Timewalk
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Chapter 331: Heroes of the Crimson Blade (Part 2)
🕑 Added 2025-06-16 14:00:10 +0000 UTCA/N: Last chapter landed hard for many, I'm sorry for that. Hopefully this one brings us back to a more enjoyable experience.
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Aliandra
“Why are you invading my home?” Ali asked, standing in a bubble of her barrier magic, flanked by the highest-level trolls she could make in the short time she had available. Even partitioned as her mind was, supporting the four away teams in currently active raids, she had more than enough attention to summon and direct this force.
“Aah, you must be the dungeon core, then?” Vernon said, straightening his priestly robes as the mana of a potent perception skill flickered in his eyes.
“I am,” Ali answered. “And I’d like you all to leave.”
“Sure,” Bartak said, his sword flaring with fire mana. “We’ll leave. Right after we kill you and collect your magicite. The royals offer a handsome bounty for dungeon kills. Nothing personal, it’s all just money.” He stepped forward casually, and if he was intimidated by her ice mages and berserker, he gave absolutely no sign of it.
His blunt admission that he intended to murder her for money had a rather clarifying effect on Ali’s mind. Deep within her heart, in a place that rarely saw the light of day, anger kindled – a rage that had been a part of her ever since she had been forced to watch the Blind Lich kill her parents.
“You tried to murder my guests,” Ali said, speaking with the voices of every troll in unison as she manifested a domain-enhanced barrier between them, causing Bartak’s advance to stop. “And if you cared about treasure, you wouldn’t have been prioritizing your ‘job’ over finding it.”
“They were dungeon dwellers,” Vernon said, shrugging with upturned palms. “Under the treaties, they waive their rights by being allied with a dungeon.”
“They are people, refugees from Ciradyl,” Ali said, “And I am a person. What you seek is murder.”
“Not according to the law,” Vernon said, a smug look on his face.
“And that,” Bartak added with a vicious grin, “is how we became rich and famous.” He raised his sword, bringing it down with incredible speed and power, and her barrier shattered.
“Attack!” Ali commanded, sending her Bone Warriors, Shamans, and Ice Mages roaring into battle. “You defend me for now,” she said, and her giant Blood Berserker simply shifted sideways, placing her considerable bulk between the sudden hail of arrows and ice, and Ali’s tiny body.
Bartak ignited himself with roaring mana as his body grew larger under the influence of his magic, and he lashed out, striking at Ali’s trolls with a series of searing, cauterizing slashes. Immediately, the Blood Shamans chained Blood Siphon to heal, tossing out totems while her mages unleashed ice bolts into the enemies.
She couldn’t see the assassin, but she hadn’t seen him flying so far, so she quickly levitated herself and her berserker off the ground, hopefully out of reach as the battle raged below. For a few moments, Ali thought she might be able to win it, but then the assassin appeared. One of her shamans died in a single strike and the flickering shadow of his daggers unleashed a melee storm of destruction among her trolls. Then the witch struck with perfect timing, freezing every single minion that wasn’t an ice mage, allowing both the hunter and the rogue to land critical strikes against the immobilized enemies.
“Get in there and delay them,” Ali commanded.
“At once, Seeker,” the berserker said, grinning as she leapt from the barrier and landed among the enemies with a roaring crash.
Ali fled amid a hail of ice and flaming arrows, shooting down a level as her minions began to fall. She swooped through the great doorway on the second level and out onto the three-ringed industrial ruins, coming to a halt in the giant clearing where they had once fought the Piercer Scorpion boss. Where they had almost lost Calen when he had fallen during the fight.
What can I do? She couldn’t keep running. None of her other minions were at a high enough level to do more than delay this group. Her strongest remaining boss was Mok’freja, protecting the rift, and, while that was far away, still, this team had torn through her monsters with terrifying speed. Her friends wouldn’t make it back in time to save her. She could try to run, to flee to one of the cities or Naia’s dungeon, but she would be inviting this group of murderers masquerading as a respectable platinum adventurer group to attack her friends. Besides, for her, all of those solutions would merely delay death.
No. While the screams and roars of the trolls filtered down from the library, Ali opened her Grimoire and summoned her most powerful monster. No, I have to stop them. If I run, they’ll massacre the Elves. Evacuating several thousand Elves would take time under the best of circumstances – time they did not have. She could see them even now, still milling about in panic and confusion or trying to hide, unable to reach the teleportation ring in the library. Perhaps if Lyeneru or Rezan were still here… but they were off scouring the forest around Ciradyl for survivors.
We were foolish to disperse so far, foolish and unprepared. It’s up to me, now.
“Stand here,” Ali said as soon as her minion appeared, pointing to the center of the clearing where the cold flagstones were still scored from the aftermath of their old fight.
“Seeker,” Tol’brekk rumbled, his deep, grating voice sending involuntary shivers down Ali’s spine. “I smell blood.”
“Yes, intruders have come,” Ali said, channeling her mana into inscribing a massive restoration runic circle, covering the entire clearing, extremely grateful for all the magical haste she had earned from her skills and evolution. The runic restoration circle would be an indiscriminate bonus, healing everyone within its area. But the berserkers use health as if it were mana. At least in theory, her magic circle would be a far greater advantage for the blood magic user than anyone else.
“Intruders?” Tol’brekk lumbered out to the indicated spot and turned to look at her. “I do not like running. I wish to fight.”
“You will have your fight,” she said, and activated Domain Mastery, her mind already racing through her possibilities. The sounds of fighting from above were already beginning to fade. “There are five, and they are strong. I hope you’re up for this.”
Domain Respawn applied to Carnage Berserker.
Raid Domain Enhancement applied to Carnage Berserker.
Tol’brekk was still at level one hundred, but he was her only evolved minion. Her only hope. He was going to be the most expensive raid boss she had ever made, but she was desperate, and mana was the least of her worries right now.
As her domain mana began to swirl around the giant berserker, he turned to gaze at her, tusked mouth slowly curling upward at the edges into a fearsomely wicked grin. “Together, we will crush them beneath our feet like the bugs they are.”
Despite the dire circumstances, Ali couldn’t help grinning at his confidence.
Attribute Enhancement (Vitality) applied.
With the memory of Beltz one-shotting her Forest Guardian still fresh in her mind, Ali gave her Carnage Berserker a healthy dose of extra life. But she still needed a way for him to provide a credible threat to an experienced platinum-ranked dungeon extermination team. She ran through the possibilities, but two things remained stuck in her mind. The ridiculously powerful strikes of Kir’mogan, only with the giant berserker axes, and the immense power of Tol’brekk’s amplified Blood Vortex. I just hope this works. She had only seen a few of their skills so far. If I were a gambler…
She chose both abilities and committed her decisions. The sounds of battle had faded, and she no longer had Troll eyes within the library.
Amplify Skill (Blood Vortex) applied.
Overpowering Strike applied.
Domain Enhancement complete.
Your reserved mana has increased by +2152.
Tol’brekk threw back his head and roared, shaking the very stone with the volume of his challenge as a massive groundswell of domain mana coursed through his body. His muscles expanded and he grew taller and wider by the second. As the power settled within him, he lowered his head, fixing his gaze on the group emerging from the doorway before him.
“Seeker. Do you require me to hold back?” he asked, not taking his eyes off their foes for even a moment. Somehow, Ali could tell he desperately hoped she would not.
“Fuck, no,” Ali said. She had given them the chance to leave peacefully, and they had spurned it with contempt. “They have lost the right to our politeness.”
“Excellent,” Tol’brekk growled, his voice rumbling deep within his cavernous chest. He raised both his axes and stared down at the platinum-ranked adventurers approaching from the library, interposing his enormous bulk between them and her.
“Ooh, what is this?” Vernon said. “A unique Troll?”
While he acted nonchalant, Ali didn’t miss the loosely hanging ribbons of his robe on the righthand side where an axe must have found its mark. So, they could be touched. Hurt. Killed.
“My master has asked me to clear out the trash,” Tol’brekk said, switching to Common. He placed one heavy foot forward in a balanced stance, causing several rocks to fall off ruined walls. “I suggest you leave and save me the trouble.”
“Oh, so you think you can fight?” Bartak said, grinning widely.
“I sincerely doubt I will need to fight one so puny as you,” the giant berserker declared.
Despite her extreme nervousness, Ali couldn’t help but grin. Tol’brekk clearly had a way of getting under their skins. Any advantage had to be a good one.
“All yours, Beltz,” Vernon said, waving his ring-encrusted hand and causing the same enormous chains of holy and shadow mana to spring from the stone, binding securely around Tol’brekk’s shoulders and drawing tight.
His words seemed to be a signal to the leather-clad assassin, who suddenly appeared behind the troll’s broad back with his unfathomably powerful shadow-dagger strike that had taken out her Forest Guardian in a single strike. Ali’s heart stopped.
But absolute calm radiated through the connection coming from Tol’brekk. The giant troll simply sniffed the air and shifted within the chains. The shadow blast pierced through him, sending a gout of blood spraying from his back and out the front of his chest, but the blood failed to hit the ground, remaining suspended, swirling in the air, slowly being drawn up into the giant axes.
With a casual flexion of his shoulders, Tol’brekk shrugged off the chains.
“Huh?” Beltz grunted.
It was all the assassin could manage before Tol’brekk’s Bloody Axe of Carnage crushed his ribcage, launching him horizontally across the plaza into a stone wall, leaving a bloody splat of an impact stain. His body bounced off, landing on the ground in a crumpled heap.
A loud chime rang out, coming from the priest, along with a reactive surge of powerful holy mana – clearly, a conditionally triggered spell of extraordinary potency.
“YOU FUCKING IDIOT!” Vernon screamed. “You wasted my Divine Prayer! That’s a week’s recharge blown. I don’t believe it! That reagent costs a thousand gold; that’s coming out of your share.”
Beltz groaned and rolled over, crawling to his feet. He coughed up a thick gobbet of blood and spat it onto the stone. “There’s more than enough magicite behind them to cover it,” he growled.
“There better be.” Vernon was livid.
“There are literal tons of it,” Beltz ground out, glaring at Tol’brekk, and Vernon suddenly fell silent. “I just want to know why that monster is still alive after I backstabbed it.”
“It didn’t even lose ten percent,” Vernon said. “You must have missed.”
“I don’t miss,” Beltz said angrily.
Ali glanced at Tol’brekk’s status, confirming that he had lost about ten thousand health in that strike. Health that was rapidly regenerating from his enormous health pool, troll regeneration, and the restoration aura from her runic magic. It had been an idea she had borrowed from fighting Joraa – the combination of almost two hundred thousand health and the troll regeneration meant her berserker was going to be regenerating an unbelievable amount of health the entire fight. Also, this berserker was wearing the finest plate Thuli could craft with full access to the dungeon’s anvil.
“Ok, let’s go kill it properly,” Bartak growled, advancing into the ring with his sword already blazing. “Form up, you lot. No more fucking around.”
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Comments
Brian
Why not have Ali threaten them? You're here for money and magicite? That's all you care about? Fine *deconstructs all magicite in the dungeon* there is no magicite here!
Purpleninja
Gottem!
Razyr
So far I believe the only time you need a shrine is when you first getting your class and when you hit level 100 if it’s needed again there is no mention of it yet
SpaceFan839
That ooze is currently level one, and it takes about ten seconds to make a monster. That would be about 25 minutes of straight casting just to boost it to level 150. I don't think Ali has 25 minutes.
SpaceFan839
The current true fight has just started, also Ali is her dungeon's biggest point of weakness. Her barriers are too weak to stop the ranged attackers, their attacks can one shot her, and if she dies the refugees die with her. Not a great combination all considered.
SpaceFan839
When someone says something so true you want to like it at least ten times, but you are only allowed to like it once.
Mikey3250
I may have missed it.. Will they required to use a shrine evolution when they reach level 200 or is required at 100?
Razyr
Clarence just wanted to play catch and accidentally ate snowball and got drunk lol
Charles Hughes
DOOM SOUNDTRACK? Nice
Charles Hughes
If they win she can use arcane recall to instant respawn him, like she did with her shrine guardian.
Tabby the cat
Thanks for the chapter. Why do I get the feeling Minion Ego is going to be this party's ultimate downfall? They're dungeon killers. As Ali's party has shown time and time again, you can learn the patterns and beat the bosses way stronger than you. But a raid boss with creativity? He hehe hehehehehe Also a little concerned about the remark that they're allowed to kill dungeon dwellers. Makes me wonder just how many dungeons have been negotiated and partnered with over the centuries that have since been destroyed. Nevyn has done the world dirty, spreading anti-dungeon propaganda while gaining their power for himself. Shame young Ali wasn't interested enough in dungeons to learn about them when she could.
Matthew
https://youtu.be/kpnW68Q8ltc?si=BGg2zQybHhUpL8q4 This background music just kicked in, but bad news for the Crimson Tools, they aren't the protagonists this time around.
TheAkashicTraveller
There was nothing wrong with the last chapter just us being too impatient to wait for more to read in one go when multi parts show up.
Bees4Real
I kinda get your point, though who could have stayed to fight a pack of 150's?
Bees4Real
Named witch doctor is currently saving the town constantly by guarding the Rift. Was mentioned earlier she can only summon a named monster once for reasons not understood.
Bees4Real
I disagree. Ali is being reminded that she needs to be a dungeon not just a friend. A serious restructuring of her dungeon, protecting her essential assets like the shrine, anvil, and the Library, and ensuring she continuously updates her defenses/contingencies is going to be very obvious after this fight. Is it sad that Ali is human and get complacent and needs these violent reminders? Yes, but frankly I'd be in the same boat cuz, as she has repeatedly mentioned, there's never enough time in her day to finish her todo list.
Bees4Real
I disagree with the others for the last chapter. It had events and revelations in it that added complexity to the story. It highlighted the attacker's bloodlust, taught us Clarence is much more OP than I thought, and established how truly powerful the adventures are.
Stephanie Washburn
Yeah, no need to apologize. My comments are typically meant to help improve for next time
Stephanie Washburn
Thinking it over, this plot point might feel hollow to some because of two reasons. Reason one is that Ali is not using her entire toolkit and hasn't exhausted all her options, so it may feel like her struggle isn't fully justified. Reason two is that the villains are dumb and cheesy in their greed - if they wanted money they'd farm the loot at least for a while before breaking the dungeon regardless of the dungeon kill bonus or the bribe of the class shrine.
Sardionysius
This plot is just padding and Ali’s plot armour will carry her. This subplot adds nothing to the story and should have been resolved when the mayor was killed by Vivian and her spy doing something.
Alexix
Thank you for the chapter, it was delicious! Looking forward to seeing how the fight plays out.
Maltherii
I don’t understand why Ali is just observing the fight and not helping herself. Its like she can only fight when she is with her party which doesn’t make sense. During the fight in Ciradyl she had a much more active role.
Mull16
She could summon a bunch of lower level monsters to be killed and use that corrupted ooze to gain like 200 levels from the bodies. Also after the last chapter it might be time to reuse the old runic defence arrays. She could tie them to her domain like she did with the library one.
WolfKing69
Oh, let the ass whooping begin. If ali adds in a Healer that will make it even better. Or mayber a flying nuisance...... Actually, I'd go with the crazy Witch Doctor. The Named one. Add chaos to the battle that they don't know but Trolls do
The one Sith to rule them all
Honestly, this is fully and compensatory on rehab Vivian and lyneru They shuld know better then leaving there most important asset, and last hope of the continent unguarded Everyone else might have an excuse they DONT
InLucidReverie
She could summon a cloud of dragonets and then use them to switch in a ton of monsters easily enough
Lijwent
She should ne be wasting time, she has minions seront she can use to contact her friends leading the raid groups, also summoning supports for her boss should help
InLucidReverie
Much better with this chapter out, absolutely!
InLucidReverie
The problem of the last chapter has been more than fixed, but if you want to wait til the battle is over, one more
Scyfe
I was one of the people that didn't like the last chapter. Just wanted to say don't get discouraged or feel you have to apologize or anything. I greatly enjoy the story and wouldn't be posting my opinions if I didn't like it. Not everyone will always be happy with everything. Thanks!
Kensyi
Is this their end or should I wait another day?
kreiverin
Smash they
