beddedO
patreon
Chapter 86 - Sacrosanct Warp
🕑 Added 2023-10-23 21:52:48 +0000 UTCChapter 86
Sacrosanct Warp
Ethan, Elijah, and Delilah wandered about the desert terrain of the Colorado Plateau for nearly a day and a half before they finally managed to stumble upon the spinning vortex that was hiding in the shadow of a tall rock formation. Despite being exhausted, they couldn’t even rest as Ethan hastily dug out an underground chamber with Elijah’s help and, as soon as he did, tasked Delilah with creating a Tunnel.
Though the distance between here and their lodge wasn’t particularly massive, and, technically, it would likely be faster to simply return by plane rather than have Delilah spend 2-3 days building a portal, Ethan still opted into travelling through the portal for no other reason than to give the young girl a chance to continue improving the ability. A couple of days worth of loss wasn’t much in the grand scheme of things and they were already vastly ahead of the curve. The last Tunnel, settled somewhere deep in Australia's deserts, was likely the easiest one to close, which was partly why Ethan left it for the last.
"When we get in there," while they waited for Delilah to construct the portal, Ethan decided to take the time to outline how they would fight once inside the Tunnel. "Your first priority will be keeping yourself and Delilah safe." Though Ethan did consider leaving the young girl outside, she wouldn't gain any Levels in such a way.
“Okay,” Elijah nodded. “What… what’s it like? Inside, I mean?” he continued on and asked.
“I already told you–it’s a gauntlet,” Ethan shrugged. “Literally. From what I remember, there were four waves of enemies. We have to survive them. That’s all.”
“How many?”
"I dunno. Maybe a few hundred?" Ethan replied, his words stirring fear inside the young boy's heart. "The bitch of it all is that the damn bastards don't even give XP if you kill them. Can you imagine? Shitty things."
"A… a few hundred?! Why–why did you only bring me to help you?!" Elijah exclaimed in shock.
"Hm?" Ethan smiled gingerly for a moment. "It's just a few hundred. No big deal." Elijah resisted the urge to roll his eyes as Ethan snickered. "Besides, the reason I left them is simple: they wouldn't have helped. The lowest levelled creature in the Tunnel is around Level 30. Even I will barely be able to survive the onslaught. Mingzhu could have perhaps been helpful, but stealth skills are rendered immune in the Tunnel for some reason, so, yeah, not happening."
Ethan distinctly recalled the scenes that still caused him to shudder. Though he was certain of his survival and ability to last the four waves, even protecting Elijah might become impossible. However, it did not matter; in the end, the only indispensable member of his tiny little 'cult' was Delilah–everyone else was simply a bonus, whether permanent or temporary. Though cold-hearted and detached, it was the lesson learned through over twenty years of surviving: deep attachments kill, within and without.
Shockingly, Delilah managed to build a portal within a day and a half, her speed having increased rather massively after having built quite a few of them recently. Though a pleasant surprise, what was even more shocking was that she appeared completely fine and not utterly exhausted as usual. Ethan chalked it up to the increase in the spell's Level and Delilah's own skill at manipulating it, not thinking too deeply about it.
Soon enough, the trio faced the vortex and slowly stepped through. The world of red stones and the vast desert vanished, darkness surging and swallowing everything for a moment before they were spat out into a completely new reality.
Black stone splashed out around them–the floor below was uneven and jagged, with countless cracks due to the passage of time. Tiled black slabs were also unevenly made and matched, making for a rather asymmetrical and rundown appearance. Further out, walls scaled to nearly eighty feet in height, all similarly made of obsidian-black stone slabs seemingly just stacked together in a hurry. At the centre of the circular arena was a large gap, roughly twenty feet wide, and led into abyssal depths that seemed inscrutable.
The only source of light was the faint moon hanging above them, unmoving. The sky, otherwise, was starless and cloudless, pitch black in colour–just like the rest of the world. Beyond the arena itself, the sight was blocked by the thick, charred fog that seemed like it would burn if touched.
Just then, a set of notification screens appeared in front of them all, and soon enough, Ethan was reeling in shock.
[Welcome to the hallowed bastion of warriors, the heart of those who died to live, ‘Sacrosanct Warp’. Throughout the generations, tens of thousands of warriors came through the tired stones and showcased their skills for the Judges. Few ever shook the hearts of those who bore witness, but all who did became resplendent lights that could blind even the darkest of blights.
However, even the hallowed halls of the virtuous Empires fall, and the Warp found its own demise during the Long Dissolution, a set of wars that lasted for over a thousand years and saw countless souls, innocent or otherwise, perish in the sands of time. During the reign of the Emperor Valak the Great, greed besieged the Emperor’s heart and he tried conquering the Dimensional Wilds–but the beasts of the beyond struck back, and the worlds began to see themselves drained of life. Soon, the Sacrosanct Warp was abandoned, but the spirit of the arena never forgot its duty.]
[Fulfil the following conditions for the rewards:
Survive 1 Wave – +1 to the Levels of all party members; + 2 to the main stat
Survive 2 Waves – +2 to the Levels of all party members; +4 to the main stat; Title ‘Survivor’
Survive 3 Waves – +3 to the Levels of all party members; +5 to the main stat; Title ‘Survivor’; a random item of ‘Rare’ rank; [Warping Needle]
Survive 4 Waves – +3 to the Levels of all party members; +6 to the main stat; Title ‘Survivor’; a random item of ‘Epic’ rank; [Warping Needle]
Survive 5 waves – +5 to the Levels of all party members; +6 to the main stat; Title ‘Survivor’; a random item of ‘Epic’ rank; [Warping Needle]; Passive Ability: <Sacrosanct>
Survive 6 waves – same rewards as for 5 waves + increased XP from all sources by 15% for 180 days
Survive 7 waves – same rewards as 5 waves + increased XP from all sources by 25% for 180 days
Survive 8 waves – same rewards as 5 waves + increased XP from all sources by 25% for 360 days
Survive 9 waves – +10 to the Levels of all party members; +20 to the main stat; Title ‘Survivor’, Title ‘Conqueror’, Title ‘Hallowed’, title ‘Judged’; a Legendary item of the party leader’s choosing; [Warping Needle]; Passive Ability: <Sacrosanct>, Passive Ability: <Indomitable>; Active Ability: <Judgement>; increased XP from all sources by 15% permanently; small chance of ‘????’]
[The First Wave will appear in 5 minutes. It will have 30 monsters. Each consecutive wave will have double the monsters of the previous ones. There will be a grace period between each Wave consisting of 3 days.]
[Note: due to the special nature of Sacrosanct Warp, time here is frozen. No time will pass outside, no matter how many days or weeks you spend in here]
[Good luck… Traveller!]
By the end, Ethan was gasping for breath.
There were several reasons for it, though nominally it was the fact that there were potentially 9 waves in total, but only 1 was needed to actually beat the Tunnel. However, they’d have to survive at least 3 in order to obtain the item they came for: [Warping Needle]. What was far more staggering, however, were the abundant and, frankly, insane rewards of the final wave. Just gaining 10 Levels alone was already absurd, not to mention possibly the world-shattering chance to get a Legendary item suited for him entirely.
Legendary items, though not the highest in terms of rank totem, were still exceedingly rare even twenty-five years into the future. Ethan himself only had one–a belt he got as a reward for clearing a hidden task in one of the Tunnels–while only someone on the rank of the Ten Beasts might have more than a couple on their person. Furthermore, the first Legendary item that ever appeared did so a whole eleven years post-Descent.
However, Ethan had about as much confidence in surviving the 9th wave as he had in killing a Terror on his own. The reason was simple: the gauntlet started with 30 monsters and the numbers doubled for each wave. The 9th wave, as such, would have a staggering 7680 monsters. Even if he could clone himself a hundred times, he still wouldn't be confident in facing what was essentially an army. In the end, it was just a carrot at the end of a stick–glazing people's eyes with rewards that they had no chance of obtaining.
Ethan’s goal was actually the fifth wave–he recalled the four waves he observed and was somewhat confident in facing them, though, starting with the fifth wave, things would likely come close to impossible. After all, the number of monsters went from 240 for the fourth wave–semi-manageable though still extremely dangerous–to 480, a number that was difficult to even encapsulate. Then again, it didn’t really matter–so long as he could get [Warping Needle], everything else was a bonus.
"..." Elijah and Delilah, on the other hand, were horrified at the prospect of potentially fighting hundreds of monsters. Unlike Ethan, they didn't really have a frame of reference for the rewards and just saw that they'd have to face 120 monsters on just the third wave. "Isn't… isn't this a bit too hard?" Elijah pondered aloud.
"Don't worry about it," Ethan said with a faint smile. "Just stand back behind me and occasionally buff me." Elijah was currently Level 14, one Level shy of unlocking his first Core ability. Unlike Ethan's Class which seemed to gain new abilities–passive and active–at almost every Level, Elijah's was rather stingy, and he only obtained two passive abilities along the way that just gave basic % increases to his buffs to the party members. Surviving the first wave will unlock the first core ability, and Ethan had absolutely no idea what it would be–though considering that the boy's Class was not worse than his own, it would likely be on the level of [Hemomancy].
“Alright, retreat to the back,” Ethan called out as the seconds ticked down. “It’s time to see just how much pain I can endure before passing out…”
