Owin cracked the door open with Suta and Myrsvai behind him. The old, broken door nearly collapsed right off its hinges from the lightest touch. Owin took a step through and waited, expecting the floor to drop out beneath him. When nothing happened, he took another step. And another.

He turned the next corner and repeated the same steps, working his way through the dark hall of warped boards. Myrsvai’s Abyssal Armor was still illuminating the hall, allowing Owin to see easily.

Owin leaned around the next corner. It was too dark to see, but the room opened into a wider area. He gestured for Myrsvai to get closer and guided the magus around the corner.

“That is . . .” Myrsvai squinted in the dark.

On the edge of the light was a skeleton sprawled out near other scattered bones, all lying next to a sealed wooden coffin of the same warped, waterlogged boards as the rest of the shipwreck.

“Is it undead?” Owin whispered

Suta pushed himself between Owin and the wall and peeked around. “Looks dead.”

“It does, but . . .” Myrsvai pointed with the rotten heart. “We could hit it with a spell.”

Suta grunted and offered the staff back.

“Fine. Forget that idea. Owin?”

“I could grab it and toss it out the hole in the hallway.”

Myrsvai fully stepped into the room. The magenta light spread through the rest of the hold, bringing a full pile of barrels into view. Behind the coffin and skeleton, tucked into a corner, were small jars that were nearly identical to ones Owin had seen once before.

“Is there a brain inside that jar?” he asked, pointing at one with a skull topping it.

Myrsvai took a step closer and leaned forward. “They do look like they may be canopic jars. How do you know what those are?”

“Specters in the Great Forest.”

“Hm.” Myrsvai held the rotten heart in front of him. Letting the light spill over it. “There is a theory. I cannot remember who wrote it. . . that suggests many secrets were created by other gods with Diphinadra placing specters into the Great Forest, Ruvaine hiding demons in the Tundra, or even Cassimarcia sneaking her ilk into the Subterranean Dungeon. It was never confirmed, of course. Who are the gods going to talk to?” Myrsvai froze after saying that, then slowly turned to Owin. “Sloswen hasn’t said anything, has he?”

“No.”

“Okay.” Myrsvai held the heart out to Owin. “The rotting heart, a symbol of Diphinadra, suggests this secret could be linked to the Fortress in some manner.”

“Are undead special to the Fortress?”

“There are plenty there, including some necromancers, but it’s not what people commonly think of for the Fortress Dungeon.” Myrsvai’s eyes widened. “A coffin.” He turned just as the lid of the coffin opened, throwing a pulse through the water.

“What is it?” Owin asked with his knife raised and ready to stab anything that appeared.

Suta already dropped the staff and launched himself across the room. As soon as he neared, before even landing, the skeleton shuddered and all the canopic jars shook. Suta reached back a punch just as a pale form stood straight up from the coffin.

It looked like a normal woman, but her ears ended in sharp points. Her suit was olive green and looked fresh, despite lying in a coffin under the water. She punched with such speed that Suta didn’t even have time to react. Her fist caught him in the chest, throwing him into the opposite corner. The water slowed him enough that he didn’t fly through the old wooden boards.

“A vampire,” Myrsvai said.

Ocean Mob

Gracia Thoritek

Vampire Fiend

Level 25

Suta jumped back to his feet and shook out his arms.

“Are you okay?” Owin asked.

“He’s fine. It caught him off guard.” Myrsvai looked at the heart again. “Crushing this heart could kill the vampire, or it could send her into a frenzy. It depends what type of vampire she is.”

“It says a fiend.”

“That’s more of a fighting style than a species. She’s an elf and . . . I can’t tell. My vampire knowledge is lacking.”

“We could use Potilia,” Owin said.

Myrsvai nodded slowly. “That is always true.”

Gracia turned her red eyes to them. Black hair billowed behind her, caught in the water, as she took a step out of the coffin. The skeleton climbed to its feet and swayed as it stood right behind the vampire fiend.

“What’s our move?” Myrsvai asked.

“What happens if you drop the heart?”

“If she gets it, it could empower her to the level of a lord or allow her to cast a Power 6 or 7 spell. I would hope a level 25 can’t cast a Power 7, but these secrets are unpredictable.”

Gracia Thoritek adjusted the cuffs of her shirt, then reached up and smoothed her collar. The whole time, she stared straight at Myrsvia, never breaking eye contact.

“What are vampires weak to?”

“Luminous.”

Owin looked at the lich bone. “What about undead?”

“She will be resistant.”

“Oh. Abyssal?”

“Resistant.”

Owin adjusted his grip after deciding to keep the knife out. He already had a free hand to punch with, and a sharp point was still sharp even if the extra damage didn’t help. If the vampire’s heart was in Myrsvai’s hand, that only left her brain as a weak point.

The four canopic jars burst, revealing a possessed brain, intestine, liver, and lung. Each of the organs crawled on sinew limbs that leaked blood into the water.

“Possessors too,” Myrsvai said.

“Are those her organs?”

“Yes.”

If she didn’t have a brain, heart, or other organs, what was her weak spot?

“Are we going to stand around and listen to you like a professor or are we going to tear this ship apart?” Gracia’s voice was smooth and calm. She smiled, showing her long fangs that protruded just over her lower lips.

Suta had remained in the corner, watching Owin. Myrsvai also kept glancing his way.

“We’re stronger than you. Let us get the treasure and we’ll leave,” Owin said.

“A level doesn’t determine strength.” Gracia held her hand up, showing her pale skin mold into a grotesque monstrous hide with curved claws. “Skill overcomes level. I will make your deaths swift if you hand over my heart.”

“Can you move fast enough to keep the heart away?” Owin asked quietly.

“Don’t underestimate me.”

“Tell Suta—”

“He’s ready.”

Gracia raised an eyebrow. “Seize the magus.”

The possessor specters charged across the ground. Their sinew limbs clung to the wooden boards, propelling them quickly.

Owin sprinted at them and jumped, using the lich bone to slice through one of the organs. The possessors slipped around his strike and continued their charge on Myrsvai. Suta sprinted at the same time, coming from the other side as Owin’s jump took him right to Gracia’s face.

Her monstrous hand swung with incredible speed. If Owin hadn’t had Goblin Cunning, her attack would have clawed his face. Instead he caught one claw on the lich bone and the rest scraped down his chitin armor. He smacked against the floor.

Suta reached Gracia before she could follow up her attack on Owin. He latched onto her arm as she threw another punch, wrapping his arms and legs tightly around her.

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“What is this?” She flailed, turned, and smashed Suta against the wall.

Owin jumped right behind her and punched the skeleton in the hip bone, shattering it like it was made of glass. The skeleton collapsed, allowing Owin to catch the skull as it drifted down.

It was good to know the skeleton was just as weak as the rest he had met. Even including the Withered Shade.

He pivoted, ready to jump and smash the skull on the vampire. Suta crashed into him, launching them both into the corner full of canopic potsherds.

“You fight like rabid children,” Gracia said. Her left sleeve was torn where Suta had been clinging on. She reached over with her monstrous hand and tore the entire sleeve off. Her pale skin underneath bulged, then morphed into the same monstrous skin as her right hand.

Myrsvai punted the brain with his metal foot, launching it into the center of the room. Gracia turned, eyes wide, and jumped. She snatched it out of the air and landed on the far side of the room near the barrels.

Owin and Suta looked at each other. What was she so scared of?

Gracia held the brain cradled in her arm and walked around the edge of the room like she was still calm and composed.

Meanwhile, Myrsvai was busy kicking the other organs on the opposite side of the room. That didn’t seem to bother her in the slightest.

“Kick one toward the center again!” Owin pointed even though that was not helpful. Myrsvai already knew what the center was.

Myrsvai tried, but kicked the lung more toward the hall they had come from instead.

Gracia watched with a raised eyebrow. “You have yet to even harm me and now you are thinking of desperate plans.” She let the brain go. Sinew limbs shot out, catching it before it hit the floor. It scurried around the edge of the room back toward Mrysvai.

Owin pressed his hand hard against the floor beneath him. It wasn’t going to break without incredible strength. It was the same for the wall. He partially stood while keeping a hand and a foot on the wall.

Gracia was fast, but speed was Owin’s thing. He wasn’t going to let a low level mob, even a secret boss, beat him.

All of his strength went into pushing off the wall.

As strong as Owin had become, he hadn’t had many opportunities to practice with all of his higher attributes. The strength at which he launched himself caused him to move so fast that he didn’t even have time to raise a weapon or a fist before colliding with Gracia.

Gracia Thoritek also didn’t have time to react. Her eyes started to widen right as Owin’s head went straight into her sternum and launched her into and through the barrels until she smashed against the opposite walls.

The room was still for a moment. Even the possessed organs stopped chasing Myrsvai to watch as the vampire fiend slowly crawled out of the shattered wooden mess.

Suta walked over and patted Owin on the shoulder. “Help with brain. Not needed.” He walked along the edge of the room toward Myrsvai.

“What?”

“He doesn’t think you need his help,” Myrsvai said as all the organs lunged at once. He ducked as the lung dove for his face. The intestine had already wrapped itself around Myrsvai’s leg, squeezing as it slowly crawled up.

“Impressive speed.” Gracia brushed some debris from her shoulders. The monstrous skin crawled up from under her collar, turning her neck into the same mottled skin. Her face stayed the same shape as the skin continued transforming, but her fangs grew to twice the length and her eyes became solid white beacons in the dimly lit room.

“How do you kill a vampire?” Owin asked.

“Take off her head.” Myrsvai passed the rotting heart to Suta, who immediately dashed into the hallway they had come from. The organs all detached from Myrsvai and chased after the familiar.

Gracia finished her transformation, including wings that ripped through the back of her suit. They were fleshy, mottled wings with holes and tears throughout. “Time to feast on goblin blood.” Bubbles exploded behind her as she launched across the room.

Owin tried to keep his movements small to avoid throwing himself too far again. He dropped to the ground, allowing her to pass right over the top. He rolled and hopped back to his feet, but she had used her wings to turn around quickly and caught him in one of her huge, transformed hands. She smashed him into the ceiling, pinning him in place.

Myrsvai’s staff thumped against the wooden floor. Magenta tendrils erupted from the ground and coiled around Gracia’s legs.

“Demon magic won’t kill me.”

“I’m not trying to kill you.”

Owin jabbed the lich bone over his shoulder, driving the knife into her hand. She howled in pain as he ripped the small knife out, nearly tearing her hand in half. When Gracia pulled it away, Owin flipped, pressed his feet against the ceiling, and pushed off with less strength than before.

He still moved quickly and stabbed the knife through the top of her skull. He kicked off, tearing it out and sending her stumbling to her knees as he crashed into the back wall. Gracia tried to turn, but she was rooted in place by Myrsvai’s Dread Bind.

“You won’t kill me that easily,” she said.

“Can I get a bigger weapon?” Owin shouted.

Magenta fire swirled around Myrsvai’s staff. “Make it count. I can only keep these two spells going!”

A demonic longsword formed in Owin’s free hand. It had a rounded crossguard and a long, serrated blade made of red and black ethereal metal.

Gracia tore at the abyssal tendrils but was unable to cut through the spell. She thrashed against it and reached for Owin with her claws.

Suta sprinted back into the room with the heart in his mouth and the brain in his hands, outstretched before him. He chittered loudly as he tore the possessor in half, spilling blood into the water. He chucked half toward Gracia and let the other half fall to the floor.

She stumbled as if punched in the face. She craned her head to glare at Suta. “You filth!”

Owin whipped the abyssal sword around and sliced through her collar, catching her in the mottled monstrous flesh. The teeth of the blade dug into her skin, but failed to slice through. As the vampire turned back around, the teeth sawed through a chunk of her neck. Owin tightened his grip and drove the lich bone into her eye.

She shrieked, grabbed him, and flung him back into the wall, but Owin never let go of the sword. It sawed straight through the rest of her neck as he pulled the serrated blade back.

He bounced against the wall with little force and watched as Gracia’s head toppled to the floor. Myrsvai and Suta smashed the rest of the specters.

“Is your mana damaged?” Owin asked.

“Yes, but we have a solution for that.” Myrsvai knelt beside Suta, who held out his hands. Blue mana flowed from him to Myrsvai, and gray, damaged mana transferred to Suta. “If he’s not going to use spells, he won’t need mana.”

Suta nodded.

Gracia’s fist swung around and caught Owin on the cheek. He smacked into the wall above the potsherds and quickly shook himself out of surprise.

The Dread Bind had vanished as the headless body of the vampire stood. Gracia held her severed head in her monstrous hand. Loose strips of skin hung from her neck, but no blood leaked out.

“Only imbeciles believe they can kill a vampire.” She placed her head on the stump and let go. Somehow, the head stayed.

Suta squeezed the heart. Nothing happened. He dropped it and stomped, but the heart remained. Myrsvai used his metal foot to stomp, but nothing damaged the rotting heart. Gracia turned to him with a grin. Before she could dive for the heart, Owin jumped onto her shoulders, adding unexpected weight. They both crashed onto the ground just in front of Myrsvai. Gracia’s foot went right through the boards, knocking broken pieces of wood down to the cetanthro city below.

“Get off!” She flipped and tried to fling Owin off her shoulders, but he had placed the abyssal sword in front of her neck. Each movement caused the teeth to dig deeper.

If he couldn’t kill her, he would keep taking her head off until she stopped fighting.

Gracia swung her head back, smacking the torn part of her skull against Owin’s nose. He squeezed his eyes shut and pulled harder on the sword. It had taken a few points of damage and he could feel blood running from his nostrils, but it wasn’t enough to stop him. He had felt worse pain plenty of times.

“Get off, you—” Gracia’s voice gurgled then stopped completely as Owin tore her head off again, creating a new gash across her neck.

“What do we do?” He dropped the summoned sword, grabbed her head, and jumped over to Suta.

The body started moving again almost immediately. “Put me back!” She tried biting at Owin, but he held the head out as far as he could. The body stood back up and adjusted the olive green jacket before turning toward Owin.

“Everything was avoiding the center of the room,” Owin said.

“Give.” Suta held out both hands.

Owin handed him the head. He felt like he should’ve asked why, but Suta obviously had a plan.

“It won’t kill it, but it will stop the fight.” Myrsvai pointed his staff. “Abyssal Blast.”

The spell struck the vampire’s body in the chest, causing it to stumble back a step. Its foot went through the floor, creating another hole. Before it fell, it flapped its wings and right itself on the edge.

Owin prepared to charge, but the vampire quickly leapt over the center of the room toward Suta.

The familiar jumped to the side and threw the head. In the water, throwing things was difficult. It went about halfway to Owin before it drifted to the ground.

Owin was about to dive to catch it when Myrsvai’s staff smacked him in the head.

“This works,” he said.

Gracia’s body hit the ground beside Suta, pivoted, and jumped again, reaching for the head. She caught her head right before it hit the ground, causing the body to thump on the boards, which immediately shattered.

She should have dropped all the way through, but her impressive vampire speed allowed her to catch the edge of the sturdy boards as the rest of Gracia and her head swung into the open water beneath the shipwreck.

Owin walked over and knelt beside the vampire’s hand. He held the lich bone knife and tapped her fingers with the edge. “The fall won’t kill you.”

“No, it won’t,” the head said. He couldn’t see her face, as the body was cradling the head to keep it safe.

“Then I don’t need to feel bad about this.” He flipped the knife in his hand and stabbed it through her index and middle fingers. The monstrous flesh was tough, but Owin was stronger. The blade sliced through, causing the vampire to nearly slip.

“I won’t let you escape!”

“Okay.” Owin severed the last fingers.

Gracia plummeted toward the cetanthro city. Owin waved, though she probably couldn’t see as she desperately beat her wings, which only caused her to flip about and slow down rather than actually fly.

“That was not the fight I was expecting,” Myrsvai said. He picked the heart up again and turned it over in front of his face. “Suta, why did you put this in your mouth?”

“Hands full.”

“I thought we talked about this.” Myrsvai stuck the rotting heart in his bag. “Owin, you should take the chest.”

“Why always me?”

“You did most of the fighting, and Suta and I have the things we need. You’re the one looking for armor and new weapons.” Myrsvai didn’t wait for Owin to agree. He simply walked over to the coffin and broken canopic jars and started searching through the remains.

Owin hadn’t been aware there was a chest in the room until Gracia broke through the barrels. It was hidden in the opposite corner from the coffin and still only barely visible through the debris. He picked his way through and flipped it open.

There was a red boot inside. Owin squinted and leaned his head into the chest. Ernie had been very serious when he said getting a fully set was incredibly rare. Owin looked above, still squinting. Is Sloswen messing with him? Or helping him?

“What is it?” Myrsvai asked.

“A boot.”

“I’m starting to think this isn’t some incredible luck.”

“Me too.” Owin took the boot and fit it over his foot. As much as he hated the boot upon first putting it on, he didn’t mind once he had one on both feet. It felt more balanced. After only two more pieces, he would have a full set. It still didn’t say what that would do, but the description said it acts as normal armor unless the wearer owns the complete set. Something would change with the armor soon.

“I think it’s time we get to the next floor,” Myrsvai said.

Owin looked through the hole. There was no way to spot Gracia or any specific cetanthro below.