The third floor had changed.

Owin leaned on the maul’s handle with the rectangular head placed firmly in the sand. They only had about a foot of land before the water. All around the floor, the water had risen. There were no longer shallow pools or spans of sand between mounds. Now, they were truly islands, isolated from one another by deep, dark water.

Artivan took his helmet off and let it fall to the sand. “I have always wondered what caused this floor to flood.” Water dripped from his white beard. “We caused this.”

“From the trap?”

Artivan grunted. He reached into his bag and shoveled out handfuls of mud before reaching some of the coins. “Was it worth it?”

Owin wiggled the handle, causing the hammer to wobble back and forth. “I wouldn’t go back there, but I do want to use this.”

Artivan smiled and smoothed back his loose strands of hair. “I look forward to seeing you use it. What else did you learn about this Thunderstrike Maul?”

“It charges through movement.”

Artivan nodded knowingly. “Truly unique items are incredibly rare, and always master or higher. Journeyman is a good step forward from what you had before.”

He pulled off his gauntlets and set them on the sand beside his helmet. Owin watched the knight closely, noticing the bags under his eyes and the wrinkles on his hands.

“Are you okay?” Owin asked.

Artivan rubbed his eyes and sighed. “Yes.”

“Was the secret on the second floor like that?” Owin had tried thinking of where the secret would have been on the second floor. There didn’t seem to be too many areas he hadn’t been.

Artivan pulled a health potion from his bag and drank it without a word. Unlike Owin, he carefully placed the cork back into the bottle and gently placed it into his bag. “The danger was more straightforward in the archaeological site. Undead can be managed easily.” He combed his fingers through his beard, shook some water from his helmet, and slid it back over his head. “The cultists’ cellar was filled with traps. Someday I will have to try that again. I blew the whole village to bits.”

Owin scowled. He hadn’t realized there was a cellar. Although, it was probably best he didn’t try to go down if it had been full of traps. Despite running into two of them inside the labyrinth, Owin didn’t know the slightest bit about what to look for. He hadn’t even noticed Kata’s trap until he wasn’t able to move.

With everything fully equipped, Artivan set off, walking onto the mound, over the doorway to the labyrinth. Owin had to swing the hammer around to rest the head over his shoulder. During the swing, the rectangular head crackled briefly, causing the gray stone to glow. It lasted for less than a second, but gave Owin an idea. If it required movement to charge, swinging it around would keep it charged almost constantly.

Two scaltari sat around a fire, relaxed in the middle of a conversation. Artivan wasn’t moving quietly, but the lizards hadn’t seemed to notice. The knight cleared his throat, causing both scaltari to squeak and scramble to their feet.

Owin tried swinging the hammer in a circle above his head, but it was incredibly heavy. He fell over as soon as the weight shifted and almost dropped the hammer down the slope.

Artivan looked over without saying a word as the scaltari brandished swords.

“I got it,” Owin said, swinging the hammer back to his shoulder. “I got it.”

Artivan gestured to the lizards as they approached slowly. They kept their eyes on Artivan rather than Owin. Which Owin did not mind. That guaranteed at least one free hit before he had to defend. And Owin really did want to hit something. The giant rats hadn’t worked off everything that had built up inside the labyrinth. The stress, the fear, the darkness. It all compiled together, churning like a storm in Owin’s chest. He wanted to hit something. He wanted to crush something.

Scaltari were roughly the size of humans, so even with a huge swing, the best Owin could do was collapse their ribs or shatter an arm. Without knowing more about the hammer, he wasn’t sure if it was really going to be the weapon for him. But as Artivan said, somebody would buy it.

Great Forest Mob

Scaltari Assassin

Level 14

Great Forest Mob

Scaltari Soldier

Level 15

“It says they’re different classes but they have the same sword,” Owin said.

The lizards still advanced. They hadn’t used any abilities, but they surely had something prepared. Owin had seen Gropnil as a soldier do some incredible things in his fight against Nosolus.

The only assassin he had seen died quickly from the stone knife, so Owin did wonder what an assassin could actually do.

“Same weapon, different classes and stats.” Artivan checked the straps on his shield, then drew his sword. “Hit the assassin first. With your strength, you should be able to snap it in half.”

Both scaltari were wearing regular clothes that hung loose from their scaly bodies. One had red accents along the green-tinted scales, while the other had blue accents. Owin looked between them. Which one was which? He had examined them so quickly, he hadn’t paid attention to who was who.

Both scaltari rushed Artivan. Owin grabbed the metal maul handle with both hands and spun, swinging the heavy hammer in a half circle as fast as he could manage. It lit up while in motion and smashed right against the scaltari sword. The lizard planted its feet and used its tail to keep balance as Owin’s strike pushed it back a few inches.

“Wrong one,” Artivan shouted just as the red accented scaltari vanished in a puff of smoke.

Owin used Examine again on the scaltari holding the hammerstrike back with a simple sword.

Great Forest Mob

Scaltari Soldier

Level 15

“Oh.”

The soldier stepped forward and pushed the hammer back, causing Owin to stumble as he fought for balance. The hammer’s glow had already faded to a barely noticeable highlight in the metal. He would need to experiment to find out how fast it charged, but that would have to wait until the scaltari were dealt with.

“Soldiers are experts in all types of combat,” Artivan said. “Defense, offense, ranged.”

The scaltari swung the sword down, ready to chop right into Owin’s skull. He rolled to the side, using the momentum to swing the hammer again. It glowed while swinging, but the lizard effortlessly deflected the heavy hammer.

“Surprise or magic are the only true ways to handle a soldier,” Artivan continued saying.

The assassin reappeared behind Artivan. He spun and smashed his shield right into the lizard’s face. Blue blood exploded from its nostrils as it fell down the mound, rolled, and splashed into the water.

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“I can’t do either of those,” Owin said, dodging a horizontal swing that chopped through some of his purple hair.

“A soldier against another soldier, or in your case, a berserker, is all about brute force. Who can hit harder? Who can hit faster?” Artivan turned back and pointed his sword at the assassin as it tried to climb back to its feet. It was clearly dazed from the shield bash. “Flare Burst.” Luminous flames engulfed the lizard.

The soldier’s onslaught continued with swing after swing, varied in direction and speed. Owin used his speed to dodge over and over, unable to lift and swing the hammer fast enough to counter. He grabbed Naxile’s knife from his pocket and barely caught the point of the lizard’s sword as it was thrust right at his chest.

“That’s how you do it,” Artivan shouted. “Now, push back!”

Owin shoved the sword aside and leapt right at the lizard’s face. It stepped back and tried to lift its sword, but Owin landed right on its head and smashed the knife down, over and over, spewing blue blood all over his face. They collapsed to the ground, where Owin rolled off and jumped to his feet, ready for another attack.

“Well done, little goblin.” Artivan picked up the lizard’s sword. His index flashed before his eyes. “Worthless. They aren’t magical.” He tossed it to the ground. “Take a look at that hammer again.”

Owin walked back over to the heavy maul lying on the ground. Compared to the greatsword, this was more his size. For someone like Artivan, it was small enough to be held with one hand.

“If I’m stronger than you, why can’t I swing it right?”

Artivan picked it up with a grunt. He widened his stance and swung it. Even that threw him a little off balance. “It’s not your strength. With how small you are, the hammer is going to pull you around. You’re going to have to learn how to work with that. Drop it and use the knives when needed. Did you take a closer look?”

Owin looked down at the Thunderstrike Maul and used Examine. Most of the information was the same, with the exception of an additional line.

20% Charge

After all that swinging, it only charged a small portion. “Is this worth using?”

Artivan shrugged. “It really depends on your style, which you will have to find for yourself. Without knowing what happens at full charge, it makes it more difficult to say. If that thing can take out an armored soldier in a single hit when it’s fully charged, then it is worth it. If it can’t, you will die trying to use it against more skilled or faster opponents. Not that I expect you to find many faster than you.”

Owin had been lucky to go against mostly slower opponents. If he had to fight the satyr umbra on the second floor, he would have been outclassed. The speed of its attacks alone was nearly too fast for Owin to follow. But even during the fight that just ended, that assassin had appeared and attacked incredibly fast.

“How did you know the assassin was behind you?”

Artivan dug through his bag without looking up. “Assassins have a passive ability that allows them to deal double damage if they land an attack on an opponent's back. If you know that, you can generally predict their next move. A hero assassin is a different story. They’re rare, dangerous, and often unpredictable.”

“I killed one.”

Artivan let his bag drop back to his hip. “Well, you are also rare, dangerous, and unpredictable, aren’t you?”

Owin lifted the hammer up and let the metal shaft rest against his shoulder. “Do you think the charge will stay in the hammer?”

“Possibly. When magical weapons have a charge, that charge will often degrade after it hits full power. The only way to find out is to try.” Artivan looked around the small island. “We need to find a raft.”

“Where are we going?”

“Potion hunting. The boss isn’t going anywhere. Any buffs we find are a step forward for you.” He set off to the edge of the water, followed it to where a sand bar was partially visible under the blue waters, and walked right across. It was shallow enough that Owin would have no problem crossing at the same point.

“The northern half of the floor has bigger islands that are farther apart. If nobody trips the trap, like I did, then that northern half is a simple hike from small island to small island like we had been doing before. Now, it will be far too deep to cross easily. We’ll have more trouble crossing as we go, so keep your eyes out for rafts or boats. They should be scattered around the level.”

Owin ran across the sand bar, splashing water with each step. Artivan walked quickly, heading in some unknown direction. It was still difficult for Owin to imagine a floor right above them as the blue sky looked to go on forever. He had seen and felt the boundary walls before, but even with knowing those existed, the world beyond appeared to continue. How could he climb up a few feet of stairs and end up in a completely new world when the sky continued far above the doorway?

Owin followed a few feet behind Artivan as the knight found the easiest, most shallow path between each small island. He walked with a steady pace in a clear direction, which Owin was fully clueless about. The map in his index was just a series of islands, but now the water matched what he had been seeing on the map the entire time. There were no markers for boats or rafts, and he couldn’t see any nearby. Yet, Artivan continued quickly, heading somewhere southeast.

What was on the next floor? It had gone from a cave, to a forest, to wetlands. There wasn’t any clear pattern he had noticed.

“What’s on the next floor?” Owin asked.

Artivan continued pushing onward, hurrying from island to island. He seemed to know where he was going, as he didn’t check his map once. “Hobgoblins and ogres, mostly. There are a few goblins too.” He looked back with his visor raised. “Is that going to be difficult?”

Owin shook his head. He felt no companionship with the other goblins. They were mobs like everything else. It was still odd thinking of the ones in the cave who stood idly by, or of Ponk, who did everything Naxile said. They hardly had two thoughts about them while Owin couldn’t stop himself from thinking all the time. He was worried, he was unsure, he was everything he could be all the time.

“If I hadn’t killed that wizard, I’d still be sitting in the shadows, waiting to jump on heroes who walked into the dungeon,” Owin said.

“Yes.” Artivan didn’t bother looking back as he pushed through some bushes and headed straight to the next island. They had passed over several and found no scaltari since they had emerged from the dungeon.

“What does it mean?”

Artivan abruptly stopped in the shallow water and faced Owin. “Mean? It doesn’t mean a thing, little goblin. Most of life has no meaning until you give it meaning. Ruvaine doesn’t decide your life anymore.” He looked at the sky and scowled. “I hope she doesn’t smite us over something like that.”

Owin looked into the blue sky. There wasn’t any sign that Ruvaine was about to take revenge. “I don’t think she cares.”

“No more speaking to you?”

“I haven’t heard anything.”

Artivan nodded. “Good, good.” He turned back to Owin, looking him right in the eyes. “I may not understand how you became a hero as a goblin, but that doesn’t make you less of one than anyone else. Does it matter how you became aware?”

“I guess not.”

Artivan placed his hand on Owin’s shoulder. “It doesn’t matter. You are who you are and we are going to get you strong enough to prove yourself.”

“Okay.”

Artivan nodded to the side. “And our raft is right over there. Right where I thought it would be.”

Owin looked over to see four logs tied together with string. “We’re riding that?”

“You don’t like it?”

According to Artivan, the raft was always lying in the same spot on the map. It only became useful if somebody flooded the map, as we had done. Otherwise, it sat on the sand or floated in a few inches of water without any clear use. Two oars rested in the middle beside a rudimentary mast and sail that wouldn’t do much even in a strong wind.

Artivan hurried to the raft as if it was the most exciting thing he had seen. Meanwhile, Owin stood on the shore of a small mound and watched the knight wade through cold, deep water.

It seemed stupid to be so excited for a raft that Owin could have made himself, if he had known. They had passed more than enough trees that they could have cut down in a few solid swings. With the Thunderstrike Maul, he could probably knock over a whole grove of trees with the hammer fully charged.

Artivan grabbed the rope tying the logs together and dragged the raft across the pool of water until it rested against the mound Owin stood atop. The knight climbed on board and smiled at Owin.

“I don’t want to get on.”

Artivan patted the logs beside him. “It’s comfortable.”

“No it isn’t.”

Artivan lowered the visor of his helmet. “It’s either the raft or swimming, and I think I already have a good idea of which you would prefer.”

Owin climbed aboard and sat right beside Artivan. The knight handed him an oar. It was made of smooth, finished wood and looked as if it had never been touched.

“You’re stronger than me, so you can’t row with all your strength. We don’t want to spin in a circle. Match what I do or we’ll have a rough time.”

Owin placed the oar in the water and watched Artivan row a few times. The movement was awkward, but the raft easily moved through the water.

“Get it?” Artivan asked, going through exaggerated motions again.

“I think so.” Owin ripped the oar through the water and spun the raft. It was so easy. He had hardly even used his strength.

“I hope you noticed that your row was more than a little strong.”

Owin pulled the oar out of the water. “I noticed.”

Artivan made a show of gently placing the oar in the water, and gently pulling back. The raft hardly moved. “See?”

“We didn’t go anywhere.”

Artivan sighed and lifted the visor again. “Not everything is about speed. We can move slower while using less energy.” Artivan’s eyes narrowed. “Actually, without needing sleep, you probably don’t get as physically exhausted.”

Owin shrugged.

“It would be helpful if you had answers to these ambiguous thoughts.”

“I don’t know what that means.”

Artivan placed the oar back in the water. “Just match me.”