Chapter 350 - Without a single speck of doubt (Patreon)

Landing on the balcony, I encounter very few people. Everyone from the tutorial is already fighting down there, and explosions can be heard even up here, as well as the ground shaking. The vibrations make dust fall from the ceiling.

Inside, I meet only a few guards, only the bare minimum, and some humans dressed like workers. Further deep inside, the civilians are hiding.

Pushing through them all, I slowly pass by the rooms, scanning the area.

As with the exterior, the inside of the Aether Keep also feels rough, but solid and safe. There is a cozy feeling from the tons of tough stone blocks surrounding us and the flickering orange light on the walls.

After a few minutes of walking through empty hallways, I pass by the door into the mines where it changes. The walls become rougher and tunnels narrower, and the light brighter. The air isn't as well ventilated.

After some time, small crystals start appearing on the walls, and thin veins of mana-conductive metal. All of these are left behind, not worth bothering with compared to much bigger amounts deeper in the tunnels.

Surprisingly, the mines are similar to what we used to have on Earth before the industrial revolution, and probably still have in some places. To be honest, I expected something different.

Sure, the walls are somewhat smooth, unlike those on Earth. The light is sharp and emits no smoke. Even parts of the tunnels are most likely made much quicker than the ones on Earth. There is also no need for wooden supports, as it's all made with the help of skills. Ventilation also works well.

Yet… I don't know what I expected. Wouldn't a single higher-level human be able to do this much almost on their own? That probably brings some more trouble but also raises more questions.

Maybe only lower-level humans mine, and higher-level ones do not bother with such work or do nothing but fight? But this can't be it; there is most likely a lot of money to be made, probably enough for a higher-level person to get interested.

Maybe regulations to stop the materials from being mined too quickly, which would cause them to flood the market, and the price would drop?

That is more likely.

How interesting.

The more I learn, the more I find out how little I know. An entirely new world opened to me.

I expand my domain and place an anchor further ahead to which I teleport, and then repeat this multiple times in quick succession.

In a few seconds, I pass a much greater distance than I passed by ten minutes of walking, and I continue until I reach the smaller cave where storage seems to be.

There are massive and, from testing, extremely heavy iron boxes. After cutting them apart, I find out they are full of chunks of mana-conductive metal called arcanadium. Something I have some experience with.

In its rough state, the metal is darker, and there are imperfections in it, unlike the ingots I found in the bunkers on the 5th floor.

(You are not going to join? I thought Tess wanted you to be flashy?) I hear Sophie through the connection made by twins.

Holding a chunk of arcanadium in my hand and examining it, I answer, (You guys have some fun. I will do something flashy after you all die.)

(You better not regret it when we kill the serpent and you don't get any points. Check the leaderboard; you are dead last.) After that, Sophie cancels the connection.

I do not even bother checking it and send another pulse into the area.

Locating another storage, I move there with a few teleports, and this time open the box with ethercrystals, a material able to absorb mana it touches when properly used. A sword I used to have on the 4th floor and the axe I found during the 1st event were from that material. Both weapons turned absorbed mana into physical strengthening.

As with the arcanadium before, the ethercrystal is in its natural state, with plenty of crystals milky, cracked, or clearly of inferior quality. It seems to make them accept less mana too.

The ground under me shakes, and dust falls from the ceiling, and the roar of the monster reaches me even down here. A loud crack erupts, and I teleport away from the part of the storage where I stood, which gets buried under a mass of stones.

I teleport a few more times, finding another storage where mining tools are. Some clothes, masks, and tools they use to excavate.

Once again the ground shakes and the dust starts falling from the ceiling as if it is about to fall on me, but this time I create a barrier and support the walls, stopping the stones from burying me.

Then I continue to examine the inscriptions on the tools. Really simple ones, yet pretty in their simplicity. The high focus seems to be placed on efficiency and requiring as little mana as possible.

The protective gear is similar. Some parts of it even have inscriptions to keep you warm when fueled by mana. The inscriptions on clothes are made of threads that contain bits of conductive material that I have a hard time identifying.

Putting it away, I sit on the ground and look at the barrier around me that holds the stone.

It's a shame that the shop is locked; I could sell a lot of stuff. It's also a shame we can't take items from the events, something proven even during the 1st event. But I guess it would be too much if someone took a low arcane item out of the event or tonnes of materials from the mines.

I release the barrier and watch as the stones start falling, about to bury me there, and at the last moment, I use the anchor I left outside and teleport there.

Appearing at the tower behind the last standing wall, I sit on top of it and look towards the pandemonium down there.

The Quake Serpent is now brilliantly white, with one eye still blind. But the monster is moving extremely quickly, belying its size. The lizard is rushing towards Lily who avoids its attack, and once in a while, a burst of gray mana shoots from her. There is still a bag with my and her limbs on her back.

On the monster, big chunks of meat are missing, eaten away by [Disintegration]. Some even on the monster's head, an attempt to destroy the brain I would imagine.

From high in the air, chunks of metal as big as cars come down, pulled by an invisible force, hitting the monster with immense kinetic energy because of the sheer speed and weight.

I locate Min-Jae who controls them. His attacks seem to cause damage, but not enough. There is also Brainiac who keeps shooting his invisible attack at the single non-blind eye of the lizard.

With a horrifying noise, three javelins come flying down, burrowing into the Quake Serpent's head, immediately followed by red and white lightning crashing from the sky into the weapons.

The monster roars again, thrashing around, killing more monsters and some humans who got close.

Even so, there is not that much damage. The monster moves quickly towards the wall, stopped by the human with a silver barrier surrounding him.

The earth shakes, and the wall is cracking and about to break apart when the strongest native finally moves. His mana surrounds him like a cape; a sword he pulls out is surrounded by a brilliant light as he enters the fray, confidently facing the monster.

The monster rears up, towering high in the air, its now white scales seeming indomitable.

That's when, from under the ground, purple tentacles explode, as big as the monster, crawling on its body, tying it down, surrounding it, the tips piercing into the lizard's body.

The monster roars, falling back on all fours when tentacles crawl up its face, grabbing its maw and forcing it open.

There Biscuit floats nearby, a purple ball of mana floating over him. That purple orb destabilizes, turning bright white to be shot into the monster's mouth just before the tentacles weaken and disappear.

Biscuit starts fluttering in the air about to fall down when Min-Jae reaches him and, grabbing him into his arms, flies away as quickly as he can with his clumsy method.

As the monster tries to spit out the orb, it explodes from within, the part of its mouth turning into a bloody mess, a gaping hole with blood dripping. The moment that blood touches the ground it melts the stone, creating a toxic mist.

Even that kills multiple people, some even protected by Gareth's silver light.

The native knight attacks next, his sword extending much further as he stabs against the Quake Serpent.

The ensuing fight takes a lot of time.

Natives, people from Hell difficulty, fighting together to defeat the Quake Serpent. More monsters appear to help, and the groups are separated and then forced to deal with weaker monsters as well.

Isabella unleashes the orbs she was charging up until now, the two of them burning off an entire leg of the Quake Serpent and taking a big chunk of the body. The sheer heat of the skill kills some defenders and forces Lily and Gareth to heal a few more important fighters.

The web covering the entire Aether Keep activates finally, strengthening Sophie's skill and its reach. Thousands of ants turn against each other, tearing other attackers apart, some crawling up the giant lizard.

And then she takes over more ants. And more. With the use of the web and cooperation with the Twins, Sophie controls thousands of the monsters, forcing them to fight their own forces, defending even against the attempts to take them from under her control.

With the final burst, Tess sends a stream of lightning inside the giant lizard's head, and finally, the giant opponent wobbles.

Its body crumbles as its maw continues to move, trying to bite at something, toxic blood splashing around, the smoke from it killing people.

The survivors stare, unmoving, not knowing how to react as the massive opponent falls.

There is silence that slowly breaks into a loud shout, the ones remaining celebrating the victory.

The monsters taken over by Sophie through her and the twins' web turn to attack again, clearing the remaining forces. Gradually, other people join the fight.

An hour remains.

Tacita and Savant are nowhere to be seen, and under Tess's orders, group 4 goes to rest, preparing for what is surely to come.

***

Thirty minutes remain. The silence is unnerving, and some natives disperse, celebrating already with their families hidden in the mines.

Lily refuses to heal, saving her mana and the bag with limbs on her back. An army of a few hundred ants stays to the side, under Sophie’s control, and Isabella is once again charging her fireballs. The silence is eerie, the wind quietly blowing over the battlefield.

***

Twenty minutes remain and nerves heighten, some of the surviving tutorial attendees quarrel with each other, constantly looking for a danger that they can't see or feel.

A few smaller fights erupt, but neither Tess nor even Gareth interrupt.

Everyone is saving their energy and when some of them look towards me with nervous expressions, I return their gaze.

***

Fifteen minutes remain and one of the corpses on the battlefield starts twitching. A big spider with a myriad of symbols all over its skin. The corpse moves from inside, skin stretching and limbs bending until the chitin is torn through, and from inside of the monster, another figure stands out.

A domain envelops the area and the remaining Easy, Normal, and Hard difficulty members die nearly instantly, their bodies turning into shiny particles.

As they die, the monster covered in blood and the insides of the spider stretches. A human-like figure with eight eyes. Its skin replaced by a black carapace and from its back, two additional pairs of spider-like legs protrude.

[Rotweaver - lvl ???]

Around 320-340? If I had to guess.

At the same moment, multiple things happen.

Savant takes over the web, a gentle orange light of his domain surrounding the area and pushing against the monster’s domain while attacking it at the same time.

After a long while, Tacita also appears. Out of nowhere, she is just there, standing by the Rotweaver's side, her dagger coated in mana.

The monster moves, reacting to her but it's too late. The dagger in Tacita’s hand turns into a blur, and green blood explodes into the air. The severed head and limbs of the monster fall down on the ground and silence ensues.

Tacita disappears again and at the same time another corpse on the opposite side of the battlefield starts moving, twisting, and from its inside, the Rotweaver steps out. Before the monster even gets fully out, Tacita is already there, a hand turning into a blur and the head flying off.

The Rotweaver dies and another corpse moves.

When Tacita reaches it this time, her attack deals no damage, just sparks shooting into the air as the dagger clashes against the carapace.

Swiftly changing posture, Tacita stabs instead, the dagger burrowing into the monster's mouth and she moves her hand, cutting the head open.

A new corpse twitches. Then another and another. A dozen corpses move.

The others join this time as well, fire raining down, lightning erupting, and a mental attack aiming there, but to no avail, there are too many corpses and Rotweaver stands up again.

Its domain strengthens even more, Savant's one shrinks, unable to pressure the monster anymore. Gareth is forced to surround his team with silver light to fight against it, and Tacita is gone again, waiting for an opportunity.

Thousands of corpses left outside start twitching. Natives, monster corpses, all of them get back on their feet. No matter how damaged the monster is. No matter if there are limbs missing or if the head is gone or if only half the body remains. All of them rise at once, reanimated by the Rotweaver.

At last, even the corpse of the Quake Serpent stands up, both of its eyes missing, wounds all over. The ground shakes under its feet.

The fight starts anew.

Sophie fights, trying to control ants while Savant decimates enemy forces in dozens with the help of his domain and the web he absorbed partially. He does it even with his [Restriction].

Tess, Lily, and Gareth face the Rotweaver. Tess supports the duo from a distance, Gareth trying to take as much attention as he can, and Lily finally sacrificing the limbs in the bag, her speed equalling Tacita's, and gray mana obliterating the monster.

The monster is powerful, but not that powerful. Its strength lies somewhere else. No matter how many times they kill it, it always pops up anew, getting more resistant to the attacks and learning more.

Others fight the giant lizard and thousands of monsters that radiate energy that seems to make the domain of the Rotweaver even worse the more monsters surround them.

10 minutes remain when Swordmaster dies with a few more people from other groups.

9 minutes remain when Bard and AnotherOneHere die under the attacks of the Quake Serpent.

8 minutes remain when Sophie and Isabella disappear, killed by hundreds of monsters, drained of their energy and blue flames dying off.

7 minutes when a few members of Gareth's group disappear.

6 minutes when Min-jae and the twins get overrun after Min-jae deals significant damage to the Quake Serpent.

5 minutes and Tacita appears again, in quick succession killing the Rotweaver five times. Then dying to the domain the monster focuses on her.

4 minutes and Savant’s domain disappears and immediately after most of the remaining members die, Savant is one of the first.

3 minutes and Gareth runs out of mana, his silver light and crown disappearing. Tess disappears too together with Biscuit who tries to help her, dozens of purple tentacles tearing monsters apart and gentle purple light from him pushing against the domain.

Lily, now with one arm remaining, falls to the monster as well, her mana gone and domain taking a toll on her.

2 minutes remain as Rotweaver pulls out the heart of the strongest native, the man unable to do anything.

Rotweaver increases its output, the monster seemingly much stronger than when the fight started. The stronger the closer the end of the event is.

Terribly wounded, Quake Serpent moves quickly, a charge collecting in its body and animated corpses of humans and monsters crawling all over the battlefield, a sickly light radiating from them.

Rotweaver eats the still beating Mana Heart of the knight it just killed, and its eight eyes turn to me.

It’s dark outside.

One minute remains and I stand up, my domain expanding as I take over the remains of the web, using it in the way Savant did, something I learned from him.

My Vortex Core empties, thermal energy flowing into the damaged arcane axe, and the crown over my head starts flooding my body with mana.

This won’t take long.

***

POV Channeler

The fight we watch on the screen of the common area is hard to comprehend. I knew people from Hell difficulty were strong, but this is too much. Facing monsters stronger than anything I knew could exist, they hold their ground, using skills in a way I can't.

I and everyone already outside are once again reminded of the sheer difference between us. It's not only stats or skill levels. It's also the way they fight.

People from Hell difficulty are hungrier, wilder, and more aggressive. From the way they fight, it feels like just another day for them. They do not hesitate when that powerful monster attacks, throwing everything against it.

The silence that fills the common area is eerie, and through the screen, we can even feel a part of the pressure from the monster. It's not like a screen, but more akin to a window that allows some “air” from outside to get in.

Though the system is limiting it, I feel myself getting sick just from the mana the monster releases.

Even being so strong, people from Hell difficulty die one after another, all of them appearing in the common area, their bodies restored, clothes fixed, and mana returned. None of them seem satisfied, eager to jump back in and face that horror inside.

So this is why they are where they are.

When a minute remains, I check the leaderboards.

1st (689 pts) - Soph

2nd (576 pts) - Savant

3rd (553 pts) - Sset

4th (551 pts) - Tacita

5th (501 pts) - Grumpy

6th (490 pts) - Gareth

7th (471 pts) - Brainiac

8th (469 pts) - TheStrongestOne

9th (401 pts) - NotAaron

10th (389 pts) - FoodFood

And there is one name right at the bottom

2357th (-99 pts) - Noname

The last remaining person inside the second event finally moves, seemingly not affected by the pressure that caused so much trouble to others.

Noname is wearing simple, almost casual clothes; there is no armor on him, and no visible equipment other than the axe and a weird blade on his belt. Standing there, he seems amiss, careless even. He moves his hand, taking hair off his forehead, and on the screen, I can see gold circles appear around his pupils.

Even now, he keeps that neutral expression of his.

Some people start talking, complaining why he didn't help until now, but an orange light radiates from a single man, pressuring the talking people to their knees.

“Shut up,” the man calls simply, his eyes glued to the screen.

Noname, as if knowing we are all looking, stretches and for the first time since I met him, a smile appears on his face. It's an eager smile, careless, and full of honesty.

He is happy, and it is terrifying.

Noname floats into the air in that unnerving stable flight of his, more akin to the world moving around him rather than him flying. The axe in his hand glows brighter, and I could swear I can feel heat radiating from the system’s window.

Rotweaver screeches for the first time, the sickly aura it radiates tries to expand again but is unable to do so, held at bay by something else, something even stronger.

As he swings the axe, golden flames explode. Like a wave, they shoot from the blade of the weapon. Smaller at first, but quickly expanding and crashing against the monster below.

The stone burns red now; corpses are set ablaze, burned to ashes nearly immediately. The flames reach the Quake Serpent, setting even this monster ablaze. They climb up its massive body like a living being.

20th (299 pts) - Noname

Quake Serpent roars soundlessly, a shockwave exploding the earth as it rushes towards Noname who doesn't even fly that high up, about to bite at him.

Something black in color moves around Noname, and inconceivably the monster freezes in place, its mangled bloody maw wide open around him.

With calm movement, he lifts the axe and once again the flames explode, flowing right into the monster's face and mouth, burning it from inside. The flames feel alive as they eat the monster, turning its giant body into a charred husk while it can't even move.

6th (499 pts) - Noname

The air around him flickers from the sheer heat and the remains of the monster get blown away.

Rotweaver screeches again, the limbs behind its back weave and glow, a more sickly aura radiating from the monster. The remaining reanimated corpses move as one in their offensive.

The axe swings again, the rest of the monsters burned by the flame that envelops the entire area. At the same time, Noname lands on the ground, all around him his golden flames burning, the ground cracked and turned into magma.

Wounds are all over his body, but they are slowly healing. The flames closest to him get pulled into the axe.

1st (798 pts) - Noname

Just after a few steps, he stops, a silence so deep the breathing of people in the common area can be heard. All gazes are on the screen as that man stops in front of the monster, surrounded by that hellish landscape. It’s dark and only his flames light up the area.

The Rotweaver is burned, the left half of its body missing, three of its eyes burned and the aura it had radiated so intensely is now just flickering. There are no more corpses to escape to.

On its own feet, the monster tries to run, but in one quick movement that feels close to Tacita's speed, he reaches it. He grabs the back of its neck and burrows the monster's head into the melted ground.

The smile on his face grows even wider as the crown over his head loses most of its shine, mana flowing into an orb the size of a basketball. The floating orb changes colors in quick succession, from pale blue to dark blue, then gets streaks of light blue and purple all over, and then starts shining bright white with a mix of golden. The sheer amount of mana it contains is hard to imagine.

“That dumbass,” someone whispers, and when I look up I notice it's Sset. “That fucking dumbass,” she repeats.

As if hearing, Noname blinks, a bit of his usual casual face returning, and he glances towards the Aether Keep just nearby.

“Oh,” his mouth moves as if he just remembered something.

But it's too late and the orb explodes, instantly evaporating what remains of the monster.

1st (1298 pts) - Noname

A burst of flames erupts from the center of the ball, a shockwave sending the remains of the wall and earth into the air. They expand at great speed, destroying everything in their way.

As they are about to reach the Aether Keep, they freeze. The flickering air that sets ablaze everything in its way stops, the heat disappearing. The shockwave, nearly visible, flickers in the air.

All of this held at bay by that single body that was able to produce it all.

In that moment I realize it's only been one year since the tutorial started and that nothing will ever be the same, even if we return to Earth. Our lives changed, and the Earth will change, all because of him and people like him.

Noname, looking like he is about to break apart, finally disappears, appearing in the common area. His clothes restored, and mana returned.

A living weapon and the winner of the second event without a single speck of doubt.

***

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