Immovable Barrier (3)
BOOOOM!
Ashel smashed the massive stone door to rubble, and we stepped through. Picking our way over the wreckage of shattered rock, we emerged into a vast cavern.
Oh...
I took in the surroundings with a quiet flicker of awe. Geometric sigils of unknowable origin sprawled across the floor and walls. Strange structures rose among them, and set into the ceiling were luminescent stones that washed the space in a faint, lingering glow. This place had to be ancient — and those stones still hadn't burned out? Whatever the case, the atmosphere here was far more mystical than the corridor we'd come through.
A familiar thrill rose in me — the same one I'd felt in the game whenever I reached the end of a dungeon. Time to collect the reward.
Let's see...
On one side of the cavern sat a door, smaller than the stone gate we'd just demolished. That had to be the one. The player I'd watched in a playthrough had been disappointed by a dungeon with nothing resembling a relic — until he went through that door, found the Mystery, stripped off every piece of gear on the spot, and did a victory dance in his underwear.
Come to think of it, it was strange that a Mystery was hidden in this dungeon at all. Mysteries were supposed to have nothing whatsoever to do with mana or magic — unknown powers whose locations were completely random. It could have been a staggering coincidence, or there could have been some reason I didn't know about. Not that it mattered either way. What mattered to me right now was the Immovable Barrier Mystery waiting beyond that door.
But wait... it couldn't be, right?
A possibility suddenly occurred to me. The current world's timeline was five years before the one I'd played in the game. What if the Mystery hadn't spawned yet — and there was nothing inside at all?
"Ashel. Smash this door."
I shoved the ominous hypothetical out of my head and gave the order. She'd been standing behind me, surveying the cavern; she approached and reduced the door to splinters. I'd brought Ashel along as an escort, but I seemed to be getting more mileage out of her as a battering ram.
"Wait here."
I left her with that and went in alone.
Following a passage narrower than the corridor, I pressed deeper until another cavern opened up. The difference was that this one showed signs of someone having lived here.
I paid no attention to any of it. I lifted my head and stared at the ceiling — more precisely, at a single pattern drawn across it, glowing a brilliant white. The corner of my mouth slowly curled upward. Relief and exhilaration surged through me together.
As a rule, the larger a Mystery's pattern, the more powerful the Mystery. The Immovable Barrier's sigil was far larger than Super Regeneration's — it filled the entire ceiling of the vast cavern and spilled down onto the walls below.
I stood there grinning like an idiot at the joy of having found it. Then the situation sank in, and I let out a small groan.
"Ah."
Come to think of it — had it been on the ceiling in the playthrough video too? I'd been too focused on other things to notice. The cavern ceiling soared well beyond several times my height. At a glance, it had to be a good thirty feet up. I had to touch it to absorb it. How was I supposed to reach that?
I stood there gawking at the ceiling, the prize hanging just out of reach, then glanced back over my shoulder. Should I go back and fetch Ashel? Even with her, though, I didn't want to reveal the existence of Mysteries. Then what other option...
I turned my gaze to the cavern walls. They were full of jagged protrusions. If I was careful, I might be able to climb them.
Ah, for fuck's sake...
Nothing ever came easy, did it. I let out a sigh and approached the wall. I'd never rock-climbed once in my life. Didn't think this would be how I started. At least with Super Regeneration, I wouldn't have to worry about getting hurt if I fell, and stamina wouldn't be an issue either.
I locked my grip around a clumsy outcropping and started feeling my way up, planting my feet one careful step at a time. With my original physical ability, my arms would have been shaking after a few meters. Super Regeneration replenished the strength as fast as I spent it. Bit by bit, slowly, I climbed — and before I knew it, I was right beneath the ceiling.
One slip of the foot and I'd have to climb all over again, so I carefully locked my center of gravity, slowly let go with one hand, and reached out.
The pattern's light burst brilliant white,
and began to flow into my body.
⟨ Immovable Barrier ⟩
I was riding the high of it when the foothold under my feet suddenly crumbled, and gravity yanked me down.
"Wha—"
My body plummeted and slammed into the ground with a spectacular crash. A strangled groan escaped me as I rolled across the floor. I writhed in the pain — the searing agony in my back and waist, like bones had snapped — but it faded before long.
"Ah, shit."
I rubbed my back and pushed myself up. Anyway, I'd acquired the Immovable Barrier Mystery. It had been the same with Super Regeneration — the moment you acquired a Mystery, you got a sense of roughly what it did and how to use it. I stretched an arm out for no particular reason and activated it.
Immovable Barrier
I couldn't see it with my eyes, but I felt a barrier unfurl around my body. I marveled for a moment — then realized something and immediately dismissed the ability. I muttered, looking a little incredulous.
"Wait... I can't even breathe with this thing on?"
Immovable Barrier. An absolute defensive ability that could block just about any powerful attack. But the penalty was that the caster couldn't take any action while the barrier was deployed. That was why in the game it had been used as a kind of invincibility skill — something to tank a boss's ultimate. Using it firsthand, though... not only could I not move while it was active, I couldn't even breathe.
...Does that even matter much?
I activated it again. After toggling it on and off a few times, I realized something else. It didn't stay on once activated — I could cancel it at will, and there was no cooldown or activation delay. Unlike in the game, it had become an on-off ability I could toggle freely. Whether the format had changed to fit reality or not, it was a massive upgrade from the game version.
The catch remained: while the barrier was up, I couldn't take any action — not even breathe.
"Got the gist of it."
It felt like a reasonably fair penalty. Honestly, it didn't feel like much of a penalty to me. Besides Instant Kill, I had no other abilities. How else would I even use this? I'd mostly just stand still and block incoming attacks anyway, wouldn't I?
I can hold my breath for a bit. And if I need to keep it up for a while, I can just toggle it off and on in between to manage it.
I ran through various scenarios, thinking through how to use Immovable Barrier. And from using it, I found I could also control the barrier's shape and size. I could deploy it skintight like armor, or spread it in a sphere around myself like a barrier spell. This was an outstanding defensive ability.
"Nice. Real nice."
Super Regeneration plus a defensive ability — the thought that I now had one more way to protect myself filled me with a quiet sense of security. I brushed the dust off my body and looked around. Now that I'd acquired the Mystery, the cavern itself came into focus. Desks, a bed — traces of someone having lived here remained. I wandered around and rummaged through things on the off chance there was something else worth taking, but nothing turned up. I gave the cavern one last look, then headed back toward the passage.
I retraced my steps and emerged into the first cavern, where Ashel stood on guard. She saw me, and a hint of relief crossed her face. She'd been tense, probably expecting another stone statue like before to come bursting out.
In the end, I still don't know what this dungeon even was.
Maybe it was a dungeon someone had already looted, and the Mystery had settled here afterward by some convenient coincidence. Whatever it was, I'd gotten what I came for. I didn't care anymore.
"Let's get out of here."
Together with Ashel, I started down the passage leading outside.