Chương 116: B2 Chapter 35

Several groups left the tribehold, weapons at the ready, their steps filled with the conviction of fierce warriors. And yet, some looked back at the warriors standing with Hakon. These warriors formed the Successor's warrior unit, and only they would conquer Fractures alongside him over the next half fortnight. Among them were Astrid and Björn but also Tarik, Zurok, Eren, and a small group of older warriors at the 2nd Ascension.

Every single one of them had accepted Hakon's leadership, and they would grow much stronger by his side. Or so was the plan. It would have been great if Ulfar had regained his consciousness, but the Behemoth Blood warrior was still out of order. His body healed only slowly, almost as if his natural regeneration was no longer working, yet it was more likely that all his energy was being guided toward his spirit's recovery.

Be that as it may, Hakon wanted his old rival to wake up; otherwise, they would never find out if Ulfar had received a Skill like [Ruler's Authority] for escaping certain death. He is the Ruler's Eternal Pawn. Maybe that is the Skill the Ancestors gave him. That would certainly fit the sensation he got from the connection with Ulfar. He had control of Ulfar in a way, and the Behemoth Blood warrior would die if Hakon were to die. Their Sagas were tightly intertwined now, but Hakon needed to know more than that.

He needed information. But that was for later. Now they had to tear through Fractures with his peers, without Ulfar. Astrid was stronger than she used to be. She'd grown a lot and had already ascended, breaking the Second Wall, but Björn, Tarik, Zurok, and Eren were lagging behind. They would have to work even harder than the rest to achieve something great enough to earn the Ancestors' approval.

"Wait a moment!" Hakon was just about to order their departure when Ava's voice cut through the air. She stumbled across the tribehold, holding a small wooden pole in one hand while also wearing a youngling's armor. A leather chestplate given to children for training purposes. It barely fit a well-trained Barbarian after their 13th cycle, yet on Ava it looked like it had been custom-made for her.

"You wear armor, human." Björn pointed out the obvious. If it had been a few moons ago, Björn's comment would have scared the human woman, but Ava was no longer that easily frightened. She stopped in front of Hakon, tried and failed to conceal her heavy breathing, and stared him deep in the eyes.

"I want to join you." She declared with conviction between two labored breaths.

"I don't think you should. You can't handle it." Hakon shook his head. Ava wouldn't be able to keep up. Her magic was probably strong enough, but he was not sure if she could use it against monsters. Whenever he mentioned fighting, Ava seemed distressed. And that was just her thinking about it. It would be a burden to have her join rather than a boon.

"Please. I can help. I won't hold you back! I'm no Healer but I can help your injured warriors recover faster, and I can throw up a few shields if you need me to." Ava insisted, eyes burning with determination. She was serious, and that was actually all Hakon needed to make a decision.

"I need this. The Devil's Lair is changing, the amount of essence around here doesn't make sense; it's been increasing for a while now. It might be related to the Blood Moon, but we don't have as many problems with monsters in the Alliance as you have here. Maybe there is more to it... and if there is, I can research the phenomenon and fix it." Even though Hakon didn't know Ava as well as Astrid and Björn, he could tell that a "maybe" was missing at the end there.

She could maybe fix the issue, though he failed to see where the issue was in the first place. The Blood Moon was the same as ever. Sure, some movements felt a little odd, but it wasn't like the last few months hadn't caused a lot of change. Tribe Pearot's movements, for one, and the Silver Dragon's awakening, on the other hand. Both could explain the changes, and that had nothing to do with the Blood Moon. Still, there was a dangerous glimmer in Ava's eyes, and it excited Hakon a little.

"I think I can advance to a Mage if I join you. Let me research the essence in the Devil's Lair and maybe some of the Dungeons that popped up recently, and I can be more helpful." And you will be strong enough to leave soon. Hakon did not doubt for a second that Ava would stay forever. She was constantly thinking about returning home, and that was fine. But the human woman was also his only magic teacher.

Giving her permission to join his group would give her enough time to map out the dark forest and locate the least dangerous path back to the Alliance.

"Okay, you can join us." Ava exclaimed happily, a broad smile blooming on her lips, but he wasn't done yet.

"But you will have to tell me about the 'Dungeons' and 'essence.' We do not use these terms here. Are they human words? Or words you say in the Alliance?" The Alliance did not speak in the same tongue as Barbarians did, but neither Dungeon nor essence sounded like human terms. After all, he'd heard Ava speak in her mother tongue before. Was that yet another language? How many languages are there?

"Sure!" Ava exclaimed.

"What do you want to know about Dungeons? There are many different types of Dungeons, and they're all so unique and..." This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. As the human woman continued to chatter, Hakon motioned to the others, and they set off. Ava walked up on his right and continued to bombard him with information, most of which he failed to comprehend, while Astrid caught up to walk on his left.

"Feels like Fractures." Astrid commented once they stepped into the dark forest. Dungeons did indeed sound similar to Fractures, but something was odd about the comparison.

"You study Fractures? Why not close them for your Ancestors?" Björn was ahead of them but slowed and turned back to stare at the little human. There was nothing condescending about his question, which was a little surprising. The Blessed warrior seemed genuinely curious, and that was a great first step. Ava had been accepted into the group. Though glancing at the older 2nd Ascension warriors, Hakon had to revise that statement. My group has accepted her. Because they train together.

Some younger warriors still didn't like Ava, and Hakon was not sure if Björn liked her either, but most had accepted her. Just like they accepted Eren, though he deserved it more. He was stronger than Ava and fought like a true Barbarian. Meanwhile, the human woman had yet to spar with the young warriors.

"I think your Fractures are the same as our Dungeons. Or, at the very least, they're very similar." Ava explained, "If they're not the same, that only means I have a lot more to research than I thought." She stopped for a moment, eyes drifting from Björn to the others.

"What do you mean by 'closing'? Not all Dungeons can be closed, no matter how many times you clear them. They have to be regulated to prevent Outbreaks, sure, but closing them is simply not possible." That caught everyone's attention. Even the older warriors turned away from the depths of the forest to glimpse at Ava from the corner of their eyes.

"There are several different categories of Dungeons. Instance Dungeons, Specialized Dungeons, Infinite Dungeons, Quest Dungeons, and so forth. Instance Dungeons fused with the surrounding land and changed it permanently. They cannot be closed because they no longer lead to another pocket dimension. Specialized Dungeons are… well, they're unique. No Specialized Dungeon is like another." Ava continued to look around as if to make sure the Barbarians were still interested in her explanation.

When she noticed everyone staring at her, she blushed a little but continued anyway.

"Infinite Dungeons cannot be closed. You generally enter a Dungeon Portal to step into one of countless generated pocket dimensions, and you have to kill a certain number of monsters, including elite and boss monsters. Once you clear the pocket dimension, you will be given a reward, and the essence accumulated within the pocket dimension's layer will be used up to generate said reward." She waved her hand dismissively.

"Those are usually considered Artifacts or System-generated loot by those who delve Dungeons full-time. It's probably not that important for us either way," Ava looked around the dark forest with a grim smile.

"I don't think there is an Infinite Dungeon here. If there were, you would have noticed it, because the Dungeon Portal wouldn't close no matter how often you conquer it. You would also have to manage the Dungeon because the Infinite Dungeon generates a certain number of layers of itself. That might be a little bit too much for a quick lesson, but you only need to know that you have to clear an Infinite Dungeon a few times a week to prevent an essence Overflow." That term Hakon knew. Overflow.

But as far as he remembered, the Crawling Expanse had problems with a Miasma Overflow. Did that mean essence and Miasma were the same, or was there yet another difference between the Barbarians and the Alliance?

"I think your Dungeons are mostly Quest Dungeons, though. They're generally harder, generate more essence to spawn monsters, and they tend to overflow faster, which would explain the steadily increasing essence in the dark forest." Ava commented before explaining what Quest Dungeons were. Simply put, they were regular Fractures with Deeds and Feats. They wouldn't close until the Feat had been completed, or all the Deeds. That was also why Tribe Pearot hadn't done that.

They could have closed the Magma Field Fracture but didn't do that because of the molten metal found in the Soul-melting Ponds. One way or another, the Magma Field Fracture posed no threat. The monsters within had been killed, and even if they 'spawned' again, they could be culled in a timely manner. That was what Chieftain Ragna had ordered when he too realized how valuable the Magma Field Fracture was. Powerful weapons could be forged from the molten metal after all.

And they needed stronger weapons to conquer harder Fractures. So, by leaving one Fracture open to harvest its resource, they grew strong enough to conquer dozens of other Fractures. That, at least, was the plan behind the chieftain's actions. But the metal is growing scarce. Because fewer monsters are created by the Fracture. The Magma Field Fracture had grown weaker, which meant that if essence – or Miasma – was responsible for creating Fractures or the monsters within Fractures, less Miasma was bad.

Only strong, dangerous Fractures were good. Then again, Overflowing Fractures also damaged the vicinity around the portal leading to the 'pocket dimension' inside the Fracture, whatever that was supposed to mean, and that caused trouble for the Ancestors. For they wanted Fractures to be closed, and by giving them enough time to Overflow and grow strong enough to pose a threat, they would work against the Ancestors' wishes. Hakon let out a pained sigh.

All those doubts were getting on his nerves, so he got rid of them with brute force. Doubts discarded, it was finally time to focus back on the mission ahead. But before they could charge into one of the newly formed Fractures, they had to tread the dark forest. Quite some time had already passed since they left the tribehold, but they were still close enough to avoid most monsters. Those they could not avoid usually avoided them, lest they got killed.

Taking in the dark forest's surroundings, Hakon furrowed his brows. Nature had grown a lot since he last went down that path. It was more obstructing than he recalled, which made him use [Unhindered Movement]. As he focused on his Skills, his perception heightened to the extreme. [Scent of Lifelight] triggered to increase his guard before any potential predator could close the distance and take them by surprise.

Enhanced Comprehension helped him with the Skills and guided him, muffling the noises made by his comrades. The surroundings seemed to change as Hakon entered a trance-like state, but it didn't last long enough to learn something new about his Skills.

"Don't touch that!" Astrid called out a warning, and Hakon's head jerked toward Ava, whose hand was way too close to a particular plant. It was the very same type of plant that had knocked out his mate and Björn before.

"Yeah, I wouldn't touch that if I were you either." He grimaced.

"You'd be dead before you know it."