“So, what’s the plan?” Raina asked once everyone had recovered enough to keep going. It had taken a while, and our mana wasn’t fully recovered yet. To make up for it, Raina had salvaged some of the lightning slime from the ground. What she intended to do with it, I didn’t know, but I did know we couldn’t afford to wait for our full pool to be restored.

Scuttling sounds echoed from outside our room, but, so far, no monsters had found us. That was a small blessing. The dungeon could have easily finished us off then and there, but it hadn’t, likely in accordance with some part of Forced Fairness. Someday, I’d have to get the full written description of those rules. It seemed like something that would be useful to have handy, but Amsiii didn’t seem keen on elaborating.

“We can’t leave,” Terrowin stated. “The exit closed behind us.”

“So, the only way out is through?”

He nodded. “Is there anything at all from your first dungeon experience that might help us to survive this one?”

Raina made a show of thinking hard while I answered the question.

At the end of the day, I’d made it through the First Dungeon with cleverness more than brute strength. I’d found ways to shift the odds in my favor, rather than fighting in the way the dungeon provided. In my mind, that was the only way to get through these challenges. Without knowing exactly what Forced Fairness entailed, it was impossible to know exactly how “fair” a fight was according to the dungeon. Better to stack the deck in your favor first.

“We always came up with a clever solution to avoid a fair fight,” Raina relayed. “Malzy got information on what we were dealing with, then I formed a strategy to weaken the enemy or remove a critical strength from play.” The others contemplated the answer in silence for a long moment.

I didn’t expect them to get it. After all, they were mere mortals. They were big and clumsy creatures built with much more raw power in mind than my own sleek and elegant design. That was hardly their fault. After all, they couldn’t help that they hadn’t been born cats.

What I could judge was Raina’s description of events. While my superior senses were acknowledged, I would have appreciated the use of “we” instead of “I.” If she was going to pretend to have been there in order to maintain our cover, the least she could do was make it seem like I’d actually contributed instead of pretending that my accomplishments were entirely hers.

“So, proceeding with caution isn’t enough,” Terrowin mused. “Okay, well, in all of these stories you’re telling about the last dungeon, you were able to get some idea of what lay ahead using Malzy’s senses. Could we do the same?”

“Y-you’re proposing we send him ahead?” Raina stammered.

“Just like you did.”

“Right, um…Malzy, would you be willing?”

I licked my paw, making a big show of thinking the issue over. As I did, Terrowin crouched, looking me in the eye.

“We’d really appreciate it if you helped us, Malzy,” he began. “If you do, I’ll see if we can find William again. You remember the fisher I was with when we met, right?”

I did remember, and the prospects were exciting. However, I calmly continued licking my paw, still thinking it over. After the pause had reached the appropriate length, I nodded and stalked towards the door.

“Stay here until I get back,” I ordered Raina. She nodded and I crept off into the darkness.

I padded softly back to the crossroads before swiveling my ears to either side. The scuttling sound seemed to come from both the left and right, though the one on the left seemed slightly quieter than the other. The air was filled with the smell of ozone, blocking any scent I might receive as to the nature of the creature itself. While annoying, it was not entirely surprising. Besides, even if I did smell it, there was no guarantee I’d recognize the scent enough to glean useful information. No, some things in life require paws on the ground and whiskers to the walls, and this was one of them.

Crouching close enough to the wall for my whiskers to touch it, I crept down the left hall. My ears continued to swivel as I sought the source of the skittering. It grew louder and louder and, soon, I could see the creatures in the darkness.

A thousand tiny scorpions clung to the roof of the tunnel. They crawled over one another in a sea of tiny tails, legs, and bodies. This dungeon really had a fondness for ceiling ambushes…

I watched the scorpion swarm carefully from the shadows. They didn’t see me, but I could certainly see them. Each one had a dorsal stripe that occasionally lit up with a flash of lightning magic. When one would light up, others nearby would do the same, thus simulating a bolt of lightning streaking across the ceiling. It was an incredible display for something so simple as a mere insect.

But…what would these creatures weakness be?

Inspecting hostile creature: Level 8 Fulminous Scorpion

Known to travel and nest in large swarms, these scorpions are territorial. They possess a lightning-based venom which will quickly paralyze the victim.

So, paralysis was their favored method of attack…not that it helped me much. My imagination was already threatening to run away with images of my companions covered head-to-toe with the vile creatures. The idea was not one I liked. It would be a waste of perfectly good hench-humans.

And, speaking of those hench-humans, perhaps they would know something I didn’t. Cithrael was clever, and he knew things about nature. Perhaps he would know something about scorpions that would help the fight.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

Silently, I padded back to the rest of the group.

“What did you find, Malzy?” Raina asked.

“Ask Cithreal what he knows about scorpions,” I said simply. Raina sighed and did as she was told.

The elf rubbed his chin as he thought. “Scorpions? They’re usually desert creatures, so I’ve never seen one myself, but it makes sense that they would thrive in an environment like this,” he explained. “My father used to tell stories of his travels and scorpions liked to crawl into their boots at night because they were warm and humid places.”

“Do I even want to know what these things look like?” Terrowin wondered. “My homeland sounds too cold for these things.”

“They’re arachnids, kind of like desert spiders,” Cithrael said. “But, where spiders will bite you and inject you with venom, scorpions will use a vicious stinger to inject venom. Nasty things to meet in a swarm, I imagine.”

“A spider with a tail is not something I needed to imagine,” Aelisra muttered. “Regular ones are bad enough, thanks.”

“No kidding,” agreed Raina. It seemed the girls didn’t have a fondness for arachnids.

Cithrael lit up, suddenly remembering something. “Fire!”

We waited for him to elaborate. When he didn’t, Raina prompted him. “What about it?”

He blushed. “Oh, well, the stories say that scorpions can’t handle the heat of a fire. They spasm and sting everything around them, sometimes even themselves, not that they’re affected by their own venom. Then they die from the heat.”

That…is brilliant! I purred my praise and rubbed against the elf’s legs. He was quickly becoming my favorite servant. In fact, I would consider him more useful than even Raina, despite the fact that she was irrevocably bonded to my soul.

“So, we go in, set the hall aflame, and retreat?” Aelisra said.

Raina shook her head. “These are lightning-based scorpions. We’ll need a little more than just fire, but I have just the thing.” She gestured around us. “Those slimes were made of lightning mana, which uses energetics magic. My mother used to use ingredients like this in our potions when we needed to enhance a spell. I think I could try make it into a fuel to enhance our fire?”

“Anything I can do to help?” Terrowin asked. Raina nodded.

“You can help me gather the slime. I’ll try to imbue the potency, then Cithrael and Malzy can light the flame, as the ones most likely to be unseen in striking from a distance.”

* * *

The plan was swiftly put into action. Terrowin and Raina scraped as much of the slime off the floor as they could, which was actually quite a bit given the number of slimes that had attacked us. Sacrificing both Raina’s and Terrowin’s cloaks, they bundled up the noxious stuff in large sacks so they could be carried to the scorpion nest.

Meanwhile, Cithrael and I crept back down the hall to check for the best placement of the slime bombs. He was surprisingly stealthy for his size. Even more reason for him to be my new favorite.

“Someone will need to go through there,” he whispered. “The tunnel is too long to throw the slime reliably.”

“Which means it’s going to be either you or me, given that the others couldn’t sneak past a sleeping sloth,” I said.

“Should it be you or me?” he continued, not hearing my words. I hung my head.

Of course he couldn’t hear my words. What had I expected? Even the most perfect servant in the world wouldn’t be able to understand me! As far as anyone besides Raina was concerned, I was just a stupid cat…not even perceptive Cithrael was any different…

Cithrael smiled. “I can see you trying, you know.” I looked up and he reached down to let me sniff his hand. “You’re smarter than Raina lets on, aren’t you? In fact, I’d be willing to bet you’re the real inspector between you. Am I right?”

I nodded my head as the humans did. It was the only communication I could use.

“I see. That makes you invaluable to the team.” He sighed. “Which means it’s more strategic to risk me than you. I’ll do it.”

He didn’t have to do that…it would be easier for me to do it. I was smaller, and with my telekinesis, I could move things just as easily as him. I could also move more stealthily than he could. Yet, at the end of the day, he was willing. He might have been the favorite, but as far as servants went, he was still more expendable than I or Raina. I nodded again, before rubbing my flank against his shin to show my appreciation.

Cithrael stood to his full height and stretched before creeping back down the hall. When we were halfway back, he stopped. I paused with him. He stared down the tunnel, with an almost sad look in his eyes.

“You know, Raina is really bad at lying,” he said.

That was an understatement and a half…I meowed at the elf, trying to convey my agreement. He didn’t look at me.

“I don’t think Terrowin is falling for it, but I can’t say for sure,” he continued. “Your reasons are your reasons. I’ll keep your secret among the others.”

Then he continued moving once more. I stared after him. He was a good servant. I’d hate to lose him.

By the time we returned, the bundles of slime had been fully infused with mana to increase the potency of their contents. It was a strange thing. Increase Potency was an enervation spell meant to be used to increase the deadliness of poisons, and here we were using it to increase the flammability of the tunnel, thereby providing greater energy. Raina said that the increase in potency was derived from increasing the amount of death mana in the concoction upon which it was used, but it still struck me as odd. It really just served to show just how little I understood about magic in this world.

“Be careful,” she instructed Cithrael as he took the two bags. “I’m not sure what it’ll do.”

“Then stay back and we’ll find out.”

The elf took the bags in hand, and we made our way back down the hallway to the scorpion nest. The skittering was loud here. Cithrael set down one of the bags and pulled his bow from his back.

“In case a scorpion falls on me, please keep this handy,” he said. I nodded and called upon my magic to lift the bow. Then, he took a deep breath and visibly steeled his nerves. “Amelsia protect me from my own poor life choices,” he muttered.

The elf stepped forward. Step by step, he passed under the umbrella of skittering scorpions. I watched his every move, sitting with my tail wrapped around my paws.

The scorpions did not stir. They did not even seem to notice his presence. Soon, he was deep within their territory. I watched them crawl over one another.

Cithrael dropped the first bag. A shock of lightning passed through the dorsal stripes of the scorpions in a great wave. I leapt to my feet, ready to do…something! I wasn’t sure what, but I didn’t want to lose my most useful servant to such a silly and terrible death.

The elf stood very still. Though the scorpions did not settle down, they didn’t seem to become more agitated. It was as if they were reacting to the bag itself, though I wasn’t sure why, since they didn’t seem bothered by the bags while Cithrael was holding them. Slowly, inch by inch, he began to move again. Just a few more steps, just a little further.

He placed down the second bag. Another wave of lightning coursed through the swarm. They surged over one another now. I growled softly, urging Cithrael to hurry back, but instead he froze, as if waiting for the swarm to calm down.

It never did. I could only watch as one of them leapt from the ceiling, landing mere inches away from the ranger’s feet. Seeing it fall, he flew into a panic, sprinting back with all the speed he could muster.

I yowled, summoning fire into a ball next to me. I poured mana into it, ready to throw it at the first bag the moment Cithrael was in the clear.

Scorpions leapt at him from every direction in a rain of chitin and stingers. Please let none of them land a blow. Paralysis was the last thing he needed to deal with right now.

Adrenaline spurred him even faster. He passed the first bag! I readied my aim, flipping my tail wildly as every muscle in me screamed to flee with him. He passed me! I hurled my fireball at the bag now covered in scorpions.

The cavern walls shook as Cithrael and I were sent sprawling.