Ray could only hope that Gritty would be able to handle the Titan while surviving whatever Sameer and Lent might end up doing. Though, considering how the monster was taking up all three of their efforts, she shouldn’t be in any danger from the other competitors.

  He couldn’t worry about it, anyway. There was Marcus to worry about.

  With Soaring Wings powering him forward, Ray rushed towards the centre of the dungeon that the Segmented Titan had emerged from. The purple haze grew thicker there, but Ray still had the first Mimic construct on him, the stony armour keeping him safe for the time being.

  Would it be enough inside the boss room? He had no way of telling, but that didn’t mean he was going to hesitate. Marcus might already be dead, the idiot.

  There wasn’t any portal or archway or anything really that signified when Ray was supposed to have entered the main dungeon boss room. The violet mist just thickened and thickened more. He wouldn’t have even been able to tell if he was heading in the right direction, but he figured the mist thickening was enough of a positive sign to keep going.

  Ray was justified in doing so when he suddenly popped into just the battle he was hoping to interrupt.

  He had come upon a wide, stony battlefield that was littered with broken rocks and cracks on the ground. The whole area was bounded by the amethyst vapour, so thick here that it looked more like a solid wall.

  But the main thing that caught Ray’s eye was Marcus.

  Just as their last few messages had suggested, he was in a pretty bad state. Ray was still a ways from him, but it was still obvious how wounded he was. Blood covered most of Marcus’s body and his posture was hunched over, like he could barely stand. He almost looked like he had lost another arm.

  Nevertheless, he was still alive. That was honestly all that Ray cared about in that moment.

  Not for long at this rate, though. Pierce was stalking forward in his dual-spear form, both spears sparking with black and gold energy.

  Ray could have shouted, could have tried to get their attention and head off the danger Marcus was in. But there was a better way to go about it.

  Pierce lunged faster at his target. Marcus had thrown up a last-ditch shield of golden aura. It was nice to see that though he had more or less given up on getting back to his team alive, he wasn’t going out with a whimper.

  Ray was already moving. He had summoned a draconic head around his hand with Aetheric Trace. Firing a compressed laser that got to Marcus much faster than Pierce allowed Ray to then use Temporal Passage. The world shifted as Ray disappeared only to reappear right between Marcus and Pierce.

  If either of them was surprised, they didn’t show it. Pierce kept charging, Marcus still had his golden aura up.

  It wouldn’t have been enough. Not on its own. But that was why Ray had come prepared. As soon as Temporal Passage ended, depositing Ray in the midst of his targets, he cast Resurrect Recollect, focusing on Impervious Shell. A Duskshell roared to life around both Ray and Marcus, presenting its tough, unbreaking back to Pierce.

  That, combined with the golden aura, was enough to stop the dual thrust of black-gold-wreathed spears from Pierce. Well, enough to make sure Ray and Marcus weren’t killed.

  The impact still caused an unstoppable detonation to rip through the area. Ray was blinded by the flash of energy, the burst of heat and the shockwave ripping across his body, cracking and breaking most of his stony armour.

  Ray was coughing as he rolled on the ground. The armour—the Imitator construct now dispersing—had saved him. He didn’t need to worry about it disappearing inside the boss room.

  “Marcus,” Ray said through the dust, coughing a couple more times as he got to his feet. “You still alive?”

  Ray wasn’t dumbly looking around through the dust. He cast Resurrect Recollect again, summoning up a couple of the flying Windbane maw constructs, with Scouring Eyeballs strapped to their heads. They’d help on multiple fronts.

  It turned out searching for Marcus was one thing they didn’t need to assist Ray with.

  “I’m here.” Marcus was coughing too, his words broken by his dry heaves, wracked with obvious pain. “Can’t believe you actually showed up—”

  More coughs.

  Not good. The dust was veiling them all. Just as it made it difficult for Ray to find Marcus, Pierce was having the same level of difficulty finding where his targets were supposed to be.

  But with Marcus coughing, they’d be exposed in seconds. Assuming they hadn’t been already via some other skill Pierce possessed.

  If only Ray could have thrown the same kind of protection he possessed over his allies.

  Still. He had options.

  He rushed over in the direction of Marcus’s voice. As he did so, he cast Resurrect Recollect again, this time summoning the Imitator construct. Thankfully, for whatever reason, Pierce hadn’t attacked them yet. Was he watching out for what would be Ray’s next move instead?

  The dust also cleared enough for Ray to make out Marcus’s silhouette. Thankfully, it was Marcus and not Pierce somehow.

  “Did you really come all this way just to—” Marcus coughed, then cleared his throat. “To help me?”

  “Will you please stop coughing?” Ray said, keeping his voice low. “I’ve got mine under control.”

  “You fucking idiot.”

  “I’m not the one who lost my arm and then ended up getting nearly killed by another team. Come on, let’s get out here.”

  He was about to drag Marcus off. This was their opportunity to stop wasting time in this pointless fight. Plus, he was running out of Mana. He didn’t have enough gas in the tank for more fighting.

  But just as Ray was about to try and find the exit, the dust shifted. The veil lifted.

  Revealing that Pierce wasn’t where Ray was hoping he’d be.

  “We’re not getting out that easily,” Marcus said with no small amount of resignation. “Or at least, he’s not letting us get away that easily.”

  Ray frowned ahead where Pierce was patiently standing with his spears crossed before him. “Why? What did you do that he wants to kill you so bad?”

  Marcus laughed. There was a weird sound accompanying that laugh that Ray really didn’t like. It sounded like cloth tearing, but wetter. Fleshier. “I think I stole the treasure.”

  “You don’t have the treasure,” Ray said. “That’s what you guys said. You couldn’t find the treasure anywhere in the boss room, and that it had to be with the boss itself.”

  Marcus shook his head. He held out his good hand. A second later, a Tower Node materialized to float over his palm.

  Ray’s eyes widened. The Tower Node looked exactly like the dungeon itself. A diamondlike crystal made of blocky stone, crisscrossed with tiny versions of the stony, thorny vines.

  “How’d you get that?” Ray asked.

  He didn’t wait for Marcus’s answer. One of his constructs had noticed Pierce was moving now that the dust was gone. Ray’s body tensed.

  “I didn’t find it,” Marcus said. “Like I said, I stole the treasure. I snatched it from him.”

  Ray would dearly have loved to learn just what kind of situation and abilities had allowed Marcus to steal anything from someone like Pierce. But that was going to have to wait. They had a killer heading straight for them.

  “We can’t keep this up, Marcus,” Ray warned. “How much gas you got left in the tank?”

  He got what Ray meant. “Five more minutes. I can use my abilities a few more times, for about five more minutes, and then I’m out.”

  “Then follow my lead. We’re going to give this asshole the Depthless Gargoyle treatment.”

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  Marcus didn’t ask questions. He knew exactly what Ray meant. All for the best, because they definitely didn’t have time to make any extensive plans or preparations.

  “It’s not going to help,” Pierce said, slowly walking towards them like a predator sure his prey had nowhere to run. “All your little plans, your meaningless schemes. One look, and I can tell you guys are tuckered out, about to drop dead on your feet. Just give up the Tower Node, and maybe I’ll consider letting you go with your lives intact.”

  Considering Ray had nearly been killed the last time he had tried to fight off Pierce, he was pretty sure a deal like that was pointless.

  Plus, he wanted to keep the Tower Node. He wasn’t going to disrespect Marcus’s effort to attain it by giving it up. Nor was he about to be bullied by someone who was stronger on paper.

  Marcus spelled out Ray’s thoughts quite eloquently. “Why don’t you suck me off instead, and maybe I’ll consider it.”

  Pierce showed no reaction. Besides attacking, that was. He rushed in, spears held aloft and ready to stab in, glowing with red-and-black power. It almost reminded Ray of the chaotic energy he used to wield before his recent Class Evolution.

  Ray pushed Marcus away and charged in to meet Pierce himself. He cast the new and improved version of Anima Charybdis—Eternal Gravity.

  A translucent whirlpool emerged all over the battlefield. It had to be almost thirty feet in width. The huge eddy didn’t seem to do anything other than pulling in ghostly apparitions from all over the area, and even then, it was barely noticeable.

  Just like his opponent, Ray ignored it as the real battle progressed.

  Pierce attacked from range. The back-red energy from his spears formed flaming spikes that flew forward with the power and speed of missiles.

  Ray knew his best bet lay on overwhelming offence. Trying to protect himself while also countering wasn’t going to work. In a battle of attrition, he would end up losing. So he went all out in attack.

  The two flying Windbane head constructs shot in after Ray used one to dodge away with Temporal Passage. Sure, that might have exposed Marcus to attack, but the attacking Windbane heads cornered all of Pierce’s attention. One belched a stream of deep-blue fire at him, while the other flew at him with its flaming maw wide open to chomp in directly.

  Pierce simply stood his ground and stabbed both spears into the earth. The point of impact exploded, a blast of gold, black, and red energy shooting outwards in a powerful dome.

  Ray cast Mottling Aeonguard just in time. The time-warping navy orbs coalesced together in front of him, forming a protective shield just as Pierce’s blast reached his vicinity. His defence was strong enough, but still, he wasn’t looking to remain on the back foot.

  Casting Aetheric Trace brought up two of the draconic heads around his hands. The constructs had already been destroyed. So, Ray would have to—

  Pierce’s blast ended, the Aeonguard orbs falling apart at the same time. Revealing the man himself stabbing in with his glowing spears. Asshole had used the blast as cover to rush in behind the wave of energy and attack directly in case it failed.

  For just a second, Ray took in the determined, almost feral expression on Pierce’s face. The look of a man who would die before failing.

  Then Ray yelled out and fired both draconic maws, having raised their Tiers with the Mana Infuser ring.

  Pierce’s response was just as quick. He shifted one of his spears so that it was now spinning in front of him, fast as helicopter rotors. The twin lasering breaths from the Windbane heads were deflected to either side, washing the entire battlefield with blue fire, scorching the rocks.

  Meanwhile, the other spear glowed black and red with even greater power. Ray cursed. Pirece’s real attack swung in.

  With a final push of power, Ray forced the blasts from his draconic maws to push him back. His feet scrabbled on the rocky ground. The only reason he didn’t fall was for the extra stability from his wings.

  More importantly, the devastating swipe of Pierce’s spear had missed him. Although, he was far from safe.

  The spear’s slash had unleashed the spikes again. All the black-red flames condensed into the miniature javelins, shooting at Ray like they had been fired from massive ballistae.

  Ray had his wings to soar over them. The battle fury coursed through him, adrenaline burning in his veins like lava. His whole body was yelling at him to engage, screaming at him to get in Pierce’s face and do his best to kill the asshole.

  But Ray’s Mana stores were almost out. He couldn’t keep fighting off Pierce personally even if he wanted to. Even if his every instinct screamed at him to do so.

  So he flew to his left instead of straight at his opponent.

  Pierce’s eyes followed Ray’s motion for a second. His whole body was set to continue attacking, throwing his spear and those black-red missiles on and on. But then the distraction came in.

  Marcus rushed in from the right. His missing arm had reappeared with a golden apparition, glowing brighter and brighter as he gathered power. Ray had succeeded. He had distracted Pierce, and now Marcus had a clear opportunity to land the same devastating blow that had destroyed the Depthless Gargoyle in their very first battle inside the dungeon.

  But for all that Marcus was fast, Pierce was even quicker. He managed to dodge the thrust of the golden arm. Then he bashed aside Marcus with a spear.

  Though, not before Ray teleported in with the real Marcus.

  The Imitator construct Ray had unleashed when within the dust cloud had fulfilled its role. Originally, it had taken Marcus’s form to distract Pierce from killing them both. And now, it had performed the same duty.

  At the very moment Pierce’s spear connected with its side, Ray used Temporal Passage. He had already reached the real Marcus who had been hiding away.

  Now, Ray reappeared just behind his Imitator construct with the actual Marcus in tow.

  With his glowing hand, with his unbreakable skill primed, in tow.

  “Now, Marcus!” Ray shouted. “That’s the last of my Mana!”

  Marcus roared. Fuelled by wanting to take revenge against the bastard who had nearly killed him, with ferocious conviction etched on his face, he punched forward, pushing Ray back in the process.

  Pierce was too surprised to defend himself. Ray and Marcus’s quick, impromptu plan had caught him off-guard.

  He still reacted in time, though. Ray’s eyes scrunched up in rage as Pierce’s form glowed with a familiar light just as Marcus’s blow connected.

  The punch set off a blistering, auric detonation that threw Ray back even farther. He recovered quickly, squinting as he tried out make out what was going on in the midst of all that power and energy. Then he cursed.

  Yes. Just as he had feared. That bastard was using the same trick he had during Ray’s fight. He was transforming, using the invulnerability during his transition to bypass any damage.

  At least Marcus had the sense to back off. The light and energy cleared, revealing Pierce once again clad in the dark armour, his red sword trailing little gleaming scarlet sparks in the air behind it as Pierce swished it like a show-off.

  Marcus slowly shook his head. “How in the…?”

  Pierce’s laugh was so annoying. “Good try. You got real close. But I told you, it was never going to be enough.”

  “Marcus!” Ray shouted. “Back off, now.”

  Ray himself was moving again as Pierce raised his sword. His wings were still up, so he was still able to maintain his speed. Marcus listened too. He was retreating backwards, cradling his injured arm and shoulder as he did so.

  Pierce wasn’t about to let them get away, however. He rushed in, sword flashing brighter with the imminent prospect of bearing all its power down upon them.

  Did that guy never run out of Mana?

  “Not so fast!” Pierce shouted as he got into position.

  There was no running, so Ray came to a stop. Then he grinned hard. “Got you.”

  Ray used Momentous Domain.

  He had lied. It was hard to tell whether Pierce had believed that shouted nonsense about Ray running out of Mana. Yes, he was practically out, now that he had cast Momentous Domain. The telltale sensation of a spike driving through his mind was all the notice he needed.

  But the point was, Pierce had fallen for it. He had rushed in, heedless of any danger he might face, straight to where Ray had cast Eternal Gravity earlier.

  The improved version of Anima Charybdis now drew in all the temporal ghosts of every Mana-based ability anyone cast within a vicinity into the centre of the ghostly whirlpool. And Pierce had rushed right into that centre.

  So, even though Eternal Gravity had seemingly disappeared, all it took was a last-gasp cast of Momentous Domain to bring it back.

  To bring back all the power that had been flung out in the battlefield over the last couple of minutes.

  Spectral apparitions of all three of them burned out, along with the various powers they had manifested. Flying Windbane maws, their lasering breaths, orbs of Aeonguard, all the spiky, red-black javelins that Pierce had flung out, even that final golden punch from Marcus.

  All of it collided and combined, breaking apart into a furious mass of unstable energy. One that led to an explosion.

  Ray really had no Mana left this time. All he could do was throw himself down and try to make himself as small a target as possible.

  The blast still ripped him off the ground and sent him flying. His eyes were so closed, but the light still left a print on his eyelids. Plus, his wings died this time, ripped to shreds as he crashed down, aches and pain shooting through his back and shoulder as he rolled. It was a lot harder to get back to his feet after that detonation.

  Still. He held his breath. Not just because of the dust. Despite that explosion, despite the sheer energy and power he had condensed into one spot before setting it loose on Pierce…

  That bastard was still not dead.

  Ray would have received the system notification otherwise. The amount of experience for killing someone significantly higher level than him would have been sweet.

  “Marcus,” Ray said, turning to where his teammate was groggily getting up. “We need to move. Now.”

  Marcus didn’t argue when Ray started shoving him in the direction of the exit. Even if Pierce wasn’t dead, he couldn’t be in any good condition. Nevertheless, Ray wasn’t about to continue a battle when he literally had no Aeon Mana.

  But moments later, Marcus came to a stop.

  “What’s wrong?” Ray asked. “Keep moving, we—”

  “No.” Marcus stood his ground, remaining unmovable. “I told you I’d hold him back. So that’s what I’m going to do.”

  “Dude, I hauled my ass here so you could not do that. Now stop wasting time.”

  Marcus didn’t answer. He didn’t need to. The scratch of the sword dragging along the rocky ground pulled Ray’s attention off his teammate to where Pierce was heading towards them.

  He really wasn’t dead yet. Though, Ray could at least be glad he had gotten close. Pierce’s armour had been ripped apart, and he now looked even worse than Marcus. Red wounds pulsed blood at his waist and arms. His helmet had been blown off, his face a mask of liquid crimson.

  Pierce must have used some sort of defensive ability. A skill to protect himself at the last instant. The transformations obviously either had some kind of cooldown or wouldn’t activate fast enough to counter Ray’s attack.

  “Take this.” Marcus was trying to shove the Tower Node at Ray. “And get out. I can hold him back now, for sure.”

  Ray was caught. He wanted to not need to sacrifice Marcus to win this dungeon. It was insane that Pierce just wouldn’t stand down. But what else could he do? This dungeon had taken more out of him than he had been prepared for. He was done.

  Before he could come to a decision, Pierce attacked. Ray hadn’t even taken a proper hold of the Tower Node yet.

  Pierce leaped with a yell, ignoring the fresh blood spilling from his body, and crashed in.

  Marcus shoved Ray backwards. A golden aura intensified around him, cracking to life like glass being born from nothing.

  Ray yelled out a warning. The shield of gold snapped and shattered upon contact with Pierce’s sword. For a brief second, before things turned to utter shit, Ray thought he caught a weird but familiar roil of colours wash over Marcus.

  And then the red blade stabbed through Marcus’s guts before slamming into the ground. For a third time, Ray was sent flying backwards under the effect of a powerful blast.