POV Nina

One after another, our lines break down. Hundreds of veilshriekers are pushing through, even at the cost of their lives. Every time one dies, two more climb over its body, and shriek with a hatred that makes the guards shudder.

It reaches the point where we finally have to stop in the clearing in front of the iron door to the Sanctuary.

(Housekeeper, how long are you going to be? We’re in trouble here! The moment the first veilshrieker sees the door to the Sanctuary, he’s going to send a signal to the Veil and summon the Guardians.)

It doesn't take long to get an answer, but even then, it feels like forever. After long hours of fighting, my mana and stamina are starting to flag.

(They should be there any moment. Got to go, we have company as well, just hold on!)

The connection cuts off, and I fight the desire to smash the device in my hand.

And then, just when I'm about to swap out with a tired squad mate, two figures appear in the air. There is no mana radiating from their forms, no wings, no other energy I could sense. They just float there as if they were standing on solid ground and letting everything else move around them. There is no jerking, no movement from side to side.

Just two figures floating in the air, unaffected by any outside force.

One of them disappears, and a split second later, brilliant golden flames erupt into the air from somewhere within the hoard, While the other figure slowly lands next to me. The man who calls himself Nathaniel.

He is holding a little girl in his arm, his disciple, and I can’t help but be relieved to see the calm expression that never seems to leave his face.

Without any buildup or movement of mana, a stream of golden flames erupts from him as well, flooding the pathways between rocks and melting stones along with the monsters within.

The heat doesn’t touch me or any of the men standing near him, all of it devoted to destroying monsters that die so easily that it makes our prior struggle seem pointless.

“No monster can see the entrance to the Sanctuary, they will summon the Veil Guardians otherwise,” I warn him as I allow myself to relax.

“Huh? Really?” his flames disappear, and his eyes examine me. A spark of interest dancing within.

Then he says something to his disciple and sets her down. Right after, he disappears, and when he appears again, he holds a veilshrieker by its neck, the monster struggling and trying to attack. Nathaniel then lifts the monster up and forces it to look at the door leading to the Sanctuary.

Immediately the monster freezes and lets out a screech that I had yet to hear from them. A pulse of mana washes over us, and Nathaniel does nothing to stop it. The next moment, the monster's head disappears in a burst of golden flames, and its dead body falls to the ground.

“What have you done,” I can only ask with horror.

Another man appears out of thin air, an exact copy of the man that has doomed us all.

“I noticed the signal; you let it pass on purpose?” the newcomer asks.

“Yes, it seems like the veilshriekers are programmed to send the signal to the Veil the moment they locate the bunker. It should summon the Veil Guardian.”

“Only one? Two would be better.”

What the fuck are they talking about?!

“If it's two, I will move the minion back to the Bastion, and we can split them. If it's one, you will stay and keep her safe.”

“Sure,” the second Nathaniel says and turns to me. “Hey Nina, where is the healer guy? I have stuff I want to talk with him about.”

“You… you!”

The growl deeper than any I have heard before fills the area, and a monster lands in the middle of the clearing. Just the pressure of the monster’s mana nearly forces me to my knees, and the look in its eyes is something I'm sure I will take to my grave.

Before I can even scream, a barrier stronger than any I've ever felt surrounds us, and one of the Nathaniels appears in front of the monster.

He leaves a crater in the ground as he strikes the monster, sending it flying through the air, causing it to disappear in the blink of an eye, as its powerful body crashes through solid stone.

Then armor forms around his body, simple and functional, though there is a regal kind of beauty to it.

He walks towards the monsters with a complete lack of urgency, cloaked in mana, like a king in his mantle.

I'm really thankful to Nina for telling me. I almost killed all of the veilshriekers before I even learned they could summon a Veil Guardian.

The creature’s attack crashes into me, and I can feel the air escaping from my lungs as I bulldoze through tons upon tons of rock.

Damn, I barely saw that one.

I strengthen my armor even more, just in time to absorb another attack which still sends me flying through the air.

Lately, I’ve had a hard time trying to level [Regalia], so I'm not infusing it with kinetic energy to absorb the damage, nor am I using a voidsteel blade. The only things I intend to use in this fight are weapons and armor I can make with my own mana.

Just [Focus], [Regalia], [Mana Manipulation], and [Mana Domain] condensed until it hugs my body and armor. Oh, and I did use [Redistribution] and [Infusion] to pack as much mana into my armor and weapons as possible.Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.

Okay, maybe it isn't the only skill I’m using, but it's the main one, and I’m only really using the others to supplement its effects.

My armor is a darker shade of blue this time and streaks of purple and light blue flow across the surface, and my weapon is no different. I don't push further, instead, I focus on improving the mana density and weight.

[Regalia - lvl 21 > Regalia - lvl 22]

I form a shield around my left forearm and block the next attack, though the Veil Guardian’s voidsteel still manages to cut through and bite into my flesh.

I dodge another swing, and repair my shield, reducing the size, and condensing the mana within.

The result is the same, the blade cuts off a piece of the shield, and another swing cuts my sword apart. The Veil Guardian kicks out, sending me flying, and as I sail through the air, I dissolve my shield while flying through the air from the kick of the Veil Guardian and reform the sword in my hand into a long spear that I point in front of me.

The Veil Guardian closes the distance in an instant, one blade arm cutting the spear apart and the other one burrowing into the stone near my head. The armor surrounding my knee extends into a spike, and I jam it into the monster’s flesh, immediately the gravity around me increases.

I deactivate a few of my skills and resonate my mana, getting rid of the slowing effect, dodging another attack, and shrugging off its attempts at disrupting my mana.

Running to the side, the monster dodges a barrage of compressed mana javelins that I left in the air, waiting to be triggered. Each of my attacks pierces deep into the ground.

Close-range fighting seems to be counterproductive. My [Regalia] just isn't at a level to handle voidsteel weapons. Instead, I put distance between us and more javelins form around me, each boosted by kinetic energy from my Vortex Core.

Their speed is just enough to catch the monster, and they do manage to pierce through its skin, wounding it in the process.

I disrupt the Guardian’s signal to the Veil.

My duplicate was right. Knowing what to look for and mainly being able to deal with the monster’s jamming ability and its gravity field makes the fight almost easy. I just need to avoid its quick attacks, but even that’s a simple matter with [Tether], even as the monster tries to get rid of it.

In the interest of advancing my plan, I fire off a barrage of mana projectiles, destroying larger and larger chunks of the landscape in the process. It takes a bit longer and I almost get cut apart multiple times, but I do gradually manage to kill the monster.

The reward is two level ups and another level in [Regalia]. Not bad at all.

After salvaging the voidsteel slicers, epic weapons in their own right, from the corpse, I sell them to the system shop. Each one lands me just over 700 shards, leaving me with more than 30 thousand shards in total. It could've been 45 thousand if I hadn't bought my newest epic passive, but hey, with the way it allows my mind to handle the strain of my trait, it's more than worth it. Now I need something similar for my weak body.

Nope, no stats in constitution. That's for weaklings. Real mana enjoyers have their bodies broken after the simplest uses of their mana and then complain. Or they wind up coughing up blood because their bodies can’t handle the strain, before saying something along the lines of, “Good job, you made me use 10% of my mana.”

Okay, maybe that doesn't sound as cool as I thought.

Also, my good mood seems to be showing. It seems like soloing the Veil Guardian was just that satisfying. I'm level 230, and he was just over 290, so that's good, I think.

When I teleport back after placing a few anchors, I find Nina in conversation with my duplicate, and when she sees me, it almost looks like her eyes are going to fall out.

Good, finally some appreciation.

“Master! Good job! That monster was scary.”

Oh, minion as well, is this my lucky day?

“Thanks, Vega,” in a good mood, I decide to call her by the name I gave her, and the reward is the smile she gives me, her good ol' master.

“So, how does it look?” I ask my duplicate.

“Granny and her father Irvin are both alive and in the Sanctuary. Everyone seems to be prepared to evacuate, so we just need the Armorer to land somewhere close and get people in while we do some fighting.”

“Having both healers alive seems like it would be better for your plan,” I mention, and he nods. Then I turn to Nina, “Where is Darren?”

I know her answer from her expression, but then she says, “He was killed along with a few of his weaker men. As punishment. The stronger ones are used for dangerous missions.”

It’s hard to read the exact emotion on her face, but she does seem to hate me, at least a little.

“For feeding human meat to people?” I ask. “Why are you alive then?” I do not try to be sensitive about it.

“Ask our new leaders,” her eyes meet mine, and I decide to return her gaze.

I ask her, “Do you hate me?”

“That’s a dumb fucking question.”

“Did your father curse me in the end?”

“The most fucked-up thing is that he didn’t. Even as they executed him, he just let it all happen. My father did it all for the people and took their sins on himself. He understood their, and your decision.”

“He was always too dumb and caring. He should have just let these people die.” Granny says as she exits the Sanctuary, pausing to spit on the ground.

[Vitalist - lvl 103]

That doesn't seem to make Nina happy. “I would fucking beat your ass if I could,” she says.

“Sure you would,” the old woman giggles and then spots me and my duplicate, her eyes ticking between us.

She even takes a few steps closer and examines us with her mana.

At which point she sighs, “What an insane bastard you are.” That's all she says.

So very charming.

Meanwhile, more people flood out of the Sanctuary, each one carrying as many things as they can, scared and looking around with big eyes. They pass by us on either side, gathering in individual groups in the clearing after getting the all clear from the scouts and their new leaders. Within the group, there's at least one man I know.

[Lifebloom Weaver - lvl 216]

He is even 10 levels higher than the last time I met him. Irvin, the guy they kept locked in the tunnels under the Sanctuary to serve as a food supply. Willingly at first, and in the end against his will. But he seems much better now.

His beard and hair have been well groomed, and he is wearing clean clothes, but the biggest change lies in his expression. It's not quite as crazed as it was before, even though some trauma remains. But now, he seems more reliable, even happy. If that's the right word to use.

My duplicate seems to be even more happy to see him. He puts on our “friendly” expression and reaches into our very small reservoir of social energy.

Amused, I watch as he greets the man and granny, as he subtly compliments them though it’s still somewhat awkward, and then just says it, probably too annoyed to wait longer, “So, I need your guys' help. I want to transfer one of my eyes into my cute disciple over there. I just need a bit of healing and some other stuff. Of course, I will help you in exchange, with anything else you might need. Even that weirdo over there,” he points at me, “ is willing to help out.”

Indeed, even though his chances for survival are low, my duplicate is not going to take it lying down. No, he is cooking.

And I'm too fascinated to stop him.