Mind's Reach [ LitRPG, unique class, weak to strong, dungeons ]

Mercer's voice was echoey around the room, hard to locate, and in a confused tone, he asked. "Don't you want your friends to survive? I can just leave and have some fun with them. Not my cup of tea, but I have a friend who will take good care of your beastfolk friend."

The tone of his sentence was nothing short of disgusting, but Sam's expression didn't change. He wanted the man to come out of hiding, but he couldn't see him; the smooth stone floor left no footprints, there was no smoke, and he didn't want the man dead just yet.

Manifesting his Psyhands, he felt around, trying to find something, but only touched stone. Now and then, he could hear some exertion as if Mercer was dodging the hands, but focusing more on that area only had him find more stone.

"Fine, fuck you then. I'll pay your fr-" Mercer's echoey voice stopped abruptly.

"Oh, what's wrong? Your Emergency Exit not working?" Sam asked rhetorically, his voice like venom.

"Wh... the fuck is going on?!" His voice echoed again, but the source now sounded from somewhere else.

In Sam's view, two windows were still in the corner of his eye.

[ Ascendance system update
Minor System access granted. ]

[ Activated: No escape.
Disables the Emergency Exit function from nearby enemy Players. ]

"Stop hiding, let's talk," Sam added as he continued trying to find something, someone, around him. Remembering that Mercer had a lot of avoidance and detection skills, it made sense that he could probably see and dodge the invisible Psyhands.

He needed a way to find him; he was locked in here now, but this kind of fight could be in Mercer's favour. Though Sam still had potions, if he couldn't see or sense his opponent, his opponent could see and react to his Psyhands, but it wasn't looking good.

[ Armour, Defence 260 has lowered the damage. ]
[ Barrier 0 / 175 ░░░░░░░░░░ ]

[ HP: 427 / 570 ███████░░░ ]

Sam felt a penetration of his barrier as it popped, followed by the slice across his thigh, on the front. Mercer was attacking when he got openings. Sam retaliated by trying a wide attack in his near area, but he hit nothing but stone.
Letting out a dissatisfied click of his tongue, he continued feeling around, all he needed was to get a hold of him with a single hand, and it'll all be over.

Remembering back to Mercer's skills, he had so many dodge and avoidance skills; in fact, all of his skills were variants of that. And since he kept dodging, he got dodge buffs from one of them. He could wait until he ran out of mana, if the skills even used mana. Mercer had a horrible Spirit, so it didn't seem entirely likely...

He needed a moment to think, and the solution to that was surprisingly simple. Dismissing 100 of his Psyhands, he formed a Thoughtform coffin around him. It wasn't airtight, but hopefully that wasn't an issue. His remaining Psyhands were still feeling around, but Mercer was incredibly slippery.

The odd thrown dagger, slice at the side or similar attack impacted his walls, without penetrating. Sam knew that if Mercer threw his whole body at this, it would topple over, but that would also spell his death, as that was impossible to hide from.

This gave Sam a moment to think, what could he do, what could he use? Spinning the blades around all chaotically, like from one side of the room to the other, would no doubt catch him, but he didn't want to kill him... yet.

Then an idea formed, or at least a test. Each time he attacked, Sam could feel the penetration of his Aura barrier. Sure, it popped right after, but could he use this?
Doing his best to extend his aura, spreading his arms within the coffin, trying to make it wider, to cover more area. It protested, it covered his body in a sphere-like shape, so it was adjusting. If he lifted his hands, it would become oval that way, if he T-posed it would stretch out that way, so there was a way to manipulate it.

Ignoring the attacks and odd curses outside of his coffin, he kept trying, physically and mentally. It took quite some time without any result, to his annoyance, but an idea formed.
His Ascendant powers were used in a roundabout way, asking the system in an almost computer-like way, so...

Attempting this for the Aura, his smile widened as the range doubled in area, it grew wider, enough to cover four more people if they stood around him.

"Progress!" He commented to himself in his little standing coffin.

Checking the numbers, it had indeed increased its area by a lot, but it had also halved the health it could produce. Not that this mattered to Sam at the moment. An occasional attack let him sense an intrusion, but this time the barrier didn't pop as it wasn't attacked.

[ Utility skill unlocked: Aura Radar. ]

[ Aura Radar
By lowering the defensive force and increasing the area, the Aura user can create a large dome in which he can sense targets.
The size is based on the AP applied, 1meter/3ft per AP. ]

Sam laughed, loud and hard. This was perfect, highly situational and niche, but perfect.
Triggering Aura Radar properly, keeping all 35 Aura Points in the Barrier, he let it extend to a 35-meter radius, more than enough to cover the entirety of the boss room he was in. The Barrier listed less than 1 hp in Defence, but this didn't matter; it wasn't attacked, and it wasn't going to be used that way.

He could sense him; he couldn't see anything, but like how you can point at a sound in pure darkness, he knew exactly where Mercer was. Like a shapeless blob moving around, he could tell exactly where it was going, how fast it was moving, up the walls, across the ceiling, hiding behind the throne.

"Guess what, fucker?!" Sam shouted into the room with a satisfied tone. "We're going to have fun now!"

Mercer kept moving around and abruptly changed direction as Sam dismissed all the plates making up his coffin. He didn't stop moving, but that didn't matter. Manifesting his full swarm around where he was, with consideration of his movement speed and direction, it was an easy task to clamp down with his full force. His combined carry weight at the moment was easily three grown men at the same time. Mercer was one thin man and had no chance.

Now that he could feel his body, it was easy enough to clamp down on his arms and legs and push him down with full force. Mercer resisted, but the sharp exhale of someone being slammed into the stone floor was like music to Sam's ears.

"The fuck," Mercer commented between coughs, his breath knocked out of his lungs. His invisibility deactivated. "How the fuck did you get me?"

"Does it matter?" Sam asked with a monotone voice.

"It fucking does," Mercer replied as he vanished from sight. Sam felt his presence behind him and activated his Flash Step shoes, getting some distance as well. Seeing Mercer being invisible for a brief moment, Sentinel's Watch could see him this time.

Sam took a 5-damage dagger out from storage and force-pulsed it towards the man's foot with his entire swarm. The following snapping explosion was deafening, especially since they were inside a cave, but the result was worth it. The dagger mangled itself against the stone floor, then again as it hit the wall behind Mercer. However, so did his foot in an explosion of blood and shattered bone.
Having hit him in the middle of his shin, the blade had more than enough speed as it broke the sound barrier to blow his foot entirely off.

Mercer fell to the floor, his invisibility fading as he grasped onto his leg in pain, shooting expletives as he managed to take a potion out of his pack and drink it.

"Impressive," Sam commented in the same monotone as before. "Being clear-minded enough to drink a potion in that situation."
The situation was not good for Mercer, but Sam was honestly impressed.

The wound stopped bleeding, but didn't regrow the foot.
"L-listen, man. I didn't mean what I said, I was just fucking with you for an easy kill."

Sam grabbed him with one Psyhand, just in case he repeated the transport skill; it was much more accurate than the Aura Radar at the moment. Not needing the radar either, he moved the points back to the barrier, just in case.
"Oh, I think you did,"

"Come on, man. Just... What are you even doing?" The tone had changed from lording over Sam to the echoey sound of speaking through stealth, and now pleading.

"I have realised that, as long as one group, or one person, remains in here, the System isn't sending more. So I'm considering just keeping you here for a while. Your friend out there can see your health and will either assume you're having fun with me or just leave at some point. That should be fine, you only took 5 damage."

"What?!" Mercer shouted out as he looked away for a brief moment. "You took my fucking leg, how did that only do 5 damage? My armour didn't even stop it!" He sounded angry, confused and in pain.

"Fun, isn't it?" Sam replied with a statement, not answering anything. "The fun thing is that I have 35 more of the daggers." Smiling without his eyes, he manifested the 35 extra blades in the air around him, each held by a Psyhand.
"I think if I hurt you too much, it might cause your friend to realise something is wrong, but I think that a few more 5-damage hits should be fine, don't you?"

The panic in Mercer's eyes deepened as his eyes widened. He said something in a pained, crying voice, but Sam couldn't make it out.

"Oh, you don't want this? But it was so fun when you could attack me, why is it that now, all of a sudden, it's not fun anymore?"

"Please, let me leave, I'll pay you, everything I have, anything."

"Oh, I'm taking that anyway, but don't worry, I'm not the torturous kind. The leg was just for my safety's sake, you're more a... placeholder." Sam smiled as he took the man's dagger.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

[ Spinecarver, High-End S-rank
Damage: 130
Bloodletting Edge: Critical hits inflict a stacking Bleed (10).

Phantom Grip: Attacks with this weapon don't break invisibility.

Blink Cut: 10% chance to teleport behind the target on hit.

Disrupting Fang: Reduces healing received by the target for 3s

Silent Rupture: Attacks are completely silent. ]

"Oh, this is a good dagger," Sam smiled as he hovered it over to him with a Psyhand.

"Take it, man, it's yours, just let me go." Mercer continued to plead.

"How generous of you. Let's have a look at the rest of your gear while we're at it, it's not like you need it anymore."

Sam knew he had zero problems killing the man if needed; the 120 Defence could just as well not be there when resisting his swarm. The B-rank armour had four traits: dodging, sound muffling, damage reduction against players and debuff reduction. Not a bad set for PvP, which still worked normally. Sam wondered if he should swap out any traits for the ones he had stolen over the countless fights he had so far:

Everything was taken from the armour of other players, some he had stored in his Item Box, but once that was full, he had to let things fade along with the players like a magical garbage disposal. Since he was also stealth-focused, he stole Ghostthread, putting it on his own

[ Assimilation Armour

Defence: 260

Trait 1: Ghost-Bound Straps: When you die, you revive with 1 HP. 1/day

Trait 2: Dewfiber Lining: Gradually restores hydration.

Trait 3: Ghostthread: Reduces the sound of all movement.

Trait 4: Waxed Underlayer: Fluids slide off instantly (e.g. blood, acid, slime).

Trait 5: Dust-Collector Lining: Increases loot percentages by 2%. ]

Mercer's armour was thrown to the side after that. Sam had no more slots in his Item Box, so he didn't need it now. He continued looking at the gear he had, finding a ring.

[ Whisper Coil

Unseen Anchor: While stationary and stealthed, it cannot be revealed by tremorsense, scent, or magic ping. ]

"For some reason, I expected that you'd have more gear than this," Sam complained.

"Skills and good gear are expensive, man. That dagger, armour and skills ate all my money." He replied hesitantly.

Though it had been a long time since, Sam took a moment to inspect the two daggers from the first fight he had as a dungeon boss, when he killed a rogue at that time.

[ Necktickle, High-end S-rank.

Damage 130

Bleedstacker – Applies an extra stack of Bleed if the target is already bleeding.

Slippery Hold – Immune to disarm effects.

Cold Tip – Has a 10% chance to deal +20 Frost damage.

Sharp Reflex – Gain +5% dodge chance for 3s after hitting with this weapon. ]

[ Rat's Ivory, High-end S-rank.

Damage: 130

Scavenger's Edge – Killing an enemy has a 25% chance to restore 5% HP.

Spasm Trigger – If the target is below 20% HP, 8% chance to stun for 1s.

Grease Channel – Movement speed +4% while holding this weapon. ]

Feeling a bit weird for it, Sam let out a dissatisfied tongue click when he saw that the weapons he got from the first rogue didn't have a full list of traits. S-rank weapons could have five, but one had four and the other three. Still not bad for 'free' weapons.

"Hmm, well. I suppose the next question becomes: What can we do to strop your friends from fucking with my friends? If I let you go, there is no guarantee you won't go take revenge. And if I kill you, your friends will do it instead."

Sam stared at his new friend as he repeated the situation, and found it odd that Mercer looked away.

"Oh~?" Sam voiced a drawn out interested sound. "There are no friends, are there?"

"Y-yes, there is. If I don't get out soon, they'll assume the worst." Mercer responded with a sudden burst of energy, looking and sounding a bit too desperate and defensive.

"Ah, that's good to know. Now that you mention it, the health display thing doesn't work through areas separated by needing to teleport, so it doesn't make sense for someone outside the boss room to be able to see your Health." Sam thought to himself as he started pacing around.

"Y-yes, you can. He's got a skill that lets him do that!" Again, he sounded just a little bit too desperate, even considering his situation.

"Well, that's a lie," Sam said with complete certainty. He didn't know for certain that this was true, but the act of acting certain seemed to work on Mercer.

"N-no, it's not."

"Well, in that case, I feel I can relax a little bit... I'll admit you had me going for a while there." Sam felt relieved, incredibly so.

"Fuck..."

Sam's lowered shoulders sank even more when Mercer's reaction confirmed it. He had assumed initially, but coaxed out a roundabout confession. He felt oddly proud of this, but the most important thing was that his friends were at least safe from Mercer. However, if he figured it out, there were possibly more who would have noticed it. Janik was a smart man, so he'd probably consider these things, but... Though Sam was more relaxed, he couldn't feel entirely calm.

"Well, in that case, I say you should get comfortable." As Sam completed his sentence, he lifted Mercer to the throne and dropped him on the stone floor next to it. Using a few Psyhands, he formed a simple chain and shackles, fastening it tight around his waist so he couldn't just chop himself out, and the other end of the short chain to the throne. The only reason he trusted this to work was that he could read into his skills; Mercer had a short-range movement skill, but it wasn't a threat.

[ Blurstep: Short-range line-of-effect instant reposition with 1s invisibility. ]

It was a reposition skill, so it moved your body similarly to grabbing and moving with Psyhands, so you couldn't go through something or get out of something.

"You sit around here for a while, I'll take this moment to rest." Sam walked to the other side of the room and set up another coffin of Thoughtform plates. He might have Mercer incapacitated, but he didn't trust him not to try something. He might also be wrong about the blocking of new people coming, so there was no need to not make sure with a coffin.

Sam woke up to the sound of digital glitching noise, slamming his head against the wall of the coffin, and cursing to himself, he had to dismiss it to get up. Looking around, he saw that Mercer had been doing his best to be silent; he was trying to rub the chain against the stone of the throne. There were marks against the stone, as well as around his waist and hips. It looked like he had tried to wiggle out of everything or damage the chain or throne to get loose.

The sound came from nowhere, and everywhere at the same time. Though Sam only had an annoyed expression, Mercer seemed to be freaked out.

"The fuck is going on? What's that sound?"

"Ah, don't worry about it," Sam replied dryly. "It's just the System fucking with me, so something weird is probably going to happen."

"What do you mean weird, the fuck is with you?!" He was shouting, distressed.

Sam didn't answer; he simply made sure his abilities were ready and good and tried his best to be prepared for whatever was coming his way.

Suddenly, someone landed in the centre of the room, like many times before. Sam sighed, dissatisfied as he hoped that having someone else in here would be enough to avoid more people coming in, but he was again surprised.

What had come into the room were not Players. Two humanoid figures with almost glowing gold markings across their smooth matte-black skin, both of them had four arms and a subtle purple glow from their eyes, in the grooves of their almost lamellar-like horns and in between the feathers of their hip-mounted wings. They had a long tail ending in a flower fan-like shape. The male was more rugged and muscular, whereas the female was smaller and more slender. Had it not been for the wings, horns, tail and all the glow, they could almost pass for painted humans.

They spoke in weird words that Sam didn't understand, but it seemed to panic Mercer.
"Oh shit, no! Kill them!" He disappeared right after, but the chains holding him to the throne still showed very clearly where he was. Sam had his weapons, armour and gear, so the only things he had to rely on were his skills, none of which were going to help him out of this situation.

Though Sam felt like it would be neat to see what these creatures did to him, he had questions for Mercer and was curious about these creatures.

The closest one to Mercer was the male, who was making for the invisible but chained target. Sam made sure to stop him from hurting his prisoner. Permanently. He hadn't even Appraised it yet, but it didn't matter. Manifesting the remaining of the swarm, the creature jumped away, closer to the wall. Sam sent out every available Psyhand, named weapons, in addition to Thoughtform weapons. All of them hit the poor creature, which was impaled against the wall, the total damage was more than enough to explode it into a cloud of gold-streaked luminous purple blood covered black chunks, covering the wall and floor near where it was.

As the viscous fluids stopped raining down, leaving the room in a confused silence, there was one sound that dominated, a staticky and scratching glitching sound. The point where the weapons impaled the wall had taken damage. First, it looked like the textures of the point they impacted came in and out of existence for a split second at a time before stabilising, then glitched again with an angry flickering sound for a moment and stabilised yet again.

This continued until Sam pulled his weapons back, the glitching sound and wall returned to how it was before, and everything looked normal.

[ Ascendance System Quest updated. ]