Weapons of Mass Destruction

Izzy was right, everyone’s emotions are being amplified and it's fascinating to watch.

Sophie steadily grows more protective of Izzy and much more aggressive toward anyone who tries to put her sister into the least bit of danger.

Min-Jae is more prickly and defensive every time he finds himself in a situation that leaves him feeling like somebody’s lesser.

Aaron and Dennis distance themselves from the others, as they exchange a constant stream of messages.

Izzy quietly endures it all while constantly glancing at me as if she needs to confirm that she still has someone to rely on. Sophie doesn't seem to like it and her behavior towards me becomes colder.

Lily looks like a puppy left out in the rain. Moving from person to person searching for warmth and then becoming quieter, her face darker as she finds her expectations crushed by group members who aren’t acting like themselves.

Like me, Maya seems to be handling things better. She just seems a bit lost, tossing around more awkward jokes than usual, I think the [Focus] we share allows us to endure what's happening a bit more. Famir is also an example of that. An empty expression dominates his face as the man leads his group and takes orders from Tess.

As for the last members of group 4, Biscuit becomes quieter, choosing not to speak most of the time and looking around with a dark purple glow in his eyes. He even begins to growl whenever anyone tries to pet him. The cute corgi seems to be distancing himself from us as if to help himself endure and avoid placing us in further danger. A truly merciful future animal overlord.

Noodle, on the other hand, does the opposite. He behaves more like Izzy and grows extremely protective of her. His smart green eyes watching anyone that comes near.

And so we do what Tess wants. We head onto the platform, avoiding the hole containing the Champion and entering one of two pathways.

[You have defeated Grymlok Spider - lvl 241]

[You have defeated Grymlok Spider - lvl 281]

[You have defeated Grymlok Spider - lvl 263]

[You have defeated Grymlok Spider - lvl 231]

…

Every time I see a monster over level 200 I try to kill it, my senses seem to be getting better at locating them as time goes on. Sometimes I do it quietly so they don't blame me for stealing their kills.

The twins fight on the front line with Maya and one of them gets their hand cut off by a thread Izzy should’ve burned earlier.

There is some shouting as the twins blame the little girl and Sophie defends her in turn.

This is a truly unusual situation, everyone seems to be on edge.

Sophie even starts shouting at Tess, who stands there calmly and lets her do it. Tess then gently touches Sophie’s arm and apologizes, taking all the blame on herself as the leader.

Tess then checks on the twin’s arm and asks Lily to restore it. Even Lily, affected by whatever the Champion’s been doing, hesitates, looking at me for a moment, seemingly reluctant to waste resources. In the end, though she gives in and restores the arm.

Aaron and Dennis, noticing her hesitation, quietly leave, and I feel the constant stream of conversation between them intensify.

More curious than before I watch it all go down. My sense of fascination grows as I see these people I’ve known for a year or more act so out of character. Just a few days ago the relationships were so different.

Everyone knows our emotions are being amplified and that seems to hold them back a little. They know the things they’re feeling now shouldn’t be this intense.

But these emotions aren't fake either, merely amplified. Their true feelings being dragged to the surface for all to see.

“This won’t end well,” Famir says, pausing next to me for a moment. His face bearing that same expression of calm that I see in the mirror.

“It’ll be fine,” I respond.

He examines me for a while longer, “You’re being affected too, but you have a concentration type skill, why don't you use it?”

I ignore his question, “For now, just listen to Tess.”

“Even if it means my death?”

“I'm not asking that of you. While I'm here no one will die. I will cover for Tess.”

His eyes stare unblinking, as he searches my gaze for the truth in my words, nodding as he seems to find it, “I will continue to do so.”

With that, he leaves to tend to his group and we push deeper.

We don’t find any bridges down the new path but in their place, we find a great many more monsters. Scarabs, spiders, little poisonous snakes, and something resembling wasps.

And we fight, often finding ourselves surrounded, depleting our low mana reserves even further, even as everyone struggles to use as little mana as possible.

With that, I watch the improvements, as each and every member of our group is pushed to the brink and forced to fight. They remain sharp as ever, even in their amplified emotional states, their abilities do not diminish nor are they blinded enough to become liabilities.

Though I find it interesting that not a single monster tries to attack Biscuit, they even seem to be avoiding him and the unusually quiet corgi doesn't bother hunting them down.

This tunnel does have one remarkable feature, other than its excess of monsters, an underground lake with its surface so impossibly still that it almost looks like a great pool of glass. The effect is ruined though when several pitch black tentacles, each one at least the length of a football field. The monster's ugly octopus-like head soon follows its glaring red eyes settling just over the surface of the water, lit only by our floating lights.

[Inkmire Lurker - lvl ???]

In the dim light, the fight starts and once again I observe from a distance.

Biscuit makes purple tentacles of his own, they grow to a size nearly matching that of the monster's, and start pulling it out of the lake while the corgi growls with a purple shine in his eyes.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

Tess's javelins and the spear I made fly after the monster, surrounded by lightning, lodging themselves in the beast’s flesh, only to be pulled back to repeat the attack.

Everyone other than me attacks and the monster takes more and more damage. It tries to launch a burst of ink at my party only to have it blocked by Sophie’s barriers when it doesn’t find itself targeting one of the twins’ illusions.

Then a second one appears.

[Inkmire Lurker - lvl ???]

And a third.

[Inkmire Lurker - lvl ???]

Maya crashes into a wall, thrown by a stray attack, and covered in black ink that sizzles, dissolving her armor. Tess gets in front of her, blocking the follow up, lightning blazing around her and burning the flesh from the pitch black tentacles.

One of the monsters freezes mid-movement, stopped by Sophie, while Min-Jae bombards it with a barrage of stalactites from the ceiling, slamming them down with immense speed.

The other monster is busy fighting the golem Sophie made with the item I gave her, Famir acts quickly running across one of the tentacles in a mad dash for the creature’s head with a calm expression on his face.

Everyone, even the thylarin brothers are fighting.

Lily crashes into the wall next to me with a loud thump, her neck twisted and leg bent. She falls to her knees and her neck returns to its original position with a series of loud cracks and she gets back on her feet. She notices me and looks at me, confused.

When I wave at her she shakes her head and launches an arrow-like projectile made of [Disintegration] at a tentacle that was reaching out to grab one of the twins.

“That was one of Aaron's illusions,” I note as the tentacle gets devoured by her gray mana.

And as I speak Aaron’s illusion disappears.

“Well, it would be fucking nice if they stopped chattering away on their private connection and talked to us,” Lily groans as her leg recovers and she charges back into the fight.

As I watch, Tess seems to be putting in the most effort out of anyone. She defends, she attacks, she directs. She also tends to get hurt a lot. She and everyone else.

The monsters work well together and they’re tough to boot, they even have some kind of regeneration that keeps replacing their tentacles. Poisonous ink that melts mana and a tough hide. Sometimes they manipulate water, turning it into pressured streams which they use to attack and defend.

Meanwhile, I shoot the smaller monsters trying to creep up on the sly and attack the unsuspecting fighters below. Specifically, several sneaky spiders leeches sticking to the walls, and piranha-like fish below the surface of the lake.

Hundreds and hundreds of them, each one over level 200.

And the group below wins, in the end, the last Inkmire Lurker finally being finished by a blow from one of Tess's javelins.

While they rest I watch our group, especially Tess who seems satisfied with the result while the others lick their wounds.

I can say that one or two fights like that and most will be tapped out of mana. Yet Tess still doesn't seem to be satisfied, there is that glint in her eyes as she talks to people, sharing feedback, getting feedback. Planning what to do next.

Partially I see Tess in that behavior, but that’s not the Tess I know. Her emotions are amplified to the point where she feels like a caricature of herself. And she doesn't seem to realize to the same extent as the others, likely because of her contact with the Champion. That time when she broke the rule she set.

She then sits on the side and takes care of herself. The others revel in the satisfaction of winning the fight, taking a moment to celebrate, their dark emotions temporarily pushed to the side.

I think I know Tess well enough to know what she wants and what she’s hoping to accomplish. No thanks to the time we spent together before the tutorial, though I’ve learned a lot in the year we’ve been here. So I think I’ll just let it be for now.

Tess, even in her current state, probably realizes what's going on with her emotions to some degree, and for some twisted reason has decided to lean into it while relying on me to take care of anything that falls through the cracks.

And I will, but I’ll do it my way.

(Sophie,) I call, opening the private channel between myself and the green-eyed young woman. (It was Tess who got the guide killed and got us stuck here.)

After that I leave the tunnel and quickly head back to the platform where the Champion awaits, I move quickly, and by the time I reach the edge of the hole he’s already looking up at me.

[Grimshaper - lvl ????]

“Hello.”

“Hello Nathaniel, it's nice to see you again,” the thylarin smiles as he says in that same gentle voice from before.

“So what are you trying to get out of this?” I ask, ignoring the fact he knows my name.

“Any number of things.”

“But you won't tell me?”

“I apologize.”

“You won't stop?”

“Let me ask you, Nathaniel. How many people do you think came here to speak with me other than your friend with the [Lightning Crown]?”

“None.”

He smiles ever so gently, “Three. Tell me, do you wish to kill me, Nathaniel?”

“Isn't that obvious?”

“For laying hands on your group?”

“For laying hand on my group,” I confirm.

With one smooth movement, he stands up and takes a few steps, an echo bouncing off the edges of the circular hole he is in.

“I have to say I never fully understood any Adepts or Masters of Pride I met. These feelings they have are so distant to me. Please, don't take offense but in some ways, I think they tend to be very foolish.”

“You weren't imprisoned here alone, were you?” I ask instead of reacting to his monologue.

As if he were a teacher, excited to be presented with a clever question from a student he pauses and nods, “They placed me here alongside my… well, you could call her my bond. Over these 100 years, I've put in tremendous effort to free her from containment. I’m not quite done yet, but she has been partially released.”

“So, do you want to explain your master plan to me?”

“Not yet. I’ve always found desperate people to be the most cooperative,” as he says this, he speaks almost like he’s tasting that last word on his tongue. “You will notice your emotions cannot be trusted and eventually you will find that your sense of time cannot be trusted either.”

The Champion takes a few more steps and gently slides his finger across the surface of his prison. The touch is almost loving. “You cannot sleep, you cannot trust the others with you, more monsters will appear, resources will dwindle and that's when people will start turning against each other. They always do. Tell me, Nathaniel, how will you react when you see your friends kill each other in the spur of the moment?”

I think the question over for a moment before coming to my answer, “I don't know.”

“The people before you weren't very… resistant. My bond likes to play and sometimes she takes it too far. Will your little expedition be different?”

The darkness in the holes segregated by the sparse bridges seems to be getting even deeper as if it were reacting to his words. I can't sense anything, no movement, no mana, no heat. Yet at the same time, it feels like a thick blanket around me, a touch that cannot be sensed but is there nonetheless.

“So what are you in for?”

The question seems to surprise him for a moment and that weird feeling disappears.

“For the pursuit of knowledge,” he answers simply. “Now go, Nathaniel. My bond will see you off.”

With that, the conversation is over and I stand up. As he said, I can’t shake the feeling that something is watching me, and somehow the darkness under the bridge seems more “alive” than before.

When I reach the group they’re still seated and resting, but I notice Tess has a fresh blue bruise, shining out around her eye. As if someone had punched her.