Too Stubborn to Die Chapter 67

The screen lit up with the first to smash through their Tutorial. It was some kind of green, humanoid insectoid with antennae protruding from its head. Its hard carapace covered most of its body, though there did appear to be weak spots around the joints. However, they soon learned that it was able to tank not just attacks coming from the minions in the battle, but even lighter attacks coming from the boss itself.

Aaron thought that the creature was going to be a melee combatant, what with the toughness brought on by the carapace, and all. Its natural defenses basically made it an armored knight.

But how wrong he was. The moment it cleared a section of the battlefield, it pulled a staff from a dimensional storage that looked like a belt.

The staff was a curled branch, with vines wrapping around it, and when the insectoid swung it toward the boss, a swamp of locusts poured out, engulfing the beast. Furthermore, once they had covered the boss, they spread out to infect every one of its minions.

But the little nipping insects didn’t kill or even seem to do much damage. No, they appeared to be a distraction, but a powerful one. The boss fidgeted and squirmed as they bit into every inch of its flesh.

The boss itself was some kind of monstrously huge bear, and the bites were causing red marks that spread across its body and were visible through its fur.

The power of this seemingly mediocre attack was obvious. Both the boss and its minions struggled to mount counterattacks, constantly having their concentration broken by the insect bites.

With the rhythm of their attacks broken, the insectoid fired spinning crescent moons that burst with white light on impact, which were quickly followed up with a series of other spells that peppered its enemies until they fell dead.

It wasn’t really pure power that the insectoid used to overwhelm the boss, but rather an endless and uninterrupted stream of attacks. It was quantity over quality, something that had been obvious since the very first spell they cast.

“This one will be here soon. First, they’ll go through Tutorial off-boarding, and then we’ll see them walk into the hallway,” Rudolf said. “There are a couple of others about to finish their Tutorials as well. Shall we take a look?”

“More?” Aaron said. “Why are so many finishing their Tutorials at the same time?”

“So many? This isn’t a lot, kid. It’s just how this thing works. Remember, we’re looking at the top rankers of the entire sector. And besides, you have a spectrum when it comes to the skill required to finish a tutorial, just like anything else. This big guy was just a massive outlier,” he said, pointing at Mo’han. “But once we get closer to the medium, people will start pouring in. You’ll probably see a new face every time you finish a trial.”

“Seriously?” He hadn’t expected that answer. It felt weird to Aaron. He had spent so much time in the trials with no one but the assistants that the thought of multiple people joining them in here at the same time was just… different.

“Yeah. We wanted to make a little party of it for the outliers, but most of them aren’t so far from the median as Mo’han was. This batch of three is still impressive talent, but we’ll be getting a few more within a day of their arrival. And then more the following day. And once we get even closer to the end of the Tutorial, things will really get wild.”

“How wild?” Aaron probed, kinda of feeling like his home was getting invaded. Then again, it was probably a good thing he would get a chance to socialize and ease his way back into society before heading back to Superearth. Even the feeling of his home being invaded was kinda hermit-like.

“Oh, when we’re within the last few days of the trials, Tutorial takers will be pouring in. This place can get pretty crowded.”

“How do you manage all those people? You don’t have a lot of manpower.”

“Well, like you know, there are different instances of the rooms. While the hallway can grow if needed. It just gets wider and longer. You won’t even notice it unless you’re paying attention. And then one day, you’ll be like, “I swear this room is bigger than it used to be.” Anyway, as for us assistants, well, we got our own powers. I can control thousands of copies of myself if necessary.”

“Really? That is interesting,” Aaron nodded. “I knew we were going to get more people in here, but I hadn’t expected the numbers to get that big.”

He wondered if anyone he knew from before the integration would turn up, but dismissed the thought. They weren’t helpful, and knowing how many humans had already died, he didn’t want to risk doom spiralling.

Maybe once he was set up in the new world and had some stability, he would have some kind of ceremony for those he lost. But until then, such thoughts were best kept out of his mind.

“Let’s keep watching,” Aaron said, wanting to keep things going so he didn’t have to settle on any uncomfortable thoughts.

Next up was Ikran Teshk Ungari, the thal’kesh destined to join him on Superearth. Meaning that the third strongest individual within the sector at present was a creepy, eldritch alien with whom he would be sharing Superearth.

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Aaron already knew the thal’kesh was strong, but it really put things into perspective learning that he would be the third to join, assuming he survived his tutorial boss.

The thal’kesh strolled up a road of bones toward a giant skull that towered into the sky, and almost took up the entirety of the small island he was on.

Aaron remembered that the previous fight he had watched was also on an island. The thal’kesh’s entire Tutorial seemed to have a Caribbean island theme, and since they were squid-like eldritch humanoids, he assumed they were also sea lovers.

If Aaron’s assumption was right, then the Tutorial had at least partially grouped participants into Tutorials that suited them. For example, the islander Joseph Lefiti had also had an island-themed Tutorial.

And if that were true, then perhaps these thal’kesh wouldn’t be an immediate threat to him because they would be living in the oceans of Supereath. Of course, that didn’t mean Aaron could relax and not take them seriously. But at least if they were living in the ocean, there might be some time before they directly threatened humans.

Also, it put a spin on who survived the Tutorial. If the integration placed people in Tutorials that suited them, did that potentially mean the weak and infirm were put into Tutorials with little or even no danger?

Aaron’s thoughts quickly returned to the thal’kesh. Ikran Teshk Ungari was one scary motherfucker. Inside the giant skull was some kind of serpent king. It was a huge eel with limbs and an army of minions, but the battle quickly started to go Ikran Teshk Ungari’s way when he turned the walls to ink.

Anyone who touched the ink got caught as if stuck in super-adhesive mud. And to make matters worse for the boss and his minions, Ikran used the ink to transport himself throughout the battle at near instant speed.

Anywhere there was ink, Ikran could be.

There was another interesting factoid Aaron had noticed as the alien started the boss battle. Ikran had come to the island with a small squad, but some kind of forcefield had kept them at bay whilst he entered the boss battle alone.

It made sense. If groups could take the boss down together, then weaker Tutorial takers could reach the trials piggybacking off their stronger friends, which would devalue the gift of reaching the trials.

Douglas had made it clear from the start that the trials were a reward for the strongest of the multiverse, so it made sense to Aaron that there would be features in place to stop weaker Tutorial takers from reaching it, if they didn’t have the strength to do it themselves.

Although he had never heard of any mechanisms allowing for only one Tutorial taker from each Tutorial to reach the trials, meaning that perhaps the Tutorials could provide multiple bosses for them to defeat. Considering what the trials themselves were capable of, that didn’t sound too far-fetched.

The thal’kesh was now jumping all across the battlefield, making it impossible for his attackers to pin him down. One moment, he was appearing in one place, and then in a flash, he was on the other side of the chamber. This lightning speed and ability to appear in his enemy’s flank led him to quickly cut down the boss’s minions, and no doubt the thal’kesh would soon focus on the boss itself.

“He looks like a pesky one,” Mo’han murmured. “I wonder how I would deal with such a Skill? Probably just blow everything up.”

That’s one way to deal with a problem, Aaron mused. But the asura was right. How would you deal with such a pesky enemy? Fate reading would help a lot against such a Skill, at least. Though Aaron doubted it would be easy to counter, even with his Trait.

When the thal’kesh finally made his way around to fighting the boss, his attacks lathered it in ink, providing some kind of debuff, as the boss looked slower and weaker with every strike.

It was a fairly one-sided affair. Ikran was simply too fast for the eel to hit, although it had some fairly good defensive attacks that forced the thal’kesh into retreat several times.

However, being able to retreat anywhere his ink was in an instant made it frustratingly hard for the eel to land anything.

Soon, the continuously weakening eel was on its last legs, and the battle reached a tipping point. It looked like it had been tarred and lumbered around sluggishly, swinging attacks through the air that didn’t stand even the slightest of chances of hitting the thal’kesh.

Aaron actually felt bad for the boss. He just wanted it to end now. Dancing around the oversized boss and hitting it countless times without the boss being able to do anything in return was essentially torture. However, he had fought similar battles himself.

But finally, reprieve came when Ikran landed the killing blow.

There was a similarity between them, Aaron had to admit. Although Ikran was of a high level, meaning his relatively weak, peppering strikes were different from Aaron’s. Because Aaron’s attacks weren’t weak, they were only weak because he lacked levels. This was part of the thal’kesh’s path.

Then again, Ikran was faster than Aaron, thanks to his ink Skill, and Aaron doubted even levels would close that gap, unless he managed to find his own supreme transport Skill that allowed him to teleport around.

“Ready for the next one?” Rudolf said.

“Yeah, show us what you’ve got.”

“I sure am!” Mo’han bellowed.

But when the screen flicked to the next Tutorial taker, Aaron's conviction wavered slightly.

It was the necromancer, and he was not restricted from bringing his horde of the undead into the boss fight with him. The dead people obviously no longer counted as Tutorial takers.

Great, so the fourth strongest in the sector is this creep?

It wasn’t the necromancer’s power that intimidated Aaron. The guy was just creepy, and seeing his army of undead sent a shiver down his spine. They weren’t just zombies. They had been people, once. Tutorial takers. People like himself striving to survive. It was a good reminder of why he was putting so much effort into getting stronger, though. Whatever happened, he knew he didn’t want to end up as one of this guy’s puppets.

But whatever apprehension had temporarily gripped Aaron, it quickly faded and was replaced with a grin. Yeah, the guy was creepy. But he was also strong, and there would be no moral dilemma in blowing a hole through his chest.

Besides, what fun would Superearth be if there were no challenges for him to overcome?

It wasn’t as if Aaron had any intention to plateau after he finished the trials. And besides, Superearth would eventually have to face the multiverse proper, once the protective barrier was dropped. If the heroes of their new world couldn’t overcome guys like the necromancer, what chance would they stand against truly scary opponents?

Bring it on, you bloody bastard! Aaron nodded feverishly. He couldn’t help but feel excitement for the trials to end.