Chapter 92: Homecoming

Chapter 92: Homecoming

The ocean was filled with a scarlet mist. Pieces of fish and sea monsters floated around like dumped litter.

No one was in the mood to take the fight easy. It was sloppy, and some were injured, but they didn’t care.

Especially Calum. His chest was violently rising up and down and wounds had littered his body from the intensive fight. He chased the ocean monsters with a hound-like, bestial ferocity.

Astrid had to take matters into her own hand so that he didn’t get himself killed. She surrounded his body in her illusionary armour, it reduced the impact slightly, but that was it. Her main form of defence was her illusions and her Mind Barrier.

In the end, Tony was the one to calm him down from the intense emotions wracking his mind.

They all safely breached the water. Astrid spotted a Seafaring boat. It doubled up as back-up for them during their swim back up to the surface, and their lift home.

But it was quiet, too quiet.

Astrid searched for any of the beating red hearts that were meant to be on the boat, but the lack of the vibrant red made her frown. Well, at least they hadn’t destroyed the boat, or it would be a hell of a long swim back to HMS Rebirth.

And that was if the lower levels had the strength to swim past the strong ocean current and the languid pace of Rebirth’s engines.

“No one’s alive on that boat, right?” Josh asked. His eyes lingered on the boat, there were no shouts to welcome their arrival, or the rumbling of the engine.

“Come on.” Astrid sighed.

Astrid levitated out of the water and approached the boat first. Blood dripped from the wooden planks of the boat, and into the water located at the stern of the boat.

Astrid shook her head as the corpses had long turned cold. Their lips changed from a once pink filled with warmth, to a frigid blue.

She removed their badges and raised the bodies with psychokinesis. She placed them on the water just as the other Wayfarers climbed aboard.

They placed their hands on their hearts and saluted.

The bodies floated. They were filled with rigour mortis and refused to move even after bobbing along with the waves. It wasn’t long before they disappeared from the harsh currents of the great ocean.

Astrid bowed her head and gazed at the orange horizon. Death. It was so common for life as an adventurer. And it was one she would never give up.

She swirled the psychic mana within her mind and basked in her powerful mind.

She was just getting started.

It took a few hours to reach Rebirth. Along the way, Astrid was silent. She was thinking what to say to her father, and most likely the top brass of the Wayfarers.

She doubted she could escape from the debrief this time. After all, she was the only one to experience the dungeon and she had no one to talk for her.

They parked the boat at the hitching bay and waited for the Rebirth scouts to identify their boat. It was standard procedure to make sure they weren’t bringing unwanted visitors into humanity's last bastion.

Astrid tapped her foot on the ground and entered into her system.

You have defeated a Voidling Insect - level 65

You have defeated a Voidling Wolf - level 71

You have defeated a Voidling Basilisk - level 86

...

You have defeated - Phantom Blade, Prince - level 119

You have levelled up!

Psychokinetic level 85 -> Psychokinetic level 90

Voidmare level 85 -> Voidmare level 90



Gained 50 stat points.





You now have 254 wisdom.

Skill level up!

Omni-Kinesis level 1 -> Omni-Kinesis level 2

Void Graviton level 1 -> Void Graviton level 2

Eye of the Void level 1 -> Eye of the Void level 2

[ Stage 2 ] Major Image level 12 -> Major Image level 14

[ Stage 2 ] Mind domination level 12 -> Mind Domination level 14

[ Stage 2 ] Weightless Levitation level 11 -> Weightless Levitation level 12

[ Stage 2 ] Illusionary Armour level 15 -> Illusionary Armour level 16

[ Stage 2 ] Mind Barrier level 18 -> Mind Barrier level 19

[ Stage 2 ] Crash level 17 -> Crash level 18

[ Stage 2 ] Psych Warp level 4 -> Psych Warp level 9

Experience gained!



Mental Resistance - level 1

Lung Capacity - level 1

Avatar of Mana [ Stage 3 ]

Enhanced Vision [ Stage 2 ]

Swordsmanship - level 4

Status:



Unallocated stat points: 0



Strength: 60

Dexterity: 60

Constitution: 100

Intelligence: 500

Wisdom: 244



She still had two abilities to gain in her Psychokinetic class, it surprised her that she hadn’t gained them yet, but Legendary classes were different after all.

I should gain them once I reach level one-hundred for the class advancement... wait a minute. Astrid pinched her chin in thought.

She had gained her secondary class advancement too soon thanks to the mission reward of the dungeon. Was her advancement then rushed forward, or would she gain another at level one-hundred alongside her main class upgrade.

Astrid moved from pinching her chin to gently squeezing her temples. She wasn’t used to thinking so much, she much rather preferred the brute force method.

Mother always scolded me for that. Astrid smirked.

Her body jolted as the cables that had attached to their boat were pulled taught. After a few more moments, the strict face of the Wayfaring major greeted them.

It looked like Major Steele had already figured something out as his usually laid back face and frown marks etched into his forehead.

The scouts must have picked up that we are missing a lot of members. Astrid thought.

Medics rushed forward and tended to those who were injured the most, mainly Calum. His wild fighting had opened his wounds, and no matter how many health potions were used, it wasn’t working. It needed something pure. He needed a healer.

While the healers were using their skills on the injured, Major Steele gazed at Astrid.

With a sigh, she stepped forward.

She hesitated when it came to the dungeon, but she couldn’t keep it a secret. It wouldn't be long until someone else found out that there used to be a dungeon there. It’s just that she was just hesitant in telling Major Steele, her family was different as it was just that, family.

Although Major Steele was a major within the Wayfarers, she didn’t have a lot of experience with him. But as a Wayfarer, it was her duty to report her discoveries. Or she would be heavily punished by military law. Even a Sinwen couldn’t escape that punishment.

Calum clenched his fists. His nails dug deep into his palm as blood seeped, the crazed look in his eyes appeared once more as he turned to the Major.

He mumbled, “the others–I...”

Major Steele sighed and stepped forward. He rested his outstretched hand on the broken young man’s shoulder.

“It’s fine son,” Major Steele continued, “you’re back home now.”

There was no blame, nor words of abuse. Just a raw understanding of the boy’s mind. It was the experience of any aspiring leader. One of loss.

Calum sniffled, but tears refused to descend from his dry eyes. He had already expelled them all back down in the town, yet his head powerlessly fell onto the Major’s shoulder.

“Astrid,” Major Steele said, “we will be needing a full debrief.”

Calum lifted his head and took a step back. He raised his hand and struck his cheek with a resounding slap.

“I can debrief you sir,” Calum saluted. “For the first and the latter part, that is. There is important information in the middle that only Astrid can tell you about.”

Major Steele raised his brow and nodded.

“Very well,” he said.

“Gather the top brass,” Astrid said.

Major Steele squinted his eyes.

“Pirates, dungeon, new world,” Astrid continued, “is that enough?”

Major Steele said, “that’s enough.”

He turned to his right hand man. The captain's wayfaring badge had the name of Cieran. He had long twirling hair that was bunched up into a ponytail. A deep scar had sliced into the hair at the side of his head, and travelled to the corner of his eye. His weapon of choice was a spiked mace that was hooked to his belt with a lanyard attached to the handle.

Cieran also had a round shield strapped to his thigh that was just larger than his head.

Her words were simple, but they held tremendous weight. Summoning the top brass wasn’t a simple thing to do, and it was only done when absolutely needed.

And when mixed with a dungeon clear, a new world, and the son of a pirate king killing Wayfarers. It was serious. It could even have an effect on the entire world if it wasn’t handled carefully.

“Call the top brass, we have a pirate problem amongst other shit.”

“Yes Major, I’ll leave that last part out though if you don’t mind,” Cieran said with a deadpan expression.

“Just get it done, it’s going to be a shit show.” Major Steele sighed.