novelraw Book 4: Chapter 25
Book 4: Chapter 25
Bonus Experience rewarded for killing an enemy of a higher level than yourself!
[ Empty-Handed Energy Monk ] has LEVELED UP!
110 → 112
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Aaron barely took note of the System notification as he glanced back over his shoulder at his team.
The thal’kesh scion continued toward them as her party secured the entrances on the other side of the room.
“Relax, Aaron. I’m not here to fight. Talia, Soohyun,” Raksha Tiksus Vakmal continued, her gaze turning to his companions. “I want to discuss something far more important. I wish to make a truce with you.”
“A truce?” Aaron asked.
“Yes. A truce. You understand why, don’t you? You understand why the strongest need to work together, don’t you?”
“Huh? No. I have no idea what you mean.”
“Hang on, do you mean?” Talia said, her brow crinkling. “Make sure the strongest survive…”
“Talia?” Aaron turned back to her. “What are you talking about? Have you talked to this thal’kesh before?”
“No. It’s just something my patron god said in passing.”
Aaron’s gaze flew back and forth between them, trying to figure out why he was the only one with no idea what was going on.
“You really don’t know anything, do you? Interesting. The man with two patron gods, and he’s completely in the dark,” Raksha said.
“Alright, this has been fun. But it’d be really nice if you just explained yourself,” Aaron said.
“Oh, I will explain all. It is peculiar, though. Perhaps your patron gods are testing you.”
It annoys me how likely it is that she’s correct, Aaron thought as his mind drifted to Yendal.
“Don’t you think it’s all a little convenient? During the trials, we were rewarded tokens for both this dungeon and the tournament. Do you think that’s a coincidence?”
“No, of course not,” Aaron said.
“Right. Gods can be painfully obtuse. But my understanding is that there is a grand competition set across several stages for the greatest talents of every new universe integrated into the multiverse. The trials are essentially stage one. There, you can earn a ticket to the second and third stage if you are worthy.”
“Okay,” Aaron nodded along. “And?”
“This dungeon is where things really heat up. Winning each stage of this grand tournament will provide the victor with points. Points that are necessary if you want to win the entire thing.”
“Points, got it. But what does this have to do with making truces with each other?”
“Well, there are multiple reasons. First, on the later floors of this dungeon, we’ll come up against our entire sector, and then against the entire universe. This stage of the grand tournament doesn’t require teamwork. But the rewards will benefit our entire world.
“And that is only the beginning. A year after this dungeon, we will be invited to a tournament. And ten years after that, another stage of the grand tournament will follow. And it is this that we will need a strong cohort of elites for.”
“So, in eleven years, we’re going to have to work together to win this thing?”
“Precisely. Well, not all of you,” his gaze fell on Soohyun. “Only our ten strongest are needed. And even then, a few are likely to be deadweight against the universe's strongest. But I have high hopes for you, Aaron Dober. You did the best in our entire world during the trials, and even if you’re not the highest ranked, I have a feeling you will play a vital role during the later stages. And for that reason, I’d rather see you survive until that has played out. You too, Talia. You have proven yourself resilient.”
“Don’t underestimate Soohyun, she’s strong,” Talia countered.
“Oh, I’m sure she is,” Raksha said. “But she has some work to do if she wants to be seen as one of our greatest.”
“Are you saying that you want the top fighters of our world to all get along and make peace with each other so we can win some magical multiverse tournament?” Aaron said. “Why? What’s the big deal about all of this?”
“Not quite,” Raksha said. “A certain level of competition is necessary to ensure that the strongest rise to the top. I wouldn’t stop an up-and-comer from challenging you, even if it meant your death. That would be foolish. However, it would be wise for the top five rankers to avoid killing each other. We five at the top have already proven ourselves, and will gain little from killing one another.”
“I’m not in the top five,” Aaron said.
“You’re the exception. If our world is to become the strongest new world of the one hundredth and first universe, then a delicate balance is required to ensure that we cultivate the strongest warriors possible. My truce extends only to the top five and you, Aaron. Although I have a feeling that soon enough you will take one of those top five spots.”
“That doesn’t sound like much of a truce,” Aaron said.
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“It is what it is. All I am suggesting is that the top five rankers refrain from killing one another and let the jungle sort out the rest. My patron god has made one thing clear to me. Victory in this cannot be achieved by a single person.”
Aaron mulled his thoughts over. Even though he wasn’t sure about the details of the truce, he was apprehensive about just going and attacking Raksha after everything she had said.
“We don’t have anything against you. But I’m not agreeing to any truce with Darius.”
“Yeah,” Talia nodded. “I’m fine not attacking you. But I’m not agreeing to a blanket truce against whoever the top five rankers are. It’s going to have to be a person-by-person case for me.”
“I see,” Raksha said, eyeing both of them down. “That is troublesome. He is still our world’s top ranker, and while I realize that he has used some unconventional methods of getting to where he is, his loss would deal a great wound against us. Whether we like it or not, the success of our world is vitally important for all of us.”
“Who says you can even work with the necromancer? I didn’t see anything to suggest that he was someone to get along with in the trials,” Aaron said.
“Yes, but I have not explained what is at risk. The grand prize of the tournament is meant to be so valuable and powerful that gods themselves covet it. It is a once-in-a-lifetime chance. An opportunity only forerunners of newly integrated universes have an opportunity to grasp. Not only that, but I’m told that it will evolve our world into an Alpha world. That, in and of itself, is a reward we cannot afford to pass up.”
Aaron had a general understanding of what an Alpha world was. It would allow them to continue growing, providing stronger resources, spawns, and dungeon entrances on their world.
Without it, the elites of their world would be forced to become vagabonds of the multiverse, looking to scratch out their own desperate opportunities.
If they were the only world in their sector to evolve their planet into an Alpha World, it would give them an incredible edge against all others and set them on a clear path to ascension.
“You don’t need to say anything more,” Raksha added. “We have a truce now. That is enough. When Darius joins us on this floor, I will speak to him. Remember, we don’t have to be friends. This is a purely pragmatic truce. And far into the future, when you look back at eleven years, it will feel like nothing. We’re already at D-grade, and we will live for hundreds of years. When we reach C-grade, thousands. And I have no intention of stopping there, and I doubt you do either. If we reach divinity, what will we think when we look back on this moment eons into the future? What will sparing Darius a few years mean? It will represent a blink of an eye. So, why risk throwing away such an opportunity over something so fleeting?”
“There has to be more to all of this than just gaining more and more power,” Talia said.
“Immortality isn’t enough for you?” Raksha raised a brow.
But before Aaron could reply, he heard heavy doors thrown open and reverberate through the chamber as they clashed against the metal walls.
“Brother, nice work!” Roared a deep, and hoarse voice
Aaron turned to see a large man storming into the chamber, his eyes fixated on the dungeon boss’ corpse.
The man was huge, at least a foot taller than Aaron, and was covered in motorbike gang tattoos. On his back, seemingly protruding from his flesh were large, shiny exhaust pipes that puffed with black smoke as he moved, and it sounded like a powerful combustion engine was humming away in the man’s stomach.
As he stomped forward, the man extended his thick, hairy forearms and smiled beneath a handlebar moustache.
Terry Cadillac [ Level 128 ]
Titles: [ Giant Slayer ] [ Machine Prodigy ]
“I shoulda known Aaron Dober would have killed the boss before I could arrive!” Terry bellowed, and his gaze shifted toward Raksha. “So, is this thing next, is it? Suits me fine. I could do with a good fight.”
Only a few feet back, another figure followed the large man out, his boots clicking on the ground, face partially hidden behind his wide-brimmed, slightly slanted cowboy hat.
Ernest Sheridan [ Level 134 ]
Titles: [ Quickdraw ] [ Tutorial Champion ]
“I hope my ears were playing tricks on me,” Ernest said. “Ain’t no one be seriously suggesting we work with that monster, would they?”
“Ernest,” Raksha smiled, looking straight past Terry and ignoring his threat. “Just who I was about to come look for next.”
“Ernest? Brother, do you know this wretched thing?”
“Nope. I ain’t know her from any of the other squids. But ain’t there some troubling suggestions coming from them there lips.”
“Listen, Ernest. I’ll start from the st–”
“I heard it all,” Ernest interrupted. “Got good hearing. And it sounds a whole lot like you want to keep that necromancer safe.”
“Yeah, you tell it, brother!” Terry said.
“Stay out of it, you’re not important. Not until you prove yourself,” Raksha glared at Terry.
“Me? Not important? Baha! You stupid squid. I dunno what you’re supposed to be, but I’m Terry fucking Cadillac,” Terry said, pressing a thumb into his massive chest. “And ain’t nobody more important than Terry fucking Cadillac.”
“Hold it,” Ernest said, extending a hand in front of Terry. “Look, I ain’t here to make enemies. “We got problems. I’ve seen that necromancer up close. I’ve seen what he’s doing to our world. Corrupting the obelisks. Turning the air and the ground into death. Ain’t nothing able to live once he’s been through an area. The corruption he is spreading changes everything. And there ain’t no working alongside that. Not unless y’all thinking of moving on to the other side. Embarrassing death and all that.”
“I understand your concerns. Let me deal with Darius,” Raksha said. “I will speak to him and explain everything. In the meantime, keep this one under a tight leash. Otherwise, I might be forced to do something about him,” she added, glaring at Terry.
“Talk to him, ha!” Ernest shook his head. “That one is building his own army. He ain’t gonna listen to you, lady.”
“Lady?” Terry huffed. “That thing ain’t a lady!”
“Let me worry about that,” Raksha said and turned to leave. “I shall reach out to you before moving on to the next floor. All I ask is that you do not start a fight between any top five rankers until you next hear from me.”
“Pfft, we’ll see,” Ernest said.
Aaron and Talia shared a glance, then looked across at the others.
Nothing about what had just happened gave him any confidence. Even if he wanted to join Raksha’s truce, it was built on incredibly shaky ground. How on earth was this fragile alliance between the top rankers going to possibly last for the eleven years until the tournament concluded?
And as his eyes fell on Ernest, he realized that the cowboy looked far more concerned by the prospect of letting Darius live than he was.
Either way, he wasn’t agreeing to anything until he spoke with Yendal.
There was one other thing, though. Aaron’s thoughts drifted back to the god Lenriel and the proposition he made back in the trials.
Lenriel's suggestion had seemed reasonable enough and laid out a clear and relatively safe path forward for the future. But this made him wonder. It was clear that there were more than a couple of gods playing with the futures of newly integrated universes. After all, Raksha had said that the grand prize was so powerful it was coveted by the gods themselves.
What else had been hidden from him? What other threads were being pulled out of sight?
Aaron sighed. He just wanted to focus on the quest and see what rewards he could claim for himself. Not find himself flung between some greater gambit between gods.