Too Stubborn to Die

Book 4: Chapter 22

Flames erupted across the sand as Aaron shot forward, dashing straight into a phase as a massive wall of fiery spears fell down upon him.

In an instant, he was there. Right before a couple of towering sphinxes, having closed the distance between them in seconds. A rain of crushing blows followed, and they were quickly beaten down into feathery mush.

Even though the beasts were rather weak, it was nice to test out his new targeting overlay. The System provided all kinds of details, from range, size of target, speed it was moving, and trajectory.

It literally felt like he was wearing some kind of magical fighter pilot helmet. And while the Skill was called [ Pinpoint Accuracy ], the reality was that it aided his defense just as much, since the details it gave him also helped him with positioning and predicting enemy attacks.

Shooting toward the next two sphinxes, he activated Fate Weaver. It was mostly to test out the new Skill, but what he saw made his jaw drop.

The Skill could be integrated into his ability to see a few seconds into the future, providing him with an influx of information.

If anything, it was too much. At D-grade, he was a fully fledged superhuman, and it had become much easier to follow several threads of fate in the middle of extraordinarily fast combat, so much so that he did it naturally half the time.

And he only ever used time dilation when he was against a large number of enemies, or someone far, far faster than himself. But with all this additional information at his fingertips, he activated [ Gorgon’s Soul Vortex ].

He obviously didn’t need to go so overboard. The sphinxes were barely D-grade, but it was good to familiarize himself with them.

The amount of information was still extreme, even with time dilation. And he quickly realized that he wasn’t going to master this new Skill in an afternoon.

That said, he didn’t necessarily need all of the information he was taking in. But it provided a lot of promise for the future.

Not only that, but some information boxes seemed incomplete. As if the Skill itself was telling him that it could be improved upon, which also excited him.

His thoughts were set ablaze with the possibilities as he beat down the final few sphinxes.

So what if he needed to upgrade or mutate the Skill once or twice to get its full value? The fact that it was even a possibility was far too exciting to ignore.

Once upon a time, he might have been disappointed with such a discovery. But he was here for the long haul and was by now desensitized to the prospect of improving a Skill. The promise of future gains was almost better than having something more powerful now.

Not far away, he watched as Talia, Zero, and Soohyun, who were all spread across the area, finished off their opponents. They had been ambushed by the group of sphinxes almost as soon as they had stepped off the brick platform that the portal was on.

And while the fight hadn’t been hard, it was harder. Every beast had been low D-grade. Not only that, but they appeared to be simple minions, indicating that this floor was a decent difficulty jump from the previous one.

Aaron got to looting unceremoniously, throwing the corpses into his storage, and Talia and Soohyun weren’t far behind after seeing what he was doing.

The beasts might have been weak compared to them, but they were still D-grades. And until their corpses could be assessed by crafters back in town, it was best to loot everything. Who knew what parts could be useful, after all?

“Alright. Looks like we’re done here,” Aaron said, turning to the massive temples in the distance.

At first, he had thought they were mountains. But after focusing on them, he realized that they were massive pyramids far on the horizon, and considering the quest, he figured they must be the mentioned temples.

As they got moving toward the nearest temple, they sent a few messages via chat to their new companions. They warned them of the difficulty increase and told them to stick tight and find somewhere defensible if things got too dangerous.

The others might have been weak compared to them, but D-grades would still be well welcomed in Dober, not to mention that Soohyun and Talia had gotten to know them. So they didn’t want them dying.

Besides, they had come to the realization that this was the last floor many people would be reaching. If the next had a similar difficulty increase, regular minions would become far too dangerous for them, let alone bosses, and whoever else they might meet inside. And so the group decided that they couldn’t just find the exit, but needed to help discover some extraction points in case other humans needed help getting out.

As they neared the temples, they realized just how massive they were. The pyramids rose straight up into the sky, their tops shrouded by dark clouds high up above.

Even the massive bricks they were made of were incredible, and were several times the size of a man.

And when they finally reached the closest temple, they were immediately attacked by its defenders.

Balls of fire and beams of energy shot out from the temple, and Aaron led the charge, kicking off and sending himself hurtling through the sky toward the platform they were shooting from, which was probably a half dozen stories high.

The attacks concentrated on him as he approached, like magical flak canons, but he phased straight through them and landed on the platform as he broke out into a dizzying array of strikes.

Just like they had found in the barren desert, sphinxes attacked en masse. But that wasn’t all. They were followed by several loinclothed humanoids with animal, or rather, sha heads—like those depicted in Egyptian hieroglyphics. They carried staffs that shot beams, and round metal shields that were so strong, they actually managed to deflect one of Aaron’s punches.

However, ultimately, they were just another wave of minions charging at them in a desperate attempt to stop them, and they needed to block far more than just a single strike to stand a chance against Aaron Dober.

Within seconds, Talia, Soohyun, and Zero had joined, flying down as they returned fire, and soon their enemy was broken, with several of them running for an odd, round metal door along the side of the temple.

Aaron cut them off and beat the last of them down as the smoke settled. It hadn’t been too much of a challenge for them, but it was another reminder of the difficulty their new friends would likely have. In fact, Aaron doubted that they could have handled the encounter.

Aaron’s brow perked as he pulled one of the staffs and shields free from one of their attackers.

“Wow, what’s this?”

Standard Cavarian Alloy Staff [ Rare - D-grade ]

Made of the extraordinarily durable cavarian alloy, this staff is near impossible to destroy. It is also an incredible conduit for mana, allowing users to use weapons or armor made of it like a channelling rod.

Standard Cavarian Alloy Shield [ Rare - D-grade ]

Made of the extraordinarily durable cavarian alloy, this shield is near impossible to destroy. It is also an incredible conduit for mana, allowing users to use weapons or armor made of it like a channelling rod.

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

“This metal, it sounds pretty powerful, don’t you think?”

Even though the gear was only Rare, the alloys it was made of sounded very impressive to Aaron, and so even as he spoke, he started to greedily loot the stuff.

“Yeah,” Talia agreed. “Maybe someone can smelt it down into something more useful back in Dober?”

“I hope so,” Aaron grinned.

Whistling to herself, Soohyun didn’t say anything, although Aaron did notice her look his way a few times as he looted. She had her own loot, though, as she had killed a decent number herself, so he hoped she didn’t go asking for anything he had earned.

“So smooth,” Aaron said as he got done looting, feeling the edges of the pyramid.

“Smooth as a shark…” muttered Soohyun.

“What?” Said Talia. “Sharks aren’t smooth.”

“It’s…“ started Soohyun, trailing off. “I was joking.”

“Ah.”

They themselves were standing on a platform that ran around the temple. But otherwise, the angled walls were incredibly smooth.

Aaron actually tried running and jumping up it, but it was so slick that even with his skill and mana anchors, he couldn’t find purchase and slipped back down. It was kind of hard to believe it could be so slick, and he figured that it must have been flat on a molecular level, or a Skill was involved.

Soohyun eagerly offered to give him a lift. Suggesting that he ride on her massive sword with her. But Aaron turned it down.

There was still the door that the guardians had attempted to flee through. And while Aaron knew that either of his companions could help him get up, he suggested that they take a look through the door first. After all, they had no idea if there was even a point in heading straight for the top. Maybe what they were looking for would be on the ground floor.

He gave the door a tug, and when it didn’t open, he powered up [ Bombardier Fist ] and blew it straight open.

“How’s about that?”

“Look at that,” Talia said, ignoring his boast and pointing past into the room ahead. “It’s like some ancient aliens stuff.”

Inside the temple was surprisingly technically advanced. But also, oddly archaic. There were tubes of strange liquids lining the walls, with strange floating inside. And cables and flashing buttons and lights all over the place.

Soohyun paced the room slowly, taking in the detailed hieroglyphics of shirtless muscular figures.

“The art is amazing,” she murmured.

As Soohyun walked around, tracing her fingers along the art, their eyes followed her, and a light glow emanated from them.

But Aaron’s attention was already redirected elsewhere, spotting green screens covered in alien text. The text seemed to flicker, as if his System Skills were temporarily struggling with the translation, and then a moment later, English appeared.

“Cavarian Mothership? Wait, this is a spaceship?”

“Look at this one, it almost looks human.”

Aaron turned to Talia. She was pointing at one of the tubes. Inside it, a mutating figure floated in the ambient water. And it did look oddly human-like.

“Gross,” Aaron muttered as he strolled over. “It even has little eyebrows.”

“Look,” Talia said, tapping on the display beneath it with the tip of her boot. “Homo erectus sample: 58821.”

“Huh, you think that means?”

“Did you say homo erectus?” Soohyun said, strolling over, looking a little flushed.

“Do you think they were experimenting on humans?” Aaron said.

“Possibly, but that doesn’t mean they are related to Earth,” Talia said. “Remember, there are plenty of humans throughout the multiverse.”

“Right,” Aaron nodded. “Maybe weird ancient aliens are common amongst the human species?”

He shook his head and ran his fingers through his hair. As weird as it was, it didn’t really outweigh anything else he had seen throughout the multiverse, and they still had quests and extraction points to find.

“Maybe we can find some answers along the way, but we'd better keep moving.”

“Yeah,” Talia agreed.

“Disappointing,” Soohyun said as she glanced across the different tubes.

As Aaron pieced together what was going on, he figured that all nine of the temples were actually some kind of alien spacecrafts. But why did they need to be aligned, and how exactly were they supposed to do that?

As they studied their surroundings, they kept walking, passing out into a narrow passage that looped around the pyramid for quite some time before leading them to an elevator.

“Lights are on,” Aaron said, tapping at the console beside it. “Think it works?”

A second later, the console flashed red, and an error sign appeared.

“Warning: Energy insufficient!”

“Okay, looks like we’re not taking the elevator.”

“Look, over there,” Talia pointed and led them around a corner. The maze-like walls twisted and turned until they reached another doorway that red service chute.

“Service chute? Like a garbage disposal, maybe?”

Talia shrugged.

“Well, I’m keen,” Aaron said, walking up to it.

Talia glanced back at Soohyun. “What do you think?”

“Huh? Oh, right. Could we wait here? Better than all of us getting stuck down there. And if Aaron needs help, he can ping us on the chat.”

“Not a bad idea.”

“Already ahead of you,” Aaron said, squeezing into the chute and temporarily getting his shirt stuck as he wiggled into it. “See you soon!”

And just like that, he released himself and fell down the chute.

Within seconds, he slammed down into a laundry room and sighed. He didn’t care that much about trash, but it wasn’t like he enjoyed it, and this was a welcome relief.

“Okay, looks safe enough down here.”

He almost messaged back, but figured to take a look first. There was no immediate need to, after all. And there was still a risk that there were others around that might see his message and do something about it.

He passed through one room into the next, and after a moment, heard a humming sound. Aaron’s brows perked, but a problem had arisen ever since he had entered the temple.

He hadn’t been focusing much on it before, but now he realized that the walls themselves were filled with energy, and it made sensing anything impossible. He activated [ Gorgon’s Soul Vortex ], and while it improved the details he could inspect of what was around him, it didn’t actually help his senses beyond that.

Whatever the temple was made of, it was blocking his senses, and he couldn’t see through it. He gritted his teeth and tried to decide what to do next.

If their senses didn’t work inside the temples or spaceships, then ambushes would be all too easy to set up.

There were still no signs of Terry Cadillac, or any other humans for that matter. Or thal’kesh. But considering how huge the temples were, and that there were nine of them, that wasn’t too surprising.

No one wanted to say where they were, either. That hadn’t surprised Aaron. Safety was important. But if the others had already made it to the temples when they spoke, it made even more sense.

And as confident as Aaron was, especially with two of the strongest humans in the world by his side, he had to play things intelligently.

After all, Raksha Tiksus Vakmal was on the leaderboard, and that meant he was in the dungeon. He was the second-ranked person on their world. And even though he had fallen behind Darius, that didn’t necessarily mean that he was weaker.

Heck, Aaron was confident that he was stronger than multiple people ranked above him, so the same could be true for others. And while he had performed better in the trials, the trials were practically made for him.

It would be stupid to assume that he was stronger than Raksha Tiksus Vakmal, at least until he saw his power for himself.

He thought back to the trials. Could Aaron have taken Mo’han under normal circumstances? No. Not back then, at least. Mo’han would have killed him, and it would have been the end of his journey.

So even if Raksha Tiksus Vakmal wasn’t as strong as Mo’han, he didn’t need to be. He just needed to be stronger than Aaron.

Also, there were multiple thal’kesh on the leaderboard. And for all he knew, they could be working together. Maybe Raksha Tiksus Vakmal and Vikran Takeshi Udon were working together, and part of the same party. In fact, they might even have more elites with them.

After all, everyone could enter the dungeon with a party, and so it made sense to assume one’s enemies had too.

Aaron glanced around and kept walking. He would stay quiet for now and get a better look around. If possible, it would be best to climb back up the service shoot, rather than give unnecessary details away to potential enemies over the chat.

And it wasn’t just the thal’kesh he was concerned about. They had already seen firsthand how the two rogues on the previous floor worked together. Individually, they weren’t the strongest fighters. But their Skills complemented each other quite nicely, and that gave them enough of a boost that they could take on top rankers.

In fact, that lack of synergy was probably the one major flaw that their squad had. Aaron had never really considered steering his build in a way to complement Talia’s, and they had just met Soohyun.

Not that he wanted to. He wanted to be able to travel the multiverse alone at some point. And that meant being self-sufficient. But in the meantime, that shortcoming needed to be accounted for.

Nonetheless, it didn’t stop Aaron from carefully marching toward the sound of the hum, and soon he reached a door that he quietly pushed open.]

“What is that?”

He saw a green glow and narrowed his gaze.

Cavarian Mothership Power Core [ Legendary ]

“Oh, that sounds useful,” Aaron grinned, but it was short-lived as he saw figures stirring under the low light of the dark room.

But just as he was about to prepare for a fight, a chat dinged in the corner of his peripheral vision, distracting him momentarily.

Ernest Sheridan: Howdy, fellow humans. Hope it ain’t take me too long to get here. I’ve been thinking, how’s about we catch up when we can?