Too Stubborn to Die

Aaron dismissed a couple of level-up notifications as he got done killing a bunch of undead. He also had another Skill purchase already, having hit level 142 after all the killing he had been up to. But left it for later, considering letting a couple build up. After all, he was currently in no rush to boost his power, easily destroying the undead guarding the obelisks.

In fact, he thought it might be best to wait for a while, as he likely wouldn’t need a power-up until facing down Darius himself. And what exactly he needed when doing that might change.

Either way, he would deal with it later, as he had work to do.

Entering a chamber built around yet another obelisk, he sat down and crossed his legs as he meditated.

It almost seemed like there was a pattern to the obelisks. What exactly that pattern was wasn't immediately obvious, but as he flew around taking the obelisks out, he felt like there was more to it than he originally realized.

“I shall go hunt down the remaining roaming groups,” Zero said, and left him to his meditation.

Zero had proven a great sidekick, too. He was even faster than before his evolution, despite how much he had grown in size. He didn’t struggle to keep up at all, even with Aaron pushing his ghostly wings as much as he could, blasting out tremendous amounts of aether.

It had been as much about testing his new Skill as anything else. He had wanted to see what their limits were, and they proved impressive. Their speed didn’t seem linear, either. Instead, it seemed like he accelerated faster and faster the more aether he pushed through them, and so he was pleasantly surprised when Zero kept up.

They had already cleared out three more obelisks, removing the last stench of corrupted aether from the massive valley plateau that stretched out past the forest to the east of Dober, leaving hundreds of miles of untamed land to conquer.

Now, they had passed over a ridge, moving into a waste-like landscape of burned, rocky earth.

Wherever they were, it was obvious they were getting closer to Darius’ main holdouts, as the corrupted aether grew thicker and the undead minions grew stronger.

There was a part of Aaron that considered charging onward and taking the fight straight to Darius, but he restrained that impulse.

It wasn’t that he was necessarily worried about facing Darius himself. There wasn’t anything he had seen so far that told him that he couldn’t take the man in a fight.

No, it was the lingering memory of the Death God that made him retain some caution. Even if the Death God couldn’t personally show up and turn the battle against him, he might still have enough tricks to be deadly.

After all, what he had seen in the dungeon was bad enough, and a good enough reason to take pause and properly prepare before such an encounter.

Besides, as he fought against the corrupted aether, willing his own into the obelisk, he felt his understanding of his energy and mana anchors further improving.

You have gained insight into a possible upgrade path for Mana Anchors. Current discovered upgrade paths:

Streamlined Mana Anchors (10%)

Partitioned Mana Anchors (25%)

Reverse Mana Anchors (5%)

Elemental Shift (Void) (10%)

“Another five percent?” Aaron said as he eased his eyes open and got to his feet.

It was going to take a while to upgrade his anchors, but luckily, he had plenty of obelisks to work on.

A moment later, silver light flashed through the entrance, and Zero was standing there. “I’ve dispatched the last of the roaming undead, master. They didn’t stand a chance.”

“Took your time,” Aaron said with a smile. “I’m all done, too. The rest of the corrupted aether should clear naturally now that I’ve topped the obelisk up with my own.”

“I can feel it already. But now what? Do we continue into these barrens? The undead around here are growing stronger. I’m not sure Julius’ men will be able to hold these obelisks alone.”

“Yeah, nah, you’re right. We’ve gone far enough in this direction. I’m guessing Darius is roughly somewhere over there. But I think it’s best we approach with some caution. Besides, who knows who else is out there struggling against his horde?”

“What are you suggesting, master?”

“It seems Julius grew the settlement enough. My map has been upgraded. I can see all the settlements now. But more importantly, I can see the ones claimed by Darius, and the ones that haven’t been.”

“Elaborate.”

“I have a pretty good idea who might need some help. We should move. I want to get there quickly. I’m going to push myself harder. Think you can keep up?”

“You worry whether or not I can keep up?” Zero placed a paw to his chest. “Don’t you worry about me, master.”

“It sounds like you want a race.”

Zero grinned.

“Well, you’re on, then.”

Refugees

Countless bubbles floated across a broken battlefield that was staggered over the remnants of a city. Battle filled the air, and explosions lit up crumbling buildings.

Dozens of warriors across the battlefield were suddenly relieved as the bubbles floated by, capturing the undead they had been locked in battle with and sailing them off into the sky.

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And for a moment, the attack turned the momentum, as the warriors were given a break, and they grouped up against the remaining undead, cutting them down.

Nearby, on what was once a large multi-lane street, a barrage of bullets and missiles shot out, crashing into undead all across the cityscape, and culling them in great numbers.

“Keep pushing. We’ve got this!” Lance shouted, and immediately went back to shooting as several warriors rushed past, entering the fray as they desperately fought to push the enemy back.

The two rankers had been thrown into the battle almost as quickly as they had returned to their world after the dungeon, and barely got a chance to take a breath. But they had no choice. The settlement they called home had been under ruthless attack, and they needed to push it back before they took a breather.

“Go on! Do something, you slackers!” Emmy yelled as she sent another wave of bubbles pouring out. “Get in there and fight!”

Several walls had been raised around different sections of the seemingly endless city, and the one they were currently battling over was just outside of the inner walls that surrounded their obelisk and home to many of their people.

“Just a bit further. Push them back over the walls, and we can rest!” Lance shouted.

A heavy, resounding thud trembled through the ground, and many turned to its direction. It was coming from beyond the wall, and it sounded like the steps of a giant.

“What’s that?” One man said, panic in his voice.

“I dunno, but it ain’t good!”

A heavy blast burst out, and the entire wall came crumbling down, revealing a giant undead monstrosity beyond it and a horde of undead reinforcements charging by its feet.

Several warriors immediately turned and fled at the sight of it.

“Hey! You! Stop and fight!” Emmy shouted.

Lance activated several Skills in quick succession, trimming the undead numbers before they got far. But it seemed pointless; many more were coming, and more undead constructs weren’t far behind.

“Shit! This isn’t good. We can’t keep this up, Emmy!” Lance said as he activated another wave of attacks. “We have to fall back.”

“Just shoot harder, dumbass!” Emmy said with a pulse of mana and sent hundreds of bubbles floating toward the enemy.

“It doesn’t work like that, Emmy! I’m already getting tired, and our people are fleeing!”

“And I said, stop! Where are you dumbasses going? The enemy is that way!” She said, pointing as dozens of defenders fell back, fleeing as the streets were overrun by undead.

“There’s too many!”

“Run for your lives!”

“Emmy! We should fall back as well. We can shelter behind the inner walls. We still have a barrier that should keep them out for a while. We can make a plan, and from there, counterattack.”

Emmy sighed. She didn’t want to, but it was obvious that she couldn’t rally the soldiers, and as strong as she was, she couldn’t win this battle alone.

Turning, she squeezed her hand shut, and hundreds of bubbles floating across the horizon popped with deadly force, destroying the undead within.

But it meant little.

“What now?” She huffed as she marched through the beaten and battered defenders behind the inner walls. “I don’t know if you guys noticed, or not, but we’re kinda stuck in here now.”

Perhaps she had changed in the dungeon. She already knew she was special and stronger than most. But now, all she saw was weakness around her. None of the champions she fought beside in the later floors of the dungeon would be defeated so easily. They would be out there fighting, regardless of how hard the situation got. That was the very reason they had reached the highest they did.

“Yeah, they know. Give them a break, Emmy. We need to recover,” Lance said, and down a potion. “Then, we can form some kind of plan.”

“Oh, alright. Just don’t take too long. It’s getting annoying.”

Several fighters stepped aside, ignoring their wounds as a weathered, old man stepped out from a building inside. They seemed to revere him, even though he wasn’t very strong.

Coughing, the old man approached Emmy and Lance. “This corruption. It’s getting thicker every day. We won’t be able to breathe soon.”

“Oh, it’s you. What do you want, Gramps?”

The old man sighed. “I’ve been watching the battle. It’ll take more than just muscle to beat them. But luckily, us elders have devised a plan.”

“A plan? You can barely stand.”

“Show him some respect, Emmy,” Lance hissed.

“Oh, alright,” Emmy rolled her eyes.

“Hmph, anyway. We know the enemy well. We were holding out fine on our own for a long time whilst you were in the dungeon. The real problem came when they took the obelisk on the other side of the city. It empowers them with its deathly aura, and weakens us in the process.”

“Eh, it’s not so bad. Like I feel a little heavy, but that’s about it, Gramps.”

“You’re strong, Emmy. You might be able to handle it,” the old man said and shook his head. “But the troops can’t. And if you want their support pushing the horde back, you’d better do something about it. I suggest the two of you, if you can handle it, go around and claim that obelisk. Then, once the corruption weakens a little, I’ll send the troops out to push the horde back beyond the walls, or whatever is left of them.”

“It’s not a bad plan,” Lance said. “We can take the undead constructs ourselves a lot easier if we’re not wasting too much energy fighting the minions. If we can focus on the big guys, we can probably do this.”

“Oh, fine, whatever, let’s do this then. Are you ready?”

“In a minute,” Lance said, downing another potion.

Following the plan, the two of them skirted around the main force, speeding above empty streets as they made their way around for the obelisk.

But they weren’t alone. The main base provided covering fire, pausing their attacks for several minutes to power up all of their turrets and their Skills, and then launching everything at once for a massive bombardment.

They mightn’t have been that strong individually, but with all their attacks going off at once, it was quite a sight to behold. And to top it off, it seemed that Darius’ forces were somewhat slacking in strategy, as there were few defenses around the obelisk itself. Instead of defenses, most of their forces had been moved and set to attack their last holdout.

Lance touched down outside the building where the obelisk was, launching missiles and blasting undead away with vigor, just as a wave of bubbles carried away their reinforcements.

“He, this was supposed to be hard?” Emmy said. “What a bunch of dumb weaklings.”

“It’s not over yet,” Lance said. “I’ll hold them off. You go claim that obelisk.”

“Alrighty,” Emmy said, floating down, and with a wave of her staff, a torrent of bubbles burst through the building’s wall, exposing the obelisk within that had once belonged to their rivals that they competed over the city ruins with.

“Would you look at that? Not a guard in sight. What idiots.”

But just as she was about to reach the obelisk, the ground started to rumble and crack.

She glanced around, gripping her staff tightly. Just then, she sensed something, but it was too late. In an instant, the ground burst open beneath her feet, and out of it, a huge undead worm covered in bandages flailed outward, smacking into her.

Mummy Worm [ Level 201 ]

Emmy gasped as she flew backward, saved only by a shield bubble that was around her.

She bounced off a wall, and then floated into the sky.

“What the?” Lance said as he turned to the worm. “C-grade? Fuck!”

Both she and Lance immediately fired off their best attacks, but they slammed against the worm’s hard body with little effect, barely scratching it, and then it countered.

The worm whipped down across them, blasting catastrophic shockwaves at them that sent both of them flying backward, and through buildings.

Neither needed to be told that this was bad, and both immediately activated everything they had as they fled back toward their barrier.

There wasn't a chance in hell they were dealing with that thing alone, and worst of all, it was pissed.

It followed them back to their base and slammed its body against the barrier, making it flicker with every strike. And meanwhile, the undead forces all around were continuing to funnel out, amassing around them as more huge constructs joined the fray.

There was nothing to be done about it. All they could do was channel their mana into the barrier to strengthen it, but it was a losing battle, and everyone knew it.

All they could do was hold out and delay the inevitable.

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