As they were flying on the carpet, the mood was quite awkward. They all understood that this was their best option, but it still felt like an insane and stupid thing to do. And that’s saying something, considering that every other day they get in a predicament that is somehow more dangerous and insane than the last one.

“I wonder where we’ll be a year from now. Will we be flinging ourselves into the sun to absorb its energy?” Denmac asked jokingly, although he couldn’t bring himself to smile.

“Let’s start with the moon first.” James chortled.

“Guys, I know we barely did anything, but is anyone else surprised by just how much xp we’re getting?” Emilia changed the subject.

“I know what you mean.” Denmac replied. “I did even less than you, and I still leveled up 30 times.”

“How many levels did you gain, James?” Lunaris asked curiously.

“Zero.” James smiled.

“What? How is that possible?” Denmac was surprised yet again, but this time in a different way.

“Well, what can I say? It was too easy.” James grinned cheekily. “It might sound strange, but that’s the truth. Why would I gain xp when I’ve been killing them effortlessly? Even the big bad guys die in mere seconds. I’m not pushing myself at all while fighting this trash, I’m well within my comfort zone. So I’m not granted any xp. I’m not surprised at all, makes perfect sense to me.”

“Oh right.” Lunaris nodded. “I didn’t even think about that. Your power has been skyrocketing, so I just assumed you were getting levels as well.”

“But he’s getting something a lot better than level, aren’t you, brother? You already had more mana than all of us put together, a hundred times over. Now after you stole all that energy, I can’t even imagine just how big your mana pool is.” Helios put his arm around James’s neck. The moment he touched him, his bright smile grew even bigger.

“Wow!” Helios exclaimed. “You guys should feel this. Just by touching him, your hand goes numb from the sheer amount of power flowing through his body.”

They all had to see for themselves, immediately rushing to touch James.

“Ouch!” Emilia shouted. “It feels like my hand is submerged in boiling water.”

“Sorry about that.” Helios chuckled. “I forgot that not everyone’s defenses are as thick as mine.”

“And to think that with each level he gains, his mana pool will only grow larger.” Denmac stared with his mouth open at his burnt hand. “I mean, for me, a single level is good progress, but the percentage increase of my stats is nothing compared to his. With his already insane mana pool and regeneration rate, each level probably adds more to his mana pool than the entire pools of a hundred people like me!”

“All right, all right.” James blushed. “Enough chit-chat, we’re here.”

“What do you mean we’re here? We’re in a forest.” Denmac said as he looked around, seeing nothing but trees.

“That’s true.” James nodded. “But unlike the other cities, I didn’t want to drop us off right in the middle of the action.”

“Oh, finally a little bit cautious, are we?” Emilia teased him.

“Well, I’m not being cautious for my sake.” James grinned again. “Maybe I’m getting too cocky, but I think I’ll be all right no matter what this city has in store for me. But I just don’t want you guys to suffocate from the pressure. So brace yourselves, it’s going to get a bit rough. Get your barriers up.”

As soon as the defensive barriers around the group were erected, James drove the carpet into the city. They were miles away, but with the downright stupid amount of mana James was pouring into the carpet, the trip barely took seconds.

And with each passing second, as the group was getting closer, their faces were getting whiter and whiter.

“James, what have you gotten us into?” Emilia trembled. “This is nothing like the other cities. The aura alone is making me dizzy.”

“I can’t breathe!” Denmac looked like he was having a panic attack. “This air is so heavy, it’s like raw Darkness replaced even the oxygen.”

“I’m ashamed to admit it, but even I find it uncomfortable.” Lunaris looked like she was having trouble breathing as well. “And the heavy hitters aren’t even near us yet. There are just three agents coming at us, and the pressure and aura is already unbearable.”

“Oh my god, look at them!” Denmac pointed at the incoming agents. “I think these are just rank-and-file agents by the looks of them, and yet the pressure they’re radiating is at least ten times higher than that of agents from the smaller cities!”

“Oh, really? I hadn’t noticed.” James grinned, the muscles around his mouth hurting from all the grinning.

He flicked his hand, three red dots flashing for a fraction of a second.

“By the way, what agents do you mean?” He kept grinning, to the point that his facial muscles cramped. The weird part being that this was the most damage he took during this entire trip.

The group looked at the incoming agents, only to see three corpses with holes in their chest.

“All right, that was actually impressive, and it is actually making me feel a bit better.” Denmac sighed, relieved that they weren’t entirely screwed after all. “But are you sure you can handle all this? I heard rumors about Stygian cities, but feeling the pressure on my skin makes me think the legends actually underestimated their power. This city makes the smaller ones look like a joke! Just look at the gates, they’re hundreds of feet tall, dark as the night, and they alone radiate more Darkness than what I’ve felt even from Garantep. Just the damn gates!”

“And what about us?” Emilia asked. “I imagine just one of these agents can kill like half of us in no more than a few seconds.”

“Don’t you worry, I’ll take care of you.” James wasn’t grinning any more. He hopped off the carpet and left the barrier, extending his hand. As soon as he touched the group’s barrier, it began shaking as if there was an earthquake right below them. An ocean of mana flowed out of him, making the barrier glow in a thick, light blue color that made it nearly impossible to even see anything through it.

“Feeling better now?” James asked.

“Yep.” Emilia, Denmac and the dwarves nodded swiftly. This barrier felt like it was hundreds of times stronger than their previous one.

“When did you learn how to do this, brother?” Helios asked with a bright smile as he inspected the barrier.

“What’s there to learn? I have so much mana now, I can just throw a chunk of it at whatever I want, and it’ll work itself out.” James answered. “Before this trip, this would’ve left me almost dry. But now you’re safer than ever, and I barely even feel the expenditure.”

As the group stood there with their jaws dropped, James grinned again. “Look alive people, it’s killing time!”