Everyone in the party managed to get out, leaving behind the portal that was currently underneath the floating tower, which he was still shocked to see happening.
Of course, they made sure to keep away as far as possible to ensure they wouldn’t be in the aftermath, something that the adventurers had no idea why for considering how far they were, about several kilometers away at this point. They used various methods to get into the air, with their resources managing to recover enough to use their flying skills. Zeke floated up in the air, his body still reeling from the overuse of his attunement.
He knew he went too far, but he was also glad he did so. He didn’t want to fight that kraken any longer than they had to. Dealing with a regenerating boss in its home turf was a bitch to handle, even in video games. Even when his own body was burning and cooling, the uncomfortable duo-sensation from his mana over usage, he was still glad to be floating up in the air, away from the dungeon.
Once they got far enough away, they looked at the dungeon to see the result. For a moment, nothing really happened. That got the others to start asking questions.
“So… what now?” Saang asked, tilting her head along with the other two guys beside her. She was standing on top of Hamil’s floating rock with Kote in tow, the three usually doing this method to get up into the air. Mikella just floated with the use of her wings, flapping delicately to avoid going up or down. To her, this was a pretty hard thing to do, especially since she still hasn’t got a handle on it just yet.
“Just wait for it,” Zeke said, letting out a deep breath. Mikella also prepared, turning tense as they stared at the dungeon.
Just as he said, they waited for a few moments, and nothing more. The tower began to shake as energy began to circle around it. The energy was almost fuzzy, but Zeke’s eyes saw everything bursting with immense power. He knew then that it wasn’t even mana–just some form of energy he couldn't quite see. Was it system energy?
Soon that energy became visible to the naked eye as the same whitish portal began to shimmer and stutter like it was about to collapse.
The tower in the air, however, started to crack at the center, then it crawled across the surface like a spiderweb as energy started to glow bright within the confines of the cracks. When the destruction finally spread throughout the entire tower, they all snapped.
A burst of powerful energy unlike anything Zeke had ever seen blew up into the sky, releasing a massive pillar of bright light that covered several kilometers in diameter. Shockwaves of pressurized air hit them hard, forcing them to leave even further away from the impact, which was worse since they were up in the air with their skills.
The surrounding area holding the stone quarry was blasted away, reducing them to mere dust as the light blinded them, their ears popping at the continued explosion.
Another few moments, the air turned completely still. The silence was deafening, leaving nothing but a huge crater that could contain a small town settlement within. Throughout from there, nothing but bleached earth was left, leaving no trace of anything living, monster or otherwise.
The group had a bit of trouble in the air thanks to the explosion. While Hamil was an expert in handling sudden shifts in the air, both Zeke and Mikella tumbled about from their inexperience, causing them to collide with each other in a body-tackle that would knock out grown men. After settling each other down, Zeke and Mikella saw the explosion’s impact on the world.
They reached down towards the bleached ground, noticing that the dirt that once had small hints of life and magical energy completely dried up. The whiteness of it all was also intensely disturbing, something that really hasn’t been done before. It was as though the explosion took all the color away, leaving nothing but an absence of color behind. Right at the very center was a dark pitched crater that was still bright red from the massive energy blast, smoky trails coming out not just from the crater, but from several black spots on the whiteness of the ground. Just a kilometer or so away around the whiteness of the explosion was the normal quarry, if it could still be normal after all of this.
The scent of it all made Zeke dread somehow. It smelled like… nothing. It wasn’t that there was no scent, it’s that there was–and it’s literally nothing. It frightened him a little.
“My gods…” Kote said, his voice in awe. “That power… it could’ve easily destroyed the capital even with its defenses.”
“That’s not a normal explosion, definitely,” Hamil stated. “That’s enough to eradicate all life around, no matter who it is. I don’t think even Cronus can survive that.”
“I’m not sure, that bastard has been around for a long time,” Saang stated, shaking her head. “But there’s no way in hell I wanna test that, no matter how powerful I get.”
“That was…” Zeke stated, trying to think of the words. “That was a lot more destructive than before.”
“Yeah,” Mikella said, just as disturbed. “The last time wasn’t this… bad. If anything, they were tame compared to this. You think it’s because it was here in a pocket dimension?”
“Maybe,” Zeke answered as best he could. “The dimension does contain a lot of magical power. So maybe since the tower sort of disrupts that, it was also affected when it disappears.”
“You mean this sort of thing would happen every time a tower disappears?” Saang asked incredulously. When the otherworlders nodded in unison, she blew through her lips in defeat. “Crap.”
“Well, that’s one tower down,” Hamil said, finally switching the topic. “And I think we all deserve a break. How about we head home and relax?”
“Relax…?”
Zeke muttered, his brows furrowing. Mikella also shared the same look, staring down at the bleached earth.
How can they relax when there are more towers to be found? And more people to try and find? Now that they had proof that people can still be alive, trying to relax and ignore their plights sounded cruel and unforgiving.
Suddenly, Saang grasped his shoulder along with Mikella’s. The two otherworlders stared back at her, showing a gentle smile at the two.
“We need to relax,” Saang stated. There wasn’t that same old fun tone she had. There was a somber tune to it, something that spoke with age and experience, not just in levels. “I know you guys probably think that you need to try and save the folks trapped inside, but that’s not your responsibility. If you two can handle it with your own tower, then they have to too.”
“But–” Mikella tried to speak up, but Hamil took over.
“Come on, think about it. It’s impossible to try and save them all, no matter how fast you act. For all you know, they could be dead by now. Or if they manage to, they can keep surviving on their own power. But right now, forcing yourselves to keep going to the next tower in your state is just going to make it worse for everyone–for the survivors, and for yourselves. Besides, don’t you have a kid to worry about? You plan on leaving her alone if you two die?”
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The two were taken aback by the statement. It sounded cruel–almost inhumane–but in truth, those were the same words of an experienced veteran who had already been through a lot as it is. Their appearances aside, they had a decade’s worth of experience through adventures like this.
More importantly, the two already know that they’re not powerful, not at all. And one mistake could easily take their lives. If that happened, like Hamil said–what would happen to Clara? No matter how much Alissa loved taking care of her, asking her to take care of Clara forever is too much.
Even worse still, they can’t imagine leaving Clara alone in this messed-up world. Not yet at least.
Zeke let out a breath that contained all of his worries and doubt, leaving behind an aching hole in his chest. Hamil was right, no matter how much they wanted to deny it. They can’t save everyone. The least they can do is do their jobs and save themselves.
If that happened to include their otherworldly allies, then all the better.
“You’re right,” Mikella said. “Sorry. We just…”
“It’s okay,” Saang said sweetly. “That’s what I love about you guys. That’s why I wanna make sure you two stay alive. Gods know we need more people like you on our side, and it wouldn’t be good to work yourselves to death.”
“Let’s rest for a moment to restore our resources, then head home,” Kote said. “Besides, we need to talk about our next plan of action at least.”
“Good call,” Hamil nodded. “Let’s do that.”
…..
While they tried to recover their resources, it was a bit more challenging than they expected. The area they rested on was completely devoid of all kinds of life, including magical energy. Thanks to that, Zeke wasn’t able to really recover as much mana despite his high-tier gear and high Spirit stat. Since they came here on Zeke’s personalized magic ride, they decided to spend the extra time needed to let him rest, even giving him the mana potions they saved just for this occasion.
Each potion was almost needlessly expensive, hence why they try to save as much as they could, but they did provide a lot of mana recovery than he expected. Their own potions could barely match up to this, realizing that they got it from a rather talented alchemist they knew for a while.
He considered heading over there himself, especially if what they said is true that his potions were a lot more diverse than they let on. Throughout the recovery process, everyone went through their rewards one after another.
Their rewards were actually somewhat suited to them, which was different compared to the Undeath dungeon. Zeke realized that the last two they conquered outside of their own were vastly different. The undeath tower still had its otherworlder, and most likely he received his own specific reward. The biodome tower was… glitched, somehow. At least that’s what Zoan showed when she nearly panicked when the tower was disappearing.
So they didn’t even get their dungeon clear due to that, only getting the useful orb and skill fragment. This time, they got the double decker rewards, for clearing the tower and defeating the boss.
Hamil got a skill that allowed him to shift the mass between projectiles, making them bigger or smaller depending on the mana cost. That would make his mineral shots either more powerful or more precise, which was exactly what Hamil liked. Kote had a skill that, unlike Acid Spray, allowed him to coat his bones with the acidic properties, making his deadly weapons even more deadly, if that was even possible.
Saang, on the other hand, got a decent skill, allowing her to transfer her Mana regeneration to her Health pool instead. Depending on the circumstances, it’s basically free healing on top of all the other benefits from her class and attunement. It made it even harder for Saang to stay down now.
Then came the otherworlders. While Zeke stayed to recover his resources, Mikella went ahead to have some fun learning her Warp Jump skill. He read the contents of the skill book before she went to learn it
Acquired Skill learned: Warp Jump[
.....
Warp Jump Rare), Level 1
You can transport yourself across a short distance wherever you can spot with your sight. By spending mana and stamina, you can jump across distances even if they were obstructed unless they resemble the mana signature you have an inclination towards. The distance you cover and the obstructions you can ignore will increase according to the level of the skill and the current Endurance and Spirit stat.
As they expected, the skill did indeed help Mikella teleport across distances, but the power was a lot more strict than they figured. The resource consumption was vast, and the distance was just a few meters at best. However, it wasn’t the power of the skill, but its practicality.
The way Mikella teleported trumped all other complaints. After some experimenting, she could basically teleport across any obstacles, and they enable her to teleport away or from the obstacles that she might land on. So there was no chance that Mikella would end up teleporting straight inside a wall, instantly killing her from suffocation or being crushed.
But that also meant that due to the short distance, if a wall were to come up in front of her, she would remain away from said wall, not beyond it. So it wasn’t as though she could sneak into any mansions like some daring thief if those walls were several meters thick, for instance.
But that also meant that she can pass through attacks easily enough, especially if they were heading towards her. The part about the mana signature must mean that some attacks will just hit regardless, so she still had to be careful.
Not to mention as the level increased, it would increase the distance a bit more. Zeke did wonder whether her constant teleportation would affect the pocket dimension considering she is basically warping through folds of reality like that, but apparently the skill didn’t work like that. In a way, it was making her body incredibly light–so light that not even physical objects could touch her. It was a skill based on intangibility and weightlessness, at least according to his estimations.
Zeke wasn’t sure why it was like that, but according to the wisdom of the veterans, skills regarding spatial control were too dangerous for the system to hand out so easily. That’s why Cronus’ way of teleporting across literal continents through his runes were deemed legendary by their own right.
That only made Zeke want to study it even more. Finally, Zeke went ahead to learn the Mythril Skin skill. As he recalled the last time, learning the skill book went past his pain resistance and made him really feel each iota of power from the book attack his soul in ways he can’t describe. But as his body grew stronger and his mind tougher, it was more like a strong vice holding him extra tight for a solid few moments. It still hurts a little, but it is completely bearable now.
He really did thought about the skill before learning it, and no matter how he or Mikella put it, he needed something to circumvent his lack of barriers. Hence, he gained a new skill under his kit.
Acquired Skill learned: Mythril Skin
.....
Mythril Skin (Rare), Level 1
Your skin becomes like that of the rare material mythril. This uses up your stamina at first, but can be charged with mana afterwards. The defense and regenerative properties will increase according to the level of the skill and the current Endurance, Vitality, and Spirit stat.
“A rare skill…”
Considering that they have to defeat a powerful Master-Rank boss in a dangerous dungeon, he was hoping that it could be higher up. But apparently Epic skills are hard to come by, even for the towers. Still, he wasn’t going to complain about receiving another powerful and versatile skill. As for how it is… well, that much was obvious.
It turned his skin into metal. He looked up at his hand hardened and shimmering like true metal.
From a distance, it looked like a silvery metal gauntlet, but it was actually his very hand, turned into the silvery white metal known as mythril. Despite his eager excitement, once he changed his hand, he noticed the deficits immediately. He could barely move his fingers, let alone feel anything. It was literally a gauntlet, but he knew he can go for more, so he tried to keep hardening his skin.
Later, it eventually covered his whole body, but he instantly dropped it the moment it reached completion. Even if the strange activation cost of stamina and fueling it with mana didn’t seem bad at first, the more he spread the metallic properties, the more resources drained down the sink.
Every part he covered cost more stamina, and not even his impressive Endurance is able to keep it up, and that was with his Endurance buff active. Not to mention the more he covered the more mana he had to spend to keep applying it. In other words, it was better to start off small with just his hands and feet, rather than trying to spread it entirely.
Another issue was a little more important–he could barely move at all. He actually became frightened at the thought that he might turn himself into a mythril statue, killing himself in the process. Of course, he knew skills don't have the authority to kill the user unless the user himself decided to take it far enough.
Still, while the loss of agility was alarming, he was a lot tougher when he became a literal mythril golem, something that he believed Mikella would like the next time they spar. Or hate. Either way, it was gonna be a lot of fun. Though he was worried what Clara might think if she saw him turn entirely into mythril. Would he look lame?
Nobody saw him transformed long enough to see him before he had to call it off, but it was definitely good to ask how he looked. He was actually looking forward to meet Clara like that, and hoped that she would think it’s cool.
After all, what kind of man wouldn’t want to turn into a metalman to beat his enemies with his fists?