Dozens of enemies were arrayed in front of them, numerous yetis, imps, casters, and then the large Overseer towering over them. Nick pushed his Frost Aura outward, his dominion spreading into the cavern and protecting his allies. The cold here was significant, and his Aura limited how much his allies needed theirs to withstand it, while also slowing his enemies.

Jasmine fired a few laser beams into some of the yetis’ faces like a strange gatling gun, scorching them and causing them to roar angrily at her. Her large spider body ran rapidly, allowing her to crash into another with her spear and shield.

Fang howled, drawing the attention of many of the demons, and Nick sent Blade Waves at the Overseer. At this distance, the waves could do little more than scratch it at the rear of th large cavern, but he was attempting to draw its attention to him.

Birdy now had fake wings attached to its long arms, like blankets draped over them as sleeves. It still held the odd demon staff that seemed to be a part of the creature itself somehow, and had a pleased expression when Jasmine gave the blankets to it.

It waved its staff, and several icicles that looked a lot like feathers rose up around it, before rocketing off toward the imps. But then it did something Nick was surprised about–it squawked at Jasper, and he came over and allowed Birdy to leap onto its back, before running off toward a yeti.

Nick was impressed with the new servant’s capability. It truly had control over the essence in the cavern, using less of its own to accomplish the spell. It had true ice element manipulation like himself, but was clearly much more skilled in using it.

There were two larger yetis in the back, who Jasmine and Fang were working toward, the latter of which already covered in her thick ice armor with cleated greaves. The plan was for Nick to take on the mantis-like Overseer like before, only this time he was now truly prepared.

Kaya and Renzou rushed to the nearest Yeti, the two sending their own ranged cutting attacks using Essence Carry, slashing into the enemies and drawing attention to them. Eirwen and Sable’s bows shot toward the flock of imps that took to the air, and Luna’s earth totem pulsed out its strength of the earth, empowering the whole party as she dashed next to Fang to support her with her spear.

The enemy casters started working up some shields of frost, which made Nick a little wary that they were being so defensive. But Sable was already skating as she fired her bow, trying to maneuver herself closer to them and get a clear shot.

The cavern entrances which lead to Lothar and Ironclaw’s parties now had a transparent barrier covering them, and Nick could see that they were now fighting against demons of their own.

As Nick charged at the Overseer, the creature roared. Giving his own challenging shout, he stirred his Heroic Concept, knowing what was likely next. His power normally would only last about thirty seconds at most, but he wagered his Cloak of Twilight was meant to last much longer than that.

Concentrating on the Convergence Skill, essence from the surrounding cavern was drawn toward Nick like a vortex, and he could feel something else from it. Some of it was pulled from his party members, and not that of which was for their personal usage.

It was as if their very belief in him empowered him. He could even see some prismatic light drawn into him, like a pollen or tiny motes scattering toward him. Perhaps, that was from his wives’ devotion cores, but he couldn’t be certain.

His Concept mixed with what was being drawn in, a large cloak of white light growing from his shoulders. It fluttered in the air like a wind was blowing in the cavern, a long cape that was weightless.

The white light empowered his body more uniformly, and the monster leapt at him with its large, sickle-like pincer, just like the last time he faced the similar demon. With a shout, he met its pincer with a powerful slash, his Soul Blade having finally reached his desired size and length of a bastard sword.

He had spent a few sessions over the past week in his Blade Soulforge, utilizing the materials Lumos provided. Nick was still shoved back by the larger creature and its inertia, but his Cloak spread out around him, and like an extra set of limbs, latched onto the ground near him, providing a cushion for the blow.

The large demon swung its next pincer, and the cape sprung into action at his will, whipping around and deflecting the attack as Nick dodged to the side. His counter cut into the monster’s extended arm, Nick conserving his conceptual energy for now. The pool had grown significantly since he used the chamber and it reached the first threshold, but it was still limited.

But he had another energy available. He pushed out his Frost Aura with the mana from his frost core and his will, his chains of ice rising up around him. Even this had changed, his Concept able to shove into the monster’s protections. In the previous battle, the monster had been too difficult to influence at all, but now, his Concept had a special weight on reality that couldn’t be shrugged off easily.

The Overseer roared in anger as it slowed, its swings coming after Nick in quick succession. Nick swatted the blows aside and Double Jumped out of the way of another with a flip, slicing into its bladed arms with each dodge.

Unlike the previous fight, the monster was unable to condense or counteract his Aura. Nick’s will was stronger, his chains beginning to wrap around the boss of the demons. The surrounding enemies were slowed, several of Nick’s chains autonomously chasing after yetis and imps, and a handful of them encroaching the Overseer’s defenses.

But then several rays of frost from the casters blasted toward Nick. He dodged one and blocked another with his Cloak, but he was forced on the back foot, as several of the casting demons began sending shards at him.

Sable now hunted them with her spear and Jasmine shot another with a deadly beam of light even while she fought off a large yeti with her shield and spear with another wrapped in light, but there were still numerous able to focus on him. The defenses the demon casters had created made it difficult for their ranged attackers to focus on them, but Nick’s party was moving toward handling them even as they slayed the imps and yetis.

Shifting his cloak to darkness, Nick sped up as he dodged the giant Overseer and numerous shards of ice. His cloak deflected the smaller attacks, and he found his lightness allowed him to use Double Jump far more rapidly and easily. It became a near air-walk thanks to his lightness, and he was impressed with the effect.

He swooped down on one of the mages, and it gestured upward as ice spikes shot from the ground, and its prepared barrier getting in the way. But Nick just dashed while midair yet again before backflipping, sending a blade of white light at the monster with Blade Wave. Its head was cleaved off its body, the monster puffing into its smoky essence.

Off to the side, he saw Jasper’s claw slice into one of the casters, dispersing it into smoke. Meanwhile, Birdy pointed its staff, and in the distance a wall of ice shattered like it exploded, shards of ice stabbing into the unsuspecting demon mage.

As Nick continued his focus on the Overseer and dealing with some of the mages, he pushed the limits of his new ability. Feeling the roiling darkness rolling over him from the cloak, shifting like a glittering smoke, helped him understand the nature of these Convergence abilities.

His Cloak of Twilight was meant to help him understand the nature of light and darkness. Like a pair of training wheels, it made it easier for him to control the two aspects, to feel their influence on the world around him and the ability itself.

Most skills did this at a lower level, providing a crutch that allowed the user to accomplish more than they would normally be able to. But with these complicated elements, they provided the necessary glimpse into understanding them better.

Taking a quick look at the battlefield as the pissed off Overseer stomped toward him and ice chains slowed and froze it, Nick was surprised at how quickly it was being cleaned up. Renzou had activated his own Convergence ability, and was cutting down imps left and right as he moved even faster than Nick.

Kaya leaped through the air with a roar, with an angry aura surrounding her. She had gained a new berserking skill that took even stronger mental strength to contain, and made her exhausted to grant her even more power. She swung down her large axe with her cutting concept added, and cleaved deeply into the larger yeti, completely cutting through its arm as if it weren’t there.

Jasper swiped through the imps with its claws and chased after the mages, Birdy having a swarm of feathers orbiting them and cutting into the enemies, and blocking other ice attacks. The other demons could not outdo the special demon’s control, and Nick was curious to see just what Birdy could accomplish when facing enemies actually weak to ice rather than strong to it, or with its proper body.

Rebecca and Irene were both sending out beams of Seraphara’s Light of Wisdom, cutting down enemies and protecting their allies with each blast. The demons appeared to especially hate them and swarmed toward them, so Fang and Luna were fighting closely while they flew up into the air, evading the yetis on the ground.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

The Overseer reared back, and Nick knew what was coming. Leaping into the air, he rapidly ascended using his essence footholds from Double Jump in quick succession, dodging out of the way of the breath attack. The frost billowed into the distance and actually froze a handful of imps and a yeti nearby, but Nick’s party was unharmed.

Using a foothold above him from Double Jump, as Nick was upside-down and high in the air, he drew on his heroic concept, and flipped his cloak to the light. Nick burst downward in a blur, and cleaved off the Overseer’s arm with his white blade of light. Rolling as he touched the ground, he deflected an angry swipe of the remaining pincer with his cloak, and sliced savagely through the monster’s foot, sending it tumbling to the ground.

The monster hadn’t even had a chance to call upon its odd berserking skill.

Drawing upon his second Convergence skill, the chains rapidly gathered around him, and his Dominion of Frost and Fealty was brought to the fore. The essence of his allies in the cavern, and even some from the adjacent caverns separated by the barriers, was drawn and was added to his will. The chains were connected and grew ice rapidly, becoming a giant gauntlet of ice, and wrapped around the already partially frozen Overseer.

His eyes grew white as he rose his blade above his head, ready to cleave the demon in two.

“Demon, you know nothing but hatred and consumption. You have been defeated, but you have a chance to become more. Accept my Soul Pact or you will be destroyed, your soul returning to essence.”

The demon struggled against the bindings, but frost was spreading rapidly. Nick’s weight on reality was simply too much for the demon to fight against, the creature unable to defeat his stronger will. Its eyes were filled with hate as it looked around and saw its allies almost all defeated, but slowly shifted from anger to fear.

Speaking the words of his standard soul pact that it must follow Archaen Law and serve his kingdom, and in return, Nick would protect its soul and provide it with essence and the opportunity to become more.

A flash of white light went out, the cavern shifting. The shafts which led downward for resources down the spire were closed, the Overseer accepting the Soul Pact. Essence entered Nick and the party’s bodies for cultivation, a reward for completing the Quest, and received a prompt.

[Kingdom Quest Complete: Claim the Frostspire Mines second wing.]

[You have claimed the Overseer as your Follower, granting you control over demons that spawn within the mines. A limit of seventy-five demons will spawn and continue to mine this larger area, and additional essence will go towards creating resources for your Kingdom.

Resources will be gathered into a depot outside the cave entrance, where they can be obtained safely by those within the Noblefrost Faction. A small percentage of resources will be withheld to feed and develop the demons and overseer, as promised by Nicholas Noblefrost’s Pact. For now, only Nicholas Noblefrost and his Wives can enter the mines safely.]

[The final wing can still be claimed, the next quest will be available in three months. Difficulty will be increased over previous. Note: When the final wing of the mine is claimed, Orion will remove its protections deeper in the spire within three months. If nothing is done to claim the final mine, protections will be removed in nine months. Warning: The demons are not all mindless, and some demons contained within are within the third stratum.]

Protections? He supposed that the stronger demons were somehow being held back from escaping and coming into conflict with his people. This progressive difficulty the mine was showing was both a need for him to earn the valuable resource, but also prepare him to handle the threat contained within. It was like its own Trial, which he had earned from a Trial…

Ultimately, this was only a medium challenge, as he had predicted before the fight. His girls were not pressed, but they had gotten to show off and hone their skills. Nick knew the Wolfen girls especially were having difficulty forming their Concept Fragments, and because of this, had held off on hitting the fifteenth level.

It was well-known that their Convergence skill was often heavily influenced by any Concept Fragments, and they were still looking for what resonated with them the most. If they earned the skill before earning the fragments, it was possible that the skill would otherwise be incompatible, even if unlikely. Still, his girls were playing it safe.

It was especially difficult because they were very pack-minded. Lacking desires of their own, the essence of Orion would be less sticky to their cores. Perhaps it might be better if he gave the girls a little more time before they entered…

Fang bounded over to him, her tail wagging. “Wow, Boss, that was awesome! You were all pshaaw, woosh.” She did a front flip, then waved her spear like she was swinging a sword, replicating the moments where he cleaved off the arm. “Your cape was so cool! And then that big claw, it was–”

Nick laughed at Fang’s enthusiasm. “You did great yourself. Everyone did.” He took a look at the rest of the girls and Renzou, and was genuinely impressed at how far they’d come, even Jasper. Its larger size really allowed it to become an important force on the battlefield, and Birdy joining it on its back had some surprising synergy.

There were a few demons still alive on the battlefield, but once the Overseer was claimed, they were now under Nick’s control, like the other mine. Rebecca and Irene moved to help heal the Overseer’s arm again, Nick removing the ice from the demon’s body as it worked hard on doing the same for itself.

Nick looked over his party, and thought about how well this fight had gone. “You girls have all come a long way in the last month, working hard. I’d like to be able to take another month to train, but we know the dangers coming to us. We need to keep Testing ourselves, until we can stand against Blackthorne. So we’ll soon be entering the Path of Kings.”

Ironclaw and Lothar’s parties came into the cave, the barriers removed. Lothar and Agatha came close to Nick, Lothar giving a hearty chuckle as he looked over him with his senses.

“Not bad at all, young lord. That was a difficult challenge that my honorable raiders enjoyed! Your Concepts have come far already, and were most impressive. Your kingdom and your family are becoming powerful so quickly that it worries me.”

“Our growth worries you?”

Agatha was the one to nod. “Yes. I’m sure you know that Orion has its own goals, and it brings rewards and challenges to help those with talent rise. However, this has been quite abnormal, how quickly and fiercely it challenges you–six months to prepare to face a faction of powerful demons? It clearly sees you as one to nurture. But it’s likely that it does this because it knows other dangers are coming.”

Lothar added, “Orion is meant to be dangerous, to give rise to powerful people, venerable Lords of Orion. But it does not create death traps, there should usually be a path to victory. Having an expectation of you being in the third stratum in six months…that would go against normal logic. Any elite of Orion would expect you to spend years perfecting your foundations to prepare for entering the third stratum. At this accelerated pace, you put a hundred through it, I’d expect nearly all one hundred would break and fail, or have their foundations ruined, their futures destroyed.”

Irene spoke up here, “Yes, I would agree. But our Hero is certainly a special one, and has shown tremendous progress in such a short period. Being an Ordained Lord of Seraphara, with four Ordeals in Frosthaven, his unique race and his immense talent, he should find the means to grow and meet the challenges he faces.”

Nick thought about it. “We talked about stepping up our goals to prepare for Shadowvale already when we met yesterday. I suppose our plan should be to push for taking it when we get out of the Path of Kings.”

Lothar nodded. “It’s entirely possible that up to the fifteenth floor might take you a whole month. You can count on us to prepare your people, but a lot can happen during that time. But I think you should be more aggressive. If you’re in fighting form after the fifteenth, you go for more.”

Nick was surprised. “You think we should go for more?”

“That’s right. It’s important for you to at least check out the next floor or floors, to make for a more rapid climb in the future. It reduces the potential for rewards on a monthly basis, but continuing from the sixteenth or seventeenth floor could reduce the duration of your next month’s climb.”

“Gotcha. But there’s a small issue.”

Eirwen nodded. “Who shall be our ten, right, Hubby? We used Renzou and Irene here, but Renzou needs to stick behind to establish his town guard and receive healing.” She turned to Irene. “Do you even want to come with us in the Path of Kings, Irene?”

Irene gasped. “Of course I would like to! Why do you ask?”

Nick frowned. “Rebecca had said you weren’t all that inclined to focus on climbing the Ordeals and fighting in them, only doing the bare–”

Irene pouted. “That was then, and this is now. You’re my Hero, and I did say I would do anything for those Ancestral Archives, did I not? It’s…one of the reasons why I came to help today. I want to help you, my hero!”

Rebecca blushed, her wings fluttering behind her. “M-Mother, your phrasing…well, I can understand…” She trailed off, a little conflicted.

Eirwen giggled. “So you like heroes as much as I do!” She looked at Irene then Nick with a soft smile, before looking back at Lothar. “So that’s settled then. Do you want to come with us, Lothar? We have one more slot, and with Renzou holding the fort…”

In their previous run to the Path of Kings, they had brought Andross, Sharon, and Indrid to reach ten members. With Jasmine and Irene now a part of their party, they now had one more slot remaining.

Lothar shook his head. “Agatha and I were hoping to take on the Samurai Ordeal with Renzou or Andross and his wives, and go as deep as we’re able. Kaya had reached the fifteenth floor, and we wanted to try to push a bit further if we can. It’s time for us to grow as well.” He grinned, but looked thoughtful. “I’ll come if you truly need me and can find no other, but I’m curious who you end up bringing.”

Nick wasn’t sure that he wanted a third Priestess of Seraphara in his party in the Path of Kings. Healing was primarily an after combat sort of thing in this world, and his party was not lacking it, besides.

Looking at Ironclaw, he realized that the strong ex-Alpha of the wolflings was a viable option, and an opportunity to help him evolve to become a cultivator. However, Ironclaw and the other monsterfolk might benefit more from him doing more first stratum runs first, with him carrying them slightly.

Nick supposed that the core party members were already handled, and they might truly only need someone designated or acting as support. Nick had already been shown that while the Support designation was important for a class, what Orion cared more when it came to how it challenged or rewarded people, was about whether people were being Tested or not. And that could be accomplished with anyone if they stayed out of the battles.

The Ordeal recommended ten members and two of those being supporters, but with how difficult the Path of Kings was, it felt like his people would be appropriately Tested whether all 10 were full combatants or not.

“We’ll think on it. For now, we’ll recover and prepare ourselves for the Path of Kings. I think my plan is on leaving within the next few days or a week at most, so everyone must strive to be at their top form.”

He looked over to his Wolfen girls, who looked plenty eager. The next stop was definitely the Path of Kings.