Chapter 264

Chapter 264

Matt panted as he looked down into the valley, where a single massive bear paced around, letting out occasional chuffs and growls.

They had already spent a week clearing out the rest of the monsters in the Tier 24 rift, but with a five Tier difference, each fight was difficult on its own, and the bears were one of their hardest opponents in recent memory. It was precisely why Luna had them cutting their teeth against the beasts.

If they were just simple elemental bears, the rift should have been easier than most, but the breed seemed filled with limitless energy and a willingness to trade damage with anyone who tried to fight them. If that was all, they would have been fairly normal monsters, but Continuous Bears used their own brand of endlessness to absorb damage and use it to fuel their own attacks. To make matters worse, they loved to work together with the Space Bats and the Time Rabbits to confuse and outlast anyone delving this awful rift.

If the three of them were closer in Tier, they could have just overwhelmed the bears damage absorption, but with a five Tier gap, they struggled to damage the monsters at all.

Aster flicked her tail, slipped back over the lip of the valley, and groaned. Im not sure we can take that big boy. Even if I slow him down, he's going to get free in fifteen seconds at best.

Matt agreed with a nod. The Continuous Bears were hard to use any kind of slow or crowd control spells on, as while the spell would work like normal at first, it would quickly start to lose effectiveness until it was useless. And that was for the normal bears. If the increase in power of the other monster types held true for the sub bosses, this bear was going to break out even faster.

Learning that lesson on the Space Bat had cost Matt a large chunk out of his thigh that had taken days to heal while fighting. He was just glad the monsters' offensive powers were only on par with Tier 24 monsters and not exceptional like their defenses were.

Liz pushed herself back and quietly asked, Are we going to call it quits then?

Lizs voice was perfectly calm, but Matt heard the irritation in it. They had fully cleared this rift in the hope they could advance to Tier 20 without fighting the trio of bosses guarding the rift exit and reward, and were just a step away.

Tier 20 had been such a looming goal for so long that with it so close, none of them wanted to give up, but the only source of essence left in the rift was the final sub-boss and the collection of bosses. Both options none of them were entirely sure they could actually beat without a serious risk of death.

Fighting with this large of a Tier gap, even a small mistake could prove fatal, and that rang especially true when fighting a boss.

Matt shrugged. If we have to leave, we should, but I think I have an idea. First of all, how is your arm, Liz?

Liz flexed her right hand, twisting it left and right, showing the appendage had its full range of movement. Ninety percent, what's your idea?

Matt flipped his hand and pulled out one of his talisman arrays. I think it's time we use Breakers Fist.

Aster groaned as she shook her head. Theres no way that will work, Matt. You need to be way too close to land that with a boss this dangerous.

Everything she said was correct, but Matt nodded anyway. Breakers Fist was an array he had put together with Tier 24 bear hides during their current delve on a whim, wanting to take advantage of the bear's unique properties and how they might merge with his manas endless sub-aspect. The end result was giving Matt an incredible amount of melee strength and reinforcement for a brief moment, all concentrated on his fist.

At least, in theory.

Matt hadnt actually been able to test the array. In fact, he hadnt even made the array yet. Though, in principle, he should be able to make it in a mere few hours with how simple the actual formation was.

Liz shook her head at his idea. It's too risky to do that without testing. If it's that bad, it's smarter to just back out and run another rift for us to hit Tier 20. What about your fire arrays? If I direct one or two of them, we might be able to punch through the hide of the monster.

Matt searched his ring and tossed the remaining two fire-based talisman arrays to Liz and the ice-based one to Aster.

They had burned through a lot of his supply in the last few years with their aggressive delving speed.

Matt still had a lot of single talismans, but the arrays were practically needed when delving at such a disadvantage. For all that they pretended he had a talisman Talent, he didnt, and the lack of added power really started to be felt at times like this.

Aster flipped through the pieces of parchment and tsked. I can work with this, but it will only extend my slowing of the bear by five, maybe ten seconds. Once it starts growing immune to something, it's hard to keep the same effect going.

Liz asked, Matt, can you wrap the bear in a lot of earth? Even if only for a few moments? That should let me get a good hit with these two. Adding in my own attacks, I think I can get us through its hide.

Matt nodded as he ran the simulations. As long as the boss didnt have a wildly different skill set from the smaller monsters they had fought, they should be able to pierce the monster's hide.

Then, it would just be up to him and Liz to finish the monster off before it could kill them.Ñ00v€l--ß1n hosted the premiere release of this chapter.

A dangerous game, but one he was confident they could win.

They spent a few minutes hashing out a general outline of their plan before getting ready.

Matt used 60,000 MPS to fuel both layers of [Cracked Phantom Armor] to their limits. He had spent the last few decades making his first skill more and more efficient so it wasnt outclassed by higher Tier skills. He was hoping that when he completed The Path he could get a few upgrade orbs, and intended to use one on the skill that had enabled so much of his growth.

Setting his feet, as he couldn't fly with his Concept in such a high Tier rift, he launched himself into the valley, sword glowing with mana. Like a star descending, his presence was immediately noticed by the sub-boss, who, instead of turning and running like a normal bear, reared on its hind legs let out a scream that caused a red aura to appear around it.

Standing close to fifteen feet tall, the monster swiped at Matt as he descended. But with his physical buffing skills running, Matt was just able to react and dodge the monster's attack by using his Concept to subtly change his direction, forcing the bear to lock down space.

As his blade touched the bear's second swipe, Matt was already commanding the ground to reach up and wrap around its legs.

He immediately felt the ground start to break apart, but with a large portion of his mana, he commanded the ground to hold, and it did.

As his blade released the stored mana in [Mana Charge], the world went white, and even with both layers of [Cracked Phantom Armor] protecting him, Matt felt a strain on the skill and knew the bear would have taken some damage, even with its reinforced claws. With the mana causing the world to go blueish-white, Matt had to rely on his spiritual sense to dodge the second claw as it came around to try and swat him out of the air.

Instead of dodging, Matt teleported to the bear's flank and immediately swapped places with Liz, who drove her flame-covered spear into the side of the bear. If it was only flames, the bear might have been able to rely on its defenses to take the hit, but Liz had been charging [Hungering Weapon] and her Concept, waiting for the swap.

From Matt's vantage point at the top of the valley, he watched as a wave of flames expanded outward for a brief moment before rushing back in to converge on Liz, or rather her spear, leaving only a small moment where he could see the blood being pulled out of the bears side and fed through the spear like a child drinking through a straw.

The bear, who had shrugged off his initial attacks, stumbled backward, a large cut exposing its ribs, charred flesh already starting to wiggle as the monster tried to heal itself.

Matt teleported back down into the valley with two quick jumps, using the mana he had just sent back into the growth ring, not able to do more as the bear was locking down space next to it. As he approached, Aster was already casting her own spells. [Black Ice] was a new standard opener and muffled the presence of her follow-up spells. [Brittle Cold] made the bears Continuity Concept effects weaker, and [Winter's Harvest] weakened the bear and fed that power into Matt and Liz. Then she used [Absolute White], which slowed the bear and helped conceal them, an effect that was doubled up with [Black Ice], then also boosted by [Winters Harvest]. [Headwind] and [Tailwind ] sped them up and slowed the bear down as well, giving Matt and Liz the moments they needed so they could actually react to the sub-bosses' higher Tier movements.

Even as her spells were going off, Aster still cast the talisman array as she tried to lock the bear down, using the moment to command the [Snowpack] ice golem cast through her glowing growth tiara down into the fight.

Matt twisted through the air, and using his left hand, he cast a seemingly unending stream of [Cracked Mana Spear], keeping the beam of energy on the gigantic bears already wounded side.

On the positive, it hurt the bear enough to turn its attention from Liz to Matt, but on the other hand, the spell wasnt doing as much damage as they had hoped it would. It was still carving new chunks from the bears regrowing flesh, but they had hoped that Matts finishing move would at least punch through to its internals.

Matt rolled out of the way of the bear's lunging attack, but knew that he couldnt keep it up forever and dropped [Cracked Mana Spear] for the moment. A large shard of ice slammed into the bears head, interrupting its skill-infused bite that was trying to take his life.

Liz was already moving, and with blood gathered from the rift, drove a dozen copies of her spear into the already wounded side of the monster, which caused it to turn and snap at her.

Liz almost got out of the way.

Instead of a clean dodge, she was forced to block the blow with her shield. The bear's glowing teeth bit into her shield, forcing Liz to drop it. When it tried to shake her, she was sent flying instead of being tossed around like a salmon who was a little too slow.

Matt was already moving and cast [Sword Twin] twice, one blade being absorbed into his own and the other dashing to attack the boss face.

[Cracked Air Slide] let him accelerate to an incredible degree in just two steps, but even with [Barbarian's Hide] reinforcing his body, he could feel his muscles tearing and bones cracking under the immense speed. Instead of just charging up a single [Mana Charge], he used his merged blade to cast [Hypersonic Edge], and using the combined spells, slashed along the bear's already wounded side, letting the explosion of mana cut deep into the bear's flesh.

Being so close, Matt was unable to dodge the pained twisting of the sub-boss and caught a flailing paw that backhanded him into the nearby valley's wall. If [Cracked Phantom Armor] hadnt held, he probably would have cracked his head open on impact instead of being mostly fine.

Throwing the stone off him with a small repulsion field, Matt stood up and rushed back into the fight with his blade ready, just in time to see Aster's ice golem getting torn to shreds.

Dodging, he skipped past the explosion of ice that crept over the ground and waves of blood that seemed to chase each other as the Continuous Bear screamed. Energy seemed to infuse the bear, and its movements turned into blurs. It was pure instinct that got Matts blade into position, allowing him to block the blades of mana that tried to tear through him.

As the bear fell back onto all four, Matt was there to meet it, his now battered second [Sword Twin] diving in and scouring a cut on the monster's left eye that didnt seem to bother the creature, but gave Matt an opening with its loss of vision.

Spreading his spiritual sense, he didnt try to sense anything but instead tried to obscure everything his spiritual sense touched, which forced the boss to rely on its now injured eyes.

He got a [Bulwark] up in time to block a bite, but as the bear started to shake, the spell fell apart, despite all his reinforcements. That forced the bear to stand still, which opened it up to Lizs spear that darted in deceptively slowly.

Accompanying her spear was a wave of blood that seemed to rush into the bear's injured side, causing it to scream. As it twisted and bit at her, Liz stood her ground and exploded in a shower of blood as the monster grabbed her and started to shake and chew.

Seeing that, Matt internally winced, but knew she had already used [Blood Body] and wasnt in any real danger. With her corporal form shattered, all the blood around them became part of Liz, and she rose into her golem form before turning it all into golden crystal with [Blood Crystal Armor]. With size that could rival the bear, Liz exchanged blows with the beast, standing her ground and keeping its attention even as Matt started charging [Sheer Cold].

Was it saying that she couldnt make the anchor yet? Luna had said that Intents could be very particular, and while it was rare that the parts insisted on being made in a certain order, it wasnt unheard of.

Though, it made sense that her literal coronation might need to be the final piece of her Intent to form. There was much more to being a queen than simply wearing a crown, after all. There was much work to be done before then.

I am Ice, she replied, meditating upon the full implications of that idea, delving ever-deeper into the reality she suggested. But her spirit didnt respond.

I am the Cold at Worlds End. It didnt approve of that. It was unbecoming for a queen to be the apocalypse itself. She was no winter wolf seeking to devour the sun and leave her lands awash in darkness and ice.

The Eternal Majesty of Ice. Something was there. Her spirit applauded the idea of an eternal ice sculpture to her majesty, lasting past the very heat-death of the universe. But there was more there, something just out of reach

A stabbing headache brought her back to reality, and when Aster went to wipe her forehead off, it came away covered in frozen blood. Her eyes widened slightly. Perhaps shed been pushing a bit too hard for right now.

Aster sighed. She had really wanted to show up Matt and Liz by coming away with at least something for her efforts, and if she was lucky, maybe even Susanne. The swordswoman, last theyd heard from her, had a very solid idea for all three parts of her Intent, with a decent amount of resonance between them. She was still waiting until she reached Tier 20 for genuine attempts, but Aster wouldnt have been surprised if shed get her entire Intent within a decade.

Though, it wasnt really any comfort, Aster could sense Matts irritation with his own Intent through their bond. Perhaps Liz was having a better time than them.

***

Liz meditated within an ocean, or at least a pool, of blood. Specifically, her blood.

Her Anchor.

There really was no other option for her. She was One With Blood, it was her in a very real sense. It was her cauldron and weapon, her health and her heritage. It was what her body used to fight off foreign attacks, even how it counterattacked. Everything she touched became a part of her blood, her skills simply an extension of her circulatory system.

It was her pride and joy, thick and powerful. It had held potions strong enough to let her match a giant blow for blow, and absorbed enough metal to make a spaceship.

It was already her spirit made manifest, this was simply the next step for that. It should be as easy as breathing.

At least, comparatively.

Her blood was so much more than simply the red-colored liquid that she needed to remove from enemies and use within herself. Shed spent the last half-century truly trying to comprehend every last way which blood could be understood, because it was all important to her Intent.

Intents were hard.

Unlike Concepts, which fundamentally didnt require much beyond a basic idea for your spirit to center upon and build off of, Intents served as the gateway to the third Talent, the Power Talent. Beyond the additional step of an Anchor, connecting her spirit so firmly to reality that trying to say it was anything but real was a fools errand, every part of the Intent had to be firmly understood and comprehended. Every last facet needed to be accounted for.

She needed perfect clarity of intent, absolute knowledge of everything her blood did and was, such that her spirit could manifest and perform all of those actions just as surely. And that was the easy part. She didnt need to worry about the resonances with the other portions of her Intent yet, didnt need to balance her understanding of her Anchor with her Phrase or Image, didnt need to keep every portion of her Image in mind as she reached out to claim her Anchor, all that mattered right now was her, and her blood.

Her blood was her weapon. It had been enhanced with blood iron, heavy iron, and a dozen other metals, letting it hit like an outright hammer. It could be formed into spikes, and shed studied and memorized the exact crystal and mana patterns involved in those spikes in preparation for this.

Her blood was her life. She had spent countless hours, days even, in meditation focused solely upon her blood. Shed intentionally infected herself with a plague and watched as her blood fought it off, studied the ways her cells had, in their own semi-chaotic, semi-organized way, gathered their forces and fought off the invaders. The next time, shed brought her own expertise to bear, physically controlling her immune system to wield it as a weapon against the blight attacking her.

Shed also watched it mend her, and spent so much time controlling it to mend her faster. She knew how it created the scaffolding which the rest of her body grew back over, and how to tweak it to prevent scars, or to make scars appear in a certain way, or how to remove a scar altogether, cutting out the tissue and creating a new shield against those who would harm her.

Shed even killed herself a couple of times, simply to study how her blood responded. She had seen the mana, willpower, and essence coalesce and repair her spirit, keeping it from falling apart even as her body failed. Shed seen the resurrecting power of the phoenix fight off the eternal darkness of death.

Her blood was her heritage. It was her mothers blood which ran through her veins, the same fire which she used as Torch imbuing every last cell, carried in the essence of her bloodline, yet connecting her to every other phoenix who had ever lived.

Shed sought to try and integrate fire more directly into her blood, but that hadnt gone well. There were no known aspects which integrated fire and blood, despite the lifes work of an old Duke whose power was drawn from sacrificing blood in giant braziers. Phoenixes had been a source of inspiration for him, or so he had claimed, but his dream of bloodfire had never materialized.

But her blood was her fire.

Her Concept already could instantly transform drops of her blood into blood-red flames whose ash was simply more blood. Liz had spent weeks slowly burning her blood inside and outside of her body, watching as her Domain smoothly changed blood to fire, fire to ash, and ash to fire. Shed even studied the ash that originated when burning her blood without aid of her Concept, for that too was a part of her blood.

Her blood was her skills. Shed studied skill theory, learning the ways in which her blood changed the aspect of skills she absorbed, studying skills before and after she absorbed them and saw the ways in which her Talent changed or didnt change portions of its structure during the aspect change. Sometimes it was major, sometimes it was minor, but her blood refused to allow any skill to go wholly untouched. Blood worked its way into that part of her life as well, her constant companion in all things. She knew its full mana composition as well. Water, healing, and decay was only the start, to say nothing of her efforts to fully master how to synthesize those as well.

It was her magic as well. Skill-less magic was incredibly hard; triply so for a Pather who just didnt have the time to truly master all the intricacies of their personal mana channels before they Tiered up and changed enough to wipe out any progress. But shed learned it. She knew the ways in which mana was carried alongside blood, the ways it should act when exposed to the ambient mana in particular patterns, how to form resonances with other people, and more besides. Magic was in her blood, and blood was in her magic, and she needed that for her Anchor.

Her blood was her cauldron. Whether inside or outside of her, she knew what she was doing when she utilized blood instead of water in her potions. Sometimes it helped, other times it made it harder. Sometimes she didnt use it at all. But she was an alchemist, and the sanguine was but one of her tools. Shed even physically synthesized blood, beginning with nothing but base materials, and building it up piece by piece until she had a flask of entirely artificial blood. That had given its own form of appreciation for the complexities of blood, which even her memorization of its components couldnt quite manage. Understanding. Something about a years-long process, utilizing tricks which alchemists like herself had perfected over millennia, utilizing tools which she could have scarcely imagined before her awakening, had brought her even closer to the substance that had defined practically her entire life.

Blood was just so much.

Blood was death. Blood was life. Blood was the carrier of disease. Blood was a thing of honor, of filth, of dedication, of family. It was sacrifice, it was food, it was core to vampires and unicorns alike. Blood could sanctify that which was defiled, or defile that which was pure. It could bind or set free, it could empower or oppress. It was a symbol of hope and despair, the rallying cry of the oppressed and the tool of the oppressor. It was rebirth, it was new life, it was fresh death. It was her past, it was her future, it was her everything. It was in her body, it was in her spirit, it was in her skills, it was in her magic.

She was blood, and blood was her.

Her Domain flared, Willpower flowing around her and thumping against her spirit like a massive heartbeat. With it, her blood was carried along by the currents, rushing in unison with her spirit as the two seemed to blend together, joining into perfect harmony as they met-

Lizs breath, held in anticipation for the formation of her Anchor, burst out in a strangled scream as her spirit stumbled, tripping over itself and practically cutting itself in half on the naked blade that her blood suddenly was. Instead of a perfect embrace as the physical met the spiritual, Liz felt her blood blacken and almost rot as her spirit tore itself, and the blood it was trying to connect to, to shreds.

She must have blacked out at some point, because when she was next aware, she was half-on the edge of what was once her pool of blood. It didnt look quite so pleasing now, not that hundreds of gallons of blood ever looked pleasing, but it was a messy, decaying thing, congealed and smoking and sputtering, like the dying gasps of a broken heart. Luna was next to her, extending a hand to help her out, but Liz could barely even manage the effort to reach up to grab it.

Why her manager hadnt just relocated her she didnt know, but after a herculean effort, during which Liz realized blood was pouring from her skin like a leaky sieve, Liz took the womans hand.

From there, she was quickly, but still perceptibly, moved to a healing tank in the next room over. The potions within soothed her and began work knitting her body back together, compensating for the many, many injuries her entire circulatory system had taken.

What did I do wrong?

She wondered.

Luna wasnt providing any insight, so she turned her attention inside. Maybe, if she watched her body and spirit get put back together, she could figure out just what shed need to fix for the next time, what she did wrong.

Besides, she might learn something new. Blood was how the body was repaired after all. So why not her spirit as well?

***

Matt let his hand drop away from the glass, feeling so helpless as Lizs body healed. Hed been disappointed with his lack of progress with his Intent, having come little further than a further refinement of his idea regarding focus. He had been expecting to return to one of the girls already having their Domain established after their month of work, but hed instead found Aster nervously pulling on her ears, and Liz floating eyes closed in a cloud of blood in their healing pod.

So what happened? Matt asked.

I dont know, Luna simply replied, earning a bewildered look from himself and Aster.

How do you not know? Havent you taught hundreds of people how to make their Intent? How do you not know what Liz did wrong?

I could inform you that she failed to make her Anchor, Matthew, but I suspect you would find that answer demeaning. I do not know the source of her failure. Objectively speaking, she is very close. I would not be surprised if she manages to claim her blood as her Anchor within the next five years, and from what I could feel of her attempt, there were no genuine flaws. It simply was not properly compatible. Liz is upon her own journey, determining what her blood is and what it is to her, and my input will not aid in that process. Your insight might, due to the nature of your relationship, but mine would only interfere. However, this close to completion, it is unlikely she could even properly articulate the entirety of her understanding, let alone convey where the problem may lie. This is her journey, her Intent to process, and it is something nigh-impossible to truly understand for any but Liz herself.

Aster annoyedly flicked her tail, and Matt simply reflected upon his own Intent. He knew what Luna meant, as properly trying to convey his intuitive understanding of mana, or Minkalla, or black holes, or even his sword would be essentially impossible, but he wanted to help. He didnt want to be stuck on the sidelines; he didnt want to watch as people hurt just beyond his reach. He wanted, needed even, to be involved.

His spirit sang, but the feeling slipped away before he could push at it too much, but it brought a smile to his face, despite himself.

Wouldnt have thought youd be happy to see me like this, Liz teased, and Matts smile lit up all the more.

Youre awake!

Ive been awake, she countered. Just meditating. Everything hurts, but it looks worse than it is, and I think Ill be out of here in just a few days. Maybe a week and a half after that to be on the safe side of the cooldown.

Good to hear. While you all have had a very productive first month, in that time, a situation has arisen which you three may be uniquely positioned to resolve, should you so choose.

Luna paused as she scanned them before explaining, There was a Tier 22 planet found along the border region between us, the Monster Collective, and the Clans. In the interest of not getting involved in yet another war over it, the higher-ups were going to give up our claim. But, diplomacy has prevailed, and instead, there will be something of a tournament set up. To the winner go the spoils. As two Ascender candidates having recently reached Tier 20, and crucially not involved in the main war, you are our best choices to represent the Empire and win that planet for us. Assuming, of course, you accept.

Matt whistled and looked at the others. Seeing their agreement, he nodded. Well do it.