While we walk through the portion of town filled with small shops and street vendors, the tone of commerce is much more scattered, and many hunters and merchants look up to the sky with confused gazes.
There are some whispers that escape from a few mouths as we walk by.
"Did you see that flash of light?"
"What could it be? Lightning?"
"No- That was an explosion! You all heard the rumble. The Association must be doing some testing... They could have at least warned us!"
"Does that mean there's another surge coming?"
The closer we get to the center of the city, nearing the Dungeon Hub, the more intense the chatter becomes, and the sound of yelling guards hits my ears once the escalators to the dungeons come into sight.
"We're having a full lockdown! No hunters are allowed in dungeons until Association Squads can safely search all dungeons to make sure no abnormal breaks are in progress. The evacuation has just begun, please bear with us. This shouldn't take too long! If there are any breaks present, please be ready to show your Hunter's ID. You must be one Letter Grade above the dungeons that break to qualify for exploration."
The city lights illuminate the entrances to the dungeons, and a few hunters are being escorted out as we stop right behind a crowd of curious onlookers.
It's late in the day, so most hunters would be finishing up their farming sessions for the evening anyway. There aren't many complaints, mostly just confused people and the occasional salty hunter that wanted to spend an hour or two more inside a dungeon to sneak in a little extra profit.
Bri leans in close to my ear and asks a question.
"How are we going to do this? The Labyrinth entrance is surely on much higher security now than it was before."
I point to an empty shadowy spot behind a building devoid of people.
"I have a plan, don't worry."
We walk over as everyone else focuses on the guards yelling the same thing over and over in hopes to get the first pick at rare dungeons that break. In times like these, exclusive and valuable loot can be found that usually wouldn't be available in the City.
Weaker E-Class hunters have to go home, but D and C-Class hunters with the confidence to fight off mutants are looking to make out with a haul.
Unfortunately for them, this whole situation is most likely all a misunderstanding following the stunt I just pulled, but, it doesn't matter to me. The more chaos, the better.
I activate my stealth skill, and Bri does the same with her light magic.
Without anyone batting an eye, we slip out from the darkness and back into the crowds in full stealth mode. Then, move past every guard and hunter down into the E-Class Dungeon station.
The underground transport trains still move on autopilot, and association workers leveled 100-200 stay on guard by the platforms and on the trains themselves. However, Bri and I stand next to them without having to worry at all, making it to the closest E-Grade dungeon less than a minute away.
Once we step out and make our way up another flight of stairs, we hop through the blue spinning portal, and Bri questions me again.
"An E-Class Dungeon? What's this about? How can we-"
I lightly grab her wrist and activate dungeon walker to bring her to the labyrinth in an instant.
"Your Teleport Skill..."
I nod and finish her sentence.
"That's right, I can access any dungeon I've been in before, even labyrinth dungeons."
I see thoughts racing through her mind behind a focused gaze, but she doesn't question it more than necessary and just nods firmly with tightened lips.
"Makes sense."
We both activate our air steps because the only teleport point I have available in this dungeon is from high above the ground when Ember was flying me through these floors to make it up high enough to meet Maria and Abby on our training and farming excursion earlier.
Bri looks down at the lush and colorful jungle region of the 25th floor while I reply.
"We can start on a lower floor if you want, but this is the 25th floor of the Vice City Labyrinth. Every creature down there will be over level 500, some over 550 even. You'll definitely rank up after a few kills."
She looks down at the jungle below with wide eyes filled with more awe than shock, and replies while pulling the two black daggers off her waist, gripping them tight and letting them glow bright white.
"No need to go easy on me, I've been waiting to fight some actual ranked-up monsters for a long time. I think these will be a perfect warm-up."
I nod with approval, curious to see what kind of fighting style she really has in store for me to see. We glide down to the jungle, through some thick trees and into a less dense clearing where I sense a level 549 monster lurking down below.
Once we break the treeline, a humanoid lizard creature standing upright on two feet wielding sharp silver daggers looks straight up at us. It is similar to the monsters that are released on the 6th stage of the arena back in Valor City. This one has a bit darker skin, and much brighter beady eyes, but its movement speed and raw aura of mana control are right on par with those ranked-up monsters that give Ace, Sia, and Max a run for their money every time they fight them.
The moment it spots us, Bri takes a powerful Air step forward and yells out.
"Now it's time for me to have some fun. Let me handle this."
I nod and slow my downward motion, eventually stopping and standing on a large branch that overlooks the clearing.
"All you."
I keep my eyes locked on them as the lizard creature jumps up and Bri charges down. Both of them have mana shielding that grows in power as they point their daggers at each other with killing intent.
As their daggers clash, the metallic twang of shielding colliding fills the jungle and both fighters stand in place on equal footing. The lizard creature activates a speed buff, and Bri pushes herself forward with wind magic while blinding the creature with flashes of light to prepare for a surprise attack.
She flips over the creature using air magic and excess mana to boost her agility in a cartwheel motion, catching the lizard off guard and slicing its throat open with one of her blades while she's completely upsidedown flying through the air effortlessly.
There's a loud screeching sound as the lizard tries to retaliate, but more flashes of blinding light and wind-boosted strikes follow.
Bri combines the walls of light that make her seem almost invisible to her barrage of attacks and the monster becomes very disoriented in a matter of seconds as blades are breaking through its mana shielding at all angles from seemingly random positions.
It can't see what's going on at all, but my eyes are wide as I can see her as clear as day. I'm thoroughly impressed at her agility, speed, and battle IQ.
I always assumed Bri was strong, and some mentions of her fighting in the Underground Black Market Arena in the past have crossed my mind to consolidate this thought, but I had no idea this was her fighting style.
From the moment the battle started, she already knew a perfect plan and had her attack pattern figured out. From the looks of it, Bri even knew if the lizard creature could fully activate its speed buff and utilize it she may be at a disadvantage.
To make sure this didn't happen, from the moment the two of them clashed, she took dominance and controlled the entire battle.
Less than 5 more seconds pass, and another dozen bloody slashes covered up by flashes of light and gusts of wind bring the battle to its end. The mutilated body of the defeated lizardman falls to the jungle floor with a thud.
Bri lets out a satisfied sigh while walking over to its corpse, twirling her blades in her hands while deactivating her light magic.
She hasn't even broken into a sweat.
I can't help smiling and hover down with slow claps to congratulate her.
She looks up at me as the creature dissolves.
"That was a fun one. I gained 3 whole levels from it too. I'll be ranking up pretty quick."
She picks up the large pink stone it leaves behind as loot as I reply and point off deeper into the jungle.
"You're right, this will be quicker than I thought. I sense another one nearby, just 400 meters that way. I'm curious to see what kind of unique buff you'll receive from ranking up."
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Author's Note:
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