Hero

Avani Conastra

Knight

Avani sat with her back to the barricade. Her shield was latched to her back and her axe was on her hip. She looked terrible. Her armor was pitted and blood leaked from her exposed fingers. Owin couldn’t see her face at the moment, as she was resting her head on her knees.

It only took a second to recognize the other three.

“The fucking goblin comes to save the day,” Siora said. She flinched as another grenade exploded on the other side of the barricade.

From far back, Owin hoped to see the cetanthro grenadiers that were constantly bombing the heroes, but he couldn’t see anything. He was too short. Some cetanthro watched from high above, from the top of the seamount, but they weren’t dropping grenades. At least, not yet.

Hero

Codhyses Prolotod

Magus

Void Nexus Hero Company

The third member of the Void Nexus party looked younger than Siora or Nikoletta, and was covered in tiny cuts all over his face. He rested his head back against the barricade even as it shook from explosions. He watched Owin through tired, empty eyes.

Nikoletta sat beside Codhyses with her same mace lying across her lap. Her normally bald head was covered in short, bristly hairs. She had some new scars, though her wounds appeared significantly less severe than Codhyses’s. Her eyes flicked between Owin and Shade.

Siora crouched at the end of the barricade. She braved a peek and pulled back before an explosion went off. Unlike the others around her, she had no new wounds. Her face was still twisted and scarred from Artivan, and her eyes were still full of anger.

“Who are these lovely people?” Shade asked quietly.

There was about a hundred feet between Owin and the barricade. Past the barricade, farther up the ramp, were two small towers with a gate spanning the space in between. Little cetanthro heads occasionally popped up over the parapets.

Whoever was throwing the constant grenades wasn’t in one of the towers, though Owin assumed those fish also had their own supply of explosives.

“Other heroes. I was hoping to catch up to them,” Owin said.

“I do have enough going on up here to think of that, you know. The whole ‘no brain’ thing only matters when I am asked to do something of importance. If we’re just talking, I will use the full capacity of my missing brain.”

“What?”

Shade shrugged. “Sometimes I just start talking and I can’t seem to stop.”

“Try to be quiet so I can find out what’s happening.”

“What do you hope they know?”

“Where Myrsvai and Suta are. Do you see them?”

Shade put his hands on his hip bone and cocked his head. “Did Suta get taller?”

“No.”

“Then I don’t think any of those are Suta. Why were you hoping to catch up with these heroes? They don’t look like anything special.”

“I’ll tell you later.”

“When you say later—”

Owin shushed him as they set off toward the barricade. Shrapnel flew past after each explosion. It whistled through the water as it zipped past, disappearing off the ramp.

The barricade was built next to a huge, solid wooden block that butted up to the stone wall of the seamount. Owin pressed himself to the block, near Avani, and looked between the three Void Nexus heroes who all stared at him.

Shade crept up slowly, not being nearly as casual as Owin had hoped.

Nikoletta’s face turned from her normal scowl into outright anger upon seeing the skeleton creep up. “What is that?” she asked.

“That’s a skeleton,” Owin said.

“You’re making friends with mobs now?” Her index appeared and her face only became more twisted upon seeing Shade’s description. “A summon?”

“I am more than a summon. How rude.”

Owin shushed him again.

Even Avani raised her head. The knight had cuts all over her face, most of which still leaked blood. A section of hair had burned away, leaving mottled skin underneath the strap of her goggles.

“Owin,” she said quietly. “Please help.”

“Your party . . .” He left the sentence hanging as she looked back at the viscera near the stairs. “I’m sorry.”

“Void Nexus saved me, but . . . they’re all gone.” She put her head back on her knees. “I want to go home.”

Siora peeked around again and flinched back as an explosion shook the barricade. She whispered something to Nikoletta and shoved the mender toward the edge. Codhyses also scooted down as Siora ran over and pressed herself against the stone wall of the seamount.

“How did you get behind us?” she whispered.

Shade stood between Owin and Siora, and the skeleton had never looked more uncomfortable. He glanced back and forth quickly and obviously wanted to disappear, but unless he died or Owin unsummoned him, he had nowhere to go. It was probably good to have some buffer between him and Siora, even if that buffer was a skeleton.

“I took a long time on the first floor. It’s fine. I was hoping to find you.”

She narrowed her eyes. “What does that mean? I would’ve seen you. Where did you get all that armor?”

Owin shrugged.

“Well, where are the others?”

“I was hoping you would know. You haven’t seen Myrsvai or Suta?”

“The Maimed Magus? No. I think I would remember.”

If Myrsvai hadn’t been on the ramp, was he still below?

“I heard explosions over here for hours. Have the mobs respawned?”

Siora gestured toward the tower holding the stairs. “Mobs are going to respawn here soon. Some of them blow themselves up just to try to kill heroes. Avani and her party were up here first, stuck in the tower while we were getting bombed from above. What we really need is a magus’s ranged spells.”

“I have spells.”

Shade somehow cleared his throat.

“I have some spells.”

Even Siora raised an eyebrow.

“I want to find Myrsvai too. If he hasn’t been up here, then he has to be below, right?”

Siora smacked her fist on the seamount wall beside her. “I don’t see any other way up. Do you?”

“No.” Owin scratched his head. They could all retreat back to the stairs to search for Myrsvai and Suta, but after Avani and the others already fought to get out of the tower, Owin had to assume she wouldn’t want to go back inside. When the rest of the mobs respawned, they would have to fight back to the barricade again.

“Shade, what class are you?”

“Would you like the truth or would you like me to guess?”

“Guess?”

The skeleton finally stepped out from between them. “Hunter.” He mimicked pulling back a bowstring. “Maybe.”

“How is this helpful?” Siora asked.

Owin ignored her and snuck around, passing Avani, Codhyses, and stopped beside Nikoletta. The mender ignored him, though there was no way she didn’t know he was right beside her.

Owin leaned to the side, peeking around the barricade. A series of shorter barricades facing them protected a group of grenadiers, each with a full box of grenades. They spotted Owin and chucked grenades.

He pulled back and waited for the shaking to stop. “I want to find Myrsvai and Suta, but we need to get Avani somewhere safe.”

“There is nowhere safe,” Nikoletta said. “We need to get her to the exit.”

“Right. If that’s what it takes.” Owin pointed to Shade. “Are you ready?”

The skeleton folded his hands and rested them on top of his skull. “Have I ever been anything else? I live to serve.” Shade’s eye sockets narrowed. “I unlive to serve? That doesn’t have the same ring to it. I’m ready.”

“Do you have a plan?” Siora asked. She leaned closer to Shade and reached out to poke him, but the skeleton swatted her hand away. “What is he?”

“I am the Withered Shade. A Cursed. An entity of unknown power.”

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“You don’t know your own attributes,” Owin said.

“As I said. Unknown power. So unknown that even I do not know it.”

Siora, crouched, waddled over to Owin. Another grenade exploded on the opposite side of the barricade. “Cursed?”

Owin nodded.

“After Ar— After he died, it said a Cursed had been summoned. Was Shade a hero?”

Owin stared straight into Siora’s eyes. “After you killed Artivan.”

“Fine. Yes.”

Owin had his Arcane Blast and Magma Mine wand ready with his lich bone knife. The wands didn’t seem like they would be specifically helpful at the moment, but any range was better than his knife.

“I don’t know,” Owin said. “Shade doesn’t know either.”

Shade stepped onto Nikoletta’s shoulder, grabbed the top of the barricade, and peeked over. A grenade sailed right past his head and exploded farther down the ramp.

Nikoletta’s eyes flashed yellow as she grabbed his shin bone and yanked him off, practically slamming him back onto the wooden ramp.

Shade flailed and smacked onto the ground. He didn’t move for a few seconds, then sat up and crouched beside Owin.

“She tried using luminous on me,” he whispered.

“You’re immortal anyway.”

“Oh, yeah.”

“Stop messing around. We need to go fast.”

Shade narrowed his eyes again. “Me? Messing around? How dare you. I actually caught a glimpse of the situation ahead. I will run to the outside at the edge of the ramp, which will likely result in me falling off at some point.”

“I have the summon spell ready.” Owin always had it ready. Shade died a lot.

“You stay close to the barricade when you turn. You can use the other side of the grenadiers’ barricades and push up from there.”

“Will that work?” Owin asked.

Siora raised an eyebrow. “Are you asking me?”

“You haven’t tried thinking of a plan the whole time you were stuck here?”

Shade put a hand on her shoulder. “I don’t have a brain and I even thought of a plan.”

Siora knocked his arm away. “It sounds like it will work. Nikoletta can stun with her luminous fire bullshit and Codhyses can help keep grenades off of us.”

“I thought I was just going to kill the mobs to let you get through,” Owin said.

“What good would it do to have you blown up?” She rolled her eyes. “We’re ready to go.”

“What happened to the unofficial bounty?”

“There is no chance Veph thinks we can kill you right now. But she’s paying us to get stronger. Right now, I want to get Avani out and I want to get to the sixth floor.”

How would Siora and the others fare on an isolated floor? Owin wondered—

Shade leaned way too far to the side of the barricade, squealed, and flinched. Somehow in the chaos of the moment, he caught a grenade and held it in front of his face.

“What the fuck?” Siora shouted.

“Ah!” Shade shoved it against Owin’s chest.

“What do I do with it?” Owin still held his own weapons and could only cradle the grenade in his arms.

“Throw it!” Shade took a step away.

“My hands are full!”

“Morons!” Siora pulled the grenade out of Owin’s arms and threw it over the barricade. It didn’t make it far. Its explosion shook the whole barricade and sent shrapnel sailing overhead.

“I don’t know how you even made it this far.” Siora drew her sword. Its glowing blade immediately disturbed the water around it, causing bubbles.

“Mostly accidentally, I believe,” Shade said. “I’m all limbered up and ready to run. Everyone else ready?”

“Are we really following a monster and his abomination summon?” Nikoletta asked.

“Do you have a better plan?” Siora asked over her shoulder.

Nikoletta’s mace glowed with the same luminous light as her eyes. “No.”

“Codhyses, what can you do?” Owin asked.

“Telekinesis. I’ll try to keep grenades and shrapnel away from us, but with cooldowns, I can get overwhelmed if we’re careless.”

Avani stood and pulled her shield from her back. Blood continued leaking from the cuts on her face and fingers. Her jaw was set and her eyes locked onto Owin. “Let’s go.”

“Screaming or no screaming?” Shade asked.

Siora scowled. “What?”

“Screaming,” Owin said.

“Yes, sir, Commander.” Shade saluted, then turned, screamed and sprinted around the barricade. He flailed his arms above his head as he ran.

Grenades immediately started exploding, but shrapnel had no serious effect on Shade. He likely didn’t even realize he was being hit. As soon as the explosions were farther away, Owin stepped out of the barricade and took a better look at the space ahead of them.

Grenadiers were hunkered down behind a series of smaller barricades with boxes of explosives for them to use. The barricades were close to the seamount wall, while the fifty feet to the edge of the ramp were wide open.

The gate was centered on the ramp with walls on each side, also holding grenadiers. Their bulging eyes peeked over stone parapets, but they weren’t yet throwing anything at the screaming skeleton running along the outer edge of the ramp. A gatehouse with a roof was centered on the wall, directly above the gate.

A balcony above the barricades held some other cetanthro who also weren’t attacking. They weren’t grenadiers or any fish Owin had seen before, but he had no time to Examine them.

Grenades exploded near Shade, close enough that they would have done serious damage to any living creature. The skeleton was launched forward, where he fell right onto his face.

The closest grenadier was facing Owin, not bothering with the distraction Shade had caused. It grabbed a grenade from the box and lobbed it forward.

A burst of telekinetic energy rushed past Owin and threw the grenade into the seamount wall. It gave just enough of an opening for Owin to leap over the barricade and stab the grenadier in the head as it reached for a second grenade.

Siora hurdled the barricade and decapitated two other grenadiers with quick, precise slashes.

Nikolleta stayed by Avani and Codhyses, getting them to crouch on the front side of the barricade, opposite Owin.

In the time they were stopping the first cetanthro, Shade was hit by another grenade, tossing his flailing body off the ramp. An arm had disconnected and was floating aimlessly through the water.

Summon the Withered Shade

Summon the Withered Shade

Attention immediately shifted to Owin. The shorter barricades provided significantly less cover, and a whole box of grenades nearby made him feel a little unsure.

“We’re not in cover here,” Siora said.

The next barricade was twenty feet away, and Siora was right. They would have to be on the front, angled side of the barricade to have any cover from the explosions. After all, the barricades were made to face away from the gate to protect the grenadiers.

He needed to move faster.

“Keep up.” Owin dashed to the left, along the seamount wall. Siora’s steps weren’t far behind. Her glowing blade caused sizzling water that made a distinct sound.

“Get down,” Shade shouted. He stood and thrust his arms out. A grenade hit him directly in the face, causing it to explode before getting over the barricade. He burst into gray dust, but Avani, Nikoletta, and Codhyses were safe.

The magus ran out on the right side and pointed forward. A bolt of telekinetic energy shot through the water, hitting a cetanthro at the second barricade in the shoulder. It stumbled and dropped a grenade, blowing itself up immediately.

The others hesitated and turned to their comrade, who was nothing more than viscera. Owin leapt over the first one and tackled the second as he stabbed rapidly into its chest. He rolled off and ripped the knife through another’s stomach. Siora easily killed the first cetanthro, then grabbed Owin and pulled him back behind the barricade as a series of grenades flew through the air.

Summon the Withered Shade

Shade shrieked and crouched behind the front of the barricade with them. Codhyses, who had still been advancing, took a piece of shrapnel to the shoulder as he fell against the front of the barricade.

“Damn.” He pressed his hand to the wound.

Owin tried to see the wound. Some blood leaked from between the magus’s fingers. “Are you okay?”

“Fine. Nikoletta can fix it when we clear the mobs.”

“Be careful. Do you have a familiar that can help us?”

“No. She’s recovering after helping us get out of the tower.”

“I’m going to give you an Infusion,” Nikoletta shouted from behind the other barricade.

“Give it to the goblin!” Siora ducked as a grenade hit the barricade just behind them. The box of grenades also detonated, knocking Owin onto his face. If the barricade wasn’t indestructible . . .

He sat up and pressed himself against it again. “What’s an Infusion?”

“Boosts a stat. Give him agility!”

A white light flashed from Nikoletta’s position.

+50 Dexterity

Dexterity: 325*

+50 of any attribute was going to be helpful for any hero, but with Goblin Cunning, it made Owin that much faster. This time, there was no reason to tell Siora to keep up. She couldn’t.

He hurdled the barricade and sprinted to the next. He nearly crashed into it as he moved too quickly. A small hop brought him over the wooden structure and right into the face of a grenadier.

A telekinetic spell hit Owin in the chest, but only felt like a firm punch to the chest. A blast of energy erupted out from him, pushing some grenades that were overhead off at the seamount wall. One went high enough to the balcony to hit a spectating cetanthro and eviscerated it with shrapnel.

Owin used both the knife and the wand to stab as he jumped between each cetanthro. Codhyses blocked another detonation near Owin with a push spell, sending all the shrapnel at the next barricade.

Siora ran along the seamount wall, staying low while everyone was focused on Owin.

His eyes darted all over. He felt too fast. He ripped the fish apart and had to steady himself for a moment to gather his surroundings. The Agility Infusion also made his mind move faster, and it was too much.

Shade was back running through the open side of the ramp. He garnered plenty of attention as grenades were lobbed in his direction.

Only one more barricade before they had to find a way to deal with the wall and gate.

Siora and Codhyses were already moving ahead. The last barricade was longer, though still only a few feet tall. It had ten grenadiers behind it, which was a lot to deal with in a short time. Even at his speed, Owin wasn’t sure he could cut them all down before they caused everything to explode.

Owin looked at the wand in his hand. He looked at the screaming, flailing skeleton to the side.

Shade had done it before. Why couldn’t Owin do it now?

“Stop!” he shouted.

Siora and Codhyses hesitated, then pulled back and took cover as the grenadiers threw the first round of grenades. They both took some damage from explosions and shrapnel, but they safely made it to the front of the barricade.

Owin sprinted to the seamount side, jumped to get the angle, and pointed the wand at the box of grenades.

Just like when Shade had filled his ribs. An arcane spell could detonate grenades.

“Arcane Blast.”

Violet energy swirled and formed into a ball at the end of the wand, then blasted through the water. With the boosted dexterity, his aim was better than normal. The spell hit a grenade on the edge of the box, and caused a chain reaction, quickly causing the entire box to explode.

The grenadiers, who were also holding individual grenades, also exploded, causing a series of bloody detonations down the line of the barricade.

Owin hit the seamount wall and slid down. He felt the sudden sluggishness as Nikoletta turned off the infusion. It was like the sensation of first moving around in the water of the Ocean Dungeon before he had gotten used to it.

Summon the Withered Shade

Shade helped Codhyses stand, then took a step away as Siora gave him a look. Nikoletta escorted Avani forward as the cetanthro behind the walls all leaned on the parapets and watched the group of heroes.

Owin expected a sudden barrage of grenades, but they had yet to throw anything down.

“You killed them all!” a cetanthro yelled.

“Yeah,” Owin said. “Can we go through the gate?”

“Through the gate? No! You just killed everyone!”

“Oh, right.”

“Great negotiating,” Siora said.

Nikoletta forced the wound on Codhyses’s shoulder closed. He winced as he moved it, but thanked her and adjusted his staff.

“You’re as dangerous as I heard,” Avani said. “Thank you.”

“That’s not a compliment,” Owin said.

“I meant it as one.” She took a deep breath. “How do we get through the gate?”

He could jump high and float a bit while in the water, but would it be enough? If he floated in front of the walls for too long, it could give the mobs an easy attack.

“I have a plan,” Codhyses said.

Siora gave him a look.

“It’s stupid, but I think you might be up for it, Owin.”

“He loves stupid plans,” Shade said. “Let’s hear it.”