Myrsvai stood in a cetanthro village, waiting as Suta looted all the dead shark-like creatures. Defending cetanthro from a bandit raid was not what he had been expecting to find on the eighth floor, but it was an easy quest that gave a decent reward.

Suta shook the corpses violently, finding far more loot than anyone else could ever hope to find from each corpse. It was difficult to watch when he flailed the dead bodies around. It caused all sorts of things to fly out. If there was a hero watching, Myrsvai would be embarrassed. He found himself to care far less when it was just scared cetanthro mobs watching.

The fight had been tough. The anguin brutes were durable, to say the least. They still hadn’t pulled many of their tricks out. It would be good to surprise even Sloswen during the boss fight on the tenth floor. At least, that’s what Myrsvai hoped for.

Thalgodin chopped an arm off an anguin and took a bite. He spat it out before long. “Why does Owin eat mobs?”

“Not all mobs. Primarily the ones that give buffs like demons and cathkabel.”

The demon dropped the arm. “Understood.”

Suta carried an armful of loot back and waited for Myrsvai to crouch before he dropped it all into the bag. “Continue.”

“I’ll follow you, Suta.”

Myrsavai nodded to the cetanthro, who continued to shout their thanks for protecting the village. They walked back into the pass and took the right path. It only took a minute before Suta stopped, halting both Myrsvai and Thalgodin.

Myrsvai waited quietly. The familiar was obviously focused on something. Curiosity was the only thing Mrysvai could pick up through their mental connection.

“My neural blades can act as a light source, should we need it,” Thalgodin said.

Panic.

“What is it?” Myrsvai asked.

Suta only pointed forward. At first, nothing looked out of the ordinary. The dark water made it difficult to see far ahead, except in the villages where they had magical sources of light.

“Use a sword,” Myrsvai said.

Thalgodin drew one of his neural blades and held it high. A silver glow emanated from the blade, illuminating the pass in their immediate area.

It looked like a shadow, even in the dark depths of the Ocean, was moving along the pass. A dark form clung to the stone walls, advancing on Suta.

The familiar took a few steps back as he coated both fists in violet abyssal fire. “Spiders.”

The swarm was massive, even if the spiders were tiny. They weren’t anything like the huge spiders they had fought near the stairs.

“Suta,” Myrsvai said as he spun magenta flames around his staff.

The familiar jumped back. “Ready.” He thrust his hands out just as Myrsvai pointed his staff.

“Infernal Shroud,” Myrsvai said, casting the spell at the same time as Suta. The heavy smoke-like spell settled in the pass. Single experience points started rapidly ticking up Myrsvai’s vision.

Some of the wave reached his feet, but died long before they could ever bite or attack in any way. He guided Suta and Thalgodin out of the spell until all the spiders died. It was better to be safe. Not that the spell could cause them any harm, but who knew what else might follow the swarm.

Suta tugged on Myrsvai’s shirt and pointed above the spell.

“I should have expected that.” Myrsvai immediately started channeling with Suta. Yellow smoke lifted off their shoulders as mana flowed between them.

Thalgodin drew the rest of his neural blades and let them all glow.

A massive red and black spider approached, towering over them. Its pointed legs dug into the pass, chipping the stone. This was a massive, terrifying version of what they had fought near the beginning of the floor.

“Wandering boss,” Myrsvai said.

“What do you need me to do?” Thalgodin asked.

“Cut the legs. Suta will get the body.” Myrsvai smashed his staff down, sending a burst of power into Suta.

“On it.” Thalgodin beat his wings, which were useless underwater. The demon sprinted into the Infernal Shroud, roaring loudly.

Suta bounced on his feet. Violet flames crawled up his arms until they joined the yellow smoke rising from his shoulders. “Ready.”

“Me too.” Myrsvai pointed his staff, sending an Abyssal Barrage at the approaching boss.

If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

Thalgodin cut one of its legs before leaping high out of the shroud. He had little spiders all over his body. He burst into abyssal flames, killing most of the small mobs clinging to him.

Suta shot multiple Abyssal Blasts into the shroud, killing more mini spiders before running up the side of the pass and jumping at the boss spider.

***

They wandered in the dark for a long time. There weren’t more forks in the road, so it felt rather boring compared to other floors. Shade had talked about various things from history, most of which sounded entirely made up. It was easy to tell when he made it up specifically because of the names he picked. They were always bizarre.

They finally reached another fork, and Owin simply stopped.

Shade ran into him, stumbled to the side, then tripped over a rock and smacked his face on the rock wall. He let himself slide to the ground and stayed still.

“Are you going to get up?”

“I was hoping you would check on me.”

“I’m checking on you now.”

Shade groaned.

“Are you okay?”

“Yes, fine. Thank you.” The skeleton climbed back to his feet. “See how easy that is?”

“Just because it’s easy doesn’t mean I want to do it.”

“Well, that’s both rude and understandable.” Shade pointed in both directions. “Where to? Where . . . also? No, wrong word.” Bad joke. You need to be able to read to understand that one. Where are we going?”

“I could read,” Owin said.

“We both know you can’t. I don’t have eyes and I can read better than you.” Shade jabbed his hands forward in both directions. “Choose left or right or I will choose and you won’t be happy with my decision.”

The right pass was dark like the rest of the floor, while a distant light shone brightly somewhere down the left.

“Why would I be upset about it?”

“We’re going right.” Shade grabbed Owin’s arm and tried to drag him, though the skeleton was still weak.

“I was going to choose left.”

“See?”

Owin grunted and let himself be dragged to the right pass. “What do you think was giving off that light?”

“Probably another village. I don’t know. Why do you think I know things?” Shade let go, but continued to lead. “When have I ever said I knew what was happening?”

“Almost all the time.”

“And have I ever been wrong? Wait. Don’t answer that.”

Owin scratched his nose and followed Shade without much thought until the skeleton came to a sudden stop. Owin bumped right into him, knocking Shade back onto his face.

“What do we have here?” a deep voice asked.

Owin lazily looked up. A massive anguin sat on a stack of boxes. It was like Grahvy grew three times bigger, and he had already been much bigger than Owin. A tent covered the rest of the pass with a chest stuffed away in the back, almost hidden behind all the boxes and bags.

Ocean Mob

Rahlish

Anguin Giganta

Level 70

Rahlish grabbed a massive spear from the tent as he stood. He grinned, showing off his mouthful of gross, weird teeth. He didn’t turn his head to look properly through his beady green eyes, so Owin already knew he was out of the fish’s sight.

“Oh, is that a chest?” Shade asked.

“That’s the chest guardian. Do you think we missed the wandering boss?” Owin turned his back to Shade, allowing the skeleton to draw the sword.

Shade pulled the Incandescent Blade out of its sheath and passed it over. “I didn’t see anything wandering, so . . . yes.”

Rahlish took a step forward and cocked his head, pointing his eye at Owin. “I heard a water elf was bothering my boys.”

Bothering? Owin thought of the anguin all screaming in pain.

“Yeah, that’s me. But I’m a goblin.”

Each of Rahlish’s steps caused the ground to shake. “I’ll make you pay for that.”

“He doesn’t have a lot of money,” Shade said.

“This might be difficult. Back up.” Owin yanked Shade backward before the skeleton could get skewered. With how difficult it was to actually kill the anguin before, Owin wondered how much damage Rahlish would be able to actually take before going down. His heart was the target, but while standing twenty feet tall, reaching his heart would be difficult. It would require a precise jump, which still wasn’t one of his best talents.

“It won’t be that difficult if you just kill him.”

“Thanks, Shade.”

The skeleton smacked him on the back. “You got this.”

One of the chitin pauldrons crumbled away, leaving a transparent membrane in its place. It was already weakened from the anguin before, so it was no surprise that something so minor could damage it. Still, he was annoyed.

“I’ll do my best.”

Three steps was enough to cause Rahlish to burst into action. His spear flung out, missing Owin by an inch as he ducked to the side. With his dexterity any lower, it would have stabbed right through his face.

He jumped and stabbed with the Incandescent Blade, but missed the heart by a wide margin. Rahlish reached with his free hand, grabbing at Owin. He left the sword embedded in the anguin for the moment and dropped back to the ground, dodging the cetanthro’s webbed hand.

A flurry of spear strikes caused Owin to dash and jump all over the camp. Rahlish didn’t hesitate to tear through his tent with the sharp spear point.

As soon as the barrage ended, Owin leapt again. The anguin flashed, causing the ground to crack under his feet.

It was the same ability Artivan used to use. The anguin was a knight.

Owin hit Rahlish’s side, stabbing the lich bone into his gray skin, but failed to move the creature. With increased weight, Rahlish was truly immovable. Owin pulled the knife out and pushed off the cetanthro to climb even higher. Using his nails and the knife, he was able to scale the anguin quickly, even as Rahlish furiously tried to grab Owin.

“Hey, Owin,” Shade shouted.

“I’m busy.” Owin jumped off Rahlish’s back as his hand passed over. The stone wall of the pass was close enough that Owin flipped and pushed off, launching himself right back to Rahlish’s shoulder.

“There’s something coming this way,” Shade shouted.

Owin stabbed the lich bone into the anguin’s shoulder and tore as much as he could before the webbed hand smacked him off. He flew through the water, hit the ground, and bounced before recovering on his feet. More chitin crumbled away, leaving only the breastplate, helmet, and one boot still in good condition.

He felt a little lighter, and a lot more exposed.

“What are you shouting about?” Owin looked between Rahlish’s legs as the anguin boss turned to face him. A wave of shadow moved down the pass, quickly approaching Shade.

“I don’t know!” Shade flailed his arms and ran toward Rahlish. “There’s something coming!”