Chapter 95 (2/2)

But at that moment, something very surprising happened.

Constance sat up.

With a vicious grin, and pure black eyes, he straightened and stood, and exceedingly strange aura spreading out from him. And as Regina watched, words formed over his head, fading into existence. The writing blazed purple.

The Mad King Constance, Lvl ~)!(

The level flickered for a while, and Constance stumbled. But it was rapidly shifting, and the strange letters soon merged to become 0.

“Quickly, we must-” Nul said hastily, backing away, but he was interrupted.

“Silence. Stand Still.” The commands rumbled out, imperious. Nul, Regina, and Daniel froze. A strange, blob like creature flickered into existence in the tent. Constance’s level increased to 1.

“Interesting. Who would have thought that foolish girl would deliver my boss monster directly to you? This certainly is a nice surprise.”

The level above Constance’s head increased to 2, and then 3.

“I’m not one to monologue, but-” The blob started, but then was interrupted by a bang.

Constance staggered forward, a blood stain appearing in his chest. He turned slowly, his pitch black eyes falling to rest on Kraig, who was sitting up, pointing a pistol towards his chest.

“You…” Constance said wonderingly. A bang sounded again, and this bullet took Constance in his left eye socket. Constance’s level increased to 4, but now Kraig stood, albeit unsteadily, leveling his gun at him.

“How can you move?!?!” The blob hissed. “Your class was taken! You have no stats or skills!”

“That’s not true,” Kraig said tonelessly, striding forward, firing bullet after bullet into Constance’s skull. “I have nothing gained from a class. But all that I gained training on my own, all I gained from paths… all those points I put into Willpower, so Constance could never again dominate the town. I’m sorry, my onetime friend.”

Kraig reloaded, as Constance’s level increased to 5, and then walked right up to him.

Constance opened his mouth, but only two words came out. “....thank…. You……”

Then Kraig used 8 bullets to spread the contents of Constance’s brain on the ground. His levels ceased increasing, and the glowing name slowly faded into nothing.

The blob backed away, but Nul pounced forward. “You aren’t getting away this time! I shall devour you!”

“Fool!” The blob spat. “You are weak, even this projection can crush your will and absorb you.”

“Only if you are willing to let go of control of your Raid Bosses,” Nul countered wickedly. “And if you do that… we will find you and kill you.”

****

Panting, Lyra arrived at a crystal barrier, only the gory bodies of the bats remaining behind her. She had been forced to rely on that freezing, wonderful, addicting violet energy inside of her in order to make it this far, but…

It wasn’t as bad as she had worried. This amount should be recoverable, over a few weeks.

But now she stood in front of a strange, hexagonal barrier made of energy. In the middle of the small barrier, not 5 feet away, the Tribulation crouched, a sad, fat blob that looked more like a deflated rubber ball than anything else.

“Kimmy? You locked the door. That seems rude.”

There was no answer. Kim-Lath seemed to be concentrating very hard on something very far away, leaving Lyra alone with the body and the shield. Lyra created a bird of mana, which bounced harmlessly off the shield.

Then she created a giant bear, that smashed its paw against the barrier. The barrier trembled, but showed no visible signs of weakness. Lyra frowned. This was a first, for her, encountering something she couldn’t defeat.

She raised her hand, made a finger gun, and said, “Bang.”

The barrier didn’t even tremble.

Her frown deepened. Her magic was based on image. The stronger the image, the stronger the attack. But at the same time, the higher the cost. And if she wanted to create something powerful enough to pierce this barrier...

She shivered, and considered the violet energy inside of her. More seeped in every moment, but it was far from enough. What she was planning would consume almost all of the energy she had.

This wasn’t even the extra energy; this was literally all of the energy. Based on her observations, this energy was what let people live in the system enhanced world. In small doses, it enhances the body, altering it to provide stats and skills.

Without it, she….

But Lyra felt the connection Kim-Lath still maintained, far to the south. Down where Randidly was. She couldn’t know for sure that he was in danger, but if the cautious Kim-Lath was willing to move…

Lyra sat, removing several potions from her bag and drinking them. Then she began to prepare to do something very, very dangerous. It was illogical, she knew, but still…

For him, she was compelled.

For Randidly, she would do anything.