Of course! He's not stepping down from a challenge!

[Hello, razorswift aka. sasori86 here, I just wanted to put this short notice at the beginning of this chapter to make you aware of the name change^^ Nothing else has changed, same dude, same story, same stupid shenanigans. With that out of the way, enjoy the chapter!]

Looking over Brun and her gear, John was sure that in a 1v1 he would be pretty much toast if he wasn't fighting dirty, but in this scenario, he could see how he might win. She had a gigantic oversized sword on her back that was likely used to take down mostly big enemies. So if it came to the boss, she would likely kill it before him, but in terms of broad damage, he might have the advantage here with the bigger range of his spear and the rest of his abilities. All in all, it was indeed going to be a challenge, but one he saw himself have some chances with. "Sure, I'll take you on!"

Challenge Accepted!

He then looked at Astrid, "So, how do you want to do this?"

She looked back with a very uncertain look on her face, "I... I think it might be better if I'm staying back here and hide... I don't have my wings like Brun does and I don't have a skill like your jumping thing... so I would only slow both of you down... Is it okay if I stay back here until you are done? I really don't feel like much of a help here... I would offer both of you to heal you here, if you need it." What she said made sense, in this scenario, she wasn't that much of a help sadly, especially if time was of the essence. And looking at the diameter of the Dome above them, they would likely have a lot of ground to cover, so speed was key here...

Looking over at Brun, who nodded in return, John sighed and gave Astrid a thumbs-up, "Okay, then we will beat the crap out of these robots, and then we will get you once we're done with the boss, or maybe you can support us against him then. You sure you're going to be okay here? Should I give you some weapon so you can defend yourself just in case? I'm going to keep that Bond communication open if you need it, so you can call if something happens, okay?"

Astrid shook her head, "I don't think your weapons are going to help me much if I can't properly use them. I think I can hide in this alley pretty good anyway so that I shouldn't be found. But thank you for the consideration. Save your Mana for the fight ahead of you!"

Brun, on the other hand, raised an eyebrow, "Bond communication? Didn't you say you can only look through a Bond?"

He dismissed the question with a wave of his hand and a wide grin, "That was so yesterday, that ability already evolved over the course of the day. I can now also talk to people through the Bond and they can respond, so I'm kind of like a communications relay between you two now, as well."

The Valkyrie had an impressed look on her face after that, "That's... pretty damn useful. That makes splitting up way easier. And if we want to kill two hundred enemies in thirty minutes, I think we need to fight on multiple fronts. But let's go to the entrance of the alley, for now, maybe we can see one of these robots."

He agreed with that idea and hugged Astrid a final time before taking Gary from her and following Brun. Once they were out of earshot of Astrid, the older sister asked him with a big grin, "So, you and my sis? You sure are a Cassanova as it seems. Two girls in the span of 24 hours and then twins, or former twins. You little horndog you."

John had to chuckle at that comment, "Hah, you have to talk. But I guess it might've been a bit bold, yeah. But the thought of both of you at the same time is just a bit too exciting..." as he trailed off, lost in his daydreams, only to be brought back by a slight slap on the shoulder and a laugh.

"Don't you start dreaming now, boy toy. First, we get through this dungeon, then we talk about laying the princess."

John had to suppress a laugh at that, "Now you're talking my language. So, let's see what these things can do," he said once they reached the entrance of the alleyway. In front of them was a weakly pulsing green line to signal the point after which the time would start. From their position behind it, they could see a large part of a big central street, on which a lot of cars were crashed into one another and into the roadside. The buildings between which they stood were at least ten stories high, and they were in pristine shape, seemingly constructed out of metal and concrete. The city didn't represent the state the sphere above them was in which made the whole situation feel a bit artificial. But, then again, it was a Barrier that was artificially created just five minutes ago, so it wasn't surprising that it wasn't really that convincing.

In between those cars stood some robots, seemingly looking through the wreckages for something. All of the robots they could see looked mostly the same except for some swapped colors. They looked fairly cheap with little to no chassis and a lot of exposed wire coming from the back of their heads and going into their back. They were covered in various colored fabrics that probably did little to protect them. All in all, these things certainly did not look like they were dangerous enemies. But the fact that they could see at least ten to fifteen of them in the close vicinity made them more a threat in mass than in class.

John was certain that these things were less dangerous than the wolves he met today, but just to be sure, he checked them out with his Observe:

These things really were jokes! He could easily kill them with one hit!

Looking over to Brun, he could see that she was preoccupied with something entirely different: The scenery. "Dude... this is amazing... Especially since you apparently just created it... this is some hardcore stuff. This is on par with some of the Fateweavers we work with... You gotta use this skill more often if what you say about them improving is true..."

This was now the second time he heard this kind of praise, though Kim was a lot more calm about it, "Yeah, yeah, I know I'm great... Now, how about these robots? Still think you can take them down faster than I can?"

He could see that Brun had the same pop-up in front of her as him, so he knew that she had his information about them, "Oh you don't even know what you just started there," she said as her wings started to sprout from her back. She took her gigantic blade into her hands, steadied her grip, and waited for John to start the clock.

John meanwhile put down Gary, pulled out his own weapon and switched to his adventuring gear. Taking a step forward, his toes touched the line, and another pop-up appeared:

HOTFIX
Apologies for the inconvenience, but due to balancing issues some effects have been changed:
Physical Damage Multiplier: Physical Damage Multiplier now applies only to Min Damage. If Min Damage exceeds Max Damage it becomes Max damage. Damage Multiplier due to Stat thresholds are not affected and will still be applied after calculations. Critical Hits will now be applied after calculation as well.
Mana Charge Fix: Damage calculation for Mana Charge has been changed, now applying additional 'Physical Damage x (0,1 x [Skill Level] x [Mana used/3]). Maximum usable Mana equals [Skill Level].
Backstab: A backstab will now no longer automatically apply a critical hit, but will add a 2x physical multiplier. A Backstab can therefore now hit critically
Thank you for your time

Damn, that was a pretty big nerf for him, but in this case, it shouldn't be too bad. But John couldn't really complain about his damage getting lowered when he thought back to the fight against the wolf boss... Yeah, the damage he dealt at the end was a bit ****...

Another thing that happened as he touched the limit of the alley was that on the side of his peripheral vision, a minimap appeared, showing little red dots around him, two blue dots behind him, and a white dot basically below him on a grey grid. There was no layout of the Barrier, but it would be helpful enough to know where the enemies would be.

Preparing himself to launch into his first attack, John summoned a Mana Dagger, and crouched down into a sprint position, ready to cast a Flash Step behind his foot to push himself of off. His starting signal was when Gary jumped over the line and skittered towards the first enemy. John let the construct appear as planned and pushed himself into a sprint. He seemingly wasn't the only one thinking about a running start, as Brun took him over and dashed towards the closest robot.

She didn't attack fast enough though to prevent John from stealing the kill as his Mana Dagger embedded itself into the chest of the automaton as he threw the dagger through the air.

32 DMG

So the Strength Multiplier did count for the daggers as well. If John had time to look at Brun's angry face, he was sure he would burst out laughing loudly, but his time was occupied by ramming his spear into the robot's head that was distracted by Gary.

Target unaware! Backstab! 2x Damage!
Physical Damage Multiplier: 2x
30 DMG + 23 DMG (Light)

As the robot lifelessly fell to the ground before him John turned around to Brun with a shit-eating grin while she looked at him incredulously, "Try to keep up!" and he then took off into the direction of the next robot, picking up Gary as he ran next to him.

Let the games begin!