Althea nodded my way, though her expression held something akin to fear.
“And you’re sure you’re fine?”
I took a breath.
“I am. Great, actually.”
Her eyes rested on me, her gaze pressing for answers. Her expression softened,
“Ok…But can I have a minute? I have to get my supplies ready. We can, uhm, plan after?”
“Sounds good. I’ll see what I can do with my status.”
Althea stood up and stretched her legs before checking on herself. No wounds littered her form, though a few ragged slices cut through her armor. It exposed portions of her skin, and I kept my wandering eyes to myself in the meantime. Still, I struggled to keep myself focused and on task.
To that end, I inspected my status. I earned a breakthrough from a Boundless Storm, unsurprisingly. It reached over two hundred in stat points turning it into a monstrous ability. In fact, I never controlled my armor with so much clarity before. It was an intuitive response, like I already knew how to wield it.
What gave me control of my armor had been a skill called Dominion of the Mind. A Boundless Storm assimilated the skill, and that gave me extra pliability for my armor. As I strengthened the skill, I empowered my armor manipulation. Raising a hand, I squeezed a fist before sending a slight wave across my skin.
It was a unique part of who I was, and I had no clue how far the skill could go in time. I was excited to find out.
Beyond skill gains, I obtained forty levels in total since coming through the rift. I had twelve more to go after the next twelve minutes, but the energy upload slowed things down. However, I could still allocate points from my downloaded levels. Taking a moment, I began putting points into willpower.
I reached 1,000 but no perk arose. I frowned before turning to Althea.
“Is there a reason why a perk wouldn’t come through in one of these liminal dungeons?”
Althea piled up spears and a few balloons of acid.
“Oh, sure. Perks change you on a fundamental level. That’s why they require a ton of energy to put into place from Schema. Anytime you’re outside the system, you won’t unlock them.”
I leaned to my status screen.
“Huh. Well, that clears my questions right up. Thanks.”
She nodded while smiling. It was radiant.
“Anytime.”
I tore my gaze back to my status. I could continue putting points into willpower, but there wasn’t much of a point. Instead, I wanted to work on my next level 1,000 attribute perk. At this rate, I may get 4 of them before the cutoff point at level 1,000. That being said, I had an odd choice.
I could either decide on intelligence or constitution as my next choices. Intelligence continued my current attribute chain of endurance, willpower, intelligence, and luck. Those stats fed each other, giving me a headstart and solidifying my bulky mana build. It also took full advantage of my Determinator trees and armor bonuses.
Constitution invested me in the other attribute chain of constitution, strength, dexterity, and perception. Though much slower to build since I lacked many stat bonuses for them, those attributes synergized with my current skillset perfectly. They offered a well rounded set of bonuses for a Boundless Storm, giving me a salient edge in battle.
I also wouldn’t have to worry about my mana spiralling nearly as much if I quit investing in it. The coordination, mass, power, and sharpened senses from the constitution chain would even give me an immense and passive bonus to my fighting. A part of me wanted to seal the deal from those facts alone.
Deeper than combat, mana was a growing concern. The energy I saturated in held an undeniable allure. At this rate, it would rise exponentially higher, but I already met a wall based on how much I could use. Putting even more into generating the stuff had a chance of spiraling me out of control. A spark of fear furthered those thoughts.
I was scared of losing who I was and had become. While no saint, I had saved people since the system started. I learned beside Torix, studying harder than I ever had. The old me had changed into a new person, and I no longer screamed at a moldy ceiling while hoping a beating would end.
I was capable, competent, and uncompromising. I had become a warrior.
That’s why I hovered my hand over the constitution icon. Despite my reasoning and rationale, I paused. Something in me screamed, a small voice that wanted deeply. I hesitated. Something about this tree felt like running away. I blinked, wondering why this nagging feeling ate away at me.
I searched for an answer to the sensation, and nothing came to mind. I took a deep breath before pulling my hand back over the constitution icon. Again the sensation surged. I winced. I held the unease in, searching for its source. I grasped my hands, and I remembered studying beside Torix.
Those weeks of pursuing knowledge carved into my memories like a compass facing North. After that studying, Torix changed who I thought I was and could be. I wanted more of that. No, I needed it. Much more, enough to drown in that sense of change.
If I invested in constitution, I’d become even better at what I already succeeded at; I’d be the boxer and high school dropout who hated learning. Sure, I’d fight monsters instead of men, but it was the same path I had always walked. Like a pair of old leather shoes, they fit me fine. They were worn and weary and wary.
And they weren’t my shoes. They never were.
I chose boxing to fight my father and find strength, not out of a sincere love for the craft. I hated studying because my friends told me that I was a big, dumb brawler who couldn’t make decisions on my own. I took their ideas as badges of honor. I built an idea of myself based on the people around me. I acquiesced. I accepted. I altered under the strain.
Torix and my experiences had me questioning those roles. Was I really incapable of learning? Of being someone different than who I’d been? The voice that hoped for more grew stronger, and I followed it. This unknown and bruised path, I would find my answers walking through it.
Weakness and strength weren’t what I needed. I wanted answers. Answers about who I was and could be through my own volition, not the warping forces of those that knew me. For that reason, I wanted to believe that I could do more. Even if this wasn’t optimal, I didn’t care. This was what I wanted.
So I put my points into intelligence, and I would change. Either that, or I would die trying.
As I selected finalize, I flooded my body in ascendance while balling myself up. My armor tightened over me, a few cracks spreading across my back and arms. I cracked my neck before taking a breath. I would work to the bone if it meant escaping this box other people placed around me.
Glancing over at Althea, she changed as well. Her shoulders relaxed as if she wasn’t as worried that someone would sneak up and kill her from behind. She grew taller as well, letting her seem less petite. I still stood a full head taller than her, but she couldn’t be called short anymore.
Testing out our new limits, we moved around a bit. The sound of crawling from inside the hive grew, but we weren’t worried. Althea and I tore them apart once, and we would do so again while strengthened by our levels. Before the queen could escape her confines, Althea and I headed toward the entrance.
Waiting there, Althea murmured.
“It sounds like he’s trying to strengthen himself using dungeon spawn.”
I forgot she saw a man instead of a woman atop the scorpion/crab/spider. I nodded.
“Can you scout the location? I can also try-
“I’ve got this. Probably, anyways. Give me one minute.”
Althea walked near one of the walls. She pressed against the stone before the color of her skin changed. It reflected the stone’s color and texture. In tandem, her skin grew over her jumpsuit, masking her entirely. She took measured steps, each one holding the texture and appearance of the wall.
I peered in awe.
“How are you doing that?”
She smiled.
“What do you think I do while you’re studying or training all the time? I get bored.”
She skulked down the cavern, her pace hastening overtime. After several minutes, several cannon shots fired. Their echoes cascaded upward, and I stormed down the steps. I found the runic doorway closing as Althea sliced several limbs from the queen scorpion’s legs. Althea fired her cannon twice before racing at the doorway.
I took a moment to squeeze mana into my body. More energy rushed in, and I pushed against the doorway. Holding it open, my body screamed at me to release it. I ignored the outcries of pops and burning from my arms and legs. Althea raced out before I followed suit. She and I ran upstairs as a torrent of insects followed.
I gasped.
“She’s mad, isn’t she?”
Althea let out a laugh.
“I’d say so, yeah.”
We ran out the doorway before turning around. Like before, I slammed my arms into the stone. I created another set of traps before Althea pulled out fifty spears from a pile of snow nearby. We rained hellfire and fury onto the insects as they approached, each of us culling the population.
The torrent splintered for some time before the queen crawled out of the cavern. Ragged cuts marked her main body as she passed my spines, and Althea’s harpoons sliced into her body. The woman frowned atop the scorpion, the lower body growing a shell and wings. She spread her new feathered wings.
They glittered a bright, sky blue. Between the radiant limbs, floating orbs danced from wing to wing. The display bit into my mind, pulling my focus and attention. They effused a tremendous beauty, and they absorbed my attention. I stared at them as they-
Ascendance roared in my limbs, and my armor’s maw opened wide. A metallic roar echoed across the mountaintop, and I held onto my mind amidst the storm. Like a mantra, I repeated to myself over and over – I will change.
It led me through the emotion and hunger. I gazed down. On the queen’s belly, four eyes formed while a crooked smile split onto the body beneath them. Icy mana oozed from the opening jaws, as if her entire body was made of liquid cold.
The light blue color spread across her, making the shell sharper and plates jagged. Before she finished her transformation, I charged, and Althea shot out bolts. Three spears stabbed through the monster’s eyes. I reached it and threw a punch like a baseball. In tandem, I constructed the telekinetic pads to add impact.
Against the mental turbulence, I held onto the precise alignment required for the mana to function. My arm stayed together far better as the rebounding force erupted throughout the limb. My fist pierced inward, and my hand tore through the queen’s shell, exposing her icy insides.
A bit of the glowing blue gunk sprayed onto my punching arm. It hissed, going numb as the scorpion mother lashed out with her right claw. I deflected the blow by lifting my left shoulder and leaning over. Gliding over me, the sound of shearing metal echoed. A portion of my shoulder pauldron fell off. Not worried, I drilled a right hook into the under belly of the monster.
Telekinesis and mana fed the blow, turning a quick strike into a devastating assault. My hand crashed through the shell, tearing through it like paper. Before the monster’s insides splattered onto me, I fed the telekinetic rebound into my chest. I flew back, and the icy gunk splattered against the snow.
I dashed and ducked under the next swipe of her claws. With rapid precision, the scorpion mother pinched a claw towards my right arm. Her strike connected. The claw broke my arm, snapping the bone while bending the armor around it. Blood sprayed from the limb before a bolt of bone pierced her clamping pincers.
Two more bolts followed, making the limb fall limp. My limb followed suit, but my armor grinned at the spectacle. The queen crawled away, “Why do you smile, invader?”
I darted forward, and my armor bit into the chitin. Metal met the monster molded mass. Siphoning into my armor, the cold disappeared from my mouth, and I wrenched my neck. Blood. Gore. Pain. The monster howled as I twisted my arm back into place. Wincing, I held the bone in place using tendrils of armor.
It began healing as the queen’s arm oozed blood. It murmured,
“You absorb energy?”
I cracked my neck before rolling my shoulders. I stepped to her, my armor brandishing its jagged teeth. Ascendant mana poured from the mouth, tendrils of crimson leaking from the armor. The air around me warped before I stepped to her and stomped. Telekinesis flared. The queen screamed out, her broken arm being pulled by a telekinetic clamp.
I stepped back and jerked with all my strength, the stone around me cracking. Her limp arm jerked taut before Althea fired a blade spear. Part of the limb carved apart. I pulled once more, shearing it out of its socket. The joint cracked as she howled in pain.
Unable to resist the pull, her insect legs scuttered as she neared me. More spears landed into the joints of her legs. Her beautiful, flawless face neared me. I raised my once broken arm, and I rolled my fingers on the limb.
The monster hissed.
“How?”
Using both my hands, I walked forward and grasped a stray strand of icy flesh. I yanked on what remained of her rendered arm like a tug of war. She dragged towards me, her feet digging into the stone. A second later, and two more bolts shot through her front legs.
She caved forwards, her face falling towards me. I lunged toward her face. I grabbed the back of her hair. The monster shivered in fear, tears falling. A wave of empathy poured over me, but I remembered that she killed people. She would die here whether I felt bad about it or not.
Her feet tried writhed away my armor bit through her collarbone and shoulder. Tendrils from an unseen space siphoned her mana and life away. I wrenched back, blood and gore splattering. She howled.
“Monster. Away from me. Go away.”
She roared, her jaw splitting as elongated teeth jerked out to me. I pushed myself sideways via telekinesis. Her teeth grazed my chest before I put all my weight into my next strike. Once more, mana and telekinetic panels formed. Amidst the chaos, I found a core of calm. I wielded it, holding the panels together as I smashed my fist against her mouth.
The telekinesis held well, and I flung backward. Thrown off balance, I stumbled on the ice before falling. At the same time, the monster’s jaw and teeth snapped. The telekinetic bullet punctured through the first bone of her jaw before dispersing into the next. That entire part of her face exploded, and portions of her head fell onto the ice and rock.
Her roar petered out into a whining whimper before I scrabbled backward. Her legs nearly pierced my torso as I pulled myself side to side, dodging her impaling stomps. After getting some distance, I raised a leg before slamming it down. Telekinesis hit my back, and I flung upward.
She tried stomping down, but I routed her attack. My fist hit first, puncturing into her side. My knee buckled, some ligament in the structure breaking. I put a bar of armor through the limb, and the queen slashed again using her claw.
I put all my weight onto one leg before kicking my ruined leg at her claw. Metal met flesh. Both limbs broke. The other parts of my knee split, and I dragged back several feet from the impact. The monster howled as a burst of pain hit me. I swallowed before making more metal reinforce my leg.
She flung her ruined art at me. Three spears hit her body as I raised my arms. I caught her arm, my body holding on. I extended my metal into her arm muscles. I lifted a leg before kicking myself back. A telekinetic impact hit my chest, flinging me back. Strands of steel split her apart like piano wire pulling through a watermelon.
We stood while facing each other, each of us a ruin. I held her gaze, my mana silencing. We each wheezed for air, our bodies at the limits of their endurance. She murmured.
“Who will survive this, I wonder?”
I laughed. She narrowed her eyes.
“What’s so funny?”
I raised my hand.
“You talk too much. You know that, right?”
She growled.
“You despise words as your tongue is made of tin and not silver.”
I caught my breath.
“Or, perhaps, I know that actions speak louder than words ever could.”
I stepped forward.
“And that with each passing second, I heal. I regenerate. I will be renewed and whole and utter.”
I bent my once broken knee.
“By speaking after the battle’s begun, I can find time when I need it, not before. Not after.”
I spread my arms before slamming my fists together. I walked to her as ascendance wafted off the impact. Crimson energy flared over me.
“Now, are you restored?”
She carried every wound from the battle, from her mauled arms and legs to the many spears jutting from her body. I laughed.
“And even now, you listen to me despite knowing you’ll die here.”
I dashed forward, and she scrambled backward. I put my shoulder into each slamming punch thereafter, creating cracks in the ground from the telekinetic rebounds. I ground my teeth, mawling the monster until it fell to the ground. I stomped onto it, crushing the monster’s skull against the ground.
Slam after slam, my hands and heels converted her head into slush. By the time I finished, a thin fissure webbed fifteen feet outward in the rock. I stood up before draining away her energy. There was no core remaining, so I turned to Althea,
“So that was tough.”
She sighed, wiping a sheen of sweat from her brow,
“I think the swarm was actually a lot harder to deal with.”
I nodded.
“Imagine if she ran out with her swarm. We would’ve been destroyed.”
Althea frowned.
“Yeah. I think she wanted to avoid injuries, so she tried wearing us down instead of assaulting us all at once.”
I let my head fall back.
“Her greed killed her. That and you attacking her from stealth.”
Althea furrowed her brow.
“How? I barely touched her.”
I turned to her.
“What? If you hadn’t gotten her out of her base, we’d of fought her in traps and while surrounded by her eggs. She might’ve drained them or something, so I think that saved us.”
Althea’s eyes widened.
“Huh. You really think so?”
I stood up.
“I know so.”
She straightened her posture, her chest high as she smiled.
“Well, uhm, thanks for saying so.”
I grabbed one of my wrists.
“Of course. I give credits where its due. It happens to be due.”
I pursed my lips,
“But I think we should recover before rushing in. There’s no need to rush into a death trap while exhausted.”
Althea fell backwards, landing like a starfish. She glanced at the sky,
“Thank you. Ugh, I don’t know what it is about this place, but it makes me feel exhausted.”
I shrugged, sitting down in front of her. I crossed my legs and leaned back, staring into the sky. A few minutes passed before Althea sat up, no longer breathing hard. She grinned,
“Thanks for the break.”
I pushed with my hands, letting me lean forward. Without touching my hands to the ground, I pushed myself up while giving Althea a telekinetic lift. She balanced onto her feet,
“Woah, tell me next time before you do that.”
I smirked before turning and jumping to the staircase. A trail of mana flowed behind me, crimson sparks streaking my form. The stone cracked underfoot as I landed, and I walked into the obliterated steps.
Far fewer insects crawled around, their natural instincts taking over once their queen was dead. This gave us free passage through the cavern. Without the tiny guardians there, I noticed quite a few oddities. There were a few buildings spread around, and odd, elongated markings spread over them.
They were made of a dark, gray metal that reflected white light light regardless of the color you shined on them, like, say, crimson light from ascendance soaked runes. Above us, streams of the cerulean magma lit the cavern in a cascade of blue beams. It was a surreal yet stunning scene.
Althea ooh-ed and ahh-ed with me, each of us taken in by the scenery. I grazed my hand against one of the asymmetric buildings, and the metal was much harder than my own armor. With a quick, compact hook, I slammed my fist into the side of a building. My fist caved inwards, the bones cracking.
I shook out a wave of pain while murmuring,
“Ow. Did you hear that?”
Althea shook her head.
“Not even a little.”
I traced my fingertips over the odd metal.
“Me neither.”
No sound ebbed off the metal. I frowned while my curiosity sparked. It was a city of some sort, hiding away from all the turmoil just outside the mountain. Of course the insect queen commandeered the place, but it still made my mind wonder what had happened before her territorial reign.
After inspecting buildings, I couldn’t find anything inside them. Eerily empty, the space held a silent interior that swallowed light and life alike. The center of the soundless city hosted a hill. Upon it, a pillar of light beamed from a dungeon core. The latent energy within it unleashed, and the aura of red swallowed the entirety of the buildings nearby.
As if corrupted, the red aura reached out using horns of energy. Below it, a pillar supported the core. Runic markings spread all over the monolith of dark gray metal. They glowed with a light like a second sun. It was blindingly bright, but my eyes cooled at the sight of it.
I could’ve stared at the core with a content ease forever if I chose too. It was warmer than a campfire on a cold night or the love of a kind mother. It held my attention like a vice grip, but alas, already accustomed myself to the pull of illusions, I surged ascendance. It jetted me out of the imposed reverie.
I wouldn’t fall into the trap it offered though tantalizing and sweet. With a brutal spike of willpower, I ripped my gaze from it, ending the pull upon me. I ran and jumped up the pillar, climbing atop it before reaching for the core.
A spike appeared through my palm. A bit of pain followed alongside a wave of shock. I glanced behind me, and Althea stumbled in a stupor. She hissed,
“Get away from it.”
Her tone sent alarms howling in my mind. I raised an eyebrow,
“Althea…Are you ok?”
She raised her rifle,
“I said get away from it.”
My eyes narrowed,
“How are we supposed to leave here without the core? That’s what you want, isn’t it?”
Althea’s head twitched.
“No. It isn’t.”
When I looked closer at her, she wasn’t drooling over herself at the sight of the light. Her eyes homed in on my hand, as if it was reaching towards a painful death. I frowned, letting my limb drop down. I hung off the pillar with my left hand,
“Alright, I’m not grabbing it.”
I reached out with my right hand, “Tell me what’s wrong. I’ll listen.”
Althea lowered her rifle. She let out a sigh of relief before raising it again.
She fired.