Time to Bounce

[Congratulations user acquired Zombie minion for the first time. Does user want to name it?]

Riva remembered the new skill she acquired in the Racial category even though she didn't find the time to check its details: Infectious(Zombie).

She had an instinctive hunch about its workings and bitten the grilled adventurer, successfully infecting him and turning him into a Zombie. There had to be several factors that made his fast transformation possible but there was no time to think about the specifics nor think of a name. 

<Later> She gave her reply to the system to make it close the message window.

Riva turned heel and ran. She grabbed Victor and hoisted him on her shoulder before he could even mutter anything in protest. 

Contrary to her tamed objects, she didn't have control over the Zombie she created. It was funny to say this, but it had less consciousness than a tamed rock! The fact that it wasn't conscious could have been bad but even though the boss' threads tried to control it, they couldn't attach to it without rotting and falling apart. 

The Zombie attacked the puppet leader by hugging him and biting his shoulder. Riva had fled as quickly as she did because she was aware that the Zombie would try to eat the nearest target. It was experiencing the same rabid state Riva had when she succumbed to her undead instincts.

She fled to the side of the clearing, where the carapace of the titan beetle sloped downwards and jumped off the side. 

The floor was around 50 meters down. A drop no human could have possibly survived and even Riva would have to regenerate herself from an ugly state. Of course, she wouldn't let it come to that. 

She focused and just at the right moment, changed her trajectory by kicking off from the huge beetle shell while adding 'Haste' to enhance the velocity. Her trajectory formed a perfect parabola. It would have looked elegant, if not for the deep trenches left in the flower fields left by her impact.

[User has sustained damage] The system informed Riva.

"You don't say!" she cursed. 

Her legs were a mess and she suspected she had several internal injuries.

Thankfully, Victor appeared mostly fine, if very pale. He had fallen from her shoulder and rolled a few additional meters. 

"What the fuck, Riva?" His voice was low and shaky.

He didn't get to say more because started retching and threw up into the flower bed.

Riva ignored him and took a look at the humungous beetle. Its form was towering like a wall but it wasn't moving nor were there any more pursuers. 

She could think of several methods to take care of this thing, but none were viable with Victor in tow. Everything had happened in such quick succession, that she didn't have the time to think things through. She ultimately fled because her objective was Victor and not defeating the monster or getting the item that he had been hunting.

"You're crazy! I can't believe we survived the fall." The person in question had calmed somewhat after he emptied the contents of his stomach. 

He had also noticed the purple blood that crusted Riva's boots. Her legs were straightening and mending themselves at visible speed.

"I should have guessed. You couldn't possibly have survived three years ago and remained human."

Riva just gave him the 'so what? look'.

"It doesn't matter. Glad to have you back." He shrugged. "I know you probably hate me for what happened, and I'm going to make up for it."

Glad to have her back? There was no way she could trust a person that had been betrying and sacrificing adventurers for years! He was lucky that she needed him alive for further questioning.

[Congratulations user acquired a new Zombie minion. Does user want to name it?] A message informed her. 

<Not now> This had to be the leader which was bitten by the first minion.

The huge wall, that was the beetle, moved its towering legs. Each action caused the ground to tremble. It was their saving grace that its speed wasn't particularly fast when compared to its size. 

"Save that talk for later, once we're safe." Riva pulled herself up from the ground.

"Can you run?" She asked, but didn't wait for his answer. She lugged him over her shoulder once more and took off running with 'Haste'.  

"I can run! Also, there's no time." Victor shouted from her back. "I've used too much mana. You've seen that monster's power. I can't keep the shield up for much longer and once I fall unconscious, it's going to kill me and take control of my body."

"We don't know that for sure! If we get away far enough…" Riva objected. 

"No, I want to die on my own terms." Victor interrupted her.

Did he confuse this with a TV drama? If this was a movie it was a damn blockbuster! The humungous beetle was following them on their heels.

"Idiot, I don't care if you live or die! All I care for is the truth and my revenge!"

Victor acted as though he didn't hear her. "I've around five minutes left, ten at most" He informed her as though he was talking about going to work and not his own death.

His nonchalance regarding his life was irritating. "Just wait a moment and be quiet!" 

Riva had checked the system shop for the barrier spell that Victor was using.

It wasn't overly expensive, but healing her battered body had cost Riva a good chunk of her reserves. She just didn't have enough energy. 

She glanced at the beetle, but she wasn't confident in killing it in time. She had been absorbing some mana on the side, but this method also wouldn't suffice. There was only one option, to utilize the state she had activated while in Marinon and actively absorb the mana.

Despite her doubts and feelings of urgency, Riva managed to enter the meditative state while running. Somehow the steady movement had a calming effect, once she closed her eyes. Thankfully the terrain was easy to traverse. 

The special state enhanced her mana perception tremendously. It gave her the feeling of being everywhere at once, looking at everything from all angles. 

The two biggest mana emitters were like glaring fires in the dark. One was the humungous beetle and the other, the core area, which was represented by the pond on its back. 

Riva didn't hesitate and chose to target the core area. She tugged at the mana body. At first, she faced some resistance, but nothing that couldn't be resolved with a little brute force. Soon enough she unraveled it and started devouring its mana. 

[Poison Nullification neutralized mana corruption] 

['Devourer' racial skill activated. Started comprehending New Unnamed Dungeon] The system informed her. 

Furthermore, there were windows upon windows that told her about her increased mana. 

Riva had forgotten all about her environment and situation. She kept running and absorbing. 

At first, it had just been a tiny amount like a drop of water in the ocean, it didn't matter. But she had grown more and more proficient in mere moments, and the absorption speed just kept on rising. Soon the ocean turned into a tub to which Riva had pulled the plug.

Of course neither dungeon nor boss would take this lying down. 

The boss had mobilized its threads and absorbed energy from the flower fields. It was increasing its pace and closing in! 

Meanwhile, the whole dungeon had started trembling, fissures and cracks were forming. The whole thing was growing unstable. 

Just when they thought the beetle was gaining on them, it started limping. Its energy was draining, and Riva wasn't the one doing it. 

[Comprehension of 'New Unnamed Dungeon' reached completion. Obtained fragment of power]

Crack~ 

The sky tore in two, it shattered like a mirror.

Space itself came crashing down. 

A nauseating sensation assaulted Riva, it forced her out of her meditative state and her vision blurred.

When she opened her eyes she found herself next to the road, back where she had first entered the dungeon. Victor appeared standing next to her. The dungeon's simple wooden door frame was gone and in its place stood a humungous beetle. 

But that wasn't all.

Surrounding them and the beetle was an army of soldiers sporting shiny armor! Riva recognized their symbol, it was an extermination squad!