The Path of Ascension

Chapter 210

Matt panted despite not having a physical body.

The last fight wasnt hard, in and of itself; fighting even peak Tier 14 monsters wasn't anything new for the four of them. The difficulty came from the fact that they were rushing headlong into every pack of monsters they could find.

On the second level of the seventh floor, they were practically bumping elbows with what seemed to be the entire planet's population, and each of them was trying to push deeper faster than their competitors.

Even with their spiritual perception restricted, they could cover about the three nearest ruins, and the floor was small enough that just within that range, they could feel two other teams fighting to get ahead of them. Or rather, a team of three and then a solo delver who felt like a summoner of some type.

And they had already been attacked by other teams on three separate occasions, with each of them retreating once they saw that the four of them werent easy prey.

They were starting to fatigue while pushing as hard as they could to stay ahead of their competitors, so their lead was nowhere near as secure as theyd like. Though they had finally gotten used to moving without a physical form.

A walking pace was sustainable with their mental bodies, but trying to run or fight with them grew exponentially harder. And being at the head of the pack, for better and worse, meant they were constantly facing monsters. Half the time, the monsters needed to be killed twice to get their Genesis Energy, leaving the team on constant alert.

Matt led the charge with Aster on his shoulder. His bond kept up a low-grade [Kar'tan Greets his Foes] to slow the monsters ahead of them, with Matt taking advantage of the sluggish targets by empowering a constant stream of [Flamethrower] and [Fire Manipulation]. Ribbons of fire danced through the nearly-frozen creatures, charring and burning the strong, jellyfish-like monsters they were scorching their way through.

Once they popped into groups of multiple lesser monsters, Liz took over his flames, burning the remnants to blood. Susanne took care of any stragglers, giving them a steady stream of Genesis Energy.

Their cooperation wasnt perfect, but it was still the fastest method they could come up with to kill most of the monsters, albeit at serious willpower cost.

Still, they formed a four man squad of death and cut their way through the floor, searching for any ruin with a boss.

The floor was the size of a tera-city, and there just wasnt enough Genesis Energy to go around. Even hunting their fellow delvers was unlikely to get them enough energy before the next wave of cultivators killed their own reflections, and made everything on this floor that much worse. They just needed to find the next level, maybe ambush their pursuers, and get to the final level of the floor.

They were close.

So close to getting out of this nightmare planet.

They had grown stronger, but they had also been worn down to their limits and beyond, in ways that mere training couldnt replicate.

As they reached a passage to another ruin, the four of them paused to send their spiritual perception into it, hoping for a boss.

The ruin was odd, to say the least.

Three feet tall humanoid mice ran around in packs of dozens, centered around a stone replica of a garden with oversized trees and rocks that led far into the spatially expanded ruin.

As they paused to inspect the ruin, Liz said, Im pretty sure I can feel a boss in there. At the least, theres something big and dangerous.

Susanne shrugged before gesturing at the mice. That's great and all, but what about the monsters? Humanoid mice? That's a new one.

Ill check it out.

As he said that, Matt put words to action and moved forward while casting [Bulwark], readying himself to activate his defensive Concept.

[Hail] and his new upgraded [Ice Manipulation] made a brutal combination of torso-sized hailstones, forming themselves in the blink of an eye before crushing the nearest and smallest group of the mice monsters.

Surprisingly, they were utterly crushed. If not for the stream of Genesis Energy they provided, Matt would have suspected an illusion, but their weakness was partially explained by the pitiful reward they each gave. Around him, the hailstorm continued to whip itself into a frenzy, pulled into a cyclone with the four of them at the center.

He could feel his Boon feeding into the working, hardening and sharpening the ice into incredibly durable flying razors.

With Liz and Susanne keeping close, Aster floated onto his shoulder and started assisting him in empowering the ice closest to them, which prompted Matt to cycle the ice outwards from the center, before bringing it back in.

Once Matt fell into a rhythm he felt he could handle, he stopped channeling [Hail] and started floating forward.

As they passed into the rift, the monsters started charging at them in swarms.

The outer wall of ice was immediately dyed red as the monsters were torn to shreds, which was when Liz started controlling and gathering up the blood along the edges of the ice, empowering the already sharpened blades of ice.

Matt could feel the strain of the complex control that spinning the ice required, but grinned as he kept pushing.

The more he used it, the more the Boon started mimicking what he was doing and taking over the heavy lifting.

Despite each individual monster not giving a lot of Genesis Energy, there were thousands rushing at them every moment, which sent a steady stream into Matts spirit.

The others got a portion of it, but as he was the original caster of both damaging spells, he was allocated the majority of the reward.

Susanne, feeling left out, created a second copy of her sword and threw it into the ice, and held it steady and locked in place in the swirling winds. For the monsters that didnt immediately die, and instead got sucked into the winds and were crushed by the colliding ice, it acted as a quicker end.

With the four of them working together, Matt started to speed up, and the monsters reciprocated in kind as they neared a building.

It was some odd mix of a temple and commercial building that gave off uncanny valley vibes, but they didnt hesitate as they entered one of the oversized entrances.

Inside, there were massive structures on large but relatively thin metal legs.

With his spiritual perception stretched to its limit, Matt noticed that they were oversized and distorted games with odd imagery.

Thankfully, the space was large enough that Matt was still able to move his whirlwind of ice around the few obstacles.

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Even then, they were starting to slow down. The mice had gradually gotten larger during their journey into the building; they were now close to human sized, and were correspondingly tougher.

That didnt stop the mice from throwing themselves into the ice blender they had created, but the four of them needed to slow their forward progress so the monsters didnt overwhelm them.

Concentrating on his Boon more to reinforce the ice and sharpen it, Matt activated his AI and [Sharp Mind]. The newly upgraded skill allowed him to concentrate on the vortex, and he mentally created finger width bands of frost in the storm, then started changing their speeds.

That increased the load on his mind, but with the upgraded skill and his AI helping to quickly notice and identify spots that needed his attention, he was able to increase the lethality of his attack a dozen fold. Even the larger mice were unable to push past the frozen cyclone as it now stood.

Liz and Susanne helped by sending waves of blood and swords out of the ice dome, which started killing some of the mice before they got close, relieving even more of the pressure on Matt.

When they were close to halfway through the first room, Matt felt a jolt in his spirit as the Genesis Energy he gathered told him that he now had enough for the exit reward.

Exit reward achieved. Nothing about the challenge reward yet.

Aster yipped a happy noise as she redoubled her efforts to earn more Genesis Energy, and Matt noticed Liz and Susanne do the same with their efforts on killing the monsters before they reached Matt.

Seeing they were challenging him and Aster, Matt cast [Hail] in their path and started assimilating all of the ice that fell down, with Aster's help.

As they took back the lead on killing, Matt activated his Concept to refill both Susanne and Liz, but added his Championing effect to Susanne, who was lower on mana.

Using both effects wasnt quite a doubling of the normal mana refilling, but rather an additive effect. Still, Susanne had a smaller mana pool than Liz, so the boost was more significant for her.

Matt knew he couldnt keep that level of drain up for long, but he wasnt using his will power to shape the cyclone thanks to Aster's assistance, so he had some to spare.

They paused in the center of the room, as thousands of eight foot tall mice men rushed them and died.

As more fell, Liz started casting [Blood Tidal Wave] and then [Blood Sprites] on the remnants.

That signified the end of their troubles, as the self-replicating birds had oceans of blood to feed on, and did so before swarming out to devour all of the nearby mice.

Even though it took dozens of blood sparrows to kill even a single monster, they feasted off the body before splitting and moving on in a red wave of sparrows.

Dropping the now unneeded ice combination, Matt walked forward even as Aster complained to Liz, You stole all of my kills! [Blood Sprites] are cheating.

Liz snorted. It's definitely not. You could argue it was before, when I could just summon out all the blood I needed from my glove, but now I need to earn every kill so I have enough blood to cast it and [Blood Tidal Wave].

As the two of them carried on with their good-natured bickering, Matt and Susanne took out the few stragglers with [Mana Slash]es, but Liz hadnt left many for them. They were just about to relax when a presence appeared behind Liz.

A nearly-invisible mantis-like monster emerged from thin air, slicing its arms like a scissor around Lizs neck, biting deep into her armor.

Blood flew, and Matts heart leapt into his throat before her AI confirmed she was still alive, but one of the blades had made it through her armor and cut into her neck. Mana pulsed in her neck and Liz wrapped herself in a cocoon of blood, clutching her head and lashing out blindly with an array of blood tendrils.

Even as the monster faded out of sight and from his spiritual perception, Matt threw some [Fire Bolt]s through the area where the monster had been.

Not feeling any feedback from his attack, Matt reinforced [Cracked Phantom Armor], locked down space, and started feeling his surroundings with [Air Manipulation] as he prepared to block another sneak attack. Susanne stood at his back, sword and shield ready to block the next assault.

A spike of danger alerted both of them to the next attack, and as Susanne swung at where the warning originated from, the mantis reappeared as it twisted in midair, turning a deadly execution into a merely devastating attack at her lower half.

Susanne moved her shield a hair too late, and with no physical armor to stop it, one blade surrounded with thick tangles of mana cut through her [Shadow Armor] and halfway through her knee. The monster yanked on its blade, and it went the rest of the way through before withdrawing.

Despite losing half a leg, with the severed limb falling and vanishing in a thin cloud of smoke and leaving an even wispier copy of itself attached to Susanne, she managed to cut one of the monster's blade limbs off. But before her sword could kill the monster, it pulled back and started to vanish like mist in the sun.

Before Matt could really get a good look at it, it was gone, and they were left in an awkward stalemate as Matt dropped on top of Susanne and cast [Bulwark] flat over her, creating a small dome for her to start healing in.

During that time, Aster and Liz had covered the area in blood and ice, but even the wide area attacks seemed to do nothing, implying the mantis had a level of intangibility, which was a scary thought.

Thankfully, Aster was thinking one step ahead and retrieved their illusion-piercing mirror from her spatial collar, and immediately swept its view across the room.

The second it hit the mantis hiding spot, Matt lanced out with [Cracked Mana Spear], and Susannes sword followed in its wake a second later. Space began to blur around the monster as it tried to twist around Matts attack, but Susanne and Matt both shut it down hard with focused spatial blocking, a move even more effective on this floor than normal.

The moment the mana beam struck the suddenly-stationary monster, it vanished in a puff of mana, and tellingly, no Genesis Energy.

I think it was a fucking summoned monster, Matt swore.

Susanne straightened up, absently rubbing her leg. Oh that fucker wants to play games. Let's see who gets to the safe room first. Im more than happy to fucking cut their head off.

Liz emerged from her cocoon and studied the faint outline of Susannes lower leg and foot. Ugh, you ok?

Lizs voice was mildly garbled, but a look of concentration crossed her face. Better? Better.

Susanne shrugged, but replied with her AI, Could still be listeners. I don't really need the leg here, so it's not that big of a deal. Aster used a [Bandage] on it, but I don't even think it bleeds.

Liz? Are you

She ran a finger over her throat, Its kind of weird thinking about nearly being decapitated as not too bad a wound, but I was able to keep the blood flowing just fine and my spirit counts as close enough to blood that I was able to manually reattach the severed arteries. And now the cut seems to be gone? Still not entirely sure about that, but Im definitely pumping my own blood for a little while just to be safe. Thankfully, [Blood Crystal Armor] took most of the hit.

Mind Over Matter made things weird, but Matt was just happy they were ok, and made it his personal mission to kill the summoner, if they found whoever they were.

He had no idea how long the monster had been following them, and didnt like that it seemed impossible to sense with both mundane and magical senses.

Aster shivered slightly before freezing the mirror to her collar. I think Im going to keep this on me for the rest of the floor. I don't think Id survive the sneak attack.

That put them all on high alert, even as they pushed through the rest of the ruin.

Thankfully, their entrance and then Lizs follow up seemed to have killed most of the mice, and they were able to press into the next room quickly.

There they found small groups of ten foot tall mice men that were noticeably more muscular, and actually started casting spells.

Each of these monsters were substantially tougher than their lesser brethren, making conventional tactics a faster approach than the winter storm that Matt had been using before.

Matt opened with a flurry of [Mana Slash]es at one of the monsters, while Liz drove a spear of blood into its shoulder and drained the mouse dry. It didnt have blood exactly, but whatever it did have was close enough for her new blood-drinking Concept power, and it greedily consumed the monster over the course of a few seconds.

Susanne was substantially slower than she had been before she lost her leg, butshe was still able to direct her second sword with full agility, keeping her future targets at bay as she allowed one at a time to approach her and die on her main blade.

Aster served a largely support role, slowing down the monsters enough that the rest of them werent overwhelmed. She kept Lizs targets particularly restrained, and buffeted Susannes future victims, leaving them disoriented and ready for execution, all while keeping an eye on her mirror, ready to preempt the next assassination attempt.

A defensive measure that turned out well, as while Matt was embroiled with two fifteen foot tall mice men, Aster lashed out with a short but violent storm of ice as she reported, "Five of them!

Matt growled and used a short burst of [Cracked Mana Spear] to finish off all the remaining monsters of this room. A couple of them tried to jerk out of the way, but Matt finished them off before they could escape.

Driving his sword into the wispy ground, he growled, So the asshole isnt content to just try once.

Liz interjected, Do we need to go finish him off?

Matt paused as he thought about it, even as Susanne growled, Im all for it.

Matt shook his head as he analyzed the situation. That wouldnt be a smart use of our time. It's better to just keep our attention on our rear but push forward. He can't do shit if we get to the next level before him.

Despite arguing otherwise, Matt waited for anyone else to have a good reason to go kill the man, but none of them did, so they carried on deeper into the ruin.

As they turned, Liz adjusted her grip on the spear and growled, Fucking summoner. Maybe we should wait around for a few hours to see if he appears in the safe room? Id love to give him a little surprise.

Susanne nodded. I only need a second. It's one thing to attack people, but invisible, impossible-to-sense monsters just feel unfair.

Matt offered up an explanation of his own, I think it's the floor theme thats making them so dangerous. My guess is that outside of Minkalla, theyre probably normal assassin mantises with the ability to vanish from spiritual perception. Here, though, they dont have a physical body hindering them- theyre more like a mental projection by the summoner. Because of that, theyre already not fully here to begin with, and some kind of ability their master has to force them to vanish from everything, theyre able to avoid attacks not specifically directed at them. Maybe its some sort of Concept ability

What makes you say that?

Matt pointed to where the assassins had been lurking. Of those five, only one felt as slippery as the first one we fought. I think the summoner may have picked up a new ability from Folded Reflections, and can only focus it on one creature at a time. By what Im sure wasnt coincidence, it was also the only one trying to use a skill.

Aster shook like she was wet, which was a disorienting sight with her star body. Even so, it's a bad match up. Imagine if we didn't have the mirror?

But thankfully, we do. Let's just kill the boss and get out of here. As a thought came to him, Matt added, Actually, let's even out our Genesis Energy after testing how much we need to get the floor reward.

As he and Liz consolidated their Genesis Energy through the gauge rings they had gotten on the first floor, they cringed.

Both of them individually had enough Genesis Energy to take the exit reward, which was the flexible innate skill slot, but it was only together that they had enough for the floor challenge. There was a bit to spare, and once Aster and Susanne added theirs to the mix, they found they had just shy of enough Genesis Energy for two of them to afford both the challenge and exit reward, though all of them could afford the exit reward, even then.

It wasnt great, but it wasnt awful. They were about two-thirds of the way there, and depending on how much Genesis Energy they got from the level boss, it might end up being enough. If not, well That was just a few more ruins that theyd need to clear on the next level.

Or, they could kill a few delvers.

Even at half-rate, theyd get a lot of Genesis Energy at this stage, and if they all got half of their current amount again, it would be enough for them all to get out with full rewards.

Matt could only shudder at the cost of a final floor Spirit Journey if Mind Over Matter was this expensive for Tier 11s. Luna saying only one or two people ever got that reward when it was the final floor made a lot more sense. Everyone would be waiting on the final level, trying to kill each other to gather an entire Minkalla runs worth of Genesis Energy.

And with how Genesis Energy became more obvious to everyone the more one gathered, anyone ahead of the average would turn into public enemy number one.

Thinking about the possibility, Matt was grateful they had gotten Mind Over Matter instead.

After redistributing the Genesis Energy back out to everyone, they pushed forward, killing the mice monsters as they grew larger and larger. By the time they entered what seemed to be a nightmare version of an industrial kitchen, the monsters were close to thirty feet tall, and were growing difficult to take down. The good thing was, they also grew rarer, allowing them to focus their entire combat prowess on killing one.

With Aster watching their back, they cut through the final monsters until they found the management room, where they found the exit distortion and the ruin's boss.

Which was a literal boss.

Or, the mouse version of an office manager.

With a set of armor that looked more like business clothes, the boss wielded a clipboard as a shield and threw pens like massive darts.

Matt raced forward and cast [Hail] at the sixty-foot-tall monster, and directed the ice at its face while it was busy blocking a [Mana Slash] from Susanne.

The monster threw a retaliatory pen back at him.

That would have been fine, but either through an insidious mind or bad aim, the monster's attack was headed straight for Aster, who was keeping watch for more assassins.

Cursing, Matt flew into the way of the projectile and cast [Bulwark], and activated his defensive Concept to empower the skill.

He was sent flying in the resulting explosion, but he had stopped the pen dart in its tracks, which surprised him.

That was an attack from a boss monster that was three Tiers stronger than himself, and he didnt even need to use [Cracked Phantom Armor] to block any of it.

With more confidence, Matt cast [Cracked Mana Spear] at the boss, which was trying to swat the annoying fly that was Liz, who flew faster than normal with her boots of wind.

As the beam of mana landed on its faceplate, the monster immediately turned to smack at Matt with its clipboard.

The larger monsters clipboard froze in the air for a moment before it overpowered Asters Concept, but Matt had already floated out of range and kept the beam on the monster, cutting deep lines into and through its armor.

He couldnt strain his spirit too much quite yet, so the moment his beam opened a legitimate hole in the creatures armor, he switched to unleashing a torrent of [Fireball]s. The boss managed to block several of them with its clipboard, but more struck its face, keeping its attention firmly on him.

Thus freed from the bosss attacks, Liz and Susanne closed in on the monster itself. Liz drove her spear into the beasts ankle and launched herself up with the assistance of her wind boots.

Susanne flitted forward like a shadow being chased by the light, pulled along by her sword as she raced up the left side of the monster, aiming for the gaping hole in its business suit armor.

Liz reached the pinnacle of her leap, and pulled herself above the boss with a blood tendril. She summoned the blood around her into a giant spear, and dropped down into a stabbing attack. Her shield and spear glimmered in the not-light, and her Spirit flared as her Concept poured into her attack,

Even as it tried to slap Susanne, the monster took the blow from Liz on the face, and the helmet cracked like an egg and shattered.

As the boss screamed and went to smack Susanne, Matt let himself fall to the ground as he channeled [Wood Manipulation] and [Metal Manipulation].

With the two spells, he grabbed the oversized clipboard and pulled.

The weapon was protected by the monster's spirit, which made the manipulation hard, but Matt had the mana to spare as he sent nearly all his mana into the spells.

Even as the massive boss tried to pull against the force, Matt held firm and grinned as the shield was sent flying under the combined and opposite forces.

That moment of hesitation was more than enough for Susanne to reach the monster's face and drive her blade deep into its eye.

The monster slapped itself in the face, trying to kill what was hurting it, but that only helped drive the blade deeper into its body, and it went stiff right before Lizs blood spear drove into the other eye and started spinning.

As the boss slumped over, Matt felt the rush of Genesis Energy that signified it was truly dead, and sighed in relief before catching himself and looking to Aster, who was still watching their rear with the mirror.

It would be the perfect time for the summoner to try and ambush them, after all.

As the boss vanished, it dropped a number of items and natural treasures, which Matt added to the other pile that fell out of the reward distortion, somewhat forlorn that they werent in a good position to look into whatever Tier 20 skills and other valuables they happened to get. They simply didnt have the time for an unnecessary pause.

Hed nearly signaled for them to move on when the former clipboard caught his eye. Matt took a closer look at some of the runes along its edge and was somewhat surprised by what he saw. On top of a frankly ludicrously strong durability enchantment, it had an impressive shape changing rune array built into it, enabling it to shrink or grow over the course of about a minute from the dimensions of a thick piece of paper all the way up to a square forty feet on a side and four feet thick. That included the ability to grow divots or edges, self-repair, and self-clean with a bit of mana. He could even change the finish, color and grain of the wood to any natural pattern that he desired. For anyone who wanted a ridiculously over-engineered base for a flat shield, it would be a great find.

Hed use it as a cutting board.

Aster didn't see anything trying to sneak up on them, leading Matt to assume that the summoner had decided it wasnt worth the mana to create more monsters to send at them. That, or he understood they had a counter to the monster type.

When they appeared on the third level of the final floor, Matt immediately cast [Bulwark], sensing an attack from their rear.

A Tier 13 and two Tier 12s were within a hundred feet of them, and had seemingly been in the middle of clearing the ruin when they appeared right behind them.

As the Tier 13 finished off the alligator monster, one of the other two turned and started casting [Fireball]s at them while the final member shot magical arrows out of a bow.

[Bulwark] blocked each and every attack, and Matt called out, We don't mean any harm! and sent the same message through his AI.

The other team didnt respond to either message, and Matt returned his own [Fireball] as they started to batter down his [Bulwark].

Seeing they weren't going to stop attacking, Matt settled on killing them.

He hadnt chosen to appear right next to another team, but he also wasnt going to walk away after the misunderstanding was perpetuated.

A single attack out of surprise was one thing, but a continued assault was another.

As a burst of flame came from Liz, not having any blood to wield, he cast [Earth Manipulation] and brought two slabs of ground slamming towards the team.

The mage of the team created a bubble of hardened air with a spell, but Matt broke that working with a flex of [Air Manipulation].

The other mage reacted quickly, even with only a moment before the slab of earth landed on them, and used [Earth Swim] to enter and pull the archer into and through the ground.

For cultivators of their Tier, one hundred feet was nothing, and that made all the difference. If they werent deposited right on top of the other team, they might have had some chance at running or even getting off an attack, but they hadnt been.

Susanne had already started moving towards the Tier 13, who clearly didn't expect a melee engagement with the floor theme, and tried to block with a magical shield. Susannes blade didn't even slow as it cut the man in half.

Seeing one of their teammates die, both the remaining people immediately Tiered up to Tier 13, but Matt didnt give them time to do anything more.

With a stream of fire from [Flamethrower], he wrapped them up and punched through their [Water Shield] that attempted to keep the flames away with [Fire Manipulation]. As two more bursts of Genesis Energy rushed out of them, Matt relaxed slightly.

Fucking idiots. He nearly spat the words out.

Aster flicked her ears. Their loss is our gain, though. That was a good bit of Genesis Energy. Were close, very close, to having enough to leave.

Sadly, things were never that easy, as they felt another team rushing at them from a distance. A full team of Tier 14s.

Their fight wasnt even the only fight in this ruin, let alone this floor.

Everywhere his spiritual perception stretched over was filled with fighting, as teams tried to reach boss ruins and Tier 14 kill squads used this level as a final bottleneck to finish their missions.

The end was in sight.

Now, they just needed to get there.