Jake led the way through the door to the Guardian floor, his spear at the ready, just in case.

The floor was dominated by an enormous glowing mushroom, one large enough that the area around was bathed in its light and the only shadows were at the edges of the room.

Within that lit up area, Jake could see dozens of mounds of rotting mushrooms, some taller than he was. The remains of the big mushrooms competitors, perhaps.

Moving through the rotting mounds were a few Breth and a pack of Murk Hounds. There were at least a dozen of the huge rats, but there was no sign of the Murkling.

“They’re too close together for us to do the same as we did last time,” Jake said quietly, nodding to some of the more isolated piles of rotting mushroom. “The odd rat goes out that far, but one slip and we’ll have the whole lot on us.”

“That would be a rough fight,” Aspen said, shaking his head. “There must be twenty or thirty Enhanced present. That’s too many to fight all at once.”

“So, what you’re saying is that we need a diversion,” Jake said, grinning as he expended a Manifestation and summoned Moby.

Jake’s work on being more in touch with the bond that connected the two of them seemed to be getting somewhere, as Moby arrived quietly and without his normal dramatic quack.

“Oh yes,” Aspen said, a somewhat manic grin spreading across his face. “This is going to be good.”

-**-

Ten minutes later, Jake was crouched against a stinking pile of refuse with Aspen, waiting for the signal.

Distantly, Jake heard a quack, followed by a familiar hiss and splatter that he recognised as the Breth using their acid.

The pained squealing that came after that was new, however, but Jake realised what had happened. Moby had managed to get one of the Breth to hit a Murk Hound with its acid.

Rounding the corner of the rotting pile, Jake hefted his spear and quickly used his infusion Skill, filling it with Wyrd as he closed with the Murk Hound that they’d chosen as the target.

Aspen blurred forward, using his Skill to strike at the same time as Jake, their spears impaling the giant rat before it even knew what was happening.

A high-pitched voice was shouting out something garbled and was answered by a wave of chittering as the Murk Hounds converged on the area where Moby had been.

The rat that Jake and Aspen had struck squeaked and thrashed, but braced the spear with one hand and used the other to draw and fire his thorns wand.

It left Aspen doing most of the work to keep the rat contained, but placing a pair of several inch long thorns into the Murk Hound’s head brought the issue to a close.

The slight stench of burnt fur wafted past them, a sure clue that Gargan and the others had taken out their rat as well.

Two out of the twenty wasn’t much, but it was a start.

Moby kept flying around and causing chaos, made all the worse by the Breth beetles doing their best to hit him whenever they could, despite Moby not staying still.

The result was acid raining all over the Breth’s allies and burning them as Moby quacked derisively.

The Enhanced Murk Hounds were tough enough to shrug off a few burns from a non-concentrated hit, but it was adding nicely to the chaos.

Moving through the mounds of rotting material, Jake and Aspen caught a Murk Hound that had been blinded by a full spray of acid, perhaps even the one that had been hit at the start of this.

The blind rat accidentally hit one of the mounds and stumbled to the side before shaking itself and lifting its nose to scent the air.

Aspen and Jake struck as one, Jake coming in for the torso to pin it against the mound, while Aspen plunged his spear into one of its eyes.

A hissing sound came from behind them and Jake threw himself to the side as a stream of acid swept over the space he’d just been standing.

“Shit!” Aspen cursed, jerking away from the dead rat and shaking off his arm where some acid had struck him.

Chittering echoed all around them as the other monsters reacted to the sound, and Jake raced forward to grab his spear and attack the Breth before it could release a second blast of acid.

The Breth lifted up, a high-pitched hiss coming out as it prepared to spray acid, and Jake threw his spear before dropping to the floor.

A stream of acid poured out of the Breth, but it had twisted where the spear hit it, and the stream struck one of the mounds.

“Come on, Jake!” Aspen called out, impaling the Breth on his now flaming spear. “We’ve got to go.”

Jake scrambled to his feet and pulled his spear free, right as a Murk Hound leapt to the top of the mound next to him.

The giant rat screeched loudly, the sound echoing back as the other rats nearby returned the call.

As the rat’s gaze fell back down to Jake, it abruptly jerked aside, an arrow buried in its throat.

Taking full advantage of the opportunity, Jake and Aspen ran as fast as they could through the mounds, trying to keep away from the Murk Hounds they could hear hunting them.

“Regroup at the top!” Jake shouted, giving the signal to the others that they’d agreed on beforehand.

They’d done their best to whittle down the number of enemies. Now they needed to come together as a group and take them on directly.

They’d agreed that when things went wrong, they would all gather where the mounds of rotting mushrooms began.

Nepthys and the other two were already there when Jake and Aspen came skidding in, Nepthys blocking a stream of acid with one of her shields while Gargan sent waves of flame back at a pair of Breth.

A pair of Murk Hounds came racing toward them, weaving between the mounds or scrabbling over parts of them in their urgency to get close.

Jake’s world descended into a frantic battle as they fought almost back to back against what felt like an endless tide of monsters.

Every moment was filled with desperate moves as their teamwork was pushed to the breaking limit.

Jake had been forced early on to dismiss his spear and conjure the Hidden Fang alongside his new dagger. The first was to deliver killing blows, while the second was his mainstay weapon.

Gritting his teeth in pain as a Murk Hound clawed down his arm as it tried to get to Alan, Jake plunged his Boon dagger into its throat, pumping poison into it.

The creature gurgled and slumped to the ground, but Jake’s dagger faded as it did, the last of the Manifestation expended.

Cursing, Jake sheathed the other dagger and resummoned his spear to plunge it into another rat so he could activate its roots.

Roots blossomed inside the monster, leeching its vitality and passing it through the spear to Jake, healing the myriad minor wounds he’d taken in the brawl so far.

“Jake!” Nepthys shouted, conjuring a shield next to him just in time to catch the filth-covered point of a spear.

Pulling his spear free as the roots retracted, Jake dodged aside to avoid a second spear thrust from the Murkling.

The creature was a hunched and misshapen thing, standing maybe five feet tall and wielding a spear with surprising dexterity.

Flanking the Murkling were five more Murk Hounds, their teeth chittering in anticipation.

At a command from the Murkling, three of the big rats raced around Jake to attack the others, leaving him with just the three opponents.

The sounds coming from behind him told Jake that the others were tied up fighting the rest of the monsters. The number of monsters were dwindling, but for now, Jake was on his own.

Settling into a defensive stance, Jake watched the three monsters warily as they fanned out around him.

One of the Murk Hounds lunged first, snapping at Jake with oversized incisors moments before the Murkling darted forward and thrust its spear at Jake’s legs.

Hours of training with Aspen let Jake slide back, avoiding the spear while managing to cut across the rat’s face as he pushed Wyrd into the weapon.

It wasn’t a true infusion, just a crude surge of Wyrd, but it was enough to give the spear the power to cleave deep into the rat’s head.

The Murkling let out a series of barking sounds that had the second Murk Hound pounce forward and charge at Jake.

Swinging his spear around, Jake managed to get it interposed so that the giant rat’s own weight drove it deep into its body.

In a last act of viciousness, the Murk Hound bit deep into Jake’s shoulder, making him cry out in pain as the extra weight pushed him to the ground.

There was still a lot of power left in the Manifestation of the spear so Jake drew on it once more, causing tendrils to blossom out and into the dying rat as it savaged his arm.

A balm of healing flowed into Jake from his spear, even as the monster died, but that did nothing to stop the Murkling as it scurried forwards and lifted its spear to stab down at him.

The Murkling’s face was twisted with a rictus grin of pleasure and it paused just long enough to meet Jake’s gaze and enjoy his struggles as he tried to pull his dagger out.

Its spear darted down right as Jake finally got a grip on his dagger, the filthy tip pushing past his armour and into Jake’s upper chest with a thunderbolt of pain that stole his breath.

The Murkling twisted the spear as it pulled it clear, making Jake cry out in pain and weakly cough blood, trying all the while to get out from under the dead Murk Hound.

Thankfully, the lingering healing of his spear was enough to give him a little clarity amid all the pain, but his focus was only on the bloody tip of the spear as the Murkling aimed at his face.

An angry quack was all the warning the Murkling got before Moby flew right into the side of its head, knocking its stab to one side.

The spear struck the stone beside Jake’s head as Moby clung to the Murkling, buffeting it with his wings while stabbing forward with his beak.

Jake knew this was going to be his only chance to do something.