The Journeymen, including Mallory had managed to get the Natural Potential from level 180 Boomdart Fangs that tried to sneak attack them.
They had some scary acceleration and completely sunk their teeth into Ebony's compressed Layered Ice Carapace before crushing it to bits. Since they were too small and their fangs too short they had no choice but to bite through or try attacking again.
It was their third day on the fifteenth floor and they unanimously decided that it was enough. Teamwork was far from perfect but their composition was good enough.
Ebony as the scout and tank. Scarlet as vanguard and firepower. Hector as the floater and protector of Mallory should anything require Ebony and Scarlet’s full focus. Mark was fire support and distraction for large numbers if there were any. Mallory was the perfect support with just her barrier magic that can both attack and defend. Her healing had not been necessary so far and Ebony hoped it stayed that way.
They were supposed to carry on upwards before the time they estimated to be noon but sometimes, things just never go according to plan.
“Hey hey hey! Kids over there, stop!” the unfamiliar and gruff voice echoed over.
Ebony was polite and listened. Mallory had manners. Hector was interested in what the party of 5 that were strangers had to say. Mark was alarmed and had his guard up while Scarlet couldn’t care less.
Scarlet had no choice but to wait for her ride since climbing up the vines would be so troublesome. She was a little irritated she never got any alone time with Ebony with the party here. Fighting together and sparring with him decreased her irritation.
They had opened up more and were commenting on each other's mistakes in spars or what and how to do something better. An after action review was what Ebony called it. She could only talk about swordsmanship because that was the only thing she noticed that was glaring enough to need improvement. His ability and fighting sense were too strong and even higher than hers.
No words were spoken during their battle and that was for the best. Both of them learn better by moving their bodies and not thinking too much.
Scarlet guessed that the difference between them was that he doesn’t think in battle while she still has to. No matter how fast her thought process, the gap between having to think and not to was hard to cover completely.
Ebony had taken the time to teach and watch her meditate during their time in Teld City but she wasn’t able to learn the skill. She couldn’t relax just sitting there and a constant stream of thoughts invade her mind the more she tried to remove them. He didn’t lose patience with her and tried thinking of other more suitable methods.
The Combat Meditation skill sounds really suitable for Scarlet who was very at ease in battle. Not even she knew the specifics of the skill so she still hasn’t been able to learn it. Her irritation only grew due to the nonsense that the man who stopped them was spouting.
“We’ve been seeing your party around. Sauntering around with your bodyguard… burning large portions of the dungeon and taking up our prey. Enough is enough! You nobles don’t own the place!”
“Heh, to think you people are still using mana slaves..oops, they can’t be called that anymore right? Meditators, as your portable power source. Hypocrites.”
“We’ll be going up ahead these vines so get lost!”
“We better not see you climbing below us or we’ll kick you down from the next floor.”
The party clearly hated nobles and also wasn’t happy about seeing burnt areas with no monsters left for them.
‘I wonder if Hector and Mallory were thinking that they actually legally own all the dungeons…’ Ebony thought as he flipped his shields onto the sides to let his passengers aboard.
From start to finish it was just the other party venting with no comment or reply from theirs. The lack of response gave them the courage to talk bigger and bigger.
They were a full human party which was not uncommon with Humans having the largest population. The sharp eyed freckled lady archer kept an eye on them as they walked passed and started climbing the 3 vines that were on this side of the wall.
Ebony stepped onto Mallory’s barrier and they started to ascend. Mallory was clearly moving slowly on purpose.
They reached the same height as the scolding party really quickly and he thought it was polite to wave to people that showed concern about low level parties in a dangerous place. Their initial words were about how this floor was too dangerous for Journeymen like them and how they should leave before they lose their precious lives.
He had thought that it was wonderful that there were caring people everywhere. Their tone change must have been due to their exhaustion, nerves and stress that built up over time. Not everyone was travelling in such luxury like them after all.
With a healer, a barrier mage, a chef with practically unlimited food and water, transportation by flight and more. Mark had remarked many times throughout the short time they had been together. Not to mention the quality of their equipment being visibly better probably made the other party a little envious.
The proof was that every party they had seen was covered in dirt and he could almost smell them from a mile away due to their sweat, gunk and gore. With minor injuries from cuts, bruises and abrasions to larger ones like a broken arm that made their party stressed on how to get down to the thirteenth floor with one of the member’s arms like that.
“Thank you for the concern.” Ebony said, he continued waving to them as the five of them slowly floated above them. He would’ve flashed a smile if he knew how to but he said it as sincerely as possible that no one but Scarlet could sense.
He did not understand his own party member’s reaction to his actions. Other than Scarlet, they all looked at him weird. Since no one spoke up he didn’t care enough to ask. Maybe he should’ve told the prince, princess, rune nerd and food lover that it was only natural to return kindness for kindness and although they were not very polite, politeness for politeness. Reciprocate.
That must be it.
He must be the one with the most social experience here except maybe Hector. Ebony felt oddly smug about it.
‘Are they constipated? Or injured?’ He saw the other party’s red complexion. There was some yelling but they already accelerated high up and none of them heard their words clearly. Ebony was guessing it was ‘stay safe’ and other similar words. What sweet people they were.
The ceiling actually feels closer this time as they took a shorter time to make it up to the sixteenth floor. Since Mallory didn’t stop moving up after the long dark tunnel that was one of the many holes in the ceiling, Ebony didn’t lax up on his shields either.
She must have been improving her mental stamina after carrying someone else a few times.
The ride to the next floor was not as smooth as a torrent stream was reaching out to them while the ground was already far from them. Mallory conjured a barrier fast enough but all of them were smashed into the wall despite the barrier.
Hector managed to hang on to his shield but Scarlet and Mark fell. No vines were anywhere near them.
Mark spun his spear as a habit as he stabbed hard into the wall. Surprisingly stabbing in and stopping his fall.
Ebony had split his shield into scales to speed up and chase the falling Scarlet but stopped when she had drawn her swords.
Blood flowed out as she drew her swords and formed a blood disk under her feet. The only weird thing was that she was already almost upside down and her platform was slanted too.
Like a meteor, a red flash burst her own blood disk apart as she charged downwards. She had no chill and the weakened gravity acting on them to make flight easier was getting in her way so she charged downwards herself.
Scarlet tried to fillet the fish again but her attempt didn’t even cause the Swamp Issile which covered itself in mud to bleed. She sped out of the crater she created from her forceful descent and chased after the Swamp Issile. Cascading Laceration going at full force.
The Swamp Issile proved to be tricky swimming in and out of the ground and constantly shooting blasts of water. Weaving in and out, sparring with Ebony who sends projectiles from any direction had been helpful.
Her blood boiled and her blades kept heating up further. Most of the blood disk she scattered gathered and reformed as a halo above her and started their spin and heating as well.
Rotating perpendicular to the ground and slicing towards the Issile. Melting through its outer layer and scalding the poor beast.
They do not smell appetising which made things a little easier on her.
A tail swipe destroyed her blood halo but it merely broke apart liquid and sent them across the forest, they slowly regathered as her speed and power constantly rose. It was no surprise as the blood spell was merely a generic skill at the moment.
Cuts went deeper and more wounds opened across the Issile as the clock ticked. The Issile couldn’t even catch up to her figure anymore and its blasts of water only hit air, trees, ground and wall.
Her tolerance for her Core Skill has improved leaps and bounds. Right now? She was not hungry and had plenty of energy reserves stored up. Only getting very thirsty as her blood boiled and thinned. That was unavoidable and had always been the case even with her Core Skill alone not to mention the addition of Blood Boil.
It was ready to be served but no one to be served unless reabsorbing the cooked monsters can be tasted by the dungeon. One of the stories that her grandma told her was about the famous world dungeon that asks for delicious dishes in exchange for creating a material it can create with the essence that it has. It was too bad that the world dungeon doesn't have a gate on Elcra. Elcra only had two known world dungeons and only one was on Elva.
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Her body started to cool down quickly and the moment she hated the most came. It was when her body was warm but not warm enough to evaporate her sweat, making her body all sticky and uncomfortable.
There were some other types of monsters from this floor onwards but they did not find it necessary to waste time here. The large difference in levels did make their skill level very quickly but most of the important skills in each of their skill sets have mostly reached their peak.
It would be better for them to push the limit before actually reaching it.
Scarlet got back onto the cold shield where she lost control and just laid flat on the cooling surface. Unlike Mallory and Ebony who were untouched by water, the other 3 got drenched. She dried out in the fight but it was still very uncomfortable when she imagined that it was the monster’s spit. She wanted to quickly hole up and wipe herself off.
With no more disruptions, they had another flight where Ebony and Mallory did all the work.
Mark was even more uptight now that he kept whispering “I knew something would happen.” and blaming himself for letting his guard down due to how at ease he felt when travelling with them.
Hector kept reassuring him with “It’s alright! We’re all fine aren’t we?” being the positive guy as always. Only for all of them to listen to another one of Mark’s lectures about the dangers of travelling and how they need to always be on their guard.
“Silence!” Mallory raised her voice for the first time since Ebony met her. Hector was more shocked about her outburst. Mark’s constant chattering was annoying her. She was already having a very hard time carrying Ebony upwards for hours. Mark’s voice was the last thing she wanted to hear at the moment.
That got Mark to shut up as he received the message. Finally noticing the beads of sweat rolling down the healer’s pretty face.
“...Sorry about that.” Mark apologised. They were all to thank for his easy journey so far and he had only himself to blame for letting his guard down.
Hector wasn’t wrong that at least all of them were relatively uninjured due to Mallory’s barriers. Only he had smacked into the wall while Scarlet immediately counter-attacked and Hector reacted quickly enough to hang on to the shield that was being blown away by water.
Finally in the dark tunnel that was the floor of the seventeenth floor, they relied on Ebony’s senses and Mark’s questionable ability to detect things in the dark to confirm that nothing was out after them.
Light past the tunnel could be seen after almost half an hour.
Ebony was too lazy to estimate their speed to calculate the distance they had crossed. He did Mental Map properly but he didn’t put much thought into it since he doubted he would come back. Even if he did, the dungeon would’ve likely changed its layout already.
Hopping onto the mushy ground, Ebony caught Mallory’s shoulder as she was falling over.
“Are you okay? Let’s take a break here.” He saw the pale complexion on her face. It was the same as when they got to the fifteenth floor.
He wanted to walk but found his foot being stepped on by Scarlet. She didn’t move too fast for him to react or anything but he just didn’t move away from her, subconsciously or not.
He cocked his head in confusion when she glared at him before helping Mallory to sit on a dry rock not too far away. It might have been conveniently moved there by some other party that were resting here before or after they climbed the vines.
So far, he hasn’t seen any clash where one party was climbing up and another was climbing down on the same vine. That would’ve been awkward.
Hector snickered at him but wouldn’t explain why after Ebony had asked him what was so funny.
“Hect…” Mallory called Hector over.
He was busying himself searching for something in her bag when Scarlet came over.
“Let’s spar!” Scarlet said enthusiastically.
“Mmm. Do you want to get a bite first?” Ebony thought about the previous fight that should’ve taken quite a bit of effort from her. Every hunt up here required all their focus and abilities, it was very energy consuming even for him.
“Hmphh!” Scarlet grabbed his sleeves and pulled him deeper into the marshy forest.
‘She’s angry right? Why?’
Ebony didn’t have much time to ponder when he saw her take a glass tube hidden under her mantle, uncorked it, opened up her lower mask and drank the red solution.
“Erm. That was my blood right?”
The only reply he received was a burning lance to his face.
He ended up with horrible burns and a large bump on his head when she knocked it with her sheathed sword after he was beaten. The burns were painful and were much harder for him to heal from. He usually protected himself with his own flames but he ran out of mana.
“Why don’t you go get Mallory to heal you?” Scarlet stomped off after beating him up.
Ebony who can still be considered new to understanding other people's emotions had the lightbulb in his head light up.
‘Ohhhh. She’s jealous.’ He then remembered why he started being mean or playing pranks on Hector. He was jealous, didn’t want and didn’t like Scarlet getting so close to another man.
‘So I’ve already fallen for her since then.’ Ebony realised.
He patted himself as he got up from the ground, it stung the burns under his robe that seemed undamaged. Almost hopping along back to where the others were.
‘Why am I so happy that I got beaten. Do I have that kind of kink?’ Ebony’s mind went off tangent as usual. He should use his head more. But then the sudden thought brought back memories. The more memories popped up in his head the more he realised that it might really be the case. He missed his mother’s beatings and was even happy when Sister Jing beat him up and now that the same has happened here it was really hard for him to deny based on the circumstantial evidence.
He quickly shook the depressing thought about what kind of person he was and went back to meditating properly.
Seems like Hector set up the barrier item that they used when he first found the prince and princess pair in Hoarfrost Glade. Mallory probably wasn’t able to cast a barrier and got Hector to use it instead. That was what Hector said but Ebony didn’t see any item or object around.
Ebony walked to Scarlet who was taking her bag from under her mantle and setting her tent up.
“Don’t be angry.”
“I’m not angry. Why would I be angry?” She didn’t look at him as she was busy with her tent.
“I won’t get her to heal me.” Ebony attempted to pacify her.
“...” There was no response.
“I’ll make you a guilt bucket.” He attacked her weak spot.
“...” This time he was pretty sure she almost fumbled.
“An extra large guilt bucket and I’ll try to make you some ice cream?” Ebony increased his offence.
“...What’s ice cream?” Scarlet’s attention was caught.
“It’s a cold snack or desert. It’s sweet and cooling.” Ebony didn’t forget to use the keyword ‘sweet’.
“...You’ll have to show me how you make it.” Scarlet hesitated but broke down under his relentless attacks.
“So you’re not angry?”
“...I wasn’t angry.”
Ebony didn’t know why he was satisfied with her answer this time so he stopped pestering her.
They kept to their own tents to rest and recover while the two most energetic ones, Mark and Hector left the confines of their barrier to explore or scout the area.
Mallory came and asked Ebony to show her his burns in the middle of his meditation and magic training. Apparently, Scarlet herself had gone and asked her to heal him.
Ebony opened his tent’s flap, put on his boots left outside and started stripping his robe and shirt off to show Mallory the burns he had along his right arm and the right side of his body. He already changed clothes since the previous one mostly burned off. Some flames slipped under the sleeves of his robe and went up all the way till his neck.
He was confused because there was no movement from Mallory or even Scarlet who should’ve been in the middle of preparing dinner. Ebony spotted her looking their direction, maybe still jealous or watching every one of his moves.
Ebony’s manipulation over his own body or his mana chassis wasn’t so good or accurate that he could remove a layer of skin. He had thought of a good idea and conjured some icy mist over his burns before just tapping lightly to remove the burnt layer and it worked better than he imagined.
“What’s wrong? It’s not that bad, I’m starting to heal already.” Ebony asked the stunned pair.
“...Nothing. Sit, I’ll speed it up. We’ll do the same thing, I’ll follow your mana’s movement, assist and accelerate your natural healing.” Mallory brushed her stunned silence aside as insignificance.
“Mmm.” Ebony didn’t think much of it either. Initially.
Scarlet hasn’t stopped staring.
Hector knocked on the barrier as he stood with Mark.
“Is dinner ready?” Hector saw Scarlet in front of her countertop.
Ebony had placed a thick block of ice on the ground so that she doesn’t have to worry about dirtying her portable kitchen. She returned to preparing dinner after she replied “almost”.
They saw him getting his burns healed and didn’t disrupt Mallory who was at work.
Mallory later commented that he was hard to heal. He should be careful about being heavily wounded as she didn’t have the confidence to fully heal a fatal wound for him.
He put his shirt back on and they had dinner. It was quite a feast.
It was hard for Ebony not to notice that Hector was quiet throughout the meal and the table was quiet with the 3 men eating in silence. Mallory ate alone at another table with her back facing Mark.
“What happened?” Ebony thought it was a good idea to ask.
“...I think. I think I saw him.” Hector only hesitated for a second. Mark was only lending a curious ear, he had seen Hector turn silent halfway through their walk before Hector decided to come back.
“...I see. Where?” Ebony conjured his special chair and let Scarlet who suddenly walked out sit on his. She was interested in what Hector had to say. They knew who Hector was referring to.
“I mean. I’m not sure if it was him. Just thought I saw him flying up.” Hector second guessed himself.
“Also, while I don’t recognise the others I saw that fire mage woman that should’ve been killed by Scarlet. They’re on this floor.” Hector added.
“They don’t matter. The next floor…” Scarlet didn’t care about his lackeys. She couldn’t forget how easily she was taken out years back.
“What do y'all wanna do about it? Look for him?” Hector didn’t know how he felt about their ex-party member.
“Why?” Ebony questioned.
““...””
“If we come across him, we come across him. If not, we have better things to do.” Ebony stated his thoughts.
He didn’t think they could beat Tuffock either. The current them might be able to beat the Tuffock of the past if he wasn’t hiding any more powers but they were not the only ones improving. If Tuffock at that time was already near his limit, chances were, he evolved and is just levelling now.
Whatever the case, Ebony doubted their chances of victory against him. Them.
Their original purpose here was to get as much Natural Potential. No point looking for trouble unless trouble looked for them. It wouldn’t be too late to look for something as petty as revenge when they were actually free or had nothing better to do.
Hector seemed to approve of his decision but Scarlet clearly wasn’t. She returned to her tent to continue eating and the conversation stopped there.
Despite what Ebony said, he didn’t forget that the stone mage had snapped Scarlet’s neck and almost killed her.
Their paths would one day cross again. The question was when.