Chapter 339 - 6 / 2357 (Patreon)

I have been thinking about it lately, and my build is a big mess, to say it gently. Sure, I have a lot of skills, but no matter how hard I try to master them all, it's impossible, and not often does each of the skills shine. They are all pretty situational and often countered by stronger or more skilled opponents.

Sure, I'm extremely versatile, and I can switch the way I fight, but at least to me, it feels lacking. Currently, I would say I'm at my strongest against many weaker opponents. The amount of mana and multiple skills I can use are good for bombardment and large-scale damage.

When it comes to a single stronger opponent, almost all of these can be countered, forcing me to try to surprise my opponent or overwhelm them with the sheer amount of bullshit I can throw at them.

It's not bad, not really. It’s all done with the future in mind. I'm building a strong base I can continue to stack upon, picking my own unique way. But until then, it will be a pain in the ass at times.

I dodge the slash from the Hell difficulty man called Swordmaster, and his next attack slips across my armor while he blocks my swing.

He jumps back a few times, and AnotherOneHere does something that changes gravity; instead of it pulling me down, it pulls me up towards the ceiling.

Surrounding myself with a barrier made of [Regalia], I tank the ranged attacks people from Hard and Normal difficulty bombard me with. For a moment, I examine the skill changing my gravity before disrupting it.

In quick succession, three projectiles shoot from me, each with an anchor tied to them, and I teleport to one.

My axe burrows into the leg of the man who was attacking me with annoying shadow-like magic. Making sure I do not instantly kill him, I absorb some of his mana through the axe, the weapon strengthening me.

Leaving a thermal orb where I stand, I teleport again, the orb exploding and turning the hurt man into particles and damaging Swordmaster, who quickly changes direction and rushes me again.

Before the gravity skill can slow me down again, I disrupt it and burrow the axe into another man. Then I teleport again leaving another thermal orb in my place. This time it doesn't explode, as it is covered by a shield made out of rock that shoots up from the floor.

Making distance between us, I send a smaller tricolored orb through the anchor, and it explodes inside the room, the explosion strengthened by the lack of space. Dust and rocks fall from the ceiling, shaking the walls and pieces crumble down while the men and women shout.

Four more people from Hard and Normal die, leaving 7 people.

I set up another barrier, deflecting a barrage of attacks that move much quicker thanks to the application of gravity magic that AnotherOneHere uses.

When I teleport back inside the room, Swordmaster is already here, with a weird mana surrounding the epic sword he holds expertly.

It pierces through my armor and stops only when I add [Resonance] to the mix. His movement accelerates, the same weird mana sent to his feet he kicks at me, causing the same damage to the armor.

He dodges the projectile I shoot at him, and quickening his movements even more, he burrows his knee into my chest armor and then jumps back, tilting his head to avoid a cone of kinetic energy.

Swordmaster's sword cuts through my flames, and even without the armor, his body resists the heat as he attacks me.

When I teleport, he reaches the place surprisingly quickly, getting used to my style.

I feel a pull on my body, gravity with changed frequency trying to slow me down and, perfectly using this opportunity, Swordmaster's sword shines even brighter as he slashes towards my neck.

My [Redistribution] at full power stops him for a moment. The pulse of disrupting mana makes him stagger in surprise as his strengthening disappears, and a following blast of kinetic energy explodes a big piece of his arm. The man still able to partially dodge it.

Before I can follow the attack, the rock I stand on turns into mud, catching my feet, and a golem-like creature as tall as me climbs up from the ground, reaching toward me.

When the golem grabs my armor, I find myself unable to teleport, the last anchor disrupted. I was already getting surprised it took them so long to do that.

More mana radiates from my body, the armor around me expanding and surrounding me until it makes me twice as tall as before, making me tower over the golem.

With a single kick, I send the golem flying toward its creator, shrinking the armor back and teleporting to the anchor I left on the golem. A few teleports and kinetic blasts later, only two men from Hell difficulty remain, and my body is strengthened by the effect of the axe.

“Noname, you're on the 6th floor, right?” AnotherOneHere asks as I face the remaining duo.

Seeing no reason to be rude, I nod; the man has been quite nice in the Community.

Swordmaster, with his sword on his shoulder, gives me a look before shrugging and nodding towards his group member, “We always knew group 4 isn't exactly normal.”

“It's still disappointing to see such a difference between people from Hell.” Finishing his preparations, AnotherOneHere raises his hands and slaps them together.

The sides of the room I'm standing in tear apart, huge pieces of rock heading towards me in an attempt to crush me between them.

They expect me to teleport, so I create an anchor and activate it halfway. Then, instead of teleporting, I send through a tricolored orb I was forming in my mouth. It explodes the moment Swordmaster reaches the anchor.

I, meanwhile, create a barrier around myself, taking the damage from the rocks and the explosion of the tricolored orb that defeats Swordmaster. The poor guy too incompatible with this fighting style and with plenty of my skills countering him.

AnotherOneHere uses his gravity skill, somewhat compressing part of my explosion and redirecting it. Wounded and exhausted he rests against the wall, breathing heavily.

When I cut the axe into his leg, he looks up at me, “That's cold as fuck,” he breathes out as the axe starts absorbing his mana to strengthen my body.

“There are a few more people not that far over us. I will go after them right away, so I need to save a bit of mana,” I answer him.

He laughs unbelievably and shakes his head, "Well, good luck then."

I nod, "Thank you."

A few moments later, he turns into particles when the system judges he was about to die.

Only then do I allow myself to crack my mask and breathe out in a long, shaky breath. Then I concentrate and examine a few smaller wounds Swordmaster put on me that are still healing and at a slower rate than they should. These guys did have quite nice skills; they weren't Hell difficulty for nothing.

From the ground, I pick up the sword Swordmaster was using. An epic item with the effect of making wounds slower to heal the more mana is used to power it while increasing its cutting force as well.

I decide to keep it along with my axe and then look for the second epic item. It is a small ring that served as a consumable type of item, bearing three activations that would heal its bearer. All uses gone most likely even before the fight.

In the future, I will have to get cooking with Lily and create something similar if the mana stone from Savant proves useless.

 ***

When two hours remain, the weather changes again. The snow disappears, and instead, earthquakes constantly hit the area while the barrier shrinks again, evaporating anything that touches it.

Moving to the middle of the Survival Domain, I fight more people.

A group from Easy difficulty that somehow survived until now and that quickly give up.

A group from Normal difficulty that tries to fight back only to be flabbergasted even as I use only a bit of my body mana. Their attacks do not even reach me, and most of the time, just the strength of my body boosted by the axe's effect is enough.

People from Hard are a bit more difficult to deal with and always move in bigger groups, sometimes with one or two remaining members of Hell difficulty. Fights against them are always enjoyable. Their skills are better, their stats higher, and their traits are more interesting. I examine them and take note of some uses or skills, but in the end, even they are defeated with a mix of multiple skills that always surprise them.

I, the same as a few others, am someone who went through Beyond trials. Even if others could've gone, they have decided to not use the upgrade token that way or were unable to fulfill other requirements. So as between me and Hard difficulty people, there is a difference between me and Hell difficulty people.

With my Mana Reservoir containing three times my body mana still untouched, I increase the speed I'm moving towards the middle of the domain.

 ***

One hour remains, and the barrier now slowly but continuously shrinks from the size of a large city to who knows what's ending point.

In the distance, I see the lightning flicker and terrifying noises of Tess's projectiles and then a new notification.

Tacita (Hell, 4th) ⟶ Sset (Hell, 4th)

I feel a disturbing gray mana move to my right, an explosion of it, and another notification.

Savant (Hell, 4th) ⟶ Grumpy (Hell, 5th)

Savant (Hell, 4th) ⟶ FoodFood (Hell, 6th)

That already makes me the last remaining survivor from group 4 other than Sophie, who is God knows where. I can only feel her mana constructs and web all over the place.

6 / 2357

And a much smaller leaderboard now.

1st (431 pts) - Noname

2nd (375 pts) - Savant

3rd (333 pts) - Tacita

4th (256 pts) - Soph

5th (167 pts) - Bard

6th (1 pts) - Adam

The man with black hair tied into a ponytail and green eyes jumps up and lands on the roof opposite the one I stand on. On his right hand, there is a simple-looking glove that radiates an extraordinary amount of strength even while not being used.

“I guess you found the arcane item?” I ask him.

“Yes, I hoped to find it earlier to get more points, but even this timing is fitting. It uses a lot of mana, so you would like it more, though,” he answers.

Interrupting our conversation, a man stumbles on top of the roof.

Bard (Hell, 5th)

He is missing one arm and he does something to his body to keep it from bleeding. Just looking at his state, I guess he won’t be able to last much longer.

Looking at me and Savant he staggers and stops. Then he sighs, “Fucking corgi, tore my arm off. It was so goddamn cute though…”

Before he can say more, at a speed fitting to her, Tacita appears behind his back, an epic dagger in her hand slashing down and turning the man into particles. Tacita then stands there and flicks her messy brown hair off her forehead. Her lively eyes meet mine and Savant's.

Tacita (Hell, 4th) ⟶ Bard (Hell, 5th)

Other than Sophie, the last man remains. The one with a single point. Member of Gareth’s group. He walks up the stairs to the top of the building and reaches the roof after opening the creaking iron door.

Adam (Hell, 5th)

The blonde sixty year old looking man with long wavy hair is in a pristine state, wearing something akin to a suit. He holds no weapon and there isn’t a single mark on his body. Either avoiding fighting or hiding up until now. But it's clear that he barely used any stamina or mana unlike any of us.

The man in the suit turns to Savant, “Hey youngster, wanna get rid of that glove to make it more fair?”

“No.”

“Understandable.”

A silence ensues and all of us stand there nearly feeling awkward, no one wanting first to face the arcane item.

“Hey, really, let's get rid of that…” I try to say as well.

“No.”

Damn it, “Do you not want to fight properly? Using an arcane item is cheap as fuck.”

“I will fight one versus one during the duels. I know you would use the glove too.”

Well, he is not wrong. Unlike him, I would’ve probably used it a minute ago.

“So why don’t you attack?” I ask him.

“There is your friend sneaking around. She keeps trying to get into my mind and the glove requires a lot of concentration.”

This time the man in the suit asks, sensing an opportunity “So you can't defend against her and use the glove at the same time?”

“There is only one way for you to find out.” Then his expression changes and his mana flows into the glove, “Found you,” he says simply and moves his hand as if swatting away a fly.

The part of the city he gestured towards explodes in a single yet impressive show of telekinesis, destroying multiple buildings and a big part of the street.

Savant (Hell, 4th) ⟶ Soph (Hell, 5th)

The moment Sophie dies, the web and constructs that she was planting around all head at Savant, in a last act of revenge.

Tacita disappears.

A purple circle forms behind Adam's back.

And I for the first time reach into my mana reservoir, all that mana flooding my body. There is no more hesitation, no more saving mana, and with an axe and a sword in my hands, black mana seeps into my body and my eyes activate.

Less than thirty minutes remain, but I don’t think I will be able to last more than a minute before the system judges me dead.

Should be enough.

***

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