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1074 Words
While he sat there, he contemplated his dream and the implications it carried, and what they said about himself.
If his fading memories of the dream were right, he had been something like Tier 1000, and impossibly strong. But despite all that power, he had still been cornered and captured like a mundane human, in the end.
He interpreted the dream as his brain trying to reconcile the danger of Minkalla and the realization that eventually, the emperor and other high Tier people like Luna wouldn’t be able to protect him. Soon, he would be in danger everywhere he went, every waking moment.
Minkalla was the first time since he had gotten a manager that his life was in immediate danger, and there was no one who could pull him out of the fire if it got too hot.
The idea of death had never been far, but Matt and his team had been seriously wounded, and now, they were on a floor where they could actually run out of mana for their skills if they weren’t careful.
Even his Talent couldn’t fix the issue when the cost of a skill became more than an entire mana pool.
This floor had the possibility of being a hard stop for them if they weren’t careful.
It was a degree of danger that Matt had known about but hadn’t really conceptualized as he should have.
But while they were in Minkalla, there was nothing they could do but push through. So, after he mulled over the feelings he was left with, he did his best to push them out of his mind.
Without his AI to translate Aster’s yips, he was forced to rely on their bond, but they didn’t really need any more than that. She was comforting him and wanted him to know that it was just a bad dream, which was quite appreciated. The follow up thoughts of her wanting a warm brownie with her ice cream were also meant to comfort him, he was sure.
Aster didn’t have a selfish bone in her body after all. Not a single one.
They were watching a movie when Susanne came out to take over the guard shift, and Matt took the opportunity to go back to sleep himself.
After brewing Susanne some coffee, he slipped back into bed with Liz and the leg cooler that was Aster.
When he woke up the second time, after a dreamless nap, they set off quickly after a small bite to eat.
The second level of this floor was better than the maze they had been stuck in, but the waves of rats that they were up against had forced them to dip into their spell usage despite their trying to rely mostly on items.
It could have been worse, admittedly. The rats were swarm monsters, and were quite weak individually, meaning Liz could just cast [Blood Sprites] and allow the multiplying nature of the spell to wipe out most of the horde.
Even then, they had to deal with the next wave as they pushed forward, which quickly made the tactic untenable. Though, after clearing an area of the rats, they were able to slowly bait the rest into the room and finish them off in smaller numbers that they could safely handle.
Susanne got to test out [Crescent Sweep] for the first time, and she seemed to deeply enjoy the ability to make her sword spin through dozens of rats at a time. The ability to summon a second copy of her manifestation and use that for a potent short-ranged attack, while also attacking normally, would catch a lot of people off guard.
After they finished the labyrinth ruin and entered a forest, they decided to retreat and take a break for a few hours to get some sleep.
Without their buffing spells, they were spending more energy with each fight, and without [Endurance], they were unable to magically purge the exhaustion from their bodies either.
They could use potions to help, but that would burn through their limited supply, and even potions couldn’t be used one after another without side effects.
So, they went without.
It slowed them down a little, but everyone should have nearly the same problems and restrictions.
As they moved into the forest, Matt gripped his sword with one hand, and his staff in his off-hand, prepared to cast spells the second something attacked them.
Except, there was nothing.
As they sped up slightly, they discovered the aftermath of battle in the form of trampled trees and shrubbery, but it had been long enough ago that Minkalla already reclaimed everything.
At nearly the same time, they felt a bright beacon of Genesis Energy ahead of them, like a shining star to their spiritual sense, as soon as they came into range. It felt like one person, but they couldn’t be too sure.
It took the four of them nearly half an hour but, eventually, they encountered the nude man they had seen in the second floor’s safe room, fighting a swarm of monkeys with various colored fur.
Not wanting to seem like they were going to attack him, they stopped and watched. As they did so, Matt whistled.
The man was a fantastic fighter, which he would have to be without any weapons or armor.
Each attack missed him by inches; the man was just a bit faster than all his opponents and somehow was able to keep track of the entire troop during the skirmish.
After dodging the dozen or so monkeys’ attacks for roughly fifteen seconds, he finally launched his own counterattack, and his fist lashed out like a falling meteor that sought to wipe out all life on the planet.
As his fist landed, all the monkeys exploded at the same time in a display of gore.
Even before the bodies hit the ground, he spun and faced them.
In the corporation language, he asked something, but seeing their non-reaction, he changed to the Republicans’ language. Seeing their blank stares, he finally asked in perfect Empire, “Is there something I can help you with?”
Once more, Matt was surprised. The man’s Empire was textbook perfect despite the man not using an AI to translate, which was impressive. Luna had taught them the basics of each of the other seven major languages spoken throughout the Great Powers, but their Guild wasn’t as clean as this man’s Empire.
- Writer
