Their path quickly went up, left, down, and to the right through a narrow rock path surrounded by the tall, dark trench walls. Owin stopped at the base of a short hill. Something was familiar.

“Fuck,” he said.

“Whoa.” Shade squatted and got way too close to Owin’s ear. “You swore.”

“Yeah,” he said, pushing Shade’s face away.

Shade slapped Owin’s hand and pulled himself closer. “Don’t do that.”

“Why not?”

“It’s unbefitting of your station.” Shade tried sticking his finger in Owin’s nose, which earned the skeleton a firm shove on the face that caused him to sprawl out on the ground. “Unbefitting!”

“Do you see this?” Owin asked, gesturing at the top of the short hill.

Shade sat up and cocked his head. “That spiky thing?”

Ocean Mob

Chaeto

Bristle Worm King

Level 70

If Owin had thought the Bristle Worm Prince on the fourth floor was big, he had been wrong. Chaeto, the King, was enormous. The white bristle worm stood tall with visible splits in its countless segments. It was at least as tall as the kraken, though Owin wasn’t even sure he knew exactly how big they actually were since he couldn’t see their whole bodies at one time.

“Oh, it’s the chest guardian,” Shade said. He pointed at the wooden chest clearly visible just beside the bristle worm. “See it?”

“Yes, Shade. I see it.”

“Wow, me too.”

Owin slid the lich bone aside. While it would be effective, it wouldn’t be his best choice. The venom of the bristle worm didn’t work on Owin before, but those were smaller, weaker versions of the same mob. There was no reason to test if the Bristle Worm King would have stronger venom. His best option was to kill it from a distance. That left spells and wands, which meant he was really only left with wands.

“Any chance you want to punch that?” Owin asked. He had both wands in his hands. With their charges full, he stood a better chance of defeating the boss without getting stabbed a billion times.

“Punch? No.” Shade lifted his armored fist above his head. “I’ll smash it.” He took off running and was promptly sent flying back down the short hill. He crumpled at the bottom, and a few limbs even popped off, but he was alive and sighed loudly.

“How did it go?” Owin guided one of the arms back toward Shade’s shoulder until the bone reattached with a weird slurping sound.

“I have this odd, nagging feeling that the stun didn’t work.” He sat up and grabbed his leg, which was dangling oddly from the bottom of his pants. He jammed his leg back into the hip bone with another audible noise.

“It didn’t look like it worked.”

“Oh.” Shade stood up and brushed himself off. There was no dust or anything on him, as everything had already washed off with the movement of the water. “Thank you for your insight.”

Owin grabbed Shade’s right arm and tugged, pulling it off without much effort. “I didn’t know you could completely fall apart.”

Shade snatched his arm from Owin and reattached it without ever looking over. “That is such a rude way to phrase that. What are you going to say next? That I mentally fell apart centuries ago? While you would be right, it would hurt my feelings, and I fear I have only a few of those left.”

“Centuries or feelings?”

“Well, both.” Shade wiggled his arms. “If I get really relaxed, everything just falls apart. Watch this.” He collapsed into a pile. Smaller bones like the ones in his feet, hands, and ribs stayed together while all major limbs were separate and rolled across the ground.

Owin gently pushed the different pieces of Shade, sorting them into different piles. “Do I have to do something now?”

“Uh.” A few of Shade’s fingers wiggled. “Yes. I’m stuck.”

After a minute of trying to sort the bones with his foot, Owin finally put away a wand and actually helped Shade reconnect his arm. Chaeto watched silently from above. Realizing that most bosses were limited to an arena really changed the way Owin felt about the threat they posed. Maybe something could cause them to leave their little arena, but enough of them stayed in whatever space they were allocated, and that made it easy to take things at his own pace.

Chaeto wasn’t a threatening boss, even at level 70. Every boss for a while had been 70, and the only one he had any trouble with was the kraken. A big part of that had been the surprise attack, but also its size. Chaeto was big, but far from the biggest boss he had seen. If he had to compare the bristle worm, it was no bigger than Malacoe the lobster from the fifth floor that Owin had beaten with Discharge.

With access to one arm, Shade finished putting himself together and stood silently. He also stared at the boss and rested his elbow on Owin’s head.

Owin wondered what Shade was thinking basically all the time, but especially in his silent moments. One would think his constant talking was just him thinking out loud, so what happened in his head when he was silent?

They both had limited memories, though Owin’s weren’t quite the same. His lost memories were simply from before he was really himself, from when he was a mob. Even if he had a chance to recover those memories, why would he want them? It would just be a constant loop of death, of him killing and being killed. Splatters of blood, pain, screams of terror from the heroes and their friends.

At least now when he killed, there was purpose.

But what about Shade? What kind of horrors did he think about?

“Worms don’t have penises, do they?”

Owin sighed.

“See? There it is again.” Shade tapped his fingers on Owin’s helmet. “You need to quit sighing.”

“I’ll try to stop if you promise to not mention a penis for the rest of the dungeon.”

Shade stepped in front of Owin and thrust his hand out. “Deal.” He grabbed Owin’s hand and shook vigorously. “Now, you little ugly freak.” He stepped back and gestured to Chaeto. “Go kill the boss and stop procrastinating.”

“Stop what?”

“Waiting. Go fight while I watch with a wonderful amount of enthusiasm.” He lifted his hands above his head. “Wow. What a move. Go Owin,” he said in a flat voice. “See? Enthusiasm.”

Owin pressed his lips together and strode past Shade. His plan was simple. Magma Mine had yet to not simply destroy an enemy, especially with how it froze into stone underwater. He would open with that, and improvise from there. A simple plan. He looked back at Shade who bobbed his arms up and down.

“Enthusiasm!”

Owin stopped and looked up at Chaeto. The Bristle Worm King was raised up, ready to strike as soon as Owin was close enough. He took a deep breath. If he got covered in bristles, Shade would have to help. Last time, it had been Ernie who had so carefully and thoughtfully removed the bristles.

Would Shade be as careful? Owin looked back one more time. The skeleton had his hands on top of his head.

“Kill it yet?”

“You don’t seem worried?”

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“For you? Are you kidding? That spiky appendage doesn’t stand a chance.”

Owin smiled and turned back. What was an appendage? He crouched, ready to sprint, and held both wands loosely, calmly in his hands. He didn’t want to squeeze and potentially snap them in half. It was important to stay loose and mobile. He wasn’t a knight who could stand his ground.

Owin sprinted up the last of the hill, directly past Chaeto. The Bristle Worm King turned, trying to follow Owin’s movement, but it was too slow. Owin leapt onto the wall in the back stone wall, pointed his wand, and cast Magma Mine directly underneath the boss.

The spell immediately went off, sending a stream of molten rock directly into Chaeto’s belly. The Bristle Worm King made a terrible screeching noise as it collapsed into fifteen different segments. Obsidian shattered, sending shrapnel zipping through the water as another of Chaeto’s segments emerged, apparently unscathed from the spell.

“That looks bad!” Shade shouted from below.

Owin landed at the base of the wall, completely surrounded by bristle worm segments. All of his armor was either cracked and near breaking, or completely broken, leaving only a weird film in its place. His helmet was partially regrown, but even with just the film, his hair was pressed against his skull. His boots were together, but he couldn’t just kick the bristle worms.

He jumped straight up along the wall and pointed a wand. “Arcane Blast.” The purple spell launched from the point of the wand. It zipped through the water and smashed against the flat face of a segment. A small burst of blood followed the impact, but Owin couldn’t spot any visible damage. His foot pressed against the wall, pushing him through the water over the segments. He landed roughly back on the hill but managed to stay standing.

All sections of Chaeto turned and swarmed down the hill. Shade screamed behind Owin.

Most of his armor was broken or near broken, but his gauntlets were fine. Fine enough. Owin cast a flurry of Arcane Blast and Ice Bolt until both wands were empty. Even if the segments didn’t die from the spells, the little damage would hopefully be helpful.

He hopped back to the base of the hill where Shade remained and slipped both wands into his belt. “I’m about to start punching.”

“Am I meant to act surprised? Enthralled? Titillated? I can do all three at once.”

“Back up.”

“Oh, that’s what you mean.” Shade took a few steps back. “I’ll be titillated over here.”

“Yeah, okay.” Owin shifted his feet. He tried his best to emulate Suta’s fighting stance. When they were out, he hoped he could learn something about martial arts. Maybe it would stop him from jumping at everything. Artivan and Katalin did always tell him to stop jumping all the time.

As the first segment neared, Owin pushed off his back foot and punched. His gauntlet shattered, but so did the bristle worm segment. Bristles erupted out like the segment had actually detonated. Bristles broke through the thin film that remained under the broken chitin armor and absolutely covered Owin with long, thin spikes. His skin tingled and immediately itched.

“I hate this!” He turned and punched another, killing it in a single hit and causing bristles to fly through the water. A yell escaped as he turned and punched again. He didn’t even want to yell or make any noise at all, but his skin itched more every moment, and now with a broken gauntlet, he was suffering even more as he slaughtered the swarm.

Somehow, it helped. Owin continued yelling as he turned, punched, dashed, punched, and ripped through the entirety of Chaeto’s segments. Before he knew it, there was only a cloud of silver bristle worm blood floating around him.

“I’m going to die,” Owin said quietly.

“No, no, no.” Shade sprinted over and grabbed Owin’s shoulders. “Don’t do that. Ew.” He pulled his hand away as he touched some bristles. “Oh, you mean you are miserable and would prefer death. Now that, I can understand. Sit.”

Owin looked underneath to make sure he wasn’t about to sit and bristles embedded in the stone. He found a clear spot and sat. An involuntary twitch caused his arm to shake.

“This is, uh, wow. This is a lot.” Shade pinched a bristle and plucked it.

Owin flinched as a brief shock of pain pulsed through his shoulder.

“You need my help, right? Like, I can’t just walk over there and pretend you can handle this on your own?” Shade narrowed his eye sockets and poked the end of a bristle, which only pushed it farther in. Owin’s arm twitched even worse.

“Forget I asked.” Shade fell to his knees. “I’ll be as gentle as possible, but I’m no expert.”

“Thank you,” Owin said quietly.

Shade plucked a few at once, and Owin, without any real intention, slapped the skeleton across the face, causing Shade to puff into a cloud of dust.

“Oh.” Owin sighed and laid back. He tried to adjust, as it was uncomfortable to lie on the shield. “I wonder if that would’ve been helpful.” He let his arms flop to the side.

***

There had been moments, many moments, of being near death in Miya’s life. Sometimes it was because of her own doing, with the whole lighting things on fire habit. Other times it was because of external circumstances, like the Golden Bull bursting in with the intention of killing everyone.

Those moments were scary. Terrifying even.

And somehow they paled in comparison to this single alchemy project.

All she had to do was build a sword using ogre hide. It seemed like an odd project, and Miya doubted Althowin would even actually sell it, but it wasn’t even presented as a request.

Althowin had said, “Create an ogre hide sword immediately.”

There wasn’t a lot of flexibility in that demand.

Miya could feel the sweat in her armpits as she stood in front of the table. Perhaps she was overdressed for the situation. It would explain why the 7 Shard Hero wore thinner, more casual clothes. Ernie didn’t wear much other than a thin blouse either.

Or maybe it was simply the nerves that were burning bright inside Miya. Althowin sat, partially reclined to the side, always watching with a single eye. Chorsay sat beside her, mostly occupied with a book, but he kept glancing up whenever Miya did something that appeared meaningful.

“Despite what people say,” Althowin said, stifling a yawn. “I don’t have all that much free time. If I wanted to watch you stare at the materials, I wouldn’t have given you a project.”

“Yes, ma’am.” Miya picked up the ogre hide in a trembling hand. In the past, she would have assumed an ogre hide sword was something like wrapping a piece of ogre hide around an iron sword.

How wrong she had been. It didn’t surprise her that she hadn’t successfully created magical items before. Watching Althowin finish disassembling Andres Orben’s bow was mesmerizing. It wouldn’t have made sense at all if Althowin hadn’t explained each little piece and step as she worked through it.

There were so many different pieces in an item like that, but Althowin had only provided Miya with an iron sword, an ogre hide, a variety of mana batteries, a sword hilt, and a bucket of different mob pieces. She strongly suspected the iron sword was there as a trick.

Miya flipped the ogre hide over, leaving the tough exterior flat on the table. The inside was almost furry as she brushed her fingers over it. “Okay,” she whispered. A wave of heat caused more sweat to form as she remembered that both heroes sitting nearby had incredible hearing. They could probably hear her heart thumping in her chest. Althowin could probably hear Miya’s worried thoughts.

It didn’t matter. The job had to get done. She grabbed a long, thin mana battery and laid it across the ogre skin. There were four types of hammers, which also seemed like a trick. Could it even matter which one she used?

Probably, but also maybe not. She picked up each in turn, using Examine, but also just testing how they felt. In the end, she went with the ball peen hammer and smashed the flat end against the mana crystal.

Blue light flashed as the crystal threatened to detonate. Her free hand pressed flat onto the crystal and the skin and glowed white as she used Prepare. She hit the end of the crystal again, causing it to glow and partially flatten.

The flattening was intentional, the glowing was not. Stabilize helped calm the crystal as she swapped back to Prepare and continued hammering until it was flat. It wasn’t until she was done with the long, mana-draining process that she realized the crystal she had picked was far too small for the project.

Althowin clearly had known that from the start and had watched with a keen interest. “Now what?”

Miya had made the base for a needle-like dagger. “I keep going?”

“If you stop now, that mana crystal and that ogre skin are trash.”

“I keep going,” Miya said confidently.

Althowin gestured and reclined again. “What are you reading this time?”

“Hm.” Chorsay closed the book, keeping his thumb between the pages. “It’s from your library.”

“I don’t know what’s in there.”

“You don’t read?”

“I’ve read them all, asshole. I just don’t remember every book I own.” She placed both hands behind her head and nearly elbowed Chorsay. “Read something to me.”

Miya scrunched her face but didn’t say anything. If she even so much as glanced over, both of the older heroes would certainly notice. She shifted her free hand to the ogre skin, folding it as she used Prepare, until it formed a full brick of solid ogre skin with the thin mana crystal placed perfectly in the middle.

It was going better than she expected, but that didn’t mean it was going well.

Chorsay barely read a paragraph out loud before Althowin abruptly asked him to shut up.

“What’s next?” Althowin asked.

Chorsay watched Miya with a raised eyebrow. He was just as interested in the process, but like usual, he couldn’t resist reading.

“Creating the hilt?”

“Are you asking me?”

“No. I need to create a hilt.” She left the hilt on the table and grabbed an earth elemental stone. Her mana was struggling to keep up with the constant spells, and she wouldn’t be able to use any metal or metal mob parts until she was level 55, so she had to be more creative. Althowin said that was all part of the process.

“Yes, you do. Keep going.” Althowin yawned again but never stopped watching.

Miya cast Destabilize on the stone before switching to Prepare and started hammering.

Chorsay cradled his book in his arm and stood with a soft grunt. “I need to be going. I’ll see you two soon. Keep it up, Miya.”

She nodded without looking back.

“Bring them all here. I have some questions,” Althowin said. “Even the magus.”

“He’s talented,” Chorsay said.

“I’ll be the judge of that.” Althowin steepled her fingers and continued staring at Miya.