Ray tried to get through the barrier before him, but it wasn’t working. When he pushed against it, the obstacle felt like a solid wall. Impassable. Unnegotiable. How? He had seen soldiers pass through it. What was the difference between them and him.

He already looked like one of the Everstead military, so it couldn’t be appearance-based. Rifling through the dead soldier didn’t reveal any special items he was supposed to carry. So then—

Ray considered for a moment, heart picking up pace again as he imagined the rest of the guards and Cory showing up. He pulled off one of the dead soldiers’ swords and threw it in. The blade sailed through the translucent barrier like it wasn’t even there. Then Ray tried it with a True Mana shard. It bounced off. Solid, like it had been for Ray.

A wild idea burst into his head. Driven by the desperate fact that he should already have been past this silly obstacle already. He was wasting too much time.

Ray spotted his trusty little bee still in the corner. He began running away from it, using Spectral Step just before he reached the gate. When he reappeared before the bee, away from the gate, he continued running in the same direction. Then he teleported again.

As he continued repeating the process—running towards the gate only to use Spectral Step to return to the bee—his heart spasmed. The noises he had been afraid of the most were approaching. The soldiers were hurrying back, clearly aware that Ray wasn’t actually dead.

There was no time to waste. Ray had to get going.

Fast.

Repeating the process enough times to completely rid himself of all Mana worked. He was finally able to get through the damn magic barrier.

Just in time, as the first soldiers rushed in.

Good thing Ray had taken care of the apparent situation beforehand. The guard he had killed was now cloaked and hidden with Mimic Mana, an Imitator construct taking up his form to fool the ones who had returned.

It wouldn’t work on Cory, but it was enough to give Ray a head start.

Of course, his head was spinning due to the disorientation of the constant teleports and the fact that he was fully out of Mana. But as Ray crushed a True Mana shard to replenish everything he had used up, he smiled at the fact that he had been able to figure it out.

The barrier blockaded anyone or anything using Mana. To pass through, he needed to rid himself of all Mana. Kind of an ingenious obstacle, if he thought about it.

Ray got moving. Just one more floor and then he’d be right before the ruler of the Everstead kingdom.

The floor he had to navigate through was no less well-guarded than the one he had just barged through. There was a large main hallway that led to huge doors. Ray stared at it from the distance for just a second. That was his goal. He would find the ruler through those doors.

Ray would find the source of these constant tremors through there as well.

Something told him that, spooked by the assault on the palace and the purported threat of infiltration, the ruler had already begun the process of going to the Third Floor of the Tower of Forging. That was the real source of the constant tremors. Ray was on more of a time crunch than ever. He had to get to through to the throne room and stop whatever was going on there.

The main hallway was out of the question. Too stuffed with soldiers for Ray to get through easily. Luckily, just like the last floors, several side rooms and passages would let him sneak through.

Ray darted in. Unluckily, the soldiers were learning. There were just as many patrols everywhere. They were in smaller groups too, all so that they could cover more ground.

He had already cast his bees to find ways through and safe spots to teleport to, but he wasn’t sure if that was going to help at all. There were so many…

Ray decided against focusing on the numbers he was facing and on actually making his way through. The safe teleportation spots. That was what he needed. Ray had to wait, biting his lip a little and thankful that he was mostly camouflaged, before his bees began finding places he could use Spectral Step to reach.

He got through two rooms before things changed. A shout went up. Voices talked together in too much of a cacophony to make out anything specific.

But their intention became clear in seconds. They were tearing down the walls.

Ray was tempted to shout out his curse, but there was no time. They were literally breaking down the wing of the palace to the left of the main hallway. All so he had no place to hide and sneak through. What a bunch of fuckers.

The crashing got closer. Walls broke, doors burst open, dust rained down from the ceiling as cracks snaked through everywhere. Ray’s blood pounded through his veins. The places he could get to were quickly running out.

Cursing once more, he gave up and just used Spectral Step to go to the other wing. Some of his bees had reached there too. They were practically all over the floor by now.

He could—

[Warning!]

Primordial Gauge indicates that your presence has been detected by Lord’s Measure [Tier 8].

Primordial Gauge has failed to block the effects of Lord’s Measure [Tier 8].

“Oh, fuck!”

That was all Ray had time to yell out before the floor exploded with a geyser of gold-white light. Cory rose through, shining like some sort of angel.

They had trapped him. Bastards had broken down the left wing so that he’d be forced to rush to the right, where the lord of Cliff Two had been awaiting his appearance.

“You keep evading just out of my grasp,” Cory said. “Your timing is either adept, or quite fortunate.”

Ray had no business taking to the guy, especially when there was no time to bandy words. The commotion had attracted the other soldiers’ attention. They’d be here in minutes.

So, he used Goliath Eater to boost up his stats, then fired off the draconic maws around his hand.

Cory used Absolute Shield to block it. A hemisphere of golden light formed before him, one he held like a greatshield. The compressed fire breath was unable to break through. Even worse, Cory grinned as he pushed back against Ray’s easer breath and started to charge.

Cursing, Ray flew back. The walls and the floor all started cracking apart, golden fissures running through them like rivers of light. A second later, they exploded.

Ray’s defence of Mottling Spiritguard was put to the test. Thankfully, they passed with flying colours. His chaos orbs deflected away every glimmering chunk of the palace that Cory had flung at him.

Cory wasn’t interested in giving Ray any breathing room. Just as he survived the blast from High Command, he found his opponent almost upon him, Sundering Passage having brought the lord right in Ray’s face. His fist swung in, surrounded by an armoury golden weapons. Why use one when a dozen was just as easy to wield?

Ray was pretty certain blocking with the last remining Spiritguard orbs wasn’t going to protect him. In a split instant, he sent one shooting past Cory and used Spectral Step to dodge.

Cory was already twisting around but Ray was faster, using his wings to continue to get away and create some distance. A powerful crash behind him confirmed that direct impact with those weapons would have pulverized him.

But despite the fact that Ray had dodged again, Cory looked happy.

Maybe the asshole was just happy there were more soldiers coming in to prevent Ray from getting away. One soldier, for now. But the one rushing in was more than enough.

Ray grimaced at the huge form barrelling towards him. The soldier reminded him of that troll-like woman he had fought on Cliff Two. An Adamant Barbarian or whatever she had been called. Not ideal.

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A blast from a draconic maw ought to take care of this one. But the soldier’s reaction surprised him. The huge man growled, then slashed twin axes in front of him to unleash two crossing crescents of deep green fire. They collided against the laser breath, the green keeping the chaotic red-black at bay admirably.

The soldier swung a flame-wreathed axe a third time as he reached the point of the powers’ collision. This third slash set off an explosion.

Ray staggered back at the detonation, keeping his mind focused on the fight itself rather than being awed by the overwhelming power he was facing. He probably would be better off if he could have used Primordial Gauge on the big guy, but the walls and ceiling were turning gold again.

He cast Mottling Spiritguard again, just as they shattered. The chaos orbs did well to protect him from the psychokinetically-controlled shrapnel.

But not from their master bursting out of the wall.

Cory yelled out in triumph as he barrelled in at Ray with Sundering Passage. But he stopped gobsmacked in the face when an Impervious Shell materialized in his path.

Ray was just about to make the shell disappear so he could blast the bastard with his spells. He had to take advantage of Cory’s stunned conditions. Even if the axe-wielding behemoth was rushing at him with enough force to make the floor fracture.

But the Impervious Shell glowed gold for a brief second. Then it smacked Ray hard enough to send him flying.

Shit. Fucker had taken control of Ray’s own spell with his Absolute Rule skill.

The twin axes flashed down on Ray, their edges glowing a burning green. Ray sued Spectral Step once more, appearing on top of his shell. He was well aware that his True Mana stores were running low. Either he had to end this quickly or find an opening to crush a shard.

His opponents’ attacks continued to come in relentlessly. Ray had no breathing room. Even worse, they were coordinating well, almost like they had fought together before.

Bad enough Ray was fighting against overpowered foes. Now they were working like well-oiled team too?

Ray flung his spells at them, but they always had a strong defence. Neither his laser breaths nor the more subtle shots of Mottling Spiritguard got past the green flames or the golden shield. He wasn’t going to win like this.

Things changed when both Cory and the giant attacked at once. Absolute Rule brought up another salvo of broken palace parts. Ray had Mottling Spiritguard ready, keeping his eye focused on the lumbering soldier with the axes, since that guy was getting closer.

The chunks of the palaces didn’t shoot at Ray directly this time, however. Instead, they exploded.

Ray’s Intellect Tiers weren’t high enough for him to react in time, but they did let him realize Cory’s plan. The Mottling Spiritguard orbs were quite effective against all attack, provided they were big enough. But Cory had used Absolute Rule to shatter all the chunks he torn off the walls. That turned them into a bullet hell of shrapnel no bigger than Ray’s thumb.

Needless to say, they found the gaps between the Spiritguard orbs really well. The majority of Ray was protected against the attack thanks to his Vestments. But the parts of him that were exposed got hit hard.

Ray had to bite down on a scream as his forehead tore and the backs of his hands were pelted with rocks flying at what felt like Mach speed. He barely managed to get an arm over his face to prevent Cory’s shrapnel from tearing through his eyes and leaving him a blinded mess. That would probably have killed him, considering the big guy was up next.

With a huge roar, the axeman swung his fiery blades. Either Ray had hurt his ears, or he was hearing the blades screech as they sliced towards him.

Spectral Step again came to the rescue. He hadn’t sent any of the Spiritguard orbs far enough, not in his state, but even the few feet ahead of him that they were normally was enough for the axeblades to miss him.

The teleport brought him way too close to the hulking giant. He forced his awareness to work past the little dots of agony, especially since he was pushing it away with his Recovery.

But his attempt to slam in his draconic maws didn’t connect. The axeman’s knee rose up first. It punched into Ray’s guts, rearranging his organs and making him vomit out a coughing burst of bile and blood.

A quick use of Spectral Step to get away was entirely instinctive. But even then, Ray had no room to actually get his breath and bearing back. His enemies were upon him already.

Mostly because he had teleported right between them.

As Ray had been struck by the giant’s knee, the Mottling Spiritguard orbs had slammed forward. The huge soldier had dodged away, leading to the orbs sailing forward and taking Ray ahead with them. Now, he was right between Cory and his axe-wielding maniac. Right where they wanted him.

“Grovelling won’t help you now, Raymond,” Cory said, voice low and filled with lethal promise.

“I’m not grovelling, you idiot.” Ray looked up, grinning with bloodied teeth. “I’m ducking.”

“Wha—”

The axe-wielder screamed as he was blasted off his feet. Two huge compressed chaotic laser breaths had slammed in with the force of rushing train on fire. He went flying, his armour crushed and his body tearing apart under the rupturing and twisting stress of the chaotic flames.

Cory wasn’t one to be distracted for long, no matter how surprising the turn of events. He swivelled around to face Ray again. His whole body glowed with power. There was even a delicious hint of regret on his face for not killing Ray sooner.

But Ray wasn’t the real issue for the lord of Cliff Two. Through the hole in the wall he himself had created, a second Ray burst out and ran straight for him.

A quick Absolute Rule took care of the Imitator construct. The surrounding masonry erupted off the palace and crashed into the fake Ray, smothering it in debris in the blink of an eye.

For his part, Ray performed as quick of an upper cut he could. The draconic maw around his hand was already flaming black and red.

Cory was fast enough to block it. His shield came up in milliseconds, the golden disc blocking the flaming Windbane head. His fist swung back at the same time, the golden armaments materializing in the blink of an eye to finally put an end to Ray.

But Ray was thinking faster. He yelled out.

A flying Greater Windbane Maw erupted into being and flew in from the direction of the Imitator construct. For Cory had never crushed it. Just before his glimmering golden rocks had crashed into the construct, Ray had switched its form, turning it into a little bee to escape unharmed. It had made through the storm of stones and turned into a new construct.

One that was already firing off a laser breath at Ray’s enemy.

“You can’t kill me that easily!” Cory shouted.

Just as easily Ray could convert his constructs and spells, it turned out Cory could do so as well. All the armaments on his right arm compressed into a thick, golden shield like the one on his left. It blocked the construct’s flaming breath without trouble.

But Ray wasn’t daunted. He kept on pushing. “I don’t need to kill you, you dumb fuck. I just need you to get out.”

Soulstrike was the perfect solution. Ray made his True Mana emerge from his own arm, right from the point where he had the draconic maw grafted on his hand. Primal Spiritcraft transferred the Greater Windbane Maw to the spectral arm bursting off his real limb.

The exchange of force might have pushed Ray back, but he held his feet. Instead, Cory was the one who was slammed towards the far wall.

Right through the hole that the constructs far, far back—the ones that had blown up the axe-wielding giant—had created just a second ago with another little blast of chaotic flames.

Cory yelled out as he lost his footing. For the briefest moment, his wide eyes and the shocked gape of his mouth almost seemed to comically hang outside, floating high above the base of the royal palace. Then he plummeted. Gone, just like that.

“Good, fucking riddance,” Ray said.

It had been an excellent idea to grant his bee constructs enough intelligence to navigate through the palace. An even better idea to call a bunch of them towards his battle.

Their appearance had been timely.

He turned, just to confirm that the axe-wielder was indeed dead. Hmm, that pulsating mass of flesh and spiky bones coming out of his back certainly didn’t look like something people normally recovered from.

Ray had received no notification yet, but that was probably because he was still in danger. The commotion had already drawn the soldiers, of course, but they had stayed back so far since the situation had seemingly been in hand. Cory shouldn’t have fallen to the likes of Ray, especially not with that giant of a brute alongside him.

But now that Cory was keep protecting the royal palace. Come to think of it, Ray didn’t even know what Cory had been doing here. Ah, whatever.

About a dozen soldiers were charging his position, all powered up and determined to stop him. Honestly, he was tired of it. He had places to be, royalty to apprehend, Tower Nodes to confiscate.

Even the tremors had grown worse, signalling the fact that he had to get going. In fact, if he focused, he was pretty sure he could hear some kind of strange, sawing sound. Probably not good.

So, as the soldiers converged on his position, he threw them one last contemptuous look and used Spectral Step.

While the guards had torn down the walls of the various rooms in the left wing, the right wing was still standing. For now. It afforded Ray the opportunity to secret himself away from his would-be apprehenders. More importantly, it gave him enough time to call up his constructs again.

Two flying draconic maws revolved around him. A quick command from Ray had them turning around to aim their maws straight up.

Then they fired.

Ray hadn’t used this tactic yet since he had been relying on stealth. But now that his cover was well and truly blown… well, screw stealth and sneaking around. He had made his presence known already. No point in holding his powers back any longer.

The ceiling was thick. No wonder Cory had gleefully torn chunks of it apart without worrying that it would fall on him. It made Ray wonder if the soldiers tearing the down the west wing had ruined the structural integrity of the palace somehow.

His constructs’ noise was already drawing in a lot of attention. Shouts and screams hurried to his location. A skill banged in nearby, making the whole rom shake.

Ray kept himself still, kept his faith in his little dragon head boys.

They broke through. The breaths burst through the ceiling and went higher, no longer impeded. Ray cut them off.

“Thanks,” he said, smiling at his two constructs as he dismissed them and crushed another Ture Mana shard. “Time for me to get going.”

His whole body was on edge, the nerves feeling like an electric fire under his skin. Wasting no time as the soldiers closed in, Ray ascended through the hole with Soaring Wings.

Only to find a Sylvan greeting him from the far end of the huge chamber with a look of annoyance. His horns shone brightly, his milk-white skin looking even more pristine than the rich robes and jewellery adorning him.

“Really?” he said. “You actually made it through? After everything down there? Who in the world are you even?”

Ray swallowed. He knew it wasn’t right to take his eyes off… whoever that was, but he had to find wherever the Everstead kingdom’s ruler was. That would indicate where the Tower Nodes were too, which were his main target. “I’m the guy who’s here to stop whatever kooky shit the Everstead ruler is getting. Now, where is—”

The Sylvan laughed. “You think I’m doing kooky shit? My word, the System’s translation is certainly not flattering.”

Ray froze, eyeing the Sylvan full on. “Wait… you can’t be…”

“Oh, are you surprised?” The Sylvan—no, the ruler of the Everstead kingdom—laughed. “You came in at a very inopportune time, I should say.”

“This makes no sense. You can’t be the king of the Everstead. You’re a Sylvan. Your people are fighting against the Everstead.”

“My people.” The Sylvan shook his head. “Get it through you thick head, Denizen. You’re staring at the ruler of this kingdom. At the ruler of this whole Floor of yours. At the ruler of the Everstead.”