Chương 350: (343) 5.39. Mad Dash for the Finish

As useful as falling through the sky was as a method of travel, keeping his gravity redirected for long periods of time was a massive drain on Vin's mana. Even with his remarkably large mana pool, it wasn't something he could keep up for long. Not to mention he didn't want to risk coming down in the middle of the ranker-infested fragment with no mana to work with. What few mana potions he carried on him had been taken along with his pack, which meant running dry was not something he was willing to risk.

Because of that, despite still being a good mile away from the dungeon, Vin was eventually forced to cancel his spell, and he flipped around in midair as he started falling back toward the ground." Slow Fall," he muttered, growing tired as the adrenaline from his close escape began to wear off and everything caught up with him all at once.

It wasn't hard to assume that the ranker king was rather displeased with his escape, seeing as the man had hurled a sword a quarter of a mile through the sky into his midsection while Vin 'fell' away. He didn't know what was in store for them in the near future, but one thing was for sure. He had to figure out just what natural barriers were in place between Terra and this fragment and ensure the rankers didn't find a way through them.

As it stood, if the rankers ever decided to abandon their strange principles of honor that required them to tackle any challenge, be it from man or monster, they'd be able to easily walk their way through the mist fragment and head east. They'd have to fight through the Sacred Forest before getting to Terra, however… Vin didn't like the elves' odds after going toe-to-toe with just a small handful of the thousands of available rankers. Landing in the center of a field lush with corn, Vin paused to catch his breath.

He hadn't seen any Farmers during his descent, which hopefully meant he had some time before anyone spotted him and reported his position back to the ranker king. He'd been assuming all this time that he was being fed during lunchtime, but based on the setting sun in the sky, it looked as though they'd been feeding him during dinner instead.

The Farmers were probably all done with work today, relaxing in their oddly luxurious homes with a glass of mead or whatever the hell it was Farmers did after a hard day in the fields. As he began walking through the acres of farmland, a loud gurgling in his stomach reminded him that he hadn't actually partaken in that day's meal, being distracted with breaking out of the dungeon and all. Yanking a few pieces of corn off as he walked, he helped himself to the bounty.

Strangely enough, the corn tasted just like corn back on Earth, except for the fact that this kind seemed pre-buttered somehow. It wasn't oily or anything like that, but it definitely had the taste of butter grown into it.

"Oh, you better believe I'm bringing you back with me," Vin muttered, breaking up one of the cobs and tucking the pieces in a few of his pockets. Even if they'd taken his pack, he still had his Project Ark fatigues on, which meant he had more than enough storage space to work with. Gonna have to wash that pocket before Reginald hops in it again though… Along with his newfound corn, Vin had one other interesting souvenir he was bringing home with him. The ranker king's personal sword.

Vin glanced at the blade as he walked through the field, admiring the gleaming metal. It clearly wasn't Luvanian steel, or whatever Tarnis had called Ponk's weapon, as he'd been able to shatter the overeager man's sword with barely any effort. But when his divine boon had been triggered and he'd reflexively grabbed the ranker king's sword with his golem hand, his focus had slipped, and he should have shattered the metal with his mana-empowered grip.

Yet here he was, holding a completely unmarred blade without so much as a crack in it. Unlike Alka's sword Dream Eater, which was a darthsteel-mithral alloy, or Deorer's adamantine scalpel he'd used to perform amateur surgery on Vin's arm, the ranker king's sword didn't have any sort of unique color. It wasn't blue, or black, or even rust red. By all appearances, it looked like a totally normal steel sword. Except for the fact that it withstood his grip with ease.

"I need to bring you to Deorer or something," Vin muttered, keeping a firm grip on the sword as he finally broke out of the cornfield. If there was anyone capable of figuring out what metal the blade was made out of, it would be the Smith of Relics. Granted, the blade didn't seem magical in any way, but Deorer was also just a damn good smith overall. A quick look around confirmed nobody was out and about on the farm at this hour, so Vin took off in the direction of the dungeon.

There was a nice paved road, but it didn't lead in the exact direction he wanted, which was perfect for his purposes. Hopefully, if anyone came looking for him, they'd stick to the road and allow him to make the journey jumping from farm to farm. As he ran, he took a look at a welcome notification. Running increased to lvl 19! 1, 900 exp gained. It had been ages since his running skill last leveled, and despite the situation he was currently in, he couldn't help but grin at the level up.

It seemed physical skills were remarkably hard to level as they grew closer to twenty, but sure enough, sprinting like a madman for his life through the keep had given the skill the push it needed to get closer. He couldn't even tell the difference it made between level 18 and 19, but he ran with a smile on his face all the same as he quickly ate up the distance between him and the dungeon. Stolen novel; please report.

As much as he disliked the rankers and their combat-focused culture, he'd been impressed with how clear they'd managed to keep their fragment free of monsters. Part of it was clearly thanks to constantly patrolling rankers, but he quickly discovered that another large part of it had to be from how they handled their dungeon. Specifically, how they'd built a heavily guarded fort around their dungeon. Ah, crap. Vin hunkered down behind a tree as he peered at the fort from afar.

He wasn't sure what type of dungeon he was dealing with as he couldn't see over the fort walls, but it was definitely contained within the fort. If he wanted to take the dungeon home, he was going to have to break into the heavily guarded fort, right after breaking his way out of the keep.

"Damn it I hate this fragment," he muttered, peering up at the sky. Based on the sun's position, he probably had another hour before it went fully down, which meant he needed to move fast. While waiting for the cover of darkness wasn't a bad idea when it came to stealth, there was the ever so slight problem in that he couldn't see in the dark.

Tremorsense worked well when it came to pinpointing objects that were moving, but that didn't do him good for stationary objects like the ground or walls unless there were heavy vibrations already moving through them. At some point I should look into creating a stronger version of the spell that creates its own vibrations so I can actually see everything… Add that to the to-do list. Rather than rushing in headfirst, Vin took a few minutes to watch the fort from afar and see what he was dealing with.

Thankfully, he quickly realized it wasn't nearly as heavily guarded as he'd first thought. There were constant patrols along the top of the fort, but they were always shifting locations, and after watching them for a bit, he confirmed there couldn't be more than a dozen rankers total manning the fort. Or at least, if there were more, they were important enough that they weren't forced to do guard duty. As the shadows stretched across the ground, Vin hopped up and down behind his tree as he limbered up.

He was finally in the home stretch. One last reckless plan and he'd be back in Terra in no time. Not giving himself a chance to back out and wait until morning, he ran forward." Whispering Wind," he cast quietly, throwing his voice to the far end of the fort wall and coughing loudly. Just as he'd hoped, the three guards currently patrolling who were just about to look in his direction all spun around, whipping out their weapons and carefully moving to surround the source of the cough.

Vin coughed again as he ran, before cancelling the spell as he hit the fort wall. Trusting in his boots, he ran up the wall as his gravity orientation changed, before hopping over and dropping down to the other side. Unfortunately, that was where his luck ran out.

"Who are you?" the ranker he landed directly in front of asked, blinking in shock at his sudden appearance. He must have had a pretty poor rank, as he looked on the younger side, and he didn't even go for his weapon in his confusion.

"Dungeon inspector, gotta go!" Vin said, spotting the entrance to a cave and sprinting for it. There were four other rankers currently sparring in the grounds within the fort who weren't quite as inexperienced as the younger ranker, and they all shouted for backup as they ran to intercept him. Realizing he wasn't going to beat them to the entrance, Vin cursed.

A small part of him had hoped that the rankers wouldn't attack him when they realized he wasn't a ranker himself, but it was probably safe to assume they had orders to take out anyone who broke into the fort." Aqua Sphere!

"he cast as he ran, catching two of the four in a large bubble of water before they could get out of the way. Mentally thanking Wanda for deciding to become a Magical Fisherman of all things, he cast again." Firm Water!" Two of the four were now trapped within a thick body of water dense enough that moving through it was a real slog. The rankers had enough strength that they weren't completely pinned, but that was for the best. He didn't want to actually drown them anyway.

While two of the four were trapped for the moment, that still left two more for him to deal with. A woman with a curved sword came at him next, nearly taking his head off as she surprised him with a Capstone skill." Speed Slash!" It was only the fact that he was holding the ranker king's sword in his right hand that saved him, as she instinctively aimed for his left side instead to try and bypass the blade.

Her skill caused her to move too fast for his eyes to follow even with his high focus, but by pure luck, her blade crashed into his golem arm. Rather than cutting him in half like she'd most likely predicted, his arm flashed blue and absorbed the force of the strike.

Her eyes had just enough time to widen before he barreled right past her, not even pausing to slow down. Assuming her Capstone worked like the other martial ones he knew, there would be a cooldown to that attack, which meant he only had one last ranker to deal with. The final man held a spear of all things, a weapon he'd yet to see any other ranker carrying up until then. From the ease of which he stood and the curious look on his face, Vin felt his heart sink as he realized he might be in trouble.

He was already maintaining two separate spells to keep half the rankers busy, and the man had to have witnessed the capabilities of his golem arm when he ran past the woman. Vin was out of tricks, down a divine boon, and entirely out of ideas as he ran at the final man standing between him and freedom. All he could do was pray. To his utter shock, rather than plant his spear and run him through, the man made no effort to use his weapon at all.

It felt as if time slowed as Vin ran past him, the two of their eyes locking on one another as the final ranker simply stood there with a sly smile on his face and let him pass. He was caught so off-guard Vin nearly stopped running just to ask the ranker what the hell he was doing, but his legs proved to be smarter than his head as they continued pumping one after another, carrying him away from certain death.

Tearing his eyes away from the mysterious spear-wielder and ignoring the shouts from behind him, Vin ran straight into the entrance of the dungeon, never having been so happy to throw himself head-first into a monster-infested cave of death.