ALL NOVEL Book Two - Chapter Seventy Two - Scars
I was disappointed upon reaching room nineteen of the Elite dungeon and not meeting another of Mortesax’ generals. Instead, it was a simple horde battle, which I swept through with ease. It seemed like the layout of this place was more random than I had expected. Fighting a mini-boss before a safe room had seemed natural to me, but it also made sense that it would be very hard for most to survive such a fight. Even to the first safe room. I felt like a group of calculated and careful veteran level thirties would be okay in here, but they would have to be very good at their roles.
As it was, Londimin just didn’t have that level of quality. They hadn’t embraced the System in the same way that I had, and it had held them back. Maybe it wasn’t even that dramatic, I was definitely ahead of the curve. Being able to drag others up towards my level wasn’t a slight on those who hadn’t reached those heights yet, I supposed. I just had far too much time to think in this place. The hallways were long, and there was a growing aura of hero worship at my back that stopped most casual conversation.
Due to the high level of the enemies and the way in which the others were gaining experience, I actually had a small group of level thirty’s at my back, but they weren’t tested or ready for actual combat. If they had no other benefits, that would be around eighty attribute points for ones at level ten to start with. Larry, Morris and Rashid had all changed noticeably to my senses, if not in their sensibilities. Cal and Hassian had been at their level cap to begin with, so they hadn’t seen growth in the same way.
Surprisingly, or perhaps not, the largest change was in the newest addition. Over the nine rooms, he had been watching me as closely as the Gibralan shark man, and the Aspect of Balance at his core had reacted. Exposure to the Dao had been my own entry into understanding, but I had also been helped by the Storm Dragon and its vault. The pressure and grandeur I could produce was far smaller.
He hadn’t grasped the truth fully, but I could hear whispers of Dao in some of his movements when dodging had been needed. A trapped puzzle room had been cleared by the group, who demanded that I not do everything for them. Of course, things hadn’t gone perfectly and I had been forced into action to protect Morris from a ballista bolt sized bone which fired from a wall when they made a mistake. As I threw him aside, I kicked the bolt to change its course, right for the office worker Cal.
My foot met a powerful barrier, and the trajectory remained solid. Shouting a warning, I was preparing to use one of the health potions I still had with me, but Cal slipped out of the way. His reactions and grace were enhanced by a skill from the Aspect of Balance, but a resonance had vibrated alongside it, and thus, Cal gave off his first echoes of Dao. It was interesting to watch the process up close now that I had slightly more experience with the strange magic.
Unlike mana, which had a physical form which could be manipulated, Dao was harder to define. If I felt around inside of myself, I could vaguely sense a vast, unknowable source of energy which fueled the Dao Avatar and Dao Font within me but it was not a reservoir to be delved like my mana pool. If mana was a fuel, the spark by which action occurred, then Dao was found in the moment before the result could be seen. Dao was the decision behind an action that gave the action purpose.
I frustrated myself with the confusing poetry of it all. I was starting to feel like a certain little green space wizard with all the metaphor and confusion. Instead of allowing myself to dwell on the idea of whether I was on a more dark side or light side path, I turned and addressed the small crew behind me. “Safe room two here, we’re going to rest for ten minutes again and then move on.”
While there hadn’t been much struggle throughout the dungeon, it had been a draining pace to keep up. I could overpower anything of a similar level with pure attributes, and dominate any of the weak, half-formed Dao that the monsters of the Elite dungeon might hold, but it was draining. Even fairly judicious use of my own skill of the same name wasn’t enough when I needed to finish the fights quickly and keep the others safe. At least now they had a decent amount of levels under their belt, my little crew of faux fledglings were somewhat able to take care of themselves.
Opening the contrary homely door within the dank undercroft hallways, I frowned. “Wait,” I told the others, walking to enter the room. “Something is wrong.” It was getting harder and harder for small things to escape my notice as my attributes continued to rise. Even then, it took a few seconds for me to work out why I felt so uneasy. “There wasn’t a no combat warning.”
Carefully stepping into the safe room, I had a theory on why the restrictions had been broken. The entire safe room had been. It looked to be the same setup as last time, with a nice sky above and a peaceful courtyard in which to take a break. Someone had been too literal about the break part, and had somehow destroyed the rock of the floor as well as the benches. Even the sky seemed warped. “What the hell kind of magic happened here?” I wondered aloud.
“Mine.” The word whispered into my ear, I spun but saw only the confused and scared faces of those I expected. An impressively evil laugh filled the room. I vaguely recognised the vocal register, and could only hope I was wrong. “I knew you’d come. This is all your fault, after all.”
“…Seth?” I probed, gesturing for the others to get into a tight huddle behind me. Not waiting for an answer, I opened my floodgates and let mana billow out from me with Air Manipulation. The safe room wasn’t small, so I created a sphere of control through which I would perceive any changes. “I don’t have a problem with you if you don’t have a problem with me.”
“Sounds like you have a problem, then!” To my right, a blade appeared. I recognised it as Seth’s sword, but there was no man attached. With a flicker of mana, it appeared, lashing at my throat. I dodged it, making to grab the hilt, but it vanished as quickly as it appeared.
“Neat trick, is it new?” Seth had been a little awkward to engage in the small skirmish which had occurred in Westfields before my imprisonment. Between some powerful Aspects which in turn lead to powerful skills, even more impressive armour and weaponry, the gap in our strength was somewhat close. That was nearly ten levels ago for me, but I wasn’t the only one who had grown. The level of magical control was impressive.
“Aspect of Inevitability. It hurt like a motherfucker going down for some reason, but god damn does it feel good now. It’s like I know everything that’s going to happen, in the way I want it to.” While that sounded nice for Seth, given that I was clearly not a part of his good ending, I had to figure out what was going on. Luckily Seth was so cliché, I didn’t even have to goad him into monologing from his hidden position.
“What the fuck even are you?” He asked, an angry accusation in his voice. “You look like a demon, all that mana around you. Then there’s that fucking shadow over the top of it. It’s like looking at a monster bubble.” Interesting. It seemed that Seth might have a manasight ability like mine. More powerful, even, it sounded. I wondered if this explained the immediate aggression when I first met Seth. “Even now, you’re consorting with monsters.”
Another flash of mana. I didn’t have time to be nice, so I shot forward and booted Hassian in the chest. He had armour there, at least. It was better than taking the sword slash that sliced through where he had been a moment before. “Hey!” I shouted, “if you’re trying to fight me, then fight me.”
“Oh I plan to.” With all the force of a train, Seth appeared, his fist already moving under my arm and colliding with my stomach. The force launched me, much like Nezzerul had, except there was no roof to bounce off here. I soared high, high enough to see Seth turning on the others. With a boom, I kicked off a platform of air while filling myself with Infusion after Infusion.
I was at six layers when I attacked for the first time. Retribution smashed out. “I’ll show you the inevitable,” I spat while landing. I didn’t know the mechanism behind Seth’s skills, but it didn’t matter in the face of unstoppable power. The Dao Avatar of the Dragon roared to life, blanketing my skills with vicious, dominating strength. The Retribution which hit Seth passed through him, like he wasn’t truly physical, and tore a massive chunk out of the floor.
I enjoyed the look of panic that crossed the man’s face before he disappeared again. “That’s some skill,” I remarked. “Did you get that from the Aspect?” I didn’t expect an answer. The ability Seth was using was far stronger than a standard skill. I scanned the room fruitlessly. There wasn’t even really anything to hide behind, yet Seth seemed to both be right next to me and non-existent at the same time. “Wait- was that your fourth Aspect?”
That evil laugh returned, and I was forced into a flurry of defence as blow after blow simply appeared in the air around me. No fanfare, no body attached to let me react, just a dozen attacks in an instant. Try as I might, even I couldn’t walk away unscathed. With a snarl, I weathered the blows until they ceased, taking superficial but painful damage. The enchantments on Seth’s sword were brutal, making my hard skin useless, cutting me like this was pre-System times.
“Of course you know about classes, Traitor.” It seemed Seth was going to stick on the idea that I was some kind of invader, working with Nomads to take over Earth. I thought that was his angle, in any case. He hadn’t been very clear, mostly just frantic. I got my answer, at least. So this was the power of a class. It sounded like it wasn’t a perfect fit, from the pain Seth had described, but the strength was real. To be able to force me back and keep me defensive was impressive. To do so while harming me was a level above.
I wasn’t messing around before, but now I was deadly serious. The next time he appeared, I would end this. “All I wanted was a plane,” I complained. Really, this was all a lot more than I would have bargained for. “If someone had told me that I would have to deal with half the annoying shit your city has put me through, I wouldn’t have bothered.”
The battle continued.