Chương 161: Limitless Path Chapter One Hundred Eighty-Six

She tore into the boss and all the enemies around it, great gouts of blood and flesh flying into the air as she hewed away, monsters dying to one side and then the other. The boss was large, nine feet standing fully upright and nearly a ton of thick fat and sinuous muscle, which did little more for it than prolong its suffering. Beth cleaved it apart in a relentless dance of death, her blade tearing out create hunks of flesh with each strike.

The beast eventually fell, dark red blood spewing into the sky like a hellish fountain, Beth laughing before charging forward, slamming into the boss Blood had been dealing with. It was on its last legs already and she hit it so hard that she both felt and heard its back break, a massive gout of blood and viscera spraying out of the huge wound she carved through its torso. After that it was a little bit boring, the two girls mopping up what was left of the monsters in ten minutes or less.

They didn't immediately clear the stage, Beth understanding the only thing that could realistically mean; they had to report back. She was really not looking forward to having a big argument with Dream Snake about the two of them going rogue and heading out on their own, but they might as well get it over with.

Beth had already released her Presence and directed Blood to help clean the two boss kills, proof of the resolution of the problem and enough to get Dream Snake off their backs without them having to clean every kill. They'd tell the team the location of the carnage before leaving either way, but Beth wasn't going to clean a bunch of kills she wouldn't get the rewards for, and Blood was inclined to agree.

They rested and meditated for a short time after they had cleaned the kills and moved a distance away, both girls taking the chance to use their regenerative skills to close up a number of wounds they had received. Beth wasn't going to change their fighting style regardless of others' opinions, but it did result in injuries. She had a few cracked ribs and a nearly broken arm, while Blood had stress fractures in both her legs and a snapped shoulder blade.

The healing took about an hour before they were ready to move, heading back to the road through the treetops. It was just after noon, the sun shining nearly directly overhead countered by a cool breeze rustling the branches that they traversed. Beth ran her hand through her hair as they approached the road, enjoying the wind and squinting her eyes a bit at the brightness.

Despite everything else, having to deal with annoying team leaders, the monsters and beasts, the time away from home, the politics and annoyances, as well as all the other bother, she wouldn't trade this for anything. They hit the road as Beth reflected on her new life and made their way back towards the city at quite a clip. They moved so fast, in fact, that had they been in the treetops, they might have missed Team Dream Snake.

Well, Team Dream Snake might have missed them, but Beth, and Blood especially, weren't that sloppy. From the look on Dean's face, she knew this could turn into quite a long argument if she didn't nip it in the bud. She tossed down a rough sack made by Blood out of the hide of one of the beasts, reminiscent of the lion-hide sack she had made not that long ago, but far, far better quality, even as a quick job.

"What-" Dean started, but stopped when the sack flopped open to show the boss' heads. Beth then tossed the two mana cores that the beasts had dropped to him. After looking them over, he said, "I hope you don't think this gets you off the hook."

"We were never on any fucking hook to begin with," Beth snapped at him.

"We're not under your command, Dean. We're elites, experts brought in to help your team take care of what turned out to be a simple job. We don't answer to you; the only person I would take orders from is my instructor, and I'm pretty sure he's a fucking Exalted, so you can step down. We finished the job, ahead of schedule and under budget, as they say. Blood, give them the location." Blood walked over to Thom and explained the best path to the massive charnel house of bodies they had left in the woods.

Dean was clearly unhappy but there also wasn't very much he could do about it, as everything Beth had said was pretty much correct, even if it was delivered in a rude manner. It also didn't do him much good to argue with a future Enforcer, one trained by an Exalted level being at that, so he tamped down his anger and agreed that it was a job done, if not well done.

As soon as Dean had agreed on the job done and Dream Snake had started to move into the forest, the stage ended, with Beth and Blood arriving back in the array room. The were quickly shooed away by a Warder, moving away from the portal setup before simply heading out of the room entirely, glad to be back in more familiar quarters. They took a little time to bathe and relax before getting some sleep.

When they woke up the next morning and got ready, Beth was glad as they geared up that the damage from the stages was reverted when they left; she wasn't looking forward to all the repairs and replacements for gear she would have to get. That, or she would have to secure them some much higher quality gear; the mana steel certainly protected them, but it couldn't stand up to more than a handful of engagements at their current strength level before it needed some serious work.

They went through the normal routine of eating a whole fridge's worth of food as well before they were back in the array room, Beth asking for stage twenty and for it to be kept private. They were directed to the Warders, who held them for several minutes this time before letting them in. Apparently, there were not only quite a few people challenging stages currently, but rather a lot were in the back half, which were more complex and energy intensive to maintain.

It wasn't a really long wait, however, and they were signaled through as soon as the system was ready for them. They went through the whole world-whiting-out for a second and sharp sense of falling and spinning before they arrived in stage twenty. Beth checked herself over and made sure they were OK while Blood took in their surroundings. They had come through unscathed, as usual, and the place they had landed was another city.

It wasn't particularly large, being smaller than the city they had experienced the sequence with Team Dream Snake in, but it didn't look any poorer or less developed than that city. If anything, the city looked even more prosperous, with richly decorated buildings and what seemed like very advanced transportation through all parts of the city. The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

That wealth and prestige came with some obvious caveats, mainly in the form of the military and guild/mercenary presence in the city. The walls, which they could see at the far end of the street they stood on, were the tallest, thickest, most heavily enchanted that they had ever seen, to the point there was a force barrier stretching up from the wall and covering the city.

The amount of both enchanting skill and raw power that was needed to cover even the fairly small city with a magic shield like that was staggering, and Beth had no idea what could even be generating it. Multiple nuclear reactors would likely not have the equivalent energy output to what was going into that thing, and she couldn't even imagine the cost, almost seeing the dollar signs burning away.

As they were still taking in their surroundings, they were approached by someone wearing a military uniform, and though Beth wasn't sure, she guessed the man was part of the city guard. His armor was scratched and scraped, dull and with some sections that were clearly mended or patched-over battle damage. The man himself was short and stocky, having to look up to meet Beth's eyes, let alone Blood's, but he had a forceful aura about himself that commanded respect. Beth gave him a nod as he stopped before them.

"Ladies, good to see you," the man said.

"I am Commander Telsin, here to welcome you to the fine city of Crystal Script. I hope you had a pleasant trip?"

"Of course, commander, nothing to complain about," Beth replied while Blood continued observing the area.

"I have to say though, we're eager to get on with it."

"Of course, no surprise there," Telsin said with a quick nod.

"Well, I'm sure you've been briefed already, but just to reiterate, you're here for the materials collection drive. Unlike other hunts you may have participated in, we don't really care that much about the kill boards, but are much more concerned about materials for crafting. Whether that's beast or monster parts, ores, herbs, mana crystals, and so forth, we aren't particularly picky, the city will either use or sell it all."

Before he could finish his full explanation, Beth and Blood both started at a loud booming noise that echoed down the street, sounding like a giant hand pounded a massive drum with a mallet. Telsin didn't even blink at the sound, however, which assured them that it was anything immediately critical. They could just faintly hear some further noises as if of very heavy and solid impacts, followed by what Beth believed were spells being fired off.

"Care to elaborate, commander?" Beth asked with a raised brow.

"Sorry about that, but we always enjoy seeing newcomers to the city jump. I take it you haven't visited many cities on high mana density worlds, specifically frontier cities?" Telsin responded.

"We've been in frontier cities once or twice, but never anything like this," Beth replied with a shake of her head.

"Is that related to the noises?"

"Indeed," Telsin said.

"You're going to find we are surrounded by heavy wilderness here; no farmland or living areas or any such outside these walls. What you heard just now was a rather high-level beast hitting the wall and getting repelled. Likely something over level two hundred, probably over two-fifty, and angry to boot. Likely other, weaker beasts followed with it, and now some of our guards are sweeping them up."

"That's not a big concern, something attacking the wall like that?" Beth asked. The man just shrugged, saying, "Our walls are very strong. I'm not going to tell you that they could withstand anything, but they were built to last. Nothing of the kind that's tangling with them now, or even stronger than that, is going to do any more than lightly scratch the outermost part of the wall.

You also have to keep in mind that there are people like me here, as well as other, even stronger beings that can or might act in defense. The CRA senior members would only take action if things got truly dire, but I certainly wouldn't challenge any of the ones currently stationed in the city to a match."

"Your confidence is reassuring, commander, but I have a follow-up question. How do you expect the two of us to do anything out there?" Beth asked with a slight frown.

"Not everything out there is level three hundred and on the war path, ma'am," he replied.

"That's just how operating in a more dangerous environment like this goes. You're going to have to be careful of your terms of engagement; you don't want to get caught out by something too big for you to tackle. It's also a place where you always want to maintain a certain level of stamina, particularly either of you with a Presence, as that will sometimes turn into your last lifeline in giving you the power to retreat from something way out of your league."

Beth's frown didn't get any smaller at the explanation, and she did a quick check to see where she and Blood were at. They had hit level one hundred seven from all the monsters in the previous stage, likely a decent bit towards one hundred eight, but they wouldn't even be an appetizer for something like what had just battered the walls. She wasn't sure if they were exactly prepared for this challenge, but the saving grace was that it wasn't a direct combat challenge.

Unlike the beast hunt and monster hunt stages, this was a resources hunt, meaning they didn't even have to engage in combat at all. They could scour part of the surrounding terrain while scavenging herbs and avoiding any fight at all and still get quite a few points for their day's effort.

"Do you have somewhere for us to stay, commander?" Beth asked, glancing around at the richly appointed, high-class buildings all around them.

"I could find a place for the two of you in the barracks, if you would like?" he replied.

"That's alright, commander," Beth said with a shake of her head.

"We'll head over to the CRA Hall."

"Well, I bid you good luck, then. I'm excited to see how much you can do in the next two weeks," Commander Telsin said, giving them a swift, crisp salute before turning on his heel and striding off, his last comment also giving them their time limit for the stage. They quickly made their way across the city, able to navigate close to the CRA building with Beth's emblem before catching sight of the Hall, a monolithic structure as always, finding their way from there by sight.

The Hall here was bustling but not nearly as busy as the one in the city where they had done the crafting competition, and a very competent female elf took their request at the counter. She apologized to them, informing them that all the "good" rooms were already taken, by which she meant anything in the main building and the pricier underworks rooms, but none of that included their usual one silver-per-night room choice.

The suite they shared with Sabs back on Earth was apparently considered as one of the cheaper or "bad" rooms in the Halls scattered throughout the universe, which still slightly boggled Beth's mind considering the suite was very much like a luxurious apartment.