At some point, Tacita lets go of my feet and lands nimbly like a cat, running somewhere else already with her incredible speed.

I look at Noodle, who is still coiled around my arm, "Why aren't you that big?" I ask, gesturing at the giant lizard. Noodle seems to understand and flicks his tongue a few times rather than answering.

Okay, you’re cute, so you can keep your secrets. But remember good ol' Nat who fed you his mana when you’re the size of a skyscraper.

I take a moment to locate our leadership and push myself over to them, a cacophony of frantic discussion assailing me as I land.

“Yes, I can fight it, but I believe it would cost me my life or render me useless afterward,” a man clad in simple armor says. The highest level native I’ve seen, the one approaching level three hundred.

“How is it possible for there to be such a strong monster? This event was supposed to be inclusive of all the difficulties, this just doesn't make any sense,” Samuel asks, looking around confused.

Oh, but it does.

I meet Tess's gaze, and whisper, “I was right.”

The system is an asshole.

Tess doesn't react, in that way so common to the uninitiated, faced with someone wiser in the ways of the world.

I was right.

“Noname, do you think you can take it? You don’t have any restrictions,” Brainiac asks, he and his group close to Gareth.

“Who knows.”

For the first time, Savant joins the conversation, “There is surely a way around it. The system is usually fair, so it wouldn’t have done this without giving us a way to deal with it.”

Oh? So that's how he sees the system?

“Maybe that guy is meant to take care of the lizard?” Maya gestures toward the strongest native knight.

“Maybe.” Tess pauses, listening to an invisible voice, and then continues, "Dennis says the monster stopped attacking after it broke the 1st wall, and more of the stronger monsters are approaching the second.”

“Maybe it's just here to break the walls? A mechanic by the system?” Brainiac wonders, “Or it is on cooldown and needs some time to recharge its ability to break the walls and barriers.”

“This is not a game, Max,” Gareth says.

“Oh, come on, Gary, even these natives are nothing like the ones on the standard floors. This feels extremely gamey. We just need to CC the lizard when it tries to destroy another wall. Or we can try to kill it before that?”

“CC?” Gareth asks, but Brainiac ignores him and continues speaking to the others.

Through the Connection the twins have prepared for group 4, I send a message, (I'm sure the lizard isn't the end. I’m going to lay low until the end, either that or I’ll do something flashy when you guys flunk out.)

(You don't want to help?) Aaron asks, somewhat surprised.

Instead of me, Tess answers, (Just let him do his thing. This is a nice opportunity for us to develop some teamwork.)

A number of messages are exchanged, but I’m already lifting off, as I feel Savant's piercing gaze settle on me.

I head deeper into the fortress, even beyond the first wall, and there I sit on top of the tower, my legs dangling over the edge with a view of the remaining two walls and the one that was destroyed.

Even from this distance, I can see the lizard lying near the rubble of the 1st wall and waiting. Maybe Brainiac really is right, or perhaps the lizard is there as a challenge for the stronger participants and will move either to face them or destroy the walls.

Just as before, thousands of monsters, ants, and spiders proceed to scuttle across the debris. These ones are slightly bigger, and their levels are starting to get closer and closer to 100.

I watch as they catch up with groups of stragglers from Easy and Normal that failed to escape quickly enough. The groups face them while pulling back with support from Hard difficulty.

A single spider the size of a motorcycle catches up to five of the weaker members, and I have fun watching as they face him with their might. There is something enthralling about seeing a group of people facing down an opponent stronger than themselves.

They are giving it their all, bleeding, screaming, using the last bits of their mana. There is no escape as the monsters surround them, and they are scared of dying, not having tasted it yet. So, they fight, giving it their all.

When the spider dies, impaled on one of their spears, they seem proud. The fear they felt until now is replaced by the elation of victory.

The feeling fades as a group of bigger ants reaches them, turning them into shiny particles as they disappear from the event.

Similar sights are happening all over.

One group is swallowed by a larger group of monsters as they try to aid the others. A lonely woman surrounded by yellow flames fights an entire group of monsters. The group running and barely escaping to the wall where someone stronger faces the monsters that were following them.

And the entire time, I keep working on the ax In my hands.

More time passes, and three hours remain.

Easy difficulty has been mostly wiped out, though few members still remain contributing with a ranged attack every now and then, unable to do more.

The second wall has already been surrounded and battered by the endless hordes of monsters, we’ve even seen a new type. An octopus-like monster that crawls over the ground, always surrounded by dozens of other monsters which move to protect it.Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.

Their role is simple, getting close to the barrier and slowly corroding it with the cooperation of others of its kind. The method of attack is surprisingly effective, and quickly drains the barrier.

That's when Hell difficulty decides to move, throwing ranged attacks at the monsters while letting Normal and Hard difficulty mop up the rest with the natives.

Once again, everyone knows the difficulty is increasing, so they are saving their mana, only using amounts they know will regenerate quickly.

After another thirty minutes, the Quake Serpent moves. The giant monster stands up, the immense mass of its body moving alone threatening.

Pausing my work, I turn my attention down to the others and do it just in time.

The crown floating around Tess's head shines brighter, white and red lightning surrounding her and an epic javelin hangs in the air at her side. She makes an inaudible declaration, lightning seeping into the weapon. All eyes are on her as she stands on the second wall, her golden hair floating, lightning cracking around and through it.

She grabs a javelin and takes a stance, her leg moving back as she twists her body, the wall cracking around her. Then she throws the weapon.

Like myriad birds chirping, the lightning crackles as it passes through the air. Its flight accelerates half way through, having been boosted either by Min-Jae or Tess herself.

The lizard doesn’t even have time to react, and the javelin lodges itself deep into its eye, disappearing somewhere inside its head.

As it does so, the monster starts thrashing around while emitting a scream that I feel in my bones. The monster releases the energy it was collecting, in an explosion with itself at the epicenter shaking the earth, creating holes in the ground, and even without being aimed correctly it manages to damage the wall.

The monster twists, twitches, scrambles, scratching its own head into a bloody ruin in an attempt to get rid of the piercing pain of Tess's attack and the lightning that now burns within its skull.

More and more mana radiates from the monster until the lightning stops. The lightning that flickered in its eye is now gone, drowned in the monster’s mana.

The silence is almost eerie, followed only by the sound of falling debris caused by the thrashing of the wounded monster.

Then the lizard turns its remaining eye toward the source of the attack. Its tongue flicks out a few times, and something changes. The scales of the monster change color. From dark gray, they turn lighter, and like a wave, a shockwave radiates from the monster at the center. The attacks landing on its body now barely damage it, either sliding off or dispersing upon impact. Like pebbles thrown against a wall.

The attack has clearly revealed something about the monster’s skills. I don’t think Tess actually made an earnest attempt at killing it. They would have used Lily otherwise. This was just a probe to see what they were facing. They are unwilling to give their all, as they have a growing suspicion that the Quake Serpent won’t be the end of it and might just be the start.

They could throw their might into trying to kill the giant monster quickly so they have fewer opponents to deal with later, but they can’t be sure the monster doesn’t have some other trick to play. It does have three question marks after all, the thing’s over level 300. And there might also be another enemy waiting just for that.

Using the distraction, someone touches Sophie and the twin’s web. It's a sharp, smooth movement. Hard to notice, clinical, using the fact that nearly everyone was focused on the lizard.

(Was this you?) a message sounds in my head. Sophie obviously noticed it as well.

(Nope.)

(I thought so, this felt different. Someone absorbed a small part of my web, creating a weak connection to it. It was him, right?)

(Probably.) From where I sit, I track the person who did it.

Savant, noticing the touch of my mana, pushes against it, a gentle orange light radiating from him. But before he does that, I notice that he is doing something with the broken blade he brought here. He seems to be preparing something as well.

I could stop him. I could even fly down there and forcibly take the sword off him. He would probably leave the event rather than let me, but even that could be a win for me.

What stops me is simple curiosity.

I want to see what he can do with the [Restriction] he placed and with his skills and the sword. I already have a suspicion of what the latter is.

So I just let it be and sneakily, to avoid leaving any tracks for Sophie, I clear the parts Savant messed up so she can't cut him off easily.

Then after seeing that the giant lizard doesn't attack, I return to the ax on my lap.

Two hours remain, and I have a theory.

As the natives said, there is a group of people attacking who specialize in taming. That group is controlling the Quake Serpent and using it only to destroy the walls when they are weakened.

This could be a setup made by the system or the fact that the group just doesn't want to throw the Serpent into an attack against the nearly level 300 human who defends the Aether Keep, who would probably kill it with his advantage as a defender.

So currently, it's a game of chicken, one side waiting for another to make the first step while weaker forces fight each other.

Moving for the third time, the Lizard destroys the second wall and, once again, stronger monsters start rushing out of the tunnels. Many of them are over level 150, ants, spiders, octopuses, and now even termites, in huge amounts.

Once again, the strongest people participating in the tutorial hold back and wait.

Hard difficulty people are fighting now, along with a few of the people from Hell difficulty, for the first time a large amount of mana blankets the area, and high damage skills start activating.

I observe things for a while, curious to find out what level the others are operating at and the kinds of skills they use. As I do so, I continue to dabble with Sophie's web, watching what Savant does to it. I find it interesting, and some of these things inspire me to the point that I decide to change my plans a bit.

Savant's interactions with the web feel clumsy but the progress and improvement he shows is nothing less than amazing. His clumsy first attempts quickly become much more confident and sneaky as he analyzes parts of the web and, while he’s hiding from Sophie, he manages to absorb parts of it.

That's what they call a genius.

Some of the things he does are eye-opening, in ways I haven’t even thought of, honestly, it’d probably take me dozens of attempts before I had the same idea. And he’s doing it all with such a severe [Restriction].

But even then, he’s far below my level and if I used my [Focus] and eyes, I would blow him out of the water easily. My skills and traits are just so much better when it comes down to it, and I'm sure they would continue to be so even if we were at the same [Restriction]. Even so, I'm not blind enough to not accept a simple fact: Savant is more talented than me.

However, it's something I never cared too much about. I've seen people like him my entire life. People born with talent, people born with stronger bodies and other advantages. In the end, it's about who is crazy enough to push themselves further.

Standing up, I stretch and take a glance at the fight taking place down there. Thousands of monsters are climbing over the destroyed walls, throwing themselves against the people standing their ground under the final barricade or those shooting from the top of the wall while the barrier flickers around, being attacked by the octopus-like monsters.

Screams, cries, and noises of skills burning through the air fill the area as blood is spilled.

Two hours remain until the end of the event, but my preparations are already done.

To be honest, watching them fight down there is getting annoying. It's frustrating to see how hesitant and careful they are. Sure, there's some logic to it, but if it were up to me, the giant lizard would have been nuked out of the event the moment it appeared. That would probably screw things up, and I would end up losing a limb or two, but it would feel more satisfying.

So while others are having fun, let's check on the Aether Keep.

(Have fun,) I send through the connection kept up by the twins and head towards the mines.