LimitlessPath
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Limitless Path Chapter Two Hundred Nineteen
🕑 Added 2024-05-08 17:00:02 +0000 UTCThe area they wound up overlooking from a small shelf of broken rock was about seventy-five feet across and was swarmed with kobolds. There were no brutes in the area, Beth noticed, the thick-skinned troll-like beings entirely absent from not just the clearing but the surrounding area. There weren't just a few kobolds present, either, but close to fifty packed into the area, scuffling about and getting into simple fights with each other constantly. All the kobolds were at least level one hundred twenty-five, with a few at level one-thirty mixed in, and Beth saw that a couple of them were what felt, based on their mana strength and monikers, like elite variants.
The kobolds weren't the craziest thing in the open area, however, as there was something much more eye-catching located directly in the center of the clearing. Hovering in the air just above the ground was something that looked very much like a singularity, although the object wasn't black but dark blue across the surface. It also clearly wasn't a singularity as it wasn't pulling in everything around it for hundreds or thousands of miles and devouring it. It also seemed they had solved part of the reason for the massive numbers of kobolds appearing, as even as they watched, a kobold appeared in front of them, starting with a blue light appearing roughly in the shape of the kobold before the kobold itself phased in. Whether it was being spawned in or teleporting out from the dark blue singularity, Beth wasn't sure, but it was clear they were appearing in that place, whatever the case.
Beth focused on the portal, or whatever it was, trying to see if she could figure out anything about it. The first thing that she noticed while staring at it rather hard was that it seemed to swirl, which she found a little strange. She wasn't really sure what that meant, if it meant anything at all, but it was very clear from the edge of the sphere that it was spinning, and at a rather fast clip at that. In observing the spin, she noticed the second thing about it, which wasn't a direct observation of the anomaly itself, but the fact that there was a heavy layer of ice directly under it in a circle. The ice was a light blue in color and appeared to be quite thick, though it was hard to tell by just looking at the surface, and from a distance, at that. Beth wasn't really sure what the thing actually was, a portal or some big ball of mana or something else, but that's when she made her third discovery; her eyes could Identify it.
Gate of Frozen Dreams
{A gate leading to a sub-dimensional space, separate from the rest of reality and operating under its own rules. Within lies a realm of ancient wonder, frozen over by a dream that once came true. Ice mana gathers within this world and frequently pours forth, changing that which is present. Beware the hope of a lost dreamer.}
Beth wasn't entirely sure what all of that meant, but it was pretty clear this was some kind of crazy portal. She quickly updated Blood through their mental connection to make sure the wolf understood what they were looking at and what the possibilities were. After a brief discussion between the two, they decided to go for it, tackling the kobolds around the portal first. The two split up, quietly circling the area before attacking in unison, dividing the kobolds and tearing into them.
Slaughtering the fifty plus beasts took quite some time, even with their increased skills and combat experience. Everything over level one hundred was tough, even 'normal' enemies took quite some time to kill, and elites and up were even tougher. Beth remembered the good old days of…around three months ago subjective time, when the just over level one hundred enemies at the start of the Trial had been artificially lowered in difficulty. There was none of that going now or in the future in the cards for them anymore, and it took them more than half-an-hour to kill everything around the gate. Blood immediately set about securing any beast cores while Beth examined the gate, trying to see if she could figure anything else out. It was more than a bit futile, however, the gate giving up no further secrets no matter how she observed.
She waited for Blood to finish and clean herself up a little bit, thanks to their infinite canteens, before getting ready to step through the gate. Blood stepped up beside her, giving her a glance, which Beth returned before grabbing her hand, Blood giving her hand a squeeze in response before they stepped through the gate together. There was no sense of transition or movement whatsoever, rather surprising both of the girls, as they stepped into the portal and were suddenly standing in a different world, one nothing like Beth was expecting.
They were in a large, open field filled with knee-high grasses and small flower plants with a variety of colors of flowers. The sky overhead stretched out endlessly, a pure and crystal-clear blue that seemed to radiate calm and serenity. A single sun sat in that blue sky, appearing a warm yellow in color, providing plenty of light and warmth to the surroundings. Not exactly the kind of scene she expected for something that was described as a realm frozen over. She didn't see any ice at all, as a matter of fact, nor anything apart from the grasses and flowers. She exchanged another glance with Blood, this one much more confused than their previous look, before scanning the area again to make sure there wasn't anything unusual.
"Do you think…it's an illusion?" Blood asked.
"It really doesn't seem like it," Beth said with a shake of her head. "And anyway, aren't your eyes supposed to always see the truth? Are you seeing something different than a field of flowers and a bright sun in a blue sky?"
"Nope," Blood replied. "It's just like you said. Nothing looks different or odd in my sight, and it's just as pleasant as you describe."
"Well, I guess we can only explore. Why don't you scout a little? But be careful! We have no idea what's going on," Beth said.
"I know," Blood replied with a snort, but also a small smirk that Beth just caught as she turned and left. Beth herself moved forward, slowly pacing across the huge field they found themselves in. There really wasn't anything else within their eyesight from the initial place where they had appeared…other than the portal. There was an exact copy of the portal that was in the cavern sitting in the field, but it wasn't seemingly channeling any ice mana. Beth couldn't see any kind of swirling effect around this gate like there was around the other one, as well as the fact that there was no ice puddled beneath the portal.
Beth slowly followed in Blood's wake, keeping her ears and eyes peeled as, though Blood wasn't extremely stealthy, she was definitely able to maneuver around beasts quietly that Beth would just blunder into. She also tried to pay attention to the plants as, even though Blood could Identify items now, the wolf wasn't necessarily used to having that power and utilizing it to pick out rare and valuable plants. Though, it looked like that didn't matter much, as Beth was finding nothing but flowers and grass and that continued for quite a while.
Even after twenty minutes of walking, nothing really changed, with nothing appearing on the horizon and nothing about the field changing. She continued walking nonetheless and, after quite some time, Blood sent her a mental communication.
'You should run,' Blood said.
'What? What's wrong?!' Beth asked nervously, starting to jog.
'The place is big. Very big. And there's nothing for a long time. I'm burning my buffs at max and sprinting and I'm just reaching the edge of the flower field after quite some time,' Blood replied.
'I'll move then,' Beth said, starting to run while burning her buffs. Running Swift and Beastly Body at max didn't eat through too much mana, so Beth was able to burn her buffs and run for quite a long time. She ran for minutes, nothing with the scenery changing, and those minutes turned into dozens of minutes. As she ran and scanned the area, she noticed a change in the air, specifically the temperature. The air became cool, the temperature dropping, though not rapidly, and the air was just moderately chilly…for a time. The air remained that cool temperature until Beth saw a change on the horizon; a tall tower.
'Blood. The tower?' she sent.
'I've seen it, sister. I'm approaching it now,' Blood replied.
'Be careful,' Beth said.
'For someone so aggressive, you're such a worrywart,' Blood sent with an amused tone in her mental voice.
'I care about you, Blood. A lot.'
'Same, sister,' Blood replied.
Beth re-orientated towards the tower, which was just slightly to her right, now heading directly for it. The tower gradually grew as she ran towards it, showing just how far away it was, given Beth's current speed. Eventually, she was able to see that the tower extended at least a hundred floors, a truly massive construction for something just in the middle of nowhere. The tower was circular in shape and had to be hundreds of feet across, made of some kind of pale stone and adorned with many fancy carvings and decorative sculptures.
The closer she got, the more impressive the tower appeared until, eventually, she was standing at the base of the edifice with Blood. The two craned their necks as they stared up at the structure, admiring the beauty and skill on display in the building's construction. When they were done gawking, they moved around the circumference of the base, checking to make sure there wasn't anything unusual or any other entrance than the main doors. Finding nothing apart from more carving, they checked the main door, finding it wasn't locked. The double doors, made of some kind of light gray stone with some blue tinting in the veins, swung open smoothly and silently at the simple press of a finger. Having forged quite a few hinges herself by this point, Beth had to say she was rather impressed with the workmanship on display as the doors stopped almost fully open with absolutely no noise.
Walking in, Beth observed a massive room, circular in shape, that occupied the entire first floor of the tower. The floor was made up of square tiles about four feet to a side that were fitted so well there were practically no seams, with an alternating pattern of white and black tiles. The room was lit by some kind of mana lamp spaced evenly around the outer wall in combination with a single, large sphere that glowed a pale white in the very center of the ceiling.
"What is this place?" asked Blood, walking forward onto the checkered floor.
"I have no idea, but it's certainly impressive," Beth replied.
"How do we go up, though?" Blood asked, noting the distinct lack of stairs, ramps, or any other method to reach another floor.
"I have no idea, but if I've learned anything about these kinds of places, I'm sure the answer will become clear as soon as we figure out what's going on," Beth said.
They wandered around the first floor for a minute until Blood walked near the center of the room, whereupon a bright circle lit up, looking very much like an array. Fortunately, Blood had stopped just outside the circle, with the outer edge of her left boot a hairsbreadth from the outer edge of the circle. She very carefully slid her foot back before step back from the circle, wiping her brow with a relieved sigh.
"Blood! Are you alright?!" Beth exclaimed, hurrying over.
"I'm fine, but that was close," the lupine woman replied, sighing again.
"You think it's a trap?" Beth asked, ruffling Blood's hair between her ears.
"Hmm, that's nice…" Blood growled.
"Focus," Beth commanded, pinching Blood's right ear slightly.
"Owie," Blood grumbled before Beth let her go. "No, actually, it doesn't smell like a trap."
"Huh, then what?"
"Not sure, but it doesn't seem dangerous," Blood replied.
"Well, let's go," Beth said and stepped forward, Blood just rolling her eyes as her companion walked into the circle. Beth immediately disappeared and Blood growled slightly in frustration before walking into the circle herself. There was a brief sensation of twisting and pushing, a slightly nauseating experience, before Blood's vision cleared, finding herself standing next to Beth in a different room.
"Blood, I think we have a problem," Beth said. Blood followed the direction Beth was pointing to see a massive beast sleeping at the other end of the room they were in, though it wasn't really a full room? Upon further inspection, Blood realized they had been sent directly to the top of the tower, at least, she assumed it was still the same tower. There were dozens of openings around the room, not windows, but there were many pillars supporting an ornate roof, with nothing in-between the pillars but empty space.
The thing Beth had pointed at was something the shape and appearance of some kind of lizard, but the size of a bus. It was curled up with its side opposite the direction it was curled pressed against multiple pillars opposite them. It wasn't just that it was a massive lizard, but that it was level one hundred and fifty with multiple modifiers. Beth Identified it again just to be sure her new eyes hadn't been playing tricks on her:
Level 150 Heroic Steel Wyrm
The heroic modifier was likely a bad sign, indicating something that was far more powerful than what it might otherwise be without the modifier. It's dully reflective scales made a lot more sense now considering it had the moniker 'steel,' likely indicating its composition, at least in part. They had encountered wyrms before, but fighting one in a room that was a thousand or more feet in the air with openings in the walls was going to be something else. Beth was thinking this might also be a case where discretion was the better part of valor, but the problem she was finding was the lack of glowing teleportation circle in the middle of the room. The only good thing so far was that the wyrm was in a very deep sleep and whether it was their talking or teleportation into the room, neither had seemed to bother it much.
"Uh, so, what now?" Blood asked, scratching at her left ear while her right ear flicked rapidly.
"Well, uh, I hate to say it, but…you know," Beth said.
"I know? I know what?" Blood asked, looking at Beth with a furrowed brow. Suddenly her brow un-furrowed and her eyes widened. "No. No, no, no! Not more of that!"
"And your idea is what? Jump? Even with our stats, we can't survive that kind of fall," Beth said while placing her hands on her hips.
"Fine. Do it," Blood said with a dramatic sigh, covering her eyes with her right hand.
Comments
Garrett Byers
I had to look because I wasn't exactly sure I remembered, but they get to level 100 at the end of stage fourteen. Not really sure what you mean by "post enemy scaling to weaker" either. Sorry, but what exactly is the question?
Arkeus
It's been a while so maybe I misremember but I thought lvl100 enemies in the trial were post the tenth trial and post enemy scaling to weaker
Emanuil Glavchev
The grind irreconcilably beckons! Or so Beth reckons. :D
bladepony games
Thanks for the chapter
