Chapter 749 - Should have expected that

The third event starts, leaving the disciples behind while their masters enter inside. The minion tournament should take place before the last event, with me still wondering if the black wolf will participate.

I do not enter this event, as I do not want to be kicked out right away, and it seems like Lily doesn’t participate either. The very same who had promised me she would join it now remains behind inside of the barrier with me.

“I thought you were okay and could join the event,” she snorts.

“I lied. I thought you said you would join the event.”

“I lied,” Lily says simply.

“You know what? You are a fucking stubborn musclehead. Just join the goddamn event and get some damned points finally instead of just sitting here.”

“Fuck you,” she answers.

I blink a few times, feeling my annoyance rise. “You know what? Fuck you too! I told you I'm okay.”

“Try guessing how many times you have passed out for a second or two, and I had to heal you without you even realizing.”

“Bullshit. Nothing like that has happened.”

“Two times.”

“I may not have emphasized it correctly, or maybe mentioning it like ten times wasn't enough. I don't want you to sacrifice any more for me. At this point, this is something I can do on my own.”

From where she sits, she shrugs. “I'm sure of that. Even unconscious, you continued to circulate your mana, and I am sure you would survive just okay. Maybe just with a few more scars. I have never seen anyone as stubborn as you, so I know you could have been okay on your own.”

I force myself to calm down. “So, Lily The Bulldozer Chen, why don't you just go to the event?”

She smiles weakly. “Just in case. I want to be absolutely sure it doesn't go wrong and that I won't regret it in the future in case something unexpected happens. In some ways, I'm still a little bit pathetic and scared, so I do that. What are some tutorial event rewards in the face of that? I'm plenty strong even without them. So, what are we doing?”

We exchange a gaze. I look at her, still annoyed, but she doesn't look away at all, and in the end, it is hard to bring myself to stay angry.

With a groan, I stand and wave toward the stacked barrier, a structure created and powered by several people from Hell difficulty, along with the mana batteries linked to it.

The air around me resonates, and after a ripple, the barrier breaks into tiny particles that rain around us. The pressure around me blasts them all away like they are particles of dust carried by the wind, before I force my mana back under my control. Standing there, I close my eyes and take ten deep breaths in and out.

When I open my eyes, all the mana and thermal energy are pulled back, contained inside my body, where they continue to clash. None of it is seeping into the area anymore. Not even a speck of it.

“We will look for the thermonuclear warheads Tess has bought here for me,” I tell her and start walking towards where the residence our group rented should be.

On the screen, there are thousands of people standing in the middle of the circular cobbled area surrounded by thousands of dungeon entrances around the edge. These entrances are all different. Some are a door made into an old tree, others are steps heading into the ground, others might be a circular hole as if made of liquid mercury, or a stone arch showing an area inside. From the description, I know they are all dungeons, not dissimilar to the ones that will start appearing on Earth.

None of them is marked to indicate their difficulty, and it is up to people to try to estimate it. Somewhere, it might be done simply by checking how much mana it radiates, while plenty seem to be hiding it. So, if you aren't careful, you can end up in a dungeon that contains a Champion grade monster, at least here, in the tournament. I hope none like that are on Earth. Or... maybe it would be fun if they were.

I stop again and close my eyes. Another ten long breaths and a new scar forms on the side of my thigh. At the same time as I'm improving, the body changes are becoming more far-reaching. I observe them the entire time, and I can feel them. I can see how much more my body is becoming fitted for what I need.

The future consequences be damned, but going along this path, I don't think that after this tournament, there will be more than one or two attendees capable of facing me in Beyond. In a way, Nyssa, with her Primordial Blood, and I are a bit similar now, with the difference that all I'm doing is voluntary.

It is a cost I must accept, but I feel it is necessary. Otherwise, I will be just thrown around and manipulated by people stronger than me. And, after all, I think I have already decided to kill Adrian, but let's have Sneakythaniel hide that for now.

Adrian is also one of the many people participating in the event, currently waiting with all of them for the time when the doors will open, and they will be able to enter. He alone stands near one of the most unassuming doors, just talking shortly to a person or two as they stop by.

After watching for a while longer, I take my eyes off the screen just as we enter the forest nearby.

It is a weird feeling to walk around now so freely, though the area is empty and all of the attendees are inside of the event. I just spot a few young kids at places, disciples of Hell difficulty people. Most of them just look our way and don't try to talk to us, and I don't make an attempt at conversation either.

As we are reaching closer to the residence of group four, I notice multiple mana signatures. At the same time, my mana attempts to lash out, but I forcefully strangle it and grab it under my influence to force it back to the raging river flowing through my body.

Yet another notification rings, adding to the many of them since the start of the tournament. Just as we are reaching Wolfy lying there, I check them all.

[Perception - lvl 70 > Perception - lvl 71]

[Redistribution - lvl 71 > Redistribution - lvl 72]

[Eclipse - lvl 59 > Eclipse - lvl 60]

[Eclipse - lvl 60 > Eclipse - lvl 61]

[Eclipse - lvl 61 > Eclipse - lvl 62]

[Accumulation - lvl 49 > Accumulation - lvl 50]

[Accumulation - lvl 50 > Accumulation - lvl 51]

[Accumulation - lvl 51 > Accumulation - lvl 52]

[Accumulation - lvl 52 > Accumulation - lvl 53]

[Accumulation - lvl 53 > Accumulation - lvl 54]

[Manifestation - lvl 25 > Manifestation - lvl 26]

[Manifestation - lvl 26 > Manifestation - lvl 27]

[Manifestation - lvl 27 > Manifestation - lvl 28]

[Manifestation - lvl 28 > Manifestation - lvl 29]

[Mana Manipulation - lvl 75 > Mana Manipulation - lvl 76]

I thought the skills were supposed to be harder to level up the higher the level they are. Was everyone lying to me?

When we reach Wolfy, my mana is all forced back into my body, causing him to sniff towards me. He doesn't say anything, just shows his teeth in a way that looks like a dangerous smile, especially with his maw so huge over me that it looks like he could eat me in a single bite. In that moment, he doesn't seem young at all, but just like a dangerous predator. A beast with a body made for killing and devouring.

Then the moment passes, and he puts his head back on his front paw. Only then do I see Izzy's disciple, Seneca, sleeping against his body. Her blue hair is longer now, yet still continues to reach towards the sky and move as a flame would.

There is probably a question why Wolfy doesn't get annoyed by that or make her stop, but I do not ask and instead head towards the residence. Lily, after greeting the black wolf, follows behind me.

“Let go of me, you six-armed lunatic!” we hear just as we enter the huge log cabin. Maya’s disciple, the lythari Enan, fights against said six-armed lunatic. That lunatic, called Deva, is Sophie’s disciple and doesn't seem surprised, unlike Enan, by our presence. I had sensed her mental magic detecting us.

She doesn't let us bother her and continues to use two of her six arms to choke Enan from behind, while two more keep pulling on his ears. I'm sure he is physically stronger, so he likely doesn't fight back, worried he might hurt her, which she exploits fully.

“Oh, look who is here, the liar who apparently is owed an answer to a question from the Warden himself. Tell me, liar, who have you met as of late? Maybe you have been taught by the Magi? Did you become friends with one of the Twelve? Or did you by chance meet one of the last Elfs' replicas?” Deva laughs at her words as she shouts at me.

“Actually…” I start.

I don't get to finish as she screams, Enan having bitten into one of her arms. She starts punching him while shouting at me, “Don't say anything! I don't believe you! Damned liar! LIAR! LIAR! Demon-like Maniac! I know from my master how you are, and I…”

I refuse to listen to the rest of it and continue upstairs instead.

“Your reputation is in shambles right now,” Lily notes to no reaction from my side.

I hear her chuckle behind me. It causes me to stop, and I take another ten deep breaths. Then I continue again.

"So, where do you have the warheads?" Lily asks me when I enter my room.

"Knowing Tess, they should be here," I reach and pull the blanket off the bed to reveal the two boxes partially sticking from under it.

"I should have expected that..." Lily whispers.

It takes me a few moments to take the wooden tops off to reveal two metallic cone-shaped warheads. Both of them are now entirely covered by inscriptions painted by mana conductive paint, and, more importantly, they are inlaid with melted wire of conductive alloy to make something more stable.

There are multiple mana batteries, Logic Cores, nodes, secondary circuits, tertiary circuits, mechanical switches in case of failures, and such. A lot of it is inspired by what Vance did when he kept stealing them on the 7th floor. I remembered some, and Sophie remembered more. Then we had a lot of help, some hired between Beyond specialists, and some volunteered, like a certain catboy.

Of course, we also had some people from Earth help, even going as far as buying any device with e-books that could contain relevant knowledge. To say simply, a shitload of work went into it, and I'm certain I can make them go, as a minion would say, kaboom.

The question remains if that explosion will be bigger than anything I can create on my own currently. Sophie, and I certainly think so, especially after we modified them into a synchronous explosion and added certain alloys and mana stones filled with chemicals that should react really well to an explosion of this kind.

Enough to evaporate a city or a smaller country? Likely. Enough to kill a Champion with such defenses as Adrian? I don't think so. I'm just curious to test if I could survive them too. I want to burn off the eyebrows of that creepy alien jerk, and I want to see them go kaboom, the results of months of work.

All three of these things can come together during the last event. I just need to endure that body upgrade of mine and push myself far enough where I don't get kicked out the moment I enter. Though that seems now even more difficult than it would be when the body upgrade just started.

Once again, I feel the rusty taste of my blood in my mouth and feel my body weaken.

I'm sure Lily would notice and be annoying about all that soon, so when I turn to her, I don't let it show. Instead, I swing my arm and, with the palm of my hand, audibly slap the surface of one of the warheads.

It causes her to jump up and let out a squeak. "That was so childish, lame, and mean!" she shouts at me.

So I repeat it once more, getting a nearly identical reaction.

She waits for a few seconds to see if I do it the third time, and doesn't say anything but stares at me with a blank expression, though I notice the corners of her lips tugging upwards.