A day has passed. Vega is progressing well with her skills, and we even found some low-level monsters for her to fight. Most of them are younglings being protected by their herds. So I’ve been taking care of the more troublesome members of the group and letting my pocket half-demon deal with the rest.

The fights are dangerous of course, even young monsters can be surprisingly strong in this environment. Maybe the weaker ones just tend to die quickly.

As for me, I'm loving it. I would like this place even more if I didn't have to take care of Vega and could lurk about on my own. It kind of reminds me of the 1st floor, where death could be waiting behind any of the trees, a forest full of deadly monsters. Yes, the 1st floor was the first place I really felt alive, being forced to fight for my life or die.

Now that I think about it, maybe I'm not all that normal either, maybe it's not just the rest of group 4. But then I remember Lily's happy smile as I suggested that she cut off her limbs and store them for sacrifice, and I quickly dismiss the thought. I am the normal one here.

I notice a presence sneaking closer and activate one of my anchors, sending a thermal burst through.

A small part of the forest explodes in sky-high flames, and even here I feel a bit of heat.

[You have defeated Battle Kobold - lvl 201]

[Lvl 221 > Lvl 222]

I turn my attention back to Vega, who is fighting a level thirty-one Kobold. The monster is multiple times taller than her, it looks like a bipedal lizard with dark brown scales.

The fight has been dragging on for a while already, and I think she could have ended it some time ago, but my disciple keeps trying to use kinetic energy during the fight. Her heart keeps beating, her [Kinetic Barrier] helping to absorb the recoil. As I keep my [Mana Domain] around her and am extremely careful to do so.

Unlike the monsters native to these parts, Vega isn't used to these high mana levels. Hell, even I have trouble functioning normally without using my skills to compensate. I don't want to see what it would do to her.

[Mana Domain - lvl 33 > Mana Domain - lvl 34]

Oh, nice, that's something.

Vega, frustrated at her inability to shoot the monster with kinetic energy, just uses it to push her body to the side before closing the distance with another burst. Her dagger flashes, stabbing multiple times into the monster's chest.

She lands on her feet, as the Kobold sends her flying with a well timed punch, her barrier absorbing most of the impact. She pushes herself up again, stabbing for the neck and using her left arm to fend off the monster’s gnashing teeth.

The kobold tries to tear through the [Kinetic Barrier] covering her forearm, but the life disappears from his eyes before he can.

Knowing the mood my disciple is most likely in, I don't say anything and give her time to calm down.

More presences start closing in from all sides, and I send explosions through a few more anchors and grab Vega. Then, while the forest burns behind us, I push us into the air and quickly head for one of the smaller mountains.

Keeping our flight as short as possible, I land and then continue running on my feet, strengthening my body. But, just like before, even this is enough, and several flying monsters start circling the area, searching for us.

I hide our presence, and when I find an opening in the side of the mountain, I enter, and pushing through for a few seconds, I enter the cave. A thermal orb flies in the air, lighting the area, and the monster that seems extremely surprised to see us as it wakes.

[Ashenwolf - lvl 149]

The monstrous wolf isn't even that big; his eyes are at the level of mine. His fur is gray, and his eyes are light gray.

Somehow I find the monster pretty and cute. Just a poor fella, awoken from its nap by intruders.

I use [Redistribution] to hold its movement, while the wolf tries to radiate some fire-based attack, but I absorb the heat, storing it in the thermal orb I'm using to light the cave. Then I disrupt its attempts to use a reinforcement skill and thwart a few more of its attempts. I let Vega go, and she starts looking between me and the wolf.

Yup, that's me, the Bully. I'm totally bullying the poor guy and will continue to do so for a few more minutes, at least until the monster can catch its breath after its escape attempts. There doesn’t seem to be much mana left in the wolf, and its eyes change. The monster has recognized the difference between us and expects death. Yet it stands proud.

The wolf reminds me of the Crimsonwolf Tess and I fought on the 1st floor. Back then, I felt something like respect for the white wolf that caused us so much trouble and inspired the creation of one of my first skills.

I take a few steps and stop an arm's reach away from the monster, continuing to hold its movement with my skill. His eyes meet mine, its growling fills the cave.

Then I pet him.

The wolf's fur is nice and soft, and his body radiates a comfortable heat, it probably has something to do with his fire skills. As I continue to caress his head, I feel renewed attempts to escape, but there is no way he will be able to. Using my position as victor, I step closer and continue. It feels nice, and the confused, yet angry wolf is still cute.

Sure, it is almost a level 150 monster that would kill me given the opportunity. But now its life is in my hands, and I want to pet it. It might be because I miss Biscuit, but I even boop the wolf's snout a few times. It's nice and cold, but it just can't compare to Biscuit's, so I stop.

“Wanna pet it, Vega?” I ask my disciple. Yup, I lost our bet again. Losing concentration when we found ruins of a building, and I found weird inscriptions on it.

I’m starting to think that maybe our bet wasn't such a good idea.

Vega doesn't even bother asking if it's safe nor does she hesitate. Nope, she just moves towards the wolf which stands there, frozen in place, and climbs on his back.

“It's so soft and warm!” she says happily, her mood improving. She moves closer to the wolf's head, which is almost as big as she is.

Yet the little half-demon isn't scared at all. She seems to trust me fully and taps the top of the majestic wolf's head, “Can we keep him?”

“It would be annoying, just pet him if you want, and we will leave in ten minutes.”

She is disappointed but then continues to snuggle the wolf for ten minutes. Then, as we are leaving, I release the monster, and he almost falls, his body not released from my skills. He doesn't even attempt to attack me, just stands there, his hackles rising, its deep growl filling the cave once more. I throw him a piece of deer meat I dried and exit.

Taking Vega into my arms, I jump off the mountain, boosting us only slightly to avoid colliding with the cliff. After ten seconds of freefall, I absorb our momentum, gently landing on a branch of one of the bigger trees.

A few dozen miles ahead of us lies the sleeping Calamity, and I wonder how much closer I can get to it safely. We’ve already shortened the distance by a third, so theoretically, we could reach it in a few days if we wanted to. But something tells me that wouldn't be a good idea.

So I once again check the map I got from Darren, the one with information on the Mirror. Obviously, the map is terrible. The Valley it depicts is much smaller, and some of the mountains are missing, but I can use it as a rough estimation, and, going by that, the Mirror should be nearby.

 

---

 

It takes an entire day. Meanwhile, Vega levels up a few times, and her usage of kinetic energy has improved to what I think is an acceptable degree. We only have 5 days left, so I tell her to practice creating mana orbs and I start explaining the logic behind my tricolored orbs. She has a skill similar to [Focus], so she should be capable of doing something similar. Even if she can’t do it right away, she can always fill them with kinetic energy instead.

That day, we also got attacked by a snake as thick as a car. The monster moves extremely quickly, spewing acid at all times, and even radiates a form of mana I can't fully block. It causes me to become lightheaded and makes it more difficult to keep up my external use of mana. It's unable to pierce my Mantle, but the slithering moving debuff of a monster is extremely annoying.

I run between the trees, as they topple behind us. Dodging to the side, a long patch of the forest in front of us gets covered in green acid which starts to melt the trees.

A dozen of my mana projectiles trash the forest behind us, but the snake avoids them all, and as it moves, more trees fall.

A few monsters attack from the sky only to be hit by the debuff, slowed down, and then either snatched from the air or melted in green acid.

I create a few layers of barriers, and acid lands on them, slowly corroding them, forcing me to use more mana and let the attack drip down.

The thermal orb floating near me shoots a laser-like concentrated thermal attack, cutting trees apart with a smooth burned cut. It slashes against the snake as well, causing deep burns and filling the area with a loud hiss.

I create anchors near the monster, but they get disconnected from me by the field the snake constantly generates.

Vega has already passed out and starts breathing heavily, even through the barriers I’ve wrapped her in.

Pushing us further away, three tricolored bombs explode next to the snake, but I only see its long body slithering like a blur away from the explosions.

[Redistribution] fails to grasp the monster, and it never gets close enough to enter the reach of my kinetic attacks, and it avoids my ranged ones, detecting them as they take flight. Yet another asshole picking on me and taking advantage of the fact that I can't fight properly with Vega in my arms. And yet another fella to add to my ever-growing list of beings that have pissed me off on this floor.

When my [Perception] locates the tunnels below us and a path heading there, I lure the monster further away, dodging the attacks.

Then I create hundreds of mana projectiles, each of them an orb the size of a golf ball. Thermal energy floods into each one of them, and I start my bombardment of the snake. They shoot off like rounds from a minigun, hundreds of them in just a few seconds, obliterating a big patch of the forest, some of them even manage to hit and burn the annoying snake.

The monster hisses, an even more concentrated acid attack shooting towards us, splashing against my barrier. I keep the barriers supplied with mana and even use [Infusion] to infuse them with [Resonance], and gradually the acid slides down, melting the earth, stones, and trees underneath.

Meanwhile, the snake leaves, and the annoying field it was generating goes with it.

I check on Vega, and she seems to be feverish, and the little half-demon is still unconscious. Carefully, I use my mana to push the barely noticeable remains of the snake's aura away, and her breathing calms down.

Then I spend a bit of time testing my skills on the green acid that was left behind. The effect it has on [Resonance], how it clashes with kinetic or thermal energy. The amount of mana I need to use for [Regalia] to resist it. All that good stuff.

But one good thing comes from the snake’s attack.

Its acid melts a big chunk of the stone off of one of the hills, revealing the entrance to a crude tunnel that’s been shielded by the material around it. That allows my senses to reach inside, and I send them through the tunnel, slowly creating a map in my mind.

Then I find something interesting deep inside the tunnel.

A massive circular iron door not unlike the ones back at the Sanctuary.

Checking the map in the mana stone and the area, I manage to conclude that we’ve located the resting place of the Mirror. Whatever it is.