[CH399+ Continued] Dungeon Diver: Stealing A Monster's Power

Chapter 455

As soon as I walk out of the dungeon and look up at the sky from a thin path on the edge of the canyon, I see the orange setting sun above.

Instantly, the geopoints of my Rising Emperor's Domain [Find My Friend] feature manifest in my mind's eye, showing me that Arie is nearby, but Abby and Maria are still far off in Valor City.

My doubles sent off to find them and the one taking care of the town of thugs and recovering slave workers are still active, so I have no updates to work with. I'll have to assume my double is delaying for good reason.

For now, I'll continue with the task at hand.

I airstep up out of the canyon, and Ember follows by my side, using near-invisible platforms of dense red energy to step off of and gracefully fly through the air.

We head off to the edge of the Abyss, and to my surprise, I see Arie at its edge spewing refined demonic energy from his fingertips in thin but steady streams to attack a provoked Demonic Wolf.

At very close range, the energy rips through the wolf's hide, injuring its flesh all over, and bringing it to its knees in a matter of seconds after a barrage of jet black attacks.

These are the weakest of the Demonic creatures, but they are great target practice, and Arie's improvement is quite fast. Along with that, his confidence to practice without me in his main body is remarkable as well.

As he finishes absorbing the remaining unrefined energy from the fallen wolf, I finally step into range and wave him down.

At the sight of me, his eyes perk up, but he doesn't react quickly or move a muscle; he just breathes slowly and allows the energy within him to trickle out from his core and into the sand escaping his fingertips for almost a full minute as both Ember and I approach.

My best guess is, he still needs very high levels of concentration to keep the energy stable, so if he's not going to be in immediate battle or training for short spurts of time, his safest course of action is to drain his core. It makes sense, so I don't disturb him while he does his due diligence.

However, once his core is drained and I stand before him with a brand-new face beside me, he finally speaks up.

"You took your sweet time. So, I take it you won your fight and managed to rank up again."

I nod.

"Yes, I managed to rank up. I'm much more confident I can fend off another attack if the Dark One sends any more guards our way, but I still have to get much stronger. We all do."

Arie's gaze turns to Ember in his human form beside me.

"And who might this be? A strong ally?"

Arie looks at Ember curiously and cautiously. It's clear he's very intrigued by the confusing energy readings coming off of him, but concerned as well.

I reply.

"Yes, a very powerful ally. He's been assisting all of us from the background for a while, but I believe its time you all finally met."

Arie reads the situation perfectly and replies in a calm manner.

"A strong ally with a backstory that I shouldn't pry into just yet, it seems."

He chuckles, then looks Ember in the eyes.

"Well, a friend of Jay's is a friend of mine. Nice to meet you, I'm Arie."

Ember smiles, tightening his gaze and doing full scans of his own on Arie before replying and putting out a friendly hand to shake.

"I'm Ember, it's nice to finally meet. I look forward to getting stronger with you."