A BUMP IN THE ROAD

Michael finished the climb to the last level of the mountain and stopped at a door gate. The previous levels never had even a door blocking the way so Michael was a little skeptical of the protocol. He was wondering what he should do when Liera moved in front of him and knocked four times. She gave a quick smile at Michael’s expression before moving back beside Catherine. Catherine also tried to hide her amusement but a smile flitted across her expression once in a while.

The gate squeaked opened before Michael could give a defence and a strong gust came out of nowhere behind them. Michael saw that it was made by the bothersome Mage from a few days ago and the air pushed them inside the room. What they saw caused no little shock.

The interior the room was dark and damp, but incredibly spacious. The far side of the room was at least half a hundred paces away from Michael’s party and the entire area was round in shape. The height of the room was maybe half the length of the hall and the top had a giant golden chandelier hanging from the center. It took up most of the ceiling and wasn’t lit. The walls were covered in ice and crystal making a dazzling sight and there were stone sculptures placed all around the room. Depictions of warriors with detailed pieces of armor and quality weapons. Maidens in tight clothing and beautiful features. Monsters with different characteristics and each deadlier than the other. This vast array of sculptures created a disquieting scene and made everyone walk lightly.

Michael’s sculpture skill rose considerably as he looked at just one sculpture so he used ‘IA’ for a time and examined them all. After leveling his ‘Sculpting’ skill once, Michael moved on down the hall and tried to reach the end of the hall to see if there was anything hidden. When the party reached the center though, a loud rumbling started.

Michael initially thought that it was a large scale ‘Quake’ type spell. However, when he switched sights to see for where the Mana would be coming from he found nothing. No traces of Mana was being used to shake the room and Michael paled as he thought of a different reason it would shake. His feeling came about in the form of a giant winged beast that emerged from behind the chandelier. A deep voice spoke from it.

“Kukuku. Fresh intruders, come to me to die. I usually have to go out and find some meals that fall into my traps. This however is much better...”

The wings of the beast stretched about 5 metres each. They were reminiscent of the bat wings Michael had read about in his books. The main body was definitely not a bat since it was almost completely round in shape and the two legs at the bottom were long and ended at only three clawed toes. The most distinct part of the monster however was the giant eye that took up nearly the entire body. Its mouth was located directly below it and the sharp teeth that were shown had a slightly bloody tint to it.

Michael had heard of Floating Eye type monsters before and had even read about them. The books he read said that these monsters were relatively low level and small, not even going beyond the size of a dwarf. They relied on group attacks and usually overwhelmed travelers with a mass use of claws to kill. The one in front of Michael was different. It was incredibly big for one, and the eye was looking and examining the intruders with an obvious intelligence. Plus the fact that it spoke told that its level was incredibly high.

Michael used ‘IA’ as best he could. 5:1 speed with ‘IA’ at its Expert ranking used up about 20 mana per second. 10:1 used up an incredibly 640 mana per second so the uses were extremely different. Michael could have probably used 10:1 before the Curse on him but right now he needed a compromise between speed and mana upkeep. He settled on 6:1 speed which used up 40 mana per second and started to analyze the being in front of him.

Half a minute later a telltale information box appeared. Michael turned off his ‘IA’ which had taken over 1/4th of his Mana and focused on the box.

Inutian. Level 256. Evil Eye (BOSS CLASS)

[p=left]The most powerful of its kind, Inutian has used its high intelligence to trap and kill many types of monsters without the help of allies. This efficient type of solo hunting has allowed Inutian to become much larger than the rest of his kind and his strength is nothing to sneeze at. Consuming multiple spellcasting prey has granted Inutian powerful abilities in the magic arts.

Vulnerable to Light-type magic.

High flying abilities.

Can use high-level magic.

Lowest stat is Strength but it can still crush a boulder if it wants.

High intelligence has allowed it to communicate to a most races.

Incredibly resistant to Magical Curses.[/p]

‘Oh great...’

Michael became incredibly frustrated at this abrupt bump in his adventure. A high 200 leveled monster...No, a high 200 leveled Boss monster. And from the description it was an extremely intelligent one at that. Troublesome, troublesome. Michael took another long look around the room and sighed at the lack of treasure he found.

“Share information to party.”

Michael said a few party commands and the information he found should have been sent to Liera and Catherine. Indeed, they both jumped at the screen that should have popped up in front of them; Liera nodding at all the information while Catherine just gave a shocked stare at Michael. The skill was nearly one of a kind so…

Michael approached Inutian slowly.

“Excuse me. Inutian? I would like to ask. Where are all the treasures?”

Always best to be polite. It never really made things worse for Michael. That situation with Damien was hardly a dangerous event. And besides, the boss monster may react well to-

Michael didn’t even have time to think as his body moved to collect Liera and Catherine and then ran as fast as he possibly could. The area they were standing in was engulfed in multiple wind-type spell ‘Tornado’ and each of those were almost as large as Michael’s ‘Fire Tornado’. Michael had never really felt the need to learn how to make a ‘Tornado’ spell since the damage output seemed rather low, but when he saw the stone statues around them being sucked into the massive vortex and then being ripped to shreds...he started to admit he knew next to nothing about it.

“Kekeke you dodged that well...for a Human. Are you a mage? Or was that all instinct. I’m guessing the latter but I really shouldn’t assume until I absolutely know. Kekeke this will definitely be fun.”

Michael continued to run with Liera and Catherine over his shoulders; both were extremely angry at their treatment but quieted down when they saw the devastation that occurred behind them. Michael switched his sight in order to see any future attacks before he dropped both women off near the entrance to the room. It had a slight overhead which would allow them to hide somewhat. Maybe if Michael could get it’s attention for a bit…

Michael did not wish to rely on his Magic. His stat reduction wasn’t as bad as it was before since the cave had the property of night and gave him a 30% boost to stats. Also his ‘High Champion’s Combat Mastery’ gave a slight passive battle boost to his stats, only 8%, but that 8% was off his original stats and gave a large boost. He still wasn’t up to par but he was closer than ever.

Michael dashed towards Inutian after giving some instructions to Catherine. Liera wasn’t suited to fight flying monsters so she had no choice but to stay with Catherine and try to protect her. She obviously didn’t like it but she knew there was little chance a close-combat fighter would stand a chance against a flying boss. Michael was also close-ranged but he did have some ranged skills. Michael threw several daggers at Inutian and it swerved to dodge them. They wouldn’t have caused great damage but Inutian was obviously cautious of any status debuffs they may inflict - aka poisoned daggers. ‘Very smart indeed’. Still Michael was aiming for the creature to go in that direction.

Michael was still running towards Inutian when the monster hit the wall slightly. The room seemed rather small with the boss inside it and Michael made great use of that. Kicking off the wall, Michael launched himself at the monster that was trying to right itself. Michael took out his blade and took a swing at Inutian’s wing. He noticed the shift in Mana too late and an impact threw him away. He skidded along the wall before coming to a stop a few metres from the entrance.

Michael had lost about 2,300 Health from that one hit and he was bleeding from several places which meant his health was lowering continually. He saw Catherine starting a spell to heal him.

“Heal my cuts first, then my Health.”

Michael’s Health was a finally lower than 50% but he didn’t want to resort to his original state as he felt that would mean he had given up. Michael wished to test the limits of his abilities under the curse and he tried to devise a plan as he ran around the room. He noted the destroyed sculptures and gave some sorrow for the lost artwork. His sorrow increased when he saw that most of the Maiden sculptures were the ones that were destroyed. Then he had a plan.

Michael tried to look for the largest sculpture in the room and found a set of them near Inutian. ‘Perfect’ Michael thought as he switched sights and took out his strongest Mana potions from his pack. Michael focused deeply until he could see the original makeup of the sculptures. Hard stone that repelled the elements. Pure Earth. Some resistance to Water and Wind. High resistance to Fire. Very strong. Solid for a long period of time has permeated the aspects of its look into its essense. No sentience. Michael focused on that part and poured his mana into it. He needed to change its role on Gaia. Change it from a sculpture to a being. Give it…Sentience.

The sculpture started to move and its eyes opened. Michael looked at its aspects one last time and gave it another piece. Fury. Michael didn’t need Loyalty from the new Golem, only its strength.

The moving sculpture had been created in the aspect of a giant lizard. Its mouth opened a little to let out a stone tongue that was created as part of the spell and its sight locked onto Inutian. It had a long tail that was nearly as long as its main body and the head was in the shape of a V. It used all four legs to charge the flying being and it whipped out its tongue in order to catch Inutian’s leg and pull Inutian towards it. Inutian was shocked at the developement but its long life had given it some reflex and Inutian tried to pull itself away. The struggle continued as Michael drank his Mana potions.

Michael searched the room a few more times before choosing a large Warrior sculpture. The entire thing was encased in heavy armor and an axe could be seen attached to its back. At 5 metres tall it would be small in the room but good enough for the fight. Michael focused on that as well and noted the similarities it had with the lizard sculpture. He did see that the humanoid aspect of it gave off some intelligence but he gave it sentience anyways. He added Berserk instead of Fury so it would attack everything it sees to the death. Michael did not want his Golems to live to the end.

The warrior started to move after Michael had finished his work and it immediately turned its gaze to the giant battle. It tilted its head back and gave a giant roar before charging at its new foes with quick steps. The warrior’s axe was equipped and it made a menacing figure as a foe.

When the warrior reached the pair it swung its axe at Inutian and cause a long gash on the main body. Inutian’s eye wasn’t damaged but the area to the side of the mouth gave off a lot of blood. Michael noticed something shiny dropping out of the gash and he shifted his sight to see what it was. He gasped when he saw that the mana from the surroundings were being drawn to it in large quantities. ‘Mana regenerating item...did the monster eat all of the treasures?’ Michael now viewed Inutian as one of those ancient stuffed animals that let out treats whenever it got hit.

When the group moved away from the item, Michael charged as quick as he could to pick it up. It was a bracelet and it had a shield on it that even repelled Michael’s identification skill from ‘IA’. He already saw that it took in Mana though so he slipped it on. The bracelet started to shine and Michael’s mana dropped to 100 as he gasped in pain. Then the entire room was engulfed in Chaos.

Michael seems to attract bad luck...The bracelet he picked up was a Mana storage and spell activator contained in one. It was designed to absorb the mana from its surroundings and store it for a vast period of time, the maximum seemed to be about 3000 years. The spell it had was ‘Copycat’ and it basically copied the last spell the user used and then replicated it in a larger scale. With no control it would use up all of the Mana it had stored. Inutian had controlled and used it to a degree and that was the main reason he could unleash the vast quantities of ‘Tornado’ from before. Inutian did have several hundred years to practice and used it so he didn’t make as many mistakes as before.

Michael however wasn’t used to it. When he equipped it, the spell activated and it copied his ‘Golem Creation’ on a large scale. Both ‘Sentience’ and ‘Berserk’ were copied and then used on every sculpture in the room and a large war started as stone warriors and monsters started to fight each other and the original three giants. Inutian was taken down under a wave of attacks and every sculpture started a free-for all battle. Michael was also under attack for a bit but he dodged them to the best of his abilities and the attackers were drawn to more violent bouts.

Michael ran towards the entrance to meet and group up with Liera and Catherine. He saw several crushed sculptures around Liera and he was glad to see the two relatively unharmed. They both glared when he came and Liera bashed another sculptures head in.

“Did you cause all of this?”

Liera’s tone reminded Michael of his mother and he gave a sheepish grin at her question. He had already packed away the bracelet so that both wouldn’t see and suspect the fault of an item. Then he took out his sword and dagger and proceeded to take out any incoming stone attacker.

Michael’s movements were different and more fluid than Liera’s. His steps were connected and looked smooth, and instead of the solid choreography of Liera’s movements, Michael’s were like he had tried to do a solo dance and killed the ones that wished to interrupt and join him all without breaking rhythm or tension. When he went up against a tight group of stone warriors he started to leave after images as his chaotic movements were enhanced by his high ‘Battle Dance’ skill. Against solo enemies Michael wasn’t able to rely on the skill but he didn’t falter. He used quick thrusts and feints to drive the enemy where he wanted and end it with a flair.

[/hr]

The battle lasted for an hour before only a scant amount of sculptures were left. The Lizard had been taken down very early since its movements were very inappropriate in wars. It had no real attacks to be used against groups and it was swarmed by the other sculptures. The warrior was still there but it was missing an arm and both of its legs. It seemed to have passed its Berserk state and was unwilling to continue its fight. It still kept a wary eye out for the other monsters too. Since it had 0 loyalty to Michael, he didn’t bother trying to recruit the it.

The number one reason for the battle was still alive. Inutian had been able to take to the skies with only a few dozen attached sculptures trying to kill him. Arrows from some random sculpture archers also contributed to the sky melee and Inutian was covered in arrow wounds and gashes. Blood continually dripped from the monster as it eyed its surroundings to make sure nothing else would approach. Then it saw Michael and it screeched. Inutian wasn’t able to use magic during the battle since its concentration entirely focused on defence but now was different.

Michael jerked his head at Inutian after it screeched and he saw an incoming Fireball. Michael easily dodged the spell and started to charge the confused monster. It seemed to wonder why multiple Fireballs hadn’t been used and Michael grinned at its misfortune. He launched himself off a large pile of stone - he thought he saw a lizard head in the pile - and took advantage of the momentary shock from Inutian to deal a large blow to its left wing. A body hit would have had a higher chance of being a critical strike, but a wing hit would ground the flying creature.

Inutian fell in a roar and it started to scramble its limbs. It wanted to get airborne again but it wasn’t able to in the end. Knowing this, Inutian tried to stand up and face Michael but the leg that the Lizard had before was broken and Inutian limped on the spot. All in all, Inutian was going to die and it knew it.

“Kukuku, do you still wish for the treasures Human. I can give it to you. Just let me live and leave me alone and you can be wealthy beyond measure.”

Inutian was obviously trying to live. Michael just smiled however and took out the bracelet that cause all of the destruction. Inutian’s eyes widened when it saw the prized possession. Michael’s smile and his next words chilled Inutian to the bone.

“I surprisingly saw this bracelet come out of a gash in your body. And when I look around the battlefield I can also see several dropped gold coins. This makes me wonder if you have all that treasure inside of you. Please be nice and let me kill you to find out.”

Inutian immediately sent a ‘Tornado’ at Michael before trying to limp away. Michael however had ‘IA’ on 2:1 speed so his reaction to the spell was quick. He ran forward before the spell even formed and his blade took Inutian’s other leg.

“Is that a necklace I see coming out of your leg. Seems my idea was correct!”

“NOOOOOOO. Bastard, you will not get any of this treasure!!”

Michael grew pale when his sight caught the activation of a spell. He scrambled back and hid behind a large piece of sculpture when a large ‘Fire Tornado’ was created with Inutian at the center. The temperature of the spell wasn’t increased by purifying the air but by pouring enourmous amounts of mana into it. Michael knew that it had used every bit of the Mana storages it had and the result was a suicide that reached incredible proportions.

Only when Michael had hid did he remember the items inside Inutian. ‘THAT BASTARD!! WHAT KIND OF SORE LOSER KILLS HIMSELF AND DESTROYS THE ITEMS SO THAT THE OTHER PERSON DOESN’T GET IT!?!?!?’ Michael started to rage a the waste of time he had given to the exploration of treasure. All of those Mana items. That gold. The research that could have been there. Gone.

Liera and Catherine went looking for Michael after the ‘Fire Tornado’ had died down. They found him sitting and wrapping his arms around his legs in a position that screamed ‘DEPRESSED’ so they went around to gather the fallen loot. They only managed to acquire about a thousand gold coins and no items. Very small reward for the battle that took place. Sculptures didn’t drop items after all. The pair didn’t find any other area that could house secrets - the Chandelier had also transformed into some twisted being with twisting arms and Fire-based attacks and Inutian had to deal with it - so they both decided they had everything.

When they showed the items to Michael he finally dispelled his depressed state and rose from his position. He knew that the chances of actually finding treasure was originally low and a thousand gold pieces was not a small amount. He even had the bracelet that he could tinker with and control when he had the time. He could think of various uses for it so he brightened a bit. His personallity also didn’t allow for long periods of depression, especially for items that he had never seen or heard about before.

As the trio started to walk towards the entrance, they heard a small sound in the pile of rubble near them. Michael strained his ears a bit and he heard the sound of movement; of stone scraping on stone. Then a ‘help’ came from the pile and all three rushed towards it. They all started to take out chunks of stone that made up the pile and they soon uncovered a moving slender stone hand. When the pile was completely off they uncovered an intact female stone sculpture that looked at them with some fear. The ‘Berserk’ state had left a long time ago so there should be no aggression from the sculptures anyways.

“A-Ah where am I? Who am I? Why was I under there? Who are you? Why -”

The long torrent of questions from the sculpture caused Michael to frown at Liera and Cathering. His unspoken question said ‘What do we do?’ They both answered back with ‘you caused this, you deal with it.’ Michael sighed at them and looked at the stone girl again.

All of the sculptures in the room were made by an expert hand. Whether Inutian had collected them or found them all there in the beginning were questions that died with it. The stone girl in front of the trio was moving and talking due to Michael’s spell and even the clothes on her seemed to become lifelike. Still, stone clothing was probably unwearable to other people. The girl was also very pretty. She was probably taller than Liera and had curves that made Liera and Catherine blush when they noticed. Michael didn’t care and he already took in her personality. Or rather lack of personality. As a new being, she had the intelligence of a regular person but basically no real memories. Since she was also made with only beauty in mind she probably had no fighting skills either. Basically she wasn’t going to last long.

“Well, none of our business. Let us be off!”

Michael started to turn away when the sculpture started crying.

“P-please don’t leave me alone. I don’t know anything about the world. Please.”

Her pitiful look didn’t touch Michael’s bored heart but Catherine and Liera started to tear up at the sculpture. They both scrambled forward to hug the woman and both of them turned large teary eyes at Michael. Not even a monster would be heartless enough to make them all cry - at least hypothetically - so Michael waved them all to come and he continued his walk towards the entrance. Michael tried the ‘Call Orb’ as he walked but he wasn’t able to make a connecting call. The three women behind him started to talk with each other in low whispers and Michael tried his best to ignore them.

[/hr]

Michael decided that the best way out of the mountain was through the elevator. He knew his decision to destroy it before was right so he didn’t bother mulling over it as he examined the shaft entrance. It seemed to go straight down so Michael decided to try a new spell.

The ‘Gust’ that Inutian had used before seemed to have enough power to propel people in different directions. Michael decided that if he used the spell to push upwards from the bottom of the elevator, he would be able to create a slow descent for the riders. He decided that the new Stone Girl would be the first victim.

“How much do you weight? Do you know? Shall we try to find-”

Michael was slapped twice by Liera and Catherine, both of whom started to say something about manners and the like. Michael didn’t hear since he was still reeling from the blows. Catherine was rather weak in strength but Liera technically had a higher strength than the current Michael. Plus she had mass leveled during the goblin extermination.

In the end, the plan was for Michael to use gust on Jemma - they decided that Stone Girl was a very inappropriate name for her - in the hallway and then lower her slowly through the shaft. He had a couple of Mana potions out and ready to use as well. Surprisingly the mana used to create an air cushion underneath Jemma was relatively low. He basically just solidified the air than then manipulated the spell using his Mana, allowing the cushion to move around with some ease. Jemma was a little heavy but she seemed to have lost some stone weight during the transition.

Jemma was lowered down the shaft and only took up a fifth of his Mana. Liera was next, then Catherine before Michael took the makeshift traveling route himself. Reaching the bottom was very quick and when all four were together they started their walk once again.

Michael was a little worried about his ‘Call Orb’. It was supposed to have infinite durability but the fact that it didn’t work at the moment made him frown with worry. ‘Maybe a spell of some sort? But Inutian is dead...wait.’ Michael opened his stats and was shocked to see that he still had the 30% bonus from ‘Space of the Night.’ Michael decided to check out his ignored information boxes.

You have entered the secret dwelling of Inutian.

You have seen the ‘Warrior of Hope’. ‘Sculpting’ proficiency has increased.

You have seen the ‘Dawn Knight’. ‘Sculpting’ proficiency has increased.

You have seen the ‘Lovely Maiden of the Lake’. ‘Sculpting’ proficiency has increased.

You have seen the ‘Rampaging Reptile’. ‘Sculpting’ proficiency has increased.

...

These went on for quite a while.

’Sculpting’ has leveled up.

You have gained more of an understanding of ‘Space of the Night’

You have lost an incredible 2361 Health.

You are under the effects of ‘Ket’s Touch’. Bleeding effect is taken care of. Health has recovered by 300 points.

You are under the effects of ‘Ket’s Kiss’. Health has started recovery. Health recovery at 100%.

You have granted Sentience to the target. You have created ‘Giant Stone Lizard’. ‘Giant Stone Lizard’ has the characteristics of ‘Fury’ activated.

Golem Creation has leveled up.

You have granted Sentience to the target. You have created ‘Giant Stone Guardian’. ‘Giant Stone Guardian’ has the characteristics of ‘Berserk’ activated.

You have equipped ??? Bracelet. [p=left]Last known spell has been recorded.

Mana use has not been directed. Using all mana stored.

‘Golem Creation’ Spell will be repeated using all mana.[/p]

The next few thousand boxes had information on the different sculptures Michael accidentally gave sentience to. ‘Golem Creation’ also leveled up a few times in between.

Golem Creation has leveled up. Golem Creation has reached Expert ranking.

Golem Creation. Expert level 1. (5%) Active skill[p=left]An ancient type of magic. Once upon a time the magicians of the past were spurned by the populous. Wielding powerful spells in one hand they were unable to protect themselves against physical attacks. Trusted Warriors were too rare to obtain so the Mages needed to resort to this spell.

Allows the user to grant sentience to the Elements. Only a properly strong elemental object can be granted Sentience. Can also give Sentience to an object of mixed elements.

Creation uses only 300 mana.

Can grant a limit of 5 aspects to the creation.

Minimal loyalty level of all creations is set at 70% if you add Loyalty aspect to the target.[/p]

’Battle Dance’ has leveled up.

’High Champion’s Combat Mastery’ has leveled up.

You have killed the boss ‘Inutian’. You have leveled up 20x. You have been granted +10 Strength and +20 Agility because of your achievement.

You have explored 95% of ‘Iron Mount’ and you have gained a proper understand of ‘Space of the Night’.

Space of the Night

[p=left]A darkness attribute spell, this large scale spell will recreate the attributes of a dark night sky.

Requires Mana to increase the area of the spell.

Approximately 1 square meter will require an upkeep of 20 mana.[/p]

This...was a very useful spell. It basically allowed Michael to take advantage of his ‘Blessing of Janira’ without having to wait till the evening. Very nice indeed…

When the part finally left the cave Michael tried his ‘Call Orb’ once again. This time the telltale operator appeared in the orb and he immediately tried to contact his house.

“Oh hello son. Good to see that you are alright. We haven’t been able to-”

Aaron Kane had answered the call but he was shoved aside soon after by his wife.

“MICHAEL! WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN? WHY HAVEN’T YOU CONTACTED US RECENTLY? ARE YOU HURT? IS LIERA HURT? WHAT HAVE YOU BEEN DOING MISTER!?!?!?”

Michael’s mother screeched the questions out and when she took a breathe, Michael seized the opputunity.

“Relax mother. We haven’t been gone that long. Me and Liera had just taken a side detour through a dungeon for the last few days. Nothing to worry about. We’re fine.”

Michael’s mother calmed down at the fact that her children (she thought of Liera as a daughter now) were fine. But she tensed as she remembered a bit of what Michael had said…

“Michael. You weren’t gone for a few days. We lost contact with you a few weeks after you left. That was 2 months ago…”

‘...WHAAAT!?!?!?’

Back to the Exploration!

Continued Journey in Kiryun

[/hr]

So. They beat Inutian...

The aspect of Inutian was taken from some of the comments given about what the boss should be. Basically 'ForgottenOne' had given me the idea of using the Inuit part of the name to create a monster. I wikied the gods and goddesses of the Inuits and found a god named Issitoq who took the form of a Giant Flying Eye. That reminded me of the FF games with the Evil Eye monsters so I based Inutian off that!

I basically made a version 1 and a version 2. V1 was where Michael made himself go below 30% and demolish Inutian. The story ended at just 5 pages so I gave up on that. V2 is Sculpture melee!

The Sculpture Melee...meh It was too chaotic. Still the important part was that they killed Inutian. However the stat rewards for doing so is rather small since Michael didn't actually do much damage overall. And Inutian suicides so he didn't get Last Hit rewards. Inutian is an ass of a boss.

Cough. So I added a new stone companion. No idea why. I just felt like trying out a stone girl. I'll figure out what to do with her later...

So I made an easy understanding of the difference in time between Michael and the Otherworlders in the comment section of CHapter 12. Basically they would be addicted and play longer while sleeping less so they would have more time ingame than Michael. Please comment in chapter 12 if you disagree.

Basically I trolled everyone who wished for an even time in the end. I basically wanted the adventurers to be at least level 100 before Michael got to Kiryun. Michael is level 71 now but he is still much stronger than the adventurers. So is Liera. I'll make some more fight scenes between NPC and APC later.

If anyone has suggestions on the path of Jenna, please give it. Also Catherine will probably be staying in Kiryun to undergo her Priestess training. Her brother Glen has also been doing a large-scale cave with another party. MIchael's progress through the mountain was way too fast but the time change made it even with Glen's party. They will be reunited and go through the next rank training.

Cough. Please comment about the story. This is a short chapter since its basically just the boss battle. 12 pages on Google Docs. Will Michael use Golem Creation again? Lol...