Harper opened his eyes to the pitch black ceiling of the mausoleum. He sat up, only to see a draugr putting down his bag. He’d spawned back in faster than they could bring it back.

He considered chasing it down, then decided not to. Getting back there again wouldn’t be worth it. Besides, it didn’t have a warhammer.

He pushed himself to a standing position, then walked over and checked the bag. The food and water was still intact. Good. He shut the pack and slung it onto his back. Under the pack were his clothes, neatly pressed and folded. He put them back on and did a few stretches to get comfortable.

Only then did he notice Alvieri to his left, sitting against the door. It seemed he had been there for quite a while; his eyes were closed and he was lightly snoring.

“Alvieri. Alvieri, wake up, I’m back.” Harper walked over and went to lightly tap him, then hesitated. He sent a clone to do it instead.

The clone had barely tapped Alvieri when a glimmer stabbed through its head, killing it instantly. Harper nodded to himself.

“Welcome back.” He thumbed behind himself. “Door locked.”

“Mmm. That doesn’t surprise me.” That raised a question in his mind. “Have you not been in here before?”

Alvieri shook his head. “No. Malgren and Luna. I waited.”

“Well, I guess it’s just you and me this time around.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “Oh, and sorry for saying you aren’t my friend.”

Alvieri stood up and stretched. “Don’t be. Was the truth.”

Harper shrugged. “Fair enough there.” He then turned to face the long hallway of the mausoleum. Alvieri walked up next to him. “Let’s get moving.”

They started back on the trek through the mausoleum. It felt… longer than before somehow. Maybe it was because he knew where all the traps were this time around, but he was almost bored. Scratch that, he just plain was bored. Maybe it was because he was at his peak rather than at his weakest this time around.

He shook his head. He’d been so distracted he nearly walked into an arrow trap. He couldn’t get cocky. He stepped around the smashing pillars, over a spike trap, and dropped under the swinging log. He knew where everything was, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t still effort.

He reached the same point as last time and looked expectantly at the wall on his right. After a few seconds, the wall slid open. Out walked a draugr wielding a warhammer.

Harper pinched his nose. “I won’t tell them you still brought it out, but you really do need to stop it, Karlos.”

Karlos growled and shrugged. He then hefted the warhammer into a battle stance.

“Alright then, let’s get into it.” He dashed forward.

Karlos swung the warhammer at him horizontally. He slid under it, then tackled the draugr’s midsection. He lifted him up, then slammed him down on the ground.

“Hell yeah, at my prime!” Harper straddled Karlos and grabbed at his face, then thought better of it. He picked up the warhammer instead and slammed it into his head.

He got up from the floor, then laid the warhammer down next to Karlos’ body. He didn’t want the draugr getting in trouble because he brought it along.

He continued onwards into the mausoleum. Up to that point was just a test to see how he was doing. Now it was time for the real trial by fire.

Speaking of trial by fire, the vines on the floor seemed oddly singed in a certain area. He summoned a clone and had it walk on them. Fire burst from the ground, killing the clone.

“Okay then. How am I supposed to cross that?” Harper looked around for any potential options. He saw only one option, but he didn’t like it very much.

He walked up to a wall and gave the vines on it a firm tug. They didn’t come loose. He tried putting his weight on them. He felt a strain, but they still held. It would have to do.

He climbed up the wall, using the vines as a makeshift rope. Once he reached a good height, he looked across the way. He saw another vine hanging from the wall on the opposite side. It wasn’t close enough… unless he jumped.

Harper closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He heard skittering on the pitch black ceiling. Fear gripped his heart. He jumped.

He grabbed the other vine. It wasn’t as stable. He heard a ripping sound, and suddenly he was swinging. He let out an involuntary yelp.

The ripping stopped, causing his swing to go from down to up very suddenly. At the apex of the swing, a snap went off. He was now falling and holding a loose section of vine. He had no time to think about his situation as his body did a 180 in mid air and he found himself falling to the ground face down.

He slammed into the ground with a crunch. His nose was definitely broken. Not only that, he was completely winded, gasping for air that wouldn’t come. And the skittering had started up again.

He pushed himself to his feet and staggered forward. His lungs refused to take in air. He grabbed at his stomach. The skittering had reached the ground. He pounded on his chest. It grew closer, more frantic.

A chittering right in his ear. Air flew into his lungs. He rolled forward immediately. A woosh. He felt his hair get cut shorter.

He spun around at the end of his dodge roll, sliding back a few inches as he took a knee. He gripped the vine in his hands tighter. Somehow, he hadn’t lost it.

In front of him was a woman with spider legs, a nude human torso, and a spider’s mouth. If he remembered correctly, these were called driders. And they were almost certainly deadly beyond belief. On top of that, her spider body was covered in hair. So a tarantula drider.

The drider edged closer. He took a step back. He bumped into something solid. His eyes widened. Had he just run into a pillar?

Oh fuck.

He did the only thing he could think to do. He sprinted straight at her, vine at the ready. She responded by lifting her two front legs and stabbing them forward. He bent backwards at the knees and watched as they swiped overhead. He then grabbed the legs and pulled, doing his best to ignore the cold hairy texture.

The drider didn’t budge. In fact, she took the opportunity to throw him in the air with her legs. He went free flying straight up, only to be caught by her human arms.

“Gotcha.” He wrapped the vine around her dripping mandibles, forcing them closed before she could bite his head off. Some of the liquid got on his hand, and it instantly started melting a hole in his hand. He rubbed it on her face, which caused her face to start melting as well.

Almost immediately, she dropped him, but was unable to chitter due to the vines. Her primary concern wasn’t that however, it was the acidic liquid currently burning a hole in her face. And Harper was still holding onto the vine. Unlike before however, her head could be pulled around.

He yanked her to her left, slamming her against the wall. He did the same with the right wall. He repeated that process at least three more times in rapid succession before she swiped her leg through the vine, severing it. She then pulled it from her mouth and chittered loudly. The left side of her face was severely burned and her whole face was furious.

She clacked towards him, stomping down hard enough to crack the cobblestone. He dodged to the right as she ran towards him. In response, she caught him with a leg and threw him. He slammed into the wall on his left, then collapsed to the ground in a heap.

She skittered over to him and stabbed him in the abdomen, then lifted him up to her face. She leaned in close and chittered slowly at him. She then rubbed her mandibles all over his face, and Harper’s weak form screamed in pain. She tossed him to the ground again.

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Harper gasped as he crashed back first into the ground. He rolled over to the side and pushed himself to his hands and knees. He then felt her stab into his leg and yank back. His breath rushed back into him in a panic. He let out a scream and dug his fingers into the ground. He felt himself still get dragged back as his nails were ripped apart.

Desperate to survive, he did the only thing he could think of. “Clones!”

Clone(Rank 4) RP: 6/10 > 10/10

Skill Rank Increase

Clones(Rank 5) RP: 1/10

Five clones split away from him. “Take her leg out of me, please!” All of them ran over and grabbed the leg, excising it from his. He crawled away immediately. “Hold her back, I need to steady myself!”

The clones did as ordered, literally grabbing her front four legs and holding her back. One of the clones took the opportunity to climb onto her back and grab her under the arms and behind the neck. Its arms were being melted, yet it still had the effect of making her panic.

Harper stood up, wobbling when blood rushed down and out of his wounds. He steadied himself and hardened his face. “Clones! Bring her down to my level.” He took a deep breath and charged forward.

The clones went from pulling back to pulling down. She was dragged down to almost a kneeling position. The clone up top shoved forward, bending her down until she was almost eye level with Harper.

Harper screamed out in sheer defiance as he jumped into the air. “Void Touch!” He reared back and slammed a haymaker into her temple with everything he had. A section of her head became a black sphere, then vanished. She collapsed to the ground dead.

Void Touch(Rank 0) RP: 8/10 > 9/10

He landed on the ground on his hands and knees, gulping down breaths. He pulled open his pack and took out the waterskin, taking a deep swig. He then put it back and stood onto unsteady feet. He could already feel the effects of his reduced weight.

God, this is why I didn’t wanna use it, but she left me with no choice. I can’t keep holding back, it’s gonna get me killed.

Without so much as a sound, Alvieri apparated into being. He set to work healing immediately. In exchange for healing his stomach and leg, Alvieri lost an eye, an ear, and three fingers on his left hand.

That gave Harper a thought.“Do you choose what to lose?”

“Yes.” Alvieri disappeared without another word.

Well isn’t he direct. Eh, at least he’s still healing me, even if he isn’t fighting with me.

Harper resumed walking onwards. If he had to guess, he was maybe… halfway to the altar now? It was hard to tell. Either way, he had his clones walking ahead of him in a staggered line, that way they would trigger traps first.

Right on cue, the first one in line triggered an arrow trap. It was immediately turned into a pincushion. Harper then had the rest of them avoid the trap trigger.

It went on that way for a decent section, up until the walls on either side opened up. Out walked two draugr, one with a flail and one with a sword. He sent his clones after the sword and went for the flail.

His first move was a drop kick to the chest. It dodged to the side, then wound up to slam the flail down. He rolled out of the way as the floor resounded with a crack.

Before it could pull back, he reached over and grabbed the chain, but let it go when he realized the chain was spiked. There went that idea, plus his hand was now cut up. So instead, he spun on the ground and kicked at its legs. It toppled to the ground with a crash.

He rushed over to it and went to straddle it, but it punched him in the side. He wheezed as a rib almost definitely cracked. It started to stand again, and he did the same. This time, neither of them had weapons.

Its eyes flickered over to the flail next to them. Harper didn’t bother going for it, he had no idea how to use it. It, however, did try to go for the flail, and he responded by roundhouse kicking it in the chest. It fell to the ground once more.

This time, he stomped on its head and tried out a theory. “Void Touch.”

Void Touch(Rank 0) RP: 9/10 > 10/10

Skill Rank Increased

Void Touch(Rank 1) RP: 0/10

Just as he’d hoped, the black sphere appeared where his foot was stomping, caving out a section of its head. It was roughly double in size this time, taking double its head space for the same amount of body mass.

Oh that’s gonna be useful.

Harper looked over to his clones and their fight. They had stolen the sword from the other draugr and stabbed it to death. Two more of the clones were dead, leaving two alive. Regardless, he nodded in approval.

“Hand me the sword. I need a weapon so I can stop bleeding myself dry.” They handed him the sword, and he tried out a couple practice swings. It was lighter than he’d expected, but it would definitely still tire him out. Either way, it was much better than nothing.

He walked onwards once more, clones leading the charge. This time, he barely walked ten feet when the walls further ahead opened up. He slipped behind a pillar and commanded his clones to hide behind the opposite pillar. He peeked his head out and watched.

Out of the wall came a snarling, hunched over humanoid creature with long clawed fingers that dragged along the floor. As it walked out, the torches around them snuffed out. The only thing visible was glowing red eyes. That was terrifying, but he could manage. Not only that, he could still vaguely see it in the dim lighting thanks to the torches further away.

The pillars further ahead and behind him expanded, creating a walled off section with just him, his clones, and the red-eyed beast. It was now pitch black.

Ugh, well at least there’s only one of them. Wait, shit!

Exactly as he expected, the walls ahead opened up and three more walked out. Not that he could really tell save for the scraping of wall tiles and the four pairs of glowing eyes. He held his breath, for fear they might hear it.

He snuck around the pillar on the side facing the wall. He then moved forward as carefully as he could. If he was going to survive this, it would take patience.

Patience, unfortunately, was not something he was going to be afforded. At first he only saw pitch black, which told him none of them were looking his way. Then, just a moment later, red eyes bright enough to hurt were maybe a foot away and staring straight at him.

He panicked and swung the sword forward. He felt as it dug into flesh, but it wasn’t enough. The snarl became a high, multi-pitched roar, as if it were digitized. He yanked the sword out of the beast. “Clones! All of you, attack the glowing eyes, now!”

A claw raked across his chest and into his arm, sending him flying back. Blood soaked the front of his tunic in seconds. He coughed, then steadied himself and grabbed the hilt with both hands.

Behind the beast in front of him, he heard absolute carnage. Whether it was the beasts or the clones, he didn’t know. It didn’t matter. What mattered was the beast in front of him charging forward.

With a panicked shout he stabbed forward. He felt the squish of flesh and watched as the light in the beast’s eyes went out. It deeply unsettled him.

He shook his head and kicked the beast off his blade. He then ran to the nearest sound of flesh being torn and swung full force. He felt the blade bite into something, followed by the sound of a clone fading to dust. He cursed and readied himself for another charge from the front.

A beast pounced into his right side and furiously swiped at him, knocking him to the ground. He screamed and swung the sword up at it, lopping its head off. He felt his side leak blood, but he tried his best to ignore it. He just needed to survive the fight, then Alvieri could heal him.

He rushed to his feet and whirled around looking for more glow-eyes. He saw one rushing towards him. He dodged to the left and felt as claws raked through his arm, sending it sailing away with the sword. He bit his tongue to avoid screaming, then reached out and grabbed at the glow-eye.

“Void Touch!” Once more, his body felt even thinner, but at the very least the glow-eyes’ head was halved. That left one.

Void Touch(Rank 1) RP: 0/10 > 1/10

It had clearly just finished off the last of his clones and spun around to stare at him. It let out another multi-pitch roar and charged at him. He dropped to the ground. It stomped right over him. He picked himself up and sought out the sword on the ground. It turned and charged at him once more.

He swung the sword wide, feeling as it once more sliced through flesh. The glow-eye’s top half flew away, landing away from him. He sighed in relief, collapsing to the ground and taking deep breaths.

Nothing happened. The torches didn’t light back up, the walls didn’t retract. Confused, he looked up. He saw as the last glow-eyes was still alive and crawling closer to him. It raked at his leg, opening up yet more wounds. He growled in pain and stabbed forward, nailing it between the eyes.

As soon as the light faded from its eyes, the torches lit back up and the walls retracted. Now Harper fell to his back and took gasping breaths. He could feel his own light fading quickly. Within seconds, Alvieri was at his side.

He hissed as he looked down at Harper. “Damn. Going to die.”

He croaked out a laugh and locked eyes with Alvieri. “Tell me something I don’t know.”

Alvieri smiled bitterly. “Not you. Me.”

His eyes widened. “Wait, what?!”

Alvieri put his hands on Harper and yelled for the first time since he’d met the man. “Heal!”

Harper felt himself get rejuvenated to full health. As he did, he watched Alvieri lose mass at a terrifying rate. At the end of it all, he was nothing more than a desiccated husk.

Harper sat up and looked at the man. He died frozen in that position. “What the fuck, man. Why would you do that when we can respawn?”

Apparently, he wasn’t dead yet, because his eyes flicked up to look at Harper. “Only one shot. Last time was fluke. Beat it. None of us have.” And with that, Alvieri well and truly died. He faded away to dust, much like Harper’s clones would. Only this time, it stung on a personal level.

Harper wiped tears away. “Fuck, man. I’m not fucking worth that. I’m not worth jack shit. But alright. I’ll beat it, just for you. Friend.”