Chapter 199

Chapter 199

Slipping to the side, Matt avoided the rake of a lizard monster's claw and punched the air, casting [Fist Blast] with his short jab.

While too weak to do serious damage, it was enough to knock the lizardman off balance, causing its follow-up tail swipe to narrowly miss him. With the opening, Matt chopped down with his longsword and cut a deep furrow into the lizard's shoulder.

The creature tried to scuttle away, but he pinned it to the ground with his Tier 14 sword's weight and hacked its head off with a few brutal strikes.

This floor had turned into a slog, and even fighting the normal monsters was becoming a struggle, as they were slowly forced to use their skills more and more. Minkalla had finally decided that they had used his talismans enough to discount the challenge, and weakened their effects to the point of near-uselessness. That, in turn, forced them to rely on their own skills more than they would have preferred, which only increased their mana costs after repeated usage.

Many of his skills were too expensive to cast outright, and after the latest fight, [Fist Blast] joined their ranks. He was storing and retrieving mana from his mana stones dozens of times per engagement, but even that didnt help once the skills started costing more than 2,500 mana.

[Fist Blast] had carried him through the last three ruins, but using it had been a deliberate choice, as it was one of his newest skills. Therefore, that made it one of the most expendable he had. Being in his outer spirit, it was already expensive and fairly weak, but hed faced worse odds before. Hed taken to pulsing his physical buffs instead of running them at full blast at all times, but even that was starting to add up.

Rushing to assist Liz, they finished off her lizard before helping Susanne and Aster.

They were cleaning up the battlefield when Susanne said, Team ahead!

Scanning forward with his spiritual sense, Matt found the team in question and was going to dismiss the encounter, as the other team didnt seem inclined to bother them, until she continued with her observations.

That's one of the Clan teams who attacked me during the fight with the death squad.

Matt took a deep breath before letting it out slowly.

He would really prefer to avoid a fight with other delvers right now, but he also understood Susanne's anger and desire for revenge. If he had been attacked like she had, he would also be chomping at the bit to get some payback, and he wasnt going to let her go alone.

He just really wished that they could do it on another floor.

Aster yipped and tapped the floor twice, letting Liz translate. Aster said that we should make it quick. And frankly, I agree.

Susanne shrugged, seeming unconcerned. They didnt have any special skills when they were accidentally attacking me, but I wasnt intending to go up and challenge them openly. Gesturing with her greatsword, she poked the air as if it was a dagger. I was thinking more of a stabby stabby from behind approach.

With everyone's agreement, they made their way through the tunnels of their current ruin while also keeping as low of a profile as possible.

Chances were, the other team had already seen them in their spiritual perception, but rushing forward recklessly would have been just as dumb.

They were a few hundred feet from the other team when they turned and started casting spells and loosing arrows at them.

Matt sidestepped a glowing arrow and was going to charge forward, when he caught a flicker of movement from behind himself. Instead of charging with the others, he twisted and slashed out with his sword.

A man in subdued Sect robes ducked his slash and racked out with his hand in a claw-like motion, while flames gathered around his nails and burnt the air with their passing.

Stepping back, Matt called out, Attack from the rear! I got it.

Matt tried to keep his opponent at a decent range, where he could use his weapons length to his advantage, but the surprise attack meant that he was already too close.

How the man had so perfectly hidden his presence from spiritual perception was a mystery that Matt didnt have time to ponder.

In the second exchange, he took a slashing attack on his quadriceps. His physical armor was cut clean through as if it didnt exist, and he felt the fire as it burnt into him.

Growling, Matt pulled his longsword into his spatial ring and punched his attacker in the face.

A magical armor appeared for a brief second and formed a helmet that blocked the blow, while his attacker racked their claws at his wrist, trying to disable him.

Matt flexed his Concepts repulsion effect and used its power to push the attack away slightly, then used the space it gave him to slam his fist onto the man's chest.

This blow landed, and even with the magical armor flaring up, he was sent stumbling back.

Using that to his advantage, Matt withdrew his sword and cut down at the man. He avoided the attack with an unnaturally fast side-step, then summoned a sword and shield pair that radiated power.

The Sect fighter thrust out with his shield, and a mana copy of the weapon appeared and slammed onto Matts blade, sending it off course, while he cut out with his physical blade at Matt's already wounded leg.

Matt pulsed [Cracked Phantom Armor] to block it, letting the attack bounce off the concentrated second layer.

Unlike normal spells, channel spells got more expensive for every second used, which for Matts toolkit, mostly meant they functionally just got weaker over time.

[Cracked Phantom Armor] had avoided most of that fate thanks to Matt not using it. But even having only used it twice on this floor for short bursts, Matt could already feel the difference in its defensive power.

But it was still more than strong enough to block the blow, and Matt used that to his advantage.

Stepping forward, he chopped down at the mans body, forcing him to block with the shield. As the blow landed, he sent mana into the [Mana Slash] that hed ultimately imbued into his sword, letting the resulting explosion obscure the man's vision for a brief instant.

Taking a step back, Matt chopped down at the man again, sending another [Mana Slash] out, but the man intercepted the crescent of mana with a [Mana Slash] of his own.

With a little distance between them, Matt shifted his focus onto the other three and their fight with the Clan team.

Things were going far better for them, it seemed, as there was already a foreign body on the ground, and the other three Clan delvers were trying to retreat.

Happy to let the other fight finish, so they could then turn this fight into a one versus four, Matt changed his style into a defensive one. To his surprise, his attacker didnt retreat, and kept on with his attack, pressing Matt hard and casting spell after spell, as if he didnt feel the increased cost of this floor.

Taking each attack in, Matt guessed that most of the skills being used were enchanted into the weapon, and his armor had a physical boosting enchantment, allowing the man to fight at a breakneck pace for so long without worry.

Just as his team was finishing off the group from the Clans and rushing to join him, another team came out of an adjoining tunnel and immediately peppered them with attacks.

Spells and arrows rained down on Susanne, Aster, and Liz, while Matt and the Sect man were relatively unbothered, being slightly outside the range of the other fight.

The man that Matt was fighting stopped his advance and said something in the Sects language that Matt couldnt fully understand without his AI, but it generally translated as mocking or gloating.

Matt cut low as the man charged with his shield held high, but the man jumped up and dodged the strike, then jumped again with a ripple appearing under his feet. [Puddle Jumper] was a rare skill to be seen in actual combat, and Matt was completely caught off guard, taking a cutting blow on his back that thankfully didnt bypass a burst of [Cracked Phantom Armor].

Wanting to end this fight as quickly as possible, he flared [Mages Retreat] at max power for an instant, then rushed forward and swung his blade at where the man would jump next if he decided to cast [Puddle Jumper] again.

His guess was correct, and Matt caught him on his leg, drawing blood from the Sects delver for the first time.

As the Sect fighter tumbled to the ground, Matt lunged forward and chopped down, but his blow was caught by the glowing shield, and he took a counter strike to the knee where the man kicked out.

Matt wasnt sure if his opponent had expected his leg to break from the blow, but [Cracked Phantom Armor] didnt react as if it was anything but a normal blow, and the failed attack allowed him to cut down twice more at his assailant.

Neither blow landed on anything but the man's shield, but he was able to cut large gouges into it until, finally, the third blow disrupted a rune in the item. In response, the shield started to glow brighter and brighter.

Knowing what was about to happen, Matt backed up rapidly and had to roll to dodge the shield as the Sect fighter threw it at him.

As he came out of the roll, he nearly impaled the man, but apparently, his claws werent just for the offensive, as he was able to grab Matts blade and twist it out of his grasp.

Seeing that it was a futile cause, he let the blade go and entered into a grapple with his opponent.

They twisted and vied for the top position for a few moments, but Matt was able to gain the advantage.

The other man was a good ground fighter, but Matt was stronger, and after getting the mount, he started launching punch after punch on the man's face and upper chest.

His opponent seemed happy to trade blows while he relied on his magical armor, trying to cut through Matts [Cracked Phantom Armor] with his claws that were glowing with flame once again.

Matt was growling in anger, as he had to direct all of the spell's second layer into his abdomen to prevent himself from being disemboweled.

He could feel [Cracked Phantom Armor]s mana cost slowly increasing with each blow, and used the anger to fuel his attacks. The man's claw swipes did more damage than they should have, and it was forcing him to spend more and more mana on the spell.

Finally, something broke, and the stalemate ended.

Matts punch broke the Sect man's armor enchantment, and his face exploded in a wash of blood as Matt drove a second, then a third blow down on the man.

He was going to finish him off when the man's claw finally broke through [Cracked Phantom Armor], sending a wash of agony through his chest.

The fifth explosion of the sun was seemingly the last, but while Matt stuck around, Long Zhiyuan and most others seemed to fully retreat.

Calling out to the retreating figure with what little of the Sect language he knew he said, Run you chicken noodle soup.

Or at least that was what he hoped he had said.

Once more entering the now blackened cave, Matt saw his team doing the same with a few others.

Everyone who stayed was Empire, Guild, or Corporations, and they immediately started looting the battlefield.

After collecting the spatial items and undamaged weapons and armor from the bodies that he and Long Zhiyuan had killed, Matt hobbled over to his team.

Pulling a healing potion out of his spatial ring, Matt downed it, but could feel that it wasnt as effective as it could be. He was at the healing cooldown once more, and he needed time for his body to recover. Time to rest and recover was something he didnt have though, nor did he expect to get much any time soon. He would need to hang back and avoid as many fights with other cultivators as he could.

Pulling off his helm, he poured another healing potion over his still-bleeding face and held the flaps of skin in place even as Liz came over to him.

What was that? He asked, as she started wrapping his forehead with a compress.

Aster yipped something, but Susanne answered, Some item. A Monsters Collective guy cracked it with his last breath. I dont know where he got it, but it created that weird ass sun thing.

Before they were able to say anything else, a man walked over to them before dropping off a pile of loot.

Here are items not devoured from the people you killed.

Liz thanked him and introduced him to Matt, dipping in and out of the Guilds main language. Thanks Claude. White, Claude. Guild Hero, and good guy who helped us out in the melee there. Had our back when another team tried to ambush us.

Matt, who now had his head wrapped, proffered a hand, which the man took.

To his surprise, Claude spoke the Empire language, even if it was a little hard to understand everything with his accent and poor grammar. Nice to meet you. I not stand and watch ambush on allies. You interesting fight guy side.

Matt scoffed. You could call it that. Long Zhiyuan, better known as Young Master Blood Hand. He ambushed us as we were attacking the first Clan team. I didnt realize who he was until another team called his name out as he killed them.

Liz sat down and pulled up her shirt so Matt could start applying a disinfectant to the hole that had been punched through her abdomen.

It looked like an arrow had gone through cleanly, but it was always better to be careful, so he took his time to ensure that her internal organs werent punctured.

Liz said as he worked, Is that what happened? We were wondering when you got attacked.

Im not sure if he was ambushing the Clan team or us, but he has a way to hide from spiritual sense scans, and has most of his Genesis Energy in a ring. Or I assume so, as when he killed people, he got their Genesis Energy like normal. Either way, he's a strong fighter and excels in close range combat, just like the information said.

Claude paused for a second before asking, You start this?

Susanne took that one. Yeah, that was on me. That Clan team were on Winter's side with us on the last floor, and they didnt put much effort in aiming their attacks while I was getting attacked by a Death Squad.

Her tone was challenging, and Claude clearly caught it as he nodded to her. Fair. Just surprise. Most us avoiding attacking other teams The Guilder paused for a minute while clearly searching for the word he wanted. Seeming to give up, he finished with, Fear of this happening.

Matt nodded as he pet Aster before starting to pull out the two crossbow bolts still inside his chest and leg. Liz was busy helping Susanne pull an arrow from her back, so he dealt with the easier injuries himself.

Claude lingered with them until the other teams left and then said, AI. Please.

Matt looked to the others, who nodded, and Matt activated his AI and translated for Claude as he said in the Guilds speech, Watch out for the Federation. They have a few death squad teams of ten, and they are incredibly strong. I fought one on the third floor, where they were only Tier 9 while I was Tier 12 on Back to Basics, and I still struggled to kill them. They kill without hesitation or negotiation. I know of at least two teams running around, one of which is even more fearsome than the group I took care of personally or so the report of the lone survivor indicates.

Matt met his team's eyes and they saw the same surprise in their eyes.

Susanne said, We encountered the same thing. Ten assholes who were more than happy to attack us on sight. They were strong, but we were able to kill them off easily enough.

Claude shrugged. Maybe it was the same group, but with all respect, I dont think you would be walking right now if you had encountered the stronger group. Seeing two groups like that implies more, and they cant all be so proficient. I handled a group on my own, but I had a three Tier advantage, and they were weakened and distracted. Just a warning.

With that said, he nodded and walked out through the nearest cave entrance.

Matt took a little longer to get back on his feet, with the wounds he took during the fight taking more potions than normal to heal.

Now that they were alone, Liz took the opportunity to inspect Matts mask.

Thankfully, despite the cuts to his face, the enchantment was still intact, and with the helm, no one would have been able to see more than blood.

They still swapped out the mask for one of the backups they brought. The last thing they needed was someone to discover that they were Tier 11, let alone this deep in Minkalla, with everyone so packed in together.

When they were walking through the tunnels, Susanne said, Thanks, guys. I know we didnt expect it to snowball like that, but thank you for not pulling out or anything. I couldn't have blamed you guys for not wanting to go for the initial fight, or not sticking around once it turned bad. She paused before shaking her head. Just thanks. Means a lot.

Matt, limping alongside her, could see her discomfort in opening up, and took the opportunity to change the subject. What did you guys get for loot?

He hadnt seen what Claude brought over, but they were a lot closer to the explosion, and he didnt expect much to have survived.

Susanne, who had gone through it, shrugged. Nothing stood out to me but a few houses. A lot of items, weapons, and other stuff. A few things might be natural treasures, but I can't be sure with the quick look I gave it.

Matt quickly parsed through what he was able to while on the move, and agreed that there was nothing too noteworthy, though a full assessment would have to wait.

Going through his own loot, he found something quite interesting.

A single bottle of green liquid. Green liquid he had seen before.

It was a bottle of decay mana from the Fall General.

Pulling it out, he shook it. Well what do you know? It may take a while, but our rightful earnings always find their way back to us.

Liz grabbed it and inspected it. Nice. And they didnt even open it. I might be able to make a poison potion out of this. I wasnt going to pay the cost for this thing, but now that it fell into my lap, I wont say no.

They chatted until they found a way out of the area in a jungle ruin that still had monsters, and then dropped their house and took a break to recover from their wounds before pressing deeper.

As they sat around, Matt once more contemplated the idea that they might need to Tier up before they exited this floor.

It would make all of these fights easier, and it would also slow them down as they would need more Genesis Energy to take the rewards.

But they would be safer.

Much safer.

Looking at all of them, Matt couldnt help but notice their growing collection of injuries. Injuries that might force their hands.

Tiering up wouldnt remove or even reduce their healing cooldown, but it would help them take less wounds.

He remembered Luna talking about Minkalla and his own attitude.

Matt didnt think he was arrogant, but he had been confident before this, despite everything.

He now knew how much of a delusion that was.

Minkalla was dangerous, and a Tier disadvantage made that all the more apparent.

The monsters were one thing, and if it was just them, they would be fine, but the other delvers proved to be the real threat.

They, more than the planet itself, might prove what forced his group to Tier up.

He would rather Tier up than have his friends in danger.

That could be avoided if they could regain their lead on the pack which is what they were trying to do and being Tier 11 they gathered Genesis Energy far faster than their competitors. That was an advantage he was loath to lose.

That was his last thought as the painkillers finally kicked in and he fell asleep.