Chapter Twenty Five, Inextinguishable Flame.

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  "Another level! This is what we love to see!" Annaliese shouted in excitement, her sword having cleaved through an enemy.

  She lifted her shield in preparation of another attack, but it didn't come.

  She glanced past, seeing Troydan, her friend, flicking the dark blood off of his sword. A massive bear head rolled on the ground, its flame extinguished.

  "We've officially been here two days, and we've gained quite a few levels..." Elizabeth smiled, there was clearly more to her words than she let on.

  "You want to clear it?" Troydan inferred. He sheathed his weapon, returning it back to his hip, and facing his two party members.

  "I mean..." Elizabeth spoke, shrugging her shoulders from the backline.

  "Ninety One, Ninety One, Ninety Three..." Troydan listed their levels.

  "Realistically, we could push into the fifth floor, kite around B-ranks, picking them off for the experience boost, and hopefully reaching B-rank..." Elizabeth smiled, as she did so, one of her hands swirled in the air.

  She opened a small purple portal, her hand sticking itself into it.

  "I already accounted for the possibility beforehand." Three glowing crystal shards were retrieved, neatly stacked within the grasps of her fingers. They were shaped like daggers, glowing white energy, mist escaped into the air.

  "Three Class Evolution Crystals?" Annaliese smiled mischievously.

  "Yep! Beats having to go to the guild to evolve our classes... A little expensive but, I thought we could do it here, dive to the bottom and beat the Dungeon Boss!" She chuckled. A smile emerged on the other two's faces, Troydan sighing.

  "You sure we can handle it?" Troydan asked.

  "Who gives a fuck! You know that those are high rated Class Crystals... They can scour deeper into our power and bring forth better classes! With our strength and achievements, we could probably get a higher ranked Rare class! Maybe even Unique..." Annaliese clapped her hands.

  Troydan rubbed his neck, trying to stifle his smile. He just wasn't sure if it was the greatest idea, but indeed there was some excitement at the thought.

  Boom!

  The ground shook, taking the trio off balance for just a moment.

  "This is our chance to test our power now! If we can easily win this fight, we shouldn't have any problems..." Elizabeth smiled.

  Annaliese and Troydan glanced past her, readying their weapons.

  A massive paw grasped at the archway into the room, a new creature they had yet to encounter in this dive, making its presence known.

  Of course, they were already aware of it's lurking...

  Slowly, a massive beast stepped into the clearing. If they were on any higher floor, it surely wouldn't have been able to fit. Only the fourth and fifth floor were large enough to contain these monsters.

  Elizabeth warped behind her party members, a calm smile on her face as her eyes lit up, facing their newfound target.

  "[Analyze]."

  "Phoo... Haven't seen one of these guys in a minute." Annaliese spoke, moving to the front.

  Before them stood a towering bear, one that seemed to hover closer to humanoid than quadrupedal monster. It stood on two feet, its body extremely bulked with muscle, and a calm expression on its face. It wasn't on fire, like the rest of the bears in the Dungeon.

  It looked normal, fur covering it, with a thick neck. There were claw marks on its body, signs of battle. Its eyes were deep, black pits with white light peering from them.

  Oozing with power.

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  It stood at nearly thirteen feet, far taller than any of the humans present...

  "Let's see how we fare now..." Elizabeth murmured.

  Their opponent, an ancient species of bear kind, far more sentient than the average wild monster. Some believed the Ursa once had their own civilizations, but all of that had been lost to time. Now, they were a rare sighting, usually only being found in Dungeons...

  It took a step forward, the ground shaking under the weight of it's body.

  Elizabeth closed her eyes.

  Annaliese readied her shield.

  Troydan equipped his stance.

  Thankfully the Ursa were naturally less aggressive than the average monster... It gave them more time to prepare.

  They would need it.

  "Space, deny the movement of my opponent..." Energy escaped her mouth, her very own mana entering the surroundings from that exit point.

  And she raised her palms.

  More mana proliferated the surroundings, and...

  "[Spatial Restriction]."

  Instantly, the Ursa was locked in space, mid step. Space shimmered around its body, purple energy lifting off of its body.

  And then...

  "Nngh." There was a deep grunt.

  Troydan, who had leaned forward, hoping to get a hit in while he could, was forced back into his position.

  Nearly the same moment it had been frozen in place, Elizabeth's spell had been shrugged away.

  The Ursa continued its step forward, its movement only slowed, not stopped, like it should have been.

  "Tch, the difficult part of battling higher ranks... Always gets me." Elizabeth groaned. It was unfortunate that the minor change with each rank, gave a sort of quality change that made it harder for lower levels to affect those of the higher.

  They would just have to fight without all of their cheats.

  Looks like their progression would finally slow!

  "[Berserk]!" Annaliese shouted.

  "[Fire Veins]!"

  "[Flame Taunt]!" She cast skills in unison, buffing her power up.

  The last, made her body erupt in a burst of flame, and the Ursa's eyes glowed a dim red in response.

  It stepped forward, slightly slowed, but it's attention pulled.

  The mountain of character met Annaliese in the middle, and rather quickly, it had two fists reeled above its head.

  "Hehe..." A chuckle escaped with its breath, and Annaliese was pummeled into the ground, sinking multiple inches. But, contrary to one would think, her body held firm.

  Purely off of the Attribute boost from her Berserk and Fire Veins skills.

  She peered up at the bear, a burning smile etched onto her face. Confusion is what peered back...

  "Lumbering oaf... [Cleave]." She attempted to sneak an attack in while the Ursa was dazed by her resillience.

  Of course that failed.

  "Uuf!-" She was blasted away, a foot to her shield sending her into a nearby wall.

  "[Vessel Burst]." Instantly, the Ursa was knocked off balance, it's cheek exploding in a rain of blood.

  An empowered slash cut through its stomach, reaching only an inch inside.

  But that let more blood drip out.

  "[Bloodspire]." Before half of it could even touch the floor, it had pooled in the air, forming a spiral spear. And more was actively sapped from the open wounds on the bears body.

  Visibly, its anger started to brew, and Troydan, the manipulator of its blood, could only smile.

  "[Spatial Restriction]."

  The Ursa stuttered in space, freezing for a moment, but its eyes showed even more rage.

  "[Gravity Amplification]."

  "[Spatial Shield]."

  The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  "[Form Nexus]."

  "[Nexus Explosion]."

  Magic after magic was chanted with incredible speed, and the battle was altered in a split second.

  In the midst of its swing, aiming for Troydan, the Ursa was stopped in space. Troydan's Bloodspire speared right into it's face, exploding and causing more damage. In the following instant, it broke free from Elizabeth's restriction, yet it was faced with boosted gravity.

  Its attack was slowed and weakened, forcing it into failure to fully connect with Troydan. What did connect, was blocked by a reinforced shimmer in space, Elizabeth's shield.

  And coinciding with that shield, was a singularity that blipped into existence in front of the Ursa's chest, an interlinking matrix of spatial folds and strings.

  And then it exploded.

  In just seconds, before the Ursa could unleash any real skills, there was a gaping hole within it's chest.

  The body toppled over, with a mangled face, blood pouring onto the floor.

  Troydan looked back, wiping the miniscule amount of sweat off of his forehead. Both he and Annaliese took note of Elizabeth's condition, her chest heaved quite a bit.

  But she seemed to be fine.

  "Look's like it's getting easier for you... That's great!" Annaliese smiled.

  Elizabeth wiped the sweat off of her forehead as well, a smile emerging on her face.

  "Yeah!... Creating a Nexus is still taxing but, with each level it's getting easier... I might be able to form miniature Singularities while I'm in A-rank at this rate!"

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  Jora swiped the screen away, his body stepping through the watery film of this floors Boss room.

  He stared directly ahead, watching as a large beast awakened. It's eyes flicked to life, fire sprouting atop its back as it woke.

  "[Ah, a Fire Ursa... That means this Dungeon is like me... A newbie Dungeon would just follow the bear evolution tree, they wouldn't back track to the ancient Ursa species... This Dungeon must know their upper limit... The Ursa can reach far past A-rank...]" Ana narrated.

  Jora nodded his head.

  He had blown through the second floor like it was nothing, consuming the bears left and right, sending them into his Inner World and taking the stats of those he deemed worthy.

  Through that strategy, he had gained hundreds of Attributes, and picked up many levels in his Fire Magic, and the Flame Heart Talent thanks to the C-rank boss. The third floor let him boost his magic a level into the Adept stage, his first Adept magic. Alongside that, his Fire Affinity increased, with more levels in Flame Heart, and the new addition of Fire Form.

  The bear across the way rose to its full height, around ten feet tall. Far taller than he.

  Flames glimmered upon it's back, a calm expression adorned on its face. It was built similar to he, standing on two feet, with a long torso, two human shaped arms equipped by its sides.

  It had a thick neck, or perhaps a slim one, just hidden by the massive amounts of fur. It had five fingers and five toes, the same way as he did, and it had two tusk teeth peeking out from its lower jaw.

  There was a profound lack of intelligence in it's eyes, but he couldn't tell if that was true, or if it was intelligent enough to realize it was just a Dungeon creature.

  "[No, they have intelligence surely. They're just inherently uncaring. Food and sleep is all they really care for, however as a Fire Ursa, this one might be a little more...]"

  The bear raised a palm.

  BOOM!

  The quickest attack he had faced so far.

  A beam of fire streaked forward, burning through the air and arriving right before Jora in an instant.

  "Oh wow." Jora muttered, his head turning downwards as the beam drove right into his chest. His torso rippled, the energy going straight into the spatiotemporal field around his body, reaching his actual chest and being consumed.

  "At this level, my Intangibility creates a natural distance of nearly fifty feet in that warped three inch area around my body..." He noted, "[But that energy dense attack destabilized your manipulation, it only traveled an equivalent of twenty-seven feet before striking you.]"

  "Looks like I have another thing to fix!" Jora smiled devilishly.

  "Alright. Might as well train just a bit, the next floor is probably going to have B-ranks right? Maybe some actual challenges..." He spoke.

  He outstretched his arms.

  "Come on. Attack me."

  BOOM!

  Fire streaked, taking up the entirety of his vision. It hit him, smack dab in the middle of his face, and he could feel his spatial folds trembling as the energy displaced some of his warping.

  The complex weaving, the manipulation of space, how he had unfolded the area within that small gap.

  The intense energy was able to slightly shake up that unfold, stuttering through space and riding the normally folded expanse in flashes.

  'But if I manipulate space into thinking that its natural condition is that unfolded state?...'

  As the beam entered directly into his open mouth, the Ursa neared, one of its brows raised.

  Jora showed no care, he continued to tank the attack, analyzing reality nearby, sensing and communicating, controlling with relative ease.

  He could feel the folds stabilizing, and he nodded, focusing on the disturbance of his time control.

  Such dense energy was also able to slightly bypass his Deceleration, brute forcing its way through his control, the sheer amount of energy being able to defy his intricate force, as if strength trumped technique.

  So he just weaved time a little bit more.

  He strengthened his grip over it, deepening his manipulation.

  He poured more of his energy into it, and in the process, he made a bold decision.

  He pulled upon space and time, weaving them together, reminiscing on his memory of the manipulation of the Inner World.

  He weaved multiple junctions together, connecting his Inner World with the warped gap around his skin, and intertwining those links with the real space beyond the warp.

  With his Inner Space interlinked with the warped area, it was passively fed a massive amount of energy. A massive amount that continuously reinforced his alterations, even amplifying their results.

  Just like that, the area in his warped space had massively increased, and he had shrunk the space down to one inch off of his skin.

  In that same moment, the beam ceased its fire, and massive, heavy paws, beat down on his figure.

  Though, none of the physical attacks reached.

  Each time the bear pulled back, the confusion on it's face deepened, finding it's fists did not make contact with anything.

  Jora looked upwards, a smile on his face.

  The bear stared down in anger.

  It swiped it's claws flames erupting forward and being sent at Jora.

  They rippled through his warp, falling off half through it.

  The bear raised both of its palms, one on each side of Jora's head.

  "Go ahead." Jora chuckled.

  The bear showed hesitance.

  A small bout of fear.

  But it did not relent.

  Two beams exploded forward from it's palms, fire tearing through space and entering Jora's warp.

  "Right... You're just not strong enough to hurt me..." With the two beams heating up space around Jora's head, the already present spatial ripples created for an interesting scene.

  A man with a muddled head, staring up at a massive Dungeon monster.

  Undisturbed by it's attacks.

  Chomp!

  Faster than the beast could comprehend, it's arm had fallen, thudding against the ground.

  ROAR!

  The Ursa yelled, reeling back. Its left hand was still being fed energy, the intense beam of fire burning past Jora and etching fire into the ceiling and walls of the Dungeon.

  Corrosive energy lingered around the Ursa's shoulder, it's body melting from that wound. Weird power traveled through it's blood, and before it even new...

  Thud!...

  The bear toppled backwards, falling to the ground.

  It's neck twitched, low whines escaping its mouth as its flame slowly died down.

  "Couldn't even handle my corrosiveness huh..." Jora frowned.

  With a sigh, he stepped forward, extending a palm towards the third floors Boss.

  With one swipe, it was consumed, its power being taken.

  Now it was his.

  "Heat Ray?... Pairs well with your Monstrous Flame Talent... A massive boost to your output, with far less necessary input." Jora smiled.

  His fire abilities would reach new heights once he exited this Dungeon, and he knew that for sure.

  A walking inextinguishable flame... That sounded like something.

  "[Oh shut up with your corny monologues! You're literally here picking on weak C-ranks... Hurry up and fight the Dungeon Boss! You're a dweeb!]"

  Jora's face fell, a small bit of embarrassment crawling up his neck.

  "Forgot about you for a moment..." He rubbed the back of his head, turning towards the newly emerged passageway to the next floor.

  "[Wish I could forget about you for a moment... Your thoughts are so god damn loud! Even when I'm in Aeternum...]" Jora chuckled.

  "Is that what it's called now? Ae-Aeternum?" Jora questioned.

  "[Oh, yes! That's what it's been called for days now... Remember, it's been over a month since you sped up time. With all the newly added energy I've been increasing the flow of time and strengthening the warping, unfolding more space, blah, and blah... As of right now, it's reached fifteen days to one, and there's a few thousand miles of land inside... There's far more space to traverse within than you have in the outside world actually... It'd be a whole new world to you! Still tiny compared to the lands I have seen but... A kingdom could definitely fit inside.]" Ana rambled.

  Jora only nodded, scratching his cheek, as he stepped down the tunnel.

  Yawn...

  "[Oh, tired are we?]" He could feel the smile on her face.

  "With all the energy you're draining from me I'm surprised I'm only just now tired after two entire floors..." Jora fired back, a fake bout of annoyance.

  "[Whatever... I had to turn it up a notch so we can test out your new Talent... We want it easier for you to fall asleep don't we? Can't really test your Pride until we find something worthy... Our tests so far have been pretty lackluster...]" Jora's shoulders shrugged, and he nodded at that one.

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