Onslow’s shell had expanded to the size of a house. It was serving as combination command centre, rest area and triage tent, always hosting one or two healers. As powerful as the adventurers were, no gold-rank monster was to be dismissed, and even silvers were a threat with numbers so high.Jason landed inside Onslow’s shell in a half crash, tumbling on the floor. Arabelle was kneeling next to him a moment later as he rolled onto his back and pushed himself into a sitting position. Dripping sweat, he took heaving breaths.“I’m fine,” he panted. “No injuries. None that didn’t heal already. Just exhausted.”“How?” Arabelle asked. “It’s extremely difficult for gold-rankers to get tired.”“And all that breathing won’t help you,” Clive pointed out. “You don’t need to breathe.”“It might help,” Arabelle said. “A recent study suggests that high-rankers imitating biological processes can accelerate the magical replication of those effects. Mind over body, as it were.”“Interesting,” Clive said. “That sounds familiar, now that you say it. Did my association do the study?”“It did.”While they were talking, Onslow, in baby ninja turtle form, waddled over to Jason and held out a lettuce leaf.“Thanks, buddy,” Jason said, taking the leaf. He crunched down on it and patted Onslow on the head. The tortoise-boy grinned and tottered back to Clive’s side.“How exactly did you manage to exhaust yourself?” Arabelle asked. “Do the gold-rank monsters have some kind of stamina drain power?”“No,” Jason said, pointing outside as the massive column of light, still pouting out of the giant portal. “I know I make clamping a hole in the universe shut with a giant god beam look easy, but it’s actually quite a strain. If I don’t let it go, my avatar will eventually break down. I don’t know exactly what will happen then.”“Probably a transformation zone,” Farrah said. “Now that I know what I’m looking for, I’m (...)