Chương 80: Sorry, That wasn't the delve. This is the delve!

This is the delve!

It takes a special kind of person to become a tank. Quite a few beginner adventurers are afraid of death. Afraid of getting hurt. Afraid of damage. They all spec at least partly into defensive stats… but then attempt to not get hit. Those adventurers are weak. The number of adventurers who decide to actually become a tank – a true tank who spec's everything into defensive stats and skills.

The number who sink into defensive stats to protect others instead of themselves – a very important distinction that many don't seem to grasp. Those were the champions. Stelc needed to be a sponge. Not a wall or a rock or a mountain like some tanks. No, Stelc worked off the idea of bending, but not breaking. Absorbing damage or rebounding it instead of defending against it with hard brittle means. His whole build was carefully crafted and centered around this concept.

[Sponge Sentinel] was a dumb sounding class name and the sentinel part wasn't even fully accurate, with his shunning of the damage dealing skills he could pick up... but it was his class and it fit him. Fortitude and flexibility. Not unyielding focus, but focus that prevented permanent damage... if that made sense. His friends didn't seem to "get" it when he tried to explain his truth. Stelc wasn't afraid of getting hurt. The only thing Stelc feared was letting down his team.

Any of them dying before him, like his parents before he was old enough to remember them. His team was his family. That's why he picked Craig up so quickly. Orphans recognized fellow orphans. That same family was directly in line with a barreling mass of runework charging down the hallway towards them. Stelc didn't even think, his body was already in the monster's path. [Intercept] had his feet moving him right into position to take this shoddy golem head-on.

At the last second, it looked like the golem was attempting to dodge past him, but [draw attack] bent its momentum. Literally pulling the creature into his waiting arms. A blocky fist shot out accompanied by the telltale haze of kinetic mana. Stelc braced himself as the metallic fist hit with surprising strength despite its low windup and unbraced position. Scratch that, the fist hit with an absolutely insane amount of power.

Stelc's passive [kinetic absorption] was overwhelmed, his stance broken as he stumbled back a full step.

"Formation D guys. Solid physical crusher. Careful this one hits harder than the crystal cavern golems; I'll try and intercept any shots while Samantha works on joints." Who directed battles shifted depending on enemy and area. Samantha had an actual skill to help speak and be understood quickly, so she took over a lot of well defined bosses. Stelc made calls for a lot of first-time enemies and Straw dealt with directions when they were unsure which passage to go down – or had to complete a puzzle.

Straw was also in charge of mental communications when they needed to be quiet. Even as Stelc prepared himself to meet another attack, it stepped back and began conjuring a suit of stone armour. What kind of golem used armour? Its body was already armour! Plates chunked into place, even as a long glowing plasma-like sword of compressed light shot out of the golem's right hand.

"FORMATION E. Attack with an escape planned. Retreat slowly. Samantha direct Craig to coordinate your attacks." Stelc bellowed, rolling into instead of away from an attack. Stelc was reasonably confident facing a purely physical golem enhancing itself with kinetic bursts and skills. Based on the one exchange so far he had thought they could take it – even if it was stronger than usual. But one using conjured items? One that hit that hard before it was even prepared?

Again, what solid golem decides to conjure a suit of armour? [Rebound] [Dissapate] [Disperse] [Deflect]. Four active skills coursed through every single pore of Stelc's body as the lightsaber slashed into his chest. Stelc's soft cloth armour sparked with lines as they hit – the magic within them twisting his skills to work on the metaphysical. Their existence focused on absorbing and reflecting magic while his body and main skills focused on the physical.

The sword sunk into Stelc's body appearing halfway into his side as flesh bent – but despite him being undamaged, the swing once again broke through [kinetic absorption] like a bowling ball smashing through a pin glued to the runway. He was flung sideways into the wall hard. This time [Kinetic Absorption] worked correctly, preventing him from bouncing but the effect made him look like a soggy sponge that had been tossed onto a wall. He slid down sadly pushing off as he reached the wall.

Not disoriented, but embarrassed. A step forward brought his body right into a path to [Intercept] a swipe aimed at Samantha as she hacked away at the soldier's shins. Stelc was panicking. Outwardly he remained calm, repeatedly jumping back into position, calmly shouting orders – or even bellowing war cries in an attempt to keep morale up… but inwardly it felt like he was screaming and flailing about.

Near the end of the current hall another one of these freakishly strong golems was turning the corner and heading their way. This wasn't a boss. This was a common enemy. Stelc yelled out the warning even as his mind continued working "Transcendent Area! We are underleveled ALL FOCUS ON ESCAPE. DISENGAGE." A mob in a higher zone of the dunge- … were they even in a dungeon?

Stelc froze – his mind grinding to a halt as he defended again and again, vaguely aware of his teammate's shouts and attacks but focused on reviewing everything they had done up till now. After entering the portal the group had moved down a long hallway filled with strange writing and signs in some unknown language. They had entered a circular room containing rows of strangely shaped pods like life support chambers for aliens.

Breaking into one of them had revealed a dead purplish humanoid monster – not a treasure – and continuing on they had come across several doors with hand scanners to get past. A stroke of inspiration had led Straw to correctly decide they needed to cut off the purple person's hand and use that to open the door – so they had done so, happily keeping the hand with them for a second blast door before entering what looked like an office building.

Above them steel walkways had crossed in a back and forth pattern that looked impractical but aesthetically pleasing. Craig had flown up and looked around at this time, while Straw told them the upper platform linked to a second story in the dungeon. Hoping for treasure, the group had struggled to open an incredibly heavy door and wandered down the hallway before being attacked for the first time by this golem.

While reviewing everything with the idea that they weren't in a dungeon, minor things began to stand out more. What if those humanoids weren't a dungeon monster, but a lost race? What if those sciency papers written in strange glyphs weren't decorations but actual research notes? What if that dangerous-looking red and yellow sign above the last door was a warning that meant more than "This way to a good fight"?

Stelc focused on the soldier in front of him, eyes tracing glowing sparking runework and resting on its beady eyes. Glowing pinpoints of light hidden behind a visor. These aren't decorations. Those are actual runes that are actively running right now. Dungeons… don't use runes. Ergo that is not a golem. That soldier is some sort of defensive measure made by whoever made this facility and because we are not in a dungeon NONE OF THE RULES OF PROPER DUNGEONING APPLY!

Stelc was thrown down into the ground by a sweeping overhead smash and then kicked with a leg moving faster than he could follow. His body was flung, spinning sideways down the hall over the heads of his team members like a propeller – before a cyclone of wind slowed him down and let him fall just in front of them. Stelc stared at his teammates running toward him as if in slow motion and he knew what he needed to do.

"Hey kid. Protect my team like a real man okay? I'm counting on you to help them escape with wind magic. Samantha run with your full power, Craig carry Straw. I'll catch up to you soon. Straw you're on coordination duty, you know what to do." And then his team was past him and hopefully safe. They were headed straight for an exit but the Sentinel was no longer able to pay attention.

Stelc maintained eye contact with the lifeless, dead white pinpoints of light piercing through slate greyish purple visors, mind made up. His team would be fine. That's all that mattered. … Crunch. Crunch. Crunch. The two soldiers were playing with him like a ragdoll. Stelc was a level 87 Sponge Sentinel who regularly shrugged off hits tanks 20 levels his senior would crumple from. …

but he was currently so out matched it looked like he was a low leveled warrior being taught a lesson by a particularly petty [Drill Sargent]. His armour was shredded and his body burned in a dozen places. The sword left massive red and black marks across his body and with each swing, a toxic smell of burning filled the sentinel's nose. Crunch. A burning blinding rod of energy was searing into Stelcs body and dealing more and more damage as his defenses failed one by one.

His health was dangerously low – regeneration struggling to keep it in the double digits and his mind struggled to maintain its focus. He was a sponge. He would absorb this damage now so his team could survive. Moments before his inevitable death, the beating stopped. Stelc was roughly picked up and dragged by a single-arm deeper into the facility. He took a moment to re-piece himself together. Three or four more of those hits and he wouldn't have survived any longer.

There was an intoxicating sort of rush that accompanied the survival of someone who had already resigned himself to death. Instantly Stelc began reassessing his position and trying to figure out survival. Why aren't they killing me? he wondered, remaining limp until necessary. A tendril of light wormed across his vision at this moment – Coms from Straw proving his team was sticking to the plan. That took a while! Or did it? The abuse made it hard for Stelc to gauge how much time had passed. Gods he was pathetic.

A tank shouldn't be that affected by damage. Sure he had kinetic skills instead of mind ones but even with those it shouldn't have… mind skills. Is the second solider effecting him mentally? Stelc couldn't tell but everything did seem muddled... The light had finished replacing the vision in one of his eyes with an overlay of their surroundings. Straw was in charge of linking and directing rendezvous points – their scout had plenty of synergistic skills to make it as easy as possible.

Right now Stelc could feel foreign mana flowing into and out of him and doing… something as skills established themselves. A voice echoed in his head in the telltale manner mental speech did, even as an overlay pointed out information Stelc hadn't noticed before. A rough map in the upper right, a translated floating block of words beside the strange glyphs in the background flickering into view as he focused on it.

The echoing words felt just as stressed as Stelc felt; a lot of Straw's normal roleplaying fading as he got serious. Boss As the overlay finished appeared in front of him, Staw's voice echoed through his head sounding just as stressed as Stelc felt. Boss, sorry we got separated once again. Samantha and Craig are both within my range but they are trapped and the paths to get back to the gate are… long. I'll go with long and full of obstacles.

Anyways, both of them told me to come rescue you so I'm currently heading your way. I'll be there soon okay? Don't worry, we aren't abandoning you. Hang in there! Straw's report had nearly drowned out the background – his travel through the facility lost – but enough energy had been regained that Stelc was able to try and escape. He would have waited for a more opportune time, but they had entered a room and in front of him a… horror machine straight from a trypanophobic nightmare. It hulked.

Wheels of syringes spun and squeezed out drops of clear drops like some awful parody of a hospital. If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. Stelc's instincts took over, arms bending at weird angles to slide out of the soldier's grasp. Overlaid arrows from Straw showed the avenues of escape most likely to succeed and he dashed forwards – kinetic mana speeding up his run despite his lower agility score.

A flashing symbol lit up his left and he jumped to the right, dodging the first soldier's grab. He was going to make it! A slam of confusion dimmed his thoughts and Stelc tripped. The second soldier was on top of him, painfully squishing his spongy body once more. The time between his capture and subsequent drag towards the needle factory was fuzzy once again. Whirring into place with an unneeded click, one of the syringes stabbed into his exposed arm – bypassing his defences with shocking ease.

The needle should not be able to pierce his body like that. The injected liquid should not have affected him. It should have been absorbed – Stelc was supposedly immune to poison. Despite that "fact" it raced across his body, twisting stuff inside of him. A potion. A disease. Vaguely aware of Straw's frantic shouts shifting from mental to verbal, Stelcs consciousness faded. It didn't disappear, just shifted to a form no longer understandable by humans.

The last memories available from this time were hyperfocused on vibrations and movements mana and specific gravity replacing light. His emotions shifted to colours and his sight became geometric feelings. [Memory corrupted] [Play linked record?] … [Starting linked record] The shadow observed the approaching army. Tendrils of mental connections floated off their head and disappeared into the walls. So… they are puppets? No, those links have more in common with army com lines.

Those are a way for the super soldiers to receive orders but they retain their own minds. The shadow was more than just a nickname, but it wasn't actualy important to Straw. It was more like a game he liked playing while delving. A trick of his mind and mental mana that made him better at his job. Rollplaying the shadow made the shadow real and the shadow was very good at its job which was his job ergo Straw was very good at his job.

The problem was this portal screwed up all of Straws' skills and his shadow persona had made him take risks he wouldn't have otherwise without the skills to back them up. Straw had over a dozen various skills to sense stuff that all combined into one master [Scan] skill. That skill should give him detailed information on everything within 2 kilometers of his location minus a few defences. He should be getting a mental map of the facility by now, but they were acting up for some reason.

Instead of a sphere of perception [Scan] was currently an ameba of information that ran down grains of space in an offputting way. Some tendrils of his perception extended over 10 kilometers away – twisting down corridors into a second attached facility and running around the edge of it. Other portions of his sphere were squished or knotted – refusing to pass through some walls or simply bending inwards making him blind as little as 100m away from himself.

Time fluctuated in certain areas more than others, causing feedback from his scan to desync in a strange way that made him sick, and the actual concentration of his scan varied in a way that indicated space itself was twisted about. Added to the weird feeling of movement like their momentum was constantly being bled and the feeling of air changed as it entered their body. The feeling of his center of balance being squished and his body adapting to the environment in a strange way.

Straw was only now starting to pull himself together over an hour into their delve. They were running away from an enemy he had noticed but not accurately gauged the power of. An enemy he could have directed them away from if he wasn't so affected by the facility. Which he was currently beginning to suspect was a different plane of reality. His lower body was cradled in a miniature tornado as Craig pulled him forwards. His scan kept pinging and kept finding more and more passages.

They were in a truly massive area and it was packed so tightly together. Beside them, Samantha ran, her feet pounding against the ground as she moved without magic – just pure physical force, her body cultivated by stats and skills to a point of perfection. Above them, Craig moved forwards, a grim look on his face as he spied the closed door in front of them. It had taken all of them to open; he was right to think they might not pass through it without Stelc's help.

"Head to the right, There's a better route. Sorry, actually that might not be traversable as we are. Give me a moment… Okay, I hate to split us up but we have a better chance of escaping if we do. Don't seek fights. Don't get greedy and stop for anything. Samantha, you're going have to get a bit wet and Craig you're going to need to let loose okay?" Straw spoke, completely ditching his failing Shadow persona. He would have to fix it later, but he had already let his team down enough today with it malfunctioning.

Directing Samantha towards a water-filled pipe she began swimming – a claustrophobic vent full of monsters he was nearly confident she could face. He had been wrong with the super soldiers, but that was due to lack of knowledge – not faulty knowledge. She would be… fine. Craig's build was really not designed for teamwork. If he went with Samantha, the whole path would be her saving him but if he went alone he could blow past some monsters the rest of them couldn't deal with.

Starting up his shared link, he attached it to both of them sending craig off down the hall before turning to his own task. A link to their leader began to form as Straw headed back the way they had come. Similar to his [Scan] a dozen weaker skills combined to hide his presence. [Stealth] was a amalgamation of methods and techniques and properly used could let him sneak past practically anything as long as he didn't directly engage with it.

Breaking out into a run as his senses latched onto his leader, Straw's scan started using the man as a relay point. A miniature [Scan] centered around him and gave Straw a better view of the scenario. He wasn't going to make it. Feet pounded down the hall and he watched in horror as Stelc was transformed. Twisted tentacles burst forth and kaleidoscopic radiance washed over the room. Straw walked right up to the group, his stealth holding and watched as they examined what remained of his teammate.

A flex of the mental bridges caused the soldiers to turn robotically and march off, while a series of stacked needle wheels rolled off in a different direction. Straw waited impatiently for them to exit the room, then pulled his friend out of the air and looked at him. Stelc was… sort of shaped like an octopus but with a floating flesh that resembled jellyfish more than anything else. He was as light as air and hung suspended in with the strange atmosphere around them.

Rainbow light danced around the creature's body – flashing in patterns that had to mean something but were not being picked up by his translation skill. As if mocking him the system chose that moment to offer up a quest.

"Find the antidote" it read, hinting he should explore the facility more. As if the first quest triggered some switch a title appeared and a second message that detailed their exploration of a new plane. The system seemed to still be gathering information this panel shifting as text was added and the title formed.

"[True Explorer] – travelled where no man has travelled before. Increased resistance to hostile or unknown environments. Slightly increase observation skills." Straw could feel the title working, his scan no longer gliching out as much. Smoothing out even as it strengthened. That didn't matter right now however. He still needed to find the cure – a room full of beakers and bound books directly above their heads looked like it might be a good place to start.

Straw carried his leader up while checking in repeatedly with his remaining team members. First, Samantha who blasted through a crowd of little piranha-like slugs and passed briefly into a huge glass tank full of massive sharks that crossed back and forth in the blink of an eye. She fought them off – not managing to kill or overwhelm them in their natural element, but able to deflect their jaws in the two occasions they attacked her directly – before she reached the side and pulled herself out gasping for air. …

You're doing great! Straw sent, watching her twitch at the reminder that he was watching before shifting to Craig. Craig was a walking maelstrom of destruction. A broken down section of the facility they were in was full to the brim with various sized monsters and the "air and needle mage" was ripping through them as he ducked and dodged the crumbling infrastructure. The easiest way for Straw to describe what was happening was by imagining Craig was centered in the eye of a storm.

A wild churning hurricane that spread out over nearly 100m of space filled with extra dangerous shrapnel – individually most needles in the storm broke on or scratched the surrounding monsters but by the hundreds of thousands the needles chip-damaged nearly everything into oblivion. And that wasn't even Craig's full repertoire of skills. This needle storm state didn't seem to require much concentration to hold, so the young mage was constantly flinging out consumable potions and grenades with various effects.

Mages were always more impressive especially at higher levels, but if Straw didn't know better he would have thought the kid was already a transcendent. The way he was ripping through fodder… A steam belching monster that looked like someone had taken a boiler and slapped arms and legs onto it was picked up off the ground and began spinning about the hurricane, killing two crystal-focused crab-like things that had weathered the storm so far.

And then a super soldier entered the area and began sliding through the storm like it didn't exist. Craig raised a hand in the air, flashing the glove that had been his reward for donating the portal key and everything turned ethereal. Needles that had piled up against pillars and walls slipped through them somehow. More needles poured out of the air near Craig and immediately shimmered into transparency as they joined the crowd.

This [Ethereal Needle Storm] or whatever was actively damaging the super soldier at a steady pace – even as it arrived and attempted to slay the adventurer. A shield of water and spear of ice were conjured but couldn't defend against the swarm of ethereal attacks nor reach the nimble mage who had to have a third kinetic affinity or skill based on the way he was moving. His eyes were closed and gusts of wind accompanied each shift of his head or twist of his legs.

By this point not a single other monster in the large room was alive and the defeat of the golem they couldn't take on as a group seemed almost inevitable. Straw watched as he rummaged through desks and read sticky notes taped to broken machinery. The fight lasted for a full 16 minutes before the soldier died and everything immediately stopped being ethereal.

Craig pulled out a mana potion and drank deeply, ignoring the potential side effects as his regeneration kicked up and he stood, chest heaving, in the center of the room. A few minutes of rest later he continued on – dragging his hurricane of needles with him and nodding to Straw's suggestion to make a turn back to the portal up ahead. The antidote to Stelc's condition turned out to be regular tree sap according to one encyclopedia of conditions set in a safe deep within the office buildings.

Waiting for a passing guard to leave, Straw reached out – his hand phasing through the case to flip pages.

"I'm not copying you, I had this skill first." He muttered to himself continuing to think back to the ethereal storm he had just witnessed. Knowledge of the cure in hand, he found a beaker his [Scan] pinged as probably sap – his hands moving instinctually while his mind wandered. Before removing the beaker from the display case he carefully snipped a line of mana that ran off of it – preventing whatever trap or alarm would activate before it did.

Straw then went through every path back to the exit and made the executive decision to wait till he reached the portal and team to apply it. Holding the floating legs of Stelc like a ballon Straw wandered through the facility, bypassing most of the enemies or taking the long way around ones he suspected could find him. The life of a scout in the dungeon. …

A brief while later, as a group the three rubbed sap all over their floating teammate and watched as he began bubbling and shifting translucent skin full of rainbows turning black like tar. Tentacles turned to arms and legs, his body burst upwards and outwards and Stelc rejoined the group once more. They turned and left. A repeat visit of this zone would require more preparation. They hadn't found any treasure this time but based on the surroundings there had to be some and it had to be great. They would be back.

Excerpt obtained from memory records taken from one "Stelc, Rutherford" and "Straw, Pattern" dated 2005 as stored in the Central repository, regarding the facility. Innearth was fancoreing' so hard. When Craig was the one who brought a keystone to the alter he mayyyy have swapped the random tier 11 reward for his highest random tier 14 one he owned. It was hard to see how the system swapped a weapon into a glove that turned skills into ethereal magic attacking variations... but he was still excited.

One of the reasons Craig had started slowing down in his progress was his lack of damage variation. He could blend some enemies but could barely kill others alone and there were certain skills that could completely counter him. That was almost completely gone. With this glove, Craig could probably reach the hardmode crystal caverns without a group to round him out! Heck he had solo'd one of the facility's common enemies and could probably explore it on his own! Innearth: Craig really is great. Amy: … who's Craig?

Abe:??? Innearth: That wind and needle mage. I've been following him since he could barely kill a snake! Abe: Oh, yeah he looks pretty strong. Wait how long has it been? That seems like a fast rise to power. Innearth: 1292 days!!! He's been in my dungeon 1105 of those! Abe: … how do you know that? I know its easy to remember stuff as a dungeon… but why is that so specific. Why are you even keeping track? Also. That's pretty strong for… anyone know how old he is? Impressive. I like his style.

Could up the bomb throwing though in my humble opinion. Innearth: Come on, It's Craig. Does anyone else have a favorite adventurer? Abe: … man idk m8. I guess? I'd have to go with… no that's weird, who has a favorite adventuer???

's weird m8. Abe: Closest I can go is saying I think the orc's are the most fun to watch. I can't tell em apart though they all sort of blend together if you know what I mean. Amy: Oh yes, It's really hard to tell adventures apart. It's like there's so many variations but none of them matter. Oh you are 0. 21cm taller. Oh your ears are slightly pointier. Oh you have a different skin colour. Wooo. Grow some unique features and stop wearing the same thing haha. Amy: …

I should start spreading more tentacle diseases about my regular dungeon. I think it would improve the look of most adventures immensely. Fated Eternal Design: Look! My friends! Another group is coming through. This one looks prepared – I'm sure they will get far in the facility! The dungeons watched as first a third group then a fourth entered; one of them the shock trooper and ensemble that had been watching Doc's dungeon. These teams headed off in different directions sampling the air and setting up equipment.

Fated Eternal Design: Someone stop them, they can't remove the illusion I don't want them to find out they are in the void yet! Abe: you're going to interfere? Weird. Its much more fun to let things play out without changing things. Fated Eternal Design: well yeah, It's more a reaction. I'm not actually saying you should actually stop them you know? That would be weird. Amy: Another group fell in the shark tank!!! Did someone set up a lure or s-oh… never mind this one has water abilities they are fine.

A wave of water was repeatedly battering a shark against the side of its tank even as a group of adventures began scouring the bottom of the tank. Abe: did you remember to hide treasure there? The adventurers seem to think its where the treasure is hidden. Abe: They reallllyyyy seem to think somethings hidden there. Amy: … it's a fish tank. Its for decorations. I didn't plan that far ahead. Fated Eternal Design: Non interference doesn't extend to fixing mistakes.

Quick hide this shiney nugget in one of those coral spots I'll link it to the twin lovers questline. Abe: I thought everything had to be perfect beforehand? I thought you hated "winging it"? Why did you make us wait so long if you were just going to start changing stuff immediately! WE could have finished the facility so long ago!!! Brutality Queen: Hey! Yeah! What he said! I've been saying that for ages you know. We could have finished months ago and finished it as we went. Fated Eternal Design: ahhh!

If you hadn't outvoted me to open it early we wouldn't need to fix it! Innearth tuned them out focusing on Craig's passage up through his dungeon. … ah, I'm a great fan. The system decided at that moment enough adventurers had found the facility and found out enough about it to issue a message to each of the dungeons. Congratulations! For creating a dungeon in a unique location, the title [Unique Dungeon] has been gifted. You have created something that will be sought out for the novelty.

Something made in an area no one has been to. Something so different it warrants being called unique. If another dungeon creates a similarly located area this title will change to "The First". Reward: [Unique Dungeon – Location easily found on maps. Dungeon will be highlighted as a destination in relevant skills and cooperating spells.] SYSTEM NOTE. MULTIPLE SIMULTANIOUS UNIQUE TITLES GIVEN. UNIQUE CIRCUMSTANCE NEGATES "The First" DESIGNATION. ZeMadDoctor:...

so the cross continental portals didn't warrant a unique title but this does? Interesting. Its location only? I wonder who else has gained this title. Abe: Anyone else think the systems being stingy? Highlighted on maps? That's it? Brutality Queen: What would you want the reward to be instead? Personally I don't really care, I helped out with the facility for fun. Just for fun. Abe: True, Just felt lackluster is all. Innearth: I'm unique \o/ Abe: Uniquely stupid. Ayy. Innearth: Oh look!

Analyzing adventurers are moving out. Wonder which direction they will head next.