“You are sure I won't destroy my only line of defense by doing this?” Jack asked.

  He was standing inside the bunker they had created as Monty stood off to the side. The ‘Bunker’ was a large wooden box, approximately two meters by two meters with a slightly pointed ceiling. There were small openings on each of the four walls, just wide enough to put a hand through or peek to the outside.

  There was no door, Monty had literally grown the last wall together while Jack was inside it. He could only get out by destroying the box or waiting for Monty to make a hole for him.

  While they had been setting up the new base Jack asked Monty to try to explain what he was doing with his skills more so that Jack could try to understand. It hadn't really helped him all that much as he had no real understanding of half the words or skills Monty mentioned.

  He did understand that while the walls of the little panic room were wood, Monty had used a skill called [Imbue] to strengthen it. How well Jack had no idea but Monty assured him it would be as strong as metal for a few more hours.

  Jack still had his doubts, which was why he was a little apprehensive to test the bunker's offensive capability. Monty had set up a few rows of thin spears on the exterior of the structure, Jack couldn’t see from the inside but from the way he had sensed Monty’s mana as he was doing it he assumed the bunker resembled a hedgehog.

  They had talked about Jack’s lack of firepower and ability to actually do more than hope something collided with something solid after it was pushed away. Monty’s solution, which he was very proud of, to this issue was what they were about to test.

  He had set up another cluster of spears on a hollowed-out, orb-like chunk of wood, that piece of wood was attached to the wall and sat right in front of one of the small openings. The idea was Jack would stick his hand into the orb and channel a shockwave through his hand.

  He only had to vaguely shape it so it pointed forward and well power wasn’t normally an issue for him. The orb would then explode outwards and all of the spears, which had been [Imbued] at the tip, would then be shot outwards.

  There was one of these spiky balls of death at each wall and Monty was waiting for Jack to do the first test right now.

  Jack took a deep breath and trusted that Monty knew what he was talking about and that he wasn't about to blow up the wall he had his hand in or be pierced by shattered wood. He stuck his hand through the opening and into the orb, preparing his mana.

  He tightened the shape as much as he could to create a cone-like wave and finally activated [Shockwave]. The bunker shook and Jack felt a tingle in his palm and a ring in his ears. He stepped back and inspected his side of the wall. Everything looked good on his side, he did notice he had a large splinter stuck in his palm but it was big enough he could pull it out easily.

  “Wow, that was way more explosive than I thought… Hmm gives me a few ideas actually.” Monty said.

  Jack leant down and peered out the opening to inspect the damage. He had to admit it looked like it worked pretty well. There were spears embedded in the soil all over the area in front of the wall, there were divots out of the soil in front of him and most of the spears on the wall were now bent out of shape or broken off the wall.

  “Damn, ok sorry I doubted you on the walls. This thing is like a bomb shelter. I guess we are good to go when you fix up the wall” Jack said, taking a seat on the ground and pulling out a half-eaten ration bar. His whole job was to just produce mana and with his skill upgrade he didn’t even need to think to do that anymore. Guess that puts a new spin on the whole doing my job with my eyes closed, Jack thought.

  “Wait, so can you really see the Rift Core from here? Is that your upgraded mana sense?” Jack asked as Monty stood up holding a massive javelin that was as thick as he was and at least as tall.

  “Yep, it’s been upgraded a bit. It was a focus of mine to synergise with my other abilities and my absorption primal. Between the mapping disc giving me the direction to search and reading the flow of mana. I have a pretty good idea where the core is.” Monty replied as he stretched his body while leaning against the javelin.

  This had been their main concern, how would they draw the Rift Guardian to their location. Monty had said they had an innate desire to protect the Rift Core, but otherwise they were just like any other creature in the rift. Other than being much more powerful, having deadly abilities and likely at least twice the size.

  Monty had said that he often found the simplest approach was the best, so his big idea was to get a really big piece of wood and throw it really hard at the rift core. Hoping that the big scary boss monster doggy would decide to play fetch or interpret it as an attack and go on the hunt.

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  Either way as long as they came to where they were it would all be the same to them in the long run.

  With Jack secure, safe and with a way to defend himself from any stray creatures that might follow the guardian. Monty was ready to fight in his preferred style and Jack was excited to see. It had been described to Jack as more of a martial art style focused on close quarters melee and using the environment to his advantage while massively increasing his strength and speed through a body enhancement skill.

  “Ok, Jack. Let's ring the bell. Get ready.” Monty said as he drew on the mana around him and started to glow a faint green light. He hefted the javelin up with one hand, as if it weighed no more than a stick. He took two steps forward and with a twist of his body, launched the javelin away.

  There was a blast of air as it left his hand and after a moment there was a loud, sharp cracking sound that tore through the sky. Jack’s eyebrows merged with his hairline, Monty had just broken the sound barrier with a piece of wood that would have weighed over 50 kg and he had done it with just the strength of his own enhanced body.

  Monty was actually a little scary.

  A second later there was another loud sound that echoed through the bunker Jack was in. It sounded like a car crash. That sound was followed by a loud howl, and an excited laugh from Monty.

  Jack looked out the opening that didn't have the spiky ball of death attached as he stared at Monty looking in the direction of the howl. He could faintly hear a rhythmic sound of feet pounding the ground in the distance, quickly approaching through the darkness.

  They waited, Jack held his breath as the adrenaline started to pump through his body with anticipation.

  The sound of crushed trees and shattered wood grew louder and an ominous presence seemed to descend on the area. Even with his new ring on, the light seemed to dim almost back to the pitch black it had been when they arrived.

  Monty was a shining beacon through the dark, his suit throwing out light in a circle around him. Jack noticed something move at the edge of his vision, but it seemed wrong. A low rumbling growl sounded and Jack froze, unable to move as the shadow he was staring at slinked forward.

  It could only be the rift guardian, the sheer size and presence it radiated sent shivers through his whole body. This creature oozed apex, it was the size of a bus. It stood over four meters tall and was at least twice as long.

  There seemed to be a dark mist-like substance that was flowing over its entire body, dissipating slowly as it hit the ground and drifted away. It was hard to see its fur beneath the mist, but the glimpses he got were pitch black and thick. Nothing like the infected looking smaller lupine creatures they had seen so far.

  Its muzzle was long and slightly open as the growl escaped it, rows of sharp white teeth exposed as its fangs as long as his forearm dripped a foul looking saliva.

  He looked into its eyes, and was lost, frozen and paralysed. They weren't black, the only way he could only describe it was as an absence of anything, a void. As soon as his eyes passed over them he felt the ring on his finger warm up but still he felt himself falling.

  Then suddenly there was a burst of mana that washed over him, as Monty activated a shockwave with himself as the centre. As Jack came back to his senses, he saw that the shockwave had blown the mist back and he could move once more.

  “Do not look into its eyes. Stay in the bunker and only interfere if the smaller ones attack. Understood?” Monty said, his voice full of command.

  “Got it!” Jack shouted back. He scooted back a little and tried to see as much as he could through the small window he had.

  He saw Monty’s body start to glow as he reached over and picked a spear he had made earlier out of the ground beside him. As he did that Jack could see around the creature's feet, groups of the smaller wolf-like creatures padded forward.

  Their mangy fur and wiry bodies tense and they added their growls to that of the rift guardian. Monty launched the spear at the massive creature with his immense strength. Jack watched knowing it had to pierce directly through the creature if it was thrown with the same power as the last one had been.

  Instead as the spear approached, Jack watched in astonishment as the beast's body seemed to fade into the mist around it and the spear shot through leaving a hole in the mist as it passed.

  Slowly the mist coalesced back into a wolf-like shape and the guardian reappeared, baring its fangs once more as it raced forwards towards Monty.

  Monty started to move away from the bunker and reached the edge of Jack’s viewing window, he leaned to the side to try to see more.

  Monty didn’t try to grab the smaller spears on his back he had prepared, instead he balled his fists and sent shockwave empowered punches towards the creature as it raced at him.

  The creature dodged the first one with an impressive show of agility, bounding to the side and narrowly avoiding it. The second it seemed to jump through, turning to mist and then reforming right in front of Monty as it tried to snap its jaw shut around him.

  Jack had slowly been creeping back towards the opening to try to get a better look at the fight, with the guardian seemingly focused elsewhere the oppressive presence he felt earlier had lifted slightly.

  As he looked at Monty dashing away inhumanly fast to avoid the creature's jaws, he heard a loud growl much closer than he expected. He tore his eyes away from the confrontation between behemoths in the distance and saw at least a dozen rotted wolves circling him in the bunker.

  He backed away and went to the opposite side of the bunker to check. As he approached he saw one of them skulk past the opening. They had stayed out of reach of the sharp spears on the bunker so far but he wasn’t sure how long that would last.

  Guess this is me then. Jack thought. Time to see if the spiky balls of death actually work.