Chapter 448 - A deal (Patreon)

Tess joins me as I sit to the side, looking at the group. She sighs.

“I might have fucked up,” she admits with that huge bruise around her eye.

“Did you?”

“Yes. Tell me, Nat, do you think I’m a bad person?”

“Not really, just a bit twisted like everyone here.”

“But I should control myself better, I should…”

I interrupt her then and ask, “Tess, you would say I’m bad with people, right?”

She doesn’t mind the interruption and after looking at me for a bit she smiles, her blonde hair shining in the light on her crown. “Yes.”

“Even being as bad as I am, I have noticed something. Want to hear it? It’s about you.”

“Please tell me.” Tess gestures at me to continue.

“You always talk like you want us to be a group. Companions who become closer through danger. But I have noticed one thing: You are always to the side, instead of being part of the group.”

I look into her gray eyes and continue, “You took on this bullshit leadership role - on the 4th floor, during the tournament, and even now. You always keep yourself in check, trying to make them look up to you so you can lead and make tough decisions for them.”

I grab a small stone and throw it at Dravos, who seems to be trying to head towards the platform, and he stops and returns back.

“I think it's partly fine, but you take it way too far.”

“Someone has to, Nat, and I’m good at it.”

“Yes? So killing the guide, throwing everyone in the group into danger, getting punched by Sophie is part of the plan or because of your feelings?”

“I will do what I think is the best,” Tess declares.

So she won’t be honest even now? It’s almost cute to see her that way.

Even so, I already have a plan in mind. “Well, it’s okay. Do whatever you want, Tess, and don’t worry about consequences. I will take care of everything this time.”

She has held up well so far, but I already feel that weird pressure around us, and once again the emotions are starting to get roused up.

Tess must feel it, but at the same time, I see hesitation. Between following her feelings and worrying what might happen.

Lastly, I add a few more words, “I don't think sitting on the sidelines and watching our group is what you want, Tess. You'll need to give up some control to get what you're hoping for.”

***

I think a day passes, but it’s not correct. The countdown timer shows one and a half days passing.

For the first time, I see the twins having a fight with Min-Jae, and there are some punches thrown.

The Korean boy tried to show some concern for them, inviting them to join the conversation, but Aaron and Dennis refused. Min-Jae didn’t like that and pushed further.

There were some hurtful words thrown, and the fight was stopped by Maya.

The entire time Tess watched it quietly, and for a moment our eyes met before she pulled her knees closer to her chest and buried her face down, deep in thought.

***

[You have defeated Inkmire Lurker - lvl 331]

[You have defeated Inkmire Lurker - lvl 346]

[You have defeated Inkmire Lurker - lvl 311]

[Lvl 262 > Lvl 263]

[Infusion - lvl 36 > Infusion - lvl 37]

I went to hunt and I killed these monsters alone. The same monster that took so much effort from my group before.

I’m strong and at a level that is far ahead of anyone here.

The amplified emotions are fun to observe. The feelings I had during the 1st floor, the emotions I felt now strengthened and bound to surface.

Do I need them? Could I get more out of them if I was more ruthless? My life is threatened by an extremely dangerous being, and I could run away easily on my own. So why do I stay?

Because I can.

Every day I’m growing stronger and stronger. All towards my goal where fuckers like the guy in the hole won’t be able to push me around.

Before returning to the group, I stop by the hole, only to see the thylarin brothers just leaving it. Seems like group 4 let them pass again. This is the second time in the past few days.

“Welcome, Nathaniel,” the Champion greets me.

“Izzy, Min-Jae, and Sophie, they are the members of my group that have a chance of getting you out,” I say.

He hesitates, seemingly surprised, but then nods with a smile.

I look down at him. “Why don’t we make a deal?”

***

[Tether - lvl 35 > Tether - lvl 36]

[Tether - lvl 36 > Tether - lvl 37]

[Tether - lvl 37 > Tether - lvl 38]

[Tether - lvl 38 > Tether - lvl 39]

[Tether - lvl 39 > Tether - lvl 40]

I return a few hours later to where group 4 is. Checking the time, it wasn’t a few hours, but three entire days I spent by that hole.

The group still consists of group 4, Famir, Kallus, Dravos, Drekar, Heryd, and a few more people from Famir’s and Heryd’s groups.

Just by looking at them, it's easy to see the fights they've been through, with some wounds likely caused by people within their the group. The result of that is obvious, even from their behavior.

It’s days since we saw anyone else, and we have been down here for over a week.

Everyone else has nearly no mana, just a tiny amount to scrape from a small battery or a bit inside of their body. Even Tess is this way, with the exception of having some primordial lightning in her crown.

Oh, and Izzy too. I have discovered it of late, but she has a strong connection to Noodle, who is storing some of the mana. The little snake is devious, not transforming all the mana he eats but saving some. That mana is stored in a place that is even more separated from his body than my Mana Reservoir passive. It cannot be felt; it doesn’t even affect white sand.

It’s quite amazing.

Otherwise the people are in shambles. I have watched them fight, scream, cry, hurt each other. Showing their darkest emotions to the others to the point where they are now almost unable to look each other in the eye.

Just that little display of amplified emotions reminds us why Sophie’s ability is so hated, and people like her as well.

“Let’s head back to Deathtrap,” I say, and the eyes look up to me. Some look like they already gave up.

Tess stands up first, followed by Famir, and slowly others get on their feet, moving like zombies.

These dangerous zombies can rush at you in the blink of an eye and tear your head off.

Only my orbs light the place as we pass by the bridge; we walk through the tunnels. It’s even quieter than before, but there are no monster attacking us.

When we reach the crashed ship, we find no passengers, no bodies either. Out of close to 300 passengers, only our group of just around 20 remains.

***

For the following few days, I direct them as we take apart Deathtrap, mostly the control panels, core, and other things, taking valuable metals and mana stones from it.

I also blame the Champion´s bond for the grains of white sand disappearing, the ones we brought here when we crashed. Well, at least we have the ones sealed in a few containers we made.

The opening we entered through is unusable; it's a very thick wall that seems to work in only one direction. It's another fascinating feature I'd love to examine further, and with my emotions still heightened, I do just that a few times.

I’m also amazed by how much that prisoner was able to do from his cell, especially now knowing a bit more about it. I guess he wasn't Champion for nothing.

Done getting the materials I follow the instructions given to me by the Champion, and step by step, we build an array.

No monster interrupts us, and given some direction, the others seem to be a bit more lively. Heryd and Kallus, together with Sophie, help me the most as I only have detailed direction from the Champion.

The array is circular, similar to the ones we saw on the 4th floor. One of the important parts is the coordinates, and for this, I use the ones from the Champion - something he got from the expedition 80 years ago. The coordinates should lead to one of the smaller forts in the central region. The coordinates were given to the Champion by that man that hoped the Champion will escape and that group could stick to him, maybe even escape this moon.

Back then, the bond wasn't partially released yet, so apparently, the expedition left this place alive, much to the Champion's amusement.

Out of everything, this is the riskiest part and relies on the coordinates we got, but I have a good reason to think they are fine.

“We are missing the processing core, and the coordinates are placed here very loosely. Also the metals we took aren’t as conductive as I would hope for, so the jump won’t be very efficient,” Heryd complains to me.

“He might have placed some traps. I don’t trust him, Nat. If something happens to Izzy…”

“SDAT doesn’t have any more arcanadium we could use. These high-quality mana stones are also all we have,” Kallus joins in complaining.

I answer each of these worries, and we continue to work for longer and longer. Day and night, I would say if it was possible to say what time of a day it is.

During one of my breaks I take Biscuit into my arms, who is very quiet.

I sense his body pushing into mine, and even his breathing is quickened. Sometimes he lifts his head and growls into the darkness surrounding us, to which a feeling of pressure around us disappears.

After a while, I take him and hand him to Izzy, who looks up at me; her sister is by her side as always.

I reach down and put my face in front of her. “Thank you for trusting me and enduring so far.”

She blinks a few times, but I ruffle her head and turn to Sophie. I want to say a few words, but in the end, I stay quiet. Sophie is smart; she doesn’t need anything from me.

I just nod and join the twins sitting to the side.

“It will be funny to watch you two beg Min-Jae to forgive you for all the things you two twerps said.” Just that sentence to them and I leave towards Maya.

“Coming for a beating?” Maya asks me with a smile when I come closer.

“No more beatings. So what do you think of our leader?” I gesture at Tess, who quietly sits to the side.

Maya seems to think for a while but then smiles brightly. “It might sound cruel, but its nice to see her like that. It fits her more than being our glorious leader all the time.”

Nodding in agreement, I take these last steps and plop on the ground next to Tess. I stay quiet, and she as well, and an hour or two pass. Maybe even longer.

In the end, I think I hear a light sob, but I probably heard wrong as when Tess looks at me she seems as normal as she can be.

“I just wanted…”

“Yup, I know.”

“For a…”

“Yes,” I interrupt her again.

She quietens and looks away, as if ashamed to even look at me.

“Do you want to know why I let so many of these things happen and only watched?”

“I think I know why, but please tell me, Nat.”

“I’m extremely socially inept, but this time I think I did better than you, Tess.” I don’t forget to salt the fresh wound, but this version of Tess isn’t funny to bully, so I stop and continue, “I don’t want you to sit to the side and smile while watching the group. It fits you more if you sit closer to us, but for that, you have to fuck up once in a while like everyone else and open up more.”

Thinking of it for a while, Tess nods. “You aren’t very good at this.”

“Right?”

The silence this time is a bit different.

"What about you, Nat? When will you open?"

That question catches me off guard and I give it a thought.

"I have time," I answer and stand up. “We will activate the array in a few minutes, so be ready, okay?” With these words, I leave her.

Stopping by Min-Jae, I gesture at the twins, “What a bunch of dicks, right?”

Then, I whisper to him a few things I heard the twins talking about - things they definitely wouldn’t want any of the girls to know. Min-Jae can decide for himself if he wants to use that nuke-level information.

Lastly I find our petite healer is missing both of her arms, her own body used as fuel for her healing skills.

“You might be worse than me,” I gesture with my both still-present arms.

She stares at me, and I think she would’ve said something rude a few days ago before our emotions calmed down.

“Nat, no more fucking dark tunnels after this,” she says in the end.

"Yes, let’s try to do that."

As a reward for enduring so well, I pinch her nose and shake her head while holding it. I halfway expect her to growl like Biscuit.

Then we collect our small group into the teleporting array. There are three spears, my damaged arcane items, containers with the white sand and more, everything we can fit even to the point we have to squeeze together.

There is no need for more words after a few days of preparations, but I can see plenty of them look nervous, unsure of what is going to happen.

But not me.

My crown finally flickers and disappears, all of the mana it was holding fueled into the core and the array itself. The inscriptions lighting up and activating. It takes more and more of my mana to the point where my reserves dwindle, nearly all of it gone, yet I still push and push, sharing the pressure of activation with the materials.

The iron creaks, side melts, core cracks.

My Mana Wavelength Iris picks up the slack, and I let that mana partially flow through my body until the point where I activate the array I wouldn’t be able to make on my own. I do a last-second change that almost breaks the array, and a wave of mana crashes into me, causing a wound or two.

Then the bright light flashes, forcing me to squint my eyes.

When I open them again, I’m still in the cave. All the equipment gone, all my items.

The array, now broken and melted, gradually cools down, its inscriptions letting out a dim light.

Other than me, there are only Dravos and Drekar, confused, looking around.

There was a very well-hidden trap in the array designed by the Champion, so I was always meant to stay here, but not these two.

I collect the tiny bits of mana still floating in the air, coat my arm in it, and slash twice.

[You have defeated Manabreaker - lvl 286]

[You have defeated Manashroud Shaper - lvl 288]

Even before they fall down dead, a black smoke aggressively leaves their dead bodies, surrounding me like a whirlpool. The pressure on me increases my feelings of fear, and I can feel an anger radiating from that being. From the Champion’s bond.

It crashes against me, dragging me across the ground and smashing me against the wall and then again.

Even the feeling of pain is amplified now, and huge amount of mana flows into my reservoir from the passive activating. But the bond is angry, throwing me and smashing with a force that can be felt even through the unique passive.

Something inside my body breaks, and I taste rust in my mouth, but I still smile.

The bond finally stops throwing me around, and the black smoke halts just an inch from my face.

“How about we go have a chat with your owner?”

***

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