CHAPTER 25: LEVEL UP

Sebastian reached towards his back, grabbing the wraiths hanging off him. Their claws scratched against his armor, none of them penetrating.

With a roar, he yanked them over his head and slammed them onto the ground. They shattered into glass shards.

"Hold!" He roared, his axe working overtime.

Wade, for his part, was busy trying to stay alive. He’d long since dropped his sword, the weapon hindering more than helping in this situation for him.

With a snarl, he bashed another wraith with a [Basic Ward], the barrier disappearing an instant later, unable to handle the impact.

Wade didn’t care.

He ducked under another swipe, created another barrier, and bashed it into the wraith. It shattered into pieces.

Panting, he skipped back, the claws passing an inch from his nose. His hand shot out, grabbed the paw, and with a twist, shattered it.

He created another barrier, bashing it into the face of the wraith, killing it.

As the glass shards fell, there was a tiny, almost unnoticeable flash of light, and a small box appeared amongst the shards, falling with them.

He grabbed the box out of the air, stuffing it into his inventory.

Taking advantage of the momentary pause in the battle, he took that moment to look around.

It had been more than ten minutes since they’d been ambushed, and the fight was finally winding down.

When the wraiths had begun climbing out of the mirrors, Rowan had cast his barrier over them, sealing it off. That forced the wraiths to attack from the windows.

Since their entire purpose for coming to the dungeon was to kill wraiths and earn rewards, they couldn’t avoid the battle. But that didn’t mean they couldn’t control the flow of their opponents.

Having to worry about the wraiths from only one side of the corridor was a huge help.

Each one of them had held the formation, fighting to the best of their ability. Sebastian held the front, his massive frame serving as a wall, while Rowan held the back.

As for Ingrid, Wade had thought she’d be weak at close quarters combat because she was an archer, but she’d quickly proved him wrong.

When she wasn’t firing arrows and taking out wraiths before they reached her, she was using her bow as a club, bashing their heads in.

And together, they’d whittled down the wraiths, picking up the loot as they fell.

Wade’s hand snapped to the side, a barrier appearing before it. There was a loud crack as a wraith slammed into the barrier, shattering into pieces.

He was also enjoying his new increased Perception. He could now sense the wraiths coming, even when they were attacking from his blindspot.

Sebastian’s axe descended, shattering the last of the wraiths.

Wade walked through the shards on the floor, his boot crunching on them, before getting to where his sword had fallen.

Bending, he picked it up. With a quick look to examine the blade, he turned to the rest of the party.

"All loot secured?" Sebastian asked.

"Looks like it." Rowan nodded, looking around to see if there was any loot he’d missed.

"Good." The captain nodded. "This seems like the last wave. We only have a few minutes before the second ring falls. Perform your final checks and adjustments, then we’ll get out of here. We’ll need a more defensive location to survive the next wave."

That was when the notifications began appearing.

[Congratulations! You have slain: Mirror Wraith(x14)]

[Congratulations! You have leveled up!]

[Level: 2↑]

[+5 stat points]

With a grin, Wade checked his stats.

[Name: Wade Barrett]

[Race: Human]

[Class: Dimensional Merchant]

[Origin Skill: Dimensional Ledger]

[Level: 2]

[Exp: 4.17%]

[HP: 153/165]

[MP: 85/225]

[Strength: 30]

[Agility: 40]

[Perception: 35]

[Constitution: 25]

[Stat Points: 10]

[Skills: Observe, Conceal, Inventory, Exchange, Basic Ward]

Wade’s mouth dropped open in shock as he saw how many mana points he had left. 85! Just enough for 17 more basic wards.

He’d been spamming the skill during the fight, and now, the consequence of his actions was here to bite him in the ass.

They still had two more rings to go through, and he only had a third of his mana left.

Sucking in a breath through his teeth, he dropped five points into his agility, watching his mana points rise as a result.

[MP: 100/240] ↑

He’d have to rely more on his sword than on his barrier.

With that done, they continued down the corridor.

Sebastian led the way, walking with the surety of a man who’d walked this path a hundred times before. He probably had.

Walking out of the corridor, they emerged in another hall. It looked exactly similar to the one they’d arrived in.

It had the same high ceiling and the same columns, but there was one key difference.

This hall looked new. The ceiling was intact, the floor wasn’t cracked, and there was not a single sign of vegetation growing anywhere.

Even more weird was the fact that it didn’t have a single mirror anywhere.

"What the hell?" Wade muttered under his breath.

"How about here?" Rowan asked Sebastian from the back.

"Too open." The man said, not slowing his stride. "We need somewhere with more obstacles to serve as a natural buffer. You can’t use your barriers to hold them forever."

Rowan nodded. "True."

Sebastian walked to the double doors opposite the one they’d entered through, pushing it open with a single hand.

The door opened smoothly.

"Wait." Rowan frowned. "Are we going to..."

"Yes." Sebastian nodded without looking back. "The chapel."

They passed another corridor that looked exactly like the one they’d just fought the wraiths in, but this one was also different. There were no mirrors on the wall, only the windows looking into the garden.

It was also shorter, and before long, they arrived at a hallway with three giant doors.

Sebastian strode to the nearest one, throwing it open.

They walked in, and Wade’s jaw dropped.

The first thing he noticed was the scale. The hall was long and large, the ceiling high.

At the other end was what looked like a raised platform, and standing in the middle was a pulpit that looked like it had been made for a giant.

Behind the pulpit was a giant stained glass window, light streaming through in a beautiful kaleidoscope of colors.

However, the strange thing about the chapel were the pews. Unlike the pulpit, they were normal sized.

It painted a very clear image. A giant being, preaching to normal sized humans.

But there was only one thought in Wade’s head.

’What kind of place is this?’

Or more importantly, ’What kind of story is this dungeon trying to tell?’