RD 4 Ch 15

Two days later, our group inside the instance literally looked quite different than we had before. We had been busy with some crude crafting to up our defenses and protect us from getting caught off guard.

Sadly, none of us had been carrying things that could stand up to SS rank monsters.

A large number of hive shell shards had been strewn together, resembling incredibly loose scale mail over my neck and chest. The rest of the group had similar-looking creations adorning them, though all of them were smaller than my own.

The only one who wasn't wearing any armor was Simone, and that was just because she thought it looked hideous and had illusioned herself. Realistically, I knew she had on a pair of bracers and a sort of necklace that extended down over the top of her chest to guard her heart as well. That wasn't really a whole lot of coverage, but then again, Simone wasn't what anybody would call shy. Her pretending to be a saintess was a comedic act of epic proportion.

Merlin paused from where her frost golems were prying off the legs of a hivnara. "We're making good work," she commented, looking in the distance.

The looming pocked-marked anthill in the distance was her guiding light for how much longer it would take before we could get ourselves out of this instance.

"We are. Good progress, both on our skills and the instance." I checked my menu again, smiling at the experience I had gained and the levels I had improved, as well as what I had done to improve my resistances and thereby my Titan physique.

The biggest problem I was noticing was that using poison seemed to be providing diminishing returns. Thankfully, I had someone capable of fire and ice with me and had worked on those resistances as well.

My eyes lingered on my stats for a moment as I thought about using some gold to add to them before quickly dismissing the idea. We had managed quite well so far, and I liked to save gold for when I needed a quick adjustment in the moment. That could be the difference between life and death.

"I'd guess another day or two in here," I said, dismissing the menu and focusing back on the conversation around me.

"Another day. That's not long," Simone said.

"Copenhagen will be very different by the time we leave. Come on, let's keep going. And Merlin, stop playing with the monsters." I grinned at the stoic archmage, trying to get a laugh out of her only for her frost golems to break the legs of the hivnara in response while she stared back at me, daring me to crack another joke.

"Tough crowd," I muttered, trooping through the instance looking for more hivnara to squish.

We'd camped several times, only to discover we were surrounded as the spawns from the queen, who would be the boss of this instance, had filled in the patrols behind us.

But ultimately that worked in our favor. Once we'd begun working on our skills in earnest and upgrading more than a few to SS rank amongst us, fighting the hivnara had grown significantly easier. We still had to be careful not to get swarmed and overrun, but our likelihood of survival had gone up significantly.

Circe eyed me as I turned away from my menu. "So, about splitting the loot," Circe approached the topic carefully.

"I could care less about the loot, Circe." I replied.

"Well, hold on now," Gloria spoke up, seeming to have an opinion. "I think it's pretty clear we'll just split this evenly amongst everyone. There's no other fair way to do it."

"We could certainly do it by contributions," Circe offered.

"And how exactly do you plan to do that?" Gloria crossed her arms.

"For example, Simone," Circe gestured to the side but paused before continuing.

The saintess who was being particularly quiet in this conversation. I checked to make sure she was paying attention. And when she was, that only concerned me further.

"What?" Simone asked. "Loot was never my concern. As long as I stick to you, I'm bound to get stronger. However, if Circe doesn't understand that then she's welcome to try and get a bigger cut now, only to lose out in the future." Simone answered.

"Now I wasn't going to do anything rash," Circe hastily added.

"Of course not." Simone's smile was a touch too sweet for my liking. "We all should know, though, that Bran is the best investment any of us could ever make."

Nyx was trying to look serious to the side, however, her serpents betrayed her, all of them bobbing up and down in agreement with Simone's words.

     "Besides, there should be plenty of rewards for everyone over the next few years. Squabbling over this will seem like an idiotic undertaking, but perhaps it's still important. After all, even if you're making an investment, you have to survive for it to be viable. Money does dead men no favors.” I said only for Simone to focus on me.

I shrugged. "The problems of today don't really go away. They just come back in a new form every so often." Rather than continue to debate this topic, I marched forward, my new bloodiron blade ability out, as several hivnara perked up, spotting me.

Arguing over loot was a waste of time, and I was just going to push forward and force the group to act rather than talk.

The pack now advancing towards me consisted of two warriors and three scouts. I stepped forward without communicating my intentions to the rest of the group; we already knew our roles from the previous days of fighting.

Circe and Merlin used their abilities to restrict the enemy's movements. Within seconds, my new blade sliced through the pincers of the first scout, rendering the hivnara essentially useless. Without their pincers, they were significantly less threatening. I rolled away from the first scout, preparing to attack the next.

However, a warrior rushed forward, its head protected by a dense plate of armor. The plate extended a foot past their head, and it was a unique feature of the warrior type monsters. They used it to great effect, which it demonstrated when it smashed into my shoulder, preventing me from removing the dangerous pincers from the second scout.

Simone quickly erected a barrier around me, trapping the warrior inside with me. This was all part of the plan, or at least one of them.

I dodged backwards, slashing my blade and causing a blood slash to ripple out.

It failed to penetrate the warrior's dense armor, but that wasn't the point. The goal was to get my blood on him, enabling me to use sanguine locking. The ability immobilized my prey long enough for me to continue my attack.

The improved blade proved its worth immediately.

Seizing the opportunity, I flipped my blade around and stabbed it into the warrior's eyes.

Even without their pincers, their brow ridge made an effective battering ram, as the Hivnara had demonstrated on multiple occasions. As a result, blinding them was a more effective way to limit their participation in the battle.

Outside my protective bubble, Circe and Merlin were working in tandem to keep the remaining monsters at bay. Circe summoned gale-force winds to encircle the advancing enemies, while Merlin did everything in her power to make it difficult for the Hivnara to gain traction on the ground. Together, they could hold off the Hivnara for a considerable amount of time, as long as their mana stores weren’t running low.

Gloria, however, wore a frown, unable to join the fight. Her fire would counteract Merlin's efforts to keep the ground slick.

Nyx, however, didn't have a problem. Her arrows fired off, making the Hivnara's movements stiff and slow as their legs were patchy with stone.

Simone was helping with the operation, able to activate Heartbreaker and physically knock any away.

Despite their strength and other ant-like qualities, they had zero purchase on Merlin's ice. They slid back frustratingly as arrows continued to pelt them. The arrows flew through the storm in wild curves, yet managed to hit inches away from their eyes every time.

Nyx frowned as each time her arrows narrowly missed.

I knew she was chasing some skill, but I didn't know exactly what she was trying to make happen. The Medusaic archer was doing her best. In many ways, as the youngest, she showed her desire to find her own way and a reluctance to rely on others. Then again, with an incredible class like hers, she wouldn't need to rely on anyone. Nyx was destined to be a fantastic fighter and a SSS class with a synergistic bloodline was beyond rare. If there were too many of them, they would probably dominate the world. Thankfully, Nyx was relatively harmless in that regard.

Another way she showed her youth was that she didn't have the kind of ambitions that only came with old age and those who feared death.

Confirming my women were okay, I turned my attention back to my own fight. My body moved on autopilot while I kept a single eye on Nyx.

Her tongue stuck out as she continued to try to hit the Hivnara's eyes, even through the storm. When one finally did, she let out a whoop before glancing to the side, likely at some notification.

I grinned at her in pride, not knowing what ability she had unlocked, but happy that she got what she wanted.

The warrior Hivnara in front of me fought like it had overwhelming defense. The moves it made assumed that its shell would never be penetrated.

Unfortunately for the monster, that was no longer true. My blade sliced into its thick armor plating multiple times, taking off hand-sized chunks as I dug it apart blow by blow.

Mandibles scratched me, and it acted like a man who could touch but not grab something, ever frustrated, reaching again and again.

I had to dance backwards, turning around the Hivnara, finding them to be clunky as they tried to reposition, and exposing themselves to even more danger as a result.

It chittered angrily.

“Oh, come on, you just have to be a little faster," I taunted while it swung back and forth, missing me as it struck where I had just been, and not where I had moved into. I slid up behind it and stabbed my iron blood blade into the weakened gap behind its heavy brow plating, maximizing my damage.

The Hivnara shrieked and tried to throw me off. However, all the reaction did was force me to take one step backwards as I held tightly to the blade.

Each of its thrashes caused my sword to dig further into the wound, stacking up even more damage from the strike. It twitched, losing a semblance of control on its movements. I held on strong, grabbing the sword and pulling down, smashing its head into the ground as the blade cut across its head, killing it as it melted into the ground.

The barrier around the two of us dissipated, and I felt the cold wind bite at my face and skin while I readied myself for the next Hivnara to be let in for me to deal with.