New Chapter 24

  Ray and the Galiant

  Ray didn’t have much of a clue about what was going on. Well, apart from the fact that the Sylvan member of Team Albatross had attacked him from nowhere, and the Galiant member wasn’t dead. He hadn’t believed he had killed the boulder-like alien, but now he had proof.

  So, he used Temporal Passage.

  With the gigantic cliff that Sameer had summoned to crush Ray now gone, the battlefield was now once again open. As such, Ray had no trouble teleporting to where his mimic construct had been crushed by the giant spiralling burst of Growth Mana.

  Ray was thankfully veiled with dust. The Sylvan’s attack had been so ferocious, it had cracked the dungeon walls and let loose a small avalanche. It helped hide him from his foes.

  More importantly, it gave him an opening to check out what was actually going on.

  Sameer had angrily confronted the Sylvan, who had chosen to appear now that Ray was supposedly dead. “…your Floor Lord’s ass, why don’t you?”

  “Why do you keep arguing, human?” the Sylvan asked. He was a lot calmer than Sameer, though Ray could hear the rising annoyance in his tone. It was almost funny, watching someone else deal with an unhinged Sameer.

  “Raymond was my prey. My kill. My enemy. You’ve got no right to touch him, you stupid elf!”

  “Elf?”

  Ray had to hold back his snort. It would be even better if they came to blows.

  As much as he was enjoying the current proceedings, he couldn’t waste his time here. This was an opportunity for him to get away, to reach the boss room and fulfil his objective of winning the dungeon to claim its treasure. This was just a stupid obstacle from which he wouldn’t even gain anything.

  Slipping past them wouldn’t be easy, though. The Scouring Eyeball he had sent far, far up was still there, a last resort Ray could use in case things went really awry. But using it would create another complication of not plummeting to his death, even if he did have wings to rely on.

  Even worse, the dust was quickly receding. Ray didn’t have much time to figure out what to do. They’d spot him soon at this rate.

  He resolved to use Resurrect Recollect again to call up another Imitator construct. It sneaked away in Ray’s form, clad in stone to prevent the purple haze of the Dungeon Obstacle from eating it alive but also camouflaged to make sure no one saw it.

  “…no quarrel with you, human,” the Sylvan was saying. “Why do you not see that as a blessing and continue on your way? By all rights, as we are competitors, I ought to kill you where you stand. And yet, I do not. But instead of recognizing your good fortune, you seek to carry out pointless confrontations.”

  Sameer was standing straighter, his back as rigid as a stone column. “This world is filled with bullies and tyrants. Thieves who think they deserve the world because of their narcissism. I for one won’t stand for their existence. So I’ll—”

  They both paused and turned. Looking straight at where the mimic construct was sneaking onwards, acting as though no one could see it.

  “Shit,” Ray muttered.

  He supposed he shouldn’t have been surprised that the construct wasn’t invisible to them. If Ray had been more careful about recreating the Amulet of Blindness, would they have noticed it still? Unlikely, because they hadn’t noticed Ray when he had teleported.

  But they were definitely angling to notice him now.

  “Knew it,” the Sylvan said, striding around and looking everywhere. “I knew a scummy little cockroach would not die so easily. Come out, you coward. Face me instead of running away.”

  Ray blinked where he stood. He was the coward? After he had been struck from behind by that asshole?

  Interestingly, Sameer wasn’t protesting anymore. Now that he had solid proof Ray was alive, his anger had cooled a great deal. Though, Ray knew things were still precariously balanced. It didn’t sound like Sameer was going to join the Sylvan and gang up on Ray.

  That was exactly what Ray was counting on as he stepped forward. But before he could make his presence known, before either Sameer or the Sylvan could see him, the Galiant rose.

  Ray had almost forgotten the grumbling that had made him teleport originally, but now, it was impossible to ignore. The heavy grinding grew louder than ever as the boulder-like alien got back up. Ray couldn’t take his eyes off the huge rent in the Galiant’s body. The rent Ray had carved out.

  “Oh, you’re not dead, Lent?” the Sylvan said. “I am glad to see that you are well.”

  Lent the Galiant took his time replying. He was busy using a skill that made a spear of rock thrust out of the ground, killing the Imitator construct instantly. Ray had clearly been right to get away.

  “Are you truly glad to see me well?” Lent asked.

  The Sylvan didn’t even bother considering before replying, “Well, no, not truly. I was merely performing a nicety.”

  “As I assumed.”

  “You should have stayed down,” Sameer said. “I already took you down once. You’re beaten. Dead. I don’t want to have to do it again.”

  Ray glared at Sameer. That was exactly what he had said before their fight. Now the hypocrite was using it against the Galiant.

  Credit to Lent, he simply ignored Sameer’s insult. “What now, Estavian? Do we kill them both? Or must we wait till Pierce arrives?”

  The Sylvan scowled as the Galiant’s words alerted them to all to the fact that Ray wasn’t dead. With the dust now basically gone, it took the others no time to see where Ray was standing. Really, he probably should have attacked while he still had the element of surprise in his hands.

  “Can you deal with the portal pest?” the Sylvan said. “I will end the other one, then.”

  In reply, the Galiant began lumbering towards Sameer. Ray took a deep breath. Another fight. He was getting a little tired of them, at this point. Especially since they weren’t conclusive, nothing he could take anything away from. Just annoyances.

  Ray could only hope that Marcus and Gritty had the dungeon boss covered, because it didn’t look like he would be joining them anytime soon.

  Nevertheless, as the Sylvan approached him, Ray greeted his opponent with a smile. “Looks like I was right. You are the Floor Lord’s lackey. You know, one of these days, he really needs to take care of business himself. How many Sylvans do I need to kill before the Tower Lord gets mad that the Floor Lord has cost so many lives for a personal grudge?”

  “The Floor Lord need not concern himself over one such as you,” the Sylvan said with some vehemence. “Such mediocrity is far beneath him.”

  “Aw, you wound me.”

  “Funny you say that—”

  Estavian attacked. The Sylvan was covered in thick Growth Mana, which was probably acting as the stony bulwark against the Dungeon Obstacle’s purple haze. But now, all the Growth Mana glowed a shining golden-white. Spiky bursts of it fired straight at Ray, shooting like radiant missiles.

  Like the ballista bolt of a projection that had rocketed into his Imitator construct moments earlier.

  Ray was ready for it this time, however. He used Mottling Aeonguard and Aetheric Trace. The first spell drew up the expanding blue orbs of that would shield against him the attacks directly, while the latter called up Soaring Wings on his back to throw him off to the side just in case the Aeonguard orbs failed to stop the Sylvan’s attacks.

  Thankfully, they were stopped. As they entered the volume of the deep blue orbs, they slowed to a stop, like they had entered molasses. Within them, the time reversal effect was turning the spiralling bolts back to normal Growth Mana projections.

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  Ray had used Aetheric Trace to create a draconic head around his hand. He aimed it at the Sylvan to counterattack.

  His opponent was already charging him, however, rushing him down with his whole body glowing that golden-white. Estavian was basically a gleaming porcupine of spiralling, glimmering Growth Mana that weaved between the Aeonguard orbs and Ray’s blast of blue flames from the Windbane maw around his hand.

  Ray’s heartrate spiked at the imminent impact, but his mind was fast enough. All those Intellect Tier breaks were definitely helping.

  He used Resurrect Recollect, summoning up the Impenetrable Shell. The addition of more Aeon Mana expanded the dark shell. In no time, a spectral Duskshell had formed.

  As Estavian crashed in, the monster took the brunt of the damage from the Sylvan’s spiky charge. Better yet, it stopped the Sylvan in his tracks, freezing him in place as the spikes of glowing Growth Mana dug into the spectral flesh and corporeal shell.

  Leaving him open for Ray’s counter.

  With another Aetheric Trace, Ray created another draconic head around his other hand, before pointing both at the Sylvan and firing. Twin, lasering breaths of compressed flame fired out at the Sylvan. There was no time to dodge. No time to defend. The twin blasts connected. And exploded.

  Of course, Ray himself was so close that he would have been struck by the resultant detonation. That wouldn’t have been great. But Temporal Passage took him away to safety in an instant.

  When he reappeared where his second Imitator construct had been spotted, Ray had a brief moment to take in the rest of the battle.

  Sameer and Lent were locked in a dangerous battle on the other side of the area. As usual, portals of varying sizes popped up all around Sameer. But none of them brought out anything that actually harmed the Galiant.

  Rocks floated around Lent, kind of like Ray’s Mottling Aeonguard, absorbing all the damage that the various portals fired. The few times a bolt of lightning or a blast of flames got through his defence, the Galiant’s bulky body just took the attack head on without suffering much damage.

  Ray had to wonder how in the world he had been able to carve such a huge hole in the Galiant. Even Sameer’s more dangerous and devastating attacks weren’t having much effect.

  And then Lent went on the offensive.

  The attack made Ray a little glad he was facing the Sylvan instead of the Galiant. Lent’s body fractured everywhere, the cracks shining with brilliant, multihued light. It was like he had a damn disco ball inside his stony body.

  Then the light speared out. Some sliced out like long blades, others shot no different from the lasering breaths Ray fired from the draconic heads. All the while, Lent revolved in place, all of the lights shooting and blasting all over the battlefield. The range was so great, even Ray had to summon several Aeonguard orbs to protect himself.

  While Sameer had been able to protect himself, he was still forced to retreat. All the way back close to where Ray was standing.

  Sameer glanced at Ray distastefully. “Never thought I’d be fighting side by side with a bully.”

  “How about side by side with a fellow human?”

  “Just don’t die to the Sylvan so I can kill you myself.”

  Ray had no intention of dying anywhere. He was wondering if they could combine their fight together, take advantage of both their abilities to take down the Sylvan and the Galiant. But that wouldn’t work easily.

  For one, their opponents had much better practice working together. Most likely. At the very least, they hadn’t been at each other’s throats before.

  For another, their opponents were coming at them again, giving them no chance to think or plan.

  The Sylvan was perfectly fine. His armour of spiralling Growth Mana had left him unscathed. Now he was swinging two blades of Growth Mana, sending out projections firing through the air like more ballista bolts.

  Ray either evaded or stopped them with Aeonguard easily. But the Sylvan had more tricks up his sleeve. He stabbed the glowing swords into the ground, sending Growth Mana projections spiking out of the ground everywhere. More Growth Mana covered him, turning him into a spiky drill that then flew at Ray like a ballistic missile.

  It was getting difficult to find an opportunity to counter. Especially in a way that would actually harm his enemy. He could have tried trapping Estavian with another construct via Resurrect Recollect, but just firing his breaths wasn’t going to work.

  Unless, it was an issue similar to what he had faced against the Depthless Gargoyle.

  Ray used Temporal Passage to grant himself some space. It gave him just enough time to pop another Aeon Mana crystal. He really needed to finish this dungeon before he ran out.

  Topped up with Aeon Mana, Ray now had no reason to not to blast out as many spells he could. He summoned more constructs with Resurrect Recollect, throwing out more glowing blue orbs with Mottling Aeonguard.

  They were enough to stop the various attacks the Sylvan was firing at him. He had raised their power by a few Tiers with Mana-Infuser Ring. Now, they were more than strong enough to block basically anything the Sylvan could throw at him. That gave Ray the opportunity to focus purely on attacking.

  Estavian charged him down as usual, firing off practically everything in his arsenal. Ray’s blood sang in his veins. There was definitely a rush growing stronger and stronger as he was able to stop everything thrown at him.

  He could do this.

  Not that it was easy. Besides the seemingly impenetrable Growth Mana defences, the Sylvan had powerful evasive abilities. Had to be some passive ability boosting his dodging.

  Ray had to find some other way of getting to him.

  “Die, already!” Estavian screamed as he raised the intensity of his attacks.

  It might have been an attempt from the Sylvan to turn the tides in his favour, but Ray grinned. This was his opportunity. A storm of Growth Mana projections fired against Ray’s defences. The Aeonguard stopped some, the Impenetrable Shell and flying Windbane head constructs halted some others.

  But one attack still made it through them all.

  An extended blade of Growth Mana glowing pure white. Estavian’s face had a crazy, triumphant smile as he sheared it in.

  Ray used Temporal Passage to disappear. But the Sylvan was blindingly fast. Even as Ray reappeared at a spot where one of his constructs had been moments ago, Estavian shot in with his Growth Mana trailing from his back like they were rockets boosters.

  “You can’t get away!” the Sylvan screamed.

  Ray was still just far enough to dodge. The Sylvan had foreseen it, however. His blade extended without warning. It grew to five times its length in the blink of an eye, shooting forward as fast as a laser.

  There was no way Ray could have seen that coming. At least, not like that. He cursed that he couldn’t check his opponent’s abilities as the blade stabbed in.

  But it never caught him.

  The blade, and the wound it would have left, both disappeared. Instead, a flying Windbane head construct that had not been destroyed by Estavian’s barrage got pierced instead. It was strange to witness. The sword shifted in position, and so did the Sylvan himself, his eyes going wide at the sudden change in his position.

  “What—”

  Ray smiled triumphantly. “Soul Sacrifice.”

  Those words made no sense to the Sylvan at all, only deepening his confusion. But that was good for Ray. He had planned on taking advantage of the latest ability he had inserted into his crucible, Infinity Mausoleum. The one that allowed any of his active spells to take the damage that was meant for him.

  Ray capitalized on the surprise. He wasted no time pointing both his arms at the disoriented Sylvan. The Windbane heads summoned there with Aetheric Trace had been raised by a couple of Tiers with the ring.

  Now, when they fired the fiery breaths gathering in their gullets, the jet stream emerging from them were the size of geysers.

  The Sylvan’s reactions were still immaculate. More Growth Mana popped up around him, more spiralling projections cladding him in a stronger, more protective armour. It was almost as though he had noticed that Ray’s spells were stronger than before.

  Estavian was pushed back by the twin, flaming blasts. His booted feet scaped against the rocky ground as he was forced back over a dozen yards.

  But his armour held.

  The flames didn’t get through. Even after raising their Tiers, they couldn’t break down the powerful Growth Mana defence around the Sylvan.

  “You think I failed to notice?” the Sylvan asked. “You may believe you have grown stronger, but—”

  “Just die,” Ray said.

  Then he used Momentous Domain.

  Around the spot where Estavian had been pushed back to, a field of glimmering blue energy emerged on the ground. The Sylvan’s apparition appeared in the next second, standing almost exactly at the same spot that the real one was occupying.

  “What is this?” Estavian asked.

  Ray didn’t need to answer. The widening of the Sylvan’s eyes proved that he had figured it out too. He was just a little too late about it.

  The spectral version of Estavian that formed was at the exact moment where Ray had originally fired his twin lasers and caused that explosion that would have caught him too, if he hadn’t teleported away. Thanks to Momentous Domain, the explosion occurred again, time cycling back to the moment where he had cast his spell originally.

  So, while Ray’s current blast of two lasering breaths still wasn’t enough to overcome the Sylvan’s defences, the addition of the explosion was enough.

  Estavian cried out as the detonation rocked the entire area. It ruined the structural integrity of the breaths already firing in, causing them to explode too, raising the potency of the burst even more. Ray himself was thrown back by the shockwave, dust and rocks raining everywhere, everything shaking as blue light flickered over the whole battlefield.

  [Enemy Defeated—Sylvan]

  Auric Propulsor [Tier 4] Sylvan: [Level 58] x1

  Essence: +11,600

  Knowledge: +3

  Aeon Mana Restored: +2,900

  Essence to Level 51: 45,280/262,000

  Knowledge to next Threshold: 2,542/3,500

  Ray didn’t waste too much time recovering from that. He had succeeded, but things weren’t settled yet.

  He turned. Sameer was still fighting against Lent. Neither appeared to be aware that Ray had won. If he timed this right, he could slip away, find his way to the boss room, and finally—

  Gritty: You still alive, wingman?

  The sudden message surprised Ray, but he got moving, leaving Sameer and Lent behind without trying to draw attention to himself.

  Ray: Did you guys take down the boss and get the treasure?

  Gritty: Uh, about that…

  Ray was about to ask what exactly about that did Gritty have to say. But his question was answered moments later without him needing to voice it.

  The dungeon shook again, worse than before. Much, much worse. Ray had to stop, heart hammering in his chest as everything started crashing around him, before he got moving quickly to avoid the avalanching rocks. It was like the whole dungeon was breaking apart.

  Ray: The hell is going on Gritty?

  If she replied, Ray didn’t pay attention, because a horrific roar echoed through the entire canyon. It emanated from a point not far ahead of him.

  When he looked up, he finally saw what was causing the commotion. At the point where the purple haze was the thickest, where Ray expected the dungeon’s boss room to be, the violet cloudy cover was breaking apart with flashes of white lightning. And from within its bowels, something gargantuan was emerging.

  Gritty: The dungeon boss. It’s breaking out of the boss room.