It seemed that Lucyna wasn't able to steal more mana than she could use. Perhaps another one hundred points in magic will do the trick, but if she just focuses on support, then she can save her energy.
"Although it is temporary, you can steal the target's endurance as well, right?" Billy asked. "Just do that on the enemies that attack our back. That way, you will save mana, and so will the others."
"I never mentioned that I could, so how do you know that?" Lucyna asked.
"It was just a guess," Billy replied while shrugging.
"... I suppose that if we fight all on the frontlines, things will get out of hand eventually," Lucyna said. "I will be sure to offer you some support from the backline."
Once that was decided, the group began to move again, and as expected, things went a lot more smoothly after the upgrade in their gear. During the time they were resting, Billy went to check the right path with his drones, so they had saved a lot of time thanks to that as they progressed. They also left the right path marked on the ground, and they were already waiting for Billy at the next level's entrance.
Thanks to the new weapons and the fact that those helped the group level up the passive skills they just obtained a lot faster, they reached the path between floors after just five hours. Since their pace was good, they decided to keep going, and as expected, another tyrant showed up once the first group emerged to attack. Still, they were waiting for that, so nothing unusual happened… Aside from the fact that Billy took longer than the others to finish the monsters.
"Should we help you now?" Icarus asked.
"No, I still have a few tricks up my sleeve," Billy replied.
When the next group of tyrants arrived, Billy dashed toward them and used his glaive to behead the first. The other three tried to shred him to pieces by attacking him at the same time with their claws. However, Billy had seen them doing that countless times, so he used the little trick that he learned with the samurai. He attacked them when he read their movements. In a single motion of his glaive, he cut off the claws that were almost touching him. In the next moment, a rain of blood fell around Billy, and the monsters grunted in agony, nor for long, though. He jumped and then swung his glaive again.
You obtained 1500 experience points.
The skill Heroic Spearmanship obtained 750 experience points.
You obtained 1500 experience points.
The skill Heroic Spearmanship obtained 750 experience points.
…
It had been a while since Billy had to fight like that, so he imagined that he might have gotten rusty. However, that wasn't the case. His skills and reactions were as sharp as ever. In any case, Billy turned around to see the others, and they were just about to finish their part as well, so they didn't see him in action.
"You really had some tricks up your sleeve, huh," Icarus said when he turned around to help and found that Billy was already done.
"Let's stop wasting time and keep moving," Billy said.
Billy couldn't afford to talk or explain anything since they had to move as fast as possible. In contrast, he had to control his drones and his armor as well with Telekinesis. That was more than a little bit mentally tiring, so he was looking forward to their next break and a chance to take a quick nap.
Although they didn't see what Billy did, they could see the results. They didn't hear many sounds of attacks, and considering the wounds in the enemies' bodies and the faint smell of blood on his glaive, it was clear that he killed them in just a few swings and without giving them the chance to do anything. They knew that Billy was a good fighter, but more and more, he was starting to look inhuman.
Eventually, the group reached the entrance to the twelfth floor, and then Billy called for a break. Once again, he took a hot bath while the drones were scouting ahead, and he drowned when they found something. Billy made one of them stop and Investigate since it moved too fast. Much to his surprise, Billy found the remaining of some skeletons at a dead end. He found some weapons and armor that were emitting a weird glow after they stayed inside that dungeon for so long. Billy would have to get those later, but he could tell that they were a powerful set of armor and a sword.
"It seems that the manipulator didn't come here alone," Billy said. "The drone found some skeletons. Although only one of them was armed to fight."
"It seems he was cautious enough for that, but only a few skeletons… That seems weird," Icarus said. "Most inhabitants of this world wouldn't be able to fight by themselves in this dungeon, and it would be hard to imagine him sending some of them back by themselves. Most likely, they were being manipulated and ended up being left behind for whatever reason."
"That certainly sounds like something he would do," Meryl added. "He only welcomed powerful tribes in his ranks while he trampled the others. Until most likely, only a few handful tribes can be found on this side of the continent."
"Have you fought him?" Lucyna asked. "Since your bases are so far apart, I thought that you had never met with him."
"That bastard is a coward that only obtained strength while picking on the weak," Meryl said. "He belonged to the West side of the continent, but after losing to me and another reincarnated many times, he began to move and choose even easier targets."
It seemed that those two had a history, and while the Manipulator seemed like a coward and scumbag, they couldn't underestimate him since he stayed in that dungeon for who knows how long…
