Bruce_Sentar

RD 4 Ch 9

Added 2025-04-15 06:00:08 +0000 UTC

The five of us stood in front of the latest portal. There had been three that we’d found personally and another dozen or so that the Mul Branova had discovered. Which meant, that they had the pick of the slightly higher level instances, given that the rest of Copenhagen were still just starting out.

I continued to stare at it for a moment longer. "Well, shit," I said. "This has to be the one that caused the issues in my past life. However, it's a little more than I expected."

[The Nest of the End Level 100 SS 16/8]

I watched the swirling portal in the brewery that was currently closed for construction. "SS Level 100. That means the monsters in there are going to be even more dangerous than expected. Taking control of the Hell Gate will mean nothing if this one breaches. The monsters will have 25k total stats, about as strong as Circe. We have to clear this portal.” And that was going to be a massive headache. ‘Nest’ was giving me a bad feeling, not to mention this instance was already at risk of overflowing.

"If you want to go in there and do Bran things," Gloria gestured vaguely at the portal. "I think it might be best for me and Nyx to help the new Mul Branova ladies with something more our speed."

I grunted an acknowledgment of her statement but was unwilling to give her a firm answer. Her words made quite a bit of sense.

Simone frowned. "She didn't include me in that."

"No, I didn't. They could probably use a healer even if you're underleveled for all of this." Her words made Simone huff before glancing at me for a final decision.

"I'd like to get you all in here. It will give you a chance to rank up your skills. High-ranked instances are rare even with an event like this that floods us with them." I raised an eyebrow at the two before turning back to the portal. "It's a fantastic opportunity. And I'd hate to deny either of you the chance."

"They're going to have to hang back," Merlin said. "But if we're going to do this, I'd really like to understand all of your skills completely." Her words had my full attention as I turned to her.

"You want to see my skill page?" I questioned. That was a very personal request. Knowing a person’s full skills could be the difference in winning or losing a fight.

Merlin shrugged. "Honestly, Bran, I'm your worst enemy when it comes to a fight anyways. I focus on ice magic to control my opponent, which you are particularly helpless against."

I huffed much like Simone often did. "I think you would find it much more difficult than you think to try and use control tactics to keep me from caving your skull in should a fight ever come to it." I glared back at Merlin, always one to rise to a challenge.

She held her hands out as if in surrender. "Let's hope it never does. What I mean to say is that we will both be sharing our skill menus with each other." She glanced at Circe. "I think getting her to share with me might actually be the hardest part."

"Oh, will it be?" Circe asked, her eyes narrowing dangerously. "I'd be happy to share a redacted list with you."

"One conveniently missing the skills you would use in an emergency," Merlin rolled her eyes. "Those are exactly the things that we all need to know."

Circe fidgeted for a moment before glancing at me and tossing her blue hair over her shoulder. There was a long pause before she released it with a sigh. "Fine.”

I frowned, unsure what looking at me would do that would change her mind. “We all share our skills.” I reiterated.

“And this information goes nowhere," Circe emphasized, glancing over at my three women.

"You don't need to worry about us," Gloria said. "If you ever piss one of us off enough that we'd go after you, I'm sure his sword will already be on your throat." The purple-haired mobster hooked a thumb at me. Her hair had been a trendy purple-silver but it had darkened while keeping a metallic sheen to it after awakening her bloodline.

Circe and Merlin both gave her a very appraising expression. "Fair enough," Merlin agreed a little too quickly. And again, Gloria wasn't wrong. If they hurt any of the people I had committed my life to, they would definitely find themselves on the wrong end of my sword.

"I'll go first to break the tension," Simone clapped her hands together with a giant grin, "and we'll all be going. Don't worry, Gloria. The Mul Branova is more than ready to spread the word of Bran's glory with or without us. There are a number of ladies in the city that can help the newbies get a leg up on the city and we can monopolize the resources." She tapped in the air before a flick of her wrist, her skill page popping up in front of us all.

[Simone Sweet

Level: 124

Class: Lilim Saint SSS

Status: Overjoyed, Aroused, Devout, Mischievous, Disguised.

Strength: 1621

Agility: 1121

Vitality: 1834

Intelligence: 1491

Spirit: 4641

Skills:

Soul Absorption Art F

Lilith’s Gaze C

Radiant Insight C

Disguise SS

Blessing of Lilim A

Lilim’s Whisper A

Saint’s Mercy A

Bastion of Athena A

Sanctified Bonds A

Veil of Netherlight B

Wracking Pain D

Soothing Kiss C

Heartbreaker A

Blushing Phoenix Bloodline SS (Awakened)(Claimed)

Saintess of Faith A (Mul Branova)

Martyrs Blood D

Lilim’s Will F

Sphere of Peace E

Guardian of Lust C]

The Saintess of Faith was an odd one and seriously powering her spirit. Somehow while I got the Worshipped skill from the Mul Branova, she had gotten that one.

I reassessed her skill page, even though with soul gaze I'd already been able to see hers without any issue. Technically I could see all their skill pages. The only problem was Merlin and Circe's were ungodly large. They’d had serious skill bloat.

"I'll go next." Nyx flicked hers over as did Gloria. Both of them were comfortable sharing their sensitive information. Their eagerness seemed to affect the other two. Circe and Merlin shared their skills as well, and then everyone's gaze turned to me before I had a chance to look them all over.

I hesitated. There was an almost visceral reaction to sharing my skill page that I had to fight down as I tapped at the system menu and shared it with all of them.

Immediately my screen garnered everyone's attention, and Merlin latched on to my first and incredibly powerful ability. “Soul Gaze.” She muttered flicking to read more.

Circe let out a soft whistle, no doubt reading the ability's detail. "Fuck me. Bran already knew all of our abilities, didn't he?" Circe muttered.

"No wonder he seems to know what everyone can do. For an analytical ability, I’ve never seen something close to this level," Merlin agreed.

"Bran, you're going to have to share the skill pathway to get there, I hope you know that." Circe looked up from staring at the system.

I rubbed my nose and didn't meet either of their gazes. "I'm sure one of these days I could write up some of what I learned.”

“Like the poison monk thing," Simone spilled.

"Poison monk?" Circe asked with a raised eyebrow.

I was fine sharing this one. As it was more of an example. “What Simone means is this monk had discovered a way to increase resistances to absurd levels. It went past immunity to the point that poisons actually healed him.”

That concept caught the attention of both mages. The idea of being so resistant to an element that it could be used to heal was incredibly interesting to the two casters.

I waved a hand to stop further questions. "We'll talk about it in the instance," I said. I scanned through their lists more fully, picking out what was certainly one of Circe's secret weapons: Elemental Form. "Well done, Elemental Form. That’ll be nice if anything surprises you and gets in close.”

The archmage clicked her tongue as her red eyes flashed dangerously. "It's a wonderful ability to escape, however, I don't know how useful it will be in this situation. I assume Bran will be up front, with Merlin and I taking up the back." She didn’t even mention what the other ladies would be doing.

I nodded along with both of them, reading through their abilities. I was marginally impressed, given their high levels and their classes. I had expected many of them, but there were a few surprises.

"Well, at least Bran's Last Stand is out in the open. It has a long cooldown, but if these are too difficult, we can absolutely use that to at least chip away at the place." Merlin and Circe were still reading through everyone's abilities and each other's.

“Simone’s Guardian of Lust will keep anyone alive if they are mortally wounded. Hopefully long enough for us to correct the situation.” Circe added.

"Let's get in the instance and see what we're dealing with," I said, eager to move on. I stepped into the portal, not bothering with either of their analysis of all the abilities. Instances were always jarring with how they made an overlay of the area they spawned in, but with a new monstrous element. I popped out into the same brewery as if I'd only moved a few feet forward. But there were some clear differences.

Before the brewery had been under construction, but it was relatively whole. Now the building was now filled with a honeycomb of tunnels big enough for a large dog to walk through. I stared at those, a scowl deepening on my face.

"Shit," I cursed, quickly moving out of the building, even as all the ladies followed me.

"What's wrong, Bran?" Simone asked in a rush, moving alongside me. She was sensitive to my concern and glued herself to me.

I rushed outside, my head turning back and forth, looking for what would confirm my suspicion.

"That," I said, pointing off in the distance. There was a large structure that hadn't been in Copenhagen. It dominated the skyline within the instance.

"What are we looking at, Bran?" Circe asked, glancing away from the menus in front of her.

"Hives. Or, when we actually see one to inspect, they'll be called Hivnara. But everyone just calls them hives," I gestured at the structure. Even at a distance, small dots flying in and out could be spotted. "No wonder this thing caused issues for the demons. They're a famous monster type. Often considered one of the worst.”

Rylee had never mentioned it was Hivnara, but then again she hadn’t really stuck around to figure out more than the demons had rushed to flee or help.

“There are types?" Merlin asked.

"Yes. Throughout all the instances we encounter, and even those that go beyond our world, the monsters in instances repeat themselves after a certain point. And being considered the worst of that is no easy feat. Hives are terrible." I grumbled.

"They're insects of some sort?" Gloria asked shielding her eyes to gaze at the structure in the distance.

"Yeah, but imagine you took an ant colony and you magically made them bigger than a wolf, some might even get as big as a horse. At the same time, you didn't dumb down any of their natural advantages," I grimaced. "Their strength is through the roof. They also have super high physical defenses. You might be using your fire a little more than I expected."

"You have two other powerful mages in the group," Circe emphasized, clearing her throat.

"Wind will be good, but fire is particularly effective, especially if we can get Gloria's skills ranked up to the point where she can actually cook them through their exoskeletons. But these monsters will come in a ton of varieties. Some are going to have wings, some are going to be absolute juggernauts, while others are smaller and faster, without sacrificing an inch of their stupidly high strength. Almost all of them are going to have some sort of venom. Even if it's mild by their standards at their level in rank, the poison hurts like a bitch. And then there’s the worst part of hives." I gestured to the structure in the distance. "The final boss is going to be in there. It's going to be a queen. And the second this instance became active, she's been pumping out monsters as fast as she can," I said, my hand hanging in front of me.

"Wait, she makes more of them?" Merlin was the first to realize the situation we had just entered.

"Yup. The usual strategy would be to try to rush through.” I cleared my throat. "However, we're not going to do that. I've dealt with hives on three other occasions. The good news is, even the monsters she'll produce will give us experience, loot, and other goodies. We're here to become stronger, not to finish the instance as quickly as possible," I slowly moved my gaze across the group. "And don't worry, we won't be in here for a year and a half or some other nonsense."

I glanced at how far away the hive was, starting to formulate my plan. “We'll probably be in this instance for a week or two. This is going to be a pain, but it is still a great training ground."

Nyx’s serpents stood up straight and froze, one turned to something above us. “Guys…” She said in an urgent whisper.

A blood blade slowly crept down out of my hand, before I turned, jumping and slashing at the same time.

An ant-like creature that dropped from the ceiling, trying to ambush our group. It was a dark purple monster with a small drip of venom coming from a pair of wicked pincers.

I bodily checked it out of the way, slamming the S-rank blood blade against it with enough force to shatter the weapon into red shards that rained over everything. I grimaced, as another blade was already forming. "Don't wait. It's time to grind."

AN - Updated Bran Sheet

[Name: Bran Heros

Level: 121

Class: Blood Hegemon S

Status: Healthy

Strength: 4202

Agility: 3513

Vitality: 6548

Intelligence: 2373

Spirit: 13039

Skills:

Soul Gaze SSS