(Arc 2 Complete!) Path of the Last Champion [Sci-Fantasy LitRPG, Party Dynamics, Earned Power]

Mul frowned at the sprawling view before them. "I knew it would look bad, but fucking Pile, what is this?"

"Crystal," Lim whispered.

Nar, Tuk, Mul, Jaz, Raf, Lim and Mach stood right at the edge of a steep fall, eyeing an almost vertical drop of nearly 3000-feet down to the next area in their itinerary. As far as the eye could see, instead of a dense, dark canopy, there were only far stretching, faded red skies, and instead of giant trees, the landscape was now dominated by immense, twisted, and macabre, black flora that grew out of a dense red mist, reaching up to strangle the sky.

Crystal, Nar thought, wincing at the view before him. Then again, what did I expect from a place called the Hungry Jungle?

Here and there, rock formations rose from amidst the thorns, and he knew that those were inhabited by fierce insect colonies, and thus to be avoided at all costs. Some strange and even more violent looking plants also manage to pierce through the thorns in a few locations, displaying sprawling bulks of thick fleshy, deep red, and moving tentacle-like growths. The whole place looked ready to devour them all, and the fact that the giant thorns curled and uncurled ever so slightly didn't make it any more welcoming.

I'm going to miss the Jungle Tops, aren't I? Nar thought, glancing backwards at the faded, green-glowing tree line behind him. Crystal. Maybe all that rain wasn't so bad after all…

"Do you need to always be complaining so much, hmm?" Calli asked, as she passed by behind them and patted Mul's dark silver head. "Does it really make you feel better? Think about it, yes?"

Mul muttered something unintelligible, and they all stared at the brawler as she left.

"You need to talk to her, you know," Mach said. "She's just trying to help, and she will keep going until she does. That's just the way she is, so you might as well just accept her help."

Nar glanced at the dark blue feathered, slender alfin looking sentient. After almost an entire month of traveling together, he no longer had any doubts that storm-blue eyed Mach belonged squarely with the troublemaker group.

Wait… Why am I here, then? Nar realized with a frown.

"Lim, you're too close," he said, almost through gritted teeth.

"Oops! Sorry!"

Nar swallowed a sigh, and refused to consider whether he was there as a troublemaker, or he had seen the gathering and joined in as a caretaker.

"Yeah, man. You can't just ignore her," Tuk said, frowning at the brawler. "It's not cool."

"I'm not ignoring anyone! And I did talk to her," Mul retorted, his tone growing flatter mid-sentence. Over the last two weeks his suppressor had been allowing him more and more use of his active skills, in order for him to finally reign his rage under control. But it was still working as intended to make sure Mul didn't trigger anything while outside of combat.

"Throwing yourself at her feet and shouting that you're sorry while bawling your eyes out doesn't really count," Jaz said.

"Yeah… Pretty sure she was kinda creeped out by that," Lim added in a hushed tone.

"You guys go ahead and melt half of someone's face off, and then try to be their friend and talk and shit like nothing ever happened," Mul retorted.

Fair point, Nar thought.

And in his opinion, rather than creeped out, Calli had seemed genuinely overjoyed to find that Mul had managed to make such a huge stride towards controlling his rage. Nar could definitely see how she must have tried to help Eum, and most likely how she still did, as the bloodlust DPS was far from in complete control of himself either.

Regardless, Calli had been back to full health by the next morning, and Mul's flames hadn't left even the most minute of scars, thanks to Era's healing. Even her scalp and hair had been fully restored by Era's skills. And, all in all, their very first foray into downing a nest of uncommon beasts and their rare boss had ended successfully, even if another rare had burst in mid-fight.

Over the next two weeks, they implemented Leon's new triangular formation, and it proved to be a resounding success. They had accumulated phenomenal gains, and at last, they had started making some proper progress in their token gathering.

It would be a disservice to say things had become easy, however. There had been more than a few close encounters, and there were always a couple of severely injured and passed out people after nest fights, especially as they moved from stronger nest to stronger nest, in order to ensure that their level up gains were as high in attribute density as possible. But the fact that they no longer had to question every action or step they took for fear of triggering a massive aura and aether backlash definitely helped massively as well.

Nar had continued to rely heavily on his [Aura Quickening], and though he remained within the limits imposed by Jasphaer, together with his [Aura Blade] training, he continued to make huge gains to his pathways, [Aura***] and had even managed to upgrade his [Mastery] to level 10.

Though I wish I'd fully figured my [Aura Blade] before going into that, Nar thought, wincing at what promised to be a maze of tight fights, and sharp twists and turns. He was just missing that final something to make it all click… And he doubted it was just a matter of more [Ego].

Regardless, his [Ego] had continued to make steady gains, and now stood at an impressive 89 points. In the party, only Leon's [Steadfastness] was close to Nar's [Ego], though the paladin had an even greater amount at 109 points.

Other than that, he had continued making steady and eye-watering gains across the board, especially since being 3 levels below the others in Aggregate Level had allowed him to level a third time after the loentu den and skull ripper encounter, while the others had been blocked by the Jungle Tops level 50 cap. At now Aggregate Level 48, Nar was even stronger, faster and had access to an even greater pool of aura with which to power his self-healing and combat capabilities, and his attribute density had grown to such levels that he wasn't overly concerned about heading into the Hungry Jungle so under leveled.

He also wondered if due to the regional level caps, if he, Rel and Jasphaer were going to be able to catch up to the other's Aggregate Level before leaving the Brightnight, thus equalizing everyone's levels in the party once again.

Thanks to his passive bonuses, he had even managed to surpass Jul herself in terms of [Sight], [Smell] and [Instinct], and almost catch up to her [Hearing]. He still lacked her much greater [Awareness] and [Perception], and while she had a heavy dose of [Intuition] at her disposal, he didn't even have the attribute yet, and together, these ensured that she remained the much better scout. On top of that, he lacked her special [Instinct]'s capacity to detect threat from much farther and in that much wider and all-encompassing way that Leon had described as prescient. Plus, Nar had a feeling that once Jul unlocked her much sought after fear sensing ability, that she would far outclass his senses again.

Nar had also fully embraced Leon's tutelage as part of his training. It had only taken him a few exchanges with the paladin's elaborate longsword to confirm just how outclassed he was by Leon's formal and years spanning education. And while the aethermancer might lack the reality defying might and oppressive presence of his Master of Blades, the guy knew what he was doing. He wasn't as good as his master, of course, but Nar had the distinct feeling that, in swordsmanship alone and barring increased attributes, that Leon might actually be able to give the Blades Hall instructors a run for their XP.

As promised, Leon didn't pull any punches, and Nar ended most lessons bruised and bleeding. Despite that, Nar came to relish those sessions, as he knew that down the line, a proper handle of swordsmanship would make an enormous difference for his combat capabilities, and that he was fortunate for Leon's instruction. Besides that, he couldn't wait to surprise his master with his improved swordsmanship!

Meanwhile, the others across the domain party had also made significant gains across their statuses, and that included new skills too.

From their individual party, Tuk had unlocked the [Familiar Flights] passive skill, which drastically increased the damage, impact and accuracy for the Blossoming Petals patterns that he was most familiar with. At the moment, only his first four tossing patterns qualified for the boost, but the ring tosser was excitedly working towards increasing that number, and that was done alongside the mysterious, straight line pattern practice that he continued and yet he refused to explain, allowing only that it would be an active skill.

Kur had unlocked [Words of Endurance], which boosted the party's resistances to damage and status effects, and Gad had finally managed to unlock her [Flail Aura]. Meanwhile, Cen had managed to also at last unlock her much needed active skill of [Sensory Augmentation]. Jasphaer's teachings and her own reading materials had made it possible for her to learn [Aura Sight] around the time of the rycali fight, which in turn had further boosted her aura practice and had eventually also helped her unlock [Sensory Augmentation]. The new active skill boosted her [Sight] and [Hearing] by 100%, enabling her to keep track and target their increasingly faster enemies.

"Is this… Is this how you all see?" she had mumbled, shocked, as she stared up at the jungle around her. "And hear?"

It had been a joy to watch her, with her eyes glowing the shifting grays of aura, as she beheld an entirely new reality.

All in all, they had all made astounding progress in the Jungle Tops, and their backpacks were full with the Scimitar's requirements and so much more besides, promising to greatly pad the common party fund on their return to the ship. And now, Nar was looking forward to continuing that frenzied growth in the Hungry Jungle. Who knew what sort of gains he would make in there?

Plus, this has to be the place that the master was referring too, he thought, taking in that nightmarish view. For what other place would prove challenging to his sword's Hunger affinity, than that Miasma choked land? Pile, what kind of challenge is this going to be, anyways? Though first we need to get ourselves down there…

Nar glanced behind him, raising his eyes to take in the towering spires of rock and mud growing from the edge of the ravine that separated the two areas.

The spires were so tall that their tips continued to reach far, far beyond even the enormous tree trunks that had surrounded them for over a month, and the air was filled with docile cries as beasts ranging from as small as 10-feet to huge shadow casting 70-feet wide wingspans, flew from and to the aggregate of organic looking spires.

Large hind legs were snugly coiled underneath the soft looking stomachs of these beasts as they flapped their wings to maintain an easy and slow flight across the still air of the border between areas.

Their skin ranged from a light dark gray to pitch black, and when they flipped in the air in slow, but graceful maneuvers, they exposed the glowing mottley of blue, green and pink dots that covered their backs. Their wings were long and fleshy, terminating in pointy, double tips, and the beasts had long and slender tails which Sej told them helped in the stabilization of their flight and maneuverability.

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Ma'bats they were called, and they were the reason the party had come to this place. Though not in search of gains or tokens…

"Whoo-hoooooo!"

Nar glanced to the leftmost spire, in time to see one of the beasts departing from one of the openings up on one of the spires, and atop its back, was a domain party of auramancers.

"That looks so fun!" Tuk shouted, waving at their fellow apprentices.

"Pile, yeah!" Jaz said. "Can't wait for our turn!"

The ma'bat they rode would carry them all the way across that twisted skyline to the other side of the Hungry Jungle, to the ma'bat's twin lair on the shores of the Great Lake. And the beasts performed this crucial service in return for a massive, oversweet concoction of fruit and berries, and unhealthy quantities of rock-honey that Sarke had spent two days and nights brewing.

Once on the other side of the Hungry Jungle, they would set up camp on the shores of the Great Lake, and then make forays into the Hungry Jungle for fighting, gathering and harvesting. This was made necessary due to the Miasma, the red mist coating the air and sky of the Hungry Jungle.

While the air within those thorns wasn't as bad as in its eastern neighboring area, the Bloodrot and the origin of the Miasma, it was still incredibly poisonous. Any who breathed or whose skin or blood came into contact with that red mist received the [Touch of Rot], a permanent debuff that reduced the healing effectiveness of skills and HP, and which could only be cleansed by a healer once one was outside of the Miasma itself. Furthermore, the [Touch of Rot] gained counters the longer one was exposed to, which greatly boosted the effects of all status effects, diseases and sicknesses that all the flora and beasts that dwelled within the Hungry Jungle were so fond of inflicting upon their hapless victims. And at high enough counters? One started to bleed out from the inside…

That meant that even if they went into that red mess wearing their full-face masks, given that scratches, tears and gashes were due to happen easily in the jungle, gaining the [Touch of Rot] was a matter of when, not if. This meant that the party would go into the Hungry Jungle, get hurt and sick, accumulate counters, and then have to return back to the safety of camp every night in order to get away from the Miasma's reach and heal.

"Only professional Brightnight delvers go deeper into those thorns," Sej had told them upon arrival, as they gaped in awe and horror at the giant thorns. "For us, and our requirements list, there's no point in risking our lives to go too deep. Plus, we'll make far greater gains and XP from materials if we spend more time in the Giant's Canopy. And the air there is beautiful!"

And so, they would feed the ma'bat, and the beast would ferry them across the nasty red jungle of thorns below, and deposit them at the matching ma'bat lair perched over the shores of the Great Lake. Such was the way in which the dungeon guardian had set things up, as strange as it seemed to everyone.

Now, while they relaxed by the cliff's edge, the rest of the domain party sat behind the troublemakers by the edge, as they waited alongside dozens of other parties for their turn in the queue. They needed to wait for a creature that was suitably big enough to carry all of them across in one go, and there weren't that many of those…

Nar scanned the skies ahead, searching through the ma'bats as they returned, and was surprised to find one of them diving down to seemingly feed off the Miasma plumes coming up from the Hungry Jungle below, its toothless maw opened wide to gulp the red clouds.

Hope ours doesn't do that with us on its back, he thought with a wince. And why are the big ones taking so long to come back?

"Tuk almost killed me twice," Nar suddenly remembered, in the lull of conversation. "He never stopped talking to me."

"Is that an example, or a complaint, eh?" Jaz asked, elbowing the trugger.

The ring tosser threw them both a distasteful look.

"That's… True. But I really wish people would just forget about that," the ring tosser said with a sigh. "Mul, I don't think she's mad at you, and you know that. So just let go of your fear, and let her help you. She helped Eum come to terms with his element, and she seems to know what she's doing now, right? I mean, look at you! After the loentu nest, you've been throwing those crazy punches around! And you were struggling so much before!"

"Whatever…" Mul muttered, but the resignation was heavy in his tone.

"She will be mad if you keep ignoring her, Mul. And sad," Mach cautioned the brawler. "I've seen it. And I don't recommend it."

"Alright, alright. I'll talk with her. Sheesh." Mul said, suppressed once more. "Fucking Pile take you all…"

Nar smiled to himself.

We all need more friends out here, he thought to himself. Especially the kind willing to walk through fire to help you.

"We've got a ride!" Sej announced into their party chat. "I found a big one napping in a quiet hole. It was more than willing to wake up when I showed him his treat!"

"Nice!" Kur said. "We're on our way up!"

"You heard her, people. Up we go!" Kur said.

They assembled quickly and without fanfare, and moved past the milling throngs of delvers on their way over to the entrance. On their way, Nar spotted Tol, a tall, buff altei from his Squad 8 in the Blades Hall, however, before he could raise a hand in greeting, he collided against someone.

"Oof! Sorry!" he said, looking down to find Jul's green hair. "Are you… Jul?"

Even as he asked the question, he felt his heartbeat speed up. The rigidity with which she stood, her face upturned diagonally from the spires of the ma'bat to scan the green glowing trunks of the jungle behind them, sent a shiver of alarm down his spine.

"Guys, hold on!" he called.

Kur took a single glance behind him and immediately rushed over.

"What's happening?" he whispered to Nar.

"I don't know," Nar said, but Jul's wide-eyed stare was fixed on the tree line, her antennae pointing in the same direction, which was not promising.

"Sej. We might have something," Kur said, as Calli and Row approached them as well. "Jul is sensing something. From the Jungle Tops side."

"Really?" the guide asked. "Hold on, let me find a hole to stick my head out of."

"Do you sense anything?" Kur asked Nar.

Nar shook his head.

"Medis?" Calli asked the leontar as she too, joined them.

"Nothing. But this could be something else," the leontar said, in a low voice as she scanned the tree line.

"Fear?" Calli asked.

Medis nodded.

"I thought she couldn't sense it yet?" Kur asked the leontar.

"She can't, but she has before, and it is likely to happen again out of her control," Medis said.

"Hmm, I don't sense anything," Sej said. "But I trust Jul to…"

There was a sudden, high-pitched cry, echoing from up on the spires, and everyone looked up as shadows darkened the skies.

"Uh, Sej?" Kur asked, as the ma'bat took flight en masse from their lair.

"What in the Abyss? What's gotten them so… Oh no!" Sej said. "Get up here, now! Now!"

"You heard her! Move!" Kur shouted, as other guides sounded the alarm.

"Jul, come on!" Nar said.

He pushed her gently, but the quam didn't budge, and without missing a beat, Medis went low and scoped Jul onto her broad shoulder.

"I got her! Let's go!" she said.

Together, they ran for the entrance to the spires, and while Kur and Row had been shouting in warning, the other guides had also quickly coped on to what was happening and were rushing the other apprentices into the spires as well.

"Quick! I don't know how much longer this guy's gonna wait for us!" Sej said.

"12th floor!" Leon said. "Just keep climbing!"

Nar bit down a swear as he and Medis, carrying Jul, plus Rel and Row, got separated from the rest of the party in the sudden influx of rushing delvers.

"Why are they going so slow!" Row snarled.

"We're okay!" Medis said. "No need to panic."

Rel tiptoed nervously in front of Nar and to his left, Row looked ready to start screaming at people. The others were further in, and likely split into smaller groups just like as they were.

"Fear…"

Nar snapped his eyes towards Jul.

"So much… Fear," the quam breathed. "So much…"

"Well, that doesn't sound good," Row said, her expression growing slightly paler.

"Jul. Can you tell us what's happening?" Medis asked in a soothing voice.

"A cloud… No. A wave… A tide of fear," Jul mumbled, her tone delirious. "Heading here. Our way… Swallowing the whole jungle…"

Nar clenched his jaw and stared across the ominous, green glowing tree line. He still didn't sense anything.

"Kur, Jul's talking about some kind of tide of fear covering up the whole jungle," Row said nervously. "There's only one thing that comes to mind…"

"Shit! Shit! Shit!" Jaz muttered.

"It's a Grounding!" Sej said, confirming their fears. "Someone triggered a Grounding and it's heading this way for some fucking reason! So get your asses up here before the spires are swarmed by groundling soldiers! Our ride is dying to go, too! Offering or no offering!"

Nar heard similar cries and warnings around them, and in the distance, just touching the farthest reaches of his hearing, he finally heard something.

What is that? He thought, straining his [Hearing] to the max. It sounded as though someone was beating loudly against a… Oh, shit.

"It's a full stampede! Gods know how many nests got triggered!" Sej told them. "Hurry! That many groundlings are going to destroy everything in their path!"

The panicked crowd of apprentices finally seemed to start moving at last, and soon, they were running up the stairs. The other parties, with smaller numbers, were grabbing onto any ma'bat that they could find, sometimes even splitting across multiple beasts.

Unfortunately for them, Sej, Sarke, Leon and Cor had the entirety of their offering with them, so they had no choice but to keep heading up.

A wave of sound grew to a crescendo outside of the spires, and as Nar caught a glance of the outside through a slim opening, he saw with growing dread as a tide of black and brown fur emerged from the tree line.

The groundling soldiers were a far taller and more vicious looking affair than the arguably cutesy groundling workers that they had encountered in the mushroom groove weeks earlier. For starters, these beasts stood nearly 10-feet tall at the shortest, and their front paws were taken entirely by a trio of immense, thick claws that looked razor sharp even from that height. Add to it their thick, coarse fur, and the menacing flat, huge teeth that they bared, and the soldiers were an entirely different story to the workers.

Not to mention, there had to be thousands of them pouring out of the tree lines as far as the eye could see.

"How many are there?" Tuk asked, panic in his voice.

"Just hurry!" Sej said. "Hurry!"

"We are!" Mul shouted back, more panic than anger.

Thankfully, they left the other apprentices behind and climbed through empty steps, but as they passed by another hole Nar found that the tide was now everywhere, and from below, he heard the first echoing growls as the beasts swarmed the spires.

"Crystal!" Rel said. "The other apprentices!"

"If anyone was still there, they're gone now!" Medis said. "I sense no more sapients in the spire. Only us."

"I hope they made it…" Rel said.

"We still need to worry about us!" Row said.

Suddenly, there was a loud crash, and they were thrown against the wall.

Row collapsed against Rel, and Medis, holding Jul, against Nar.

"They're breaking the spire!" Sej said. "Quick!"

"We're here!" Tun said. "Where's everyone else!"

"9th floor!" Kur said, his tone strained.

"Right behind you!" Eum said.

"We're still on the sixth!" Row said.

"Hurry! Hurry! Hurry!" Sej exhorted them.

Nar had never heard such panic and fear from her.

This is not good, he thought, and with blood rushing his brain, he scooped up Row into his arms.

"Sorry!"

"Don't be! Go faster!" she shouted.

More crashing echoed from below, and Nar grit his teeth as cracks formed on the walls and steps around them.

"Aren't these things worried about collapsing the spires on themselves?" Row asked.

"Groundlings will just dig their way out if they get buried," Sarke said. "And whatever they manage to bury is far catching for them."

"Isn't that lovely," Mul muttered.

The spire shifted under their feet again as they reached the ninth floor, and this time, it did not right itself again.

"Get ready! We're almost there!" Row shouted.

"We are ready!" Kur said. "Hurry!"

"What do they think we're doing?" Rel shouted.

Row, in Nar's arms, could only groan in irritation and panic.

Nar glanced back, already knowing what he would find, and his heart dropped.

"Just keep climbing!" Medis told him, before he could warn the others.

Nar figured she didn't want the other two to panic, as they were already climbing as quickly as Rel could manage. As for Jul, she seemed to have passed out, perhaps from an overload of the fear she had sensed.

Was that the combined fear of every other beast as they sensed the Grounding? He wondered idly, his mind seeking a distraction from their impending doom.

Casting another worried glance behind them, he saw that the beasts would soon be upon them. And with the way the spires were swaying more and more, cracks climbing up its walls, he didn't fancy their chances. They either died in the spires' collapse, suffocated under all that rock and mud, or they were picked one by one by the expert digging beasts, unable to do anything but listen as the beasts dug to devour them. Of the three, the first one seemed like the better way to go at least.

"Hurry! Hurry!" Sej shouted, as they finally burst out of the stairs and found the others. "They're right behind you!"

They must have gotten the ma'bat to the large hole through which it would fly out, or, the beast had taken itself there in its fear. The rest of them were all already atop the beast's wide back, and they were staring at them with such horror in their eyes that Nar didn't need his [Hearing] to know that the damned groundlings were mere steps behind them.

As they approached, the ma'bat rose and took ponderous steps towards the hole.

"Quick! It's going to jump!" Sej shouted.

The creature tilted outwards, ready to push against the spire with his mighty legs. Nar called upon his [Speed] and dashed forward to lift Rel into his arms as well, colliding with her as he tossed Row up his right shoulder. Up ahead, the ma'bat was almost gone…

Together, Nar and Medis jumped the last few feet, outstretched hands reaching to catch them just as clawed paws did the same from behind. And gravity reached up to embrace them.