The evolved kobold swung a halberd through the clouds of dust, slicing them apart like a gust of wind.

It was as large as the elite kobold—twice as tall as Jace—but with a set of bony, hooked spines along its back that made it look even broader. Black armour encased its every limb, and a circlet of barbed wire ran around its forehead.

It bent forward and slammed its fists into the ground, sending shudders through the stone. Jace took another step back, retreating down the stairway they’d just come up, and Lessa and Kinfild descended in step with him.

Bent forward, the kobold nearly brushed the ceiling with a holographic standard hanging on its back—neon orange with an empty X in the center. It bellowed, sending a wind down the hallway that made Jace stagger a few steps back.

“Think we can beat it?” Jace whispered.

“I don’t think we have much of a choice,” Kinfild grumbled. He turned his rifle over and slammed its butt into the ground like it was a staff.

Lessa held her rifle up, lining up the sights. “I’m not sure if I can do much, but I’ll try.”

“Don’t undersell yourself,” Jace replied.

“Force of habit.”

“Kinfild, do you still have your flame cage card thing?”

The Wielder nodded. “Socketed and ready.”

“We’ll do the same as before, then.” Jace rolled his wrist, preparing the Whistling Blade. It screeched through the air, heating up and shimmering.

Holding his rifle by the barrel, Kinfild pointed it at the kobold and activated the card at the same time. A semicircle of fire wrapped around the kobold, rising and encasing the beast from the front, but it also blocked off a majority of the hallway. Jace ran up, trying to slip around the side, but the evolved kobold, the guardian, took a few steps back.

It was trying to avoid the trap, and it was fast enough.

Tucking his head behind his vambrace-shielded arm, Jace slipped around the outside of the flaming cage and tried to cut off the guardian’s escape, but he wasn’t fast enough. It backed up and jumped down the hole it emerged from, and the flaming cage closed around the empty air.

Kinfild deactivated the technique and spoke a curse in a foreign language.

But they could make use of this.

“Quickly!” Jace yelled. “Get on the other side of the hole, so we’re not fighting backward on the stairs!”

The rift in the ground encompassed the width of the hallway, not even leaving a ledge at the edge, but it was only about fifteen feet long. Too far to jump, but for a hyperdash, it was fine. Kinfild could buoy himself with flame.

Just Lessa couldn’t make it that far. She didn’t have magic.

There were only seconds to make the decision. “Jump!” Jace yelled. “I’ll help you!”

Kinfild leapt across the chasm in a single dash. Below was a deep hole, which led to a similar hallway running perpendicularly to their current path. The guardian kobold paced the bottom, slamming its halberd into the wall with rage. Jace crossed it with a hyperdash, leaving only Lessa.

She jumped out as far as she could, then, with her speed, ran a few steps along the wall before her boots slipped. Jace jumped back out as far as he could, then rammed his Whistling Blade into the wall, letting it hold him up. It slid down the wall, carving a molten line through the stone, but he didn’t need long.

He caught Lessa’s hand and let her swing with his arm. She launched herself onto the other side of the chasm.

That just left Jace. He was slipping down, and he could jump back, but no way was he leaving the Whistling Blade in the wall. He’d still need it.

The guardian kobold screeched, then sprang up to their level in a single leap.

Just before it reached them, Jace kicked off the wall and landed on its back, clutching one of the spines. They were part of its body, not its armour, but the armour encased them perfectly, unable to be removed.

He was steady on the backs of beasts. It’d be like riding a massive horse. As the kobold prowled along the upper hallway, approaching Kinfild and Lessa, Jace caught his balance and held himself upright.

He turned the Whistling Blade over and stabbed it into the beast’s back, but it barely left a glowing streak on the surface of the armour. It was just too tough, too high-grade, for his sword to pierce. Given time, he might be able to melt through it, but without constant movement, his sword wouldn’t heat up.

But the armour had chinks. When the beast bent over, plates of its back armour slid apart. He just needed to get his sword in.

“Keep it busy!” Jace yelled. “And make it bend down!”

Now realizing that Jace was on its back, the guardian kobold shook side to side, trying to fling him off.

He didn’t let it. He held tight.

But it wasn’t interested in Kinfild or Lessa, no matter how much fire and plasma they aimed at its face. It just wasn’t enough, and it wanted Jace off its back.

He obliged. He activated his technique card and zipped down to the ground, landing in front of it. He waved the Whistling Blade side-to-side with one hand, catching its gaze and snagging its attention.

With his other hand, he swapped his technique cards and re-absorbed the cooldown cleanse card. It slid into his core and activated immediately, and the blue ring of light appeared behind him.

While he swapped his cards, though, the guardian swiped at him. From one direction, it swung with its halberd, and from the other, it slashed with a clawed hand.

Whirling his rifle, Kinfild shot out a bar of flame. It clashed with the kobold’s halberd, holding it back. Lessa fired a blast of plasma into the palm of its hand, deflecting its claws with the raw impact of the blast.

It gave Jace just enough time to switch back to the hyperdash and launch himself onto the kobold’s back.

The beast was still bending down, trying to swat him. He phased through it and clutched onto one of its spikes, then drove the Whistling Blade into the back of its neck. Groaning and hissing, it collapsed onto its back. A swell of Aes rushed into Jace’s chest, burning and searing with how much there was, and he let it.

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

It was an appropriate reward for such a foul beast.

“And you didn’t even make me do it, Split sheet thingy,” he whispered. “But I guess I don’t get a quest reward for that one.”

No response, of course, but he still willed the sheets open. He’d reached eighty-five percent advancement progress, and he was sitting at a level rating of thirteen.

The decay had been staved off. He’d done it.

As the guardian kobold disintegrated into black dust, he lowered his arms and exhaled.

But he couldn’t deny it. It felt wonderful to have reached the threshold, and not just because he wouldn’t decay—he’d done it well under the time limit—but because it meant he was so much closer to advancing.

“Let’s just get out of here,” Jace said. There was no point staying in here any longer than necessary. They needed to get back on a starship, get back to Lyvarion and find the Luna Wrath, then figure out their next steps.

“Agreed,” Kinfild said. “We’ll call this dungeon a taste of things to come…”

Lessa looked a little dejected for a second, but she finally said, “Alright, alright, we can leave.”

image [https://static.wixstatic.com/media/f3a882_796dc4ba52ca470e87e727995bf487fb~mv2.png/v1/fill/w_400,h_332,al_c,q_85,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,enc_auto/hyperh%20logo.png]

On the way back to the dungeon entrance, they didn’t encounter any more kobolds—not even a single, lonely beast.

But Jace wasn’t complaining. They stopped at the entrance and donned their full armour, so they could once more blend in with the Koedor-Terginian soldiers.

“We’ll just need to head to a hangar and steal a starship,” Kinfild said. “And once we get aboard, it’ll be an easy ride out of here.”

“Something about the way you say that makes me not believe you,” Lessa said. She tightened her last shoulder pauldron with a grimace. “Split’s sake, this is heavy…” She pulled the stolen officer’s cloak back over her tail, hiding the burning tip.

Kinfild dipped his head, then pulled his helmet back onto his head. “I doubt it myself, but we don’t have much of a choice.”

Jace was the last to pull his helmet onto his head. The visor lit up with orange light and restricted his view and breath, but the armour was getting easier to bear. His body and spirit must have caught up with his Strength Attribute.

They stepped out into the hallways of the Koedor-Terginian facility once more, then ran up the nearby stairs.

“Remember the way to the hangars?” Jace asked.

“Keep quiet,” Kinfild said. “Unless it’s something a soldier would say.”

That meant Lessa wouldn’t speak at all. She tilted her helmet to the side, and Jace imagined her scowling, though he wasn’t sure.

At the top of the stairs, they encountered another patrol of silver-armoured soldiers marching in the opposite direction. Kinfild signalled to the left, and they turned down an adjacent hallway, dodging the other soldiers.

Their armour was dusty and dirty, and it wouldn’t hold up under a close inspection. Better to avoid contact as best as they could.

The new hallway brought them past a barred window that looked over into the chasm they’d seen when they first arrived, but Jace now understood what the connecting tunnels were: dungeon entrances.

This time, lowly kobolds, all around level ten, covered the ground in a writing mass of black. Kinfild was about to walk past and march along, and Lessa took a step in the same direction, but Jace whispered, “Wait, guys.”

A wave rippled through the horde of kobolds, and they shifted towards a concrete balcony hanging off the far rock face as if it might earn them some sort of favour.

A group of humanoids clung to the balcony. Some of them wore the silver armour of the Koedor-Terginian soldiers, and others wore officers’ coats and gray field caps. A single figure, cloaked in ivory and gold, stood at the front. Byseg Stenol.

Jace inhaled sharply. The Wielder was going to make a speech to the kobolds?

Before Jace could speak, a metallic clatter sounded behind them, and a trio of soldiers (and an officer) ran past. The officer stopped.

The officer first spoke to them in the same foreign language as some of the other Koedor-Terginians had. Jace, Kinfild, and Lessa stared at him.

After a moment, realizing that Jace, Kinfild, and Lessa didn’t understand, the officer in the lead said, “You men, with us. All available units are being mustered to protect Stenol—some dangerous prisoners are on the loose, and the meeting is about to start.”

Jace’s hand inched towards Whistling Blade, but he stopped himself. Something buzzed on the side of the soldier’s helmet. A communication device, perhaps. A small, wireless radio. If they killed the soldiers, it would alert all of the others. They needed to escape unnoticed—even if they stole another starship and got it off the ground, they would need to get off-planet without being shot down.

“We are coming,” Kinfild said, putting on a Koedor-Terginian accent. “We were simply admiring the view for a moment. Impressive army that Stenol has put together.”

“Just get moving,” the officer said. “We have our orders. This way.”

“Yes, sir,” Jace said. He exchanged a hesitant glance with Lessa and Kinfild, but there was no other way. They’d have to play along for now.

They followed the soldiers down the hallway. By Jace’s reckoning, they were still getting closer to the hangar. Closer than before, at least.

But there was no opportunity to make a run for it.

As they walked, they passed by more barred windows that peered down into the quarry. The kobolds below quieted down when Stenol raised both of his hands above his head in a calming gesture. His voice rang out through the entire quarry without any obvious external amplification.

“Thank you, thank you,” Stenol said. “I am honoured by such a warm welcome!”

“His is using an Aes-fortification technique on his voice box,” Kinfild provided softly.

The kobolds let out another cheer, and some of them raised their crude weapons into the air. This time, Stenol made no attempt to quiet them.

“It is truly a gift to witness the strength of kobolds. Your exploits in the legions of the Enemy are legendary! You were great warriors! Conquerors, even! But the Starrealm forgot you. They thought they were safe behind their Wall! You will show them that their steel is no match for our cunning minds!”

A cautious buzz replaced the cheer. Jace kept running, chasing after the soldiers. The hallway turned, and they ran towards Stenol’s balcony.

“You have served the Enemy well, but you will now serve a greater purpose! You will spark a war that will rip the western empires apart. You will take what remains! You will feast!”

Excitement rolled through the crowd, and the thrumming returned.

“We will carry this force through the Wall and into Starrealm territory. Your queen-core has been loaded aboard a vessel.” Stenol leaned forward on the rail of the balcony. “In the coming weeks, you will bask in the blood of your prey. You will attack the Celacor System. It is a populous and ancient star-system, but it has grown fat and complacent. Begin with the furthest planet. Destroy their communications outpost. Then, move to the rest of the system’s worlds and take no prisoners!” He raised his staff, and its tip glimmered with crimson Aes. “To war! To glory!”

Another cheer rumbled through the crowd. After a bout of bowing, Stenol backed away from the edge of the balcony and disappeared back into the tunnels and hallways behind.

Jace, Kinfild, Lessa, and the other soldiers ascended a flight of stairs and merged with another group of soldiers who rushed towards Stenol and the guards. They crossed a thin metal walkway that spanned a ravine, then entered a new hallway. It had been carved into the bare sandstone. Metal girders supported the ceiling, and wires ran along the edge. Every couple feet, a dim light hung from the ceiling.

They walked for a few minutes, still drawing closer to the hangars—but also closer to Stenol himself.

The small group all halted at a sound—pounding bootsteps and clanking of armour. At the intersection up ahead, a party of nearly twenty Koedor-Terginian soldiers marched past. The corridor was wide enough for their two columns to flank Stenol. The dim light glistened against his gold-gilded robes.

Once the group had passed, Jace and the others fell into line behind them. They formed neat columns and began to march. The rhythm came naturally, like riding a horse.

“What now?” Jace hissed at Kinfild and Lessa.

“We’ll still find a way out,” Kinfild whispered. “We’re getting closer. We’re almost there.”

Jace swallowed.

Hopefully, it meant there would be a chance to gather more Aes.