One huge, clawed hand pushed away dirt and rocks, punching straight through the rubble.

“We have to get farther away,” I said. I imagined the Silver Scream arrow had plenty of time to pump the creature full of explosive liquid already. I didn’t want to find out what would happen if it detonated when we were close.

Lyria swayed on her feet, eyes still slightly unfocused. The healing had done its job, but she wasn’t fully recovered.

I scooped up my Silver Scream bow, pulled the arrow loaded with Dragon Tail potion from the quiver, and then slung the quiver over my back.

The nightmaw was trying to pull itself through the rubble of the collapse. Its huge body barely fit, and it was making slow progress. Its head, shoulders, and arms were through. It was jerking against the rock and snarling, trying to drag the rest of itself through the cave-in.

In the past, it had taken me several tries to learn to form a Forge Echo of new weapons. It meant visualizing them with near-perfect accuracy. But my grip on the ability was already firmer since hitting Tier 2.

I nocked a Dragon’s Tail arrow in my Silver Scream bow, then drew it. The string fought me, making my forearms and shoulders burn almost immediately with effort. Still, I thought it would be easier to use my ability with accuracy if my real bow did what I wanted the Echo to do.

I forced mana outward, trying to project a perfect copy of my drawn bow and arrow in a spot near the collapsed section of the tunnel.

Has it been two minutes yet? Either my perception of time was screwed up from the explosions and stress, or the Silver Scream effect had already detonated.

I watched smoke appear as my Forge Echo began to form. It shifted, glowed, and gradually took shape. I was building it piece by piece: the string, the metal curve of the bow, and finally, the glowing orange glass arrow filled with flammable Dragon’s Tail potion. Like the real thing, the Echo’s arrow was already knocked and drawn.

My muscles screamed with the effort of holding the bow drawn, but the Echo was taking shape.

The bow fully formed, slowly turning in the air as it radiated white wisps of energy.

Before, a single mistake would break the entire Echo like a house of cards. This time, I found I could flood the errors with mana, overloading the spell with so much energy that it merely leaked mana from the mistakes instead of coming apart.

As I watched, sweat dripping down my brow, I saw the spectral string snap and waver.

More mana.

Smoke-like magical energy sprayed out in spurts, but the string reformed.

My reserves were draining rapidly, but I was almost there.

“Okay,” I breathed. “Okay, it’s working!” I took Lyria’s arm and threw it over my shoulder. “We need to get as far as we—”

A scream filled the cavern. It was silky smooth and terrible, but it didn’t sound like the roar of the nightmaw.

I turned in time to see the nightmaw had knocked away the top of the debris. A silvery face made of energy had risen from its back, mouth gaping as it screamed.

Silver Scream.

Orange liquid suddenly sprayed out of the nightmaw’s mouth, eyes, and ears. It pushed out from its pores, soaking its matted fur. The beast staggered in surprise, clawed hand gripping the wall for balance.

“Go!” I shouted.

We moved as quickly as we could. I got as far as I dared, tightly clinging to the image of the bow down the cavern. The farther we went, the harder it became to hold the image and the more quickly my mana drained. I couldn’t hold it much longer before I’d be completely empty.

When we’d gone far enough that the bow was at least a hundred feet away, I checked the aim, squinting over the distance. The nightmaw was on its hands and knees, crawling as it coughed and choked, orange potion still gushing from its mouth like a fountain.

If I wasn’t worried about the nightmaw’s regenerative ability, I might not have risked detonating it. The thing looked like it was already on death’s door. A normal creature might die from so much foreign liquid filling their bodies, and the risk of the explosion was no small thing.

But the risk of letting it survive when I was out of mana was huge.

I made my decision.

I visualized the string on the Echo of my Silver Scream bow pulling back and releasing with sudden force. I saw an orange line streak through the air, punching straight into the nightmaw’s forehead.

Thoom.

The sound was a punch in the chest, sending an invisible shockwave down the tunnel. This time, we were far enough away to avoid more than ringing ears and a blast of air.

The nightmaw wasn’t so lucky.

It was vaporized the moment the arrow connected. Blood, viscera, and body parts sprayed in every direction. Most of the cave-in was blown in every direction. For a split second, the path through the tunnel was clear, but the ceiling fell in again, blasting a wave of fresh dust toward us.

I pushed Lyria to the side just in time to avoid a bouncing rock big enough to snap our legs like twigs.

I was breathing hard, but I saw the red dot on the map had vanished.

I collapsed, exhaustion winning out. I rested against the cave wall with my hands on my knees, panting for breath.

Lyria flopped down beside me, head hanging and sweat dripping from her chin. “It’s dead, right? I think I saw its head pop off.” She said.

“Dead,” I confirmed.

She nodded wearily, leaning back and resting her head against the wall.

“Maybe I can just…” She closed her eyes and slumped sideways to lean against me.

I felt a jolt of concern that she was still hurt, so I expanded my senses and checked on her. I could move my mana sense through her body, checking the channels her mana flowed through. I didn’t find any problems, though. She was just tired.

I relaxed, letting out a long breath.

We did it. But damn, that was a mess. The Bombroot explosion still sent that boulder flying. The center of the explosion had been strong enough to blow away the entire cave-in, too. And, of course, strong enough to collapse another section of the roof.

I wasn’t sure I could safely use the combination in these tight corridors. I still had the Viperlilly, though. If we ran into more nightmaws, I needed to find out if the Viperlilly combined with Silver Scream’s detonation could overwhelm their regenerative effects. Maybe a Viperlilly arrow stacked with Elementally Projected Viperlilly potion and Dragon’s Tail would do the trick.

I wondered if I could stack two instances of Silver Scream because of my Forge Echo ability. Would an Echo of my Silver Scream bow even apply the effect, let alone a second stack?

But when I reread the description, it was relatively clear. Only one instance of Silver Scream could be active on a target at a time. I still needed to know what would happen if I fired a second arrow. Would it overwrite the existing effect, or simply do nothing until the first arrow detonated?

The idea of experimenting on these terrifying things wasn’t pleasant.

I wanted to get up, but Lyria was already snoring softly as she leaned on my shoulder. I decided to use the opportunity to meditate and recover what I’d spent of my mana. I had burned through nearly everything I had between the Elemental Projection, Forge Echo, and the bit of Devour Mana I had used on myself.

Once I caught my breath, I could find out if there was any way through the collapsed tunnel.

Curiously, I checked the hunger on my bed roll and saw it had barely increased despite getting to sleep before the fight. It had only increased from 40% to 41%.

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

Good. If it was moving that slowly, I could afford to let Lyria rest.

With the cave collapsed like this and my map, I knew we were safe from any more creatures for the time being. I could let her sleep and use the time to figure out the rest of my Heart class abilities. Maybe I could even find a way to perform a few small experiments and better understand my Bombroot and Dragon’s Tail combination.

I glanced at my notifications.

You’ve reached level 45!

[1] Unread Accomplishment. Read Now?

Hell, yes. At this rate, I could possibly hit level 50 before we even left this dungeon. I was so close to reaching Iron I could almost taste it.

I closed my eyes, enjoying the weight of Lyria’s head on my shoulder and the peaceful sound of her breathing.

Before all this, I had a sister. We were close as teens, but drifted apart once we hit adulthood. The weight of Lyria’s head reminded me of how my sister used to always fall asleep on somebody during movies. No matter how entertained she might be, all it took was twenty or thirty minutes and she would be out like a light.

I smiled a little at the memory, even if it was bittersweet. I wondered what Sylvie would say if she saw me now. My smile widened when I didn’t need to wonder. I knew exactly what she’d say. She would accuse me of hoping to make a move on Lyria.

Sylvie was always trying to tease me about getting girlfriends and not dating more. Back then, I had been too busy with work and trying to get by. I would probably tell her the same thing now.

Lyria is great, but so is not dying or letting down my former divine self who sent me back here under some apparently dire circumstances.

I let out a slow breath. I guessed it was all so long ago now that it helped reduce the sting.

Lyria twitched in her sleep, curling her body up tighter like she was afraid.

It reminded me how close that was. If the shield had caught her in the neck or a different spot on her head… I hoped my abilities could have saved her, but who could say?

The experience only drove home the danger of Eros more. Yes, I may be gaining amazing abilities and items. Yes, this may only be the beginning of my journey. But right now, we were little more than sacks of meat—fragile and easily destroyed.

I hoped advancing to Iron would start to change that. Thinking of how Lyria had looked after the explosion made me anxious to get her to Iron, too. Once I advanced, it might also be easier to help pull her along. I saw she had gained a level from the fight, which was a relief. I knew my prestige path boosted my experience gains and corestone attunement rate, but she was growing at a respectable speed as well.

I let myself rest and enjoy the brief peace for a few minutes before I finally unclasped my cloak and carefully let Lyria lay down on it to continue resting. She curled into herself, knees against her chest, never even waking.

I looked away from her, focusing on my accomplishment.

[Common Accomplishment] Defeat [1] enemy within [Beastden] dungeon. [Reward - Common Dungeon Diver’s Token] “Nice work! Maybe next time you choose potions, you could pick something less likely to blow yourself up. I think most of the damage you guys took there was self-inflicted, other than the cranky little roar, of course.

"And congrats on your first Dungeon Diver’s Token! You can still earn regular accomplishments if you do something really special. These are just bonuses for the number of enemies you defeat while you’re in this dungeon. Great, right?”

Had they really called that a “cranky little roar?” Without healing magic, we would both be deaf right now. Probably permanently. I was also fairly sure there was a magical component to the attack—like some kind of disorientation or confusion. When I looked back on the fight, I had felt the mana building up within the nightmaw just before the attack.

Was that my new Sense Mana skill? If so, it would be relatively easy to practice and level up. All I needed to do was get attacked by hostile magic. No big deal.

I was also interested in the dungeon diver’s reward. It sounded like this was almost a repeatable source of loot that was reset between dungeons. If so, it would be a fantastic way to farm some good equipment. Assuming, of course, I didn’t get killed in the process.

I desperately wanted to practice the rest of my new abilities. I still hadn’t used Mana Shield, and I wasn’t sure if I had used Mana Leech automatically, absorbing mana from the nightmaw’s attack or not. I had no way to know because I was at full mana when it roared.

I had to admit I was also itching to start poisoning myself and healing the damage on my own, too. The combination of Devour Mana and Elemental Projection meant I could try to build my Elemental Body skill’s tier any time I wanted now. As a bonus, I would also be improving Devour Mana in the process.

But no matter how much I itched to practice, I had a hungry bedroll to think about.

[Hunger 42%]

Slowly but surely, the clock was ticking. I needed to figure out how to feed this thing. The most promising idea at the moment involved those purple crystals I’d seen growing from the back of the nightmaw. Those were dark mana. I was almost sure of it.

If any of it survived the explosion, maybe I could just… lay it on my bedroll?

It would be weird, but what about the bedroll wasn’t weird? For all I knew, the goddamn bed bugs would crawl over the crystal and eat it for the bed.

But if that was dark mana on the nightmaw’s back, it was on the other side of a collapsed tunnel. I could probably safely assume more creatures in here had dark mana on them since the very first one we ran into did.

Glancing at the map, it looked like more and more people were arriving in the dungeon by the minute, though. The staging area at the entrance was even more crowded than it had been before our fight. There was also a fresh group of two Irons and a… What was that?

I blinked at the third dot, trying to determine if my helmet was malfunctioning.

It was kind of like the gray Iron dots, but about half of the dot was swirling with a sickly greenish-yellow color.

Unlike the other Irons, the group of two Irons and a whatever were clearing their way down a section near the entrance that didn’t lead anywhere within the Wood section of the dungeon. I also noticed a cluster of “X” marks near their group.

I shifted my focus around, looking for any other curious situations on the map. There was a group of almost 30 dots, most of which represented Woods. They were in one of the bulging rooms at the end of a tunnel and the dots were moving around frantically as red dots swirled.

My stomach sank when I saw there were 3 black “X” marks in the room. Even as I watched, another appeared.

God. It only took a quick look to realize how deadly this place was. I saw at least 20 or 30 black “X” marks all over the dungeon.

My focus locked on the dark purple dot deeper in the dungeon. There were five Irons all clustered close, and the purple dot was moving toward them. I guessed it would reach them in a few minutes, and there was no way for them to leave the tunnel without running into it.

I shivered, remembering these dots were actual people. I hoped they would be alright.

But I dragged my attention back to the situation in front of me and made a decision.

Lyria needed to sleep. I needed to feed my bedroll. So, I would work on digging a pathway through the cave-in while she rested. I’d give up and focus entirely on training my new abilities if it seemed hopeless. If I made it through, we could keep exploring this pathway as we had initially planned. After all, there were still more red dots ahead.

I spent about two seconds considering using Bombroot to clear the rubble. Then, I realized explosions had gotten us into this mess. While explosions were a great solution to many problems, I had to admit this, sadly, wasn’t one of them.

It took me a couple of hours, but I lost myself in the repetitive, simple work of moving rocks. It was like a big, slightly deadly game of Jenga. I would remove what I could pry loose with my common mace from the top of the cave-in, which I could reach if I stood on my tiptoes. I’d jump out of the way, careful not to crush myself with the falling rocks.

Once I made enough progress up top, I could safely work on the bigger boulders near the bottom.

I was wrenching a boulder free when I noticed the muscles and veins standing out in my arms. I paused, considering. Had I always been this strong?

I knew my body seemed to change from what I was used to when I first arrived here on Eros, but even compared to then, I felt a little different. I spotted a boulder that looked like it should have been too heavy to lift easily.

I knelt, scooped it up, and found it didn’t feel light exactly, but it didn’t seem as heavy as it should have.

Hmm. I was level 45. Wood or not, maybe that counted for something beyond my ability to use my corestones more effectively.

I thought about what Circa had said about advancement. She made it sound like I could heavily influence some of the bodily improvements I’d gain when advancing if I pushed myself in the right ways as a Wood.

It made me wonder… Even if I hit level 50 in here, would it be smart to advance immediately? Maybe it would be wiser to stay Wood while I helped Lyria grind her way up to join me in Iron. I could use the time to push myself and train hard, hoping to unlock more permanent boons when I advanced to Iron.

I’d think about it. I didn’t like the idea of leaving behind advantages, but the longer I spent weak, the more risk I was putting myself in. Maybe I could try to talk to somebody who knew more about the whole thing before I made a final decision.

I was lost in thought as I wrenched another large boulder free. Instead of falling toward me, it fell forward and rolled down to the other side of the cave-in.

I had opened a hole.

I pumped my fist in excitement. The walls on the other side were covered in dried blood, viscera, and…

I smiled.

A dark purple crystal the size of my fist had been embedded in the wall.