Psychokinetic Eyeball Pulling

Chapter 73: Voidmare

Astrid sat down on a rock in front of the mine. She rested her hand against her chin and she was stuck in thought. To go in, or not to go in?

A group of footsteps brought her awake. Gazing up, the faces of the Wayfaring group entered her vision. They were glancing around at their surroundings and held their weapons at the ready.

Nick pricked a nearby kobold body that lay dead on the floor.

“Worried it will resurrect from the dead?” Gloria sneered.

“Hey, you’ve got to be careful no matter what,” Nick sheathed his sword. “Who knows what bloody magic they have?”

“Nick is right,” Froderick said. “It’s always better to stay on the side of caution.”

“There’s caution, then just plain paranoia.” Gloria pointed to the corpse. “I mean, it doesn’t even have a head anymore.”

“But still!” Nick blurted out.

“Neither does it have arms.” Gloria’s brows dipped.

Nick opened his mouth once more, but Gloria interrupted him.

“Or legs.”

Nick’s shoulders deflated.

“My lady, are you okay?” Leena placed her heavy backpack down with a thump. It contained most of Astrid’s rations as well. Enough food and water to last at least an entire week.

Astrid shook her head. “There’s a dungeon deep within the hill.”

“What?!” the entire Wayfaring party exclaimed.

Gloria’s shoulders prickled and her eyes turned to venom as they pierced toward the entrance.

Calum said, “is it secure?”

“Nothing’s coming out. I made sure of it.”

“That just means nothing has come out yet.” Calum crossed his arms. “We’ll need to head back, regardless.”

“Head back?” Gloria glared. “My sister could be in there.”

“What do you want to do, go in there? Haven’t you heard what the dungeon is capable of?” Calum raised his voice. “You just need to ask the person with firsthand experience.” He glanced at Astrid.

“We would have been wiped out, if not for some luck.” Astrid clenched her fists and stood up. “But this time it’s different. There’s a level limit to this one, and only one person can enter at a time.”

“Level limit, so it’s true then, isn’t it?” Nick stepped forward. “The System controls the dungeons?”

“Controlled, more like created, no?” Tony said as he cradled his bow.

“Wait, my lady,” Leena exclaimed. “You can’t be thinking of entering the dungeon, right?”

Astrid wryly smiled. “I can’t hide anything from you, can I?”

“Are you insane?” Calum said.

“Don’t you know who you’re talking to?” Gloria smirked. “The demon of Rebirth does what she wants.”

“Why does that sound scornful?” Astrid tilted her lips and continued. “The level limit for the dungeon is seventy-five, and I’m almost there. Who on Rebirth is as strong as I am at my level?”

At her words, everyone shifted their heads around, unable to answer the question.

“No one,” Astrid said as a matter of fact. “I’ve given it a lot of thought since you all took forever to come here.”

“Hey that’s not fair. We had to go through a mountain of wolves,” Nick said.

“You had Leena there with you.”

“She told us to deal with it ourselves, for training,” Nick shivered. “She’s scary when you’re not around, you know–”

Leena glared, and Nick took a step back.

“Anyway, I’ll need to ask for all of your mana potions,” Astrid said. “I wouldn’t ask for you to give them for nothing in return. I will, of course, split some of the loot with you all once I return.”

“You’re really that confident you’ll survive?” Calum asked.

Astrid cupped her chin, then broke out into a bright smile. “Of course. I don’t plan on dying anytime soon.”

Calum sighed. “Alright then.” He loosened the strap to his bag and handed over most of the mana potions he had on him.

The other wayfarers also did the same until Astrid’s backpack was filled with nothing but bottled blue liquid.

“Take this. You’ll need it more than me.” Gloria grasped a small badge with her hand. She hesitated for a moment before she un-pinned it and threw it over to Astrid.

“This is…” Astrid exclaimed.

Epic - Level 50 - Protecting badge of the Forscythes: Imbued with a high-grade defensive magic.

Astrid was about to refuse it, but although she was confident in her current strength, she was, after all, travelling into the unknown. She wasn’t in the position to refuse kindness.

“I’ll bring it back safely.”

“I’m not holding much hope,” Gloria said.

“Aw, come here.” Astrid opened her arms and walked toward Gloria. “Give me a hug.”

“Get lost, or I’ll take it back!” Gloria scowled as a black mist swirled around her lower legs.

“So stingy.” Astrid pouted.

“Astrid, take this as well.” Froderick unsheathed a smaller sword from his waist. “You know, just as a last resort.”

Taking the sword from Froderick’s grasp, she nodded.

After taking a dagger from Mina and a minor stat ring from Nick, she guided them through the tunnels within the hill. Apart from the badge from Gloria, the equipment wouldn’t help her very much. But it brought with it a warmth that she had longed for. She did not know becoming a Wayfarer would be the best thing to ever happen to her.

She couldn’t remember the last time she had received a gift from friends before it. Well, ones that didn’t involve mean spirited pranks from Florrie and the other noble caste.

They entered the cavern and Astrid explained about the Voidbent metal and how the kobolds used it against Leena’s attacks. They gasped in amazement as the cavern opened up and the sparkling of light against the black ore glistened within their eyes.

“Forget about the giving metal. This would be worth an absolute fortune.” Tony whistled.

“Everyone listen up,” Calum said. “While Astrid goes into that… thing, I’ll lead half of the squad out, while Tony works on mining this metal. Tony, set up a defensive perimeter in front of the gateway. I want nothing coming out of that abyss without us being prepared for it.”

“You got it, captain.” Tony slung his bow across his shoulders.

“I’ll be closing it first time,” Astrid said.

“I don’t doubt it for a second, Sinwen.” Calum placed his hand forward.

Astrid grabbed hold of his hand and shook it with force.

“Astrid!” Mina rushed forward and wrapped her slender arms around the Sinwen daughter’s shoulders. “Come back safely.”

“I will. Don’t worry about me.”

“It’s her enemies that need to be worried,” Josh said.

“Yeah, no doubt she’s going to come back as a monster.” Nick wryly shook his head.

“My lady, I will be waiting for you.” Leena said.

Her eyes were serious as she stood on the spot as stalwart as a mountain. “Come back stronger than ever.”

Astrid believed it. Her maid wouldn’t budge an inch until she arrived.

“I’m a Sinwen.” Astrid turned. “Just protect the kids and I’ll show you all my power once I return.”

“You’re the youngest here. Show off.” Gloria sneered.

“Shut it, I’m the oldest mentally, alright?” Astrid laughed and stepped foot into the dungeon gateway. She immediately activated her Mind Barrier and Illusionary Armour.

The others held their breaths as they watched the black, void-like shadow coil around her body like a phantom snake. The shadows trembled, as if in excitement as Astrid’s body disappeared from existence. There was no trace of her, only the lingering smell of blood that was glued to the fabrics of her clothing.

* * *

You have entered the dungeon - Voidmare.

Astrid strained her eyes. It was dark, too dark. She placed her hands in front of her face, but even then, she couldn’t even make out the outline of her hand. She attempted to activate the light stone on her shoulder, but it didn’t work.

The air swirled violently one moment, but then it was completely gone in the next. It felt like there were air pockets of nothing that made it difficult to breathe until the air arrived once more.

Frowning, she watched the matter in her surroundings with care. Her psychic mana flared as she heightened her concentration to the maximum. If there was a single spec of matter out of line, or a little sudden movement, she wanted to know about it.

She recalled the mission she was given.

Creating Dungeon Mission - The Voidwalker: Complete the dungeon by finishing off monsters with nothing but the power of illusions.

Mission Reward: Legendary secondary class upgrade.

It meant she could injure them with her Psychokinetic Skills, but had to finish them with Illusions, somehow. It would be a lot easier if it was the other way around. She didn’t even know how to kill things with her illusions. Where would she even begin?

It would make sense for a kill within Mind Domain to count as an illusion kill. But she wasn’t sure if the dungeon would think that way.

I’ll try to think of another method and only kill with Mind Domain as a last resort against stronger monsters. Astrid thought.

Gazing at the surrounding matter, she could make out what appeared to be trees. They were strange compared to the ones she was used to. They were tall, and many branches spiralled upwards, then drooped down to the floor like tendrils from the squid she had seen throughout the oceans.

Astrid crouched and touched the floor to work out what kind of environment she was in. It was wet and sticky, but it wasn’t cold or warm. She wiped her fingers together and the viscous liquid was like a slime that formed against her skin like a glue. Astrid wiped it off on her trouser leg and stood up.

She had to find somewhere to defend herself. Standing out in the open in the middle of the trees, ripe for an ambush, didn’t sit well with her. But it would help if she could see. Can someone turn on the lights?

At the thought, a dim purple emerged from the darkness and then another alongside it. They were like floating slits hanging in the darkness. Apprehension gripped Astrid. The purple shine disappeared and the surrounding matter surged towards her at extreme speed.

Astrid immediately exploded the matter to her side. The explosion caused her body to hurtle to the side, dodging the sudden attack from the mysterious entity. She stumbled on the floor, rolling, then jumping back onto her feet.

The purple shone, this time a fluorescent green joined it. The green illuminated the surroundings as the pitch black was relieved of its darkness.

Razor-sharp teeth were hidden behind the green, and it dripped onto the floor. Each droplet stuck to the ground, maintaining its light. As it touched the ground, steam rose as a vile smell wafted towards Astrid from the peculiar air currents.

It had the body of an insect and its tongue flapped around loosely. Astrid could scarcely make out the blade-like arms. Astrid was about to make her move when she heard something from behind, but it was too late to react.

She felt her Mind Barrier crack and then immediately crumble into nothing. She felt something tug at her stomach, followed by a warm trickle down her body.

Astrid willed her psychic mana around her and desperately crashed it, sending the monster back into a mass of blood and mangled flesh. It looked at her with nothing in its eyes. It was like the void was staring at her. There were no thoughts or signs of intelligent life, it just wanted to consume.

“You damned bugs.” Astrid spat out blood.

She gazed at the monster and burned its image into her mind. With the biology studied within seconds, she created a spitting image of the monster. And another, until six of them were all looking at each other.

They snarled and leapt toward each other as Astrid shimmied away from the fight, holding her wound tightly to stop the bleeding. Thankfully, she had a lot of potions at her disposal.