Chương 74: Chapter Seventy Three

The Crab's aura was smothering. Had he eyes, or organs, or an actual biological brain, they all would have likely been pulped by the sheer pressure it was giving off. Bob only able to keep moving forward due to his artificial nature, his immense Willpower score, and a previously unknown feature of his latest 'Trait/Skill'. A Trait/Skill which, to his great relief, chose that moment to once again gain a level. Ding! Lesser Mantle of Domination (C) has Leveled up!

25 – 26 Bob internally sighed as the massive weight was ever-so-slightly pushed back. His own comparatively-pitiful aura desperately crashing itself against the unstoppable force that was the Crab's; the results of its efforts miniscule, but badly needed. Them likely being the only reason he had actually made it this far. He'd been walking for at least eight hours, and this deep in, the power of the monster's Trait felt like it had begun to physically alter the very world around him.

The city's atmosphere turning from merely melancholic, to outright haunting. The surrounding waters becoming stagnant and syrupy, completely devoid of even the barest hint of life. That is, unless he looked up. Above him, a river of fish still swam along a secret current; their forms far more visible now that they were beginning to approach their destination.

Each creature able to be spotted individually as they sped towards an almost certain demise; the mass of them disappearing behind a group of large buildings not-too-terribly far ahead. Unfortunately, they weren't the only thing hiding behind what looked to be a series of public or government-built structures. Bob all-but-certain that it was also the landing place of what felt to his senses like a fallen star; the heat of it searing his extremities even while still outside his detection range.

The sensation was so potent that it had made 'Treasure Sense' largely useless; the entirety of his 'radar' blinded by the nearby signal. He'd actually passed by a number of copper and silver statues during his trek that hadn't registered at all. Not the slightest 'ping' even while standing directly next to them. Not that he would have wasted the time required to physically uproot them anyway; the siren-like call of what was ahead having grown too powerful for him to easily ignore.

His mind felt almost drunk from it, the mixture of potent mimic-born instinct blending with common greed and the hopes for what benefit such an unfathomable fortune could bring him. Even just having the money stored within his sub-dimension would likely increase its passive mana generation to the triple-digits. And that wasn't even considering what else he was beginning to sense coming from further ahead.

Bob briefly paused as he attempted to reach out for the sensation again, occasionally forced to do so in order to assure himself that it wasn't just the treasure playing tricks on him. After a moment or so though, he felt it. The vague sense of potent magics emanating from past the buildings. Familiar magics. Though, he supposed they would almost have to be, for him to feel their workings all the way out here.

The far-away 'hum' of Dimensionally attributed mana was more powerful than anything he'd yet encountered; much less personally 'cast'. He hesitated to assume both signals were coming from the same place, it feeling unlikely he'd happen upon another magical artifact that suited his own abilities so quickly after – more or less pointlessly – destroying the last one. That said, with both signals continuing to get stronger with his every step, it was becoming difficult not to hope.

Though, to be fair, he still had no idea whether he could even use enchanted items in the first place; all his attempts to 'equip' those he'd found having gone nowhere. The sword sitting in his vaults seemed to be both sharper and more durable than it had any right to be, but that was the same as the local building's walls being invulnerable. The enchantments on each targeting themselves rather than having any dependence on a user.

It was entirely possible that his monstrous body made him constitutionally incompatible with their functioning; something which Bob was admittedly of two minds on. On one hand, it would be objectively bad were he to be barred from making use of any and all magical items. On the other hand, however, were all of them completely unusable, he wouldn't have to deal with as many intrusive thoughts berating him for his prior decisions. Of course, all this was likely to be a moot point anyway.

Given that it mattered far less whether or not said treasure could be used or even existed. And far more what might be guarding it. As Bob began to once more stagger along, he kept his eye glued to the point where the river of fish seemed to 'dip' down past the buildings. The valley's despot had yet to show itself, but this hadn't resulted in a lack of fear or respect for the creature on his end.

The fact that he struggled to move while being affected by a single one of its passive abilities, told him all he needed to know about how a match-up between them would turn out. On the plus-side, being so far beneath the thing's notice was likely to be beneficial for him. So long as he didn't actively show himself or antagonize the creature in any way, it should remain content to ignore his presence.

He just had to cross his nonexistent fingers that it and the treasure weren't literally sitting in the same exact location. He trekked on, his normal speed slowed to a crawl by the supernaturally oppressive atmosphere. Still, with no living creatures barring his way, he eventually arrived at the nearest of the large, ten to fifteen story buildings some hours later.

The only incident occurring along the way being his Trait/Skill gaining another three levels; the density of the creature's aura Trait quickly driving up the experience point count of his own. Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation. As he began cautiously making his way around the building's edge, he found himself hoping that its next level would come soon.

The pressure was beginning to feel genuinely overpowering at this point, and the ability had previously enjoyed more powerful 'boosts' at its tenth and twentieth level, each seeming to add another 'layer' of aura around him. Something which he felt in dire need of at the moment. As he finally reached a street heading further in however, all such thoughts ceased. All thoughts in general ceased, actually.

His mind and body collectively shocked into a stupefied state by what he saw when he ever-so-carefully peeked his eye around the corner. In an absolute stroke of luck, there was no sign of the city's 'Boss'; the river of fish merely dipping into the large empty hollow within the circle of buildings before rushing down a wide, open avenue on the opposite end. Not that Bob would have likely noticed the monster if it were there anyway.

All his attention on the artifact floating in the middle of what looked to have once been an elegant park or garden. Bob remembered reading somewhere once that if you combined all the gold ever mined together, it would form a cube measuring in at about seventy or so feet on each side. The size had always felt a bit small to him, to be honest. But, if true, that meant he was now forced to assume this world had a far higher percentage of noble metals in its make-up compared to Earth.

Because he refused to believe that what appeared to be at least a tenth of his previous world's supply could be sitting in front of him otherwise. Though he was still a bit too far out to give an accurate measurement, the massive orb of solid gold was easily larger than a small car. The many glowing letters covering its surface absolutely blasting mana into the general area; Bob feeling uncertain now whether the 'pressure' he was feeling was entirely on the Boss Monster's aura.

As he took his first, staggering steps towards it, he didn't even notice that the sensation of potent Dimensional Path magics seemed to carry on further into the city. Didn't care, really. The whole of his attention stuck on the artifact floating ahead of him. On the blistering heat that felt like it was consuming his form as he pressed ever closer. By the time the orb itself had entered his detection range, Bob was so out of it that he almost didn't notice.

Only alerted to the event by the near opiate-like euphoria that came with it; him stumbling to a halt as it felt as though his mind and body had both been wrapped in cotton-fluff. Taking a step forward suddenly feeling like an impossibly strenuous activity. Still, the portions of him which could reach out, did. His mind ever-so-slowly stretching itself over to 'click' deeper into the sun currently burning him alive. Ding! Treasure Found!

Treasure Item: Gold City-Node Material: Gold Rank: A Enchantments: (37) Paths found. Value: 20, 096, 000 Gold His brain stuttered as the numbers popped up in front of him. The haze clouding his mind mildly wafted away by the sheer weight of the fortune laying in the open courtyard. The count far surpassing even his most optimistic of expectations. It pressed him to struggle back to his many feet.

To fight against the horrifically pacifying sensation running through his form as he tried to drag himself closer to the massive treasure. Wobbling drunkenly as he began to scale the short flight of stairs directly surrounding it. As he approached, he was able to make out the occasional grouping of words standing out amidst multitudes of unfamiliar runes. It taking him perhaps longer than it usually would have to realize that they belonged to numerous 'Law' Path enchantments scattered over the massive artifact.

His subsequent attempts to read through the slowly-revolving passages assisting him in pushing away a few more of the clouds fogging up his consciousness. Which was when he finally realized just how useless his current endeavor was; in this case his eye being far bigger than his stomach. Because there was absolutely no way for him to get the enormous, easily ten-foot by ten-foot ball of metal inside him.

And given that it gave off the same 'impervious' feeling as the local buildings, breaking it into smaller pieces seemed similarly out of reach. Not that he was sure attempting to shatter a magical item as obviously powerful as the one in front of him was a great idea in the first place. A part of Bob felt like it died when the truth hit.

The mimic portion of his brain feeling like it suffered the 'magically-animated box' version of a heart attack; simply unable to accept the fact that he wouldn't be leaving with the mass of gold sitting in his vaults. He slowly wandered around the object while he tried desperately to come up with some kind of solution. The most potentially viable of which, he decided, was attempting to teleport it inside himself. It wasn't something he'd be able to do immediately, obviously.

Not only did he not currently have a suitable Skill, but even just from a cursory overlook of the massive ball of gold he could tell it was resistant – if not outright impervious – to most forms of outside magic. There was still the potential for him trying to grab up the 'Node' by targeting everything around it he supposed, but it seemed less likely to work the longer he stared at the thing. Still, as he slowly forced himself to step away, it was with a plan in mind going forward.

He'd been neglecting to improve his other Dimensional Path Skills lately anyway; 'Sub-Dimensional Expansion' had gained a significant amount of experience during his travels, but little else. Perhaps focusing on leveling both 'Displacement' and 'Short-Range Teleportation' would get him closer to the answer he needed. It was difficult continuing to force himself away; each step backwards feeling like a day's worth of withdrawal hitting his system all at once.

He managed however, nearly falling back down the stairs in his trembling state. As he finally dropped off the last step however, he was gifted at least some respite; the system alerting him that his aura had gained yet another level. Ding! Lesser Mantle of Domination (C) has Leveled up! 29 – 30 And as he hoped, this level increase had come with a bit of a 'boost'.

His aura pushing out further than it ever had before and 'locking' into position; the sudden relief he felt being head-and-shoulders above any that had come before it. Or at least it was, until something else pushed back. Until now, the surrounding aura had only existed passively; as an aggressive force of nature rather than any sort of targeted ability. Its attempts to crush him under its weight simply being the natural state of things, rather than having any personal ill-intent.

At the expansion of his own Dominating Aura however, all of that changed. Its pressure suddenly tripling down as all of a sudden Bob felt seen. A sensation which was only reinforced by the fish scattering overhead and a massive voice beginning to rumble inside his mind. The volume loud enough that he was worried it would soon tear him apart.

'Challenger…'