Chapter 27: Chapter 103 – Rewards and Upgrades

Shortly after Asterios, Miria and Umbra jumped out of the Dragon’s jaws and regrouped with the rest of the team, the bones that had been held together by spiritual energy and controlled by the crystal embedded into the skull started dropping down. Nothing was there to command them anymore.

“We need to deal with the Core fast. The other monsters that it’s still connected to might have received an emergency call and could be heading here even at this moment,” Suanori spoke first.

“But, it’s still surrounded by walls of bone. I attempted to strike them earlier and they are as sturdy as the Dragon’s skeleton,” Selene said.

“After we have dealt with the gem in its head, the bones lost a lot of their toughness and Miria drilled into its skull with her sharpened blade. Hopefully, these did too as they seemed to be brought up by the Dragon when it awoke,” Astorios pointed out.

~There’s only one way to find out,~ Umbra spoke in their minds, back to his own, neutral voice.

Asterios turned to Selene. “You are the strongest of us currently. Anything you could try?”

“Since I’ve already drained myself quite a bit, one more powerful technique won’t change too much. The backlash will be the same. I’ll have to drop my Awakening afterward, though. Would you mind supporting me, my Lord?”

“However you need.”

She nodded at him with a soft smile and started walking towards the shielded Core before stopping some distance from it. Placing her palms together in front of her, she closed her eyes and began gathering mana. Asterios stepped closer to her and placed his hands on Selene’s back, supplying her with his own energy.

While little motes of blue light began surfacing around the two, Miria quickly jumped towards one of the bone shields and slashed it a few times to test its durability. Her heated shortsword left some marks and shallow cuts in it, definitely much bigger and deeper than when she had attempted the same with the Dragon earlier.

Sensing the intense spiritual energy behind her, she quickly moved aside and turned to the duo. Selene had drawn her right arm back while closing her fingers into a fist, and extended her left to the front, with her palm facing up. Her external circuits on the right limb were turning brighter and brighter.

Then, the pressure increased substantially and her whole arm got swallowed by the sapphire blue surface that glowed faintly. Her and Ast’s clothes fluttered from the chaotic mana that surrounded the preparing duo. Selene opened her eyes, which flashed briefly with profound light.

Her figure then blurred and reappeared right in front of the bone wall, with her fist getting in contact with it immediately. A loud, powerful thud was released into the air and the stone floor shook heavily. 

Surrounded by a fierce helix of sapphire spiritual threads, Selene’s fist bore into the surface of the tough bone. A huge web of cracks covered its whole length and width. She released a fierce war cry and pushed her arm with even more strength, causing it to glow brighter. As the spiritual storm originating from the point of impact grew in intensity, the shield fractured more and more.

After just two seconds, the bone shattered into tiny pieces and Selene’s fist pushed through it, still retaining all of its strength and momentum. Everyone quickly covered their ears as an earth-shaking noise of someone hitting a massive glass wall reverberated through the air, accompanied by loud buzzing noise that made the whole place, including the air, tremble.

Barely keeping themselves standing while shielding their ears from all the tremors, everyone watched two immense spiritual pressures fight each other—Selene’s sapphire helix of mana and the Core’s pure black wisps of energy. 

Both were destroying the stone floor around the duo and small chunks of rock and bone were lifted into the air by the sheer intensity of the pressure. The dark mana did not let the foxkin’s glowing knuckles reach the Core’s surface and kept them hovering slightly above the heart of the dungeon as she pushed herself to her limits. 

Then, the blue serpents started narrowing down, getting sucked into Selene’s glowing right arm. The spiritual storm on her side went completely silent and everyone thought she was done for, unable to finish off the Core. But, it suddenly came back and exploded with tripled intensity, quickly overpowering the black energy as Selene’s arm flashed the brightest yet.

She screamed even louder and the dark barrier shattered into tiny particles with the sound of glass breaking and the final form of Selene’s empowered fist crashed into the surface of the pitch-black core. 

The moment it did, a wave of deafening vibration echoed through the cavern as if somebody had hit an enormous metal gong, sweeping everyone off their legs while they were protecting their ears.

Something cracked again immediately after that impact and the whole black orb got launched forward like a gigantic cannonball, breaking two of the fang-like protrusions that held it in place and the bone barrier on its other side.

Selene’s punch bore so much force that the others only saw the huge black sphere literally disappear from their sight and reappear encased deep in the opposite stone wall of the cave with another unimaginable tremor.

Gradually, all the noises slowly faded out, with the sound of the gong being the last one to disappear. But, the atmosphere didn’t turn completely silent. Faint streaks of white light appeared over the Core’s surface until it was fully covered in cracks. It then shattered into tiny fragments like an orb carved out of glass, contrary to the metal sound it had made earlier when struck by Selene.

She exhaled heavily and fell to her knees, clutching her right arm. Both her Awakening and the sapphire flames covering her fur disappeared in an instant. Asterios hastily collected himself from the ground and ran to her side. She smiled at him while wheezing for air and holding down her heavily trembling limb, gradually returning to its natural color as the markings retracted back to their original paths.

“How is your body?” he asked with a look of concern.

“Haaah… Haaaah… Just a little tire—cough!”

She suddenly coughed a bit of blood that stained her white dress as she had no free hand to stop the scarlet liquid. Selene chuckled awkwardly.

“Don’t lie to me. I can feel how hurt you are.” Asterios started rummaging through one of his pouches.

“I apologize, my Lord… Haaaah… All that pressure, vibrations, and spiritual tension might have caused a few internal injuries and ruptures… Haaaah… I did receive the brunt of it…”

“Don’t speak then and drink this slowly.” He pulled out a vial with acidic green liquid and uncorked it. “It will taste really horrible but it’s the strongest one I currently have.”

Asterios brought it closer to her mouth but Selene tightly closed her lips. He shook his head with a sigh and a wry smile, knowing exactly what she was going for. Pouring some of the potion into his own mouth, he leaned in and fed it to her mouth-to-mouth, slowly and carefully to not spill even a single drop.

They parted with a strained chuckle from her. “Even the worst medicines taste sweet when administered by you, my Lord, fufufu~”

“Then you better drink it all.” He chuckled too and fed her the rest, letting their tongues dance with each other for a short while after all of the liquid disappeared from Selene’s mouth.

She was already sensing its effects and slowly healing up her insides. Even if the process wasn’t very quick, it did take care of the intense pain she was subjected to. Her right arm’s shivers toned down a little but she still could barely feel it.

A moment later, the rest of the squad arrived by their side too. Suanori immediately started inscribing runes on the ground around Selene. Asterios stopped her and explained that he could use his own techniques now that they took care of the first-aid, but she told him to leave it to her since he had already spent great amounts of energy.

And that was certainly true. Ast’s fiery source stored now somewhere between thirty and forty percent of the blazing mana after all the techniques and spells he had activated, and all the energy he had shared with his familiars. It was still a good amount, but he had never gotten so low since the appearance of the second core. His normal mana was spent almost completely.

Selene entered meditation to calm her body and focus on recovering while Suanori called forth a myriad of beautiful flowers that grew alongside the soft grass covering the ground under the foxkin. It started releasing a pleasant and fragrant smell that boosted Selene’s regeneration substantially.

Meanwhile, Asterios walked towards the shattered Core with Miria by his side and Umbra circling above them. Her fur retracted back to its previous length and uncovered her moderately toned arms and legs. She supported herself by hugging Asterios from the side, also quite spent physically. He kept gently brushing through her black hair.

They arrived in front of the dark remains and crouched together as Umbra perched on his shoulder.

“There’s quite a bit of dust amongst all the fragments. I wonder if it can be useful for summoning,” he pondered.

“Maybe you can carve strong sigils from this material, Master? But, Suanori said this might be very expensive so should we sell most of it?”

“I don’t think we’ll save all of this for ourselves. This was quite a big Core, not that I’ve seen any other ones. We could sell like a half. There’s a lot of this stuff here. And I’m sure Mom and the rest would be glad to help us financially when in need anyway so we don’t have to worry that much about money.”

“I’ll go ask my dad to bring out some empty barrels and crates. Be right back.”

She pecked his cheek and stood up, a little wiggly. He smiled at her.

“Take your time. Sit down and rest a bit. I can feel how light-headed you are after that whole Werepanther thing.”

She giggled and nodded before stepping through the dark crimson gate.

“And you, Umbra?” He turned to glance at the big raven on his shoulder.

~I’m fine. Part of my shadow was burned when I was escaping from the Voidtaur, trying to hold the flames for as long as I could, but it’s nothing that I can’t recover from with a good rest in my realm.~

“Thanks for that. It was a quite risky move back there.”

~Not just for me but for all of us. Even though I had secured our way back with the sword, it wasn’t certain that we would have been able to escape in time if things went south. Fortunately, that Voidtaur was decently strong. Additionally, consuming its mind and soul helped me consolidate myself in this realm a little more, actually.~

“That’s great to hear. The stronger you get the better for us. And for you too, naturally.”

~The more strong enemies we fight that I can devour, the quicker I’ll grow, simply speaking. I currently can use around forty percent of my full power here. That seal over my realm is partially to blame. But, I’m not in a rush anywhere. By my standards, it’s happening quite fast.~

“Well, from the perspective of a millennia-old ancient being, I guess it is. Speaking of the sword, did it survive?”

They moved to the front of the Dragon’s skull and the weapon was still present between its teeth, just the way it had been left there by Umbra. It didn’t look damaged, besides all the wear and scratches that were already part of it before.

“I guess we’ll pick it up a little later after the girls recover a bit.” Asterios kicked the six-meter-long blade a few times but it didn’t even budge. “It’s lodged into the top and bottom of the skull damn deep.”

~You should be able to pull it out with my help, Master.~

Umbra’s raven form lost its shape and his shadow seeped under Ast’s clothes. He felt his body getting covered by the thick black mist as his familiar turned himself into the suit mode.

“Worth a try.”

Asterios unsheathed his Spellslinger and slotted a brown token into the hole. He activated the spell with just a little bit of mana and a bright orange rope shot out of the blade, which was also glowing in the same color. It coiled itself around one of the teeth in the upper jaw and he started pulling himself up.

Reaching the same height as the handle of the greatsword, Asterios hugged the thick grip while putting his legs stretched between the two teeth that surrounded the weapon. In one swift motion, he unwrapped the magical lasso from its previous target and coiled it around the hilt.

He lowered himself into a horizontal crouch and grabbed the glowing line with both hands. Umbra’s shadow supported him and the duo began pulling strongly. After around ten seconds of struggle, the hilt jumped a bit and began scratching over the bone with its pommel, and finally popped out of its hold.

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At the same time as the huge sword began falling, Asterios of course did too. But, Umbra took care of that and sent out his shadowy tendrils towards the ground to slow down their descent. The blade slammed into the ground first, before Asterios safely followed it.

“So, what now? It’s still way too big for any of us.” He glanced all over it.

~Put both of your hands on the flat side and pour some of your essence into it.~

He kneeled down by the side of the purplish blade and did as instructed. Its surface got covered by a myriad of various runes and sigils and he watched how the whole weapon shrunk right in front of his eyes, stopping at the size of the usual longsword, just still single-edged.

Asterios grabbed the hilt and lifted the weapon up. “It’s quite light,” he said after making a few test slashes.

~It’s enchanted with magic that makes it fit the owner perfectly, as I’ve said previously. And that includes not just size but also weight.~

“Quite useful. Were the flames part of it too?”

~No. Those were the Voidtaur’s abili—~

The blade suddenly lit up with crimson flames over its single edge after Asterios sent some of his blazing mana into it.

~—ty… That’s peculiar… Does ‘fitting the owner’ cause this too?~

He moved his hand over them and they didn’t feel hot to him. Actually, they didn’t have any effect on him.

Asterios walked closer to the Dragon’s cheekbone and attempted to slice it. The tip of the blade cut through the material much easier than he expected and he almost tripped. A quite deep, melting crevice entered his sight after he lifted his eyes up again.

“I am aware that the structure is now weaker, but… isn’t that still too much?”

~I think the same. Perhaps it’s due to your fiery mana?~

“We really should have tried it out before the fight, shouldn’t we?”

~It might have been a little bit easier if you were the one wielding it, yes.~

Asterios sighed. He plunged the tip of the flaming sword into the bone, easily pushing it through until it came out on the other side, and almost effortlessly traced a circle like he was moving a knife through butter, leaving a melting trail behind the weapon’s edge. It did consume a noticeable amount of his energy, but the effect was quite something.

With a kick boosted by Umbra’s suit, he pushed the disc out and stepped outside of the Dragon’s skull, walking towards Selene and Suanori. They both glanced at him and at the blade in his hand.

He dismissed the crimson fire and turned the hilt towards the Guildmaster. “Try pouring some of your essence into this.”

The moment she took it from Asterios, she almost slammed into the ground from its weight. He quickly caught both her and the weapon and the pulling stopped. Suanori straightened herself while staring at it with wide eyes.

~Seems like it has imprinted itself on you, Master,~ Umbra spoke in their minds.

“Does it mean I have to die for it to be usable by anyone else? That kind of complicates things. Are you now good enough to have a try too, Selene?”

The fox lady nodded and stood up from the fragrant patch of grass. This time carefully, he lent her the weapon. It didn’t plunge itself and Selene into the ground like in Suanori’s case. After she filled it with a bit of her essence, it changed a little but still stayed at around a longsword’s length and size.

“Looks like I can use it. Maybe because I’m your summon? It’s quite comfortable.”

“Now try filling it with your mana.”

She did as instructed. “Nothing seems to be happening.”

Asterios rubbed his chin. “Try mine?”

The edge got covered by a thin, mesmerizing layer of glowing sapphire energy. She examined it from up close. “It doesn’t feel cold. Actually, it doesn’t feel any way.” 

Then, she made a vertical swing with it and a spiritual arc shot out of the blade, zooming through the air faster than they could blink. It was sent towards the Dragon’s skeleton and cut through every single bone on its path, diving into the wall much further behind it.

“Oh.”

“Yeah. Oh.” Asterios chuckled after seeing the perfectly cut path the arc had created.

“It consumes quite a lot of it, though it’s understandable with this much power.” Selene stared at the weapon with amazement in her eyes.

“I guess we’ll be taking this one with us then. Are you fine with that, Suanori?” He turned to the Guildmaster.

“If it really is bound to you guys then what am I even supposed to say here?” She smiled wryly. “And well, I was wondering what we would do with the Dragon’s bones since I didn’t think many of them would fit through the portals, but I guess this makes things easier.”

Asterios nodded. “Yeah. I thought we would have to leave it here too. I can’t imagine dragging even a few bigger pieces through forty-five floors. It’s not like all the traps and monsters suddenly disappeared.”

“Right. But at least more of them won’t be appearing during our ascent.”

~We might not have to walk back to the surface, possibly. Or throw the bones into Eabiarhia.~

All three of them glanced at Asterios as Umbra seeped outside of his clothes and perched on his shoulder.

“What do you mean?” Asterios asked his shadowy familiar.

~The biggest interference that was coming from the Core is now gone, which means that it’s much easier to use my spatial movement through the shadows. I should be able to bring the bones back to the surface if I take them one by one.~

“I see. And that part about us not having to walk?”

~As I’ve said earlier, my power has grown a little after devouring the Voidtaur. Even if they didn’t have a soul, if you would let me consume the Dragon’s crystal, and around one-third of the Core, I should be able to convert the essence stored in them to boost myself enough to be able to carry a single living entity with me. From now on, not just once.~

Asterios rubbed his chin while pondering over the given option. Gaining such a useful ability was certainly worth this sacrifice. He had been looking really forward to the day when Umbra could transfer him through the shadows since the moment he mentioned it after his summoning.

He turned towards Suanori again. “Your opinion on this? The Core’s remains were certainly amongst the loot to split between ourselves. One-third of it will be lost if we do that, and that’s a small fortune, right? Personally, I don’t mind taking it from my half if we were going to split it evenly, but considering that the Dragon’s crystal is included, would you rather have more?”

She started waving her hands at him. “Wait, wait, wait! When did I say that I want things split equally? I was just a support for you guys. You were the party registered for the emergency quest, thus you have the full right to ask for everything here. Not that I don’t appreciate your consideration, of course.”

Selene chuckled. “My Lord wouldn’t have any of that.”

Asterios smiled wryly. “She’s right. It was and is a joint effort, so it’s obvious that we should start from a half-half split. Why does everyone always insist on us taking a bigger part?”

“Well, you guys were the main force—”

“No, all of us were a team. As Selene said, I’m not having any of that. And I don’t care if you are secretly rich after your whole adventuring career. It would just leave a bad taste in my mouth.”

Suanori sighed with a soft smile. “Alright. I won’t argue then. Let’s take half from the leftover Core after Umbra consumes his part. We don’t have to count the Dragon’s crystal. And the sword since no one would be able to use it anyway.”

“There’s also that small mirror thingy. You can take it so both of the sides end up with an artifact.”

“I’ll think about it. We should leave that for later, after getting out.”

He nodded and Miria came back a moment later, informing them that they had set up the barrels and crates. Umbra swooped one-third of the core to the side to allow them to transfer the rest and started assimilating the essence from the fragments and the Dragon’s crystal.

They finished before he was done so Asterios decided to cut the Dragon’s bones into small fragments to make it faster and store them in Eabiarhia too. To not clutter Miria's whole house and garden, Selene offered her own spacious mansion as temporary storage for it.

Using the artifact blade, she sliced through the bones with ease. It turned out that the sapphire edge was as sharp as the spiritual arcs it could shoot, so she chopped the Dragon into pieces like a carrot on a cutting board.

Obviously, they didn’t chop all of it. Suanori and Asterios pointed out parts that would be a waste to damage further, like the whole skull, claws, wings, and tail. The rest was turned into pieces, partially to be sold and partially to be saved for materials. Miria couldn't stop talking about them summoning a real Dragon with these.

And thus, they slowly prepared everything while Umbra took his time to absorb all of the stored essence, which was plenty. It was fun and engaging activity during which they could both work and partially rest, unwinding after the intense fight, casually chatting about the whole dungeon run. Of course, without artificially delaying it. The sooner they were done, the sooner they could move out and check on the situation up there. Who knew what was happening on the surface and how the operation was going for the other teams.

 

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