Free Web NovelMatt stepped out of the rest room expecting to see the boss.
After all, they had spent too long inside that room.
They had used the soul division technique several times. They had trained with the guns, the bow-spear, the wings, the dead time, the pain of fusion, and that horrible ten-minute countdown.
So it was only natural that crossing the door would mean facing that metal skeleton with eight arms and its unpleasant regeneration again.
Matt gripped the bow-spear tightly.
Noxx was inside him.
Silent, alert, and just as scared as before.
The stone hallway was dark, but not completely. Several red lines glowed on the walls, marking the path to the next room.
The rest room door closed behind them with a heavy sound.
The bow-spear vibrated in his hand.
Hmmm!
Matt looked forward again.
"Get ready."
Noxx no longer answered everything in words. Many times she just nodded inside his mind, obeyed, and focused.
There was no boss.
Just a wide room with a high ceiling, an uneven floor, and several flying demons circling.
The same basic enemies he had faced at the start of the cave.
Matt went still.
The demons all turned their heads toward him at the same time. Then they shrieked.
"Kiiii!"
Matt looked at them without expression.
"Seriously?"
The demons launched at him.
Matt switched the bow-spear to bow mode.
Clack!
A dark mana arrow formed between his fingers.
He fired.
Fwip!
The arrow went through the first demon.
Pshk!
The body hit the floor and dissolved into dark dust.
Another demon descended from the left.
Matt swung the bow.
Fwip!
Second shot.
Another body fell.
Thud!
The last three tried to surround him.
Matt didn't even step back.
The bow-spear switched to spear mode.
Clack!
He spun the weapon once and slashed upward.
Slash!
Two demons were split apart in the air.
The last one tried to bite his shoulder.
Matt raised a hand, grabbed it by the throat, and threw it into the wall.
BAM!
The demon burst against the stone and turned to dust.
The room went silent.
Matt lowered the bow-spear.
Noxx took a few seconds to speak.
"That was it?"
Matt looked around.
"No."
"No?"
"This has to be a joke…"
Matt moved toward the next door.
The door opened once the room was cleared.
Grrk!
The next space was larger. More flying demons, but golems too.
Matt stood at the entrance.
The demons shrieked.
The golems raised their arms.
Noxx spoke inside his mind.
"This looks like…"
"The beginning."
Matt started to laugh. Not loudly at first. Just a low laugh.
Then the laugh grew a little more.
The demons launched at him.
Matt was still laughing.
One tried to attack from above.
Matt ran it through with the spear without taking his eyes off the room.
Shlk!
The demon's body dissolved.
"Really…"
A golem advanced.
THUD!
The floor trembled under its step.
Matt switched the weapon to bow mode and fired straight at the center of its chest.
Fwip!
CRACK!
The stone cracked.
The golem kept walking.
Matt fired again.
Fwip!
CRACK!
The crack widened.
"This damned cave is really making me repeat everything from the beginning?"
Noxx didn't respond.
A demon descended from the right.
Matt split it with a short swing.
Slash!
The laugh left his face.
His expression went flat.
Very flat.
"Of course."
A golem threw a punch.
Matt leaped backward, spread his wings, and fired in midair.
Fwip!
The arrow went through the golem's head.
CRACK!
The creature dropped to its knees.
THUD!
"Just because we stayed in the rest room training for a few days…"
Another demon tried to attack him.
Matt grabbed it by the face and drove it into the floor.
BAM!
"The punishment is really sending me back to level one?"
Noxx spoke carefully.
"Maybe it's not a punishment…"
Matt drove through the second golem with the bow-spear in spear mode.
CRASH!
The stone split.
"It's definitely a punishment."
"Maybe the cave is recalculating the trial…"
Matt paused for a second. Then turned his head toward nothing, as if he could look at Noxx inside his mind.
"That sounds like an elegant way of saying it's screwing me over."
Noxx went quiet.
Matt exhaled through his nose.
The last golem raised both arms.
Matt disappeared from his spot with a push of his wings.
Fwoosh!
He appeared above, spun the bow-spear, and drove it from the golem's head down to its chest.
THUD!
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The stone shattered.
CRACK!
The golem fell.
The room was clear and the next door opened.
Matt didn't move right away.
He looked at the door.
Then at the bow-spear.
The weapon vibrated softly.
Noxx spoke:
"Do we keep going?"
Matt closed his eyes for a moment.
Then opened them.
"No."
Noxx tensed.
"No?"
"This is perfect for you."
Noxx took a moment to understand.
Then her presence stirred.
"No."
Matt barely smiled.
Not a kind smile.
An instructor's smile.
"Noxx."
"No."
"You're going to fight."
"No…"
"Yes."
"I don't want to…"
Matt raised an eyebrow.
"Why?"
Noxx didn't respond.
Matt narrowed his eyes.
"Noxx."
She tensed.
"Don't say my name like that…"
"Then come out."
"No."
"I'm going in."
"No!"
Matt went still.
Now he was actually suspicious.
"Noxx."
"Matt, no!"
"What are you hiding?"
"Nothing…"
"That answer is a lie."
"N-no…"
Matt closed his eyes.
"I'm going in now."
"Wait!" Noxx yelled, nervous.
But Matt was already pushing his consciousness inward. The real world blurred. The body paused for an instant. And Matt appeared in the mental world.
Noxx was in the middle of the grass field, her back to him.
No gaming chair.
No weapons.
Just her, with a rigid posture and a red face, wearing an expression of guilt so obvious it was almost a confession.
Matt appeared behind her.
"Noxx."
She gave a small jump.
"I'm not here!"
Matt looked at her.
"I can see you."
"No you can't!"
"Yes I can."
Noxx turned around slowly.
Her face was even redder.
Matt narrowed his eyes.
"What did you do?"
"Nothing…"
"What are you thinking?"
Noxx pressed her lips together.
"I just… don't want to control the body right now…"
"It's real combat. You need it."
"I understand your point…"
"Then come out."
"I can't."
Matt looked at her.
Noxx held his gaze for a few seconds.
Then looked to one side.
"I'll come out later…"
"No."
"Matt…"
"There is no later."
Noxx clenched her fists.
"I don't want you in here…"
Matt blinked.
"In my own mind?"
"It's mine too."
Matt was quiet for a second. freewёbnoνel.com
Then nodded.
"Fine. In our mind."
That correction made Noxx go completely still.
Matt didn't comment on it.
"Now come out."
Noxx looked down.
"You're going to see my strange thoughts…" she murmured quietly.
Matt walked toward her.
Noxx took a step back.
"I'm not going to look at your strange thoughts."
She opened her eyes.
"Who said they were strange?!"
Matt stopped. Then raised an eyebrow.
"You just did."
Noxx covered her mouth.
Her face got worse.
Matt looked at her with more suspicion.
"Are you actually having strange thoughts?"
"No! Absolutely none!"
"Noxx."
"Stop saying my name like that!"
"That's your name."
"That's not the point!"
"Also, stop acting like you committed a crime."
She gritted her teeth.
"I didn't commit anything…"
"Then come out."
"No."
Matt sighed.
"Fine."
Noxx looked up.
"Fine?"
Matt disappeared from his spot.
Noxx opened her eyes.
"Huh?"
Matt appeared in front of her and touched her forehead with two fingers.
Tap!
It wasn't a hard hit, but the mental world responded as if he'd shoved her.
"Ah!"
Noxx sat down hard on the grass.
"That was unnecessary!"
"It was very necessary."
"It wasn't."
"Yes it was."
Matt advanced.
Noxx jumped to her feet and started running.
"I don't want to!"
Matt followed at a walk.
That was worse.
Noxx looked back.
"At least run! That has more dignity!"
"I don't need to run."
"This is humiliating!"
"Then stop running."
Noxx tried to change direction.
Matt appeared in front of her.
She braked too late.
Thud!
She ran into him.
Matt grabbed her by the shoulders.
Noxx went rigid for an instant.
Not from fear.
From something else.
Something she didn't understand.
Matt looked at her steadily.
"You're going to control the body."
"I don't want to!"
"You're going to control the body."
"Matt, if you see something strange in my thoughts, I'm going to hate you forever."
"I'm not going to look."
"Do you promise?"
"I'm not interested."
"That is not reassuring!"
Matt picked her up easily and dragged her toward a black door that appeared in the air.
Noxx opened her eyes.
"No, no, no!"
"Yes."
"Matt!"
"Noxx."
Matt's tone was firm.
Noxx went still for an instant.
That instant was enough.
Matt pushed her toward the door.
"Into the body."
Noxx opened her mouth to protest, but the door absorbed her.
"Traitor!"
Matt was left alone in the mental field and crossed his arms.
Then the mental world faded.
Noxx opened her eyes in the real world.
The first thing she felt was the weight of the bow-spear in her hands.
No.
She didn't use that.
Noxx looked down.
Matt had left the bow-spear propped against the wall and the guns secured at her waist with strips of hardened blood.
Good.
At least he hadn't launched her in completely unprepared.
Noxx breathed slowly.
She was in the already-cleared room.
The next door was open.
Matt spoke from inside her mind.
"Move."
Noxx pressed her lips together.
"I'm not talking to you…"
"Move."
She nodded.
Then got annoyed at herself for nodding.
"Good. Good girl."
Noxx felt warmth in her face.
"Don't say that…"
"Say what?"
"Nothing…"
Noxx took the guns. Both weapons vibrated softly in her hands.
Hmmm!
Noxx felt something. Not words, but a kind of recognition. The guns were accepting her better than before.
That gave her confidence.
Noxx entered the next room.
Five flying demons, two golems, and a thinner stone creature with long arms and a head without eyes.
Noxx raised both guns.
Matt spoke:
'Flyers first.'
Noxx nodded and fired.
BANG! BANG!
Two demons fell.
Pshk!
The other three split off to the sides.
Noxx moved her wings.
Fwoosh!
She rose half a meter, turned, and fired left.
BANG!
Another demon fell.
The fourth launched at her face.
Noxx tilted her body and let it pass.
Fired backward without fully looking.
BANG!
The demon exploded against the wall.
Matt went quiet.
Noxx liked that.
The last demon climbed to the ceiling.
Noxx didn't follow. She aimed with the right gun.
Waited.
The demon dove.
She fired.
BANG!
It fell.
Matt spoke:
"Good. You're improving."
Noxx gritted her teeth.
"Focus… and leave me alone…"
The long stone creature launched at her.
It was faster than a golem.
Noxx crossed the guns in front of her body and fired at the floor.
BANG! BANG!
The impact raised dust and stone fragments.
The creature charged through the cloud.
Noxx was no longer there.
She had used her wings to move sideways.
She aimed at its knees.
BANG! BANG!
The stone legs cracked.
The creature fell forward.
Noxx fired at its head.
BANG!
CRACK!
The head split.
The golems advanced.
Noxx breathed. She didn't rush in blindly. She flew backward, kept her distance, and fired at the same knee of the first golem.
BANG!
BANG!
BANG!
The stone gave.
CRACK!
The golem fell sideways.
The second raised an arm.
Noxx rose, passed over it, and fired at the back of its neck.
BANG! BANG!
The stone broke and the golem dropped to its knees.
Noxx landed on its back and fired downward.
BANG!
CRASH!
The golem came apart.
The room was clear.
Noxx breathed hard, but she wasn't hurt.
Matt didn't speak right away.
That made her nervous.
"What? You're not going to say anything now…?" she asked, trying not to smile too much.
Matt answered after a second:
"You did well."
Noxx went still.
"Ah…"
The next door opened.
Noxx shook her head, as if that could get rid of the warmth in her face, and moved forward.
◇◆◇
After that, the rooms kept coming. One after another.
Flying demons.
Golems.
Winged creatures with hard bodies.
Small swarms that came out of cracks in the floor.
Empty suits of armor that moved with red crystals in their chests.
At first, Noxx thought there would be another rest room after several fights.
There wasn't.
Then she thought maybe one would appear after fifty rooms.
Nothing.
When they passed one hundred and forty-two, Noxx understood something was wrong.
Very wrong.
But she kept going.
Matt didn't make her control the body the whole time. After room forty-two, they started taking turns.
Noxx fought with the guns.
Matt fought with the bow-spear.
When one controlled the body, the other rested inside the mental world.
But resting was a generous word.
The reality was closing your eyes inside a mental field, listening to the distant impacts of combat in the real world, and trusting that the other one wouldn't die.
That was it.
But it was better than nothing.
The problem was the physical body.
They only had one.
Even as they traded off consciousness, the muscles kept accumulating fatigue. The wings kept wearing down. The blood supply kept dropping. And the weapons kept taking damage.
And there was no food.
That was another problem.
All the enemies were stone, dust, metal, or dark energy.
No flesh.
No usable blood.
Matt noticed before Noxx did.
After room one hundred and sixty-eight, while she was controlling the body, she tried to repair a crack in one of the guns using blood.
She managed it.
But the body lost strength immediately.
Noxx braced a hand against the wall.
"Ugh…"
Matt spoke from inside:
"Don't use more blood than necessary."
Noxx nodded.
"The barrel was cracked too badly…"
Noxx looked at the gun, then the other. Both ego weapons vibrated faintly, as if they too were exhausted.
Noxx pressed her lips together.
"I know…"
◇◆◇
The first time they tried to rest in a cleared room, the cave shook. Not much at first. Just a vibration under the floor.
Noxx was sitting against a wall, eyes closed, guns resting on her legs.
Matt was resting inside.
Then the floor moved.
Rmmm!
Noxx opened her eyes immediately.
The walls groaned, but no enemies appeared.
Matt woke up inside her mind.
"What's happening?"
"The cave."
Noxx got up.
The tremor grew slightly.
RMMMM!
The door to the next room glowed with red lines.
Matt spoke:
"It wants us to keep going."
Noxx gritted her teeth.
"We can't even rest for five minutes?"
"Apparently not."
Noxx took the guns.
She didn't argue.
She just moved.
The tremor stopped the moment she crossed the door.
That confirmed everything.
The cave was not going to let them rest.
Matt started laughing inside her mind.
Not from happiness.
Noxx felt it.
It was that dry laugh he let out when something was so stupid that getting properly angry wasn't worth it anymore.
"Of course," said Matt. "Of course now there are no rest rooms."
Noxx didn't respond.
"Repeating everything from the beginning wasn't enough…"
"Matt."
'What?'
"Calm down. I'm with you."
There was silence.
Then Matt responded:
"Fine."
Noxx felt something strange hearing him obey her.
But she didn't think about it.
There were enemies ahead.
◇◆◇
After more than three hundred rooms of fighting, they learned to rest while flying because they had no other choice.
At first, they tried staying suspended at low altitude, wings moving slowly while one rested inside the mental world.
They lasted five minutes before hitting a wall.
They tried again.
Lasted eight minutes before drifting too low and touching the ground.
The cave's tremor came immediately.
RMMMM!
Matt clicked his tongue.
"What a damned nuisance."
Noxx spoke from inside:
"Go up again…"
"I'm going up."
"But slower…"
"Don't give me orders."
Even so, he went slower.
The cave seemed to have no visible ceiling. Every room was taller than it should have been, and no matter how much they looked up, the darkness just kept going.
But Matt had a bad feeling.
"We have to be careful."
Noxx, who was controlling the body at that moment, looked upward.
"But I don't see a ceiling…"
"And that's too strange. I don't think flying upward for too long is a good idea."
Noxx didn't argue — not because she was fully convinced, but because she was too tired to argue.
Matt continued:
"Stay close to the door of the next level. If something happens, we need an exit."
Noxx nodded.
"Understood…"
And so it went — room after room, fight after fight. Bad rest after worse rest.
The guns started getting more cracks.
The bow-spear too.
Matt repaired only the minimum.
Noxx did the same when she controlled the body.
Every drop of blood used was an irritating decision.
Repairing too much weakened them.
Repairing too little could make a weapon fail mid-fight.
Neither option was good.
Matt started to suspect the cave wasn't testing them.
It was wearing them down.
"Does it actually want to kill us?" Matt said while Noxx crossed another room full of stone suits of armor.
Noxx fired at three red crystals in a row.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
The armors fell.
CLANG!
"Why not just send the boss at us again?"
Noxx dodged a stone spear.
Whoosh!
She fired point-blank.
BANG! frёewebηovel.cѳm
The armor's head shattered.
"Why repeat everything? Why take away rest? Why only stone enemies?"
Noxx landed and breathed hard.
The last armor fell.
The door opened.
"It doesn't make sense…"
Noxx lowered the guns.
"Matt."
"What?"
"Remember it's your turn to rest."
Matt went quiet.
Noxx walked toward the next room but didn't cross yet.
"You've been overthinking."
Matt didn't respond.
Noxx gripped the guns more firmly.
"I'm in control now."
◇◆◇
After clearing all the enemies from the room, Noxx went still.
The next door was at the far end.
Noxx raised the guns.
She waited a little longer.
Nothing.
Her wings moved slowly.
The body was tired.
Too tired.
Matt was resting inside, but she needed rest too — she just couldn't leave the body on the ground.
Noxx looked upward.
Darkness.
She couldn't see a ceiling.
She didn't like that, and Matt's words came back to mind.
Close to the door.
Always close to the door.
Noxx nodded to herself.
"Just a little…"
She spread her wings carefully.
Fwoosh!
She rose slowly, not far, just enough that the cave's tremor wouldn't reach her while she closed her eyes for a few minutes.
Noxx pressed the guns against her body and breathed.
The room's air was cold.
She closed her eyes.
She wasn't going to sleep.
Just rest a little.
Half an hour at most.
Maybe less.
Matt needed to recover strength in the mental world.
She could hold on.
Her wings moved slowly.
Once.
Again.
Again.
The body rose gently.
The door fell away below.
Then further below.
Noxx didn't notice — her head drooped slightly forward.
The guns stayed gripped. Her fingers didn't let go, but the exhaustion pulled her under.
For the first time in a long while, she heard no enemies.
No tremors.
No voice from Matt.
Just her own breathing.
…
…
…
…
…
…
And then…
Something in her body screamed.
Not in words.
With instinct.
Noxx opened her eyes all at once.
At first she didn't understand what she was seeing.
Everything was dark.
Then her eyes focused.
Above her, just a few meters away, pressed against the ceiling, the metal skeleton was there — motionless, all eight arms spread against the stone. Its head was pointed downward, staring directly at her, mouth open.
A dark glow was building inside it.
Noxx stopped breathing.
For half a second, her body didn't move.
She was scared.
