Chương 103: (B2) Chapter 30 - Shattered horizon

The docks of Nexus came into view once again. Ethan felt like he had only just returned, yet here he was setting out on another journey. Beside him, Leah sat with her hands tucked into her jacket, unusually quiet. At first he'd assumed she was simply tired, but the silence had continued all morning. Eventually he'd asked whether she'd changed her mind about coming. She'd simply shaken her head and muttered that she'd rather be here than running another dungeon. Personally, Ethan thought she'd made the right choice.

He didn't see Marcus's team clearing the arena any time soon. The sheer number of consecutive battles was difficult enough, but it was the lack of recovery between fights that truly made the dungeon brutal. Even if they somehow managed to reach the final rounds, they'd simply be too exhausted to finish the job and that made things dangerous. He didn't trust Marcus enough to know when to call it quits. Besides, the reward wasn't nearly as impressive as it seemed.

Advancing a skill through Common and into Uncommon certainly saved time, but it wasn't irreplaceable. Given a month or two of focused training, most people would achieve the same result naturally. Compared to the reward Ethan had received for the first clear, it hardly seemed worth risking your life over. The train hissed to a stop and the pair stepped onto the platform. They followed the steady stream of people toward the docks, Leah still keeping quiet.

Ethan watched her from the corner of his eye for several moments before finally sighing.

"Seriously," he said.

"Why are you being so quiet?" Leah narrowed her eyes but kept walking. He frowned. It may have been twenty odd years since he had seen that look but he would remember it no matter how much time had passed. She was pissed and giving him the silent treatment. Which didn't make any sense. He'd spent the entire morning trying to think of something he'd done wrong and had come up completely blank. Taking a few longer strides, he caught up beside her.

"Is this about last night?"

"What about it?" she asked without looking at him.

"I don't know." Leah finally stopped walking and turned to face him.

"Oh, really?" Ethan paused.

"Is it not the way you acted?"

"... No?" She stared at him for several long seconds before letting out an exasperated sigh.

"Are you serious."

"I honestly don't know."

"The bet, Ethan." He frowned.

"The..." Then it clicked.

"Oh."

"Yes. Oh."

"I was joking."

"No, you weren't."

"I mostly was." Leah folded her arms.

"You could get them all killed."

"It's not that serious. They will be fine."

"You don't know that. Marcus is competitive. He's going to put everyone in danger now."

"It wasn't—""You don't know them. you took it too far."

"I… I get it. Look if its worth anything, this could be good. It could push them to pass their limits."

"That's not the point." Ethan opened his mouth before immediately closing it again.

"... Right." Leah rolled her eyes.

"You can be such an idiot sometimes."

"I've been told."

"Usually by me."

"Also true." Silence settled between them again, though this time Ethan felt a little bad. Though he wasn't entirely convinced he'd been wrong, but he could at least understand why she'd been annoyed. He smiled a little. It looked like she had made some friends. The docks soon spread out before them, dozens of ships bobbing gently against their moorings while crews hurried back and forth carrying cargo. Waiting near the end of one of the piers stood two familiar figures.

Seb looked considerably healthier than the last time Ethan had seen him. His beard remained unkempt, but the bags beneath his eyes had lessened and there wasn't the faint smell of alcohol lingering around him anymore. Beside him stood Striker, his face hidden beneath the brim of a wide hat as he leaned casually against a stack of crates. Shadow clinging to his features.

"You're here," Ethan said as they approached. Seb nodded.

"And you being here at least means you think you're right."

"I'll take that as a compliment."

"You shouldn't." Ethan chuckled before handing each of them a folded ticket.

"I've already paid for passage. So let's get on with this." Striker inspected his ticket before giving Ethan a nod.

"Thank you." Seb said.

"I'll pay you back when I can."

"No problem." The four of them boarded without further delay, finding a quiet section near the stern as the crew prepared for departure. A deep horn echoed across the harbour before thick ropes were cast free. The ship slowly drifted away from the docks, turning toward the open air. Ethan rested his arms on the railing as Nexus gradually shrank behind them, before wandering away from the group and looking for the captain. This trip would see him broke, but hopefully worth it.

Besides, now he had a storage item, he could make his money back relatively easy. After a short stint he returned to the group. Leah was busy talking to Seb, the old man seems happy to chat away as Striker looked on from the distance. Ethan idly wondered if he two was perhaps playing an alter ego. Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.

"I've made a deal with the captain," he said as he reached them.

"He'll drop us off, continue on his route and pick us up on the return journey. Gives us a few days before he comes back through." Seb nodded.

"That'll give us three day?"

"That's what he told me."

"So we'd better find something before then."

"Exactly. Though if we don't, then it most likely means she's not there and my conclusion was wrong." The conversation gradually died away as the hours passed. Leah eventually settled against one of the benches while Seb quietly organised supplies. Striker remained near the bow, occasionally glancing toward distant landmarks as though committing them to memory. Nearly half a day later, Ethan spotted the island. It sat on the horizon like the shattered remains of something much larger.

Three enormous landmasses floated only a few hundred metres apart, jagged cliffs marking where the original island had quite literally been torn apart. Even from this distance Ethan could see broken forests and exposed rock faces where the dungeon collapse had ripped through the landscape.

"That's it," he said quietly.

"We're here." Striker followed his gaze before nodding.

"Aye, looks like it." The captain walked over to them, a sly smile on his face.

"That's as far as she goes, You'll have to jump from here." Ethan looked at the island as they began to pass over the edge. He nodded.

"Three days?"

"Aye. We won't be waiting though." Leah swallowed. The drop wasn't enormous. Maybe five yards. But they were travelling at a considerable speed. Enough to make anyone hesitate.

"Let's get to it then." Ethan said, looking at Leah. She took a deep breath, muttered something under it, then launched herself over the side. She landed with a surprisingly graceful roll before standing and immediately pretending it hadn't been nearly as awkward as it looked. Ethan smiled. Striker stepped forward next, looked down at the passing landmass before pausing.

"I'll follow." The captain frowned.

"Mate, you're holding everyone up."

"I said I'll follow." Ethan merely shrugged before grabbing Seb beneath the arm.

"What the hell are you doing???"

"Ready?"

"Put me down." Ethan jumped from the ship. Wind rushed past them as they dropped toward the fractured line. Ethan bent his knees on impact, absorbing most of the force as he skidded to a stop, staying upright. He put Seb back onto his feet.

"There you go." Seb glared at him.

"I could've managed that."

"With those old knees?" Leah brushed dirt from her trousers while studying the landscape around them. Ethan followed her gaze. Waist-high grass stretched in every direction, swaying gently beneath the breeze. Farther inland, scattered boulders and dense patches of shrubs interrupted the plains before giving way to thicker woodland beyond. A heavy thud landed several yards away. Ethan looked over, to see Striker rolling to a stop, his cape tangling his limbs.

The guide straightened and stood up, checking who was watching. He caught Ethan's eye and untangled his cape, before grabbing his hat that had fallen off. Ethan raised an eyebrow but said nothing. Instead he turned his attention toward the fractured island stretching before them.

"Well," he said.

"We may as well start looking." Striker stepped past him before Ethan had taken more than a single step.

"I'll take point." Ethan watched the man for a moment before giving a nod.

"Lead the way." Without another word, Striker disappeared into the sea of tall grass, the rest of the group falling in behind him as they began their search across the shattered island. The grass swayed against their legs as the wind rolled across the fractured island. Up close the destruction became even more obvious. Great cracks carved through the earth, some stretching for hundreds of yards before disappearing into the open air.

Entire hills had been sheared clean in half, exposing layers of stone that looked as though some giant blade had carved through them. Trees lay scattered in impossible directions, many of them long dead, while others somehow still clung to life despite having half their roots hanging over the edge of a cliff. Ethan took it all in silently. Even knowing what had happened here, the scale of it was difficult to comprehend. Leah eventually broke the silence.

"So... what actually happens during a dungeon break?" Seb looked over his shoulder, seemingly surprised she'd asked him instead of Ethan.

"It happens when a dungeon isn't cleared," he explained.

"Mana keeps building inside until eventually it reaches a breaking point. Then..." He swept a hand toward the landscape surrounding them.

"This." Leah frowned as she looked across the shattered island.

"So it just explodes?"

"More or less," Seb answered.

"The mana trapped inside tears itself free. Sometimes it only destroys the dungeon. Other times..." He pointed toward the sea separating the three landmasses.

"... it's strong enough to rip an entire island apart." Leah looked toward Ethan for confirmation. He gave a small nod.

"It isn't common," he said.

"Most dungeons get cleared long before reaching that point. But every now and then one goes unnoticed or people underestimate it." He glanced toward one of the enormous fractures cutting across the landscape.

"When that happens, well, the results speak for themselves." Leah remained quiet after that, occasionally glancing around as though trying to picture the amount of mana required to cause such devastation. Ethan, for his part, knew it was a shit ton. His thoughts drifted elsewhere. Specifically, toward the reward still sitting safely inside his necklace. The skill advancement token. It had a lot of potential to save time, yet the more he thought about it, the less certain he became about using it immediately.

Both [Steadfast] and [Keen Sense] sat on the verge of evolving naturally. Spending such a reward to save a few days—or even a couple of weeks—felt incredibly wasteful. He'd already made that mistake once in his previous life, rushing immediate gains instead of looking at the bigger picture. No. The token could wait. He already knew what skill he intended to purchase next. If things went according to plan, it would hopefully begin at a rank higher than Common, making the token even less useful there.

That still left another empty skill slot, however. One he hadn't quite settled on. Ethan had several ideas, but none of them felt quite right. It wasn't often he found himself with too many options. Now, however, he felt they were endless. Leah gradually slowed until she was walking beside him.

"Hey." She said, snapping him out of his thoughts. Ethan looked over.

"Hm?"

"I actually wanted your opinion on something." He raised an eyebrow beneath his helmet.

"Go on."

"I got a reward from the dungeon."

"Oh?" She hesitated for a moment before lowering her voice.

"A skill merge token." Ethan's eyebrows rose further.

"Seriously?" She nodded.

"I wasn't expecting it either." A smile spread across Ethan's face.

"That's one of the better rewards you could've gotten. One I'd like to get."

"Ha. Good." Ethan narrowed his eyes.

"Do you remember what it does?" Leah nodded.

"Isn't that obvious? Its in the name, no?" Ethan snorted.

"Well yes. But there's more. It let's you combine two compatible skills into something stronger," he went on.

"The end result is usually more versatile than either skill by itself, though it depends entirely on what you feed into it. If the two skills share similar concepts, you can end up with something far better than the originals. If they don't..." He shrugged.

"you'll probably just waste both." Leah frowned.

"So it does just merge two skills but you need to be careful which ones you pick?"

"Yeah."

"I would have done that anyway."

"Whatever." He said and glanced toward Seb and Striker walking ahead of them before lowering his voice slightly.

"We'll go through your options properly once it's just us. Can you wait." Leah nodded.

"I can. But I hope you realise its because I'm capable of thinking things through. Unlike a certain someone."

"Shut up before I throw fire at you."

"You can do that?" Ethan smirked.

"Want to find out?"

"Piss off." She said with a small smile. Ethan snorted. She had gotten a great reward. Truthfully, he had plans involving skill merges himself. More than a few, actually. But they could wait. He wanted his soul to grow stronger first. More importantly, he wanted several of his skills to naturally evolve before attempting anything. There was no sense merging Common skills if he could instead merge stronger foundations. He turned to tell Leah where she could stick it when [Keen Sense] caught something.

Ethan's head snapped sideways. Something smelled wrong.

"Stop—" A blur exploded from the grass. Striker barely had time to react before the creature slammed into him, knocking the guide clean off his feet. They disappeared into the long grass together as a sharp cry echoed across the plains.

"Striker!" Seb shouted. Ethan surged forward. Aura flooded through his body, reinforcing every muscle as he pulled his greatsword from the sheath. He still refused to call on mana. His pathways remained damaged from Worldfire, and he had no intention of risking them unless absolutely necessary. Leah moved just as quickly. She pulled the slender rod from her hair and hurled it forward. The creature looked up at the last possible moment.

The metal rod struck it square across the side of the head with a sharp crack, failing to lodge itself into the monster. The beast immediately abandoned Striker and vanished back into the tall grass with frightening speed. Ethan skidded to a halt beside the fallen guide. Striker was already climbing back to his feet. Blood streamed steadily down one arm where deep claw marks had torn through his sleeve, but he'd managed to twist at the last second.

Judging by the angle of the wounds, he'd blocked what should've been a killing blow. Ethan studied the man for a moment before shifting his gaze toward the sea of gently swaying grass surrounding them. Perhaps he'd judged their guide a little too quickly.