IWUAaDNW: Growth 3.9, Exploit 4.5

The first thing they noticed was how massive the boss room was. It was, in fact, much larger than it had rights to be, a square room about sixty feet wide per side and thirty feet tall.

—IWUAaDNW: Growth 3.9



Then Ulfric changed his grip on the antenna he’d been holding against his chest so that he was grasping the limb in his hands instead. His arms and legs flashed with mana as he started pulling, and to my surprise he actually managed to force Atlas to take a few steps in his direction.

He took a deep breath. The glow spread from his arms and legs to cover his entire body, and he somehow started pulling even harder. Atlas’ six legs buried themselves into the arena, but couldn’t do more than resist and dig furrows into the sandstone. Then with a wordless shout, Ulfric spun and Atlas’ feet left the ground. With a prodigious display of strength, Ulfric threw a beetle the size of a fucking bus halfway across the room.

Raffaa smiled, as if that was normal. Eira was still chanting. Only Gwen seemed to share my reaction; her jaw had dropped.

For a moment, I paused in shock. Even with what I'd learned about the abilities of the locals, this was far beyond anything I'd been expecting. I knew from Gwen’s casual displays of strength that adventurers were stronger than normal, but that wasn’t just strong, that was Glory Girl-strong.

 Were all high-tier front-line adventurers this strong? If so, then that meant I had to rely on brute protocols to handle them, at the very least.

A blast of warm air flowed across the room. A circle of red light had appeared around Eira’s feet as she continued to chant, all the while gathering mana around herself. “Shape your passion into a mighty conflagration, express the full breadth of your conviction through those flames so that none may deny your dreams. Make the Mother herself weep from the strength of your desires.”

I couldn’t have much time left to stop her. Unfortunately, Ulfric and Raffaa were in the way, and I knew no display of strength would be enough to stop them. I had to somehow break her focus. She was out of whip range, not that her protectors would let the antennae reach her. And I didn’t think the rock-throwing move from earlier could reach all the way there; throwing something using your mouth with any kind of accuracy was hard.

Fortunately, there was something else in the arena I could use.

I flung Atlas’ antenna forward.

—IWUAaDNW: Exploit 4.5