After revealing secrets that Lograve had once made icicle-related threats about, Daniel lamented again that the continuously rotating roster of teammates meant he could rarely relax what he said without running things through his own list. Cloak hanging around in the background, figuratively at least, only made things worse. Hell, with Tlara seemingly intent on bailing/recovering alone after this run and Willow unable to continue without her protection, along with Shuni being a question mark, they’d be down to four people for regular hunts.

  Maybe we can convince Janice to come here, Daniel thought as the group moved toward the large circular room that just had to have an astral rift. He’d restocked on splitting ammunition, though there hadn’t been enough time for him to enchant enough to go near-full auto on enemies. If and when he did return he was going to plan on bringing as much as his ridiculous storage space could carry, and maybe look into making bigger magazines. Going above seven rounds made them a little too bulky for his liking, but he could try experimenting with some kind of rotary design.

  Or, hell, just figure out a way to belt feed it from a bag of holding. Then again, he almost wanted to see if laying the groundwork for dual-channeling with Moment of Clarity was possible, which would also take time. Something about the ongoing worldwide calamity told him that would be a luxury, especially if he had to zero out the corruption here for Hunter to reach a rift.

  They were running somewhat blind in this room as Daniel didn’t want to risk losing more time to Shuni getting temporarily, or worse, permanently trapped in the rift room. Her bypassing the warden’s barriers earlier had only been possible because she’d been completely unnoticed, though she was sketchy on the details. Mana shouldn’t have been a problem since they were all at full, and would be getting both a passive drip and bursts from the rifts.

  How that all related to the Crest he wasn’t sure, but it likely had to do with the fact that the ruins were outside the bounds of a traditional Spoke. His was clearly ‘broken’ in a different way than Rikendia’s had been because the Crest had still begun to push back against the Octyrrum after he’d been merged with it. The loop of mana around his heart, as hard as it was to believe, could have been the cause of that given the insane surge he’d received when that had broken.

  Either way, the team had tactically reoriented to not holding anything back. Khiat would be weapons loose with sun arrows, Khare really didn’t have any huge burst abilities but would be rapid-firing regardless, Shuni would live in stealth, and Daniel had a few different openers in mind depending on what the room looked like when they got there.

  That left the other three members who would play a little more defensively. Sigron because that was his role, Willow because she had to, and Tlara because she was no longer possessing her beasts. She’d begrudgingly admitted she could still do that, but wasn’t going to while her true body was in any form of danger. Her shock runner also hadn’t proved too useful against the higher grade arcadians, though it could help against lower grade impalers, especially if they were placed near wardens like last time.

  Daniel still wanted to take out the ranged monsters first over any other target. The astral corruption several of the attacks carried was what he was most concerned about. He was immune and it seemed Sigron could nullify two hits’ worth, but if anyone else was struck they’d have to either win the fight or, worst case, hope they could break out and rush back to the lectorum in time.

  The impalers got their glowing weapon upgrade first, they posed the greatest threat range, and so they had to die. Or be cleansed. The connection between the projections and the corruption he understood, but not the why or even what they truly were. It had to be tied into the proportional response to people who entered the ruins, and since the Astral was involved that would imply both that souls and spirits played a role. Bringing Tlara’s spiritless monsters could be considered cheating if she wasn’t down to ones that sucked.

  No matter what, it was time to cleanse a second rift. The entryway framed in purple light made it clear this time would be different as well, for they could all see that the ceiling of the next room extended up, possibly into the next floor. The beginning of a stairwell appeared on the far wall, along with a track that made him think of a stair lift. This could be good for when we come back, Daniel thought as the team waited for the go signal. But if there are a lot of impalers, this could also suck. Oh well, at least we’re wearing our wings this time.

  …

  The moment they breached the chamber, Daniel saw he had been correct in assuming this was some sort of stairway, but that was only half of it. A staircase did spiral along the shaft, with a mobile cart stuck about halfway up, but there were also several framed-in platforms that looked like magic elevators, one big one that no doubt served as a cargo lift, and three astral rifts.

  Three of them.

  The entire chamber was roughly circular, 240ish meters wide, and sixty tall. The larger space correspondingly held more monsters, and not just the ones they’d seen before.

  “Oh fuck this-“ Tlara began to say, but it was too late, and a barrier from one of the wardens in the chamber sealed off her escape route. There were only two compared to the three rifts, though they seemed able to cover more than the four exits each the lectorum’s warden had. Cynically, Daniel expected that they would have to kill both to leave, but he was already moving on to his preferred targets.

  The impalers. There were forty monsters in the chamber and outright aggression was the only thing that would see them through this. Crawlers on the walls, according to Shuni, maulers on the stairs, and those javelin wielding bastards on the upper landings. About half of the space on each landing was taken up by walkways connecting the stairs, elevators, and doors, with the rest being open space. That there were multiple rifts and a high ground advantage meant the impalers could keep them guessing, especially when they hit grade 3. Daniel was going to shut that down, even if it meant ignoring the new variants at first.

  This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

  Sigron went to occupy an ‘Arcadian Bastion’ that appeared to be the replacement for the lowest floor’s warden, seeing as there wasn’t one there. Like most of the projections it had elements of humanity fused with more monstrous aspects, in this case a ridiculous frame twice the size of a normal man’s paired with six upper limbs, four defensive and two bladed. For all its intimidating size it lacked speed and maneuverability, and Khare was already landing hits as it struggled to fully block their volley fire.

  It would take a while for the gestalt to whittle down the larger foe, whereas Daniel made the first kill with a single trigger pull. He’d taken off with a Jump, choosing to keep his wings folded behind his back while using his boots to hover. It meant the kickback knocked him backward uncontrollably, but the blitz had caught his target and the warden in the center of the walkway off guard. The impaler was now missing its entire head, and he’d been thrown clear of the retaliatory strikes.

  While the purple stream from the impaler ran toward the upper landing rift, which wasn’t the one it had started on, Daniel reached out with his mind and gave three of the impalers on the landing a little forceful push. The mana required to knock each of them off was around 13% each, lavish spending in most cases, but it opened up the normally nimble fighters to Khiat’s predation on the way down.

  Despite all of that, there were still eight impalers left. Fortunately there was no burst of mana as the second through fourth died, the streams splitting off into different rifts, but that left Daniel with a major concern. If we can’t tell which projections belong to which rift, we can trigger pulses accidentally. Also, the count is off. If it’s meant to be 12 each, there are four more than there should be. Killing a fourth enemy should have triggered at least one of the rifts act independently, so is it that the thresholds are shared, or are there just more enemies per rift here?

  Then there was the last new enemy type. Whereas the bastion was a lumbering brute whose true threat was likely locked in later grades, the arcadian caster had a simple name and a terrifying ability. At grade 1, they appeared as thin and tall like the impalers, but one of their hands was fused to a staff while the other could grasp it or act independently. Everything about them screamed mage, including the pure bolts of magic they attacked with. These moved slower than the javelins thrown by the impalers, but they shone with deadly purple light.

  Corruption attack at grade 1, not good. It probably won’t hit with too much of it, but any amount of that stuff will eventually spread. At the very least, the first volley from the casters was directed at him. There’d been half a dozen of them and twice as many impalers initially, making for a complicated network of incoming projectiles that would be hard to keep track of if he couldn’t hear all of them coming. Not fearing for his mana, Daniel activated Moment of Clarity before the attacks could connect to figure out where to dodge.

  He also gave some thought to retargeting the casters, but decided against it. The team was playing looser now, focusing on attacks and managing themselves. Redirecting them could cost time, and this was going to be more difficult than he’d expected.

  A bright flash below signaled Khiat firing a sun arrow after finishing off the impalers he’d thrown down. The ability’s nova-like backlash would weaken her, and while in that state she’d shrunken into her shell for better protectiveness. Between that and the armor around her, he’d hope she’d be able to stay safe. As far as her target, the shot hadn’t secured a kill disappointingly, but had blown one of the shield arms off of the bastion that it had managed to maneuver in place in time.

  The magnitude of the attack drew some of the attention from those monsters above, though most, as well as the neck arms of both wardens, were focused on him. The more vertical construction of this chamber meant they could cover almost the entire area with their shields, and Daniel wasn’t ready yet to dump mana into taking off their arms.

  Neither did he want to get close enough to do so explosively, as a well-placed shield by the warden could have him bounce off and be an easy target for the monsters around it. It would be Shuni’s job to handle once the personal barriers went up around them, which would allow her to take them down without having to worry about anything outside interfering. The cagey Rogue had admitted under light pressure that one of her powers was a teleporting attack that had a higher mana cost for every creature, even friendly ones, that were aware of her. With mana refills on the table, she was willing to throw a bigger chunk than last time away before the wardens activated their laser hands.

  The team had agreed on breakpoints that all the projections needed to die at before reaching beforehand, such as the impalers needing to go immediately or the crawlers and maulers being fine to leave for last. The crawlers were somewhat fearsome, especially for anyone engaging in melee, but the weak point they gained at higher grades made them easier to kill than at lower ones.

  Time would have to tell if the casters were worth prioritizing over other projections, but as the seventh and eighth projections died and the bastion grew weaker at the vines of Khare’s weapon stash, there was still no mana pulse. Does this room work differently? Daniel was forced to ask, replacing his magazine. Fighting 5 to 1 odds sucks, but so does the aim of all these projections. At this grade, at least.

  He flew up to the third level to be sure there was nothing else hiding there, but all that greeted him were more energy bolts and glassen projectiles. The remaining five impalers were all on this level, all isolated from his teammates. Perfect targets for the explosive ammunition he’d just loaded. While Daniel was taking a liking to the frontier justice of shotgun mode with splitting ammunition, that didn’t mean he had to avoid solid or explosive slugs, only that they had far less accuracy over long distance than he was used to. Solid slugs were generally a bad choice against the impalers as they could dodge well, but Scatter Shot empowered explosives?

  30% mana left, Daniel mentally remarked as he unleashed his first attack, killing and crippling one impaler each. Am I overdoing it? If we don’t get any mana back, the rest of the fight’s going to be harder. Harder, but not impossible. Even if someone took a corrupting wound, it wasn’t backs against the wall desperation time. Willow was, as always, the only one in true mortal danger from one attack, but she was staying close to the spark rhino Tlara had summoned as her second upon seeing the larger space.

  Maybe this’ll be easier than last time, Daniel thought carelessly, juking the warden before firing off another explosive round directed away from the wounded impaler. This only killed one as the enemies were spreading out, but as soon as the tenth stream of purple emerged, there was a pulse from every rift which collectively restored 10% of his mana. Quick mental math gave Daniel a reason to worry from that alone, but it wasn’t all.

  With the mana and the upgrades to the existing projections, forms began to appear from each of the three rifts, likely teleporting in. Not only did the projections have reinforcements for this fight, they’d brought a new variant with them. And this one looked like Hunter.