Chapter 254: To Push to the End

Hours and then days passed in a blur. Astrid’s initial declaration of two days to complete her requirements was proven wrong, and she had, only once it’d been two days, finally started to understand how to achieve the requirements for her quest reliably. At that point, she was nearly half done with the first requirement and had made good progress on the second. The third, to work beside somebody in a knockdown, drag-out fight, proved to be as simple as it said. She, with Felix, made quick work of that requirement, with only two more of the twenty-five fights remaining.

Now, well into the third day and nearing the end of their fighting before taking a break, Astrid shot a look over at Muti. The Barbarian was trailing shadow from every limb and shredded through monsters of every kind. It was obvious what kind of quest she had: to use shadow and mana in general more while becoming even more deadly. The more that Astrid saw it, the more worried she got for running into anything that could hide well. Ostensibly, Muti was the party's scout, but she had one Skill that was originally tailored to being able to sense the world around them. Off the top of her head, Astrid couldn't remember what had happened to that Skill. Primal Senses, was it?

Astrid knew it hadn't been rolled into the golden-haired woman's equipment Skill, so how was she actually sensing things? Surely, the Skill remained in some fashion, but by now, it was long forgotten and left behind.

She couldn't continue to think about that, instead focusing on the competition to reach the finish line before evolving. Looking at her, it was obvious that Muti was getting ahead while Astrid herself wasn’t nearly done with her first requirement. The second aspect to the quest was the one that was giving her the most trouble, since it had been the effort of quite a while to finally understand how she was supposed to emulate Meteoric Descent. Finally, she was at the point where she could actually do what she needed to, and turned her attention towards the next object of her aggression.

The small squad of hobgoblins was, to her personal estimation, not worth focusing on. However, that opinion was washed away with a sense of dread at Gabriel's words.

“They’re good practice. They fight just like people, in squads, working together and supporting each other. Think of them as people, because that's what you're going to be dealing with once you go back to the Bulwark.”

Instead of feeling pressure to move quickly and simply pushing herself to evolve as fast as possible, Astrid now couldn't help but see flashes of people on the warty faces of the monsters. The commands they called out, she couldn't help but think of them in her own tongue, and her attacks smashing through their defenses were just a reminder of what she had decided to do. She was going to be a Mithril tier combatant on a battlefield populated by people half her level. Anyone she turned her attention towards was going to get destroyed.

Even thinking that, she continued fighting. A part of her wanted to make justifications, that she would only fight against people her own level, and there wouldn't be very many of them. A part of her screamed that there certainly wouldn't be massive slaughters, because the highest tiers of people would be the ones who could actually determine the outcome of the war as a whole. Then, she shoved down those thoughts, instead jumping into the air and then, with a pair of Gravitons, hurled herself towards the leader of the squad of hobgoblins. Her hammer smashed into the monster's raised shield, and the two Gravitons smashed her further down. The reinforced metal shield was punctured by her strike, and the monster's arm behind it.

As Astrid was becoming painfully familiar with, the way that an Unfallen Meteor would fight was anything but clean. After years of delving, Astrid was used to the fact that she walked a path painted with gore. There was no way to kill something with a hammer that didn't result in a whole lot of pulped flesh and pulverized bone. The Unfallen Meteor, as an even greater exploration of absolute, unstoppable blunt force, was going to be even bloodier, gorier, and more brutal.

One of the difficult parts of this aspect of the quest was that the original strike was easy enough, while being able to strike again a second time against the same group was significantly more complicated. She couldn't just jump straight up and come down on them because, even though they were relatively unremarkable for a level 85 Steel tier monster, the hobgoblins were more than savvy and fast enough to entirely avoid her fall when it was just gravity they needed to react to. Instead, she needed to disengage from the fight, frequently taking attacks in doing so, and then try to make the same attack a second time. In this fight, she did manage to take out two or three of the enemies in the way she was supposed to.

She grimaced as she pulled herself out of a tiny crater, the expected results of her attack surrounding her. The second hobgoblin she struck was dead beneath her, and she walked away from the scene and into a thick cloud that Skandr had purposefully left floating nearby for her personal use. Once clean, without thinking much consciously about it, Astrid glanced at her quest progress.

1. Defeat 20 monsters of at least level 95 in single combat. Each kill must be completed with a strike empowered by Spectral Graviton and Smite at the same time. Progress: 17/20
2. Successfully use a combination of jumping at least 25 meters into the air under the influence of Body Surge and falling with the strength of Spectral Graviton to kill 200 creatures of at least level 85. Progress: 169/200
3. Use Unconquerable Aura to reduce the damage taken by yourself and one ally in twenty-five fights against a group of at least five enemies of at least level 85 while drawing enemies towards you with Spectral Graviton. During these fights, neither yourself nor your ally can dodge. Progress: 23/25

She was making good progress, and would, before long, be knocking at the boundaries of evolution. The twisting in her stomach wouldn't settle down, though, and she wasn't sure if it was because she was getting closer to actually going to war or because she would see her family or anything else.

Instead of continuing to focus on why she was nervous, Astrid tried to change her mentality. Instead, she looked forward to the evolution that was coming her way. It was hard to say how she would react when she was finally forced to not just defend herself against people who were trying to kill or enslave her, but instead to fight against people whose own desires to fight were impossible to discern. If she was fighting the servants of the Marchioness, she knew that at least some of them would have been forced into service. And, if she was fighting against people who were around her own level and trying to kill her, she wasn't going to be able to engage in peaceful negotiations or pull her punches. When she had to choose between herself and her enemies, she knew which of the options she was going to make.

“I am nearly finished,” Muti said, pulling Astrid out of her thinking.

The Barbarian's sharp teeth were bared at her, and Astrid squinted at her friend.

“In fifteen fights, I can finish,” she shot back, trying to enjoy the competitive feeling. Despite her very real misgivings about going from killing monsters to people, Astrid did feel that same excitement Muti was relishing. Instead of dread, she needed to beat Muti, as stupid as that need was. Until now, Astrid had always been the last of the party to evolve, and she wasn't going to stand for that a third time.

“We are nearly out of hobgoblins that we can fight without entirely shifting the balance of this part of the Dungeon,” Gabriel said from nearby.

Astrid squinted at him, but didn't try to disagree. Instead, she squared her shoulders, nodded once, and looked for the next squad to fight. It wasn't long before she did so. They were only a couple of kilometers away from a massive settlement of the beasts. According to Gabriel, they numbered at least 10,000, with the warlord that led them being at least level 120. If the party caught the settlement's attention entirely, they would end up running for their lives. However, the Wanderers had already killed several hundred of the hobgoblins, and it was basically time for them all to retreat.

“There's a scout,” Gabriel continued. The warning from the older delver was all that he gave, not directing the Wanderers even on where to look.

Fortunately, though he hadn't been participating in the fighting, Skandr's last few days of spell experimentation had not gone to waste. A constant cloud that billowed and rumbled overhead shifted before it  began to resemble a massive, floating eyeball. The center of the cloud seemed to open, a vortex of lightning appearing to become a pupil that searched around the party for the scout. Then, without a word, Skandr pointed off in a direction more or less behind the party.

Muti didn't say anything before disappearing off in the direction of the scout. One of her favorite things to do was to track down any solitary individual and, just like her new Class advertised, come from the shadows to execute. Now that she had the right direction, it was basically guaranteed that she would take out the hobgoblin without any issue. The only real question was if it would survive long enough to be able to send news back to its city before the Barbarian ripped it apart.

There wasn't much time for Astrid to continue to think about it, though, because it would appear that the scout had seen the Wanderers and sent a squad in their direction. Eight of the heavily armored monsters were making their way towards the party, their squad leader already strengthening them with their aura. A constant red glow covered every one of the hobgoblins, and they jogged forward in lockstep. Their shields were raised high, held together against all attacks. In the center, the leader carried a larger, circular shield overhead, offering a defense against any lobbed projectiles.

Disciplined as they were, none of the hobgoblins were ready for the projectile to be well over two hundred kilos of person, armor, and weapons falling into their center.

Having learned how best to use her Skills to complete her quest, Astrid created a powerful Graviton in the center of the huddled hobgoblins, and a second just above them. With one Graviton pulling all of the hobgoblins together in the middle, Astrid hurled herself forward. As the wind rushed around her, she passed through the second Graviton just above the small company of monsters. It pulled her downward to crush her enemies, and then, with her arms and legs cradled in next to her body, she smashed into the center of the formation. A small part of her couldn't help but smile just a bit as three kill notifications flashed in her vision, each one bringing her closer to evolution. With less than thirty kills left in the second requirement, she turned and jumped out of the gory mess she left behind.

Felix rushed into the gap she left behind, using his Skills to force the survivors to stare at him instead of following Astrid or retreating. Almost half of the monsters were killed by Astrid's first attack, and, most importantly, their leader went down. With the disappearance of that bolstering aura, they were weakened further, and Astrid happily retreated to use the same attack that she just had. It was uncommon for her to be able to hit three at the same time, and like this, she wasn't far away from finishing this requirement.

Hopefully, it wouldn't be long before she was done with every part of the quest and ready to move on, because it was time to leave the hobgoblins behind.

***

“That one's mine!”

Astrid didn't wait to hear Muti's complaint as she jumped forward and, with the assistance of Body Surge, raised her hammer high. The corrupted dryad she targeted raised both of its arms and sent a writhing mass of roots coursing with purple veins into a shield. Astrid didn't care, smashing her hammer once to open the defense before using Graviton and a radiant-aligned Smite to crash into the creature's head. It looked like a beautiful, androgynous person, with physical qualities similar to a Human or Barbarian, but when her hammer crushed its skull, it quickly became apparent that the creature was made out of wood.

As Astrid's hammer and Smite purged the corrupted mana that strengthened the creature, the corpse fell to the ground, leaving behind wood that was, apparently, very valuable. More valuable than the wood, though, was the progress that Astrid knew she'd made. She turned and grinned victoriously at Muti, whose blades hacked into another of the dryads. Even as shadow covered her, flames licked at the wooden monster, burning away its defenses. Another wave of roots shot towards Muti, but she disappeared in a puff of shadow, only to reappear behind the dryad, both blades chopping and decapitating the beast.

“I'm done,” Astrid laughed as Muti bared her teeth.

“There yet remain two fights for you to complete,” Muti argued.

“Which we’re only leaving until we've spoken with the Verdant Walkers about what they think about me officially evolving while in their lands,” Astrid shook her head. “I officially win.”

Muti growled, but didn't disagree. Astrid walked up and bumped her shoulder into Muti's as they looked around. The faintly glowing grove was becoming less threatening, the mana concentration slowly reducing as the low Mithril-tier monsters were killed.

“How many left for you?” Astrid asked as the party came together.

“Two more fights,” the Barbarian mourned.

“Just about as close as it could be,” Astrid nodded. “How about you, Felix?”

“About an hour or so longer,” he nodded.

“How long do you think this would have taken us if we hadn't trained with Liora and Gabriel?” Astrid wondered aloud as she looked at the rest of her party.

“It would've taken me at least this long to get my first piece of progress,” Felix was the first to answer. “Probably longer.”

“A couple of the things that Olafson said to me have helped me with my research,” Skandr added, his eyes flicking back and forth across their surroundings as he constantly trailed ever more complex lines of sigils around him. A web of flickering blue symbols surrounded him, dancing around each other as he practiced some magical working. Going off of how many of the lines he left disappeared within a few seconds, he wasn't finding total success, but he also didn't seem to mind that.

“I would also struggle to have made the progress that I have made so far without Liora's advice.” Muti didn't seem quite so hesitant to admit that as she might have been at another time. Benedict, for once, didn't answer verbally, but nodded along with what everybody else had said.

However, their brief rest was over as the Dungeon proper around them erupted with something far more disturbing than any shrieks or calls. In a disturbing wave, silence approached, and then, a strange rustling sound, almost like an inhaled breath, approached.

“What is that?” Astrid turned to the others. “Any ideas?”

Unsure shrugs and shakes of the head answered her from each of the others, and five confused faces gathered together to protect themselves. Then, as he looked around, Skandr suddenly gasped.

“The mana is shifting. It's a group of creatures coming. They're forcing the mana to stabilize.”

For a split second, Astrid didn't understand his concern, but just as he continued speaking, it clicked in her mind. She and he spoke in unison as they looked at the others.

“Mana eaters.”

As soon as they said it, the strange susurration drew too close, ceased, and became an unholy cacophony of battle cries.