Luke watched in confusion as Frank fell to his knees, screaming, his head clutched in his hands. The plague rat squirmed in Luke’s grip, but he barely noticed, his attention fixed on his companion’s struggles.

With a quick squeeze, Luke crushed the rat’s throat, the vertebrae snapping beneath his gauntleted fingers.

“Frank, what’s wrong?” Luke asked, tossing the limp corpse aside.

Frank grunted, his words coming out in short, pained bursts. “Nemangor... [Dominator]... knows where...”

The ground shook beneath their feet, and Luke’s mind raced. The drill vehicles used by the viran warband, he guessed, putting two and two together.

“Breathe, Frank. What’s doing this?”

“The [Dominator] and [Thrall] concepts,” Frank ground out, his voice strained. “Allows Nemangor to... sense me.”

Frustration welled up in Luke. Why hadn’t Frank mentioned this earlier when he was trying to get information about the warband? It would have been useful to know ahead of time.

He considered leaving the aetherling behind, but even if he was a burden, Frank was one of only two people in the dungeon that didn’t want to kill him.

Frank struggled to his feet, his eyes blazing with a mix of pain and determination. “Must... fight Nemangor.”

Luke shook his head. “You’re in no shape for that.” He glanced at the dead plague rats nearby. Frank had held his own reasonably well, considering his level and lack of concepts. “Though… Your memory seems better since you harvested that shambler’s essence. Fight through the pain and absorb those rats you killed. It might help.”

As Frank stumbled towards the corpses, the ground shook again, more violently this time.

Lukes considered what to do next.

Facing the warband with Frank wasn’t really an option. Even if Frank overcame whatever afflicted him, he wasn’t much of an asset in a fight, and Luke wasn’t confident in his ability to fight two of the sub-bosses together with all of the elites of the warband head on.

He could run back to Rurik; that would be the easy option, but would lead the warband straight to the forgemaster’s doorstep. Rurik was powerful, but he was bound to the forge. If the warband attacked from a distance or tunnelled beneath the building, there might be little he could do.

Even if they killed the entire warband, they might respawn and come back. Normal aetherlings didn’t seem to remember much, but Maruk and Nemangor probably would.

That would make it hard to sleep at night.

The Gothic cathedral to the east was about the same distance away. Luke knew the [Nightwalkers] roamed there, and he suspected that, like the warband, it was a foreign part of the dungeon, acquired from one of the many worlds it had visited.

Luke made a snap decision, opting to head towards the Gothic cathedral looming in the distance. He hoped the Nightwalkers that roamed there would focus on a warband of noisy marauders rather than two lone figures slipping through the shadows.

From street level, he couldn’t see any of the giants, but he had taken the time to count them on his previous rooftop excursions; there were about ten of them.

Glancing over at Frank, Luke saw the ratling had done a relatively good job of absorbing the aether from the fallen plague rats.

“You done?” Luke asked.

“Yes, now we fight?” There was still a hint of pain in Frank’s voice, but he was pushing through.

“No, now we run, or at least I will. If you want to stay and get captured or killed, I’m not gonna stop you.”

The little ratling snarled, but after a moment he nodded. “I will follow you, but when the time comes, I will have my revenge.”

Though he was still somewhat single-minded, Luke was pleased to see that feeding the ratling aether was making him less of a caricature. It made him less tempted to leave Frank behind.

Not wanting to be slowed down, Luke quickly pulled up the marketplace on his interface. He noted with mild surprise that it now included a search function. The larger it grew, the more sophisticated it became, implying that the [System] itself was capable of growth and change, like any other concept.

Pushing the thought aside, Luke searched for anything that might help their current situation. A quick search for [Thrall] found nothing obvious to remove it.

There wasn’t time to scroll through everything.

Instead, Luke purchased a couple of [Agility] potions and an [Amulet of Shadows] he had seen previously. The amulet’s description promised to conceal one’s physical and spiritual presence. The cost left him with a mere two thousand credits, a significant drop from the ten thousand he’d had moments before.

Luke tossed the amulet to Frank. “Put this on,” he said, uncorking one of the agility potions. It smelt like coffee. “Try to cultivate being fast, or you’re going to end up a prisoner again.”

Frank took off his helmet for a moment to drink the potion. “Now follow me,” Luke said, turning towards the cathedral. “And keep up.”

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With that, he took off at a run, trusting Frank to stay close behind as they raced towards the looming structure.

Luke took off at speed, his armoured boots pounding against the cobblestone street with each stride. His footsteps echoed off the smooth stone buildings lining the road. These structures were taller and better maintained than those nearer the river. Veins of gold sparkled in the walls, adorning the jet black obsidian.

Frank kept pace without difficulty, the lithe viran running on all fours in a loping motion with his axe strapped to his back.

This was Luke’s second time running through the city; it had only been a few days since his mad dash to escape the Draugsvär. Many of the creatures that once terrified him no longer seemed so daunting, even if he had a long way to go before taking on any [Nightwalkers].

As they rounded a corner, Luke spotted a pair of ghouls in the street ahead, running towards the rumbling. They held their bone pikes at the ready, and as they saw him, took a defensive stance.

Just as he was considering how to deal with them, the street behind him erupted in a shower of stone and dirt.

A twisting mass of metal teeth spun in the air as a drill broke through the surface of the street back where the [Rat-King] corpse lay. It rose to about twice as tall as the surrounding buildings, before falling on its side with a crash.

It demolished several houses in its wake, sending debris flying.

For a moment, silence settled over the scene, broken only by the rumble of settling rubble. The ghouls stared at the drill, their attention diverted.

Seizing the opportunity, Luke yanked one ghoul off-balance with [Epicentre]. The ability was less effective against the [Death Guard] than he hoped, and only pulled the ghoul forwards a few paces, but it still provided an opening.

Lunging forward, Luke brought Fenn down on the ghoul’s head, crumpling its ivory-plated helmet like a soda can. Black blood dribbled through the face visor, and golden coins spilled out like an arcade game.

Jackpot, Luke thought with a wide grin. He glanced longingly at the golden coins scattering across the ground, wondering if he could spare a few seconds to absorb them into his soul space.

The second ghoul used his distraction to stab at him with its bone pike.

As Luke just barely caught the attack on his shield, he saw the viran warband spill out of their drill in the corner of his vision. There were lots of them, and they were armed to the teeth.

Frank’s axe smacked into the second ghoul, knocking it to the side, but as he swung again, the ghoul caught the blade of his axe in its gauntleted grip.

The moment’s reprieve allowed Luke to take back control, and he barrelled into it, knocking the creature off its feet.

He didn’t stop to finish it.

As Luke and Frank raced through the streets, the sound of dozens of elite viran warriors echoed behind them. Virans wielding aether rifles and crossbows scrambled up the buildings, seeking better vantage points to fire down upon their prey.

As they turned another corner, Luke found that far from slowing him down as expected, Frank was pulling ahead.

Luke was struggling to keep up.

When they turned into an alleyway, Luke took a few precious seconds to re-materialise the second agility potion he had bought and drank it through his visor. With his soul reaching the ‘Initiate’ stage, it had become more receptive to taking in aether, so he should be able to cultivate a point of [Agility] while running.

While he felt [Agility] aspected aether fill him, Luke noticed a side door in the alleyway.

“To the roof,” he said to Frank, knowing from experience that all dwarven buildings had a mushroom garden of some kind up there.

The door had a lock, but Luke had a key that could open anything.

With a powerful swing of Fenn, he smashed the door open.

Luke emerged into what appeared to be a kitchen. Pots and pans clattered to the floor as they charged through the cramped space, upending shelves and knocking over stools. Luke would have to retrace his steps later to see what treasures of dwarven cuisine he could unearth.

Luke burst through the kitchen door and into the dining area of the dwarven restaurant. Chairs and tables were strewn about haphazardly, as if the patrons had left in a hurry. Instead of blue orbs, the room was lit from above by a fancy-looking chandelier, and by individual floating candles above each of the tables.

From behind, Luke saw the first viran come barrelling into the building behind him. The ratling was one of the larger kinds, but leaner than many of the elites. It carried a pair of burning daggers, one of which it threw at Luke.

Slicing through the air, the flaming blade seemed to have a mind of its own as its trajectory curved. It almost hit Luke in the neck, but a quick flash of [Brace] took away enough of its momentum that it couldn’t find purchase in the neck joint.

Instead of dropping to the floor harmlessly, the dagger flew back like a boomerang to the viran elite.

Not to waste the stored momentum, Luke kicked a chair with [Kinetic Strike] which shattered when it hit the oncoming viran. The impact caught the ratlling off balance and knocked it to the ground, and Frank finished the job with an executioner’s swing of his axe.

Unfortunately, when the head rolled across the floor, no coins, only blood spilled from the stump. With more of the warband spilling into the building, Frank couldn’t waste precious seconds absorbing the aether from the death echo.

“This way,” Luke said as he ran to the elegantly bifurcated staircase.

As they raced towards the stairs, a figure made of darkness jumped down from the bannister above. Its form was fluid and ethereal, tall and slender, with wisps of darkness trailing behind it like smoke. The shade’s eyes glowed a pale, sickly green, and its mouth was a gaping void.

[Level 17 Shade - An aetherling that walks the path of the Shadow Monk. Core Domains: Shadow, Pugilism and Harp.]

Luke didn’t hesitate. He charged forward, intending to knock aside the ghostly figure, but instead he barreled right through its ethereal form. As he passed through the shade, an icy chill enveloped him, and he felt a sharp pain across his chest. The shade had swiped at him with shadowy claws, leaving a gash in chest beneath the armour.

Without a way to fight a non-corporeal creature, Luke would struggle to deal with the [Shade], which moved with a speed Luke wasn’t sure he could easily match. Fortunately, when several more viran elites burst into the dining area they drew the shadow’s attention, and it fell on them like a wrathful demon.

Gritting his teeth against the pain in his chest, Luke burst onto the rooftop with Frank close behind. The viran riflemen were only a few roofs back, taking aim with their aether rifles. Luke quickly activated his [Brace] ability, hoping to tank the incoming volley of energy bolts. However, he soon realised that the ability wasn’t as effective against this type of attack.

The bolts slammed into his armour, sending jolts of pain through his body. Luke scanned the surroundings and spotted a [Nightwalker] in the distance. It was a few streets away . He ducked behind a nearby bannister just in time to avoid another barrage of rifle fire.

Turning to Frank, who crouched beside him, Luke asked, “How do you feel about being bait?”

What could go wrong?