Too Stubborn to Die

Book 4: Chapter 16

Talia glanced around at the mirrors, confused as she gripped her scepter tightly, her shadowy, armored avatar encapsulating her.

“This way? Or that way? Soohyun? Zero?”

Talia called out to them. She could see them walking, but somehow couldn’t follow. She had even taken a rope from her spatial storage and tied it to Soohyun before entering, not wanting to repeat the mistake she made the first time with Aaron.

But the moment they walked a few steps into the room, a figure flashed by and cut the rope. The same figure had attacked her seconds later, and she had killed the doppelganger. But its work had already been done.

Kim Soohyun: @Talia Rhineheart, Did you get lost? I think I see light up ahead.

Talia groaned as she saw the message. Really? Had it seriously happened again?

Every step they took into the mirror room was reflected back hundreds of times over in every direction imaginable, and Talia found herself lost in it. But why her? Aaron had passed straight through, and yet she ended up walking around in circles.

Talia Rhineheart: @Kim Soohyun, You might be right… Just be careful. This thing isn’t going to beat me. I’ll see you on the other side soon.

She wanted to show a brave face, and she was as determined as she sounded. But within moments, she had no idea where she was. And it had become entirely impossible to tell whether she was beside Soohyun or her reflection. She could see her and Zero walking away, but they looked like they were beside her, and on the other side of the chamber simultaneously.

Even her senses had gone haywire, and as Talia tried to use them to guide her steps through the room, she found her senses veering off every which way. Whatever powers were used to confuse people who entered the mirror room, they were powerful.

Talia Rhineheart: @Kim Soohyun, Is there a trick to this I’m not getting? How are you finding your way?

Kim Soohyun: @Talia Rhineheart, Nope. Not sure, Talia. Just walking. It’s like I can feel the direction I need to go.

Talia Rhineheart: @Kim Soohyun, You can feel it? What?

Kim Soohyun: @Talia Rhineheart, Yeah, I can’t really explain it. But I can sense which way I need to go.

Zero: @Hegemony Blanc, @Jigsaw Tyrant, Sup nerds? You ready to be pwned?

Talia Rhineheart: @Kim Soohyun, Okay, I’m going to hurry. Try to stay out of any fights until I get there.

Talia flicked away the messages. The last thing she needed was for Zero’s trolling of the ants to distract her even more.

But despite her best efforts, her first attempt at the mirror room landed her right back in the city she had just left a few minutes earlier. But a maze wasn’t about to defeat her, and she defiantly stormed straight back into the room.

The longer she took, the more likely it was that Soohyun and Zero might find their way through, and she was worried about the fight that might follow.

I need to hurry and beat this damn thing.

It was one thing to leave Aaron against impossible odds, but she didn’t want to get a friendly stranger killed only minutes after meeting them.

However, her beating chest calmed only minutes later, when she spotted Soohyun in the maze again.

Oh good. She hasn’t gotten through yet.

“Hey, Soohyun!” She called out, rushing through the mirrors as she tried to close the gap.

It was disorienting, and no matter how hard she tried, she knew she wasn’t running in a straight line. But somehow, she felt like she was getting closer to Soohyun.

“Hello there, friend!” Soohyun waved. “Good to see you again.”

“Friend?” Talia’s face scrunched up.

But it was too late, as she comprehended the strange greeting, a hand shot out and stabbed right into her side. Talia grabbed hold of it and swung down with her avatar, crushing the fake Soohyun beneath the sword of her avatar, and it fell to the ground, twisting in agony and revealing itself as a doppelganger.

“Fuck,” she muttered, gripping the wound at her side as the monster died.

Talia grimaced as she glanced down at the wound. It wasn’t big enough or deep enough to waste a healing potion on. And while she couldn’t compete with the speed or power of Aaron’s healing, a wound like this wouldn’t take that long to sort itself out.

No time to waste. Gotta keep moving.

But before she could take a step, she noticed something. The cloud of darkness that had spawned atop the crushed doppelganger corpse when she struck it with her avatar’s shadowy blade, obfuscated the mirrors.

Huh? That’s interesting. Of course, shadows are going to change how the mirrors work. I’m an idiot! Why didn’t I try this earlier?

Activating her Skill and pouring additional mana into it, she let the darkness of her shadows flood out from her. And not only did they shield her from the mirrors, but the shadows seemed to mess with whatever was screwing her senses.

It was then that Talia realized that the mirrors were far more than just mirrors. It made sense. Against superpowered people, regular mirrors likely wouldn’t do much, if anything. But they had some kind of Skill empowering them, then that changed everything.

She still didn’t understand how or why Soohyun and Aaron found their way so easily, or why she couldn’t, but it didn’t matter anymore. She had found her own way through.

And now that her shadows were filling the room, whatever power the mirrors had over her, it had been broken. And she continued her march through the maze, able to see through the total darkness with her Skill.

That’s better.

Aaron

Crash landing as he blasted out power, Aaron wiped some sweat from his brow, and bounced back into action. The second robot didn’t differ much from the first. It had plenty going for it, and he had quickly confirmed that its armor was as powerful as he had thought.

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Although it hadn’t all been smooth sailing. The moment he had neared the second seed of corruption, he had felt the same incredible hunger as he had when nearing the first one. At least this time he had known what it was. Still, it was rather distracting and somewhat revealing that his stomach had such a pull on him. Although ultimately, it wasn't crippling.

Huffing, he smiled and chained a haymaker into a [ Bombardier Fist ], and surprisingly, his attacks blew up harmlessly against its metal shell.

“Not bad. You are a tough bastard, aren’t you?”

Of course, he already knew that to some degree, and already knew how to beat the thing. This was more of a test to satiate his own curiosity. He had, quite frankly, been surprised when he realized that the first one had taken all the punishment he had thrown at it so easily, and wanted to push the limits.

And the robot had lived up to expectations fabulously.

Although he didn’t have time to keep playing around. He was more than a little concerned with what was happening above him. If he took too long, Talia and others might be in danger. However, he had a long dungeon ahead of him, and who knew what they might find, or be thrown up against inside of it. And with that thought in mind, he wanted to make the most of it. After all, he had an enemy that was powerful enough to be a good sparring partner, without being too powerful that using it for his training was reckless.

Real-life and death combat provided certain experiences that were impossible to mirror via other methods. However, they weren’t necessarily great for training the basics.

Sometimes, a sparring partner who could push you just enough without going too far was ideal. He gave him the opportunity to test moves and techniques that might be complete failures.

And that was exactly what he needed to familiarize himself with his new mana anchors.

Bouncing around, he quite liked what he had achieved. And while he couldn’t fly anymore, which would no doubt become an issue at some point, within the subterranean tunnels, he found that his feet anchors were more than a suitable substitute.

He bounced all around the chamber, mostly relying on dodging to avoid the robot’s lightning-fast attacks. Of course, he still phased when necessary. It was still an important part of his skillset he was getting better at it constantly. But this exercise was primarily directed at his new anchors.

But his training wasn’t all about movement, either. Aaron’s kicks could now be empowered by mana just like his fists. And although he realized that even with mana, most of his Skills couldn’t be used when kicking, the difference was still remarkable.

Mana anchors provided a lot of extra bang, and his kicks could be used as legitimate weapons, not just peppering attacks used to open his enemies up for punches.

But that was only the beginning of how this upgrade had really changed him. The real boon was that he could now harness the power of his C-grade core to a greater extent. With four anchors to distribute its power, it was far more controllable.

Which led him to another thought. If he were to upgrade his Stamina Veins and Vitality Heart in a similar way, he would be able to harness even more of his power.

And that didn’t even take into account that his additional anchors weren’t a proper upgrade. He could feel it. There was more to his mana anchors than just placing additional ones. But he wasn’t going to just break through that, jumping around. He would need to find a moment to sit back and compose his thoughts.

But for now, he had plenty to be proud of. His new anchors had massively boosted his raw power, thanks to the efficiency they granted to his core. And energy production was nothing short of amazing. And the difference it provided to energy expensive Skills like [ Gorgon’s Soul Vortex ], and his [ Wraith Phase ] was quite something.

Phasing was great for avoiding quick and powerful attacks. Not so good for surviving something that covered an area with a deadly effect for an extended period of time. Like a poison mist. Unless one was able to escape the Skill quickly, the cost of enabling [ Wraith Phase ] for an extended period of time would quickly drain one’s mana.

That hadn’t changed. But he wanted to test it now that he had more anchors. And he did so against the robot’s lasers, which it blasted throughout the chamber, melting away the walls. For several seconds, he stood in place, letting the beam blast straight through him.

It was still an incredibly wasteful thing to do intentionally, but with his C-grade core generating an absurd amount of energy, he could withstand it for several long seconds without being completely exhausted.

“Nice,” Aaron grunted as he appreciated his energy regeneration.

Once he felt comfortable with his new anchors, he decided it was time to end the fight. He phased straight through the robot and shut it down as he had the first with a quick [ Soul Shattering Strike ] to its back. And without pause, he hauled the disabled robot into his spatial storage.

He realized that having a bunch of killer robots stashed away might prove problematic at some point. Especially with a multiversal megacorp threatening lawsuits. Nonetheless, he went and snatched up the corruption seed and tossed it in there, too. He was already in their bad books, so no point in worrying about making it a bit worse.

I’m gonna need to do some spring cleaning at some point. Aaron groaned as he glanced into the mess that had become his spatial storage.

The corruption had noticeably lessened with the loss of a second corruption seed. However, against lesser minds, the remaining one probably still posed a threat, and it was best to get rid of it sooner rather than later.

Talia and Soohyun might not handle this mist as well as me. I'd better go finish this quickly.

Aaron collected himself and shot off. He had spent more time training than he probably should have. But it would pay off if it allowed him to beat the entire dungeon, especially when the other worlds joined in.

Besides, knowing Mo’han, the asura would have also improved massively, and Aaron couldn’t let him steal all the spotlight.

Soohyun

Soohyun wasn’t entirely sure why she made it through the mirror maze so much more easily than Talia, but she had strolled out the other end alongside Zero only a few minutes after entering.

Sure, it hadn’t been a complete walk in the park. A few doppelgangers had attempted to waylay them. But against the two of them, they hadn’t proven much of a threat. At best, the doppelgangers were low D-grade and didn’t seem to possess any particularly strong Skills, outside of their shapeshifting. Making them easy work for a D-grade elite like herself.

The mirror maze itself was what made the room difficult to navigate. But she had felt something almost like a sixth sense that had guided her through the maze and out the other side. She hadn’t really thought much about it. And just walked in the direction she felt was right, and it had been.

Not only that, but Zero appeared to have had a similar experience, and the wolf trotted alongside her with what looked like a smug smile bent across his face.

Soohyun winced a moment later when she realized why. He was messaging the ants again.

“Zero! Stop that! Your owners–?” Soohyun hesitated. She wasn’t sure if owners were the correct term. Not if Zero was sentient. “I mean… ah. Anyway, the point is, those ants are dangerous. Stop messaging them! At least until we find Talia and Aaron.

She wasn’t actually sure how much say the wolf actually had in messaging. They were auto-generated messages. But still, surely it had some way to stop antagonizing their enemy for now.

However, she was quickly distracted when she sensed energy signals ahead. Not only that, but she sensed their auras. It wasn’t like anything she had felt before.

She wouldn’t have said that the auras felt quite deadly. More like creepy.

“Steady, boy. Something is up ahead.

Soohyun was confident in her skills, but not arrogantly so. And if Talia and Aaron were worried about the power wielded by the two ants, then she knew to take that very seriously.

However, she didn’t think what she sensed were the ants, and so she carefully crept forward. She wasn’t planning on attacking, but didn’t see any harm in surveying their surroundings, especially when there was still a chance that Aaron was just up ahead.

She considered trying to message him, but held back. The chat was global, and there was always a chance she would give herself away to whoever was in the next room.

I’ll just take a little peek.

Inching down the tunnel, she kept to the walls and gestured for Zero to stay back.

But when she reached the end and craned out into the city beyond, she saw no sign of the two royal guards. Instead, she spotted two humans. One, a little hobbit-looking gremlin of a man, and the other, a lanky bald man. And they were talking to a giant face displayed across a massive screen.

Okay, Aaron said he was down below, right?

She couldn’t see any signs of destruction, so whatever was going on, there hadn’t been a fight in this chamber.

She looked back over her shoulder. Should she wait for Talia or move ahead? She wondered. The two men with the creeper auras had to be the ones Talia had fought. Maybe she could take them. She didn’t recognize their names, so they couldn’t be too highly ranked.

But it was safer to do it with Talia; there was no doubt about that. Soohyun stayed her hand and gritted her teeth. There was a lot of Dungeon ahead of them, and now wasn’t the time to get reckless.

A new idea came to her in that moment. These two creeps were definitely enemies, but they weren’t the only enemies. And as she glanced at Zero’s ongoing trash talk with the ants, a plan started formulating in her mind.

The ants were actively hunting Aaron and Talia, and were also a threat to Dober if they escaped the Dungeon. They needed to be eliminated. These two humans were a threat to them while in the Dungeon, and possibly when they got out as well. And she now knew the location of the human creeps, and the ants were actively searching for them and following clues relayed over the global chat. She could use that to her advantage.

If the ants thought that they were in this chamber, perhaps they would come out and attack. Or if not this chamber, maybe the next one, or however long it took for them to arrive. And once engaged with the two creeps, she could spring a trap alongside Talia and Zero.

Soohyun considered her plan. If it were pulled off correctly, it could provide quite an edge.