Chapter 49

Chapter 49

The next morning, Matt woke to find that breakfast was ready, and that there were two odd corpses of what seemed like badger-lizard hybrids off to the side. That he had slept through the noise that such a fight must have caused was slightly worrying. Using ones Concept would wear anyone out, and battling others' wills was distinctly different from using your Concept for its intended purpose. It was no wonder that he was exhausted.

He made a note that he, Liz, and Aster needed to practice that, and work on more than just using their actual Concepts.

With a mental query, he found that Aster was off somewhere in the forest. She had found a scent similar to rabbit, and was searching for its burrow. He wasn't too concerned. Aster could take care of herself against even a Tier 6 rabbit. At worst, she would run back to them.

Liz was sitting on a chair she had pulled out of her spatial bag. She was watching Camilla spin a chunk of meat on a stick. One side was noticeably burnt, and the other looked raw.

Looking to the other tent, Matt found Malcolm, who was still out cold in his tent. He didn't seem to have moved from where he had collapsed last night, when Matt turned over the watch to Liz and Camilla. With a burst of [Endurance], Matt stretched, and was handed a steaming mug by Liz.

After taking a long sip, he asked, "How did that piece of meat offend you, Camilla?"

The dark-haired woman shifted her glare between the attempt at cooking and Matt, before saying, "It's not as easy as you make it look." She threw up her free hand. "I only walked away for a minute, and it burned."

It had to be longer than a minute. It's charcoal.

"Do you want me to make something?"

Dumping her attempt at breakfast into the fire, Matt snagged his bag, and pulled out all of his items related to cooking. With a quick appraisal, he carved up a bit of the lizard, and used some of their personals to make breakfast. It smelled so good, the wafting fumes carried over to Malcolm's tent, and woke the slumbering man out of his stupor.

After they ate Matt's breakfast, they all looked at their tagalong expectantly.

"I'm close to finding the entrance. It's nearby, and I can feel it."

With that as encouragement, they walked around the mountains for hours. Their wandering led them in circles, and crossed the path of more than one beast, but none that put up any real resistance.

That was, until Malcolm's meandering took them into an area that had active rift breaks, and was swarming with boars. They tried to circle around the dangerous terrain, but Malcolms Talent kept leading them into the fray.

The area they were circling contained a rift that was prone to rift breaks. It had turned the surroundings into the domain of these boars, and there wasnt much the group could do to avoid them. The boars were not normal animals of course, but were the descendants of the rift creatures that had been produced by this rifts many breaks. The farthest out sections of the area were teeming with relatively normal monsters, while the third or fourth generations of the boars ruled over the central portion of their new domain.

It made sense, as the center of the swath of land contained the rift itself.

Judging from the directions given by Malcolms Talent, they essentially needed to get into the center of the area, near the rift. The destination wasnt the rift itself, as they werent being led to the dead center of the area but it was so close, it wouldnt make much of a difference for the monsters. They would be seen as intruders upon the boars territory, and would have to wipe out all of the boars in the area for safe passage.

This was the true essence of exploring new worlds.

They would indiscriminately slaughter everything in their path to achieve their goals.

Malcolm, already daunted at the prospect of pushing through the boars, voiced his opinion on the idea of clearing the rift as well. "We may need to clear out the surroundings, but that doesn't mean we need to clear the rift as well. That's too much time wasted."

Matt kept watch with Aster, while Camilla and Liz tried to talk sense into man. "If were going to kill all the boars around the rift, we might as well clear the rift too. That's a rift bursting with rewards." Camilla shook her hands around in frustration. "It's like leaving money on the ground! It's a peak Tier 5 rift..."

Malcolm cut her off, "Exactly! and were just low Tier 5 cultivators. The rift is simply too strong for us!"

Liz rolled her eyes, or at least her tone indicated so to Matt. "Look... that's an easy jump for just Matt, Aster, and myself. With Camilla there to help, this won't be much harder than any other rift. Besides, you wanted to go into a ruin. They are rifts."

"It's different. I just want an item somewhere in the ruins. You want to clear the entire rift. Itll take too much time. What if someone else finds another entrance? Then what would we do?"

Matt understood, but disagreed. "Rifts will guarantee both essence and a reward. With the rift about to break again, itll be sure to have amazing rewards. Besides, delving it will push us further into Tier 5. And we know the enemy type already. I vote we go."

"Agreed."

"Agreed."

"I disagree."

Aster yipped.

Liz shrugged. "Four to one. Sorry, but we want to get guaranteed rewards. The ruin won't go anywhere. If it's this hard for us to get in, then it'll be that much harder for others to find an entrance. Youre bringing us right to the entrance, but it's still not visible. That means that it's pretty much guaranteed to be underground."

Malcolm muttered a retort, "Or it's a shrunken space."

Camilla stood and turned, shaking her head. Matt noticed Malcolm's eyes following her.

He just hoped that Camilla didn't notice. The man wasn't subtle in his gaze, and if it continued, Matt felt as if he would need to pull the man to the side, and tell him to cool it. He wasn't sure how Camilla would react, and wanted to avoid the whole situation if at all possible.

The area dominated by the boars was essentially an entire valley. It was situated in between the mountains, and was sheltered on all sides by the tall peaks. They seemed to be pretty old, as they had smoother edges and slopes compared to the hard edges of a more recently raised mountain range.

Oddly enough, the foliage wasn't completely eaten away, considering the denizens of the valley. With the number of hogs they could see, a group that size normally would have stripped the area clean by now, and would have already moved on if they weren't rift creatures. Even these far-removed descendants had a connection to the rift that sustained them. At least partially.

With Matt in the lead, they pressed forward into the valley. Camilla was covering Matt's left side, with Liz and Aster covering the rear and right flank respectively.

Malcolm was with the two mages, but he was more escort than mage. His [Mana Bolt]s had not been well-practiced, but at least he had the ability to deal some damage, small as it was.

The first pack of beasts they encountered quickly demonstrated how strong the monsters were. There were four of them, and they charged in what resembled a wedge formation. The biggest beast led the charge, with tusks ready to gore the intruding humans flesh.

Camilla took the left most boar's attention by wrapping her bladed whip around its head, and using a tree to brace her weapon. Matt stepped to the side and slammed his sword into the largest monster's skull while the beast was restrained.

Even without using [Mana charge], his heavy longsword dealt serious damage. The beast's skull was incredibly hard, but its head was cleaved in two with the force of his blow.

Liz had used her floating spear to take out the rightmost boar by letting the boar charge straight through the spear, impaling itself. That caused enough damage to render it unable to fight. Aster used a [Ice Spear] to penetrate the heart of the last boar, just as it tried to turn and flee into the forest covering the valley.

After Aster ate the heart out of the largest boar, they pushed slightly deeper into the forest.

Their methodical advance continued for hours, slaying beast after beast. The outer portion of the central landscape was comprised of low Tier 5 boars, with the occasional mid-Tier 5 popping up. Still, the difference in cultivation didn't cause them any real problems.

They took breaks once in a while, so that everyone could recharge their mana to a degree. It would take a full day to go from empty to full for most mages, but Matt was subtly using his Concept to increase the rate. It mostly affected Camilla, as Malcolm was hardly using any mana, but most of her fighting style was physical, so she didn't use a lot of mana.

With careful swaps and feigning, Matt charged Liz and Asters mana stones. They put up the illusion that they had stockpiles of the stones ready for the excursion. Camilla had stocked up, and most any other delver would as well. Liz and Aster didn't need to do that with Matt there, but the illusion was useful to stay any questions from Malcolm.

Thankfully, the man seemed more worried about getting ambushed and gored than the finer points of their mana regeneration. They had protected him well, but he was still skittish, and jumped at the slightest sound.

The boars weren't that smart, and relied more on their size and the momentum they could build up while charging to devastate whatever came close. Their true threat came from their tusks. They were powerful enough to tear chunks out of the ground and trees alike, let alone their intended targets.

The group attracted more and more attention as they advanced, and had to retreat more than once to avoid being overwhelmed. The closer to the center they traveled, the more concentrated the amount of boars got. No one wanted to risk getting knocked to the ground and trampled, or get gored by the tusks, so they proceeded methodically to stay safe.

With the weakest of the beasts being culled, the larger monsters in the center of the area took note, and charged out to meet the threat.

Two mid Tier 5 boars came at them. These particular beasts were the first they had encountered that were capable of using skills. Their hooves glowed with translucent red energy that also surrounded their heads. The skill created a large cap of energy that bristled with spikes.

He laid there in contemplation as Liz put a few bandages on his back.

She's probably using less than Malcolm used.

The thought made him chuckle slightly, which caused pain to radiate down his spine.

Liz ran her hands through his hair and said, "Ok, you're good to start channeling [Endurance] now."

She then flicked his forehead. "Next time, put the [Hail] in front of yourself first."

With a gentle effort, he pushed himself up and slipped into his tent. Even with [Endurance] banishing his fatigue, he quickly fell asleep.

The next morning, Matt slowly stretched, and felt the scabs on his back crack slightly. The pain was a reminder that he needed to actually wear his under armor.

Murmuring to himself, he said, The best lessons are the ones learned with blood.

It was odd, as it had been so long since he had been injured. He always had information about rifts, and chose his targets carefully. He only suffered injuries if something went wrong.

That essentially was exactly what happened last night. He hadnt expected a flock of bats.

Wait, whats a bunch of bats called? Ravens are conspiracies and crows murders... but bats?

Putting a note in his AI, Matt left the tent and started stretching. The gentle movements opened up some of the scabs, but [Endurance] was doing its job now that he was awake and could channel his mana into it.

It was odd. Matt could feel the skills effect speeding up the healing process. He was putting all of his available mana into the skill, which meant almost 35 MPS. It was an amount of mana that most couldnt sustain for long.

After breakfast, they returned to the arduous task of killing boars. By mid-day, they had cleared the soundings of boars, and were prepared to push into the clearing where the rift resided. As they came to it, a massive boar that was nearly the size of a small vehicle accosted them. It was clearly the boss of the rift.

Matt tightened his grip around his blade, and checked his AI for everyone elses signals. When he got them, he charged into the clearing around the flickering tear in reality responsible for the boars that dominated the valley. The boss immediately saw him, and activated a skill they hadnt yet seen or accounted for.

The beast charged, and nearly teleported with its sudden burst of speed. It was so unexpected that Matt was unable to block or defend himself, and was instantly sent flying. [Cracked Phantom Armor] was able to hold out, and protected him from taking more damage.

Matt curled up while tumbling to a halt, and scrambled to regain his feet as the boar continued its charge. It was either trying to trample or gore him, and he wasnt keen on either option.

Pulling mana from his mana stone, he filled his mana pool, and before his channeling skills drained his current mana, cast [Hail]. He used the skill to buy himself enough time to roll out of the way.

[Mages Retreat] empowered his body to the point that he was able to circle around the beast, and he sprinted over to the spot he had dropped his sword.

With his longsword back in hand, he cut a deep furrow in the large monsters flank. That was when Liz, Aster, Camilla, and Malcolm unleashed their attacks from the monsters rear.

The boar tried to turn away from the sudden pain, but Matt lunged forward and dug his blade into the beasts face. A small burst from [Mana Charge] went off as the blade scraped along the beasts face. It blew away a chunk of flesh from the monsters jaw.

Then, the beast activated the same charging skill from before, and blew right past Matt mid blow. When he rolled back to his feet after the shock from the charge, he quickly discovered that his blade was wrenched from his hands. He scanned the area for it, but was unable to find it anywhere on the ground nearby.

When he looked back to the giant boar, he found it. The charge skill had driven the blade all the way through its cheek, and out of the back of its head.

It squealed in pain and shook its head as hard as it could to remove the pain, but that moment of confusion allowed Liz to guide her spear into the beasts eye. Contrary to Matts expectation, and their plan, the beast didnt go down with the second impaling blow.

Instead, its cries of pain increased, and it started to glow with the telltale signs of [Berserkers Rage]. With heavy, clomping steps, it rushed the mages at the edge of the treeline.

Camilla ran forward towards the threat with her weapons at the ready. Aster quickly hopped to the side, and sent a wave of redirected ice from Matts [Hail] at the boars hooves, trying to disrupt its footing.

Liz followed up their attacks, and sent slashing whips of blood forward, cutting at the beasts face.

Malcolm shot one last [Mana Bolt], and turned and fled deeper in the woods.

Camilla took the charge from the boar by distracting the beast with her extendable mace, while using her whip to wrap around its neck. With a firm anchor, she launched herself onto the back of the charging monster.

While the maneuver looked cool, Matt cursed the impulsive move. She was preventing Aster and Liz from attacking, for fear of hurting their teammate.

Camilla stored her mace, and used her control over her whip to bring the tip to her right arm. She used the bladed whip like a saw, and cut through the monsters massive throat.

When it crashed to the ground, she somehow managed to keep her balance, and stepped off the corpse with a flourish.

Matt cried out, No essence!

That caused the triumphant look on her face to quickly fade, while the beast tried to stand and get one last charge in. Camilla kicked the hilt of Matts blade while it was still embedded in the boars head, causing the blade to twist. The bite of the sword finally ended the monsters life as it drove further into its head.

Then, the essence poured into him, and he slowed his sprint towards Camilla and the boss monster into a jog.

Camillas torn-up arms quickly knitted themselves together, and she called out, Hey Malcolm, you can come back now.

Matt ignored him. He hadnt expected the man to do as much as he had.

You good? While his teammate was healing from the self-inflicted wounds, he was worried that she had taken another hit that he didnt see.

Im good. Aidan gave me good armor.

She accompanied the statement with a tap at the place where her armor had a streak in it. A tusk had scraped along her well-protected torso, but was unable to break through. That brought his attention to the armor that he hadnt really examined until now. It only covered the womans vitals, and left her extremities otherwise exposed. She had a dangerous fighting style that he didnt exactly envy.

He withdrew his blade with a heavy pull, and looked to the rift after checking the blade for damage. A slight draw on the repair rune fixed some problems that he couldnt see with his eyes.

Liz and Aster caught up with them shortly afterwards, and they waited for another few minutes before Malcolm finally came back into the clearing.

Hey, good news! I found the entrance to the ruin.

Under his breath, Matt muttered, At least you did something useful while running away.

The women next to him chuckled at his barb.

They followed the excited explorer to find a tiny cave that was only wide enough for one person. With Matts size, it would be extremely cramped in height and width. He wasnt looking forward to this ruin if the whole thing was a tunnel system this small.

Malcolm brought out a light and said, Alright, lets get in there.

Liz and Matt met each others eyes.

She said, Nope. Were gonna rest up, then delve the boar rift. After, well call it a night and come back to the ruin in the morning with full mana.

When Malcolm opened his mouth, Camilla interjected. Look. We want to delve the rift. Theres good essence and better rewards in there. Im not passing them up. Whos going to find this tiny ass hole in the ground hidden behind a boulder anyway?

Malcolm acquiesced after a moment. It wasnt like he was about to go in by himself.