Chapter 10

I looked at Kael and Lana as my hands moved on their clothes, adjusting a strap here, moving an armor plate there, like an invasive mother making sure that her children were dressed properly for church.

Lana had outgrown her white priestess armor a while ago now, and Kael his own set that I gave him so many cycles priors, and they were now clothed in the best new thing their stats let them wear.

Kael’s armor was light, made out of soft dark-grey leather that made no sound when he moved around, perfect for the assassin and spellcaster that he was.

Most of his, now toned, body was covered by it and, where it wasn’t, a dark fabric as strong as steel was protecting his joints and other such flexible places.

A beautiful, if discreet, web of jewels was entangled in his short dirty-blond hair, connected by chains of matte gold, mixing stealthily with his hair color. Matching earrings could be seen on his ear lobs. It wasn’t the most stealthy or arrangement, but he really needed them. He was mainly a spellcaster, after all, and those items boosted mana regeneration and maximum mana pool by a significant margin.

To compensate, he wore strange, dark armbands with twisted swirling patterns on his forearms, which diminished his presence and had another strange effect, as if the light on him was like drops of water on a lotus flower, slipping over him, unable to cling to him, which made him look dimmer than his surroundings.

His boots were classically enchanted to make him move faster and consume less stamina when running, and he wore the common array of rings and amulet to buff his raw stats, particularly Determination, for spellpower, and Agility, for everything else.

He didn’t sport any visible weapon, of course, as Azurfall very conveniently hid in his shadow, and its curse prevented him from equipping any other weapon, but a tiny orb was strapped to his side, resting in a harness of leather straps and strange blue iron rings.

A miniature thunderstorm seemed to be imprisoned in the glass ball, gently swaying a second then savagely roaring the next one.

No weapons didn’t mean no catalyst, and this one was perfect for his lightning affinity, albeit most of the other powers of the sphere were wasted, like wind or thunder, since he couldn’t use those. The orb was slightly too high level for his current stat.

Items had stats and level prerequisites and, normally, not meeting those meant not equipping said items. It wasn’t some kind of arbitrary rule either: the prerequisites were in fact the bare minimum amount of power you had to possess to be able to wield the item without wounding yourself.

In this case, I had used my Operator privileges to override the prerequisites so Kael could already equip it, since he was that close to meeting the minimum criteria, but using it at his current strength would still hurt him.

However, I did it anyway because I thought it would give him a much-needed edge in case of problem. Better hurt than dead.

His pale blue, vertical-slitted eyes were giving the orb nervous looks from time to time.

In the many cycles that had passed as they trained, his face had kept its refined, slightly girlish features, only growing more beautiful and elegant under the massive charisma boost given by the Mermaid Flesh and Unicorn Blood. His skin was, if not spotless, at least soft, its sparkling subdued for now, and he would have looked like a young prince if not for his somber armor.

I found myself weakly smiling at his heroic composure.

At his side, Lana wasn’t left behind.

She was donning a plate armor I had painstakingly modified to fit her frame. She was quite tall, like her brother, but she was still only a bit less than thirteen years old, and I was no blacksmith. To be honest, I completely wasted two armors before being able to modify this one to fit her, but when you love you do not count.

The blue metallic armor was covering her developing bosom and frame, with barely any part unprotected, the joints at most, and even those were shielded by a sturdy iron mesh the same color as the rest of her armor.

Her head was nearly fully covered by a helmet that didn’t exactly fit the rest of the armor. It was darker, with jewels incrusted in the metal and magnificent patterns engraved all over it. It looked made for a king.

Likewise, her gauntlets seemed taken from another set of armor. They were red and made out of scales, not metal, and looked quite aggressive and menacing. They boosted her strength, which was invaluable to her since Aspect of the Behemot also multiplied stats gained from items.

It wasn’t an elixir refined from a Bear Dragon for nothing.

Her armored boots were yet from another set of armor, made out of light purple metal with thunder affinity that, like her brother’s footwear, would boost her movement speed and diminish her stamina usage, albeit without being as stealthy as Kael’s, and a massive scabbard rested on her back, Terrenacht lying in it, peaceful for now.

Honestly, with their armor on, you couldn’t tell who was who. Kael and Lana’s face were so much alike, their haircut the same and, with Lana’s armor covering her budding breasts and hips, they both looked androgynous, down to their few visible toned muscles and girlish features.

They really both looked magnificent, and it wasn’t only because of their boosted charisma or their new set of mismatched armor.

I ended my inspection with a satisfied nod.

“Good. With your equipment done, there’s only one thing left before we head out.” I said.

My instincts were telling me that something bad was coming, and I wanted them to get some battle experience before it was too late, so we were prepping to set out.

“Lana, you’ll kill me with your hands, as I showed you. This should minimize my respawn time. That way, you’ll get your class and title, and some levels, before we get out.” I explained, then added, “And after that, it’s Hobgoblin hunt time.”

I had to turn off so many skills for them to kill me this time, that I felt nothing but the torture of the system crushing me until I finally died, not even processing that Lana had finished strangling me, only feeling that the all-consuming pain had finally disappeared.

***

“You dote on them so much,” he said as his hands caressed my breasts, trailed my sides, soft and teasing.

“They’re my tickets to the outside world,” I answered, letting myself melt in Samsara’s embrace, urging his hands to be more proactive.

“That’s true, but it’s not the truth. That’s not the reason you’re behaving the way you do.”

Silence greeted his affirmation as I composed myself, letting my mind wander under his touch, which now teased my nipples.

“I was denied many things in my life. Luckily, love isn’t one of them,” I answered, turning to face him, pushing my eight massive bare breasts against his torso and giving him a deep, long and sensual kiss, using my tongue to play with his.

“Children, however… I always wanted children…” I said softly, falling back in his embrace as my eyes wandered.

“I know,” he said, now caressing my hair.

“Fate brought me two children. A day, a month, a year, a millennium, I don’t know for how long they’ll stay with me, and I don’t care. I’ll dote on them every day I am allowed to, I’ll take care of them, be there for them, for their joy, their sadness, for their anger, their triumph and their fall, even if my pain makes it somewhat difficult to show them those feelings.”

“It feels like I’ve heard that somewhere…” He teased me, knowing well that I was using his own words, the ones he used to talk about our very love.

Folks like to bring time to the fold, to justify doing some things and not doing others. I didn’t care about time. If I liked someone, if I felt like it, I wouldn’t make a difference between a day or a year, I would invest myself all the same, I would give it my all. The only thing time bring is knowledge of the other, something precious to support them, yes, but not essential.

He caressed my hair some more, kissing my cat ears, then whispered, “and will you adopt every stray cat you find, oh my lover with such a bleeding heart?” He started playing with my tail. “You’ve always had a weakness for broken things…” He added, and I knew he was speaking about himself.

“You’re not broken, you’re different and, like me, fate hasn’t dealt you the easiest of hand, oh my lover with such a bleeding heart.” I answered his last deprecation, before adding, “And maybe I’ll adopt every stray. Maybe I won’t. It’s not like I’m desperate for money or power. Maybe I’ll open an orphanage if I get back outside. A place that makes it so you meet children less often.”

“…That would be great, yes. There’s too much war lately. Too many children to meet.”

“See? Maybe I’ll adopt every stray I meet, but it’s not like it would be a bad thing. Now, here…” I pushed him back on the blanket over the grass, in the shadow of our parasol under the midday sun.

“…I know it’s a lost cause, but let’s try to make some of those children, alright? And be gentle, I haven’t been on the woman's side for a while…” I whispered, kissing Samsara before lowering myself on his manhood, uniting us in deep pleasure and many moans.

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***

Lana was meditating in front of Nathaelle’s corpse, legs crossed, hands on her thighs, her eyes closed as she slowly breathed in and out.

Killing our teacher most likely bumped Lana’s over level quite a bit, and she was adjusting to her new surge of stats and power.

I was giving her space: it was already complicated enough as it was for Lana to do nothing and stay calm, I didn’t want to interfere with her more than needed.

During the training, Terrenacht’s ravenous curse never bothered her, since we were active all the time, but now that we had to wait for Nate to come back, I wasn’t sure how well she would fare.

Then I felt something from above, like a swelling of heat, but in the mana. I raised my head and jumped on my feet, but no sound could be heard.

“Something isn’t right.” Lana said suddenly. She was on her feet too, and looked just as nervous as I was, her ears twitching to try and hear anything.

The discrepancy between that heavy feeling of doom, and the peaceful silence of our current home only stressed us more, each second that passed feeling like an hour as we waited for something to happen and break the tension.

“We nee-” Lana said suddenly, her eyes looking fearfully at the ceiling, but was cut short when the ground started to shake.

Rocks started to fall from the ceiling as you heard Nate’s protection enchantment tear like tortured metal. Lana stood there, struck by surprise, but I quickly dashed toward her as I mustered my magic.

She finally snapped out of her stupor when a rock crashed against her and, as I reached her, she launched herself at Nate’s body.

Water started to appear around me as Lana put Nathaelle’s body on her back and, taking a look at me, she understood my intention and joined in, her mana mixing with mine.

Somehow, when we used our Water Affinity, we could mix and fuse our magic naturally.

The three of us were quickly swallowed by a large bubble of water that protected us from the falling stones, absorbing and spitting out any rock that fell on us.

“We need to get out of here!” Lana said underwater, no air coming out of her lungs since she could breathe water.

I nodded at her and started to control both our mana. Using a trick Nathaelle taught us, I made us float in the water, tiny bubbles of air covering us, then started to make the water move.

There were now more rocks on the floor than on the ceiling, and I made our water bubble roll over it. Lana helped me, using her own control to make the liquid flow in cracks to make us climb through the breaking ceiling.

Light was quickly snuffed out but I and Lana, having the same idea, made our skin glitter as bright as we could. Rocks crashed over us some more before the earthquake stopped and, as the proverbial dust settled down, we found ourselves trapped in rock, stone all around us.

The only reason we weren’t crushed was our water bubble, pushing back against the walls and ceiling. It was fueled by our mana but fortunately, we both had a very high Water Affinity now, helped by our brand-new Hydrokinesis and our vast reserves of mana from all our training and my buff items.

“We need to get out of here before we run out of mana.” Lana said somberly, her eyes dilated to better see in the dark, her breathing made short and quick by the adrenaline that ran in her veins as it did in mine.

“Do you remember which way was the exit?” I asked her, unable to pinpoint our location.

“No, sorry. I was too busy freezing in place then dodging rocks with Nate on my back.” She said snarkily, frowning as she looked around.

“Then let’s dig straight up. The surface shouldn’t be that far away.” She nodded sharply and, together, if a bit clumsily from our lack of tandem training, we started inching our way upward.

We moved and dug the stone using the water, our work made easy by the fact that most of the rock had been broken by the earthquake; we only had to move it.

It took us one or two tries before we found a way to do it, though, as just absorbing debris in our water bubble would often result in more debris taking its place.

In the end, what we did was to first push our water forward before swallowing a rock, and using the water already in place to hold the rest of the stone and debris, to avoid having it collapse once more.

It was hard work and, hadn’t we been in water, you could have seen sweat rolling over our bodies. It was through magic, yes, but we could really feel the pressure of tons of stone pressing above us each time we gained terrain upward.

***

I don’t know how long we dug and moved stones. In the dark we lost track of time, strain and repetition killing any attempt at seeing any progress.

At one point, though, the pressure above our heads started to weaken, giving us hope, but soon it was replaced by a rising heat that started to get uncomfortable.

The water slowly started to boil, cooking us alive, but we kept going forward altogether. Thankfully, our fire protection was doing its job and, pushing through with all we’d got, light finally greeted us.

At first, a single ray, it soon become larger and larger as we moved away more rocks. We got so eager that Lana blew away the last meter of our rock prison, summoning explosive balls of fire just outside our water bubble to finish the job.

As we let the water go away and set foot in the open once again, a hellish sight greeted us.

“What’s happening?” Lana exclaimed, slightly freaked out.

As far as the eye could see a yellow-red glow bathed everything, grass and trees set on fire by the terrible heat the roaring air around us was carrying, our resistance barely enough to nullify its fire damage.

From the ceiling, large holes seemed to barf out bright hot lava, and thousands of flying monsters were pouring out of cracks, invading this once-peaceful floor.

I couldn’t even answer Lana before a massive meteor crashed not far from us, the shockwave blowing us away.

Lana nearly blew right through a burning tree while I was swept away, crashing on the ground nearly ten meters back.

I coughed, soot starting to fill the air from all the burning things, whipping away ash that got in my eyes, then rushed to Lana’s side.

“Good?” I asked, my voice rough from the weak but ever-present smoke that was slowly getting thicker.

“I broke a bone I think,” she said, “but it’s already healed.” Small burns could be seen on her face, half-faded and disappearing by eye. Her regeneration was really something else.

Before I could add anything else, though, the meteor started cracking and opening, and we realized it was not a rock but a monster.

Its large tail unfolded from around its body and two large, powerful wings opened up, revealing its massive head. Its whole body was covered with aggressive bone protrusions and sturdy-looking red scales. Its neck was glowing red.

It extended its body, stretching like a cat, and screamed to the sky. It was towering above us a good ten meters and, when its eyes looked down at us, hunger was the only thing I could see.

Lana reacted by snarling at it, Terrenacht already in her hands. I could feel aggressivity and hunger radiating from her, like a wronged predator pitted against a rival.

I clicked my tongue and quickly take a step back, summoning Azurfall from the shadows. I wouldn’t be able to reason with Lana in her current state, she was hungry and needed something to vent because of our long escape from the collapsed cave, Terrenacht’s curse tightly holding her.

The wyvern took a breath in and, opening its maws wide, started vomiting lava.

“No.” A voice suddenly said, and a hand rose from my side.

The lava crashed against an invisible shield, efficiently and elegantly funneled by its curves, and Nathaelle walked at our side, her long and massive red hair floating in the hot wind of the volcanic cave, her black A-cut dress fluttering.

“We need to disengage. This floor is experiencing an Invasion, it is extremely unstable right now, and will be excessively dangerous to us.” She explained, grabbing both of us before pulling back hundreds of meters away in an instant using a spell unknown to me.

I saw her wincing under the strain tough, the spell most likely quite resource-intensive. Losing a big chunk of your mana in one go never feels good.

“An invasion?” I asked and Lana snarled again, before calming down slightly as she met Nathaelle’s cold, unwavering gaze.

“This floor has been too easy for too long, and a field boss from the 136th floor most likely decided it was time to become this floor’s main Boss, filling the power vacuum. Something stopped it from doing that for a long time, but it seems that something is finally gone. I gave you your new items in the nick of time, it seems.” She answered Lana.

“So all of this is because a field boss is coming here?” I said, and Nate nodded.

“Yes. Those monsters, the lava, that’s most likely the natural habitat of this field boss, and it’s bringing it along. There will be a lot of power struggles between monsters in the months to come, the whole floor will be a battlefield, hence why we need to evacuate. The 136th floor won’t be any better because of the power vacuum on that side, so we’ll go to the 138th floor instead. I found an entrance a while back, with a bit of luck it’s still partially intact. We do this?” She ended by asking us, to see if we were okay with her plan.

“Sure? You’re the expert, Nate!” Lana said, a bit more cheerful now that Nate was back and we were not in the middle of a fight, albeit you could still see her hands twitching. She was repressing her bloodlust, she really wanted to kill something after all the time we stayed indoors.

“If you think it’s the best plan of action, then let’s do that.” I answered, and Nathaelle nodded.

“I do think it is. Let’s go.” I said, taking the lead of our little group.

***

The exit I had talked about was only a few km away from our former base, but the cataclysm sweeping this floor made our progression slow, and monster encounters could abruptly stop us in our advance.

This floor, for one reason or another, had been a beautiful meadow when we arrived, with fat green grass and groves of peaceful trees, but now everything was either on fire or covered in lava, liquid or solidified.

Sulfur and soot filled the air as gusts of wind roared chaotically around us from the difference in air temperature throughout the whole floor and the Abyss at the center of the Antitower.

Rocks fell non-stop around us, some still bright-hot from their magmatic origin, some others Lava elementals that would directly try to attack us once they recovered from their fall.

Thankfully, both twins were mostly unaffected by the heat. The worse part was how the air was slowly turning unbreathable, but they were exploiting the fact that their magically-summoned water was both clean and full of oxygen to cover their nose and mouth with it and breathe it instead of the poisoned air that lacked oxygen.

I was also relieved to see that the hellish physical training I had pushed them through was helping them. Their stats weren’t as good as mine yet, but they were good enough to keep them alive and moving, and that was the objective.

The floor kept morphing more and more as we got closer to the exit, forcibly adapted by the field boss to mimic its habitat. Less and less vegetation could be seen as everything turned into ash, deep gash opened in the ground, glowing with magmatic heat and long, slow lava rivers were starting to settle down.

We avoided each fight, trying to spare our resources and gain time, we had to get out of there before the boss showed up.

“Why are we in such a hurry?” Kael asked during one of the rare breaks we took, so the twins could eat and drink something and recover from some of their mental exhaustion. “Won’t next floor be as dangerous, since you explained that this meadow was an exception?”

“That’s true, but there’s something else,” I explained as I looked around, all detection skills up, “The floors beyond the 100th one are designed differently than the floors before, they’re entirely made to protect the Dungeon Core and its Master. You could say it’s even specifically made to stop Heroes from reaching it. The Floor Boss of each floor automatically gets a quest to eliminate any intruders on its floor, a very valuable quest.” I took a look at the twins, then went back to keeping watch.

“A normal Floor Boss has a lot on its plate, with all the Field Bosses that contest their power and such, so they have less time to fulfill that quest, and don’t need the rewards as badly, but in this case, since it’s a Field Boss that claims this floor to become it’s Floor Boss, the monster will have no contenders for a while, and be desperate to get more power, so its newly-found rank of Floor Boss can’t be threatened. Basically, on the next floor, we won’t be actively hunted by the Floor Boss, while here we will, and neither of you has what it takes to kill a Floor Boss yet, not even a newly-appointed one. Clear?” I asked, looking at Kael, and he nodded, finishing the meat that was left on his barbecued bone.

From there on the twins kept quiet, as navigating the rough terrain took everything they add.

We neared closer to the exit and, with it, my hope grew, but that’s not how the story goes, right?

You can’t get to the exit after Kael asked such a question, right?