Overpowered Wizard

The first major obstacle to fall to the void pit was the bloody trap spell. The void pit dismantled the ancient spell array and sucked it into its endless depths.

Then the void pit sucked in the chimera ghouls waiting on the edges. Zarian’s spell devoured the chimeras before they could escape.

The giant serpents were the next ones to fall. Their massive physique and enhanced ability to maneuver over difficult terrain was no use against the hungry, hungry void pit.

By this point, the godless watchers were shooting down their explosive artillery blasts from high up. But many of the huge magic missiles curved away from Zarian and Naomi and fell into the depths of the void pit.

The godless watchers kept trying, and they kept failing.

Last but not least, the warp fey became the targets of the void pit. Unlike the others, they could defend against its hungering suction to the unknown with their faerie abilities and warp manipulation.

They stayed hovering over the void pit, remaining airborne.

But that was at the cost of speed and being able to attack.

Naomi ran up on the warp fey, completely safe and sound from Zarian’s void pit. She launched into flying punches that blew the fey monsters apart like popping old and wrinkly pimples.

When the fey tried to fight back with warp attacks, they lost their flight capabilities and dropped closer to the void pit. Fearing the void, they traded offense for survivability and came out losing.

Naomi cleaned them out before they could escape.

Once the last warp fey died, Zarian ended the massive spell and collapsed to a knee.

The Star System returned all the monsters that fell to the void pit and made it rain cold, lifeless, void-ravaged corpses. None of the dead monsters landed on him even when massive snake bodies struck the ground like mini mountains.

Zarian’s entire body trembled with discomfort and stress after performing the biggest spell maneuver he ever used. Hell, he might’ve exerted himself so much he’d burned through the stamina portion of his vitality, so he really needed to catch his breath.

Even with Aura Channeler and Summon Wizard Hat +2, which were two abilities that made channeling aura more efficient, the warp energy debuff hampered them greatly. That was the reason he had to brute force his way through and go about things inefficiently.

Worse yet, all void abilities had high costs already, which made Zarian’s effort to thwart both the blood trap and monster ambush a feat of legendary or mythic proportions. He supposed the records on his Feats of Adventure would love that if he didn’t get any high-quality achievements.

So, yeah, he needed a mini break.

That didn’t mean he was completely out of the fight and left defenseless. Not when he had Para flicking out long and sharp parasite whips to pop artillery shots before the landed flush. Ꞧ

Thunderous shockwaves battered him from above, but Para had grown more armor over his body to keep him protected.

While Para defended her host, Naomi flew like a psychic rocket and struck at each godless watcher with a punch or two.

Once she killed them all, she landed with a heavy, psychic slam that shook the earth like a giant had come down from the sky. She jogged over to Zarian and stood at the ready by his side.

With a big breath, Zarian stood to his feet. He looked around and noticed how the annoying warp energy was thinner in the air.

The wild and alien weather was gone, too, having been sucked into the void pit. The Star System didn’t care to bring back the invasive wild magic that hadn’t belonged here.

Zarian and Naomi looked up at the clear sky as the twin suns entered the last part of their arc, turning the western horizon orange and gold and bruised purple.

“You’re incredible,” Naomi said, looking left and right at the field of corpses.

“I need to be,” Zarian said with a sigh. “Because you’re chasing after me.”

“Nice, nice. I like the thrill of the chase.”

Zarian snorted at the crazy woman.

After spending time to recover stamina and aura, he raised some new humanoid skeletons and stored them away in the cloak’s pocket dimension along with spare food for Para. Then they moved onto the next challenge.

This time around, Zarian noticed how the lairs’ defenders and traps were less formidable than before. It was as if the lair had blown their load early on the big blood trap and monster ambush.

There was a significant reduction of warp energy, too. Only a few warp beams would screech through the air and try to mess with them.

“Zarian, enhance my Overclock +2 and Mind Spike +2, please,” Naomi requested, hopping to the top of a smashed apart fortress.

Zarian held off for a second as his Parasite Cloak +2 swung out heavy whips, blade-tipped tentacles, and scythes to hack apart another wave of chimera ghouls. He blasted them with his Black Fire spell to wipe out their vitality and ensure their deaths.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Then Zarian swooped into the air, dodged another warp beam attack from a concealed fey, and did as Naomi requested. He poured aura carefully into two sets of skill runes to empower her. He noticed this was probably the limit for him when targeting another person’s skills for empowerment, at least for now.

Naomi widened her eyes. She turned in a particular direction, her eyes twitching left and right, up and down rapidly. Then Zarian felt her send a volley of psychic attacks that covered the distance almost instantly.

He soon noticed some new notifications that counted a dozen warp fey as defeated. Naomi had killed them all once she scouted them out, despite their concealment.

“They’re good at hiding from the mystical stuff you use,” Naomi explained. “But I’m mainly Willpower and psychic shit, and those little warp bitches don’t have much Willpower or vitality. So boosting my Overclock +2 helped me see further and truer so I can get the lock on. Then the rest was history once I used Mind Spike +2.”

She raised her hands to the sides of her head and pantomimed an explosion. Zarian slowly nodded as he felt the warp energy lessen drastically around the lair. Now he and Para could use the Void Waltz spell more liberally.

“Damn good work, Marine,” Zarian said.

“Command better get my NAM ready,” Naomi said.

Zarian fell from the sky and landed in a pile of dead monsters. He let out a few hard barks of laughter as he clutched his gut.

The inside joke had caught him off guard.

He remembered how some overachieving, boot-licking Marines would do everything they could to get a Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal and act like they were hot shit. None of that stuff mattered to him and Naomi now, especially with how the Marines had kicked Zarian out.

Still funny as hell.

“Don’t worry,” Zarian said between chuckles. “I’ll let the captain know to have that Letter of Appreciation signed and ready. Everybody’s going to love waking up fifteen minutes before fifteen minutes before physical training just to hear how you’re a stellar Marine.”

“Kill babies, eat crayons, motivate, motivate, motivate, rah,” Naomi said, playing into the bit of how random and stupid the Marines could be. She made Zarian laugh some more.

After they finished joking around, Naomi hopped down from the top of the busted fortress and helped Zarian back to his feet. Para ate up all the nearest corpses and placed extra into the pocket dimension.

The Marine Corps duo continued their venture deeper into the lair by land and air. Naomi ran through the crimson grass with powerful strides that rocked the earth as if she was a giantess of war. Zarian flew after her with his Parasite Cloak +2 fluttering behind him like a galaxy-consuming eldritch flag.

They crushed the remaining waves of chimera ghouls that tried to stop them.

They reached the heart of the lair.

Naomi stood over a big and cavernous hole leading deep into a dark and rocky subterranean pit. She wriggled her toes over the edge and placed her fists on her hips.

Zarian hovered in the air behind her. He looked down and scanned the things lurking below with his masterful abilities.

“Mm,” Zarian hummed.

“What’s the SITREP?” Naomi asked.

Zarian took a second to gather his thoughts about the situation report. Then he said, “Five Blood Simulacrums. Three Flesh Golems. And one Deathless Warden. That’s all that’s in the way of reaching the world boss. I can’t get an accurate bead on the world boss. But I know it’s at the center of some dark and creepy citadel at the bottom.”

“And?”

“They’re all above Level 100, and the Deathless Warden is in the Master Rank. We can assume the world boss is above Level 100 and in the Master Rank as well.”

Not all creatures who reached Level 100 entered the Master Rank. Some creatures might’ve grown from age and time and had done nothing spectacular, so they didn’t get the benefits of the rank ups.

Zarian and his friends were on their way to hitting Level 100, where they would get their Second Class Advancement and become Master Rankers based on all the spectacular things they were doing. They were also on their way to having access to the First Star Ascension Trial, which would let them ascend to the Greater Worlds.

Having adventures and fights against monstrous entities like these would make their rank up and ascension all the better. Hence why they were doing stuff that most people, especially the locals of this world, wouldn’t do. Granted, fighting a handful of Level 100s and two Master Rankers was a challenge that could spell their doom on top of the other bad stuff waiting to trigger.

Zarian continued with his SITREP. “Also, the citadel has magic wards that work like a death puzzle you have to solve. Or some doomsday weapon would activate and most likely kill us.”

“You still have a life-saving charge with your divine medallion, right?” Naomi asked.

“Yeah, I do. And you?” he asked with a serious tone.

Naomi straightened, her head held high, her backside still facing him. “I’m good. I died eight days ago. We can risk it, sir.”

Zarian slowly nodded and relaxed a little.

There was the option to reverse course and Void Waltz to their party to gather reinforcements. Gilbert alone would be the biggest boon to keep them healthy and safe. But if they added Hannah? And Bianca?

They would dominate without question.

Zarian looked hard at Naomi’s back while she continued to face away from him. He knew she could feel his stare. He was unsurprised when she started swaying her hips from side to side playfully. She kept wiggling her toes over the edge like an excited kid.

She was teasing him, knowing what he was going to do. Zarian didn’t bother trying to overthink it.

“I promised Gilbert I wouldn’t be dumb,” Zarian muttered. “So I will not be dumb. We’ll go in carefully and get you the achievements for killing a Lesser World Boss. But after this, we’re going to play things way, way smarter. This lair turned out harder than I expected.”

Why do I keep wanting challenges, but I run into over the top challenges most adventurers would never face? Zarian wondered. Can I get challenges that are in the middle? Not super over the top. But not hella boring? Or am I lying to myself and trying to play off as the reasonable one next to this murderhobo woman.

Zarian’s thoughts weren’t secured right now, but if Naomi had read them, his thoughts seemed to have no effect on her rising mood. Or maybe they only made her happier as she twirled around to give him a big, cheesy, and beautiful smile.

The many little scars on her lips and face and the wild atmosphere surrounding her only seemed to enhance how full of life she looked out here in the most horrible lands of the Walled Continent.

Zarian looked at her for a while.

She kept smiling at him until he looked away with a frown.

He hated how she was getting better at pushing his buttons. But he wasn’t so wet behind the ears anymore, not after letting his mind unravel so much. He pushed her buttons in return, which he did literally by shoving her off the edge with some aura and condensed air.

Then he flew after her, zipping through the air as she flipped around loosely, making no attempt to help herself. He came around from below and caught her gently, holding her to his chest.

Naomi kept beaming an annoying and cheesy smile at him. Zarian furrowed his brow and frowned at her.

Crazy woman. In fact, I think I’m pretty damn sane compared to her right now. I bet Gilbert would be proud of how sane and reasonable I’m being. Maybe that’s my ultimate form, being the most sane Florida Man anyone would ever meet.