The ocular guard floated right in the doorway, refusing to pass the threshold. Its pupil had narrowed as it looked between Artivan and Owin. The old knight was back on his feet, keeping his shield up and ready to block another beam attack. Part of the shield had melted, but it had only drooped a little before cooling down.

“I don’t think it can leave the castle,” Owin said.

Artivan drew his winged sword and gave it a little flourish. “I gathered that too.”

The eye blocked most of the doorway, floating, watching, and waiting. Light flashed deep inside.

“Have you seen one of these before?” Owin asked.

“Only one the size of my fist back in the Fortress Dungeon. This . . . that’s huge.” Artivan tilted his shield just far enough to see the damage. Between the melted section and the chunks that had been torn out, the shield was quickly nearing the end of its life. “That beam is likely its only attack. You slip in and make it follow you so I can attack it freely.”

“You don’t even want me to attack?”

“Not this time. It’s about speed. Run. Make it follow you.” Artivan rolled his shoulders as he shifted his feet into a fighting stance. “This one isn’t a boss. It shouldn’t have too many tricks hidden away.” Artivan repositioned his shield and glanced at Owin. “Ready?”

If he needed to go fast, he didn’t need anything heavy with him. Owin dropped the hammer, letting it smash into the grass at his feet. He shook his arms out a little. When was the last time he actually moved as fast as possible without any weight on him? He couldn’t remember.

The next time he got a quest reward, he needed to pick a dexterity buff. Not only would his aim be better, he would also land easier, move faster, and jump farther. Still, with his racial feat, he moved far faster than Artivan could.

Owin sprinted across the drawbridge, loudly slapping his feet on the wooden surface. The ocular guard’s pupil flashed and widened as Owin neared. There was a moment where he could see inside the eye and the conflagration of energy within. It looked like red magical flames that raged through the entire massive eye.

Owin dove underneath the eye, sliding across the wooden floor just as the beam erupted from the guard. The energy crashed into an invisible wall, unable to leave the castle, as the eye turned upside down to follow Owin. It blasted the ground where it looked, leaving a melted path of molten stone.

Artivan’s heavy footsteps pounded on the wooden bridge, quickly closing the distance. Owin felt the heat of the laser as he continued running. A straight line would get him killed, so he ran in a semi circle around the eye until he was about to run into the front wall. He dropped to the ground, barely ducking under the beam as it cleaved through the wall.

Owin’s toes pressed into the stone floor and launched him forward, barely ahead of the killer eye beam. Something squelched as Artivan reached the ocular guard and slashed. Whatever damage he had done, it wasn’t enough.

The skeletal spire sat right in the middle of the room, untouched by all the chaos. It was topped with an old skull that had cracks around one of the eyes, balanced precariously atop what looked like a femur. If the spire represented something, it was lost to Owin. If it was important, he hoped the eye would avoid blasting it to bits.

Owin scurried behind the bone spire, ducking as the beam quickly carved its way toward him. A bucketful of blood dropped from the back of the eye as Artivan attacked furiously. The beam slowed, inching toward Owin. It sputtered but didn’t die as it hit the bones, immediately disintegrating the bottom of the spire.

Owin took a step back as the beam stopped. The ocular guard fell to the ground, splashing a pool of blood across the room.

“That was easy,” Owin said.

The bone spire collapsed and spilled across the floor. Owin picked up a femur and used Examine.

Nothing.

Something deep inside the castle rumbled. Shockwaves moved from the center, making it feel like Owin was on waves instead of a stone floor. The bone in his hand shook just as all the others in the collapsed pile clattered on the stone floor.

Owin held out the shaking femur. “I think I shouldn’t have hid behind that spire.”

“What did we do?” Artivan asked quietly, staring into the next room.

Behind Owin stood two suits of armor, posing with their hands resting at their sides. Small, decorated jars sat on shelves beside the armor with little carved skulls on top. His eyes lingered on the jars for a second before following Artivan’s gaze to the room beyond the open doorway.

It immediately reminded Owin of one of the first things he saw upon awakening. Rows of pews, columns to the side, and some type of shrine at the front of the room. It was almost identical to the little temple area beyond the goblin darkblade’s hiding spot. His hiding spot.

A woman with white skin stood before the shrine. She opened her mouth and screamed, causing the castle to shake again. The suits of armor rattled from the scream.

“What is she?” Owin asked.

Artivan stepped in front of the goblin, raising his shield. His index flashed in front of his face. “A wight, apparently. And look to her sides.”

Some bones that had been lying on the floor near the wight rattled and rolled, joining together until they formed two skeletons at her sides. Neither looked all that intimidating, as they had no weapons and the last skeletons Owin fought had been easy enough.

Great Forest Mob

Wight

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

Level 29

“Level 29 isn’t that strong,” Owin said.

“You’re level 1.” Artivan stomped on a bone from the spire, crushing it to dust. “These could make more of those golems we fought in the crypt. Crush what you can.”

Owin walked around, stomping on the bones. They broke easily, leaving a fine powder on the floor. The wight wailed again. Some splinters broke off the pews just from the power of her voice.

“Go grab the hammer. This should be an easy fight for me.” Artivan tapped the end of his winged sword on the ground.

Owin ran straight back outside, fetched the hammer, and sprinted back in. Artivan looked back at the drawbridge and activated his halo’s ability, closing it behind them.

“We don’t need those heroes following us inside,” Artivan said. “We earned our way into this secret.”

Owin nodded. Not only did they work hard to defeat the Sovereign One, they were going to have to keep working to clear out all the other undead enemies inside the ruins. From what little he knew of Siora and Nikoletta, he wouldn’t be surprised if they were the kind of people to try to take advantage of the work Owin and Artivan had done.

Artivan strode forward to stand in the doorway between the two rooms. The wight had yet to move, instead howling over and over. Her skeletons swayed at her side and stared into space.

“There might be a trap,” Artivan said. “If she’s not moving closer, there might—”

Both suits of armor moved at the same time, striking out at Artivan. He easily blocked one punch with his shield, but from the odd position, he was forced to take a hit on his pauldron. The armored fist skid across Artivan’s armor, scraping like a knife along the metal.

“Careful,” Artivan shouted. He took a step back and blocked both fists as the suits of armor followed up with another synchronized strike.

Great Forest Mob

Possessing Specter

Level 22

“What’s a possessing specter?” Owin asked. He stomped on another few pieces of bone that had fallen from the spire.

Artivan continued backing away as the armor advanced and attacked in perfect sync. “Most people call them possessors. Think of the shapeless specters but they have no body. That one hit on my armor did more damage to my mana than any of the shapeless specters did in the labyrinth.”

“Back away.” Owin let the hammer head fall on the floor, cracking the stones.

Artivan took another step back, which the suits of armor matched perfectly. “I’m trying.”

Owin leapt into the air and swung the hammer down, striking one suit of armor right on top of the helmet. The hammer glowed as it dropped to the ground. The armor pieces exploded outward, crashing against the other suit and bouncing off Artivan’s shield. They were empty and lifeless, clattering against the ground.

Owin landed as Artivan bashed his shield into the other suit of armor, knocking it off balance. Owin swung and smashed a leg. Without anything inside the armor, it crumpled easily under his strength and the weight of the hammer.

“That was easy.”

“Stop saying that.”

A hazy cloud passed in front of Owin’s face. It had only appeared for a second before it was gone. He opened his mouth to say something just as a skull-topped jar on the wall shook violently.

“Get ready,” Artivan said.

“For what?”

“We didn’t kill the possessors. They left the armor.” He pivoted, turning back to the ocular guard’s corpse that continued spilling an absurd amount of blood across the floor. The corpse twitched.

“How do you kill one?”

“Your hammer is going to be the only option. They’re immune to luminous, remember?” Artivan flicked his sword tip into the air. “Let me handle the wight and skeletons. You can manage with the specters.”

Artivan hurried to the space between the rooms. He reached out with his sword and pushed the shaking jar off, where it hit the ground and shattered. Artivan grunted, then moved on. “I thought the jar was what it was possessing.”

A full brain had popped out of the jar upon its shattering. The pink brain pulsed, then shivered and shook the potsherds from its back. Tendrils of sinew spawned from the brain, acting as legs as it scurried at Owin.

“What is that?” he shouted. He lifted the Thunderstrike Maul. A single solid drop from the hammer would likely be enough to squish something like a possessed brain. If it could shatter stone, it could kill a brain.

The stone floor shook, sending chunks of debris across the room. Owin turned, trying to ignore the pitter patter of the brain’s footsteps. The ocular guard floated off the ground with a river of blood pouring out of its back. The pupil was narrow, and the light had vanished from deep inside. Whatever powers it had seemed to have disappeared with death.

A quick Examine confirmed both the brain and the eye were still possessors, despite how they looked. Was one more dangerous than the other? At level 22, they should be the same, but the giant ocular guard looked far more intimidating, even if the walking brain was disgusting.

“Flare Burst,” Artivan shouted.

The wight exploded in luminous fire, which vanished just as quickly. The ability left no visible damage. Luminous fire had lasted longer on things like the scaltari than it did with the wight. It screamed again, causing the entire room to shake.

“I guess wights aren’t undead.” Artivan used his winged sword to block a swipe from the wight. Its claws scraped along the metal, ringing out through the castle. He knocked the wight back with his shield and slashed at a skeleton, easily cutting it in two.

“How do I kill a possessor without it switching bodies?” Owin asked, trying to ignore the fight going on in the other room.

“Kill the body before it leaves. It’s a matter of speed.” Artivan blocked another hit from the wight, launching him backward over a pew. He crashed and rolled back to his feet. “You can do this.”

The brain lashed out with a tendril, narrowly missing Owin’s face. It ripped through his ear, easily puncturing the green skin. Pain exploded immediately, but his health didn’t change. Instead, part of his mana bar burned away, adding to the rest of the burnt, unusable chunk from the labyrinth.

Owin ducked under another tendril jab and swung the Thunderstrike Maul down. The brain dropped to the floor as all the tendrils quickly raised up, shielding the main fleshy chunk of brain. It caught the hammer, giving slightly, then resisted Owin’s strength.

Energy hummed behind him, overcoming the splashing of blood still spilling from the eye. Owin pushed against the brain, trying to force the hammer down, as he looked over his shoulder. The light shone brightly inside the eye, even as it lost its color. Red fire swirled inside.

Owin immediately let go of the hammer and leapt to the side. “Artivan!”

The knight cut through the second skeleton and blocked another attack from the quick wight. He looked at the possessed eye, helmet visor obscuring his face. “That’s not good.” The wight attacked again, sending Artivan skidding backward, out of Owin’s view.

The brain adjusted its tendrils, wrapping them around the hammer, and held it upright as if ready to swing. The ocular guard easily tracked Owin as the beam charged inside. Both possessors advanced on Owin.

The last time he had felt true fear was in the labyrinth with cold, dark water rushing in. Before that, it had been when Nikoletta and Miklos had been chasing him. Both times, Artivan had been there to save him.

That wasn’t an option anymore. Artivan was wrapped up in a fight against the powerful wight, and before long, he wouldn’t be around to help at all as Owin continued his climb. Owin had to overcome his fear on his own. No more relying on knights in shining armor.

Fear wasn’t an excuse. His heart hammered in his chest. Energy rushed through his veins. No longer would he hide in fear. It would be his fuel.

He backed into the stone wall, staring into the whorling fire within the possessed eye.