Rupegia

We slowly make our way through the Obvious Trap Corridor, our steps tense and our mouths sewed shut for several long, long minutes. But then, thanks to the environment, we notice the jarringly wide difference in sound muffling between the imperial and Sky Lander armor in comparison to elven craftsmanship.

I don't think that it'll become an issue, but it's clear from the faces of the Earthlings that they're feeling self-conscious about the noise they're making. Urmeie doesn't care, and her stoic bodyguards are stoic, so it's not like it'd matter if The Four were more silent anyway.

Moving on, our setup is the same as before: two light-Ciels far ahead to scout and provide light, a Rottweiler close in front and one close behind to sniff for invisible enemies, and one light-Ciel far behind as an early warning. Even though we're in 4D and the corridor is massively wide, it still isn't big enough to warrant me spending more of my precious mana on extra summons.

The elementals I used to scout the previous corridors all heard the same distant sound of stone grinding against stone, but they weren't able to find the source. I mean, does sound even work the same in 4D? What about the echo behaving differently and making us mistake the direction and distance to its source? None of us knows math and physics well enough to even make a guess.

I expect the sound to disperse more and lose power faster since there's a whole extra spatial dimension for it to spread through, but that's the limit of my imagination. Maybe the echo will behave weirdly since there are more walls for it to bounce off of, but even in my blue link adventures, I never cared much about sound.

But now I have all the time in the world to reflect upon things because our progress is slow and this tunnel is looong.

 

Suddenly, I feel the tug of my Thread shift, and that puts us all on alert.

"The portal is moving," I announce, and the sudden sound of my stern voice makes Chesa jump in surprise.

"Finally, something interesting," Urmeie grunts excitedly.

"It's moving in which direction?" Lily asks without looking back, eager to spot anything that could come from the darkness.

I focus on the feeling of the tug, and it makes me frown. "Looks like it… just went down a bit."

"Maybe not so interesting," the Princess quietly grunts dejectedly.

Then the tug starts to shift again, but a lot, and then I realize it. "Wait…! It's coming towards us!"

"Won't it get past us, now?" Thant wisely asks out loud.

He's right, so I order the She-Hulk, "Lily! Break the floor! NOW!"

And she immediately raises her war hammer as it [Switch]es into its ridiculously ornate, oversized, winged sledgehammer form.

"O-kaay…!" she happily shouts, and then I get a bad feeling.

"JUMP AWAY FROM HER!" I shout and grab the nearest Companion as I summon my tentacles.

She's going to break the floor we're currently standing on!

Then she slams it against the floor, and a deafening blow pushes everyone back.

The skulls explode, and the sparkling black floor cracks. Then it caves in, and she activates the floating enchantment of her armor.

A big-ass hole opens up, and so much rubble falls that it's like she just demolished an entire building. But then it quickly clears just in time for us to get a glimpse of a gray, metallic sphere that flies past us and shoots towards the center of the cathedral.

"Really, motherfucker? You wanna play this cat and mouse game again?" I growl in anger, suddenly feeling motivated to cheat as hard as I can just to show this fucking dungeon who's boss.

"What now? Do we go after it?" Thant hums as he awkwardly floats toward the edge of the hole. I think that floating enchantment is like training wheels for children learning to fly.

But I shake my head. "It's already too far. Now it's simpler to just take a [Gate] back to the fortress."

"Better than walking," Urmeie wryly grunts.

So I do that, but I just send myself through it and have the Space mages in the fortress [Gate] everyone else back to reduce my mana consumption. Then we take the opportunity to use another [Gate], which takes us closer to the new position of the portal.

 

"Alright, take two," I tiredly remark as we stare at the new corridor of skulls.

"It's better if I just make a hole," Lily volunteers and raises her hammer again.

But I grab the shaft with a tentacle and kindly request, "Yes, but do it away from us."

She shrugs, and I can hear the cheeky grin in her voice. "Hey, I know. You were the one yelling at me to do it 'now.'"

Well, I can't really argue against that, so it's better to just let her have this one.

We back off, and she smacks a hole into the floor. Then we go down and find a huge open room with only a thin, floating bridge right under us. At least there are no more skulls or T-posing, gruesome decorations, but now it's replaced by vertigo and the uncomfortable feeling of walking across a long, delicate little bridge over the endless void.

But the tension in the air only gets worse, and now instead of grim, it just feels… murderous.

I'd like to laugh and joke, but we're starting to get really uneasy, to the point that even I want to just curl up into a ball and hide from… hide from…

A gaze.

"Something is affecting our minds," I mumble in realization.

"Well, duh," Lily grumbles back.

And that actually ticks me off. "No, you dingus. I mean, like a spell."

"[Inspire]!" Ciel immediately casts, and it helps relieve our discomfort… for a few seconds.

"There's an evil aura pressing down on us," Caterina grimly states. Then she and the Punishers seem to open their [Item Box]es and search for something.

Ciel then turns to the others and warmly inquires, "We have talismans in our armor that lessen the effects of dark magic, so I'd like to know how everyone else is feeling."

"Like shit," Lily grunts, and the Earthlings glumly nod, while Urmeie grunts amusedly and then also nods.

"We shall… follow you wherever… Your Highness," a Companion answers through labored breaths while the rest don't seem much better off.

Okay, this is kind of bad. We didn't notice how much they were suffering because our own minds were being affected by the aura, or whatever. And now that I think about it, this is quite the trap. If the pressure makes you tense and meek, others will only notice how badly you're hanging on when you finally collapse.

But lucky for us, we have the Dick of Light to help. "Thant! Do your thing!" I assuredly command.

"Do what?!" he hisses like a frightened kitten.

And I smirk. "Shine like the fucking little sun that you are!"

He suddenly scowls and shows his pointy little fangs in a burst of anger. "Don't call me little!" he complains but still obeys, so it's all fine.

Then he raises his hands and summons a huge Genki Dama right above us, yet the high heat and blinding glow hits us like a summer breeze after coming out of the freezer.

"Oh, that's the stuff…" Kellogs moans in delight and closes his eyes.

Then we hear a distant rumbling of stone grinding against stone, and the portal starts to move again.

"It's coming!" I warn everyone.

"What?!" Lily quacks, sounding distracted.

And I grit my teeth. "THE PORTAL IS COMING!"

Then we all instinctively assume a combat formation. We don't know if we're really going to have to fight, but the evil in the air has made us paranoid, so we might as well follow our instincts.

But I suddenly feel the "tug" from my Thread split into two.

What…?

Suddenly, we see the gray, metallic sheen of the portals on each side of the bridge as they come within range of our lights… but they're huge. They're massive gray balls, barreling towards us so fast that we barely have time to react.

Then they pass, and we see that they've left innumerable floating platforms behind. Under them, we see a faint green glow of a Wind-attuned gem, enchanted to make it float. And on top, we see that they're full of robed pseudo-orcs, but we're in 4D, so there's a whole extra dimension for them to fill.

There must be hundreds of platforms surrounding us, each crowded with their own hundreds of pseudo-orc mages, and they all have their glowing staves pointing at us.

Then we're hit by the mana of thousands of mages as they finish charging their spells, and it makes my mind go blank as the adrenaline floods my veins. But I feel one last tug from my Thread before I release it, and it fills my mind with one thing: death.

I cast [Gate] right under Alissa's, Roxanne's, Samkelo's, and Chesa's feet, instantly sending them back. Then I cast [Gravity Crush] in the middle of all of us as I shout, "BACK!" And that's all I can say before the monsters unleash their magic.

We're blinded by such strong light that it sears our eyes and burns our faces, even through the [Rainbow Shield], and we all howl in pain while [Gravity Crush] sends everyone tumbling towards my [Gate]. But then the second part of the monster's attack hits, and it's like multiple trucks are crushing us from every direction and one extra.

"NOO!" I let out a heavenly howl of righteous fury and stand my ground. I refuse to be hurt by these… by these…!

FUCKING INSOLENT WORMS!

My claws slam against the ground as I use my draconic body to shield everyone while they fall on my [Gate].

The explosions rock my body, the shrapnel shatters my scales, and the beams of light burn my thick hide to cinders. But the mana floods out of my soul and reconstructs my glorious draconic body as fast as it's destroyed.

The last Companion stumbles into the [Gate], and then I use [Bind] to force Hana and Aoi into it too and close it. Everyone is back at the fortress, desperately trying to escape the mess of limbs and blood as [Heal]s are thrown about left and right.

But then Alissa and Yunia sense it. Two bodies, two dead Companions. Alissa focuses her eyes and instantly finds them. One has a molten hole where her face should be. The other's face has been caved in by shrapnel.

They dare fuck with our minds!

They dare wound my women!

They dare kill my beloved Companions!

They dare use light against us!

Us! The Ryders! Blessed by the divine light. Chosen to bring progress to this stagnant society. Chosen to save the fucking world!

Honored with the unbreakable body of a Symbol of Might!

And they think that light will kill me?!

THESE FUCKING INSOLENT WORMS WILL PAY!

I feel the fabric of reality waver as mana floods every fourth-dimensional inch for dozens of meters in every direction.

So I shall bend the rules to my will!

I use [Redirect Mana] to refill my MP at the same time that I use [Mana Body] to harden myself, and the healing now outpaces the destruction, canceling out the effect of the spells.

"HAHAHAHA! IS THAT ALL?!" I roar and raise my head, then look around as I'm showered with harmless spells. I'm still able to see in 4D even without my helmet through the sheer power of my will. Then I instinctively start speaking in Reo so that they can understand me, "[IS THAT ALL YOU HAVE?! YOU WORTHLESS, INSOLENT WORMS]?!"

I hear the wives having a shouting match with Urmeie and the Earthlings, but I don't care about them right now. It isn't their time yet.

The rain starts petering out as the pseudo-worms realize that they aren't hurting me, so I curl my draconic lips into a fearsome and toothy grin.

"[The worm speaks]!" one of the insolent fools exclaims in disbelief.

"[It's still alive]!" another fearfully shouts.

"[Not for long]!" a powerful voice echoes across the battlefield.

Then I sense that someone is still casting a spell, and I quickly find the culprit as he begins to glow as well as crackle with lightning. This one isn't robed, but he's wearing a full suit of ridiculously ornate golden armor, and he has a large javelin pointed at me.

"[Witness the greatness of the Titans, worm]!" he haughtily continues. But then he also starts to grow in size, and his voice becomes elated, "[WITNESS THE GLORY OF OUR GOD!]"

But I'm stunned… and not in a good way. "[God…? Is that your God's power]…?"

"[TREMBLE]!" the insolent creature bellows in ecstasy.

And I'm taken by such fury that my mana starts to go out of control, but then I feel the raw, unbridled rage cover my whole body and solidify it further, finally reaching the level of true, unbreakable Okross.

"[YOU OFFEND ME WITH THAT JOKE]!" I roar back, my voice twice as powerful as his. Then I feel my scales begin to glow with… a hallowed light that pushes back the darkness and evil of this place.

"[SILENCE]!" the now colossal buffoon whines, and he stretches his arm back, preparing to throw his now huge lightning javelin at me.

Dwarfed, I am, but not outmatched, for all he has is size.

While I have true Gods watching my back.

So I composedly begin and stand on my hind legs to look more fearsome, "[To the pathetic imitations of humanoids… witness the power of the true Gods]." Then my veins are suddenly pumped with a raw energy that fuses with my unbreakable coat of mana, and it gives me such euphoric clarity that I almost cry. But a familiar pair of arms hug my neck from behind, forcing my mind to focus on the holy task I must finish, so I relay their edict, "[WE COMMAND YOU… TO DIE]!"

The euphoria within me fuels my godly voice, and reality has no choice but to obey.

Then the cries of thousands of… "titans" dying fills my ears. Such a beautiful symphony that tears actually escape my eyes.

"[W-WOOORM]!" the colossal titan roars in anger as his body sways, blood seeping from every opening of his golden armor. It seems his "God" protected him from certain death, but only just barely. And then he throws the javelin.

It instantly hits me right in the chest, but it doesn't pierce my unbreakable scales, so I grab it with my claws and steady myself to not crush the wives and the Earthlings as they pour out of the [Gate] the instant I open it.

"CHESA! THE LIGHTNING!" Alissa bellows as he points at me, and the mer girl instantly understands.

The two huge gray portals suddenly fly past us, going back to their original location, and they replace the dead "titans" with a new, fresh army. Just like before, they all have their spells charged and their glowing staves pointing at us.

But then Chesa takes control of the lightning in the javelin, and the supercharged weapon becomes a massive tesla coil, frying hundreds of the insolent monsters in an instant.

*BZZZT!*

"You are now level sixty-five."

We're briefly deafened and blinded by it, but we're already used to this sort of thing… while the titans aren't.

And so, we fly out to finish off the last of them.

"HAHAHAHAH!" I laugh maniacally as I use my huge body to crush the puny, little, robed men. I think I've grown even larger, but I don't have time to care about that as I'm having too much fun squishing these worms.

They aren't any more powerful than the average humanoid mage, and without thousands of them firing at the same time, they simply aren't a threat to us. I even eat one whole, and it tastes like Behemoth, which is incredibly tasty, so Aoi also eats one.

The fact that they don't taste like pig means that they really aren't pseudo-orcs.

Alissa notices that the huge portals are coming our way again, and I feel like diving right into one to see where these "titans" are coming from.

But then the two huge spheres explode into innumerable little ones, and they all fall upon the titans, no matter if they're dead or alive. I attempt to pounce into one ball, but then it immediately moves on again, leaving nothing behind.

And so, the battle ends as suddenly as it began.

I feel a kiss on the back of my scaly neck, and all the divine power within me flees my body. Then I return to my humanoid form and fall to my knees, but there's one last thing I must do. I [Gate] myself back to the fortress, then grab the nearest Space mage and throw him through my portal.

Now everyone can get back safely, so I calmly lay down on the floor, and the last of my strength leaves me.

 

"Hukarere!" I shout and sit up as my eyes fall on her furry face, and relief washes over me to see her well.

"I'm here!" she elatedly shouts and rushes over to my bed. She grabs my clawed hand and gives it a squeeze, but then her smile strains as she bitterly confesses, "I'm lucky I'm already dead." And she forces herself to continue smiling as she grabs the gem in the necklace that houses her spirit.

I blink blankly in confusion, but then I understand her meaning, and a wave of dark emotions sours my mood again. But I can't give all my focus to her right now; there are two other Companions that I must pay my respects to.

I've been taken back to our bedroom in the guest mansion, and Alissa is keeping me company, lying down beside me. But she doesn't even try to stop me, which briefly confuses me.

Instead of immediately opening up a [Gate], I try to cast a simple [Spirit Light], and a horrible pain strikes both my head and my heart.

"Fuck! I'll have to get Alcander to open a [Gate] for me," I growl and sigh, still exhausted.

"That can wait, Wolfy," Alissa finally speaks, and her tone is dripping with frustration and anger.

"Call Yunia. I need [Spirit Touch]," I calmly request. It's also difficult to access our connection right now.

And my dear wife scowls as she clenches her fist, her frustration rising almost to her limit, but…

I turn to her and lay a hand upon her lovely head. "Don't lose focus, Alissa," I gently soothe her.

When we're all being corny and joking about "we're the protagonists, we're invincible," everything is fine and dandy. But when shit gets real, we're all reminded that, quite often, things get a bit too close for comfort. Alissa knows that this is unavoidable, that this is our Fate, but she still wants to do better because it hurts too much to see me like this.

"Alissa, my love, please help me talk to Yunia," I request again, my tone as soothing as a breeze, and then I kiss her forehead.

Even if the surviving "titans" are all of the 4D-capable troops that they have, it's still enough to hurt our men at the fortress because of how much more experienced they are in that environment. Our men are in danger over there, and I want to return to watch over them as soon as possible.

If we lose our foothold in the 4D area, it might be quite costly to regain it, and I think the "titans" know that.