The Path of Ascension

The next day, it was Liz's turn to solo the final fight. It was far less of a challenge for her than Matt had expected. The blood that she had collected throughout the rift allowed her to breeze through the boss encounter. Liz used the accumulated blood to create another blood golem, and smashed the bears and lizard shaman into paste.

The next day, she tried again, but this time she refrained from using her golem strategy. It was gratifying seeing her struggle, at least a little, against the three bears.

He wanted his partner to be strong, but it was nice to see that she wasn't too far ahead of him. Liz had to strain herself without the golem, constantly dodging and weaving away from the larger bears, and whittling them down. Instead of overpowering her opponents with brute force, she instead used her rift spear and its bleed effect.

With her increased accuracy from her training, and with a little help from [Blood Manipulation], she was able to land shallow blows on the massive monsters. With her increased flexibility and mobility from her new blood doping technique, she was able to fight without taking a single hit.

Even if she ran into any danger, a tendril of blood would always snap into position to take the blow for her. [Blood Manipulation] was unable to completely stop the heavy paw swipes or skill enhanced bites from the bears, but it was enough to buy her time to evade the attacks.

The fight lasted almost ten minutes. It was risky business to be in close quarters with monsters that could break her body in a single blow for that long, armor or no armor.

When she drove a blood spike into the final bear, Matt let her rest while he walked to the lizardman's hut, and knocked it down with a few strokes from his blade. They had figured there was little reason to collect wood, when the hut would just disappear with this instance of the rift either way.

With the fire to attract the remaining bears blazing, he let Liz recover and meditated on his Concept.

***

It was almost two months into their time on the training world, when an interesting message came through.

Simeon had heard about Matt’s run-ins with the guild, both the bomb incident, and the idiot who broke his sword.

As a way of apology for the actions of the guilds underlings, Simeon had gotten them into a guild only rift. It was apparently an off-record rift, which was unique in some way.

This particular rift was apparently a wave based one. The longer they fought, the stronger the monsters would get, and the stronger the final boss would be.

The first delve completed in the rift per team always led to the best rewards, and if they got past wave eight, a skill shard was almost guaranteed.

The guild usually only allowed high ranking teams inside, or at least the politically connected. It was a great opportunity, and Matt had no issue accepting the generosity.

The only reason the delve slot was open was because a team had either died, or got so badly injured that they couldn't safely delve anymore. It wasn't a concern to Matt or Liz.

That was what they signed up for when they decided to step onto the Path of Ascension.

They slotted themselves into delving the rift once a week for the remaining time. To that effect, they skipped the normal rift runs for the day, and teleported back into the city early. Neither wanted to be in any condition but their best for a risky rift like this.

After teleporting into the guild city, they took a day to rest and recuperate. It was needed, as they had been wholly focused on delving and honing their skills, on top of Matt’s attempts at finding his Concept.

The next morning, they found themselves being hustled back into the teleporter. Moments later, they had arrived at the entrance of a cave.

At the back of the perfectly straight, unnatural tunnel, they found a rift. It was just like the rest, a tear in the fabric of reality. The only thing out of the ordinary was the guard unit posted at the entrance. Two heavily armed and armored guild members stood at each side of the rift, each with an intimidating presence.

As they approached, Matt, trying to be friendly, said, "How’re you guys doing?"

The duo of guards didn't even blink, they completely ignored him. He felt at their cores with his spirit sense, and found them to be at the peak of Tier 10. Strong guards for a hidden rift. But if the rewards were that good, their presence was to be expected.

Giving up on his attempts at niceties with the two men, the trio entered the rift, and immediately felt a blast of heat. Looking out from the entrance, they found a massive step pyramid in the distance.

Matt’s AI got a good view, and calculated the dimensions, factoring in the distance involved. The thing was massive, five hundred and twenty eight feet across at the bottom layer, and two hundred and forty feet tall. The layers were made of six foot blocks of stone that were perfectly smooth. The forty layers to the flat top each had engravings, casting shadows he couldn't make out from his current distance.

With his AI’s help, Matt could just barely see a staircase inlaid into the center of each side of the massive structure. It was an impressive sight.

Something about the edifice in the humid jungle set off every warning bell ingrained into Matt's rift-honed instincts.

At the top of the pyramid, there was a large, clear area, with the rift exit resting at the center. The distance was calculated at thirty six feet across at the edge, putting the area of the clearing at 1,296 square feet.

It was a perfectly large arena, suitable for the bloodshed they were about to unleash.

Liz whistled after she looked around. "Well, the descriptions didn't do that thing justice. Damnnnn."

"Yeah, it's impressive."

As they walked through the dense jungle, Matt looked behind them, and only found a wall of swirling mist that blocked his spiritual perception.

When they reached the bottom of the massive pyramid, Matt looked up, and saw that the images he couldn’t make out earlier were depictions of sacrifice. People, animals, and much stranger things were carved upon alters, and at the top of each terrace were carved skulls. No two he saw were the same.

"Well fuck, this is ominous."

Liz agreed with a nod. Nothing more.

The steps were smaller than was comfortable at only six inches wide, and the climb to the top was long. While their bodies were in better shape than all but the strongest mortals, climbing four hundred and eighty steps still left the trio winded.

At the top, they found a flat, open area that overlooked the surrounding terrain. It was a thick jungle, but they had a slight breeze cutting the heat at the top of the pyramid.

At the center of the fighting area was a stone carving with a cone shaped crown, and a heart raised to the sky. What threw them off was the statue’s open mouth. Its teeth were bared, like it was about to take a bite out of the heart.

Around the statue were three basins sitting on pedestals. The guild’s provided information had covered the basins, and the required steps to start the encounter. So, they walked to each pedestal, and squeezed a drop of blood into the stone bowls.

Aster chose to have her flank cut instead of her paws. The location didn't matter, and only a single drop was required for the bowl to link to them. The bowl absorbed the small jade pins they used as they set them back down inside.

With the starting ritual taken care of, they waited near the edge of the arena together.

Watching the forest, they soon saw the first enemies. At this distance, all he could glean was that they were waist high, bipedal reptiles, with odd, feathered headdresses. The guild provided information did not cover the types of enemies the rift would have. The stated reason was that the rewards were better when parties had less information.

"Wow, that's a lot of monsters for a first wave." Matt muttered.

"Yeah. Well, fuck,” Liz responded. “At least we’re at mid Tier 4 now. The rift may be peak Tier 4, but the first wave can't be that strong... Right?"

With a slight jog, Matt went to another side, and saw just as many enemies rushing up to them. He didn't bother to check the remaining two sides.

He noticed small channels dug out of the floor, leading to the center of the top of the pyramid. They all coalesced at the feet of the center statue and stone bowls.

Matt's bad feeling that he’d had since they first stepped foot onto the top of the pyramid was only getting worse. He didn't like this one bit.

Steeling his resolve, Matt took the far side and waited, watching the approaching monsters.

They came in all at once, and as they reached the bottom steps of the pyramid, he was able to get a better look at them.

They seemed to be some weird mix of velociraptor and bird, with the feathered headdresses and short wings. They also had massive legs that propelled them distances far larger than he would’ve thought possible. They were digging into the dirt with their overly large talons with each bound towards them, and had mouths filled with far too many teeth.

Matt activated [Cracked Phantom Armor] and [Mage's Retreat], pushing the former to the brink of what it could handle. The latter was throttled at two mana a second. He wanted the extra mana for his AI, to gather as much info as possible.

Any advantage they could gain against the hybrid raptors would be a benefit, and he didn’t mind his AI burning far more mana than usual to figure something out.

Watching the monster's approach, the inane thought that he should have activated [Cracked Phantom Armor] earlier for the heat protection crossed his mind.

It was a long moment before the first creature reached the top. Leading the pack of monsters, it leaped forward, with Matt meeting its talons with his blade. The raptor used its stubby wings to redirect its fall slightly, but it wasn't enough, as his blade sliced through its extended feet and surprisingly light body.

There wasn't much time to inspect the rift monster, but it had spikes at the end of its wings and tail.

After that, there was no time for thought. Only killing. Matt's enchanted longsword took out the next two raptors that crested the ridge of the pyramid. The next group arrived as five, and quickly managed to flank him. While he was cutting through the ones in front, the two that curled around him attacked.

Matt felt the two simultaneous attacks land. At the back of his leg, there was a bite attempting to hamstring him, and a second slashing attack, using large talons to great effect.

They were unable to pierce [Cracked Phantom Armor] with either attack, and his mana regeneration handled the cost of blocking the blows, keeping the skill active through the blows.

With his AI predicting the path of the scratching enemy, he reached up with his off-hand, and snatched the monster by a wing. With all the strength he could muster, he slammed it into the ground.

He ignored the sounds of snapping and shattering bone, and with a turn, decapitated the monster gnawing on his armored leg. With his group of assailants dispatched, he shook off the raptor head still clamped onto his calf, and checked behind him.

Liz and Aster were fending off the waves from two sides of the pyramid. The combination of Liz's [Blood Manipulation] and Aster's ice attacks was shredding through the lightweight raptors.

The fourth side was undefended, and the wave that came up was quickly upon Matt. He was just glad the waves didn't seem to be synced up.

With the groups of monsters increasing in number, Matt settled into the corner between the two sets of steps he was responsible for. With blade and brawn, he slew all that dared to come before him. Time disappeared in the melee. The only things on his mind were the mass of feathered bodies, and the medical reports from his HUD, updating him on Aster and Liz.

They didn't have magical armor with almost unlimited mana to feed it. But as he slew the last raptor, and found no other to replace it, he saw that they were fine.

With heaving breaths, he peered over the edge and into the distance. There was no movement. As he watched for any signs of the next wave, his attention was drawn to the corpses at his feet. They were dissolving into blood, and running through the channels and into the three bowls.

As he watched, Liz's amassed blood was being sucked up into the channels. Not all of it, but if he had to guess, it was all the blood that she had taken from her slain raptors.

"Fuck. That's my blood! Don't take it! I earned it, damnit." Her joke didn’t really hit home with her tired voice.

As they watched, all the blood ran to the center of the arena, and separated into their respective bowls. Despite their being on separate sides, they each seemed to have a roughly equal amount of blood. Once it was all collected, the blood condensed into small spheres, floating through the air and into the stone heart the statue was holding.

Once the blood was absorbed, the heart became slightly redder, instead of the dull gray of stone, and a rift reward appeared next to the exit behind the statue.

"Well, any interest in cutting and running?" Liz asked, but she didn't seem keen on the idea. Even the first wave had a good bit of essence, and it would only get better as the carnage continued.

"Nah, I think we can handle all ten and fight the boss." Matt wasn't sure of that at all, but he wanted to keep things positive.

"Let's take the five minute break and cycle the essence," he said, and followed his own advice. He plopped down on the now clean stone and focused inward.

He was finished before his alarm went off. The timing of the rift's waves never changed according to the guild, but he wasn't about to take that chance.

Standing, he found Liz still sitting, and was about to shake her awake as the timer in his vision counted down. Before he could, she stood up, and tossed him a mana crystal.

"Can you recharge it real quick before the wave? I don't want to take any chances, so I topped myself off." Matt did so, dropping his skills and turning his AI down to charge the crystals faster.

When he caught the first signs of movement, he spotted a flock of birds. He tossed the half filled mana stone back at Liz, quicky activating his skills again.

His now fueled AI noted them as some type of parrot. The colorful birds quickly approached, and started circling above them. Aster and Liz saved mana and waited. Matt reached over his back and pulled out his crossbow. It wasn't ideal with the sheer amount of birds, but if they didn't come down to them, Aster and Liz would have to waste mana taking them down.

Before he decided to take aim and fire, a part of the flock broke the circle, and dove at them. As they approached, their wings glowed bright with white energy that extended their already large wingspans.

With a quick motion, Matt returned the crossbow back to his backpack, and started swinging with his blade. Each sweep took out some leading birds, but the ones that followed struck at his armored form with skill empowered wings. If he had normal mana regeneration, he would have been quickly drained by sustaining the armor through the never ending stream of blows. His Talent let him tank the bladed wings, and cut down bird after bird.

Each hit, while damaging and mana costly,was too weak to break through [Cracked Phantom Armor]. With [Mage's Retreat] active at 2 mana per second, he was able to maintain a deadly assault against the descending birds.

In between the falling corpses, he was able to get a glimpse of Liz. She was standing at the corner of the arena opposite to him.

The cheating blood mage was encased in a ball of blood, with her spear protruding out, surrounded by shards of ice and blood rotating around it. She had effectively turned her shielding technique into a blender, rendering the birds’ coordinated assault into the least effective kamikaze imaginable.

That's so unfair.

Matt mentally complained, but was happy the duo would be safe for this wave.

Forcing his concentration back to the fight, he followed his AI’s suggestions for hitting more of the circling birds. The ones that made it past the reach of his blade curled back around, and joined the circle in the sky, before coming back down for a second or third attempt.

After a few more minutes of carnage, the wave ended. Once again, the blood was absorbed into the central bowls, before feeding into the heart.

This time, when he allocated his essence, he completely filled the mana stones. He even burned the extra mana to convert the mana in the stones to Liz's type.

The third wave was a mass of centipedes. Each was no shorter than seven feet in length. When they approached, Matt slammed his enchanted blade down, and found that the Tier 5 metals and enchantments of his blade cut through their chitin like it was nothing more than normal flesh.

With brutal efficiency, he mowed down group after group of the monsters, as they tried to latch on to him with oversized mandibles. Their bites stressed his armor, but they never lasted long enough to generate enough force to break through. They were fast with their many legs, but their size made them easy to target and dispatch. Especially when they were latched on to his limbs.

With heavy slashes and careful footwork, the armored swordsman fell into a rhythm, almost as if falling into a trance. This was happening more and more as he was able to sink into the flow of combat during the last few months. Liz said it was him touching his Concept in some way. But to him, it was the song that played in his head, and the rhythm that beat in his heart, guiding him to victory during every battle.

Each ballad was as unique as the combatants, the steps and strokes of his dance deciding life and death.

A glorious entirety later, he came out of his hypnosis, with corpse piles dissolving around him.

After repeating his filling of mana stones and allocation of essence, he said to Liz, "This rift is a gold mine of essence. If this is how the guilds train, I can see how they advance so quickly."

"Nah, this is rare. Even for a guild. Honestly, I'm surprised they haven't boosted this rift to Tier 5. There's no way they let this one get dispelled, so it’d make sense for them to... To boost it." Her panting interrupted the end of her sentence.

"No clue why they haven’t then." Maybe the rewards were better for lower Tiers? Or they might have better rifts for the Tier 5's. That thought made more sense to Matt, but he couldn't imagine what something better could even look like. Especially if they didn't feel the need to boost this rift.

Matt stowed his ruminations for later, as the fourth wave of enemies was quickly approaching. They were large lizards that looked vaguely related to dragons. His AI recognized them as komodo dragons. If they followed the standard version of the monster at Tier 4, their venom would quickly incapacitate and kill a similarly Tiered human. He looked to Aster, who had already noped out of the fight, and jumped into her backpack on Liz's back.

The blood mage used her remaining blood to create a platform to stand on, and raise her above the monsters’ bites.

As they approached, Matt firmed his control of [Cracked Phantom Armor], trusting in the skill to stop any of the bites from getting through.

These wanna-be dragons were fast, and just one bite could nearly get through his skill, from the sheer sharpness of their teeth alone. It was only thanks to his training with Liz, and learning about the different facets of the skill’s structure, that allowed him to have pushed the skill. It was now able to accept a little over 9 mana a second.

It was a blessing in situations like this, where he was surrounded by enemies that could potentially harm him with the skill operating at 8 mana a second. The small increase was a lifesaver, and he was hoping to make the increased capacity permanent, so the skill could handle stronger enemies.

With the added danger of the poison, he was forced to sink deeper into the ballad of this conflict. His movements became almost mindless. Only sheer instinct propelled his blade forward. It shifted his feet away from jaws. It closed his grip around reptilian necks. With the flow of battle completely consuming him, he sunk into the deepest recesses of his inner spirit. It was only then that he felt it. He felt like he would be able to name his Concept. It was close.

Even only realising the phrase would take a weight off his shoulders, as it would allow him to start looking for his image. A harder task, according to Liz. The phrase would also allow him to channel a small fraction of his Concept, at the cost of some minor damage to his body.

The fight continued, with Matt instinctually letting snapping jaws get closer and nearer as each reptile attacked. His inner consciousness pushed the phrase closer and closer into his mind with the added danger.

Once again, the dance with the komodo dragons ended before he could reach a realization.

The next wave was a mix of the centipedes and parrots. It was a far more dangerous combo for the trio, as the crawling insects had the mass to break through her ball of blood. It was a hard fought battle.

The final five waves of monsters had more numbers, and were each composed of all four variants of rift monsters. The final, tenth wave had an endless stream of monsters, pushing the group to their very limits.

They were exhausted, and Matt was about to ask Liz if she wanted to fight the boss, or take their reward and go.

Before he could, the blood from the combined monsters was drawn into the basins. Once it was absorbed into the heart, they felt a pulse of power. Liz and Aster flinched back, while Matt only felt a weight on his cultivation.

The phenomenon only lasted for a moment, then the statue came to life, and took a massive bite out of the blood filled heart. In a scene reminiscent of when he gave Liz the dragon empowered heart of the parasite monster, the statue, with blood dripping down its chin, started to change.

In the flash of an eye, the statue turned flesh, and morphed into a great snake. At least,that’s what Matt thought it was, from the fangs that jutted out from its massive maw. As it roared a high pitched, blood curdling scream, the large headdress of feathers adorning the statue expanded into a pair of wings on either side of the monster's head.

The scene was normal enough for a rift, until the fifty-foot long snake monster took flight, despite the stunted wings.

Liz screamed at him, "It's a Feathered Serpent! It's a variant of dragon. Watch out for its scream!"

The warning was just in time, but ultimately useless. As the flying snake took to the air, it let out a screech that utterly paralyzed Matt. Nothing was exempt. His mind, his essence cores, even his mana, stopped in pure fear from the monster's skill. The skill took an ethereal form of red misty chains binding him to the floor.

As the chains pulled every facet of his being down towards the floor of the arena, Matt followed the direction of the force, and sunk deep into his spirit. Driven to the brink, his mind became almost fluid, ethereal even, just like the chains that bound him. He was forced down to the very core of his cultivation, where the empty space of his Concept lay dormant.

With his consciousness compressed into the very center of the blank space, something awoke within him. Strength flooded into his limbs, as the compressed ether of his mind exploded outward from his Concept space. As his mindfulness came back to the arena and the giant serpent before him, a single phrase echoed, loud enough in his head that it seemed to reverberate throughout the entire rift.

I will not be held down.

I will not be stopped.

I.

AM.

ENDLESS.

With that, the hold of the skill broke, his realization had freed Matt from the chains that bound him.

The revelation was clear now. Matt was not one to be stopped. He was never-ending. He would put one foot in front of the other, and continue to advance. The tides of his enemies would break against his unyielding will.

In the center of his cores, he felt something taking hold. It wasn't a perfect Concept, but it filled that space in his spirit. However, it was incomplete without an image to go with the phrase. For now, he was satisfied with countering the beast's skill. That would allow for a much better matchup.

Then, he pushed his spiritual sense out at the boss of the rift. It was Tier 5.

It had its own Concept.

Matt rushed it. Liz and Aster were just shaking free of the chains while he charged. The serpent didn't seem to have any ranged attacks, as it dove with wings that glowed with the same light the parrots’ did. He ran and slashed at the diving monster. For the first time, his blade didn't cut smoothly through a monster's flesh.

This was a Tier 5 rift boss’ scaly armor against a Tier 5 weapon. And dragon scales were famous for their toughness for a reason. The blade only left a white mark as it skittered down the flank of the beast.

The blow diverted its attention to the prey that should have still been locked away, but wasn't.

With a flick of its head, the serpent flew higher in the sky, and Matt saw the headdress tremble as the same scream ripped out.

Matt pushed out with his own Concept, with a new instinct to counter the skill. But instantly his vision went white, and he felt warmth running down his face. The only thing keeping him standing were the chains of the monster’s skill. He quickly reactivated both of his own skills, which had failed when he had faced the backlash from the clashing Concepts.

Spitting out the blood that filled his mouth, Matt noted that the incomplete Concept phrase of a Tier 4 was no match for the monster's Tier 5 fully formed Concept.

Waiting out the duration of the skill, he watched as the dragon turned around and aimed directly at him. Its wings glowed with the bladed wing skill, as he watched the large serpent's head open, with fangs larger than his arm bared at him.

The skill released with just enough time for the armored swordsman to sidestep the snapping jaws, and drive his blade into the serpent’s cheek. The softer flesh yielded to the longsword enhanced with the sharpness and durability runes. Matt felt a tug on the repair rune that made him nervous for his new weapon.

His attention was quickly brought back to his enemy, when the light encased wing slammed into him. What was an easy to deal with blow from the parrots sent Matt flying, with [Cracked Phantom Armor] shattered. He was fortunate that the armor lasted long enough for the momentum of the blow to send him flying, instead of the sharp wings bisecting him at the waist.

With a frantic effort, he got the skill reactivated as he hit the ground and slid off the edge of the pyramid. Landing two terraces down, he used [Mage's Retreat] to enhance him enough to jump the six foot height of each terrace. As he made the first leap, the movement caused pain to lance up his body. It radiated from his side. Two ribs were cracked, according to his AI.

Ignoring the pain, he made it back to the arena, to find a huge, bloody gash along the serpent's face. He had managed to make a more even trade than he thought.

Liz was free, and had used her blood to break the wing opposite of the one that hit him. Or at least that’s what the crooked shape of the wing implied. The broken wing didn't seem to hamper the creature's ability to fly, not that it needed the wing, with its absurd proportions. If the creature wasn't a dragon, and magical by nature, there was no way two wings of that size would allow it to fly.

A massive shard of ice formed, and smashed into the charging monster's face. As Matt ran, he saw Aster out of her backpack and parallel to Liz, forcing the serpent to choose one or the other.

Through their bond, he felt pure rage directed towards the boss. He had never felt such feelings from his bond. The feeling was so cold, his first instinct was to distance himself from the bond, but instead he pushed comfort to her. If it helped, he didn't have time to notice, as the serpent corrected its flight path and went for Liz.

With its attention on the other member of the party, Aster shot shards of ice at its eyes, blinding one.

That caused the monster to retreat upwards and circle again. Seeing Matt back and on his feet, the serpent let out another screech, binding them all in place. When it made another pass at Matt, he dodged to its blind side just as the skill duration ended, while a pool of blood grabbed its already broken wing and held.

There was a moment where the blood and the monster stood still, in complete balance, when the momentum of the monster carried it past. Watching the trail of blood, Matt saw that the blood mage had won the exchange. Half of the wing was ripped off, and the remaining stub was being drained of blood. This time, the serpent’s screech was one of pain. There were no chains binding the trio to their positions.

The next pass, Liz carved a chunk of flesh out of the side of the serpent with Aster’s help, using a shard of frozen blood. The monster seemed to be fixated on Matt, with him being the most injured target.

He was charging his blades [Mana Charge] skill as the boss took passes at him. He had only used the skill sparingly in the last few months, as it was still incredibly draining. But if it let him finish the serpent off, huddling in a ball for an hour would be an acceptable outcome. It was his strongest attack, after all.

After two more dives, with Aster and Liz both damaging the serpent, the monster went for Matt one more. Itr wasn't stupid enough to try the same attack a third time. At the last moment, it bent its serpentine body unnaturally on itself, and turned directly towards Liz. The mage had all of her blood ready to carve another chunk of flesh out of the serpents flank.

The beast had chosen it moment to turn well and was just feet from the mage. Feet that were covered in seconds.

At the exact instant that the serpent turned to his partner, Matt acted. With an effort of will, he activated the rings, and swapped places with the mage.

Let's hope I don't get eaten.

He tried to roll, but his cracked rib slowed him down. Even twisting to avoid the serpent’s bite with [Mage’s Retreat] wasn't enough. His left arm was caught in the beast’s maw.

I should have teleported, with the ring.

The thought was late as being locked on the enemies jaws would prevent the ring from working.

The bite didn't instantly shatter [Cracked Phantom Armor], but it was a close call. The force it bit down with was clearly weakened by its wounds, as it flew into the air with Matt in tow. It flicked its head, tossing Matt up to swallow the man.

Matt was able to adjust his path down into the serpent’s jaw slightly by using the rings short range teleport, with pain shooting up his side from his damaged ribs. Although he was able to avoid falling directly into the serpent’s mouth, his off arm was caught by the snapping bite, and razor-sharp teeth sank through.

The pain was excruciating, but he was happy to avoid being swallowed whole. His arm had just narrowly missed being impaled by the larger fangs, which he was sure had venom ready to inject into prey.

With his Concept’s phrase running through his head, he chanted:

I will not end here. I Am Endless.

He didn’t activate the pseudo Concept, as he didn't want the backlash to interrupt the charging skill from the blade in his free hand.

As the serpent prepared to go for another toss, he brought his weapon around to smash into the monster's skull, tip of the blade first. With the leverage of his trapped arm, he was able to sink the glowing weapon into the side of the skull of the monster.

In the time since he had started charging the skill, he had been able to feed it nearly 1000 mana. A massive amount for a standard [Mana Charge]. He just hoped it would be enough.

Like relaxing a fist, he let the skill go.

There was a blinding flash of blue-white light as the skill detonated.

The injuries and shock from using the Tier 5 weapon skill caused darkness to encroach on Matt's vision. Before it fully set in, he felt himself falling, and had one final thought.

My Concept didn't even make a difference in this fight.

The darkness only lasted a moment. Then the ground pushed it away. Hitting the ground with an arm still in the serpent’s jaws was good. On one hand, it saved him injuries from being crushed under the heavy rift boss.

On the other hand... Well, Matt no longer had another hand to compare it to. The arm, still stuck on the monster's teeth, was bitten clean through, as the impact with the ground caused the jaws to clamp further shut.

The pain brought him fully back to the world of the living. With a scream of agony, the likes of which he had never felt, he tried to reach with his left arm. He twisted to free himself from the pain. It didn't work. The movement caused even more pain to lance up his left side, directly to his brain.

He stared at the stump where his left hand had been moments ago. It was simply gone, and his brain couldn't process it.

As his breath left him, and Liz landed on the ground next to him, he saw her horrified face screaming at him.

He looked at her, seeing her lips move, but hearing no sound come out. Not comprehending, his eyes focused on the bottle of red liquid in her hands. A blood staunching potion they had gotten months back.

Understanding dawned, and he deactivated [Cracked Phantom Armor]. The pain increased, somehow. Liz dumped the vial of liquid on his stump, and it was like fire and ice decided to fight over who could cause the most pain. The battle between the opposing feelings ended, with his awareness numbing to the point that his missing arm mattered little.

With the all encompassing pain subsiding somewhat, he thanked the girl next to him, "Good thinking. Thanks. It uh, kinda hurt a little."

The mage yanked her helmet off, and he saw tears streaming down her face, mixing with blood and sweat.

Instead of words, she hugged him. Aster joined a moment later, squirming in between the two while whimpering. He put his good arm... His only arm, he corrected himself, around the duo.

With the pain lessened, and comfort of the two people he cared for most, he looked at the motionless remains of the Feathered Serpent.