The first stop of every hunter was the administration block inside the massive fortress. Situated on the ground floor, informing the strategists and staff was the priority, and Lev was no exception to the rule.
He did, however, ignore everyone in favor of knocking on Grand Strategist Wayne’s office door. Taking a step back, he waited politely, though the doors swung open by themselves after a single second.
“Hunter Lev,” the man greeted. Lev took a moment to observe the Grand Strategist. Immaculately combed hair, pristine clothes, and not a speck of tiredness or doubt present in the man’s posture. Someone who took their job seriously and was damn good at it.
“Grand Strategist,” Lev nodded, taking a seat when prompted. “Are there any routes available for me to patrol?”
The man cracked a small smile. “When are there not? Look here…”
Over the next ten minutes, Lev caught up on all the most dangerous routes and what to expect during them. Maps appeared on the table, two of them containing all the underground passages, and one of them even highlighting the recent flight paths of avian monsters. Naturally, no one did anything more than just observe those.
Throughout the discussion, neither brought up his sudden reappearance, nor why on that specific day. That was one of the major reasons why Grand Strategist Wayne had earned his respect. The man knew not to pry, and yet he was still always prepared for unexpected variables.
“Two matters have remained troubling,” the strategist began when Lev’s routes had been mapped out. “First, monsters are appearing from the Southwest and South. Second, storm monsters still linger around the forts, and the second’s construction is being affected by the lack of personnel and relatively low number of deaths.”
“Should I go support the second fort?”
“Do you wish to?”
“No,” Lev replied without hesitation.
Wayne nodded, as if expecting that. “Then you should stick to the two sets of routes I mentioned. The monsters around those parts might pose some issues for most parties, but with your mana pool and glaive, they are easy pickings.”
For another few seconds, Lev scanned the map thoroughly. The routes were rather simple. Two underground, requiring no more than ten minutes of traveling each inside his bubble, and four of them above ground.
Simple enough, he thought to himself, getting up to leave.
“One more thing,” the strategist called out before he could exit the office. “Expect a visit from the Runic Warlord.”
“… Alright.”
Head now filled with all the possibilities for Drakys to visit him, Lev made his way outside the fortress. Hundreds of people were present in the entrance hall, each walking around with purpose, except the two pairs flirting in the corner. That was a good way to pass the time until they were called, he supposed.
Beatrice wasn’t anywhere to be seen, but she knew where his bubble was going to be. He instead focused on his surroundings, specifically the gazes directed his way.
Now that he was getting way more publicity, courtesy of being in a rather small group far away from the walls, it was impossible to go unnoticed. Not that he did before, not with his armor and blue eyes, though now, people actively stared.
And, channeling his inner Exalted, or perhaps he just looked up to them, he ignored all the looks. None of them felt malicious anyway, so just focusing on his own task was manageable.
Getting to the corner of the walls, he made the hovering bubble descend and turn visible. Sending his senses through its structure, he activated Flameforged Constitution and streamed lightning mana into a few orbs treated to store the element.
Cannons atop the construct were also roused. Passive and supportive enchantments were filled first, further empowered by his willpower for a steady supply of his regeneration.
During that short moment, he also observed the resonance of runes. Now that he could actually notice such things, Lev could tell just how barebones the cannons were. Simply shaping fire and launching it using a specific formation as a crutch wasn’t the ideal way to go about it.
More things to deal with later, he mused, taking notes in the back of his mind. Should I focus more on kinetic enchantments?
Taking a step away from fire and lightning seemed beneficial, given the sheer potential at his fingertips that he never utilized. Enchantments were only one part of the puzzle.
The two new elements he wanted to dive deep into were air and kinetic. If his hunch wasn’t incorrect, he already knew how to detect kinetic energy properly. So far, it stood out to his senses like a reserve borne of enchantments, nothing as readily apparent as lightning or fire mana.
His Mana Perception didn’t help much in controlling kinetic energy. It was his connection with barriers that let him guide the force of excitement, channeling it through the material and enchantments.
First things first, he took a deep breath and summoned Stargazer. Without creating a blade, he sent his willpower through the barrier threads embedded inside the pole, snaking through channels specifically built for that task. It allowed for easier manipulation and handling by grabbing those threads.
Immediately, a world of veiled runes opened up to him. Like the hundreds of attempts before, he didn’t even entertain the thought of trying to circumvent the concealments and instead looked for any buttons or switches.
Sherron had once told him there should be a surprise hidden inside the glaive, and so far, nothing he had tried yielded any clues about it. Willpower was also not the key as he had suspected, so, regretfully, he stored the glaive again. There would be time to divert his focus towards her later.
Inside the bubble, Lev sat in his driver’s seat and waited. It took nearly half an hour for Beatrice to arrive. Her steps were more determined now, though her gaze was intense, not at all weakened by the helmet of powered armor she was wearing.
“Almost ten groups stopped me to ask about you,” she complained the moment she entered. “Did you really fight a fourth-threshold monster? What level are you? How did you escape? Is it true that the armor is an Upper Epic item? Why is Hunter Lev not a part of a team? Is he the tournament winner? The questions were quite literally ceaseless.”
Lev stayed quiet, mentally saluting her. At least the same people were too scared to approach the solo Master who escaped a fourth-threshold creature.
Small blessings.
“Our routes are quite simple,” he voiced after the bubble flew out of the fort’s territory, ascending for hundreds of meters while going completely invisible. “There has been an uptick of monsters in the South, so that’s where we will act as a wall.”
“Did Sir Wayne explain more?” she questioned, eyes already glued to the horizon. Lev was the same, unable to stop himself from constantly scanning the skies.
“No, he doesn’t seem to be aware of the cause either. To the Southwest are the Dreadwoods, so maybe something happened there? The regions between that forest and the forts aren’t exactly well-known to the public.”
Lightning surge was powered up for over a minute, this time with way more care than the last use. An extensive formation handled all of the lightning mana, connected itself to the bubble’s driving formation, and prepared for instantaneous acceleration.
“Get comfortable,” he glanced at Beatrice. She did as told, yelping a little when a belt strapped her to the chair.
“Lev?”
“Don’t worry, we’re just going to accelerate a little.”
“A little doesn’t warrant this-”
Her words were lost to the immense sound of their jump. The bubble’s structure handled the relatively low power surge with ease, though the world around them still turned blue from the mana leakage, too much for him to control in its entirety.
For a minute, a blue streak tore through the air. A tenth of Lev’s mana was utilized to cover more than a dozen kilometers. When it ground to a stop, he opened his eyes, then descended.
Bringing out an advanced communication tablet, he pinged the nearest relay point, noting its designated identification number. They were almost at their destination.
“Can you not?” his partner huffed. “Also, why was it so much smoother this time?”
“We were barely going at a third of the speed,” Lev exhaled through his nose. “And we’re also not fighting for our lives, and I’m not bleeding to death.”
“The ant was a scary motherfucker.”
He blinked, surprised by the random curse. “It was, but I was also unprepared for such an enemy. Next time will be different.”
Down below, they reached their destination. It was an underground construct, covered in runes meant solely to transfer mana packets and also send out encrypted pulses to guide travelers.
That marked the starting point of his first route, and it immediately became obvious why he was assigned this one. Not even ten seconds later, a small horde of orcs became visible on the horizon, arriving from the West.
“Do you see them?” Lev asked, getting a nod. “Do you know what’s in that direction?”
“Within a hundred kilometers? Nothing much. Just plains and a few hills.”
Huh, so just a random group of monsters?
That was way more likely, though Lev’s mind wasn’t willing to bet on safer options. Regardless, he wasn’t unhappy to see the monsters. Orcs were a bit too weak for his liking, but they would do for the tests he had planned.
Focusing on the construct reserves, he brought forth a shieldwall. It was a giant thing, more than half as tall as his currently massive bubble. One strong second-threshold core kept all of its enchantments active, and a sap treamtent ensured that it was ready to face third-threshold monsters.
Lev focused on its surface. Both sides of it were primed to absorb impacts, so he created a thick layer atop the whole construct. Now around 20% bigger than before, he sent a bit of willpower into the shieldwall’s enchantments.
A peaceful yet strong resonance greeted him. All runes worked well in tandem, providing a minor boost to everything. Tweaking those runes, he connected the durability formations to the new layer.
That was all he did. Without messing with the runes further, and after confirming that the new layer was also enchanted, he instead focused on his element. Barriers became softer until a bit of elasticity found its way inside the new layer.
“Buff?” Beatrice asked, unaware of the experiment taking place.
“No need,” Lev answered, turning the shieldwall around. “Want me to explain?”
“Sure, I guess.”
How very enthusiastic, he snorted.
“Basically, you know how ripples spread on water when the surface is broken?”
“Yes?” she replied, confused.
“I wanted to see if I could replicate that effect by making my barriers softer without compromising durability too much, and if that helps me absorb kinetic energy better.”
Beatrice tilted her head slightly, gears visibly spinning in her head. “So… you want to see if the absorption is more effective when the force behind attacks is spread over a wider area? Like when the ripples cover the whole front of the shield instead of the force just dissipating or going deeper on the point of impact?”
“Correct.”
“Why not test with those handcannons of yours? Do you not have them?”
Hmm, that’s a good idea.
Lev raised his right palm. The shape of a Galecannon took form atop it in just a few seconds. Recalling the full formations in his head, he made use of his new skill, Augmented Carving.
Willpower infused the unenchanted barrier shape. Some of it was expended, and the effect was immediate. Runes appeared by the dozens, most of the arrayed neatly along the long barrel’s length.
A few seconds later, a finished product rested in his hands.
[
Galecannon - Rare
]
The orcs were about to reach the bubble at that point. Exchanging a look with Beatrice, Lev jumped out of the construct, landing on the ground without problem. The armor absorbed most of the impact.
Before the orcs could come within striking distance, the modified shieldwall thudded into the ground in front of him. It was lodged firmly, ready for a beatdown.
Lev didn’t summon Stargazer. Powering up his armor’s enchantments, he rolled his shoulders and prepared his fists. The first orc that reached him got a fistful of barrier armor.
Teeth and blood as a result. It took much more effort than the punch to hold himself back and not kill the monster, though Identify revealed why.
[Orc - Level 109]
How long has it been since I last saw monsters below level 150? Lev thought to himself, straining his Perception. Rare to see them out in the open.
Next to him, a few of the monsters were attacking the shieldwall. All of his senses were focused on those impacts and the effects of the modifications.
The results were… mixed. On one hand, the shield rippled ever so slightly, not showing any signs of strain. A bit more force than expected was absorbed as well, which marked a good start.
On the other hand, the monsters were far too weak. Each attack barely packed any power, providing the shield with little to absorb.
Shaking his head, he took a step back, avoiding a straight punch and lashing back with a kick. The orc’s head flew off its shoulders, half of it destroyed on impact.
Several more of the monsters tried to pin him down. With growing amusement, he grabbed their limbs and just tossed them around, easily avoiding their slow grabs and lunges.
Well, this is surprisingly fun-
A hit of panic reached him from the bubble. Lev’s aura surged out, immediately identifying the threat high above. Plates formed in his manipulation range, extending into spikes and killing a hundred orcs in a blink. Mana surged into the cannons atop his bubble, tearing through his limbs and causing internal bleeding.
The first fired immediately after, buying time and-
[
You have slain [Mature Harpy - Level 330]
]
He sighed, the world slowly coming into focus again. It was just a harpy, a weak monster. Most certainly not a fourth-threshold calamity.
This is going to get old really quickly, isn’t it?