He never thought he would ever feel like handling several monitors at once, looking over through files after files of documents scrolling past his eyes at the same time.

That's what he felt after trying to draw rune after rune while keeping an eye out for the monsters going after the otherworlders. That was also on top of keeping Lyle alive through support and taking some of the troublesome monsters down.

The real winner here was the Iron Parallel Thought, helping him draw runes as well as keep an eye on the situation without burning himself. Of course, there was also the Intelligence stat that was not only helping him deal magic damage, but also help him calculate and keep his thoughts running faster without mentally burning himself out.

Despite all the skills he had on hand, his resources that outpaced everyone around him, He had to ensure to not drop his attention even once. However, he was reaching the end of his rope.

His eyes burned as Lyle clawed and stabbed through possibly dozens of foxes by now, leaving only the few Three-tailed Foxes left over.

One of them, however, charged at the camp behind them. The otherworlders screamed in a panic before Zeke used his gauntlets.

The energy that formed around the gauntlets shifted forms and transformed into an elastic rope that spun around the fox's leg. With a forceful swing of his arm, he pulled the fox and hurled it straight at the incoming Lyle, both his claws maiming the flying fox in an instant.

Zeke let out heavy breaths, his head feeling ready to burst. His vision blurred from the pain of overusing his skills, his Steadfast Mind going on full blast. But he kept pushing to keep the people behind him safe.

Steadfast Mind Level Up! It is now Level 8.

You have gained +2 SPI (x3) from your skill. You have gained +1 END (x3) from your skill.

…..

Ethereal Manifest Level Up! It is now Level 10 (Maxed).

You have gained +2 INT from your skill. You have gained +2 SPI from your skill.

…..

Ethereal Manifest has been maxed. Bonuses are now applied:

-Increased construct malleability. -Decrease mana consumption. -Advancement available.

…..

Mana Manipulation Level Up! It is now Level 9.

You have gained +2 INT from your skill. You have gained +1 SPI from your skill.

His skill was vastly improving in ways he never imagined before. Probably due to the added stress of trying to help his fellow otherworlders from dying so unfairly.

He didn't care that some of them might have committed crimes. They had little choice but to survive, and they didn't deserve to be overrun by monsters due to some twisted fate. Still, the horde of monsters was strange even for this tower. As far as Zeke knew, this didn't normally happen.

The next moment, two incredible things occurred. One, a powerful burst of light shot forth from the ground far away. It reached all the way to the fake sky above, becoming a flowing source of light that shot off in waves across the entire dungeon. While that almost got Zeke and Lyle to stop moving, an ear-splitting roar soon occurred afterward.

He looked over at the direction of the source. The two things happening in occurrence finally silenced the screaming otherworlders, but the sudden silence was already making him uncomfortable as another creature stepped forth.

It was like a fox, but bigger, almost reaching a horse's size. Its elegant orange coat glistened under the fake red sun, but there were patterns of white flames across its paws and legs. Its glowing yellow eyes had crimson slits running down from top to bottom, glaring directly at the camp in front of it. It raised its head high and howled, forcing the other creatures that Lyle was fighting against to scamper and whimper about, their tails literally between their legs.

Its most horrifying feature, however, was the six tails flowing behind it, each acting and moving on their own will.

"What the fuck is it now?" Lyle complained as Zeke Identified.

Six-Tailed Fox, Level 94

"You're not gonna like this," Zeke commented.

"I know! Don't tell me!"

Lyle complained again, probably identifying it himself. The giant fox, clearly a Mini-boss of the tower, lowered its front legs and roared at the two.

Their ears nearly ached as several flaming phantoms came into being, each one resembling the original fox, except they didn't look like it. They only resembled its physical shape through the fire. The grass they trampled on burst into flames for each step, and every phantom was running straight towards Lyle.

He dodged and weaved, using his legs as the main part while using the spider legs for adjusting his speed and direction. The phantoms chased after him, often making pounces that once they landed, they exploded like a powerful fireball, leaving behind a large crater that was originally tough enough to handle a powerful Journeymen fight.

"Shit!"

Cursing, Zeke drew several runes on his summoned constructs with his gauntlet powered pens. He drew several arrays into one single array, creating a compounding Runic Spell with all of his Class skills in full effect.

Runic Spell Level Up! It is now Level 5.

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

Increased accuracy and potency of runic spells. Decreased mana consumption.

…..

Rune Copycat Level Up! It is now Level 4.

Increased copied potency. Increased copied rune's speed and effectiveness.

…..

Script Improvement Level Up! It is now Level 3.

Increase general improvement of all runes. Decrease general consumption cost of all runes.

Each spell launched a ball of pressurized water which Zeke hoped would counter the fire-aspected monster. The water balls shot out like cannons at the creature, but it managed to evade a few of them, leaving behind their own powerful craters. Zeke used various amounts of spells to keep the ball of water as compressed as possible, increasing the range and power output as much as he could.

One finally managed to hit it, causing the Mini Boss Fox to howl in pain. Lyle took the chance to transform his arm into a bear's paw and struck it at its side where the water ball hit. Blood spilled from the claws but it didn't inhibit its movements as the fox whirled its head at Lyle's torso, blasting him off with sheer force that made him fly across the grassy field.

Zeke tensed up as he caught the flying Lyle with his arms, but the power behind the throw caused his feet to leave long dirt trails behind. Still, putting in all of his effort, he managed to catch Lyle while never leaving the ground.

"Ghh…" Lyle groaned, clear pain in his voice. "Ooh… my hero…"

"Dude, don't get weird on me."

"Sorry… I got hit real hard, see…"

Zeke put the dizzying Lyle on his feet, facing the Mini-Boss as it growled at the two. It was too strong and fast. It has a tough hide and has powerful magic spells at its command. It was not looking good.

"Zeke, any idea what that weird light was? You think that was part of this thing?" Lyle asked, his claws flexing at the creature.

"I'm not sure, but I don't think that was part of the fox…"

Seeing the two things just now, Zeke realized that they might not have any other choice. Normally, they would face the Mini Boss and main boss of the tower with a full team. Even with Lyle and Janet there as backup, they were sure that the rest of the Journeymen could handle them both given enough time and preparation.

But there were only the two of them. Not to mention they were already tired from the horde trying to kill them all, including the otherworlders that had no way to defend themselves. Seeing this, it was clear that this was a rough spot to be in.

"Lyle," Zeke said, still facing the fox. His gauntleted hands flexed and balled into fists. "I'm gonna use my attunement."

"What?" Lyle faced him. "I thought you said you still can't control it yet."

"I can't, that's why I'm asking you a favor," Zeke said. His voice had an edge to it. "I want you to help evacuate everyone here while I take care of this thing. It might be hard, but it'll at least take the heat off of you for a while."

Lyle stayed quiet, but his face showed a strong refusal to this plan. Still, Zeke kept speaking.

"And if you can, once you're done, find my body," Zeke smiled. "I may or may not be burned out by that point. I can't say."

"Shit… it's that bad, huh?" Lyle said. He had his teeth gritting beneath his closed lips. He didn't show it, but he was holding back his complaint.

Zeke thanked him silently for that. Facing the creature as it was about to ramp up its attacks again, he called forth the power within his core.

Ever since he channeled his power to help Janet through her own attunement, he had an inkling of a connection with his attunement. He swore that he could control a far greater amount compared to before when he healed the adventurers, but he feared he might have to use some more, even if it meant undoing his restraints and losing himself in his power.

But small steel-like wires appeared over the running fox, its legs tied and pulled to the side. Its momentum forced the fox to land to the ground, struggling to break free of the wires. Then a cry of outrage rang out as a single woman flew straight towards the fox from up above and slammed its torso with her two-handed battleaxe.

The fox roared in pain, blood flying everywhere. In that moment, the woman willed the blood all over the creature to entangle its body even more, causing it to be trapped by its own body's blood.

"Zeke!" Saang, gritting her teeth, roared. "Hit it hard!"

Zeke would cry out in joy if he wasn't in the mix of getting drowned in his own power. His body tensed as he felt his attunement filling him with overwhelming force, but he managed to take control of it just long enough for him to pour it all into a single skill.

An orb of turquoise light shined above his hand, pulsing with an almost primal authority. It felt heavy, so heavy that Zeke's hand felt like he was lifting a boulder in old world terms, but he gritted his teeth as he ran towards the trapped fox, roaring out his skill name.

It didn't' help increase his power, but it certainly helped him stabilize his mind as he roared.

"Aether Blast!"

His voice churning in power, the orb smashed into the fox's head. A small force of pure magical energy blasted through the head and up into the air, creating a sort of mystifying explosion that bent the literal skyscraper-like trees behind the force over. It wasn't enough to destroy them, but it certainly made an impact on everyone else watching.

The fox's head was no more, leaving behind a headless corpse. For just a moment, it struggled as though its last vestiges of life were still holding on until it eventually fell, the flames that covered its body disappearing into miniscule embers.

Zeke's entire body turned to mush as he knelt down, his hands resting on the ground and panting hard. His channels felt strained. This was worse than pulling a muscle–it was pulling his very core, bringing his entire body and any metaphysical part along, if that even made sense.

Thankfully, Lyle helped bring him up by the arm, letting him see Saang for himself. Contrary to her earlier form, she looked worse for wear than even he did.

Riddled with wounds, her body shook with strenuous effort to even swing her axe back to herself. Her face looked gaunt, her cheeks almost sunken in as she panted just as hard as he did. On the other side, he finally saw the one responsible for the wires as Kote came forward, his one arm slung over his torso as best he could.

The mask he usually wore was torn off, revealing his face for the first time. Having slightly shaggy black hair, his face looked rather handsome with his slightly pale skin and brown eyes. The one thing that stood out was the glaring yellow tattoo of a six-sided star within three concentric circles on his left cheek.

"Glad to see you guys are alive!" Lyle said, smiling at the incoming Journeymen. He dug around in his pack, his other arm holding up Zeke as he handed out glowing crimson bottles for the two. Normally the special gun used to infuse the potion into their veins was only during battle, as their effects would be more pronounced, but there was a risk of infusing too much into the channels and getting some nasty debuffs from doing too much in one go.

Each one took them gladly, popping them open like soda cans and drinking them in full. He also brought out a similar glowing bottle but it was blue instead, handing it over to Zeke. He shook his head.

"Later. Right now, my body's just aching from overusing my Mana. If I take more mana now, it'll hurt even more."

Lyle winced at the thought, and nodded before putting the potion back. Zeke smiled at the Journeymen in front of them.

"Thanks for the save," Zeke said, his voice still strained while standing upright. "Did you see anyone else? What about Mikella and Janet?"

"Damn, so they're not with you?" Saang said, finally having more pep in her voice as she looked over to him. "That's worrying…"

"Still, I'm glad we met up with you two," Kote said. This time, he saw the clear frustration on his face which got Zeke to ask.

"What's wrong?" Zeke asked, and after noticing it, asked another question. "And did you find Hamil? Where is he?"

"That's… something we gotta talk about," Saang said. She sounded almost in pain. "Hamil's the one responsible for this mess. And that Hamil… isn't our Hamil.

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