[Mana Domain] expands and I fill it with resonating mana again, canceling the arrows that the archer shoots at group 4.

Then his eyes made of mana stones glow and the stone lodged inside its chest radiates more mana. Its attacks become stronger and some of the arrows, even though weakened by my domain, clash against barriers I create.

That's when Tess reaches him, the mana exploding around her as she tears stones off the walls and the ground, making them spin around her before flinging them at the archer.

In between these attacks, a dozen of her rare endurium javelins continue to move as if they are alive. They change directions and let out a piercing noise as they pass through the air while leaving a trail of black and white lightning.

The archer disappears, appearing behind Tess, the arrow lodged in its bow and aimed at her. Within the domain, I quickly create an anchor and teleport behind him.

His barrier forms once again, but I resonate mana on my skin at the same frequency and my kick sends the archer flying, rolling on the ground.

Immediately Tess's attacks start hitting the monster, the lightning burning its body.

I use tether to appear close and flames that I infuse with [Resonance] blaze against the archer that once again creates a spherical barrier. The flames crash against it, the barrier enduring for a bit before getting disrupted by flames infused with resonating mana. As they start touching the archer, he teleports again, this time appearing behind group 4.

Before he does anything, a javelin comes flying and lodges itself deep into his body. The Arcane Archer staggers backward, lightning cracking around him.

Tess predicted this kind of attempt.

Before the archer moves again, Maya’s spear made of mana stabs against the barrier he hastily creates and before Lily’s [Disintegration] hits it, he teleports again.

This time I’m better at tracking his teleport and appear next to him soon after, my kick hitting the barrier and sending ripples through it. The corpse changed the barrier's frequency.

An attack explodes from it and the arrow that pierces everything it touches hits [Regalia] infused with kinetic energy.

I stagger backward, pushed by the force of the attack, and most of the energy gets absorbed by the armor. Then I infuse [Regalia] with [Resonance] and the arrow explodes, the attack mostly disrupted by my armor.

Two of Tess's javelins hit the archer's barrier, forcing him to move right to one of the multiple anchors I left all around the room.

I rely on Arcane Resilience and send as much mana as I can into the anchor, it quickly turning into a tricolored orb that starts glowing white. Tess moves behind me, lightning trailing her body and the archer tries to teleport, but he is unable to do so as I send a pulse of disrupting mana at him.

Instead, he strengthens his barrier and the exploding orb obliterates it, sending immense heat into the room and burning the archer.

I absorb any heat that reaches me before it can hit Storm Brigade or group 4.

The following implosion pulls the archer towards where the core of the orb was but he resists and more mana radiates from him, an immense amount that destroys all the anchors I left around and deals with the implosion.

When he turns his head to me, there is no hate in his lifeless eyes. He is just a personality construct, and an imperfect one.

Both of his eyes lose their light and the mana stone on the chest starts glowing brighter. The amount of mana he releases threatens mine, pushing it, trying to dominate it.

What a funny guy.

I reach into my Mana Reservoir and let the mana flow.

POV Obelia Jenth

The amount of mana that fills the room is almost sickening and all of it radiates from two figures in front of me. A terrifying young man and the corpse of the Champion's disciple.

There is no beauty in it, no delicacy. Just like wild animals growling towards each other, pressuring the other one with their mana.

Tess moves to my side and looks at me, “Let's not do anything. It's better to not interrupt him when he is like that,” she says simply and even the crown disappears from over her head. The lightning crown I never saw anyone using before. And the woman I dared to call my disciple uses it with such ease, not realizing the power she possessed.

What a terrifying bunch of people she and her guild are. But most of all, their guild master.

The archer throws away the bow and a dozen of projectiles form around him, each of them as big as a thick spear and twice as long. He shoots them, at us, the shockwave following each one of them.

Yet, moving only a bit they stop once again. Unable to pierce the field around the terrifying young man. Even more mana radiates from him and it tears apart each and every projectile, then as if making fun of his opponent, he also creates projectiles, three of them, all dark blue with wisps of purple and light blue mana swirling inside.

“FUCK! Run!” multiple people from Angry Kittens scream right away.

Even before these words are finished they are all running out of the room.

With fascination, I watch as each of the projectiles starts turning bright white and is shot towards the archer.

“Barriers!” Tess shouts towards her guild and mine as well.

Hearing the tension in her voice, everyone who can creates a barrier.

A flash of bright white light blinds me for a moment as well as a blast of mana that washes over us. The explosion ensues and I can feel the heat on my skin, as well as feel the vibrations as pieces of stone fall from the ceiling together with dust.

I push it all away with my mana and then look towards the room where the young man and the corpse are fighting.

My view is blocked by a barrier that seems to cover the entirety of the entrance, the barrier made of dark blue, purple, and light blue mana. There are cracks all over it and I can see ripples spreading all over the surface as the barrier cracks, crumbling and revealing what's happening in the room.If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

Nathaniel stands there in armor similar to the barrier that is now covered in cracks and golden flames blaze around him. Opposite of him, the archer stands, missing his left leg and arm, both replaced by prosthetics made of mana.

“Hey, get your asses over here, this guy is weak so you can finish him off, it’s nice to practice. Biscuit, you don´t have to,” he calls towards his guild.

Remembering the powerful attacks of the archer, I look towards them and most of them don’t even seem surprised, while some of them seem excited to fight.

I watch as they all move inside the room and start fighting while Nathaniel stands to the side. He constantly spreads his mana around and only helps when it looks like any of them will die.

His guild members get hurt. Bones are broken, deep wounds form, and they get thrown around. Yet, all of them fight.

A little girl fights with flames that devour everything, yet they don’t burn anyone from her guild. They form orbs that she shoots at the archer, making him avoid explosions of blue flames.

A black-haired girl fights up close, taking wounds and restoring them immediately while not being affected by them at all. With gray mana that seems to terrify even the personality construct of a man long dead.

An older man is able to take on some weaker attacks of an enemy well over level 200. His body is handling it all, and his swordsmanship is somewhat lacking, but it shows his immense talent for positioning and his calm, calculating personality.

A black-haired woman with dark blue armor around her body that continuously creates and changes weapons made of mana and even uses some mana projectiles to shoot at the archer.

Twins that move faster than anyone else from the group, both impossibly synchronized and sometimes even switching places with each other while creating extremely realistic illusions.

A young boy who skillfully moves dozens of iron orbs that hit much stronger than they should and move at a speed that is hard for me to watch. He also does something that further slows down the movement of the monster.

And each single one of them has that weird look in their eyes. A look similar to their guild master.

What a scary bunch.

In the end, the arcane archer is a disappointment. Seeing his level, I hoped for more, but he is just an imperfect imprint with limited mana. A personality construct of someone much less skilled than Lissandra.

His mana reserves also weren't that big and he was capable of using only a few skills. Powerful skills, yet with limited use and it's not that smart, only reacting to outside stimuli. So, I just watch Angry Kittens fighting his further weakened version after fighting with me.

I notice that Obelia keeps staring at me, but I mostly ignore her and observe the fight in front of me.

Not even having to join that much, I let group 4 deals with an enemy that is close to 100 levels higher than them, and to be honest, the archer right now, after nearly depleting his mana, feels under level 200.

So yup, he is quite getting bullied, even though he lands a few nice hits.

In the end, it’s Hadwin who deals the finishing blow, his epic sword cutting through the corpse that barely has any mana left inside its body.

[You have defeated Arcane Archer - lvl 228]

[Lvl 182 > Lvl 183]

I reach what remains of him and without hesitation pull out the mana stones from his eyes and chest. After sending my mana inside them, it's as I think, and there is a scarily delicate set of circuits that allowed storing the personality imprint as well as mana for who knows how many years.

All the stones are part mana battery, part personality construct, partially allowing the corpse to use skills or the mana, but there is something else too. A piece of information that is encrypted inside. A message left to humans, most likely talking about the invasion of lynthari, Pairing, maybe Calamities, or about the war. Or maybe it is a recipe for the best smoked deer meat. Who knows.

I also pick up the bow that didn't get destroyed during the fight, not even damaged by my tricolored javelins.

Windrider Composite Bow (epic): Engineered with high-tensile materials, this bow is designed to enhance and compress any mana or other projectile it fires. This results in a remarkable increase in both the distance the projectiles can travel and the force with which they strike.

Quite a shitty weapon to leave to someone for a fight in a small room underground. Somewhere outside with his teleport, the Arcane archer would be a much more terrifying enemy. Now what to do with the bow? It would be nice for Tess and would allow her to create projectiles out of lightning and shoot them much further. The same goes for Lily who might be able to shoot [Disintegration].

Or Izzy for some long-range fire attacks? Maybe even Min-Jae after getting him arrows made from mana conductive metal he likes to use and increase its weight with [Gravity Well]?

Hell, even Maya could create some mana projectiles, strengthen them with her [Boost], and have them even more compressed before shooting.

“Do you mind if I keep it?” I ask Obelia, who is looking at me and unsurprisingly she doesn't seem to mind that much.

I check one more time the mana stones in my hands and all of them look somewhat similar when it comes to encrypted and stored information. The size of that information seems the same in each stone so there shouldn't be a difference.

Then I hand her the mana stones that used to be the eyes of the Arcane Archer and look at her with a question in my eyes.

Obelia just takes them and nods.

Still, I feel a bit bad as an asshole from Beyond messed up with her collection of information so I will make sure to pay her back a bit in the future, even though she doesn't realize it's our fault.

I put away the big mana stone and hand the bow to Tess, “You can decide who to give it to.”

The moment it gets out of my hand I feel relief as I get rid of the annoying decision. Tess and others can fight over it.

I know that Tess is using Abyssal Anchor (epic): This gravity anchor is made from a heavy mythical metal. When activated, it creates a gravitational pull, dragging foes towards the item and locking them in place, leaving them vulnerable and restrained.

Twins got Veilshade Cloak (epic): Tailored from the rare and elusive shadow silk, this cloak grants the wearer a veil of obscurity against magical detection. Its dark aura masks the user's magical signature, making it a prized possession for those seeking to move unnoticed through realms guarded by magical sentinels.

And the last epic item we got from the old capital and our friend Elydor went to Hadwin - Darkstride Ring (epic): This ring is imbued with a dark enchantment that allows the wearer to step into the shadows and reappear a short distance away in a different shadow, effectively granting the ability to blink through shadows for a tactical advantage on the battlefield.

Damn, I miss Elydor. I wish I could start the floor over again and meet him one more time.

“Check the Beyond community,” Tess leans closer and whispers into my ear.

I do so right away.

Beyond 5/10

With Tess being the 4th it looks like someone else joined.

Gareth - How do I change my name here?

Sset - you can't

Gareth - Oh, hello, friend! That’s unfortunate indeed.

Gareth - I wanted to leave the Community to Maximilian and Jakub, but they are unable to join this one.

Sset - who are Maximilian and Jakub?

Gareth - Sorry, my friend! They go by Brainiac and Lootenant in the community.

The newest Beyond explorer immediately starts doxxing his group members.

Gareth - My name is Gareth Vogel, leader of group number 1 we named WhiteWing. I'm 40 years old and from Germany. I just finished the 1st Beyond trial and hope we will get along.

Not only his group members, but he is doxxing himself too.