[Tiss] "Snare Shot!"
Tiss calls out as she conjures a longbow made of shining blue mana. She creates an arrow of the same mana, draws it back, then fires the arrow at one of the two STRING THEORY. It arcs forward and collides with monster in the middle of its body. The mana then wraps around the STRING THEORY and creates chains all over it. The chains then extend out and attach themselves to the walls, ceiling, and floor, locking the monster in place.
She has amazing sense. Locking down one enemy is a standard tactic whenever you're caught in a pincer attack like this. Both of us turn our attention to the other STRING THEORY. It's rapidly approaching, not trying to give us time to respond. I step back into a different cube. The STRING THEORY and Tiss are now moving in slow motion. Tiss lifts a fist to fire a Myriad Stinger, but she's interrupted.
[STRING THEORY] "~uNRaVeL~"
It's shaky voice wriggles into both of our heads and I watch as the monster move in too close for Tiss to react. It's arm snakes close to Tiss' head. I remember how it killed Rick in an instant by doing this.
[Wade?] "Weal!"
I thrust my hand forward and call the name of one of my new skills, consuming 50 MP. I watch for one moment, as the monster's attack collides and Tiss is shredded to ribbons. Everything stops, seems to rewind, and then everything glitches out. Tiss is a few extra inches away from the STRING THEORY attacking her and manages to slide under it's attack this time.
[Tiss] "Myriad Stinger!"
Tiss drops low and pushes her fist up towards the STRING THEORY. She lets out a volley of magic arrows and riddle the monster with them. However, it doesn't go down with that attack like the last one they fought. I look at the ceiling in the cube in which it's standing and notice that it says 5. The one I'm standing in says 9.
Harold's words ring in my head.
[Harold] "Second, remember that STRING THEORY are stronger when they're closer to the first dimension. They're weaker as they get closer to the tenth dimension."
That's right! If I can get it onto this cube, then it should be a lot weaker.
[Wade?] "Relativity Shift!"
I equip Doppler Shift and hold it out to the STRING THEORY. The inner circle starts spinning and the nucleus pulses. While the STRING THEORY tries to attack Tiss again, it's suddenly shifted toward me. In an instant, the monster is in front of me and its attack collides with the ground. I equip the dagger Tiss gave me and stab it into the nucleus of the STRING THEORY's head.
The monster writhes in pain as it begins to dematerialize. It's dead.
<11000 EXP gained>
I internally celebrate at gaining a bunch of EXP, but this battle isn't over. I wave away the windows before they show me anything gained with my level. A few cubes away, a STRING THEORY has been moving in slow motion. It just broke free of the snare that Tiss trapped it in earlier.
[STRING THEORY] "~wE WiLL noT be DetAiNEd~
The voice of this creature enters my mind and then I watch it suddenly speed up and move at a standard speed, even though it's traveling through different cubes. It seems that STRING THEORY can move outside of the rules of this place.
I can't leave this cube or else I'll be at risk when trying to take down this monster. Tiss is one cube behind me now. She's moving slow from the weird rules of this place. I still have maybe twenty seconds left on Doppler Shift's cooldown. I need to handle this one on my own.
STRING THEORY wriggles around and rapidly advances toward me. When it enters my cube, it immediately goes to attack. I feel the pressure of a shockwave crash into me. The same attack that sent Elyssia flying. Force hits my right arm and then pushes me against the wall to my left. I expected the attack to be much stronger, but it's not something strong enough to take me down.
I throw the dagger I'm holding and land a clean hit on the nucleus in its head. STRING THEORY writhes around. The warbly voice screams out in pain, but it's extremely distorted. I push myself off the wall and rush over to the monster. I close the distance, snag the dagger out of its head, and then start stabbing it repeatedly.
<11000 EXP gained>
After the fourth stab, the monster starts to pixelate and break apart. I back away from it, storing the dagger and Doppler Shift back into my Item Box. When the STRING THEORY is gone, there's no item drops. There wasn't any from the other one, either. Then Tiss finally breaks through into my cube.
[Tiss] "Holy shit, Wade. You killed one. On your own."
[Wade?] "Well I finally had an idea. I proved that it works. Those things are weaker or stronger based on the numbers on the surfaces of these cubes."
[Tiss] "What do you mean?"
[Wade?] "The first one we killed was on a space with a 7. But then we encounter these two. The one that could your full attack without an issue was standing on a 5. I shifted it here to a cube with a 9 and it died from simple attacks with a dagger. I also got hit by an attack, but it didn't hurt too much. So they're offensive and defensive power are both reduced based on which number is on a surface in these cubes."
[Tiss] "That's... strange, but also makes sense. We haven't been able to understand the cubes much so far. And the monsters are just as strange. For those two to be connected, well, that's just natural, right?"
[Wade?] "Now we just have to figure out how to navigate this place better. I don't know if we're even going in the right direction at all."
Tiss reaches her hand out to me with a smile. It's not like she looks happy per se, but rather is glad to finally be able to rely on me. I'm not just a body to help her not feel alone. I'm capable of protecting her and fighting alongside her.
[Tiss] "Shall we continue, then?"
[Wade?] "Yeah. Let's."
I take her hand into mine and we walk together through the labyrinth. This moment feels like the start of something new. Something great.