Chapters 106-107

Chapter 106

“Pathetic,” Malrik says, “look at those idiots! They’re not even using their Champions! The Fake Champion is getting into the fray with a bunch of noble Elves. They’re not bad to be first-year students, but they’re not even the best of their kind! They could probably take on a few Early Platinum monsters at best on their own! And even together, what do they think they’re going to do against an entire pack of Stone Wolves!”

“That’s an Intermediate Platinum Rank threat,” Taron nods. “But they’re still far from the monsters that’ll create real trouble for the Champions, Malrik.”

“I know,” the blood mage responds.

They have gone back to the room where Malrik summoned the blood mirrors to watch the Champions next moves. Malrik, being partially responsible for the overflow of Mana in the Dungeon, can control some of the monsters inside. It’s one of the blessings that those who belong to the Cult of Asmodeus receive: the ability to control monsters. And the thicker one bonds with the God of Monsters is, the stronger the monsters he can control.

“Arrogance, once again,” Malrik says, “we’re going to see a Champion die, perhaps. But it doesn’t matter. As long as we have the real Champions to sacrifice, we’ll wake up our Lord from his Long Slumber.”

*

Jacob’s sprouts Infernal horns and wings, and he takes Althir under his arm, propelling them both forward at insane speed.

The moment they reach Fatty, who’s smacking and killing one Stone Wolf after the other, Elyndor closes up the barriers all around them, leaving them all trapped together.

While the Stone Wolves clearly had initially thought they’d surround and eat these people alive, making them their next dinner, sort of the opposite is what’s actually going down. Fatty, who’s got no self-control or discipline, is killing them by mistake, just trying to clean his body from the gore and actually just generating more and more of it.

Jacob and Althir, instead, fight like one. Jacob uses Flame Slashes with both his Hellbane’s Sword and the Dark Blade, trying to cripple as many Stone Wolves as possible by aiming at their joints, helped by the stealthy Ithriel, who does the same by popping in and out of reality and slashing at the tendons of the monsters. The ones that are crippled by Ithriel, in the midst of their pack, hamper the mobility of all the rest. While the ones that Jacob targets become Althir’s target in the next moment.

With Jacob having only a mana-heavy attack such as Black Fire as his main weapon, he’s saving his resources to let the Breaker of the group exert his dominance with the razor-sharp wind blades of his. Althir, helped by Jacob’s directives, is easily able to slash the throats of all the Stone Wolves they’re fighting. It’s almost as if Jacob’s attacks are putting the Stone Wolves right where Althir needs them to be able to finish them.

None of the present except Fatty, who’s clearly someone who panics and isn’t able to keep his head straight during a fight, could take these many monsters on their own.

Even Zibrek, who’s the only other Guide apart from Jacob and has the better assessing Skills of all Champions, can tell that the three Elves are not stronger than Jacob himself. In fact, none of them should be even remotely able to perform at the level they’re currently performing at. Against such a pack, even with a good Guide, they should have been taking a massive beating.

However, with the Stone Wolves mobility cut down and Jacob’s uncanny ability to strike their weak points, Fatty’s taunts and stupid strength, they’re making short work of them.

“They’re fighting at an Intermediate Platinum level,” Zibrek finally says out loud.

None of the Stone Wolves has actually attacked the group. There’s something about the Fatty, who’s still bawling his eyes out, that clearly entices them to keep attacking him.

A Skill of some kind, or maybe more, Zibrek thinks, narrowing her eyes.

Soon, the battle is over and Jacob’s clothes are still looking pristine. He barely has any marks at all, other than some dust that they kicked up during the fight. He’s…

If one just looked at the result of the fight, this wouldn’t look impressive at all, Zibrek reasoned. And if someone wasn’t a Guide, they wouldn’t even be able to understand the extent of what Jacob had just done.

He seems perfectly acquainted with everybody’s Skills, down to how much damage they could deliver. He was inflicting more damage on the strongest Stone Wolves, and he served them on a silver platter for the guy who manipulates wind. He’s also fought in very close quarters with him. Normally, a Guide would just get into a Breaker’s way by being in his line of sight and being so close… yet, he perfectly integrated himself in this scenario.

Zibrek also has to recognize the sheer genius of how Jacob utilized Lancelot during the fight. The Fatty wasn’t just the strongest of the five, but he was clearly unable to control his strength and utilize it properly. But by being used as live bait and a distraction for the Stone Wolves, Jacob and the others had managed to cripple enough monsters to stop them from moving well, trapping them in a close space where their numbers wouldn’t be able to overwhelm Jacob and Althir.

The Goblin girl can tell that Jacob doesn’t have any formal training as a Guide. But that just makes him even more impressive.

He just has such a spatial awareness… he seemed able to tell where the other Elves were at all times. Whatever Skill he has, too, is clearly the perfect fit for a Guide.

But just then, as Jacob tells the other that it’s time to move again, a beast howls and a monster appears in front of the group.

It’s a gigantic Stone Wolf, five times the size of every other monster. But, the scariest feature of it is the black veins that go all around his body and the frenzied look in his red eyes.

[Corrupted Alpha Stone Wolf - Level 450]

“That’s an Early Diamond Regional Boss!” Zibrek shouts, not being able to help herself from warning everyone.

Vyrrak steps forward, his silhouette slowly disappearing as Asterion and Iskara walk to his right and left.

This is going to be the real test for Jacob, Zibrek thinks. He can Guide the normal Gold Rankers. But can he do the same for Champions-level fighters?

Chapter 107

“I don’t want to spend too long waiting for them to make their way through The Tomb of Fate,” Malrik says.

He’s summoned the Regional Boss of the basin. There are many more Stone Wolves he could have summoned to pit them against the Champions, but he knows that the real Champions could have destroyed them easily. This, instead, is a real threat.

Regional Bosses are a common occurrence in Colossal Dungeons like the Tomb of Fate. Every major area develops one monster that rises to the top of the food chain and becomes a Regional Boss. Unlike the actual Boss of the Dungeon, it’s not the strongest monster in absolute terms, but one can think of Regional Bosses as the lieutenants of the Boss.

Normally, an Alpha Stone Wolf would have been around Level 350, still in the Platinum Rank, which spans from Level 200 to Level 400. But with the interference of Malrik and the overcharging of Mana that was already developing naturally, the monster has been transformed and evolved into an Early Diamond Rank monster. Plus, this is not a common Early Diamond Rank threat. This is a Regional Boss, just one rung lower than a Boss.

“We’ll see how strong these arrogant bastards are,” Malrik smirks. “Without a proper Guide, they won’t be able to actually bring out their real potential.”

*

Zibrek adjusts her goggles and squints at the Corrupted Alpha Stone Wolf.

He has to tell Iskara to empower Asterion and have him solo the monster while Vyrrak runs interference. This is a Corrupted monster, therefore its defenses might be on par with a strong Intermediate Diamond Ranker.

“Fall back!” Jacob shouts. “Do not engage! Sabrina, step forward!”

The three at the front frown but start backpedalling.

“Cloud, are you sure?!” Vyrrak asks. “We can easily—“

“It’s got a very strong poison on its skin, Vyrrak!” Jacob shouts. “It’s invisible! It’s also Cursed!”

As Vyrrak, Asterion, and Iskara step back toward the group, Sabrina Margrave advances with a sardonic smile on her lips.

“Let a real Champion take care of this,” she says.

“Contain the monster, Sabrina, do not attack directly!” Jacob shouts, moving behind the Margrave Princess. “It will otherwise trigger a curse upon contact! Instead, I want you to restrain it at the best of your abilities!”

Sabrina Margrave clenches her teeth, feeling like she just lost an occasion to showcase her power, but the precise instructions are enough to convince her that Jacob, despite being so weak, knows what he’s saying.

“Well, you can still see half my power,” Sabrina roars. “BLACKWATER!”

Suddenly, dimensional gates open all around the Corrupted Alpha Stone Wolf, who now pounces toward the woman.

But before the Regional Boss can reach her, the dimensional gates erupt with a terrifying amount of black waters that look like pitch black tar and immediately swarm the monster’s legs and root it to the ground.

“COMPRESS!” Sabrina shouts, moving her hands forward to control her magic. The Water seems to become even denser and it stops the monster dead in its tracks, slowly reaching all over its body like black tentacles and restricting its movements. “This bastard is strong!” She shouts. “It’s draining my Mana! It has some weird—“

“Orrivane, Boomgar, step forward! FULL POWER!..”

Orrivane, who usually looks dishevelled and slow on the uptake, slowly levitates in the air as his eyes turn full-black. A gigantic lance of Void Magic appears above him.

Boomgar, instead, summons a sphere barely larger than his hand. “Void Mage, put a hole in the bastard, will ya!”

The gigantic lance made of Void Magic shoots forward and the Regional Boss, who has started regaining some of its movements, manages to avoid a headshot. Still, Void Magic is the most destructive form of magic around. The lance puts a gigantic hole in its chest.

Everyone’s impressed by the destructive power of the attack, but they’re soon dismayed as they see the Regional Boss’s flesh knitting back in real time.

“Iskara, on Boomgar!”

Iskara channels her Infernal magic and a reddish aura suddenly appears around Boomgar.

“Chug this, pup!” Boomgar laughs out loud. Then, his body glows red and he makes a throw that creates a crater below his feet as all his muscles swell in size. The sphere lodges itself in the healing wound, curving unnaturally when the Regional Boss tries to dodge it.

“SABRINA, DROP THE BOSS! BARRIERS!”

Sabrina Margrave clenches her teeth and releases the control on the Boss, using all her mana to create a massive barrier between them and the Corrupted Alpha Stone Wolf.

There’s a small red flash and a hissing sound in the next two moments while the Regional Boss just looks at them confused.

Everyone turns toward Boomgar, who just raises a finger gun and says , “Boom.”