House of Cards

"Well, let's try to avoid that as best as we can," John replied to Adantia's outright threat. "Will you be helping me through the Barrier I create, or do you want me to handle it on my own?"

"If you're so intent on proving yourself, let me create the Barrier," Adantia replied immediately. "Then I'll know there's nothing weird about it."

"Fine, be my guest," John said, gesturing vaguely to the area around them.

"Damn right. Let's get moving," Adantia said, surprising John when she turned towards the door. "The faster we get this over with, the better."

"Uh... where are you going, exactly?"

"To... step out of this Barrier, so I can make a new one? I'm not trashing the Barrier I spent all this time rebuilding in just to make a new one, and I'm not exactly a Fateweaver; Barriers-in-Barriers aren't really my strong point," Adantia said, rolling her eyes. "Sorry if I didn't live up to your expectations."

"No, just surprised, that's all." The bullshit flew from John's lips half-convincingly, earning him a quirked eyebrow but no actual reply from Adantia. Truthfully he hadn't thought about it; Moira's book from so long ago had gone over the difficulties inherent in making Barriers inside of Barriers, but John had rarely dealt with the issue himself; his new world had never caused or been the subject of any difficulties around Barrier creation, so it wasn't something that entered his thoughts often.

"How long do you think it will take to get us out of the city?" John asked as they exited the grocery store.

"Not long. A couple of minutes?" Adantia said, sounding rather indifferent as she glanced out over the city.

"That fast? I'm not sure I can keep up with you if you're going to make it all that way in a couple of minutes," John admitted.

"You don't have to worry about keeping up. I'll carry you. Just try not to scream."

"Scream?!"

John did indeed have to suppress the urge to at least jump a little as a large tendril of metal burst forth from a nearby trash can, almost silent despite the speed of its emergence. The first tendril was joined by a second one a moment later; together, they reached down and pulled free two manhole covers from the street nearby, then deposited them on the ground in front of them.

"Get on," Adantia said without fanfare, stepping forward onto the manhole cover in front of her. John followed suit on his own, already seeing where this was going.

What followed was a shockingly mundane method of conveyance undergone in the most over the top way John could've imagined it. Actual levitation spells would have had some manner of mysticism or sophistication; instead, they were propelled at particularly high speeds by the simple action of the two long metal cables carrying them across the sky. Whenever they covered several blocks, or however long the cables could reach, new cables would rise in front of them and then grasp the manhole covers while hardly slowing down.

"Couldn't you just levitate the manhole covers?" John asked, over the sounds of the wind rushing by them. "Or are your abilities just limited to the cables?"

"Maybe I'll tell you if you haven't been lying your ass off," Adantia responded, her tone making it clear there were no further follow-up questions allowed. John frowned slightly but kept his mouth shut as they continued at a brisk pace across the cityscape until eventually arriving at what must have been the edge of the Barrier that covered this part of Paix.

"Alright, you better be ready," Adantia warned, as she faced the emptiness outside. "I'm going to be moving quickly. Most of the Barrier Stabilizers around the city were destroyed, I was only able to scrounge up enough to keep the Barrier I've been living in together for about thirty minutes."

John hadn't even fully registered their exit from the Barrier; he was halfway turned around to look at the rundown cityscape behind them now that they had exited the reconstructed Barrier when Adantia's words hit him.

"Wait, are you really just gonna-"

Entering Dungeon Barrier created by Adantia!

"Fuck."

John remained silent despite his agitation as the Barrier formed around them, but to his surprise, he didn't seem to be the only one annoyed. As what appeared to be the dilapidated remains of a factory formed around them, a frown crossed Adantia's face and her brows took on a particularly perturbed twitch.

"What the fuck did you do? How did you mess up my Barrier?" Adantia asked, glancing around.

"What do you mean? This seems like a normal Dungeon Barrier to me," John said with a shrug.

"I was trying to make a Barrier where the creatures would be all around us when it was created... it was just going to be an empty space, a couple dozen feet in each direction. Why is this whole factory here?" Adantia asked with obvious frustration.

"I don't... know? Probably something to do with my abilities," John noted, glancing around. Despite Adantia not being in his party, it looked like his mere presence had transformed the nature of the Barrier. Was it something to do with his Gamer abilities, causing every Barrier with creatures inside of it to be formed more along the lines of a traditional dungeon? He had to admit, if he could just make tiny Barriers where all the creatures spawned in around them, that would've speeded up his leveling immensely...

"It shouldn't matter, this will work, we'll just have to find the enemies," John noted.

"Well, we don't have time to scour this whole factory for wherever they are," Adantia growled. "Hold still."

"What are you planning?"

"Just shut up and hold still."

Adantia raised her hands up high above her head, her black bangs swaying a little as she pointed her hands toward the ceiling like daggers. With a swift parting of her arms, an incredibly loud squeal of tearing metal filled the air and the metal roof of the building parted above them, opening a gap nearly ten feet on all sides.

The noise attracted the attention of something lurking around in the factory; John heard a strange noise, somewhere between a hiss and a gurgle, just before a seven-foot tall scaled humanoid stepped out from around a corner.

Drakin Mechanic
Level 37 Engineer
780 HP / 780 HP
Relationship: -154
Alignment: 0

"Good idea. Make a racket, rough the place up, and deal with them as they come in. I'll take this one, you-"

"I said hold still. Do you want to get crushed?" Adantia asked, rolling her eyes as she held out an arm to stop John from moving toward the approaching Drakin.

"Crushed?" John asked, curiosity in his voice. He listened to Adantia and held still, despite the rapidly closing Drakin.

Adantia didn't respond to his somewhat worried question. She was too busy focusing – her hands were still raised, though now instead of pointing them toward the ceiling, she had clenched them into fists. Just before the Drakin was about to reach their position, Adantia gave a grunt and heaved downward, with a noticeable resistance to her movement.

It didn't take long for John to realize, between the shifting of scenery and the immense screeching so loud that even he had to throw his hands over his ears in a vain attempt to stave off the overwhelming noise, that Adantia was doing more than dealing with the lone Drakin – she was bringing the entire factory down around them. The walls that held multiple floors and walkways above towering furnaces and conveyors came crumbling down as if they were little more than papier-mache, all careening in on the Drakin approaching them and whatever companions he had further inside.

As the building tore itself apart and was brought low around them, John knew he probably should've been scared. A single misstep from Adantia and he would've been buried under quite literally tons of metal. But despite the instinctual fear he certainly felt, John also felt a certain awe that he hadn't really felt much since nearly a year ago, since the first few days after receiving his powers.

Although Adantia's technique didn't have the magical flare of throwing a fireball or casting a spear of light, it was more powerful and intimidating in a way because of it. There was no secret sigil, no unshatterable technique here – just a woman, a mildly pissed off one, pulling an entire building to the ground in a few seconds with just the power of her mind. As the structure collapsed entirely, it crushed the Drakin Mechanic just feet away from John, covered so quickly only a few sprays of blood escaped the metal rubble. The sound was deafening, and John could feel the massive burst of air kicked up by the collapsing building as a good chunk of it escaped around them through the hole Adantia had made.

John was a bit surprised to see that no experience notifications actually popped up, but only a bit. Every Dungeon John had done before, he'd had the others in his party – with rare exceptions for his creations, which always seemed to count anyway. Still, the disappointment barely registered to John compared to the awe that he felt watching the aftermath, as the dust and metal debris settled slowly over the graveyard of what was once a functional if decrepit factory.

"Holy shit... what was that?" John asked. "Was that a spell, or...?"

"Look, I'm not your mother; you didn't do the research on what I can do. Yeah, yeah, time constraints and all that – but it's still on you. Now, hold still while I make some more enemies; with that little factory taken care of, they won't have anywhere to hide," Adantia said, holding a palm out.

"I don't think you'll have to make any more... uh, in the Dungeon Barriers I make, there's always a-"

John was interrupted by a particularly large and bulky Drakin forcing its way out of the rubble. Unlike the engineer they had encountered, this one was clearly meant for fighting. When it finally pried itself free of the metal rubble, it was nearly nine feet tall, with hulking muscles and a war axe that glistened despite the polluted air. The Drakin let out a decidedly aggressive roar before charging forward, eyes locked on John and Adantia.

"The hell? This one looks different. You really do have some weird abilities, don't you? Well, show me just how weird you can get," Adantia said, looking at John skeptically. "Unless you need some help?"

John threw a quick Observe at the boss of the Dungeon, just to be on the safe side.

Drakin Enforcer
Level 52 Bodyguard
1,580 HP / 1,580 HP
Relationship: -200
Alignment: -10

"Not in your wildest dreams." John smiled as he squared up against the charging behemoth.