The Path of Ascension

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.

Rolling free, Matt grabbed his nearby sword and cut out at the man, but before they could properly reengage, another team came out of a nearby ruin and attacked both of them.

Matt took a crossbow bolt in his already wounded leg, even through both his magical and physical armor, and felt it hit but not break the bone.

Seeing that now a second team had been attracted by the fighting, and hoping to get an easy cleanup, he cursed.

Striking out twice with [Mana Slash], he used the proper skill in his spirit this time, causing the skill to be larger and faster. Matt cut a massive [Fireball] in half and sent the team scurrying in two directions to dodge his strike.

Rushing the others just as the Sect man mirrored his action, Matt cast [Bulwark] to block a massive, glowing crossbow bolt that exploded on impact and destroyed his skill. Matt thrust his longsword forward, and right before the blow was about to be blocked by an upraised shield, he cast [Acrobats Finesse] and [Willow in the Wind], using the increased proprioception and flexibility to twist his blade and change its point of impact.

Instead of being blocked by the woman's shield, his blade slithered past her shield and punched straight through her shoulder armor.

The crossbowman took the charge and launched a second bolt at Matt, and this time, it punched right through [Cracked Phantom Armor] and his physical armor. It was only stopped because he flared [Barbarians Hide] at the last second.

The bolt was lodged in his chest when it exploded, sending Matt stumbling back.

With his three layers of defenses, the bolt was only half an inch inside him, and most of the explosion was outside of his body, thus washing over his armor harmlessly.

It still enraged Matt, and as he pulled his blade back into his hand with his Concept, he cast [Sword Twin] and allowed the two magical blades to dance out and harass his attackers. He had been saving a number of his strongest skills for these tougher fights against fellow delvers, as he assumed most people did.

While the shield woman blocked one of the blades, the crossbowman took the opportunity to shoot another bolt at Matt, but he was already moving.

For a brief second, he flared all of his channeled self buffs, giving him physical cultivation comparable to a Tier 14.

He was much faster than the man expected, placing the mans teammate between Matt and the crossbow, and denying him a clear shot.

As Matt drove his blade through the woman's less armored armpit, he raised his other hand and cast [Fireball] right past her head at the crossbowman.

Even as his teammate was impaled, the crossbow man dodged Matts magical projectile and sent his own in return.

Matt knew that the man wanted to quickly finish him off so his teammate could be helped and possibly saved, but he didnt hesitate in casting [Mana Charge] while his blade was inside the woman.

The explosion of blood and gore didnt even cause the crossbowman to pause for a second, and he shot at Matt once more while rolling away from his return [Jolt].

While he was absorbing the Genesis Energy from the kill, Matt cast [Mana Slash] once more and slashed out, causing the man to roll again, but he predicted it and cast [Earth Spear] at where he would land.

His second attack pinned the man through the leg, but before he could finish him off, the Sect man from before jumped at him with extended claws glowing.

Side-stepping, Matt was about to cut out at the Sect man, but he saw that the real target was the pinned crossbowman.

The crossbowman cried out a name Matt recognized, though he was speaking the Republican language. Blood Hand. Dying apparently didnt stop the mans commitment to shooting Matt, as he fired a final bolt even as Blood Hand was tearing into his abdomen.

He said something else even as he died, but Matt didnt know the language well. He did recognize the name as one of the Sects up and coming Young Masters.

Long Zhiyuan was known for his brutal, bare handed fighting style, giving him the name Blood Hand. It explained the man's penchant for claw attacks and their efficiency.

Matt should have put that together before, but the man was strong enough that he had little room to think, let alone go through the hundreds of Sect fighters that he had memorized before entering Minkalla. His pulling out a sword and shield was a surprise that hadnt been noted in the dossier on Long Zhiyuans commonly used weapons. Most people were bringing out backup weapons and skills though, since it wouldnt take all that long on this floor before Inner Spirit skills matched the cost of Outer Spirit ones.

Now that he had a name, Matt activated his AI for a second while flaring his Concept to nullify Minkallas suppression, and get whatever information he had about Young Master Blood Hand.

The information was short and sweet, but it told him what he needed to know.

The man was incredibly powerful, despite coming from a low Tier Sect, and the Empire speculation said that he was going to make a splash in the future if he wasnt killed.

Knowing the man was going to be an issue if left alone, Matt grit his teeth and cast a single [Cracked Mana Spear] at him, wanting to finish him off quickly. However, a portion of his robes stitching lifted up, manifesting a spherical shield that blocked the spear pulse.

Long Zhiyuan gave him a surprised look at the fact that he made the defensive barrier appear.

Matt assumed that it was a life saving measure given to the man by the Sects to help counter a solo melee fighter's greatest weakness.

Seeing that ranged attacks would be futile, he cast [Cracked Mana Trap] at Long Zhiyuans feet, hoping to bypass the shield, and armed it with fire mana. The resulting explosion engulfed both of them in billowing flames.

Matt rushed forward and nearly caught a spear in his chest, but managed to deflect it with the flat of his blade, only allowing the spear point to skitter along his physical armor.

Long Zhiyuan sidestepped Matts cast of [Jolt] while trying to stab him, but ran into the wall that was Matts longsword.

Other than his longsword, Matt knew spear techniques better than anything else. Beyond Luna and Kurt's training, he spent decades training with Liz, who used the weapon as her primary.

Long Zhiyuan was good with the weapon, but not anywhere close to Liz, allowing Matt to easily dance around the thrusting point of metal.

Seeing that it was ineffective, Long Zhiyuan retreated slightly, which allowed Matt to cast [Fireball] three times in rapid succession. He also noted the man's robe didnt protect him from the projectiles which he filed away.

With the small break, he inspected their battlefield and saw that they had attracted half a dozen teams over with their battle, and that theirs was just a small portion of what had become a complete free for all.

Liz, Susanne, and Aster were carving their way through the multiway battle with the help of a team from the Empire and one from the Guild; the three teams had joined together to defend themselves against the others.

Seeing that they were fine, and even starting to win their battles, Matt focused on his own.

A [Mana Spear] caught him in the chest and cracked his physical armor, but the only real damage was a flesh wound from the metal puncturing his under armor so he ignored it.

Matt and Long Zhiyuan were beset by a third team, and even as they turned on the newcomers, they didnt stop attacking each other.

A mage tried to cast a debuff spell on Matt, but he dodged the projectile, and after spending most of his remaining mana cost of [Earth Manipulation], he grabbed the mage's ankle and pulled his leg under the ground.

He wasnt able to kill him, as the mage immediately fought the spell with his own version, but it gave Matt enough time to cut their melee fighter's leg off.

On the other side, Long Zhiyuan drove his clawed hand through one woman's throat, and after ripping her windpipe out, jumped over a blade swipe with [Puddle Jumper].

Matt didnt pass up the opportunity and cast [Mana Bolt] at the man, but the sphere under his robe rose up and blocked the attack once more confirming the robe was purpose built to counter neutral mana spells.

With a [Mana Slash], Matt cut down the third party mage and finished off their melee fighter that he had just delegged, but took a cut to his forearm in return for the final blow.

He hurt all over, but he knew that he wouldnt have time to drink a healing potion before being forced back into the fray. Just as predicted, Long Zhiyuan finished ripping out the final melee fighters heart, then turned and picked up one of the fallen delvers to use as a human shield. It was an unconventional tactic, and it allowed Blood Hand to get within grappling range of Matt, with only a few shallow cuts to show for it.

As they fell to the ground, Long Zhiyuan took the advantageous top position, and despite Matts best efforts to block, he took a raking blow empowered with an air spell across the face. As soon as the strike connected, his face was set afire with pain and blood. Matt could tell that the man had been taught well, as he was locking space down with extreme force, preventing Matt from teleporting away. Though that must have been a particular focus for someone who excelled in short range combat.

In an effort to get Blood Hand to back away, Matt brought out a handful of sand from one of his spatial bags, then pulsed [Sand Manipulation] with as much mana as he could afford. Unfortunately, Blood Hand didnt attempt to contest the skill with the less efficient [Earth Manipulation], and instead recalled another shield to block the force of the blow. He let himself be pushed away, putting the backup shield away a second later.

Wishing he could still cast [Hail] and [Ice Manipulation] was a futile hope but Matt knew there wasnt much else he could do to slow the Sect man down.

Swapping his blade over to his other enchantment configuration for a second, Matt blocked a [Mana Bolt] with [Mana Barrier] and returned the attack with a [Fireball] cast from the tip of his weapon.

The change in casting position caused Long Zhiyuan to react too slowly, and he caught the spell in the face.

Even Long Zhiyuans robes couldn't block all of the spell, and half of his hair was set ablaze before he cast [Create Water].

For the first time in the fight, the two of them paused and just stared at each other.

Long Zhiyuan said something that Matt could only piece together as an acknowledgement of some kind, with his limited understanding of the language, and then he lunged at Matt once more.

Their fight was interrupted by an explosion that came from the main battle, and they both paused as they saw what looked like a sun being born in the center of the fight.

A ball of fire appeared and exploded, before suckingall of the expelled energy back into its center of gravity and reforming into an even larger mass.

The second explosion was larger than the first, and it caused anyone still able to retreat to do just that.

Matt and Long Zhiyuan separated as they scrambled to get away.

Even as he did so, Matt inspected the area for Liz and Aster, and found them running in the opposite direction along with Susanne, mostly unharmed.

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.