[Queen’s Rift]

  [Time Until Rift Destabilization: 42.5 Hours]

  [Queen’s Rift Rank: 1]

  [Type: Assault]

  [Average Monster Level: 150]

  [Queen Level: 250]

  The rift has finished purging and we are all ready to enter. Stephen is about to speak and then seems to think better of it when he sees our expressions. “I don’t even need to ask. Let's do this thing.”

  “Fuck yeah!” Liv steps into the blood-red rift and I quickly follow her.

  The familiar sense of rift travel encompasses me, and then we are through. My footsteps echo against stone as we emerge into a large cave-like structure. In front of us stands quite a few monsters. Most of them seem to be higher level versions of the ones from outside, but there are a few new ones mixed in. Namely [Demon Pugilist Lvl 160] and [Demon Tracker Lvl 160]. Thankfully it seems there are no alpha demons lurking around.

  I sigh, and then smile. After all, there are monsters to slay.

  Violet launches forward and I follow behind her as she spears through two necromancers in one thrust. Not to be shown up, I target one of the trackers and slice it into a few pieces.

  I am forced to drop to the floor as one of the pugilists immediately targets me. I try to hit it with a Fireball, but it simply punches it and survives. I fail to see how such a thing is fair.

  Oh well, I hit it with three Fireballs at once and it dies.

  An explosion rocks the room as one of Moxie’s spells goes off. I feel assured knowing that dozens of monsters just died. I add a few more to the count as I Blink around and use the technique I call: stabbing things until they die.

  Dozens of monsters are slain by my technique and I watch as Violet employs a similar technique. However hers relies a lot more on poking, and of course she manages to look stunning while doing it.

  We clear out the monsters in the room. Thankfully it seems no more decided to come see what all the commotion was.

  “Well, I guess we now know why the survey probes couldn't get any info.” Stephen says, deploying a few of said probes. “Now we should be able to get a good image of this place.”

  “Screw this! Why use maps? We can just wing it!” Liv starts walking off towards an open passageway.

  I reach out and grab her arm. “We are Dragon Guards, not a bunch of hopeless idiots.”

  Violet scoffs. “So says the idiot.”

  Liv bursts out into laughter, and I hear some giggles from Stephen and Moxie’s direction. “Hey! I am a hopeful idiot. There is a difference!” I retort.

  “Whatever, imbecile.” Violet’s praise sets a fire within me, one that shall fuel my ability to slay monsters for years to come I am sure.

  “Alright, it seems this hive is arranged quite differently.” Stephen announces, drawing our attention. “There are three layers stacked on top of each other, a tower of sorts. Also the whole thing is made out of this strange stone, but reading shows that it is actually a type of bone, despite its appearance.”

  “So, we are basically climbing up an enormous ribcage?” I ask.

  Liv slaps me on the back. “Welp, can’t say I've ever wanted to climb a ribcage. But now is as good of a time as any.”

  “Agree.” Moxie adds with a scary smile. I bet she is already thinking of spells to work well in this confined space.

  Feeling slightly horrified at our current environment, we carry on. In a broader sense, it seems each floor of the tower is a maze. Though thanks to our survey drone, that part is trivialized. At least, until we come upon the first trap.

  Liv steps into one of the corridors and the floor starts shaking. I Blink next to her and drag her back, just as a giant hole opens up in the floor. It is not very deep, but at the bottom is some sort of acid – which I am sure would melt right through our armor.

  “That was close, thanks for the save, Maka.” She moves in for a hug, but I expertly avoid her. After all, I can't have my ribs broken in the middle of combat.

  “Anytime. Now, perhaps I should go first.” I am now very grateful for Trace Clues, which helps point out a few traps as we progress. Though we do fall victim to one poison dart trap that I failed to see. Moxie is able to purge the poison with a bit of effort at least.

  We pass through a few monster patrols, but it is very light until we come upon the final room of the floor.

  If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

  On the far side of the room is a giant staircase upwards. Naturally, standing between us and the staircase is a [Demon Smasher Lvl 170]. Though thankfully it is only at level 170 instead of the 180 that the praetorian version was at. It still has a very scary hammer though.

  It is not alone and is accompanied by an assortment of other demons. By the way, it appears that the tracker demons are able to direct the others somehow. Whenever one is attacked, all the nearby ones immediately come to its defense.

  So I launch myself into the fight and take them out first. After all, without commanders the enemy becomes a lot weaker. Or at least, I think that is the wisdom. I kinda skipped classical tactics class to spend more time in the simulators…

  I jump on the back of the smasher and it tries to shake me off. But I can be very annoying when I want to, so I simply do not let go. I throw a few Mudballs and manage to get its feet stuck and it topples over onto the ground.

  Violet immediately jumps at the weakness and jabs her blade right into its weak spot.

  I move in for a high five, and Violet actually accepts it. Though she immediately takes on a scowl and mumbles, “imbecile, I could’ve done it by myself.”

  Taking the energy given to me by the high-five, I channel it all into a bunch of Fireballs and other assorted spells. Which I then use to thoroughly obliterate several scores of monsters in epic fashion. My depleted mana bar would argue that it wasn't the power of the high five that did the work. But I would like to believe it was in fact the high five, since it gives me a logical foundation to high five Violet more.

  “Ugh, do we really have to climb stairs?” Liv complains after we clear the rest of the monsters.

  “We just fought however many monsters, and you are complaining about a few stairs?” I remark while inhaling some much needed food. Monster slaying is hungry work, as our food supplies can attest to. If it wasn't for the FAUD’s onboard nutrient synthesizer and tanks, I have no clue how we would carry enough food.

  “Maka, dearest friend. You are not wearing a hundred kilos of heavy armor.” Liv gestures to her heavy armor and massive shield. “Stairs are the most dangerous enemy one could encounter when in such armor.”

  Stephen walks over and flicks Liv on the forehead. “Stop being such a wimp, it is good exercise. Imagine all the muscles we can gain.” He smiles, and Liv acquiesces to his point. After all, to them, muscles are of utmost importance.

  We climb the stairs, and to Liv’s credit, there are quite a lot of them.

  The instant I step onto the next floor, I am surrounded by fire. I Blink backwards, but I get some pretty bad burns. It seems they really aren’t pulling any punches with these traps.

  I end up tripping and I fall right into Violet’s arms. Well, that is what i would say, if the world was wonderful and awesome. Unfortunately, she steps to the side and causes me to go tumbling down until Stephen grabs a hold of me.

  “You good?” He asks as Moxie’s healing mends my wounds.

  I get onto my feet and brush off the burn marks from my armor. “I’ve had a lot worse. A bit o fire aint gonna take me down today!”

  I march right back up the stairs, and get hit with the fire yet again.

  Moxie sighs as she heals me again. “Fool.” I hear a giggle come from Violet’s direction, a truly heavenly sound. But it must just be the pain causing me to hear things.

  “Hey! How was I supposed to know it would trigger again? None of the others have done that.”

  “It is called being cautious.” She scolds. To be fair, perhaps I should be a bit more careful.

  I walk back up the stairs, and this time, I manage to Blink through the trap. On the other side, I manage to find an inscription that seems to be powering the trap. So, I take my dagger and smash it.

  It deactivates and the others manage to walk through without getting scalded. Though Moxie is still looking at me disappointedly.

  We proceed into the next floor. It is similar to the first one, but it seems to have a lot more traps and monsters. Which is to be expected as we are getting closer to the queen. Thankfully, with my newly revised policy of caution, I manage to avoid most of the traps.

  Until the hallway right before the stairway at least. There I fall into a spike pit, and manage to Blink perfectly in between a pair of spikes with mere nanoseconds to spare.

  This time, the staircase is guarded by a smasher and an assassin. Violet and I waste no time taking out the smasher while Liv and Stephen manage to fend off the assassin.

  Moxie is able to perfectly counter the shadow movement ability of the assassin by creating a large sphere of light that removes all shadows from the room. It turns out, the skill is completely useless without darkness. Suffice to say, Violet and I proceed to rip the thing into many fancy ribbons perfect for decorating a party.

  The rest of the monsters pose no problem and we decide to take a short break. Though we all stay on high alert, as the area is still very much hostile.

  I sit crosslegged on the ground, and inhale more food than an average person probably consumes in a week. It barely quiets my appetite, I think all the healing has somehow made me even hungrier than normal.

  “We should have a feast when we get done with this hive.” I declare.

  “Brilliant idea, Maka! This is why we keep you around!” Liv exclaims between bites.

  “Wait, you don’t keep me around for my dashing looks or my awesome dancing skills?”

  Violet snorts, causing all of us to turn to look at her. She looks embarrassed at her sudden outburst. But I just burst into laughter and it quickly spreads to the others.

  We sit there, laughing and eating our rations in the middle of the hive. After all, what else is one supposed to do while in a creepy tower reminiscent of a ribcage?

  Well aside from slay monsters of course. Which is what we will be doing anyways. It is important to sit down and laugh while surrounded by pools of said monster’s blood every once in a while.

  I bet Bellaris would say it is great for team bonding.

  Alas, we can’t rest forever, so we stand up and climb to the next floor. At the end of which awaits the hive’s queen, which is sure to be a fun monster to slay.

  [Scout has leveled up! Lvl 176 -> Lvl 181]

  [Mage has leveled up! Lvl 178 -> Lvl 184]

  [Average Level is now 183]

  [Lemon has leveled up! Lvl 158 -> Lvl 162]

  [Stealth has leveled up! Lvl 24 -> Lvl 25]

  Next Chapter: Relentless Gaze

  If you are enjoying the book, I would really appreciate it if you dropped a follow, comment or even a rating!

  Checkout the official