Too Stubborn to Die

Book 4: Chapter 47

Back in the interval room, far away from the dungeon floor, Soohyun watched a screen following Aaron. And she wasn’t the only one.

Dozens sat around, filling out the table as they watched the strongest warriors from their sector.

Although not all had stayed. Particularly weaker ranks had left the moment extraction zones had appeared. For them, the dungeon had been confirmation of just how far they had fallen behind, and they wanted to get back to their worlds to grind with newfound determination to catch up to their peers.

The dungeon had informed them all that once it was over, it could call them back for the auction, wherever they were. So there was no need to hang around and watch.

But for the greatest elites of the sector, a couple of levels were little compared to getting a read on the most powerful individuals in their sector. After all, they could watch them fight, maybe even against each other.

Although there was far more to it than just that. For the greatest powers were already coming to the understanding that true power wasn’t so easily earned.

It wasn’t just that proving oneself through great challenges provided better Skills, but a better evolutionary path itself. Better Classes, unique racial evolutions, and even the opportunity to keep growing where others found themselves stuck at bottlenecks.

And thus, manic grinding against the weak was something only fools did. Perhaps early levels might give an advantage for a while, but that advantage would be quickly eroded by those who truly pushed themselves.

In fact, a decent number of them had already considered the benefits of taking a break from their respective worlds. It would give weaker rivals and beasts not yet acknowledged by the System a chance to level and catch up. Perhaps even given them decent opposition to grind their blades against.

After all, as one climbed higher through the grades, a handful of levels meant little. Not if the quality of those levels was at risk.

In truth, slaughtering weaklings was something that should be kept to a minimum and only done if necessary. It was one of the main reasons powerhouses of all levels kept followers around, even if they could snuff them out with the flick of a finger.

They were useful. They could deal with smouldering threats before they became a problem, without having the powerhouse risk the quality of their deeds.

And many elites had already been well and truly informed by their patron gods of these important details, if they didn’t already know.

True bottlenecks started to appear at C-grade and above, which meant that they needed to start getting serious. Ruining the quality of one’s deeds could permanently stunt their growth.

Although deeds were no easy concept to measure. One’s deed could be influenced by countless factors. Of course, leveling was very important. But any great achievement powered the quality of one’s deeds, and it went far beyond even their Class or Profession.

And there were many means of aiding one’s ascent. Means that were of extraordinary value. One such means was living on an Alpha world.

As long as you didn’t get yourself killed, living on an Alpha world for long enough was more or less guaranteed to push you to reach B-grade, so long as you remained diligent. And as such, Alpha worlds were of immense value.

There were also incredibly rare dungeons that could provide similar opportunities. But counting on such fortunate encounters was not wise. If one could get the opportunity to live on, or even better, possess an Alpha world, it was an opportunity they did not turn down.

The precise details of these concepts were not entirely known by everyone spectating on the Dungeon. But the line between the true elite and those who would be left behind was already being cast.

And amongst it all was Soohyun, leaning back in a cushioned chair, drinking a Blue Hawaii as she watched a screen that followed Aaron through the dungeon.

But she wasn’t just watching. She was scribbling away on her System interface, adding to the extensive notes she had been compiling whenever the opportunity arose in the dungeon.

Not far from that screen was another. And on that screen, a large, purple figure with six arms snapped an unfortunate foe in half, and her eyes drifted over to the chiselled form.

Nodding to herself as she took in the spectacle, Soohyun added to her notes, then looked back across at the other screen displaying Aaron.

“Interesting,” she mumbled. “This should prove quite helpful indeed.”

On a table not far away, Terry was still pouting about missing out on joining the dungeon team. He had complained for a while to the others, but when it was made clear they didn’t want to hear it anymore, he stormed off.

Now, Terry was avoiding the people from their world, and instead, bothering the sisterly monks of Red Song, who had been left behind when she and Voidrin had chosen their party.

Soohyun briefly glanced across as the two sisterly monks tried to ignore Terry. She felt slightly bad about it, but at least she didn’t have to deal with him.

Her gaze quickly returned to focusing on Aaron and Mo’han, just as most of the spectators were. Although there were a few other powerhouses who had gained attention, like the insectoid Mandor, who was a true elite and a deadly opponent.

But as they kept watching, more and more eyes were locked on Aaron’s screen. Everyone there could see what was unfolding, and the anticipation was reaching a fever pitch.

Aaron was about to walk straight into a trap, and there wasn’t a thing she could do to warn him. And she could see all of the people gathered around, hiding and waiting to spring it on him.

And for some reason, her anticipation wasn’t fear. It was exciting.

Aaron

It had been some trek to get to where they were going, and they had been met by several roaming bands of monsters that inhabited the floor. But nothing overly difficult.

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It seemed that the strongest monsters were all focused on the quest objectives, and those scattered between were nothing a ranker capable of reaching this floor should have issues with. Though they were still strong enough to give problems to those Aaron had met on the early floors.

Soon they came into view of the cement and mortar factory, but to their surprise, it was surrounded by a powerful barrier. And Aaron could already tell that he wasn’t just going to be able to punch through it.

They stood on a rocky cliff, overlooking the crater the factory sat in the middle of, surrounded by some lush shrubbery. But he couldn’t see any way through the barrier, which covered the entire crater.

“That’s it,” Lord Draxas pointed a scaled finger. “The quest objective. Now we just need to lower the force field.”

Although he wished the little kobold had told him about the barrier earlier, Aaron had to admit he was pleasantly surprised by the usefulness of their captive.

Finding a second objective so soon put them in a great position. And he really wanted to come first.

After gaining additional auction points for coming first on the previous floor, Aaron had decided he wanted to do it on all of them. Who knew what might be for sale in the auction, and if there was something he really wanted, he wanted to have the points to outbid everyone else.

However, he had kept [ Gorgon’s Soul Vortex ] scanning the area, and as they arrived, he sensed energy signals dotted around the barrier. Which was odd, since he expected the strongest monsters to all be within it.

“We got to go this way. I show you how to get through the barrier. Lord Draxas knows!” Lord Draxas said.

Aaron nodded. Although, in truth, it seemed a little strange that the kobold knew how to get in. The dungeon floor had only just started. Then again, the little guy had been useful so far.

They climbed down a ledge and found themselves standing on a platform with four metal discs placed in a curved pattern on the floor.

“See, it’s these. This is how you open the barrier. You stand on the sensor plates, and once all have been filled, the barrier falls away.”

Aaron raised a brow. “How do you know all this?”

“We smart,” Draxas tapped his head. “We have a powerful Skill that analyzes details. It tells us what to do. It makes plans easy. Then we can move quickly. Able to go straight to quest objectives when the floor starts. No messing about. Of course, because of that, we know that this objective needs four sensors to occupy, and only three of us. We keep moving, making plans to come back for it later.”

“Oh, fair enough,” Aaron nodded.

Technically, there were five kobolds, but Lord Draxas, or whatever the head was called, seemed to need to fuse with his sisters. And even if he wasn’t, that would mean that one of them would have to claim the objective alone, and Aaron doubted they were strong enough for that. So, the explanation added up.

Aaron glanced back at his other two companions. He figured they might as well try it and see if the sensor plates worked as explained. At least they would know if Lord Draxas was full of shit or not.

“Can we just use a Skill or object to activate them?”

“No,” Lord Draxas slapped his head again. “This stuff is high tech. The plates can tell if you’re not a dungeon participant or not. My Skill says so.”

Aaron had half a mind to spend more time inspecting the thing, but if they were going to win this thing, speed was important. After all, Mo’han was in here somewhere, and Aaron knew he wouldn’t have any trouble smashing his way through challenges like this.

“Alright, let’s do it. See if it works.”

Erdek, Ikran, and Lord Draxas’ two kobold companions all took a sensor each, and within seconds, the barrier started to flicker and disappear.

“See! Told you!”

He was right; Aaron couldn’t deny that.

“Alright, I believe you.”

With a triumphant huff, Lord Draxas led Aaron toward the crater.

“Keep your eyes peeled; I’ll be back as quickly as I can,” Aaron called back to Ikran and Erdek as he followed.

The goblin didn’t reply, as she was chugging down a mana potion. That was also probably why she was happy to stay back and miss out on the action. Her style did have a glaring problem: it was very mana-hungry.

“I’ll secure the region,” Ikran said, and his ink started to spread out from him, quickly coating the surface of the ground as it spread out.

That’s handy, Aaron thought as he watched it for a second before he kept walking. Once the ink had spread, the thal’kesh could be anywhere. That was certainly the kind of person who was handy to have watching your back.

Stepping into the crater, Aaron figured that if the monsters inside were as strong as the last resource, he wasn’t too worried about besting them alone, anyway. Besides, doing so would greatly speed up their team and their tower construction.

But that didn’t mean he let his guard down.

“Something wrong?” Lord Draxas asked as they entered the crater.

Aaron's gaze was unsteady, glancing around toward where he sensed the other energy signals in the distance. They had moved, but only a little. However, if he wasn’t wrong, they were now within the crater.

Lord Draxas wouldn’t be up to something, would he? Seems like a chill bloke.

Aaron’s face crinkled. He felt a little bad about doubting someone who had been as helpful as they had. The problem twofold, though. His [ Pinpoint Accuracy ] was picking up subtle body language and facial expression changes on the kobold. It was telling him that he was anxious and that he had gotten more anxious since arriving.

He even seemed to react to Aaron looking toward the other energy signals.

However, Erdek and Ikran were holding the flank, and he wasn’t in the least worried about the two weak kobolds they left behind, or Lord Draxas for that matter.

And while Aaron didn’t necessarily want to walk straight into another ambush, he didn’t sense anything particularly strong. In fact, if his senses were correct, Lord Draxas was the strongest of them all.

“What’s wrong?” The kobold said as Aaron slowed a little.

“You don’t sense that? Those energy signals?” Aaron probed the kobold.

“Sense what? The quest is just beyond. Let’s keep moving. We can claim it soon.”

If anything, Aaron was more worried about his companions than himself. Not because he necessarily cared about them, but they could prove helpful. And he wanted to win this thing.

If he stumbled into an ambush, it wasn’t easy to kill him. But the other two were not as hardy as he was.

Aaron looked back over his shoulder. Perhaps it was bet he head back and make sure they were okay.

“Why you stopping again? You want this or not?”

“Yeah, right behind you, mate,” Aaron said, but he was still looking back toward the others.

Then suddenly, the barrier flickered back to life, covering the sky above them.

“The barrier?!” Aaron gasped. The sensor pads were keeping it offline, and if it had returned, that could mean only one thing. “Erdek and Ikran must be under attack!”

“AHAHA! No, you fool!” Lord Draxas cackled with delight.

Aaron slowly turned back toward the grinning kobold. “What’s going on, Draxas?”

“You still can’t tell, you idiot? It was on the signpost! There are not four pressure plates for the barrier. THERE ARE EIGHT!”

“Eight? What the fuck are you talking about?”

“My revenge. The sanctity of my gene pool. Your time is up,” Lord Draxas said, wagging a finger. “Four others from my world activated the pressure plates on the other side of the barrier. And the moment we were inside, our forces marched in, and the barrier was raised over us.”

“Your genepool?” Aaron’s face crinkled. “What the bloody hell are you talking about, mate?”

“Mate? There you go again! Declaring your ownership of us. We will not mate with you, softskin! We will ascend to true dragonhood and claim the universe for ourselves! No weak softskin will taint our bloodline with his…”

“Wait, you mean…” Aaron’s face reddened with realization. “Ma—I mean, man, you’ve got it all wrong. I never wanted to—”

“Silnce! The hour of reckoning is upon us! The barrier stops your friends from interfering. My trap has sprung perfectly. And my superior machinations are on display for all to wonder at! BAHAHA! And now you’re stuck in here with me!”

“I’m stuck in here with you?” Aaron raised a doubtful brow and cracked his knuckles.