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Instead, Matt used [Sand Manipulation] in concert with [Earth Manipulation] and dug a staircase down. They had reached a half-mile underground when they finally found a layer of rock.
Matt thought they had found the immovable floors of Minkalla at first, but with [Earth Manipulation], he was able to open up a doorway into the rock.
None of them expected to find themselves inside a labyrinth that was hidden below the sand.
Once they were inside, they were forced to fight their way through seemingly random groups of lizardmen patrols, but there were no more teleports.
It was also a great source of Genesis Energy.
They had been underground for an entire day when Aster jerked after killing off a lizardman.
“Something happened. I now have enough Genesis Energy to purchase the exit reward.”
Matt looked to his bond and felt her for Genesis Energy, and yes, he could feel quite a bit built up inside her spirit.
They sent some of their excess Genesis Energy into their rings, but they had been fighting so many lizardmen in the halls that all of them had forgotten to do so, to greater or lesser degrees.
The idea was to keep just enough Genesis Energy cycling to help their items convert into growth items, but they tried to keep their presence muted by adding excess Genesis Energy into the rings.
Wanting to test what she said, Matt emptied his ring, and most of the way through his reserves, Matt felt a bit of knowledge seep into his mind. He somehow knew that if he were to reach the floor one exit that he could claim its reward.
All of them discovered the same thing, but it led to further testing. They all had a similar amount of Genesis Energy, and part of their agreement upon entering was that they would pool their Genesis Energy together, so they all transferred their excess Genesis Energy to Aster as a test.
And as they expected, with three quarters of their total Genesis Energy, Aster got a second bit of information that she now had enough Genesis Energy for the floor reward if she so chose to take that challenge.
That gave them pause.
It meant that they were well ahead of the curve in terms of Genesis Energy, but they were just over a week spent inside. Not that it was a bad thing, but it didn’t mean they could afford to slow down. If anything, that just meant they should go faster, trying to get even farther ahead of the curve.
Eternal Darkness on the first floor was not a super vital reward. They would take it, as they had earned enough Genesis Energy, but they wouldn’t linger beyond that.
They suspected that their faster-than-usual progress came down to two factors; their Tier, and the challenge rooms they had encountered and completed. Being Tier 11’s they got more Genesis Energy per kill and needed less Genesis Energy for the rewards. They had also gotten the max reward for the Ants vs Elephants challenge, and a very respectable reward from the simulation.
That, along with their slaughter of the griffins and lizardmen, along with the massive discount from being Tier 11, put them ahead of most others.
With that in mind and pushing them forward, they speed up their progress, trying to get through the labyrinth.
It took them another day and a half, but they managed to push until they were nearly upon the ruin’s exit.
When they exited the halls of the labyrinth, they found themselves in an open-air stadium that was so large it stretched past the range of their spiritual perception. Judging by the range of their senses, they could surmise that the stadium was at least three miles long.
Even the massive sphinx lying in the center of the field seemed normal cat-sized in the massive room.
Sand was piled up along the edges and swirled in little eddies as the griffins flew around in their seemingly normal whirlpool around the sphinx.
Sensing their approach, the sphinx stood up and shook itself off. It stretched before opening its mouth in a silent growl.
Before they were able to do anything, the griffins started to dive at them.
Liz called out as she took to the air, “Aster and I got the griffins, you guys kill the sphinx!”
Matt and Susanne launched themselves forward at top speed and closed the distance with the massive sphinx.
A pillar of sand rose up and tried to slam into Susanne, but Matt used a combination of [Earth Manipulation], [Wind Manipulation], and [Sand Manipulation] to halt the attack. It took most of his mana generation, split between the inefficient indirect controls and the direct manipulation in his outer spirit, but he softened the blow enough for Susanne to duck away.
The cat jerked back as if slapped, but while that pillar of sand fell, another dozen pillars formed and flew at them.
Matt threw his mana generation at the problem and slowed the waves of sand just enough to allow them to approach the boss. Susanne used her second version of her Concept blade to launch a ranged [Wind Cutter] that vibrated with the telltale sign of her casting it with [Hypersonic Edge]. The attack was able to block the sphinx wing that came crashing down on her while she used her main blade to cut at the descending paw. Matt was half a second behind her, and as she pulled back, he brought his blade around in a heavy blow with both [Mana s***h] and [Mana Charge] charged to the max, letting them loose on contact with the beast’s shoulder.
[Mana s***h] worked best with range, but it had a penetrative power that [Mana Charge] lacked, and he used the combo to blow a chunk of flesh off the beast, earning a silent roar.
The sphinx hopped back and tried its sand attack trick, but Matt commanded the sand to stop, which slowed the attacks to the point of being useless.
Seemingly giving up on that tactic, the competing control over the sand vanished, and the giant cat flexed its wings to fly into the air.
As Liz and Aster were busily reducing the Griffin population above them, Matt refused to let the monster take to the skies.
- Writer
