Limitless Path

Still, Beth was worried a bit too much, as even their run up to the dungeon proved. Two people with weapon skills in Master, the whole group at around level three hundred, and all of them with at least one skill in Platinum meant they were a lot stronger than Beth thought. Clearing a way up to the dungeon entrance and getting inside proved almost trivially easy, though those beasts on the outside were of a lower level than the dungeon itself. Still, they made good time even through the first part of the dungeon, not struggling with the golems in the three-forties in level, able to clear about a third of the dungeon, though they wouldn't know that it was a third until they finished the clear later, in about twelve hours. At that kind of pace, they could do the whole thing in a weekend, as the place didn't have any kind of time compression in the instances. Twelve hours of fighting meant that it was early Saturday morning outside, about six o'clock, and they would finish the dungeon early Sunday, barring any problems.

Problems such as a big jump in difficulty, which would happen when the beasts hit level three-fifty. It wasn't a massive jump, to be fair, but it did slow the whole team down, which put their time estimates, based on the guesses they were working with, slightly off. Beth was really hoping the beasts didn't get up to level four hundred by the end, which was highly unlikely, but the last two-thirds of the dungeon was going to be a bit longer than the roughly twenty-four hours they might have estimated. The level three hundred and fifty jump was big enough that it really slowed them down quite a bit; what would have been twenty-four hours became more than thirty, which took them until Sunday afternoon to get through. Beth couldn't imagine putting a spike to the dungeon yet; not that it would become one hundred percent impossible, but it would take so long to get through that it wouldn't really be worth the time, time they didn't have because of their duties as referees.

Forty or fifty hours to clear a dungeon was nothing unusual, particularly as one got stronger and challenged stronger and larger dungeons. Some dungeons that people fought through at Ascended would take into the months to do a single clear, though there were some extenuating circumstances surrounding some of those. For example, a lot of very powerful dungeons had a separate timestream, meaning that they experienced time compression or even a separate time space altogether, perhaps having the events within happen entirely outside of the 'normal' timeline. Things with very high-level dungeons got very weird very fast, and Beth was both nervous about getting to that point as well as looking forward to the new challenges and discoveries it brought.

That was still a long time away, however, and for now they had to be content with making progress day-by-day, especially with something very much like a full-time job to work on. Well, time was something they could play with a bit, as they could use Beth's gate a little more than once a week; she just didn't want to put herself, or the others, under an undue strain. They were pretty good on levels, for now, they just needed to work on their skills, including their professions, and work on the dungeon on the weekend. It still left plenty for Bjorn and Kris to do, as they both had professions and other things to work on during the week, including all the time that Beth, Blood, and Sera were working. Sometimes, it was just really good being an unemployed bum that fully controlled a hundred percent of their own time.

Bjorn also made a stir in the Hall, at least, he did once he had gone out on the arena floor to do some matches. While he wasn't quite as strong as Beth, the difference was so slight, relative to the rest of the Earthlings that used the Hall, that it was practically the same, and he was a far more impressive sight. Sure, Beth was rather tall for her gender and species, but Bjorn was a real monster in terms of appearance. His nine feet tall frame, wider than a barn door and thicker than a freight train, made one hell of an impression just walking around, to say nothing of the kind of impression he left in combat. Beth had some amusement in watching the cult of personality form around him over the course of the second week he was there, though the man himself seemed largely oblivious to the fact. Or, more to the point, largely ignoring the fact, which relatively amounted to the same thing.

That stir wasn't as big as when Bai came back for a rematch, with her team, of course, only to run into Bjorn, nearly literally. Beth could only watch on, bemused, as Ming dragged her team into a conflict with the titan descendant, wanting to fight him only to get rebuffed. Bai still had a bit too much of that stuck-up pride, at least in Beth's opinion, though it did mean she ran cover for Ming, if only to assuage her own wounded pride. That got her whole team into a match with Bjorn, stat limited, and saw the massive man wipe the floor with them. You'd think, him being heavily restricted, that he would just become a big target, but he was surprisingly light on his feet. That, and there was also the fact that no matter the general restrictions, his titan constitution still shone through. With armor like a battleship and flesh like steel, even with his skills and stats restricted down to practically nothing, he was still incredibly difficult to damage in even a minor way.

Bai's team wasn't happy with one match, and Beth, who had gotten off of her duty for the day, watched from the sidelines as they did a second match. She was a little exasperated, considering that there really was just no way Bai's team was going to do much to Bjorn, but damn if they didn't give it a hell of a try. It was still a bit too brash on their part, however, as they hadn't seemed to quite realize Bjorn was a weapon Master already; the big man's presence sort of did that sometimes, overawing people to the point they sometimes missed what was right in front of their faces. Beth just shook her head as the titan smashed Bai's team into a rather bloody pulp, the arena not bothering to clean up all the blood when it healed heavily injured people.

"Are we having fun?" Beth asked from almost directly behind Bai, causing the short girl to start and whirl around.

"You!" Bai exclaimed, angrily pointing at her.

"Yes, me?" Beth replied, pointing at herself and raising a single brow.

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"How dare you?!" Bai cried, pointing more forcefully.

"How dare I? How dare I what?" Beth asked, genuinely confused at this point.

"I told you we'd be coming today, but you put this plant here to fight in your place! You chose to humiliate us!" Bai snapped angrily.

"Making a lot of assumptions here," Beth said, shaking her head. "I know Bjorn, but I didn't place him anywhere. He's here to help Sera and Blood and me clear some high-level beasts out, stuff over level three hundred. In fact, if what I saw was correct, and stop me if I'm wrong, it looked like Bjorn was minding his own business when Ming practically ran him down and demanded a fight. It seems to me more like you did this to yourselves."

"You-! Well, okay-" Bai huffed, cutting off as her team lost the match, the last of them unable to withstand Bjorn for more than a handful of seconds.

"I'm happy to fight you, if that will somehow make you feel better," Beth said with a small grin, seeing the younger girl's hackles rise at that.

"We want him!" Bai declared, pointing at Bjorn, who looked over at them with a mild look of confusion on his face.

"That's a great declaration, but maybe not so loud," Beth said, laughing a little as she looked around the arena floor, seeing their area was quite the center of attention.

"No, not like…you know what, never mind," Bai said in a huff. "Let's fight."

"You have a good Ming impression," Beth said, laughing at Bai's aghast reaction.

"What did I do?" Ming asked from a little further down the side of the dueling field.

"Nothing Ming!" Bai snapped. "Get in the ring!"

"Don't have to tell me twice," Ming said happily, running into the dueling field.

The ref was less amused at their antics, though they weren't breaking any rules, so the best he could muster was a strong glower. The team reformed, somehow convincing Bjorn to join them, though when he saw they were fighting Beth, he didn't really need all that much convincing. Beth wasn't as confident in this fight as she had been before, including her battle against both Sera and Blood along with Bai's team. Bjorn was the real deal in more ways than one, but the big thing that set him apart was his weapon skill, and Beth knew she was going to really struggle with him, even if he was limited to very low stats and no other skills.

The ref got them started just like any other match, and Beth was a bit amused how Bai's team had to adjust around Bjorn. If there was one thing she could say about the man, he was not particularly quick; he didn't have much problem staying light on his feet in close combat, moving around as his and his opponents' positioning and attacks dictated, but he wasn't very fast at getting to the opponent. He had skills to help with that, of course, but right now those skills were off, meaning he was quite slow in getting across the dueling field. Bai's team clearly hadn't expected this, having rushed him the times they fought him. Now, they had to adjust to his pace, not eager to rush into the meat grinder they knew Beth to be without their ace. Beth didn't just sit idly, either, not wanting to let the other team approach and get into position for free. That did mean approaching Bjorn, but that part of the fight was going to be unavoidable anyway, so might as well set it on her terms.

The others had forgotten, if just partially, that Beth was a Master now, and she reminded them of that lesson rather brutally, though she did have more difficulty in handling Ming than the others, realizing the battle maniac had gotten her Unarmed to Expert since they last fought. It was some impressive progress, and she was genuinely happy for the pint-sized brawler, a kindred spirit of hers in many ways, but that still didn't stop Beth from demolishing her. She had to work around Bjorn the whole time, and that greatly slowed her down, opening her up to attacks from the others at opportune times. It hadn't taken much for Bai's team to adjust to Bjorn in full-on battle, the man taking a space and owning it, forcing others to contest him for a very large section of dueling field. Beth was greatly hindered by him and couldn't just ignore him, the restrictions on him not as severe as her. That turned out to be enough to chalk up a loss for her, considering his weapon skill, though Beth made it tough, taking out basically all of Bai's team. She also heavily injured Bjorn, cutting him up pretty badly despite his armor and skilled deflections, but she couldn't clinch it in the end.

It wasn't really a big deal, considering both that the matches weren't ranked in any kind of way and that she was learning a lot. Any chance to cut loose and fight someone around her skill level, or just a bit better, was a chance to improve by leaps and bounds in a short time. Bjorn's heavy style of fighting, using weight and momentum to throw his opponents around and knock them off their feet, was also something she hadn't fought against much. She imagined Baelvyr would do much the same in the arena, but she'd never really seen him seriously fight. Sure, she'd seen him kill people, but calling any of those times fights would be a gross mischaracterization of what had actually happened. There was a certain kind of power that that much size and weight brought, despite stats being a big equalizer, that somebody much smaller had a more difficult time achieving. It wasn't impossible, of course, as there were also skills, Presences, Mana Physiques, and far more that could alter a person in untold ways, but Bjorn's style was a bit hard to get used to without a good bit of time to adapt.

Still, Bai's team had had a slightly better showing, but they had basically all been eliminated in the end. They still had one member in the ring with Bjorn, but that had been Li, missing one arm and with a broken leg that had him basically immobile, it sort of didn't count. At least, Beth thought of it as eliminating them all, but if it had been a deciding factor, he was still technically in the fight, so it was maybe just a bit presumptive to think of it as an unconditional win when considering just Bai's team. In any case, she congratulated them on the win and the effort they had been putting in, getting challenged by Ming again, which she didn't mind accepting. The Hall wasn't quite as busy as it had been, and sometimes the dueling fields were waiting for people to occupy them. Of course, that meant rousing a ref out of whatever else they were doing, whether it was other work or just sitting around in chairs and shooting the shit with the rest of the refs. Anyway, tough shit, that's what the refs were there to do, as she very well knew, having had to put up with it herself for several months at this point.

She did a couple rounds with just Ming, the others either fighting against Bjorn with even more restrictive rules or working with others in the Hall, which had the place hopping a bit. Beth didn't mind the duels, feeling like she was giving quite a few pointers to the others, but she was also learning a lot herself. They did say that teaching was a good way to learn, and she was finding that was true, at least to an extent, as she was really finding that she was able to polish her fighting style a bit as she commented on others'. It was quite helpful fighting against and teaching Ming, who had a somewhat similar style as Beth, though Ming didn't use any other weapons apart from her own body. That was an area were Beth had fallen behind a little, in terms of comparing it to her use of the sword, and she found that helping Ming adjust to the jump to Expert was helping her figure out some of what she needed to work on with her own use of Unarmed.