Universe's End Chapter 132: The Vanguard's Real Bane

"Rory, are you seeing this?"

"Yeah, yeah, I am."

The duo stared in awe, having just erged from a tunnel, upon the next floor of the Deep Chambers.

"Floor" was doing so heavy lifting as they stared out.

"This isn't a cave. Rory, this is not a cave. This is more like a portal delve. Are we even still in the volcano?"

"Yeah, pretty sure we are, just a compressed space," Rory said with a whistle. It reminded him of the Khan's territory back in the Maw, which, when granted access to, had spatially expanded, far larger than at first glance.

What they were seeing seed similar to that, in that, despite the volcano's imnse size, a space like this made no sense. A volcano that was dozens of miles tall was obviously large and could fit a lot inside it. But this valley was at least a few hundred miles in any given direction, with mountains just as large as the original volcano.

Bigger on the inside, that's not shocking. It's just usually not this egregious.

"We could explore this place for…. Fuck, a long ti," Zoey said, looking around. "It's amazing."

Appearance-wise, it looked as if they had stumbled through a ti machine, landing in so Jurassic age jungle, a lush forest extending as far as the eye could see. The only thing that stuck out as genuinely odd was the rivers of magma coursing through the jungle, like orange veins.

That, and the massive teor-sized chunks of obsidian and athyst floating overhead.

"You know, I still want to question how there is a sun in here," Zoey said, pointing out the sky and sun overhead. "But, magic."

"Yeah," Was all that Rory had to add to that specific point.

Still standing around, the two suddenly whipped their heads off to the side as they heard a cacophony of screeches. Zooming past through the sky was a pack of what looked like pterodactyls.

Except, rather than wings, they had lashing vines that continuously spun like the rotors of a helicopter.

"Well, that's an odd sight." Zoey chuckled. The two of them had long since moved past being fazed by oddities such as the weird flying dinosaur monsters.

"Did you catch their level?" Rory asked.

"Nah, you?"

"Yeah," Rory whistled. "Seventy-three. And that was a pack of twelve."

"We could take 'em, they're just flying vine chickens."

"That's one way to describe them." Rory sighed. "But I agree."

With Zoey's additional skills that she had acquired and Rory's continued practice with pushing the limits of his projection magic, a group of pack monsters that weren't several levels above weren't going to be that much of a threat, at least not with Zoey to draw their ire.

"Problem," Zoey suddenly stuck her hand up like a student looking to be called upon.

"Yeah?"

"It's going to take us ages to scour this place and find where the floor guardian is."

"Did you have a soufflé in the oven or sothing?"

"Nah, I was terrible at baking. I've got a an cheesy baked macaroni, though!"

"Not the point," Rory said, rolling his eyes.

"You're the one dropping cliché lines," Zoey countered. "My point is, it's going to take us quite a while down here, even longer if we look to return constantly. So, we have to decide if we make this an extended expedition or elongate it and return as needed."

Rory thought about it for several monts before shrugging. "I'm sure Eia can handle the soufflé."

"See, this is what I an about cheesy cliché jokes," Zoey said. "But I hear you."

"You think every one of these volcanoes has an area like this within?" Rory said after a mont.

"No idea, unlike you, I don't spend all my ti digging around like a mole rat."

"Mole rat is a little rude."

"Fine, a gopher."

Scowling Rory ignored the smiling woman who seed rather proud of herself.

"I'm thinking we head in, then at night set up a base camp?"

"You're the Architect, don't look at ," Zoey said, raising her hands in surrender.

"And you're the one who likes to adventure."

"Touche."

Realizing the conversation was about to go nowhere fast, Rory dropped it as he proceeded forward, Zoey walking in step with him as she saw him move forward. Entering the rainforest, it was precisely what Rory would expect from a prehistoric jungle: humid, warm, and filled with giant bugs.

Such as the dragonfly that was flying straight for them, the size of a large dog with jaws that could chew through steel.

"Nasty bugger," Zoey muttered as she stepped in front of Rory, swinging her shield as the chain revved up, slamming into the bug. Or almost slamming into the bug, as it zipped to the side at the last instant.

"Slippery bugger," Rory whistled.

"Yeah, yeah, I don't need comntary from the peanut gallery," Zoey grumbled as she once again tried to cleave through the oversized dragonfly, only for it to dodge out of the way once more.

"Having trouble?" Rory asked, enjoying her growing frustration.

"I am not made for speed," Zoey hollered back.

"And whose fault is that?"

"I don't see you investing in those sorts of attributes."

"Because I build stuff."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," Zoey smacked her shield forward as the dragonfly curled its tail underneath it, almost looking like a gun suspended beneath a plane. The similarity was only heightened as it began firing hair-like needles from its tail, repelled by Zoey's shield. "Can you help?" Zoey finally decried, annoyed with the dragonfly.

"What's the magic word?"

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

"Please, you stupid fucker,"

"Rude," Rory snickered as he waved his hand. Still buzzing around, the dragonfly was suddenly cut off guard as a net appeared from a shimring circle that had appeared out of nowhere. Rather than avoid the net, the dragonfly tucked its legs in, its buzzing wings flaring as it attempted to cut straight through with its razor-sharp wings.

A good plan, albeit flawed.

The mont it tucked itself in to dive straight through the net, it lost its ability to maneuver through the air deftly, and Zoey pounced on the opportunity, inverting her attributes and moving far faster. Instantly, the dragonfly was on the ground as Zoey smashed her shield down upon it. Pinning it with her feet, she proceeded to grind the edge of her shield into its body as the chain whirled to life, chewing through the exoskeleton of the oversized bug.

What proceeded was a shower of green gore and insect-insides as Zoey cackled, finding imnse satisfaction in murdering the annoying insect monster.

"You good there?" Rory finally asked once the gore had stopped flying.

"I'm feeling good," Zoey answered, looking like she had just finished dissecting E.T.

"A bit overkill, don't you think?" Rory said, raising his eyebrows as he took in the ss she had made.

"I don't like dragonflies," Zoey answered as if that explained everything.

"Right, whatever you say."

Moving on from the scene of the cri, as Zoey had ensured there was nothing usable left behind after her brutality, the duo continued for so ti. As they walked, Rory felt a slight pang of nostalgia; the forest reminded him of Ehkorrus, minus the orange trees and purple-colored clover grass.

At one point, they stopped as Rory saw sothing that caught his attention, and he examined them in detail.

"They're bananas." Zoey sighed as Rory examined the fruit from every angle. "Bananas with pineapple nubs."

"Bananas." Rory suddenly laughed.

"What? What's so funny?"

"You know… Pineapples? Ananas? Bananas?"

Zoey stared at him, clueless.

"It's the French word for… You know what, never mind." Rory sighed.

"Right, sure, whatever," Zoey said, forcing a smile. "And they do… what exactly?"

"Hmm? Oh, from what I can tell? Nothing."

"Nothing?"

"Nothing," Rory repeated.

"You've spent the last fifteen minutes examining them for what reason, then?"

"I an…. They look cool?" Rory half frowned. "And they're interesting? So why wouldn't I? Plus, they could have had an interesting property."

"But they don't."

"Nope. Mutated fruit, but otherwise mundane as hell."

"Great, can we get a move on if that's the case? I'm sure there are more interesting things to look at than mutated pine-bananas."

"Anananas," Rory corrected.

"Huh?"

"I just nad them. Anananas."

Rolling her eyes, Zoey trudged past Rory, who quickly caught up, their journey inward continuing.

Like that, days passed into weeks, which eventually passed into months as they fought their way through the third basent floor of the Deep Chambers. At tis, it was easy; the duo was more than enough to handle most monsters that weren't powerful variants with ease, while at tis, they were forced to hide as packs of monsters numbering in the hundreds, all over level seventy-two, wandered around.

Was the sight of two powerful founders hiding in a bush amusing?

Yes.

Was it humbling?

Also, yes.

Aside from repairing equipnt, naming random fruits and monsters, and fighting to the death, the first notable event occurred nearly a year into their expedition as they found themselves summiting a rather large hill, crowned with a ring of perfectly even stones forming a circle around what almost looked like an altar.

"So, that looks like sothing for sacrificing people," Zoey pointed out as they stood next to the altar.

"You watched way too many movies," Rory snorted.

"Says the cinephile."

"I wasn't a cinephile... My grandparents were. I just happened to spend a lot of ti around them."

"Uh-huh. Anyway, what do you make of this?" Zoey questioned as she nodded toward the altar. "Clearly, this isn't just naturally appearing; it's sothing either E.O.N. or Aelia put together."

"Well, only one way to find out," Rory said as he slapped his palm upon the stone, a screen appearing for them both to see.

"Altar of the Five Keys," Zoey read out loud. "Did you know this would appear if you smacked it?"

"Nah, just a guess."

"Lucky," Zoey muttered before she continued to read the screen. "So, we bring so keystone here, and it unlocks the path forward. Sounds to like we finally have a lead on that floor guardian."

"Took long enough," Rory muttered. He wasn't sure exactly how much ti had passed here, but he was sure it had been a while.

"Any idea where we can find this keystone?"

"Give a mont," Rory said. With only a split-second thought, his eyes felt as if they were seeing the world from a deeper layer, understanding and seeing things in a way normal eyesight couldn't compare to. Years ago, a full ocular release of Eyes of the Architect would have left his head a throbbing ss. Now, it was nothing more than a minor pressure on his eyes.

Between all the effects of his full ocular release, Rory felt as if he could faintly sense a connection, like a barely visible vapor trail. Turning his head, Rory quickly craned his neck.

"Got it,"

"Got what?"

"I think I know the general direction. See that mountain over there?"

Pointing his finger, Rory indicated toward a lush-looking mountain.

"Yeah?"

"I think it's there, at least that's the sense I'm getting."

"Great, then let's get a move on."

Leading the way, Zoey took off at a brisk jog, Rory quickly catching up.

Now, in fairness, at their level, a brisk jog was closer to a car cruising down the street, swallowing up ground in minutes. Yet even with that, the mountain was far enough away that they needed to spend most of the day traveling, finally coming to a rest at the foot of the mountain just as the sun overhead was setting.

"Nightti," Zoey said, pointing out the obvious. "We can continue and deal with the Night Jackals or wait until morning."

Night Jackals were a peculiar monster they'd co to understand well. On average, they were level seventy-two monsters, quick on their feet with a nasty bite. Once damaged enough, they would turn into a shadow form, capable of biting directly at one's vital essence. Their shadow form was vastly easier to handle; a single good strike would dissipate the monster, aning that individually, they were a relatively simple monster.

Except, Night Jackals were never alone, their smallest hunting packs three or four strong, the largest pack they had seen had asured nearly a thousand, and each pack of at least twenty jackals was led by a Night Jackal Patriarch and Matriarch, level seventy-four monsters that empowered one another. When led by the Night Jackal Matriarch and Patriarch, a group of twenty Night Jackals went from a bite-y nuisance to a full-on threat. Each extra pack mber seed to augnt their strength, making the Patriarch and Matriarch more dangerous than their level and common variant suggested. With a pack of twenty, they were close in strength to a floor guardian monster. With a pack of thirty? They were more akin to an alpha variant monster.

Once the packs exceeded a few hundred?

At that point, Rory suspected they suffered diminishing returns. Still, even with diminishing returns, Rory estimated their strength around the level of a Territory Alpha. And at level seventy-four, handling two pseudo-Territory Alphas and their pack of hundreds of level seventy-two Night Jackals was a death sentence, pure and simple.

"I think we're safe from any super packs," Rory said after brief consideration. "We've only seen three super packs, and they were all wandering generally more open areas. I doubt that such a group wanders up this mountain. At best, we probably see packs numbering twenty or less."

"So, we push on?"

"We push on," Rory confird.

"Sure would be nice if we could bring the sun with us," Zoey sighed, showing no signs of being upset with the decision.

Hah, actually, Apostolos would be the natural kryptonite of a Night Jackal. Assuming he's reached A7. Huh, actually, I wonder how many, if any, have reached A7 yet? Marcie maybe? She was a bit of a combat freak… Wait, focus.

Trying not to distract himself, Rory and Zoey began the journey up the mountain, thankfully far smaller than the super volcano they were still within, as brain-breaking as that was.

What followed was an extended ga of cat and mouse, the two of them silently creeping through the underbrush of the lush mountain at night. Occasionally, they'd stop, waiting with bated breath as a pack of Night Jackals prowled by. While they could have handled any pack not led by a matriarch and patriarch without too much difficulty, it was the chaos that they wished to avoid.

Thus, throughout the night, they gradually ascended the mountain until, just in ti with the first morning rays, they crested a final ridge and reached the top.

Clambering over the ridge, Rory could sense that the keystone they were seeking was nearby.

A suspicion that was all but confird as he took stock of what was waiting for them.

"Oh, bitch." Zoey angrily grumbled, hopping over the ridge a mont after he did.

Her reaction was no surprise, as curled up was her sworn enemy, a long, snake-like monster.

"Tropic Wyrm Newt. Fancy that, it's a variant," Rory said after examining the monster.

"It's a blight on this Earth."

"We're not on Earth."

"You get the point," Zoey nearly growled.

"At least it's the sa level as the last one," Rory pointed out.

"Oh, gee, ain't that wonderful, that makes feel so much better," Zoey grumbled.

"Good news is that there isn't a tree we have to protect this ti."

"And the bad news is that you don't get a fancy tree?" Zoey said, hopefully.

"Nah. The bad news is that while there isn't a tree we have to keep safe, there is a keystone."

"aning?"

"aning once again, no big attacks from , sorry," Rory responded, not sounding all that sorry or remorseful.

"Rory?"

"Yeah?"

"Remind to gut you like a fish later."

"How warm of you," Rory said sarcastically.

"Yeah, I'm a ray of fricken sunshine," Zoey muttered. "Whatever, let's just get this shit over with."

Stifling a laugh, Rory followed Zoey, who was still grumbling under her breath, curses that even Rory had never heard before.

Round Two with a Wyrm Newt.