Too Stubborn to Die

Book 4: Chapter 43

Turning to Ernest’s call, Aaron and Talia rejoined the group. But it was just another of Ernest’s spiels. He kept going on about Darius and the necrotic corruption. Obviously, there was no number of allies that was enough for Ernest, and he wanted to make sure the entire world was in on stopping this menace.

Aaron couldn’t blame him. The necrotic corruption alone sounded bad enough. And he certainly didn’t want their home world to be destroyed by it. But he had also already heard it all before, and he was quickly losing focus.

Blinking away his boredom, Aaron opened his System menu as he took a seat. There was no way he was able to sit through all of this again.

Well, at least I can finally see what Skills are waiting for me.

He started to flick through the options available and sighed. With no free Skill slots available in his Profession until he hit D-grade, making decisions wasn’t easy.

And it was only made harder by the fact that he had a rather mediocre ascent to his first Skill gain.

Rubbish, rubbish, rubbish, rubbish!

He flicked through all the options and dismissed them, and his System screen flashed, informing him that the discarded Skill would empower his next selection.

His next selection was decisively better. No doubt it was massively aided by the Mythical dish he had cooked. Still, making a decision with no free slots wasn’t easy, and he scrolled past the first few low-rarity options.

“Nope, nope, nope.”

But there was one option that he couldn’t just scroll past.

Skill Upgrade [ Adipose Fusion ] = Condensed Adipose Fusion [ Mythical ] You have taken the Legacy Skill from the ogre chef Oozagh, turning it into something of your own. By condensing adipose energy down, you have managed to not just increase the density of the stored energy by 20%, but have reduced the bloating effect of increased adipose reserves by 50%. Note: Skill upgrade has been empowered by True Blessing. Warning! Having changed the Skill, this Skill will no longer be considered a Legacy Skill of Oozagh the Rotund.

It was an impossible Skill choice to turn up. He lost nothing by taking it and increased the amount of energy he could store in his adipose. And not only that, but he wouldn’t get quite as fat anymore.

A smile crept across his face until he read to the bottom, and it soured. His True Blessing had been involved in allowing him to upgrade this Skill?

Aaron blinked. Did that mean what he thought it meant? Had Yendal gone and fiddled with his Skill selections somehow with the help of divine power?

He groaned. He obviously couldn’t turn it down, but if Yendal had done something behind the scenes to mess with the Skills he inherited from Oozagh, he would no doubt hear about it when he finally caught up with the ogre again.

And what’s the chance Oozagh finds a way to retaliate?

It was annoying. Couldn’t he just get the best Skill upgrade offer he’d seen in a while without strings attached?

There was no way around it, though. The gods truly did like toying with the mortals, and until he reached higher heights, Aaron realized there was little he could do about that.

He could refuse it, of course. No one could stop him. But as stubborn as he was, he wasn’t stubborn enough to turn away from powerful boons. He would just have to deal with whatever fallout came from it, when it came.

“Dammit, Yendal. Can’t you just keep Oozagh out of your scheming?” Aaron muttered as he accepted the Skill upgrade.

Although he had no interest in being flung into the petty feuding of gods, he had to admit it was nice to gain a good Skill bonus without having to drop one of his current Skills, especially with his D-grade evolution not far beyond the horizon.

Finishing his selection, he looked up, and Ernest was still speaking, and so he tried to open his portable kitchen to the side, like a bored child in a classroom.

Unfortunately, nothing happened. He had figured that with hours to burn, it would have been nice to get in a little more cooking. After all, he had scored a good number of corpses in the dungeon and still had plenty stashed away in his storage. Maybe even enough to quickly push to D-grade.

But it seemed that it was disabled inside the interval room. In fact, a lot of things appeared to be disabled. He supposed it wasn’t too surprising. They were just meant to be waiting and recovering before the next floor, and it seemed the System didn’t want them getting up to anything else.

As strong as he was, it was clear that the dungeon was seriously heating up.

He glanced across at the screens. The groups still stuck on the previous floor were having a hell of a time. It might have seemed rather easy for their team, but that was only because Aaron had managed to keep the crystal so well lit. For those who didn’t, the floor was a real struggle, and each wave was getting stronger and stronger.

If I can get a chance to hit D-grade Profession in here, it might just give me the boon I need to complete the entire dungeon.

He wasn’t too concerned about what he cooked. Completing the dungeon was more important, and with just six levels to go, the potential power it promised couldn’t be ignored.

Aaron’s distracted thoughts returned to the discussion moments later as Ernest was finishing up his speech. He looked around, and most were at least accepting of Ernest’s pleas. Even if they weren’t ready to call themselves allies, they were happy to stop the necrotic corruption of their world.

Although he wasn’t so sure about Erdek. The self-proclaimed goblin queen looked standoffish and certainly didn’t look like she was ready to be anybody’s ally.

“Glad that’s over,” Talia said from beside him.

“Yeah,” Aaron said, stretching out his arms. “Though I can’t complain if Ernest wants to do the politics. I’m happy to do the smashing.”

As the chatter died down, gazes were drawn to the bar entrance, where more teams were arriving from the dungeon floor.

A huge, looming presence stepped out. It was a massive centaur leading a group of others, both centaurs and other races, into the bar. He was an imposing figure, and the aura he gave off was deadly.

However, Aaron also noticed the wounds on him and his people. Not to mention, their group was rather thin on numbers.

Looks like they made it, but at what cost?

“I’m getting a drink and something to eat. Want anything?”

“You know me, Talia. I need a little more flavor than a place like this packs.”

“Suit yourself.”

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Soohyun and Zero accompanied Talia to the bar, and the rest of the group was either chatting or getting themselves something to eat. Leaving Aaron with a moment to himself.

And he decided to take that moment to close his eyes, and focus on his knew Skill as he ate some food from his storage.

But he wasn’t just eating and restoring his adipose reserves. He was channeling and cycling mana as he felt it flow through his anchors, and focused on the breakthroughs he had.

There was something about the increased density of his adipose reserves that gave him insights. He felt the energy flowing thicker and richer through him, and it was inspiring.

And for a moment, he actually lost track of time. Unfortunately, before any breakthroughs could be reached, Voidrin dropped into the chair beside him and gave him a nudge.

“Heya, pal. How’s it doing?”

Aaron yawned, and his eyes flickered open. “Good. Just getting a little meditation in.”

“Meditation, huh? Lucky I interrupted. Can’t have you stealing all the glory. Not after that last floor. Y’know what? It actually pisses me off a bit.”

Aaron chuckled. “Mate, aren’t we friends?”

Voidrin glared back. “We’ll be friends once I get a win over you. And claim this dungeon for myself. As is my right.”

“Well, you’d better work hard for it then. Because I’m not going easy.”

“Bah. Neither am I,” Voidrin crossed his arms and playfully huffed.

“Look, more coming,” Aaron said, pointing over to the entrance as another group passed, looking even more broken and bloodied than the centaur’s group had.

“They don’t look in too good a shape, huh? Looks like they took a beating.”

Aaron could just nod. They did look rough, like they had only just barely survived, and the sight of it made him look up at the screens.

What he saw was rough. The waves just kept crashing against the remaining groups. Every time the screen flicked to another group, he watched someone get killed.

“Mate… bloody hell. Would you look at that? They’re getting smashed.”

“Yep,” Voidrin agreed with the sentiment.

The stubborn warrior part of Aaron respected them. They just kept fighting, even as the odds against them seemed to worsen. But the human part of him felt terrible for their desperate struggle.

Some of the groups still had hours left on their timers, and yet they continued to struggle. To fight and resist. Then again, that was the attitude required to make it this far.

But the desperation was only getting worse. As waves crashed against them and they took losses, the groups were forced to take more people off the crystals and have them help defend their castles. And that just made matters worse, as their timers slowed and their people were unable to keep their crystals lit.

“Stick a fucking fork in it; they are done, mate.”

“Tell me about it, pal.”

The camera skipped to another group as the final stage of the most recent wave appeared. When the stage began, it spawned a boss, who was freaking huge. It was a terrifying horned beast, and its power was equally terrifying. Within seconds of spawning, they watched as the boss slaughtered half a dozen people from the group.

The survivors realized their peril as their comrades were cut down around them and turned and fled. When they got back to their castle, they activated their extraction.

Group from world #4381 has left the dungeon.

“Oh, c’mon. That's the best they got? Oh well, I guess it’s best to cull the weak and all that.”

“There was no way they were keeping the crystal lit after losing so many. Retreat was the only option they had.”

“Y’know, I hate when you sound so reasonable. Go back to being a stubborn brute.”

“Oh, I never stopped.”

Voidrin rolled his eyes. “Obviously.”

Group from world #1167 has left the dungeon.

“There goes another one. It’s really heating up out there now,” Aaron said.

They continued to watch for a while as more groups were knocked out of the dungeon. It seemed that what little opportunity remained to complete the floor was narrowing every minute.

The waves were only getting harder, requiring the remaining teams to pull more and more fighters to their fronts, slowing their timers down even more.

It was a death spiral, and Aaron had a feeling that they were already in the company of everyone who was going to pass this stage of the dungeon.

He turned and realized that Voidrin was looking around the bar and counting.

“What are you doing?”

“Six. Six groups made it through. Interesting, don’t you think?”

“Interesting? Why’s that?”

“Oh, I dunno,” Voidrin shrugged. “It just is. A cluster is big, y’know? Like big, big. I’m pretty sure it’s more than billions, probably trillions of people of countless different species spread across more planets than you can count. And yet, six groups made it through to the next stage of the trial. That’s interesting, don’t you think?”

“I suppose it is.”

“Anyhoo, I’m just yapping. We've got the real challenges ahead of us, pal. What with the entire sector pitted against one another. This should prove entertaining, at least. Although I really hope that you and that big purple bastard don’t steal all my glory.”

Time until Dungeon Interlude completion 02:11:23

“Only two hours left?” Aaron said as he checked the interlude timer.

“Yeah, haha. You were out of it for a while. I thought you might be taking a nap.”

“Well, I'd better go make the rounds before we run out of time,” Aaron said, jumping to his feet. “Been nice chatting with you, mate.”

“Yeah, yeah. Save it for when I beat you, pal.”

Aaron smiled and walked off, but he didn’t get far before he was intercepted by the looming centaur.

“You’re Mo’han Khan’s friend, are you not?” The centaur looked down his flat nose at him.

“Me? Yeah. Can I help you, mate?”

“I intend to challenge Mo’han and earn the title of strongest in our sector. I suggest you don’t interfere.”

“Ookay…”

And just like that, the centaur trotted off. Aaron was a little confused, but also a little irritated. Why was Mo’han de facto the strongest in the sector? He had managed to beat him in their duel, after all.

Oh, whatever.

Shaking his head, Aaron looked around at the other arrivals. Now was a chance to see who the greatest talents in their sector were before the next floor started. Although he only really noted Sloorzlax and Elador Mistwood.

They were the two obvious standouts among the people from the other groups. They were the highest ranking, wore the fewest wounds from the previous floor, and had the highest levels and best Titles.

Elador was a cliche-looking elf with long, straight blonde hair and intricate green armor that hugged their body. Between their name and their strikingly androgynous features, Aaron was not sure if their gender was.

Sloorzlax, on the other hand, couldn’t be more different. The creature was a bulbously fat thing, with folds everywhere. It walked atop hundreds of tiny little centipede legs, lifting its flabby body off the ground. But its upper body looked like that of a fat man. He had a bald head and was rather ugly, but not alien, if not for his lower half.

Interesting species.

There were a bunch of other races filling the bar, too. However, no groups had survived the floor as intact as his, Elmira’s, or Voidrin's.

Aaron’s gaze moved on, paying little attention to the weaker people in attendance. The next floor would likely cull even more of them, and he’d likely never see them again.

Making a couple of laps around the bar, he strolled back over to his own group.

The main party and substitutes had gathered around Raksha and Ernest as they set up the party in the System menu.

Time until Dungeon Interlude completion 00:05:13

A System notification appeared as he was invited to the new party, and the final preparations were made.

Interestingly, Zero had joined them, despite the fact that they had a full party. It seemed that being soulbound allowed him to tag along, even with specific dungeon rules. Then again, Aaron remembered that some built their very Class and path around pets, and without them, wouldn’t be able to utilize their own Skills.

“Ready?” Ernest said, glancing around at everyone.

A few nods and muttered replies were passed around, and for the most part, it seemed like they were keen to move on to the next floor.

Accepting a few prompts, a portal passage appeared, and as they stepped into it, a notification popped before them.

Grand Dungeon, 5th Floor Quest: Construct the Great Tower!

Compete against the other clusters of your sector to complete your tower before the rest and reach the heavens.

Reward: 50 auction points!

Bonus rewards available!

Aaron’s eyes widened as he looked around. They had been transported to another room, surrounded by celestial blue energy as the final minute of the timer counted down. But more than that, the other groups from their cluster were standing shoulder to shoulder.

Our cluster is working together on this floor?