Alex was a bit surprised to hear the monster speaking in perfect English. Where had he learned to do that?

Seeming impossibilities were quite easy to wave off as magic, so he pushed the thought to the side. The more important question was why. Why did the boss want to talk instead of fight?

The answer seemed obvious, but Alex took a second to examine the battlefield that had been prepared. The ritual might be the boss monster’s largest advantage in this fight, charging straight into the clearing might be signing up for his own death.

“What is there to discuss?” Jess asked while Alex held back to examine the surroundings. Alex held back a smile as he realized they were on the same page.

They couldn’t afford to let the boss talk until he was able to tier up, but they also couldn’t fight on top of an unfamiliar ritual. Jess was the least knowledgeable about arrays, so she was the natural choice to engage the boss in conversation.

Alex saw the boss’s face shift into a sneer for a second, and he tensed in response. Had the monster seen through them this quickly? If he was that smart, it did not bode well for their chances on ground that the abomination had prepared.

“The Trialbringer brought me here to serve as a dungeon boss in return for nobility status on your homeworld,” The monster stated, “But I do not believe that a fight is the best-case scenario for any of us.”

“Why?” Jess asked, happy to let it continue talking. Alex was embarrassed to admit that he was letting himself be distracted. Everything about this was just so unexpected. His focus returned to the array, although he continued to listen to the conversation.

“We both have a great deal to gain from a truce. The Trialbringer has given me some knowledge regarding the situation on your homeworld, and I know that the undead on your world are in a strong position. In return for allowing me to ascend, I will bring peace between the undead and your people after I have grown to my full potential.”

Jess snorted, “So we just have to take your word for it?”

The monster frowned, “What reason would I have to break my word? I do not understand how Aspirants such as you have reached these heights, but I am aware of how the realm works. A powerful group of native Pathwalkers will push a planet to greater heights. Why would I kill you and accept my new home never growing beyond Tier 3?”

“So you would be happy to kill us if we weren’t so powerful?” Jess asked.

“Are you aware of why monsters,” The undead’s tone was dripping with condescension as he said the word, “Like myself are so determined to destroy the native population?”

“There’s a compulsion,” Jess stated, “Only the smartest monsters can resist.”

“That is only true of the stupid ones,” The monster snorted, “All intelligent non-natives receive a quest, I already have it in my status. The Trialbringer offers impressive rewards if we exterminate the native population. ”

That brought Jess up short, but the monster continued when she didn’t respond, “The quest is, of course, a trap. Only the natives can improve the world’s tier, and by killing you we cut off our own future.”

While they talked, Alex came to a realization about the array that covered the ground. He had absolutely no idea what it was meant to do. The runes were completely foreign to him.

Luckily, he wasn’t the team’s main expert.

“I think the array is to help him tier up,” Becca whispered.

“Impressive eye,” The undead answered, not bothering to pretend that its Perception wasn’t high enough to hear her words, “The world I come from was only Tier 1.”

Alex had heard enough. The undead monster was, likely unintentionally, humanizing itself, but Alex couldn’t let that stop him.

The morality of killing sapient monsters wasn’t really a topic of debate in New Chicago. Even for the most academically minded, there was no point. After gaining sapience, they were still considered monsters. Humanity was at war, and the trialborn invaders were the enemy.

Alex stepped out into the clearing, and the abomination’s smiling facade vanished.

“It is not too late to turn back, child,” It frowned at him, “I do not wish to kill you, but I will if we can not come to an agreement.”

Inspire had grown only more fractured as Alex approached the center of the trial, to the point where it felt like he had four or five different voices murmuring in the back of his head. Luckily, they weren’t particularly intrusive and he was able to focus

As he stepped into the clearing, he tapped back in, wanting to increase the power funneling through his aura.

Suddenly, there was no cacophony of disparate impulses. Inspire came back together for a single purpose, a single memory. His approach slowed as Inspire showed him a vision.

Alex was assaulted by negative emotions as he saw an unfamiliar zombie overlaid with the boss monster in front of him. His vision doubled, showing two scenes at once. The antipathy for undead he had felt from Inspire was back with a vengeance as Alex moved forward, this time he got to see the source of that disdain. The zombie was disfigured after years of decay, but David still recognized the body of his younger brother.

The vision was a distraction, and Alex fought to dismiss it so that he could focus on the fight in front of him. The vision didn’t budge, instead only gaining more detail. Alex had the disorientating experience of being in two places at once as his mind struggled to handle two simultaneous streams of information.

The danger of his mental connection with Inspire was making itself known as he found himself unable to push through. A zombie stepped in his path and was cut down. The distraction of two scenes was mitigated slightly by his reaction Enhancement slowing everything down. The input was overwhelming, but he had time to parse it.

Luckily, it was one of the zombies in reality. Alex’s sword went right through the monster, leaving it in two pieces. His sword had entered at the right shoulder and exited at the left hip without slowing down.

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A frown spread across Alex’s face, that had been slow.

But it hadn’t been slow at all, he’d never moved that fast before. The vision was overtaking reality, as David’s memories conflicted with his own thoughts. He paused for a second to try and get his bearings. Luckily, the boss monster seemed quite content to wait where he stood instead of coming to meet him.

Jess, Anthony, and Becca streamed out behind him, engaging the zombies. In the vision, he could sense Alice doing the same. The corpse that had once been Juan Alvarez was content to watch him approach, clearly possessing more intelligence than the lesser zombies. Whether that was meant as an insult to David or just a result of Juan gaining several levels before his death was unclear.

It was also unimportant. The boss moved, and if not for Alex’s various boosts he might have missed it. The speed on display made it obvious that he was facing a monster with ridiculous attributes. It didn’t move to attack Alex, instead springing towards Anthony.

Kill the healer was an incredibly basic tactic. Alex shook off the sense of wrongness his situation created and leapt into the monster’s path. His confusion was multiplied several times as his body moved in reality but stood in place in the vision. He swung to the side at a zombie trying to distract him, only to realize that the zombie wasn’t there. The attack ruined his momentum but he was far closer to Anthony than his opponent. He managed to intercept it.

The boss’s bulky right arm grew even further, turning into a club that came down toward Alex’s head. The memory from Inspire told him that the monster was far too weak to pose a threat, but he knew better. He couldn’t dodge with Anthony behind him, so he lunged forward instead.

His sword slammed into its chest, only to be stopped by the ribcage. The boss’s club of an arm slammed down past him, with the upper arm hitting his shoulder. The momentum was far less at that point of contact, but Alex still only barely managed to avoid falling to his knees.

Inspire was running at full force, and he was completely outmatched in attributes. This was going to suck.

The boss jumped back, holding a hand to its chest where Alex’s sword had failed to leave more than a minor blow. Alex was surprised to see blood dripping out of the wound. Had the boss artificially started its organs to further empower its body? If it had somehow managed to combine the mana-based life of the undead with a functioning heart and lungs, it would explain the strength it had just exhibited.

A new rush of rage hit Alex as the vision depicted David engaging his brother’s corpse. The only reason he managed to avoid mimicking David as he had when he cut down a zombie was that in the vision he was now hovering several feet in the air.

The disconcerting feeling of flying under his own power was actually enough to center his mind. It was a simple fact that he couldn’t do that, he didn’t have a Domain. Otherwise, this fight would already be over. He pushed the rage down, barely.

“I haven’t been wounded in combat in years,” The abomination smiled at him, “For that, you have earned my name, child.”

Alex frowned, the cut he’d left wasn’t much of a wound. It qualified, but not by much. The information that this monster had been an apex predator on its Tier 1 homeworld failed to surprise him.

“I am Aldrek Misch, Corpseweaver,” The monster’s smile grew into a smirk, and Alex frowned at the realization that it was mocking him. Aldrek had come to the same realization about attributes as Alex.

While the abomination introduced himself, the vision did not falter. David was fighting with his sword, instead of his Domain, intent on tearing apart the monster that inhabited his brother’s body. The emotions of the moment were overwhelming, and the anger the man felt poured over into Alex.

How dare this monster patronize him? Alex didn’t stop the fury as it rose. At that moment, his rage was nowhere near as justified as David’s had been, but it hardly mattered. He charged.

Alex’s first blow had been ineffective, so he decided to avoid the ribcage this time. He leapt forward, pulling out of his attack as Aldrek’s club arm swung down to meet him. The monster was fast and clearly used to being faster than its opponents. The smashing fist was a clumsy, telegraphed attack. Alex could’ve dodged it half asleep.

Alex’s dodge was a pivot that didn’t sacrifice all of his momentum, he swung for its stomach.

The monster caught his blow on its skinnier arm, and the recoil from his momentum coming to such an abrupt halt shook Alex’s hand. Was the monster’s Ulna made from steel?

“Around a decade ago,” Aldrek explained, “I fought the ghoul I took this arm from. He was a tough bastard, his mana type let him refine his bones.”

Alex spun back, leaping into another attack only for the monster to once again catch it on the arm.

Aldrek continued to talk as Alex attacked, “Poor guy wasn’t very smart, so he focused on his arm. Gave him a mean left hook, but not much else. I make much better use of it.”

Alex had never heard of corpseweaving before, but the context made it obvious that Aldrek made more powerful undead by bringing together the best parts of different bodies. Naturally, his most powerful creation would be his own body, and the left arm seemed to be a trump card. Alex would have to position himself to attack the right. He backed up, and the boss smirked again as he did so.

The rage bubbled up again, but it wasn’t as strong. Alex might be overmatched, but David was far too strong to find himself in such a position. While Alex traded blows and the boss bantered at him, David put down his opponent in a display of ruthless domination.

Alex shook off the vision, finally able to do so, and leapt forward to attack again. The monster responded by twisting to block with its left arm.

With the amount of empowered mana flowing through him, Alex was far from tiring. His next attack came in low and he managed to land a cut on Aldrek’s calf as he rolled past. This put him in a position where he was no longer in between his friends and the boss.

Jess, Anthony, and Becca were outnumbered two to one. Jess was standing alone against the golem, leaving Anthony and Becca to face five zombies. It was quite clear that while Alex had gone right through the zombie in his way, the others weren’t capable of matching his feat. Inspire’s aura was enough to keep them in the fight, but it would come down to whether or not Jess could dispatch her opponent fast enough to reinforce them.

Alex’s new position was a mistake the boss didn’t capitalize on. After taking an actually serious wound, Aldrek seemed to be done messing around. Alex watched as mana started to flow through the monster’s body. A general Agility Enhancement, as far as Alex could tell.

That would make things dicey. Alex rolled out of the way of a punch that would’ve caved in his chest, stumbling to avoid the follow-up. His off-balance counter didn’t achieve much, and the next punch seemed unavoidable. Out of options, Alex fell to the ground to avoid the blow.

Aldrek returned to his hammer fist technique, which was a relief as Alex rolled away in time. Committing to that blow slowed the monster down, and Alex was able to push himself into a backwards somersault, using the motion to return to his feet. There was no time to get his bearings as he dodged on instinct, avoiding the haymaker that would’ve put him back down.

Alex managed to make some space between the two of them and used the half-second reprieve to pull up a prompt.

Aldrek paused, staring straight at Alex, “Are you willing to reconsider your stance on a truce.” The mocking smirk remained but by now Alex was certain that it was meant to rile him up. Inspire calming down slightly allowed Alex to ignore the provocation.

“Back on our planet,” Alex replied, “There’s a famous story about a young man who kills a giant to turn back an enemy army.” Mana flooded his surroundings as he accepted the prompt while he spoke.

Aldrek noticed the change and didn’t give Alex time to finish his analogy. He charged forward, but with the amount of Inspire mana flowing through Alex’s body, it looked like his opponent was moving through mud.

A grin spread across Alex’s face as their next clash approached. It seemed that Aldrek’s love of banter had faded, with the sudden change in their power dynamic.

It was for the best, really. The analogy didn’t make much sense anymore.

For as long as the Greater Mana Baptism lasted, Alex was sure that he would be Goliath.