"Still can't get rid of my bad habit huh…I came in after all."
"Greetings madam."
"Ohh～What a surprise… or not. I see even your hair is starting to grey. Here for little Nav's descendants, I suppose. The Trolls huh. One second."
"...It's the Empire's honour and fortune to receive even a single word of advice from you madam. I too am getting old."
"Fortunate? Tell them there's no rush. The Trolls' got a new king, a Shaman… They have started fighting back against the little things he sent over. Migration over here probably won't happen anytime soon. A single King Classed Shaman shouldn't be able to change the overall situation on Tova but it bought both Continent's time. Two or three decades perhaps. Can't get a good read in here."
"!! I will pass the message. The Empire is indebted."
A resounding laugh echoed.
"No need to be. A dozen Reds should suffice. I'll make the visit."
"...understood. I shan't interrupt you any further."
"Tch. How impatient. We could've had some tea first. Never mind, let's see let's see… so many stars here. One so bright and hot. One so bright but cold. One so blindingly dazzling. One big lightless cluster of stars but alive? Odd..inconsequential but useful for them. A few lights went off. What's this now? Where did this star come from? Weird, dark and shiny. Not one I recognise. Interesting! The boy lit the star up. I see I see, what should I do now? I really shouldn't make things worse."
❅❅❅
Ryley, who was nervously waiting for Ebony to let him out, saw the orb break with force and felt that the situation obviously didn't look good. He jumped for Ebony who was coming towards him already, reaching out to grab Ebony's hand. He had a momentary flash of happiness when he managed to grab ahold of his lifeline. Then the sharp and intense pain, then dullness. Ryley slowly understood the reality of the situation. Unacceptable.
Ryley cried but not even a second later he felt Ebony's tight hug on the remaining body of his. He didn't say anything but Ryley calmed down a little. His calmness was contagious, it gave him the last moment of clarity.
"Ryley…Vigoureed… From the…House of…Vigour…reed…" A nod from Ebony reassured Ryley for reasons he'll never live to find out.
❅❅❅
Ebony was in the middle of wearing the martial artist down when he felt his orb break. There were no attacks on it for a while so he thought the archer gave up. He saw the martial artist taking the chance to dash for a wolf bite thing again and a single step with Treading Step pushed him to reach for Ryley.
Ebony, who rushed to grab Ryley out of the way, stabbed his greatsword at the attacking martial artist, hoping that even if he couldn't reach Ryley in time he could stop the attack. He didn't expect the martial artist to just follow through with his attack, it looked to Ebony like he didn't even notice Ebony's weapon in the path of his movement. That or it was a skill he couldn't stop halfway through. The martial artist's last words were not deaf on Ebony. He wasn't wrong, Ebony indeed didn't make it in time.
He pulled onto Ryley's arm and almost fell and lost balance when the strength he put in was too much. At least, it wasn't until Ryley lost more than half his body's weight. Ebony held him tight, thinking it was unfortunate he couldn't even keep the man's last moments warm with his ice cold body. He nodded as Ryley reminded him of who he was, perhaps to inform his family of his passing. It was the least Ebony could do.
Helpless again, he was no healer. Reviving the dead was even more impossible. But that wasn't enough to stop Ebony from analysing the situation in that moment of time that seemed ridiculously slow to him. It was nothing new, his moving meditation or Everlasting Tranquillity was basically him in intense concentration yet not really. It wasn't as if he was living his life in slow motion view but he could somewhat will it to happen. It had been less apparent when he was on Earth or when moving meditation hasn't turned into a skill, Persistent Meditation and now Everlasting Tranquillity. Not to mention mental stats like Intelligence speeding up his mental processing speed.
First of all, Scarlet unsurprisingly lopped the head of the Master Rogue. Then there was the mage at her side, unmoving, steaming hot. Her expression was one of pain and anguish, paused in time. Grey covered her skin, body, clothes, weapons and whatnot. A stone statue of the fire mage they had seen in the ambusher's party.
Ebony saw from the corner of his eye that Scarlet's line of sight shifted away from him. He knew what she was looking at as well. Hector laying on the ground, his helmet completely knocked off. Head bleeding and maybe a broken skull, Ebony could still see his chest rise and fall. Breathing.
A familiar face. Unfamiliar person. Looking at Ebony with what seemed like a hint of a smile. Tuffock stood straighter than he ever did, eyes looking forward instead of the ground. A single exchange of glances was enough to tell Ebony that this wasn't the Tuffock he knew. But more importantly, every cell in his body was telling him defeat was inevitable if Ebony were to attack him and get Hector away. Fascinating.
Ebony didn't understand why or how he felt or sensed that. It was the instinctual 'there's absolutely no way anything I could do could let him get Hector out of there.' that his body and subconscious were telling him. Tuffock was still Identified as [Stone Mage Lvl 100] but Ebony didn't believe Identify anymore.
Tuffock's hint of a smile was unsettling and Ebony had long noticed that the gunman hadn't shot his second shot in a row. They were standing pretty close and while Tuffock was looking at him, he was also talking to the gunman. Ebony was too far to hear their conversation.
Ebony moved like a weightless phantom, the hours that they let him rest allowed him to cast more Layered Ice Carapaces than he thought he would need. They came in handy. There were also remnant scales of ice mana from the broken orb. Ebony sent all the remnants digging into the sand towards the gunman who suddenly came close enough, not too far away from Tuffock.
It didn't even take two steps for Ebony to pop right in front of Scarlet with both his intact Layered Ice Carapaces lumbering along slightly slower. The gunman had already taken aim but hadn't fired off. Ebony guessed it was probably a common tactic of any ranged fighter that mana could be charged into weapons or ammunition like arrows and bullets for more power.
Ebony raised his hand both as insurance because his instincts told him to be wary and that Tuffock's faint hint of a smile never dropped and to ease the command of his Layered Ice Carapace and spare ice scales to float up from behind and under the gunman. Hopefully getting Tuffock too but he was not the priority as the gunman pulled the trigger.
An explosive force broke out from the gunmen's sniper rifle looking weapon. It pierced through both Ebony's Layered Ice Carapace as if it wasn't there. Then, through his palm and arms and out through his shoulders. Ebony's lower body was already pushing himself backwards but he was only quick enough to catch Scarlet after she was sent wheeling through the air with her neck snapped back. Ebony mentally made the Layered Ice Carapace and scales to rise out of the sand and pulled the gunman along with him when he dashed for Scarlet.
It was too bad he wasn't fast enough to trap the gunman before he fired.
As fast as possible, Ebony made both shield clasps onto the front and back of his gun so that he couldn't reload or adjust his aim before starting to imprison him. The feedback from within was weak, the person likely didn't have a high Strength stat. When tightly locked, Ebony controlled the ice mana to mistify and, when thick enough, combust.
'Ting' 'You have killed [Master Burstbowman Lvl 158]. No experience is gained due to maxed level. No Natural Potential is gained due to insufficient potential experience accumulated.'
Ebony ignored the familiar notification, the man was as much a monster as any other in the dungeon. There were no movements from Tuffock and Ebony couldn't be bothered right now. He quickly touched and felt around Scarlet's neck. Even though he had set his own bones many times he had never had his neck snapped backwards so much that the back of his head could touch his back. Her neck was turning scarlet red and Ebony didn't hesitate and quickly flipped her head and set her neck back.
The redness in her neck subsided almost immediately. Thank Vitality that humans are no longer so fragile. A whistle came from the stone mage's direction when he saw what Ebony did. His calmness, swiftness and lack of hesitation was truly an intimidating trait. That would've killed Scarlet if anything went wrong.
"...You dummy…what did I tell you…?" Scarlet caught her breath really quickly too.
"Yes, you were right. I didn't know anything. I'm a dummy." Ebony replied but he knew she wasn't listening already. She was unconscious. Ebony was worried, her neck was still broken. Setting it back in place only let her breathe properly, the immense swelling around her neck was very worrisome.
Ebony quickly tried to take her mask off to feed her his remaining potion no matter how cheap or weak his potion was. The leather clasps looked simple but he couldn't take them out, when he tried to take them out by force his fingers burned. He had Icebody Enhancement going strong for whatever Strength buff he could get but it didn't change a thing as he needed to be gentle so that he doesn't accidentally injure Scarlet any further.
Scarlet's mask had no additional hole in it, only a grey dust mark on the forehead area.
"Really. That mask is amazing stuff."
Ebony jumped off with Scarlet in his arms dozens of metres away when Tuffock invaded his senses' range before he knew it.
"Relax. My unpolished plan failed miserably but no matter. I am not trying to kill you. I'm here to recruit you so to speak."
"...Recruit into?" Ebony positioned himself where Hector was right behind him. Tuffock just stood where they previously were and didn't chase.
"Introductions. How could I forget? I am Pettock from Lure." Tuffock or rather, Pettock had the same hint of confident smile.
"Ice boy! Name's Hardock. You have potential, we won't treat you poorly." The smile Pettock had turned to a toothy grin not unlike Hector's.
"He…hey Ebony. I...Tuffock." A tone Ebony was more familiar with. He was slouching and looking down again, the only difference was that Ebony noticed the short glance he spared Hector on the ground.
"Alright. Let's not waste anymore time, I can feel Ordina's anger and confusion already. Neither of us has time on our side. Join us. The 4, no, the 6 of us only stand to gain."
Ebony didn't understand what he meant at first but remembered that Tuffock was a doctor and he had 2 probably in horrible condition without treatment personnel with him. If you can't beat'em, join'em right? Ebony just needed an opportunity. The fact that Tuffock or Pettock from the looks of it said that they didn't have time either.
"What do you do in this…Lure?" Ebony didn't stop trying to rip the mask off of Scarlet. Resorting to trying to freeze the leather straps off. The ice mana melted off without effort no matter how much he tried to freeze it off.
"Don't bother. My stone needle didn't even scratch it. Still, her head would've been blasted off if you didn't make it in time. Lure, an organisation that hides themselves pretty deeply. We've never even seen or heard from the true big boss. As much as it hurts to say, we aren't that high up on the rung. You just killed 3 of my good men. I know, pathetic. Join me. The other 2 don't have to die."
"They're strong too, you're not recruiting them?" Ebony asked with honest curiosity.
"HA! The noisy one stinks of a noble. We would need to take care of our heads with the almighty around." Hardock explained. It was not difficult to tell them apart.
"There wouldn't be much difference in your daily life if you join us. Your priority would still be to strengthen yourself and level up. A journeyman, no matter how strong, is less than useful. I guess I'm not really one to say. We don't even require you to do any jobs or take on any missions that Lure hands to me. You just need to back me up when I pull others down from the rung. It's simple right? I would even try my best to get you whatever equipment, books or other stuff you need." Pettock continued.
"...Mmm. Sounds good."
"Great!" Hardock took Ebony's acknowledgement as an agreement.
"I..I'll check on them now." Tuffock took over and started checking on Hector. Ebony didn't relax, they were not far away and Tuffock walked up normally instead of just appearing beside them. Tuffock breathed a sigh of relief and did his thing, getting Hector all bandaged up after spraying something on his head injury and feeding him a pill. From what Ebony remembered, pills were stronger stuff but slower acting so Hector was probably not in any real danger if Tuffock fed him a pill.
"I'll take over." Pettock said, whether he was talking to Tuffock or Ebony, Ebony didn't know. He didn't like it one bit, holding tightly onto Scarlet. He didn't worry one bit about leaving Hector in Tuffock's care but he couldn't feel at ease with leaving Scarlet to Pettock.
"Don't misunderstand. I really couldn't be bothered to help her, for me it would be better if she died now that she knew I 'betrayed' her but I'm probably the only one who can remove her mask." Pettock said when Ebony didn't hand Scarlet over. The fact that he didn't just snatch her away was alleviating Ebony's worries by an insignificant amount.
'Does the same person have 3 different sets of skills?' Ebony couldn't help but think that when Pettock said he was the only one who could do something despite the three of them being the same person.
Ebony was about to say something when the sound of screams were carried over.
"Bo..boss Tewa! Ged! Lalt! Save arh!" A man in standard leather armour with a metal chest plate and helmet climbed over a sand dune and called for help before something stabbed him right through the chest and pulled him back. His chest plate couldn't protect him at all. Ebony couldn't see what stabbed him or pulled him back behind the sand dune. But that wasn't the end of the commotion. It suddenly got dark, real fast. Clouds.
"Wait here." Pettock disappeared with a strong gust of wind. Leaving Ebony alone, confident Ebony wouldn't run. Or couldn't.
'Clouds?' Ebony hasn't seen a single cloud much less the entire dungeon sky getting covered in dark thunderclouds.
The screams continued but one thing in common that Ebony could catch. His Mana Perception was also going haywire with the intense mana that was growing and leaving the surroundings, into the sky.
"MANA STORM!"
"DIIIG!!"
Ebony obviously didn't let the chance go. He quickly got Hector under one arm and Scarlet under the other. Carrying Hector on his Layered Ice Carapace would be too damn slow. He had Chaotic Repulsive Membrane to activate to repel his every step, as far as he could. Battle Song of a certain driving anime's theme song for every drop of speed he could get. 'Faster, further.' was all he wanted Treading Step to do. The increase in level for Running also helped.
Ebony was running towards the previous floor. No shit. There was nowhere to hide but Ebony did his best to stay behind taller sand dunes.
"Urgh! Wha?! Mana storm?!"
Ebony didn't expect Hector to wake up so quickly. Hector quickly smashed his fist together and then got himself out of Ebony's hold. It was no surprise that Hector could easily keep up, with 4 enhancements he was way stronger than Ebony and Scarlet and just as fast as Scarlet who buffed up considerably if he used lightning instead of earth.
"What's going on Ebony! Tuffock?"
"On the run. Distracted."
"I can see that!"
"Then why are you asking?"
"Gah! Damn you. We don't have time to freaking run, we need to start digging!" Hector didn't stop running alongside him as he said that and busied himself, throwing his bag to his front and started looking through it before pulling a shovel out.
"Why dig? What's a mana storm?"
"Can't say I wasn't sceptical about you wanting to join." Pettock's stead tone of voice followed them. He was flying in the air behind them, he wasn't much faster than them but he was catching up. He didn't have wings or anything of the sort, Ebony was gonna guess it was him manipulating his stone suit underneath his robes. A feat Ebony wasn't capable of.
"El! Why are you doing this Tuffock!" Hector, who wanted to stop to dig continued to dash. The throbbing pain in his head reminded him of Tuffock's attack.
Thundering could be heard and bright blue lightning crackled in the dark thunderclouds.
"We're close to the slope." Ebony transmitted to Hector with Mana Vibration so only Hector could hear him. His Mental Map was really handy. They were fortunate that the dungeon was shrunk down many times or hasn't expanded much at all.
Ebony didn't have to announce. It was clear for Pettock who was in the air to see and Hector could also see the massive hole in the floor in a few seconds.
"Ebony…A mana storm is basically a dungeon's last resort of ridding itself of what they don't want in them. I don't know who the target is but it doesn't matter since it will remove every living thing. Digging underground is the only known solution to survive. No time for a lecture on the whys and hows. When we get near the slope just jump down and stay hidden when you move."
"...Mmm. You're planning to stop and fight? He's strong. Tuffock and Hardock, which is likely Tuffock 2 is in there but the current one is Pettock. He…feels different." Ebony didn't think Tuffock/Hardock/Pettock was all that high of a level.
The fact that he was still chasing them meant he wasn't as powerful as Ebony originally felt. In terms of stats. Of course, there was the chance that Tuffock was taking it easy and slow because he didn't think Ebony could run but he didn't bet on that. He could believe that they weren't trying to kill him or them since no attack came so that was one thing.
'A journeyman, no matter how strong, is less than useful. I guess I'm not really one to say.' was what Pettock said. If that was true then it meant that they were likely not past level 100 either. But how was it that Ebony didn't think he could beat him. How did Pettock get into his range so fast and silently?
"No idea what you just said but I think I get it. I need to show him what a real punch is. And maybe just knock Tuffock out of it. He alone. Isn't all that bad."
"...I don't think Tuffock can stop themselves from killing you." Ebony was pretty certain that Pettock and maybe Hardock would have no issue taking Hector's life. He had no doubt they would be more than capable of doing so too.
Hector laughed, it was a hearty and cheerful one as usual.
"Don't worry, Ebony! I have my ways of escaping. Heheh. Having someone care for you sure feels good." Hector confidently claimed then rubbed his nose with slight embarrassment.
"You misunderstand. You still have my portion of the treasure drops. Henry's Bar. In exactly one week. Don't forget or I'll come hunt you for it." Ebony replied in his flat tone.
"...Ya punk! Sure! I'll drink your pouch dry."
"You think you can drink more than I can regenerate mana?"
"We'll see!"
It was only a dozen or so km away from the slope to the 10th floor. A really short distance that would take a few steps at best. The stone mage didn't keep things the way it was and 3 huge, long lances flew over Ebony's head and stabbed across the sandy ground ahead of him. The lances rooted themselves and turned to whips, shooting for his arms and feet.
Ebony weaved between them by a hair's breadth, the stone appendages were fast but not flexible. They changed directions slowly and couldn't bend corners so smoothly. Sei's and Ton's snow and ice whips were much more dangerous, flexible, swift, accurate and numerous.
Ebony annoyed the stone mage further as their aim shifted, focusing on Scarlet in his arms. Ebony was originally terribly worried about making her injury worse by moving so fast and it wasn't exactly a comfortable position for her. However, her increasingly swollen neck and the area around her neck suddenly subsided a little while back.
❅❅❅
Right on their heels, Hector stood in Tuffock's path.
"Get lost, you're unnecessary." The stone mage landed as flying and carrying one's own weight alone took a lot of mana. He was always amazed that Ebony could carry him along without stopping at all. Of course, being about to fly himself was a harder task than carrying anyone or anything else of the same weight.
"This one's to return the earlier sneak attack! MEGAA PAAANCH!" Hector didn't hold back one bit and the stone mage knew the power and danger of this one attack. A thickened stone half dome was hastily conjured as Hector used his movement skill to place himself less than 3 metres away and instantly merged as many punches as he could before the mage could dodge. Mega panch also wasn't just a simple merger of his physical force.
The half dome made of stone crumbled before rejoining back into a complete wall and caving in again as the sand on the ground split where Tuffock defended himself. Hector was much stronger now at level 100 and higher skill levels, the sand was nowhere close to how tough the walkway's walls were either. The path of destruction he left was massive but Tuffock's stone defence held.
"AND THIS ONE'S FROM ME! MEEGAA ELLING PAAANCH!" Hector yelled. The stone mage didn't dare let up his defence or risk popping out now to dodge as the attack may be coming anytime now. The ground shook but Tuffock didn't feel any feedback from his conjured stone. He flew up again, a huge and deep hole in the sand where Hector previously was. He escaped underground.
Pettock didn't care. He continued the chase for the mana slave. He stopped being able to attack or slow him down with his stone whips when he cast his stone defence. The stone mage was just about to jump down to the previous floor and raise a different staff that came out of nowhere for the first time in the chase. A thin needle formed instantly and was released after Scarlet.
Since he couldn't get Ebony to join him willingly he just needed a good card. They had changed their mind about killing and not killing Scarlet and Hector a couple of times.
The fact that Ebony didn't concern himself with the people Hardock killed made him think that Ebony was as cold as his demeanour suggested. They thought he couldn't care less but he constantly protected his party members. With all the flirting they witnessed, Scarlet was a great card.
Unlike what his underlings thought, Pettock never hid his level, only his Sub-Class. He just had to tone down his spell power to act weak.
❅❅❅
Ebony was glad he didn't neglect Perception and his perception skills. He didn't feel the insignificant gravitational waves at all but the mana parted and froze where whatever projectile was flying towards them with great force. It was a weird projectile that didn't just cause the surrounding mana to vibrate and move aside but caused them to stay still instead.
The moment it entered his senses, he reacted. But he wasn't nearly fast enough to cast a single scale much less a Layered Ice Carapace. Only able to raise his hand, twist his body and cast Icebody Enhancement. It was enough.
Scarlet was brought out of harm's way, compressed Icebody Enhancement stopped the stone needle from stabbing through him and only poking through his spell glove and into the back of his hand. Stopped by his bones, it was surprisingly weak but the size of the needle told Ebony that it probably didn't require much mana at all.
Ebony jumped right down to the tenth floor. He could hear Hardock screaming in confusion and frustration that Ebony was an idiot or something.
The stone mage was on the chase at full speed, mana conservation be damned he thought. Ebony wasn't supposed to be hit by that. Then lightning fell. The stone mage quickly fell and scrambled for the hole Hector punched open. The lightning strike didn't go for him but likely one of his men that he had to save. He didn't have many of them and it wasn't easy recruiting people nowadays. No matter how useless they were now, he needed people. When he got there, half of his remaining men had already died and whatever did that was already gone.
Tuffock thought that there would be a path once he fell into the hole but the deep hole ended with no path or Hector. A flash of blue spark above Tuffock alarmed him to blast another hole through girs and girs of hardened sand. As if it had eyes, a thick streak of lightning accurately landed into the hole.
Ebony tried his best to land well and continued to slide down from wherever he landed. He decast Icebody Enhancement for all the speed he could use for his escape. Running with Treading Steps was much faster than sliding down.
He was going to pluck the needle out of his hand but realised it was nowhere to be found. Perhaps, it was knocked out from his speed. Then he felt the loss of feeling from his left hand, it was unlike when he cast Icebody Enhancement. He couldn't move his fingers all of a sudden, pulling his glove aside to see his hand greying gradually. Petrification.
Ebony recalled the statue of the fire mage. Seeing the grey portions climbing up to his wrists and the complete loss of his sense of feeling and touch in his left arm, he didn't hesitate to conjure an Ice Sword and cleanly sliced his hand off wrist down. Blowing on the clean cut with a mist of ice mana to freeze it. He caught his cut left hand that seemed to anger the gods seeing how it was the most injured part of his body since he came to Elcra with an ice scale.
Ebony didn't dare touch it in case the petrification could spread from touch. It didn't feel right to leave it either, who knows if he could unpetrify it and stick it back on or not. After his hand was fully petrified, his ice scale didn't change or turn grey. Ebony made a mini ice orb for it and threw it into his bag just in case.
Humans couldn't regenerate limbs even when they reached Master or Grandmaster unless they had some special Class or Fortifications. Or just like Ebony had some special Physique. He was sure that he should be able to regenerate his hand sooner or later. It might take a long time, it might be greatly weakened but it'll heal. There shouldn't even be any lasting injury from all the injuries he had already healed from, that hinted to him.
Ebony didn't stop running in a straight line for stealth wasn't in his considerations. Ignoring the few monsters he came across saved a massive amount of time. He didn't need to travel in a way that conserved stamina without his party members. Didn't have heavy shields to slow him down. Scarlet was as light as a feather and her condition seemed to have stabilised even though Ebony didn't do shit to treat her. Only now did Ebony realise that her heart rate was getting really high. He was worried at first but then realised it was her skill at work.
Ebony didn't turn back, he ran through day and night. It was dark from the 'sky' that was the thunderclouds from the 11th floor.