Charlie had already prepared this room for a fight. All around them, beyond the surface, were plenty of pillars waiting to be called upon. He’d wanted to improve his response time, and he definitely noticed a difference.

The first pillar shot out of the ground just in front of Charlie and rocketed right toward Arroane.

Arroane smirked. The hex in his hand pulsed. Charlie waited for some sort of magic to leave the hex, but nothing came. Instead, when the pillar made contact with Arroane’s hand, it exploded into dust. Luckily, Charlie had already seen what Arroane was capable of. That’s why he’d sent a second, sharpened pillar towards him from behind.

Arroane realized it at the last second. He turned to look over his shoulder. Too slow. To Charlie’s surprise, and Arroane’s horror, the pillar burst through the former hero’s abdomen and lifted him off his feet into the air.

A shower of blood and viscera shot out from the opening and dripped from the pillar’s end.

Charlie shrieked. He’d only meant to hurt the man, not run him clean through with a large pillar of stone.

Vetica and Merlin both gasped.

Charlie released his hold over the stone, and the pillar dissipated. Arroane fell to his feet and stumbled. He looked down at the massive hole in his stomach. He grabbed at it, as if he couldn’t believe it was real. Arroane looked up and stared at Charlie. “You…how did you—” He stretched a hand toward Charlie, and then fell backwards. His body slammed into the ground.

Charlie’s jaw dropped. “I didn’t mean to!” He shot a panicked look at Merlin and Vetica.

Orb buzzed forward. “Well, if being a hero doesn’t work out, you could always be a body piercer for a living. I mean, that’s a hell of a belly button piercing.”

Merlin took a step forward, inspecting the body. “You took him down like it was nothing. I don’t understand. Lord Arroane is supposed to be extremely powerful. Were we really worried about nothing?” Merlin nodded. “It must have been a different Arroane. It must be. Classic identity theft, right Vetica?” He turned to look at her.

She was quiet. “He dodged Koi Levi’s tendrils so easily earlier. It should have been easy for him to dodge the second attack. He was definitely fast enough to.”

Orb rolled in the air. “Meh, don’t worry about it. It was probably some elaborate suicide attempt. Probably just insurance fraud or something. His family was in a financial hole, so he took a policy out, then got himself killed in a dungeon. No brainer. Easy check.”

“Insurance fraud?” Merlin asked. “What are you talking about?”

Orb sank. “Oh, right, insurance isn’t a thing in this world. You would love insurance fraud, Merlin. It’d be like a dream job for you.”

“Squeak!” Mousifer said, pointing towards Arroane’s corpse. Or rather, what was supposed to be his corpse.

Arroane sat up. He brushed his clothes off, yawned, and then rose to his feet. The hole in his stomach was gone. There wasn’t even a scar left behind. His shirt slowly started repairing itself.

Merlin shook his head. “But how?”

Arroane raised a brow. “This?” He looked down at his shirt. “It’s nice right? I got it in the markets of Karze. It was quite expensive, but the self-repairing function is much faster than usual. It works for a guy like me.”

Orb bounced in the air. “So, he did lose an arm before! I knew I wasn’t going crazy. This lunatic can heal himself!”

Despite Charlie’s surprise at seeing someone recover from a wound like that, he was unexpectedly relieved. He hadn’t meant to kill the man. They wanted to question him, after all. That was the whole point of luring the cult out into the woods and inside the dungeon. Plus, he wasn’t fond of the idea of killing another person.

Arroane opened his hands and two daggers slipped from underneath his sleeves. He caught each of them by the handle and rolled his neck.

Orb squealed telepathically. “Dude, that was so Ezio of you. Very cool!” He turned to Charlie. “Blast another hole in him. Supersize it this time.”

“I’m afraid not. I wanted to see what you were capable of before. No more free attacks from this point forward,” Arroane said.

Charlie readied himself to strike again, but Vetica took a step forward. He looked up at her in alarm. “Vetica wait! It’s dangerous!”

She turned and smiled at him, her knife already in hand. “I may not be as experienced when it comes to fighting monsters, Charlie. But I’ve spent my entire life hunting humans. I can handle myself. Let’s take him on together,” she said.

She had a point. Charlie grinned. “Okay! I’ve got your back!”

“Bleedy!” Bleedy growled.

At once, Arroane and Vetica shot toward one another. Vetica muttered a chant, and her dagger glowed a bright blue. The blade hex. Arroane’s daggers remained unchanged. If he could use the blue hex himself, he’d opted not to, for some reason.

Their blades met. A loud, resonating clang filled the room.

Arroane smirked.

Vetica snarled.

Then the real fighting began.

The two of them were a whirlwind of blades. It was almost too difficult for Charlie to find an opening. While the two of them fought, Bleedy ran around, circling around the two combatants. Arroane deflected one of Vetica’s attacks. She fell back, reeling from the parry. Arroane moved in to strike her. Bleedy shot forward and grabbed the man’s arm. Vetica recovered and renewed her assault. She jabbed Arroane three times in the chest.

Arroane’s arm whipped outward and sent Bleedy flying. He raised a boot and kicked Vetica back. He coughed blood on the ground. The wounds in his chest were already healing.

Beside Charlie, Merlin shook his head. “How do we take someone like that down? He’s a monster. Won’t he just heal from whatever we do?” he asked.

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Charlie frowned. Merlin was right. They needed to figure out Arroane’s weakness. How could they defeat someone who could heal from injuries like that?

Vetica and Arroane continued exchanging blows. Bleedy swooped in to assist wherever he could. He would dash in and bite down on Arroane whenever he saw an opening. But Arroane was relentless.

Charlie felt a tingling sensation in the air. He realized what was happening just in time to warn his friends.

“Get away from him!” Charlie yelled in their minds.

Vetica and Bleedy both jumped back and distanced themselves.

Arroane smirked and lifted a hand into the air. He’d finished readying the attack. His hand slammed onto the dungeon ground and a new wave of cracks exploded forward. They moved through the ground swiftly toward Charlie and his friends. Bleedy ran by and scooped Charlie up. Vetica and Merlin ran as well. Charlie waved a hand and three large rock hands erupted from the ground to pick each of them up. Vetica and Merlin rose into the air, each in the palm of a hand. Charlie, Bleedy, and Mousifer were in the third. Orb floated beside them. The cracks raced up the arms, still following them. But Koi Levi’s tendrils wrapped around the arms and surged towards Arroane to cut him off. To Charlie’s surprise, the tendrils turned a sickly black color. Their usual green fading.

The skill was overpowering Koi Levi’s tendrils.

The tendril’s temporary delay bought little time. The ones wrapped around the arms withered away, and the cracks continued racing toward Charlie and his friends. He didn’t know what would happen if the cracks reached them, but he doubted it was good.

What could he do? What could—

A chorus of roars came from the hallway.

“Arh!”

“Arh!”

“Arca!”

King Scalea and Bonehead burst into the room, thirty or so other scalers followed close behind. King Scalea’s skin was still covered in the cracks from before. Charlie recognized a few of the other scalers from the previous fight, with injuries and cracks on their skin as well. Several of the scalers piled into the room to surround Arroane. Those that had already faced Arroane once pushed through the pain and leapt toward him. The former hero was forced to release his spell and turn to deal with the new threat.

Arroane turned just as the tide of scalers leapt upon him. Ten scalers bit down on his flesh. His arms, his legs, even his face. They scrambled over one another to tear at him and rip him apart. Arroane struggled to free himself but was overwhelmed by the sudden sheer force with which they attacked. Charlie caught glimpses of Bonehead among the attacking lizards. King Scalea stood atop the pile of scalers above Arroane. He roared a victory cry.

For a moment, Charlie felt hope. The scalers had managed to overwhelm the skeletane wyrm in Arcadeya. Perhaps they’d been able to do the same now. But hope turned to horror when Charlie felt the rising tide of magic.

This one was more powerful and more ominous that the last.

There was an explosion of magical energy. The scalers atop Arroane went flying. Dark black voids formed along their skin. The cracks on their body grew, and green blood slowly poured out. The blast even threw away the scalers that had focused on surrounding Arroane instead of attacking directly. Many of them slammed into walls or each other. Few of them got back up. The force and impact of the black knocking them unconscious.

All the still conscious scalers roared in anguish.

King Scalea was the worst of them. The brunt of the attack had hit him. His skin was charred, and the scars burned deeper into his body. He tried to rise to his feet, but wavered. Bonehead’s skull appeared splintered down the middle. He made a choking noise. It sounded like something was caught in his throat.

Arroane rose and let out a breath. “I got a little carried away that time. Being eaten alive sucks though, so you’ll have to forgive me.” He turned to look at the injured scalers and frowned. “They caught me off guard. I didn’t intend to kill them, so you know. But they’ll certainly die now. At least those that were closest to me. Once my hex infects you at that level, that’s it.” He pointed a hand toward Charlie and the others, who were still being held high in the air by the large stone hands.

Charlie shook his head. He ignored the threat and focused on his scaled companions. Why had they come here? Why hadn’t they stayed away like he wanted? They’d seen firsthand what Arroane was capable of, so why? Bleedy looked back at him in concern. Tears welled in Charlie’s eyes. A handful of the scalers weren’t moving at all. The ones that were appeared horribly injured. King Scalea and Bonehead…all of them. His friends were hurt. He wanted to get angry. To fly into a rage and protect them, but his emotions overwhelmed him. He hadn’t protected them.

“Arca!” King Scalea managed a feeble roar. It was softer, quieter than his usual roar. He was weak. He was hurt. King Scalea was on the verge of death. Despite that, he forced himself to his feet.

“Arca!” he roared again.

Of the thirty scalers, many of them tried to stand and failed. They didn’t have the strength. They were injured, hurting, suffering. But a few did. A few heeded their king’s call. A third of them stood in some capacity. Many of them had broken or missing limbs. Others were literally falling apart as the hex ate away at them.

Orb floated up to Charlie. “What’s he saying?” he asked Charlie.

Charlie focused on the scaler king, trying to make sense of his words.

“Arca!” King Scalea roared again. It was clearer this time.

Charlie could understand it. King Scalea was telling them to keep fighting.

He was telling them to protect Charlie.

“No!” Charlie shook his head. “Don’t! You’re already hurt!” He pleaded with his friend.

But King Scalea ignored him. He growled and slowly took a step toward Arroane. Bonehead, still struggling to breathe, crawled forward as well. His rear legs didn’t seem to be working. Even so, he pulled himself toward Arroane.

“No…” Charlie said. Tears flowed freely now. He wanted to protect them, not to be protected.

He reached a hand out. He wasn’t sure why. Maybe he would attack Arroane to punish him for what he’d done. Or maybe he’d wrap rock around his friends to shield them from further harm. But when he saw the King Scalea stop moving, Charlie froze.

The scaler king’s legs didn’t buckle. He didn’t fall. He remained exactly as he was. Standing in defiance of the man with the powerful hex before him. His chest didn’t move in and out. He wasn’t breathing. Charlie’s lips quivered when he realized what that meant.

He shook his head. “No…” he whispered. It wasn’t supposed to be like this. They were supposed to be safe. He was supposed to protect them.

Koi Levi’s voiced boomed in his head. “Don’t you feel that weeping little one? We will not lose any comrades today.”

Charlie tilted his head at that. “What? What do you mean?” he asked, sniffling.

Notice

Several bonded creatures under your command are currently eligible for Monster Evolution. The creatures known as King Scalea, Bonehead, and eight other scalers are now ready to undergo evolution. Would you like to proceed?

Charlie blinked. “Huh?”

“They are on the verge of death. Act quickly, heroic little one. Give the command and I shall act,” Koi Levi declared.

Charlie nodded quickly. “Do it. Do it fast!” He activated the ability.

“Monster Evolution!”

Acknowledged. Core Guardian Koi Levi has been instructed to proceed with the evolution ability.

Standby.

The tendrils shot past and wrapped ten of the scalers completely. The tendrils expanded as the scalers cocooned within them grew and molded into their new form.

Notice

The following scalers have undergone mutated evolution.

King Scalea

Bonehead