Dimensional Descent

[I uploaded this chapter hours ago but for some reason it didn't register... I guess I misclicked? Either that or wn glitched. Anyhoo, here you go]

Leonel and Aina stood back to back in an elaborate throne room.

Making it here wouldn't have been too difficult, if the construction of the castle hadn't been so conniving and vindictive.

Describing the layout of an in animate object like this might feel like a bridge too far, but if Leonel had the dictionary or Wise Star Order to explain it to him, he would understand that the Dwarven Race had always been like this. Even if it wasn't for all the sinister traps and lurking dangers, the design of the castle alone would have been enough to drive the two of them crazy.

The reality of the matter was that from the very beginning, the castle was designed for people half their size. Aina was just a bit over six feet tall herself, while Leonel was over two meters tall. The number of times they found themselves ducking or getting stuck in cramped locations was too much to count.

Luckily, the throne room was a vast and wide hall. Unluckily, there were a swarm of protective knights and soldiers that would rather die than see Leonel and Aina kill their king and queen. That led to the current situation where the both of them were surrounded by swarms in the hundreds. Let alone to their fronts, backs and sides, they were even assaulted from above.

In truth, this mission was designed for a team of eight to take it on at the first or second Tier of the Sixth Dimension. It was already quite ridiculous that the two of them had chosen to take it on. But, that didn't stop the both of them from grinning ear to ear all the while

As the saying went, the couple that slays together, stays together.

…

Leonel and Aina walked out of the portal side by side, a healthy sheen of sweat coating their bodies.

The senior manning the gate once again found himself stunned. But this time it wasn't due to Aina's beauty, but rather the time.

The mission was meant to take a week for Sixth Dimensional existence. Though the senior was aware that Leonel and Aina were in the Fifth Dimension, it wasn't too rare for more talented Quadrant Ranked disciples to take on lower class Galaxy Ranked missions. While it was true that most of them died as well, it wasn't this senior's job to try and save them, he didn't get paid nearly enough to deal with uppity geniuses who thought too much of themselves.

Sometimes, though these geniuses would manage to survive, if only barely, and he would give a slight nod of approval. However, even among that number, he would very rarely see them try again without an ample grace period.

Something like this, though, where a pair went into an eight person mission and came out completely unscathed outside of some heavy breathing… It was unheard of.

Leonel smiled, reaching out a hand to get their mission plate back.

"Ah… Right… Yes."

The senior handed over the plate which had subtly changed in color. Such a thing would only happen after the mission was, indeed, completed. So now he was absolutely certain that there wasn't a mistake.

He could only watch silently as the two walked away, his heart beating slightly faster than usual.

The Void Palace was already a location where geniuses all came together from across the Human Domain. Even the youth at the lowest rung of his place was an overlord back at his home.

To see two individuals who could even stand at the very top here…

The senior glanced at his checkbook and made note of their names. In the future, this tidbit of information just might make him quite a bit of money in any one of their gambling dens.

…

Leonel checked their gains and nodded to himself. That mission was among the harder one in the first Galaxy Rank, so their returns weren't bad. The two of them had made 70 000 Void Points. While that was only a few dozen percentage points better more than what Leonel had made with the spatial bristle rings, it was still a great sum.

Leonel didn't expect to make a great amount, he just wanted enough so that he and Aina could finally switch out of their beast skin clothing.

As great as his crafting was, because he had yet to learn how to counter Anarchic Force, there was only so long his Force Arts could last before degrading. Right now, the only reason their clothing hadn't fallen apart was because they made it was Cursed Beast fur to begin with.

That aside, as great as it was staring at Aina's long legs and toned belly all day, he was starting to get tired of running into people whose eyeballs threatened to pop out of their skulls.

Soon, Leonel and Aina had swapped into the Galaxy Ranked uniforms of the Void Palace. The layered robes and deep violet-black colors made Leonel feel quite good. In addition, they were only a thousand Void Points each since it was a mass produced product. Plus, higher level disciples rarely wore the uniform to begin with unless on official business representing the Void Palace, so there was no point in marking up prices.

'I can also exchange for robes of any rank I want because of my limbo state…' Leonel smiled to himself, tucking it into the back of his mind.

Following this, Leonel and Aina used the rest of their points to exchange for healing items. Both had insane healing factors, but they still chose to err on the side of caution. Leonel also insisted on buying Aina some flexible armor as well as her defenses were weaker than his own.

With that completed along with a small rest, the two of them nodded toward one another and stepped toward a desolate region almost devoid of students.

Up ahead, a singular senior stood, but this senior happened to be one that Leonel was almost too familiar with.

His gaze narrowed, a slight killing intent manifesting around him in a subtle sheen of red.

Aina blinked, taking note of the change. That was definitely not something Leonel had ever done before.

When she saw who was ahead, though, she came to an understanding.

It was none other than the envoy of the Void Palace, Orinik.