After nursing a very bruised cheek, we continued on, my mood very high even after the slap and punch to the face.
“There’s a lot more Beasts than before,” Char mused from next to me, watching the other two fight off the hoard of assorted Beasts.
Even though Treia was severely under-Leveled for this, she was still able to pick off a few things, getting 12 Levels from the process.
When they finished, she practically bounded over to me and, instead of saying anything, simply pressed herself against my side and hugged me. Leah came back with a frown, however, complaining that after killing so many things, she’d only gotten 2 Levels.
After her complaints devolved into incoherent mumbling, we kept slowly crawling through the Dungeon, me or Leah smashing open walls to find chests that never really had anything in them other than a few Crystals or a useless weapon. However, we did find a Gold Chest and we debated on who should open it, Leah or Char. Eventually, we settled on Leah, since Char didn’t have much she needed currently.
I watched as Leah pulled out a pair of gloves with a confused expression before her face lit up, putting them on.
“These are great!” she exclaimed, opening and closing her fists before punching a wall, sending a crack up and down the wall and causing the room to rumble. “Whoops.”
We rushed out of the room before it collapsed above us, just barely getting out. We stood there for a few moments before I spoke up.
“Y’know, despite whatever’s happening, I don’t think we’re getting anywhere,” I said. “We haven’t found this Dungeon Core yet so we can reset the Dungeon. I think we need a new plan.”
Treia nodded from next to me. “He’s right, we’re not getting anywhere at all.”
Char tilted her head as she looked at her map. “Well, we haven’t gone into any circles, so we must be getting somewhere. All Dungeons have a main passage and a final Boss room, so we’ve got to be close.”
“I get that, but there’s just something really off about this Dungeon. I feel it wherever we walk. I keep getting the feeling I’m surrounded by something familiar, but then I remember I’m in a Dungeon.”
Treia looked at me with a frown. “So do I, but I just keep thinking it’s your natural Void Mana.”
“Eh?”
Her face slowly went red as she quickly spoke. “I mean, it’s just that being around you seems more comfortable since you kinda radiate Void Mana. Not because of anything else- wait no, that’s not what I-”
I shook my head. “That’s not what I’m curious about. You said it feels like my Void Mana.”
Treia nodded. “Yeah?”
Leah looked at us strangely. “This place just gives my skin an uncomfortable feeling, like ants are crawling all over me.”
“Like when you decided that rolling around on top of an anthill was a good idea?” I asked her with a frown. “Then you started shrieking and got ants all over me?”
Leah glared at me. “I was nine!”
“So was I. I didn’t do it though.”
Treia cleared her throat, nudging my cheek with her finger. “On topic, please?”
“Sorry. Anyways, if you think about it, this Dungeon could just be a very large, sealed off place in the Void, like my Storage, which explains why I can’t use my portals normally.”
Treia blinked. “I can use my portals though.”
“You’re also a Voidling.”
“Ah. Right.”
I shook my head again. “And if we’re in the Void, we have a whole ‘nother host of problems.”
Char paled. “Void Dungeons are pretty rare, but not unheard of. But, they’re usually surrounded by Void Beasts.”
Treia’s face also paled. “Oh gods. We’re really screwed if they sense us.”
I shook my head. “It’s not ‘if’, Treia. It’s ‘when’; we’re literally beings that can reside in the Void and we’re chock-full of Void Mana.”
~~~
As we rushed through the Dungeon with newfound energy, we didn’t speak, our focus only on finding the final Boss room.
We passed by dozens of Beasts as we crashed through the Dungeon mostly ignoring the ones we raced by unless they were fast enough to chase us. If they did so, Mia would erect a wall of her [Electrical Freeze] Ice that would deter them for long enough for us to get too far enough away that there was no point in chasing us.
At some point, Leah had to start carrying Char on her back as we increased our speed. We ran at Treia’s fastest pace for nearly thirty minutes before we stopped so Treia could rest for a bit.
“I’ve… never… ran so hard in my life,” she huffed, leaning against me. “Also, is right now a bad time to kiss you?”
Instead of answering, I simply kissed her for a long few moments, pulling her onto my lap. When we finally split apart, Treia put her head on my shoulder and sighed.
“You know, my mom would probably be giving us a mouthful if she saw us right now,” she whispered, arms around me.
I snorted. “Most likely. But that really doesn’t matter right now, does it?”
“Nope. I just want to stay like this for the rest of eternity, to be honest.”
I nodded, letting her hug me for a while longer.
“I love you, Treia,” I said, unable to stop myself.
I could practically hear her smile as she said, “I love you too, Jason.”
~~~
Eventually, after running some more, we came to a dead end. After scouring the wall, we couldn’t find any hidden mechanisms that would open it like a door, like Char said there might be.
“There’s definitely something behind there,” Treia said. “But it’s just blocked off by a really thick wall of rock.”
I raised an eyebrow. “How can you tell?”
“Well, the Void’s not behind it. That’s a good sign. Plus, I can sense the airflow behind the rocks, maybe ten feet away?”
“So, ten feet of solid rock?” I muttered. “It’d take a bit, but I can cut through it.”
“I can help,” Leah said. “I have a really low Level [Earth Manipulation].”
I raised an eyebrow. “Well, this is a good time for you to train it; we’re kinda buried under it.”
And so, we started digging. I would cut chunks out of the wall with Void while Leah would remove them and set them somewhere else as I cut through the wall. We had minimal help from Mia, who was using my Void Manipulation at her 50% effectiveness, able to ignore the self-damage due to her obscene amounts of Health.
After a bit, Treia joined in and after nearly two hours of Mana intensive digging, we both developed a new Skill.
Void Blade - Level 1 | Tier 0
Compress Void into the crescent shape and throw it at your opponents, dealing Void Damage. Due to its properties, it will absorb the Mana of anything it hits, dealing more damage and, if not blocked with a specialized Skill, will go through opponents.
Cost : 50 Mana
Damage : 100 + 5 per Mana absorbed (Max : + 500) Void Damage
Cooldown : 0.5 Seconds
With this Skill, we were able to cut through the entirety of the wall until there was only about six inches left. Leah went to wake Char from her nap and we gathered in the tunnel we’d made.
Once everyone was there, I kicked the wall out, revealing a large cavern. We filed in and looked around the place.
“Look, in the middle…” Char said breathlessly. “The Dungeon Core.”
In the center of the cavern was a large orb, about the size of my head, that was floating in the air. It was pitch black and seemed to be watching us. I looked over to Treia to see that the dark spines that were in her hair had risen.
“What’s wrong?” I asked her, tensing with my hand on my sword.
She shook her head. “I don’t know, but I have a bad feeling…”
I nodded and took a step closer to the orb. There was a dark blur at my right side and I barely had enough time to raise my sword to block the strike when I was thrown all the way to the other side of the room, just able to get up my Armor as I smashed into it with a resounding boom!
I groaned, standing up from the pile of rocks to see what had hit me. I frowned as the same blur shot at me like a bolt of lightning.
How is this thing so fast? I thought, channeling [Abyss Touch] at max, losing 400 Mps (Mana per second) to double my speed.
I grabbed the block of earth that nearly took my head off and was barely able to hold it back as I stared at the humanoid bug-thing that had smacked me like I was some child’s toy. It was masculine in nature, straining to smash the earth block at me as I Eyed it.
Mutated Earthen Beetle : Orchestrator - Level 100 | Tier 5
The Orchestrator of a Dungeon is a formidable foe, always being the highest Level of anything there. It has the same buffs a Boss and Juggernaut have. This one, however, seems to have been tainted in some way…
Threat Level : Extreme
Find this and other great novels on the author's preferred platform. Support original creators!
“Well, shit,” I said, heaving to throw it off of me.
It flew back, directly towards Mia’s maw as she finished charging [Heavenly Discharge]. The bolt of supercharged lightning blasted into the Orchestrator, launching it into the wall above me.
I blurred over to the rest of the group and glared at the thing that was already getting back onto it’s feet.
“You guys need to go, this thing’s a Tier 5,” I said.
Treia looked at me, bewildered. “You can’t stay here either!” she exclaimed. “The gap between a late Tier 4 and an early Tier 5 is too much even for you!”
Char looked nervous. “She’s right… even Mia in her Draconic Form couldn’t beat that.”
I grinned as my teeth began to sharpen and scales began to grow on my skin. “Good thing I have one too,” I said before digging my feet into the ground and launching myself towards the Orchestrator at full speed, Mia just behind me.
***
Treia cursed as Jason began to fight the Orchestrator. She hated to have to leave him, but she couldn’t fight that thing even if Jason let her.
“We have to go back,” Treia said. “Now!” she added when neither Leah or Char moved.
Leah looked conflicted. “We can’t leave them here-”
Treia grabbed Leah’s arm and tried to drag her with the help of Char, but the stubborn Tier 4 didn’t budge.
“Leah!” Char cried. “We have to go!”
“I-”
Treia opened a portal below Leah and deposited her at the other end of the tunnel, causing her to lose her balance and fall over.
Treia raced over to her and began to drag her, Char arriving soon after to help, ignoring the struggling of Leah.
***
The bug was almost too fast for us to deal with, even with the two of us using our best speed increasing Skills. Mia was, interestingly enough, faster than I was with her Draconic Form, moving nearly as fast as the damned bug. Her Domain was able to slow it down so she was faster than it but it still had an obscene amount of agility, dodging her attacks by bending in was I wouldn’t think possible.
At some point, I realized that tiring the thing out wasn’t an option, seeing as both me and Mia were already getting tired while the bug seemed to be at full tilt still.
“Ah, fuck this,” I growled, my words coming out strangely.
Mia seemed to be surprised as I spoke, though I couldn’t figure out why until she spoke.
“Bond?”
I stopped for a second too long and was launched for the umpteenth time, quickly getting back up and dashing back over to land on the bug’s back before it could try and rip out Mia’s eye.
“Since when have you been able to talk?!” I asked her, baffled.
“You’re speaking in the Draconic Language!” she said, delighted while launching another half charged [Heavenly Discharge] at the Bug.
I processed this before realizing the cause of this. “My Partial Draconic Form must let me understand it. However, I’m not going to use this 24/7… or eight. I forgot how many days in a week there are.”
“Oh… okay!” Mia, now elated, launched herself at the Orchestrator and smashed it with her tail. “I think it has around twice my Health,” she mused in her childish voice.
“That’s not terrifying at all,” I muttered. “Half because it has so much Health, and partially because your voice sounds the same as it does in my head.”
Before I could add on more, the Mutated Beetle launched itself at us once again, though Mia smacked it again with her tail.
“Bond, it’s getting faster. And stronger,” Mia said, clearly worried.
I cursed and considered using my Avatar. It would be a great idea, but it might have to be saved for later. I shook my head and engaged with the bug. The longer it fought, the faster it seemed to get, as if testing my limits.
How is it getting faster? I don’t get it…
I hissed as half a dozen cuts appeared on my scaled arms. As it went in for another attack, I grabbed its face and shoved [Abyss Touch] into its head before smashing it into the ground. With another thought, I threw a few Shards at it, letting it dodge before detonating one, riddling its back with a few smaller shards.
It seemed to grow more annoyed and increased in speed, thoroughly annoying me as well.
“I know I’m annoying, but it’d do you some good to just die-”
I couldn’t finish my sentence as I was launched upward by a chunk of Earth. I shoved a sheet of Void above me to eat up the next chunk of Earth, but guessed wrong as I was hit from below and sent rocketing into the ceiling.
Shit, I thought as I hit 25% Health. I don’t have any reliable healing. Is it trying to lure me to use my Avatar?
I landed on the ground, cracking the floor under me and was on the defensive before realizing that the thing had decided to engage Mia. I looked over and was about to rush over when Mia shrieked in my mind.
She was then cut off as the bug shoved its hand down into her eye socket.
***
Systie watched in muted horror as Jason froze at the sight of his Bond nearly being killed in front of him.
And now the real fight begins… She said.
Her manager looked at her with a confused expression. “Something’s wrong. Very wrong.”
Systie looked at her Manager as he stared at the screen. What?
“Based on previous events, he probably would’ve used his Avatar at this point. But…”
Systie then felt a rumble as something in her large memory capacity clicked. What is his Identify Skill?
The Manager looked at her, confused. “You don’t know?”
Do you?
At that moment, she looked back at the screen as something began happening. As the giant black eye of pure Abyss opened behind Jason Andromeda, a primal fear that she’d never felt before overtook Systie.
She wasn’t scared because the eye that appeared was some sort of abomination she’d never seen before, but because she vividly knew what that eye belonged to.
It was her eye.
Before she could grow outraged, the screens that she was watching Jason through went black.
***
I was going to be honest, the next part I don’t remember well except for killing the bug so some of this may sound a bit like I’m speaking in third person, since I was only told what happened by Treia and the others.
When the dark eye opened behind me, I was in a state of rage. I do remember that I never activated my Avatar, which makes this all the more terrifying.
When Mia was nearly killed in front of me, I had launched myself with the eye behind me, which was watching me curiously as I smashed into the opposite wall, the bug under me.
I growled as I grabbed the bug by the face and threw the helpless creature into the ground below me while riddling it with Shards. I cut off one of its arms before ripping the other one off with my bare hands, ignoring its shrill shrieking. As I ripped it limb from limb, I couldn’t care less about it being in pain. It had tried to kill Mia, my Bond. And I wasn’t going to let that slide. Not in this world or in any world.
I then threw it at the orb, which was knocked from its stationary position and into the ground with the beetle.
I slowly walked over to the beetle and looked down at its broken body with contempt.
“You know, you made me understand a lot of things in the few moments that you were able to stand against me,” I said with a mock sad tone. “Let’s begin with the most prominent one : This world, the one I’ve been taking for granted for the month or two I’ve been here, is real. Not a figment of my imagination. Not a game. This may be a world controlled by a System, but it’s still my world now. Things like you shouldn’t exist. Not just that you’re the spawn of a Dungeon, but you’re something that my very being is revolted by. You’re some sort of virus. That’s all this Dungeon is. That’s why it’s in the Void. Whatever you are, you don’t belong in this world. You never have. And I’ve come to a decision after this Dungeon : I’m going to eradicate you. No matter how many worlds I have to go to, I will not let you destroy anything else.”
I shook my head. “Now, goodbye, you damned bug.”
I stabbed down at the beast and that was that.
Ignoring the Level gain, I picked up the Dungeon Core and sighed. I slowly turned to the eye that was still watching me.
“You’re something really important, aren’t you?” I asked.
There was a light rumbling as something seemed to settle in my mind. Then, it spoke.
Clearly. You should be thanking me, you know.
I blinked, taken aback by its voice and mannerisms. “Huh?”
There was a mental snort as the eye seemed to be amused. What? Never heard of a female System before? She asked with snark.
“Ah. So you’re the great ol’ Systie, huh?” I muttered, shaking my head.
Then I remembered Mia.
I spun towards Mia and moved faster than I usually could as I picked her inert body up. She whimpered, but didn’t do much more than that.
“Can you heal her?” I asked the giant eye.
Can you not refer to me as “giant eye”?
“Could you not read my thoughts? That might help your case a bit more as well,” I shot back not having any of this right now. “I don’t care about your preferences right now when my Bond is about to die! Can you heal her or not?”
There was a long pause before there was a sigh in my head.
Yes… I can…
For a moment, nothing happened. Then I looked at Mia’s Status to see that her Health was rising at a higher pace than usual. I watched as her eye visibly healed into a new eye, thankful not like the giant one floating behind me. I ignored the mental grumble as Mia’s Health reached its halfway point and the healing stopped.
That’s all I can do for today, Systie said, sounding out of breath for an eyeball. Whatever that was.
“What does that mean?”
It means that I’ve used up my daily quota of allotted time to help you out. Well, healing wise. You still have about five minutes of my other buffs. Which I advise you use wisely since that damned Valkyrie that was chasing you out the Abyss is right outside the Dungeon.
I groaned. “Of course. Alright you damned eyeball, Dungeon Core. Let’s go beat up a redhead.”
***
When Treia and the other two were kicked out the Dungeon all of a sudden, she assumed that it had something to do with Jason since a very bloody Mia appeared near Treia. She panicked as she picked up Mia in a hurry to find that the blood was just stained and wasn’t still floating. However, she kept the little girl in her arms, cradling her.
“Well, damn it,” Treia heard Leah curse. “Of course she’d be here.”
Treia blinked and looked up in the direction Leah was looking to see a woman with red hair, armor, and greatsword glaring at them.
Treia gulped at the sight of Harmony, the sixth Valkyrie Harbinger was standing amidst hundreds of dead Beasts, some charred from her flames and others looking like they just fell dead for some reason.
The Harbinger looked over the group with contempt, clearly not happy with something, like usual.
Treia mustered the courage to speak. “So… are you just going to stare at us? I have better things to do than watch you watch us watch you.”
The fiery woman snorted. “Gained some guts as well as Levels? That’s new for the ‘next in line’,” she said mockingly. “I honestly don’t care why you’re here anyways. Where’s the Abyssal?”
Triea’s blood ran cold as she held Mia a bit tighter. “Why?”
The Harbinger tilted her head. “Protecting him, are you? That’s a new Level of low from you.” Before Treia could blink, the Harbinger was in front of her, her sword flaming. “Where is he?”
“OI! ASSHOLE!” a familiar voice called. “I’M RIGHT HERE!”
Ah, what a way to introduce yourself. Classic, another voice said inside of Treia’s head.
“WILL YOU LET ME HAVE THIS MOMENT? I’M TRYING TO BE COOL AND YOU’RE RUINING IT, SYSTIE!”
Something equivalent to a mental eyeroll seemed to happen in Treia’s head. Whatever.
Treia looked up to see Jason floating down from the sky with a very amused looking eye floating behind him.
What in the hells is happening right now? Treia thought, baffled.
Harmony looked up at Jason, confused. “Ah. So you’ve shown yourself.”
“Yeah,” Jason responded, landing on the ground. “And if you don’t want to get your ass handed to you on a platter in front of people, I advise you to bug off.”
Treia could barely keep herself from groaning at Jason’s pun, but Leah clearly couldn’t stop herself.
“Really?!” she called.
Jason grinned at her. “Yes.”
He’s already annoying me with the amount of jokes he’s preparing in his head right now, the unfamiliar female voice said, seemingly originating from the eye behind him. And I swear if he keeps- OW!
Jason poked the eye with a grumpy look on his face. “Shut up already. Do you like hearing yourself talk?”
Yes.
“Well, so do I, but let’s try to be menacing right now. Firestarter over there is already looking like she wants to hit me over the head with that sword.”
The Sixth Harbinger indeed looked like she wanted to hit Jason over the head with her greatsword, but something seemed to be stopping her. She growled.
“Why can’t I move?!” she hissed.
“Huh?” Jason looked back over to her. “Right. So I can do this.”
Jason seemed to just teleport over to Harmony and he grabbed her armor. He then threw her over the treetops and very, very far into the distance until she became a burning dot in the sky, still ascending.
Jason then sighed and plopped down onto the ground.
And there goes your buffs- The voice suddenly disappeared from Treia’s mind and Jason looked over to her with a tired expression.
“Heya, love. I’m back,” he said shakily, the eye shrinking until it was the size of a palm and plastering itself onto Jason’s exposed arm. “Goodnight.”
Jason’s eyes then rolled into the back of his head and he fainted.