Dungeon Diver: Stealing A Monster's Power

The hobgoblin comes my way again with even more speed than before, and the hot radiation coming off her hammer slams against my right arm as I block just in time.

The exact same sensation washes over me.

Upon impact, Celia's barrier blocks the entirety of the blow's force, but once the wave of white energy washes into me, an immense pressure sends me flying backward again.

I'm sent skidding across the rocks and don't stop flying backward for another 200 meters until I hit another pile that halts my momentum.

As it washes through my mind, the same subconscious, experienced defenses kick in, and the entirety of the blow escapes my body like wind passing through.

It hardly leaves a trace, other than the same tingling sensation vibrating all over my flesh.

It fades within a few seconds, except in the center of my forearms, where I was hit. The tingling lingers.

I raise that same arm again to block the third incoming hammer strike and am thrown flying in another direction, helpless to stop myself until I hit more piles of black stone capable of halting my momentum.

As the warm white energy fades again, my forearm tingles and stays warm even longer than before.

I'm too slow to block the next exchange, and I'm hit directly in the stomach.

There is no difference, other than the tingling, warm feeling staying in the place of contact even longer.

The feminine hobgoblin's voice rings out as I get up from the ground after this hit.

"Who are you? A new tax collector from the Lord?"

Before I can even answer, I'm hit again, but I block it with both of my crossed arms this time.

Her voice echoes through the green fog before I even land.

"We still have three days before our payment is due, and he doesn't make deals with humans, so I'm inclined to believe you're from another faction!"

I'm struck again, and my momentum shifts straight down into the ground.

Extremely dense pressure pushes down on my chest, and I'm unable to stand as I see the green-skinned woman standing over me with her hammer pressed against my chest.

A stream of hot white Ether comes out from the weapon and holds me down.

The energy disperses out the sides of my body, but my chest becomes hotter and hotter while the hobgoblin's sharp amber-colored eyes stare into mine.

"You should be dead by now... what kind of Avatar is this...?"

All it feels like to me is a hot pressure pushing me down. My mind is completely protected, not even registering this as an attack.

My constant self regeneration, and pure density of my actual body in this upper realm makes the thin pulses of ether radiating through my actual flesh negligible as well. 𝑅

While the force she's exerting is too intense for me to move freely, I could lie here all day if needed...

I finally reply in a calm tone.

"I have no idea what you're talking about... I was on my way to the Citadel, and I fell down here. Whatever you're accusing me of, I'm sure we can talk this out and clear it up."

In the back of my mind, I prepare to open up my telepathy link with Ember, as if this monster on top of me has any other plans. And if there is a Lord stronger than her they say they're following, I may actually need help...

The constant flow of hot white pressure stops coming from her hammer, and my body is instantly able to move again.

I reflexively sit up when she pulls the hammer from my chest, and the warmth flowing through me dissipates, leaving only a tingling rectangle where her hammer was last.

This time, it takes far longer for the tingling to leave...

I feel an odd pulling sensation from my subconscious to hyper-focus on the area, and the sensation of warm energy in my body pooling up from seemingly nowhere covers the area full of residue.

A thin wave of white energy washes over my chest beneath my barrier, then flows back into seemingly nowhere.

All of the tingling stops, and I question whether I just imagined that or not.

A blaring voice rings in my ears while a hammer is pointed at my face.

"Don't play with me! State your name, faction affiliation, and your business here before I make you wish you never tried to steal from our mines."

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My mind is still occupied by the internal energy I just summoned and the similarities of it to the times Ember has created undetectable pockets of space to pull random items out. Also, he has used healing magic that doesn't give off any mana or divine aura.

Before I can connect the dots any further, I'm hit in the chest by another hammer blow.

"Are you even listening to me? I've got a quota to meet, I don't have all day. I don't care if you're a Lord—if you don't state your faction affiliation, I have every right to kill you right here."

As I'm sent flying back again, I replicate the same feeling I used to heal right after I was hit by this hammer, and before I even smash into a rock pile 70 meters away, I'm completely healed and my body is totally rid of the foreign white energy.

It triggers an idea in my mind while I see the hammer coming for me again.

As I turn to block, I let the warm flowing feeling cover my arm as if I were trying to heal a nonexistent tingling sensation.

The faint white glow summons in a raw form, washing over my forearm at the moment the hobgoblin's hammer makes contact.

While I was expecting something interesting to happen, the heavy hammer slams against my purple barrier all the same, and an intense wave of white energy overpowers the white glow I produced with ease.

I'm sent flying back just like any other strike but have a wide smile across my face, as I've instantly healed the contact point, and it feels as though the warm energy I summoned is still present in my arm.

With even more time before the next attack comes, I take a deep breath and focus, trying to summon even more using the same subconscious, instinctive feeling.

When I'm struck, an even denser layer of white energy covers my arm, but it still isn't enough to do much.

Despite this, I'm positive I'm onto something here.

She yells at me while raising her hammer.

"Last chance! You can surrender and leave us alone, or die with your stubborn silence!"

While I could easily do as she says and leave, I'm on the brink of a breakthrough and can't pass up being hit by this hammer just a few more times.

I don't say a word and focus on summoning even more wisps of faint, warm Ether from the depths of my consciousness to cover my right forearm and block her next strike with over three times what I did before.

On impact, I feel the dense warmth in my arm pulse, and a tight pressure allows me to consciously brace for impact.

Even so, the intensity of the hobgoblin's hit is too strong.

I'm sent flying back again and again, over half a dozen more times, over a full kilometer back from where our fight started.

"This was your doing! It's a shame to kill a Lord with a planet of their own. Your people will be without a ruler, but I must protect my own..."

She yells while colliding with me again.

Now, when her hammer hits my arm, with almost ten layers of my Ether covering it, a dense white vibration of colliding pressures ripples through me on contact.

The Ether doesn't even make it to my mind, nor the rest of my body. It is solely concentrated on the single point I've spent time protecting.

Yet, I'm still overpowered and flung back into the endless green fog.

I expect to collide with another rock pile, but instead, I feel the sensation of weightlessness again.

She really meant it when she said this was her last warning.

I'm sent flying over a deep circular pit.

I couldn't see or sense it before, as it was too far away, but now that I've been pushed into it, I can't sense the floor and realize it's a long way down...

Not only that, but I see the angry green woman following me with a faint streak of white light coming off her hammer, chasing me down.

Images of her pinning me to the floor earlier come to mind, and if she gets me in that position again, it will most likely be far tougher to get out.

Plus, the fact that she jumped in after me makes me believe the bottom isn't too far away.

I grit my teeth and concentrate on the only defense I have, allowing as many wisps of warm white energy in my consciousness to cover my armored arm as I can.

By the time I hit the ground with an echoing thud, my mind has gone completely into a focused state, trying to channel and remember everything I've felt of this strange divine Ether substance.

I think about the times during this battle I've used it, and also the mental pressure I've employed back on the human world to subconsciously block intimidation attacks.

The warm sensation that flows like a wave out from an invisible space in my mind flows out to cover my arm in a silky white energy far denser than it was when I started to fall.

I have fractions of a second to brace myself on the floor of this pit, another 500 meters below the surface, but raise my arm to block. When I do, the black rocks beneath my feet rattle as a crater is formed, similar to when I fell from the sky.

I feel the impact ripple throughout my whole body, but also feel the Ether defenses I've created pulse and ripple back.

My eyes widen with excitement as I see the hobgoblin stuck in midair above me, slamming down with both hands grasping her hammer tightly.

Her expression turns from anger to surprise extremely quickly too, as I'm not the only one sent flying back from this attack.

Both of us receive equal blowback after this collision.

I'm forced deeper into the impact crater below, and she's pushed back, flying across the rocky ground.

I can't help but let out a laugh while watching her fly back. Simultaneously, the raw, unstable white energy barrier around my arm disperses outward off my body and into the atmosphere.

Now, with a moment to breathe, my Ether senses pick up over a dozen more hot energy signatures in my general vicinity, deep under the black rock we're standing on. One of them is less than 10 meters in front of me.

Breathing heavily, I climb out of the small crater and walk forward toward the hobgoblin who is equally out of breath but still looking at me with eyes ready to kill.

While I could continue to fight, my initial curiosity is satiated. Now, if I want any friendly relations with this clearly intelligent monster, it's time for damage control.

I raise both my hands.

"Hey, hey. I give up. Let's call it a draw, alright."

She doesn't look convinced, as the last time I said something similar, we started fighting again seconds later.

However, I stop walking after a few steps and begin digging through the heavy piles of black rocks on the floor, throwing the useless ones behind me.

"This is what you're so angry about, right? I didn't mean to steal anything; I didn't know anyone even lived down here..."

I let out a sigh as I grab another one of those black stones, about half the size of my palm, with tiny white cracks in it, leaking trace amounts of Ether.

Then, I raise it in front of myself, showing the monster that is still charging up her hammer for another attack.

"There are tons of these things down here. I don't know why you'd even be so pissed off about me taking one in the first place. Here, all yours."

I toss her the rock I just pulled from about a full meter below ground level, and it falls right in front of her.

The eyes of anger, confusion, and battle-ready focus turn to shock when she takes them off me and looks down at the stone I've thrown her way.

There is silence between us for a full five seconds before she looks back up at me.

"How...? How did you find that Ether Stone so easily...?"

I raise an eyebrow, as right now, I'm positive there are many more all around us.

"What do you mean...? You can't sense them?"