as previously on top of a low hill but that was where the similarities end The pillar they were next to now was a crimson red the edges of it an angry violet color Strange bones were arrayed nearby so that it seemed that they were standing in a graveyard likely of a race of beings similar to the Devastator he just killed Except for the specific bones around them formed great piles and sculptures twisted greying monstrous things so that every individual bone seemed to blend together to become an undead land that surrounded them

Sweet oblivion The Thief whispered looking up and Tziech followed her gaze

Floating above them were huge blue crystals the same color as the pillar of energy in the Progenitor’s world They seemed to be about as big as a city and if one toppled down towards them Tziech had no confidence in being able to survive the impact let alone stop such a huge amount of force Even with this right hand of his it was completely on another scale

As if on cue his right hand twinged painfully a reminder of what would happen to him Tziech ignored it his gaze staying upwards Because beyond the crystals the sky was split into a checkerboard these jet black lines running across the sky only showing these segmented squares of freedom

This proved to be an incredibly apt metaphor because as Tziech looked closer he realized that those black lines were thick chains crisscrossing this entire world Around them the world was empty seemingly populated only by the bones the drifting crystals and then the huge chains binding the world Tziech shuddered to think how large those chains must be in order to cover all of that distance

Alright let’s begin Tziech finally said unsure what else they were supposed to do He removed a small pouch from his pack and placed it upon the ground The Thief held her spear aloft and closed her eyes concentrating Slowly then with increasing speed a strange greyness was released from the end of the spear that fell to the ground and began to spread out slowly Where it touched the color seemed to fade and it became slightly obscure as if a thin fog was falling over everything in the world

Then Tziech settled down to wait wondering in what form the counterattack would arrive

Chapter 459

Randidly rolled to the side and then was forced to perform a back handspring as Cyndra immediately adjusted one of her knives slashing outward Her blows were no joke and he was barely healing enough to keep ahead of the accumulated damage he had received in those first two big blows and glancing blows since

Inside of him all of his Yggdrasil Skills were working at full power filling his Health Mana and Stamina pools as well as aiding concentration In addition he focused the Righteous Indignation of Yggdrasil specifically hoping that it would slow Cyndra down

No such luck unfortunately It truly seemed that she was powerfully resistant to different spells which gave Randidly a headache Although she hadn’t been specced specifically to shine in Endurance and Vitality they still were about as high as his just from the fact that she hadn’t destroyed herself utilizing that huge amount of Strength she possessed He didn’t have any proof but he suspected it would be possible to raise one or two Stats so high that they became bound by other Stats

For example a high Agility being useless without increased Perception and Reaction which was the thin space that Randidly was already using to slip by At this point Randidly was ready to move onto Plan B but Lucretia assured him that Plan A was progressing well so not to force it But at this point if something didn’t change soon

Randidly threw up three Wall of Thorns darting between them also activating Twilight Manipulation to cover his hiding spot Roaring with fury Cyndra crushed through them her eyes sharp

Incoming came Lucretia’s warning and Randidly swore and produced his pistol firing quickly hoping to catch some of the Creature’s probes There were five this time but as soon as Randidly moved they leaped backward as if they knew that he was going to fire immediately

Suddenly dizzy Randidly could only grit his teeth and pump out more Aether some vital part of him becoming increasingly weary The strain of creating so much Aether and having it destroyed was beginning to wear on him

The Creature laughed amused and Cyndra pursued him all the while almost catching up to him a knife swipe cutting just a few centimeters away from his wrist

A surge of strength filled Randidly as he raised his spear and opened his mouth A Spear Advances Ash

But as he began speaking those fives probes rushed forward like vipers aiming for when both of his hands were occupied Switching quickly he produced the pistol again and fired Luckily in this burning of Aether he got two of the probes but there was another more grim realization four more bullets

Randidly hadn’t expected this portion of the fight to go on for so long

In addition

BOOM

The room shook as a knife blow ripped a jagged gash in his Bone Cloak cut through the meat of his thigh and impacted the ground shattering it Luckily the wound was relatively shallow but by this point his Bone Cloak was looking extremely tattered as if it was the castoff of a homeless necromancer rather than the greatest equipment to come out of Donnyton

Already Randidly had noticed that some of the Stats were fading from it although he couldn’t use menus to check the details of that In addition it was becoming harder and harder for Twilight Manipulation to be used effectively so his plan of hiding and using Cyndra’s relatively lower Perception were hitting a dead end

Feeling desperate Randidly grimaced and said Call Grove Defenders Control

There was a low rumbling in the ground but Cyndra largely ignored it raising her gaze to stare as mild as ever at Randidly Then she pressed her foot to the ground and shot towards him advancing toward Randidly Not willing to hold anything back he activated Four Shaded Clockwork Domain the two buffs for him the two nerfs for her In both cases it was a small thing a Skill he hadn’t had time to refine but

Every little bit helped

This time when Cyndra came Randidly stood his ground focusing on Spear Phantom’s Embrace When she attacked he weaved his way through the storm of blows while behind him a strange tentacled creature rose out of the ground

Grrumm The Grove Defender said sucking in a mouthful of air and then its tentacles shot outwards twining seamlessly around Randidly’s body aiming for Cyndra

While her eyes traced this new threat Randidly lashed out with his spear striking at her side Almost offhand Cyndra deflected the blow to the side and then Randidly was forced to scramble back to avoid a pincer attack she had launched with her two knives

It really looked like a tentacle monster with about 50 tentacles emerging from the fat blob that was its body and about half that from its head Several wrapped around Cyndra and Randidly heard and felt a sharp discharge of electricity Randidly winced That wasn’t gonna work

And indeed Cyndra didn’t even seem to notice instead she ignored the tentacles and launched herself towards Randidly again He raised his spear then aimed a thrust towards her As she raised her knives to knock it to the side the Control monster used its different grips on her to discharge electricity and when that failed to work again it just twisted as hard as it could It could not change her body’s position due to her vastly superior Strength but it did manage to rotate her body in mid air

Randidly scored a slash across her ribs but was forced to withdraw abruptly because Cyndra unleashed a massively powerful blow that would not have been fine to take He made some distance but Cyndra just used that to turn and grab the tentacles of the Grove Defender pulling it towards her It had grips with about a third of its tentacles on her and another third on various cracks in the arena struggling to resist but inexorably her unbelievable Strength won out and she dragged it forward

Lucretia Plan A

happening now Buy another minute

This had better fucking work

Randidly rushed forward spear raised When Cyndra turned to face him he held nothing back heedlessly burning through his Stamina smashing her again and again using his edge in Perception and Reaction to move around her in unpredictable ways reading her movements Again and again the summon unleashed its electric shock and only on the most recent discharge was it enough to make Cyndra narrow her eyes

Randidly created distance and produced the pistol but at that moment Cyndra’s hand blurred her knives slipping out of her sleeve and smashing the pistol from out of his hand Immediately the probes accelerated only three still

A root caught the pistol and fired

I expected her not to notice but did you also forget Randidly asked almost confused when he caught all three probes with the combustion of Aether He was weakened but Cyndra was still hacking at the body of the summon It took about 5 slices because of how stringy its body was and Randidly was filled with a strange thankfulness

After all it wasn’t clear that he could survive that many

But then his senses sharpened because 8 probes raced forward heading for his relatively thin Aether defense Instantly Randidly released everything he could muster and Lucretia who had been slowly learning from watching the way that the Creature interacted with Aether and learned from it So when she spread her hands a new pattern of Aether shapes emerged

They were tightly pressed together and squatter and hopefully that would buy them a little more time Randidly didn’t have time to watch the effect however because Cyndra had finished hacking apart the Grove Guardian and twisted and threw her knives before he could react

The two heading for him he deflected but a third hit his pistol through the trigger guard carrying the pistol across the room at a speed that Randidly’s roots would have a hard time grasping in time

Chapter 460

The Spear Advances Ash Trails Randidly bellowed his whole Soul Space howling with the strain of producing even more Aether There was a sense in his bones that there would be some lasting damage some cost from funneling so much Aether through his body although that seemed strange to Randidly as the System wasn’t much one for costs It only worried about who had the greatest strength

But that was a thought for another time as Randidly shot forward towards the pistol his hand stretching out for it

Rather than hearing Randidly felt the tremor and then the puff of air as Cyndra accelerated almost as fast as he did while using the Skill aiming to catch up to him in his chase of the pistol They formed a triangle as well and even though Randidly’s leg was slightly shorter to catch up to the pistol she had reacted quickly and was just as fast

Very quickly Randidly calculated the distances and speed in his head his senses stretched to their max Even with all of his boosts this pure wall of Stats he was abruptly reminded of going into that dreamspace with Aemont and seeing that final monster the one that was so far beyond Aemont’s Stats that it was almost comical and still he succeeded

All the while those eight probes rushed towards him hungry and violent Those new Aether shapes would just have to hold

Twisting around Randidly raised his spear into a javelin throw The twist lost him a lot of speed but it wasn’t so much that Cyndra caught up with him immediately As he threw the spear their eyes met and this time there was a spark of emotion there a wariness But Randidly ignored it and tossed the weapon earning him a bit of speed back And at the same time he activated Breath of the Spear Phantom

The reason he hadn’t used it earlier was that he was effectively pitting the Strength of her lungs against his own with a little boost from his Willpower and the Skill Levels He didn’t have many Skill Levels at least nowhere near the value needed to bridge the gap in their Strengths so he could only gamble on Willpower

Cyndra didn’t immediately notice the activation of the Skill and just smashed the spear to the side She was unharmed but she was slowed and couldn’t avoid the half second of floating before her feet touched the ground enabling her to launch herself forward again at high speeds

At that moment Randidly landed and twisted shooting the bullet Two remaining bullets Randidly reminded himself wincing somewhat When he had grabbed the gun 6 of the probes had returned only two caught in the blast And again he swayed on his feet this time his vision flashing Luckily however Cyndra still didn’t notice the Skill and just rushed towards him again

Randidly’s emerald eyes flashed Time to take some risks

While her guard was still wide adjusting her grip Randidly used Phantom Half Step several times very quickly moving towards her Her arms were open and Randidly suddenly appeared within them Immediately Cyndra’s gaze sharpened but she couldn’t adjust her forward momentum and he was already within her guard

With not much else to do Randidly just raised his fist and punched at her throat

The impact was enough that he felt the bones in his hand crack solely on account of the momentum Randidly was sent careening backward while Cyndra stuttered to a stop reaching up to hold her throat tearing from the pain Which was of course the moment where she discovered the effect of Randidly’s Skill and the Creature began to talk about quite another matter

Oh You actually dare send bits of your Soul Skill into mine Are you a fool The Creature said its voice mocking Heh you think this piteously amount of meaning will make a difference Perhaps eventually but how many more bullets does that gun have How much longer can you hold

But then the Creature turned and glanced at Cyndra realizing its minion’s plight Cyndra was gagging soundlessly holding her throat Randidly could tell that even through the haze of the Creature’s control Cyndra was filled with fear at this strange state she found herself because her attempts to move her lungs were haphazard at best more trembling than any concerted effort

It was a testament to her Strength that even so Randidly was barely managing to keep the Skill active

Tsk foolish child The Creature said With an elegant motion it pointed towards Cyndra Immediately the panic in her eyes was snuffed out as an adult would pinch the end of a stubborn candle with calloused fingers Immediately Randidly felt the pressure he had against him double and then triple and the spell was broken both of them gasping huge gulps of air

There was also a terrible headache that came along with the failing of the Skill which would have Randidly wincing The six probes just floated around him swimming lazily through the Aether he was producing He was happy to see that the new variety had slowed them down but then he felt his heart sink as he noticed the probes were quickening in their movements it seemed that the Creature could learn quickly as well

I believe this game is all played out The Creature announced walking towards him Look

And abruptly Randidly sensed 25 probes moving methodically towards him cutting through his Aether

My main body has finished with its previous task The Creature said flashing Lyra’s smile And now you have the pleasure of being the subject of my full attention Any last tricks any sudden miracles If not then however could you have hoped to win against the Calamity I am just one being the Calamity is the weight of history It possesses every Skill that was powerful enough to wound it since time immemorial And yet you in your pride think you have even the smallest chance You are nothing to it

Shrugging Randidly said nothing in response Instead he spoke inwardly

Ready

Ready Came Lucretia’s confident reply

Have him do it

Then Randidly raised a single hand making a gun he pointed it at the Creature

Bang He said miming the recoil from the gun Which was mostly play because at his level of Strength how powerful would the gun have to be for him to lose his grip

The Creature blinked and then laughed seemingly amused Immediately Randidly remembered that it had spent quite a bit of time with Lyra and recognized this habit that Randidly remembered from their early time together When it was all harmless fighting When they had a warm connection to each other

Did you really think nostalgia was a weapon you could marshall against me The Creature asked apparently tracking with Randidly’s thoughts pretty well But when she opened her mouth to continue she paused looking down at her chest There was a flash of light there Then the Creature puffed out of existence

Do it the order came and Tziech looked up from the grim task of defending the Thief as she poisoned this land After a time mechanical crows the size of a Spriggit youth about half a meter long came and began harrying them They were weak however but they approached exponentially By now millions seemed to be flying towards them their wing beats shaking the sky

He approached the pouch on the ground and unwrapped it Then he remembered the warning from the Progenitor’s mouth and grabbed the Thief

He said Wait a few seconds and come back through Grab the lights Then he shoved her into the pillar of crimson light receiving a yelp in return

Then cool as a cucumber he drew a match and dropped it on the packet of powder the crystals sparkling up at him As the match fell he remembered the words when it was given to him

The Progenitor has worked tirelessly these past few days to reach enough strength to bless you with a single gram of this She had said Treat it carefully It is called Tellumurite and to the Creature it should be poison

The match hit the powder and flame sparking it The heat caught on the ambient energy in the air and all of his world became fire and pain

After the Creature had disappeared Randidly wasted no time in turning to Cyndra who seemed stunned The gambit took time and relied upon the denizens of his Soul Skill but it was the only way that Randidly and Lucretia could figure out to strike a blow that would actually stick The portal between the Soul Skills was the first time they could actually find a part of the Creature and they intended to mine it for as much information as possible

It might have been safer to immediately ignite the Tellumurite when the people were inside of the Creature’s Soul Skill but Randidly also wanted to know if meaning from the spear would be an effective weapon And if they had time they should test it Randidly doubted that this would be a permanent setback but he intended to make it one that hurt

Lastly Randidly knew what would happen to the person who activated the Tellumurite For that reason for the life of one of his little soul children he wanted to exhaust the other avenues before utilizing it

As Randidly raised his spear however her eyes sharpened and she took a fighting stance glaring at him What made him wince however was that she now exuded a killing intent that was a hundred times sharper than before No longer was he facing an overpowered puppet he was facing Cyndra a woman who had kept her people safe for generations and Randidly wasn’t sure he would normally be able to face her down

But alas she still possessed the body of a puppet and all the weaknesses that entailed

Although I can no longer feel its presence I will still kill you My people owe it a great debt With your death that debt will be paid Cyndra informed him shortly her eyes narrowed Below them there was a dull rumble in the ground and both of them paused wondering what this new development was But then it faded and their attention turned back to each other

When she moved however Randidly spoke and she stopped dead

Erode Meaning

Randidly had come to one conclusion based on his use of the Breath of the Spear Phantom based on how well it worked his Willpower must be much much higher than hers It also explained where all the extra Stats Cyndra had in Strength came from Resistance was her only mental defense

However as long as the Creature was there Randidly wasn’t willing to attempt it If he ran up against her Willpower well Randidly had no delusions about how that would end

Plus it made sense as one under the control of the Creature it would keep Cyndra’s Willpower low

When Cyndra struggled to straighten her eyes foggy Randidly hit her with Erode Meaning again gritting his teeth He was nowhere near his top form weakened from producing so much Aether and the earlier backlash from Breath of the Spear Phantom So this time he followed it up with old fashioned violence

His roots brought his spear back to him and be began lopping off her limbs hitting her with Erode Meaning when her struggles were too effective until she stilled underneath him her blood pooling

Randidly had gained a Level he noticed but he just felt tired

Do we have

Someone went in to see what they can find Lucretia replied Randidly nodded warily

Then he swore as the rumbling from below came back louder this time dust falling from the roof of the arena What the fuck is that

Lucretia was silent for a few seconds and then said I have a bad feeling

Well Lucretia continued That we are about to discover what most of the Creature’s attention was on during our fight

Then the floor exploded upwards underneath Randidly

Chapter 461

Drake winced as he pressed his mouth into the hole in the skull that formed his helmet his lips brushing up against the dried vomit from earlier overexertion Well that and the absolute disgust of watching the sentient monster that was Maelstrom rip through hundreds of monsters leaving their bodies broken their fluids turning this open field into a marsh

Lucifer’s reveal of his ability to fucking teleport was something of a shock but more than that Drake found himself dumbfounded 10 seconds later when he realized he had been prepared to completely brush off that impressive display of the System’s disparity in power

What have I become Drake wondered checking his weapons focusing his Skill to touch his armor that such inhuman displays only become worthy of a fleeting curiosity

Then again Drake was hard pressed to understand what had happened to him over the past month His Bone Armor had almost tripled in summoning speed and also doubled in size On his shoulders were huge spiked protuberances of bones and a Mana operated bone tail swirled behind him It had taken a few hours of practice in order to understand how it could be used for balance and as a weapon but the excruciating grind of battling every day had quickly made such actions second nature

In spite of the fact that the armor had grown to such a huge size Drake didn’t find the operation of it difficult If anything he felt weird connected to the bone armor Like when he wasn’t wearing it he wasn’t truly himself

It was a disturbing thought for other reasons entirely

After Clarissa unleashed the Maelstrom the strange spark in her hand rapidly expanded to a swirling cloud and then to a monster made of wind sleet and thunder with tornados for arms and legs It did not slow as it hit the monster lines and instead just flailed its wild arms left and right laying out dozens of monsters with each strike

The main weakness of such a Skill Drake soon saw was that the beast couldn’t easily alter its own momentum Once the enemies realized this the Death Cultists and the few remaining monsters not caught up in its swirling wind avoided it and it roared with a blast of chilling wind furious that it could be foiled like this

The secondary weakness Drake observed was that Clarissa had to constantly channel her Mana into it to keep it going And very quickly once it was clear the enemies were dodging it she ceased feeding Mana into it panting lightly her chest rising and falling

Ace joined Drake and Lucifer at the front of their party standing in the front lines of their new formation Annie’s archery had basically depleted most of the Dintan people that were manning the walls and all that remained behind them were a wounded Rhaidon and a furious Zith or Gemma or whatever who were not able to match Alana while she was wearing her Valkyrie Helm

Thea stood with Ptolemy Annie and Rose rubbing Chrysanthemum’s muzzle and whispering words of encouragement after the beast had been forced to bear the brunt of the Grey Death Cultist’s Wither spells

Ace cracked his knuckles grinning It’s a good day in a Dungeon where the scent of death covers up the smell of a sweaty man who hasn’t showered in a month eh

This was the point that Drake vomited a little the acrid bile flowing out of his lips and sticking to the inside of his helmet If Drake could go back in time but alas he was stuck with his previous mistakes Besides he couldn’t deny that Ace was absolutely rancid at this point having spent a lot of their fights in the past up to his elbows in the organs of their enemies and the thought of comparing him to the dismembered and whimpering corpses in front of them

Truly Sydney was right to distance herself from this madman The only question was whether she was right to retain a strange fascination with the Ghosthound

But then Rose started barking out orders pointing out the monsters that were using powerful Skills and Annie began to calmly shoot her arrows forward having recovered from her previous displaying Drinking slowly to avoid oversaturating her body Clarissa continued to rip through their store of Mana Potions restoring herself to a fighting state

Then the lines approached close enough to be dangerous and Ace Lucifer and Thea rushed forward hitting the monsters and Death Cultists like bowling balls smashing them apart Chrysanthemum roamed and Drake stayed back mopping up the remnants that slipped past protecting Rose and Clarissa from close range combat

Earlier in their Raid Dungeon dive Drake had also considered Annie one of those people he needed to protect But then a troll had knocked him to the side and rushed towards the group Cool as a cucumber Annie had drawn an arrow walked forward dodged the troll’s strike and slit its throat

With a short hop she had stood on top of the troll and shot arrows until it overbalanced and fell finally realizing it was dying Annie hadn’t even spared Drake a glance but his face flushed uncomfortably Part of the reason was he wasn’t used to the heavy bone armor at that time but the other reason was that he was clearly the weakest one here It wasn’t a lesson he would forget

Not that he would let anybody past him if he could help it but no longer did he worry about what would happen if he did Which in turn lowered his stress and allowed him to basically protect them completely

Drake grimaced Not so today Not only were the numbers higher than usual but the Death Cultists were a tier higher in terms of power than what he was used to It was difficult for Drake to quickly finish off those he wounded and more and more poured forward It was a good day however because he had gained his second Level of the day putting him at Level 44 but Ptolemy had to come join him at holding the middle of their formation Although their healer wasn’t able to do much damage he was adept at keeping the opponents off balance earning Drake precious seconds in which to do his dirty work

Time slowly blurred together split only by quick swigs of Stamina and Mana Potions But they were slowly getting pushed back in a very dangerous manner but there was nothing that Drake could do about it Again he felt his face flush as his lips pressed against the dried vomit He was strong sure stronger than he had ever been but in this moment of need all he could think is that someone else would have to perform some feat of daring opening up a path to hope

Because with his abilities

Rhaidon A scream cut through the sounds of battle and blood wet flesh There was a groan behind him but he dared not turn focusing on the six armed frog creature in front of him groping towards him with slimy hands

I’ll fucking kill you you bitch The voice continued and there was a scream that Drake imagined was something akin to the old animated series he watched in college where the characters would scream their emotions out rapidly growing in power

But then he heard a soft whisper and then the sound of an impact and then there was silence

Solar Flare

Thump

Drake dispatched the frog in front of him then paused to reach up and scratch at his helmet trying to scrape away the vomit But his bone gauntlets were too large to fit through his breathing hole and he was forced to hiss in frustration

Calmly Alana walked forward patting him on the back in a companionable motion while she advanced Good hold we are almost through this

There was a rumble behind them causing Alana to pause briefly before she resumed speaking talking loudly so everyone could hear there might be a shit ton of them but they are relying on the Death Cultists to apply pressure The rest are just fodder for

There was another rumble louder this time closer Then there was a sound that almost impossibly loud started as a roar of a lion then slowly slid upwards into the pure clarion call of a trumpet before finally descending into the hacking cough of a creature dying from the inside

Following that there was silence Then a rush of noise as the monsters around them turned tail and fled The Raid Dungeon crew tensed up raising their weapons but the monsters just fled running back towards the forest from whence they came Of them all only the Death Cultists remained gathering into a pitiful group that was only 1/10 of the manpower they had when they had come following the Ghosthound’s lead

Drake was surprised to see there was even a Grey Death Cultist remaining amongst a tight knot of Red Death Cultists missing an arm but otherwise looking rather healthy The call sounded out again following the same strange arching pattern The rumbling grew louder

Chapter 462

That’s not a Skill Rose said slowly looking towards the strange carving that stood above the Dintan city whose walls were now marred by its people’s blood Drake continued to scratch his face desperate to get rid of the dried vomit That’s pure force of lungs

There was a laugh from the ground in front of them and Drake looked down to see that although there was a large hole in her right chest piercing her lung Gemma/Zith still clung to life her eyes bright and strangely happy

Walking forward Ace frowned and made a shooing motion towards her Your attempt at villainous timing is admirable if only for its lack of understanding of true villainous arts Please just breathe your last

I have to thank you all The dying woman said and then she began to cough her chest wracked by spasms so she curled up like a frying strip on the ground rocking back and forth

She’s not going to say for freeing her Ace remarked professionally shaking his head sadly Her twist is embarrassingly straightforward I’m betting She will say something like

Because you have given me the greatest pleasure I can currently imagine Gemma said forcibly suppressing her cough almost as if she was threatened by Ace moving to steal her thunder The dying woman’s eyes were bright and feverish her gaze locked onto Alana Seeing the freak who murdered my beloved Rhaidon waste away warped by the passage of time

An arrow cut her off taking her in the forehead She leaned back and collapsed dead

Annie made a pleased noise Wow I didn’t expect a Level from a small fry like that 49 now How much of a grind is it up to 50 Alana

It’s gonna be a bitch especially after we leave this place Alana grunted frowning towards the city where the rumblings were growing louder Then she turned and glanced behind her where the Death Cultists stood Her eyes narrowed but she turned forward again and most of the rest of the group followed her lead They all moved their strong melee fighters near the city ready to meet whatever threat was heading their way

The Ghosthound hasn’t responded to the party chat in a while Thea whispered the strange spooky song of the beast perhaps getting to her Do you think

He’s still in the party however Rose said giving Thea a sharp glance

The group fell silent just listening Drake continued to stubbornly scratch for the vomit The rumblings were nearer to them now so much so that he could feel the tremors through his bone greaves His tail flicked back and forth an instinctive display of his growing anxiety

They did not have long to wait As the noise in front of them grew almost deafening the gate in front of them was blasted open and a monster walked out of the opening Somehow it managed to both throw off an air of regal importance and of revolting decay

The first thing Drake noticed was its huge golden antlers A 14 point by the world before the System’s estimate and these antlers were intricate and perfectly mirrored as if they had been sculpted rather than grown naturally Such was the size of the rack that a man could comfortably sit between the curving golden horns as long as he avoided the dangerously sharp points

It mostly had the body of a stag with soft white fur that across most of its body seemed incredibly soft Next Drake’s gaze locked onto the thing’s eyes glowing a dull deep red like dried blood and rust

As it walked further forward Thea gasped That That’s the Wild Rider’s Soul bonded animal

But Drake was scowling now because the few steps it had taken forward past the rising dust from the destroyed gate revealed grey and withered pillars of flesh that appeared to be sewn onto its back and were being dragged behind it on the ground At the site of the attachment the flesh was red and green ichor leaked out staining the hide around the connection a strange brown yellow as if this had been going on for some time and the leaking fluid was becoming increasingly poisonous

Next to the point of connection there was a bulbous mound as if a cancerous growth had resulted from the combination or as though the strange individual who had created this thing had too much extra flesh and just wrapped it up in an awkward ball and placed it on the thing’s back

It brayed again and Drake could see how it had to start as a roar and then worked up to its clarion call song as if this is how the stag usually spoke but a great wariness now suffused its body and it had to struggle to get there Finally its chest began to vibrate too powerfully with the noise and the black stitching began to spurt red and green fluid and the monster began to cough unable to withstand the strain

Did it always look like that Annie asked solemnly

Thea shook her head slowly tightening her grip on her hammer

Alana opened her mouth to speak but before she could say anything Rose spun around Death Cultists are using a spell targetting this Frankenstein

Frankenstein is the doctor Clarissa retorted more out of habit than anything else but she looked too lightning dancing across her fingers

As Drake watched about a dozen of the surrounding Death Cultists swayed and then fell and a strange glob of crackling crimson energy ripped forward aiming for the monster Alana seemed torn but Drake knew he wasn’t getting anywhere near that thing The group watched as the ball rocketed forward and smashed into the monster sending it staggering back two steps

Well fine let’s kill it before we kill them Alana grunted producing her spear once more rushing forward Clarissa raised her hand with a flourish and a Lightning Bolt careened forward towards the weakened creature

However instead of striking it in the chest the bolt changed direction at the last second twitching up towards the golden antlers After the bolt struck the antlers it discharged seemingly harmless twisting Clarissa’s face into a frown

Some sort of spell target changing and a pretty powerful null magic from its antlers Rose reported frowning down at her notes Drake felt a sinking feeling in his stomach If they couldn’t damage it with spells guess it was time for the melee users to shine But approaching a monster like this

Alana did so without a care her spear stabbing towards the stag’s chest With a surprising display of deftness the stag sidestepped and swung its head those incredibly sharp antler points aiming for Alana’s stomach Without much effort she hopped backward but lowered her stance and looked at the stag with a more focused attention

At that point Lucifer had used his knife to teleport behind it and chopped down towards the strange pillars of grey flesh that came from its back To everyone’s surprise the stag didn’t appear to notice the attack until it had already hit and then just turned to regard Lucifer in surprise

What was perhaps the strangest was that Lucifer with his huge swords only penetrated a small amount into the flesh about an inch before he was stopped by the thick stringy material

Casually the stag raised its head and an energy filled the air flowing into its antlers concentrating into a grey ball Everyone narrowed their eyes while Rose began to scribble furiously After a half second her eyes widened and she forced herself to stop writing so she could yell Do NOT let that touch you It’s

The grey ball released a beam that scythed outward sliding towards Lucifer As if it was the most natural thing in the world he sidestepped the beam and hopped back through his portal and appeared before them once more and then he rapidly began to pinch the portal closed

Before he had left however the beam had struck his sword and drew a thin line across it As he was closing the portal Drake watched with wide eyes as his sword starting along that thin line the metal turned a darker grey then a brown then slowly red and disintegrated to dust

Realizing the change that was happening Lucifer dropped the weapon The line was relatively near the tip of the sword but the changes continued down most of the length of the blade until there were only 10 centimeters or so of blade remaining and that was red and rust eaten Lucifer frowned at the blade almost seeming to be more upset he lost his sword than in the manner of its destruction

That’s a blast of concentrated time It’s hard to tell easily how much time passes when that hits you but Rose thought about it then repeated what she said earlier Do not let it hit you

Right at that moment two more red balls struck the stag sending it staggering dispersing another grey ball of energy that was starting to form But as he watched what was happening Drake forgot all about the dried vomit on the inside of his helmet Instead he lowered his hands and gripped his sword sweating for two reasons

The first was that his armor was basically useless against this stag that struck with time The second

Guys Drake said slowly I think those red balls aren’t They are healing it

The divvet in the grey and withered flesh pillar was gone healed over cleanly And no longer was the flesh grey but now firm and pearlescent almost strange colors reflected from its fur Ponderously those pillars of flesh raised themselves seeming to flex experimentally

Oh shit Rose whispered her eyes widening How could I yes it’s healing it filling it with life force from somewhere

Drake glanced back towards the Death Cultists Now over half of them were on the ground unmoving while the Grey Death Cultist a wide smile on its face was looking forward towards them

Yes we finally found you The Grey Death Cultist said pausing in its ritual to raise its hand towards the stag Our Ivory Queen please open your eyes Your servants are here to give you our very lives

A tremor ran through the stag Then strangely the cancerous growth began to twitch Drake’s eyes widened because it quickly became clear that it was a misshapen squashed head It trembled again and folds of flesh parted revealing a mouth with yellowed and broken teeth Immediately there was a slow trickle of bile that came outward flowing slowly over the tongue and across the teeth

In a strange twist Drake felt quite a bit of empathy for the strange monster forced to deal with vomit for the rest of this fight But then more folds parted revealing beady eyes one of black and one of silver red rimmed with hatred Then they rolled around staring to the sky

Slowly those ivory pillars raised themselves farther revealing them to be the sinewy and massive wings of the Death Cultists made of corded muscle that could be spread out thinly for flight But unlike the other Death Cultists these wings were each full 20 meters long stretching almost improbably far outwards covering the Raid Party in their long shadow

Chapter 463

Lucifer kill those fuckers before they make it worse Alana barked Drake

Yea I can’t stay like this Drake said shivering as he dismissed the armor He put the heavier sword back into his spatial ring and removed another one handed sword that he could more easily use without the boost in Strength from the Bone Armor

Annie you are our other main source of damage then Rose said snapping back into focus after realizing her error earlier Drake suspected the real reason it had happened was that it wasn’t targeting them so she hadn’t thought to dig more deeply into what was happening Also the appearance of the Stagbat was a pretty intimidating thing in and of itself

Raising its head the Stagbat released its braying call as the Raid Party split heading to strike at the two groups

Lucifer covered the distance quickly but was unable to catch the Grey Death Cultist as it recognized the ambush that was coming and rolled to the side to avoid his strike Grimacing Lucifer immediately withdrew through the portal closed it and then just began to dead sprint towards the Death Cultists

Chrysanthemum help him Thea said before approaching with the rest of them towards the Stagbat

Alana arrived first and wasted no time stabbing towards it again and again aiming to test the defense of its flesh with her spear But the Stagbat was surprisingly graceful more so now that it didn’t have to drag its withered wings along on the ground with it It weaved through her strike and then stepped forwards flapping its wings for an extra boost of speed

What should have been a short hop turned into a charge and Drake was smashed to the side by the momentum of its advance However he hadn’t spent the last month in constant battle in vain As their bodies crossed each other Drake twisted raising his sword letting the Stagbat pierce itself with its own speed

To Drake’s surprise the sword slid into its soft fur without any sort of resistance When the Stagbat landed it stumbled a little but instead of braying the bat head on its back twisted opening its mouth

You will Feed me Let’s Die together ha It slowly enunciated as green ichor splashed out of the sword wound eating into the sword that was still lodged in its chest until the hilt fell to the ground warped by the blood of this creature the rest of the blade already disintegrated

But this did have the side effect of starting its blood gushing out of the hole and the Stagbat swayed unsteadily

Incoming Rose shouted She needn’t have said anything though because before she spoke one of Annie’s arrows was already released catching the crimson orb at its bottom The whole thing didn’t disperse but the bottom half of the orb exploded with the force of the arrow and as the remaining half traveled forward a red dust drifted down behind it settling on the ground also weakening the spell further But the crimson orb still reached the Stagbat before anyone else could react it simply traveled too quickly

The sword wound closed up and it seemed the rigidity to its spread wings eased somewhat but little else seemed to change By this point Lucifer arrived at the Death Cultists and began cutting through the Red Death Cultists aiming for the Grey Death Cultist that continued to chant

Chrysanthemum arrived soon after him and where he was like a methodical butcher she simply crushed opposition making a beeline for the Grey Death Cultist It hissed in annoyance switching abruptly to a Wither spell but it was too late Chrysanthemum crashed into its body and began mauling the Death Cultist

For the great oblivion It shouted executing a strange series of syllables very quickly and Death Cultists around him fell like flies dying quickly and easily

Meanwhile Drake Alana and Ace weaved through those grey lines of force They didn’t travel particularly quickly but they could change directions on a dime which meant that near miss dodging was more dangerous than it was useful against this enemy And based on how much damage was done to a metal sword

How would a human body hold up against that passage of time Even with a System increased Vitality

Fuck me Ace cursed removing his helmet which had been clipped by a beam He then watched frozen and wide eyed as the helmet turned to dust and fell away At that moment Ace was pale in a way that Drake had never seen him before seemingly lost without his helmet Drake was aware of the theatrics that Ace had employed with Dauntless’ and the jokes at his expense that called him insane but only now did Drake realize how true it was

This man something precious at his core was irrevocably broken That helmet had kept it hidden but now

Another beam rushed towards him and when Alana yelled he didn’t respond At that moment Clarissa launched a Lightning Bolt smashed him to the side the beam narrowly missing him Drake caught the body and took a welcome break from the high stress game of dodging beams of death by old age returning Ace’s still shocked body to Ptolemy

Or that’s what he meant to do but Ptolemy took this as a signal to switch and with a nod he moved forward supporting Alana against the Stagbat

Annie rained a constant flood of arrows against the Stagbat aiming for its stag portion of the body with its soft flesh because the bat portion repelled the normal arrows easily Luckily the bat’s wings were still rather stiff and it was unable to move them well to protect its more vulnerable core body leaving it with a dozen or so bleeding scratches across its torso

Chrysanthemum quickly overpowered the Grey Death Cultist and her jaws closed on its neck But it managed to finish its spell and a huge orb of crimson formed around three times the size of those previous orbs and flew forward towards the Stagbat Before Chrysanthemum even crushed its neck it fell back lifeless

Chrysanthemum still bit down of course if just for the satisfying crunch

As the orb rushed forward Annie switched her target her arrows clustered together to destroy the orbs quickly But as the arrows approached the orbs split into a dozen smaller orbs avoiding the clustered arrows

Chain Lightning Clarissa shouted and a bolt shot forward Before it could strike however the orbs split again each becoming twelve smaller orbs once more And although the Chain Lightning destroyed 20 orbs on its own and Annie was able to pierce another 10 or so that only destroyed 20% of that strange healing energy and the rest reached the Stagbat

Immediately the change became obvious not just in the fact that its wounds healed but also because its wings which were more like the arms form that the Death Cultists possessed to this point now spread out to about 30 meters wide really casting a huge shadow

Quickly Annie returned to bombarding it but its wings had regained close to their full ability to move and they smashed arrows away harmlessly Annie cursed The speed at which it cast the grey time beams increased too and the close combat warriors were driven back to about 30 meters which seemed to be the range outside of which the beam’s energy fizzled into nothing

Any ideas Annie asked Alana

Frowning at the monster which was now braying again Alana said Yes but I don’t want to spook it into

A fist sized rock struck the Stagbat on the nose sending it cantering a few steps backward snorting and sneezing Then it glared at Ace who had apparently recovered enough to stand and attack and was grinning at it in a very pleased manner

The bat head on its back tried its best to roar but it only came out as a high pitched whine more bile oozing out of its mouth The wings spread and began to beat driving the Stagbat off the ground and into the air its huge wings buffeting them all with huge gusts of air It rose only about 10 meters but then ascended rapidly higher and higher

As it did so the Raid Dungeon group watched as its wings appeared to grow spreading thinner and thinner until the stag portion of the body was just a tiny speck of dust and its true body was those wings that could cover the sky so much so that if you didn’t look up you could have mistaken the shadow for a malevolent cloud

because I didn’t want to spook it into realizing it could fly Alana finished frowning at Ace’s cackling form

Why not just let it go Ptolemy suggested We can go find the Ghosthound and with him

A beam of energy thick and grey shot downwards towards them Immediately the group scattered leaping and dashing out of the way This time there was a small explosion where the beam hit the ground and in a 10 meter area the soil disintegrated and was blown away by the wind

will it let us Rose asked grimly looking at the Stagbat which now was swooping down towards them another large sphere of grey forming between its antlers

This thing is unnatural Lucifer announced causing Drake to snort Well no shit

We need Rose began but then her eyes widened Move As far away from the city as possible Right

She didn’t need to finish There was only a small rumble and then all at once there was an explosion from the Dintan city buildings and that strange sculpture collapsing almost unwilling refusing to cease to be before it even had a chance to grow

Very quickly the rumbling was unbearable and from the ground of the ruined city a hand shot upwards formed of molten lava waves of heat surrounding it It shot up and up growing larger and larger until it made the Stagbat look like an ant looming above it

Reacting quickly the Stagbat changed direction and shot forward moving more quickly than should be possible but the huge hand of lava pursued falling downwards When it became clear that even with its prodigious speed it couldn’t escape the Stagbat spun around and unleashed a blast of that grey energy

But the hand was simply too large and after discharging its energy the Stagbat was smashed into the ground driven by the hand Luckily the strike had descended a little bit to their east but still there were large fissures formed on the ground from the force of that much mass crashing into the ground

Think its dead Annie asked curiously peering towards the impact zone She was the only one with the nerve to ask that Drake reflected That girl was made of ice

Unfortunately not A voice answered and the group turned to find the Ghosthound looking much the worse for wear His once regal Bone Cloak was ripped to shreds large gashes running through it His feet were bare and Drake could see one of his toes was snapped The area around his mouth and nose was stiff with dried blood as if he had been beaten repeatedly But even so Even so

Drake didn’t doubt that this man was still incredibly dangerous What had he been fighting this whole time Hopefully that opponent was dead because if it wasn’t

Tsk The Ghosthound made an annoyed noise and cracked his neck The two Regalias were fused into its body Their energy is keeping it alive but only just It’s a monster that shouldn’t exist Let’s go put it out of its misery

Chapter 464

Tziech found it ironic that the cold numbness that had been killing him was the only reason that he survived that explosion of energy Whereas that energy was heat and violence the cold in him was stillness and silence acting like an anchor that kept him on track in the midst of a storm

Still his wounds were not mild And the exposure to that violent energy had done him no favors in terms of life expectancy It was a testament to the physical power of his body more than anything else that he maintained even a flickering spot of life after that explosion

The world around him was silent and still and it reminded Tziech of the Sprrigits’ Frozen Globes that were generally landscapes in small glass spheres that you could shake and spread glitter or miniature snow over the scene Around Tziech the ground was oddly cleansed most of the strange mist in the area destroyed The sky was free of the mechanical crows

The large floating crystals had turned into wisps of light like clouds that drifted across the only movement in a dead place

Only 10 seconds after the strange energy reaction ceased there was a flicker from the crimson pillar and the Thief once more appeared her face twisted in too many emotions to understand easily Her face was a marsh of inner conflict but when her eyes located Tziech all that fell away and she gasped softly rushing to his side

Tziech wanted to say something reassure her give her a clue that he wasn’t fine obviously but he was as well as could be expected All things considered Tziech held no unwillingness in his heart towards the Progenitor’s use of them This world had been cleaned out through the process When he was given the powder the Progenitor’s Voice was very clear of the danger

Also she specifically looked Tziech in the eye and informed him he likely wouldn’t return from this mission Tziech said nothing just holding her gaze

To Tziech’s surprise two fat tears ran down the Thief’s face dripping and touching his ripped leather armor

You can’t do this to me The Thief said softly holding onto the edges of his clothing

In his mind Tziech always had a strange suspicion that there was a possibility a possibility only that he and the Thief could be could be something That they could step away from their roles in the larger world and just be themselves let nature take its course perhaps raise a family

But now

Ponderously Tziech blinked The Thief blinked in response then smiled bitterly at him I can almost hear your voice Finish the job you seem to be saying And you are right This the Progenitor didn’t want this He didn’t want our world to be invaded by his enemies

The Thief produced a spear covered in tightly interwoven runes and pointed it at the sky Then forcing her energy into it it began to emit a suction force Those wisps of clouds in the air were slowly drawn downwards towards it swirling towards the tip of the spear For several long minutes the Thief stood there intently focusing dragging these remnants into the spear

Tziech found it oddly peaceful the world floating downwards drawn into a singularity before vanishing forever

Will I go there when I am no more ’ Tziech wondered staring at the point of the spear Such an end to drift along with the migration of clouds is truly a gentle way for death to take me ’

But before he allowed the insistent tugging at the edges of his consciousness to pull him away Tziech reached up moving his left hand It took everything he had inside of himself moving slowly raising and reaching towards the Thief’s back who continued to diligently absorb those wisps of clouds

Tziech did not want to distract her but he did not want her to leave this place without a reward was the wrong word and she would never consider it a gift Even a token of remembrance was a moniker that would likely have the Thief furiously kicking down his gravestone But

Well maybe he simply wanted to touch her one last time

His outstretched fingertips brushed the back of her cloak lightly and something passed out of him then a core of energy that had been donated to him by the Progenitor It was a powerful thing that let him move without fear through the Aether Thrall’s lines Who knew how it would manifest for the Thief but now at least she would be well prepared for what was to follow

Then his arm dropped such a noise that Tziech briefly worried the Thief would be distracted but it seemed the labor of absorbing those wisps was enough to cover up the noise Satisfied Tziech looked meaningfully down at his right hand

His palm was cracked a black circle of flesh in the center of his hand Even now he could watch thin tendrils of black corruption spreading from that central region writhing outwards like eels

He clenched his hand This gift he would take to the grave The Progenitor might safely bare this but it is far too much strain for a person to support on their own Leaning back Tziech closed his eyes and his mind shifted to another place

In that brief dream his adoptive father continued to hold out in the fight against the demons that lured him towards the bottom of a bottle and after a dinner of hot spiced trout he talked long into the night to Tziech The subject was war due to a passionate homily done by one of the Progenitor’s pastors that Tziech’s father had heard earlier that day

It’s ridiculous Tziech’s father said his mouth wide and expressive The Progenitor doesn’t allow war because he wants war he allows it because he wants us to live It’s not a matter of seeking martial perfection but freedom Only by having the choice to do evil will the true core of life show through kindness and generosity It will show staunch faith in the face of temptation and bitterness Respect and honor Humility and patience

His father paused giving Tziech a meaningful look What is it Why are you looking at me like that

Tziech King of Monsters speaking from the body of a child smiled a very sad smile at the dream version of his adoptive father This is what I’m fighting for you know So that people like you will live to see their strengths define their lives You know what they told me Your guard friend Tomlin That you were gambling to send me to the Imperial Academy And when you lost

But he was cut short and suddenly he was Zeke only held in the arms of his adoptive father Bah what business does a child like you have acting like an adult Look at me Zeke I promise I’ll always be there for you I’ll protect you

Then his father hugged him and even in his dream his skin was warm and smelled of the coal dust that clung to everything in that Spriggit city A part of him wanted to fight but another larger part knew that there was no victory in a struggle on this day Zeke closed his eyes

Sometimes things simply ended

As Randidly stepped over the cooling magma he felt a strange sensation of deep sadness that stopped him up short before they walked to confront the remnants of the Stagbat He searched inward but he was unable to figure out what the source of the feeling was As he was a profoundly stoic person generally to feel so emotional so suddenly

Is something wrong Alana asked stopping next to him

Randidly shook his head No But let’s be careful from here Annie What does it look like

Hopping next to the rest of the group she frowned at her leather shoes when they began to steam and bubble against this barely less than molten rock Not great Its wings were burnt off and its body is charred but there are seven of those grey energy balls floating around it The highest we’ve seen was three I suspect it’s concentrating its power And also the edges of its wings are healing It will take a while but

Then we move fast Randidly turned and regarded the rest of the group They looked bloodsoaked and bedraggled but he had to imagine that they didn’t look as frayed as he did The fight against Cyndra and the Creature’s mental attacks took more out of him than he would like to admit But still after winning what should be a decisive strike against the Creature Randidly didn’t mind blowing Inspiration in order to ground the flying Stagbat He had only witnessed it fighting for a brief time but

Its mobility was a problem So Randidly took drastic measures

What he hadn’t expected was for it to be able to overpower Randidly’s spell enough that it could survive But he supposed it would simply be too easy if they had been able to finish everything off with an Inspiration empowered spell

The rest of the group followed Randidly as he approached He considered warning them away or telling them they didn’t have to follow him if they preferred to stay out of the line of fire but Randidly suspected everyone knew that in their hearts In addition no matter what they were to each other or what they would be again when they left this Dungeon they had fought side by side for this past month at a level that none of them had experienced before

No one would shirk their responsibility now

The Stagbat seemed to be waiting for them laying on the ground legs under it When they approached it stood and although it faltered once when it reached a standing position it stayed steadfast It was uglier than Randidly had expected with a weeping face sewn onto its back its fur stained by blood and weird green alchemic liquids

Its eyes were thin and malevolent but its mouth seemed to curl into a grin as they arrived It opened its lips and brayed a sad sickly noise akin to an off tune note

Let’s put this out of its misery Randidly grunted Then he leaped forward drawing his spear

Chapter 465

Randidly moved rapidly toward the monster feeling Alana follow close behind him Immediately two of the grey balls of energy exploded shooting rays of strange aging based death Randidly had heard the basics from Rose and used pure speed to blaze past them heading straight for the body of the beast

Growling it leaped forwards to meet Randidly even while two more blasts shot out from its antlers aiming for those behind Randidly Annie began shooting arrows at its large soft body causing it to use one of its final two grey energies to intercept the arrows before they could land

Rather than getting discouraged Annie just upped her firing speed the shafts shooting past Randidly to strike at the monster

When he arrived before it Randidly didn’t bother with anything special he just lashed out with his spear To his surprise the Stagbat dodged and then swung its head aiming to hit him with its antlers He casually deflected the blow but was forced to use Phantom’s Embrace to dodge when the final grey energy shot outward aiming at him from close range

Grimacing Randidly reset his stance and moved forward to meet the monster once more This would be difficult Most of the grey beams weren’t aimed at him but as he was the closest he needed to move the most quickly to avoid collateral fire as it used the beams to attack other people

If this was the wounded version of the Stagbat Randidly was glad he had hit it with an Inspired spell It was hard to tell whether it was the combination of monsters the Creature’s interference or even the power of the Regalia but this thing was tough Its kit was too powerful against too many things

However had Randidly still had access to his Mana this would be a much easier struggle But as it was

His eyes brightening Randidly sent a message into the party chat telling Rose and Clarissa to reposition themselves around the Stagbat out of its range but behind it As they moved to do so Randidly struck again pushing his Yggdrasil Skills to their limit as he slashed towards the Stagbat’s side

It danced out of the way and another grey beam slashed diagonally from keeping Alana at bay to hitting Randidly in the temple Snorting Randidly spun away his leg lashing out striking the Stagbat in the side sending it stumbling As it did so its grey energy beams fizzled flashing and then falling out of existence leaving it open

Two of Annie’s arrows sunk into its flank while Alana dashed forward and scored a long scratch on its side as it dodged as quickly as it could

Its eyes began to glow and now 8 grey balls condensed causing Randidly to frown But then Ace crashed into it from behind knocking it off its balance again the grey lights flickering out of existence

The Stagbat recovered itself enough to kick back like a horse slamming Ace backward into a nearby pile of molten rock but by then Randidly and Alana had arrived Before it could summon and use its grey time lights Randidly slashed towards its throat aiming for a kill

When it dodged he twisted his spear and caught its antlers knocking its head to the side Alana plunged her spear up to the crossguard into its side then shoved it deeper twisting and breaking off the shaft leaving it within its body as she backed away

Quickly scanning it Randidly noticed the single grey eye on the bat’s face and the way the golden horns sparkled with power especially as it summoned the grey bits of energy Then the brief off balance period ended and the Stagbat screeched using the bat’s mouth 8 lights shooting outward scything left and right driving the party backward

Think that will kill it Alana asked with a detached curiosity producing another spear

Randidly grimaced then shook his head With his Aether senses he could feel energy moving from the two Regalias hidden within the Stagbat’s body That might slow it down but we need to cut out the Regalias One is the antlers the other is the left eye in that bat face This is probably going to get worse before it gets better

The Stagbat screeched again and this time charged forward aiming for Alana With the eight grey lasers trained on her she scrambled backward away from Randidly aiming to stay out of its effective range

Randidly glanced sideways Clarissa and Rose were in position and Ptolemy’s crouched form over Ace would give him another anchor that he needed Time to try this plan Because even if he didn’t have any Mana remaining he had plenty of Stamina and was regenerating a huge sum every minute

He used Phantom Half Step to teleport forward passing the Stagbat by about 5 meters But immediately upon landing he launched himself forward aiming for its back It noticed but simply swiveled three of its lasers to drive him away Randidly grinned and used Phantom Half Step on Ptolemy pulling himself to the side Then he used it again on Alana appearing almost directly over the Stagbat His huge spear stabbed downward aiming for the bat head on the stag’s back

To Randidly’s surprise the head twisted to the side glaring up at him its grey eye sparkling dangerously Frowning in displeasure Randidly drove his spear into its back cutting deeply into its internal organs Then almost immediately he activated Phantom Half Step avoiding the six beams that slashed towards him when he appeared over it

With a small pat Randidly landed on the ground regarding the Stagbat It was fast and its attacks couldn’t be weathered Also the normal damage wouldn’t do anything to hurt it in the short term If anything

A ninth grey ball appeared above its antlers Spinning slowly at first it gradually darkened and condensed more fully

if anything the danger would activate more of the Regalia’s power

If you can buy me a minute or so I think I can land something to hurt it seriously Alana said through the party chat

Nodding slowly Randidly stepped forward To his surprise Thea came forward with him and opposite them Ace stood cracking his neck and walking towards the Stagbat’s back like he hadn’t just had his rib cage broken Ptolemy for his part at least had the common decency to look exhausted

Strangely Randidly had an image suddenly of their portraits at the edge of a map with the dubious pronouncement here be monsters Grinning slightly Randidly rushed forward grabbing the Stagbat’s attention One beam each went out to Thea and Ace likely to keep them from moving too freely leaving 7 to focus on Randidly Again and again he used Phantom Half Step practically teleporting around the Stagbat slashing and attacking it as best he could keeping it at bay earning its ire

Annie had taken to targeting its eyes aiming to blind it rather than just sinking more arrows into its soft flesh This seemed to set something off in the Stagbat and it began to move around more rapidly often losing its balance when it landed but gaining a huge amount of momentum when it leaped towards its target

Randidly narrowed his eyes With this mobility

But just as Randidly thought it was getting to a dangerous level Ace twirled around his beam dodged first one then two then three more beams seeming to pirouette midair sliding through a small opening matrix style After a quick landing he rushed forward and delivered a dropkick to the Stagbat’s side sending it stumbling

In that small opening where its beams weakened and wandered Randidly hefted his spear and threw it His aim was true and it hit the Stagbat’s right foreleg severing the leg by cracking the bone so that it dangled from its limb only by the flesh

The monster screeched in fury and fell to its knees Above them an Avatar of Alana built on a 2x scale descended like a hammer striking the Stagbat directly in the back crushing the bat face and cracking its spine

Chapter 466

Randidly quickly checked his Stamina and winced when it was barely 300 His constant Phantom Half Steps really started to add up after a while Still the Stagbat was wounded but the Regalias were still in its body With his Aether Detection he could see increasing amounts of power swirling downward filling its veins There wasn’t time to drink a Stamina potion and his rings were out of Stamina

Randidly moved forward quickly pulling a spare spear out of his spatial ring but he wasn’t the first one there Ace was His old friend came quickly unleashing a flurry of blows on the wounded Stagbat It seemed like its body had been almost severed in half by the strike from Alana’s avatar but there was still enough dust in the air to give Randidly a slight suspicion He couldn’t see the exact details of the body but

It seemed it was attempting to scream but the Stagbat simply spewed blood and bile mixed together and then its body blurred smashing Ace backward directly towards Randidly It straightened in an impossibly fluid motion and formed several grey balls and launched the beams at Ace’s flying body

Randidly’s pupils dilated Although Ace’s body was traveling fast it wasn’t so fast that it would be able to outrun beams Meanwhile

Galant Intervention Randidly heard himself saying and the 5 or so meters between him and Ace’s body disappeared in an instant with him arriving at his side As quickly as he was able he grabbed Ace and threw him sideways not bothering to be gentle Ptolemy could take care of the details afterward

As soon as he threw Ace of course those beams of grey energy became visible shooting at him at a speed he couldn’t follow with his naked eye Once twice three times five times Randidly used Phantom Half Step to throw himself backward

But immediately after spamming the Skill it became clear that it wasn’t enough The Stagbat threw itself forward so Randidly wouldn’t be able to avoid it by simply retreating Feeling so close to his limit that his hands were trembling Randidly reached upwards and grabbed at Rose off to the side Half Stepping towards her

Insufficient Stamina

Randidly didn’t even have time for a reaction as his normal connection to Neveah didn’t yield him Stamina even as he had none he just blinked and the beams arrived

He was knocked to the side and then hit the ground Instantly his touch to the ground filled him with energy as his Golden Roots of Yggdrasil kicked into high gear As he looked up he saw Annie streaking in from the side two arrows held in her hands like daggers Before the Stagbat could react she had landed on its back and stabbed downward cutting into the bat’s face

The Stagbat whirled screaming but Thea was there from the front dodging perilously close to a grey beam and had the Stagbat been looking in her direction she would have likely died to it Instead the Stagbat probably was still thinking of the vicious vengeance it would have on Annie while Thea’s hammer crushed the skull of the stag driving the light from its eyes

It swayed then fell to the ground disintegrating into a pool of green liquids and stained fur From that pile the Wild Rider’s Helmet and the Sword of the Skeleton Knight emerged from the antlers and the eye of the bat respectively

Slowly Randidly felt himself standing Then he turned to his left

Chrysanthemum lay there her tongue lolling out of her mouth amusement and teasing clear in her intelligent eyes Her huge body lay on the ground The beam had struck her in her hindquarters when she had bodied Randidly to the side knocking him out of harm’s way in the same way that Randidly had saved Ace

Immediately the hair around the spot where she was hit began to go grey In the second that this had spread to cover all of Chrysanthemum the hair at the initial spot turned white and fell out revealing wrinkled and withering flesh It was somewhat like watching someone pop the bubbles on crust in a pizza shop Randidly thought with a strange impartiality

There was a snap and the skin over the back part of Chrysanthemum’s body just spread away ripped by the passage of time Her huge mass about the size of a van rapidly decreased reducing her to the size of a St Bernard while still being draped in the skin of a van sized bear The front half of her body seemed simply misshapen while the back half seemed to have degenerated like a rotten tomato

Her eyes closing the bear’s head slumped to the ground

Chrysanthemum Thea bellowed realizing almost immediately after the blow landed that something was wrong She sprinted back over towards the bear her eyes wide her breathing ragged even before the Stagbat collapsed to the ground

Randidly stood looking down at Chrysanthemum remembering the good natured amusement that she looked at him right afterward when their eyes met It was as if she was saying No no this is how you protect boy Sometimes strength isn’t enough Sometimes triumph demands sacrifice

Weeping Thea collapsed next to Chrysanthemum It took several seconds but everyone else seemed to free themselves from the strange stasis that they were locked in from Thea’s scream

Ptolemy took two steps towards Thea’s back but then hesitated glanced at Randidly then went to Ace Within 5 seconds Ace sat up shaking his head and then vomited to the side Only then did Ptolemy hurry over to Chrysanthemum

Is she Annie asked the concern in her voice very real

Alive Thea managed to choke out around sobs But

At that point Ptolemy arrived placing his hands on Chrysanthemum’s side hairs falling out and skin flaking away immediately Randidly shook his head and moved to stand next to them peering closely with Aether detection

To Lucretia he asked Do you think an Aether Donation

There is more to life than Aether I suspect Lucretia said Then after a pause she said When you finish here I have news Big news about the Creature No immediate danger

Randidly had the sudden impulsive urge to lash out at Lucretia then for seeming to imply that Chrysanthemum would soon die but he reigned that in barely Instead he watched carefully as Ptolemy used his Skills to examine her feeding Aether to them both even though Lucretia seemed to think it wouldn’t help

Ptolemy opened his eyes his face solemn But before he could speak he was interrupted by a notification

Congratulations You have defeated 9)( )32092(warning unexpected error) the Boss of this Raid Dungeon As such you have freed your Zone from the Tyranny of the Raid Dungeon and Aether shall be abundant in your Zone In addition another rare natural occurrence shall be created within the new expanded confines of your Zone

As you have defeated the Boss all of its treasure behind its throne room is yours In addition you may use the Key of Death to clear the Dungeon from any point You need not be at a Cathedral to use it

Everyone examined the notification mutely and then Randidly said Before I came up I found the treasures I think it is talking about it We can handle that after

Randidly’s gaze turned to Ptolemy and everyone else mimicked him gazing at their healer wondering if a miracle was possible But at the same time everyone knew based on the sad solemn look on Ptolemy’s face no salvation was coming

As Ptolemy opened his mouth Randidly remembered scant months ago meeting Chrysanthemum in that field while he was traveling with Simon She was only a normal size for a bear at that point and she had come into their field of view shyly perhaps long used to rather fearful reactions from people

When he saw the bear in a very human way raising its emotional defenses by acting standoffish Randidly felt a profound sadness and empathy for the creature And instead of being afraid he grinned and stepped forward lowering himself into a sparring stance She gazed at him curiously still aloof

He ran forward and forcibly bowled her over using his superior Strength

Then they had just played Cautiously at first then rougher and more freely Chrysanthemum had crashed into him and swiped playfully at his head After proving his toughness she was more than willing to rough house with him losing herself and just being a bear for the first time in a while

Now Randidly watched as Ptolemy confirmed his fears There There aren’t any wounds It’s just like the body is giving up on itself Like it has lived too long

Let’s take her out of this place Randidly said warily pulling the Key of Death out of his spatial ring No one said anything and the group congregated around Thea so he activated it The group disappeared and a wave spread outwards eradicating any stragglers remaining This Dungeon was just a tool and the monsters grown here meant nothing to the System

When they had outlived their usefulness they would be replaced

Chapter 467

Simon held his hand up to his eyes shading some of the sun’s harsh rays It had been over an hour now since the group had gone into the Raid Dungeon and Simon was a nervous wreck Because even with his Class of the Dreamer there was nothing that he could do to penetrate through the temporal differences to see what was going on within the Raid Dungeon

In fact it was only through a supreme act of will that Simon was able to tear his focus away from the Raid Dungeon But based on what the difference in time was it was possible that the group would take a day or two of real world time to finish the Dungeon Even that was dependent on the performance of the Dungeon divers which Simon didn’t doubt but they had no way of knowing how difficult it would be how many challenges would be arrayed before them

Sighing Simon left his room and walked outside vaguely intending to tend to the garden In the end he simply took the watering pale and sat next to the garden his arms wrapping around his legs pressing his eyes tightly shut While he was so deprived of his sight he did his best to ignore the humming presence of his Astral power and focused instead on the sounds around him A squirrel climbing up a tree the drone of bugs his own breath

As he did so the knot of tension in his neck slowly eased flowing out of him into the ground beneath him There was something profoundly healing about the world Simon reflected to himself It was almost as if compared to the great weights the planet bore their small woes and stresses were so minuscule they could be absorbed without noticeable difference Very quickly Simon’s breathing had eased to the point he could lean back and feel the warmth of the sun on his skin

“It just it sucks being left behind ” Simon whispered to the air He was currently living with his mom in Star Crossing and due to her high standing and also Simon’s their house was about a half mile out of town upon a high hill that gave a good vantage point for the surrounding territory

In a post System world a half mile wasn’t so far that sprinting help couldn’t arrive in time to help handle emergencies but it was far enough that the bustle of the city fell away Plus with rumblings out of Franksburg of development of an electrical grid and a fuel substitute their tiny suburb on the hill might soon be seen as all too close to the noises of the city

Even with the rising threat of doom should the Raid Dungeon team fail by and large no one below the upper levels of the VIllage’s Administrations noticed Or at least the people gossipped and talked about it but never really doubted that their heroes would succeed

Simon pressed his eyes shut It had been hard these past few weeks to listen to so many people praising Thea for her bravery and power They talked about how she was from a relatively common Class as far as the Raid Dungeon party went and still was able to stand among them as equals due to hard work and determination Every time someone talked about her Simon felt a hand grip his heart to the point he simply ached all other emotions driven away To think that now she was out of his ability to assist or understand

Tensing his entire body Simon hissed “I’m so weak All I could do was watch as they left and now not even “

He trailed off unsure of what to say As his thoughts always did when faced with the question of how to become stronger Simon’s thoughts turned towards David The Ghosthound The man who more than anyone else had gotten to where he was due to hard work and determination

Oh Simon didn’t deny that Thea’s recent emergence was due to those same traits but he was likely the only person who realized that Thea’s emergence coincided with meeting the Ghosthound and watching how he mercilessly drove himself forward always pushing harder farther faster He was a man that lived under a dreadful weight At this point Simon wondered if the Ghosthound could stop pushing or would the sheer momentum of him continue to drive him farther and farther from the rest of humanity

Simon had trained his Skills but he wasn’t as exacting as he knew he would have to be to move among the highest level of Classers When he grew tired Simon didn’t want to push even further he simply wanted to stop and rest Of course he wasn’t going to baby himself up to that point but everyone he had talked to had told him that any work that he would put in after that moment he sincerely believed he couldn’t go on any longer was just as valuable if not more so than all the work that came before that Therefore those that could push past the weariness were getting in double the work as those who couldn’t

These principles were derived from pre System exercise science of course but all the experts agreed that post System Skills improved for a lot of the same reasons that muscles did previously It simply left Simon exhausted feeling like a vast gulf was opening between himself and others even with the rarity of his Class That space between himself and the Ghosthound was a given but now it was surely between himself and Thea

Simon spun around jumping up to his feet in response to the sudden sound The broken body of the bird that had slammed into the glass window seemed glued to the impact zone the thin crack holding it in a vengeful grip But then the moment passed and the body tumbled down and settled into the bushes next to the house

Letting out a breath Simon muttered “Fuck this ” and closed his eyes He reached for his Astral power and his awareness spread rapidly outward

He could feel how in the living room his Soulbound companion got to his feet shaking his oxen head in displeasure It was very clear that his friend did not look kindly on him giving in to temptation so quickly but Simon didn’t care about that now he simply let himself get lost in the teleportation allowing his perceptions to shoot off across the horizon scanning quickly

Simon blinked and then his smile split his face widely They were back

The Raid Dungeon party was there looking considerably the worse for wear even the Ghosthound His once fearsome cloak of bones now truly looked like something that had been kept in a crypt for 100 years crisscrossed with broken bones and holes

In fact

The longer Simon looked at the group the more his smile faded away Something was definitely wrong The group’s faces were grim and said There was very little talking and most of it was the Ghosthound speaking quietly to Rose and Alana while the whole group was very specifically not looking at

Thea

Kneeling on the ground next to Chrysanthemum

The urge to vomit was so strong that Simon was knocked out of his trance brought back to standing in front of his and his mom’s garden His vomit was acidic and yellow as he spewed it over the ground and he took several long seconds to blink away his tears and regard the stomach liquid he had produced It seemed so chemical so foreign so far from how he would describe himself even his most inner workings So close to being something other

Shivering Simon closed his eyes and looked at Chrysanthemum again Her hair had fallen out and her skin was coming off in large flakes She seemed to be some sort of rotten fruit lumpy yet soft unnaturally shaped her previously strong bulk now emptied like a spent water balloon

Gently Thea stroked Chrysanthemum whispering something that not even Simon’s Astral ears could hear Out of habit he had formed a small Astral Projection of a bird but he let that dissipate hoping that no one had noticed Simon’s thoughts were bouncing around his head violent and strange and he couldn’t deal with the Ghosthound turning his baleful green eyes to him issuing some order

Simon needed time to understand what had happened

Next to Thea’s body there lay a sword and an antlered helmet which he recognized as the Regalias of the Champions At least they had accomplished that goal And as suddenly as he had thought of goals there was a flicker from the Dungeon behind the group a burst of golden light and a notification appeared in Simon’s vision

Congratulations Zone 32 Your strongest warriors have cleared the Raid Dungeon The ambient energy in the air will be increased to 1 5x previous levels In addition the Raid Dungeon will remain a powerful Dungeon with great rewards in its depths Continue to defeat this Dungeon and you will perhaps discover hidden secrets

Due to the victory the area of Zone 32 will be increased by an extra 50 miles in each direction Warning when this planet entered into the System some smaller portions were frozen in time Some humans might be contained within these areas However the monsters in the new area will be between Level 35 and Level 45 so act quickly Those areas will open tomorrow

Contained in the new areas will also be an additional Rare natural treasure due to being the 2nd group to clear the Raid Dungeon on your planet and the 5th in your Cohort All humans born in your Zone will receive an extra +5 to all Stats while within your Zone

In 6 months your Zone 32 will be connected to the New Earth The New Earth will be composed of resource rich Danger Fields and other Zones that have cleared their Raid Dungeon Each Danger Field will produce powerful spawn unless the Field Boss is defeated once every 6 months Each Zone that joins the New Earth will cause 2 Danger Fields to connect to the New Earth

In the next 6 months prepare because once the New Earth has 7 Zones the System will progress to the testing stage Beware humans A Calamity approaches

Chapter 468

Randidly swore with such passion that Astral Simon jumped to the side moving his attention a bit farther away from the group Thea heedless continued to cry next to the weird rotten remnants of Chrysanthemum

Simon felt somewhat cold for feeling that way but

Will there be enough people to mount a rescue Rose wondered aloud We need to move fast either way Get people at the borders

I’ve no doubt Mrs Hamilton is moving Squads as we speak Alana grunted

Randidly nodded his face dark his eyes intensely focused He seemed somewhat preoccupied but Simon watched as he forcibly relaxed then shook his head somewhat helplessly He gestured to the group and they moved somewhat away from Thea giving her some privacy

After they moved far enough away that her sobs were no longer audible the Ghosthound turned and regarded the others his gaze sharp I would like to say something to you all before we part and begin dealing with the many problems that the days will brings Especially those of you I am not very familiar with

Simon regarded the group Aside from the Ghosthound there was Alana Annie Clarissa and Ptolemy from Donnyton Rose and Dauntless from the Refuge although right now Dauntless looked rather lost simply following the Ghosthound with wide eyes Lucifer from Franksburg Finally Drake from East End

Especially the four from other Villages regarded the Ghosthound coolly Rose especially looking like his tone set her teeth on edge Apparently noticing the reaction the Ghosthound raised a hand Relax it’s nothing like there are no real threats here Just

Pausing the Ghosthound turned and looked towards the sky I just wanted you all to understand how your lives will change after this

It might be different for some of you but you are about to go back to an old life after you’ve been pushed to the edge of death constantly for a month That may seem like a short amount of time And truly it is But in the time between who you were prior and who you are now there was a moment perhaps multiple where you neared your limits and expected to die Yet you did not

Think of that as a marker you have left yourself One that if you continue to train and hone your Skills you can use to propel yourself to greater heights It is unadulterated power to know how far you are capable of going A power and a deathly certainty that others won’t have That certainly will give you an advantage in every aspect of your life as long as you don’t lose your way Don’t underestimate the power of what you have experienced

The second thing I would like to point out although you won’t realize it yet is that your standards have shifted greatly You might say again it has only been a month So I ask you which of you would fear an ambush from a Raid Boss at the moment Tier III with time to spawn lieutenants Who believes that we wouldn’t be able to sweep it away like wind through dried leaves

No one said anything just standing there staring at the Ghosthound On the faces of a few Alana and Rose especially were faces of confusion wondering perhaps where the Ghosthound was going with this sudden monologue

The Ghosthound continued saying And even if you were alone who believes they wouldn’t be able to escape Who here would be flustered by sudden attacks or numbers and lose sight of the larger picture Who doubts for a second that under fair odds they would be victorious against these common enemies

No one said anything but Rose raised her hand the corner of her mouth twisted upwards in a smirk The Ghosthound chuckled and then continued

You will know more fully what I mean when you get back When everyone talks of training and of small slights between each other and of the pettiness of living in close proximity with other humans Which leads me to my third and final point without a doubt we here are the group of the most powerful people in our Zone likely on Earth

Simon shivered feeling extremely out of place among this crew The Ghosthound had a point Although Simon wasn’t sure what these people had gone through all their armor was scarred but their faces were even and direct Their gaze were bright and determined Now that it was pointed out to him he could sense from them all a wonderful feeling of certainty To someone like Simon who always doubted himself

It was like poking a million tiny holes in a balloon at night and it silently collapsed in on itself

Let me tell you it is not what you are expecting It is lonely at the top ’ is a true sentiment in a lot of ways The Ghosthound looked down at his hand speculatively then flexed it It likely sounds trite to hear it now but when people look at you they will no longer see you They will no longer see your names or identity No more than anything else at the forefront of people’s minds will be your deeds and from these impressive acts they will form their opinion of you

To be eternally defined by your glory rather than self is to realize that to all others you are frozen The Ghosthound said softly looking at the ground now And that unless your glory has risen even higher you cannot move forward You will have lost yourself in your past and see your sense of self dissipate like a mirage in the desert

Abruptly the Ghosthound looked up grinning at them Of course you are also the most powerful people currently so there are also benefits But don’t let your power blind you to the dangers of possessing it

You Rose said Then she laughed shaking her head That was an impassioned speech I’m honestly surprised at you Randidly I didn’t know you were the sentimental type

Of all reactions the Ghosthound blushed The rest of the group laughed somewhat although it was a muted reaction as it appeared that some of them hadn’t forgotten of Thea’s continued pain

Simon couldn’t cry in his Astral form but if he could have rivers would have worn wide grooves on his cheeks His Astral form had kept his senses sharp so even from this distance the sobs from Thea were just audible deep sounds full of anguish Even hearing them Simon could feel the edges of himself fraying away somewhat and that hand around his heart was squeezing so hard that there was nothing but the pounding and the pressure in his chest

You are You are so Simon wanted to say something hurl an insult at the Ghosthound in this undetectable Astral form but he couldn’t bring himself to do it

Privileged that’s the word he finished lamely scrounging for something more satisfactory but the more he thought about it the more furious Simon became Because the Ghosthound hadn’t started with this he had worked for it He had changed himself over and over again until he was unrecognizable to those who had known him previously

The man no the force of nature Simon looked at now fresh from a victory in the Raid Dungeon was far from the wounded man that Simon had nursed back to health And that even proved the Ghosthound’s point didn’t it That these powerful individuals were changed so much that their perspectives were far warped from that of the average people

They could no longer be bothered by the squabbles of those without power They couldn’t be bothered to stay with Thea and mourn with her sharing in her pain even though it was obvious that Chrysanthemum had been a part of their team They couldn’t

Simon became too choked up to continue that train of thought and just clenched his Astral body as hard as he could causing himself great mental pain but feeling strangely invigorated by it

If I If I could be like you Simon whispered If I could push myself that hard just a bit further and grasp power in my own hands I

Simon paused Because suddenly he was struck by a thought A method to power that others had talked about while he had been monitoring them with his Astral form

Immediately he pushed the thought away or tried to But that part of Simon that revelled in the pain just giggled somewhat and reached out and latched onto that thought Part of the path to power was the willingness to grab it

The Ghosthound taught him that

So without thinking about the consequences Simon created an Astral Projection next to Thea She didn’t even look up so he had time to work sculpting his body in exacting detail This new raw Simon took a sick pleasure in making sure every one of his flaws was displayed in plain view His thin arms his pudgy belly his crooked nose and his greasy hair

And when he was done he walked forward and patted Thea on the back I’m sorry for your loss I’m sorry for a lot of things But I have to do this don’t I So I don’t so we don’t

She didn’t even answer she simply continued to cry

Somewhat expecting this reaction Simon didn’t become emotional Something larger than emotions had taken over him So he simply sighed and said I promise I will protect you Thea

And then Simon reached down and grasped the discarded Regalias

Chapter 469

Randidly spun around right before he was going to crack a joke at Rose’s expense as the only individual here worthless in combat But before he could finish a flash of power pulled his attention back towards the Dungeon

There was a flash and swirl of Aether causing his eyes to widen Could the Creature

Definitely not based on the memories we recovered Lucretia cut in but that doesn’t mean it isn’t a sign of trouble

Memories Randidly blinked several times Then he did his best to put it out of his mind as he moved back over towards the front of the Dungeon where Thea still sat crying

Where he had left the two Regalia feeling rather awkward about walking over next to Thea and picking them up while she was so seized by grief Inwardly Randidly cursed himself for not just putting them into his spatial ring but he had felt

Everything had happened so fast the end of the fight Chrysanthemum using her body to protect him returning to the world Randidly was lost in some of his personal grief and had let things slip a bit He had even forgotten to lock down the Regalia and instead went off with the rest of the group trying to prep them for the emotional toll that strength would have on them

What the fuck sorta move was that

Randidly stopped up short somewhat stunned when he returned to Thea’s location She seemed to still be on the ground sobbing without any bit of attention spared to the tornado of Aether next to her The sword and the helmet were gone swirling until they were simply two motes of light rapidly rotating in a circle There was something at the center of that energy but it wasn’t anything that he could detect

Even his Aether Detection only managed to catch a sniff of it What was

Then Randidly realized what was going on and his shoulders slumped downwards The motes of light spun until they reached a speed at which they transformed into bands of light that then sunk into that being in the center of the tornado A notification popped up confirming Randidly’s worst fears

After trial and strife a Champion has emerged in your Zone the Eternal Dreamer You may pledge to the Eternal Dreamer in order to gain the Skill Lesser Illusion Skills gained from previous Champions may be retrained but will be lost upon pledging to the current Champion Abilities relating to Scrying Fortune Telling and Illusions will be easier to learn for those originally from Zone 32 While in the area of Zone 32 Skills relating to Scrying Fortune Telling and Illusions will Level more quickly Now that a Champion has been selected be on the lookout for special related quests

The Aether settled revealing a small bird floating in mid air Compared to the previous iterations this bird seemed to pulse with power its body possessing a level of detail that was not comparable to how it was before It fluttered its wings and hopped moving naturally and Randidly wasn’t able to tell that it was a fake aside from its sudden appearance

Still Randidly swore aloud Of all things a Champion related to illusions and scrying

You spoiled brat That wasn’t your decision to make

There was no reply from the bird but very quickly it hopped over to Thea and landed on her shoulder It raised its head and began to sing and instantly the sky darkened White petals fell from the sky in something akin to a blizzard Heedless Thea sobbed on her fingers tight on Chrysanthemum’s fur

It only occurred to Randidly now but if he had made Ptolemy the Champion or even Regina Northwind back in Donnyton perhaps

But no Chrysanthemum was nearing the end of her life Healing healing could only do so much

It was pretty this display but that was all it was Randidly fervently hoped that this prick would learn to use the Skill he had usurped to a much more efficient degree Without a word Randidly turned and walked away as Chrysanthemum’s chest fluttered one last time and then stilled while the petals continued to fall down around them

Very quickly the group arrived back at Star Crossing Some of them had given Randidly looks likely in response to the naming of Simon as a Champion but his visage apparently conveyed his opinion on the matter well enough that no one even Ace asked There the group parted Ace and Rose back to the Refuge Drake back to East End while Lucifer came with them to teleport back to Donnyton

Before he went Randidly gave a long look towards the source of a pulsating sphere of Aether on a nearby hill Likely Simon was there even now experimenting with his new power or performing minor parlor tricks for Thea in order to cheer her up

Randidly’s hands tightened into fists Was that was this really what they had struggled in the Dungeon to recover

A rational part of Randidly could understand the way these abilities could be useful but that part was just swept away by a vengeful rage Part of the reason he had departed so quickly even while Thea remained was that he couldn’t trust himself not to tear into Simon had he remained Randidly wasn’t sure how powerful Simon had become post transformation but he was likely at a similar level to the prior Champions

Which were a bit lower in power than Randidly prior to him entering the Raid Dungeon And Simon was primarily focused on Illusions

Randidly had no doubt that he could track him down and rip out the foolish kid’s throat but he wasn’t sure that he could assign the Champion status to someone else What if his act killed the Champion position permanently

There was also the fact that he was planning on murdering a kid who was just a teenager which made Randidly sullen and bitter more than anything No right now was not the time to make any decisions Better to head back to Donnyton as quickly as possible check in on Neveah inform Mrs Hamilton and Co what he had learned in the Raid Dungeon

Memories

It looked like Star Crossing was throwing together a celebration but Randidly blew past their council with only the barest excuses He wasn’t in the mood

When they returned to Donnyton he immediately launched himself at full speed in the air throwing himself out of the teleporter area and into the treeline Instantly he accelerated as fast as he possibly could not caring about how he physically tore through the terrain with the force of his passage Instead he simply made a beeline North and East shooting towards Neveah

As soon as he had arrived back on Earth he had felt the energy he had gained from growing in Levels coiling and growing then slamming into the strangely suspended form of Neveah’s soul Even now Aether flowed into her revitalizing her in some necessary way Whatever changes that Randidly had caused in Neveah due to gaining a Class this burst of energy catalyzed it and they continued at hyper speed

Fueled by the flood of energy he could feel her body reforming forcefully now rather than the gradual process it had been before

So many things had changed in the Raid Dungeon and Randidly hadn’t even dipped his toe in understanding everything he knew now Those memories would have to wait no matter how curious he was Without Neveah the Raid Dungeon had been a constant struggle Her presence at his side would make similar challenges appear like child’s play

He arrived at the crevasse she had fallen into and was surprised to find someone else there cooking a meal of fish over a small fire The man seeing Randidly blinked and leaped to his feet Immediately Randidly’s eyes refocused and he recognized the man it was the friend of Kayle and Paolo Dinesh The slender Indian man blinked for a few seconds then bowed hurriedly

Randidly opened his mouth to ask why he was here but the ground rumbled Through their bond Randidly could feel that Neveah was stirring the short sharp twitches of someone who was about to wake

Instead of speaking Randidly blew past him heading to the edge of the hole Below he could see twisting and cracking bones and a thick mist made from condensed Aether The mist seemed to pulse with Neveah’s breath moving slowly rising and falling rising and falling

Neveah Randidly thought towards her along the lines of their bond

There was stillness and then the rumbling intensified The pull of Aether grew until it seemed that Neveah’s transformation began to occur so quickly it lost sight of itself Cracks rang out of the ground bits of bone and rock ground to dust as the different sections below pulsed and shifted seeking a final resting place

Is this good Dinesh asked his face pale

Randidly said nothing

After 15 minutes of the constantly increasing cracking noises there was a crescendo a low rumbling happening concurrently with high sharp cracks Then there was silence Within the crevasse there was only stillness Then a handmade entirely of bone reached out and dragged a body behind it

Randidly chuckled as Neveah slowly and ponderously clambered out of her resting place even while Dinesh became increasingly nervous She had certainly lost quite a bit of her size but Randidly didn’t mind that so much He could already sense how the changes would make her more powerful overall even if she didn’t retain the same overwhelming momentum that she could have previously

Neveah had shifted from being a thick worm on the ground to a more humanoid form about 2 5 meters tall But in terms of humanoid it was much closer to a lizardman than a human Her legs were thick and powerful soft grey flesh covered in a thick armor of bones The torso was elongated and from the back there was a powerful tail extending perhaps three times the length of the torso itself

Her arms were relatively thinner but they were tipped with gleaming daggers of bone From her back stretched two wings made entirely of bone and Randidly doubted that they possessed the requisite lift for flight but they undoubtedly be a powerful weapon in a close range fight

Perhaps the most stunning change or lack of one was Neveah’s face Because instead of a humanoid face she retained the same face of the bone wyrm possessing cold black eyes over a circular maw of a mouth that was lined with sharp teeth

Ran d I back Neveah said her mouth twisting in glee Dinesh excused himself and fled the area rapidly

Chapter 470

Drake looked around at the surrounding 20 men and women the cream of East End as they smiled cockily at him

You really want to fight us all at once Zither said his smile long and lazy on his face

Drake nodded solemnly his eyes scanning the group around him At first he wasn’t sure what to make of the Ghosthound’s strange speech about power When Sydney appeared to be sleeping when Drake returned he decided to check to see how much of it was true

Even now as he looked at those around him he noticed the way they were standing with two of them close enough to Drake that should he attack suddenly they would likely be dead before the true fighting started It was an easy thing Drake supposed not to understand implicitly the range of a lunging man with a sword or of a monster with claws but it was something that he would see corrected regardless of their performance against him in a group

Fine fine but do you want a half hour to get your Bone Armor ready Zither asked casually moving to a peg on the wall to get training gear and a wooden sword to practice with

Grimacing Drake pressed down using every ounce of Willpower to accelerate the process Around him out of his pores liquid bone flowed joining together and shaping itself almost instantly forming gauntlets greaves pauldrons and a helmet Within 30 seconds Drake’s entire body was covered in the Bone Armor and he let out a long breath The 20 guards were frozen regarding him with shock

He supposed he shouldn’t feel too smug most of this simply had to do with having higher Stats But Drake couldn’t deny that using the Skill day after day as a defense against death had sharpened his utilization to heights he would have previously considered impossible

No need Drake said simply drawing his great sword of bone And don’t bother with putting the gear on I will leave you in one piece I will attack in 10 seconds Ready yourselves

Neveah delighted in her new body but it was relatively easy for Randidly to tear her away from experimentation and towards his inner world where Lucretia waited Neveah seemed determined that after this however they would head into Donnyton now that she looked like a people’ Randidly wasn’t sure how he could break it to her that she in fact didn’t look much like a person at all so he said nothing

If anything her transformation made her look more fearsome as the Bone Wyrm head was pasted onto a vaguely humanoid body But it was true that her size enabled her to move through most human doors which had hitherto been taboo as she could only shatter them not go through them

They found Lucretia floating in the sky above Randidly’s Soul Skill When the Monster King had sacrificed his life he had severely damaged the Creature and her minions had lost their guidance often attacking each other This allowed the allied armies to crush the remnants driving them away

Even now below their floating forms the people were beginning to rebuild fixing all the damage that the Skin Shifters and then the army that had followed had caused Even without the Monster King the monsters stayed in line for the rebuilding efforts the wolf woman monster leading them to assist It would only last for a few more weeks as previously agreed but for now there was peace in his Soul

There was more than peace however there was a transformation that would occur Randidly could sense once he had time to think it through and shape it But for now he turned his attention to Lucretia

You’ve looked through the memories already He asked

She nodded Some of them But they are messy and fragmented so it’s hard The Thief gathered them as consistently as she could but she didn’t want to stay in that place long Not while the Monster King’s body watched her she said She did however bring the body back with her

Randidly didn’t know what to say to that He felt profoundly responsible for his death in a way he never had before He had killed sure but he had never convinced someone else that it was worth it to die for him Well perhaps he had done that to all of his Soul Skill But with the Monster King the convincing was a very personal thing Randidly had come down and spoken to him given him the tools he needed to carry out the task of burning the Creature from the inside out