The Path of Ascension

Chapter 116

When they left the rift, Matt threw himself into training to work off his frustration. His flying sword's destruction didnt matter in the grand scheme of things, but he was still upset about the loss.

The sword had served him well over the last few years, and had saved their lives on more than one occasion during the golem disaster and vassal war. To see it reduced to slag hurt far more than he would have expected.

Still, he wouldnt let his frustration hinder his progress. The next morning, he channeled his simmering anger into planning for the rift.

Matt sat down and started contemplating their next delve. It was a habit he had fallen out of after his time in the PlayPen, and he felt that he needed to return to it.

He went back to basics.

Analyzing the rift's strengths and weaknesses.

The assassins were deadly. If they moved too fast to focus on their surroundings, and failed to stay vigilant for the signs of an impending attack, they could easily die. The more they killed the orcs, the more shadowy killers appeared in the city.

The orcs were incredibly strong and well-coordinated, but that was secondary to their ability to destroy any active spells used against them for too long. That ability didnt have many workable counters, but they could be defeated with some effort. The squads with the red armored orcs were a little harder, but if they could kill the leader first, the fight was no harder than the fights without them.

The chicken was another type of problem.

Its little tower provided a clear view of most of the island, and the glass walls allowed it to shoot out massive bursts of energy, and take down anything flying in its airspace.

Matt paused there. That was a pattern that was exploitable. If the chicken always attacked anything in the air, they could drain its mana with a series of flying devices.

As he ran through the possibilities, Matt liked the idea more and more. He could make some simple flying constructs that were large and would attract the attention of the chicken, thus wasting its mana.

The water snake was the real issue. It countered Liz perfectly, and he and Aster didn't quite have enough oomph to take out a creature that strong on their own. They needed a plan to coordinate their attacks if they wanted any chance of defeating it.

Eventually, his train of thought led him to the forest, and the small mountain that ringed the edge. His gut told him that things wouldn't be quite so simple there, but it was their best option for their next delve.

The rift was large, but if they destroyed the chicken, they could fly with impunity, and bypass most of the rifts challenges.

Matt paused at that thought. Would Luna even count that as a win? Regardless, he refrained from scrapping the idea because of his first, knee jerk reaction. She very well might see it as them simply using the tools they had available. After all, she was all about efficiency, and getting the job done. Shortcuts and cheats were fine, as long as they didnt harm their foundation, or directly interfere with her orders and limitations to assist in their training.

He put the idea on the back burner for now. If they failed again, he would proffer that strategy. There was nothing wrong with attempting it again to gather more intelligence either, so they could further nail down the best path forward.

If that failed, he figured they could try leaving the chicken alive, and use something flying to lure its attention and fry the sea snake. Its refracted flame attack was incredibly strong; it just might be able to overwhelm the serpent and its water manipulation.

His team had their own advantages too.

Liz was able to attack up Tiers as if they didnt exist, and had a ton of versatility in how she could fight, but she was limited to her own element for combat.

Blood skills were the only ones she could modify and increase in power, so they were the only skills that she could effectively and efficiently use in combat, outside her melee attacks with her halberd.

That left her at a loss when it came to the water snake. It could completely dilute her blood, thus rendering her offensive and defensive skills essentially useless. Trying to go in on the massive thing would leave them susceptible to the waves, and If they were unlucky, they could be washed away from the bridge entirely.

Aster was strong in her own right, and had a slightly greater degree of versatility in her skill set. She had made overwhelming the fire chicken seem an easy task, even if Matt could still feel a touch of weakness in her Concept a day later.

His bond might be able to kill the water snake if she could freeze enough of the water around the bridge. He changed his mind once he had his AI calculate the sheer volume that she would have to freeze. It just wasn't possible in the time frame available to them.

Matt turned his attention to himself.

He didnt like what he saw.

He was a melee fighter who could take a hit, but he lacked a way to hit above his Tier, like his teammates did. There was nothing self-deprecating in the line of thinking; it was just a matter of fact. That disadvantage would disappear as he Tiered up, but for now, he was handicapped against these beasts that wielded their elements as naturally as breathing came to him. Mana was a huge gift, but without the strength and right avenues to use it, there was little more he could offer of himself in those situations. He was basically relegated to becoming a meat-shield.

Still, he was a good shield. Even his most pessimistic side couldn't deny that. With Lunas training, and his second layer of armor, he could take hits from the Tier 9 monster without instantly dying.

Not letting himself sink into a pity party, Matt honed in on what he did have; unlimited mana. Outside of combat, that translated into near infinite wealth, even now.

He paused to correct himself. He had unending wealth, which was slightly different.

Either way, at his Tier, it was nearly the same thing. He passed on getting into another philosophical battle of numbers with himself over the subject, and moved on while shaking his head.

Matt tapped his fingers in a rhythm as he continued his musings. He could do what most people were unable to do; throw wealth at a problem until he was able to crush any opposition.

Turning to the PlanetNet, then EmpireNet, Matt ordered a new flying sword. This one was a Tier 9 variant that would stress his spirit to use, but was incredibly fast, and had a built-in suite of onboard enchantments. It even came with an expandable windscreen and temperature regulators.

It wasn't a combat variant, as they only were available after Tier 15, but this was one of the fastest flying swords on the market at its Tier. It was even top ten in maneuverability. It would have ranked higher, but the insane top speed meant that no amount of enchantments could allow it to corner more than it already could.

The price of fifteen Tier 10 mana stones made Matt wince. That was fifteen hundred Tier 9 mana stones, but he had the money from selling the growth items before they reached Tier 6. They were Tier 14, and far more highly valued than just Tier 9 stones.

And its a good investment.

Matt tried to convince himself of that before he purchased anything; the incessant worry over the usefulness of the items procured always needled him. But it got easier as he continued to buy more things.

The next item he bought was a set of Tier 7 scouting drones. They were small, and had worse optics than even the ones he had taken from the golem ruin, but he wanted them to be disposable.

The Tier 8 harvesting drones he bought were dozens of times more expensive for just a set of five, but Matt didnt intend on carelessly risking them. They were meant to move behind them, and pull resources like herbs and other materials that they didnt have the time to tend to themselves.

He was offered a deal for a better version that included small-scale mining and body processing attachments as he was checking out.

The price was quite a bit higher, but Matt recklessly hit accept for the better versions.

Then, he started looking into a new skill to practice.

Talismans were technically a subskill under enchanting, but were less prestigious. They were formations put on objects and were pre-charged before use. In combat, you could send in a tiny amount of mana to activate the stored mana, and let loose any spell or function that the talisman creator placed on the device.

The craft was slightly looked down upon, as they were creating expensive, one-use items that required almost too many resources. Meanwhile, normal enchantments were less expensive, and were permanent.

Few people wanted to pay more money for something that could only be used once.

While Matt didnt know much about the craft, he had seen enough movies and read enough books to know that their advantage was being as strong as the enchanter could make.

He wasnt a master enchanter, but Matt was pretty good. He also had the advantage of being able to overcharge the talismans to an absurd degree without worry. Unless the talisman couldnt handle the sheer amount of mana he thrust into it. But he would cross that bridge when he came to it.

Buying a set of books about talisman creation was more expensive than he would have expected, but once again, the problem vanished once he threw money at it.

After reading the information, he purchased the materials he would need from the nearest city.

Monster skins were the safest and best items to create the talismans on, but were also one of the most expensive options. The parchments needed to be specially treated before use, and Matt bought the beginner's guide on that as well. As he skimmed through it, he found that it was fairly easy to make the talismans.

At least for him.

It was all about removing the monster's mana and essence through the use of time or mana. Then, it needed to be treated with a series of normal enough chemicals, which he was able to buy in bulk.

The way enchantments were created on the talismans was different enough. Matt expected that he would need some practice, but he doubted he would have any real issues. They were normal enchantments, just with a portion of their diagram shifted out of place, or otherwise cut off, ensuring that the power was contained. Once the user wanted to activate the talisman, they just needed to send mana into a secondary component that would overlay the missing piece, thus unleashing the stored mana.

The final step and why they weren't used more was to shove thousands of mana into the talismans and then wait. It was also why beast skins were used. They had, at least after treatment, the highest mana storage factor of items of their Tier. Greater even than woods and miles better than metals.

They just weren't as durable. Which they didnt need to be for a once use item.

Not a lot of people could afford that which regulated talismans to Tier 10 emergency use.

It all seemed easy enough to Matt.

While they were waiting for the new items to arrive, their team tackled the Tier 8 wave rift three more times.

They discovered that as long as the rift was full, and they cleared all twenty waves of monsters, they always got an extra skill in the hidden basement. But it was always the same [Lesser Sacrifice] that they had gotten the first time.

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That was rare enough to pull Luna, Kurt, and Erwin into examining the rift. Higher Tier rewards for completing difficult challenges were common enough, but always pulling the same, otherwise rare skill was nearly unheard of.

Erwin speculated that it was because they were so far below the Tier of the rift, and Tier 7 or Tier 8 teams would get a corresponding lesser reward. That information drove Melinda and her team to redouble their efforts to delve the rift.

When they did complete all twenty waves, they were also awarded the same skill. It gave everyone a way to refill their mana in the middle of a rift, which was invaluable.

Erwin even confirmed that the skill had no known rift that it reliably dropped from in the Empire. It was seen as a rare drop from various rifts, but never as the set reward of a rift, especially not for one of such a low Tier.

At that information, Matt wanted to try creating a rift with one of the skill shards, but Erwin flatly refused, saying that they weren't at that step yet. Matt bowed to his expertise, but was itching to try after they finished the Tier 9 rift.

He expected that Luna would allow them Tier up once they cleared it, and that added mana generation would allow Matt to create rifts faster, and advance them to a higher Tier. Considering it took him hours to charge rifts above his Tier, but minutes for rifts below, he didnt argue.

Melinda's team didnt get any other rare Tier 8 skills or rewards from the distortion during their first twenty wave run. Eventually, they did find a natural treasure that looked like a drop of salt water that had crystallized into a perfect sphere. When they brought it out, Erwin became quite excited.

Ooh! Ive been looking for one of those! I managed to get the basics of course, but thats sea, yeah? Yeah! Neat He turned to Luna, how much am I allowed to pay them?

Her answer seemed half hearted at best. Keep it reasonable.

Thats not helpful! Ugh. Tier fourteen?

The dark haired woman spun from where she was lounging in the air as she said, No! Eleven at the most.

Sheesh, this is why I asked! Anyway, a Tier 11 mana stone for the Sea Seed?

But what is it? Kyle seemed more interested in what the item did than the price.

Oh, well if were keeping things simple, seeds in the crystal sense mind you, not the plant work by slipping inside of your spirit. They create a transmutation in someone of your Tiers mana pool, aspecting the entire pool to whatever affinity that the seed is attuned to. It can also be used in a potion to affect someone of a Tier higher or so. In this case, the affinity in question is Sea, which is a lovely little aspect thats about as complex as yours, Liz. Lots of fun things to do with it. So, Tier 11? He pulled out a mana crystal, looked at it, stowed it again, then pulled out a new one before offering it to them.

Matt wasnt entirely sure what Erwin was planning on doing with the Seed, and was surprised when the man just swallowed it whole as soon as he was handed it.

Hm. Salty. He burped quietly then patted his stomach, before acting as if he had done nothing out of the ordinary.

Melindas team, meanwhile, seemed slightly shocked at the amount of money theyd just been handed.

Matt was yelled at when he said that they would get used to it. Rare and useful rewards were a benefit of delving rifts that were full of mana.

After a month of preparation and training, Matt, Liz, and Aster entered the rift for the fourth time.

***

Luna watched the children with a bittersweet mix of emotions running through her.

They had learned most of the early lessons she wanted to teach, the hard way.

She was proud that they were growing strong and successful, but that clashed with her irritation at what would come in the following years, as she skirted and bent the rules she would need to until Matt stepped off.

If he did so at Tier 10 or 11, there would only be a little extra effort needed to get him his mana concentration potions, but she wasnt sure that they would want to leave once they tasted fame and glory.

So many young people found that they enjoyed the overwhelming attention when they got their first lick even she had.

It was nice to be seen and valued.

If Matt waited till Tier 14 things would get dicey.

Sighing, she brought herself into the rift and watched them try the second route to the end.

***

The first thing they did was deploy their disposable scouter drones to root around the island. They rose in a staggered flock and dispersed quickly through air, jerking back and forth in their haphazard flight.

Even with those precautions, the fire chicken quickly destroyed the half dozen drones, but they were able to get a broad picture of the island.

It was enough.

Matt took the lead, and they ignored the city and the angry chicken to push through the forest.

It got unnaturally dark under the canopy of trees, but the breeze carried a touch of cold.

As expected, they met their first ghost assassins not twenty feet into the trees, but easily cut them down.

After they had fought their way through over a mile of forest, they encountered a new foe.

A series of throwing knives were launched at them from the canopy of trees. Aster and Liz managed to dodge, but Matt took a few hits on his upraised arm. While they managed to penetrate both layers of [Cracked Phantom Armor], they lost all of their kinetic energy in the process, and fell harmlessly to the ground.

With ornate vambraces ready to defend another sneak attack, Matt launched a [Mana Slash] at one of the trees that the volley appeared to come from.

Before he could see the results of his attack, two more sets of throwing knives were launched from a nearby bush.

Matt cast his weaker [Fireball] at the bush, and saw what looked like a living version of the shadow assassins rush forward with a curved sword.

The orcish face was visible, and its eyes were full of bloodlust, but Matt sidestepped the slash and its follow-up energy attack. Setting himself with his Concept, he punched out and felt bone crumple, followed by a rush of essence that he funneled into [Lesser Sacrifice]. The mana was quickly drained back down to less than one percent of his max, but the boost to his cultivation was a heady feeling.

They had learned in their testing that the Tier of the sacrifice influenced the potency and duration of the boost.

To a Tier 6 cultivator, a Tier 9 monster provided a substantial buff.

Turning, Matt jumped into the fray and attacked the orcs that were assaulting his friends. Cycling a portion of his mana generation to [Mages Retreat], his leap covered nearly ten feet, and his first slash bisected the monster at the hip.

Matt suddenly found his position swapped with Lizs, and moved to attack the monster, trying to catch its thrust in his well protected chest.. Kicking out its leg, Matt stomped its head as it hit the ground, and turned to see Liz fighting what appeared to be a tiger half made of wind.

Portions of the monster were fading out of physical form and merging with the air in powerful gusts.

Thankfully, Liz had seen the ambush predator, and swapped places with him before he was mauled from behind. Now that he was free, Matt launched a [Mana Slash] at the flank of the monster while Aster froze the last of the orcs.

His attack didnt seem to bother the monster in the slightest, as its rear half simply shifted to a gust of air, with his attack passing through the space its body had occupied.

Seeing its comrades dead, the tiger roared, and in a breeze, it vanished.

Thanks for the save. Matt said as he turned to inspect his surroundings.

What I'm here for. Liz then added, Did you not notice it at all?

Matt shook his head. Not even a little. Was that a sub-boss, or a stronger normal monster?

Aster was the one to answer. Boss. It smelled like the others. It reeked of its element and power.

She cocked her head and asked, Can I eat a heart made from wind?

She seemed quite concerned, but none of them knew.

Matt asked, Want to try and burn down the forest?

Liz planted her spear. I doubt it would work.

Matt still tried, but swirling gusts of wind suffocated the flame before it could grow and spread.

With that failure, they pushed forward, deeper into the forest. The ambushes came in bursts; nothing like the regimented patrols within the walled city, but dealing with the wind tiger made up for the lesser challenge. It would start its attacks with either a silent ambush, or by waiting for them to be embroiled in a fight, then trying to slice one of them from behind.

Even though the attacks were fast and nearly undetectable, they didn't have a ton of power behind them. Not to say that they were weak; the monster was still a peak Tier 9 enemy, after all. But its attack power was slightly lacking when compared to the fire and water bosses.

When they had fought through what they expected was half the island, they encountered a base set into a ridge of the mountain that ran to the bay. The stone was ravaged and had claw marks scratched into the face on the side that they could see from where they stood, mouths agape.

On top of the fortress stood a lone figure with an unusual polearm at his side. The weapon looked like a curved shortsword with a spear shaft for a handle. After a moment of consideration, Matt recognized it from his studies as a traditional naginata. A portion of the blade was dyed a deep red, as if it had been recently dipped in fresh blood. The orc gestured with the naginata, and the gates slammed shut with a rumble. Beside him, the tiger stepped out of a breeze.

Matt cursed as a dozen orcs took to the walls with bows.

Together, they retreated behind the treeline, but he could feel that they were being watched, with arrows likely trained on their locations.

Knowing what they had to do, Matt said, Well need to go through the wall.

Liz looked to his back and asked, Do you have something for this type of situation?

Unable to help himself, he smirked, despite knowing neither could see through his armor.

Why, yes. Yes, I do.

Grin still affixed to his face, Matt dug out rolls of parchment and started handing them out.

With Aster in Lizs backpack, they darted out of the forest and towards the wall.

As arrows rained down on them, Matt activated the first of their scrolls. A barrier of blue mana blossomed out in an explosive pulse that knocked the arrows out of the air as they smashed against the expanding energy wave.

When a second volley came, Liz activated her talisman as well. A second pulse of mana rippled out and intercepted the arrows again.

The talisman was one of his earliest works and a bit crude, but it didn't need to be any better than that. A whopping 5,000 mana was packed into the enchantment, and the entirety would be unleashed outwards in a sphere, knocking anything back that wasn't inside the safe zone.

Normally, a mage would need days to fill a single scroll like this, but he had done so in minutes.

Matt slapped a second talisman on the wall as they reached it.

He had sought out Vinnie's help to get this scroll to work properly, and they had managed after multiple failed attempts. A few nearby mountain sides had paid the price while testing their progress. Their sacrifice was a noble contribution to the glory to come.

As he pushed a thread of mana into the scroll, the wall started to shake.

The stone resisted for a second, but the front portion cracked and fell to the ground, causing the entire structure to destabilize. Matt couldn't get the enchantment to work deeply, but he didnt need to bring down the entire wall. Instead, he had intended to use these to kill the chicken, by bringing its building down around its feathery ears.

Still, they worked well enough for this particular purpose, considering the situation at hand.

The normal assassin orcs managed to land safely, along with the sub-boss and naginata wielding orc next to it. The pair drifted to the ground on a swirl of wind, belaying their relationship of warrior and mount.

Matt shouted, Ill hold them off while you finish off the rest!

With that, he threw himself forward and swung at the orc, while moving to keep the tiger on his far side. The orc, as he discovered, was also peak Tier 9, but was not as strong as the tiger it battled alongside.

The pole of the naginata blocked his first attack, but he was ready for that. He was also prepared for the tiger's lunge, and preemptively activated the talisman that he had on his wrist.

A massive mana bolt raced out, forcing the monster to drift away in a sudden gust. That opening was more than enough for Matt to cast a [Fireball] at the orcs face. He expected the orc to dodge the attack, but the monster took the hit to its face so it could drive a dagger into his ribs.

The pain told him that it had managed to pierce through both layers of armor, but Matt didn't let that slow him down, throwing himself onto the orc.

He was lighter than the monster, but with the essence boost he was getting from the kills in the forest and [Mages Retreat], he was stronger than the orc if barely.

Knowing that he was about to be attacked, he let the orc roll them and get into a full mount without struggling against it.

Seeing the tiger once again drift away, Matt took a move out of the orcs playbook and drove a spiked fist into its gut.

The thin cloth armor failed under the power of his blow, turning the orcs internal organs to mush, and he felt a rush of essence flow into him. The victory was short lived, as he had to deflect counterattacks from both above and behind, courtesy of the wind Tiger. Thankfully, the second layer of [Cracked Phantom Armor] lasted long enough that a spike of ice pierced the tigers flank.

The sub-boss screamed with rage at the loss of its partner, and launched a burst of wind, kicking up a gale and sending all of them tumbling. Matt was entwined with the remains of the orc, but managed to free himself and recover his footing, then raced forward to meet the enraged monster.

Liz was lashing the tiger sub-boss with tendrils made of blood, but the monster seemed to be able to predict where the blows would land, and shifted those parts of his body into air.

Matt joined the attack as Aster let loose a rain of [Hail]. It actually seemed to disrupt the tigers movements long enough for Liz to get the first wound in.

A gash ran down its side and dripped thick, viscous blood to the ground. Finally confirming that they could hurt it, Matt led the attack with his sword.

It took them nearly half an hour and two more burst talismans, but they finally caught the tiger sub-boss between transitions, and Matt drove his sword into its side.

With his sword inside of the beast, he unleashed the mana he had stored in [Mana Charge], and the sub-boss exploded.

Panting, they moved back into the trees where they rested. They inspected each other for injuries and recovered over the next few minutes. Matts stab wound was poisoned, and it took them three hours to get the black tendrils to vanish, even with him putting 75 MPS into [Endurance], and Liz casting [Ranged Heal] over and over.

They had even started dumping potion after potion onto the wound, but none of them seemed to work better than their repeated efforts.

After they were healed and recovered, they entered the base and found a tunnel descending into the mountain.

They encountered no opposition until they found a miner orc, who attacked them with a pickaxe. He was no threat, and was quickly dispatched, but they found an increasing number of miners as they pushed deeper into the mine.

When they turned one corner, they found a Tier 9 iron ore pile. It was enough that they werent able to keep it all, but it was an interesting fact, as it meant that the orcs were actually mining while the instance was active.

According to all the information they had found, most rifts didnt have active miners at this low of a Tier.

It took them nearly seven hours to wind their way through the mines, but eventually, they found the second sub-boss of the area. It was a massive turtle eating a vein of iron ore that seemed to rise out of the ground like a strand of pasta.

Matt used [Earth Manipulation] to feel how the turtle was drawing the iron out from deeper in the mountain. That small magical probe was enough for the monster to notice him, and it charged.

The walls rumbled and began to move as if to trap them, but Matt threw his prodigious mana generation into [Earth Manipulation], and held the walls and floors back as much as he could. The walls still started to edge in, but he was able to slow things down long enough for Aster and Liz to throw themselves into combat.

The pressure increased, and Matt was forced to use his Concept's repulsive force to add additional pressure on the encroaching walls. If Liz and Aster weren't fighting the monster, he was sure that he would have been quickly overwhelmed, but they kept enough of the sub-boss's attention to allow him to resist the monster's trap.

It felt like decades, but his AI told him that it was only five minutes later when the resistance ended, and Matt let the spell drop.

Aster jumped into his arms and thanked him. I don't like being in tunnels with earth monsters. She licked his armor and added, Thanks!

Matt sighed into his bond and saw Liz limping over. A distinct chunk was missing out of her thigh, but she otherwise seemed ok.

She grinned at him from under her helmet. So, I learned that I can move the blood inside of me to move a limb when I cant use my muscles.

They once again rested, but were unable to totally heal Lizs injury. There was more damage than the body could normally heal, and [Ranged Heal] couldnt accomplish more than that.

Still, Liz was up and moving with her armor's assistance. Despite Matt's protesting, she insisted, and eventually proved that the wound didn't hamper her mobility.

He was just impressed that she had been able to get her spear into the monster's shell hole, and then used her Blood Iron to create a cyclone of death that minced the sub-boss from the inside out.

They exited the tunnel and found themselves in a palaces rear entrance, in front of what seemed to be a nearly forgotten garden. The flower beds were overgrown with small trees and other weeds, but they hid the entrance of the tunnel that they came from nicely.

Just on the other side of the overgrown shrubbery, hiding their egress from the turtles tunnels, the sight was something to behold.

For a deathtrap designed and approved by a sometimes-sadistic cat, it was breathtaking.

The walls of the palace cut into the sky, with roofs that matched the chickens tower in shape, but cleaner and much more well kept. The pointed roofs of the guard towers pierced the clouds, with the sides sweeping down to cover the grounds and lower portions of the place in a canopy of sorts. There were walkways and ramparts along the walls meant for guards and watchers, with stations that had braziers that could be lit. Matt could only guess at their purpose, but they were all similar in style to the ones that glowed in the garden.

Inside, they discovered entire squads of red armored orcs that grew stronger with each of their allies' deaths. Still, the three of them were strong enough to carve a path of death to the exit rift. They could feel it in the area as they moved through a section of the palace with thick, red logs that acted as fine pillars. Matt and Liz used them to their advantage while engaging with the squads patrolling the area.

The forest orcs, with their ambush tactics, also started appearing as they entered an even more ornate portion of the palace. Carvings of Jade, gold and other precious-looking pieces in the shape of vases and urns adorned every nook and cranny of the network of halls. The air of luxury, power and wealth only intensified as they got closer to the exit.

They took breaks inside cleared-out rooms when they needed to. The thin, paper-like walls offered more cover than being in the open, but the rooms were rare. Rest came at the cost of a loss in potential damage, as they could convert all the essence from their kills thanks to [Lesser Sacrifice], which encouraged them to kill as fast as possible.

When they reached the boss, they found a massive throne room laced with more ornate decorations lining the walls, as flames crackled in braziers, despite offering no warmth to those inside.

Within, they found a massive orc sitting on a throne, with armor that looked to be made from silver and gold. It was gaudy enough to make Matt almost consider it ornamentation, rather than armor that served any realistic purpose. But at their Tier, they would still be tough metals for the trio to cut through.

Flanking him were five other orcs, each representing one of the sub-bosses' elements, with corresponding symbols engraved on their armors. Their bearing and appearance was as intimidating as their first encounters with the armored foes had been.

The fire and water symbols glowed faintly, which told them that they were empowered somehow, but they had already decided on an aggressive plan of attack. They wanted to start the fight with as much of a boost from [Lesser Sacrifice] as they could, so they didn't hesitate.

The final orc looked like the object inhabiting shadow assassins, but was more corporeal, as it had a steady form just standing there.

They retreated, then rested up before luring a pack of monsters near the boss room, and killing them for the essence boost.

Matt took the fight to the water and fire orcs, while Liz and Aster attacked the other four.

According to their plan, Liz would attack the boss, while Aster assisted him in attacking anything else.

When his sword met the first attack, Matt was engulfed in a bloom of fire that washed over his armor. It was strong, but not strong enough to take him down in a single attack, so he held his breath and fought through the heat. The flames still stressed [Cracked Phantom Armor] enough that he had to direct most of his mana into its two layers to defend against them.

Throwing out a punch, he knocked back the fire orc, only to be swept over with a wave of water. A number of alarms started to beep through his AI as the rapid temperature change cracked the stone around him, and penetrated his already stressed armor. Pressing on, Matt kept his head and arms protected as his blade cut into the orc's leg.

He felt the blow pierce the water orcs wave molded armor and draw blood, but he was forced to parry a second slash from the fire orc.

As the fight settled into a rhythm, Matt saw that Liz was actually holding her own against the Tier 10 orc boss and shadow assassin, while Aster was easily fending off the earth and wind orcs. She actually had the earth orc half-frozen, and was trying to finish it off while the wind orc shot out small gusts to harry her away from her prey.

Her [Shadow Armor] and physical armor were strong enough that the much weaker blows were of no danger to her.

When Matt felt the first burst of essence rush into him, he knew the tides were turning. The power boost let him get another heavy blow to land on the water orc, and he took off its leg at the knee.

With a roar, he took a blow to the chest from the fire orc, and even with the blade penetrating his armors and piercing a lung, he grabbed the fire orc's head and repeatedly drove its armored skull into his knee. Eventually, the metallic crunching of armor caving in reached his ears. It sounded like a symphony of triumph when the final blow struck, and the second burst of essence rushed into him.

This essence reward was massive compared to the orc Aster had killed, and it was quickly followed up by a third burst equal to Aster's first kill.

She had finished her two orcs.

Matt took the extra energy, and found the water orc struggling to stand with its missing leg. He quickly drove his sword through its chest.

With four of the five lesser monsters dead, Matt and Aster were able to help Liz, but the boss had grown in size to match Lizs prodigious blood golem form. Even with her [Blood Crystal Armor], it was able to cleave great chunks out of her body.

Anger raced through Matt as he saw her AI readout. Liz had already lost an arm and a leg while fighting the orc.

Aster took the attention of the final shadow assassin, and Matt threw himself into the battle of giants.

He might be smaller than the two ten-foot-tall behemoths, but he had his own tricks up his sleeve.

With as much mana as his Tier 9 weapon could handle, he filled [Mana Charge], and let loose an incredible explosion on the orc's flank.

The blast was enough to crack its armor, but not destroy it outright, and he was forced to roll out of the way of a downward swing of the boss orc's sword.

It glowed a dangerous mix of colors that spiraled down the blade in a pulsating rhythm. Matt's instincts screamed that if the blade hit him, he would be killed, but was unwilling to let the monster hammer into Liz unhindered.

He was the front-line fighter of the group. If anyone wanted to hurt his friends, they needed to go through him first.

Taking hold of his Concept and digging deep, Matt embodied his phrase.

He was endless.

Matt would not die at the hands of a gaudily-dressed boss in a shitty rift of his own making. He would fight, because that was all he knew how to do in situations like this.

He didnt make any timely breakthrough, but kept digging deeper, despite having used most of his willpower to resist the turtle's [Earth Manipulation].

Using every bit of training he had gotten in the past two years, and every bit of experience he had accumulated with delving, Matt took the focus of the boss, and kept its attention as Liz and Aster hammered it from the sides.

Anytime it tried to turn its attention to his friends, Matt pulled out a talisman he had prepared before they ran into the room, and launched an overcharged attack at the boss, spending money and mana like they were nothing.

Over the drawn out battle, he eventually lost the boss orcs attention, and Aster was nearly killed with a single attack. To make matters worse, Liz stopped sharing the reports of her damage after a second hit.

Matt would not let his friends take the damage for him.

That was his job. And Matt would do his job.

The multitude of cuts through his body were a testament to that. He had avoided taking any hits that would be lethal, but he had still accumulated an array of wounds.

The boss was an amazing swordsman, and its weapon was enchanted with some form of protective measure, as it always blocked with the blade when it could. The multicolored sword would cleanly absorb any attack with no trouble.

Even intercepting the weapon with their own caused increasing damage to their items, making dodging their only real option.

The boss once pristine golden and silver armor was cracked and falling apart when Matt saw what he needed to do. They were just too slow with their attacks, now that the fight had dragged on so long, and the boosts from [Lesser Sacrifice] had worn off. The giant orc always got its weapon in between itself and their attacks, even while fighting three on one.

It was, after all, a Tier 10 monster, and they were only Tier 6. The gap in power was simply a bridge too far.

They needed a second to actually hit the monster.

As the orc swung its blade in a downward arc, Matt partially sidestepped, and caught the guard of the weapon as he dropped his own, and the blade sliced through his left leg.

His armors didnt offer the slightest of resistance, but that didnt matter.

The multicolored light pulsed and ate right through his armor and hands as he gripped the weapon. Matt didnt just use his hands, but also used his Concept to lock the air around the pommel of the sword down, with [Air Manipulation] mixed in as well.

Aster, his lovely bond, felt what he was doing. From where she crawled along the floor, she threw [Ice Manipulation] and her own Concept into the effort.

Their combined efforts were enough to force the blade to still for a split second.

One endless second.

But that brief pause was long enough to leave the boss open to Lizs spear thrust, which took the boss in the throat and up through the brain.

As the essence hit him like a truck, Matt dropped to his knees, and his missing hands and severed leg finally registered to his senses.

Matt let out a primal, triumphant scream, and let out all the emotions he had bottled up in the day-long rift, giving an outlet to the pain racking his body.

They had finally done it.

***

Luna nodded. It wasnt a clean victory, but it was a victory.

Limbs could be regrown, and items repaired, as long as you were alive.

Matt had even lost his teleportation growth ring in the last attempt, and she was sure that he was going to balk at the cost of having Lizs ring regrow its missing partner. Even his wallet would suffer.

But they had succeeded.

While Matt had taken a sword through the chest, been hit by a plethora of other attacks, and lost his hands and leg, he was in the best shape of the trio.

Aster had a shattered hip, and part of her spine had been severed. The little fox had used her front paws to drag herself along the rubble-strewn floor to keep up with the battle, and assist as well as she could, despite the debilitating pain.

Liz fared the worst.

She had been cleaved in half just under the ribs, only saving herself when she shifted her position in the golem to avoid having to be rescued. Her Talent was also doing its utmost to keep her alive. The girl had an intrinsic bond with blood, and it showed its worth as her body kept functioning by burning some of the blood she pulled in with [Lesser Blood Sacrifice]. Being in a golem of blood was the safest place for the girl, as her Talent let her body use the blood as substitution flesh. It kept her alive, even with the monstrous damage she had suffered.

Grimacing, but needing to be absolutely certain, Luna went about checking her medical AI module and its report on the girl. She nodded at the confirmation to her own assumption. The girl had five minutes before she actually risked death.

More than enough time to stumble out of the rift on her own.

Lizs golem form shrunk as she lost consciousness, and Matt struggled to his knees. With great effort, he picked up Aster and shouldered the now exposed Liz. Or, what remained of her upper half.

He pushed them through the rift exit, and then shuffled to their weapons and tossed them through as well, before dispelling the rift reward. The gold and silver suit of armor was kicked through with his remaining limb before he dragged himself out.

Luna knew that Melinda would have them all healed up, so she stood where she was.

In his all too melodic voice, Kurt, next to her, said aloud, They're all damn good Pathers. A Tier 10 monster at Tier 6. A whistle rolled off his lips.

Even that simple tone felt like a blissful symphony, but Lunas Tier kept him from affecting her, so she got to enjoy the beauty without danger. It was a pleasure not afforded to most others who heard the voice. That was a shame, but Talents were never fair.

She sighed and said, Theyve done everything Ive asked of them and more. I expected them to retreat from this attempt and push through, on the next one. I guess we're going to have to have the talk that I was avoiding.

Luna rubbed her face with her wrist, a trait that she just didnt care to mask in the moment.

She was old and tired. Things would have been so much easier if they had needed to be rescued, but she was a cat of her word.

If they could complete the hardest Tier 9 rift she could make, she wouldnt try to force them off The Path again. She had even stacked the deck as much as she could without making the rift impossible, and they had still completed the fight.

Luna had no complaints. She would turn these kids into monsters.

They had what it took.

The path of destruction they had carved through this rift had proven that beyond any doubt. Even as tired and forlorn as she was, Lunas teeth shone in a near-sadistic grin.

The next few decades were going to be interesting.