8:46

It didn’t take long for Owin to find the first battery. The glowing blue orb looked just like the one from the fourth floor secret that powered the golem. It sat in an open chest like it would be really easy to grab and simply walk away.

The only issue was the massive turtle between him and that chest.

“I’ve never been in a position where I felt the need to call a turtle ugly,” Shade said. “But that turtle is not what I would call attractive.”

“What?”

The turtle was the single biggest mob Owin had ever seen. Barnacles as big as buildings clung to its shell. Its head alone was the size of Malacoe, the lobster boss from the previous floor.

“Do I even fight it?” Surely something so big wasn’t going to move fast enough to keep up with Owin. He could simply sprint past, grab the battery, and run it back to the girhuma village.

“You are planning to fight the demon that breaks through the gateway, yes?”

Owin nodded.

“Or are you planning on eating it?”

“Oh. Uh, both, I guess. Don’t I have to fight it before I eat it?”

Shade grabbed his chin and tapped his bony finger against his teeth as he made a humming noise. He crouched beside Owin. “From what you have told me, I am certain you said you ate others while they were still alive.”

Owin nodded slowly.

“Is that really fighting or is it just an open buffet?”

“A what?”

“Never mind, apparently. Why would we spend any time stealing a battery without fighting the boss? What good would that do us? What would be the point?”

“I don’t get experience either, so why would we fight the boss?”

“Now that is the real question. Why indeed?” Shade looked around and pressed his hand to the boundary wall. “We have eight hours to wait for the gateway. We might as well do something with that time. There may be loot, you know.”

“I already have an armor set.”

“What if it gives you a turtle knife?”

Owin pulled his lich bone knife from his belt. “Okay.”

“Wow. It’s that easy to convince you? That is a little concerning. Are you so easily swayed?”

“I want to see if I can beat a big mob. Do all turtles look like this?”

“You’ve never seen a turtle before?” Shade drew the Incandescent Blade from Owin’s back and held it in front of his face. “Your knife will hardly even penetrate its skin. If you want to do any damage, you’ll need something longer.”

“Oh, good idea.” Owin slipped the knife into his belt and took the sword. “On fire?”

“We’re still underwater. Does lighting something on fire while in this forsaken puddle seem like the right choice?”

Owin stared at Shade.

“I thought you were smarter now.”

“Smarter than what?”

Shade sighed. “Go fight the big turtle before our demonic friend gets summoned.” He shoved Owin with his foot. “See if he drops one of my bones.”

“I was wondering about that,” Owin said over his shoulder as he approached the mob. “You have all of your bones. How can I be collecting them?”

“It’s a lot better to not spend much time thinking about it. After all, look at this scarf.”

“That doesn’t help it make any more sense,” Owin whispered to himself. “What is the best way to fight big mobs? I usually just jump on them.”

Shade ran up and walked beside him. “Are we surprised about that? What else would you do? Use your brain?” Shade tapped his hand on Owin’s head. “Wait here a moment. When I used to fight big mobs, I—”

The water seemed to shiver around Shade. “Well, maybe I won’t continue that sentence. Climb, crawl, jump. Do as you please. I am certain you are more than capable of figuring it out. Right? Maybe?” He held a hand out, stopping Owin. “I am curious about this thing. After all, is it one or the other?”

Ocean Mob

Dragon Turtle

Level 50

The mob hadn’t moved, though it had obviously seen them. It watched them with its huge eyes, tracking each little movement. It was still a hundred feet away, but if it moved like other mobs Owin had seen, it could close that gap quickly.

“I just thought it was a turtle.”

“You wait here. Let me investigate.” Shade ran forward, flailing his arms all around.

The dragon turtle opened its mouth, letting out a burst of what looked like harmless bubbles. As they hit the skeleton, Shade’s bones immediately blackened before he burst into a cloud of dust.

Summon the Withered Shade

“It doesn’t breathe fire,” Shade said as soon as he appeared. “But I do have to assume those bubbles are just as hot. If I had skin I . . . Well, I wouldn’t have it anymore, but I would have been able to properly evaluate just how hot that bubble breath was.”

The dragon turtle shifted its head, keeping its body still.

“It doesn’t look like it can move a lot.”

Shade took a big step to the left. The turtle’s eye followed. “It will be easy if I just run and get murdered again. Are you okay with letting me be murdered?”

“You aren’t getting murdered. You can’t die.”

“I can be temporarily rekilled. Is that a word? Killed again? Killed also? Killed too? Killed—”

“I get it.”

Shade shrugged. “I’ll be the sacrifice that you so willingly made so that you may stab a harmless old turtle in the head.”

“You just complained about it killing you. How is that harmless?”

Shade walked away, waving at the turtle again. “I am done speaking to you.”

“Forever?”

“I doubt it. Who else am I going to talk to? Sloswen? He’d rather sew my mouth shut, but can you sew through bone? Can you, Sloswen?”

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There was no response, which was probably good. The last thing Owin needed was the skeleton pissing off the Ocean god again.

“You know, I would be more threatening if I had a weapon.” Shade kept flailing about as he walked toward the coral reef, holding the dragon turtle’s attention.

“You had one, but you left it at the stairs.”

“That wasn’t my weapon. You stole that from someone who, admittedly, isn’t very kind. Yet, it is not mine. Also, not my style. My weapons are more like . . .” Shade shrugged. “I don’t think I can tell you, so just use your imagination.”

The best Owin could imagine was Shade swinging a body around like Suta did when he was trying to find loot. Any sized body, really, but the skeleton really wasn’t strong enough to hit anyone all that hard.

The dragon turtle opened its mouth and let loose another stream of bubbles. Shade was just out of reach, but as the bubbles popped, Owin felt a wave of heat even from far away. Would jumping on such a giant creature really be the best way to kill it? He had enough trouble getting through the overgrown crab’s shell his first time through the dungeon back with Ernie and Katalin. It seemed like it would be a repeat of that fight, but at least back then, Owin had been able to crack and pry open the crab’s shell. The barnacles alone on the turtle’s shell were so big that he had no hope of breaking through.

“Where do I attack?” Owin asked.

“Brain or heart,” Shade said, poking himself in the head then the chest. “Those are always the weak spots.” He looked down at his own chest. “Unless they don’t have a brain or heart like me. But hey, the turtle definitely does. So.” He mimicked stabbing.

“Okay.” That wasn’t helpful.

Another stream of bubbles shot toward Shade, but the skeleton stepped back, ensuring the bubbles popped before they reached him. Even at his distance, the heat charred his gray bones.

“Ready when you are, captain,” Shade said.

“Okay.” Shade’s confidence should have been helpful, but the dragon turtle was so huge, Owin wasn’t even sure what to do with it. If he hadn’t seen the face, he would have assumed the whole creature was simply a mountain in the corner of the floor. There was nothing that would have made him assume it was a living creature.

But of course he could do it. He was planning on eating a demon in a few hours, and that was a lot more terrifying than a mostly stationary giant turtle.

“Why is it a boss if it can hardly move?” Owin shouted.

“To scare you. It seems like it’s working. Try not thinking so much.” Shade stuck his fingers through his eye sockets. “No brain, remember?”

Owin laughed. “Okay. Don’t get hurt.”

“Me? Hurt? Watch this.” He took a step forward and was instantly burned to death by a stream of bubbles.

Summon the Withered Shade

“Wasn’t that something?” Shade said as he reappeared.

“That wasn’t impressive.”

“Ah. Well, what can you do?” Shade slapped the back of Owin’s helmet. “Get in there and show me why you’re a hero. I’ll go wobble around until I’m turned to ash for the thirtieth time.”

“Are you actually counting?”

“How can I count without a brain, Owin?” Shade walked over and waved his hand through the gray cloud that had been him only a few seconds ago. “Here we go.” He immediately sprinted at an angle toward the coral reef. The dragon turtle moved slowly as it turned its head, tracking Shade’s movement.

Owin sprinted along the boundary wall with the Incandescent Blade in his hands. The longsword felt weird to hold after using knives for so long. Using the Thunderstrike Maul would feel even more weird once he was out of the Ocean and could finally use his hammer again.

Shade was decimated by another bubble-based attack from the turtle, but it gave Owin more than enough time to leap onto the barnacle-covered shell. He smashed the sword against it a few times before deciding it wasn’t worth the time. The turtle turned its head as far as possible, looking at Owin but unable to attack with its mouth.

Bubbles erupted from all the barnacles on its back. A few small ones hit his boots, sending intense heat into the soles of his feet. If he hadn’t been wearing the chitin boots, his feet would have been burnt just like Shade.

In his brief panic, Owin lost his balance, tripped over a small barnacle, and fell right onto the rocky ground. The dragon turtle didn’t bother to turn to look again. It just started to stomp with its huge foot. A quick roll helped dodge, and a jump brought Owin onto its neck where he clung to a ridge of rough skin.

Summon the Withered Shade

“Ah!” Shade had appeared right on the edge of the neck and immediately tumbled off. He smashed into the ground, looking up at the surface. “Why am I here?”

The dragon turtle continued stomping and shooting bubbles from its back.

“I don’t know what to do against big mobs. I know I’m smarter now, but . . .” Owin jabbed the sword into the skin beneath his feet. The blade tip bounced right off the rough skin.

“To get all seven shards, you’re going to have to learn.” Shade sat up. “Each mob is different. Jumping at everyone isn’t going to work. I’m sure you’ve already learned that.”

Owin nodded. The turtle thrashed a little harder, but in their current spot, there was really no threat.

“This one is slow because its defenses are so high. How do you get around that?”

“I could just—” He tried using more of his strength, but the sword still bounced off. If it wasn’t a unique weapon, he would probably have shattered it against the turtle’s skin.

“Weak spots.” Shade stuck his fingers back in his eyes. “If you can’t get through the skin to get a weak spot, you find something squishy. You did the right thing with the elemental. You broke it to find the squishy, succulent interior.”

“It was lava.”

“Succulent lava.”

What was squishy on a giant dragon turtle? Back in the Great Forest, Artivan had told Owin to go for the eyes of the ogre because their skin was like stone. This turtle’s skin was even harder than that, so he could go for the . . . “The eyes?”

“Do you think I keep sticking my hands in my face for fun?”

“Oh. I thought you were just telling me to stab its brain.”

“Yes. Stab from the eyes and into the brain.” He shoved a finger back into his eye socket. “If a creature has a brain, stab it. Simple as that. Look at me, I could be a teacher. Or a coach. Something like that? Right? I don’t know. Stop yelling at me.”

Owin had been ignoring the skeleton anyway and carefully walked up the turtle’s neck and over the spikes and ridges on its head. “Why do I have such a long sword if I’m stabbing it in the eye?”

“Are you planning on crawling into the skull to tickle the brain?”

“Uh, no.”

“Then you need some reach to actually get to the succulent meaty center.”

Owin firmly grabbed onto a spike and leaned to the side of the turtle’s head. It looked right up at him from its massive eye. “Why do you keep using that word?”

“Meaty?”

“No.”

“Oh, succulent.”

“Right.” Owin drove the sword straight through the eye up to the hilt. The turtle let out a deep roar. New bubbles erupted from its back with more force than before.

“That didn’t kill it,” Shade said.

“I noticed.”

The dragon turtle tilted its head, nearly knocking him off. A quick maneuver along the spikes and ridges brought Owin back to the neck, where he clung to the lip of the shell.

“Now what?”

“Did you leave the sword in its eye?”

“Yes.”

Shade shrugged. “Time to figure it out on your own, I guess.”

As annoying as Shade was at the moment, he was right. Owin couldn’t rely on somebody telling him what to do every battle. He had figured out the fire elemental on his own, and he had helped the other heroes with all the grenadiers, even after he had struggled with them on his own.

Show the world how strong you are. How capable you are. How incredible.

He was capable. Artivan’s death wouldn’t be meaningless.

Owin hopped off the turtle and landed in a small puff of dust beside Shade. The dust quickly washed away with the water. “Follow me.”

“Sure. What do I have to lose?”

They walked up beside the turtle’s head as it slowly trashed back and forth. Without its eye, there was no way for it to notice them just beside its face.

“Watch this.” Owin was going to rely on his dexterity, which was still a new thing. Fully relying on that felt wrong in many ways. Was it really the best option? There was only one way to find out.

“I am so curious.”

Owin waited for the turtle to bring its head back toward them. Bubbles continued erupting from its back, and it opened its mouth to release a stream at nothing. As the head swung back toward them, Owin sprinted and jumped.

That was the easy part. After doing it a million times, he could manage that without difficulty. The hard part was aiming for his target.

The hilt of the Incandescent Blade stuck out from the turtle’s eye, hidden within a cloud of blood that had leaked into the Ocean water. The pommel barely managed to reflect a little bit of light from the crystals all along the floor, giving Owin just enough of a sign of where to strike.

His chitin-covered fist smashed against the pommel, throwing his full strength into the blade, sending it straight through the turtle’s eye.

0 Experience

A stream of bubbles escaped its mouth as the whole beast collapsed in a slow, drawn out fall. It crushed the crystals beneath it, snuffing out their light as it settled on the ocean floor.

“I would say that was nicely done, but do have an important question to ask you.” Shade walked right up to the turtle’s face and pointed to its eye. “How are you going to get your sword which is now fully inside the turtle’s skull?”

“Oh.” Owin walked up beside Shade. Blood poured out of the eye, turning to a dark cloud in the water. “I have to crawl in.”

“Disgusting.”

“You could do it too. I could just unsummon you once you grab it and you could bring it out.”

“Not going to happen. While you are correct and I am more than talented enough to handle that endeavor, I have no interest in crawling into the skull of a dragon turtle, or really, any type of turtle. I will leave that to you, since you enjoy it so much.”

“I don’t enjoy it.”

“Well, neither do I. Do you see the problem with it? Who do you think enjoys it less? Certainly not me. I don’t crawl inside monsters. Well, I try not to, but sometimes you’re put in quite an odd situation.”

“If I go grab it, will you stop talking?”

“Yes. Probably not, but yes. I will.”