System Breaker: Surviving Apocalypse with Nine-Tailed Kitsune-Chapter 20: Second Rift

"Are you sure it was this way?" Damon asked Victor, his tone woven with a hint of frustration.

"Y-Yeah, I’m certain. Just a few more turns."

’Few more turns? He said that six turns ago...’

After his conversation with Kade, Damon found Victor and asked him about any nearby rifts. There were more rifts than there were hunting groups capable of dealing with them, and so he said he was certain there were some.

It took Victor no more than 20 minutes before he returned with some information about the nearest rift. He said it was no more than half an hour away from the central station. But now, after almost two hours of circling around the Central Station, there was still no rift in sight. Instead, a faint ache was creeping into their muscles from the endless walk.

"If you’re lost, it’s better to just admit it now-"

Damon’s sentence was cut short as Victor suddenly jumped with joy.

"There! Ha! I knew I could find it!" He pointed toward a nearby bridge.

There, hanging in the air, roughly halfway through the bridge, was a rift.

’He actually found it, huh? ’

A smile crept on Damon’s face as he stared at the rift.

Then, he turned his attention toward Victor.

"Thank you. You can go back now. I got it from here."

"Huh? Oh... right..." Victor’s joy died in an instant. He was only there to show Damon the way, but a part of him had hoped he could tag along.

After a moment, Victor spoke up, a sudden resolve creeping into his voice.

"Can I come with you?"

"No." Damon didn’t even hesitate for a moment in the reply.

"I won’t be a hindrance!"

Damon paused, watching the newfound determination on Victor’s face, before he replied.

"Do you have any abilities?"

"I... I can heal..." Victor began to reply, but a hint of hesitation made its way into his words.

’Heal? That’s pretty useful-’

"But I can’t use my ability."

Damon frowned. "You can’t use your ability?"

"I don’t have enough mana."

Damon stared at Victor with a perplexed expression. ’How is that even possible?’

He didn’t have to dwell long as Victor spoke up again.

"My ability costs ten mana, but I only have eight. Since my ability is to heal, I haven’t been able to kill any monsters, so I..."

"You haven’t levelled up even once?!" Realisation struck Damon like a cold wave.

Victor shook his head. "No."

Damon lingered for a moment before asking a different question.

"Last time I closed a rift, I got two rift shards. What happens when a larger group closes the rift?"

Victor’s eyes widened slightly at the sudden change of subject. "Uhmm, from what I’ve been told, every person receives two small rift shards. Why?"

Damon gave the reply a moment of thought before he summoned his only rift shard, the one Kade gifted to him.

"I will give you this rift shard so you can raise your mana to ten. I will also allow you to tag alone, but in return... I keep all the rift shards you receive from closing this rift, and I will take half of the rift shards you get from closing any future rifts."

"Thank you so much! You won’t regret this!" Victor exclaimed, bowing deeply toward Damon, who simply tossed the rift shard toward him and turned to leave.

"Let’s go."

Victor fell behind as he stared at the shard he clumsily caught. But as he realised Damon was getting away, he instinctively crashed it and raised his mana stat.

"How cunning..." Kitsune’s voice cut through Damon’s head. "Profiting from the misfortune of others."

’You’re one to talk... Besides, if you ask me, I might’ve just saved his life. This is his best chance at survival. Giving away two shards for one and a chance to level up is a bargain.’

Soon enough, they reached the middle of a bridge where the rift had been.

’Was that...?’ Peeking over the edge of the bridge, Damon could’ve sworn he saw something stir beneath the surface. But after staring at the water’s surface for a few moments, the sight did not appear again.

Shaking the thought away, he turned back to the rift.

Damon’s eyes narrowed slightly. ’Seems a bit larger than the last one, doesn’t it?’

"Hmmm, seems pretty much the same to me." Kitsune replied, "As long as the colour’s blue, the rift rank is going to be the same."

Damon nodded, then took a quick glance at his scrawny companion.

Victor was visibly shaking at the sight. His arms trembled at his sides, and his knees looked to be a moment away from buckling.

"Let’s go."

Victor snapped out of his daze and, as he turned toward Damon, he saw him already stepping into the rift. The scrawny healer lingered for a moment longer before taking a quick inhale and stepping into the rift after him.

***

The teleportation part of stepping into the rift felt shorter this time. One moment Damon stood on top of a bridge, and the next he was in a forest.

In less than the blink of an eye, his entire surroundings had changed. Trees and bushes stretched everywhere around him. The vegetation was so thick he couldn’t even see the jagged lines that stretched across the sky above, which led toward the rift core.

’At least it’s not as cold...’ Damon thought, looking around.

"Aaah!-"

Victor teleported a moment after him, hitting the ground hard. With his eyes wide open, he whipped his head around, clearly taken aback by the sudden change of environment.

"Let’s find some clearing." Damon cut through his disorientation, already walking through the forest. "We need to check where the rift core is."

Victor scrambled to his feet and ran after him, unwilling to be left behind.

But unbeknownst to the two of them, back on the bridge, the shape of the rift began to surge. The pale blue colour began to darken, turning into a sickening shade of purple. The size of the rift had doubled. Cracks split through the bridge as deafening tremors tore through the entire structure.